The Express.
London, England, 1859-09-21 00:00:00

roirrarsza RIPLE CORPS.

LONDON RIPLZ BILIGADE.—Mr. Justice Wiles
has pneented to this brigade 101. 10, through the Right
Hon. the Lord Mayor. Lord Wensleydale, Mr. Justice
Crowder, Masers. Preshfisid, end Mews. Lhakister have
also promoted 101. 10s.
T. Ghonote.—The St. George'. rifle corps have
hese drilfing fee some time pest in the grounds of -Burling-
ton Howe undue the supenatendence of Sergeants Moore
end Sharer. The convention* of the dna ground is telling
very edventageously on the rolls of that corps. The first
eotapery is nearly complete, end will shortly submit its
officers for the Lord Liclll4ollBlea approval. It is anticipated
that several gentlemen of prominent ability and station
will put thee:melees to noininatioe. The unthose linnet=
is now generally worn, and from its extreme neatness mem-
bers ere ennbled to appear in portions of It throughout
the day without attracting notice. Mr. Lancaster,
the celebrated ride manufacturer, has undertaken
the musketry instruction, so soon ea his ground
at Shepherd's Bush is ready to receive the members.
KeN•INGION.—The committee appointed to pro-
mote the fororatloo of the above oorps have made the fol-
lowing report :—"The committee regret that from ceases
over which they had no control they have not been able to
make ea earlier report. The macertaisty es to the wishes
and iotsnifoo• of the governmeet, eddi.d to the rest dilD-
cnlty of finding suitable ground for rifle practice in so popu-
lous a diatrier, will, the commit.. e trust, be deemed ea
adequate ensues for the delay which hue occurred. They
have the pleasure of stating that the government have new
signified their intention of placing at the disposal of rifle
corps 2-5 per cut, of the arms reqatred, with some mime
advantages, which will be found beneficiaL Various com-
muniosuons have pawed between your committee and the
parties most interested in the Wormwood Scrubs, but up he
this Ulna Nothing &deities has been agreed upon, hat
most eligible piece of Lind, at:anted at Welhani-green,
commanding a range of 600 yards In length and 100 in
breadth, has been secured, together with the hones and
other buildings, which the committee believe capable of
affording all the accommodation for an armoury, and for such
refreshments es the members may require, upon moderato
terms, to be hereafter arranged by a °mmma. The com-
mittee would further state that for the firer year no uniform
will be required beyond a plain morning dros, and as tho
government will supply 26 per out. of rifles, members not
wishing to purchase their own will always find a rids in the
smeary at their disposal. In osuiplianos with the wiring of
the lord-lieutement, end through the able and ecotone eirelat-
&sea of Lord Raulagh and the deptry•lleutenasts of the
division, your committee recommend the Kenriogicn Corps
to form a junellca with the Cimino, Fulham, Hammer-
smith, Chiswick, and other Ride Corps within the magiatkriai
division of Kensington, thus formitg au important regiment,
tit.uitheldaiddleileituyx &Bess Volunteers. To
.10Odtruibnz
iltneib:orivecaalledoonsiinthtoederable expenditure, but your committee, well
knowing the patriotism, intelfigeace, and wealth of this dirt.
Son of the moan ty of Middlesex, miters's to doubt of the
hinds 'sing readily and chcerfally contributed, while they
anticipate with great satisfaction that for numbers, science,
and discipline the South Middlesex Rifle Corp will be an
honour to the unotry."
WIN DSOR.—Preliminary measures have been taken
for some time pest under the wive euperintendence of the
Mayor of Windsor, the Hon. A. Buthun, Cersin Layard,
Masers. Melville, oat ley, Long, Blunt, with several of the
military knights of Windsor, and already 38 members hare
eorollt.ti Quarterlies, consisting of the most rupecteble inha-
bitants of the bough, 33 of whom will entirely equip them-
seine. The subscriptions at pretest amount to 1801. Another
diviiticie, totally usconnemed with this corps, Meals° been
formed in the Windsor Greet Park, ander the command of
Colonel F. B. Seymour, oeseisting of between 30 and 40 al
the keepers Garnett employedin the Park and Royal° ardens ;
these MU have already acquired greet proficiency, having
bees ont ia the field for several weeks pest.

A TROPHY Flom Lcciarow.—An Indian gun,
one of the trophies taken from the rebels at the final rugs
and captors of Locknow, bee jest been deposited in toe
museum attached to the Royal Engineer establishments
Bromptos-barracks, Chatham. The gun, which appears to
be of very rude construction, was taken frum one 01 the forts
in Locknow, and, from its appearance, had barnput to eeVelli
use in the lentos of that stronghold. It is mounted on a
four-wheeled gun•carrisse, sad, although not se Urge as cur
light 64d-pieces, is of groat weight. Tnis trophy was &PG'
sited in the Royal Nagfaeari museum by order ci the

governance.
A RELIC or THE PELICAN G i'8•11810.—Some men,
while 'urged dredging ia the blew), yesterday, fished up
an old sue, a 28 pounder, which is suppreed to ban belnagua
to the Dan-of-war brig Pelican, cacti upwards d study
Soars ago waked la the Nler+ey. TM " old gun" we ob.
vend with a eogg soak obi& In some places bad the ap.
i pomace of becoming Mealltsed. Sever rare spedmeall of
doll were found adhering to the old wan missile.

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ZION WAY= AT LONDON NILIDOIL
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LONDON. WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 21.

