The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-13 00:00:00

inquiry they elicited the fact that there were 12
reservoirs in the neighbourhood of Sheffield, all in
a more or less unsatisfactory condition. It will be
remembered that the jury in the Bradfield case re-
commended in their verdict that the Legislature
should take such aotion as should result in a Govern-
mental inspection. Mr. RAWLINSON and Mr.
BEARDMORE, however, the gentlemen whom the
Government despatched to examine into the mat-
ter, did not approve of this recommendation, since
they said that the Government could not ensure
ultimate safety, and that the responsibility must
rest with the engineers. Sir G. GREY, in replying
to Mr. FEItRAND, said that it would be perfectly
impossible for the Government to undertake the
responsibility of certifying the safety of these re-
servoirs. The only rimed), which he could sag•
gest was, that where dangerous works existed,
legal proceedings should be taken by
persons who felt alarm against the owners.
But this is a very roundabout way of doing
business when people are in daily fear of a
catastrophe. At the Tilsden reservoir it is stated
that the water is constantly welling out of the
culvert. Some residents in the neighbourhood
went up with lighted candles and examined it and
found the water flowing in at several places.
"Whence that water comes, and what unseen work
it may be carrying forward, no man can tell. It
issues from the aides of the culvert where all ought
to be watertight, when the waterflow is stopped by
the valves being down as they were when we were
up the culvert." Such is the testimony of eye-
witnesses, and it must be remembered that with
regard to this and other works of the kind Mr.
RAWLINSON, the Government Engineer, declines
to assume any responsibility. With these facts

bsfore him, and with the Bradfield catastrophe

fresh in his recollection, it is not surprising that
Mr. FERRAND should emphatically ask of Govern•
ment where the responsibility lies ? Is no one to
be answerable for the safety of works that involve
the safety of hundreds of lives, and property valued
at hundreds of thousands ? Can no person or
persons be pointed out as the really responsible
agent who assumes the risk of certifying that so
far as mortal skill or ingenuity can be counted on

the work is sate ? If there is to be no such assurance
and the burden of responsibility is to be shifted
from one to another, from Government Inspector to
local engineer, from local engineer to managing
committee, from committee to company, and the
only means of relieving pressing anxiety is a tedious
process in a law court, then .the Legislature may
well pause before they sanction any more such
stupendous undertakings. The true way of
settling the difficulty would be to adopt the
clause proposed on a former occasion, to
the effect that, before any of these reservoirs
are filled with water after their construction
some eminent engineer should report to the
Home Office that they were secure and had been
made upon a correct principle. The Government
assumes this office with railway lines, why should
it decline the duty of inspection with reservoirs.
This shrinking from responsibility on all sides is
most inconsistent and unreasonable. If engineering
science is capable of constructing such works, it
ought to be capable of giving a decided opinion as
to their security, and the visit of a qualified inspec=
tor is no more than the Government can properly be
called upon to do. After the works have been so
certified they may be trusted to the local engineers,
who should be kept to their duty, either by render-
ing a report at stated intervals, compulsory, or by
some other similar means. The chief danger in all
these reservoirs seems to arise from the works being
hastily or improperly constructed at the outset, and
this could certainly be guarded against with very
little difficulty on the part of the Executive. Mr.
FEBRAND summed upi the whole matter in a con-
cluding paragraph of his speecb, when he said that
" What the people naturally expected was, that

some legal authority should exist to bear upon the
contractors.pf these reservoirs, so as to compel them
to make their embankments so secure that the
people might rest in peace in their neighbour.
hood." This is, one would imagine, no task of

superhuman difficulty, and it would be well for our
legislators to give it their careful consideration, for
certainly when so many lives and so much pro•
perty and social prosperity are at stake, the public
will not be inclined to acquit the authorities of all

blame if an accident occurs, even if they have pre•
viously declined their share of responsibility.

