The Sun.
London, England, 1842-02-18 00:00:00

//,s

•
RAILWAYS IN FRANCE:-
The Minister of Public Works presented a Bill rela-
tive to the constructs, of granhd lines of railways. He
e presentation prefaced the f
;101?1,in
aft,,r
obserri ;I ci t
Billl by an ea pose des
it wasnecesslarye ito
make up for lost time on this
articles unrl''retlits SSUi
ttl
veloped the. ilitrr---et
f tale Bill.
The length of railway 13A,:ch it was proposed to take in
hand at the present moment was, he said, 596 kilotatrcs,
or, one-fourth of the whole extent comprehended in the
plans of the Government, and, in two years time, the re-
mainder would be commenced. 'llie calculation of the
cost to the State of its share of the expenditure was, he
added,:lso,ooo francs per kilometre ; that of the corn_
panics 125,000 f., or 500,00 f. per league. The total ex-
pense per league is estimated_ by the Minister at
1,200,00011 In alluding to the mode of meeting the
expenditure,,M. Teste said the deficits of 1840; 1841,
and 1842, would not exceed 300 millions, to which were
to be added 500 millions fir the extraordinary expendi-
ture of public works, already ordered by the Chamber,
and 400 millions for the railways, which it was intended
to execute within the next 10 years. These would give
a total of 1,200 millions. To meet this expenditure for
-the next 10 years, supposing that the same delay be
allowed for the completion of all the other public works
as for the whole of the railways, M. Teste calculates
upon extraordinary resources from the reserve of the
sinking fund, amounting for the 10 years to 829 millions
and on the remainder of the loan to be contracted for—
viz., 300 millions, making a total of 1,279 millions. The
Minister then read the following Rill:—
CHAPTER T,—Art. I.—There shall he established a
system 'of railroads leaving Paris, and leading to,-the
rrontier of Belgium, by Lille and Valenciennes—to Eng-
land, by a point of the coast of the channel which shall
be determined hereafter to the frontier of Germany, by
Strasburg—to the Mediterranean, by Lyons, Marseilles.
and Cette— to the Ocean, by Bordeaux and Nantes.
Art. 2.—The execution of the grand lines of railway
enumerated in the preceding article, shall be performed
by the co-operation of the State, of the departments, and
communes interested in them, and of private industry in
'the proportions and forms to be hereafter resolved upon.
Art. 3.—lndepethiently of the voluntary grants which
may be offered by localities, and accepted by the Go-
Vermnent, the indemnity for lands and buildings, the
occupation of which may be necessary for the establish-
ment of railways- and their depenot-Zwies, shall be paid
to the amount of two-thirds by the departments and
communes interested in them. In each de:artreent
through which a railroad shall pass the Council„,-o,seral
shall determin” flue amount to be chargeable upon the'
departmental funds ; it shall designate the communes to
he called upon fur payment of the surplus of the two-
thirds, and fix the contingent of each according to its
interests, and its financial resources,
Art. 4.—The remaining, third of the indemnity, and the
exeavations and banking and the works of art shall be
paid by the funds of the State.
Art. s.—The rails, including the sand, the materiel,
the expenses of working the line, and the expense of
keeping up and repairing the roads, its dependencies and
its materiel shall be at the charge of the companies, to
which the working of the railway shall be let on lease,
This lease shall be granted upon a eahier des charges
(clauses and conditions), which shall fix the duration of
the period and the tariff of fares. The raiders des charges
must be approved of by Royal ordonnance.
Art. 6.—At the expiration of the lease, the value of the
rails and of the .materiel (carriages, -locomotives, &c.)
shall be reimbursed, according to appraisement, to the
company by that which shall succeed it.
Art. 7.--For the regulation of the indemnities for
lands and buildings, the formalities prescribed by Arts.
23, 24, 25, 26,27, and 28 .of the law of the 3d-May, 1841,
shall be dispensed with. The estimation of the lands
and buildings, comprised in the judgment of expropria-
tion, shall be immediately referred to a Jury. Imme-
diately after the decisicn of the Jury, the Government
shall be put into possession of the lands and buildings
which are expropriated, on payment of the third of the
amount of the indemnity to be borne by the State.
Art. B.—The measures which may be necessary to con-
ciliate the working of the railways with the execution of
the laws and regulations of customs shall be regulated by
Royal ordonnance.
Art 9.—The measures and arrangements necessary for
the good regulation, safety, use, and preservation of the
railways and their dependencies, shall be fixed by the
Government.
Co A PTE R 2.—Art. 10.—A sum of forty-three millions
is to be appropriated to the establishment of the railway
from Paris to Lille and Valenciennes. by Ameins, Arras,
and l/onai.

Art. 11.—A sum of forty-one millions is appropriated
to the portions of the railway from Paris to the Medi-
terranean, comprised, one between Dijons and Chalons,
the other between Marseilles, Avignon, and Peaucaire.
Art. I2.—A sum of seventeen millions is appropriated
to the esta blishme►►t of the portion of the railway from Pa-
ris to the Ocean, comprised between Orleans and Tours.
Art. 13.—A sum of fifteen hundred thousand francs is
apropriated to the completion of the plans and surveys
of the great lines of railways, defined by art. 1 of the pre-
sent law.

