The Sun.
London, England, 1850-05-15 00:00:00

II glllll6

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 1850.

Government, with the connivance of the Legislature,
appears resolved to dedicate London to the filthy cus •
toms acquired by its inhabitants from an almost im-
memorial antiquity. Last evening two most im-
portant measures for the better supply of water to the
Metr°l"iiii We reigetecl by naAjorities of 106 And 110,

after having already passed a first reading. Both of
these projected improvements were foregone, more-
over, for reasons of the flimsiest character. One ob-
jection was a prejudice against artesian wells,
and another was an extravagantly disproportioned
consideration for eleven mill-owners over and
above the many hundreds of thousands of
people requiring some more nutritious and wholesome
beverage than that obtained from the great water-
channel now employed for the purposes of drainage.
Than this nothing could be more false in principle or
more ridiculous in its general application. Well
might we feel disposed to despair of ever obtaining
good water for consumption in the capital if we re-
garded the matter as wholly dependent upon the mea-
sures yesterday rejected. Fortunately those mea-
sures, to our thinking, are, though truly admir-
able in contrivance, little better than temporary
makeshifts until such time as the Thames
can be turned to its natural account, being rendered
the purveyor of health and nourishment instead of
disease and poison. When the sewage shall, as it
must ultimately, be conveyed from the metropolis by
other means than the river, leaving that noble means
of irrigation uncontaminated by material capable of
judicious employment as manure throughout the
agricultural districts, the inhabitants of London can
be as readily supplied with water for household con-
sumption from the Thames between the bridges as it
could though the current were conveyed to the me-
tropolis by means of an aqueduct either from above
or below Henley. Under those circumstances, heavy
penalties inflicted upon all such parties as should
throw refuse of any kind into the river would pre-
serve the waters of the Thames at Waterloo -bridge
sufficiently pure for all domestic purposes—as pure as
it is at this time below Henley under existing ar-
rangements. When, therefore, we express our
extreme disappointment at the successive re-
jection of the London (Watford) Spring Water
Company Bill, and of the Metropolitan Water-works,
(Henley-on-Thames and London Aqueduct) Bill,
upon the occasion of their proposed second reading,
we do so less because we regard them as calculated
to prove good expedients for the time being, than be-
cause we view the fact of their being quashed so
hastily, and quashed too upon arguments of such
paltry opposition, as a token of the apathy
of the Government, and generally speaking
of the Legislature itself, in reference to
all sanitary improvements. By the obstinate main-
tenance of the window-tax the light of heaven is shut
out from the poorer classes, and with it all chances of
proper ventilation. By the ridiculous subserviency
of the Cabinet and of the Parliament to the whims,
the eccentricities, and the dawdling of the Board of
Health, session after session is allowed to pass without
witnessing one advancement in any one particular.
Steps cannot be taken in this matter'
or in that matter, according to the Secretary for the
Home Department, until the report, long expected
and long promised, has been obtained from the Com-
missioners. And the utility of such reports has cer-
tainly been strikingly exemplified of late by that
long-winded document, in which the result of the
Board's deliberations upon the subject of metropo-
litan drainage was intimated ! Thank heaven, if this
is the disposition of the Government, if this
is the habitual procrastination of the Commissioners,
if this is the usual indifference of the Parliament,
there are some few even among our popular repre-
sentatives who are not disposed to wink at its un-
interrupted continuance
.1 Last evening, for example,
on e of our most veteran reformers, Mr. Hume, pro-
tested against the notion that the supply of good
water to London will necessitate the injury of pro-
perty incapable of adequate compensation. He main-
tained that if a few mill-owners might be injuriously
affected by the Aqueduct Bill from Henley, it must
also be borne in recollection that a beneficial
result would follow inevitably, and that
beneficial result, moreover, affecting no less than two
millions of the inhabitants of the metropolis. Again,
Mr. Mowarr, with a delightful enthusiasm, went to
the length of maintaining that, supposing even that
these eleven mill-owners lost the whole of their
property, such a circumstance ought not to
weigh one iota in the scale ? And Mr.
BERNAL OSBORNE, the truly independent Mem-
ber for Middlesex, almost pathetically adjured
the House of Commons to examine the water im-
bibed in the metropolis with the aid of a mi-
croscope. Anything more discouraging to the aspi•
rants fors anitary improvement has not for a consider-
able time been so conspicuously visible in the
Parliamentary debates as the result of these two me-
lancholy divisions last evening.

