The Sun.
London, England, 1865-10-26 00:00:00

The Sanitary State of Cheltenham.

TO TIIE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SIR,—In the Standard, of the 13th instant, a letter
appeared under the initials " M. D.," reflecting se-
verely on the sanitary state of Cheltenham. As
pointed allusion has been publicly made that one, if
not all of us, had cognisance of the aforesaid letter,
we emphatically deny all knowledge of the same both
before its publication in the Standard and up to the
present moment. It is not our present intention to
enter into any discussion on the truthfulness or
otherwise of " M. D.'s" remarks, and, with one ex-
cepticn, we shall refrain from further allusion to
them. The writer refers to the polluted state of
Hatherley Brook , running through the Benhall Farm,
occupied by Mr. Smith, on which farm a devastat-
ing disease has appeared among his herd of
twenty-four cattle, causing within a month
the death of seventeen dairy cows and one bull.
Feeling an interest, as medical men, in collecting
facts connected with this virulent and fatal disorder
we have visited the suffering animals, watched the
symptoms and progress of the disease, and noted
the morbid appearances at several post-mortem ex-
aminations, at which some of us assisted. We con-
sider we are simply discharging a public duty, now
that the subject has been broached, to state the
result of our observations as to the condition of the
brook. During the whole of the time that we
visited the farm the brook was in the foulest
condition imaginable ; and as the animals had
their daily supply of water from this offensive
and polluted stream, we cannot but regard the
excessive mortality amongst Mr. Smith's cows as in
a great measure due' to this cause. As a matter
personal to ourselves, we may state that about
twelve months ago our attention was directed to the
then fcetid and foul exhalations emanating from the
river Chelt and Hatherley Brook, and we did not
hesitate openly to express our conviction that, un-
less these evils were remedied, any epidemic occur-
ring in the district would be intensified, and its
ravages especially be disastrous along the borders
of these streams. It was, therefore, partly with a
view to remedy the unwholesome and pestilential
condition of these streams, as well as to test the
merits of Dr. Bird's system of deodorising and
utilising sewage and purifying the water passing
from sewage works into rivers and brooks, that we
authorised him to offer to the Cheltenham Board of
Commissioners to take the sewage works of the
town for the purpose of utilising the sewage,
purifying and rendering wholesome the
Chelt and Hatherley Brook, relieving the
ratepayers from the heavy annual loss which
has hitherto we believe been incurred, indemnifying
them from any actions arising from any nuisance
connected with the works ; and, lastly, agreeing to
find ample securities for the effectual performance
of the above engagements. This offer on the part
of Dr. Bird and his friends was quietly shelved.
Mark the sequence. Hatherley Brook has not been
purified. Our predictions have been fearfully and
fatally fulfilled. An epidemic has appeared on
the borders of Hatherley Brook. The cattle at
Benhall Farm have died. And now at the twelfth
hour the surveyor of the town has purchased a ton
of Bird's deodorising powder to aid him in rectify-
ing this abominable nuisance !
Further comment is needless—facts speak for
themselves.—We are, sir, your obedient servants,
THOMAS R. COLLEDGE, M.D.
W. H. HOOPER, M.D.
THOMAS SMITH, M.D.
HENRY BIRD, D.L.R.C.P.L.
Cheltenham, 25th Oct., 1865.

Austrian Despatch to the Frankfort

Senate.

FRANKFORT 0.M., Oct. 25.

The following is the full text of the despatch
addressed by the Austrian Government to Baron
von Frankenstein, the Austrian /envoy in this

city :

" Vienna, Oct. 8.

" The proceedings of the congress of delegates
from German Diets have sufficiently demonstrated
the internal untenability of the new attempt at agi-
tation and the divisions among political parties in
Germany. The letters sent by the deputies of cer-
tain diets declining to participate in the meeting, to-
gether with the unmistakeable indifference of the
public, must have shown even the originators of this
meaningless demonstration the preposterousness of
their undertaking to subject to arrogant criti-
cism the resolutions of the two first powers of
Germany. But even if the speeches made, and
the resolutions in their—to speak mildly—unbecom-
ing form and semi-revolutionary character, met
with the disregard they merited, this failure in no
degree effaces the offensive nature of the fact that
the abuse lavished upon the great Powers, which
daily fills the columns of the democratic press, has
been publicly repeated in Frankfort, under the eyes
of the Federal Diet, and of the troops of the two
Powers. Further, it must not be lost sight of, that
the committee of thirty-six, which convoked the
congress of delegates, was upon this occasion re-ap-
pointed, and that the general committee and the
special committee for the conduct of business, as
the permanently declared organ of the German re-
volutionary party, only await a better opportunity
to reappear with more success upon the scene.
All the Governments of Germany will undoubt-
edly agree wlth us that the mere existence of the
committee of thirty-six, independently of the effects
of the recent immoderate proceedings of the as-
sembly at Frankfort, and of the offensive character
towards the great German Powers of its resolutions,
is entirely unconstitutional and illegal. The Frank-
fort Senate will especially be unable to deny from a
federal point of view that the seat of the Diet should
least of all lend itself to be the arena of these illegal
agitations. As far back as the Congress of Dele-
gates, held on Dec. 21, 1863, when the establish-
ment of a permanent committee to carry out the
wishes of the people as a centre for the activity of
associations, of the progress press party, &c., was de-
termined upon, we have not failed, in conjunction
with Prussia, to offer serious remonstrances against
the indulgence extended to these intrigues at the
seat of the Federal Diet. Since that period the fre-
quent succession of the manifestations there made
proves the slight amount of attention paid to the
confidential remarks then offered by the representa-
tives of Austria and Prussia to the chief mayor of
the city.
In view of this circumstance, as well as in the
conviction that acts of so usurping a character as
as those of the committee and the congress of dele-
gates cannot be longer permitted in silence, and
thereby be allowed to become habitual, without
serious common danger, the cabinets of the great
powers cannot but perceive an inevitable necessity
again to direct the entire attention of the Senate to
the proceedings alluded to, and to its relations
towards them as a Federal State.

We feel assured that not only will such passionate
invectives, and so extreme an,expression of party
opinion as at the meeting of the late congress of
delegates, no longer find a future asylum in Frank-
fort, but that the Senate will henceforth not permit
the meetings of the new assemblies summoned upon
Frankfort territory by the committee of thirty-six.
The authority of the Senate, to which we first
address ourselves, will, it is to be hoped, relieve us
from the necessity of deliberating upon other steps•
to prevent in future such illegal attempts as have.
hitherto been made at the seat of the Federal Diet.
Your Excellency is requested, as soon as your
Prussian colleague is empowered to take a similar
step, to read this despatch to the chief governing
mayor, and if desired to leave him a copy of the
same for confidential use.—Receive, &c.,
(Signed) MENSDORFF.

THE HEALTH OF SWANSEA.—The yellow fever
has completely disappeared, and the health of the
town is in if most satisfactory state. Some three weeks
ago the French Foreign Minister, M. Drouyn de Lhuys,
issued an order that all French vessels visiting Swansea
must produce a clean bill of health, and the Belgian
Government adopted a similar course. In consequence of
the representations since made by the French Vice-Consul
at Swansea as to the health of the port this order has been
withdrawn by the French Government, and a like step is
expected on the part of Belgium. According to a return
made to the Board of Health, the total deaths in the town
from yellow fever did. not exceed ten.