The Sun.
London, England, 1865-06-26 00:00:00

THE SUN, JoNOON, MONDAY EvEININO„)UNE 26, 1865.

population 1,000 ; Mesopotamia, 15 miles, population 500 ;
Newton Falls, 3 miles population 1,000 ; Lordstown and
Paris, small places ; Windsor, 20 miles, population 800 ;
dairy farms supply chief traffic.
FREEDOM (179 miles). Small town, but country in the
vicinity is densely populated; principal articles of freight
are butter and cheese, for New York, Cincinnati, and St.
Louis

WINDHAM(I73 miles), population 1,000. Tributary towns
—Painesville 5 miles, population 800 ; Palmyra 10 miles,
population 500, freights, butter and cheese ; all the region
from Akron, eastward to Grangeville, is a fine grazing
country ; although small towns, some of them furnish as
much as 1,000 tons of cheese and butter per annum ; it is
desirable freight, higher prices being paid for its trans-
portation than for any other article.
RAVENNA (185 miles), population 4,000, in Portage
County, population of county 24,407 ; crossing of Cleve-
land and Pittsburgh Railroad. Towns tributary—Roots-
town, 4} miles ; Randolph, 12 miles, population 500 ;
Campbellsford, 4 miles, population 600 ; Streatsburg, 5
miles ; Shalersville and Nelson, small towns. The Cleve-
land and Pittsburgh road is a good connection for the cen-
tral portion of Atlantic and Great Western Railway.
KENT (192 miles). Lately called Franklin Mills, is a mid-
way station on the line, being 196 miles from Dayton, and,
in consequence of its situation, an important position for
the workshops, &c., of the Company. The premises aro
built of white sandstone found on the spot, and are sub-
stantial and handsome ; they consist of two large car sheds,
one of which is now used as a machine shop, a 60-horse
engine working some valuable machinery. The smith's
shop and engine shed, with room for 18 engines, is in a
forward state, the latter, when completed, being designed
for twice that number. The foundations are laid for a fine
machine shop, and a large drying house and paint shop ;
these, together with a tank for water on the hill adjoining
the works, will complete a very perfect system, which
cannot but prove of great service to the Company.
TALLMADGE (197 miles), small town, population 500 ;
Cuyahoga Falls, 2} miles, population 1,500.
AKRON (202 miles), population 7,000 ; the most impor-
tant flour milling point in the State, capacity of mills
being 1,500 barrels per day, is situated on the Ohio Canal,
and on the Cleveland and Zanesville and Cincinnati
Railroad ; has the best power of any town in the
State. There are large agricultural implement shops
here. Tributary towns—Clapley, 5 miles, popula-
tion 400 ; East Liberty, ;11 miles, population 50C ;
Union Town, 13 miles, population 800 Manchester, 9
miles, population 500 ; IdLiddlebury, 2 miles, population
1,90.

NEW PORTAGE (207 miles).—On canal from Cleveland to
Portsmouth, from which much business may be secured.
The canal traverses the rich and fertile valleys of the
Scioto and Muskingum, passing through the cities of
Newark, Chillicothe, Circleville, Ste. Towns tributary—
Richfield, 10 miles, population 2,000; Hinckley, 5 miles,
population 1,000; Brunswick, 10 miles, population 1,000;
Liverpool, 15 miles, population 3,000 ; Strongsville, 25
miles, population 2,500 ; Albion and Yellow Creek, 4 miles,
population 600. Large earthenware works at this station.
WADSWOR'TH (215 miles), population 500, Sharon, West-
ern Star, and River Styx, to the north; Doylestown and
Clinton to the south ; being villages with a population of
500 to 800 ; diverging from Wadsworth is the Silver Creek
branch of the Atlantic and Great Western, a coal road six
miles long, being the first coal field reached on the line
going east from Dayton Mining now 200 tons per diem ;
two more mines of greater capacity will soon be opened. It
is expected to supply the towns on the line south with the
coal, which is of the celebrated Chippewa variety, very
valuable for gas purposes, situated in Summit County ;
population, 27,400.
. .

SEVILLE (226 miles), population 1,200. Tributary towns
—Jackson, 1 miles, population 500 ; Medina, 9 miles,
population 6,000 ; Chatham, 8 miles, population 1,000 ;
Lafayette, 7 miles, population, 1,200 ; Litchfield, 13 miles,
population 1,500.
BRIDGEPORT (232 miles), population 800 ; Lodi, 3 miles,
population 400 ; Windsor, 6 miles, population 400.
WEST SALEM (238 miles), population 1,000; situated in
Medina County, population 22,700. Tributary towns—
Perrysburg, miles, population 300 ; Converse, 3 miles,
population 800 ; Homer, 3 miles, population 700.
POLK (244 miles). Population, 400. Tributary towns—
Troy, 8 miles, population, 500; Rousburg, 8 miles, popula-
tion, 600.
ASHLAND (252 miles). Population, 3,000; Ashland
County, population, 21,693. Product principally wheat.
Tributary towns—Hayesville, 8 miles, population, 1,000 ;
Jeromesville, 8 miles, population, 1,000 ; Orange, 4 miles,
population, 500 ; Savannah, 7 miles, population, 500.
. WINDSOR (261 miles). Population, 300. Tributary
towns—Olivesburg and Mifflin, 4 to 6 miles.
MANSFIELD (269 miles). Richland County, population
of town, 5,000; of county, 31,121. The road crosses Fort
Wayne Road from Chicago and Sandusky and Newark,
with both of which friendly relations exist, connect at this
station for Pittsburg and Chicago ; Fort Wayne and Chi-
cago Company have agreed to share equally the expense
of a new carriage station here.
ONTARIO (277 miles). Population, 500.
GALION, Ohio (283 miles). Population, 2,500. Crossing
of Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati Railroad, eastern
_ _

