The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1864-11-29 00:00:00

ET COUNTY EXPRESS

visited the Metropolis. On Wednesday the
Prince and Princess of Wales took leave of her
Majesty and returned to Marlborough Houle,
where, soon after their arrival, they were visited
by General TOM Thumb and bis Lady. In the
evening, accompanied by Prince Arthur and the
Duke of Cambridge, they went to the Princess's
theatre. At DOM, on Thursday, with their
suite, they left Marlborough House for Sandring-
ham, where it is expected they will remain a
mon th.

Lord Palmerston, in his time, has conferred
favours on many public journalists who have
supported his policy in the columns of the news-
paper press. It is rumoured that be has just
exemplified his gratitude for services of this I
nature in a striking manner. Mr. Russell, for
many years the able and energetic editor of the
Scotsman, has, it is said, been selected to fill the,
office of Comptroller of the Stationary Office,
now vacant. The salary attached to the post,
which is not a very burdensome one, is £l,OOO
• year, and rises at the rate of £4O per annum
until it reaches £12,000. Besides this there is a
good house to live in. No one, we suppose, if
such appointments us to be considered legiti-
mate rewards fir political service, that Mr.
Russell his not as good • claim as could be urged
in the favour of anybody else.
The Queen of Spain is going the right way to
work to make herself popular. She has just
given to the sufferers of the recent inundation at
Valencia the sums which had been set aside for
the celebration of her fete day, besides which
she has contributed £lO,OOO from her privy
purse to the same object. A national subscrip-
tion has been opened by Royal decree, and it
must be admitted that her Majesty has set her
subjects • splendid example of munificence.
1 The general elections seem not to disturb the
general tranquillity of the country in the slightest
degree. Spain is quiet and prosperous.
The renowned M. Mirk has just executed •
project which has long been talked of. He solicits
the French public to subscribe not less than
£4,000,000 sterling worth of shares in which he
calls • "Bank of the States," which is to lend
money to Governments, and of which he is to
be the sole manager. Considering that enormous
loss was sustained by the failure of his famous
Railway Bank, and that the result of • judicial
examination of its accounts was his appearance at
the her of • criminal court, and his subsequent
detention in the cell of • prison his present de-
mand is certainly devoid of modesty. Yet such
is the gullibility of the vulgar French—and it is

to the; that gis appeal i; addressed—that he
will no doubt get, if not all, at least a consider-
able part of the money he asks for.
It seems that there is "something rotten" in
the state of the French navy. In a document
drawn up by a competent authority, exposing
the grievance of officers, we read :—"For • long
time the naval service has been suffering from an
inexplicable evil. Profound discouragement,
which every day extends its fatal rarages, has
invaded little by little all grads*, and premature
retirements, numberless resignations, the de-
plorable ardour with which young officers com-
pete for sedentary posts, the ever-increasing
difficulty of recruiting the Naval School, and
many other symptoms which cannot be disguised,
will open the e> e. of the blindest, and will give
a striking contradiction to those who may wish
to deny the gravity, the extent, and the
generality of the evil."
An unwise attempt is once more being made
to urge the existence of our large force of volun-
teers as • reason for the reduction in the regular
army. Whatever may be our opinion as to the
expediency or otherwise of maintaining our forces
at the present strength, it is certain that all
considerations in favour of reduction, if they are
to have weight at all, should be based on other
grounds than those which are thus put forward.
The volunteer movement, in its origin, assumed
no political character, and it would be grossly
impolitic now to convert it to political uses.
Mr. Lincoln has been re-elected President by
a large majority of the Federal States. This re-
election has one signification which will not be
disputed in any quarter. It pledges the north
to the prosecution of the war. The day before
the vote was taken, Mr. Seward told an
enormous lie, with which he associated a melan-
choly truth, lie said :

" Suppose, theo, that th• people, as we all agree
they will, support the administration by their suffrage
to morrow. The nbels then have the msurance of the
American people, med. upon • full rat...sing of the
merits of the controversy, upon appeal end • full "Lean.
nation of results t les fax obtained, with tie relative
forces of the para.* yet remaining in reserve, that the
sondiet is not to be abandon, cl on our putt. In all oar
atbletie passe, thr • tint.. Nucleon in tee trues gives
the victory—two decisions following not other is noel
to the., in Sve, You have already abuodent evidences
of the exhaustion of the rebels, but not yet evidence of
their CODICiOUSOteII..f that exhaustion. Thaw evidences
will appear iramegistely on the •noosnotinent of tbe
re-election of Abraham Lincoln. Too would have had
th.ae evidence' ember if you had rendered this 'staid
sooner. You will have them ell the goose: ..fter tie
venlict in proportion to the unanimity and determine.
tins with which it is spoken."

