The Sun.
London, England, 1859-11-01 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENINUG, NOVEMBER 1, 1859;

BRITISII COLUMBIA.

(Frs.

-4--

VICTOUIA,VANCOU'VEIt
Matters remain in the island of San .Tuan in much
the same state as reported in my last lener. The
force is 700 strong. The troops are fortifying them-
selves, and supplies continue to be sent to the island.
Public opinion among Americans has modified of
late. Moderate men now admit the impropriety of
(;en. ITarney's measurc-;, and ONCtre tilem on the
ground ;deur, th-at be has " made an
-will hasten the settlement of the boundary ques-
tion." The General's own officers do not scruple to
express their opinions of his folly ; and do not doubt
that the English Government will make the with-
drawal of the AMerican forces a preliminary to the
r:sumption of the discussion of the question of title
to the island, nor that the Ministry of Washington
will order the General to recede from the false posi-
tion in which his reckless and discourteous acts
save placed hid own Government.
The fact is, this General,lilie many Americans of
his day and generation, who have passed most of
their time in the backwoods and beyond the pale of
civilisation, haVe very crude and incorrect notions
of England's strength and determination. He is one
of those who never renounce the prejudices of boy-
hood, and who retain the early impressions made
upon their minds by their "readings" at school.
Hence his temerity.

D, SZP2. 15.

e

Of this I am quite convinced, that, however vehe-
ment the bluster of the newspapers may be, the last
thing the Americans would wish would be a war
with England for an Uand that is not of the
slightest value to them, except for purposes of ag-
gression against us; or for a right of navigation of
a channel (the Canal de Haro) of which, if they had
it, they could not make an exclusive 1.13 e, for the
very good reason that it does not lead directly to
their possessions on the mainland, and is not con•
venient, the direct approach to which is by the
other channel (the Strait of Vancouver or Rosario),
which we assert to be the boundary between the two
countries.

Our reasons for insisting on our rights, at all
hazards, are, however, very different.
The treaty gives us the line we claim, and the
Canal de Haro, which is within or on the British
side of the boundary so given to England by the
treaty, is the highway to British Columbia and to
its coast, of many hundreds of miles in extent,
which is now showing itself to be rich in minerals
and other pmduets of the highest value. To de-
prive us of this approach by water would be to for-
bid us to de velopc the resources and to enjoy the
advantages of our possession of a country far
more extensive and richer than France• To ask
us to submit to so great a sacrifice is presuming
upon our good nature rather too much.
The British subjects in this part of the world
have not bated one jot of their indignation at the
military occupation, of their contempt for the rea-
sons trumped up to justify it, nor of their convic-
tions of our title to our claim, nor of their keen in-
terest in the boundary question, nor of their anxiety
to learn the determination of the Home Govern-
ment. A representation embracing these views,
numerously signed by the principal landowners
and other British subjects in the colony, is trans-
mitted through the Governor to the Home Govern-
ment by this mail.

I suppose the joint commission for settling the
boundary is now terminated by the aggressive ac-
tion of Gen. Harney, which has infringed the neu-
trality of the disputed territory. If so I would ear-
nestly suggest that the proceeding; had under the
commission be published withont delay. This step
is imperatively called for, if fur no other reason than
that garbled, partial, unfair, and inaccurate state-
ments of these proceedings ha:•e been published in
the local American newspapers: Charges of dupli-
city are brought against the English Government ;
such as that they supplied the British commissioner
with a double set of instructions, which formed a
bar to the equitable settlement of the question at
issue. These and similar charges should be refuted
promptly by the publication of the facts. The more
thero:7.7.hly the question is discussed on its merits
the bettor will our case appear. The facts once
known must carry conviction of the justice of our

Tne San Francisco papon; 4ro pnbli3M7,B-
- of misreprecnta.tion, some of them know-
ingly, but others upon false information supplied
from this quarter. The British public should be
fully informed upon the matter of the diipute be-

13S an

fore more complicatio
Filiibustt r principles and practices are already
developing themselves. The mpiattcrs on `;.ln Juan
are shooting one another in disputes about "town
lots," under the guns of the "army of occupation."
This is the normal state of such enterprises,—the
robbers quarrelling over their booty. What a com-
mentary on " free institutions
I must again advert to the evils of our land sp.
tem of which I spoke in my last letter. We arc
losing our. bone and sinew by reason of the vices,
of the system. The evils are too high a price and
waiting for surveys. Let the price be reduced, and
in some eases free grants made.; and let men occupy
at once, without being kept waiting for surveys
until their means and patience are exhausted. Let
the surveys follow occupation. If a farmer's lines
are wrong he alone suffers.
The Governor has just passed a law to regulate
the working of the gold mines and the s tle of water
for mining purposes in British Columbia and Queen
Charlotte's Island.

This measure is one of such importance to the
chief interest in the country that I am induced to
give an abstract of its provisions, for the informa-
tion of persons intending to immigrate.
Instead of £1 a month license fee, as formerly
imposed, the miner has now to pay only £1 a year,
and this payment confers upon him the right to
enter and mine upon any auriferous land in the
country" not pre-occupied.

When a miner selects his " claim" he is to register
the same at the office of the Gold Commissioner of
his district, which registration shall be valid for one,
but must be renewed at the end of each yvzr. The
registration gives the miner the exclusive right to
the soil and gold of his " claim" while he continues
to work it. Each registration costs 4s. This pay-
ment and the 20s. a year are the only dues, im-
posts, or taxes to which a miner, as such, is liable.
In cases of disputed title priority of registration
rules.

The Gold Commissioners are to keep exact re-
cords of the "claims" registered, are to nyzke out
every quarter lists of the. regi-tered miners to be
posted :51 the districts, and all the registers and lists
are to be open to the inspection of the public in
the onttnissioners' offices gratis, for the security
and information of the miners.

