The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-17 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY, DEC. 17, 1864.

Lord PALMERSTON has not been very busy of late
in axe way of making speeches, hut on Thursday
be presided at the Agricultural Association's annual
dinner at Romsey. There was nothing out of the
way on the occasion, but the noble lord contrived
to introduce some appropriate remarks concerning
the several topics upon which he touched. With
respect to the Army and Navy toast, he truly ob-
served that it was important for the interests of all
that the defenders of the country should be duly

honoured. No one was likely to pursue his indus•
trial pursuits with diligence if he were not satisfied
that he should reap the fruits of his exertion. This
is strictly tree, and shows very plainly that in no
assemblage, however peaceful may be its attributes,
can it be said that the efficiency and activity of those
engaged in warlike pursuits is of no interest, for
much deper de upon their will and power to perform
their duties. Lord PALMERSTON only expressed a
common opinion when he said that we were not
lees likely to remain at peace with foreign Powers
because it was known that the " Army, Navy,
Militia, and Volunteers of England are in a perfect
state of efficiency, and ready, if called upon, to de-
fend the interests and maintain the honour of the
country." In the toast of the " Successful Compe-
titors," the noble lord made one of his humorous
speeches, but still, at the same time, some useful
hints may be gleaned from it, for he said that they
held out an example to others to follow in their
course, and thus another year they might win the
laurels got themselves. In returning thanks for
his health being .protiosed, the noble President die.
coursed at greater length, and made some feeling
allusions to the gratification which. all must
experience in securing the goodwill of those among
whom they live. Certainly he may appreciate
this, for his popularity in the vicinity of his home
is very great, and on all occasions it is manifested
with spontaniety and enthusiasm. An additional
interest was imparted to the proceedings of the
evening by the circumstance of a new building
having been_ erected, which was handsome and
commodious. Of course this furnished some op.
portunity for remarks, of which the noble lord
availed himself with his usual readiness and dexte-
rity. It is true, ns he said, that agriculture de•
pended greatly upon the intercourse of man with
man, and thus the interchange of ideas demanded
a fitting place for those engaged in such pursuits
to assemble. One can say how he has foiled,
another where he has succeeded, and so on. Al-
though, as the noble lord facetiously observed, the
wind would not blow their good thoughts out of
them, nor the rain melt away their good qualities,
it was as well for the farmers of the neighbourhood
to have an appropriate spot in which to assemble.
In the course of his remarks, Lord PALMERSTON
gave more useful hints to those around, although he
disclaimed all intention of " talking to farmers
about farming." Still it is certain that those of ex.
perience and nflection can do good service to
classes whose avocations are totally dissimilar to
their own, and indeed they may be of essential ad-
vantages from not possessing the prejudices or
being biassed by the partialities that will often in.
terfere with the judgment and mar the efforts of
those who are well-meaning and good-intentioned,
but who are too limited in their experience and
narrow in their experience. Thus the noble lord
declared that he thought the industry of agriculture
was likely to increase greatly ; the introduction of
machinery has been of great benefit, and has
even overcome the prejudices of those who
were the most opposed to it at the first. So thus,
as in other matters, we find the ultimate triumph
of thought, over more material things, all these
inventions and improvements have had to run
their gauntlet, as it were, to pass through many
difficulties and much opposition to their destined
end and final goal; but patience and perseverance
can do much, and achieve that crowning triumph,
occasionally, of coercing people against their will.
Theechange that has taken place in the opinions of
some persons was ably described by the noble lord,
when he told them he had heard the other day that
the labourers refused to thrash by the flail, but in.
eisted on machinery being employed, whereas in
some places, at the time of their first introduction,
the machines were broken, in consequence of the
men thinking that they would injure them. This
is a good example of the idle notions and mistaken
notions that men get into their heads when they
will not pause to reflect, nor take the advice of
those who have been thinking while they have
been working, thus making all labour conduce to a
common end, the welfare and advantage of society.
The vehicles used in agriculture have also been
improved, and Lord PALMERSTON duly adverted to
them as a proof of the flourishing state of agricul
tural affairs at present. It is in every way satiefac

tory that the inventions in which modern science
has so excelled should be brought to bear upon
agricultural pursuits. It was the fashion at one
time for a certain class of politicians to decry and
put down all allusions to agriculture, as beneath
their notice, but this is a mistake that no wise states-

man nor man of sound experience will make, and
Lord PALMERSTON has set a good example
to others, by thus coming forward and
directing attention to matters that are
deserving of attention in relation to those pursuits.

