The Sun.
London, England, 1864-08-29 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, AUGUST 29, 1864.

the absentee. The shooting was at the ranges of 200, 500 ,
and 600 yards, and the scores made were as follows:—
Sergeants, 114 ; corporals, 148. Private Chamberlain has
been elected an ensign of the Colchester corps in the room
of Ensign Green, who has been gazetted lieutenant, vice
Mr J. S, Cooke, resigned. The annual prize shooting of
the Colchester corps will take place this week. Among the
prizes are two of £lO each, given by Mr T. J. Miller, M.P.,
and Mr P. 0. Papillon, M.P., the representatives of the
borough.

In Suffolk, for the fourth time, Sir C. Rowley, of Ten-
dring Hall, has thrown open his grounds for a Volunteer
fete. The Sudbury, Hadleigh, and Stour Valley companies
assembled, numbering in all about 136, The three com-
panies formed a battalion under the command of Lieutenant
Colonel Anstruther, assisted by Captain and Adjutant
Barnardiston. The Volunteers wore entertained by Sir C.
Rowley at theclose of some creditably executed manoeuvres.
The annual prize shooting of the Ist Suffolk Batallion took
place at Bury St, Edmunds on Friday. The following arc
the names of the winners of the various prizes : 300 yards,
first, Corporal Harding, Sudbury ; second, Corporal Gill,
Eye; third, Private R. Burrell, Bury St. Edmunds. 300
and 600 yards combined : First, Private Walton Burrell,
Bury St. Edmunds ; second, Corporal Fisher, Eye ; third,
Sergeant Norfolk, Bury St. Edmunds. The annual prize
meeting of the Suffolk County Rifle Association will take
place at Bury St, Edmunds, September 8 and 9.
A very spirited competition took place last Wednesday
at the range of the 2d Hants Rifles at Millbrook, near
Southampton, for the possession for the ensuing year of
the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Challenge Vase, a,hand-
some gold cup of 100 guineas value. Ranges 200 and 500
yards, five shots at each. There were in all 65 competitors
from different parts of the district, and the winner was
Lance-Corporal Page, of the 7th Isle of Wight (Cowes)
corps, who scored 33 points. The rules require tho vase to
be won three :successive years by any one corps to become
its absolute property. It was first shot for in 1862, in which
year, and again in 1863, members of the 7th Hants (Fare-
ham) Corps were at the top of the score, and on this occa-
sion Sergeant Freemantle, of the same corps, made a score
of 32, being only one point behind the winner.
A match has taken plate at Ely between the Ely andWis-
beach corps. The shooting was at the ranges of 200, 400,
and 500 yards, and the Ely side won, having made a score
of 395 marks,while their Wisbeach:opponents only obtained
337 marks. Eight officers and men shot en both sides.
The annual meeting of the Somerset County Rifle Asso•
ciation took place on Wells Match Ground, on the 23d :and
24th inst. :The prizes were competed for by about 150
Vo-
lunteers, some of whom exhibited excellent shooting. The
Enfield rifle was the only weapon used.
During the whole of last week the rifle grounds at Over,
near Gloucester, were the scene of some spirited competi-
tion among the Volunteers of Gloucestershire and the neigh-
-1 bouring counties. This was the annual prize meeting of the
Gloucester Rifle Association. About 20 different competi-
tions took place, but the chief interest of the meeting
centred in the competition for the Lord-Lieutenant's Chal-
lenge Cup, the Countess of Dude's prizes, and the county
match. The shooting opened on the first day with artillery,
engineers, militia, and yeomanry prizes. Seven prizes were
awarded to artillery, four to engineers, five to militia, and
four to yeomanry. For the county match on the second
day there were 63 entries. The first prize (£l2) was won by
Private Baker, of Bristol ; the second (£8) by Sergeant Bing-
ham, of Bristol. The Countess of Dude's prizes, ranges 400,
500, and 600 yards, limited to pairs of officers, Volunteers
or militia. The first prize was won by Major Guise and Capt.
Boutein, of the 2d Glocester, who scored 69 ; and the second
prize to the highest scare made by a single officer, was
awarded to Lieut. Stock, of the Bristol Artillery, who scored
39. Four companies entered for the Lord Lieutenant's Chal-
lenge Cup, four men in each company, and the prize was
won by the Glocester City Rifles, who made 193 points. For
the Glocestershire Challenge Cup ten men from Glocester-
shire, Herefordshire, and Worcestershire companies en-
tered, and Herefordshire carried off the cup. The ladies'
prizes,were carried off by Sergeant Clutterbuck, 6th Stroud ;
Lieut. Purchas, 14th Worcester ; Capt. Boutein, 20 Gloces-
ter; and Private Adams, 18th Hereford.
The annual shooting match of the Ist Wilts (Salisbury)
Rifle Volunteers was held at the range at Laverstock, on
Wednesday and Thursday last. The competition opened
with the challenge cup presented to the corps by Sir Alex-
ander Malet, her Majesty's En my at Frankfort-on-the
Main, and won last year by Private William Young. To
this was added a prize of 20 guineas. Private Watt=
made the highest score and took the challenge cup and
10 guineas, and Private Bridger, the second prize, £5. The
Mayor of Salisbury's prize (Mr John Waters) was won by
Sergeant Butler, Private Wells taking the second prize,
£3. The next prize, which was given by Mr Giles Loder,
was carried off by Private Perris, The officers' prize was won
by Sergeant Kelsey. A consolation cup was given by Sir
Alexander Malet for competition among the members of the
let Wilts who had never won a prize. It was carried off by
Private Simms. Captain Pinckney's prize was won by
Private Cripps.
In Dorsetshire a friendly contest took place on Tuesday
between ten members of the Shatteabury company and a
like number of the Bhndford corps. The ranges were 200,
, 400,500, and GOO yards, live rounds at each. Tho contest
was a close and exciting one, and resulted in a victory for
the Blandford men by 16 points only. Their total score
was 397, or an average of nearly 40 per man. The Shaftes-
bury ten scored 3SI, or an average of 38.
In Lincolnshire, the Boston battery has appointed a "re-
cruiting committee." The Government inspector has sur-
veyed the carbine range used by the corps, and has con-
demned it as dangerous, owing to the recent enclosure of the
land. The inspector'suggests that the battery should make
some arrangement with the local rifle corps for the joint use
of their range, and he has ordered that the two 32-pounder
guns at the Scalp battery, which have been in use during
the past two years, should be prevented prior to being again
used. A competition for prizes has taken place among
members of the Spalding corps, In the first class, the shoot-
ing was at 400 and 600 yards, and the prizes went to
Private J. Taylor, Private D. Cotton, Corporal S. Wallis,
and Private W. Sleight—in the second class the shooting
was at 200 and 400 yards, and the prize wont to Private C.
Handley, Private W. Simms, Private R. White, Private
B. Lever, and Private R. Appleby; in the third class the
shooting was at 200 yards and 300 yards, and the prizes
went to Drum-Major Judd, Private J. E. Graves, Corporal
Barrow, Private C. Reynolds, Private Watkin, &e. Up-
wards of 50 recruits belonging to the let Lincolnshire Corps,
having completed their drill, have been posted to their re-
spective companies. Ou Saturday the recruits assembled
on the south common, Lincoln, for the second period of class
firing. A cup, gived by the mayor of Louth, has been shot
for by the local corps. The shooting was at 100, 200, and
300 yards, seven shots each ; and the cap was won
by Lance-Corporal Brady with a score of 64 marks. An in-
teresting match has taken place between Lieut. Somerley
and Private Marsden, on the one side, and Sergeant Mason
and Lance-Corporal Waite on the other. These gentlemen
are reputed the four best shots in the Louth corps. The
shooting was at 200, 300, 400, 500, and 600 yards, 5 shots
cash. Lieut. Somorley and Private Marsden made 112
marks, and Sergeant Mason and Lance-Corporal Waite 115
marks. The Barton corps has been entertained at Barrow-
hall, the residence of Mr G. C. Uppleby, the captain of the
corps.

