The Sun.
London, England, 1861-12-11 00:00:00

CITY COUNISSION OF SEWERS.

Yesterday, at a meeting of the City Commission
of Sewers, held at Guildhall, Deputy Christie in
the chair, Deputy Read presented a petition from
the inhabitants of the ward of Cripplegate.without,
praying the court to take into serious consideration
the whole question of the supply of gas to the city,
pat ticularly as to the necessity of applying to Parlia-
ment for an act exempting the citizens from the
operation of the Metropolis Gas Act of 1860. The
petition, the prayer of which was strongly recom-
mended by Dr. Abraham, was referred to the special
committee now engaged in considering the question
of the supply of gas. That committee reported that,
it having been recently referred to them to consider
whether a joint case should be prepared for the opi-
nion of the Court of Queen's Bench on the question
submitted to counsel on the provisions of the Great
Central Gas Company's Act of 1851, and the Metro-
polis Gas Act of 1860, they had been attended by
Mr. Alderman Dakin, the chairman of the Great
Central Gas Company, in conference, and he had
agreed on behalf of the company to a joint case
being stated as suggested, and the committee had
instructed the City Solicitor, with the assistance of
the Remembrancer, and in conjunction with the
solicitors of the Great Central, to prepare it accord-
ingly. The report was agreed to. Mr. Boaks, one
of the contractors for scavenging to the Commission,
was fined £5 for the act of two of :his men in
putting a quantity of mud down a 'golly-hole
communicating with -a- sewer in Farringdon-
street, contrary to an express prohibition con-
tained in the statute under which the Commission
acts. The Court was occupied for some time in
hearing, with closed doors, an appeal of Messrs
Freshfield and Newman, on behalf of the Carron
Iron Company against the assessment of their pre-
mises in Upper Thames-street. The result was that
the appeal was disallowed, and the present assess-
ment confirmed. Dr. Letheby, the medical officer of
health, reported on the state of 222 houses that had
been inspected during the week, and he submitted a
list of 57 places for sanitary improvement. He like-
wise reported that, in consequence of the prevalence
of fever in the neighbourhood of Golden-lane, he
had visited the locality and inquired into the causes
of the disease, and had obtained from the inspec-
tor a circumstantial account of the condition of
all the houses in Sun-court, Smith's-buildings,
Brackley-street, Bridgewater-place, and Bridge-
water-gardens, and he submitted a return of the
sanitary improvements that were required. He also
directed attention to the space of open ground in
Brackley-street, which had for some years been in
a disgraceful state, and was the depository of all
the filthy refuse of the neighbourhood. Dr. Letheby
submitted certificates of the indecent and unwhole-
some overcrowding of three houses in Plough-
court, reported that the markets and slaughter-.
houses of the city had been duly inspected during
the week, and the officers had seized 1,3801 b. of
meat and 209 head of game and poultry as unfit
for human food, It consisted of 1 sheep, 12 quar-.
ters of beef, 24 joints, 92 fowls, 47 ducks, 22 geese,
and 48 pheasants; 9261 b. of the meat was diseased,
251 b. was putrid, and the rest was from animals
that had died from natural cases. All of it had
been treated with chymical agents and destroyed as
food. The mortality returns for the week are on
the increase ; last week they were 64, in the preced-
ing week 52, and the week before that 49. Still,
however, they are under the average (68) for the
corresponding week of the last six years. 24 of the
deaths were among children of less than 5 years of
age, and 12 among old people of 60 and upwards ;
10 of these were over 70, and 2 were above 90. The
chief causes of"death were as follows :—Phthisis, 9;
mesenteric disease, 2 ; bronchitis, 10 ; pneumonia,
3 ; fever, 4, all of children; infantile diarrhoea, 2 ;
scarlet fever, 3 ; whooping cough, 4 ; croup, 1; and
measles, I—making together 11 deaths from tuber-
cular diseases, 13 from acute pulmonary, and 15
from zymotic.

The carrying of military*eivil officers of the
enemy is much more dangeroiis than the transport of
merchandise contraband of war, as the latter may, in
some sort, be considered asacommercial transaction,
and the vessel engaged in carrying such officers
loses her neutral character, and the other belligerent
has the perfect right to treat her as an enemy. So
also with regard to enemies' despatches carried by
a neutral, according to Sir William Sgett, who said
that by the transmission of a single 'despatch the
entire plan of a campaign might be 'revealed and
all the plans of the other belligerents counteracted.
If, in practice, the contraband articles transported
must be in large quantities in order to constitute
an offence, the same rule will not apply to des-'
patches. "It is impossible to limit a letter to so
small a size as not to be capable of producing the
most important consequences." The transmission
of despatches is a service which, in whatever degree,
it' exists, can only be considered in one character, as
an act of the most injurious and hostile nature. The
;flip which carries them should be confiscated,
[Caie-of the " Atlantic," Robinson's Reports.]
The fact of carrying the despatches of an enemy
by a neutral vessel being an offence of such gravity
as to involve her confiscation, it follows that the
transport of the bearers of them is one of greater
magnitude, and the injurious nature of the act is
enhanced where the object of them is to invest their
bearers with a representative character, to enable
them to.labour for the destruction of the Govern-
ment and even the political existence of the other
belligerent.
Messrs. Slidell and Mason were therefore contra-
band, and their character of emissaries of the re-
volted States could not be invoked to entitle them
to the protection of. the law of nations ; for, accord-
ing to Sir. Wm. Scott (Lord Stowell), in the case of
the " Caroline," and other authorities of note, a
belligerent may " stop the ambassador of his enemy
on his passage."
The right to arrest them is not to be denied by.
the legal ad4risats of the Crown (if their opinion in!
"the matter has been correctly reported by the
`press), sinde.their -objections are based principally,
On7thefaet;,that,:thetcommander of the San Jacinto
toole4MesSrioSlidelli.:and Mason immediately out of
the TieiliA,, instead cif:. sending her to the nearest
'cOnVenient'pere foi: 'adjudication. This objection .
Might hiive 'l34en. valid had the contraband con-:
,121. fisted of arnii3,7Bz6.,,in such large quantity or bulk
-its ink ' to.". have •admitkoa' :Of being conveniently;
,
ransfuled to. this ;visiting vessel, Such, :at least,.
tii thd 'Principle- laic dont-inthe treaties .between,
• the United States and other*tions ; wherei.ti,it-,is
iitcpulatea. that 0 .nii•nelitral..vlessel shall be deticined
iiit(the -high: see on.aetoniztiit:Ver having on,bdird,
'aitieles or doittribEifid, Nirlienay'er ',the matter, ..eap•
,iiiti; or •siiiiereagb 'will cleaver the articled' Of
*.iatraband'ibithfkeilptor, inhies, indeed, the cietafil
'tray' of stteitititidles 'be so greWor: of so large b
:iiiitt"they,Cannahe received board the &tilt ' ' ••,'
IA
TesSeVwithout great inconvenianee ;'but in thi4sii
3alid -all othiir6; dtj u 4 detentian the vessel Aeuezieo
ti4Eilrbe sent to Ithe'Jnettiregt ,and !, saferport torttial
-
atidjndgnient;atiording to Ism." , •,. 1
I
The infete4,,.t.cae'diawnfiritigt eh wordsill the
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