The Sun.
London, England, 1849-07-19 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON,

of aiding in the extinction of the last vestige of reli-
gious intolerance, it was absolutely incumbent upon
the metropolitan holders of the franchise to elect as a
successor to Mr. PATTISON some man identical with
them in their opinions as to the necessity of
extinguishing the final spark of bigotry and fana-

ticism.
Upon this, as upon a variety of other topics, Sir
James Dux]: was enabled to express himself entirely
to the satisfaction of the deputation. In no one par-
ticular did the LORD MAYOR find it advisable to
resort to the shelter of ambiguous language. He
pointed with a very justifiable complacency to the
whole of his Parliamentary career in proof of his
undeviating resolution to support liberal measures.
He referred to his proceedings since he first began to
represent in the House of Commons the distinguished
and influential constituency of Boston. He directed
the observation of the inhabitants of London to
the division list, in which his name would be invari-
ably found on the side of a liberal Administration, or of
a liberal Opposition ; the gradual extension of the
suffrage was a scheme which would receive his cordial
concurrence and his most energetic support ; the
application of the principles of free trade to all
the machinery of commerce was an end to which his
efforts were now undeviatingly directed. These
declarations cannot but have their effect upon the
great metropolitan constituency ; they cannot but
confirm the electors of London in their determination
to carry the LORD MAYOR triumphantly through
the approaching contest at the Guildhall.
For it is to be a contest ! One Mr. PARKER,
Queen's Counsel, eminent in his intellectual aridity
as a Chancery lawyer, has been scrambled forward as
a candidate. Certainly, if the electors of London are
curious to find out the character of this unknown
politician, they must dip into some such guide-book
as that one published this year, and facetiously
termed Who's Who p Yet even Who's Who, we
would wager, will be found to afford them
no satisfactory information with regard to Mr.
PARKER, beyond the fact already familiar to
them that he appends to his name the magical ini-
tials, Q. C. Further the deponent sayeth not. Mr.
PARKER himself, on the day of nomination, may,
perhaps, be kind enough to unbosom himself upon
this particular, as to Who's Who, and in addition
may also probably inform the electors, upon one or two
political questions, What's What. Until that morning,
we must wait the issue in patience, cherishing some-
times a suspicion that after all this gentleman may
be as much a myth as the ever-redoubtable Mr.
ABRAHAM PARKER.

The novelty of a Lord Mayor appearing
upon the hustings as a candidate for the votes of the
citizens of London will not fail to impart a stimulus
to an election which might otherwise pass over with
comparative quietude, from the circumstance of the
recent election of the Baron LIONEL DE RorsiscnlLD•
As to the issue of the contest, there cannot of course
be one moment's hesitation. The proceeding is
already all but completed, and the vacancy is even
now virtually filled up—that vacancy in the represen-
tation of the metropolis which has been so very unex-
pectedly caused by the demise of Mr. PATTISON. When
the twelve months of civic supremacy has expired to
Sir JAMES Duxa, he will still find himself intimately
associated with the first city of the empire—and that
not only as a merchant and an alderman, but in a
peculiar degree as a popular representative.

