The Sun.
London, England, 1857-04-07 00:00:00

PALMERSTON now to reciprocate as nobly the
goodwill of the country towards hinndf, by mag-
nanimously realising their more generous anticit

pationv.

Lieutenant-Colonel KENNEDY, consulting en-
gineer of the Bombay, liaroda, and Central India
Railway Company, has published a second edi•
tien of his very valuable report respecting the
condition and prospects of the important under-
taking iu which he is engaged. It will be deeply

nteresting not merely to shareholders and intend••

ing shareholders, but also to every capitalist look-
ng out for investments, and desirous of obtaiu-

fig at the same time a remunerative and perfectly

secure return for his money. The project, indeed,
contrasts strongly in many respects with the Rus-
sian scheme, to which we yesterday directed
public attention. Every Englishman may safely
contribute to the construction of the Indian line
without fearing reproach from " the still small
voice." He will at all events have the consola-
tion of knowing that he is acting the part of a
true patriot, by aiding in the development of the
natural resources of our Anglo-Indian Empire,
from which results may be attained, the extent
of which cannot now be appreciated or even fairly
estimated, results that must greatly improve the
condition and promote the welfare and pro-
sperity of our Hindu fellow-subjects, and
very probably eventually greatly increase the
supply of cotton, so as to render England in-
dependent of the Slave States of America, or, at
all events, to produce valuable competition in
that important article. It is by such expenditure
alone that we can consolidate and strengthen our

power in India, so as to render it secure against
all the perils by which it may be assailed. There
can be no question, then, as to which speculation
should receive English support. If the money
must be sent out of the country, it should surely
be for Indian, rather than for Russian, railways.
Looking, then, to the second part of the ques-
tion, the amount and security of the returns, the
conclusion must be equally favourable to the
Indian speculation. The high character and well-
established reputation of Lieut.-Colonel KENNEDY
renders him an unimpeachable witness, in whose
statements implicit confidence may be reposed.
We all know him, and he knows that he is re-
sponsible not only for the accuracy. of his
assertions, but also for his calculations. Even
had he the will to deceive the English
people he would naturally hesitate before
he would encounter so great a risk, where
an avenging NEMESIS would bring retributive
justice on his head. But what do we know of
the Muscovite Engineers ? How could they bo
punished, if convicted of gross mendacity ? Their
present business is " to make things pleasant,"
and thereby enable the AUTOCRAT to carry his
darling project into practical execution. Sum-
mary and decisive vengeance would attend any
failure in that respect. But, while the autho-
rities of Sill. Petersburg were satisfied, they
might set the remonstrances and reproaches
of indignant and defrauded shareholders at defi-
ance, satisfied that they had rendered good ser-
vice to their despotic master, by assisting to
enable him "to spoil the Egyptians" by trans-
ferring an ample supply of the precious metal
from the Banks of England and France to those
of Russia.

Again, in the guarantee for a certain dividend,
we shall not insult the East India Company by,
placing its securities at a lower rate than those of
Russia. No war can disturb the one, although
it may seriously affect the other I The guarantee
given by the former with the assent of the Board
of Control may be looked on, to all intents and
purposes, as that of the English Government.
We need not point out how greatly different it is
as to the latter, or how it may be affected when-
ever the Government of St. Petersburg may deem
it expedient to cast aside the mask, and to attempt
to carry out the traditional policy of Cossackising

Europe.
The East India Company in ono case gives a
guarantee of 5 per cent., which will be received
by the shareholders—it the line can only pay its
own working expenses—a matter that may be re-
garded as perfectly certain. The working ex-
penses in Russia must also be provided for out of
the guarantee, and also a sinking fund of three-
quarters per cent., so that the Indian shareholders
will receive their full 5 per cent., while those in
the Russian companies will receive only 4 ,
even if the expenses are met in Russia, a ques-
tion by no means so clear when the nature
and extent of the passport system, and the impe-
diments to travelling in Russia are taken into con-
sideration. The Indian scheme also holds out a
strong hope of the shareholders receiving the ad-
ditional 5 per cent. from the profits of the line,
while the most sanguine cannot indulge in such an
anticipation respecting the Muscovite project. On
this part of the subject we may remind our reader s
that tie directors and managers will be English-
men in the one case, and either Russians or per-
sons amenable to Russian influence in the other.
We ask, then, English capitalists and speculators
to " icok on this picture and on that," and say
which of the undertakings are most deserving of
support, and which promises to be the best pay-
ing and most secure, not only for the present
time, but also in future years ?

Witchcraft in the middle of the Nineteenth
Century ! The Black Art still flourishing—in an
age of steam engines and el3ctric telegraphs !
Superstition triumphant to the last—at the very
time when we haVe made the lightuing our mes-

seuger, and when we are flying to and fro at our
free will and pleasure on the wings of the wind,
our cars harnessed to the Fiery Dragons of Fairy-
land !

It is a melancholy thought that here, in merry
England, in the year of grace, 1857, we should
witness such signal proofs of Folly and of Igno-
rance. A Folly as enormous as any illustrated by
the vagaries of HOPKINS the Witchilnder. An
Ignorance as crass, and, we had almost said bes
tial, in its ignominious abasement, as any we might
have expected to have had brought to light among
a horde of idolatrous savages, cannibals, or anthro-
Pophagi ! Talk of the Dark Ages ! Talk of these
Enlightened Times ! Sneer at our forefathers—
and
pique ourselves upon our own advance-
ment !
Assuredly, in the record given else-
where, in our impression of this evening,
we are forced to do a little penance
o
somewhat appropriately, upon the very eve of the
close of the penitential season of Lent—t
our heads with ashes, and clothe our limbs in
sackcloth—for so much miserable vanity,
arro-
gance, and self-sufficiency.
Thi f3o
.4e of Enlightenment I Read the extraordi.u.ary
narrative headed, " Witchcraft in the Pre, Sent
Day "—to be found in another part of our Jo Ur-
or ot h
wrte
enal, on this 7th of April, 1857—and then SA y,
' when you have read, how much reason the pt e-
sent generation has to be so systematically yell, -
glorious ! It tells us, this astonishing narrative,
How an English yeoman, farming about forty
acres of land, in the Parish of Hockhani, thinking
his wife "bewitched," applied for assistance to a
local magistrate. It tells us this ; and relater;
what was " the consequence," as Suer ViTzi,LEB,