The Sun.
London, England, 1849-12-12 00:00:00

WEDNESDAY EVENING) DErEMBER 12,

COURT CIRCULAR.
OSBORNE, TUESDAY.
The Queen and Prince walked this morning in
the grounds of Osborne.
His Royal Highness the Prance of Wales, and the
younger members of the Royal Family, walked and
rode as usual. _

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—In another part of our impression will
be found a specimen of the opinions, or rather the
conceptions, which have been formed by a prominent

member of the Metropolitan Commission of Sewers
respecting the duties of that body to which he belongS.
In one point of view these reflections are decidedly
creditable to their author. They indicate not only a
considerable amount of painstaking, but a proper
appreciation of the point at which the work should
begin. The fret step of the Commissioners, as we
have before remarked, should be to ascertain and

There was no addition to the royal dinner party
yesterday.

His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge visited
her Royal Highness the Duchess of Gloucester, on
Monday, at Gloucester House.
The Commissioners for inquiring into Smithfield
market, and the markets in the City of London for
the sale of meat, held their first meeting yesterday at
the Home (Thee. Mr. George Cornewall Lewis, Sir
James Duke, Bart., Sir harry Verney, Hon. Fre-
derick Byng, Professor Richard Owen, and Mr. John
Wood, were present.
The Commksioners received a deputation from the
City of London, including Mr. Taylor, Mr. T. H.
Hall, Mr. Hicks, Mr. Dickson, the City Remem-
brancer, the City Solicitor, and the Comptroller.
Mr. Charles Russell, Chairman of the Great
Western Railway, and Mr. Saunders, secretary of
the company, had an interview with the Commis-
sioners of Railways yesterday, at their offic3 in the
Boa, ! of Trade.
Sir James Duke and Dr. Reid had an interview
with the Right Hon. H. Labouchere yesterday at the
office of the Board of Trade.

specify, for their own guidance no less than public
satisfaction, the particular inquiries or acts which arc
successively to occupy their attention. If they both
know and declare what they are about the mortal
vice of the old Commissionwill be got rid of at once.

