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January 19, 1856. | _________
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ClU- THIS DOTAnTMESfT, AS ALI 0KNI05S HO...
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There is no learned, man Imt will confes...
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rotten. I do not mean that wo should not...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Mr. Bazjaixjeute And The Yacant Engl Nes...
the Holborn and Finsbitry division , at the same time making it the best sewered district in the metropolis . The Fleet river running through a large tunnel in Mr . Kois's district afforded him the opportunity of measuring the velocity of large bodies of water during storms . He corrected these observations by similar measurements of other sewers ; and he thus learned the important fact that a tunnel , fed by branches along its course , discharges much more water , and at a much higher rate of speed , than a tunnel fed only at the head . nv ^ nv ^ tihns otf this sort , continued- ior
tent professional men , and he enumerated , in j the concise summary prefixed , the heads of the ease against Mr . Bazalgette , so far as appeared necessary to secure * the appointment of the Committee . The influence of Mr . Jedb in the late Commission was , however , strong enough to procure the refusal of this Committee , and to screen Mr . Bazalgette from having the case against him developed and proved . Accordingly , 3 \ Ir . Bazalgette was allowed to put in a reply — not on the case itself , because this was never developed , nor upon the proofs , because these were never stated—but upon the mere
enumetwenty years and upwards , enabled Mr . Roe to fix the proper size of sewers to discharge the sewage and rain from given surfaces , while his extensive experience in executing drainage works enabled him to estimate the cost of such operations with unusual accuracy . He has indeed , published tables of sizes for sewers and tunnels to drain given surfaces of town area , which tables are accepted as valuable and authoritative guides "b y draining engineers both in this country and abroad . . tit . ci . ni .-i « nncrc (» M ji . ncl Cubitt can point 11
ration ot the charges . Thus , Mr . Jebb and his friends did not tirst hear the case , and then decide upon it . They refused to entertain the case , and decided on suppressing the debate . Against this peremptory decision Mr . TmvArras entered a written protest ; which the nevY Board , in electing Mr . Thwaites as its chairman , must be presumed to have confirmed . Whether the Board will now reverse its own and its chairman ' s judgment by appointin * Mr . Bazalgette after ajl , remains to be seen .
l > JLvJ 3 SlO » , KJ X Hit ii ^ - " * ' ¦*¦ to no such experience in -drainage works ; they calculate by a formula ; and they thus assign sizes to several of their intercepting -tunnels ,, which , according to Mr . Roe s experience , are too large by \ ipwards of cent , percent . This difference in size , coupled with several improved arrangements suggested in Mi . Roe s plan , enables Mr . Roe to secure the vast economy of £ 874 , 000 , -on the © north side only ( besides the pumping costs mentioned above ) , with an equivalent redaction on the south side . Mr . Hoe , it 5 s stated , has never been 1 * 11 T estimate wnicn ims uteu
It is uot the province ot tne press xo rarer any-opinion on the relative fitness of rival candidates , or to exercise any " pressure from without" on the free exercise of the Boards judgment . We may , however , be permitted to suggest , on public grounds , that it may be desirable not to prejudge the tunnel question , by eleetino : Mr . Roe on the one hand , any more tlianiSlr . Bazalgette on the other ; but rather to select some independent ' engineer , of sufficient eminence to command public confidence , and ¦ ' . unpledged to any of the rival intercepting schemes .
known to give jitl exceeded in the execution - of the work ; nor has any work of his ever failed . This , indeed , " wn « the- boast . through life of the late M > .
