The Press.
London, England, 1858-07-24 00:00:00

"OF POSSIBLE FISHES."

IT continually happens that the perversion or
deterioration of a thing makes us forget the
purposes which it once answered or was calcu-
lated to answer. Few can recognize the " high-
mettled racer" in the "hack on the road "—the
fashionable chariot of other days in the dilapi-
dated " po'chay" of a country inn. We see what
it is, and make the best of it, without troubling
ourselves as to what it might have been.
There has been an amusing instance of this in
the recent discussions concerning Father Thames.
Much has been well said as to the differences
between a river and a cesspool—as to the fluid
character which ought to belong to water uncon-
gealed, and as to the close connection between
filth, miasma, and cholera. Some have ventured
to point out that it would be desirable that
Thames water should be fit for washing—a few
have even gone to the length of hinting that it
ought to be available for making tea ; one or two
enthusiasts may even have dreamed of drinking
it at some future date in all its native simplicity,
without mixture or infusion. But no one appears
to have remembered that fish may live in water—
in fact have rather a habit of doing so; and that
but for a great national blunder—what Handy
Andy's judicious parent would call " our own
goostherumfoodle"—living, breathing vertebrates,
with the corporate attributes of capacity for eat-
ing and being eaten, might abound and thrive
even between Putney and Greenwich. Such a
feat on the part even of the most unscrupulous
of eels has been lately so impossible that the said
reach has become in that respect a locus condo-
matus.

Bat Wicksteed says that fish can live at Leicester;
And Wicksteed is an henout able man.
If " deodorization " produces such effects in a
provincial stream, why not in our metropolitan
river ? It is a mistake to suppose that our
British fish (excepting perhaps the grayling, the
vendace, the char, and the great lake-trout) are
very nice as to the quality of the water they
inhabit. Some appear to be rather of the mind of
the maid-servant from the fens, who objected to
the water at her new place because it had neither
taste nor smell. Many a London angler fills his
basket even now at the East India and St.
Katherine's Docks, though directly communi-
cating with an utterly polluted river. The large
and ever-increasing traffic on the narrow estuary
of the Tay does not appear to interfere with the
free migration of the salmon and sea-trout to and
from their breeding-places up that river and its
tributaries. In truth, if the Board of Works
prove themselves equal to their responsibilities,
there is no reason why the salmon, that " signor
and rich burgher of the flood" (to say nothing of
many humbler tribes of water-citizens), should
not ere long be restored to his old haunts in the
Thames. It is now little more than twenty-five
ears since the last salmon was killed in the
Thames by fair angling off "Monkey Island."
The fish weighed twenty pounds, and was sold
for a twenty-pound note! Stray individuals have
since been taken with the net, but none, we
believe, during the last ten years ; and the breed
is now utterly extinct. It might, however, be
restored without the smallest difficulty, but for
the utterly impassable nature of " the pool."
Salmo salar's gills are not constructed for dealing
with an opaque semi-fluid, and he has no appa-
ratus for holding his nose. The process of
artificial breeding might else be adopted with
success from Bray up to Iffiey-lock, and a penalty
against the destruction of fish out of season would
lead to a rapid multiplication of that finny

