The Sun.
London, England, 1869-03-11 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF TUE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

The Times, after comparing the provisions of the rival
Cattle Bills of Lord Robert Montagu and Mr. Forster,
observes that, there being so little difference in their prac-
tical operation, one consideration alone would have
sufficed to decide the question between them. The Govern-
ment measure is comprehensive, and proposes a consolida-
tion of the existing legislation. Its rival, by rendering
former Acts permanent, would have made consolidation
impossible. There will still be an opportunity in com-
mittee on Mr. Forster's bill to contrast the rival system
of prevention. Meanwhile, there is one considera-
tion, briefly suggested on Wednesday by Mr.
Forster, which deserves more attention than it has
received. He observed that, after all, our main safeguard
against the spread of the cattle plague must be our power
to " stamp it out " when it appears. Be it remembered
that we now possess that power; and if Mr. Forster's
bill be passed, we shall possess it in still greater complete-
ness. But when the cattle plague first appeared we did
not possess such a power ; and to this deficiency the
extent of its ravages must be mainly attributed. It took
us by surprise, and found us equally ignorant and unpre-
pared. The consequence was that it raged almost
unchecked for half a year, and it was not until a
commission had reported and Parliament had legis-
lated that we were in a position to resist it.
But the truth is no such danger is to be apprehended
for the future. We can now, at a day's notice, isolate the
district in which the plague first appears, and " stamp it
out" as effectually as it is " stamped out" abroad. By
the means now at our disposal we have actually extirpated
the disease after it had held undisputed sway for six
months. It will be our own fault if we ever allow it to
get a hold on the country again. In one word, the disease
is no longer the formidable enemy it once was ; and it
would, therefore, be a grievous mistake to legislate as if
its very name should cause a panic. Freedom, and wit
restriction, must undoubtedly be the basis of all our
commercial legislation. We only need power to control
the trade promptly and effectually should occasion arise,
and that power the Government bill would abundantly
provide.

The Telegraph declares that Lord Robert's plan will not
do. A far wider scheme is proposed in the bill of the
Government, which not only provides a complete system
of inspection within our own shores, hut gives the Privy
Council power to prohibit the importation of cattle from
anyinfected country. That is the only safe course. If
the rinderpest exists in France, French cattle must for a
time be excluded from English ports. There can be no
middle course. Rinderpest must be kept out of the
country as jealously as Pitt kept out " French
ideas." On the other hand, the farmers must not
be allowed to think that they can rely on the vigi-
lance of the inspectors at the ports of entry. Local
authorities must receive the fullest power to
maintain a rigid system of inland inspection, so that
the negligence of one town or one county may not be a
source of danger to another. Our line of circumvallation
must always be ready ; our guillotine always bright. A
system of compensation for the loss sustained by the
slaughter of diseased cattle must be so arranged that there
shall be no temptation to delay for one hour this work of
"stamping out." Rinderpest comes as a thief in the
night, and, like other thieves, it can be kept out of the
treasure room only by the vigilance of the police. Mr.
Forster and Mr. Bruce seem fully alive to the nature of
the evil. They have framed a bill which, more complete
than Lord Robert Montagu's, will guard against an
insidious evil at the ports of entry, and, if it should
unhappily gain a footing on our soil, will circumscribe the
limits of its ravages, and call into operation the best avail-
able means of extinction.