The Sun.
London, England, 1842-02-10 00:00:00

'ho runs may read."

POILEIGIif.

The French Ministerial Railway project, alluded to in The Sun
of yesterday, is the subject of comment in all the Paris daily
papers. The Court organ, the Debuts, writing of it, says ;.t` The
Government plan is simple, but it is grand in its simplicity. Two
arteries, crossing each other at Paris, will be laid down from iron.
tier to frontier. One from the south to the north, or from the Me.
diterranean to the North Sea ; the other from the north-east to the
south-west, or from Strasburg to Bordeaux and Nantes. Without
speaking of the commercial advantages of this arrangement, which
are evident, who can be blind to the national unity of the plan, and
in a military sense, who is not struck with the facility which will
be given for the momentary concentration of our brave regiments,
and transporting them rapidly to our frontiers, if, which God for.
bid, the genius of war should once more dominate its Europe )4Vba.
doss not comprehend that the line of the Mediterranean tat
North Sea, which is a kind of bridge between Great Britain, the
Mediterranean, and hula, will make us, to e certain extent, the
suzerains of English commerce.
The Presse, which usually supports the Ministers, is not alto.
journal
observes so well satisfied with the railway project. That
observes :—" The Bill is perhaps cleverly drawn up. The profound
uncertainty which it allows to hang over the ulterior ifitentions
of the Government, and the lion's share which it leaves to private
speculation, are doubtlessly very proper expedients to secure a ma.
jority ;,but there is a means of success more powerfUl than corrup.
tints, viz., that which derives its strength from principle. and re.
poses upon equity."
The Constitutionnel has very few words on the subject. It
merely observes that a great deal is promised, but very little is to
be done, and expresses astonishment that the line from Paris to
Strasburg, which, it says, is the most important as regards the de-
fence of the country, has been overlooked.
The National :also expresses astonishment that the line froM
Paris to Strasburg does not figure amongst those which are included
in the present Bill, and complains of the large amount reserved by
the Bill for private speculators, and of thepower placed by it in the
hands of the members of the Counell.General of the departments.
The Corruier Francais denounces the Bill as part of a system of
wholesale bribery. We give a statement so disgraceful to the re.
presentation of France in the words of our Gallic Contemporary
" The Bill is the most flagrant exposure that could be made of the
present state of the Chamber and the electoral colleges. Corrup.
tion has reached such a height, that the representative system, like
a machine without a spring, is incapable of working. The coujary
demands railways, but it will not have them ; for a Ministry file
that of the 29th October could not propose really useful lines with.
out instantly losing the votes of the Deputies whose localities were
not to be provided for.
The Commerce objects to the Rill chiefly because, litstead of
holding out encouragement to speculate in railways, the eloverne
ment, says the Commerce, which executeeslowly and eicpensively,
reserves to itself what would be much better done by the collective
enterprise of individuals.

The Quotldienne says there is more pomp in the announcement
than there is likely to be reality in the execution, and states that
Ministers will so contrive matters that their patronage and in.
fluence as to railways shall be made conducive to their success at
the next general election.

The Sieele and the France are equally dissatisfied. We have
only space for a quotation from the latter :—" The Minister of
Public Works has presented to the Chamber of Deputies the
prospectus of the railways which are hereafter to be executed. In
the rest of Europe complete lines are made without hubbub, and
without charlatanism. Here all that is done is making prefaces of
works which are never completed. Quacks ! Quacks !"
The Basle Gazette states that the Cabinet of the Tuileries has
made a communication to the Cantonal Government of Geneva,
concerning the intercourse kept up by the Communists in France
with some of their sect in Switzerland.

