The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1876-01-18 00:00:00

AN IRISH LIONESS.

The report of the -R;;Zio:lo—itle;a1 Society of Irelend,
presented to the members at the 44 annual meeting. held
in Dublin on Tuesday. states that "during the year the
gardens sustained a heavy low in the death of the beauti-
ful lioness, familiarly called "Old Girl." She was born in
the gardens. of South African stock, on the Bth of Sep-
tember. 1850, and died on the 7th October, 1875, after six
weeks of prostration from chronic bronchitis. During
her long and honoured career she presented the gardens
with fit enba, of which she actually reared 40, losing only
four. This 111 a feat unprecedented In the annals of
menageries sad gardens. She was • lioness of very high
spirit, although very gentle, and was admitted by j,;,ficas
to be the handsomest hones' they had ever seen. It may
be added that her offspring not only added to the attrac.
um. et the garden', but that the Judicious sale of a
of them brought £1.400 in cub for the benefit of
portion society. The closing weeks of her useful life we
marked by • touching incident worthy of being recorded.
The carnivore when in health have no objection to the
presence of rats in their cages; on the contrary, they
rather welcome them ea a relief to the monotony of outs-
"men which constitutes the chief trial of • wild animal
in confinement Thus, It Is a common sight to see half-a-
&mu rate gnawing %op bones off which the lions have
&nod, while the satisfied carnivore look on contentedly,
giving tlaa poor rats an occasional wink with their cisspy
eyes. In Massa the case is different, for the ungrateful
gam begin to nibble the toes of the lord of the forest
before his death, and add considerably to his discomfort.
To save our lioness from this annoyance, we placed in her 1
cage a floe little rat terrier who was at first received with
• sari growl; but when the first rat mewed, and the
Boner saw the little terrier toes him Into the air, catching ,
kha with profemionel skill across the lions with a snap as I
be came down, she began to understand what the terrier
wee for; she coaled him to her side, foldea her paw
around hiss, and each night the terrier slept at the breast
a the lioness enfolded with her paws, and watching that
kis natural enemies did not disturb the rest of his Ware's.
The rags bade bed time ol it during those six weeks."

--1.-

THE COUNTY ELECTION.

In connection with the approaching election,
the general query is, will there be a contest /
To this the answer is as varied as the opinions
expressed upon the possible results. One
moment a supporter of the Conservative candi-
date declares the county will be saved the
expense of a contest by the discreet withdrawal
of the Conservative-Liberal and Liberal-Con-
servative rival; and the next he is immediately
taken up by the latter gentlemen's friends, who
offer odds on his going to the poll. "So he
may," remarks a third eleotor, who views every-
thing through a pair of race binoculars, " but
blood must tell." And then a fourth chimes in
"you may have blood but we have stamina
while an outsider indifferently hazards the
opinion that it will be a close-ish affair. This
fairly represents the state of public feeling.
And further than saying that we have been
assured by the tenant farmer's friends that his
present intention is to go to the poll, we are not
going to give our opinion under which aspect
the truth may the more likely be found. The
electors are well able to judge for themselves
whether a youthful Captain and the son of a
Lord, or a tenant farmer and son-in-law of an
Admiral is the more fitting to represent them ;
whether they believe their purposes would best
be served by the addition of another recruit to
the ranks of silent members, or by sending a
gentleman whose volubility is unquestionable ;
whether, as a correspondent suggests, in "the
Captain the Honourable" we may yet liveßo see
another Disraeli; or in "plain Robert Fowler"
—we quote his words—a second Sewell Read
will be found; whether they would prefer Con-
servatism unqualified or an adulterated Con-
servatism ; and whether they would wish all
classes to be represented, or the representation
of a class which we are afraid can only be carried
out at the expense of the whole body. These
conditions the electors have to decide between,
and we cannot doubt but that if called upon
they will decide irrespective of prejudice or tra-
dition and according to their consciences.
Now with regard to the probable time when
we may look for an election. We are given to
understand the Writ is expected next Sunday—
some necessary formalities having delayed it.
The Under-Sheriff will on the Monday at once
announce its reception. If there is to be no
contest the election will take place at once. If
there is a contest a week will be given for the
requisite preparations, so that we may look, in
the latter case, for the election to take place on
Wednesday, 2nd of February. These dates
are necessarily surmises, but we think they will
be found to be near the mark.

