The Express.
London, England, 1862-01-22 00:00:00

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LONDON, WEDNESDAY, JAN. 22.

THIS is Wednesday morning, and on Thursday
morning, last week, the accident happened which
buried in a ►icing tomb two hundred and fifteen
human beings. Six full days of imprisonment in
the bowels of the earth is a doom fearful enough
even if we may yet hope that it may be borne by
living men. Darkness, hunger, foul air, the
exhaustion of fruitless struules, the agonies of
disappointed hopes, are what these men must have
undergone even if any survive. We need not tell
our readers how slight must now be the chance
that the strongest has not long ere this sunk under
them. It is by such terrible attendants and
ministers of death that this catastrophe is rendered
so much more appalling than those which it has
been on many other occasions our lot to record.
In battle, or in shipwreck, by explosion of steam-
engines, by the crash of railway trains, by the fall
of bridges or dwclling•houses, by the thousand
forms of accident to which civilization and bar-
barism are alike liable, as many souls have often
ere now been hurled at once into eternity. But it
is seldom indeed that the slower process of death
by starvation or suffocation has threatened such a
multitude actually within reach of our senses, yet
just beyond our power to save in time. Only
thirty fathoms of earth were between the living and
the dead : the efforts of despair reached the ears
of those who were straining to mom The
intelligence from the pit which we have received
this morning compels us to give up the hope that
a single human being will be got out alive.
It is indeed probable that all perished as long ago
as Saturday. Perhaps, it may have been better
if some days since the rise of the water or of
the foul air put an end to the agony of the buried
men, rather than that any still survive to bear
the torturing suspense which hangs upon the pos-
@ability of rescue.

But such a disaster has at least its lesson. Nor
can we demur to that law of nature which, filling
the whole nation with sympathy, enlists even those
who have least professional knowledge in the cause
of devising means fur preventing the occurrence of
its like. It has oftentimes been observed that
mere use and wont has • certain influence in ob-
scuring the perception of evils, and that, in conse-
quence, those who are most exposed to them are
the most indifferent to their existence. There are
few profeesions which have not owned the benefit
of extraneous suggestion, few which have not ulti-
mately recognised that even modifications enforced
on them against their own opinion by the mere
common sense of the public have been of
signal advantage. Chiefly, perhaps, this has been
observable in those occupations which are attended
with constsiit and inevitable hazard. There is
'welling which makes men so reckless as the habit
of encountering danger. None are so little dis-
posed to attend to common precaution as those
whom even extraordinary precaution unmet make
wholly secure. Yet it is surely justifiable to
suggest, and if need be to compel, in the case of
men so situated, the observance of such simple
rules of safety as may be enviously demanded by
the plain dictates of reason. We may therefore
consider the leading features of the calamity which
has just befallen with some hope that even those
who have little technical knowledge of the subject
may perceive at a glance what has been that fatal
error of the system which has brought, in all pro-
bability, death upon hundreds, and which has
most certainly inflicted upon thousands the wont
tortures of lingering anxiety and despair.
The Hartley pit, which has been the scene of
this deplorable misfortune, is one of the deepest in
Great Britain. Its total depth is nearly 100
fathoms. Throe seams of coal occur in this de-
scent ; the first in round numbers at 30, the
second at 60, the third at 100 fathoms from the
surface. The two upper seams have been ex-
hausted ; the lower one has alone been wrought of
late years, and from its depth and other circum-
stances it is stated that the working barely paid :
it was therefore conducted on the most econo-
mical principles. Amongst other difficulties this
seam was subject to a prodigious influx
of water, so large and continuous that it
was at one time feared that the supply
was derived by infiltration from the sea itself.
By obtaining en opening into another pit, and by
the erection of an extremely powerful pumping-
engine, this flow was at length kept under. The
water was drawn out through a shaft, which
formed at the same time the sole means of en-
trance for the miners, and the sole exit for the
coal. It was driven through a loose mass of soil,
and was therefore lined all the way down by a
retaining frame of wood-work, and being the only
opening that reached to the bottom, it was, for the
purposes of ventilation, divided into two compart-
ments by a wooden partition. But so insuffi-
cient was this arrangement deemed by the Govern-
ment Inspector, that he had required • " staple,"
or smaller ventilating shaft, to be carried from
the surface down to the highest seam, and from
the middle down to the lowest seam. But between
the highest and the middle seam there was no
connexion except through the main shaft. When
the huge beam of the pumping engine broke, it
carried away all the retaining timbers of the
shaft, and thus allowed the sides to close in. But
this did not take place to any serious extent till it
had got below the upper seam. Down to this
point, therefore, the pit is still accessible. Assuming
that below it the shaft is wholly closed to the
bottom, there still remains the independent access
from the lowest seam to the middle one by means
of the air staple. It is believed that the whole of
the workmeu escaped by this and reached the
middle seam, where they were at least safe from
danger of drowning by the unchecked flow of

