The Sun.
London, England, 1867-09-26 00:00:00

CAPE.

The tratac receipts on this cmnpany:s line, 63 miles
in length, for the month of July, amounted, for the
conveyance of 23,001 passengs:rs, to £1,763, and
for 2,537 tons of goods to £1,203 ; total, £2,969,
against £2,997 for the same month last year.

TIIE "SUN" NEWSPAPER.-
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terrace, Ed4ware-road, d slivers the LATE EDITION of
"TILE SUN " at the earliest possible moment atter leaving
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and in many parts of the Country at a comparatively early
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LONDON, THURSDAY, SEPT. 26, 1867.

The Conservatives have had a grand time of it in
Yorkshire, and Tuesday witnessed a most successful
display. The inaugural banquet of the Working
Men's Conservative Association was celebrated, and
a large company assembled to do honour to the pro-
ceedings. The chair was taken by Capt. ROTHWELL,
the President of the Association, and the proceed-
ings passed off very successfully. Mr. COLLINS pro-
posed the health of her MAJESTY'S Ministers, and
made an effective speech. He began by congratu-
lating his hearers upon having " dished the Whigs,"
to use the phrase of Lord GRANVILLE. There was
certainly great truth in his observations as to the
manner iu which the Liberal party selected their
Ministers; they owed their position to hereditary and
family influences rather than to the ability of those
put in high places. Like many others of his party,
Mr. COLLINS confessed that he had some scruples
as to the advisability of her MAJESTY'S Government
giving so large a share of power to what he called
the " wages classes" of the country ; but he con-
fessed that the situation was a critical one, and that
it would never have done to have left things as
they were, and even to have gone upon the old
principle of having a " hard and fine line" of
rental and ratal. Reform has been so long appre-
ciated by the Liberal party, as belonging exclusively
to them, that it is a relief to all sides to think that
it should be settled somehow, for it has been made
so much a party question that little or no heed was
paid to the principles of the matter. Lord
FEVERSHAM, in speaking of the House of Lords,
with which was coupled the name of Lord DERBY,
said that the life of the noble Premier was the his-
tory of this country for the last thirty-five years.
The noble lord might have lived a life of ease had
he been so minded ; but, on the contrary, he
had devoted himself to the service of his coun-
try. His position in the House of Lords was a
peculiar one, and "long might his eloquence re-
sound within its walls, and long might his wisdom
advise their counsels." It has been the fashion for
some time past to run down the House of Lords in
certain quarters, but the course which that distin-
guished Assembly has pursued with reference to
the Reform Bill of this session has certainly vindi-
cated it from many of the aspersions cast upon
it. As Lord FEVERSHAM remarked, it is of
importance that we should have a second cham-
ber to overlook and modify, and even some-
times to reject, those measures which might be
too hastily passed by the Commons. It is also
worthy of notice that any man, by his talents and
industry, can attain a seat in that house, so that
it is not an exclusive assembly set apart for rank
and wealth.

The toast of "Mr. DISRAELI and the House of
Commons" was responded to by Sir HENRY
EDWARDS, M.P., in a very spirited speech, which
did full justice to the subjects before him. The
House of Commons is a comprehensive subject, and
one that, if fully appreciated, may well ex-
cite feelings of pride and enthusiasm. It
yields, as Sir HENRY EDWARDS truly said, to
no other representative assembly in the
world, and only this session we have had a notable
instance afforded to us of the patriotism which in-
fluences it as a whole. As for the leaders of the
Liberal party, they did not behave so well, certainly,
and some very amusing definitions are given of their
conduct in this speech. When it was known that
the Reform Bill was to be made a comprehensive
measure the old Whigs went about wagging their
heads, and prophesying all kinds of mischief that
would ensue. The honourable baronet was
very eloquent concerning the merits of the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, and declared that
he had a right to speak because he had watched
him as leader of the House, and knew how ably he
had performed his task of carrying the Reform Bill
through the House of Commons. "No man had
received greater opposition than he had from
Mr. BRIGHT and Mr. GLADSTONE, by whom
he was thwarted, but his tact, his zeal, his
knowledge of human nature, were wonderful to
witness. He was not, like his adversary, Mr.
GLADSTONE, sudden and quick in quarrel. No
Mr. DISRAELI maintained an equanimity of
temper throughout the whole of the tremendous
contest, which had gained him not only the admira-
tion of his own party, but that of the whole world."
Viscount NEVILL, in proposing " Success to the
Halifax Working Men's Conservative Association,"
gave some very wise advice to his hearers, and de-
clared that they should support the Government
which had given them so much at the next dissolu-
tion. Their party was united, and they knew who
were their leaders, while the Whigs were all in a
state of confusion.

In Buckinghamshire, on Wednesday, the annual
meeting of the North West Bucks and the adjoining
portions of Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire
Association took place. The Duke of BUCKINGHAM
presided, and a letter was received from the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer, expressing his regret at not
being able to attend, but offering his wishes for
their success. The preceedings were all of an
agricultural kind, and seemed to pass off very well.
The Conservatives are certainly gaining ground
through the county, and this is due partly to the
enlightenment of their own views, and partly to the
misconduct of their political opponents ; but, be
the causes what they may, the fact cannot be dis-
puted ; and we believe that it is to the interest of
the country that this party should have made such
progress in many respects.

