Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1840-02-13

thorize the committee 10 report direct,
declaratory law, that ell owDers of YES
rels and carriages conducted by stenm
shall be taken as common carriers IN
the view Of the law, and not be able to
relieve themselves from this by any no.
Itice or advertisement whatever. be-
lieve they are now so considered by the
better informed and yet II IS very
common thing to give notices IN respect
to railroad cars and steam vessels lhnl
they are not responsible for the fate Of
what they carry. There is no more
sense in this than that man should moi
be responsible Tor assault and battery
Yet, by n notice, they think TO discharge
themselves from all responsibility. !
happened to receive bale ar box Of
books from one Of the railroad cars, and
here is the bill of lading:
Received from A. Is. one box, mark
ed and numbered as per margin, which
we promise to forward damages Of fire,
water, breakage, and leakage excepted,
and not holding ourselves responsible il
lost, stolen, or damaged, beyond the val
ne Of 5000 per package, unless insured
by mutual agreemenD to =. H. upon
presenting this receipt at our ofhce
therefor. S'gned,' Sc,
A very pretty contract TO give ou' +,
and niiording great security Tor properly
u ~ lnll t'me To sc, ms ma''er f'Gh ,
aud u there Is an important branch o'
gisla,ion, which no one State can reach,
Tor ! DO not say that congress shouid
provide remedy where can o.ner
wise he DONE inns IS one TO wh'ch Con-
gress should attend. Fcr II s"ch no.
''ce were proper al AL now can F" ma"
a'waysknow mat u exists. Tuo'ic con-
Ven'ence requires mat s"ch conVeyamces
should not be relieved rom responsibility
AND there should be another provision
compelling inspectors to 40 'heir da'y'
ana causing them TO De inoicted u 'hey
sh""id snow ra'i,ai'y' ana ! 'hey are
convicted OF inilIng IN the'r DUTY, tncy
ouSh' To he liaole ior all Losses resulting
from such failure. To tins, ana To sfI''
other points, hope the committee VIII
give their attention. ,
| had IN my pocket yesterday, and
thInk ! had not seen II before, d"cu-
ment made ont by commission from the
British Board OF Trade, on the subject
ct steamboat accidents during the last
ten years. The examination was made
all over The country, aud the nature and
cause OF The accidents were spcc'hed as
lar as they could he. fnd 's lound
that IN ten years there have been ninety
two disasters OF steam vessels, WIN loss
OF lives and property. ihcy are DIVIDED
INTO tour classes, comrrehend'ng all snch
disasters and accidents. Inc hrs' class
are those which happen to all vessels al
sea and OF the n'nety-'wo, mat class
is forty. The second class are those
which havo occurred from explosions,
and OF these there were twenty-three.--
he third class Is from hire, OF which
there were seventeen and the ionr'h
from collision, ot which there were
Twelve.
From the cause OF hre, seventeen
such disasters are known 10 nave nap,
pened within the last ten years, ana o'
many ol ihese the particular cause was
known, 'h"ngh OF seVera' II was h"'
known. but, from thc'r report there
was no, one o' those that were known
III "h'ch mere was any cons'oerao'e loss
OF property ana me, when was not ow-
ing TO neg el9ehce IN the owners or con