:errninna of 'l3allofontaine and Indiana Railroad in Craw-

ford County, population, 24,165. From here to Marion (dis-
tance 21 miles) run side by side with Bellafontine and In-
diana Railroad.
CALEDONIA (295 miles). Population, 600.
MenioN (804 miles). Population, 3,000; county popu-
lation, 15,891.
BERWICK (310 miles). Population, 700. From hence to
North Lewisburg, about 30 miles, the country is new and
thinly settled. Tho woods contain very valuable timber.
From Marion' east, the country is highly cultivated.
RicuwooD (318 miles). Population, 800. Bryant 4 miles;
Carey, 7 miles ; Middletown, 6 miles. 500 to 800 each in
population.
NEWTON (328 miles). No town on line ; small village 1
mile distant ; large amounts of lumber (timber) sent from
this station to Dayton and Cincinnati.
Nonni LEWISBURG (338 miles). Population, 1,000 ;
Bellefontaine, population, 3,000 ; East Liberty, 12 miles,
population, 2,000 ; Woodstock, population, 600 ; Middle-
burg, 6 miles ; East Liberty, 81 miles ; Maysville, 10 miles;
Newton, 8 miles ; Middletown, 4 miles ; Pickerstown, 8
miles ; Lanesfleld, 10 miles. These towns, from 500 to
2,000 inhabitants. Railroad runs through the centre of
the county.
MINGO STATION (343 miles). No village hero.
TAYLORTOWN (348 miles). No town ; small village
north of it of 300 inhabitants.

URBANA (352 miles). Population, 5,000, in Champaign°
County, Ohio ; population of County, 16,591. To this
point from Dayton the line runs a10n,,0-Ade of the San-
dusky. Dayton, and Cincinnati Railroad, and here inter-
sects the line from Indianopolis, Indiana, to Columbus. A
fair business is derived from this road. A large live stock
trade from the States of Indiana and Illinois will strike
here.
TREMONT (360 miles). A small village; poptila,tion, 300.
Tho road from here to Esyton runs near Mad River. This
valley is not excelled for fertility and agricultural resources
by any portion of the West.
SFRINGFIELD, CLARK COUNTY (366 miles). Population,
8,000 ; a large manufacturing town ; milling capacity,
130,000 barrels per annum; town is 11 miles from road; is
a very enterprising place.
SNYDERS (370 miles) No town here.
Eziou (372 miles). Population, 1,000 ; town 1 mile from
station ; population of County, 25,445. Road traverses
centre of county East and West.
OSBORNE GREEN COUNTY 378 miles). Population, 1,200;
of county, 26,778 ; town of 'airfield, 2 miles; population,
1,000 ; Carlisle, 4 miles ; population, 1,500.
KNEISLEY'S (381 miles). No village, 61 miles from sta-
tion ; a large mill, capacity 100 barrels flour per diem, and
an extensive distillery.
DAYTON, MONTGOMERY COUNTY (387 miles), population
of city 22,000, of county 52,213 ; is a manufacturing town,
largest item of production being flour to the extent of
150,000 to 200,000 barrels per annum ; the tonnage shipped
in 1864, by statements from books of various railroads to
. .

New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore was
24,693 tons; it is the northern terminus of the Cincinnati
Hamilton and Dayton Railroad 60 miles long ; and the
Eastern terminus of the Dayton and Western Railroad 40
miles ; Eastern terminus of the Greenville and Miami Rail-
road 42 miles, Western terminus of Oho Little Miami Rail-
road 70 miles from Columbus (capital of the State.) The
Southern terminus of the Dayton and Michigan Railroad
140 miles; also of the Suidusky Dayton and Cincinnati
Railroad 154 miles. Not much trade will be drawn from
the North for the Atlantic and Great Western Railway,
but a large amount will come from the South and West.
A large manufacturing and mercantile jobbing busineSs is
carried on here with surrounding country. The road
traverses the centre of the county, and connects by the
Cincinnati Hamilton and Dayton Railroad with Cincin-
nati, the largest commercial and manufacturing city of the
West, having a population of some 200,000.
In the above Report, the population has been chiefly
taken from the census report of 1860, since which time it
has considerably increased.

