The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1862-10-14 00:00:00

POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE.

MR. GLADSTONE AND AMERICA. —The following is
the text of Mr. Gladstone's remarks upon the American
war :—" We may haye our oh feelings tbotit :.lavery ;
we 'rag be for the south or against the South, but
there is no doubt, I think, about this, that Jefferson
Davis and the other leaders of the South have made
an army—they are making, it appears, a navy, and
they have made what is more than either. (Loud and
prolonged cheering.) I cannot may that I for one have
viewed with any regret their failurks to establiih theni-
selves in Mavylard. It appears to me but too probable
thAt if they had been able to establish themselves in
Maryland the consequence of that military success, an
aggressive movement, would have been that a political
party favourable to them would have obtained power in
that State; that they would have contracted actual or
virtual engagements with that political party, end their
future negociation with the Northein State might
have formed he* obstacle to peace. Prom the
bottom of out, hearts we shotild desire that pd new
Astacle to peace May be formed. We may antibipate
with certainty of the Sonthern States, ad farad regards
effecting their almatation fermi the North—l, for my
owls part, cannot but believe that that event is as
teTtain as any event yet future and contingent can be.
(Prolonged cheering.) But it is because I am certain
that this great event will arise, and that the North
will have to gaffer this mortification, that I earnestly
hope that England will do nothing to inflict additional
shame, sorrow, or pain upon those who have already
suffered mach, and will probably have to suffer more."
—The Olthe, in a leader on Mr. Gladstone's declaration
that Jefferson Davis had made a nation of the South,
says—We have no authority to announce the day or
hour when recognition will be given on the part of this
country, but it is clear it cannot be deferred long, and
in any other case it would have been given sooner.—The
Shipping Gazette says—Possibly Mr. Gladstone has
been premature in the announcement of his views. He
is at all events deliberate and consistent. In express-
ing himself as he did on Wednesday it is impossible to
, separate the man from the Minister, and if the opinions
' he has given utterance to are not shared by his collea-
gues it is difficult to understand how he is to continue
lin his present association to advise the crown. _

RIIPRESENTATION OP EAST KENT,—It is stated that
on a dissolution of the present Parliament Mr. Deedes
will retire from the repre•entation of East Kent. The
hon. member, who is a Conservative, has sat for the
eastern division of the county, with but one short
interval, since 1845.
W HOLF.SALB DISPRANCRIBEMENT OF VOTHAS.
Upwards of 2,000 voters have been disfranchised at
Wolverhampton under the following circumstances :
A local act, passed some years ago, for rating the land-
lord instead of the occupier of small tenements in
Wolverhampton township, contains this clause
"Notwithstanding the rating of or payment by any
such owner under the act the occupier shall have the
same right of siting in respect of all parochial matters
88 he would have had in case lie had been rated and
paid the rates in respect of the tenement." At this
time Wolverhampton had no charter of incorporation,
but in the following year Wolverhampton became
incorporated, and has now mayor, aldermen, and
burgesses. By the general Tenements Act the municipal
franchise is reserved to the occupiers ; but section 10 of
that act prevents the application of the act to any place
having a local act for the rating of small tene-
ments. The overseers having recently been
required to omit from the burgess list all
persons whose landlords paid their rates the question
came before the assessors' court on Monday, when, in
support of the objection, it was maintained that the
occupiers had only reserved to them rights which were
strictly parochial, as distinguished from those which
were municipal; that their occupation made them rate-
payers with the ability to vote at parish and other
parochial meetings, but they were disqualified from
voting for town councillors, The Mayor and his
assessors decided in favour of the objections, and pro-
ceded to strike the names of the occupiers from the
burgess list. On the behalf of the persons whose names
were so erased it was intimated that the decision
would be appealed against to the Court of Queen's
Bench.

At the dinner of the Worcestershire Agricultural
Society, held on Wednesday, Sir John Pakington in
speaking of the American question, thought the time
had come when not England alone, but England in
conjunction with France, and possibly with Russia,
ought to offer mediation in America, of course on
the basis of separation and on the clear understand-
ing that if mediation was not accepted recognition
must follow. He could not help expressing a hope,
after reading what was reported to have fallen from
Mr. Gladstone at Newcastle, that Mr. Jefferson Davis
had created a nation in the Southern States of Airletica.
Those words as coming froth the lips of a Cabinet
Minister Were Words of grave significance, and he
did hope he was not too sanguine in drawing from that
the inference that the present feeling of Her Majesty's
Government did not differ very widely from that feeling
which he bad taken the liberty of expressing.
THE ATTORNET-GENERAL AND His CONSTITUENTS.—
On Wednesday night the Attorney-General (Sir William
Atherton) addressed a numerous meeting of his con-
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stituents in the City Hall, Durham, according '
annual custom. The address of the learned ge an
was devoted, as usual, to a review of the proceedin
of the past cession. The topics dwelt upon include
the distress in Lancashire, and its connction with the
unhappy war in America ; and the Poaching Act came
in for some remarks. in Which Sir William designated
It as highly impolitha ill-considered, and ill-expressed.
At the close of his address, a vote of thanks and con-
fidence Was passed unanimously. -