The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-28 00:00:00

The Cholera in the East.

We take the following extracts from the Levant
Herald of the 20th September :
" A letter from Aleppo, dated September 5, says :
—' I write in the midst of general terror and con-
fusion among the population of this city. The
holera, which, as I informed you, was brought
hither on the 14th of August by the Persian caravan,
and which at the outset caused four or five deaths
daily, has now taken a most deadly turn. For some
time past the deaths averaged 40 or 50 a day, and now
they have reached 250, a number almost incredible
in such a place as Aleppo. The panic which pre-
vails surpasses all power of description. All the
Europeans have either fled or have shut themselves
up in their houses in the strictest seclusion. The
consuls have been the very first to set the bad
example. The Austrian, BrTitish, Spanish, and
Danish consuls, as well as the Regent of the Con-
sulate of Italy—this last a native—have left the
place, and closed their chanceries, while the others
have retired into the recesses of their dwellings,
and refuse to see any one, on whatever pretence.
This had naturally produced the worst possible
effect on the public mind, and the terror has in-
fected the Mussulman part of the populat'on, many
of the notables of which, altogether contrary to their
former habitudes, have either taken flight, or have
shut themselves up in their dwelling. The only consul
who remains at his post, and to some extent persists
in the discharge of his duties, is the French. This
functionary exerts himself for the relief of the dis-
tressed, and has been the means of giving assistance
to several persons attacked by the epidemic who
would otherwise have perished, unassisted even by
his own countrymen, who, like the rest, have all
run away or shut themselves up, deaf to all remon-
strances. The Governor, Suraya Pasha, has placed
himself in strict quarantine in his country house,
and sees no one. His example has been followed
by the employe's ; the conalt is deserted, and the kadi
has left the town. The only persons who have done
their duty under the calamity are, as I have said,
the French consul, M. Antoine Molinare, who de-
serves all credit for his devotion in the cause of tho
poorer victims, and Dr. Smania of Venice. Upon
their invitation, the bishops of the different Christian
communities were summoned for the purpose of
establishing ambulances in various quarters of the
town, but nothing was done, the bishops contenting
themselves by declaring that if the consul had any
money to give them, they would undertake its dis-
tribution among the most necessitous of their own
communion."

A letter from Athens, df.ted 14th September,

says :

" We have escaped the cholera, but very serious
fevers are about, caused no doubt by the excep-
tional heat of the' summer, and perhaps by the
poisonous state of the atmosphere, which seems to
pervade the entire coast of the Mediterranean. We
talk very little about the matter, but people make
inquiries of the state •f disease elsewhere in a tone
which betrays their own anxiety. It is, however,
getting late in the season, and the peril is no longer
great. The King has declared that if a single case
occurs he will return to the capital. It is quite as
likely to break out at Corfu, for that matter."