The Sun.
London, England, 1840-10-21 00:00:00

RAILWAY SHARES,

it. Germain
el-salt:Es, It B 3lO ... 310 34
L.P.. ...........247 50 ... '451 ... 217 50
Orleans ..
Szrasburg to Bale

The Madrid Journals received are of the 11 tl,

inst., but they say nothing of the abdication of the
QUEEN REGENT, so that an event which took
place on the following day appears not to have
been known to the Junta. The capital was tran-

(pH, and as thirty-two Deputies from Provincial
Juntas had arrived in Madrid, the city prescnttd

the appearance which it usually wears when the
Corte; a:a sitting. Itappears that poor old General
LATRE died in consequence of the brutal treatment
he received at the hands of two Valencian soldiers-,

It appears by the Coroner's Inquest on the body
of the young woman killed by the collision o! the
two trains on the South Western Railway, that the
driver of the fast train, JOHN WELFORD, to wherr,
however, let us carefully observe, no blame whatever
attaches, is 22 years of age, receives 7s. a-day, and
was educated as a fireman and a stoker. He drove
a tender and seven carriages. How many passen-
gers were in them, does not appear, but if we sup
pose ten each carriage, the number will be
seventy. A lad, therefore, of 22 years of age, whose
education and wages show that he belongs to the
class of skilled workmen, without any regular ap-

prenticeship et instruction, is entrusted with all
this great responsibility. We infer, too, from the
evidence, that there was no assistant driver with
this youth to keep a look out, to warn, or to aid
him, cr to supply his place in case of accident,
With all deference to the Directors of the South
Western Railway, we assert that this is notWhal-4
ought to be.
In the police reports there is a case of an engine-
driver on the Birmingham Railway, sentenced by the
Magistrate of Marylehonc for gross misconduct to
hard labour in the House of Correction for two
calendar months. He is to go to the tread-mill,
and when he is thus degraded, and probably made
thoroughly reckless, he will become a driver on some
other railway. This exhibits the sort of legislatiot.
and sort of law to which the youths 0f22 years of age,
who receive 7s. a dav, and are intrusted with the
lives of hundreds of persons, are subjected. This
degrading species of punishment may be proper for
certain felonies, but it is an improper punishment
for want of skill or for neglect. Such, however,
is the wisdom of Lord SEYmou It's Railway Act,
but it is not the wisdom of every-day life.
What man in his sqnses would trust a lawyet
earning 7s. a day, and acting from no higher motive
than the fear of the tread-mill—terribly inoperative
as that is in most cases, as the lamentable preva-
lence of crimes proves—with a suit which in-
volved a sum of 20/. ? Or what reasonable being,
would intrust the care of a dog or a horse (our
YOUATTS and AINSLIES who look after horses
and dogs are well educated, scientific, and practical
men) to a physician earning 21. 2s. per week, and
liable to the degrading punishment of the treadmill
if he should unfortunately mistake his patient's
case? It is bad enough for the community to be
obliged to trust their lives to youths, paid at the
rate of seven shillings per day ; but it is still worse
that these persons are degraded in their own estima-
tion, and deprived of high and honourable mo-
tives for good conduct by a stupid law, which
renders them liable to an infamous punishment.
We say so much of the general misconduct of the
Directors of Railways, for they all employ similar
persons for drivers, and pay them at a similar rate,
and so much for the still grosser misconduct of the
unthinking stupid Legislature.
We must now say a word on the particular case.
The mischief was caused by a person who should
have shown a red light not having done so. The
whole system of lights on this road seems
defective. JOHN TURNER, it appears, neglected
his duty. But why should JOHN TURNER, or
any other person, have such a duty imposed on
him ? As long as the place of arrival and de-
parture is not clear a light should be continually
exhibited as a warning. Now, what is more easy
than to make the exhibition of such a light fiery
and flaring, so that no man could doubt or be de-
ceived, dependent on machinery, to be shown on the
arrival of any carriage or train, which light should by:
made to disappear as the last carriage of the train
moved off the railway, and left the place clear?
We have always understood that the exhibition of
such a light was essential. JOHN TURNER did not
turn on the red light ; the Directors did not cause a red
and glaring light to be put up announcing that a train
occupied the place where they knew
be half asleep
another train
jwas coming. JOHN TURNER maysltechfaanlwtya—rnlinti:
udgment may have erred ; ht; might
but the Directors, by not having u
light exhibited as long as a train occupies the place
of arrival, are, in our ithigment, very guilty.
Surely, too, every train in motion should have a
stron,y, and distinctly coloured light at both ends,
one to dis:invol,A its fore;cost and the other its
hindmost end. Why had not both trains such
lights? Neither appears to have had. The Di-