The Press.
London, England, 1856-08-09 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

SATURDAY,

tion she has displayed. So far as the spirit of the States' people is
concerned, there is nothing to prevent a speedy and satisfactory settle-
ment of the Central American difficulty.

The alarming number of railway accidents throughout the king-
dom during the last two weeks, and, with only one or two exceptions,
resulting from the negligence of the signalmen, suggests the neces-
sity of some alteration either in the signal code, or a radical change in
the system of railway signals. Possibly the necessity for this change
may never occur to the railway mind till SIDNEY SMITH'S roast Bishop
comes to hand; but meanwhile, as every one in the community
is interested in the best arrangements that can possibly be made
to insure certain safe travelling on railroads, it is only fair to
ourselves and pleasant to the Episcopal Bench that railway com-
panies should be forced to take in time such steps as might in
some degree save the lives and limbs of the public, and pre-
vent the occurrence of so fearful a calamity as a roasted Pre-
late. The question has been taken up this week with its usual ability
by the Times. A writer to that paper suggests that the whole system
of signals should be reversed—a change easily effected at a trifling
cost, and one to be recommended by common sense and every prin-
ciple of security. The present system of signals is "affirmative," that
is to say, the signal of " safe " is the normal condition of the sema-
phore—it is always flying ; and in case of obstruction or accident at a
station—the moment, of all others, when confusion is sure to arise—
if the signalman forget to alter this signal the semaphore shows
" safe" to the approaching train; it dashes in and then makes a butcher's
bill which it would be considerably to the satisfaction of the shareholders
and the convenience of the travelling public to avoid. This it is proposed
to do by simply making the normal signal of semaphores one of "danger."
The result is evident. The memory of the signalman will only be taxed
when everything is safe, and the worst result of his negligence will bo
in the stoppage of a train when the line is clear. Thus at least the
most fruitful cause of railway accidents, collision, will be to a great
extent removed. We shall get into a train with a tolerable certainty
that, so far as human prudence can effect, every precaution has been
taken for our safety, and we shall feel at least that our lives and limbs
are no longer dependent on the memory of a signalman or the vigilance
of a station-master. At present, in addition to the sufficiently nu-
merous risks from mechanical causes, we have these two monstrous
hazards to contend against, and the result is seen in seventy per cent,
of railway accidents. The public should stir in this matter. The
directorial mind will do nothing without pressure ; and if Mr. MALINS
and his Railway Reform Association were to make this one of their
prominent points of Railway Reform, they would confer an immense
benefit upon all classes, and earn a good claim to public support.

Sir GEORGE GREY has decided that there are no grounds for
extending mercy to DOVE, and the wretched culprit will accordingly
be hanged in front of York Castle at noon to-day. No other
result was to be expected. Sir GEORGE GREY is not the man to resist
the clamour which has been raised for the blood of this most misera-
ble being. So all the evidences of his mental infirmity, of his incura-
bly destructive tendencies, the testimony of lunacy doctors, the recom-
mendation of the jury, and the prayers of DOVE'S mother, pass for
nothing. His fate is not worth discussion, except as it illustrates the
uncertainty of death punishments. Men have been saved from the
gallows with less presumption of insanity in their favour than this
wretch, and his execution will leave it more doubtful than ever in
what cases the plea of insanity should be received. The reluctance of
jurors to pronounce a verdict which they know must lead to death is
productive of inconvenient consequences. At Bodmin, this week, a.
man charged with the murder of an infant had evidence produced.
against him which left no moral doubt of his guilt, though it was pos-
sible that the main witness might have deposed falsely. What was
to be done ? It would not do to let the man go free on a bare supposition
of his innocence. The jury cut the knot by finding him guilty of
manslaughter. The Judge was puzzled. If the jury believed the
evidence, they should have found the prisoner guilty of murder; if
they did not, they should have acquitted him. The Judge, however,
could not refuse the verdict, and the prisoner escaped the extreme
penalty. Cain, recently tried for the Burnopfield murder, owed his
escape, we arc inclined to think, more to the extreme scrupulosity of
his jury than to defect in the evidence. Under the existing system the
penalty for murder, even when the guilt is brought home to a prisoner.
is a lottery, and we aro by no means sure that a certain penalty of
civil death 'would not have a more preventive effect than an
uncertain penalty of corporal death. In such case, a sepa-
rate prison, washed by the sea, as one of the Orkney islands.
might be appointed for murderers alone. They might be kept
under strict discipline, and be for ever secluded from all contact and
intercourse with the outward world. To society they would be dead
when their conviction was pronounced. Such plan would save us
from much embarrassment, as there would be no ground for treating
lunatic murderers in any other manner than those who are a few
degrees more sane. All might expiate their awful crime by this
living death alike. A commencement might well be made, without
alteration of the law, with such reprieved murderers as CORRIGAN and
CELESTINA SOMNER. The numerous and frightful murders of our time are
against the argument that the death penalty is preventive of the crime.
In one class of cases death is braved through despair, as in the instance
of BOUSFIELD, who sought the police that he might surrender himself
after his crime had been committed; in another class of cases the
penalty is disregarded through firm belief in ability to escape detec-
tion. Whether more murders would be committed if the penalty were
changed is matter of speculation. They are numerous enough at
present, and seem on the increase. Greater certainty of punishment
is desirable, and we know not how it can be secured except by chang-