The Sun.
London, England, 1845-04-08 00:00:00

DIRECT RAILWAYS.

The classification, by the Board of Trade, of railway
projects, including those which they have reported
against, as well as those on which they have reported
favourably, is now complete ; and the various measures
will he forthwith referred to Select Committees of the
House of Commons. It is impossible to over-estimate the
importance of railway legislation. It is a question of
great national interest, and ought, therefore, to receive
the most careful attention of Parliament. It is to be hoped
that the Committees will enter on the discharge of their
duties with a proper notion of the momentous in-
terests which are involved in railway matters.
There are other and higher considerations connected
with railways than those which relate to the claims
of rival companies. The great question of public
convenience is involved in many of the struggles which
are about to take place before Parliament, between the
promoters of opposing projects. It were impossible to lay
down any specific principle for the guidance of the Legis-
lature, which would admit of universal application. There
are peculiarities incident to most projects, which
would prevent the application in all cases of principles
which apply in particular cases. But as a rule, or ge-
neral principle, th 3 view entertained by Sir Robert Peel,
and which he expressed ten or twelve days ago in Par-
liament, is undoubtedly the one which ought generally
to be acted on. The Premier laid down the proposition
that the lines which are most direct, and consequently
the shortest, ought to be preferred, unless where there
are peculiarities in the projected line which would jus-
tify a departure from the rule.
Whatever conclusi n Parliament may come to on
this point, it is not to be denied that the country enter-
tains the same view as Sir Robert Peel. The direct
lines are everywhere the favourite lines. They are so not
only because in the nature of things they must be the
cheapest, but because by travelling by them there will
be a great saving of time. To m st persons this is as
great an object as the saving of money. To
many,—to all whose avocations are numerous
or urgent, it is more. Supposing, for example,
that a person was proceedi..g from London
to York, and that he could get in four hours and a half
by either of the direct lines proposed between the two
places, while if be has to go by the circuitous route of
the Eastern Counties and the Cambridge and Lincoln
lines, he cannot accomplish the journey in less than six
hours, is it not evident that a saving of an hour and a
half in time would be a far more important object to
thousands of persons, especially to professional men, than
the mere saving of a few shillings—supposing there were
such a saving—in the charge for travelling ?
Let us mention another case illustrative of the de-
sirableness of adopting the direct drinciple. There
are two lines proposed for connecting Edinburgh, Glas-
gow, and England, by means of Perth, with Inver.
ness and the northern counties of Scotland. By the
Aberdeen route, the distance would be nearly seventy
miles greater than by the proposed direct line
from Perth to Inverness. It cannot for a mo-
ment be supposed that Parliament would prefer
the former line to the exclusion of the latter, and
thus compel the public to travel nearly seventy
miles out of their way, and that, too, at a great addi-
tional expense. In many cases—and in this one among
the number—local necessities may justify the construe
lion of a circuitous route, but for all national purposes
the direct routes must be preferred. The public has a
right to demand this. Sir Robert Peel has again and
aeain expressed himself decidedly favourable to it, and
Parliament will, therefore, we trust, acquiesce in its
adoption.
We dwell with greater earnestness and emphasis on
this point, because, if the direct principle be departed
from in one case, that will be pleaded as a precedent
for departing from it in another, and thus a seri-
ous injury will be inflicted on the commueity. We
do not say that there may not be cases in which,
owing to peculiar circumstances, a deviation from
the direct principle may be justifiable, but such
cases must, in the nature of things, be very rare.
Direct routes must necessarily not only be the most ex-
peditious, but the cheapest, and in all respects the best
adapted to afford accommodation to the public. Mr.
Thomas Duncombe is about to bring forward a motion
to prevent any further injury being done by the reports
of the Board of Trade. It would be well if some Hon.
Member would summit a resolution to the House, be-
fore the railway Bills are referred to the Committees,
pledging the House to a preference for the direct prin-
ciple.--Morning Advertiser.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.
NORFOLK ClRCUlT.—Norwich, April 4.
CROWN COURT.—(Before Mr. Justice PATTESON.)
Tna FOLTISHAM. MANSLAUGILTER. —Barnard Eglinton,
aged 18, and Henry Chipperfield, aged 49, were charged with
unlawfully pushing and casting one John Amass on a fire,
and so inflicting divers mortal burns on various parts of his
body, whereof he afterwards died, on the sth of March last.
Mr. Evans, Mr. Power, and Mr. G. L. Browne, appeared
for the prosecution, and Mr. Dasent defended the prisoner
Eglington.
It appeared from the evidence of Mrs. Amess, that her late
husband, who was seventy-four, was much addicted to in-
toxication, and that on the night of the 21st of February last
he was absent from home. On the following morning she
found him in bed, when he complained of having been shame-
fully treated, and named one Archer as one who had pulled
him on the fire. Deeming that the deceased was only drunk
his wife called him a " drunken old rogue" and said "it served
him right," but having ascertained in a day or two afterwards
that he had several burns on his back, and thighs, and hand,
she wished to send for a doctor. This he refused to allow,
' till it was too late, for he was in a dying state when a medi-
cal man was called in, his death being attributable partly to
inflammation caused by the injuries he had received, and
partly to the want of proper remedies. On the inquiry be-
fore the coroner, it appeared that the deceased and the two
prisoners were at the " Unicorn" public-house at Foul-
sham, on the night of the '2lst of February, together with
many others, among whom were two men named Archer and
Baker, and that at 6 o'clock Eglinton sent William Clitheroe,
the son of the landlord, to bay threepenny-worth of jalap,
which, though it was enough for six or eight ordinary
doses, he induced the drunken old man to swallow
in three glasses of beer within five minutes. As soon
as this joke had been perpetrated, the company there
assembled, who with very few exoeptions were very drunk,
began to pull about the deceased, till at length Eglinton
pulled down his breeches, turned his coat over his head, and
while in that disgusting state most brutally danced him
about the room to the music of some wandering " Germany
girls," and eventually pushed him, all naked as he wasi , and in
the presence of the women, on to the kitchen fire, whch was
then very fierce. The old man, as he did this, called out,
" Barney, Barney, don't burn me i" but without avail ; and
at last he succeeded in raising himself from the bars with his
hand, after which he was taken into the back kitchen and
there laid on the cold bricks. Soon after this he was put into
a wheelbarrow by Clitheroe and some others to be wheeled
home, but he was turned over by Eglinton and being taken
into the house again he there passed the night on the floor.
Upon this evidence, a verdict of " Manglaughter" was re-
turned against the two priso..ers, together with Archer.
Clitheroe, and Baker ; but the grand jury having ignored
the bill against the three last named parties, the above
facts were now adduced in evidence against the two men at
the bar.
Mr. Damn having
_addressed the jury on behalf of Eg-
linton, who was shown to have acted towards the deceased
on former occasions with more than ordinary kirdness and
attention, contending that the testimony of young Clitheroe
was not to he relied on,
His LORDSHIP directed Chipperfield to be acquitted, and
left it to the jury to determine by their verdict whether they
believed the story told by young Clithero ~ or would infer
that the deceased had been put on the fire by some one else
than Eglinton, or had fallen into it by accident.
The jury returned a verdict of Guilty, accompanied with a
recommendation to mercy.—Sentence deferred.
Richard Cater was indicted for having unlawfully wounded
John Rivett, police-constable, with intent to do him some
grievous bodily harm. The inictment contained a second
count, charging an assault,with intent to resist apprehension.
Mr. Evans prosecuted, and Mr. Cooper defended the
prisoner.
It appeared in evidence that the prisoner had been sum-
moned before the magistrates, for trespassing on some land,
and, in consequence of his not appearing, a warrant for his
apprehension was delivered to the prosecutor, who, on the
14th of January, went in search of the prisoner, and found
him at Crabrook, returning home from his work, with a
hatchet in his hand. The prosecutor took him into custody,
and lie asked to go to his master's house, at Claxton, for
some money ; and on the way there the prisoner suddenly
struck the prosecutor a violent blow on the head with the
hatchet, which knocked him down, and when he got up the
prisoner struck at him twice, but fortunately the prosecutor
avoided the blows and ran away, and when he reached home
he found his head very much swelled and bleeding.
The surgeon proved that the prosecutor was three weeks
under his care, and during that time unable to attend to his
duty.
r. COOPER addressed the jury for the prisoner,and said
that he understood that it was not the intention of the pro-
secution to press the charge on the first count, and as counsel
for the prisoner he was willing that a verdict of guilty should
be found on the second count.
Mr. Justice PArrEsoN stated that if the constable had
been killed, it would have been murder.
The jury returned a verdict of Guilty on the second count.
—Sentence deferred.
Robert Rouse, aged 18, was indicted for setting fire to a
stack of barley, the property of Charles George Cubitt.
Mr. Cooper prosecuted.
The fire in question broke out between eleven and twelve
o'clock in the night of the 3d of February. The prisoner
was met running away from the fire, and on the following
morning his shoes were discovered near the stack, and they
were found to correspond exactly, and the prisoner a short
time after his apprehension confessed that he had set the
stack on fire.
The jury, without the slightest hesitation, returned a verdict
of Guilty, and
The prisoner was sentenced to be transported for fifteen
years.

