The Sun.
London, England, 1863-05-14 00:00:00

THERMOMETER.

Highest since Noon yesterday 6B
Lowest during the night
This day at N00n..• • •
Wind—S.W. ; moderate breeze, and cloudy.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
This DA.Y.—Morning, 11h. 44m.—Afternoon, h. m.
To-mORRow.-Morning, 12h. 12m.—Afternoon, 12h. 36m.

"to y *`k 4 'l2;
egg firAkiarafi...,„
Alire""Ar.q/Z, 444

LONDON, THURSDAY, MAY 14, 1863.

Hansard for the session of 1863 gives promise of
being as interesting and valuable as Hansard for
its predecessor. Nothing of any importance in the
way of legislative improvement either done or at-
tempted (even attempted !) by the Government.
That wicked, sardonic Opposition looking on com-
placently the while—that is, watching with a
peculiar satisfaction bow it is that the Ministry
that came in expressly for the purpose of carrying
a sweeping measure of Reform, has ever since
daring the four weary years last passed, been con-
strained to stultify itself, by doing the work of the
Opposition—the work, that is, not of innovation
but of Conservation, or, in political diction, Conser-
vatism. Each year that has rolled by since the Pal-
merston Coalition was founded, and installed, to this
end, has demonstrated the fact that the situation is
what we have here described it to be, and nothing
else than that—each year, as it has rolled by, has de-
monstrated the fact we are alluding to,more and more
clearly, placing the painful truth more and more
beyond the reach of contradiction. The Cabinet
of Lord PALMERSTON is—thauks to its chief alone
—what is called a popular Administration. It is so,
however, only nominal.y. Its popularity apper-
tains exclusively to Lord PALMERSTON. It be-
longs to no one among even the most gifted of his
colleagues. Each of these Cabinet Ministers has
in greater or lesser numbers, it is true, his ardent
admirers, among either his personal friends, or,
a few of them, even among the unknown masses
of the general population. But, otherwise,
regarding them in their col'ective capacity
as members of a Cabinet—Ministers, certainly,
during the last years, hold office purely upon
sufferance. How in point of fact could it by possi-
bility be otherwise ? Where in their acts is there
discernible any reason for their enjoying anything
like popularity ? What plea have they given for
any display in their regard of popular enthu-
siasm ? They are virtually thing nothing at all
as Reformers. They are holding office, and hold-
ing their hands, and drawing their salaries. They
are either defeated when they attempt to carry any
measure of even moderate importance through
the Legislature, or they are compelled to avoid the
Ignominy of defeat by meekly withdrawing it.
Whatever popularity Ss enjoyed by the Ministry,
belongs, individually and exclusively, to the
head of the Ministry Lord PALMERSTON.
S apposing any one peculiarity of the Parliamen-
tary session were needed as an index to the actual
situation, as we have here briefly described it, that
peculiarity "pointing the moral and adorning the
tale" of the rise and existence of the Second PAL-
MERSTON Administration, would be discernable in
the fact that during the last year or two, session
after session has been remarkable, each in turn, as
a session of Wednesdays! A session, that is to
say, of Wednesday Defeats ! For—really
and truly—so far as any good has come of it,
the Wednesdays' sittings need not have been
holden at all. At these Wednesday sittings—
Questions have been discussed, pro and con,
of an afternoon—the whippers in, both upon
the right hand and upon the left hand
ot.Mr. SPEAKER, have been occasionally very
active--but almost invariably, certainly as
a rule, amendments have been negatived, bills have
been thrown out, now in committee, now at the
proposal for the second reading, now at one stage,
now at another. Hansard has been filled
up, page after Page,
volume after volume
—divisions have been industriously counted
almost always with one very monotonous
result—but the work of practical legislation has, all
the while, made no appreciable advance whatever.
Lords and Commons have been" marking time" while
the Reforming ( ! ) Ministry, taking the word of
command from the Opposition, have been wheeling
round fromProgression:to Conservatism. How long,
people) are beginning at length to inquire, can this
last ?

We are glad that, in spite of Lord C. PAQET'S
opposition, Colonel DUNNE has obtained a cont.
mittee for an inquiry into the state of the har-
bour of Holyhead, with regard to its accommo-
dation for the mail packets. Such a motion could
not be very pleasing to the Admiralty, which is
never famous for reforms or improvements, al-
though its members have no objection to a long
course of expensive alterations. If anything is to
be done to Holyhead harbour, they would like to
have the doing of it, end not to be fettered by
the inconvenient knowledge and ability brought
to bear upon the question by the researches of a
committee. Accordingly the First Lord demurred
to "3461 burrtiE'S proposal, and said that
the 43"erlunent were taking the Deco-