The long-expected trial of strength between the
Protectionists and the Free-traders, is the popular
branch of the Legislature, has taken place. The nation
has, at length, an opportunity of testing the accuracy
of the statement as to the "decided reaction" in pub-
lic opinion, and the numerous conversions from the
anti-monopolist ranks that had been so loudly vaunted.
After the series of meetings held last autumn, and
the unusual activity displayed by the agricul-
turists, we had vainly supposed that not a single
week would have elapsed after the re-as-
sembling of Parliament before the question was fully
and fairly discussed on neutral ground. But week
after week, and month after month, glided away, and
nothing practical was done. No leader of the agri-
culturists could be induced to fling down the gauntlet
which so many free-trade champions were ready to
accept. In fact, the really talented Members of the
party shrunk from the unwelcome task. The Hon.
Member for Buckinghamshire, whose position and
ability might have warranted the undertaking, too
clearly perceived the impolicy of hazarding a " pitched
battle." A guerilla warfare was better suited to the
troops on whose support he could reckon.
He did not wish to reveal his real weakness and the
poverty of his resources to his triumphant adver-
saries ; accordingly, in place of demanding the re-
enactment of the corn-laws, he contented himself with
asking for a " fair adjustment of local taxation," and
a modification of the fiscal charges that pressed unduly
upon the owners and occupiers of land throughout the
country.

But this moderation was not duly appreciated by
the sturdy yeomen. They could not understand why
their leaders were not as " ready for the field"
as they were themselves. The pack was ac-
cordingly unkennelled, " Old Jowler (Chowler)
leads the cry," and threats and menaces
were freely hurled against all who refused to comply
with their very reasonable requests, or to pay a
" black mail" to the bucolic freebooters. The walls
of the Crown and Anchor rung again with 'the
torrents of indignant eloquence lavished on the occa-
sion. The labourers were to be turned adrift defi-
cient of employment, and thus driven into a state of
insurrection, while the farmers would take care not
to interfere in any way to suppress the disturbances
which they had themselves excited. The much
vaunted loyalty :of the " Yeomen of England" was
for the moment forgotten. In fact, they were
not merely contented with professing neutra-
lity, or declaring their intention to let the
agrarian tumult proceed without let or hindrance, but
some of the more energetic were prepared to take a
more active part, and " to exercise the strength they
still retain in their arms."
however,
wv
egvoerro, u s
insufficient
t o
st i
ma
un
Ida t
e bold
their w o
ar
cd
WeTreh:se •s
knowledged leaders.
and Theh Honourable Member for
athnwould
disastrousu n en
gout i avboae taTuehtiootuhseproclihoiyefs of the party,
Buckinghamshire,
enterednradle soduuneliftoteshaatet. they had deli-
beratelyhtcaot
hmaezy:awere e tooenc
encounter.
tl
ear w. ar e of
wasls
o adecisive
reazdy to lead the
" forlorn hope." The new-fledged
able in all recent converts perhaps eastli soualkar.teend
public mg , or,to
remark-
able
Hon. Gentleman to the desperate undertaking,
probably, he was anxious to induce the
forget the "family jars" in which he had played so
con.picuous a rat—or, possibly, he might have dis-
covered in the exposure some ingenuous device for
annoying his elder brother—the head of his house—
and would-he notninater of the representatives for the
county of Gloucester. The Protectionists willingly
accepted the proffered aid ; they entered not into his
motives, and influenced, perhaps, by feelings similar
to those which induce the Moslem to give the
" post of honour" and of "danger" to renegades,
they permitted the Honourable Gentleman to lead
the vanguard, and introduce the long-expected motion.
It is scarcely necessary to allude to the debate. If