The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-23 00:00:00

Commercial Travellers' School.

The anniversary dinner of the Comrnercial Travellers'
Orphan School was hold at the London Tavern last evening,
the Duke of Cambridge presiding. There was a numerous
attendance, and among the guests present were the Lord
Mayor, the Sheriff= of London, Col. Tyrwhitt (in attendance
on the Duke of Cambridge), Mr Alderman Gibbons, the
Common Sergeant (Mr Thomas Chambers), Mr G. Moore,
Mr Charles Woollaston, and Mr G. Hewitt, &c.
In givir g the usual loyal toasts, the Duke of CAMBRIDGE
adverted to the fact that the Prince of Wales was the
patron of the institution, and that the late Prince Consort
opened the schools in person, and took a great interest in
them.

The Duke of CAMBRIDGE next proposed " The Army,
Navy, and Volunteers," and said—To a stranger it may
appear singular that in a commercial country like ours we
should upon all occasions like this give this toast, as I believe
we now do, with all our heart. (Hear, hear.) For my own
part I heartily hope that it may continue a stereotyped toast
among us. (Cheers.) lam addressing gentlemen chiefly
interested in the commercial affairs ot the country, and I
apprehend that we soldiers cannot be more interested in this
toast than you are. (Hear, hear.) You have large trading
concerns to attend to. You are anxious to see your com-
merce extended over every portion of the globe. You are,
also, naturally anxious that commercial transactions should
be conducted with that regularity and perfect confidence
which can only exist so long as you know that the country
is perfectly safe from aggression or from insult.
(Hear, hear.) But you cannot enjoy this security
unless you have a powerful army and navy. (Hear,
hear.) And it is well that these views should be dissetui
nated at a time like the present. It is true that it is a time
of profound peace. A great war, with which happily we
have nothing to do, is going forward elsewhere; but we are
in a state of the profoundest peace. and the natural result is
that we are a little disposed to say, " Now is the time for
reducing expenditure. It is very pleasant to take off taxes
—let us reduce our military and naval armaments, and we
shall be just as happy and just as safe as we were before."
Now if I could persuade myself that we should be as happy
and as safe with less powerful armaments I should be most
willing to see them reduced, but my conviction is that our
security as a nation is due to the efficiency of our arms
afloat and ashore. (Cheers.) For commercial and not for
military reasons I am convinced that the best investment
you can make is to leave well alone, for, believe me, if
by the means I have described yeti were now to take off a
little taxation, the chances are that you would have to pay
double and treble the amount of this gain hereafter.
(Cheers.) I hope you will forgive me for these observa-
tions, but while I often hear this subject discussed, it is not
very often I have the opportunity in such a society as this
of expressing my sentiments, and I hope-you will receive
them in the kindly spirit in which they are offered. (Hear.)
Although the greater number of those present are civi-
lians. I believe I am not mistaken in assuming that the
Volunteers have a considerable following among you, and
I therefore beg you will all cordially j iin i a the toast, " The
Army, the Navy, and the Volunteqrs." (Loud cheers.)
Captain GREATTREX responded ter the Volunteers, and
in doing so assured his Royal Highness that the feeling ot
the mercantile community was not in favour of a reduction
of the Army Estimates
" The Health cf the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs" was then
proposed by his Royal Highness, the Lord Mayor and Mr
Alderman and Sheriff Dakin responding.
In proposing the toast of the evening, the Duke of CAM-
BRIDGE enlarged on the advantages of the school which
had been established since 1849, and now contained about 60
girls and 100 boys lhe commercial classes were especially
liable to the ups and downs of life and what could be
more acceptable to such persons than a knowledge that i❑
the event of their death their children would be well edu-
cated and well cared f ? It was important that the com-
mercial travellers themselves should, in proportion to their
means, subscribe to this charity. There were 30,000 commer-
cial travellers in England, but far too small a proportion of
them were subscribers. As to the children, he understood
that when they left school they had turned out extremely
well ; some of them had acquitted themselves most creditably
in the middle-class examinations instituted by the two Uni-
versities, and others who had become established in life were
now subscribers to the institution. (Cheers.)
"The health of the Duke of Cambridge" having been
drunk with all the honours, Mr G. Moore acknowledged-the
next toast of "The President, Vice-President, and Trustees
of the School," and said that the institution could now boast
of a fine building at Pinner, and 25 acres of land. that they
were in a s )und commercial poeit,on, and that they would
have to provide for 172 children during the year.
Subscriptions and donations to the amount of nearly
£1,200 were announced, including 20 guineas froca his
Royal Highness. Several other toasts were proposed when
the Duke of Cambridge left the chair, the Lord Mayor tak-
ing his place ; and during the evening the children were
introduced and sang two part songs vet y creditably.
Mr Harker officiated as toastmaster. The vocalists were
under the direction of Mr H. Buckland.

