The Sun.
London, England, 1861-04-08 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, APRIL 8, 1861.

MR. SHERIDAN AND BLS CONS 72-

TUENCY.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.

Sir,—With reference to your comments in the
limes of this day on my speech delivered at the
Walsall Reform meeting, I hope that you will per-
mit me to say a few words in explanation.
Your right to criticise as severely as you please
the political opinions of members of Parliament
cannot, of course, be questioned ; but it can as little
be questioned that the premises upon which your
argument is foinded should be correct; and in my
case you have been misled by inaccuracies in the
reported speech, which inaccuracies I had taken
steps to correct by writing to two papers the fol-
lowing letter the day before your article appeared :

" To THE EDITOR, kr,.
" Sir,—Permit me to make a few remarks in
reference to the report of my speech at the Walsall
Reform meeting, in your columns of this day.
"In condensing hastily a long speech much of
the context is necessarily omitted. In many parts
of my speech a reading totally different from that I
intended has been produced. Thus, lam made to
charge whole sections of the house with something
like corruption. I made no such charge. I referred
only to certain ' systems,' and not to individuals.
Among other things I am reported to have said that
one-half the house was filled with colonels and
captains, and the other half with nobles and cadets,'
&c. This is incorrect. That which I did say was,
that one section of the house might be said to be
colonels, captains, and those who represented the
large and special interests attached to their profes-
sion ; another large section was composed of lords
and the cadets of noble houses, whose sympathies
might well be expected to be more with the aristo-
cracy than with the people ; while a narrow and
limited section represented the independent party,
and therefore there was but comparatively a small
party that represented in an impartial way the
commercial and labouring classes of the country.'
" These corrections will serve as a guide to explain
several other parts of the speech which, as affecting
individuals, are not in effect a proper construction
of that which I did say.
" I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
" H. B. SHERIDAN.

" Bellefield-house, Fulham, April 5."
Now, Sir, 1 do not write this letter for the pur-
pose of retracting opinions I have expressed, but
for the purpose of showing that you have commen-
ted on that which I have not said ; and I feel sure
that under these circumstances yeu will allow me
to set myself right.
Your first comment is on the following words :
" He went, he tells us, to represent the great com-
munity of Dudley, and the whole of the inhabitants
naturally had their eyes upon him." I never ut-
tered these words. That which I did say was,
" that the inhabitants of Dudley, through me,
would regard with curious eyes that house to which
they had hitherto been prevented from sending a
member of their own selection."

You then comment on the words "before he was
elected, &c., he did not know the difficulties which
would beset him and surround his path."
I never used these words nor any resembling
them, You next comment on the words "he
thought he might eventually win his way in the
assembly of which he was a member." I never used
these words, nor any resembling them. You then
comment on the word you call " agnomen." I never
used this word, nor do I find it in the report of my
speech made by the reporter who was present, which
is at this moment before me.

With reference to the Speaker the quotation is
again incorrect. I said " that by the present sys-
tem an independent member might rise a doien
times without being permitted to take part in a
political debate, but if noble, right honourable, or
other privileged persons presented themselves hey
were at once seen and obtained an immediate re-
cognition ; it seemed," I said, " as if the house ex-
pected the Speaker to wear spectacles of peculiar
power in the one case and to remove them in the
other." I spoke of the system and not of the in-
dividual.

I may be unfortunate in considering that the
House of Commons as at present constituted does
not truly represent the great interests of the nation,
but it has not been my intention to express that
opinion offensively.—l am, sir, your obedient ser-
vant, H. B. SHERIDAN.

Bellefield-house, Fulham, April 6.
[We took the report ft;om the Daily News, a
journal which is supposed to represent the opinions
of the party to which Mr. Sheridan belongs.—Ed.
limes.]

to send a deputation to the Emperor, to beg of him
not to take any step " which could tend to remove
the centre of gravity of the empire from Austria to
Hungary, as the petitioners are of opinion that the
fate of the empire ought not to be dependent on the
last-mentioned country." Some of the local papers
maintain that the Imperial ordinance relative to the
reorganisation of Transylvania led to the Ministe-
rial crisis, but it is positively known to me that the
promise which the Emperor gave to Count Apponyi
to sanction the newly-framed Hungarian civil and
criminal laws was the immediate cause of the resig-
nation of the seven Ministers,

