The Sun.
London, England, 1863-04-15 00:00:00

CITY SEWERS COMMISSION.

Yesterday the Commissioners of Sewers of the City meg
at the Guildhall, for the despatch of business. Deputy De
Jersey presided.

- .
SALE OF GAS ACT AMENDMENT BILL.
Alderman WILSON called the attention of the Court to thcf
provisions of this bill, which he said stood for second read-
ing in the House of Commons that evening. The City had,
since the passing of the Sale of Gas Act, been put to an ex-
pense of about £2,400, and the cost of carrying the act out
in the City was about £750 per annum. Large numbers of
persons in the metropolis, as well as the City, had availed
themselves of the arrangements made by the City for the
stamping of the meters ; but, under the proposed amended
act, they would not be able to do so, as ono of its provisions
went to the effect that no inspector should be empowered
to stamp any meters manufactured out of his district. Now,
this would act injuriously in the City, as it was well known
that there was, perhaps with one exception, no manufac-
tory of the kind within the City boundary. He thought
it advisable that the interests of the City should be pr.-
tected in this matter, and ho would suggest that a d?putao
tion should wait upon Sir George Grey upon the subject.
Aftei some conversation it was decided to refer the subject
to the General Purposes Committee for considoration,a
u
to confer thereon if necessary with Sir George Grey
and ul

Court of Aldermen.
OF THE "f 7.
the City,
Dr. CONDITION .
e_,h for
uses that had
reported on the state of 350 ho b
naitted a list of 109 places
reported that the
been inspected
during the fortnight, andt
.12 He likewise .
Dr. LETTIEBY, the mediiczaelßouffi_oer of. no ei
markets and slaug--_-roned 7,6081 b of meat as unfit for hu.
the officers had a.
for sanatory
imPr°;:teeratilaou. see had been duly inspected, and
ociebnwere diseased, 3,2121 b were putrid, and
man food ; 4;8r08n: animals that had died from accident or
508th wereu-oonsisted of 18 sheep, 6 pigs, 1 calf, 43 quarters
of beef,and
61
joints of meat, besides 11 casks of pickled
beef. All of it was sent to the boilers and destroyed. Two
or three cases had been brought under the notice of the
justices, and they advised them to be prosecuted further.
114 births and 114 deaths have been registered during the
fortnight. The mortality returns are a little below the
average (120) for the corresponding period of the last seven
years ; 47 of the deaths were among children of less than
five years of age, and 24 amongst old persons of 60 and up-
wards. The chief causes of death were as follows :-13
from plithisis, 4 mesenteric disease, 3 hydrocephalus, 6
pneumonia, 19 bronchitis, 6 continued fever, 8 scarlet fever,
3 small-pox, 3 measles, 5 diphtheria, and 1 croup, making
together 20 deaths from tubercular diseases, 25 inflamma-
tory tory affections of the lungs, and 22 diseases of a zymot
character.

After transacting some other business, the Court ad. g
journed.

RUMOURED NEGOTIATIONS TO PURCHASE CoN-.
FEDERATE VESSELS.—The New York Journal of
Commerce in its money article says :—" A correspondent
sneers at the report to which we gave currency a few days
since, that the Boston gentleman who had gone to Europe
was charged with a mi=sion to buy for our Government the
steamers now building for 'the Emperor of China,' and
thus preventing them from falling into the hands of the
Confederates. We can assure him that many well informed
a
people credit the statement, and it is believed hehr
gentleman connected with the Pacific Mail Steamsh►p
Intl)
ssion.
Com-
pany, who left here last week,
upon his programme." • nt and Pills.—.
ig—...._Holloway's Ointment
more difficult to
diseases which afflict the
proved itself ;
He[lApnuyneduezrisEsMuhas a co-operative i
cure than skin diseases Whether superficial , .1' deen
rerTin.
human body are more 1— bear
j.enttmob.notarno
maladies ; it at once aesuag 14,0,,,
ready remedy for these
ulcerations. Holloway's
worksout a sound and lasting-es 4---'4
cleans the wound. and 'dl than cure
more certainly tool more rap! y other application I
old affections, dot ilitated habits, and constitutionalail • 11
Holloway',, Ville should be taken to increase the Inentl4
effects of his unguent. These admirable • salutary
ever fail to perform the cure of what w remedies scarcely
able cases till Professor Hollowa m were considered incur-
„very, now most deservedly p . Y made his invaluable dia.
Med throughout the world.

