The Sun.
London, England, 1865-08-02 00:00:00

rHE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVEAING, AUGUST 2, 1865

for removing any lodger affected by an infectious
disease was another step of great importance. The
value of a sufficient supply of pure water
as an element of public health was now be-
ginning to be widely recognised, and accord-
ingly the Lodging House Act contains a
clause compelling the owner of such lodging-house
to obtain an adequate water supply. The Metro-
polis Water Act of 1852 provided for the general
improvement of the water supply of London.
The Burial Acts and the introduction of compul-
sory vaccination were also works of the same period,
and less in importance, though still valuable, was
the Smoke Act of '53. As if to keep up the atten-
tion of the public on sanitary matters the cholera
returned, though less virulently, in 1854, and the
connection of impure water with disease received a
strong illustration in the case of the Broad-street
Pump, to whose polluted water the fatal outbreak
of cholera in the Golden-square district was traced.
Urged by such revelations to pursue the good work
our legislators in 1855 passed the Metropolis Local
Management Act, which has proved of great value.
The appointment of a Medical Officer of Health and
an Inspector of Nuisances by every vestry is pro-
vided for by this bill, and Dr. BALLAIPD, the me-
dical officer for Islington, in summarizing the re-
sults of their labours before the social science
meeting of 1862, says —" We have in sixteen
districts only 25,410 cesspools abolished, and 65,826
houses newly drained, or their drainage amended,
5,395 houses supplied with water, which, for the
most part, never had any previously. In fourteen
districts only, 14,490 yards improved by
paving, drainage, or lime whiting, and 13,926
residences of the poor cleansed and lime
washed." The same gentleman describes his
mode of procedure with regard to deaths from
zymotic or epidemic diseases, and when two, deaths
are found to occur in any house within the year it
is put on the list for inspection. The Acts relating
to the keeping of cows, the regulation of hurtful
occupations, the inspection of meat, &c., have all
done good, though with regard to the condition of
the worker; at several trades there are still great
grievances. There are still too many agencies at
work—

" Subtle and still,
Sure and slow,
Certain to kill,
With an unheard bloW."

But the most pressing wants have been attended to,
and we need not despair of the work being done.
Provided only that our legislators and reformers
will not " rest and be thankful" for their past
achievements, while so many great and oppressive
evils are calling for remedy within this very
metropolis.

LATEST INTELLIUNCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

OVERLAND MILS.
CALCUTTA AND CHINA MAILS.
MALTA, AUG. 1.

The Pera left at 6 p.m., and the Poonah leaves
at 7 p.m. The former may be expfcted at Marseilles
on the 4th and the latter at Solthampton on the
10th instant.

GIBRALTAR, AUG. 1.
The Delta, with passengers, &u, from Alexandria,
left here at 10 a.m to-day for Southampton.

AMERICA.

(REUTER'S EXPRESS.)
(Per the Belgian.)
NEW YORK, July 21.
President Johnson has announced his intention
to sustain the administration of Governor Pierpont
in Virginia.
It is said that an effort is being made to induce
the President to suspend the processes issued under
the confiscation law against property of late rebels
in Richmond, until action had been taken on their
applications for pardon.
The effect of the recent operations under the Con-
fiscation Act in Richmond is said to completely sus-
pend the efforts which were making to rebuild the
burned district, and to have excited the greatest
consternation among property holders, who thought
they were going to be exempted from the liability
of confiscation of their property.
The Tribune says a prominent senator asserts
that it is positively determined to try Davis by a
military commission.
The World says all cavalry corps attached to
the Department at Washington have been mustered
out.

The South Carolina delegation are still here con-
cluding the arrangements for the reconstruction of
that State.

Governor Perry has prepared ar,d forwarded to
his State a proclamation calling a convention to re-
vive the constitution. The delegates are to be elected
on the first Monday, and the convention will meet
on the third Monday of November next.
Provisional Governor Perry made a remarkable
speech at Greenville on the 3d inst., just before he
knew of his appointment. Its tone may be inferred
from the following expressions :—" Mr. Chairman,
I will here frankly say, as I have often said during
the past four years, that there was not a man in the
United States who more deeply regretted the seces-
sion of Southern States than I did at the beginning
of the revolution, and there is not now in the South-
ern States any one who feels more bitterly the
humiliation and degradation of going back into the
Union than I do. Still, I know that we shall be
more prosperous and happy in the Union than out
of it." He also said Jefferson Davis was not
specially to blame for the failure of the rebellion ;
that the people, tire.l of fighting, had skulked from
the field; that Johnson had 70,000 men on the mus-
ter rolls of his army, but only 14,000 in its ranks ;
and adds, " Congress, too, Mr. Chairman, is greatly
to blame for exemption. All between 18 and 45
should have been forced into the army and kept
there. It matters not whether he was a doctor,
lawyer, preacher, politician, editor, or school-
teacher, if an able-bodied man, he should have been
sent to the army ; but, strange to say, the three
classes of men who were mainly instrumental in
plunging their country into this mad revolution were
all exempted by Congress from fighting. I allude
to politicians, preachers, and editors. This was not
fair. The man who gets up a fight should always
take his share of it." He also said President Lin-
coln's death was no loss to the South ; that he was
a Whig and non-slaveholder, while Johnson is a
Democrat who has held slaves, and who voted for
Breckenridge in 1860 ; therefore the people should
have every confidence in him. He ranks Lee next
to Washington.
The Herald's Richmond correspondent says :

" The election in Richmond, on Tuesday last, resulted
in the success of the candidates denominated Secessionists,
who are not suspected of any great love for, or loyalty to,
the national Government. The voting is said to have been
done principally by the paroled soldiers of Lee's army. It
may be added that the election of to-day has been con-
trolled by such men as composed the committee sent to
President Johnson to induce him to withdraw and nullify
the $20,000 exemption in the memorable proclamation."

Major James Osborne, of the Judge Advocate
General's office, has lately returned from a visit to
the Southern prisons, where he had been collecting
evidence with a view to bringing to justice those
who maltreated Union prisoners during the war.
Captain Wise, late commandant of the Anderson-
ville prison, has been arrested, and is now lodged
in the old Capitol.
The Times says no official information as been
received by the authorities announcing a decline in
the health of Mr. Davis.

The World says Judge Advocate General Holt
has gone to the White Mountains, and it is thought
General Grant will make a similar tour.
San Francisco advices to the 18th inst. announce
that the cable of the Russian telegraph has been suc-
cessfully submerged across Fraser's River.