The Sun.
London, England, 1859-04-05 00:00:00

Letters from Mexico state that city to be quiet.
Business at Chili stagnant, and crops would be
entirely lost owing to the disturbances.

The Peruvian naval forces blockading Guayaquil
had seized, before the Island of Puna, the Spanish
barque Maria Julia, from Central America, with a
valuable cargo of indigo.
The blockade of the ports of Ecuador continued.

SHOCKING RAILWAY ACCIDENT IN
CANADA.

The Toronto Globe, of March 21, gives the fol-
lowing account of a shocking railway accident in
Canada :—At half-past two on Saturday morning
an accident occurred ox the line of the Great
Western Railroad, about a mile west of Dundas,
which, we regret to say, was attended by fatal
consequences to seven persons and the infliction of
severe wounds and injuries on several others, from
the effects of which it is hardly hoped that all can
possibly recover. Such a night has rarely been
known before. From about seven o'clock on Friday
evening the rain continued to pour down in tor-
rents, and without intermission, till towards two
o'clock, when it commenced snowing. The conse-
quence was, that the watercourses of ordinary times
were unequal to the conveyance and proper dis-
charge of the continuous flood which everywhere
flowed, as if the floodgates of heaven had been
unloosed.
At the point where this sad casualty occurred,
the track crosses a deep ravine, which had been
filled in so that it was thought that a solid
embankment had been made, which nothing could
disturb.. The bottom, however, is of that peculiar
formation composed of the debris from the hill side
close by, and the soil of which the embankment is
composed is clean sand and fine gravel. It would
seem that the water had collected in the hollow be-
tween the hill side and the railroad embankment,
from whence it had, we should suppose, made its way
through the bottom of the embankment. When once
the water had thus made a passage way, the loose
sand soon yielded before the flood, and a yawning
chasm, of about 100 yards in length and from 40 to
50 feet deep, was soon made, the earth being carried
out bodily down the declivity below.
When the night express arrived at this point it
was fearfully dark, and no sign was afforded of the
awfully dangerous pit-fall to which the train
hurried on its way. In an instant the engine and
tender leaped into the hole, closely followed by the
baggage car, an emigrant car, two first-class pas-
senger cars, and a sleeping car. A fearful crash
was the inevitable result, and to look upon the
wreck, one can only wonder how any person in
either of the passenger cars escaped. Enveloped in
darkness, the snow falling fast, and the wind blow-
ing furiously, in an instant men, women, and
children were buried in the ruins of the train, the
engine being underneath all, roaring terribly from
its steam pipes. Singularly enough, however, the
baggage man escaped, as did also the whole of the
passengers in the first passenger car. It does not
appear that there were any passengers in the emi-
grant car. The second first-class passenger car,
however, was a complete wreck, and it was to those
who occupied it that the fearful havoc of life and
limb occurred.

The sleeping car, as already has been said, did
not go down into the hole, but such was its posi-
tion, poised on the brink, the forward part dipping
downwards, and the hind part nigh off the track,
that the passengers who had taken refuge in it
soon had to leave it, fearing that it would run down
the embankment. When they left this last shelter
they could do no better than take out the cushions
and bedding, with which they made such a resting
place as kept the women and children off the wet
ground, and by using the blankets and bed-clothes
the men managed to protect them from the worst
of the storm. A messenger was despatched for aid,
but before he could get to Hamilton and send on
help, some four hours had been spent under expo.
sure to the pitiless storm. As soon as possible,
however, the railroad officials despatched a loco-
motive with such accommodation for the sufferers
as could be hastily procured.
Five persons killed who are recognised, viz.,
Alexander Braid, late locomotive superintendent
Cx'reat Western Railway ; Morgan, engineer ; King,
fireman ; Milne, brakesman ; J. Boyer, Ohio ; and
two others unknown. Several are injured ; among
them :—J. H. Smith, Green Oak, Michigan ; Hiram
Cook, of the firm of H. and D. M. Cook, Hamilton,
recovery doubtful ; Henry Bost, Buffalo ; J. H.
Smith, Brighton, Livingston county, Michigan,
sixth and seventh ribs broken on the left side,
several bruises on other parts of the body—re-
covery doubtful. Rev. Thomas Fawcett, Indian
missionary, from Brantford ; three ribs, shoulder-
blade, and hip-bone _broken ; is a very low and
dangerous condition. Jonas Boyer—badly cut on •
forehead and leg; wife also injured.

