The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1863-06-02 00:00:00

NOTES OF THE WEEK.

The recent Confederate victory near Fred-
ericksburg was, we regret to learn, purchased
at the cost of General "Stonewall" Jackson
the bravest, the most gallant, and most upright
soldier that over wore a sword. In announcing
this great misfortune to hie srniy, the Con-
federate Commander-in-Chief said —"We: could
better spare a brigade or • division, and our base
foe a ill exult in the disaster to General Jackson ;
yet the accursed bullet that brought him down
less never moulded by a Yankee. Through a
cruel mistake in the confusion the hero received
two balls from his own men, who would all have
died to save him." It was, indeed, a dire mis-
chance that this noble soldier, than whom none
ever was more beloved by his men, should have
died, not of wounds received in battle, not as a
victim offered up in behalf of his country,
but should have perished through a fatal
mistake. Shot in the arm, it bad to be ampir
tatad, and the heroic soldier who had braved
the daagets of the battle field and borne up
, against the fatigue incident to the soldier during
a time of active warfare succumbed to the
amputating knife. The loss of Jackson to the
South, though not irremediable, is a very serious
one, and vividly reminds us of the grief we felt
when our gallant Havelock bad fallen, not
before the treacherous Hindoo, but beneath the
attack of • disease brought on by' superhuman
exertion, and the weight of a responsibility too
great f,n- any one man to bear. As the leader
of • division no one has played so important
a part during the present civil war. He was
always ready at the exact moment and at the
exact point where he was wanted, and an order
to advance from him was a certain prelude to
victory.
The diocese of Rochester is in • state of con-
miderable excitement at the present time, in con-
sequence of its Bishop—Dr. Wigram—having in-
hibited the Rev. George J. Davis for under-
taking the management of • farm. Mr. Davis
has lately published some admirable "Papers on
Preaching, by • Wykehamist" Being out of
health, he was unable to take regular parochial
work, but has occasionally assisted his clerical
brethren by preaching for them. Having, there-
fore, no regular occupation, be undertook the
management of a farm for a neighbour of his, upon
which some of the rural deans represented the
circumstance to the Bishop as a great scandal to
the Church, and the Bishop, who a short time
ago borrowed Mr. Davis'. M. M.S. on preaching, of
which he made use in his charge immediately,
without hearing what Mr. Davis had to say in
defence of the charge, and inhibited him from
preaching in his diocese. Mr. Davis, upon this,
wrote a respectful remonstrance, and his letter
was supported by numerous others from both
clergymen and laymen. The Bishop then pro-
posed to submit the case to Archdeacon Mildmay
and the rural deans, but as Mr. Davis had reason
to know that these judges were his accusers, he
declined to accept the proposition. Some further
correspondence ensued, and concluded with •
somewhat sarcastic letter from Mr. Davis, the
concluding portion of which is as follows :—" As
your lordship has debarred your clergy from
field sports and out-door amusements, there is
only agriculture in which • man may seek for
recreation. I have read as much as most urn,
but I never yet met with a passage in any writer,

