The Sun.
London, England, 1856-01-19 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY, JANUARY 19, 195 G.

The philo-Muscovite Belgian journals have al-
ready given to the world the Austrian Proposi-
ions for peace. They now do more. Le Nord
p üblishes irb extcrbso the despatch of Count Bnot,,
urgently recommending the
.terms therein con-
tained to the acceptance of the Cabinet of St.
Petersburg. The :statement thus made has all
the appearance of authenticity and we are,
at all events, for the sake of argument, justified
in assuming it to be correct, and reasoning on
the assumption. The grounds which Russia has
accepted as the bases of a satisfactory and per-
manent arrangement are of vital importance to
the welfare and prosperity of future generations.
But we must also look to existing circumstances so
as to form a correct judgment respecting the bona
fides and sincerity of our opponent, and to know
whether there is an ar•riere pensee—any latent
design in the pretended acceptance of terms not
intended to be carried into actual operation.
Painful experience fully warrants us in as-
suming that Russia will make no concession
which her own interests do not impera-
tively require ; nay, more, that she will
not consider herself bound by any " honour-
able understanding " where she can even hope to
derive any advantage from its subsequent repudi-
ation. The opportunity of sowing dissension be-
tween the Allies, or of detaching the German
States from their adhesion to the Western
Powers, would be quite sufficient to induce Russia
to play the game of dissimulation, in which she
has shown herself to be so profound an adept.
She is well aware that at least one of the parties
concerned is quite willing to be deceived—that
Austria only wants a plausible pretext for back-
ing out of her own engagements, and leaving the
entire burden of the contest, in which she is
mainly concerned, to be sustained by other more
magnanimous recipients. While, therefore, any
matter remains in doubt, we must be prepared
for an ultimate repudiation ; and it is incumbent
on the British Government, if desirous of avoid-
ing the reproach and censure of the nation, to
avoid the imputation of undue credulity, and to
take especial care that it is not again humbugged
or bamboozled, as it was under the Treaty of
December, 1854.

There is a very significant sentence contained
in the despatch of Count BUoL, which should pro-
duce extraordinary caution and vigilance on the
part of the Western Powers. It is stated that
" the signature to these preliminaries would be
immediately followed by a general armistice and
definitive negotiations." The meaning of this
significant passage is clearly not only that all bel-
ligerent operations, but even preparations for the
same, should be suspended ; that we should, in
fact, " rest on our oars," and avoid even the
attempt of making, during the campaign of 1856,
a decisive blow against the pOwer and pretensions
of Russia. Should there be no armistice, we may
be enabled to reclaim Kars, to win back the ter-
ritory acquired from Turkey in its vicinity, and
to more than neutralise the successes of Russia in
'We may be enabled to carry into practical
execution the menace against Sweaborg and Cron-
stadt, and the other strongholds of the adversary
in the Baltic and the Gulf of Finland. Nay,
more, to place St. Petersburg itself in serious

jeopardy. We may destroy Nicolaieff, blockade
Kherson, and become masters of the Crimea, and
of, at all events, the most important portion of
Bessarabia. But if lulled into a state of apathy
—if " hocussed" by the administration of a nar-
cotic so insidious, all these palpable advantages
may be disregarded, and the golden opportunity
suffered to slip by without improvement.
There cannot, then, be an armistice while the
contemplated negotiations are pending. We may
feel perfectly certain that Russia would improve
the occasion to the utmost possible degree—that
she would not relax a single effort either in the
way of increasing the strength of her fortifi-
cations and means of resistance against
any invasion of her territory, or of her own
power of aggression. She can be certain of, at
least, one of the most important elements in the
calculation—can know whether she is really sin-
cere in her professions—whether they are in-
tended to form the basis of a permanent peace or
are merely intended to effect a diversion, exceed-
ingly convenient to Russia, but in an equal degree
injurious to the Allies. On that all-important
question the Cabinets of the Tuileries and
St. James's must be absolutely ignorant, although
we can by no means assert a similar ignorance on
the part of Austria. It is therefore essential that
we should carefully avoid so serious a mistake,
and should especially repudiate the very invidious
suggestion offered by a Power whose antecedents
do not warrant the unbounded confidence and
reliance which the acting on the supposition would

necessarily
The hint at the " grave consequences" that
would be produced by a refusal to enter on the
path " opened for the second time" is too mani-
fest to require further consideration. We
have seen what Austeia considered the legitimate
results of similar persuasion, to be again misled in
a like manner.

