The Sun.
London, England, 1847-12-27 00:00:00

THE CHOLERA.

•A PASTORAL LETTER TO THE CLERGY OF
THE DIOCESE OF LONDON. BY CiIARLES
TAMES BISHOP OF LONDON.
Reverend and dear Brethren,—There is every rea-
lm n to expect, as far as human judgment can look
forward to coming events, that the cholera, that
fearful and mysterious disease, which is again tra-
♦ersing the surface of the globe, and tracing, in
characters, which 071111 the wireless can hardly fail to
read, the power of God and the helplessness of man,
will, before long, make its appearance on our shores.
It is stated in the first report of the Metropolitan
Sanitary Commission, which has just been presented
to Parliament, that, according to information received
from the English Consuls abroad, this pestilence is
steadily advancing upon precisely its former track of
1832.

It appears to me that the near approach of this
fearful malady, while it gives to all a solemn warn-
ing, suggests certain duties of a special kind as proper
to be undertaken by the ministers of religion, in
addition to what may be deemed the more peculiar
functions of their spiritual office ; and it is to these
that I shall, in the first instance, request your atten-
tion. As on the one hand it is clearly one
of your first duties to impress upon the minds of your
people, whatever he their condition in life, the neces-
sity of an implicit trust in God, and of an entire
submission to his will, so on the other hand you will
discharge an office of real piety and charity in urging
upon them the importance of removing all those
physical causes which invite the approach of disease
and aggravate its malignity ; and in endeavouring to
persuade them that, while we may not look for a
blessing upon the resources or contrivances of human
skill, if they are not employed in humble reliance
upon the power and goodness of God, so neither, if
we neglect to use all probable and practicable means
of prevention and preservation, have we any reason
to expect that lie will especially interfere to rescue
us from the consequences of our own negligence.

Want of cleanliness is the greatest predisposing
cause. An uncleanly person will live in an un-
cleanly habitation ; and that person, and that habita-
tion, will be each a fumes of disease and infection,
when sickness comes ; a centre of contamination and
death to a whole neighbourhood ; and with this
additional and fatal peculiarity, that uncleanliness
speedily converts the milder forms of disease into the
more malignant. The dirtiest neighbourhoods were,
in every case, those where the cholera first appeared,
and where it assumed the most fatal type : nor were
instances wanting where it broke out, to all appear-
ance, spontaneously, with no discoverable existing
cause but that of extreme filth.
It is stated by the Sanitary Commissioners, that
whereas, "when it previously visited this country, it
was believed that the most powerful predisposition to
this disease is induced by improper or deficient food,
and that for this reason its chief victims are found
amongst the poor ; it is now universally admitted,
that a far more powerful predisponent is the habitual
respiration of an impure atmosphere ; that the highest
degree of susceptibility is produced where both
these conditions are combined—that is, where
people live irregularly, or on unsuitable diet, and
at the same time filthily ; and that, in places in
• which a great degree of cleanliness is maintained,
the poor, as well as the rich, enjoy an exemption
from this disease. That on an examination of
the actual state of the back streets, lanes, courts,
and alleys of the metropolis, it is found that in gene-
ral little or no improvement has taken place in their
sanitary condition since the prevalence of cholera in
1832 ; and that were this disease to break out again,
in the present state of these localities, there is no
reasonable ground to suppose that the pestilence
would not spread as extensively, and prove as fatal,
as on its former visitation."
These statements, which are borne out by abundantly-
sufficient evidence, appear to me clearly to point out
a line of duty fur the parochial clergy, in which they
may render themselves eminently useful, and which
is surely in close correspondence with the nature of
their office as the ministers of a Gospel of love; for if
to visit a sick parishioner and to minister to his re-
covery be one of their plainest duties, it is a still
more blessed work of charity to rescue, under the
blessing of God, whole masses of their poorer brethren
from the inroads of disease.
Suffer me then, reverend brethren, to urge upon
you *e duty of an active personal cooperation
with the authorities of your respective parishes, or
districts, in carrying out every practicable measure
of sanitary precaution and improvement ; and of
calling there attention to the subject, and inviting
them to form local committees for that purpose, where
you perceive a want of knowledge or of activity
your own share of this work of real beneficence will,
for the most part, be the not very easy task of con-
vincing those who are its objects of the advantages of
cleanliness ; and of persuading them, by motives of
the most powerful personal kind, to adopt, the sug-
gestions, and to submit to the regulations, which are
intended to promote their safety and increase their
comfort. You possess, from the nature of your
duties, a larger exi..ericnce than almost any other
persons of the actual state of the dwellings of the
poor, and of the nature and extent of that evil, which is
sometimes no doubt the result cf their own ignorance
or carelessness, but much more frequently, at least,
in the metropolis and other great towns, of deficien-
cies, which they have no means of supplying, and of
obstacles to cleanliness, which it is the duty of other
persons to remove.
The poor of this country are not, by uature nor
inclination, indisposed to cleanliness; on the contrary
it is almost always found that, if its means and appli-
ances be placed within their reach, so as to be acces-
sible without cost or trouble, they gladly avail them-
selves of them ; and it is never to be forgotten that, if
thousands and tens of thousands of our fellow Chris-
tians are at this moment living, and that too in the
very neighbourhood of our most sumptuous palaces
and halls, in the extreme depths of physical, social,
and moral degradation, and exposed to the most
imminent danger of perishing by disease, that is not
entirely, often not at all, their own fault; but the
fault of those whose duty it is, not only to teach them
the benefits of cleanliness and decency, hut to do
something towards furnishing them with the means
of being cleanly and decent, which, under their actual
circumstances, is nothing less than an impossibility.
* * * *

