The Sun.
London, England, 1866-01-08 00:00:00

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.

TB:18 DAY.—Morning, 6h. 37m.—Afternoon, 6h. 57m.
10-31onnow.-Morning, 7h. 19m.—Afternoon, 7h. 42m.

41
..4)
ggV7 X,4‘ 12.1

LONDON, 1110 `DAY, JAly UARY 8, 1866.

- -d.-- -

The Cattle Plague has now assumed such for-
midable dimensions that a letter from so influential
a personage as Mr. GLADSTONE cannot fail to
attract attention. The Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer has addressed a letter to Sir T. D. LLOYD
on the subject. The right hon. gentleman is against
the proposal for the Government to treat the
insurance of cattle as a State concern by a guaran-
tee from the Exchequer, and adduces several
reasons against it. In the first place, the difficulty,
amounting to impossibility, of preventing waste and
fraud is mentioned, and no doubt would form an
insuperable obstacle in the way of the success of
the scheme. In the next place, confusion would
arise in those places where landlords and others
have already made their own arrangements, and if
Government moves into the field the consequence
would be that these efforts must be neutralised,
and those " who have met their own losses would
be called as taxpayers to assist in meeting the losses
of other people too." The third reason is, perhaps,
one of the best of all, for it declares that great
harm would ensue from a measure like a " State
Guarantee," because its adoption would cause
people to relax their vigilance, and the stimulus of
self-interest being removed, we should lose the
advantages of those preventive measures by which
alone:can we indulge in a reasonable hope of cure,
or a speedy mitigation of the evil at all events. At
the same time, as Mr. GLADSTONE mentions, there
is nothing to say against any schemes of a volun-
tary nature, and therefore the public need not be
precluded from the benefits of such schemes. The
fourth argument is not so good, and displays Mr.
IGLADSTONE'S well-known prejudice against agri-
culturists in general, In the first place,
he says, " If the cattle-plague should not
extend itself on a large scale, and so the losses
of a severe character should be confined to a small
portion of the farming class," landlords, neighbours,
and rateable property should not be relieved from
the duty of assisting them, and the precedent would
be an evil one. Now, it must seem to many that
this is rather a harsh decision, because those who
depend on the assistance of landlords and others are
very likely to come to grief, and besides there is
ever: prospect of the losses resulting from the
cattle plague growing very severe. If, on the
other hand, the cattle plague should extend,
the price of meat would increase greatly, and thus
Mr. GLADSTONE thinks that the community would
have to pay twice, first for extra prices
in meat, and next for the cattle lost.
This is plausible enough, although the landlords and
cultivators of the soil are doubtless not so sanguine
as the right hon. gentleman appears to be, when he
says that they would probably, as a class, have their
loss as in a bad corn year counterbalanced by a cor-
responding or greater benefit.
When he had concluded this official declaration,
as it may be termed, Mr. GLADSTONE goes on to
offer some further opinions, which are well worthy
of consideration, although, as he states, they are
on A Oubject which eT- ents change in character

from day to day. Associations for insurance are
advocated brthe right honourable gentleman, and
which will diminish the difficulty of uncertainty.
Then there are claims upon the landlord for help,
according to the peculiar circumstances of the case.
" Then there is the resource," very properly puts
Mr. GLADSTONE, " should the evil greatly grow,
of public subscription, in which, I hope, we should
find classes that have received benefit in other
great visitations willing to return it." This is a
very forcible argument, and, it is to be trusted,
that it will meet the attention and respect which
it deserves. The people of this country have never
been slow to act or niggardly to bestow when
any great call for exertion or case of disaster
arises, and if this unfortunate plague continues to
increase, as it threatens to do, it will be high time to
adopt some remedy of this description.
Mr. GLADSTONE shows his discernment in stating
that the first of all duties is to study in every way
the "subject of prevention." In consequence of
the pressure of this calamity the public will now
submit to further restrictions than would at first
have been tolerated. There are many measures,
however, which can be adopted by each man for
himself ; but which, as has been stated by the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer, appear to have been less
considered. The two chief objects to keep in view
are correctly said to be to neutralise the poison and
improve the air. Thus the tone of health in the
accounts will be raised, and that fatal predisposition
may be removed or diminished which is called a
low state or tone of body. Among other hints given
for preservation, it is advised to keep the stock
within walls, because the agencies it is desirable to
employ cannot take effect in the open air. It is
worthy of remark that in Scotland far greater suc-
cess has attended the measures adopted, and Mr.
GLADSTONE thus furnishes the leading particulars of
the matter :—" The recoveries in all England are
to the deaths as one to eight. In Forfarshire, where
the numbers attacked are larger than in any county
except York, they are two to seven."
On Saturday a committee met at Windsor, com-
posed of landowners and agriculturists from Berks,
Bucks, and Middlesex, for the purpose of passing
rules for a mutual cattle association, the benefits of
which are to extend to all places within a ten-miles
radius of that town. Several letters were read, and
the Secretary read a communication which had been
received from Mr. DISRAELI, in which the right
hon. gentleman expressed the gratification which
he felt at co-operating with his constituents,
but observed that he entertained doubts as
to the power of the association to bear the pressure
which would be put upon it, " if the pestilence
should fall upon the heads of its members." The
right hon. gentleman truly observed, that at the
outset of this calamity the county of Bucks should
have had an insurance association established upon
the principle of limited liability, the suggestion of
this scheme to be based upon sound commercial
principles. " Premiums would be received, a divi-
dend shared, and shares distributed, and the
amount of premiums being considerable there
would be a large and efficient capital
for purposes of compensation." No doubt
if these plans had been adopted at an
earlier period great benefits would now accrue from
them, but, as Mr. DISRAELI adds, most unfortu-
nately the graziers and farmers in the Vale believed
Government would interfere. The meeting sepa
rated after confirming their rules. Mr. DISRAEL

