The Sun.
London, England, 1863-11-20 00:00:00

IOU!
Z 41.10
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4 - ASUIL

LONDON, FRIDAY, NOV. 20, 1863.

It may be regarded as a matter of tolerable cer-
tainty that the Congress proposed by the French
EMPEROR will„ after all, be eventually assembled.
The propositic was regarded, by some of our con-
temporaries, at., the outset, we are aware, as all but
impracticable, as the result of a sort of diplomatic
hallucilation on the part of NAPOLEON 111. It
was teested in some quarters even with an ap-
proach to tl le disdainful, as the most extrava-
gant of alt the Idees Napoleoniennes. And
yet Cabinet Councils were being held upon it all
the while b. ere, in England for example. Minis-
ters and Sovereigns were gravely and even
anxiously deliberating over the proposition.
Several evenings since we announced that the pro-
babilities were, that already this proposition of the
French 7S.MPEROR'S had been virtually accepted
by the nrajority of the Chief Powers of Christendom.
That ardicipation is now being formally and
aeliberhtely justified. Several of the minor Powers
°t Ear ope have already given in their frank adhe-
rP- The others have, most of them, already made
accompanying
minds to do likewise, a few amongst them
their intimation of their agreement
with cart aw -
very stringent, but, for the most part,
very r, _
&Eatable, stipulations. It seems only a
rational at, .
eautlon, for instance, to insist upon it,
as a ,aeeeSaaty prelimin
ar
y to the commencement of
the deliberations
perfeotlybe well°t any such Congress, that it should
understood before, and what the
sr.bject-matter 01 theirideliberations was likely to be.
Otherwise than by conformingto a definite pro
gramme before the opetin
Congress the Congress
itae ifgaf the sittings of such a
_might, indeed, float off,
Would be all but certain to
float
ti
4t off into all kinds
of vague generalities. Granted
that there is such
a. Programme carefully drawn ,ttp
a veteran
Sovereign like the one rumour au:ayiby
t.s to as the
one consulted to that very (inci 1:5,
the Empeior of the FRENeu,
meanie
'Majesty.
ailing the
r.gc:d constitutional Sovereign of .
such good
LEOPOLD—there is no earthly reaZglin:' King
should not eventually come from
14
Con-
peas as this one now proposed to be holden at poi..
• n emanating, as the 'World
in 1861. The proposition ti vorld
knows full well, end would not fail alway, to
member, emanating directly and individually from
the most powerful and gifted of all the Sovereigns
of the European Continent. An
pean Congress, born of a Peace, might
just as reasonably be looked to, for the remodelling
of the world so far as relates to that portion of it, as
a Congress born of a Great War, a Congress like
that cf 1815 following immediately upon the dying
out of the stupendous crash of a giant battle like
that of Waterloo, upon the downfall of a Colossus
like the Emperor NAPOLEON THE GREAT. Diplo-
matic negotiations are, in point of fact, a far more
rational preliminary to the convocation of an
European Congress than the E (pandering of
war-subsidies, and the shedding of rivers
of human blood. " The bloated arms-

Ins 3 rite deuounced two years ago, so very strongly,
by the men., utterance
of that happy phrase, by
Mr. Dtsßktus are, in one sense, as urgent a reason,
magnitude and their long con-
tinuance—furnish
pressive a reason as urgent and quite as im-
tclor thee calling together thns of a
great European Congress
" might b 3 yielded by
&sly amount of e=pendittire
in
v.ctblood and money,
by any number of alternate
by any series, no m batter ow lies and defeats,
a Cdrapaigns, and
Warlike Coalitions. With
modifications, with stif,ulations
, With
preliminary
neptiations, with a plain matter-of-lut categorical
programme carefully mapped out, and unanimously
accepted before hand among the tSevereign,,, we
regard the French EurF,Ron's scheme of a Congress
for the readjustment of Europe as eminently feasible,
instead of looking upon it as i:Y-3ing, what many have
IRen inFiating te.n.lonically ever inee the first

2 aggrstion of it by NAPOLEON, that it is, namely,
N project wholly and absolutely impracticable.

At the very least, Europe can but try whether it is
feasible, whether it is practicable.