Power is given to.tire miners themselves to form
Mining Boards from among their 'awn communities,
to consist of a number of members not less than six,
nor more than 12, according to the amount of the
miningpoTriation a each district. These Boards
are inTested with power to make bylaws for regu-
lating the size of " claims" and of canals for sup-
plying the mines with water; the mole in which
mining "claims" may be registered, worked, itch!,
and forfeited ; and to regulate and order all other
matters relating to minis; in their several districts,
subject. to the Gover?cor's approval, who is to be
always kept furnished with information on all
mining matters by the Cold . Commissioners. The
bylaws of the-Mining Boards, when not contrary to
the statute or common law, or to natural equity,
shall be hell a, " goo:1 local law," and shall be ad-
mitted in evi,h‘nce in the erdinary tribunals in
British Columbia.

As a general rule, the 5;7..,3 of " ci;11,1 ." in the
various `owllm not estal;;.i.:hed by the
;ardq, shall in. for "bar (Id., * • •
“
;-ng--; 25 feet
in width at hig'i2st water-roar c, ancl t hence extend-
ing do,.vn into `Le liver indefinitely ; for "dry '
dig_
crir•n„. "0; (-) :1'0 l'eet ; for "ravine di;gingi" 25 fie!
along the ed of the ravine, and extending up to
the top of each bank thereof,
The first discoverers of a new mine when they
consist of not more than two men shall be entitled
to a double "claim." When they arc three in num-
ber they shall have five "claims" between them
(collectively), anr! when they are four or more in
number they shall be entitled to a claim and a-half
each, the sizeof such
" ci
enterpriie being• " given as rewards
conformable to that of the

stablished size of " c_
nearest, to the discovery.
There are other privilegc3 conferred on the ml: ers
to give theai an interest in the country and to ren-
der their lives comfortable.

aims" in the mine or digging

Every miner shall be entitled to the occupation
of a space of land not to exceed five acres, rent free,
for a garden and residence; and it is made the duty
of the Gold Commissioners to mark out such land at
the miner's request. For this service 10s. is to be
pail for the use of the Crown.
Traders, shopkeepers, eating-house keepers, &c.,
in the diggings are also entitled to a plot of land
for a house and garden not exceeding one acre each,
to be held and enjoyed with the crops thereon so
long as they shall pay the license duty imposed on
their businees ; but all auriferous land so allocated
near.a mine may be resumed by the Crown on six
months' notice, if required for mining purposes. All
other interests, while fully protected, are in a man-
ner made subservient to the mining interest.
The Gold Commissioners are to be paid by sala-
ries, and must never accept fees.
To prevent litigation, all mining disputes may be
decided by the Gold Comrnisai mers without limit
in value, except in cases of partnerships, where
the capital is aisovo £2OO. Appeals in serious cases
reserved to the law courts; and the forms of pro-
ceedings in all cases made very simple and freed
from all verbiage and technicality. The Gold Com-
missioners have power also to abate encroachments
in a summary manner, so that the weak shall not
be kept out of their rights by the strong or rich
during the pendency of a long litigation.
The above rules or laws apply to the interests in-
volved in the class of mining, known as " placer"
or surface diggings, emphatically to " the diggings."
To encourage the combination of labour and capi-
tal in " diggings," which, in many localities is es-
sential to the profitable working of the " placers,"
it is provided that mining " leases may be granted
for such term of years, upon such conditions as to
rent and the mode of working, and as to any water
privileges connected therewith, and otherwise in
each case, as shall be deemed expedient by the
Governor ;" and, judging by the interest which
he has taken in the affairs of British Colum-
bia hitherto, there can be no doubt that he would
act in a spirit of justice and liberality in the case of
mining leases sought by industrious miners, or by
companies composed of such, or of others who would
invest capital in the operation. The Governor has
laid. it down as a general principle, however, in his
rules and regulations for the working of gold mines,
issued in conformity with the Act which I have
been abstracting, that—
" In general, leases v,ill not be granted for a
longer term than 10 years, or for a larger space
than 10 acres of alluvial soil (meaning dry dig-
gings'), or half a mile in length of unworked quartz
reef, or a mile and a half in length of quartz, with
liberty to follow the spurs, dips, and angles on and
within the surface for 200 feet on each side of the
main lead or seam ; or in bar diggings' half a mile
in length along the high water mark; or a mile and
a half in length along the high water mark where
the saute shall have been attempted and abandoned
by individual claim-workers."
Further, in general no such leases will be granted
of land immediately available for being worked by
miners as holders of individual claims, nor will any
leases be given of land in the occupation of miners
except with their consent. In short, every encou-
ragement, security, and protection are first given
to the individual miner, and it is desired that he
be supplied with mining ground before capitalists
can come in competition with him.
I have been so particular in giving the law re-
specting the future occupation of mineral land in
quantity to be worked by associated capital, because
vast sums are invested in mining com,anies engaged
in similar enterprises in California, and because
I do not doubt that English capital will be directed
in similar undertakings to British Coluthbia. I may
add that in the latter country there is auriferous
land and room enough for all the individual miners
and for all the associated capitalists who may come
or send to try their luck.
Provision is made for quartz mining by machi-

nery. This part of the law is defective ; but as no
quartz mines have bun opened as yet, the faulti-
nees of the provision is of no importance. 11 this
branch of mining is developed, suitable rules will
be rnado for carrying it on.

There is another very important enterprise con-
nected with, and essential to, mining—that is, sup-
plying the miners with water by artificial means.
This industry is also encouraged and protected, on
the owe ;:r of a " water-ditch" or canal paying a rent
(-Zone day's average receipts from the sale of the
water per month. In case of dispute as tG the daily
receipts, to estimate the monthly rent, the matter is
to be decided by the Gold Commissioner, with the
assistance of a jury, if he shall so think fit.

