The Sun.
London, England, 1852-10-23 00:00:00

S 23 1852
OCTOBER , .
N°. 18,749.] LONDON, SATURDAY Kis
: N 7

LIFE OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS.
This day is Published, Vol. 111. of
MISS AGNES STRICKLAND'S LIVES of
the QUEENS of SCOTLAND, containing the commence-
ment of the LIFE of MARY STUART.
Embellished with a Portrait, from the Original, in the possession of
the Marquis of mica, at Culzean Castle. Post Svo, price 10s. 6d.
W. Blackwood and Sons Edinburgh and London.

On the 30th inst. will be published, in One Volume, 16m0., price
Ilalf-a-Crown; or, in Two farts, price One Shilling each,
TE AUSTRALIAN COLONIES;
Their Origin and Present Condition: with an .Account of•
their Climate, Productions, Industrial Resources, and Advantages
as a Field for Emigration.
By WILLIAM F.R.G.S.,
Late Professor of Geography in the College for Civil Engineero.
F,,rming the Thirty-second an 1 Thirty-third Parts of the " Tra-
veller's Library."
London : Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans.

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SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.

TIMES.—The Tuscan Government has succeeded
in exciting the astonishment and indignation of every
part of the civilized world, where bigotry and super-
stition have not annihilated the rights of conscience
and the liberty of religions tru'h, by the revival in
this age of that persecuting spirit which once lit the
fires of S-nithfield and the autos du fl; of Spain. The
condemnation of Franc:-3CO Madiai and Roqs, his
wife, to upwards of four s ears of brutal and infamous
punishment in the prisons of forced labour of Vol-
terra and the Ergastolo, or female galleys, at Lucca,
for the offence of poesessieg and reading the Holy
Scriptures and the English Book of Common Prayer,
is justly resented as an indignity to the faith of every
Protestant nation, and an outrage on humanity and
religion itself. Tnis monstrous sentence, which was
first pronounced by the Corte Regis of Florence, on
the 4th June, after a preliminary detention of ten
months in the common gaol of that city, has since
been confirmed by the Court of Cassation ; and we are
compelled, with great regret, to add, that although
the circumstances of the case and several direct
appeals for clemency and toleration, made by some of
the most illustrious personages in Europe, have
brought this case under the distinct personal know-
ledge of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, that Prince
adheres with the implacable bigotry of a fanatic to a
sentence that degrades himself far more than it can
injure the victims of this cruelty, since it gives fresh
force and truth to the worst charges ever brought
against the authority he represents and the Church
to which he belongs. The King of Prussia, with a
most honourable zeal in the defence of rotestant
Christians, has made strong and direct appeals to the
sentiments of justice and self-respect he might have
expected to find, even in an Italian Sovereign, but
he has failed to obtain any remission of this
iniquitous sentence; and we have reason to be-
lieve that the interest felt in this case by the
most illustrious personages in this country has
not been less forcibly and cordially expressed,
though with no better effect. M. Von Usedom, the
Prussian Minister at Rome, has been instructed to
repair to Florence to support the remonstrances of
the Protestants, though by a singular perversion of
the appropriate functions of a British Minister, it is
at this very time, and pending this important discus-
sion, that Sir Henry Bulwer, instead of being at his
post in Fiorence, has been suffered or ordered by
Lord Malmesbury to prolong his abortive and dis-
creditable mission to Rome. All the other Protestant
Governments have joined with alacrity in a common
protest against the application of penal laws and fero-
cious punishments to the faith of the Bible. Holland
has taken a warm interest in the cause • the Protest-
ants of France, Switzerland, and Southern Germany
have joined the deputation about to proceed to Tus-
cany, at the head of which Lord Roden, Lord Cavan,
and Captain Trotter will personally attend on behalf
of a society called the Protestant Alliance. We hope
for the sake of the Madiais that these exertions will
not be made in vain, and that they will be released
from their very undeserved sufferings; but as this
concession will, after all, be extorted from the Tuscan
Government on the ground of mercy rather than of
justice, we must assume that the authorities of that
country do profess the ancient and execrable maxims
of the Romish Church for the so-called extirpation of
heresy by inquisitorial powers and by penal severi-
ties, for we find that as the influence of Rome has
become supreme and absolute over the mind of the
Grand Duke, he has sanctioned acts of vindictive per-
secution such as Rome herself would, a few years ago,
have scarcely dared to avow.
The law under which the Madiais have been con-
victed, is one of the Leopoldine enactments of 1786,
which provided, by its 60th article, that—
. Whosoever, with impious designs, dares to profane
the divine mysteries, disturbing the sacred functions
with violence, or otherwise committing public impiety,
and whosoever publicly teaches maxims contrary to our
holy Catholic religion, towards which we have always
nourished, and will always maintain constant our love
and zeal, we will that, as a disturber of the order upon
which society is maintained in tranquillity, and as an
enemy to society itself, he shall be punished with the
greatest and most exemplary rigour, nor ever with a
less penalty than public forced labour, for a term or for
life,accoraing to the circumstances of the case." _

