Current:

Leader (1850-1860), 2nd September 1854, Edition Country of 2, Page 10, THE INDIAN PRATER FOR THE ENG- j LISH AR...

Page 10
Page 10
10 of 24

On this page

  • Text (3)
  • Transcript

    • 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.

      Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

      "Accident" A Permanent C02tditi On. A He...

      lightened journals have said very little about the cholera , "beyond the expression of their profound faith in Sir Benjamin Hall , and have talked incessantly , and with revolutionary vehemence , about the infamous , odious , criminal , and stupid , management of railways . It was a bad accident at Croydon . The driver of a train , being in a temporary state of unaccountable imbecility , declined to notice certain signals -which warned him to slacken his speed , and he accordingly rushed into another train . That reads very criminal or very stupid , or both .: and the coroner ' s jury is perfectly logical in bringing in a verdict of manslaughter against Hoberb Simpson , the said driver . But how is this sort of accident to be prevented ? It occurs on the very line referred to by the Board of Trade , in its recent circular , as tlie model line , for the imitation of other rauway companies . If the South-rEasiern ' s system of telegraphing a train , froni station to station , as each station is passed , had beeia rigidly observed in this instance , aaid if station A were never passed by a train , until all was clear up to station Bj such an accident as that at Croydon could not happen . 3 fet , practically , such asystemcannot always work : ; and in this case , negiigen . ee in th ^ t respect cannot be said to have occasioned the disaster . If Hobert Simpson had ob ? Served the signals , the accident would not have happened . Common sense should therefore suggest to the public , and to the joTirnalists , that the mosl perfect machinery may sometimes get wrongs and that it is as illogical to denounce railway companies for an accident such as ttisj as it would be to denounce the decalogue ^ , because Jones occasionally murders his -wife . "We allow for all sorts of accidents hi the ordinary , social , moral , pliysical , and civil prganisatioii of life . Why iiot for aeeddents on railways ? The accident at Groydon will cost the South-Eastern Company 20 , 000 / . ! Can we not place some reliance upon the inducements of a fact such as this to caution and conscientiousness in railway management ? Railway directors are certainly not infallible ; even enlightened journalists are occasionally foolish : but as a large extract from the practical talent of this pre-eminently practical coinitry is engaged in the organisation of railways , afc is very fair to presume that the general management of our iron roads is , on the whole , nearly as perfected as human ma-: nagement can contrive to be . When an accident , such as that at Groydon , unhappily occurs" ( posting the Brighton Company about a-B much aa it will cost the South-Eastern Company ) , public criticism ia perfectly proper ; but reckless abuBO of the directors by the newspapers is not only unjust but rather absurd . At the same time , in offering these deprecations , it would be as absurd not to urge upon our railway officials the necessity of observing what is clearly their duty , namely , to develop to the utmost niinutise preventive plans- — such ae the last proposed by the Board oi Trade—which , though they cannot guarantee the public against an accident , can at least diminish in detail the chances of fatalitiesand certainly can suffice to answer , on proper occasions ,, tho t \ yaddlo of enlightened journalists . The accident at Oroydon should not in the least indu . ee any inattention to the advice of the Board of Trade with respect to tlio groater uso between stations of tho oloctrio telegraph . This system , which in general results has succoeded so admirably on the South-Eastern line , is one which all the othei Jjnes should possess . It is only , an additional system of signals . It cannot dispense witl , existing systems of signals ; but it will per-. fqct every system . . It was Mr . Jamosi Macgrogor wlio first instituted thia plan on the ¦

      SoTith-Eastern , and tlie admiration of it expressed at the time "by his brother railway magnates cam leave no doubt that , practically as well as theoretically , it is about the best security which railway companies can have against accidents costing 20 , 000 ? ., and which the public can obtain against loss of life in such accidents .

      826 The Leader. [Saturday,

      826 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,

      The Indian Prater For The Eng- J Lish Ar...

