The Sun.
London, England, 1864-02-06 00:00:00

Proclamation of Field-Marshal Von Wrangel
to the Schleswigers,

The following is the text of the proclamation
issued by Field-Marshal von Wrangel immediately
after crossing the Schleswig frontier :

Prussian Headquarters, Feb. 1.

Inhabitants of the Duchy of Schleswig I—Commissioned
by his Majesty the King of Prussia, my most gracious
master, to occupy the Duchy with Prussian troops, in con-
junction with the forces which his Majesty the Emperor of
Austria has been pleased to place under my command for
the same purpose, I call upon you to receive these troops
with friendship and hospitality.
We come to protect your rights.

These rights aro violated by the common constitution
for Denmark and Schleswig sanctioned by his Majesty
the King of Denmark, upon the 18th November of last
year, by which, in contravention of the agreements entered
into in the year 1852, the Duchy has been incorporated with
the kingdom.

His Majesty the King of Denmark has been vainly sum-
moned to loose this bond. The Governments of Prussia
and Austria have, in consequence thereof, determined upon
their parts to bring into operation the means at their com-
mand practically to abolish the incorporation, and to secure
to the Duchy the rights to which it is entitled by treaty.
They will accomplish these objects by occupying the Duchy
with their united troops and assuming its temporary admi-
nistration.

This administration will be undertaken by civil com-
missioners of the two Powers. I call upon you to pay
obedience to their orders, and to support them in their
efforts for the maintenance of legal and settled conditions.
The laws of the country remain valid, so far as the security
of the troops does not indispensably require momentary
and passing exceptions.
I expect of the loyal and reasonable good sense of the in-
habitants of the Duchy that they will abstain from any de-
monstrations, from whatever party they may proceed. You
must yourselves be aware that party agitations can only
injure your good right, and that I cannot suffer them in
your own interest.

Our troops come as friends. As friends you will receive
them.

VON WRANOEL, Field-Marshal Commanding.

Cleanliness next to Godliness.

