The Sun.
London, England, 1865-10-04 00:00:00

THE PUBLIC HEALTH.

Dr. LETHEBY further reported that lest week there were
47 births and 32 deaths registered in the City, and that the
mortality returns were greatly below the average (46) for
the corresponding period of the last ten years. Indeed, the
number of deaths was the smallest of any weekly return
during the whole of that time. The chief causes of death
were as follow :—Phthisis, 9 ; mesenteric disease, 2 ; hydro-
cephalus, 1; scarlet fever, 2 ; and infantile diarrhoea, 2
making altogether 12 deaths from tubercular disease.
There were no deaths from inflammatory affection of the
lungs, and only two from diseases of a really zymotic cha
racter. He said that these results were very satisfactory,
the more particularly as there was no similar return of
such a state of the public health during the last 10 years.
In reply to one of the members,
Dr. LETHEBY said he had no report whatever to make
on the subject of cholera.
ILLUMINATING POWER OF GAS.

Dr. LETHEBY next reported that the illuminating power
of the gas supplied to the city during the week had in the
case of each of the companies been above 13 standard sperm
candles. It bad, therefore, boon abovo the requirements of
the act of Parliament, and, except in the case of the Groat
Central Gas, the average amount of sulphur had boon less
than the quantity sanctioned by Parliament, but in the case
oo ff tahme
mon Great Central
fa in
the
C hi ta Iritaedr
obde eGnabove it,
Gas
shad
d been
e andthe
nn
excessive. qtity u a n

Those several Keports from Dr. Letheby wero adopted
and the recommendations they contained were ordered to
be carried out.

MAIN DRAINAGE RATE.

A precept was read from the Metropolitan Board of
Works for a main drainage rate on the City, amounting to
£17,638 17s. 6d., and the meeting adjourned.

A letter from an Italian engineer announces that
the workmen employed in piercing Mont Cenis had
come upon a bed of extremely hard quartz, which turned
the edge of the best tempered steel, and it was feared that
this obstacle might retard the opening of the tunnel for
four years. As long ago as the month of May or June the
engineers were expecting to come upon quartz ; but, as
geological surveys of the mountain had long since been
made, the impediment must to a certain extent have been
reckoned upon. Perhaps the quartz has proved harder
than was expected ; but early in the year they were lucky
in finding an unusually soft vein of rock. It is to be ob-
served that foreign engineers have expressed an opinion
that the tunnel will take longer to complete than the Ita-
lian managers anticipate. The summit railway is likely to
be made before the end of next year, and will shorten to
four hours the passage of the mountain.
[ADN ERTISEMENT.] Dyspepsia (indigestion), constipa-
tion, debility, consumption, and all nervous, bilious, stomach,
and liver complaints in every stage. are only aggravated and
accelerated by drugs of every description, but perfectly cur-
able by Du Barry's health restoring Revalenta Arabica
Food, as proved by thousands of oases which had been con-
sidered hopeless, such as—cough, asthma, also diarrhoea,
haemorrhoids, liver complaints, flatulency, nervousneas,
biliousness, fevers, sore throats, diphtheria, catarrhs, colds,
influenza, noises in the head and ears, rheumatism, gout, im-
purities, eruptions, hysteria, neuralgia, irritability, sleepless-
ness, acidity, palpitation, heartburn, headache, debility,
dropsy, cramps, spasms, nausea and sickness, even in preg:
nancp or at sea, sinking fits, bronchitis, scrofula, tightness of
the chest, pains in the pit of the stomach and between the
shoulders, dm We quote a few :—Cure No. 46,276. birJanie
Roberts, timber merchant, of Frimley, Surrey, of 30 years's
diseased lungs, spitting of blood, liver derangement,: and
par-
tial deafness.—Cure No. 47,121. MissMissElizabeth Jacobs, ss,ofex-
ex-
treme nervousness, indigestion, gatherings; low spirits, and
nervous fancies. —Cure No. 1,771. Lord Stuart de lord
lieut. Decies,
lieut. ot Waterford, of many years' dyspepsia.—No. 49,832.
Fifty years' indescribable agony from dyspepsia, nervousness,
asthma, cough, constipation, flatulency, spasms' sick° ess, and
vomiting—Maria Joly —Cure No. 54,816. The Rev, James
T. Campbell, Fakenham, Norfolk, of indigestion and torpid-
ity of the liver, which had resisted all medical treatment.—
In tins, 1 lb., 2s. 9d. ; 21b., 4s. 6cl ; 51b., ils. ; es. ; 241 b.
40s.—Barry Du Barry and Co., No. 77, Regent-street, London;
also Phillips, tea dealers, 8, King William-street ; likewi-e
at 61, Gracechurch-street ; 4, Cheapside; 49, Bishopsgate-
street Within ; 63, 130, and 298, Oxford-street ; 330, Strand ;
54, Upper Baker-street ; 103, Tottenham-court-road ; 96
Upper-street, Islington, N.; Harvey, Notting-hill ; Close
Brothers, 65, High-street ; and Stubbs, Queen's
-terrace, St.
John's -wcod, London ; and all respectable grocers and che-
mista.—Beware ot spurious inaltationo.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

