The Sun.
London, England, 1831-12-31 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

A correspondent, who signs with the initial "T.,"
" endeavours to throw new light on the subject
of an anticipated creation of Peers, by stating,
that the introduction of thirty or forty Com-
moners of large fortune and respectable family
into the House of Lords would, instead of
degrading and weakening that assembly, add
much to its influence and power. So far the
view entertained by our correspondent is cor-
rect, since neither common sense nor the Con-
stitution affixes humiliation to a mere increase of
number in the Peerage, provided the objects of
the royal choice have the requisite qualities tsf
wealth to support their rank, and character to in-
spire them with a becoming reverence for their
duties. It is not true, however, as assumed by
the writer, that such an aggrandisement of the
general body of the Peers might prove dan-
gerous to the " balance of power" between the
two Houses, if not neutralized by a Reform of
Parliament. It is not from the Peers in their
character of hereditary legislators, or as men of
large property, that the Commons have any
thing to apprehend. If " wealthy and in-
fluential" as Members of the House of Com-
mons, the same men would be neither more
nor less powerful over the country, after being
raised to the rank of noblemen than before. It is
not from the property or moral ascendancy of
the Peers on a late occasion, that the country
has had ground for complaint, because, in fact,
the balance of property, as of personal consi-
deration among their Lordships, was greatly on
the side of the people. It was not the aristo-
cratic interest, in the right sense of the word,
which carried the vote against Reform, but, Ist,
the borough interest, separate from every other,
that is, the trading interest, composed of indi-
viduals
in whose hands was a species of pos
session which had no value but as vulgar mer-
chandise, and would cease to have any what-
soever if the Reform Bill should pass into a
law ; 2d, the adventurers with titles—men to
whom Court patronage, places, pensions, and a
market constantly rich in loaves and fishes, pre-
sented the most indispensable features of a
constitutional Monarchy ; 3d, the Reverend
Bishops—several of them, it may be feared,
adventurers also in person, and in politics full
of terror lest a Reform of the State might in-
duce another of things ecclesiastical,—that is,
lest a substitution of real for spurious liberty
might be a scheme, on the part of King
William and his Ministers, for adding the
guilt of sacrilege to revolution. Wherever
an Englishman of education and intelligence,
of public principle and independent fortune,
may be placed,—whether in the House of Lords
or Commons, or not in either,—his political
biasses are likely to be pretty much the same.
As a Peer, he will add no more dangerous
power to the aristocracy than, when equally a
member of it, he represents the people in the
other branch of the Legislature. The mischie-
vous man is either he who can dictate to the
Minister through his trsin of borough-followers,
or can with impunity become a dependent on
the Minister, from having no free constituents
to call him to account, or no means of subsis-
tence but what he can beg or extort from the
Treasury as the price of the basest prostitution.
A creation of Peers, again, maybe so managed
as not to extend the sphere of nobility beyond
its actual limits. There are heirs apparent on
presumptive of the Peerage, sufficient, we be-
lieve if called up by writ of summons, to cover
the late adverse majority in the House of Lords,
although it is not clear that the public interest
would be served by a sweeping deduction of the
young Whig nobility from the school of politi-
cal exercise so active as that of the Commons
House of Parliament. Cost what it will, how.
ever, Peers must be made ; the materials of
them can be but a secondary object.—Times.
In commenting, the other day, upon the nete
Bankrupt Court Act, and the appointments
which have taken place under it, we expressed
our surprise and regret at reports that had been
circulated as to certain persons, who had been
bankrupts themselves, having been chosen in
preference to mercantile candidates for the office,
of substantial and unshaken credit, to manage the
affairs of bankrupts as official assignees. We
expressed a hope, at the same time, that the re-
ports were not true ; but, as they have not been
contradicted, we suppose it must be taken as
granted that some such appointments have been
made. When we consider how important are
the duties which the official assignee will have to
discharge, and how serious is the trust to be
reposed in hint, we cannot but feel the necessity
that the person chosen should be one in whose
character, as a merchant, broker, or accountant,
the public should have confidence, not only for
honesty, but skill, diligence, and judgment, in
the transaction of business. Now, the assignees
chosen from the class of persons who have been
themselves bankrupts may be very honest men, but
we take it that those who have brought their
own affairs to ruin, or who have fallen under
the suspicion of being deficient in capacity
or management, are not exactly the best per-
sons that could be chosen as the officers
of a legal tribunal to controul and manage
the affairs of others. The importance of the
trust which the yficial assignees will have to
discharge will at once be perceived by citing the
part of the Act relative to their appointment.
The 22d section sets forth " that a number of
persons, not exceeding 30, being merchants,
brokers, or accountants, or persons who are, or
have been, engaged in trade in the cities of
London or Westminster, or the parts adjacent,
shall be chosen by the Lord Chancellor to act as
official assignees in all bankruptcies prosecuted
in the said Court of Bankruptcy—one of which
said official assignees shall, in all cases, be an
assignee of each bankrwpt's estate and effects,
together with the assignee or assignees to be
chosen by the creditors—such official assignee
to give such security, to be subject to such rules,
to be selected for such estate, and to act in such
a manner, as the said Chief and other Judges,
with the consent of the Lord Chancellor, shall,
from time to time, direct ; and all the personal
estate and effects, and the rents and profits of
the real estate, and the proceeds of sale of all
the estate and effects, real and personal, of!
the bankrupt, shall, in every case, be possessed
and received
i by such official assignee alone—
save where t shall be otherwise directed by the
said Court of Bankruptcy." The Act goes on
to direct that the official assignee shall pay into
the Bank of England, to the credit of the
Accountant-General of the Court of Chancery,
all public stock, Exchequer Bills, moneys, ne-
gotiable securities, &c., subject to the regulations
and orders of the Lord Chancellor, the Court
of Review, or any Judge of the Court of Bank-
Yuptcy ; and it provides that, in cases of neglect
by assignees to make such transfer or delivery,
every such assignee shall be liable to be charged
in the same manner vs in cases of neglect by

