The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1877-06-19 00:00:00

WIRIDAT. J1:1111Z 19, 1877.

NOTES OF THE WEEK.
No Conservative voted in favour of Mr. Pease's
motion affirming the expediency of abolishing the
penalty of death, and the only members of the late
dminstration who supported Mr. Pease in the division
lobby were Mr. Bright and Sir W. Harcourt.
Intelligence from India lneves no doubt that the
worst stages .4 the famine have been panned. Rains
have fallen in nearly all the effected districts, the
pasture is everywhere improving, agricultural oper-
ations ace commencing in many localities, and the
numbers of distressed natives employed on the relief
works show • marked decrease. The Bombay Govern-
ment reports that, should the monism not be very
I seriously delayed, and should the rainfall prove
I sufficieut, the season premises to be a good one.

An American quaker is represented in an amusing
French novel, as declaring that three things in life
were a perpetual puzzle to him; not the seine three
things whtch Solomon " could not understand ;" but
for all that he could never make out why men should
climb trees to gather fruit. because " if they would
only wait, the fruit would fall down of its
He was equally surprised that young men should
court the lasses, because if they took no notice of
them, the lasses would have to come and court
instead; and he thought it the absurdest thing for
men to war to kill thew enemies, because if they only
waited a few years, the latter would die of their own
accord. The first theorem is an a.ricultural question
upon which I express no opinion; the second involves
ethical problems tes delicate for a gross masculine
pen; but the system of tactics propounded by the
I worthy quaker seems to have commended itself to the I
I ex-commanders of the Russian army in Itouneinia. It
seems hard to believe that there can be any strategical
necessity for delaying so long to cross the Danube.
If they wait a few weeks longer, the Turks may be
numerically reduces' by starvation and pestilence; but,
on the other band, the Polish Legion io swelling its
ranks from every country where exiles Mel A refuge,
and 'ere long the Russians, if they have not to fight
against the stare in their courses, may expect the
tt skys" to fall on them. In Asia Minor it would seem
that the Turkish garrison have tussle a successful
sortie from Kern, and killed a number of Russians
varying (according to the plitical proclivities of the
reader, or his taste for sanguinary details) from
several thousands to seven men. Ears was built by
the Romans to commemorate a victory gained over
Mithridates It has stood several great sieges in its
time. It has baffle,' the Persians. Early in this
century, it successfully resisted a Russian army.
Twice since, however, the Russians have taken it; but
in /655 when the Turkish garrison wan commanded by
our own General Williams, it cost the Mussocites a
Rea of blood to accomplish the work of compelling its
I surrender.

The Chinese Ambestadoni are strange beings. In
official quarters they have ceased to be amusing. and
are entered in the category of bores. You "pm, ~se
them walking about the streets with a grin of con-
spicuous superim ity on their faces, and they must
almost have exhausted the catalogue of evening
amusements. A few days ago they visited the Court
of Appeal. They were introduced with great
solemnity and exchanged stately salaams with the
Bench. The proceedings did not, however, prove
very interesting to their excellencies, and a few
minutes' stay served to satisfy their curiosity. On
leaving they took formal and ceremonious leave of the
judges seriatim, and of the usher, whom they
regarded as an officer of high distinction. A 'nimble
sixpence" would have been more agreeable to that
individual's feelings, than the honour of shaking
ambassadorial hand.: and he looked as though he
didn't feel greatly flattered by the condescension of a
heathen Chinee. Perhaps on the return of the
embassy to the Celestial Empire, some member of the
suite will write a book on the administration of
justice in England, on the strength of Ids experience
in the Court of Appeal.

The brief and sententious reply of General Grant to
the long and gushing address of the Common Council
on Fnday, must rather have disappointed the
gorgeously.apparaled dignitaries who assembled to do
him honour. The ca-president i scarcely a typical
American. In featsres he is more like an Englishman,
add he has something app th roaching at John Bull
c0,40,,m0uf which most Yankees sigh for in vain. The
general said very truly that he was not brilliant at
public speaking. The man who for eight years ruled
• nation, which is mistakenly assumed to be pre.
eminently distingui-hed for natural el sluence, is
himself absolutely devoid of ornamental rhetoric.
Most of the American presidents have been talkers,
but the civil war gave political prestige to the success-
ful soldier, and a man of deeds (though not a lawyer)
Was preferred before a man of words.