Miners are a class of men so difficult to please by
reason of the excitability of temperament induced
by the gambling character of their occupation that
I cannot venture to predict the effect of this law
upon them. That a code was called for there is no
doubt. The want of a general law on mining in
California, I know, was injurious to the interests of
the miners in that country. I trust the present
measure will have the effect of-preventing many of
the evils I saw there—bad feeling, injustice, blood•
shed, oppression, and litigation. Its success in
Columbia must depend mainly 'upon the
good sense, discretion, and management of the Gold
Commissioners, to whom great powers of interfer-
ence for the protection of the rights of the miners
are given. I don't see how this could well be
avoided without leaving the miners a prey to liti-
gation from continual disputes. If wisely worked,
the Act will be a boon to the miners and canal
owners of British Columbia.

The Governor and Colonel Moody proceed to
British Columbia to-morrow.

The mines continue to produce a satisfuetory
yield of gold. Such miners as abandon good pay-
ing diggings for reported richer ones generally fail
and give a bad name to the mining country. The
" wanderings" of a body of miners who went from
the lower part of Fraser 's River to T'ort Alexander
in New Caledonia, several hundred miles off, are
likely to cud in disappointment. A party which went
to Queen Charlotte's Island lately have also re
turned. Some of the adventurers saying there is
tin gold on the island—others, that the party did not
prospect" sufficiently—and seine asserting that the
country is rich and showing gold in proof of their
assertion. As to British Columbia, I have irrefra-
gible proof in the qw.ntity of gold exported, in the
revenue collected, and inthe merchandise consumed,
that the individual miner earns much more than
was ever earned in California or Australia.

Her Majesty's ship Ganges, with Admiral Baynes
on board, is here ; so is the Pylades, Captain de
Courcy, returned a week ago from San Francisco;
and the Tribune, Captain Hornby. The Satellite,
Captain Prevost, is at Sun Juan, and the Plumper,
Captain Richards, is surveying, Lut will be in port
to-morrow. All these men of war will remain here
until we Imo .v the determination of the Govern-
ment on the San Juan outrage.

!Yesterday a sailing vessel from China brought us
terrible news of our defeat at the mouth of the
Peino-47 days' passage.

fADVFMTISEMENT.I—The salutary effect of Du Barry's
lelicious Itevalenta Arabica Food in removing indigestion
(41ysp,:psia), flatulency, constipation, nervous, bilious, and
liver complaints, emr,;h, aF;them, consumption and debility,
without medicine, is admirably displayed by 'the following
letters :—" ltidlintlonit,),ctory, Norfolk, Jun; 10, 1350.
No. 4,2oB.—Eight years dyspepsia, nervousness, debility.
with cramps, spasms, and nausea, for which my servant had
c.):1- '.' -.1 the advice, of many have been. effectually removed
!,,- 1; 1 1;.,i-ry's hcalth-r6storing Fool. I shall be happy to
an ;'.;:',..:w inviries.--IZev. J. NV. 1,1:well." " Bury, Lan-
cwillico, Aug. 17, 1A51. Gentlemen ,--For a considerable
time I havo'macred severely front a vithiit pain in my la'
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sensation of hearthurn, and other disagyceable symptoms of
dyspepsia. Varioui remedies, alleged infallible, were tried
in vain, and for a long time I wee never 21 hours without
violent pain; indeed, I eras unlit for the performance of my
daily duties. I Wrt.,4 induced to try your food. In less than
;In hour I brand relief, and my recovery was very rapid.
The duties wlah previously had been an intolerabb
burden, became a deligittfal ev..,reise, and I have since
:Lecomplisbed more labour with le:.: fatigue than
I ever expected to be able to perform. I have
never had a retturn of my complaint.-1). Thomas."
In tins, at Is. Gd. ; lib., 35.; 21b., ss. Od.; 51b., 125.; 121 b..
265. The 10Ib. and 121 b. tins carriage free, on receipt of post-
Dflize order. Du Barry and 7, Regent-street, Loudon'
C0.,j.52, Piccadilly;-- Abbi;, 60,
Fortnum, Mason, and Co.,
Gra,.'o ;Lurch-street ; 4, Cheapside ; 63, and 150, Oxford-
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and Thew • at Manchester, Sharp and
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at Liverpool, Nixon
.a . , , , d Cc.;S utb-
L au- at (~
amptOnj rtariclitil awl Sum
Itznans, blaaQuar,: ,
Scott; at York,

LORD B_ROUGHA AT .NEWCASTLE-I

ON-TYNE.

4-

NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE, Oct. 29.

