The Sun.
London, England, 1859-02-28 00:00:00

resort to the safe navigation of the Mutlah, rather
than incur the greater charges and numerous risks
of the Hooghly." There is not, indeed, at this
moment sufficient accommodation for the present
trade at Calcutta ; and when we look to not only
the probable, but certain, increase of trade, we may
readily agree in the conclusion of the Lieutenant
Governor, that "an auxiliary port is absolutely
required."

Such a port, however, could scarcely thrive if de-
nied fit communication with Calcutta. There is
nothing of the kind in existence, and therefore it
must be prepared, previous to the opening of the
port, in some shape or other.
The necessary facility can only be given in the
form of a railway or a ship canal. A company was
ready (in 1856), but none could be found so reckless
as to undertake the latter. The slightest encour-
agement would revive the railway scheme, but the
canal is entombed in " the sepulchre of all the Capu-
lets," and cannot be resuscitated. The railway could
be speedily and economically prepared; and each
section, when completed, would be available pro
tanto, but the canal, while it would cost twice as
much, would be utterly useless until it ran into the
Hooghly, and then it would only increase the
crowding in the port.
We have, therefore, no hesitation in saying that
all possible encouragement should be given to the
Mutlah Railway, not only as an investment that
will unquestionably yield a handsome return, 1)1.4
also as one that will promote the best interests of
the cation and satisfy the conscience of the
capitalist that he has for once promoted at the
same time his own welfare and that of the com-
munity, at large.

A metropolitan railway of communication is no
longer simply talked of, but is at this moment in
active preparation. The project has often and
often before been, as the phrase is, on the cards.
It is nowadays on the papers of the Rouse. Its
realisation in• full can manifestly be regarded
merely as a question of time. The Bill actually
passing through the House of Commons is
rapidly progressing through those successive
stages which will eventually in the ordinary
course, resolve it from a sketch of a measure into
a substantial enactment. The title of the Bill
explains its object more lucidly than the titles of
bills do generally. It
.being simply designated
nothing more nor less than the London Bridge
and Charing-cross Railway Bill—a bill already
read a first and a second time, and now on the eve
of being committed. The second reading took
place, by the way, not inappropriately, upon the
great festival of the pairing season—from which
latest 'fourteenth of February may virtually
be dated the happy union for once and for all of the
hitherto divided termini, there in the vicinity Of
London-bridge, here in the neighbourhood of the
River Thames, at Charing-cross. It is a central
line consequently running through the heart of
this vast and populous capital—bringing its dis-
jointed channels of traffic into direct and perma-
nent communication. The advantages accruing from
this we have often specified. To recapitulate now
what must be obvious to anyone at a glance were
doubly idle at this moment when we are hastening
towards the realization of our long-cherished wishes,
as to a boon provisionlly guaranteed by the formal
and deliberate decision of the imperial legislature.
It is deserving of some passing notice that the
South-Eastern shareholders have recently decided
upon furthering this important project with all
possible cordiality. After a certain show of oppo-
sition, a resolution was passed the other day autho-
rising the directors to apply for power to raise
£300,000 additional capital in aid of the projected
line connecting London-bridge with Charing-cross.
So enormous and so various are the benefits that
must accrue to the whole of our metropolitan com-
munity from the opening up of this grand central
line of railway intercommunication—that we
cannot believe there will be any difficulty
whatever raised (out of motives of a most false
economy) in reference to any reasonable compensa-
tion claimed for property required in the bold
sweep of these most rational and necessary inno-
vations. As surely as " the labourer is worthy
of his hire"—is property in populous dis-
tricts, like these, worthy of its value in the
presence of grand ameliorative schemes, such as
this of the London • Bridge and Charing Cross
railway—a project that must, perforce, affect with
instant, permanent, and increasing benefits all
ranks and classes of our metropolitan population.
What is taken out of one pocket, will be at once
replaced in the other. There will be a disburse-
ment with the right hand, but considerably more
than a mere reimbursement with the left. The
Bill now coming on in committee is equivalent, in
fact, to a substantial surety for the remunerative
reorganization of the Railway System

first of all of the Metropolis itself, and
eventually even, of the whole of the United
Kingdom. For there can be little doubt that the
London-bridge and Charing-cross Railway will
prove, in the end, but the precursor of that
superb central railway terminus connecting all

the railways of our metropolis, without exception,
at a single point—a project we ourselves have in
these columns so frequently, and earnestly, and
hopefully advocated.

We now conclude our notices of Mr. MACINTOSH'S

most interesting and most patriotic contribution to
the national defences of the country. We hope he
will yet find his reward in the national gratitude;
and that the present Ministers will not fail to open
their eyes to the invaluable invention, so
strangely neglected by their predecessors. Lord
PANMURE was always an obstinate man, because
he could not comprehend the matter, and therefore
he ignored the possibility of anything being good
which did come down to his inventive faculty. His
only notion consisted in the superlative merits of
redtap,
too dearly
for which the. country and her brave sons
have paid
We are glad to see that Mr. MACINTOSH will
to-morrow illustrate his wonderful invention, in a
lecture at three o'clock, at the United Service
Institution, Scotland-yard.
Mr. Macintosh remarks that he " was deterred
llin
from taking legal proceedings the Govern-
ment, with the view of cancme
.1; theth e
War official in t inter-
dict, r
diet, as it was intimated to
Depart-
ment that ample compensation would be granted
me for the very heavy pecuniary loss I should sus-
tain on account of the Government having forcibly
taken possession of my invention at a time when
heir adoption by foreign Governments during a
;ontinuanee of war would have been to me of the
utmost value."
It will appear that the War Department consi-
dered it necessary to make further experiments, and
as several were made, their expense was now
charged to the public account. It must appear
strange, that after the Minister of War had offi-
cially- interdicted the sealing of his patent on the
ground of the undoubted efficacy of his invention,
any further trials were necessary. Procrastination
was more the purport than the view of obtaining
any further information relative to the practical
utility of Mr. Macintosh's invention.
Although the Minister of War had forcibly taken
possession of Mr. Macintosh's invention still mi-
nute inquiries were addressed to him by Lieut.-Col.
Lefroy, chief of the scientific branch of the War
Department (26th February, 1856), relative to the
large exportation of combustible fluid used by him,
which was being sent to the Continent.
Mr. Macintosh again addressed Lord Panmure
(ith April, 1856) calling his lordship's attention to

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