The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1865-10-10 00:00:00

post•obit bonds depending en the life of his indulgent
fati.er, and of other revelations during the trial, we may
well doubt the efficacy of the present bankruptcy
regime.

Madame Valentin ims reoeived • "free pardoo."
Why should • pardon be " free?" Are there any paid.
for pardons? And why should we speak of pardoning
an offence which was never committed? The whole
ease of Madame Valentin is inieructive and painful.
She wu found guilty of perjury on the evidence of a
man who had previously been convicted of that very
crime; she was oondemnei for the very crime of which
virtually she had been previously acquitted; and she
was found guilty by • jury in direct opposition to the
summing-up of the Recorder, and now she receives& free
pardon for an offence which she never committed, but of
which she 111111 legally dada, ed guilty. A more anomalous
ease has not occurred for years, and we most add to this
the further anomaly of the Home Secretary, who is not
a lawyer, being in himself a Criminal Court of Appeal
—the absence of such a court being the crowning
anomaly of &IL I have reason to believe that the case
will not end here, but that efforts will be made to give
some public recompense to a lady who has unjustly
suffered imprisonment and its consequent shame.
The Cattle Plague has so seriously spread that it is not
surprising to hear that Government has at last issued
orders for a royal commission (for we cannot believe that
this is her Majesty's doing). The public,! think, will
not generally object to the composition of this royal
commission poiitively, but negatively there is much to
dud fault with. There are, to my mind, three names
which are conspicuous by their absence—those of Pro-
fessor Simmonds, Professor Gamgee, and Dr. Lankester.
These wee, especially the two former, have paid great
attention to this disease throughout; and to Professor
Gams.e we owe the early attention that was called to
this terrible scourge. Long before this plague broke
out, he directed attention to the neglect of veterinary
science, the disgraceful state of our London cow-houses,
and the danger of disease. It may be said that these
two professors are men with theories, but surely that is
no reason why they should be excluded from a commis-
sion to inquire into circumstances with which, perhaps,
they are better acquainted than any one in the country.
I am happy to hear, on the best authority, that the
statement that was made some time ago, that Mr.
Charles Dickens was seriously ill, having received a
son-stroke in Paris, was greatly exaggerated, and that,
in fact, he never received any ma-stroke at all. Mr.
Dickens, like many other writers whose literary product-
lions do not depend, like these of joaraidists, on locality,
is in the habit of leaving his eomfortable and secluded
home at Gladshill (which, however, is not out of the
reach of postmen or friends), and staying ineog. at some
continental city for a few weeks, where be can write
d son aim. He is very fond of walking, and during the
late hot weather he walked rather too far in the suns
aellol3 the imaginary "scuPstroke," which is nothing
more than • stroke of fancy.

SPECT&TOR.

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