The long-expected visit of Lord Brougham to
this town took place last night, and he addressed
the largest and most brilliant assembly ever held in
the town. -
Dr. HEADLAM, a venerable-looking old gentle-
man, apparently about the same age as Lord Broug-
hamewho has been associated with public life in
Newcastle during the principal .part of the last half
century, and who was one of the leaders of the great
Reform party at the time of the Reform Bill, having
presented an address to his lordship,
Lord Buotemam rose to reply, and was received
with great cheering. His lordship said,—l need
hardly assure you that I receive this address, pre-
faced as it is by the kind—far too kind—statement
of my excellent friend Dr. Headlam, with the
greatest possible gratitude. (Applause.) I have
been in the neighbouring county of York, and I
have lately been also in the sister kingdom—if we
may co call it—of Scotland ; and I have been every-
where, no doubt, to thank my fellow-citizens for
the kind, the more than kind, the
.affectionate re-
ception which I have met with—(applause)—not
only from my old constituency in Yorkshire, not
only from my old friends Who have survived in
Edinburgh, but in all parts of the country. Even
in those places through which 1 passed to-day I
have received addresses, kind addresses, from the
inhabitants of those different towns. (Applause.)
When I consider this conduct of my fellow-citi-
zens, and when I see this immense meeting—the
greatest by far that I ever had the happiness
of attending—(cheers)—and when I reflect
on the comparatively feeble services which I have
rendered, and which have obtained for me their
grateful thanks, their expressions of kindness and
affection, I cannot help saying with Dr. Paley, " It
is a happy world, after all." (Loud cheers.) In
discussing the great question, long agitated, diffi-
cult to settle, if it can be settled, of the origin of
evil, and proclaiming on the one hand the evil with
which humanity is beset, and on the other hand
the greater kindness which the benevolence, the
infinite benevolence, of the Deity provides for us,
he concluded by saying, " It is a happy world.
after all." (Loud applause.) The subject that calls
us together this evening, of mechanics' institutions
—sometimes called mechanics' institutes, but more
properly, for it is a more English phrase, mechanics'
institutions—has been adverted to by my excellent
friend on my right hand (Dr. Ileadlam.) I have
one exception to make to his statement about
it, and only one. He talked of my lamented
friend and his fellow-student, George Birkbeck, as
being a fellow-labourer with us. He was the author
of mechanics' institutions. (Loud applause.) We
seconded him, no more. We laboured as hard as we
could, but lie began it. He began it 20 years before
he established it in London. lle began it at Glas-
gow, where lie delivered a course of lectures to
working men. (Applause.) This was the origin
of mechanics' institutions. lle feet.' transferred it
to London for the sake of greater extension, and as
being a more important plrce for large support.
He it was that propounded it in London also, and
not only proposed it and furthered it, but spent
large sums of money upon it, which I am sorry to
say his family have never been repaid. (Hear.) I
hope and trust they will be repaid ; but these were
the services of Dr. Birkbeck, and he it is that we
must calr and always treat as the founder of me-
chanics' institutes. (Applause.) He laboured, we
seconded him, no doubt, according to our means in
our different capacities. We were his fellow-la-
bourers, but he was the first and the originator of
this great step in social progress. (Applause.) It
has been justly said that there hasbeen the greatest
possible improvement in these institutions since this
association began its labours. For instance, you
have marked the statements of my friend your se-
cretary. 11 years ago how many members wire there
of these institutions, of the various kinds of me-
chanics' institutions and apprentice libraries and
reading-rooms ? Five-and-twenty hundred 11 years
ago; now there are B,ooo—(hear)—no little increase
in the comparatively short period of 11 years. How
many hooka were there in the library at floe be-
ginning of that period? Eight-and-thirty thou-
sand—no inconsiderable number—enough to en-
courage hope, and enough to stimulate to further
exertion. Accordingly to further exertion they
weee stimulated. They were encouraged; and now,
instead of eight-and-thirty thousand, 85,000 is the
number of the books in the library. (Applause.)
Now, I entirely agree with my hon. friend—one of
your members who last addressed you—in his re-
marks upon what those libraries ought to be ; and
he used a most happy expression, which I heard
to-night for the first time, that books ought to be a
man's companions as well as his teachers. (1 Lear.)
And in their society lie ought sometimes to obtain
information, sometimes to be set a-thinking, and
pondering, and therefore increase his wisdom ; but
aornctimca, aloo, to obtain relaxation, iur Lheae ni e
the various qualities which society possesses, and
these are the various goods which social intercourse
bestows, partly to instruct, by the communication,
the mutual communication, of intelligence ; partly
to instruct by the mutual communication of infor-
mation in matter of fact ; but also partly.to relax,
after the severity of the labours of the day, in
harmless and even wholesbme amusement. (Ap-
plause.) • I therefore entirely agree with my hon.
friend in condemning that error—l won't call it
rigorous or puritanical, because I don't choose to
call names—of those who maintain that no work of
fiction is fit to find a place in those libraries. (Loud
applause.) My hon. friend instanced various books,
works of fiction, but he might have instanced the
greater part of poetry. Shall poetry be excluded
from all access to these libraries. Shall working-
men, and others of the class above the working

class, not relax their minds by reading the works'of
Dryden, and Pope, and, Milton ? Why, these are
relaxations of the most refined order, and also
wholesome to the mind, in producing right trains
of thought, and producing right moral principles.
(Applause.) I would except, as Mr. Ridley ex-
cepted, all works of a pernicious tendency; but there
is no occasion to make any exception: This speaks
for itself; but the innocent amusement to be ob,
tained and the innocent relaxation—and the more
than innocent, the wholesome and useful relaxation
—to be obtained from works of fiction, which there•
fore must be from their nature innocent, from their
nature good, from their nature wholesome, the read-
ing community of all orders, from the humblest to
the highest, ought to enjoy. (Applause) Much has
been said by both my hon. friends your nmbers,
Mr. Headlam as well as Mr. Ridley, of mechanics'
institutions being supposed not to embrace those
classes for whom they were primarily and chiefly
intended ; and it is quite true, as Mr. Headlam ob-
served, that if they do not reach those classes, it is
the fault in the construction of their rules, and in
the management and adthinistration of their affairs.
(Hear, hear.) Now, this association has lately, I
am very sorry to find—l was not aware of it till
to-night—excluded the two counties with which I
am more particularly connected, Cumberland and
Westmoreland ; and also I think Yorkshire was
mentioned as having originally formed part of the
scheme, but that it is now confined to the two coun-
ties of Northumberland and Durham. In Cumber-
land, particularly at Carlisle, we found at one time
that there was a difficulty in obtaining the concur-
rence and active practical support of the working
classes. My excellent friend, Dr. Elliott, I think
it was, and one or two of his friends, of whom he
was the chief, first su,-,gested that in order to insure
the confidence of these classes, the hest course
would be 1-6- confine the council and .committee of
management entirely to these classes. (Applause.)
A rule was laid down that no person .should be a
member of the council who did not live by weekly
wages. (Applause.) The consequence of this was
immense. At once the rooms were filled. The rea&
ing-rooms, which before had been deserted, were
immediately filled, and ever since that they have
hcen the favourite resort of the working classes.
So it has been at Kendal and at Manchester, and