The extreme closeness and inconvenience of the
miserable tenements or apartments oceupie i by the
poorest classes, at rents, the excessive amount of
which cripples their means of comfort and cleanli-
ness, the inadequate supply of water, the want of
all provision for ventilation, the absence of all con-
veniences for personal ablution and household wash.
ing—these, and the disgraceful state of the sewerage
in the most. crowded part of the metropolis, are causes
which engander or aggravate disease, and hurry great
numbers of our fellow-creatures and neighbours to
an untimely grave.
I do not hesitate to express my opinion, that such
an amount of practical and personal attention to the
removal of these evils, as may not seriously interfere
with the discharge of those duties which are of a
more purely spiritual kind, may be not unreasonably
looked for on the part of those whose office binds
them to every exertion of charity, by which they
may promote the present and eternal well being of the
people committed to their care. I lay the greater
stress upon this point, because it is certain that per-
sons immersed in hopeless misery and filth are for the
most part inaccessible to the motives and the consola-
tions of the Gospel.
Let it then be one object of your pastoral visits to
observe the state of the poor man's dwelling, with
respect both to its internal economy, and to the con-
dition of its immediate precincts. Call the attention
of the proper officers to such cases as may appear to
require their interference ; and remind those mem
bers of your flock, whom Providence has entrusted
with the means of alleviating the misery of their
fellow-creatures, that a portion of their charitable
expenditure can hardly be more safely or profitably
directed than towards defraying the expense of cleans-
ing and ventilating the miserable abodes of those by
whole labour they are directly, or incidentally, be-
nefited; and you may add, that a very moderate
outlay, judiciously made, will accomplish a great deal
in 91e way of such improvement.
There is another point connected with this subject,
respecting which it is most desirable that you should
instruct and enlighten your parishioners, especially
the poorer classes ; seeing that' gnorance or misap-
prehension of the real state of the case may lead, as
it has heretofore led,ato.aa neglect of the most obvious
duties of humanity,
epidemic
a grievous aggravation of
all the horrors of an ns disease. I allude to the
mistaken opinion as to the supposed contagious nature
of the cholera, to which thel Sanitary Commissioners
refer in the following terms:—
" When cholera first appeared in this country, the
general belief was, that the disease spreads principally'
m
if not entirely, by communication of the •
infected
ai
with the healthy, and that, therefore, the
se-
curity of nations, cities, and individuals consisntsin
the isolation of the infected from the uninfected —a
doctrine which naturally led to the enforcement of
rigorous quarantine regulations ; the establishment of
military and police cordons; the excitement of panic;
and the neglect, and often the abondonment of the
sick by their relations and friends. Since oppor•
tunities have been obtained of a closer observation of
the character of this disease, and of the mode in
which it spreads through continents, nations, cities,
towns, and families, facts have been ascertained
which are incompatible with the foregoing view of its
mode of dissemination, and of its prevention. They
are dfiiiitilf.that the disease is not, as it was then
ge-s4l.prii4ect3,9 be, contagious, and that the
4AiOsiipli c that doctrine did no good, but
with much evil."
qi:ie stated
_by Mr. Greenhow, as quoted by the
‘CS:O**eisiisiionera, T" that when several members of one
Viiiilyiurfi been attsplied, it has usually been either

