The Sun.
London, England, 1836-06-07 00:00:00

THE PLAGUE.

Mr. WAKLE Y had a question to put to the President of
the Board of Trade, the pressing nature of which he trusted
would excuse him. As he (Mr. Wakley) was leaving the
House last night he wrs informed that five persons had
died of the plague in Tottenham Court-road.—('Hear,
hear, hear.) He (Mr. Wakley) had made enquiry of a
medical gentleman in extensive practice, whether he had
met with any case of plague, or any case resembling it. That
gentleman had replied in the negative, but finding the report
was exceedingly prevalent, and that there was a very general
degree of alarm, and feeling that the most correct official
information should be given on the subject, he had felt
it his duty to put the question. He understood that a depu-
tation had waited upon the Board of Trade on the subject, and
therefore he hoped he should be excused for asking whether
any official information had reached his Majesty's Government
upon the subject, or whether the report was wholly unfounded.
Mr. P. THOMSON was very glad the question had been
put, because it was obvious that if reports of that nature were
circulated, they could not be contradicted too soon, and in an-
swer to the Hon. Member's question, he had the satisfaction
of giving the most unqualified contradiction to the whole
of the reports which had been spread through the town.—
(Loud cries of " Hear.") He must say that Ire had some
right to complain of the quarter from when these rumours had
come. On Friday last lif; had heard that the report had ori-
ginated with a medical man, and it was from that quarter
that the entire rumour had originated.—( Hear, hear, hear.)
Enquiries were at once made, and a letter was written to a
medical gentleman frcm whom it was supposed that the
report had originated. The answer to this he had in his hand.
It was as follows In reply to your inquiries I have
the honour to state that the report as communicated .to me
by a medical practitioner last Sunday, which report I men-
tioned to one house only nn the same day, and not since. It
was not that several cases of plague had occurred, but that
Mr. Cook, in the house of Messrs. Shoolbrcd and Cook,
drapers, and seven of their men, had died after opening a bale
of goods, and it was supposed they had died of the plague in
the course of the operation. This medical practitioner, knoiv-
ing that I bad paid considerable attention to the subject whilst
resident at Constantinople, thought that the 'report would in-
terest me, and wished that I would take the pains to inves-
tigate the particulars of it. This object I was not able to
accomplish, owing to other numerous' engagements.—
I have the honour to be, &e., &c." Upon receiving this
answer, I directed Sir William Pym, the Head of the
Board of Health, to proceed to inquire -into the circum-
stances. He did so, and found that Mr. Cook, the head of the
firm, which lie might say was a large warehouse establishment,
where bet ween 70 and 80 people were employed, had died on the
Ist of May of a brain fever, and since that time, not
a single person, out of the whole eighty who were em-
ployed, was ill, except one young man, who was
sufforing from A pulmonary complaint. He must say that it
was a just ground of complaint that any persons, above all
medical • men, should propagate rumours of this kind with-
out first stating the fact to the Government. He hoped
to be able thus 'publicly to dissipate the alarm which had
been created, and at the same time to express his own feel-
ings, and to say that that it was the duty of every medical
man, when he heard a report of so alarming a character as
.that mentioned, to inform Government at once upon the
subject, in order that the proper steps might be taken
to ascertain the truth, and to quiet the public mind, or
to take such Precautionary steps as should be deemed neces—
sary. As he stated before, a deputation had waited upon him
this morning from Tottenham, in considerable alarm, and he
understood that in consequence of the report that had been
spread abroad, the establishment, of Messrs. Shoobred
had suffered considerably, and they expected to
suffer more they were wise enough to offer a re-
ward of 2001 for the discovery of the person who was the
original author of the calumny.
Mr. WA KLE Y was glad -to hear what had fallen from the
Right Hon. Gentleman. He begged, however, to say it was
the opinion of nine-tenths of the medical men in the country
that the plague was not a contagious disease, and that if it
were in this countryCßlMlN it ought
A not tLAWS.o create any alarm.
L

Mr. EWA RT moved for leave to bring in a Bill to repeal
the law which admitted the fact of a previous conviction
to be given in evidence to the jury in the case before them.
Mr. C. FERGUSON thought there could be no harm in
allowing the Hon. Gentleman to bring in his Bill.
(LEFT SITTING.

HOUSE- OF LORDS.
The LORD CHWELLOR took his seat on the Woolsack
shortly before Five o'Clock.
ROYAL ASSENT.
The Royal Assent was given by Commission to the Conso-
lidated Fund Bill, the West India Slavery Amendment Bill,
the Birmingham Coal Company's Bill, the Imperial Conti-
nental Gas Company's Bill, the South Shields and Gates-
head Rahway' Bill, the Cowe No 4 pm, the PRlge flan.
hour Bill, arid •pycriti qt*r private Bills,
The Cumrnissioners were the Lord ettis)q:FA4att, the Earl
of SHAFTESBURY, and Lord DuNCANNAN•
MESAOE FROM THE. COMMONS.
. OSWALD and other. Members of the House of Com-
-- -- • ~. . .
btotigiit up•tlie Lanark cia.s, 44C1 WYer-ai ather private
Bills.
Mr. Campbell, from the East India House, brought up a
return of the compensations given to the discharged officer.; of
the Company.
Messengers from the Commons brought up the Ulster
Canal Bill, which was laid on the table,

The Marquis of DO WNS HI RE presented a petition fl-orn
a place in the north of Ireland, approving of the firm, loyal,
and constitutional course pursued by their Lordships with
respect to the Irish Municipal Corporations Bill, and praying
their Lordships to abide by the amendments made by them.
The Earl of BURLINGTON presented a petition in
favour of the North Midland Railway Bill.