water. But from this there is no air staple
leading to the next intermediate stage, aol bore,
therefore, they must remain to await the dew
efforts of the men above to remove the accumu-
lated rubbish which blocks up the main shaft.
to one can read this cursory outline of the
situation without perceiving that the whole of the
frightful danger has arisen from the fact of there
being but one access to the pit. On its sufficiency
the lives of all who went down were left to depend.
A faulty piece of timber, an unexpected outburst
of water, might at any time have produced the
result which an unsuspected flaw in a ponderous
bourn has now wrought. In so far as any in-
dependent access was provided the miners were
saved. By such means they reached a seam
180 feet above that in which they were
at work when the shaft was blocked
up. Had there been but similar oonimuni-
cation between the second and the highest seam,
they would have been at the surface in half an hour.
But unfortun►tely this did not exist. Even wild
animals that burrow in holes provide themselves
with a double mode of exit, so that if an enemy
enter by one they may escape by the other.
Reason, it seems, under the name of economy,
refused to our fellow-creatures what even instinct
demands. They, too, had enemies enough to
fear. Water, and fire, and suffocation every in-
stant might break in upon them. Yet, however
these foes might approach, there was but one way
of escape left. If that should fail, it
was always evident that they must perish,
as it is too probable that they have perished. It
cannot be that it is needful for our national great-
ness to work our national wealth at such periL
If such pits as the Hartley cannot be wrought if
the expenditure of a second shaft must be under-
gone, it were better that they were abandoned.
The public will not find coals a farthing per ton
dearer ; but even, if such precautions should
raise the price a shilling per ton, it were
better it should be paid, and the pit. be worked
in reasonable safety. This is, however, we
believe an exceptional case. There are few pits
which are not already provided with, at least, two
shafts. It is possible that there may have been
MOMS other than those of economy which, in
this instance, led to the neglect, and which esti).
led the Government Inspector that the neglect
might be overlooked. But at least we have now
had our solemn warning, that for the future no

circumstance should be admitted as an excuse for
failing in a precaution so simple, and in the eye of
common sense so plainly indispeusable to safety.

Elie €ourt.

Mr. John Jobeon Smith, President of the Shef-
field Chamber of Commerce ; Mr. Alderman Hobert Jack-
son, vice-peesident ; and Mr. Frederick Thorpe Mappio, had
as indseview with the Right Hon. T. Milner Gibson, yester-
day, art the cam of the Board of nude.
Mr Thomas Fremantle, Chairman of the Customs, had
an interview with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, yester-
day, at his said rsaidence is Downing-street.
Her Majesty's Commissioners for the International Ex-
hibition of 1082 held a meeting at their offices, in the
I nosed, yesterday. _ _ . _

-
Desyatches were seat yesterday from the Colontsl•offiol
M tie Lard High Commissioner of the lonian Islands.

Tzz PRINCI OP WM. .—We Oilderitalld that
the Rev. Canon Stanley has been appointed by her
Majeaty to travel with the Prince of Wales in the
Rag. A son of Lord Clauwilliam's will also ac-
company his Royal Ifighnem We understand
that the party will leave on the 7th pro:Min.
Prince Peter Wittgenstein and Prince Frederick

Wittneseteia bare arriv;d at Loes's HoteL
The Prince of Villafranca has left Long's Hotel.
The Marchioness of Waterford was safely de-
livered of a moo on Sunday at the residence of Mrs. Leslie
fa Herkelepaguare.

. .
The Earl of ailkeith leaves Beleave-square to-
morrow far fllksith Pala" Miuburgh. _ .

Vinoount de Contaden has taken a reeldence in

Beelrtoo•wgaare fora term.
Lord and Lady Blantyre have arrived at their
rasidinos u Greavfoor-place.

