The Sun.
London, England, 1853-01-10 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, JANUARY 10, 135 a

mEcHrs #DESKS, WORK-BOXES, and
TEA-CHE'STS, 4, Leadenhall-street, London, combine all
that is superb and cheap, with the most approved patterns, invented
by himself, manufactured on his own premises, where may be seen
some of the richest specimens in the world of Papier Mache Goods,
Dressing-cases, Bagatelle-tables, Ivory Chess-men and Chess-hoards,
rich Card-cases, Tablets, and, in fact, everything for the work-table
and dressing-toilet, displayed in a style of elegance not surpassed by
any In this kingdom. Mechi is the sole and original inventor of the
Castellated Tooth-brushes, Magic Strop and Paste, the Peculiar Steel
Razor, the Cushioned Bagatelle-tables, and various Improvements in
Portable Desks and Dressing-cases combined.

HAITANNIA LIFE ASSURANCE
COMPANY.
Established August 1, 1837.
Empowered by Special Act of Parliament, 4 Via., cap. 9.
CaslastAw— Colonel ROBERT ALEXANDER, Blackheath Park.
ADVANTAGES OF THIS INSTITUTION.
A table of Increasing rates of premium, especially adapted to
the securing of Loans or Debts.
Half-credit rates whereby half the premium only is payable
during the first seven years.
Sum Assured payable at sixty, or at death if occuring pre-
viously.
Orphans Endowment Branch affording the means of having
children educated and started in life, by securing annuities, to com-
mence at the parents' death, and to be paid until a son shall attain
his 21st year, or, if a daughter, her 25th year of age.

BRITANNIA MUTUAL LIFE ASSOCIATION.
Empowered by her Majesty's Royal Letters Patent.
Annual division of profits.
Policy holders participate in profits after five or seven annua
payments, according to the table selected.

i'remiums calculated for every three months' difference of age.
Half credit policies granted on terms unusually favourable ; tho
unpaid half premiums being liquidated out of the profits.. •
At the Annual General Meeting on the 27th April last, a reduction
of 30 per cent. was made in the current year's premium on all partici-
pating policies.

A Board of Directors in attendance daily at Two o'clock.
Age of the assured in every case admitted in the policy.
Medical attendants remunerated in all cases for their reports.

(PROPRIETARY.)
Extract from the half
Ciedit Rates of_ H
Premium.

(MUTUAL.)
Table with Partie
tkfttAgyea Teal

E. R. FOSTER, Resident Director.
ANDREW FRANCIS, Secretary.
1, Princes-street, Bank, London,

and increased only by the very cheapest cost of
transport. Bread, meat, butter, poultry, eggs,
sugar, salt, • fuel, and water are cheaper here
then in any other European capital ; and, if the
expenses of foreign ambassadors are not propor-
tionably diminished, that is because such charges
in reality constitute only a small portion of their
expenditure. We may learn to value our own
clothes-markets by hearing that in Holland—that
land of thrift and economy—" every article is dear,
but clothing particularly so ;" and though, to be
sure, it seems hard just now to say even a syllable
for London weather, we may console ourselves by
reflecting on what Mr. Bayard reportsfrom Brussels,
that though in that capital " it rains, more or less,
every day for 240 days out of the 365," there are
few side pavements to serve as causeways in the
deluge. Altogther, then, we have fair reason for
self-gratulation. We cannot help our atmosphere,
or entirely neutralize the natural condition of a
population of 2,250,000 ; but we can take care that
no restrictions are placed upon that trade which
brings the produce of the country to the service of
the town, and we can freely apply our vast re-
sources of capital and ingenuity to purposes of
well-considered improvement.—Times.

LONDON.

