The Massachusetts Spy, 1831-12-14

I From the London .Vrw Monthly Magazine. A NTI-INNOVATOR. I Plague take the world! why cannot it stand still, and go on as it used to do when j I was a boy ? W hat do the peoje mean by | the progress of events and the natch of in - tellect? What good ever came ly changes? I How is it possible that any mancan - er than his father? where can amnn get his ' wisdom from, but from his fathar ? imd his father cannot give him mote thin he hasgot lto give. Ah dear! ah dear! I remember the time when the parish beadh was a man of some consequence, when a lord was a thing to be stared at and a sigh l , to be talk- I ed about - and the King! Why no man in his senses ever thought of tbs King, but with the profoundest respect. Every day after dinner ns soon as my fuller had said | grace, he poured out a bumpeipf port and drank "Church and King." It did one's heart good tp see and bear bin ; it was as good as a sermon. The wine tself seemed conscious of the glory of its des million to be j swallowed not unbleM, and it boked bright I in the glass and seemed to daice with ea- : gernessto meet his lips. But now o' days if I venture io toast Church And King, I aui forced to do it in a hurried, irreligious sort of way, with a kind ofsneer, as much as to say, it's all in my eye; or my boy Tom will laugh at me and drink the majesty of the i people. The majesty of the people indeed ! I should like to see it. There used to fie some reveience shown to Jords in former times, but how are they treated now ! Snub Snubbed - bed Snubbed at by the newspapers, elbowed in the j streets, quizzed in epigrams, peppered with pamphlets, shown up in novels, robbed of their boroughs, and threatened with anni-' hilation. People call that the march of in- i tellect - l call it the innrer of insolence.l When I was a hoy, all the l»oks we had in the house were the Bilde ant Prayer Book and the Court Calendar ; tin first two con- i tained onr religion nnd the hat our politics: as for literature, what did re want with it ? ; It is only the means of tirning the world ; upside down, and putting lotions into pie's heads, that would nevir get there with without. - out. without. All the evil that is in tfe world came by innovation ; and there is nt part of the world I free from innovation, nei|hor the heavens above, nor the earth beneath, nor the wa walers - lers walers that are under the etrth. What busi business - ness business have men up in the ihr with balloons?, What good cun they get there ? What do : they go there for, but merely to comedown ! and perhaps break their nicks ? They would be much safer on dry grtund. Our ances ancestors - tors ancestors used to be content vith the sun, and moon, nnd stars, an i foir or five planets J now forsooth the impendent ones must be I poking their telescopes ip to the sky and ! discovering new planets limos'. every night as if we hud not got as ninny planets al already - ready already as we could do with. Steam Engines - l do not think we should I ever have heard a wold about Parliamenta Parliamentary - ry Parliamentary Reform, if it had rot been for steam en-> gines. I hope Mr. Colburn will not have : his magazine with this article printed with a steam press, for if Ip does. I shall not dare to read it for fear of ieing blown up. What did we want with steam engines? Did we j not beat the French without steam engines ? jTo be sure we did. I hate innovations. I should just like to know what is to become | of all the hackney roach horses, if we are j to have steam enrruges. The poor beasts ' look half starved us it is; they will be ten times worse if they are turned out to make room for steam engines: and what shall we ' do for dog's meat if there are no horses to ; I cut up? Then we must have Macadamized i roads too ! our ancestors did very well with-' out Macadamized roads. They took their j [time in travelling from ore place to another, nnd if they happened to he too late for the stage, they had nothing :o do but run after , [it and catch it. Let them try to do so now. I Buildings too! did ever any mortal see | such an overgrown place as London is now ? j There is not a dirty ditch within five miles | of London that bus not got some Parndise Row, or Mounl Pleasant, or Prospect Place : stuck into it. Why can't the citizens live in the city as they used to do, and stick to their shops ? There is no such place as the coun country - try country now, it is all come to London. And what sort of houses do they build ? Look al them - a bundle of matches for the timbers and a basket of bricks for the walls. Rail Roads - a pretty contrivance, for forsooth - sooth forsooth ! to pick the pockets of the good old wagon horses, and the regular legitimate conch hoises that had stood the test of ages. Pray what is to become of the farmers if: there are no horses to eat their oats? And how are the rents to be paid, and the taxes, and the tithes, and the poor rates? and who is to pay the interest of the national debt? and what will become of the Church if hors- es do not eat oats to enable the farmers to pay their tithes and feed the clergy ? Man Man| - | Man| Chester and Liverpool wete quite near I enough without the assistance of rail roads, | J and ifthe building mania goes on much long- er there will be no need of a road from one to the other, for they will both join, nnd the people may be in both places at once. Peo People - ple People are talking now of rail roads supersed superseding - ing superseding canals, the good old canals, halfof which are already three-quarters full of duck weed j and dead cats.

