The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-03 00:00:00

general impressions; but then it is equally true that
a very bad sermon, or essay of any kind, taken as a
whole, may not afford any particular passages against
which exception can be easily taken. Propositions
in themselves innocent, or apparently innocent,
may, without the exercise of any extraordinary
ingenuity, be made to converge, as premises, to
a very mischievous conclusion, and if the so-
phister who employs such arts leaves the conclu-
sion to be inferred, it is not always possible to
bring him to book. We cannot help thinking,
however, that the clergyman pertinaciously misun-
derstood or misrepresented, in matter of doctrine,
must be himself principally to blame. And this is the
reason for thinking the rector of East Farleigh wrong,
at which we have hinted above, and it is a reason
which we would very earnestly but respectfully
press upon the attention of the clergy. The busi-
ness of a clergyman is to teach, and to teaching to any
useful purpose explicitness and a certain degree of
precision is indispensable. To impart these ne-
cessary qualities to his discourse, a speaker must
have a full knowledge and a clear and precise can-
ception of the subject upon which he discourses his
own mind ; without them, he can only communicate
very much confused and very doubtful instruc-
tion to his hearers. But this alone is not enough;
a man must speak or write with simplicity and in
earnest if he world be perfectly intelligible. He
must Rot deal in those riddles to which the low ambi-
tion of tutors and examiners sometimes makes such
people to descend—still less must he endeavour to
disguise or hold in reserve his own honest convic-
tions. A man who observes these rules will be
rarely misunderstood ; and it is not easy to see what
excuse an appointed minister of the Gospel of
our Lord can have for neglecting rules which,
after all, enforce no more than the exercise of
ordinary diligence and common honesty. If, how-
ever, the dullness of a congregation, or its per-
verseness, wrought upon by the insidious arts of
enemies, cause a clergyman to be misunderstood, the
misapprehension cannot last more than seven days
after it shall have corns to his knowledge. It is the
duty of a teacher, and it will be no less his wish, if he
is honest and sincere, to be rightly understood, for if
not rightly understood he cannot Sly that he teaches.
When he is supposed to teach unsound doctrine, the
obligation upon him to set himself right is still more
urgent, because he may mislead others by the influ-
ence of his name, and thus teach error, which is a
great deal worse than teaching nothing. The duty
of a clergyman is quite plain; it is to explain himself
in the most distinct and emphatical manner, so
as to render doubt of his faith impossible. In such
a case to yield to personal pride, were a sin of
frightful magnitude. We see how the Apostles
acted when they were misunderstood and misrepre-
sented (Romans, 3, viii.) ; and we suppose no man is
entitled to more confidence than the Apostles, who
always freely explained themselves, when explanation
was required. If this were generally reflected upon,
we are quite sure that it would put an end to most of
the doubts and heartburnings by which so many con-
gregations are distracted. Meanwhile, we must ad-
here to the presumption that the clergyman who will
not condescend to set himself right must be in the
wrong.
POST.—The result of the inquest on the body of Mr.
Dean, killed on the Midland Railway, cannot but be re-
garded with surprise. The whole evidence certainly
bears out that Mr. Lightfoot committed a gross error in
judgment in the course he pursued, and, under the cir-
cumstances. The fact appears self-evident, that he should
have driven the train from Beeston, with the probability
before him that it would be met on the same line by the
train from Nottingham. An accident had occurred to
stop the proper line of rail, and it was his duty to take
every precaution that no collision should take place. But
what of the Railway Company ? The jury at the
coroner's inquest are silent. No word of the delay in
removing the obstruction from the proper line ; no word
of the cutting down of salaries, of the substitution of
boys for men on the line ; indeed, the company are
passed over by the jury with the consideration due to
the most innocent persons. We are afraid the public
will not take the same view of the case. The company
appears to us to be responsible for the efficiency of the
railway with belongs to them, whatever the jury may
think ; and neither their verdict, nor General Parley's
letter, can alter this responsibility. The affairs
of the company seem to be lirtnaged in a way
not knawn certainly on any other line of rail-
way, and we think it is high time its affairs were
in other hands. Judging from the evidence, there
appears to be no person responsible for what occurs.
The driver blames the guard, the guard the station-
master, and the station-master is nit responsible at all ;
and thus are the lives of hundreds end .ngered every
day. The matter is too serious to be passed over without
more inquiry than has yet been gone into, and apart
from She question of a deodand upon the company (about
which the law seems to be very uncertain), we think this
is a case which the railway department of the Board of
Trade ought at once to take into consideration, and se-
cure the public from the danger which they daily run.
