The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1878-02-19 00:00:00

gond annul Expreso.

TIIISDAY. FiBILITART le. IBM

NOTES OF TIM WEEK.
THE EASTERN QUISTION.
Bir Charles Napier (Made Napier) mos odd that
the Greet British Nation liked to hear of • good
bloody battle, in which the killed could be reckoned
by thousands, thousulda,...k.d&adtr=when aba°lo,4dargymia.. Thad* eldlfuljust b"Dold
staved off by •
were etrioture on public
ta▪
ste, by the about of applause with which the news
of the fearfully bloody motions os the banks of the
Indus, during the Sikh war, was received with in
Enpttorilly • few diagrams, and one or two
ex sentences accompanying them, the old
general showed bow All this ware of life could have
&yawed by a skilful disposition of our forces, •
few 'clays Wore the first battle was fought. We could
have paned the country strategically, without hardly
firing • shot. But the world ;oyes carnage, sad
England .hooted Hosaanah for those blood-stained
Had those desperate actions beep avoided
by the monsuree which he described, John Bull 'dad
• have deigned to give the subject • passing
The Eastern Question, with all its ramnifica-
ik,a,,, presents somewhat a pendlei case just now. In
this case let official incapacity take the place of
inefficient generalship, and they exactly coincide.
Ministerial blundering is fast dilting us into war,
and It remains to be seen whether our soldiers will, as
in the Sikh campaign, "all PI through the fire or, on
the contrary, lead us into an unparalleled disaster.
This dilemma, but foe the contemptible pride of the
Clonstitutio (we admire the term), could have
been avoided without any abridgment of our honour,
or ruin on the national escutcheon. If they had
taken the advioe of the Liberal party in the com-
mencement 'of the negociations, And joined heartily
with all the powers in the Berlin Memorandum, the
Porte would have been scared into measures of
reform for her unlisppy Christian subjects, and all
danger of collision avoided. Turkey, ignorant then of
her own strength, as also of the ir...apacity of Russia,
would never have fought united Europe. Navarino was
bad enough, but a confederation so vast as that content.
platedat the time of the compiling of that document, had
never before confronted her, and au would have bent
to destiny peacefully, and never hazarded a defiant
action against such a host of adversaries. Europe in I
the time of Bayaset and Azaurath the IL trembled at
her nod; but the position is sadly reversed, and the
snocessor to thou warlike princes I. now a trembling
suppliant for tame at the hands of the conqueror,
mirW nothing for interests, intricate or simple, that
may pertain to those who have left her to her fat.
The repulses of the foe before Plume, the result as
much of Russian Incapacity as it was of the power of
the breechloader, gave the Turk such an extraordinary
opinion of his own vitality and power, that, if
victory had declared in his favour it would have been
on. of the darket phues in the history of Christendom
when the last Russian detachment crossed the Danube
In retreat. Happily for the Bulgarians and other
subject rues that form her 'usage family, fate
a otherwise, and we have now the spectacle of •
power overthrown that has reigned in undisputed
sway for 600 years. But by the destruction of one
evil we have, perhaps, allowed a greater to spring
Into life; the Turk is dead, bet the Ruffian has
beaus • giant in the land. The ministry, from the
very beginning of these negodatioes, has never shown
a trump card, but have always allowed themselves to
drift with events. Following the lose of the oppor-
tunity of joining in the Berlin Memorandum ; the
refusal to join in which was construed by the Port* as
• tacit confession of sympathy, and the evincing of a
disposition to help her in her hour of danger, came
the still further opportunity of the Conference; when
the stately masquerade of my Lord Salisbury, who
travelled to the Levant like an Eastern potenste,
astonished the land. Accompanied with my lady
and a host of flunkies, parrot, monkey, and all,
the movements of which grand menagerie were
duly chronicled and expatiated on by Jenkins in
lam* lettere and bold type in our Cuatitutional
Defender. But what • Siege of Calais over again.
My lord went out and my lord came back, with his
1 monkey and parrot, ton, we hope, and for all the&
he did he might as well, and better too, we
have stayed at horn*, which case we should nal
have had to bear the expense of his journey or the
lignominy of his detest. We suppose the next genera-
tion will be treated to the detestable task of reading
his lordship's private diary relating the pith of those
many private and omiidential 4arsinge with that
. very unctions individual Genera Ignatieff. Alas Imy
, dear lord, how deftly did the Muscovite spin those
. gossamer webs to hoodwink those clear Britiah eyes
, of yours. Admirable Tory of the old blue school I
L confess thyself beaten, and leave the role of the
plenipotentiary alone for ever.
With no line of policy chalked out, not even as to
the motions of the fleet, exoept from hand to mouth
—how can we wonder that at bet we are on the brink,
the very brink, of a war that will cost us at the very
least two hundred millions of money and two handed
thousands of British lives. Two hundred thousand
lives; mark that ye British voters who put the Tories
in power for the sake of • pint of beer after eleven
o'clock at night. Had the Liberals been in power the
Turkish rule in Europe would nominally have been •
thing of the past ; the Christian subjects of the Sultan
would have been enjoying good government ; the
Eastern Question would been settled for long genera-
tions ; and all this without costing in a penny of
treasure or a angle drop of English blood.

