The Sun.
London, England, 1847-11-03 00:00:00

trtnin

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 184

The first duty of a Ministry is by every prac-
ticable means to develop the industrial re-
sources of the country over whose destinies
they have been selected to preside, to stimulate
employment, so that every man, able and will-
ing to work, may find a market for his labour,
and be enabled to maintain himself and those de-
pendent on him, from the profits of his own honest
industry. There must be something radically defec-
tive in the condition of any nation when myriads of
its inhabitants, who might be the producers of national
wealth, are compelled to remain without occupation,
and to consume unproductively in place of increasing
the national resources. The wretched state of Ireland
affords a melancholy example of the results of pauper-
izing an entire kingdom. We have witnessed a
land of extraordinary natural fertility, with
magnificent harbours and rivers, vast quan-
tities of labour easily attainable —in fact
a drug in the market—and all the elements of na-
tional prosperity—and to what a depth of misery has
she fallen—and from what ? Simply from the mis-
government of her rulers through a long series of years,
which has led to the lands not being half cultivated,
producing scarcely one-fourth of what could be
obtained therefrom ; to millions of acres, that might
easily be reclaimed so as to pay at least ten per cent.
on the amount expended on their improvement, re-
maining utterly waste and unproductive, and to
the bulk of her population remaining in a state of
inutility, when the proper application of their labour
would change the entire condition of their country
from one of the deepest distress to great prosperity—
would convert the trackless wastes into smiling and
well-cultivated homesteads—and the squalid hovels,
now the abodes of misery and desitution,
into humble but cheerful cottages, inhabited
by a happy and contented people. And yet
to attain those blessings, to make Ireland the
right arm and support of Britain, in place of a
grievous and weighty burden, all that is required is
the due application of her own internal resources
—she requires but little, if any, foreign assistance.
The want of capital is said to be her chief grievance,
from which all her miseries proceed, owing to which
there is a stay to every species of improvement, to
every description of productive employment. But
this is not so. In the vast amount of labour that is
at her disposal she possesses a real capital, far more
valuable than if she had heaps of hoarded bullion in
her banks. The latter would be absolutely useless
but for an ideal and fictitious value attached thereto ;
the former is the real foundation of national wealth.
Capital is nothing but hoarded labour, and al-
though Ireland has
not,
of the same causes by owing to the existence
the
she is still depressed,
laid by, and accumulatedw hmdaonuments of past in-
dust
w,
hich she possesses in abundance the only source
it can be obtained. The mine is there
well stored with the precious metals, but it remains un-
wrought and neglected. Her great
eraenals-worant has been
of a representative of value, of a means
motion that vast quantity:of labour, and having utt'tin judi-
ciously in
ciously and discreetly applied through fitting channels.
Money has been too scarce, and commanded too high
a price, too exorbitant a rate of interest. There was
not a sufficient circulation for the wants and exigen-
cies of the nation, and consequently improvements
were not attempted, works were left undone, the
people were compelled to be satisfied with the scan-
tiest subsistence of the coarsest description, even in
the most propitious seasons, without the slightest
superfluity, while at an adverse period they were
reduced to the most fearful state of destitution, and
dependent on the charity and benevolence of other
nations for the means of dragging on the most
wretched existence.

And such is the condition to which our own once happy
land will be brought if we persevere in an obstinate
adherence to the unwise and pernicious monetary law
under which for twenty-eight years we have been re-
stricted, and by which all our energies have been weak-
end Aad iraNired) which rendered the znition far less

