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CITY CHURCHES.
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'S ept .. 22 , 1860 ] The Saturday Analyst and Leader . 815
the train , one smoking- and drinking , the other collecting 1 halfpence from , carriage to carriage ; it does appear probable they paid no attention whatever to their breaks , for no evidence is given that any one saw , or heard , or felt , them'put on , and the effect of the long train -stopping gradually going up a steep incline would be to elongate the couplings to their utmost , and on stopping , the strain would be very great indeed , and inuch more so than if the breaks had been properly applied and then released . We do not think that such a stoppage as this one at Helmshore could cause a compression of the buffers to any great extent , consequently there would be little or no rebound . What was there in the motion of this train to cause a great compression of the buffers ? The train runs very slowly up . a steep incline , ; and , as given in evidence , stopped very gently . Now , such being the case , all the couplings and buffers would be out to their greatest length , and would not be so compressed at stopping as to cause any rebound . ( We stated in our notice of this subject , in our impression of Sept . 8 th , that we did not believe in a rebound of the buffers , nor do we now , and we are confirmed in this our opinion by that of some very experienced railway officials , bur friends ) . It was the great strain on weak coupling ' s which caused the breakage , arid might as well have happened on the road between the two stations as where it did . We are surprised to find no notice taken by the jury of this misconduct of the guards on that journey , which leads us to the conclusion , that if the guards would neglect their duty in one respect , they might in another . So much for the immediate cause of the severance of the train , now for the next act of this disastrous affair : the train to which the accident happened was of thirty-one carriages , and had only owe engine . The third , or last train , was of twenty-five carriages , and had two engines , consequently could and would run much faster , and might be presumed to overtake its heavier and weaker horsed predecessor , and this appeal's really to have been the case , for we are told they were ten minutes apart at Salford , and yet the collision took place at Helmshore , only two and a half minutes after the first of the two trains had stopped at Helmshore . Why such an arrangement as this ? why were not the two engines on the thirtyr . one carriages , instead of on the lesser train of twenty-five ? Had this been so , the third train would have been further behind , giving more time to work the breaks , and more time for the pursuers to have tried the experiment of turning the runaway carriages on to the other line . No d ' oubt this could have been done , and have answered its purpose , but time was wanted to carry it out , hence the fallacy of Mr . Shaw ' s and Colonel Yolland ' s evidence , that it was quite assafe to let the following train run close after , as ten minutes behind a previous train . If more time had been given . between these two trains , Mr . Shaw would have been able to carry out his purpose . Therefore want of sufficient ^ time between the trains was an aggravating cause of the aceident ; how a Government Inspector can reconcile the theory just put forth by Colonel Yollano on this subject of time between trains with common sense and every day experience , surpasses our comprehension . Has not he passed railways as fit to open only on condition that the trains be worked by telegraph from station to station , and that at no one time shall any two traint ? be between any two stations , and why do the Board of Trade stipulate for such strict ( but at the same time most necessary and proper ) rules , if in Colonel Yolland's opinion it is all fudge , and that trains may run as close together as local managers desire ? Wo must now ask why no mention has been made of the signals exliibitcd at Helmshoro to coming trains on the night in question ; it docs not appear in evidence that any station signals were used to stop the last excursion train , probably the signals were no more lit than the carriages . The throe thousand half-crowns were not worth the oil , &c , we dare say . The Government Inspector thinks the breaks were insufficient , the guards insufficient , and that it is decidedly objectionable for an engine to propel a train up an incline , and that the proper place for an extra engino is in front . So say we ; but wo go no further with Colonel Yolland , who goes on to say , ho considers groat credit is duo to Mr . Siiaw , for his promptness . As wo do not perceive any cvidenco to this effect , wo cannot give the praiso tho Colonel doos ; wo wish to know \ vho regulatod the number of guards and breaks , and ordered tho objectionable engine on behind . We consider at least four broaks and four guards were required , and three or four porters as assistants to passengers , and to carry boxes of grease and look aftor the shackles and wheols on the journoy , at least this is the way wo see some No , 1 . Companies do tlioir work . Tho jury roturnod a vordict of Insiiffloient breaks and insufficient guards , and accidental death , to which we say , they ought to have added a presentment , that it is the opinion of tho jury that tho Hoard of Trade should issue a peremptory order to all railway companies to run no excursion trains without a break van and a guard to every eight carriages ;—that no two excursion trains shall follow each other until a , period of not loss than twenty minutes shall have elapsed;—that every excursion train shall have an attendant or porter to carry a grease box and look after tho shackles , and bo responsible for their proper condition ; that tho grains shall bo workod by telegraph from station to station ; that no engine shall push behind uny excursion train ; that trains , of over twenty-five carriages shall always bo drawn by two engines ; that all the carriages shall bo lit at night , and in tunnels ; that a . sufficiency of porters or attendants , eithor accompany a train , or shall , bo on tho platform of oaoh station , to attend to tho pasnongorn , and that tho guards shall not leave thoir break vans ; that lodor blue lights should bo immediately iirocl on tho stoppage or other i accident tp any train ; and thoso regulations tjhould bo on / orced . under a penalty of ut least one hundred pounds .
t The break vans of excursion trains are generally empty , and consequently very light , and have not the same power to stop a train when light as when loaded with passengers' luggage on an ordinary train , and we think these empty break vans should be loaded to make them useful at all . We cannot leave this subject without suggesting that Government Inspectors of Railways should do more towards inspection than they do . Their general occupation is to inspect a line previous to opening , and to attend inquests after accidents . Wh y not employ them to travel incog , on the railways , and watch that all Board of Trade regulations are attended to , and due care taken . In fa , et , the . Government Railway Inspectors should act precisely like Government Inspectors . of factories , that is , be attached to certain districts , and from time to time make their unexpected appearance particularly where excursion trains are run ^ ning . They would thus become really useful , now they are little better than' sineeurists .
