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40 CONCLUSION.
to suppress the several nuisances against which you
are armed, when the various trades of the City will
have ceased to send forth smoke or stink, you can
raise no barrier against invasions from around;
southward, you cannot exclude the unwholesome
airs wafted from the river and from across it;
nor on either side, cast or west, the soot that showers
down from innumerable shafts encircling you; nor
northward, the odours that rise from the shambles
of Clerkenwell.
And likewise within the City there will be
remaining—out of your control, unremedied evils,
the existence of which has long been denounced,
and the removal long expected.
In 1849, with the cholera amidst us, great exertions
were made, and greater promises. In that
dreadful week, when two thousand victims of our
metropolitan population fell beneath its poison;
when every household, from hour to hour, trembled
at the visible nearness of death; the public was
scared out of indifference. If the visitation could
have been bought away, at the expense of doubling
all local rates in perpetuity, no doubt the sacrifice
would have been made. Public opinion was kindled
to overwhelm all opposition.
The metropolis was to be drained afresh; the
outfall of sewerage was no longer to be beneath our
windows; the river was to be embanked; its rising
tide was no longer to make our sewers disgorge
their poisonous contents into our streets and houses;