The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1859-10-11 00:00:00

21rmu anb ab°.

In order to induoe skilled mechanics and handicrafts•
men to join the coryw of Royal Engineets, the authori-
ties have it in contemplation to raise the bounty money
now given to recruits from £3. the sum now handed to
each recruit in that branch of the service, to at least
double that amount.

The building of Her Majesty's 91-gun ship Bristol has
commenced at Woolwich, on the slip from which the
Galatea was recently launched, and is ordered to be car-
ried on with the utmost despatch. The Bristol will be
of the same dimensions as and in every respect similar
to the Anson, laid down at Woolwich in February last.
Her total length will be about :100 feet.
Since the Trudy, 14, vteam floating battery, returned
to her former moorings opposite Upnor Castle. Chatham,
she has undergone an examination in order to ascertain
the amount of injuries she met with during the experi-
ments that were made on her with the view of testing
her capabilities of resisting the effects of the shot tired
from the Armstrong cannons at Shoeburyness. The
result of the survey has demonstrated that this new
kind of iron-cased floating batteries presents compara-
tively no resistance whatever to the shots from the
Armstrong guns. Although the Trusty is covered with
massive wrought-iron plates, of extraordinary thickness,
yet every shut that struck them shivered the plates to
pieces and entered the vessel ;come of the shots, it is
evident from the examination, having passed through
the iron plates and beams of the battery on one side,
and through the timber and iron casing of the vessel on
the other. The battery presents the appearance of
having been most severely handles) ; and it is the unani-
mous opinion of the officers and others who have ex-
amined her that vessels of this class will be found to he
almost entirely useless when fired upon by guns of the
, Armstrong class.
The oennony of decorating • private of the Itoyal
' Marines with • medal for long service and meritorious
conduct took place at Chatham on Friday morning, in
the presence of a full parade of the officers anal imiemi of
that division, by order of the Lords of the Aduoimlty.
The battalion having been funned on the parade
ground, Private Wihliumu Barthrop was called to the
front, when he was addressed lay Col. G. E. Hunt, the
second commandant, who informed him that he had
been directed to present him with • Waiver medal, to-
gether with a gratuity of 15, which had been awarded
him by the Lords of the Admiralty for long service and
good conduct. After • few observations by Col. Hunt,
the medal was fastened to Private Barthiam'is brewit in
the presence of the entire division. Private William
Barthrup has served in the corps of Royal Marines for
the long period of 23 year*, during the whole of which
period his character and conduct have been most exem-
plary. He will shortly be discharged on a well earned
pension.
bra W. AItIINTRONG.I4 GUNI4.—In order to benefit by
the advanced progress of Sir W. Armstrong's rifled ord-
nance factory at Woolwich, it has been decialest at a
meeting of the select committee of the Arsenal, to manu-
facture forthwith, at the Elswick and Woolwich facto-
ries, a large number of rifled guns of various sizes—viz.,
of 190, 59, 25, 12, and 6 pound calibre—to carry the
elongated shot and shell. It is said to be in contempla.
tion to complete with as little delay as pomade a nem-
bar of 12 and 6-pountiers to be reserved for transmission,
if required on any future emergency, by the overland
conveyance to China for gunboat use. Gun-carriages,
intended for Sir W. Armstrong's 12 and 6-pound guns,
are in course of construction on an improved principle,
suggested by Colonel Tullult, superintendent of the royal
carriage department. The new carriages are fitted with
mechanical appliances, under the control of a single
gunner seated on the limber, so as to point the gun in
any direction, and elevate or reduce the range
without laoour or exertion. A sample carriage it the
alsave named description has been employed on trial, and
approved.

Paine PRAHA:I7I4.—Mo month of October in taken '
by general consent as the period of agricultural meetings.
During the next few weeks we shall see repeated in'
several score of little towns in England the degrading
spectacle of poor old men and women, in the evening of
their years and strength, called op before the gaze of •
large audience to receive wawa paltry dole under the
name of • reward for a life of honest industry. Old
Peter Jones, who has served one waster since the date
of the battle of Trafalgar, will receive sonic society's
" First Prize," consisting of & sovereign and • pair of
breeches. Sally Smith, eighty odd years of age, and
half paralytic, will for similar devotedness, be allowed
to mumble her thanks on the receipt of ten shillings and
• blue apron, to which there may be added by private
munificence the gift of a Witney blanket. All this—
the calling up of the recipients, the presentation of the
gratuity, and the acknowledgement of the poor creatures'
thanks—will be performed with • serious pomposity
which would be ridiculous if men of heart and feeling
could bring themselves to laugh at an exhibition so
humiliating. The promoters of theme so-called prizes no
doubt believe that they are doiug service to the labourer
and advancing the interest of the country; but we must
say that if there is any sight of which }sighslnnen need
be ashamed, if there be anything in our institutions
which we would gladly hide from the eye of &foreigner,
it is that greyheaded men are rewarded with • few
shillings by wealthy proprietors fur long lives of toil,
and that they are so poor and humble and reduced as
not to spurn the coin. If these societies ars founded,
among other purposes, to raise the character of the
Peasant, to teach him self-respect and self reliance, to
show him that all the community is bound together as
one body, and that any member, however poor and
lowly, has his position and his rights—if the ploughman
or carter is to be taught the dignity of labour, and made
to feel that he may hand down a name on which no slur
can be cast, even though his sou should rise to be a
German), or a Judge, or a Bishop bow, we would ask
are these great moral objects to be attained by snaking
poor men and women undergo ceremonies the very
recollection of which calls the blood into the cheeks of
any snan of feeling We wou!d fain believe that the
beet and most sensible of our landholders are opposed to
these foolish and degrading displays: but the thing has
been established; it feeds the vanity of some, the ill-
judging benevolence of others, and so it goes on. In
many of these cases the master is, with the best inten-
tions, a party to the puerile and offensive display. If
he could feel that to exhibit Iris old servant shambling
up to • set of burly fanner, and touching his few grey
hairs in due acknowledgement for an ill-made garment
with brass buttons, was • slur OA his own dignity and
benevolence, we should hive a better hope that agricul-
tural societies would cease to go beyond their pale by
pretending to reward moral merit. A ceremony which
lends itself naturally to the caricaturbts, and is scarcely
alluded to in conversation, except with a scornful laugh,
is not one to be persisted in by either philanthropist, or
men of business, or gentlemen.