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the Ilolborn and Finsbury division , at the same time making it the best sewered district in the vnetropolis . The Fleet river running through a large tunnel in Mr . Kois'r district afforded him the opportunity of measuring the velocity of large bodies of water during stormy . He corrected these observations by similar measurements of other sewers ; and he thus learned the important fact that a tunnel , fed by brandies along its course , discharges much more water , and at a much higher rate of speed , than a tunnel fed only at the
headtent professional men ; and he enumerated , in 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 . Jebb in the late Commission > vas , 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 , Mr . I 3 azalgette 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 enumeration of the charges .
Thus , Mr . Jebb and his friends did not first hear the case , and then decide upon it . Tliey refused to entertain the case , and decided on suppressing the debate . Against this peremptory decision Mr . Thwaitjes entered a written protest ; " \ vliich the new 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 appointing Mr . Bazalgette after all , remains to be seen . It is not the province " of the press to offer any-opinion 011 the relative fitness of lival candidates , or to exercise any " pressure from without " on the free exercise of the Board ' s
judgment . "We may , however , be permitted to suggest , on public grounds , that . , it rmay be desirable not to prejudge the tuiinel question , by electing Mr . Roe on the one hand , any more than Sir . Bazalgette on the other ; but rather to select some independent ' engineer , of sufficient eminence to command public confidence , arid ' . unpledged'to any of the rival intercepting schemes .
Observations of this sort , continued for twenty years and xipwards , 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 ancl tunnels to drain given surfaces of town area , which tables are accepted as vaHiable and authoritative guides by draining engineers both in this country and abroad .
Messrs . . Stevhenson and Cuiirrr can point 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 xipwards of cent , per cent * . This difference in size , coupled with several improved arrangements suggested in Mi . Roe ' s plan , enables Mr . "Roy . to secure the vast economy of . £ 8 74 , 000 , on the © north side only ( besides the pumping costs mentioned above ) , with an equivalent redaction on the south
IIUU . . . Mr . Hot :, it 5 s stated , has never been known io give an ' estimate which has been exceeded in the execution of the work ; nor has any work of his ever failed . This , indeed , was the boast through life of tlie late Mr . WinTWORTH , the eminent canal engineer , under whom Mi \ -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 . Waiid , taking the ratepayers' interests into consideration , towards Mr . John Rom ' 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 reports made against Joira Ron , and the "Data" and " Calculations " submitted by Mr . Bazalgette , in consequence of orders of the Court of Sewers , Mr . Waiid discovered , with very great pain and regret , that two ibrmulic , or modes of calculation , lvad becn . resorted . to—one published , the other kept umlivulged ; 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 bcon also resorted to , whether consciously or mixconsckmsl y is a question for euch man ' s judgment ; but , in tvny caso , most unfairly iu their result to Mr . Roe , and most perptaxingly us regarded the Commissioners , who were thus predisposed to doubt the value of Mr . RoifcV » plan , and the practicability of effecting tho vast economy of £ 87-1 , 000 , proposed by 3 iim for tho north side only , besides the saving in annual pumping costs , and the proportionate economy on tine south kuIc .
^ Under these circurnstances , Mr . Wakd , in discharge of his bound « n duty , moved for a Committee of Inquiry , to be aided by compc-
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[ iH TIJIS- DBPAHTMn » T , AS ALL OPINIO'SS , HOWEVES riXTEEMi ; , ABU lAIXOWED A . 3 f EXPRESSION , THE EDIXOB NECESSARILY MOLDS HIMSELF 31 EBPONSIBLE FO 21 NONE . ] .
