The Sun.
London, England, 1864-08-09 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

TlMEs.—Another "dangerous journey" comes in
close succession to the two which have recently
startled the public, as if to force upon us the abso-
lute and urgent necessity of some means of commu-
nication between the different parts of a train. A
correspondent writes to inform us that on Thursday
last he and four other gentlemen took their seats in
a carriage of the 9.15 p.m. train from King's-cross
for ledinburgh. Just before starting the guard
pushed into the carriage a sailor, who seemed to be
intoxicated. They had not gone far before this man
became very excited, declared ho had lost all hie
money in the train and was ruined, and at last,
jumping from his seat, began. to dash about the
carriage with the most frightful yells and impreca-
tions. All efforts to pacify him were useless, and
the passengers, in self-defence, were at length
obliged to resort to force. Ho was evidently suffer-
ing from an attack of delirium tremens; be was a
powerful men, and it required all the efforts of four
of the party to hold him. His struggles were so
violent that at one moment he nearly threw himself
out of the window, and the next moment almost
forced out one of his fellow passengers. Fortu-
nately they had a strap at hand, with which they
succeeded in binding his hands behind his back.
But it still required two persons to hold him on the
seat, and it became necessary to tie his legs together
with handkerchiefs. Even then the security of the
other passengers was but precarious, and if the strap
had broker they would have been reduced to an-
other struggle with him, All this while they were
travelling by night in an express train which would
not stop until it reached Peterborough, a distance
of 80 miles, occupying nearly two hours. Alt at-
tempts to gain the attention of the officials of the
i
train or along the line were neffectual. The pas-
sengers succeeded in acquainting their neighbours
in the next compartment with their danger, but
they were unable. to reach the guard, and men
shouted and women screamed the greater part of
the way to Peterborough without securing any at-
tention, Not until they reached Peterborough were
they relieved from their furious companion, and ena-
bled to continue their dreary night journey in peace.
As a vivid exhibition of the dangers to which we
are exposed by the present railway arrangements,
this terrible story is almost more remarkable than
the two which have immediately preceded it. In
the absence of any better protection, we should all
probably consider ourselves more secure in travelling
with four or five fellow-passengers than with only
one. The more the safer, and, considering the size
of most of our carriages., each passenger in this case
had about as much security from the number of his
companions as is generally probable. Yet these five
gentlemen were all placed in the greatest danger,
and compelled to endure two hours of the most
harassing anxiety-, by the presence of one madman
in their carriage. With such an instance before
him, who can feel himself safe from some act of out-
rageous violence in any railway carriage, end under
any circumstances ? One of these persons was an
gentleman, who seems to have been einab!e
to afford the others any assistance. Suppose two of
them had been similarly incapable, or suppose that.,
another, who almost fainted owing to the violence of
the struggle, had actually done so a little too soon,
what might have been the result to the rest? Or
what if the man had obtained a knife ? Or suppose,
a lady in a delicate state of health had been cue of
the passengers, what might riot have been
j ?
the
.con-
sequence, to her of such a two hours' journey
Any of thcao suppositions are as likely a,s not to
have occurred; and, indeed, it is a very fortunate
circumstance, aad one which could not be expected
morally, tlylt four pAbie,bodiQd persons ehould

be travelling together at such a critical moment.
This case, in short, amounts to a conclusive
proof that under present arrangements the occu-
poets of any carriage whatever, first, second, or
third class, may, five minutes after the starting
of a train, be at the mercy of a maniac. All
passengers, it is evident, now travel at peril of
their lives, and all invalids and weak persons at
imminent peril, not from the inevitable accidents of
nature, but from a perverse neglect of obvious and
simple precautions. This case also is serviceable in
another point of view, as it proves that nothing
short of a ready means of communication between
passengers and guard can be a sufficient protection
against such dangers. The railway companies would
Make us believe that nothing can be done beyond
putting the guard in communication with the driver
and that this would offer a sufficient security. But
in this instance what would have been the use of
such a partial communication ? It is very remark■
able that, although the passengers in the disturbed
compartment succeeded in making their danger
known to their immediate neighbours, they were
wholly unable to attract the attention of the guard.
