The Sun.
London, England, 1858-07-23 00:00:00

THE SUN,

with complete success, and the forts were captured i
with comparatively trifling loss on our side. The
Chinese, it is said, " stood to their guns very
fairly," which greatly enhances the triumph so
nobly achieved. On the 22d May the force had
commenced advancing up the ricer, the weather
being cool and the squadron in excellent spirits.
It was announced that 6,000 French troops, ori-
ginally destined for Cochin-China, where they
were about to exact vengeance for the murder of
some French missionaries, were on their way to
the Gulf of Pechelee. We fear, however, that
the news is too good to be true, and that GOO will
be found nearer the mark than 6,000.
At Canton there was an unsuccessful attempt
to rout some "braves" (!) who had established
themselves in the mountains. It will be nece3sary
to await the details before any definite opinion
can be formed respecting the operation. Ning
Poo is in the possession of the rebels, and the
English merchants are on board her MAJESTY'S
ship Surprise. This, however, may not be in any
degree injurious to British interests.
The intelligence, on the whole, is very satisfac-
tory, although we must await more precise parti-
lars respecting the affray in the neighbourhood of
Canton before it can be deemed entirely so.

Nothing could be more completely satisfactory
than the answer of the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer, in reference to the state of the public
revenue, in answer to the captious challenge of
Sir G. C. LEWIS. The ex-reviewer attempted t(
show that the Right Hon. Gentleman had beet
mistaken in his facts and figures, and also that
the task he had before him was not so difficult
as might have been supposed, considering that
the Exchequer Bonds were not to be renewed, awl
the 1,500,000/. sinking fund abolished. He
was manifestly jealous at the fame of one who
had so comr lately cast his own pretensions into
the shade. He endeavoured therefore to show
that the estimates were exceeded, and that certain
unappropriated balances were made available.
Although there could be no doubt as to the
animus with which these matters were brought
forward, we fed obliged to Sir G. C. LEWIS foi
eliciting so triumphant and satisfactory an answer
from the Financial Minister. He was indeed like
TROILUS in the hands of PELIDES---

" Iptelix peer atlue impar congressus Achiai."
As our Transatlantic brethren would say, " pow
Corny vas most catawampously chawed up,
less than no time." Mr. Disp.A.ELI admitted that
the estimates ware slightly exceeded, but have we
nothad third, aye even fourth Whig budgets within
the same year, and when has it occurred, that at

the expiration of a quarter of a year or more, the
expenditure has been found exactly that which
was calculated on in the financial statement? Sit
G. C. LEWIS should have been the list to lug
stones, considering the fragile nature of the crystal
mansions dwelt in by Whig financiers.
But if the estimates were slightly exceeded--lnd
the existing state of affairs, combined with thL
circumstances that have occurred since the open-
ing of the Budget, would have justified a fai
greater discrepancy—it is satisfactory to know
that the revenue, up to the present time, has alt.<

exceeded the cAimate ; and that, if Mr. DISRAELI
were, according to Whig practice, to bring forward
even a second Budget, he would take it at a much
higher figure than he then adopted. The revenue
during the first quarter has been 223,0001. more
than he had calculated on. But this by no means
shows the extent of the improvement. The in-
crease on the first 18 days of the present quarter,
on the four great branches of revenue, as compared
with the receipts during the corresponding period
last year, is no less than 364,0001. So far, then;
from there being a probable deficiency, as Sir G.
C. LEWIS attempted to imply', it is probable
that it may not be necessary t) renew
1,000,0001. of the Exchequer•bonds, the non-
payment whereof so greatly annoyed Sir G.
C. LEWIS• Everything now looks well. The
prospects of peace are far greater than they were
six months since. The temperate but firm con-
duct of Foreign Affairs, in which bullying and
truckling are alike eschewed, has raised the
national character abroad ; while the judicious
administration of the finances has promoted domes-
tic prosperity. The explanations given by Mr.
DISRAELI will give unqualified satisfaction to
every person interested in the welfare of the
people.

However the long-vexed Question of the Main
Drainage of London may be ultimately settled
there can be very little doubt of it, that we have
already arrived at the beginning of the end of
that extremely foolish and disgusting system h.lp-
pily designated by a writer in household Words—

"Dirty Cloanlinos!." The nuis tuce liAs grown to

be one so utterly and irredeemably monstrou3 thai
we have all agreed to get rid of it, literally, "al
any coat," and, also literally, neinine contradieente.

Parliament will be glad to pass any memuren giv.

ing the two I:louses a reasonable hope of cleansing
s 9 obnoxious a neighbour. The Government have,
frankly 'Anted themselves to " their" part in the
Herculea.u, Aegean, Stygian task of purification.

The Select Committee-naeu have seated themselves
heroically upon the brink of the infected flood,

