The Sun.
London, England, 1859-08-11 00:00:00

THE PONTEFRACT ELECTION.

Mr. Bright has come out in a new character, and
has made a terrible mess of it. To do him justice
he has hitherto confined his violent denunciations
and odious calumnies either to classes whose power
and influence he disliked, or Statesmen of high
position who have ventured to dissent from his
peculiar views. He has not condescended to smaller
game, and fallen foul, either in Parliament or on
the platform, of humbler individuals, unless in-
deed such unfortunates could be represented as
types of a class or party. This week, however, he
has abandoned the higher position, and constituted
himself the accuser of one of his brother members.
Mr. Overend, the member for Pontefract, is the
object of this most unjustifiable attack, excused, of
course, as prompted by an imperative sense of pub-
lic duty. The charge, made at first in the absence
of that gentleman, was renewed yesterday in his
presence, and although the committee moved for by
Mr. Bright was granted, the explanation given by
Mr. Overend proved the groundlessness of the impu-
tation thrown out against him, and a great want of
taste and judgment in Mr. Bright. The charge as
made by Mr. Bright, was that Mr. Childers having
presented a petition against the return of Mr.
Overend, the latter gentleman agreed to refer the
whole question as to the right to the seat to a mem-
ber of the late Government, and thus having ob-
tained the withdrawal of the petition, refused,
upon some shabby pretext or other, to go on with
the reference ; in fact, as Mr. Bright himself ex-
pressed it, " defrauded" Mr. Childers out of the
seat. Mr. Overend shows in his answer that no
such understanding as that implied existed upon
his part or that of his agents. The poposition for
a reference came from Mr. Childers, and was be-
lieved by the other side to be merely a dignified
mode of withdrawing the petition ; the reference, if
proceeded with, only embracing matters of smaller
moment, such as probably the question of costs. As
soon as Mr. Overend found that Mr. Childers ex-
pected to have the question of the seat included iii
the reference, he at once protested against such
a view, and refused to allow the matter to be gone
into. That is the real state of the case as vouched
by documents—the molehill out of which Mr. Bright
has raised his mountain. There was evidently a
misunderstanding between the two agents, the one
translating the reference in one sense, and the other
construing it in a diametrically opposite manner, a
difference frewntly occurring between the most
honourable men where the terms of any agreement
are loosely drawn, but there is not the slightest
ground to assume fraud on either side. No doubt
Mr. Childers has been disappointed, but Mr. Bright
should have examined into the matter a little more
closely before asserting that he had been defrauded,
and charging that fraud upon Mr. Overend. Last
night he indeed withdrew the offensive term, but
unfortunately he could not do it gracefully. The
member for Birmingham is nothing unless virulent,
and exonerating Mr. Overend, he attacked even
more unjustly his agent Mr. Rose. That gentleman
however, was amply vindicated by Mr. Disraeli, and
Mr. Bright's defence really only made his case
worse. The House of Commons know what value
is to be attached to his generous profession of a
hope that the investigation would result in reliev-
ing Mr. Overend from all blame. When a man
comes forward as a prosecutor, his object is the con-
viction not the acquittal of the accused.
The explanation of this paltry move of the Radi-
cal leader is not far to seek. The disclosures made
before the Election Committees have considerably
disturbed the equanimity of the friends of progress.
They are confounded, not that their partisans bribed
largely, but that they bungled enough to be found.
out. Their position is an awkward one. Every mem-
ber unseated was a Radical of the first water : not a
single Tory has been found guilty of corruption.
What, therefore, is to become of the stock bits of
declamation against Conservative wickedness, and
the glowing panegyrics upon Liberal purity ?
In the face of the facts it would be even too
much for a Radical mob to persist in its professions
of innocence. Something, therefore, must be
done to at least abate this scandal by making out
the other side as bad. Mr. Bright; no doubt, feels
the necessity, in the general interest of the party,
of trying an experiment or two in this line, and
has besides reasons of his own for turning public
attention away from Radical misdeeds. This peti-
tion offered a promising opportunity. Mr. Overend
was away in the first instance, and the accusation
had a good start of the explanation. It may sur-
prise some people that Mr. Bright, who but a day
or two ago complained of Mr. Roebuck's groundless
charge against Dr. Michell, should himself become
an accuser upon grounds at least quite as frivolous;
but there is a very great difference between the two
cases. If Dr. Michell were left alone, and his seat
vacated, a Tory would at all events be got rid of,
and a chance given to a thorough Radical eager to
form one of the Bright tail. If Mr. Overend could
be got rid of, a political advantage would be gained;
at all events, some of the dirt thrown might stick
to the Tories, and thus leave the Liberals compa-
ratively not quite so black. That the end sancti•
fies the means is a doctrine devoutly clung to by
all good Liberals, and Mr. Bright's ungenerous
attack upon Mr. Overend will consequently only
be condemned by that great party because it failed,
as bribery and treating on their own side are only
denounced when, as this time, they are found out.
—Morning Chronicle.