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15, 1863.

In the House of Lords yesterday the Mutiny Bill
passed through committee.
The Post Office Savings Banks Bill was read a
third time.
The Marine Mutiny Bill passed through com-
mittee.
On the motion that the Augmentation of Bene-
fices Bill be referred to a select committee,
Lord ST. LEONARDS stated his reasons for believ-
ing that, as the privileges of the Crown were
affected, the assent of the Crown was required
before proceeding with the bill. He concurred in
the principle of the bill, but briefly intimated in
what respects be thought the proposed measure in-
sufficient for carrying it into practical opera-
tion, and his objections to the bill.
The Earl of DERBY called attention to some of the
main features of the scheme, upon which he also
entertained doubts, and criticised generally its de-
tails in reference to the object contemplated.
The LORD CHANCELLOR, in reply, explained and
defended the provisions of the bill.
The motion was then agreed to, and the select
committee nominated.
Their lordships then adjourned.
In the House of Commons, at the time fixed for
the commencement of public business, Mr. WAL-
POLE announced the sudden decease of the Secretary
for War, Sir George Cornewall Lewis, and as a tri-
bute to his memory and devotion to the public ser-
vice, moved the adjournment of the House.
Lord PALMERSTON in a few broken sentences ex-'
pressed how deeply he felt upon the occasion. The
motion involved a well-deserved tribute to the
memory of the colleague they had lost, and he
thought he should best show his respect for his
memory by simply seconding the motion.
Mr. DISRAELI, in the course of a brief but earnest
eulogium upon the late Sir George Lewis, said that
the Queen had lost one of the ablest of his subjects,
and one who, in his entire devotedness to his
country, might be taken as a model by rising
Statesmen. He cordially supported the motion.
The SPEAKER having put the question, the
motion was unanimously agreed to, and the House
adjourned.

The Government has sustained a heavy loss in
the death of Sir G. CORNEWALL LEWIS. There
is something peculiarly startling and painful in
such a doom overtaking one who, but a short
time before, was mixing in our busiest circles,
and filling a prominent place in the stirring
arena of political life. "In the midst of life
we are in death " has been told as on Divine
authority, and each day brings forward pro-
minent evidence of its accuracy, but still
human nature seems resolved to shut its
eyes to the fact, and it is only when some notable
member of the community is struck down that the
reality seems to dawn upon men's minds. The scene
iu the House was most affecting, and the relatives
and friends of the departed statesman could not
have desired a better tribute to be paid to bis
memory. Mr. WALPOLE proposed the adjournment
of the House, " out of sincere respect to the memory
of the late Secretary of War." No one better than
Mr. WALPOLE could have proposed this, alike from
his friendship for the right honourable baronet,
"knowing him," as he said he had done, " from an
Eton boy," as for his urbane qualities and uniform
gracious demeanour, which render him peculiarly
fit for such an office. The right hon. gentleman
observed that one " more thoughtful, more conside-
rate, more conciliatory, and more beloved did not
exist in that house. The motion was seconded by
Lord PALMERSTON, who, under deep emotion,
accorded his testimony to the truth of the tribute that
had been paid by Mr. WALPOLE to his departed col-
league. All must have sympathised with the noble
lord under the trying circumstances in which he was
placed, and he showed his usual discernment in
making no comments of his own. At such a time
these came more fittingly and appropriately from
his political opponents. Mr. DISRAELI followed
the noble Viscount, and displayed that feeling and
consideration which always distinguish him on such
occasions. There is no public man who is
so ready as the Leader of the Opposition ever
is to acknowledge the merits of his rivals
on the stage of public life, and when
death has come between and interposed its
dread distinction, no one is more willing to accord
homage to the memory of the departed. The right
hon. gentleman observed that he bad not been
aware until within a few minutes of the calamity
which he might say had fallen on the country. The
QUEEN had lost one of her ablest servants, and the
Beam a member who possessed universal respect
and regard. After stating that he never
knew a man
who combined the facnlty
of arriving
at a Inland opinion on all public matters
as Sir GEORGR Lxwls,
concluded in these the right hon. gentleman
eloquent words;—" Although