'prosperous during seasons of universal peace and
tranquillity, when the Temple of Janus might be
said to have been closed throughout the whole of the
civilised world, than it had been during the conti-
nuance of the most sanguinary and expensive wars.
Already tens of thousands of labourers have been
driven from their employment, and with their families
exposed to the most painful privations. Artizans
and operatives of every description have either been
obliged to remain in perfect idleness or to work short
time. No class of labour has been spared. A shout
of triumph has been raised because the railway
works have at length been stayed, and the directors
in consequence of the inordinate price of money,
at length obliged to yield; but that yielding
has necessarily been accompanied by the discharge of
many thousand navigators. The progress of our
industry, the erection of works, that would remain
perpetual monuments of our power have been ar-
rested ; and why ? because we sacrifice everything
to the maintenance of a currency founded on
a gold basis which is wholly insufficient
for the wants of the country. We make
money dear by artificial means. Formerly usury
was prohibited by law under weighty penalties, be-
cause it was known that when carried to too great
an excess it crippled our trade and commerce, and
checked production. Then, interest after the rate of
five per cent. was the highest that could legally be
taken on any transaction, anything greater than that
being looked on as deeply injurious to all the national
interests, and contrary to public policy. Now the
Bank of England is prohibited by Government from
discounting at less than eight per cent., and it is
needless to say that under such circumstances the
rate throughout the country must be at least from
ten to twelve per cent.—a rate which, if maintained
for any prolonged period, must prove destructive
to our merchants and traders, and act almost
as a prohibition to our manufactures. It is impos-
sible that such a system can be con-
tinued. The country will not submit to it.
Them must be a circulation proportioned to the
wealth, to the taxation, and to the population of the
kingdom. The undue scarcity at present creates a
scramble amongst the different interests, each
ascribing their own sufferings to the undue demands
of others. There should be enough for the legiti•
mate demands of all. Mr. LOCKS, in his " Considera-
tions on Money," has afforded an apt illustration of
this state. lie says, " People not perceiving the
money to be gone ere apt to be jealous one of
another, and each suspecting another's inequality of
gain to rob him of his share, every one
will be employing his skill and power the
best he can to retrieve it again, and to
bring the money into his pocket in the same plenty
as formerly. But this is but scrambling amongst
ourselves, and helps no more against our want than
the pulling off a short coverlet will among children
that lie together, preserve them all from the cold.
Some will starve unless the father of the family pro-
vide better, and enlarge the scanty, covering." All
the evil is ascribed to the demands of the railways,
whereas it should be to the inadequate circulatioa.
The only remedy is for the father of the family(;
Government) to enlarge the scanty covering
give sufficient for all ; and this can only be,..;
the adoption of a national currency, which
of the due development of the national and

In pursuance of the intention annr
mpression of yesterday, we shall n(
Particularise the more important of ,to
eau-
tionary measures which it would be
arit.T.6l)te roe the
Legislature to take pending the preparation of a com-
prehensive Act for the enforcement of a system of
sanitary improvement.
The diminution of the mortality should be the prin-
cipal aim of these precautionary measures. The in-
creased comfort and happiness of the community
would be their inevitable concomitants. Now, to en-
sure the forumr success, it is absolutely requisite that
the Executive should discover, first, the most destruc-
tive diseases—the diseases which more than any other
thin the population—that they should thereupon trace
out the causes of their frequency, and see whether or
not it is possible to diminish the number of their
victims by removing the more deleterious of the
agencies by which they are produced. The
returns of the Registrar- General will furnish the
necessary statistics, tike writings of our most popular
and intelligent physiolcgists will indicate the abuses
by which the different maladies are originated, and
the newly appointed body of Sanitary Commissioners
can readily superintend these investigations, and deli-
berate upon the course most advisable under the cir-
cumstances to be adopted.
To come to the point :—Among the most destructive
and prevalent of the various maladies to which the
human race is subject are consumption and pulmo-
nary diseases generally. This is proved by the fact
that in the September quarters of 1845, 1846, and
1847, the persons who perished from the former were
1,558, 1,784, and 1,581, in London alone. Of those
destroyed by inflammatory affections of the lungs in
the same quarters, and in the same district, there were
1,111, 977, and 1,071. Surely these figures are suffi-
cient to attest the frequency with which death is in-
flicted through the respiratory organs. Common
sense will convince one at the first instant that dis-
eases are acquired in those organs in the act of in-
spiration, in the pernicious qualities of the air
which is inhaled, and in the constant subjection of
the lungs to the influences of that baneful atmo-
sphere. What we would see done, therefore, by the
Legislature for the diminution of the numbers com-
prised in these tables of the national mortality is
rather the removal of the causes of consumption, and
of inflammation of the lunge, than the restoration to
health of those whose lungs are already affected.
We demand rather precautions for the future than
assistances for the past. The discovery of remedies for
this most subtle of maladies is more appropriately the
theme of individual enterprise and philanthropy. It
is for physicians like Dr. IlAsTiscs to discern
whether decline can be eradicated by the use of pyro-
ascetic spirit, or, as it is more commonly called,
naphtha ; it is for those who are personally actuated
by sentiments of benevolence to see whether those
compound agents are best in the treatment of phthiais
which are peculiarly rich in carbon and hydrogen.
The duties of the Legislature do not interfere in any
manner with these investigations—the duties of the
Legislature, in as far as the public health is con
cerned, being rather preventive than curative, rani
tary rather than sanatory.

