The Sun.
London, England, 1858-09-07 00:00:00

were speedily scaled, and a party of 100 marines,
with a couple of howitzers, marching through
the city, speedily restored the populace and their
instigators to a sense of their situation, convincing
them of the danger of manifesting their d c pleasure
against the " foreign devils."
_ _

Nor was this the only defeat which poor KEYING
sustained. A report had been discovered at Can-
ton, among YETI'S papers, from KEYING to the
EMPEROR, recommending that the treaty of Nankin
was merely a snare to delude the barbarians,
and that there was not the slightest necessity
for its observance. A copy of this docu-
ment was sent by the interpreters, Messrs.
Wade and Lay, to the other Commistsioners,
with an intimation that neither Lord ELGIN nor
Baron GROS would hold any communication with a
man guilty of such disgraceful conduct. There are
doubtless official jealousies even in the Flowery
Land, and KEYING'S colleagues were only too
happy to forward an account thereof to the Empe-
ror, who forthwith recalled KEYING, and autho-
rised the other Commissioners to sign a treaty in
the terms of the demands, which, it is said, are to
the following effect, viz. :

First—The residence of a British Minister at Tien-sin,
with access to Court, and direct communication with the
Ministers. An official yamun for him during his visits to
Pekin. All official documents to be written by him in the
English language (to be accompanied by Chinese transla_
tions until the Court of Pekin has procured interpreters).
An English college similar to that kept up by Russia to be
allowed at Pekin.

Second—China to be opened to all the world ; persons to
go whither they please and do what they please under a
passport system.
Third—The Yang-tze to be opened to its commerce
from its mouth to its source.
Fourth—Christianity to be tolerated.
Fifth—lndemnity for the war and losses at Canton to
be paid for by the two Quangs, the amount to be agreed on
by special Commissioners at Canton. The tariff to be cor-
rected, the Custom-house system revised, and the English
to aid the Chinese in the suppression of piracy.
Sixth—ln proof of the friendship and goodwill of the
Emperor of China towards the Queen of England a special
embassy shall be sent to England forthwith.

Should these concessions be obtained, and fairly
carried out, we shall have obtained all that could
have been anticipated. A new world will be opened
up, and great as will be the benefits obtained by
Europe and America, they will be far less than

those conferred on the Chinese, whose interests will
be materially promoted, even in spite of themselves.
Under any circumstances, Lord ELGIN has pre-
eminently merited the national thanks and grati-
tude for the extraordinary skill and judgment with
which he has conducted the proceedings.

IN our impression of yesterday we inserted with
deep regret a communication from the Secretary of
the Atlantic Telegraph Company, that from some
unascertained cause, but believed to arise from a
fault in the cable in some point yet undiscovered,
there had been no intelligible signals from New-
foundland since one o'clock on Friday, the 3rd
instant. The directors were, it appeared,
at Valentia, accompanied by various scien-
tific and practical electricians, and engaged
in investigating the cause of the untoward
event, with a view to remedy the existing
evil. Thus at the very time when the rejoicings in
America were of the most rapturous and enthusi-
astic character, on the "wedding ring " which had
united the Old and the New World—by what it
was fondly hoped would prove an indissoluble tie
—while our own people were indulging in more
moderate demonstrations of satisfaction—when Mr.
BRIGHT had received the well-merited honour of
knighthood for his share in the important achieve-
ment, the anticipations that had been so fondly in-
dulged, were, if not blighted, at least greatly reduced
by some unknown failure. It is to be hoped that
it will not prove altogether fatal to the undertak-
ing. The mere fact that " signals" are still received
from Newfoundland, although they have ceased to
be intelligible, encourages the hope that the evil
may yet be repaired, and that complete success may
ultimately be attained. The delay in the messages,
which could not be forwarded at the rate of more
than a few words in the minute, leads to the belief
that there must have been some defect ab initip in
the chain, which, it will be remembered, had been
before tested.

It would appear from a letter which appeared in
the Times of this morning, and which will be found
in another part of our impression, that the Directors
had been fully warned of the impending danger by
a gentleman of great scientific ability and tried
experience, Mr. E. 0. WILDMAN WIIITEIMUSE,
who was one of the four original promoters of the
Atlantic Company. There had, however, been
unfortunate dissensions and jealousies, and it would
appear as if the Board thought more of these petty
difficulties than of the very important duties confided
to their charge. This is the statement of Mr.WHITE-
norsE, which will of course be answered ; and
although there is a verisimilitude about his narrative
that induces us to give it an easy credence, we shall
yet await the answer of the Directors with consi-
derable curiosity, trusting that they may be enabled
to vindicate themselves from the grave charge pre-
ferred against them.

