The Sun.
London, England, 1848-06-08 00:00:00

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LONDON, THURSDAY, JUNE 8, 1848.

Parliament may have innumerable excuses for its
apathy in every other description of reforms except..
ing in reforms of a sanitary character. In regard to
those there does not remain one extenuating circum-
stance as far as the indolence or procrastination of the
Legislature is concerned. What with the elaborate
quarterly returns of the Registrar-General, returns
which are pswerful in the eloquence of their statis-
tics ; what with the extended and reiterated reports
of the Commissioners at Gwydyr House ; what with
the earnest and repeated discussions both within and
without the walls of the Senate-houses of Westmin-
ster; what with the multitude of facts lavished upon
the public attention through the medium of speeches,
pamphlets, broadsheets, letters, and newspapers—the
necessity of some immediate and comprehensive
innovation in reference to the social organiza-
tion of England has been thoroughly hammered
into the knowledge of the Government. If the Go-
vernment were not convinced of the urgency of this
necessity, its dullness would be incorrigible beyond
all description. And being convinced of the neces-
sity there is no excuse whatever—not the faintest,
not the most shadowy—for the protracted indifference
cf the Cabinet, of the Lords, and of the Commons.
Second among the orders of the day for this even-
ing is the Public Health Bill. Second--let the
Members bear that in recollection, and not allow the
matter to be again postponed, as it has already been
a thousand times. Let every attention, on the con-
trary, be afforded to a question of such profound im-
portance to the community.
Although London is excluded from all participation
in the benefits resulting from the measure, we shall
never cease to demand some sanitary interference for
the metropolis until the innumerable abuses which
tend to increase the mortality of its inhabitants shall
have been permanently eradicated. Nor can we
conceive that this particular pertinacity on our part
is calculated in any manner to embarrass the move-
ment in regard to the provincial efforts at ameliora-
tion. And we are induced to dilate upon the sani-
rrou
ii,Aaants of London only the more earnestly from
"T life-ery circures;-ance of its exclusion from
e
- the .iivantag-ca which must inevitably accrue
.to lie provinces from the operation of
the Lill introduced to the Lower House by
Limei::i4ORPETEL When, moreover, we perceive

• that the progress of affairs in the metropolis, instead
of being in unison, at least to some extent, with the
progress of affairs in other quarters of the United
Kingdom, is altogether of a retrogressive character,
we cannot but strive to force this fact upon the slug-
gish comprehension of Parliament. Take, for exam-
ple, the scheme which has been fully resolved upon
as to the site of the London Fever Hospital. Was
there ever any scheme of a more insane tendency ?
Was there ever any proposal more certain to aid
disease in decimating the citizens of a populous capi-
tal ? Never : we undertake to say that with all the
emphasis of deliberation. Here, because the site of
the present edifice is required for the erection of a
terminus to the Great Northern Railway at Battle-
bridge—it is proposed to remove the establishment to
—where on earth does our reader imagine ? a
spot in the Liverpool-road, situated between The-
berton-street and Barford-street, confronting
Cloudesley•terrace, and right at the back of the
High-street, Islington ! So that the patients will
be accumulated together in such a position that the
hospital will be surrounded by tall houses, the air
being prevented from circulating, and the fever being
enabled to spread most advantageously in the neigh-
bourhood.*

Again, the Government have betrayed a singular
want of capacity in the very preliminaries to a
movement for the adoption of sanitary alterations in
London. Instead of employing the professional and
civil surveyors of London in the labour of surveys
already chalked out for the capital and its environs,
they have granted that employment, in preference, to
a corps of Royal Sappers and Miners.t By that
arrangement the time to be occupied in the under-
taking is virtually extended, and the expense entailed
upon the nation materially increased. Nothing could
prove to us more forcibly than these incidental
facts the necessity of observing with vigilance the
sanitary wants of London, and the manner in which
those metropolitan wants are being treated by the
Legislature.

An apparent truce has been at length patched up
between the:Old and Young Irelanders; reconciliation
is to take place between the repealers of Conciliation-
hall and of the Irish Confederation. So at least it
appears from the statements made by Mr. JOHN
O'CONNELL on Monday, and of Messrs. MEAGIIER
and DUFFY on Tuesday. If the wishes of the respec-
tive leaders should be fully culled out both associa-
tions are to be forthwith dissolved, and a new and
united body is to arise from their ashes, founded upon
principles upon which all can agree. We have yet
to learn, however, the real nature of the arrange-
ments for the proposed amalgamation of the hitherto
conflicting elements. If Mr. O'CONNELL has cor-
rectly stated the terms the Young Irelanders have
succumbed, have consented to abandon the most of
their ways, and henceforward to
"Roar as mildly as a sucking dove."

