The Sun.
London, England, 1851-09-03 00:00:00

elytnina _7 nit

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1351

What are " the rights of property ?" They have
been spoken of for many centuries ; they are familiar
to our ears, but we believe they have never been very
accurately defined. The statute law is simple enough,
but thcre appears to be an " unwritten code" of a
shifting and variable character, which knows no
limitation save the will of " the lord of the soil."
His behests may be of the most illegal and unwarrant-
able character, but woe to the unfortunate cottier
who opposes the slightest resistance, who does not yield
a ready and servile obedience. It is true that the
landed proprietor no longer possesses a power of life
and death over his tenantry. He cannot order the
execution or even the flagellation of any contuma-
cious occupier. The " serfs" and " villeins" have
been nominally emancipated, and patriots rejoice in
the supposition that slavery no longer exists in the
United Kingdom. We fear, however, that this is
but an empty boast, so far as one of the British
islands is concerned; for we find that a despotic
authority is exercised in some parts of Ireland
exceeding anything known in the middle ages, when
the feudal system was at its utmost height, partaking
of a spiritual, as well as a merely temporal power,
and authorizing not only the landowner, but his lowest
bailiff, or driver, to excommunicate any miserable
wretch who may incur such formidable resentment,
and to forbid the slightest assistance being accorded,
however pressing may be the exigencies or potent the
claims of the sufferer. All the sympathies of the
heart must be closed up. The most barbarous
cruelties must be enacted—cruelties that
would disgrace a nation of savages, if the
driver announce that the victim is tabooed, that
he is not to receive shelter or aid in the district.
Although the Irish peasantry have been familiar with
misery in its most appalling aspects, although they
have seen friends and relations perishing—literally
perishing—from hunger, while they were unable to
afford the much-required relief, they are still a warm-
hearted race, who, if they had anything, however
trifling, in their power, would be contented to stint
themselves in order to assist a stranger, much less one
of their " own blood." We may, therefore, judge of
the potency of the spell under which they are en-
thralled when we hear of conduct such as that to
which the Hon. and Rev. J. G. OSBORNE—one of the
most earnest and devoted philanthropists of the age—
has just directed the public attention.

The case to which the Reverend Gentleman has
alluded, is one resting on no doubtful authority—
it cannot be an attempt on the public credulity.
It has been established on unquestionable tes-
timony in a court of justice, and verified by the
unanimous verdict of a jury. The instruments of
the crime, the small fry who were caught within the
meshes of the law, are expiating the horrible out-
rage of which, in carrying out the commands of the
representatives of their landlords, they were guilty ;
and although the larger game, who might almost
be considered as " accessaries before the fact,"
escaped with impunity, the language of the learned
and amiable judge who presided at the trial, and
Pronounced the sentence, showed that the parties
legally responsible had no personal ill-feeling
against the unfortunate deceased, but merely acted in
obedience "to the threats of those in authority,"
that is to say, of some one or more of the drivers or
sub-agents on the estate of the Marquis of LANs-
DOWNE.

We cannot for a moment suppose that the Noble
Marquis was at all cognizant of the orders that were
issued in his name, of the extreme and tyrannical ex-
tent to which his authority was carried. The
high and unblemished character which he has
sustained for so many years forbid the suppo-
sition. We trust, however, that his attention
being directed to the subject, he may cause such in-
quiries to be instituted as may lead to the detection of
the parties morally, if not legally, responsible ; and
may issue a stringent prohibition against such an
undue assumption of power for the future in any part
of his extensive estates—a power not allowed even to
the SOVEREIGN of these realms, unless under the
sanction and by the sentence of a judge of the land.
The case itself, to which we have alluded, is one
of a very simple but painfuicharacter. An unfortunate
child named DENIS SHEA, aged 12 years, had been
guilty_of some petty thefts, and in consequence fell
under the ban of the driver on the estate, who issued
an order that he was " not to be harboured in the
district." The command was in one instance dis-
obeyed. The grandmother of the miserable orphan
had received him ; but summary punishment awaited
the contumacious opposition, and the aged woman
was turned from her humble holding for not having
disregarded the voice of nature when in opposi-
tion to the commands of a driver The
example was one that ensured future submission.
Few persons in this happy land can understand the
fearful consequences of being "evicted" from a
holding in the south or west of Ireland, particularly
in a district where there has been an order that "no
lodgers are to be admitted under any pretext."
Everything, in fact, isAt stake, and charitable feelings
can only be indulged at a risk which even the boldest
and most reckless might fear to encounter—the danger
of sharing the lot of the suppliant. The miserable
starving boy, thus deprived of his only surviving pro-
tector, wandered from door to door, driven from
each in succession. He came at length to that in
which his uncle resided, and where it might be sup-
posed that he would have at least received a single
meal, even if shelter were denied. But no ; the com-
mands of the driver were too stringent, the results of
resistance too hazardous. The child was beaten from
the door, his hands tied behind his back, and, thus in-
jured and bound, he was driven from the inhospitable
threshold, and in the morning was found dead ! I
the hands being still bound. The uncle and
aunt were tried and convicted of manslaughter,
and received the very lenient sentence of two years'
imprisonment, with hard labour. Who is there, how-
ever, who can say that those who issued, or even
tacitly connived at such illegal, such barbarous
orders, are free from blame, or that orders for the
banishment or expulsion of obnoxious individuals
from particular districts, exposing the denounced to
the most intense suffering, perchance even to the
loss of life itself, fall within the legitimate or recog-
nised exercise of " the rights of property id"

