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    890 QHtt %t&tltt. [Saturday,

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    The first of a series of meetings of the...

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    LINCOLN PENITENT FEMALES' HOME. The Earl...

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    BICESTER RAILWAY ACCIDENT—IMPORTANT VKKI...

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    PUBLIC OPINION. " It has pleased God to ...

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  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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    Dr. Cullen On Education. Roman Catholic ...

    most learned and intellectual men in the country are in favour of the national board . Dr . Whately Archbishop of Dublin , the Lord Chancellor of Ireland , and nearly all the nobility—certainly all the Catholic nobility —and gentry of the country , are for it . Remember , it makes no difference what Government is in power , for every Government , both " Whig and Tory , will support the Board of Education . Lord Stanley , who originated and founded it , would support it if he were in power tomorrow . Therefore you may as well hold your tongues , the half of you . " ( " Hear , hear , " and laughter . )

    890 Qhtt %T&Tltt. [Saturday,

    890 QHtt % t & tltt . [ Saturday ,

    The First Of A Series Of Meetings Of The...

    The first of a series of meetings of the congregationalists of Lancashire , Yorkshire , Cheshire , and Derbyshire , favouring the promotion of education through the influence of voluntary effort , was held at Manchester on Tuesday evening , in the school-room of the Reverend Dr . Halley ' s chapel , Cavendish-street . There was a good attendance . The opinions broached were those of pure and extreme voluntaryism . The Reverend G . W . Condor thought the prevailing agitation for extended education savoured more of quackery than earnestness . Education without religion was inadmissible . The people had no right to education . If they could not get it without having recourse to the State , they ought not to have it at all .

    On Wednesday morning a conference was held . The chief fact we can gather is , that a want of money to carry out the objects of the Congregational Board was felt . Some pounds were subscribed at once .

    Lincoln Penitent Females' Home. The Earl...

    LINCOLN PENITENT FEMALES' HOME . The Earl of Yarborough presided over a public meeting , held on Monday week , in the Town-hall at Grimsby , in behalf of the " Lincoln and Lincolnshire Penitent Females * Home . " The noble lord is president of the society . Ministers of every denomination attended the meeting , which was full and respectable . The institution owed its origin to the suicide of an unfortunate girl at Lincoln . In seconding one of the resolutions , the Beverend Edmund R . Larken , honorary secretary of the society , gave a detailed account of the rise and progress of the society , its operations in the small and inconvenient Home formerly rented in Lincoln , and the erection of the present spacious and commodious Home : —

    " The number of inmates admitted from the commencement was seventy-one , from various parts of the county , for the advantages of the institution were not confined to Lincoln . Of these , one had married respectably , fifteen had been provided with situations and were giving great satisfaction , and six had been restored to their friends . One had died in the Home , two had been transferred to the Union , and twenty-six were at present under the society ' s care . They were under the charge of a matron and sub-matron , and a committee of ladies , one of whom visited the institution daily . Their instruction was attended to , with especial reference to their Teligious and moral improvement ; and they were industriously employed in needlework and washing—their

    earnings in three years and a half having amounted to £ 360 . It was the wish of the society that the inmates should consider themselves as constituting a family ; accordingly they engaged , under the matron ' s direction , in domestic worship twice a day . They were visited on alternate Saturdays by the Reverend J . Craps , Baptist minister of Lincoln , and by himself , when they read the Scriptures and engaged in prayer . If illness , or any other cause , led an inmate to request the extraordinary attendance of his coadjutor or himself , it was given ; or she might receive the instructions and consolations of the minister of the religious denomination to which she might belong . On Sunday mornings , such of the females as were able , attended divine worship in his parish church of Burton ; wherein he had , on several occasions ,

    witnessed their reverential and devout attendance on the communion . On the Sunday evening , they were vitiited by a member of the ladies' committee , who joined with them in Scriptural and devotional exercises . The greatest harmony had prevailed throughout among all concerned in the management of the Home ; no prosclytism had been attempted , but all had united cordially in the one effort to reform the vicious and restore the lout Their necessities were Htill gteat ; from three to four hundred pounds were still required to set them in a position to carry out their object successfully ; but he trusted that the efforts and contributions of the charitable would meet their requirement *) , and that the blessing offered by the Home would be extended to every unhappy crcuturc who might desire to uvuil herself of them . "

    Bicester Railway Accident—Important Vkki...

