The Sun.
London, England, 1845-08-07 00:00:00

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61. 14s.

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CHELMSFORD •AID BURY
RAILWAY.

Elsewhere we have given a notice—necessarily brief
from the pressure of so many meetings—of the opening
of the Railways to Ely and Norwich. Most sincerely
do we congratulate the Proprietors of the Eastern
Counties' Company and of the united Norfolk Company
on this consummation of a great undertaking. We
trust and believe that it will add materially to the pros-
perity of the Eastern Counties' Shareholders, and
render auspicious to both parties the amalgamation so
happily effected between the Companies whose lines
meet at Norwich.

It will be seen that great praise was awarded to the
contractors for the energy and liberality which they
have displayed during the progress of the works.
Never was praise better deserved. Messrs. Grissell and
Peto, and Mn. Jackson, who was associated with them
in the undertaking, have most admirably fulfilled their
part, and one cannot, in simple justice, but echo the
commendation which, on Tuesday, was so amply be-
stowed, and which, coming as it did from quarters so
highly influential, most have been as gratifying to those
who received, it as it was honourable to those who be-
stowed it.

With respect to the general question of railway corn-
muuication for the East Anglian districts, the route to
Norwich, via Cambridge and Ely, is circuitous undoubt-
edly—not less than 1251 miles ; and it is not to be sup-
posed that the traffic between the metropolis. and such
an important place as Norwich—to say nothing of it
almost equally imp,:rtant sister town, Yarmout—will
continue to take that course a moment after a more
direct line of communication is opened. The distance
by the Eastern Counties' line to Colchester, and thence
by the Eastern Union and Eastern Union Extension to
Norwich, will he only 113 miles, and by the Chelms-
ford and Bury, when extended to Thetford, only
With respect to this last line, by the way, we are
glad to perceive an advertisernent of " the Extension to
Thetford," which appears in our advertising columns
(for which extension an additional capital of 250,0004
is required) that " by a special arrangement with the
solicitor of the Eastern Counties' Railway, they (the
Provisional Committee of the Cbelmford and Bury) are as-
sured of the concurrence of the good offices of that im-
portant Company in the formation of their line." There
is more good sense and sound discretion in this determi-
nation than we have been accustomed to observe in the
proceedings of the Eastern Counties' officials. It ought
clearly to be the policy of the managers of a great trunk
lien like the Eastern Counties to give every possible en-
couragement to feeders from all quarters, whether pro-
moted by parties in or out of " the House ;" for how-
ever independent in respect of management such feeders
may be at first, they are sure to be absorbed and amal-
gamated at last. And, least of all, should they be with-
held from giving such encouragement from any narrow
calculation of the gain to be made by compelling the pub-
lic to travel some dozen )r half-dozen miles more by rail
than there is any occasion for. They may rest perfectly
assured that the best line for the public will always, in
the long run, be the best also for railway proprietors.
We have always thought well of the Chelmsford and
Bury branch, and have reason to know that it is thought
equally well of by the members of the Legislature most
conversant with the traffic wants of the East Anglian
districts. The members of the Committee of the House
of Commons, to whom the Norwich Direct, and Bury
and Cambridge lines were referred, took occasion re-
peatedly to advert to the Chelmsford and Bury line
(though it was not formally before them), as being one
which was indispensable to the welfare of the commer-
cial and agricultural interests of Suffolk and Norfolk ;
and when giving the decision against the Norwich Di-
rect, Lord Sandon, the chairman, emphatically observed,
" The Committee was decidedly in favour of the Chelms-
ford and Bury scheme."—Railway Record.

LORD MELBOURNE'S OPINION

OF SIR R. PEEL'S MINISTRY.

At the annual meeting of the Fishmongers' Company,
Lord Melbourne was presented with the freedom of the
Company, and was afterwards present at the dinner.
His health having been proposed by the Prime Warden,
and drunk with great applause—
Lord MELBOURNE rose and said—Mr. Prime Warden
and gentlemen, before I thank this Company for the
great honour which they have done me, I must express
my regret and concern that the infirm state of my health
has compelled me so often to decline the invitations with
which I have been honoured, and to put off for so long a
time the reception of the honour which I have at length
received this morning, and which I highly value and
esteem.—(Hear, hear.) I assure yob, gentlemen, that I
consider it a very high distinction to be enrolled among
the members of a Corporation so ancient and respectable,
and which has always been distinguished by its steady
adherence to the enlightened and constitutional
principles of civil and religious liberty.—(Hear,
hear.) In proposing my health, the Prime Warden
has adverted, ,in terms highly flattering and compli-
mentary, and very gratifying to my feelings, to the Ad-
ministration of which I was the leading Member.—
(Hear.) That Administration is now defunct. We are
gone, as Members of and as a Government. But pars
metier nostrum is still adhuc viva et superstes ; the cor-
poreal frame may he said to have expired, and to be con-
signed to the tomb, but the immortal spirit, the ignea
vis animi, is still alive, and not only alive, but active and
efficient.—(Loud cheers.) Our principles and opinions,
our views of public affairs, still survive us.—(Renewed
cheers.) They have been adopted and acted upon by
those who replaced us, and they have been productive,
during the session of Parliament that is just about to
terminate, of more than one wise and beneficial measure
of measures which I believe to be fit and essential, to be
founded upon sound principle, based upon good example,
and which, I have the greatest hopes, will confer lasting
benefit upon the part of the empire to which they espe-
cially apply, and upon the community at large. At
.the same time we all well know that these very area •
sures have been productive, in one House of Parliament,
of much difference of opinion—that they have been the
cause of much bitter feeling, not to say malignant in-
vective, being levelled against the Right Hon. Baronet at
the head of her Majesty's Government, upon the notion
of some supposed inconsistency of these measures with
his farmer opinions and conduct.—(Hear, hear.) Placed
as I have been by circumstances' in the position of an
antagonist and competitor to that Right Honourable
Baronet, it is natural that I should look into and ex.-
amine his conduct, not with hostile jealousy or any
hostile feeling, but with care and anxiety.—(Hear,
hear.) It is natural that I should be anxious to
learn what his conduct has been, what have
been his measures, what have been the prin-
ciples upon which they have been founded, and
what the language in which he has urged and en-
forced those principles.—(Hear, hear.) I have made
such inquiry and examination, and I think myeelf bound
to state, as the result of it, that I know of nothing in the
antecedent conduct of the Right Hon. Baronet which
should, in point of consistency, preclude him from bring-
ing forward either the measures which he has brought
forward, or any other measures in the same direction
which he may convince his understanding or persuade
his conscience would- be both expedient and conduce
to the benefit and advantage of his country.—(Loud
cheers.) Thus much I have thought it my duty to
say. I had intended to have said it in Parliament,
but I have never been able to find an opportunity of
doing so. But, indeed, when I look at the assembly which
I have the honour of addressing, and consider how it is
composed, I do not think I am likely to find a better
opportunity of making this declaration than that which
is now presented to ine.—(Cheers.) Gentlemen, I thank
you again for the honour which you have conferred upon
me. I wish you success in all your undertakings. I
know you will undertake nothing which, while it is for
your own benefit, is not also for the advantage of your
country ; and wishing you collectiv:ly and individually
happiness, prosperity, peace, and every earthly blessing,
I respectfully take my leave. (The noble Lord sat
down amid loud cheers.)