The Sun.
London, England, 1861-09-06 00:00:00

THE. BRIGHTON RAILWAY ACCIDENT.

The following letter has been addressed to the
editor of the Times:—

Sir,—A most important point, specially affecting
the Sunday excursion traffic from Brighton, seems
to have entirely escaped the notice both of the
Coroner's inquest and of your numerous corre-
spondents.
Under the provisions of the Greenwich Railway
Act, no train or engine can, on Sundays, enter or
leave either of the London-bridge termini between
the hours of 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Consequently no
train can on that day be despatched from the
Brighton station much later than 9 a.m., with any
chance of reaching London before the afternoon, if
it be liable to be impeded by a Parliamentary train
calling at all stations on the way. The time, them-
fore, during which the whole of the complicated
business connected with the excursion traffic must
be completed in the crowded terminus at Brighton
on the Sunday morning is practically limited to
about one hour, say from 8 to 9 a.m., taking into
account the time before 8 a.m. requisite to collect
the coast line traffic from 40 miles east and west of
Brighton, and to sort and re-arrange the various
trains after they have arrived there, en route for
London.

There can be no doubt that the extreme pressure
thus placed upon the company's officials within
such a limited interval of time has most important
bearing upon the original causes of the late most
deplorable accident.
In order, then, to reduce the chance of further
casualties of the same nature, it follows either that
the number of excursion trains must be limited, or
that means must be found by the Brighton Com-
pany to accommodate an unlimited number with
speed, punctuality, and safety. In fact, as you have
yourself already remarked, the enormous traffic now
converging at Brighton has entirely outgrown the
capacity of the original line, and the shareholders
must boldly face this unpleasant truth, and prepare
themselves either to stand the fire of competition or
to provide the additional facilities now become ab-
solutely essential.
If they will take the advice of one intimately ac-
quainted with the wants • and capabilities of their
district they will adopt the latter alternative, and
will lose nothing by it if ordinary prudence and
honestY guide their course. Additional lines of rails
.betYltev. Norwood (up to which point there are al-
ready four lines) and Brighton are out of the ques-
tion, owing to the number of tunnels, the magni-
tude of the earthworks, and the intervention of the
South-Eastern Company's territory from Stoat's-
nest to Redhill.

There are, however, peculiar facilities for com-
pleting parallel lines at a short distance, both east-
ward and westward of the main line. The keys to
both routes being already in the hands of the
Brighton Company, it will be their own fault if
they do not strengthen their position while they
can at a very moderate cost and with the certainty
of gaining a large access of traffic from the new
country opened up.
To the westward of Brighton the company has a
line running northward from Shoreham to Hors-
ham. They have also the joint ownership of first-
class lines from the London-beidge, Victoria, and
Waterloo stations, to Leatherhead. By connecting
Leatherhead with Horsham, via Dorking, the dis-
tance being not more than 15 miles, they would
carry out the Brighton line as originally projected
by George Stephenson without a single tunnel on
the entire length, and with an increase in the total
distant© of only six miles as compared with the
existing or direct line.
This relief line should be the first commenced, as
it might bo completed within two years, in spite of
the Parliamentary opposition threatened by the
South-Eastern Company, and will be self-support-
ing from the very day of its opening. Attention
should then be directed to completing the commu-
nications to the eastward of the main line.

Upon this side you have trains now running from
Brighton as far northward as Uckfield. In the last
session an act was obtained by the landowners to
enable them to extend the Uckfield line to Tun-
bridge Wells by way of Groombridge, and such
arrangements can be made by the Brighton Com-
pany as will place them in possession of the district
so far to the northward.
From Groombridge there will be no difficulty in

carrying the line forward, either into the Easy

Kent system at Farnborough, by the formation of
somt. 20 miles of new line, or into the Brighton
Company's own main line at Norwood or Croydon,
by way of Oxted to Caterham. The latter is un-
doubtedly the preferable route, as it will give far
greater accommodation to the county towns of
Kent, Surrey,. and Sussex, and will secure to the
B righ ton shareholders return for their capital already
sunk upon a portion of this proposed eastern loop.
Such is a brief outline of what I believe to be the
'true policy of the Brighton Company if they desire
to maintain their 6 per cent. dividend, and I must
urge it upon them, regardless of the strictures of
" S. G. O." upon schemes of further railway ex-
temion .