    BICESTER RAILWAY ACCIDENT—IMPORTANT VKKIMCT . The jury met again on Monday , and re-examined several of the principal witneaseB uh to the cuuoe ot the accident . The opinion of Mr . Jlruyeres , that the line was essentially ix double line ut JJicester , und not a main line and a Hiding , was opposed by the opinion of Mr . JJruin and Mr . Dockray , who thought it was a Biding . ThiH remains , therefore , a matter of opinion ; but it is important : a Hiding in used on simple lines for the purpose of Hhifting one train out of the way of another . If there ia no double line ut Hicestcr , of course nil cngineinnn , who is not ordered or clearly signalled to stop , would not go on to the Biding . The Coroner very ably Bummed up the evidence ; but the string ot remurku which the jury appended to their verdict render any account of u unncccsttury . Alter deliberating for ulinoat an hour » nd tx half , the foreman of the jury announced their

    verdict to be— " That the deceased died from accidental causes ; " and stated that the jury desired him to append special observations to that verdict , which he then read as follows : — ' The jury consider that , inclosing their investigation as to the cause of the melancholy catastrophe which has been attended with such fatal results , they are called upon , as well in regard to the distressed feelings of the relatives of the deceased as of those unfortunate sufferers who have survived the accident , and also in justice to the public at large , to record some special observations with reference to the events preceding the occurrence and attendant upon it , but further with reference to the future traffic of the Bucks Railway . _

    " The jury find that the railway upon which the lamentable event occurred is a branch line from the London and North-Western Railway , diverging at Bletchley to Oxford through Bicester , and that from Steeple Claydon to Oxford is a single line only . " The jury find that the train to which the accident occurred was not only an excursion train advertised by public notice for passengers to leave London on Saturday and to return on the following Monday , but it also formed a return excursion train for passengers who had left Oxford for London on the previous Monday , as well as for those who had left Oxford and Bicester on the previous Tuesday .

    " The jury find that the notices to the public of these excursion trains were imperfectly and vaguely drawn , for , while the company ' s officers at Bicester construed them to mean that the Saturday ' s excursion train from London to Oxford was to call at Bicester , the officers at Bletchley construed them to mean that they should not stop at Bletchley but go through to Oxford ; and the jury consider that both of those constructions might be fairly adopted without the imputation of any neglect of duty on their part as arising from such cause . " The jury find that the company ' s servants at

    Bicester were prepared for the train to stop there for the Bicester passengers to alight , but that the engineman in charge of the train acted upon the belief that he was to go through to Oxford without stopping at Biceater ; and that such a misunderstanding had a tendency to produce confusion in the arrangements , and required more than ordinary vigilance to be paid , to the points and signals ; and the jury consider that there was a want of adequate instruction to the guards from their superior officers as to the stoppage of the train to be consistent with the public safety .

    " The jury find that , although there is much discrepancy in the evidence before them as to the speed at which the train was travelling when it reached the junction point at Bicester , yet the engineman admits that he was going at a greater speed than he would have done had he known that he was to stop at Bicester . It appears , therefore , that , in the absence of a clear understanding among the officers as to stopping at Bicester or not , the only guides they had to direct them were the signals provided by the company with directions for their use . That in the present case the signalman had used the necessary signal and caution at the auxiliary signal-post , and of danger and Btop at the points . That the engineman and guards had observed the caution signal at the auxiliary post , and had slackened speed accordingly ; but that the driver and his guards were misled by some optical illusion as to the white light or ' Go on ' signal at . the principal signal nost at the station .

    " The jury find that the white light was not turned towards the approaching train , yet they see no reason to doubt that the engineman and guards were , from some unexplained cause , misled by the appearance of a real or reflected light which they believed to have been the white light signal for ' Go on ; ' and that , being deluded by this supposed white light , they did not observe the danger signal at the points until they had approached so near to them as to be unable to stop or to reverae the engine . " The jury find that if the points had been fairly open for the train to pass down either the straight line or the siding , and had been in perfect condition at the time , it is more than probable that the train would have passed to the station .

    " The jury find that there was nothing observed by the pointsman ut the time the * train reached him to indicate any defect whatever in the points ; but they find , also , that after the train had puaaed the pointsman , and before any other train had gone over the points , it was discovered that the tie-rod , which is shown to have been partially broken before , m . d which connects tho two point-r ^ ils , had been broken asunder near to the screw und nut , und that the heel-chair was also broken , and the point-rail attached to it beat . " The jury iind that these injuries to the tie-rod , the chair , and point-rail were occasioned at the momentary

    transit of the engine or tender over the points by coming in contact with the toe of the point-ruil , but whether they were so occasioned by buikI , gravel , or any other material , having prevented the points falling into their proper position , or whether by any indecision on the part of the pointsman uh to which line of rail he was to send the train down by , or whether by any Blip of the handle of the pointts-levcr , or by any other cuuac , yet the jury iind that from Home such cause the engine went over tho point * on to tne straight line , while the rest of ttie train took the uiding , and i < bulled in that awlul loss of life , serious injury to persons , and great destruction of property , which are now bo painfully deplorvd .

    " 1 hat , while the jury iind that there was not that measure of culpability in the conduct of any of the coinpuny ' b servants us to warrunt the finding of an udverue verdict aguinHt any of them , yet they let ! thut it i « due to the public tiufeiy that souk ; gtouter means ot protection to life and property than now exists should be rt'Borled ti > by the compuny , und that in thu monopoly which railwuys have achieved in travelling the liven ut imaaengers should not be jeopardised at tU © njjiine of intercut and dividends .

