The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1862-11-11 00:00:00

OUGHT NOT THE DORSET CHRONICLE
TO BE PROSECUTED AS A ROGUE
AND VAGABOND?

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for a warlock, has
til• infigiaa question_

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If any of our readers will take the trouble to
turn up Ben Johnson's fine old comedy of
Bartholomew Fair, they will find a reference to
a certain "cunning man" in Cow-lane, and to
another occult seer in Moorfields, who cast
nativities and foretold the mysteries of the future
for such fees as the public were foolish enough
to give them. In Ben's days, fortune-telling
and quack vaticination were at a premium.
Paul's-walk swarmed with sharpers, who found
calculating horoscopes quite as profitable a mode
of swindling as cutting purses or cogged dice,
and who, like " Zeal-o'-the-Land-Busy," "ate
exceedingly, and prophesied." There was, even
at that period, a plenitude of persons of educe-
cation and comparative enlightenment, who re-
sorted to such solemn impostors as Lilly and
Dee, to have theaters read to them, and to pry
into the abyss of the unknown by means of divin-
ing rods and magic crystals. gome of the wisest
heads of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
were afflicted with a tinge of this crazy creed in
the magic powers of Albertus Magnus and the
prophecies of Noetradamus ; and even the Roman
poet Virgil was dug from the grave by the cre-
dulous, consulted as a wizard, and appealed to
for the solution of doubts and the detection of
robberies. There in little need to say that the
world has since grown very much wiser. The
great Lilly would now be compelled to hide his
mystio craft under the mantle of a spirit-rapper
or the editor of a Tory print; and Dr. Dee
would probably be imparting his acquain-
tance of things to come to the warden of
the House of Correction who might prove
bettor prophets than he, and tell him what day
he would suffer the correction of stripes. Modern
legislation, recovering from the furious reaction
which had set in against the pretenders to huper-
* Major Weir at the stake
in a very sensible view of
Theological prophecy hes
. .

