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Leader (1850-1860), 17th September 1859, Edition 3 of 3, Page 14, name wHcli heis certain to bequeatli to ...

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      . X „ Y Jqn The Great Easiern Ex Lubluw ...

      to be replaced by a cold supply , to follow tlie same round as before . A "donkey engine " was com- missioned to do this work , but being . out of order it was left undone , and the safety of the ship and passengers were then entirely dependent upon the over-heated fluid finding escape through a safety pipe unfortunately provided with a tap which was turned the wrong way . The "jacket , " or boiler , with its contents passed the boiling point of water , and the steam having no outlet rent it asunder with the force of gunpowder , tearing a large funnel of many tons weight from its strongly- rivetted base and hurling it up through the decks high into the air . At the same moment tons of scalding water and steam enveloped the ill-fated stokers , the finery of the saloon was splintered to shivers , berths were blown down like houses built with cards , solid staircases , huge beams , and strong floors were shattered and uptom , while , marvellous to relate , the enormpus explosion did no substantial damage to the ship , whose engines worked and whose course was maintained in spite of a catastrophe that would have reduced an Ordi- nary vessel to a mass of fragments _^ floating or _sinking as their specific gravity might direct , The captain , the pilot , and the crew behaved with admirable skill and courage , and stuck manfully to their duty , although , for aught they knew , the next moment might snatch their lives away . We have no wish to repeat the description of the scene of horror and devastation , the ghastly wounds and fearfully-mangled forms of the victims of the disaster that will pe found in other columns ; nor wouldwe anticipate the verdict of the Coroner ' s jury , or the decision to which a Government inquiry may arrive , but we would impress upon all parties one thing , viz ., that the public will not be satisfied with evasion , concealment , or mystification . Hundredsof lives were perilled , and many unfortunately sacri- ficed , by arrangements that ought not to have . exist- _ed , and by negligence that ought to be rigidly traced home . The accident itself was sufficient for a time to shake confidence in the concern , but we regret that the behaviour of the directors should have been a worse injury to their enterprise . Let anyone read the accurate and faithful accounts of the newspaper correspondents , who were eye-witnesses of the scene , and compare it with the official state- ment that the directors permitted to be put forth , and they will see that officials wanting in frankness are more dangerous than even jackets that blow up . It was not a fair and honest account of the matter to call it a " collapse" of a feed water- casing , Something may have collapsed , but the main accident was nothing like a " collapse ; " it was a prodigious volcanic explosion of a huge mass of water wrongfully lieated in a tight vessel beyond its boiling point . The greatest •' collapse" was that of the conscience of the engineers and directors , ¦ when they permitted such a statement to be put forth . Nor does it appear true that the injury was confined , as stated , to the " main cabin fittings , " although we hope the first impression will be found correct , and that no substantial damage has been done to the ship . Wo trust the _Great Eastern will soon get over both her accident and her directors , but before imperilling anymore lives a thorough and searching investigation should be made by some neutral authorities , and all ex- periments necessary to ascertain her safety should be concluded before either visitors or passengers are permitted , to go , on board for another voyage . Wo feel that much more Ought to be said on this subject , but it is better to leave Jt until the inquest is over , which did not begin as though the public were intended to be much wiser than they wore before . Mr . Scott . Russell may throw , upon Mr . Brunei the burden of having ordered the arrangement that has produoed such a fatal result , but it does not follow that Mr . _Brunei desired to have a tap placed where it could do no good , or that he desired it to be closed when the safety of the vessel required free vent , nor that he considered it right that any part whose working was essential should be hidden out of sight , or that engineers should take it for granted that safety-valves or tubes do not want examining . We have no means of localising the blame , and if we had , should wait the result of the -legal inquiry ; but enough has transpired to leave no doubt that the directors published one _pwoeof truth , when they _oaoribed the disaster to J _«> me _negleoV that should be brought ! home _wttttout compunction to all the parties directly or indirectly compromised in the guilt . 4

      ¦ ¦ , ' * • . - ' ¦ 1058 The Leapek. [No...

