The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-15 00:00:00

RAILWAY BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION.

The half-yearly meeting of the members was held
yesterday at the King's-cross Station, Mr. H. Oak-
ley in the chair.
Mr. Mills, the secretary, read the report, which
stated that the institution continued to progress
satisfactorily. About 500 new members had joined
the association during the year. The subscriptions
for the year 1865 amounted to £1,222, against
£998 in 1364 ; and the invested fund, which
amounted to £B,BOO at the end of 1864, was now
increased to £11,500. The casualty fund, estab-
lished last year, had proved both popular and use-
ful. All railway employe's contributing not less than
Is., upon next New Year's-day, will be entitled, in
the event of their being disabled, or their wives, in
the event of their death, to participate in a share of
this fund. The operations of the society now ex-
tended to all railway servants. The payments
made to widows, members, and children during the
past half-year had been £245 6s.
The Chairman, in moving the adoption of the
report, referredlas an instance of the usefulness of
the society, to the two widows who were to be elected
to pensions that day. Both their husbands had joined
the society in February, 1864, and were killed in the
performance of their duty in May, 1865.. These
widows would now receive £lO per year for the re-
mainder of their lives.

Mr. BROOKES seconded the resolution, which was
agreed to.
The widow of a station-master on the North
Staffordshire Railway, and the widow of -an employ

on the Great Western Railway, were then elected
to pensions of £lO per annum.
A vote of thanks to the chairman concluded the
proceedings.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.-A great orator is, by the necessity of his
position, almost obliged to speak without provisoes
or limitations, and a thousand errors have arisen
from forgetting this self-evident fact. When Mr.
Bright or any other popular speaker is addressing a
crowd of four or five thousand persons, assembled
for the single purpose of hearing him speak,
he must trust to the simplest agencies for pro-
ducing his effects ; refined argument or delicate
satire would be lost upon such an audience ' • and
the distinctions and differences which the thinker
insists upon in his closet must be dismissed, as
sure to be misunderstood, if understood at all.
The orator is like a scene-painter, bound to pro-
duce an effect upon a multitude able to appre-
ciate broad masses of light and shade, but un-
able to examine in detail the elements which make
up the picture •, his drawing may be all wrong, his
colouring forced and crude, his painting may be done
with a mop instead of a paintbrush ; it is enough if
at last something is produced which strikes the
popular imagination, and raises it, if for a brief
space, out of the slough of contentment in which
it is generally willing to abide. This is the explana-
tion of much that is otherwise unintelligible in the
speech which Mr. Bright delivered at Birmingham
on Wednesday. It was primarily intended to be
heard at Birmingham. Itsimmediate effect was very
properly the first thing attended to by the speaker.
Regarded as a political essay, the man who quietly
takes it up after breakfast in London cannot help
noticing the defects of its structure and the flaws in
its argument. What, for example, is the meaning
of that long digression about Mr. Adderley, and Sir
J. Pakington ? These Conservative members are
doubtless of some importance in the neighbourhood
of Birmingham, and they are presentable officials of
the second rank anywhere ; but it is at first sight
strange that Mr. Bright should devote an hour to
exposing their errors and deficiencies. There are
some things which may be taken for granted, and
we should, instead of dwelling upon them, pass by
to matters of more importance. Mr. Bright, how-
ever, attacked Sir J. Pakington's harmless sugges-
tion of a coalition between the Opposition and the
more moderate members of the Liberal party as if
he were actually afraid it was going to happen. We
should be at a loss to understand this, did not the
real cause presently appear. Sir J. Pakington, mis-
led like so many of his countrymen by the strong
expressions which Mr. Bright is forced to use, had
alluded to him and his immediate followers as mem-
bers of a Republican party. This was the secret of
Mr. Bright's indignation. It is true that he has
said many things which might give some reason for
the epithet ; it is true that in the speech at Birming-
ham itself Mr. Bright described the Government of
the United States as " the freest and most powerful
in the world," thereby impliedly preferring it to the
one under which he lives. But all these statements
are to be understood with reference to the exigencies
of an orator. All that Mr. Bright meant was that
the Federal Government is very free and powerful ;
his own principles are strictly monarchical. Indeed,
the views which he expressed at Birmingham of
the functions of the Sovereign are almost alarming
to moderate Constitutionalists, from the excessive
power which he attributed to thellead of the Legis-
lature ; and in the matter of the House of Peers
Mr. Bright professes the old Tory notion that a re-
striction might beneficially be put upon its numbers.
Mr. Bright's speech is, however, something more
than an idle criticism of Sir John Pakington and
Mr. Adderley. He deserves credit for having stated
with considerable plainness his wishes and his hopes
on the subject of Reform. There are, in fact, two
classes of Reformers between whom it is necessary
to distinguish, and Mr. Bright helps us to divide
them. Both agree in regretting the exclusion of so
many Englishmen from the franchise, and both
would admit a certain portion of the excluded with-
in the electoral body. 'There their agreement stops.
The one party is content with altering the electoral
machinery ; the other desires an alteration in the
members elected. The one is satisfied with our
existing Legislature, and deprecates any consider-
able change in its character ' • the other has a long
string of measures ready to be passed, and a list of
institutions waiting to be abolished. It is almost
unnecessary to add that Mr. Bright casts in his lot
with the second party. A mere alteration in the
electors, without a corresponding alteration in the
Legislature and in the Statute Book, he denounces
beforehand as a juggle, and he sketches with his
accustomed vigour the work which a reformed
House of Commons might accomplish. The repeal
of the Game Laws, a system for the education of
the children of the poor at the national expense,
the abolition of the Irish Church, some undescribed
legislation in favour of the tenant against landlords,
an the extinction of pauperism, are a few of the
things which might be at once set about. Reform, if it
comes at all, is merely a means to these ends. It is
in order that such things may be done that a million
voters should be added to those already on the register,
and it would seem that were it not for the accomplish-
ment of objects like these, Mr. Bright would regard the
complaint against the narrowness of the electoral
body as a sentimental grievance unworthy of serious
consideration. We do not imagine that any pro-
posal will be made, much less carried, which will put
a million of new voters on the register ; but even if it
were done, it would be doubtful whether it would pro-
duce an alteration in the Legislature sufficient to pass
the measure Mr. Bright desires ; and it is certain
that the measures themselves, if passed into law,
could not bring about the social consequences he
longs for. There is an English society the Conser-
vatism of a thousand years, which has gradually ac-
cumulated, just as the heat of distant ages has been
stored up in our coalfields. The national equilibrium
is so stable that a movement almost revolutionary
in its character would almost be followed a slight
temporary rocking, soon to be succeeded by the re-
establishment of the old equilibrium. This is what
happened after the bill of 1832, and, if Mr. Bright's
Reform Bill became law, it would happen in a snore
marked degree after the milder measure. The same
governing classes would be found wielding the same
power and enacting much the same laws as before.
But, in truth, no Legislature could fulfil Mr.
Bright's desire. In an eloquent peroration, which
had the single defect that it was thoroughly un-
practical, Mr. Bright dwelt on the hopeless toil of
the millions at the base of English society, which he
appeared to think new laws could cure. A hapless
Dorsetshire labourer working for eight shillings a
week, who on the strength of that income had mar-
ried and begotten seven children, but after twenty-
four years' labour had been convicted of stealing a
wooden hurdle of the value of sixpence,was the text
of his discourse. It is no doubt that the Dorset-
shire labourers receive other wages besides wages
in money ; but, allowing this correction it is not
easy to see what the Birmingham audience found
laughable in the narrative. Even Mr. Bright must
know that the existence of such wages depends
ultimately on the fact that Dorsetshire labourers
can and do marry and rear families of seven
children upon them. Legislation cannot pre-
vent a scandal which has its origin in the degrada-
tion of human nature. As long as men are content
to live upon such terms, public help and private bene-
volence are alike vain ; for the objects of bounty,
national or domestic, will reproduce and perpetuate
the evils which others are struggling to remove. All
that can be done is to put before the labourer a
standard of existence higher than his own, to instil
in him a desire to attain it, to lead him to feel new
wants, and to undergo abstinence and privation in