THE EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW RAILWAY.--An
alarming accident occurred to the passenger train
leaving Glasgow on Thursday, at 11 45, and due in Edin-
burgh about two hours later. While passing Hay-market
depot, about a mile and a half from Waverley station, Edin-
burgh, the train came in collision with a goods engine
which had just come off a siding. The driver of the goods
engine, Peter Hamilton, had left his train on the down line
to go to the water tank, across the up line, but, unfortu-
nately, "in returning, ho failed to regard the danger signal
placed on the up line to protect the passenger train, which
was immediately due. The driver of the passenger train,
John Shedden, observing the error, signalled to Hamilton
to keep up steam and go on through the tunnel before the
passenger train ; but having in the alarm of the moment
stopped his engine, the latter could not again put it in mo-
tion in time. A sharpcoLlision occurred, which was severely
felt throughout the train, and many of the passengers were
seriously, though it would not in any case appear danger-
ously injured. The train was throWn off the line, and with
one exception the carriages were broken, one third class
being partially stove in, while an empty carriage truck, a
horse-box, and the guards' van in front were shattered to
pieces. The engine of the passenger train was completely
smashed, while the goods engine after the shock, ran for-
ward about 100 yards and broke down. John Shedden, the
driver of the passenger train, was badly cut about the head
and face, but his stoker escaped with but little injury.
Cunningham, the guard of the passenger train, was cut on
the head, while the goods' engine-driver escaped almost
without injury. Most of the passengers were cut and bruised
more or less painfully, and to some of them the nervous
shock was very severe. Three of them were taken to the
Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, suffering under concus-
sion of the brain—namely, Mri. Ann Mackenzie, a young
woman travelling from Dumbarton to Inverness, who also
suffered some severe bruises, Michael Brady, a navvy from
Ireland in search of work, and Thomas Duffy, an Irish la-
bourer, who was also much bruised. The passengers were
conveyed to Edinburgh in a train made up at the carriage
depot, Haymarket, arriving about three-quarters of an hour
late. The violence of the collision was greatly lessened by
the circumstance that Shedden had, according to the usual
practice, shut off steam just before coming in sight of the
obstruction. Shedden's conduct in the emergency is highly
spoken of. Hamilton, who also bears the character of a
careful driver, was apprehended in the afternoon. In con-
sequence of the accident the up-line was blocked for three
or four hours. Great attention was paid to the sufferers by
the officers of the company and by the medical gentlemen
who were called to their aid. A blood horse, which was
in the shattered horse-box, escaped almost without injury.
The news of an accident so alarming in its character
caused great excitement and led to greatly exaggerated
rumours of the result.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

