The Express.
London, England, 1853-10-26 00:00:00

TO COKRESPONDENT3.

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LONDON. WEDNESDAY; 0071,..DER 26.

'lt. .t Ent is spreading in London. As usual h
fni. its fullest harr(dt in the region; ( r ,L:t and
porvr. y, and at present the Southwark d'ele of the
Thanes hits contriluted the largest yrrporton of
rectum. '• The districts on the mouth iode cf the
rice: -till ad.vrt their fatal pre-eminence." Icys the
Reg:,:rar-thneral—anl high up upon :141 :ist of
dead'' ;pod there is ore, within that Lzraugh,
which appears to b. literally kept in a p--idanous I
ecso. —that money may go into the prottt of a'
Tia• I:iNhor of IVlsclit:s•TEß has authorise!' spe-
cial IC,Vices to be betel throughout his tliocse, fur
the purpose of imploring the Divine aid in L.rostiog
the prngress of the choler*. In so do:cg. re has
dow,tless followed the dictates of a religious imrulse,
and has ministered. as was his duty, to the Fympa
tbicd 11( many pious churchmen. It is an act which

woo;d, under ordinary circumstances, rece:ve little or
no comment in the columns of a daily jctunal, in
which a mere statement of the fact wouicl be eutfi-
eier t. It happens, however, that in the present in.
states there arc considerations connected with the
loca:ity in which the event alluded to mires place
which bring it within the arena of public discussion.
The Bishop's right to interference in the spiritual
affairs of his diocese is derived from 'n:s a3ce. He
is the •jaismpv, the overseer of the der;ty and their
Hocks. He has seen the miserable condition of a
portion of his diocese, he fears the pr.ress of the
evil wider which they are suffering, and Le comes
forward like a wise overseer with a judicious act of
spiritual authority. So far so good. is the
Bishop going to stop here, or is he going to act like a
certain carter in the fable? Cholera is in the Bishop's
diocese, but has be looked for the exe2t spot ?
Does he know that it is his own ;I:Dwit over
which cholera rides Lord Paramount Hoes he
know that filth and pestilence arc imprisoned
in ioextricable bonds in the very estate which has
yteided him or his predecessors a princely fortune?
Has he ever asked himself the question, Am I not
responsible for the presence of cholera on r.:y ovate,
on account of my resolute determinat.cu to keep up
a system which prevents the adoptbn of sanitary
regulations? Am I guilty of the irreverent ab-
surdity of praying to be relieved from the pressure of
a pestilence, and at the same time refusing to adopt
the only means to remove it ?" If the Bishop is in a
condition to answer these questions correctly, he
must see that he is on the horns of an ugly dilemma.
If not, what becomes of his assuml tioa of the
title of an overseer? Has he translated the Greek
vs ord signifying "to superintend " " to c% zreee," by
the English word "to overlook," and taken ;ne benefit
of the equivocation?
. . . . . .

However this may be, it is certain that cholera is
raging in that very part of Southwark where the
Bishop of WINCIIESI'ER'S property is situated—a spot
which is a fruitful source of pestilence, death, and
crime, solely because the Bishop refuses to grant
conditions under which alone it can be improved.

It is an established fact that tLre?-fifths of

the deaths from cholera in the I:egistrar's
Report of October 19 were on :he south
indc of the Thames; that one-third of these
Ism in St. Saviour's district ; and that, with
one exception, these cases all occurred in what is
called the Clink Liberty, which is the property of
the Church. A great part of this Cist:ict has no
sewers, but only gutters or ditches to convey the
retuse of the dwellings to the Thames. The How of
the tide up these ditches sometimes causes the homes
to he flooded to the depth of two or three feet. This
was the case three days last week. In some of the
houses there is nothing between the olack mud
which is festering in the ditches but :he Sooring of
the lower apartments.

