The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-02 00:00:00

RAILWAY RETURNS.

We extract from the Railway Magazine the sums
received on the principal Railways of Great Britain for
the week ending on the day of the month prefixed to
each. The return includes the money received for
passengers, parcels, carriages, horses, mails, and mer-
chandise:— -

Week
ended Name of Railway.
Feb. 24 Arbroath and Forfar

Total.
.E. s. d.
83 0 5,

24 Birmingham and Derby Junction 1,195 7 9-
23 Birmingham and Gloucester 1,652 8 9
23 Brandling Junction 750 12 3
23 Chester and Birkenhead 320 10 7
27 Dublin and Kingstown 560 11 9
25 Dundee and Arbroath l7l 13 Oi
24 Durham and Sunderland 636 8 8
24 Edinburgh and Glasgow 1,759 8 11
25 Eastern Counties and North Eastern 3,077 8 1
24 Glasgow, Kilmarnock, and Ayr 1,191 3 11
24 Glasgow and Greenock 689 13 5
24 Grand Junction 6,259 9 9
24 Great North of England 1,249 1 8
25 Great Western
23 Liverpool and Manchester
24 London and Birmingham
29 London and Blackwall 582 2 0
24 London and Brighton
27 London and Croydon
29 London and Greenwich 638 0 9
25 London and South Western .......
23 Manchester, Bolton and Bury 740 18 11-
24 Manchester and Birmingham 2,763 3 11
24 Manchester, Leeds, and Hull Assoc 5,349 10 3
24 Midland Counties
24 Newcastle and Carlisle 1,400 5 8
25 Newcastle and North Shields 279 10 1
24 North Midland 3,944 13 8
23 North Union
20 Paris and Orleans 3,536 2 9
26 Paris and Rouen 2,978 0 0
24 Preston and Wyre 221 16 0
24 Sheffield and Manchester 484 5 1
29 South Eastern
24 Taff Vale
2.5 Ulster 502 2 5
24 York and North Midland

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS

FROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.
GLOBE.—The character of the public press, like
that of public men, is public property. In propor-
tion as the reputation of the public journals is pre
served free from suspicion—we speak now without
reference to mere party distinctions—will be the de •
pendence placed on their statements of facts, and the
.regard with which their discussions of public ques-
fißms will be received. In this view, the debate of
last night in the House of Commons acquires an im-
portance which is perfectly independent of the motion
on which it took place. The motion for returns of
expenses incurred by the Crown in prosecuting
Mr. O'Cohnell and his co-defendants would have
possessed little interest. It was the application
" for the amounts paid to Mr. Bond Hughes, Mr.
Charles Ross, and Mr. John Jackson, and to
the proprietors of the Standard and Morning
Herald newspapers," which constituted the gist of
the motion, and the interest of the debate. And for
this special reason ; the character of the public press,
and the position of those employed in conducting it,
were supposed to have been compromised by the part
which the individuals named in the motion had taken
at the instance of the Government. This opinion,
,well or ill founded—and the discussion of last night
has afforded material assistance to the inquiry—con-
ferred upon the notice of motion a considerable de-
gree of public interest; created, as was natural, out of
the imputations which seemed to rest upon a portion
of the public press, the character of which, as a whole,
had been impeached by the alleged conduct of certain
of its members. This produced an anxiety to ascer-
tain the justice or injustice of the accusations, and
the circumstance which increased or diminished
the turpitude of the acts charged upon the parties.
Of - Mr. Bond Hughes—the gentleman whose
name stands first in the motion for returns—little
'need be said, but that little is to the credit, and not
to the disparagement of his fair fame. Engaged in
Mr. Gurney's office as a shorthand writer, it
was only in the course of his professional duty
that he attended the meetings of the Repeal As-
sociation, to report the proceedings, at which
he was employed by the Government. His re-
ports were accurate—mere records of the pro-
ceedings. His evidence on the trial, and his gen-
tlemanly deportment throughout, obtained for him i
• the respect of all parties. The error respecting.
• the presence of Mr. Barrett at one of the meet-
ings, was explained to general satisfaction ; and
. Mr. Hughes acquitted himself, throughout the
tperforniance of a difficult and invidious duty, with-
out losing an iota of private or public respect. Nor
did his employment subject the Government to
any unjfist reproach. If the " monster meetings "
were regarded by Ministers with apprehension, it was
right that they should know what was said and what
- was done at them. And no better course could
• be taken than to depute an efficient shorthand-
' writer, and a respectable person, like Mr. B.
Hughes, to observe and record the events of
~ each meeting. It would have been well for
those for whose conduct the Government is respon-
sible, and whom Sir James Graham last night un-
dertook to defend, had they been always equally dis-
- creet in their choice of agents. They did not pre;•
• serve the same delicacy in selecting reporters for
their purpose. Sir James Graham, as was shown by
his explanations and admissions of last night, is
deeply and disreputably implicated in these trans-
' actions. By those inducements which a Minister
of State has at his command when he chooses
to employ them, and thinks he can do so with suc-
cess, Sir James Graham first seduces Mr. C. Ross,
a salaried reporter on the establishment of the Morn-
. ing Chronicle, and employs him to do the dirty work
of' the Government at the Donnybrook meeting.
The Chronicle has stated the facts and commented
upon this interference with its employe in terms not
'more severe than well deserved—and which we ex-
tract in another column.
STANDARD.—The Member for Finsbury last
night brought forward his motion for an account of
the money paid for information, respecting the late
proceeding in Ireland, to certain reporters and short-
hand writers, and to the proprietors, conductors,
managers, and agents of the Morning Ilerald and
Standard newspapers. The first part of the motion
was granted without difficulty, but Sir James
Graham resisted that part which concerned the
• . proprietors, conductors, managers, &c., of the two
newspapers named, on the groUnd that it offered
a gratuitous insult to gentlemen, to whom he
solemnly pledged. his honour not one farthing of
money had ever passed. We have that confi-
dence in ' the known character of this journal,
and of all connected with it, to be satisfied with
a much slighter testimony to our honour and
integrity than that of the Right Hon. the Home
Secretary, were the accuser a much more respect-
able one than Mr. Thomas S. Duncombe. The
. exculpation is, however; much more complete than
it would be had Sir James Graham complied
with Mr. Duncombe's motion; and this, we have
uo doubt, was the consideration which determined
the hotourable mind of Sir James Graham to,
adopt the course taken by him. A return might
easily and safely state a falsehood, but a solemn
declaration like that of the Right Honourable Se-
cretary precludes every possible suspicion of un-
truth. No, Mr. Thomas Duncombe, we had no
money for information ; and, to say truth, we
bad no claim for money on this account, for
we furnished no information. Mr. Ross was our
special correspondent ; his instructions from us
were , to report faithfully the proceedings at
, the repeal meetings held in the country
parts of Ireland, which our regular correspondent,
Perinariently resident in Dublin, could not attend;
and at the intervals of the county meetings to give
such assistance as he could to our Dublin corre-
spondent. • For this special service we employed
- him; and we paid him, and have every reason to
NEW TxPiritcifa for the integrity, zeal, and ability
c'th—Whiell he executed the special service in
t,*:•- :-S hieli"\We Aaployed him. We say special service,
,CtTrit., _ ' MY. \ Duncombe stated what is not the fact,
ik-iiiif.rfir -in`-.ca t Mr. •I.toss _ remains, attached to She
t-4-1t.'_;,.,-., --Nia rd. hen the 41 itionstifiheetings ' ceased, ,
c
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