The Sun.
London, England, 1866-05-10 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, MAY 10, 1866.

grees. The, Mount Cenis Tunnel is another mar-
vel of ent' erprise and perseverance, while even our
own tar Aropolis can show a multitude of works
which in former days would have been considered
little short of miracles. It is not so many years
• .
suice3 the first locomotive was an object partly of
dread, partly of ridicule ; but GEORGE STEPHENSON
himself never dreamt of tunnelling under a vast and
populous city. JAMES WATT would have stood
amazed if he could have seen the Great Eastern ;
and Dr. DARWIN, if he had lived to these days,
would have seen only one of his famous prophesies
unfulfilled. Indeed we may not unreasonably anti-
cipate that before long air may own the influence
of the engineer to the same extent as the other
elements, and that the balloon, or the aerial
machine, may assume very different proportions.
The company which assembled last evening at
Willis's Rooms, to entertain the Prince of WALES
and Prince ALFRED, represented in full force the
ability of the profession. His Royal Highness the
Prince of WALES, in an animated speech, expressed
his obligation to the architect of the Victoria-bridge
who had been indirectly the cause of his visiting the
great Continent of the West. The PRINCE, in com-
menting on the number of important works going
on around us, referred to the Thames Embankment,
the Metropolitan Railway, and to the improvements
in our steam navigation. Prince ALFRED, whose
graceful and appropriate office it was to return
thanks for the Navy, humorously expressed the
obligations which his profession owed to civil
engineering, regretting at the same time the
effect which it had produced on its external
appearance. The presence of the two Royal brothers
gave gratifying testimony to the assembly of the
interest which the highest and noblest in the land
take in their efforts and achievements ; and in truth,
if we wished to select a profession whose members
more especially represented the genius of our people,
we could hardly fail to turn to the civil engineer,
whose courage, endurance, and enterprise are so
eminently characteristic of the British nation.

The water supply of a great city is a most impor-
tant part of its sanitary arrangements. There is no
possibility of health, comfort, or cleanliness without
a liberal and regular supply of water, and there is
very little doubt that, notwithstanding the improve-
ments effected in late years, much remains to be
done in our London supply. Mr. HANKEv, who
introduced the subject to the House of Commons
on Tuesday evening, laid the blame of the deficien-
cies on the irregularity of the supply. It is esti-
mated that the average quantity of water pumped
into the metropolis daily is nearly 100,000 gallons.
This, as Mr. HANKEY observed, is a large
supply, and yet there• are numerous and well-
founded complaints, especially in the poorer
quarters, of the failure of the system. London,
unlike most large towns, is furnished with an inter-
mittent supply, the service pipes being shut off from
the mains during certain hours of the day, which
entail the employment of cisterns. Mr.
HANKEY is anxious to see water supplied in
the same manner as the gas, which would
certainly be the most sensible and advantageous
method. By keeping up the connection with the
mains every householder could get any quantity
he required at any time, instead of the uncer-
tainty consequent upon having to store it in
cisterns, and the frequent deficiency on Sundays,
from which the poorer classes often suffer. Every
sanitary officer assures us of the incalculable im-
portance of a plentiful and constant supply of pure
water to poor and populous neighbourhoods ; yet
almost every inspection shows that this end is sel-
dom attained. The present system of management
is extravagant as well as unsatisfactory, seeing
that by a continuous supply no more water would
be drawn than was required for consumption,
whereas, under the plan now followed, a large
quantify has to be kept in reserve to no particular
end. Another aspect of the question was
raised by some members, who expressed their con-
viction that the present system would be totally in-
adequate for a great increase of population. The
whole question of our water supply evidently wants
looking into ; and we hope, in spite of the with-
drawal of Mr. HANKEY'S motion, that the necessary
inquiry will not be long deferred.

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARIS, Wednesday Evening.

The brief but astounding and most important
speech of the Emperor at Auxerre seems to create
a more profound impression now that time has
elapsed for reflection upon it and for its general
circulation throughout France. I see by the pro-
vincial papers received to-day that all over France
this speech has created more sensation than any in-
cident which has occurred for years past. In Paris
it is considered as a dire3t and impressive answer to
the taunts of M. Thiers. In the provinces the feel-
ing
is that it is the certain harbinger of war. For
instance, the Phare de la Loire says:—
" This speech will resound through France as an
appeal to bellicose feelings, as a claim sufficiently
direct for our ancient frontiers, almost as a cry of
war uttered as an anticipation for a revenge, more
or less distant, of Waterloo."

The Progres of Lyon says :—" The terms in
which the Emperor speaks of the treaties of 1815,
and the expression which he used to manifest his
feelings in regard to those treaties, will certainly
cause great emotion throughout the whole coun-
try. What is incontestable is that the policy to
which the Emperor has just given utterance is
certainly not in the direction desired by those who
wish for peace. It is equally beyond doubt that
henceforward, should events assist it, the Govern-
ment of Napoleon 111. is quite decided to destroy
the treaties which, in consecrating the humiliation
of France, robbed it of the line of the Rhine, its
natural frontier. We should have wished to have
spoken of the consequences likely to arise to
the destinies of France from such words of its
Sovereign, but it will be easily understood that so
important a subject imposes reserve upon us."
The Union Bretonne, a Nantes paper, after some
similar remarks to prove that the importance of the
Emperor's declaration cannot be exaggerated, says :
—" The time is well chosen for Napoleon the Third,
who reigns and governs in spite of these treaties,
that he is in accord upon the subject with the whole
nation, who, following his example, detests those
treaties."

The journals of south of France, as well as those
of the north, east, and west, appreciate the speech
in a similar tone of gravity and in anticipation of
important events from it.
As to the Paris papers, the speech seems to have
produced paralysis among them. For two days it
was passed over with little remark. None of them
seemed to dream of the possibility that the Emperor
should, upon the occasion of distributing agricul-
tural prizes, take the opportunity of uttering, though
scarcely a dozen words, the import of which is
grave enough to excite apprehension throughout
Europe. The papers, however, are recovering a
little, and they discuss the speech in a tone of
gravity not manifested for many years past. They
begin to recollect that the Emperor is a man of
impulse, and that it was not on a political occasion
that at Bordeaux a few years ago he suddenly made
the memorable declaration, " The Empire is Peace."
L'Empire c'est la Paix. The Journal des Debats, and
indeed all the Paris papers of influence, make M.
Thiers responsible for this sudden manifestation of the
Emperor's addition to the declaration of his Minister
as to " neutrality" in the Chamber, by which he
manifests the foregone conclusion that the " freedom
of action,"
theon, .illlpeo
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i Minister, will
prevent