The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1858-08-31 00:00:00

DORSET COUNTY EXPRESS

DORCHESTER, TUESDAY. AUGUST 31, 1868.

HONESTE AUDAX.

THE hostilities in China have been terminated
by a Treaty between the Celestial Empire and
the Allied Powers, providing for the opening of
the ports, the free exercise of the Christian re-
ligion, the admission of foreign consuls and diplo-
matic agents, and an indemnity to be paid to
France and England. This important news was
telegraphed to the French Government on Sun-
day by the French Ambassador at St. Peters-
burg. It had been brought to that capital by
a Russian courier who left Tien-sin on the 27th
of June—more than three weeks after the date
I of our advices by the last mail—and who reached
St. Petersburg in 50 days overland. The main
object of his journey was to announce to Prince
Gosyscasxorr that a treaty had been concluded
between China and Russia identical in its gene-
ral bases with those concluded between China
and the Western Powers. Subsequent accounts
from St. Petersburg inform us that the indemnity
to be paid to England and France is £1,200,000,
that the whole Chinese Empire is to be opened
to foreigners, and that the left bank of the
Amoor is in future to form the boundary be-
tween China and Russia. It appears also that
the treaty does not give the allies the right of
having permanent ambassadors at Pekin, but
allows them to send diplomatic agents to Pekin
"if necessary," and provides that the Consuls-
General, who are to reside at Tien-sin, are to
have direct intercourse with the Cabinet of the
Emperor.

The EMPEROR of the FRENCH returned to St.
Cloud on Saturday from his tour through Nor-
mandy and Brittany. Before his departure from
Rennes the EMPEROR delivered an Address, in
which he declared that France "desires a Govern-
ment sufficiently stable to remove all chance of
fresh political convulsions, sufficiently enlightened
to favour real progress and the development of
the human mind, sufficiently equitable to wel-
come the support of all right-minded men, what-
ever may have been their previous political
opinions, sufficiently conscientious to declare
that it protects the Catholic religion while it
allows freedom of worship, and sufficiently strong
in its internal union to be respected as it ought
to be in the councils of Europe."

Advice's from New York inform us that the
Atlantic telegraph is the leading topic of interest
in the United States. The successful laying of
the cable has excited the greatest enthusiasm in
every part of the Union, and preparations are
making in all the principal towns to celebrate the
establishment of this new alliance between the
two great families of the Anglo-Saxon race.

THE frightful tragedy which has occurred on the
Oxford and Worcester Railway has very pro-
perly given rise to many comments in the public
press, in which are found a very natural share of
indignation and remonstrance. An excursion
train, designed originally for the recreation of a
few hundred school children, swelled in its
transit to more than three time the extent
necessary for their accommodation, and, as the
event proves, to an extent far beyond the
powers of wood and iron to ensure the safety of
the passengers. The strain upon the connecting
chains was enormous, owing to the unusual
and immense weight of the ponderous train
they gave way in two or three places
and on two or three occasions. The last
snap was attended with the most melancholy
and fatal consequences ;—the train is wrenched
asunder, and, being now on a decline, one
portion runs full tilt upon the other ! We
need not dwell upon the awful scene which
ensued; but imagination can scarcely picture to
the mind the terror and dismay which must
have seized upon the passengers. To form a cor-
rect idea of the extreme horror of these dreadful
moments, one must have been an eye witness of
some such terrible calamity. Fifteen unfortu-
nate human beings were killed on the spot, and
upwards of a hundred more or less dangerously
wounded! How has all this frightful load of
human misery been brought about? Shall it be
said that in practical, intelligent, scientific
England, this desolation has arisen from sheer
negligence; from a want of the commonest
attention to the exigencies of an unusual de-
mand for railway accommodation? Enough has
transpired in the official investigations to satisfy
every one that the grossest indifference to the
safety of thosands of our fellow creatures has
alone led to the castastrophe. Why, the labour-
ing, groaning carrriages themselves did from
their dumb mouths, as it were, give warning
of the danger to be apprehended in prose-
cuting the journey with so heavy a train. The
stolid guardians of the train never gave a thought
to what might happen if these breakages should
occur on a decline; nothing had hitherto taken
place beyond a little shaking, and some vague
apprehensions amongst the most nervous in their
charge. The broken coupling chains were or were
not replaced, just as it might happen; and they
could make a shift to get along. So on they went,
until the last scene of all ; when the shocking
consequences of unutterable carelessness and the
most wicked folly struck upon the terrified
minds of the authors of the mischief. But the
public have a right to look for some security
against the consequences of such recklessness as
is here displayed, and they cannot do better than
make the companies pay heavily for the delin-
quencies of their servants. This is the only way
to deal with oommoroial bodies, who take in
their charge the lives and limbs of their fellow
subjects. We therefore concur with many of
our London oontemporariee in hoping that the
juries who will shortly have to &WU the damages
in a pecuniary value, will not lose sight of the
main—the only safeguard, which the Legislature
has given to the public for the exercise of due
oars and vigilance in respect of the safety of
railway passengers; and that, in so far as a
money compensation can go in mitigation of

