The Express.
London, England, 1864-07-26 00:00:00

EXPRESS FROM PARIS.

(PION OUR OWN

PARIS. MONDAY EVENING.

The Moniteur du 2oir gives a description of a
visit which the Emperor paid yesterday to
Thiers. The reason officially given for this journey
is that his Majesty " wished to see and judge for
himself of a manufacture of cutlery which, not-
withstanding many unfavourable circumstances,
has made Thiers the rival of Sheffield." There is
nothing else in the account beyond the usual in-
cense which from frequent repetition becomes very
dull reading even to the staunchest imperialists.
We are told that, although the Emperor travelled
with the " strictest incognito," and everything pos-
sible was done to prevent anybody from taking
notice of him, yet th►t the "enthusiasm of the
populations" was irrepressible, and "exploded"
all along the road ; that triumphal arches were
erected in every village, and that at Tillers a "com-
pact crowd," assembled from the town and the
neighbouringcommunea, "contemplated the imperial
features with avidity." The Emperor, after visiting
the factories, distributed several creases of the
Legion of Honour to the leading men of the locality.
The conclusion of the narrative is that the souve-
nir of this visit will "remain engraved" in the
heart of the Emperor, and in the hearts of every-
body who saw him.

The Moniteur publishes a report, addressed to the
Minister of Agriculture, Commerce, and Public
Works, of the permanent committee appointed to
ascertain the annual value of imports and exports.
It appears beyond all doubt that the commercial
reforms inaugurated by the Emperor continue
to produce excellent results. Tho suppression
of the sliding scale, far from having thrown
corn land out of culture, as was prophesied, has
greatly augmented the quantity of wheat grown.
In 1863, as much as a million of hectares more
than in 1847 was sown with wheat. The two
branches of industry which most feared the
commercial treaty, those of metals and tissues,
are progressing, and that notwithstanding the
cotton crisis, which has now lasted so long. The
report conzludes by remarking that the commer-
cial retrospect of 1863 shows a state of prosperity
which justifies full confidence in the future.
The Debats, suffering a tie eiojor, has astonished
its readers to-day by the publication of an article
justifying the perpetuation of the military system
in Algeria, whereas the notorious policy of the
journal is in favour of the extension of the civil
power in that colony. K Weiss, the able redacteur
of the month, who would certainly not have signed
the article, is set aside for the occasion, and the
production is fathered upon "the secretary of re.
daction"—an impalpable personage. This evasion
of the law of signatures is constantly resorted to
when the government chooses to impose an article
upon a journal.

Count de Beauval, the French chargé d'affaires
at Tunis, was shot at a few days ago while walking
in his garden. Four shots were aimed at him from
a house inhabited by some Maltese, but be was not
touched. An inquiry into the circumstances is
going on.

The King of Spain, whose visit is expected a day
or two after August 15, will remain three days in
Paris, during which time be will attend a perform-
ance at the Opera and a fete at the Hotel de Ville.
He will be present at the grand manoeuvres at the
Chalons camp, and will afterwards visit Toulon,
from which port he will embark for Spain.
M. Sardou, the eminent dramatist, is at this
moment confined to his bed at his country house at
Luciennes. The other day a priest celled at the
house and asked Madame Sardou for a subscrip-
tion for an unfortunate family. Madame Swine
said if he would leave his name and address her
husband would send an offering. The priest, then
assuming the tone of a robber, said :—" You pre-
tend to have no money , but I see that you have
jewels and plate, and in them we must go shares."
Thus threatened Madame Sardou rang a bell,
which brought to her assistance her mother-
in•law and a gardener. Tee priest attempted
to run away, but was seized by the
gardener, who held him in a firm grasp
till some gendarmes arrived and took him into
custody. It appears that this priest, who is under
an interdict, was sentenced some time since to six
months' imprisonment for an indecent assault.
The proprietor of the celebrated restaurant called
Robinson, near Sceaux, where people dine with the
birds on tables fitted up in the branches of an old
chesnut tree, met with a sad accident last week.
He was in the habit of firing two small mortars, as
the signal for the commencement of a ball which
often takes place in a rose bower in his picturesque
grounds. One of the mortars not going off, he
went to see what was the matter, and an explosion
suddenly taking place his hand and the lower part
of his arm were completely carried away. Ampu-
tation was considered necessary, but it is hoped
that his life is not in danger.

