New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1865-08-11
yySE CssOLEIsA.
unvlSe.

TME CEOLEEA.
At this moment all Western Asia and South
en- Europe are panc-strickcn by the terror oi
sudden death, That strange curse, which, as
the Red Death, the Black Plague, the yellow
Fever, has so often swept Ike "A fire around the
world, and in all is Protean forms Is still one
Pes.ilcnce, has again arisen as swift and as
strong rs of old. The Cholera has unexpectedly
revealed itself in the East, and for the third
time bcg.ns it, terrible westward march.
Egypt, breeder Of 40 many monsters, Is the
mother OF this. Centuries Of dirt and degrade
ton have rooted the plague 80 firmly III Egyp',
that il return every ten years is rs CERTAIN as
the daily rising Of the Gun. Nile, Within over
flowing waters, cannot cleanse the land.
Even the religion of MohammeI has become the
protector Of disease, aid IBIS year the Cholera
Grst appeared among that immense throng OF
Pilgrims which annually journeys through
Egypt 10 Mecca and Medina. These poor
people live in dirt, for though the law oil the
Prophet requires lieluent additions, they seem
no cleaner for It's observance than the Arabs in
the desert, who, for want Of water perform the
sacred washinc5 with sand. In three days the
Cholera slew four 10 si1 thousand pilgrims in
Mecca and Medina. 1t pursued the sur
yiyors on their homeward flight, and
the stegnant canals, the crowded roads,
were sircwn with the dead. IL caught the
Egyptian Arabs in their huts Of mud and straw;
decma,ed the dirty towns aud villages, and
finally entered Alexandria and reigned there IN
triumph. In Cairo upward Of four hundred
people persisted in one day. Thus it rayaged
Tgypt I'll! about the middle Of July. when The
mortality, though still great, seems to have
decreased OF its course since We are not iully
informed, but it seems torbe spreading along
the Mediterranean coast; it has penetrated
Sicily. established itself in Cons,antinoplc, aud
is already as far wet as Ancona, Italy.
Westcrn Europe is alarmed and on the de-
fersive. But it is hard for the police Of on
Empire to arrest this Invisible murderer, which
has al, the poverty, crime, flthiness and rcok-
lessness Of the world for It's accomplices.
Eugene Sue in his greatest novel, refers for
cibly to the apparent progress OF The Cholera, ut
the rate of mars daily march. But it will
travel faster in 1853 than il did in 1881. The
Cholera is not blown about on the winds. IL
pas 49, from man TO man; the ship SAILS with II
over the sea; the steam ears speed with 1t over
the land; it crawls along tho sewerage, and
crceps from street TO street with the bcGgar. Ii
is this mode of transmission that makes its pro-
gress so difficult to stop, yet because OF this 1t is
not useless to try the effect of all san
itary precautions. If this peStilencc were
a poison in the air, we might abandon all hope
Of controlling it, and idly nwait, like the Mo-
hammedan fataiist, the mysterious punishment
Of God But We know, whatever be its primal
cause that it originates in countries which are
The sewers Of the world; tina. everywhere filth
and foulness are It's allies, and cleanliness its
greatest enemy. Our duty is therefore plain.
II Europe cannot stop the pe,tilence, and prece-
dents give little reason to suppose it, the Chol-
era may reasonably be expected in America in
the Autumn or Spring. New-York, with lis
immense foreign commerce, is not easily
defended, and in its present con-
dition cannot be. We dare not trust
entirely 10 the quarantine; the outworks Of
fort are useless if the enemy has allies in the
citadel, And the Five Points, the SHAMELESS and
the Markets, are even now ripe for the embraces
of the plague. We sound no unnecessary
alarm. No one can doubt that preparation is
demanded, aud that even if the Cholera should
never come, all the elements of disease are
exhalng from our cutters. The street-sweepcrS
should not always be kept on Broadway and the
Filth-ayc.-let them 60 where they are impera-
lively needed, into Baxtcr-st., and Pearl-st.,
and all the crooked alleys Of the Five Points.
Make tho city clean, and leave the rest to
Providence. 1t may DO well for our officials to
remember that those who, from carelessness or
eteed, invite the Cholera, may be obliged to
receive in their homes the fatal guest, as the
first victim of the guillotinc waists inventor