What prepares this home for cholera in South-
wark ? Who keeps it in due pestiferous order ? Who
is responsible to the country for esta'allrhicg a manu-
facture of pestilence and preventing its renr.,val ? Ask
the leans and eub-lessees of the property. They
tell us that the property is not improved, be-
cause the tenure is such that it is tilt worth while
to expend money on it. This property is leased on
lives. Three lives are taken, and, when one of these
fall; in, the Bishop of WINCHESTER allows the in-
sertion of another name on the payment of a flue.
Of the va►ue of these fines to the Bishop for the time
being some idea may be formed by the following ex-
tract from evidence given by Mr. Porr, relating to
the Winchester Park Estate, before the Royal CAM.
IMMO :

Perhaps the Ceenadatiemn 'meld like to know es some
nide, what the flats apes this property brie been Inm
time to time. Ima speak of. large portion of it. In the
year 17.58 a Ills dropped, sad the hue paid to the bishop
was 1,6001.; that Iseluded the whole of the property held
by Mr. Peyote/ and myself. In the year 1763 another life
dropped, and the same fins was paid, 1, 5001. No renewal
took plies dim that time until the year 1309, although
lifs had dripped twenty yeas before; mu. I believe, it
was from what was considered en exorbitant bra having
lima demanded by the bishop, that no renewal took pleas
at that time. In 1802 my father became poeseued of part
of this property, is conjunction with others, and they Ira-
asediately applied to the bishop for a renewal, and to be
allowed to pat in another life. The discussion continued
from the year 1902 until the year 1809, six years; and the
biih3p thee said, as I have been told, " I will have me
year's rack rent of the estate, and I will hate twenty
years' interest upon It, because you ought to lyre renewed
twenty years' ago;" sled he received upon that occasion
14.0001., within a fraction, for renewmg only toot part of
the estate which 1 now hold, exclusive of Mr. Payntsr'e
holding, which was not renewed at the same time.

It will be seen from this statement that no right of
renewal can be claimed by tenants under such a sys-
tem. and that the tenure being so far uncertain the
indu.cment to make improvements in property thus
held becomes very small. In the evidence. brought
before the same Commission we read

(To Mr. Tett.)—Must not this tenure, practica.ly depend-
lag upon lives, be a very inconvenient one, to sublestees
especially t—lt is very inconvenient.
Mr. Paynter—l think it might be considerably ink-
proved.
Mr. Thornton—lt prevent. all improvanaits. A great
number of substantial bui:dings would be erected if Uwe
was a certainty in the tenure.

(To Mr. Paynter.)—Da you mean long hued terms of
yeast—Yee. Long fixed terms of years would bring for
in time gradually a better class of house.. In fact, if
you go to an estate on one side of the river, you will see
practically what a different class of houses has boon built
upon ditferent tenures. . . . .

Before the year 1851 there were legal difficulties
in the way of the holders of Church property grant-
ing satisfactory leases, but this difficulty was
removed by the Act of 1851, which gave power to
the Bishops to enfranchise episcopa. property.
This Act, however, wu not compulsory, but only
permissive. It depends, therefore, upon the
will of an individual Bishop whether he will
allow of the extension of the provisions of the
Act to the estates of his see. The Bishop of WlN-
cuEsrrEß, who was applied to by lessees in South-
wark to permit the enfranchisement of the property

hell by them, refused, alleging that it would not be
consistent with the interests of the Church. It is
agreed, neverthelus, that the Church as a corpora-
-1 tiou would be greatly benefited by berrying out the
principle of enfranchisement. The very preamble
of the Act of 1431 takes the ground that enfran-
chisement would " tend to the Improvement
of Eiiscopal and Capitular Estates in Eng-
' land without prejudice to the interests of
persons holding leases granted thereof." In spite
of tl.is the Bishop of WINCHESTER who received six
years ago some 11,0001. as a fine for renewal upon
the fulling in of a life, and who may expect to
receive 0,0001. more upon the rest upon a similar
contingency, refuses to alter the mode of tenure.
The tendency of this refusal is to stile all desire on
the part of the tenants to improve the property.
They know that should a life full in, shortly after
they have expended money on improvements, the
amount cf fine they would have had to pay had the
tenements they occupy remained unaltered, will be in-
creased in proportion to the augmentation of value
the property has received by the very money they
have laid out upon it.

