reach the proper level.

The extreme diameter of the spiral road will be no less than two hundred feet. The side of the road next to the interior, or excavation, will be defended with substantial walls relieved by open arches; and on the other will be built warehouses at the top, and cellars at the bottom. The road itself will be forty feet wide, and the descent very moderate. The expenses of the Tunnel have been, of course, very much greater than were contemplated, and that circumstance has not been one of the least of the engineer's difficulties: in one sense, indeed, it was his greatest, since it did not rest with himself to conquer it. Yet, strange to say, in spite of such an accumulation of hindrances and obstructions as no man could have ever conceived could have been met with-and overcome, the expenses of the Tunnel forms one of its advantageous features, when we contrast its cost with the only other mode of communication (impracticable here from the size and number of the shipping passing to and fro)-a bridge. We do not know the exact expenditure up to this moment, but we do know that the entire expense will not materially exceed the estimate presented to Government in 1837 by Mr. Walker, the engineer it had appointed to examine from time to time the state of the work, and its probable cost. At that period 180,000l. of the Company's capital had been expended, and 84,000l. worth of Exchequer bills advanced by Government, making together 264,000l. The estimate for the future consisted of two items, one of 150,000l. to complete the Tunnel, and the other of 200,000l. for the shaft on the Wapping side, the great circular approaches, &c., forming a grand total of 614,000. And this, we are informed, will be about the actual expense. By the side of this we may place the cost of the latest in erection of the great metropolitan bridges, London, with its expenditure of two millions; or, if the disparity between the positive utility of the two works be objected, we may mention Waterloo, which has cost above a million.

We may trace the vastness of London, the varied character of its external features, and the wonderful diversity which its social aspects present, to three distinct causes. First, its official supremacy, as the residence of the sovereign, the seat of the government and legislature, and all the most important departments of the state; secondly, its manufacturing industry; and, thirdly, its commercial

VOL. III.

F

importance as a port. Any one of these elements would nourish a large amount of population; but without the two latter it would be kept within moderate limits, and it is chiefly in consequence of their influence that London is twice as large as Paris.

That portion of London connected with the port and shipping differs so much from the districts appropriated to manufactures, and from all others possessing a special character of their own, as to constitute one of the most distinct divisions of the metropolis. It embraces, on the northern side of the river, a district extending eastward from Tower Hill, and comprising Wapping and Ratcliffe Highway, Shadwell, Limehouse, Poplar, and Blackwall; and, on the other side, commences with Tooley Street, and comprehends Rotherhithe and all along the river to Deptford. The general characteristics of the district have already been noticed ;* and we shall, therefore, devote the present number to an account of one of its great features-the Docks.

The stranger, especially from an inland county, who takes a passage by one of the steamers which leave London Bridge every quarter of an hour for Greenwich, will be astonished at the apparently interminable forests of masts which extend on both sides of the channel, where a width of three hundred feet should be kept for the purposes of safe navigation, but which the crowd of ships from all quarters of the globe, of colliers, coasters, steam-boats, and river-craft, renders it difficult for the harbour-masters to maintain. If the tide be running upward, laden coalbarges are thronging the channel, proceeding to the wharfs in the upper part of the river; and colliers at their moorings are at all times discharging their cargoes into barges alongside. By the regulations of the coal-trade only a certain number of coal-ships are allowed to unload at the same time, the others remaining lower down the river until their turn arrives; and the coal-meters, who are appointed by the City, are also limited in number. But for these restrictions the river would present a still more crowded appearance, as it has happened that above three hundred colliers have arrived in the Lower Pool in one day; and even now a very large portion of the river is occupied by this one branch of commerce. Forty years ago, not only coal-ships, but vessels of every other kind, discharged their cargoes into lighters while at anchor in the stream; but such a practice would now be impossible, so great has been the increase of commerce. East Indiamen generally came only as far as Blackwall, where they discharged their cargoes into decked lighters of from fifty to one hundred tons, and, the hatchways being secured under lock and key, they proceeded to the wharfs. West India ships discharged in the river, and the cargoes were also conveyed in lighters to the legal 'quays. All other vessels, except they were of small size, were in like manner compelled to use lighters in discharging their cargoes. At the present time six-sevenths of the barges and river-craft are solely employed in transporting the cargoes of coal, corn, and timber ships, so small a proportion as one-seventh only being required for the conveyance of all other commodities, the chief of which are of a bulky kind, and do not offer any great temptation to pilferers. In 1792 the number of barges and craft required for the traffic between the ships in the river and the quays was 500 for timber and 1180 for coal, each averaging thirty-three tons; 402 lighters of thirtynine tons; 338 punts of twenty tons; 57 lugger-boats of twenty-four tons; six

Thames Tunnel, LIV. p. 50.