The Servian National Congress was to have met
at Carlovitz in the Voivodina on the 28th of March,
but several of the members refused to attend, be-
cause General Philippovits, the Imperial Commis-
sary, told them that- the sittings were not to be
public. The deputies held private meetings, at which
it was resolved that if the Imperial Government
would not permit the affairs of the Servian inhabi-
tants of the Voivodina to be discussed publicly,
" the National Congress would_ enter into direct
communication with the Hungarian Diet." Many
persons from the Principality of Servia are now at
Carlovitz, and the political agitation is so great
that the Imperial Government may have cause to
rue the day on which it determined to play off the
Servian nationality against the Hungarians.
The export of saltpetre to Turkey in Europe is
strictly prohibited, but still considerable quantities
are smuggled across the frontiers. A few days ago
some sacks of flour were subjected at Basiasch to
a closer inspection than usual, and they were found
to contain no less than 4,0001 b. of saltpetre. About
a week ago an attempt was made to smuggle gun-
powder from Bukovina into Moldavia, but the
whole consignment-58 cwt.—fell into the hands
of the Austrian Custom-house officers. Moldavia is
in a sadly disordered state, and a Jassy correspond-
ent tells us that robbery and murder are by no
means unfrequent occurrences in the streets of the
city in which he resides. In one fortnight no fewer
than 27 persons were murdered, but the authors of
the crimes committed are rarely or never brought
to punishment.
From Zara we learn that the families of the offi-
cers in Dalmatia have received orders to quit that
province and to go to the interior of the empire.
The rate of exchange on London is 151.

men. They wished to create dissensions; they
have undone the work of unification initiated by
us ; they wished to divide two elements so precious
and necessary in our present circumstances. But
let us drop that subject; they are trifles not to
be thought of. Above all our thoughts we must
place Italy.
" One thing more I must recommend to your
Societies, and I could never do so with sufficient
earnestness—that is, concord. lam no orator. I
Say what comes uppermost in my heart. You
know that our history is not equalled by that of
any people upon earth. With Rome and with
concord Italy will be great and powerful. Under
the republics of the Middle Ages Italy achieved
great things ; yet, as she was divided, she became
the butt of foreign outrages. Whenever we are
united we shall be feared ;we are so already. We
have the sympathy of great nations. Let us only
be unanimous, and Italy shall be."
Under this speech the hiritto prints the follow-
ing short note :
" Sir,--A Turin paper states that I came to
Turin called by Count Cavour.. This announce-
ment is quite incorrect.
" Turin, April 3."

" G. GARIBALDI.

THE RAILWAYS AND TUNNELS OF THE ALPS

The Turin Papers contain the following very
'interesting report, which has just been addressed
to the Commander and Senator Paleocapa, the
President of the Royal Commission charged with
examining into the best tunnels to be cut through
the Alps, and with determining the best route
between Italy and the North-west of Europe.
It would appear that the recommendations of its
author, Mr. Villiers Sankey, had received the
approval of the commission :
" Sir,—Having had the honour to be presented
to you about ten years ago by the Chevalier Jocteau,
at present Envoy of his Majesty the King to the
Swiss Confederation, and having since that epoch
frequently had occasion to converse with your ex-
cellency, I have had opportunity of judging with
what accuracy, enlightenment, and impartiality
your great intelligence is able to resolve the impor-
tant questions relating to public works, so often
submitted to your judgment during the long years
in which you have remained at the head of this
department.
" As the Minister, M. Peruzzi, in his reply of the
19th current in the senate to the Marquis Pareto,
has declared in his discourse, full of ability and im-
portant details, that the commission has almost
terminated its labours, allow me, before it be too
late, to address to you some remarks of great impor-
tance with reference to this question.
" The commission, I feel certain, has carefully
studied the special advantages of the different routes
proposed as regards the engineering and expense;
but, before forming a decision, it will be necessary,
so to speak, to mount up to the summits of the
Alps, and thence to take a general view of the whole
question. After' having heard the explanations of
the advocates, and of the partisans of each line, you
will be compelled to sum up what has been said on
each side, and balancing the advantages with the
disadvantages, you will then have it in your power
to pronounce a final judgment.
" Having frequently traversed and studied most
of the Alpine passes, I venture to submit to you a
few remarks which perhaps escaped the attention
of several of the members of the commission, neces-,
sarily engaged, as they were, in the examination of
details.
" The object of a great railway between Germany
and Italy is to give to the north-west of Europe a
harbour in the Mediterranean, and to procure for
Italy (where there still reigns, and was formerly
dominant, the commercial spirit, and where the
entire system of banking has been invented) an easy
and rapid communication with the States of the
Zollverein, and in general with the numerous com-
mercial, industrial, and political centres, of which
the necessary relations with the south and cast are
at the present moment clogged and hampered by
the wall reared up in so many ages, and so difficult
to scale--the colossal rampart of the Alps.
" And first, I would remark that Germany must
be put into communication with the Mediterranean,
for the Adriatic, which is, moreover, a very stormy
sea, and in which navigation is difficult, does not
lie on the direct route between the south-west and
the north-west of this hemisphere.
" It ought to be obsetved here that at the present
day we can travel by land four times as quickly as
we can by sea. It is clear, therefore, that on any
given route we ought to lessen as much as possible
the distance traversed by steam-boats, preferring
railways wherever it is practicable ; that is to say,
as a general rule we should reduce to a minimum
sea voyages, and increase land journeys to a maxi-

