The Sun.
London, England, 1849-10-08 00:00:00

je.,ll.oning :Ittit

LONDON, MONDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1849.

It is not sufficient, in order to prevent a return o,
that epidemic, the ravages of which are now happily
diminishing every day, that we should pay every
attention to the sewage and drainage of the metro-
polis. Even with the most perfect system of sewage
and drainage that the wit of man can devise, we
shall be still liable to an annual visitation of cholera
so long as the putrefying dead are permitted to
poison the air breathed by the living; and such must
necessarily be the case so long as intramural
interments shall, under any pretence -whatso-
ever, be permitted. Those whohave vested. Interests in
the propagation of plague and pestilence—the licensed
poisoners of their fellow-creatures—the patrons and
the allies of cholera and typhus, have recently had
their hopes revived by what we cannot but consider
the most extraordinary decision of Mr. JARDINE, who
seems to imagine that the proprietor of a burial-
ground has a right, not only to fill it with corpses,
but when the earth is thoroughly saturated with
putrid matter to go on piling corpse upon corpse, and
to pack them, without any regard to decency, ad
infinitum. Such is the only logical conclusion to be
deduced from the decision of Mr. JARDINE, a
judgment which would legalise the horrors of the Spa-
fields burying-ground and the unmentionable abomi-
nations of Enon Chapel. We firmly believe that the
decision of Mr. JARDINE is as contrary to sound
law as it is to right reason, and we hope the Board of
Health will, without loss of time, adopt the proper
measures for getting it reversed. If, however, it
should turn out that Mr. JARDINE is right in the eye
of the law, then most certainly was Mr.Bultims justi-
fied, when he denounced the law as "a Hass and a
Ilidiot," and expressed a wish that " his eye might
be opened by experience," and we would respectfully
suggest, as the best method of opening the eye of the
law on this occasion, that all magistrates and
justices, and all those engaged in drawing up Acts of
Parliament, should be condemned to live in houses
abutting upon graveyards until such time as the law
on this subject should be so altered as to bring its
dictates in accordance with those of common sense.
Were not the subject of such, literally speaking, vital
insportance to every inhabitant of the metropolis, the
perusal of the defence set up for each particular
graveyard, by the individuals who happen to have a
vested interest in the continuance of that particular
pest-shop, would be really amusing. None of these
gentry attempt to justify the practice of intramural
interments—they all admit that such interments are a
nuisance ; but then each pleads for the continuance of
his own nuisance on the ground that it is " a very
little one," and that the great ones should be abated
in the firstinstance. One person, and one person only,
has greatly dared to stand forth as the DixoN of grave-
yards, to contend that the inhalation of the emanations
from a mass of putrefying animal matter is rather
healthy than otherwise. This singular individual is
the Rev. HENRY STEBBING, Minister of St. James's
Chapel, Hampstead-road, and to the burial-ground
attached thereto. It appears, from a letter addressed
to the Times, that
" This burial-ground is bounded on the north by Car-
dington-street, on the east by Whittlebury-street, and
on the south by Little George-street.
" The last.named street is inhabited by a very poor
class of persons, nearly every house being tenanted by
several families. It is separated fram the burial-ground
by a low wall, distant from the backs of the houses
certainly not more than two yards. Cardington and
Whittlebury streets have a slight advantage, inasmuch
as the houses are some five or six yards distant."
The inhabitants of these streets complain that the
exhalations arising from this graveyard are of a most
offensive, disgusting, and unwholesome character, and
that " upwards of thirty newly-made graves are to be
seen near the wall which separates the yard from
Cardington-street, many of these graves being not
more than two feet distant from the. wall. The
average number of interments in this graveyard is
700, according to the grave-digger's statement."
Such being the state of the case, one of the inhabi-
tants of Cardingtou-street addressed a letter to the
Times on the subject, urging the necessity of imme-
diately closing the graveyard. Thereupon the Rev.
HENRY STEBBING indites a letter, in which he con-
tends for the peculiar salubriousness of this graveyard,
because himself and his family, who have lived in a
house attached to the burial ground for fourteen
years, " have never suffered sickness from their con-
I iguity to the burial• ground"—(mark, he does not say
have never suffered sickness at all, but sickness from
their contiguity to the burial ground, he taking upon
himself to decide whether any sickness from wbich
they might have suffered was or was not occasioned
by their contiguity .to the burial-ground) ; and then
he goes on to declare the superior salubriousness of
the neighbourhood of a graveyard in thefollowing