TILE SERPENTINE.

(From the Times.)
While it is yet time Mr. Fitzroy would do well
to reconsider his course with regard to the purifi-
cation of the Serpentine. The more the subject is
discussed among practical men the more sweeping
and decisive is tne condemnation pronounced upon
the plan on which he is about to act. If it were
only the waste of money involved in the execution
of the present design, that would be grievous
enough; but when we regard it as the aggravation
of a great public nuisance the question assumes
very serious proportions indeed. If Mr. Fitzroy
will not retrace his steps at once, and put himself
into the hones of more competent adviders than
these who seem now to possess his confidence, at
least let him pause and inquire. If he be not will-
ing to yield now, he might be better advised six
months hence, when he has been at the pains of
making himself thoroughly master of the subject.
He is not inops consilii, but rather ntagnits inter
opes inops. In no portion of the habitable globe is
this subject of raising water by steam power and
filtering it4hrough beds of gravel and sand better
understood than in the immediate neighbourhood of
London. All the water—pump water naturally
excepted—with which London is supplied, is passed
through filter-beds by one or other of the great
water companies. Mr. Fitzroy can obtain most
accurate information not only as to the details of
the process, but as to the expense of it at every
stage. What amount of steam power will be re-
quired ? What will be the cost of arranging and
cleansing the filter-beds ? Whence is the water to
be obtained with which these filter-beds are to be
cleansed ? How is the refuse to be finally got rid
of? What sanitary precautions are to be taken in
order to save the neighbourhood from danger and
annoyance while this filth remains in situ? All
these are points deserving of the most serious con-
sideration, not only as concerns the public comfort,
but on the score of expense. If we are rightly in-
formed, Mr. Fitzroy has adopted the most costly,
the most complicated, the most inefficient, and the
most dangerous method of do* that which any
engineer accustomed to such work would pro-
nounce at once to be a very plain and simple job.
In discussing this matter we should remember
that on either supposition we must equally make
up our minds to get rid of the filthy deposit in the
Serpentine. The natural method of doing this is
to drain the lake, and to leave the deposit for a
season, under proper arrangements for making the
process effective, exposed to a process of deodorisa-
tion. The ground is then levelled, the holes in the
bottom filled up, a bed of concrete is laid down, and
when a clean basin has been thus prepared. clean
water is poured in. We will leave it to profes-
sional persons to determine how much of the refuse
can be safely left, and when it is to be covered in
with the bed of concrete ; but even Mr. Fitzroy
will be compelled to cart all the refuse away in
the long run. He cannot create a permanent nui-
sance in Kensington•gardens by keeping orte or
other of his filter-beds permanently in ventilation.
He cannot seal them up with concrete. He must
remove the offensive matter from each filter-bed in
turn ; and there will always be one which is under-
going this operation. Mr. Fitzroy's idea is just
this—He is about to cleanse the Serpentine by
pumping the dirty water out and by pouring clean
water in. Tile clean water will of course be pol-
luted again ; but it will be again brought up,
bringing with it in solution more filth. As the
dirty water is brought up it will be received in fil-
custodes sed quis ?"—how are the filter-
() cleansed ? A correspondent informs us
btheadts tthebefilter-bedsrof the great water companies
are formed of laeyeevesreodf cleanly-washed gravel of
The water percolates therworuditgbh
various fineness
bed,
da,rawnide has sand.
as as a sufficient quantityr-
he
Surface
erposit has been arrested
pthurise
been
of the sand is the bed is laid dry.
impregnatedei with
re-
moved as far as it has
mechani-
impurities. The sand is washed
negr bwyith water.
y, where the water
cal means or by a continuous washing
In the works of a water company,
is originally thrown into the filter-beds in a
state, these filter-beds require washing about once
a month. What will be the case with those which
are destined to receive the filthy liquid in the
Serpentine ? And where is Mr. Fitzroy to get
the clean water with which he is to wash his filter,