monarch who was of old the

in aldermanic

;Teat rival of turtle
caput ccence at many

a City festival.
Compared with some of the results to he anti-
cipated from " Thames l'urification," this pettv
revolution in Fin-land may seem unimportant.
Yet it is not quite unworthy of consideration.
In the first place, any additional productiveness
of Father Thames as a fish river would he so
much clear gain. A few thousand large salmon
taken yearly close to the market, and command-
ing (as Thames salmon always have done) the
very highest price, would be no contemptible
source of income—yet nobody would be injured
or interfered with. It would not he as when a
sheep-ground is turned into a deer-forest; but
a luxury would be gained without the loss of
any useful product. The Thames flounder, too,
and probably the shad and the smelt—humbler
yet not valueless articles of diet—would reappear
in reaches whence they have been but lately ex-
pelled, causing a renewed demand for useful
labour. But, we confess, our view in calling
attention to this subject has not been limited to
gains derivable from the Thames, or to the en-
couragement of the gentle art in its waters. We
wish to invite the notice of our legislators to the
unsatisfactory state of the law with regard to
river fisheries in Great Britain, and to the un-
productiveness of our streams, occasioned by a
neglect of the most obvious precautions. The
suicidal selfishness of individuals is permitted to
bar the ascent of the migratory salmonielse to
their spawning beds so completely, that, with-
out the special causes which have been at work
in the Thames, they have become extinct, or
nearly so, in many of our southern and western
streams, and confined to the lowest portion of
others. Let our M.P.'s, during their approach-
ing vacation rambles, inquire (we take our in-
stances promiscuously) what is the price of
Severn salmon at Shrewsbury—how many "fish"
or gilse are taken yearly in all the streams of
Hampshire, or even of Devonshire. Let them
ask what has made a salmon or sea-trout a rare
guest in Windermere—why the flyfisher in the
Teme rarely encounters a smolt—how many
hundred yards of the pretty little stream at
Linton a salmon is permitted to ascend. Let
them gain some insight into the mysteries of
close-time in Scotland—let them see how stake-
nets can blockade an estuary, or learn the dodges
by which even the scanty benefit of a " Sun y
flood" is denied to up-stream proprietors. They
will, we are sure, feel amazed at once at the
general neglect of an important subject, and at
the marvellous blunders and inconsistencies which
have marked the few attempts actually made at
legislation. There is no earthly reason but the
senseless cupidity of a few individuals, and
the ignorance or indifference of a series of
Governments, why the supply of those most
valuable fish, the salmon and sea-trout, should
not increase again far more rapidly than it
has diminished. The Duke of SUTHERLAND
(happily "monarch of all he surveys," so as to
be able to act alone) has shown how much can
be done in this respect. In truth, the system of
artificial breeding, now beginning to be thoroughly
understood in this country, has quite removed
the difficulty which formerly would have been
found in restoring the stock where it had become
extinct. The French Government has set us an
excellent example by propagating salmon, trout,
and even grayling artificially in a multitude of
rivers for the public benefit. We have more mis-
chief to undo, but Great Britain is " a land of
brooks and rivers of waters," and Englishmen are
emphatically a nation of anglers, so that neither
opportunity nor zeal in the cause ought to be
wanting. We shall return to this subject at
some future day ; meanwhile, we would briefly
say that in our opinion the following points
especially deserve the attention of Government
and of the public :-Ist. Early close-time, to be
strictly enforced. 2nd. Severe penalties for
destroying fish vßien unfit for food. 3rd. The
limitation of weirs, traps, &c., so as to have a fair
passage for fish always open. 4th. Restriction
of stake-nets. sth. The encouragement of arti-
ficial breeding. 6th. A year of jubilee for
streams nearly exhausted. In some of these,
apparent interference with private rights may be
inevitable; but all parties will ultimately be
gainers. The proprietor of the celebrated goose
that laid the golden eggs would have owed thanks
to any one who had prevented his cutting her
throat.

THE MEMBER'S DIARY.

HOUSE OF LORDS.
MONDAY.

Wirt' does Lord STRATFORD DR REDCLIFFE, who
"clubs" at the Carlton and votes with the
Conservatives, speak from the Opposition bench ?
What is of more importance,—Why should the
Noble Viscount, who has won his spurs and his
coronet in the diplomatic service, comment
upon the recent atrocities at Jeddah in the
genuine spirit of the fire-eating militaire, who
thinks the only appropriate answer to an insult-
ing look is a blow, and would wipe a populous
city out of creation in retribution for the mis-
deeds of a few inhabitants ? These are not days
in which the denizen among a civilized com-
munity—not to say the member of a still-
Christian Lerrislature—would wish to follow the
example of °barbarous eras or savage popula-
tions—would think it glorious to write " Ilium
fuit" in revenge for some personal offence, or
repay some atrocious outbreak of fanaticism by
deeds of a still deeper atrocity. Very likely
Lord STRATFORD, when interrogating the Go-
vernment on the subject, was not conscious of
any truculent predisposition. But his questions
were couched in phrase which implied that if
the matter were lett in the hands of the Turkish
authorities, there was sure to be a degree of
evasion and delay amounting practically to a
denial of justice ; and in that case he asked in
urgent tones whether her Majesty's Ministers
were prepared to take the law into their own
hands. Lord MALMERRITRY, as Foreign Minis-
ter, recognizes the duty of interpreting the
past most pleasantly, and looking forward
to the future most hopefully. Ile will not
see in the Jeddah massacre any proofs of a
deepseated hostility in the Mussulman mind
against the Christians. The event is no doubt
an ugly blotch, but it is only a surface symptom,
originating in a trade dispute touching the owner-
ship of a merchant vessel, but in no way indi-
cating any fever in the blood. This is his com-
forting version of the past atrocities ; and for
future redress the Foreign Secretary awaits with
patient trust the proceedings of the Pacha whom
the Porte has already sent to Jeddah, armed
with full powers of life and death, and fortified
by the co-operation of a numerous military
escort. Relying upon these diplomatic
agencies, Lord MALYntsiumy resists the urgent
petitions which have been addressed to the
Foreign-office, exhorting him to take advantage
of the opportunity by sending an armed force to
blow up the Prophet's tomb at Mecca, and bring
away the Caaba as a curiosity for the British
Museum.
At their last sitting, on Friday, the Peers had
got through just half of the Government of India
Bill, having discussed thirty-four out of seventy
clauses. To-night they despatched the other
halt; literally at a galloping rate. Mr. GLAD-
Kromes clause, providing that the Indian army
should not be employed out of India, was
modified so as simply to enact that whenever
the British troops were engaged beyond the fron-
tier, their pay and expenses should at once de-
volve upon the national revenue, requiring ac-
cordingly an appeal, and entailing a responsibility
to Parliament. These changes being accom-
plished, and sanctioned in both instances by con-
siderable majorities, the Bill passed through
committee.