Mr. Gourley, who is an extensive shipowner in
Sunderland, asked a question the other night with re-
gard to the Suez Canal, which has not elicited the
information desired. The Ministry keep their counsel,
but it is understood that there is a large section of the
Cabinet prepared to take the hold step of urging up
the sovereign rights of Turkey. The main question is,
could Turkey give us a good title? Au to possession,
which is nine parts of the law, we have established a
virtual blockade of the Canal already, and•no vessel can
enter at eitherend that would not be instantly • ver h anted
and sent back, if we had oeu-se to know she was there
for no goo kl purpose. An expenditure of seven or eight
millions to buy out Turkey w, mid be only a loan to a
hilligerent under • very thin disguise. It would
almost amount to a breach of neutrality.

So there is to he a good stand-hp Liht of the old-
fashioned sort betu-een two great peers and land.•wners
in Huntingdonshire. The Hon. 11. W. Fitz-William
has sent out a Liberal address in reply to the Conser-
vative appeal of young Lord Mandeville. The Man-
thester and Fitz-William's interests me both strong ;
but, considering all things, I think young Lord
Mandeville has the best chance.

Mr. Bright had better do something, and that with
as little loss of time as possible, to re instate himself in
hi 4 right place in the Liberal ranks. I hear serious
complaints .4 the number of wet blankets he has been
throwing on Liberal programmes, and cold shoulders
he has turned to the rising young men of the party.
All would be forgiven him if he would only stand aside
And plead age and infirrnity as his excuse for not
marching. He has a grand opportunity in unveiling
the statue of Richard Cobden at Bradford, early in
July.

Death hes had quite a busy week, and has gathered
ins significant harvest of distinguished people. Lord
Justice Mellish and Colonel Sir Henry James, ILE.,
leaders in law and in topographical science; Lady
Stirling-Maxwell- formerly the Hon. Mrs. Norton
and false Mary Carpenter, of literary and humani-
tarian fame, form a .ittartette of the missed upon one
Jay. I don't know why, but, as a rule, it is a fact
that, when some presence seems essential, one looks
for it to continue for ever, and death appears to have
committed a personal wrongto each member of society
in removing those by whom we swear. But there is,
after all, no help for it, and, on looking fairly at the
matter all round, I can imagine no worse fate for
either man or woman than that wished for ancient
potentates; namely, that they might live for ever in
the midst of this wicked world.
Mr. Tooth has got into the wax-work \Valhalla of
modern fame. Alongside of the poster which an-
nounced that Madame Tusaaud had introduced Mr.
T.s,th into her collection of nobodies, whom the
I caprice of fame has made somebodies, I noticed that
the bill-sticker had put up a notice of some patent
I medicine which was a cure for debility. He must
have been a bit of a wag thus to suspect the complaint
under which so many are languishing, and to have
struck on the simple remedy. To be known, above
all. t be notorious, is the failing of only too many
I Ritnalista.

Two sailors were misssiy !,,,st in a Ismail boat at sea.
Expecting every moment to go ,Lvin, one asked the
other if he could pray. " No, Jack, I can't," replied
he. "Well, shiver my timbern if I can, either r' said
Jack • "but perhaps you can sing a hymn ?" "Nay,
I can't sing a hymn neither," was the response. " Well,
said Jack in despair ; "hang it all, we mtu4 do
sometlnng religious; let's make a collection !" If
collection-maltio‘ !xi indeed "something religions,"
List Sunday was the anamal occasion of a very unusual
agreement among different religions communions. It
is only just to say that on Hospital Sunday the con-
gregations—Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Dis-
senting—have hitherto been large and not ungenerous.

We have had such an Ascot week as will be long
and pleasantly remembered. The weather had been
simply faultless, the sunshine unclouded, the heat
tempered by light Zephyr-like breezed, very little dust
in the air ; and to these advantages have been added
the very finest horses and the loveliest women in the
world. England has been called the Paradise of
women and horsed: but, then, Ireland was under-
studl to be included. If we may_ judge by the
splendour of the spectacle on Aseot Heath, there is
meaning in the saying.
ARGUS.