The Sun.
London, England, 1863-11-21 00:00:00

that it is one which, though brief in its ex- 1
tent, is wonderfully suggestive of beneficial
char iges, more particularly in the latter portion
of i t. The learned author does not, it will be seen,
in f ray way content himself with indulging in mere
va, cue generalities, no matter how eloquently or
en Lphatically expressed. He enumerates, catego-
ri tally and with the utmost precision, the principal
oints in regard to which the existing system of
' L.7ourts Martial most urgently requires modification.
Interrupted, himself, in a noble and generous
endeavour to carry out this important section
of our law reforms, the ex-member for Miclhurst
has at any rate pointed the way out with manly
distinctness to any one who may choose to follow in
his footsteps, and, not only that, but to any one who
may choose, also, to advance boldly and, energeti-
cally beyond the point at which, through the force
of circumstances, those footsteps of Nix. WARREN,
as a law reformer, abruptly termina',ed.

Among the varying aspects of the Lancashire
distress, not the least serious and important which
it assumed in the eyes of our statesmen and philan-
thropists was its effect upon the public health.
Long continued privation has, we know, a disastrous
action upon the human frame, and when to this is
added depression of mind, inaction, and anxiety, the
combination is enough to try the stoutest and
healthiest frame. It was no secret, too, that our
Lancashire mill hands did not by any means belong
to the class of the strongest. The incessant factory
work for many generations had dwarfed their
growth and enfeebled their limbs, while the lack of
exercise was ill supplied, even by the good living
and plentiful wages they were able easily to earn.
The towns and districts where they lived were not,
as we know from recent reports, properly or effi-
ciently drained or paved. They were ill built, too,
in many quarters where the workpeople were con-
tent to huddle, so as to be near their place of
employment. When Filch a people were suddenly
reduced from ease and prosperity to low diet and
scanty clothing, their very subsistence dependent
on charity, gloom all around and before, their little
savings spent, their household goods gone, and
idleness and want cowering like two grim spectres
by their hearths, almost the first question that rose
to the mind of the reflective observer was naturally
what would become of these vast numbers should
scarcity be followed by its dire companion—pesti-
lence ? Thanks, firstly, to PROVIDENCE, and,
humanly speaking, to the extreme mildness of last
winter, and the continuous liberality of all classes
towards the distressed districts, that great calamity
has hitherto been averted, and what is a fur-
ther cause of gratitude and rejoicing, the hard
times have as yet produced no perceptible difference
upon the general health. " The history of the
distress," says the Registrar-General in ono of his
reports, " is not written in the death registers of
the year that is closed" (1862). On another occa-
sion the same high authority states that "It will
be gratefully admitted that the legal provision for
the distress and the spontaneous liberality of their
countrymen have hitherto sufficed to maintain the
people in health." This was written in April,
1863, when the winter was fairly over, and the
passage is quoted with considerable satisfaction by
the Central Executive Committee in their last re-
port to the General Committee. The same docu-
ment tells us that the Central Committee, feeling
the ground that there was for uneasiness respecting
the general health, have carefully watched for any
indications of impaired vigour and vitality in the
people, and have closely examined the returns of the
Registrar-General and those of the Local Sanitary
Associations. We have cited some of the passages
in which the subject has been mentioned by the
former, while the testimony of Mr. PURDY, of the
Statistical Department of the Poor Law Board,
comprises those statements. The latest report of
the Registrar-General, in commenting on the in-
creased mortality throughout England, states that
the two primary causes are scarlatina and diarrh C 133,
but adds that they are widely diffused over the
country, and that'' Lancashire did not suffer more
than most parts, and less than some." Moreover, in
these returns the suffering county is able to bear a
favourable comparison with Yorkshire, and the
united evidence of the medical officers of the
unions throughout the cotton districts is entirely
in accordance with thisgratifying intelligence. In
Ashton-under-Lyre alone, in which the dis-
tress has been exceptionally great and pro-
longed, do the medical officers report a tone of
health so low as to retard convalescence in
cases of illness. The satisfaction with which this
intelligence is read will be universal, and not the
least sensible of it will be the members of that
committee, whose indefatigable labours have so
greatly contributed to the mitigation of the distress.
With the usual practical sense and prudence which
distinguish their proceedings, however, the com-
mittee are not disposed to relax their precautions
on account of the danger having been so far safely
averted. They caution the various committees of
the relief districts, where want of employment and
consequent distress are still general, that it will be
necessary to ba prepared for a winter of greater
severity. Fuel and clothing are, of course, the two
great necessities, and it will be requisite that these
shall be freely supplied to every family which has
been long dependent on relief. Further steps are
also considered desirable with a view to the remote
consequences of so long a period of depression, and
the committee therefore recommend various sanitary
precautions to the local authorities; ' the observance
of which will, we may hope, be further encouraged
by the public works now actively in preparation.
Meanwhile the statistics of labour aro altogether
encouraging, although the report wisely cautions
the committee against reckoning too securely on the
continuance of the present amount of employment,
'Lila warns it to prepare for increased demands
Pon its resources during the inclement months of
the coming
the rs,c.,. winter. "Every month of 1863," says
erepiovym7.3... ' has been marked by the increase of
digenee.:ulland wages, and the diminution of in-
statistics
Own resets%
January of tells;
,2sß,sere are now, according to the latest
under such hop Year,
'au
than £375,000
help, besides the hop's
increased supply of cotton sayteanialsr2oore persons dependent on their
osocOomtisfilodareesin full work, than in
Starting in the winter months
in band, besides
with a balance of more
large promises of
nexetntly held out of an
deed, trust, under GOD, that the
told us that theN"Corat.i3- Ill'haessreed:
is something yet for
mnetetdtee hop©
lint there
st
hti,earvee already
ports
within
their own districts.
to be able to rain wh,arthfeutpiiltisi3t.hheeyla: ay need
Y ask from
III:: vid
: may, in -
those out of reach of the distress is warm Clothing
for tl:e men employed in the unaccustomed task
of
outdoor labour. If the winter be severe, as is fore-
told, the change will indeed be great, from the hot
and crowded mill rooms, while spare diet and long
depression are by no means the bestagtheentsfor" keeping out the cold." This is all that
Com-
mittee ask, and surely they will not ask in vain ;
but we would go a step further. These workmen
have families—so have others unfit or unneeded for
their tasks. The cold blasts of winter will pierce
through their scantily furnished rooms, where fire
is a thing of luxury to be sparingly and carefully
used. Cannot the thousands who provide them-
selves at this season with warm an comfortabl