It would seem, indeed, that if the guard had been
properly attentive it would have been impossible for
such continued shouts and screams as are described
to have remained unnoticed. But such is the fact.
Men could be shouting "Stop the train," and women
could be screaming for an hour and a half, without
once disturbing the guard. Nor does the presence
of officials on the platforms of intermediate stations
offer any substitute for this want. Even if it did
in any measure, yet if a murder could be committed
in one of the short intervals which separate the
stations of a metropolitan line, it might bo com-
mitted between two stations on any railway. But
here is a train passing a series of stations for
eighty miles, and the passengers unable to attract
any effectual attention. It seems that they did
attract some notice at one station, and danger
signals were consequently exhibited, but the driver
only slackened his speed for a while till the
signals were passed. It was night, it is true, but
night is no exceptional circumstance to modern
travellers. More than half the passenger travel-
ling to Scotland is by night. In short, it may be
considered to be established once for all by this oc-
currence—though it never needed such a practical
demonstration to men of common sense—that the
lives of passengers cannot possibly be secured against
the violence of maniacs or criminals, or against the
peril of partial accidents, except by the establish-
ment of a ready communication between passengers
and guards, The Board of Trade lately issued a
Circular on the subject to all the railway companies.
It drew the attention of the Directors to recent
occurrences, and requested their co-operation in
devising some means of obviating such pressing
dangers. It suggested two expedients—one, that
of placing windows between the compartments of
the carriages ; the other, a footboard and handrails
through the whole length of the train ; and it ap,
peared to the Beard " deserving of consideration
whether this expedient, guarded of course by proper
regulations, might not be generally adopted with
very beneficial effects." Lastly, they mention the
use of a cord running along the train, " by which
the guard can attract the attention of the engine-
driver," as a recognised and confessedly feasible
plan. It is very strange, that having thus placed
these two contrivances of a footboard and a running
cord side by side, the Board should not think of
combining them. -We have, however, pointed out
on a previous occasion that in combination they
would solve the whole difficulty. Let there be a
running cord for communication, not only between
guard and driver, but between passengeraand guard,
and let there also be a footboard by which the guard,
and the guard alone, might traverse the train. IBy
this simple plan any passenger might call the guard's
attention, and the guard could at once go to see
what was the matter, and act accordingly. There
would be no interference with the driver of the train,
and there need be no opportunity afforded to passen-
gers for missusing:the footboard. Some such obvious
expedient must be enforced if railway companies
will not adopt it themselves. For the present the
Board of Trade relies on the " cordial co-operation
of the rail way companies," and contents itself with
drawing attention to these suggestions and asking
for information. But such cases as the one we have
been commenting on may easily make it necessary
to go further. We already enforce upon railway
companies and shipowners many precautions for the
public safety which might otherwise be over-
looked. A line is not opened nor a passenger
steamer allowed to sail without its safety in certain
points being certified by official inspection. It is a
very short step to forbid railway carriages to run
without certain necessary appliances. We should
extend the principle very unwillingly, but if rail-
way companies will not protect us from such dan-
gers as this, we must ask the Legislature to protect
us.

POST.—Tho weather, which people ususually talk
about when they are at a loss for something to say,
is now the subject of earnest conversation and
serious thoughts. Everything.that.indicates, or is
thought to indicate, a change is anxiously ob-
served, and thousands, who under ordinary circum-
stances never remark the age of the MOOD, will re-
member that it enters into its first quarter tcernor-
row afternoon. What cne night of stgady, gentle,
unceasing rain would be worth to this country can
only be roughly estimated. After weeks of drought,
too, the downpour that is desired is also dreaded.
A tropical storm, while it cleared the atmosphere,
would thrash out the parched grain on the field.
