The Sun.
London, England, 1844-04-24 00:00:00

PARLIAM.

RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF RAIL-
WAY PROPERTY.

(From the
_Railway Chronicle.)

Every property brings with it duties as Well as
rights. It is the general repronch of the holders of
some kind of property that they exercise, to the ut-
termost, all their rights, while their duties, being for-
gotten, are neglected and pass into disuetude. To the
duties of railway proprietors, the public has always
been sensitively alive. All failures in :speed, regu-
larity, economy, safety, are ailed with care by the
public censor, " set in a note-book, conned by
rote, to cast into the teeth " of the great " rail-
way monopolists." "But then their rights
what are they ?" " Rights ! Who ever heard
of the rights of railway proprietors ? Rights!
Why, these monstrous monopolists these mil-
lionaires these speculators what rights have
they ?" They have the right to be abused, to be
found fault with, to be legislated upon, to be set upon
by Boards of Trade and Select Committees—to carry
her Majesty's mails for noshing—to carry a peasantry
in coaches, for less money than the cost, and less than
half what it costs them to walk—in short, to do as
the public choose! Well, and their pay—surely
these public servants should be paid their hire—have
they not a right to their wages, to compensation for
loans and risks, and expended money and time and
foil, and all this service ?—they may surely have
their hire and a reasonable profit upon their work ?
" Well, we must think about that—we will consider
of it." "If they are to be paid at all, we must see
that at least they are not too well paid." Be it so.
Then let the rights of railway property be cone
sidered! its duties being already so well understood.
And first let us inquire who these great railway pro-
prietors are, and what they have done for the public.
Are they not the authors of one of the very greatest
boons ever conferred on enterprise and skill, lipon
commerce, industry, and social advancement. Have
they not carried through, to a happy issue, one of the
greatest inventions of modern times—and carried it
through in the face of difficulty, discouragement, and
vast unpopularity ?
Let us see what has hitherto been the general
expression of public feeling towards railwayS.
The inventor of a new art was deified by the
Greeks and Romans. Are we to advocate an apo-
theosis of the great projectors and constructors of
railways ? There seems little fear, in the present
temper of public opinion, of our perpetrating that
folly. Never, perhaps, were such great enterprises
achieved with so little aid from public opinion. •
While the experiment was doubtful the attempt
was derided by all who were indifferent, and de-
nounced by all who were prejudiced. Its objects were
assailed by selfish interests, and its resources devoured
by rapacious claims from those whose aid was re-
quired, or whose neutrality had to be purchased.
From the first survey to the final completion of
the line, difficulties of all kinds met the projectors—
local hostility, corporate opposition. The public
looked on ; and if it took part, it was with their op-
ponents ; the Legislature, the Government, afforded
no effectual aid. The promoters fought their way,
step by step; and were received as if, instead of pre-
paring for the country the greatest boon it has re-
ceived in modern times, they had been conspiring to
deface and impoverish it. Such, in general (for the
instances of better judgment were mere exceptions),
was the temper with which railway projects were
met in the first stage of their national existence.
Lamentable enough! but not unnatural. It is the
price which those must be ready to pay who attempt
anything at once great and new. But surely it en-
titles them to enjoy their reward, when, in spite of
these obstacles, their energy and perseverance have
conquered success.
Their efforts had, indeed, been successful ; the in-
vention was found to surpass belief, and the country
saw itself enriched by benefits which the most san-
guine of the projectors had not dared to promise. A
rapidity of transit almost miraculous : a reduction of
expense quite unexampled ; system and uniform ta-
riffs, substituted for irregularity and vulgar extortion
—and with all this a safety (which only the silliest
panic could dispute) hitherto unknown in public
travelling. These were benefits vast, incal-
culable, notorious : experienced by every one
every day. Under any circumstances, they
surely deserved a larger reward ; a larger, if the
real difficulty of the task had been troubled by need-
less hindrances. And how was this reward be-
stowed ? By an universal outcry, so loud and.
general, that one might have have thought it had.
been raised to denounce some great national
enormity. The directors, the engineers, the
proprietors, the managers of railways were questioned,
and lectured, and worried on every side. Mortified
men, who wanted courage to share in the work, while
it was full of risk—men of habit, averse to new ways
—men of rank and wealth, accustomed to com-
mand wherever they travelled, and impa-
tient of all regulations—superseded rivals who
covered their anger with pretences of public care—
liberals whose wisdom lay in repeating the phrases
of " monopoly," "competition," and similar words
without ideas—the weak of all classes whom the hub-
bub alarmed—inventors, eager to have their nos-
trums tried, or at least purchased—busy men anxious
to regulate; idle men, wanting to be employed—all
joined in the cry ; while Parliament became
suddenly full of zeal, and the Government itself,
stepping in to meddle where it had not learned
how to mend, after standing aloof when it might
have done good, seemed to sanction the general excite-
ment. Of this, however, a part which was but tem-
porary soon yielded to time :—a part, merely absurd,
was easily exploded by obvious proof; counter attacks
mutually defeated each other; and the main burden
of what now remains, may be referred to two prin-
cipal heads—the disposition of men in power to inter-
fere with whatever they feel to be important ; and the
common jealousy which is provoked by success. To
these we shall advert hereafter.