What we cannot but conceive to be the principal
responsibility of the Sanitary Commissioners in re-
gard to the eradication of the tendencies to
phthisis or consumption, is this—the prevention of
the contamination of the atmosphere. This contami-
nation comes from an extraordinary variety of
sources. It comes from indifferent sewerage; from
the imperfect cleansing of streets, courts, and alleys ;
from the decay of animal matter consequent upon
tallow-boiling, the slaughtering of cattle, knackers'-
yards, ill-conducted tanneries, &c.; from the delete-
rious vapours evolved from chemical works, such as
those for the preparation of lead, colour, mercury,
water-gilding, corrosive sublimate, ammonia, sulphu-
ric and oxalic acid, as well as from lucifer-match and
floorcloth manufactories. It comes from the insuffi-
ciency of drains, or from their construction in an-
gular instead of oval channels ; from the exhalations
arising from open cesspools ; from the evils result-
ing from the lack of Cabinets-d'aisance ; from
the disgusting and poisonous gases which reek up
from the rotten soil of the intermural churchyards,
and from the deplorable ventilation of the workshops
and tenements of the industrial poor. The causes,
indeed, of the contamination of the atmosphere in our
larger and more populous cities are so numerous,
w d nb
purification e
that to destroy them effectually and immediately is
hooupuge l
eeass.
s t
arCba
ofl h, hishe
Clever
pas HERCULES was in cleansing the
A
eafriarumi
e of
df
London
e a swe there
he divinity
eb
to
oth
ueonfdrs
eecrmat ekvneagl
teohr
fes
the different abuses by which its naytural salubrity is
dissipated. Impracticable, however,
instant purification may appear as such an
at
L provedfirst sight,
it is certain that science has
re
it to be possible. Without closing the
pools, without bodily carry n
in away the Crescent
contents of the metropolitan graveyards, wil 'out put-
ting a stop to the operations of the tanneries, of the
abattoirs, of the knackers'-yards, or of any other of
those establishments which must necessarily accumu-
late large quantities of animal matter in advanced
stages of decomposition—the air may be Pit once re-