WiimvoRTH , . the eminent canal engineer , under whom Mr .-Hoe was brought up . These considerations , and . particularly the very large economy of . £ 87-1 , 000 on the north side only ( besides the annual saving in pumping costs ) , naturally inclined Mr . Wakd , taking consideration
the ratepayers' interests into , towards Mr . John Roe ' s plan , and against the more costly and colossal plan of his competitors—so much less experienced in town drainage than Mr . Roe . Thus far the difference was merely one of opinion—a fair difference between rival engineers . But , upon closely examining the repoxts made against Joira Ron , and the " Data" and « r « nl « i-. 1-i *;« - » via" culnniHod Iw Mr . BaZALGETTK ,
in consequence : of orders of the Court of Sewers , Mr . Waud discovered , with very grout pain and regret , that two formula ? , or mocks of calculation , lvad been . resorted . to—one published , the other kept undivulged ; these being employed alternately , like the scales of an unequal balance , one to discredit Mr . Roe ' s tunnels , the other to justify certain of the tunnels of his rivals . Other expedients , of an equally serious character , proved to have been also resorted to , whether consciously or nmconscicmsly is a question for each man ' s judgment ; but , in tvny caso , most unfaiirly iu their result to Mr . Roe , and most perploxingly as regarded the Commissioners , who were thus predisposed to doubt the value of Mr . Ravk ' . s plan , and the practicability of effecting the ; vast economy of £ 871 , 000 , proposed by Hum I for the north sido only , besides the saving in ! annual pumping coats , and the proportionate i economy on the south Hide . I Under these circurnstances , Mr . Wakd , in ' i , discharge of his bound « n duty , moved for a Committee of Inquiry , to be aided by compc-I
January 19, 1856. | _________
January 19 , 1856 . | _________
THE LEADER . & L _
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Clu- This Dotantmesft, As Ali 0kni05s Ho...
ClU- THIS DOTAnTMESfT , AS ALI 0 KNI 05 S HOWETES T . XTHEMH , ABU lAIXOWED AN EXPRESSION , THE EDITOR NECESSABILY HOLDTj HIMSELF llEBPONSIBtE FOJl NONE . ] .
There Is No Learned, Man Imt Will Confes...
There is no learned , man Imt will confess he hat . i much profited by reading controversies , his senses awakened , and his judgment sharpened . If , tlien , it be profitable for him to read , why shoxild it not , at least be tolerable for his adversary to write ? -Milton .
Rotten. I Do Not Mean That Wo Should Not...
rotten . I do not mean that wo should not rejoice in the generous friendship and confidence now subsisting between England and Franco . I do not deny that up to a certain poiut it is good that Russia should have ? een roproBsed and chastised . But the question is , whether those advantages , achieved in such a way and by such means , will necessarily promote tho cause of European freedom . Tho question iB , whether to * push tlioee advantages with blind vehemence will lead to any groat or noble result . To mo it appears that tho war win only -terminate in a crisis favourable to liberty , on tho supposition that , first of all , Europe shall 1 ) 0 wrapped in anarchy . But in " tUif * probable I Look nt tho on-ormous power which a state of Avar lodgem in tho hands of tho executive . Consider tho facility with wliioh all tho atoroa and materiel , the armH fl-nd ammunition , tho hard ouah , and the drilled and olieolplinod nrmy—consider how those essentials of a abate of war are quietly and abundantly -accumulated ait a tinvo when tho honour or safety of tho nation is proolavimod to bo in peril . Consider how plaoidly an apnthotio multitude , iu tho Btrait-waiHtooatofn , paternal despot win , utaroB at military preparations , lor which there seems to bo so good an excuse . ConHulor how a froo aud iudopondoixt public , purposely gullod and goaded into martial frenzy , IiailB with acclamation tho ungainly efforts of . the Miniafcor of War to hwoII tho standing arnvy , and give woiglit and dignity to tho military front oi Britain . Remark how pleased wo arc to submit to tho necessary
_ --asBM" *™— ¦ *"~~~~¦ " — ~ ™^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^ severity of the Chancellor of the Exchequer , and whilst the tax yet hovers in mid-air , " we lick the hand just raised to shed our blood . ' Consider all this and think whether these vast military and naval establishments , maintained in a state of most complete and methodical organisation , dependent in a i neighbouring country , if not in our own , exclusively , on the will of the executive , are not potent auxiliaries of the ancient order of things , and ask yourself fur I ther , whether they are not , at all events , over the I water , deliberately and designedly meant to be so ? i Nevertheless , suppose that Europe should be wrapped , as I have conjectured possible , in anarchy . Is it your belief that anarchy , in the present state ot mind , of feeling , of knowledge , of civilisation on the continent , would terminate in any tolerable state of social order and security ? I am not speaking of any local subversion of authority , but . of that general ^ . -i " 1- _ 1 . ^ ** n 44- eiaa-ma +. /~ k . mf * TfAfiflOni wnicn aiuue ^ ~« —~¦— ¦ —