It, has been long since universally admitted that the
invention of a signal by which the passenger travel-
ling in a railway carriage should be enabled at once
10 communicate with the guard or with the engine-

driver was a desideratum. Many instances have oc- 4 '
curred in which the establishment of such a commu-
nication would have prevented the occurrence of much
mischief. It not unfrequently happens that the
friction of the iron axletrees of the wheels of
a railway carriage produces ignition of the wood-
work forming its flooring, and whilst the
train is proceeding it is impossible, save by the adop-
tion of the signal system, that the guard can be made
aware of the occurrence of the fire until the carriage
is actually in flames, by which time probably the pas-
sengers would be burned. "It is not until a bishop
is burned that any measures will be adopted to pre-
vent the recurrence of these accidents," said the late
witty Canon of St. Paul's, and shortly afterwards
the Bishop of EXETER was nearly burned to death
from the ignition of the floor of the carriage in which
he was travelling on a railway, and his life was saved
only from the fortunate circumstance of the train
stopping at a station before the fire had spread. An
accident of a similar nature placed in jeopardy the
lives of Mr. PAXTON and his friends during the course
of their recent journey to Derby, to attend the festi-
val which the inhabitants of that town had given in
honour of their townsmen, the constructors of the
Crystal Palace. It is not long since that during a
night journey from Birmingham, a gentleman travel-
ling in one of the' carriages was attacked and nearly
murdered by his fellow-passenger, who was suddenly
seized in a fit of raving madness, and who having nearly
murdered his companion, leaped through the window
of the carriage whilst the train was proceeding
at full speed, and, marvellous to relate, escaped un-
hurt. Only last week two young men leaped from
a train whilst it was in motion, one of whom was
killed and the other severely injured; but their
fellow-passengers had no means of communicating
the occurrence to the guard until the arrival of the
train at the next station, whilst had such communica-
tion existed, the train might have been stopped, and
the wounded man conveyed at once to a place of
safety, instead of being left as he was, lying senseless
on the road, and in consequent danger of being
crushed by the next train traversing the line of rails.
Scarcely a week passes that the reports from our
police-courts do not inform us of the punishment by
fine, a very inadequate punishment we admit, of some
cowardly miscreant for assaulting and insulting females,
his fellow-passengers, in a railway carriage, and so
common has this offence become, as to amount to a
virtual prohibition of the travelling of females alone
in a railway carriage after evening has set in. All
these facts tend to prove how very desirable it is that
there should be established a means of instanta-
neous communication between the passengers in a
railway carriage and the guard attending the train.
Several different plans have seen proposed to effect
this desirable object, but the greater number of them
are open to the great, and, in the opinion of almost all
persons connected with the practical working of our
railway system, insuperable objection, that whilst
they alarm the guard they at the same time alarm
the whole of the passengers, and by the confusion
and commotion thus produced actually endanger
the safety of the whole. This objection applies with
greater force to those signals which may be called
noisy signals than to any others, and we believe
it is to the fact that until very recently
it has been deemed impossible to invent a
signal which shall alarm the guard without at the
same time alarming the passengers, that the objection
of the directors of the great majority of the railway
companies to permit experiments to be tried on their
lines is to be attributed. That objection, however,
has been completely obviated by the invention by
Captain ADDISON of a signal which alarms the guard,
and the guard alone, which is of mechanism so simple
as to be capable of being always preserved in an effi-
cient state, which can only be made by a
person travelling in the carriage, which cannot be
made by him without the full cognizance of
his fellow-passengers, and which indicates clearly and
unmistakeably the carriage from which it proceeds.
Thanks to the liberality and kindness of the direc-
tors of the North Kent line of railway, Captain
ADDISON was afforded an opportunity, on Monday
last, of testing the merits of his simple yet admirable
invention, and nothing could be more successful them
the result of those experiments, an account of which
appeared in The Sun of yesterday. The day signal
consists in the springing out from the side of the
carriage of a large iron flag, somewhat similar to that
carried by some of our omnibuses, which is thrown out
on an iron arm to such a distance from the carriage as
to be distinctly visible to the guard whose business it
is to keep his eye constantly along the whole line of
carriages. During the course of the journey this sig-
nal was given at least a dozen times, and was always
acknowledged within two seconds of the time of its
exhibition. The experiment had been performed se-
veral times before any of the passengers by the other
carriages were at all aware of what was going
on, and had it not been that they heard the
conversation on the subject which took place
at the different stations where the train stopped,
they would have completed their journey
without being aware that any experiments
whatever had been tried. The experiment with the
night signal was equally successful. In the night
signal, at the same time that the iron flag flies out,
a hammer falls upon a blue light, fitted up with a per-
cussion apparatus, which at once ignites the light,
and thus points out the carriage. The success of
these experiments was complete, and we congratulate
Captain ADDISON on having invented a safe and
simple signal, which meets all the objections that
have been made to the signal system, whilst it rea-
lizes all its advantages.

ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S FAIR.—To-day at twelve
o'clock the Lord Mayor made the ancient proclamation for
holding this fair and the court of Pie-Poudre (or as the com-
monalty of the district have it, the dusty foot court). Not-
withstanding the meagreness of the fair, now shorn of all
old Richardson's and Wombwell's glories, a goodly number
of our own countrymen, equalled at least in number by
foreigners of all nations, visited the far-famed spot.
ELECTION OF CORONER F3R EAST GLOUCESTER.
stmut.—This election took place yesterday, at Cheltenham.
The High Sheriff presided. Lord Redesdale proposed Mr.
Joseph Lovegrove. Captain Robertson seconded the nomi-
nation, and no other candidate being proposed, Mr. Love-
grove was declared duly elected, and took the oaths of office.

THE VICARAGE OF KNARESBOROUGH.—We under-
stand that the living of Knaresborough, vacant by the death,
on Thursday last, of the Ray. Andrew Cheap, has been be-
stowed on the Rev. James Fawcett, M.A., incumbent of
Woodhouse, Leeds. The gift of the living is in the Bishop
of Ripon. The late vicar held the living upwards of forty
years, and was seventy-seven years of age.

THE CIVIC CHAIR.—The forthcoming election of
chief magistrate of the city of London begins already to en-
gross the attention of the citizens. The senior aldermen who
have not passed the chair are W. limiter, Esq., T. Challis,
Esq., and T. Sidney, Esq., M.P.

The Duke and Duchess of Norfolk, accompanied
by Lady Adeliza Howard, attended morning service, at the
parish church of Arundel, on Sunday last.

The price of bread in Paris for the first fortnight
of the present month is fixed at 29 centimes the two-pound
loaf, being a reduction of I centime.

ADVANCE OF WAGES TO COUNTERPANE WEATERS.
—The counterpane weavers of Bolton have been seeking an
advance of wages, and the masters at once complied with
their demand. At a meeting of the body the weavers
agreed to ask for an advance of wages, to the extent of one
penny in the shilling, and also to ask that, in future, a uni-
form scale:of prices should bo adopted by every employer.
On Monday last the masters met at the Swan Hotel, and
having agreed to the proposal, appointed a committee of six
to meet an equal cumber of the men to arrange a uniform
list of prices. This being communicated to the weavers, a
numerous meeting of the body was held in the evening, and
a committee nominated to meet the gentlemen appointed by
the masters. On Tuesday the committees met, and on Wed-
nesday the business was arranged to the satisfaction of both
parties.

SERIOUS ACCIDENT IN REGENT-STREET.—Yester-
day evening, as Mr. Louth, of 127, New-road, Chelsea, was
driving his horse and gig along Piccadilly, the animal started
at the sound of a barrel-organ, and became totally unma-
nageable, darting off at a furious pace towards Regent-
street, which was thronged at the moment with people and
vehicles coming from the Great Exhibition. Numerous colli-
sions took place, and several persons were knocked down and
much hurt, the body of the gig was separated by coming in
contact with a heavily laden waggon, and Mr. Louth seri-
ously injured. The horse, with shafts dangling at his heels,
was not secured till he reached Charing-cross. Two persons,
Mr. and Mrs. Davis, of Turpin's coffee-house, Gilbert's-pas-
sage, Oxford-street, who were knocked down at the Regent-
circus, were removed to Charing-cross Hospital, where they
lie without hopes of recovery. The other persons who were
injured were taken to their own homes.
JURY LISTS.—CLAIMS OF EXEMPTlON.—Yester-
day notice was given that in the present month the jury
lists will be exhib'ted on the church doors for the next three
Sundays, and that all persons (sixty or upwards) must
claim at the petty sessions to be exempted. ~otherwis9 they
will be bound to serve on juries. As additional duties are
likely to be imposed under a recent Act, persons entitled to
exemption should claim the same.