The London and Cambridge Raik;ay Bill was read a second
time on the motion of Earl :SHAFTESBURY. '
The Nene Outfitll Bill was also read a second time.
The other Bills on the table were advanced a stage.
Petitions for the better observance.of the Sabbath, were pre-
sente by Lord WitAt.:Nct.ux.
A message from the Commons asked that Earl Radnor and
other Lords have leave to give evidence before the Agricultu-
ral Committee.

Lord LYNDHURST had a petition to present from a Ro-
man Catholic Clergyman named Dr.- Malholland, who for many
years held a living in the county of Louth, where he had gained
the esteem of all parties. Ho had the misfortune to obtain
the hate of the priest of a neighbouring parish, who went
about scandalizing and calumniating the petitioner. He
complained to the Titular Archbishop of the Diocese, Dr.
Kelly, who ordered his Vicar-General to inquire ito it.
He did so, and was of opinion that there was no foundation
for the calumnies; and ordering the person making them to
make a public apology. That was refused, and the petitioner
nad no other course to take than to bring his action. Ile
did so in the Common Pleas, in Ireland, and obtained
a verdict from a jury of his countrymen ; he was satisfiel, and
thought the matter should end there. In a very short time,
however, he was removed from his living r.ithout any
reason being assigned, by the authority of the titular Arch..
bishop or Primate. He would take the liberty of adverting to
the evidence given by a very eminent mai. Dr. MlIale;
before a Committee of the Houses, wherein it was stated that
it was no breach of the rules of the Church of Rome for
one ecclesiastic to bring a civil action against a brother
ecclesiastic ; that was stated by more than one of the
dignitaries of the Catholic church, The petitioner applied
in vain to his superiors here, and eventually he appealed to
the congregation for the propagation of the Faith in
Rome, who, after hearing the case, ordered that he should
be reinstated.—( Hear, hear, hear.) In the meantime
Dr. Kelly died, and Dr. Crolly was elevated to his place, who
on being applied to, said the petitioner should be reinstated ;
. but a few: days after he said he had altered his .mind:,.His love and veneration for Dr. Kelly was so great,
that she could' reinstate '"i him; though he.,
'find any stain on the petitioner's character ; on the other hand,
-helcnew hiM to be -a pious, zealous;' good man, He signed ito
cxent to that effect, which he ( Lord Lyndinirst) held in his hand.
He applied again to Rome, and he was referred to Dr. Murray,

. -
the titular Archbishop of Dublin ; he asked the petitioner to
accept of a curacy for the sake of the peace of the Church, at
once he agreed to do so if Dr. Crolly would give him one which
was promised, but again he altered his mind and refused. He
had mentioned in his statement a document to which he
wished to call the attention of the House.

Lord HOLLAND was surprised to hear such a petition
presented by the Noble Lord, above all others in the House.
this petition was quite alien to all the functions of the
House, and ought not to be received, as their Lordships could
not act upon it. How could that House interfere with the
discipline of a Chnrch which they did not recognize.
The Earl of WICKLOW supported the petition.
Lord MELBOURNE deprecated the presentation of peti-
tions upon matters in which that House could not interfere.
He thought that the House should not be made a me-
dium of appeal to the public.—( Hear, hear.) If such
a principle was sanctioned, there was no telling where it
would end.
The Duke of WELLINGTON expressed his surprise that
the Noble Baron should object to the reception of this petition.
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE rose and was left
speaking.

MARKET INTELLIGENCE.

(From the New London Price Current of June 7.)

SUGAR. —Thh sales for the week amounted to 1800 hhs and
trs. at fully the rates of this day week, Jamaica of fine grocery
quality selling at 655. 705., strong grey for the pan 655.,
browns 62s 6d. a 635. ; Grenada coloury for the scale at 675.
a 68s ; Berbice good brown 63s 6d ; Tobago mid. grocery
645. a 663. 6d. ; Demerara good 655. a 665. ; St. Vincents
mid. grey 645. 6d. a 655. ; other descriptions 655. a 675. for
mid. and good yellow and grey, and fine yellows bits. a 70s.
Accounts from Jamaica state that the crop would prove short,
and prices ranged from 535. 4d. a 58s 4d.
The stock of West India Sugar is now 7,262 hhds. and trs.,
being 10,211 lass than last year. The stock of Mauritius is
now 82,026 bags, which is 28,072 less than last year (includ-
ing the East India Dock.) The delivery of West India last
week was 2,091 hhds. and trs., which is 600 less than last
year. The delivery of the Mauritius was 9,578 bags.
The estimated purchases are only 500 hhds. and trs., in-
cluding the public sale of 132 hhds. new Barbadoes, which
went off at prices fully equal to those of the last sale, but did
not sell with quite so much spirit, good and fine went at 675.
6d. a 70s. Some extra fine Demerara Sugars under the new
process are offered at 795., for which 775. has been offered and
refused.