Management by Boards, and the divided respon-
sibility thence arising, is the root of the evil, and no
railway will ever be worked either profitably or
safely until each system is placed under the sole
charge of one man, who must be subject to no con-
trol beyond those of public opinion and the law of
the land. AU railway officials (directors excepted)
are agreed upon this as the correct theory ; but the
problem yet to be solved is how to obtain a sufficient
number of leading men in whom is combined the
necessary amount of energy and skill with an average
share of commercial morality, the misfortune being
that most really clever andhonest men can do much
better for themselves than by taking service under a
thankless and dissatisfied body of proprietors.
Reverting to the future of the Brighton Company
—though they will of course give no heed to my
advice—let them at least he warned in time of what

expected from them, and let them not complain
if they find themselves in the next session of Par-
l4ment beset on all sidei by their eficiellS and not
very scrupulous neighbours and rivals, who are not
only exulting over the fearful blow which has been
dealt upon the once haughty and boastful manage-
ment of what was thought the best-conducted line in
the country, bAtcttre already preparing to utilize it
as capital to serve' their purposes in the dire en-
counters of the cornniittee-rooms, which you will
ve to record in the eneuing spring and summer.
Load,ln, Sept. 5.
MEMO.

THE _RAILWAY ACCInENT AT KEN-

TISH TOWN.

DEATH OF ANOTHER SUFFERER.
We have yet another name to add to the list of
those who have met their deaths through this sad
calamity, Geo. H. Bolton, the stoker, who crawled
from amid the wreck after the collision, literally in
flames, having died yesterday in the University
Hospital. From the first his recovery was regarded
as hopeless. Benjamin Rushbrook, who lies in the
same hospital, is still in a very dangerous condition,
but all the other sufferers from the accident who
lie here are reported by the house surgeons as pro-
gressing favourably.
At the Middlesex Hospital Geo. Terry (dislocated
shoulder and concussion of the brain) is stated by
the house surgeon to be still in a dangerous state—
rather more conscious than before, but at the same
time more violent and excited. Mrs. Ann Phillpott,
the other sufferer at the Middlesex Hospital, is re-
ported as progressing favourably.
At the Royal Free Hospital, Gray's-inn-road, Sarah
Cox and James English are reported by Mr. Hill,
house surgeon, to be both getting on very favour-
ably and out of danger.
The number of deaths, including that of the stoker,
now amounts to 13, and this number will, there is
every reason to fear, be still further increased, but
there appears no reason now to suppose, as was at
first rather positively concluded, that several of the
ill-fated excursionists had, after extrication from
the wreck of the broken carriages, been conveyed
by friends to their own houses, suffering from in-
juries likely to terminate fatally.
Upon visiting the scene of the accident yester-
day, we found large crowds of persons still assem-
bling on the open field crossed by the line, inspect-
ing the wreck and witnessing the operations of
the workmen who were employed in getting
up the engine and completing their work of break-
ing up the carriages, which can be effectually re-
moved in no other way. By the aid of powerful
screw-jacks the engine was raised into an upright
position, and partially got upon the tramway which
had been previously laid on the slope of the em-
bankment for the purpose of enabling it to be
drawn on to the railway itself. All further at-
tempts being reserved until this morning.
The people who assembled on the spot were of
a respectable class. There were several private
carriages there, the occupants of which were quite
as exacting in their curiosity as the hundreds and
thousands of less well to-do people who had pre-
ceded them. About 11 o'clock the workmen
suspended operations for the purpose of getting
lunch, and the police removed the barriers to per-
mit the public to have a close inspection of the wreck
and the broken carriages, an opportunity of which
most of the spectators speedily availed themselves.
On one side the archway beneath which the wreck
lies was a pile of seats and cushions from a first class
carriage; on the other was a pile of splintered wood-
, work, made up of broken floors and sides and roofs.
In another place was a large heap of woodwork, and
standing about at intervals were the lower frames of
three carriages, on wheels, while the frame of a
' fourth lay flat on the ground, cracked and splintered,
and battered in every part. Among all these the
people circulated freely--fashionably dressed ladies
and well dressed gentlemen freely speculating upon
the probabilities of some particular fragment of
wood or iron having been the immediate cause of
death to some poor excursionist ; while a photo-
graphic artist was busily engaged in taking views
of the scene separately and as a whole, and had his
patience sorely tried by people who, despite all his
prayers, and all the commands of the police to
stand back, would keep rushing between his camera
and his object.
It appears that the light-fingered gentry could
not refrain from reaping their harvest even on the
field of death. Mrs. Clara Clements, whose death
at the University Hospital we yesterday reported,
when she quitted home on Monday morning wore
a valuable gold watch and cameo brooch, and as
neither of these was on her person when she was
taken to the hospital, and as neither has since been
heard of, it is naturally concluded by her friends
that they were stolen from her while she was being
extricated from among her fellow passengers.
It has been noticed that there is a considerable
curve between the Kentish-town station and the
spot at which the excursion train and the ballast
train came into contact, and this is the case. In
fact, it is stated that there is no curve so severe on
the first 100 miles of the London and North-
Western main line. Nevertheless, this could have
nothing to do with the accident, for, standing on
the spot yesterday, we observed the Kentish-town
station in full view, without so much as a twig to
obstruct it or interfere with the signals. Looking at
the line, and at all that has so far transpired, nothing
is so clear, apparently, as that this awful sacrifice
of life was the result of some one man's carelessness
or misconception—a mistake in, or a disregard of,
the proper signal. But upon this point the public
mind will doubtless be soon fully enlightened by
the inquiry which will be active:y commenced this
day by the coroner.