there irreparable mischiefs, the assessors will
have no scruple in satisfying the most urgent
and the heaviest demands.

Tics treaty of peace with Chins is the most im-
portant and satisfactory event, of a political and
social nature, which has occurred within a resent
period. The desultory and almost inglorious
warfare, carried on by the allied forces of the
two most powerful nations in the world against
this singular people, has been such as, on its own
account, to make it a matter of congratulation
that the strife has ceased. But the results said
to be obtained by the termination of hostilities
are undoubtedly of great importance to the
whole of the civilized world. The ports are to
be thrown open; the Christian religion is to be
freely practised; consuls and diplomatists are to
have access to Pekin; and all these advantages
are to be crowned with the payment of the costs
of the war which was necessary to bring the
"celestials" to reason. Some writers think
proper to doubt whether these indemnities will
be paid, but a review of good opinions on the
other side inclines us to believe that the Chinese
know better than to break faith with us, and
that from their exchequer ample means will be
forthcoming for the purpose—notwithstanding
the desolation of civil war and the extensive
emigration constantly going on. We are in-
formed upon the beat authority that there are
inherent in the Chinese character aptitudes and
dispositions which, by a closer contact with more
advanced nations, would contribute greatly to
the elevation and prosperity of their country.
Of the excellence of their plain business quali-
ties the world at large has satisfactory evidence
in the immense trade carried on in tea; and we
learn from the narratives of the most observing
and credible travellers that they are infinitely in-
dustrious and ingenious, a quick-witted, imita-
tive, frugal race of men, and combine with all
their "celestial" pride, and occasional splutter
about "barbarians" the most extensive /iberal-
ism in speculative matters. If the refinement of
the Chinese have been really traced so far as is
there represented, we may be sanguine in our ex-
pectations of vast improvements in these exten-
sive and almost unknown regions. The progress
of civilization, assimilating more and more with
the condition of the most advanced of the human
family, can hardly fail to exercise a wide-spread
influence for good, and one at the same time of the
most diversified character. Isolation is a species
of eccentricity and folly baneful alike to indivi-
duals and countries which favour it, and the
possession of a large portion of the globe by the
Chinese—shut out from the rest of the world—is
a universal injury which undoubtedly calls for
the intervention of the most enlightened nations,
and fully justifies all the demands which have
been made upon China. And it will not be long
before the Chinese find their own account in the
compulsory conditions to which they have been
brought to submit. It is asserted by able men
who advocate extensive settlements in this
country by Europeans, that no fear need be
entertained of an outburst of religious fanati-
cism, which is now more than suspected to have
led to the horrors of the Indian rebellion, and
jeopardised the finest colonial possessions in the
whole world. The philosophy of the Chinese is
of a sort of comfortable and liberal turn; they
will allow you to have your own way in these
matters of religion most freely ; they only ask to be
allowed the same privilege for themselves. It is
hoped that no indiscreet missionary zeal will at any
time manifest itself among the Chinese, so as to
afford ground for suspicion that a determined
spirit of proselytizing is at work—not ostensibly,
but as an insinuating under current, which they
are expected to regard with favour, if they value
their own peace and the continued friendship of
their conquerors.

DORCHESTER PITCHED CORN MARKET, Saturday,
August 28.—Our market was thinly attended and
the supply of wheat but moderate; the trade ruled
dull, at last week's prices. We have had a splendid
week for harvest work, which is fast drawing to a
close, but little corn remaining out.

FlRE—About noon on Sunday a rick of hay on
the farm of Mr. Hill, at Came, spontaneously ignited,
but owing to the active exertions of a number of
labourers and others, the fire was extinguished before
a very large amount of damage was sustained.
CONVERT. —Picco, the blind Sardinian minstrel,
assisted by Mr. F. W. Smith, our respected
townsman of musical celebrity, and his talented
son, from the Leipsic Conservatorium of Music,
delighted a large audience at the Townhall on Wed-
nesday evening by his admirable performance on the
tibia, or pastoral pipe.
SLAVERY. —On Thursday evening the Townhall
was densely crowded by persons anxious to hear an
address by an escaped slave, William Craft. The Rev,
J. Miller presided. Mr. Craft delivered a highly
interesting lecture on "Slavery."