To decide 'upon a principle of action, to discard
superfluous or irrelevant questions, and to reduce
to the plainest and most comprehensive form the
duties actually before the Commissioners from time
to time, must be obviously the first stage of any
serviceable course. Sir Jelin Burgoyne has at least
seen thus far. He has advanced with his tracing-
line to define the plan of operatioes, has calculated
the engineers' means required for the work, and has
pointed out some of the dangers against which pro
vision should be made. But with these admissions
we fear our approval must stop, for we are at a loss
to discover in the suggestions referred to any positive
proposition beyond a recommendation of compromise
and surrender. " To rid the metropolis of the
noxious sewage matter and drainage waters efficiently
as regards health and convenience, and with the least
possible delay," is rightly enough assumed as a defi-
nition of the obligation itnposesi upon the Commission;
and if we add that the object is to be effected at the
smallest practicable expense, we shall Le able to
agree with Sir John Burgoyne upon the premises,
and to start fairly upon the argument. His sug-
gestions express, or, to speak more correctly, they
comprise, the following principles :—First, that the
disposal of the sewage matter is a question essentially
distinct from that before the Commissioners, which
concerns only its removal ; secondly, that the agent
in this removal must necessarily be water, copiously
supplied ; and, thirdly, that soil-pits and tunnels are
excluded from consideration—the former by the con-
ditions of the case itself, and the latter by the imprac-
ticabilities attending their construction. Now, as
regards the first of these points, there is, undoubtedly
much to be said for the proposed simplification of the
subject. Notwithstanding all that has been recom-
mended by argument, and even proved by experiment,
it may certainly be alleged that there is no absolute
warrant for believing that the whole refuse of such a
city and population as ours could, consistently with a
due speed and efficiency in its removal, be disposed
of at a remunerative price; and, since the provisions
rc wired for such an ultimate application of the
sewage matter do most materially complicate any
system of drainage, it is not unreasonable to suggest
the dismissal of a consideration which would induce so
unwelcome a delay when action is so urgently re-
quired. All tint can be said on the other side is, that
a certain condition of the object proposed, viz , cheap-
ness of execution, depended on this very point of
employing the refuse as manure, and therefore the true
position of the question is as follows :—Granting that
London in itself is unfavourably calculated for an
experiment upon the availability of sewage matter, is
there, or is there not, already established upon this
point a probability strong enough to dissuade the
adoption of any system which excludes the eventual
employment of such a resource ? We think there
is, and a recollection of the illustrations which
have repeatedly appeared in our columns
will probably induce the reader to think so
too. The importance of the question lies in
this—that it does not concern simply, as Sir John
Burgoyne assumes, the general benefit of the country,
but directly affects the particular benefit of the metro-
politan ratepayers. If the sewage of the city could
be taken to fertilize the marshes of Essex, the
reclaimed lands of Essex would pay for the drainage
of London. The conditional dismissal, however, of
a consideration which has hitherto been made so
indispensable enables Sir John to take two steps
further in his suggestions. Assuming the object to
be not the preservation but the removal of the sewage
matter, he consigns it at once to the process of profuse
dilution, and then, having at last reached the great
and terrible question of final outfall, he calmly pro-
poses—to pour it all into the Thames! That the
river " forms the most central, the lowest, and the
readiest outlet ;" that such a proceeding " would be
the cheapest and most simple ;" and that a system
based upon such a principle " might be rapidly de-
vised end carried into execution," are all incontrover-
tible allegations. So cheap, indeed, aed simple and
easy is the device that, if it was to be adopted, there
was certainly no need of a commission of engineers
for carrying it into effect. The only objection to it
is just precisely that which has been brought against
every other uncovered ditch or sewer. The cases
are as similar as possible, for great as is the volume
of water at London-bridge, yet, considered with re-
ference to the enormous districts of which it is to
receive the discharge, to the incidents of its tides, and
to the agitation in which it is constantly kept, it
may be fairly described as bearing no greater pro-
portion than that of an ordinary town ditch to the
filth with which it is polluted. No doubt the river
is very low, very central, and very capacious, but
these very dimensions and capacities indispose us to
falsify all our sanitary assumptions by keeping such
a gigantic sewer uncovered and exposed in the
heart of the most populous city in the world: We
reject the proposal at once upon the plain and
simple ground that it does not fulfil that pri-
mary and fundamental condition which Sir John
Burgoyne himself laid down. He and his colleagues
have " to rid the metropolis of the noxious sewage
matter efficiently as regards health and convenience,"
and this they certainly can never do by throwing it
into the Thames, for the immutable laws of time and
tide will bring it all back again in the course of a few
hours. Though Sir John overlooks this inconvenient
and intractable peculiarity of a tidal river, yet he
cannot disguise the " very general" objections to
which his proposal is liable, and he suggests the
existence of a " complete remedy " in the projected
liquefaction of the discharge, in the construction of
the discharging channels, and in the proportion
maintainable between the volume of the river and the
current of the sewers. As regards the first of these
correctives, it is difficult to see what benefit it can be
expected to produce. Dilution may be very probably
useful in the conveyance and removal of the matter
from its first receptacles, but it must, to say the least,
be a superfluous expedient for neutralising its action
on the Tnames ; since in whatever state it first reached
the river it must needs within a few hours afterwards
undergo as thorough a dilution as it could receive
from any previous process. Next, with respect to
the proportion borne by the polluting current to the
mass of water into which it rushes, this must natu-
rally remain what it is at present, when it is found
considerable enough to infect the entire volume of
the river at this point of its course. Sir John does
not propose to increase by any particular expedient
the waters of the Thames ; on the contrary, he would
to some extent diminish them by abstracting very
large quantities for the use of local reservoirs, while,
on the other hand, he would actually augment the
discharge from the-sewers by his suggested arrange-
ments. The only result of "improved construction
and material" in the case of the outlets must be the
conveyance into the Thames of the greatest
possible amount of filth, with the least possible
loss from leakage, evaporation, or diversion.
At this moment a modicum of pollution is pro-
bably intercepted on its way to the river by the
imperfections of the sewerage ; but Sir John is for
checking any such defalcations, and for so ordering
matters that not one jot or tittle of the entire aggregate

The Chancellor of the Exchequer and Lady Mary
Wood returned to town yesterday from Altholp
Park, Northamptonshire.

