The Sun.
London, England, 1846-07-25 00:00:00

We have received the Paris papers of Thursday.

The Monitcur Parisien of Wednesday publishes
the following as the official defence of the Northern
Railroad Company, against the attacks of the

papers :

" The Courrier Francais persits in affirming that an acci-
dent happened on the 12th, on the Northern Railroad, and
that, in consequence of a land-slip, an engine and six car-
riages went off the rails. The Company affirms that, since
the unfortunate event of the Bth, no engine, no carriage
has run off the rails. From the 9th the working of the
road has presented none but simple incidents, unavoidable
by the best regulated services, and which have not occasioned
any misfortune. On the 11th, a piston of the engine, No. 42
L (a new engine), broke, and the boucho,s used in clean-
ing the boiler came off, and the water and steam escaped.
' This occurred at the Arraa station. The passengers may
have been frightened, but they did not run the slightest
risk. On the 12th, a regulator got out of order between Mon-
tigny and Somain, on the line between Valenciennes and
Douai. The only result was a trifling delay. The statement
of the land-slip on the 12th is as incorrect as that of the
sinking of the ground to which the accident of the Bth has
been attributed. Since the Northern Railroad has been
opened there has not been auyland-slip, nor even any indica-
tion of it in the causeways to give any evidence of such slips.
The railway was not given up to the company by the Go-
vernment until after the two chief engineers, who had the
direction of its construction, had declared by a report under
their signatures that it was ready for public use. The re-
port
for the first section, from Paris to Amiens, is signed
by M. Onfroy de Breville ; the report for the second section,
from Amiens to the Belgian frontier, is signed by M. Busche
Independently of the watching; and the ordinary superinten-
dence of the road, the company, from the time of its open-
ing, has specially appointed to the keeping up of the road a
number of cantonniers, much exceeding the usual propor-
tion. Besides the superintendents and watchmen, there
have been stationed three or four workmen for every kilo-
metre (quarter (qwuahrettehreorfema
blaenakomee)ntsor accordingeuttintgs. otheTnhaestueraereof
pre-
cautions g
cont
continue
een themet
as
ginagss
tohfeyramil railways, and
appearand ttloi e
bceo mu
speittun
will
an(' even for a longer period. To augment the safety of
the service, and although a far greater speed presents nu
danger, the company has fixed provisionally the speed of the
trains at from 28 to 32 kilometres (7 to 8 leagues) an hour.
The railed way on which the accident of Fampoux took
place had been disarranged to a small extent by the effect of
the accident; it was immediately repaired with the greatest
Icare, and the public service has been re-e.stablislud. Thus
the mistake which was committed in departing from Arras,
and which some journals comment upon with a marked ex-
itihpoasutsepderil.
over
tiTiihselinfeololofwrianigis
fsovrerae
the
facts
er: i nh
dis-
tancee
of from 600 to 800 metres only, when the engineer per •
trainwas hwai
ceived the mistake, and put back. The head of the Arras
station had set off at the same moment on the other line of
rails, with a reserve locomotive, to inform him of it. At all
events, the first superintendent would have stopped the train
before it could have passed the first kilometre."
The Courrier Francais of Thursday republishes
this official defence, and appends to it the following
observations:—
"We insert this letter without comment. To whom is it
necessary for us to demonstrate that it proves absolutly no-
thing against ;the precise and positive assertion which we
have made respecting the bad construction of the road, the
bad organisation of the service, and the numerous accidents
by which the public has been thrown into a state of conster-
nation ? The Ministry and company are at issue, and
their respective agents and engineers affirm that neither
have anything to reproach themselves with! Who can they
hope to convince by such testimony ? For ourselves, we have
said much, we have said all that could be said, on both the
company and the Ministry ;—it is useless for us to add that
we maintain our assertions. We give little importance to
the denegations of the Cabinet or to those of M. de Roths-
child? We wait with confidence the result of the in-
quest, being but too certain that our convictions will be I
- - - - - -
confirmed."que

Since the terrific catastrophe of the Bth of