The Sun.
London, England, 1845-03-08 00:00:00

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Mr. ROBERTS, a Conservative, addressed the meeting
amidst considerable opposition, observing there was a
large amount of Conservative blood running through the
town; but the Conservatives had not opposed Mr. Sheri-
dan, because they wished to preserve the peace of the
borough.
Thanks were then voted to the Mayor, sad the pro;
eeedings terminated.
A

_TIVIOSPHER IC RAILWAYS
PETITION OF JOSEPH IYAGUILAR SAAIUDA AND
SAMUEL CLEGG.
The humble petition of Joseph D'Aguilar Samuda and
Samuel Clegg, humbly showeth,
That your petitioners are the inventors and patentees of
the Atmospheric System of Railway.
That this system presents various advantages in regard to
speed, safety, comfort, and economy.
That a very high velocity, higher than any that is prac-
ticable under the common locomotive system, may be attained
by means of this power, the trains being at the same time
considerably lighter by the absence of an engine and tender.
That the tube being dimly fastened to the ground, and the
train linked to it by a strong iron plate, the chance of the
carriages running off the road is greatly diminished, and
thereby the passage of the train round curves is rendered
much safer, the connexion with the piston always tending to
counteract the centrifugal force.
That from the nature of this system, as it is impossible to
work both ways at the same time in one length of tube, it is
absolutely impossible that two trains should ever meet, and
thus the danger of those collisions, of which there have been
so many fatal examples on locomotive railways, is, on the
Atmospheric Line, altogether removed.
That the comfort of passengers is greatly increased by the
absence of fire and smoke and the diminution of noise.
That danger and nuisance to the neighbourhood through
which the trains pass is by the same means greatly dimi-
nished.
That the mode of applying the power obtained by the
Atmospheric System, and the comparative lightness of the
trains, render it muoh . easier to surmount steep acclivities,
and to pass round sharp curves, by means of which, in the
constructioa of the line, the engineer is enabled to dispense
with advantageous gradients, and thereby greatly to diminish
the amount of earthwork, and generally to exercise a wider
discretion in the choosing of his ground, in order to avoid
local difficulties or accommodate local or public interests
That in cases of passing through a difficult country a con-
siderable saving of expense will result from the adoption of
the Atmospheric System in the construction and furnishing
of a railway ready for working ; and that in no case, however
easy the country, will an excess of cost for the construction
and furnishing he required.
That in the working of the Atmospheric System there is a
great saving of expense in all cases, both in regard to the
consumption of fuel, and more especially in the renewing and
repairing of engines and other apparatus, inasmuch as
stationary engines are far more durable, and require much
less repairing, than locomotive, and the wear and tear upon
the rails is greatly reduced by the absence of the engine and
tender.
That this system is peculiarly adapted to the werkibg of
a use with frequent trains, as the power can, at a compara-
tively cheap rate, be kept constantly ready for action, and a
very large number of people may
,thus be conveyed at short
intervals at low fares.
That the use of the electric telegraph, to which so much
importance has justly been attached, is a necessary appen-
dage to the economical working of the Atmospheric System,
where it is desirable to have the means of rapidly communi-
cating from station to station, and that the Government may
therefore more readily have the benefit of such communica-
tion under this than under any other system.
That the above line has, by the consent of your petitioners,
been adopted upon the Kingstown and Dalkey Line of Rail-
way in Ireland, where it has been worked with regularity and
perfect success for the last eighteen months.
That measures are now in contemplation by the proprietors
of that railway for extending their line from Dalkey to Bray.
That a Bill was obtained in the last session of Parliament
for making an Atmospheric Railway from Croydon to Epsom ;
and another enabling the London and Croydon Railway Com-
pany to make an independent Atmospheric Line from Lon-
don to Croydon.
That various schemes have been promoted by the London
and Croydon, and other Railway Cempaiiies, for making lines
of railway upon the Atmospheric System, some of which arc
now before your Honourable house; and your petitioners
humbly conceive that it would be good for 'the public in-
terest, as well as a source of profit to your petitioners, that
such schemes should receive the sanction of Parliament.
That your petitioners humbly conceive that they, as
patentees of the Atmospheric System of Railway, have been
and are greatly prejudiced by a report new lying before your
Honourable House, entitled, " Report of the Railway **De-
partment of the Board of Trade on the Kentish and South-
Eastent Railway Schemes," wherein is made, among other
things, the statement following
" The question is further narrowed by the exclusion of the
line proposed by the'Croydon Company, London, Chatham,
and Chilliam, No. 142, which, from the nature of its gradi-
ents, is incapable of. sustaining a serious competition with
either of the other schemes.

