The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-20 00:00:00

THE VERDICT.

So—the grand inquisition before the 'Crowner's
'Quest at Weymouth, in regard to that dreadful ex-
plosion on board the Great Eastern steamship, really
elosed at last yesterday! The Hampshire jury have, of
course, returned a verdict of "Accidental Death"—
but in words of such astounding circumlocution !
Observe—the decision runs verbatim as follows :
" We find the deceased came to their deaths from
injuries received from steam, hot air, and water,
in consequence of the bursting of the jacket
attached to the foremost funnel of the Great Eastern
steamer, and that the said bursting was caused by
the closing of a tap connected with the syphon
attached to the said jacket in conjunction with
the shutting off the feed from the watercasing to the
boilers, but there is no evidence before the jury to
show by what person or persons the said tap was
shut off, and the jury further express their opinion
that taps are highly dangerous when placed in
such positions, and that sufficient caution was not
used by the engineers." Saving for those
last words of distinct though generalised reprehen-
sion, the verdict is really and truly nothing better
than a piece of innane and valueless verbosity. It
only declares bit by bit with preposterous particu-
larity—what everybody knew perfectly well before
days and days ago. For example, that those un-
fortunate firemen died from steam, hot air and hot
water and so forth—by reason of the bursting of
the jacket of a funnel on the Great Eastern—
th6 said bursting having been caused by
the closing of a tap connected with a syphon in
the iron case of this jacket to the funnel, "in con-
junction with the shutting off the feed from the water
casing to the boilers." But we all knew this more
than a week ago—thanks to the press correspon-
dents. What the jury had to try and find
out was, whether there was any culpability,
and, in the event d there being such, whose
was that culpability ? Witness after witness
is examined and cross-examined day after
day is occu=pied in the tedious and laborious inves-
tigation—and the end of it all is this most lame
and impotent conc'usion. Now that the inquest
has terminatod, the public is still left painfully
convinced that some person was, or that some
persons were guilty, through negligence, or through
forgetfulness, or through ignorance, of causing the
deaths of those unfortunate men who perished so
frightfully from an explosion, causing the destruc-
tion at the same time of £5,000 worth of
property, besides imperilling (quite unnecessarily)
one of the grandest enterprises adventured upon in
the advance of modern civilisation. That guilt, the
public is yet more painfully convinced, is not ade-
. quately met by these vague and, as we have said,
merely generalised words of reprehension. A
verdict like this is no solace to the bereaved
families of those poor firemen— it implies no
additional security (as it might easily have
done) to those disposed to become passengers—it
says nothing whativer (as it ought to have done)
in reference to the gallantry and presence of mind
displayed at the moment of the explosion by some
of the brave officers in charge of the vessel, but
snore particularly by Captain HARRISON. The
Verdict, in fact, from first to last and it

is a particularly long One, all in one sentence
--aprears to us to be just Valueless. It is a sen-
tance written upon sand—worthy
only of being
ob literated from remembrance.

trouble
When any national calamity or ordinary
is " afloat," there is no end of doctors to prescribe
c ur, es or remedies after the event has " come off ;
on; the other hand, we have wise men out of all
co ascicnce who smell danger afar, and prognosticate
th e certain fall of this country unless their
no, ;long be taken into account and acted on
wit'lout any delay. They see the down-
fall of F.ngiand in every rumour of inva-
sion, :be it from our next neighbour or from our
nortite rn great Bear. Indeed, one of our contem-
porarie s—himself rather an alarmist. though very
well tr. leaning—gives full scope to " all comers"
who deal in the sublime, and more frequently in
the ridic tulous, no doubt from a sympathy of patriotic
lerrour, but too oft. 3n in excess. They are full of

doubt and perplexity about coming events, which,
luckily, never, or have not yet, happened ; and so
in their visions they are ever in a nervous state of

excitement, like—

" The poor Indian, whose untutored mind,
Sees GOD in clouds or hears him in the winds."

They dream and write, and—then, they think, ac-
cording to the adage of setting the cart before the
horse. And who can blame them ? Perhaps, people,
as presumptive as themselves. In fact we all think
ourselves much wiser than our neighbours feel dis-
posed to give us credit for. The only saving clause
is that we mean better than we act. The fault lies
chiefly in our inability. But what can we say for
those who assume much and perform little—or less ?
Why, in charity, we may let them puff on, as the
wind blows heedless where it listeth. And so with
all those who say too much, and perform less.

