The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1867-07-23 00:00:00

NOTES OF THE WEEK.

The metropolis, as deputy for the kingdom, has
devoted itself during the pest week, with praise-
worthy earnestness and gratifying snocees, to the
entertainment of our foreign visitors, and the only
material drawback to the festivities has been the
*beano' of the Queen. There appears, however, to
have been rood muse for this, as we learn, on the
authority of the Lancet, that the health of Her
Majeety is unequal to public weariness. " Agita-
tion, ovmworry, or much talking in the evening, is
followed by reethms nights, most distreastg sick
headache, and sense of great exhaustion. This
announcement will be received with profound regret
by all classes of the Queen'. loyal subjects, and it
may haply alma the unseemly attacks of those who
regard Her Majesty's seclusion with dissatisfaction,
bemuse, forsooth, it is injurious' to Landon society
and trade. Yet, even them money-grubbers, one
would think, have had mull canes of complaint
lately, for the daily journals have shown us that for
the last week or two London has been all gaiety
and entertainment in honour of our illustrioas

visitors, who, by the way, will doubtless, have been
eomewhat &abased of the misconception foreigners
are said to have of us, that " we take our pleasure
sadly." The Sultan and his Lieutenant in the land
of Egypt knew something of course, of oar national
character before visiting us, for they had seen
plenty of specimen, of the Briton, as well as of the
Gaul, in their own oocuitriea Compering the
idiosynorsoies of the two peoples, we may imagine
that they expected a lees fervent though not lem
welcome reception in London than in Paris. If so,
they must have been pleasantly mistaken, for every.
where we are told the cheering in their honour has
been hearty though not boisterous, and this, after
all, is the true test of a foreign prince's popularity.
Perhaps everything has not been done for the enter-
tainment of the Sultan with the same good taste and
precision as in Paris, but at any rate, his Majesty
seems to have appreciated our friendly intentions,
for he has been out somewhere every day, whereas!
in the French metropolis it was oomplained that he
appeared to sleep away half his days, for be came
very little before the public. As regards the Vice-
roy, it is perhaps a rod thing, despite the appearance
it has of national discourtesy, that his Highness was
the guest of a British nobleman. It will have given !
him and his suite a good notion of the wealth of this
country, to have become intimately acquainted with
the intaior of one of the palaces of our nobility, of
which there were scores all about them. The
Belgians, although sadly incommoded nearly all
through their visit by the unfavourable weather, have
'trimmed themselves " deeply penetrated" by the
splendid hospitality they have 'waived, and they
will doubtless carry back with them a very lively
sense of British friendship for their country, and ap-
preciation of our good feelings toward/ them, in spite
of such characteristically national mishaps as
leaving them without wifficient guidance on their
arrival; giving exceptionally plain fare at the Lord
Mayor s banquet, sending them to Windsor as
guests of the Queen after her Majesty had gone to
Osborne, and leaving them to find their own partners
at the Agricultural Hall. However, the British
Government, various public bodies, and the people
genera/ly have exerted themselves well to promote
international goodwill with the three countries these
visitors represent, and, thontgh we trust we may
never need in any serious difficulty the help of the
, friendship we are cultivating, it is certain that our
! reception of the two Mehommedan potentates and
I the volunteers of Belgium, will make our ordinary
intercourse with the several countries from whence
they cane both more pleasant and more profitable.

The speeches made in the Home of Commons, on
the third reading of the Reform Bill, might lead an
inesperienced politioan to conceive that the con-
sequences of the impending extension of the
frenobin will be nothing lees than the sinking of
this country in the male of nations, And the over-
whelming of the people by misfortune. But them
dismal forebodinp lose much of their foros, when it
is reoolleoted that similar vaticiations were forth-
coming when the Reform Bill of 1832 was paused,
and when the Corn Laws were repealed, and yet
that the world went on all the wane, with provok-
ing immunity from ruinous effects, and, indeed, all
the more safely and prosperously than before. It
seems to us that the belief upon which Lord
Crauborne and the opponents of the Reform Bill
' ground their apprehension of national disaster is ill-
(outdid. They seem to think that the working
dames, under the new order of representation will
have "the supreme control of the legislative
pow.?," but this is on the supposition that all the
, artisan. will be agreed upon some definite policy to
be prosecuted, in antagonism to all other classes and
to their disadvantage—than which there could not
, be • greeter fallacy, for those clams resemble the
rest of mankind in this., that they will not all think
in • mass and act in a mass, but will have sympathies
in common with other bodies bade, their own,
and will differ in opinion concerning their supposed
denote; while, if working-class legislation to
isimed at, the good sense and right spirit of the
nation will correct the eta The real and perma-
nent interests of all dames are more or lees identical,
and there will always be found among os a power
which will hold in restraint the brute forces and un-
reasoning instincts of which Lord Cranborne and Mr.
Lowe expiress their dread—the power of an en-
lightened and healthy public opinion.
In considering the prospects of Me Reform Bill
blooming a vitality, we had wellmighed overlooked
tho fact that the measure must needs be approved
by the House of Commons, or, if remembering it,
we had regarded that part of the legislative process
vary much as • matter of form, and not at all as
one likely to result in any material alteration of the
Bill as settled by the Commons, much less to be
fatal to any further procedure with it Yet this
last murk be the result, if Lord Grey's amendment
be carried declaring that the Bill is not ambulated to
edict • permanent settlement of the question of ,
Parliamentary Reform, nor to promote the future
good Government of the °Pantry. This notice of motion
led the Premier to isms an urgent circular to his
eupportere requesting their attendance la evening,
and during the proven' of Use Bill through com-
mittee as "It is almost certain some amendments ,
will be moved to which II may be Mappable for
Her Majesty's Government to give their meat,"
while, la Friday &Ramon, he aseembled •
hundred of the peers and made an appeal to their
party loyalty to assist him in carrying through the
measure. But it is said that the lodger franchise
will be really attacked, and that an attempt will be
made to provide for • system of "voluntary
pounding." Still, we do not appreheod that any
important modification will be made in the Bill by
the Upper Home, as the experience of 1831-2,
when the Peon were most better prepared to make
mood, cannot mummer them to enter into a
contest, not with one party in the Home of
Commons, es in the former case, but with rawly
the whole of that assembly, supported by the
general voice of the nation.

The arrangements for the 801104 review on
Wednesday arrangements which promised a
splendid and stirring speoteole—were thrown into
asafamion by a brisk gale and a heavy see. The
BINA remained at anchor throsghout the day, and
the clte*y wee confined to some henry allADOMlloileg
sad • him& between the gunboats and Nan of the
fork on the mak Het Majesty wee sot deterre hi