ROYAL NATIONAT, LIFEBOAT

INSTITUTIO.A.

A meeting of this institution was held yesterday,
at its house, John-street, Adelphi—Captain Sir Ed-
ward Perrott, Bart., V.P., in the chair. There
were also present Admiral
Gordon, deputy master
of the Trinity House ; Col. Palmer, Montague Gore,
Esq., George Lyall, Esq., M.P., Captain De St.
Croix, and Capt. Ward, R.N., inspector of lifeboats
to the society.

The minutes of the previous meeting having been
read,

A reward of £6lox. was voted to the crew of the
Cahore lifeboat, belonging to the institution, for
putting off to the rescue of the crew of the Spanish
barque Primera de Torrieveja, from Liverpool to
Havannah, which during thick and foggy weather
and in a heavy sea had stranded on Blackwater
Bank on the ith ult. The barque was found with
her rudder disabled, one of the pumps choked, and
making water rapidly. The master and 14 men
left the vessel in their own boats, and after
one boat had been swamped, succeeded in
landing at Ballinamona. One man had been,
however, inadvertently left on board the ship.
At two p.m. information was sent to Cahore of the
wreck when the lifeboat was immediately launched
and proceeded to the bank. Mean while the barque
had worked off, and with one sailor on board
drifted out to sea. As soon as this was observed
the lifeboat bore down to the ship, which she suc-
ceeded in overtaking about five N.E. from Cahore
Point. The crew of the lifeboat finding, on getting
on board the veesel, that the water was rapidly in-
creasing in her hold, thought it advisable to beach
her near Arklow, which was safely accomplished.
A reward of £8 was also granted to the crew of
the Lizard lifeboat, which also belongs to the
National Lifeboat Institution, for going off in reply
to signals of distress from the schooner Hurrell, of
Penzance, which, during a dense fog and a heavy
ground swell, was found to be in a very dangerous
position near the Old Lizard Head. The schooner
was found by the lifeboat in a very critical situa-
tion, within a cable's length of a precipitous cliff
ahead, and on either side high and dangerous rocks.
Her crew, four in number, had collected their
clothing, and were about to leave her in their own
punt when the lifeboat arrived alongside, and had
they done so would not in all probability have
reached the shore alive, as the passage between the
scattered rocks and the shore is most intricate. At
the request of the master the lifeboat remained
alongside during the night, and at ddylight suc-
ceeding in warping the vessel clear of • the rocks,
and in anchoring her in a secure position.
A reward of £8 was likewise given to the crew
of the institution lifeboat stationed at Penmon,
Anglesey, for putting off in reply to a signal of dis-
tress from the smack Pink, of Chester, which dur-
ing blowing weather and heavy rain was observed
in a dangerous position about a mile from the life-
boat station. On arriving alongside the smack she
was found to have carried away her mainboom, and
to have only one cable out, which the master said
he feared would give way every moment, and his
vessel be driven on Puffin Island. As his request
the lifeboat remained alongside until 11 o'clock
p.m., when the weather having moderated the
vessel fortunately got out of danger.
A reward of £l3 was also voted to the crew of the
lifeboat of the society stationed at Wicklow, Ireland,
for putting off in the night and in a heavy sea, with
the view of saving life from a wreck, which was,
however, from its sudden disappearance, supposed
to have foundered before the arrival of the lifeboat.
A pecuniary reward was also voted to Mr. W. H.
M‘Kay, of Wick, N. 8., in consideration of his
laudable and prompt services in wading into the
sea and rescuing at some risk of life, the master of
the brigantine Nymph, of Greenock, which during
stormy weather had been wrecked near Loch Inch-
ard, Sutherland. It appeared that the poor man
had perseveringly clung to his vessel's boat, which
had previously been swamped, until she was
amongst the breakers close to the shore. Here Mr,
M'Kay rushed to his help, and succeeded in bring-
ing him safely to land. •
It was reported that the institution had sent new
lifeboatsLnacasbi during the past month to Southport, in
Lancashire, and Rye,
ready to be forwarded to Aberystwith, in Wales,
Scarborough, in Yorkshire,
and Llanddwyn, in
Anglesey. When it is remembered that each life-
boat at the establishment costs at the outset nearly
£5OO, and £4O a year afterwards to keep it in work-
ing order, it will at once be seen how large the
expenditure of the institution must continue to be.
Daring the present year the society has thus spent
£B,OOO on its lifeboat stations. Some of its life..