On Saturday the Leeds Engineer Volunteers underwent
their annual inspection by Lieut.-Col. Harman, and the
number of rank and file assembled on the occasion was 750
—the largest muster of a single corps, as stated by the in-
specting officer, which had ever taken place in Yorkshire.
Lieut.-Col. Child was the commanding officer, and was as-
sisted by Major Smith, a veteran who held rank in the old
Volunteer force more than 50 years ago. In marching to
the field where the inspection had to take place, the river
Aire had to be crossed, and this was effected by means of a
pontoon bridge which had been constructed by a party of
the Engineers. After the passage across, the bridge was
expertly destroyed, so as to cut off the pursuit of an nate-
ginary enemy. On the field the corps were put through
an elaborate series of evolutions and exercises in the pre-
sence of at least 10,000 spectators, who frequently cheered
the Volunteers most lustily, The inspecting officer said he
should make a most satisfactory report to the Secretary for
War. Three cheers were then given for Colonel Harman,
after which the corps returned to headquarters,
The Howdenshire Company met on Tuesday to compote
for a handsome silver cup given by Captain Clarke, to be
won twice to give actual possession. The shooting was at
150, 200, 400, and 600 yards, only hits to count, at each
range five rounds. Private Hawke (although a high wind
prevailed) scored 24, and was thereby the winner for this
year. Frivate Carlton was second, with 18 hits, The 18th
West York Volunteers held a fifth and final competition for
the challenge cup, presented by Major Waterhouse, M.P.,
the cup to bo won three times in five competitions, or to pass
to the highest scorer. The shooting was at 550, 750, and 900
yards, and private Ruther was the winner for the day with
33. No member having won the cup more than twice, Dr
Simpson having done that, the ownership reverted to the
highest scorer during the five competitions, which proved
to bo Dr Simpson, who had in the aggregate scored 125,
against the second best score of 110 from private Ruther.
The cup therefore becomes Dr Simpson's property. The
Hull Volunteer Artillery competed with a 32 pounder gun
for the prize offered by Col. Inglefield, R.A. The range
was about 1,700 yards, and the winners were Corporal Hall
first, Sergt. Faija second, gunner Dewison third, and Major
Sprat fourth. In another contest the target was smashed
up by one of Sergeant Major Pixton's shots. The winner of
the last contest also hit the target, Tha result was—Brigade
Sergeant Major I'ixton first, Corporal Hall second, Sergt.-
Major Murray third. The firing was very satisfactory.