order that they may be satisfied. If this, which is in
truth the ultimate end of education, be in some

measure attained, and the labourer be free to carry
his labour to any market, he must for the rest be
left to himself. The result may seem harsh, if not
hopeless, to those who would by a clause in the
Statute Book suddenly raise the poor out of the
mire; but it is the only way of accomplishing the
object which can be followed without fear of disap-
pointment.
POST.—When railways were first inaugurated,
their lines concentrating on London stopped short
at the outskirts of the City. We do not mean the
City in any Lord Mayor's sense, but we would be
understood to refer to the great aggregate of dwel-
lings which in the two counties of Middlesex and
Surrey give shelter to almost three millions of in-
habitants. The case is very different now. There
has been a civic invasion of railroads. Onward and
inward they go indomitably, irrepressibly. Local
difficulties of site are overcome by engineering skill.
Vested rights of place and occupation are set aside
by Act of Parliament, the assumption being that the
property'of every individual disturbed is to be made
good by the award of a jury, if arbitration should
fail. Thus far in theory ; but in practice there are
many conditions under which the good intent
fails, and amongst these two especially manifest
themselves. It is unfortunately a principle of
business action that people shall stand up for
their own interests, defending them before the
tribunals of public appeal, the bestowers yielding
as little as they can, the receivers obtaining no
more than they can claim by award. To put the
matter much shorter, and even, more clearly, the
principle that rules is identical with that enunciated
by Rob Roy, and by him and his caterans scrupu-
lously followed out—
" The good old rule, the simple plan,
That those should take who have the power,
And those should keep who can." •
Subjected to the ruling of this principle, andunder
City railroad administration, two classes of persons

