The Sun.
London, England, 1865-08-04 00:00:00

and a statesmanlike character is imparted to
a career that has hitherto been far too narrow and
exclusive, and founded on principles calculated to
exercise the worst effects upon those who were
governed by them. Scrupulous and careful manage-
ment of State property is here duly insisted on, and
the present time is considered especially critical for
the right performance of these important functions.
One of the most interesting paragraphs here met
with is that which relates to the Press, and there can
be no mistaking the liberality of the sentiments
which animate it. The officials are here informed
that they must regard free expression of opinion by
the press, if guided by truth, as a " valuable bless-
ing," and also that " subjective considerations are
to beset aside, and the judicial power is only to
be appealed to to give full effect to the laws, when
an objective decision of the case appears worthy of
punishment." This excellent circular concludes by
advocating the necessity that exists for the strictest
impartiality being employed in the course pursued
towards those provinces where several nationalities
are included. In all respects, it may be considered,
that Count BELCREDI has issued a notification that
reflects the highest honour upon himself, and augur
well for the interests of the country he is now serv-
ing in the high and influential position of Chief
Minister.

On Wednesday evening an interesting meeting
was held at the Working Men's College in Great
Ormond-street, with the view of congratulating Mr.
HUGHES, the new member for Lambeth, upon his
election. The circumstances of that election were
certainly especially gratifying to Mr. HUGHES and
his friends. Mr. HUGHES was, of course, well
known to the public by his writings, in which he
was always the exponent of Liberal principles, but
he had never come prominently forward as a poli-
tician by profession, yet he was selected by the
men of Lambeth, by a large majority, as their re-
prese tative in Parliament, for it was felt
that his genial sympathies, his outspoken
manliness of character, and his straight-
forward Liberalism were better securities for
his faithful advocacy of their rights than years
of Parliamentary experience. So the author of
" Tom Brown's School Days" was sent to the very
busy school at St. Stephen's, where men learn much
if they teach little, and his sup➢orters have an-
nounced their intention of defraying the expenses
of his election by subscription among themselves.
Mr. HUGHES has always been a warm advocate of
the education of working men, and was one of the
founders of this very college. In his address on
Wednesday evening, he remarked that "It was
now wrought into him as a conviction, and as
a thing of which he was as certain as he
was of life, that the men who were
engaged in the hard work of manual labour were
as capable of the highest cultivation as the students
of any college or university." This may be taking
the extreme view of the case, as it is manifest that
such men must have other demands upon their time
and energies ; but if they are unable or unwilling to
compete with the man who passes his life among his
bookshelves that is no reason why they should not
cultivate their faculties to the highest extent
possible in their limited hours of leisure. All
honour is due to the man who, exhausted
by long hours of manual labour, prefers
to spend his evenings at the college or the
institute rather than at the public-house. It is now
many years since this college was established, but
the large attendance in the lecture-hall on Wed-
nesday proved that it has by no means lost its hold
on the popular regard. The chief speakers on the
occasion were Mr. HUGHES himself and Mr. LAYARD,
both of whom were a little more radical in their
sentiments, and a little more inclined to flatter the
working men as a class than they would probably
be in a different assembly. It is surprising how
plainly such gentlemen can see the errors of other
friends of the masses, but they are not always in-
fallible in their own dealings with them. However,
the meeting on Wednesday passed off with great
eclat, and it must be gratifying to the working men
of the country to think they have at last a plain-
spoken, staunch upholder of their views and wishes
within the walls of Parliament.

The spread of the cattle plague in the metro-
polis is a matter of very great and pressing im-
portance. For a long while past the high price
of meat has been the subject of general observa-
tion and complaint, while the scarcity of fodder
last year, owing to the dryness of the season,
greatly affected all dairy produce. Just as a more
rainy spring and genial summer had given rise to
the hope of some abatement in the extortionate
demands, we are startled by learning that an epi-
demic is decimating the cowhouses, and that, not-
withstanding care and caution, it continues to
spread to an alarming extent. At the weekly
meeting of the vestry of St. Marylebone,
yesterday, Dr. WHITMORE, the medical officer
of health of the parish, presented a very
valuable and interesting report of the result of
his investigations throughout the district. The
local authorities have good cause to examine the
affair, as Marylebone has been one of the scenes of
its chief ravages. Dr. WHITMORE is of opinion that
it is imperative that prompt, complete, and strin-
gent precautionary measures should be taken to
check the progress of the disease, which, he says,
has made great ravages, and is likely to continue
for some time. The statistics which he furnishes
certainly exhibit a startling state of things. In
October last the number of licensed cowhouses in
Marylebone was 70 ; it is now reduced to 60, of
which 49 have been personally visited by Dr. WHIT-
MORE. These 60 cowhouses contained 1,028 cows,
showing a deficiency of 286 on the usual number.
The actual number of cowhouses in which the disease
had shown itself was only seven ; but the statistics
show how rapidly the infection spreads when once
it has broken out. In one the number usually kept
was 90 ; five animals died on the premises, between
thirty and forty were sent away with the
malady, and seven or eight of the others
were now infected. In a smaller cowhouse
only five cows out of 24 escaped infection. In this
case the outbreak was traced to a healthy-looking
cow, bought at the Islington market, but the owner
had also bought two Dutch cows about the same
time. So rapidly had the disease spread that the
owner estimates his loss at £5OO. In a third in-
stance a stock of 70 to 80 cows has been reduced to
16, and this owner is strongly of opinionforeign
cattle. that
Dt hre
.
infection was introduced by
WiiiimOßE had learned from one of the proprietors
that in May last a large number of Russian
and Hungarian cattle were sent to this country,
and sold at the port at which they were shipped at
2id. per lb., and that most of these animals were
subsequently believed to have been infected. This,
if true, is powerful confirmatory evidence of the
necessity of establishing some system of inspection
of foreign cattle on their arrival in this country.
wtr asy.
Dr. WHITMORE is of opinion that the disease
imported, since he found that in no instance had it
attacked cows in those cowhouses which had not
been replenished from the London markets. Dr.
WHITMORE expressed his anxiety as to . the
effect of the disease upon the supply of
milk, and it is satisfactory to know that
none of the persons attending on the animals