so precisely or nearly at the same point of time, as
to forbid the belief of one having communicated the
disease to another. And that the true principle of the
occurrence of such plurality of cases is to be found
in the common existence of predisposing causes,
natural or acquired, and a common exposure to the
efficient cause of cholera.
"That in the hospitals of Newcastle and Gates-
head, where, were there any such agent as contagion,
it must have been present in its most concentrated
form, no case has occurred of illness arising from at-
tendance on the sick, either in the persons of the
nurses, the resident apothecaries, or the attending, or
numerous succession of visiting, members of the me-
dical profession.
" That the notions of persons being infected by the
dead bodies of cholera patients appears equally un-
founded, since such suspected cases are referable
to other causes, and those most exposed to contact
with the dead, as medical men, in pursuing post-
mortem examinations, have not, in any instance,
suffered." Other evidence of a striking kind, to the
same effect is produced in the report of the Com-
missioners, who add, " that the witnesses concur in

stating their belief that the belief in contagion ope-
rated unfavourably both on the sick and the atten-
dants." "I daily see," says Mr. Hooper, "the per-
nicious effects of their belief in contagion. I see
patients affected with typhus, and other epiderni
diseases, neglected, and even abandoned, sometimes by
relatives and friends, and always by neighbours, from
the apprehension that they themselves shall become
the subjects of the disease."
I do not presume to hazard an opinion of my own
as to the much-disputed question of contagion ; but I
am sure that the deliberate judgment of the Sanitary
Commissioners, grounded upon the evidence of able
and intelligent members of the medical profession,
and apparently borne out by facts, may well be con-
si,:ered to justify you, as friends and advisers of the
poor, in labouring to relieve their minds from an
apprehension, which is calculated to chill and re-
press their natural sympathies at the very moment
when they are most needed, and to make them neg-
lect the discharge of those personal offices of kindness
to their sick friends and neighbours, which are then
most urgently required, to second the exertions of
medical skill. With respect to your own duty in
this particular, I feel that it would be something
worse than superfluous to offer anything in the way
of advice or exhortation. The fearless and untiring
charity manifested by the parochial clergy during the
former prevalence of cholera, in visiting and consoling
their sick and dying parishioners, is too well known
to require from me a single word of commendation for
the past or of direction for the future.
I proceed now to offer some suggestions with re-
spect to what may be more strictly termed your
spiritual duties at the present crisis; and if these
suggestions come last in order, it is not because I
deem them less important than those which I have
already made in the former part of this letter; but
because it seemed to me to be more necessary to in-
vite your attention to the necessity of those charitable
exertions which are only indirectly, as it were, and
contingently, a part of your duty, than to those which
are obviously hound upon you by the very nature of
your office. If I advert at all to these, you will
consider that I do it only in the spirit of friendly
counsel and encouragement, and, as the apostle says,
" To put you in remembrance, though ye know
them, and be established in the present truth."
I have before said that we have no reason, humanly
speaking, to expect an exemption from a second
visitation of the cholera; and that it is our duty to
use all the precautions which science and experience
have suggested for mitigating the terrors and check-
ing the ravages of that fearful disease. But we are
not to forget, that all events are in the hand of
_

,
an Almighty and merciful God ; that it may pos.

sibly be -hisw good pleasure,. contrary to all human
expectation, to spare us that infliction; and that,
whether it he so or not, it is our plain and unques-
tionable duty to throw ourselves upon His mercy, and
to implore His protection and indulgence. I would,
therefore, suggest to you the importance of earnestly
and affectionately exhorting your people to increased
degrees of seriousness, and vigilance, and self-re-
straint ; and of frequency and fervour in prayer to
God, that it may please Him to avert from us that
calamity, which we most justly have deserved; or,
that if its hould seem fit to Him, in his inscrutable wis-
dom, to lay the scourge upon us, we may submit our-
selves with all humility and meekness to His fatherly
chastisement, and have grace to turn it to our profit.
In urging upon the people committed to your charge
this most important duty of deprecation and inter-
cession, you will have many motives to suggest, which
it cannot be needful for me to particularise to those
who are conversant with the promises of God, con-
tained in Holy Scripture ; but I would remind you of
one topic, which appears to me to furnish a special
ground of encouragement to the performance of that
duty on the present occasion.
You are, no doubt, aware of the remarkable fact,
that when, fifteen years ago, this deadly malady was
stalking through the land unchecked, baffling., by its
novelty
Sand sudden force all theresourcee of human skill,
the day of public fasting and humiliation, on which
the nation proclaimed its dependence upon the power
and sootiness of God, while it earnestly besought Him

