The Sun.
London, England, 1851-05-13 00:00:00

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LONDON,- TUESDAY,,- MAY 12, 1851

In the Huse of Lordi, last eight, some-discuisionatrool
ofk
place on the presentation of a petition by the Earl
GLENG&LL; from the millovinera of Tipperary, praying
for 'protection against the importation of foreign
It, however, led to no result.
The Church Beildinge Act Amendment Bill was or.
dered to be referred to a Select Committee, and their
Lordships adjourned.
In the Commons,
On the motion for .going into Committee on the
Ecclesiastical Titles Assumption Bill,
Mr. MooRE moved, as an amendment, "That the
standing order which' requires that Bills concerning
religion should be first eonsidemo in a Committee of
:he' *hole House be read, and that the order for the
Committee on the Ecclesiatical Titles Assumption Bill
be discharged."
Sir G. GREY aid the quettion had been considered
before the introduction of the Bill, and the decision ar-
rived at was, that the Bill did not come within the
scope of the standing order.
Mr. ROEIWCE Wtt9 of a different opinion.
relTighioenSZre Alltitters4ed d thatw ith thereunless would be
thespirniotunaleicteiesesitoyf
for submitting the. Bill in the first instance to a Com-
mittee of the whole House.
Mr. M. GIBSSN suggested that a Select Committee
should be appointed to search for precedents.
Mr- H. GRATTAN supported the motion of Mr.
MOORS,
Mr. REYNOLDS Said he would move the appointment-
of a Select Committee, to search for precedents.
The SPEAKER said he could not do so as an amend-
ment. He could ouly negative the motion for his leaving
the chair.
Mr. IioRBUCK believed it was competent to move an
adjournment of the debate.
The SPEAKER replied in the affirmative; and
Mr. REYNOLDS accordingly did so, in order to give
time for the appointment of a Committee.
Mr. KEOGH said that Mr. BRODIE, Mr. BADDELEY,
and Sir blxzttor KELLY considered that the Bill ought
to have been introduced in Committee.
• The SoLwiToK-GENERAL denied that the Bill affected
spiritualities.

Mr. GLAtoSTONE would vote for a Committee to search
for precedents,' if that question could be brought fairly
before the House.

Mr. •SADLEIR supported' the amendment.
Lord JOHN RussELL opposed, and Mr. BRIGHT sup-
ported, a reference to a Select Committee.
The House then di.vided, and the adjournment of the
debate was negatived by a majority of 179 to 53.
Mr.• LAWLESS tkien moved the adjournment of the
House, which was seconded by Mr. H. GRATTAN.
Mr. REYNOLDS said that if Lord JOHN RUSSELL
would grant a Committee to inquire into precedents he
and hiv friends would in the mean time allow the Bill to
proceed in Committee.
Sir G. GREY hoped the House, after the recent divi-
sion, would reject the present motion, and allow the Bill
to proceed.

After some conversation the House again divided, and
the motion for adjournment was negatived by a majority
of 145 to 36. •
Mr. M. J. O'CorotELL opposed the motion for the
Speaker's leaving the onair.
Mr. URQUHART also opposed the motion.
Mr. liEoult wattled the Government against the dan-
gerous consequences which must attend any attempt to
enforce the provi.ions of the Bill in Ireland, and con-
tended that the POPE had received every encourage-
ment from the Government to act in the manner he had
dote.

Lard Jonw RUSSELL denied that there was any per.
secution in the proposed measure. I: was a political
measure f r ame d to repel an open and daring defiance d
the Sovatiaorr of this country by the Court of Rome.
Mr. BRIGIIT could not see any necessity for legisla-
tion in all tnat had- taken place.
Mr. SULLY moved the adjournment of the debate.
The House divided, and the numbers were—
Fcr the adjournment .. ... 54
Against it ...
... 365
Majority ...--3 1 1
Mr. OTL/LTIERTI" then moved the adjournment of the
do bate.

Lord J. Russel. was in hopes that they might have
gone into Committee, hat rather than keep the House
dividing all night, he would asbent to the adjournment
of the debate until Thursday next.
The Property Tax Bill was read a third time and
passed.

