The Sun.
London, England, 1847-06-16 00:00:00

Alre

LONDON, WEDNESDAY. JUNE 16, 1847,

The coroner's inquest on the bodies of those who
perished from the late fatal and melancholy accident
on the North-Western Railway terminated its pro-
ceedings yesterday, by returning a verdict of man-
slaughter against BARNARD FOSSE r, the policeman, by
whom the train was turned into the siding, and accom-
panied their decision by observations to the effect that
the company ought to be more particular in the se-
lection of officers for posts of such importance to the
safety of the public as that lately occupied by
FOSSEY j that FOSSEY should have been dismissed
immediately on the commission of the former error
of which he had been guilty on the 31st May,
and that every train should have a number of
breaks and guards proportioned to the size and
weight of the train. In a matter were the public

safety is so deeply concerned—in which there are few,
indeed, who are not in some degree interested—it be-
comes a question of the deepest importance that every
possible precaution should be adopted to obtain the
greatest degree of safety, and to preclude the pos-
sibility of future accidents of a similar descrip-
tion. It is, indeed, a startling fact, that of
6,000 persons in the employment of the com-
pany, there are no less than 4,000 who have a control,
more or less, over the lives of the public. Under
such circumstances, it is impossible to suppose that
some one deficient in some respect may not be ad-
mitted amongst the number. The slightest want of
nerve, the most trivial negligence, may occasion some
fearful calamity. The company may have exercised
the greatest care in the selection of fit and proper
persons to discharge those responsible duties, and yel
be deceived in some few instances. The strongest
testimony was afforded by Captain SIMMoNDS, who
attended on the part of Government, as to the ad-
mirable general management of the North-Western
line, a compliment which we believe was fully
merited. But the very excellence of the manage-
ment strengthens the argument for some additional
precautions. The less the blame that may be im-
putable to the company, the greater the necessity for
some further supervision. Why should there not be
a board of public safety, who should decide on the
measures to be adopted on every line through-
out the kingdom. Such a board of competent
persons should investigate the causes of every accident
that has hitherto taken place, and direct the number
of men to be employed in all the departments. They
might subject all candidates for employment to a
preliminary examination, in which they should prove
their knowledge of all that came within their sphere
of duty, and their general efficiency, and no persons
should be eligible who had not received a certificate
of competence with respect to the particular class of
services on which he was about to be engaged. Such
regulations might, in the first instance, occasion a
little additional expenditure to the different companies,
but eventually it would be found that the increased
cost would be more than compensated for by the dimi-
nution of accidents, one of which would occasion a
greater pecuniary damage to a company than the pay
of many additional servants.
A weighty responsibility, too, would be taken from
the directors. They will still be subjected to blame,
no matter how undeserved it may be, while the system
continues in its present state. This could not be the
case if the person inculpated had gone through the
ordeal of an examination conducted by persons un-
connected with the company, and who could not be
in any degree prejudiced in favour of the individual
brought before them. There should also be a regular
periodical investigation of the works,. the state of the
permanent way, the rails, the carriages, engines, &c.,
by persons of skill and ability, in order to insure
their sufficiency. By such means, although it may
be impossible to do away with accidents alto-
gether, they may be rendered of less frequent
occurrence, and their results less formidable.
The suggestion of the jury, with respect to the
number of breaks and guards, are of such obvious
utility that we doubt not they will be immediately
adopted in every district. Any present negligence
on the part of the directors of any of the companies
would probably enhance the stringency of the regu

iations to which they would be subjected. We shat

hope that the subject may speedily receive that atten-
tive consideration which its vast importance, and the
necessity of due protection for life and limb, so ur-
_ _

gently demand.

At the last weekly meeting of the Repeal Associa-
tion Mr. JOHN O'CONNELL, M.P., urged the neces-
sity of impressing the Irish constituencies with the
duty of returning at the general election those candi-
dates only who were Old Ireland Repealers. As be-
tween the parties, divided under the respective titles
of 014 Ireland and Young Ireland, looking to the
principle of physical force enunciated by the latter
when it was first embodied, and to the fact that it
has nerer since been renounced, and that the tenacity
with which they clung to it perpetuated the breach
which took place between themselves and the late
Mr. O'CONNELL, we should certainly prefer that
Members for the new Parliament should be selected
from the Old Ireland Repealers. But as we have
ever thought from the first that the cry of Repeal
is a mere idle phantom, a political chimera,
that finds its only resting-place in morbid imagina-
tions, so do we feel still more strongly that, to
attempt at this moment to incite the electoral body
with the notion of dismembering the empire is as
wild a political freak as could be sanctioned by any
set of public men. Many who, some few years
back, indulged in the dream that a Parliament might
shortly be constituted in College-green, and be
found to be a panacea for most of the social ills
under which Ireland was suffering, have already re-
signed their idle fancies in favour of the dis-
passionate lessons of sober judgment. At length
they are, for the most part, becoming fast persuaded
of the truth that their past disorganization is attri-
butable much mere to social than political griev-
ances, that, with respect to the latter, the Imperial
Legislature has gone far in the path of redress from
1829 downwards, and that, touching the former,
the Senate has shown every disposition to
mitigate, and finally to eradicate and abolish
them, so far as legislation can subserve
to the same. Men perceive likewise now-a-days that
many of the measures recently propounded by the
Government have not been welcomed by the Irish
landlords, and that, therefore, in so far as they are
calculated to compel the affluent to discharge the
duties incidental to property for the improvement of
the condition of the humblest classes, their chance of
acquiring these boons is infinitely greater than it
would have been had a domestic Legislature been in
existence to take them into deliberation. Others
there are, too, who hold in remembrance Mr.
O'CONNELL'S declaration, that if England and
Scotland united to labour in the Parliament
of Great Britain to elevate Ireland to the same poli-
tical and social level which they respectively enjoyed,
the standard of Repeal should be lowered. Surely,
then, it would be advisable for their own sakes, and
as a party desirous of maintaining a hold upon the
respect and sympathies of those who have supported
their agitation, that the Repeal Association should
manifest a little patience and watch the
fruits of the new measures about to be
passed with the express view, which we
sincerely hope may be realised, of redeeming
their country from the misery and destitution which
cover it from one extremity tothe other. Some-
thing of gratitude, too, might
seeing the munificent manner in which moderation,
induce E
recently stepped forward with her contributions,
England has
publicaha ds
and private, to lessen the sorrows of
occasioned by the late calamitous visitation.
If the Repeal Association shall choose to
re:
main in forq, let WS energies be devoted to