The Express.
London, England, 1846-11-19 00:00:00

7: he ..,' 1 Prefso.

MAILS.
IV: overland mails for Medlar, Malta, Greece, the lonian Islands,
Egypt, Aden, Ceylon, India, Ilong.tiong, and China, rai Southampton,
will be made up on the morning of the 20th November (to-morrow).
The overland closed mails, via .Var seines, to the Mediternmesn,
Egypt. Aden, Ceylon. India, Hong-Kong, Sze., will be made up on the
evening of the 24th November
The mails for Vigo, Oporto, Lisbon, Madeira, Cadiz, and Gibraltar,
will be made up on the morning of the 27th November.
The mails for New South \Vales, Van Diemen's Land. and New
Zealand will be made up on the ermine of the 90th November.
The West India mails, excluding those for Mexico, Honduras, and
the Havannah, will be made up on the morning of the 2nd December.
The malls for the Broils, the River Plate, Monte Video, Pernam-
buco, Bahia, Madeira. and Buenos Arse, will be despatched on the
evening of the 4th December.

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WG:I WATER AT LONDON-BRIDGE.
TRIO DAT. Morning, 47 min. pan 1; Afternoon, fi pee t 2.
To.nozzow.—Morning, •25 min. pent 2 Afternoon, 43 Win. put 2.

