The Sun.
London, England, 1826-05-08 00:00:00

[MORNING •lIIMALD.3

When lord Lowther firit set on foot an inquiry
into the state, revenues, and management of the dif-
ferent turnpike roads in and about-London, we were
among the ,first to hail his interference as likely to be
productive of Ale greatest public benefit—not only
from a belief that it would remove many manifest and
.gross abuses known to 'exist inmost of the Trusts,
but principally from a persuasion that the conse-
quence would be the taking away altogether of
„ turnpike gates in and about the metropolis, with their
•ttniti of vexations and annoyances;and the reduction
`of the tolls upon the remainder: ,What, however, is
.our surprise and regret, to perceive that, instead of
Oty such coesequences as "these, in the Bill of the
Noble Lord, which has just passed the 1-louse of Com-
' mons, we have a new and bulky volume, of no
less than IQO pages, of Legislation, which, instead of re-
. *loving, perpetuates the evil, with more teasing and
-Tilling powers than before, giving the power to a new
fit of Comrniviioners, and transferring the patronage
to, the Treasury, which, from experience, knows well
enough how to uses instead of the present Commis+
sinners, who may or may not have abused it ? We
have not space to bestow upon the numerous excep-
tionable clauses which appear in this bulky volume,
which wo fear has slipped through the House of Com-
MOUS, as, such' Bills too often do, without receiving
the -attention the importance of many of its provisions;
and,' indeed, the white of the subject, requires. Such
#n addition to, the Statute Book is in itself an evil of

.no small magnitude; and we ,shall be truly happy to
hear that its progress is arrested in the' Lords, either
by the opposition which we trust it will meet with
there, or by the proposed dissolution of Parliament
for we are convinced that, objectionable as the present
system may be, there is nothing in this Bill which
frvtill in any material respect lessen it. It has been sug-
gested to us by a correspondent, dila this Bill is the
commencement of a plan for placing all the roads of
din kingdom under the care of a Surveyor-General,
and that a person, ivhoin we need not name, has
-hem long paving the way to the possession of such
an appointment, by means not the moat creditsble or
praiseworthy. To give such an appointment as this,
with those of clerks, surveyors, toll.colleciors &c, all
over the kingdom, to the 'Treasury, would be a tole-
rably sweeping and 'extensive 'addition to what is
falsely called. the influence 'of the Crown, but what
would be more truly described as a power to set 'the
Ministers both above the Crown and the people. It
is by slow and insidious steps like these that undue
ilifilience is Created', and pu'ilic liberty undermined ;
we trust, therefore, that some means may yet be de.
*iced of arresting.the further progress of this measure,
it least till its probable consequences are more clefirly

and generally understood. We wonder what Mr.
Hume was about, that he should suffer such a Bill
as this to pass without exposing: in his, place in the
House of Commons, the abominably vexatious pro-
visions that are introduced into it. We hope that
Lord Lansdown and L'ord'King will take the trouble
to read over this, voluminous piece of legislation, and
that they will battle it in every one of its stages in the
House of Lords, provided they, agree with us in opi-
nion regarding it.