The Express.
London, England, 1859-01-25 00:00:00

ALARMING ACCIDENT TO AN EXPRESS

7)141N.

A serious accident occurred on Sunday evening

on the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway to
the Great Northern comma train, which left London at
6 p.m., for Sheffield and Manchester. The train consisted
of two guards' vans and three first and second class carriages,
and when at a curve between tho Kiveton-park and Wood-
house junction station., about eight miles before it reached
Sheffield, it can off the line. It afterwards proceeded about
100 yards, the wheels of one side being between the two rails
on:which the train had been running, and the other wheel.
being on the foot"—via., the space between the
up and the down lines. While so running the
train turned first raffia one rail and then *genet
the other, tearing up and breaking the rails and jolting
the parings» in a frightful manner. The rails at this
point Sr. laid upon • somewhat high embankment, and
it is considered most fortunate that the train did not run
off the rule towards the side of the embankment, as
in that case the conacquences must have been most
disastrous. As it was the engine did eventually roll over,
lodging on the side neer the top of the embankment. In the
fall the coupling chains were broken. The carriages, with
the aneptice of the last van, all fell over, and remaining
linked together, were thrown in a very carious shape, one
being =On the line of rails and the other on the edge of
the embankment. Immediately the train stopped the guard

on the bet van returned to the Hiveton-parkaation to pre-
vent any other trains coming up, while one of the least In-
jured of the passengers walked forward to the station at
Woodhouse Junction end gave information to the station-
muter there, who at once telegraphed to Sheffield for mist-
imes. An engine and carriages, with porter, &c., were
promptly despatched thence to the scene of disaster. In the
meantime the passengers had succeeded in extriceting
themselves from their uncomfortable poeition, some of
there having been under the necemity of kicking out the
windows to get out of the carriages. The heed guard, those
name is Bradley, was found to be very severely cut and
bruised, and TM taken to an adjoining hotel, where he was
attended by Mr. Leta, a neighbouring surgeon. On Mon-
day morning he was, at his own request, conveyed back
to London, where he resides, in a tint-elase carriage, the
surgeon being of opinion that the journey would cot do
him any harm. The remainder of the company's Permeate
nod ell the passengers were brought forward to Sheffield,
where they arrived between 11 and 12 o'clock. the
passengers numbered about fourteen, and three of them,
who were most injured, got off at Sheffield, and were
conveyed to the Bleck Swan Hotel. The remainder
were able to proceed forward to their homes at Manches-
ter and elsewhere. The names of the gentlemen who
remained at Sheffield are Mr. Cmupbell, of Felwood-park,
weer Liverpool; Captain Collicgridge and Mr. Mill-
grove, of London. Mr. Campbell, who has Buff mined severe
cuts and injuries about the head, wee insensible for some
hours, but rallied during the night, and though confined. to
bed, Is expected to recover. The other two gentlemen are
severely but not dangerously injured, both having received
severe bruiser about the heed and elsewhere. All three have
been attended by Mr. Haxworth, surgeon. William Mills
and William Spriggs, of Peterborough, the driver and
stoker, were taken to the Tunnel Hotel, Sheffield, and
attended by Mr. Parker, surgeon. They are severely injured
internrdly, and have also received some rather foul external
beanies, but, like the rest, are expected to recover. The
cause of the accident has not yet been popirively secertained,
but the matter is undergoing a searchieg investigation by the
company's officiate.

SINGULAR ACCIDENT IN WEST SMITIIFIELD.-i
Last night a singular accident occurred about ten o'cleek,
within three or four doors of the Smithfield polies-station,
under the following circumstances:—The house num-
bered 11, in West Smithfield, is in the occupation of
Mr. George Williams, a fruiterer, and at the hour named
the whole of the pavement fronting the hones, to the
herb of the footway, and the adjoining b Juges on either side
fell in, causing en opening full 12 feet More, and not lees
then 7 feet in depth. The out 'intent, and before any one
understood the nature of the wide nt, a respectably dressed
female, with an infant in her arms, fell into the opening,
when the Impactor Of pairs (Mr. Reeding) on duty
at the Smithfield avian/eel depot, hearing the noise,
rushed out, and by his presence of mind eared
two men,
who would, otherwise have Oland the
same fete. !Lashed= ...e wan instantly rendered by
the police, and ropes
and ladders were brought from the
station without delay . The poor woman and her child were
brought upauffair
toto work to g much from fright, but upon being taken
thehospital was declared to be in nowise seriously le-
ered, and wan afterwards sent home to their residence.
riming that '..iteadjoining house., which are not leas than
two central, a old, might fall, workmen were immediately set
shore them up, under the eruperintendenee of Itlr.
Painter. the inspector of pavements. That officer attended
and.alreerintended the necessary shoring wake, the police
havu.g put up barriers round the opening so as to prevent
UV,' further aoddents. From an investigation of the place it
appears that the pavement or footway shout this spot has
formerly been need either as a subterranean way or for the
rr.rpoess of a bakery. No entrance to it wee connected with
8 Mr. Williams'. premises, there having been • bark wall
between thebuilding and theme of the shop. This has
fallen, and probably this be been the caws of the accident.
' SINGULAR DEATH OP A Hoasa.— -0 n Wednesday
afternoon a carriage belonging to the Earl of Winchilses,
and containing the countess and a gentleman at present stay-
ing at the noble cierl'e, was entering North.street, Ashford,
from High-street, when one of a fine pair of bones which
were draw .ift the carriage suddenly sprang up. and, as the
coachman aa4d, ° Gave a loud any like a Christian," and
then fell down dead. The animal had ruptured • blood-
• vessel. It was stated to to wails • hundred pounds.