Despite our Boards of Health and sanitary in-
specters, there is unhappily no room left us for
doubting that some parts of our wealthy metropolis
are in a state which is a disgrace to our civilisa-
tion. Foremost among these is Bethnal-green, to
which the present high rate of mortality has lately
attracted so much of public attention. instead of
feeling any surprise at this mortality, those who
read the revelations made at the coroner's inquest,
lately held in Bethnal-green-road, will only
wonder that the deaths have not been still more
numerous. The condition of the locality in which
several deaths have taken place, the last of which
was the subject of the inquiry, was described as
something appall in g• The stench was a subject of
universal complaint. One woman, the mother of
seven little ones, said that her eldest child often
complained of it. Well it might, for it was bad
enough to prove fatal to a younger sister, the latest
victim to the prevailing malaria. The poor child,
only five years old, was ill for five weeks, her ill-
ness being of course ushered in by violent sickness.
This probably excited little notice or alarm, for
one woman who lived close by described the stench
as being so overpowering that a person " would
almost retch his heart out" when he went into the
yard. The houses are small enough, consist-
ing of only four rooms,
and eh
for the occupant of three-fourths
ofone
tohnely
forpeamidost
srs.equaisitweseenkf a redneto,entbaunt d
hoenaelthoyf
habitation seems to be altogether wanting, and the
drainage entirely neglected. Complaints were made
to the collector, who could not deny the evidence of
complainantshis buteyes,by
contented himself and silenced the
assuring them that things would
Ibe better when the drainage was settled. It might
have been thought that the frightful condition in
which he found the houses was a sufficient evi-
dence that it was high time it was settled ; but
neither landlord nor collector appear to have
troubled themselves overmuch about the matter.
Perhaps the reason adduced by one of the witnesses
for remaining in such miserable premises helped
to increase this indifference. Mrs. DE COSTA, the
mother of the dead child, said that she did not leave
because it was difficult to get a house for her large
family without paying more rent. As some excuse
for her remaining, it may be said that she had lived
there for several years, but it was only lately, she
said, that the drains were so very bad. The rooms
in which they lived had not, it seemed, been white-
washed or cleaned for three years ; but, of course,
with the prevailing ignorance of the poor on all
physiological matters the occupants of these
wretched places were unaware of the deadly injury
to health arising from the fetid vapours. The
reckless indifference of landlords is only too much
encouraged by the lamentable want of knowledge
of the very laws of life among the lower classes.
It is a pity that our school teachers and home mis-
sionaries who visit much among the poor do not suc-
ceed in inculcating a little of this sound and prac-
tical knowledge. The closeness of the rooms in
which they live adds tenfold to the inevitable
evils arising from overcrowding. They do not avaii
themselves of the scanty means of ventilation which
they possess, while in workshops, factories, &c.,
the dislike of the hands to open windows deprives
them of the one great antidote to a thousand ills.
It is not for want of ocular demonstration, as well
as scientific assertion, that the benefits of fresh air
are so little understood. It is a matter of common
observation that anyone who is much in the open
air invariably enjoys better health than those en-
gaged in any indoors occupation. The able and
ntelligent Coroner for Middlesex lately observed

that he found less disease among the children of
the very pcor, than among those belonging to the
class above thew. This difference he attributed
entirely to the fact of the former being constantly
out at play in the streets, whereas the others were
kept indoors in close rooms. Facts like these de-
serve to be borne in mind, since the state of our
public health does not bear a due proportion to our
advance in other respects, and we must look to
the wider diffusion of sanitary knowledge for

improvement. But valuable as fresh air un-
doubtedly is, it will not supply the place of good
and efficient drainage, and so long as houses are
left in the condition of those in Hollybush-gar-
dens we may expect fever, cholera, and malaria

to reign triumphant. So long as the roadway
leading to such places is "six or eight inches
deep in mud, green and stagnant in places," so
long as the ill-drained closets almost open into
the kitchens, and no attempt is made to make sur-
face drains, or otherwise provide for the proper
drainage of the houses we must expect to hear
of a string of deaths from preventible causes. We
must confess with shame that our cumbrous social
machinery is inadequate to secure the necessities of
life to honest working people and their families,
and incompetent to protect them against the shame-
ful cupidity, or culpable negligence, of landlords.

Too much attention can hardly be paid to the
question of prison discipline, A few remarks here
and a proposal there will not exhaust the subject or
produce the desired improvements that are soanuch
wanted in that direction. The letter of the Right
Hon. 0. B. ADDERLEY to the Times of yesterday is
well worthy of attention, and seems to enter into
the discussion of the subject in a right spirit and
with a due amount of zeal. Although various pro-
posals have been made, it is still incumbent upon
the public to consider the question gene-
rally, and to rsficct upon what remedial measures
will be the best to b© adopted. Considering the
exs,,,tss
failure of our present mode of discipline, it
does not _
are toe
strong
that the remarks of Mr. ADDERLEY
g when he says that penal treatment is
retastkabti"
or " complication, unintelligibility,
uncertainty and
weakness." Indeed, no language
seems too emph4tio
the culpable isdni
eos too censorious that exposes
that has been shown to the
prisoners who have beenw
iconvicted of crimes of the
marked partiality that 'a such cases, the very
displayed, in time
worked out its own ex
t which they could ha things came to a
pass a.
tolerated.
When once it is an ack
upon prisons ea fact that critni
nals only look as a place op
irksome in its way, no doubt,' temporary
but et
y terrifying confinement,
associated with no very ideas, it i® hi h
time that some stringent measures 010,04 gbe
adopted, and in some measure, at least, that u
wholesome terror he restored to the experience of
prison discipline. All this takes time, and is, more.
over, a very difficult thing to do. It is much
easier to point out the errors and to trace the
defects in a system. than to explain exactly how
they may be remedied, or what will
constitute a
cure. This is why it is so reprehensible on the
part
of the authorities to alter the regulations and to
modify the arrangements in so great a degree, be-
cause it seems almost impossible, or, at all events,
very difficult to restore anything like order to the
confused system of prison discipline, or to re-adjust
the plan of penal servitude. A comparison is here
instituted between the separate modes proposed by
Lord GREY and Sir A. COCKBURN. Altn:dWelling A