stopping their noses with scented handkerchiefs,
and only occasionally taking flight from the scene
of their martyrdom when driven from it perforce
by some prenaturally odioas whiff of the tainted
atmosphere. They have cautiously examined their
witnesses one by one, scientific and non-Scientific.
They have drawee up their report, and hid it be-
fore Mr. Speaker. Authorities are vouchsafed
to Mr. THWAITE3 and his associates that they
never dream of, even in moments to them the
most auspicious. There is, evidently, on all
hands, no lack of willingness to do what
has obviously become to every one absolutely
requisite. Namely, to cleanse that natu-
rally beautiful, but artificially abominable
river, The Thames :—no longer a stream that can
be called, even metaphorically, what it actually
was once, viz , The Silent Highway—a ludicrous
misnomer nowadays, now that the whole current,
from Battersea downwards to the Channel, abso-
lutely Smells Aloud !
But, How is the work to be accomplished ?
That still remains—like ranch of the contamina-
tion of the Thames—a problem fur solution.
How—" that is the question." By embankments
on the Surrey side and the Middlesex, affording
the probability of a good "scour" at the ebb tide ?
By systematic deodorization ? By a careful sepa-
ration of the solid and liquid portions of the
sewage? By the wholesale conveyance of that
sewage, through a subterranean channel, from the
direction of the river far away to the coast line—
beyond the chance of detriment to the metropolis
either through accumulations or exhalations?
By constructing a grand ship canal, as proposed
by Admiral SARTORIUS, from a part of the coast
midway between Pottansouth and Southampton,
so as to ensure a more thorough scour of the
stream than could possibly result from the mere
formation of artificial gravel embankments ?
The choice presented is certainly ample
enough. Ono thing or the other must bes
done. Why not adve,Auro upon sovcral
of thee,' piuitilr.anvously : Ia tai, visa ;-'•••lt't us

direct the flow of the sewage altogether from.
the Thames into an unseen channel, a subter-
ranean cloaca maxi►na—let us at the same time
beautify the capital and improve the river by the
construction of these long-talked-of embankments
—let us yet more derive all the advantages certain
to acrue from it when completed, from the foima-
tion of the ship canal already particularised. As
things are at present, it is worse •than simply
ridiculous to talk of adorning the capital of the
British Empire—so long, that is to say, as its
teeming population continues to be bisected by a
monstrous open sewer washing backwards and
forwards with the tide under bridges, than which
the rest of the great cities of the world possess
none more eminently noble and beautiful. Pro-
perly arranged, there is positively no reason what-
ever why the water of the Thames should not be
as pellucid and translucent at llungerford or at
Billingsgate, than at Mortlake and Twickenham.
With our engineering skill, our energy as a people,
our wealth as a trading community, and our apti-
tude for combination and organisation, the
Chames may, in two or three years, be cleansed
,horoughly and permanently. Let us do it—
. _ uosk what it may-3,000,0001.-5,000,0001.—
nay, if it be requisite, 10,000,000/. !

We would call the attention of Lord STANLEY
,o the facts detailed in a papor we extract from
he Friend of India, of the 31 of June, on the

sale of girls of seven years of age, confessedly for
,he purpose of prostitution. Of the fact, and of
the nefarious intentions of the parties, there is not
I, shadow of doubt. The evidence is the docu-
nents of sale registered in the C3mpany's Courts,
4n d the candid confessions of the guilty patties,
vho, it appears, almost assume the air of injured
;nnocence, so regular and legal do they consider
he practice to be. indeed there seems to be ac-
ually some doubt whether the law may not be iu
favour of these wretches ; and whether it may
not be found that the " Old Regulations" do not
;)37 implication legalise domestic slavery. They
Ln-ohibit only the " hawking of slaves for sale,"
Lnd their "exportation," which seems, certainly,
;o imply the lawfulness of sale at home and
otherwise than by hawking them. An Act of
1843, "orders that slavery be ignored, and that
it be no plea in a court of justice, but it does not
render it a penal act." Th© Mahommedan law,
indeed, which, it appears, must be resorted to in
this case, explicitly prohibits the sale of free-
'eorn children ; but, the officer accused contends
rite, it is no sale, but a lease for ninety years,
which ho has registered, and such the deeds regie-
'ered in our courts are, in point of form, although
he consideration for the lease of ninety years of
I. girl seven years old is about five-and-twenty
shillings paid in cash. M. REGIS, the Governor-
General of Cube, and American slavoholders
vould doubtless be well satisfied with such leases.
The terms of one lease are given. They will
astonish all Englishmen ; and the astonishment
will hardly bo less that such leases should
have been numerously registerel in our
courts, for the last twenty years at
least, without the knowledge of English judges or
officials. A father, a Mahommedan, named
Cauyn, " agrees to farm out his daughter to a
brothel-keeper, named MUSSITIIIIT AMEERITN, for
winety years, in consideration of Rs. 12-8,
received in cash ;" she may exact any kind of
,ervice from the girl, for which she engages to
keep her in food and clothing. And children
born to her, male or female, are to be the lessee's
property for ever. These aro the particulars of a-
deed guaranteed by the stamp of the Eat India
Company, and enforced by its omnipotency ! A
deed which, as the Editor of the Friend of India
truly observes, would " in any European country
bring the contracting parties in danger of
Lynch Law." Mr. Toocoon, the magistrate,
,vho made the discovery, is exerting himsel
,vith the utmost z.ai iu this disgraceful business,
eat so wedded to technicality is the Civil Service
f India, that he -may be defeated in point of law.
It is therefore every way desirable that the Home
lovernment should at once and authoritatively

interfere.
The Editor of the Friend of India wants " ten
words in Parliament." He is right enough.
Neither theold Directors nor the new Council would
dare refuse for a monsAnt to promim immediate
Action ; but we an confident that Lord STANLEY,
if appealed to, will engage to use the full powers
conferred on him by the old Act or the
new one to put down the horrible slavery now
brought to light. It is as had as anything in
American slavery in regard to the poor girls ; in
regard to the fathers worse. Of that, however,
on second thoughts, we are by no means sure.
['here must be innumerable daughters sold by
American fathers for the same brutal purpose ;
not the less their daughters because they hold
their mothers as property, and because they are a
shade darker in complexion than themselves.