Now our National Defences, in case of invasion,
concern every one who has a stake in the country,
or a drop of true patriotic blood in his veins. And
every one who can really point out a good means
of meeting so general an evil deserves well of his
country. It is in this spirit that we readily give
the opinions of several intelligent men with respect
to that question of all others the most vital to our
national safety--manning the Navy. Each of
these gentlemen has a singularly keen eye to his
particular " craft "—and is specially eloquent on
matters beyond his own sphere. " There's nothing
like leather! " seems to give an " unto " good
sauce to his goose, and so we have the biased
opinions of each in his own particular calling.
Now, all plans must be, more or less, good so far
as they go, or can be carried into effect. But the
question is, how far such and such a plan to be
carried out in its efficiency, will militate against
the rest.

For our own part we would fain be loth to
stigmatise any suggestion, however hastily formed
or imperfectly expressed. But there's a limit even
to good intentions if their exercise be left to in-
different capacity. Again, people sometimes, in
their grasping at too much, catch only shadows.
The idea was good, but the event having mis-
carried, was met with scorn under the mask of
bitter envy and jealous malignity. So it is in
public as in private experience. No man is safe
who endeavours to outvie his fellows. The crowd
will immolate individual genius, unless they have
a feather in the plume.
Colonel SIMMONS of the Royal Engineers seems
to have brought a hornet's nest about his ears with
respect to Manning the Navy. Taking as his text
the crew of the Great Eastern being divided into
parties of so many navigators, so many waiters, and
so many stokers, he therefore deduces that our
Navy might be composed of so many seamen•with
a large preponderance of Marines both as sol-
diers and Marine Artillery. This he thinks
would get over the difficulty of manning our Navy.
So far so good. But in getting soldiers for sailors
you would be getting out of the frying•pan into
the fire ; for, however good soldiers undoubtedly
are, they would be fish out of water to do the
stormy work of sailors. Every one to his quar-
ters, and help those who need it, is the order of the
day in the hour of danger; but when you attempt
to blend the labours of many in one the task will
prove too much, or be indifferently done. No doubt
steam has greatly superseded the necessity for sea-
manship ; but suppose steam to burst its bounds
and become of no avail, you must look to
sails for salvation either on a lee shore, or in face
of the enemy. " Two strings to our bow" was
never more apposite than in seafaring life—espe-
cially when at war. Want of time and space pre-
vent us from working at our idea to-day, but we
shall endeavour to do so to-morrow.

The excellent inaugural address recently deli-
vered by his Royal Highness the PRINCE CON-
SORT, as President of the British Association, will
have been read by this time, far and wide, among
all ranks and classes of our population. It is some-
thing for a body of scientific inquirers to have a
real, live Royal Highness in the chair, presiding
over their proceedings, more especially when that
Royal Highness happens also to be the Conscrt of
our august and beloved constitutional Sovereign.
But it is something still more when his Royal
Highness can, by a speech so admirably well con-
sidered, and so admirably well expressed, justify
his selection,:though a Prince, to preside over the
deliberations of some of the foremost of living phi-
losophers. " I," exclaimed the PRINCE, himself
wondering at his own temerity, " I, a simple ad-
mirer and would-be student of science, to take the
place of the chief spokesman of the scien-
tific men of the day assembled in further-
ance of their important objects !" Adding, " The
thing appeared to me impossible ; yet, on reflection,
I came to the conclusion that, if not as a contributor
to or director of your labours, I might still be useful
to you, useful to science, by accepting your offer.
I felt that I could, from the peculiar position in
which Providence has placed me in this country,
appear as the representative of that large public
which profits by and admires your exertions, but is
unable actively to join in them, that my election
was an act of humility on your part which to reject
would have looked like false humility—that is, like
pride—on mine." Besides, continued his Royal
Highness, " I reflected further, and saw in my
acceptance the means, of which necessarily so few
are offered to her Majesty, of testifying to you
through the instrumentality of her husband, that
your labours are not unappreciated by your Sove-
reign, and that she wishes her people to know this
as well as yourselves." All this appears
to us not simply graceful, courteous and
princely greeting on, the part of his Royal
Highness. It appears to us yet more agreeably
as a frank and manly exposition of the plain truth.
It required words like these to indicate clearly at
the very outset, and without one particle of affecta-
tion upon either side, the reasons which had led to
the proffer to and the acceptance by the PRINCE
CONSORT of the Presidential Chair for 1859 over
the annual proceedings of the British Association.
Otherwise, in some cynical quarters, the very
simple and entirely honourable reasons upon both
sides might have been very painfully misconstrued.
The selection made by the philosophers themselves
might have been interpreted as a most unphilo-
sophical evidence of court-toadyism. While the
amiable concession of the PRINCE to this extraor-
dinary request might have been deemed quite as
erroneously as an evidence on the part of his
Royal Highness of vainglorious dilletanteism
and pococuranteism ! After those few but suffi-
cient words of m mly and princely explanation,
already given, no room vhatever is left even to the
more perverse lovers of pasquinade either for mis-
apprehension or misrepresentation.
The exordium of the PRINCE CONSORT'S
Address having been thus apologetic and explana-
tory—the sum and substance of the Speech itself
was in many respects not unworthy of the occasion,
and was throughout eminently worthy of the
speaker, even to the last earnest and reverential
words of the really impressive peroration. Several
themes had, of course, to be touched upon in sue-
cessiofi during the course of the inaugural harangue.
Aberdeen, the scene, this year, of the sayings and
doings of the Association, elicited from the PRINCE

