The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1871-10-17 00:00:00

Vordriet Coati Exintss.

TUESD XY, OCTOBER 17, 1871,

NOTES OF TETE WEEK.

The Queen still suffers, though in a lesser ;
degree, from rheumatiam ; and, although her
Majesty has for some time driven out daily, she
has not recovered sufficiently to join the family
circle at meals.
The past week has given us "sensations"
politically and socially of the most exciting
character. While Mr. George Potter has been
discussing in the Times whether the 9ueenis to be
tolerated or not, and on what terms the Monarchy
is to be suffered to continue, and the learned
member for Brighton, Professor Fawcett, has
been advocating the establishment of a Second
Chamber, in lieu of the present House of Lords,
to consist of "Judges, Indian and Colonial
Governors, Cabinet Ministers, the leading per-
manent officials of State departments, and those
who have exercised high commands in the Army
and Navy "—these, slid persona who had been
Presidents of the Royal Society, the College of
Physicians and the College of Surgeons, the
Chancellors of the various Universities, and the
Lead of any learned society which had been
Incorporated by Parliamentary charier—we are
startled by a new political alb: "of Con-
servative Peers and A drauced Radical Working
men, who have put forth a novel programme
—nothing less, indeed, than Communism thinly
disguised. Workmen are to have their habita-
tions " planted out in the clear"—" in the middle
of a garden, in a detached homestead, in whole-
some air and sunshine"—Mr. Buskin's modern
Arcadia ; to this end there must be "self-govern-
ment i conatics, towns, aud villages" sod
power to acquire and dispose of land "for the
common good ".' labour eight hours a day;
technical education; " places of public recrea-
tioa, knowledge, and refinement" ; public
..,soeets wnere the beet or eret)trang Is to be
hail at the lowest price; and filially, "a great
eatension of the urgauisation of the public
sr ri ice . • . for tho common good." And
this is a scheme te which the Marquis of
Salisbury, the Marquis of Lorne, Lord Manna',
Sir John Pakington, Sir Stafford Northeote, and
Mr. Gathorne Hardy, have set their hands, in
conjunction with Mr. Apnlegarth, joiner, and
bricklayers, shoemakers, painters, kc., represent-
ing the "Council of Skilled Workmen." Further
"it is understood" that hir,Disraeli, the Duke

-
of Richmond, and Lord Derby approve the
movement. What does it all mean 1 Are we
to have a repetition of the Household Suffrage
legislation app:ied to the Monarchy When the
Liberals hesitated and; were lost over a NA or £4
franchise, Mr. Disraeli took the lowest depth, and.
temporarily "dished the Whigs :"are the Liberals
! now to be put to confusion by the same literary
strategist, in conjunction with peers whose views ,
erewhile were ex premed by the famihir couplet
of one of the chief amongst them—
Let laws and learning, art and o3llllllerce die,
But let u, keep our old no•b11-i•dy !
Whatever may be the result, it is apparent
there is a movement afoot for allying Ultra-
Conservatives and Advanced Radicals against
the Liberal administration. Lord Salisbury, it
is true, denies that he gave in his adhesion to
the programme put forth, but he was consulted
on the matter, and "sympathised" with some
of the propositions. Similar disavowals may
follow; but, whether they do or not, the utter
impracticability of the scheme indicates that
those who are parties to it have other motives
than appear on the face of the "now social
movement." . - - .