There are two separate trains for passen passengers, - gers, passengers, one of the first class, the other of the second - each making three trips a day to and fro. The first is a close carriage - or I a train of coaches, each accommodating 18 passengers in three separate apartment! - running through, a distance of 32 miles, j in one hour and thirty minutes. The sec second - ond second class is composed of open cars - runs through in two hours - fare three shillings and sixpence sterling. Fare for the first class five shillings. These trains often car carry - ry carry from 200 to 300 passengers. The aver- i age numbei of passengers per day, be between - tween between Liverpool and Manchester, for the I last two weeks, has been 2,200. I started this morning in the first class, with six coaches in train, and about one hundred passengers. And little did I think, that I had crossed the Atlantic so merciful mercifully, - ly, mercifully, to be wrecked on the Railway. It is evident, however, from my present occuni occunition, - tion, occunition, that I got off with life, and withott serious injury. But give me my election, and I had rather go upon a rock in a ship 1 under full sail - provided it be in the day ' time, with a tolerable chance of escape - escapethan than escapethan run the chance of a wreck on the j Railway. The first half way we missed in fine style, and high spirits, not dreaming of the peril that awaited us. After having re-1 plenislied the water for the engine, I scon under full speed again. I had he I quenlly put my head out of the coach to' look backward and forward, and abroad - ' to make such observations ns curiosity, and | the novel interest of the scene, prom.uted.; Sometimes a train, coming from the o ppe- i site direction, might be seen ahead, and ' soon it would brush by us, nt n diatance of three feet, with such velocity, that, pent up as we were, we could no mote count the number of coaches, than the spokes it? a woman's spinning wheel, when buzzing in ; its swiftest turn. I speak as matter of far t: I not that we could not see them, but their speed added to ours, each going in oppo-! site directions, rendered it absolutely im-' possible to count the coaches, as they pass-! ed our window. The rear presented itself ! almost the same instant with the front. All; we could perceive was - lt is here, it is i gone 1 Sometimes we ran fifteen miles the I hour - sometimes twenty - and sometimes twenty-five. I should judge we were run running - ning running at the rate of twenty-five miles - or more rather than less - when I looked out: of the window forward, and instantly ex exclaimed, - claimed, exclaimed, as my friend says, thrice, (though : I do not myself recollect it,) "We are ! gone! we are gone! we are gone!'* And! surely I had good reason to make the in inference. - ference. inference. For at that instant I saw the en engine - gine engine deserting her proper track, and stag staggering - gering staggering and plunging headlong down the bank - reluctantly indeed, as if conscious of its charge and' responsibility ! And what 1 could the train do but follow ? - I hud no sooner uttered these words, than crash! crash ! went the whole train. And instant-; )y the engine lay bottom upwards, directly ! abreast of our ear, the fourth in the train, | : discharging its steam directly in our faces.; By this time all was at rest, a heap of ruins. I The tremendous crash, by which we were brought up, may in part be estimated, when it is considered, that although we were running at such a rate, we did not | make a headway of more than two rods, nfier the engine plunged from the rail-road. I But you will be in pain to see us out of the | steam. " Open the opposite door!" said I j - "open the opposite door!" My friend, , being nearest, made the attempt, but, not succeeding, jumped through tho window. There were two ladies, a gentleman, and ; n boy, still remaining with me in the same ' npnrtmcnl of the car. The escaping steam 11 proved to come from the safety valve, and | of course gave us nothing more than n very

I very hot bath. The forward car, next the engine, was drawn after it, and thrown over, with all. its passengers. The next plunged into it, and stove its back in pieces. And each car run against its predecessor in the same manner, making more or less splinters, uhm al] were brought up at roet, and began to disembogue their occupants, each actuated by the impulse of self-preser self-preservation. - vation. self-preservation. Soon, however, they began to help one another, and to look after 'the killed and wounded. After seeing niy own apart apartment - ment apartment cleared of its tenants, I ran around in front of the circle- - (for the wreck now made a circle,) and the first thing which at attracted - tracted attracted my attention was the dragging out of the Engineer, who lay buried under the engine - the machine having turned bottom