The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-28 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF T.

and no doubt the more obvious one, rests in the
notorious bad drainage of Eastern cities. No one
who has visited C3nstantinople—and there are novv
comparatively few persons who have not done so--
can fail to perceive at a glance that a great part of
the city is calculated to breed almost any kind of
pestilence. Narrow streets, often with open ditches
running through the middle of them, and innume-
rable mangy dogs lying so thick that it is often
impossible to avoid treading on them, seem in them-
selves to afford explanation enough. It is true that
the dogs are said to be the scavengers of the city;
but where are the scavengers of the dogs? It is
hard to say whether they are not a greater nuisance
than any that they abate. Independently of this.,
however, the drainage of the houses internally is
often as bad as that of the streets externally. This
difficulty, at the same time, is one with which the
International Conference will probably find it verY
difficult to deal. The affair is a purely municipal
one. There are large municipal revenues in Con-
stantinople which might be applied to such a pur-
pose, it is true ; and the division of the capital into
ten or twelve municipal jurisdictions is one which
establishes an organisation to deal with general
measures of material reform. We cannot, how-
ever, but entertain our fears that the drainage
question will be found a very difficult one to deal
with on the part of an International Conference,
except in so far as regards the portions of the city
which the recent fire has afforded an opportunity of
rebuilding. That which we have spoken of as the
second cause of these epidemics in the Levantine
ports is one more probably within the power of an
International Conference to reach. The first, as
we have seen, originates in these cities themselves.
That, however, to which we now refer springs from
inland sources. We allude to the continual pil-
grimages made into the interior of Egypt, Asia
Minor, and Syria. The pilgrims are ill-fed, ill-
clad, and ill-equipped. They go on their pil-
grimages in swarms; and the privations to which
they are subjected commonly bring on cholera or
some other kind of pestilence. The victims of these
maladies commonly return to the °nearest port,
whence they embark for their own homes. Thus,
these returning caravans form one of the most cer-
tain means of importing cholera into the maritime
cities of the Levant. The French Government has
already endeavoured to point out some method of
dealing with this part of the evil. Probably it will
be found desirable to establish a rigorous system of
quarantine at a suitable distance outside the town,
on the landward side, so that the pilgrims, on their
return, should be prevented from entering the cities
they have hitherto contaminated, until they have
undergone a complete system of purification. Some
measures of this kind will be found necessary in
order to give the seaports of the Levant a fair
chance. When this is done, the purification and
drainage of the cities themselves must be thought
I of. Then will, no doubt, come the tug of war. In
former days, when a great fire in some of these
ports was an annual visitation, it was fair to hope
that not many years would be enough time to see
one of these cities rebuilt. Those times, however,
are now gone, although the present year indeed has
seen one of the greatest conflagrations in our times.
Still, we shall not despair, on the whole of the pre-
sent International Conference working a large mea-
sure of good. It appears that the Turkish Govern-
ment are prepared, without any jealousy or ill will,
to carry out whatever the Conference recommend ;
and the Sublime Porte cannot fail to bear in mind
that whatever the interests of the maritime Powers
may be are still more distinctly its own concern.