The Sun.
London, England, 1842-11-09 00:00:00

stance of Hans .2.lordenbrenner (Mr. N. T. Hicks), a
Dutch smuggler and slaver, -the blraZr angel of the
piece, make an irruption into the English settlement,
burn the crops, plunder the settlers, and carry off
Mary, who is conveyed on board the smuggler's ship
the Pluto, which said ship Pluto is attacked by Jack
and the crew of the Union, who are all ignorant of
the fact of Mary being on board, Hans sets fire to his
ship ; and after the crew of the Union have quitted
her to save their lives, he tells Jack that his revenge
for the destruction of the ship will be ample, for that
Mary is in the powder magazine. Jack instantly re-
turns, boards the burning vessel, reaches the maga-
zine,
and rescues Mary. As Jack and Mary quit the
ship she blows up with a terrific explosion. The
piece is admirably got up, and is plentifully inter-
spersed with combats and dances and songs, all of
which were received with shouts of applause. The
scenery was very good, and the effect of the last scene
was novel and magnificent. The flames rose gra-
dually, the fire increasing inintensity, accompanied by
occasional explosions, until at length the final ex-
plosion took place. The piece was announced
for repetition every evening, amidst the most vocife-
rous applause of a very crowded house. The drama
of the Two Locksmiths followed, with H. Hughes as
Peter Burl, brave Burl, philosophic Burl, who "takes
things quietly." Mr. Ilughes's acting in this charac-
ter proves him to be a consummate artist. He has
attained the secret of true acting. He understands
the power of repose. If some of our " powerful and
effective" actors would go and study the acting of
Mr. H. Hughes in Peter Burl, they might learn a
useful lesson. They would then see the superiority
of repose over rant, and learn, like Peter Burl, "to take
things quietly." The house was crowded.

SUPPLY of WATER to NEW YORK.
The New York papers of Oct. 14 and 15 con-
tain a long description of the ceremony of intro-
ducing the Croton waters into that city, which
took place on the 14th, and of the stupendous
works recently completed by which it is con-
ducted. We shall content ourselves with saying
of the ceremony, which they dilate on at great
length, that it was a grand civic procession, at
which all the trades and companies of New York
were present, and that the houses and streets
were crowded with spectators. In the evening
there were illuminations and balls. Odes were
written, composed, and sung, and more rejoicings
could scarcely have taken place had a great vic-
tory been obtained over a foreign enemy. The
occasion was, perhaps, more worthy of a great
civic rejoicing than would have been a victory,
fbr a noble work was achieved by which New
York will henceforth be amply supplied with
water. From the speeches that were delivered
on the occasion, and from the description in the
New York Herald, we compile the following ac-
count of the former and present supply of water
to that city :
Samuel Stevens, Esq., the President of the Board
of Water Commissioners, in delivering over the
Croton Water and the works on this island to the
Mayor and Common Council, said :—The Tea-water
Pump, situated near the corner of Pearl and Chatham
streets, was for a long period of time, the grand source
of all the drinkable water for the lower part of the
city. The necessity of a greater and more copious
supply, for the extinguishment of fires, appears also
to have been early admitted by our whole commu-
nity. Many of the present generation recollect the
long lines of both men and women formed to pass pails
and buckets from hand to hand, on the coldest night
of winter, with but a faint hope of staying the con-
flagration of some neighbour's dwelling. In 1774
the Csrporation adopted the plan of Christopher
Colles, of making a reservoir in Broadway, between
Pearl and 'White-streets to supply the city. The
Revolution stayed this work. In 1799, William
Weston, a civil engineer, was employed by the Cor-
poration to examine the Bronx, and reported that it
would furnish a supply. The first innovation, on the
pail and bucket system appears to have been made in
1801, when two engines, for the extinguishment of
fires, were imported, by the Common Council, from
London. In 1799, the Manhattan Company was
chartered, for the avowed purpose of introducing
"pure and wholesome water," and as an additional
inducement for the introduction of water, banking pri-
vileges were bestowed by its charter. This Company
mainly satisfied itself by pumping water with a steam-
engine from near the old Collect. Their pipes,
though they furnished not pure and wholesome
water, have nevertheless, in cases of fire, been fre-
quently highly beneficial to the city. In 1825, an.
other Company, called " The New York 'Water
Works for the supply of pure and wholesome water.,"
was established, but it was of short existence, and
produced no valuable results, except to prove that no
ample supply of good water could be found on this
island. The Corporation, in addition to the river,
Manhattan, and pump supply of water, found it ne-
cessary to erect public cisterns ; these were generally
in the streets in front of churches. This practice of
building public cisterns continued till 1829, when the
Committee on the Fire Department, consisting of
Isaac Brown, James Palmer, Samuel Stevens, Benja-
min M. Brown, and P. W. Engs, reported in favour of
abolishing public cisterns and building a tank or
reservoir in 13th street. Fifteen hundred dollars
was appropriated to the tank, which was to be filled
by horse power, and the Corporation on the 16th of
March adopted the Report, and agreed to lay down
two lines of twelve inch iron pipes, one in Broad-
way, and the other in the Bowery. The Committee
avowed their object to be to fill that tank and those
pipes, at no distant date, with water to be introduced
from Westchester. The adoption of this Report by
this Corporation may be considered the commence-
ment of the plan for introducing water into the city.
