The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-15 00:00:00

were in fault, the hirers or the letters of the apart-
ments. In all cases where fever had unavoidably
broken out, some weeks should be ordered to elapse
before any more lodgers are admitted. By this means
the guilty would be suspended from their ill-gotten
gains, and the ignorant and careless would be duly
warned of the sad and serious consequences that re-
sult from inattention to sanitary precautions. The
unfortunate class, also, who are afflicted with disease
would be prevented from making more mischief,
and spreading the contagion around them. Unless
some due precaution is adopted speedily the evil
will augment to such an extent that the healthy
will dread the risk of visiting a watering-place. A
reaction will be the cons( quence, and it will be
difficult, if not impossible, for convalescents to
get any change of air at all, for all lodging-house
keepers will shun their approach. There is no
reason why, with proper management, all sorts of
cases may not be accommodated at watering places,
and return, after their stay in the loeality, re-
freshed by the change, or restored by the invigo-
rating breezes. If those who take in the sufferers,
and their friends and relatives, make up their minds
to use the right means for preserving their rooms
against infection, the evil, except in serious cases,
is not very likely to spread. On the other hand,
if they do not, the public is of too much im-
portance to be trifled with, to suit their fancies, and
the lives of many are not to be sacrificed to suit the
prejudices of the ignorant, and the obstinacy of the
wilful. It is often, unhappily, to be found that,
when people are deaf and blind to the claims of
honour, the calls of humanity, and the evidence of
reason, they will be on the alert if they think that
their interests are in any way affected by the ques-
tion in dispute. For some time past it has been a
fruitful source of complaint in many quarters, that
our tourists and travellers seek foreign shores for
diversion, when health and happiness might
abound at home, if they would only turn their steps
in the right direction. Now, what can well tell more
against the success and prosperity of our coast
towns, than the rumour now so prevalent with
regard to infection being rife in those localities ?
It is idle to gainsay the truth of the assertion. The
story has gone forth far and wide, and those whom
principle and feeling will not influence may yet
have cause to regret, if they do not repent, the
short-sighted policy they have adopted, and the
mistaken notions that have actuated them. Mak-
ing too much haste to be rich has worked many
evils in this world, and given rise to grave and.
deplorable results.

It is not surprising that the subjects engaging the
attention of the Social Economy Department of the
great autumnal assembly, the position of the Cotton
Districts should occupy a prominent place. The
condition and prospects of Lancashire have been
during the year very frequently uppermost in inen'b
minds, and the approaching advent of winter has
lately brought the subject up again. So large a
body of our industrial classes could not suffer for so
long a period without their misfortune being justly
ranked as a fitting subject for national deliberation.
There have been, too, and indeed still are, so many
conflicting views upon the matter, that a
general
discussion and argument were not unlikely to have
satisfactory effects. Some are inclined to take
sanguine view of the case, and are ready to persuade
themselves and others that the danger is already
past, and that Lancashire will be henceforth happily
independent of extraneous assistance. Others, on
the contrary, are inclined to form a most despond-
ing estimate of affairs ; they look upon the cotton
trade as hopelessly destroyed, and recommend
wholesale emigration of the " hands." Others.
again, occupy the middle position, and while admit.
ting the improved aspect of affairs, and the sound-
ness of hopes for future improvement, look forward
to a lengthened period of uncertainty and depres-
sion. To the latter class belongs Mr. EDMUND
POTTER, who read a paper on the present state of
the cotton districts at the Edinburgh meeting last
week. He is by no means disposed to exaggerate
the prospects of the reviving trace, in fact, he rather
underrates them. In common with many others he
cites the present slow extension of the area of
cotton cultivation in India as a proof that the
undertaking never will be popular there, since
even the present high prices have not succeeded in
rendering it more general. Such reasoners forget
that they must allow for the obstacles existing in
India as to the purchase or cultivation of land, and
that the first year or two's crop, grown under all
preliminary difficulties,is not to be taken as a sample
of what India ma accomplish. There is no doubt
that the quality end quantity of Indian cotton will
both improve rapidly with a little time and care,
and We have to thank the same prejudice as that
Which actuated Mr. POTTER,
for the persistent
neglect of all other sources of supply
heretofore.
With regard to the large emigration proposed by
some persons as a panacea for ail evils, we are glad
to find Mr. POTTER expressing himself against any
such scheme. He says, very justly, "Emigration
is the natural safety valve of an overplus population,
one sinking and starving on a non-productive soil,
or hanging
for on a trade decaying for want of demand
some superseded commodity ; but a harsh
mischievous and costly remedy wterewith to meet
what may be classed as a temporary disruption 01

a trade." It is so easy to get rid of a difficulty
by laying it on other people's shoulders that emi-
gration has been all along a favourite remedy. We
aro to send these poor people across the seas, and
so save the trouble, anxiety, and expense of provid-
ing for them here. Responsibilities cannot, how-
ever, be so pleasantly disposed of, and it is very
necessary
to consider two points before attempting
any wholesale scheme. The first is, whether there

is any chance or prospect of the revival of the old
trade; secondly, whether the emigrants could find
work suited to their capabilities and experience at
their journey's end. The first these queries
is now being answered satisfactorily by those most
qualified to form a just opinion. The second is more
than doubtful, and the gentleman who so strenu-
ously advocated it at the Edinburgh meeting would
probably have been considerably puzzled if called

upon to give practical evidence of their words. It

seems strange that persons should still be found to
take so disparaging a view of affairs when the last

returns are so encouraging. It would of course be

idle to expect a sudden lull tide of prosperity after

so long and trying a season of sorrow and scarcity,

but we have every ground for hoping that the im-

provemcnt already perceptible will be continuous, if

gradual. It cannot certainly be laid down as a law

that cotton will only grow on one portion of the
globe, although it is not surprising that it should
have hitherto been almost restricted to that spot,
since the great cotton market drew ali its supplies
from thence. The description of many of the older
manufacturing towns given by Mr. POTTER fully
confirms what has been said of the advantages
offered by the Public Works Bill. As a proof of
the great influence of crowded, ill-ventilated work-
shops on health, it was remarked by Mr, CHAD-
WICK that, notwithstanding, the distress, the death
rate, instead of increasing, had diminished. It is to
be hoped that the attention that has now been
turned to Lincashire, its people, and its mills, will
effect a beneficial change in many of these particu-
lars, and will thus enable the toilers to reap some
advantages horn their 101)g-continued distress.