The fourth annual competition for the prizes offered by
and under the auspices of the Cumberland and Westmore-
land Rifle Association took place at the Curnmersclale range
Carllse, on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
The first contest on the programme was for the cup, value
50 guineas, given by the Lord-Lieutenant of the county, to
be shot for by Cumberland and Westmoreland volunteers,at
200 and 600 yards, five shots at each, hits and points counted.
The cup becomes the property of the volunteer who wins it
two years, not necessarily in succession, an,3 each winner is
entitled to have his named engraved upon it, and receives
£lO. In 1562 it was won by a member of the Carlisle Artil-
lery Corps, in 1563 by one of the Carlisle rifle volunteers ;
and this year it has been won by Sergeant Banks, 10th
Cumberland (Egremont), who tied private Willman of the
4th Cumberland, at 30, end on shooting off became winner.

The Cumberland Battalion Challenge Cup was won on Sa-
tured by the five representatives of the Cockermouth Corps
of Rifle Volunteers. The Ist company of the Carlisle Corps,
who won last year, and would have earned absolute posses-
sion of the trophy if they had repeated their victory this
year, came second.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

THE "EXAMINER" ON "As TU VU LAMBERT ?" 3
—The solution will never to found at the Prefec-
ture of Police, nor anywhere else. The origin of slang
is inscrutable. The source of the Nile may be
found, but the source of the facetice of potboys can
never be traced. Like the wind, no one knows
whence they came, or whitaer they list to go. They
are here to-day and gone ta-morrow. We believe
they are like Topsey, without parentage. Who ever
laid claim to a slang phrase? Yet it is certain that
there must have been some first utterance, and more
than that, some one to catch it up and pass it on to
that wonderful circulation and iteration which a
slang phrase enjoys. The reign of these phrases is
as much a mystery as their origin. Five years seems
to be about the average. For about that time,
" There you go with your eye out," or, " There he
goes with his eye out," as the case might be, was
the jeering comment of all the ragamuffin tribes. Is
it in the wit of man to imagine who could first have
put these words together, putting out eyes at
discretion. Was it first said by Ulysses when
Polyphemus rushed raging from his cave
with his eye out, and no spare eye loft. Homer
does not record any such speech as delivered by
enerie, or any of his followers. Some one made for
Polyphemus the complaint.—
Yc.o eat my mutton and drink my wine,
And then you pole nay eye out.
A complaint of ill return for hospitality coming
with a bad grace from a host who had only fattened
his guest for his table; tut we cannot turn or twist
that distich into the origin of " There you go with
your eye out." A shallow commentator might
hazard the conjecture that the phrase applied to
persons who went about in a blundering way, as if
they had not eyes in their heads. But the use of
the singular number keeps the slang carefully clear
of the sense there would be in such a use of the
words. You go with yoar eye out, not your eyes.
You have your eye in your hand, or your pocket, or
your watch fob. After a long course of popularity
the eye went out altogether, and was succeeded by
" How nicely he thinks he's doing it," which was
applied by the potboys, ragamuffins, scamps, and
raffs to all with any air of pretension who came to
grief through any awkwardness. There was a de-
gree of sensein this slang'which shortened its reign,
besides it was too long for a winged word. Before
it could be shouted out the person to be insulted
might be out of hearing. It was not handy for the
canaille. It was not like a dab taken out of the
gutter for a fling. Moreover, it was traceable to a
source which the diviner things of slang never are
—Grimaldi had spoken it. It wanted the ?netts
divinior of the unknown. The next reign, and a
long reign it was, was the interrogation " Does your
mother know you're out ?" As Lord Dundreary
would ask, can any fellow conceive who asked
those simple words for the first time with the in-
tention of impertinence ? And the genius who
could make offence of them has never claimed the
credit of an impertinence of such immense success
and popularity. Have these things then an origin ?
May they not be spontaneous like some combustions
or the stones which fall no one knows whence ?
Certainly it is easier to believe they have no
authors than that they have authors who do not
claim the honour of their productions. Good
guesses, at least, have been made as to the author-
ship of Junius, but who can pretend even to a- con-
jecture as to the origin of "There you go with your
eye out," or " Does your mother know you're out ?" I
At last the mother was worn out, and in came" All
Serene," applied to all possible circumstances. This
piece of slang seems without any recommendation
but its brevity. It wants objectiveness, and one
does not see how it insults, which should he an end
of all slang phrases of this current atamp. We noted,
indeed, that potboys uttered it more as for their own
internal solace and satisfaction than for taking the
shine out of any one. Aud it is to the potboys we
must look for the understanding of these things.
Indeed, as Venus rose from the sea, so, we suspect,
from the froth of pewter pots rose slang sayings?
If this solution be doubted, what other can be
offered ? Here is a coinage, where is the mint.
Can all the detective force of the country discover
the source of any current piece of slang, past or
present ? Will the French police find out Lambert?
Will they square the circle ? will they invent per-
petual motion ? Your plain no meaning puzzles
more than thought, and that is the puzzle of Lam-
bert. We had once our Lambert, and his name
was Snooks. Snooks was an airy nothing, wanting
a local habitation, but not a name. The French
family of the Lamberts we take to be a collateral
branch of the Snookses. Lambert is en imperso-
I nation of Snooks. Still the main mystery remains
unexplained and inexplicable. We can conceive
what is meant by Lambert, vs to some extent wo
can conceive what was meant by going with your
cyc out, or the inquiry about your mother's
acque.intance with your whereabouts, but the
mystery of mysteries is the origin of the mot,
end who first said Law bort abstractedly
and fecetiously, and stranger still, who ac-
cepted it as a joke, and get it passed on as a
joke. These are the questions. Well may the
French Police be employed in hunting out the vast
jocular conspiracy which on the Emperor's jour de
fete made the name of Lambert eclipse his own. A
thousand years betee it may be a historical pro-
blem, which was the substance which the shadow,
Lambert or Louis Napoleon ?

