The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1863-12-15 00:00:00

DORSET COUNTY EXPRESS

D'IRCHEITER. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1863.

NOTES OF THE WEEK.

We deeply regret to state that the worst
anticipations respecting Lord Elgin have been
realised. By a private telegram we learn that
his lordship died at Dburinsalla, on the 20th of
November. At home the death of the Viceroy
will be deeply lamented generally, and it will be
especially felt in Court circles, for a sister of the
late earl's—who is, it is said, engaged to be
married to • celebrated clergyman—is one of the
greatest favourites at Court, her gentle and
amiable manners being universally admired in •
sphere where hauteur is far more common.
In the death of Sir William IVightmen, one of
the Judges of the Court cf Queen's Bench, we
do not mourn the loss of one of our greatest
1, men. As an orator he never ranked very high,
and he never made any pretensions to states-
manship. Indeed, as a lawyer, he cannot be said
to have achieved any extraordinary success, for
he never wore the coveted "silk gown." Never-
theless he was a painstaking, consistent, and
highminded judge, and men of higher preten-
sions in the profession have regarded him as one
of the best exponents of our laws. Mr Justice
Wightman was nearly 60 years old when he was
made a judge, and he has filled the office with credit
and dignity for about 20 years. No fears need
be entertained for the impartial administration
of justice in this country, while men such as the
late Mr. Justice Wightman adorn the Bench.
Mr. Cobden has, during the past week, pub-
lished • letter in which he threatens to drag the
editor of the Times from the shelter of the
anonymous, and, by implication, at least, con-
demns utterly that system of writing. The
Times had accused Mr. Bright of proposing at
Rochdale to enrich the poor by dividing the
estates of the rich. Mr. Cobden, though not
himself attacked, lost his temper at the charge
on his friend, and of course, though wiser than
most men when cool is, when angry, as silly as
the rest of us. He sent a ferocious letter to the
Timu, accusing its staff of seeking "corrupt"
advantages, and its editor of pursuing "a game
of secrecy to the public and servility to the
government," and wound up a letter at once
furious and foolish by the following proposal
"It will be for public men to decide, each in his
own case—for myself I have no doubt upon the
subject—whether, in response to such attacks as
these, they will continue to treat the Times as
an impersonal myth, or whether, on the contrary,
they will in future summon the responsible
editor, manager, or proprietor to the bar of
public opinion, and hold him up by name to the
obloquy which awaits the traducer and calum-
niator in every other walk of political or social
life." Now we are not going to discuss the ad-
vantages and evils of the anonymous as regards
newspaper writers. They have been discussed
nauseum, and it is not necessary for us to
argue that signatures would in no degree
diminish the virulence and unfairness of which
Mr. Cobden complains. His own letter is its
own answer, for he signs his name to a produc-
tion very much more insulting and unjust than
the accusation which called it forth. Johnson
advised a young writer to read over carefully
what he had written, and when be came to any-
thing he thought very fine, to strike it out. We
would advise Mr. Cobden to do the same when
he comes to anything very angry. Had he been
schooled in anonymous writing, instead of trust-
ing to the authority of his name, he would have
learnt to rely for effect upon facts and reasoning,
not upon words of sound and fury signifying
nothing but the vituperative.
The past week has witnessed another of those
disgusting exhibitions, which are said to be the
peculiar institution of England—an exhibition
in which two strong, powerful men, trained to
the highest perfection of health, are brought
into an enclosed arena to shake hands with the '
utmost good feeling, and then to exercise I
their tremendous strength in smashing,
bruising, and defacing each other to please an
assemblage, for the most part, of the scum of
the earth, thieves, ruffians, and scamps of every
variety and degree. It is not our intention to
enter into details of this disgusting scene, preferr-
ing to give the excellent renisrks of the Times in
reference to that affair, the view taken by its
editor being in perfect harmony with our own.
Enough to say that in one round it was thought
that Heenan could have broken King's neck, and
that great disappointment was felt and expressed
at his not doing so. To have put twenty to one
into their pockets, these admirers of the "noble

