The Sun.
London, England, 1832-02-16 00:00:00

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chased by it, anti what Sir James Graham called
" cabalistic figures," manage to keep the Admi-
ralty itself in ignorance of a matter so vitally
im-
portant as the building-cost of the ships com-
posing the navy, it seems inconceivable to us by
what process the House of Commons could ever
arrive at the knowledge of what was successfully
concealed from those who called themselves heads
of the marine department ; and, by consequence,
now it could even be guessed to what extent the
nation was robbed by its own servants. We have
heard, indeed, the most mortifying and scarcely
credible accounts of the consumption of' publi c
money under the head, not merely of the
!wilding, but of the "alterations and re-
> iirs" of the ships, undertaken at the orders
—or, as rumour went, at the caprice—of
certain persons long used to domineer in the
office of surveyors of the navy. In relation to
this particular branch of the service, we have re-
csaved a letter which confirms much that had
Already reached us during many years, and from
various sources, descriptive of the overbearing
And injurious jealousy by which mechanical abi-
lity, not in favour at head-quarters, had been
put down, and the public service deprived of'
hose advantages which must ever result from
the fair struggle of' competitors impartially en-
couraged. One striking characteristic of the Re-
form introduced by Sir James Graham in this
great arm of the public service is, the restoration
,f power to those—viz., the Lords of the Ad-
miralty—who are officially responsible for its
exercise, by the extinction of that same Navy
Board as an independent body, and of the Vic-
tualling Board with it. Another and most im-
portant guarantee afforded to the public is, ill the
system by which it will be hereafter impracticable
to create such enormous discrepancies between
the sums voted and expended as have appeared
in former years, and as must inevitably
have furnished opportunity for much fraud
upon the public. The saving upon the general
estimates may be termed quite extraordinary, as
ompared with past naval budgets. In round
!lumbers it amounts to near a million sterling.
Now when it is cons'lered that of the whole esti-
mates upwards of 1,600,0001. is appropriated for
half-pay and pensions, which being for past
-ervices cannot be touched, and that the part of
account which admitted of reduction was,
n 1831, including Naval and Victualling, but
In round numbers 4,278,0001., it will, we must
:ay, be regarded by every candid mind as an
smcommon effort of official economy, to take off
rom that sum for the two branches of expendi-
ure in question no less than 983,0001., or about
22 per cent. upon the whole. It ought further
o be recollected that the real force of the Navy
has not been reduced, or in an exceedingly
trifling degree, notwithstanding the diminution
of the gross expenditure, inasmuch as Sir
James Graham has proposed that the number
of marines and seamen shall this year be no
less than 32,000, including 10,000 marines.
There is still another view in which this exposition
of a strict and upright system of economy de-
serves to be upheld and applauded. It serves
'a redeem the pledges given by the First Lord
of the Admiralty, and the Administration of
which he forms part, before or soon after they
.Lime to the possession of office, and so far to
justify from reproaches, which are often too
sweeping and indiscriminate, the characters of
public men in this country. All that remains
to hope upon the subject of Sir James Gra-
ham's conduct of the naval interests of England
is, that in practice his scheme may be tound to
work as easily and freely as it promises. That
it should be impugned by anticipation, and op-
posed in Parliament, it is but natural to expect.
Inveterate prejudices are entwined with ancient
habits of proceeding, and a display of jealousy
against Reform is almost unavoidable when Re-
formers happen to have their predecessors for
their critics. From a return of civil officers re-
duced from the 26th of November, 1830, to the
Ist of April, 1832, it appears that the salaries
reduced amount to 50,000/. per annum,—the
pensions to 18,0001.-7'ft/res.

The Cholera Prevention Bill went through a
Committee last night, and the report was re-
ceived and agreed to. It will be read a third time
this day. Sir John Malcolm, who said that for
a period of four years he had commanded a
body of no less than six thousand men, and for
three years afterwards he had traversed-provinces
of seven millions of inhabitants among whom
the cholera was raging, observed, that " cholera
was not by any means so fatal a disease as many
already common in this country." We believe
this is universally allowed by medical men. Sir
John observed, also, that " fear was a great pro-
moter of it, and that so long as people were
under the alarm from cholera, every disease to
which humanity was subject would be imagined
cholera." The cholera is a new disease among
us (at least it is supposed to be new), and the
appearance of a new disease is always alarming,
though it may be less mortal than some of the
diseases to which we are accustomed. We do
not believe, for instance, that the mortality of
any of the districts of the island in which the
cholera has raged will exceed the usual average
t his year. The great point to be aimed at is the
taking due precautions against unnecessarily
spreading the disease, without at the same time
paralysing industry by unnecessary obstructions.
There is, surely, a material difference between
such heedless conduct as that described by Mr.
Warburton on Tuesday night, where numbers of
persons entered the close apartment in which a
person who had died of the cholera was lying,
and breathed an infectious air, and the making
due preparations for the reception of cholera
patients, and adopting means for purifying
low neighbourhoods. We do not believe
there is in Europe a population in so wretched a
condition as the half a million of people who
inhabit the eastern part of the metropolis. They
live in an undrained swamp ; the lanes are not
even paved ; the houses are damp and offensive,
itid the inhabitants in their appearance exhibit
all the marks of physical and moral degeneracy.
Such a population must be the ready prey of
disease ; and we should suppose that at all times
infectious fevers commit ravages among the in-
habitants. The mortality in such neighbour-
hoodS from cholera or typhus may be very great,
while in better situations, where the population
is less wretched, it may be trifling. Sir John
Malcolm observed that " the result of his ex-

perience in _ India was that the cholera is

locally infectious. There were what they used
to call lines of cholera in that country, and
they invariably found that in marching a regiment
across those lines, they lost some 30 or 40 men.
Sir John does not say that the regiments which
lost men in passing through the cholera lines
spread the cholera beyond the lines. In march-
ing
a regiment through an ague district, sc'fim
the men would probably take 'the disease, but
though they -carried 'with them the disease 'into
otherd‘a
districts,
etsimitrs-,:i.
not spread
intot in
debateal,Lsac them. \V„
Flo nof