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he said, not only as a great political leader, but as a great Englishman.'

Before passing on to the stormy political scenes which ushered in the democratic era after Palmerston's death, it may be as well to glance at the activity shown by Lowe as a member of the Cattle Plague Commission (October 1865). The rinderpest, at this time, had assumed the proportions of a fast-spreading plague, which threatened to cripple the agricultural interest and seriously affect the comfort and well-being of the general public. Meetings had been held even in London for the establishment of a National Society for the Prevention of the Cattle Plague. But though English folk apparently think otherwise, there is no particular virtue at such a crisis n public meetings. The Government, however, promptly appointed a Royal Commission, consisting of the following prominent public men and eminent specialists: Earl Spencer (Chairman); Viscount Cranborne; the Right Hon. Robert Lowe; Dr. Lyon Playfair; Dr. Richard Quain; Dr. Bence Jones; Dr. E. A. Parkes; Mr. Clare Sewell Read; Mr. J. R. M'Clean; Mr. Thomas Wormald; Mr. Robert Ceely, and Professor Spooner. The Secretary was Mr. Mountague Bernard, a most distinguished Oxford scholar, and a jurist of European reputation.

The question of the cattle plague was one in which Lowe's two most regular correspondents of this period, his brother and Mrs. Billyard, both took a keen interest; the one as an English landowner, and the other as a resident of a pastoral country. His brother would seem to have been bestirring himself on the subject of limited liability.

Robert Lowe to Henry Sherbrooke of Oxton.

2 Victoria Street: 16 October, 1865.

My dear Henry, -You need not be unhappy about the payment for a joint-stock company. It is not more than 57., little enough for the privilege of limited liability-which, before my Act, could only be obtained by a private Act or a Royal Charter. I can't help thinking

that people have not given these insurance companies all the consideration they deserve. The losses, according to the evidence before us, will be enormous, and I don't know what data they have for their calculations. My opinion is that the disease, unless very energetic measures be taken, will go everywhere and destroy much more than half the cattle of the country; besides, such societies have a tendency to kill diligence and encourage what the agricultural mind is already so prone to a foolish and apathetic security. I don't understand what good my coming to the infirmary will do. I am very much occupied and must not leave unless there be a good reason for it. As far as the county is concerned, I fancy that it is quite hopeless, as I think your son-in-law has a view on it himself. If there is any real good to be done, I will come. It is impossible that mutual assurance societies can be allowed to exist except in compliance with the existing law-even for their own sakes. It would lead to endless trouble and litigation. You should talk to your lawyer about it, and I am sure he will tell you the same thing. I think the end of it will be that Parliament will have to be called together. Write to me at High Clere.

Your affectionate brother,

R. LOWE.

His next letter to Mrs. Billyard was written on the following day, and shows how profoundly her correspondence had revived the recollections of his Australian life.

Robert Lowe to Mrs. Billyard.

attle Plague Commission, 2 Victoria Street: October 17, 1865.

Dear Mrs. Billyard,-Your letters produce an indescribable effect upon me. My reminiscences of Australia are something like those of the Prince in the Fairy Tale who dipped his head into the bucket, and seemed to have lived seven years before he took it out again. It is as if I had lived seven years of my life in Sirius, the Dog Star, or somewhere equally remote, and had, after fifteen years' silence, opened a communication with some native of that remote locality. I am much interested in your account of poor old Nelson Bay. You do not tell me anything of the house, though, if matters are not wholly changed, you could not reach the shore without passing it. I wonder what the valley is like, and whether it has recovered the great flood of fourteen years ago. I cannot help a sort of longing to go back, though I know how absurd it is. I am very busy investigating the Rinderpest. I think the result will be that Parliament will have to be called together next month, for the case is a

very bad one, and we are likely, if no efficient remedies are taken, to lose many millions of cattle by this dreadful scourge. It is a case that must go home to every true Australian heart.

On October 31 the Commissioners made their report. This subject of the rinderpest was one in which Lord Sherbrooke, with his newly awakened zeal for sanitary reform, took the most lively interest. The following paragraph in the report, from its thoroughgoing nature, attracted universal attention at the time :

Against a disease which is highly contagious, undiscoverable at a certain stage, and too widely diffused for an army of inspectors to cope with it, there is clearly but one remedy which would be certainly and absolutely effectual. The remedy is to prohibit everywhere for a limited time, any movement of cattle from one place to another. Enforce this, and within a time, which cannot be very long, the disease is at an end. It must stand still, and it must starve for want of nutriment. This great sacrifice would certainly eradicate the evil; we cannot say so of any sacrifice less than this.

