The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1867-05-07 00:00:00

NOTES OF THE WEEK.

The defeat of the Liberal party on the question of
personal rating by • majority of 21, hut been avenged
by the Misisery issiSg beaten by 81 votes in regard 1
to the two years' residence clause. This majority in
favour of cue year's residence appears formidable at
firet eight, but when we look at the minority of ID?,
and remember that the Conservative whip out bring
more than WO men into the field on enemerges:ly,
it is clear that Mr. Disraeli allowed the matter to go
by default. H. had ocdisaguse in the (abbot who
would give way only to a Parliamentary majority,
and the Chancellor of the Exchequer mule no de-
fensive preparations against the Liberal attack, in
order that, sot his own defeat, but that of his
recusant utilisers., should be decieive and con-
vincing. Naturally, after such a division, the right
honourable gentleman asked for time to hold •
Cabinet consultation, but this was understood to be
only out of deference to his oolleagne• Only •
small minority felt any alarm about a general retie-
nation or dissolution of Parliament s all that eras
tested was that there might be more sesslolili from
the Cabinet. However, all •dotbse and apprehen-
sion on this point are hoer removed. The Cabinet
has deferred Loth* opinion of the House, and, having
done this, we may anticipate that Mr. Hibbert's
amendment in regard to the oomponnd householders
if carried, as is increasingly likely to be the cue
(for Mr. Disraeli's proposals to make the present
compound householders above £lO pay the full and
not the compounded amount of their rise., which
is only acting in conformity with the principle he
haa adopted, will provoke additional hostility),
will not deter the Government from carrying the
Bill throegh Committee, although it mar come out
of the ordeal shorn of many of the fancied safeguards
with which they bad fondly encompassed the house.
hold suffrage basis of the measure.

Army Reform has been the subject of dismatioh In
the House of Commons, and Mr. Tretelyan moved •
reeolstion declaring that the purchase system in the
army "tends greatly to diminish the efficiecay
our military forte. Sir John Pakington, Lord Hart.
ington, end several of the militAry members of the
House spoke on the question, and the main plea in
favour of the existing system was that we cannot
afford to abolish it, for the collective value of all the
oommiseione in the English army is estimated at
something in noses of seven millions steeling. Sir
John Pakington would on the whole be glad enough
to see the purchase system abolished, but neither he
nor the military Minder of the late Cabinet tan see ,
where the mosey ia to come hem for inch • national
reform; and, in political systems, d itatitii vital
cairns is not a goverithsg maxim. Singularly enough,
this week we are informed that an attempt has keen
made to introduce the purchase system kilo volunNi*
oorpe. The adjutant of the Robin Hcod Riffes,
Captain White, has received • letter offering him
£1,400 to retire—an offer twin& use the more tempt-
ing as he bee oompleted seven years' service, end La
entitled to a pension of ts. per day. But tbe offer
has been refused, and Captain White Ins announced
his intention of recommending the regimental ser-
geant-major as his soooessor wh be may find it
asomeary to retire from the service. Hitheiin, the
complaint has been that volunteer oorpe could not
obtain officers to commend them, so from this we
infer that these appointments are now regarded with
more favour.

Just as vs tlonght Britalbflifkaence in Continents
politics was deputies ro ever, it would seem that
although Lord Stanley disclaimed any prominent
initiative or active intervention OD the part of this
eountry, the simple advice of its Government, with
a concurrent declaration of intended oeutrality, has
been sufficient to pat Great Britian in the Chair on
the occasion of the Confereues on the Luxemburg
question. Is it that onr sagacity and friendly repro-
sensations retain fot its the position of a first-rate
Power, or do Uontinental States still consider the
greatest navy in the world, with half a million of
armed men (regular., militia, and volunteers, all
told) to back it, something worthy of respect even in
this age of colossal armies? At any rate, it will
redound oar credit if the Conference is nicosedel in
dealing with the Luxemburg diffioulty, and if it is
not, we shall bare to maintain a philosophical in-
difference while Frain* Lod Prusn'a fight it out; and
when they have exhausted each other, Great Britian
might step to and instill herself as president of the
after-war Vonference, with the old woman's "1 told
you so" remonstrance.

Mr. Gladstone has come out is yeeterdey's icier
with the fourth number of his serial eptidss, and it
will perhaps reassure the Liberia party more than it
was &sprained by the preceding letter/, which
were taken to mean histesignation of the leadershipof
the Liberals, bet what would really have inferred Mr.
Gladlidese's retirement from polities altogether, as it
is abundantly evidentthat while he swims in that ma
be must head the great Liberal party. But the
division of Thursday night on Mr. A yrtoies amend-
ment seems to have rehabilitated the right honour-
able gentleman 'even in the opinion of the most
timorous, at in that of the most devoted of Isis
admirers.

The most edam utterance of the week is the
awful eentunos passed upon " Genera' Harks and
"Lieutenant" Doran, by the Dord Chief Jostioe
Whiteside, for high treutin. Of the jinni(*) of their
conviction nosy tan doubt, but the technical
formula of the sentence is shockingly revolting.
Taken on a hurdle to execution, hanged, their
beads out off, sod their Wink I:parte:rod—this is
madly too muck in the style of His Majesty of
Dahomey. Why Is such barbarity permitted to
endure at !hie day? Sorely the Queen has some
Mate offiiier capable of suggesting the purgation of
her royal duties from such abominations as passing
contemn* of that character by her doodle!" the
judge.

Is Hyde Park this Hostility afternoon, aa we write,
the moose of riot And blodabed, or not? Mr. Walpole
forbad the holding of the meeting of the Reform
Leaguen, and warned and admonished all persons
to abstain from attending and so forth • meeting ,
for the parp es of "political dimension" In Hyde
Park. But the leading agitators, in spite of the
" most earnest advice" of Mr. Oladstoes, in opposi-
tion to the "earnest suggestion' of Mr. Hughes, u. p.,
one of their vloe-presidenta and in the face of the
disapproval of men of all clines and opinions,
announced their intention to nimble notwithatand-
ing the prohibition. And intimated that they would
meet force by force. They resolved that tan
platforms should be erected, at one of which Mr.
Bides proposed to take the chair, supported by the
O'Donoghne, M. P. , and Colonel Dickson. In con•
sequence of this determination, many Unwinds
of special constables were sworn in to assist 6,000
regular polinmeo, and the household troops, with
two momenta of infantry, And • strong fern of
artillery with thirty Armstrong guns (I) were ender
orders to he in readiness should • not take place;
bet, having done All this, Mr. Walpole, as Mr.
Bradlaegb anticipated "fooled" it, and at the lit
moment resolved to permit the demonstration and,
as long as the pests is preserved, not to interfere
with any of Mae speakers, the processions, or the
crowds that may enter the enclosure. Nevertheless,
it was anticipated that • none of disordered might
be nosioned by the "rough,," and lead to the
most serious oonsequencea.

We us accustomed to pride ourselves that in
Ragland every man is equal before the law,
but this, like every other good rule, is not without
its exoeptions. Amongst these one of the most
anomalous and unwarrantable is the statute bearing
upon the relations bet ween master and servant, for
while the master can only be proceeded against for •
breads of Joatrwat by civil process, the servant may
be charged before the magistrates as a criminal aid
sentenred to imprisonment. A Bill bite been intro-
dooed into Parliament for amending this inequality,
and it is a piece of social reform we orardially
approve, for, if it become law, it will remove that
taint of the bondaman from the earraot which
liability to imprisonment without the option of a ens
imps% while it will not subject the toaster to lose