Frightful Collision on the Great Western
Railway.

At an early hour yesterday morning a moEt alarming
accident occurred at the Slough Station of the Greet
Western Railway. It appears that the broad guage
up-parcels train which left Bristol at 9 25 p.m. on
Wednesday evening arrived safely outside the Slough junc-
tion about half.past 1 o'clock yesterday morning, and the
driver, Richard Cowell, seeing the signals open for the pas-
sage of his train, proceeded to run through the station, the
rate at which he was travelling being about 30 miles an
hour. Previous to the arrival of the parcels train at Slough
a narrow guage goods train had been shunted on to the rails
in the middle of the line, nearly midway between the up and
down stations, where it remained It was then the duty of
the attendant switchman to open the points in order to keep
the broad gauge up-main line right for the passage of the
through trains. This, it would seem, from some unex
plained cause, was not done, and as the up parcels train
came thundering through the station and reached the points
in question the engine,instead of remaining on the main up
line, turned on to the rails along which the goods train had
passed, and after missing two or three of the carriages of the
tetter train crashed into it with frightful violence, striking
several of the other trucks and vans, breaking them up and
scattering their contents over the railway. Meanwhile the
parcels train continued its career, although several of its
carriages h .d sustained the greatest damage, a second class
and composite carriage having had 'heir sides nearly
smashed in, the glass end window being entirely destroyed,
while the large break van had been crushed like an egg.
shell by the dreadful force of the collision, and ultimately
got off I he rail into the six—toot, when it stopped. Tho works
on the side of its engine, where it had dragged against the
goods train, were nearly swept away, and the locomotive
itself disabled, while several of the carriages, trucks, and
vans of both train. were turned over, and the ruins piled
up in a confused mass OL: the middle of the line, thus com-
pletely blocking it up. How the driver and stoker of the
parcels train escaped with their lives is almost a miracle,
while the guard of the goods train must also have had a
very narrow escape. Immediately after the accident Mr
Burlinson, the Slough superintendent,reaohed the scene an
took prompt measures to remedy the disaster and restore the
traffic upon the line. MrGrierson, the general manager, and
Mr Tyrrell, the traffic superintendent of the Great Western
Railway,were at once informed of the nature of the collision,
and reached Slough early in the morning, and with Messrs.
Armstrong and Wright, of the lo:ornotive department, and

