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the leading Minister ought to be a military man and an obscure accomplice ; but he has been unable to restore any respectable character to that Government which is exiled from our Stock Exchange . The complexion of the new Ministry is as little easy for us to describe as ft would be to define the character of the present Town Council of Little Peddlington .
France , according to the most probable accounts , is making way downwards . The immense expenditure of the Government , to feed and amuse the people , is attended by its natural consequence , a great deficit in the Exchequer . The Emperor , it is said , is bent upon peace ,. ; but really it would seem probable that war would open to him one
release from his home difficulties , by affording a good pretext for a loan j and if it were well contrived , with a fair prospect of a real alliance between France and England , and with some sort of prospective guarantee upon the future resources of France , by conquest or otherwise , a loan would not be unlikelv to take in London .
Indeed , conquest might be turned to good account . Why should not foreign legions be paid with the lands of Russia or of Austria ? " Land orders" of that kind might find a market , as soon as we are fairly at work . At home , trade is undergoing the severe crisis which we have explained , and grave apprehensions are now entertained that , before our mercantile
men can make both ends meet , or reconcile the conflict between ever-rising wages and expiring profits , some of them must go to the wall . Now , we believe they are reaping the effects of not having established , in quiet times , a better understanding with their hands , by a more genial and frank intercourse with their workpeople . We have seen how moderate and forbearing the working classes can be , if they are treated with consideration and candour . .
The great mill owners might become really " Lords , " and take the place of our effete aristocracy , if they would but use the opportunities of their station to win the affection and confidence of those amongst whom they reside . Such festivals as those given by Mr . Salt , at Saltaire , near Bradford , are , in the true and noble sense , aristocratic displays of factory munificence , and they do good ; how much might be done , with even less cost , by ordinary candour and kindness in every day life !
The report , from China , that the tea trade is stopped at Fou-Chou , is as little unexpected as the report of famine at Pegu . It was well understood that the truce proposed by the Court of Ava was solel y to serve its own purposes of trade , and we are as certain to pay for it , as our teapot is to suffer at first for the religious zeal of the Chinese Christians . The teapot however is not so precious as the loaf ; and the continued assurances that our harvest Mill not be worse than it was reckoned to be a few weeks back , with a certainty of ample supplies abroad , more Ihan compensate for a few cargoes of tea stopped at Fou-Chou .
i lie most gloomy fact is the general spread of the Cholera ; at present , however , in isolated spots about the country . The authorities , central and local , are active ; but the . crying defect is want of power . Everybody is telling somebody else ; what to do , at the same time that everybody is very much inclii cd to rebel against " eentralmno- "
orders ; and we hive , this time , to pay for the neglect in setting our house in order legislatively and administratively , according lo common sense * Many of the deaths have now to pay the penalty of . that neglect ; and if , after so many warnings ! , we repeat these murders , we ought to erase from our titles the rank uud name of a " civilized " people .
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THE CHOLERA IN ENGLAND . OFFICl AT , rHKG'AUTi ON « . Tim following official notification of the prcsoueu of tho Cholera in iilni / luud has boon ituraod by tho Hoard of Jloulth : — .
" General Boar 4 of Health , Whitehall , Sept . 20 , 1853 . " It is the painfuVduty of the General Board of Health to notify a third visitation of the epidemic cholera . This disease again * first breaking out in Persia , has extended within the present year over a large portion of Russia , stretching- as far northwards as Archangel , on the shores of the Arctic Ocean ; it has ravaged Denmark , Norway , end Sweden , and then developing itself in the north of Germany , it haa attacked Stettin , Berlin , . Rotterdam ,, and Hamburg ,- and Subsequently it has appeared in England , again breaking out on its north-east coast , in the near neighbourhood of the town in which it made its first appearance in this country in 1831 .
" In this widespread course it has everywhere overleaped the harriers which quarantine has erected lo stay its progress ; and where this means of protection has been most rigidly enforced , it has not onl j disappointed the expectation of those who have relied upon it as a safeguard , often to the neglect and exclusion of the most important precautions , but has aggravated the evils of the pestilence , and added disastrous consequences of its own . " The experience already obtained of this pestilence at Newcastle , Gateshead , and Hexham , is decisive , that where the conditions are favourable to its localisation and development , as in the case in these towns , the disease has lost nothing of its former virulence . In the two former , indeed , the severity of the disease , as far as it has yet
extended , has greatly exceeded that of any former visitation , and it has attacked in all those places , as it has abroad , a much larger proportion of the middle and higher classes . " It is deeply to be lamented that the interval between the last visitation of this pestilence and the present , has not been generally employed in effecting a larger amount of improvement in our cities and towns . From such inspections as the General Board have recently been enabled to make of the state of populous districts , the former seats of the disease , in apprehension of its reappearance , they are compelled to state that there are extensive districts , and even entire towns , in which no perceptible improvement of any kind has been effected . On the other hand , there are instances in which , even where no general permanent works of improvement have been effected , better supplies of water , extensive flagging and paving , more frequent scavenging , and a more active removal of
nuisances in epidemic localities have been accomplished . Combined and permanent works , involving elaborate engineering measures , capable of remedying the neglect of years , cannot be effected in a few weeks . But the consciousness of past neglect should stimulate . to immediate and resolute exertion , that all which the time requires , and which can be done , may be done . The results in some instances , even of limited and partial improvements , are highly encouraging . During the present epidemic in Hamburg , which has now been prevailing upwards of six weeks , only six cases of cholera have occurred in the improved parts of the town ; and during the whole of the epidemic in the metropolis in 1849 , not a single case of cholera occurred in any one of the model dwellings for the poor , oocupied by similar classes of the population , though the pestilence raged in the districts in which these buildings are situated , and there were instances of two and even four deaths in single houses close to their walls .
