The Sun.
London, England, 1862-10-16 00:00:00

all such cases. It should be one if possible of a
purely mechanical kind, so as not to depend on the
possibly wearied, or deceived, or wandering senses
of a human agent at all. We want some means by
which a train entering a length of single rail should
itself, whether pointamen are asleep or awake, sig.
nalise its presence on it till it has left it for its own
side on a double line. Failing this, which, perhaps,
we may have long to wait for, we cannot conceive
of a simpler expedient than one adopted on the
London and North-Western Railway between Mar-
ket Harboro' and Rugby for working a single-
line railway, which might be adopted in every
case, whether temporary or permanent, where
trains running in opposite directions use the
rails. It is also in use on a part of the North
British line. It is thus described in a letter
to the Scotsman :—" The plan is a very simple

one, and consists in a piece of wood, not unlike
a gentleman's baton, being banded to the guard
at the beginning of the single line, and which is de-
livered up by him at the end of the single line. As
he dare not enter upon the single line part of the

journey without the baton, it is impossible for a
train to come in the opposite direction till his
arrival at the other end, and the delivery of the
baton enables the opposite train to proceed on its

journey."

_
This certainly appears like one of those simple
arrangements which some as near to mechanical
certainty, as anything worked by the hands of
human beings can do. Had this plan been in opera-
tion at the Clayton Tunnel, on the Brighton line,
it hardly seems possible that that aceident could
have occurred ; there could be no doubt whether a
train had passed through the tunnel if it had
delivered up its baton when it had reached the
other side, and none, whether or not one might
enter when the last train in the tunnel had left its
signal that it was safely through.

The collision has been of a kind, we believe,
almost unexampled in the history of railways—the
ordinary case is one of stationary train being run
into by another in motion. Here we had the two
trains both nearly at full speed doubling the usual
violence of the shock. It is indeed terrific to con-
ceive of the force of impact from the combined
power of two steam engines, and the momentum
of two heavy trains moving at high velocities.
Witnesses seem to labour in the attempt to describe
what they saw when all was over. The smashing
of all the parts of carriages susceptible of breakage,
and strewing their fragments like rubbish—the
piling up of the monster wheels and huge frames
upon one another ; heavy carriages, raised high in
the air, having mounted upon others ; but, amidst
all this wild confusion, there was proof that the
brave fellows in charge of the engines had done
their part—but moments had been allowed them—
yet in those moments the breaks had been brought
hard up, and the hand of one held with a death
clutch the reversing-rod handle of his engine.
Their widows and orphans, if they leave
any, pre-eminently deserve the reward due
to their husbands' and fathers' presence of
mind in such a dreadful moment. A full inquiry
will of course be made ; but what seems unaccount-
able is, that such inquiries in Scotland are secret.
This will hardly satisfy the public in a case like
\ the Present one, and some steps will, we trust, be
that in
akenby which the whole kingdom will be satisfied
an accident involving 17 lives and at least
150 injuries nothing
and nen is huddled up, and that mana-
gers"ntevned are all equally dealt with.

The sentence pronounce(' at last upon the
deserters from the Italian array to
the Garibaldian
insurgents is something frightful,ul. Death could
hardly be otherwise—in the instal:lee of many—
than preferable. The sentence being, as the tele-
grain of this morning informs us, perpetual Jul.
prisonment !
In the history of the three months' power met.