The Sun.
London, England, 1866-11-28 00:00:00

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LONDON, WEDNESDAY, 1\1)V. 28, 1866.

It is well known that since the great successes he
met with in the summer Count BISMARCK has not
been so fortunate at home, and ever and anon
sinister remarks have appeared to the effect that
his long career of unbroken triumph was drawing
near to its close. After the lapse of some time there
came a sort of denial from the semi-official and
other journals in the interest of the Government.
The North German Gazette declares that it affirms
most positively that the rumours afloat as to the
illness, and alleged disgrace and resignation of
Count BISMAIkK, are devoid of foundation. It is,
however, very much to be doubted if this emphatic
statement is true, awl at any rate it shows that
there was some occasion for the said reports to
get aboat all. From what was said some
time ago we should have been justified in believing
that all was fortunate with the land for the time
being, but we now think that there is more
truth in all these assertions than people would
have us believe. The most dangerous phase
in the career of the Prussian Minister is that
he depends upon chance for support. lie has no
foundation to rest upon; no goodwill and respect
to fall back upon in case of emergency, and if once
the tide of popularity turns he will not be able to
withstand its adverse encroachment. Perhaps in a
few months he may be in a very different position
from that which he now holds, and he may find out
too late that honesty is the best pol-
icy. There is
no more contemptible character than a fallen
favourite, and BISMARCK is not like7y to be a
very bright exception to the general rule.
" Where'er he turns he meets a stranger's eye,
His suppliants scorn him, and his follower's fly,"

exclaimed the poet, in criticising a greater man
than BISMARCK can ever pretend to be, and he may
yet realise the truth of this description in his own
fall.

Another ar;kward feature in Prussian politics is
the matter of the Budget, and although the North
German Gazette seems to think that it will howl be

settled in a satisfactory manner, we are scarcely
inclined to think that their sanguine anticipations
will be fulfilled. The truth is that the Deputies
are beginning shrewdly to suspect that they have
been imposed upon, and therefore they are by no
means prepared to yield a ready assent to all the
propositions that are put before them. We shall no
doubt find that some sharp recriminations will now
be the order of the day at Berlin. Prince CHARLES
opened the Chambers on Montlay, and announced
that they would respect the sovereignty
of the Porte within the limits of the Treaty
of Paris. So far as we can judge from appear-
ances he seems to have acquitted himself in a very
satisfactory manner, and the very arduous
task of making this address under the pres,nt cir-
cumstances of the case. There was a debate in the
Lower Austrian Diet on the address to the EMPE-
ROR, in which one of the members declared that the
exclusion of Austria from Germany could not pos-
sibly prove a permanent reality. Perhaps this
opinion may not hereafter prove so erroneous as
many now think it to be. 1% e have yet to see what
the French will do when the Paris Exhibition is
over, and they can turn their attention to military
matters.

The arrangements for the Reform demonstration
next Monday are progressing very favourably.
The Managing Committee have set to work in a
prudent and business-like manner. They have
found, by unpleasant experience, that it is useless to
rely on the undoubted respectability and steadiness
of the mass of working men to prevent those dis-

turbances so likely to arise from large meetings or

processions through crowded thoroughfares, because
the steady and orderly portion of the assembly
naturally disperse quietly and retreat to their own
h6mes, while the turbulent and mischief-
making spirits who find no pleasure equal to " a
row" are left upon the ground to make what dis-
turbance they can. The committee being anxious
that the gathering of next Monday shall be an actual
representation of popular feeling, and not a mere
discreditable riot, have therefore adopted two wise
precautions. They have endeavoured to come to a
preliminary arrangement as to their place of
meeting to put their right of assembly be-
yond doubt or dispute, and they have waited
upon the authorities to come if possible to a dis-

tinct understanding as to the assistance which
they might expect from the police in maintaining
order. It is not a little remarkable, as evidencing
the mutability of popular feeling and the changes
which time works, that whereas after the last meet-
ing the officiousness of the police was the subject of
complaint, Sir RICHARD MAYNE'S reluctance to
undertake any extra responsibility on this occasion
is the difficulty. However, we have no fear but