THE " SPECTATOR" ON THE ELECTIONS AND MR
GLADSTONE.—The general Liberal notion seems to
be that it is an admirable thing for Mr. Gladstone's
prospects as the future leader of the House of Com-
mons, that the elections for the new Parliament
should be carried through under the shield of Lord
Palmerston's great name and reputation. No one
hopes that the present Prime Minister—who, during
the long vacation, will attain the great age of 81—
can guide the new Parliament far upon its way.
The most that is to be hoped is, that he may see the
Administration fairly out of port, or at best pilot
his vessel through the shoals and quicksands which
beset the run out of soundings, and then leave her
to the new captain. But the general view appears
to be that if thus much is gained, everything will be
gained for the Liberal party and much for Mr.
Gladstone. NO doubt the Liberal party will gain
by this arrangement a greater, perhaps a much
greater ,number of supporters than could be expected
for a iussell-Gladstone Ministry. There are many
quasi-Conservatives who support Lord Palmerston
who think Mr. Gladstone the Prince of the powers
of the air, or his political equivalent. Then the tone
of the Tory Opposition to Mr. Gladstone would be
something very different indeed, and something re-
quiring much more judgment, nerve, and coherence
to resist than the tone of the Tory opposition to
Lord Palmerston. All this is indisputable. But
on what side does it tell? Does it show that Mr.
Gladstone ought to be thankful for the protecting
aegis of this political Ajax ? or that he should regret
being taught to rely upon its shelter in a battle the
greater part of which must be fought after that
shelter is withdrawn ? To answer this question it
is essential to consider not only the incoherences in
the Liberal party, but the special temperament and
Parliamentary temptations of Mr. Gladstone. There
can be no doubt that Mr. Gladstone's greatest diffi-
culty as a Parliamentary leader will be to lead an
Opposition with discretion. In office he is weighted,
by a very scrupulous sense of official responsi-
bility, and by. that perfect command of all
the sources of correct information which
always gives an Administration so much ad-
vantage over an Opposition. There can be no
question but that one of the most difficult of all
the functions of a Parliamentary leader is the con-
duct of the Opposition, and that it is the one most
menacing to the present Chancellor of the Exche-
quer, who, though he has learned many and im-
portant lessons from his first great leader, Sir
Robert Peel, failed to learn the greatest lesson of
tactics he had to teach, a singular moderation and
sagacity in offensive warfare. During the short
time when Mr. Gladstone held a small Opposition
party—after his resignation of office during the
Crimean war—he showed singularly little prudence
or forethought. He fought keenly and inflicted
many telling blows, but he fought wildly, and laid
down—for instance, in criticising Sir Cornewall
Lewis's financial operations—many principles which
he must have since regretted. It may be said, and
said truly, that for Mr. Gladstone it was a much
greater trial to find himself in some sense ejected
from office and criticising former colleagues, towards
whom his feeling was not only hostile, but sore,
than it would be to be resisting a party constitu-
tionally, so to say, opposed to his own. There is
no doubt of it. But this is precisely the reason
why we feel for him the special difficulties to which
he is likely enough to be exposed. If the contest of
the elections were to be fought explicitly for a
Russell- Gladstone as against a Derby-Disraeli
Cabinet, we should not be very sanguine of a Libe-
ral success ; but in case of defeat, we should have
great hopes of Mr. Gladstone acting with prudence
and moderation as head of the Liberal Opposition.
There would be nothing irritating or in any way
jarring in a Conservative success achieved under
such circumstances, and the strong hope of speedy
victory which must sustain a Liberal Opposition
would in itself conduce to as much caution, and the
exercise of as much generalship as it would be in
Mr. Gladstone's power to exact. He would feel
sure at all events of his own party, all of whom
would have deliberately chosen their side in view of
of the particular emergency, and while he would
feel that he had to win his way fairly to power, he
would have nothing to regret and no one to ap-
proach. If Mr. Gladstone can lead an Opposition
prudently at all, these would be the very cir-
cumstances to call out such prudence, and to
develope that strong desire to unite and satisfy
his party without being unjust to his oppo-
nents, which constitutes Parliamentary tact. To
have a party behind him which had deliberately
chosen hint as their leader, and not another, would
be the very thing to inspire Mr. Gladstone's scru-
pulous political conscieuce and fine political feeling
with a sincere resolve to avoid all dangerous or dis-
organising action. But now look at the other
alternative, and, as we fear, the probable alternative.
Suppose Lord Palmerston, after inaugurating the
new Parliament—after receiving the most respectful
criticism even from Tories, the most encouraging
support from Liberal Conservatives, and uniting all
shades of Liberalism in favour of his general
policy, to retire from political life, and that shiver
to run the Liberal party which precedes an earth-
quake. We all know what the Opposition policy
would be. Mr. Gladstone is probably the best hated
politician in England at the present moment. The
Tories hate him with a hatred compounded of the
feeling they feel towards renegades and the feeling
they feel towards the,Manchester school. The Times
detests him, nobody knows why. The Saturday
Review never misses an opportunity for a sneer.
Mr. Horsman cannot forgive himself for having
been unsuccessful in his bitter assault on the French
Treaty, and still looks down upon him, like Jupiter
on the tattered beggar in Aristophanes, " through
those rags." Mr. Lowe thirsts for vengeance on the
man who has admitted an abstract right in the
citizen to vote till cause be shown why he should
note vote. He is suspected by numbers of the wish
to render England again defenceless for the sake of
economy ; extreme Dissenters think him a Jesuit,
and extreme Churchmen a wolf in sheep's clothing.
Add to all this, that Englishmen as a rule will never
have thought of his succession to the leadership in
the Commons till he does succeed, that they will be
unprepared for the event, and feel it almost a kind
of religious duty to their sainted Palmerston to
quarrel with his successor as the man in Bulwer's
play felt towards his sainted Maria—and it is
not easy to doubt that Mr. Gladstone will find the
opposition to him becoming acrimonious and fierce,
and the support behind him faint and wavering.
If in such circumstances he is defeated and compelled
to resign, he will assume the lead of the Opposition
under circumstances the most nicely calculated to
bring out his parliamentary weakness. He will feel
sore at the desertion of Palmerstonian Liberals, sore
at the comparative asperity and unfairness with
which he will have been treated by the Opposition,
sore at the depreciation of the press, and with all
this soreness conscious of prophetic power to hew
Mr. Disraeli in pieces before the Lord. In such a
case we may apprehend for him a wild and impru-
dent career in Opposition, tempered by no delicate
sense of responsibility to the disorganised party he
leads, and likely to prejudice permanently his pros-
pects as a Minister. It may be said that even if all
this is true, it is a misfortune not to be avoided,
only to be deplored. This is not altogether the case.
What we wish to impress on both constituencies and
candidates at the coming elections is, that they
should define their attitude to Mr. Gladstone no less
than to Lord Palmerston. No one now wishes to
displace the veteran chief. So long as he can lead
the Liberals every one must wish to have him, if
only for the satisfaction to one's sense of historical
continuity in being ruled, and ruled ably, in 1866
by the man who was helping to rule our grand-
fathers in 1806. But it would be a parade of de-
licacy and a criminal negligence to overlook the cer-
tainty of a coming change, and not to define our
attitude in relation to it. The constituencies ought
to know their members' intentions towards Mr.
Gladstone no less than towards Lord Palmerston,
and the members ought to define their intentions
no less clearly. If this were done the danger would
not indeed be surmounted, but it would be lessened.
Mr. Gladstone would know beforehand on whom to
count and whose desertion to expect, and would be
altogether better prepared to face the break-up con-
sequent on Lord Palmerston's retirement and to
estimate its consequences. To a mind such as his,
painful surprise is an infinitely greater trial than the
fulfilment of a painful anticipation, and by a clear
understanding of the feelings of the Liberal candi-
dates to him personally at the hustings in July, the
Liberal party may be saved the mortification of an
unexpected collapse, and the pain of contributing to
jar the equanimity and exaggerate the peculiarities
of their greatest and most original statesman.
" THE EXAMINER" ON THE BALLOT.—We shall
-not waste words upon the dispute whether the
franchise is a right, a privilege, or a trust ; be it what
it may, the true question is how it can be freely
exercised for the benefit of the community without
injury to the possessor. " The man who holds a
trust for others,"
says Lord Palmerston, " is bound
to them for the manner in which he exercises a trust
so held ;" but what if the honest and faithful exe-
cution of the trust would be rendered impossible by
a disclosure of what is to be, or has been, done in it ?
Are we to spoil a result in order to scrutinise a pro-
cess, as children pull up seeds and roots to see how
they are growing
? It is contrary to reason to
destroy our object in order to ascertain the method
of performance. The best illustration of the folly
is to be found in an example we have often quoted
from Froissart of Bajazet, who ordered the stomach
of one of his grooms to be cut out to see whether a
woman's charge was true that he had stolen her
milk. This was carrying publicity somewhat far-
ther than justice. Light was thrown on the man's

