The Press.
London, England, 1854-05-27 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

the Under-Secretary to the Colonies, says in
his evidence, " I understood the (Sligo) cir-
" cumstances were notorious, and known to
" everybody "—except to the Secretary of
State, who was a member of the Legislature,
and who had on his desk the printed statement
of facts given to him by Mr. STONOR ! Strange
that Mr. MERpALE, unconnected with Ireland,
should know *ore about Sligo than the ducal
contriver of the Irish prop of the Coalition I
But his Grace pleads his ignorance, and we
will not demur to his plea. Not to be attainted
of any corruption in the affair, he is culpable
to the extent of making one of the gravest
official blunders on record.
His Grace's carelessness and oversight with
all the facts fairly before him may go far to
explain the mismanagement in arranging the
details of the expedition to Gallipoli. Lord
Eu.zNsonouon proved that the troops might
have been sent to Calcutta for 146,0001. less
than has been expended in transporting them
to the end of the Mediterranean, at the New-
castle rate of charges. It is to be noted, also,
that Lord ELLENBOROUGH based his calcula-
tions on charging for every common soldier
the price that a gentleman pays for a
large berth and ample room in a voyage
round the Cape of Good Hope. He also
proved that, in 1808, 1,700 horses and 22,000
men had been sent out to the Peninsula for a
million of money less than our military
voyaging to Gallipoli has already cost. John
Bull may grumble, and wonder at such facts
in an age of cheapness, and short voyages by
steam. Let John open his eyes and read the
Duke of NEWCASTLE'S own account of his mode
of transacting affairs, and he will not wonder
at any extravagance of blundering committed
by the patron of Mr. SADLEIR, and the promo-
ter of Mr. STONOR.
Opinion, however, has made itself heard.
To burn a bishop in a railway train was sug-
gested by a reverend wag as the shortest
mode of preventing travellers being locked
in railway carriages. So the breakdown
of the Duke of NEWCASTLE as a Secretary
of State suggests that the War department
must be reformed. Yet whatever may be its
complications, when the posts were rightly
filled, it was a system under which the House
of Bourbon was humbled, and India, won, and
WOLFE and WELLINGTON led armies to glory.
We must recollect, however, that such things
were done while master-spirits held the helm
of the State, and some may think that more
vigour, and not innovation, is required. We
heard CANNING cited this week, and the quota-
tion from the orator's speech sparkled more
lustrously by the foil of the artificial verbiage
of Mr. GLADSTONE. Hero is a passage also
from CANNING that we present for the benefit
of those who have to consider the Newcastle
difficulty :—" Away with the cant of measures,
" not men, the idle suppositism that it is the
" harness, and not the horses, that draw the
" chariot along. If the distinction must be
" made, men are everything, measures are
" comparatively nothing. I speak of times of
" difficulty and danger, when systems are
" shaken. Then it is that kingdoms rise or
" fall, not by well-meant endeavours, but by
" the commanding, overawing talents of able
" men."
To ask whether his Grace of NEWCASTLE is
of the " overawing, commanding" character
alluded to by CANNING would be ridiculous.
The tiny step of his Grace in mimicking the
stride of a great statesman is exquisitely
ludicrous. It can be described only as a case
of Tom Thumb brandishing one of the Sidney-
Woronzow needles over his head, and telling
us that he will equal SHAW the Lifeguardsman
at Waterloo.

But, though a politician may be as weak in
official capacity as the Duke of NEWCASTLE has
shown himself by his own confession, still he
may have oratorical powers that may daunt
foes and cheer friends. Ten minutes' audience
of his Grace upon his legs would lull into a
slumber the most cynical of critics. He
totters under the weight of his own truisms.
Reeling under a small roll of red tape, he
poises his platitudes with as grave solemnity
as if he were going to hurl thunderbolts. In
stirring times he sat for years in the House of
Commons, and won no laurels there. Raised
to the Peers, and a Secretary of State, his

SATURDAY,

smallness in trying to fill a large part makes
us think of Smottarr's inimitable picture of
the first, but not the last, Duke of NEWCASTLE,
who associated the title with the spectacle of
mighty vanity and mediocre powers united.

LAW
RAILWAY
while Mr.
impression
oihe
IN our
CARDWELL'S Railway Bill was before the House
of Commons, we called attention to a practical
grievance of considerable importance and ad-
mitting of easy remedy. Several railway com-
panies positively refuse to carry cattle and
other agricultural stock unless the sender
signs a ticket absolving the railway from all
responsibility in case of accident or damage.
And a notice of this description, it has been
solemnly decided at Westminster, will protect
the company even in case of damage a • • rising
from their own misconduct. The public are
not, indeed, bound to sign such a notice ; for
they may bring an action against the company
to oblige them to carry their goods upon the
same conditions as common carriers. But he
would be a bold individual who would venture
to enter the lists upon such a point with a
powerful company.
We are happy to find that this subject en-
gaged the attention of the Lords, when the
second reading of the bill came before them,
on the 17th instant. Lord DERBY, in noticing
the remedy which it was assumed that the
public had in their own hands, observed justly
that " this was no practical remedy, for, sup-
" posing an individual were to incur the heavy
" cost and risk of fighting a powerful company
" on such a point, it was by no means clear
" that he would be successful, the question as
" to the liability of common carriers being not
"at all settled by our courts of law." The
Noble Earl's remarks were 'Confirmed in all
respects by the highest letal authorities in
the land. Lord LYNDHURST, after stating, with
his wonted clearness and precision, the nature
and effects of the recent cases, declared thst
the Legislature could alone apply a remedy.
It had interfered with regard to common car-
riers, between whom there was much compe-
tition, and interference was surely much more
necessary with respect to railways, between
which there was scarcely any competition at
all, and which now, in fact, enjoyed a practical
monopoly. The language of Lord Baonousx
was still more emphatic. He denounced the
mode in which the railways were thus enabled
to evade their just liabilities by means of
" a contract forced upon a passenger—a con-
" tract into which he entered upon compul-
" sion—a contract which might almost be said
" to be bad on account of the duress under
" which the passenger was compelled to enter
" into it." In short, the evil and the ne-
cessity of a remedy were admitted on both
sides of the House ; and from the statement
of Lord STANLEY OF ALDERLEY, who moved the
second reading of Mr. CARDWELL'S bill, we
conclude that a provision will now be inserted
depriving the railways of a protection which
they never ought to have possessed.
That it is high time for the interference of
Parliament we may learn from a fact stated
during the debate by Lord GREY. One of the
railway companies which has established its
non-liability with regard to the carriage of
cattle and horses has attempted to extend the
same principle to the conveyance of passen-
gers. On the back of their tickets they print
a notice to the effect that they shall not be
responsible for any damage which may happen
during the journey, however it may be caused.
That an attempt should be made of this de-
scription is only the natural result of the
present state of the law. We canno,. but
expect that trading companies will avail them-
selves of all the advantages which that law
allows them, and the principle which they seek i
to establish is obviously the same, whether it s
applied to passengers or goods. The legal
effect of such a notice as we have last de-
scribed has not yet indeed been decided, but
the very circumstance of such an attempt
being made, with the express view of prevent-
ing passengers and their relatives from l'eT3
vering damages in case of injury or death by