The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-10 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—The unhealthiness of London during the
past year has scarcely attracted so much attention as •
it deserves. Week after week and month after month
the Bills of Mortality have been tar above the ave-
rage, and if the demand for a complete decennial
epitome should be satisfied at the end of the current
decade, the quota of 1861 will materially raise the
mean result. If we take the last week only, we find
that 1,624 deaths were registered, being in excess
of the estimated number by 86, and still more in
excess of the normal rate in mild winter weather.
This return, however, unsatisfactory as it is, is an
improvement on the return for the week before, and
far more favourable than that for the week ending
on November 19, when 1,742 deaths were registered.
This unusual mortality, whatever be its general
cause, appears to be distributed with tolerable uni-
formity among the various types of disease. Zymotic
disorders are always rife at this time of year, and
among those scarlatina and typhus maintain their
bad pre-eminence ; but no particular epidemic of
fever or smallpox is just now raging in the metro-
polis, and a decided increase of bronchitis among
elderly and middle-aged persons is perhaps the only
abnormal feature of the Registrar... General's Report.
Such being the case, we naturally look to what may
be called the permanent conditions of public health
for the explanation of a phenomenon which does not
seem to depend on any special visitation. The first
thing that will occur to every one in connexion with
the unhealthiness of the last 12 months is its extreme
dryness. Such a drought as that of the season
through which we have just passed is almost
beyond the experience of any living person, and
in many parts of the country the failure of the
water supply has occasioned the greatest distress.
It is true that the reservoirs of the metropolitan
water companies held out beyond expectation, but
a thundershower flushes the sewers more liberally
than any company will ever be induced to do,
and many sources of impurity are inaccessible
to anything but rain. It is impossible not to
suspect that deficient moisture has had some-
thing to do with the prevalence of disease, wipe•
cially when we contrast the year 1864 with the year

1860. That summer was as wet as this has been
dry, and it was the healthiest on record. The truth
is, or appears to be, that our London atmosphere as
well as our streets cannot be washed too thoroughly
or constantly. There is little fear of damp, what
with drainage below ground and combustion above,
and no fog can resist the penetrating influence of
a pouring day. It must also be remembered that
a continued want of rain too often implies an undue
proportion of east wind—a wind which poets may
idealise as " the wind of God," but which suffering
mankind, with one voice, refers to a totally diffe•
rent quarter, and the action of which, in its rela-
tion to the earth's rotation, philosophers have aptly
compared to that of stroking a cat's back the wrong
way. It is difficult to say whether the properties
of this veritable sirocco of London are more noxious

in July or in November—when it scorches and
closes the pores at the same time, or when it irri-
tates the bronchial tubes of the West-end with black
and nauseous particles from the chimneys of White.
chapel. Certain it is that few tempers are proof
against the effects of this odious blast after it has
swept the arid table-lands of Asia and Europe and
absorbed the impurities of its own capital ; and that
which damages the temper seldom improves the
we have very little doubt
i
health. We are not in a position to prove it by me.
teorological statistics, but
that east wind has been n excess for a long time
past, and has contributed materially to depress our
vital powers. Still, there are many obvious para-
doxes in these fluctuations of health which have
hitherto defied scientific research. What we know
of the laws that govern the health of a large popu-
lation is as nothing compared with that we do not
know: Not long ago the vitalising qualities of the
atmosphere were supposed to depend a good deal
on the presence of "ozone," and it was said to
have been ascertained that on mountain heights
and spots exposed to sea breezes, like the chain-
pier at Brighton, the quantity of this life-giving
agent was very great If we mistake not, how-
ever, Mr. Glaisher foundin some of his balloon
ascents that the ozone tests exhibited a diminu-
tion, instead of an increase, as ho rose above the
vapours of the earth, and there is no telling that
the new element " antozene" may not prove a for-
midable rival for popularity. Even generalisations
of longer standing end higher authority have to be
corrected, and sometimes almost reversed from time
to time. Such is the comparison between the sani-
tary (fleets of town and country life. From the su-
perior longevity of those who live in country districts
it has been inferred, much too hastily, that bad air,
bad drainage, and bad water are the prime causes of
premature death. There is, of course, much truth
in this conclusion, partial as it is, but a minuter
analysis of the fact discloses several errors. The
drainage of large towns is, in general, far more per-
fect than that of country villages, and the stagna-
tion of putrefying matter is far commoner in the
latter. This consideration, therefore, taken by itself,
rather tells the wrong way, and it is more than
doubtful whether the rural poor draw a more whole-
some liquid from ponds and so-called springs than
is supplied to the town poor from public water-
works. The question of air remains, and here it
must doubtless be admitted that cottages in the
country ought to have an advantage over houses in
the streets of a crowded city. They ought to have
it, but do their inmates always avail themselves of it
by opening their windows at proper times to admit
the fresh air of heaven ; do they avoid overcrowding
indoors, and wage war against domestic nuisances ?
