The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1876-10-24 00:00:00

Corinsponbrnct.

rtiE ApriuucHlNG "Fiiavr. AT
lAiltckiEsTEß,
TO air EKG!or.

the lst of Nov ember appniaches the
ominous sounds of numicipal conflict are already
homey the wind, rad cm the tug of war has met in
we already herr of heavy defeat or of victory for our
local celebrities, who look eagerly forward to the
weariio..f civic honours. TO such aspirants the
times seem unusually favourable in our ancient
borough, only we would remind such gentlemen that
" the lace is not to the swift nor the battle to the
strong." A new order of things, however, would seem
to be about to be inaugurated, which will require not
• little vigilance on the part of the ratepayers, unless
they wish to be &spoiled .d their civic rights,
hitherto the ratepayers have been deemed quite
capable of managing their ,or• affairs, without
the intervention of a chaplain, who might be
Nuppeeed likely to find sufficient .erupatioi, for his
time and talents in attending to our prison inmates.
In this .pini.nit however, we seem to be mistaken,
and the iiifonnation ha i been moorded theratepayem
that in in ',Rion to his every-clay labours ..ur chaplain is
about to add the still more onerous one of assisting
the incompetent ratepayers of Dorchester to discover
fitting candidates to fill the vacant offices of
the liinnicipality. He has been suddenly Ito-
the .buigers which beset our ancient
of which he has lately become a member
and a ratepayer, should Be interests be any longer
confided to the keeping of gentlemen in whose
care it must be said they have remained safe
enough through a scrim of years, sufficient to test
their nullity. Now, hroyever, it is discovered that the
inhabitants are about to cominit a serious blunder by
retaining the efficient services .of these gentlemen any
longer. And without allowing they ratepayers to have
any opinion on the question, the Cii:vnitic, loFelhor
with his confreres, have decided OD a lillt.ol randhlatei•
who in due curie will be submitted to the :*otee of
the constituency. The question which in tinaSit
extraordinary ch-ciunstances the ratepayers have to
settle is not whether these gentlemen, whovie term of
office is abont to expire, formed D correct pi4gment
OD the tret. enl'r,,glio, about which there may
possibly be difference of opinion, although there
can be room for no antagonistic assertion as to the
fidelity to what they honestly deemed to be the
best interests of the town, the question which
requires immediate attention from the ratepseers
whether a gentleman whose intereete and whose
calling ehould invite him to very different duties is
to be suffered to dictate to an ancient Borough, which
efficiently managed Its business before he was rocked
in his cradle, thereby degrading a respectable and
intelligent community by a caucus in hLi
room ax as to who shall be the future keepers of our civic
trusts and honouna The ratepayers have a very
complete answer to such dictation by determining
with almost an united vote to return the gentlemen
who have we believe, during their term f office
diachveci their duties with credit to themselves and
with vantage ti the town, and who will not err if
they again permit themselves to be nominated for
re-election, and by allowing the good sense and
intelligence of the constituency to decide between
them and their opponents, By thus acting the rate-
payers will give point to the oft-quoted saying of
Burke, that power and hdluenee do not
always lie with the noisy party, whom he compares to
the masah 01, but to the quiet and sensible people,
whom he -eriee likens to the heavy cattle quietly
browsing in the meadows.
A RAMAT=