-411.-

TimEs.—During the earlier part of the American
war, and especially while the right of secession was
under discussion, a parallel was often drawn between
the relation of Ireland to the United Kingdom and
that of the Southern States to the American Union.
The analogy was by no means perfect, for Ireland
was originally annexed by conquest to the English
Crown, and has since been attached to Great Bri-
tain in a manner and under conditions inconsistent
with the first principles of federalism. Still it was
the most obvious and natural way of impressing on
an English mind the alternatives which presented
themselves to American politicians. What would
England do if Ireland were to revolt with a unani-
mity equal to that of the Southern States ? Would
she recognise the inherent right of a peopleto choose
its own rulers and form of government, or would
she take her stand on political necessity and put
down the insurrection with a strong hand ? Would
she listen to arguments about the hopelessness of
combining permanently under one constitution two
populations so different in character as the Celtic
and the Anglo-Saxon ? Would she admit the con-
flicting interests of the two countries in matters of
taxation, or any other matters, as a reason for se-
paration, when the consequence would be the esta-
blishment of a nation too weak for independence,
and therefore the more dangerous as a neighbour,
opposite her western shores? Would she appreciate
the expediency of thus establishing a balance of
power within the British Isles, with the prospect of
having to keep up large armaments against a pos-
sible invasion from Ireland ? Such were the home
questions by which the advocates of the Federal
cause strove to make us realise the true nature of
the contest and its vital importance to the United
States. Now that it is at an end, and that the for-
tunes of war have converted secession retrospec-
tively into rebellion, this class of questions has lost
any interest which it may have had. The easy
submission of the South after its military power had
once been crushed confirmsthe opinion of those who
maintained that a sentiment of loyalty to the Union
lay deeper than hatred of the Yankees, and the vir-
tual extinction of slavery removes for the future
the chief abiding source of disruption. There is
another point of view, however, from which the
parallel between Ireland and the South happens just
now to retain a certain insignificance. Ireland has
never revolted, and is less likely now than ever to
revolt, in the sense in which the Southern States re-
volted, for the great majority of the wealthy and
educated classes have never been on the revolution-
ary side, but disaffection has smouldered in Ireland
from time immemorial. The close of the American
war, strange to say, was the signal for a fresh out-
burst of this spirit, which, contemptible as it is in a
military or political aspect, may do as much harm
socially as if it were far more formidable. The posi-
tion of ourselves and the United States is thus for a
time reversed ; we have to deal with a secessionist
conspiracy, while they have to adopt the attitude of
a neutral State. The disproportion between the scale
of the two movements is, indeed, so ludicrous as to
defy comparison, andthe Fenians have not yet quali-
fied themselves for the assumption of belligerent
rights by declaring war against the Lord Lieutenant.
Still the tables are turned just so far as to enable us,
by a great effort of thought, to imagine that we
might feel if the Fenians had a Davis for their Pre-
sident and a Lee for their General, and just so far
as to initiate the American public into the difficulties
of friendly neutrality. The origin of modern Fenian-
ism, like the origin of the ancient Fenians, is en-
veloped in inscrutable mystery. No one knows
whether the first idea of it was conceived in the
brain of an Americanised Irishman or in that of an
Hibernicised American. Wbat is certain, however,
is that the United States' territory is to all intents
and purposes the basis of Fenian operations. It is
there, if anywhere, that the 200,000 volunteers are
enrolled, for enough has been ascertained to make the
existence of that force in Ireland itself utterly incre-
dible. It is there that meetings are held, subscriptions
raised, and oaths administered. There resides the
redoubtable " head centre" of the whole organisa-
tion, Mr. John O'Mahony ; thence orders are
issued to the Brotherhood throughout Ireland
and England ; and thence " trained officers" are
sent, or, at least,.promised, to drill and command
the national army. Nor are these hostile proceed-
ings altogether illusory. Mr. Barry, in opening
the case against the Dublin prisoners, positively
stated that remittances from America to the amount
of £5,000 had been intercepted within the previous
fortnight, and officers professing to hold commis-
sions in the United States' service have actually
been arrested. There is not the least doubt that a
very considerable number of American citizens are
at this moment openly engaged in levying war
against her Majesty, and it is not for want of will
that their efforts are so impotent. These men are