eary steps for carrying out the promised
improvement. They possessed, he said, all the
information that a committee could possibly obtain,
and therefore he hoped the lion. member would not
press his motion. Colonel DUNNE, however, wisely
persisted in demanding a committee, declaring that
he had received information confirming his previous
statements. In truth, the harbour has been from
the first constructed upon a wrong principle, both
as to capacity and protection. Engineers are
doubtless often very learned men, and on certain
topics, such as bridges, embankments, and matters
more in keeping with their own avocations, their
wisdom may be indisputable; but when they pro-
pose to build harbours on a large scale, they some-
times get beyond their depth, and find themselves
completely at sea. We remember having expressed
our decided opinion, while the harbour was yet in
course of construction, that its extension was too
limited, its formation was faulty, and that instead
of affording the required protection to vessels seek
ing refuge in distress, it served rather as a decoy
luring them to destruction. It might have been
formed at infinitely less expense, and have con-
tained an area four times its present size. The
engineer found out his mistake when too late to
amend—and yet, after much patching aid alteration,
he only continued to make bad worse. But nothing
matters so long as Government finds the money
for more tinkering. Governments, like engineers.
are never in the wrong—the fault rests with others
—nobody is responsible, and the people
have to pay for the wilful mistakes and per-
verse cleverness of those who are above their
work, because they are safe from responsibility.
Mr. LAIRD said very truly that the Holyhead har-
bour was faulty from the beginning, and time has
proved the correctness of his opinion. We believe
that Mr. RENDALL was the consulting or directing
engineer of that harbour on the Welsh coast, as he
was of the great breakwater at Portland. Now
that breakwater has been placed fully half a mile
too near Weymouth, by which an immense area of
water is lost for the protection of our war fleet, as
well as of our great mercantile navy. By being so
near to the north the wind blows with great force
over the hollow in the direction of the Chesil Bank,
whereas half a mile further room more southerly
and easterly would have afforded ample scope and
verge enough for a whole fleet to ride safely at
anchor under the lee of the Portland Hills, and would
have given deeper water and more secure anchorage.
But our officials are always too proud to learn, or
too indifferent to see the public money profitably
and advantageously laid out. In works of this
kind, whose size and character elevate them into
undertakings of national importance, we have surely
a right to demand that they should be well planned
and efficiently carried out. We too often see some
vast construction that is to serve many generations
cramped and spoiled by a defect in the original
design, which no subst pent contrivance can remedy.
Oar skill in scientific mechanism is one of our
national boasts, surely then we should turn it to
some better account. Public attention is being
directed to these matters, and we see the first effects
in the division of Tuesday night, when a majority of
26 testified more forcibly than pleasantly to Lord
C. PAGET, that honourable members are not dis-
posed to put too much faith in the promises of the
Admiralty or the performances of its engineers.

Yesterday Sir J. FERGUSON moved the second
reading of the Accidents Compensation Bill, the
object of which was "to relieve railway companies
from the hard operation of the law." The hon.
baronet explained the purport of his measure with
great frankness, and allowed that it was for the
: interest of the railway companies, who had con-
ferred more benefits on the public than any other
improvement of modern times, In this bill he
assured the house that the great companies did not
seek to divest themselves of any just responsibility,
but they sought to be relieved from the misrepre-
sentation which the law, as at present enacted,
brought upon them. He contended that whatever
care was taken accidents would inevitably
occur sometimes. The greatest evil com-
plained of was that the present system en-
couraged frauds to a great extent. There
were always found plenty of assistants to
make up a case for the would-be martyrs.
Pettifogging solicitors and compassionate doctors
were ever ready, and, indeed, there was a class of
these men es ho made it a practice to get up the
cases. He contended that railway--companies ought
not to be led into contracts the extent of which
they could not ascertain. He thus enumerated the
proposals of his measure in distinct terms : "It was
proposed, then, that the liabilities of the compa-
nies should be equal—that, as there were equal pay-
ments, there should be equal liabilities ; but where
any individual estimated the value of his life to his
representatives higher than the limitation of the bill
provided for, he should be entitled to insure with
the railway company to the higher amount which
he thought fit. Definite terms of insurance and de
tails might be settled in committee or by the Board
of Trade. He begged to move the second reading
of the bill." Mr. LONGFIELD said he moved
the rejection of the bill. He was quite indignant at
its whole purport, and particularly disapproved of
the system of insurance. He considered that it
was almost always the negligence of railway
companies that caused accidents. Mr. THOMPSON
wisely urged that if these enormous claims were
to be allowed in compensation the railway com-
panies would soon be quite unable to defray the
expenses that were requisite for the safety of the
public. The Solicitor-General was decidedly
against the measure, and said that it was of that
nature that it could not receive the sanction of
+be House. The bill was subsequently lost by
a majority of 20. This was to be regretted, as
Sir J. FERGUSON distinctly stated that he
wished to refer it to a select committee, where of
course it might have been amended and altered to
suit the particular exigencies of the case, and might
have resulted in some measure alike beneficial to
the public and to the railway companies. As affair
are at present arranged it is only the pretentious
class who are sure of gaining their point, and reap-
ing a harvest from the untimely accident. Many
who are the greatest sufferers are never heard of
after the first excitement is over; they do not like
to have their case bandied about in a Court, and
prefer to suffer in silence the expense and incon-
venience to which they have been subjected by
some unhappy mischance. On the other hand,
at present the railway companies are not
fairly
right
sums
mat
and
aedya tbeed
fairr,
eat
cios
utaihdr eeoydp
tonfae
tvdhee
et.: can tell what enormous
d. e d Icto seems,ursea t then,one only
d
let each side be aware of the claims that may be
enforced and the liabilities to which they may to
to talk of this
saject. It is merely sentimentality
bill as introducing a system of treatin hua
beings as cattle, because what applies in onemnn
i-
stance applies in the other with equal force. -Where
is the difference of the principle in fixing the
amount to be paid beforehand for damages, and in
disputing the exact sum afterwards. Nothing is
more fairly adjusted from being made the subject ot
vituperation in a court of law, and, instead of the
question being fairy met, it is often the most un
scrupulous who gain the day and carry off the spoil.
A good opportunity has been thrown sway of oettiog