City Churches.
CITY CHURCHES .
Untitled Article
; ' . 1 WITH great , and with just self-confidence the rector of St . Stephens ' , Walbrook , descends into the churchyard arena , raises his vizor , gives his name and title , arid says pretty plainly that he disclaims alike the aid of the . church militant of Exeter Hall , and the saintly shrivings of the priesthood of St . George's-inthe-East . < The last great occasion of his public appearance was a parish temporality affair in which lie was specially interested , re Gibbs . When , nialqre certain former passages of private hospitality , he pursued with an acrimony , scarcely generous , the writhing , but still resisting the obstinate arid injudicious , but we nevertheless believe honest alderman . Those who remember that passage , of arms , are extremely likely anxiously to avoid anything like personal controversy with the Rev . Dr . Cboly , even in a public matter , arid have just as much right to maintain their incognito , despite his remonstrances on an open question , as the Rev . Dr . might have to preserve his own in a newspaper or review critique , literary or theatrical , provided they have unattacked his personal and private character . Whatever may be the goodxiess of his cause , the Dr . ;¦ has much better use of his weapon than any average combatant , and from bis wide literary connection , if common fame speaks truly , he has probably the advantage of being able to change his arena and his armourer ; with a known sabreur like this , men . wisely hesitate to match themselves , except as nameless knights . Indeed , Selathiej / s force of style and statement , his vigour of metaphor , familiarity with history , dash of description , energy of denunciation give to the letters of liis newspaper opponents a twaddling appearance , by comparison , which will convey to the reader ' s eye an impression of weakness in their cause which riiay really only belong to their manner . We do not state , we do not even insinuate in the slightest degree , that Dr . Ceoit is not a most excellent parish , priest , in the fullest sense of that term , as far as our own parish is concerned , as we know him to be the most elegant and popular , perhaps the only very elegant and popular preacher , in the City of London ; but we conceive it possible , nay , probable , that the accomplished author ' s literary pursuits and avocations may have been unfavourablo to his investigation of the miseries and mysteries of the city courts and alleys generally , with the state of which ono of his correspondents exprosses himself as thoroughly dissatisfied , while Dr . Ckoly congratulates the city on its remarkable propriety on Sunday , and those who often traverse it on that day are quite willing to attribute to Bucklersbury the sanctity of solitude , to Cornhill the decency of desortion , ana to Cheapside a desolatu dooorum . With his aversion to Exetor-hall notions , we aro not at all prono to ooncedo a prominent place to Dr . Cjroly . amongst thoso who have been for years labouring so earnestly , and by personal visitation and exertion , to amend the condition of the towor and lowest classes of tho London poor ; this has bean left to men of no great literary pretensions , and who may understand n causo bettor than they can plead it , and wo should tako thoir word rather than tho " pro aris ei Jbcis" flourishes of tho Dootor ' s . 8 Jin tho matter of churchyards ho nppoals , amongst other generalities , to the fate of the Revolutionists , who disinterred and insulted , tho doad at St . Denis and elsewhere , and proceeds to denounce judgments , with little judgment , and as it suoh a thing as distinction did not exist . The repose of tho dead may be disturbed , either by a rabid desire of descoration , as waa the case in Franco , and which might really dosorve , if not call down , celestial vengeance ; or , secondly , from a more cold-blooded motive of utility and profit , without the slightest reality or pretext of a religious aim ; or , thirdly , with an object in view distinctly religious , and in the spiritual interests of tho survivor . This confusion is just as illogical and insulting- to tho understanding of a reader , despite the eloquence wasted upon its statement , as tho Rov . hero ' s wrath is absurd . Then he tells tho London clorgy that there has boon a " chiol amang them takin notes , " to " cast . in thoir teeth , " and daring , with David-like presumption , to number the people of thoir , and even of his , congregation , us if there woro any conceivable way of ascertaining facts , except by taking observations ,, or drawing conclusions , except by keeping record . All this aflbctod indignation about what is , most natural and nooosaary , ih more apodal pleaders' rhetoric , far worso than any silly twn aaqmlur of a feeble opponent , at whom tho Dr . soofls in tho plonitudo of his pdwor as a litoratour , and z . oal as a churchman and parish priest . Irrespective of the actual condition of tho City oj London , whothor it is puro and decent as ho describes it , or whether its alloys toom with ribald girls and blaspheming ohljdron , as described by one of his opponent *—one writer desiring the maintenance , and tho other
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 22, 1860, page 815, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2366/page/7/
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