Such encouragement may stimulate others to do
their utmost in the furtherance of the struggle
after excellence and the strife for improvement

which should animate and influence all sections o:

,he community, and form the motive-power that

propels the different classes of society. In many
respects, then, it may, be considered that the affair
at Romsey was a success, and the speeches of the
county members in their way contributed to the
happy results of the entertainment. Mr. BUTTON
alluded to the tact that the farmers would have to
turn a good deal of their corn into meat for the
future. in support of this assertion he said that
English beef and mutton could not be surpassed in
any part of the world, but wheat and grain can be
sent into oar markets at a lower price than we ca❑
grow it. The farmers and others whom it concerns
had better show that a word to the wise is sufficient,
and give heed to the useful hints and appropriate
advices that have been given to them in various
quarters by the prevalence of these agricultural
associations.

Few sciences in our own day have made more

progress than that of meteorology, and few are

capable of more practical application. Invaluable

s the resources of chemistry have proved in sup.

plying the thousand wants of civilised existence,
and important as are the revelations of geology,
we may lineation whether either of them in their
recent development is likely to exercise a more be•
neficial influence on the affairs of a maritime na-
tion. So deeply are we interested in the fluetna-

tions of the weather, both from the immense
variety and extent of our commercial dealings and
from the number of men whose daily occupation
leads them into continual contact with all its forms
and vagaries. The knowledge already acquired by
our meteorologists, crude and imperfect as it is, has
already been the means of averting many disaz-
trona wrecks, and consequently of rescuing many
lives from hazard. As time advances, if our acquire•
meats keep pace with it, we shall be able to carry
out the good old adage of " Forewarned, forearmed"
still more extensively and beneficially. No human
precautions can avert storms, and neither prudence
nor foresight can servo to guard a vessel always
from their consequences. Shipwrecks and disasters
at
sea on such a coast as ours are not likely to be-
come things of the past ;
but there can be no ques-
tion that the more we know of the chin
ges of the
weather, and the better we understa_d the law of
storms and hurricanes, the more shall we be able to
avoid them or to prepare for them w en inevitable.