he W _a man most remarkably free from prejudice
and passion, that exemption from sentiments which
are supposed in general to be necessary to the pos-
session of active power, had not upon him that
effect which they generally exercise ; and he was a
►uan who, in all the transactions of life, brought a
great organising faculty and a great power of sus-
tained perseverance to the transaction of public
affairs. Sir, lam sure that the rising statesmen of
both sides may take him as an example that, in
many particulars, may be remembered and followed
with advantage ; and I am quite sure that his name
will never be mentioned in this house without feel-
ings of deep respect and unfeigned regret for what
may be deemed an untimely loss, which I think the
country can ill bear."
When the first stunning shock of the sudden
calamity is over, and the friends of the departed
baronet consider the influence that his career has
exercised upon those among whom his life was
spent, they will recur with gratification and reflect
with pride upon these tributes to hie memory which
have been rendered by those to whom he was ordi-
I narily opposed in public life. " His mourners were
two hosts, his friends and foes," sang the great poet
over the grave of his 1(34 relative, and a better
epitaph can no man desire. Sir G. COBNEWALL
LEWIS was a remarkable man in many respects.
He was an ornament to literature, and would have
been distinguished for his attainments and contri-
butions had he never filled the more arduous post and
undertaken the heavy responsibilities of a statesman.
There was nothing brilliant about him. His ac-
quirements were solid and sterling, his language
terse and businesslike, and his opinions always
stated in a simple and unassuming manner. But it
is not always the most dazzling that are the most
missed, and of that fact the Government which has
sustained his loss will soon be aware, and the House
from which he has been so suddenly removed will
long miss the patient investigation, the accu-
rate intelligence, and the calm judgment that
particularly characterised its late Secretary of War.
It might have been wiser had the right hon.
baronet been more cautious in his undertakings,
and tempered zeal with discretion. The cares of
State, the toils of senatorial duties are in them-
selves sufficiently overwhelming without assiduous
attention to studies of a grave sort, and unflag-
ging energy in abstruse pursuits. Yet, if taken
thus early from his friends, and if his con-
temporaries lament his untimely end, it can-
not be said that he has died too soon
for his fame, and his character could never have
stood higher than it does at present. "To live
in hearts we leave behind is not to die," may be
the consolation of those who regret his premature
removal from the arena where he might have occu-
pied a more prominent place and gained still greater
renown, while those who mourn his loss in private
must feel that those qualities which gained
him universal respect and regard from contem-
poraries, and riveted the lasting attachment of
his friends, are not bounded in their influence by
he limits of this transitory state, and cannot perish
with the dissolution of the earthly house of their
tabernacle. Few of our public men can desire or
expect more general appreciation of their lives and
labours, more regret for their loss, or more respect
to be paid to their memories, than has fallen to the
share of him whose death to-day will occupy the
minds of so many in the various circles where it
will be known.

