large portion of public attention. In addition to the startling pamphlet from which we shall proceed to take some extracts, the Editor of the Manchester Guardian has written a series of very able articles, urging, amongst other things, the duties in this matter of railway directors, which will, it is to be hoped, have their intended effect on many persons in Manchester of great influence and deserved repute in the management of railways.

The present publication is not the first service rendered to the cause of public morality by the Statistical Society of Manchester. The result of the inquiries made by them into the educational condition of Manchester, Liverpool, Bury and other towns, was to rouse many individuals and public bodies in Lancashire to establish schools for the children of the poor. As the preliminary step to sound legislation and individual benevolent effort, the value of statistics can scarcely be overrated. Some imaginative people, who prefer their own pretty little fancies to sound philosophy based on solid facts, are still heard to rail against statistics; loose thinkers and clap-trap speakers no doubt are sometimes mortified by the stubbornness of facts; but we cannot consent for their gratification to let statistics be sneered or declaimed away.-The "Papers" consist of three parts:

I. A letter by Mr. Roberton, a Surgeon, and President of the Society, containing "A Return of the Fatal Accidents, Wounds, and Injuries, sustained by Workmen engaged in the Construction of the Summit Level Tunnel of the Sheffield and Manchester Railway; and a Description of the Demoralization which prevailed amongst them, with Observations.

II. "Statements on Railway Contracts and Railway Labourers, by Robert Rawlinson, Esq., Engineer to the Bridgewater Trust.

III. "Statements as to some of the Effects produced in this Country by the past Expenditure of Capital on Labour in the Construction of Railways; together with Observations on the Principles of Legislation and Jurisprudence applicable to the Public Protection by Prevention of fatal Accidents, and the better Regulation of Labourers engaged in dangerous Works; by Edwin Chadwick, Esq."

Mr. Roberton thus describes the residences of the workmen engaged at the Woodhead Tunnel:

the

"The huts are a curiosity. They are mostly of stones without mortar, roof of thatch or of flags, erected by the men for their own temporary use, one workman building a hut in which he lives with his family, and lodges also a number of his fellow-workmen. In some instances as many as fourteen or fifteen men, we were told, lodged in the same hut; and this at best containing two apartments, an outer and an inner, the former alone having a fire-place. Many of the huts were filthy dens, while some were whitewashed and more cleanly; the difference, no doubt, depending on the turn and character of the inmates. In stormy weather, and in winter, this must be a most dreary situation to live in, even were the dwellings well-built and comfortable. At No. 1 shaft, a workman told me that he has cut a road through the snow, from the door of his hut, four yards deep."-Pp. 9. 10.

What the effect of this kind of dwelling-place is on the health, is stated in another passage:

"The people, I refer to the men, women, and children, don't give you the impression of enjoying vigorous, comfortable health. Of course there are many exceptions to this remark. Some of the younger children appeared

flabby, and others very pale; and the adults wore a certain look of exhaustion or dissipation, which my Moravian friend attributes to the night-work that constantly goes on, the universal drunkenness, and the irregular hours of sleeping. Many of the night-workers, in his opinion, drank in the day, when they ought to have been in their beds. I noticed also that a number of the men had coughs, which they attributed to the moisture of the tunnel, wherewith every thread of their clothing was soaked before they had been a quarter of an hour at work. I said to a woman in a hut, 'How can ten or fourteen lodgers in one hut dry all their wet clothes by a single fire?" She answered that the clothes were seldom half dry. The surgeon too attributes the coughs of the men a good deal to the humid state of the huts, originating in this very cause, as also in a degree to the inhaling of the dense gunpowder smoke with which the tunnel is commonly filled.”—Pp. 14, 15.

This is Mr. Roberton's testimony of the extortion practised on the men by the shopkeeper:

"These poor people, however, pay an inordinate price for every article. On my last visit, I heard little but complaints from the workmen and their wives, of the dearness and badness of the provisions-this was in the beginning of October. For flour, they paid 2s. 8d. and 2s. 10d. per stone of fourteen pounds; for tub-butter, (of very indifferent odour,) 1s. 1d.; for brown sugar, (the worst sample,) 8d.; treacle, (commonest,) 5d.; bacon and butchers' meat, 8d.; but the most surprising thing was the price of potatoes, namely, 1s. 2d. the score. Thinking that, as the highest price in Manchester was only eightpence, they were imposing on my credulity, I inquired at several huts, widely apart, and received the same answer,-1s. 2d. per score. The beer, at the public-houses, represented as very inferior, is sold at 6d. per quart.”—P. 13.

Perhaps no part of these Papers is more striking than the statements respecting the accidents and destruction of life consequent on the carelessness and intoxication, when at work, of the men. Mr. Roberton was informed by an official at the works,

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that there had been about thirty fatal accidents within and on the tunnel (thirty-two I am given to understand) since the commencement of the working, besides several maimed or disabled; and an almost incredible number in a lesser degree wounded and variously injured.