had the prescience to propose the holding a county
meeting to consider the plan of an assurance asso-

ciation some time ago, and it is curious to notice
that Mr. GLADSTONE also advocates the adoption of

these societies, which, of course, are the more bone

ficial in their workings the longer they are esta-
blished, and the less amount of evil they have to
contend against at their outset.

Among the many bills to be brought before Par-
liament during the ensuing Session there will be
none of more daily domestic concern to the vast
population of this metropolis than the measure pro-
posed by the Corporation of the City of London for
the better regulation of their increasing and over-
whelming traffic. The Corporation of the City has
from time to time come in for its share of abuse and
ridicule like many another ancient body. It has
been supposed to cherish prejudices, to look upon all
reforms as undesirable innovations, and otherwise
be inclined to obstruct the path of progress rather
than to aim at advance and improvement. In this
important particular, however, they are exhibiting
a very different example, and one which it is to be
hoped that some of their satirists will imitate.
They have dealt with a very difficult question boldly
and practically, and have really applied themselves
to redress, with promptitude and efficiency, a griev-
ance that is rapidly becoming intolerable. In spite
of railways and new streets, the pressure in the City
thoroughfares shows no reduction. In fact, the City is
and must continue to be, the great focus and centre
of our busy commercial life ; and the thousand and
one trains which are daily whirling past us are oc-
cupied in a great measure in adding to the crowds
which blockade that wonderful eastern world
which rivals the fabled wealth of the veritable East.
The Metropolitan Railway carries a good many
persons who would formerly have walked or ridden,
but if it sets them down in Farringdon-street or
Finsbury they add to the City throngs. It is rea-
sonable to presume that they have business eastward,
and no new system of conveyance or locomotion
will greatly relieve the City streets. In fact we can
neither hope nor wish to see the traffic considerably
reduced, for if it were it would augur ill for our
commercial fortunes. A shopkeeper may find his
shop inconveniently crowded, but he is not likely
to wish the inconvenience removed lest his profits
should go with it. Even so our merchants
and wholesale dealers, and all the heads of the
countless offices that make up the wealth and
power and influence of the good City of London,
would find the ebbing of the now flowing tide an
unwelcome relief. On the contrary, as far as we at
present see, we may rather hope for still greater
activity with the new markets opening in all quar-
ters of the globe for our products and our manufac-
tures, in the increasing wealth and growing impor-
tance of our colonies, whose natural impulse is to
.turn to the mother country, in the unfailing spirit
of commercial enterprise and manufacturing in-
dustry which characterise our people. No sane
man, west or east, can seriously wish to see the
busy life of the City grow less importunate and
exacting; and every Englishman, however he may
abuse a stoppage or anathematise a barricade,
really prides himself on the bustle of those
highways and byeways which are lined, if not
paved, with gold. Since we cannot diminish
the traffic, then, _the next thing is to consider how
we may lessen its drawbacks and dangers, and
two evils immediately present themselves for re-
dress. One is the inconvenient and often ruinous
loss of time, the other is the imminent risk to life.
Both these questions are very happily dealt With by
the Corporation, who propose to classify the traffic
by enacting that locomotives, heavy waggons with
more than four horses, &c., shall not be allowed to
pass through the streets in business hours. Before
nine and after six they may go where and how
they please, but there can certainly be no necessity
for ouch ponderous yehicles Mocking up those