The Sun.
London, England, 1864-08-10 00:00:00

MARLBOROUGH CLUB COMPANY
TH.E (Limited.) for the anxious watchers exhausted with the pro.
tracted struggle. The officials at one of the stations
13, Grafton-street, Piccadilly.
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVES, that in consequence of which they passed perceived that something was
the Alterations not being completed, the Opening of the
Club wil be postponed until WEDNESDAY, the I.i tla day wrong, and put up the danger signals. The train
of August, liol.
slackened its speed, but only for a time, and no
danger appearing, away it went again. If it were
possible to assassinate Mr. BRIGGS between
the two stations of Bow and Hackney, cer-
tainly a dozen murders could • be perpetrated
between London and Peterborough. Happily,•
however, thanks to the number of passengers
present in the carriage—not to the arrangements of
the line—no fatal injury was inflicted, and the
luckless party, after passing, we should imagine,
the 12ngeet hour and a half of their lives, reached
Peterborouh in safety, and deposited their charge
in the hands of the unwilling officials of that sta-
tion. This is by no means the first or second time
that a madman has been encountered on a railway
line, the excitement or the commotion attending
such a mode of locomotion being apparently instru-
mental in developing the disease to a dangerous
pitch. On the very line on which Mr. BRIGGS
met his death there was last year an occurrence of
this sort. Had there then been one instead of two
gentlemen present there would certainly have been
a fatal catastrophe instead of a dangerous aecident.
Had there been two persons instead of five present
in the carriage on Thursday night, or had two or
three of those present been women or children
there would with equal certainty have been another
disaster added to the list of railway horrors. It is
quite bad enough for railway passengers to be
liable to all the risks to life and limb incurred by
the carelessness of officials, the recklessness of the
men employed, or the short-sighted economy of the
companies, bat it is really too much, in addition to
the chance of collisions or summersaults of trains
racing three minutes after each other, of engines
going backwards, and danger signals sus-
pended, to have the possibility of having
to take charge of a dangerous lunatic at
very short notice. How much longer is this
state of things to go on ? We do not wonder
that one of the passengers on Thursday night
wished that a director of the company had been in
the carriage, on SYDNEY SMITH'S principle; but in
truth directors, shareholders, and other officials are
as much concerned in this matter as the general
public, since they must certainly travel sometimes
on their own lines, and are no more sEcure from the
intrusion of a maniac, a thief, or an assassin than
anybody else. Besides we can hardly suppose these
gentlemen to be indifferent to the safety of their
passengers, and cannot therefore doubt that they
will busy themselves in introducing some immediate
reform by means of which passengers can commu-
nicate with the guard, and the guard with the driver,

By Order,
S. 0. RATTENBCRY, Iron. See.
Registered Office, 6, John-street, Bedford-Row, W.C.

MAB.YLEBONE CLUB COMPANY
(TIMITED).
iNo ricE IS HEREBY GIVEN, That the Dir ctors will
proc,ed to the BALLOT of MEMBERS on TUESDAY
next, and all appLcations of parties wishing to join mast be
forwarned to the Secretary on or before Twelve o'Clock on
Monday, the 15th day of August, 1861.
By order.
S, 0. RATIETBURY, Hon. Sec.
Registered Office, 6, ,-lohn-street, Bedfprd-row, W.C.

ALFRED MELLON'S CONCER TS
TA_ EVERY EVENING, at right.—ROYAL ITALIAN
Or ,d,A, COV +AIN T-GARDEN.
Aldl!e. Carlotta Patti, Mdlle. Maria Krebs ; Mr, Levy, Mr.
C,rr,dus, and All Bea ,:'.3ou-aLe. Grand Selection from IL
TIIOV ATORE, &c.
BAND Of oNE PERFOR3IERS.
Conductor, Mr. ALFRE 0 31dLLON.
Promenade, .A raphitheatre Stalls, and Amphithee.re, One
On Thursday (To-morrow, Aug. a Mozart Night.

_,k) 0 YAL it IN CE S S'6 THEATE.E.—
i/ Sole Lessee and Manager, Mr. Geo. Yining-.
THIS EVENLNG, BORN TO GOOD LUCK. Paddy
O'Rafferty, Mr. Dominick Murray.
Alter which, THE STREETS OF LONDON. Messrs.
Vining, J. W. Ray, D. Fi her, D. Murray, J. H.
Forre't.r. H. Mellon ; 31rs. Henry Marston, Miss Emma
Barnett, and Miss Fanny Gwynne.