THE QUEEN DOWAGER'S FUNERAL.
(From the Loudon Gazette.)
WHITEHALL, DEC. 10, 1849.
The Queen has been pleased to command that the
following directions, given by her late Majesty Queen
Adelaide for her funeral should be made public.
Her Majesty has desired that these directions, which
are worthy of the exalted piety and unfeigned humility
of the late Queen, should be, as far as possible, carried
into effect, and for this purpose has been pleased to
sanction a departure from the ceremonial usually observed
in the funerals of the Kings and Queens of the realm.
(Copy.)
" I die in all humility, knowing well that we are all
alike before the Throne of God, and I request therefore
that my mortal remains bo conveyed to the grave with-
out any pomp or state. They are to be moved to St.
George's Chapel, Windsor, where I request to.have as
private and quiet a funeral as possible.
" I particularly desire not to be laid out in state, and
the funeral to take place by daylight, no procession, the
coffin to be carried by sailors to the chapel.
" All those of my friends and relations, to a limited
number, who may wish to attend, may do so. My ne-
phew, Prince Edward of Saxe Weimar, Lords Howe and
Denbigh, the Hon. Wm. Ashley, Mr. Wood, Sir Andrew
Barnard, and Sir D. Davies, with my dressers, and those
of my ladies who may wish to attend.
"I die in peace, and wish to be carried to the tomb in
peace, and free from the vanities and the pomp of this
world.
" I request not to be dissected, nor embalmed; and
desire to give as little trouble as possible.
(Signed) " ADELAIDE B.

" November, 1841."

The following is a copy of the " ceremonial for
the private interment of her late Most Excellent
Majesty Adelaide the Queen Dowager, in the Royal
Chapel of St. George, at Windsor, on Thursday, the
13:h of December, 1849 :"
ller late Majesty the Queen Dowager having desired
that the interment of her remains might take place in a
most private manner, and without any state, the follow-
ing limited ceremonial will be observed, in conformity
with her Majesty's express wishes:—
On Thursday, the 13th of December, Guards of
Honour will be mounted at Bentley Priory and Wind-
sor. At eight o'clock precisely m the morning, the
Royal Body will be removed from the former place to
Windsor.
A Mourning Coach, drawn by Four Horses, conveying—
The Senior Page,
Two Dressers, To hor late Majesty.
Wardrolvs Maid,
A Mourning Coach, drawn lsy Four Horses, conveying—
The Vim-Chamberlain of her Majesty's Household.
Clerk Marshal to her late Majesty.

A. Mourning Coach, drawn by Four Ilor-ses,Convoying—
The Master of the Horse to her late Majesty.
The Lord Chamberlain of her late Majesty.
The Vice-Chamberlain of her late Majesty.
The Equerry in Waiting to her late Majesty.
Her late Majesty's State Carriage, drawn by Six Horses,
in which will be
The CROWN of Her late Majesty,
borne on a Velvet Cushion by Captain Taylor, one of
her late Majesty's Equerries.
THE HEARSE,

adorned with Ten Escutcheons, and drawn by Eight

Hories.

0.1 the arrival of the Body at Slough the Procession
will be joined by the Carriage of the tiaeen's Most Ex-
cellent Alajeity, conveying—
The Lord Steward of Her Majesty's Hous,hold.
The Lord Chamberlain of Her Majesty's Household.
The Master of the Horse to Her Majesty.
Another Royal Carriage, convey ing—
A Lord in Waiting to Her Majesty.
Ludy in Waiting to Her Majesty.
Groom in Waiting to Her ,Msjesty.
Another Royal Carriage, conveying—
Equerry in Waiting to Her Majesty.
Two Maids of honour to Her Majesty.

_
- Bedchamber Woman to Her Majesty.
A Mourning Coach, drawn by Four Horses, conveying—
The Countess Brownlow.
The Hon. Miss Hudson.
Mrs. Cornwall.
Upon arriving at the south porch of St. George's
Chapel the Royal Body will be removed from the hearse
by ten sailors, and being received at the door by the
Man and Canons of Windsor, will be placed upon a
platform, and the Crown and cushion laid thereon.
The Procession will then move into tho choir in the
following order:—
The Dean and Canons of Windsor.
Garter.

