The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-21 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON/ MONDAY EVENING, DI,I,CEMBER 21, 186 a

trembling in the scale, and it is but too probable
that the sword will be the weight to settle the

balance.

It is much to be regreted that the site of St.
Thomas's Hospital cannot be settled without so
much trickery and debate. On Friday a deputation
waited on the Attorney General relative to the
affair. It was shown on the part of the City Cor-
poration that the charter conferred upon them by
EDWARD the SIXTH authorised the erection of the
Hospital in a place that would serve the interests of
the poor of the borough of Southwark ; also that
the proposed erection of it would prevent the poor,
for whom it was intended, from receiving any be-
nefit from it. This is surely a very important point
to consider, and it behoves those who are to settle
the matter to reflect seriously upon the consequences
of the arrangement now proposed. It seems a very
hard thing, and a very unfair one too, to take away
from a class or body the rights to which they are
entitled, and, moreover, to deny them the privileges
to which they can justly lay claim. It does not appear
that any valid reason has been adduced to account
for the extraordinary change of tactics that has been
adoptel. It stands to reason that for an hospital of
this class, to be rendered permanently useful, it
should be situated in a locality most accessible to
those in need of it. To change the site from a
populous neighbourhood to a more secluded locality,
is in itself a great mistake, and it has been shown
that such a plan will militate greatly against the
carrying out of the objects of the Institution. Dr,
RENDLE put the case very fairly in these words—
" We therefore held that, while they had the site of
the Surrey Gardens, comprising 17 acres, which
could be got for £107,000, and while they had the
site of Bethlehem Hospital still in prospect, we
could not seq the wisdom of paying £95,000 for the
privilege of building an hospital on the muddy
banks of the Thames." This seems so far a most
conclusive argument, and it is difficult to divine what
inducements can have led the Governors to form
such a project. There have been no less than three
sites put before them for selection, each of which
presents more claims for consideration than the one
they have chosen. Of course they have found
something to say against each of them, but the
question is whether their arguments are valid ones,
and whether their view is the correct one. As for
the locality of the Surrey Gardens, they say it is
low-lying and unhealthy, but that objection applies
also to Stangate. Dr. RENDLE cited the opinion of
many medical men to the effect that the position
there was most unsuitable, and that there were in
the vicinity so many deleterious and unwholesome
manufactories that a hospital would be quite out of
place in such a neighbourhood. Without inspect-
ing minutely the vicinity, all who have travelled
constantly by the South-Western line will confirm
and ratify the remark. With regard to the site near
the Elephant and Castle, the speaker for the Go-
vernors deposed that they would have great diffi-
culty in their arrangements, as a considerable extent
of new road would have to be made. This may be,
but the end in view would be worth the risk of
great expense and much trouble. It comes to this.
if a hospital is to be for the benefit of the many, it
must not be situated where only a few in comparison
can readily gain access to it. This is a mistake
that too often exists among those who are conduct-
ing the preliminaries of a great public work ; they
prate about the impracticability of this plan, and
declaim against the impossibility of that scheme,
and are thrown into great consternation concerning
the enormous expense that both would entail; while
all the while there is some little pet project kept in
the background, some working notion or other of
their own which comes out just at the right moment,
and subverts all other ideas. Now the fitting
plan for such an undertaking would be to
weigh well all propositions, and form as correct a
notion as possible, as to what will the most effec-
romote the public benefit, and confer the
tually p
most solid advantages and lasting good on the
°lasses in whose behalf such institutions are erected.
When this important fact is ascertained, all other
objections should be treated as secondary subjects,
and dealt with in a right spirit. The negative put
upon the attempt to construct the new Hospital at
Bethlehem is a strange one, and the reasons ad-
duced are, if possible, more untenable than the
pleas urged against the other localities under consi-
deration. In the first place, it was said that there
were great doubts as to the propriety of removing
that institution into the country. This is remark-
able enough, when so many competent judges and
experienced persons have given it as their opinion,
that the interests of the unhappy inmates would be
best consulted by a removal to a more secluded
locality, where they could have the benefit of
fresh air and exercise out of doors. The best illus-
tration of the case consists in this view of it. Would
any rich individual consign any afflicted relatives
to an establishment that was situated in a crowded
part, instead of fixing upon one that presented
the attractions of quiet, and the opportunities o
what recreation and amusement their sad state re.
quired, and on the enjoyment of which their partia
or complete cure mainly depended. It seems a con-

tradiction in terms to declare that an asylum for the
insane should be placed in a crowded noisy part,
and that an institution for the relief of accidents
and other casualties requiring immediate treatment
and rest should be situated in a spot not easily
attainable. It is to be hoped that this subject will

receive due consideration, and that the justice of the
claims of the poor of the borough of Southwark will
be fully taken into account. Hospitals are institu-
tions that are the honour of this land ; they evince
the benevolent spirit of the country, and may with
just pride be regarded in a national point of view.
They are the handmaids of mercy ; but beforo all
ideas of this kind it is of paramount importance
that they should represent justice. Fair play to all

parties should be accorded, and more especially the
managers should bear in mind the rights of those for
whom any particular institution was founded. To do
good abroad by neglecting those at home, is contra-
dictory charity, and in this case the positive benefit
to any large section of the public has not been
guarded, so that the affair more than ever de-
mands caution and consideration.

We have much pleasure in stating that Mr. W
N. Rudge, stockbroker, has collected upwards of
£3OO in the Stock Exchange during the last two or
three days for the National Lifeboat Institution.
THE NATIONAL SIIAKSPEARE COMMITTEE has
during the past week received the following accession :
The Mayor of Bolton, the Mayor of Chichester, the Sheriff
of Mid-Lothian, Sir F. Madden, Prof. Goldwin Smith, J.
W. Davison, Esq., G. H. Wright, M.D., Otto Goldsmith,
Esq., Thornton Hunt, Esq., J. Bernard Davis, M.D.,
Warren De La Rue, Esq., Theodore Martin, Esq., Dr. It.
Angus S.nith, E. H. Lawrence, Esq., and Prof. Tycho
Mommsen.

viiCIao:cLrEoGy4EOI:,PRE.CEPTORS.—At a meeting of the
Council of this Corporation, on the 19th inst„ the following
Routh:men were elected members of the college :—Mr. R. J.
Uurn,i_.
. ue, Adelaide•road, Hampstead; Mr. J. J. Caine,
Church-r
ow, Wandsworth ; Mr. B. T. Ellis, Cromwell-
„rove , Rev. E. A. Green, Windsor-place,
Cardiff ; Mr. 1
Somerset
Maren.iugh Hastings, University College School ;
Mr. W. Snaith
; Mrs,Brornsgrove; Mr. Joseph Palmer, Wells,
, Castle,
Sbaw, 8.A., Tulse-hill School; and
Tile
IRO,NMontgomeryshire.
geese Nfvaittening on his
ONE OF
atkets.
GIRDERS upon which is to be
placed the temporary brid
across the Thames at Black-
friars, and intended tar beedu•inh Filackfriers-bridge, has been ufir_ien.; the construction of .New
noeunbts laou, Oci 01101 of Norwich, has at
DELlcicus !—Mr. 11,04.1:14'
premises
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