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

041 rt inii :-' Atte:

LONDON, TUESDAY, MAY 12, 1851

After some conversation the Home again divided, and
the motion for adjournment was negatived by a majority
of 145 to 36.
Mr. M. J. O'CONNELL opposed the motion for the
Speaker's leaving the chair.
Mr. URQUHAET also opposed the motion.
Mr: KEOGH warned the Government against the dan-
gerous consequences which must attend any attempt to
enforce the provisions 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
done.

Lord JOHN RUSSELL denied that there was any per-
secution in the proposed measure. It was a political
measure framed to repel an open and daring defiance of
the SOVEREIGN of this country by the Court of Rome.
Mr. BRIGHT could not see. any necessity for legisla-
tion in all that had taken place.
Mr. EcnizY moved the adjournmfmt cf the debate.
The House divided, and the numbers were—
For the adjournment . . ... 54
Against it ..• 365
Majority ...
Mr. O'FLAHERTY then moved the adjournment of the
debate.

Lord J. RUSSELL was in hopes that they might have
gone into Committee, but rather than keep the House
dividing all night, he would assent to the adjournment
of the debate until Thursday nea►.
The Property Tax Bill was read a third time and
passf,d.

Lord SEYMOUR obtained leave to bring in a Bill to
make batter 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 then disposed of, and the
licute adjourned.

There is apparently no art which has been brought
`..0 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 Houzes.
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 brutum fulrnen—no empty threat. Any person
really amibitious 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 secoader
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 now reached a point at which something
must be done to abate the nuisance that has gradually
sprung up. It is those who have so fearfully abused
the power confided to their hands 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 bean devoted to the
consideration of the Ecclesiastical Titles Assumption
Bill, we 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 every stage, where a division could be fairly called
for. In so doing, they would command the respect
and sympathy of the House and country. But
when
they wilfully and deliberately transgress
the limits within which they should restrict
themselves, they do more to injure their cause
than the most powerful and uncompromising
opponents could
accomplish. They excite a feeling
of disgust, that may be productive of results very prejudicial, not only to their own individual inte-
rests, but to the cause of universal toleration and
liberality.
We do not complain of the point raised by the
Member for that
the
been considered and
Mayo,
tHheonpourorpabosleitiGonentslhemoualnd
agreed to in aCommittee of the whole House
before
na n
dof
if
thethe Ministersßill bad been caught. A fair point was
tthheerienbtyrordauino,
napping, and that they had overlooked an obvious
and 'necessary
b j ced t o precaution, no one could have reason-
aby those who took advantage of the
oversight. But it appears that the matter had been
loet
clearly anticipated and canvassed by the Government,
and that the PREMIER had not only obtained the
questions of Parliamentary
the highest authority on all
opinions of the law officers of the Crown, but also of
'`
practice—the SPEAKER of the House of Commons,
a gentleman who would regard wish peculiar jealousy
any interference with the privileges of the body over
which he had been selected to preside by the indepen-
dent voices of it3Members. When that opinion had been
delivered, we should perhaps rather have said, thatjudg-
ment 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 whom it was put

In the Ilousenf Lords, last night, some discussion took
place on the presentation of a petition by the Earl of
GLENGALL, from the millownera of Tipperary, praying
for protection against the importation of foreign flour.
It, however, led to no result.
The Church Buildings Act Amendment Bill was or-
dered to be referred to a Select Committee, and their
Lordahipe adjourned.
In the Commons,
On the motion for going into Committee on the
Ecclesiastical Titles Assumption Bill,
Mr. MoonE moved, as an amendment, "That the
standing order which requires that Bills concerning
religion should be first considered in a Committee of
the whole House be read, and that the order for the
Committee on the Ecclesiatical Titles Assumption Bill
be discharged."
Sir G. GREY said the question bad been considered
before the introduction or the Bill, and the decision ar-
rived at was, that the Bill did not come within the
scope of the standing order.
Mr
oe.
nRs
;le
Asr
were
icEnKRt e wasrsf:ir
deodf t
with
iadt
that
f ftuehnreel
there
estso
wouldtphi
en i osbnpe.
rni
ot a
necessitya t i
e s of
religion
submitting the Bill in the first instance to a Com-
mittee of theaGppi
oi3VVisnhotOziel
de
Slltuogolgueesaserice h
itohra
that
shoMulrd. M.
test. Committee
precedents.
ceSdeelne
Mr. H. GRATTAN supported the motion of Mr.
MOORE.
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 only negative the motion for his leaving
the chair.
Mr. ROEBUCK. 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 FITZROY KELLY considered that the Bill ought
to have been introduced in Committee.
The SOLICITOR,GENERAL dented that the Bill affected
spiritualiiie2.
Mr. GLADSTONE 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 divided, and the adjournment of the
debate was negatived by a majority of 17e to 53.
Mr. LAWLESS then 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 his friends would in the mean time allow the Bell to
proceed in Committee.
Sir G. GREY hoped the House, after the recent div
sion, would reject the present motion, and allow the Bi
to proceed.