words :
" I have every reason to believe, well knowing my
poor neighbours as I do, that if a statistical inquiry
were instituted, it would be found that sickness and
death in this now crowded neighbourhood have been
less, on the average, than in almost any other similarly
populated district of the metropolis."
Doubtless the Rev. HENRY STEERING is a very
extraordinary man. So was the late K CXIABERT

THE

he could drink prussic acid, dine off corrosive subli-
mate, seasoned with arsenic, and revel in
the luxury of a hot bath of melted lead,
even as Dr. STEBBING luxuriates in inhaling the
rich and pungent odours which emanate from his pet
graveyard, and sighs not for the perfumes of Araby
the blest. But all men are not CBABEBTS, neither
are all men STEBBINGS ; and, therefore, without fur-
ther allusion to Dr. STEBBING'S extraordinary powers
or to Dr. STEBBING'S peculiar tastes, we take Dr.
STEBBING'S facts as he himself states them, and from
those facts we draw the conclusion that public
health and public decency alike require the imme-
diate closing of this graveyard. " I have performed
the chief duties" (not all the duties) "of this ground
for twenty years," says Dr. STEBBING ; he after-
wards informs us that he has also the assistance
of a curate. "My predecessor," continues he,
" inhabited this same house upwards of 40 years ;" and
in another part of his letter he says—" I may ven-
ture to say for myself that I have performed the
funeral service over more than 10,000 persons:'
Now, allowing the same proportion to his predeces-
sor, who was in office 40 years, we shall find that
there have been interred in this graveyard the bodies
of 30,000 persons, by the principals alone, without
counting those buried by the curates. Taking into
account those buried by the curates, we shall not be far
short of the truth if we assume that putrid emana-
tions of from 50,000 to 60,000 corpses at this mo-
ment saturate the mould of the St. James's burial-
ground in the llampstead-road, and, rising in vapours
pollute the atmosphere of the neighbourhood. Surely
Dr. STEBBING himself has shown sufficient cause for
the immediate closure of this hotbed of cholera, fever,
and pestilence.

A meeting marked by circumstances of more than
ordinary importance at this moment, took place on
Monday evening last at the Mechanics' Institute,
Southampton-buildings, having reference to a subject
to which we have frequently directed public attention
through the columns of this journal. At the close
of the last session of Parliament we noticed an in-
teresting statement, made to the House of Commons
by The O'Goasay AlexoN, of the results of experi-
ments made upon Irish peat, showing the many
valuable articles in every-day use into which it was
convertible, and we had hoped that we should have
heard ore this that many capitalists would have di-
rected their attention to a project calculated to give
them a safe and large return for their invested capital,
while it would give employment to the suffering poor
of Ireland, bring its waste lands into cultivation,
open new sources for the production of human food,
and thus confer a blessing not only upon that country
but upon the empire. It was also our gratification
upon many occasions to notice the incessant labours
of Mr. JASPER ROGERS—a gentleman well known to
the scientific world—in his laudable endeavours to
ameliorate the condition of Ireland by giving employ-
ment to her famishing poor in the con-
version of peat into charcoal, a substance
which his scientific ingenuity has discovered
to be applicable to many very useful and important
purposes, and amongst others to the paramount one of
neutralizing and deodorizing the offensive and
poisonous effluvia exhaled from the cesspools, sewers,
and other receptacles of feculent excretions and im-
purities with which our city abounds. The meeting
at the Mechanics' Institute, on Monday evening, was
convened under somewhat peculiar circumstances, to
test the value of peat charcoal as a deodoriser, and to
examine the project of Mr. ROGERS before a public,
disinterested, and competent tribunal. Mr. ROGERS,
it would appear, was challenged to the test by a gen-
tleman of considerable agricultural knowledge, and
connected with one of our metropolitan journals.
The challenge was accepted, and from the meeting
thus convened a judge and jury were indifferently
chosen, to whom the issue was submitted, which
resulted in an unanimous verdict in favour of Mr.
ROGERS by the gentlemen selected, many of them
professional, and no doubt perfectly competent to de-
cide upon the point. The experiment was tried upon
six pounds of night soil, mixed with twelve pounds
of peat charcoal, which was passed through a mill of 1
simple construction, in -wialcii they were ti.osongiA3
mixed, the result being a dry blackish powder, not
unlike the peat charcoal in appearance, and giving out
a faint ammoniacal smell, which speedily passed off,
leaving the poudrette inodorous and capable of being
handled and carried about without any inconvenience.
There was a small loss in weight, the product weigh-
ing something more than 171 b. for 181 b. put into the
mill.