assignees to invest money in the purchase of
Exchequer Bills, when directed so to do ; it also
provides that, until assignees shall be chosen by
the creditors of each bankrupt, the official as-
signee shall be deemed to be, to all intents and
purposes, a sole assignee of each bankrupt's
estates and effects. Need we sav another
word to prove that the person in whom
so great a trust is to be reposed, and on whose
skill, capacity, diligence, and integrity in dis-
charging it, the interests of the creditors so
mainly depend, should be a person whose cha-
racter, as a mercantile man, ought to inspire
confidence ? On the subject of the choice of
assignees a correspondent writes us a letter, from
which we make the following extract :—" Your
remarks the other day on the choice which the
City Commission have made of those mer-
chants, brokers, or accountants, who were
considered, out of all the applicants, as fittest
for filling the appointment of official assignees,
are so completely unanswerable, that they only
lead one to express an astonishment that men so
respectable, as a body, as those on the Commis-
sion undoubtedly are, could have fulfilled the
trust reposed in them so as to produce such
general dissatisfaction. That much dexterity
and management have been brought into play is
evident, for, otherwise, how could they so have
misconstrued the designation of a merchant,
broker, or accountant (who are alone eligible by
the Act), as to have returned some of the names
which have been published, or to have conceived
that a habitue of the Stock Exchange could be
fitted for the appointment, when it is notorious
that, of all men in the world, persons of that
class are the least adapted for the patient inves-
tigation and labour of a counting-house ?"
Without meaning disparagement to any class of
persons, but looking to the language of the Act,
and the duties to be performed, we cannot but
be of opinion that the Stock Exchange was not
the place to seek for a " merchant, broker, or
accountant," qualified to discharge the duties of
an official assignee. A place where men become
suddenly rich or suddenly ruined has not a ten-
dency to produce those habits of regular and ac-
curate industry which seem necessary to extricate
a bankrupt's affairs from confusion, and put them
in a train for satisfactory adjudication. As to
the country Commissioners, who are not yet
chosen, we coincide in opinion with another Cor-
respondent, that the Act is so worded as to
render their appointment at or before the time of
the new Court coming into operation imprac-
ticable. The new Court is to be opened on the
11th of January, and the country Commis-
sioners are to be selected from among the bar-
risters, solicitors, and attorneys, acting in the
several counties, whose names shall be returned
by the Judges going the several circuits ; but as
the Assizes will not commence until March, it
is clear that no such returns can be made before
that time—so that the country business in bank-
ruptcy may he transacted under the old system,
or not at all.—Morning Herald.
We find we were premature in assuming from
the result of two Courts-martial, which were
held the other day at the King's Mews barracks,
that we should hear no more of the revolting
practice of flogging in the Army and Navy. The
cases to which we allude were those of two de-
serters, and the sentence inflicted on them was
imprisonment and hard labour in the House of
Correction. We hailed the prospect with satis-
faction, because we felt that the practice of in-
flicting torture, under the name of punishment,
was disgraceful to the service and to the country.
The sentiments of his Majesty, which are known
to be strongly opposed to flogging, appeared to
favour the view we had taken of the subject:
but another Court-martial has since been held,
an account of which was given in our Paper of
yesterday, and we regret to add, that in this new
case flogging was again resorted to, as a practice
becoming the character of a military tribunal, an
enlightened age, a free people, and a Christian
country. The case we now refer to was that of
James Holman Wedderhurne, a private in the
second regiment of Coldstream Guards, who
was tried by Court-martial in the Tower. His
offence was insubordinate conduct ; no doubt a
great offence where discipline is of so much im-
portance, but still capable of being greatly modi-
fied by circumstances ; and the account charges
him, not with striking, but with insulting and
using threatening language to his serjeant. The
sentence pronounced, as we have already stated,
was flogging—that barbarous, inhuman, de-
grading species of torture, which we vainly
hoped our military tribunals had at
length become ashamed of. Three hun-
dred lashes with the cat-o'-nine tails were in-
flicted on the man. He bore them with ex.
emplary fortitude. The account says, " On
being released from the halberts lie did not be-
tray the least signs of pain, though the flesh on
his back was cut and lacerated in a dreadful
manner, and the blood was streaming down his
body." Our readers will shrink from this state-
ment ; but it is right that the fact should be
known, that the nature of this torture, which is
practised in our streets and on the bodies of Eng-
lishmen, in an age which boasts its humanity,
should be held up to universal reprobation. It
is not by aggravated descriptions of the offence
that such a mode of punishment can be justified :
it ought not to be inflicted for any offence ;—it
is in its nature at variance with the principle
upon which all punishment is founded ; and its
effects are calculated to destroy every chance of
improvement and every ray of hope in the mind
of the unfortunate sufferer. The fortitude with
which this man stood out the torture is a proof
that though criminal in one act, not necessarily
implying moral depravity, he possessed a mind
worthy of a better fate. But we cannot blame
those who were educated in the practice for ad-
hering to it, when Parliament permits the prac-
tice to exist. How it could have continued so
long is almost inexplicable ; it would be quite so
if we were not acquainted with other long-lived
abuses. The time, however, is, we hope, not
far distant when the Legislature will awake from
its apathy, and redeem its character by removing
from its list of punishments one that ought not
to be inflicted upon man. A single clause in
the Mutiny Act would be sufficient to accom-
plish an object so desirable ; and that single
clauseis,to the present hour, withheld.—Morn-
ing Herald.
The question to be considered with regard to
tithes is, in the first place, whether the clergymen
of the National Church are to be deprived of
their usual means of support or not ? We have
said no ; and we repeat that the good feelings
and the higher principles of religion must in-
duce every genuine Englishman to do his duty by
the established religion. But it may be said
that there is no necessity for supporting an esta-
blished religion ill alliance with the State ;. a
doctrine which we never can admit. Is religion
necessary for the protection of a State ? Is re-
ligion necessary for the good government of
mankind, no matter what the form of diverse
Governments may be ? These are questions