It is really quite disheartening to ponder upon
the various points of the Danish question ; so in-
suffic:eat have been the efforts made to controvert
the intentions of Prussia, and so unequal the
attempts to restrain that lawless Power within
due limits. It is, however, impossible to pass over
in silence the circular of M. DROLTYN DE LRUYS
on the subject of the Conference. Not that it
contains much of a novel nature—for it is merely a
recapitulation of events—it presents us with a sum
mart' of the most important transactions that then
and there took place; and if it hes any special
object it seems to aim at exonerating France from
all participation in the blame that is inseparably
attached to those who took a leading part in the
councils that terminated so suddenly, and which
issued so disastrously. In one passage it would
almost seem as if M. DROUYN DE LRUYS was at-
tempting a sort of quiet satire, and no one can
blame him if such were his intention. He observer
that it " has not been the fault of France that the
conclusion was not different," in alluding to the
labours of the Conference. This will also bear the
interpretation that the fault rested elsewhere. In
his resume of events it does not certainly appear
that very much emanated from the representatives
of France, but their chief duty lay in agreeing
with what others proposed, which might conduce to
the advantage of Denmark, and, in some measure,
fulfil the object for which ostensibly they set to
work. The last paragraph of the despatch contains
an expression that may or may not mean anything,
1 but it certainly can be construed into a kind of
warning to Prussia not to push matters to extremity
and violate the bounds of decorum. After alluding to
the Impartial attitude hitherto displayed by France,
M. DROUYINT DE LRUYS observes that "we are will-
ing to hope that no complication will arise of so
grave a nature as to necessitate our embracing a
different policy:, It will be well if this intimation,
guarded though it be, produce some effect, and if the
words of the Minister of a country not given to
empty boast and valorous phrases, while secretly
resolved on peace, may have weight in quarters
the threats, menaces, entreaties,
where unhappily
and advice of our Cabinet are openly disregarded
and impertinently received. If no credit can attach
itself to France for the result of this Conference,
anyeuforgreat
he m
neither can any one say, on criticising events, that
ou
failuren amount of o
f a
blame can accrue
projectin whose origin
they had no share, It may also be added that it is
m to her states-
not probable, if the meeting of the Conference had
taken place at Paris instead of in London, that so
little heed would have been paid to the wishes of
the nation where the Plenipotentiaries met; and i;
is not at all likely that the representatives of the
German Powers would have dared to comport
themselves before the Cabinet of the Tuileries as
they did to that of St, TAMOA, It gertls reserved

for our country to endure the degradation of meet•
ing with scorn on all side and to win regard from
no party. To such a pass has the inconsistency of
our foreign policy brought us, that a despatch frcm
our Minister for Foreign Affairs can hardly be of
any striking import to other nations, because they
know by this time that its object is to be bound by
no promises.

The visits of the Prince of WALES to time.
honoured institutions are by no means the least
important of the tasks ho performs, for the fact of
his thus mingling in the engagements which occupy
and interest a portion of the community, serves to
associate him intimately with their concerns.
The Corporation of Cloth workers is one of the
oldest guilds of the City of London. It was in-
corporated by Royal Charter i❑ 1480, in the reign
of EDWARD the FOURTEr. Since that period many
distinguished personages have been enrolled as
members of the Guild. JAMES the FIRST was
admitted to the brotherhood in 1607. His Royal
Highness the Prince of WALES has then illustrious
examples of the past to induce him to become con-
nected with this ancient and wealthy Corporation,
while of late years there have also been many,
and among them his father. The late PRINCE
CONSORT was a member, and therefore this is
another instance among the many in which the
Prince has follawed the example of his illustrious
father, in been:ling associated with the institutions
and societies of the land. Of course so auspicious
an occasion was made the opportunity of a festive
gathering to a select circ'e, and the presence of the
Princess imparted an additional charm to
the proceedings. The Master, in address.
ing the Prince, made some appropriate
remarks on the subject of requesting him to accept
the freedom and livery of the Company of Cloth-
workers, and expressed an earnest hope that here,
after, as in past times, there might be a continuous
association between them and the Royal Family of
this kiegdom. The Prince, on his part, declared
his satisfaction at the manner in which he had been
received, and assured those present that he took
great pleasure in becoming a member, and also
that he felt proud to follow in the steps of his
ancestors, those Kings who had been enrolled
in past days, and in following the example of his
father. Thera is much to give rise:to satisfaction
in these meetings of the highest in the land with
those who represent our commercial interests. It
is more than the mere interchange of compliments
and the empty expression of fine words and flowing
phrases. The gracious and genial manners of the
young Prince and Princess have won all hearts,
and they can do no wiser and better thing if they
wish to retain their popularity than to concern
themselves in the interests of the community, and
to associate their names with institutions that are
rendered important by the past and contain promise
for the future, and which from their antiquity and
records may claim to some share of the attraction
that appertains to societies of historical interest.

Crimes on Railways,

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sut,—The recent horrible murder in a. railway carriage
induces me to call the attention of the public, through your
columns, to a simple mode of preventing assassination or
outrage upon railway carriages.

In some parts of Russia, Austria, and Germany I have
travelled in trains in which all the carriages were in com-
munication by means of a gangway passing from one carriage
to the other. The guard requests the passengers to show
their tickets whili the train is at full speed. The compart-
ments into which each carriage is divided may be shut at
pleasure or thrown open in case of need. The guard patrols
the train at interval 3, and every passenger can claim not
only his assistance, but, on account of the communication
through and between the carriages, the assistance of all his
fellow passengers at any moment.