LONDON, THURSDAY, NOV. 19.
The mystery of fatal accidents is amazing. Hardly
one occurs that can be accounted for, except by sup-
positions which amount to miracles. In three eases
the laws of mechanics are habitually supendetl, and
those of motion made extremely light of. Timber
declared perfectly sound behaves as if it were rotten;
mortar, undoubtedly of the best quality, according
to the man who finds it, conducts itself in a way un-
known to any combination of real lime and real sand,
with which chemists are acquainted ; sound springs
snap for all the world like flawed ones; the best
boilers burst at their lowest pressure; causes disclaim
effects, and effects dissolve their long-standing part-
nerships with causes. The thing is quite unaccounta-
ble. But there is another feature common to these
accident-miracles: no one is ever to blame for
them; everybody comes forward most handsomely
to exculpate everybody. In harmony with the
miraculous physics of the case, we have its
equally miraculous ethics. Things that can only be
accounted for by supposing the grossest negligence
occur where caution is carried to a fault. The most
sober drivers are fated to the most desperate upsets
and most ghastly. collisions ; the most humane mill-
owners are visited by the cruellest accidents from un-
guarded machinery ; the most circumspect builders
are overwhelmed by the suddenest downfalls of the
soundest houses. In every accident, followed by one
death or more, there is no difficulty in giving any
number of irrefragable reasons why it should not have
happened ; but the skill of surveyors, coroners, and
even General PASLEY himself, seldom succeeds in
arriving at one satisfactory reason why it should.
A cause of this may be that such engineers think
more of materials than of men : another, that even as
to the materialsthey take the opinion of the persons who
furnish them, or are in some way interested, to prove
them of good quality. Besides, any weight of blame
there may be is usually to be distributed over several
pairs of shoulders. Every partial delinquent is bound,
of course, to screen his neighbour. The conscience
that would sink under a good, stout, bare-faced lie,
will get along very pleasantly under a mild evasion.
And thus, each contributing his little suppressio rem,
and with it, perhaps, his unassuming suggestio.falsi,
a stout wall of equivocation, falsification, explanation,
and everything but justification, is built about the
affair; nobody is found responsible, and nobody is I
punished. A poor bricklayer has been crushed, a
stoker, perhaps, or third-class passenger expended.
A wife and family have lost their bread-winner.
The parish has gained a pauper and her brood.
This normal sketch of such proceedings may be
filled up in detail from an inquest held on Saturday
evening, and continued yesterday, in the large
room of the Hoop and Toy Tavern, Old Bromp-
ton-road, on the body of James Casey, aged forty-
three years, a bricklayer's labourer in the employ
of Messrs. William and James Emniens, builders,
of Knightsbridge, and Notting-hill, who was
killed by the fall of three new houses in Alfred-place
West, Thurlow-square, Old Brompton, on the evening
of Thursday last.
Of coarse the jury went, in the first place, to view
the body. Of course it " presented a shocking spec-
tacle." They did not go to view the ruins. The
latter inspection might sometimes be substituted for
the former with good effect. The three fallen houses
were part of a block of four, which had been " run
up," as the phrase is, against time. The deceased
and another were on a scaffolding round the chimneys
of the middle house of the three. It suddenly fell
down, dragging the others with it. Deceascsl
perished ; his companion escaped with injury—severe,
but not fatal.
Now for the mystery, the cause of the accident.
Three persons are examined. Mr. HOLMES, the
builder ; Mr. DONALDSON, the district surveyor
under the New Buildings Act; and Mr. BLORE, the
surveyor to the estate.
Mr. HOLMES provided the bricks, employing a Mr.
EMMENS to find "time and labour." The erection of
the fourhouses was commenced two months ago. The
outer walls of all four had thus been raised to the
chimney top in eight weeks, fro weeks to a house.
The district surveyor had attended, and made no
objection to the work. The surveyor to the estate
had also visited the place almost daily.
Ile (Mr. Holmes) attributed the falling of the houses to the wet
weather and the number of men who had been running up and down
the ladder and scaffold for some days before, which, added to the wet
weather, occasioned the toppling of the chimneys, which would briag
down the whole of the building with It, as it wan all tied together.
The Deputy Coroner asked Mr. Holmes if the jury were then to un-
derstand that the chimneys having toppled on a damp house bad oc-
casioned the fall I—Mr. Holmes replied that and other thingstogether.
—The Deputy Coroner said they had then come to this point, viz.,
that the accident had been occasioned by the toppling of the chimneys
upon a damp house.
Here is a reason, and a curious one. A house is
brought down by the running of the bricklayers' men
up and down their ladders, and the weight of the
chimneys ! What a very secure and cheerful WA of
it the tenants of such houses must have ! If the tfitee
fragile sections of Alfred-place had survived the build-
ing, we shudder to think of the results of possible
polka parties.
But it is the " toppling of chimneys on a damp
house " that has done the mischief. How comes the
house damp? If the mason's work had been executed
properly and with safe speed, would the fall have
occurred ?
Let us hear the account of the district surveyor :
Mr. Donaldeon, being sworn, said that he bad found no occasion to
complain of the materials used or the mode of erection, revept
that they put bets, which are want/ Bcicles, at the foundation, when
he wished them to put good bricks there. Hie duty was mile to aieend
to the thirknees of the wall. Mr. Holmes was building tinder
an agarliment with Mr. Altinfidcis the owned of Ore property),
and Mr. More. his surveyor, had the right to object to any materials.
Thought the Wormed good. Could not pre eat builders using rots.
tie had only toda with the quality oftbe b, ice nerd.aedesottei'h the
ferns or sin.—Mr. Llolmen observod ftat he had hadbeveral walls not
- '• high 1,11, and so hod other builders.—The Deputy Coroner
bat if a wall falls without having the superinnunbent
It, It did not argue wen foe its security.— r. Donaldson
l thidhs haute might as *cell be run Ng, in sir weeks as in
and, therefore, be could not complain in this ease of haste.
sr above the attic floor, for the twenty feet, were one foot
th, and when that toppled over, It took the attic Obits
aimed the front and back wars to double in, Irmo in
The number of labourers which follow each other
acCiridttnt.-I;lenTict nay Connuted
roner wishednloaask Mr. I the la ttin'allndti-
, derived that information from, as he teas not hinaetf