taken

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been left untouched, and a crafty or a demented
sectary is licensed to predict the doming to SO
end of the world a often as he chooses; but
fortline-telling is judiciously classed with swind-
ling, and the law very explicitly lays it down
that any person pretending, for the sake of hire
or gain, to expound the secrets of times to oome,
shall be deemed a rogue and vagabond, and
punished with imprisonment and hard labour.
Within the last two months ttrb persens have
been committed b tht O'bmerset magistrates for
plying the profession of fortune-tellers—one of
th'ere, If our Memory servile ijeCorre, ctlY, for
three calendar month*. This ia at it thotild be.
We haVe not a Word tb kay against the convic-
tion of Oth lieceindrels, We have no sympathy
with gipsies, whether they pursue their pseudo-
cabalistic course unblushingly on raee-courses,
or prowl about with aliam,,enclientreenta from
back door to area stepe. We should rejoice to
hear that the police had routed out the "cun-
ning men" who lurk in garrets, and delude in-
experienced girls and frivolous unmarried women.
But, at the same time, we claim an equal meed
of justice to be applied to an impostor quite as
impudent and thrice as mischievous as the
beggar, the gipsy, or the "cunning
There is a paper called the Dorset Chronicle,
which for a number of yeses past has been
suffered to interpret peetlig events, and to give
Vent to el mesa of predictions on public affairs.
Our contemporary belongs to a class which
Punch has more than once transfixed with the
shafts of his sarcasm; and it shall not be our
fault if the wicked deluder, with whom we are
more particularly familiar, is not in the long
run morally tarred and feathered, and has not
his ears nailed to the pump. Everyone knows
that during the corn-law agitation the Chronicle
predicted that, should the meastirefor free trade
be allowed to pass, landlords Would be ruined,
the land triNild go out of tilltivatioe, and the
farmers would be obliged to end their days in
the union workhouse. The print had more in-
fluence then than it fortunately has now, and we
all remember how ita " thundering" articles
alarmed the tireid aid misled the eredulous—
what mischief it inflicted on the agricultural
interest by stirring up the farmers to spend their
time and money in opposing free trade instead
of attending to the improvement of their farms,
and thus prepare themselves for the new state
of things that was about to be inaugurated.
Some of the farmers at the Dorchester Farmers'
Club, on Saturday week, gave it as their decided
opinion that the present high !wine of beef and
mutton was owing to the reduction of their
flocks and herds from the alarm which many of
the farmers took at the prospect of the free
importation a foreign sheep and beasts, which
the sensation-journalists told them would result
from that measure. It is no part of our inten-
tion here to indorse this view of the subject, but
admitting that there is any foundation for the
supposition, we have a case in point. The
alarmist journal*, of which the Dorset Chronicle
was the chief in this part of the country at
that period, inflicted, not only upon those who
put faith in the false predictions, but upon the
great bulk of the community even to the pre-
sent time, greater injury than all the gipsies,
witches, and "cunning men" that ever existed.
The tetchy, prejudiced, self-conceited bigotry
and stupidity which characterised the Chronicle
in its palmy days is still stamped upon its
pages. We conscientiously believe that if it
were reasonable for a Liberal Ministry to intro-
duce a measure for the suppression of the Father
of Evil, it would protest against the bill. There
is no abuse so flagrant, no reform so urgently
necessary, but it raises the alarm of "wolf"
directly the question is mooted. Its whole
career has been one gigantic error. It has
blundered on particular questions, and blundered
en roe. A year and a half ago our contemporary
prophesied that the commercial treaty With
France would throw all our financial operations
out of gear, ruin our trade, throw our artisans
out of employment, bankrupt the state, and
irretrievably reduce the country to the position
of a third-rate natidn. What has been the
result of that Measure 1 Mr. Gladstone has
incontrovertably shown that the French treaty
has had the very opposite effect to what the
Chronicle predicted. Within a trifle it has com-
pensated for the loss of our American export
trade, and its gains for the revenue equal to a
twopenny income-tax. Equally false as a pro-
phet our oontemporary proved In referent.° to
this Revised Code. That measure, it asserted,
would be most disastrous to the education of '
the poor, and insolently threatened the Govern-
ment with expulsion from office for daring to
meddle " with things as they were." Have the
Chronicle's foreshadowings proved correct We
suppose our contemporary is willing to pay some
deference to the opinion Of so staiinth a Censer-
Vatite as the Rev. N. Bond. That gentleman
was at first an opponent to the Revised Code,
but since it has been threat upon the nation,
despite the ravings of the Chronicle and a host
of old ladies besides, he has watched its work-
ings, and at the late agricultural meeting at
Wareham was honest enough to confess that he be-
lieved the alterations introduced would be a great
boon to the children of the working classes, rather
than otherwite, thirs entirely overturning the
evil prognostications the Chronicle had put forth.
If our contemporary were to confine its sensation-
articles to the creation of gigantic gooseberries
and showers of frogs, we could tolerate it at a
harmless bore. The editor it a nonplus might
safely be permitted to concoct faithful descrip-
tions of utterly fabulous phenomena. The ems,
nations of his fertile fancy would astound some
and amuse others, but could inflict upon no one
the slightest serious injury. But such leniency
cannot be displayed towards him, when he, in
his unscrupulousness, seeks to foment tell peti-
tions by warn* in erratic flights, into the
realnut bt purest fiction, and panders to the ap-
petites of his party for highly seasoned food,
simply to prop up the declining circulation of
his paper.