Vague as-the language of this statute is, it would
seem utterly impossible to bring the case of the Ma-
dials within reach of it, even if all the counts of the
accusation were proved against them. They could
be charged with no profanity, no violence, or public
impiety, not even with public teaching. The use of
the Holy Scriptures, and especially the possession of
an English Prayer-book, in which were found the
Thirty-nine Articles of our Church, condemning pur-
gatory and the worship of images as foolish inven-
tions, were the real offence. For not even any acts
of proselytism were established—if, indeed, such acts
could reasonably be attributed to two persons of
slight education and in so humble a station—the one
having been a travelling courier, and the other a
maid-servant. But the value to be put upon the accu-
racy and information of the Tuscan Attorney-
General, one Biccbierai, may be inferred from the
fact that he coolly assured the Court that " every one
knew the Bible Society to have been instituted in
France, in 1792, after the extravagances of the fana-
tic Johanne Souchott" (sic for Southcote)—an asser-
tion in which we hardly know whether most to ad-
mire the extravagance of attributing a passion for the
diffusion of Christian knowledge to France under the
Convention, or the connexion existing in the legal mind
of Tuscany between the Word of God and the ravings
of Johanna Southcote. Such an advocate was extremely
well qualified to contend—as he in fact did—that penal
justice must hasten to the defence and protection of
Catholicism, not so much for the sake of infallible
truth as for the preservation of the State itself; and
with equal propriety he quoted laws of Theodosius
and Valentinian to the effect, that" it is good to punish
by death and confiscation of property him who, by
service, persuasion, or advice, has passed from the
worship of the Christian religion to any of those in-
famous sects or rites." Such are the legal advisers
of the Tuscan Crown ; and if their reasoning is worth
anything, they are bound to proceed to the last extre-
mities for the extirpation of heresy; for there is no
act of barbarity for which their bigotry would not
find an excuse.
We had hitherto supposed the Grand Duke of Tus-
cany to be a well-intentioned though weak man ; but
his weakness is such that his trials and his supersti-
tion have turned him into a bad one. These foolish
and wicked persecutions are the result of fear ; but,
if we are not mistaken, they will have the effect of
augmenting one hundredfold the danger they are
designed to avert. The trial of the Madiais has re-
vealed to Europe the existence in Italy, even among
persons of a humble station, and far More in a higher
rank, of an amount of Protestant conviction and
evangelical constancy under heavy sufferings, of
which little was hitherto known. The Attorney-
General of Tuscany himself assures us that "the
work most hidden, though ettensive, is that of the
heterodox sect called the Evangelical Confession, or of
the Pure Gospel ;" in other words, Protestant Chris-
tianity, which "is well known to be much extended in
Florence and in other towns, as well as in the country."
We rejoice to bear it. We rejoice to think that Italy is
not eternally condemned to the sterile choice between
French atheism and Romish superstition ; and that
beneath the load of foreign oppression and indigen-
ous bigotry, a spark is kindled which may yet bode
well for the immortal cause of Christianity and free-
dom. The persecution of the Madiais has rendered
the existence of these opinions in Italy a matter of
interest to thousands who had never thought upon
the subject; and it will serve to show our persecuted
fellow-Christians who worship in secresy and fear in
those lands, that, although they may be anathematized
by Rome, they are placed in communion with several
of the freest and most religious nations of the earth.
Lord Roden will not, we presume, be mistaken by
by the authorities of Tuscany for a demagogue, or
even a Whig ; but he takes with him on this mission
the cordial interest of the British public in a just
cause, and if he fails, we shall know with what
rigour the Roman Catholic Church still exacts its
victims and its sacrifices from those Princes who are
abject enough to be the slaves of its power.

