The Sun.
London, England, 1856-10-15 00:00:00

TrIE SUN, LONDON, WED IVOSDIA. Yr` E'VENFN-G OiCITOBER 15; 1856.

victed liar." Hence—rather than upon account
of the fracas itself—the remarkable Court of
Inquiry, the proceedings of which have but just
now terminated. It was sworn to upon oath be-
fore that Court of Inquiry, that Dr. BUDD'S state-
ment of the transaction was correct, and that,
consequently, Captain NIAS'S was-e,-how shall we
express it ?—incorrect ! Yet—remembering the
alternative boldly thrust before their Lordships of
the Admiralty, in the letter already mentioned,
the letter addressed by Dr. BUDD on the 18th
ult. to their Lordships' Secretary—lo ! and behold !
the judgment pronounced by the Members of the
Board of Inquiry (to wit, Admiral Sir W.
PARKER, Bart., and Rear-Admiral MARTIN, and
Rear-Admiral Sir H. CuADs), at the close of the
whole of these elaborate proceedings. It is con-
veyed to the one unfortunate and unoffending
victim of the entire transaction, through the
medium of the following most remarkable com-
munication :

"Air. Plainn to Dr. Budd.
"Admiralty, 6th Oct., 1856.
_ . _

"Sir,—My Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty
having caused inquiry to be made into the subject matter
of your complaint against the Captain-Superintendent of
her Majesty's Victualling Yard at Plymouth, desire me
to express their regret at the occurrence of which you
complain.

"My Lords are, however, convinced that Capt. Nias
intended to offer no discourtesy to you, and you must
feel that you permitted yourself to use expressions which
ought not t• have been addressed to any gentleman in
the position of the Captain-Superintendent.
"I am, sir, your most obedient servant,
"THOMAS PHINN.
"J. W. Budd, Esq., M.D., Plymouth."

So !—their Lordships, conveying their decision
in two sentences, take occasion in the first sen-
tence to express their regret at the occurrence of
which Dr. BUDD complained, viz., the uncalled-
for insolence towards him of the Captain Super-
intendent—yet in the second sentence they flatly
contradict themselves °by adding that they are
convinced the said Captain NIAS "intended no
discourtesy !" Was there ever a greater absurdity
than this in the way of a formal official decision ?
It is the old story all over again. The evil was
done—but Nobody did it ! That is (as the saying
goes) the English of all these pompous official
judgments. That is the upshot. That is the
length and breadth of it. In great things as in
small—everywhere it is the same in our complex
and bungling system of administration. Whether
the subject for investigation by the Courts of
Inquiry—here at Chelsea or there at Plymouth—
have reference to the sacrifice of the feelings of
an honourable gentleman or to the frightful melt-
ing away of a gallant army of 30,000 men before
Sebastopol.

The sale of diseased meat in the metropolis
continues apparently unabated. Notwithstanding
the exposures with which the public were recently
ippalled, and the denunciations and warnings
which these exposures evoked, individuals are
found daring and reprobate enough to
pursue the unholy traffic. The parish of S.
Marylebone, according to the most recent infer-
nation, appears to be ono of the principal can trea
of their operations. There the poisonous carrion
is deposited in sickening abun,lance, to be sold to
the petty dealers, whose avocation it is to foist it
on the poor. To expose it in the light of day
would be impolitic. Accordingly we find the
period selected for its exposure and sale is at
night, or the first thing in the morning. The
too curious eye, that might detect some latent
I,nd indisputable token of disease by daylight,
may safely be permitted to indulge its prying by
the yellow and flickering llama of broad streams
of half consumed gas, while the unsavoury odours
collected between sunrise and sunset, in a low
locality, interpose a formidable obstacle to nas it
liserimination. Thus the poor are deceived,
plundered, and poisoned. The traffic, too, is sys-
teroatiea;ly carried on—in the full meaning of
he word. A regular claque, we are told, is con-
cerned in one slaughter-house, and the man who
keeps it gets so much a-head for dressing the pes-
tilent carrion for the market. We have this on
the authority of the Medical Officer of Health,
who, in his monthly report to the Sanitary Com-
mittee, furnishes us with this and other informs
tion of the like startling description. " I have
great reason, with regret to state," says the worthy
official, " that a large amount of diseased
meat is sold to the poor in the course of the
Inonth." How large may partly be inferred from
his recommendation that no fewer than twenty-
three unwholesome slaughter-houses should be
suppressed under the new act, which comes into
operation on the Ist of November next. The
particulars of a seizure in a favourite slaughter-
house among these infamous dealers—that to
which we have already referred, situate in Mid-
diesex-rnews—fornish us with a faithful descrip-
tion of the sort of meat sold. The seizure em-
braced the greater portion of two cows, the carcass
of one of which, by the way, was traced from a
cowkeeper's near Mensal-green. The animal, we
are told, was affected with disease of the
lungs, and, when on the point of death, was sent
in the middle of the night to the slaughter-house
in question. The flesh was in a most flabby state,
characteristic of the animal being in the last stage
of pleuro-pneumonia ; while the fat, which was
deficient in quantity, presented a watery aspect,
and feculent matter was detected in considerable
quantity in more than one portion of the carcass.
The dresser at two shillings per head would seem
not to have finished his task, or found it too
arduous for his villanous, deceptive skill. Fancy
such a mass of abomination distributed among the
ci no
idnu sl t r ohues
promoting their bodily
turned into an instrument of spoliation and a
vie royo rmaeta nt hs
efo cost of their hard-earned
messenger of disease and
vigour and recruiting their exhausted frames
death ! The rascally
and inhuman sellers of such unwholesome meat
require a more stringent enactment than that in
force or that about to be so. They ought to be
put on their trial for a misdemeanour, and made
to undergo the punishment of felons. Many a
wretch, is sentencedato transportation without half
their d esert.

DEL AT OP MAILS TO AUSTRALIA.—A telegraphic
messag e from our Southampton correspondent informs
us tha t the Government have detained the Australian
mail st earner, Oneida, until Sunday morning next, in
order tli at she may take out all letters posted in London
for Ausl ralia up to Saturday night.
His E royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge will hold
a militai •y levee at the Horse Guards tomorrow at one
o'clock.

A Pal is letter in the Nord states that Lords Lynd-
hurst ar d Brougham Lava just been received by the
Emperx r at St. Cloud.

-- -
CRYST AL PALACE.—ONE SHILLING DAY.—Tuesday,
October 14.—Admissions on payment, 2,631 ; ditto by
se-:son ti :diets, 352 ; total visitors, 2,983.
AFFRA .Y WITH POACHURS.—On Saturday last George
Gilt and Jonathan Rudd were charged at Cheshire with
tcesoas4 ag on the preserves of Mr. Greenall, M.P., in
purscit c f game. There was a derperate encounter be-
tween tl se men and the keepers before they were clf-
tuned. ' They were both committed for trial.
Tuz . 1 RUSSIAN CORONATION FETES.—A. letter dated
Mcsoc w, Sept. 30, says the fetes to celebrate the I ,rona-
tion o the Czar closed with a display of fireworks which
cost ? 1,000/. The cost of the fetes given during the
coron: ',lion will exceed 1,000,0001.
TH E ESTATE OF STRAHAN, PAUL, AND BATES.--Yes-
terda y afr.ernoon the interest of the bankrupts in the
Mos' yn Collieries, Flintshire, was offered for sale by
aucti /on at Liverpool. In consequence of unsatisfactory
answ re rs being returned to
questions put to the auctioneer
;
the • pr operty was not sold.