The Sun.
London, England, 1854-09-09 00:00:00

LIEUTENANT PERRY'S CASE.

The following letters have been addressed to the editor
of the Times :

SIR,—Under what species
of hallucination the Com
wander-m-Chief was induced to ratify the extraordinary
sentence on Lieutenant Perry it is difficult, no doubt, to
conceive. Is it possible that he considered that were Lieu-
tenant Perry acquitted, DA only would the 46th Regiment
stand undeniably condemned, but the reputation of the
whole army would be compromised, and so was led to
sacrifice an innocent person to avoid unpleasant con-
sequences to many ? Two things are now imperative—
some means or other must be instantly devised by which
the military profession may be purged of the odious scan-
dals which have made it to stink in all undefiled nostrils ;
and a substitute must be found for such a mockery of
justice and satire on honour as the Windsor tribunal has
now finally proved a court-martial to be. Perhaps it would
he best to appeal first to the Crown. We have had a good
many Royal commissions—a commission on sewers, for
example, with a blue-book on various kinds of filth ; let
us now ask for a commission on barracks, with a blue-book
on the causes of the pernicious atmosphere lately revealed
to exist in certain officers' quarters. Then let regulations
be issued for the immediate
purification of the said quar-
ters from all unwholesome influences, the presence or un-
clean bodies, refuse characters, and the like ; and, lastly,
letth e
us s
cagvul if we may, a moral board of health, a wise, ex-
perienced,ti
aand just tribunal, to try all offenders against
ons. Surely if we can abate the virulence
of ceho Lave,
by sanitary precautions, wo can do a little,
by the same sort of care for cleansing and due ventilation,
towards preventing barrack rooms from becoming the
nuclei of moral infection. As for justice towards offend-
ers, we have not much difficulty about that in civil mat-
ters—why should we make out selves contemptible by such
blundering in our military courts? Setting aside the
case of Mr. Perry, as a specimen of court-martial ad-
ministration take the totally incomprehensible award in
that of Lieutenant Greer—" Acquitted, but ordered to
sell out !" In the name of common sense, how is this ?
On what principles is a prisoner acquitted and punishment
awarded to him in one breath ? Verily, this military
judge and jury is worthy to be held in everlasting remem-
bran,:e, and let thorn have a niche, Sir, in the Valhalla of
wiseacres by the side of that celebrated jury of Milesians
who pronounced the prisoner not guilty, with a recommen
dation not to do it again.—l remain, Sir, your obedieni
servant,
Sept. 6.

T. 0. R

SlR,—The able and unvarying support which you have
hitherto given to the persecuted and friendless Lieutenant

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1

CHOLERA-ITS ORIGIN AND PREVEN-
TIO.Y.-SINGULAR _REPRESENTATION.