As it is, the cattle are eating up in summer the
food which is reserved for them in winter, and the
supply of water is daily diminishing. The hay has
been saved, but there is no after crop, and in some
places corn has been cut for fodder, Happily the
wheat appears to have generally escaped the blight,
but the turnips have failed, and the fruit and leaves
are falling prematurely from the trees. In a great city
we experience that which is visible throughout the
country, in the increase in the price of the neces-
saries of life. When vegetation is scorched, meat
is dear, and milk and butter are scarce; and what
is a hardship to the wealthy classes is a calamity to
the poor. At the same time, we have reason to be
thankful that we are in:a condition to bear up
against these privations. On the ether side of the
Atlantic, while the rivers are running low, and
the insects are destroying the crops, hostile armies
are completing the work of devastation. There,
while they have difficulty in procuring water blood
is saturating the land. No doubt we may have yet
to feel the effects of this sweltering heat. Possibly
in the frosts of mid-winter we shall rind out what
it has entailed upon us. At present, however, there
is no cause fcr more than reasonable anxiety. We are
suffering inconvenience generally, and many who
at this season do not commonly require assistance
will perhaps have to seek relief. But there is still
ground for hoping that the harvest will exceed
the expectations of the agriculturists, who are
naturally not sanguine; ned in that case the rise in
the price of provisions will be only temporary. We
may have a long and genial autumn, and a com-
paratively mild winter. The vicissitudes of nature
are,
.we believe, directed on principles which even-
tually conduce to the welfare of the human race,
and in that faith we should put our trust. We can-
not compel the clouds, but we can out of the wealth
we have accumulated make provision for any dis-
tress which may be occasioned by the suspension of
of the regular rainfall. Moreover, while the ac.
counts from the agrtcultural districts are gloomy,
the watering places are, as was to be expected,
full. People are hurrying awayfrom the heat and
dust of the towns to the seashore; and this, if
other proof were wanting, would serve to show that
we are as a nation thriving and comfortable, and
it does not become us to repine over a passing evil.
It is quite possible that at Brighton or Margate they
can take a more philosophical view of the state of
the barometer than we can in London ; still, here
or there, it may be regarded, not with indifference
certainly, but without apprehension. Bain was
never more wanted than it now is. One has only
to go into into the parks to see that everything is
dried up and perishing. But that it is coming we
may be sure, and it, by the mercy of Heaven, it
falls abundantly, and yet softly, over the. arid land
and the brittle crops, the fears !and misgivings of
the hour will be immediately dispelled, and at a
hundred harvest homes England will rejoice and be
thankul as of yore.
HERALD.—We have at length abundant and incontro-
vertible proof of the infamy of tho inferior agents of the
Federal Government, of the incredible brutality of its mili-
tary commanders, and of the unblushing despotism, exer-
cised not only over the liberties of his own fellow-citizens'
but over those of our fellow-countrymen, by the President
of the Northern States. Crimes of which they were before
but strongly suspected are now brought home to the very
doors of the American authorities, and can no longer be
denied, for we are furnished, through our Minister at
Washington, with an admission of more daring acts of vio-
lence, insult, and wrong, committed by the so-called United
States on British subjects, than were ever before perpe-
trated by one nation on those of another having any pre-
tensions to an equality of numerical strength or political
standing. First, we have the case of M'llugh, tyrannically
detained in prison by Abraham Lincoln for' 7 months after
a full acquittal pronounced by a tribunal selected by his
accusers themselves. And now comes that of 7 Irishmen,
basely kidnapped and forced into the ranks of the Federal
army, to fight fur a cause which did not concern them, and
in a quarrel with which they never had any intention of
meddling. Those unfortunate persons served through all the
bloody battles of the campaign, but when at last they suc-
ceeded in soaking their case known Lord Lyons was com-
pelledby its enormity to take immediate action, and the
President's Government. unable to justify the conduct of
their crimps, or to evade an acknowledgment of the injus-
tice done their victims, reluctantly consented to restore
them to liberty. An order was sentfortieirre
thleas4et ti,tzlenrde
the treatment which they received plainly provesl