The Sun.
London, England, 1848-12-20 00:00:00

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t IL-

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, DECE 13 BER 20, 1848

Overtly the movement in favour of sanitary im-
provement has made but little advances during this
year of anxiety and revolutions. In reality, how-
ever, the conviction has ripened in the public mind
that some comprehensive measures are absolutely
required for the improvement of the general health of
the population, and for the diminutiOn of the na-
tional mortality. Everybody whose pecuniary in-
terests are not affected by the innovations made
towards the extension of cleanliness, is ready to admit
that the conduct hitherto pursued by the Government
has been cruel beyond all description, and that the
connivance of the multitude in this official negligence
has been absolutely suicidal. The impurities of the
water supplied to our great towns for
consumption, the absence of all ventilation in the
dwellings of the humbler portions of the community,
the dreadful insufficiency of drainage, even in some of
°fur most superb thoroughfares, the perniciois ingre-
dients poured continually into the atmosphere from
the chimneys of factories, and from the poisonous
exhalations reeking up from slaughter-houses,
knackers'-yards, and intermural burial-grounds—all
these abominations have been exposed so forcibly, and
so frequently, to the eyes of the million, that they
have become altogether odious and unendurable. Add
to which the anxiety experienced as to the
possible advent of the Asiatic Cholera, has
tended to enhance the desire of the people for
some wholesome and purifying acts of legislation.
Compared with the agitation made during 1847 by
the advocates of sanitary reform, the lull of 1848 in
regard to this important question would appear to
betoken a decrease in the popular solicitude. such a
deduction, however, would be wholly erroneous ; for
we are bold to say that the will of the multitude upon
this subject is more than ever imperative. The de-
crees of Parliament last session are viewed as abso-
lutely insufficient. Something must be done, some-
thing shall be done in this particular, say the people :
and the will of the people is the vitality of the Con-
stitution; it is the inspiration of the Legislature.
Silent though the promoters of sanitary improve-
ment may have been during the last eleven months,
their exertions have lay no means relaxed in activity.
The Commissioners at Gwydyr House have had lit
sinecure. Dr. SOUTHWOOD SMITH has not slum-
bered. Evidence of this has been afforded by the
pamphlets which have occasionally issued from the
press—pamphlets filled in almost every page with
eloquence of statistics. One pamphleteer, reminding
us on his title-page of the golden adage, " Salus
pepuli suprema lex," has demanded the removal of the
stagnant filth of the Serpentine.* Another has re-
vived in the most earnest language the nearly for
gotten evils resulting from the continuance of
the cattle market at Smithfield t While the
energies of one of the most indefatigable and one of
the most deserving of the originators of the move-
ment in favour of sanitary enactments, Mr. GEORGE
ALFRED WALKER, have been directed unremittingly
to the furtherance of the object of his aspirations.
The name of this gentleman has become familiarised
to the public from its association with the cause of
-extramural interment, a cause which has been advo-
cated so long and so enthusiastically, out of the House
of Commons by Mr. WALKER, and in the House of
Commons by Mr. MACKINNON. The former has
proved himself in this respect one of not the least of
the auxiliaries of the Honourable Representative
of Lymington. He has demonstrated the urgency
of the evil arising from the present horrible
system of burial and exhumation in the midst of the
crowded thoroughfares of London, not only through
poen le
his printed pamphlets, but through hiss k
tures.: As an example of the horrors disclosed in-
these pamphlets of Mr. WALKER, we will here pre-
sent merely a single extract from the one entitled
" Interment and Disinterment."§ The quotation._
brief but ample—is from a production which appeared
upwards of five years ago, but so long as the dese-
crations to which it has reference continue it cannot
be regarded as after date. Here is the paragraph :

" Formerly on the north side of the graNe-yard in
Drury-lane, belonging to the parish of St. Martin-in-
the-Fields, were boarded sunk areas, giving a borrowed
light and air to five houses, the property of his Grace
the late Duke of Bedford. This burying-ground was
originally below the surrounding level ; now it is at
least five feet above the street. This elevation has been
gained by packing bodies stratum super stratum, until,

