The Sun.
London, England, 1866-05-18 00:00:00

DUBLIN, Thursday morning.
The agricultural community in the north of Ire-
land are beginning to breathe freely again ; no new
cases of the cattle plague have been reported even
in the area round which the cordon was drawn by
the Government inspector. The Northern Whig
says :—" We are able to state that the outbreak of
the cattle plague in Ireland has not, so far as we
have been able to ascertain, as yet extended beyond
the district of Drennan ; neither have there been
any new cases of that disease in that district. On
Monday evening Mr. Henry Fraser, assistant county
surveyor, marked out the cordon, the extent of
which is two miles and 240 perches, and inside of
which no animal will be allowed to enter, or any
one to leave. Mr. Martin, of Baillie's Mill, has
generously offered accommodation to the constabu-
lary who have been sent on duty to the district, and
number in all about 140. The High Sheriff of the
county of Antrim, in pursuance of a requisition ad-
dressed to him, has convened a meeting to be held
in Ballymena Court-house on Saturday next, 19th
inst., at 12 o'clock, for the purpose of devising the
best means to be adopted in the event of the cattle
plague breaking out in the county. The requisition
would have been much more numerously signed
than it is had time permitted ; but the influence of
the names already attached to it, and the imminence
of the danger, amply warrant the sheriff in comply-
ing with the request. Mr. Lyons, who indeed has
always shown a readiness to lend his services when
the public necessities called for them, deserves credit
for the promptitude with which he has convened the
meeting. We trust that it will be largely attended
by both the owners and the occupiers of the soil, and
that each will come prepared to offer practical sug-
gestions for providing against the threatened danger.
We think it would be very advisable that informa-
tion in a concise form should be circulated among
the farmers for their guidance during the present
crisis. Especial pains should be taken to point out
to them that, in the event of the disease seizing their
stocks, it will be for their interest to lose no time in
reporting the fact to the constabulary, as, in the
event of their cattle dying, they will not receive
one farthing compensation ; while, for all cattle
slaughtered by order of the authorities constituted
for that purpose, they will be entitled to compensa-
tion accordingto the value of the animals up to £20."
Within the area to which the disease was restricted
there are now no cattle, those which did not die of
the plague having been slaughtered by order of the
inspectors. The stock in the remainder of the tract
of country now surrounded by the cordon were ex-
amined on Tuesday by Professor Ferguson and
Surgeon Jinks, who concurred in pronouncing them
perfectly healthy. The result of this examination
was at once telegraphed to Dublin Castle. The
people of the district exhibit a desire to aid the
authorities, but at the same time they think that
the illness which has appeared among the cattle is
only an aggrauated form of the lung disease. No
person is allowed to pass the cordon without being
disinfected, and all dogs found within it are shot.
The Lisburn fair was held on Tuesday as usual,
the Government proclamation forbidding all collec-
tions of animals not having then arrived. It was,
however, very thinly attended by purchasers, and
very few cattle were exposed for sale. The busi-
ness ;done was little more than nominal. In the
evening copies of the pi oclamation were posted
throughout a wide district prohibiting the holding
of the Hillsborough, Saintfield, Ballynahinch, and
other fairs, and the exposure of cattle at any of the
markets.

Should the disease unfortunately make any pro-
gress in this country it will be necessary to sacrifice
a much larger proportion of sound animals than was
requisite in England, because the difficulty of pre-
venting communication with infected beasts is much
greater. Farms are so intertwined with each other
in Ireland, that in nine cases out of ten a man can-
not drive his beasts from one of his own fields to
another without skirting or crossing some of his
neighbour's land. This peculiar distribution of the
land obviously renders perfect isolation almost im-
possible.

The following official memorandum was issued last

night :

" Veterinary Department of the Privy Council
Office, Dublin Castle, May 16.
" No fresh case of cattle plague or any other dis-
ease in the infected district of Drennan, county
Down. A census and valuation of all the cattle
within it have been taken. Number of cattle, 125 ;
value, £913. An official cattle plague report will
be published each day during the closure of and
restrictions on the proclaimed district, that infor-
mation may be obtained without the trouble of per-
sonal inquiry. (Signed)

" HUGH FERGUSON, H.M.V.S."

The Royal Agricultural and Royal Dublin So-
cieties held meetings yesterday, and sent deputa-
tions to Sir Thomas Larcom on this important
subject. Mr. Edward Purdon, of the Farmers'
Gazette, who devoted so much of his time as honor-
ary secretary to the Cattle Plague Committee, has
left Dublin for the ceene of the reported outbreak,
with the view of obtaining accurate and detailed
information. It is not unlikely that Government
will order post-mortem examinations to be made of
some of the cattle that have been buried.

The public interest in the Fenian conspiracy, of
which nothing has been said or heard here since the
murder of poor O'Neill—whose assassin his com-
rades have not yet succeeded in capturing—will be
revived by an incident which occurred yesterday in
Drogheda. It appears by an account furnished to
the Daily Express that in that town there were three
persons standing out on bail, two of whom—John
Henry M'Cabe, a reporter, and John Nugent, a
carpenter, the authorities deemed it prudent to re-
mit to custody, and the lord lieutenant's warrants
for their arrest under the suspension of the Habeas
Corpus Act were sent down to the sub-inspector of
constabulary, Mr. Gardiner. Mr. M'Cabe was ar-
rested without any difficulty ; but on the police
entering the place where Nugent was at work,
he leaped through a window into a backyard
_

fall of ten or twelve feet. He immediately
locked the back entrance to the yard, and escaped
at the rear of some of the houses. The yard into
which he leaped is bounded on the north by the
premises of the Sienna Convent, on the south by
houses in West-street, and on the east by the parish
church of St. Peter. The constabulary made a
general search in all these premises without dis-
covering the fugitive. He must have received a hurt
from the leap, as the stones underneath the window
of the workshop had a quantity of blood upon them.
The pitched battle on the bog of Cappamore, be-