The Sun.
London, England, 1864-02-12 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 12, 1864.

as he was penniless. This was not an easy matter
to decide, but the skipper of a coasting ship. carry-
ing a cargo of leather for a London wharf, offered
him a berth in the hold. There, rolled up in hides'
with a hide for his pillow, he stowed himself away'
and finally reached London in safety, although with
his convictions that "there was nothing like leather"
very much shaken, at least so far as feather beds
were concerned. Another time at a provincial
town the now:popular dramatist, actor, and manager
was again the victim of an illusory engagement.
But the misdoings of the manager were amply
compensated for by a model landlady. She had
been cook at the Rose Tun, where lived the pretty
.barmaid, celebrated by GAY, and, perhaps, in defe-
rence to the literary traditions of the house she
encouraged the young author, who remained
valiantly writing his tragedy, telling him he
would certainly be somebody some day. Happily,
for landlady and lodger, a temporary engagement
as accountant brought more immediate relief from
difficulties than the tragedy of an unknown
writer was likely to do, but these misadventnres
which Mr. BIICKSTONE tells us had little effect on
his youthful energy and spirits, would have been
terrible to many less sanguine, less courageous, less
physically fitted for the battle of life. Doubtless
many a hopeful career has been cut short for
want of timely aid, many a bright hope has died
out, many a cherished project has been abandoned,
many a chance has been missed, and many a favour-
able opening closed for lack of the helping hand
which this association stretches out. And if such
necessities press hardly on the young aspirant for
dramatic honours at the outset of his career, they
fall with treble force on the sick, the aged,
the broken down, the weary with overwork
and worn with disappointment and anxiety. To
such straitened means are a terrible evil, for they
deprive them of the chance of retrieving their for-
tunes. If the actor cannot find the money to pro-
cure the comforts xecessary to recruit his strength,
if he cannot pay the expenses of conveyance to the
place where he is offered an engagement, if his
mind is harassed by the prospects of the future, all
the while he is lying in enforced stillness, what
chance has the feeble frame to regain its force,
the fretted nerves to recover their tone ? The pro-
fession of an actor is peculiar, its successes are
prompt but brief, its triumphs intoxicating but
evanescent. For a time he wields that

" Spell of hearts
Which only acting lends,"

and the public bends unreservedly to his sceptre,
but when age or infirmities overtake him, woe betide
the popular idol if he have made no provision for
the evil day. Another fills his place upon the stage,
another name is on the tongue, another's triumphs
have dimmed even the memory of his former sue•
cesses. His name is scarcely heard, his fortunes are
uncared for, and few trouble themselves to inquire
what has become of the old favourite. If this be
the case with the great stars of the profession, how
much more is it so with the crowds of minor
actors and secondary performers, who yet
spend the best of their lives and energies in
catering for the public amusement. There is
therefore urgent need for some certain means of
supplying all these wants and requirements, and
the principal members of the dramatic profession
have come nobly forward to acknowledge the obli-
gations which weigh especially on them as the
favourites of fame and fortune. But the public is
not releasad from its share of the duty by their
warm hearts and open hands. On the contrary,
they who derive so much pleasure from the labours
of the actor should be the foremost to come to his
aid in the hour of distress and trouble.