lieved of its pernicious qualities, and rendered suit-
able for human respiration. That such was possible
has been at different times imagined by Alessrs.
SHAW, and PRINGLE, and Mißaznr, and GUYTON, aid
DCPUYTREN, MORVEAU, and HANNEMANN. In
1831 it was conjectured by M. SALOMON, who then
contrived and patented a disinfecting powder called
" flair animalise," In 1844 M. SIRET concocted a
species of disinfecting paste. About the same period
M. SCHATTEMANN, of Bouvilliers, proposed the em-
ployment of sulphate of iron for a similar purpose.
But, one after another, these supposed disinfectants
were proved to bo wholly inefficacious. Belied for
the time in their researches, the analytical chemists
of Europe were by no means discouraged. They
knew that the injurious effect produced by feculent
matter was attributable to the constant evaporation of
sulphuretted hydrogen and ammonia, and they
determined by neutralising that evaporation to pre-
vent the surrounding atmosphere from becoming con-
taminated. Their researches have been successful; a
complete and effectual disinfection is ensured by the
liquid compound employed in the experiments of M
EDMOND DAM at Brussels, by M. COUTARET at
Paris, and by Mr. CHARLES F. ELLERMAN at Liver-
pool. Those experiments have been principally ef-
fectual in the disinfection of the feculent matter con-
tained in the sewers. The cheapness of this inesti-
mable fluid, its instantaneous efficacy, and the con-
sequent purification of the air in the neighbour-
hood of all such localities as are at present
the nests of contagion, renders it most
advisable that the Sanitary Commissioners should
render its employment compulsory. By thus clearing
the atmosphere in the more densely-populated dis-
tricts pulmonary complaints would be diminished in
frequency, as would in like manner English cholera,
diarrheas, dysentery, typhus fever, and the generality
of the zymotic class of diseases. This, be it re-
membered, would be an expedient for temporary
adoption, until such time as the Bill for sanitary
amelioration could be introduced to the House of
Commons. It is one of those expedients which we
have already undertaken to enumerate, and which
the Government should at once adopt, because it is
essentially practicable and efficacious.

A letter from Berne of the ?Bth ult. says—
" In presence of the declaration of the Austrian
Ambassador, which excludes all direct intervention
of Austria in our affairs, and of the analogous decla-
ration which they had received from the Ambassador
of France in the conference of which I spoke to you
yesterday, the deputies of the Sonderbund have
comprehended that the moment had come to make
use of the secret powers with which they were pro-
vided, and yesterday afternoon they decided to send
to M. Ocheenbein two of their members, bearers of
propositions which they, without doubt, supposed
likely to arrest the preparatives, showing that the ma-
jority of the cantons are firmly resolved to decide the
present afficulties by force of arms. The following
is thet xt of these propositions
Pgr OSITIONS OF THE STATES OF LUCERNE, URI,
,SZ, UNTERWALD, ZUG, FRIBURG, AND VALAIS.
j( 3a whole week the Deputies are all in posses-
. _the propositions presented by the state of Zug;
t'Jralrepresentatives, whom the Governments of
seven states have sent hack to address their re-
ctis e delegates sitting in the Diet, have been three
o i sreturned. When the proposition of. Zug was
ughiforward for discussion in the sitting of Oct. 21,
the deputies of the seven states declared themselves
/disposed to" enter into negotiations on its bases, if they
met with the same dispositions on the other side ; but
sisey waited in vain during the interval to see a de-
liberation entered on with a view to arrive at a pa-
cific solution. From the sentiment of duty imposed
on them not to neglect any course that can lead to a
pacific solution, they reproduce the proposition of the
Zug is the following terms The high Diet gives
to the seven states which have formed amongst them-
selves a defensive association, the solemn assurance
that their political and confessional rights shall for the
future remain intact; in consequence, the affair of
the Jesuits shall be withdrawn from the subjects of
deliberation before the Diet; it recognises and en-
gages to maintain the rights guaranteed to religious
institutions by Art. XII. of the federal compact; it
promises to admit and respect the sovereignty and the
equality of the right of representation of the seven
states, according to the sense and the letter of the
federal compact of 181.5. If a majority of the federal
states shall agree in giving these assurances, and shall
subscribe to these acts, the seven states named above
will at once and with joy dissolve the defensive
association which they have formed for the main-
tenance of their confessional and political rights.'
(Here follow the signatures of the Deputies of the
seven states of the Sonderbund.)
" After having handed in this document to M. Och-
senbein, the two delegates of the League demanded
from the President to have the Diet assembled the
next day to discuss the propositions of which they
were the bearers. M. Ochsenbein replied to them
that he acceded to their application relative to the
meeting of the Diet, but that he considered it his
duty not to allow them to he ignorant that proposi-
tions founded to a certain extent on those of the
deputy of Zug had scarcely more chances of success
of being admitted. After this proceeding the depu-
ties of Bale-town, who, without any mission, play
the part of mediators, persuaded those of St. Gall
and Schaffhausen to take part in their attempts at re-
conciliation between the parties. An interview was,
in consequence, arranged between these gentlemen
and the representatives of the League ; it gave rise to
propositions professing to be new, which Bale-town
took under their patronage, their chance auxilaries
not caring much about sharing the responsibility of
the act, but as it was important to know whether
these propositions would have the sanction of
any majority whatever, before producing them
before the Diet, the deputies of the Son-
derbund wrote to the President to request
him to countermand the sitting of to-day. The
deputies of the majority, informed of all these pro-
ceedings, held a conference to ascertain to what point
they could enter on the overtures announced to them.
Nearly the whole of the members present insisted on
the necessity of adhering only to such arrangements
as might satisfy the populations, and as the proposi-
tions put forward by Bale-town are very far from
fulfilling this condition, since they scarcely go farther
than those of Zug, they have been declared inadmis-
sible. however, in order that the majority of the
states might not be accused of rejecting any means
which might tend to a pacific solution of the present
crisis, it delegated at noon M. Furrer, of Zurich ;
Alunsinger, of Soleure ; Noff, of St. Gall ; and
Kern, of Thurgau, to meet the delegates of the
League, who had manifested the intention of dis-
cussing in a conference with the twelve the proposi-
tions of Bale-town. This conference, at which the
majority of the Diet is to he represented by the four
delegates named above, will take place this evening,
but I am perfectly convinced that it will not be
attended with a more fortunate result than the motion
of Zug."