•s:
which do not merely interest the particualio-
vernment of England, but every other Govern-
ment in all the civilized countries in Europe.
In the pew-(angled theories of some ofour modern
systems the support of religion is stigmatised as a
species of truckling to what are callendae ofnti-
quated abuses ; but let us ask, in the name
common sense, in what age, or in what country
have wholesome civil institutions long prevailed
without the aid of the divine authority as con-
veyed to all Christians through the Sacred
Scriptures ? With the lessons of ancient history
before us, to which might be added the decline
of nations in more modern times, what can be
said against the necessity of attending to the
duties which religion imposes upon us, and above
all that reformed religion to which every Civil
Magistrate, from the King down to the lowest
officer in the State, is bound to adhere ? Few
sensible men ever think of denying the necessity
of religious influences as regards the intercourse
of society; and why should a Government, if
it be sincere and just, act in contravention of
the combined laws which the State and religion
equally sanction, and ought to enforce for the
common good ? That the Protestant Church
of Ireland is at this moment in a state of immi-
nent peril is but too obvious. The great mass
of the population of that country is apparently
subject to the controul of one wicked and un-
principled man, by whose omnipotent voice its
opinions, its passions, and its conduct are swayed
and wielded at discretion—who is without a
rival, a competitor, or even a partner in his
boundless authority, before whose giant power
Government and law seem to shrink into insig-
nificance. And what are the individual qualities
to which we can rationally ascribe this unbounded
ascendency of Mr. O'Connell over the Irish
people ? Is he brave above other men ? Is he
noble or generous above other men ? Is lie
even able or eloquent above many others of
his countrymen ? To none of these causes
can we attribute the ascendency he has ac-
quired and continues to exercise over the
minds of the people. The power of Mr.
O'Connell consists in the fact that he is the
creature and instrument of the Papist Priesthood
of Ireland ; that he is the active and zealous
agent of a deep conspiracy against the religion,
the peace, and the integrity of this Protestant
empire ; of a conspiracy which has long existed,
and which has rapidly grown in audacity and
strength, the effect of a long succession of
triumphs ; of a conspiracy which must be crushed
if it be not intended that the Protestant Religion
shall cease to be the religion of the State, and
that Ireland shall cease to form a portion of the
British empire. We cannot believe that even our
present Liberal Reforming Government, who de-
fer so much to threats of popular violence,
will ever consent to abandon the Protestant
Church to the implacable rancour of its
enemies ; nor that they in any degree sanction
the astounding doctrines laid down by some of
their partisans. The Courier, in answer to our
recent observations upon the Irish tithe, says,
" Are not the inevitable consequences of the
system--the outrages, the murders of which we
daily hear—sufficient proofs of fundamental)
error and vice ?" This is truly admirable. I
Fundamental error and vice in whom or in what ?
Would it be believed, were not the fact before
our eyes, that hatred of the Church should carry
a public writer so far as to induce him to assert
that daily outrages and murders are not proofs
of " vice" in the savages who commit them, but
solely in the system against which they are di-
rected ! The murderer is free from blame, the
victim alone is the criminal ! The Courier
follows up the observation just quoted by asking,
" Is it necessary to ask for rebellion and mas-
sacre to show that the present system is radically
wrong ?" We really cannot bring ourselves to
observe further on the monstrous doctrines which
it is thus sought to establish. Let them, how-
ever, be marked and remembered among the phe-
nomena of the present reforming and enlightened
age.—Morning Post.
We have been reminded, that in noticing a
statement respecting the revenues of the Esta-
blished Church in Ireland, which was inserted
in our columns of Wednesday last, we omitted
to observe, that the subject of the Irish first
fruits is at present before Parliament, and will,
early after its next meeting, come under consi-
deration ; and we find, on looking over the
votes of the House of Commons, that a notice
has been given by Sir John Newport of his in-
tention to bring in a Bill for the regulation of
the First Fruits' Fund in Ireland. We also ob-
serve that detailed accounts of the receipt and
expenditure of the Trustees of the First Fruits,
from the Union to the present time, have been
called for by Lord Ebrington. This is all very
good, and will show how much has actually
come into the coffers of these Most and Right
Reverend Trustees, and how it has been applied
since the Union. But Mr. Cooke's Epitome
goes a little further, and we there see what might
and ought to have been received during that pe-
riod by this overgrown, wealthy, Ecclesiastical
Corporation. Mr. Cooke appears to have
drawn his information from the returns made
to Parliament by the Remembrancer of First
Fruits, whose laudable exertions in endeavour-
ing to render the First Fruits Revenue really
efficient and productive, it may be recollected,
were met by the frowns of the Hierarchy
and the threats of the then Irish Minister,
Mr. Goulburn, when it was intimated to
the officer, that if he persisted in doing his
duty, he would be deprived of his patent, which
was said to be held during pleasure. In vain
was it urged by Mr. Shaw Mason, that he was
contending for a principle in which it was the
bounden duty of the Archbishops and Bishops
to protect and support him—namely, for " the
right of the Crown to improve the fund for the
benefit . of the Church." It would not do—
their Graces and Lordships were both the payers
and' receivers of the fund ; an appeal was made
to the Law Officers of the Crown, the contrac-
tors and coadjutors in the waste and mismanage-
ment of the first fruits' revenue ! Opinions
were obtained, sanctioning the conduct of the
co-trustees, and condemnatory of those of the
officer, and of the able and talented barrister, the
late Mr. C. E. Allen, by whose council and
advice he was entirely guided ; and to the dis-
grace of the then Administration, the Irish Go-
vernment lent itself to an act, for which they
undoubtedly would be impeached before tha Re-
formed Parliament. And as it now appears,
from Mr. Cooke's labours, the first fruits' fund
has been thereby deprived of nearly one million
and a quarter of money (we think the estimate
is rather under-rated, and might be taken at one
and a half or three-quarters) since the date of
Mr. Mason's patent, in 1812, while, during that
period, Parliament has been called upon by the
Irish Church, and has actually advanced up-
wards of half a million of the public money
to supply the deficiency caused by the wil-
ful mismanagement of this sacred trust. Thus