"List of the accidents of all kinds, excepting such as were fatal.

"23 cases of compound fractures, including two cases of fractured skull. "74 simple fractures, including

"140 severe cases; including burns from blasts, severe contusions, lacerations, dislocations, &c. One man lost both his eyes, and one the half of his foot. Most of these accidents were connected with other injuries-for instance, a man had his arm broken by a blast, the limb being also much burnt, together with one eye, and all that side of his head and face. There were also several cases of broken ribs among these, and in connexion with other injuries.

"There have also been about four hundred cases of minor accidents, including trapped and broken fingers, (which form a large proportion of them, seven of them required amputation,) injuries to the feet, lacerations of the scalp, bruises, broken shins,-many of these minor cases were occasioned by drinking and fighting.

"The foregoing is not a complete list (you will please take notice) of injuries not fatal, because I as yet have no returns from a surgeon who, for about a

couple of years (I believe), attended on the men employed in the eastern half of the tunnel.

"Moreover, we were told, what I mention with hesitation, that a serious proportion of the accidents was owing to the men going to work more or less in a state of intoxication."-Pp. 10, 11.

From the journal of a worthy missionary, whose benevolence led him from his accustomed track at Manchester to visit the scene of vice and misery at Woodhead, we take an “ incidental allusion to the subject."

"Going over the moor, this morning met two women. One said, Have you not been sometimes to pray for Johnson? I said I had. He is dead, said she; I have just laid him out; it is but little more than six years since I came to live on these hills, and he is the twenty-ninth man I have laid out, and the first of them who died a natural death. I have likewise, you will remember, mentioned that a number of the fatal and other casualities were owing (it might be difficult to get proof of the fact) to the men going to work affected by drink; and I may now further state what the intelligent surgeon at the tunnel remarked to me, that many of the fatal accidents had occurred on Sundays; the reason he could not discover. My own opinion is that the cause would be found in the greater prevalence of drinking on that than on other days."-P. 14.

On the frightful return of killed and wounded, Mr. Chadwick makes the following emphatic comment:

'Thirty-two killed out of such a body of labourers, and one hundred and forty wounded, besides the sick, nearly equal the proportionate casualties of a campaign or a severe battle! The losses in this one work may be stated as more than 3 per cent. of killed, and 14 per cent. wounded. The deaths (according to the official returns) in the four battles, Talavera, Salamanca, Vittoria, and Waterloo, were only 2.11 per cent. of privates; and in the last forty-one months of the Peninsular war the mortality of privates in battle was 4.2 per cent., of disease 11.9 per cent."

"Engineers have, however, expressed to me confident opinions, that the majority of these accidents are to be traced to the want of foresight, or to cupidity and the neglect of due precautions,-the lower class of contractors being sensitive to the smallest outlay for precautions, and insensible to the danger the consequences of which they do not incur themselves. A frequent cause of these deaths is the practice of cutting away too great a depth at once, and allowing the earth to fall, to save the expense of moderate lifts. The older and more experienced navigators are aware of the dangers of the practice, and prevail upon the younger and less experienced of the labourers to go in front whilst such work is carried on.

"The danger in deep cuttings of taking the earth out at great lifts at once is well known and universally acknowledged, and yet it is sometimes persisted in, even though experience shall have shown its danger in the particular instance, because it is less costly.”—Pp. 17, 18.

What the fate of the wounded men is, the following mournful statement explains:

"The forlorn_condition, in a religious sense, of the hurt and the sick-of that portion of them who have not been carried to the Manchester Infirmarycannot be imagined by those who are in the habit of regarding England as a Christian country, and that, however much people in health may neglect religion, the sick and the afflicted must, at all events, be within reach of its influence and consolations. Nothing, indeed, can be further from the literal truth than such a fancy. There have been instances of destitution, in this particular, such, it is probable, as would scarcely occur in one of our most

remote colonies. As an example, take the case of a fine powerful workman, who had the spine fractured in such a manner as to preclude all hope of recovery. Although this man pleaded again and again to have the Scriptures read to him, with religious counsel, the request was in vain; for, after remaining many days in a sinking condition, he was suffered to expire without having received the least attention of the nature he so earnestly craved."-P. 12.

The evils now detailed are enormous, and demand investigation and speedy steps for their removal. We are not advocates for legislative remedies where other means, which an enlightened public opinion can command, are to be had. But we confess we think a case for some legislative interference in behalf of the poor wronged navigator has been made out. If the present laws against truck will not protect him from the extortions of sub-contractors, let a more stringent law be prepared.

The regular and frequent payment of wages is another matter which might be secured by law.

