Soon after passing the above act, which separated the north from the middle and south levels, a treaty was negociated between the Bedford Level Corporation and the principal persons interested in the trade carried on through the river Nene, from the Port of Lynn to the counties of Huntingdon and Northampton. That part of the river which lay within the boundaries of the great Level, was so filled up by the silt and other matter, which the tides and upland waters had deposited, that the navigation was much impeded, and the expence of every voyage considerably increased. This caused an application to the managers of the Bedford Level, for their assistance in the necessary work of cleansing the channel of the river, and making it deeper; and the parties, after several meetings, agreed in the outlines of a plan intended to answer the ends both of draining and navigation. The same year, the persons interested applied to Parliament; and the measures proposed for their mutual benefit received the sanction of the legislature. By the act then passed, the corporation of the Bedford Level renounce the general power possessed over the river and its banks, and unite with a stated number of land-proprietors, chosen from the south and middle districts, in raising a _fund_, {71} to be appropriated to scour out and deepen the bed of the Nene and its communicating branches. The above acts form the basis of the constitution appointed for the government of the Bedford Level; for though many others have been procured within the last 50 years, for draining separate districts within its limits, yet they all contain a clause, reserving the powers of the Corporation as established in the 15th Charles II. Of late years a measure has been frequently agitated, and in 1795 passed into a law, for improving the outfall of the river Ouse, and amending the drainage of the south and middle Levels, by making a Cut across the marshes from Eaubrink to Lynn. Great advantages are expected to be derived from this new channel, and the commissioners appointed by the Act are now employed in levying taxes to enable them to proceed with the work; but it is not yet begun. Notwithstanding the various projects that have been executed and the vast expence incurred to complete the drainage of the Fens, the work is yet imperfect; and in many places the farmer is still liable to have all the produce of his grounds carried away by inundations. The peculiar situation of the Level, which renders it the receiver of the collected waters of nine counties, and the want of attention to those comprehensive measures which alone could have equalled the evil, by providing a sufficient _outlet_ to the sea for the descending torrent, when swelled by the numerous currents from the hills produced by a rainy season, are frequently the occasion of high floods, by which many thousand acres of prime land are overwhelmed and made useless for the whole year.