The following excellent paper extracted from the
Queen we would earnestly commend to the perusal
of our readers :—The Lancet has been calling the
attention of its readers to what it alliteratively calls
" The Fatality of the Frost," meaning the extra-
ordinary mortality caused by the recent severe visi-
tation of frost. According to the calculation of the
writer (founded, principally, upon the figures of the
RegistrerGeneral) the abnormal mortality traceable
to this precise cause amounts to 500 deaths per
week in London alone, that is to say :—" We have
had within the last three weeks an influence at work
amongst us which effected, in London alone, in one
week, the death of five hundred persons, who, but
for this inflaence,4 in all probability, would have
been still alive." Of course, in the presence of the
Lancet, we only presame to deal with such topics
with the greatest deference ; but we would venture
to ask whether the great danger to those who suffer
from bronchial disorders and derangement of the
respiratory organs does not occur during the cold
thaws, rather than the periods of dry frost. To the
poor, who have but meagre food, and scanty cloth-
ing. little fuel, and insufficient bedding, who live in
unwholesome neighbourhoods and in draughty
houses, cold in every form is a serious affliction ;
but to those who are blest with the means
of keeping themselves warm, and have good
food to generate animal heat, the insi-
dious operation of damp cold air is far more
dangerous than the sternest rigours of the frost.
To all such we would urgently. suggest a careful
consideration of the effects of the Turkish bath.
Whatever differences of opinion may exist among
medical men as to the operation of the bath, it is
now very generally admitted that, in dealing with
all cases of cold, catarrh, influenza, bronchitis,
asthma, and rheumatism, the bath, at a sufficient
heat, is a sovereign specific. From personal ex-
perience, we can assure the reader that nothing
gives such complete and immediate relief from the
maleficent effects of cold as the bath ; and, from
what we have seen, we fully believe that its con•
stant use during the cold months would act as a
preservative upon the weakest and most suscep-
tible. A medical man, hitherto a very obstinate
sceptic as regards the bath, expressed to us the
other day his astonishment at the nlmost miracu-
lous effect of the bath (at 170 deg. of heat) upon a
severe and confirmed case of asthma ; and, not
many days ago, we heard a member of Parliament,
much afflicted with bronchial susceptibility, de-
clare that the only happy hours he now knows in
the winter are those which he spends in the ler-
myn-etreet Hammam. So much for the benefits
which the
.bath confers upon those who can
afford it in its most luxurious form. Why its
good gifts should not also be extended to those
who are poor and needy we cannot under-
stand. The history of the bath of England proves
ineontestibly that among the poorer classes,
and especially among those who are called the
working-classes, it has found immediate acceptance,
without any of that criticism and hostility which
it has invariably excited among "the educated
classes." The cotton-workers of Keighley and
Rochdale accepted the bath and adopted it as a habit
years before the luxurious denizens of the West-
end of London consulted their medical men as to
whether this potent agent for good was likely to
agree with their constitutions; and the Sheffield
trainers had adopted it as the best mode of preparing
men for feats of agility and strength long before
medical science had been compelled to regard it
with respect. It has been proved over and over
again that the cost of what is necessary to the bath
is really very trifling. A joint-stock bath has been
for some years working at Keighley, built by the
subscribed funds of working men, and here the
average cost of a bath is a little over a penny. In an
admirable paper which he read before the Society
of Arts some two years ago, Mr. Urquhart (to
whom the re-introduction of the bath into this
country is entirely due) declared that, highly as its
functions might be valued by the rich, the best and
choicest blessings of the bath were for the poar, and
that the main incentive which had led him to labour
so strenuously in the cause was the hope that one
day he might be enabled to bring within the reach
of those toilers who have so few of the enjoyments'
of life at their disposal the blessings of an institu-
tion which would give them cleanliness and
health, whilst it rescued them from the fatal
temptation of the gin-shop. Why cannot
some portion of the magnificent sum set
apart by Mr. Peabody for the purpose of
benefiting the poor of London be applied in the eree-
tion of a large Hammam at the east end of London,
where poor people might enjoy these inestimable
blessings at such a cost as they could afford ? We
learn from a newspaper paragraph that the first in-
stalment of Mr. Peabody's beneficence has at length
made its appearance in the form of a black of model
lodging houses, and that the applications for apart-
ments are already far more numerous than the
committee could attend to. We have nothing to say
as to this mode of employing the money beyond the
expression of a hope that all will not be spent in
this direction. Model lodging houses are of great
value to the poor, especially if they be applied really
as models or examples of how to arrange their homes
in obedience to the laws of health ; but they must
necessarily be limited and local in their operation.
The block of houses already erected has cost £22,000,
and the number of persons actually benefited must
be comparatively few in number. An equal sum
judiciously expended in the erection of a model
Hammam somewhere at the east end of the metro-
polis, where the working man or his wife may obtain
a bath (without shampooing) for twopence, or a bath
with all the appliances at some moderate charge,
would afford comfort and relief, we will venture to
say, to thousands, and would spread the benefits of
warmth, temperance, health, and cleanliness, among
multitudes of now cold, intemperate, diseased, and
filthy mortals. We earnestly recommend this mode
of spending a small portion of Mr. Peabody's bounty
to the consideration of the committee to whom he
has entrusted his munificence.

WASHINGTON IRVING.S ACQUAINTANCE 'KITH
THE EMPEROR AND EMPRESS OF THE FRENCH.
One of your recent letters, I am told, speaks of your
having been presented to the Empress. I shall see it when
Igo to town. Louis Napoleon and Eugenie Montijo, Em-
peror and Empress of France 1— one of whom I have had a
guest at my cottage on the Hudson; the other, whom,
when a child, I had on my knees at Granada! It seems to
cap the climax of the strange dramas of which Paris has
been the theatre during my lifetime."