„, •
INCENDIARY FIRES IN STAFFORDSHIRE.--Two in-
cendiary fires, supposed to have been the work of strangers,
have occurred in this county during the present week. As
constables Price and Pike, of the county constabulary, were
on patrol between one and two o'clock on Sunday morning
last, they discovered a fire in the rick-yard of Mr. Henry'
Critchley, of Eaton-house, near the Spread Eagle, in the pa-
rish of Penkridge. They immediately gave the alarm to the
inmates of the house, and with the assistance of Mr.
Critchley and his sons, succeeded in drawing a burning
waggon, which was covered with straw, into an adjoining
field, and in extinguishing the flames before they extended
further. Had not the police been providentially passing at
the moment, the rick- yard, contaning several stacks of corn
and hay, and a barn with a thrashing machine, &c., must
have been totally consumed. On the following morning a
lucifer match and part of a match-box were found near the
place where the waggon had stood. Mr. Critchley considers
that the greatest credit is due to the police fortheir untiring
exertions during the progress of the flames.—The other case
occurred within a mile of Wolverhampton, on Monday even-
ing. A rick of hay, the property of Mr. Jenkinson, butcher,
of Wolverhampton, and situate on the Cannock-road,
:was
discovered on fire about eight o'clock on that evening. Mr.
Marshall, of Grimstone-cottage, ;near the place, immedi-
ately dispatched a man on horseback to town for assist-
ance, but although he rode at a meat furious rate
through the town, it was some time before it was rendered,
he having passed the place where the engines are kept, and
cryseveral
of fire. o the
The constabularynecessary-
been given at the police-station, Colonel Nogg, with
constabulary and town engine,
county engines,
burning
mass, where were also the Birmingham and
ql ed. Front
by whose assistance the fire was shortly extingsit-
seeni & fact of two suspicious characters havingou t
d b beenexisted of the
proceeded to th
loiter-
ing about the place the whole day, no
the
parties
tire having been the work of an
fincendiary,
were immediately on the
iswglhioamga,v:
I forward his messenger. The police
xexertion,
were success_
having been seen near the
alert, and after a night of most active e: f
place after 3 r. Marshall bad sent
ieiavrse Na go
te
his name as John Ilichart.son, a.
d who has confessed to his having set the
potter bv.trade,
mis.eass.ettitialite ohnafi
ariel,otanhidngaltsoo
ful in apprehending a man,leighteeni
rick e. When brought to the station by police-officer
ckeonns r,
there were found upon bins some lucifer matches,
Joseph Clough,hirng Birmingham
mo
bliya had
hi in
ptohleieme mean-
time lie wits brought up for exami-
w
nation alwithits, t
.17
snmoert I
oifeoltria sike tntoag. t,e sod
on Wednesday, but was remanded until Friday, when
popfr his,eh e 1
examined with him. They did not deny
tainctoembpeeanaioial
were committed for trial at .the next a •
the charge, and
z es.
HER MAJESTY'S FORTY-FOURTH REGIMENT OP
FOOL—CILkTIIANI, APRIL 23.—Yesterday afternoon very
considerable interest prevailed Chatham
Ganison, owing
to the arrival of a detachment of thi • s regiment, consisting of
one sergeant_major,
one sergeant, and eighteen privates,
under the command
of Captain William Evans, being the re-
leased prisoners who had been taken at Caubul in January,
1841, by the Atighanistans, during the reti eat of the British
forces in the late war. These troops embarked at Calcutta
on. the 4th of December last, on board the ship Duke of
Cornwall, Captain Eyles, and after a very favourable pas-
sage of one hundred and thirty-eight days, they arrived otf
Gravesend on Saturday afternoon, the 20th instant. The
whole of the men are wounded, two of them have balls in
their bodies, causing them at intervals very considerable pain
two women and one child, with a private of the 49th and one
private of the 3rd Dragoon Guards, came with them. The
44th lost one man the second day after they had sailed, who
died of cholera. Dr. Flemming, from one of the native
corps, had the above soldiers in charge. These troops were
under the command of Major-General G. Pollock, C. 8., and
were released in the month of September, 1842, and miracu-
lously escaped being again taken prisoners during their
march through the Arghunder Pass, by the enemy, by the
fortunate advance of our troops, which had been expressly
l
forwarded for their safety by Major•Gcneral
The men state, no one can imagine the hardships they have.
endured during the last part of their military career. The
majority of these soldiers have been in India upwards of eight-
Military
Invalid
Depot at
teen years. They have joined the_
Brompton, and
vious to their being pensioned.
INTERCOURSE BETWEEN ENGLAND AND FRANCE.
—Number of per_ons who passed .between England and
France from the 10th to the 16th of April ;—By Boulogne,
1,034; by Calais, 424. Of the 1,034, 442 entered France, and
592 came to England. At the corresponding period of last
year, the number who passed between England and Franc*
was—by way of Boulogne, 872 ; byway of Calais, 317.
ROYAL (..3EOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.—ApriI 22, R. J.
Murchison, Esq., President, in the chair. Two newmembers
were elected, and a portion of a very interesting account sof a
journey in Seistan, by the late lamented Dr. I. Forbes, war
read. It may be remembered that that enterprising 414 ta-
lented traveller was treacherously and barbarously murdered-
on the Lake of Ztatah. • _