The Sun.
London, England, 1849-07-12 00:00:00

exoninn

LONDON, THURSDAY, JULY 12, 1849.

The Smoke Prohibition Bill was yesterday ad-
vanced a stage in the House of Commons. After an
animated discussion on the question that the " House
resolve itself into Committee on the Bill," a divi-
sion took place, when the motion was carried by a
majority of 19—the numbers being, in favour of the
Bill. 83 ; against it, 64. A further debate then took
place on the first clause, but without positive result,
the Chairman having reported progress and obtained
leave to sit again on Wednesday, the 25th inst. It is at
all times desirable to avoid any undue interference with
persons engaged in trade or manufacture of any
description. As a general rule, every person should
be permitted to carry on his own business in the
manner which experience teaches him to be most
expedient. His own pecuniary interests will induce
him to adopt the most profitable method, and to aban-
don the old-fashioned principle when any decided
and unquestionable improvement has been in-
troduced, and proved to be capable of being carried
into execution at a reasonable and moderate
expenditure. But there are certain exceptions to this
as to every other rule, and the chief of these excep-
tions is founded on the welt-known maxim of the
common law, " that every person must so use his
own property as not to injure or annoy either the
community or any private individual." He must
not commit either a public or private nuisance. If
his proceedings affect the health of the neighbour-
hood, then, indeed, it is essential that some cheap
and expeditious remedy should be afforded by
which he should be compelled to abate the grievance
complained of, and to carry on his business in a less
objectionable manner.
Sometimes a conflict of interests may arise. A
miumfacture, the maintenance and prosperity of which
is of national importance, could not, perhaps, be
carried on without some degree of injury to others.
A balance, then, must be struck, and that course
adopted which combines the greatest amount of
public advantage with the least public inconvenience,
in accordance with the well-known political axiom—
, The greatest happines of the greatest number?'
The first question that arises in such a case will
necessat ily be—ls the grievance complained of of
such a nature that it cannot be got rid of? Will its
prohibition involve the destruction of the business, or
can it be profitably carried on in a different and less
objectionable manner? If not, whether it is more
desirable to stop the manufacture, perhaps bringing
ruin on the proprietor, and casting a great number of
persons out of employment, or to submit to the ex-
isting inconvenience as the least of the evils to be
encountered ?
The present measure may fairly be tested by these
rules. There is first the unquestionable grievance of
dense masses of smoke, which being heavier than the
atmosphere sinks immediately after its exit, polluting
the entire air, and bringing not only serious discom-
fort, but even, in some instances, the most dangerous
consequences upon the surrounding districts. Re-

cent discoveries have proved that diseases of the '
most fatal character are produced by noxious
smells and a disordered state of the
atmosphere. An open cesspool, a neglected drain,
may really cause a greater destruction of human life
than a hostile army, while an overcrowded grave-
yard
in the heart of a populous city may present
greater dangers than those encountered " i ' the im-
minent deadly breach." And those dangers are not
the less formidable because unseen, and approaching
silently and insidiously. That smoke has had no
trifling effect in swelling the bills of mortality in
those towns in the vicinity of which large manufac-
tories are carried on is unquestionable. Even the vegeta-
tion in the neighbourhood is dwarfed and stunted, and it
may safely be assumed that what is thus found deeply
injurious to vegetable life will to some extent prove
deleterious to animal life. If, therefore, any altera-
tion can be effected by which this flagrant nuisance
may be abated with reasonable care and at a mode-
rate outlay, it should forthwith be adopted. Now,
the present measure is founded entirely on the fact
that it is nut only practicable to consume the
great mass of smoke issuirg from furnaces,
but that, putting higher motives out of the
question, it is cheaper for the manufacturers to do se.
The report of Sir It DE LA EXCISE and of Dr. LYON
PLATFAIR, alluded to by the President of the Board
of Trade, expressly states, " That it cannot for a mo-
ment be questioned, that the continued emission cf
smoke is an unnecessary consequence of the combus-
tion of fuel, and that, as an abstract statement, it can
be dispensed with." And the letter from a very
eminent engineer, subsequently read by Mr.
SANDARS, proves " That it is practicable,
and that without any serious annoyance to
the owners of steam boilers generally,"
to reduce the quantity of smoke to such a point as to
be no longer an annoyance to the public.". Thus then,
the main question in the case being answered in the
affirmative, it becomes the obvious duty of the Legis-
lature to provide an easy method of enforcing the
' law. An easier remedy must be given than
a tedious and expensive prosecution for a coin
mcn-law nuisance. It will be not only for
the public benefit, but even to the advan-
tage of manufacturers themselves, that such
should be the case. Ample time, too, will be afforded
to carry the necessary alterations into effect. The
Act is not to come into operation until 1851, and if
it can in the interim be shown that it is impossible
to carry out the full provisions of the Bill, any requi-
site changes may be made during the next session. A
slight alteration in the details would, in fact, effect all
that could be required, viz., an enact.
ment, that the issuing of opaque smoke
should not be held to constitute an offence against
the Act, if the owner should prove that " he had
adopted, and carefully used, some well approved
method for the consumption of the smoke issuing
from his furnace, and endeavoured to the best of his
power to abate the nuisance arising from the same."