It is pretty clear, we think, from the observa-
tions which we published on Saturday, that not-
withstanding the inveterate delusion about " un-
taxed foreigners," London, for people with the
habits of Englishmen, is the cheapest capital in
Europe. Men who divide their leis re hours be-
tween cafés and theatres—who are content warm
themselves at a public stove in winter, and rent a
garden chair by the evening in summer—may no
doubt find greater accommodation in Paris. In
outdoor luxuries the French excel us, but for per-
sons who value comfort and independence, and who
wish, as all Englishmen do, to keep a house of some
sort, whether great or small, there is no capital city
so cheap, as our own metropolis. All the necessa-
ries of life are procurable at charges which, if still
above the means of indigence, are at any rate in no
case augmented by gratuitous legislation. We get
bread, so Protectionists declare, at a less price than
it costs to grow the corn, and at any rate we get it
at about half the price of former days. -We get
meat and other provisions as cheap as they can be
made by the competition of Europe. We get sugar
and other tropical' productions at charges within
reach of the poorest mechanic ; a good fire may be
kept for 15d. a-week, and if the water supply is not
what it should be, it is at least better than in any
other city of nearly the same extent. Neverthe-
less, London is stigmatised as an unhealthy place
to live in ; and how, then, under these favourable
conditions of life, is such an imputation to be ac-
counted for ? We think the matter can be made
tolerably plain, and with some advantage to boot.
In the first place, the unhealthiness of London is
partial—partial not to quarters, but to classes.
Professional men, tradesmen, clerks, mechanics, or
artisans, with incomes of wages sufficient to pro-
cure daily comforts—and nowhere can such com-
forts be procured more cheaply—live as long and as
heartily in London as in any part of England ; in
fact, some of the finest specimens of the longevity
have been fu wished by citizens born and buried
within sound of Bow Bells. No person who has
ever visited a really unwholsome town and marked
the appearance of the population could walk from
Temple-bar to the Bank, and from the Bank to the
Docks, without assuring himself, from the coun-
tenances and carriages of the passers-by that the
city must be essentially healthy. The real truth is
not that the well-to-do classes suffer from London
residence, but that death's doings among the very
poor and miserably swell the gross mortality of the
metropolis to its higher average. ,If certain locali-
ties which the officer of health could promptly enu-
merate were set aside for returns of their own, the
remainder of the town would probably bear a fair
comparison with most English boroughs.
In the next place—as follows, indeed, from what
we have said already—the actual noxiousness of
London atmosphere is not natural, but artificial.
Such as it is, it is wholly of our own making, and
waits for our own removing. There is nothing in
the soil, or the air, or the water of our metropoli-
tan stream, which should be otherwise than con-
ducive to the health of our population. Thames
water unpolluted is as good as water need be, and
if any person desires to know what soil we stand
upon he has only to walk along the new excava-
tions between St. Paul's and Cannon-street, where
he will see the finest gravel in the kingdom. No
doubt our atmosphere would bear some purification,
but smoke is already described as an abatable
" nuisance," and against any disadvantage in this
respect we may set the notorious accessibility of
means to counterbalance it. Wholesome food and
medical aid are procurable with far more certainty
here than in the country. It is quite a mistake to
imagine that the virulence of disease is confined
wholly or even principally to places crowded with
habitations. The worst outbreaks of fever are seen
in roadside villages, where there are hundreds of
yards perhaps between the houses, but where the
true elements of pestilence---inkdr?ained dwellings
and unventilated rooms—are more conspicuous
than in any city quarters. In town we have at
least the vigilance of able officers to assist us in
abating these sources of evil, whereas in the country
there is no control from authority, and no hope but
in the hard-worked and ill-paid unitm. doctor some
15 miles off.
•
The obvious moral of these considerations is that
nothing but our own resolution is wanting to make
,
London as healthy, comparatively speaking, as it
is cheap. We cannot, of course create the identi-
cal air of the Brighton Downs over the chimneys of
Cheapside any more than eve can get mutton as
cheap as it is in Wales, or coal as it is sold at the
pit's mouth ; but exactly as
We have brought down
car
fuel from twice the price to 17s. a ton,
and. bread
to 7d. the loaf instead of Is. so we may turn our
streets into habitations not inferior, all things con-
sidered, to country houses. 'As the' chief suffering
is among the poorer classes, it is their accommoda-
tion bechillm-drausitned, fiorsmtfottlteelie
d and th'
os t l For
y the
tene-
ments of the indigent should be substituted lodging-
c
lodging-
houses on the most approved principles
of salubrity
wretched,cn whi
and economy. We should not be inclined, for
this purpose, to extend the present limits of the
metropolis. London is large enough, in all con-
science, already indeed, it is not ono of our
smallest inconveniences that half everybody's friends
live at least three miles off. What we should re-
commend is, that the surface already covered
should be better economised. Acre upon acre
may be found in the poor quarters of the town
crowded with low, rambling, ill-contrived houses,
whereas, on better principles of building, the same
superficial area would lodge a much larger number
of people in comparative luxury. There is no need
of covering every inch of ground with brick and
mortar—squares and fields, or even gardens, con-
duce to the health of a locality, by promoting
a free circulation of air, and they might easily,
by a scientific process of construction, be suffered
to remain. A good lodging-house, well built, and
furnished with all proper appliances, would provide
the best accommodation for forty families on less
than one-third of the ground covered, as things
now go, by forty miserable dwellings. If reforms
like these could be carried into execution, if the
long-pending drainagb 'of the metropolis could be
effectively consummated, and the water supply
put on a proper footing, we are perfectly persuaded
that London would no longer be reputed un-
healthy. Nor is there any one of these measures
which is beyond the scope of very moderate enter-
prise. Nothing impedes the water supply but the
cupidity of the great companies ; nothing stops the
drainage but an imperfect apprehension of the
means required ; and nothing, we fear,_ but indiffe-
rence stops improved building at all. We have
already proved the truth of these propositions by
actual experiment. Baths and washouses answer
every one of the purposes predicted even beyond
expectation, and model lodging-houses have been
erected and occupied in just sufficient numbers to
show that they may be increased to any required
extent without fear of failure. The poor, however,
cannot act for themselves. They have neither the
means nor the knowledge, and the obligation must
necessarily be discharged by others. But as others
and all will reap the common benefit of a purified
atmosphere and a contented population, it is surely
not too much to ask for active co-operation in a
work of remunerative Charity, which, if it does not
most infallibly
will end
exactly begin at home,
there.—Times.

