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

tinting 42;11,11L

LONDON, FRIDAY. AUGUST 8, 1845.

The Lords met at Five.

Lord CAMPBELL asked whether it was intended to ap-
point Lords Justices to administer the royal functions
during Her MAJESTY'S absence on the Continent.
The LORD CHANCELLOR said that it was not. Previous
to Her Meamry's visit to France last year, Sir F.
PoLLocx had given it as his opinion that it was by no
means necessary in point of law that such appointment
should be made, and he (the LORD CHANCELLOR) con-
curred in the opinion. Her MAJESTY would be accom-
panied by one of her Secretaries of State ; under those
circumstances, considering her absence would be for a
short time only, it was unnecessary to have a cumbrous
Commission appointed.
Lord CAMPBELL believed this was the first instance,
since the foundation of the monarchy, in which a Sove-
reign had been absent without such a Commission being
appointed.
The Earl of BESBOROUGH moved that a letter be sent
to each Peer on the first week of the ensuing session of
Pat liament, requesting hire to say when it would be con-
venient to him to attend on Committees on opposed Bills.

The DUKE of WELLINGTON recommended that the
motion should be withdrawn for the present, and when
the proper time arrived for bringing it forward he should
be glad to render ahatever aid he could to make it
efficient.

Lord MONTEAGLE suggested that a resolution should
be passed that Bills for canals, railways, and docks
might be introduced in their Lordships' House. Such a
resolution would enable both Houses to proceed at the
same time, and they would be enabled to avoid the in

judicious haste to which they were now compelled i
passing such Bills.
After a few words from Lord REDESDALE, the moth)]

was withdrawn.

On the motion of the Earl of Damousn, several
amendments in tl•e standing orders relating to Railway
Bills were agreed to.
Lord REDESDALE, on behalf of Lord BROUGHAM.
moved certain resolutions, giving a power to Committeet.
on Railway Bills of awarding costs to the opponents o:
such Bills.

The motion, which was opposed by Lord MONTEACILE,
was negatived without a division.

The Bills on the table having been advanced a stop
,heir Lordships adjourned.