A gentleman connected with the fraternity of millers,
whose name, for obvious reasons, we refrain from men-
Coning, attended before Alderman Farebrother, at the
Guildhall, yesterday, with the following communication
relative to the fatal epidemic which is at
spread-
ing its devastating present
ere-
edi influence
sa etnc
flour
pai enr
aioltaviBneb4gr
o2nhtdhe,everyepaufnrrdpecsahwhratehsfresher
of tde
from
tastingahe l large rt ghee-
ilttruofaponortlii:ty.h
eoHf p
euo
rl dps tonfsot
staler, both he and his men were seized with sickness
and excessive salivation,
accompanied with disordered
bowels. He tried some of the same old flour in his own
family, and the consequence was that three of his chil-
drenn were seized with violent purgings and sickness,
as in the case of cholera, which disease soon after
made its appearance in London. After attentively
watching its progress, he was convinced it arose from
the consumption of old bread-stuffs, and he accordingly
determined not to supply any old flour to his customers
The result proved that not one of them had the cholera,
even in its most incipient stage, although exposed to
the same disadvantages in other respects as those around
them, who were daily falling victims to this sad malady.
He wrote to Sir Robert Peel, who was then Prime
Mini.ster, and his letter was referred to the Board of
Health, who granted him an interview, bat as he was
not a medical man they merely listened to him, and
there the matter ended. On one occasion he became
aware that a quantity of stale wheat was about being
shipped from London to Leeds, and he foretold that if
that corn was allowed to reach its destination the
cholera would follow in its wake. Within 15 days after
the cholera broke out in Leeds with great virulence. He
said that in all the Russian wars against Turkey and
Poland the cholera bad always accompanied the
armies of either country when traversing navigable
rivers ; and in the war of independence in Poland, when
news arrived that Warsaw was short of provisions
and had surrendered, he prognosticated that the
cholera would visit that part, because he knew that War-
saw would have to draw upon the same old stores that
had previously given to the Russians that disease. The
visitation did come, attended with the most calamitous
results. He did not complain of five or seven years old
wheat ! He alluded to that which was received in the
above countries in lieu of money for taxes, and which
was stored in warehouses for 1.5 or 20 years without see-
ing daylight. It was remarkable that cholera rarely ap-
peared during years of plenty; and in India, when failures
of the rice crops produced a scarcity of food, the old
stores were ransacked, and, as a matter of course, the
cholera commenced its ravages. In 1849, when cholera
again visited London, and the armistice between Den-
mark and Holstein removed the embargo on corn-laden
ships bound for London, he wrote to the Board of
Health, anticipating a supply of fresh corn, to say that
ono of the causes of cholera was about to be removed,
and that there would be an abatement of the disease of
100 per cent. in twelve days. The subsequent returns
issued by that body showed an abatement exceeding his
calculations, fully establishing it as a fact, that as soon
as the new wheat got into consumption the cholera de-
creased, and ultimately disappeared. He condemned
the practice of abstaining from fresh vegetables and
fruit, because it led to an increased consumption of bad
bread-stuff. He said the disease was more general near
navigable rivers or watercourses, where the import of
the stale corn takes place, and is warehoused, because
the consumption was greater in such localities, the ex-
pense of carriage preventing its being sent far inland.
The disease more frequently showed itself in large insti-
tutions, such as prisons, unions, and emigrant ships,
where cheapness was the chief object in their contracts
for brew]. It was only when fresh corn became so scarce
as to make a great difference in the price, and nearly the
whole trade were tempted to resort to the old stores,
that the cholera attacked the higher circles, where there
was neither want of cleanliness nor over-crowded habita-
tions to generate or aid the disease. When the cholera
was raging at Newcastle-on-Tyne, he went down there
to prevail upon the authorities to try the experiment of
oatmeal or some other substitute for bread in the union
or prison, but without success, as the general opinion
was that cholera proceeded from want of cleanliness,
notwithstanding the disease continued unabated after the
town was cleansed and purified, and it did not diminish
until the corn market introduced a supply of fresh_ corn.
He was satisfied if new wheat was tried to the exclusion
of the old, in any place where the cholera existed, that the
disease would not only be stopped immediately, but that
' no new case would appear aster twelve hours; and in
case of failure, he would willingly pay every expense
attending the experiment. He concluded by observing
that he should be happy to furnish every information
and assistance to any scientific gentleman who would
take up the matter, and would show in what manner old
wheat may act, through the animalculm it contains, to
generate cholera.
Alderman Farebrother asked the gentleman what he
wished him to do on the subject ?
The Gentleman said his object in coming forward was
not for any personal gain, but to avert a great national
calamity, which he thought might be done if inspectors
were appointed for the corn markets, the same as for
the dead meat markets, with power to seize all wheat
offered for sale that was unfit for human food.
Alderman Farebrother said it was the duty of the
Legislature to appoint inspectors if deemed requisite,
and if they declined to do so, the magistrates had no
power to interfere ; but he thought that any one
offering for sale corn that was unfit for human food
would be liable to the same penalties as the vendors of
bad meat.
The gentleman then thanked the alderman for his kind
attention, and after expressing a hope that the press
would give publicity to his statement he retired.