At the Bourse there was some fluctuation, but
the Rente closed rather flat at Saturday's prime.
Mobilier, after having been several francs higher,
closed with a rise of 7fr. We.
The Emperor Napoleon has decided that a monu-
ment shall be erected at Vichy to the memory of
Madame de Sevign,S, who was the first to make
known the waters of that place.

THE RECILNIS COLLISION at: RANDBECE.G.—The
Wager,' Gaztre contains the following, dated liatodaburg,
July 20 We have today wagonload a sad expos. We
have bad to see our Saxon and Hanoverian countrymen
hastily leaving with acme and baggage before an invasion
of the Promises, a town which bad been invested on all
sides by emu battalions of the Groben (Austrian) brigade.
These poor Federal soldiers ought to be quite demoralised by
such humilistioes. They bivouacked for some time out-
side the town till they could look about them for new
quarters. Half ea blur after, two battalions of Prosaism
made their entry into Readsbarg. The people of the Sews
badly cheered the Snow as they retired."

,;- .

JULY 26,

[AGE WO]

The great drain's. works, which are to meet the
, metropolis & saalleary paradise, and with which the
Thames embankment, which we recently noticed,
is intimately connected, are now in so forward a state
as to justify the Commissioners of the Metropolitan
Board of Works in inviting their oonatitoents to
come and judge for themselves as to the progress
that has been made, and the manner in which the
public money has been expended. Yesterday a
party of upwards, of 500 went down the river in
.
two steambrat and visited the works on both sides
of the river, returning fully satisfied that every-
thing which has been constructed was of the best
design and finest quality, and admirably adapted to
fulfil the purpose for which it was intended. The
party which, under the presidency of Mr. Thwaites,
made this interesting trip down the river, included
many of the great names which are now engaged in
the material revolution of the world. There were
Sir William Griffith', who first struck the average
for the Irish Poor Law • Mr. Page, the architect of
Westminster-bridge, and who is now about convert-
ing Point Griner, on the coast of France, into
a port with 24 feet of water at all periods of the
tide, within seventeen miles of Dover ; Sir John
Gray, who after extraordinary exertions has suc-
ceeded in securing for the city of Dublin the finest
water supply next to that of New York in the
world ; Mr. Ordish, whose ingenious " girder"
made the Exhibition building practicable ; Mr.
Waldegrave, Aldermen Mechi, Muni., and Carter ;
and several others, all more or lees known to
engineering fame, and who all naturally take a deep
interest in this the greatest engineering work of
the century.
" The world," we are told, "knows little of its
greatest men," and the saying sometimes holds
good of its greatest works also. How few of the
London public have for the last few years had any-
thing but the vaguest notion of the Titanic works
which were going on beneath their feet, which were to
carry the sewage of a population of three millions
of people eleven or twelve miles away from the
City, and which at their river side ter-
mini were to be provided with reservoirs,
vast enough to contain the great accumulation,
and strong enough to prevent the incalculable
pressure of such a body of fluid from breaking
through all boundaries and flooding the ad-
jacent country. Let us sum up what has been done
within the last three or four years under the,
auspices of the Metropolitan Board of Works,
by their engineer, Mr. Baralgette, and by
Messrs. Furness and Webster, and their brother
contractors. On the north side of the river, which
is within Mr. Furness's territory, three distinct
lines of intercepting sewers have been constructed,
called respectively the high and middle level sewers,
which unite at, and pass over the river Lea, and the'
low level, still incomplete, and uniting in the I
Thames embankment. On the south side there are
also the high, the middle, and the low levels, and
the distinguishing feature between the two branches
of the great work is, that whereas on the north side
the sewage falls from level to level by simple gravita-
tion, and from the lowest level bythesame cheap and
natural process into the river ; on the south or
Surrey side the reservoir or ultimate land recep-
tacle of the sewage has had to be sunk many fee:
below the level of the Thames, and thence the
sewage must be pumped up by steam powerin
order to mix with the retiring tide and be carried
out to sea. The northern outfall reservoir is at
Barking-creek, 111 miles below London-bridge,
and the southern in Erith-marshes, about two miles
further down on the opposite side of the river.
Into these reservoirs will pour the coutents of 81
miles of sewer, which will keep the northern always
