The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-06 00:00:00

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
PROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.
GLOBE.—Two lives were sacrificed by the recent
collision of two trains on the Midland Counties Rail-
way. As the death of one of the sufferers took place
in the county, while that of the other occurred within
the limits of the borough of Nottingham, two in-
quisitions were necessary. That held by ,the city
coroner returned a verdict of manslaughter against
Mr. R. Lig,htfoot, the station superintendent. On
I riverdict we ventured to offer some, remarks
Monday, which, from the observations with which
_hey accompanied their finding, seem to have been
read and considered by the county jury. Although
the evidence in the two cases was precisely the same,
the verdids were opposite. The one imputed cri-
minal blame to the station superintendent, and thus
preserved the Railway Company from pecuniary in •
-diction ; tbe second exculpated the servants of the
Company, by an unanimous verdict of " accidental
death." By imposing a deodand of 1,0001. on the engines,
tenders, and carriages, the jury showed that they
considered the real cause of the accident was the lack
of those precautions, on the part of the Directors,
which are essential for the public safety.
Neglect of the means which experience has shown
to be the only effectual safeguards against accidents,
when they lead to the loss of life, can at present only
be visited on public bodies by such penalties. We
hope that the present instance will operate as a
salutary caution to other companies, as well as
to the Midland Railway Company, through which
the lesson has been conveyed. The jury say—
" We are convinced the collision took place in conse-
quence of mismanagement and the want of a clear
understanding on the part of some of the Company's
servants of the directions which were given; but,
owing to conflicting evidence, we are not able to de-
cide who are the parties individually implicated. We
are also of opinion that much improvement may be
made in the general management of the Midland
Railway, particularly- at the Nottingham station,
which would tend materially to secure the public
tafety. We think it important that the ser-
vants, especially the enginemen and guards, .should
be properly instructed in, and duly impressed with
the importance of, the printed rules, which should as
much as possible be observed to the letter. We are
also of opinion that Jonathan Raven, the Beeston sta-
tion-master, has given evidence before this inquest
which the jury can place no reliance upon, and that
he ought to forfeit the confidence of the Railway
Company, and be no longer retained as a public servant."
The jury, in expressing their opinion that " much
improvement may be made in the general management
of the Midland Railway," do but give effect to the ge-
nerally expressed opinion of all who have had occasion
to travel by that railway, since the amalgamation of
the line. The interests of the Company, no less than the
convenience and safety of their passengers, impera-
tively demand prompt attention to this subject on the
part of the directors. The allusion which the jury
make to the evidence of Jonathan Raven, the Beeston
station-master, is important. His evidence, if relied
on, would go to fix a considerable degree of culpable
negligence on Mr. Lightfoot. Supposing his evi-
dence to be given with another purpose than that
of deposing to the facts, se far as they came within
his cognizance, two objects may be assumed as
tending to influence his testimony. He would exone-
rate himself from blame ; and, by inculpating' Mr.
Lightfoot, he would preserve the property of his
employers from the visitation of a deodand. His
evidence, under any circumstances, was to be re-
ceived cum gram) sans ; and the contradictions
and evasions with which it abounded induced the
jury not only to exclude it from their regard,
but to pass upon the witness the strong and
unqualified condemnation they heee placed on record.
Every one must regret that the mulct which the jury
has imposed on the funds of the Company, cannot
be made evadable for the families of the deceaSed
persons. The deodand is a relic of by-gone
days ; when superstition, and the ignorance in
which it originates, led to practices that are
now abrogated, at least in this country. The
deodand was assigned to the nearest monastery,
mad purchased for the deceased soul of the per-
son who had been deprived of life by accident,
and was sent to his great' account without the
offices of the Church, those masses which were
deemed to s great influence with the Deity, and
to procure possess
sgeeBarly deliverance from purgatory. The
design was benevolent. Let a better-instructed be-
nevolenee direct the.deodand to be applied to the corn-
, pensation, though vastly inadequate, of those to whom
the deceased person's cares were devoted ,while he
lived, and . who are, probably, deprived of protection
and sustenance by his death.