at other places ; some of them in the county
of Northumberland, whet c the Carlisle rule was
adopted. It is chiefly applicable to reading-rooms
and libraries. There are some difficulties in apply-
ing it to mechanics' institutions which are support( d
by lectures ; but to libraries and reading-rooms of
all descriptions the rule has been most successfully
applied. I should say applied with unvarying suc-
cess. As I said before, they have become favourites
of those classes, and rivals—successful rivalsof
other rooms—(applause)—not private rooms, but
public rooms—(laughter and applause)—where not
books, not journals nor newspapers arc to be found
—at least if they are found, in very small propor-
tions are they found ; but something else, which I
will not name, is to be found, and is distributed to
who can afflrd to rob their wives and children
of pence, in order to gratify themselves, and winch,
I am sorry to say, has not,the effect of greatly im-
proving them. (Loud applause.) it has neither the
effect of instructing nor of amusing, nor of keeping
in good order the thoughts and the feelings and the
passions ; but if I were to say that the distribution
i of this matter rather has the vely opposite eifoet—
(hear, hear)—l should not by any means be guilty
of exaggeration. These public roams to which 1
ecier, the reading-rooms and apprentice lila. tric s of
these institutions, which have adopted the Carlisle
rule, have been found formidable, and not only for
midahle, but successful, triumphant rivals. (Loud
applause.) I have often had occasion to state my
opinions to the working classes upon some 'mints in
their conduct which deserved consideration, and the
remark': which I have occasionally been lcd to make
arc not applicable to the working classes alone, b 4
are equally applicable to all classes of society-10
the middle ranks, to the higher ranks, and to the

highest ranks ; but to the working classes their
applicability is peculiar. Now, one of those maxims
that I have taken leave on various occasions of this
sort to lay down is the great economy of time. I
consider time is the Working man's currency.
(Hear, hear.) His capital is his industry, his
knowledge, his skill, his experience. I compare his
time to a kind of currency, and then I apply to
that currency the maxim applied to common cur-
rency, "Take care of the pence, and the pounds
will take care of themselves." (Hear, hear.) Take
care of the minutes, and the hours will take care of
themselves. (Applause.) Another maxim I have
occasionally referred to applies to all business, and
to men of business of all kinds. Never put off till
to-morrow what you can do to-day (applause), and
I once or twice have mentioned an exception—a
very glaring exception—which I know to this rule
in a very old friend of mine who is now no more—
-1 mean the late Princerralleyrand—who went upon
the opposite principle of never doing to-clay what
you can put off till to-morrow (laughter), and he
sometimes, as an apology for the promulgation of
this doctrine, used to give two or three instances,
culled from many, I have no doubt, in which his
doctrine had failed, in which, having been called on
to answer a despatch or answer some application,
he, when his secretary said, "had he not better
answer it to-day ?it came yesterday," said, "No,
no, put it off for a day or two ;" and ha waited three
or four days, and then came an account which
showed that no answer was required—that the
thing was done. (Laughter.) But these were ex-
ceptions—these were mere casual exceptions; and
the general rule I hold to be quite against the
Prince, though his experience and his talents were
no doubt very great, and that you should never
put off till to-morrow what you can do to-day.
(Applause) Perhaps you would rather think me
encroaching upon your time and upon the province
of my rev. friend, your worthy vicar, if I were to
make any further reference to those practical rules ;
but, as we are upon a practical subject, and among
practical men, I will take this course. Another
maxim, which I took occasion to mention to my
excellent friend, Mr. Cowen, on our way here,
when we were speaking of the railway to-morrow,
was, that it is always better to be a quarter of an
hour too early than a quarter of a minute too late.
(Applause and laughter.) Now this is a very im-
portant rule; and •it implies a principle of the
greatest passible moment : it is that you should
always anticipate the effects of ignorance—not
wait till you are a sufferer by ignorance—(hear,
hear)—not wait till you find harm done to you by
your want of information, or your want of skill, or
imperfect experience. It is too late then. Fools
are taught by experience : wise men by observa-
tion and reflection. (Applause.) The fool waits
till he feels the loss of what he ought to have
secured; and he suars that which he might have
prevented, if he had taken the proper time to
obtain the information. So it is in all matters.
The want of preparation—the delaying the proper
time, the fit time, till it is too late, when the effects
of the want have begun to be felt, this is the greatest
mischief that can happen, for then the remedy comes
too late. The. mischief's done; and this applies
to all sorts of pursuits—in peace, in trade, in the
matter of health, in war as well as in peace. If
you wait till you are attacked, and begin then to
defend yourselves, it is too late—you ought to have
defended yourselves, you ought to have prepared
your defence, before you were attacked. (Applause.)
Thu greatest orator of antiquity—the greatest
orator who ever appeared in the world, tells the
Athenians " Why, you are doing as the barbarians
do : they too light ; they too attack ; they too give
blows, but they wait till they are struck ; and after
they are struck, they put forth their strength, and
return the blows, and it is too late. Provide your
defences ; make your attack ; but make it before
you are attacked yourselves, then your defence is of
some use ; afterwards it comes too late." Though I
am digressing for a single moment from the sub-
ject of our present meeting, I hold this to be the
true wisdom of this country at the present time.
(Applause.) I hope and trust that from one end of
the island to the other the people of this country
feel that they have no reason to distrust our neigh-
bours ; on the contrary, that they trust their neigh-
bours, but they trust themselves more—(applause)
—and that, without any distrust either of our
neighbours or of ourselves, it is our business, at all
events, to be so prepared and so well defended as
to make attack not only impossible to succeed, but
impossible to be made. (Cheers.) On this subject
I have given you an illustration of the homely
maxim I set out with, stating that it is better to-be
a quarter of an hour too early than a quarter of a
minute too late. (Applause.) It is better to de-
fold yourselves even before it is absolutely neces-
sary, because if yonwait till it necessarily comes
your defcnce will conic too late. Allow me once
more to return you my most hearty thanks for the
kind reception which I have met with among you. In
former times I used to pass a considerable portion
of each year, when I went the northern circuit, in
this town of Newcastle and in Durham. For the
last 30 years, when I have ceased to be a member of
the bar, of course I have not had an opportunity
of coining among you; but I find among you the
same cordial reception which I always did when I
was here upon my professional avocations. (fend
applause.)

