The Express.
London, England, 1866-12-25 00:00:00

Elte envreoo.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.
Advertisements at for " The Repress." Leaden Evening
must be at the Mice, 10, Bouverieretmet, by Two
id2:it on the day of publication.

HAYMARKET.
TO-MORROW Emma, A MERE CHILD. Mem% we,
Gordon, White, etc.: Mesdames Chippendale, Fitawilliant, Laws,
Powell, 8c .—A LESSON FOB LIFE. Mr. notheni —JENNY
LIND AT LAST. Mies Burk.—And the BALLET. lidlle. Sophia.
STRAND. why
ToNolotow Immo, NEIGHBOIIBIL Mier which will
be produced a Grand Burlesque, GUY FAWKr3.—And BOWS
AT THE SWAN.

HOLBORN.
TO-MORsoiSlymmid, MY TURN NEXT. ILr.Belmore ; Misses
Foote and Lemnos.—And FLYING SCUD. Mean. Neville, Del-
more, Maks, Yolimbs, Be. ; Mesdames F. Josephs, C. &anode's,
Naas Foote, Melee, Lennox, Raymond, Ra.

MN WAWA AT LONDON BILIDOI.
TIN DAY —Morning, 4h. Itim......Afternoon, 4h..
2 41n2.
712.
TO-XohßOW—ldorning____
6h lini ...... Attantoo n, :h
......

oNDON, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 25,

nasal newspapers and French letters inform
us that the waters of the Loire and of the Garonne,
which with their tributaries drain one-third perhaps
of France, again threaten with inundations the
centre and south of the empire. The calamities
of September impend over the closing and the
opening year. This letting-out of the waters and the
devastations which it occasions in France seem peri-
odical and decennial. They occurred in 1846 and
in 1856, and they are repeated now in
1866. They are something more than a subject
for barren speculation or distant sympathy, or
even for the international benevolence which ten
years since was profusely shown. The floods
which came down six weeks ago from the hills of
Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Derbyshire, putting
the streets of our great northern towns and the
homesteads and farina of our agriculturists under
water, and destroying not only property, but both
human and animal life, show that we cannot reckon
on exemption from the misfortunes which threaten
our neighbours ; and that it is our interest, not
less than theirs, to look out for the causes of
these calamities, and to apply proper preventive
measures ; or in any case to refrain from aggravat-
ing the evil by persistence in the conduct which
has brought it to pass.
The cause of these floods lies, there is reason to
think, in the too extensive deforestation of the
country, to which, on grounds of public policy as
well as of national economy, there are many objec-
tions. While statisticians and political philosophers
are pointing to the probable exhaustion within a few
generations of our coal supplies, the owners of the
soil are busy in clearing away the woods in which
lies, if so distant a chance may be taken
into account, the coal of the future ; and
which, even if we do not look forward so far,
would yet form, if they were allowed to remain,
the actual fuel on which a not remote posterity
must rely for domestic and industrial purposes.
But this is not all. The mineral advantages of
England have during the last half century and
more been gradually transforming her from an
agricultural into a manufacturing country. If
there be any truth in the anticipations of Mr.
Jzvoes and Mr. Mitt, the reverse pro-
cess may be looked fur a century hence.
Tho pembilum will make its backward
swing. England, drawing her coal at great
cost from vast depths, will be unable to
compete in manufactures with countries which,
like the United States, can find theirs ou or near
the surface. Now, though our national habit is to
count laud laid down in woods and plantations
almost as if it were waste and unoccupied, there
ran yet be no doubt that the existence of mountain
forests is of supreme importance to the agriculture
of the slopes and plains that lie beneath them ;
and that their destruction,wherever it has taken
place, has reduced the area of laud available for
culture far beyond their immediate neighbourhood.
Physical geographers tell us that the effect of
wholesale clearings, such as have been made on
the southern and south-eastern mountain ranges
of France—on the Cevennes and the l'yrenees—
has been to change to a desert vast tracts of once
fertile country. When the forest is suffered to re-
main, the water precipitated from the atmosphere
in the form of rain and snow is absorbed by the
roots of the trees ; it is withdrawn from the
surface to lower depths ; and there forms
springs which feed with a regular sup-
ply the ailments of great rivers. When the wood-
lands are cleared the snow and rainfalls remain on
the surface ; they course down the mountain
slopes, carrying away by detritiou the soil over
which they flow, until they leave mere naked
rock what was once pasture and arable land. As the
higher regions arc thus denuded the surface waters
pass still more rapidly down them, and converze
into torrents which swell the sources of the rivers
and cause inundations,which carry away the houses
and crops and stock of the farmers in the plain
below. The sagacity of the Emperor NAPOLEON
saw the state of the case, and gave it
homely illustration ten years ago. In a letter
to the Minister of Public Works he asked,
" Whence come the sudden floods of our
" rivers ? From the water which falls on the
" mountains, not from that which falls on the
" plains. The waters which fall on our fields
" produce but few rivulets, but those which fall
" on our roofs and are collected in the gutters
" form small streams at once. Now the roofs
" are mountains ; the gutters are valleys."
A French writer has continued the com-
parison. " Roofs," he says, " are smooth
" and impermeable, and the rain water
" flows rapidly from their surfaces ; but this
" rapidity of flow would be greatly diminished if
" the roofs were carpeted with mosses and grasses,
" more still if they were covered with dry leaves,
" little shrubs, strewn branches, and other impe-
" diments—in a word, if they were wooded." But
this prevention of floods is only part of the benefit
which mountain forests confer. The woods which,
during the season of rain and snow, detain the
excess of water, and prevent it from inundating
th. e country beneath, render an opposite service
m the time of drought. They then shelter the
water-courses from the heat which would other-
wise dry them up ; and so equalize the fertilizing
supply over the year.
It follows that the clearing of land, which
is usually the first step towards an increase
of the area under cultivation; may, if it is
pushed too far, defeat its own purpose,