not the agents of a foreign Power ; they are them-
selves principals in the enterprise, and their avowed
design has been to conquer Ireland from America
just as England was conquered from Normandy.
All their operations have been carried on in broad
daylight, and reported in the papers, nor have they
always provoked unfavourable comments from the
organs of American public opinion. The Govern-
ments of England and the United States are on the
best possible terms with each other, and yet recruits
are enlisted by thousands on the soil of the United.
States for an expedition to Ireland, not only with-
out disguise, but with a degree of bravado, half
American and half Irish, that is almost comical.
Why do we dwell on these facts, especially since
Fenianism in Ireland has received a blow which may
not, we trust, have to be repeated ? Certainly not
with the object of exciting a bitter feeling towards
the Government of the United States, from which
the Fenians have doubtless received no more en-
couragement than from our own. Nothing can be
further from our intention than to suggest that
Great Britain should prefer demands on her own
behalf such as those against which she has so often
protested of late. We are not aware that any re-
presentations on the subject of Fenianism have yet
been made at Washington, and, except in an event
too improbable to contemplate, we trust that
none such may be made. We are perfectly able
to take good care of the Fenians at home, and if
their brethren in America would come together in
a fleet," instead of one by one in passenger
steamers, it would save the police a good deal of
trouble. On the other hand, nothing would be
more likely to give an impulse to Fenianism in
i
America than any illtimed interference on the part
of the Executive. Technically speaking, a govern-
ment may be responsible for
breaches
of interna-
tional law by its subjects which it is powerless to
prevent, but this is not a doctrine which it would
be friendly, or even just, to apply too strictly.
Knowing the peculiarity of American institutions,
remembering the embarrassments under which
President Johnson is labouring to reconstruct the
Union, and having confidence in his desire to re-
main in amity with this country, we act wisely as
well as courteously in abstaining from any serious
remonstrances against the apparent toleration of
American Fenianism. All that we claim in return
is a like consideration for the circumstances which
made it impossible for us to check entirely the
building of Confederate cruisers in our own ports.
It was not so much the want of a more stringent
Foreign Enlistment Act that baffled our efforts as
the extreme difficulty of applying any law that
would be endured by a free and high-spirited
people to cases which so nearly resembled the
legitimate transactions of commerce. It is easy to
descant on the injury inflicted on American com-
merce by a single vessel like the Shenandoah, but
no one has yet pointed out what form of enact-
ment would have enabled the Crown to ascertain
her destination and lay an embargo on her in the
dockyard. The same can hardly be said of the
Fenian enlistments in America. They are osten-
sibly illegal from first to last, and have not the
advantage of any commercial disguise or pretext
whatever. If they occasion us much less concern
than the ravages of the Alabama and her con-
sorts did the Americans, this is because our
hold on Ireland is too firm to be shaken by
any filibustering agitation. But then, for
this very reason, they are without the least
semblance of justification, for nothing could even
colourably justify them but the deep and de-
liberate aversion of the Irish people from connection
with Great Britain. Fenianism, we would fain be-
lieve, is the last reduclio ad absurdum of Irish rebel-
lions, but the damage which it has already done, in
retarding the progressive improvement of Ireland,
must be measured in millions of capital repelled and
no r
the work of years undone.
This is
complaint, light
whilgeiev-
the
ance, but we have made no
American press is never tired of accusing us as a
nation of complicity with the crimes of Captain
we are willing to bear with perfect good-humour,
Semmes and Captain Waddell. Even this injustice
and only entreat our critics to
if
askthtehyemwseerlevetso, in all
in l
honesty, what they would
of volunteers mustering myriads on the Canadian
frontier, for instance, and before the eyes of the
Canadian authorities, for the invasion of the United
States.
POST.—It is desirable that the tentative process
by which Austria is endeavouring to establish con-
stitutional institutions for the whole empire, on the
basis of an agreement of all its component parts,
should if possible be understood and appreciated.
Nor is this so easy as some appear to think. It is
very well to draw up a statement of the case hypo-
thetically, and to assume that Austria has entered
upon the path which leads straight to prosperity and
contentment, that old things have been put away,
that a stiff-necked bureaucracy is to be dismissed,
and that the House of Hapsburg will become a for-
tress of freedom, and one of the main bulwarks of
enlightened ideas. We sincerely trust that these