that all will pass off peacefully and satisfactorily.
The anxiety of the committee to preserve order has
been proved by their waiting upon the Home Secre-
tary, asking permission to swear in 1000 special con-
stables from among the artisans of London. Mr.
WALPOLE explained to the deputation that he had no
power to appoint special constables, but that if any
person apprehended a " tumult or felony," they
could make a deposition to that effect before a jus-
tice of the peace, and apply for the appointment of
special constables. But he did not see that any
one could make such a de position at present, and
therefore that question was disposed of. With re-
gard to the assistance of the police, Sir R. MAYNE,
though he declined to interfere with the usua
traffic of the streets, said that the force under,
his control were bound to do all in their power
to preserve order. Mr. WALPOLE'S language was
perfectly plain and straightforward. " The Govern-
ment," he said, " had no desire to prevent any
peaceab'e procession or meeting, but they felt it
right, at the same time, to state that such assem-
blages might lead to disorder, or to obstruction of
the public traffic, or to injury to person or property,
and in any such case it would be the duty of the
police to interfere ; but while a meeting or proces-
sion continued to be of an orderly character it would
be the duty of the police to see that those engaged
in it could move about as freely as
could, under the circumstancas, be expected."
This declaration the deputation regarded as
being on the whole satisfactory, and they under-
took to let Sir RICHARD MAYNE know as soon as
possible their line of march and place of assembly.
The difficulty respecting the place of assembly
has also been happily settled. Application having
been made to Lord RANF.LAGH for permission to
occupy the Beaufort House Rifle Ground, Old
Brompton, that nobleman has frankly and kindly
granted the request, telling them that though he
has always belonged to the Tory side of politics,
he would " extend to all ranks and grades the
utmost rights and privileges consistent with a
free and united monarchy." His lordship at the
same time humorously reminds the committee that
he is " Conservative" of his park fencing as well as
of his politics, and prefers them to wooden palings.
We have no doubt that the hint will be taken, and
that the managers of the meeting will take every
care to avoid doing damage or creating unnecessary
disturbance; and we hope that the whole affair may
pass off quietly, since anything like riot or turbu-
lence -would do much injury to the cause of Reform,
and be on every ground greatly to be regretted.

The weekly return of the Registrar. General gives
satisfactory evidence of the improved condition of
the public health. The deaths registered in London
during the week ending Saturday, the 24th inst.,
were 1,435, being 173 less than the estimated num-
This shows an encouraging contrast to the
returns to which we have lately grown accustomed,
in which the mortality has constantly exceeded the
average. The deaths from cholera were but eight,
and from diarrhoea twenty-six. The Registrar does
not fail to point the moral. "It must be allowed,,,
he says, ",that the circumscription of the most dan-
gerous epidemic of the year in London has been
very much due to the measures by which it has been
combated ; and the time has now come for the ex-
tension of similar measures to the extinction of other
zymotic diseases, such as typhoid fever." The
Registrar knows too well the numbers that are
annually stricken down by this more stealthy but
not less dangerous enemy. Typhus in all forms is
ever busy among our fever-laden courts and over-
crowded alleys. It cuts off the strong men,
it lays aside the busy, striving mother ; it mows
down the ill-fed, half-clad little ones. Yet
though it is more preventible, more controllable
than cholera, though its causes and origin can
generally be distinctly traceable to unhealthy sani-
tary conditions, we fold our hands, and let the
fever rate of London go on annually increasing.
Surely it is quite time that our public authorities
took this matter vigorously in hand, and the least
that we can do to show our gratitude o PROVI- ,
DENCE for the removal of the dreaded epidemic is
to use all possible endeavours to remove front our
poorer fellow-citizens this terrible and ever-increas-
ing scourge of Typhus in all its branches. I

ber.

The Royal Geographical Society held its second
meeting for this session last Monday, and the pre-
sident, Sir R. MURCHISON, was in he chair, and
twenty-five new Fellows were elec ed. A letter
from Dr. LIYISG,STON& was read by he Secretary,

• in which the traveller said that he had penetrated
thirty miles further than his furthest point in 1861,
and he was then preparing to advance to the un-
known northern extremity of Lake Nyassa. Some
very interesting details were given of the adventures
he had met with in the course of his wan-
derings. Whatever else may or may not be
said as to African travels and explorations
they are always replete with adventures, and those
who sit at home at ease and peruse the exciting
chronicle may well marvel at the zeal and courage
displayed by those daring pioneers of civilisation
and Christianity to the wild and waste places of
those dreary regions. It was found that the natives
--the Makonde tribe—were willing to work, and
assisted in e!earing paths for the men and auini..ls,
and the chief was most friendly at the junction,
so that Dr. LIVINGSTONE has, on the whole,
fared better this time than on former occasions.
It is interesting to notice that Colonel MAY-
FAIR, her MAJESTY'S Consul at Zanzibar, said
that the harbour at which Dr. LIVINGSTONE and
his party had disembarked had only lately been
discovered. Dr. MANN read a paper on the physical
geography of Natal, and in the course of it he gave
many details of the mineral and the vegetable pro-
ductions of that country ; he said that it could
never be a wine-growing country because of the
cloudiness and moisture of the summer. It is
curious to notice that the summer season there is
wet and the winter one dry ; the Dr. showed by
his map and diagrams that the peculiar climate and
fertility of Natal del ended upon its physical con-
figuration. This Society is well calculated to in-
crease the study and knowledge of geography, and
nowhere is such learning more useful than in this
country, or more interesting either.