HOUSE OF LORDS—(YESTERDAY).
Th e LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the woolsack
at five o'clock, at which time the house presented a
very animated appearance. The galleries were
very fully attended by ladies, and the space
before the throne was very much crowded. The only mem-
ber of the Government who did not occupy his usual seat
was the Earl of Donoughmore, who sat on one of the back
ecclesiastical benches.
Earl POWIS presented a petition from Welchpool
against legalising marriage with a deceased wife's sister.
The Earl of BANDON presented a petition praying that
the Recreation Bill might be extended to Ireland.
MINISTERIAL STATEMENT.
The Earl of DERBY rose amid the profoundest silence,
and said—My lords, the magnitude ofthe interests involved
in the statement which it will be my duty to submit to your
lordships will, I am sure, be a sufficient justification for my
interposing between this house and the ordinary business of
the day. And if, with a view to place myself in order, and
to enable others, if they so think fit, to follow me, I make
the formal motion, that this house do now adjourn. I trust
your lordships will believe that I make that motion merely
as a matter of form, and not with the slightest desire to in-
terfere with the progress of business after I shall have con-
cluded my present statement. My lords, in explaining to
your lordships the advice which, in common with my col-
leagues, I felt it my duty humbly to tender to her Majesty,
and the course which, with her Majesty's gracious sanction
we propose to adopt, it is unnecessary for me, I am sure, to
recall to your recollection the circumstances which have
rendered any such announcement requisite. It must be fresh
in the memory of all your lordships that on Thursdaynight
last the House of Commons, after a debate of seven nights,
and in one of the fullest houses ever known, by a consider-
able majority sanctioned an amendment which had been
moved by the noble lord the member for the city of London
upon a proposition of her Majesty's Government for the se-
cond reading of the bill which they had introduced with re
gard to the representation of the people in Parliament. My
lords, it is only due to the House of Commons to say that,
in a now considerable Parliamentary experience extending
over 37 years, I have never heard or known of any debate
which was conducted with such an amount of unflagging
interest from the commencement to the end, with a greater
degree of ability, and above all—in a case which might na-
turally excite strong political and personal feelings—with
so little asperity or acerbity either on the one side or the
other. I think, my lords, that in point of ability, in point
of tone and temper, that debate was highly creditable to
both sides of the house, and may fairly challenge compari-
son not only with those debates which we have heard of as
taking place in those days when it is said there were
political giants, but undoubtedly also in those more recent
times of which many of your lordships, with myself; have
had experience, and during which, too, there have occurred
exciting debates in which we have borne our respective
parts. My lords, I shall reserve for a future part of the
statement I have now to make any observations upon the
nature and character of the amendment to which I have re-
ferred. I would only say at present that, in the unanimous
judgment of my colleagues and myself, the result and effect
of that amendment left us only two possible alternatives be-
tween which to choose—namely, either the immediate sen-
der of our resignation of the offices we have the honour to
hold, or, on the other hand, an appeal to the judgment and
opinion of the country. My lords, I know that many of
our political friends and some of our political opponents have
suggested that there is another course which might be
taken, and without discredit to ourselves—that we might
take the course of ignoring altogether the decision which
the House of Commons have pronounced, of simply drop-
ping the bill which we have introduced, and of proceeding
—without taking any notice of the vote which has been
passed—with the ordinary business of the session. My lords,
in my judgment such a course would neither be respectful
to the House of Commons, nor consistent with our Parlia-
mentary and constitutional duty. (Cheers.) It was im-
posaible for us to conceal from ourselves that the vote taken
was substantially a vote of want of confidence in the Go-
vernment—(renewed cheers)—for the House of Commons
would not permit them even to discuss the measure which
they had introduced. And if; under such circumstances,
we had taken no notice of that vote, I think we should have
been justly charged with a contemptuous indifference to the
opinion of that house, and should have provoked 'and
brought down upon ourselves heavy and well-merited cen-
sure. My lords, there was, as I have said, but one of two
courses for us to pursue—either respectfully to bow to the
opinion of the House of Commons, or, on the other hand, to
appeal from the judgment of that house to the only higher
constitutional power in the country, viz., the constituencies
of whom they profess to be the representatives. (Cheers.)
Another course was suggested to her Majesty's Government,
from no friendly quarter and in no friendly tone ; that sug-
gestion was so incompatible with the feelings and character
of her Majesty's Government that it was impossible for a
single moment to entertain it, and the bare supposition that
her Majesty's Government could agree to it approached as
near as possible to a personal insult. (Hear.) But before I
proceed to state to your lordships the course we have re-
solved to adopt, and the reason. for taking it, I must beg
your lordships to look back to the circumstances under
which her Majesty's present Government accepted the re-
