The Press. — London, England, 1855-09-29 00:00:00

SEPT. 29, 1855. the true nature of the administration of a country is soon laid bare. Railways, more over, bring powerful and enterprising capitalists in their train, and these are in all quarters of the world foes to misgovernment and to the evils and follies of despotic sway. In short, it was clear to the Company that they and railways could not exist together, and that the first fruits of the new engine of civilisation would be their own removal from the pedestal on which they stand, and the introduction of a new order of things more suitable to the altered state of affairs, in which they would probably find no place. The opposition of the Court of Directors was, however, fruitless ; and they were obliged to permit railroads to be undertaken whether they would or no. But their ingenuity was not exhausted, and what they could not altogether prevent they decided as much as possible to delay. Their first act was to show the proposed shareholders pretty plainly that no concession whatever would be made to them on any other condition than that of the Company possessing over them a power of control to the extremest possible extent. In utter hopelessness, the shareholders accepted the terms, and the Company have obtained a mastery over the several Indian Railway Companies as complete and despotic as they could desire. The Secretary to the India house, though wholly ignorant of all that con cerns railways, and having abundant other work to do, has been made an ex-officio director of every Indian railway, and his powers are such as wholly to override those of all the rest on the Railway Board. Consult ing engineers have been appointed by the several Indian Governments to overrule the decisions arrived at by the proper superin tending engineer of the line, though with the exception of Colonel KENNEDY, the late con sulting engineer in Bengal, and now managing director of the Baroda line, there are none of the consulting engineers half so conversant with railway matters as the regular railway engineers, whose decisions they criticise, and frequently set aside. The consequence is that a system of endless delays and references has sprung up. The Government is not content with referring to its consulting engineers the general plans and estimates of a line, with a view to ascertain generally whether the scheme be one deserving of approval; it pushes its inter ference to an extent which turns into a nullity the shareholders, the railway directors, and the engineers of the line. Not only have all the accounts to be submitted periodically for the Government's inspection and approval (a measure we should not object to), but the details of every, even the pettiest, work have to be laid before it for sanction before the work is begun. The waste of time lost in references of this kind is endless; and in respect to nothing is the adage more true than in respect to the progress of railway works, that time is money. We have heard of three months being thus wasted in correspondence about a bridge over a brook that a person might have almost jumped across. The objection was of some frivolous description such as none but an Indian official would have dreamed of raising, and not worth, even if valid, the paper it was written on, setting out of consideration the waste of time and the loss in consequence in salaries, and the interest of money. What is the result? Why, that while some thousands of miles of rail road have been constructed in the United States and on the continent of Europe, and a proportionate number in this country, since the day when the East India railway system first began, they have got on at the rate of about twenty miles per annum in Bengal, and of about ten miles per annum in Bombay, the whole extent open being about a hundred and twenty and, fifty miles respectively in these THE PRESS. two places. If they continue to progress at this snail's pace, the works will not be com pleted till the century itself is drawing to a close. Such a state of things we cannot look upon as satisfactory; and we trust that some of those members most conversant with these kind of undertakings will not fail in the en suing session to take the question up. We are not of those who approve of the Govern ment guarantee principle as applied to rail roads, whether in the East or in the West, be cause we think that works of this kind are far best left to the unfettered operations of private enterprise. Still, a journalist or a statesman must deal with facts as he finds them ; and in this case of Indian railroads the guarantee, whether rightly or wrongly, has been given. The State is now bound beyond recal for any losses that may accrue from them; and it behoves the public to exercise the same vigilance over the Indian Govern ment that the Indian Government claims to exercise over the railway companies in the first instance. Whether railroads in India will ever pay has been a question which time and experience alone can determine ; but it must be quite clear that the only means to make them pay are economy and rapidity of construction. The most promising line in the world must necessarily prove a failure if bur thened, as the Indian lines are, with a double staff at most enormous salaries, the business of one half of which appears to be endless correspondence with the other half, while the subordinates are, pending the discussion, drawing their incomes for doing nothing. To railways constituted on this principle, and which progress in consequence at tho rate of from ten to twenty miles yearly, there can be but one termination, and that the swallowing up of the whole subscribed capital before the works can be more than half completed. If this were a private matter between the rail way directors and their shareholders we should not notice it; but the Government having guaranteed a certain interest on the outlay on these railroads, it concerns the public quite as much as it does the share holders, for it is on the public that the loss must eventually fall. THE BRAVE BRITISH OFFICERS. ALL accounts concur as to the brilliant valour shown by the regimental officers in the assault on the Redan. They did not merely stand fire, but courted the glory and peril of being the first amongst the foremost. They led their men as became the sons of the gentry of these islands, and dashed with heroic spirit into the thickest of the fire. We could not attempt to draw any line of gradation between