" The Serpentine as it is and as it ought to be, and
the Board of Health as it is and as it ought to be. By
Edward John Tilt, M.D." Bvo., pp. 67. Churchill,
London: 1848. An admirable compilation from some of
the leading articles published in the Lancet.
t " An Inquiry into the present state of Smithfield
Cattle Market, and the Dead Meat Markets of the Me-
tropolis. By John Bull." Bvo., pp. 47. Ridgway,
London: 1848. A complete epitome of the arguments
in favour of extra-mural abattoirs, and a conclusive de-
monstration of the disadvantages of Smithfield.
" Lectures on the Actual Condition of the Metro-
politan Grave-yards. By George Alfred Walkvr, Sur-
geon." Four Series. Longman and Co., London: 1847.
The other publications by the same author, to which
,we have alluded, are all welt known, namely, " Gather-
ings from Grave-yards," "'The Grave-yards of London,"
"The Spa-fields G. olgotha," &c., &c., Sc. The revela-
t.sona made in these remarkable brochures must be
ela seed amongst the most loathsome of all the Mysteries
of L ondon. _ I

§,.` Interment and Disinterment; or a further Expo-
sition o.f the practises pursued in the Metropolitan places
of Sepu lture. By G. A. Walker." Bvo., pp. 28.
Longman Qncl Co., London; 1843.

long since, it has been impossible to obtain a grave
without previous disturbance and mutilation. In a very
recen• instance the searcher was repeatedly employed.
An old inhabitant well remembers that the- areas of
which I have spoken were made in self-defence—to pre-
vent the obstruction of light, which was gradually en-
croached upon—and also to hinder the coffins falling
through the ground-floor windows. The above areas
projected on an average three feet six inches into the
grave-yard,' and were about four feet in depth. Since
the removal of the boards, and the substitution of a
brick wall, two feet have been gained in the entire length
and height of the ground; and the areas have been sunk
to a depth varying from eight to sixteen feet. Thus has
a little more space been gained to deposit fresh centres
of infection for the living, by the most unjustifiable dis-
turbance and mutilation of the dead!"

While such atrocities are perpetrated in the heart
of the chief city of this great and opulent empire,
can the pamphleteer remain passive, or the popular
representative be silent, or the journalist be unmoved ?
Such would be altogether impossible. The natural
sympathies of humanity would in these circum-
stances excite the most lethargic from their apathy.
It is, consequently, with profound gratification that
we record the exertions of those who are striving to
aid in the great labour connected with the diminu-
tion of the mortality of the country. Questionable
improvements are being continually made throughout
the metropolis, such as those of pulling down the iron
pillars of the Quadrant, or of constructing a labyrinth
of arcades in the centre of Leicester-square ; the in-
habitants of the capital cannot rest satisfied with this,
they must have better drainage and better ventila-
tion. The new and useful class of Street Orderlies
may be to the streets of London what the shrimps
are to the ocean ; but beyond these there are leviathan
difficulties and colossal abominations which will
require an immediate and permanent removal. Before
the Parliament assemble on the Ist of February,
1849, it is to be hoped that the Government will
have taken these matters seriously into their conside-
ration.

If it be considered desirable that profitable em-
ployment should be afforded to the labouring popu-
lation of Ireland—that its waste lands should be
reclaimed and rendered productive—that a judicious
system of home colonization should be introduced,
by which the active and industrious men, who are
now flying by thousands from our shores, might be
induced to expend their capital and their labour in
their native land, the Government should forthwith
decide on the measures to be adopted for that
purpose. The works must be undertaken either
directly by the State for the national benefit
or due encouragement must be afforded to private
capitalists who may be willing to embark in the
speculation. The objection alluded to by Mr. WAiON
in a former letter to the direct employment of labour

by the Government has hitherto been suffered to

prevail, and although the vast advantages that would
result from such a course are manifest to the most
superficial observer, no practical steps ,have been
taken. An obstinate adherence to an abstract principle
has contributed materially to the present wretched
and pauperised condition of the country.
Had the myriads employed, under the La-
bour-rate Act, in breaking up the roads in Ire-
land been sent to drain the bogs and to reclaim the

mountains, many thousands of acres would ere this
time have been rendered productive, and a consider-
able portion of the expenditure would speedily be
returned to the Exchequer. At that period the doc-
trine that it was impolitic for the State to employ the
people was necessarily disregarded; but undue weight
was given to that which declared the impropriety of
any interference with private property, and millions
of pounds sterling were absolutely wasted that might
have been saved to the nation, had a balder and more
decided policy been adopted. It is too late to deplore

- -
the errors of that day, but surely some benefit should
be derived from our dearly bought experience, and
we should avoid similar mistakes, which would now
indeed be wholly inexcusable.