So the broken-down houses are crowded to the
roof by the vicious, the diseased, the idle, and the
indigent—filth is accuinuleting—the fetid stream of
death moves constantly under the flooring of the
housel—fever and cholera are generated, or supplied
with means of nourishment and increase—a maga-
zine of death is (we are told) kept constantly in opera-
tion because the Bishop of WINCHESTER waits for his
40,0041! .—because some one life may be terminated
before his own.

We shall have the affairs of the Church properly
regulated some day, we suppose. And then what
will be thought of a monstrous tale like this? A
Bishop praying for Divine assistance, but sternly re-
fusing to move a finger to aid in giving the assist-
ance he prays for. He may plead that he has suffi-
cient to do with the spir:tual affairs of his diocese, to
warrant him in leaving to laymen to take precautions
against so material a matter as a disease. Has be
never reflet.ted upon the close connexion between
physical disease and moral depravity ? If not, let
him turn to a Heathen authority, the historian
TIILTYDIDE. If his Greek has grown rusty in the
lapse of years, let him turn to the quaint version of
HOBBES in the edition of the accomplished member
for Southwark. We leave him to reflect upon the
following passage from the account given by DIECE•
DIDES of the plague at Athens:

Aud the great licentiousness which also in other kinds has
become prevalent in the city began at first from the disease.
For that which • man bet n• would dissemble, and not ac-
knowledge to be done fcr voluptuousness he now durst do
freely, seeing before his eyes such quick revolutions of the
rich suddenly dying, and men worthless inheriting their
estate,. Inasmuch ea they justified a speedy fruition of their
estates, sad doing all for their pleasure as men that thought
they held their lives but for a day. As for pains no man
was forward in any action of honour to take any, because
they thouaht it uncertain whether they should die or not
before they achieved it. And whatsoever was pleasant for the
present moment, and was conducive to that, that was held
both profitable and honourable. Neither the fear of God
an laws of men awed any man ; not the former, because
they concluded it was alike to worship or not worship, from
seeing that alike all perished ; not the latter, because no
man ezpectad that lives would last till he received punish-
ment for his crime,. But they thought there was now over
their heads some far greater judgment, before which fell
they thought to enjoy some little part of their lives.

THE TURKISH FORCES.

---40--•-•
TO Tan EDITOR OP Titt rxrasse.

Eta,—The evidence of the Emperor Nicnorats on
the competency of one portion at least of the Turkish
slimy ought not to be looked upon with suspicion. It
ought to be treated with all the respect due to an opi-
nion formed by the person most interested in the ques-
tion. It is well known that when General WR.tNGEL
in the summer of 1832, on his journey to Turkey,
parted from the Cz.ts at Odessa, the latter
said to the General, " When you arrive at
Constantinople examine the Turkish artillery
closely : it is amongst dm bat in Europe. For that
we have to thank you Prussians, their instructors.
It will require strong teeth to crack that nut." This
is a very remarkable testimony to the improvements
that have been effected in one arm of the Turkish
military service. How far the remaining arms are
worthy of like commendation it is, amidst the colli.
sion of conflicting witnesses, impossible to say. In
the meantime, the testimony of the Crag is
valuable, as showing the absurdity of judging
of the Turkish army now by what it was in the
years 1828 and 1829, when it suffered defeat from
the Russians. Should it turn out that the improve-
ment in the discipline of the infantry and cavalry
has been coincident with that of the artillery, it is
quite clear that all the prophecies founded upon the
ill success of the Turks at that time may be con-
sidered as worthless. A Captain JUNCK, a German
office r,who has evidently made himself thoroughly ao-
quainted with the military resources of Turkey, has
lately published at Marburg a detailed statement of
the condition of the Ottoman army. Although he
does not write with any attempt to create hopes in
the minds of the enemies of Russia. it is impossible
not to see from his statements that the reasons urged
against the probability of the future success of the
Turkish arms, founded oa past events, are utterly
value.ess. The war in 1828 and 1829 took
place only two years after the then Sultan of
the Turks had destroyed the great national force
of the empire—the Janissaries. The new soldiers to
whom the defence of Turkey was entrusted were
little better than boys dragged by a rigorous mode
of levy from their homes, and forced to be initiated
by foreigners into a system of discipline of which
they did not understand the reasons. The national
prejuiices were wounded by the constant refer-
ence to hated foreigners as the models of
perfection. The army was disciplined under foreign
inspection. The cut of the jackets of the troops was
token from Russia ; the saddles were Tartar ; the
sabres were English. Every country in Europe
was pressed into the service of modelling the
Turkish army, as if to show the Ottoman he was
incapable of doing anything for himself. It was
this new and unfledged force, consisting at
the most of little more than eighty thou-
sand men, that Turkey had to oppose against
the resources of a large European empire, the armies
of which had been educated in the wonderful
school of the wars with NarotEoN. Turkey,
weakened with its contest with Greece, deprived of
its ancient army, with troops hating the new dis-
cipline and violently severed from all old traditions,
with all its historical ground cut from under its
feet, had to oppose a vast army possessed of
all the scientific appliances of modern war-
fare. The weak forces of Turkey were ren-
dered still more inefficient by other circumstances.
The Russians attacked their enemies by land in two
places, Asia and the lower portion of the Danube.
Two attacks were made by sea. Constantinople
and several fortresses had to be garrisoned. A large
reserve had to be retained behind, in order to check
any attempt at insurrection amongst the Greek po-
pulation. Nevertheless the Turks, in several instances,
and in particular in the obstinate defence of the
fortified places, behaved with the greatest gallantry.
It is a well-known fact that DIEDITSCH was medi-
tating a retreat at the very moment when an unfor-
tunate panic at Constantinople gave the impulse to
peace.
Since that time, however, the efforts to create a
new Turkish army have been great and unremitting.