The-inaurration of the Shaftesbury Agricul-
tusal Association and Cattle Market has given
the Chronic/s another bpportunity of indulging
its propensity tbi vilification; and prognoaticating
all planner of etil tti hobe Who titi not think
" Whateter is, is right." The sun at noonday is
frequently quite invisible to our eccentric con-
temporary; but it possesses a wonderful faculty
for discerning the moon at the bottom of an
Artesian well. The American Cynic was of
opinion that "there was nothing new, nothing
true, and that it did not signify." In a some-
what similar spirit the Chronicle seems to wish
to prbpftgate the theory that if there is anything
Unpopular it is perfectly justifiable to father it
on the Whigs. Our tontenipintry blind hate
known that the new Gatne Act was not a Whig
measure, Dulling its passage through the House,
no one did such battle against it as did the pre-
sent Attorney General. But where was the
Chronicle that it did not arouse the country to
oppose it? Where were Mr. Ker Seymer and
Mr. Stnrt that they did not oppose it? The
fact is, that neither our contemporary nor the two
M.P.'s had at that time. any very clear ideal how
the "wind would blow, 4 If they raised no obstacle
to the passage of the Bill through the House,
and the country should be content to receive it,
Well and good. They would at least receive
credit from the game-preservers of being non-
obstructive; if the country should not be satisfied
with the measure, they could exclaim, "We had
no hand in passing it." So far as the Chronicle
and the two Tory M.P.a are concerned, we owe
no thanks that game was not made property, and
liable to be protected wholly at the expense of
the ratepayers. Of all the Dorsetsh ire papers,
this journal as the only one that drew atten-
tion to the subject, and if the farmers who now
protest so loudly against the Bill had followed
our advice they would have sent up petitions,
and thus have given their members to under-
stand what course they should take if they again
intended to come before them for re-election.
In the face of all them things, and knowing, as
the Chronicle must necessarily do, that to some
of the members of the present Government,
chiefly to Sir Wm. Atherton, we owe the expul-
sion of some of its worst features, our contem-
porary has the effrontery to insinuate that the
Game Bill was supported wholly by the Liberal
party. The cause is apparent. The object to be
attained was a "sensation," and the sensation
must be had at any risk. The late Daniel
O'Connell, whose speech was of the broadest,
accustomed himself to designate audacious flights
of fancy by the term "enormous lying." The
politinem of our age has allowed that phrase to
die out, and we are now without an expression
which will fitly describe the assertions made by
the Chronicle when it seeks to traduce the
character of its political opponents. Neither
do we desire to pass too severe a criticism on the
studied insult offered by our contemporary
respecting a very slight physical defect.
"Those who live in glen houses ought to know
better than throw stones," and the editor of the
Chronicle must himself admit that it is, to say
the least, "ungentlemanly" to sneer at anyone
because, from no fault of his own, he cannot
open his eyes so wide, or jump so high, or ran
so fast, u others. Some there are, we
regret to 'my, who cannot run or jump at all.

. .
We once heard of a naturalist who declared
that it WM a necedsity of a rat's existenfe
to be perpetually gnawing to prevent toe
excessive growth of his incisors, and in like
manner, we suppose, the Dorset Chronicle, not-
withstanding the falsity of all its former predic-
tions, must still persist in its wayward career,
Just to keep its hand in. This is a standing and
n,ever-fisiling dish. It it the Cold round upon
the sideboard; it is the piece d,e Yesistctnet. When
the light articles disappear; it flies to this, at
whiciA it Can but 'end dune again. During the
iailt Eaillanientari stesibn the tirbtric/Steas
harping hpoii the string of '4 Consereative reac-
tion." We did not know quite what it meant, and
our contemporary's prophecies were all the more
terrible froth their indefiniteness. Who wad to
react upon whotnt What Was to be meted
against 7 Where was the reaction to take place ?
were all questions we asked ourselves, with awe
and trembling, and asked in vain. We only
knew the grand Conservative reaction was at
hand, and bowed our heads reverently to the
decree of destiny. Somehow or other the great
Tory coup d' kat sadly hung fire. We were con.
gently told that the reaction had come, while
all the time what had cdmtl of the reaction
Where wall the "Coming ?an" to be found
The C'hronidel corrafienta a the proceedings at
Shaftesbury have now put us in posseealtin of the
facts. The Coming Man is none other than
Benjamin Disraeli, and the reaction is to consist
of—what do our readers suppose? Nothing less
than the restoration of a portion. at least, of the
lay impropriations and abbey lands which were
granted "by despots and tyrants to their
minions, thereby establishing centuries ago
families who, by virtue of their possession
of this property—not by public' service—have
absorbed a great portion of the government of
this country, its peter and patronage." Now
let Us See Mr. .Disraell's principle folly carried
out, and what will be the result 7 This description
applies as well to all pOssesaiong of feudal origin
as to lay impropsiations, and as Mr. Disraeli is
of opinion that the holders of the latter must
"in the satiety of their Spleudbur feel an im-
pulse that will make them ripply a portion of
their property to purposes which society will
recognise and reward," we may surely hope that
the owners not less conscious of the lands of a
tenure originally feudal will be as ready to
make some large contributions to the wants of
the State. If the ecclesiastical service is due in
conscience, so, too, is the military service which
went with it. If the elaim of conscience which
Mr. Disraeli raises against the owners of lay
improprietione and abbey lands were applied on
precisely the same grounds to the proprietors of
estates of tenure originally feudal, the public
would be relieved of the whole cost of its army,
large as that coat is. We have only to go back
to the obligations of four centuries ago to shift to
other shoulders the whole burden of our mili-
tary establishments. Our "bloated armaments"
will then be soon either reduced or rendered of
no concern to the public, relieved of their
burden. But is this to be the cry that is to
raise the reaction? Even before the ides of
March arrive we may venture to assert that our
"prophet" is wrong again.
As for the Hon. W. H. B. Portman and the Pal-
meraton Government they must have been filled
with instinctive awe at the prediction of the
" cunning man" of West High Street, Dorchester,
that their doom is to be sealed next March. The
torpedo it charged end laid, the wires Etre in corm
Munication, and four months have 6nly to elapse
when we are to hear what we shall hear. But if "the