THE "SPECTATOR" ON PALMERSTON OUT OF
PARLIAMENT.— [t was not without an intention that
Lord Palmerston inserted into the Queen's Speech
the unusual words which succeeded the accustomed
formula of dismissal. Members are always told
that they have "duties to perform in their counties"
—etiquette ignoring such low things as borough
constituencies—but they are always instructed that
their especial duty is to bind class and class together.
Thoughtless people imagined that the Speech had
caught the infection of the Premier's habit of chaff,
and fancied the words commanded an unusual num-
ber of dinners, archery meetings, croquet parties,
and the other reunions which make life endurable
in the spots where they cultivate vegetables for
London. The Premier, however, had another and
a more serious idea—he meant to sanction formally
the fashion which he did not invent, but which he
has so heartily adopted, the practice of speech-
making by members and nfinisters during the re-
cess. He never did a wiser thing for his own po-
pularity in his life. Other members are rather bored
by the necessity of making speeches which do not
drive on the machine, of talking literature or the
crops, science or the chances of reform, in an affable
but not dangerously popular way for an hour at a
time, are rather reluctant to meet constituents not
perhaps quite contented with the way in which Mr
Brand has steadily overlooked the claims of local
merit. Other ministers may be a little annoyed at
the alternatives of making about nothing a speech
very worthy of its subject, or saying something
aura in the dearth of topics to he examined under a
microscope, criticised, and scanned, and perverted,
and praised and abused, and everything except
digested in contented peace. Lord Palmerston alone
has no such disquietudes, no ouch qualms, no such
apprehensions of ennui. Ho could deliver a speech
a day, and not one throughout the six months would
tell anybody anything which he desired to keep
secret, or leave on the minds of his audience the
impression of having wasted their time. Everybody
would go away forgetful of most that had been said
but charmed with the man who said It—the precise
effect which the Premier intended to produce. If
he is too tired to manufacture anecdotes he
Pours out a flood of praise, talks to Bradford of
the o mass of intellect " in the Exchange
Hall, or to Tiverton of the astonishing comeliness
of the younger generation ; if there is no incident
ready, such as a little revolution, there is always
the weather and the American struggle; it original
ideas are wanting one can explain that " a man tied
by the leg in London could not well be at Tiverton."
What does it matter what is said ? It is always
well put, and genial, and pleasant, and it is a great
man who says it all, and when one dines with a
magnate one is net in a hurry to ask the brand of
the pleasant wine. Now at Bradford, face to face
with half opponents, and again among an admiring
constituency, the Premier is always ready, always
amusing, always prepared with an unrivalled but
most happy audacity to tell free-traders how tho-
roughly he has abandoned his own plan of a fixed
duty, to begin by complimenting the electors of
Tiverton on their independence, and end by pro-
nouncing an eloya over Mr Hutathcote! He will be
lust tee happy in Radnorshire praising the late Sir
C.iornewull Lewis, could, we doubt uot, if he tried,
give an opinion on the " Astronomy of the An-
cients," which everybody except the half dozen who
understand the subject would accept as very ca-
pable critichan. Wherever he goes, whatever his
subject, he leaves behind him a pleasant impres-
sion, spreads around a feeling of liking, a sense of
personal sympathy and comprehension which is in
England in quiet times the strongest bond of poli-
tical action. It is of no use to deny it, people are
the readier to vote for Lord Palmerston after each
of these utterances in the recess, and if the educated
glosses cannot understand why, that is just ono
more proof among many that the bright-cheery old
man who talks as well to boors al to members of
Parliament, and snubs Radical butchers an effectu-
ally es he corrects eldest sons, uneeretantis England
and Englishmen a greet deal better than they.
Tee why of that vast influence signifies no more
tkau :lee wherefore ef the social power eehteh it eo