Tho railway companies would, under this system, have to
reconstruct the carriages now in use; but this consideration
should be nothing in comparison with the safety which the
plan mentioned would guarantee to the public.—l am, Sir,
your obedient servant, J LILS Itzu TER,
Royal Exchange buildings, July 12,

CARDINAL WISEMAN AT THE CRYSTAL PALACE.
—Cardinal Wiseman presided yesterday at a
dijeuner at the Crystal Palace, for the benefit of the Brook-
green Catholic Almshouses. There were present Biehop
Morris and other clergymen, and several leading Catholic
laymen and their families. Speaking of the Pope, Cardinal
Wiseman said that a distinguished ecclesiastical guest of
his just come from Rome assured him that the Pope was
now in excellent health, and was even able to discharge
laborious duties recently. The Cardinal spoke cf the
Queen with much feeling, and referred to the wisdom
which had marked her reign. Of the Prince of Wales the
Cardinal said that it was gratifying to find his royal high-
ness mingling with the people every day, and assisting to
advance the social well-being of the country. The Pope's
health and the Queen's health were both duly honoured,
the company standing while " God Bless the Pope" and
"God Save the Queen" were sung. Mr. Cook conducted
the music.

NEW LlFEBOAT.—Yesterday some satisfactory
harbour trials were made in the Regent's-canal
Dock, Lirnehouse, with two new 33-fret lifeboats, under the
superintendence of the officers of the National Lifeboat In-
stitution, and in the presence of a large number of persons.
The lifeboats having been capsized by means of some tack-
ling attached to an hydraulic crane, they self-righted at
once, and the water brought back with the boats was self-
ejected in half a minute. One of the boats is to be sent to
New Brighton, and is the gift of the National Lifeboat In-
sitution, of Joseph Leather, Esq., of Liverpool. She is
called the Willie and Arthur, after his two sons. The
other is to be stationed at Sermon Cove, Land's End, and
(ha cost of it has been given to the Lifeboat Institution, by
Mrs Mary Ann Davis, of Bideford. It is called, at,. her re-
quest, The Cousins.

The Paris correspondent of our contemporary
the .Herald appears to be excessively aggrieved by what
was purely an inadvertence on our part, in reference to a
few lines of comment appended to an article from the
Opinion Nationale. No journal published in either country
is more scrupulously careful than The Sun in acknowledging
every quotation, however brief, from any one of its contem-
poraries.

ALLEGED MURDER IN DERBYSHIRE.-012 111011-
day afternoon last an inquest was opened at Clay
Cross, by Mr Coroner Nasby, on the body of a man named
John M'Morrow, aged 61, a lodginghouse keeper, at Clay
Cross, Derbyshire. In a deposition made by deceased he
stated that on the 22d of June he went to Chesterfield to
attend a funeral. On returning home his wife and he quar-
relled, and he finally left the house. He did not return till
12 o'clock at night. She was then sitting in the kitchen in
her bonnet and shawl, and refused to go to bed, saying she
would cut her throat. He ultimately took off his coat and
hat, and hung them up at some distance from the fire. He
awoke between one and two o'clock and found himself on
fire. He cried for help, and saw his wife running away
from him and laughing at him. He would have been soon
burnt to death but that his cries roused the lodgers, who
threw buckets of water on him and extinguished the
flames. He was dreadfully burnt on the back, left side and
left arm, the two shirts ho had on and his waistcoat being
nearly consumed. As soon as the fire was extinguished the
deceased went tor the police and publicly charged his wife
with setting fire to him. She denied it, and said he had
fallen on the fire while drunk. Evidence was produced at
the inquest which contradicted her. As a proof of de-
ceased's intoxication, she raked out of the ashes his tobacco
box, saying, " There, you see, you fell in the fire ;" but
one of the lodgers confirmed deceased that he had taken the
box out of his pocket after he was burnt, and that he had
left it on the table when he went for the police. Deceased's
coat was also found by the police to be burnt, although he
affirmed that he had not got it on at the time. Ho how-
ever pointed out that, although his left arm was burnt, the
right sleeve of his coat was destroyed, and he charged his
wife with burning it. It was also proved that when de-
ceased was heard crying out " Fire" his wife was heard
laughing and talking upstairs. Although deceased was
attended by Di Wilson, and had everything done for him
that was possible, he died on the 9th inst., from the burns.
The inquiry was adjourned till Friday next. The wife,
Mary l'i'Morrow is in custody, charged with the murder of
her husband, and has been remanded by the Alfreton
magistrates to await the result of the inquiry.
A GUARDIAN ANGEL.—By the Author of "A
Trap to Catch a Sunbeam," &c. Two Vols.—
The simple naivete which perva:les all the writings of the
author of this agreeable story is abundantly manifested in
its pages, and contributes very much to render it one of the
most popular she has ever published. The Guardian Angel
is a merry-hearted girl, who, in all her disappointments,
strives to view everything on its sunny side, and is always
ready to sacrifice herself for the good cf others. Clever as
are most of the authoress'a productions, we are inclined to
think she never did greater justice to her talent than when
she wrote "A Guardian Atigel,",—Jkonnger,