The Sun.
London, England, 1850-08-26 00:00:00

evitellillit 21U1

LONDON, MONDAY, AUGUST 26, 1850.

. Perhaps no recent event connected with railway
management excited a deeper sensation than the
strike of the engine-drivers and firemen of the East
ern Counties Railway. On Monday last no less than
179 persons simultaneously resigned the situations
they- hid previously held in the company's service,
and left tho directors and managers to supply their

,c3s as they best could. The interests of the
and the community in general were alike in-
din the result. The former trembled for their
dividends, the latter for their safety, and, according
fo the usual custom, there was on both sides a very
general disposition to censure the board of manage-
ment. Before the real merits of the case could possi-
bly be known flippant opinions were expressed con-
demnatory of the directors. They were accused of
intolerable tyranny, of grinding and paltry parsimony,
of a reckless indifference to the public safety
and to the comfort and happiness of those
who had served them honestly and faithfully
for many successive years. It was asserted by an
anonymous correspondent of a leading journal, that
they (the directors) did not hesitate to commit the
lives of hundreds to the keeping of perfectly ignorant
drivers, in order to grind Is. 6d. a day out of the
hard-earned wages of those who had made themselves
masters of their business." As is generally the case,
the parties most ignorant cf the facts expressed the
most authoritative judgments, and required no further
evidence to induce them to decide in favour of the
seceders, and against their quondam employes.
Such was the state of affairs when the general half-
yearly meeting of the company was held, on Thurs-
day, at the London Tavern. It was generally anti-
cipa!ed that the proceedings, seldom of a very orderly
character, would have been even more stormy than
usual, and the quotations of prices in the share list
proved that the dealers on the Stock Exchange parti-
cipated in the opinion. We believe that Eastern
Counties stock was never quoted at a lower
figure than on the 21st and the morning
of the 22d instant. The clever, lucid, and
satisfactory explanations afforded by Mr. BETTS
of the entire circumstances of the unfortunate trans-
'action completely removed the misapprehensions that
had previously existed, and set the minds of the share-
holders at rest. Never was an assembly more tho-
roughly convinced of the injustice of the accusations
th 4 bias! been preferred. Those who came prepared
toliid fault were the loudest in their applause, and
there was an unanimity on the question rarely exhi-
bited by any company, but perfectly unparalleled at
the Eastern Counties.

It was not that Mr. BETTS made any attempt at
display, such as is generally resorted to, in order to
carry away a meeting. The principal charm of his