The Lard Chamberlain of her Majeaty's Household,
attended by one of his Officers.

Supporter of the
Pall,
Lord Byron.

THE BODY, I r
Suppoillti of the
Lord Adolphus
Fitzolareoce.

Covored with a

0 Suppor' er of the
Pall,
t Lord Frederick
Fitzclarence.

Black Velvet Pall,

Supporter of the "1:,"
Pall, cc
Viecount
Barrington. FT

adorncd with

Eacutcheans of

Supporter of the

Supporter of the
Pall,
Earl ol Sheffieli.

Her late Majesty's

Pall,
Marquis of
Ormonde.

Arms.

THE CHIEF MOURNER.

The Duchess of Norfolk
(veilad)
attended by a Lady.
His Serene Highness the Prince Edward of Saxe
Weimar.
His Serene Highness the Prince Gustav of Saxo Weimar.
Master of the Horee to Her late late Majesty.
Lord Chamberlain to Her late Majesty.
Vice• Chamberlain to Her late Maj, sty.
Ladies of the Bedchamber to Her late Majesty.
Maids of Honour to Her late Majesty.
Women of the Bedchamber to Her late Majesty ,
Cl-Irk Marshal to Her late Majesty.
Equerries to ller late Majesty.
Chaplains to Her late Majesty.
Physicians to Her late Majesty.
Surgeon to Her late Majesty.
Gcntlemei Ushers to Her lat. Majesty.
SL-nior Page to Her late Majesty.
Dresser. and Wardrobe Maid to Her late Majesty.
Upon entering the Choir, the Chief Mourner will take
her seat at the head of the Corpse, the Lord Chamber-
lain of Her Majesty's Household will take his place at
the fk.et, and the Vice-Chamberlain will stand near his
Lordship; the oilier persons composing the Procession
will arrange themselves behind the Chief Mourner, and
on either side the Chapel.
The Archbishop of Canterbury will read the ser-
vice, and the part before the Intcrment, and the An-
them being performed, the Royal Body will be depo-
sited in the Vault, and the Archbishop having
concluded the Service, Garter will pronounce near the
Grave the Style of Her late Majesty ; after which
the Lord Chamberlain and the Vice-Chamberlain of
Her late Majesty's household will break their Staves
of Office, and kneeling, deposit the same in the Royal
Vault.
His Royal Highness the Prince Albert will be pre-
sent in His Royal Highness's Stall during the Cere-
mony. Their Iloyal Highnesses the Duke of Cam-
bridge and Prince George of Cambridge will occupy
their Stalls. Their Royal Highnesses the Duchess
of Kant, the Duchess of Cambridge, and their Serene
Highnesses tho Duchess of Saxe Weimar, and the
Princess Anne of Saxe Weimar, and the Princess
Amelia of Saxe Weimar will occupy the seats provided
for them.

of abominations shall be diverted from the be if of the
Thames. This is certainly a consistent mode of
action; but how such an aggravation of the evils
denounced can be termed a "complete remedy," we
are wholly at a loss to comprehend. By Sir John's
own showing, he is to turn into the Thames a greater
proportion of filth than before, and in such a form as
to permeate and corrupt most speedily and effectually
the whole volume of its waters. We should be
reluctant, in a case less obviously comprehensible, to
adopt a tone of' dictation, but 'so self-evident
is the justice of the present condition that
Sir John Burgoyne and his colleagues must
please to take it as en indispensable provision of the
future system that London is not to be drained by
transferring the filth from the streets to the river. it
needs no conclave of engineers to decide this point.
The first requisite for a Commissioner of Sewers is a
keen nose ; and if Sir J. Burgoyne has unhappily
lost the use of his nasal organ, all his engineering
abilities will profit him nothing. We repeat it, when
the Commissioners are debating the question of depo-
sitories, they must exclude the Thames ; and this
" prohibition " must even be considered "absolute,"
and " at any cost." The limitation doubtless
entails difficulties, but these difficulties are
precisely those which the Commission is ap-
pointed to overcome. We are anxious to see
some demonstration in this direction, but it must
take the shape of conquest, not of compromise.
Sir John Burgoyne's instructions enjoin the
purification of London, and, as the most in-
fected part of it, the Thames. To leave this twice
as bad as before would be a very strange interpreta-
tion of orders. Ells suggestions, however, contain in
another place a definition of the true desideratum
which may parhaps be pretty fairly accepted—" The
plan for adoption should be that which would carry
off the whole matter to some available outlet in the
cheapest efficient way,but in such mane er as would afford
facilities for intercepting and applying it as manure, as
a distinct measure." Suppose, then, that pending any
clearer proposition of the question the Commissioners
at once adopt this, and work up to the object so de-
fined by plain and visible advances. It will at least

