The Sun.
London, England, 1845-10-06 00:00:00

cupidity in their various offices, retard its advance in the
glorious mission it has to perform. Because we are
the friends and advocates of the railway system, we
are desiruns of lopping off its imperfections, wherever
they are discovered. On the opinion which we have
here given, as to the policy of full publicity being given
of the state of works in the course of their construction,
we are borne out by a recent act of the Belgian Govern-
ment. Foreseeing that the benefits of railways will
always be regulated by the power they have of
responding to the demands of the public, they have
wisely decreed that their first formation shall be watched
with a jealous eye ; and that, whenever it is deemed
necessary to enforce upon those who execute the works
a due performance of the contracts they enter into, re-
ference shall be made to the last court of appeal, the
public, by making known to them the actual state and
condition of the works. This determination once taken,
there is small probability that ever it will be found ne-
cessary to be carried into effect—the knowledge that
such a corrective bangs over them will keep the parties
to the observance of their duty. These remarks, al-
though they have been called forth by complaints re•
specting the llavre line in particular, we intend to apply
generally to every line in the course of construction.
With respect to railways yet to be constructed, we
would avail ourselves of the experience which the pas!
has given us to avoid the justice of the censures we
have felt ourselves bound to pass upon this occasion.
We would advise directors to be cautious in taking
the first step after gaining the concession of their
line ; that is, in fixing upon the party who shall
construct it. 'Whoever or whatever that party may
be, it should be a stringent condition that he be not
a director, that he be not one of the company, or
that his interest in the deposit be not so great as to give
him a preponderating influence in the deliberations of the
society. The party, le hether a company or an intli•
vidual, who undertakes the execution of the works.
should stand in his natural position as a servant, under
certain conditions, of the directors. If, on the contrary, he
be one of their body, or has an overwhelmine influence
in their deposits, he will execute the works not as they,
but as ho, may think proper, and will be his own judge
into tke bargain. There will be no control over him
except that which his own immediate interests may
dictate. The disadvantageous potion which we have
here supposed is the very one respectively occupied by
the Directors of the Havre line and their contractor.
Hence the complaints that have been publicly made re-
specting th , defective condition of the works have not
drawn forth a single observation, but have been treated
with contemptuous silence, because the contractor re-
ports to the director, and the director is the contractor.
Another strict rule should be obserVed by Directors in
future contracts, and that is, that the interests of their
engineer and those of their contractor should not be
identical. The want of due precaution in this matter,
on the Havre line, has been productive of much well-
fuunded complaint.
We will now proceed to Paris, and show what has
been done to secure a railway communication thence to
Germany. Fur a line projected from Paris to Stras-
bourg there are no less than four competing companies.
At present the interest of the public seems to be equally
extended to every one of the four candidates. Not one
of them that we are aware of offers any pretensions that
ought to secure. to it a monopoly of public favour ; we
shall therefore dismiss them from our consideration, and
proceed to state the advantages of the line as a grand
fleans of communication from London to the German

'rontirrq.
This line is more desirable for France than it is for

England, because another, perhaps casier, and at all
events as convenient a means of reaching Germany from
London so as to avoid France altogether, has recently
b, en broached, and shall come in for a share of our no-
tice before e have concluded this review.