TIL-131ES I,3IBANK3TENT AND

A D 311RALTY VE

The following letter, addressed to Mr. T. Hawks-
ley. the eminent civil engineer, by Sir W. Worsley,
Bart., has been sent to us for publication :

TO MR. T. lIA.WKSLEY. C.E.

Sir,—Permit me to thank you for reminding me
of the two supposed objections to the dam principle :
1. That silt would be injuriously brought. 2. That
the low town districts would be rendered less dry.
These objections, if founded on fact, would be seri.
ous ones, but I feel you would not, on due consi-
deration, like to endorse them ; prior, however, to
showing this, I must mention that the observations
in your report of Nov., 1837, to the Metropolitan
Board, " admitting that a dam would effect the pu-
rification of the river through the town," and to
which I allude at p. 6 in the pamphlet I sent you,
are identical with my suggestion of a dam submit-
ted to the Board in 1856 ; also that your report
does not distinguish whether the injury alleged by
the Admiralty as likely to occur from silt would
take place above or below such dam ; and that as
to my .being in "error" respecting the quarter of
the river to which you meant the objection to apply,
the remark is hardly a fair one, seeing that I had
elsewhere gone into the facts of the silt question,
and that the hypothetical case (p. 10) establishes
those facts. You now_say you meant that the injury
would occur below the dam ; an admission that
comes after it had been shown by my figures rela-
tive to the commerce of the river anddocks as they
exist at present, that it could not be above the
darn, and that a high water Pool dock would' not
only be no injury but an enormous advantage.
The Admiralty complaint, then, comes to this—
that • commerce would suffer below dam ; let us
therefore examine the weight of this objection.
It is known, theoretically and practically, that
silt is always more or less in motion 0:4 the bed of
a large river estuary, and that a deposit of silt
will sometimes occur in the Thames Pool on the
very spot from which a previous bed had been just
dredged, notwithstanding there had been no un-
usual flood from the upcountry, showing that the
fresh bed of silt must have come up river, it being
at the same time pethctly • evident, from the sta-
tionary character of the estuary's main features,
that the silt in it must be either nearly a constant
quantity, or that it ultimately passes into the sea.
No unusual permanent accumulation occurs—if it
did, the estuary would long since have been silted
Up, save only the needful channel for taking off the
water from the country.
Again, an unusual removal of silt, unless in a
long line with the stream, would gradually be
made np either from above or below, until the
estuary assumed its wonted state, as shoWn by my
evidence quoted in the Government report of 1856,
and further explaine (p. 11) in the pamphlet.
The causing an artificial increase iu the velocity
of the flood-tide, by permitting it to discharge it-
self into some large excavation towards the limit
of the tidal flow, would both increase the erosion
and bring up more silt, to be left by the ebb where-
ever it found a place suited to receive it ; and this
process would go on until the estuary again came
under its natural law. On the other hand, if you
diminish the velocity of the current by intercepting
a portion of the flood-tide water there would, of
course, be less tendency to erosion and less silt
brought. up ; the per tentage of water to be stopped,
in the case of the Thames, would, however, be to.)
trifling to produce any appreciable (litre:mice. The
estuary would remain in sight yun. This we know,
practically, would 1).) the rtsult, as I shall show,
presently, by an instance in point.
Ifthe character of a long river estuary were to be
materially changed by greatly shortening its course
into the sea, or, by diverting its ordinary supply cf
water from the up country, the mouth of such
estuary might soon silt up to a serious extent, as
happens sometimes in artificial harbours.
thein
un Pool,nsu a olN\i-
flood,
od to
haasn number h e eccasioull accumulation of silt on some spot
f
ootteln."7ls
a lull at that point is the main current, or from
soiiie cawing
removed by
Crcdging, as above referred to, rather than
wait its
more tedious removal by 'the ordinary estuary action.
On my pr'neiple, notAting of this kind could
occur
Se age, bcing buoyant under a moderate ac
lion of the water, is governed by a different law,
as I pointed out to the Board in refere nee to•
BazJigetto's first report in 18361 in ;ditch he