The Report declared the subject too important to be
entrusted to any private Company, alleging " That
such Companies had been more occupied in making
money out of their banking privileges than introduc-
ing water into the city !"The tank in 13th street
was that year constructed, and the two lines of pipes
laid down. The plan soon found so many friends,
that the horse was exchanged for a steam engine.
From 1829 this small tank establishment has caused
the city great saving, and extinguished many a fire
which otherwise would have destroyed much addi-
tional property. And so highly has it been valued
that a few years since, and after the Croton
Waterworks were commenced, the Corporation erect-
ed alongside of it another tank, and each succeeding
year the Corporation continued to lay down
pipes, until the line is now about 130 miles long.
The Corporation, in December, 1822, through their
Committee on thel Fire Department, consisting of
James Palmer, Charles Henry Hall, 'William Mande-
ville, George H. Bruce, Peter Titus, and Dennis
M`Carty, recommended that Col. De Witt Clinton
examine the Croton River and other sources in the
vicinity. On the receipt of Col. Clinton's report, and
on the recommendation of the above Committee, the
Corporation again decided to introduce water into the
City. In February, 1833, the Legislature passed the
law appointing Commissioners, to report during the
winter following; and in 1834 re-enacted the same
law, with additional provisions. Under these laws,
Hon. Stephen Allen, Saul Alley, William W. Fox,
Charles Dusenberry and Benjamin M. Brown were
appointed Commissioners ; the last named gentle.
man was soon succeeded by Thomas T. Woodruff.
These Commissioners brought industry, honesty
and judgment to the consideration of the import-
ant subject committed to their charge. They had the
duty assigned them of examining and reporting
a plan relating to supplying the city of New York
with a sufficient quantity of pure and wholesome
water, which the electors of the city of New York
could approve or disapprove. They called to their
aid Major D. B. Douglass, previously of the United
States Corps of Engineers. They also engaged in
their service John Martineau and George W. Cart-
wright, Esqrs., as engineers. Stephen Allen and his
associates had the high and responsible duty of deter-
mining not only the line of the aqueduct, but of de-
ciding on all conflicting surveys and sources which,
previous to that time, had been considered available
for the supply of the city with water, as well as a
variety of projects for introducing the water into the
city. After rejecting all various plans and adopting
the Croton as the source of supply, our predecessors
had other important questions to settle. Ought the
aqueduct to be of mason work or of iron pipes ?
The one carried with it, of necessity, a regular
grade, while the other admitted of an undulating
line. The most able men up to the period we have
referred to, differed on this point. Experience, we
think, has shown that the plan of masonry is the best.
When the masonry was adopted, the question arose,
was it to be an open or an arched or plank covered
aqueduct? Again, experience approved the arched
and covered aqueduct. In March, 1840, the work,
by a revolution which politics sometimes produce in
the State, so far as the duty of Commissioners was
concerned, passed into the hands of Samuel Stevens,
John D. Ward, Zebedee Ring, Samuel R. Childs,
and Benjamin Birdsall, and the work is now, except-
ing the high bridge over the Harlem river, completed,
and you have it. It consists of an artificial reservoir,
called the Croton River Lake, 45 miles from the Bat-
tery, the extreme part of the City ; this lake is formed
by an hydraulic stone-masonry dam, with two waste-
weirs, or aprons, for the over-tall of the water, one of
87 feet and one of 180 feet, these being separated by
a gate-house. The height of these waste-weirs is 55
feet above the bed of the river, and 40 feet above the
low water level. The dam backs the water five miles,
and makes a lake of an area of 400 acres, and of a
capacity equal to 500,000,000 of gallons. The water
enters a gatehouse, where the quantity is regulated
before it enters the aqueduct, which is xi, stone struc-
ture lined and arched with brick. The face of the
ianrteeari, 5
aqueductor3o3f4t-hleoo,pinrtf
, iseaett,
al the bottom of an inverted
arch, width 6 feet 9 inches height.o
8 feet 51 inches,
an omnibus and four to
line of the aqueduct beingpass) 1t large
through. enough
The
r i
on a regular declivity of