The prevention of night work and of Sunday work is desirable, and might be proved to be generally compatible with the interests of men, contractors and railway companies. The protection of life against carelessness and dangerous methods of carrying on the works, is a proper subject for the attention of our lawmakers. If, as is stated, many lives are lost by the deliberate adoption of dangerous but less costly modes of conducting public works, it is time to arm the executive with authority to stop the mischief, and to visit offenders with penal proceedings. Little reliance can be placed on the intelligence of coroners' juries, and in the case of accidents through carelessness, evidence is easily adduced by interested parties to mystify jurors not accustomed to public works. As a public officer exists whose duty it is to inquire into all fatal accidents on railways open to the public, why should not a similar principle be applied to railways in progress? We cannot see any serious injustice in making railway companies responsible for the support of the widows and children of those whose lives are lost in their service. Certain we are that the effect of such a provision would be greatly to diminish the number of casualties.

Directors of railways in formation may, by timely provisions in their contracts, retain the power of correcting some of the worst abuses of railway labour. They may, at a very moderate sacrifice, insist on adequate lodging being prepared for the men employed. By frank communication with the ministers of religion in the several districts through which their works pass, they may cause some attention to be paid to the moral and spiritual condition of their labourers. By occa

*The condition as to religion and morals of railway labourers, not only at Woodhead, but in all parts of the kingdom, is an exposure of the little practical value of the parochial system of the Church of England, at least in meeting a new and sudden exigence. In the spirit of Oxford intolerance, our clergy are constantly asserting that they are the only authorized teachers of the people in their several parishes-all others are intruders, and have no "holy orders." If they were as eager to fulfil apostolical duties as they are to claim apostolical authority, would so many clergymen have been silent spectators of the wickedness and irreligion which have been concentrated on railway works? How, too, is the spirit of religious chivalry dimmed that once sent forth the disciples of John Wesley to protect the weak and pitiable victims of spiritual want and ignorance! The difficulties are not greater than those which Wesley overcame

sional grants for school-houses and temporary places of worship, they may call into action the benevolent enterprize of others. Things cannot remain as they are; and unless the conductors of important public works like railways henceforth shew that they are not insensible of the moral responsibilities of their position, public opinion will soon step forward and force the executive Government to become the responsible superintendents of their proceedings.

M. DE LAMENNAIS' TRANSLATION OF THE GOSPELS.
SIR,

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I PRESUME that many of your readers are acquainted with the name of the Roman Catholic priest, M. de Lamennais, the author of an "Essai sur Indifference en Matiere de Religion," "Les Paroles d'un Croyant," and other works of great popularity in France. He has, within these few weeks, published a new translation of the Gospels, with notes and reflections at the end of each chapter. This translation is executed with fidelity, and in a simple, energetic style, but I do not find that it varies substantially from previous French versions, except in a few instances, as where he translates προσκυνείν, se prosterner," instead of " adorer," and σvvTéλea to aiữvos, consommation du siècle," and not "fin du monde." The notes, however, express Unitarian opinions, as, I think, those I send you, on some of the passages usually adduced in proof of orthodox doctrines, will abundantly prove. On John viii. 58, he observes, "The truth, the word which was in Jesus and spoke to men by his mouth, was undoubtedly before Abraham, before all time." His remarks on the 30th verse of the xth chapter are, "He who wills only what the Father wills, is one with the Father;"-on chap. xiv. 14, “ What we shall ask in the name of Christ, that is to say, whatever we ask conformable to the mission which he received, for God seconds every good desire;"

amongst the colliers of Kingswood. As an encouragement to individual exertion amongst a most neglected class, and as a little relief to the dark picture we have been contemplating, we quote the testimony which Mr. Roberton offers to the natural dispositions of railway labourers, as he found them at the Woodhead tunnel:

"I may be permitted, in concluding, to say a word for the character of the work-people themselves at the tunnel. They are generally ignorant, and with yet fewer exceptions, reckless and barbarous; but their natural feelings remain; these have not, as yet, been perverted, as in large towns, either by socialism or any other form of vulgar speculation. During three months that the missionary daily visited the huts and held hundreds of conversations, sometimes discussions, with the inmates, he was not only never insulted, but in no instance was he repelled or treated with rudeness; and his instructions and admonitions were received as favourably, he has assured me, as would have been the case among the lower classes of Manchester and Salford, the subjects of his ordinary visits. "I ought not, perhaps, to withhold a circumstance so much to the credit of these poor people, a number of them purchased from the missionary, at somewhat reduced prices, Bibles, Testaments and Prayer Books, amounting, altogether, to 128 copies; or, to state particulars, twenty-two Bibles, seventy Testaments, thirty-six Prayer Books."-P. 17.

If any of our religious denominations shall heartily undertake the Christianizing of these poor Heathens, they will be entitled to the gratitude and support of all parties. When a common danger presses upon us all, it is no time to indulge in sectarian jealousies and fears; and any Mission to Railway Labourers, honestly undertaken and zealously carried on, should have our support.

* Les Evangiles, traduction nouvelle, avec des Notes, et des Reflexions à la fin de chaque Chapitre; par F. Lamennais. Paris, 1846.