The Sun.
London, England, 1862-05-21 00:00:00

THE MARSHLAND DELUGE.

The Bedford Level is a tract of low land, contain-
ing about 400,000 acres, situate in Northampton-
shire, Huntingdonshire, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk,
Norfolk, and Lincolnshire. Its natural drainage is
by the Rivers Nene and Ouse into the great estuary
of the Wash, and so to the German Ocean ; but
but much of it, lying below the level of the sea, re-
mained for ages a series of lakes and swamps. Its
name is derived from the ducal family of Bedford,
which possesses large property in it, and two of the
heads of which—Francis, fourth earl, and his son
and successor William, fifth earl and first duke—
successively undertook (with the assistance of Sir
Cornelius Vermuyden, a Dutch engineer) its drain-
age and reclamation.

In 1695 the Bedford Level was divided into the
North, Middle, and South Levels, all under the
management of the Bedford Level Corporation. In
1753 the North Level finally separated from the
others, and, having its own drainage by the Nene
(the Peterborough and Wisbech river), it is no
longer considered part of the Bedford Level. The
Middle and South Levels each drain into the Ouse
or Lynn River ; but, as will be seen hereafter, the
Middle Level has now no connection with that
river until shortly before it reaches Lynn.
One of the earliest and chief works of the Bedford
Level Corporation was the erection of a sluice
across the Ouse at Denver, about 12 miles above
Lynn. This was advised by Vermuyden, but op-
posed by Westerdyck, another Dutch engineer em-
ployed by the corporation. A sluice consists of fold-
ing doors set in strong brickwork, and constructed
so as to be opened by the fresh water when the tide
runs out, and shut by the salt water when it comes
in—the retreating fresh water thus making way
for its own egress, and the advancing salt water
opposing a barrier to its own progress. The advan•
tages of a sluice are that the banks above it need
not be made strong enough to bear the weight and
violence of the sea water, nor high enough to avoid
being overtoppcd by an unusually high tide, and
that the retreating fresh water is not impeded in
its course by the advancing salt water.
Denver sluice was, of course, constructed solely
with a view to drainage, and its erection was
thought to have a bad effect on the navigation, par-
ticularly in choking Lynn harbour. In fact, drain-
age and navigation arc, and always must be, conflict-
ing interests, the former requiring the channel to
contain as little, the latter as much water as pa-

sible.
In 1713 the controversy was for a time settled by
the tidal waters undermining and " blowing up"
Denver sluice, and in that condition it remained
until 1750, when, in spite of strong opposition from
Lynn, it was rebuilt, and has remained ever since,
the recent statement of its destruction being alto-
gether a mistake.
Notwithstanding numerous and expensive works
for the drainage of the Middle and South Levels, it
remained very imperfect, while the navigation of
the Ouse became worse daily. An opinion gradually
prevailed that the bad state of both drainage and
navigation proceeded from the width, shallowness,
and circuitous course of the Ouse from Eau Brink
to Lynn, and in 1795 an Act was passed for making
a straight cut between these points, which, how-
ever, was not completed until 1821. The Act was
the first of a series, called Eau Brink Acts, by
which the drainage of the Bedford Level is in effect
placed under the control of a body lately called
the Eau Brink Drainage Commissioners, but now
the Conservators of the Ouse Outfall, leaving the
Bedford Level Corporation but the shadow of au-
thority. It has recently been proposed to dissolve
that corporation, and finally separate the Middle
and South Levels.
The proprietors of the Middle Level have already