explosion m , no u . o . x _~ , ----could obtain a chance , and despotism meet ate downfall during such a war as that now going forwards . Taking the continent as e , whole , it would seem not to be ripe for physical force , even if physical force be tne only- remedy for its . disorder . What is needed seems to be time . The Germans , for instance , are raw , visionary , impracticable . Yet , gradually the salutary influence of true and accurate ideas spreads more and . more througtout the thinking classes of society . They are feeling their way to better things . A sudden convulsion would perhaps only expose their unfitness for self-government , and end ra the reaction ot a . despotism more crushing than that they already experience . . ¦ m ^! . time aat
, A time of peace is not an idle , w uwe we not conquered in our own land during forty years of peaee , and that without firing a shot ! This eager appeal to brute force , this self-conaplacent reliance ou an arm of flesh , this anxious plucking of our sword from the scabbard , savours of some of tee lowest qualities of mail ' s nature . It smells of the shambles . You may remind me that we did not begin -this fray j tha . t the Czar first broke ground . Well , we wiUnot I pkuige into the slimy quicksands in which ingenious ¦ diplomatists contrived to entangle the question . It is sufficient to assert , as I take the liberty of doing with as much emphasis as is allowable to fallible man , that logically the war assumed a new character , and stood ! oa quite another basis , when the Russians ^ ad been i imominiously hustled out of the Principalities , and ! tie blood-stained ruins- of Sebastopol were abandoned to
i to -the Allied armies . My lneamng is , that it ceasea be a war -waged for a special purpose . It began to ! assume the character of a vulgar death-grapple . The i whole tone of the press proved it . The acclamations iw **« ««
at public tueexinge uuiruuyiawu . « . » -v >* -.-. « x o Russia was the common cry . "We have got aa advantage over her . We do not think her so strong as we fancied . Let us push on ; we may perhaps upset her , and trample her under foot—who knows ! It is against this notion of a crusade against Russia , undertaken for the purpose just hinted at and with the aid—tho ambiguous aid , of a despotic ally—that I k ^ ^
have argued in tms ana my prectwAwg wo ., . w--respondent in your last accuses me of proposing that we should end the war by simply running away . I made no such ingenious suggestion . I advocate the offer or concession of reasonable terms to Russia . TIhe noisier portion of the public , encouraged by the press indulge in little else besides bluster and bravado . There is , I hope , some medium to be found between dogged ferocity and abject cowardice . Without recapitulating my arguments I will leave two facts for the consideration of all friends of freedom . Wo are leagued with one despot against another . Do we fondly imagine that both will l > e iu €%
swallowed up—eacn uy eacu . . niwim "" *« . «*»« _ . Or is it not more probable that the old Arab superstition will be realised , and the conquering despot absorb into himself all the virtues aud the vigour possessed by his prostrate victim ? The French eagle havers over Rome—it overshadows Jerusalem—it roiens at Constantinople—it has triumphed at Sevastopol . Will freedom breathe more freely when tlie e , vglo has fixed its talon on St . Petersburg ? So much for fact the flrajb . We are leagued with one ! iUpob against another . But what is fact the socon ^ It u this—that we leagued ourslvos with that despot , sWy to keep Ru « ia out of Turkey . Turkey , where our fellow-Christians are exposed to n barbarous Wid SystoZt o cruelty , compared to which the rjgow of „ 3 IJS or of Axistri * would prove luxurious *> dulgeuco ! We fought to rescue Turkey , not for We own sake , but for ours , because yve feared » ubs » . Wo o ^ en supproBsfid the insurrectionary movements of tho C ! rooks , in order to keep our protegd upright on E > i « tottering leg « . I suppose there was no choice , Imt at least this much is oloar , —wo cared mot » jot for tlie cause of freedom . It was tho halanco of power—tbe danger of Russia clutching too Inrge a portion of tho - Hick man ' n" spoil—ib was the policy of " statesmen whose intonso Bywipa . 'Uiy with freedom ia of coarse juotorious—those wore the motives to the war . And 3 ask—from such a eourco and with auoh auxnlwnop what good can come ? Yours faithfully , ABTTttTft n . JiliTOn .
WHAT SHALL WE OAJJY ' BY THE WAR ? ( To the Editor of ( he Leader . ) Sin , —ty is to me diffioult to comprehend how an honest liberal can anticipate results satisfactory ^ to tho caxiee he has at heart , from the war in which we are at present entangled . I do uot pretend to advoca-te the duty of non-resistance to tyrannical rulers . Nor do I , deny that England might be called upon to interfere on behalf of an oppressed and outraged community . But , to my mind , the present alliance with its constituent ingredients , and the n-fnunds on which it is based , is wholly delusive and
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 19, 1856, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_19011856/page/15/
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