The Shadow of Great Britain-Chapter 557 - 287: Liverpool’s Chip Problem

Liverpool, Georgian Quarter, Duke Street, No. 92, Monro Pub.

If you were to ask what is the very thing one ought to do after taking the train from London to Liverpool, surely visiting a tavern to order a few fine gins and wines would rank first in a poll among Britain’s citizens.

Though the quality of the drinks in the taverns of London may not necessarily be worse than those in Liverpool, when it comes to price, being at the King’s feet and the heart of the capital, London could not possibly be as affordable as Liverpool, where regulations are comparatively lax.

Arthur, although not particularly fond of drinking, found that during this special period, imbibing alcohol actually became an excellent way to prevent oneself from contracting severe illnesses.

Sitting at a street-facing seat, with a slight twitch of his nose, Arthur Could smell the acrid odor wafting from the streets.

In the cholera prevention guidelines issued by the Central Health Committee to local governments, it emphasized the importance of using lime water, hot lime water, and bleach to clean the streets and of whitewashing and fumigating crowded and dirty areas.

In its recommendations, the Committee also tactfully suggested that it would be even better if they could ask homeowners to reapply lime wash to every wall inside the houses, from floor to ceiling.

However, since the government did not have the legal authority to mandate private premises to be cleaned, most newly established local health committees then came up with the idea to offer free brushes, buckets, and disinfecting materials to the poor so they could whitewash their own homes.

This ’zero-cost’ disinfection promotion method quickly achieved unprecedented success throughout Britain; true to the spirit of taking advantage of an opportunity lest one be a fool, it reached from the opulent Buckingham Palace where the King lived to the leaky hovels the poor called home.

In just a few weeks, at least one-third of Britain’s houses were repainted and looked as good as new.

Yet not everyone responded to the government’s call, and to this day in Britain, there are still quite a number of people who don’t take cholera seriously.

Due to a lack of understanding about this foreign disease, many believe that cholera is nothing but a hoax concocted by the government in collusion with doctors and businessmen.

Arthur had noticed a news story published in the "Newcastle Morning Post" a while back.

The report mentioned that in Newcastle, cholera almost became synonymous with satire. If you were to tell a person from Newcastle that they were at risk of contracting cholera, you might be met with a punch as heavy as a sandbag, or possibly the spittle of women.

When a local reporter from Newcastle visited an all-night tavern for an interview, a drunk clutching a bottle even claimed, "I’m not worried about such trifles, sir, as you can see, drinking is a panacea; I’ve lived half my life that way and never had any ailments. My only concern is not to fall into some stinking ditch when I’m plastered."

Although the judgment of drunks is typically inaccurate, when it comes to cholera, Arthur had to admit, this old fellow had an unusually correct hunch.

Arthur wanted to suggest this to the Central Health Committee as well, but given his not-so-stellar reputation in the medical community and the fact that heavy drinking as a cure ran contrary to the medical Common Sense of the 19th century, he kept his mouth shut to avoid provoking the doctors’ opposition.

But Arthur’s silence did not mean that other half-informed laypeople were quiet.

As the world’s earliest barefoot doctors of Christianity, who had, however, fallen into the predicament of unauthorized medical practice in modern times, the priests had once again taken up their centuries-old discourse upon realizing the arrival of cholera.

Cholera is not a physical sickness but a moral flaw of the spirit!

It is God’s punishment for a society plunged into darkness!

The previous pronouncements of the Bishop of Exeter criticizing London as set to become an infernal cesspool of sin were coming true!

In these difficult times, we must strengthen our faith even more, and steadfast attendance at church sermons and reading the Bible will effectively reduce the likelihood of contracting the disease.

Generally, when Arthur sees such news headlines, he feels that the priests are just acting up again.

But he had to admit, the priests did offer some help in the fight against cholera.

For example, the Bishop of Exeter who had just recently criticized the issue of prostitutes in London, rather than fleeing his diocese after an outbreak of a massive epidemic, actually took to the streets to call for donations to help the poor who could not afford treatment, and during this time he continued to officiate funerals for those who died of cholera.

The Bishop’s leadership to a certain extent also stabilized the tumultuous situation in Exeter; in the past, whenever such a large-scale epidemic occurred, the British middle class would take their families and flee the city.

But this time, cholera did not collapse the social order; shops were still trading, factories were still producing, and ports were still operating.

After listening to a sermon, a small shop owner even shed tears, expressing regret for his past sinful behaviors and vowing to give up bad habits such as heavy drinking and smoking, aiming to reform and be a better person.

Furthermore, he called on everyone from his industry association to bravely stand up in the face of adversity. Since these middle-class individuals derived wealth from the city, they should not stand idly by and watch it fall into ruins when it faced difficulties.