The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1871-11-21 00:00:00

1V P.MISER 21, i N7l.

NOTES OF THE WEEK,

'the Queen is in nor° need of the lovo of her
subjects. The critics of tier 513.1estY'a
"inaction" and "expenditure" have lately been
blatant ; now it is professed friends who offend
against good taste and common BMW, Dr.
Norman Macleod has been tho coulidental
attendant of the Queen in the duties of his sacred
ollice at Balmoral, yet ho has the impertinence
to certify, that he has never soon not oven the
remotest trace of any "moral or mental weak-
ness in Her Majesty.. Of course this statement
was made in reply to Mr. Disrudi's use of the
word "morally" in its technical sense, which
Dr. Macleod should have understood ; and, it
is lamentably i:oudicious that the Queen's
Scottish chaplain should have been led into
making such
.speech. But their is another
.. •

offender, and his display was more grotesque.
Col. Hogg, Chairman of the Metropolitan
Board of Works, proposing the loyal toast at
Westininstor Constitutional Association's anni-

versary dinner, took occasion to refer to
Charles.Dilke as a name that would hereafter be

a 'hissing and a bye-word," which was ally
well under the circumstances; but he went on,
with a ludicrous display of Buncombe, to assert
that " this people, besides their loyal hear*
have strong arms, and will, be the cost what it
may, support the constitution." dtc. It is much
to be regretted that loyal subjects should so
unkindly show theit fidelity. All who regard the
Queen with love and respect should speak of her
with dignity and calmness. It is said that Her
Majesty has finally decided to leave for the South
on tho Nth instant. Notwithstanding the cold
weather, which was accompanied by a fall of
snow, the Queen on Friday walked in the private
grounds for a considerable time. In the even-
ing her Majesty gave a ball to the officials of the
household.
The John Ball hears on good authority, that
an addition is expected to the family of Argyle;
lied that her Majesty will probably be blessed
with another grandchild.
Various unforseon difficulties, we are told,
have arisen to prevent the provisions of the new
Royal Warrant beinv put iuto immediate opera-
tion ; and, when we remember the magnitude
of tho interests involved, it is not astonishing.
The details will necessarly receive amendment
from time to time. Amongst other changes
already decided on, it is said that the appoint-
ment of major is not to be a five years' one, the
proposed system of regimental officers reporting
on one another is to be given up, it is in con-
templation that the Government should pay for
the bands in future, and it is not intended to
interfere with the officers' incises,
Mr. Goechen has paid a visit to tlreenwich
Hospital, with a view, the Brost! Arrow believed,
of considering its fitness for the proposed Naval
University. But it is not generally known that
there is another movement afoot for giving a
wider destination to the old palace by con-
verting it into a great University of Technical
Science.
At the opening of Parliament it is rumoured
the Speaker will intimate his desire to vacate
his office just before the Easter recess, which
will be early in the coming year. There is also
talk that in consequence of the weak state
of the health of Mr. Disraeli, ho will be
compelled, before tho mooting of Parliament, to
retire from the leadership of the Conservative
party, and Sir John Pakington or Mr. Gathorue
Hardy is to be, ea (lit, his successor,
The elections occasioned by the changes in the
Government are making some little stir. Ply-
mouth is divided between Mr. Rooker, who is a
local Liberal, and commands the support of the
Permissive Bill advocates and tho Wealoyans,
and Mr. Bates, a Liverpool shipowner, and a
Conservative, who charges Mr. Gladstone with
" Communistic principles." At Dover, Mr.
J.:total is opposed by Mr. E. W. Barnett, of
Indian experience. Ile claims some interest
in Dover as a mover in the Channel tunnel
scheme. It is noticeable that in both causti-
the Conservative candidates are in favour of the
Ballot.

