The Sun.
London, England, 1841-12-31 00:00:00

FROM TFIE EVENING PAPERS OF YESTEGGAY.

GLOBE.—There has been irons time to time con-
siderable speculation as to the course that the Govern-
ment will put sue with regard to the forged Exchequer
bills ; and much has been said on the hardship of the
position in which " innocent holders" will be placed,
should the Treasury repudiate any liability to meet
such of the documents as are found to be fraudulent.
It has been, of course, a matter of much deliberation
:n official quarters, what plan shall be pursued ; for
while it is felt that the parties who have given value
for their bills would have great reason to complain if
they should be made to suffer by the malpractices carried
on by a servant of the Government, it would be no less
unfair towards the Treasury to be called on to discharge
in full the claims of those who could not but have
known, by the terms on which they took their bills, that
some irregularity must have attached to them. We
have every reason to believe that the Government has
at length resolved to meet the question upon equitable
grounds, and, taking for granted its non-liability la a
legal sense, it has determined to state to the House of
Commons the facts of the case, leaving it to that body to
dual with it. Tile Chancellor of the Exchequer will pro-
behly bring the matter forward, and, without deny-
ing the laxity that has hitherto been allowed to prevail
in the Exchequer bill (leper:eller-sr, will propose that the
parties who have really taken the forged documents
under circumstances showing no ground for believing
that they could have suspected fraud, shell be indem-
nified to thel full amount of their fictitious securities.
It will, however, be urged that persons who gave
only 800/. for bills which, if they were genuine, were
worth 2,0001., and if not acre of no value at al!,
must be considered to have been merely `gambling on
the chance of the documents turning out good' or
bad, and that, the letter being the case, the stake so
impreperly played for should be regarded as sacrificed.
It is clear that there are no fund!: out of which the for-
geries can be paid, and the House of Commons must
therefore he resorted to in the existing difficulty,—
though the Government will propose the plan for getting
out of it. The liabilities to the public, presuming them
to be equitable and not legal, may be adjusted with
greater facility than tile question which will arise be-
tween the Bank and the Treasury, which in official
quarters is now creating considerable perplexity.
STANDARD.—Lord Melbourne is more interested
that, any other man in proving that the country which
he has goserned for seven years is not suffering from the
ill effect of contemporary Government, or even from the
influence of preceding errors, which, during seven years,
be surely might have repuired ; hence his unwilling-
ness to see the actual distress exaggerated. But Lord
Melbourne, irne to his party practice, has still a
reserve of fallacy ; be talks of " lessons for the future,"
as if there were something to condemn in the system
teliffsh has brought Great Britain to her present state,
Now this must not be suffered to pass without a re-
mark. During 50 )ears the population of England has
doubled ; her territory has ireatiplied fourfold, and her
wealth, probably tenfold ; concurrently with a war, in
which she has had to battle for the liberty of the human
race, and has battled triumphantly. Does the system,
under which 6o much has been effected, present results
that are to be read as lessons as to what we ought to
slant' ? Do not the effect; of such a system, on the other
hand, (whit out in striking characters the danger of
&A-von, deviation? If temporary distress is the result
of such a system—a fact which we do not dispute—a
great progressive presperity is no less certainly. We
have again and again shown that temporary distress is
the necessary attendant upon rapid progress. This is
the lesson to be learned ; and if Lord Melbourne and his
colleagues had studied this lesson, they would not has a
eusured by their New Poor-law that every temporary
di t-es 3 shall be exasperated into misery and torture,
nor attempted by their budget measures that would
stay the national progress, and cause it soon rapidly to
retrogade. We repeat it once more, that you CAtl•
not have progress without occasional distress ; but that
under the old Poor-law distress was so effectually miti-
gated as to threaten no danger to the community.
Prosperity causes the accumulation of capital—capital
becomes the competiter of labour, and for a time it
must prove the successful competitor ; but during the
interval that passes befhre labour can right itself, by the
opening of new markets, there must be distress. loose
are plain propositions, a priori, and the evideece of ex-
perience warrants their soundness.
COURIER.—Few arc the manifestations, cud
celerity the measures of popular sympathy evoked by
the downfal of the Whig cabinet. A kind of sulky
silence seemed to have taken possession even of that
portion of the public supposed to be most favourable to
the views of Whig policy, which, being rightly inter-
preted, meant to say that in being cashiered from office
the NVLigs had only met with their deserts. This, sse
repeat, is the inference which we have drawn from the
indeTerenee evinced towards the leading members of the
Melbourne Ministry by the country at large; their offi-
cial extinction appears to have inspired no regret ; the
change which has transmitted subtle, glazing courtiers,

into jealous and watchful, we will not add factious, op-
positionists, seems to have excited no hopes. In vain
they preach to the miserable remt.ant that still adheres to
them the virtue and magic pot,!ney of union—in vain
they labour to enlorcL: the stale truism by references to
the achievements of their party in 1834 5. The temper
.of the times has wonderfully changed since then ; at

that period the first indications of the e'ob were only

0-en ; ever since the reflux has been rapid and steady,
acAl therefore to appeal to what ‘Vhig-ltadicalisra was

then enabled to etre- Ct a.; an illustration of what it alight,

if sinnilarly directed,. be now able to achieve, is to betray

ia total inappreciation of intermediate occurrences—is to
.contound vigour with debility, and the confidence of an-
ticipated victory with the discouragement of certain

del-Gat.

