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No. 496. Sept, 24, 1859.] THE .LEADER. 1...
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SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, . 1859.
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There is nothing: so revolutionary, beca...
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SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND HIS COMPANIONS. Th...
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THE WEYMOUTH INQUEST. The Coroner's jury...
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OURSELVES AND OUR NIOIOIUJOURS. Iv Mr. B...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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No. 496. Sept, 24, 1859.] The .Leader. 1...
No . 496 . Sept , 24 , 1859 . ] THE . LEADER . 1081
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SUBSCRIPTION TO " THE LEADER . " ONE GUINEA PER YEAR , UNSTAMPED , PREPAID . ( Delivered Gratis . ) NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS . No notice can be taken of anonymous correspondence Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenticated by the name and address of ' the ' writer ; hot necessarily for publication , but . 'as a g-uarantee of his good faith . It is impossible to acknowledge the mass of letters we receive . Their insertion is often delayed , owing to a press of matter ; and when omitted , it is frequently from reasons quite independent of the merits of the communication . ¦ ' We cannot undertake to return rejected communications . OFFICE , NO . , CATHERINE-STREET , STRAND , "W . G .
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Saturday, September 24, . 1859.
SATURDAY , SEPTEMBER 24 , . 1859 .
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There Is Nothing: So Revolutionary, Beca...
There is nothing : so revolutionary , because there . is nothing . so unnatural and convulsive , as the strain to keep things fixed when all the world is by the very law of its creation in eternal progress . —Dr . Arxold .
Sir John Franklin And His Companions. Th...
SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND HIS COMPANIONS . The return , of Captain M ' Clintock has certainly put an end to all doubt as to the safety of Sir John Franklin . That gallant veteran died on June 11 th , 1847 , " surrounded by comrades and friends ^ " , while his ships were unharnied , and he might yet hope that the expedition would return successful to England . The narrative , however , will be read in every hamlet of England before we can go to press , and we shall not , therefore , repeat it . On April 22 nd , more than ten months af ter Sir John ' s death , the ships were abandoned ,
and " 105 persons , under the command of Captain Crozier , started for the Great Fish River . " Where Sir John Franklin died , though it must have been near the spot where the record was found , and what happened to the expedition till the ships were deserted , " five leagues to the N . N . W . of Point Victory , " are unknown . " What became , too , of the 105 persons is equally unknown , except that they probably perished ! The mystery which hung over the fate of Sir John Franklin is undoubtedly cleared up , but only to leave a still more painful mystery over the fate of his companions and
ibllowers . Around the spot where this sad record of the past , and ominous insight into the future , was { discovered , there " Iny strewed about a vast quantity of clothing and stores of all sorts . " " Every thing had been thrown away which could possibly have been dispensed with . " A few miles to the south of this spot another record was found deposited by Lieutenant G-ore and'M . Des Vooux very nearly a year before , and fourteen days before 'Sir John Franklin ' s death , in which he is described as commanding the expedition . In another spot not very far distant—how far is not stated—a boat was found , '' intended for the ascent of the Fish liiver , but abandoned apparently on a return journey to tlie ships . " fohe measured 28 feet Ions by 7 * wide , was most carefully
fitted , and made as- light as possible . A large quantity of clothing was found within her , also two human skeletons . One of these lay in the after part of the boat , umlor a pile of clothing ; the other , which was much more disturbed , probably by animals , was found in the bow . Five pocket watches , a quantity of silver spoons and forks , and a few religious books were also found , but no journals , pocket-books , or oven names upon any articles of clothing . Two double-barrelled guns stood upright against the boat ' s side precisely as they wore placed eleven yeora before One barrel in each was loaded and cocked ; there , was ammunition in abundance , also 30 lb . or 40 lb . of chocolate , some tea and tobacco . Fuel waa
not wanting ; a drift tree lay within 100 yards of the boat . When the start for the Fish , River took place , summer was beginning , and in that period of the year the Esquimaux in the neighbourhood obtain the means of living . They , indeed , " found" in one of the deserted ships , an " inexhaustible mine of wealth . " There is not , in the circumstances stated , the sli g htest reason for throwing a suspicion on the ^ Esquimaux . They appear to ha ve , behaved . with perfect good faith , though excessively desirous of obtaining objects possessed by our countrymen . By what agency , then , were these latter— -possessed of fuel , clothing ,
means of transport , and some means of protection against the severities of the climate which the Exquimaux withstand—destroyed ? We do not see our way to an answer , but the mystery which now hangs over the fate of Sir John Franklin ' s companions and followers is for us so painful that Captain M'Clintock ' s information is infinitely more distressing than our previous ignorance . We cannot infer from their fate , though the general principle is overwhelmingly true , that there are " Powers in nature too strong for man to overcome . " The Exquimaux overcome the powers fatal to life in those regions , and civilisation ^ ives us means to overcome them almost infinitely
greater than theirs . Our countrymen seem have possessed these means , but an inexplicable fatality seems to have prevented them making a judicious use of them .
The Weymouth Inquest. The Coroner's Jury...