it appears that enormous sums have been diverted 1
from the proper fund to enrich, to the injury o f
their poorer brethren, the hierarchy and pluralists
of the richest endowed church in Christendom.
We recollect that the whole of this dark and
foul transaction was brought before the public
shortly after it occurred, and was severely com-
mented upon by Mr. Hume in his place in Par-
liament ; when he fearlessly exposed the injustice
and iniquity of both Church and State on the
occasion, and boldly taunted the Irish Minister
with his threat of removing a public officer for
an honest discharge of his duty ! But we regret
to find that other means of annoyance and in-
jury were afterwards resorted to against Mr.
Mason, for which, as yet, he has not been able
to obtain redress. We trust, however—indeed,
we are quite certain—that the time has at length
arrived for correcting those enormous abuses,
and for both public and private justice; and we
sincerely hope, that ere long Sir John Newport
will have to boast of—(as Moore, in his " Life
of Captain Rock," expresses it)—" another of
those triumphs which the country owes to his
honest zeal," by inducing Parliament to enforce
a full collection of First Fruits in Ireland ;
thereby assisting the poorer clergy, and at the
same time relieving the Catholic Peasant from
being called upon to contribute to the building
of Protestant Churches !—Morn. Chronicle.

CHOLERA MORBUS.

(From the Times' Correspondent.)
NEWCASTLE, DEC. 28.