SOUTHAMPTON, SEPT. 2.—The Trent, Royal Mail
Company's steam-ship, Captain Clark, with the usual West
India mails, left this afternoon, taking out 90 passengers,
a full cargo, and specie to the amount of 33,000/. The Dee,
with the homeward West India mails, may be looked fcr
about the sth instant. The United States Mail steam-ship
Humboldt, Captain Lines, from New York, is expected off
Cowes on or about Friday.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

VJe have received the Paris journals of yesterday.
The Journal des Dibats publishes an article oppos-
ing the reelection of Louis NAPOLEON BONAPARTE,
as, President of the Republic, and supporting the
p retensions of the Prince DE JOINVILLE. The Dellats
continues to be, as it always has been, the organ of the
Orleans family, and this declaration of hostility to the
pretensions of the Bonapartists iy, therefore, import-
ant. T wenty -seven of the Councils- General
have decided in favour of revision, but only eleven are
in favour of revision in a Bonapartist sense ; and
since the publication of the letter of the Comte DE
CILAMBORD, blaming MM. BERRYER and Di, FAL..
LOVX for voting in favour of a revision, and the dis-
tinot declaration of hostility to the pretensions of
Louis NAPOLEON by the Orleanists, it is doubtful
whether a new motion for the revision would not be
rejected by the Assembly by an absolute majority.
The fusionists, MM. GUIZOT, DUCRATEL, and MON•
TA.LIVET, were very coldly received at Claremont. It
is said that the Prince DE JOINVILLE refused to see
M. DE MONTILIVET.

The Gazette des Tribunal= says :—" We are as-
sured that, when the Minister of Justice was informed
by the Procureur- General of Lyons that the advocates
of the accused before the court-martial had retired,
he ordered the different parquets, under whose juris-
diction they are placed, to complain of their conduct
to the Council of Discipline."

M. ALPHONSE GENT and the:condemned:of Lyons
have lodged the following appeal in the hands of the
proper authorities :
" The undersiged declare:that they appeal in revision
against the judgment rendered against them on the
28th of August, 1851, by the Second Permanent Court-
Martial at Lyons, and against all incident decisions
during the trial, and they do so on grounds affecting the
merits and technicalities of the case, which will be
hereafter indicated. They place you under the obliga-
tion of supplying them with the means of giving to their
appeal any more complete and more legal form which
may be necessary.
"Prison of Boanne, 291 h August, 1851, 12 o'clock in
the day.
" (Signed) A. Gent—Albert7Ode—Longomasino—
Mon tegut Barbut Bouvier— Delescluse—
Daumas—Borel—L Gent—Grill—Chevassus—
Maistre—P. Malleval—J. Louis—Chamard—
Robert Beridot—Petibon—Merit—Rouvier
—Jouvenne."
Four of the prisoners, viz., DUPONT and CARLE, sen-
tenced to six months' imprisonment, and SAUVRE and
THOUREL to a year's imprisonment, have not appealed.
Letters from Toulon of the 29th mention the fact
of rumours being in circulation there that the French
Mediterranean squadron had received orders to pro-
ceed to the coast of Italy as speedily as possible. The
state of the Italian peninsula generally, and of Naples
in particular, is said to be the cause of these orders
being given.
The Bourse was feeble, particularly at the close. The
Five per Cents. opened, for the end of the month, at
94f. 5c., and closed at 93f. 70c.; the Three per Cents.
closed at 55f. 70c., having opened at 56f. 30c.; Or-
leans Railroad Shares, 8731. 75c.; Rouen, 595 f.; Havre,
2311.25 c.; Great Northern, 460 f.; Avignon, 203 f. 75c.;
Vierzon, 430 f; Basle, 150 f.; Bordeaux, 388 f. 75c.;
Paris and Strasburg, 3601.; Tours and Nantes, 2651.;
Ansiens to Boulogne, 257 f. 50c.

BUSINESS ()ONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE, SEr'r. 2.
Boulogne and Amiens, 104—Central of France (Orleans
and Vierzon), 171 - Dutch Rhenish, 3—Luxembourg, 2
Namur and Liege, 6—Northern of France, WA—Paris and
Strasbourg, 11%—Tours and Nantes, 6%.