full with 39 million gallons of sewage, and the
southern with 27 million gallons of the same valu-
able but not very odorous material.
All these works are now nearly completed,
and yet the Loudon public have hitherto known or
cared little about them. The inspection yesterday
was confined to the two great reservoirs, which in a
very few days more will be for ever closed
from inspection. The first visit was paid'
to the northern outfall reservoir, con-
structed by Mr. Geo. Furness at a contract
price of £164,000. It covers a subterranean area of
ten acres, of which, however, only two and a half
acres were open for inspection, the remainder being
already filled with the drainage of about one-third
of northern London. The visitors were first taken
to an unpretending and unfinished edifice above
ground, called Penstock House, which, however,
the reader must not imagine to be some snug rural
manor house, the residence of an ancient county
family. "Penstock" means simply an iron door,
and it is in this house, or below it, the iron doors
or " Penstocks " are situated, which, when opened,
permit of the ontfallof the sewage from the reservoir
into the Thames. From this we passed along a
narrow raised causeway, obstructed at every third
or fourth yard by the air-shafts from the drains
below, and each of which sent up an odour which
only Alderman Mechi could appreciate, and thence
down a wide staircase into the veritable cloaca
mosinia itself. in justice to the said cloaca
manna we must add that, in this its stage
of approaching maturity, it formed a by no
means unpleasant promenade. Vast mysterious
arched passages seemed to radiate everywhere,
from a common centre, all dimly lighted with lamps
of various colours, and ornamented, as it seemed,
at some incalculable distance with scarcely dis-
cernible stars, which had been put up to mark
their boundaries. Very soon the Roman cloaca
maxima, which had been hitherto an approved and
frequently used comparison amongst the visitors,
wag fairly put out of court. One gentleman who
had visited the Eternal City averred that one of the
arched passages of the Loudon sewer would contain
the whole of its Roman predecessor, and the latter
forthwith fell to a heavy discount even with the
most erudite of the lookers-on. Then some one
timidly reminded his audience—there were scores of
spectral-looking audiences collected in the abyss—
of the rather prolix description of the Parisian
drains in Lea Miarable; but this gentleman was
shut up by the chairman of the board, who autho-
ritatively declared that the Paris drains would fit
into one ocener of our great subterranean works on
the banks of the Thames. Finally it was unani-
mously agreed that there was nothing like the latter
iu the world, or even in the world of fiction, except
it was the Hall of Eblis, and that edifice,
whatever might have been its architectural merits,
was not devoted to the useful purpose of carrying
olf the sewage of a mighty city. It would be
impossible, in short, to do justice by written
description to the appearance of these seemiugly
interminable vistas deep down in the bowels of the
earth, each just enough lighted with sombre-coloured
lamps to make darkness and the member,' of the
Board of Works dimly visible, and all built of the
most beautiful and perfect brickwork, and as dry
as the pavement of the Strand ; whilst through the
intercepting wall the sullen roar of the fetid
torrent, which was every moment filling the neigh-
bouring reservoir, could be distinctly beard, and
the more curious could actually see, and certainly
smell, the turbid stream, through chasms or
"penstocks" which had been left open for the
purpose. In a very few days this hall of ;Shia will be
closed against a curious public, the penstocks will
be all opened, and the whole of the sewage 0(1
northern Loudon will be intercepted preparatory
to its discharge into the river.
Having duly inspected and warmly commended
Mr. Furness's maguihcent work, the company
returned to their steamers and crossed the river
to the territory of Mr. Webster. In consequence
of the low pitch of the southern side of the river
the contract price here is 300,0001., with a further
sum for the pumping engines now in course of
erection by Messrs. Watts and Co., of 44,9001. The
power of these engines may be estimated from a
statement of the work they will have to do, which
will be to pump up the sewage of the whole
southern districts, from Norwood to Rotherhithe, at
the rate of 8,000 cubic feet a minute, and to aheigbt
varying from 10 to 20 feet. The first feature of
interest inspected here was the handsome engine-
house, in which, although it is as yet not half
finished, the mighty steam engines are already
being set up. The machinery here provided is of
500 nominal horse-power, and consists of four
double-sctingcondeusing engines, each working two