It is certainly a fortunate occurrence that the
Social Science Congress should have selected an
Irish city as the scene of its labours. In the
social condition of Ireland there is abundant room
for reform, and the first step towards it is public
discussion and public interest. In sanitary matters
more especially the lower classes of the Irish
peasantry have much to learn, and they cannot
be expected to learn unless somebody takes the
trouble to teach them. Fifty, or even twenty,
years ago our own sanitary arrangements were
very different from what they are now,
and the main principles even of sanitary science
were little understood. By degrees a better state
of things has been introduced among ourselves, and
by degrees a better state of things must be intro-
duced i❑ Ireland. It is neither just nor reasonable
to expect the Irish middle classes to arrive at once at
those conclusbus which it has taken us years of slow
and tortuou3 progress to reach, and which even now
have been very imperfectly accepted by the less edu-
cated among ourselves. The•social science gathering
will appropriately inaugurate a new and more
energetic era, and we hope that the able and
interesting addresses delivered on the several
branches of this important subject during its session
may serve to stimulate the energies of local re-
formers and produce practical results. The address
delivered on Tuesday morning by Sir JAMES

SIMPSON " Public Health" was listened to with
deep att' Intion. Sir JAMES is President of the
Health -Department, a post for which he is emi-
nently qualified. Sir JAMES, in the course of his
addrest ', spoke strongly of the great evils arising
from overcrowding of cities and towns, and the
accumulation of manure and sewage in rural dis-
tricts. In describing the condition of the lowest
class 4A Irish hovels, where the family, the pigs,
and the poultry share and share alike in bed and
board, the speaker mentioned an illustration of
their wars which occurred in the Edinburgh
High-stri et some time since. A doctor
visiting an Irish family in the upper storey found
among them an immense pig, and, on asking how
it could Inve been got upstairs, received for answer,
" Faith, yer honour, she never was below I" The
evils of overcrowding in towns are very forcibly
illustrated by the fact that, notwithstanding such
drawbacks, the people in the country districts live
longer than in the towns. On the question of hos-
pitals, Sir J. SIMPSON quoted some startling sta-
tistics. It seems the average mortality in hospi-
tals is very much higher than was supposed.
" The men treated in a surgical hospital," says Dr.
J. SIMPSON, " was exposed to more chances of
death than the soldier on the battle-field." In cases
of amputation the subsequent mortality ranks very
high, and, although there are no reliable statistics
on this point, the general impression in the profes-
sion is that the private practitioner finds no such
mortality after his operations. The great evil
seems to be the crowds of patients assembled
together, while we must take into account the de-
pressing moral effect of the melancholy associations.
It is anything but encouraging for a sick man to see
around him other sick men, some a little worse
than himself, others much worse, others on the verge
of death. He sees the painful course which he may
have himself to tread marked out before him, in all
its successive stages. His rest at night is disturbed,
and his system has little chance of recovering its
tone. Whatever may be the prevailing cause it seems
from the results of a commission of inquiry issued
by the French Government that in hospitals one
case in 88 died, while of the same cla.is at home
only one in 212 died. Neither were these statistics
collected from partial observation, but were taken
from a million cases in various continental and Bri-
tish hospitals, and 900,000 cases where the patients
were treated in their own miserable hovels. Sir J.
SI3IPSON, after referring to the treatment adopted
in the Shakers settlement in America, where fever
is almost unknown, and good food and sweet
ale are the only medicines, said he thought
if our hospitals were changed from crowded
palaces, with a dozen of sick persons in
each flat, into villages and cottages, with one or
two patients in each room, a great saving of human
life would be effected. It must be remembered,
however, that the bulk of the accidents occur in
towns, so that it would be absolutely necessary to
have the hospital within easy reach. It is worth
the consideration of our hospital authorities,
and of the medical profession generally, whether
some change for the better might not be
introduced, such as, for instance, having an
auxiliary hospital in the suburbs, constructed
on the plan which Sir J. SIMPSON recommends, to
which those cases which would bear removal could
be sent, thus clearing the space for others who could
not be moved.

The mortality of children was another subject
to which Sir J. SIMPSON alluded at some length, and
on which his observations were valuable. The
ignorance of mothers and nurses had, he thought,
much to do with the excessive mortality, and he
touched upon a few of the more important
points. Pure air was, he said, one of the first
requisites for infants, that it should be warm. He
censured the practice of imperfect clothing, of
letting children sleep in the cold, and of bathing
them in cold water. The vital influence of heat is,
in fact, very much underrated in our nurseries,
although if the guardians of infancy took the trouble
to think they might learn a lesson from the brute
creation. The first object with bird and beast as
soon as a safe house for the little living charges is
secured is to keep them warm. There is no " sleep-
ing in the cold," for young bird, or kitten, or
puppy ; the careful mother has provided too well
for that. Nature herself guards against the danger
of insufficient clothing,but little tender human beings
are, according to the wisdom of nursery despots, to
be made hardy, to be sent out in frost and wind with
bare legs, and allowed to run about indoors iu
draughts and chills, with bare necks and arms.
Sir J. SIMPSON has entered upon his duties vigor-
ously, and if he can infuse as energetic a spirit, and
as sound a judgment into his coadjutors, he will do
good service before the work of his section is done.