The Sun.
London, England, 1868-09-07 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOMINALS,

In the opinion of the Times, the conclusion of the in-
quest at Abergele leaves two or three points of impor-
tance unsettled and obscure. The signals at Abergele were

all properly set, but the exact point on the line at which
they can be seen is doubtful ; and the distribution of the
responsibility between the station-master and the breaks-
man is not clear. It is, however, evident that the goods
train on arriving at Llandulaa should at once have been
run into the sidings, as it seems might really have been

done. There was ill luck about it in many ways.
Not to mention that load of petroleum picked up near
Chester, it was unfortunate that the train was so long,

and unfortunate, again, that the siding should have
been partly occupied already. But these things being
so, and it being plain that a complicated operation
must be performed with only twenty minutes to perform
it in, the obvious duty of those engaged was to postpone
the work till the mail had passed, and in the meantime
get the waggons out of the way. " If," said Colonel

Rich, " the guards thought there was not sufficient time,
the train need not have been brought to a stand at the
incline of one in 100, but should have been taken over the
siding point and at once placed on the two sidings."
Exactly ; and we entirely agree with him in thinking that
if this had been done the accident would indeed have been
prevented. Nor was there any difficulty about this pro-
ceeding, as the resident engineer and the station-master
himself sufficiently explained. The goods train, with its
forty-seven waggons, was 235 yards long. One of the
sidings at Llandulas was 256 yards in length, and
would, therefore, have taken the train at once had it been
empty. Unfortunately it was not, but there was another
aiding 100 yards long, and between the two the train might
have been accommodated till the mail had passed.
The Standard thinks it is to the want of time that the
disaster is primarily due. There were fifteen minutes to
spare after the goods train arrived before the mail train
was due. It is possible that in five minutes the goods
train might have been divided and shunted on to the two
lines which made up the siding. Certainly no more ought
to have been attempted, and it was the endeavour to do
more which brought about the calamity. It is very likely
that these two breaksmen, knowing that the mail train
was close upon them, were hurrying over their duties and
doing what they thought was best to get the trucks out of
the way. Had more time been allowed they might have
been more precise.
The conclusions which the Post draws from the investi-
gation are: (1), That the accident resulted directly from
the disobedience of orders by the station-master in not
directing the goods train to be shunted at once on arrival,
and without being broken up, and from the neglect of the
breaksmen in not carefully watching the five end trucks
and the tail break-van. Possibly the jury had some
reasons for assigning a less amount of blame to the
station-master than to the breaksmen, but from the pub-
lished evidence, and on mature reflection, it seems
difficult to discover why the distinction was made.
(2), That the railway company's rules are defective, and
that the occasion in question was not the only instance of
their being loosely carried gut. (3), That the story of Mrs.
Dicken was the result of the misconception of a frightened
woman during a scene of great confusion and excitement.
(1), That the passengers in the carriages in front of the
mail vans were all suffocated by the deadly vapours
arising from the contact of the oil with the firebox and
fire of the engine, and that none of them could possibly
have escaped even if all the sea-side doors had been un-

locked.
The Telegraph thinks the "strong censure" pronounced
on the station-master by the coroner's jury, at the direction
of the assessor, appeared to be thoroughly justified. The
evidence plainly shews that, though the station-master
may not have had absolute control of the train while it
was being broken up, he had absolute command of it up
to the moment when the sorting-out of the waggons began.
The postponement of the shunting to the sorting out of
the waggons which were to be left at Abergele was a dis-
tinct breach on the part of the station-master of the
explicit regulation which prescribed the shunting of goods
trains ten minutes before the arrival of passenger trains.
The archbishop makes two important announcements.

The first is, that it is intended to apply for the royal
license for the meeting of the Irish Convocation ; the
second, the expression of his Grace's hope that whatever

