The Express.
London, England, 1865-06-12 00:00:00

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LONDON. MONDAY; JUNE 12.

Tug slaughter at Steptaboret last Friday after-
noon is fatal to the theory which identifies
the season of railway accidents with the season
of excursions. This was on a line remarkable for
its prosperity and snows% foe its punctual and
efficient management, and for its international
character, as the direct line to Paris and
Pekin. Oran sod..'. cogiour, all the world
travels by the South Eastern "boat" train—
for all the world goes to Paris in these
days, if not to Pekin---and the intelligent
foreigner's ides of railway travelling in England
means the tidal train from Folkestone or Dover
and back. Probably an Englishman's ideal of a
safe and. sere railway journey is the tidal train.
AU other trains are subservient to it, all get out of
its way. Yet it was precisely one of these famous
and familiar " boat " trains, which are wont to
carry lives and treasures more valuable than
C.Eu& and his fortunes twice • day, that
on Friday afternoon broke asunder, and plunged
headlong over • bridge into a river. One or two
carriages ware left on the line ; but nine passengers
killed on the spot, and forty or fifty seriously in-
jured, make up as considerable • bulletin as
many an officer might contribute to the Gazette
after a sharp engagement in an Indian war.
Of these forty or fifty persons injured, bow many
will be incapacitated in mind or body, or both, for
the rest of their lives I How many of those who
are happily not among the killed ar woundeti Aill
have been quite unshaken by the accident? It is
not compound fractures or severe contusions only
that make up the list of injuries in accidents of
this kind.
Whet was the cause t Who is to blame ? These
are the questions that rise to the lips of the public
when an accident happens. In this cue, as in the
first of the Great Western contributions to laat
week's list, the cause at least is not far to
seek. It is almost identical with that of
the accidsnt near the Rednal station on
the Shrewsbury line, on which the Coroner's
jury delivered last Saturday • verdict of
emphatic ant well-warranted severity. In both
cases the portion of the line where the accident
occurred was under repair ; in both cases the
blau, lies somewhere between the foreman of the
platelayer', the signalman, and the driver of the
train. The platelayers accuse the signalman of
negligence, the signalman accuses the platelayers
of oarelemness, and the driver accuses both the
signalman and platelayers of negligence
and carelessness. It seems incredible that
on any line in the world trains should be allowed
to pees at a pace of thirty or forty miles an hour
over sunk, or loosened, or imperfect rails. Of
all varieties of railway accidents it should seem
there can be none so preventible, so absolutely
inexcusable, as that any portion of the permanent
way over which trains are incessantly passing
should be left in an unsound or insecure condition.
There are accidents, such as axles breaking, boilers
bursting, collisions, which may be more or less
beyond prevention or control ; but that a train
should run over a loosened rail appears almost as
inconceivable as that the driver of a stage coach
should deliberately take his passengers " across
" country." To all other railway accident" there
were analogous casualties in coach travelling ; there
is none to this. For though • leader in a team might
sometimes bolt, or a onus: be turned too sharply,
the road was never out of order. Nor was the
turnpike man asleep when the guard blew his
born. Of course we shall be assured that on the
South Eastern line the permanent way is con-
stantly inspected with the strictest regularity and
system. But of this no jury will require to be
assured ; their curiosity will be stimulated, not by
the simplefact of a portion of thepermanent railway
being out of order at • certain moment, but of the
tidal train passing over that portion at full speed.
We are not anticipating the conclusions of the in-
quest on this latest, if not the moat lamentable, of
last week's series of railway accidents. We are con-
tent to point with a consciousness of relief to the
*event terms of the verdict of the inquest on the
Great Western incident near Shrewsbury. Neither
the superior officials of the locomotive depart-
ment, nor the engine-driver, nor the platelayer
escaped the conclusions of that verdict with
its charges of " great blame," and of " gross and
" culpable negligence." We trust that the South
Eastern jury will accept that verdict as a model,
without anticipating the explanations and regrets
which will certainly be offered by the Directors to
the memory of the dead end for the comfort of the
survivors.

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