oratory consisted in its truthful simplicity, a vrai-
semblance that brought conviction to the minds of his
auditors. There were no finely rounded periods, no
appeal to the passions, or studied expressions. It was
a man of business habits and sound common sense
explaining to persons, jointly interested with himself
in an important undertaking, the true principles on
which their affairs should be conducted—the abso-
lute necessity of resisting the unreasonable demands
of the ern/Ayes, which, if conceded, would constitute
them the masters rather than the servants of the com-
pany, and prevent the possibility of carrying out the
economical arrangements, which the general depre-
ciation of railway property renders essential, and
which the Eastern Counties directors have pledged
themselves to—and which they are gradually, but
steadily bringing into operation on the entire line.
The most skilful and practised orator could not, how-
ever, have produced a more striking and almost
magical effect than the simple and straightforward
speech of the Chairman of the Board cf Directors.
A little consideration might have convinced the
parties who hurled their anathemas against the autho-
rities of the propriety of awaiting the authorised answer
to the assertions of the malcontents, before giving
premature expression to opinions formed on inade-
quate data. The conduct of the engine-drivers made
out a prima facie case against themselves. They at
tempted, in the first instance, to ride roughshod over
the directors, and to compel them to decide a ques-
tion of considerable importance without even hearing
the defence of the accused. Their earliest complaint,
the first intimation given to the board of directors of
any dissatisfaction being entertained towards Mr.
Goocu, the new superintendent, was accompanied by
a threat. Their memorial concluded with these
words :—" We deeply regret that we are compelled to
be so hasty in our proceeding., but the prompt man-
ner in which Mr. Goocu is caking out his tyran-
nical measures leaves us no alternative. We are
quite willing to serve your honourable board as here-
tofore, but we have unanimously come to the determi-
nation to be the servants of your honourable board
no longer than the 18th of August, 1850, unless Mr.
Gooca is removed from being our superintendent."
Here there was no application for inquiry,
no expression of a willingness to come
forward and prove the charges then, for the
first time, brought forward. They would not even
wait for the decision of the board on the memorial.
The deputation which presented it met a single
director (Mr. axes), the only one at the station, no
such complaint having been for a moment antici-
pated. That gentleman received them in a most
courteous manner, and did all that man could do to
assuage their irritation, to calm their angry passion.,
and to induce them to pursue a rational course. He
declared the directors " had no knowledge of any dis-
agreement between the engine-drivers and Mr.
Gooca; they had never complained individually or
collectively, and that was the first intimation they
had given. The directors had no desire to part with
their old servants, or any intention that they should be
harshly or unfairly dealt with. They believed Mr.
Goocu to be a kind man, and he was so con-
sidered by those under his management on the
South-Western Railway, where he had been
employed for the last ten years. His serious advice
to them was not to act precipitately or prematurely.
Many of them doubtless had wives and families, and
they should, therefore, consider before they acted in
the way mentioned in the memorial. They would
see that he could not be prepared with an answer, as
in justice to Mr. Gooca the directors must hear his
reply before they determined the matter. They would
see Mr. Goocu, and endeavour to adjust their dffer-
ences." This conciliatory and judicious answer, how-
ever, failed to satisfy the malcontents. The prudent
advice given by Mr Exam was slighted and despised.
The Chairman arrived at the station within a quarter
of an hour after the departure of the men, and he im-
mediately telegraphed for Mr. Gooca to come to the
station, and to bring with him a statement of all the
fines he had imposed; but in the interim every man's
resignation had been placed in Mr. Gooca's hands.
They were on printed forms, prepared for the occa-
sion even before the meeting with Mr. ELLts, and
were contained in a single parcel.
Every employer of human labour throughout the
length and breadth of the land, every man accus-
tomed to see many persons engaged under a single
master, must be well aware of the injurious conse-
quences of yielding to such intimidation. If they
had done so for a single moment—if they had
truckled to the palpable combination, there would
have been an end to all subordination. They were
in the position of rebels in open arms, who could not
even be treated with until they laid down their
weapons. These misguided individuals had, how-
ever, formed an erroneous:estimate of their own con •
sequence, and persevered in their reckless course.
The directors took every precaution that prudence
dictated to prcvide for the emergency—no exertions
were spared to replace the seceders by competent and
well-qualified drivers. Other companies came nobly
forward to render assistance in a matter of
general interest, and spared several experienced
drivers until the arrangements of the directors
could be perfected, and the best refutation of the
charges against the new superintendent was to be
found in the fact, that many experienced drivers re-
signed their situations on the South-Western Railway
to follow their old superintendent (Mr. Goocu)—a
sterling testimonial to his kindliness of disposition and
temperate government that could not be surpassed.
Meanwhile the drivers were rather surprised at the
firm and unexpected position assumed by the direc-
tors ; they had supposed themselves indispensable, and
they began to be aware of their mistake. They held
daily meetings, at which every accident, or rather
everything that could by possibility be tortured into
an accident, was to have been brought forward, and
the characters of the new men exposed, if any tan-
gible charge could have been= preferred, but, fortu-
nately, they " reckoned without their bust " in these
respects, Although the men were brought to a new
district, with which they had previously been UMW-
qu2inted, and although means were taken to occasion
accidents that might have led to the most calamitous
resu:ts—nothing "but a slight shaking of a passenger
train, that could_ scarcely be called an accident,"
had occurred. And, notwithstanding the urgency of
the occasion and the pressure of the emergency, the
characters of thelnew candidates for employment were
rigidly tested, and none but those who could bear
the strictest inquiry were retained, so that Mr. BETTS
was able to speak personally of every new driver on
the line, and to express the fullest confidence tha
" there was not one who was not equal to the dis•
charge of his duties."

