The Sun.
London, England, 1866-08-22 00:00:00

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LONDON, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 22, 1866.

It is a great satisfaction that due honour should
have been shown to Mr. EYRE, not only on account
of the distinguished services he has rendered to his
country, but also because of the intolerant de-
meanour which has characterised many who ought
to know better. We are glad to find that the chief
men of the neighbourhood of Southampton and
others from a distance attended yesterday to render
a tribute of respect to one who so richly deserved it.
The banquet was successfully carried out. The
Earl of HARDIVICKE proposed the health of Mr.
EYRE, but the hour was too late for the
speeches to appear to-day, but at five o'clock
an address was presented to Mr. EYRE by the
Mayor of Southampton, who referred, in eloquent
terms, to the eminent services which Mr. EYRE had
rendered to his country for many years. The terms
of the address were very suitable, and rendered full
justice to the distinguished individual to whom it
was given. The undersigned, who comprised the
chief personages of the town, desired to express
their deep sympathy to Mr. EYRE after the " severe
and trying circumstances by which he had been so
long surrounded." They then went on to say very
truly that they, in common with a large por-
tion of his fellow-countrymen, were im-
pressed with the conviction that Mr. EYRE
had saved an important British Colony by his
firmness and determination, protected the
lives of the loyal colonists, " and saved Jamaica
from an ordeal, the memory of which no time would
have effaced." Regret was expressed that, in
carrying out the difficult work of putting down the
rebellion, excesses were committed by some, and
circumstances thus occurred which all must deplore;
but at the same time, it is added, that no one can
impute other than honourable and praiseworthy
intentions towards the Governor who laboured so
strenuously to preserve peace and restore order.
Thirdly, the 'address contains this appropriate
language—" We have unabated confidence in your
integrity, your honour, and your public spirit.
We feel that you have been sacrificed to
circumstances, as many a man has been before;
but your fellow-countrymen appreciate you, sym-
pathise with you, and will in every part of England
not only honour you in your retirement, but look
anxiously forward for your return to that position
of public usefulness in the many directions for
which you are so eminently fitted." Mr. EYRE
made a reply, in which he declared his gratification
at meeting with this prompt recognition of his
services, and the expression of that sympathy,
which was rendered the more valuable as
some persons had expressed so unfavour-
able an opinion of his conduct. With those
who presented the address Mr. EYRE deeply de-
plored the excesses that had been committed during
the continuance of martial law ; but he added that
this was hardly to be avoided where, as in the case
of Jamaica, " a mere handful of troops occupied an
extent of country amidst a numerous and disaffected
peasantry." " Severity," said Mr. EYRE, " appeared
to me to be in reality true mercy."
Nothing could possibly be fairer than the language
Lenubn t IL;ljeuause ft -coistra-sta witty

expressions of those who have taken up this question
in an adverse spirit. Ile said that he could respect
the opinion of those who believed that this severity
had been carried on too long, but he said to such
that while they now possessed many details of the
carrying out of the martial law that were not be-
fore him at the time, they could not possibly realize
the " fearful responsibility which he felt would
attach to him were he to stay the trials by court-
martial too soon, and thus remove the dread of im-
mediate retribution, which alone prevented the
rebellion from breaking out in other parts of the
island." Mr. EYRE has every right to claim from
those who animadvert upon his conduct a just
regard for the circumstances and considerations
which influenced him. It is exactly the absence of
this consideration which has rendered the course
pursued by the opponents of Mr. EvnE's policy so
one-sided and unfair. In every sense of the word
we rejoice at the tribute of respect and sympathy
which has been awarded to him on his return to
this country, which he truly declares he has served
to the best of his judgment and ability, and with all
his heart, and even his strength. It really seems
as if the upholders of the "faction," as it has truly
been styled, were determined to lose no oppor-
tunity of displaying their want of good sense,
good feeling, and right judgment. Last night
a meeting was held in Southampton, for
the purpose of condemning the conduct of Mr.
EYRE and the authorities in Jamaica, the particu-
lars of which have not yet reached us, but which
are sure to be most violent and prejudiced in their
character. We cannot too strongly reprobate the
course pursued by those agitators who persist in
their mean and mischievous purpose, and so mix
up matters in their confused statements that they
confound conduct which at the worst was charac-
terised by an error of judgment with acts that
amount to crimes, and thus show how unfit they are
to judge others, when their own proceedings are so
wanting in the commonest principles of justice.

The weekly return of the Registrar-General for
for the week ending last Saturday gives us en-
couraging news respecting the decline of cholera
in the east of London. The deaths during last
week were less by 500 than those in the week
before, and although the mortality amounted to
455, yet this was little in comparison to 781 and
1,053 in the two previous weeks. The decrease has
been gradual and steady, which is especially encou-
reason to hope that it is due
not to any temporary fluctuations in the viru-
lence of the attacks, but to an actual abate.
ly of the epidemic. The
went of the seven
efforts which have been made to assist the
the healthy, to
sufferers to separate the sick from
bury the dead with decency and promptitude, and
to relieve the extreme destitution of the districts
most affected have met with their reward,
and the
public generally may well feel grateful under PRO-
VIDENCE to those who so gallantly forlorn
led the
hope, and faced the disease in its moral strongholds.
One -very important question in regard to public
health is amply discussed by the Registrar-
General, who, now that his duties are less press-
ing, has taken the opportunity of analysing the
records of the five weeks ending the 11th of August, i
during which time the epidemic was at its height.
The details which he gives of the different localities
most affected are very suggestive. Thus, after
giving us the death-rate for the West, the North,
and the
Central districts, the Registrar comes to
consider the seven districts of the East, in which the
mortality was very unequal. Thus in Shoreditch,
a very poor district, the mortality was at the
annual rate of 4 per 1,000, by cholera and
diarrhoea 8 per 1,000, five of its su-bdistricts
being supplied with water by: the New River,