The Sun.
London, England, 1849-11-07 00:00:00

THE

more perfect system of trapping should be devised, or
that, in some way or other, the sewers should be venti-
lated effectively and inoffensively. At present there are
frequent complaints of offensive exhalation from gratings
in the open ways of the city, and it will be obvious to
your Honourable Court that all which I have urged on
the subject of cesspool exhalations must apply equally to
those which are emitted from sewers. The impediments
to effective trapping are almost insuperable; but I be-
lieve that when the water supply of the city is very
largely increased, washing the drains amply and inces-
santly, the evil complained of will undergo a sensible
diminution. So far as I can judge, the only complete
and total cure would consist in the adoption of some sys-
tem, including the following points as its essentials—viz.,
that house-drainage shall be separate from street-drain-
age, the former having to itself a series of sm tiler con-
duits; that these shall be closed from their origin to their
outfall, presenting no gullyholes whatever; and that
their gaseous contents shall be withdrawn from them by
suction, or expelled by pressure, and be made to undergo
combustion, or other chymical change, rendering them
innocuous. I would venture, even now, to suggest
that any :,cientific scheme, purporting to accomplish
the object last indicated, would in a very high degree
deserve the consideration and encouragement of your
Honourable Court."
The washing of the drains may diminish the evil so
far as the street sewers are concerned, but it will

only be by increasing the pollution of what mus
necessarily be the principal source from which the in
habitants of the metropolis must ever derive their princi
pal supply of water—the River Thames. With regard
to the plan of separating the house drainage, and:con-
veying it in a series of conduits, closed from their
origin to their outfall, we much fear that there would
be danger of continual bursting of the conduits from
the pressure of the gases evolved, and that the escape
of those gases would give rise to dangerous explosions,
as, after the result of the recent experiments, we are
doubtful as to the possibility of withdrawing gases form
sewers so as to make them undergo combustion with
safety. A much more effectual method would be to
disinfect the sewage at various points of its progress,
so as to prevent the collection of any large quantity of
gas-producing elements and the consequent evolution
of noxious gases ; and this, we believe, may be ef-
fected completely and profitably. Another great
advantage which would arise from adopting the disin-
fecting process would be the preservation of the river
from pollution. Of the importance of preserving the
waters of the Thames in a pure state Mr. Snuozi is as
convinced as ourselves. He thus speaks on tbis im-
portant subject :
" In further connexion with my present subject, I
would also solicit attention to the fact that the sanitary
purposes of drainage are but imperfectly achieved where
the outfall of sewerage is into a tidal river passing
through the heart of a densely-peopled metropolis. I
should be stepping beyond my province if I were to say
much respecting the -themes now before the public for
dealing with the difficulty to which I here refer, inso-
much as those schemes involve questions of engineering
and machinery, on which I am incompetent to form an
opinion. But I can have no hesita;ion in stating it as a
matter greatly to be desired in the city of London that
the noble river which ebbs and flows beneath its dwell-
ings should cease to be the drainnool of our vast metro-
polis, and that the immeasurable filth which now pollutes
the stream should be intercepted in its course, and be
conveyed to some distant destination, where, instead of
breeding sickness and mortality, it might become a
source of agricultural increase and national wealth.
" I would venture, likewise, to express an opinion that
the city of London is peculiarly interested in the ac-
complishmeut of this great public work, not only on
general grounds relating to the conservancy of the river,
but likewise and expceially on sanitary grounds, by
reason of the large bankside population, subjects of the
city, who now, instead of deriving advantage from their
nearness to the stream, are constantly disgusted and in-
jured by its misuse."
It appears to us that the only plan by which the
river can be preserved free from pollution, while at the
same time the existing sewers and conduits are made
available, is by the adopting of some plan for disin-
fecting the sewage during the course of its pro-
gress, precipating from it all solid matters which it
hold 3 in suspension, and returning the supernatant
fluid thus disinfected into the sewer. It is by the
adoption of some such plan as this that the evils
complained of can alone be effectually prevented, for
it is evident that every plan which does not disinfect
the se wage before depositing it in bulk is
neither more nor less than a plan for the formation
of a gigantic cesspool, which will infect the air for
miles around the place where it may be established,
and be a perpetual hotbed of cholera. Our observa-
tions on the subject of drainage have extended to such
a length, that we must defer the consideration of the
other portions of this most important and valuable
document to another opportunity.

