The Press.
London, England, 1854-02-11 00:00:00

MANNING THE NAVY.

IF war and commerce cannot flourish together, the
Czar might well have thought that the spirit of the
" haughty islanders " of the old days was extinct,
even from the accounts of the preparations for hos
tilities. The naval news from Plymouth this week
justified the saying of the first NAPOLEON, that " the
English were a nation of shopkeepers," for the terms
of trade pervade even our arsenals. We read with
pleasure that volunteers were crowding to the depots
to enter the service; but the words were indicative
rather of casks than of cannons, of broad cloths than
of " blue-jackets." " Four vanloads of volunteers,"
thus ran the announcement, "were delivered yester-
day at the dockyard." Concurrently with the mani-
festation of this excellent disposition, two small pub-
lications of importance have opportunely appeared.
One is " A Few Words of Advice to the Mariners of
England by a Seaman's Friend," published by
Messrs. BRADBURY and EVANS, in which the relative
advantages of the royal and the mercantile marine
are compared, and the palm of superiority awarded
to the former. At a juncture like the pres nt this
pamphlet deserves, and we believe enjoys, a wide
circulation. The first pamphlet is of tempo! ary, the
second is of permanent, importance. It is a preface
to a series of suggestions which Admiral BOWLES has,
" during the last thirty years," made for the improve
ment of our naval administration. After alluding to
the alacrity displayed by the country in filling up the
ranks of the militia, the gallant admiral proposes
that there should be a maritime militia, exempt from
service in the land force. This naval militia he
suggests should be drawn from the population resi-
dent within a certain distance of the coast,—that it
should he divided into two or, if necessary, three
classes, according to age, each having suitable duties
assigned to it.
It the proposal were adopted, the author, a most
competent authority, is of opinion that naval efts•
ciency would be maintained without unduly pressing
upon the mercantile marine. In the last number
, of the PRESS it was suggested that seamen employed

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in yacht clubs would be a powerful reinforcement to
the fleet, if their masters would permit them to enter
the navy. We cannot close these remarks without
mentioning with pride that the first in the realm who
has been found to set this example of patriotism has
been the highest personage in it—the Queen.

WHICH IS WORST-WAR OR CHOLERA?

WHEN a prudent householder finds his bills or his
taxes pressing too heavily in one quarter, he looks
over his expenditure to try and make a counter-
vailing reduction in some other department. Eng •
land must not be less prudent.. "We are on the
"verge of a war," says everybody: and for once
everybody is right. But conclusions follow from
this premise, various as the minds that deduce
them. "We are going to war," say some, " there-
" fore don't pull to pieces your electoral system,
" even in the hope of substituting a better." "Wo
" are going to war," say others, " therefore don't
" talk of taking off taxes, disagreeable as they may
" be, at a moment when you may have to impose
" new ones." With neither of these indisputable
inferences shall we deal at present. Our business
is to draw a third—equally reasonable, but not
perhaps equally popular, because it appeals to no
party, but touches only the welfare of' the State.
War involves many sacrifices—loss of trade, aug-
mented burdens, probably augmented debt loss
also of many lives. Can the last sacrifice be averted?
It seems impossible; yet let the trial be made.
What was the military and naval expenditure of
British life between 1793 and 1815—in twenty-two
years of war? The official returns are before us.
Taking army and navy together, we have
Killed, 19,790. Wounded, 79,709.
In all, nearly 120,000 ; though to these must be
added a considerable number of deaths from disease,
exposure, and the hardships of a campaign.
Now let us set against this list the returns of
mortality in England and Wales, arising out of
cholers and the accompanying epidemic in 1848-49
a period of two years. They amount to 72,180 in
the official lists; and it is well known that these
lists fall very far short of the reality, from the con•
cealment and falsification practised in many places.
But this is a small fraction only of the whole amount
of mischief that is working among us. The average
annual deaths, year after year, from typhus and other
preventible diseases—that is, diseases which may be
utterly removed out of the land by proper sanitary
precautions—amount to 115,000. In other words,
our yearly loss from dirt, foul air, and neglect of
drainage, very nearly equals that which it cost us to
purchase all the triumphs of the Napoleonic war,
from the Nile and Trafalgar to Vittoria and Waterloo.
Non noster hic wino. Dr. SOUTHWOOD SMITH, who
supplies these statistics, works them out with a ful
ness of illustration and detail for which space fails
here. But, in order to prove that for which he con-
tends, one instance will almost suffice.
In the immediate vicinity of Baltimore, a city of
150,0(0 inhabitants, was constructed an almshouse,
with farm and gardens surrounding, and capable of
containing 0(K) or 700 inmates. This place, like all
others, had been carefully cleansed end drained ;
but adjoining it was a ravine, uncultivated and over-
grown with weeds, which formed a sort of depository
for all the refuse of the establishment. From the
direction of this poison bed the wind set in, and
continued to blow for some days ; the cholera poison
was thus diffused—the disease began to spread—and
within one month 99 lives had been sacrificed. It was
remarked that those whose windows looked to that
side of the building whence the effluvia was conveyed
were first and most severely attacked ; those in more
distant parts of the building escaping in comparison.
After some delay the cause of sickness was discovered,
and a vigorous purification commenced. While this
work was going on the virulence of the disease
abated ; and a fortnight afterwards it ceased alto-
gether.
Similar instances in our own country have oc-
curred, and these, selected from many, show that what
are called zymotic diseases—those induced by the
presence of poisonous and putrefying matter—are
artificial, not natural, evils, caused by disregard of
sanitary laws, and removable by attention to these
laws. The subject is a wide one, and we shall
pursue it farther.