Everybody knows that they do not, and that the
labourer who imbibes health unconsciously while
he is working in the fields often does his best to tor-
feit it for himself and his family by tolerating a fetid
atmosphere in his home. Air is, no doubt, an impor-
tant condition of health, but it is not enough that
it should surronnd a domicile ; it must be breathed
by those within it, and there is good reason to be-
lieve that sedentary pursuits in houses with closed
doors and windows are nearly as prejudicial to vigor
in the country as they are in towns. The sanitary
differences, then, between London andWestmoreland
or the Isle of Wight may be due to other circum-
stances than climate and density of population, and
among these circumstances diet, clothing, and occu-
pation claim a prominent place. Happily. the two
former, though neglected, are peculiarly within our
own control, while the influence of unwholesome
occupations may be counteracted to a great extent
by the cultivation of wholesome habits. If all
people knew how to manage themselves and their
dependents as well as some do, the death rate would
infallibly be lowered, and its variations in different
years proportionately reduced. Scientific agricul-
ture, though it cannot command the resources of
nature, keeps famine at bay, and simple precautions
against contagion have greatly mitigated, if they
cannot wholly repel, the ravages of pestilence. 18
it too much to expect that as the secrets of health
—that is, of sustaining as well as restoring it—are
further revealed, the whole tribe of fevers may
yield to the same preventive means which have
already banished the black-death, the sweating-
sickness, and the plague, and have brought the
formidable small-pox of the last century into com-
parative subjection ?
POST.—The density of the intellectual atmo-
sphere of Horsharn has just been pierced by a ray
of light from Mr. Seymour Fitzgerald. Amid the
mundane reveries of a cattle-show, Lord Derby's
Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs has carried an
audience of admiring listeners over the whole field
of politics, with especial reference to the two great
maxims of modern days—non-intervention and
reform. It is hard to quarrel with Mr. Fitzgerald.
We have all freely recognised his tact and his
talents. Indeed, it was chiefly by his ability and
address that the dignity of the English Foreign-
office was upheld during the late Administration.
But really, allthough he takes care to tell us that
the responsibilities of Opposition are as great as
those of Ministerial life, we find a good deal of
recklessness in many of his assertions, and a height
of paradox to which official responsibility does not
very often ascend. He does not attempt, indeed,
the flights of Lord Stanley. It required a good
deal of moral courage, and a good deal more of
utilitarianism than Mr Seymour Fitzgerald pro-
fesses, to describe Rome 113 a quagmire of ruins.
Mr Fitzgerald is not exactly the man who would
dissuade the King of Italy from going to the Eter-
nal City, on the ground that the atmosphere was
unhealthy, and the public buildings were out of
repair, as Lord Stanley did the other day in his
speech to the electors of King's Lynn. Indeed, he
expressly told the good people of Horsham that he
by no moans agreed with Lord Stanley's centralis-
mg and revolutionary proposal to divide the minor
States of Germany between Austria and Prussia,
and so to make two great military monarchies of the
whole Confederation. Mr Fitzgerald, however,
need hardly have taken the trouble to disown his
support of an eccentric ietcrnatieual prograint»e
which can merely have the Effect of incapacitating
Lord Stanley from ever holding the office of Mini-
ster of Foreign Affairs. But the member for Here-
ham has his paradoxes filCO, though they are of a
far late positive or practical kind. It is a little stir •

•e.
prising to hear the doctrine of non-intervention I!'
foreign affairs set up as that of Lord Castlereag:
and his
. school. Mr Fitzgerald, indeed, is "t nfid
clear in
.his argument as is usual with him ; 11-11
there a little too much disposition to discover st all
costs a point d'appui against the Administrati.o.;
opßosect...l..
