The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-29 00:00:00

rilE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, SEPTEIIIII4I 29, IE€F,

matters is quite unpardonable, and nothing is more
likely to pave the way for the awful visitor than the
conjunction of foul smells with impure water. Over
and over again has the connection of bad water and
disease been proved, and in no case more clearly and
more positively than in the spread of cholera. The
memorable instance of the Golden-square pump was
scarcely needed to show that the drinking of water
which had been adulterated with sewage is an effec-
tual mode of spreading an epidemic in its worst

-orms.

The long neglect of this important question in
an age of sanitary reform is really surprising. Even
in Windsor itself the sewerage has until this very
time been discharged into the river Thames ; and
it was only yesterday that a gentleman attended
at the meeting of the Board of Health on be-
half of the Board of Works to obtain the neces-
sary consent to the preliminaries for disposing of
and utilising the sewage of Windsor. It was justly
urged that the present arrangement was detri-
mental to the public health, especially that of the
inhabitants of the metropolis. It seems that the
Commissioners of the Thames Navigation have
been. making a survey of the river from
Oxford, so as to ascertain the effect of the discharge
of the sewage of the various towns between Oxford
and London. They found that at low water the
nuisance is very great, and it is satisfactory to
learn that the Windsor Board resolved to render
all the facilities in their power for the furtherance
of the scheme, and all necessary information was
ordered to be given. We hope that this will only
be the first of a series of reforms, for very certainly
we can never hope for a permanent improvement in
the public health until we remove so fruitful a
source of disease as impure water.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

(REUTF,R'S TELEGRAMS.)

AMERICA.
ARRIVAL OF THE SCOTIA.
(Via Cr ookhaven.)

NEW YORK, SEPT. 19 (Evening.)

Mr. Seward has officially informed Mr. Adams
that the United States will not be responsible for
the Confederate Loan, and will intist on their right
to the restoration of the cotton in the Priolean case.
Gold, 1431.

The official correspondence between Messrs.
Seward and Adams in March and August of the
present year, in reference to the Confederate loan,
and Vice-Chancellor Stuart's decision in the Prio-
Lan case has been published.
Mr. Seward instructs Mr. Adams that he may, if
necessary, inform the British Government in a
friendly and courteous manner that the United
States never admitted the combination of rebels to
be a de facto Government, and will not be respon-
sible for the rebel debt, and will insist on their
claim for the restoration of cotton in the present
case. While they are content to receive it through
a decree of the British tribunals, they insist on
their absolute right to it through the action of
the British Government. The United States will
hold themselves under no obligation whatever to
accept, or to conform their proceedings to, con-
ditions which the Court of Chancery, or any
other municipal court, may prescribe in the pre-
sent or other litigation.

Resolutions have been introduced into the Ala-
bama Reconstruction Convention, repudiating the
rebel State debt, and declaring it the duty
of the Convention to restore the State
to her proper relations with the
,Federal Govern-
ment, that it was not expedient to change the State
Constitution until next session of the Convention,
except to repeal the Secession ordinance and other
ordinances consequent upon the same. They also
acknowledge the abolition of slavery, and prohibit
its restoration, declaring the slaves shall be pro-
tected and cared for. The resolutions also ratified
the State enactments subsequent to secession, not
inconsistent with the Federal Constitution.
The South Carolina Reconstruction Convention
has repealed the Secession Ordinance.

The City of Boston and Damascus have arrived
out.

(POSTSCRIPT.)

NEW YORK, SEPT. 20, 6 A.M.

General Swayne has nominated the judges and
magistrates of Alabama appointed by Governor
arsons to settle all questions with negroes con-
itionally. Negro evidence is received in the courts.

The Governor of Vermont has informed Mr.
Seward that the St. Albans banks have received
from the Canadian authorities the money stolen by
the St. Albans raiders.

Sir E. B. Lytton, M.P., at Hertford.

HERTFORD, Thursday.
The annual dinner of the Hefts Agricultural
Society took place this afternooon in the Shire-hall.

The Earl of Verulam presided, and among the gen-
tlemen present were the Right Hon. Sir E. B.
Lytton, M.P., the Hon. H. Cowper, M.P., Mr. 11.
E. Surtees, M.P., Mr. Abel Smith, Mr. G. S.