—Last week Mr. Spencer, of Wood-
croft, Mfror.mPHrealtpts,toonfeGtorematafxoredy,.
were proceedingEP O and
dog-cart NARROW
RA
nßeo:
ec tA
inPer bEo.
ar o
dThey had crossed the Midland Railway, and had ap-
proached the edge of the Great Northern line, when a
fast down train was perceived close upon them. The
two gentlemen immediately jumped out of the convey-
ance, and had just time to remove their horse's head off
the rails, when the engine and carriages whizzed by
them. Had not both been very active, they must have
been smashed to atoms.

NAVAL INTELLIGENC

PORTSMOUTH, JAN. 8.
Simoom, 18, iron serew troop-ship, Capt. King-come,
went out of harbour this day, at 10 a.m. She his brought
up at Spithead waiting final °cyders. She proceeds to
Ireland for troops for the. Mediterranean, thence to Ha-
lifax, which we reported in the a arly part of last week.
Plumper, 12, screw steam-510,3p, has had her masts
taken out f her, and is cleared .of everything.
London, 92, Captain Mundy, has hauled over to the
moorings on the GoSport side.
Vengeance, 84, Capt. Lord Eilward Russell, has given
in a list of her defects, and will come into harbour for
repaks.

Dragon, 6, steam-frigate, has nearly completed new
coppering, and her repairs are being expedited in the
north dock.

Medea, 6, steam-sloop, Comm ander J. C. Bailey, will
come out of dock on Monday, at id will soon be ready to
go out of harbour.
Blenheim, 60, screw guard-ship, Captain Henderson,
C. 8., has had the metal coverini ; of her shaft taken off,
and doubtless here will be found the cause of her trifling
leakage, so nicely were the metal covers fitted to the dead
wood that it was a work of con siderable labour to get
them off.

The artisans are busy throughout the dockyard in
bringing forward for service the Duke of Wellington,
130, Gladiator, Hecla, Gorgon, Conflict steam-vessels.
Phaeton, 50, Captain Elliot, is to be paid off at Sheer-
ness, at which port she was conux tissioned and fitted out.
The Magdalena West India mail packet, which made
Southampton yesterday, brings the melancholy news of
16 officers and 60 of the crew of her Majesty's ship
Dauntless, screw, 28, Captain II: listed, having been car-
ried off by yellow fever. The friends of those on board
look anxiously for the official anno vtncementbf the names
of the victims. •

_ .
The restoration of Mr. Eng'ethic, the manager of the
Peninsular and Oriental Steam /navigation Company's
flotilla at Southampton, to his fort ner rank in the Royal
Navy, is the theme of general conversation in naval
circles at this port. All praise this act of restoration, as
Lieutenant Engledue stands high in the estimation of all
practical naval officers who know this merits ; but all are
puzzled to which Board of Admiralty—the Northum-
berland or the Graham—to award. the credit of having
done him this tardy justice.

PLYMOUTH, JAN. 9.
Avon, steam-tender, Mr. Veitch, second master, in
charge, returned to this port, from :Portsmouth, on Fiti7
day night. She left the latter po:rt on Monday after-
noon, and was compelled by stress of weather to put into
Torbay.
Vulture, 6, steam-frigate, Captain F. H. H. Glasse,
went out f harbour yesterday morning, and proceeded
on a trial trip, from which she returned in about an hour
and a half, and lies moored in the Sound.
An alarm of fire on board the Henry Duncan, timber-
ship, lying off the Victualling-yard, was reported to the
authorities early this morning, but no assistance was
sent as the cause of alarm was speedily subdued.
In consequence of the scarcity of coals in the port,
the Bombay, Austrian Lloyd's steamer, is being sup-
plied from the Government stores, for which purpose she
is now alongside the hulk in Hamoai:e.
The new dock in this arsenal is now nearly com-
pleted, and only awaits the arrival of the iron entrance
gates to be made available to the public service.