closely resembles. It Is not the able man or the
inventive, the wise man or the man of genius, who
rules opinion in a club, but the man of ready sense
and easy temper, whose judgment en the surface of
things is usually sound and always within the
comprehension of those he is trying to guide, whose
experience saves him from being ever at a loss,
and whose courage is certain to extricate him oat
of any conceivable predicament. Lord Palmerston
is the Major Pendennis of the political world, as
resourceful and as brave, as full of social skill, and
we fear as wanting in higher aims than success, as
his immortal prototype. In a club, however, it is
Major Pendennis who triumphs, not Warrington,
and England just now is a club, full of a population
which has no wish to do anything in particular, but
likes to hear and discuss and pass an opinion which
is carefully restrained from developing into action.
Upon such a community sentences like those which
Lord Palmerston uttered at Tiverton, sentences full
of strong though superficial sense, of fair though
average morals, and of an intelligible though over.
optimist policy, must of necessity fall pleasantly.
The idea that the first use of a bishop is to smooth
away acerbities and not allow convictions to become
too markedly hostile to each other is just the club
idea, and is accepted accordingly with entire acclaim.
To pronounce the Belfast riots "political feuds" gets
rid of a great many disagreeable necessities—such
as the consideration of our religious system in Ire-
land—which is always pleasant when one asks chit-
chat rather than discussion, and is very sound sense
besides. Lord Palmerston knows Ireland thoroughly
—is perhaps the one man alive who if untrammelled
by a Parliament could govern the island as Lord
Chesterfield governed it, put down ono rising by a
bon mot and another by an exhibition of the haugh-
tiest administrative energy. The club thinks exactly
like Lord Palmerston about the American quarrel,
says that it does not like slavery (which the North
is putting down), and does like political freedom
(which the South has never supported except for
white property-holders), but nevertheless sympa-
thises with the bias which Lord Palmerston avows
for the South, and heartily agrees that intervention
would have been a mistake. As to Denmark, the
remarks that the Danes are " unfortunate," that
Englishmen "sympathise" with them, that "ships
sailing on the sea cannot stop armies on land,"
that "30,000 men cannot beat 300,000," that
in fact it was a shame, but interference in.
volved too much risk, were exactly the comments
with which society put up with a disgrace which
nevertheless it perceived. Lord Palmerston simply
put into ordinary words the ordinary conviction of
the mass of his ordinary hearers, which is just what
the intelligent olab man always prefers to do, sure
that even if he is wrong the prejudices of his
audience will induce them to condone any little
mistake. Then came a compliment to the country,
which flatters itself that it does not want "to be
cracked up," but likes to be "appreciated" never-
theless, and, mixed up with it, one of those sen-
tences in which Lord Palmerston sometimes sums
up a case it would take an inferior man half an boar
only to state :—" These things [subventions] are
only done in countries where people are paralysed
by despotic power, and where they require the vivi-
fying and electrical touch of the Government to
rouse them to an exertion which is not their natural
condition, nor their habitual practice. In this
country every man is alive, every man knows best
how to employ his capital, how to direct his genius,
whatever it may be; all that the Government has
to do is to leave things alone, to throw down bar-
riers and obstructions where barriers and obstruc-
tions are pressed, and to
,give that freedom to
industry and activity to commerce by which alone
the general welfare of the country can be advanced."
It is old that, but then it is true, brief, and marvel-
lously complimentary, and to put statements so
pleasant in so brief a form, yet leave them perfectly
true, is the very art, and the highest art, of the man
of conversation. The people of Tiverton were
talked to on the highest political subjects as clever
talkers talk on the chit•chat of the day, and natu-
rally and wisely enjoyed themselves es much as if
they had been listening over wine and walnuts:

THE " SATURDAY REVIEW" ON THE RAILWAY
SYSTEM.—Everybody says, The Railways must
have paid if they had not cost so plaguy dear.
Well, what have they cost ? The authorised capital
of all the railways in England, Scotland, and
Ireland, up to December the 31st last, amounts
to the trifling sum of £474,999,545 ; and
of this little total as much as £404,215,802
has actually been paid up as capital, inclusive of
debenture loans outstanding at that date. That is
to say, in less than thirty years, a sum very nearly
equal to one-half of the National Debt has been in-
vested in earthworks, rails, rolling stock, and other
constituent elements of the vast aggregate known as
railway property. From the investment in railways
we now proceed to the profits of railways. What
the interest of the National Debt is everybody
knows ; how does the iron king pay its creditors ?
What is the total amount of net profits available
for distribution in the shape of interest on paid up
capital—including ordinary stock or shares, with
preference stock, loans, and debentures ? After de-
ducting the outlay on-1. Maintenance of way and
works; 2. Locomotive power; 3. Repairs and re•
newels of carriages; 4. Truffle charges ; 5. Rates and
taxes; 6. Government duty ; 7. Compensation for
personal injuries; 8. Compensation for losses and
damage of goods ; 9. Legal expenses ; 10. Miscel-
laneous—there remain of net profits on all the rail-
ways of Great Britain and Ireland, earned in the
year 1863, £16,048,913. This, on an invested capie
tal, as we have seen, of £404,215,802, is as nearly
as possible 4 per cent. These profits are, of course,
very unequally distributed. On one line, the
West Cornwall, the dividend on the original capital
is / per cent. On the High Peak line it only
reaches 2s 8d per cent.; while the Whitehaven line
returns 13/, and the Aberdare 10 per cent. on ordi.
nary capital. The total annual receipts for 1863 on
this capital of four hundred millions, being thirty-
one millions, and the net profits being sixteen
millions, the total working expenditure is fifteen
millions; or, in other words, the expenditure swel-
-1 lows up 48 per cent. of the total receipts of the
railway business of the country. It is useful to got
the whole thing under this summary view, because
it explains the general policy of railway manage-
Iment. Shareholders have but one cry—" Diminish
your working expenses. and our dividends will of
course rise. We arc the residuary legatees. On us
rests the whole risk of the trade. Preference shares,
loans, mortgages—all these things are a fixed quans
tity ; our dividends rise or fall as the shop answers
or not." The railway trade is like all other trades.
It may be conducted on the bold principleof extended
business, which means small profits on large returns;
or it may be conducted safely and economically, on
the principle of starving the plant and diminishing
the working expenses. The former was the favourite
policy in other days, the latter seems to be now in
the ascendant; for whilst, as we have seen, the
working expenses in the year 1863 were in the
proportion of 48 per cent. on the gross receipts, in
the year 1862 they were 49 per cent. Without a
very minute investigation of the special heads of
expenditure on which a saving has been effected, we
can scarcely arrive at an answer to the question,
which is of paramount importance to the public,
whether economy in management can be extended
with a due regard to safety in travelling. The
figures before us, however, will help us to an ap-
I.proximate solution of this vital question. And first,
it must be borne in mind that the total mileage of
1863 is more than the mileage of 1862. But, while
the absolute outlay under all the heads of working
expenses within the last twelvemonths has from this
cause increased, there are many heads of working
expenses which, when examined with reference to
the proportion they bear to the whole expenditure,
will be found to have been diminished.
A considerable saving has been attained in
legal, including parliamentary expenses. This, of
course, arises from the comparative paucity of new
lines and extensions, But, in other items also, the
proportion of particular expenses to the whole work-
ing charges shows a diminution, or, in other words,
points to parsimony in management. And what is
significant is the cost of compensation for personal
injuries has arisen from £158,169 in 1862 to
1179,569 in 1863, while some important charges
for working expenses have fallen. The proportion
of the cost of locomotive power in 1862 to the whole
working expenses was 27.79 per cent. ; in 1863 it
falls to 27'62. The proportion of miscellaneous
expenses, including, we believe, servants, is for the
two years 6.62 and 6.40. These figures, if they do
not actually lead to the couclusion that economy in
management has been purchased by increased
danger to life and limb, seems to point to a suspi-
cion that way. On a mileage increased 400 miles
within the twelvemonth there has been a saving of
1 per cent. on working expenses, but this is pur-
chased at the outlay of more than £21,000 worth
of life and limb. The necessity of retrenching
the working expenses is now a matter of pecuniary
life or death to the holders of the original capital
stock. On the other hand, the necessity of prevent-
ing the starvation of railways by paring down wages
and the working staff is a matter of personal life or
death to travellers. It is a question, in short, be-
tween dividends and the public safety. We have
seen that working expenses are decreasing. Are
accidents increasing? This is one question—and
it is a question which is not very easy to answer, as
a single fatal smash on a large scale may excep-
tionally affect the annual rate of danger. And are
railway accidents of the usual character to be at.
tributed to economical, that is, parsimonious work-
ing of the line ? This is a question of spacial im-
portance in the face of.the fact of diminished work-
lug expenses. The Parliamentary return will help
us towards answering it. In 1862, 216 persons
were killed and 600 injured, of whom 26 were pas-
eengere killed, and 530 pag,magcru injured, from