to stay the plague—wis immediately followed by a
sensible abatement of the disease ; and that in a very
short space of time its entire disappearance called
forth the voice of thanksgiving and joy.
Now we do not presume to assert that this happy
change followed from, though it followed close upon,
our public acts of humiliation and prayer ; but cer-
tainly the solemnity and apparent devotion which
marked the observance of the day of fasting, were
not more remarkable than the speedy decline and
cessation of the disease; and I hold it to be much
more unreasonable for one who believes in God's pro-
vidence to deny the connexion between the two, than
it is to admit it, and to regard the deliverance which
God then wrought for us in the light of a distinct
answer to prayer; affording solid grounds of thank-
fulness for the past, and of hope for the future.
If the effectual fervent prayer of one righteous
man availeth much ; if the intercession of Abraham
would have sufficed to rescue from destruction the
devoted cities of the plain, had ten righteous men
been found therein ; who shall presume to set a limit
to the efficacy of those prayers, which ascend to the
mercy-seat from the lips and hearts of a penitent and
humbled Christian people ?
Seek, then, to impress upon the minds of those
whom you are appointed to teach, that by earnest and
persevering supplication, in their private devotions, in
the offices of domestic piety, and in the public wor-
ship of the sanctuary, made effectual by His interces-
sion, in whose name and merits they are offered, they
may do much towards the safety and happiness of
those amongst whom they live, as well as their own.
Teach them to look upon the warnings and visitations
of Almighty God in the light of solemn calls to re-
pentance and amendment, and of invitations to
strengthen their trust in Him, and to animate their
piety ; according to the Apostle's exhortation, " Let
us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably,
with reverence and godly fear ; for our God is a
consuming fire." Admonish those who are stationed
on the vantage-ground of life, that after the most
strenuous exertions of benevolence-on their part to
avert the threatened scourge from their brethren,
they themselves may fall under it, and that the best
preparation for all classes is to do their duty, and to
put their trust in God.
I need hardly remind you, that while you endea-
vour to impress upon your people the duty of a special
attention to prayer, they are also to be admonished,
that no prayers will he effectual but those which are
dictated by truly penitent hearts, and seconded by
godly, self-denying, charitable lives. Increased fer-
vency in prayer will be vain and profitless, if there be
not a corresponding increase in the fruits of the spirit
—love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, good-
ness, faith, meekness, temperance. If, as is but too
probable, the visitation, which we apprehend to be
drawing near, should actually come upon us, it will
be specially needful to inculcate upon those who are
connected by the ties of family or neighbourhood,:the
duty of acting fully up to the spirit of the Apostle's
precept, which, indeed, relates to the sins and weak-
nesses of erring brethren, but is not less applicable to
their bodily wants and diseases—" Bear ye one
another's burden, and so fulfil the law of Christ."

Trusting that the peculiar circumstances of the pre-
sent crisis will be thought to justify me in addressing
to you the foregoing suggestions, and earnestly pray-
ing that the hands of my fellow-labourers in the
ministry may be strengthened by larger measures of
grace to meet the increased and increasing difficul-
ties of their sacred calling,
I remain, reverend and dear brethren,
Your affectionate friend and servant,
Fulham, Dec. 10. C. J. LONDON.

EXTENSIVE CONFLAGRATION IN BISHOPSGATE-
STREET.—Yesterday morning, shortly before three
o'clock, a fire, nearly attended with fatal consequences
to the inmates, broke out upon the premises occupied by
!qr. J. St. Losky, importer and manufacturer of cigars,
9, Bishopsgate street Without. The discovery was
made by police-constable Stringer, on seeing smoke issu-
ing from the second floor. After some trouble h• suc-
ceeded in rousing the residents, consisting of Mr. St.
Losky, his
shopinan, and a lad, and by the time he had
accomplished that, the escape belonging to the Royal
Societ7 for the Protection of Life from Fire had arrived,
of the first-named machine and also the police • pi sheet. Wood, the conductor
Sr. Losky ; the ahopman
inea,ndsucceeded in rescuing Mr.
fell over
in their anxiety to
scramble into the machine,
in
the jumping
its side, but fortu-
sheet below,
natFly they were caught
hgeThe progress
without receiving much personal kimPini
rolzf andl of the fire was such, that it penetratuerdy
abne been
hoeb obtained,
uthweereengirfesen%%tiefruel
enabled' to
ex-
tended to Nos. 8 and 10 in the same street.
flames; bur notwithstanding the -
encompass the fla •, b immense
calledsu p ply
into t owaotpeerr ahavingtion,
torrents of water distributed upon them, it was nearly
five o'clock before they could be extinguished.