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LONDON, TUESDAY, JAN. 26.

Mlwir. the many and sore troubles which embit-
tend tit ass decline, the sorest (by his own ac-
count) was the dread of an unfavourable posthumous
reputation. Ile apprehended that his faults would
be the most conspicuous features of his character, as
thee were to himselt at the moment ; and that the
word could not fully sympathise in his lofty demo-
cratic view of Men in Society. Never was a last
estimate of set and one's kind more mistaken ! The
veriest pedant and peppy, who dies pitying the
world for the struggle it will have to get on without
him, is not more deluded in one direction than
Buvoi was in the opposite. He wee not irrational
in his view, however, though wholly mis-
taken. MOM who surrounded him were
much engrossed with his faults towards
the close of his life ; and his views and opinions
were treated by his employers, as well as others,
with not only displeasure bat contempt. It was
intimated to him that "his business was to act, not
to think." And this was said, not as a cheek
upon political sgitatlom, or any extreme demonstra-
tion of any kind, but In reply to a statement of his
views which had been drawn from him by accusa-
tion. He did not desire a republic in Great Britain,
ke said, because Britons have all the means o
rational liberty and social welfare. Ile wished for
no change in our form of government, but for a
reform of the "system of corruption between the
" executive power and the representative part of the
legislature, which boded no good to our glorious con-
" stitution, and which every patriotic Briton must
" wish to lee amended." After thin, his "superiors",
could not denounce him as a republican,
so they informed him that his business
well to act, and not to think I and he,
valuing his thought, feared that there would be no
sympathy with it or hies after he was gone, and
that he would be known by his infirmities, if at all.
On this day, the centenary of his birth, the whole
world that speaks or reads our language is rejoicing
because he lived sad thought, and told what he
thought. The homage of united kingdoms, of clus-
ters of colonies, and of several foreign nations is paid
to his memory to-day. So much for his posthumous
reputatiou ' As to his being remembered by his
faults, the most touching and glorious tribute of all
Is, perhaps, the teetotal celebration of the day. If
he could but have foreknown it in his hour of deepest
remorse, what a solace would this have been l—what
a pregnant reply to his worst misgivings! There is
to be a "tea banquet" in the Edinburgh Corn
Exchange to-day, "under the auspices of the Tots!
" Abstinence Society." We hear it with gratitude
and glee. 8o much for his being remembered only
by his faults!

There could not have been a better conjunction
between the date and public affairs than that which
we witness. It could not have happened better as
an express reply to BURNS yearning after sym-
pathy in his aspirations for society. The festival
would, no doubt, have been held under any condition
of public affairs. The man binds us to him by so
many ties that we should bare been ready with oar
homage in the midst of a war, or under a PITT and
ELroN Government, or under a return of the
Bit ants, or under a Republic—whether amidst the
deepest adversity, or in a condition without a care.
The response of men's passions, sympathies, senti-
ments, to hie song would have been loud and clear
amidst any turmoil of conflict, or merry-making in
peace sad prosperity. But there is a peculiar apti-
tude in the spirit of the hour for honouring'
BURN,. Ilia irrepressible thought about the mutual
relations of men in society, and his clear view of the
necessity of making their representation in
mint an honest one, are the very thought and the
very icy which our minds an now occupied with.
and on which we are at present daily called upon to
speak. So much for the sympathy which he dared
not anticipate!

