Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1858-11-04
Our Foreign Correspondence.
English Raihoays-The Army-Engish Habits
-Park- Gardens, DC, DC.

MANCHESTER, Eng, August, 1858,
EDITOR FREEMAN Il have before promised
you something about railroads, their construc-
ton, &c. | am not particularly interested in
rail-roading, but as the United States are here
considered great nation, and by many the
greatest nation upon the glob' (not excepting
England it may be of interest to know the
standard by which she is measured or compared.
The English press, and hence the great mass of
the people, whose only tongue is the press, rea-
son and talk in this wise " 9he people of the
United States seem to think themselves the lar
gest, &C., &C., of any nation 1, the face of the
globe and if we are to jagasaii s,i their greatness
by their unparalleled raisSoad and steamboat
disasters, they are certainly in the advance"
Leaving this for an introduction, for we need no
truer OR sadder one, it may not be 10 much
matter of wonder that shall speak Of rail-
roads; for when such things as these are talked
by every tongue, and when each succeeding ac-
cident, like that at Niagara not long since,
reaches those shores, then is the cry more truly
raised, and more loudly sounded, and then can
an American but feel that if any word of his,
any thought that he can suggest, or improve-
ment make kno wn, that shall be the mesns of
preventing one such casualty he will have done
some good, and he may hope saved the life of
some noble statesman, thereby Strengthening
the nation at home, even at the risk of weaken
ing it in the opinion of foreigners.
In the first place, then. said the roads here
were much more inconvenient for travellers than
ours, still think ours can be made full as well
as theirs in other respects, and retain their full
share of comforts as now Our accidents do
not arise from the cars, but from the negligence
Of the company in the discharge of duties pa
ced upon the servants. This servant leaves
switch turned that one orders off a train on
wrong time and third one, whose duty it
was to 60 over the road in time to see if all is
in order, supposes all is right, neglects to go,
and the loss of Il few score of lives settles the
account Again, the company is often remiss
I III uupJ uiu hNioO ViiC oOi Ndhoc dlC Hioio op.
This was so in the reported case, of which
have spoken, where a long way of the road slid
into the river, near 200 feet down, only few
minutes after the train had passed, and the men
at the station and all hands on the line knew to
a rod where to locate the accident when told
that one had occurred-had been expecting it
for long time, and still continued to run cars
with hundreds Of passengers over it, So read
the English papers, and although can wish it
unfounded, am fully aware that there is not
so n,uch regard paid as stSeeys hs-so this impor-
tant subject, and that the people here have too
much ground for making their broad assertions.
The English roads excel in all the above partic-
ulars; in having every man in his place, and
attending to his duty, and the roads so much
more thoroughly built-a strong characteristic
in all English works. To say nothing of the
grand foundation, which is usually very level
and smooth, each rail is so firmly fastened to
the bed pieces as to almost make it u part OF
them; besides this, strong bars of iron, secured
by iron bolts or rods, SO firmly unite the rails al
the ends that they are nearly as solid as one
whole rail, and to separate them and lay them
across the track, or pull them out of the way
l a thing SO frequently done on our roads, where
it is scarce no work at all--can be done only by
hours of hard labor, and hence great chance o.
detection. Thus, by this simple addition to oul
roads, could we secure much more pleasure in
travelling by Railroad, and place beyond the
reach of designing and desperate men such easy
5 means as they now have for the destruction o
human lifo. Another great cause of accident
on our roads arises from the highways crossing
y the Railroads, universal thing with us, anC
IS one which has occasioned much loss of life ant
t many serious disasters. Although it can onl,
: be prevented by caution, as our roads are con
r structed until changed in place, so much th
more need of this great preventive. Here nj
such calamities occur, for either the road run
over the highway, or uice uerSa. In all the dis
4 tance from Southampton to London, $50 miles,
Q and from London here (l80 miles,) the high
= ways do not cross the rails and in all my look
!, | have only found one or two places where
/ does. These are close by station, and guarde'
). by strong iron gates and a constant attendant
A To view the vast arches, the miles on miles o
If bridges in and about London and this place, AM
y everywhere in towns, upon which the cars ru,
n at the top of the houses and over streets is
n sight of no small interest, ah6tlthough we may
= talk of hard cuts and bad country to builC
d roads, the expense does not commence with thi
}, item of English railways. Although these ar
n thus guarded, and no person can travel acros
: or upon them, still they have their signal house
every mile or two, or at such distances that the,
can SEQ the whole road built at great height
and from the signal man, who stands like sen
tinel at his post while they pass, the cngineel
y can be assured all is safe, and speeds on Thi
h caution is used on but few Of our roads, will
If all their cross and way trrveling by footmen
8 That some of these or better methods of safet
L be used, can but bo the wish of every rider o.
s the rail- and every lover of his people and coun
n try That the time may soon come when W
If shall not thus be pointed at with shame, but in
it stead take the lead in this as in all other bran
l. ches of improvement, is the wish of equally a
a many and if all will do their duty it ma
10 soon be done.
d Thus much for the Railroads. Let us no,
IS look at the people who control them and VIII
II rule the cities, for they are all nearly alike
If to duties. All are called police, all dress i
a uniform, and so much do they resemble eac
Y other that they look very much like lot c
peas or beans-some large, some larger, som
plump, others plumper--but all with the sam
Il general features. The dress Of the city polio