The Sun.
London, England, 1860-09-12 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 12, 1860,

horns, haloes, wind dogs,'et and the rairbow, are
more or less significant of increasing wind, if not
approaching rain, with or without wind.
" Near land, in sheltered harbours, in Valleys, or
over low grotind, there is usually a marked dimi-
nution of wind, during part of the night, and a dis-
persion of clouds. At such times an eye on an
overlooking height may see an extended body of
vapours below (rendered visible by the cooling of
night) which seems to cheek the wind.
" Lastly, the dryness or dampness of the air, and
its temperature (for the season), should always be
considered, with other indications of change, or con-
tinuance of wind and weather."

" a Fragments or pieces (as it were) of rainbows (some-
times called , wind-gals') seen on detached clouds.

TIE FRENCH EMPEROR AND THE

POPE.

• (From the Times.)
Among many other innovations in the conduct
of crowned heads towards each other which have
been introduced by the Emperor of the French, none
is more remarkable than the practice of addressing
through semi-official journals admonitions and lec-
tures to foreign Governments. The practice is, to
say the least of it, exceedingly unsatisfactory. If
his sole motive is to communicate his advice and
opinions to his neighbours, means are at his disposal
at once more usual, more courteous, and more efficient
than the plan of admonitions from the pen of M.
Grandguillot or M. de Lagueronniere. France has
diplomatic agents as able and zealous as those of any
country in the world. Why cannot she trust them
to communicate to her nei3hbours any facts or
opinions with which she is desirous they should be-
come acquainted ? No answer can be given to this
question, on the supposition that all this good advice
means nothing more than it purports to mean—the
kind and officious zeal of a friend, who, seeing his
neighbour about to commit some great imprudence,
comes forward to warn him of his danger before it
is too late. Such warnings, however, are not
generally given in public, nor through indirect and
unavowed agents. They are given privately, and
with all the force that the certainty of their origin
can give them. But if, on the other hand, the
object be to appear to dissaude from a course which
it is really wished nevertheless should be perse-
vered in, we can well understand why the Emperor
of the French should employ his semi-official press
to advertise to all Europe his disapproval of the
supposed intention of Sardinia to intervene in the
affairs of the Papal States. Should any misfortune
happen to the Pope, the Emperor is thus provided
with what he will treat as a complete exculpation.
" I was bound," he will say, " to the policy of non-
intervention. Had I violated that policy myself, I
could not with the slightest colour of reason or
justice have denied to Austria the same privileges,
and thus the liberation of Italy, won by the arms
of France with so much blood and so much glory,
would have been endangered at the very moment
when we fancied it secure. But I did all I could ;
I took care that no sacrilegious hand should be laid
on the Vicar of Christ, by garrisoning Rome with
French soldiers. As for the patrimony of St.
Peter, I left it to the charge of ore of the best
officers whom the African wars have produced, and
I earnestly entreated my ally the King of Sardinia
to abstain from a step so painful to my feelings, so
injurious to the interests of religion, and so offen-
sive to the feelings of every good Catholic. What
could Ido more ?" It is with this object, and also
with the object of what partners call " advertising
himself out of the concern," that the Emperor of the
French directs these semi-official warnings to be
administered, they become perfectly intelligible.
The truth is, that the policy of the French
Emperor with regard to the affairs of the Pope
has assumed a complication so, extreme that it can
be accounted for on no principle of ordinarily fair
and intelligible dealing. The Emperor has not
one, but three policies, with regard to the Pope—
one for the Legations, another fen' Rome and its
vicinity, and another for the remainder of the Papal
territory. In the Legations, the Emperor is a strict
advocate for non-intervention ; in Rome and its
neighbourhood he intervenes in the strongest and
most practical manner ; in Umbria and the Marches
lee does not exactly intervene himself, but permits
a French general to discipline the levies of the