- Lord SEYMOUR obtained leave to bring in a Bill to
make better provision for the management of the Woods,
Forests, and Land Revenues of the Crown, and for the
direction of public works and buildings.
Tne remaining business was th.-a dtsposed of, and the
House adjourned.

here is apparently no art which has been brought
a higher degree of perfection than that of obstruct-
ng the public business of the country. Measures
will no longer be carried through Parliament because
they are in accordance with public opinion, and are
supported by overwhelming majorities in both Houses.
They will pass by the favour of the minorities, be-
cause they have not excited any strong feelings in
!the minds of some fifteen or twenty Members, suffi-
cient to induce those Honourable Gentlemen to enter
upon a course, of factious opposition. The promise of
"dying on the floor of the House" will henceforward be
no mere bruturn fulmen—no empty threat. Any person
really arnibitious of martyrdom can accomplish his
wishes, provided he can find, two or three tough vete-
rans, men who would be duly qualified to act as
" boot-eaters" at Irish state trials, to render their
assistance to carry out the laudable undertaking.
Indeed, we believe a single follower will suffice, one
who can ring the changes on the questions—" That
this. House do now adjourn," and " that the debate
be now adjourned." It is necessary, according to
the standing orders, that there should be some
intermediate proceeding, before either question'
can be again proposed. But the spirit of this salu
tary rule is violated with impunity by adopting the
puerile evasion above indicated, and if a seconder
can be found who will act as teller on the division,
and vary his position on the next motion, of which
he will be the proposer, nothing can be done to stop
their course. Two persons can thus overule the
wishes of the remaining 654, and can arrest the pro-
gress of legislation at their mere will and pleasure. This
might be a valuable privilege if resorted to only on rare
ocCasions, when desirable to prevent surprise, or a
question of real importance being adjudicated on
without full and mature consideration. But the
matter has no A' reached a point at which something
must be dune to abate the nuisance that has gradually
sprung up. It is those, who have so fearfully abused
the power confided to their bands who will be re-
sponsible for any evils that may arise from the abro-
gation of the Ancient rule.
After the time that had already been .devoted to the
cdnaideration of the Ecclesiastical Titles Assumption
Bill, Ne might have hoped that no further factious oppo-
sition would have been offered to the progress of the
measure. It was even asserted that the Irish Brigade
had come to reason, and determined to change their
tactics in some ,degree., Every legitimate ground
would of course remain open. They might argue
and divide on the principle and on each of the details,
on teary stage, 'where a division could be fairly called
for. In so doing, they would command the respect
and sympathy o.f the House and country. But,
N''th.heen they wilfully and deliberately transgress
limits within which they should restrict
themselv.s, they
than the must do more to injare their cause
opponehts co powerful and uncompromising
could accomplish. They excite a feeling
of disgust, that n
prejudicial, not e7y tob this
u cotwi vne
ionfdirveidsuulatis
ivnetrey:
rests, but to the Cause
tf universal toleration and
liberality.
, do not complain
of
Memberthe point
for raised
Mayo, thatlsed by the
Honourable Gentlewatt the
the proposition should have been considered and
agreed to in a Committee of the Nste,„ House before
the introduction of the Bill. A fair point was
thereby raised, and if the Ministers had been caught
napping, and that they had overlooked an obvious
and necessary precaution, no one could have reason-
ably objected to those who took advantage of the
oversight. But it appears that the matter had been
clearly. Anticipated and canvassed by the Government;
and that the PRLIVIEE had not only obtained the
,
opinion 3 of the taw officers of the Crown, but also 0

the highest authority on all questions of Parliamentary
practice the SPEAK NE of the House of Commons,

a gentieman who would regard with
peculiar jealousy.
any interfersnce with the privileges 0f the body over
_ n_
which he had been selected to preside by the indepe
dent voices of itaMembers. When that opinion had been
darsered, we should Perhaps rather bave said, that:Pl:lg',
went pronounced that "it was not ,a Bill of a nature
that required to be originated in a Committee of the
whole House," the objection should have been
withdrawn, and the parties by wl3 om it was Put