The gentlemen chosen to watch this experiment,
and decide upon its merits, delivered their opinions to
the meeting seriatim. The first was Dr. ALFRED
KIIcG, who said—
" The process appeared to him extremely satisfactory.
The product had a slight ammoniacal smell, and no
doubt some ammonia and other gases were given off. It
had completely answered the object in view, and for
his part he had been very much surprised and pleased
at the result, and was of opinion that a most glorious
discovery had been made."
Mr. LYON, secretary to the King's College Hos-
pital, said, "he also was of opinion that the experi-
ment had been perfectly successful." Mr. GRIFFITHS,
surveyor, joined in the approval of his fellow-judges,
" And thought the application of charcoal to cesspools
would be a very important benefit, as he had witnessed
in the course of his house-to-house visitation, many
cases in which the removal of the night soil would be
more likely to produce evil and danger than allowing
it to remain. By mixing the charcoal with it all danger
would be obviated, and he trusted the matter would be
taken up by public bodies in the metropolis."
Mr. YARROW followed in the same strain of ap-
proval, as did Mr. NISBETT. Dr. WALKER, M.A., of
Maidstone College, said the result exceeded his expecta-
tions. Mr. Swirs BOURNE, a barrister, said though averse
to the principle,
" He did not hesitate to say, that as a deodoriser the
charcoal was perfectly efficacious. He had tested the
matter privately, and was satisfied that it was one of the
most complete deodorisers they possessed."
Mr. GARRETT, one of the Commissioners of the
parish of St. James, and one of the committee of the
Sanitary Board, entirely concurred in the success of
the experiment, and thought it would be most de-
sirable if the charcoal could be introduced into the
cesspools of the metropolis. Mr. NISIIETT, an ana-
lytical chemist, also bore testimcny to the success of
the experiment.
We have been thus precise and circumstantial in
placing before the public the strong testimony in fa-
vour of this project of Mr. ROGERS, seeing how emi-
nently it is calculated to improve the sanitary con-
dition of our city, what a powerful agent it may
prove in the hands of Sewers Commissioners, Boards
of Health, and Sanitary Committees. The fearful
pestilence which has committed such ravages in some
of our metropolitan districts has, for the present, al-
most disappeared, but we fear only for the present.
The winter's cold will check it. The morbific poison
will remain pent up during the cold in the reeking
and foetid cesspools of Lambeth, Rotherhithe, and
Bermondsey, only to be excited to fatal activity by the
first heat of summer. The spread of the potato blight
and other causes lead us to believe that we are still
surrounded by the same atmospheric conditions which
have proved so fatal to animal and vegetable life for
some years past, and it will require all our best exer-
tions during the winter to prevent the recurrence of
the deadly epidemic next season, with aggravated
malignity. All who have paid the smallest attention
to the progress of cholera can trace its fatal steps
through the filthy, squalid, low-lying, drained, and
ill-watered portions of London. The Registrar
General's return of deaths would be a sure and safe
guide to the state of sewage and drainage in any
particular district. These pestiferous nests of typhus,
diarrhoea, and cholera, must be thoroughly cleansed
and purified ; water must besupplied in better and
larger quantities. Every means placed within our
reach by art or science should at once be adopted to
counteract the fearful effects to be apprehended