Far be it from us to dwell exclusively on the
Poet's darkest hours, or on the controversies which
embittered them. When men talk of Bra's they
do not (except, very naturally, in the l;nited States)
consider whether he was a Republican, ore Whig.or
a Tory. They think of the atter, Sa'arday
or of MyAland -Vary, or of Tans o'Shanler. They
think of the dirge, the reaping-song, the war hymn,
the prayer, and personal penitence. They think of
the plea for the weak, and the rebuke of the haughty.
They regard him as the poet, the lover, the mourner,
the wit, the comrade, the sinner, the sufferer, rather
than u the politician. Yet, the chief bond between
him and other men—the grand security for his pos-
session of the sympathies of all generations, is his
estimate of Man as Man, under all conditions.
Some may praise his "Republican boldness " of
speech, and others may exalt has generosity towards
the lowest and most helpless: his employers might
call him dangerous, and his tine acquittance might
caution him against noticing the vulgar: they have
all agreed from the beginning, and all men will
agree to the end, in holiest to their heart's' con his
estimate of what is doe to Man es Man. One
mornieg he shook hands with a peasant on the
Leith road, and talked with him some time, in the
presence of a fop, who strrwards rebuked him
for showing his friendship for a man dressed in
homespun. " Why, you fantastic gamed," cried
Bt RN', "it was not the grey coat, or the score-
" hence or the boot hose, that I spoke to, but the
" man that was in them :" and he proceeded to de-
:,p bin view of the comparative quality of the
Otte men who composed the group. Ilia song, "

" there for honiet poverty," is the expression of his
daily habit of mind throughout his life.
The rank Is but the itthsse stump:
The men's the gelid kw a' that,

is the doctrine and the sentiment by which he lived,
and which made him the immortal poet he is. That
Deng is certainly the most widely known of kis
pieces at present. Familiar as we all are with half-
s-hundred of his strains which range from lofty de-
soutane, through the whole series of affections and
passions, to the most homely fun, we all feel that
that song is the truest exponent of the man to the
greatest number of his kind. Under the virtual
unsonhip of hie day, it was not permitted to be
snag in the streets of our northern towns—a strange
bet to os now! But it was sung in the reaping-
field and in the cottage ; and now it is known by
heart wherever our language is spoken and Low-
land Scotch is read. He made no secret of
kis having achieved • personal discovery on the
subject of that song. He said, " I remember in my
" ploughboy days, I could not conceive it possible
"that a noble lord could be a fool, or a godly man
"could be a knave. How ignorant ploughboys
"are!" In the same way, the high-born and the
pions (self-called) could not, in those days, conceive
of a peasant as being wise, or • poor man dignified.
This long is an admonition as valuable for the one
mistaken class as for the other ; and who can say
how much it may have done towards bringing thane
into the happier understanding of our day?
One of Brave' long-standing regrets was that
he could not enter Parliament. He had much to tell
there, and much to ask ; and it might have been of
advantage to us in several ways if he could have
had the opportunity. That wish of his, and the
reasons for it, are n►tural recollections for us to-day,
when we are in the midst of an enterprise to obtain
a voice and a hearing in the Howe of Commons for
men of BURNS' clue. Ile had perceived that, in our
country, while there la no obstacle to the entrance of
the low-born rich into society, and into Parliament,
there is great jealousy of the low-born who rise, or
are qualified to rise, by other powers than that of
wealth. The owners of boroughs in those days were
great men, whether they were born in the mansion
or the cottage; bat the poet, the scholar, the politi-
cian, was repressed by an insolent or a timid aristo-
cracy. Scans had keen reason to know this, and
his craving for an opportunity of utterance in Par-
liament was a natural consequence. We lire in an
improved age, when there is a fairer field for desert,
without any fatal inquisition into origin. We
live, accordingly, under a growing necessity of ad-
mitting to the representation men whom BURNS
would have called his equals before the law and the
throne; and whatever &ewes said about the claims
of such men is valuable to us, not only on this day,
but on every other.
We have no right to appropriate it, however,
without being clear as to what he meant by peasant
life, when he asserted its claims. Its poverty was
obvious enough. On this day hundred years, he
was born in a ricketty clay hovel, which was blown
down a few days afterwards, when he and his
mother were carried out into the storm from among
the ruins. Bat it did not follow that this peasant
family would, like some of oar country neighbours at
this day, ask whose son the Prince of WALE, is, Of de-
mand wages which will rise with the price of bread,
or insist that the QUERN should " do something" for
everybody who is badly off. Iluivel had a other
who read with him, and smother who sang to hint—
sang songs which brought out the poet and patriot
elements in him. The Scotch peasantry then were
at least as intelligent as our shop-keeping or best
artisan class now. When we mu that our rural
neighbours are as intelligent, we shall delight in ex-
pressing their aspirations in Brans' words. Mean-
time, the way is more open now than it was then,
while we have not a peasantry capable of his ambi-
tion. When he died it was asked, in all simplicity,
by those about hie door, " And who will be our poet
" now ?" This need never be asked by the pea-
santry of a later century. As sure as they rise into
a capacity for seeing that