The verdict of the Jury on the Great Eastern disaster
con- stitutes no authenticated deliverance explanatory of the causes. But the newspaper reports of the examination place us in pos- session of the facts, and will enable the public to pronounce its own verdict. There are two series of facts. The "jacket," or outer casing to one set of the funnels, has been condemned by some judges, considered safe and convenient by others. The late frightful accident had not been without precedent. In order to regulate the amount of water in the jacket, there was a stop- cock which might be opened or closed at pleasure—an arrange- ment which engineers think unsafe ; and if any person was spe- cially appointed to watch that stop-cock, he neglected his duty ; but no catechizing could find him out, identify him, or fasten the responsibility upon him. That is the first series of facts. The second, although apparently more general and less imme- diate in its application to the accident, is really more important. It was very difficult to find under what authority many persons acted. Although Mr. Scott Russell disclaimed any authority, and referred for that valuable commodity to the Captain, others did practically defer to Mr. Russell, and waited upon his fiat. One person was found in charge of one set of engines, another of the other set. Great confusion prevailed on board, with some things ill stowed, and the servants of the vessel impeding each other in the performance of doubtful duties ; while the Captain was evidently the reverse of an autocrat. It has been explained that the trip -was only " experimental,"—a fact of which visitors should have been warned : they should have known that their feast was spiced with the chance of explosion ; for it is not usual to lend sportsmen a gun by way of proving it.
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