The Sun.
London, England, 1866-01-27 00:00:00

6.7ei ,
Migt SUIT 1.4

LONDON, 'SATURDAY, JAN. 27, 186 G.

The opinion seems to be gaining ground among
the best qualified authorities that the cattle plague,
which has now for so many months been desolating
our herds and defying every remedy, is identical
with smallpox, in the human being. If such is the
case it enables us to understand several of the more
striking and perplexing features of the disease, its
virulent contagion, its dangerous and fatal nature,
and its refusal to yield to any ordinary mode of
treatment. The smallpox, unmitigated by vaccina-
tion, is known to be one of the most direful of the
diseases to which the 'human frame is subject.
Before Pr. JENNEII'S beneficent discovery it
was calculated that it Carried off arum-
ally one - eighth of the population, playing
the same part with a few generations back that
consumption does in the present. One can scarcely
take up a history or a biography of earlier days
without finding the smallpox playing a conspicuous
part, while in the romances and poems of those days
the smallpox was constantly introduced as a
searching test of a lover's affection and constancy.
Even at the present day we can see very painful
evidence of the ravages which this terrible disease
will commit if unchecked in the decimation and
even the destruction of some tribes of the American
Indians and other savage races. The smallpox, in
Common with all other diseases that manifest them-
selves on the skin, is almost the most dangerous and
deadly when it strikes inwards and fails to develops
itself externally. Should the plague now affecting
our cattle prove to be actually bovine smallpox, Ive

Very little news is furnished by the West
Indian, except that Mrs. GORDON had intended to
leave for England, but had been persuaded to re-
main to learn the results of the sittings of the
Commission. This was certainly a wise resolve
on her part, for it would have been absurd and
unreasonable for her to have followed the advice of
Mr. BRIGHT, and appeared in this country to
make preposterous demands for justice. It is stated
that Dr. MAJOR was kept in ignorance of GORDON'S
request that he should be called to prove that his
absence from the vestry on the day of the disturb-
ances at Morant Bay was caused by illness ; but
this is not at all likely to be an authentic account ;
and, if the alleged illness were proved to be correct,
it would not have altered the guilt of the accused.
He was not condemned for his conduct at this
particular period of the outbreak, but for his pre-
vious efforts in stimulating the blacks to revolt, and
his seditious language and dangerous acts for some
time previous. Other intelligence, of a far more
important kind, may be expected when the American
arrives, and then we shall doubtless be informed of
some of the " initiatory measures" adopted by Sir

lEXRY STORKS.
Meanwhile we are enabled, by perusing the
accounts already received, to form a very fair
opinion as to the real state of the case,
and to wonder more at the effrontery and
perversity of those who persist in keeping up
up the charges so hastily and unwarrantably made
against Governor EYRE and his subordinates, as
well as those «ho aided him by sea and land. The
exertions of the Governor were very great, and he
personally superintended all possible arrangements,
rendered necessary for the safety of the inhabitants
and the security of the island. Equal as he proved
himself to be to the emergency, he nevertheless re-
peatedly expressed his regret at being compelled to
make so many sacrifices of life in the cause of order;
but, as he wisely added, no doubt such stern and
decisive measures would in the end prove the most
merciful, and prevent the spread of the outbreak in
other directions. It seems strange that there should
be found any one to dissent from the wisdom and
propriety of such a course, and bad not prejudiced
views and political purposes asserted their claims,
it is not likely that we should have heard anything
of the affair, except laudatory expressions concern-
ing the skill and sagacity of the Governor. As the
lives of our fellow-subjects and the maintenance of
the authority of the Sovereign are counted as
nothing in certain quarters, it is as well to consider
some of the circumstancs of tke case in waiting for
the reply of the labours of the Commissioners.
The more the accounts accumulate the more
positive and direct appears to be the evidence
against GORDON, and the more fully borne out and
completely justified the decision of the court-
martial that condemned him. In order to arrive
at anything like a correct opinion of the affair, it
is absolutely necessary to consider all the circum-
stances of the case, and those who are the most
vehement in condemning the Jamaica authorities
for their severity continue to overlook the fact
that the whole island was in a state of great danger,
that menaces were numerous, and that those best
qualified to judge were in expectation of an out-
break at no distant period. Signs and tokens were
not wanting to show that the movement at Morant
Bay, if premature in its appearance, was the signal
for greater horrors, and a more widely-spread attack
upon the whites, and accordingly all the efforts and
energies of the authorities were wisely directed not
only to put down those immediately in revolt, but
to suppress any dangerous manifestations in all
directions. That such a policy entailed measures
of great severity is not to be wondered at by
those who recognise the energy and appreciate the
true condition of the island, but as there are none
so deaf as those who will not hear, so it would seem

that a certain party amongst us will keep up

the contest to the end.

The originators of this

un-English and anti-national movement were not

themselves at all a formidable body, but as for

one reason and another they have contrived to en-

List on their side some really influential allies,

headed by the Prime Minister himself, it behoves

all who value justice and respect fair play
to see that all is done that possibly can be done to

clear the reputation of those so basely assailed, and

so unworthily calumniated.

The matter might have been allowed to rest in
the hands of the Commissioners, and we might in
patience have awaited the result of their investiga-
tions being made public, and it suits the tactics of
the faction and its abettors to lose no opportunity
of giving hints and making innuendoes to the damage
and detriment of those now upon their trial.
Such a course need scarcely be dwelt upon, for
in the minds of honest and honourable
men it is beneath contempt ; but it is as well for
all to be on their guard against the machinations
and manoeuvres of such insidious opponents.
Surely the general opinion expressed in Ja-
maica among all ranks and classes concern-
ing this GORDON ought to have great weight
in this country. Men WhQ lead honest and peace-

can therefore easily understand the fatality of the
disease in these thick-hided animals in whom it can
only show itself outwardly in the eyes and nostrils,
&c. The diagrams of the interior parts of a cow
slaughtered with the disease, which have been lately
published, show red patches in the interior of the
mouth, on the coats of the stomach, &c., which seem
to indicate some affinity with an eruptive disease.
At any rate, with the present alarming progress of
the cattle plague, and in the unsatisfactory state
of our knowledge about it, any well-supported
theory deserves careful examination and further
prudent experiment. With this conviction a gen-
tleman, Mr. TOLLEMACHE, of Dorfold, has recently
been trying how far vaccination would protect his
animals from the malignant influence of the rinder-
pest. His first experiment was with an Alderney
calf which had been in close contact with affected
animals, but in which, unfortunately, the infection
proved irresistible. The calf died, and two other
vaccinated cows are in an unsatisfactory condi-
tion, but Mr. TOLLE3IACHE is now making the
experiment of inoculating two cows, which have
been successfully vaccinated, so that we may
consider the test fully applied to these animals,
and shall be curious to learn the issue. It will
be singular if the very animals to which we are
indebted for our comparative immunity from the
dreadful scourge of our ancestors should prove
to suffer so extensively from it, but it is evident
from the very fact of cow-pox preserving us from
small-pox that there is some possible relationship
between cattle and the small-pox. As the dis-
ease continues to spread with unchecked virulence
in spite of all precautionary measures it would cer-
tainly be far more satisfactory if we could aim at
curing it rather than at merely restricting it to cer-
tain places already infected. Indeed the number
of places in which it has already appeared is testi-
fied by the number of public meetings throughout
the country reported in almost every daily journal.
That prevention is better than cure is a wise saying ;
but should the vaccination theory prove sound, it will
have the recommendation of filling both offices, pre-
venting the further spread of a disease which ap-
pears to defy restraint, and giving a chance of life
to those animals already exposed to the danger.