It is quite time that the state of things in Bethnal-
green was made the subject of inquiry. It is really
scandal to the community that so much went and
misery are suffered to prevail. If some stringent
measures be not shortly adopted, the very unhealthy
atmosphere which prevails in these localities must
spread its noxious influence and exercise a delete-
rious effect on other places. There is nothing so
detrimental to health, so encouraging to disease,
and so fatal to life as bad air and impure dwellings.
It is astonishing to reflect that so much indifference
exists on the subject. People will pity almost any
other grievance, and seek to remedy every other
evil, before they turn their attention to the
sanitary condition of dwelling-houses. Yet rightly
considered, what affliction can be greater than for a
poor family to be fixed in a house badly drained,
badly ventilated, and altogether unfit for human
occupancy. Perhaps non-payment of some arrears
of rent, the want of means to migrate to healthier,
fresher dwellings, or the many other hindrances of
which the rich know nothing, yet which the poor
feel so acutely, intervene to prevent a removal.
Meanwhile the children sicken and die, the adults
drag on a miserable existence, until some epidemic
occurs which carries off its victims by scores in such
places. There is no decimation like a fever in these
dreadful localities. The influences which a strong
frame can throw off in a comparatively healthy dis-
trict are unconquerable where the poisonous exhala•
tions have prevailed for some time, and enervated
the health and wasted the strength. Now it seems
a mistake, in so far as regards political economy,
for our rulers to suffer so unsatisfactory a condition
of affairs to prevail for so long 6. period,
without endeavouring to circumvent the evil and
remedy the deficiencies. It is also a reproach to
the well-disposed members of society, who do so
much in various quarters to aid the unemployed,
provide for the destitute and relieve the sufferer,
that they do little or nothing to stop not the effects,
but the cause of such horrors. It is all very well
to afford temporary succour, but it is a permanent
improvement that is required, and which is so im-
peratively called for. The statements made by
Mr. GAY, the senior surgeon to the Great Northern
Hospital, is in itself sufficient to warrant the
strongest measures being adopted, and the fullest
reform being instituted. In commenting on the
circumstances that attended the death of a child
the most fearful disclosures were made. The child
died during convalescence from the scarlet fever, in
consequence of the state of the house in which it
was. No wonder the medical man gave it as his
opinion that the premises were the cause of the
illness of the child, and of other persons. The de-
scription of the place conjures up a frightful picture
to the mind. " The ground was saturated with filth,
the air stank, and the rooms were dilapidated and
unwhitewashed ; the air was so impure that the
child could not throw off the vitiation of the blood,
which was the proximate cause of death." Could
a more painful case be presented to the mind, and a
more glaring instance of the want of proper accom-
modation for residence than in these details. It is
not the notion of a quixotic philanthropy which
calls for an inquiry into the state of things which
creates such horrors ; it is not a morbid desire
to dwell upo❑ the dark side of things which bids
us ponder on the lamentable issue of these disas-
trous occurrences. It is surely enough for such
things to be made public, to awaken the desire of
all who are right-minded and well-meaning to in-
vestigate the cause, and put a period to the recur-
rence of such calamities. Private endeavours may
do much, but it is not right that the authorities
should no nothing. What is the use of a Poor-Law
Board, of what avail are sanitary inspntors or any

