The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-10 00:00:00

Mr. Gladstone's Visit to Bolton and
Far north.

Great preparations are being made, both at Bolton
and Farnwortb, to give a cordial greeting to the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, who will visit Bolton
to.niorrow afternoon; and on the day following will
open the public park at Farnwortb. The right bon.
gentleman will arrive at the Trinityestreet Station,
Bolton, at 4.38, where he will be met by the Mayor
and Town Clerk, Mr Barnes, MT., Colonel Gray,
M.P., and Mr Alfred Barnes, chairman of the Fern-
worth Local Board. These gentlemen will Escort
Mr Gladstone to the Free Public Library, where he
will be met by MrCinnon and other members of the
Library and Museum Committee. They will then
proceed to the Market Hall, and thence to the
Temperance Hall, where the Mayor will present to
Mr Gladstone the following address from the Cor-
poration :

To the Right Hon. William E wart Gladstone, M.P.
Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Sir,—We; the Mayor, aldermen, and burgesses of the
borough of Bolton, in the county of Lancaster. desire to
express the deep gratification which your visit to this town*
affords to all classes of its inhabitants, and the great regret
felt on their part that your stay amongst them is unavoid-
ably for so short a period. In common with many of
our fellow-countrymen of all shades of political opinion, we
admire you as a statesman possessing rare and distin-
guished abilities, and as a Minister occupying in the Go-
vernment of this country a high position, and adorning
that Government with such gifts of oratory and financial
ability, combined with great scholarship, as have rarely
been equalled ; and we are glad that the town of Bolton
has the honour of being publicly visited by so illustrious a
man. The opening of the park at Farnwortb, which is
the occasion affording us the privilege of your pre-
sence, has our warmest sympathy, and it gives
us much pleasure to add that, through the liberal provision
of that Government whose finances you so ably control, this
borough is undertaking the formation of a park for the free
use of its inhabitants ; and we doubt not that the present
and future generations of our town, whilet enjoying the
benefits thus conferred upon them, will regard with grati-
tude the Parliament which, at your instigation, has furnished
the means of such healthful recreation. In oonclusion, we
rejoice in giving you a hearty welcome upon this your first
public visit to Bolton, and venture to express the hope that
the time is not far distant when we shall be favoured with
a longer stay than that which you are now enabled to make
amongst us—Given under the common seal of the borough
of Bolton, at a meeting of the Council of the said borough,
he.ld on the sth day of October, 1834.

After leaving the Temperance Hall, the party will
proceed down Bradshawgate (to afford Mr. Glad-
stone an opportunity of inspecting the Crompton
statue), and from thence to the residence of Mr.
Alfred Barnes, Green Bank, Farnworth. On Wed-
nesday morning a procession will form at half-past
nine o'clock, at the offices of the Local Board, in
Derby-street, Farnworth, and will pass through
the principal streets to the park. The ceremony
will commence by the Sunday scholars singing the
100th Psalm, and after a pryer by the Bishop of
Manchester, and addresses by Sir S. P. K.ay-
Shuttleworth and the Rev. G. D. Macgregor, Mr.
Barnes will present the park to the inhabitants
for their use for ever. Mr. Alfred Barnes, as
chairman of the Local Board, will accept the
same, and Mr Gladstone will declare it open. In
addition to the gentlemen before named, the
Earl of Ellesmere, the lion. A. Egerton, M.P.,
Mr Massey, M.P., Mr Bazley, M.P,, Col. Gray,
M.P., Mr J. Pilkington, M,P., and Mr Hibbert,

M.P. have promised to attend. At one o'clock a
luncheon will be served in a marquee. At three
o'clock Mr Goddard will ascend in his balloon, at
six o'clock there will be a display of fireworks,
and at half-past seven there will bo a miscella-
neous entertainment in the New Hall, by the
Congregational Young Men's Mutual Improvement
Society. Great preparations are making, both in
Bolton and Farnw orth, for the decorations of the
streets, and the day will be observed in the neigh-
bourhood as a general holiday.

The Collision on the Great Northern
Railway.

