The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-02 00:00:00

Sanitary Commission. The vexed question of the
removal of the seat of government from the fatal
City of Palaces has been settled for the time being
in a very original fashion, Sir CHARLES WOOD, as
we know, peremptorily declined to sanction any
such change, and thereby gave an example of his
sublime indifference to the life, health, and well-
being of subordinates, and even to the efficiency of
the Administration itself, compared to the main-
tenance of the strict laws of nature. Such an alto'
ration as a change in the seat of government is
certainly not often wished for—much less made—
and therefore it is not easy for the Indian Secretary
to find a precedent to countenance such a proceed•
ing. It would not, unhappily, be difficult to find
evidence of the necessity for change of some sort if
we look no farther than the ,ist of the viceregal
' dignitaries themselves. Matters have grown rapidly
worse of late years, since at one time few complaints
were made, and the-mortality of Calcutta certainly
appears to be on the increase. The fact is that the
sanitary areangements of the city are so totally
3 inefficient that year by year the evils increase, and,
being often of a nature to multiply themselves, the
copse quences are frightful. For instance, the
interior of the great Calcutta gaol is a standing dis-
grace to our Administration if half the official
description of it be correct, and as a natural result
the poor wretches, naked and half-starved, thrust
into small and filthy cells where fresh air is a thing
unknown, and beaten and ill-used by the native
keepers for the sake of bribes, die at a rate which
defies calculation. The medical officer could not
say for certain what the mortality was when inquiry
was at last made into this appalling state of things.
What that gentleman was about not to exert him-
self a little in the matter is not very easily guessed,
The President of the new Sanitary Commission,
who is likely to have no sinecure if he fulfils half
his duties, may reasonably be supposed to be
tolerably hardened to such investigations; but he
states very decidedly that Calcutta Gaol is the acme
of all the atrocities he has encountered :—'' I have
never in my life seen any rooms used for human
habitation in which the state of the atmosphere
was so offensive." It is a pity that a little of the
superfluous humanity wasted on the ticket-of-leave
meet at home is not spared for the miserable pri-
soners of Calcutta! But a necessary consequence
of this illetreatment is the great mortality of the
prison, and as the bathes of those who die in the
gaol have hitherto been thrown into the river, the
horrors of the prison have indirectly contributed
largely to the propagation of pestilence. The
corpses from the hospitals have shared the same
fate, so that Government itself has been answerable
for a large proportion of the floating horrors so much
denounced of late. Bat, happily, there is et least
a charge for the better, for since the
issue of the order respecting the disposal of the
dead, the corpses under Government control have
been burnt, and the consequence is that a consider-
able difference, we are told, is already perceptible
in the river, even though the Governor General,
with his accustomed sagacity, has declined to
enforce the hasty order which had set the whole

native mind of Bengal in a ferment. Hasty legis

lation is always to be deprecated when so many
interests are invclved, and it is never wise to run
violently counter to the religious and traditional
prejudices of a people, especially when we have
ourselves countenanced the practice daring so long
a period. The stoppage of such hideous, revolting,
and unhealthy practices is of course to be earnestly
desired, and surely no effort should be spared to
bring about a pacific solution of the difficulty by
providing the Htndoos with some other means of
observing their immemorial obligations, until such
time as civilisation and knowledge shall enlighten
their minds on the point. But the Government
can at.least take care that none of the bodies under
their control are added to the number, and mean•
while there are other reforms Urgently needed
which will meet less formidable opposition. The
state of the gaol urgently needs attention,
and we are not surprised to learn that Sir
JOHN LAWRENCE has visited it in person.
Matters should not be trusted to native con-
trol, but European inspectors should be appointed.
It is by no means surprising that the whole staff
of Government, unwilling to sacrifice their health,
and, perhaps, life to Sir CHARLES WOOD'S official
prejudices, should gladly escape to Simla during
the hot months, and a very wholsale " flitting"
has consequently taken place. Some grumblers
complain that official representatives should have
been left in Calcutta, but as yet no great evil has re.
suited from the abandonment of the seat of Govern-
ment. The Secretary of State may forbid the re-
moval, but he cannot prevent the officials from
taking a temporary holiday, and so the metier for
the present rests. Whether it will be allowed to
remain on this footing, or whether a wiser and
more enlightened administration will not recognise
the advantages of a total change, remains to be
een. At any rate it is quite time that something
Nees done to improve the salubrity of a city so long
tie chief seat of the English rule.

Grievances of the Indian Army,