The Sun.
London, England, 1846-07-04 00:00:00

to the ptactical conclusion at which non-professional
men would arrive ; namely, " that, whatever may be the
ease, it is certain that the disorder trust be a most
extraordinary one, with which the Eclair is infected, if
it has produced so many lamentable results ; and so
much the more extraordinary, as other vessels have held
the same course as the Eclair, upon the same coasts of
Africa, have not contracted any disease." The Neapo-
litan Government, whether rightly or wrongly, were
disposed to deal with this as a peculiar case ; and it is
pretty evident that, had not quarantine restrictions with
respect to this vessel been carried out by our Govern-
ment the injurious effects to British commerce—setting
aside the risk to public health—would have still been
greater than they were.
It is impossible not to commend the fair and candid
spirit which has been manifested by our Government in
publishing, as it has done, the whole of the correspond-
ence connected with the disease which prevailed in this
ill-fated vessel. It will show to foreign countries that
there is no desire to conceal facts, or to give a false
colouring to events which appear to militate against the
present feeling to abolish the laws of quarantine ; and
although the result to our minds leaves it certain that
these laws, in a mitigated form, cannot be dispensed
with, yet it is satisfactory to meet with a clear case, in
which facts and medical theories on the subject of con-
tagion can be fairly contrasted.
No later than the 16th of May, 1846, a motion was
made in the House of Commons on the quarantine laws
by Dr. Bowring. This gentleman, not being then ia-
formed of the facts which have since come to light,
argued, with respect to the disease in the Eclair, basing
his argument on the views of Dr. M‘William, that there
was not the slightest evidence that the disease was com-
municated from one person to another, thereby assuming
that all fevers acquired on the African .coast must possess
precisely the same characters as the fever observed by
Dr. M'William on the African rivers. He further con-
tended, that " bad they (the crew of the Eclair) been
removed from the focus of contagion, there would have
been no danger whatever to others, and he believed many
valuable lives would have been saved." Another mem-
ber thought "that the abolition of these (the quarantine)
laws would be a step not only in humanity, but towards
free trade;" and Mr. Mackinnon declared, " that if the
quarantine regulations had not been in existence, be
sincerely believed that one-half of the persons who
perished in the Eclair would have been saved."
This commercial view of the question—a view which,
for the sake of freedom of trade, leads its advocates to
propose, not merely the removal of abuses, but the entire
abolition of a system which civilised countries have set
up as a safeguard against the importation of disease.
Unfortunately for the arguments thus employed, they tire
entirely opposed to the facts contained in this corres-
pondence. While Dr. M`William's remarks ou the ab-
sence of contagion apply to the river fever, Dr. Bowrine
refers them to a fever contracted on the coast, differine
completely in symptoms from that described by D..
William, especially in the absence of one which is cha-
racteristic of the most aggravated,form of the milady,
namely, " black vomit." Mr. Rendall's letter will
suffice to show whether there would or would not
have been danger to others by the disposal of the
crew of the Eclair in any other way than th t
adopted under the directions of Sir W. Pym and Mr.
Arnott. The same answer may be returned to Mr.
Mackinnon's declaration, that "if the quarantine regu-
lations had not been in existence, he sincerely believed
that one-half the persons who perished in the Eclair
would have been saved." The correspondence shoes
that the numb ,r of the deaths after the arrival of this
vessel and her being placed in quarantine was only five.
It also proves that the number of deaths from fever
at Bona Vista, where the vessel had not been placed
under any quarantine restrictions, amounted up to the
last date (March 9) to no less than 400. We are,
therefore, disposed to draw a conclusion the converse of
that at which this gentleman hay arrived, and to express
our firm belief, from the report before us, that had the
Portuguese Governor at Bona Vista adopted the quaran-
tine restrictions resorted to in this country, not one-half
only, but probably the whole of the 400 individuals who
have fallen victims to the fever in that island would now
have been living. Mr. Macaulay, a resident on the
island, in his official correspondence with the Earl of
Aberdeen, says, in relation to this subject:—
" One thing is quite clear, that the medical officers of
the Eclair, who had never previously served on the
African station, misunderstood the malady which pre-
vailed on board their ship, declaring from first to last
that it was nothing but the common coast fever—an
opinion which, whilst it unhappily obtained the unequi-
vocal concurrence of the only Portuguese doctor in the
island, received also the tacit assent, if not the unre-
served approval, of the only,English doctor.
" Assured, by the concurrent testimony of all the
medical men to whom reference could be made, both
ashore and afloat, it is not surprising that the Governor-
General should have permitted the intercourse between
the ship and the shore to continue. As an unprofes-
sional man, he could not be expected to see cause for
alarm and precaution where none was thought necessary
by the doctors."—Page 39.
Dr. Bowring lately stated in Parliament that "he had
seen again and again that a crew, arriving in perfect
health, had perished from being delivered over to the
tender mercies of the sanitary laws." He may now, we
think, fairly add to his experience by a perusal of this
correspondence, in observing what are the effects of
deliverinziover the crew of a vessel affected with a sus-
picious disease to the tender mercies of commercial
theorists! The question, is, not as Dr. Bowriug puts it,
whether the healthy crews of vessels are to be subjected
to vexatious restrictions of intercourse, but whether
those crews which are not healthy are, for the sake of
freedom of trade, to become the means of spreading a
most fatal malady throughout a healthy community.
Is it better to cut off intercourse with the crew of a vessel
affected with disease, or to run the risk of multiplying the
mortality a hundredfold among the community because the
present quarantine system is open to abuse? A man must
be singularly infected with the doctrines of free trade,
and singularly ignorant of the nature and progress of
contagious diseases, who can hesitate in deciding be-
tween these alternatives? The commercial party are,
however, fully aware of this difficulty to the practical
application of their views; they therefore adopt the opi-
nion, that the disease, whatever it may be, is not con-
tagious, and they seek to explain its diffusion by refe-
rence to all sorts of contingent circumstances—the state
of the thermometer, barometer, malaria, decomposed
bilge-water, mental depression, the use of ardent spirits,
&c. We do not deny the influence of these causes in aid-
ing the diffusion and increasing the mortality of fever,
but we deny that they suffice to exp'ain how it happened,
that, in spite of the removal of the crew at Bona Vista,
and in spite of the thorough overhauling, white•
washing, fumigation, cooling, and watering of the ves-
sel, the Eclair should still, when off our coast, ani after
having sailed over nearly 2,000 miles of sea, become a
source of infection and a direct cause of death to several
persons who were permitted to have intercourse with
, the ship. This may be explained either by contagion
existing in the ship itself or in the crew—we care net
which. The bare fact still remains—a most fatal ma-
lady identical with that which prevails and is endemic
n the coast of Africa, was brought close to our
shores, and proved rapidly fatal to some who had
not been exposed to these peculiar thermometrical
and barometrical changes, malaria, the vapour of
bilge water, &c. It is an event of this kind which
nations dread, and to prevent which quarantine re-
strictions are established. That these sometimes fail
to keep out disease, that they are most expensive to
maintain, that they are great burdens on commerce, and
that they are turned to vexatious uses by despotic states,
are circumstances which, with the evidence from this
correspondence before us, fail to furnish sufficient ground
for their entire abolition.
We shall reserve our examination of the conflicting
views entertained by Sir W. Burnett and Sir W. Pym,
on the nature of the fever which prevailed in the Eclair,
for a future number.