other officials, gave instructions for the clearing of the line,
In order to eff,et this operation as quickly as possible about
150 plate-layers and workmen were emoloyed from the time
of the accident in lifting the heavy masses of broken iron
and timber, the remains of the trucks and vans, and placing
them in trucks, by which they were conveyed trom the
station. The most powerful jacks had to be used to raise
the heavy tender, and it will give some idea of the extreme
force of the collision when it is stated that the thick iron
axles of some of the trucks were bent and twisted like wire.
By great exertions a portion of the line was sufficiently
cleared to enable the traffic to bt resumed both ways after
some little delay, Some of the trains were unavoidably
delayed for a short time, the 12 50 Bristol being detained
about half an hour outside the station. In the course of the
morning this was remedied by passing the up• passenger
trains on reaching the bridge over the line, west of the sta-
tion, along the rails running through the station itself, and
sending the goods through the Queen's curve, and thence
also through the station, the down-trains being treated in a
similar manner. In the course of the morning the rails
torn up were replaced, and b) the early part of the after-
noon the line was cleared by the united exertions of the
railway officials. It is most fortunate that the trains which
came into collision were not passenger trains ; for had t hat
been the ca -e the loss of life must have been fearful, while
as it is the destruction of property is great. The engine-
driver states that he saw the switchman's lamp near its
usual spot, though why the points were closed and the
accident thus caused is at present a mystery.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES. —lt is no slight testimony to the course
taken by her Majesty's Government. in its dealings
with Federal America that Mr Seward, with the
animus he cannot conceal, is driven to make the
most -of an opportunity offered him by a person
wholly irresponsible as a representative of the nation.
His letter to Mr Adams on Lord Wharnciiffe's pros
posel to mitigate the sufferings of the Conted.erate
prisoners, indicates the use he is prepared to make
of the least official slip on the part of our Cabinet or
representative. It may not be a matter of temper,
it may be a political, nay, almost a constitutional
necessity that an American Minister should speak
his mind out upon every occasion. Mr Seward may
not be quite the offensive personage his correspond-
ence would lead one to suppose, but he must be hard
driven when he has to express so much indignation
on so trifling an affair. W-, indeed, question the
wi-dom and good taste of Lord Wnarncliffe's offer.
No doubt the condition of the Confederate prisoners,
as of ail prisoners, is bad enough, but it is too much
to expect the Federal Government to make a public
admission of inhumani.y by accepting assistance
from foreigners. As a mere affair of almsgiving, too,
the Federal prisoners in the South are much more
in want of any assistance we could send them than
the Confederate prisoners in the North, not neces-
sarily because they are treated with intentional bar-
barity, but because the scale of living is now lower
here, in consequence of the continued devastation
et the soil and blockade of the ports b% the Federal
arms. Such gifts as Lord Wuarnc iffe's, however,
are always of questionable propriety . The few thou
elands sent by some b nevolent ladies and gentlemen
tor the relief of the Danish wounded coat rusted pain•
fully with the armies, the fleets, the tni.lions of
money, and the dread risks of war which we did n
contribute. In that case, however, we had avowed
our sympathy ; there were fresh and tender ties with
he oppressed victim; we put the money Into the
hands of our good friends for to spend on a work of
necessity; we did not invite r he Germans to endorse
t heir own condemnation Lord What neliffe and his
friends proposed something of this kind to thsFederal
Government, and Mr Seward seizes the opportu-
nity to proclaim to the universe the hypocrisy, the
immorality the covetousness, the cruelty, the in-
sincerity, and all the other well-known qualities of
the British people. We have so little knowledge
of the subscription and the proposal made through
kir Adams that we do not know what pretext Mr
Seward can have for identifying the contributors,
including Lord Wharncliffe, with the owners of
the Alabama and the Florida and the authors,
whoever they may be, of the present Civil War.
That an English nobleman should sympathise with
the Confederate rather than the Federal side. is
probable enough, for reasons which it is needless
now to touch upon. But it is either. bad logic or a
