The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1874-01-20 00:00:00

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derides, balling themselves " The Portland Corral:lantana.
entered, and performed more made, vocal and
ing,comental, giving great pleasure to the eompacy.
Tboash not ander the Lioensing Let, the teetotallers !SCHOOL BOARD canDs.
• • good example, and broke up, all sober, at Gloves To the Editor.
se !
o'clock. the last number of the Triegram the Rev. Thomas Weave
states that " It ought surely to be known by the inhabits"
(of Dorchester) that If a school board were elected its members
could decide on any religious creed, or even colors° It at the
expense of the ratepayers." Even if this were true, it ought
to one holding Mr. Neave's opinions, to be the strongest
Namibia argument against the formation t,f a school board,
hereas he unnw it in depreciation of the Voluntary System
Which certainly has no power of °atoning any religious creed
upon a single child.
But I belie,, the words I have I mot.; from Mr. Neave's letter
to contain a most unfounded and untrue statement which
with your perudssion I call upon lam either to prove or
retract.
Tun&

WANTON DISTIODSZNINT OP Holllls.—Between
lutlf-peat nine os Tuesday night and four on Wednes-
day morning, some thievish and mischievous person
entered the itablc of Ifr. Ward, Wakeintm, and out
the hair off the tells of three cart boron. The reseal
cut it aa short am he onuM without *shiftily gashing the
flesh, and the hones looked very strange and uneom-
(oriels!e when found. The polio, were applied to, and.
P.O. Boars tread hair from the stable to • certain
house, and there arrested Richard Flew, of the Strait',
a boy 12 years old.
TIN Rmers OP GOOD .11NPLABIBY —Some of lb.
Good Templar" are jubilant over the late mapper, in
which so many formerly of different degrees feasted
together, and even one considered it • kind of fulfilling
of the prophecies. Be. laalah xi, 6,7, 8. This ardent
te•totitlier referred to the supping together of that
active officer P.S. Plorame. and the °Kemple blth of
the effects of drink and of reformation, Bro. George
Scours*. We are happy to find that the Good Templar'
are a merry, as well as a sober lot, and con enjoy fun,
and abut up (tolerably) early withal. Clearly their
intention tenet altogether that there shall be "no more
Cakes and Me." Tbey'll give us • good non-Into:Mating
sample of the latter, and landlords will start afresh.

THE ATTACK ON THE LORD LIEUTENANT AT
THE MEETING OF THE LABOUE.ERS'
UNION IN DORCHESTER.
To the Editor.
A copy of your taper of the 2nd list containing a long
letter from the Rev. Reginald Smith, wider the above heading,
reached me a day or two ghee, but not in time to admit of a
reply in your next Issue—you will doubtless, however, do me
the courts of now inserting my reply which I will make as
vendee as possible.
Your clerical corespondent says that the resolution relating
On Lord Shaftesbury- pawed at that meeting was "contrary to
truth, ridiculous, end contemptible," and he Is further polite
enough to soy that the ridicule and contempt thereby excited
will fall upon myself as the chief speaker. Sir I am rejoice') to
think that 1 ant engaged in a work which exciles the contempt
and ridicule of toy clerical critic, and to knew that my efforte
in behalf of the peuantry of my country are despised by the
peat majority of the Eetabilehtnent, because the attitude that
they as a holy Mice In any great public mot emeltt is worthy te
obsen seen, for there has lee been .nte single reform of the
present century, whereby the 'petition of the lower class has
been made more endurable, which has not been opposed to the
uttermost by the clew-. As therefore, I wish well to the
agricultund lehourers, 1 ant delighted to see that their U
has met with so much t iolent clerical opposition, for I ant
thereby assured of its ultimate suet's..