Thornton, Mr. Horace J. Smith, Mr. W. Baker, the
Hon. and Rev. Mr. Barrington, Mr. J. Gripper (the
Mayor), Major Skinner, &c. Sir M. Farquhar, M.P.,

was prevented from attending by indisposition.
The noble CHAIRMAN proposed in succession the
healths of " The Queen," "The Prince and Princess
of Wales and the Royal Family," which were re-
ceived with great enthusiasm.
The next toast was, " The Army, Navy, Militia,
and Volunteers," which was responded to by Major
Skinner, Mr. W. Baker, and Mr. Barrington.
The Hon. and Rev. L. BARRINGTON responded to
the toast of "The Bishop and Clergy of the Diocess."
The noble CHAIRMAN then proposed " Success
to the Herts Agricultural Society, with thanks to
the Committee, Secretary, and Treasurer, for
their services." He regretted that they had met
under circumstances which were not of the best,
for the hand of pestilence was hanging over them.
He had been unable to find out where the cattle
disease had originated ; but there was no doubt that
it did exist, and that it was our duty to endeavour
to meet it. He believed that the visitation was in-
tended by Providence for our good. We had too
long neglected the comfort of the animals intended
for our food.. The houses in London in which they
were placed were overcrowded. They were 'badly
ventilated, and the animals were doomed to much
suffering. When they were shipped from abroad
they were crammed together in a most injurious
way. • They suffered materially in their passage, and
when they were landed they were placed on trucks
without any water and conveyed to London. It
might be supposed that on their arrival in London
their sufferings would be at an end ; but that was
by no means the case. (Hear, hear.) Only last
week, at St. Alban's, an animal died, it was supposed
from the pestilence ; but on a proper inquiry being
instituted the cause of death was found to be ill-
usage. This was one instance which showed the
. necessity of our cattle being better cared for ; and
he believed that Providence would relieve us from
the pestilence if we relieved the cattle from their
torture. (Cheers.)
Mr. ABEL SMITH, who was received with loud
cheers, responded as chairman of the committee.
They had spared no effort to improve the show by
giving additional prizes in almost every class. But
their efforts had, unfortunately, been rendered futile
by the cattle plague. The committee had experi-
enced great difficulty in deciding whether the show
should take place at all, but he trusted the members
of the society would feel that they had rightly de-
termined to exclude the exhibition of horned cattle.
(Hear.) If they had not been excluded the show
might have been better than on previous occasions.
The agriculturists, therefore, had every encourage-
ment to persevere in their efforts to improve these
annual shows. (Cheers.)
Mr. W. BAKER then proposed " The Members for
the County—the Right Hon. E. B. Lytton, Bart.,
IMr. 11. Surtees, and the Hon. 11. Cowper." (Loud

cheers.)
Sir E. B. LYTTON, who was greeted with several
rounds of cheers, said,—My Lord and Gentlemen
—lt has been so often my good fortune to address
you upon these occasions, that I have exhausted all
the general topics which are allowable at an agri-
cultural society ; and, indeed, one soon arrives at
that process of exhaustion when the first conside-
ration for the speaker is to say nothing that may
produce a difference of opinion so as to disturb in
the slightest degree that perfect harmony and good
fellowship which ought to be the most valuable
object in a convivial assembly. (Cheers.) But when
you say to a member of Parliament, " Mind ! not a
word of politics," he is like Othello—his " occupa-
tion's gone." (Laughter.) And yet he would be a
bold man who, not being a practical farmer himself,
would enter at any length into agricultural details
bore.•. A n assembly composed chiefly of practical
farmers. Nay, if he were to do so, I believe he
would create as me ny differences of opinion as if he
launched into the stormy sea of party politics.
(Cheers and laughter.) Now, so far as my expe-
rience of these exhibitions is concerned, whatever
new ideas upon agricultural science they may
awaken are discussed in private conversations by
those guests who do not publicly address us, and
not by those who are called upon to speak—called
upon to say something on the express condition that
they discuss nothing. (Laughter.) And, no
doubt, gentlemen, it would be very much better
for scientific purposes if at these meetings all
the speaking were left entirely to practical far-
mers. We might then obtain much valu-
able information upon agricultural theory and
details ; such, for instance, as the alleged advan-
tage of deep ploughing and thin sowing, and
whether the depth of drainage which is required
by the Government commissioners for any loan
they may grant to the landlords is really adapted to
all soils in this country, or is not a condition that
might be advantageously relaxed. We should be glad
to hear from practical farmers what amount of
benefit they have derived from the modification of
the malt-tax graciously extended to us by the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer ; how far practical farmers
concur in the experiments of our distinguished friend,
Mr. Lawes, and are of opinion that the most nutri-
tious article of food for cattle and stock is simple
barley, or barley steeped or malted. But then it is
not unlikely that the discussion of some of these
questions would provoke a lively difference of opinion
—nay, they might guide us so closely upon party
politics as almost to remind us of what we have re-
cently discussed upon the hustings, not tending to
that coolness and sobriety of judgment which are
essential to philosophical discussions. (Cheers.) So
that upon the whole, like practical Englishmen, we
are contented to relinquish some advantages in order
to obtain the greatest advantage of all, and that is
to bring the landlords, farmers, and all the trades-
men who kindly come among us peacefully and amic-
ably together, whateter variety of opinion they may
entertain. (Cheers.) But still, gentlemen, I think
that there are uses in these exhibitions and meetings,
even in a scientific point of view, which might not
be apparent to any one who will read our speeches
in the newspapers to-morrow, because much that is
not said in public is discussed in private, and many
men now present will return home with the germ of
new ideas, and what is perhaps more valuable, with
old prejudices somewhat shaken. (Cheers.) Now I
suppose it is a sense of these advantages that has led
to the formation of other agricultural societies in
the western part of the county, and of these socie-
ties the one just established at Watford is a family
addition, whose first birthday is to be celebrated
this year, and to which we must offer that which is
generally a younger brother's portion—namely,
plenty of good wishes (cheers and laughter) that it
may have health and energy, and add strength and
respectability to the family to which it belongs.
(Cheers.) I have seen in a recent speech of Mr.
Disraeli's that my right hon. friend has dwelt much
upon the expediency of endeavouring to widen the
area of competition of the agricultural society of
that great county, the history of which certainly
derives an additional lustre from being represented
by a man of so brilliant a genius and so eminent in
the position to which that genius had exalted him.
(Cheers.) Mr. Disraeli's argument has impressed
me so much that I think it would be a great advan-
tage in our county if it could be so arranged that
once perhaps in every three years the various societies
of the county should agree to assemble in one central
place that might be the most convenient. (Cheers.)
It seems to me that upon these occasions we should
be sure to have a much larger exhibition of stock and
of farm implements, which would call into play a
much greater degree of public spirit and competition.'
At the same time, I only venture to throw out this
hint, leaving it to the consideration of those who
can much better judge whether, in the imperfect
state of our railway communications in this county,
such au idea may ba practicable. (Hear, hear.)
Gentlemen, I must say that I think we owe many
thanks to my friend, Mr. Abel Smith, for the exer-
tions which he has made in carrying out our meeting
this year. I should have been sorry indeed if the