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severity of the Chancellor of the Exchequer , and whilst the tax yet hovers in mid-air , " lick the hand just raised to shed our blood . " Consider all this , and think whether these vast railitazy and naval establishments , maintained in a state of most complete and methodical organisation , dependent in a 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 ther , whether they are not , at all events , over the water , deliberately and designedly meant to be so ? Nevertheless , suppose that Europe should lie wrapped , as I have conjectured possible , in anarchy . Is it your belief that anu . rchy , in the present state of niind , of feeling , of knowledge , of civilisation on the continent , would terminate in any tolerable state of
social order and security ? I am not Bpeaking of any local subversion of authority , but . of that general explosion in which alone , as it seems tome , freedom coultl obtain a chance , and despotism meet its downfall , during such a war as that noir going forwards . Taking the continent as e , whole , it would seem not to be ripe for physical force , even if physical force be the only remedy for its disorder . What is needed seems to be time . The Germans , for instance , are raw , visionai * y , impracticable . Yet , gradually the salutary influence of true and accurate ideas spreads more and . more throughout 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 in the reaction of a despotism more crushing than that they already
expe-. A time of peace is not an idle time . What have we not conquered in our own land during forty years of peace , and that without firing a shot ! TbiB eager appeal to brute force , this self-complacent reliance on an arm of flesh , this anxious plucking of our sword from the scabbard , savours of some of the lowest qualities of marfs nature . It smells of the shambles You may remind me that we did not begin " this fray * thai , the Czar first broke ground . Well , we will not plu _ nge 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 3 nuch emphasis as is allowable to fallible man , that logically the -war assumed a new character , and stood oa . quite another basis , when the Bussians had been igrtominioualy hustled out of the Principalities , and tlie blood-stained ruins of Sebastopol were abandoned to "the Allied armies . My meaning is , that it ceased to be a war waged for a special purpose . It began to assume the character of a vulgar death-grapple . The whole tone of the press proved it . The acclamations at public meetings corroborated it . A . crusade against Russia was the common cry . "We have got an advantage over her . We do not think her bo 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 have argued in this and my preceding letters .. A correspondent in your last accvisea cue 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 % o Russia Tlie 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 friend 8 of
free-WHAT SHALL WE GAIN BY THE WAR ? ( To the Editor of the Leader . ) Sin , — Ijt is to me difficult to comprehend how an honest liberal can anticipate results satisfactory to the cause he has at heart , from the war in which we are at present entangled . I do not pretend to advocivte 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 outl-a ^ ed communit y . But , to my mind , the present alliance with its constituent ingredients , and the grounds on which it is based , is whol ly delusive and rotten- I do not mean that wo should not rejoice in
the geaicrous 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 been i-oproBsed and . chastised . But the question m , 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 ijhese advantages with blind vehemence will lead to any groat or noble result . To mo it appears that tho war can only - terminate in a crisis favourable to liberty , on tho supposition that , first of all , Europe shall l » o wrapped in anarchy . Bu , t is " this probable t Look nt tho enormous power which a state of Avar lodges in tho hands of tho oxecutivo . Consider tho
facility with wliioh all tho atovoa and materiel , the arniH und ammunition , tho hard cash , and tha drilled and diBoiplinod army—consider how those essentials of n s-bato of w « i * arc quietly and abundantly woumulutod ait a timo when the honour or safety of tho nation ia proolavimcd to bo in peril . Consider how pluuidly an apnthotic multitude , iu tho atrait-wuiHtooat of iv paternal donpotinin , uttu'OH at military preparations , for which there seonis to bo so good an excuse . Conuulor how a froo uud inclopondoni public , purposely gull < od . and goaded into martial frenzy , IiailB with noolamntion tho ungainly efforts of tho Minister of War to mvoll tho standing army , and give woiglit and dignity to tho military front of Britain . Romtvrk how pleased wo are to fnibmit to tho noccasixry
dom . Wo aro leagued with one despot against another . Do we fondly imagine that both will be swallowed up—each by each ia Hibernian fashion ' ! Or is-it not more probable that the old Arab superstition will bo realised , and the conquering despot absorb into himself all the virtues and the vigour possessed by his prostrate victim ? The French eagle hovers over Rome—it overshadows Jerusalem—it roigus at Constantinople—it has triumphed at Sebaatopol . Will freedom breathe more freely when tlie eag-lo has fixed its talon on St . Petersburg ? So much for fact the first . Wo are leagued with one despot against another . But what is fact tho socon < l I It ia this—that wo leagued ourslvos with that despot ,
ftimpjly to keep Russia out of Turkoy . Turkey , where our follow-Chris tiaus are exposed to a barbarous ( aid systematic cruelty , compared to which tho rigour of Naples or of Austria would provo luxurioue i « - dulgonco ! We fought to rescue Turkey , not for its own sake , but for ours , because we feared Russia . "We oven suppressed tho insurrectionary movements oi tho Greeks , in order to keep our proteg 6 upright on Biia tottoring legs . I suppose thoro was no choice , Imi at leant this much ia oloar , —wo caved not » jot fou tin cause of freedom . It was tho balance of power- —the danger of Russia clutching too Inrgo a portion of tlu "' sick man ' s" spoil—it was the policy of " statesmen ' whose intoneo Byvnpa'Uiy with freedom i » of coars < wotorious—these wore the motives to the war . Anc 3 auk—from such a sourco and with auch aujdliftTioi what good can come ? Yours faithfully , Awrntrn H . Kr : wm .
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January 19 , 1856 . f THE LEADER . 63 . r-... ' . — T ¦ I ' ill II I . nil l - ll " I nil I '
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There is no learned , man Imt will confess he hath much profited t > y reading controversies , his senses a-watcened , and his judgment sharpened . If , then , it be profitable for hlin to read , -why shovild it not , at least ., be tolerable fox his adversary towrite?—Muyton
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 19, 1856, page 63, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2124/page/15/
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