THE condition of our metropolitan workhouses
and their fitness as receptacles for the sick poor
must necessarily be discussed early in the coming
session. The implications and admissions of a
few months back are still fresh in the public mind;
and a definite scheme of reform is looked for
which shall render a recurrence of the old scandals
impossible. What this scheme will be, and how
far it will fall in with the wishes of those who
have been most prominent in dragging the evils of
workhouse management to light, there has been
hitherto but alight means of judging. Mr. }LARDY
makes no sign, unless one outspoken fling at the
national fetish worship is construed into a deter-
mination to grapple with the evils directly arising
from what is miscalled local self-government. The
Poor-law Board officials appear to show an over-
weening respect and consideration fur the guar-
diaus ; and the guardians to be unusually ductile
in their hands. The Workhouse Infirmary Asso-
ciation rests upon its oars, and is apparently &alio-
fled to wait until the PRESIDENT of the POOR-LAW
BOARD, the Committee on cubical space, and
the permanent officials agree among themselves,
not as to what is necessary, that is already
known, but as to what will be expedient, and
politically safe. The discussions and incrimi-
nations which followed Mr. Haitiiv's acces-
sion and Mr. FARNALL'S summary removal
have been stmeeded by a comparative lull,
and the outside world waits with sonic im-
patience for such intelligence as may be officially
vouchsafed it. Pending this information being
given, it is satisfactory to state that several im-
provements have been inaugurated, and that our
London workhouses are less shamefully inadequate
than before. The number of inmates has in
many instances been reduced. This has been
effected by an extension of out-door relief, and by
removing the children to district schools. There
is a better classification of the sick, and infectious
cases are kept as far as possible infectious
the
rest. The beds in sick wards have been thinned,
and in some houses rooms appropriated to the
paupers which were not previously used for them.
Additional paid nurses have been appointed,
and those employed during the day are
no longer expected to perform night duty. Be-
sides these changes, the internal conveniences
II and sanitary arrangements have been seen to.
I Ventilation has been improved, in seine cases by
opening fresh windows, in others by introducing
ventilators. Additional lavatories, baths, water-
closets, and furniture have been provided, and
such minor comforts as combs, brushes, and hair-
mattresses more plentifully supplied. Such are
the practical results of the exposures with which
our readers are familiar, and we are not disposed
to underrate them. But it must be remembered
that these concessions have been made under con-
siderable pressure, that the parochial system and
the Poor-law Board itself have been declared to be
on their trial, and that the positions of both guar-
dians and salaried officials have been, and are still,
iu considerable jeopardy. The point to consider,
therefore, is not whether a partial setting of houses
II
in order is meritorious, but whether suppressing
or modifying sonic notorious evils is to be taken
as a justification of a system under which
those evils took root and flourished.