The seceders were all this time speaking loudly as
to the public safety and the dangers incurred by the
directors in bringing new and untried men. But to
whom was this danger ascribable. Was it not to the
men who discharged themselves en masse, and refused
to continue their duties even until their com-
plaints had been investigated ? The parrot cry
of " disregarding the safety of the passengers"
proceeded strangely from such a quarter, and

did not assort well with the removal of the " gauge
glasses," the soap, the tallow grease and sand that
were found in the boilers and axle-boxes. These
latter acts of so deeply criminal a character were not
brought home to any of the parties, and GOD forbid
that we should, without ample proof, suppose that any
body of Englishmen could be guilty of such atrocious
and cowardly conduct; but some persons, aware of
the probable consequences of such proceedings, must
have been cognizant thereof, which certainly did not
help the cause of the seceders.

Their last hope was, however, placed on the share-
holders, and bills were handed to every gentleman
en'eri-g the room, asking for a committee
"to inquire into all the facts of the case."
This, be it remembered,
was the appeal of men who
had previously refused to permit anyinquiry with
respect to Mr. GOOCH, who had served their notices
before their complaints could be investigated. The
shareholdev, however, unanimously considered that
they bad llpsed their time, and had now
no locus atandi, and this feeling Was con-
firmed by the statement of the Chairman,
that be and Mr. ELLIS had investigated, the very day
of the memcrial, " every single fine that had been im-
posed upon the men," and that, "as a practical man,
he could say that not a single fine had been imposed
that should ii)t have been imposed, nor had any fine
been imposed from an improper motive."
Under such circumstances, we cannot feel surprised
at the perfect cordiality and unanimity with which

LONDON;

the customary vote.of thanks to the Chairman and di-
rectors was carried, and at the feeling universally en-
tertained, that by their conduct during this try ing
emergency they had gained new claims upon the
gratitude of the important consti`ueney whose inte-
rests they have so efficiently watched over for the
past year. They have not been able "to command
success," but they have unquestionatly " deserved it."

Various have been the methods adopted by cele-
brated men of giving vent to their feelings when
enraged, vexed, or perplexed. MOZART was wont, on
such occasions, to rush to the pianoforte and rattle
away his annoyances in a series of brilliant fantasias.
THERSITES raved, ACHILLES sulked, and Dr. HEIVMY
PHILLYOTTS writes pamphlets. No sooner is that
right reverend and holy man thwarted or annoyed
than he forthwith retails his vexations across the
counter of his bookseller, at the low charge of cane
shilling and sixpence, making commodity of his cala-
mity and turning his very grief to profit. It might
have been supposed, from the tenor of the letter
which the Bishop of EXETER thought it decent to ad-
dress to his Metropolitan on the subject of the judg-
ment of the Privy Council in the case cf Mr. G-ost-
lIAM, that the Right Rev. Prelate would sturdily•
have refused to take any steps that should
aid, assist, or abet the induction of Mr.
GORHAM into the living of Brampford Speke, and that
he would have braved the terrors of the Ecclesiastical
Court rather than have returned into the court the
presentation; but the opinions °fare Bishop of Exlc'xEß
on the subject of martyrdom are, it is evident, similar
to those of MATTHEWS' old man on the subject of
Vauxhall—"lt's very fine, but it's very expensive."
An unbeneficed clergyman like Mr. SHORE may in-
deed afford to become a martyr, but with a well-
endowed dignitary of the Church the case is different.
Comfortable is a prebendal stall at Durham, most
comfortable the revenues of the see of Exeter, com-
fortable exceedingly the patronage attached thereunto•
These are matters not lightly to be placed in jeo-
pardy. The race of Silkies, whether lay or clerical,
must " provide for their families," and accordingly,
having a wholesome horror of the FLUELLIN of the
Ecclesiastical Court, our Episcopal PISTOL eats his
leek, and swears while eating. Dr. PHILLI'OTTS re-
turns the presentation to the Arches' Court, and
writes a letter to the churchwardens of Branwford
Speke.