Public attention has recently been directed anew
to this subject by the accounts which have reached
us from our Indian Empire, where gales of extra-
ordinary violence raging over wooden huts and among
hundreds of ships inefficiently moored, have pro-
duced consequences the most terrible. The experi•
ence so gained has been dearly purchased, but some
interesting particulars have been forwarded by
those whose peculiar position enabled them to watch
the progress of the storms, and these details may
serve to instruct tied enlighten our meteorologists
with regard to a phase of atmospheric action, with
which, happily, they have little opportunity of
becoming familiar. The terrible results of the
cyclone which devastated Calcutta on the sth of
October are still fresh in the public memory, but
since that time another cyclone has visited the
neighbourhood, though not actually reaching the
city. It s wept through the Bay of Bengal, and
inflicted much damage at the mouth of the Hooghly
river, affording additional evidence of the excep-
tional nature of the storms of this season. We
are fortunate in having two very distinct and
graphic accounts of the aspect of this latter tem-
pest, by actual eye-witnesses and participators in
the effects of its fury. Two English vessels, the
Hotspur and the Aln wick Castle, were overtaken
by this cyclone in the early morning of the 22d.
Happily for them they were both near its centre,
eo that, though terribly shaken, they escaped unhurt.
Captain TOYNBEE, of the Hotspur, reports that
about one o'clock his vessel was anchored in the
head of the bay, when it became manifest that a
cyclone was passing over them. The scene was
grand, though terrible. " The ligutning was
beyond description—a ball of light sat on the main
royal masthead, the rain fell in a sheet rather than
in drops, and one may truly say that the dark-
ness could be felt, except when the red glare of
the lightning made all visible. The wind shifted
continually, and so great was its force that at one
time the vessel lay over on her side, although she
was under bare poles. The three topgallant masts
hung shivering in the rigging, while the great seas
came rolling up with tremendous force, and the
situation, however magnificent, was a very anxious
one for the Hotspur. The other vessel we alluded
to—the Ain wick Castle—which the Hotspur en-
countered at daybreak dismaeted, met the gale a
little farther on than the Hotspur. Her captain
describes the storm in much the same terms as the
other, and mentions that the violence of the wind
was at one time so great that it blew the stern boat
in two, When the sudden shifting of the gale from
southwest to northwest took place the same tran-
t ion which laid the Hotspur on her side befel the
Mn wick Castle; she heeled over and the whole of her
masts were swept off, yet so great was the noise of
the elements that the fall of the masts on the deck
was hardly aulible. Another cyclone of still more
terrific violence has been desolating Masulipatam,
on the Coromandel coast. Of this fewer details
have as yet reached us, but the fact of an extensive
loss of life is indisputable. No abodes could be less
calculated to stand these sudden tempests than the
native huts, and when wind and waters combine
with terrific violence there is little wonder that
they should be swept away like chaff before a
breeze. It is a striking peculiarity of these cyclones
that their area is comparatively restricted, and their
progress can be distinctly traced. The cyclone of
the sth of October is said to have left the
Andaman Isles on the morning of the 2d
—three days before it arrived at Calcutta.
It travelled up the. Bay of Bengal at about ten
miles an hour, growing more rapid till it reached
a pace of 21miles. A broad light was visible in the
sky in its track, and during its height at Calcutta
3jiaht shades of eaethqueke ware felt. All these
phenomena deserve to be carefully studied by our
men of science, and another feet which may prove
valuable has been partially ascertained—namely,
that the cyclone tends to its centre, whirling
everything towards its midst. It would be well if
the preliminary indications of the tempest were
noticed with equal care so as to give warning of
its advent. But these cyclones travel slowly, and
therefore it is more to lie regretted that so little
effort should have been made to communicate its
approach beforehand,when part at least of the mis-
chief might have been averted. We must hope
that the unfortunate experience of the past seaso n
will have taught more alacrity and promptitude to
Indian officials, while the information so promptly
gathered will, no doubt, be put to good purpose by
our English scientific inquirers.;

Another frightful accident has just startled rail-

way passengers out of their ordinary security. So

vast is the traffic on our railway lines, and so c om.

plete and well-ordered the arrangements for the

despatch of business and for the comfort of pasren-

gers, that all sense of danger is ordinarily lulled to
sleep; and it is only a catastrophe of a sericus na-
ture that arouses us from our carelessness. Unfor-

tunately these periodical warnings are only too
much needed by those engaged in the actual work•

Lng of the lines, since the constant presence of

danger, far from increasing care and caution, has
invariably the effect of producing recklessness. It
is a painful reflection that a very great proportion
of these accidents which kill and maim so many

human beings, are the result of negligence,
though at the same time the fact diminishes

e real dangers of railway travelling, There

must of course be always some danger at-
tending any process dependent upon the
action of steam and the rapid pace of the trains,
but such disasters as that which yesterday occurred
in the Charlton Tannt.l are out of the category of
natural accidents. 'The facts of the case seem a
little obscure, and it would seem that some of the
men engaged had been guilty of incomprehensible
neglect ; but as the matter will of course be fully
and fairly inquired into, we defer any expression
of opinion. The cause of the accident was a heavily
laden ballast train proceeding on the North Kent line.
It entered the Blackheath Tunnel on the up line, but
from some reason several trucks became detached
and were left behind in the tunnel. The singular
part of the affair is that these trucks should have
been left there without some effort being made to
communicate the danger to the naarest
stations. It is the more strange because
the telegraph is in active operation all
along the line. The Maidstone train left Churl-
ton station, believing all secure, but when it had
gone about a mile into the tunnel a fearful collision
took place. The train ran upon these trucks,
instantly killing the five poor men who were on
them, the engine and tender were thrown on their
sides, the brake van and the two first carriages
were turned over and crushed. The scene is de-
ecribed as an awful one,.the dire confusion being of
course heightened by the darkness. Several pas-
sengers were very seriously injured, and every care
anti kindness was of course shown them after they
bad been rescued from their dreadful position.
But, besides the five men killed, many are to-day
groaning on beds of suffering who yesterday were
moving among their fellows in health and strength.
Another imperative warning has been given of the
necessity of vigilance and caution on the part of
railway offioials. May we hope it will be heeded ?