STANDARD.—The accounts from the manufac-
turing districe indicate a degree of activity, enter-
prise, and profit, beyond any former example • these
accounts are indeed so favourable as to be even
alarming to all who look to the future. In some
places millowners calculate upon realising a gain
of fifty per cent. upon their capital within
the year ; in others fortunes of 50,0001., 70,0001.,
and 100,0001. have been already realised,
while mills are rising in all directions ; facts to
which the Property-tax Commissioners must be
duly attentive. It is not our disposition to dash
the enjoyment of present prosperity with sur-
mises of future evil ; in general we hold it to be the'
truest wisdom to make the most of the good we have,
and let the future take care of itself. But this rule
is extended too far, when the
_present good is, as in
the present ease, obtained at the expense of the
future; when the present gain to a few is made
at the cost of much misery hereafter to the
many, who even new scarcely participate in it;
when the very men who are now pushing
enterprise beyond its due bounds, are the same who
will labour to shift the blame of the ill consequences
of their own lucrative speculations upon innocent
parties. It is speaking very moderately to assert
that the present manufacturing activity and manufac-
turing profit cannot he maintained at anything like
the point at which they have arrived ; or, if we may
be allowed to use this mode of measurement, with-
in ten or twenty per cent. of that point. The
demand of the whole world, though all directed
upon this country, would not maintain both enter-
prise and profit at the present standard. What,
then, must be expected ? A relaxation of enter-
prise and a decline of profit. This would
be no great harm if it concerned only
the mill•ownere, who are now so desperately
" going a-head," for they—such of them, at least,
es stop in time—will be safe at anchor with each
his 60,000/. or 100,0001. secured within the year.
But what is to be the fate of the labourers—
the persons by whose unnaturally-extended and pe-
neriously-reqttited toil all this immense wealth will
have been gained ? Ten or twenty per cent. of theM
at the very least will be turned adrift to starve or to
he supported by the agricultural parishes ; the re-
mainder set to work at short time and shorter wages
—an ample preserve for the Radicals and Chartists.
This, we must contend, is the prospect before us,
]et it arrive soon or late—the cloud that overhangs
the evenings of every particularly bright day in our
commercial progress. Are these painful re ac-
tions necessary? We say, certainly not in the de-
gree, probably not at all. It is undoubtedly a
delicate affair to intermeddle in the concerns
of commerce, but in cases of necessity we see
finance ministers intruding into these concerns
with very little ceremony. The whole process of
malt making, for example, is regulated by laws as
minute as the receipts in a cookery book ; and we
believe that in distilleries, glass-houses, paper-
mills, tobacco manufactories, &c., a Chancellor
of the Exchequer is the virtual "master of the
works." From all which examples it is pretty
plain that the pezzetralia of trade are not absolutely
inviolable. If, therefore, the protection of multi-
tudes of our fellow-subjects nom the last, degree of
suffering be as important to the Legislature as
mere revenue, the Legislature may as properly re-
gulate the manufacture of calico as the manufacture
of malt, more especially as the interference in the case
of the calico needs to be but very slight, and will, in
the end, greatly serve the trade with which it has
to do, as well as greatly serving the country—
what nobody has ever predicated of the malt
duty, as far tie we are informed. Before sug-
gesting the obvious and just guard against
the frightful evils of manufacturing re•ac-
eons, or as they are called " gluts, let us
Meet one objection—the objection, namely, that
enterprise must be left free in order to catch the turn
of the tide. This is an objection founded upon a
fallacy. There are, at least there ought to be, no
tides in commerce—commerce ought to be a constant
stream, and would be such were it not for rare acci-
dents and for the obstruction offered to its progress
by gambling speculation. The wants of mankind are
uniform and constant ; and if those who are invited
V) supply such wants would be contented to supply
them only uniformly, the demand would be steady,
uniform, end constant also. Are the manufacturers
of 1844, however, working for the supply only of
• 1844? No, in the fury of competition they work for
the supply of five years to come; what wonder, then,
if the demand shall flag until 1850, or even later. The
• tide, the regular irregularity, if we may so call it, he-
gins in the furious competition of speculators, not,in
any connected with the markets If in oneyear they
urn"luce a eueely for five years, they must expect
that the bulk of the goods will lie in their own
, or in the warehouses of such consignees
tl3' they have prevailed to take them. It is
altogether an error to
roeuaprilienitlhat there tan ever be
of ins-efficient
clanger of missing ft
be found to
EtOck, the danger is that no market sa;wana
guard
against
redundant.
What take the immense amount of stock
What then is the proper
You cannot control the amount of capital to re
employed if you would, and you ought not if
you could, You are neither able nor justified to
,--e?t the progress of improvement in machinery
,htest of all can you think of imposing