The Sun.
London, England, 1868-05-26 00:00:00

ACROSS THE ALPS IN FOUR HOURS.

Letters appear in one or Iffil'of the -Arming papers
describing a trial trip over the Mont Cenis Railway. The
Times correspondent thus speaks of it :—" The time
hitherto employed (in the various trial trips recently made)
in getting across the mountain has been a little over four
hours of actual locomotion. But stoppages are inevitable,
elileCi for the purpose of watering the engine, and the
journey will hardly take less time than 51 hours, at least
under present arrangements. It is a great object
to economise weight, and consequently much water
cannot be carried. The unnecessary weight of
the French engines has to be saved in other ways.
The provision of the French law by which machinery
patented and used in France must proceed from French
manufactories has been disadvantageous to this company.
It would not be surprising if English engines were here-
after to be introduced on the Italian side of the mountain,
which is the more difficult of the two. The engines must
then be changed at the station before arrival at the
French frontier, there marked by a large stone with
`ltalia' on one side and `France' on the other. On
the journey from Susa there are four stoppages for water,
and two on the ascent from St. Michel on the journey to
Italy. Going down the mountain no stoppages for water
occur, because no steam power is used, the train proceed-
ing- by its own momentum. When under steam no more
pressure is put upon the central rail than is really neces-
sary for perfect safety, because the greater the resistance
opposed the larger must be the force employed to over-
come it, and the greater, consequently, the consumption of
fuel and the wear and tear of machinery. The stations
and watering-places on the Italian side are Giaglone,
St. Martin, Bard, and La Grande Croix. Half a
mile below Bard is one of the worst-looking bits of
the whole line, a combination of sharp curves
and stiff gradients. At the Grande Croix the ascent is
about terminated, the train gets to the plateau, and passes
the Hospice. Then comes the frontier station, and the
descent begins. Lanslebourg is the main station on the
line, and the locomotive depot, and it is there that the
engines are at present changed. After it come the
Termignon, Bramans, Modane (the French end of the
Mont Cenis tunnel), Lapraz, and St. Michel. Most of
the stations are at present of a very primitive description,
and the wretched hamlets near them are not likely to
supply a great many travellers to the line. The natives
contemplate the passing trains with an air of 'com-
bined wonder and amusement. Until they actually saw
them running, few of the Cenisian rustics believed in the
possibility of a railway over their rugged altitudes ever
becoming a reality. The terror it was supposed horses and
mules would feel at sight and sound of the rapid train
and snorting engines was not very apparent in the animals
we yesterday pa.:-.ssed upon the road. Some of my fellow-
travellers, who bad crossed the mountain to Susa
on the previous day, told me they had passed
two diligences, the team of one of which was
a little uneasy, and needed somebody at their heads,
but the horses of the other not only shewed no alarm,
but actually had the audacity to profit by a bit of level
ground and try to race with the engine, with which, by
dint of whipcord, they managed for a short way to keep
up. The speed of the trains on this line never exceeds
twelve, or at most thirteen miles. For the present the
managers of the line allow 51 hours for the journey
each way. The undertaking is new, and there are various
little things that may be susceptible of improvement. By
degrees it is hoped and expected that the time will be re-
duced to five hours, but there seems no probability that
the speed will be augmented. The gain is sufficiently
great as it is to constitute an enormous improvement over
diligence travelling. To say nothing of the infinitely
greater comfort and space to be found in the carriages, the
gain is at least six hours. Owing to the uncertainty of the
exact time of arrival of the diligences, the railway com-
panies are obliged to allow a margin, so that although the
passage of the mountain is effected by diligence, under
the most favourable circumstances, in nine hours, twelve
hours elapse between the arrival of the train at St. Michel
or Susa and the departure of the corresponding train from
Susa or St. Michel."

An Australian paper states that one effect of the
outrage on the Duke of Edinburgh is the rapid increase of
Orange lodgs in the Australian colonies.

The Sultan. of Turkey has just ordered to be
manufactured in Paris a silver table, the price of which
will not be less than three millions of francs !
REPRESENTATION OF BOSTON.—There is a rumour
La Boston that Mr. J. ilinde Palmer is to be ino,o
to contest that town in the Liberal interest.

THE Exc.INUEIL BALANCES.—The following is a
statement o! the balances in the Exchequer at the end of
each financial year ending 31st March, since 1858, inclu-
sive : —lB5B, £6,657,802 ;1859, £7,782,082 ;1860, £7,972,863;
1861, £6,672,132 ; 1862, £5,288,675 ; 1863, £7,263,838 ;
1864, £7,352,547 ; 1865, £7,690,922 ; 1866, £5,851,314 ;
1867, £7,291,151; 1863, £4,782,000. The average for the
ten years 1858-67 was £6,983,332 ; so that at the end of
Marchlast the balances were £2,201,332 below the average
of the ten years, and £506,000 below the amount in the
lowest of these years, 1862.

YOUTHFUL HEROISM. —Mr. Philip Newman's
three children were playing beside the River Stour, at
Sturminster Newton, a day or two ago, when the youngest,
boy 16 months old, fell into the water. The eldest, a girl
named Bethia, without the slightest hesitation, jumped in
after him, although the water was very deep. She suc-
ceeded in catching hold of her little brother, and turned
towards the bank, but, being unable to swim, both
were sinking rapidly, when the other child, Richard, aged.
7 years, instead of running for assistance, lay down on the
brink and managed to reach the little boy, whom his sister
pushed towards the shore. As soon as he had placed the
little one on the grass he caught hold of his sister's dress,
which was scarcely visible, just as she was sinking, and
dragged her ashore. Restoratives were used, and she is
now recovering rapidly. The safety of both children is
attributed to the coolness of the little fellow.

MR. GLADSTONE AND HIS CHURCH.—The War-
rington Guardian states that at a large meeting held at
Warrington to listen to a lecture by the Rev. Dr. Mas-
gingham, Mr. William Beamont, the chairman, an ex-
mayor of Warrington,-said :At the last Lancashire election
when he had the honour of proposing three members for
South Lancashire, a gentleman mentioned a circumstance
to him, and remarked that he rather suspected the consis-
tency of Mr. Gladstone as a Churchman. He gave his
authority for the statement, as he had no desire to make
anonymous slanders, and quoted the paper in which the
story had been circulated, that Mr. Gladstone was owner
of a church in Liverpool, from which lie received £7OO a,
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Gladstone wrote him a letter of remcnstrance. He was
at that time Chancellor of the Exchequer, and this
humble surveyor of taxes was his servant. To the honour
of that surveyor, he replied that though Mr. Glad.
stone was Chancellor of the Exchequer, and himself
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UTTE RCUPS AND DAISIES.
THIS EVENING.

THEATRE ROYAL, HOLBORN.