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QUARANTINE AGAIN ! ] tf 0 ST intelligent persons thought the days of Quarantine were over : it is not so . Some years ago the Board of Health reported the futility of Quarantine regulations in preventing the spread of such afflictions , and guch an effect did the report produce upon the principal , if not upon all , the Governments of Europe , that a few months ago a congress -of medical men of the highest standing , deputed by the various Governments of Europe , as well as by our own , was held in Paris , to consider the whole subject . That congress came to a decision which has not yet been formally published , but of its purport there are sound grounds for judging , in the fact that a convention was drawn up for the guidance of all Europe in matters of infectious diseases , which , it is believed , would , if not at once , eventually lead to the entire abolition of quarantine . Our readers are probably not aware of the cost of quarantine , and will be surprised to learn that a careful estimate has shown that to the commerce of this country alone the cost of a year ' s quarantine would exceed 2 , 000 , 000 Z . sterling . In the face of all this inquiry , the following letter to the Commissioners of Customs was issued on
the 2 nd of September : — " Council-office , Whitehall , Sept . 2 , 1852 . « gIEj—Official information having been received by her Majesty ' s Government of the prevalence of Asiatic cholera in the port of Dantsic and other places , I am directed by the Lords of her Majesty ' s Council to state to you , for the information of the Commissioners of Customs , the desire of their Lordships that instructions should be given to the proper officers of Customs , more particularly to those employed along the Eastern coast , to examine very particularly the masters of vessels arriving from the Baltic and
North Sea as te the state-of health of their passengers and crew , more especially with reference to cholera ; and in the event of there being any person or persons on board actually suffering from cholera , or who had been suffering from that disease within the five days previous to the arrival of the vessel in port , the said officers should be further directed to detain any such vessel under a precautionary quarantine for such period as the medical officer employed to visit the sick may judge necessary for the security or preservation of the health of the community on shore .
" I am further directed to state that the proposed quarantine being only a quarantine of observation , and established with the view of preventing the persons suffering by disease from commumcating with the shore , it is not intended that any restraint should be placed upon persons on board in the enjoyment of good health , whether passengers or crew , who may be permitted to have the same free communication with the shore as if the yellow flag had not been hoisted .
" I am , Sir , your most obedient servant , " C . C . Grevii / le . " On this document coming to the knowledge of the Chamber of Commerce and Manufactures of Manchester , the following memorial was immediately transmitted to the Lords of the Treasury : — " TO THE EIGHT HON . THE LOEB 8 COM 31 ISSIONEE 8 OF HER MAJEBTY ' S TREA 8 TJBY . " The Memorial of the Directors of the CJiamhcr of Commerce and Manufactures at Manchester ,
" Showeth , —Tlmt your memorialists have Been a copy of a letter , dated Council-office , Whitehall , Sept . 2 , 1862 , nnd signed ' C . O . Grcville , ' in which the Commissioners of Customs aro directed to issue instructions that the masters of vessels arriving from the Baltic and North Sea nhould be very particularly examined as to tho state of health of their passengers and crown , more especially with reference to cholera ; and that , in tho event of ( hero being any ponton or portions on board actually suffering from cholera , or who had boon suffering from that disease within the live days previous to the arrival of tho vessel in port , Huch vessel should be detained under a precautionary quarantine for Huch period an the medical oflieer employed to
vimt the Hick may judge necessary for tho security or preservation of the health of the community on shore . That jour memorialists feel much regret , at the stop thus taken ; they did hope that , after the honest and searching inquiries Mint , have taken place on thin subject , and especially after tho result of tho sanitary eonforoneo recently held in 1 ' ari . s , to which this country wan a party , our trading and "hipping interests would not be again uselessly annoyed 'ma injured by a measure of this character . That your memorialists do not overlook the closing directions ot the letter above recited , whereby instructions aro given that , as the proposed quarantine in to be only ft quarantine ot observation , it , is not , intended that , any restraint , should be placed upon persons on board in the enjoyment of good health , whether passengers or crew ; but that , such personH might he permitted to have tho same free communication
with Ilio shore as if the yellow flag had not been hoisted . Your memorialists hope that they construe the preceding paragraph aright , when they suppose that healthy persons w « ll ho allowed to leave the ship at mim , and if so they would respectfully suggest that tho instructions to the ocal oflicci-H at the ports should be more explicitly defined than , as appears to them , is done by ( ho words , of the letter ; if , however , it , be intended that healthy persons should ho allowed merely to communicate with the shore , and Hlill bo retained on board , then would your memorialists most urgently pray that such a course may bo forthwith abandoned . ' That while your memorialists would cheerfull y endure any sacrifices which would effectually check tho importation or spread of dimiiuio , they concur *» ththoHO disinterested authoritien who think that qua-•• fttttino regulations are At all times uo « le »» and injurious
whether the diseases against which they profess to be directed be epidemic or endemic . In attempting to control an atmosphere charged with epidemic miasmata they would be ridiculous , if not cruel and costly ; in endemic cases they obviously tend to the destruction rather than to the preservation of life . The foul atmosphere of a ship during , and immediately after , a voyage , is itself an exciting cause of disease even upon a healthy frame ; to retain in such an atmosphere a person already in disease appears to be little less than to doom the sufferer to death . That your memorialists , moreover , feel cause of deep regret in because in
the course which has been adopted , recurring to quarantine now , after the examination which the question has undergone during several years , and especially so soon after the general conference so recently held in Paris , this country sets an example to Europe of adherence to antiquated and nugatory precautions which may retard for years the general abolition of a system which your memorialists know to be most costly and prejudicial to commerce , and which they believe to be more destructive to , than preservative of , life ; they therefore humbly but urgently pray that the letter of the Council of the 2 nd of September instant may be at once revoked .
