on the continent of both banking-houses
and commercial establishments, by which English firms sustained great
losses, and the continued disturbance of commercial relations in
consequence of the civil conflicts on the continent, were causes
sufficiently numerous and potent to create and sustain apprehension,
and embarrass the usual proceedings of trade. Still money flowed
into England from continental Europe, as the place of security which,
whatever might betide the world, was supposed to be beyond the range of
political convulsion. Thus capital was plentiful, and money was easily
obtained by all creditable establishments. The peace, good order,
and constitutional liberty by which these blessings were established,
afforded England a source of prosperity amidst so much that was
calculated to impoverish. The wrecks of many nations floated around
her shores, but within her borders all was safe; the shadow of the
thunder-cloud passed over her, and she heard its peals, as it burst in
lightning and torrent on less favoured lands.

THE CHOLERA.

There was one calamity, which befel so many nations, from which England
was not spared. The mysterious cholera, which appeared in 1848 in some
places, broke out in the autumn of this year with surprising fury. Its
ravages were far more extensively fatal than in 1832. In 1832 the number
attacked in London was 14,154, and the number of those who fell victims
was 6729. In 1848-49, the number attacked exceeded 30,000, and
nearly half the number perished. In 1832, one out of every 250 of the
population died; in 1848-49, one out of every 150. More than 80,000
persons died of cholera and diarrhoea in Great Britain during the latter
period. The disease spared neither sex nor age. It was found in London
to prevail most near the banks of the Thames, and on the south side
of the river, where the ground was lower and worse drained than on the
north. In the higher grounds, north and south, the disease inflicted but
little injury. Where the water supply was from the less pure portions of
the Thames, the havoc was greater than where it was drawn from a portion
of the river further up, or from other sources. The disease prevailed
most during hot weather both in Great Britain and Ireland. The faculty
was as little able to treat it as when it first appeared; and there was
a disposition to rely too much on general sanitary measures, without
regard to the specific virus of the disease.

PARL