Art. 14.—0 n the appropriations mentioned in the
preceding articles, amounting together to one hundred
and two million five hundred thousand francs, there is
opened to the Minister of Public Works on the estimates
of the year 1842 a credit of eleven millions--viz. for the
railroad from Paris to the Belgian frontier, four mil-
lions ; for the portions of the railroad from Paris to the
Mediterranean, between Dijon and Chalons, and be-
tween Marseilles, - Avignon, and Beancaire, four mil-
lions ; for the portion of the railway from Paris to the
ocean, between Orleans and Tours, two millions ; for
the continuation of the plans and surveys, one milion.
And upon the estimates of 1843 a credit of twenty-two
millions live hundred thousand francs, viz., Paris to the
Belgian r, (iglu millions ; Paris to the Mediter-
ranean, eight millions ; _Paris to the ocean, six millions ;
and fior the continuation of the surveys and plans, five
hundred thotuand francs—total for 1842 and 1843,
25,500,000 francs.

" CitAPTEn 3.—WArs ANn MEANS.-Art. 13. The
portion of the expenditure, authorised by the present
law, which is to fall upon the State, shall be provided
for provisionally out of the resources of the floating
debt. ; the advances of the Treasury shall be definitively
covered by the consolidation of the funds of reserve of
the sinking fund, which may be disposable after the
extinction of the deficits of the budget of 1840, 1841,
and 1842.

" CHAPTER 4.—Art. 16. Every year there shall be
rendered to the Chamber, by the Minister of Public
Works, a special account of the works executed by vir-
tue of the present law,"

The Miiiister said that the average cost of one-third
of the ground, of embankments and works of art, of all,
in fact, that Government undertook, would not exceed
24,000/. the league. Supposing the whole of the in-
tended lines to reach GOO leagues, this would be an ex-

pence to the Treasury of from )360 to 400 millions of
francs. This would be adding 400 millions to the 360
deficit, and the 500 millions for extraordinary
public works, making in all 1,2►00 millions to meet. The
:Minister observed that this might be-done. The part of
the State being estimated at 24,0001. the league, the funds
to be furnished by productive industry would be about
20,000/. a kagne.

ON THE LA,...riliedii.itSiftinOgvF. MARRIAGE.
(From the Congregational Magazine.)
As aneflbrt is to be made at the ensuing Session of
Parliament for an alteration in- the law on this subject,
it becomes important that the people should understand
the matter. From an article signed "Rusticus" that ap-
peared in your Magazine cf this month, it seems that
your correspondent supposes that the Marriage Act of
1835 prohibits the widower from marrying the sister of
his deceased wife. Now all that the Act of 1835 says
to justify- such a conclusion is, " that all marriages which
shall hereafter be celebrated between persons within the
prohibited do "reel of affinity shall be absolutely null
and void," but what these " prohibited degrees" are, the
Act says nothing, and we are. therefore left to construe
the• legal interpretation of these words from the state of
the law vs it was pi ior to this Act. Persons seem ge-
n to have supposed that the law on this subject is
laid down the tables published in the Church of Eng.
laud Prayer-books, and some Bibles, beginning with "A
man shall not marry his grandmother," &e. But this is
only what is called the canon law, and this table of pro-
hibited degrees forms part of the canons of 1603. Now
Lord llar•dwicke, in delivering the judgment of the whole
Court of King's Bench, in 1736, respecting these canons,
decided, that not having been confirmed by Parliament,
they do not bind the laity. The principle on which he
founds his decision is this:—These canons are passed in
an assembly of the clergy and officers of the Established
Church, sanctioned by the King as the head of the
Church, but it is not reasonable or lawful that the people
should be bound by an authority which does not repre-
sent them, so that the only legal interpretation we can
obtain as to what are the "prohibited degrees" is to be
derived from the previous Acts of Parliament on the sub-
ject. It is greatly to be regretted that tl.ese Acts are in
such a confused state, that it becomeS very difficult to
say what the law is on the subject. About 1334 Henry
VIII. got a Marriage Act passed, containing shniliar
prohibitions to those in the canon law ; but this was with
a view to justify his divorce from his brother's widow,
and his marriage with Anne Boleyn. Afterwards, how-
ever, his daughter Mary, whose legitimacy was thereby
affected, got all these prohibitions repealed ; the Act
declaring that. Henry's marriage with Catherine (her
mother) was a lawful marriage in accordance with
God's law and his Holy Word. Indeed, Henry himself;
Who seems to have got his obsequious Parliament to
enact and repeal whatever suited his fancv, or was
agreeable to his wife at the time being, about 1343,
got the Act 32, Henry VIII., c. 38, passed, which
&Mares all inarringesb
et
d,
eel)
til(t)
swa-btenatlitinhe(er,
atiilir)siltnoe(gni
:by
God's law, and that notwithstanding any law to the con-
e
trary, no prohibition (God's law except) shall impeach
any marriage without the Levitical degrees. This is now
in force, the part -respecting prohibitions having been
confirnu•d both iii 'the reigns of his son Edward, and .Iq,
daughter Elizabeth ; so that the legal constructi
ion
" prohibited degrees" appears to be those prohibited
Leviticus, and in order to help us to decide what,
t lai‘eitsitiataebtrtfotAlicart:sy
ii‘iiifi),ll-,isuswititss
at ii,,,a,tvfluficony?e:s. mar-
riageficiotreia•s
true that lawyers seem generally to
ilittsesbtlitrl‘aisfito ,
courts of law, it would the legality ;
tle
sister legalityin England all
hut it is quite uncertain, n
ome
that
d ,widower's,rret_olsei it-berhiaaft,,t7rleerwti htourhe
for the poor—not for
not prevail, and become,
nd;
i to the law
it is
lays
that there is '"
to travel to another coun t,7,
edetfir;(saiosr rpti(leiteradnicaolealiild:)?
and
world, professedly Chris-
a high legal authorityvould be bound t recognizP •
the English Courts 0 recognize the mar..,••
and it is ayemaikable circumstance, ther
riag,e.;
hardleybnennhrerieet: hijinen
eh: a
tian, where there is any difficulty at all about a widower
marrying his late wife's sister.