boats have already this year saved nearly 200 per-
sons from various wrecks. The demands yester-
day on the society were so heavy that it was de-
cided to ask its bankers for a loan until some of its
small funded capital could be sold. It is earnestly
hoped that the public will extend their continued
support to an institution which is so actively
engaged in rendering important services, in the
hour of their direst need, to a class of men on
whom England must always depend to a great ex-
tent for its commercial prosperity and the safety of
its shores.

A communication was read from her Majesty's
Commissioners of the International Exhibition of
1862, requesting the National Lifeboat Institution
to exhibit some model barometer-indicators. The
commissioners had previously given their sanction
to the institution for the exhibition of a full-sized
self-righting boat, fully equipped and mounted on
her transporting carriage.
A letter was also read from Admiral Sir Baldwin
W. Walker, Bart., K.C.8., commander-in-chief of
her Majesty's naval force on the African coast,
expressing his thanks for a set of cork life-belts,
which the institution had presented to him on
his leaving England, in token of its appreciation
of the important services he had rendered while
' he held the office of Comptroller of the Navy to
the lifeboat cause. Sir Baldwin stated that he
continued to entertain the liveliest interest in the
noble and philanthropic object of the National
Lifeboat Institution. Sir Baldwin had been for
many years a member of the committee of ma-
nagement of the institution.
The society expressed much regr©t at the la-
mented death of Vice-Admiral Sir Thos. Herbert,
K.C.8., who was one of its vice-presidents and a
liberal contributor to its funds. Sir T. Herbert
had for many years past taken an active interest
in the working of the institution.
Payments amounting to £650 having been made
on several lifeboat establishments, the proceedings
terminated.

21, CHEVALIER OV LORD PALMER-

SION'S bTEECH AT DOVER.