are especial sufferers—small tradesmen who hold
premises without leases, but on the verbal promise
of landlords whose word carries all the authority of
a lease, and artisans locally employed. We recognise
the hardships to which individuals of both these
classes are subjected • but wishing to be practical, as
is our desire in making these remarks, we dismiss
the first class from consideration at once, after this
mere passing reference. We really do not know what
can be done for such people in regard to circum-
stances as they are. In future the necessity will be
made apparent for the granting of leases in cases
wherein that form of tenure has not been hitherto
adopted. The second case—that of artisans—is one
which to a considerable extent admits of remedy. If
an invading railroad only disturbs this community,
driving them from the unhealthy and incommodious
premises which they have been too wont to occupy,
to the suburbs, there to find healthier and cheaper
homes, at a price, railway conveyance included, as
cheap, or even cheaper, than the premises they
.oc-
cupy at present, then the change will be a blessing.
If, however, the artisan classes are to be disturbed,
driven from the homes which they have found to be
most convenient, and no provision made, no recom-
pense offered, then a monstrws injustice will have
been done. Coming to practical conclusions, ii will
be seen that, in order to effectuate this blessing, one
thing only is needed—viz., that railway conveyance
should be placed at the disposal of the disturbed and
exiled people. at a cost compatible with their wages.
This agreed upon, the questions remain whether rail-
road boards can be either induced to do it, or obliged
to do it. As regards the power of inducement—or
rather the various influences which constitute in-
ducement—let us see what they are. If it could be
shown that cheap passenger fares would prove re-
munerative, that of course would be an inducement ;
self-interest being in all matters of business the
strongest of all agencies. Having mentioned self-
interest, we believe the sum total of business in-
ducement will have been enumerated. Philanthropy
might be adverted to, but not by any one who knows
what business organisation is. There is a good deal
of philanthropy in the world, but the very warmest
philanthropist merges that feeling so so on as he
enters into a business speculation. Philanthropy is
a private luxury : one that does not comport with
business, which looks only to dividends from cash
invested. Personally, we are far from regretting
this result, seeing that without business unsympathy
—call it, those who prefer, heartlessness—and busi-
ness close calculation, the means of private philan-
thropy would be largely curtailed. It is at least
pleasing to believe iu such a harmony and fitness of
things as that according to which it is assumed that
the greatest measure of comfort accrues froni the
best applied principles of social economy. In ac-
cordance with this belief the hope must frequently
have dawned that railway boards might ultimately
find their interest consist in a lowering of fares of
special trains, to suit the wants of artisans living
out of town. Mr. David Jones, a Welsh civil engi-
neer of some experience, stands forward as the ad-
vocate of a remunerative cheap railway traffic ; and
his proposition, if sound at foundation, has the ad-
ditional merit of solving the problem in respect to
existing lines. His scheme contemplates the esta-
blishment of branch or lateral lines, which, instead
of costing some £35,000 the mile—the average cost
of British railways now constructed—should only
cost £4,000 per mile. If this idea could be carried
out, then it follows that fares might be proportion-
ately less than they are ; still leaving an equal, or
even a better, dividend. The difference between the
past and the proposed cost is enormous ; but Mr.
Jones goes into explanations that tend to convince
any unprejudiced person. On his branch lines he
would do away with express speed ; and in abolish-
ing this an amount of saving would accrue that only
those who have studied the subject can appreciate.
First, the branch roads may attack ascents and
descents more boldly than existing lines, whereon
high speed is attained. There need be fewer tunnels;
fewer viaducts. Dead level or approach to a dead
level, now so indispensable, to favour existing
speeds, would be no longer necessary. With dimi-
nution of speed would follow diminution of weal.
and tear of rolling stock ; in short, on examination,
it would be found that the supposed necessity of
high speed has entailed on existing railway lines
the major part of their expenses. If the cheapening
of railway traffic can be effected on existing lines,
the force of competition will take effect in establish-
ing a corresponding economy on lines to be created.
Thus in the end, it may be expected that full subur-
ban accommodation may be acquired for the metro-
politan industrial classes needing it. We have
treated hitherto of amelioration through naturally
arising influences ; and in the operation of these re-
poses the best hope of those who wish to see the
pressure removed to which we have adverted. A-
good deal of stress has been laid on compulsory
clauses in any future railway bills. Now until it
can be shown that the average railway dividends of
Britain are more than four per cent., it is clear that
the holders of shares cannot be accused of realising
inordinate profits. The case is to be feared that
the imposition of compulsory clauses would only
have the effect of soliciting a false economy—a cut-
ting down which would eventuate in danger. Far
better, it seems to us, to rely on such an extension
of cheap branch lines as would co-ordinate lower
• fares with higher profits.