The Hon. Gentleman says, " that there is to be
nothing illegal in the new body. It would be per-
fectly legal and constitutional, all violence of expres
sion and suggestion of counsel contrary to law would
be excluded. No matter of consequence would be
brought forward publicly, until it had been discussed,
and fully approved of by the council of the new
association selected from the members of both

Repeal sections." If this be so, the seceders might
have rejoined the original association, for they
will, in every respect, have conformed to the
rules which they formerly refused to obey, and
which they so strenuously and indignantly de-
nounced as mere humbug, only calculated to delude
the people, and to prevent the speedy attainment of a
separate nationality. On the other side, however, we
find Messrs. AIEAGREII and DUFFT declaring " that
the principles on which they were invited to join the
second association were the same as those of the Irish
Confederation." Here is a clear and decided contra •
diction in the very first instance ; and if we were not
so well aware of the distinction which sometimes
exists between " Irish sayings" and " Irish doings,"
we should consider it fatal to the pending negotiation,
and believe that both associations would still con-
tinue their separate existence. There are, however
good and sufficient reasons to induce the opposing
parties to abate something of their respective pre-
tensions, and to waive what had heretofore been
considered as indispensable to any coalition.
The Conciliation Hall Leader honestly declared the
cause that induced him to yield a reluctant consent to
such a course, and candidly acknowledged that " he

entertained some doubts and fears respecting the

propriety of the step he was about to take." An
irresistable necessity, however, in the shape of an
exhausted treasury, impelled. Money was wanting,
and money could not be procured under present
circumstances ; and therefore something must be done,
however repugnant to his feelings. The following
extract from the funeral oration of the defunct
Association manifestly explains the motives by
which the Old Irelanders were actuated :
" Under any circumstances (said the Honourable
Member for Limerick) that Association could no

longer exist if the country did not support it. It was
clear that without better support they could not keep
their doors open much longer, with such unmistake-
able signs of a decreasing rent. It could not be de-
nied that last week the rent only amounted to 121,
and he regretted to add that the rent of this week was
considerably beneath that amount. He confessed
that this circumstance showed that the feeling of the
country was against the Association. The country
was, however, the proper judge, and it was their duty
not to remonstrate against the will of the people, but
to bow to their decision." This is perfectly clear and
intelligible. It is the case of a bankrupt concern taking
a new partner, whose capital may enable the former
members to carry on their transactions, and avoid the
Gazette for a brief space. The closing of the shop
from want of funds to meet their liabilities and defray

the necessary expenditure would seem a rather lame
and impotent conclusion of the struggle for nation-
ality. Something, however, may be achieved by a
union, however temporary. Every member must
contribute his subscription on joining the new associa-
tion. A considerable fund may thus be realised ;
the empty exchequer will be replenished, and the
real sinews of war once more be forthcoming.
Jt is not quite so easy to understand the reasons
which have induced the war party, those who
pine for the honours of martyrdom, who are
compelled to take pledges from each other, that no
opportunity should be seized on to give to any indi-
vidual the coveted distinction of being " the next
felon," before it fell to his lot in due order of pre-
cedence, to join with the party they formerly repu-
diated, and to agree " that legal and constitutional
means only should be adopted, and that all violence of
expression and suggestions of counsel contrary to law
should be excluded." Perhaps, however, a sufficient
motive may be discovered why these fiery spirits
should for a time abandon their fierce defiance of the
law and of the authorities. If a professed duellist
should assume a garb of sober drab, and desire to be
admitted into the Society of Friends when en-
gaged in a quarrel which should be brought
to a mortal arbitre meat if be retained his former
opinions, it might be considered that he was influ-
enced as much by considerations for his personal
safety as by conscientious convictions in favour of
his new doctrines. So it is with the Young
Irelanders. They have committed themselves too
deeply to withdraw from the conflict which they
have themselves provoked. They see that the Go-
vernment is firm, and that every violator of the law
will be brought to condign punishment; that sedi..
tious language can no longer be indulged in with
impunity. The fate of their former coadjutor
warns them from an insane perseverance in
the perilous way on which they had entered.
However agreeable it may be to bluster And
stimulate the populace to open insurrection, it be-
comes rather serious when the hulk or the transport
may follow as the result of their eloquence ; they,
therefore, can now perceive the necessity for an im-
mediate union between all classes and sections of
repealers ; and at the moment when their rivals were
failing from want of pecuniary resources, they don
the sober drab of the moral force repealers, and of
course will be bound by their compact to refrain from
any acts, or any language, which may bring them

* " Report of the Proceedings of the Committee ap-
pointed to oppose the Erection of the London Fever
Hospital, in the Liverpool-road, Islington," pp. 24. Lon-
don : J. 11. Jackson. 1845.

t " Letter to the Right llon. Viscount Morpeth,from
the Council of the Surveyors' Association."—A forcible
and argumentative document.

within the scope of the law. For these reasons, then,
each party may for a time agree to the coalition ; but
it does not require any great degree of foresight to
prophecy the speedy repeal of a union standing on
such precarious foundations.