stomach, but what became of his life, innocent or
guilty ? And an account of the trust is not really
presented in a view of the suffrage. A man who
votes under the influence of a bribe or of intimida-
tion against his sincere preference commits a breach
of the trust, if a trust it be ; but there is no test of
the base coin, and it passes current. And if it were
possible to establish a scrutiny of motives, elections
would fill the country with contentions and discords
of a most pernicious nature. As it is, the trustees
are not called to account, simply because there are
no means, and honest and dishonest votes pass with-
out distinction. The effect of the ballot would be
to turn some of the bad into good, that is all. As
for the deceit imputed to the secret system, it is more
than the deceit of the suffrage against the convic-
tion, analogous to a false verdict ? A promise is
broken, but it is a promise which should never have
been obtained ; and a promise against a public duty
cannot bebinding ; it is more honoured in the breach
than the observance. Lord Pahnerston contends
that shutting up the vote cannot shut out the influ-
ences, and to a certain extent this is quite true :
" Whether it is territorial influence, or whether it
is the influence of commercial engagements, you
cannot divest mankind of those influences which are
inherent in the nature of things, and must influence
the conduct of men." It is the special virtue of the
Ballot that it will defeat none but the foul influ-
ences. The genial, the kindly influences will pre-
vail as much in the Ballot as they do in the open
poll. The tenants of a good landlord, the work-
people of a kind master, will naturally be disposed
to go with opinions they have always seen well
directed, unless there should be strong cause to the
contrary. They will be inclined to defer to the
choice of the man who has always done wisely and
well for themselves. Thus the legitimate influence
of property would have its sway in the Ballotto the
exact degree that it had its sway in the hearts of the
voters. Mr. Berkeley's speech on the question this
year is one of exemplification. It has been said that
the foul influences are in unabated force. The Times,
opposed as it is to the Ballot, handsomely acknow-
ledges the humour and fertility of illustration with
which Mr. Berkeley handles the question. Of the
many speeches he has made on the subject no two
are alike, and yet all engage the attention and ad-
vance the argument. He speaks, however, to a
house, the majority of whose members are com-
mitted to practices which they are just on the point
of renewing, and whose thoughts are like those of
the poet's glutton in the moment of dissolution, full
of the salmon's jowl. The opponents of the allot
have not much reason to boast of a majority of 44
in a small house of 192. The same ratio in a fuller
house would have given a minority which would
have appeared considerable. It was in large houses
that the minority mounted above 200.

