600 
EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
any place lying between these extreme points. If cattle were 
sent inland from either Courland, Eastern Prussia, or Meck- 
lenburgh, for exportation here, they would be put on board 
at Hamburgh, as the chief port of the Elbe; but strange to 
say, nothing was done with regard to this port, even when it 
was believed that the Rinderpest was raging in MecJclenburgh 
and Holstein . The high road was then left open, while the un- 
frequented by-lanes were closed and guarded, and this state 
of things is perpetuated by the recent Order. 
Did occasion exist for any restrictions to be put on com- 
merce, then not only must Hamburgh be closed, but Ton- 
ning also, as the port of the Eider, and Bremen as that of 
the Weser. We, however, believe that commerce should be 
set free, and this simply because for upwards of one hundred 
years England has been a stranger to this disease. The entire 
continent likewise has been free of it, to speak in general 
terms, for the last forty-two years, while eastward of a line 
drawn from Memel on the Baltic, to Trieste on the Gulf of 
Venice, the malady has constantly prevailed with more or 
less intensity and extent. 
Ever since the alteration of the tariff, the now-prohibited 
articles have been imported, and no ill effects have resulted. 
This is easily explained. Suffice it to say, that raw hides are 
never sent here, or ever will be, and that prepared skins, even 
if taken from off animals dying with the disease, are inva- 
riably disinfected under the eye of the proper authorities in 
every country, save perhaps Russia, and with regard to skins 
coming thence, the very process of converting the hide 
into leather is an efficient means of purification, and there- 
fore of protection. 
Be it remembered that we have passed the great danger. 
It was when the cattle of Turkey and the Crimea, of our 
army and of the army of the French, were dying daily by 
hundreds, and when our shipping was constantly bringing 
and returning all kinds of merchandise from the East, that 
the risk was incurred and the danger run. Then, however, 
the government was supine, and the public mind quiescent 
and content. Now, indeed, the eye of the latter appears 
to be blinded by the dust which is cast about by the former. 
How long will these things be ? 