meeting had been postponed or put aside ; and when
I look at your exhibition to-day, although there
certainly is that remarkable and melancholy fact as
to quantity which must be expected, yet, in point
of quality, it was most remarkable, and need not in
any degree fear competition with any other county.
(Cheers.) But, gentlemen, there is one subject con-
nected with our meeting and with agriculture which
at this moment predominates in the consideration of
every man present—l mean the great calamity of the
cattle plague. (Hear.) Perhaps some of you may
remember that three years ago, in addressing one of
your meetings, I presumed to take upon myself the
unpopular character of a prophet of the future. I
then ventured to call your attention to a report by
Professor Gamgee, the distinguished veterinary sur-
geon of Edinburgh, relative to the increased and in-
creasing progress 'of disease among our stock, at-
tended with no symptoms of an epidemic character,
and dating from the free importation of foreign
cattle. Now, Ido not for. a moment hazard an
opinion upon the disputed question of the Russian
origin of this disease. I only say now what I said
three years ago, that it is impossible for us to guard
against disease in any foreign country from which
cattle are imported, and I am persuaded that Par-
liament would never sanction the prohibition of that
importation. All that we can do, then, is to guard
against and correct as far as we can what are called
the predisposing causes, by which the progress of
this disease is rendered more rapid and more fatal
when it visits our shores. (Hear.) Now among
these predisposing causes are—first, that which has
been briefly and truly touched upon by my noble
friend—the cruelty and suffering to which cattle
are subjected on board ships and on their arrival.
(Hear.) Last week I saw an article on this subject
in the Saturday Review, written evidently by an eye-
witness, and it was sufficient to fill any man of com-
mon humanity with horror. The second predispos-
ing cause is the unhealthy manner in which cattle
have been transported by railways. (Hear.) But
the third and the chief one is the pestilential mode
in which mulch cows have been huddled together
in places reeking with filth by the London cow-
keepers. (Hear.) There may be a doubt whether
the pest originated or not in Russia, but there is no
doubt that the earliest specimens of the disease
among ourselves this year were in our own metro-
polis. (Hear, hear.) Well, under the circumstances,
and seeing that we have no known mode of cure at
present—although, the medical science of England
and of all Europe is being concentrated on a subject
which affects the welfare of all the populations of
Europe, we cannot but suppose that some available
means of cure will soon be suggested—(cheers)--but
in the meanwhile, seeing that we have no means of
grappling with this affliction brought before us with
sufficient authority, I entirely agree with those who
have addfessed other agricultural meetings that our
best course is to lend a ready co-operation to the
precautionary system of the Government, and to
avail ourselves of that safeguard against individual
loss which insurance companies afford. (Hear.) I
am extremely glad to find that an insurance society
has been established in this county. I wish my noble
friend the Marquis of Salisbury had been present
to-day, in order that I might have tendered to him,
not as a landowner, but as stock keeper, my thanks
for giving at once to that insurance company a
character of weight and solidity by placing himself
at its head. (Cheers.) There are some gentlemen
who think that better means of assisting the stock
keeper might have been found than the formation
of this society. Ido not for a single moment pre-
sume to discuss that question with these gentlemen.
I do not for a moment dispute the justice of their
idea. But then I would respectfully suggest to
them that at all events this plan has the merit of
being established. (Hear, hear.) There it now is,
available for all persons ; and we must take not the
best thing that we ourselves individually can im-
agine, but the best thing that we can practically use.
(Cheers.) Gentlemen, one word more upon this
great calamity. While we take all possible precau-
tion do not let us be hurried away into that hope-
less panic which certain newspaper correspondents
would induce us to entertain. It has been stated
that a plague in this country once lasted for 12
was we are itr.at.nod with an equal duration
of the present pestilence. But the whole history of
epidemics shows that the duration is abridged on
repetition, and gets weaker and weaker until it
gradually subsides altogether, or else it assumes
gentler shapes usually amenable to medical treat-
ment. (Hear.) Let us remember that we are in
the hands of that Providence which is always at
work in bringing a future good out of a present
evil,—so that perhaps by sternly enforcing upon us
• the necessity of more healthfully consulting the con-
dition and the means of transporting and storing
our cattle this disease may ultimately become the
preventive of many other forms of complaint to
which our cattle have been incident. (Cheers.) As
one of your representatives it does not become me
to say a single word upon politics ; but I may con-
gratulate you on the fact that the Parliament to
which you have sent me appears likely to meet in
times which do not threaten any disturbance to the
peace and tranquillity of Europe—times, therefore,
which are favourable to the development of our
national resources, and, let us hope, to the mitiga-
tion of our ancient differences. We have lately been
invaded by the navy of France, but not till our
own navy invaded the French shores ; and strange
it is that on both these occasions -the invaders were
received with open arms by the invaded. (Cheers
and laughter.) And the only fear on our side which
the most nervojis person entertained was whether
our hospitable preparations would equal in elegance
and splendour those which had greeted our own
ironclads in the harbours of France. (Cheers.) It
is gratifying to know that this friendly emula-
tion exists between two nations that have so long
regarded themselves as hereditary foes ; and
long may our members of Parliament when they
are called upon to address you find that they
have little to inflame their eloquence or to arouse
our military ardour. (Cheers.) Should the hour
of peril indeed arrive, it is in societies like the pre-
sent, composed chiefly of those who live by the soil,
that the soil will find its most enthusiastic patriots,
and, if need be, its stoutest defenders. The right
hon. gentleman resumed his seat amidst loud cheers.