He tells
.u. s in one place that he is quite
the. principle of foreign intervention ;
clple. he supposes the present Government.to have
carried out in the recent instance of the Danish Willer
He looks upon this as a violation of what he ct",'.:
by an extraordinary mental distortion, Lord CaStiour
and this Priu
ear
reagh's. principle of nondintervention--a°
"..
winch is, perhaps, the happiest antithesis that149
Macaulay's delusion, that everything
good ceine from William of Orauge. 615
in our Fitzgerald, by the force of his position,ho
inevitably. a party man ; but eve ourselves' Vi
re,
are. in no way tied to party obligations, sere nee
mind him that, if there were one pointed dutereje.
more marked than another between Lord Cyst
re. agh and the Liberals, it was that the latterlu
the fors
ilt
sia.ted that the incessant intervention of
Ministers in the affairs of Europe should be brought
to
.a close; and it was really quite as much en tlel
point as upon the question of Reform that the final
triumph of the Liberal party was obtained:ielor
principle of non-intervention, whether licul`",oo
.otherwise, represents the growth of Liberal opin'-.0
Insomuch that those who would carry it out 0(110
farthest extreme are the disciples of Mr. Ccb
and Mr. Bright. Lord Pelmerston and Lord wee_
sell have endeavoured to preserve a mean betvihreur
these.tw. o extremes of opinion ; and it seemSrltmr,
surprising to be told that Lord Castlereagh anuo
Cobden. are both on the same side" of the questieb;
If it were otherwise we should wonder heivettha
war of the French revolution and the Crusade s' `e.
Hundred days arose. But it is not very essY to se
where Mr. Fitzgerald's own juste mll4° -05
He says the debate on the Danish queetiong the
altered for the future. the foreign policy (11 tee;
country ; and yet in the same breath be declal.,
the polio,
of Mr. Cobden's views on
of noneintervention. If the latter are full): upset
we do not see how Mr. Fitzgerald and his 01,;;N;
can be said to have changed our foreign
for that is equivalent to saying that the doctrine ja
non-intervention is repudiated, and yet that itna
enforced. It is strange that a politician so just!,la
acute in practical life as Mr. Seymour Flizike";cli
should. not perceive the false conclusions into
he is led
.by his partisan theories. Mr. Fitzrr;i4
.sees but little amendment in the constitutionsl Attie
Lion, so to speak, of Europe, that is to septa
growth of liberal ideas and self-governm the
observe that he adopts as a certain fact age
restoration of the Holy Alliance of which we 5, so
evidence. early in the summer, and which 1/11-100
much disputed at the time. No doubt that ',oa
confederacy against the liberties of mankind' sod
so lon as it lasts and the sphere of its authorip
extends, it ie a ve- y powerful one. Fort
however, there are already signs that when', is
been done
. in the north and centre of EurTslir
provoking a liberal reaction elsewhere. ''„-oso
at any rate has breathed the freer in °to'
quenco of it. The Convention of the 15th Sel),ses
ber has been ono of its leading results. Nor "100
take a despouding
. view of the constitutional ifs
of Austria, although the progress of the elliarele,
towards representative Government must be.jeorf
In passing. to the question of our naval and 031';e0
establishments, Mr Fitzgerald endeavour`' weed
some success, to develop the true distinction to
efficiency. and economy. He calla upon
leas
consider whether we could not do as much lc' 00
money. " Let us," he says, "by all means Oro!
army of soldiers, but by no means an army of cliAer not
We are afraid the army of soldiers well'; tie!,
prosper. .without civilians to carry out the r-e11e1137
of its daily wants; but if Mr. Fitzgerald ca
out how lf b
savings in this respect can made "-with
be doing great service, He says, however'„ C 0
truth, that the department in which, "h-
-ild
!east afford to wive our money is that of sh'P),llo
ing, for we must always have the best ships 10'
that the resources of the country can produce' we
deed, the peculiar burden of the expendit,urfe
have had for the last few years to encounten'sesi
consisted. in the progress of artillery and.„-"hOC
architecture, where no one has any certaic,y;eite
the most approved ships of 1864 may not,`"Lostd
out of date
.in 1870. Mr. Fitzgerald then gia:"-eOO
the subject of Parliamentary Reform, and Preejecl
fesse.s the
. great difficulty of dealing with the'lhecr
to lie. in the fact that no satisfactory, er.e„;4ing,
practicable, plan of representation for the ""0-esisli
classes has yet been hit upon. There is an inersLete
disposition,. whenever the fabric cf the rePre,"ete
tion. is next pulled about, to build up a rePre%sif°
tion for the working man on a comprehc-e on
scale ; and while it would be impossible to dc.)
the basis of a numerical equality of votes wtl3oll
classes at present holding the franchise, it 1° oala
to see a.hat kind of fractional representation!, de
be received with satisfaction. We evillest' We
fnot altogether share Mr. " Fitzgerald's apPrelle:lM
or "serious times" on the Continent and Wee,.°
therefore, that we shall have the More lesser
bestow on internal t Mire.