The cholera still continues its sweeping progress
in Gateshead, leaving, when time is taken into com-
parative estimate, the record of cases in Newcastle
and Sunderland far behind. In Gateshead, accord-
ing to the report of this morning, 44 new cases have
occurred, and during the short term of three days
there have been 143 cases, 55 deaths, and only 20
recoveries. To-day there were 19 burials in the
Chapel-yard of persons who died of cholera. The
poorest inhabitants of the town seem now thoroughly
alarmed, and in walking through the streets I was
struck with the aspect of popular excitement which
met the eye in every direction. The doors of houses
and the thoroughfares of lanes were crowded with
groups of people in earnest discussion about the
nature of the rapid " plague" which had carried off
their relations or acquaintances. Professional men
are puzzled to account for the more rapid extension
of the cholera in Gateshead than in any other of the
infected localities. While entertaining this ques-
tion, it should not be forgotten, that Gateshead and
Newcastle, where the distemper has prevailed dur-
ing the last three weeks, are united by a bridge, and
only separated in other parts by the river Tyne,
which flows beneath it. On the approach of Christ-
mas, the lower classes of the people gave them-
selves up to intoxication ; and it has been the re-
mark of persons intimately acquainted with their
habits, that a large proportion of the people of
Gateshead were in a state of drunkenness on last
Friday night, on Saturday, and on Sunday night.
Their intercourse during this period with people of
a similar class in Newcastle was very frequent ; and
on Saturday this was still further increased by the
influx of visiters to the latter, to be present at the
great market that was holden on Saturday.
At Gateshead-fell, two miles beyond Gateshead,
a considerable number of persons have been attacked
with cholera. Of ten cases that had occurred pre-
vious to yesterday at noon, five had died. All of
these appeared in the same neighbourhood, and they
presented one of the most miserable features con-
nected with the pestilence; the subjects of the at-
tack were seen lying in pairs in the same room,
either dead or labouring under severe symptoms.
The history of the inroad in this quarter, as I have
received it, is rather curious, and it shall therefore
be noticed. Some time ago, a woman died of
cholera, in a place called Washington, about six or
seven miles from Sunderland. Two men who at-
tended the funeral of this woman were soon after-
wards seized—one died, and the other recovered.
The mother of the individual who died resided in
Gateshead-lell, and she insisted to have her son's
body brought home to the Fell, in order that it might
lie in her house for the usual period, preparatory to
interment. The body was accordingly brought
home, and with it the clothes of the deceased. From
the house which received the body, as from a focus,
the cholera is said to have spread to the houses i❑
the immediate vicinity.
Many individuals walk senselessly into the midst
of danger. It is of common occurrence to meet se-
veral visiters in the room where cholera is raging,
and persons from a healthy part of the country often
come to visit their sick friends in town, and thus fa-
vour the propagation of the disease. Amongst the
followers to the grave of the last corpse that was
buried to-day, there were six friends of the deceased
who had come from the country to attend the fu-