mum.
" Now it must be further remarked that the two
valleys leading into Germany, or rather taking the
direction of that centre at which all the German
railways converge, are those beginning at the Lake
Maggiore and the Lake of Como. But the surface
of the Lake Maggiore is more than 30 metres above
that of the Lake of Como.
" These two observations simplify enormously
the question for the establishing, first, the advan-
tage to be obtained by making Genoa the seaport
of the Zollverein, and they further demonstrate the
necessity of carrying the great line direct by the
shores of the Lake Maggiore. This line, moreover,
has everything in its favour. It will find on its route
centres of high importance—Genoa, Alessandria,
Novara, Pallanza, Intro, Belinzona, Olivone, Sze.,
to the south of the Alps, and to the north many
towns of great fame, the mere enumeration would
fill a page. The valley leading to Luckmanier is
inhabited by a civilised population. From Novara
to Locarno, from Locarno to Belinzona, from Belin-
zona to Biasca, from Biasca to Olivone, you never
leave the great route, and you find almost all that
you want. The ground, moreover, is more favour-
able to railway undertakings, for the space at the
bottom of the mountain is broad enough to allow
six or eight lines of rails to be laid down if desired,
and at certain distances the valley widens, and thus
allows elle to take the necessary curves in order to
gain the required height without too steep. ascents.
On the other side of Luckmanier, in what is termed
at Coire the Oberland, the ground is not less fa-
vourable. It is very wide in certain spots, and
almost as united as a plain.
" None of the other lines proposed for a great
railway between Italy and Germany presents the

same advantages.
" The lines across the Alps proposed hitherto
with any chance of success are, as regards Italy,
first, the line along the coast ; second, the line of
the Mont Cenis; third, the line of the Simplon
and its modifications; fourth, the line of the St.
Gothard and its modifications ; fifth, the line of
Luckmanier and its modifiations ; sixth, the line
of the Splugen ; seventh, the line of the Septimer.
" We shall now see what are the advantages and
disadvantages of these project; in a general way,
and without entering into questions of detail,
" First the coast line will always possess a cer-
tain importance, because it puts Leguria in com-
munication with the south of France. This railway
will cost a great deal—far more than is commonly
supposed—because, in running along the shore
there will be immense difficulties to overcome, but,
after all these difficulties may be reduced to a great
outlay of money and of time. On the other hand
this railway is greatly wanted. It will become very
useful in connecting with one another towns like
Spezia, Genoa, Nice, Toulon, and Marseilles.
"Next comes the Mont Cenis Railway. Its
necessity is incontestible in order to establish a
fitting communication between Italy and the north
of France, England, and Eastern Switzerland.
The difficulties are considerable, but they will be
overcome, and the works are proceeding regularly
towards their termination. To place Italy in rela-
tion with Paris, London, and Berne is certainly
worth a good-many sacrifices. I would, however,
remark that for the work to be more complete it
would be necessary to construct a line which shall
go directly to Geneva, passing by Albertville,
Annecy, and La Roche, &c. But this is now the
concern of France. The tunnel will be completed
without the least doubt, :and the piercing of the
Mont Cenis will remain as a magnificent monu-
ment of genius and of science to illustrate this age
of wonders.
" The third line in the order of eilumeration, but
by no means in that of importance, is the line of
the Simplon.
you
" Should this line ever be made, which I
doubt, it will benefit only the valleys of the Toce
°niae
greatly
and of the Rhone, two districts resembling
Which
another in their miserable state, and
would believe lay at the end of the 'world,:
tion
iso
little
I have they profited by Vie on
of civi..isa,
I for they remain in a condition extremely primit2 ye)
not to say quite savage.
6'This line, after traversin. e: the valley in which
is Domo dThsola, and crossing the Alps near the
Simplon bymeans of immense and enormously ex-
pensive engineering works, must descend the course
of the Rhone, in order to roach the chores of