Mr. SURTEES and the Hon. H. COWPER also re-
sponded to the toast, which was followed by several
others.

Charles Mathews in Paris.

" THE TIMES" AND JULES JANIN.

The heat having somewhat diminished, theatre-
going has become a possible relaxation, although
still rather a sultry one, and I have ventured to the
Vaudeville to witness the triumphant success, on a
French stage, of an old English favourite. After
the Deux Soeurs of M. de Girardin, bad enough at
a first hearing, but sadly wearisome upon a second,
the curtain rose on L'Homme Blase, with Charles
Mathews as Sir Cold Cream, the French original of
the English Sir Charles Coldstream in Used Up.
The exertions of a score of hardhanded
with physiognomies-strongly suggestive of an assize
court, who had supplied popular enthusiasm during
M. de Girardin's drama, became unnecessary during
the lively and wittily written vaudeville in which
Mr. Mathews, ably supported by his French com-
rades, kept a full house amused from the first scene
to the last. Lest I should be accused of partiality
to a countryman, I will substitute, for any opinion
of my own, that of Jules Janin, recorded in the
weekly theatrical feuilleton of the Journal des
Debats.
" L'Homme Blasé, acted by Mr. Mathews," says
the veteran French critic—who in his day, now
growing long, has made and unmade so many
reputations,--
• ot hf i
tnhgi s
ga
on be m
come-er eIl o s
an become
pleasing'
d quite
intelligentthanthe
dian. All is true, simple, and natural to
such a degree that
a neiv
wor
k acting
it requires a connoisseur to render full
justice to so much
grace and wit. This man is evidently a great artist ; he has
all the resources and all the instincts of one.

FATAL GUN ACCIDENT.—Mr. Crowther, of Hud-
dersfield, and a friend, visitors at Scarborough, made an
excursion from that watering place on Tuesday last to
shoot sea gulls and other birds at sea. As Mr. Crowther
was drawing his double-barrelled gun towards him in the
boat in which they were the weapon exploded, and the
contents of the two barrels entered his body. He died
almost immediately.