Writing on the subject to his Sydney correspondent, Lowe remarked: 'I have been very busy about this cattle plague, which has established itself here, and which puts me in mind. of our old debates about catarrh in sheep, and other disorders with less innocent names. I am, as usual, greatly abused for prescribing a remedy which nobody will take, and whose only recommendation is that it is efficient.'

In the following letter to his brother he deals also with what he regarded as a plague that had broken out in the body politic, and which he thought as direful to human society as the rinderpest was to the cattle. Lord John Russell and Mr. Gladstone had stepped into Lord Palmerston's place, and by means of the huge majority obtained by the personal popularity of the latter, were intent on carrying their Reform Bill. It is needless to say that Lowe had not been asked to join the Russell-Gladstone Government, and still more needless to add that he would have refused even a seat in the Cabinet, had

it been offered to him on the understanding that he would support what he called the degradation of the suffrage.

Robert Lowe to Henry Sherbrooke of Oxton.

Sherbrooke, Caterham: November 20, 1865.

My dear Henry,- Many thanks for your game. I have to thank you for the princely gift of a hare, eight partridges, four grouse, and a snipe. I am glad you like the Report, with which I had, as you may see, a good deal to do. I never supposed it would be acted on at once-indeed, the unanimity with which it has been condemned by the Press, without waiting to see the evidence and without the least knowledge of the case, is a proof how little public opinion is ripe for a really efficient treatment. Perhaps after a few months people will begin to change their minds. I think you must see from the Report that insurance societies will not do. If the disease does not come at all, the money will be thrown away; if it does, the insurance company will be ruined. There are no data that you can put into the hands of an actuary on which to calculate the loss. I strongly advise you to have nothing to do with such a society. The only thing to be done is to reduce rent in case of heavy loss, and that if the thing is to have its own way, you may fairly calculate upon, and should promise accordingly. Our present idea is to go into Notts immediately after Christmas. Shall you be at home at that time? We are going on 27th to see Sheridan at Frampton, Dorset. The Government is in a very poor way. If it had leaders in whom anybody had confidence, it might be strengthened, but no new elements can give people confidence in John or Gladstone. They are going with their eyes open straight over the precipice, without the excuse of a broken rope. They seem inclined to put new men in the subordinate offices, but that won't help them a bit, for Cicero would be of no use if he were not allowed to speak. They are embarrassed by their own success in the elections, for it naturally seems impossible to let a party go out with a clear majority. They must dispose of that first, and that, I think, they will find no difficulty in doing.

Your affectionate brother,

R. LOWE.

This allusion to the unanimous condemnation of the press is not without suggestiveness; as after a short time two of the most influential journals pronounced a decidedly favourable verdict on the labours of the Commissioners. Lord Sherbrooke had always an instinctive respect for the opinion

of scientific experts; and one of the reasons why he made so valuable a member of a select committee or a royal commission, was that his mind was ever open to fresh sources of information and attentive to the verdict of specialists. He always declared that Sir Richard Quain rendered the greatest public service by his work as one of the Cattle Plague Commissioners in 1865. Sir Richard's connection with the Commission was purely fortuitous. As he was starting off for a much-needed holiday, he met his great friend Delane, who casually mentioned the outbreak of the rinderpest, predicting that if the Government did not take immediate steps to stamp it out, there would not be a sound head of cattle left in England. Dr. Quain was so much impressed that he at once decided to forego his holiday, and devote the time to the cattle plague. His surprise was therefore great when the Times led the press chorus of denunciation with which the labours of the Commission were at first assailed. Naturally, he found fault with Delane for robbing him of his holiday and then making light of the pestilence which, in the first instance, he had declared would be fatal.

Delane explained that in his absence the Times had committed itself to a non-alarmist policy in this regard, and though he himself still considered it a most serious visitation, it was difficult to make a great newspaper contradict itself. Robert Lowe, as a prominent member of the Commission, thoroughly in agreement with the views of Sir Richard Quain and the other medical experts, was equally disconcerted by the attitude of the Times. Delane, who was a man of infinite resource, suggested that a letter should be written, addressed to the Editor, in which the actual facts of the case should be fairly placed before the public. This letter was written, and appeared in the Times, over the well-known signature 'Q,' on December 1, 1865; and it threw a great deal of light not only on the ravages of the cattle plague, but also on the opposition of the great railway companies and the cattle jobbing interests to the

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