The Sun.
London, England, 1842-05-26 00:00:00

BOULOGNE.
C.:-ILAIS AND BOULOGNE RAILWAYS.
In our Gazette of iast week we
gave siimmarY
of reasons why every wise man would prefer
em-
barking his money in a railroad, from Boulogne t°
Amiens, by Abbeville, than from Calais to Arras, hY.
Watten. Two of those reasons were founded on the
former being shorter than the latter, viz., that 1301!'
logne is considerably nearer to Paris than' Calais. We
stated also that we would prove this by a reference to
the effects it has produced on the present and former
conditions of the two towns. We shall now do so.
Every person who remembers Calais ten or twelye
years back must recollect the air of bustle it wore,
the neatness of its streets, the life that animated
them, the tens of thousands that annually passed
through t4em, the independence and not over civility
that characterised the hotel-keepers, the splendid er
tablishments they maintained—in fine the
generally
prosperous condition of the town. Whit is its pre-
I sent condition ? The grass grows in its streets ! Its
hotels no longer exist ; its merchants are gradually
leaving it for Boulogne, whither some have alreadY
moved, and others have and. are forming branch es'
I tablishtnents,• preparatory to fixing there altogether;
the streets seem as if the spirit of desolation had swept
over them. Why is this sad change ? Simply, My
yellers and foreigners no longer frequent it. Wh
have they deserted it ? Because in itself it is dull'
dreary, and monotonous; because at certain seasons,
when the east wind blows—which it does sometiraes
for a month together—it is difficult of access; be-
cause there is a town, neater, livelier, more acces'
sible at all times, and 24 miles nearer to Paris, for •
all who • are desirous o: passing from. the Coast t°
Paris or the South. Calais has remained stational
since 1814. As she was then, so is she now, and se
will she always remain, and for the best of all rev,
sons : nature has placed insuperable barriers around
her position, at the entrance of her harbour, in shit'
ing sands .and banks ; inland, by desolating sand'''
marshes, and fortifications. •
Let us compare the Boulogne of 1814 to the sane
town of 1842—can they bear a comparison ? •
more than Ambleteuse can be compared to Calais. -1-
is double in size and in population : it has arise°
like a Venice from the froth of the sea. Its fisher'
men's huts have disappeared and elegant houses spring
from their ruins. Scarcely one, in 1814, possessed s
carpet ; now there is scarcely one so miserable, th°t
cannot boast of something in the shape. Officers thl
came here, in 1814, could not be supplied at the hote
they slept at with a silver fork; at present the silver
in some hotels exceeds 100,000 francs. The shops 111"
elegant, the habitations possessed of every comfor:
the streets full of bustle and energy, the merchodt;
rich and respectable ; convenient walks, beautifil'.
drives, handsome equipages, a harbour teaming.wit,
an industrious population, and at times its qultY'
thronged with shipping, are the present characteristic'
of Boulogne. Whence, then, the change ? From
_ •

natural advantages that have been turned by scienc`
to
and energy to their proper account ; but. perhaps -it
no advantages more than its proximity to Paris, .
has become known to every traveller from the arnelio'
rations of its harbour since the piers were ereoted:'
ameliorations that make it accessible dxteen hours 011,
of the twenty-four.
We stated last week, first, that every traveller Pre;
fers a short cut to a round-about; second, that over:t
'
merchant prefers sending his goods by the quickest
conveyance, particularly if it be the shortest to
cheapest. Is not this realised by the geographiese
positions of Calais and Boulogne ? In 1830 °Zt
steamer from London visited Boulogne weekly.
present there are six. At the former period C 511,..
counted four, she can do no more at present. 3813;
travellers in 1831 entered Calais, in 1841 tb
amounted to only 21,019. BOulogne in 1831 rejoict;
in the arrival of 11,131, but in 1841 they amontecl
47,953. It may be stated, that taking solitary years
.0
is an unfair mode of forming a judgment ; we )1',16
then compare the arrivals and departures during
five last years from 1837 to 1841 both inclusive. 4,
By By Difference In
Boulogne. Calais. your of Baer'
From and to Ramsgate 10,312 6,673 3,639
„ „ London 191,017 46,265 144,752
„ „ Dover... 69,265 64,370 4,895
Sailing Boats 3,879 1,216 2,663

