The Express.
London, England, 1853-10-28 00:00:00

THE ARCTIC REGIONR.

List evening a lecture was delivered on this sub-
jet.: by Mr. R. C. WILD, to a numerous audience at the
Westminster Literary and Mechanics' Institute.
After giving an account of the early expeditions of Sir
Junes Ross and Sir John Richardson in search of Sir John
Franklin, the lecturer proceeded to speak of the large
squadron, consisting of no less than ten ships, which was
mat out with the same object in 1850. Four vessels were
entrusted by the British government to Captain Austen.
under whom steamers were first employed ; and to Captain
Penny were committed two more government ships. Two
I others were fitted out by Mr. Grinnell, an Ameri-
can ; another was, through the exertions of Lady
Franklin, sent cut under Captain Forsyth; and
another by the Hudson's Bay Company. He then
referred to the story of the murder of the crews of two ves-
sels which was related by some Esquimau:, and which he
said was proved to he without foundation, relerrisg to the
deposition of one of the parties as establishing that fact,
by the ridiculous nature of its contents. He next adverted
to the traces of the n'iaing expedition found at Beechey
Island, including a large cairn; and observed that the non-
discovery of any document in this place was accounted for
by Sir John Richardson by the supposition that a document
had been placed on a pole at the top of the cairn, and de-
stroyed by bears. Among the traces on Beechey Island
were 700 empty canisters; 24,000 such canisters having
been taken cut fad of preserved meat. Three g
also were found on the same island, and on the bodies being
exhumed by Captain Inglefield no sign, of scurvy were
discovered upon them. In speaking of the two American
ships, he observed that Captain de Haven, who was in
command of them, having determined to return home to
winter, and having announced his intention to Sir Edward
Belcher, and offered to take home despatches, immediately
after had his teasels carried off by ice ; the result being
hat they were borne helplessly upwards of 1,000 miles,
and, after passing through almost incredible dangers, being'
sometimes lifted up to a height of 40 feet, were, at the ex-
piration of nine months, liberated off the south toast
-of Greenland without having sustained any in-
jury. He next described the . coarse taken by
Capt. M'Clure. This gentleman, having entered the
Arctic Sea by way of Behtinge Straits, sailed eastward, in
disobedience to the orders of Capt. Collision, his superior
officer, who had the command of another ship, and was
still supposed to be in the Polar region,. Proceeding
along tho coast for several hundred miles, he at length
reached an island, which had been named B ming Island,
where he found a channel leading to the north-east, and
after making his way up it for a considerable distances was
stopped by a bar of ice. He then retraced his mune in
the channel, and steered round the island, to the north of
which he was again arrested by ice. He had, however,
found a communication from west to east, and thus
discovered elie north-west, or rather the north-
east, passage. When blocked in to the north
of Easing Island, he was rescued by Capt. Kelly, who
was sent there by Sir E. Belcher with a steam-vessel; an:
Capt. Kelly still remained in the same vicinity, partly for
the purpose of effecting, if necessary, a similar rescue for
Ceps Collison. Mr. Weld then explained very minutely
the position of Sir E. Belcher, according to the last accounts,
near the entrance to Wellington Channel ; and, in speaking
of provisions, stated that there was a sufficient quantity
stored up at different points to maintain 500 men for ten
years. Sir Edward Belcher had, he observed, explored
Wellington Channel, and even the Queen's Channel, as it
was termed, which lay beyond Wellington Channel, to a
distance of two or three hundred miles; and, as he repassed
that he saw nothing before him but open water and •
number of islands, when he commencedreturning,.
it was very strange that he should not have continued
his course northward. The only explanation which he gate
was, that he deemed it best to return to good winter
quarters. It was his (the lecturer's) opinion, that Sir
John Franklin went up that open water. He concluded
with some remark*, designed to show the poesibi.ity of
humeri existence near the pole ; alleging, in support of this
view, the facts that a great number of bean, deer, oxen,
and hares, had been shot by ezplorsn, that much vegeta-

ble food existed, aad that a Bunten war known to have
existed on the island of Spitsbergen for several years,
from all which be inferred that it was desirable that the
Admiralty should order the search beyond Wellington
Channel to be followed up as early as it might be prac-
ticable.