WESTERN ClRCUlT.—Taunton, April 4.
CROWN COURT.—(Before Mr. Justice COLERIRON.)
T. Hunt was indicted for shooting at a child about four
years old, with intent to wound. There were other counts
varying the intent.
Bin Cole conducted the prosecution ; the prisoner was un-
defended.
The prisoner, a lad about seventeen veers of age, had been
employed by a farmer to keep " birds," as it
eis termed, and
had been entrusted with a Fun for this purpos. At the close
of the day he was returning home with the brother f
o the
little child that was shot, who was only four years old, and
who was standing in the road. From no motive at all, ex-
cept that induced by the wanton feelings of a reckless boy,
the prisoner aimed the gun at the child and drew the trigger.
The pieee missed fire. He then shook the pan, re-cocked
the gun, again aimed at the child, and pulled the trigger.
wee his occasion the gun went off, and thirty or forty hats
wre lodged in the body of the poor little victim, from the
effect of which she was still severely suffering.
The jury convicted the prisoner, who, after receiving an
imprei,ive admonition from the Learned Judge, was sen-
tenced to six months' imprisonment.
We noticed, yesterday. that Mr. Rogers had lent his valu-
able assistance in trying prisoners. The Learned Gentleman
had been employed again the whole of this day.
(Before Mr. Justice COLERIDGE.)
April 5.
'NE SEAPWICK MURDER.—This being the day fixed for
the trial of the Shapwick murder, the Crown Court was early
besieged with a number of persons eager to gain admittance.
At nine o'clock the Learned Judge took his seat en the
bench, before which the jury had been called, and were seated
in their box. The prisoner was then placed at the bar. She
is a little woman, about thirty years of age. On being ar-