MONEY MARKET and CITY NEWS.
FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.
POST.—In taking the course we felt it our duty to
xi) from the moment the metropolis and moneyed inte-
rest at large were first astounded by the adinitted for-
geries of Beaumont Smith and his confederates, we
carefully drew the distinction that appeared to be just,
as between innocence and guilt. This will be acknow-
ledged, upon a dispassionate review of our statements
-on the subject, strongly as they have been assailed in
particular quarters. ‘Ve have unquestionably taken a
little pains to put individuals on their guard against the
sielueive expectation held out to them by some of our
Contemporaries, of a ready indemnification of their
losses in this business being afforded at the hands of Go-
vernment. There meld, we considered, have been a
cruelty in the adopticu by us, as impartial writers,
of any other policy. It would have been unfeeling
en the last degree towards the sufferers themselves,
though there was yet another consideration, the in-
fluence of which has operated forcibly upon our
minds. Let it be imagined that we, like tLe rest of
.the public journals, at least a great number of them,
had given out to the world that indemnification could
Stet, and would not, be withheld, and joined in the un-
patriotic recommendation, that conspiracies of Exche-
quer bill ledders should be formed for the purpose of
coercing the Executive into the measure by the refusal
of further renewals. The consequence of such a pre-
esociing would, we may assume, have been that of
setting on foot a fresh system of speculation, the effect
of which must be to involve in the fraud another class
of victim. A host of credulous and unthinking per-
sons would have been found but too ready to deal in
the Exchequer forgeries; and, among the almost innu-
merable bubbles to be seen in the lists of the Steck
Exchange, it w0u.!(1 have become necessary, in order
to afford a faithful report 01- the
daily transactions
there, to include the quotation of " spurious Exche-
quer bills."
\Vhile we have done our best to lead the public to a
right conclusion on the head of indemnification, we have
consulting failed not to impress upon the innocent Exchequer bill
holders the expediency of meeting, Of together,
mode of
In '
and of forming ii Committee of inquire.. S.uelt
dealing with the case would, we conceived,
abe
matter
l,
most
useful, whatever might prove the result.
of such deep importance it was not likely that the
Executive could take upon itself the responsibility
which it lia.s been required to do. Cases of grtev(?e,
;hardship are heard,of, and it cannot be supposed that
we would wantonly, and without the smallest provoca-
tion, step between innocent people unfortunately im-
plicated in them and justice.
All VERTISER.— We have much
pleasure in being
.
enabled to state that the eminent East India firm of
Boggs, Taylor, and Company, which suspended pay-
ment a week or two back, will resume again to-morrow,
with the view of winding up. Its assets will be suffi-
cient to pay in full ; and but for delay in the arrival of
remittances from India, the necessity for the untoward
stoppage would not have arisen.
Fur some time past there have been frequent and
serious complaints of the disposition of certain officials
connected with a certain railway to enter into very
extetisive Bea/ transactions, or, in plainer terms, to
depreciate the value of the shares, ia order to derive
a profit front secs depreciation. These matters it is
always delicate to allude to; hut, in the present in-
stance, the sul.jeet, as a matter of conversation, has be-
come se notorious in the City, that we consider it 'e
be (Stir dury as faithful chroniclers to advise the pi Hits
451 them, (oaf At the :tune time to afford an opposit rls*
.fo.recentradictiou ii the statement is unfounded. t
tee security, of parties investing capital in such un-
.(-Is"t icales 17. ie the first necessity that no kind of
planing, et least emote;
,Parties cognizant with, or en-
gaged ir, the adreinietration of affairs of this kind,
should for oue morueet he tolerated. The Bank of
England effectually provides against such jobbing, and
-why not Railway Companies also.
CHRONICLE. —The holders of Pennsylvania '
State floods wilf receive much satisfaction from pe-
rostngthe suijoineicornmunicat ion, which emanates from
highly influential Quarter, and any be safely looked
upon as official : " Nov. 30, 1841.
" In reply to yours of the 29th instant, it, gives me
pleasure to state as my firm belief that the interest on
our public debt, due on the Ist of February next, will
be promptly paid without recourse to loans. The