It is by a line to Strasbourg only that France can
secure to heiaelf the full advantages of easy cotnmer
cial intercourse with Germany. With a branch to
Bale, the Strasbourg and Paris line will put the
capital of the fashionable world into direct eommu-
nicae.en with Switzerland, southern Germany, and
Prussia ; and with these countries, we have the
authority el statistical documents pull:shed by the
French Governinent for saying, France transacts business
annuelly to the amount of 300,000,000 of francs, or
12,000,0001. sterling. The line has been surveyed, and
particulars respecting the localities through which it has
to pass, have been drawn together with much care and
fidelity. It paeses through no less than fifteen depart-
ments, having a population of nearly seven millions of
inhabitants. But the position in which it presents itself
to our mind as the one pre-eminently commanding public
interest, is that of its being the natural branch from the
trunk hoe of Havre to Parts, thus leading- us direct from
the sea to Germany. Strasbourg, Germany, and Swit-
zerland, receive annually, on an average, by land-car-
riage from Havre, upwards of 100,000 tons of cotton
and other colonial produce. The long, dreary, and
tedious way by which this merchandise is conveyed by
roulage through the vow heart of France by no means
contributes to the ad nce of commerce ; on the con-
trary, it has been, and is still the cause of much retarda-
tion, consequent depression in trade, and cor-
responding injurious consequences to the com-
munity. This line is also susceptible of other branches
besides the one to Bale ; and it is in contemplation to
construct one from Froyard to Metz, and one from
Metz to the Prussian frontier raid Sarrebruck. Although
We are the advocates of peace and not of war, yet the
same principle holds good in France as well as in Eng-
land ; there also, as with us, the best way to remain at
peace is to be prepared for war. For the purpose of
factlitating the transport of troops to the German fron-
tier, the line to Strasbourg, as well as its branches, .is
admirably calculated. If ever 'an invasion of France
shied.' be attempted from Prussia, the blow would ur.-
doubtedly come by the valley of the Sarre. The French
Government understand their position in that respect
well ; that valley they look upon as almost the most
important outpost on their extensive confines ; and, in
accordance with their recent policy, they will neglect
nothing that would tend to guard them against a sur-
prise. The line, with its branches, will form a sort of
triangle, from each outer terminus of which the
French could pour their forces over the frontiers with
rapidity. A French force by means of this line and
ite adjuncts, could readily be brought to bear upon
Nlayenee by the valley of the Sarre, and from Stras-
beurg upon Wurtzbourg, Weymar, Leipzic, Wur-
temburg, Berlin, Stuttgardt, Augsbourg, Ratisbon,
Dresden, Munich, Vienna, Tubingen, and Ulm. The
South-Eastern branch, either from Bois-le-Duc, or from
Nancy to Bale, by Neufchatcau, Epinal, Remiremont,
Siint Maurice, and Massevaux, permits the rapid con-
veyance of forces upon Bale ; and from Bale they
might bear upon Schuffhausen, the Lake of Constance,
Keinprii n, Lansberg, Munich and Vienna. By the
Thionville branch the French could penetrate to the
centre ef the Duchies of Luxembourgh and of the Rhine,
by the way which leads to Mayence, to Frankfort, and
by Coblentz and Westphalia to Berlin. That part of
the frontiers of France lying between Thionville,
Strasbourg and Bale, are exposed to the Prussians, the
German Confederation, and the Austrians. With all
these promised advantages both in a military and
cemmercial view, it is quite certain that the Stras-
bourg will meet with every encouragement from the
French Government.
There are no new, features in the lines to the south
worthy of remark, excsepetxptheeatd to be
that that porteiopeenoefd ie the
the line
which leads from Orleans to Kerzin, on the Orleans and
Bordeaux Railway, i
month of Oetriber or November next.
The No-Ahern Railroad has so recently been described
by ourselves, that it needs little farther observation at
the present moment, except to record the important fact
of the adjudication, which took place on the Bth ult.,
and which has been in favour of the great coalition of
the various rival lines, under the powerful influence of
the house of Rothschild. The adjudication is for a term
of thirty-eight years : and immediately on its announce
went, the shares of the new company went up in Paris
as high as 171. prem. Considerable firmness will be
given to this important enterprise when the scrip of the
new consolidated company are issued, which we hope
the directors will not long delay.
Quitting France, and proceeding in a northerly direc-
tion, we are arrested by the activity that is going on in
Belgium, for the purpose of completing all her ways of
communication, whether by railway or canal.
Before we notice what is now going forward in Bel-
gium in this respect, a few preliminary observations on
her present position and tendency may not be out of
place.
Since the period of the revolution which placed King
Leopold upon the Belgian throne, this country has made
rapid progress in agriculture, commerce, and manufac-
tures ; and at the present day it is quite certain that no
state in Europe offers more solid and permanent advan-
tages for the investment of capital. The policy of its
government is to encourage the spirit of private enter-
prise, and the association of foreign and domestic
capital fur all purposes of public utility ; and this,
taken in connexion with the dispositions of the
people, presents a bright prospect for a future corn-
tnercial career. Her geographical position on the
map of Europe renders it next to imp issible that any
traffic of importance Pen be carried on without her roads
being called into requisition. It is well knowntoerpearryt•
one who has paid attention to this flourishing kingdom,
that she is provided with minerals in great abundance,
and that her collieries are those from Which a great
of France receives almost exclusively its supply.
The prelent system of Belgian railroads is incom-
plete. The no;tlt and south, the rich provinces of
Hainault, Tourney, and the Fveneh and Belgian Flan-
ders, had hitherto no continuous railway connexion with
Brusseß, The Lille and Valenciennes line, by Douay,
by attracting teeveliere to prpssels by way of Valee_
eiennes, would have aat}iejuriops tendency towards Bel-
giue
between the west and the south , the Ft section of which
highest tsi
ti,d) considered
cto haeiri
terco.r,e to
indispensable,establish
4 junctionn d
of
th
would be from Monsern to Tourney. elaborate sur-
vey and report thereon has been made by the Belgian
authorities, the rpg4t4t of which is to establish the fact
that one of the lines which mnse effect the object of com-
pleting the general reseau of railways contemplated
fry the ita P? must pass from Tourpey toJurbise. which
would, as oteiereed above, conßee; the west with the
south. The immense utility vehieli hl FO4d lram4ld con-
fer upon the important localities through which it would
The valuations that liaise boil route wltn gi,(A.t. care, and
pee is an important consideration for the Government.
witheet the slightest exaggeration, prove incontestably
thet thc) minilpuip net produce to be expected from a line
between these tlict points, would yield a profit on the
capital embarked in its establishment of more than
17 per cent. The calculations of a Government
otlicer exhibit a profit to the Government of one millien
francs a year upon an outlay of six millions of francs.
Although the inclination of the Belgian authorities ap
pew-NI at present to be in favour of executing this line, et
seme not distant period, by the State alone, yet, as it will
be found necessary for the State to borrow furies for ;hat
purpose, it is not impossible that it will ultimately be
con .idered advisable to grant the concession te a body of
1:p ;fish capitalists, The line is intended to pass Lenze,
AO, and the valley of the petite Dendre to Jurbise, and