to rights a vexed question, and of removing a
grievance that presses hard on an enterprising body
of men, while, at the same time, the vark.us modi-
fications and changes of the law do not ensure
always a right compensation or provide for the
protection of the public.

The anniversary dinner of the Royal Literary
Fund is always worthy of attention, and it engages
an interest alike from its intrinsic excellence, and
the distinguished men who preside over its enter-
tainments and assist with their presence and orations
the general eisplay of the occasion. Last night
Earl STANHOPE presided, and he proved a most
efficient chairman. He came before the assembly
in the double capacity of Chairman and President,
having been appointed to that position upon the
death of the Marquis of LANSDOWNE. His
lordship remarked that if the arguments
in support of this institution were anti-
quated, the claims were ever new. These
claims extended as literature and science extended,
.nnd at no former period had these been more
diffused. After descanting on the advances that
science was every day making, and the glorious
position of our literature at present, Earl STAN-
HOPE went on to observe on the immense advan
tages we all derived from works of imagination.
The Hon. Mrs. NORTON, in the poem to her books,
addressed them as—

" Silent companions of my lonely hour,
Friends who can never alter nor forsake."

Returning then to the original theme of his dis-
course, Earl STANHOPE impressively urged upon
his hearers the important benefits that accrued
from this society to those who "found their strength
give way, and were mayhap wounded in the fall."
As for this class they must unhappily increase in
numbers the more our progress extended and our
fame was spread abroad. There must be some who
sink while others succeed. After a few most per-
tinent observations on the great want of combina-
tion that existed in England among scientific men,
Earl STANHOPE then eloquently concluded with
this passage regarding the spirit of the institution
he that night came forward to support :
" The society in whose name he was speaking acted in no
spirit of isolation; its helping hand was stretched out to
relieve the man of genius, whatever his origin. There was
no distinction of country, of party, or of creed ; a French-
man was as welcome as an Englishman; the applicant for
relief was not asked whether he was a Protestant or Roman
Catholic, a supporter of the Liberal or of the Conservative
party. ft was enough to know that he was a man of talent
exposed to difficulties not of his own creation, and the
assistance of the society was freely offered to him. As its
sphere of usefulness was extended, so likewise was the circle
of supporters to whose sympathies it commended itself. It
appealed not to any single department of knowledge, to any
branch of science, but to the poet, the geologist, the historian,
the archeologist, to every section contributing either to
the instruction or the intellectual power of mankind."
His lordship's speech reflects great credit on him,
and the members of the society must have con-
gratulated themselves on having such an able and
efficient ally in their president. A more noble
institution than this does not exist in the land,
and no society could have a better object than to
afford aid to those who have fallen by the wayside
in the march of life, weary and worn out in the
toil of their high enterprise. If any one undertak-
ing more than another deserves special attention
and regard, it should be that which conduces to
the benefit of the intellect, and inspires the imagi.
nation with elevated ideas. None more require
assistance than those whose pursuits have been
of a literary kind, when poverty exerts
its depressing influence or when health fails
them in the following of their arduous labours_ To
such men this society seeks to offer assistance, and
the undertaking should not be regarded so much
a work of charity as a testimonial of regard and
respect to the benefactors of humanity, It is to be
hoped that success will long attend this institution,
and that so long as literature flourishes, so
long through the length and breadth of the
land will supporters be found for this society,
that it may never be said that the labourers in the
vineyard are neglected while their countrymen and
the world reap the rich harvest of their success.