In the rapid but clever review which Lord JOHN Rus
SELL took, on Tuesday night last, of the labours of the
session that will close on. Saturday next, there were two
omissions, upon which we deem it of more immediate
importance to offer a few remarks than to follow the
Noble Lord through his observations on the state ea
affairs in Ireland, and the condition of our foreign rela-
tions. The omissions to which we allude were, the over
whelming difficulties attending the present mode of con-
ducting railway Bills through Parliament, and the very
unsatisfactory aspect of our monetary system, considerv,
in its general bearings; and in reference to the inevitable
influence of accumulated railway projects more especially.
With regard to railway Bills, and the method
which the projects for their construction are discussed.
examined, and adjudicated upon, before Committees of
either House, it is impossible to deny that nothing eau
be more unsatisfactory than the course adopted since th.
commencement of Committee business this session. It
is not only that, from the vast accumulation of projects,
all pressing for speedy investigation and report, the
number and extent of the preliminary inquiries to le
instituted far exceeds the capacity of all the physical
energies and business application of the individuals
before whom the merits of every such scheme are, in the
first instance, to be tested, but that the confused, slo
venly, and hurried character of those investiga-
tions gives rise to contingent abuses, as Well
as to immediate evils that largely involve the
interests of capital and the rights of property. A few
designing spiculaiors can readily ascertain the fact that
Group X or Y occupies the S, feet Committee charged
with the railway business coming under that classification
much more incessantly and laboriously than Grote) B and
C respectively absorb the attention of their Committees.
On this discovery, such parties speedily concoct all
kinds of ingenious frauds in the nature of factitiou,,
evidence to bolster up 'unlikely or suspected lines, to
tamper with the share appropriation lists, &c. How vast
a proportion of the time of Railway Committees may be,
and constantly is, occupied by matters foreign to the ques-
den ut the msrits of the line under their consideratius—
its expediency and practicability, probable advantams
to the public, and chance of profitable returns to
proprietary--foreign to every thing, in short, that it i,
the main object of their appointment to ascertain—out
readers cannot have failed to observe, in the long and
searching investigations which the " Great Western.
Ireland," alias the Dublin and Galway Line Committee,
were compelled to institute into the frauds which hao
been practised upon, and the gross unfairness com-
mitted by, its management in the appropriation of the
Company's shares.
In the meanwhile, he must be gifted with a larg,
excess of credulous simplicity, who can be per
suaded that, amidst all the variety of inqui
ries—all these various classes of witnesses, these
conflicts of evidence, these organised deceptions,
,and concocted lists, traffic tables, vouchers, &c., the real
justice of the case is often satisfied by the selection of
the best line, or the reception of the soundest evidence,
or the recognition of the most genuine documentary
pieces. The truth, we susptct, lies much more the other
way. The interests of the public, the convenience of
the residents in large districts, and enormous amounts of
private capital, are much more frequently put in immi-
nent jeopardy, or positively sacrificed, by the decisions
of Railway Committees, than duly consulted, or perma-
nently guaranteed. This result may be still more posi-
tively predicated of those cases in which there happen to
be one or more competing lines of railroad
between the same given extreme points. How is it pos-
sible, that when sixty, seventy, or an hundred new lines
arc brought into Parliament in a single session, any num-
ber of Members of the Select Committees can find time
enough—not to spare for their leisure or their own busi •
ness, fer that they are no longer permi:ted to retain—
but from their other Parliamentary duties, to investigate,
sufficiently and properly, the surveys, reports, maps, '
gradients, plans, and sections of the engineers, the con-
sents and dissents of proprietors, &c ; the contracts put Madrid papers of the Ist inst. have arrived. Severe
in, the calcuiations and estimates proposed for their in- arrests had taken place on the morning of the 31st ult.
spection, and the proofs by which they arc to be sup- Among those arr.sted are M. SAGUSTL who, during the
ported? How are ihey to make themselves masters of regency of ESPARTERO, held the office of Political Chief
the reasons for and against every such undertaking, as of Madrid ; General CaEsro, lately second in command
developed in the arguments of counsel, and the with General ALCALA in Manilla, and the Commandant
evidence of witnesses ? How are they to form their and Captain in command of the guard at barracks of
own judgment between the very different conclusions ex. the regiment of Gallicia.
those arguments, and the conflicting character We learn from El Herald° that the public prosecutor
of
fr pressed by
thes allegations
made by the witnesses produced on be- had demanded the penalty of death against several of the
half of the supporters. as compared with the evidence of Malaga conspirators. Several arrests had taken place in
the witnesses for the opponents of the line under ccnsi. Grenada. Letters from Saragossa, published in the
deration ? And if these be grave difficulties at any per same journal, state that the ilyuntatriato of that city
riod of the session, however early, how much are they are extremely dissatisfied with the Minister of Finance
enhanc:d as it progreest s towards its expiration ? Cal- for his refusal to modify his new system of contributions.
culations must be sworn to by the sheet_surveys affirmed According to El Castellano the Cortes will meet OR
by the hundred weight—witnesses examined by the the 10th October, and be immediately afterwards dis-
gross—notes to guide the decisions of the Members taken solved, when the Senatus will be nominated in accord-
by steam power, to enable the Select Committees for the ance with the provisions of the new constitution.
•
a c
inhabitanteot
oiltphe
at a
was
tit t
citythat General
publicly
he
e
had
inSeville,
c at
h called
ieed M had
oa urt.
various groups to keep pace with the running out of correspondent of the Espect.iclor mentions that
the term of the session's existence. Now this slovenly and General
mischievous mode of transacting such important business whipped S
aueL s
evn the Cfa
y crime Mar-
hue never been so signally illustrated as in the course of ket- place, whose
the present year. We lament to find that it has not "Liberty for ever."
Bus,
elicited the mark d animadversion of Le rd Jo The QUEEN, who was at San Sebastian on the 3d,
eliet
SELL. We willingly concur in the well-merited tribute had been well received throughout her journey. The
which the Noble Lord paid to the pains taking industry inhabitants, however, occasionally display their feelings
of Hon. Members on these Committees. and to the on the subject of their feeres, and the authorities are
devotion which they bed shown to the public service, about to petition the QUEEN for their restoration.
in addressing themselves to such painful labours so Colonel AGUIRRE and 100 prisoners of the insurgents
much in earnest. But the Noble Lord, we entered Barcelona on the 20th, escorted by a battalion
submit to him, with all respect, should and a squadron of cavalry.
have denounced the viciousness of a system There was a decline in the Three per Cents., and a

'rom the Constitutionnel on this point, as giving the most
noderate calculation of the loss that we can meet with,
after the Government journals, whirh declare it to bit

•3,000,000 f.: The loss sustained by the naval depart-
:neat is much more considerable than the Government
is willing to acknowledge. 'The timbers in the sheds
were of the finest description fur ship building, and
14,000 stores (about as many cubic yards).are certainly
worth more than 3,000,000 E; and to this sum must be
idded the value of the roofs, which is put down in the
inventory of the marine at 800,000 f., but which cannot
se replaced fur less than 1,500,000 f. Besides, the mere
value of the timber burnt gives no exact idea of the loss
sustained, for there must also be taken into account the
ime, difficulties, and expenditure required to replace a
store so precious."
There seems to be little reason to doubt the fact that
the fire was the work of the convicts, who were dissatis-
fied with the treatment they received.