causes beyond their own control ; while in 18631
only 184 persons were killed and 470 injured, and
of these 14 are returned as passengers killed,
400 as passengers injured, from causes be-
yond their own control. This certainly shows a
diminution in fatal accidents, and may therefore be
taken as a setoff against the increased amount of
compensation money paid for injuries during the
past year. For it must be remembered that many
of the accidents and collisions which caused the in-
juries that were paid for in 1863 must have taken
place in 1862. The comparison, however, does not
amount to much. Meanwhile it is a matter of some
little curiosity to compare the relative safety of
same of the leading lines within the same period.
We shall only trouble ourselves with what the com-
panies return as casualties beyond the passengers'
own control—which is the railway euphemism for
injuries caused by railway management. The
North-Western " system," with 1,174 miles of line,
and 17 millions of miles traversed by 19 million
passengers, injured 69 passengers. The Great
Western, with 1,148 miles of line, and 12 millions of
miles traversed by 17 millions of passengers, injured
37 passengers, On neither of these great lines was
there last year a single fatal accident to a pas-
senger. The Great Eastern killed 7 ; this was the
Hunstanton or great cow, accident. The Great
Northern killed 1. The Brighton killed 3 ; this was
the Streatham and Balham casualty. The South
Western killed 1; and 2 were killed on Scotch
lines. There is another test of the relative
security of the various great lines, which has
its interest, though of course it requires checking
by the elements of length of line, miles travelled,
and number of passengers; and, as it only applies to
a single year, it would hardly justify any sweeping
conclusion. The Great Eastern, with 695 miles
open, raid £8,824 for compensation for personal
injuries in 1863; the Groat Northern, with 433
miles, must have paid (but the returns are muddled)
more than £20,000; the Great Western with nearly
1,200 miles, paid only £2,176 ; the North Western,
with about the same mileage, paid £20,000; the
South-Western, with 513 miles, paid less than
£1,000; the Brighton,with 243 miles, paid £19,000;
the South-Eastern, with 286 miles, paid £17,844.
On an average of seven years, Captain Galton
classes the chief railways as follows, as to the pro-
portion of killed or injured to the number of pass
sengers conveyed:—
North-Western 1 in 212,000
Midland 1 in 257,000
Eastern Counties
South-Eastern
North-Eastern 1 in 350,000
South-Western
Brighton 1 in 535,000
Great Western
Bristol and Exeter

The general conclusion from these converging
data seems to be in favour of the relative safety of
the broad gauge.
" Tun LONDON REVIEW" ON THE ORGAN-
GRINDERS AND MR. BASS'S ACT.--Two or three
cases have already occurred under Mr. Bass's Act
for the better protection of the public against the
persecution of organ-men. One of the latest of
these was heard a few days ago at Marlborough-
street. The complainant was a Mr. Rew (rather an
appropriate name), of the firm of Rew and Co.,
chemists, No. 282, Regent-street. It appears that
Mr. Rew has a next-door neighbour, a Mr. Sykes,
who has for years engaged an Italian to come and
play before his house every Friday evening, "at the
time he pays his workpeople." It is a droll idea,
though suggestive of the possession by Mr. Sykes
of a certain Platonical frame of mind and devotion
to harmony in the relation between employers and
employed. Montaigne's father used to wake his
infant son every morning by the soft breathings of
a flute, becouse he thought it disposed the mind to
suavity and grace. For the like reason, Mr. Sykes
may choose to set his weekly reckonings to music,
and, for aught we know, may find his account in it,
in the absenceof disagreeable disputes between him-
self and his workpeople as to the relative claims of
capital and labour. But to Mr. Rew the strains of
a barrel-organ appear anything but favourable to
the concoction of prescriptions; and on the night
in question ho told the Italian to go away ; on
his refusing to do which he gave him into cus-
tody. Thereupon the man rushed into the pas-
sage of Mr. Sykes's house, and was ignominiously
dragged from that retreat by two policemen, who
locked him up. The result of the case, when
brought before Mr. Knox, was that the Italian was
fined twenty shillings; and, added the magistrate,
" I shall recommend Mr. Sykes to pay the fine."
This was certainly but fair, and we hope the lover
of Friday night harmony took the hint. The
Italian had clearly committed an illegal act ; but he
had been led into doing so by Mr. Sykes, who was
certainly bound to be better acquainted than this
poor foreigner with the provisions of the new
Act. Street music is often a great nuisance, and it
is quite right that the public sbonld have the
power of restraining it under certain cir-
cumstances ; yet we cannot but observe that
Mr. Babbago has set a certain fashion for
being horrified at it, which is becoming one
of the little affectations of the day. Everyone
now seems to think it fine and intellectual to be
distracted, and incapable of thought or work, if
the wandering minstrels of the street strike up a
note. A week or two ago, a gentleman, whose
arrogance of temper not only caused him to give an
organ-man into custody illegally, but drew upon
himself the reproof of the magistrate for insolence,
said ho was disturbed by the objectionable playing
that he coald not collect his thoughts sufficiently
to write a note to his landlord requesting sortie re.
pairs. Mr Row says he cannot make a prescrip-
tion if the sounds of music creep in his ears :

,6 Soft stillness and the night
Become tho touohos of true 'pothecaries."