OPINIONS OF OUR CONTEMPORARIES.
(Sherborne Journal).
la•ge number of persons who sympathised with
Mr. Hambro, thought him badly used, and would have
voted for him, and will be astonished at the
su•ldenness of his withdrawal from the contest "Brass
and Blood" will now have the fight to themselves.
We remain of the opinion we expressed last week—
that a Farmer's candidate should be a Farmer, pure
and simple, and not a master or corn-dealer ; and we
think that, if Mr. Fowler fulfilled this requirement,
be would still be very far from being the best man who
, could be put forward. There are many names that
, have been received throughout this county as those of
• representative farmers, but Mr. Fowler's is not among
them, and, except for his pertinacity in insisting always
on having his say about everything, his name would
not have been known. Mr. Fowler has no claim what-
ever to preference with the Liberals, and if no Liberal
candidate should be forthcoming, of the least of two
evils we should prefer Capt. Digby's unfledged Con-
, servatism to the " please-all " promises under which
, Mr. Fowler conoeak his old Toryism. Liberals will
' never have made a neater mistake In their lives than
' in supporting Mr. Fowler, and as to Nonconformists,
' we have too much reliance on their sagacity to think
L for a moment they will accept as satisfactory his
Beaminster avowal "I shall no on that question (the
Burials Bill) p,edge nape!, at "/
(bond Chronicle).
' The withdrawal of Mr. Hambro from his candida-
ture for the representation of the county has materially
and satisfactorily changed the aspect of affairs. and
afforded the prospect of an amicable solution of the
difficulty which exists. That Mr. Hambro has taken
an honourable and magnanimous course there can be
no question, and he has more justly merited the esteem
and gratitude of the Conservatives of the county than
if he had persisted in fighting out the battle to the end.
That with a highly favourable chance of success he
should retire almost at the eleventh hour is an instance
of self-denial and patriotism that is worthy of all
honour, and proves that he regards the integrity and
welfare of the Conservative interests in the county of
more importance than the indulgence of personal feel-
ing or individual ambition. It is not improbable that
a vacancy in some of the Constituencies in Dorset will
occur ere long, and then, doubtless, it will be remem-
bered that Mr. Hambro, with a rare display of disin-
terestedness, preferred to suffer a self-inilicted dis-
appointment rather than embarrass his party.
(Standard).
Mr. Charles Hambro is entitled to the cordial thanks
of she Conservative
party. for the high-minded self -
sibnegat.,"
n which belies duplayed in retiring from the
contest for the
vacant seat for Die-set. It cannot be
g chats:eon the constituency
denied that belied
understanding that,
There was, we believe, • geu„. to:weed-es :he
on the first vacancy, he was to con, We ere
soce. yted candidate of the Conservative part
far n'°", saying Capt. Digby and his friends wei,
under any in obligation to leave the field clear for
Mr. Hambro. apt. Digby belongs toe family which
has always suioYed a large and legitimate influence in
the county, and it is not surprising that he should
aspire to represent it in Parliament His candidature,
however, in conjunction
Fowler, threatened to bring about a serious
Imca-
portant element in
the the two Conservative candidates n bwuaBt the rivalry an
f
pect of • serious disaster to th iopened
lot the pros-
-si:,hag put an end to this anomalous stale. f r°
act of 'elf-sacrifice which does hi o things by an
mlnfinite credit. H
retires from the contest, and leaves the'
field to a great
extent clear for Capt. Digby. We are not in the
'wad as to Mr. Fowler's party politics, but we should