NEW THEATRE—B.O f AL, ADELPILL....
Sole Proprietor and Illanag•ar. 312. B. Webster.
THIS EVENING, TILE FLOWERS OF THE FOREST.
Messrs. J. L. Toole, P. Bedford..Billlngton, Stuart, Steph en-
n ,Norn,r; Miss 'Woolgar, Miss S. Kelly. and Mrs. Bil-
-7 gton.
At 10, ONE TOUCH OF NATURE. Penholder, Mr.
Benjamin Webster ; Constance, Mss 11. Simms.
't o conclude with a new Farce, called MY WIFE'S MAID.
31essrs. J. L. Toole, I'. Bedford, R. Phillips, and Mrs. Alfred
Mellon.

without necessarily waiting for a station eighty
miles off. Tae objection raised in some quarters
that mischievous or nervous people would be con.
stantly stopping trains would fall to the ground if
the guard could pass along the carriages while the
train was in motion, as is done abroad, and so
ascertain what was amiss. Bis dat qua cite dat, and
it will be a more gracious and popular part for our
railway directors to play, and more in accordance
with their general regard for the public conveniN
ence, If they comply with the request of the Board
of Trade, and turn their immediate attention to the '
subject, than if they put off any alteration until the
general dissatisfaction and uneasiness has extorted
from the Legislature some compulsory enactment.

The Sixth Report of the Workhouse Visiting
Society, which hs just been published in the last
number of its journal, will ho found to be very in-
tere.ting, and the information contained in it can-
not but be conducive to the interests of the large
class to which they refer. That there has been e
marked improvement in the interest taken in
workhouses generally is an undoubted fact, and it
cannot be supposed that a corresponding benefit
will not ensue in consequence of it. It was cer-
tainly time that the subject was taken up, and
great credit is due to those who have endeavoured
to inaugurate a change in the extensive system
which prevailed in too many of those places.
Where so many'unhappy and unfortunate persons
are collected it is absolutely essential that the
details and management of the institution should
be open to the public for investigation and com-
ment, or else the result will inevitably prove that
great misery and dissatisfaction will prevail. It
is a mistaken notion that has led the managers
and guardians to shut out all communication with
the outer world, as the consequence of visitors hav-
ing access to these places is not prejudicial to the
working of the establishment, and, indeed, in
general conduces to order and good feeling pre-
vailing. It is not probable that a large number of
persons will work more steadily, suffer more
patiently, or sustain their spirits more
equably, if they are shut out from all communion
with those of another sphere to their own. On the
contrary, it has been proved that the beat and hap-
piest results have often occurred from the visits
made to these refuges for the distressed and suffer-
ing, in the mind as in body. Unless personal in-
vestigation is made, it is impossible to form an
adequate idea of the state of matters, and many
who would very likely turn away from the dry
details of published reports and the irksome perusal
of classified information would be interested by the
sight of the sad array before them. In the report
here before us it is stated that ten years ago there
was a great indifference manifested as to the con..
dition of workhouses, the moral and physical state
of their inmates was in a manner totally disregarded,
and but lately a happier state of things has super.
vened, and many have volunteered their services to
aid and assist in the efforts made to improve the
condition and solace the afflictions of their unfortu-
nate brethren. The association lately formed in
the Bishop of LONDON'S diocese for ladies' work in
charitable affairs has been productive of great good
in this respect, for many visitors from workhouses
have been supplied from this source. The inten-
tions are the same in all cases, but it stands to
reason that the higher the station of the visitor the
greater the services that may be rendered. In
these pages we find some instances mentioned of the
valuable succour bestowed upon some poor unfortu-
nate individuals through the kindly aid and happy
instrumentality of some of the visitors. This proves
that it is of the greatest possible benefit to all parties
concerned that some communication be established
between those well-favoured by the gifts of fortune
and those, for some wise purpose, shut out from
those gifts entirely. There is a rule which prevents
the Guardians from contributing any sums towards
the removal of inmates. The sooner this regulation
:s altered the better, and in many cases it would be
a decided sieving to the establishment, since the out-
lay could be made up in a short time, and, then, the
burden would be removed from its expenses at a
trifling cost to the visitors who humanely inter-
posed. A German woman end her children and an
American sailor have been sent to their several des..
tinations. The services thus rendered have been of
incalculable value, and yet they would never have

taken place had visitors been precluded from enter-
ing the workhouses in question. The more class
and class mingle in a befitting manner the greater
the interchange of friendly feelings; and the more
extensive the knowledge diffused among the higher
ranks of society respecting the condition and wants