upwards. The moment lie was drawn out, he stood upon his feet, but his face and head frightfully disfigured with blood and dust. Some one immediately grasped his hand, anil shook it very cordially, congratulating him for his life pieserved He was carried away, and I have not heard from him since, nnd therefore cannot tel) how much he was j injured. Through the exceeding merr y of' God, no other person was hurt, worthy of notice, so far as I have learned. Two or i three trains soon arrived from opposite di- ' rectums, and were obliged to stop, as our wreck covered the whole way. Men, wo- ( men, and children of the peasantry came 1 pouring in from the adjoining farms, as they witnessed our misfortune. And bv the help of nil, we soon thiew off from the ways our disabled cars - found three of them in a condition to be used in our necessities, al- ! though not sound - borrowed an engine. I which happened along, and having packed in again, thick enough indeed, proceeded | to Manchester, and arrived only two hours I after the regular time. What was the occasion of this misfor- ! tune, I have not learned - nor was it possi possible, - ble, possible, in the confusion of the hour, to ascer ascertain. - tain. ascertain. If the engineer should live, he per per'itaps, - 'itaps, per'itaps, can tell, if his interest will permit him to be honest. Before this accident oc occurred, - curred, occurred, I rode upon the railway with a very comfortable sense of safety. But from that place to Manchester, I must confess my | nerves were not sufficiently composed to enjoy it - the less so, perhaps, from a deep conviction that our cars, after the shock and injury they had received, were unfit for use - especially, that it was exceedingly presumptuous. The thought of such 'nn arrest is frightful - even terrible. If the bank had been high, as in many places it is J thirty and forty feet, and in some instances far more terrific still, the whole train must have inevitably plunged full speed, and ev every - ery every thing, all, dashed to pieces below There would scarcely have been a chance sot a single life. As it was, the bank was about six feet in elevation, and of easv de descent. - scent. descent. The engine plunged into the sand, and was instantly turned bottom up, by the pressure of the train, and the connection between. God, in mercy prevented, that it should be no worse. But for this arcci- j dent, I could look upon those trains in pro- I gress, with great zest. But the charm to me is gone. When I see them now under greatest velocity, I shudder at the sight. It is to be observed, that the veloci velocity - ty velocity of these trains, in the course of a trip through, is variable; sometimes quite slow, 1 and then again forward with amnzing ra rapidity - pidity rapidity as in a frolic - or to make up for lost time.

. iinovuca uuu cainiiHiies that one sees and hears of now. What an and ridiculous invention is that nas nasty. - ty. nasty. filthy, stinking gas! The buildings where it is made look like prisons with-out with-outsule, - sule, with-outsule, ana like infernal regions within; and there always is some accident or other hap happening - pening happening with it; people have tbeir houses blown up with it, and it serves them right, tor they have no business to encourage such newfangled trumpery. The streets used to be lighted well enough with the good old oldfashioned - fashioned oldfashioned oil lamps, which were quite good enough for our ancestors, and I think they niight have done for us; but any thing for innovation! J must confess i liked to see the good old greasy lamp-lighters and their nice flaring torches, they were fifty times better than the modern men with their little hand lumps like so many Guy Fawkes'. And what harm have the poor old watch watchmen - men watchmen done I wonder, that they must be dis ' missed to make room fur a set of new po- I lice-men and blue coats? The regular old , legitimate watchmen were the proper and constitutional defenders of the streets, just ns regularly as the King is the defender of the faith, and a more harmless set of men than the watchmen never existed ; they would not hurt ii fly. Things went on well enough when they had the cure of the streets. But innovations are not confined to land they have even encroached upon the water. Were not London. Blarkfriars, and West Westminster - minster Westminster bridges quite enough in all con conscience - science conscience ? What occasion was there for Waterloo bridge, a great overgrown gran granite - ite granite monster that cost ten times more than it is worth ? An<l what occasion for South Southwark - wark Southwark bridge and Vauxhall bridge? Our ancestors could go to Vauxhall over West Westminster - minster Westminster or Blackfriars bridge. But of all the abominable innovations none ever equal equalled - led equalled the impudence of New London bridge. It was not at all want* d. I