The tire at Chicago, doing far more fatal
mischief and destroyiug more property than the
great fire of London, has provoked universal
astonishment and sympathy. The uncanny
kick of a cow, upsetting a kerosene lamp, has
destroyed from three to five miles of a populous
and thriving city, and property roughly valued
at 1300,010,000, caused the death of four or
five hundred people, and rendered thousands
houseless and starving. The sulleneess aid
extent of the calamity are appalling. Anil as
" misfortunes never come singly," we iLIIIII3-
diately hear of extensive fires iu the forests of
Wisconsin, desolating in their course cities and
villages, with many persons perishing in the
flames, and an immense lou of cattle aud stores.
And yet another calamity. On Thursday the
Caaadian town of Wiudsor, opposite Detroit,
was consumed by fire. These disasters have
evoked British sympathy in its usual practical
form, and the large amount already subscribed
to the Mansion House Fund shows the interest
felt in the matter, It is indeed surprising that
while two other funds are beiiig raised for the
relief of foreign d.stress—one for the famine in
Persia, and the hother for the sufferers from a
hurricane at the West Indies—some twenty
thousand pounds should be raised for the Chic igo
sufferers in a few days. The money thus volun-
tarily offered was, so to speak, flashed across the
Atlantic ia a few seconds by the telegraph wire;
for, with the complete monetary arrangements
of modern commerce, it needed but an order
from London on an American b mit, and the
work of succouring the Chicago sufferers was at
once commenced. Nothing could tend more to
remove prejudices and promote good fouling
among nations than these acts of mternational
charity, spontaneously performed by iudividuals.
The Prefect of the Seine is shortly to dine with
the Lord Mayor of London in commemoration
of the work of re-victualling Paris, and he brings
with him a gold medal celebrating the part taken
by England in this matter. If anything 0313 tend
to make the re.ouoiliation between Great
Britain and tho United States real and cordial,
this ready and generous succour proffered to
suffering Americans will do so.
The most terrible incident of the week is the
Stockwell tragedy. An eminent gentlem in and
author dashing his wife's brains out in a " lit of
fury”—to use his own words—and then attempt-
ing to take his owu life. Mr. Wagon, the alleged
murderer of his wife, is a clergyman of the
Church of England, who for a lung time was
principal of the Stockwell Proprietary Grammar
School. Ile was very welt known in classical
literary circles as a scholar and an author, sod
was highly respected as a man. If ho be really
the murderer of his wife, as indeed it is difficult
to doubt, this is one more strange instance of
human aberration even in the most highly gifted
and cultured men.
Speech-making is greatly on the increase.
The closing of Parliament signalises the opening
of one congress after another with bewildering
rapidity. The Social Science Congress at Leeds
has been discussing Law reform, Health Educa-
tion, the Contagious Diseases Act, Women's
Rights, and many other topics of domestic
interest, having numerous essays and addresses
from both ladies and gentlemen, and no doubt,
in spite of much useless discussion, its meeting
a help to form public opinion. The miners
have had a congress too; and the Baptist Con-
at Northampton wa-s follow° 1 by the
Church Congress at Nottingham, aua a Oungre-
gational Congress at Swansea. Free discussion
and expression of opinion take place; that is
all, apparently. Bet underneath these gather-
ings, no doubt, important results are working.
The Congregational congress closed on Thursday,
but not before passing a resolution condemning
the educational policy of the Government, and
calling upon Congregationalists throughout the
kingdom to resist by all legitimate means the
appropriation of the rates to the maintenance of
denominational schools.
The working men's committee for premetiug
the separation of Church and State have issued
their manifesto. They accept the challenge
given by the Premier that Mr. Miall must first
convince a majority of the people of the wisdom
and justice of his disestabliahment policy before
expecting Parliament to accept it. They con-
tend that since the Irish Church has been dis-
established it is both unjust and inconsistent
not to deal in a similar manner with the State
churches of the other parts of the Cuited King-
dom. The obstructiveness of the Establishment
they hold to bean additional reason for abolishing
it. Its bishops and clergy, they allege, resist all
changes which affect their own ascendancy, or
that of the Establishment in which they have so
strong a vested iuterest.
ho Financial and Customs Treaty which M.
Pouyer-Quortier went to Berlin to negotiate
with Prince Bismark has been concluded, and
the arragemeut made is considered greatly te
the advantage of France. Prussia waives the
bankers' guarantee which it lately insisted upon,
contentirg itself with the signatures of M.
Thiers and his Finance Minister ; the French
Government is to pay the fourth half-milliard by
instalments of eighty million francs a fortnight,
the first instalment to be paid on tho 15th of
January next; in a very short time the army of
occupation will be reduce(' to 30,000 men ; and
with all this there is tilt owii iu the concession of
some small slices of territory to France. As
regards the disputed customs ilueetiou, tue
German Cuancellor only °umlaute to reciprocity
for articles and raw materials destined to be con-
sumed in Aimee end Lorraine.