The Express.
London, England, 1866-01-12 00:00:00

REFORM MEETING AT CARLISLE.

On Wednesday night the Carlisle Parliamentary
Reform Association held a twit*, and a large public meeting
was afterwards held, presided over by Sir WiLrar.D
LAwsox, Bart., of Brayton Hall. The largest hall in the
city was crowded to the doors. The principal speakers
were Mr. E. Potter, M.P. for Carl;tle ; and Mr.
Wilfred Lawson, the ez M.P. for that city. Mr.
Lawson made • spirited speech, in the course of which
in referring to the attitude of the late premier upon the
question of reform he quoted • speech of his noels, the
late Sir James Graham, who upon the hustings at Carlisle
said, " This will be Lord Palmerston's course with regard
to reform : he will gave the minimum of reform which he
can give with safety, and be will accept the maximum of sup-
port from the tones which he can accept with decency."
Thal predictio; was fulfilled to the letter. Sir James said
to him afterwards, when Lord John Russell was promoted
to the House of Lords, " Don't yea see what this means'
It means that when Lord P►lmerston dies Russell will be
prime minister and Gladstone will be leader of the House of
Commons. Then we shall have a reform bill." The first
prophecy was right : he trusted the second might prove so
too. (Cheers.)

THE CATTLE PLAGUE.

IMPORTANT MEETING AT PRESTON.

A county meeting was held at Preston yesterday,
to oonsider the propriety of urging upon the government
the establishment of a system of national insurance
against the cattle plague. The High Sheriff presided.
Letters were read from the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer and Lord Stanley, both of whom were unable
to attend. Mr. Gladstone states in his letter that
he is "no believer in national insurance," but, on the
other hand, he sees no insurmountable objection to the
principle of a loan to enable the farmers to spread the
burden of their losses over a series of years. Lord Stanley
is against asking assistance in any form from the state.
" Whatever," he lays, "we may come to hereafter, I
cannot think that the case is yet bad enough to justify
an application which ought only to be made after
the failure of all other resources, and on the clearest de-
monstration of its necessity." The meeting, however, de-
cided to present a memorial to Lord Russell, " praying
the government to consider and lay before par-
liament an efficient system of national insurance,
whereby the agriculturists of Great Britain, while
they were protected from the most severe losses,
might be enabled by the universal contribution
of a fixed charge to protect each other from the pressure of
ruinous local burdens." It was further resolved that
the government should be urged to take upon
itself the duty of stopping all traffic in live stock in Great
Britain, under such limitations as may be deemed fit—the
object being to secure uniformity and promptness of action
throughout the country.
A remarkable instance of the result of diverse jurisdiction
under the recent orders in council with reference to the
cattle plague comes from Newcastle-on-Tyne. A valuable
ball, belonging to the celebrated Warlaby herd, and said
to be worth 1,0001., was despatched by rail from C'atterick,
in Yorkshire, to a farm in Northumberland. The necessary
license wee obtaiecd, but the station master st Catterick
would not book the bull further than Newcastle. It was
therefore necessary to obtain a fresh license at that plate,
and as no farmers could be found who had a2B days'
knowledge of the beast, it can neither go north nor south,
but is kept in the truck at the Newcastle Railway station.
This is a novel difficulty in the present dais.

The Secretary to the London Hospital writes :
"The letter of Mr. James Phillips in the Times of to-day
conveys to the authorities of the London Hospital the first
intimation of the serious charger therein contained. I
have written to Mr. Phillips requesting him to be good
enough to attend here on Tuesday next, when the matter
will receive at the weekly meeting of the house committee
that searching investigation which it would have received
on Tuesday last had the opportunity been afforded."

A letter from Rome, dated the 6th says :—" On
Thursday afternoon the venerable old church of Ara Cceli
was crowded to excess, the attraction being the drat execu-
tion of a canticle recently discovered in the Imperial
Library of Paris, re-arranged by the Abbi Lista, and en-
titled the 'Stabat Meter Specials,' by the ancient corn-
poser Inopone da Todi, intended to celebrate the joy of
the. Virgin Mary et the foot of the cradle, as the • Stabat
Mater Dolorosa ' celebrates her grief on Monet Calvary,
This afternoon the same church is orowded still more, not
by the lovers of ecelesiutioal music so much as by the
devotees of the Santo Bambino, which miraculous image,
glittering with precious jewels, is always exhibited to the
public and carried in procession daring the Epiphany."
. _ _ .

A letter from Madrid of the Bth nays :—" We
have had here for the last week Mr. Seymour Fitzgerald.
He had been in Madrid, and travelled about Spain in the
summer, and people, not unnaturally, attribute his Journey
to some political or Snancial motive. In foot, hardly an
Englishman is ever seen in Madrid without being taken
for a negotiator, or, in other words, a duo, etunieg to
nettle the great question of the Spanish Coupons or Corti-
ficatea."

Morant Bay, the scene of the riots at Jamaica,
it nomad after an ancestor of John Monet, Esq., of Bracken.
Lent Park, fa the New Forest, wbo owned larp property
there.