sloops of twenty-seven tons; 10 cutters of seventy-one tons; and 10 hoys of fiftyeight tons; making a total of 3503 craft. Property of the most costly and valuable description, and every kind of merchandise, was daily exposed to plunder in these open boats, for only the lighters of the East India Company were decked, and it was considered that even they afforded a very insufficient protection. The temptation to pilfer was almost irresistible, those who were honestly disposed taking their share under the plea that wastage and leakage were perquisites. So many persons were engaged in the work of depredation on the river, that it was carried on in the most daring and open manner-lightermen, watermen, labourers, the crews of ships, the mates and officers in some instances, and to a great extent the officers of the revenue, being combined in this nefarious system; while on each side of the river there was a host of receivers, some of them persons of opulence, who carried on an extensive business in stolen property.* In 1798 the Thames Police, called then the Marine Police, was instituted for the repression of these offences, but the source of the evil was still untouched, the temptation remaining undiminished so long as the exposure of property was rendered unavoidable by the absence of sufficient accommodation in quays and warehouses.

In 1558 certain wharfs, afterwards known as the "legal quays," were appointed to be the sole landing-places for goods in the port of London. They were situated between Billingsgate and the Tower, and had a frontage of 1464 feet by 40 wide, and of this space 300 feet were taken up by landing-stairs and by the coasting-trade, leaving, in the year 1796, only 1164 feet for the use of the foreign trade. Other wharfs had, it is true, been added from time to time, five of these, "sufferance wharfs," as they were called, being on the northern side of the river, and sixteen on the opposite side, comprising altogether a frontage of 3676 feet. The warehouses belonging to the sufferance wharfs were capable of containing 125,000 tons of merchandise, and 78,800 tons could be stowed in the yards. The want of warehouse-room was so great that sugars were deposited in warehouses on Snow-hill, and even in Oxford-street. Wine, spirits, and the great majority of articles of foreign produce, especially those on which the higher rate of duties was charged, could be landed only at the legal quays. In 1793 sugars were allowed to be landed at the sufferance wharfs, but the charges were higher than at the legal quays; extra fees had to be paid to the revenue officers for attendance at them, though at the same time they were inconveniently situated, and at too great a distance from the centre of business. The above concession to the sufferance wharfs was demanded by common sense and necessity, for the ships entered with sugar increased from 203, in 1756, to 433, of larger dimensions, in 1794. Generally speaking, the sufferance wharfs were used chiefly by vessels in the coasting-trade, and for such departments of the foreign trade as could not by any possibility be accommodated at the legal quays. Even in 1765, commissions appointed by the Court of Exchequer had reported that the latter were "not of sufficient extent, from which delays and many extraordinary expenses occur, and obstructions to the due collection of the revenue." But the commerce of London had wonderfully increased since

* See Mr. Colquhoun's work on the 'Commerce and Police of the River Thames' for some curious statements as to these practices.

that time, its progress in the twenty-five years from 1770 to 1795 having been as great as in the first seventy years of the century. The value of the exports and imports of London in 1700 was about ten millions sterling, and in 1794 about thirty-one millions; and the shipping engaged in foreign trade had increased in tonnage still more than in numbers, as the following table of British and foreign shipping inwards will show :

The coasting-trade had more than doubled in tonnage, and nearly so in number, from 1750 to 1795:

For the accommodation of this vastly-increased trade scarcely an effort had been made, and the mercantile interests experienced in consequence impediments and losses which it is wonderful did not arouse them earlier to provide a remedy. Merchandise was kept afloat in barges, as we now see coal, from want of room to discharge it at the legal quays, where sugar-hogsheads piled six and eight high, bales, boxes, barrels, bags, and packages of every description were heaped together. These quays were converted into a market for spirits, oil, fruits, and other commodities, and the export and import trades were confounded together on the same limited and inconvenient spot. At one time the stripping and cutting of tobacco was performed on quays, and the sugar-hogsheads were put to rights by the coopers on the decks of the loaded ships, while spirits were landed at one wharf and gauged at another. The Custom-House authorities might have done much to have remedied these inconveniences, but the service of this department appears to have been very inefficiently performed. The number of holidays was far too great; the officers were not very punctual in their attendance; and there was a general want of classification and arrangement amongst them, so that, while some had too much to do, others had too little. Instances are on record of above a thousand tons of goods lying for several days in lighters at a sufferance wharf, during which only two officers were on duty. Goods were allowed to remain on board ship a certain time after they were reported, but, in consequence of the crowded state of the quays, this time was not unfrequently overstepped, and penalties were incurred in consequence. The delays and obstructions of all kinds were profitable enough to the depredators on the river, but ruinous to the merchants.

About the year 1793 the complaints of the merchants began to attract more attention than they had hitherto received, and they held meetings, at which various remedies were proposed, but no substantial improvement was the result. At length, in 1796, Parliament took up the subject, and instituted a formal inquiry. After the war had commenced the evils complained of had enormously increased. The commerce of other countries flowed towards London, and merchant-ships, instead of arriving and departing singly, were compelled to sail in large fleets under the convoy of men-of-war, and thus the operations of a more extended trade were concentrated into irregular periods, which demanded the most