vary gross calumny to hold the British people gene-
rally responsible in the lest degree whatever for
the supply of arms and ammunition or ships of war
to either side of the quarrel. It is on the face of
our trade Returns that our merchants have fur-
nished many times more arms and ammunition to
the Federate than to the " Insurgents." Indeed,
the Federal Government has never protested against
the traffic, knowing well that, whatever question it
might choose to raise about ships of war, it could
nut say a word, and had no object in saying a word,
about arms and ammunition. As to ships of war, oar
readers must have seen by a letterin our columns of
yesterday that nowhere has the case and the duty of
neutral Powers been so exactly and decisively
stated as by the American Governm:nt itself when
called upon to stop the ravages of privateers
,ailing out from its own ports to prey upon the
commerce of Portugal, with which Power it was at
perfect amity, Toe American Government could
only say that it did its best as for as the lawand the
practical difficulties of the case would allow, but
that it could not be held responsible for acts done
on the open sea under a fiig not its own, nor could
it declare a fl ig to be piratical because it could not
possibly sail out of any port of the Power to whim,
it professed to belong. Though it appears that
scores of privateers issued from the ports of the
United States belonging to American citizens,
manned and equipped by them, and that, after
eoisting the flig of a South American adventurer,
they preceded without scruple to seize and oppio-
prime Portuguese ships and cargoes, the Govern-
ment of Washington could only express their idle
-egrets it the practice, which neither by law nor
in pr,ctice could they sto:). One or two ships, in-
teed, were restored to the Portuguese owners by
he American Courts of Law, hut that was all the
redress the Portuguese were ever able to obtain.
and it was in the course of law, not by any act of
the State. Mr. Sew rd, then, has no possib!e excuse
for imputing to us these annoyances, which every
iover of justice and peace in this country would
gladly see prevented, but which, unfortunately, are
not prohibited by the Law of Nations, for the simple
reason that there is really no way of reaching them.
The sea is a very large place and a very free one.
it is the very home of fret d on end indepeadence,
for it owns no supremacy and is amenable to no
police. We cannot scrutinise every flag which ap-
pears upon its surface, or iequire into the geo-
graphical and mercantile conditions of the State it
represents: So says the American Government, and
no doubt it will stand by its own doctrine. The
Americans themselves, who made a subscription for
the relief of our manufacturers, admitted thereby
that our own interests are in the direction of peace,
and that we are fellowasufferers by the war. No
doubt, if our Government had the power, it would
stop that war as heartily and as energetically as a
war on our own Soli. To what purpose, then, does
Mr. Seward talk of British subjects promoting-and
protracting that war? If it only means that British
subjects make gunpowder and guns, and sell and
convey these articles to anybody wbo will buy
them, that is a practice as old as the world and es
wide as the world. It has al ways been recognised
by the Americans, and never more so than at this
moment. The best argument for the practice is that
it cannot possibly be prevented, either at the port
of export, where trade would be stopped altogether
if every .package were opened and turned inside
out by the Custom-house officers or the police,
or at the port of import, where there is, of
course, under the supposition, not the least wish to
prohibit the importation. Any attempt to stop the
traffic could be only by an appeal to conscience, by
txemination of bills and cargo, and by the
position of oaths and declarations. All these means
have been tried long ago, and they only end in
throwing trade, manufacture, and commerce into
the hands of the utterly unprincipled,.to the, eXclu-
ftiou of honest men. Mr Seward knows this fur
better than we could tell him. He knows, too, that
in every one of the questions raised by the Civil
War we are only moving in lines already laid down
for us by the lawyers, the statesmen, the conscience,
and the public opinion of the United States. We
are in the same case as they are, and whatever abuse
Mr Seward chooses to lavish on us simply recoils on
the heads of his own people.
POST.—On Saturday Manchester was the scene
of an explosion the immediate result of which was
to deprive of life a father and son on the spot ; to
induce premature delivery of a pregnant wife, in.
voiving death to the newly born; and, as there is
much reason to fear, death before the when this

