The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1867-08-13 00:00:00

NOTHB OF THE WEEK.

The Reform Bill is now safely landed, notwith-
standing that the house of Commons rejected ail
the amendment. of the Ler& lave ono. Tbs
proposals of the Peers to add payment et the
borough rate to payment of the rate forth. relief
of the poor as a oondiUon precedent of the tramehies
in boroughs; to ensaid ths dednabon of the ism
" lodgers" so as to include under the raided

nismbre of the Universities of Oxford and Case.
beide* ornpyieg college chamber, and to give
them votes for the borough and city; to maintain
the oopyhold and leasehold qualification for counties
at £lO instead of accepting its reducers to £5;
and to introduce the use of Voting papers in county
and borough elections, have been rejected with
ghat unanimity, or by overwhelming majorities in
the House of Commons, and their lordships an
content with their triumph upon the single question
of the limited vote in large constituencies, • triumph
which is probably unique in parliamentary history. ,
It Ii a vietory over the solemnly expressed oon•
viotioas of the Government, and Of&-majorityy
inthe Home of Commons itself, and of the lii-
Serial. the Opportimi and the Radical leaders.
Mr. Disraeli does not affect to hate changed the
advents opinion which he stressed • few weeks
ago; he re-asserts it, though he declines to insist I
upon it. Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Bright have 000 s
more adhered to thein in debate and in the division.
But deference to the House of Lords has prevailed;
and the representation of minorities in • dozen of
the largest coarituancies of England is by this
Minoan sooomplialied fact. The Peen have thus
made their impress deeply on the messare, fix
they have innonlooed into it a prineipie hitherto
unknown in the British ormatitution. We
have tired on the sepposition that the tree
principle of oonatitutional government was that
the majority should govern, but the tendency of
this new ahem, is to auroras' the counter theory.
lAt the same time, we readily agree that if the
minorities now locally unrepresented can be given
such • share in the returning of members to
Parliament as their numbers may warrant, it
is • thing greatly to be desired, for it would bring
our representative system so much the nearer to
perfection. It Is horrible to deny, that under the
1717.1.11:7' 07".fift.h.cal theimelsoistodrreel a con-
stituency, being of one party, elect the three
members, while the other two-fifths, being of another
political creed, are practical, disfranchised.
But the whole question 1111 to the •eterion
or rejection of the scheme in a future
Parliament will turn upon its practical working.
Doren, being one of the thrroornered eon
stirrers, we shall come under the operation of
this novel experiment, and it would seem that our
representatives anticipate good results from the
provision, for all three voted fnr its retention in the
Bill. Lir 110 examine it in operation. This new
principle is but a limited application of the cumula-
tive vote : instead of each elector haring three
votes with power to distribute them or cumulate
them as Mr. Lowe proposed, each voter is to record
• single vote for not more than two candidates.
Thus, in • constituency consisting of 6,000, as our
own does in routed numbers, let us suppose that
4,00.) are Conservative, and 2,000 Liberals. In this
me the Liberate may return a member, though
it does not follow that they mut do so.
It would not matter to the Liberals whether they
had one candidate or two for the one possible seat,
as, if they had only one, their second votes must be
either thrown away or given to • candidate of the
opposite party; they could at the utmost, however,
register 2,000 voters either for one candidate or for
two. On the other side, there being 4,000 electors,
with 6,000 votes to be divided among three memberes
it might be possible to record upwards of 2,000 for
orb of three candidates chosen by consent to stand
for the party, but it would require no little calcula-
tion and 111411/41/61:000t 00 to apportion each man's
emend votes as to arrive at this result. Indeed,
everything would have to be terrified to party, and
the electors would become mere machines to return
candidates previously choler by party leaders. This
restriction of choice willows dissatisfy constituencies
that have been in the habit of selecting for them.
selves from among a variety of candidates; and the
extra trouble given to election agents, and conse-
quently the additional expense to members, will
be another obsteole to the snores of the scheme.
But a serious objection is that no one
of them could accept car, and present himself
for re-election without almost the certainty
of finding himself deflated by a majority can-
didate. However, it is a plan fairly open to
trial, and we hope it may be found to work
satisfactorily.

The hlinistesial whitebait dinner has been fixed
for Wednesday next, and it Is supposed that Perlis.
meet will be prorogued on the following Tuesday.
It is thought that the Queen's Speech will be agreed
to at a Cabinet Council on Thursday.

Many speculations have been made as to the period
when the next general election will take place, but
a legal journal seta the question at lest. The Law
Times states that, by the provisions of the Reform
Bill, the registration for the new constituencies
will take place next July, and will come into
operation in the following January. There
can, therefore, be no general election till the year
1888.

The Simlaoourt•martial scandal haa been revived
by • debate ia tho House of Commons. Is it the
custom, one is almost prompted to ask, for Indian
oommanders-in•ohiel to spars themselves the expense
of footmen by setting aides-de-oamp to do the work
of flunkeys in their household? and the only pallia-
tion observable for Captain Jervia's subserviency in
this matter is joat the oondect that was adjudged
spinet him Ma military offenoe, and for whioli he
was dismissed the army—that he turned round at
last, and showed a manly spirit when his honour
wee attesked. It seems most likely that the recent
debate will occasion the resignation of Sir William
Mansfield, and the restoration of Captain Jervis to
Ihis old rank in the army.

The sad subject of the Abyssinian captives has
entered upon so exciting phase, for it seems hopeful
that they may escape from the clutches of King
Theodore by the braids of the ineurgents, who have
hardly pressed his Majesty, for portions of the rebel
I army wets in sight of ,his camp at the time of the
latest despatch from Colonel hlerewether. Early in
the week, indeed, it was reported that the King was
absolutely out off by an interposed force of rebels
from the fortress in which the captivee Sr. confined,
and that there was no clangor of their falling again
Into his hoods, but this, unfortunately, is not the
case, and the prisoners themselves are only appro.
Incisive that the King may be compelled to take
refuge there, which, as one of them writes, "would
be anything but pleasant for us poor fellows." It
seems strange, however, that we should have no in-
telligence by telegraph from Egypt before letters
could have been received from Abyssinia respecting
the recent movements in that country ; and it is
perhaps stranger still that the Government has re-
ceived no later information by telegraph.

In Italy cholera is raging to an alarming extent.
, The terrible disease has found a Royal victim, at
Rome, in the person of Queen Maria Theresa, of
Naples, who died on Thursday. Her Majesty was
the daughter of the Archduke Charles, the oelebrated
leader of the Austrian army duriag the wars of the
French Revolution and of Bonaparte. She married
Ferdinand IL of Naples in 1837, became • widow in
1859, but continued to reside with her step-eon till
the ta•King was displaced by Garibaldi.
A New York telegram announces that the jury
which was impannelled to try BurraBt for complicity
in the lIIIINWOII6OII of President Lincoln, were
unable to agree to • verdict, and were oonsequently
discharged. It is scarcely probable that Barrett will
be again arraigned.
Much anxiety ia manifested in regard to the
weather just DOW, for it is felt that two or three
weeks of sunshine will affect the prosperity of the
country for the next twelvemonth—and this the
more especially with wheat at 65e. a quarter,
against 545. last year, with the prospect of a fall or
rue, aooording as the sky shall be under the
domioion of sun or rain. May it be the former for
the sake of the poor of the land.