neral. People of reflection, however, are now be-
coming perhaps too cautious. Though the chapel-
yard is a new and open burial-ground, some of the
inhabitants object to its being appropriated to the
reception of cholera cases, as will be apparent in the
subjoined document :

" TO TIIE GENTLEMEN COMPOSING THE P.ARISII MEETING

OF GATESIIEAD, TO BE HOLDEN THIS DAY.

" We, the undersigned inhabitants, in the neighbour-
hood of St. Edmund's Chapel, request that you will this
day take into consideration the propriety of immediately
providing a piece of ground, where there are no dwel-
lings near, fur burying those who die of the cholera;
otherwise the whole neighbourhood is in danger of being
infected.

" ROBERT MEHRING. " ALEXANDER, BROWN.
" C. ANDERSON. " I). COOPER.
" M. ROBSON. " RALPH SMITH.
" CHARLES TEMPEST. " MARGARET MOWBRAY.
" JAMES WATSON. " J. HONEYMAN.
" JOHN GREY. " ELIZA ALEXANDER.
" Gateshead, Dec. 25."

NEW DETERMINATION OF THE PERIODS OF QUA-
RANTINE, FROM OBSERVATIONS MADE IN THOSE
COUNTRIES WHERE THE CHOLERA MORBUS PRE-

VAILS.

I. If the exact time which intervenes, between
the engendering of the disease called cholera and
its actual appearance in a person predisposed to be
affected by it, had been determined, one might fix
with certainty the period of quarantine, and any
prolongation of restraint beyond ,this period would
be unnecessary.
11. With the same certainty, the period of fumi-
gation of articles of merchandize slight be deter-
mined, if it could be ascertained how long goods
might be liable to convey infection, and how long
exposure to the air would neutralize the effects of
the virus, and, consequently, during how many days
they retain their contagious properties. This num-
ber of days, added to that during which the virus re-
mains hidden in the human body, before the disease
shows itself by exterior signs and appearances,
would regulate the period of quarantine and the pro-
cess of fumigation of susceptible articles of merchan-
dise suspected to be contagious.
111. If these facts were established, all the sani-
tary precautions would be limited to the shortest
possible period, and the restraint and expenses inci-
dent thereto would be regulated, as far as would be
necessary for the preservation of the public health.
Since this period is dependent on the nature of the
virus which is the object to keep off, it is evident
that it ought to vary according as contagious dis-
eases are dissimilar ; and to arrive at this certainty
with confidence, it would be necessary to collect to-
gether a number of incontestable opinions on the
subject.
IV. Nevertheless, since it is almost impossible to
obtain results upon this subject which admit of no
doubt, a:id that besides the confusion, losses,

trouble, and expenses occasioned by sanitary mea-
4ures are immense, the public authorities are com-
pelled to act, not according to established principles,
but as occasion may require, having to choose be-
tween two evils—on ono side is contagion, and on

the other wretchedness and want, !limiting from the
Stagnation of trade.
V. With a view of meeting these difficultieß, the
period of quarantine has been particularly limited in
countries at present infected with the cholera, and
as this arrangement has been made and justified by
experience, which must be the basis of all sanitary
laws, it is thought the same may be adopted with-
out losing sight of that prudence which the extent
of these evils demands.