MORNING HERALD.—There is a class of
persons who are at least to be htared when they are
in your front, facing you in de Glared warfare. So
met, they are not formidable. The danger begins
r
Only hen you yourself do scorn and disregard them,
and w
hen they have thus an opportunity of firing on
you from behind.
The Tractarian
with some
"famous
success the tactics of the man whose gun
wasu t
allowing
themselves to become
partyshooting seemsrou htdo have a vheo r
hl aetre.l,y, studied
They
have
oag
without
inflict a serious damage on the
Government, edfor to
single
or mmoment. A conspiracy more
skilfully planned,
to
con
How-
ever, we now begitr
visible for a
theo am, ale of faction. re adroitly carried out, is
scarcely to be found in
manoeuvre, and the)prehend the whole
moment
tl le scheme is under-
stood, it ceases to be dangerous.
All who are, acquainted with the newspaper press
of London know well, that, fl:onl March last down
to the present moment, there has been no more
bitter opponent of the present Administration than
the Morning Chronicle, the organ 1 of the Tractarian

party. Ceaseless, and overflowing with malice, have
been its attacks. But within the last fortnight those
attacks have somewhat subsided, and especially
.has
silence been kept, as much as possible, on the subject
respecting which the manoeuvre in question was to
operate. It was essential to the success of the scheme
that it should not be known to time from that part
of the field of battle.

About a fortnight ego, the plan to which we allude
bevait to come into operation. Certain persons of
quiet, respectable character, and not of Tractarian
views' were privately informed, as a great secret that
Lord Derby had given a pledge, or something like it,
that if Convocation formally asked permission to sit
for the transaction of business, he should think it his
duty to advise the Queen to grant it. These state-
ments were made so confidently, so secretly, and by
persons of such station, that the recipients of the
news could not for a moment doubt that the news was
unquestionably true. We could, if necessary, give
the names of parties in high public offices, who felt
the fullest conviction of the truth of these statements.
We have had no personal knowledge of the Primate's
views or expectations, but we quite believe, from vari-
ous things which have come to our ears, that his
Grace himself was one of the parties who gave cre-
dence to these reports.

In a day or two the alarm reached the daily papers.
One journal, which is not withheld by party con-
nexion!, from publishing any rumour which reaches
it, at once gave currency to the report. We our-
selves were precluded from doing so, by a feeling
that the statement would be very injurious to the Go-
vernment, and that it was in aleprobability destitute
of truth.

Three or four days elapsed, and the Times, uneasy
at being behindhand in so important a matter, began
to inquire into the truth of the statement; and so
well had the conspirators laid their plans, that the
Times, when seeking after the facts, was met by a
confirmation of the story. Fairly taken in, it came
out at last, several days after the first report had been
given in other journa's, with a full and entire confir-
mation of the story !