end justifies the means" and the Tories join the
Cohdenites to expel Lord Palmerston from office,
and an appeal be made to the oountry, will the
Dorset county electors replace their only Liberal
representative in his present position? We have
no hesitation in replying to this question in the
affirmation, and it would not greatly surprise us if
the Chronicle should take to Itself the eredit of
placlog him there. It frequently puts forth
greater absurdities than this. For months past it
has told us that the present ministry is kept in power
simply by the Conservatives; and even lest week
it assured its readers, with the gteritness Coolness
I and most consunibiate nicldesty, that the Hon. Mr.
Portman 'inspired by the khowlege that the horBet
Chronicle was represented at the Shaftesbury meet-
ing, tempered his speech with a more wholesome
discretion than his confederate." Well, there may
be an excuse for this childish exultation after all.
Little things, we are told, please little minds,!and if
the editor is vain enough to suppose that an M.P.
was frightened into propriety because the Dorset
Chronicle Was looking at him, it may serve to fan
the flame of our contemporary's felt-love, while it
will not cause anyone else to cry his eyes out, ol•
eat the less, or drink the less, or feel his days short-
ened, or his existence darkened, or be conscious of
any loss or damage, temporal or spiritual.
And—we are about to make anether remark, but
the length to which we have already written warns
1111 that we must, for the preeent, bring our remarks
to A chafe. Before doing a°, however, we would
ask "What shall be the reply to the queatiori We
have asked in the heading of the present article f"
If an elderly female in a red cloak, and with her
bonnet turned down over her eyes, on receipt of a
shilling tells a lady she will be married next year,
she is liable to be imprisoned as a rogue and vaga-
bond, no matter what reason she may or may not
have for the prediction. The law will not allow her
to prophecy, except in the usual way of logical con-
cluaiene from satisfaCtory ptemlsei. Why, then,
should not the Racing PrOphet of West High-street,
whose " tips" fot the ' Derby" have uniformly been
so unsuccessfal, not be dealt with in a similar way?
May not the Dorset Chronicle be likened to the
prophets of Samaria, who prophesied to Baal, and
caused the children of Israel to err ; who spake in
the wisdom of their own hearts, walked in lies, and
strengthened the band of evil doers? What are the
police about that they permit such a state of things
to exist?

DORCHITER. PITCHED CORN MARHET,
Saturday.— he iittendande with hirge, and trade,
generally, was brisk. Wheat fetched late rates, and
barley was held with greit firmness at an advance of
la. per quarter. Oath were one shilling dearer, and
were rather scarce.

ST. PICTER'S CUMICH. —On Sunday last an ex-
cellent and very impressive sermon was preached by
the Rev. M. Colson, at St. Peter'. Church, in aid
of the funds of the Dorset County Hospital, when,
notwithstanding the wet weather and consequent
thin nttendaneei the sum of .C 6 13a 2d. was col.
leatedi