Pope, and to give there the skill acquired under the
standards of France in a series of active and bloody
campaigns. Moreover, he lectures his ally the King
of Piedmont through his newspapers, and advises
him to abstain from measuring swords with Gen.
Lamoriciere. In which of these courses is he sin-
cere ? Under which of these thimbles is the pea of
the Imperial policy to be found ? Is the Emperor
of the French in favour of intervention or non-in-
tervention, or of a mixed policy—of intervention
and non-intervention in equal shares ? His policy
is not merely ambiguous, it is absolutely self-con-
tradictory. He can take no step with regard to one
portion of the Papal dominions which will not be
a reflection on his policy in some other part. Should
he intervene to support Lamoriciere, such a step
would Ito convicted of inconsistency DP ins previous
inaction in the Romagna. Should he leave Lamo-
riciere to his fate, such a step would be inconsistent
with the occupation of Rome. It is really time that
some definite line of policy were traced by the French
Government, and that Europe were relieved from
the doubt and anxiety which so unprecedented a
state of relations as those subsisting between the
Pope and the Emperor of the French cannot fail to
produce. In the meanwhile, all that we have to
guide us is such sentences as these in the columns
of the C'onstitutionne/:—" We should grieve to see
Piedmont accomplish an aggression which would
incontestably separate her from the Imperial policy.
France being the protector of the Pope of Rome,
cannot but disapprove that any Lamed assistance
should be given to the insurrection in the
provinces. We hope that Piedmont will not
renounce the principle of respect for inter-
national rights, which alone can preserve
our alliance with her. We also trust that
the King will avoid a political fault which
would be a misfortune for Italy." Thus speaks the
oracle; but surely never oracle spoke at once so
plainly and so delusively. The Emperor of the
French and the King of Piedmont have been for a
good while in partnership, and must be well aware
of each other's method of doing business. The King
of Piedmont must understand that i is not on a
question of assisting insurrection in the provinces
, of a neighbour, even though that neighbour should
be the Pope himself, that the Emperor of the
French is disposed to quarrel with him, for the
occupation of the Romagna affords an unanswer-
able proof to the contrary. Nor can any one, after
the events of the last two years, gravely say that
France is the protector of the Pope in any sense
which would make it an outrage to her policy for
Sardinia to assist his insurgent subjects. Is not the
permission to occupy the 2Emilia with Piedmontese
troops part of the consideration which France has
given to Piedmont for the provinces of Savoy and
Nice ? And, if this was consistent with the pro-
tection of the Pope, cannot a-transaction of the same
kind be arranged on the same accommodating prin-
ciple ? But there is still another reason why we
confess we are disposed to attach very little weight
to these admonitions of the Constitutionnel. France
advises and remonstrates, but she is advising and
remonstrating with a Power which she can, if she
pleases, compel to the most implicit obedience. If
France is in earnest in the matter, her Government
has only to intimate to Piedmont, not in public,
not in the Constitutionnel, but by a few words
spoken in the Cabinet of M. Cavour, that she will
not permit any interference by Piedmont with the
affairs of the Pope, and no interference will take
place. We have all read how the pious Charles V.
sacked and plundered Rome with a cruelty unknown
to Alaric himself, and at the same time put up
prayers in his private chapel for the safety of the
Pope. This device deceived nobody, and we con-
fess that we shall be much surprised if the admo-
nition of the Vonatitutionnel be more successful.
It does so happen that each of the parties about
to contend in the Papal States is absolutely in
the power of the Emperor of the French. Lamori-
ciere is his subject, who must throw up his com-
mand if he is directed to do so, and the King of
Piedmont in his present position is, perhaps, still
more dependent on the will of his great ally.
Surely, it is too bold an experiment to expect Eu-
rope to believe that a war carried on between two
persons each of whom is under the control of a third
person is carried on without that third person's
consent.