We now solicit particular attention to the next fact
in the case—a fact in which design, and that an in-
sidious design, becomes clearly manifest.
The Morning Chronicle, as the Tractarian daily
organ, and the leading journal of the Convocation
party, was eagerly looked to day by day, to see how
it would deal with the question. Its friends took the
most lively interest in the matter; two or three other
journals were giving currency to the rumours every
morning or evening. " What," every one was ask-
ing, "did the Chronicle say ?"
The Chronicle, day after day, said nothing at all.
This was strange ; but the meaning of it is now
clear.
The object of this silence was—not to say a word
until the Times, Globe, and Daily News should first
have swallowed the bait. Accordingly, on Monday
the Times came out with a fierce article against Con-
vocation, and against Lord Derby for granting it ;
and then the silence of the Chronicle was at once
broken.
And what did it say ? It accepted and endorsed
the report. It said :
"In well-informed quarters it has for some little time
been tolerably well understood, thatt Lord
thel Crown
.to
l )erhy is pre-
pared to advise, or has already ad
d to resume its
issue its licence to the nOW Convocation
synodical functions. We have long been in possession of
the report," 86e.
Was such an avowal ever before made by a news-
paper •
? Here is a journal which coolly tells its
readers that it has " long been in possession of a
report" of the greatest possible importance; which
report it carefully concealed! Can any one guess
why ? A fact of greater moment could not easily be
imagined, yet a journalist quietly informs his readers
that he has long had it in his possession, but has
chosen to keep it to himself! A good reason for
such suppression is not to be conceived.
The fact is, that this singular admission " lets the
cat out of the bag." The Chronicle assures us that
it has "long been in possession of the report." We
have not the least doubt of it. If the Chronicle had
even claimed to have been present when the whole
story was first concocted and sent abroad, we should
not have questioned the fact. The whole " history
and mystery" is now as clear as daylight,
The Tractarian party fabricated the whole story.
But they took care to warn their own journal not to
be foremost in the propagation of it. "If you, good
Chronicle, were to be the first to spread the story
people would suspect the truth of it. 'They would
say that the wish was father to the thought.' So,
do you keep quiet till we can get the story sent
round, by other persons, to the other papers ; and
then you may come in, as a bystander, and say, Oh
yes, it is all true, we heard of that some days ago.' "
The trick has been well played, and it bas answered
its purpose. Any one who was inclined to read five
or six of the bitterest articles that have ever appeared
against the present Ministry might read the Times,
Globe, and Daily News of the present week ; and
the worst of the matter is, that a good part of these
attacks is true—that is it is true that the restoration
of Convocation would be a fearfully rash and dan-
gerous thing. The only mistake is in applying all
these censures to Lord Derby, as if he were going to
commit so great a blunder.
Men of candour, before they suspect any man of
high station and character of such folly, should ask
themselves whether his previous life warrants such a
suspicion ? A man of plain common sense remarked
the other day, " I thought that it was expected that
Lord Derby would find difficult it to manage one Par-
liament; and I cannot conceive it to be probable that
he is going voluntarily to undertake to manage
two." It might have been added, with a mark of
admiration—" and the second a theological Parlia-
ment!"

Yet the Tractarians, partly from the eagerness of
their hopes, and partly from a willingness to injure
Lord Derby, will not easily give up the story. Their
weekly organ, the English Churchman, says, only
last night
" We firmly believe, that, whenever Lord Derby
can see his way clearly before him, the Royal licence
will be issued."
If the licence is not issued till "Lord Derby sees
his way clearly before him," it will not be issued in
our days, nor in those of our children.

ADVERTISER.—Mr. Hume and political con-
sistency are synonymous terms. We said as much
yesterday : we repeat it to-day. And so we should,
were it necessary to-morrow, and every succeeding
day till the end of the chapter. But though the
Member for Montrose is a very model of consistency,
and though no one ever questioned his thorough in-
tegrity, he is liable to adopt a wrong course, because
he is accessible to persons who are not equally
honest with himself. MH i
r.
ume s often deceived
by parties who have their own private ends to
verve. He does not see what they are driving at
he perceives not the objects which they have in
view.

