The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1876-07-11 00:00:00

A PEACE "DEMONSTRATION.

" A great open-air meeting " was announced to be held
in Troia4gar-equare on Sunday, under the auspices of the
Manhood Suffrage League, for the purpose of "consider-
ing what should be the attitude of the working classes in
the event of a war." The proceedings were to have com-
menced at half-past eleven in the morning, but at that
hour the only visible demonstration was that iliatie bp the
police force, which was represented by over • score of
stalwart fellows from Scotland-yard. In the course of a
few minutes, however, two young men appeared, one
carrying a folded-up apparatus which turned out to be
• portable rostrum, and the other a roll of cloth, which
proved to be a banneret. Immediately they arrived at
the base of the whiny) the youths put up their standard,
and some children who had been playing in the square
at once rushed up to form the nucleus of a crowd, SOlllO
loiterers also gathered round to see what was going on,
and when there was a total audience of about a score, the
younger of the two men intimated his intention of
beginning the proceedings. He commenced by complain-
ing that he had been deserted even by his own society,
and explaining that, as even the chairman had not
turned up, he was forced to carry on the meeting alone
This was, he said, his first appearance in Trafalgar-
square: but "his ambition was to be an embryo
agitator," and he was not disconeerted by the smallness
of his At meeting. Then he went on to justify the
interference of the League in the present crisis, and
expatiated on the injustice of a Government levying
war without the consent of the people, when it was the
people who had to suffer both in life and in treasure.
After this his companion made some remarks. To him
It seemed quite clear that Mr. Disraeli was desirous of
forcing this country into war in support of " that
peculiarly progressive animal called the Turk." and he
insinuated—with a reference to "Tancreil " ti upport
his argument—that the cause of this was to be found in
the Premier's sympathy u iti. the Mohmutumians. A
third speaker, who arrived late, also spoke, and the
meeting, which ultimately numbered nearly rtik passed a
resolution to the following effect : 'flat this ins:tine of
English working men repudiate- the principle of nation-
ality, and condemns all maimed war. it proclaims the
mituniunity of interest f the workmen of all nations, awl
appeals to these to ri,serve their hostility for their
common enemy the employing and dominant classes in
all nations." At the do,. ,d the " demonstration," a
messenger w,ss despatched to SeotLthdyard with the
intelligence that it had passed off peaceably.

THE WRECK OF A DUTCH STEAMER.
Loss or fdl) Urns.
A telegram has been received from the Governor of the
Dutch Indies, conforming the news of the wreck at the
entrance of the Straits of Sunda. of the Dutch steamer
General Kroesen, which was bound from Aetna to
Batavia. Two hundred and thirty persona were drowned.

A Bakscii or PROlinir CASE. in which the plaintiff is the
daughter of a Galway publican and the defendant a
farmer in the same county, is exciting some speculation
, in Ireland from the
_pathetic nature of the circumstances
! which have driven Miss Mary Ann Neill to seek solace
and revenge in the Foul Courts. The lady alleges that
Mr. Crooke broke off his engagement to marry her with
revolting harshness and cruelty. She haul been wooed,
and surrendered in due tem ; the day was fixed, the
priest was waiting, a car was at the door; and the bride-
groom was actually on his way to church, when in the
twinkling of an eye he disappeared, and from that
moment bas persistently refused to fulfil his VOWs. The
kw parlour in which he had spent the most delightful
hours of a courtship which was only too brief knew him
no more. Facts no clear and at the same time no heart-
rending would, if properly laid before :in impulsive and
warm-hearted Irish jury, Imvo only one result ; and it is
not surprising, therefore, to find Mr. I 'ruokn exhibiting
a feverish anxiety to nut in a plea in miti:ration uf
damages. His defence an twofold. In the lirst place he
mys that he MU taken to Mr. Neill's public-house and
" kept there for several days, during which time lie got as
much drink as he could take," and that while he wan in
this ecstatic condition the fatal " promise" wait given.
Mr. Crooke goes on to explain in bin simple manly way
the reason of his "disappearacce" on the wedding day.
Told in the fewest possible words the extilanation
amounts to this :—He was no drunk that he fell off the
car and into the hands .4 his friends, "who had been
pursuing him. and who rescued him in the nick of time.
This is the defence which Baron Dowse has given Mr.
Crooke riermiasion to plead, and the friends who
"rescued" him from the very brink of matrimony may
contemplate with what Caluirlein they can command the
intuit c their handiwork.

ROMANTIC ELOPEMENT FROM PARIS.
CAPTURE OP THE RUNAWAYS IN LIVERPOOL

Truth, it is said, is often stranger than fiction and a
remarkable elopement care, which has just conic to light.
furnishes another proof of the wisdom of the adage. The
facts of the caws, so far as we have been aide to glean
them, are briefly these : —Two young Parisian ladies,
possessing not a tee personal attractions, welbbred, well-
educated, and belonging to well-to-do parents, who move
in good society, appear to have cast aside all questions of
social rank and distinction, and set their affections ou two
poor, though doubtless honourable, French peasants, who
naturally reciprocated the manifestations of attachment
on the part of the fair creatures. Attired in the most
approved Parisian fashion, and, as we have already
indicated, being of a refined and prepossessing appearance.
besides having other personal charms, the young ladies
presented a remarkable contrast to the rude. uncul-
tured swains in whom they had centered their affections.
So for as age went, however, the two couples made a
Pretty good match. The peasants are apparently each
about 25 years old ; while the ladies are 22 and Pt
respectively, and just in the full bloom of health and
beauty. The contrast between the lovers was all the
more marked from the fact that the men were attired in
the ordinary rustic dress of their country, consisting of a
blue blouse—more easy-fitting than elegant—and a slouch
hat. They had all the airs and manners, too, of peasants,
and walked about with their hands deep in their breeches'
pockets. in grim admiration of the young ladies with
whom they hail eloped, and in whose company they no
doubt expected to pass many happy days. As the sequel
will show, however, tliey were doomed to disappointments
on Thursday afternoon information was received in
Liverpool that two young ladies, described in terms
similar to those given above, had absconded from Paris
with two French peasants on Monday evening, the desti-
nation of the runaway lovers, it was supposed, being
America. The father of one of the girls, imniediatly on
learning what had taken place, telegraphed to the police
in London to be on the look-out, and then left Paris by
the next train in pursuit of his adventurous daughter.
Information was also forwarded from London to the
police in Liverpool to the effect that it was likely the
' fugitives, on arriving in this town, would visit Mr.
Petitmangin's temperance hotel, 40, Lord Nelson-street.
This conjecture proved correct, and on Tuesday night,
about eight o'clock, the indignant father, in company
with &police officer from London, proceeded to the above
hotel, where he found not only his truant daughter but
her peasant lover, as well as the other fugitive couple.
The meeting between father and child may be better
imagined than described. The former was naturally
rejoicin, in the success of bus pursuit ; while the latter
was no doubt extremely sorry at her cunningly contrived
1 elopemont being so speedily brought to a termination.
Indeed, the young lady insisted, before her lather's face,
that she would marry the man she loved, pointing, as she
said so, to the peasant youth standing by her .ide ill all
hi, rusticity. She, moreover, in quite an indignant man-
ner, asserted that when she came of age she had money
of her own, RO that she was independent of her father and
everybody else, and at liberty to marry whom she liked.
Such, however, was not the nnich-amfriered father's
opinion: and by his instructinos whole of the four
runaways were apprehended 1,, .. ,suice-olficer, and under
the safe 1, ' a of pator-familias conducted back to
London, and thence to Paris.