•

~~~

forward should have yielded gracefully to the
adverse decision. In place of that we find motion
after motion for adjournment, the majority in-
creasing on each division until at length it
amounted to no less than 311, there being 54 for
and 365 against the adjournment, and yet that over-
whelming majority were obliged to succumb, and to
consent that the motion for going into Committe,y
should be postponed until Thursday text. Under
such circumstances it is clear that a Committee of
Inquiry must be"appointed to inquire and report on
the standing orders, and to ascertain the best manner
of -expediting the progress of legislation in both
Houses:

It will be observed that a verdict has at length
been pronounced in reference to the fatal railway col-
lision in Cheshire. It will also be remarked that this
verdict is couched in language expressive of the most
emphatic coodemnation. Accidental—purely acci-
dental—the death is unqu, stionably pronounced to
he, but " with great blame to the executive committee
and charge of imprudence and indiscretion against the
Officers." Such are the preliminary phraies of the
verdict, vague but adverse—the subsequent sentence
being somewhat more explicit in its reprobation.
There was deficiency,"• it says, " of loco-
motive power, and the management was so
imperfect as to endanger the safety of the public."
Whether this decision is or is not in all respects cha-
racterised by truth, it cannot be denied that it has
been arrived at after the most mature deliberation.
Nothing could be more painstaking than the attention
paid throughout to the inquiry by the coroner, or
more evidently conscientioue than the final opinion
expressed by the body of jurymen. From all the
circumstances of this case it must from the very out-
set have been apparent that no adequate precautions
were taken to prevent the possibility of any such
horrible and disastrous accident. Otherwise
it could scarcely have occurred so slowly and
deliberately. Warning of some sort must inevi-
tably have been given of the danger approached by
the second train previously to its entrance into the
fatal tunnel. From the peculiarity of the occurrence
it has suggested itself to the minds of the jury that
peril of the like kind might henceforth be very
readily avoided by the affixing of eignals,.inveriably,
at the mouth of every such excavation, and by attach-
ing lights in addition to this upon all occasions to the
carriages. Had measures of this description been
adopted upon the railway through Cheshire, the
survivors of the unfortunate victims of the
collision would not have had better cause
for lamenting the untimely demise of their friends
and relatives. The event referred to should con-
sequently be taken as a warning of an awfully im-
pressive character, enforcing upon all the railway
companies of the United Kingdom the necessity of
adopting the means specified for the avoidance of
equally lamentable catastrophes.
Considering the terrific power placed by science
under the guidance of man in the steam-engine, it
must, nevertheless, be , confessed that the
marvel is rather that so few fatal accidents
have occurred since the inauguration of
the railway system than that the public has been oc-
casionally startled by their announcement. Those
who have never chanced to be waiting on the platform
of an intermediate station when an express train has
roared past and disappeared in the distance can at
all realize the extraordinary velocity with which the
iron rails are daily traversed. Coupling with this
the strange complication of the various lines upon
any oneof the trunk railroads, and the seemingly inex-
tricable difficulty of shunting those lines one into an-
other, according to the passage of the various trains
up and down, and in proportion to the lapse of time
in the four-and-twenty hours, the wonder is that no
more accidents have transpired than those recorded
during the last quarter of a century upon the diurnal
tablet of the. newspaper. Nevertheless, -while such
may be the surprise experienced in the consideration
of this matter by the uninitiated, those who are
familiar with the general organization of the system
of railways can understand the facilities placed in the
way of the authorities for the prevention,
under ordinary circumstances, of any really
serious catastrophe. With the aid of their customary
regulations, with a strict adherence to the hours of
arrival and departure, with careful attention to the
conduct of the different underlings intermediately
situated between the principal termini, and with a
sedulous regard to the repairs of the road and the
efficiency of the engines employed in the traffic to
and fro—there scarcely remains a possibility of any-
thing like a collision, or of an accident of any less
terrible character. _ It consequently behoves the
directors of the vari3us lines now in ope-
ration to look cautiously to each and all
of the particulars above enumerated, so that
in every instance the blame may attach rather
to their servants than" to themselves. By this
method the public interest would be effectually
conserved, and additional reasons would be afforded
for attention to their different duties among the
officials employed upon the three thousand miles and
upwards of railway new in active operation through-
out England. Rewards of .a more attractive kind
than those hitherto extended to the servants of the
various companies should be held out for the faithful
discharge of duties of a very arduous and responsible
description. Punishments in like manner of a more
serious and practicable species, such, for example, as
the degradation or discharge of the culpable, should
be raised in terrorern over the heads of those
entrusted with - the lives and deaths of their
fellow-creatures, inciting them to the more

punctilious discharge of duties so peculiarly onerous
and important. By this method we feel satisfied that