DRAMA.

DRURY LANE.

The pantomime at this theatre, which continues
to draw crowded houses, to prefaced this week by a little
piece in on. act, with music by Mr. Howard Glover, called
Owe Too Often. It is a lively trifle, amusing Dotwith-
staediag its absurdities. Blanche is a maid of honour to
the Queen of France, who ham almost turned her head by
reading romancea. She falls in love with a certain Count
Manillac, • headmen@ court gallant, famous for him booms
for:ones—to other words an unprincipled libertine. He
pretends violent love for the silly girl, whom he persuades
into a private marriage, which he intends to makes sham one
employing a friend, a foolish German Baron, to personate a
priest and perform the ceremony. Blanche has a friend,
Hortense, who overhears the scheming of the plot and re
solves to defeat it by revealing the matter to the Queen;
and accordingly when the lovers aro at their rendezvous,
waiting tbo pretended priest, her Majesty makes her appear.
awe, attended by • real priest, who performs a real °err
siosy. The libertine is furious, and threatens to leave
France, but the tears and distress of his wife move his
MAW fealisgs, and the romantic damsel has the happiness
to be nailed to '• a releemed rake," with the prospect,
snob es It is, al kM making a good husband.
The eau* by the essiegassr of Roy Bias, Is
worthy el a piss* el ►igher pretensions. It consists of
several she and dusts, with a final quartet for the four
performers. These pieces are light and pleasing, sad some
of them are very graceful and melodious. The performanse.
on the whole, ie very good. The heroine is personated by
Xdlle. Jenny Bauer, a lady well known on our opera stags;
Hortense, the other mail of honour, by Miss Emma Hey-
wood, a clever and annietive young actress, and a singer
of considerable attaisseaste ; /Camilla; by lien
Reichardt ; and the Baron Pompernik, by Herr Former
Reithardt and Formes, though Germain, speak our Lemmas
so well that they an quite qualified to appear oo the Far
lish opera stage, to which, indeed, they would be great as.
quisitions. The former a tenor of the highest class, who
has been an excellent representative of Count Alamein,
snalsins the kindred character of the gay root in this little
piece with great spirit ; sad the part of the stolid, heavy.
headed German Baron suite Formes admirably. Altogether,
Once too Often goes off very pleasantly, and the mane will
sot detract from Mr. Glover's deservedly high reputation.

A further list of addrettens and resolutions of oon-
dolenee on the occasion of the death of his Royal Hip Amens
the Prince Consort has been trio/milted to the Right
lion. Sir George Grey Bart., her Majesty's Principal Sear
tory of State foe the Home Departinent. to be laid before
the Queen, and is published in last night's audit.
PRI Nct CONSORT MINORIAL.—MECTINO AT HIM.
—The Mayor of Hull, anticipating some effort being made
for raising a notional memorial to the late Prises Consorts
called a public meeting of the Mimi: eats of Hull, which
was held on Woodsy, at the Sesiatoo-ocurt, Town-hall. The
Mayor occupied the chair, and the leading seercimate and
gentlemen coonected with the town wen weasel Mr.
Alderman Mom moved the first resolution, approving of the
erection of a national memorial, and pledging the meeting
to support it. Lieut.-Colonel Pease tecooded the resolution,
which was carried unanimously. Limits•Ckdoesel Samuelson
moved a resolution, appointing an iolluestial committee for
collecting sehecriptims. Amongst the other speakers were
Mr. Couocillor Richardson, T. H. Travis, Es q., stipendiary
magistrate, and Councillor Loft. The feeling of the meet-
ing was unanimously In favour of the erection of some local
memorial, after the ealiseriptime had beet obtained for the
national one. Varicose ingratioas were made, such as •
local school of art for student and others ; a statue in the
New Town Hall, which is to be erected in • few months'
time, he. The meeting skied with a rote of thanks to the
Mayor.
ORRAT GRIMM! ELECTION. —This borough is
now fairly pleased into the excitement of an election con-
test in consequeees of Lord Wortley having succeeded,
through the death of his lamented father, to the earldom
of Yarborough. Mr. J. Chapman, chairman of the Mat.
°heeler, Sheffield, and Liocoloshire Railway, has issued an
address as • conservative candidate.