The artillery has been modelled upon the most
modern system by Prussian officers. A reform im-
portant, but not Trite so effective as that of
the artillery, took place at the tame time in the
infantry sad cavalry, and the numerical amount of
them arm, was greatly increased. Captain A/MK
estimated the *ambers of the regular force in March

bt the present year, and shows that both with respect
to numbers and discipline the troops were adequate
to the defence of the country. Re considers that
these troops, enormously increased as they have been
by the late extraordinary efforts, will be almost in•
vincible when employed in the defence of fortresses
should the Russians cross the Danube. And it is
evident that the war must to a great extent, be one
of fortresses. In addition to the aid which the
regular troops will be able to afford in the defence of
the country must be reckoned the powerful assist-
ance to be derived from the numerous irregu-
lar bands which are pouring in from all
the Asiatic provinces. The late accounts which
have been received show that this force will form

an important item in the Turkish means of defence.
The chain of the Balkan, the difficulty of finding

means of transport and subsistence in a country
where few roads exist, the climate aud the pesti-
lence, all acted as the allies of the Turks during the
last war, and may bo expected to du the same work
now.

The knowledge of the actual state of the forces
of the Turkish Empire is most valuable in form-
ing en estimate of the probability of war.
Whoever may be ignorant on this subject, we may
be sure that the CZAR is not. If he is thoroughly
convinced that the Turks are capable of meeting him
with any hope of success in the field, it may be taken
as certain that, now the moral force of Europe is so
decidedly placed in opposition to him, he will, if he
can find an excuse far it, postpone to another oppor-
tunity any further aggressions. The peace of Europe
depends therefore in a great measure upon the
strength of Turkey, and statements such as the
above may lead many to the conclusion that this
strength will be sufficient for the purpose. Z.

LATEST FROM ABROAD.

AUSTRIA.

VIENNA, Orr. 24.

The Emperor has remitted to Count Michael
Eaterhazy, senior, the remainder of the term of im-
prisonment to which he was sentenced for participa-
tion in the Hungarian insurrection.
The waters of the Lower Danube are rising, and
the voyage as far as Rustschuk will be resumed by
the company's boats on the 26th inst.
This Bourse exhibits a further decidedly unfavour-
able movement. The state funds fall steadily, and
the exchange on London as steadily rises. Five per
Cent. Metalliques, 901 ; Exchange on London,
11.10 ; Bank Shares, 1,276.

THE OVERLAND MAIL.

TILTS akru.)
S, WEDNESDAY.