If minor improvements are to be made the plea
for perpetuating gigantic abuses, then reform itself
has been enlisted by the enemy ; and while the
II Poor-law Board may point complacently to its in-
creased usefulness, the parochial authorities can
claim credit for their obedience to the central
power. It is moreover somewhat suspicious .2_ _
11 while we now hear nothing of collision on points I Miss RYE'S EMIGRANTS.—Tba Underley, a new
of principle between the parishes and Whitaall, a be_irutilrteer fildotortfountoe3d. bzftohoeoluV,hloter
star Co p left
I determination to make the best of things, to hush Melbourne—J:ptain Blown, commander; Dr. Newbold,
up ugly scandals, and to avoid publicity, has . surgeon
:tsipeliintendrent ;odliAsforeCfrllth,:fmo; ;iniautrir.e She
been very apparent. In some instances the Poor-
TAammaensa;e:lnaketllot• unicaprinciples as those governing the
law officials and the guardians have obviously played ' Red Jacket- viz., absence of cabin passengers, and the di-
into each other's hands, and inothers a nipture would vision e owf
otlieenshipmilto,thecriece departments,—poop
maned people;
deceit; ,f
fore
siseem to have been avoided by the simple expedient
(tell, for sTnglC men. This division of the peoplepe is strictly
of lowering the standard of requirement. The I enforced during the voyage ; nor should emigrants ever be
improvements we have enumerated can therefore sogtorg coouttinftoryri;veitfluoidietreytenotreion
saidt tltioesie,e rusulpees..
only be received as indications of what still re- I
; et oil
rior to even those going out in the Red Jacket, which pos-
Mains to be done ; and what the benevolent pub- /ably may be accountedf for.by.the fact, now getting well
lic has to consider is, how it can best ensure its Yotttalltl: !=elilset,
eat erermui
reward
Al
forto make
conduct,e
wishes being carried out. These are simple and defi- awl not banishment from.fordbmadrhigrhoauvlofiutr Sevefruuldyoung
rite. Decently humane treatment for the poor, wroonmslen Iricereilbslete''.4issthye's disposal by Lord"ihffeten..e:
and direct responsibility from those having charge bury. sad and some of his friends. Great praise is due to
of them ; a more exalted notion of public duty in Mr. Chant, the despatching officer
nowt
hlf.risi:eriTtl,:sfoeerrrrel
the trustees of the public fonds, or some curtail- vmeirtytiliateriegtovsend impartialrnment rules while the young people have
mont of their at present almost unlimited power ; been in the Birkenhead depot. This is the third ship
are the aims of those to whom the present anus-
l:n^lend in jsanseenitmotlit rhense,
weeoluonntentordhiewerretue7 tto.
liorations are indirectly due. If anyone could be 100 more single women and ten families to Mel-
charitable enough tosuppose that guardians as seises bourne at the beginnin of the New Year. Application
faufsonnau. t;ibe made to that lady, 1, dam-street, Adolph',
have grown more humane, intelligent, or discreet,
the proceedings which are taking place around us It is understood that the Irish law officers of the
week by week would be sufficient to dispel the late government, by whomd the supplemental
dream. The different vestries are fair types of jarearted_ determ the question orf its
vs
final judgment as speedily as legal forms
the guardians of the several parishes, and under permit.

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