No fact is, perhaps, better established at the pre-
sent day than that the cholera is produced by a de-
teriorated state of the atmosphere, and that its
ravages may be materially mitigated, if not altogether
terminated, by proper attention to the most obvious
sanitary precautions. The numerous investigations
that have taken place into the causes of the deaths of
the unhappy persons that perished from that fearful
disease—reports of which have appeared in the
public journals—all show, that in every instance the
sufferers have been exposed to the morbific influences
of untrapped gullyholes—of defective sewerage—of
over-crowded churchyards—or of some other of the
numerous devices for tainting the air, and rendering
the various localities unwholesome and dangerous to
human life. The " smoke nuisance" has had
its full share in the production of the
deadly visitation. In the various inquisitions held
on Monday last, at the Milbank Penitentiary, we
find an intelligent physician (Dr. WILLIAM BAYLEY),
in speaking of the predisposing causes of the disease,
alludes to "a bone-house" in the immediate vicinity
of the cell of the deceased, the s.nell from which
was of " the most offensive description," and which
must have produced "a most deleterious effect on
all within its reach." The Learned Gentleman
added, " Besides the bone-house, there were manu-
factories which threw out dense masses of smoke,
that sometimes enveloped the entire prison. They
were, in fact, surrounded by manufactories of all
kinds. The gas-works, in particular, were dreadfully
offensive, and tor the last few weeks the nuisance
had been greater than ever. The atmosphere was,
in fact, quite poisoned." This statement, which
was immediately " loudly corroborated by
several of the jury," will sufficiently ex-
plain the causes of the dreadful mortality that has
prevailed in the Alillbank Penitentiary since it has
been used as a receptacle for; convicts. We say "at
all times," for it is notorious that the same pollution,
which in one state of the atmosphere will produce
cholera, will in another lead to fever, or other diseases
which have generally been classed as " infectious
complaints."
In Millbank, and, of course, in other localities
where similar nuisances are in operation, an enormous
waste of human life may fairly be attributed to the
"dense masses of smoke," so justly complained of by
Dr. BAYLEY and the assembled jurors; and it, there-
fore, becomes an imperative duty, which cannot be
slighted or disregarded, that Parliament should, without
a moment's unnecessary delay, afford protection to the
people, and provide some cheap and expeditious
method of abating those nuisances which cannot
effectually be suppressed under the expensive
and tedious process of an indictment at common law.

It is not because we cannot immediately produce
a perfect measure, that we cannot grapple with all
the evils that must eventually be suppressed, or be-
cause these evils have existed for many centuries, that
we should not attempt to make any progress, and to
get rid of the most glaring grievances. The smoke
nuisance has undoubtedly become
"An aged vice, a grey iniquity."
It might have been just as objectionable, and elicited
as many complaints in the reign of CHARLES the SE-
COND as at present ; but surely that is no reason why
we should consent to its continuance, or to the sacri-
fice of whole ~hecatombs of victims at its shrine.
The nation did not possess in those days the 'scientific
appliances that are now in every-day use. It
would, indeed, be ridiculous to argue that
we should eschew the railway or steam-boat,
because our fathers were contented with the heavy
stage-coach or lumbering waggon, or
,that we should
still suffer the population to be decimated by small •
pox, because vaccination had not been resorted to be-
fore Dr. JENNER published the results of his experi-
ments. In the seventeenth century no method was
known by which the smoke of furnaces could be
consumed ; the only alternative was either to sub-
mit patiently to the inevitable nuisance, or altogether
to abolish the manufactures in which those furnaces
were essential, and to deprive of employment thou-
sands of the labouring population. There was only a
choice of evils, and that of least magnitude would
necessarily be selected. But no such alternative is
DOW forced upon us. We may in a great degree, if
not altogether, prevent the issue of smoke from
it would,
furnaces, and that without any serious expense
considerable
Nay,
saving of
aofrter
,perotyperciteators.
expense to the parties, for thatvery
injury
eryfirstto outhtleay,
smoke that
now poisons the atmosphere may easily be rendered a
valuable element of combustion. The smoke-con-
suming apparatus has already been tested in many
large manufactories, and even in the public dock•
yards ; there it has proved perfectly efficient, and
the smoke grievance has been completely removed by
means thereof. A reference to our advertising
columns will show that the public are invited to wit-
ness the effect of " GODSON's Smoke-Preventing
Ap-
paratus," which is in daily operation at Messrs.
BECRETT'S Steam-mills, Barbican, where, every in-
quiry will be fully answered, BO that the
most incredulous must be perfectly convinced
of the absurdity of their doubts and of the
perfect practicability of making important pro-
gress is sanitary reforms. The Smoke Prohibition

Bill is to be further considered in Committee on
Wedilvday-next. We trust that all those who enter- I
tain reasonable doubts as to the possibility of totally
consuming smoke may, in the interval, avail them-
selves of ttie, opportunity thus afforded of satisfying
their scruples. As we have already stated, the
measure may be so modified as to exempt from penal-
ties all persons who may be enabled to show that they
have, to the utmost of their power, endeavoured to
prevent any infraction of the law by "adopting, and
carefully using, some well. approved method for the
consumption of the smoke issuing from their fur,-
paces."