THE " SATURDAY REVIEW" ON THE ELECTIONS.—
If the Irish elections are to be decided by the rela-
tive bearing of the contending parties towards the
Roman Catholic Church, the Government may be
considered fortunate in two recent opportunities of
conciliating wavering friends, if not professed oppo-
nents. Although the priests and their superiors
may possibly prefer the secular interests of Rome to
the relief of their co-religionists from a disagreeable
ceremony, they are perfectly aware that Mr. Dis-
raeli, while he refuses a reasonable demand, has no
practical facility for promoting or defending the
temporal power of the Pope. A year ago it was
thought impossible to give office to an Irish mem-
ber, because the vacant seat would have been en-
dangered by the Italian policy of the Government ;
and it is still uncertain whether domestic liberality
will be considered an equivalent for diplomatic
heterodoxy. Mr. Hennessy has proclaimed, in an
address to his constituency, his determination to
adhere to his party ; but Mr. Monsell, Mr. O'Reilly,
and even Mr. O'Donoghue seem inclined to accept
the compromise of an Irish University in which the
Roman Catholic College will be included. It is but
seldom that an Irish or religious grievance can be
so easily abated. English experience has shown
that an agitation for academic privileges may be
quieted by the establishment of a mere Board of
Examiners. The University of London is neither
more nor less a University than the Civil Ser-
vice Commission, except that the prizes at its dis-
posal are much less valuable. The examinations
are useful as a test of the efficiency of schools and
local colleges, but a graduate who boasts of his
education at the University London employs a
mere figure of speech. He has certainly not been
educated in a back room of Burlington House, and
the University to which he nominally belongs has
no other place of existence. Sir George Grey wisely
offered a similar sop to the advocates of sectarian
teaching in Ireland. 'lf the students of the Catholic
College at Dublin think it worth their while to be-
come Masters of Arts, they will have the oppor-
tunity of applying to authorised examiners without
the trouble and expense of visiting London. As if
for the purpose of giving value to a cheap conces-
sion, Mr. Whiteside vindicated the vested rights of
Trinity College and of the Queen's University,
which is no longer to consist exclusively of
godless colleges. The Irish elections must have
been considered either safe or desperate before
another Opposition leader ventured to oppose
another Roman Catholic demand. Mr. Henley's
denunciation of the godless colleges may, how-
ever, in some degree have counteracted Mr. White-
side's imprudent candour. Scotland has no national
injury to resent, and the Edinburgh Annuity-tax
furnishes it with its closest approximation to a grie-
vance. It appears, however, that there is at Edin-
burgh a little Protestant conspiracy against the in-
dependence of Scotch members. Lord Elcho, having
a safe seat for the county of Haddington, has had
the pleasure of administering a rebuff to impertinent
intruders, but it is impossible to say that the No-
Popery or Sabbatarian faction may not sacceed in
imposing its tests on some less fortunate candidate.
English candidates, except when they talk about
church-rates and Parliamentary Reform, are inclined
rather to boast of past achievements than to make
large promises for the future. By a natural confu-
sion of ideas, the prosperity of the country is attri-
buted to the financial skill of Mr. Gladstone, who is
in turn identified with his more or less congenial
colleagues. During the existence of the present
Parliament several millions of taxes have been re-
pealed, and the national debt has been perceptibly
reduced. Success covers questionable experiments,
and two or three consecutive deficits have been
naturally condoned or forgotten. The greater part
of the gratifying results which have been produced
was inevitable in six years of increasing revenue and
of diminishing need for expenditure. Any tolerably
competent finance Minister would have reduced the
tea arid sugar duties and the income-tax ; nor can
it be doubted that the excise on paper would have
been abolished in later years if it had not been re-
moved in 1861. Mr. Gladstone's chief merit has
consisted in abstaining, during five successive years,
from the ambitious projects which have on former
occasions attracted his imagination. He has now
reduced the income-tax to the convenient rate of
fourpence in the pound, but in 1860 he raised the
percentage from sevenpence to tenpence, for the
questionable purpose of providing the purchase-
money of the French treaty. It may be admitted
i
that no rival financier s equally familiar with details,
and Mr. Gladstone is incomparably the ablest ex-
pounder of doctrines which are all but universally
accepted. Finance, which formerly supplied the
matter of eager party contests, has now become a
neutral subject. It is the interest of every Mini-
stry to diminish the public burdens, and the
surplus which indicates the growth of the national
wealth is applied by general consent to the removal
or diminution of taxes rather than to the reduction
of the debt. The sinking fund is limited to the
margin between the estimated revenue of every
year and the receipts which eventually accrue. As
ten or twelve millions have been paid off during the
administration of Mr. Gladstone, it is not necessary
to remember that five years ago he increased the
debt by withholding the payment of a million of
Exchequer Bonds, at the same time that he made a
large addition to the Income-tax. While candi-
dates seek in vain for distinctive theories to profess,
it is gratifying to find that the crotchets of little
sections and knots of politicians have rarely met
with acceptance. There seem to be few boroughs in
which a belief in the Permissive Bill is necessary to
success, and Maynooth, with the great Protestant
cause which it symbolised, has sunk into total ob-
livion, unless its ghost still walks in Scotland. Even
Westminster ten-pounders appreciate the oddity of
the medical attempt to decide an election with re-
ference to the views of the candidates on different
modes of administering physic. The argument of
the professional mal-contents would be equally ap-
plicable to other collateral issues which are proposed
by sectional fanactics. Little globules, according
to the doctors, are absurd ; and if the candidate be-
lieves in an absurdity, he is incompetent to under-
stand the interests of Westminster, of England, and
of the world. It may be not less forcibly argued
that beer, or nunneries, or Sunday walks are mis-
chievous, and that a member who would perpetrate
or tolerate mischief ought to be summarily rejected.
It might be urged that the House of Commons is
never likely to pass a resolution for or against glob-
ules, whereas it will have many opportunities of re-
jecting bills for enforcing abstinence from alcohol
on the poor. In reality, compulsory temperance is
not a more practical question than homoeopathy, or
than proposals for Protestant inspection of nun-
neries. The only pledges which it can be worth
while to exact from a candidate concern his future
treatment of measures which may possibly be
passed. Even if Mr. Mill had any followers in his
schemes for the political enfranchisement of women,
they would waste their votes if they insisted on
the adoption of their fancy as a condition of
their support at the polling-booth. Skilful
advocates of special opinions always contriyc to