There would be something excessively ludicrous,
if the subject-matter were less grave, in the
spectacle of this five-times defeated Prelate ap-
pealing on a matter of law from the Courts of
Westminster Hall and the Judicial Committee of
the Privy Council, and on a matter of theology and
church discipline, from the judgment of his Metropo-
litan, the Archbishop of CANTERBURY, whom at his
consecration he had sworn that he would reverence
and obey, to the churchwardena of Brampford
Speke; but the subject is -of too grave a nature
to be treated after this fashion ; albeit, it must
be confessed that the specimens of " slangevhan-
gery" (we are forced to adopt an Americanism
to describe accurately the peculiar characteristics
of the Bishop's style) with which this epistle abounds
are most tempting. The Bishop commences his letter
by giving his own version of the history of the Gorham
controversy, and, while in allusion to his consecration
vows, he says—
" When I was consecrated to the high office which,
however unworthy, I bear in the Church of Christ, I
solemnly engaged, just before I was admitted to the com-
munion of !Ls body and of His blood, to be ready, the
Lord being my helper, whirl alt faithful diligence ;to
banish and drive away all erroneous and strange doc-
trine contrary to God's word;'"
he does not condescend to explain how it happened
that he, knowing in the early part of 1846, that the
Rev. GEORGE CORNELIUS GORHAM, then Vicar of St.
Just, within the diocese of Exeter, "held doctrines
on: the subject of the baptism of infants which he
(the Bishop of EXETER) deemed directly contrary to
the sure Word of GOD, as set forth in the Thirty-nine
Articles of the Church of England, and still more
plainly in the offices of baptism in the Book of Com-
mon Prayer, and in the catechism, or ' instruction to
be learned of every person before he be brought to be
confirmed by the Bishop,' " did not, in obedience
to his consecration vow, take immediate
steps "to banish and drive away the strange
doctrine from his diocese," but suffered the, as he be-
lieves, "heretic" to continue teaching unmolested in
the parish of St. Just for the space of not less than
eight, perchance for the space of twenty months.
At the period of his consecration as Bishop oi
Exeter, Dr. PHILLFOTT3 declared , that he felt
"persuaded that the Holy Scriptures contain suffi-
ciently all doctrine required of necessity to eternal
salvation through faith in JESUS CUBIST," yet, strange
to say, throughout the whole of this controversy neither
the Bishop nor any of his supporters hate ventured
in any one instance to appeal to the Scripture, or
to adduce a single Scripture authority in support of
the tenets which they profess, and this letter to the
churchwardens of Brampford forms no exception.
The uninspired Prayer-book is constantly quoted as
an authority, the inspired Scriptures never—per-
chance the Bishop does not altogether approve of the
summary of episcopal duties given in the Scriptures.
It bas long been known to all scholars that there
are on the Episcopal Bench many Bishops more pro-
foundly learned in theology than the Bishop of
EXETER, in fact, that Right Reverend Prelate has
been in respect of theology somewhat of a chamelion,
and has generally been of the bue of his examining
chaplain for the time being, and the probability is
that had not Mr. MASKELL been the Bishop's ex-
amining chaplain at the time of the presentation of
Mr. Gonneess to the living of Brampford Speke, the
world would have heard nothing of this baptismal
regeneration controversy. Since the decision of the
Judicial Committee Mr. Meseessa, has gone over to
Rome, and we were curious to know how Dr. Puler.,
POTTS would menage to conduct the controversy in
the absence of his " guide, philosopher, and friend ;" he
has very judiciously, and with infinite tact, given the
subject the go by. "I say ditto to Mr. I3ußsee,"
said the Bristol merchant when called on to make his
profession of political faith. "I say ditto to Mr.
Archdeacon BARTHOLOMEW,", says the Bishop of
EXETER, when called on in the absence of
Mr. MAskann to conduct the baptismal
controversy. "It was my intention," says the Right
Rev. Prelate, " to have addressed you somewhat at
length on the grace of baptism. But that has been
done so admirably well by the pastor near to you, my
friend Archdeacon BARTHOLOMEW, in a sermon on
The Holiness of Baptised Infants,' that I shall
thankfully avail myself of its publication, and trans-
mit a copy of it to every house within your parish."
The manner in which the Right Rev. Prelate de-
clares what he will not do now, but what he would
have done, and what -he will do, had certain things
happened, or should certain events occur, is charac-
teristically Pistol-like; he will, not set up an opposi-
tion to Mr. Goanem in Brampford Speke by licensing
a " sound minister" to preach in the parish,
because Mr. Goanaet has been instituted by the Arch

bishop. "The case would have been very different,"
magniloquently saith Dr. PHILLPOTTS, " if—not the