      ¦ ¦ , ' * . - ' ¦ 1058 THE LEAPEK . [ No . 495 . Sept . 17 , 1859 .

      The Philosophy Of Flogging. We Have Lear...

      THE PHILOSOPHY OF FLOGGING . We have learnt the folly of our ways . We see pur errors , and are returningto tie true path of wisdom . Years ago , when our blood was hot and young , we fondly fancied that there was such a thing as progress . We believed , as in a new creed , that humanity was more powerful than cruelty r that moral influences had prevailed over physical punishments ; that brute force had yielded to the power of reason . We fancied , in our folly that we were wiser than our fathers . We know better now . We have thrown aside all youthful sentimentalities , all mawkish twaddle about philan- thropy and moral progress . We are converts to the old faith of flogging . Our altar is the whip- p ing-block ; our god is the cat-o' -nine-tails . Like all proselytes , we burn with an ardour ex- ceedirig that of the old believers . Let us , then , vent our feelings by narrating the g lories of our faith . ¦ Our belief is of ancient date and high origin . " An eye for an eye , and a tooth for a tooth , " is the simplest and oldest exposition of our creed . Solomon , too , has given us the sanction of his wisdom . It Is true , there is a later and a far better creed , which teaches of love and mercy This creed we ourselves have adopted with a slight modification . We have become Christians and omitted Christianity . In the Pagan world , too , we have great authorities . Draco , with his laws of blood , numbers amongst our prophets . Sparta , with its wholesome discipline , realises our idea of Utopia . What need is there , however , to revert to the past , when each of us can speak from his own experience ? Few , and base indeed , must be the persons who in their early life have not felt the salutary influence of the rod . _WTiat tender feelings of respectful gratitude we still entertain towards the pedagogue who loved us while he corrected us . How we sympathise with the pain , which , as he used to tell us , the infliction of our punishment imposed upon himself ; To that chastisement we doubtless attribute whatever we possess of self- respect , and manly dignity , and love of honour , At the very time . we appreciated the moral benefit which was being conferred upon us . We loved the hand that smote us , and revelled in moral felicity , while we wriggled in corporeal agony . .. As memory recalls these pleasing recollections , these " souvenirs , " sweet forget-me-nots of our early initiation into the mysteries of our faith , we feel our hearts glow with fervent indignation against those narrow-minded sceptics who cry out against the restoration of the lash to its proper place , as the great moral teacher of the British army . The accounts of the punishment recently inflicted at Woolwich must fill every well-regu- lated mind -with respect and admiration . We have no sympathy with those lukewarm admirers of the laeh , _irho attempt to explain away the severity of the punishment , xt is that very severity which , constitutes its merit . What sight can be conceived more edifying to spectators and actors alike than a Woolwich flogging ? Here you beliold vindicated the majesty of law . The culprit has offended against his duty to his country , his _lovalty to his queen , and his obedi- ence to the principles of eternal justice . Every stripe that he receives is an act of retribution , The disturbed _equilibrium of morality is restored , and that innate sense of _justice which is implanted in every human heart is apply gratified . The fact that tho _Soldiers who witnessed the spectacle fainted with emotion , proves how deeply rooted this principle of justice is . Honour the native purity of the human heart ! As for tho sufferer himself , it is nothing to say that he recognised tho justice of the sentence How grateful he must have felt to tho kind in- structors who took such trouble for his moral benefit . Tho old inquisitors used to toll their victims that they tortured their , bodies to save their souls . In the same way the happy soldier , fastened with cords to the ladder , scourged with the lash , and _writhing in helpless torture , must -have felt that his bodily sufferings were working put his moral improvement . With what _conso- lation he will reflect on this on his bed of pain I With what pride , in time to come , he _willpomtto the scars upon his back I How he will tell his children , and his children ' s children , that it was to the kindness which did not _spare the lash that he owes that proud position and that honoured

      Name Whcli Heis Certain To Bequeatli To ...