Nov.
13
14
IS
14
II
18
Is

Ap;epos of the sileuco of the Conservative
loaders so far respolting the Ballot which was
rejected by tho Lords expressly to give tuna for
its further cinsideration, the Sortir. fq itetlieto
says, "The Conservatives have no opinions of
their own, and are always conserving, not the
institution that is being attacked, bat that which
is some day going to bo attacked. Tiley give up
open voting at present, and employ themselves
in rallying round the House of Lords. When
the time comes for the house of Lords to be re-
formed, said it is discovered that tho consti-
tuencies are not satisfied with the present state
of things, Conservative leaders will, wo suppose,
decline to enter into that question, and they and
their candidates will rally round the Established
Church, until its turn comes, and then their
rallying point will be shifted a little further off."
A melancholy episode in the miserable history
of Irish agitatiou for "liorue rule" is Mr. Butt's
vindication at Glasgow of the impunity of murder,
for then he had not the excuse of a "retainer."
If the guilt of murder attaches not to the
assailant who indicts a dangerous wound, but to
the medical practitioner who fails to cure it, and
if Inn civilized community moral disapprobation
and political enmity justify wilful homicide, Mr.
Butt was right in declaring the justice of the
verdict of the Dublin jury. Noting the priu-
ciples advocated by Mr. Butt, we cannot help
assuming that his Irish Parliament would at once
confiscate all property and abolish all the laws
which have boon adopted by civilized commu-
nities.
The groat Tichborno inquiry seems as far from
a conclusion as over. Serjeant Ballantine does
not see how he can reject the evidence of any
respectable witness who offers to identify the
claimant, and so half the people of Hampshire
may yet be placed in the witness box before the
case for the plaintiff is closed. Then there must
be quite as many witnesses to swear that the
claimant is not the man, for the defendants'
solicitors will be anxious to bo at least a match
iu numbers. Nearly all the witnesses this week
have unhesitatingly sworn to a distinct recogni-
tion of the claimant as Sir Roger. Whenever •
witness has shown that his opinion was formed
by the claimant's knowledge of certain circum-
stances, the cross-examination has been directed
to establish proof that at least it was possible
for the facts to have been picked up in other
ways than by memory.
Ex-Lord Mayor of London, Mr. Dakin, is to
receive a knighthood, and not a baronetcy as was
first supposed, in recognition of the raising of the
Parisian and tho Chicago relief fund during his
mayoralty. It is a strauge notion to reward a
man for being either a spectator of an achieve.
merit or a participator in it out of the necessity
of his official position. But to have given a
civic dignitary and his heirs for ever a dis-
tinguished title merely because he happened to
preside while Britisa benevolence was poured
out, would have been too absurd. A knighthood
is Lot of every groat value perhaps, but if it is
thought a meet reward for a successful life's
study of 11111sie or nioaicino, it 111 surely sufficient
for the most exemplary of Lord Mayors.
The Mokera court martial is couclu led, and,
,of course, Captain Thrupp is honourably
acquitted—that was uoderstool from the first;
but we wanted to ascortam woo was the
really responsible person in this matter. To this
fact the voluminous evidence will scarcely lead
us ; it is too scientific arid technical. It deals
with theories and pouibilitos rather than with
men and actions; in short, there is no indi-
viduality in it. But we may be sure that as
a consequence of this investigation Government
will have to offer up the real culprit, or else a
very respectable scapegoat, to Parliamentary
wrath.
The University of Glasgow has selected Mr.
Disraeli for the post of Lord Rector by a con-
siderable insjority over Mr. Ruskiu, and the
University of Edinburgh has chosen Sir Stirling
Maxwell in preference to Sir Reandoll rainier.
That the choice has fallen upon the Conservative
loader, and a distinguished Conservative repre-
sentative, will be accepted as a "sign of
.the
times." It would have been very surprising,
however, if the Conservative loader, being
nominated, had not been elected.
To the groat satisfaction of the commercial
world, the Bank of England ou Thursday reduced
its rate of discount from 5 to 4 per coot., the rate
at which it stood at the beginning of last mouth.
It is the universal belief of financial circles that
the reduction should have taken place a fortnight
ago, the rate of discount in the open market
having even then declined considerably below
the sum fixed by the Bank. The directors, it is
said, were actuated by a fear that an alarming
pressure would occur towards the end of the
present month in coos...Nut:ace of the payments
' So be matte by France to Lieruiauy ; and we may