attach themselves to some considerable party.
The doctrines of valuable allies are favourably con-
sidered, and sometimes they gradually find their way
into the authorised creed. The early opponents of
the Corn Laws faithfully adhered to the cause of
the Whigs, at a time when an overwhelming majo-
rity of all parties still believed in Protection. In
the same manner, the American Abolitionists were
satisfied to be a section of the Republican party, on
which they have since been enabled by circumstances
to impose their convictions. Within six weeks, at
latest, the election will be over, and the country
will subside into its accustomed repose. It is hap-
pily unnecessary that the new Parliament should
meet before next February, and the comparative
strength of parties can be easily calculated from the
list of successful candidates. The Ministers have
little to fear, unless Ireland should prove contuma-
cious, although they are not likely to receive any
large addition to their present majority. Unless the
returns unexpectedly forebode an early change of
Government, the possible composition of a future
Liberal Ministry will excite more curiosity than the
proceedings of the House of Commons. As long
as Lord Palmerston retains power, there will be no
exciting changes of domestic policy ; and foreign
affairs have, for the first time in many years, almost
ceased to provoke comment. More stirring times
may be in wait for the political survivors of the
present Ministers. It is not likely that the present
content and stagnation will last for ever. Political
prophets are sagaciously announcing the approach
of a democratic movement, and they appropriately
remind a sceptic generation that more than thirty
years ago the majority of the educated classes was
opposed to a Reform Bill. The 'Availing indispo-
sition to change may be founded on an erroneous
judgment of expediency, or on miscalculation of
probable events • but London society forms a not
inconsiderable element in the entire community,
and, on the whole, it is perhaps well advised in
abiding by its own judgment and feeling until they
are proved to be erroneous. It is not impossible
that a powerful Government might even devise a
Reform Bill which would be approved by the more
liberal opponents of innovation. The Constitution
works tolerably well, but in some respects it looks
anomalous, and the dissatisfaction which its eccen-
tricities may create is in itself a practical evil. It
is better that the House of Commons should re-
main as it is than that it should sink to the level
of a powerless American Congress ; but a mode-
rate enlargement of the constituency would not
necessarily impair its supreme control of national
affairs.