have been over the old one hundreds and hundreds of times. It is a good old bridge that has stood the test of ages, nnd it ought to have been treated with respect for very antiqui antiquity's - ty's antiquity's sake. As for people being drowned in going under the bridge, nonsense '. they would never have been drowned if they had done as I did - I always made a point of never going under it: and besides, if people are to he drowned, they will be drowned elsewhere, if they are not drown drowned - ed drowned here. Talk of innovations, what can be a more outrageous innovation than steam-boats ? they have frightened the fish out of the riv river - er river already, and if they go on increasing as they have done of late, they will frighten the fish out of the sea too; and I should j like to know where all the fishes are to go to, then. We shall be in a pretty if they all come ashore. Besides, the sea is obviously made to sail upon, or else what is i the use of the wind ? And if we have no nothing - thing nothing but steam-boats, what will become of the sail-makers? People in these revolt)-: tionary times care nothing about vested rights. I hate innovation. I hate every thing that is new. I hate new shoes, they pinch niy feet; I hate new hats, they pinch niy forehead ; I hate new coats, they put me in mind of tailors' bills. 1 hate every thing new, except the New Monthly Magazine, and I shall hate that if the Editor rejects my article. Anti-Innovator.

-ACCIDENT ON A RAIL ROAD. The following is an extract of n letter to the editors of the New York Observer, dated Mancuestkr, Sept. 1. I left Liverpool this morning at 7 o'clock, by the Railway to Manchester, of course. For who could puss by that? - l had walk walked - ed walked up to the Liverpool end of the Railway I before, anil saw Hint port of this stupen stupeni - i stupeni dous nnd proud work. I had seen the trains : of cars, both of passengers and those for transportation, come in and go out, led by I the little, proud, quick, and spiteful engine - a truly sublime sight. No one, who hns ; not witnessed the reality, can have an a<le a<leqmite - qmite a<leqmite idea of the scene. I have several times stood upon a bridge, thrown over the Rnilwny, about one mile from the place of stopping, nnd seen a train approach in the distance, rapidly nearing, and dnrt under me with such velocity, that when the en engine - gine engine had met the perpendicular line under j my feet with a train of cars behind of twen twenj - j twenj ty rods in length, I have sprung with 'all possible agility to the opposite side of a bridge of twenty feet in breadth, aad be before - fore before I could reach it, the whole train hud passed from under me, and seemed flying ' to its goal - leaving the impression, that no power could nosgihly arrest its momentum, and that it must inevitably plunge into the i town, be dashed against its walls, tearing every thing away, which could be torn; - and yet the next moment, it is seen easing and easing away, nnd then at rest. I now speak of some views I have had to-day in the vicinity of Manchester, which were bet better - ter better than those I had at the other end. The Liverpool end is in front of a hill of free stone rock, where the cars are laden with passengers, and then drawn by a sta stationary - tionary stationary engine through a dark tunnel of 300 to 400 feet into a deep rectangular ba basin, - sin, basin, itself open to the heavens, but sunk about 50 feet in the same solid rock, topped and enclosed with artificial battlements of heavy masonry, and erecting, at the front angles above the whole, two chiinnies of 60 feet, or more in elevation - each ornamen ornamental, - tal, ornamental, and making a show not unlike the Washington monumental Baltimore. This immense artificial chasm is a beautiful, as well as a stupendous work. The deep cat in the rock continues, with gradual de decrease, - crease, decrease, a large moiety of a mile. The ba- I sin above described is the starting and the 1 airiying point - or the goal. Here Ilie loco- [ motive engine is attached, and away it goes at the precise moment, and soon the pas passenger - senger passenger feels himself on wings. If he looks ' at the nearest objects, he is dizzy in an in instant. - stant. instant. He cannot endure it. And lor re relief, - lief, relief, he throws out his eye upon the fields, nnd trees, and country around. The mo motion - tion motion of the car, in its rapid flight, is so much like that of a coach running swiftly over smooth ground, itself being a close car carriage, - riage, carriage, and the twitching so exactly similar to that of horses on a full jump, that in spite of the evidences to the contrary around me to-day, as I was whirled alone, I several times imagined fully for n mo moment, - ment, moment, that our horses were running to de destruction - struction destruction with loose rein - and startled at the thought.