settlement may be attempted on the basis of the report of
the royal commissioners, it will be such as to give a
reasonable prospect of " finality." With regard to the
first point, says the Standard, it is obvious that the clergy
of'the Irish Church have been placed in a very false posi-
tion, owing to the want of some vehicle or opportunity for
collecting and promulgating their opinions upon the question
which touches them so nearly. As a Church, the Irish
Church has had no facilities whatever for making its voice
heard, nor have the clergy and bishops been enabled to
meet together for purposes of consultation. Upon the
part of the Government there will, we believe, be no objec-
tion to the issue of the royal license for the proposed
meeting of the Irish Convocation, which has been in
abeyance for more than a century. The bishops and
clergy will do well to go into council in the frame of mind
in which Archbishop Trench speaks of the coming settle-
ment. They must be prepared for large measures of
change, and to yield much and freely.
The Herald is puzzled to decide between the contradic-
tory statements of Sir Roundel' Palmer and Mr. Coleridge
as to the legal consequences of disestablishment. Here
we have two conflicting voices, or rather three ; for Mr.
Coleridge is for disestablishment and re-establishment in
the same breath. The Attorney-General of the last
Administration says that disestablishment essentially
consists in removing the legal and coercive jurisdiction
enjoyed both by the State over the Church and by the
Church over its members ; and its Solicitor-General
says that he is all for disestablishment, yet he will
on no account consent to give up this now-existing legal
and coercive jurisdiction. Sir Roundel' Palmer and Mr.
Coleridge differ enormously in character and delicacy of
conscience. But it is apparent that they differ quite as
much in their law. The first is easily explained; but the
latter is accountable only on one supposition. That
supposition, however, is by no means an extravagant
one. Mr. Coleridge has never seriously considered the
question. Like Mr. Gladstone, he has never asked himself
what would be the consequence of their policy.

Commenting upon the opening of the second congress
of the International AssoCiation of Workmen at Brussels,
the Star observes that the policy of the workmen in
France and Germany of late years has been essentially of
the Fabian sort. They have endeavoured at the same
time to keep open all the questions that have been
matters of controversy between themselves and the
masters, and yet to avoid bringing the struggle to a crisis
before they have disciplined their forces and entrenched
their position. Year by year they have seen their cause
grow stronger, the vigilance of the police grow relaxed,
the law mitigated where it had pressed bald upon the
workman. In Paris, 2,500 working men, who were mem-
bers of the International Association, were permitted for
four years to meet, to organise, to collect subscriptions, to
carry on an extensive foreign correspondence. But a year
ago the Imperial Government suddenly abandoned its cle-
ment and conciliatory policy. The police began actively to
Persecute themeetings, the correspondence, and the internal
organisation of the association. The members were
accused of having set on foot a secret society,
and having held meetings without the requisite
official authorisation. Prosecutions were commenced, and
the association was assailed with repeated convictions.
What, it was asked, was the cause of this sudden change

For fifteen years the Imperial Government had assiduously
cultivated the affections of the French workmen, had
flattered them, had endeavoured to bribe them with
subsidies and indulgences, and for a time Napoleon 111.
was successful. But, as the true character of the
Empire was revealed, the workmen grew coldly
hostile. In 1862 and 1864 they carried the elections
in Paris in favour of the Opposition. And then the
Government imagined that they saw in the Inter-
national Association a medium through which the con-
tagion of Liberal ideas might be communicated from the
metropolis to the provinces. If this was the fear which
inspired the Emperor with the notion of keeping down
the combinations of labour by the strong hand of the law,
it overshot its mark ; and, unless we are mistaken, the
coming elections will skew that the Imperial policy is
justly appreciated by the French working man.
A rather unreasonable outcry, says the Daily News, has
lately been raised against the introduction of the new
Russian railway loans in this market. There is no doubt
that Russian securities have latterly regained a great
portion of the popularity which they had previously lost,
more especially where they possess a real intrinsic value
apart from the simple Government guarantee. In the
first place the money is wanted for the best of all pur-
poses, that of developing the enormous internal resources
of one of the largest empires in the world. In no
way could English capital be more advantageously
employed than in increasing, or rather creating the means
of conveyance in a country which is already intimately
allied to us in commerce. Any contrivance which can
faciitate the transport of native products reacts upon our
own prosperity by making a corresponding addition to the
consumers of our own goods. With reference to the safety
of these investments, they possess the double advantage
of being based on tangible real property and of also
receiving the Government guarantee. For the first
few years it is likely enough that the subscribers
will have to depend upon the latter security for their
interest. Later they will probably be independent of
this exceptional resource, since as traffic increases, and
the wealth of the district is developed, the actual profits
will more than suffice to meet the dividends. This is, of
course, always the contingency of such calamities as
foreign and aggressive war, which may throw back the
material progress of the people for at least one generation;
but every day will lessen this possibility. Russia, growing
rich by trade, will be a very different nation for future
Czars to deal with than that ruled over by the late
Emperor Nicholas.