The year 1849 will long be distinguished in the
annals of the Corporation of the City of London as
the period within which that great municipality
earned its brightest laurels. It is not merely for the
unbounded hospitality displayed on all occasions
since Sir JAMES DIJK.E ascended the civic throne—
although that hospitality has been seldom equalled,
never surpassed, by any former Lord Mayor—that
these laurels will be obtained. Neither will it be for
the glorious manifestations in the cause of civil and
religious liberty, the fixed and steady determination
to remove the last vestige of intolerance from
the national statute book, and the establishment
of perfect freedom of conscience to all,
without exception, who owe their fealty
to the British Crown. Striking as have been these
demonstrations, brilliant as may be the page of his-
tory on which these records will be inscribed, a
higher and more enduring fame wia attend the ex-
ertions of those who strove to ameliorate the condition
of their suffering fellow-creatures, to arrest the pro-
gress of the distress and destitution, the misery and
wide-spread ruin which threatened the destruction of
our Irish brethren. A " monument more durable
than brass" will be erected to those who boldly flung
themselves into the breach, and brought their exten-
sive resources into operation on behalf of their fellow-
subjects who were sinking under the unequal struggle.
The efforts made in the beginning of the 17th
century, although the results have indeed been mag-
nificent, will sink into insignificance when compared
with the achievements of the present year. At the
former period the great companies of the British me-
tropolis undertook the duty of "colonization." They
received free grants of large tracts of lands that had
been confiscated from the former proprietors. They
drove the present inhabitants from their birth-places
to seek refuge in the western provinces, and they re-
peopled the land with a new race, whose steady and
unceasing industry, and calm and resolute deter-
mination, speedily brought the bleak and
sterile soil of the ." black north" into the
highest state of fertility and cultivation, and who
attained a prosperity similar to that enjoyed by the
1 inhabitants of this happy and highly favoured land.

But the Corporation of the present day have higher
aims and objects. They do not desire to obtain the
fruits of confiscation, to succeed to any estates for which
the former owners shall not receive the full and fair
value, even to the uttermost farthing. They seek not
to realise any pecuniary profits, to aggrandize them-
selves or their successors at the expense of others.
They are entering on no mere commercial speculation,
in which the prospects of gain more than compensate the
risks to be encountered. They are animated by
feelings of the purest philanthropy and benevolence,
and by none of a baser or more worldly character.
They only seek " a return of the capital to be in-
vested with interest," to be restored the amount of
their outlay in the purchase and improvement of
estates and waste lands, and the employment of the
labouring population. All further profits will be
strictly applied in promoting the welfare of the people,
fur the benefit not only of their immediate tenantry,
but of all who come within the sphere of their
operations.
Their proceedings, too, if more disinterested and
equitable, will also be distinguished by greater huma-
nity and benevolence. They do not contemplate the
banishment or expulsion of the present occupants.
They do not intend, in the first instance to depopulate
the district that may be required—" to make a desert
and call it peace." No ; they will undertake the
more arduous, but the more humane and beneficent
duty of working out the welfare and happiness of the
native occupiers, of elevating Ireland in the social
scale, of promoting the national wealth and prosperity
of the sister kingdom, through the agency and by
the industry of her own children, who, whatever may
be their faults, are a warm• hearted and grateful race
—nay, more, an active and energetic people, able
and willing to work whenever the legitimate rewards
of labour are placed within their reach.

The admirable letter of the illustrious Nobleman
who now so worthily occupies the Viceregal Throne
of Ireland clearly indicates the due appreciation
with which the glorious undertaking is regarded
by those most competent to form a sound judgment
as to its probable results. The Earl of CLARENDON
expresses not merely " his satisfaction" but " his
delight " at the " prudence and genuine philan-
thropy " of the originators of the movement—a
movement likely to be productive of the happiest
consequences, not only to Ireland, but " through
Ireland to the United Kingdom?'

-- -
Although the state and condition of that unhappy
land is gloomy and discouraging, it is by no means
hopeless. There are already afforded slight but certain
indications of a more propitious season, of a " good
time coming," when the aspirations of the well-
wishers of Ireland will be fully and completely rea-
lised. Every sentence of the LORD-LIEUTENANT'S
letter to the Chief Magistrate of the city of London
bears the impress of truth. There is a " verisimi-
litude" that must convince the most sceptieal, that
must remove the fears of the greatest alarmist. In
it we are told " that the present state of things con-
tains within itself no germ of amelioration"—that
it cannot even remain stationary"—that " it
must go from bad to worse ;" but we are
also informed by his Excellency that " no-
thing could induce him to recommend it if he
did not conscientiously believe that the investment
would prove remunerative," and that he entertains no
doubt on the point; " for if good land is to be bought
at a cheap rate, if secure titles can be obtained at a
small expense, and if capital is available for improv-

ing the soil and rendering it productive, such an in-
vestment cannot fail to be profitable." The auxiliary
circumstances that justify that opinion are clearly
and distinctly set forth. The cessation of political
and agrarian outrages, the chastened disposition of the
people, whose only present anxiety is " to obtain em-
ployment," all afford the most cheering auguries as
to the result. And "if the bright example exhi-
bited by the Corporation of London, by the
greatest capitalists and best men of business in the
world," be only followed, as there is every reason to
hope it will be, Ireland will speedily emerge from
her difficulties. The sufferings and wretchedness of
the past will be forgotten in the cheering prospect
before them. They will learn the truth of the asser-
tion of their talented countrywoman, " that there is
a silver lining in every cloud;" that " the brightest
day succeeds the darkest morning."

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.
We have received the Paris papers of yesterday.
The following is the state of the poll for the elec-
tions of Paris, so far as, the same was known yes-
terday :