The Commerce states that a fresh creation of Peers is
about tc take place. The following appears in La

France :

" We have been assured that the Dictatorship of M.
Bugeaud in Algeria is drawing to a close. The journal of
his department announces the Duke of Isly has obtained
leave of absence to visit his estate of Excideuil. This leave
is considered as the forerunner of the retirement of the Mar-
shal. It is certain that M. Bugeaud has become too un-
wieldy and too restive an instrument in the debilitated
hand of Marshal Soult. That quasi vice-royalty of the pos-
sessions of Africa does not sound well in the ears of the
Minister of War, who finds his ascendancy and power sadly
contemned."

All these papers contain accounts from Algiers of
,uccessful " razzias."

Private letters state that it is probable Queen Vic-
routA will visit the French Court on her return from
Germany, and that the Palace of Petit Trienon is being
prepared for her MAJESTY'S reception.
The Franch Funds rose somewhat considerably on
Wednesday. Shares fluctuated, but, generally speaking,
he market was firm :

The Three per Cents. closed on, the Bourse on that
thy at 84f. 25c. ; the Five per Cents. at 122 t. 40e. ; Orleans
Railroad Shares, 1,2901. ; Rouen, 1,085 f. ; Vierzon, 7951: ;
Havre, 90.5 f, ; Avignon, 1,075 f. ; Basle, 281 f. 23c ; Spanish
Direr: per Cents, 38; ditto Passives, 6%.
The following are the quotations fur the new lines :

Orleans and Bordeaux, 185 f. premium ' • Boulogne, 130 f.
ditto, Troyes and Montereau, 50f.; Paris and Lyons,
(Lathtte), 31f. 25c.; ditto (Caton), par; ditto (Ganneron),
6f. 50c.; Northern Line (Laffitte), 45f. ; ditto (Rosa-
owl), 1-11. 50c.; Tours and Nantes (Mackenzie), 12f. 50c. ;
ditto (Drouillard), par ; ditto (O'Neill), SE; ditto (Jacques
Leferre), par ; Lyons and Avignon (Lecointe), 17f. 50c.;
Jitto (Talabot), 36f. 25c. ; ditto (Compagnie Meridionule),
7f. 50c. ; Bordeaux and Toulouse (Mackenzie), par; ditto
Ind Cette (Espeleta), 16f. ; Creil and St. Quentin, par;
i'aris and Strasbourg (Ganneron), llf. 25c.; Dijon and
Ilulhausen, par; Dieppe, 20.
LYoNs, AUG. 2.—Avignon and Marseilles, 1,0221., for
the 15th inst. ; Paris and Orleans, 1,230 f. ditto; Paris- and
Rouen 1,065 f. end of August; Orleans and Vierzon, 773 f.
!it to ; Nismes and Montpelier, 5601. ditto; Montereau, 5221.
ditto.

tii,aINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE, AUG. 7.

Boulogne and Amiens.. OverYssel ... 1 p
Bordeuax &Alediterran Paris& Lyons (Lafitte) 3%
Bordeaux and Toulouse Ditto (Ganneron's). 2%
Do. avid Cette 2 Ditto (Calon's)....
Dutch Rhenish
Dendre Valley
_ _ _ .. . .

Dieppe & Paris Juliet :Paris&Strsburg(Gan-
Dijon and Mulhouse ... I neron's) • 24
East Indian
Grt Northern of } rahee !Paris and St. Quentin. —'
(Laftitte's)
;Rouen
and Havre...... 31
Ditto (Rosamel's)
Great Paris and Lyons — Sambre and Meuse .... 612
Jamaica Junction 7 Strasbourg and Basle'.
Do. South Itldlnd June —'Tour: &Nants(sl.'Ken.
~.ouvain itnd Jemeppe 4% zie's). 2%
yons and Avignon — Do. (Lefebvre's) -,-
Namur and Liege 5% Verona and Ancona.... 33/4
Orleans and Vierzon .. 17 West Flanders 4%
Orleans and Bordeaux 114