* " Che qualunque pert fosse certo che un motto tutto
straordinario deve esser quello di cui e infettato l'Eclair,' se
tanti tristi effetti ha predotto, e tanto pill straordinario in
quanto che gli altri legni che han tenuto la stessa rotta che
l'Eclair, non ban contratto alcur morbo."

LAW INTELLIGENCE.
COURT OF BANKRUPTCY, July 3.
(Before Mr. Commissioner FONBLANQUE.)
SMITH, HOLT, AND NEALZ'S BANKRUPTCY.

_ .
The bankrupts in this case were the proprietors, printers,
and publishers of the Iron Times, and carried on their busi-
ness in Fleet-street. The sitting to- day was for the choice of
assignees and the proof of debts, and a great number of
creditors were in attendance. As a contest for assigneeship
existed, opposition was raised to the proofs on both sides.
Mr. E. James appeared for the bankrupts, and Mr. Cross
for Mr. G. Berry, the petitioning creditor, and late e itor of
the paper.
Mr. ...eiry's proof for 791. 6s. lOd., balance of • salary, was
objected to, and be was examined at some length respecting
his claim.. It appeared from his evidence that be was first
engaged at a salary of two guineas per week, which was ad-
vanced in progression by Mr. Holt till it reached six guineas
per week. Subsequently, when the paper was not,so pros-
perous, he consented to reduce his salary to four guineas per
week ; but, son the meeting of Parliament, it was again ad-
vanced to six guineas, he undertaking to write a summary
of the debates in addition to his other editorial duties. He
received regular payment up to the month of December,lB4s,
but not since, and hence this amount was the balance of
account from that period to the date the paper stopped, which
was in May last.
The tendency of the examination was not so much with
the view to show that there was no claim at all, but that
overcharges had been made. The paper, it seemed, actually
stopped to the public on the With of April, but Mr. Berry
charged for services up to the 9th of May. This he ex-
plainel by stating, that though the paper was not issued to
the public, it was nominally printed ; and, hopes being enter-
tained of a "resuscitation," he continued with it till he saw
there was no further prospect of success. He never received
any notice of dismissal. and therefore, had he been so in-
clined, he could have made a larger claim than was now
before the Court. He would not swear that he had per-
formed full editorial duties atter the 26th of April. He
could point out what he had done, if a file of the paper were
produced.
Mr. JAMES then examined Mr. Berry On certain payments
made to him on account of his claim, and inquired how it
was, if he kept (as he admitted) no detailed statement of his
receipts front Mr. Holt'and other parties connected with the
paper, that ha'could arrive at the balance earned.
Mr. Barry said that every week he struck a balance of
what was owing him by the paper, deducting the gross
amount received from the gross ainonttt due.
Mr. commissioner b'omiLANQuE thought that the claimant
had answered in an honest and straightforward manner. All
he said was very clear, and though tie (the Commissioner)
might have been inclined to censure his (Mr. Berry's) con.
duct in reference to his accounts had he been a trader,•stii I,
it was not in the least unlikely that an editor of a paper, re-
cAving a weekly salary, would merely carry a memorandum,
from time to time, of what was due to him.
Mr. J.‘3lEs submitted that the charge, up to the 7th or
9th of Aar, ought not to be allowed.
Mr. Commissioner FOISTBLANQT.E.—Why, it appears that it f•
ivss in in:-rev" to you that he relinquished his claim as
early as that date. lle never received notice of dismissal.
-One-of the bankrnpts (Thomas Lyttletmi Holt) was then
examined by Mr. James relative to his claim. He entered
into the fog patioilip Ow claimilat'o Ant enagoacto