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HENRY CLAY AND ANTI-MASONRY. 1 he Lexington (Ky.) Reporter publishes the annexed reply of Mr. Clay to a commit committee - tee committee of Anti-Masons of the State of Indiana, who were appointed to address him with a view to ascertain his sentiments on Anti- Masonry. Ashland, Oct. 8, 1831. GenLcmen: I hope you will excuse the delay in acknowledging the receipt of your letter of the 2d ulu, which has arisen from my absence from home and from various en engHEmnents. - gHEmnents. engHEmnents. Wi ' i '-inR tha considerations that I have no knowledge of the existence of an anti-ma anti-main - in anti-main Ha " ov ei. Indiana, other nun that which is derived from your letter, or o your appointment us » committee to correspond With me, ether than your state statement, - ment, statement, nor the sstisfaction of a personal ac acquaintance - quaintance acquaintance with you, I will proceed at once to reply to your letter. Its professed object is to ascertain my sentiments on the subject of masonry; and the reason assigned uy you tor -his inquiry is thus stated by yourselves - "As we are nga n shortly to be called upon to choose a man to preside over the councils of our nation; as it will then be our duty and privilege to raise our humble but inde independent - pendent independent voice in favor of him whom we may deem most worthy of oor suffrage ; and as you now stand a candidate for a high and important station, as your friends unit fel fellow - low fellow citizens, we would solicit from you n frank nnd candid statement of your 'senti 'sentiments - ments 'sentiments on this subject." I do nut know a solitary provision in the Constitution of the United States which conveys the slightest authority to the Gen General - eral General Government to interfere, one wav or ihe other, with either Masonry or Anti-Ma Anti-Masonry. - sonry. Anti-Masonry. If, therefore, a President of the Unit United - ed United States, or any other functionarv of that Government, were to employ his official pow power - er power to sustain or to abolish, or to advance the interests of masonry or nnli-inasonry, it would be an act of usurpation or tyranny. You have not called upon me for niy opin opinion - ion opinion upon any great pra< tical measure fall falling - ing falling within the scope of Federal power ; but passing by every question of vital interest, within the sphere of its operation, you de demand - mand demand my sentiments upon a subject with which I humbly conceive it has nothing to do, and you place this demand on the ground Os the influence which my sentiments might exert upon the exercise ofan undoubted and important privilege which you possess as citizens of the United States.

A compliance, on my part, with your de demand - mand demand would amount to an implied adm.s adm.s-sion, - sion, adm.s-sion, that individual sentiments, on tte sub subject - ject subject of masonry, formed a proper -onsidera -onsideration - tion -onsideration in regulating the exercise of the elec elective - tive elective franchise in respect to offices of the fed federal - eral federal government. I ca» moke no admission. I cannot believe that whether I am hoetilo or friendly tn masonry or anti-masonry, is at all material in Hie fotmation of anv judg judgment, - ment, judgment, on the part of my fellow citizens, con concerning - cerning concerning my fitness for any office under the Government of the United States. That el elevated - evated elevated office to which you allude, should, in my opinion, he filled by one who is capable, unswayed by sectarian feelings or passions, of administering its high duties impartially towards the whole people of the United States, however divided into religious, so social, - cial, social, benevolent, or literary associations. Entertaining these views, I have con constantly - stantly constantly refused to make myself a party to the unhappy contest raging, distant frem mo in other parts of the Union, between masons and anti-masons. Whilst these views re remain - main remain uncorrected I must adhere to that lie lietermination. - termination. lietermination. If, provision indeed, you gen gentlemen, - tlemen, gentlemen, will point to the federal constitu constitution - tion constitution which can be legitimately made to op operate - erate operate upon the subject in question, I would not hesitate promptly to comply with your request. In the mean time, in declining ii. I hope you will consider me as not wanting in proper respect to you or to those whom you represent, but as acting from a convic conviction - tion conviction of the impropriety of blending an alien ingredient with a question, already suffi sufficiently - ciently sufficiently complex, and also from a sense of personal independence. lam wilh great respect, your obedient servant, ' H. Clay. Messrs. James A. Watson, Noble Butler, James H. Tliompson.