If, however, impolitic counsels must still prevail,
if the " One-eyed men" can still obstruct the mea-
sures of Government, it is essential that the impedi-
ments which have hitherto prevented private capi-
talists from entering on the undertaking should be
removed without any unnecessary delay. We have
already pointed out almost insuperable diffi-
culties in the uncertainty as to the titles that
can be given to the lands, and in the delays and
expenses attendant upon their deduction so that, the
mere legal expenses would swallow up almost
as much as the value of the lands in their
present state, and, after all, the purchaser or
I 'ssee has no certainty that himself or his
children will be: suffered to reap the fruits of his
skill and industry. The Legislature can alone
apply an adequate remedy in this respect. If, as we
have already suggested, Commissioners were
appointed who should be empowered to
convey lands now lying waste and unpro-
ductive to those who would be willing to
undertake their reclamation, and to covenant that
within a certain period they should be brought into
cultivation,'_these difficulties would be completely re-
moved. A perfect title would he givers at a
cheap rate, which could not be excepted to, and no
persons could possibly be injured thereby. Incum.
brancers and remainder-men would have the same
remedies against the purchase money (which might
be impounded until all claims were investigated), or
against the reserved head rent, that they now
have against the lands themselves—and they could
not reasonably require or wish for more—it would,
indeed, be unjust if such per sons could obtain the
benefits derivable from the enterprise of others.
Mr. Wesort has pointed out another difficulty
which is most undoubtedly calculated to deter capi•
'alists from entering into the project. There is, to
say the least of it, a possibility that the pro-
duce of the lands might be absorbed in the
future rates for the relief of the poor that
might be assessed thereon. There could, surely,
be no objection to adopt the course sug-
gested by that gentleman, and to bring in a law
providing that the rates should only be levied on the
present value of the lands. These steps must be
taken before any hope can be entertained that a gene-
ral movement will take place in the desired direction,
and before capitalists will regard the reclamation of
waste lands as a prudent and beneficial mode of
investment.

But, in addition to those necessary enactments, there
should also be a general inducement held out, and
every possible encouragement afforded to the specula-
tor. If the first operations be profitable, if parties
realise considerable sums by their speculations, many
others will be stimulated by the hope of gain to enter
upon the path that might lead to such pleasing results.
Proverbs might be cited in almost every known lan-
guage as to the advantages of the first step which it
is admitted generally constitutes the chief difficulty.
Mr. WAsorl has stated an offer that had been made to
the Government, by which, if accepted, this " first
step " would have been taken, and it is hard
to conceive upon what grounds the proposition
could have been rejected. He states " that
a party practically acquainted for years
Past with the subject offered to guarantee the Govern--
m ent to the extent of 20,0001. from any loss arising
front the reclamation of land under his care. He re-
quired no salary. What he
.asked for his services was,
that be should haved the right of purchasing the
land, when reclaimeit,fat the exact sum it had cost
the Government:.
were laid
appears that. every point
of his calculations
that there could be
„ms Possibleth question thereon.
no
before the Ministry, and
Every information
reach of others. It was Plainlystateudsioi and distinctly,
Was
ooffsesrcoduld possibly
placed within the
rejected cted throu eh
twhaesmlma
retarded
malign
like the specification of a patent.
sufficient,
fficrcuiee.n Theand guaranteeyet
itwas t
might be
influence that has hitherto prevailed, gand
every beneficial measure by which Ireland
rendered self- supporting.

EXPENSES Or CORONERS' INQUESTs.—PrOM Mav
to November 30th, in the present year, Mr. Wakie;
the Coroner for the western division of the county, held
425 inquests; the fees, mileage, and disbursements on
which amounted to 1,2171. 3s. 4d. In the same time
Mr. Baker held, in the eastern division, 400 inquests,
at a cost to the county of 1,3161. 17s. Bd. From May
to July 31, Mr. Bedford held, in Westminster, 74 in-
quests, the cost of which was 2331. 16s. 7d. From
March to June Mr. Biggs held, in the duchy of Lan-
caster, 9 inquest; at a cost of 121. ss. sd. Total cost,
2,769/.13g.

TEN,LIBRARY OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY.—
A case of books, addressed to the Library of the East
India Company, and presented to the East India Board
by the Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburgh, has ar-
rived in this country by the steamer Camilla, from the
Russian capital, for delivery at its destination.