sacred or profane, in which agriculture la tup-
posed to be a hindrance to the traveloposent of
sesn's higher astern and nobler feelings. The
Church asaigning glebe, of great extent in
I seme instances, recognises even in her employed
members the fact that farming is not unclerical.
Mr. Huxteble's appointment last year to the
archdesconry of Dorset was well received by the
Church, and Mr. Heatable ia one of the giants
of agriculture. Many Mery farm more thousands
than I do hundreds of acres. The glebe at
Hamburg, which the late bishop was fond of
showing to his clergy, and which I believe your
lordship keeps in your own hands, is to the ex-
tent of three hundred acres. I have never
associated with fanners in any other way than
every Christian gentleman pug{it to Associate
with them. Yen; lorhip will 'therefore excuse
my protestink against my course having been
nAolerical. Having put the letters into a
pamphlet for my own justification, I hope never
to hear the subject mentioned again."
The French elections which oommenoed on
Sunday will have terminated by the time our
journal to-day is issued from the prem. Hitherto
the French Parliament has numbered but half-a-
doeen members of the Opposition; the new
elections Wert expected to add about four-end-
teenty to that number. These will be returned
by the chief cities and towns of the Empire, such
as Paris, Strasburg, and Marseilles. In the
country the people seem to know but little of
politics, and care less. The restriction upon the
Press, the denied of the right to meet and speak
and the prevalence of espioalage which ha;
banish..d politica as a topic from conversation,
have really left the Freneli elector so ignorant
and apathetic that a candidate does not know
how to address him. Formerly, foreigu politics
was a favourite theme. But now a candidaba
refrains from touching on the salAtect, feeling
that the French peasant no cares, or knows,
nothing about Italy, or America, or Mexico, or
oven about Poland. The addresses of Ire few
opposition candidabee therefore lay strives almost
exclusively on the necessity of economy and a
more rigid control (peer the expenditure. This
comes home to the pockets—almost the only
sensible point of the French elector, who, how'
ever small his holding, is still a vetikeeMe-
The King and P iament of Prussia have at
length joined home. he question between them
is whether the King is to control Parliament, or I
whether the action of the Legislature shall he
free and unfettered. With fatuitous obstinacy I
the Royal plotter against the freedom of the
nation sticks to the teat he took for himself on
the day that lie was crowned at Konigsburg. He
would govern on the paternal principle, deman-
ding allegiance from all and owing it to none, de-
riving his title to command from heaven, and
responsible to it alone. This wu the theory of
the Smarts and Bourbon.; and where it landed
them after protracted conflicts with the com-
munities they were born to torment, and
thwart, and tyrannise over, every one, except
their legitimate kinsman the King of Prussia,
knows. If example had had the power to warn
royal fools and offenders, which it le supposed to
have in deterring ordinary mortals from suicidal
crimes, the House of Hohenzollern might yet be
;eyed from the fate the conduct of its princes
in past times has seemed so often to provoke.
But the experience of one dynasty appears of
none effeet in teaching another; and as it was
from the beginning of the seventeeth century, it
is now, and we suppose ever will be—infatuation
without end. Whether the madmen who are
about the King will bid him follow up the proro-
gation by a dissolution, or whether they dream
that by the end of autumn a portion of the
existing deputies may be disposed to waver from
their present resolution and become more amen-
able to the arbitrary csprioes of the Court, we
know not, and the incoherent speculations of
such men are not worth guessing at. But what-
ever they may be, the political future of North
Germany cannot be doubtfuL
We regret/ to learn that taliother appalling
accident has occorrnel on that most unfortunate
the London and Brighton railway. It
teems that an express train which leaves Brighton
for London daily at 5 p.m., works through front
Worthing, Shoreham, and other watering places
to Brighton, taking up and attechiter the pas-
senger traffic of the 'leveret branches, until
arriving at Ray sierra Heath. it proceeds Wl-
interruptedly to Croydon, which, in due course,
it should reach at six o'clock, so as to arrive at
the terminus at Victoria attwenty minutes after
six. On Friday evening the train, though not
heavily freighted, was considerably past its time
at Croydon, and in order to make up for this
lateness the driver put on steam at a pressure
so excessive as to cause the boiler to burst, and
the engine to leave the rails, dragging with it in
its descent down an embankment between
Streatham and Bannon the entire train. The
engine-driver was killed on the spot, and the
fireman is not expected to survive; but, perhaps,
the most melancholy part of the sad havoc com-
mitted occurred to between thirty and forty of
the Grenadier Guards, two companies of which
regiment, with their officers, Colonels Keppell '
and Burnaby, Captain Norton, Lieut. Trotter,
and Quartermaster Collins, in all )50 strong,
were returning from their periodical ride practice
at Eastbourne. On examining the shattered
train two of the Guards were discovered to have
been killed, and some thirty others were ex-
tricated with great difficulty, and more or less
wounded. Several civilians in the train also
suffered severely. One lady was found dead,
amid another lady lies without hope of recovery.
The lino was torn up in every direction. At mob
as assistance could be obtained all tire sufferers
were extricated, mu i those who could bear to be
removed were at once brought on by special
train to the Victoria station. Twenty-eight of
the Guards were taken ti, the Guards' Hospital,
in Rochester row. Such is a brief outline of
this tragedy. The cause of the accident was
clearly the result of the recklessness of the
engine-driver, and the company will, no doubt,
be mulct in heavy damages in satisfying the
claims of the sufferers. But ra not the company
pertly to blew) for the conduct of their deceased
servant I The time of arrival and departure of
trains at every station is always noted, and the
managers can therefore always toll if exoessive
speed has been got up at any particular portion
of the line during the journey. If this "make
up" for lost time were not encouraged by the
official's, there would be every year in railway
travelling a much smaller amount of loss of life
and limb.

We hay. it on the authority of the Daily News
that it transpired on Friday afternoon, that the
correspondence which Mr. Layard recently stated
in the House of Commons was t'iien pending
between the Brazilian Minister in London and
the Secretary of State for Foreign affairs had ter-
minated in • rupture of official relations between
the two governments. The Brazilian Minister,
it is stated, acting under orders from his govern-
ment, sought redress for the manner in Which
reprisals were made In the harbour of Elo de
Janeiro, and upon Earl Russell refusing to re-open
• discussion on any part of the questions arising
oat of the wreck of the barque Prince of Wales, en
to give any satisfaction for the acts cow plained of,
the Brazilian Minister requested, and has received,
his passport& As the correspondence will, no
doubt, be immediately laid before Parliament,
the exact state of the case will soon be authori-
tativel7 known, and materials furnished for •
sound judgment on this unhappy termination of
an incident generally regretted.
A movement is now in progress with a view
to establish in London periodical sales of English
wool by public auction, upon the plan now in
successful operation with regard to Colonial
wool. It is urged that the present system of
dealing in English wool is too indirect, and
occupies too much time. The proposal is pressed
upon the public attention by the firm of Brad-
bury sad Cook, wcol brokers, and reference is
made to • number of noblemen and gentlemen
prominently connected with the agricultural in-
terest who have promised to give the new plan
all the support in their power.

THZ We/mm-1U media, of the thermometer
at Dorchester for the past week Is as follows:

Dataa Noon 1 Direction State of
.c.il of Wind. Weather.
1 — —
Mar 0 . i
25 64 :0 NE 1 Cloudy, tine.
lis 57 34 NNE Gloomy, fine.
27 59 38 WSW 24.4.
28 62 48 Nk W pine.
29 64 17 NW Gloomy, Ana
30 66 62 Nk NW Fine.
91 ff 415 N& BB Hot and gloomy.
0011111SPOSDING WW LAST TZAR.
MAT
36 63 41 W Flaw
36 61 62 W Fin*, 41001414.
17 66 53 W Ma, misty..
28 84 54 W 1141.4 y.
99 ff 56 Iti :xi, &nada sad
30 61 50 [lsis.
31 117 60 N Very las.