" Even in towns in which the greatest amount of improvement has been effected , and in which works under the Public Health Act are most advanced , much remains to be done , and may be done . Local Boards of Health are invested , under ' the Public Health Act , with ample powers of cleansing , for the removal of nuisances , for preventing the carrying on of unwholesome or noxious trades in such a manner as to injure health , for preventing tho occupation of cellars as dwelling-houses , unless under
certain conditions ; for preventing tho occupation of any dwelling-house which , on tho certificate of an officer of health , shall appear to bo in such n filthy and unwholesome stato as to endanger tho health of any person , until such house shall have been properly and effectually whitewashed , cleansed , and purified , and for administering tho Common Lod ging Houses Act , the provisions of which are most important . All those powers should bo exorcised at the present juncture with extraordinary activity , vigilance , and stringency .
" But though it may bo needful to prosecute tho work of cleansing more vigorously than in ordinary periods , yet it should bo done under supervision and with extraordinary care . In removing accumulations of filth , precautions should be taken for disinfection and for preventing tho increase of noxious evaporation . Tho contents of foul drains , sewers , ant ditches , should in no case be spread upon the surface , and no largo accumulation of fillh should bo ^ removed , excepting under tho direction of a medical officer . Tim escape of noxioun effluvia , is far more tlangorous in nn epidemic than in an ordinary season . " The evil of overcrowding , ho general not only in common lodging houses , but in tonemenl . H of all descriptions occupied by tho poorer clauses , especially by the Irish , an evil prevenliblo and , to u considerable , extent , reinoveable , should be at , once , and by all practicable means , reduced . '
" Wherever local boards of health exist , , they should in all cases oo-operalo wit . li tho boards of guardians , and it , i « believed that , the boards of guardians will , on then- part , co-operulo wi ! , h local hoards . The oxislinir means for the extraordinary iservice now required are ( fivided amongst independent local juriudielions ; medical officers in Knglund and Wales being under boni'da of ginirdiuiiH ; works of sew-« go and oloiuming in ( owns , mil- under tho . Public Health Act , being under town coi ' nmitiHioncrH acting under local acts ; and tho enforcement , of orders required for tlio public service being with Uio magistrate ! or municipal authorities . Uiti confidently oxpectod that a common fooling will give precedence to the branch of service specially needed mi ( , his occasion , and ensure that unity of action winch it is the liiuin objjvit , of the rules and ropdations issued herewith to authorize , and promote for the common object . " J'Jxporionoo has shown that ; , in tho ciiho of tho actual outbreak of tho opidomip , tho chief inommrow lo bo roliod
on for checking its jtfea . d are those which prevent ocrowding , remove persons from affected houses , and b r " the infected population under prompt and proper tr ^ ment during the premonitory stage of the disease IW the epidemic of 1849 , an organization for effecting rt ^ objects wa 3 brought into operation the main narf I which were the establishment of a system of hou t house visitation , the opening of dispensaries and ho " of refuge in affected districts for ; the ; gratuitous smjril *¦ medicines , the establishment of houses of refuge for t \ reception of such indigent persons as appeared to h imminent danger , resident in the most filthy and " * crowded houses , the provision of temporary h ospitalT ^" the reception of those who could not be properly tre i ! at their own homes , and in some instances the suddI p . tents for the removal of the most susceptible andd /" tuce ciusses 10 distance irom miected
u localities TV result of this system was , that out of 130 , 000 premonit cases brought under its operation , no -fewer than 6000 f which were on the point of passing into the deveWrf stage , only 250 went into the collapsed stage of cliol £ f . or 1 in 620 . But of the 43 , 737 cases under visitation ' the metropolis , including 978 cases on the point of passin into the collapsed stage of cholera , only 52 actually dif so , — -not 1 in 800 ; so that taking together the general result of this extended experience , it appears that th proportion of cases under early treatment which passed from the premonitory into the developed stage variprifiv , m 1 in 500 to 1 in 800 . & . m
" No doubt is now entertained of the efficacy of this system , or of the duty of local authorities to carry it into effect on the very first appearance of this disease in an epidemic form ; and , as none can tell where or how suddenly the pestilence may alight , it is the dut y of local authorities to be prepared for the emergency before its arrival . Preparation will be attended with little cost ; the power to act with promptitude and efficiency when the necessity for action arises will be attended with a great economy of money as well as of life .