Lord Palmerston's speech at Dover has found a
severe critic in M. Michel Chevalier. The name of
that gentleman is honourably known in England.
Years ago, when Free Trade principles were utterly
heretical in France, and not absolutely orthodox
even in this country, M. Chevalier stood forward to
defend them, and his abilities, which have no .v
received Imperial recognition, have been steadily
exerted in promoting the true interests of com-
merce, and consequently the true interests of States.
The complaints of such a man, therefore, must ne-
cessarily carry weight, and the public will certainly
not desire that they should remain unanswered.
The Warden of the Cinque Ports spoke the senti-
ments of his countrymen, and M. Chevalier will
permit us to observe that those sentiments, upon his
own showing, admit of easy justification. It will tend
to simplify the case if we transcribe the exact words
by which M. Chevalier appears tohave been offended.
After speaking, as every statesman speaks, in praise
of the Volunteer movement, Lord Palmerston con-
tinued thus :—" We cannot attempt to cope with
those great States which maintain hundreds of
thousands of regular soldiers. We accept with
frankness the right hand of friendship, wherever it
is tendered to us. We do not distrust that right
hand because we see the left hand grasping the hilt
of the sword. But when that left hand does so
grasp the hilt of the sword it would be extreme
folly in us to throw away our shield of defence.
There are, gentlemen, two securities for peace. The
one consists in a state of perfect insignificance ; the
other in a state of perfect defence. The security
arising from perfect insignificance England, I think,
will never enjoy. The security for peace which
arises from a perfect state of defence unconnected
with any notions of aggression, not coupled with
hostility towards any one, but confined solely to a
manly determination to protect and maintain what
we have, is a security which I trust this country
will long continue to possess."
This is plain speaking, certainly, but plain speak-
ing is generally best, and always most agreeable to
Englishmen. We will not ask M. Chevalier what
he objects to, for that is plain. " France," he ob-
serves in substance, "is considered in the world as
the chief representative and principal champion of
social and political progress. She inspires admi-
ration and sympathy in the peoples who hope for a
happier destiny, and receives marks of the hatred,
and distrust of the men who still entertain the pas-
sions of another age, . . . I regret that speeches
recently delivered oblige me to range on the side of
the latter some Ministers of a great nation, our
nearest ally, and renowned for its love of liberty
and progress, towards which the Emperor has made
advances honourable to both parties, and which
merited a better welcome and a more sympathetic
response." M. Chevalier is evidently chagrined at
the limitations given to the confidence placed by
England in the disposition of France. We ought to
have met the Imperial advances without reserve. We
ought to have taken our friend's right hand without
looking askance at his left. We ought to have ac-
cepted the Commercial Treaty, and winked at the
iron-cased fleet. In short whereas Louis Napoleon was
manifestly desirous of retaining and cementing our
alliance by falling in with our national policy, even
at the risk of alarming the timid Protectionists of
France, we might in common fairness have closed
with his overtures, and left his relations with the
rest of the world to settle themselves. That is
clearly M. Chevalier's view cf the matter. In reply,
we have only to say that Lord Palmerston's words
were entirely justified by facts, and that his conclu-
sions were only those which a representative of one
of the Great Powers of Europe was bound to adopt.
It is impossible that M. Chevalier can quarrel
with the accuracy of the Premier's description. He
cannot attempt to deny that France does indeed
stand with her hand en the hilt of her sword. For
years past that has been her constant attitude, and
it is but the other day that the sword was drawn.
IVe have no right to complain of this. It is her
business, not ours; but we have a right to observe
it, and act accordingly. There can be no doubt
that France is, as M. Chevalier proclaims, respected
abroad. Her rank among nations has been power-
fully established and her influence greatly extended
during the present reign, bat the instrument of this
elevation has been the sword. The Emperor has
succeeded, at times by his arms and always by his
armaments, in impressing Europe with a dread of
his power. The result is unquestionable, the ma-
chinery may be seen at Chalons. An army of fabu-
lous magnitude carefully maintained at the highest
pitch of modern discipline, and equipped with the
newest inventions of military science, is an instru-
ment for working out mighty ends. A navy
modelled upon a grand scale and priticiples un-
known before is a potent auxiliary. These forces
are so maintained that they can be put in motion
with incredible rapidity. France, in short, holds
herself in a state of absolute preparation. for the ulti-
mate appeal of Sovereigns, and she has shown that
she can resort to this appeal for considerations
which to others might appear insufficient. She
alone, according to her own assertion, goes to war
for en idea. This is an imposing attitude, no doubt,
and gratifying, probably, to the national tempera-
ment, but if it is not standing with the hand on the
sword-hilt we know of no attitude which could de-
serve that description. The whole power of France
which, as M. Chevalier truly says, is great, rests on
the tremendous forces which she could instantane-
ously put in motion. We are not concerned to ques-
tion M. Chevalier's account of the uses to which
this power is applied. We may allow him to affirm
without dispute, that the sword of France would
never be thrown into any scale but the scale of
civilisation and progress. We say only that there
the sword is, and that there, without the least dis-
guise, is the hand upon its hilt.
Belt M. Chevalier, perhaps. will admit these facts
and yet deny the justice of the application. His
words, indeed, rather seem to assume that it is for
France, in this age, to wield the sword of Christen.
dom, but that we, knowing and sharing the princi-
ought neither to take umbrage
put ourselves distrustfully upon
aptlehseorfahtteirtupdoel,incyo,r
our guard. France is a" champion" armed at all
points, and ready for action ; but she is the cham-
pion of the right, and none ought to suspect or mis•
trust her but the maintainers of the wrong. Why,
then, should England exhibit suspicion instead of
sympathy, end why should her Prime Minister, by
his want of confidence, give expression to " the
passions of another age ?" It is hard to think that
M. Chevalier can really want a reply to such argu-
ments, but, if he does, we can readily give it him.
It is not the usage of Governments in any age to
resign the control of international affairs to a single
one of their number. It is not consistent either with
the safety or independence of States to let one State
acquire extraordinary power by armament while
the others rely supinely upon the integrity of the
" champion's" intentions. France, in M. Chevalier's
own words, proclaims a mission which at least in-
volves disturbance. She could not be dreaded by
one party and looked up to by another if she were
resolved to let the affairs of Europe remain just
as they are. If the " peoples who hope for hap-
pier destinies" turn to her with admiration, it is
because they anticipate her support ; if the men
of a bygone time hate and mistrust her, it is
because they fear her attack. There is probably
nothing in all these assumptions but what a true
Frenchman would cheerfully acknowledge. France
has claimed and exercised junctions of this kind
in all ages, and she has undoubtedly conferred
many benefits upon Europe. She has also, how-
ever, inflicted many times the calamities of war;
she has not always shown herself superior to am-
bition, and even if she has now outlived such
weaknesses she cannot in reason expect that