The Sun.
London, England, 1847-03-18 00:00:00

DECCAN PRIZE MONEY.

Sir DE LACY EVANS said, seeing the. Bight Hon.
Baronet the President of the Board of Control in his
place, he begged to ask the question of which he hal
given notice—whether there was any likelihood Of a
speedy decision in this matter, as parties who stood in
need of it were deprived of it?
Sir J. C. 110BHOUSB. said he had answered the
question already, some three weeks ago, but he had
uo objeetion to state it again to the House. Ile
begged now to state, that since that date there had beer,
an adjustment, and the Government was now ready to
pay over to the trustees the sum of 2,2001.
SirDE LACY EVANS inquired whether tLe amount
of the recompense had been ueeided upon ?
Sir J C. HOBHOUSE said that that question had
been tcttled some time ago between the commissioners
of the Deccan priie money and the Court of Directors.
Mr. ll U bIE aaked whether the observation applied to
the 112,0001. ?
Sir J. C.-HOBHOUSE intimated that it did.
POOR-LAW (IRELAND).

Mr. J. O'JONNELL presented a petition, very nu
merously signed by the inhabitants of New Ross, com-
plaining that the present poor-law operated very juju-.
rionsly to them, and praying that a 'better system of
election for the guardians of the poor might be adopted.
They prayed that out-door relief might be given to the
able-bodied poor. They stated that the poOr-law, as
now administered, interfered with the religious dif-
ferences of the country; that the greater part of the
inhabitants of Ireland were Roman Catholics, and that
they had no sufficient influence in the direction of the
poor-law; that this interference with religious opinions
was greatly to be deplored; and that unless a better
principle were adopted in the new poor-law, it was the
impression of the petitioners that that House was totally
incompetent to make just and sufficient laws for Ireland.
Mr. J. O'CONNELL also presented a petition from
the Rev. Mr. Duggan, parish priest in Ireland, com-
plaining of a misrepresentation in the reports of Captain
Lynch.

ROYAL ASSENT. .
At this time Sir Augustus Clifford, the-Usher of the
Black Rod, appeared at the table, and summoned the
House to the House of Lords, to hear the Royal Assent
given to certain Bills (for which see L'lrdi' report).
0 PENING OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS.

Mr. HUME wished to ask—he did not, however, see
the First Commissioner of the Woods and Forest's
in Lis pltce, or he would have asked—whether as the
new House of Lords was to be shortly opened, any.
accommodation had been made for the Menibers of „the
House of Commons? for he (Mr. Hume) could pot see
any.

HOSPITAL AT PORT MAIION. s
Sir DE LACY EVANS gave notice: that on a futures
day he should put a question to the Noble Lord the
Secretary for Foreign Affairs with respect to a petition
which had been presented. praying-that a military hos-
pital might be erected at Port Mahon.
Mr. P. BORTHWlCKinformed the Hon. Member that
he had already given a similar notice.
Sir DE LACY EVANS withdrew his notice in favour
of that of the Hon. Member.

QUARANTINE LAWS.
Dr. BOWRING rose to move for a continuation c.

the correspondence with respect to these laws.

said althotigh the subject was an uninviting one, y.l
the discussion which had taken place upon it
had gone far to prevent uudue espionage by the Crown.
The discussion had also done much to remove many dis•

abilities under which travellers and others labour-0

consequence of the existence of.those laws. He was sure,
also, that every additional discussion would tend towards
the same end; and it was with that view that he felt it his
duty to move for the continthition of the correspondence
which had taken place" since the subject was last under
the attention of the House. The sanatory condition of

the people was intimately connected with those laws, and
he was not• without hope that the time was not far
distant when those laws would be removed altogether.
The best results had followed alterations in those.
laws in the west of Europe, and in the Levant.
Plague, Mtn all other diseases, was materially increased
when circumstances concurred to promote its propaga-
tion. lie need not refer to any instances to illustrate
the truth of this proposition. That celebrated case in
1 Calcutta, where, out of 140 individual.:, more than
100 perished in a single night, was a melancholy proof
of it. That fact was notorious to every reader of history,
and demonstrated the pernicious effects of unventilated
and confined places. In the last session, at•
tendon was called to the great mortality on
board the Et lair, and this mortality, which was not
unfrequontly to be found on b.tarl ship, was b
bo attributed to the same cause,- and bore evi-
dence, to the truth of the facts to which he caller
the attention of th House. In a disp,ltch which had been
sent by Lord Palmerston to Lord Pousonby in 1839,
and is hich had been presented to the Turkish
Divan, these truths had been recognised. II(
considered that by the progress of the raiitary im:
provements of large cities, the elements of disease would
be gradually removed. An improvement in this respect
was no doubt going on in Egypt, in Turkey, ant
in various other parts of the worl:l. end he believed that
a greater knowledge of the causes and character of the
plague would tend to remova many of those appre-_
hensions of groundless alarms which had been ex•
cited in the minds of the timid. In the time
of Ilerodotus, Egypt was considered to be a very healthy
country ; but in consequence of the inattention of the
people, the marshy nature of some parts of the soil, the
anarchy which had existed for centuries, and the
wretched character of its inhabitant's, had :ended to make
that country one of the most unhealthy in the world.
It N% as a well known fact that plague had never entered
into any of the colder latitudes. The voyage was noes
made from England to India in a very 1.,:w days.
On the other aide of the Atlantic, where peat attention
was paid to the health of the inhabitants in the United