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 condemnation. Accidental—purely acci-
dental—the death is unquestionably pronounced to
be, but " with great blame to the executive committee
and charge of imprudence and indiscretion against the
officers." Such are the preliminary phrases 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 conscientious 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 te the minds of the jury that
peril of the like kind might henceforth be very
readily avoided by the affixing of signals, invariably,
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 one of 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
the u
experiencednioiatitie, thosendtheco who nsideration
of this matter 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 various 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 now 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 terrorem 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
the whole intricate system of railway management
might ultimately be conducted with the precision and
regularity of clockwork.

THE VISITORS' LisT.--Thanks to the enterprise of
one of our most indefatigable journalists, the editor not only
of the Critic, but of the Journal of the Exhibition, a fly-
sheet has just been issued from the press at a merely nominal price, and of a singularly useful character. Its title is that
of our paragraph. In it are periodically published the names
and addrerses of the various strangers visiting our metropolis.
Those foreigners who have not yet been announced in its
columns as among the recent arrivals in London, we would
recommend at once to transmit their names to the publisher
as a matter to them of very obvious convenience. Besides
this interesting catalogue of visitors, the paper comprises an
admirable guide to the sights and amusements of the day,
lucidly arranged, and containing every particular of any in-
terest whatsoever. The Visitors' List will be found alto-
gether to be one of the most excellent publications yet offered
to the foreigners arriving amongst us for the purpose of
witnessing the Exhibition.

REUNION DES ARTS.—Last night this Society
opened its :Second Soir6e at the Private Rooms, 27, Queen
Anne-street, with a crowded and most select company.
We must give great eredit to the committee for the good
selection and arrangement of the music, which was most
admirably executed by some of our best vocal and instru-
mental artistes. Miss Rummel, Miss Magner, Madame
Lmaitre, Miss Lavinia. Miss Day, Madame Goffin, Mr.
Day, Mr. Goodban, Herr Schmidt, Herr Rummel, Herr
Goffrie, Mr. Frederick Chatterton, &c. The lower apart-
ments were ornamented with some fine pictures by English
and foreign artists, and where, during the interval of the
to a
musical performance, the company retired to partake of some
coffee provided for them by the committee, spending a
late hour.
most pleasant and social evening, which was prolonged

ROMAN CATHOLIC HIERARCHL—An address, to
which 255,766 signatures were attached, and which was pre-
sented to her Majesty from her Majesty's Roman Catholic
subjects in England, disclaiming any intention c,f trenching
upon the royal prerogative in the recent appointment of a
Roman Catholic hierarchy, has been printed by order of the
House of Commons.

ROYAL POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTION.—Amongst the

recent deposits at this valuable establishment may be seen a
machine for making nets, the invention of Mr. William
Mullen, United States, which accomplishes that which not
long since was deemed an impossibility, viz., tying a knot in
the centre of two straight cords; and the knot formed by this
arrangement, strange to say, is the same precisely as that
made by the fishermen in which the needle is passed corn-

chauical ingenuity lead us to W
that nothing is really Impostslble •
,
the present day, to believe
pletely through the mesh. Certhaaintlsyotfhreqeseuetrnitulympahpspeoafrms
ien-
for we find that which to-day
to-
morrow is a mere commonplace We
e attempt,
understandthat by this contrivance nets of all kinds may be produced at
a merely nominal advance upon the raw material as at pre-
sent procured. seems
matter.absurd
WELSH LABOURERS V. IRISH NAVVIES.—One day
last week, a body of Irish navvies, numbering about forty or
fifty, weresgngaged by Mr. M'Cormack, contractor, of Bir-
kenhead, tS proceed to Bangor, for the purpose of excavat-
ing and forming a line of railway to connect that town with
Carnarvon. The Irishmen were duly landed, and were
making preparations to commence their work, but the intel-
ligence 80011 spread among the Welsh stone-quarriers and
others. The navvies were looked upon as a species of in-
vaders, and the Welshmen instantly assembled to the num-
ber of upwards of 200, surrounded the Irishmen, and with-
out a blow being struck, drove them in a mass on board a
steamboat. The navvies seeing they had no chance against
such overwhelming numbers, quietly submitted, and were landed in a few hours afterwards at this port. The Welsh-
men effected their purpose notwithstanding the remon-
strances of the Bangor magistrates. The expulsion of the
Irishmen had the effect of suspending fora time the excava-
tion of the railway.—Liverpool Mercury.