However, the denouement of the drama cannot be
much longer delayed. It is impossible for the Papal
Treasury, very feebly supported as it is by the con-
tributions demanded of the faithful all over the
world, to maintain long in idleness its band of Con-
dottieri. These gentlemen, at least, do not make
" war for an idea." If nothing is to be had byplun-
dering the enemies of the Pope they will infallibly
take to plundering his subjects. They will stand
alone in united Italy, detested by the people among
whom they live, and menaced by the revolutionary
enthusiasm of the whole Peninsula. Their fate
may be considered as certain unless the Emperor of
the French intervene to save them, and, notwith-
standing the lectures of the Constitutionnel, we do
not expect to see the tricoloured flag discoloured by i
the blood and dirt of an nglorious campaign, in
which it would be borne side by side with the ban-
ner of an army which every civilised Government
must regard with abhorrence.

MANCHESTER.

THE WEATHER AND THE HARVEST.—Up to
yesterday the weather continued fine in Norfolk, and in
many parts of that county the wheat crop is now secured,
although the barley harvest is not so forward. From
Essex, Suffolk, and other counties on the north-eastern
side of the kingdom the accounts received se to the progress
of the kunst aro highly ireurablo.

THE RAILWAY ACCIDENT NEAR

The following evidence was given at the inquest
on Monday after our parcel had been despatched :
Mr. James Shaw, passenger superintendent of
the East Lancashire section of the Lancashire and
Yorkshire Railway, was called and examined by
Mr. Grundy. He said-1 remember Monday last,
the 3d of September. We had four excursion trains
advertised for that day—two to Blackpool, one
to Liverpool, and one to Manchester for Belle
Vue. They all started from Colne. The train
for Manchester was put ou in pursuance of an
application from Mr. Jennison, the proprietor of
the Belle Vue-gardens. We were led to expect
about 1,000 passengers for the Belle Vue train.
I produce the printed list of trains which were
appointed to run that day. I provided a train
of 24 carriages, one engine, and two guards, for
the accommodation of the traffic I expected
for Belle Vue. This train after leaving Colne was
appointed to call at all stations between Colne
and Ratcliffe to take up passengers. Before the
train arrived at Burnley I received a telegraphic
message from the station-master at Burnley apply-
ing for an engine with all the carriages that cou d
be spared, saying that there were 350 passengers at
Burnley, a great many at Barracks, and many hun-
dreds at Nelson. On receiving that message I sent
an engine with 18 carriages. I received a second
message from Burnley before the second train ar-
rived at Accrington, and after the first had come in.
The message said, " Burnley is clear ; but carr;ages
all full ; Burnley, Barracks, Ro3egrove, and Hun-
coats cannot be taken on ; send carriages." I found,
however, that the two trains had cleared the line as
far as Accrington. At Accrington there were 400
passengers booked for Belle Vue They got away
from Accrington by one or other of the two trains.
Just before the train of 18 carriage:s got away from
Accrington I received a telegram from Haslingden
with the following words :—" About 400 for Belle
Vue; send plenty of carriages." When the first
two trains left Accrington, there being no roam for
Haslingden, I had to make up another train of 23
carriages. The guards of the third train were
Chippendale, who was put in charge of the train,
and Tomlinson, who was the assistant-guard. That
was the train which afterwards grew into 31 car-
riages, and to which the accident happened, eight
having been added at Ramsbottom. Both the
guards had been in the service of the company
many years. Chippendale had been 12 years, and
Tomlinson probably five years. They were occa-
sionally used to work excursion trains, and they
are well acquainted with the line, having for a
great portion of their time been working that dis-
trict. All the trains arrived safely at Manchester.
Each train went to Manchester with one engine.
In the course of the day I arranged with the loco-
motive superintendent for two engines, so as to in-
' crease the power, and arranged wita Mr. Cooper,
the station-master at Salford, how the trains
should be started from Manchester, the train con-
sisting of 18 to be reduced to 14, and those carriages
to be attached to the third train which left Manches-
ter, making z 8 carriages; but these carriages were
afterwards reduced to 24. The second train was to
remain of 31 carriages, as it had arrived, with two
engines to draw it. I know, from the quantity of
carriage accommodation required, that we had at
least. 2,500 passengers, and the object of the altera-
tion of the carriages was to apportion the engine
power to the number of passengers. Mr. Goodier,
my inspector, and myself, went to Manchester spe-
cially and voluntarily for the purpose of conduct
ing these trains from Manchester. I saw the first
train comfortably off. I myself accompanied the
second train from Salford. The first train left Sal-
ford a little before 11 o'clock at night. We fol-
lowed in the second train at 10 minutes after 11
o'clock. On arriving at Ramsbottom one of the
carriages was taken off by my direction, because I
had discovered a defective draw-bar. The draw-bar
is the hook at the end of the shackle, and if it were
broken the whole weight of the carriage would fall
upon the chains. We next stopped at Helmshore
station. I was in the carriage about the tenth from
the engine. When the train came to a stand at
that point it was the duty of the guards to get off
and assist the passengers. Before doing so it was
their duty to release the break. If the breaks were
not released the engine could not start, the two en-.
gines themselves being sufficient to hold the train
in case it remained together. Immediately after
the train came to a stand I felt, from the rebound
of the carriages, a slight, shock, and then heard
something snap. The carriage, the coupling of
which snapped, wa3 four or five carriages behind
me. At that point I looked out, and saw Chippen-
dale, the guard, on the platform. Chippendale said
he thought a portion of the train had broken loose,
and was moving back. I jumped out of the car-
riage instantly and ran up to the engine in front.
I ordered the first driver to detach his engine from
the other one. I got upon the engine and told him
what had occurred, desired him to make all the speed
be could, and cross on to the other line leading down
to Itamsbottom. We ran down the line whistling
all the way. I had two objects in view—first, to
get before the carriages on the other line, which
had been detached, and if possible to reach a crossing
which is about half a mile below the Helmshore
station, and to stop them by means of our engine.
My second object, providing we could not catch
them before reaching the crossing, and so turn them
on to the other line, was to stop the other train
which I expected to be following. We ran down
the line about 400 or 500 yards, and I saw the car-
riages in front of us, and I felt sure that' my first
purpose was about to succeed, but as I got a little
nearer I observed some people on the line, and,
getting nearer still, I found that the detached por-
tion of the train had come to a stand. I stopped
the engine before we got down to the wreck, and
then saw that a collision had taken place. I felt
our engine go over something, which I afterwards
Band to be the top of one of the carriages. I first
got a lamp, and went back over the course taken by
our engine, to see if we had run over any one. I
found we had not, alid then returned and despatched
volunteers to all parts to fetch medical assistanc
After we had got out two or three injured persons
I took-the engine back to Helmshore, and ran it on
to the opposite line with a view of conveying the
wounded to the hotel. The carriage to which the
engine was attached was taken up to Helmshore.
On coming back again to the scene of the wreck I
observed a loose chain hanging from the carriage,
and rattling on the ballast. When the train was
formed at Accrington I saw that it had two break
carriages and two guards, which I thought were
sufficient. The third break carriage was, no doubt,
added at Ramsbottom, but I cannot say exactly.
The guards were sober and active, so far as I saw.
I got out myself both at Bury and Ramsbottom,
and observed their conduct. I have been in the ser-
vice of the company for more than 14 years, and
have been 10 years passenger superintendent of this
district. Excursion trains have been very numer-
ous during the whole of that period, and this is the
first accident that has ever occurred.