      THE INDIAN PRATER FOR THE ENG- LISH ARMS . M ^ any questions are suggested by the reli- gioxis observance in Bombay on Sunday , tlie 16 th of July—observed as a day of humiliation and prayer for the success of the British arms in the East . It was observed also by the Hindoos ^ and the Parsees ; the MussnU mans alone folding back . The mode in which the Hindoos perform , their ceremonies—the worship of idols , the ringing of pagoda bells , and other forms , might , on almost any o £ her occasion , raise a * smile . The notion that Lord Raglan and his companions in the East will derive spine assistance . from lighting a fire ., / called the Kent , at ]\ Cxinibadavie , or the ringing bells "with peculiar loudness , is abstractedly laughable . Biit such incidents only remind us of a truth wMch ma ^ y be predica , ted of iilmost any established persuasion , that its forms and ; dogmas are behind its Bpirit . The sjpirit is constantly feel by the growing intel ^ ligenceof ther people [ ' ¦ while the forms dege * nerate into a trade , if not something ' which is below commerce , as a means of extorting petty plunder . In the main > however , the Hmdops understand the nature of the case , and their appeal is intelligent . They have , from experience , and especially from xecent experieiice , a conception that upon the whole the English are a just people : they find that a stop is put to invaluable works by tlie diversion of public attention , to war : they hold such neglect of improvement to be an injury to the supreme Ishwar , and ± hey invite their lord to be " the pointer of the good faitfe . " The Parsees have been singular in the history of religion , for the general purity of their doctrine , the emblematical character of their forms , and the persecution they have endured as idolaters at a period when they deserved that reproach , less than any other people upon earth . Their priests on . this occasion used a prayer in their vernacular , and not in their sacred language , to the Supreme Being , which might indeed be adopted word for word . by the Archbishop of Canterbury , or by theQ-reat Rabbi of the Jews . Now those people in the main , understand i the justice oi the case , and the purport of 1 tlttir prayer is exactly . that in . which the Christian English people of the Protestant faith , and the French people of the Roman Catholic faith , must concur . Very different ; i ^ the condition , of thesq races , even where they met upon the common ground of ludia ; yet their motive and , in the main , their ad-F dress are us one . It needs not bo said that > the Supremo Power , to whom their address i is directed must , whatever the diversity of - tho language in which the woi'shippers speak , also bo one . The several races address him according to . their intelligence ; but the heart b fooling is fcho same , the worship is in the ) same spirit . Tho justice of tho case is one . i "What hup an presumption could venture to assert that tho prayer of tho humblest and 1 moat ignorant amongst those aspirations is 3 more fatally mingled with human error than p tho prayer of tho highest ; what human I arroganco could assume that tho prayer of x one race or persuasion will bo" rejected for ¦> defect in form , while tho others will bo - accepted P > Tho Mussulmans stood aloof ; they cannot

      ¦ . reconcile themselves to British supremacy in India , for they claim a fulfilment of the grant to them of the heritage " wherever the datetree grows . " A selfish grudging , the natural sulkiness of the lost power , makes them hold back , and positively take part with the " Or-. thodox Greek Christian" enemy against the reigning head of the Church of Islam ! But how is it that the races of India are brought to this harmony with the Christian . Powers of the West ? Is it not because recently , in however small a degree , the British Government in India has bestowed itself to do justice , to benefit the native races , to encourage the development of intelligence amongst them , to guide their leading men into the civilisation of Europe ? Thus they have been practically converted to the spirit of Christianity , though they could render very little account of the dogmatic grace which they have inai bibed , prevenient or subvenient . The lesson for us is—to > secure Indian prayers for all ' our undertakings by securing still further and better " good government" to India . i

      Stokeij Or Strayed —Ah Angel Of R : ; ¦¦...

      STOkEiJ OR STRAYED —AH ANGEL OF r ; ¦¦ ¦ : ¦; . .... PEACE . , ¦" ¦ / ¦ : ¦ : ' : : : Djear Miss Bremer— -how sweetlyshe comes forth to protest against that horrid war ! It is really " quite refreshing , " as they say , when women enter into politics . They handle the subject with so much grace and .-gentleness * that it matters little whether it is a cannon , or a teacup . It is so cheering , too , after struggling for years , for a , life , or for many lives in one , against the stern laws of necessity , to see those laws set ; aside at a word- for woman never loses tlie power of over-riding the laws of necessity . However man feels the pressure of that tyranmcal rule , woman repeals it by the simple question , * ' "Why don't you ? " do the exact opposite to that which you find impossible or improper ! Of course the arrival of Miss Bremer on the battle-field reverses the previous state of things . All before was wickedness and folly ; now it is grace and wisdom , "With the humanity that adorns loveliness , Frederika Bremer , the " Lady Superintendent" of the Ladies' Association that is to compass the globe in its fair arms—so she proposes—intimates that she is amongst the " humblest " of women ; but yefc how exalted the position , that she takes by a right , which , of course , we all concede to her 1 On the one side there are " the Western Powers arming themselves against those of the East . " It is , indeed , a painful fact for public writers who have to deal with realities , that the Powera of the West do not happen to have armed themselves against the Powers of the East , but against tho North . However , vfliat are geographical distinctions or the points of the compass to tho Lndy Superintendent of the Ladies ' Association who takes the earth in her arms ? FroniL the marines of her describing the commencement a quarrel in which " tho Powei' 3 of the "West arm themselves against tho Powers of the East , " the poor lady evidently has some idea that England and France are invading Turkey ; a notion suggested by Nicholas ' s own complaint that our troops had entered Tnrltey . But Miss Bremor must bo allowed to treat things in her own way . Those hateful Powers , then , are " entering into a struggle" which in Miss Bromer's eyes is " liko n largo bleeding wound ; " so that tho horrible- monsters , tho Powers of tho "West , not only cut open a wound , but march into it ! Thero is a rescue . Miss Bremor proposes that tho ladies of all the Christian countries , wliom she assumes to bo already united , should associate on the principle that " drops of water united form the ocean , atoma unite the universe . " Now wo

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 2, 1854, page 10, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_02091854/page/10/