assumed—and he now goes back to his old conclu-
sion—that an outfall 14. or 15 miles below bridge
would insure the sewage passing off' down river;
which view has, you know, been since elaborately
canvassed, and repeatedly condemned, as hydrody-
namically wrong. No one questions Mr. B.'s scienti-
fic skill in planning vast schemes of drainage suited
to the wealth, and supposed wants of the town, but I
must hesitate before I believe the engineering mind,
so to speak, is equally satisfied that he will succeed
as regards the priinary object of the act—the puri-
fication of the river. I have no feeling against Mr.
8., indeed, he would tell you I wrote him in 1856
to the effect that I hoped he would be the person
entrusted to carry out whatever suitable plan might
be adopted.
I must now refer to the promised case, as regards
silt not being injuriously brought up by a darn.
Since the receipt of your favour I have been visit-
ing in the neighbourhood of the tidal dam and lock
on river Ouse, four miles below York, and took
the opportunity to inspect the same. These works
were constructed under an act of the 13th of Geo.
1., for the improvement of the navigation from that
point upwards. The tidal rise just below the dam
ranges as high as nine or ten feet. Prior to the
dam the tide at York, 80 miles from the sea, rose
from three to five feet. For 10 or 12 miles from the
• dam upwards—that is, as far as the water is penned
back—this river may be termed a high-tide down
water like, and from its general pellucid state, and
high level, adds very greatly to the commercial,
sanatory, and social condition of that ancient and
interesting city.
The river, or estuary, downwards, loses, in conse-
quence of this dam, probably four or five per cent.
of its former ebb water, but this has never been
known to injure the navigation in the smallest de-
gree by any permanent deposit of silt in the bed of
the estuary ; on the contrary, vessels conic up of as
deep a draught as before the lock was made. The
commercial lead at Hull originated in the greater
accommodation there, and the increased size and
draught of sea-going vessels.
The Ouse area the Humber are, perhaps, subject
to somewhat mare marked variations in the up and
down currents than the Thames, and silt may occa-
sionally drift more largely from place to place in
the former than in the latter river, but without any
permanent injury to the navigation. The Ouse
estuary has, in fret, remained practically in slats
quo for the last 70 years ; that is, ever since the
tide had been intercepted by the above-named dam.
In this case the Admiralty fortunately did not, I
believe, know what works were contemplated, or
possibly the dam and lock might yet be only loom-
ing in the distance, or the project so coupled with
absurd conditions as to damp all speculative ardour.
The -works themselves shew that the Ouse was
never alapted to vessels of much draught or length,
but, such as it was below dam, such it remains.
The only question would be, whether the lock and
dam would have answered the object in view better
had they been placed somewhat farther down, so as
to have given a greater depth both ways ; three or
four additional feet of depth upwards might, pro-
bably, have been attained, as the banks are deep.
No doubt the precise spot, as well as the length of
lock, were decided on in reference to the draught
and length of vessels then trading to York.
In respect to the vast commercial advantages
from the down river dock at Bristol, and apart from
the perfectly purified condition •of the water and
ihe atmosphere at that place, they are, as they must
always be, in the ratio of its depth and magnitude.
lam not prepared to say how long, or in what
way, the AdmiraPy interfered to prevent those im-
provernests being carried out—no doubt as long as
red-tapeconsistency would permit; their consent,
I am told,' was not given until it had been arranged
that a compensation channel, as they call it, was to
be simultaneously cut ;" which, whatever advantage
the Admiralty might anticipate from it, was ac-
cordingly carried into execution, the same being
now looked upon generally, as little better, if not
worse, than a dead waste. every way.
In regard to the Thames. then, it is evident that
if our or five per cent. of the water—and this it has
been ascertained would be the whole difference—
that usually flews up were to be intercepted by
means of a dam at Blackwell, no injury would
occur from silt ; on the contrary, the velocity of
the current would, pro tanto, be diminished, and
the tendency to bring up silt lessened. Besides
the tidal rise immediate:y at the dam would be
wholly vertical ; there could, therefore, be no ten-
dency, to bring up, or deposit silt in that quarter ;
in fact, the very small alteration in the current,
whether up or down, would hardly be appreciable
in any respect; the effect, such as it was, would,
however, be in favour of not bringing up more
silt, whilst the letting off, at low tide, of the super-
fluous ordinary and flood water would produce a
down scour much more active in regard to silt than
the tidal ebb could, under any circumstances, effect ;
thus increasing the tendency to carry the silt down.
You see, then, from the foregoing facts and princi-
ples, that we are, necessarily, brought to the con-
clusion, in spito.ef.the known Admiralty objection,
that the bed of the estuary could not possibly be
injuriously affected as regards silt by the proposed
dam.
As to any improvement in the lower navigation,
that is another question. If it were wished to in-
cease the width and depth of the estuary, we have
seen that the tidal law would effect both, ifthe above-
men!ioned additional excavation were. resorted to;
but the estuary is deep and wide enough ; and as it
has been indisputably shown that it would remain
so, why hesitate to secure the commercial, purifying,
and other obvious benefits incidental to the proposed
plan ?
In reference to the pollution of the river, it seems
now certain that no attempt at a cure by any new
system, will be listened to by the Admiralty; they
evidently regard that pollution ..not merely as a
necessity, but as an all-important agrement—we
can hardly at least suppose they really think that
silt would accumulate injuriously, the facts and all
experience being diametrically opposed to that view.
Whatever their existing powers were, they have
somehow contrived to get a veto on on this point
introduced into the new act. Since then they have
determined on a pertinacious ignoring of the com•
mercial improvement, health, comfort, and credit of
the town, on the faith of an erroneous dogma; all we
can say ;therefore is, that the sooner they can be
brought to disabuse their minds of this belief the
better. They cannot take up a more untenable
position than they have done. After all, however,
considering that h tired of innovation which seems
to be the characteristic of the Admiralty, and the
sort of prescriptive right they claim to oppose all
changes that come within their jurisdiction, we
ought not perhaps to wonder at their setting up the
cry, that the navigation Would be injured by " the
silting up" (as you explain their objection) of the
river, owing to some four or five per cent of the
forty or fifty miles of a widely-expanded estuary
being intercepted. They will have it that a!1 comes
up, whilst Mr. Bazalgette is just as determined that
all goes down. Now, these gentlemen cannot all be
right; both sides are, in fact, as I have always en-
deavoured to show, partly right and partly wrong.
This arises from not duly considering the different
effects of tidal action on non-buoyant and partly
buoyant subjects. Nature arranges these matters,
as she always does, with the greatest advantage,
and her principle here is .to keep useful organic
substances from going into the sea, whilst she dis-
charges comparatively useless inorganic ones into
it; the processes by
.which she works are slow ones,
.but all experience. proves the truth of these two ten-
dencies ; in other words, the navigation of the estu-
ary, as well as its purifying foreshores have, from.
limnirnmemorial, been much the same as they are
now, and would remain so, under the proposed
change, for ages to come. Many remember that
prior to the present.system of house drainage into
the river, so:ne of its foreshores had formerly a
much deeper deposit of mud, but no one alleges that
there is, anywhere, more mud now than there used
to be ; the reason of this it is needless to repeat.
Tho mud banks might still have been tolerated as
.heretofore, had we not become so much more
fastidious as to smells, and alive to the danger
of an atmosphere seriously contaminated with
noxious exhalations from the river, particularly
at high water, surcharged as it is to the very
surface with organic substances in a state of
putrescence, steaming for weeks together under
an almost tropical sun, and emitting at all times
highly deleterious gases, no matter whether they
be alwaye offensive to tire smell or not.