:6

sina t acting "no pumps," or " plungers." The
are 10feet long, then', wheels 27 feet diameter,
and 10 tons weight eaah, and the two "delivery
troughs" or outlets an 12 feet long, 14 feet wide,
and 10 feet high. The reservoir which these works are
to empty covers 6} acres, is 17 feet deep, and is
capable of containing 27 million gallons of sewage
in its four compartments. The entire area of these
works with the surrounding reclaimed land is 36
acres, and it is expected that all will be completed
by the end of the present year.
Like the works on the opposite aide of the river,
the visitor here was led through long passages dimly
illuminated, and seeming almost interminable in
their vastness. There were, however, in addition
the great intercepting culverts, rendered necessary
by the low level of the ground, and the steam
machinery with which they were in connexion, all
of which were minutely inspected and warmly
praised by the wonder-stricken visitors. Mr.
Thwaites headed an eager and curious procession
through the long corridors, and occasionally stopped
at favourable points to give lucid explanations of
the uses of the various portions of the work. An
extraordinary impression was given of the magni-
tude of the undertaking, and of the engineering
skill and industrial energy which had conceived
and earned out so magnifioent a plan to completion.
There isnow no doubt that within a very fewyears
Londont both north and south of the river, will be
thoroughly drained, and that the Thames will be
once more as clear and transparent " below bridge"
as it is at present at Richmond or Mortlake. Even this
year the northern drains are held to have done good
service by intercepting and carrying off about one-
third of the sewage on that side of the river. The
Thames has smelt a little, as all who have passed op
or down it within the last week or so can testify, but
it is alleged that but for the intercepting sewers
already at work the stench in this unusually hot
summer would have been intolerable.

Subsequent to the inspection the commissioners
and their friends adjourned to a marquee, where
refreshments were provided, and a few speeches
of mutual compliment were made by the par-
ties who divide amongst them the direction and
the honours of this great national work.

CREMORNE CASHEWS. THE GREAT " FIRE,
BALLOOII."—The second ascent of M. Eugene Godard's
gigantic " fire•balloon" was to have taken place last night,
bat the high winds which prevailed during the afternoon
and evening' and the rain which fell about seven o'clock
prevented faith being kept with the public. Mr. Adams
offered to amend in his gas balloon, but owing to the labour
involved in getting it ready to start his offer was not
accepted. M. Godard has admitted, by this refusal to
ascend, that his balloon is far more dangerous than the gas
bailors, and that it can only mount safely in certain calm
conditions of the atmosphere. The danger which all Mont_
goiter balloons have to contend with is fire, and this danger
is largely increased when the wind is high. Much interest
is felt in the second ascent, which is now postponed until
Thursday next. The crowd behaved with great patience
under the disappointment. Mr. E. T. Smith is said to be
negotiating with an aeronaut who has got a flying apparatus,
and who professes to be able to ascend easily, and to move
rapidly in the air, rhos* his own coarse. This wonder may
be exhibited early next month.

CIVIL Liar PICSBIONIL—A parliamentary return
boned this morning gives the following list of all pensions
granted between the 20th day of Jane, 1863, and the 20th
day of June, 1864, sod charged upon the Civil List:—Mra.
Letitia Mary Austin (in considenitioo of the service' of her
late husband, a civil engineer, who died whilst engaged in
the employment of the government, and who had
devoted himself to the sanitary improvement of poor
dwellings), 601. Mr. William Allinxham (in consider-
ation of the Merry merit of his poetical works), 601.
Miss Slim Cook (in oorsidseatiou of her literary Inboase,
both in poetry and prose, and her failing health), 1004 ;
the Bev. Charles B. Giber (as author of tray literary
works, sad in coesideratioe of the high testimony borne r
to their value), 1006.; Dante Julia Inglis (as an ack now-
legmeet of the brilliaat service* of the late Sir J. Inglis
during the Indian mutiny, especially the pliant defence
of Lucknow— senior to which may partly be
attributed his early death), BOX ; Mr. Emma
Elphisistoes Sheridan Knowles (in ermideraticie of
the talents of her late husband, Mr. James Sheridan
Kaowlea, as a dramatic author), 1001. ; Emma
Leaf (as the widow of Mr. J. Leaf, who, though of humble
origin, woe a ceetributor of articles of peat merit to
various journals), 501.; Mr. Kenny Meadows (Ia acknow-
ledgment of his merit as an artist, more eepecially shown
by his illuatrations of Shakespeare), 801- • Miss Dior
Mulock (authoress of "John Halifax, Gentleman," and
other well-known works of fiction), 601.
Toss ROYAL COMMISSION ON 801113CRIP7ION.—We
are informed, on good authority, that the commissioners
have concieded their labour', and adjourned (after herb's
sppointed a committee of fire to draw up • draft report.)
ne tams of the commiseiren so selected are—Berl Stan-
hope (chairman), the Bishop of Oxford, Dr. Lashington,
Mr. Walpole, sod Mr. Napier. We are sot in a position to
state ell the particular clumpes which will be suggested is
this report ; but we understand that the commissioners are
unanimous in recommending a new form of subscription and
declaration, although there was considerable easier* of
opinion between the Bishop of (Weed and some of the other
oommissiosere.-7Record.