a tribute which ought to be borne, and which no
doubt will be long cherished gratefully in remem-
brance by that ancient and loyal as well as learned
and picturesque city. " The geologist," said the
PRINCE, "will not find many novelties in yonder
mountains, because he will stand there on the bare
back-bone of the globe. But the primary rocks
which stand out in their nakedness exhibit the
grandeur and beauty of their peculiar form. And
in the splendid quarries of this neighbourhood are
seen to peculiar advantage the closeness and hard-
ness of their mass, and their inexhaustible supply
made available for the use of man by the applica-
tion of new mechanical powers. On this primitive
soil the botanist and zoologist will be attracted
only by a limited range of plants and animals, but
they are the very species which the extension
of agriculture and increase of population are
gradually driving out of many parts of the
country." Influenced here, doubtless, by a grate-
ful remembrance of the health and pastime annually
found by himself in the immediate neighbourhood,
his ROYAL HIGHNESS afforded, his philosophic
hearers a pleasant glimpse of the out of-door life
familiar to a few among them, but unfamiliar to
the majority of the more sedentary occupants of
the library and the laboratory,—" On those blue
hills the red deer in vast herds hold undisturbed
dominion over the wild heathery forest, until the
sportsman, fatigued and unstrung by the busy
life of the bustling town, invades the moor to
regain health and vigour by measuring his
strength with that of the antlered monarch of the
hill. But notwithstanding all his efforts to over-
come an antagonist possessed of such superiority of
power, swiftness, caution, and keenness of all the
senses, the sportsman would find himself baffled
had not science supplied him with the telescope
and those terrible weapons which seem daily to
progress in the precision with which they carry
the deadly bullet, mocking distance, to the mark."
Not only Aberdeen, but the Aberdeenites the
Scotch no less than Scotland—came in for a share
of the PRINCE CONSORT'S admiration. " Man
also," he said, " the highest object of our study, is
[here] found in vigorous, healthy development,
presenting a happy mixture of the Celt, Goth,
Saxon, and Dane, acquiring his strength on
the hills and the sea. " Reference being
immediately afterwards made by the PRINCE
to the facilities afforded by the local collection of
antiquities—enabling the intelligent visitor to
enter more thoroughly into " the spirit of that
peculiar and interesting people, which has always
attracted the attention and touched the hearts of
men accessible to the influence of heroic poetry."
Reverting, however, to a consideration of the aim
and object of the Association over which he was
called to preside, upon that the twenty-ninth anni-
versary of its foundation, his Royal Highness spoke
more at length of the broad and bold character of
the design—a design in itself as reasonable in every
way as it is unquestionably elevating and
humanising. Perhaps one of the happiest passages
in the whole Address is the one in which the
Prince observed—" Science is not of yesterday—
we stand on the shoulders of past ages, and the
amount of observations made, and facts ascertained,
has been transmitted to us, and carefully preserved
in the various storehouses of science. Other crops
have been reaped, but still lie scattered on the field.
Many a rich harvest is ripe for cutting, but waits
for the reaper. Economy of labour is the essence of
good husbandry, and no less so in the field of
science. Our association has felt the importance of
this truth, and may well claim as one of its principal
merits the constant endeavour to secure that
economy." Adding by way of direct illustration
of this—" One of the latest undertakings of
the association has been the conjunction
of scientific memoirs, which, by combining under
one head the titles of all memoirs written on a cer-
tain subject will, when completed, enable the stu-
dent who wishes to gain information on that sub-
ject, to do so with the greatest ease. It gives him,
as it were, the plan of the house, and the key to
different apartments in which the measures rela-
ting to his subject are stored, saving him at once a
painful and laborious search, and affording him, at
the same time, an assurance of what is here
offered, contains the whole of the treasures yet
acquired, while this has been one of its
latest attempts." A conclusive evidence, that
one work alone, of the practical useful-
ness of the British Association —of the
benefits secured by its labours to science
and through science to the country at large. As
to the really ennobling tendency of those labours—
that was most admirably expressed in the closing
words of an oration as much redounding to the
honour of the speaker in his high social position
as the Consort of the QUEEN of ENGLAND, as it
was peculiarly befitting him in his temporary
character as President of the British Association.

The Prince and Princess Frederic William arrived
at Erdmannsdorf on the 4th inst.

The Prince and Princess Yousoupoff have arrived
at Claridge's Hotel from Shanklin, Isle of Wight.