THE "LONDON REVIEW" ON RAILWAY ACCI-
DENTS. —The excursion season has harclly commenced,
but in its yet early life we are in the midst of death.
The rails are replaced, the trucks have carried home
the broken travelling-cases in which human life has
been crushed out, left to linger a little longer in
agony, or spared life with maimed physical power ;
widows, widowers, orphans, have hardly seen their
dead to the grave, and again the long, crowded
trains of pleasure-seekers hurry to the railway
station, with return tickets, more than ever a kind
of speculative scrip ; their hearts set on enjoyment
from a journey, which, it would seem from late
events, is fraught with the danger of a Blondin ex-
hibition, with the sole difference that the wonder-
ful skill of the traveller protects the one life en-
dangered ; in the excursion train some hundreds are
exposed to a destruction from which no skill of
their own can protect them. The public are for a
time awe-stricken. There is a great execution done
on a scaffold, upon which we are all for ever called
to tread. For a certain proportion of every week
of their lives, a large proportion of the public have
to pass many hours in a railway carriage. The
travelling power of a train depends upon the true
bearing the wbeels of its engines and its every car-
riage obtain on the two rails over which it is driven.
To give this bearing the rails require the greatest
nicety of adjustment ; they are in limited lengths,
resting on chairs at appointed distances ; these, fas-•
tened to sleepers resting again on ballast, or, in the
case of bridges, on certain framework. Every in-
dividual length of rail, solar as an accident is con-
cerned, is a matter requiring the closest supervision ;
on its being in its proper place, and there properly
secured, the state of its "face," its good or bad
wear, depend the safety of the train passing over it.
Any loosening of the chairs, sinking of the ballast,
displacement of the sleepers, at once makes the line
dangerous. Iron has a point of endurance at which
it becomes weak to sustain weight, refractory to
retain the position to which it has been bound.
Heat, cold, much wet, long continued dry
weather, all in their degree affect the condition of
railroads. Permanent way is only permanent by
constant repair of its actual material, perpetual
provision of means to keep its every detail in
proper condition. Philanthropists have great scope
for literary painting when they contemplate a large
excursion train in the process of being filled. Holi-
day work is pleasant to look upon. It may be after
its sort hard work, but it is no task-work. The
shop, the counting-house, the work-room, the
crowded town dwelling, the cares of home, and the
toil of business, are cast behind ; the crowd of men,
women and children, have come to the counter
where pleasure is sold as a matter of business. They
pay their money—who shall say with how much
self-denial it has been saved ?—take the little paste-
board passports which give them their title to be
driven through their journey at a pace which seems
to place the scene of their holiday enjoyment miles
away, within the space of a few hours' joyful
chatter. How content are they to bear the close
packing of the carriages. So that they are once off,
sure that the treat to themselves and children is de-
veloping into all its full reality of qui& travel, they
seem to care for nothing else. All is mirth, in the
vulgar tongue perhaps, but still real, honest, hearty
holiday enjoyment. Four or five hundred jolly,
pleasure-seeking souls, have cast care to the winds,
forgotten toil ; covering the fingers which scarce
ever feel a moment free of the needle, gloves are
daintily worn, until heat makes them a misery ;
frames of hardy men, from day to day guiltless of
other clothing than that which could make hard,
sweating work endurable, are clad in broad cloth
and clean linen ; children are Sunday dressed ;
" the excursion" to these folk is as spring to the
garden ; toil makes winter of the life to which these
holidays in mercy grant an occasional outgrowth of
rest, ease, pleasure—social flowers to the workers of
our great hive ; of short growth, but the more en-
joyable from their rarity. The platform is nearly
cleared ; the long street on wheels, every dwelling
of which is full of this pleasure-seeking life, moves
with a spasmodic jerk, producing from many a win-
dow the welcome which, in many varying expres-
sions, proclaims—" We are off !" The transport is
well afloat, its voyage commenced, all seems pros-
perous ; the pace mends, the joy of the tra-
vellers increases ; baskets are unpacked, bottles
for men and women, bottles for babies. Each
carriage is a home, all at home in it We
will go-ahead some ten miles of this scene of
innocent, confiding happiness. - It is a hot, reeking
day ; we sit on a rail a few score feet from the—
line. There is a gang of men at work upon it ; they
are repacking a portion of the line, lifting the
sleepers, and driving in ballast underneath them.
Some rails have been removed, and are now being
refastened to their chairs; the labourers look from
time to time up and down the line in a sleepy half-
stupid sort of way ; you see heat has driven them
wild with thirst ; the beer they have taken to
quench it only stupefies, does not refresh them.
Some are lying down on the bank asleep, with the
sun's rays full upon them; one or two, a little
superior in dress to the others, seem to be giving
orders. You perceive these suddefily more autho,
ritative ; there is a good deal of hasty activity,
certain lengths of rail have men busy on them.
Their tools are now cast on to the bank, the men
retreat from the line—a screech is heard—another,
and another. It is the train of our friends on
their holiday. The engineer has seen a red flag
less than a mile off ; it told him there was work
doing on the line. " Good God I they are
coming full swing !" says the navvy close to us.
You hear the grinding of " breaks "—the engine
dashes by. There is a crushing noise, as of gravel,
iron, wood, all grinding together ; a cloud of dust,
stones scattered in all directions —the engine
is off the rails ! Thirty yards further it is on its
side over a bank, in a cloud of steam. There is now
one long sound—long it sounds, although it was
scarcely for a minute—of crashing woodwork ; car-
riage is heaped on carriage. There lies the wreck.
From within come the screams, frantic and agonis-
ing, of the living crowd crushed in that mass of
wood, iron, and glass. Before the heart of the
spectator can again beat to the time which gives him
the courage to regard the scene at his feet, he hears
the orders given to men to run with all haste with
the red flag, to save, if possible, the next train, due
in five minutes, from rushing on, to add its burden
to the carnage. We will not attempt to describe
the cruel scene in its awful details. The telegram
has a marvellous power of fact-condensation. The
authorities, in an hour or less, hear, " Excursion
train thrown off the line at —; several killed,
many wounded." They gather together a staff of
surgeons and workmen, and hurry to the scene. The
dead are to be carried to the nearest place for an
inquest, the wounded to be given up to the medical
men, the rails to be relaid, that the traffic may not
be interrupted ; the debris of carriages, engine, &c.,
to be put out of the way. It is a railway
accident, there will be a good deal of public sensa-
tion—for ten days ; private acute misery for many
a year. Mourning for the dead ; pain to be borne,
and mourning to be worn by many of the living.
press will justly denounce the authors of the casta-
strophe, questions will be put in Parliament. The
company will be some thousands out of pocket. In
a low days, at many a spot? 91k many "line," A

spectator may, for all we can see, look upon in!t
such another, or perhaps far worse scene. W°W,
such careless work be allowed on any line on wine'
the Queen or Prince of Wales was expected to
travel ? If the directors determined to have a clai
" out" and dine together to celebrate a
mentary triumph at some town on their line, would
their special train be subjected to such risk? Is 1"
not enough to know the danger ever present, from
defective wheels and ordinary machinery, when
driven as railways are driven, without our having
to learn that the safety of a whole train depends
upon the care taken by the class of men emploP°:
to relay or repair the line, to so regulate their,
work and signals, that trains shall be conducted
safely over parts of it where nothing but slow pace
can be consistent with safety.