from a recurrence of the plague which has, we
fear, only abated, and which but slumbers, or
rather smoulders, in those hideous dens which deal
poison and death around. We would look upon it as a
tempting of PROVIDENCE to neglect a trial of charcoal
on the plan of Mr. ROGERS. It is calculated that at
least 150,000 tons of impure and noxious matter,
independent of cesspools, is daily poured into our
river, poisoning air, earth, and water in its

unseemly course, while a quantity of the most

valuable manure is lost. Now, by the mixture 01

...
charcoal in proper proportion with this feculent stuff
it at once becomes disinfected and deodorised. One
great cause of disease and death would thus be cured
at its source, while the curious property charcoal

SUN,

LONDON,'

possesses of being able to absorb gas many times the
extent of its volume, enables it to retain the several
gases so useful in agriculture, without destroying
their properties by any chemical combination or
alteration. Thus, if the plan of Mr. ROGERS be
sound, and we see no possible reason to doubt it, there
is within our reach an effectual and safe mode of
stopping the great sources of disease, while we form
a new material, more valuable than the much-talked-
of guano, to fertilize our fields, and to add to the
agricultural wealth of the land.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris papers of Saturday and
yesterday.
The Moniteur contains the following :
" An evening journal makes the appointment of M.
Bois le Comte to Washington coincide with the diplo-
matic incidents that occurred to the French Minister in
the United States, and the news of which only reached
Paris yesterday. The meaning intended to be conveyed
is completely erroneous. The Government was totally
ignorant of what had passed in America when M. Bois le
Comte was named."
The PRESIDENT gave a grand diplomatic dinner on
Thursday. The Marquis of NORMANDY and MM.
MOLE and TRIERS were among the guests.
The Governments of France and England are
acting in the most perfect union and with the
greatest energy in the support which they are afford-
ing the Porte in resisting the demands of Russia.
The Journal des Debats has the following article on
this subject, in which the substance of the note of
Lord PALMERSTON to the Russian Minister is given
almost as if from authority. The following is the
article of the Debats :

" From letters received from Constantinople, and from
information derived from a good source, we are led to
believe that the affair of the Hungarian refugees in
turkey will be terminated much more promptly than
was imagined. For our part we have never believed
that a serious quarrel could arise from such a cause; but
we thought that after having broken forth in such a
violent manner Russian diplomacy would atleast take its
time to make an honourable retreaty.nd:endeavour.te with-
draw its amour propre from the game in the most akil• 1
,u 1 manner possible. We have reason to believe that
after the departure of Prince do Radzivil, M. Titoff
made overtures to the Divan which wero equivalent to
a complete withdrawal of the pretensions of Russia. If
this be the effect of an honourable repentance we cannot
but congratulate him on it. It is, however, possible that
this sudden veering about may be intended to veil some
deep combination, which escapes our knowledge. Rus-
sian diplomacy is so skilful, and the Government of the
Emperor Nicholas follows such strange paths I It is, in
,'act, said that when the idea of making the exorbitant
demand for extradition was started, the Ministers and
the advisers of the Czar endeavoured to turn him from
the project, by representing to him the disastrous effect
which it could not fail to have among the free people of
the west, and that the reply which they obtained from
their master was nearly as follows: Let me alone; I
have my designs; I know the advantage I may one day
derive from putting forward these pretensions, although
I know very well that if I were the Grand Turk I certainly
would not submit to them.' If this anecdote is correct,
and we have reason to believe it to be so, the Emperor
Nicholas has the merit of having justly foreseen, and
has the advantage of seeing his prediction already
partly realised. It is for liberal Europe to be on its
guard, if it would prevent the other part of the prophecy
from being accomplished at its expense. In the mean-
time it appears to shave resolutely adopted its plans, if
we may judge from the note which the English Govern-
ment has addressed to St. Peter burgh, and which is no
longer a secret to any one. This document, which has
been ;already communicated to the French Government,
and almost even to the public, with an eagerness which
is the proof of an inflexible determination, begins by ad-
.nitting the great services which Russia has just ren-
dered to the cause of European peace by lending the aid
its army to suppress the Hungarian insurrection, and
the incontestible right which she has to demand that the
rebels should not remain near her frontiers on the