The letter of the honourable gentleman, which ap
peared in our paper yesterday, may with great pro
priety be referred to as a case in point. That corn

munication was not a spontaneous emanation from
Mr. Hurne's own mind. Had he been left to himself
he would never have penned that production. It is
his only in a mechanical sense. No one can have any
difficulty in affiliating the letter. Though it is
dated Bromley Hall, it was not born in that latitude.
The place of its accouchement is nearer home. Speak-
ing of it parochially, we should say it would not be
difficult to establish its claim to a settlement in the
very centre of the metropolis—in a place called Char-
ing-cross.
And as that is in reality the place where this pro-
duction, with the name of Mr. Hume attached to it,
was ushered into existence, so the parentage of the
epistle can be traced to the association to which the
letter refers, as having a local habitation and a name
in that part of our vast metropolis.- Not that we
suppose the letter was actually written there, but that
the inspirati on came from that quarter. Let any one
put the question to Mr. Hume, whether the produc-
tion referred to was the result of some movement of
his own mind, and he will frankly answer that it was
not. He ie. too honest to say that it was a spontaneous
emanation from himself. Ask him again, whether he
was not moved to the writing of the letter by parties
who are, prominently connected with the Financial
and Parliamentary Reform Association, and he will
candidl:r answer that he was.
Thou gh bearing his name, the letter is, indeed, a
sort of manifesto from that body. And should any
one deem it necessary to answer the document, it
ought to be dealt with throughout as an exposition of
the view aof that body—it body that can be called
which cmly consists, if we are rightly informed, of a
president, a secretary, end a clerk.
Ther e is one fact stated in the letter to which Mr.
Hume has adhibited his name, which, of itself, if we
had no other evidence on the subject, would have
sufficed to satisfy us that it was in reality of Charing-
cross. manufacture. Mr. Hume informs us that the
Financial and Parliamentary Reform Association has
290 branches in the provinces.
How, we will venture to affirm, that a fortnight
bef ore writing his letter, be had not the remoteat idea
of what number of branches this Association could
boast;, of as being under its protecting care. We will
go 'father, And assert that there is not person

the country, except the president, the secretary, or
the clerk aforesaid, who could, before the appearance
of Mr. Hume's letter, have answered the question as
to how many branch associations belonged to it.
The public, who never before heard of this large
family of branch associattous, must now be lost in
wonder at what sort of things they can be, and how
they could have been spending their time since they
were u;hered into being. As we have never heard of
any thing they hive said or done, there is a dramatic
unity between them and the parent es:ablishinent at
Charing•cross. As the old bird sings, says the pro-
verb, the young bird learns. As the parent Associa •
!ion in London has done nothing for the cause of
Parliamentary Reform, there is a poetic fitness in the
provincial brancies spending their days and hours in
idleness also. They but follow the example of their
parent. They are appropriate chips of the old block.
"Do as I do," says the Charing-cross Association,
addressing itself to its numerous progeny in the
provinces. Like obedient children, they follow their
parent's advice ; and the result is, that nothing is done
at all. " William, what are you doing down there?"
" Nothing, Sir." " And, Tom, what are you about ?"
"Helping William, Sir." "Parent Parliamentary
Reform Association at Charing-cross, what are you
doing in the cause of financial or representative rel.
form ?" " Nothing at all." " And what are you,
the branch Associations in the country, about ?"
" Helping the parent Association in the metropolis !"
This is the way, is it not, to get the work of reform
done ? Mr. HUME at least would make us believe
that it is so, for he, in the unsuspecting simplicity of
his soul, is made to eulogise the Charing-cross Asso-
ciation and its breaches in the provinces.
We have, perhaps, a better right to speak unre-
servedly of this Association than any other journal,
because in the earlier periods of its existence we gave
it a more liberal support than any of our contempora-
ries. We did so in the hope that it would make an
impression on the public mind, and prove an efficient
organization for the promotion of those reforms which
it is proposed to accomplish. It has proved a dead
failure. That is patent to all, —too manifest to be
denied by even the President or the Secretary. It
has not made itself felt either in the metropolis or the
provinces. We do not blame the originators of the
Association for this. Its want of success may not be
their fault. We all know it is not in mortals to com-
mand success.
But now that the movement is so notoriously and
signally a failure, it would be suicidal for the party of
progress, any longer to trust to what it can accom-
plish. Still we should have spoken of its want of
success with regret, and paid a tribute of respect to its
memory—for there is no use in denying that it is
virtually defunct, had the triumvirate of which the
Association now consists, not gone out of their way
to interpose every possible obstacle to the contemplated
movement in favour of the Ballot.
Their conduct, in endeavouring to prevent an agi-
tation in favour of the Ballot singly, affords a fresh
illustration of the old maxim—that there are some,
people who will neither do a particular thing them-
selves, nor allow any one else to do it. The Ballot
was one of the great `points" in the movement con-
templated by the Parliamentary and Financial Reform
Association, and if they had been sincere in their
professions of attachment to the cause of secret voting,
they would, instead of opposing the intended move-
ment in favour of the Ballot, have given it their
heartiest support. But on this aspect of the matter
we shall, probably, have a few more words to say on
a future occasion.