SociaTY ?OR TUX PRoPtiOAT/ON or Thlt drOSFEL
IN FOREIGN Psans.—The claims of this venerable
association were ably advocated on Sunday last,
at All Saint's Church, by the Rev. J. P. F.
Davidson, curate, who took his text from the 13th
chapter Hebrews, 16th verse. In the course of his
remarks the rev, gentleman said that this society
had peculiar claims on their christian liberality and
earnest prayers, as it was the first established of
their missionary enterprises, and it embodied in its
teltchings the pdre doctrines of the Apostolic Church
of England. It bad always been his aim, not so much
to urge them to give liberally towards its funds as to
feel an intevest in the progress of the society ; and on
this, the last Sunday he should be with them as
their stated minister, he would more especially
entreat them to be earnest in the good work. It
would greatly assist them in working out their own
salvation, to have some particular work to which
their minds eoold be always directed for the glory of
God —The collection amounted to .£4 10e. 114 d
The annual meetings of the society will be held at
the Townhall (by the kind permission of the Mayor)
on Thursday next—in the afternoon at half-past two,
.and in the evening at half-past seven, when the
Bishop of Cape Town, and other ministers and
, gentlemen are expected to be present
V aLes OF LANDeD PROPERTY IN DORI:1=31(1RM
—On Saturday the Bth instant, Mr. T. Ensor (late
Baker and Ensor) submitted to auction at the King's
Arms Hotel, Dorchester, the Tatton Estate, which
is situate about three miles from Weymouth, and
' comprise 295 acres of arable and other land,
dwelling-house, and other requisite farm buildings.
Upwards of 60 gentlemen attended the auction.
The property was put up at the sum of £BOOO, and
after a very animated competition was pur-
chased by John Thresher, Esq., of Upwey at
£ll,OOO.
THE MAJORITY OF THE PRINCE OP WALE,,—
Sunday being the birthday of the Prince, most of
the clergymen in the town referred to the suspicions
event, entreating their congregations to remember
I him in an especial manner, and to entreat that he
I might be endowed with wisdom from on high.—
On the following day the belle at an early hour rang
, forth merry peals, and the drum and fife band
awakened many a one from sleep by their cheering
strains; and at dinner hour they gave the newly-
elected Mayor a serenade in front of -his house.
Faxxwatt. SERMON.—On Sunday afternoon the
Rev. .1. P. F. Davidson preached his farewell sermon
at All Saints' Church. There was a large congre-
getter, and the rev, gentleman's allusions to his
parting from them evidently produced some painful
feolings.—We sincerely trust that the rev, gentleman
will find his new sphere of usefulness more con-
ducive to his health, and that he will long be spared
to enjoy the quiet retreat which his delicate health
so much reqtures.
COMMITTED TO THE DORCHESTER G AOL.
Sessions : Jonathan Loveless, house-breaking at
Sherborne ; Herbert Hodges, stealing fowls at
Thorncombe. —Hard Labour : George Critchell,
vagrancy at Dorchester, 14 days; Susannah Pavey,
assault at Weymouth, 1 month; Isaac Giles and
George Williams, vagrancy at Bridport, 2 months;
Joseph Brooks, vagrancy at Weymouth, 14
days; James England, leaving family chargeable
at Beamineter, 3 calendar mouths; William Cook,
vagrancy at Shaftesbury, 21 days • George Fox,
breaking a lamp at Sherborne, I calendar mouth;
George Spencer, poaching at Sturininater, 1 calendar
month.

BOROUGH PETTY SESSIONS, Monday, Nov. 10th.
—Refcre the Mayor, M. Devsnish. J. F. Hodges,
ind ii, 11avi,a F01gra.7.,--Atin Logan, of Glasgow,
was charged With !Ain* drank and inoapable, and
lying in the public streeii, fliaturdity
Fined ss. and allowed a week to p.-L—Eliiabeth
Wareham was also fined 59. fur the like offeiete.
--Henry Dawson, of Sheffield, was charged with
vagrancy, and sentenced to seven days' hard labour.
—John Reed, a shoemaker from Plymouth, and
Thomas Stewart, a moulder, from Scotland, were
charged with stealing two pair of boots from the
i!licip of Mr. Charles Curtis, clothier, &c., High
Edat:siteeE4 17ot-dim/ter, —The prisoners were very
nicely caught by 13.0, Keedh,Whooti Saturday after-
noon about half-past four o'clock satoi them nPar Friary
Buildings fitting on a new pair of boots. He wetit
and asked them how they became possessed of them.
Ste Wart said he pieliecl them up on the high road.
The constable told him that Wad E curious place to
find them, and where they were sitting a still mote
curious place to tit new boots on, and he nuapected
they had stolen them, at the same time taking them
into custody. On their *ay one of them con-
fessed that the boots were stolen from Mr. Curtia's
shop.—Mr. I 'urtia identified the boots as his pro-
• .rty, though he did not know of his loss until the
,ts were brought back by the police.—Both
prisoners pleaded guilty, and were each untenced
to two Months' hard labour,

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'1.441 Is ay.—,