The lecture was listened to throughout with marked inte-
rest, and a manifest wish to understand the subject—a
wish whose gratification was aided by the use of simple
and intelligible maps.

PROPOSED STATUE OF PRINCE
ALBERT IN HYDE-PARK.
_..--

The following are copies of letters forwarded to
various influential persons relative to the proposed
statue of Prince Albert on the site of the old Crystal
Palace in Hyde•park

"]Landon-House, June 26, 1853.

"My Lord,—l have been requested to subscribe for the
purchase of the statue of Richard Com-de-Lion, which it
is proposed to erect on the site of the Crystal Palace ; I
appreciate very highly the design of obtaining from so die.
tioguised a sculptor a wort which most be regarded as a
triumph of his art, and I should be inset willing to aid in
the accomplishment of an otgect so honourable to the
country. . .

.. My immediate purpose, however, in this umauniestlon,
is to invite attendee to what appears to me to be due to
the illastdous prince whose patronage and zeal, whose
wise counsels zed active ozertiess, contributed.° ementially
to the consummation of that unrivalled nations' ander-

taking, the Great Exhibition. Of that noble work this
country has indeed reason to be proud; and it is not, I
think, too much Wimps that its multi will benefit the in-
dustrial classic of the empire fer generations to come. Its
effects are felt and acknowledged by all the nations around
us ; while in our own country it has given a stimulus to
industry, and awakened a spirit of enterprise among the
productive manes which, if properly directed, will prepare
them for a peaceful rivalry with other nations. And cot
only so, but diffame among them the moms of pure and
rational enjoyment, bind their affection to the dime of
her most gracious Majesty, deepen their respect for law, and
raise them in the scale of social excellence and worth.

"For the signal senior which have effected, and which
promise such results, I think it due to his Royal Bighneee
that the nation should perpetuate the Siam of them
in a manner which may testify to future time their grati-
tude to the Mistrials consort of our beloved Queen, for
having devoted the row:runes of the highest rank, influence,
and intellectual cultivation to the grandest objects of popu-
lar and practical utility.
"My proposal, then, is, that a brass* statue of Prince
Albert, ezecuted by one of oar greatest artists, should be
erected on the site of the Crystal Palace, in Hyde-park, es
an acknowledgment from the British people of their grati-
tads for his noble efforts

" I. For having been the chief projector and unwearied
President of the Great Eshibition of the products of Art
and Industry of all Nations.
„2. For his seldom endeavours to promote the progress
of science and art, and, by infusing them into practical
education, to advance the useful arta, and thus secure to our
country the advantages to be derived from the successful
realisation of this comprehensive scheme.
" I am, my lord, your obedient servant,
Tmolus CHALLIS."

II Manske-boom, Loudon, Oct. 27,1853.

"My dear Sir,—l have recently had the honour to sug-
gest to a few friends that a monument should be erected,
by public subscription, on the site of the Exhibition Band-
ing, in Hyde-park, u a national tribute of respect to his
Hord Highness Prince Albert, for the part he took in the
Great Exhibition of 1851.

" The project having met with very general support, I
have been requested, as Lord Mayor, to convene a public
meeting, at the Maosion•hoose, on Monday, the 7th of
November, at two o'clock, in furtherance of this object, at
which meeting your attendance is requested should the idea
meet with your approval.
" Should you wish your name to appear in the first list of
supporters, which will be announced at the meeting, I
shall be obliged if you will let me know at your earliest
convenience the sum which you would like to subscribe,
unless you have already done so.
"I am, dear sir, yours

" Tmos. CHAISIII."

PAYMENTS TO THE ROYAL FAMILY.—It appears
from a parliamentary paper recently printed (procured by
Mr. William Williams) that in the year ended the 6th of
January lest the allowances to the several breaches of the
royal family amounted to 152,1531.
WATERFORD AND KILKENNY RalLwaT.4.--ketnrn
of truffle for the week ending Oet. 22, 1853:-1871. le. 6d.
(22 miles). Corresponding week last year, 621. 110. H.
(13 mil* .

