The Sun.
London, England, 1870-10-18 00:00:00

THE CATTLE PLAGUE AT METZ.

The correspondent of the Daily News, writing from be-
fore Metz, on the 12th inst., remarks :—" I am sorry to
have to inform you of the increased and fearful prevalence
of the cattle plague among the vast herds of cattle which
have been accumulated in our rear for the supply of the
Prussian troops. The plains between Itemilly anti
Bazancourt, and around the latter village, are
strewn with the dead. Whole herds have perished.
Isolation is impracticable, nor is it possible to keep
fresh arrivals off the ground infected by their pre-
decessors. The orders are imperative that the animals
which have died of this mysterious pestilence
shall be buried as soon as possible, just as
they have fallen. From personal observation,
however, I can state that this order is not always corn-
plied with, and its enforcement must be almost impossible
where the herds cover so large an area of ground, and
the supervision must necessarily be perfunctory. Many
a hide is taken off these dead bullocks before they aro
buried, and, I have reason to believe, find their way into
the bottoms of the waggons belonging to the horde
of carriers, market-tenders, and what not, that come over
the frontier toward Saarlouis, Triers, and Luxemburg. If
the people, therefore, knowingly admit the unclean thing
within their borders, their blood be on their own heads.
Probably the hides are smuggled into the tanneries with-
out the cognisance of the authorities. But the question
is ono of deep interest for Britain. No doubt the
regulations for the import of live cattle from the Con-
tinent arc framed so as to be effectual aga,Thst the admis-
sion of disease. But Leadenhall and Bermondsey need
be told that consignments of wet hides' occasionally
come over from Continental ports, and it is no impossible
thing that some of the surreptitious windfalls from
Bazancourt and Remilly may find their way into these
parcels. The loss from the ravages of this disease, I may
mention, does not fall up6n the Prussian Government,
but upon the great Berlin firm of Laclimaun and Sons,
who contract with Government for alinoet the whole of
the stores supplied to the army. They are perhaps the
largest contractors in the NI orld. By the terms of
their contract for cattle, the animals are not
considered as delivered till they have been accepted by
the Indentateur at the place of consumption, and thus
the risk of loss during the journey is borne by the con
tractor. In this case the loss must be something stupen-
dous; let one hope that Messrs. Lachmann in recompense
make a tolerably good thing out of the rice, sugar, flour,
meal, and other stores for which they also hold the
contracts."

Mr. Wilkie Coiling is now engaged in adapting his
work of "No Name " for representation. It has been ac-
cepted by Messrs. Webster and Chatterton, for early pro-
duction in November, at the Princess's Theatre.

An American ex-diplomatist in Paris, ;n good
relations with the Government there, submits as a solu-
tion the proposition that Lorraine and Alsace, with
Luxemburg, should be given to Belgium ; their neutrality
guaranteed by the European Powers, and he holds out
aopar of the consent of France to the scheme.

The volunteer arms are being sent from all parts
of the western district to Birmingham, for conversion to
the Snider principle.

OUR COTEMPORARIES---This Morning

POLITICAL PROSPECTS OP FRANCE.

The Tunes, in an article on the present position of
affairs of France and Germany, asks what would be the
prospects of France if peace were now suddenly made,
and then goes on to observe :—The political prospects of
France, left to herself and freed from the uniting influence
of losses that must be avenged at the earliest opportunity,
t.re scarcely promising. The parties into which the nation
is divided are now content to postpone their mutual con-
flicts for the sake of resisting the common enemy of all, and
yet this patriotic resolution is enforced with difficulty. The
elements of disorder refuse to disappear in Paris ; Lyons
is visited with periodical convulsions ; Marseilles is
unquiet, while some of the agricultural Departments are
astatcd by the followers of Henri V., and the bourgeoisie
look to the House of Orleans as the ultimate refuge from
anarchy. If the war ceased, these factions would at
once burst into action. It may be bald that such a
prospect presents nothing that is disquieting, for we have
our parties, and their contentions do not threaten the sta-
bility of our domestic order. But it is too evident that
the politicians of France have not yet learnt to
accept the vote of the people as the ultimate
authority of the law, and to spend their
energies iu influencing its suffrages by argu-
ment. A Red Republican is always prepared to
establish his theories by force, and even milder politicians
are persuaded that they cannot be outvoted except by
treachery and fraud, which must be counteracted by ener-
getic measures. The withdrawal of the enemy from Franco
would be the signal for the uprising of political parties. Wo
hope and believe that the nation would prove able to work out
the task of reconstruction in peace in spite of the prece-
dents of 1792 and 1848 ; yet we cannot but fear. This
much, however, is certain—whatever might be the form of
government ultimately established in France, if France
were allowed to devote herself to the construction of
another Constitution, the whole energies of the people
would be absorbed in this domestic task for some years to
come, if the war did not leave a bitterness behind it which
admitted of no thought but that of revenge.