Turkish territory. But does she not hazard to compro
mise the fruit of her efforts and of her victory, by put-
ting forth claims against the vanquished which wound
the principles of liberal Europe ? The note adds, that
without wishing to discuss the question of right, although
it is open to discussion, the English Government cannot
admit that, in the nineteenth century, with the progress
which universal civilization has made, any State could
demand from its neighbours the extradition of political
individuals who, after their defeat, had sought an
asylum in a foreign land. It concludes by expressing
the firm hope that reasons of honour and of generosity
will find an echo in the magnanimous heart of the Em-
peror Nicholas, and that the English Government, al-
ready solicited by its ally, the Sultan, will not be forced,
by the persistance of the Russian agents at Constanti-
nople, to adopt means for maintaining principles, the
defence of which is important to its political interests,
and to its consideration in the world. The French
Government up to this time has given less éclat to its
proceedings than the Cabinet of Lord John Russell has
done, but we are persuaded %lint ii lies been usUl..er
firm nor less resolute. Besides, the opportunity was too
good for it to be possible to allow it to escape ; the
conduct to be pursued was too clearly traced out, and
success too certain. The only thing which is yet in-
explicable to us in the whole affair, is the motive which
could have induced Russia to advance so boldly on a
ground where she was so certain to be compelled to draw
back."

The Patrie announces that the Turkish Ambassa-
dor at Vienna had received his passports.
The organs of the Legitimists and parti pretre
are full of eulogies of Russia and denunciations of
England and the English, who are assured by the
Assemblee Nationale, the organ of M. DE PALLOR',
that they shall soon have to suffer for all they have
inflicted on France. This feeling on the part of the
parti pretre is quite as much religious as it is
political.
In the sitting of the Assembly on Friday, M.
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE announced that the Commit-
tee having blamed the form of a proposition be had
lately presented to the Assembly, he had thought pro-
per to withdraw it and substitute for it three distinct
, propositions—namely, one to the effect of repeal-
ing the law of April, 1b32, which banished the
Bourbons of the elder branch, as also the Imperial
family; a second, to repeal the decree of June, 1848,
applicable to the Orleans family; and a third, to
abrogate the decree of the Constituent Assembly of
the 27th of June, 1848, condemning the insurgents
of June to transportation.
General D'HAUTPOUL, a Royalist, is appointed to
succeed General RoszoLax in the command of the
troops at Rome.
It appears that the Piedmontese Chamber has re-
fused to vote the funds for paying the Austrian in-
demnity. The Conatitutionnel says :
" M. u'Azeglio, and the sincerely liberal and honour-
able men with whom be is associated, have received, as
we are told, with serenity the blow inflicted by the de.
magogical majority. They are not shaken by it, and
they will persevere with firmness in Carrying on the
work confided to their hands. Upon them at this mo-
ment rests the fate of constitutional institutions in Pied-
mont. The triumph of the present opposition would be
a signal for convulsion, and for deficit which would drive
this country to seek for repose in the suppression of the
representative regime."
There has been but little business done at the
Passage de l'Opera. Fives, which had fallen to 87f.
20c., have been done at 87f. 30c., but there appears to
be a very gloomy feeling amongst speculators.
BUSINFSS DONE J FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE

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