The' bject then to be achieved, and without which
the community at large never ought to be, and never
will be satisfied, is an actual purification of the river
through the metropolis ; -but it appears there is
something like an insuperable bar to this consum-
mation. " Right or wrong" the Admiralty "will not
tolerate" the plan I propose, which you yourself
acknowledge would purify t!.(; river, whilst you
hold out no hope of doinc, so effectually by any other
one. They rejoice in rather Thames as he is. They
have long been case-hardened to his distempered eon-
dition, ;111(1, having a pas/ last voice in the matter,
they Nviil, of course, remain where they arc—on the
London Margin of ;he Thames ; the more susceptible
portion of Vie L"gislat tiro, with t,lieir host of sea-
ion, shop- Fre:pieta ing followers will, I should ima-
gine, rather be fail to call, and that with no doubt-
ful vote, for new Houses of Parliament, new man-
sions, and new parks, on his more hygcian banks at
Windsor or Oxford.

Mr. Bazalgette's first plan was, you know,
brought out, very confidently, early in 1856, and my
brief objections to it appeared shortly afterwards,
when his plan was rejected. A ponderous and very
costly blue-book drainage report, with other elabo-
rate enquiries, and two years' delay ensued. Mr.
B. was, of course, disappointed, and perhap9 the
rather as my objections were virtually admitt(d)

before the Select Committee of the House of Com-
mons, &c., to be well founded. Everything now
again hangs on his fiat. His old view is insisted
on, and Admiralty red tape is brought—indirectly
indeed—to bear in his favour ; but this mode of
proceeding will hardly do, and time will probably
elaborate a more desirable issue. His misconcep-
tion may seem a trifling one, but we see it would
both perpetuate serious evils, and stand iu the way
of important benefits.
I have been for some time aware of the supposed
misapprehension on the part of the Admiralty; in-
deed I had a communication or undoubted autho-
rity from that quarter a year ago as to the view
taken by the Admiralty on the silt question—to
which any more direct rep'.y than this letter would
now seem needless. In short, though you may not
be so free to publish it as I am, the engineering
world are, I believe, quite aware of the known ob-
jections of the Admiralty upon this apprehension
of any works by which the tidal action would be
diminished, and that " the Houses of Parliament
support them in all their acts," and that, therefore,
" whether it be or be not safe as respects the lower
navigation" to place a dam in the situation, I
propose the Admiralty " would not tolerate" the
notion.

I am, with most others I believe, quite inclined to
credit—ought I to gay—the pertinacity or blindness
of the Admiralty as regards their sole objection, but
I cannot think that the Houses of Parliament will
countenance error come from whence it may, espe-
cially when opposed to the commercial, sanatory,
social, and ornamental character of the metropolis.
I only wish the obstructives had my faith, not only
that commerce ;would be uninjured, but that it
would be incalculably benefited by the proposed
change, and that Mr. Balzagette would sanction,
what I fancy he must feel to be true, that the river
in the locality of the town never can be purified, to
any bearable degree, so long as it is permitted to
flow thLough that quarter as a tidal one. If we
hope to obtain the benefits sought, we must both
observe the natural laws on which they depend, and
also bring into the field the three parties by whose
combined exertions alone those benefits are ever
likely to be achieved, as referred to (page 20) in
these words, " Indeed, unless this course he taken
it would only be a snare to leave the public in the
hope that the river was going to be purified." Under
the definite agreement subsisting between the Go-
vernment and the Corporation such union of forces
would be a matter of course. -

The board has just now admitted the necessity of
my suggestion of November last, that themselves,
the Government and the Corporation should
unite their efforts in regard to embanking
and purifying the river. Embankments of
some sort or other are now regarded as a
sine qua non,—but the project, said to be counte-
nanced by the Board, of a long, broad island em-
bankment, down each side of the bed of the river
at low-water mark, with side barge basins, would
be every way commercially wrong, very costly, and
a serious nuisance and eye-sore. as shewn at page
13 and 14.

Gn the other hand, terrace embankments, having
intercepting drains built into them, and faced with
quay walls, &c., on the high-water dock principle,
would be inexpensive, commercially advantageous,
very ornamental ; and no perceptible infringement,
as to width, on the prestige of the river.
The objection that a high-level dock would make
the low town districts less - dry seems equally
groundless. The benefit derived from low intercept-
ing
cuts, or drains, on each side of, and near to a
higher stream drain, arises from having the subter-
ranean saturation drawn off into such lateral cuts,
and carried away, independently. of the middle
stream. The idea that the water in the middle
streain.would, from being on a higher level, escape
through its bed under the side cuts into the land to
be drained is more imagimary than real. The ten-
dency in a river is to force mud or clay into the
pores of its bed, or, so to coat it over as that it may
be able to carry the superincumbent water without
filtration. If this were not so, rivers would seldom
fulfil their appointed end ; sometimes, indeed they
do lose themselves in beds of stone, gravel, or sand,
but this is the exception, not the rule.
Gravel and sand-beds are natural reservoirs of
water, and are supplied from rain and springs, in-
dependently of rivers, and when drains or wells are
cut into them the water readily filters out as long
as there is any stored up saturation, after which
there will only be the ordinary influx from the
springs. The almost universal fact was shown to be
the case when the gravel bed near to, and commu-
nicating with the Thames was being excavated to
the extent of 90 acres for the Victoria Docks. The
influx of water into this excavation was, at first, so
large as to cause a heavy expense in pumping,—
the influx; afterwards, was trifUng,—nothing more,
probably, than filtration from the springs. •
The not uufrequent breaking in of tidal water
over the low town districts,—which must happen
under the simultaneous occurrence of a large down
increase of water, a high spring tide, and a strong
north wind up river cannot but greatly increase the
subterranean saturation,—an evil, in a sanitary
point of view, and apart from injury to property,
held to be most serious by, I believe, all medical
men who. have ever thought on the subject, and
Which is, in fact, the great evil and difficulty under
the present tidal system of the low level drainage,
which must therefore be guarded against at almost
any cost, but for which it would seem hopeless to
attempt to provide any effectual remedy, except the
plan I have ventured to propose.—l am, sir, your
obedient servant, WM: WORSLEY.
HoYingham Hall, York,
Oct. 22, 1859.