The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1861-07-16 00:00:00

DORSET COUNTY EXPRESS

DORCHESTER. TUESDAY, JULY 16, 1961.

NOTES OF THE WEEK.

Tim intelligence from America down to the end
of June, shows that the war fever on both sides
is rapidly abating. Petitions are being got up
to President Lincoln, praying for a settlement of
the quarrel, either by calling a convention of the
States, or by acknowledging the Southern
Confederacy. The New ark Herald, which a
short time since urged that the war should be
prosecuted against the Southerners with the
utmost vigour, now asserts that it is the height
of folly for people of the same country to go to
war with each other, and recommends an
armistice • at the same time urging the formation
of a coalition between the North and the South
for the purpose of carrying out the ambitious
chimera of the annexation of Mexico the
acquisition of Dominica, the conquest of Canada
and the British and Spanish West India Islands,
and the revolutionising of Cuba and Port Rico."
As we anticipated a few weeks since, the
blockade of the Southern ports by Federal ships,
begins to react most seriously on the Northern
States, preventing the disposal of their crops
and impeding commerce. The New York Daily
News says that " farmers are unable to dispose of
their produce; factories are everywhere closed;
hundreds of thousands of labourers have been
dismissed from employment; in the midst of
plenty multitudes are on the verge of starvation
and merchants are becoming bankrupt to such
an extent that the banks are compelled to refuse
most of the paper offered for discount." This
may be a somewhat exaggerated picture of the
real state of affairs, but it somewhat accounts
for the fact that although hostile armies are
lying encamped within sight of each other,
neither party seems disposed to commence
hostilities. . .

It is at all tames dangerous to speculate on the
events of a new reign. The old proverb about
the new broom sweeping clean must be borne in
mind, and one ought to reflect how many
monarchs have ascended the throne amid the
hopes of mankind, and with good intentions on
their part, and yet, after a short term of good
behaviour, have sunk below the level of their
predecessors. Such may, possibly, be the
destiny of the new Sultan, notwithstanding the
high hopes that have been raised by the energy
which he has displayed in sweeping away some
of the worst abuses of the preceding reign. For
a Prince who has spent his days in seclusion,
and who has been kopt by the traditional
jealousy of his House, the conduct of Sultan
Abdul-Aziz is most gratifying. No sooner has
the new rulers seized the reigns of power than
Turkey, if the news which comes to us be true,
has found that she is under the dominion of a
strong mind. One cause of ruin above all others
was present to her—a cause which threatens
Mnssulmans and Christians equally, and is as
fatal to the sway of conquering races as to the
fabric of greatness erected by trading commu-
nities. The Turkish Empire was sinking every
day deeper in the abyss of bankruptcy. The
extravagance of the late Sultan, which, it seems,
will prove to surpass every estimate which has
been made of it by the most angry censor—au
extravagance which has made away with millions,
and which, as it were, radiated a spirit of
recklessness throughout the whole of society,
has reduced Turkey to • state more dangerous
than that under which she laboured when the
Sultan's authority was defied by subordinates or
threatened by the power of Russia. Now, how-
ever, we hear the announcement of a great
change; and though the report may not be true
that the present Sultan has announced that he
will be the husband of only one wife, it is clear
that the new Sultan has sense enough and
rigor enough to rid himself of the most burden-
some Court which ever weighed upon an
Empire, while the Imperial rescript which he
has put forth confirms the concession made by the
late government to all classes of his subjects.
The preparations of our continental friends
for the International Exhibition of 1862 are being
pursued with a vigour that augurs well for its
triumphant success. The superintendence of
the arrangements in France is being taken up
by the authorities in a spirit oommensurare with
the requirements of the omission. A few days
since the Corps Legislatiff unanimously voted
the sum of 1,200,000 f., or about £50,000 for the
expenses of the French portion of the Exhibition.
An Imperial commission, composed of men of
the highest eminence, has been appointed, and
holds it. sittings in the Pedals l'lndustrie, under
the presidency of M. Le Play. In other countries
we find the most eminent men engsging with
equal activity in the work. The Crown Prince
of Prussia, in announcing to Lord Granville, as
Chairman of Mg Majesty's Commissioners in