The Sun.
London, England, 1837-10-06 00:00:00

REPORT.

" 1. That the following report be approved and adopted :
" Your Committee feel it their painful duty to state that the
distress of this town and neighbourhood is very great ; that
they see no reason to anticipate any speedy or effectual relief.
The alternations of great apparent prosperity and sudden deep
distress which have invariably attended the expansion or con-
traction of the currency prove, beyond doubt, that to our mone-
tary system is mainly to be attributed the present general end
alarming distress. In the opinion of your Committee no per-
manent relief can be given while that system which has been
proved so liable to fluctuations is suffered to continue. Your
Committee cannot but express its decided conviction that the
effectual and permanent relief of the general distress is a ques-
tion paramount to all others ; and that nothing can accomplish
this great and important object but such a revision of our pre-
sent laws as shall tcad to the adoption of a monetary system
adequate to the wants of this great commercial community."
_ _

Mr. SAMUEL HUTTON stated that he had called in at
the Excise Office that morning, and the reduction in the
last quarter's revenue in that town was upwards of 10,0001.
This was a proof of the distress existing there.
Mr. CORBET- (following Mr. Hutton), mentioned that
beef, pork, and mutton used to be the food of the people
of England—it is now an absolute fact bread and water is,
and in numbers of instances that could not be attained, at
least a sufficiency' of bread. The whole are to be traced to
the working of the monetary system, and th-tough that
system starvation stalks over the land. Is it t 4 be expected
the workmen will lie down without complaints ? They have
been degraded by this cruelty. An example is set this day
that will travel like lightning throughout England—this
day will decide an important crisis.
Mr. ATTWOOD then rose, and was loudly cheered. I can
not but with a feeling of deep and melancholy satisfaction
address you. I thought it my duty to lend my assistance
to this great and good cause. The Committee did me the
honour to request me to draw up a petition to Lord Mel-
bourne, all political opinions combined in one common
centre. This I have done—it will not only give satisfac-
tion
.to my poorer neighbours, but to all the poorer classes.
I HUN got, out of the wg 22 ye4g ego, you ought to bo.

happ,er than ever—so you would if they would give you
fah, instead of half wages, and thousands of others that
earn nothing, comparatively speaking, nothing. Therefore I
feel it my duty, as I did in the year 18'24, to call upon the
Governmmt to listen to your petition, and if we are 'sent
back with this memorial, the mass of the people will say,
" We have bold hearts, and strong right arms to defend our
just cause."
The Report of the united Committee having been read,
a long memorial to Lord Melbourne was unanimously
agreed to, for Which We have not space to-day. The Me-
morial is the production of Mr. Attwood, and enters at
large into the matters contained in the Report above.
Mr; 111‘KAY said it is decidedly the best article (allud-
ing to the memorial) manufactured in England, or, in fact,
in ifieworlil. Whosoever made it, is possessed of two very
able qualifications—namely, a wise head and an holiest
heart, on behalf of the 13,000 unemployed mechanics of
Birmingham. As they have begun they will continue, and
"not rest satisfiedlill every working man and their families
have plenty of good bread, beef, and beer. Ido applaud
the man that comes forward and ameliorates the condition
of the 13,000 working men ; it is not only their blessing
goes with him, but of thousands and tens of thousands of
their families and friends.

The memorial is to be presented by the Members, &c.
Mr. COLLINS rose to propose a resolution to the fol-
lowing effect. The distress',• that is at present existing
among them is exciting the worst feelings in the whole of
the masses, in 99 cases out of 109 families ; the centre of
that family is the centre of suffering : there is a point of
endurance beyond which it were not well for the Govern-
ment to press. I wish it to be understood, fellow-work-
men, be fixed in you: determination, and your homes and
country will be ultimately happy and successful.

After some further remarks from Messrs. B. Hadley,
Douglas, W. Chance, Salt, G. Edmonds, Van Wart, and
others, the remaining resolutions were agreed to and adopted.

A vote of thanks to the Chairman, for the able man-
ner in which he had conducted and presided over the meet-
ing, three times three cheers for our youthful Sovereign, and
the meeting separated, and returned quietly to their respec-
tive homes.

During the whole of the proceedings there was not the
slightest disturbance, although upwards of 10,000 persons
had congregated together at onetime in and out of the hall.

CHOLERA AT PALERMO.

A gentleman of this neighbourhood (Bury) has favoured
us with the following interesting account of the dreadful
spread of the cholera at Palermo, from a letter which he
received from a friend, dated Mount Etna, August :31,
1837 :

" I left Palermo on the 2d of June on a visit. On the
10th I received a letter from Palermo, dated the Bth, stat-
ing that on the 7th two boatmen had died suddenly, under
symptoms which created fear of cholera. The medical
faculty were undecided ; but the police thought proper
to segregate all the individuals who had had contact
with the deceased (70 in number) from the rest of the
population. They were all shut up in a building outside
the walls. I returned to the capital on the 12th, and found
that no new case had taken place, either among the se-
gregated individuals, or in any other part of the town.
Many, whose minds in the first instance had suffered much
excitement, were now, quieted, and those who did. not
consider the cases of a choleric nature turned the whole into
ridicule. 1 prepared for making my usual retreat to the
mountain for the summer months, and had made my ar-
rangements to leave Palermo on the 18t 'n of June. Ore
the 14th two individuals were reported ill, with symptoms
of cholera. New agitation, and a most terrible rush to the
environs of the city and interior of the island. On the 15th
one of the two died ; the other continued to lingre, and
the medical people did not consider the first case cholera.
I left Palermo on the 16th. On the 17th the second per-
son died, and on the 18th a third in the same house. The
medical men now divided and formed two 'parties—one for
Asiatic cholera, the other common country cholic, each
having a different method of cure. Cale; from the 18th
began to show themselves in various parts of the city ; and.
about the 24th the disease began to show itself in its true
colours, almost all those attacked dying. Among the li-
mited English society, four fell victims among the early
cases.

