The Sun.
London, England, 1848-09-06 00:00:00

THE STATE OF SIEGE IN PARIS.
The following speech, delivered by General Ca-
vaignae in the National Assembly on Saturday List,
on the question of the state, of siege, will repay
perusal :

" Before I examine the question itself I deem it
necessary to place it on its real ground, hut it
appears to me that a few words, pronounced at this
tribune might tend to place :it elsewhere. It is
not an executive power constituted by you which
comes forward to request you to close your eyes, to
make a sacrifice to it, to silence your convictions in
order to listen to, follow, and gratify its own. If such
were the question, you would certainly be justified i❑
saying you are not free. If the situation, such as we
propose to you to maintain, was to be maintained
by you contrary to your convictions, it might then
be said with reason that you deliberated without
being free. It is for that motive, citizens, I wish to
place the question in its real light. You have a
right to demand of us, and it is our duty to tell you,
what our opinion is. We have not hesitated to do so,
and I will begin with it. Yes, I declare it would be
dangerous for the country, fur the Republic, and the
constitution itself, to remove the state of siege. Having
rhus stated our opinion, we call upon you to make known
yours. You are aware of the state of the country;
the events pass under your eyes; :and you are as
good judges of the situation as we are. Well, it
is with those elements, which suffice for us, to which
we thank you for wishing to add the weight of our opi-
nion, that we invite you to come to a decision and mani-
fest your intention. I will now take the liberty of
replying a few words to some of the arguments pre-
sented to the Assembly. I might confine myself to repeat
what was said by the Hon. M. Cremieux. I declare,
like him, very sincerely, that I do not believe that
the liberty of the Assembly is anywise impaired by
the state of siege. You were told that it was the As-
sembly decreed the state of siege, that it was the As-
sembly that committed it to our hands to use it under
its eyes, under its control, subjected to its approba-
tion or blame, and with the evident right of taking it
from us whenever it thought proper to do so. Conse-
quently, I cannot understand those who assert that the
Assembly is not free. The example of Spanish consti-
tutions has been mentioned. It will suffice for me to
say, in reply to that argument, that the state of siege
was not proclaimed in Spain by a deliberating assembly,
but by a power different from that existing at present is
France—by a monarchical power, claiming a divine in-
stitution, hereditary, and directed, perhaps, against the
deliberating assembly itself. In that respect, there is,
in my opinion, no comparison to be'instituted be-
tween the consequences of the state of siege for the con-
stitution of a neighbouring nation, and its probable con-
sequences for ours. I believe so and rejoice at it.
Another example has been cited which touches us more
closely, I mean the republican constitutions which
were voted in our country by assemblies who did
not deliberate under a state of seige. To this an
' easy answer may be returned, but I must begin
by reminding the Assembly that my father was a
member of the Convention, and that I am happy and
proud of being the son of such a man. The state of
siege did not exist ; but terror replaced it, and I re-
peat and wish it to be understood that my words convey
no blame, and that I merely wish to draw a comparison,
which, thank God, is entirely to the advantage of the
present time. Some expressions I used on the 7th of July
have been cited. Circumstances, however, are different.
There existed at that period an excitement in the public
mind which might have influenced the decision of the
Assembly. This is what I meant, and what I am not
afraid to repeat. I might well say, after the suppres-
sion of the revolt of June, occasioned, in a great mea-
sure, although not exclusively, by the licentiousness
of a certain portion of the press, that it might
have been inexpedient for the Assembly placed
under the legitimate emotion caused by those events,
to discuss and vote an organized law of the press. But,
were these events less remote than they are at present,
were the emotion as great, it does not follow that the
Assembly could not, with a perfect liberty of mind and
conscience, frame a constitution. I do not be-
lieve that the elements of our republican in-
stitutions contributed to disturb our country.
Those disorders were produced by the licentiousness
of a portion of the press ; and, I repeat, I can see
no comparison to be drawn between the argument I ap-
plied to the inconvenience resulting from the vote of an
organic law of the press, six weeks ago, and its application
to the discussion of a constitution. I must now reply to
a last objection, which was not produced at the tribune,
but which is entertained by a few persons. Some of our
colleagues, in their uncertainty relative to the utility
of the measure proposed to them, asked us whether
we really made it a Government question ? We re-
plied, that the Assembly had called us to the post we
hold under difficult circumstances. We assumed it with
resolution and devotedness, as we hope to quit it with
honour. But, the post my Hon. Friends and I occupy
at this moment is one of those posts which one quits
with the honour of a victory or the grief of a de-
feat. As to a desertion, we are all incapable of
it. Thus, I leave the Assembly neither the argu-
ment of an absolute confidence in the men whom
it had placed at the head of the Government, nor the
argument drawn from the desire it might have to main-
tain us at our post. I wished to place the question on
its real ground, in a clear and precise manner, in order
that, if the Assembly should decide ou• discussing the
Constitution under the state of siege, it might not be
said one day that it discussed it under the influence of a
moral constraint exorcised by the Government. Were
the Assembly to raise the state of siege, it would, we
declare, create a real danger."

