The Sun.
London, England, 1865-04-20 00:00:00

No doubt Mr. SI3ION'S Annual Report on Public

Health will receive more than usual attention this
year. It is always of consequence, but just now
its significance must be apparent to all. The most
important item is that of the sanitary regulations
that are now receiving so large a share of public
notice. The dreadful effects of over-crowding are
commented on, and all who peruse them must be
struck by the sad pictures put before them. Many
will be astonished to find that in the country there
is often as much inconvenience and misery arising

from this as in the towns. Dr. J. HUNTER, who has
made an investigation into this matter, under the
superintendence of Mr. SimoN, has furnished particu-
lars which may startle many. It must surprise many
doubtless to find this out, but it is adduced on
sure evidence, and carried out by personal obser-
vation. A few of the facts here recounted speak
volumes as to the necessity that exists for some
change taking place. When only one cottage out
of fourteen possessed two bedrooms, and when
six persons with four children sleep in one bed-
room, it needs very little to be said to show the
injurious system prevailing. The accommodation
of these places is on a par with their small dimen-
sions and over-supply of occupants. They seem,
indeed, hotbeds for plague and pestilence to
flourish in, admirably calculated to render the
lives of those who dwell therein as wretched as
possible, and also most inimical to all morality and
decency. The Report of the Sanitary Committee
of Cork also discloses some sad details, and
adduces striking instances of the faulty condition
of things. A practice has been current among
some of the poor to underlet portions of their rooms
to nightly lodgers. The want of drainage is very
deplorable, and the atmosphere surrounding the
dwellings is rendered thereby most offensive. The
sanitary arrangement of these places is also of the
worst possible description, and reflects great dis-
credit upon all who have to do with them. In
several of these tracks six, eight, and ten families
reside, thus:there are eight, and sometimes more,
human beings in one apartment, which they use for
everything. It need hardly be said that with this
accumulated evidence there will be no excuse for
the members of the Legislature if they neglect to
do something decisive this session in the way of
ameliorating this sad condition of things. It is
evident that health is at a discount in all places where
such a system prevails as is disclosed by the reports
of commissioners, and it is incumbent upon the
authorities to take up the matter in right earnest,

and so to arrange their plans that the enactments of
the law may rigorously enforce the discontinuance
of all these objectionable customs which are becom-
ing a national nuisance.

ORIGINAL SKETCHES BY JOHN LEECH.—The inte-
rest which attached to the name and works of the
late John Leech during his lifetime, and still more so after
his death, will now be revived and strengthened by the
sale of a large collection of his original designs, which is
about to take place at the rooms of Messrs. Christie, Man-
son, and Woods, King-street, St. James's.. The exhibition
was open to private view yesterday, and drew together a
numerous assemblage of persons, many of whom are dis-
tinguished either for high social position or fora cultivated
knowledge of the fine arts. The collection comprises, ac-
cording to the catalogue, the original designs for the poli-
cal cartoons and pictures of life and character which have
appeared in Punch duaing the last 20 years, and also the
designs for the comic histories, '• Ingoldsby Legends,"
" Jorrocks's Hunt," "Ask Mamma," "Mr. Facey Romford's
Hounds," and other sporting novels, (to. The lots number
in all 659 ; but it must be understood that, in a great many
instances, there are several separate sketches—sometimes
not less than 9or 10—in one frame, and all are so mounted
as to produce an effect at once striking and artistic. In-
deed the conservers of these sketches have shown much
taste and judgment by the manner in which they have
placed kindred subjects together in one selection, so that
no incongruities shall occur to weaken the result which

the artist himself would have desired to produce. The
collection is certainly a most interesting one, affording as it
does to the student in art an opportunity of observing how
John Leech first thought out his humorous conceptions,
and also the rapid progress he made in that art which he
so long and so conspicuously adorned. A large majority
of the subjects here represented are perfectly familiar
to the readers of Punch and other publications illustrated
by Leech ; and it is not a little amusing to notice the
effect produced upon a spectator when he discovers
an old and valued friend whom ho has never seen

fresh from tho artist's pencil,
,but only under that
guise which it has derived from the handicraft of

the engraver. Some are so sufficiently finished to con-
vey the idea that Leech intended to preserve them, whilst
others are nothing more than the barest outlines, apparently
dashed off as mere memoranda for future guidance ; but
whatever may have been the desire of the artist, and how-
ever much the designs may vary in point of intrinsic worth,
all are admirable and inimitable in their way, presenting,
on the whole, a combination which may be called a monu-
ment to the skill and patient industry of an original thinker
and conscientious worker. In addition to the pencil sketches
just alluded to, there are several pictures in oil by Mr.
Leech, many of which are now seen for the first time,
whilst others were formerly exhibited at the Egyptian
Hall, Piccadilly. These productions in oil are, of course,
objects of great attraction ; but it may be , questioned
whether they are so well calculated to awaken general at-
tention alPthe more sketchy and far less elaborate emana-
tions from the artist's pencil. The sale promises to be ono
of much interest not only to the connoisseur but to the
general public, and there can be no doubt that the proceeds
will reach a considerable amount.

SHEEP WORRYING IN ENGLAND.—Last week four
sheep and twelve lambs were found to heve been worried
in a field at Wingfield, Derbyshire. From the statement
of the owner's servant it appears that there had been. two
dogs at them, as there were two dogs lying down in the
field, apparently having been exhausted by their work of
destruction, but they ran away when the servant made his
appearance.

ST. THOMAS'S HOSPITAL.—At a large meeting of
the Governors of this institution, held yesterday, Mr.
Samuel Solly, F.R.S., of Smile-row, was re-elected senior
surgeon to the hospital.

the increased export trade. " Free lilgaries, public
parks, and means of recreation for the people were
all attributable to the effect of that wise policy this
meeting desired to memorialise." There was more
weight in the observations of Mr. AsnwoßTH in
their practical tendency than there might have
been in a more discursive and eloquent oration, for
he exaggerated nothing, and did not trust to the
flight of fancy, but derived his force from reason and
judgment. Hence his speech may fairly be con-
sidered as a very fitting enunciation of the subject
before the meeting, and as a correct summary of
the career of Mr. COBDEN in its most striking fea-
tures and noticeable details. Mr. HEYWOOD, who
seconded the resolution, said, very appropriately,
that there was a custom with an ancient nation to
to gather a sheaf of early corn at Easter, and to
wave aloft this symbol among the people as a token
of thankfulness for the abundance of the land. It
was not fanciful, he went on to say, to declare that
no more fitting action could be done than to bring
a " sheaf of corn and wave it among the people, for
if to any one, to whom more than to Mr. COBDEN
did they owe it that the beneficent gifts of Provi-
dence had been brought in to contribute to the
strength, and wealth, and welfare of our nation."
Mr. WATKINS, one of the members for Stockport,
also delivered a suitable address. He said that
there was one peculiarity in Mr. COBDEN'S character
which distinguished it from the politicians of demo-
cratic countries, and that was " an intensity of mo-
desty and personal diffidence." The meeting sepa-
rated after having unanimously agreed to the reso-
lution. An amusing incident was mentioned by
Mr. BASS, President of the Chamber of Commerce,
respecting the difficulties with which Mr. COBDEN
had to contend in carrying out the French Treaty.
He was one day occupied for many hours in dis-
cussing some trifling matters, and exclaimed with
mortification—" Really I had more power as a com-
mercial traveller than I feel I have to-day as Pleni-
potentiary." This remark was eminently charac-
teristic of Mr. COBDEN, in his simplicity and
straightforwardness