The Sun.
London, England, 1866-09-14 00:00:00

in a state of dependence, not to provoke the anger
of their masters by attempting to rise above their
previous social and political condition, "or else to "take
themselvesto a country where all are of the same flesh
and blood, and where public justice and the laws of
humanity alike protect the liberties and lives of all."
Can anything be more ridiculous than this, or morn
unreasonable either? The proposition for the
working men of England to leave the country to
the " masters," is one of those peculiar suggestions

which it is difficult to treat in a becoming spirit. It
is an insult to the intelligence of those he addresses,
when he goes on to tell them that they are in great
danger from the state of our institutions, and that
they may expect --they will be trampled
on in a " sudden outbreak of oligarchic
bloodthirstiness," and the House of Commons
in a fit of panic and rage " will sweep away in a
night, by a suspension of the standing orders, all
our boasted securities for public liberty and estab-
lish a reign of terror." Mr. GOLDWIN SMITH goes
back to the "Peterloo massacre" and stigmatises
the conduct of the Tory Ministry of that day who
encouraged all the military proceedings.
The fact is that Mr. SMITH is trying too much
in his endeavour to mix up the recent occurrences in
Jamaica with the infamous conduct which he thinks
we shall meet with from Parliament and the autho-
The upshot of his tirade seems to be that in
time we shall see " martial law " in this country.
The example of the planter Parliament of Jamaica
will, he thinks, be followed by our English House of
Commons, and from that supposition he draws a
fearful picture of misrule and cruelty. In all that
he says, the writer seems to have before him the
object of exciting the indignation of the working
classes of this country, and opening their eyes to
the grievous burdens they have to bear. Such an
undertaking is a most dangerous one. He may be,
and we trust he is, ignorant of the harm
Lkely to ensue from such ill-advised attempts;
but, if he is, the sooner he enlightens him-
self the better for all parties, the more creditably
it will be to his own reputation, and the more pro-
fitable to those who listen to his words. It is most
reprehensible for those who have knowledge to mis-
lead the ignorant, most injurious for those belong-
ing to the well-to-do classes to put one set of men
against the other, and most deplorable for those
gifted with any powers of learning and eloquence
to employ them to wrong purposes. There is a
great deal too much done and said in these
days to influence the lower orders to
make them discontented with their position,
and indignant with their superiors in station.
The folly and perversity exhibited by some
in this Jamaica affair has, indeed, been extraordi-
nary, and to make political capital out of it at home
is quite contemptible. Such attempts are treated
with the indifference that they deserve by the ex-
perienced, but the ignorant and infatuated are apt
to be misled by them, and therefore we would caution
them not to pay attention to those ill-advised
agitators who confuse themselves in their endea-
vours to allay the authorities until they make
charges and assertions that have no foundation but
iu their own fancy.

rities.

A monopoly is universally admitted to be a very
bad thing, except by those who are directly con-
cerned in its maintenance, and the whole tendency
of our legislation has been for some time past
directed against it. There are, however, two im-
portanttuionnrse
sttoritchtee
dg ener a
improvement
system owf
iftrheiene otnhie-
petition exacnedp
area of our own metropolis, and these are no less
than the gas and water supplies of London. The
citizens of the modern Babylon have been fretting
under the burden for some time, but with the cha-
racteristic patience or dilatoriness of the nation they
have contented themselves with grumbling. What
will bring about a change in the gas arrangements
is uncertain, but probably we shall have to wait
until a few nights of total darknesshavelitmaiutgehd and
tusa
that it is scarcely prudent to depend on
localised sources of supply. The water question is
tlieknetliy gain
on,tthanksmtoore
adirle,cetryar.dpaiinmfumledtioaateeheart.-
The late visitation of cholera in the east of London
has roused us from our lethagry, and although it was
well known that impure water was a fertile source
of the disease, the full extent of the danger seems
never to have been realised until now. The Regis-
trar-General has from the first busied himself in
tracing out the connection between the impure con-
dition of the water supplied to the infected dis-
tricts and the virulence of the disease in those
localities. The companies have no doubt done their
best in filtering their water, at great cost and labour,
but the whole system is radically defective, and it
cannot be long before we have a wholesome reform.
ne
jOg
he 0 fruitful soisurtchee osfystdeimseaosef inst
rtiliileg poorer
water.
The Medico/ Press, in writing on this subject re-
cently, says---,,
One of the most urgent of all sani-
tary reforms needed is the total abolition of the
cistern, and a constant supply of water at high
pressure." The water-butts and eist.J.ns in small
and ill-Jilt houses,crowded with inha tants' whose .