The plain fact is, that Mr Raw does not like street
organs—a feeling in which many people agree with
him ; and he has every right to set the law in
motion to prevent their being played in his vici-
nity. But why not be content with this without
making a parade about his inability to compound
pills and potions unless the unpleasant sounds be
hushed ? Mr Raw seems resolved to enter the
lists as a formidable rival to Mr Babbage. In a
letter! to the Daily News he makes the following
grand suggestion, which he thinks will meet with
" general accord :"—" Musicians of tested ability
on the harp, violin, flute, concertina, and other ob-
jectionable instruments should be licensed under
police regulation, stations appointed to the crowded
courts and alleys where they might play daily. A
box sot up at these stations td receive public con-
tributions would ensure ample support, and en-
courage native talent" (!) Who are io test the
abilities of these musicians, and who aro to judge
what instruments are or are not " objectionable."
does not appear. Perhaps the police band. Se-
riously, however, if all this nonsense is to be en-
couraged, it will soon be found that Mr Bass's
act is unworkable. The public undoubtedly re-
quired protection in cases of real hardship; but if
we are to be overwhelmed by the outcries of weak
nerves and foolish heads, we are threatened with a
fresh nuisance greater than the old.

THE " LAW TIMES" ON MRS. YELVERION.—
Miss Longworth has brought an action in the Scotch
courts against the Saturday Review for an alleged
libel contained in an article of very questionable
taste—to say the least of it—on the recent judgment
of the House of Lords. To English readers, it will
doubtless be a perplexity by what process a journal
published in London can be " pursued" in Edin-
burgh. The subject is not new to our readers, for
a few years ago the publisher of the Law 7imea was
subjected to the same infliction, only with far less
cause. The complaint against him was a commen-
tary on Madelein Smith's case—remarks which were
freely made by every newspaper in England, and
which no English judge or jury would ever affirm
to be libellous, but which it would have been im-
possible to have submitted to the alien prejudices of
a Scottish jury. In vain we appealed to our con-
temporaries to unite in resistance to a power pos-
sessed by Scotland over Englishmen for which no
equivalent is enjoyed by ourselves' and the exercise
of which might at any moment threaten any one of
them with indefinite oppression. They would not
exert themselves even to denounce the wrong, and
demand redress from Parliament. Now that the
same blow has been inflicted upon one of them-
selves, we may hope that the common danger may
be discerned, and a common effort made to avert
it. Thus it happened to our publisher. A letter
from one of the news agents in Edinburgh informed
him that he (the agent) had received notice of at-
tachment for a judgment for £3,000 that had been
obtained against the publisher in the Scotch courts.
This was the first intimation that there had been
a complaint, much less an action and a judgment.
On inquiry it was found that, according to the law
of Scotland any Scotchman may bring an action
against any Englishman living in England by merely
posting in the court a notice to the defendant to
appear, without any personal notice whatever, and
that if the defendant does not appear to the action,
of the very existence of which he is wholly ignorant,
judgment is pronounced against him by default for
the full amount of damages demanded, and uP°'
that judgment the plaintiff can attach all debts due
to the defendant from any person in Scotland, or
any property he may have there, or take his body
in execution should ho venture over the border. The
judgment obtained by this moat iniquitous procedure
can only be set aside by the defendant coming in and
submitting himself to the jurisdiction and paying
costs, iu
which case he is graciously permitted to go
to trial with all the disadvantages of an alien tri-
bunal. In the instance of our publisher, the sum
of which he was thus inflicted was upwards of £6O.
And this is the process to which the Saturday
.11evtao has been or will be subjected, save perhaps

Ir.• •

that judgment has been actually obtained withon t
previous notice of action. At all events, our con
temporary will be compelled to try a question
in
which feeling and prejudices are strongly enlisted,
before a tribunal that will certainly have a very
decided leaning against the defendant. That which
formerly happened to the publisher of Law Tunes,
and now has been inflicted upon the Saturday M.
view, may be employed at any moment again whichn
y
of the English journals, a single copy of
chances to cross the border. As soon as it comes
to be known that such an engine for extortion
exists, it can scarcely fail to be set in motion. This
is a matter which directly touches the whole press of
England, and for once the newspapers should throw'
aside their jealousies in the common danger, and use
the power they possess to secure legislative protec-
tion against a palpable injustice. This may be done
by an enactment that all actions for libel against ail'
registered journal or other publication shall be had
only in that part of the United Kingdom in which
the same shall be registered.