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- *j (From the Times.)
(From the Times.) We continue to receive communications upon tte subject of railway accidents and the frightful cata- logue increases daily upon our hands. That we hive not taken the subject up prematurely, and that thsre is real occasion, not only for the loudest note of wa'n- ing which we can sound, but for the instant inter- ference of some competent authority, is unhappily now too evident. >¡ k .i'i' On a subject like this facts are the strongest argu- ments, and we therefore subjoin the following Cata- logue of the nine accidents to which we refer, vith their consequences and causes. 1. August 22. Newcastle and Carlisle Raihiay (near Stocksfield):-The connecting rod of the engine broke. The engineer was forced to jump off, and was killed; the train proceeding without a conductor. 2. Sept. 2. Grand Junction Railway (near Hart- ford).-A wheel of the engine came off owing to the tire not having been properly secured. The engine and train went off the rail. All the passengers were more or less injured, two of them very severely. 3. Sept. 2. London and Birmingham Railway (near Birmingham). The engine came into collision with some trucks left on the rail, and was thrown off, dragging the train after it. The concussion was tremendous, and many passengers were much hurt. 4. Sept. 7. Hull and Selby (Hull terminits).-Too much speed was given to the train on being detached from the engine. The guard could not stop it, because no breaks were attached to the carriages. It dashed violently against the terminus wall, the first carriage passing completely through. Two men had limbs broken, another was dreadfully mutilated, and many more were seriously hurt. 5. Sept. 8. Blackwall Railway (near Minories statioii),-Tlie TOpe broke for the second time within ten days, while the train was going at the rate of 30 miles an hour. Most of the carriages were thrown off the line; one passenger was killed, and TnfMiy others severely bruised. 6. Sept. 8. North Midland Railway (near Eeking- ton ).-Collision of the engine with a crane placed and left by workmen on the line. The engine and several carriages were thrown off the rail, and several passengers hurt. 7. Sept. 11. North Midland Railway (near Mas- borougb).-The workmen had neglected to turn the points of a temporary line of rails. A luggage train coming up with two engines, the first engine ran upon the temporary line, the other continued with the train in its right course. The engines and trucks were overturned in dreadful confusion; a stoker had his collar-bone broken and his arm nearly cut off, and an engineer was much hurt about the face. 8. Sept. 13 -Aro)-th Midland Railway (near Bull- bridge) The axletree of a carriage broke, through the extreme badness of the iron it was made of. Seven carriages were thrown off the rail, and all in them more or less injured. Ths guard and one passenger killed. Two other passengers not expected to recover. The broken limbs and severe contusions were almost innumerable. 9, Sept. 14.-E, astern Counties Railway (near Bow).-Two trains started upon the same rails within six minutes of each other. A dreadful collision followed. Four passengers were thrown out upon the line, and three of them taken up senseless. One had his head and cheek cut open, and his right leg and one of his ribs fractured, and now lies in a hopeless state. Another had a compound fracture of the leg, and a shoulder severely dislocated. Our readers will perceive that this is a list of ar- cidents, all of which, with but one exception, have happened within a space offourteen days. Providence, more watchful over us than our rashness deserves, has prevented the consequences from being so dread- ful as might in all reason have been anticipated; yet, upon the lowest calculation, there has been an actual or probable destruction of six lives: to say nothing of the amount of injury, mutilation, and suffering, which our concise and imperfect summary is alto- gether inadequate to represent. The merciful in- tervention of Providence, though it has abated the effects, does not in any degree abate the wickedness of that neglect, which has sacrificed these six lives. and placed so many more in jeopardy. Neither ought it in any degree to abate the apprehensions of the public mind as to the future, or the determination of thoughtful men to demand and obtain such safe- guards as the Legislature can give against the con- tinual recurrence of these evils.
(From the John Bull.)