By this vote, the people of the Northern States
have unquestionably commissioned the Govern-
ment to wry on the war in • spirit of relentless
ferocity and unyielding determination. The
South, however, will not collapee under the
burden of this revelation President Davis de-
clares himself satisfied with the prospects of the
conflict. He even proclaims himself able to do
without the slave. iii his contest with the North.
Grant's army at the present moment is out-
numbered by Lee's; in abort, Grant's position is
far from being enviable. He cannot advance,
neither can be with safety retreat, and up to the
present time all attempts to reinforce him have
ended in failure. Sheridan is in Middletown,
many of his horses have died of starvation, and
all attempts to procure forage to thettast or west
of his camp are repelled by Mosby's cavalry;
many of their foraging parties and their trains
being captured. Forrest has captured Johnson-
ville, Tennessee, with three gunboats, eight trans-
ports, their officers and crews, all the Federal
stores, and many cannon. Federal reporta state
that Sherman has abandoned Atlanta, burnt that
place, and that he was marching towards
Charleston, SE., but the report requires con-
firmation. Even if the report be true, it is
evident that this General has been obliged, a
emend time, to withdraw his line of advance
without obtaining a single mile of territory
beyond that coveted, for the time being, by
his invading army. The illegal capture
of the Florida create, much discussion.
It is approved of by the people, but, it
is thought, will not be supported by the
government. Mr. Lincoln was serenaded in
Washington on the 11th November, on which
occasion be addressed the enthusiastic crowds '
from the balcony of Government House, at-
tributing his re-election to a "special interven- '
tion of Providence." Mr. Seward has made a .
speech at Auburn, in which he declared that the:
war must go on until one side or the other suc-
cumbs from exhaustion. Butler has left New
York for the front. Previously, however, he '
made • speech, declaring his conviction that the
time had come when the North, "in the
magnanimity of her strength," could offer an
amnesty to the South. If this should be re-
jected, he urged a abort, sharp, decisive war,
and the partition of the Southern lauds among
the Federal soldiers. He forgot, however, Mrs.
Glasses injunction, "to catch their hare before
they cooked it" His speech is only worth
citing as showing the gross ignorance and stupid
insolence of one of the leading "heroes" of the
North. 'lliere is a report current, but it seems
incredihle, that Butler is to be appointed
Secretary of War in succession to Stanton, who,
it is alleged, will be the new Chief Justice-of
the Supreme Court. The " pegging away" policy
is urged from American pulpits. A few days
since, one of their preachers declared that the
Creator of the world "could not do without the
American Union," and averred that God had in-
terposed with something like • miracle to supply
them with wealth to enable them to carry on
their extirpating war, and he believed that "if
it were necessary. he would uncover solid rocks
of gold and silver for them." "God," be ex-
claimed, "has given us enough in our mines to
pay off all our debts, give every soldier a silver
musket, plate our iron-clads with silver and gold,
and then enough will be left behind to give •
fortune to every MIA, woman, and child." Talk
of American bankruptcy altar this! Why, accord-
ing to this' divine," they can stand uprigh t and bid
defiance to every other nation on earth, sa veil
in respect to currency as in every other respect.
Of course this vast wealth has been given for the
prosecution of the war, and consequently the
wholesale destruetion of human life must still go
on. They would offend Providence if it did not.
The prosecution in the Federal enlistment
case, which we noticed last week, haa been
abandoned by Government, aud the Great
Western is now on her way to America with her
complement of undo who are Prc''
fassedly engaged as "gime- oven" for • hones
in New York. The information forwarded by
the authorities at Liverpool doss not appear to
have satisfied the Lew tears of the Crown that
there was sufficient evidence to prove that the
men are really intended as recruits for the
Federal sew, notwithstanding one of them,
who was • indeer, was enraged and promised