We learn from Madrid papers of the Ist inst., that Senor
Luzan's amendment, approving the conduct of the Gonzalez
Cabinet in reference to the October insurrection, was carried in the
Congress on that day by a majority of 35 votes, the number being
85 against 50.
A letter from Madrid of the Ist inst. says—." It is not at all
unlikely that, on the plea of strengthening the Administration, at..
tempts will be made to induce M. Surra y Rull to resign within the
next six weeks, and, as he has no particular aim in remaining in
office, it is probable that he may do so, unless a public declaration
of the British holders of bonds of Spain against his quitting office.
declaratory of their increased confidence in him, should meanwhile
be made ; he is the only one of the Liberal Ministers that has ac.
tually done anything for them."
It was reported in Madrid, on the Ist, that the Archbishop of
Valencia had followed the example of his Right Rev. brother of
Toledo, and tendered his resignation, in consequence ofthe projects
of law recently submitted to the approval of the Cortes, on the
existing relations with Rome.

According to a St. Petersburg letter, in the Gazette etr Upper
Germany, an ukase is about to be issued concerning failures and
bankruptcies. By its provisions, any persons stopping payment,
and not being able to pay 40 per cent. of his liabilities, is to be
considered a fraudulent bankrupt, and sent to Siberia, or enrolled
in the army as a common soldier.
PUBLIC OPINION.
The Chron►ile enters its protest against Sir Robert Peel's Corp_
law scheme, as being little better than an insult to the country.
" The poor, patient sufferers," says our Contemporary, "in no case
fully employed, and in many cases wholly without employment,
who have been wandering about their respective neighbourhoods,
like spectres rather than human beings, will, by the sentence of
the Tory aristocracy, of which Sir Robert Peel was last night the
organ, find themselves precluded even from the hope of possible
relief in this world.—His measures of awful importance to the
country are of awful disappointment to the millions.—Ofone thing
the country may feel eertain,that the di: appointment—nay, dis...
guNt—of their Liberal representatives without exception, cannot
be surpassed by what may be felt by themselves.—Every honest
man throughout the empire must, by this time, be satisfied that the
resignation of the Duke of Buckingham was a wretched trick
played otr on the people. It is below contempt."
The Herald expresses itself favourably toward Sir Robert Peel's
modified Corn-law measure, observing, "not that the new project
is free from objections, or will be perfectly satisfactory to the agri.
culturists as a body, but it is based on the principle of clue protec.
tion being given to our domestic soil, and may be so amended in
Committee, as to render it acceptable to all moderate politicians.
Sensible and temperate persons will scan the details of the plan
with favour, and suggest only such amendments as are indispensable,"
The Post speaks somewhat doubtfully and coldly of Sir Robert
I'eel's Corn-law project, and says :—" It is not reasonable that
flinch consideration should be given to the subject before a judg-
ment is formed ; and possibly the result of that consideration may
be a conviction that the proposed scale is not lower than that
which sound policy dictates in the present juncture of affairs. The
first impression, however, is undoubtedly that of surprise at the
very considerable reduction of duty which has been proposed.
Whatever may be thought of Sir It. Peel's new scheme, there is
certainly no mystification in it.

The ;nines obser %es of Sir Robert Peel's Corn.law scheme
We see no reason to departfromthe opinion which we have always
expressed—that a moderate fixed duty would be safer, better, and
more likely to be permanent than any modification of the sliding
scale. In this respect we still differ from Sir Robert Peel, and
should undoubtedly prefer a plan embodying our own principle to
that which lie has submitted to the House of Commons. But we
are not so blinded with faction or prejudice as to think that no
change which falls short of our own notions of perfection can be
acceptable or advantageous to the nation, and we recognize in the
proposal of Government a very great practical improvement upon
the existing system, and a valuable approximation to the settle.
ment which we should most desire."

MONEY—TRADE—COMMERCE.
At the half-yearly meeting of the Eastern Counties Railway
held yesterday the Secretary read the Report, from which it ap.
peared that the whole line to Colchester (52 miles) would be corn. _ _

pleted by the ensuing autumn, that the receipts for the half year
amounted to 22,5514 being an increase of 7,0164 over the
former half year; and that the total receipts up to the 4th of
January, 1 542, were 1,688,2421.,. leaving a balance of 40,3121.
over the expenditure.