CHRONICLE.—We abstain from making any ob•
servation upon the verdict of the Coroner's jury at Not-
tingham, so far as relates to the connexion which any
individual may have hail with the late melancholy oc-
currence on the Midland Counties Railway. That por-
tion of the subject will be thoroughly investigated before
the proper tribunal. But the jury, in delivering their
verdict, accompanied it with certain recommendations
which we think deserve earnest and immediate attention,
as calculated, if acted upon, to ensure greater safety to
those who travel by railway. The code of signals
which is at present in use would appear to be suscepti-
ble of one great improvement, and that. would be par-
ticularly applicable to the running of cart juges during
the prevalence of a thick fog, when the ordinary signals
cannot be easily discerned. On the day of the unfor-
tunate collision near Nottingham, so dense a fog pre-
vailed that the usual means of conveying intelligence
along the line by signal were utterly useless. Now, it is
evident that if a more perfect system of makin signals
than that at present in use on the Midland Counties
railway were adopted, namely, the electric telegraph, in-
telligence could have been immediately sent before each
train which was about to start on the wrong line, and
this would have been saffieient to prevent the less of
life which occurred. It may be the fact that there is
already a code of signals capable of conveying intelli-
gence distinctly:in a fog, and we shall not at present
suggest that the adoption of an electric telegraph should
be made imperative ; but we must meintain that certain,
arrangements which have been omitted on this line,
should be in future made peremptory on every railroad.
There should be, in the first place, a clear, brief, and
intelligible code of regulations for all con-
nected immediately with the locomotive power.
No person should be so employed until, by
competent examination, it was shown that he un-
derstood those regulations ; and all the persons so
engaged should be from time to time examined by a
competent and responsible officer, in order to ascertain
that they had not forgotten them. This would, at all
events, secure uniformity, and impress upon the servants
engaged a sense of the dangers which are constantly to
be guarded against, and from the risk of which the
longest series of safe journeys would give no impunity.
It must also be evident that there should be at every
station some one who had a responsible control over the
starting of the trains, and who should be required to
understand and recognise that responsibility. Whenever
a collision takes place on a railway, or any accident
causing a shock of a similar nature to occur, the car-
riages farthest removed from the obstruction suffer
least, and those nearest to it most—the injury and
danger becoming less in the ratio of the distance from
the obstruction. In the late accident a similar result
followed. Why is it not made compulsory on all railways
to place one or two luggage vans or trucks between the
engine and the passengers' carriages? On some rail-
ways this is done—on others it is not. If it affords, as
we believe it does, any protection, it ought to be made
compulsory on all. It is worthy of remark, that all those
passengers who suffered by the collision were not aware,
when they left the station, that it was intended to place
the carriages in which they were about to travel upon
the.wrong line ; and it was only when it was too late to
complain or remonstrate that they found they were to be
sent to Beeston in a fog, and upon the wrong line. it is
)o be regre ed that such a risk should be rendered
necessary i any case; but it is manifestly most unjust to
place passengers in such a position, without duly advising
them that the train was not to start upon the usual line
of transit. It ought to be, in future, a well understood
arrangement, that no passengers should, in any case, be
laced upon the wrong line, without being previously
acquainted with that departure from the ordinary course.
It appears that one passenger, who accidentally became
aware that the train was about to proceed on the wrong
,ine, although he had paid for his ticket, yet refused to
proceed. Why should not the opportunity he given to
all the passengers to save their limbs or lives by a similar
exercise of prudence ? The importance of the subject,
involving so largely as it does the safety of the public
imperatively demands that efficient means should lae in-
stantly taken to enforce the raost prudential system of
railway management.

__—
SEIZURE DY THE EXCISE OF NEARLY A TON OF
Tonacco.—During the week a seizure of 2.0751b5. of
tobacco was made by the officers of Excise, at Carshalton,
Surrey, in the grinding-mills of Messrs. Porter and Ro-
bertson, wholesale tobacco and cigar manufacturers, of
Cross-lane, St. Mary-at-hill, which tobaccco the officers
had reason to believe had been adulterated with earthy
matter and ingredients foreign to tobacco. The matter
was referred to the Central Board for investigation, and
Saturday, at one o'clock, was specially appointed for
hearing any arguments, or examining any witnesses,
that the defendants might think fit to bring forward. Mr.
Commissioner Stephenson presided, and several witnesses
were examined, but the greatest caution was observed,
for the purpose of preventing, if possible, stni of the de-
tails from appearing before the public. The general
tenour of the evidence of the witnesses brought forward,
went to show that the tobacco was not adulterated ; and
a chemist stated that he had analysed samples of it, and ,
if adulterated at all, it was to so trifling an extent that he
was unable to detect it. Mr. Roberson, one of the pro-
prietors, was then sworn, and he stated that the tobacco
was intended to be ground for snuff, but being of a rich
and very superior description to what is generally used
for, that purpose, and with a consequent darkness of
mitalt
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the seizure"rtroat a cc'iktlern"i"'
be restored. The