How much society is indebted to the medical
profession for philanthropic labour and well-
. timed vindication of the claims of suffering
humanity passes our ability to show. That the
obligation is great will not admit of question.
Harsh, mercenary, and unfeeling practitioners are
doubtless to be found, who content them-
selves with giving a mere quid pro quo-- so much
advice and so many pills, boluses, mixtures, and
draughts for so much remuneration. Men like
these are to be met with in all professions. Bat
look at our great hospitals, our infirmaries, and
other philanthropic institutions, where medical
men of the highest eminence are to be found daily
rendering their best services gratuitously to the
sick and the afflicted at much inconvenience, and
probably at no little loss to themselves, and some
faint notion of the extent of the debt will be
attained. That advice, let it be remembered,
which is given, to the poor cannot be had but at
considerable cost by the rich, whose ailments,
notwithstanding, have no more real consideration.
Such institutions, however, are by no means the
only fields where professional philanthropy is to
be witnessed, anti witnessed to advantage. Not
•merely the consulting-room where wounded
feeling as well as the symptoms of disease in indi-
viduals of limited means not unfrequently receives
the most charitable and delicate consideration, but
also the study, where the acute and philosophic mind
finds a questionable refreshment after a day's toil
in midnight researches for the benefit of afflicted
humanity, bears testimony to the philanthropy
and public spirit of not a fsw of the medical b3dy.

It is, however, perhaps in connection with sa-
nitary progress that the-obligations of the public
to the profession are the most signal—at all
events it is in this field that of late years the
most indisputable, if not sterling, philanthropy
has been displayed. Those who have ac-
quired by unlucky personal experience a
contempt of human nature and an inveterate
scepticism as to the purity of motives, and those
wkom an intense selfishness has blinded to the
perception of any nobler impulse in others, may,
however unjustly, regard with suspicion humane
efforts elsewhere ; here it is next to impossible.
If medical men have pecuniary interest in any-
thing it would seem to be in the spread of disease,
or in the non-removal or perpetuation of those
causes to which are ascribable one-half of the
disorders to which the population of this country
falls a victim. Yet, what class, from the outset
of the sanitary movement, has furnished more
z3alous and effective sanitary reformers than
the medical ? In point of fact, had the
profession not led the way, and held on in it, how
far would the movement have progressed by this
time ? Not so far by a long way as it has, wo
should fancy, must be the general response ; and
even in this field there is spice for special dis-
tinction, and that is where effectual aid to the
sanitary cause and humane effort on behalf of
the poor can only be rendered at the risk of offend-
ing wealthy and influential patrons. Yet in how
many instances has not this risk been encoun-
tered, to the great advantage of the suffering
poor !

We will give the reader a case, to some extent,
in point—the case, in fact, which has originated
the above remarks. Turning over the
pages of The Sherborne, Dorchester, and Taun-
ton Journal, of the 2d instant, wo found a
letter headed " The Dwellings of the Poor," and
subscribed by the medical officer of the Sher-
borne District Union. What has he to say ?
Plunging at once, in, medics res, he discourses as
follows :—" Speaking of the dwellings of the poor
of and in the locality of Sherborne, I might ob-
serve that the majority of them are, for the most
part, of a wretched description, utterly unfit for
human beings to live in, ; in Many instances the
cottages are not fit for the use of the canine race ;
indeed the 'kennels nowadays are far superior ill,.
point of cleanliness, warmth, and comfort, com-
pared to that of the houses occupied by some of the
families of the labouring classes for whom we re-
peatedly hear so much solicitude and sympathy
expressed at the agricultural dinners. If those
sympathies be unfeigned, how is it that the
poor cottagers are permitted to live (I beg par-
don, starve') out an existence in such filthy,
miserable hovels, breeding vermin, fever, cuti-
cular, and numberless other malignant diseases,
inseparable from such a disgusting state of
things ? I ask, from whence arises all this misery?
From what cause ? If there be a remedy at hand
for such ? And by whom is it to be applied ?
That there is a fault existing somewhere is beyond
a doubt ; but where the fault rests is at present
immanifest, although it might be shrewdlyguessed,
or told in plain terms. One thing manifest is,
that it rests not with the poor, for there is not
one of them to be found who would not gladly
apply remedies, if within his reach, to batter his
dwelling. It might be a matter of perfect indif-
ference to those who have possessed an impunity,
which has enabled them to walk scathless around
the abodes of wretchedness and filth, in which so
many of their poorer neighbours dwell, and who
periodically suffer disease, arising from the causes
alluded to. I boldly assert this statement with-
out trepidation ; for my own part I contemplate
no alarm ; my duty is a straightforward one.
1 have nothing to fear whilst I honestly perform
it. My wish is to substitute good for bad, by