States. There were no quarantine-laws, and vessel:
crossed the Atlantic in a much shorter time than the)
did heretofore; in ten or eleven days Europe
now . communicated with ~-Amotica. These laws
were founded in ignorance and in ignorant
they found their suPfrert*. and a,•tochment
them was found strongest it liose countries where the
knowledge of reed'eine least prdiailed. In those parts
of Italy where the science of medicine was most back-
ward, such as Naples, they were most strict in the
pres. rvation
,and observation of quarantine. But with
the progress of inquiry, and attention to the sUbje ct,
alarm had become disipated, and the previous account
were found to be without foundation. The end of all
this had be, n that great changes were extorted I.roir, Go-
vernment by the might and irresistible influence of public,
'opinion. The quarantine laws, however, were connected,
with the pecueiary interests of a vast number or persons.
The State paid 15,5001. a year for their maintenance,
and he found that in Liverpool there were ninety
persons dependent upon them, while in Rochester
there were no less than seventy. If they were to be
paid for in this way, there would be always read)
advocates to support it. Persons would be found to
support witchcraft itself if it could be paid 'or; and the
quarantine laws would never lack support while the State
paid 15,0001. a year to those who were their advocates.
For a long time they had the support of medical autho-
rity in favour of these laws ; but, most honourable to the
profession, that support was withdrawn. The soundest
evidence had issued from places where the plague was
endymie, which had thrown such a light on the subject
as to induce the introduction of considerable moditica-
rioes in the system. In 1838 Mr. Lewis, in an official
communication on the subject of these laws, writing
from Malta, where there was a great prejudice in favour
of the system, said, " It is notorious that the modes in
which plagues were communicated very imperfectly.
That many of the grounds on which the continuance of
these laws rests are little better than vague hypotheses.
Again, Dr. Robinson, in speaking of Egypt and
Turkey, in an official communication, in 1841,
stated that those frightful diseases prevalent in those
countries arose from local causes, and stated that the
, plague could not be communicated in pure atmo-
sphere, but that be was not prepared to say that
it could not be communicated in confined places.
or in impure atmosphere. Mr. Grant also stated that
he was aware of thousands of cases where it had notcom.
municated, when there was proximity to diseased parties.
He had known instances of persons completely ex-
cluding themselves from contact with others, and taking
the utmost precaution with respect to their clothing and
food being nevertheless attacked by the descase, and
becoming victims to it. 13ut the most remarktable cir-
cumstance in connexion with the descase had been
elicited by a Commission of Inquiry which was aßeointed
by the Royal Academy of Medicine of_. France it . 1844.
The Commission wile appointed to inquire into the
who% subject of plague and quarantine, and consit ted of
men of the very highest professional and scientific
character. They received every assistance about the
Government could give them. They immediately put
themselves into communication with persons elm) had
frequented the Levant, Cairo, Constantinople,:e awl
other localities in which the disease created the mast
fearful ravages. After directing their attention ten the
subject fur two years they published a report, to which
they appended .. a volurnous body of evidei ice
which they had collected, on the subje ct.
They stated in their report that fhe
facts they had been enabled to collect extending os .er
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as we 'll
as up to a late period, proved incnntrovertabl
that the disease bad a spontaneous origin.
conclusion come to by the Academy was that i., 1
those countries which the plague had visited—in Egyr4e
Syria, and Turkey, and in several other places inAfrice;
Asia, and Europe, it was not spontaneous ; and
in •those countries where it did originate, that
it was caused by animal deposits in the alluvial sr'
adjoining such rivers as the Nile and the
phrates, by the action of putrescent ani
vegetable substances, by insufficient ar
some food, and by physical and '—
With regard to
It would

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