TIMES.—A paper on " Railway Accidents, their
Cause, and Means of Prevention," drawn up from
large personal experience, carefully framed and read
by a civil engineer before a professional meeting of
his brethren, ought to be both an interesting and in.
structive document. The two conditions indeed are

fulfilled in some respects by the specimen we publish
elsewhere, but not exactly in the sense designed by
Captain Mark Huish, its author. The name of this
gentleman, as connected with the London and North-
Western Railway, will not be unfamiliar to the pub-
lic, and, though perhaps the evidence of so interested
a witness may be thought to require some corrective
from the other side, it is undoubtedly desirable that
railway companies should be permitted to state their
own case in their own turn. Omitting, therefore, for
the present, all consideration of Captain lluish's
general views, we turn to his analytical estimate of
railway accidents as they actually occur.
The railroad itself, or, as it is technically called,
"the permanent way," is very properly made the first
subject of the Captain's attention. On this point be
remarks, that while the weight, speed, and frequency
of trains have on most lines been materially increased,

the quality of the rails supplied by manufacturers has
heed rapidly deteriorating, insomuch that one com-
pany has taken the resolution of manufacturing these
supplies for itself. The augmentation of traffic, too,
has naturally induced an increase of " siding" ac-
commodation, involving a proportionate multiplication
of points and crossing—those fertile sources of
risk. Some idea may be formed of the changes in
this respect from the fact that the increase of siding
during the last few years on the London and
North-Western alone amounts, in the aggregate, to no
less than 53 miles. Altogether, however, Captain Finish
observes, that the casualties directly attributable to
the state of " the way" are fewer than from any other
cause, and contribute, indeed, but a scanty quota to
the great total of railway accidents. This, as far as
it goes, is, no doubt, correct; but there may possibly
be more of the truth behind. Of late, as we remarked
the other day, accidents have once or twice been re-
presented as wholly inexplicable; and it may be a
question whether some of these insoluble problems do
not depend on the condition of the road. We are
not without a suspicion that they do, and in this case
the permanent way may have somewhat more to
answer for.