About the 26th it broke out with unheard-of fury, in-
vading every. part of the city, carrying off upwards of 1,000
a night, for the time of its greatest carnage was from sun-
set to sunrise, whenit rested to regain new vigour. About
this time the medical men (with a very few exceptions)
left home, all flying away or concealing themselves. No
assistance could be procured. The dreadful idea, which
was held for a fact, of the malady being contagious, per-
vaded and oy,erwly.finnd every mind ; hence every one was
afraid to assist Ins friend, neighbour, and even inmate ; and
at this time I am assured that the most heartbreaking
s.2enes touk place. Sauve qui pent was the death-yell—
the feelio.g which took hold of every heart. It is said that
cases of unheard-of barbarity were practised by the higher
'lasses towards their inferiors and domestics, turning them
out of their establishments to die where they best could,
which was of course in the streets. The disease invaded all
the neighbouring villages ; and at Olivazza, where every
house and hovel was full of runaways from Palermo, it
broke out with a violence greater than even in the city.
One-third of the population were hurried into eternity in
the course of ten days. I lost both the servants I had left
in charge of my house. Duke Serradifalco, my next door
neighbour, lost six domestics—escaping himself and daughter
by miracle ; in fine, by the 7th of July the disease began to
abate a little ; before that time, there were days of 2,000
deaths, and up to the 24th of July the deaths exceeded
26,000, or one-sixth of the inhabitants! Scarcely a single
family has escaped without losing some of its members
—the whole city in mourning. The Viceroy Cam-
pane°, Camici, and Duke San Martino, the Ministers of
State, all lost their wives. My people in Palermo all
escaped, with the exception of a Sicilian servant. It
appears now to have ceased, but is making the tour of the
island. The police and small military force which were
in Palermo acted with the most efficacious energy, pre-
venting the evil-intentioned exciting disturbances, which
they tried to do under the false pretence that the disease.
was to be attributed to poison administered order of
Government. Public order was never seriously disturbed,
although threatened by those miscreants. Not so with
many surrounding villages. Horrid deeds were perpe-
trated, too shocking and too disgraceful to describe.
Troops early in July. began to arrive from Naples, and
marched into all these places, restoring order and pu-
nishing the guilty. On this side of the island, and par-
ticularly at Syracuse, under the usual pretence of
poison, the people rose on the authorities and massacred
the whole in the most barbarous manner. Catanea, where
the disease had not reached, rose in rebellion, deposed the au-
thorities, named others, and declared their independence.
At this critical moment (in another 24 hours dreadful
scenes would have taken place) troops arrived from Naples
—landing near Catanea, the people returned to order—so
with Syracuse. Many have been already tried by courts-
martial and shot,—others in process of examination. The
cholera has now, I am most sorry to say, broken out at
Catanea, and among the first victims have fallen my dear
friends John and William Rose ; a niece preceded then, a
few hours, and an Italian clerk followed them to the grave.
These arc awful lessons. I have taken my stand here,
although within twenty miles of Catanea. lam so high up
the mountain, that I do not expect it will reach me, although
I have no doubt it will spread all over the plain. God's
will be done ; if I am called, if it be to himself, let the
hour approach."--Bury Herald.

Hcr Royal Highness the-. Princess Augusta of
Saxony was visited by Viscount Palmerston, Count d'Aglie,
Hon. Charles A. Murray, and several persons of distinction
yesterday at Mivart's Hotel. Her Royal Highness and
suite did not return from viewing the Thames Tunnel and
the 'Power until after six in the evening.
On Saturday morning the borough of Bolton was
disgraced by a fight between two brutes in human shape,
who conducted the battle in a way that one would hardly
expect to hear of in a civilised country. Two men, named
James Caunce, of Rufford, and John Bolton, of Croston,
who were attending the market with their garden produce,
quarrelled; and agreed to decide the dispute by a real up-
and-down Lancashire, fight, in Old Hall-street. The com-
batants stripped, and of course, like two genuine Lanca-
shire fighters, were soon prostrate on the pavement toge-
ther. Bolton was under, and his first display of canniba-
lism was to seize the thumb of Caunce with his teeth, which
he bit with such severity that Caunce roared out, " He is
biting." Some of the bystanders then interfered, and at-
tempted to separate the parties, when Caunce, in retalia-
tion, caught Bolton by the left ear with his teeth, and kept
such a firm hold that when they were parted the whole of
the exterior of Bolton's car was completely torn off, which
Caunce disgorged on the pavement with the greatest cool-
ness. Bolton lost the rim of his right ear in a similar ren-
contre some years ago.—Manchester Guardian.
PRESTON.-There has not this week been quite so
much activity in the cotton trade, as was the case in the
two preceding weeks. There is no decline in public :confi-
dence, nor has any visible reduction taken place in the
prices of either the raw or manufactured material: There
is on the whole little to complain of in this town. As re-
gards the labouring population, employment is tolerably
plentiful, and provisions unusually cheap. —Manchester
Guafdian.
On Wednesday morning a seaman named Site() ck,
who bad just returned from Trieste, while in the act of
getting on board a lighter lying off Pickle Herring-sts.irs,
Dockhead, Bermondsey, fell into the stream, was car tied
away by the current, and sank to rise no more. His 'body
has not yet been found. The deceased 'gas about 27 years
of ago,