the chivalrous spirits who fell while cheering on their troops to the deadly and desperate strug gle. They had the community of peril—let them all have a common glory Like water they poured their blood for their country's honour, and if the result was at all disappoint ing, the most cynical could not charge any thing to the officers engaged in this tremendous assault. It is well to fix attention on their brilliant courage ; for at the commencement of the campaign some unworthy attempts were made to insinuate that their martial mettle was not equal to the trial. Their chivalry has splendidly refuted their " popular" calum niators "Class"-mongers are silenced after perusing the records of their deeds. Brigadier WINDHAM'S name has been much mentioned for his conspicuous heroism. He belongs to one of those old English families of the uncoronetted nobility of the land. His kindred have always been remarkable for personal strength and determination. One of his cousins was pronounced by GEORGE IV. to be the finest man in England, and several feats of strength are recorded of various members of his race. Brigadier WINDHAM appears to have shown admirable coup Bail as well as courage, and much interest will be taken in his future career. His pro motion has been well deserved. _ The name of Captain FYERs, also, has been borne above the din of battle. We observe 919 that his heroism is particularly communicated by several of the correspondents, and it is asked why has he not been earlier promoted ? Into such questions we shall not enter, but we trust that the boldest men of all ranks will not pass without marked requital. LORI) PALMERSTON'S " SATISFACTION." Great as our losses are, we have the satisfaction of knowing that those losses and those privations are surpassed in magni tude by those against whom we are patriotically contending.— Lord i'o/sterston's .`4leecis at Melbourite, Sept. 13th. THE HOSPITAL AT SERASTOPOL. OF all the pictures of the horrors of war which have ever been presented to the world, the hospital of Sebastopol presents the most horrible, heartrending, and revolting. It cannot be described, and the imagination of a Fuseli could not conceive anything at all like unto it. How the poor human body can be mutilated and yet hold its soul within, when every limb is shattered, and every vein and artery is pouring out the life stream, one might study here at every step, and at the same time wonder how little will kill! The building used as a hospital is one of the noble piles inside the dockyard wall, and is situate in the centre of the row at right angles to the line of the Redan. The whole row was peculiarly exposed to the action of shot and shell bounding over the Redan, and to the missiles directed at the Barrack Battery, and it bears in sides, roof, windows, and doors, frequent and dis tinctive proofs of the severity of the cannonade. Entering one of these doors, I beheld such a sight as few men, thank God, have ever witnessed ! In a long low room, supported by square pillars, arched at the top, and dimly lighted through shattered and unglazed window-frames, lay the wounded Russians, who had been abandoned to our mercies by their General. The wounded, did I say ? No, but the dead, the rotten and festering corpses of the soldiers, who were left to die in their extreme agony, untended, uncared for, packed as close as they could be stowed, some on the floor, others on wretched trestles and bedsteads or pallets of straw, sopped and saturated with blood, which oozed and trickled through upou the floor, mingled with the droppings of corruption. With the roar of exploding fortresses in their ears, with shells and shot pouring through the roof and sides of the rooms in which they lay, with the crackling and hissing of fire around them, these poor fellows, who had served their loving friend and master the Czar but too well, were consigned to their terrible fate. Many might have been saved by ordi nary care. Many lay, yet alive, with maggots crawl ing about in their wounds. Many, nearly mad by the scene around them, or seeking escape from it in their extremest agony, had rolled away under the beds, and glared out on the heartstricken spectator, oh ! with such looks! Many with legs and arms broken and twisted, the jagged splinters sticking through the raw flesh, implored aid, water, food, or pity, or deprived of speech by the approach of death, or by dreadful injuries in the head or trunk, pointed to tie lethal spot. Mtn seemed bent alone on making their peace with Heaven. The attitudes of some were so hideously fantastic as to appal and root one to the ground by a sort of dreadful fascination. Could that bloody mass of clothing and white bones ever have been a human being, or that burnt black mass of flesh have ever had a human soul ? It was fearful to think what the answer must be. The bodies of numbers of men were swollen and bloated to an incredible degree, and the features distended to a gigantic size, with eyes protruding from the sockets, and the blackened tongue lolling out of the mouth, com pressed tightly by the teeth, which had set upcn it in the death rattle, made one shudder and reel round. In the midst of one of these "chambers of horrors"—for there were many of them—were found some dead and some living English soldiers, and among them poor Captain Vaughan, of the 00th, who has since succumbed to his wounds. I confess it was impossible for me to stand the sight, which horrified our most experienced surgeons ; the deadly, clammy stench, the smell of gangrened wounds, of corrupted blood of rotting flesh, were intolerable and odious beyond endurance. But what must have the wounded felt who were obliged to endure all this, and who passed away without a hand to give them a cup of water, or a voice to say one kindly word to them? Most of these men were wounded on Saturday—many perhaps on the Friday before — indeed, it is impossible to say how long they might have been there. In the hurry of their retreat the Muscovites seem to have carried in dead men to get them out of the way, and to have put them upon pallets in horrid mockery. So that their retreat was fl o e n Cllr ed, Monday the onlyenem d y i d t cared hey but receivelittle t h fo o r ge the i r w o w: w u e n n ds sent i . t out to them during a brief armistice for the purpose, which was, I believe, sought by ourselves, as our rcrn co d n to tai an n, y and our overworked d ed hospitals surgeonco Times Correspondent. ulcoduindotnatteot