ignorance and destitution encourage habits of dirt
1. and negligence, are powerful allies to typhus fever
L.
and cholera. It is very easy to preach to the poor
•
- about the importance of temperance, but if they are
to turn water drinkers they must at least have pure
water to drink, for bad water, among its train of
attendant evils, encourages gin drinking. The
Secretary to the Metropolitan Free Drinking
Fountains Association,* writing upon the
deficiencies of the supply in poor localities,
says that it" much wretchedness, misery, and
wickedness are endured by the resident poor in
some of the densely-populated parishes of the me-
tropolis, in consequence of the entire dependence
upon an intermittent supply of water, the limited
means which they have at their disposal for storing
a sufficient quantity for daily use, and the absence
of any public street supply." The water pipes are,
it is true, laid on, but the water itself is only supplied
during a very limited time, and generally about
half an hour in the day, and not at all on Sundays ;
anti thus if a leaky cistern, a deficient water-
butt, or the absence of both, prevents them
from storing up a sufficiently large quantity they
have to go without till the next supply. The good
old-fashioned idea of a Saturday's cleaning and wash-
ing ready for Sunday is thus defeated, since it is ne-
cessary to be sparing of the water, which mustlast two
days instead of one. But supposing the family has
enough tubs and waterbutts to preserve water for
comfortable use during the 24 hours, it is anything
but a healthy mode of preserving it. " Even when
cisterns and water butts are sound, and every drop
of water that is caught during the precious half-
hour can be harvested for use, imperfect ventilation
or sewage, and the fetid atmosphere of a crowded
dwelling soon poisons the whole, and converts what
should be a preservative to life and health into an
actual source of fever and death." The well-known
habit of putting a pail of water in a room where
there is a smell of paint or any other offensive
odour bears testimony to the folly and danger of
keeping stagnant water in open receptacles for
family use. The pumps were not much better, for
Dr. LETHEBY stated, that of thirty-six pumps which
formerly existed in the city scarcely one supplied
water fit to drink. In some notable instances the
pumps became centres of disease and death, and
the poor, to quote again from the Report, " were
left to choose between the poison of the pumps and
the poison of their own foul tanks and cisterns."
• To provide against this great and potent evil the
Free Drinking fountains were established, and
their wonderful success has amply proved how
much they were needed. The first free fountain
was erected on Snow-hill by Mr. SAMUEL,
GURNEY, M.P., in 1859, and as many as 5,000
persons were found to drink at it daily. The
working men of the neighbourhood presented
a memorial to Mr. GURNEY thanking him
for the gift, and begging him to secure the
erection of other fountains in different parts of
London. This, as we all know, has been done, and
the association has now erected nearly one hundred
fountains, in addition to undertaking the supervi-
sion of a great number erected by private bene-
volence. The extent to which wayfarers avail
themselves of these fountains will surprise many
who are unacquainted with the statistics of the
association. The number of persons who drank at
the Bishopsgatc fountain during the 24 consecutive
hours from 11 a.m., July 4, 1865, to 11 a.m., July
sth, was 6,666. At the London-bridge fountain a
similar watch was kept during 24 consecutive hours,
the result being the computation of 3,176 drinkers.
At the Royal Exchange and Snow-hill fountains
the numbers were respectively 5,603 and 2,647.
These amounts are very large, and some of the days
were by no means lii,ely w eueouragr,
tendance. The 3,176 who drank at London-bridge
were reckoned during a day of cold east wind, with
showers. The 2,647 at Snow-hill belonged to a
similarly unfavourable day. When we remember
the great numbers of persons walking great dis-
tances in London, and the wretched supplies of
the poorer classes, we shall not be surprised
at these numbers. It cannot be very long
before our water supply is altogether reorganised,
and this is a blessing which we may hope the cholera
will have brought in its train; but even with a purer
and more constant house supply, there will always
be wanderers and wayfarers in our busy thorough-
fares, who will gratefully seek the aid of the drink-
ing fountain. The association have wisely and
kindly endeavoured to benefit the lower creatures
by the addition of troughs for horses, cattle, and
dogs to their larger fountains. This is a very sen-
sible and humane provision, and, so far as dogs
are concerned, may tend greatly to diminish
the risk of hydrophobia—a disease scarcely known
in hotter climates where a systematic provision
of water is made for the poor creatures. Every step
made in the development of our sanitary knowledge
tends to increase our estimate of the importance of
pure air and pure water. With these many evils
may pass lightly by ; without them, it is not too
much to say, public health is impossible. In wait-
ing, then, for legislative interference in the matter
of metropolitan water supply, let us each do what '
we can to assist and second the efforts of the Free
Drinking Fountains Association to supply the wants
and relieve the sufferings of man and beast.

* Scronth Annual Report. Office, Shorter's-court.

We shall speedily see a repetition of the old
game in Berlin, and the last news is that the Go-
vernment will in all probability dissolve the Cham-
ber in the event of the Deputies rejecting the Loan
Bill i❑ the form decided upon by the Cabinet. This
is certainly very likely to take place, and will be a
convincing proof of the mistake of those who deem
that we are on the eve of a new era fJr Germany
—that a great national regeneration will take
place, and unity exist everywhere. If such tyranny
is to be seen in the capital of the favoured country
itself, what are the offshoots and aliens to expect?

Whether they rely upon the justice, or trust in the
mercy of the Berlin Government, we expect that
they will find the result about the same. As for
Saxony, the Prussians insist upon having the control
oflall the military affairs, which, of course, will be
the virtual extinction of the little kingdom, so far
as its independence is concerned. Such a systematic
course of opposition, and such a wholesale appro-
priation of the rights and property of others have
riot, been witnessed in Europe for many generations,
and it cannot surely be allowed long to con-

tinue to flourish and thrive. Either France
will interfere, or the Germans themselves will
rise en masse to protest against the usurpation of
their rights. It will be a very different thing for
the Prussians to cope with the French to what it
has been to fight the Austrians, and they find it far
otherwise to suppress a revolution than it was to
conquer states and principalities which really cared
little or nothing as to whether Austria or Prussia
had the ascendancy if their day was to go by in its

little state and splendour.
The French are now contemplating the probability
of the annexation of Belgium. This has been
talked about so much lately that it betokens the
existence of some danger. If such a thing
is in consideration it will be to this country that
Belgium must look for support, and we trust that
she will not do so in vain, The re-organiliMion of