The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1865-07-11 00:00:00

OUR LONDON CORRESPONDENT.

THU ceremony of prorogation, or dissolution or what-
ever it was (for though it was a virtual dissolution, Par-
liament WY for the time merely prorogued till the 12th,
and the actual d ssoltition was subsequently effected by
royal proclamation in the Getzeti e,) was a very sorry affair.
What could have induced ladies or "strangers" to go
I oannet imagine, except it might have been curiosity
to see who would read the royal speeeh. Lord Granville's
reading of the royal document was wanting in power
and dignity. He reads as he speaks, with an exquisitely
aristocratic apathy which makes it very difficult for the
reporters to catch what he says. But "nobody was one
penny the worse" for not hearing distinctly what few
cared for, and some knew already. The whole ceremony
was what the French call very pale.
Shortly after this appears in print Conservatives and
Liberals will be counting and balancing their respective
gains and loggia by the elections., which will, no doubt,
send many new faces to the House of Commons, though,
in the main, I believe the strength of either side of the
House will not be materially affected. The Conservatives,
as you knovr, have been making desperate attempts, by
sending out forlorn hopes to the attsek of Liberal
citadels, to wrest from their opponents the few votes
necessary to give them a working majority; but they
are without a battle-cry; they have no rallying point,
and have failed to make any breach in the defences
of the Liberal camp, if I except the personal
matter of et• Lord Chancellor Westbury. I don't
know whether London furnishes an index to the
feeling of the country in this matter of a general election;
but here, at all events, there is a lack of the customary
excitement in all save the candidates and their
pedional friends, As fdr the great body of electors,
they seem to have no more enthusiasm than an omnibus
horse in the exercise of their electoral duty, or privilege,
whichever it be. The non-electors are very quiescent
too. The many square yards of printed paper stack
about our walls and hoardings, or carried about by our
boardmen, inviting people to "vote for so-and-so,' seem
to be utterly wasted in respect to producing any palpa-
ble effect. The polling-booths, too, have been erected
without the nsual motley groups of spectators. Even
the street boys—a species of the genus humanum alnitst
peculiar to London—seem to be infected with the apathy
of the hour. Well, there is one benefit arising from
this calmness—people can deliberate quietly upon the
choice of their candidates, and we shall see if they return
better men than have been erewhile elected amidst the
excitement of eager party strife.
I toOk the trouble some time eines to ascertain the
political compoeition of the House of Commons which
has now been gathered to its fathers, It was then com-
posed (and there have been few changers since) as follows:
Conservatives, 314; Whigs, 233 • Radical., 98; Pashto',
13; together making 0356.. two short of the legitimate
number. Without expressing any political partialities,
I may add that the Conservatives have increased in the
House since it was convoked under Lord Derby in 1869.
It WR/ admitted, I believe, by the chiefs of the party,
that they needed some 20 more supporters to secure a
working majority. Whether this result will be achieved
remains to be aeen.

The resignation of "the late Lord Chancellor," if
that be the proper phrase, can have taken no one by
surprise. It had been, in fact, rumoured now and
again for months past, and the statement that Lord
Weetbury bad asked Lord Palmerston to place the
resignation of the former in the hands of the Queen,
but that the Premier had declined to do no, only con-
firms the general impression. So much has been mid
about the recent career of Lord Westbury that I shall
add little to it. but I have this much to say—that I
have little doubt that many members of the Idinistry,
many members of the late House of Complete, and a
large poition of the public, consider that the appoint-
ment of Lord Cranworth as his successor is but
temporary, and that an effort will ere long be made to
reinstate Lord Westbury in the post he has now
quitted. The tone of his remarks does not warrant
such an assumption, but of warm the noble lord would
not have been justified in saying anything that would
lead to such a supposition. This resignation, however, is
serious blow to the Ministry, officially and legally, and
the retirement is perhaps as generally regretted as its
cause. Lord Cranworth will not shine as his successor,
and both in legal ability and in physique he is inferior.
In one respect the appointment will be very popular—
that the 0,000 pension SA retired Lord Chancellor will
merge in his salary of £lO,OOO as Chancellor; but I
look upon this fact as giving support to the view that
Ministers have an_eys to the ultimate return of Lord
Westbury to the Woe/sack.
I see a curious statement which comes from a
Marseilles paper, to the effect that 6,000 "young men,
between 20 and 40 years of age," recently met on •
waste piece of ground, and pledged themselves not to
marry until young ladies abjured crinoline, expensive
dresses, ke. If you, "gentle or simple" reader, believe
this, I do not. The law in France prohibits more than 20
people meeting together for any political demonstration
under °over of • meeting with much • stupid object in
view. I imagine 6,000 man—assay of them "young
men of 40"—sseeting on • piece of waste ground for any
object short of revolution or a (t 6 How was the meet-
ing convoked, or how was it conducted? Frenchmen
would hardly make themselves such Jerusalem ponies.
I If, however, the meeting did take place under such
circumslimmea„the ladies should have •oounter meeting

OD th(3 Dilme bit of waste ground, and take advantage of
the legitimate inference, that if they leave off crinoline,
and drevi less expetoively, the 6.000 young men between
20 and 40 will marry, and on this bit of wait° around
let there be immediately erected an altar to Hymen, a
deity by the way, whom the young men of France do
not hold in sufficient yeller dion.
_ . . . . .

It is announced that Mr. Panizzi has resigned the
office of princip .1 librarian and secretary to the Brit eh
Museum. We Anil have a great deal more of thin.
There vim much of opt osition to Lem in his app Ant•
ment to the post some yesrs airro, and an outcry wee
raised against baying a foreigner at the head of the
Muleum. I hear that a great deal of jealousy
and ill-feeling has been manifested to him of lste, anJ
Mr. Paniszt's absolutram has not tended to smooth any
difficulties in his path, Whatever be the exact cans-,
I ran assert, from frequent attendance at the Museum
Library and intercourse with those connected with it,
that his services to our great national establishment have
been invaluable. . .

There is reason to believe that the King of the
Belgians is now alarmingly ill, and the g 0,4 old man
eviaently sees his danger, for he is now inducing his
son, the Duke of Brabant, to take an unwonted interest
in political and administrative affairs. The Queen, it
is understood, intends to pay King Leopold a visit nest
month. Should the illness which now affects him have
the result which i 4 dreaded, her Majesty would lose one
whose advice she is known specially to have sought on
many important occasiona.
SPECTATOR.