The Sun.
London, England, 1861-08-27 00:00:00

President. She sees protection denied her now in
at least a dozen States. New York leaned strongly
to the Slave States, on account of its cotton traffic and
mortgages in the South. The moneyed men, indeed,
were all favourers of the Slave States; they will
now have to part with their money faster than they
like, to defend themselves against the very States
whom they petted and caressed. The whole Noith,
in every way, tampered with their knowledge and
convictions on the subject of negro rights, and
they now find themselves humbled as a nation, till
even Spain beards them to the face ; and taxed to
an extent which will more than absorb all the
profits, or, as we ought to say, will add heavily to
the losses caused by their discreditably selfish
tariffs.

What is to be the end of all this ? We believe
repentance alone can save them. England did re-
pent of her connection with slavery, and abolished
it, at what we believe to be a wantonly extra-
vagant cost. Still we paid the twenty millions
rather than bear the disgrace of having slave
subjects any longer. We have risen as a
nation ever since, and we believe the noble,
national spirit which would not tolerate slavery has
had much to do with our rise. The North must
repent ; its crime was first permitting slavery in
connection with its free constitution ; then from
unworthy motives giving it the ascendancy in the
national councils. It must reverse all this. It
must declare the rebellion of the Slave States
to be a forfeiture of their claim on the
protection of the Union. It must offer
fair compensation to the loyal, but confiscation
only to the rebel; it must advance South with
an army of liberation, or it will probably never get
to the South at all. A wicked Federal constitution,
or at least the wicked part of it, must be flang to
the winds—and then the ECCE SIGNUM must be
EMANCIPATION. By that they will conquer ; by
that alone they will deserve to conquer.

A contemporary traces the terrible disaster on a
line hitherto so remarkable for its freedom from
accidents, to the too rapid succession of trains. It
is certain that the arrangements at the tunnels on
the Brighton line seem to be as perfect, and as
regardless of expense, compared with security, as
the wit of man could devise. A signal-man at each
end of the tunnel, with a telegraphic communica-
tion between them, and unconditional orders that
one train must be out before another is suffered to
enter, do appear to be all that can be desired. Yet,
under this system of apparently absolute security, a
mistake occurs, and a terrific accident is the conse-
quence. Two things went wrong—one the regular
signal which would not work, and threw the tun-
nel-watcher on the ordinary danger-signal, the
red flag ; the other, the mind of the man himself,
or of one of the two men, so that the passage
through of the first Brighton train was mistaken
for the passage of the second, and that the third
was consequently allowed to proceed till it met and
smashed the second backing out of the tunnel.
The man was evidently anxious to fulfil his orders
to the letter ; but the telegraphic signal not work-
ing, first, no doubt, somewhat alarmed and con-
fused his mind, then the mistake with the elec-
tric telegraph completed the confusion, and the se-
quel was inevitable. It is, therefore, undeniable
that had there been a longer interval between the
starting of the trains, the calamity primarily due
to the telegraph not working would not have
occurred.

But who, in this case, are most responsible for
the rapid succession of the trains. It cannot be
denied that they were all wanted, or they would
not have been crowded with passengers. It may
be said that the Directors would not have allowed
so many, but with a view to their own profit. This
is only a part of the truth. The Directors, like

other public men, are at the command of public
opinion ; no man in this country can be indifferent
to it ; and is it not a fact that public opinion is
continually pressing on Railway Companies for
increased accommodation, and that Companies are
commended and popular in proportion as they
furnish it? The praises of the Brighton Line have
bEen heard in the House of Lords itself for pre-
cisely this Sunday accommodation for the million.
We do not believe it possible for any public board
long to resist the demands of the public ; especially
when, as in the present case, the demands are
reasonable.

There is one consideration which must not be
overlooked. The Railways themselves have so
altered the relations of the country, that they have
rendered very cheap intercourse between not very
distant places, such as Portsmouth and Brighton,
with London, a kind of necessity. Not only do the
working classes, and the class which can quite as
little afford high fares—those who must keep up
appearances on small incomes—need these cheap
trains for recreation, but they need them more than
ever they did for family and social intercourse.
The working classes, and those with small incomes,
are far more separated among adjacent towns than
they were before the creation of railways.

We have no doubt that were the humbler classes
of Brighton and Portsmouth canvassed, it would be
found that the majority had near relations, friends
and acquaintances, in great numbers in London, and
that the number had multiplied beyond all calcula-
tion since the costly coach and slow waggon bad
given place to the quick and cheap train. Every-
body in Brighton now knows, or is related to, some
one in London ; hence, we presume, the large num-
ber of persons coming up to London on the
day on which all the shops and places of
amusement are closed. If this view be correct,
the railways really lie under a kind of
moral obligation to meet the most natural and
commendable desires of those whom they have
separated from each other; and if they can do it,
as they certainly can, with advantage to their share-
holders, the claim on them of the million is alte•
gether irresistible.
But this leads to another inquiry, who is it that
really placed these three trains in such close proxi-
mity ? Would it have been done, but for the regu-
lations enforced on the company in regard to Sun-
day traffic. We strongly suspect that had more
time been allowed by law, the company would have
taken more time. Under guise of protecting the
first day of the week (for the Sabbath of the Deca-
logue it is not) from desecration, Parliament " in its
wisdom" has interfered with the Sun day traffic, and
obstructed directors in their management of the line.
But Sabbath protection, like all other protection,
may do more harm than good. In the present case
we strongly suspect that it is the ultimate cause of
the sacrifice of twenty-two lives, and the serious
injury of a great many persons. We should not be
respectfully,
surprised if some of the Islington clergy, and some
ethiswould
o ald
ask
calamity
as a warn-
n g into s
Brightonunda tyotor,arveepi
ireersse;nwt
whether it be not rather a warning to those who
force their views of the Sunday into commercial
acts of Parliament.

We cannot thiuk that railways, as public con-
veyances, are consistently dealt with. To our
certain knowledge clergymen and laymen too, of
th© class who would put Sunday restrictions on
railways, do not scruple to use omnibusses and cabs
to convey them about London to and from their
places of worship. The end, suppgaej banotiiien