'We are authorized to state that the several persons
proceeding to Windsor to attend the funeral of her
late Majesty, are to arrive at the chapel not later than
half.past twelve o'clock; and that those who proceed
to Slough to join the procession at that place, are to
be there not later than half-past eleven o'clock.
iNcosta TAX APPEALS.—The following notice has
been issued by the lncome-tax Commissioners for the
city of London as to appeals regarding the property and
income-tax under schedule Dr:—"Notice is hereby
given, that if any person shall think himself aggrieved
by the assessment made of the said parish of —, in
respect of the property arising from professions, trades,
and offices, and of the other profits chargeable under
Sc'dadule D of the property and income-tax, sth and 6th
Victoria, chap. 35, for the year ending the sth day of
April, 1850, he may (upon giving due notice in writing
to the Survey or of Taxes, residing at -- , of his inten-
ticn) appeal to the Commissioners for General Purposes
acting in and for the said district, at the meeting which
will be held for the purpose of hearing and determining
such appeals, on Wednesday, the 19th of December iust.,
at their offices, 36, Basinghall-street, at eleven i:a the
forenoon." The parishes in the City will b 3 taken
alphabetically. A similar notice has been issued for the
metropolitan boroughs of the Tower Hamlets, Finsbury,
Maryleboue, Lambeth, Southwark, Greenwich, and the
city of Westminster.

1849.

preclude any further proposal or temptation► to pollute
the Thames.

CITY COURT OF SEWERS.

Yesterday a Court was held at the Guildhall, Mr.
Deputy Peacock in the chair.
Mr. HAYWARD, the surveyor to the Commission,
laid before the Court the bills of the expenses occa-
sioned by the compulsory drainage ordered by the
Court, in cases in which landlords had neglected the
duty imposed upon them by the Act of Parliament
for sanitary purposes, and peremptory directions were
issued to proceed against the responsible persons for
the discharge of the several amounts.

A coorplaint was made by the authorities of Bride-
well liot•pital, stating that the property was injured
by the alterations and extension of the sewage of the
neighbourhood, through the means of which the
basements were affected at certain states of the tide.

The complaint was referred to the surveyor, to ex-
amine and report.
.I),ir. Deputy LOTT gave notice of a motion to toe
following effict :—" That no commissioner who is a
shareholder, or director, or solicitor, or architect, or
valuer to any railway company, gas company, water
company, or other project, speculation, or under-
taking, shall he eligible to vote upon this Commis-
sion whilst any matter affecting such company, pro-
ject, spcculation, or undertaking, shall be under the
consideration of the Commission."

The inspectors of the Commission reported that the
duties of the scavengers had been well performed
during the past week—Adjour4d.

SMITHFIELD CLUB CATTLE SHOW.

Yesterday was the first public day at the cattle
show, and the, crowded state of the bazar through-
out the day evinced the interest which the public
take in the rise and progress of the beef and mutton
with which they are to be regaled in the approaching
festive season. The Duke of Richmond, the Earl of
Leicester, and other notabilities connected with agri-
culture, visited the exhibition during the day, and
expressed their satisfaction in very warm terms.
A rather remarkable circumstance connected with
the present show is, that more than one-half of the
horned cattle are already sold, and, what is still
more curious, the best lots have been secured by
country butchers.
Three or four of the swell mob made their appear.
ance in the course of the day, but were soon detected
and removed.