Mr. WIIITEIIOUSE declares that "as early as
the fourth day after the landing of the cable
at Valentia he felt it his duty to urge in the
strongest manner upon the directors the imme-
diate necessity for protecting the home end of our
light and fragile cable, warning them of impend-
ing injury, and of the certain interruption of
communication which would ensue therefrom. Of
this no notice was taken by the directors. That a
few days later he again brought the subject to their
attention in the most forcible manner, both by post
and telegraph. The injury which he had foreseen,
and of which he had forewarned them, had then
commenced close to the shore ; he had detected and
proved its existence, and for some considerable time
all communications hence to Newfoundland ceased,
though, from obvious causes, their signals to us were
not equally embarrassed."
Although totally unassisted, he had completely
remedied the evil by his own skill and activity.
The suspended communications were completely
restored, and the PRESIDENT'S Message, in answer
to that of her MAJESTY, reached the Irish shore,.
and occasioned the manifestations of delight that
took place. He then, again, "in language as forci-
ble as he could command, declared to the directors
his conviction that this interruption might
be expected to occur again at any
time, and that they could not depend upon our
cable for a single day so long as the slender part,
prepared and fitted for deep sea use only, remained
unprotected and exposed to the full force of the
Atlantic swell on the Irish coast. He felt it his
duty to point out, in unmistakeable language, the
necessity for the presence of some part of the exe-
cutive body at the seat of operations. Up to this
period—the fourteenth day after the landing of the
cable—neither chairman, vice-chairman, director, nor
secretary had visited Valentia. Professor THOMSON,
who had supplied his place during the expedi-
tion (which he was peremptorily forbidden by his
physician to join), and also Mr. BRIGHT, who had
both landed there from the
Agamemnon, having
left, the one very shortly for London, the other a
day or two afterwards for Glasgow."

These are grave charges, which should be fully
and fairly met. We shall not enter into the personal
quarrel between Mr• WHITEHOUSE and the Board ;
but whatever annoyances there might be, there could
be no excufie for neglecting such salutary caution

from a duly qualified person. When men assume
important and onerous duties, they are bound to
display proper activity. There is a heavy respon-
sibility on the Board, and it will be well if they-
fairly and properly meet the grave accusation that
has been preferred against them.

It is earnestly to be hoped that one of the most
priceless boons ever accorded by science to poor
suffering humanity may not be hastily dissipated
by being rashly abandoned altogether in surgical
practice, because of several recent cases that have
most unhappily proved fatal under the administra-
tion of chloroform.

At the same time, nevertheless, we cannot but
think that the period has now arrived when the use
of this remarkable anaesthetic should be subjected
to a very profound and searching professional ex-
amination. A commission composed of some of the
most eminent and experienced of our medical practi-
tioners, physicians of extended practice and of the
highest reputation, together with the most gifted
among the great operative surgeons of our age—
should be formed as speedily as may be in any way
convenient : a commission authorised to examine
into the whole vital question relating to the ad-
ministration of chloroform—empowered to decide
whether or not it should be employed henceforth
at all, and if so, how, and by whom, under what
exact rules, and under what circumstances.

A definitive movement, to this end has at length,
we conceive, become absolutely requisite. And

this simply because of the fatal cases referred to,
cases recently recounted in our columns with pain-
ful exactitude. It was only a few days since, within
the last fortnight, that there was related that me-
lancholy instance at Epsom where a fine young
woman, the servant-maid of a resident physician of
the town, died under the influence of chloroform
while having a tooth extracted. Yesterday there
was given in our journal the still more detailed
narrative of the death of a little boy eleven years
of age, while under the same deadly influence, when
having a diseased or broken foot examined. A
coroner's inquest of course followed upon each cala-
mity—the former holden at Epsom, the latter at
the scene of the more agonising example referred
to, namely, Heatheneote, near Towcester. The
verdict in both instances acquitted the admini-
strators of the chloroform of any blame whatsoever.
And certainly, from the evidence brought before
the juries in each case, they had no option appa-
rently in arriving at that deliberate conclusion. In
the case which occurred at Epsom the dentist was
empowered to administer the chloroform to the
young servant girl by a written certificate autho-
rising him to do so—a certificate penned by her
=aster, a local physician, as before-mentioned. In
the miserable case at Healkencote the administrator
of the chloroform was a surgeon duly qualified, and
from the very manner as well as from the purport
of his evidence, manifestly a man of considerable
intelligence. The dentist of Epsom had often
before (and hitherto always successfully) employed
chloroform as an anesthetic in the regular practice
of his profession. The surgeon of Heathencote had
witnessed the happy effects, never previously the
fatal effects of the use of chloroform during the
late war—an opportunity enabling him to comprise
within a very brief interval of time a very large
amount of experience. Yet, in both cases, the un-
fortunate patient expires in spite of every effort to
secure a recovery. Respiration ceases, the heart
pauses in its action, the pulse stops, the skin be-
comes cold and livid, a small quantity of frothy
mucus oozes from between the lips—and all is over
—hardly more, we may rest perfectly assured, to
the anguish of the friends and relatives of the
hapless deceased, than to the dismay of the startled
and astonished practitioner.
It becomes advisable then, to say the least of it,