(From the John Bull.) By a reference to our Foreign summary it will be seen that the King of the FRENCH has stolen a march upon his fellow-citizens. He has warmed them into a warlike mood, heated their courage red-hot, and so persuaded them to acquiesce in NAPOLEON'S long cherished plan of fortifying Paris. The pretext was in the first instance, and is now, the necessity of being prepared to hold out against all; the world, in case of all the world's marching upon Paris. The real object is the muzzling of the Parisians, who have always been susceptible of the influence of political dog-days, and of curbing and o'ercrowing them by the erection and maintenance of a Praetorian camp. Now, whether Louis PHILIPPE has got up this present turmoil and note of war in order to carry this scheme into effect, or whether he have simply taken advantage of the circumstances of the time, he has displayed equal abi- lity, and deserves full credit for the able move. The Revolution in Spain proceeds, it appears, quietry-however the subject is noticed at some length in another column—and that of Portugal seems to be hushed up. By the way, a letter which ESPARTERO has addressed to the QUEEN REGENT, and in which he declines coming forward with the troops under his command," in defence of the Throne as his Royal Mistress beseeches him to do, is so admirable a speci- men of the plausible, that we are sorry its length pre- cludes us from giving it. He talks in it, too, of his nobleness," and of his accustomed honest feeling Now we should like to know-simply as a curious psychological question—whether the man deceives himself, and believes what he says—just as LORD MELBOURNE may do in supposing himself competent to the office which he holds, or Lord PALMERSTON, who, whilst he is virtually selling his country, disdains to defendl himself from the openly brought charge of treason The latest news from the East is thus given in this morning's Times:- "Advices from Alexandria, dated the 31st ult., communicated by the Sentinelle de Toulon, state that the greatest enthusiasm prevailed among the Egyp- tian population in favour of the policy of the Pasha. In the event of an attack being made on Alexandria, no doubt was entertained but that the entire popu- lation would unite in opposing it. Mehemet Ali was, according to these accounts, more firmly resolved than ever to resist the propositions of the four Powers. An- other letter from the same place, of the date of the 29th, announces that in a conference which Mehemet Ali had with Rifat Bey, in the presence of the Consuls of the Four Powers, he expressed his satisfaction with the arrangement proposed by the treaty of London with respect to Egypt, and added that he would be content with Syria for life. The most positive orders have been given to Ibrahim to march upon Constantinople as soon as the first cannon shall be fired, and it is said that the Russians on their side are equally ready to advance. "From the accounts brought by the Papin, which reached Toulon from Alexandria on the 12th instant, it appears that Admiral Stopford, being informed of the expected arrival of a French vessel loaded with howitzers for the Pasha of Egypt, had issued orders for its capture." Here, too, we may as well give from the same source,though not strictly inkeeping with political news, the intelligence that Madame LAFFARGE, whose trial will henceforward be classed among Causes Celebres, swallowed poison immediately after the report deli- vered into Court by M. ORFILA, to the effect that he and his associate chemists from Paris had discovered arsenic in every part of the body of her deceased hus- band submitted to analyzation. It was not known at Paris when the Times' despatch left, whether death had ensued or not.
(From the Weekly Chronicle.)
(From the Weekly Chronicle.) THE FORTIFICATION OF PARIS. The more we see of the world, the more we are convinced that there are things in it, respecting which it is impossible to reason by their analogy with other things; and persons, respecting whose conduct we are the more certain to come to a false conclusion when we attempt to judge of what they will do, under given circumstances, by what we should do ourselves. We should not merely doubt, but despair of, Lord Melbourne's sanity, if we were to see the Chancellor of the Exchequer, come down to the House of Com- mons with a proposal to fortify London, and a demand of five millions sterling for the purpose of rendering the Tower impregnable, and erecting Batteries at Highgate, and on Primrose hill! Yet this is precisely what Mons. Thiers has done with the almost unani- mous assent, and approbation, of the Parisian Press, and an Ordonnance has actually been published in the Moniteur, announcing the immediate commence- ment of the works, upon which 100 millions of Francs are to be spent, and 50,000 men immediately employed. The acquiescence of all parties in this arrangement seems doubly strange, when we recollect that three years ago, the same proposition was started by the Go- vernment, and abandoned after a struggle which near- ly cost Louis Philippe his throne. The design was then connected, by the whole Liberal Press, with a desire, on the part of the King to overawe Paris, and to have the means always at hand of suppressing po- litical movements by transforming the Capital into a vast fortified camp. But such impressions, however reasonable, are not lasting, in France, where all men seem disposed at all times to believe that all other men are envious of their greatness, and ready to renew against them the coalition of 1793. Touch but this string, and dreams of Foreign conquest inflame the minds o(' the Parisian Badauds. The battles of the Revolution are fought over again, and Liberty itself would be sacrificed now, as it was then, to the thirst for military fame. The merit, or folly, of the measure now contem- plated, depenc! upon >ae circumstances of the time. There is about as much reason to suppose that Paris is menaced, in the year of our Lord 1840, by a com- bination of the great European Powers, as there is to believe that London will be destroyed, this Autumn, by a Russian Fleet, which as Mr. Attwood once an- nounced, was preparing at Cronstadt to enter the Thames, and batter down the very Houses of Parlia- ment, without respect for the Speaker's mace, or wig. Yet Lord Melbourne, as we began by saying, would exchange Windsor for Hanwell if he were to talk of walling in Westminster, and fortifying Marylebone. The inhabitants of Portland-place would not sleep the more calmly because assured by the Government that they should be placed. beyond the power of Russian projectiles; and we doubt whether there be a single soul amongst them, of any sex, or age, that would be induced by such an appeal to their Patriotism, to fur- nish, without grumbling his, or her, quota towards the general defence, We cannot but fear, therefore, that the readiness with which the French people have given up allltheir previous apprehensions upon this subject, and consented, in the 19th century, to rein- troduce, at a vast expence, measures of supposed securi- ty, which the growing good sense of other nations has led them to abandon, must be regarded as an indica- tion of feelings on their part,'( perhaps not yet amount- ing to designs,) highly unfavorable to the peace of the world. Be this as it may, it is the.boast of the French Mi- nister that Paris, which is the heart of France, will speedily be placed in a position, that will enable it to defy for three months an army of 300,000men. That Napoleon should have entertained such a project is intelligible enough. His views were all military, and he knew the perils, that his gigantic ambition provoked. We can conceive a similar project finding favour with the Orleans Dynasty, had its title to the Crown been disputed in 1830, by Europe in Arms. But, after ten years of peaceful possession, to talk of this gigantic scheme as a measure of public safety rendered ne- cessary by the geographical position of France, and the determination of all Europe to array itself against her," is to us passing strange. The plan, however,