The Sun.
London, England, 1865-04-19 00:00:00

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19, 1865.

The English public will hear with great regret
the dangerous illness of the young heir to the Rus-
sian Crown, just as all the brightest promises of
honour and happiness were held out before him.
Curiously enough, at the very moment when this
mournful intelligence reaches us, public attention is
eagerly turned to his native country, where a
question concerning the health or sickness, the
life or death, of thousands of the population is
under anxious discussion. The very full account
of the inform'ation given to the English Ambassa-
dor in St. Petersburg respecting the Russian epi-
demic will enable us perhaps to form a clearer idea
on the subject than has yet been possible from
the uncertain and conflicting accounts re-
ceived, and to judge in some measure how
nearly the danger concerns ourselves, and how it
may best be diminished or averted. It appears from
the inquiries put as to the foreign names of the dis-
ease that it does not offer any new forms of note,
that it has nothing unknown to science, and has
nothing special but its typhoid character, so that'
the alarm which spread at the thought that a new
and fearful stranger was abroad, making terror
more terrible from its mysterious character, may at
once be calmed by this information. Typhus and
typhoid fever, it is said, always prevail in St. Peters-
burg in the autumn until the month of November,
reappearing frequently in the spring, when the
tireaking of the ice encourages the return of vagrants
and casual workmen to the capital. The present fever
is only distinguished from its predecessors by greater
violence and extension, though other diseases of a
kindred character have shown themselves this year
in St. Petersburg for the first time. The most pro-
minent of these is the relapsing fever, which has
often shown itself in other parts of Russia, having
ravaged Moscow in 1840. Like all epidemics, it
has proved most contagious in the dwellings of the
working classes, and its origin is attributed to bad
hygienic arrangements, to the consumption of
doubtful vegetables, to the immoderate use of
spirits made from grain by the lower classes, and
to the unusual number of workmen present in the
capital last year, which occasioned excessive crowd-
ing of the poorer houses. To these are also added
the frequent atmospheric changes. It is worth
while to inquire how far the same causes exist among
ourselves, and the first point which strikes us is
that the very cause which is so much dwelt upon by
the St. Petersburg authorities is present to a great
degree in London. Our poorer quarters, always
overcrowded, have recently, notwithstanding all
sanitary improvements, become more and more
densely packed. The " hygienic conditions" spoken
of by the Russian doctors are in many of our lanes
and alleys very bad even in winter. The food of
our labouring classes, though generally far better
than that of the Russian peasantry, is oftn very
insufficient, and during this winter the high price of
meat has been injurious. The evils attending the
overcrowding of the wretched tenements in which
so many of our poor live have been again and again
thrust upon the public notice, the bad smells, the
foul air, the scanty supply of water, the imperfect
drainage, and a whole host of other injurious influ-
ences. But in many of the houses there are actually
too many persons for health under the most favour-
able circumstances, and, when all the other evils are
aided to this primary one, it is no great wonder
that typhus plays havoc when it first effects an
entrance. When such a disease first breaks out in
a house of six or eight rooms from the attic to the
cellar, what chance is there of escape from infec-
tion ? Such a case is mentioned in the Registrar-
General's report for List week, in which he speaks
of the death of a child in a court at Greenwich of

scarlatina, three deaths from fever having previously
occurred in the same wretched room.

It is very difficult for the wisest legislation to deal
with such matters. The poor will never cease out
of the land, and with poverty is too often coupled
vice, ignorance and dirty habits, all powerful allies
to sickness and fever of every kind. The over-
crowding, too, is another difficult question, since the
poor people turned out of one part of the town must
go to another, already perhaps too closely packed.
But because the case is difficult to treat that is no
reason why we should do nothing. As well might
the physicians of St. Petersburg refuse to deal with
the disorder which as yet they are doubtful how
best to treat. Bad as the case is, there is much that
can be done to mitigate it, and the question is
whether we will do it now or wait for the great ex-
tension of the fever which a hot summer is almost
certain to bring without any aid from St. Peters-
burg. The navigation will shortly be open, so
that it is not improbable that the fever may be in-,
troduced into our ports from Russia, and indeed
the progress of epidemics is in accordance with such
an apprehension. But the great point to bear in
mind is that fever is already among us, steadily
increasing year by year, and needing an unusually
hot season to call it forth to a very great extent.
It happens, too, in common with the Russian
epidemic, to be a disease especially amenable to
human control. Why, then, should we wait until
public alarm is excited, until valuable lives are
sacrificed, and the disease has gained a firm footing
amongst us before we attempt to delay its pro-
gress ? Let our authorities, public and parochial,
look to the matter at once; let them organise proper
means of inquiry into the condition of all those
districts known as the hotbeds of fever ; let them
insist upon the cleansing of drains, the whitewashing
of houses, the removal of nuisances, &c:, and where
the landlord is unable or unwilling to perform his
duty, let the public officer be empowered to have
the work done and to obtain the repayment after-
wards. Let every case of fever be immediately
removed from the crowded court and alley to the
fever hospital, and let the Poor-law Board make it
compulsory on the guardians of parishes to send
every such case that comes under their knowledge
to the hospital, whose funds might receive some
assistance from the public treasury during this
summer. The importance of cleanliness and ven-
tilation should be strongly impressed upon the
lower classes by employers, by heads of households,
by clergymen, by visitors, by parish doctors, and
all who come in contact with them. It would be
well, too, if our parish authorities would be a little
more liberal to those cases of severe starvation,
which of themselves encourage low kver in
its worst types, and the provisions for
the casual poor should be strongly enforced. All
these measures should be adopted while the danger
is far off, that it may not find us unprepared. Such
means and others of a kindred nature will go far to
avert any serious evil, and it will be our own faults
if after the prolonged warning given to us we are
first idle and then panic-stricken.