to decide as swiftly as may be, upon this momen

ous question, whether the practice of using chloro-
form as an anaesthetic shall be persevered in under
some new and rigid arrangements, or altogether
discontinued. The abandonment of so wonderful a
boon (where it might be successfully employed)
would be nothing shout of a calamity. Its indiscri
minate application as at present—ls a calamity'
Midway between these two courses the true path
lies undoubtedly. How that intermediate path
might run, how it should be carefully fenced in--
the Commission we have suggested might decide.
The Commissioners—if we might presume to offer
anything like distinct suggestions to what is, of
course, at present a purely hypothetical body—
would, in the event of their arriving at a favour-
' able decision in the matter of this important ques-
tion as to the use of chloroform, the commissioners
would, we say, in that contingency, restrict the
power of employing it to physicians, surgeons, or
even surgeon-dentists properly qualified for that
precise purpose—besides marking out as plainly as
written language can do, the manner of the admi-
nistration. The suggestions of such a Commission
might be embodied in a proper act of Parliament
and then, but hardly till then, sufferers might, with
something like a sense of security, fly for relief in
great emergencies of bodily pain, to the beneficent,
but now most perilous influence of chloroform.

The Duchess (Dowager) of Hamilton has not
been to Euston Hall, Suffolk, as erroneously stated ; but
instead has taken a mansion in the environs of the metro.
polis for the autumn.

The Duke and Duchess of Northumberland have
returned to Alnwiek Castle from a tour of several weeks o
the lakes of Westmorland and Cumberland.

The Earl and Counteis of Chesterfield's party at
Brethby Park, Derbyshire, included Maria Marchioness of
Ailesbury, the Count and Countess de Persigny, Lord
Henry Gordon Lennox, Colonel the Right Hon. Cecil W.
Forester, Colonel the Hon. James Macdonald, Colonel tho
Hon. R. and Mrs. Curzon, Hon. Ernest and Mrs. Dun-
combe, Mr. Savile, Mr. R. Sutton, Mr. Fitzroy, Sir James
Hawley, Capt. Little, &c.

The Earl and Countess Spencer are still on a tour
of the German Spas. The noble earl and countess do not
intend to return home for several weeks to come.

The Countess Fitzwilliam and her infant daughter
are, by the last accounts from Wentworth, progressing
favourably.

Count and Countess de Majlath and party have
left Claridge's Hotel for Paris.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer left town yes-
terday for Hughonden Manor, High Wycombe, Bucks.
Lady Wombwell has arrived in town from visit-
ing her son, Sir Geo. Wombwell, at his seat in Yorkshire.
d
Miss Boothby has arrived at Claridge's Hotel
from °Herten, Notts.
LadySirmrWynantkirentur N:reidllitaomtoswnWlasyntn,weßoka,rtan have since., M.P., and
gone to Wales.
Mr. Henry and Lady Charlotte Arbuthnot have
arrived at the Queen's Hotel, Upper Norwood, from Tim-
bridge Wells.
TIIE " FIRST OF SEPTEMBER."—Partridge shoot-
ing began on Wednesday. There is every appearance of
good coveys and plenty of them, but the crops in low dis-
tricts will not be generally, off the ground for a fortnight
yet, so that the birds will in most cases have a respite for
at least ten- days.—Ayr Advertiser.
William Kennaway, Esq., our highly-respected
fellow-citizen and magistrate, is about to leave this city for
Canterbury, New Zealand. Two of Mr. Kennaway 's sons
have been established in the colony for some time, where
their operations in agriculture have been most successful.
We cannot allow one of " Exeter's Worthies" to leave the
old city without expressing our earnest hope that in the
land of his choice, surrounded by his family, he may expe-
rience all those blessings which conscious rectitude, high
integrity, and an untarnished name deserve. Mr. Kenna-
way has been twice chief magistrate of his native city, first
in 1832, when his able and assiduous labours in the dis-
charge of his onerous duties during the calamitous visita-
tion of the cholera were duly appreciated, and are recorded
in the archives of the city. At a subsequent period the
duration of his mayoralty was marked by his impartiality
and his sense of justice, which won for him the general
,esteem of every party. A man who stands so deservedly
high, whether considered as a merchant, a citizen, or a ma-
gistrate, ought not to be
permitted to leave his native city
for a distant clime
without receiving some public recogni,
ton of the high
esteem in which he is held by the inb.abi-
tauta of old IS'entimr l'ide(to,—E xcter parr,