Mr. Smith says that no one hail done more for the working
claws than lewd Shaftesbury. Now I ant far from wishing to
make any general attack on his lordship, and I mentioned at
Dorchester how grateful every one ought to be for the exertions
that he made in his younger days on behalf of shorter hours for
children and others employed le factories, But if Mr. Smith
WWI aequainted with the history of the obi short hour moveneett,
or had the advantage that I have had of hearing the story of
its rise and progress from those at °Wham, Rochdale and else-
where, who actually took part in the struggle, he would
know that Lord Ashley was only MU of • number of
teen that were engaged in this humane undertaking, anti that
Se. eral IMMO. UMW be mentioned who were more prominently
cemented in it than his lordship. The Mulkey-Su of the
average British mind is so intense that if • dozen mot are
engaged in an undertaking and one of them is • lord, his Isms
will be handed down when others are forgotten, although he
might have hest the least active of the whole body. Again it
should not be lost sight id that it Is a comparatively easy
thing to work and legislate in matters in which we are not
ourselves directly Interested, and that therefore landowners
were willing enough to interfere with the interests of fluent-
factures and null-owners. It is far easier to interfere with
others than to sot our own house in inlet, and the country
would have had greater confidence In the purity of the motiver.
of these landowners if they had also brought in in those day. a
short hour bill for thlklren employed in agric-ulture. On the
contrary the Orenmission that Inquired into the conditien of
women ate) children in agriculture in 1837 reported an
absolutely sickening amount of poverty, overwork, and general
distress. and Lord Shsltesbury's own steward at St. Oil..
aye :—. Boys go as early as 6 to 7 years old sometimes to
work. I .lo net approve it, joartly bemuse of the danger of
being trampled on by her's.
1110 w conic to the main part of Mr. Smith's charge against
me, via: that I persuaded the meeting that the statements that
Lord Shaftesbury recently mule at Weymouth were highly
calumnious. lam very- glad to think that my recital of hie
lordship's statements, which still remain unsupported and
uncorroborated by any evidence, did persuade the audience
of their calumnious nature, and I believe the same result
would follow at any meeting of intelligem men. It is very
clear that Mr. Smith's only knowledge of this subject arises
from the newspaper report of the proceedings at Dorchester,
for I feel sure that any friend of his lordship, who knew all that
had happened, would be only too anxious to let the matter, if
possible, sink into oblivi..ll. Your modem are soured that the
meeting had before them " no accurate account of what lord
Bhaftshery had mid." Here at once Is a false etatement, as I
read to the meeting the identical words Veil by IliS lordship at
Weymouth and the aeeu,acy of which be has himself admitted
(see Beehioe Out. loth and ftth, 1873.) These extruts were as
follows:—" One of the greatest engineer* had told him (Lord
Shaftesbury) that the men upon a line of railway, where hems
1,11,,•••ged I.,Mpletil4: • contract, demanded an Increase of
which, as the work was imperative, he coneeded. lite;ltsit
imposed the condition that each man should have 2s. ad. paid
him every du, to be deducted from hie wages, and with that
amount they walked into the publichouse The result was that
their wretched wives and daughters were no better off than
before the increase of wages." But the eccond story to which
I, as a colliery prnprietor, drew special attention, was one that
his lordship had from "one of the Spat coal-ownen of Scot-
land," and which runs as follows :—" Not long ago be Misled
the wags of his men to • guinea a day, and having got that,
they declared that they would only work three days in the week.
