The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1860-07-31 00:00:00

Yarictirs.

Tex RELIGION OF inc ORTSFA. The bowies, Or
temples, of the Drums are open for their religious meet-
ings every Thursday evening, about an hour after sunset.
At the commencement of the night's business Akkals
and Nall& both assemble together, when the news of
the day awl the prices of crops are discussed. At this
period a chapter or two of the Mosleui Koran is read,
and no übjecti ~,, is made even to strangers being present.
This, however, is not a general rule by any means,
awl it is only Europeans wl , the Druses psrticularly
wish to honour that they would admit even thus far to
the outside, as it were, of their worship. When the
eve ll ill g is a little further advanced all Djahils are
obliged to withdraw, and the huwl4 becomes like a Free-
mason's lodge, closely tiled, or abut, with an armed
guard near the door to prevent all intrusion. At these
meetings no one save the initiated are ever present, and
they often. stretch far into the night—so much no that I
have sometimes seen the Akkals going home from their
hordes lung after midnight. Sometimes, when very int-
! portent matters have to Ise discussed, a second selection
takes place in the howKs, and, the younger Akkals
being obliged to withdraw, the elders—the crone de Is
creme, or those initiated into the highest mysteries of
the secret--reinain alone to deliberate and deter 11l ill e
upon the future iirocralings of their felluw•religionists,
or I. discuss such more advanced doctrines of their creed
as are only known to the select few. Singular to say,
no form of worship, nothing which at all conies nearour
ideas of prayer, is known to be practised hy the ',ruses.
In the larger towns uf Syria they will often go to the
Moslem mow pm*, awl profess to call tliemselves followers
of the Prophet. limit they hardly impose—nay. they du
not sewn to wish to impose--on any one by this tempo-
rary adherence to the dominant religion ; for, in order
to avoid the Sultan's conscription. they have been known
to make the sign of the cross, profess themselves Curie-
tians, and evtn ask for--nay, . 11l etinori receive—the
ri,,ht of baptism ; and they acknowledge that, according
to their creed, it is lawful to profess for a time whatever
may be the creed of the most powerful holy ainong
whom they live. Moreover, they hold concealment and
secrecy the greatest virtues which • man can practise,
and scruple not to assert that a crime only becomes such
on being found out.
Stu RAMER? WALPOLE.—But for Sir Robert Walpole
we should have hail the Pretender lack again. But for
his obstinate love of peace we should have had wars,
which the nation was not strong enough nor united
enough to endure. But for his resolute counsels and
good-husuoured resistance we might have had German
despots attempting a Hanoverian regimen over us ; we
should have had revolt, commotion, want, and
tyrannous misrule, in place of a quarter of • century of
peace, freedom, and material prosperity, such as the
country never enjoyed, until that corrupter of Parties
meets, that dissolute. tipsy cynic, that courageous
lover of peace and liberty, that great citizen, ',atria'',
and statesman governed it. In religion he was little
better than • heathen, cracked ribald jukes at bigwigs
and bishops, and laughed at High Church and Low. In
private life the old pagan revelled ia the lowest
pleasures; lie passed his Sundays tippling at Richmond;
and his liolydays bawliug after dogs, or boozing at
Houghton with hours over beef and punch. He cared
for letters no more than his master did ; he judged
human nature so meanly that One is satanic,' to have to
own that he was right, awl that men could be corrupted
by meal's so base. But, with his hireling House of
Commons, he defended liberty for us ; with his
incredulity he kept Church-craft down. There was
parsons at Oxford as double dealing and dangerous as
any priests out of Rome, and lie routed them both.
He gave Englishmen no conquests, but he gave them
peace, and case, aud freedom ; the Three per Cents.
nearly at par; and wheat at 2:as. and 26.5. a quarter.—
Curtail, Ilay=ine, for August.

The Princess Clotilde 1/TOlllitleY to augment the num-
ber of the French Imperil.' family.
The total number of nice belonging to the European
troupe ill India, who have taken their discharge since
ISA in consequence of being refus-td bounty, soil who
were sent to the United Kingdom, was 10,116. The
total her of such men reinlisted since their return
to England is 2,809.

A Faris corn•sisinilctit of the Courrier de Marsede
The Emperor Napoleon, to recoimienve
el-Kader for his c Met in favour of the Christians in
Syria, has scut him the Grand Cordon of the Legion of
Honour." ,

lu committee on Fortifications and Works, Mr. Lind-
say will move as an &Intendment to the proiraised reso-
lution :—" That, as the main .l-deuce of Great Britain
against aggrerasion depends on all efficient navy, it is not
expeffient to esityr into a large expenditure on perma-
nent land fortifications."

A medal has been atruck at Palermo in honour of
Garibaldi. It is of a large size. and the resemblance to
the general is perfect. It commemorates the landing at
Mar./ Is on the 214 of May, the capture of Palermo OD
the 27th, and gives the names of the chiefs who followed
the general in his expedition—La Mama, Garini, Stucco,
Now Ilisio, %-ispi, and Anfosin. It also bears
the name of the general himself, and the year of his
birth. •

HOLLOWAY'S OINTSIINT AND PILLY.—Hope for all. What-
ever their ailments, none need denpood of being cured till they
have triad thew hiedfumble remedies. Whether the dia..ea
be internal or external, spoiltaneoua or the ...mit of violence,
If a core 1141 medic:mica% will ethyt it.
Th r.overity or duration of the malady 14 no hart. the OCi
fill Lflo.o.ce esert.cd by ti.c.c to in mediciec.. hieb
Intrifi, and invigorate every solid and fluid in the body, and
completely renovate the digestion. They render every orglm
of weerelbui healthy. Thole aalitulnible antidotes to Massa am
immediately on the abnorbent a /WM. liniga. heart,s'd deco'
tation, whereby they iiivariably giro energy, woe sod vigour
i to all the natural functions of 11014