From the road Captain Huish passes naturally to
the engine; and gives an analysis of no fewer than
1,000 cases of locomotive failures which occurred in
a stock of 587 engines on the London and North-
Western Railway and its tributaries. In this table
the fractures of various parts of various engines are
detailed and classified with the utmost minuteness,
and probably with equal accuracy, but the particular
point of present interest to the public is left without
any notice whatever. No doubt, it will be useful to
the mechanist to learn that " tubes," " springs,"
"spindles," " pumps," and " pistons," are more fran-
gible than all the other organs of a locomotive taken
together; and the fact that only one casualty out of
the whole 1,000 was due to a " burst boiler" is cer-
tainly of some general interest. But the true ques-
tion, is, how many of these thousand failures origi-
nated in the defective character of the stock and
management, in the employment of inferior, worn, or
unserviceable engines, and in the attempt to perform
more work with less means ? For instance, the
Captain's table sets down five casulties to "detached
ash-pans." Now, we know that a failure of this
description the other day produced a fatal
accident, and that opinions were expressed very
strongly to the effect that the occurrence was
due to a rotten condition of the whole machine
ascertainable beforehand. Now, of the five tabu-
lated examples, how many might have been traceable
to very similar causes ? Of course, the reader will
understand that the 1,000 "failures " here spoken of
were not all attended with "railway accidents ' in the
common sense of the word, but all probably involved
such liabilities.
In respect of carriages, Captain Huish has little
more to say than that the companies have as yet found
f
it impracticable to provide any method or system
communication between the passengers and ethn-
gine-driver, but he enlarges very seriously on e_
results of " inattention to signadlsoo'gaenrdon"anreagillewcatyo!,
regularity." "Of all sources of
says he, " these are the most prolific.be expected
of a railway Human nature
is necessarily imperfect,
and it
company, however cannot
that the servants
carefully selected and diligently ,
All this is very
plausible, but, ast,utored, will be ex-
empt from such
before,
general there is one mostiy
vorl importantooks
Cap .
point of view which tain
is imperfect, and for that very reason
Human nature
should not be taxed too far. The servants of a rail-
way company, besides being carefully selected," and
diligently tutored," should be kept up to such a
strength that no man is worked beyond his powers.
"momentary forgetfulness," or an "instant's ne-
glect," are no doubt
~fraught with all the tre-
mendous consequences described by Captain Huish,
but nothing is so likely to make neglect or forgetful-
ness probable as overwork, excessive duty, or general
confusion. The true, question here is, how much of
these "consequences' was due to the defalcation 01
the servant, and how much to the arrangements 01
his employers ? As to punctuality in the times of
trains, Captain Huish is a perfectly audacious free-
thinker. " The press," he says, and " public opinion,
as expressed through a jury whenever an accident
occurs, generally seize on this point as the primary
cause of the mishap," whereas not only does he con-
sider this stress as unduly laid, since. " with a well-
regulated system of signals, and a well-disciplined
staff, the greatest irregularity, whatever inconvenience
it may produce, ought not to lead to danger ;" but he
opines that, " to a certain extent, the very uncertainty
of the passage of the trains produces safety, by the
continual vigilance it necessitates; and as few tied-

[PRICE SD.

dents occur in the most busy thoroughfare in Lon-
!
don, so - the most crowded parts of a railway
exhibit the greatest freedom from casualty:"
This theory of the operation of a " well-disci-
as, doubt-
less,theorypli n well-disci-
plined
very staff," and
beautiful;
" we
but,ll-r
unfortunately,e gu 1 at e d signals"
i: l
only, and it is hard that Captain Huish should forget
at this point alone that notorious fallibility of human
nature on which he hsd so carefully insisted before.
With pfTfect discipline and perfect regulations, per-
haps trains might run eccentrically without any great
danger; but, as the regulations and discipline actually
prevailing, even on the London and North Western,
are considerably short of the perfection thus contem-
plated, it is not a bad practical notion to avoid as
thatmu Captainch risk as possible by keeping things to their time.
From what we have said, it will be plain enough
Iluish addressed the Institution of Civil
Engineers less as an independent member of this so-
ciety than as a railway manager—a course with which
we have no desire to quarrel. But in pleading for
his particular clients and in censuring the want of
" consideration and sympathy exhibited either by
the public or the press during the difficulties under
which the railways of Great Britain have struggled
into their present position," Captain Huish
has almost exceeded even the licence of a
professional advocate. The difficulties alluded to
were of the companies' own making, and, even if
they were not, they would constitute no excuse
whatever for their present proceedings. Very
likely, railway travelling is still safer than any other,
though we do not remember any other which actually
suggested a system of private life assurance; but this
is wholly beside the mark. The gist of the public
complaint is not that railway travelling is short of
perfection, but :that it is less perfect than it plainly
might be; and, what is more, less perfect than it
actually was—the deterioration being visibly trace-
able to the deliberate doings of the companies them-
selves. Captain Huish, when he read his paper, had
not had the advantage which the public has since
enjoyed of perusing the report of the Government
Commissioner on this subject, a document which, it
will not be forgotten, proved that while railway traf-
fic and railway receipts had been largely augmented,
the proportion of railway servants had been reduced,
and the number of railway accidents increased. From
a result like this the " fallibility of human nature "
supplies no appeal. The case is perfectly clear, not
only from these broad statistics, but from constant
experience, that railway companies have been disre-
garding the convenience and safety of their passen-
gers for the sake of their own profits, and it is this
highly natural but insufferable tendency for which
some effective check is now required.