Total ....... .... 274,473 118,524 155,949 ~,
OP
Thus then, from official returns, it is evident
since the port of Boulogne was deepened and its pi''.,'l
formed, 155,949 travellers have preferred its harbow '
to that of Calais, although the latter is nearer
London, and has the advantage of mails to it, fr°,e
111
Dover every day, having two boats five days in the
week ; whilst Boulogne has only been served by tho
Dover steamers who found it their interest to _
there, from the preference given to it by the travellej,
,
Again, I3oulogne has been only the medium of transll.
for passengers in France, for whom the railroads,a!'e,
intended, whilst Calais has been the resort, not i nlyi
of travellers for France, but also of those pe.rson,
who do not think of stoppino•
Yelling in the interior, but land there in the way to
Belgium and the North of Europe. But let power-,
or of tra
ful packets start from London and Dover to Ostendo
and that voyage from London be completed in tel
hours, and 'from Dover in four blurs and a half,
in France,
they ought, and assuredly, before long, will be, licr;
many travellers will then patronise Calais, or pretei,
a round-about tour to Arras and Lille, to visit 1.3e,10
gium, when they can start from London and sit dO4
in Brussels within 14 hours? -Whereas, if the Pav3
train is only 31 hours on the road from London, 9'o
Mr. Napier's boats one hour and three quarters f'oo,
Dover to Boulogne, and seven hours and a half °cc ~
pied from Boulogne to Paris, the traveller will be alws.',„'
certain of accomplishing his journey from London ri
Paris in thirteen hours—an impossibility, if he sluts
land at Calais and proceed then to Arras. So much 'te
the preference giyen by travellers to a shortened rouco
to Paris from England, and the effect upon the 001
towns such preference has occasioned. The letter
a correspondent at Ostend will be found in anot,lloll
column, and the statement of firms ss. from L°ll oi
to Ostend. How many travellers for Belgium 11.14
the North of Europe will pass through Calais wili",,
such fares exist ? Thus are the Calais cobwebs 10'.
ing away already. 410
1 We cannot conclude these observations wit“ -
I saying a few words on the relative distances to e,
by the Calais line and that proposed by Boulog.11:0
particularly as what we stated in our last number
to
given occasion to a misconception as to the act t,e
lengths of the two lines. It is a point that shoub;
clearly understood. p
The Chamber of Deputies has passed a 10 is
sl
which Amiens is the point through which the i,et
road from Paris to Belgium shall pass. Whate,t;io
line therefore progresses from the coast, its terro'r,4
ought to be Amiens. We have shown that comill,. j'.
and passengers are more favourable to any line co
ing through Boulogne and Abbeville to Amiens, t let
one direct from Calais to Amiens through Arras,;
us now examine the two lines, one from .CaliT,et
Amiens, the other from Boulogne to Amiens, al)" ' '
the relative distances of the two lines.
i‘fetre!',o
Ot
Distance from Calais to Amiens by Arras is 166,00)
Do. from Boulogne to Amiens by Abbeville 121+ /
--:10
Di [Terence .lo•°‘. •
fl/Here is at once a difference of more than 2811-Lli
in favour of a line from Boulogne to Paris. - Let
expense expense of constructing these 2g miles be consior;to
the saving of more than an hour in the journeV•
oe
advantages arising from the harbour of Bm r
il er
being accessible 16 out of the 24 hours, the prc.., it
ence given to it by travellers, the merchandi"ot,
commands that the Calais line could never obtain, j, el
we ask, what man in his senses would ever thilleed•
embarking money in any other line than one pro' fi
ins direct from Boulogne by Abbeville to Ainiel)s4
Boulogne Gazette.
tit,
The following melancholy suicide has just
111',i il
red. Sebastian Massa, an Italian latorical painter' E '"10,
with his wife in humble lodgings, in the Rue Saint Roc" be
endeavoured to earn a subsistence by working, for dealers, psi'
finding his gains inadequate to his wants, his mind gace.„
.t"
and he frequently talked of self-destruction. His wife attel—l
to soothe and encourage him, and succeeded till two thil.; sol
when, being
.apprehensive of arrest for debt, he sat dor' 0`;
wrote a letter, and, having finished it, •embraced his Wit 0.
bade her adieu in a tone which convinced her ilia; Stdi
resolved to leave her for ever. She endeavoured to. riiio'
him, but breaking from her, he threw himself out of tr j be(
duw. The poor woman fainted, and before she recoveMelel
senses, her husband was brought back into the room 3 'lO
/)1
corpse. The letter be had written was to declare that it 0
his own will and resolution that he committed the suicide' %'

BIRTHS. nor
On the 13th inst., at Kensington, the lady of G. Vl'
Esq., Bengal Civil Service, of a son. • orts°•'
On the 23d inst., at Dulwich-wood House, Mrs. Be"- .1
of a son. the
On the 24th inst., at Kempston Vicarage, Bedford. ,
of the Rev. Henry Clutterbuek, of a daughter, still-borl;joeo
On the 24th inst., at the Rectory, Hurstperpoint. hter4
the lady of the Rev. Carey Hampton Borrer, of a tattle G
On the 24th hist , Mrs. Edward 'Fulton Oak, of Litt
desden, Herts, of a son.
MA R lED.
On the 24th inst., at Clifton, Captain Leckonlloh 'or
68th Light Infantry, to Miss Lowe, of Harefield, Che't,ejl,
On the 24th inst., at the collegiate church of Sotitqrsuc of
Rev. Charles Ramsay Flint, Rector of 13ilsthorpe, terooe
eldest daughter of the Rev. 11. FL Fowler,
Southwell, and Vicar of Rollestone.
C. 4
D IED.
On the 7th inst., at Boulogne-sur-Mer, Richard oel
late of the Admiralty. t
On the 18th inst., at Cappolin House, Waterie',
11 I
1$" Keane, the wife of Sir Richard Keane, Hart.
On the 21st inst., on Yioolwich- common, Richtf
• art'
second son of Major Raunsley, R. A., aged 2 .3. eoW
tY
On the 21st inst., at Boulogne-sur-Mer, Eleanot,'..nor
the late Captain Bruce Mitchell, Hon. East India f,
e service, aged 65. vscer
On the 25th inst. in Gloucester-place, Porten
Mary Ann, the wife Of Henry Parker Collett, E'tl

01
London: Printed and Publithul I.y WIRD° ; str."
No. 112, Strand. at The Sur. Office, No 1121842,
the County of Middlesex. Thursday, May 2