The Sun.
London, England, 1863-03-05 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—It has sometimes happened that when
the architect and the landscape gardener have ex-
hausted all the resources of nature and of genius in
a house and park, and provided the most magnifi-
cent avenues and approaches, it is discovered too
late that visitors will not use the average, but ap-
proach, if they are permitted, by ways of their own.
A well graded, well curved, and well gravelled
road, striding over ornamental water, skirting the
wood, and crowning the hill, may be very pic-
turesque, but if it takes you half a mile out of your
way, or leads, to a desolate moor, it is apt to be little
used. When the Thames Embankment and road
were decided on, it became necessary to provide it
with continuations and feeders, to make it as great
a benefit as possible. In certain quarters there lin-
gered a fond hope that it would be like the quays of
Paris or Pisa—quiet promenades, seldom disturbed
by the sound of wheels. The promoters of the Em-
bankment were almost afraid to sayhow much traffic
they thought would find its way into the new ehan-
nel. That traffic has to be collected and discharged.
So commissioners were appointed to incisire as to the
farther improvements eastward from Blackfriars,
and southward from Westminster, best calculated
to serve the public and carry out the design of the
Embankment. Their report we published yester-
day, and their plans are before us. As to the City
end of the embankment, they had three projects to
choose from,—a further embankment and road to
Queenhithe ; a street to St. Paul's-churchyard,
coupled with large alterations there and at Wal -
brook and Charlotte-row ; and a street going as
straight as could be from Chatham-place to the
Mansion-house. The last was proposed by the
Commission of 1831, and it has stood the further
ordeal of the present inquiry. It is found the
straightest, the best, and by far the cheapest. It
comes unpleasantly near our own quiet nook, but
we feel it impossible to gainsay its merits as com-
pared with the rival schemes. If you want to get
to the Bank from Blackfriars, there is no reason
why you should be taken half a mile along the river
side, or compelled to admire the south transept of 1
St. Paul's. Still less is there any reason why you
should be compelled to make two or three sharp
angles. The most direct way, under such circum-
stances, is the best. At the Westminster end the
inquiry is neither so trite nor so readily answered.
The Commissioners, after traversing the length of
the embankment and finding themselves at the
foot of the Clock Tower, look round on all sides,
north, west, and south, as if free to choose their
route, and glad to use their brief authority. They
would like, if it were possible, to hug the river
side, but to do this they would have to encroach
still further into the stream, to pass under one of
the arches of New Westminster-bridge, and to
carry a public; road before the river front of the
Houses of Parliament to the annoyance of all the
Committees that sit there. So this they give up.
They must wind round that massive obstruction,
and return to the river side as soon and as grace-
fully as they can. As they do this the first spot
which calls for improvement, as a link in the new
chain, is Old Palace-yard and Abingdon-street.
Here, between two of the noblest piles in the em-
pire, are some of the dullest houses in London, a
narrow pass, and a winding thoroughfare. The
dignity of the site, the convenience of our legisla-
tors, and even the safety of the Palace of Westmin-
ster, demand a more spacious and airy precinct. At
times there is wanted standing room for hundreds
of carriages ; yet the thoroughfare must be pre-
served ; there must be space for crowds on foot, for
a Royal pageant, for a mounted escort, and for the
police. Adjoining Westminster Abbey are some of
the most interesting remains in the country buried
behind private houses, while timber yards and
manufactories of the most ordinary kind are dan-
gerouslyfront ef t
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tary grant to show the stone again. So the Com-
missionersaat
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the s proposeize efNteow Palace-yard enlarge
Old P;
the south side of HenrylL's Chapel and the Chap-
ter-house ; to clear a space as large, south of Vic-
toria Tower, quite to the river; to screen the river-
side premises farther south with a row of handsome