The Sun.
London, England, 1868-09-16 00:00:00

THE WANING POWER OF NAPOLEON.

Speaking of the danger of war the Pall Iliall Ca:ette
says that its being bred in France is the clearest
circumstance in the whole imbroglio. That it is
created by the Emperor himself is the belief
of almost everybody who believes in it at all. And
so it may be. And yet it is possible enough that he is
preparing unwillingly for a war which, though it may
revivify the fast-fading hopes of his dynasty, may also
ruin them in one campaign. If it be true that the Emperor,
seeing himself more and more isolated as a sovereign
amongst sovereigns, and as a monarch amongst his people,
listens with an anxious and yielding mind to the plans of
ambitious soldiers who are always for " striking a blow,"
then what the Emperor is doing is very natural, but not
very noble, or likely to accomplish more than the post-
ponement for a little while of the inevitable day when
another break will be made in that " dynasty" of his. All
—but the enfeebled mind (we will not answer for that)—
the conditions which might excite him to such a course
are present in enormous force. That he lives more and
more in isolation, that his good " cousins " throughout
Europe and many of his subjects at home are dropping
away from him, is one of the most natural things in exist-
ence. The leaf that falls from the tree to-day, and cannot
be stayed, is not more strange a sight than the
waning power of a ruler like Napoleon 111. Personal
Government is a splendid undertaking ; but there is a
certain law of nature which makes it unstable always,
and which at least leaves nothing so obvious about it as
that it must soon come to an end. " Napoleon is France "
may be a pretty boast when Napoleon is forty, when
time has not yet revealed the cost of the pedestal on
which he stands, when everybody agrees to postpone, as
something too remote to affect the conduct of the hour,
the momentous question, What will happen when Napo•
leon France ? Personal government might be the
most perfect thing on earth, if wisdom and benevolence
could prolong a ruler's life and sustain his faculties
under the weight of laborious years ; as it is, the most
excellent sovereign of that kind has to resign after a little
while, and he tmore completely has been the government
the more probable it is that after him will be the deluge.

THE METROPOLITAN EXTENSION
RAILWAY.

On Tuesday morning a select party or gentlemen went
for a trial trip on what is called the Metropolitan Exten-
sion Railway, being, in fact, an extension of that admi-
rably convenient line which was originallyknown as "The
Underground," but the more euphonious and in
every way better name of which is " The Metropolitan."
The new portion traversed by Tuesday's party
in perfect ease and comfort commences at Praed-
street, Paddington, at a junction between the existing
Edgware - road and Bishop's - road stations, passes
through Paddington proper, crosses the Uxbridge-road,
skirts Kensington Gardens, looks in at Bayswater,
touches at Notting-hill and Kensington, and has
its present termination in the Gloucester-road, in
a district which was once vulgarly Old Brompton,
more genteelly Earl's-court, but which, we believe, has
now been absorbed in the all-absorbing South Kensington.
The Metropolitan Extension boasts of five stations.
Coming westward, the first is at Paddington, immediately
facing the Great Western Hotel, with which establish-
ment it is connected by two subways. The second is at
Bayswater, in the Queen's-road, just south of the well-
known tavern the Royal Oak. The third is at Notting-
hill Gate, in the Uxbridge-road, a few yards east
of where the old gate used to stand, and close
by Pembridge-crescent. The fourth is in Kensington
High-street, almost immediately facing the Ken-
sington 'Vestry Hall ; and the fifth is in Gloucester-
road, Old Brompton, lying between Hereford-square on
the one side, and the enormous " terraces" and "gardens"
and "places" which attempt to arrogate to themselves a
factitious importance by tacking on " Queen's Gate, Hyde
Park " to their otherwise insignificant names. All
-,these
stations are capital specimens of simple and tasteful archi-
tectural decoration. The platforms, which are all 300 ft.
long (with the exception of that in Gloucester-
road, which is 400 ft.), are approached from an
elegant balcony, running crosswise, with staircases
descending to the up and down sides respectively, while
the arrangements for ladies' rooms, lavatories, &c., are
decidedly superior to those found on much more preten-
tious lines. The length of the new extension railway,
which has two lines of rails on the narrow gauge principle,
is from end to end—that is to say, from the junction with
the main line at Praed-street to the terminus at
Gloucester-road—about two miles and a half. It is
intended to carry it on as far as Alfred-place,
opposite the South Kensington Museum, a third of
a mile farther, where it will join the Metropolitan
District line, extending thence to Palace-yard, and finally
intended to pass along the embankment to Cannon-street.
This is, however, looking some time ahead. The line
traversed on Tuesday, and which will be open for public
traffic on the Ist proximo, has easy curves throughout, the
sharpest being one furlong radius upon leaving the main
line. The traffic will commence on the Ist of Octo-
ber. It is intended to run ninety trains each way
throughout the day, at intervals of from six to eight
minutes, and it is calculated that the entire distance
between Gloucester-road, Earl's-court, and Moorgate-
street will be traversed in thirty-three minutes. At all
the stations a refreshment-room is provided, under the
management of Messrs. Spiers and Pond, the only con-
tractors bold enough to attempt to slay the dragons of
Mugby-junctionisin and conventionality, which have so
long been the bane of railway travellers. It is long since
the public have had such a boon as the opening of the
Metropolitan Extension Railway will prove to them.

Three men were killed by the falling of the wall of

an old house which was being taken down in Belfast on
Monday. .othemwere injured.
GREAT YARMOUTH.—At the North Norfolk re-
vising barrister's court, at Great Yarmouth, a lengthened
argument took place with reference to an objection made
by the Liberals against 500 Conservative voters of Yar-
mouth, on the ground that being still dc facto electors of
that borough (which will not be disfranchised until the
close of the present Parliament) they could not be placed
on the register for North Norfolk for 1868.9. The bar-

rister (Dr. Alidy) took time to consider his decision.

SERIOUS ACCIDENT AT BRIGHTON.—A very
serious accident happened a few days since at 2, Regency-
square, where M. Pericles Zarifi, a Greek gentleman, was
visiting some friends. While he was in the balcony the
woodwork forming the front of the structure suddenly gave
way in the centre, and the unfortunate gentleman fell
headlong to the pavement. By the fall ho sustained a
severe lacerated wound at the top of the forehead, a wound
of the cheek, and abrasions of the skin over the arms and
legs, but fortunately no bones were broken, and he is now
in a fair way of recovery. —brighton Examiner.
THE DEAN OF ELY ON THE CHURCH.—TIIO
Dean of Ely preached a sermon at the parish church,
Kendal, on Sunday last, advocating, at the request of the
bishop of the diocese, the claims of the Church Building
Fund of the Diocesan Society. Towards the conclusion
he spoke as follows :—" It would be wrong in me within
this place to introduce any political sentiments, but I feel
bouud to say, while enforcing on you the claims of this
society, that the signs of the times clearly indicate
that members of the Church of England will
have to do much more than they have hitherto
done for their Church. Whether it may have been from
indifference, or from too much reliance upon what has
been done for them by those who have gone before us, it is
quite clear that the Church will before long have to rely
far more on herself than she has yet done, The Church
has hitherto been sheltered under the protection esta.'
blished for it in former days, but by the aid of these
societies, and the devotion of the people to the main.
tenanpo and the protection of the Church, she will 136
prepared to exist without such support, dektkistak