BRIGHTON
LONDON AND
RAILWAY,

awaeye,k o stated would
' The slip at New Cross, as we last
be the case, was got under on Thurs
the Railway was again open throughout the line ; and
the trains have since continued to run with
great
Nvhich day
larity. Two of the trains, on Friday afternoun
bre
,gu-
down upwards of 500 passengers, the greatest r:,:iungbielrt
that have yet travelled in two successive trains.
Some inconvenience having been occasioned b., v
a con-
trary practice, the Directors of the Company have given
orders that Lank-notes of the solvent Sussex Banks should
be taken at the station here, the person presenting a nut,
being merely required to endorse his name upon it.
No tidings have yet been obtained of Mr. lVood, the
late Secretary of the London and Brighton Railway Com-
pany.--Brighton Gazette.

DUDLEY.—The Coroner's inquest on the body
of Richard Hunt, who was killed by Mr. Edward Alsop
of Rowley Regis, on the morning ofthe 12th instant,
whilst in the act of committing a robbery in an outhouse
on his premises, terminated on Wednesday evening,
when the Jury returned a verdict of "Justifiable Homi-
cide." The deceased was about sixty years of age, and
had long been known as a most profligate character and
notorious thief.— Worcestershire Chronicle.

RIT of the P 151; LAC JOURNAL S. balance in the Treasury this day is 1,109,922d01.
of which the sum of at least 750,000ci01. is available.
The two heaviest months of receipts are yet to come
before the interest is payable ; and the receipts for
three months, I think, may be safely estimated at from
400,000d01. to 500,000(101. lam therefore of opinion
that the resources of the Treasury will not only be suf-
ficient to pay the interest, but that all ordinary demands
of our Government will likewise be met.
" But to guard against any contingency that might
occur to injure the present prospect, the Governor has
made a requisition upon the banks, under resolution of
the sth of May last, to make up any deficit if such
there should be. Under all these circumstances, there
cannot for a moment remain a doubt as to the interest
being punctually paid."
The assurance thus given that the interest due on
Ist February will be punctually paid cannot fail to tran-
quillize the fears of the English creditors of the State
of Pennsylvania ; and the explanation which the above
letter also affords of the cause of the further requisition
upon the banks shows that, instead of looking with
alarm upon that step, they should feel greater confi-
dence from it, as it has been adopted, solely for their
benefit, to guard against any contingencies.