, AN. .
Sir James Graham, First LordWOOLWI of the CH
AdmiJralty,B at-
.tended at 'Whitehall to-day for the first time since his
appointment to that office under the Earl of Aberdeen's
Administration.
Official notices have been sent to Alio various dock-
yards that Mr. -R. Bernal Osborne, M.P., is appointed
First Secretary at the Admiralty, and that all circulars,
Sce., are to have his name attached to them.
Mr. R. Bernal Osborne has appointed Mr. Henry E.
C. Stapylton, one of the third-class clerks at the Admi-
ralty, and recently private secretary to Sir Phipps
Hornby, to be his private secretary.
The Imp6rieuse, 50, screw steam-frigate, Captain R.
B. Watson, C. 8., was not taken out of basin to-day, but
she is quite ready to be taken out on Monday, when the
highest spring tide will take place between 1 and 2
o'clock p.m., and she will at once proceed direct down
the river, and hold on to Chatham. The African and
Monkey steam-vessels are under orders to accompany
her. Captain Watson returned from leave to-day, hav-
ing been absent since Tuesday-last, and proceeds round
to Chatham in the Imperieuse. Brevet-Major Strans-
ham, Lieutenant Tomlin, two sergeants, two corporals,
one drummer, and 46 privates of the Woolwich
Division of Royal Marines, who have been draughted,
and under orders for the last fortnight for service in the
Impdrieuse, are to embark in her at Woolwich Dockyard
early on Monday morning. One bombardier and twelve
gunners of the Royal Marine Artillery will embark at
the same time from the Hebe receiving-ship, having been
accommodated on board that vessel since they came
round from Portsmouth.
The IVlegzera steam-frigate, Commander John 0.
Johnson, had her crew paid down to-day at the pay-
office in the dockyard, and the one-half of the men ob-
tained leave until B'clock p.m. on Wednesday next. She
is still in dock, but will soon be ready for sea.

SHEERNESS, JAN. 9.
The sloop Rattlesnake, 8, Commander Henry Trol-
lope.—Lieutenant John Paulet Miller (13th July, 1850),
took up his commission yesterday, and obtained the Ad-
miral's leave for four days. In consequence of some de-
fects being detected about the bows of this vessel in the
range of the hawse timbers several shifts of plank from
forward on both bows have been taken out for the pur-
pose of putting in new timbers, and making good the
said defects. This will not in the least retard the un-
docking of this vessel at the time appointed.
Captain Patey, of the screw steam-frigate Amphion, of
34 guns, returned from leave yesterday, and rejoined his
ship. Up to the present time only one able seaman and
about six ordinary have joined this ship. Her present
muster on board are her officers, marines, engineers, and
stokers—these certainly form the greater portion of her
complement ; her deficiency is, therefore, among the
blue jackets only.
The paddle-wheel steam-sloop Barracouta, 6 guns,
Commander George Parker, is at present about 80 sea-
men short. It is expected that an officer from this ship,
and also one from her Majesty's frigate Amphion, will
be shortly sent to the western ports to obtain volunteers
for their respective ships.
The frigate Melampus, 42 guns, arrived here yester-
day, from Chatham, in tow of the steam-tug African, J.
Gill, Acting-Master, and the steam-tug Adder, J. Mun-
chen, Acting-Master, assisted by seamen riggers from
Chatham yard. On the Melampus being berthed at the
docking buoy, the Adder returned to Chatham with the
seamen riggers. At tide time the Melampus was taken
into the fitting basin, and the Hercules, of London,
having discharged her masts and spars, for Government
use, was put out of the basin, and left immediately for
London in tow of the steam-tug Victory.
The paddle-wheel steam-frigate Cyclops, 6 guns, and
320-horse power, chief engineer Mr William Chilcott,
will be taken into the fitting basin to-morrow, prepara-
tory to her being docked for a survey on her hull.
The line-of-battle ship Hdwke, of 72 guns, now in the
fitting basin, is completed as an advanced ship, and will
be put out of the basin on Monday next, and berthed at
her harbour moorings.
Captain Sir Thomas IMaitland, in command of the
Agamemnon, of 91 guns, and 500-horse power, mustered
yesterday the officers and crews of the following ships in
commission at • this port, viz. :—the Agamemnon ;
Monarch, 84, guard-ship in ordinary, Captain Charles
Hope ; Amphion, screw steam-frigate, of 34 guns, Cap-
tain Charles G. E. Patey ; Horatio, 24, screw steam-
guard-ship, Captain the Hon. S. T. Carnegie ; Barra-
couta, 6, paddle-wheel steam-sloop, Commander George
Parker, and the Rattlesnake, 8, Commander Henry
Trollop°.

Commander W. Houston Stewart has resigned the
command of the steam-sloop Virago on the Pacific sta-
tion, and Commander James C. Prevost has been
appointed to the Virago in his room. Lieut. Fairfax
Moresby, serving as flag-lieutenant to the Commander-
in-Chief, is appointed commander of the Portland, vice
Prevost.—United Service Gazette.