The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-13 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY, OCT. 13, 1863.

Yet another seat lost to the Government and
gained to the Opposition ! And the change is effected,
too, in this instance, it will be seen, under rather
peculiar circumstances. Under circumstanees as
peculiar, perhaps, as any that have yet come to
light since the commencement of what is called (and
with reason) the Conservatism reaction. We speak
thus, moreover, of this recent contest—a contest
so recent that it was completed, for that matter,
only yesterday—down at Tamworth, with a
vivid recollection the while of Mr. Bus-
FIELD FERRAND'S Tory triumph as an Oppo-
sition candidate down at Davenport, in open
defiance of the infiaence, power, and authority
of Government. It is true that Mr. PEEL who
has just now been returned as the representative of
the Tamworth constituency is hardly quite
avowedly a Derbyite. But, at any rate, he is any-
thing in the wide world of politics, even a Derlsyite,
rather than what his opponent Mr. Cowisee.
appealed to the electors of Tamworth as—viz., a
thick and thin supporter of the Palmerston Govern-
ment. The announcement simply of the fact—that
a Mr. PEEL has been returned as M.P. for the
borough of Tamworth, seems to read, no doubt,
as a mere matter of course. But then, it should
at once be borne in mind that the Mr. P. EL in
question came to the hustings and went to the poll
not only uncountenanced by the PEELS of Tam-
worth, but openly and vigorously opposed by
them. It has been rendered, nevertheless, a
matter notorious throughout the country
during the contest that Mr. PEEL, now
M.P. for Tamworth, is all this while, though
frowned upon by the lord of Drayton, not only
a relative of the PEELS of that renowned
house, but in point of fact a son of the
elder branch of the family. Notwithstanding
which claim to the attention and countenance of
the third Sir ROBERT PEEL, the present owner of
Drayton Manor, Mr. PEEL, now M.P. for Tarn-
worth, is cold-shouldered and frowned down, and
altogether discountenanced as systematically and as
pertinacious as though he were some poor relation
with a damaged reputation, and a shabby coat, and
a bar sinister across his escutcheon. Instead of all,
which being in any way the ease in regard to
this scooted, and flouted, yet in the end vic-
torious Me, PEEL, now M.P. for Tamworth—
he is rich, indeed, if in nothing else, in the
o golden opinione"hehas won there (hard by the
eeraily seat) from "all sorts of men"—his coat he
has not even (like some others) had occasion, yet, to
turn—his escutcheon being, moreover, not only un-
marred by the bar sinister but newly illustrated
since its symbolism by his recent proceedings. In
testimony of which have not his supporters, ;here,
been as busy as "bees" in his behalf,
and
may not his motto be newly emphasized and
italicised, and freshly emblazoned—per industria
Knowing, as we do, the very active part taken in
this contest by Sir ROBERT PEEL, the ignominious
defeat of his chosen candidate, Mr. COWPER, has,
in truth, about it a very especial significance. It
is an intimation, of the most signal kind that could
well have been given anywhere, of the declension
'of late of the popeiarity of the Government, and
of the increase and expansion of the movement
latterly going on by the name of the Conserva-
tive reaction. Of both these things there cannot
Possibly be any longer the smallest misapprehen-
ale'. The' e is a Conservative reaction. No matter
what our prejudices or predilections in regale, to
it—there it is undeniab y, flagrantly, notoriously,
all ro
'l4d us. Equally visible has it become that
there is a
Perceptible decrease in the
popularity of
the
'mem. This fact is as patent to every-
one gifted
Al eyesight or with bearing, as
that 'other
:after seat for t, tet.
(illustrating it) that seat
long while past has been
dropping over fro,m
Opposition. Rerei—ti
thethe Government, to the
instance of Tamworth
is the latest of there,
Mr.
PEEL'S triumph down
at Tamworth being so
regarded, ia point of
fact`, by his chief supporter--T
d of the Manor,
and beyond all
owner of Drayton, colleague in
arepresenta-
tion of the borough,
ifnilatte.atthioant, in
member of Lord PALMERSTON'
his capacity as Irish Secretary !
8 AParollo.
event is, indeed, of the unpopularity gained for him.
self, even in his own neighbourhood, by the
right
hon. baronet the Secretary for Ireland. Riding
i
rough-shod over his own people, down at
Tamworth, be has been fairly gravelled. Yet an
the while he see.'ns to have been himself so serenely
unconscious of the egregious dilemma into which
he has thus blundered so very deliberately !
When being yelled and hooted And groaned after

by hisTSTvn people yesterday in the borough of
Tamwortb, Sir ROBERT PEEL is told by one
stentorian person in the crowd, while pointing to
an elector who had just then been giving his vote
for Mr. PEEL--I' Here's a man who's voted
against COWPER !" What is the First Secretary's
dignified rejoinder ? " Then bonnet him !" Where-
upon the elector referred to is bonnetted accordingly.
Sir ROBERT PEEL himself all the while, though him-
self apparently quite unconscious of having under-
gone the operation at all, Sir ROBERT PEEL having
himself been more distinctly bonnetted than any one
about him, and this not in the sight of Tamworth
merely, but of all England—and Ireland ! The
result of this noisy contest altogether, has, in cne
word, been—exemplary !