The Prince Doria Pamphili, accompanied by his
son, the Prince Ciannetto, has arrived at Claridge's Hotel,
from Paris.

The Duke of Newcastle left London yesterday
afternoon for his seat, Clumbor Park.

The Earl of Howth has left Claridge's Hotel for
Howth Castle, near Dublin.
Viscount Palmerston has returned to his seat,
Broadlands, Hants.

The anniversary of the coronation of the Emperor
of Russia was celebrated at St. Petersburg and Warsaw,
on the 7th inst., with grCat festivity. His Majesty has
arrived at Tsarsko-Selo from his journey to Moscow and
Twer.

A private telegram from China states that there
had been large sales of manufactured goods both at Hong
Kong and Shanghai. It may, therefore, be inferred that
political matters had not experienced any new complica-
tion. The settlements of silk had been 5,500 bales, and the
price was equal to nearly 21s. for No. 3 Tsatlee. Nothing
is stated with regard to tea or the quotations of Exchange.

In consequence of a telegram received by the
Anglo-Luzo-Brazilian Company on Saturday from Lisbon,
the sailing of the steamer from Milford Haven to Lisbon
and Brazil, is postponed until Saturday, the Ist of October.

- -
THE COLLISION ON THE GREAT NORTHERN
None of the injuries sustained by the sufferers by the late
severe collision on the Great Northern, at Hitchin, have
terminated fatally. Seven of the injured persons remain at
Hitchin. No step of a public character appear to have
been yet taken in the way of an inquiry into the causes of
the accident.

COLLISION ON THE ItIVER.—On Saturday, as a
skiff with 11 men was putting off from Pickle Herring-
stairs, Bermondsey, to go on board a vessel lying in the
river, the Doris steamer, from Gravesend, ran into it and
cut it in half. The whole of the men were thrown into the
water, and two, whose bodies have not yet been recovered,
were drowned. The names of the men whose lives were
lost are John Collins and Ryan. No blame is said to
attach to those in charge of the steamer.
SUICIDE OF A MARRIED WOMAN.—Yesterday
very painful excitement was created in the neighbourhood
of Cirencester-place, Fitzroy-square, Marylebone, in con-
sequence of the wife of a bootcloser, Mrs. Elizabeth Alliez
(who was in the last stage of pregnancy), residing at No.
8, Cirencester-place, committing suicide by nearly severing
her head from the body, with a sharp knife used in her
husband's business. It appears that the shocking, dis-
covery was made on the return of the husband from the
City, when he found the door locked inside. Thinking
she was out marketing, he went away for some time,
during which ho saw some of his children playing; in
the neighbourhood, but they could give no account of
their mother. ' On his returning home again .he
locked through the keyhole, and finding the key inside
ho became alarmed and forced the door, when he
discovered his unfortunate wife on the floor in a pool of
blood, with her throat cut from ear to ear. She was quite
dead : the weapon of destruction, a sharp double-edged
knife, was found in a pail over Ivhich the wretched woman
had held her neck in the commission of the rash act. Mr.
Hatfield, surgeon, of Cleveland-street, was promptly in at-
tendance, but all human aid was useless in restoring the
mother, as all the principal vessels of the neck were severed.
Mr. Hatfield proceeded to an operation for the purpose of
preserving the infant, if possible, and succeeded in bring-
ing it into the world alive, but it did not long survive. Mr.
Wakley, the coroner, has appointed the inquest to be held
this day (Tuesday).

LATEST NEWS.

The following telegrams have been received at
Mr. Reuter's office :

ZURICH, SEPT. 20.

Yesterday after the arrival of a French courier
the Plenipotentiaries of France and Austria held
a conference lasting three hours.

FRANCE.

PARIS, MONDAY.

BOURSE, Sept. 19.—A brisk rally took place at
the opening of the market, but as soon as the first
quotations were fixed heavy sales were poured in
and the prices declined until they had returned to
a level with Saturday's rates. Threes, after having
been done at 69f., receded to 68f. 75c. Mobilier
varied from 795 f. to 782 f. 50e. ; Austrian, 542 f.
50c. to 540 f. ; Lombard, 553 f. 75c. to 55f. 25c. ;
Orleans, 1,375 f. to 1,372 f. 50e.; Lyons, 875 f. to
872 f. 50c. The following were the last quota-
tions :

41 per Cents. 95 75
Do. end mouth 95
3 per Cents 68 7)
Do. end month 68 65
Bank Shares 2780
Credit Mobilier 780

Credit Fonder 670
Belgian 41 99 25
Piedmonteso (5)
Roman B4
Austrian
Spanish Threes 45 50
Home Debt 44

Do. Account ..... i

RAILWAYS.

Cash. Account.
Orleans
Northern
New ditto BO5