The Sun.
London, England, 1845-10-08 00:00:00

RAILWAYS AND THEIR
---, RESULTS.
,
--- ' ritailways may be regarded as a new form of landed pro-
--- i -\ e4y ; the shareholders have a direct interest in the soil,
, ).. , , .... are the most dependent for the remuneration of their
~ --/-- , yon the general prosperity of the community. They
,e<!.../ z-,.:':,,-.
....1 prepared lines of traffic such as could not have been
<IL ,--:.----:,--:-„„ -f.• ." fined until they were fast being realised. Pope has
5.,...... are
'A ' ridiculed Dryden for the extravagant wish uttered by one of
..... j
his ranting heroes :
" Ye gods, annihilate both time and space,
And make two lovers happy ;"
but merchants have obtained what was denied to lovers ;
steam has " annihilated time and space," but the happiness
to be conferred depends upon the use to be made of the ad-
vantage.
We are not of those who view the progress of railway specu-
lations with unmixed alarm, " though the cry is still, they
come ;" their advent appears to us auspicious of advantage to
all classes ; they bring producers and consumers into imme-
diate contact ; they dispel that mystery which ignorance of
the operations of each other threw over the relations by
which they are united ; they enable labour to circulate;
and they create new varieties of employment for an in-
creasing population. Their continued extension must hasten
the dowttfal of monopoly, for persons will not long
endure that the value of an immense amount of pro-
petty should be made to depend on the most variable
of climates and the most uncertain of chances. Pro-
prietors will not endure that the price of shares should be
determined by the fluctuations of the barometer. Just at this
moment, while the ardour for obtaining investments so ab-
sorbs attention as to prevent men from looking forward to the
means of securing sure returns, the question of the perpetua-
tion of traffic may to some extent escape notice; but it must
.ome at no distant date, and then the railway aristocracy
will find that their only safety is in perfect freedom of trade.
Without adopting the golden dreams of a recent writer in
the Westminster Review—at least to their full extent—we
Lave a confident belief that railways will originate great im-
provement in agriculture ; they supply to the farmer the great
incentive of markets for his produce; and as soon as the
farmers distinctly perceive what they are now beginning to
learn, that their prosperity depends upon the prosperity of
their customers, they will identify tbeir interests with those of
the manufacturers, and see that they arc themselves in
reality manufacturers, and dependent upon the economic laws
which render trade prosperous or otherwise.
The progress of railways has shown that each successive
crisis of distress, which has produced much misery and
confusion in the commercial world, must be attributed
not to want of capital, but to want of facilities for
its investment in the remunerative employment of
labour. Had our commerce been unshackled twenty years
ago, capital would not have been sunk in distant mines
or wasted in foreign loans. It was sent abroad because
it could not be profitably employed at home. Our
restrictive laws fixed a limit to production, and tyrannically
said to every industrial pursuit, "Thus far shalt thou go, and
no further." Monopoly aped the attributes of the Divinity, and
arrogantly sell itself up in the place of Providence. English
capital, to escape from its thraldom, sought refuge in adven-
t.urea that bordered on insanity. Since that time monopoly
has slightly relaxed its grasp; the bird of prey, indeed, still
clutches us, but the talons no longer rankle in our sides. A
means of home investment has been opened to us, and its
onward course must sweep away everything that impedes
domestic investment, and its necessary consequence, the free
development of British industry.—The League.

RAILWAY EXACTIONS.

(From the First Number of the North British Railway
and Shipping Journal, a new Railway Paper, published
in Glasgow.)
Tht re is a great desire on the part of every one con-
nected with the management of public conveyances,
INltetl Er these be carried on by means of coaches or
canals, by steam-boats or railways, to screw and exact
from :he public the very last farthing that the latter can
aff)r.l.

Tt e only calculation, on the part of these individuals,
seems to be, not how they can make their trades profit-
al le, by meetirg the demand on fair and equitable terms,
but how, in fact, they can give inferior accommodation,
and impose charges, not altogether amounting to actual
prohibition, upon travelling.
In the Case of steam-boats and coaches, however,
then: is a remedy: the high seas and the public roads
are not patent to them, as plant belonging to the medium
in, or upon which, they move ; and consequently, steam-
boats can oppose steam-boats, and coaches, coaches.
But with railways, as yet, it is a very different matter—
that interest has the monopoly all to itself, and the con-
sequence is, as we have remarked above, that the last
farthing is exacted, and the least possible accommodation
given, to that simple and suffering body—the public.
Now, it is with no whatever towards railways
that we take up the pen to denounce this error—for
error we must call it—on the part of proprietors or di-
rectors; but, on the contrary, it is with the most friendly
feelings towards them and their purses that we do so,
for we feel convinced, that unjust as the system is to-
ards the public, it is so, in as great a degree, towards
themselves and their constituents.