there et the time of the arridest.—Mr. lkssaldson add from.
Wearers. Ile did Not know their names. MATS was me that
Win so.
We are sorry that Mr. DONALDSON was not de-
livering this remarkable testimony as a witness
the Central Criminal Court, that he might ha%
enjoyed the privilege of cross-examination, to which
it certainly entitles him. Mr. DONALDSON considers
" bats" small bricks. Does he call them " sound "
bricks ? His notions of a surveyor's duty seem
vague, almost self-contradictory. His duty "us only
to attend to the thickness of the wall ;" and again, he
" has only to do with the quality of the bricks."
Which only are we to limit him to? He appears,
however, to us to misstate his duties altogether. The
clause in the act which determines his functions states
the first of them to be " to see that all the rules and di-
rections of this act are well and truly observed in and
throughout his district." Among the provisions of the
act we find that every foundation must have its " foot-
ing," to be built " either of sound bricks or stone, or of
such bricks and stone together, laid in and with mortar
and cement in such manner as to produce solid work."
The same words are used of walls. Does not Mr.
DONALDSON find in these clauses, when put
together, any authority to object to materials?
It seems to us, on proper interpretation,
that these words give him a power which
might almost be called arbitrary, but that it is
vested in him for public safety, over materials as well
as dimensions. Mr. DONALDSON'S usefulness, judging
by this case, seems small. Perhaps this arises from
his narrow views of his pow.rs. We are glad to sug-
gest to him an interpretation which will enlarge them
for the future.
We are curious to know, as the "green state" of
the walls, according to Mr. DONALDSON, made them
double in on the toppling of the chimney, how the
haste used in building is of so little importance that,
according to the same authority, "a house may be as
well run up in six weeks as iu six months ?"
Is the six months' work as " green" as the "six
weeks," or is there any assignable limit to the time
within which " green" masonry may be so safe as to
allow the bricklayers to work without bringing it
down? But Mr. DONALDSON afterwards informe,
the Coroner
Mortar when aped ought to be allowed to set; fur when it is moved
by the oscillation he had spoken of it gets rotten.
Is this fact of no importance as uffecting the rate
of speed at which houses may be "run up ?" Was
time given for the mortar to set in this case? We
have no hesitation in saying that it was not ; and
further that Mr. DONALDSON has neglected his duty,
as district surveyor, in not iuterfenng to ascertain
that the mortar had set, and, if not, to stop the
work until it had hardened so as to ensure the
stability of the wall.
M-. IILORE does seem :to have had misgivings on
this

A point.
Mr. Ulore In answer to rptestions port to him by the deputy
coroner, said he saw the buildings on Tuesday last, when he own-
ptained that there was not wifficieht bonding in the wall, and told the
workmen that they mast take flee or sir courses of bricks off. Ile
asked to see Mr. Enunens, but was told he was not there. lie then
asked for Mr. Emmens's son, but he wag not there. Ile then saw Mr.
Strekwell, the foreman, who told him what he desired should be done.
He was of opinion that it had not been done, an the wall had, before
it fell, been carried up to a great height. Did not stay to see that it
was done. Prefenett bond timber, bat iron tying doers for it. Wood
bonds were liable to tire. Thought, when he was last there, that
they were getting On too fast, but he had no power to stop them.
Can anything be more confirmatory of Mr. Do-
NALIISON'S evidence?
Clearly the thing is a miracle. The builder
exonerates the district surveyor, and the district
surveyor the builder, and both exonerate the estate
surveyor, and the estate surveyor returns the com-
pliment. The jury, however, very properly refused
to be a party to this mutual exculpation. Its ver-
dict will be read with pleasure at the end of our
' report of the inquest, and is well deserving of atten-
tion in the right place.

Ttir. revelations made on Tuesday evening to the
fair members of the Surrey Protestant Alliance, con-
gregated
at the Horns, in Kennington, are enough '
to appal the stoutest heart. We live in awful
times; though by the aid of Captain JAMES
Goanox and the Rev. HOBART SEYMOUR, we
have yet some chance of getting safely through
them. These gentlemen, upon whom the mantles
of DANGERFIELD and BEDLOE appear to have
fallen, possess a special gift of recognising Papists
in all disguises, and seeing their secret workings,
even through stone walls. Like the woman in
Scotch legends, whose eye had been anointed
with fairy salve, and who in consequence saw the
loathsome reality, not the glamour-bestowed beauty
of the " gond people," our man of war and minister
of peace walk the streets descrying Jesuit agents
where common mortals see nothing but common-