exalted expectations may, to some extent at least,
be realised. It would be exceedingly agreeable if,
however slowly and gradually, Austria were to re-
cover her proper power, and to exercise it so as to
redeem the confidence and respect which she has
forfeited. But only exceptionally, by great men
and in great emergencies, can this kind of work be
done in a day, by the stroke of a pen, and, as it
were, by an irresistible inspiration. It is not dis-
paraging to the Emperor Francis Joseph to doubt
his ability to perform miracles, nor are we called on
to believe that Aladdin's lamp is shining over the
Cabinet of Vienna. All that has been accomplished
at present was by no means difficult. Under the
circumstances a coup d'etat was perfectly safe and
feasible. As Count Cavour said, anybody can go-
vern for a time with martial law. The question is
as to the fulfilment of the obligations which the act
has imposed, and there is a mean between scepti-
cism and credulity. We may have faith in reason
and yet not be sanguine. Moreover, it is possible
to protest too much; 'and while the imperial mani-
festo has been superfluously explained, the proceed-
ings which immediately preceded its publication
have been left in the shade of more than mystery.
One can hardly conceive that a power capable of
rising to the apprehension of the strength and vita-
lity it possessed would dig a grave for its honour ;
and if, as is inferred, Austria has recognised the
rights and claims of nationality, and is prepared to
shape her action in conformity with the principle
she has accepted, the Gastein Conventions must be
regarded as a supererogatory sacrifice. Austria has
resisted improvement, and been identified with ob-
struction to progress. She now proposes to revise
her organisation, to reform her administration, to
modify her policy, and to advance under the aegis
of constitutional monarchy. Some change was in-
dispensable and obligatory, but the measure an-
nounced may nevertheless have been adopted from
conviction and in good faith. Nor does it detract
from their worth that they rather revive an ancient
tradition than run into the way of modern innova-
tion. It is a mistake to suppose that Austria is
constructing or borrowing any machinery. To
divide and govern was the motto of the Hapsburgs,
until Schwartzenburg attempted to improve upon
the system which Metternich had utilised. The ex-
periment, commenced on the termination of the war
with Hungary, has failed, and of course it is treated
as a crude and visionary speculation. Other opi-
nions prevailed at the time, and, looking at what
this country has done, the idea was not unreason-
able, if the conditions necessary to its development
had been observed. But then, as now, Austria
could not get over the Italian difficulty, and it
remains to be seen if she will submit to the only
operation that can afford her permanent relief.
The assumption that this concession is included
in the recognition of the Hungarian nationality
seems to us to be premature, at least. Hungary
may be conciliated, partly for the purpose of re-
taining Venetia ; and, be this as it may, it is one
thing to admit claims that are coercively asserted,
and another to anticipate their preferment. No
doubt the solution of the Venetian question can
come through the strength of Austria, as it could
not have been delayed through her weakness, and
complications which a weak Power would shun a
strong Power would confront. The Venetian oppor-
tunity may not be remote, but that it is directly
created by the imperial manifesto does not appear.
It cannot be dissembled that Austria is withdraw-
ing from an untenable position, and that, after the
reverses she had sustained, the strategic movement
was unavoidable. This may be good generalship,
and, in the result, may re-establish the Austrian
empire as an important element in the balance of
European power, but it certainly is not, nor does
it purport to be, more than an act of State expe-
diency. With Hungary reconciled and loyal,
Austria may reasonably hope to receive due consi-
deration in the settlement to which events are tend-
ing, and to that end it was, before all else, essential
to maintain her German rights. This duty has,
however, been not only neglected, but deliberately
abandoned, and the advantage that might have
accrued to Austria by recognising the principle of
nationalities is consequently diminished. The
Lauenburg transaction, not to mention the proposal
to deal with a portion of Silesia in like manner, is
not calculated to facilitate the revision of territorial
boundaries in Germany, and it was in Germany, if
anywhere, that Austria should have reckoned upon
finding an adequate compensation for the loss of
Venetia, and at the same time a guarantee against
the aggrandisement of Prussia. Those, therefore,
who profess to see so much promise in the Austrian
policy, and especially as regards the Italian na-
tionality, would do well to examine the premises on
which they theorise. We do not desire to damp
the enthusiasm we own we do not quite under-
stand ; but this is a matter in which antecedents
must be looked at. The tender sympathy which
has been suddenly extended to Austria may be sus-
ceptible of an explanation not entirely favourable
to Prussia, or it may arise in some degree from
old associations ; but the Government that signed
the Gastein convention, and which hold. Ve.otice
from Italy and Holstein from Germany, cannot be
presumed to acknowledge the principles of publie
law as they have been identically expressed by the
Foreign Ministers of the two great Western Powers.*