The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1869-11-09 00:00:00

frorresponbma.

A CLERIC AL SO A NDAL.
Ti, Lisa &him%
fun,—Diaparaiiing comments have been freely made
eoncerning the nonaipPearance of an officiating Minister
on two receot occasions at the Wedneaday morning
ssrvicies appointed to he held at All Seines church.
Without Indorsing all the herd thioga that bay* been
enatt help thinking it a matter of regret that
the clergyman who accepted the rectory, when many
more services were regularly held in the church, should
after gradually reducing their number, be now unable
to °ottani:it only three in the week. Feeble health,
which some have pleaded in the Rector's behalf, weenie
to me but a poor justification, that would not be att-
septet] as an excuse for the performance of half-duty in
the ordinary affairs of life, retirement being the natural
wow quorum, and when spiritual coneerne are involved
each failure is of coerce the more momentous. Then
the smallness of the Wednesday congregations is out
forward w rendering the attendance or absence of the
minister of little importance ; bet, petting aside obvious
aocw rs from • religious point of view, it is to be
noticed that number of worshippers is but • matter of
degree, and web an argument might lead to the dis-
continuance of one or both of the Sunday services on
account of a small and declining congregation. These
are not days whoa the clergy may lightly omit colon-
' tasily-underteken duty, and I how. that no future
Wodnetday congreg•tom will assemble at All ii•ints
without • minister being present to conduct the service.
; —Yours truly,
Onrcteskr, Nov. 5. PARISHIONER.

INFANTICIDE.
To the Rditor.
Dear Sir,—The abolition of capital punishment is •
suh;eet which has been so often and so fully discusaed
awl to which the Press ham been so liberal. that really
there seems bat little. if anything new, to be advsnced
respecting it, and it is only when circumstances of an
unusual character tranopire, that the subject again
forme itself upon one's notioe. Let us hope, however,
that the serious attention of Parliament next yesr will
he drown to it, with a view to its entire abolition.
Judges. coroners, and juries will then be relieved from
• weight of responsibility which now presses heavily
upon them, and binders the petard outflow of free
expression of opinion. impedes the course of justice,
and not onfreqneotly permit. instancee or flagrant mime
to ercape unpunished. No reader of public journals can
fail xi be strunk with the innumeroble eases of infant.
icide, with all its attendant evils, that daily stare
in the face; and to which the verdictof " Not Guilty.'
is appended. Most of us have seen sues, unmistakeable
in their character, where media.' and other witnesse•
have given clear outspoken facts, every swirl of which
has forced conviction upon the minds of all premmt,
save coroners and juries, hut they, having before them
the solemn sl,ernative of the life or death of the
wretched mother and murderess, with human sympathies
for Vie guilty sufferer, end hearts feelingly alive to
bunion frailties and idolsl infirmities, often seek refuge
in legal quibbles and fictitious doubts, to save from
on ignoble end an erring fellow crouton. Now, sir,
all this would be avoided if death punishment were
mbolished ; and cows of infantioile would then ru Pet
with their due dessert, in the certain punishment of the
guilty. In all the.* cases the woman suffers pain end
shame, but the man goes free. Where is our boasted
even.hsneled jnstice?-1 am, Sir, yours,
Dorchester, Nov. 8.