place men of business.
It is with a shudder that we reflect upon the toils
in which we are entangled, as revealed by these
gifted seers. The reporters of the London daily
Journals are a band of popish emissaries sent
into the galleries of parliament to suppress Pro-
testant arguments, and propagate Roman Catholic
fallacies. 'fhe Roman Catholic colleges are educating
" gentlemen of the press," with a view to pac4: the
newspapers. The additional grant to Nllynrtli has
been expended upon a stenogmphical class, in order
that papistical short-hand may make short work with
our holy religion. When we turn from the press to
the pulpit, matters are every whit as bad. Our clergy
are being reconciled to Rome by scores, and holding
their livings till it is convenient to declare their altered
faith. It is like Rubble-Bubble's dream, in which
the hero, stooping to pick up a weaver's bobbin, it
went off in his face like a cannon. It is like the
incantation scene in the " Freischutz ;" we grasp at a
tree to resist the pulling of Ziniie!, and the stem to
which we cling proves to be the fiend himself.
There is something dreadful in this night-mare
state of existence—this semi-somnambulism, in which
we are aware that everything around as is different
from what it seems. We could almost wish that the
ultra-Protestant professors of ciairroyance would
restore us to the tranquil state of delusion in which
they found us. Would that we could still believe
that reporters are merely reporters ; and curates.
rectors, and vicars staunch adherents of the national
church ! Unluckily for our repose, we know better.

Not poppy, nor mandragora,
Nor nil the drowsy syrups of the world,
Shull ever medicine us to that sweet sleep
Wks h we owed yesterday.
Universal scepticism possesses us. As the man
with the jaundice sees everything yellow, we see
Papistry everywhere. Even Colonel Sir DIGBY
MACKWORTEI does not escape our suspicions: does he
escape his own ? Does he feel perfectly assured that
where so many anti-papistical exteriors conceal the
substance of Popery he is not himself in the same
predicament ? Monsieur JOURDAIN talked prose all
his life without suspecting it till the schoolmaster
told him ; the witch-finders of the seventeenth
century convinced many an old woman that,
without her knowledge, she had sold herself to
the Evil One, and exercised supernatural powers,.
and Colonel Sir DIGRY ACKWORTH, though
no conjuror, may, in these times of Popery, have
caught the contagion without being aware of it. It
is a suspicious name, DtortY : historically associated
with reminiscences of GUY FAWKES, and redolentof the
Gunpowder Plot. Sir HIGHT'S denunciations of mis-
sionary reporters and apostate clergymen may, after
all, be only meant to put us on a false scent, and divert
attention from the real agents of Rome. This may
appear to some over-refining, or excessive suspicion ;
but the spirit of TITUS OATEs has been successfully
evoked : the rustle of his canonicals is heard in the
evening wind ; the frizzle of his white wig gleams in
the incipient fog; and, in his presence, every man
suspects his neighbour of being accessary to " the
pleat."
Even Captain GORDON, however, and the Rev.
HOBART SET MOVR, must yield to the alumni of the
Glasgow University in the faculty of detecting latent
popery. A numerical majority of these youthful
sages discovered, in the proposal to make Lord Jos.;
Russs.u. their rector, a toil set to catch them in the
meshes of the Romish church. The genius of WORDS-
WORTH was invoked to dissolve the spell, but the
latitudinarian lowlanders of Fife and the Lothians
gave an equality of nations to the Premier, and the
sastir,g vote of the Vice-Rector has installed him.
In vain dill the second-sighted sons of Rothsay pro-
claim thatLordJonN was the Pope,and that Professor
NICHOL was the incarnate spirit of Popery itself; the
Romish iniquity sits stothroned in the hallsof GEORGE
BUCHANAN and ZACHARY 80-, D. Bat what can the
anti-Papists of Glasgow College expect, seeing they
have themselves apostatised to prelacy? They have
set up against the papistical Whigs. PEEL, STAN-
LEY, GRAHAM, SCOTT, and WORDSWORTH —all Pre-
latists; but when have they ventured to enter the
field under a true-blue Presbyterian ?

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