The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1877-04-24 00:00:00

J)orort eon* Exintos.
TUESDAY, APRIL 24, 1277

NOTES OF THE WEEK.

Although every day now makes a Russo-
Turkish war more certain, the panic which
prevailed a week ago in commercial circles has
almost entirely subsided; and not only have
stocks recovered very largely, but speculators
who were glad to sell out at a loss when Turkey
rejected the Protocol, are now readily buying
in again, although prices are higher than when
they sold. The fluctuations of stocks at such a
, crisis are very mysterious to outsiders.
Barely a month has elapsed since Mx. Spurgeon ,
returned from a six-weeks' sojourn at Mentone ;
yet he is again unfit for active service.
, Nevertheless he keeps the Tabernacle machinery
i well at work, and as an instance of the hold he
has upon his congregation and of the great
reserve of vitality they possess, we may mention
that the other evening at an annual supper
given by one of the Deacons a sum of £l,f 00
was voluntarily contributed on the spot for
the benefit of Mr. Spurgeon's Pastors' College.

Now that war is inevitable between Russia
and Turkey, it is only too probable that atten-
tion will be withdrawn from our new policy in
India. The Russophobia which is a chronic
malady among old Indians, and which is almost
as indigenous as Cholera in Calcutta, has broken
out with fresh virulence. Lord Lytton appears
to have a severe fit of the prevailing malady,
and is now quietly reversing the policy of non-
intervention prevailing more or less since the
disasters of the Afighan war of forty years ago.
But, whether under Lord Beaconsfield's genius
or for some other occult reason connocted with
the assumption of the Imperial title in India, it
is certain that we are departing from sound
policy in relation in Central Asia, and may soon
be involved in a sea of troubles under the idle
excuse that we must meet Russian aggression,
, and be beforehand with her. Nature has given
us just such another impassable frontier in India
that Italy and Spain enjoy in Europe. It must
; be our own fault if we cannot hold the peninsula
with a rampart of eternal snow behind us, and
an inhospitable Desert beyond that.

Ex-Colonel Baker, now of the Turkish army, has
arrived in London from Constantinople with a view of
selecting, from a long list of applicants, some two or
three hundred Cavalry and Artillery officers for the
same service. The accepted are under engagements
to set out within 48 hours of their appointment, and
with the dearths .4 employment in this country, and
the traditions of our ally the Turk, there will be no
difficulty in finding young fellows to volunteer for the
service.

The Duke of Cambridge has so much benefitted by
his stay at Hastings that be is expected back at his
post in a few days. He is at present staying at the
Queen's Hotel, and takes his amng in a Bath chair/
Lqrd Liman- who, by the way, is not a disconsolate
widower—is also at Hastings; and the two warriors of
Crimean fame may exchange recollections of 18-54, and
shoulder crutches to show how fields were won.

Caritas at pupa r.bricos- "Charity above rubrics."
This is the text on which the Bishop of Manchester
read a lesson of charity to some churchmen of Preston,
who had taken one iif the clergy of the town to task
for reading the burial service over one of his parish-
ioners on the unconsecrated portion of the cemetery.
The Bishop not only approved of the conduct of the
offending vicar, but also added that if he had been in
his place, he would have worn his surplus. If there
were more Bishops Fraser, the question of Church and
Dissent would soon solve itself. As it is, we fear the
battle will be fought out to the bitter eniL The Duke
of Richmond's Burial Bill does not solve the question,
but holds out a hollow compromise, which leaves the
controversy as bitter as ever. The opinion on all aides
is that the Duke will have to take back his Bill, AS it
is not the thing wanted; Churchmen object to it for
one reason, and Dissenters for another.
A Roman Emperor came with mighty lesi; ons to
subdue Britannia, and made a collection of • few
interesting concholoOcal specimens from a deserted
beach. King Lewis, of France, marched 20,000 men
up hill, and next slay marched them down again.
Louis Napoleon crossed to Boulogne to overthrow
Philippe hgalite, and got into limbo for street-riding.
The great demonstration of John (.le) Morgan must be
added to the catalogue of sublime attempts with
ludicrous terminations. Instead of 100,000 men, some
three or four thousand (including the merely
curious) assembled in Hyde Park. Instead of
marching to Westminster Hall, the ragged regiment
paraded to Trafalgar-square, from whence they dis-
patched a deputation of ten to intimidate the Roam
And the Decemviri, instead id thundering forth the
wrongs of the Claimant and the rights of the people
before the Commons of England in Parliament assem-
bled, enjoyed a quiet cup of tea with Mr. Whalley,
and at his expense, and, finding no access
!to the Bar id the House, contented them-
selves with the more congenial though less ambitious
bar of the luncheon room. Truly the tempest WAS in
a tea-pot ! We desire to feel stern, and yet we can
hardly refrain from commiserating the ten. They
are probably well-meaning, although misguided, men
and it was no light punishment to spend an evening
with Mr. Whalley.