The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1869-12-28 00:00:00

Poet Gatti Expos.

TDEBDRY. DECEMBER se. INk

CHRISTMAS, with all its 4e4fil aisocistions,
is gone,. and the few remaining days of the
year, will be devoted more or less generally
to reflections on the past. The politician,
gathering up the history of the closing year,
will note the onward march of Freedom, and
the increasing sway of Right. Kings no
more reign securely of Right Divine, for the
people are omnipotent; and there seems no
reason why they should use their power un-
wisely more than would a single unit
from amongst them, be his royal descent
never so unquestionable. The theologian,
glancing away from the distracting contro-
versies of to-day, will rejoice in the
gradual overthrow of Superstition, and
the growing knowledge of the Truth, and
he will regard even " the sceptical spirit
of the age." trustfully, being persuaded that
any religious profession, which is not the
result of personal conviction, but is only
adopted from family custom, or, worse still,
local fashion, can be of no real value, and
having a full entrance that the more our
most Holy Faith is tried theoretically and
experimentally the more Heaven-sent will it
appear. Philanthropy was never more active
than now, and the social reformer must
confess that ample trial is now given to the
various remedies proposed for our social ills.
Arbitration promises to make less fierce the
constant struggle between capital and labour,
though nothing can alter the inevitable law
of supply and demand. Capital is available
everywhere, and the fact that ships and
joinery of all descriptions can be made cheaper
abroad and brought to this country, while
even the wood-splitting for tile matches used
in England is done on the continent, presents
a mingled warning and stimulus to our
artizan classes. There is now an outcry for the
" Protection of native industry," but we have
more faith in the British workman protecting
himself by increased exertion and better
work. For the repression of crime we are
trying remedies of an opposite character. In
Ireland the Fenians are allowed to have their
full fling, and we are coaxing them by ques-
tionable devices to be good boys, but the
result is not very encouraging; at Portland
the repressive method is pursued, and it is
most effectual, for this week we report one
convict whipped to death! Vagrancy is
alarmingly on the incline, and in this county
we are invited to starve out the professional
beggars: we hope it may succeed, for the
public patience with sturdy vagrants is well-
nigh exhausted, and there seems a growing
disposition to treat them with a corrective
application of the instrument, 'bearing the
seal of the Secretary of State" as we are told,
which gave such a fatal shock to the convict at
Portland last week, and that they would not
like, and we should be sorry to have to resort
to it. For several years past the principal
feature in the commercial world has been
the collapse of limited liability companies,
but 1569 has astounded us with bank frauds
and assurance swindles for which, it seems,
nobody is to blame. The general trade of the
country has been good, and locally, we believe,
business has been for the most part satisfac-
tory.' Corn has been low in price, but our
agriculturists have made sums undreamt of
20 years ago for their stock. Weymouth had
a gay season, Dorchester has pursued the
year through the even tenour of its way, but
13ridport, our chief manufacturing town, has
felt the strain of keen competition. The
looms of the north are gradually diverting
the staple trade, and Bndport has received
abundant indications that it can only hold its
own in the future by the use of more and
more
.machinery, which. the employees by

their intelligen-ee and skill must encourage
the merchants to adopt. Mingled good
and evil, success and failure, is the
history of the year, but we would fain
believe the world is growing wiser and
better; and, if in the New Year, now so near,
we each add our infiuence, be it great or
small, on the side of "whatsoever things are
honest, and just, and pure, and lovely, and
of good report," then, indeed, it will be "a
happy new year" for us individually and as a
nation. For ourselves we have to acknow-
ledge the continued kindness of many old
friends and the frequent accession of new
supporters. For nearly fifteen years the
Dorset County Express has been published
[ week after week. Its career has been
peculiarly chequered, but all difficulties have
been surmounted, and it now stands in a
[ firmer position than ever. We are hopeful
I for the future. To secure for the Express
[ respect for its honesty, confidence for its
impartiality, and credit for its accuracy, will
I be our aim, and we confidently anticipate
increasing numbers of readers. The trans-
ference ot the telegraphs to the Government
at the end of next month will, we believe,
lenable us to present to our agricultural
{ friends full and carefully prepared reports
lof the state of the principal corn,
I cattle, and provision markets, in various parts
of the kingdom on the eve of our publication;
for the general reader, we hope to obtain by
telegraph the latest news of the country ;
and, in all other respects, we intend to keep
abreast with the enterprise of the times.
Cordially thanking our friends for past sup-
port, whether as contributors, advertisers, or
readers, and bespeaking their good help in
; the coining year, we iery heartily wish them,
as we anticipate for ourselves, a HAPPY AND
INCREABLNGLY SUCCESSFUL Nils YEAIL