art" would have gloated on • homicide. Our
contemporary says—
Heenan aod King must have submitted to great priva-
tions in training, and displayed a fortitude in action
worthy of a better cause; tiierefore we are required to
believe that the pris"-fighting is the best way of keeping
up English spirit, that without it we should come to
the posimd and stiletto, that under proper regulation
it would be an ennobling national "port, and so forth.
Them is really no more connexion between the premises
and the conclusion than this, and the mere statement
of the two together is a teduclio ad ateurdum. Let no,
however, look at the matter a little more closely. I
Granted that the combatants are the better, morally
and physically,for being brought into condition and then
mauled unmercifully, that professional bruisers are
not given to excess, are not brutal in their habits
' and manners, end are not short-lived, what lithe pro-
portion of effective to non-effective members of the
ring, and what lithe effect of the system on the latter'
It would be a strange thing to defend bull-fights on the
ground that they improve the character of the bulls if
they demoralise that of the spectators. Now it is
notorious that the close from which prize-fighters are
drawn is practically very small. So far from the
Champion of England being the pinked man among the
millions of our youth, be is simply the "cock" of the
few hundreds who have tried their hood at sparring,
and are willing to make fighting their profession.
No man with anything like a position in society, no
farmer, or tradesmen, or thrifty artisan, be his personal
prowess what it might, would think of becoming a
pugilist. The virtues, therefore, which that calling
is supposed to Mater are neeesurily confined to a few,
and it will hardly be contended that there belabour each
other pour en courager ies antes:, or that the rest of us
derive any reflex benefit from the proem'. On the sma-
tter), the effect upon thou, who may be called the camp
followers of pugilism is as bad as it can possibly be.
Outrage and disorder, cruelty and cowardice, dishonesty
and seoundrelism in every form, are the constant atten-
dants of prise-fights. The scene at the London-bridge
station on Thursday was infamous, and Shit in spite of
all that the patrons of the " noble art" could do through
the moral agency of the 'porting press and the material
assistance of an overwhelming police form. All that
can be said is that it had been worse the last time, and
that the fight itself, although sickening to witness, was
not further diegreced by any lank= violation of fair
play on the part of the spectators. To suppose that any
homan being was the better for it, or that anything but
a grand settlement of bets soda great consumption of
liquor can result from it, is sheer nonsense.
'The halcyon days of the ring are long since peel;
princes of the blood no longer drive pugilists about in
their carriages, and the majority of those whom curiosity
tempts to see prise-lights would decline the task of
defending them. Let society, then, seriously consider
whether the pleasure or profit derived from them is at
ell equal to the mischief they do. Let this be the last
of our great fights. We have frowned down bull-baiting
without any sensible loss of amusement, and proscribed
duelling without much relaxing the rules of courtesy
among gentlemen. A united effort on the part of all
classes would soon put an end to a sport which, however
"manly," is more revolting than a bull-fight, and has
less excuse than a duel. .

_
Pius IX., with trembling hand, raises aloft his
damaged and despoiled crozier, and makes a
great effort to reiterate once more the pretenaions
of Rome to indefeasible supremacy over the
creeds and councils of Christendom. In his
reply to the Emperor of the French, inviting the
European Congress, he affects to hope that at
last reparation will be made to the injured, and
justice done to the maligned, and that peace will
be re-established on the ancient foundation of
recognition by all, but especially by Catholic
States, of the sacred rights of the only true
Church." This is somewhat like an offer to come
to dinner on condition that one's own cook
is to have leave to prepare the dishes with such
sauce as would prevent half the guests from
touching them. There is a holy irony in the
audacious old man's offer to pronounce a blessing
that, compared with the blundering meanness of
some of the lay replies, is quite inimitable.
The see-saw in the American struggle con-
tinues, and this time the North has its turn in
the success, and the South its turn of disaster,
more heavy than any that has fallen on it yet,
although we are told that Bragg hu not been
cut up so severely as was at first reported.
Bragg's main army is now reported to be beyond
Dalton. Generals Hooker and Palmer have
evacuated Ringold, after turning everything and
destroying the railroad from Chickamauga to
Ringold. No Confederates were found twenty-
three miles southward from Chattanooga. Bragg
was in force at Tunnel' Hill. The nature of the
roads and the country between Chattanooga and
Atlanta will prevent Grant from prosecuting the
campaign further this winter. Southern accounts
of the battle on Lookout Mountain say : "The
enemy's loos was comparatively greater than
ours. They drove us back by force of numbers.
The enemy charged 40,000 strong. Our left
centre gave way, and the troops retreated in
disorder. After repeated charges, we evacuated
Mission Ridge. Washington and Cobb's batteries
lost all their guns." Longstreet was still besieging
Knoxville on the 28th. On the 25th he made
a diversion on the Federal position on the south
side of the river, and was repulsed. A Michigan
regiment captured a Confederate rifle pit, but
was forced back with heavy loss A force
under Grainger has been detached to assist
Burnside. Cumberland Gap despatches of
yesterday state that • force had been sent to
intercept Longstreet's retreat into Virginia, but
there is no positive evidence that he has left
Knoxville. A courier is said to have brought
intelligence to Cumberland Gap that Longstreet
had attempted to cross the river on Sunday,
which brought on a general engagement, resulting
in a Confederate defeat and the capture of 5,000
eavalry under Wheeler. This report is doubtfuL
News from Charleston to the 28th November
states that a steady fire was kept up on Port
Sumter, and shells were occasionally thrown into
the city. The armies of Generals Lee and Meade
are separated by Mine Run Valley, which crosses
the Fredericksburg and Orange Plank-road,
twelve miles from Orange Court-house. Artillery
firing commenced on Monday. The Federal
infantry were prepared to assault Lee's position,
but General Warren advanced and found Lee toC
strongly posted. The assault wza consequently
delayed It was reported on December 1, in
Washington, that Meade had fallen back to
Fredericksburg and clostA his campaign.
Southern account., dated Sunday, represent both
armies as confronting each other, and a battle
imminent. They confirm the repulse of Kil-
patrick' cavalry, in which the Federal& lost
heavily.