COMPETMON BETWEEN DORCHESTER AND LON-
DON. —The Great-Western Railway Company have
arranged for third class passengers going to London
from either Dorchester or Weymouth stations—
whence there is direct competition with the South-
Western Company—to arrive in town very much
earlier than formerly. Thus third class passengers
from Dorchester by the 10.10 a.m, train reach Pad-
dington at 3.50.

EXCURSION TO LONDON.—A special trip train is
announced to leave Dorchester for London by the
Great-Western Railway on Thursday, returning on
Saturday next. The rates are low.

TRIP TO BRISTOL—On Wednesday the Great
Western Railway Company ran their first excursion
train from this neighbourhood to Bath and Bristol,
and the number of passengers far outstripped the
expectations or preparations of the Company. In-
convenience and delay, of course, resulted, the accom-
modation in the shape of carriages being very
insufficient Between 2000, and 3,000 ultimately
joined the train, the greater part of whom alighted at
Bath, in order to enjoy the flosal Ate at the Royal
Sydney Gardens there. The train returned to Dor-
chester about 11 at night.

Another excursion to Bristol is announced by the
Great Western Railway Company, to take place on
Wednesday week, on the omission of an horticultu-
ral show at the Clifton Zoological Gardens.
TELE DORSET MILITIA—We understand this re-
giment will assemble in this town on Tuesday next,
the 7th.
The Rev. Thomas Hodgens, B. A., has been licensed
to perform the office of Assistant Curate in the Parish
Churches of Hilperton and Whaddon, near Trow-
bridge ; and the Rev. T. W. Langdon in the Parish
Church of South Perrott-cum-Masterton, near
Beaminster.

By an order in Council, of the 31st ult., approving
a Scheme of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for
England, for making better provisions for the cure
of souls in certain parishes and districts, an annual
grant is provided for the augmentation of the living
of Beammater, in this Diocese.
We (Cape Town Mail) are glad to learn that the
committee for arranging the Exhibition of Works of
Art have obtained the chamber of the Legislative
Council for this purpose. The Chief Justice (the
brother of our respected townsman, J. F. Hodges,
Esq.), the permanent member and president of the
Council, readily complied with the request, and pro.
inieed to enrich the exhibition with a number of
line pieces in his possession. We have no doubt
this good example will be followed by all who are so
fortunate an to be possessors of works of merit,
which the public in this colony have very rarely the
advantage of contemplating at leisure. The last ex-
hibition here was in 1832. The next opens in Oc-
tober.

BOROUGH POOCH COURT, Townhall, Monday, August
30.—(B4fore William ?danfield, Esq., Mayor.)-4n-
agony Charles wan brought up in custody, charged with
being drunk and disorderly on Saturday night near the
Junction Hotel. Discharged on promise of amendment.
BOROUGH MAGIBTRATZII' 0111,10 R, Townhall, Friday,
August 27.--(Before William Mane*ld, Eel., Mayor.)—
Thomas Robin., who said he came from Piddletown, was
brought up in oustody charged with drunkenness and
disorderly conduct. P.C. Viatcher said he found the
prisoner in Mill•street Thursday night between 12 and 1.
Prisoner wee very drunk, and on being /eked where he
belonged to, be said he 01141111 from Tinaleton. He wee
very abusive, and on being led into the London road
swore he would drown himself rather than go home.
He ran into the river end the °Meer dragged him out,
and conducted him to the lookup, All the remainder
of the night the prisoner had been making • greet noise.
Fined 51. end Bs. ed. costs, or in default cf payment to
sit S hours in the stocks The money was paid.
BOIIOOOH BRIMITIZ 81111011111, TOWIIII4I, Friday,
August 27.—(Before Willlsm Manfield, Esq., Mayor,
Christopher Arden, Esq., and George Curiae, ldeq.)—
This being the annual day for issuing licensee to public-
house keepen residing within the borough, the follow-
ing lianas were granted for the ensuing year i—Jemes
Funky Antelope Hotel; Philip Pearce, Union
Arms, iordinglon ; John Stone, The Weigh Bridge,
Eordinglon Jame. Russell. Half Moon Inn ; Thomas
Read Loveless, George Inn; Edward Wortley, New
Inn; John Purkis, Keil Coach; James