The moral and physical wellbeing of our soldiers
must always be an object of great importance. On
their health and training depends the efficiency of
our forces in time of war, and it would be idle to
expect men of imperfect health and enfeebled con-
stitutions to endure the vicissitudes of climate which
a soldier is exposed to, or to undergo the hardships
of a campaign. The cost of a standing army is
doubtless a heavy demand on the national resources
and it would seem to be in every way the object of
the state to preserve its military force in the highest
state of efficiency. Yet the reality by no means
corresponds with this anticipa,ton. It is a
notorious fact that the rate of mortality and
disease among soldiers is extremely high, and
social reformers have loudly protested against
a state of things which in great measure arises from
preventible causes. A recent Parliamentary paper,
published in the form of an appendix to former
reports directs our attention to one at least of these
remediable evils. The bad effects of over crowding
are in these days of advanced science and extended
knowledge almost universally recognised. The want
of free ventilation brings in its train a host of dire
complaints, all indirectly traceable to the continual
inhalation of vitiated air. Fevers and epidemics
of every class reign triumphant in such quarters,
and medical skill and science are powerless
before the effects of an overcrowded, ill drained, '
dwelling where cleanliness is disregarded and fresh
air a thing unknown. The inspectors of English
prisons being well aware of these facts, recom-
mended that not less than 1,000 cubic feet of air
should be allowed for each prisoner, and though this
allowance was very liberal, still as air is cheap and
plentiful enough, there is no reason why even cri-
minals should be stintad. As usual, however, the
felons have the best of it. Their advantages are
not confined to footstools and treacle pudding, for
even in the common luxury of fresh air they are far
more favoured than honest men, The dwellings
.f our labouring classes have long given
much concern to the philanthropist who
feels that it is hopeless to deal with the mind while
every influence is fighting against the body; but
there are many difficulties in the way of improve-
ment, and prominent among them the obstinacy or
Indifference of the sufferers themselves. No such
obstacles stand in the way of the regulation of
official establishments, yet the condition of our
barracks as described by the report referred to is
as disgraceful to the country as it is injurious to
the men. The construction of these buildings is
often so bad that the healthiest and most airy
sites show the highest rate of mortality. At
Edinburgh Castle, at an elevation of 300 to 400
feet above the level of the sea, the deaths from
fever and chest complaints is 10 per 1,000. At the
barracks two miles off the deaths from similar
causes are less than than 3 per 1,000. This diffe-
rence is accounted for by the bad ventilation and
excessive crowding of the castle where there is
only 181 cubic feet per man in one of the rooms,
and the maximum is 302. This is in the new bar-
racks where the greater portion of the men are
I situated. The old barracks, where 134 men
are located in a space only suitable for
93, are naturally still worse. In London
things are no better, the newly-built bar-
racks being constructed on plans that combine
the largest amount of dead wall with the smallest
supply of space. In the new Kensington cavalry
barracks the men are located over the stables,
\
while in the Portman-street barracks the mini-
mum of air allowed to each man is reached, leav-
ing a discrepany of 226 cubic feet for each man,
between the directions given to the medical offi-
cers and the existing fact. Cleanliness, we have
all heard, is next to godliness, and it is
to be hoped that the excellent maxim is properly
impressed on the mind of the soldier, though how
he is to put it in practice in the Wellington Bar-

racks, where there aro five baths for 1,500
men we do not very clearly see. The
walls and ceilings of all these paces are
left blackened with gas and smoke, while the
kitchen arrangements, or lack of arrangements,
would fill SOYER with horror. The Tower bar-
racks are partly supplied by Thames water—a fact
sufficient to account for the prevalence of cholera
there when that epidemic raged in London. The
laundries are mere washhouses without any appa-
ratus for drying, so that wearing damp clothes is
no uncommon thing. So then, with overcrowding,
bad ventilation, and sometimes no ventilation at all
as in the case of those rooms which do not open
outwards, bad drainage, dirty walls, ill-ccoked food,
and damp linen, we are certainly doing our best to
decimate our army. Added to all these evils is one
perhaps greater and more disastrous than all. We
refer to the enforced idleness of a soldier's life.
0 Idleness is the mother of mischief" is another
truism that seems to have been forgotten in the
copybooks of our military authorities. They gather
large numbers of able-bodied men together—most
of them restless or excitable spirits who have been
attracted by the seeming gaiety of a soldier's life;
they place these men in aboCes ouch as we have
described above, and condemn them to bodily
inaction and mental vacancy. What result can
be hoped for, save the one that is
but too common ? Vice and dissipation follow
fast on such a training, and the moral and physi
cal condition of the boasted English soldier is re-
duced to the lowest level.

Let our Legislature look to this. They vote the
supplies; let them exercise some wise control over
the expenditure. A comparatively trifling outlay
would provide reading-rooms, gymnasiums, tennis
courts, or crieket clubs, anything that will
give healthy exercise to the frame and ob-
jects of interest to the mind. Let the officers
interest themselves in the welfare of their men, and
afford every encouragement to honest and rational
employment. Meanwhile, the sanitary condition
of oar barracks should be immediately seen to.
Oar soldiers have a right to demand fair considera-
tion for their health and comfort, and Englishmen
will certainly not begrudge it to them.