    _ « The jury find that a single line of railway necessarily involves more danger to passengers thau a double on / by reason of the trains having to pass over junction points in the one case which would not be required in the other . They also find that trains are occasionally delayed at the stations to prevent collision with other trains and hence that the enginemen on duty are superinduced to travel at a greater speed than is consistent with safety on a single line of railway , in order to observe the times appointed for their arrival at stations . These and other matters of more minute detail impose upon the cornpany ' s servants a degree of watchfulness and care on a single line of railway almost superhuman ; and that the pointsman , in the discharge of his duties , is liable , fro m a mere accidental slip or fall , or from a want of nerve or that presence of mind which is so essential in cases of difficulty and danger , to be the innocent or accidental cause of destruction to life and property .

    " The jury , therefore , earnestly urge upon the director s of the company , as they value human life and deplore the sacrifice of it , that they will cause a second line of rails to be laid down without delay , as a means of preventing the recurrence of such a dire calamity as that which has now formed the subject of their very anxious inquiry and most painful deliberation . " With these views the Coroner entirely concurred , and suggested an additional clause , as follows : — " The jury suggest , that , until the line of railway is made double , every train should stop at the Bicester station . " Mr . " Wagstaffe , who had attended to watch the case on behalf of the railway authorities , assured the

    coroner and j ury that attention would be paid to the suggestion without rendering it necessary to add it to the recommendations made by the jury . He begged to produce two general orders which had been issued by the company : one , a circular to guards and breaksmen ; another , a notice to enginemen , and especially to those working the Buckinghamshire line , enjoining great caution , and also attention to the thirty-fourth rule , respecting the speed of trains when running through stations .

    The clause suggested by the coroner was then added to the recommendations of the jury ; and , the separate verdicts required in the different cases having been taken , the proceedings terminated .

    Public Opinion. " It Has Pleased God To ...

    PUBLIC OPINION . " It has pleased God to bless us with a bountiful harvest , " says the Norfolk Chroniele , which , after thankfully acknowledging the merciful dispensation , seems to lament that the price of wheat this year will be not more than 4 s . 6 d . a bushel . " Our spirited contemporary , the Norfolk Netos , thus replies : — * ' What consistency is there in returning thanks for the bounty of Providence , and lamenting at the same time that the poor can get at it at so cheap a rate ? It would be much better—for it would not savour so much of hypocrisy—if they closed their prayer books without uttering the thanksgiving , than to express gratitude with their lips , whilst desiring in their hearts to reenact an iniquitous law by which man can make a scarcity where God has sent a plenty ! "

    No opinion upon any matter of public political importance is expressed by the Ayr Advertiser ; but it contains rather a vigorous rebuke to the writer ot " Killing no Matter " —a dashing and caustic leader in the Examiner , apparently pointed and vigorous enough to have been written by Fonblanque himself . The following sentence , the clincher to a not very profound resume on colonial wars in general , and the Kafir Avar in particular , in the Macclesfield Courier , expresses exactly what a certain party think about the cause and continuance of the hostilities at the Cape : — " Mr . Cobden , and the unwise ceconomy in our military establishments , are the true causes of the present disastrous state of affairs in KufTruria . "

    The Prealon Guardian is hard upon the American ** sympathisers , " who were butchered in Cuba . ^ » Vo believe the Guardian is a * ' peace-at-any-pii ^ e ' paper : — " The acquisition of territory by our republican brethren bus hitherto , we regret to » ay , been co mpassed by the most exceptionable means , to which the recen invasion of Cuba forms an atrocious climax , and the disasters which have now befallen the participators ! therein are nothing more than a just punishment lor such flagrant violations of national honour »»» morality . "

    Insecurity of tenure , and the necessity for » Peuaant Proprietary in Ireland , form the . ntuple ot an earnest article in the Londonderry Standard : " The benefit of a Peasant Proprietary is p laced bcybnd a doubt , by the testimony of those who huvi : ^^ it in operation . Just in proportion an the tillers oi soil are owners does the land improve , and the couni y prosper . The social revolution in PruHsiu , whicn c <> ^ verted serfs into proprietors , it in confessed , ^ "L , vears curried the nation forward a whole century . ^ is no country in tho world where there » r <> H J w jn farmers not tenants , or no many who mt : tenanlH-u . ' liiBccurily of tenure w « h a chief cause of ln « h IU . - aIf , ( mentioned by Spencor , in the reign of Jtj ll / , , V ' we need not Hay that the obvious remedy liu- '" been applied . " Opposing American dcolgns on Culm , the fF « tefi « Ui Journal ways : —

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 20, 1851, page 6, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_20091851/page/6/