The Sun.
London, England, 1869-10-21 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

The Times considers that the sanitary administration of
Bristol onght to be the subject of an official inquiry. It i•
asserted that certain sanitary measures have, within five
years, changed Bristol from nearly the most unhealthy tf
nearly the most healthy town in the kingdom. Since the
commencement of that period some of the most deadly
infectious diseases, from which the town used to
suffer severely, have been practically banished. They
have raged in the neighbouring districts, and have
of course made their appearance in Bristol, but they
have not spread there. To all appearance they
have been at once extinguished. All this has
been accomplished by a vigorous administration of the
existing Sanitary Law. At least a thousand lives a year
are said to be saved in Bristol by these means. It is evi-
dent that if these facts are true, they ere of incalculable
importance, whatever may be their explanation. If it be
true that certain measures, already within our command,
will effectually combat such diseases as cholera, typhus,
and typhoid fevers, we are in possession of knowledge
which -,vial confer invaluable power, even though the know-
ledge itself should be carried no further. Since 18K
there has been no epidemic of infectious disease in Bristol,
end the immunity is ascribed to the constant vigilance Mr.
Davies has el.:el-tech In the first place, all the small courts
in the city have been well paved, thoroughly drained, and
furnished with effectual means for keeling them compa-
ratively sweet and clean. In the next place, a suffi-
cient sanitary staff was appointed to maintain a constant
and minute system of inspection. The medical officer
meets his inspectors daily, and himself tests the accuracy
of their work. By such means he generally obtains early
information of any outbreak of infectious disease, and on
discovering it vigorous and prompt measures of disinfec-
tion are at once put in force. In this way, when cholera
appeared in 186 G, each case was at once actively taken in
hand, and in no instance where disinfection was promptly
and effectually employed did the disease spread. It is
evident the belief of Dr. Budd and Mr. Davies in the
theory of infection has led them to carry out ordinary
sanitary measures with a thoroughness rarely, perhaps
never, before exerted, and it may be that to this complete
system of purification and of general disinfection the
health of Bristol is due. But we hope the Privy Council
will take care that both the facts and their significance are
adequately investigated.
The Post declares that there is a novelty in the fact of
an Irishman, who is one of the leaders of the Irish people,
pleading their cause before an English audience with the
object of drawing the two races closer together, which
suggests the possibility that their relations are entering
upon a new phase. We have no wish to disparage the
facts upon which Sir John Gray dwelt in his address
at Manchester. They disclose a case for legislation whose
demands are imperative. It is not a mere sentimental
assumption to say that the people have a right, subject
to the conditions which are essential to the stability
of society, to share in the fruits of the soil upon which
they were born. But a general proposition of this kind is
precisely one of those which contain at the same time an
undeniable truth and a practical absurdity. Providence is
often appealed to in the discussion of this question, as if it
were one of its fixed laws that the fruit and the capabili-
ties of the soil are the Divine inheritance of those who
happen to be born upon it. The logical consequence of
such an axiom reduced to practice would cause a national
development which must end in pauperism. The fixity of
tenure which Sir John Gray demands would, if left
to itself, lead to the same result. The con-
dition of Ireland has for many more years than
is generally supposed been one of progress, due to a great
extent to the enterprise of tenants, but also due to the
enlightened policy of landlords. Of this there can be no
doubt, . It is certain, moreover, that there are landlords
who have acted in a very different manner. But Sir
John Gray's proposition makes no distinction between
these grades. It confounds the meritorious landlords
with those who have been more or less guilty; and that
is not a proposal which will commend itself to English
ideas of justice.

The Telegraph thinks that the homo question of the day
is the Fenian amnesty. It does not mean to say that,
while there will assuredly be a Land Bill, there must and
shall be no Fenian amnesty, but most emphatically pro-
claims the absolute impossibility of any Fenian amnesty at
a time or under circumstances which might make it seem
in the slightest degree a consequence of the Irish demon-
strations, or place it in any way in connection with
them. If, some time since, a doubt existed on the
question, recent events certainly seem to prove
that no grosser injustice to Ireland, nor to Eng-
land, could be devised, than a measure of clemency
which would sot a premium on mere uproar,
clamour and menace. Especially when we have to deal
with the unreasoning minds of the Irish masses, would
there be grave danger in a step which would virtually an••
nounce to so impassioned and prejudiced a people that the
one process needful to extort anything the children of
Erin choose to demand, is to muster in menacing numbers
aild fling forth sufficiently outspoken threats of treachery
and violence. Our present dispositions toward the sister
island are surely genial and fair enough to warrant us in
saying, that, if the thing required were such that
neither mercy nor justice could for a moment sanc-
tion its refusal, we should not wait for Navan
demonstrations and the rhodomontade of Mr.
George Henry Moore, but eagerly anticipate the
demand. A more fitting time may come ; a day of better-
considered counsels and more moderato language. But,
for the present, we can only consider that the Cabinet will
embody the sober opinions of the three kingdoms—lreland
act excepted—in resolving that the grasp of punitive
justice shall not be relaxed, while the hands of regenera-
tive justice are busied in removing the real wrongs of
Ireland.