hope that his appeal to the interests of a class will not
Morsel etinttttl Crpress be responded to by any defection on the part of •
• section of voters hitherto true to the Constitutional
cause. Capt. Digby, it is quite understood, is now the
TUINDAY. JANUARY 18. 1878. candidate of the Conservative party, and it is to be
presumed that he will receive their cordial support.
NOTES OF THE WEEK. (The Dai'm News.)
The retirement of Mr. Charles Hambro from the
Those who have road that extraordinary book,
di-
Thomas Cooper's "Purgatory of Suicides"—
a contestdates
eavaes,u,oilny
itzob Co:fselivinatteivren:an.
and
volume, we suppose, now out of print, and Mr. Robert Fowler. dapt tin Dlg/y is a Conservative
which he will not have reprinted, as he very of the official type, and Mr. Fowler represents the
considerably changed his religious opinions after opinions of the tenant farmers who are giving him
writing it—must have been struck by two things active support. The friends of
_Captain Digby are
vclearly•
nuot t will
ingw
trust his chances to there sect
—the number of celebrated men and women who I
endeavouring to get a kind of open
have committed suicide, and the variety of ballot of the constituency on their own account. A
modes of self-murder. We doubt, however, paper, something like a ballot paper, containing the
whether, all things considered, a much stranger names of Captain Digby, Mr. Charles Hambro, and
mode of killing oneself was ever adopted than Mr. Robert Fowle.r, has been sent t;:lae)acaihnete.tott.',
with
that which was employed by Ellen Cosgrove a adding, "Please
psloeliacwittng a
write yrOuter namer opposite :Ile %nal-
married woman of 44—an age too great for sickly o aida you propose to support, and poet at your early
romance, and too early for more weariness of "convenience. A stamped envelope, with a printed
life. She hanged herself to the railings of Soho- direction to the agents at Dorchester, is enclosed with
square.. It seems that she must have taken some this missive. This is something more than a sample
trouble to destroy herself, and that she died °off .111tenrsapl*rir if not oefastee"Mitei6r orferret 'tan evasion
of
lingeringly. And yet, though her body was not be intended an a means of putting on the screw,
hanging to the railings of a square. in a densely but it has the same effect. The tenant fanner who is
populated neighbourhood, patrolled by police, dim wol to vote for his own candidate, Mr. Fowler,_
it was not discovered for hours after the act of may suspect that the non return of the circular will be
regarded as equivalent to a vote against the candidate
self-destruction. This is ono of the mysteries
who is pmbably favoured by his landlord and thus
of London. the circular becomes a direct means of influencing
It will be remembered that some time ago the votes. This evasion of the Ballot Act is erobalily not
papers were filled with tragic accounts of a fearful an infringement of it which would vitiate Captain
affair at sea. A crew mutinied during the Digby's candidature; but it is ISO obvious an attempt
night and threw overboard the mate and another. frustrate the intentions of the
_Legislature ifanbra;
They afterwards lay down in their cabin, and ing thatms Act Age thstatipp,itrfou,ipt,:,,taetNle,a,st,)
h, k'carerafor the
the Captain having securely nailed up the doors independence of the constituency.
commanded them to surrender. This they
refused, and he then commenced firing upon
them with his revolver; when they were all but
wounded to death they gave in. They were
brought to England and then sent to America,
and two are now lying under sentence of death
at Boston. Another crew of the very same
vessel, the Jefferson Borden, commanded by the
same man, have refused to re-join the ship at
Dundee on account of his ill-treatment; and it
is a significant fact that BORIC two years ago both
he and his brother were tried at Bristol for
causing the death of one of their crow, but they
got off. The crew of this vessel have now tele-
graphed to Boston with the view of attempting
to stop the execution at that port on Friday of
George Miller and William Smith, sentenced to
death for mutiny. The cargo of the Jefferson
Borden consists of 800 tons of fish manure,
which is now in such a state of putrefaction that
the Aberdeen Sanitary Authoriries have ordered
its removal from the harbour.
It is quite understood that the bill for the
compulsory closing of the public-houses all over
Ireland on Sunday will be brought forward and
pressed as vigorously as possible in the coming
session. The Home-rule members are almost
unanimous in supporting it, and an agitation
has been set on foot on this side of the Channel
with the view of influencing English opinion in
its favour. Wo are told by the former that
English legislation for chocking intemperance
has proved a signal failure, and, therefore, that
we had better give Ireland the liberty allowed
to Scotland of dealing with the evil after her
own fashion. There would be more force in this
suggestion if it could be shown that the Scotch
experiment has proved successful. Unhappily,
it is too true that, although the public-houses
in Scotland are closed from Saturday night to
Monday morning, there is no perceptible dimi-
nution in the cases of drunkenness on Sunday.
The inference is that while the public manifesta-
tion of the vice is as grievous as belore, there
is also a considerable increase of private drink-
ing.

7r- , vt.