" The gradients are more severe than have ever been pro-
posed for a locomotive hue, 28 planes, extending over more
than fifteen miles of the first thirty, being at an inclination
of one in fifty.
" In their subsequent projects, which are now under con-
sideration, the Croydon Company equally adopt the Atmos-
pheric System of propulsion. If that system had already
been applied successfully upon any long flue of railway, the
severity of the gradients in these projected lines would not
have been considered so objectionable. It is clearly hcfwever
impossible for us to assume the success of a system as to
which much difference of opinion exists among railway en-
gineers, and which has not, hitherto afforded such proof of
its merits as could warrant us in giving the preference to
projected undertakings, the success of which must depend
upon results asyet uncertain, while other projects are offered
to which no such uncertainty applies."
That your petitioners humbly conceive, and are prepared
and willing to prove, that the above quoted statement is in-
correct and calculated to mislead your Honourable House:
That the Atmospheric System, as invented by your peti-
tioners, and used and applied upon the line of railway from
Kingstown to Dalkey, has already given abundant proofs of
its merits, and such as to recommend any projected railway
whereon it is proposed to adopt that system to the favourable
consideration of your Honourable House.
That, although the Dalkey line is only one mile and three
quarters in length, yet the working thereof exhibits every
result which it would be desirable to obtain upon a longer
line; and that an investigation of what has there been ac-
complished will result in the conclusion that every extension
of distance merely involves a repetition of the fixed power,
and consequently a repetition (not an extension) of the effect
produced, and in no way involves any further experiment
or difficulty beyond that at present successfully accomplished.
That your petitioners were proposed and offered to prove
this fact by evidence before the Board by whom the said re-
port has been presented to your llonourable House : but the
Board did not avail itself of such offer.
That, with respect to the opinion of railway engineers,
your petitioners humbly submit and represent that the en-
gineers who hare given opinions adverse to the Atmospheric
System have all been concerned in the invention, or improve-
ment, or working, of the common locomotive system ; that
some of them are the makers of locomotive engines, and all
of them more or less interested in the prosperity and continu-
ance of the present system.
That, nevertheless, there are some engineers of large ex-
perience in the management of locomotive lines of railway
whose opinions are favourable to the adoption of the At-
mospheric System as invented and applied by your pe-
titioners, but who are wholly unconnected with your
petitioners, or with their patent or the profits thereof, and
who have no interest whatever in the success of the Atmo•
spheric System beyond that which they feel as scientific men
in the progress of improvement.
That the opinion of these last-mentioned persons, being
free from all suspicion of bias or partiality, is entitled to the
greatest weight with your Honourable House, and that your
petitioners have not had the opportunity of producing the
evidence of such persons before the Board of Trade.
That the opinion in favour of the Atmospheric System is
strengthened by the testimony of all the eminent engineers
who have been deputed by the foreign Governments to in-
vestigate its merits, and whose testimony is the more va-
luable as they may fairly be considered entirely free from
any preconceived bias.
That there are numerous Bills now pending before your
Honourable House, for making branches from, or extensions
of, the main trunk railways now existing, which it is pro-
posed to work upon the common locomotive system.
That great efforts are making by the promoters of such
railways to suppress and defeat the progress of the Atmos-
pheric System, and that, if they should succeed M. further
establishing their monopoly of railway communication, the
general adoption of the Atmospheric system is likely to be
postponed to an indefinite period.
That it is desirable for the sake of public interest that the
merits of the Atmospheric System should receive a fall and
searching investigation before your Honourable House is
called upon to decide upon the numerous railway Bills
which are now pending, the more especially as the Board of
Trade, by the rejection of lines by reason of the inferiority
of their (gradients, in effect condemns the Atmospheric
System
power of vantages sought by its adoption being the _
to a locomo •
sur-
mounting
gradients and using curves unsuited
altogether, inasmuch as, one el the main ad-
anheAet,nanio.spherid lleLine,
d' t d
would incur the expense of obtaining gradients t
curves
astivgeoeliidiea,snoareenrgegineeierre,dinenlaayin
between two lines intended
locomotivegout
to be constructed on these opposite principles, the preference
is to be given to that which has what are usually termed the
gradients, the Atmospheric System must in all cases be
conse-
quently if where the choice lies
best
rejected.
Your petitioners therefore humbly pray that a Committee
be appointed by your Honourable House to inquire into the
merits of the Atmospheric System of Railway, and to hear
the evidence of engineers and other persons upon the subject,
and that your petitioners be allowed to attend before such
Committee, and to be heard by counsel, or otherwise, as your
Honourable House shall direct.—And ' •
your petitioners .will ever pray, &c.

SAMrEL CLEGG,
JOSEPITA D'A. SAML7DA.

FATAL ACCIDENT AT SIR F. BOOTH'S DISTIL-
LERY.—Thursday Mr. Wakley, M.P., Coroner, held an in-
quest at the Bull, Old Brentford, on Mr. Samuel Taylor, aged
83, father of the landlord, who met his death under the fol-
lowing circumstances. The deceased, who was an old servant
at the distillery of Sir F. Booth, Bart., and Co., which ad-
joins the Bull, was some years since superannuated on an
allowance, since which period he has been permitted to do
whatever he pleased about the premises. On Tuesday he
amused himself by wheeling dung in a barrow into the gar-
den, which chiefly occupied his attention, and was last seen
doing so about a quarter before live o'clock in the after-
noon. He was shortly afterwards missed, when a search
was made, and he was eventually found in one of the grain
pits near the garden, quite dead. From the barrow being
found at the edge of the pit, it is supposed that in turning
the corner the barrow must have struck against something,
by which the deceased, who was drawing it after him, was
thrown forward and he pitched headlong into the pit, which
contained two feet three inches of water, and that in falling
his head struck a bar of iron attached to a large cowl
which was lying in the pit, by which he was stunned, and
his forehead much cut and bruised. The evidence being con •
elusive that no blame was attachable to any person, the jury
returned a verdict of "Accidental death ;" Mr. Waklev,
however, recommending that precautions should be taken
with respect to the pit to preyent similar accidents occurring,

On which occasion a passenger called out " Steward,
open the window and kill one of these ladies, aad then
shut it and do for the other."—(Loud laughter.) The
Whigs cried out for " Free-trade, and free everything."
The Conservatives called out " No:" and the political
Samaritan said " Shut the window for the Whigs, and
then open it and get rid of the Tories."—(Laughter and
cheers.) lie was opposed to a repeal of the corn-laws,
because it would throw the land out of cultivation—(A
voice, " No!")—and would peril the agricultural and •
commercial interest. He briefly alluded to the poor•laws,
stigmatising them as " harsh, pitiless, and unchristian,"
and said he would readily give his support toil motion for
amending them. Mr. Sheridan concluded by returning
thanks.

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