" By order and on behalf of the Directors of the Chamber of Commerce and Manufactures at Manchester . " Thomas Bazley , President . " " Manchester , Sept . 16 . " We can hardly hope that this vigorous remonstrance will have any effect on a Ministry whose principle is Protection , and whose officers propose to protect cholera by quarantine .
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A PLEA FOR THE RIGHTS OP WOMAN " . ( From the Times . ) Sib , —We have had our laugh , and a very hearty one too , at the absurdities uttered by some of the " strongminded women" at Syracuse—at the extravagant demands made upon our patience and forbearance . Perhaps we have felt indignant at the attempt made to overturn the order of nature , and break in upon the relations of social and domestic life ; or we may have been tempted to round off the whole controversy with
the intuitive argument which once closed a debate upon the subject— " After all , a man is a man and a woman is a woman . " But the inquiry still forces itself upon our attention—Is the relation of woman to society in all respects what it ought to be ? Has she no genuine wrongs to complain of , when we have put aside the question whether she should be a magistrate and a police-officer , a legislator and a gaoler , a general and a private soldier , a merchant on 'Change and a draywoman , a commissioner in bankruptcy and a sheriff's
officer r Single women and widows , holding the proper qualification , have votes for parish officers ; why not for members of Parliament ? Why should their property be unrepresented ? Why should they have no voice in choosing those who shall make laws for them in common with men ? If they had the right to vote , and shrunk from its exercise , they need not vote . But they do bolder and more courageous things than it would bo to present themselves at tho polling-booth
continually , and society applauds them for so doing . Clear perception of what is right , and a conscience unflinchingly supporting the decisions of the understanding , arc by no means confined to men . I doubt if women would cry out for tho dark secrecy of the ballotbox . If they voted , it would bo in the face of day . Give tho femme ' sole tho right to vote , and you would at once do justice and infuse a purifying element into those scenes of bribery , corruption , and intimidation , which aro the staple of our Parliamentary elections .
But perhaps women aro virtually represented in Parliament with tho other unenfranchised members of society ; still , have they nothing to complain of in their legal position ? Are the laws sot around them as n sufficient , defence ? The uninnrriod woman and tho widow , it is true , hold property on precisely tho same tenure , us men . So far good . No father , brother , or cousin can despoil them , except with their own consent . I speak of property which is theirs by gift ; or inheritance ; it is absolutely theirs , but no longer tlmn they remain single . If they innrry , their property becomes absolutely their husband ' s , or thai , transfer , by legal right of tho husband , is evaded by tho interposition of
trustees . When t , he priest bus pronounced his blessing , and she and hor yot lover are enjoying tho sweets of the honeymoon , her property pusses as effectually out of her control as if she wore already ( lend . Sho is lost , in the person of hor husband , or in those of hor trustees . The proceeds of her settlement , lire nominally to be paid over to her for her solo use and benefit ; but , as soon as they come into her hands , hor liege lord may demand thai , sho should deliver up such proceeds to bo disposed of nt his discretion , or indiscretion , or worse Her settlement is of use only in case of her husband's insolvency , to save them both , with their children , from poverty , or in the rare case of u legal separation .