On Saturday it was announced that a Midland train from
King's-cross had mu into a Great Northern train a'
Welwyn junction on Friday evening. Further details have
now been received, and it would appear that at the time of
the collision a train of trucks from Lincolnshire, filled with
potatoes and other agricultural produce, was entering the
Welwyn station from the north, the engine being under the
charge of an old and experienced driver, named Jessop, and
at the time there were several fast trains, both of the Mid-
land and the Great Northern due, including the Midland
down express. Whether from some misunderstanding on
the part of the pointsman or the engine-driver of the up
train could not be ascertained, but the agricultural produce
train crossed the line, and, instead of going into a left-hand
siding, crossed the line to the siding on the right-hand side
of the station. At the time the agricultural train was cross-
ing the line to this siding, the down express, which was
known to be due, appsared in sight, and before the driver of
the engine of the goods train had time enough to remedy the
mistake, either by going forward or retreating, the express
train dashed in amongst the trucks, smashing them to pieces,
and scattering the potatoes and other produce in all directions
on the line and down the embankment. The express train
was fortunately a very light one, having only seven carriage,
attached to the engine and tender, and not a very large
number of passengers, the raajarity of whom were in the
afterpart of the train. The shock was tremendous ; but it
is perhaps attributable to the velocity of the express at the
moment that a serious loss of life did not take place. The
engine of the agricultural train, having crossed the line and
got on the siding, was not injured, the express engine hav-
ing struck this train near its centre, but the engine of the
express train was much shattered and thrown eff the
metals ; and although three or four of the trucks in the
agricultural train were smashed, and several of tho fore-
most carriages of the express train also, it is a singular cir-
cumstance that the engine- driver and fireman of tie ex-
press engine, which it might be expected, would have been
annihilated, escaped with but slight injuries. The conster-
nation of the passengers is described as fearful, and so great
was the fright of many that they rushed out of the train
so soon as it was brought to a stand, and being unacquainted
with the locality, and there being but a very slight amount
of light from the rising moon, several would have jumped
over the parapet of the viaduct and been killed, had they
not been restrained by others who were acquainted with
the character of the neighbourhood of the occurrence. As
soon as the first alarm of the shock had subsided the station
master at Welwyn telegraphed what had happened to Hat-
field, in the direction of London, and to Hitchin downward,
to stop all trains either way, ales at the same time tele-
graphed the news to King's-cress that the accident had
happened and the line was blocked. On receipt of this
news Mr T. Williams, police superintendent, and subse-
quently Mr Leith, general superintendent, and Mr Burge,
of the locomotive department, proceeded to Welwyn with a
large number of labourers, accompanied by Mr Kirkwood,
of the Euston-road, surgeon to the company, In the mean-
time Mr Dredge, of Welwyn, and other medical gentlemen
from the surrounding districts, were in attendance on the
sufferers, whose injuries, it is stated, were chiefly confined
to superficial cuts about the faces and hands in some 12 or
or 14 instances, and who with the exception of one gentle-
man, said to have had his ribs broken, were unable to pro-
ceed on their journey either on Friday night or Saturday
morning. This gentleman still remains at the White Hart
Hotel, Welwyn, to which house he was removed, but is
stated to be progressing favourably. The escape of the pas-
sengers, when the fearful nature of the collision is consi-
dered, is truly miraculous, as, in addition to an empty horse
box next to the tender, which was almost demolished, the
whole cf the foot boards, door handles, the panels of the
carriages were smashed, and the panels splintered and drove
on the right hand or off side of the train.
An investigation has been made into the cause of the ass
cident, and it has been discovered that the points were put
right to have shunted the agricultural train on to the left
instead of the right hand siding, and it is believed that they
must have by some means shifted, and that the driver of
the engine of that train had not time to discover tho error
and reverse his engine so as to get clear of the main line be-
fore the express came;upon them.

GENERAL GARIBALDI AND LORD PALMERSTON.—
When General Garibaldi came over to this country,
he came—so, at least, hie friends say—with a curious mis-
sionary project in his head. Ho wanted and hoped to con-
vert Lord Palmerston to the cause of European nationalities.
In his interview with the English Premier, it is said that
he eagerly pointed out what a glory it would be to England
to come forward as liberator of Rome and Venice. The
story goes on to say that he received the same answer fram
Lord Palmerston which Victor Emmanuel is always re
ceiving from the Pope. Lord Palmerston admiited the
weight of all that the General had to say, but closed the
conversation with a non possuntus. To expect so enthusi-
astic a programme from the aged Premier was not merely
to ask England to cuter on a new and active foreign policy
for which she might be unfitted, but to ask a very old man
to unfurl the oriftamme.

MR. BANIM, one of the authors of the " Tales of
the O'Hara Family," is preparing a new edition of this
series of Irish tales, with new prefaces and copLus notes.
T. •

Lt is pretty well understood that many of these tales were
founded on fact, and that the characters in them were living
men. Thus Fai her Connell is said to have boen described
from Father O'Donnell, the lionaan Catholic Dean of Os-
gory. The new edition is to contain a good deal of gossip
on the real persons of these Irish stories.