Precisely as we say that Terrorism was contrived
by the friends of arbitrary governzent, in order to
disgust the world with Liberty—we might with equal
truth declare that Cant was contrived by the friends
of Infidelity, in order to disgust the world with
Religion. Only the difference between these two
abominable conspiracies is this—that whereas the
Terrorists manage to render themselves in some sort
sublime in their atrocities, the Sanctimonious, with all
their petty affectations of morality, only make them-
selves supremely and supereminently ridiculous.
While the one party has been effecting the
massacres of September, the other has been
tsking some miserable little shrimp of an orange-
boy or a mackerel vender into custody on the
score of Sabbath Desecration. The former has
summoned to its aid the incendiary and the assassin.
The latter, with the hysterical shrillness of that very
respectable person Mrs. GAME, has screamed for the
" Poleege ! " Like the immortal SAIBEY, on the
occasion when in search of the " Ankwork's Pak-
kidge," she got so crushed, and tumbled, and towzled
by the crowd, that her bonnet bore the appearance of
a cocked hat—the good old lady of Sabbatarianism
has now for some few weeks past been shaking her
gig umbrella very energetically at Mr. ROWLAND
HILL, vituperating him in a great fluster as " a
bage man," and bemoaning the sins and abomina-
tions perpetrated by him and his compeers in "this
Piljians Projis of a mortal wale!" It would be the
height of ingratitude on our part if we evinced any
annoyance at a proceeding which has afforded us such
genuine amusement. We feel as kindly towards the
poor old soul even in her most kantankerous moods as
we have ever done to the " frequend pardner " of
BETSEY PRlG—knowing altogether that she is as
harmless as she is decidedly provocative of laughter.
Latterly the frow of Sabbatarianism has been
growing more and more subject to these fits of
ethical hysteria. Doubtless, if she is as well
supplied by the Birmingham manufacturers as
poor PEGGOTTY, she has of late been " shedding
buttons" innumerable. We have a sympathy for her
stayleces. Especially in those intense paroxysms of
grief and indignation, when the Lord Bishop of
LONDON got snubbed in Downing-street, or when
the rogues of St. Martin's-le grand triumphed over
the godly malcontents of Exeter Hall.

Defeated, we had almost said ignominiously de-
feated, in her efforts to render the Sunday not a day of
solace and gratulation, but the " deadly lively " fes-
tival of weekly hypocrisy and hebdomadal humbug—
the Gamp of Sanctity has just buckled on her
" storm-cap " and attached a new ferrule to her
parapluie, for the purpose of again having at that
Man of Sin, the Marquis of CLANRICAILDE. The
heart of Mr. ROWLAND HILL must certainly sink
within him at this grand premonitory flourish of
penny trumpets.
"By the pricking of our thumbs
Something funny certainly comes,"
for there is to be a rising throughout the country of
the legions of Sabbatarianism. A field-day for
FALSTAFF'S ragged regiment, with its "shirt and a
half !" could not assuredly be more suggestive of the

facetious. We await the issue with the drollest
anticipations ; and are fain to call out with
Gut. BOLDING, even on the strength of
mere conjecture, "such fun !" But the
announcement is made with all the pomp of Bom-
BASTES, with all the mystery of RIGDUM FETNIDOS,
with all the sequipedalian grandiloquence of the ever-
redoubtable CURONONIIOTONTHOLOGOS. The deed is
to be done " off-hand," and not by any means "on
the sly." We are to witness the simultaneous
barricade of all the post-offices throughout the
United Kingdom. Led on, under the banner of the
umbrella, the strongholds of common sense are to be
I stormed and captured—the thoughts, the sensibilities,
the commerce of the country are to be put every
Sin the
seventh t
name da y
of the G
undertr padlock.oDof w
And alalthisis too
obe doneess
in the name of the GOD of Humanity and Chris•
tianity ! Men may be ruined by this intermittent
stoppage of the national circulation : no matter—we
shall be spared from the sin of Sunday-stamped
envelopes. The nobler and gentler feelings of our
common nature may be violated : no matter—we
shall be shielded from the crime of a Sunday-stuck
Qt en's head." The ordonnations of a beneficent