The Sun.
London, England, 1862-11-12 00:00:00

----._ --. -----, ..
r services. I am not about to enter, and pou will not
expect or desire me to enter on the rarticu - r mea-
sures which have recently been recomme ded. All
I venture to say on the part of her Majestj's Go-
vernment is this, that I believe the value the
volunteer force as highly as it is veined by the
country at large—(cheers)—and every proposal re-
lating to us welfare is certain to receive from them
the most careful and most anxious consideration.
(Renewed cheers.) It is not easy to say to what
point you may securely go in aiding the volunteer
force with public assistance. It is quite evident that
if it is to retain its character of a volunteer force, that
is, if it is to retain the character which imparts to
it its principal value, it must in the main be self-
reliant and self-supporting. (Cheers.) It will be
a matter of some difficulty to determine the point
to which that principle—that essential principle—
of independence must be carried, and the point at
which public aid may be given. But, gentlemen,
the wisdom of Parliament and the best efforts of the
Government will be given to the consideration of
that question from time to time, and whatever may
be the issue of that consideration in regard to this
or that particular, I fervently hope, as you, hope,
that this force may be maintained in a state of effi-
ciency—in that degree of efficiency which has al-
ready made it the honour of the country, and a new
guarantee of its security. (Cheers.) It is impossible
not to see that in many ways the institution of the
volunteer force has worked well on British society.
I must say that, if I felt that in other places, I never
felt it more than in the room or place in which I
now address you. This apartment in which we sit
is an apartment which has been commonly used for
the purpose of receiving gatherings of people who
represented, for whatever purpose may be immedi-
atelyin question, the entire metropolis, and I have
the satisfaction of seeing it crowded from end to end
with the volunteer force, and with those who imme-
diately take an interest in the volunteer force, not
of the entire metropolis, but of one only amidst its
almost countless parishes. (Cheers.) Well, it is
honourable to the parish of St. Martin's that such a
meeting should be gathered together on such an oc-
casion. It is not only honourable to that parish, but
I think it must suggest to the mind of all of us this
important truth—the constitution of the volunteer
force has tended to supply us with a new tie of so-
cial order—a new bond between the different classes
of the community. If there has been up to this moment
a defect in the military institutions of this country—
I will not call it a fault because a fault it is not—but
if there has been a blank which has been required to
be supplied, it is this, that while the officers of the
army have been recruited from the class of the
gentry, and while the rank and file of the army
have been created from the men of the population,
there was a void between those classes which re-
mained to be filled. (Cheers.) With respect to the
great and intelligent middle class of England—
that class which is perhaps more than any other,
certainly not less than any other, characteristic of
the country, and that class which appears to ac-
quire, under our laws and institutions, progressively
from year to year an increase of influence and power
as well as extension in numbers—there seemed to
be until the institution of the volunteer force, corn-
partively speaking, I may almost venture to say, no
place for the members of that class in the military
service of the country. Now, I think it is a great
pity that the members of that class, who are cer-
tainly not deficient in the spirit that animates the
rest of the country, should have no vent for that
spirit—that no scope should be afforded to the feel-
ings of a body of persons so important. At any
rate, it was the great happiness and the peculiar
felicity of the volunteer force, especially in the cities
and large towns of the country, to afford an open-
ing to all men without distinction of class to give
what time and energy they could to contribute to-
wards the security of their country, and to give
them likewise an opportunity, while they contri-
buted to that security, of finding themselves brought
into closer and more kindly union one with another.
I think it may be fairly said, so far as I have had
an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the
volunteer force in various parts of the country, that
it has in a very eminent
.degree answered that
purpose of uniting the members of the different
classes of the country in a relation which is at
once warm, kindly, and free, as among themselves,
and likewise, by the nobleness of its object, of
giving a new guarantee of the safety of the
nation at large without the possibility of offence.
(Cheers.) Gentlemen, I trust that you will
believe that those with whom I am immediately as-
sociated in the councils of the Crown are deeply
impressed with those feelings which Ihave expressed,
and are sincerely desirous in their sphere and on
their part to cherish and mature that institution in
the cherishing and maturing of which you have
borne a part much more essential. I rejoice to hear
of the flourishing condition of the volunteer force of
this particular parish, and I trust that the feelings
of Englishmen, without distinction of class or party,
is that the prospects of maintaining this force as a
permanent portion of the institutions of the country
are prospects in which we may cheerfully and safely
rely. At any rate, lam convinced that so long as
the volunteer force may exist we may feel assured of
this, that in the event, which God forbid, of the day
of danger arriving—a day when we may be called
upon not merely to undergo personal exertions and
sacrifices, which would be cheerfully borne, but to
stand side by side and shoulder to shoulder with the
regular army in the defence of the country—on that
day, I feel perfectly convinced, whatever may be
the pressure, whatever may be the trial, you would
not be found wanting ; but you would, on the con-
trary, be found worthy of a glorious brotherhood in
arms with those who have established for themselves
a name and a fame second to none throughout the
length and breadth of the world. (Loud cheers.)
The toast having been drunk,
Colonel WOOD return. d thanks for the army, and
Lord RANELAGH for the volunteers.
Other toasts having been drunk the company
separated.

FATAL EXPLOSION OF A LOCOMOTIVE
ON THE GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY.

Yesterday afternoon Dr. Lankester, coroner for
Central Middlesex, opened an inquiry at the Royal
sax3n. Tavern, Alfred-road, Paddington, into the
circumstances of the explosion of the locomotive
Perseus, on Saturday last, at the depot of the Great
Western Railway at Paddington, by which three
men, James Wilson, aged 18 ; John Eldred, 20 ; and
Christopher 'Thompson, 23, lost their lives.
Mr. Gooch, C.E., attended on the part of the rail-
way company, and produced a model of the engine
boiler.

The Coroner, on taking his seat, said that he only
proposed to identify the deceased and view the scene
of the occurrence on the present occasion.

A juror asked if Mr. Gooch had formed any opi-
nion as to the real cause of the accident..
Mr. Gooch said there was no doubt about the
cause. The bottom of the boiler had become thin
about the rivets, and had given Nvfty.
_

Anne Haines, 8, Heatherston-street, Haverlock-
hill, said she was the mother of James Wilson, who
was 18 years of age, and unmarried. He was a
cleaner.

Thomas Eldred said ho was the father of John
Eldred, who was 20 years of age, and was an engine
cleaner on the Great Western Railway. He was
married. Witness knew nothing of the accident.
Evidence was also given as to the identification
of Christopher Thompson.
The jury then proceeded to view the exploded
locomotive, which presented a most singular appear-
ance. There were, as explained by Mr. Gooch, 400
tubes in the body of the engine, and these were sent
out on all sides at right angles, and looked not un-
like the quills upon a porcupine. A portion of the
top of the engine of immense weight was torn off
andta hurled through the roof to a considerable dis-
ofthe
shed
yards of the iron girder of the roof
had been lifted off bodily and blown to
a great distanceablyi the force of the explosion. It
had alighted on
embedded. Indeed hex of coals and become deeply
was
of
great
exten the wholeroof of the shed, which
The bodies of the was more or less shattered.
a most ghastly and h •
rtunate deceased presented
orrlble ea
The court was adjourned apP
ranee-
the premises and bodies of hertte jury
hadviewed eased.