      name _wHcli heis certain to bequeatli to them as their ruture heritage ! Henceforth the stripes upon the back should rank higher than the stripes upon the arni . : Base utilitarians _wggest that a foolish fear oi flogging deters the better class of labouring men from entering the army ; that as long , in fact , as flogging is maintained , no increase of pay will ever enable us to recruit the _^ army except from , the-scurn of the population . They assert that it 1 S to-this fact * and this fb . et __ alone , that the low estimation m which the _English army is held _«* our country is to be attributed . Be it so . It is only the more reason why this idle prejudice against flogging should be dissipated . In fact , _when it is discovered , as it will doubtless be by experience , that men who have fence been flogged are reformed . at once , all classes will hasten to enlist in the army in order to enjoy the benefits of this great moral teaching . '

      - Pauperism.—The Times Blundering, The P...

      - PAUPERISM . —THE TIMES BLUNDERING _, The press is the national pilot . It sits , or ou _^ ht to sit , calmly aloft , above party _politicians—ever sacrificing principle to place , to tell us how to steer . That it see clearly and speak plainly is essential to good national guidance . It is more influential and better worth criticism than the Ministry . If it misdirect us _~ we are sure to mm into disasters . On this account we warn the public against a blunder of the Times concerning a part of the national expenditure , the chief cause , so far as Government is concerned , of the nation reaching its destined haven , or drifting on the rocks . Lately this pilot told us to learn from Ireland that . "England has a large excess of expense to account for , as to the poor , which is not explained by the mere excess of English population over Irish . " The facts being , as the Times states , that " in-door and out-door relief in England and Wales amounts to nearly j _£ 2 , 000 , 000 a year , " while in Ireland the total sum expended on the poor in 1858 was _£ 457 , 635 . We , however , must inform the Times and the public that the in-door and outdoor maintenance of the poor in England and Wales was £ 4 , 185 , 077 in 1858 , and , though this sum is . £ 2 , 185 , 077 more than the Times put down by guess , yet are the poor of England managed cheaper than the poor of Ireland ; and England would soon be wrecked were she placed exclusively under this kind of pilotage . We must further inform the Times and the publie that the number of paupers was , in England and Wales , in 1858 , 862 , 078 , and in Ireland , 44 , 866 . The total sum expended in the same year on the relief of the poor in the former , including the establishment charges , was £ 5 , 878 , 541 ; in the latter it was £ 457 , 635 . Each pauper in England , therefox _* e , cost £ 6 16 s . 4 d . per annum ; in Ireland each one cost £ 10 3 s . lOd . Of the expenditure nearl y 11 per cent , went for salaries of oflicers , & c , in England , and nearly 21 per cent , in Ireland . 1 If we were to follow the courso pointed out by the Times we should increase the expenses of management 10 per cent ., and our paupers would cost per head £ 3 7 s . 6 d . more than at present . At the same time the superior manner in which they are now taken core of , in comparison to the Irish poor , is , according to our Contemporary , " _sdmething to boast of . " The greater number ; of paupers -in England than in Ireland , in _proportion to the population—1 in 23 in the former and only 1 in about 180 ,, in the latter- — -is the difference which requires explanation . In England , as our readers are aware , a provision for , the poor dates from the reign of Elizabeth ; and if it have been accoraponied by a largo amount of pauperism , it has also been accompanied by security to property , and internal peace , almost unexampled amongst European nations , For a considerable period , when the population was much fewer than at present , the paupers were upwards of 1 , 000 , 000 , being , at one time I in every 13 of the population , -i _key are now happily reduced to 862 ; O 78 , and are _diminishing year by year . In Ireland there was no legal provision for the poor till 1839 , and the population , in the lowest state df destitution , flocked into England , and but for the Poor Law would have , degraded the multitude here to their own level _, They were periodically exposed to famine . An 1846 a , heavier visitation than for some years loii on them , and multitudes wore fed by England _, The Irish Poor Law waa insignificant for this pur-

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 17, 1859, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/sldr_17091859/page/14/