" With reference to those precautions against the disease which each individual may take for himself , or the heads of families or establishments for those under their charge , the first in importance are personal and household cleanliness , and the freest ventilation of living and sleep , ing rooms with pure air ; the purity of the air we breathe being even more essential than the wholesom ' eness of food and drink . " When the disease has actually broken out and becomt epidemic in any district or locality , then the one essential
precaution is not to neglect for a single hour any degree of looseness of bowels . This symptom being commonly without pain , and so slight that it is difficult to conceivo that it can be of the smallest consequence , naturally leads to neglect , and this neglect has cost the lives of thousands . Were any additional proof of this required it would be found in the events that are now occurring at Newcastle and Gateshead ; all the medical men there bear testimony that premonitory diarrhoea is all but universal , and that life depends on instant attention to this symptom .
" Thus , one physician says , ' He has never yet seen a case without premonitory symptoms ; ' another states , 'He has found in a great number of instances , where the men said they had been first seized with collapse , there had been neglected diarrhoea for 24 , or even 48 hours or longer ; ' another declares , ' In all cases of collapse investigated , it is found there had been neglected diarrhoea . ' Even in the cases in which death takes place with the greatest rapidity , the suddenness is apparent only , real ; for the fatal collapse is tho final but gradual result of diarrhoea neglected for several hours , and sometimes for entire days . It must , then , bo repeated , that in any district in which cholera is epidemic , life may depend on obtaining prompt and proper relief for painless and apparentltrifling looseness of the bowels .
y " The measure of precaution next in importance relates to the proper regulation of tho diet . Great moderation , both of food and drink , ia absolutely essontiul to safety during tho whole duration of tho epidemic period ; imnc of indiscretion has been often followed by a severe altacKj intemperance at ; such a tirno is fraught with tho mm oxlreino danger . During tho epidemic of 1 B 41 ) , siuiutn and fatal attacks of tho disenso followed immediately 0 " tho indulgence of habits of drinking after tho roceipt "j weekly wages . Tho intervals between the moala sno not bo long ; cholera being uniformly found to piuv with extraordinary intensity among tho classes that . ov " tho protracted fasts common in eastorn and soino Jiuroj
countries . n : nSt "Tho utmost practicable caro should bo taken nj , » fatigue , which is n very powerful predisposing cause ¦ ^ disease . Employers and persons engaged in 1 ft ^ ^ occupations should ondoavour , na far us posHioi , . ^ arrange tho amount and time of work , as lo avow p J exhaustion . T > lirin / r i ] i 0 " Warm clothing is of great importance . ¦ ' ? " f tnftt present , epidemic in Hamburg , it has been lou ^ ^ incautious exposure to cold and damp has '" " "" fw jj , ,, rflattack as rapidly ns improper food or excess . ^ caution against , damp in rendered doubly itriI > or ' " l 0 ( l lind peculiarity of tho present season . Long conn ^ excessive rains luivo , in many p laces , sun . ' . ^ . ] yin # ground with moisture , especially undriiined "'| ^ ¦ uou 9 aislriels , ' placing , iii many instances , tho JllII ( 1 C (] ri ' uii » g » to towns , and boyond tho usual rnngo of ( ovV " . , w n ri 9-almost in tho condition of marshes . Tho < ' * l'a » l ll 0 ldin / T ,. ,. ,. . . . i ... i *•»„„ w I lvvator . n "' q i humuiimiu
„ ng irom u suriuce miuh - «»¦'"• ( ovVi " " decomposing mutter in solution , spread to tno ( ,, ijuto nlfeot tho inhabitants , howovorwoll drained tno i ^ sites of tho townri may bo . Tho flonornl Jlo » ji « dllCC d approhensivo that disease would bo oxtonsivt 5 ' ' joU of by I . UiH unusual and dangerous state of u llir ^ i * iu <> ntl / tho country ( an apprehension which wan si o | u ' . tor realized byYho breaking out of disease , iiUM '" j iflflU nd to cholera " , in sixty I , owuh ) , that in thoir m > " « " , j , oritio » in Docombor , 3852 , they represented to |« ™ fl dniin > " " that thiB calamity ullbrdod a opocuil occasion
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914 THE LEADER . [ SatitrDaYj ' ' " i ' v i - ~ -f " " '" i ¦ VTi ¦ ¦ 7 r T" "• " rz
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 24, 1853, page 914, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2005/page/2/
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