THE LATE ACCIDENT ON THE
GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY.
( From the Times.)
In the evidence on the subject of the late
dreadful accident on the Great Western It rilway,
Mr. Brunel mentions that " the reason for putting the
passenger trucks next to the engine, arises from the
danger to which a luggage train is considered most
liable—namely, its being overtaken by another train, in
consequence of its being slower, and unavoidably less
punctual than passenger trains." Mr. Saunders also,
another employe of the railroad, giving evidence in de-
fence of the Company, makes a statement to the
same effect. He informed the Jury, that " the gene-
ral opinion of scientific and practical men, and even
of the Inspector-General, was that the best place for
fassengcrs in luggage trains was next to the engine.
Some trains went at the speed of forty miles an hour.
while others proceeded cnly at the rate of eighteen or
twenty ; and it was impossible, where there were so
many cuttings and curves, to prevent a quick train
from sometimes running into a slow one, notwith-
standing every precaution. Accidents have been
avoided in consequence of placing the passengers in
front." And this obviously is the only excuse that can
be made for the ariangement which has been tile cause
of this miserable accident. Further, both these gentle-
men imply that, if left to themselves, they would make
no change in that part of the railroad arrangements.
"If the control remained in his (Mr. Saunders's)
hands, he should undoubtedly adhere to the practice of
placing the passenger-trucks in luggage-trains in front."
" The passenger truck," Mr. Brunel tells us, "was put
in the middle of the train on the Friday evening by my
order, merely as a concession to an opinion which
knew had been frequently expressed." We
thought it better to place the passenger truck
in the middle, lest it should be considered a mere
act of obstinacy if we adhered to the former
practice." We may suppose, therefore, that this prac-
tice will not be discontinued for any longer period than
is necessary to avoid the imputation of obstinacy ; that
after such a " concession" as may seem to quiet the
tongues of the public, the system which is thought most
advisable by the authorities on the railroad will be re-
sumed. It becomes, then, not a little important to put
the justification brought forward by these gentlemen in
its proper light. Now, it is to be observed, that we
are not now inquiring what is the safest of two untried
courses ; we are not engaged in adding one additional
precaution to a set of arrangements already supposed
to be sufficient fur all purposes of security ; a series
of distressing accidents have occurred on different
railways, and every one has remarked—we ourselves
have observed, in print, long ago—that it is in the
carriages next the engine that the fatal accidents
almost invariably occur. Not before people have
over and over again made this observation, comes
the present frightful catastrophe. The passengers are
still crowded next the tender ; and now, at last, the
dreadful result is something throwing into the shade all
that has yet occurred. After all this experience, the
engineers come forward, and quietly (Mr. Brunel almost
contemptuously) tell us that they are quite persuaded
that the passengers would be even in greater danger
behind, and that if they bad their way, no alteration
should be made. " Every precaution that could be
thought of," says Mr. Saunders, " to insure punctu-
ality and safety, had been adopted by the Directors ;
and if the control remained in his bands, he should un-
doubtedly adhere to the practice of placing the passen-
gers' trucks in luggage trains in front." Let their
opinion stand as true—let it be the case that, if
passengers had been' usually placed behind, the
sacrifice of human life would have been yet more
frightful—let it be true that the Directors have
adopted every precaution they could think of
to insure punctuality and safety—what follows, or seems
to follow, according to these witnesses? Simply this—
that we are quietly to sit down and resign ourselves to
the periodic occurrence of such catastrophes as this.
more or less. No admission is made that any thorough
change of system is desirable—that the times of start-
ing or the relative velocities of trains should be
altered, is order to obviate the necessity of these
collisions, which, it is said, if the passengers were placed
behind, would have even more tremendous consequences
than the present catastrophe—no suggestion of the ob-
vious and simple remedy recommended by ourselves
amongst others, a day or two since, that without placing
passengers " behind," yet still they should in no case be
allowed to travel without at least one, or, if necessary
to preserve human life, two or three, or half-a-dozen
empty carriages between themselves and the tender.
No. If the control remained in Mr. Saunders's hands,
he would still " place them in front ;" and Mr. Brunel,
the evening after the accident, orders the passengers'
truck into the middle, only, as he says almost in so many
words, by way of letting the prejudiced public have its
wiil for once. This will not do. The plain common
sense of the public is not to be put down by the " Pooh!
pooh !" of an engineer, however able he may be in his
profession ; lives must be looked after. These sacrifices
to convenience of locomotion cannot, and must not,
be taken quite so easily here as on the other side of the
Atlantic. Least of all can they be disregarded when
there is any appearance that the poor are being sacri-
ficed to secure comfort and expedition to the rich.
And let us tell the Directors that there is such an-
appearance at present. We do not at all deny the
right of those who manage a railway to proportion the
comfort given to the price paid. Of course we do not
call on them to make the lower classes so comfortable
as to draw passengers from the higher, though even
here Mr. Crawshay's proposed infusion of chimney-
sweeps, and the arbitrary rules which seem made to
inflict inconvenience on the cheaper class of travel-
lors, are rather more than we can stomach. It is
one thing to give to each passenger as much, and
not more convenience than his payment may fairly
claim, and quite another to have recourse to a sys-
tem of deliberate, wanton, and insulting persecu-
tion—for the meaning of Mr. Crawshay's proposal is
nothing else—of those who only pay what they can.
But the worst of these petty means of annoyance are
as nothing when compared with that carelessness of the
actual personal safety of either class of travellers which
is implied in the alternative which Mr. Brunel coolly
leaves for them, of being crushed by the luggage or by
the first class train. And this commentary might be
extended to the surveyor's instructions, who is bound
only to see that all is safe and clear for the six o'clock
(fast) train ; when a visit paid but half an hour earlier
would have done the same good office for those who
have so dreadfully suffered from the want of it. The
agents of the Railroad Company are anxious to
show that there is no negligence in the
particular case. So much the worse ; the fault then
must be in the system. If under the present system
no precautions could have avoided the accident, no pre-
cautions can avoid it for the future, none at least that
the managers can imagine. A pretty avowal for those
to whose right management the lives of so many thou-
sands are from time to time intrusted. By some change
or other they must be prevented, and if this cannot be
effected by small changes, it must be by great, even
though the nonchalent Mr. Brunel's engines have to
travel five miles an hout slower, or Mr. Brunel's em-
1310ayers to start two trains per diem the less, for it. The
m
t punctuality, fhor r nalg
eetupaalritt
ers of the Great Western deserve great credit
y ,
the
o f their
comfort o
arrangements.ftheir first-class
rls'th-eclira
ssgp
car-ee
heir
ridges, the ease of their motion, are all the result of able
management and wellaiudgad expenditure. But all
tvoegrethe-r may be rated too dear, and
intongr satpecudotm petition with the lives of our -
creatures. Y much too dear, when the re
ncv,:yrdb% so soon expected.
broughtttli: ee ys e tahr ei
creatures. We nweehdennotti,,, fatigue ourselves
however,
eveeriectual remedy of
ltevgitihslamtieorne