VI. The physicians whom the King sent into
Hungary to inquire into the nature of the disease,
have in one of their reports declared that a period
of six days was the longest interval they had ob-
served to exist between the absorption of the virus
of cholera morbus, and the breaking out of the dis-
eise; and that after this period no person under the
restraint of quarantine had fallen ill. This assertion
has been repeated in their subsequent reports.
VII. Accounts also had been received from Vi-
enna, that after some religious ceremonies which
had brought together a crowd of people, the disease
had spread prodigiously. This allegation had been
so far confirmed, that it may be considered to have
been sufficient ground for a number of useful obser-
vations. In consequence of this appearance of the
cholera at Vienna, religious processions, proceeding
from devout but ignorant persons, took place in the
following order :—The first took place on the sth of
September, the second on the Gth, and the third on
the 7th. On the Bth the annual procession of Sr.
Peter took place in the heart of the town, and out-
side the village the fete of Marco Brun, at a short
distance from Vienna, where 12,000 persons were
collected. On the 9th a procession took place at the
church, which brought together a number of re-
ligious persons. From the 12th to the 13th the
number of the sick increased prodigiously, and were
augmented daily. It appears, then, that the action
of the virus develops itself between the third and
the fifth day, that is to say, that it may remain hidden
in the human body about three or four days, without
showing itself. This conclusion appears the more
probable, since it is supported by the opinion of all
those who have had any opportunity of making
observations on quarantine regulations and in the
cholera hospitals.
VIII. The Russians have adopted the opinion
that three days of observation are sufficient to prove
the existence or not of the seeds of the disease in
the human body. They think that the susceptible
articles .of merchandise require a larger time for
purification,,,-hich they have fixed at six days.
IX. The Prussians think that animate and in-
animate objects require an equal term of probation,
and they have deemed it necessary to impose a qua-
rantineof five days for both.
X. Our own physicians, who not knowing the
existence of the Russian and Prussian theories, have
passed twenty-one days in the Court of Contumacy
at Bruch, and have had an opportunity of ascertain-
ing facts, have asserted, on arriving at Vienna, that
after continual experience, every body who passed
the fifth day without being attacked by the cholera,
might be considered in very good health, all those
who had been attacked having shown the symptoms
before the third day, or in some cases the fourth day.
VI. It seems, then, certain, that if the virus of
the cholera is determined as violent and destructive
as that of the plague or of the yellow fever, it is less
obstinate, less durable, and easier to neutralize ; that
it does not retain so long its deleterious properties in
the inanimate objects to which it has attached itself,
however deeply it may have taken root. It is said,
in short, that the cholera which makes such pro-
gress in Europe took its rise in British India in
1817; that it there made great ravages during seve-
ral years, and that the English shipping during this
period has freely passed to and fro, and been ad-
mitted into the English ports without any unpleasant
consequences, which can only be attributed to the
length of time employed on those voyages, since it
cannot be doubted that there has been constant com-
munication kept up between persons and susceptible
goods arriving from India.
Xl[. The cholera is more precipitant in its effects
than the plague. The disease shows itself sooner,
makes a more rapid progress, and recovery is much
quicker. In this case delay may be dispensed with,
anti the term of quarantine shortened_ This p,in—

ciple admitted, the following rules have been esta-
blished :

