FRENCH, Acting Secretary to Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, August 20, 1883

Mr. French to Mr. Frelinghuysen.

Sir: I have the honor to inclose herewith a newspaper slip containing a telegraphic-dispatch from London, England, in which it is alleged that Mr. Dodson, chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, stated on the 17th instant, in the House of Commons, that it was an undoubted fact that the foot-and-mouth disease in cattle had been carried from England to America, and that the American quarantine system in relation to cattle-diseases gave no security against the conveyance of disease by men attached to quarantine stations and by articles taken out of the quarantine yards, and that the system-took into consideration only the animals themselves. I deem it due to American interests to state that if the honorable gentleman named made the remarks attributed to him, it must have been done without a knowledge of all the facts in the case, and that in some respects such remarks are calculated to mislead the public mind on the subject.

Attention is called to the inclosed report of the Treasury Cattle Commission, dated the 21st ultimo, in regard to the foot-and-mouth disease among the cattle of the United States. While it is admitted that this disease did exist in herds of cattle imported from Great Britain, the Commission gives an emphatic denial to the present existence of the disease among the cattle of the United States. This statement is considered important because it might be inferred from the remarks of Mr. Dodson as quoted, that the disease which had thus been imported from Great Britain had not been eradicated. Ample quarantine stations exist in the districts of Boston, Mass., and Portland, Me., and as no contagious or infectious diseases among the cattle of those States exist, the possibility of these diseases being communicated to our cattle by cattle arriving at those ports (which are the only ports on the New England frontier where cattle are allowed to be quarantined) is quite remote. I call special attention to the stringent regulations governing the quarantine of cattle, herewith inclosed, which go far beyond the scope contemplated in the remarks attributed to Mr. Dodson.

I think if these regulations are properly carried out, as I assume they will be, they will prove sufficient to guard against the introduction of contagious diseases by the importation of foreign cattle at the ports where quarantine is established.

I have the honor to request that a copy of this letter and of its inclosures be sent to the British minister at this Capital for the information of his Government.

Very respectfully,