Military preparations are going on in all the
cantons, and General DUFOUR had published his
address on taking command of ,the Federal army.
The Diet has issued a decree summoning to arms
50,000 men, and organizing them into six divisions.
The canton of Friburg will be the first attacked.

Letters from Rome of the 23d ultimo state that the
arrest of the Prince DB CANINO had been taken off on
the 22d. The journals of Rome state that GIOVANNI
ANDREA ROMEO, one of the Calabrian chiefs, had
surrendered himself, been tried and condemned to
death, but that his sentence w•as commuted.

A letter from Turin, of the 28th ult., says—
" The disturbance continued some days, but last
night order was rest°. ed ; several persons have been
arrested here and at Moncalieri. It is to be hoped
that they will be set at liberty, for their offence only
consists in crying out Pius IX. for ever I" Italy
for ever I' The King has been indisposed, but is en-
tirely recovered; he is to set out for Genoa in the
beginning of November."

A letter from Turin of the 26th ultimo informs us
that the Sardinian Government has submitted to the
Council of State rojects of law against riotous
assemblages of the g. e.ople, for the establishment of a
Supreme Court of Cassation, for a revision and a
liberal construction of the tariff of Customs' duties,
and for a postal reform, including a delivery of letters
on Sundays.

The Prince DE JoINvILLE landed at Leghorn on
the 24th, and immediately proceeded to Florence.
Previous to his departure he sent off some pressing
dispatches to Naples.

Accounts from Athens state that General GRIVAs
is still at Janina, where he is treated with the utmost
attention by the Turkish authorities. HAra PAsnA
proposed to him to accept a high rank in the Turkish
army, which however GRIVAS refused. GRIvAS will
probably soon show himself again in Greece.

Madrid journals of the 27th ult. have arrived.
Senor SALAMANCA has addressed the following
letter to the Heraldo, on the subject of the conver-
sion of the Royal ,Household bills into Three per
Cents.
" My precedents in the way of interest, which are
known to 04 whole country, ray conduct to a Mai"