By Mr. Leresche—Between Bury and Accring
ton we invariably have two guards to every train,
that being a busy section of the line, and the line
being of stiff gradients. We don't profess ever to
put on more than 30 or 31 carriages to any one
train. Newell's break locks 12 wheels at once, and
the ordinary break only four wheels. The breaks
on this train to which the accident occurred were
ordinary breaks. Tomlinson commenced work at 8
o'clock that morning, and Chippendale about 10.
Chippendale was the chief guard and Tomlinson the
assistant-guard. If Tomlinson was at the break at
the rear of the train, it would not be in compliance
with the Bth regulation of the company as to the
duties of the guards ; and if Chippendale was at the
break in the front of the train, that would also be a

violation of the rules of the company. Both guards
are, however, equally competent. The fact that the
last break in this train had three common carriages
behind it is not in accordance with the rule, which
says that the last carriage shall be a break van ;
but I consider there was no danger in having three
carriages attached behind the break, seeing the
break carriage was laden with passengers. Suppos-
ing the last carriage had been an empty break van,
it would have reduced the consequence of the colli-
sion, but, being a carriage full of passengers, the
result would have been the same as actually occur-
red. The reason of the regulation for a break car-
riage being put at the tail of the train is to prevent
accidents of this nature. The momentum arising
from the rebound of the buffers in three carriages
only would not be adequate to break the couplings
of such carriages as were in this train. Assuming
the carriage now at the station to be the one that
parted, I may describe the fracture thus :—One of
the side chains is entirely torn from its place under
the framework of the carriage, and leaves one por-
tion of the staple affixed to the end bar of the car-
riage. I am now speaking of the Birkenhead second
class carriage. The other side chain is partially
gone ; a portion of it is detached, and the hook and
two links on the other side are gone. The draw-bar
of the carriage is all right, but there is no shackle
attached, nor is it made for one, I found at the sta-
tion a earriage answering to the description given
by the witnesses Grindrod and Ashworth. There is
nothing wrong about the couplings of that carriage,
although it is i.ossible that a link may be missing,
as some of the shackles have a small link. There
is a small broken link which I first saw in the
possession of Mr. Newell's man, and this may be
a broken link which at one time belonged to this
shackle. The shackle on the first-class carriage
must have had such a link, and it could not be
hooked oa the draw bar without an additional link,

um less the engine were used to compress the buffers.
I should expect that the shackle and the side bars
would be broken with one jerk, as the two iraw bare