" 1. Five days being the longest period before the disease
shows itself, this should be the term specified ; but by way
of precaution it may be extended to six days.
"2. A passenger, arriving with his baggage, is obliged
to remove it with his own hands, on the day of his arrival.
As occasion may require, another day may be allowed, and
in that case the period of quarantine must be extended to
seven days.
"S. Susceptible articles of merchandise confined in pack-
ages can only be fumigated by degrees. Thus the bales
are opened,—they ale removed with the bare arms, and
they are left in the open air during seven days ; after
which one day is employed to sew them up again en the
open side, to turn over and over again the packages,—to
open them, and to remove them ; then they are left in
the open air for a week—in all 15 days.
" 4. The precautions ought to increase on suspicion.
Two or three days way be added in the case of a suspected
bill, and the period of quarantine may be still farther
prolonged in the ease of a foul bill of health. Aud since
the Russian and Prussian pratiques are established in the
midst of the ravages of contagion, the same precautions
must be taken for the contagious bill as the foul bill, it
being well understood that the appearance of contagion
makes it necessary to suspend, and afterwards to recom-
mence, on the terminatio❑ of the malady, the course of
the quarantine. Fixing upon these rules, the term of the
sanitary interdiction is reduced in the case of the contagious
bill of health to 54 days, of which 22 have reference to
the foul bill, 17 to the suspected bill, and 15 to the clean
bill, with the declaration purporting that the country
interdicted cannot be restored to free pratique but by the
King's authority, en the application of the superior junta.
" 5. These principles to be applied to the maritime de-
partments not lying under the suspicion to be subject to a
simple observation, which shall not exceed the period pre-
scribed for the clean bill. The suspicion of the cholera is
only talked of here ; for if the suspicion attached itself to
all other pestilential diseases, it would be necessary to con-
form to the old rules, such as are in force in the lazarets."

XIII. No fixed principle directs the anti-conta-
gious sanitary police, that is founded upon expe-
rience, which always renders it distrustful. Howard
having made long researches in countries generally
infected by the plague, and conversed with physicians
who had long observed this disease, was convinced
that the presence of the pestilential virus in the
human body always shows itself before the 13th day.
At the present day it seems to_ be demonstrated,
that the virus of the cholera develops itself before
the 16th day. It is natural, then, to conclude, that
all the periods of separation can be reduced one-
half. With still snore confidence can this be as-
serted now that the disease is yet far from us, and
that we can collect a great number of facts and exact
observations before we are in a situation to apply the
rules already laid down.

ROCHDALE.—Trade here is unusually brisk,
with a demand exceeding the supply (for flansels) ; the
wages of the poor weavers, however, have not been in-
creased, but they are generally employed.—Manchester
Herald.

AFFAIR OF HONOUR.—Two non-commis-
sioned officers in the Artillery, in garrison at Douar, fought
a duel last Thursday, in which one of them, a fencing-
master, was mortally wounded. He had just obtained
leave of absence to celebrate his wedding, the banns having
already been published.

A saline spring impregnated with sulphur,
and not inferior in medical properties to any spar in Eng-
land, has recently been discovered at Burnham, on the
Bridgewater Bay, on laud contiguous to Marina Mont-
pelier. The proprietor, with a view to the accommodation
of visitors, is erecting a pump-room, and it is expected it
will be finished early in the ensuing summer.—Bath
Chronicle.

LORD TENTERDEN'S FiRsT.---The vile sin
of punning is so contagious that it has already infected
even the gravity of the English Bench. The other day,
in the coune of the trial of an action for a tailor's bill in
the Court of King's Bench, it appeared on the defence that
none of the clothes supplied fitted the defendant. " Then,"
observed the Loan CHIEF JUSTICE, with one of his be-
nignant smiles, "we must proceed according to the lex
talionis—the plaintiff must be non-suited."

BIRTHS.
On the 30th inst. in Hanover-terrace, Regent's-park, the lad/
of A. Bosanquet, of a son.
On the 29th inst. the lady of John Jones, of Clapham-commons
of a ion.

MARRIED.
On the lth inst. at Government House, Portsmouth, by sperm ,
cial licence, the Hon. C. F. Norton, M.P., third brother of the
Right Hon. Lord Grantley, to Maria Louisa, eldest daughter of
Major-General Sir Colin Campbell, K.C.B.,Lieutenant,Governor
of Portsmouth.
On the :Nth inst. at Southrepps, the Rev. J. Shirley, Rector
of Frettenham, Norfolk, to Catherine Louisa, eldest daughlrr,
of the late Rev. John Dolphin, Rector of Wakes Culne, ana
Pebmarsh; Essex.