THE CHOLERA.

(Troia filet:instal Baird of Heath, Oct. 27.)
METROPOLIS.

Five cases of cholera are reported in returns made
by the Superintending Inspectors of the 1), It and M
divisions of police to the Commissioners, and trans-
mitted by them to the General Board of Health. Two
of those cases have terminated fatally, one of which
Thad been previously reported as under treatment. In
the other instance the patient died within 11 hours of
the time of attack, and the remark of the superin-
tendent is that " the smell front the drain and privy of
this house is very offensive, in consequence of its
being enclosed in and under the same roof as the
kitchen. The inhabitants complain of offensive
smells arising from Mr. Jones's tan-yard, Bermond-
sey."
Mr. Hall, from the Poor-law Board, and Dr. Mil-
roy, from the General Board of Health, had an inter-
view on the 28th inst. with the board of guardians
of Chelsea. The guardians had a fortnight also ap-
pointed two additional medical officers, who, along
with the regular medical staff, are appointed to in-
stitute a systematic sanitary inspection of the entire
parish, and to maintain a vigilant surveillance over
the health of the different districts.
It appears that cholera is decidedly on the increase
in some localities in Whitechapel. One of the me-
dical officers has had no fewer than 14 eases under
his own care from the 18th to the 23th inst., and of
these six were fatal iu from S to 27 hours.

Of 16 cases of cholera which have recently cc-
curred in this parish, no fewer than eleven occurred
in Dunk-street, Mile•end New Town. Many of the
houses are in a very filthy state. The medical officer
of the district has reported them to the Whitechapel
Board of Guardians.

Since the epidemic of 1848, much improvement has
been effected in Whitcehapel, and last session the
parish obtained an Act of Parliament, conferring
extensive additional powers on the authorities,
which they appear disposed to use actively and effi-
ciently. But Dunk-street and its immediate vicinity
are among those fatal spots in the union in which
no improvement whatever has taken place
since 1838, in which year Whitechapel among its
5,856 pauper. numbered 2,405 cases of zymotic
disease and 214 deaths—a mortality of 36 in 1,000.
In the epidemic of 1848.9, there m ere in this district
no fewer than 85 deaths from cholera and 18 from
diarrhoea. In 1852 Dr. Sutherland, in the appre-
hension that another outbreak of cholera was then
impending, re-ezamined the same localities which
had been reported on in 1838, and he states that
the descriptions given by Dr. Southwood Smith
fourteen yeate before were then perfectly appli-
cable to the same places, and that the great
leading causes of the unhealthiness of White-
chapel remain es entially the same. The Re-
gistrar of the district bore his testimony to
the correctness of Dr. Sutherland's representa-
tions in the remarkable words, " I do not think
there is a street in the district where epidemic
disease has not been fatal," and now in the present
month no fewer than 11 fatal cases of cholera have
occurred iu that very street in which, in 1838, typhus
fever was in nearly every house.
OLD BRENTFORD.—Four deaths from cholera and
diarrhoea have been registered during the week end-
ing Oct. 26, as having occured io Old 13rentford. In
one instance death ensued 10 hours after attack, and
in another within 24 hours. One was a militia man
who died of Asiatic cholera also within 24 hours
after attack. A few attacks of diarrhoea have been
i reported in the books of the medical officers of the
other districts, but no deaths have occurred.

NEWCASTLE.
Oct. 26—Cholera
Mardian
The total number of deaths from cholera and
diarrhoea in Newcastle during the present outbreak
to the 26th inst. has been 1,634.

The number of cues of choleraic disease disco-
vered by the house-to-house visitation system has
been : Diarrheas, 5,138 ; approaching cholera, 271 ;
cholera, 66. Three corpses have also been found
during the same period. There have also been 17
old cues passed from diarrlicea to approaching cho-
lera, and 13 cases have passed from a ',tate approach.
ing cholera to cholera. Thus the total number of
new casea discovered on house visitation to the 26th
inst. has been 5,478.