He then walked over all the Intermediate streets in order to
see what they were employed at. Ile had between 2,000 and
3,000 hands, and some he found gombling, some dog fighting,
and some drinking, while the res were sleep." To argue
against the truth of these stories would be a waste of words,
the last one especially carries its own refutation and I do not
wish to trouble you with reiterating the statements I made at
Dorchester. Now the question is are these stones true or
false, for they involve the most grave and wholesale charges
against large bodies of the working clams We say unhesitate
,k I gly that the tale of the colliers is one of the meet nolsehievoue
I .1s against a respectable body of men that was ever Kernel-
ted, and Lord Shaftesbury was coiled on In respectful terms
~ , allow its truth to be tested by giving up the liatile• of Itle
infurniants. This his lordship has steadily mei repeatedly
refuted to do, and says that the public must take then, for
what they are worth. It is therefore, I usintain, the duty of
those who &dire*s the public to show what is the value of
these cruelly standee,. statements. Ido lett defend drunken-
ness. In any class, hut I believe that upper and middle class
critics much exaggerate, as • rule, the prevalence of drinking
habits atnorept the lebeuring populaUon. It Limey a minority
.4 each class that Is thus disolute, and there are just as many
drunken peers, and drunken parsons, II) proportion to their
relative numbers, as there are of drunken colliers. What would
the Rev. Reginald Smith think of tue If I sere to assert that the
clergy generally were NO giVtit to port that they had to depend
on chanties to end .1. coed-hand clothe. for their
children? This would netionleolly be true of a small minority
I 01 the clergy, but If I made any general statement of the kind,
or attributed it spa-daily to the clergy of Minot, should I not
beat once and deservedly held 1111 ass has slanderer! And yet
this is Just what Lord Shaftesbury has done with the Snitch
colliers. Their Asociation endeavoured to obtain the source
if his information but It was all lit vain —and it is mere Illikril•
*bine to pretend that lent Shaftsbury ;detains from montage' ;;;;
his law-ewes for fear of hurting them in 1114.1illeSP, as Mr.
smith nuggets for hint. " tine id the lerpet real owners in
t sectlend ' would not be afraid el that The fact is that hoed
a Shaftesbury Mimes as well as) do that:it is utterly Imposed.:
t ti etthetantiate Itis Series. but he has net the courage to
. admit it. lOW assure Mr. Smith that the dm has gone
• le when the working classes can be elateised e ith
4 immunity, ate, no matter who Way be their assailant, his
aii truthfulness will hat e to by teitoil. Mr. Slili(11, in hie
1.1 •iittplleity, mike "Is there a single Comi in Europe prop, rly
eel telt teed that would hesitate tort-rely.: het (lord Shaftesbury's)
go tstintony ? When del he ever &bay his word, or give the
I t• . .4.• li itte - russet fir doubting his veracity?" My answer itt that ~
.- it ,t a single court in exiltettee front petty sessions IV to queen's
as lench, would place the slightest value on • louse vague SUM-
AtM mem like that of letal Shafteebtiry's at Weymouth, and as
tho licerety evidence It would Ite inadmlssable. .luet funcy his
.ter lonlehip Ming cross-examined on tient speech ; why it would
~,,,.. 1,41ap1• Illi., utter nothinegnes. Aid as to the quoits of Mr.
,ter entith OS to Where his lerdeltip get cony reason hpr doubting
Itie tenuity, I would refer hint to the highly painful terns.
a°• poielence with respect to hie lordship's exaseperatien about the
mad ~, Han mutiny in 1068, and about smother matter in 1861,
avid Whieh were reprinted in the Beehive of the Ist and oth of
skill Nevember last,
their I u.e the word painful advisedly, for it was to me a great
....,,, .11.rck to find my former belief in Lord Shaftesbury thus rudely
47 slyekmt, for soothe was bnetrebt up inure to respect hie melte
i 4`... thee I was, and I have always admired the harks aav in
Rona which he ha. stood up for enfashionable rel Won. But this
17 to enly made the matter all the more grave. We dwell not have
I this cared what statements were made by four out of five of the
, ea, Houle of l'eers, they would quickly have found their own level
gg. if they wore reirely fictitiotra But It is otherwise with Lord
nsvr Sheftesbury. Many people, like Rev R. Smith, will accept
a only what he stets as facto without the trouble of examialng for
It.. themselves It was this meson that deckled me to speak about
ant in It at Dorchester, Weymouth, and Wimboree, and Mr. Smith's
pe .4 biter Cony int= me that I acted rightiy. Let him, or any
reader interested In this :utter, read the whole details of MM
s cam in the Beehive from 11th, Oct. to bth Nov., inclusive, steel
'ek 'w I think that lie will then alter his estimate of Lord Shafts-
"milted bu.
A from Hryazelwood, Derbyshire. ./. ell A ILLES Cot.
supply