THE WEYMOUTH INQUEST . The Coroner ' s jury engaged in investigating the Great Eastern accident" have managed , by a protracted inquiry , to find out nothing that was unknown before , although the evidence laid before them afforded glimpses that ought to have been followed out with greater perseverance . From the beginning Weymouth seems to have voted the inquest rather a bore- —no one took thc ^ trouble to be present at it , and the jury , according to the evidence of a contemporary , managed to pass their time by readin g newspapers and getting up a friendly chat . When efforts were made to fix the responsibility upon the contractor , by showing that the foremanat the
his work was not finished , , | ' request of Jiis colleagues , protested against the course the inquiry was taking , " and all through the case there seems to have been an absence of that determination to get at the truth by which a public tribunal ought to be animated . The jury could not doubt that the deceased subjects of their inquiry were killed by the bursting of the jacket , nor that the explosion took place in consequence of the closing of the siphon tap . They therefore affirmed those facts which all the world knew beforehand , declared their inability to state by whom the tap was closed , expressed their opinion that ta p s in such position ? were , dangerous , and that sufficient caution was not used by the engineers .
We shall not attempt to apportion ^ the blame which belongs to the different individuals concerned in producing the hoi'rible catastrophe , but content ourselves with remarking upon facts that admit of no dispute , and which illustrate some of the causes by which johit-stock companies come to disgrace . The completion , of the big ship appears to have been a matter of scramble and confusion . The directors may bo right or wrong in their assertions that Mr . Scott Russell ' s contract was not completed , and that he was in possession and in command of the engines manufactured by him at the time the accident occurred ; but the inquest shows that they were not in a position to oiler a simple and business-like proof of the correctness of their views . It is painful to find
gentlemen flatl y contradicting ono another on what ought to bo plain matters of fact ; but what shall wo say of a party of directors , contractors , and engineers nil at sea together without any accurate understanding of their relative positions ? According to ono assertion the directors with their engineers wore visitors , or , at most volunteers , taken by the contractors on a trial trip , the result of which was to determine whether they aoccptod the engines and took thorn under their own charge . Mr . Scott Russell has a perfectly opposite theory . Acoording to his view the engines had boon accepted by the company , and his presence on board was merely an indication of his interest In the undertaking , and his services thoso of ah irresponsible volunteer .
While the subject for discussion was . the glory and honour of building the bi g ship should be divided there was no difficulty in inducing claimants to come forward , but when the task was the assumption of responsibility it all of a sudden became nobody ' s business to know or do anything . The ^ directors made so loose an agreement with the contractors as to render it impossible to prove , by any direct evidence , ¦ whether the engines had been accepted by them or not ; the contractors had , at any rate , cause for doubting their own position , and the engineers of different sorts were lef t to guess whom it was their
duty to obey . The unfortunate tap was left in its position—after having served a temporary purpose by nobody ' s authority , although we are asked to believe this was an advantage , as , if the siphon pipe had been broken , the tap might have prevented the water from running out into the shipprevented it , of course , at the risk or the expense of such an explosion as occurred . Who turned the tap , nobody knows ; and Mr . Arnott , who had been in Mr . Scott Russell ' s employ and was to be chief engineer under Mr . McLennan , frankly admitted that " he did not know it was the duty of any person in particular to go round and examine the codes . " Captain Harrison was left in the dark by the directors as to who was in charge of the enginesbut as Mr . Brunei had told him he should
, not certify their delivery until he could get a better rate of speed out of them , he instructed Mr . McLennan not to interfere in any way with their working , but to hand over his staff to the representatives of the contractors . Mr . McLennan ' a evi- > dence shows that he followed these instructions , but not with sufficient precision to prevent the witnesses on the other side from affirming that they considered him in command . The fapt is , the whole affair was in confusion , and the ship wap not ready to start when the impatience of' the directors hurried her off . The donkey engines were insufficient for their work , and no adequate prelim minary trials and examinations were made before all parties concerned most improperly ventured to commence their first voyage . .
It will be remembered that , at the meeting of the shareholders a few weeks back , Mr . Magnus made statements that ought to have Ted to an immediate and rigid inquiry , but the parties present would not listen to his propositions , and Mr . Jackson and other directors fairly talked him down . We know nothing of Mr . Magnus , but felt at the time that hushing up or coughing down proper subjects for inquiry boded no good to the company , and it now appears that some portion at least of his allegations was correct . When power was in their hands the shareholders practically voted , as they are usually found to do , for the
irresponsibility ' of their directors , whom they absolved from grave charges made by a member of the board without talcing the trouble to know whether they were true or false ; and it now remains to be seen whether they will continue the same foolish course . There is abundant ground for investigation , and the shareholders , if wise , will repudiate the evil policy of mystification and concealment , and , to use a popular phrase , " have it all out . " They ought now to investigate Mr . Magnus' statements , to see whether there were any defects in the contracts with Mr . Scott Russell , or whether they were unfairl y sriven to him , and if so , who was
to blame . They should fix upon somebody the responsibility of going to sea with uioomplete donkey engines , and without a distinct and formal understanding of who ' was to direct the machinery . It is also necessary for the character of the company that the . charge of attempting to mislead the press should be strictly investigated . Wo confess wo do not expect , to see the shareholders of any company so rational as to protect their interest / in this manner ; but no long as they won ' t know what they might know , they must expect the joint-stock systeni will bo worked by Jobber * for their own benefit , and that wo shall not want a succession of explosions or " collapses oi'physicul materials andoi tlio credit and character or public men .
Ourselves And Our Nioioiujours. Iv Mr. B...
OURSELVES AND OUR NIOIOIUJOURS . Iv Mr . Bright were shot-proof as woll as truthproof , ho would bo a serviceable material in tue construction of gun-boats or floating batteries . There arc faults enough in the Liberal party .. tout when * ' the hon . member for Birmingham deolaroa that " it has given itself up to tho frenzy of war ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 24, 1859, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_24091859/page/13/
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