The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1863-06-30 00:00:00

DORSET COUNTY EXPRES

D'IRCIIESTER. TUESDAY. JUNE 10. IsO.

NOTES OF THE WEEK.

In 1853 the tyrannic mill of Primal& threatened
to crush finally and for ever all local life and
liberty between the Danube and the ..Egeon. A
tripartite scheme to wheedle her from her pur-
pose was concocted in Paris, London, and Vienna;
and after months spent in diplomacy, the affair
was annouirced to the world as having resulted
in Four Points, which were to settle everything,
and wive pesos and happiness to Christendom.
What came of these celebrated proposals has been
long known. And now diplomacy, in regard to
the affairs of Polond, is busily engaged hatching
her addled eggs again, only that this time there
are six instead of four in the nest, and two of
them are announced as being already broken.
The six points agreed upon by France and
England are, —a general amnesty; a national
representative for Poland, in execution of the
treaty of Vienna; perfect liberty of conscience;
the reservation of public offices in Poland to Poles
only ; the use of the Polish language in public
transactions; and the organisation of a recruiting
system in substitution of such conscriptions
as caused the revolt. These are very compre-
hensive demands. Austria agrees to put four of
them, and it is very questionable whether the
Czar will consent to any of them. If not, what
is to be done The cause of Poland is certainly
one that excites the warmest sympathies of
Englishmen, and the stupid tyranny of Rustle
deseeres all reprehension ; nevertheless the
British people, we imagine, are in no hurry for
another war with Russia, which would only be
indirectly for the Poles, to enable Prance to

remoquer the frontier of the Rhine. It ia, how-
ever, difficult to sets, after being invited by
France to join her in this affair of diplomacy.
how we could hare refused to 10 10 faX as we
have gone, or hoer, having gone thus far, we are
to prevent ourselves going farther. Both at
Paris and St. Petersburg war is looked upon as
almost inevitable, and by both Governments
significant preparations are being made. In
Loudon, the expectation of war is by no means
so general as it is in Parts, but the Stock
Exchange has been much perturbed during the
Put. and a heavy fall has occurred both in the
funds and in railway shares. From Poland
the news is not so favourable to the patriotic
cause; the civil war, according to Russian state-
ments, having been extinguished in Poland
Proper, and the same authorities mature us that
the Pores in other parts will shortly be entirely
subjugated. When that time arrives, the treat-
ment of the insurgents may be conceived,—
unless indeed English and French diplomacy
should produce its desired effect—when it is
rimembered that General Mouravieff, acting
upon the instructions he has received from his
master, is inflicting on men, women, and
children, who have friends engaged in the insur-
rection, the most atrocious and fiendish brutality.
The intelligence which reaches us from America
continues decidedly unfavourable to the Federal
cause. The interest of the war news has again
changed from Vicksburg and Port Hudson, which
are supposed to be safe, to the confederate
invuiou of the North. On June 14th non-official
information reached New York from Washington,
that the army of General Lee, numbering nearly
100,000 men, had crossed the Rappahannock in
three divisions, and was marching northward
towards the Shenandoah Valley. It was added
that General Hooker had struck his care 4;, eari
was hastening, with his who„ army, to intercept
General Lee's ad;ance. Telegraphic despatches
from W.sidngton two days later confirmed this
news, and stated that the Confederate advance
cavalry, under General Stuart, 10,000 or 20,000
strong, had crossed the Potomac at Nolan's Ferry
or Ford, and occupied Haggerstown .in Maryland.
General Milroy, commanding at Winchester,
Virginia, thought to dispute the progress of
General Lee's main body, but finding himself
surrounded, made a bold dash and cut his way
through the Confeder..tes. In proof of the con-
sternation caused by General Lee's movements,
the Governor of New Jersey has issued a stirring
appeal to the people of Pennsylvania not to stand ,
quibbling about six months' Berries, but to close
their business and go to Harrisburg, whither
troops are now hunying with all despatch, while
active preparations are being made for its defame.
The Mayor of Pleladelpbia had ordered all
business places to be closed, and the men to join
the military organisation. The governors of all
the Northern States were organising to
send all the militia they can; and General
M'Clennan had gone to Albany to amid
the Governor in organising and forwarding
troops. The latest advice. from General Lee
state that he has pushed a very large force up
the Shenandoah valley, an 4 there is no doubt
that he is throwing his whole army towards
Maryland and the interior of Pennsylvania, and
not moving to give battle on Bull's Run.
General Hill's corps has been seen in the neigh-
bourhood of Point of Rocks, and the Con-
federates have invested Harper's Ferry on the
Virginia side. The New York Beraid says
"General Ewell, with 18,000 men, has the
advance of General Lee's army; and Lee. with
Hill and Longstreet, is moving northward and
keeping between Ewell and Hooker. General
Hooker is moving to follow General Lee *here-
ever he goes." These movements would seem
to indicate that the war has now reached a crisis
that it cannot last much longer ; but it may be
I anticipated that there will be a terrible vengeance
inflictedby the Confederates for the Federal hive- ,
sion of the South. Hitherto the Confederates have I
been acting almost wholly upon the defensive ; '
but the invasion of Maryland and Pennsylvana
marks the commencement of • new Act of the
terrible tragedy of civil war. At Washington,
we are told, the greatest alarm prevails. Has
not, then, the time arrived when England ought
to join with France in making mediatory
advances The Federal Government and the
Northern contractors might be angry with as'
for our interference, but is it not • duty we owe I
to ourselves, to them, to the world? If two
combatants were fighting in the streets until
the ground was covered with gore, what English-
man would be deterred from interposing between I
them, merely because one of them might
threaten to resent his merciful mediation? Let I
us do what is right, and trust to the approval of
our own consicience for the rest. We have not
hesitated to obtrude ourselves between the
Emperor of Russia and his Polish subjects; why
should we not adopt the same course with the
Federal American cabinet As the Tinses
justly remarks :—"There is a singular amount
of resemblance between the two cases."
A modification has been effected in the French
ministry. It consists in the retirement of Count
de Persigny and Count Wahl wski, in the exchang-
ing of places among some of the ministers who
remain, and in the introduction of three gentle-
men hitherto totally unconnected with politics—
, Meows. floudet, Duruy, and Behic. In a poli-
tical point of view the change would seem to
indicate, notwithstanding newspaper reports to
the contrary, that the Emperor is not disposed to
push matters to extremity with Russia,—Count
Walewski, who has resigned, having been on
account of his Polish birth, violently opposed to
her; and that neither will Napoleon abandon
the defence of the temporal power of the
Pope, to which power Count de Persigny
was bitterly hostile. In a financial
and commercial point of view, the
modification of the ministry may be con-
sidered satisfactory, as it will strengthen the
hands of M. Fould, who is as opposed to war-
like adventures as he is a lover of economy.
M. Behic, we are told, is eminently fitted for
the department to which he has been appointed
—commerce and public works—and that "he
is the right man in the right place."
The King of the Belgians, to whom th
question of insult to British officers by the
Brazilians was referred, has, it is said, decided
against England, giving his opinion that "not-
withstanding certain irregularities on the part of
the Brazilian authorities, yet the treatment of
which the English officers complain, did not
constitute an insult to the British navy." There
therefore appears but one mune for England
now to adopt—bend to circumstances, and "eat
humble pie," by making a candid apology.