ALARMING CARRIAGE ACCIDENT.—A very serious
road accident occurred at Orchard Mains, in the parish of
Traqusir, lenerlaithen. as Friday afternoon, ander the fol-
lowing eircurnitaner John Hope, butler, and Kies
Lacers, housekeeper to Lady Louisa Stuart. Trequalr
House, with Mrs. Addison and her re, a little boy from
Edieburgki, went on a visit to the Ore, reveilles in the
Traquair House 'Aaron. Immediately after learn the
Glen gate, on their return, the horse, which is • somewhat
spirited animal, started of at full speed, and continued to
run at this rate till it passed Orchard Mains, a distance of
• mile, Mr. Hope, who was dining, being usable to draw it
up. Here the mad makes • bond Wens coming to • bridge,
and in tang this turn the pbeeten swerved from the
middle of the road and ran up against the end of
one of the parapets of the bridge. The inmates of
Orchard Mans, who saw the accident, were immediately on
the spot, when they foiled the whole of the party more or
less hurt, and all, with the exception of the little boy, un-
able to speak. Mr. Hops and Mrs. Addison were lying in
the quer, into which they had bees pitched over the
bridge. which is from 12 to 14 feet high. The boy also bad
bee throws over the bridge, and wee lying en the bank by
the side of the stream. Kies lasers was lying between
the carriage sad one of the walla of the bridge. They won
all soon conveyed to Orchard Maize, and • niasseugar de-
spatched to Innerleithat for Dr. Or, who wee promptly
at the scene of the occident. 17poti examination it wee
found that the injuries received though bad enough, were
sot so serious as might have been expected from the
nature of the accident. The boy, who .soaped with
least injury, is cut about the face and slightly bruised.
Mrs. Addison was much stunned and bruised, but is sot
seriously hurt. Mr. Rope, who was inesesible for some
time after being taken out of the water, must have been
drowned had not urinous been near. After being
to Orchard Main, he fainted two or three tissue. was
much stunned, and received reseal bruises on the back
and other parts of the body. Mir langloi• is apparently
the most seriously hurt. Besides being bruised, she n-
erved • long deep cut on one of her legs, which required
to be sewed. Fortunately, now of the saffron bad any
bones broken. The three first were able to proceed to no-
quair House thertly after the accident, and Miss Leopards
was conveyed Lome later in the evening. Though teeing
their injuries a good deal, they were all going on favourably
ea Saturday. The Onton was destroyed, but the horse
escaped uninjured, the bums having come away from the
body of the machine and set it free.--Scotsman. _

PLARFUL PUNISHMENT OF G•uDTTERS. —John
Croodace sod Thomas Alison, who were convicted at the
amines last week of garotte robberies as Sunderland, and
sentenced, the former to five years' and the latter to ten
years' peed servitude, with twenty Whim each, underwent
the punishment of flogging at the county prison on Satur-
day. The instrument of punishmest is described as of a
formidablelooking nature, and was manufactured by •
who is undergoing ireprisooment in the gaol, supremely
for the purpose. The cat is logeoloWdy composed of SIDS
thongs of stout leather, in each of which are nine knots, and
these being connected to • flexible beadle. the power wielded
by strong !nods is terrific. At every stroke the knots
cut deeply, making flesh sod blood fly is every direction.
The prisoners were firmly tied up in a reclining position, the
lower part of their shoulders exposed, the higher and lower
part of their backs being protected by padding. The
warden, Hedger" and Allison, executed their leek with the
skill of more practised bands. The officials of the gaol were
present, but the prisosers were kept in their cells. Hodgeoe
and Anima alternately inflicted ten lashes each on each of
the primers. The first Ilia was received with oomparative
equanimity by each mimes', but on the second the yell
of deep and excruciates, agony which buret forth in re.
presented as indescribable. Their cries ooetinued during
the whole of the punishment, and these, together with
the sight of the eying flesh sad blood, and muted backs
of the sufferers, and the clotted skeins of the oat, meduzz
to
a spectacle of horror overpowering those who wi
it. When the punishment had been leafleted the penmen
were taken down sod removed to the prison infirmary ie a
state of complete prostration—indeed, it is averred that
*either of theca could bays received soother lash without
the greatest danger. Although the piloting did sot wit-
moss the punishmeet, they meld bear the shrieks of the
unhappy sufferers in their cella, sled it is to be hoped the
cootemplation of the punishment may have • Watery
effect on their minds.—Thirham Chniseicife.