Our readers can scarcely have overlooked the ex-
traordinary conclusion arrived at by the Committee
appointed to inquire into the advisibility or non-
advisibility of some alteration being made in the
rules of the House of Commons, relating
to the presence of strangers in the gallery.
That decision denied the necessity fur any modifica-
tion of the existing power accorded to any Member
to clear the House at a moment's notice of reporters
—and by their exclusion for any length of t'me to
revive the obsolete, and, we might say, the unconsti,
tutional system of secret legislation. The reason
advanced for the expression of this monstrous and
egregious opinion is—actually—because the present
rule has been an ancient and almost immemorial usage
with the lower branch of the Legislature ! Why this is,
plainly speaking, nothing more nor less than the old
rampant spirit of ultra-Conservatism—the conserve-
-1 tion of all the blundering old absurdities of our
ancestors simply because they are the products of
ancestral wiseacres ! According to the same prin-
ciple the laissez faire system shouldride triumphantly
over all the sanitary projects emanating from
the office of Woods and Forests, or from the benevo-
lent conclave of philanthropists at Gwydyr House!
And the Registrar-General would find his returns
multiplied by every venerable cesspool and putri-
fying graveyard re-opened to exhale their pestilential
miasma, and to warm the cockles of the hearts of such
very redoubtable sticklers for things of antiquity as
the members of this incorrigible Committee !

Now as to the character of this same Committee.
On looking over the names of its members we
find no mention of Colonel PETRONNET Tnomrsost
(the originator of the motion), and in the
room of the Hon. and Gallant Representative for
Bradford we absolutely find the name—of—Mr.
JOHN OTONNBLL ! Is this, we ask, fair ? Is it reit-,
sortable ? Is it decent ? Why, of course, Mr. JOHN
.OTONNELL sticks with the tenacity of a limpit to a
system which enables him to gratify every fretful
prompting of his egotism, every splenetic freak of his
rather frivolous disposition, every cantankerous ebul•
lition of his wounded vanity and microscopic abilities.
What is Colonel PETRONNET THOMPSON about ?
Surely he will not consent that a proposal
dictated by so much sober reason shall
he ridden over roughshod by the sympathisers with
the Hon, and Learned Gentleman the Member for
Limerick ? Is there no means of forcing the matter
irresistibly on the attention of the Commons ? What
if the Representative of Bradford were to rise imme-
diately before every' discussion upon a Government
measure, and call the attention of Mr. SPRALER to
the presence of strangers in the reporters' gallery ?
The effect would be complete; and the suggestion is
not one to be overlooked. We call upon Colonel
PETHONNET THOMPSON to act thus in justice to
himself, in justice to the public, to the press, and
to the Parliament.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris papers of yesterday.
The Legislative Assembly postponed the considera-
tion of the demand for authorization to prosecute M.
CANTAGREL, in order to afford that gentleman an
opportunity of addressing the Assembly, he having
signified a desire so to do. With respect to the de-
mand for authorization to prosecute MM. COMMIS-
SAIRE and Ii(ENIG, the Assembly proceeded at once
to the vote; the Members of the Mountain, however,
abstained from voting, and in consequence the first
scrutiny was void, there not being a sufficient num-
ber of Members present. The Assembly then pro-
ceeded to a second scrutiny, and the President
declared that the names of those who abstained
from voting should be published in the Monikur ;
notwith.tanding this threat, however,_ the Montag-
nerds again abstained from voting, and again the
scrutiny was made, much to the annoyance of that
most sweet-tempered of created beings, M. DUPIN.
The Journal des Debats publishes the following
dispatch, addressed to the Minister of Foreign Af-
fairs, by M. DE CORCELLES :

" Rome, July 7.

