WHY THE GREAT EASTERN CASING EXPLODED. TARE is a clamour
for the identification of the person whose neglect of duty caused the accident on board the -Great Eastern, a species of outcry for " the satisfaction of justice," which partakes more of passion than of reason. What good was to be attained by proving that some unlucky man was connected with the im- mediate cause of the accident, dragging him forth to satisfy the half-indignant, half sensation-monger feeling which wants " somebody " to be punished ?
Would it prevent the recurrence of such accidents in future ? There is great reason to doubt it. Supposing there had been a penalty upon the neglect of a particular duty, the sense of it would have been much feebler than the conscientious, the in- stinctive desire of each person on board to do his best for the welfare of the whole undertaking. Thus, punishment, which is the object of the clamour, would really have added little if any- thing to the spontaneous motives for counteracting negligence and the consequent danger.
The facts connected with the predisposing causes of the accident confirm what we have been saying. It had been ascertained in the experience of steam-boats generally, that the peculiar plan of surrounding the funnel by an outer case in order to cut off the diffused heat by the interposition of water is liable to the very kind of accident which has happened. It must be taken for granted, as a matter of course, that everyperson engaged in the construction and launch of the Great Eastern was heartily desirous of securing its safety and success ; consequently the threat of an explosion, if it could have been presented to the mind, was the threat of as severe a penalty as could be well in- flicted, short of shipwreck, which indeed it might have been sup- posed to involve. It is plain that the managers had not been permitted to forget the supposed liability to danger from the plan of casing, for when it was first suggested for all the funnels on board the ship, Messrs. Watt and Bolton, who had constructed the screw portion of the machinery, absolutely re- fused to permit it for the funnels connected with their works. The very liability which has been realized, therefore, was laid before the managers of the undertaking ; yet they persevered with the plan in that part of their vessel over which Messrs. Watt and Bolton had no control. That the accident has hap- paned proves how just was the warning ; yet it was overruled. From what motives ? Of course from no disregard of the risk, if it had been regarded as coming within the limits of probability. The reason was, that the managers were intent upon promoting the comfort and completeness of the vessel in every possible fraction of its extent, M every application of its resources. The oomfort, the handsome appearance; the completeness were things in sight. The picture of such things is readily conjured up in the fancy of the naval architect, the cabin-fitter, and upholsterer of every kind ; while the contingency of danger is uncertain, remote, and obscure. As a matter of sound judgment, the advantage to be attained from the increase of comfort or the show of complete- ness was very trifling in comparison with the disadvantage of
even the liability to such an accident; but the one came before the mind of the managers in the concrete form, the other in the abstract ; and the event has proved that, whoever it was deter-
mined the choice, that person was intellectually incapable of con- templating the more important idea so forcibly as the trivial idea. Thus the event incontestably proves in those oonoerned a want of judgment arising from a manifest deficiency 4 intelli- gence. But if we predicate so much, we must allow that the accident is only one of a class which indicates a general want of intelli- gence pervading every circle of society. The very last railway
accident is a ease in point. For years we have shown that such " accidents " are prearranged—are involved in the previous ar-
rangements. A little beyond Ritchin there is a branch of the
railroad leading to the Midland Counties ; and when the train is proceeding northward along the Great Northern Railway, it cuts
across the path, of a train proceeding southward from the branch line, and entering upon the up side of the main line. Precisely as the mail train was going from London straight forward on its way, a Midland train, half an hour behind its time, came curving across the path, with a consequent crash, affright, wounding of passengers, and injury to some which may last their lives. Here again the blame, we are told, lay between two of the subordi- nates,—the engineer of the Midland train, who ought not to have proceeded without a proper signal, and the watchman on the branch beyond Hitchin, who ought to have signaled that the line was closed. We are constantly seeing the blame thus cast upon some subordinate persons, in a rank of life where an appreciation of contingencies is, from the want of education, even more im- perfect and obscure than it is in the upper classes. But in the statement of the facts we learn something more. It ap- pears that the watch is kept at this particular junction by two men, one of whom is at his watch from seven in 'the morning till seven at night, and the other from seven at night till seven in the morning. Now are not these arrangements which, ii priori, might be pronounced conducive to collision? Twelve hours daily or nightly is too much for the sustained vigilance of any save a vela highly-educated class of intellects. That it is no, may not only be determined by a general knowledge of human physiology, but by experiences precisely like this at Ritchie'. 'Yet the managing body deliberately makes arrangements which result in the recent " accident " ; of course out of no contempt for human life, out of no disregard for public opinion, but, as we have already said, simply because even the classes who manage railways come under our general statement—that there is a want of sufficient intelligence to appreciate the facts, and to draw from them a simple and direct conclusion.
The same reflection applies indeed to almost every walk of life. The Registrar-General is every quarter, every week, explaining to us precisely how our arrangements, particularly in the con- struction of dwelling houses, and the drainage of great towns, not only fail to realize the salubrity that the most favoured sites could easily command, but actually lead :to a greater destruction year by year, than is produced by the fiercest battles of the world. We are weary of the comparison, we " know" it so well. Now we are horrified by a battle because in that tangible and bloody form the mind can appreciate the connection between the predisposing causes, the direct agents, and the results. We eat, drink, sleep, and make merry in the midst of a poison, merely be- cause it resides in the viewless air, unseen, and is usually slow in
its working. Our senses fail to perceive L i the connection between cause and effect, simply because it is presented to us only by an intellectual process ; and our indifference is the direct measure of our want of intelligence.
There is a further and worse result in the abated life, even of those who still walk above ground. The want of health we see; it meets us in the constantly recurring little maladies, in the habitual paleness on the whole face of society ; insomuch that a natural colour is taken as proof that he who wears it has " been in the country." It has been shown beyond dispute that the remote and proximate causes of this abated life and augmented death may
be removed, without any permanent increase of expense, perhaps with an actual saving, most certainly with an economy in all the resources of life. Yet the thing is not done, still for want of intelligence. The arch enemy of mankind is its own stupidity. The want reaches to the most educated, and to what is called the most intelligent grade of society. If, then, we blame the ma- nagers of the Great Eastern, all of us who live in great towns may look at home. Thus if we examine the infliction with a true appreciation, we shall see that it is but a natural spur to study the conditions of human life, with a little more intelligence to mend our ways in some other things besides the furnishing of great steamships.
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