The number of railways in Scotland, as yet, is small;

sad it has been customary when the charges by these
vc been complained ef, as being excessive, to point to
the still higher rates imposed in England ; but that, we
conceive, is no argument at all : we wish to view Scot-
tish railways as pertaining to the country in which
they exist, - and therefore the system laid down
for their management should accommodate itself
te the feelings, habits, and means of the Scottish people.
The English are a richer people than the latter ; that is,
there are more individuals amons;st them who can afford
to travel by first and second-class carriages, and, there-
fore, it may be said that the railways are mainly sup-
ported by these classes,—the working people being, in
fact, entirely prohibited (excepting in a few cases) from
travelling at all. But in Scotland it is different : there
are not, in that country, enough of first and second-class
passengers to support railways ; and, consequently, if
the English system were adopted, similar to that exer-
cised on the Birmingham and London, the South Western,
and the Grand Junction, our establishments might shut
up shop altogether.
The system arrived at, therefore, is Scotland seems
to consist in giving accommodation, and charging fares,
as nearly as possibly can be, approaching to the English
system, but only modified to such extent as will admit
an ascertained quantity that will submit to travel and
from that quantity to draw as much money as will pay
the proprietors a dividend.
What is the consequence ? People grumble and
Llama the directors, which, of course, the latter don't
care a straw about; but these grumblings, in the course
of time, grow into such a respectable form, as we shall
ee, that they reach the Legislature, and there it is that
the railway proprietors find out their mistake at last, but
perhaps when it is too late.
It is a very fine thing, to be sure, for a set of di-
rectors, to sit in a splendid boardroom, with courteous
engineers and civil secretaries at their sides, and upon
smooth soft leather chairs, to 101 l while they hear plans
developed for their own especial behoof ; but there are
such thine,s as committees of the House of Commons,
and thank God there is a House of Lords ; and as
see.r,ie'y any railway now exists but what may improve
its traffic by an extension here, or protect its interests
with a branch there ; it happens so that the gentlemen
of the leather-bottomed chairs may find themselves
standing at the bar of a Parliamentary Committee, and
rubbing shoulders with humble witnesses, while the fate
of these branchers lies in the dictum of five discreet
M.P.'s, who have a far greater sympathy and respect for
third class passengers, than for Lords of the board
room. Then it is that the poor third °lamer at last find
out that Is; is something better than a horse or an ox,
and Os at he has a " locus stanili," more dignified than
that of a mere be-cindered, be-frozen, be-rained upon,
pcn ny- a • miler.
How very galling, under these circumstances, must it
be to these dignified dirt ctors, to find that their nicely-
arranged plans for extending their sway and monopoly
are in clangor of
being knccked upon the head, and the
fee;i3z.s of the committee turned against them, by the
evi.lencz.. of :=ome simple countryman,•who graphically re-
latee, that for years, he and the rest of his compeers
have. been obliged to submit to heavy exactions and
comfortless journeys, in order to be carried in open car-
riages to only within four or five miles of their village.
Th,n it is that the poor girl's botribaz2tte gown, with
"the hole burned in it ; the labourer's Sunday hat, with
the damaged nap ; and the good wife's well-hained
shawl, with the indelible stain—not to mention the cin-
der- burned eyes-, the coughs and colds, the consump-
tions and deaths—all memorials of the railway system,
appear as incontrovertible facts in grave array, against
the shame-fiteed and detected directors.

Let us indulge in what may be considered by those
who have tripped it to St. Stephen's, as being too fa-
miliar a narrative for such a grave subject; but which
%vs?: bev, to assure the rearieros a true picture of what
does take place.
The ComMittee breaks up for the day—the pro-
moters of the different Bills retire to their temporary
apartments to consult—a half hour's quietude ensues ;
tlnd then may be seen pursy fat gentlemen throwing
themselves into cabs, or met 'twixt Charing-cross and
Temple-bar, puffing, blowing, and sweating, in the midst
of. a (le.:pairing canvass;—there is-no white-bait dinner
for them that Zlay. After their fatigues—;instead of re-
tiring to indulge in " port and a pleasing security”—they
must meet in consultation with wigless counsel, energetic
engineers, and sanguine solicitors, there to consider
whether, through the re-examination of some plyable
witnesses, Mr. Queen's Council Poss'ein, or Mr. Sergeant
Wring'em, can redeem their shattered case.
It is something like a consultation of doctors over a
dying patient, with this difference, that the fees are in a
far greater degree higher.
Well, then, they meet again next day, and the learned
gentlemen exhaust their powers of eloquence and per-
suasion. Never was there such a case before—such hits
made—such thrusts sent home. The Committee sit like
statutos,—patient,—imperturbable,—dignified. They
retire—Jie bell rings—al! rush on again with breathless
expectation-6.n awful silence pervades--the chairman,
with his hat agee, reads the finding of the Committee as
to the preamble—all is up with the Curcaddock and
c
ross-my-loof ;Junction Branches—the Drumbungo
direct hos carried the day. Out rush the latter, not
unlike sag col-boys whooping and hallooing, on the
anr. uncetnent of a holiday ; white the former stand
gapnig, and wondering, and thinking, and, in fact,
looking vf ry like felons that have just got the last sen-
tence of the law pas' d upon them.
This
.is one of the 'says by means of which railway
etions are punishah'e.

CONTINENTAL RAILWAYS.
THE PENN LEILILLEUR COMPANY AND.. ITS

SITI3SCRIBERS.

The appeal against the decision of the Chamber of Com-
merce by several of the sulmcribers fhr shares in the above
Company, was brought before the Cour Royal of Paris on
Wednesday. The apportionment of the 30,000 shares granted
to the Company by the Rothschild Company after the
fusion was suspended until the result of the appeal was
known. On the Ist of September the Chamber of Com-
merce divided against the claims of several subscribers for
shares in the Pepin Lehalleur Company, which the direc-
trrs had declared void in consequence of the non-psyment.of
the first fifth within a period of eight days presented by a
circular. M. Da, counsel for M. Barreau, opened the case
before the Cour Royal. He said that his client, a gentleman
c f wealth, applied in the month of June for two hundred
and fifty shares, but the Directors accorded him only one I