. Hut let , us grant further , that , tho settlement of : i married woman , clumsy expedient as it is to covor tho injustice of thb law , ban its compensating advantages ^
that by it a woman is to a certain extent defended from the consequences of the unthrift or profligacy of her husband . Let us grant that a woman ' s absorption in the legal person of her husband makes her and her trustee-held property free from liability to his creditors , if she have drawn a worse than blank in the lottery of life , or have recklessly thrown herself away upon the unworthy . Still , what shall we say to the unpropertied " woman , the virtuous , industrious , striving woman of the middle and lower classes , married by fate or folly to an idle , spendthrif t , dissipated husband ? And there are such . He will not earn a living for her and her children . Why should he ? Well , then , she will ; and she lias not lost all love for the father of her little ones .
She remembers the days of their courtship , and the first few sweet months of their married life ; and she will work for him too , if he will let her . Such is often the prodigal love of woman . But , let her labour , let her deny herself rest , and leisure , and sleep , and everything but what is necessary to keep up her strength for daily duty—let her rejoice and thank God that she has power to gain bread for the mouths that she has brought into existence—when she has toiled , and
gathered , and is looking with complacency upon her gains , considering , with joy , what necessaries and comforts they will purchase for those dearer to her than her life , her husband may come in and sweep off all her hard earnings , leave her and her children penniless , and spend her precious gains upon his idle and selfish vices . She has no legal right to withhold them . She depends altogether upon the energy of her maternal will and the little remains of grace that may yet cling to the debased heart of her lord and master .
I need go no further . Whatever absurdities may be spoken about woman ' s rights , a deep feeling of shame must attend the contemplation of woman ' s wrongs ; and surely the Times will give its powerful support to the demand that such wrongs should be earnestly considered , and at an early period , with a view to their redress , that it may no longer be the opprobrium of our laws that , being made by the stronger sex , they leave the weaker defenceless just when they have the deepest need of protection and the strongest claims upon our sympathy . E . C . Bristol , Oct . 4 .
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MISCELLANEOUS . The Queen remains at Balmoral , somewhat obstructed in her movements by tho severe weather ; but Prince Albert manages to go deer-stalking ; and , altogether , a wholesome taste for out-door exercise has been fully indulged by her Majesty and the Prince , during their Highland retirement . The Court will visit the tubular bridge over tho Menai Straits , on her Majesty ' s return , next week , from Balmoral .
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Ministers are to hold a Cabinet Council about the 14 th , to determine when Parliament shall meet . Rumour pretty positively names the 21 st of October . It would seem that my Lord Derby has not , after all , appointed himself Lord Warden of the Cinqne Ports . The Morning Herald understands that " there is no foundation for the statement which has appeared in the papers , that the Earl of Derby has received tho Wardenship of the Cinque Ports . We have , on the
contrary , reason to believe that his lordship has advised her Majesty to offer it to the acceptance of Lord Dalhousie , whose absence in India may for souk ; time provent the actual appointment from taking place . In tho meantime , however , the duties of that office will be temporarily discharged by the Karl of Derby . " It is rumoured that Admiral Moovsom is to succeed Mr . ( Jlyn as chairman of the London and North-Western Huilway VA ) my > iu \ y . " - Binninyham Uazcltc .
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Tho ITa&dinylon arrived at , Southampton on Thursday , bringing papers from tho ( Jape to tho 2 Hnl of August ,. The lust accounts left the Commander in-ChUif encamped near Whittleseu , and preparing to move to tho grand rendezvous , the llmvani . The Albert , district had despatched a contingent , of Volunteers , Burghers and Fingoos . Captain Head was also moving down with a native levy , but it was feared that ,, from all appearances , the number from the Somerset district , would he but small , and then ! would he luuie from the important districts of ( Iruuff-Hcinet ; ,
Colcwtberg , Cnuloek , mu \ Uitenhugo . A desperate attack had been made by rebel Hottentots , who , strange to siiy , were armed with Minie rides and supplied with Conical bullets . Hut , on the whole , the military accounts present the same features us heretofore . It in rumoured , that gold has been discovered in tho Waterkloof ! If so , the Kaffir war in that direction would soon he over . " Miieonio ' s people" would bo cleared out , in no time by tho diggers . News from New York , up to tho 25 th ult ,., reached Southampton by thu Hwriboldt on Thursday . The
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October 9 , 1852 . ] THE LEADER . 963
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 9, 1852, page 963, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1955/page/7/
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