will appear in print to the mother_ The reu,t, it
will be seen, vv,*s very melatchoiy, irrespective of the
cause or causes in which it originated ; not on that
account, however, do we now advert to it, The de-
struction of three or four lives *would not in itself
furnish the elements of any great pre-eminence for
newspaper comment now, at the time when the era
of heavy luggage trains has set in, and railway
accidents from collision are lamentably so rife.
The Manchester explosive accident possesses
other claims on public regard, as making
known a source of danger altogether new, so far
as we are a A,'are, or rather newly discovered.
To set forth the particulars of the accident in
such a manner as shall make them most generally
comprehended, we would first call attention to the
frequent use now made in exnibitions of public
display of the powerful oxy-hydrogen lime or
Drummond light. At all seasons is this ligh7
much employed but more especially at the pre.
sent season, when hardly any place of public enter-
tainment is without an optical ghost, a series of

dissolving views, an illuminated fairy scene, or, i,
short, one of the manifold displays wherein a brile
tient illumination is needed. Now, it seems, but we
were not pr vionsly eoguisent of the fact, that to
such an i x tut has the use of this bri tient 4lit
developed itaelt t .at toe manutacture of oxygen
gas has become a somewhat important operation
amongst the minor branches of industry in certain
cities and large towns ; that this gas, when distilled
from the materials suitable to evolve it, is conveyec!
from the place of its manufacture to the place of
sate in mackintosh or elastic bags. With these pee
liminary explanations, let us now set forth the pare
titulars of the eccideet by explosion at Manchester
on Saturday, and which resulted in the loss of life
already indicated. In the first accounts vehicb.,
reached us on Monday, it was stated that Samuel
Crowther, the operator and elder deceased, 's'39t
distilling oxygen gas from a mixture of peroxide 01
manganese and chlorate of potash in a retort (the
latter being an iron cylinder), when suddenly the
retort burst with a terrific crash.'its fragments scat
tered about like those of a bombshell. Such was the
account that reached us, and we, doubtless like maul
of hers to whom the intelligence came, waited for
further particulars, inasmuch as the result, accord:
ing to every previous experience of chemistry at all
bearing upon the matter, should have been impos-
sible, having regard to the materials and the 00h"
ditions involved. The distillation of oxygen gas
from peroxide of manganese and chlorate of peverotash,
y
mingled together is an operation that nearly
beginner in chemistry performs, and performs
under no more imminent fear of danger than such as
might happen. quite innocently, from the non-ti"
plosive breakage or disarrangement of his apparatus.
We venture to affirm that, had a chemist been In"
terrogated as to the contingent possibility of an ex'
plosion of the grave character to which reference is
made, under the circumstances indicated, his reply
would have been emphatically in the negative. The
a mechanical stoppage might have occurred, as in
any possible case of gaseous emanation, with force
exercised a tergo, is a proposition to which be
would have assented; but that any igneous ex'
plosion could have happened, he would have el
once and unhesitatingly pronounced as beyond
the scope of impossibilities involved by the
circumstances and the occasion. The coroners
inquest holden upon the victims of this accident
seems to have removed every lingering doubt, 1°
have resolved the whole mystery. If the testimony
given by the Professor of Chemistry at Owen's C°l;
lege (Mr Roscoe) be unasseilabie, then the cause °I
accident stands revealed. According to that gentr
man, the calamity is traceable to adulteration of the
peroxide of manganese—a black mineral powder'
with another black substance ; the latter, accordiog
to him, either powdered coal or soot. Under these
circumstances, given this adulteration, Professq
Roscoe explained to the coroner's jury impannelleu
that peroxide of manganese, instead of remaining
harmless under process of distillation, became equally""
dangerous with so much gunpowder. Starting fr,„
this point of testimony, the purchase of the Pet:
t,cular sample of peroxide of m,nganese to whiff;
the deadly result is attributable was traced in
source, the shop of a chemist n'med Hughes, 97":1;
now, on the testimony of Professor Roscoe, stands
committed on the charge of manslaughter. 114"..'
tees stated the issues, it would perhaps be rattier
out of place were we to enter upon the chemical res.
tionale of the theory of explosion as contingent of
roe distillation of chlorate of potash and peroxide°
manganese mingled with coal or soot instead of 111:
pure peroxide. Enough to state that, given any
hydrogenous material, such as pit coal, for exaroPle'
the immediate conditions would be supplied fof
generating fire-damp within the restricting
lt
of the iron cylinder heated to redness. The resu"
of this will stand self-suggested to any mind,
ever untrained in the principles and practice
chemical science. As the result at Manchester woulo
have been pronounced impossible by any chemist;
reasoning upon the assumption that the peroxides
manganese employed for the evolution of oXYge,ebe
was pure, so, conversely, the same result wouid
pronounced next to inevitable on the assuroPtieef
of conditions as explained by the testimony of
Professor Roscoe. Inasmuch as this is the firs
accident of the kind that we have heard of, perlege
it may be fair to assume that the most reprehensible
adulteration disclosed by Professor Roscoe rosy
either local or else may not have come into gene°
practice. At any rate public attention should be
given to this matter, now that our juveniles are s°
frequently, and, as we have hitherto all believed, se
innocently recreating themselves by the produe'l3
of oxygen gas for purposes of holiday experiment°'

in

COUNTRY MARKETS.

BIRMINGHAM—THURSDAY.
There was a fair supply of English wheat in our corp.
,
market to-day, which realised last week's quotations InAg",t3
qualities. Fine barley dearer; seconds unaltered. v,,.
held for quite as much money. Beans and peas inant''s I
—English wheat was sold at 40s to 44s for white, and 't
to 41s per 36 stone for red, Barley, new malting, 285,,n°0 k
34s per qr; grinding, 225, to 25s Oats, old, 248 to ov
per 30 stone ; Irish, 198 to 245. Beans, 38s to 428 per qr/
peas, 38s to 40s per 36 stone.

MANCHESTER—THURSDAY. k e t
There was only a moderate attendance at cur 1333,r-„t
this morning, and Eng,ish wheat was taken off slowly
he cut rency of last week. Flour also moved off slowlY,
late prices. Oats and oatmeal were in limited reques,*
Beans as before. Indian corn 6d per qr dearer.

BURY ST. EDMUND'S—WEDNESDAY.
There was a good show of wheat and barley at this
sous
ket to-day, for which the sales were slow at the Pre°l
quotations.

EDINBURGH GRAIN—WEDNESDAY. ,03
To-day there was a fair supply of country wheat,
sold readily at late rates.
Wheat on the top ós Od down dow
Barley on the top Os 6d down ~averageaverage O
ess Ilad
Oats on the top Os 6d up,.... ,..average Os 4d ,°Ol.
Beans on the top 6s Od down ..average is 2ct m-

Total Supply and Sales.
Wheat ... 691 qrs Sold 453.qrs
8ar1ey........z134 qrs Sold 1674 qrs
Oats
Beans l3B qrs Sold 115 qrs
Avei a 63
ge Prices. 185 0
Wheat..
Barley 24s 8d I ean
Town. made flour sells as follows s :—White, 3653;5p5
-itra
superfine. 31s; superfine, 32s 6d ; fine, 31s. ,

GLA.SGO W—EDNES. or°
The market was moderately a Wttended.DAY Wheat WO dlv
ull.
I,,oked at, but sold slowly at late rates. Barley wat3teudP
Ooata were unchanged. Beans and peas were 0
Barrel flour held firmly for over late rates.