Dr. Waller Lewis called special attention to the
effects of the epidemic in a row of houses called
Oreenhow-terrace, as a warning to other towns of
" the dreadful effects of neglect of common sanitary
regulations." He says—Oreenhow-terrace consists
of eleven or twelve houses in en open airy situation ;
live of the houses have low damp cellar dwellings,
but, with this exception, the tenements are very su-
perior to many hundreds of others inhabited by per-
sons in a like condition of life. These are brick-
makers and workmen at factories.

There were no privies or conveniences of any sort
to these houses, the inhabitants being in the habit et
carrying out the filth, dirt, and ashes to a large mid-
denstead within six or eight feet of the end house.
When the wind wu from the east the inhabitants
breathed the air charged with the noxious emuvia
given off from the accumulation of months and years.
In 1849 cholera carried off three victims from this
row, and immediately afterwards the heap of poison-
SU matter was removed. From that time to within
a few weeks ago, with the exception of a farmer
sending occasionally to take • cart-load or two for
his own use, the middenstead has never been emptied.
From Sept. 4 to Oct. 8, out of 118 inhabitants
there were 11 deaths from cholera, and 20 other
asses of cholera and diarrhoea. In both epidemics
the first death occurred in the same house, the family
inhabiting which lost in the present attack three of
its members, namely, the mother and two sons.
Since the present mortality the landlord has removed
the middenstead and erected some privies-75 cart-
loads of manure have been taken away. If these
precautions had been adopted in time, and the soil
removed before instead of after the onslaught of the
disease, might not the 11 lives have been almost
certainly saved?
As a contrast to the preceding statement, exhibit-
ing the consequences of neglect, the following narrative
is most important and encouraging, as illustrating the
extent of immunity which may be hoped fore under
the mist alarming and dangerous circumstances,
where judicious measures of precaution are promptly
and energetically applied, and when the means of
supervision are such as to ensure in some tolerable
degree the observance of the measures adopted. The
results are in perfect accordance with those already
stated respecting the experience of the model
dwellings.
Dr. W.F. T. Ivey, Assistant Surgeon, Sixth Royal
Regiment, and Dr. H. C. Ruts, Assistant Surgeon,
Sixth Dragoons, in reporting on the means taken to
protect the troops forming the garrison in Newcastle,l
state that,—Everywhere around us the devouring
plague has left its fatal impress, yet have we been
hitherto most mercifully spared. Numerous cases
have occurred in our immediate neighbourhood, and
in some of the houses in which the soldiers' families
are accommodated, several deaths have taken place
among the civil population. These are situated at
distances varying from 50 to 200 yards from the
barrack gate. In the village of Spital Tongues,
about 250 yards to the north of the barracks, the
disease prevailed to &frightful extent for many days,
and carried woe and desolation to almost every
hearth—scarcely a cottage escaping without num-
bering one or more victims to the merciless grasp of
the destroyer. The barracks are situated about
three-quarters of a mile from the centre of the town,
and form part of the outskirts in a north-westerly
direction.
Immediately on ascertaining that the fatal
scourge was abroad in our streets, we became im-
pressed with a sense of fearful responsibility, as
intrusted with the care of so many lives; we reflected
on our means of defence against ravages; we augured
that by strict attention, cleanliness, ventilation, and
diet, with a careful watching for and prompt treat-
ment of premonitory symptoms, and by forbidding
the troops from going into infected localities, the
pestilence might per chance, to a certain extent, be
happily averted. Accordingly, aided by the ready
co-operation of the officers, the following sanitary
precautions were taken and are still continued.
We made a thorough inspection of all drains,
sewers, privies, ash-pits, and every other locality,
both within and without the barrack, where
filth was likely to accumulate, and had all offensive
matters removed, and effluvia corrected by the liberal
and daily distribution of chloride of lime. The
privies and ashpita were whitewashed. The custom