CHOLERA, ITS PREVENTION
AND TREATMENT.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SlR,—The Sanitary Commissioners, in their second
report, as presented to both Houses of Parliament, having
been pleased to speak favourably of my evidence relative
to the successful treatment of cholera, I am induced,
through the medium of your columns, to offer to the
public, in the spirit of that evidence, a few remarks as
instructions for the prevention and treatment of that dis-
ease; and for the sake of brevity I will make the follow-
ing classification:-
1. PREVENTION.—I recommend comfortable and nu-
tritious animal food of the solid kind, warm clothing, an
attention to regular hours, free ventilation, and cleanli-
ness; also lime-washing the dwellings of the poor. I
advise abstinence from spirituous and fermented liquors,
from all fruit and raw vegetables, from all salt fish and
oysters—the latter especially—from all excesses which
debilitate the constitution; and, above all things, I de-
precate the use of strong purgative medicines.
2. THE EARLY, OR PREMONITARY STAGE, AND ITS
TREATMENT.—So far as my observation extended in
1832, I found that spasmodic cholera, with few excep-
tions, was preceded by certain premonitary symptoms, of
which diarrheea or purging was the most prominent; but
which symptom was too often overlooked by the persons
labouring under the attack. It, therefore, becomes of
vital importance, now that we apprehend that cholera is
taking the same route towards this country that it did
in 1832, that every case of purging which may occur
should, without loss of time, be arrested in its progress ;
for so fully convinced am I of the benefits resulting from
a prompt attention to bowel complaints, that I believe
that the actual choleric symptoms may, in the majo-
rity of cases, be thereby prevented. The purg-
ing is for the most . part accompanied by nausea, and
a disposition to vomit, followed by a sense of heat
and weight in the stomach, slight cramps in the
bowels and legs, great weakness, diminished action of
the heart, and coldness of the surface of the body. It
is essentially necessary to point out to the public, and
more especially to the poor, such remedies for this, the
early stage, as are at their command, and at what period
of the disease they should be employed. When sickness
with derangement of the bowels is felt, the patient (if an
adult) should mix a table spoonful of mustard, or double
that quantity of common salt in half a pint of warm
water, a third part of either to be taken every ten mi-
nutes until free vomiting be produced; after the stomach
has been well cleared out with more warm water, thirty
drops of tincture of opium should be given in a glass of
brandy and water, to be followed up with a pill com-
posed of five grains of calomel and two grains of opium;
for an adult, small doses of these to be taken at intervals
of every two hours until bile is observed to pass in the
evacuation; but in the event of children being suddenly
attacked with bowel complaints of this kind, I recom-
mend one drop of the tincture of opium for each year of
their age, to be given in sugar and water; they are
not to take the pills alluded to; but if under twelve
years of age, then one grain of calomel is to be
given every two hours, until the same effect (the pass-
ing of bile) be visible in the evacuations. Families
should also have in readiness a mixture of the following
form: prepared chalk oz., white sugar 2 lumps, cinna-
mon powder or aromatic confection 2 drachms, tincture
of catechu 1 oz., opiate confection 1 drachm, sal volatile
2 drachms, cinnamon or peppermint water half a pint,
of which mixture an adult may take three tablespoonfuls
after each disordered motion; and children under 12
years of age one tablespoonful. I also strongly advise
the use of an embrocation of heated turpentine to be
rubbed over the bowels and extremities, to which the ad-
dition of one-third part of laudanum would be a most
important improvement; should the ingredients of this
embrocation not be at hand, mustard :poultices ought
to be placed on the stomach and bowels. Common
wine bottles or stone jars, filled with hot water, and
rolled in flannel, are also to be applied to the
stomach and feet. If the apartment be at all eligible,
the patient should not be removed, but be kept it; a perfectly horizontal position,: as any attempt
to sit upright might prove fatal. The patient
will experience a great relief from the cramps by having
a bandage tied tightly around the seat of pain. Cramp
being one of the most distressing symptoms in the dis-
ease, if not moved by the preceding means, I can, from
recent experience, speak highly of the internal adminis-
tration of from two to five drops of chloroform, in a little
ginger tea or any warm fluid, as one of the most efficient
agents in removing choleric spasms.
3. THE COLLAPSE, OR BLUE STAGE, AND ITS TREAT-
MENT.—In this stage all the powers of life are appa-
rently suspended, in consequenee of the intensity of the
liquid evacuations • the cramps increase in severity, and
all the symptoms become aggravated. The treatment in
this stage is as nearly allied as possible to that of the
early stage, as. the remedies there prescribed are now to
be given more frequently, and in larger doses. Here I
must call upon the attendants to be unremitting in rub-
bing in the turpentine embrocation over the body and
extremities, and to be prompt in giving to the patients
stimulants, such as brandy, or whisky mixed in hot
water, to which may be added a teaspoonful of the tinc-
ture of ginger or of capsicum; and if these be not in
readiness, they should give one teaspoonful of sal vola-
tile instead, until reaction be produced,
4. THE RECOVERY.—It frequently happens that this
stage is ushered in by an attack of fever, when it will
become necessary to avoid the use of stimulants, and to
have recourse to the common saline draught, cooling
drinks, mild diet of the farinaceous kind, such as arrow..