Refined Sugar—parcels of fine Crushed sold at 445. a
445. 6d., and 85s. 6d. long price for Lumps to pass ; 84s. 6d.
a 85s. for Lumps, and 85s. for Loaves ; for 200 hhds. Crushed
Amsterdam Sugar 435. paid, at which price other parcels are
offered.

In the Refined Market a parcel of Lumps to pass the stan-
dard has been sold at 855., but the chief business doing is in
goods considerably under the standard by the grocers at
83s. 6d. a 84s.

MAURITIUS. -Mid. yellow, 635. 6d. a 643. ; fair to good
brown; 60s. a 625. 6d. ; good coloury greys, 645. 6d. a 655.
EAST INDIA.-Bengal has been in great request; the
purchases by privatew:ontract have been 1,500 bags at 393.
a 40s. 6d. for fair and good white ; the good disposition evinced
for a long time past to purchase all other kinds of East India has
considerably abated, yet the prices remain firm ; the purchases
since our last have been confined to small parcels of fair and
good white Siam, at 36. a 38s. ; 500 bags Manilla at 328.6 d.
a 335. Gd. for brown and mid. yellow, and 400 baskets Java
at 355. 6d. a 365. for ord. yellow to fine grey.
RUM, BRANDY, AND MOLASSES.-The fine qualities of Rum
have been in brisk request, and for Jamaicas an advance of Id.
on last week's rates paid ; Leewards of common quality are
rather cheaper and didl of sale; the transactions since Tuesday
are 100 puns. fine Jamaica 30 to 36 per cent. over 3s. 10d. a
4s. 4d., some parcels 29 to 30 over 3s. lid. a 4s. Id. ;
Leewards 3to 9 per cent. over 2s. 4d. a 2s. 7d., and 12 per
cent. over 2s. Bd. , Geneva has been taken freely at Is. lid.
a 2s. at the quay. The demand for Brandy is moderate, and
confined to exporters.
MOLASSES.-West India Molasses continue to meet with a
brisk demand ; 30s. paid for good new Demerara and St.
Vincent° : a small parcel of fine Tohagos at auction fetched
31s. The total deliveries of West India Molasses from the
warehouses for home use for the week ending June 4th, amount
to 3,384 cwt.

COFFEE.—The only public sale this afternoon was 20 casks
of Jamaica, which went rather higher, low mid. 89s. a 91s. 6s.
The total deliveries of Coffee from the warehouses for home
consumption for the week ending June 4th arc 68,381 lbs. of
East India, and 167,069 lbs. of West India.

Cocoa.—.The.public sales of 400 bags Trinidad have gone
off 23. a 2s. Gd. under former rates, fair grey to dark red sell-
ing at 525. a 555. Total deliveries of \Vest India Cocoa from
the warehouses fur home use fur the week ending June 4th, are
12,030 lbs.

SALTPETRE.--The market for Rough Saltpetre continues
heavy, there being no speculative demand, and the prices are
a shade lower; 305.• accepted for parcels of good Calcutta.
The quotations of English Refined are reduced to 335. 6t1.-
a 345.

RlCE.—Grocers have purchased Carolina nt 295. This
afternoon Carolina Rice has advanced Is., !ales made at
295. a 31s.

• CocniNEAL.--.The public sale this.afternoon, 20 bags Co-
chineal, %lent at firm prices ; silvers 7s. 4d. a 7s. Bd.
INDIGO.—To purchase 4d. profit, must be paid on the rates
of the quarterly sales for picked lots, and 2d. to 3,1. for the
general runs. The total deliveries of Indigo from the ware.
houses for home use for the week ending June 4th, are
16,641 lbs. of East India, and 29i1bs. of \Vest India.

TALLOW. —The prices have again advanced, 455. 6d. paid
for Petersburg Yellow Candle, and 465. is now generally de-
manded ; purchases to some extent have been made for forward
delivery at the advanced price of 465. 9d. a 475. The delive-
ries last week were great, being four times more than has been
delivered in one week for the last five years. This afternoon
ready buyers of Tallow at 455. 6d. on the spot, and 465, 91 a
475. for delivery,•but no sellers at the latter. •
PROVISIONS.—Prices in Ireland of new Butter have given
way to 82s. a 845., but in this -market importers are still
holding for 90s: for fine new, but at these prices the trade arc
still adverse to purchase. . Foreign, which was selling last
week at 765. for•the best quality has since advanced to 86s. to
88,%, and the demand extensive.. Bacon has given way ls. to
25., but there has been a very animated demand since Friday ;
sales of heavy and small made at 535. and 545. Lard is
held firmly at 703. for the best Waterford Bladdered ready
buyers at 68s. Hams are in brisk request. Scotch Pork has
been freely taken at 40s. a 525. In India Beef and Polk or
Pork Middles, little has been done.