The Standani remarks that the letter which Mr. Baines
has addressed to the secretary of the National Education
Union, and which contains not merely his adhesion to, but
his enthusiastic approval of, the general principles and
objects of that body, is, so far as regards the special ques-
tion to which it relates, one of the most important signs
of the times that we could have. The mere fact that
a politician who in virtue of every consideration
of association and interest might have been ex-
pected to throw in his lot to the last with the members
of the League—such as Mr. Baines—haS addressed
to the secretary of the Union the letter to which
we have already referred, speaks volumes as to
the superior feasibility of its aims and the sounder and
wider wisdom of its scope, The whole sum and substance
of the purposes of the Educational Union are simple, intel-
ligible, and direct. It starts upon the assumption, and
that, as we have always contended, the right one, that
what is wanted to guarantee an adequate system of
national education in England is. the extension to the
utitost limit of the scheme now in work, and the supple-
menting it, where such supplement is needed, by special
local additions and alterations. F. rom the remotest suspicion
of cliqueism or bias the Union is conspicuously free. The
list of those who are to take part in its proceedings includes
men of every description of religious faith and every
grade of educational creed. There are representatives of
the Established Church and of the Roman Catholic Church,
Congregationalists and Wesleyans. We are, therefore,
entitled to anticipate the most practical measure of good
results from the Manchester meeting ; and it is not too
much to express a hope that these may furnish something
like a satisfactory basis for the construction of the much
required and longed for National Education Bill.

The Daily News says the fact really is, that under the
system of private patronage as it exists in the Church of
England, questions of competency or incompetency, fitness
or unfitness, long and faithful service or young apprentice-
ship, do not as a rule come into consideration. It may be
replied to this that the same complaint is made by
Dissenters 'which rises so loudly from the Church,
and that, therefore, popular election would not
cure the evil. But if the ministers of the free
churches are ill paid, as they often are, it is not
because the prizes of the profession go to the
incompetent, for the exact contrary is the fact, and only
unusual competence can win such small prizes as there are.
The ablest men take the most important pulpits, and,
except when questions of creed come in, a EBBW of ability
must go to the front. The cause of the poverty of so many
Dissenting ministers is that so many incompetent persons
crowd into the profession that it it Utterly overstocked.
The Wesleyans or Presbyterians, whose congregations
form parts of o ivaniscid wholes, are not subject
to this disadvantage, nor is the Church of Eng-
land. ller Bishops can at all times put a check
upon the excessive number of clergy. But there
would be no need to do this if every man who
was ordained could be sure that he would get in tho
Church whatever he Was found to bo worth. The vast
inequalities which exist in its service, the wealth of some
of its ministers and the poverty of others, are a scandal
and a weakness which probably a resolute internal move-
ment for Morin might remove, and which, being removed,
would make its ministry a Career abundantly attractive to
men whose zeal and fire and eloquence would speedily
renew the vigour of its youth,
_

- • - • •
Tht. itertild Thinks that the speech made the other
day by tisb kart of iloeslyti at a dinner given
to his tenantry is pleasant reading as a contrast to the
biAtHsin WIWI it is the fashion at present with some
theorists to direct agatiSt the principles on which the
rights of landholders are based. Of course the tenants
on the Dysart estate haye been fortunate in their
landlord, and he must have been fortuiiZte in his tenants
Even Lord llosslyn, in the midst of his and
cordiality, takes it eofinton.selise view of this conting6hei,
and only pretends that mutual regard may impart a charm
to relationships which aro based in the drat instance on
mutital tidVarithge: Aber k alit Lord liesslytft3 speech is
pleasant reading, becaii 6 l slio'is,that this entire confi-
dence between landlord and tenant, 6 depicts as
()WA estate, is quite consistent -With the
nTosTsTralghiferWara Maintenance of the landlord's rights
rind privileges. He is not afraid to handle the most
delicate subjects, and he dealt even with the game
question in a bluff, sincere spirit, which evidently
struck a sympathetic chord in the hearts of his hearers.
Ho recognised the landlord's duties in the matter, and
spoke up for his right 4, If an undue pro Portion of game
wore suffered to exist on any farm, ho said, and damage
to the crops ensued, the landlord must be either a " knave
or a fool;" but at the same time "ho felt sure that there
was no man present who would not be sorry if his landlord
wanted a day's shooting that he should not get it." The
whole oration was trnk7 English in its plainness wicl is
'nattiness. r"