The rumour which gained credence in London and
elsewhere Wednesday night to the effect that Lord
Derby ha.' resigned, is contradicted. The Dade Rears
states that there is absolutely no truth in the report,
nor has anything occurred that can explain it.

A return of the proceedings under the Lord Chan.
cellor's Aztginentation Act shows that since the act
came into operation in 1863 102 advowsons have been
sold under the first schedule and 14 under the 23rd
section. The total purchase money warn £224,750.
In a 'grange set of prophesies claiming to date from
the Ilth century, a motto is assigned to each suoomeive
Pope. Singularly enough, that which fell to the lot of
Pio Non° and his chequered Pontificate wee " Ones de
erre —trouble upon trouble ; that which awaits the
successor so soon to be appointed is "LIMOS de codo"
light from above.
In 1877 one new bishopric (St Albans) was founded
one
ipt;isrsLe (Elimo"ribeca
(Baehi,mazg•A,,...int• • higher Coventry,
Gibson, Smith, and nagger) were sworn of the Privy
Council, and the exceptionally lance number of 02
gentlemen received the honour of knighthood. Death
removed during the year 17 peers, 16 ODO
bishop (Sodor and Man). 311 baronets, mile; keeenefghts
of whom one peer (Ongley) and two baronets (rlr*W
and Griffis:is-Williams) died without male representa-
tives, and their titles are extinct.

From the Newepaper Pry-so Directory for 1878 we
extract the following oa the present position of the
Newspaper Press :

"More are now published in the United Kingdom 1.7511
Newspapers, distributed m follows-
England-
London :-
Engltnd-
Prorincee -UWiles •
Of these there mi-
lli Daily Papers published in England
Ditto Wales
OR Ditto Scotland
19 Ditto Ireland
3 Ditto British Isles
On reference to the edition of this useful Directory for
the year 1858 we find the following interestang facts-
yin, that in that year there were published in the.
United Kingdom 86$ Journals; of these M were
Issued daily-vin, 29 in England, 5 in Scotland, and
1310 Ireland ; but in 1878 there are now established
and circulated 1,714 papers, of which no less than 158
are issued daily, showing that the Promo( the country
luta mere than doubled during the last twenty years:
The Increase in Daily Papers, has been etill more re. -
mark able the Daily limes standing 158 against 37
In 18.59, The Magazines now in course of publication,
including the Quarterly Reviews number 830, of which
284 are of a decidedly religious character, repreemting
the Church of England Wealeysus, Methodists,
`Baptists, Independents, ROM= Catholics, and other
Christian Communities."
A correepin.lent I the PaJl mei Gazette, telegraph.
int from Berlin, says that up to tlic present no orders
have been given for increasing the (lemma squadron
In the East f Eurcpe. it certainly will not, he gays,
proceed up the Dar.Wuellee.

Advice@ received by Greek merchants in London
announce that in conseTtence 41 recent massacres in
the Greek provinces of Turk-y sal the entry of the
British fleet into the Dan:lanolin., the Greek Govern-
ment consider themselves justified in re-oocupying
Themaly and Epirus.

Mr. F. S. Bmlth M.P., logising for now
attendance at the Worksop ,s dinner last
evesd=or
awrites.tohtt effect flues
but tie
cohere been
glad
with the constituencyc7terminate with the present
Parliament, which cannot now be long.
Cleopatra'. Needle has at last found a permanent
resting.place. The Metropolitan Board of Works,
hare assented to the request 0/ Mr. Dixon to erect the
Needle on the Victoria Embankment

The Commoners of Inland Revenue gate that
for the year ended Deopuber 81, 1876, duty wee paid
on 1.86,176 dogs, being an Moreno of £15,000 on the
previous year, and referring to the often-repeated
suggestion that dogs Mould wear an °Ririe! collar they
rain temperable objections ; but ouplx them to be
overoome, they say. "What should we gain r If A.
takes a licence and a collar and sells his dog to B.
who *ells it to C., who gives It to D , we should get
Lk. duty instead of four—that Is, If we rely
upon the collar as erldeom of payment of duty, which
by the proposition it is to be. it, after all, we are to
go to our licence rabilsten, we MAI Pre ourselves um
ridicule and the pu lc the annoyance which the revenue
collar would entail."

The report on the Inland Revenue for the year
ended March 31, 1877, has been Mined. Tb. reissue
from excise was £27681523, being as inersam as the
previous yew of 8112.301 stamps show a deemese of
14d.311; taxes an increase of £311,738. The Images
tax at 03,284,091 shows an increase at 1,312,1918 .ad
although the gem. Ikenoes show an Mariam of £2,111,•
thi, Oonxmissloaors are convinced that the packs.
number is not taken out.

Ila clerical circles " guinea-pig' mow a
siaattached to • cure, who is glad, daring thettl=
I • beseboe, or when the rector wants a wooer's
` 'hay to performs the duty for a guinea a minim
bolo. '

To-siorr.7CT`nda_ 0=& Al he plawed jar
the I,oooth aa 111116‘4140011
Kam. Jane 4111 d