Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1853-12-31
NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER.
FROM OUR & oNDoN CORRESPONDENT
LONDON, DECEMBER 5, 1853.

LONDON, DECEMBER 3, 1898.
The first week of our winter has passed; the
three autumnal months, dreaded by hypochondriacs
sad reprobated by foreigners, are gone. The ter
rible November of England, for which all the world
pities it's inhabitants gone with its fogs and other
proyerbial peculiarities. We do not know that any
one laments its departure; but we think many per-
sons are beginning to think and to endeavor to
prove that the English November has been much
slandered and illused month, and that it does not
altogether deserve the imputations under which it
has suffered for centuries 1t has been called the
of suicides but it is proved that the suicides which
occur in November are really fewer than those in
other of the year. There may have been time
when that month and every other unhealthy in
England than in other European countries In the in
fancy of the arts of social life climate is of
quence, and Of different kind of consequence, than
when Nature has been subdued from its roughness
and its wildness In the olden time, when man wore
nothing but wooens and was rather careless keep
ing them clean when the poor lived floors Of damp
clay and the rich rode rushes which not chang
ed frequently enough keep them free from unavoidable
impurity; when the wind whisted through consruct-
ed houses it listed and when few pleasant walks
tempted people to exercise when it the custom to
feed repeton upon gross food and upon such sour
and muddy wine as the old chronclers tell Of it is
very inferior to what it in more sunny countries
where life was passed chiefly in the open air. the body
clothed in light garments and sustained by light diet
But with the progress of civilization the whole state and
condition of things have changed and English people
now find themselves the longest ivers in Europe In
former times English soldiers were strong and English
peasants could do wondrous things in athletic games
but these picked menhe survivors of system of
living which had killed off the weakly If could re-
fer to registration of births and deaths through the
past centuries of English history, there is doubt it
would found that the of Deaths especially in
childhood astonishingly great very probably much
like the mortality in Russia at this day. which is stated
to be thirty six annually to one thousand living At
present the annual mortality in England is twenty-five in
the thousand in Russia we have stated, thirty six
thirty in Austra twenty in Prussia and twenty
four in France This being the fact Engshmen should
give complaining about their climate and to doubt
whether their landmarks could have been set up in
healthier country.
By wise ordination every people, doubt prefers its
own native abode The Frenchman loves his bright at
mosphere, his evenings the Boulevards, his sunny
vineyards and his light wines but he does not live
long as the Englishman The Prussan adores the Rhine
and exus in and enjoys the literature and the art of his
chief cities but what hope Of average health is there OF
Berlin that sandy plain where drainage is impossible,
and where the FROST which seals up the fetd yapors in
the ground is Of the greatest blessings of the year,
With single day in mid-winter out fever,
which runs its for weeks. The Prussian lives
shorter time than the Frenchman and the Austrian
shorter than either The Austrian dominions spread
over such variety of surfaces that the causes of the
higher mortality cannot be easily assigned but the fact
is certain There in that Empire swampy river banks
and misty mountains and close old cities haunted by the
maadies of bygone ages and there is throughout the
nation singulary unwholesome mode of Diet crude
acid, oily, accounting for some Of the maladies which
shorten life in Austria The may be said of Rus
sia with abundant aggravation from other causes Life
is in Russia series contrasts extreme cold and ex
cessve heat injurious luxury and destructive hardship
enervatng inaction and overpowerng exertion gross
feeding in some conditions and deficient nourishment in
others And when to these things are added the fact
that civilization has scarcely commenced exceptn few
great cies it is wonderful that the mortality is not far
eater than what have upon authority stated it be-
When look other countries where Engshmen go to
reside we find none so favorable life their native
country In Italy, with all its charms of climate, there
is malaria and painful cold in winter from the structure
of the dwellings Sicily is VIGOROUSLY unhealthy; 50
is the greater part of Span from heat, Dirt and damp
In the United States the average duration Of life is con-
sderably below that of England This arises, however
from causes whlch are every year diminishing Nv uouo'
considerable portion Of the evil arises from so large
part Of the soil having been recently settled and from
the yet comparatively incpent state Of drainage and
cultivation in many tracts Of country No doubt IN
all the inhabited and inhabtable portion Of the esrhs
surface more experience and higher wisdom will insure
an increase of health and prolongahon of life. We
will say this for England Noble as are the American
praries majestic the rivers and eautful as are
the forests Of the New World lovely the sunny
and starry skies Of Italy charming in themselves and
most interesting by their associations the rivers Of
Germany and Spain and gladstone existence may be
in the gay valleys of France, there is easy and
longer life to be had in Old England. We do not find
there and translucent atmosphere, but we do
find the greenest meadows in the world England has not
vineyards but she has the most punctua cornheds ever
known There is not there gay life in the open air,
but there is greater aggregate Of comfortable snug fire.
sides than can elsewhere at least in Europe be met
with Much is yet wanting and much that it is shame
to be still in want Of make residence in England wha
il might be and ought be but yet we think it true
that life may be enjoyed in England much as it can be
in any part OF the world, Notwithstanding her misty at
mosphere and weeping sky.
When we talk Of London fog we do not mean an Eng
ih one The latter is only the blue damp mists which
curl round the mountains and ascend from the lakes to
form the usrous white clouds that deck the spring and
autumnal skies Of England. With this and nothing
is her climate to be charged But the London log
is London manufacture formed Of the smoke Of half
million Of chimneys and the exhalatons from the tan
pits the sewers the graveyards the mud Of the Thames
and the sgnant of the Essex marshes and other
sources which might be, and which we trust will soon