" I return to the preoccupations of the Government
at the moment when you did me the honour to address
we on the 2d instant. It is important that public
opinion should not be misled as to the circumstances of
our entry into Rome; already more recent and more
exact accounts must have re-assured you ; but
I, notwithstanding, continue to prove to you the mode-
ration dour arms as though we had to defend ourselves
against a charge of barbarism. As to the bombardment. I
affirm th,t it did not take place, and I shall soon be pre-
pared to send you a pruofof what I advance in the. shape of
the result of as inquiry which I have caused to be insti-
tuted for that purpose. I have already received the
verbal ietractations of several consuls. We form a
committee where they are represented as well as the
artistic body by M. Visconti, the Conservator of Monu-
ments at Rome. Up to this time I can say with cer-
tainty that 100 or 150 balls or shells at the utmost fell
within the city, which is five leagues in circumference,
and the traces of them are nowhere to be found. The
use of these projectiles has only caused some wounds
and the death of one person, but this fact is even di le
puted. No old monument, no museum has been damaged.
You will receive a precise report upon this sunject. A
certain number of private houses nave been destroyed
by the insurgent. themselves to facilitate the fire of
their fortifications, particularly in the neighbourhood
of the Castle of St. Angelo. These are the only
ravages of the war in this kind of destruction. As
tar as we are concerned we have only thrown down
the outer walls and some redoubts at the en-
trance of the Janiculum. W e have always said
that the resistance was neither Roman nor national,
and this is a proof of it ; the enemy made no use
of his barricades;. for the construction of which he was
paid ; they cost a sum of from 2,000,0001. to 3,000,000 f.
The civic guards and the carabineers never willingly
engaged in the combats, and at the last retrained
from doing so. At the last moment they arranged
with the muneipal council to open the gates to us. The
Transteveraus—that is to say, the true people of Rome
—received us well. If the resistance had been national,

the country people would have annoyed us ; whereas a
few companies of French troops were always sufficient
to keep open our communications between Rome and
the coast. The peasants constantly came into our
camp. When we entered Rome about 12,000 Roman
soldiers occupied the Castle of St. Angelo and the dif-
ferent military quarters; at the present time 4,000 of
these mk n, who were foreigners to the city, have re-
ct iver4 furloughs for their homes ; 4,000 regulars have
joined us, and from 3,000 to 4,000 adventurers have fol-
lowed Garibaldi, and the greater number of them are al-
ready disbanded. In presence of such testimony, who
will now maintain that we have attacked the will and tho
rights of a nation?
" The following is the result of the inquiry instituted
as to the damage:—
" At the Vatican, in the hall of the tapestry, executed
after the cartoons of Raphael, and in the picture repre-
senting the Preaching of St. Paul,' the lower extremity
of the drapery of the figure on the left bears the trace
of a ball. The lower trise of the picture also bears a
similar mark, but the damage may be easily repaired.
The fountain of the Aqua Paolina, near the St. Pan-
crasian- gate, received one ball, which damaged some
trifling masonry. The quantity of water has not been
sensibly diminished. The church of St. Pietro, in Mon-
torio, fortified and occupied by Garibaldi, and situated
near the breach, bears the trace of numerous French
balls. The chapel on the left, and the fresco paintings
are intact, but the balustrade has been destroyed by the
soldiers of Garibaldi; and some paintings have disap-
peared. The church was absolutely sacked. The little
temple built on the spot where St. Peter was crucified
has not been injured. To this small damage is, there-
fore, reduced the ravages of a siege which has been con-
ducted with the greatest moderation, and the calumnies
heaped on our troops are thus made apparent."
The National, after giving the POPE'S letter to
General OUDINOT (which has already appeared) thus
comments on the precious production :
" No doubt our readers are now completely edified by
the results of our campaign. From 500 to 600 brave
men have perished—we only take count of our own sol-
diers—from 1,000 to 1,200 wounded are crowded toge-
ther in the hospitals of Corsica; from 30 to 40 millions.
of which we shall ere long stand sorely in need, wanting
to the desperate appeal of M. Passy. All very true;
but then have s e not in return the benediction of
Pestiieual s.ii.fildeXi
epos.: l bske,e,eisvortitwooawiliennetgd on General Oudinot, and the satis-
factionr t!bi
otdnieEns
tmc
Eminences,
ned
cq
euscey
Abbas
sbobifea
stnhaonps
dee
rMonks,
o nstrifling,k—s,
Friars, Benedictines, and Jesuits, will enjoy in peace the
property which God has divided among them.' This is
ihe most evident, and, we :ear, will be the only conse-
quet Jce of this victory which the French army has won
over ' the enemies of human society:—that is to say, of
Ecclesiastical Government as exercised under Gregory
XVI.'"
The Moniteur publishes an official notice that by
a decree of the PSESIDENT of the Republic, dated
July 14, Vice-Admiral PANSEVAL-DESCLIESNES i 3
appointed Commander-in-Chief of the squadron of
the Mediterranean, in the place of Vice-Admiral
BAUDIN.