There are a good many questions on which it is
wise to deliberate long and carefully before we at-
tempt to act. We do well to take time to consider
our
verdict,
to reflect upon the evidence which has
led us to the conclusions we have arrived at, and to
allow the first excitement and enthusiasm of dis-
cession and debate to pass over before wo attempt
to turn our theories into practice. There are other
matters, however, in which delay is fatal, and action
urgent; in which the procrastination of every weak
or month suffers the evil to grow more rapidly, to
extend its baneful influence more widely, and does
mischief which the best and wisest will be unable
to undo. Among these we may certainly reckon
the excessive mortality in India, a mortality whose
fall extent we do not and cannot know, from the
absence of a general system of registration. We
may guess enough from the terrible statistics re-
ht t to light—statistics not only since
cently brought
uncontradicted but confirmed in every important
particular. The average death-rate of the British
troops inlndia, exclusive of those invalided and those
dying on their way to England, is 69 per 1,000 ; or
assuming the Anglo-Indian army to be 73,000, that
army loses on an average a whole brigade a year.
These startling facts have just been considered
in a vary able paper read at one of the sittings of
the Social Science Congress, in the department of
Public Health. The essay proceeded from the clear
head, enlarged experience, and sound judgment of
FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE ; and the' marked atten-
tion with which it was listened to proved the uni-
versal respect and esteem in which our English Saint
FILOMENA is held. Prince ALFRED joined the meet-
ing for the especial purpose of hearing this paper,
feeling a natural and praiseworthy interest in a ques-
tion affecting so large a body of his mother's subjects.
Miss NIGHTINGALE, who was unfortunately unable ta
be present, began her treatise by remarking that
the question dealt with was one of the most impor-
tant of the day, since it had been conclusively
shown that unless the present enormous death rate
were reduced we should never be able to maintain
a British army in India. It has been said that as
the death rates of the war year were the highest
(not from wounds), peace, and not sanitary measures,
was the remedy. To this suggestion Miss NIGHTIN-
GALE indignantly exclaims from the depths of her
bitter experience, " As well might it be said that
because the British army had nearly perished before
Sebastopol, not from wounds, bat from want of
every supply of civilised life, peace, and not the sup-
ply of the wants of civilised life, was the remedy."
The dangers to which the European constitution is
exposed in India are very great, but the climate is
by no means the greatest. The English inaptitude
to assume foreign habits and customs is cited among
the drawbacks of the soldier, If he has been a large
eater and hard drinker in a cold climate, and with
hard outdoor labour, he will continue the same
habits in a tropical country in enforced idleness.
This very idleness, which is the source of so many
evils, affords every encouragement to intemperate
habits, and too much blame can scarcely be attached
to the regulation which permits the soldier in India
to drink two drams, or 6oz. of raw spirit every day ;
a quantity amounting in the year to 181 gallons.
A hearty country youth, accustomed to plain scanty
fare and constant outdoor exercise, to whom rum is
a luxury., is suddenly transported into an oppres-
sively hot climate, fed largely, and allowed an
amount of spirit which far exceeds the ave-
rage consumption in Scotland, famous as it
is for its dram-drinking. He is besides suf-
fered to live a life of almost total idleness,
a life which brings a whole train of vices after it,
and ho is debarred by the tropical sun from the
outdoor exercise to which he has always been accus-
tomed. Such a transition of itself goes far to ex-
plain the excessive mortality; but Miss NIGHTIN-
GALE denies that the prime cause of the evil is to
be found in individual vice, intemperance, or mis-
management. The want of drainage and of water
are carried to an extent which poisons the air and
renders our stations and barracks, and still more
oar native towns, hotbeds of fever and cholera,
Miss NIGHTINGALE sums up the question very
briefly when she says simply---" That there is no
drainage either in town or country. As regards
water, not a single barrack has either waterpipes or
drainpipes. Pumps are unknown, and such water
as there is, is :sought in skins by men and bullocks,
its quality being often as inferior as its quantity. if
such were our arrangements in England, no tempe-
rance of life or climate would exempt us from
epidemics ; and bad as is the state of things in
Anglo-Indian towns, in the native towns it is
far worse. The air for some distance round the
tatter is described as positively foul. No wonder
that in such a country plague and pestilence are the
ordinary state of things. ",Take," says Miss
NIGHTINGALE, "the worst condition of the worst
and most neglected districts at home, multiply it
ten and a hundred times over—and this is, to say
the least of it, the normal condition of every city
and town in India." And this in a country which
has been for a century under British rule. The
criminal neglect has been bitterly avenged. Not
only have many of our eminent men paid forfeit
with their lives in India itself,
extend by degrees their
to Europe.
The laws
are not yet full y understood,
mes
y on • . but the epidemics
and miasmatic dise
ases constantly brooding there
malignant
which o govern influenceepi
d e
me even
but their pro-
gress westward has been often traced. The
plagues of former ti
were supposed to
have originated in the
moved slowl East' and to have
in their
death march to
more temperate climes. It is
land, the foremost in her ea strange that Eng-
gerness for sanitary
reform and a due observance of the laws of physio-
logy at home, should wilfully suffer so large and
an area beneath her own
populousdominion, though
under a suu that trebles every danger, to deserve
of " the focus of epidemics." Strange
that, epithet
that, year ,-, ey year, she should gather her brave
young recruits
and send them forth knowingly to
face death, not in the trench of a siege or the field
of battle, but in the closely packed rooms of their
own undrained, ill-built barracks, where sickness
'
comes in every breath of air wafted over the fetid
accumulations around, and the very water they
drink sometimes carries cholera with it. Strange,
too, that the great work of irrigation, so profitable
as well as so necessary, should be so feebly and par-
tiatly carried on when able, energetic men are
waiting eager
for the task. But so long as the
land tax
comae safely and promptly to the exche-
quer, what ma
tters it whether the people die or
live? 6o long 4 the flame quiet, comfortable rou-i