Tee Coroner's Inquest which has been sitting at
Weymouth for some days pest on the rafortunat)
victims of the explosion on board the Great Eastern
has concluded its labours. But neither the reported
behaviour of the ju'y daring the trial nor the ver-
dict they have aiiived at tend much to sustain
the dignity of this ancient irstitution. A portion
of the jr-y at least seem to have paid little attention
to the evidence, end the verdict is bat • diffuse
repetition of facts that have been notorious from the
Ant day of the trial. As an instrument for the col-
lection of evidence the trial has no doubt been
useful. lint the jary evaded the Lill difficulty of
the case ; they made no attempt to inquire into the
moral responsibility of the accident, but were satie-
fled with ascertaining its material cense. This win
simple enough. The evidence adduced before the
inquest satisfactorily determined the immediate
cause of this disastrous accident. From the
Art indeed there seemed to be little difficulty
or difference of opinion on Its head. The
rival engineers, however mach they may quarrel
and contradict each other on the question of Riders-
lative responsibility, all agree as to the main point on
which it should have been brought to bear in order
to prevent the accident. The explosion took
place because the stop-cock of the stand-pipe
near the top of the casing or " water jacket" of the
funnel was closed, instead of being left open as it
ought to have been. Had this been the ease no harm
would have resulted from shutting off the communica-
tion between the cuing and the boilers, and feeding
the lattn directly from the donkey engines in/nada(
through the jackets. The casing would soon have
emptied itself, as the water remr ',ling In it when
the feed was stopped would psis off tivough the
stand-pipe* tut es it became converted into steam.
The whole mischief, therefore, resulted immediately
from the closing of the stop-cock in the
stand-pipe. The engineers are divided in opi-
nion to to whether there ought to have been any
such cock in the pipe at all. Mr. Nl.Lennstr, the
Company's engineer, says decisively, "I think
the cock ought never to have been placed there."
Others justify it as a useful precaution against the
possible tweaking of the stand-pipe, which without a
stop-cock would, it is said, have invidated the
cabin with hot water. list whether it was right
to have the cock or not, all agree that it was utterly
wrong for it to be shut, and that the explosion was
only the natural and necessary result of this criminal
carelessness or neglect.
M here don the responsibility of this neglect fall?
This is the important quietism, which ought surely to
admit of an easy and direct reply. It world scam
incredible that • vessel like the Great Eastern should
put to sea on • trial trip without any responsible
officers formally commissioned to watch over and
regulate the working of her engines. Yet the
evidence goes to show that this, or something
very like it, was actually the fact. It seems
impossible to decide to whom, if to any one,
the responsibility of working the engines was
committed. There were twoasts of engineers onboard,
the Company'a engineers, and the Contractor*,
engineer, bat neither of theta, according to their own
account and that of their principals, had anything
whatever to do with the responsible working of the
vowel. It is true they mutually rendered a certain
amount of amateur easistance. Mr. M'Leowate, the
Company's acting engineer, though declining to
take charge of any engine, willingly helped Mr.
Ecorr Rt &SELL with " • pull at the wheel," or, if
he wished to have menages conveyed, sent
them. Mr. btxoN, the Contractors' chief en-
gineer, considered himself simply as a pissenger,
but undertook the management of as engine not-
withstanding, and seems during the voyage to have
been one of the most busy and active men on board-
Mr. J. ROT CAM PBTLL, the Chairman and representa-
tive of the Company, throws the entire responsibility
of the management of the vessel dying the trial
trip on the Contractor', and aunts that there was a
complete anderstanding between them and the Dl-
futon on this head. Mr. Beorr Rutscxx, on the
other hand, affirms that he had nothing whatever to
do with the trial trip, either directly or indirectly,
as a matter of basin'ss. The natural conclusion to
be drawn from this contradictory evidence it, that
there was really no one officially in charge of the en-
gines from the time the vessel left the Nora till her
arrival at Weymouth. All on board, even the engineen,
were simply passenger, bounden a pleasure trip—the
latter, however, being perfectly willing to make
themselves generally aural; give "a pull at the
" wheel," or " regulate the throttle valve,"
if necessary. Under these circumstances it is

only wonderful the vessel get on as well as she did,
or, indeed, at all. Accidents of all kinds were to be
expected, and would almost inevitably happen it
there was really no one officially in charge of such
new, extensive, and complicated machinery. And
the evidence seems certainly to show that this
important preliminary point was not settled, Or at
least not settled in the clear, formal, and decisive
manner it ought to have been. No document has
yet been produced to throw light on this vexed
question, and even the existence of letters referring
to it is only hinted at as possible or probable.
Though the formal responsibility was not settled
with sufficient distinctnese, or secured by sufficient
sanction., the evidence, we must my, goes strongly
to show that the real respoosibility was with the
coutractors and their agents. We have no wish to
prejudge a question that may yet come before the
legal tribunals of the country. Aod large allow-
ance of course must be made for the anxiety which
connected with the vessel naturally feel to escape,

porsible, from the responsibility of sorb a calamity.
_ _ .

Rat it be a public duty to report on the facts of the
ease se given in evidence. These facto leave little
room for doubt ea to who was really moonier the
engines duriag the trip to Portland. Mr. Scott
Itt-saw. allewe that he woe on the bridge nearly
all the way. And that he wee there in the
capacity of driver of the engines is plain
from the wit esatenee of the evidence, in which he
says explicitly •• that the pilot requested him to
" drive the paddle engine, faster, bat be declined to
do this." So obsolete, indeed, was hie authority,