The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1862-05-06 00:00:00

blooded animals. On the body being opened there were
found M the stomach some 'demos( roots which it must
have swallowed when living at liberty in the waters of
the Nile twenty years ago.
THE ARMSTRONG GUN.—The 300-pounder Armstrong
was on Wednesday proved at Shoeburyness as a smooth
bore. The proof consisted of four rounds—the first with
601 h, of powder, the second with 701 h., the third with
801 b., and the fourth with 901 b. After the proof, fur-
ther experiments were carried on with the same gun, to
ascertain the initial velocities obtained with large
charges of different kinds of powder.
The committee appointed to collect metal for cannon
for General Beauregard's army, applied to a planter of
Adams county, Miss., a few days since for his bell. Not
having such an article lie mentioned it to his wife, when
she very patriotically offered her brass kettle. The
little ones rather demurred to the sacrifice, and one of
them, with a sweet tooth, said:—" La, pa, what will
we do for preserves ?" "My daughter," said the wag
of a father, "our whole duty now is to preserve our
country." The kettle was sent. —Richmond Paper,

WATCHES AS A BRANCH OF FINE ART MANUPAC.
TURES. -" Haying extended our search through the
West-end and the City, after an ordinary good English
watch, possessing an artistic design, we have come to
the conclusion that but very few of our English watch
manufacturers hive yet properlyappreolated the advance
of the public taste for a higher order of ornamentation
from improved designs, Sinall though the watch is, it
yet affords ample scope for the display of the genius of
an artist. It is therefore with much pleasure that we
can mention one manufacturer who has given special
attention to the artistic ornamentation of watches, and
whose productions manifest a decided advance in regard
to rules of art and the requirements of an educated
taste. The manufacturer here alluded to is Mr. J. W.
Benson, whose recently enlarged show-rooms, at 33 and
34, Ludgate Hill, and 46 and 47, Cornhill, form one of
the conspicuous features of thiskreat City thoroughfare.
The display of gold and silver watches, together with
ormolu clocks of rare designs, is quite imposing to the
passerby. Here the purchaser of a watch is afforded
every facility of choosing one suited to his purpose and
means, and possessing at the same time all that can be
desired is finish, taste, and design." —Globe. —Benson's
Illustrated Pamphlet, post free for two stamps, is
descriptive of every construction of watch now made.
Watches cafe by poet to all parts of the globe.
LANCASHIRE AND THE SOUTHERN STATES OF
A MERICA.—A meeting, attended by about 6000 people,
was held at Asliton-under-Lyne on Wednesday, to take
into consideration the present crisis in the cotton
districts. A motion, calling upon the government to
I recognise the Southern States of America, and to adopt
Mr. Cobden's proposed alteration in the marithne law
of nations, was proposed. It was met by an amend-
ment which called upon the governments of America
England, and France to "crush the rebellion,'? but on a
division the original motions was carried by a consider- I
able majority.
RatILWAY TRAVELLINGA-Ma number of travellers by
railway in the United Kingdom in 1861 was 163,435,678,
besides 47,894 holders of season and periodical tickets,
who must have made very many journeys; in the whole,
there must have been much nearer six than five journeys
in the year for every soul in the kingdom. The trains,
passenger and goods trains together, travelled
102,243,692 miles, which is further than going 4,000
times round the world; 267,134 horses and 357,474 dogs
made railway journeys, little to their liking. The goods
traffic comprised 12,083,503 cattle, sheep, and pigs, and
89,857,719 tons of minerals and general merchandise.
In these vast piles of property conveyed from place to
place the minerals double the general merchandise in
quantity, and they are carried at little more than a
quarter of the cost; 60,386,788 tons of minerals pro-
duced to the railway companys only £4,951,899; while
29,470,931 tons of general merchandise brought them
£9,157,987. The receipts of the railways (10,433 miles
in length at the close of the year) from all sources of
traffic were £27,766,622, of which £13,085,756 came from
passenger traffic and the mails, and the residue from
goods. The expenditure was £13,181,368, or 47 per
cent., leaving rather more than £14,500,000 net receipts.
The compensation paid for accidents and losses amounted
to £181,170. The quantity of rolling stock was no less
than 5.801 locomotives, 15,076 passenger carriages, and
180,574 wagons for goods traffic; in all 201,451 engines
and carriages. The numbers are enormous, and they
are enormously increasing. Comparing last year with
the year before, notwithstanding the bad weather, the
passengers increased by 13,600,000, the minerals by
8 600,000 tons, the receipts by above £2,000,000, the
miles travelled by trains nearly 9,000,000, 3,896,960
trains ran in the course of the year 1860; upwards of
10,000 a-day. —Ra-press.
SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN ENGLAND.—MT.
Ashby Ashby, of Naseby Woolleys, Northamptonshire,
who has recently become the owner of part of Naseby
battle field, has turned Mr. Henry Smeeton out of his
farm, after his family had occupied it for thirty-five
years—avowedly because he is a Dissenter. Yet Mr.
Ashby Ashby is considered to be of so enlightened and
judicial a mind as to be entrusted with her Majesty's
commission of the peace for two counties. These
things can be done by the English gentry without loss
of the esteem of their orders; and yet we pretend to
lecture countries like Spain, in which persecution is at
least carried on according to fixed rules and public pur-
poses.