other portion of the cumbrous machinery of the
State, if nothing can ba done to mitigate the
misery of which one striking instance has been
prominently put forward to-day. A commission of
inquiry should be instituted, or a committee ap-
pointed, or some other form entered upon which
shall in time do something effectual to remove such
nuisances from the neighbourhood of the metro-
polis, as the places before described. They are by
courtesy called houses, but they are not the
sort of places in whieh any one would allow a
valuable animal to be located, and must therefore be
totally unfit for human habitation. We can hardly
suppose a more cruel thing than for a young child,
suffering from a disease, to be exposed to such im-
pure atmosphere that the little frame cannot battle
with the attack, and fades away, adding another
victim to the long list of those prematurely cut off
from the unwholesome state of their locations.
It is quite out of character that any one
should be permitted to take money for
such houses as those described in the ac-
count above alluded to. The present condition
of the sanitary regulations of Bethnal-green
is a disgrace to the community, and those
who have the authority to lo so are imperatively
called upon to interefere. This is their duty, and
nothing should deter them from fulfilling it, It is
sufficient to know that a portion of the population
of the metropolis is exposed to such horrible evils,
and the next step taken in the affair should be to
put a stop to the grievance if the regulations of the
law, and the appliances of the statutes will enable
them do so. If they will not, the sooner they are
altered the better, for nothing can make a country
secure, or a people prosperous, if the public health
is sapped at the foundation by such deteriorating
iafluences, and the air which is their life is vitiated
by the corrupt state of the dwelling-houses, which
bear more affinity to charnel-houses than abodes
for living persons. There is a selfish consideration
to impress those who can only feel for themselves
that the spread of such diseases as those
generated by these foul abodes will penetrate in
time to the comparatively healthy divisions of the
town, and the fever which originated with want
attack the homes of plenty, and lay low the posses-
sors of wealth and ail that renders existence enjoy-
able. But there must be few who require selfish
inducements to incite them to exertion when they
know that more than life depends on their efforts,
for death is a merciful boon in comparison with the
life of torture which is superinduced by these noxi-
ous exhalations. The greatest benefactors of their
kind have often been found among those who went
about doing good in an unassuming form, and the
results of whose labours have called down the
blessings of Heaven upon those who have aided
the poor and afflicted dwellers upon earth. It is
not likely, with the best enddavours, that the
wealthiest community may realise the description of
the Psalmist, that there should be no complaining
in our streets ; but when want, wretchedness, and
decrepitude pay out of their scanty portions for a
covering for their heads, let not the shelter within
be worse than the storm without, and the spot
they seek for repose or refuge be more injurious
to their welfare than any exposure or privations
they can encounter elsewhere.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE

LREUTER'S TELEGRAMS.]

AUSTRIA.

FURTHER DESPATCH OF AUSTRIAN
TROOPS TO SCHLESWIG.
BRESLAU, FEB. 12.

According to a telegram received here a body of
Austrian troops numbering 3,400 men will arrive
in this city in a few days on their way to Schies
wig. They will be conveyed by eight special trains,
and will be quartered here for the night.
A meeting of the directors of the railway took
place at Cassel yesterday.

CLOSING OF THE AUSTRIAN REICHSRATH.
The Session of the Reichsrath will be closed in
state on Monday newt by a speech from the throne.
The Emperor will give a soiree to-morrow to all the
members of the Reichsrath.

The new lottery loan of 40 million &ries was
negotiated yesterday evening at 96 per cent.

The Austrian Credit Mobilier takes 15 millions,
Messrs. Rothschild 111- millions, and Baron Woth-
aner 131 millions. All the other competitors for
the loan joined these capitalists.
Large offers for the loan were made to the
Government both by foreign and home capitalists.

FRANCE.

PARIS, FEB. 12.

At a dinner given yesterday evening to celebrate
the Suez canal undertaking, Prince Napoleon made
a speech which was loudly cheered.
His Imperial Highness retraced the history of
the enterprise, dwelt upon its grandeur and utility,
and paid a tribute of praise to all who had parti-
cipated in the undertaking.
M. de Lesseps replied.
BOURSE, Feb. 11.—The arrival of the English
funds with higher prices, and the reduction of the
rate of discount by the Bank of England, have
given firmness to this market, and prices show an
advance. Threes, for the Account, are now at 66f.
45c. Mobilier have improved to 1,122 f. 50c. Rail-
way Market not very animated, but previous quo-
tations pretty well maintained. The market closed
as follows :-
41 per Cents. 95 20
Do. end month....

Italian Loan 6B
Do. end month —
New ditto
Do. end month —
Russian
Austrian
Spanish Threes s' a
Rome Debt ..
Deferred -
RAILWAYS.

3 per Cents
Do. end month 66 50
Credit Mobilier 1020
Do. end month 1022 50
Bank Shares 3300
Credit 1, oncier 1240

Roman

Cash. Account.
Orleans lOOO .. 997 50
Northern
New ditto — • • -- --
Lyons and Mediterranean 935 .. 935
New. ditto
Southern
Western
Eastern
Sardinian .. 3BO .. --.—
Austrian
Lombard
North of Spain
Saragossa ....
Ditto to Barcelona .... 298 75 .. 305

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.. 665 -