Archbishop, but some p€rson authorised merely by
the State—had affected to give institution. In that
case, I should have continued to regard the cure of

souls as void, and to supply the vacancy by a minis

ter licensed by myself."
If that is his only reason, he may licence his oppo-
sition man to-morrow ; it is " as a person authorised

merely by the State" that the Archbishop of CANTER-

BURY has inducted Mr. GORIIAM, it is as a person

" authorised merely by the State" that Dr. PEILL-
POTTS enjoys the revenues and privileges of the Epis-

copal see of Exeter. The Parliament established the
Church and the Parliament can dis-establish it, and if
the Parliament chose to exerci,e its power and dis-

establish the Episcopal Church and estab-
lish Prebbyterianism in its place, !k, Dr. FRILL.,

poTra would be ejected from the Cathedral
'Church of Exeter, and the revenues which he now re-
ceives would be paid over to the uses of the Presby-
t,,riart Church, which would then be the Church of
England by law established, as it is at present the
Church of Scotland. The Church was established as
a State Church by the Parliament, and the establisher
is necessarily superior to the established. We shall
have other opportunities of arguing this point, and
we tl'erefore return to the letter. The Bishop will
not venture to " take steps to bring Mr. GOERAM to
trial for heresy by reason of the publica'ion of his

book entitlei On the Efficacy of the Baptism of

Infants,'" but "if he should put forth the same
dogmas in another form, or should preach the same;

in such case," says the Bishop, "if I could obtain
sufficient evidence of such publication, or such preach-
ing, I should deem it my duty to institute legal pro-
ceedings." And thereupon the Bishop proceeds to
explain his notable plan for obtaining such evi-
dence :

" You," says the Bishop, " as the churchwardens of
Bramplord Speke, are bound by the most solemn obliga-
tions to tho Church, end to the Divine Head of the
Church, in which yuu hold tha highest office you as lay-
men can hold—you are bound, I say, to bring to the
knowledge of the Bishop, or to the Archdeacon, any in-
stance in which you shall conscientiously believe, on just
and reasonable grounds, that your minister has preached
or taught anything contrary to, or inconsistent with,
that which the Church proclaims to bo the true word of
God.

" Ordinarily, I should deem it highly unfit to warn
any churchwardens to be on the watch for occasions of
complaint, when they listen to their preacher's words.
Ordinarily, they are bound to hope and to believe that
he discharges his high duty faithfully, until they shun
have been compelled, by painful and undoubting cape-
rience,to attest the.contrary. But yours is not an ordi-
nary case; you have already t)o strong reason to appre-
hend that your new vicar may endeavour to spread the
poison of heresy among his people, by denying the
efficacy of the Holy Sacrament of Baptism to baptized
infants. And, therefore, I now charge you, if you ever
hear such false doctrine flow from him, that you note his
words accurately and report them to mo, or to the Arch-
deacon, without delay."

The Bishop at his consecration promised " that he
would maintain and set forward, as much as in him
lay, quietness, love, and peace among all men." We
will not willingly " believe him capable of dishonest
subterfuge," but will rather " hope, as charity bids us
hope," that he really, " conscientiously, and honestly
believes " that he is maintaining and setting forward
" quietness, love, and peace among all men," in the
parish of Brampford Spike by setting the church-
wardens to act as spies on their minister. Be
that as it may, the method adopted will
ba perfectly inoperative as a foundation for legal
proceedings. No Court would venture to act upon
notes so taken by such persons in a case, in which not
only a word, but the position of a word may be of the
utmost importance, no Court could proceed save upon
the verbatim report of an accomplished short-hand
writer, corroborated by the independent report of
another short-hand writer equally accomplished, and
as no such gentlemen can be found in the parish of
Brampford Speke, the Bishop is perfectly safe in saying
that he will prosecute, if he can obtain evidence. No
man understands the virtue of an "if " more com-
pletely than does the Bishop of EXETER.
We regard this letter therefore as a mere brutum
fulmen, vox et pretcereahihil, words "full of sound and
fury, signifying nothing," so fir as Mr. GORuAM is
concerned. With regard to the Bishop himself, the
case is different—to him the letter is as a safety-valve,
and, having given vent to the effervescence of his
wrath and disappointment, we doubt not but that he
is better both in body and mind since its publ"cation.

DEATH