The King of PRUSSIA is determined that the
world shall not forget the doings of his army, nor
the policy of his Government. Ever and anon some
circumstance is found, or some ceremony is made
the most of, in order that, with pomp and ceremony,
the gallant exploits and wonderful deeds of Prussian
valour may be extolled. Yesterday his MAJESTY'
laid the foundation stone of a monument to com-
memorate the late war with Denmark. There is
not much likelihood of that being forgotten while
the pages of history can tell of cruel wrong and re-
lentless persecution, but it appears that the Prus-
sians think otherwise, and are too ignorant or too
obstinate to see how greatly they have offended
against the laws of nations and the claims of justice.
It is quite a profanation for the KING to attempt to
make martyrs of those who fell victims to the war,
in endeavouring to follow out his nefarious plans,
and to put into execution his unworthy orders. The
sentiment which the KING gave utterance to in per-
forming his task is-on a piece with all the other at-
tributes of the affair—" To the memory of the
fallen, in gratitude to the survivors, and for the
emulation of posterity." Certainly future genera-
tions must be badly off indeed if they cannot select
better models than any that Prussia can offer them ;
if they cannot they had better strike out in a new
line for themselves. It •is difficult for those who
consider principle the highest consideration to
understand how people can have the assurance to go
on in the manner that the Prussians do ; but
experience has shown that nothing like regret for
past errors, or compunction foi injuries effected
towards others, ever occupies the attention of the
authorities at Berlin. The end justifies the means
with them, and they press on to that end with as-
siduity and energy worthy of a better cause and
more honourable motives. What may be the im-
mediate object of such ceremonies as that at which
the KING assisted yesterday it is difficult to say.
Perhaps it intended to convey the assurance to the
Prussians that their rulers have determined
to maintain their present policy intact and inviolate,
and not to swerve a hairbreadth from the course
which has been followed so implicitly by the Berlin
Cabinet of late. What else can be the meaning of
all this series.of monuments, foundation-stones, and
triumphant entries. The war, at any rate, was of
very brief duration, but the time taken up in dis-
coursing of it might lead an uninformed person to
think that the Prussians had passed through a
campaign of the First NAPOLEON'S, or carried a
siege of Troy. The scroll that is deposited with
the foundation-stone expressly recognises the
Austrian alliance. This will, in all probability,
prove to be false in its meaning, for Austria has
shown unmistakeable symptoms of dissatisfaction
at the course pursued by Prussia. In all
probability it will not be long before a serious out-
break occurs between the two chief Powers of Ger-
many.

The Austro-Prussian alliance, which was so mag-
nified, and from which such wondrous results were
expected to accrue, has never realised one of the ex-
pectations which the sanguine framed for its fulfil-
ment—it has all along been a failure in respect to
unity of purpose and harmony of intention prevail-
ing ; and now, when it should be reaching the cul-
minating point of success, it shows every sign and
affords every prospect of breaking down entirely
and merging into open hostility. The fact is that,
for politic reasons, Austria has shown great mode-
ration, and given in to many of the extortionate
demands made by her rival and supposed ally, and
hence people have been misled, and have gone
so far as to persuade themselves that all the
proposals of Berlin would receive the acquiescence
of Vienna. The result has shown their mistake.
There is such a thing as going too fast in the pur-
suit of anything, and Prussia has reached this point.
From henceforth the communication between the
two countries will be zealously kept up and eagerly
watched by lookers on. One significant fact may
be noted, and most likely this extreme step taken
by Austria may be regarded as a herald or precursor
of many more striking ones. The Prussian War
Minister, Baron Vox Roort, declared that the Go-
vernment were resolved to "keep and fortify the
harbour of Kiel." As soon as the telegraph had
conveyed this communication to Vienna decisive

steps were taken. Orders were sent by telegraph to
intimate that three thousand Austrian soldiers were
to proceed from Bohemia to Altona. This shows
most forcibly that Austria will not suffer the policy
of HERR BISMARK to be carried out, in appropri-
ating the Duchies to the Crown of Prussia. It
cannot be said that the statesmen of the EMPEROR
are at all to blame in thus acting promptly ; indeed
they are wise so to do, for it has become a " now-or-
never " policy with them, and time lost at this criti-
cal juncture may never be retraced. The main ob-
ject of Prussia is to acquire territory, and this has
actuated and influenced all her movements. With
great caution and cunning have all her plans been
devised, and her purposes put into execution ;
but success is always extremely doubtful
in such cases, and it is idle to expect
that other nations will always consent to be made
the tools of others' ambition, and the victims to the
greed and grasping of designing politicians. The
end of all this plotting and counter-plotting will be
that general discussiOn will prevail all over Ger-
many, and the effects of the rupture with her
natural allies cannot but prove most deleterious to
the interests of Prussia. It is not likely that any
other Power will suffer so much indeed, because no
other State has put itself forward in such a daring
and desperate manner, or attempted to gain posses-
sion of so much territory by unfair means and in
unfaithful ways. It is always bad for nations as
for individuals to find themselves in times of trial
without friends, and this will be the case with
Prussia. Those she has alienated by treachery and
deceived by specious pretences will be among her
bitterest foes, whenever adverse circumstances
enable them to set her openly at defiance, and to
give vent to their long pent-up indignation. The
present confusion that prevails in Germany more
than justifies the prophecies of those who last year
so strongly denounced the tactics of Berlin policy
in all its ramifications. In attempting to ruin others,
there is no doubt that this evil and deceitful Power
will end by seriously injuring her own resources,
and may even go so far as to provoke an invasion
of her territory.

The Supply of Cotton.