sponsibility of office, and even to carry your memory still 4
further back, and bear with me while I take a brief and I
rapid retrospect of a few years, and the various changes and 1
fluctuations they have produced in our Parliamentary con-
tests. I have heard it said that the days of Parliamentary 1
Government have come to an end. If by this is meant that '
the days are gone by when the House of Commons was
divided into two distinct parties,—within each of which the
leaders exercised an undisputed and uncontrolled power
over their followers, commanding their votes and exercising
a species of Parliamentary discipline,—then, I admit, those
days are gone, and are not likely to return. Nor do I think,
though there was a great convenience to the public in this
sharp separation of parties, that the change has been, on
the whole, prejudicial. But, my lords, if it is meant that
henceforth no Government can hope for support, not on
individual questions on which exceptions may occur, but
that no Government will hereafter be able to obtain a
permanent majority in the House of Commons strong
enough to prevent it being overborne by other conflicting
parties, not themselves bound by any common tie, each
having its own leaders and its own projects,—if the House
of Commons is to be divided into a number of little parties,
none capable of exercising a permanent influence on the
affairs of the country, but each able to thwart the mea-
sures and impede the business of the Ministry that has been
formed,—if, in that sense, Government by party is at an
end, then I warn your lordships that the system of Go-
vernment by Parliament itself will have a very heavy shock
to encounter. (Hear, hear.) If we look back on the his-
tory of the last few years, at least since the lamented death
of the late Sir R. Peel, such has been almost the normal
condition of the House of Commons. My lords, I should
be most ungrateful if I applied the observations I now
make to the great Conservative party which has for many
years supported me; I should be most ungrateful if I did
not recognise with the deepest emotion of thankfulness the
cordial, the warm, the unwavering support I have for
many years received from that important party. (Hear,
hear.) It has given me a cordial and generous support—a
support founded in some degree on personal regard—(hear,
hear)—but, I hope, still more in a concurrence of political
opinion, and a belief that I have exercised power to the best
of my judgment, and of such faculties as I possessed, for the
welfare of the country. But if I look at those who sit on
the other side of the House of Commons I see—and see it
with regret, because it stands in the way of all public busi-
ness—l see " confusion worse confounded." I see a num-
ber of parties incapable of concurring together in support
of a Government, yet most dangerous when accidental cir-
cumstances bring them together to oppose it. I see, and I
lament to see it, a large portion of the House of Commons
enlisted under separate leaders and following different
guides, prevented by mutual differences and mutual jea-
lousies from acting together for the good of the country. If
we look back on the last few years we shall see that Parlia-
ment itself has been the theatre of constant and unceasing
rivalry between the two noble lords who have alternately
been the leaders of the so-called Liberal party. (Hear,
hear.) I wish to speak of the noble lord the member
for the city of London (John Russell) with all the re-
spect I unfeignedly feel for his many valuable qualities,
nor am I slow to recognise the services he has conferred
on his country. Nor can I have the slightest doubt of
the sincerity of his zeal in bringing forward the question
of Parliamentary reform ; of that question he has been the
consistent and unflinching advocate ; to, that question the
noble lord is constitutionally attached, but attached less
with the affection of a parent, anxious for the prosperity
and advancement of his offspring, than with the jealous
affection of a lover, ready to sacrifice anything to obtain
the beloved object, but ready also to die rather than that
object should receive any attention, or owe either happiness
or advancement to any other person. (Cheers and
laughter.) The noble lord of whom I have spoken has
many high and distinguished qualities, but there is com-
bined with them a restless disposition, an insatiable craving
always to be doing something, and a determination that
whatever is done shall be done by himself, or not at all.
His indomitable perseverance in the discharge of business
—which had hardly found sufficient scope in the perform-
ance of official duties—is accompanied with a degree of rest-
lessness under which he cannot be satisfied for a moment
unless ho is seeking to do some injury to the cause of those
who are acting against him. The noble lord has had the
singular fortune of having overthrown more successive Go-
vernments than any other statesman—(hear, hear)—and
not only Governments to which he was opposed—he has
more than once been the means of overthrowing the Go-
vernment of which he was a member. (Hear.) lam not
going back as far as 1834, when I was a colleague of the
noble lord, and when an imprudent statement made by him
in the House of Commons led to the disclosure of certain
dissensions in the Cabinet of Earl Grey, and induced me
to drop an expression in reference to the noble lord's con-
duct that afterwards became almost proverbial. That was
in 1834 ; in 1835 Sir Robert Peel succeeded to power; at
the same time a question had been opened most important
to the welfare and peace of Ireland ; it was the extinction
of tithes, and substituting for them a rent charge. The,
Government of Sir Robert Peel gave notice of the intro-
duction of a bill on that ?subject early in the winter of