The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1868-06-30 00:00:00

Rad Conti! Cxpreo.

TUESDAY, JUNE 30. 1863.
NOTF.B OF THE WEEK.

The rejection by the House of Lords of Mr.
Gladatooe's Suspensory Bill ia a foregone epoueltuion.
The only quessiou raised on the subject has been
the majority which will be recorded in favour of the
Irish Church oetablialiment, and it is said this will
b. I.is than a hundred. But the Peers have
laboriously debated the subject, and with an ability
which doe,. them and the country credit. Mr.
Gladeone hiinseU did 'upset his Bill to pass the
Lord,s this esmion, and 00 001 else impeded it, who
can understand that other persons may con-
.....tioesly hold opinions antagonistie to his ORD,
and who knows anything of constitutional practice.
But no time has therefore been lost by the liberal
mrsy ; they have commenced "knocking at the
aoci, of the House of Lords," and though that door
Doff remains determinedly shut in their faces, it
must in due time be opened to their importunity if
they have the chance of continuing it. If a majority
the Irish Church is returned to the nest
against the
Commons,the Upper House will have to give
way. In all oonstitaticnal systems of Government
there are various cheeks sad oounterbelancing powers ;
but in all then is, or should be, • power which in
the long run must be supreme, not because it is
nominally superior, but beceuse it is stronger
in the sources of its authority. The House of
Commons is this power with us, and to it, as
coming fresh from its constituencies, to reiterate a
former vote, the other two estates of the realm must
always give way. To do the House of Lords
justice, it has in prsotios attempted to deny
this it is too well drilled in oonstitutional usage to
imitate the Legislative Council of the colony ef
Viotoria, and to place itself in obstinate opposition
to the people's representatives. The best evidence)
that it is not likely to do this is, that it has never
yet done so. Every memos insisted upon by the
House of °mamma, in which public opinion has
backed them up, has been accepted by the other
House. But it would be'poe thing to oppose the
will of the people as represented by the House of
Commons, and it is quite another to delay • question
. till the people's opinion upon it can be known.
Liberals may regret that there is • Conservative
majority among the Peers; but there being one,
that majority would *defy Reel( ills allowed to pees
• measure of which it disapproved, without being sum
that the voice of the country demanded such a oon•
ormion on their part. When this voice demands
soomedon, the Peers will know how to make it.
Lord Shaftesbury has introduced a Clerical Vest-
ments Bill into the Upper Home which would make
short work of the Ritualist.; but, of course, there is
no chance of such a measure passing this year. It
I. merely introduced as • formal way of promulgate
ing the views of his lordship's party with reference
to the Imislation required in this matter.
The Hour of Commons ia to be pitied, for having to
wade in the dirty waters of bribery at a time when
the solar heat makes tone hold one's nose at the very
sound of the w Ird "corruption," and hon, members
are making but slow progress in the unplemant task.
A fillip has been given to the subject by the exposure
of the means by which the "great Conservative
victory" was achieved at Seigel, but there seems
some danger lest the period of dissolution should
arrive before there ia passed • measure to make such
corrupt practices more difficult at least for the
future. _ . _ .

The Duke of Edinburgh arrived in this oountry
on Friday night, " quite well," and se might have
been anticipated, His Royal Highness lost no time in
prooseding to Windsor Castle, to aasure his anxious
mother by his presence that be had really returned
"sat. and sound." From the privacy of the Duke's
program homeward it is aspired that there is no
intention to allow any national welcome to be given
to him; although, of amino, the appearance of His
Royal Eighties@ in public will elicit • sponteneoue
sziecopoce ovation.
The pending dissolution of Parliament, and the
anxiously looks:14ot appeal to enlarged coosti-
tummies, ha. thus far occasioned but small stir in the
county of Donal; but • contest of &minor soil, that
has Just taken place, has provoked an amount of
anxious excitement, zealous canvassing, pungent
" election squibs," and an animated nomination day,
which may be regarded as a foretaste of the "joys"
In store for us during the fop of next November.
We refer to the filling up of the vacancy in
the surgical staff of the Dorset County
Hospital, which was practically decided last Satur-
day. Two candidates offered themselves for the
vacant poet, both of whom were formerly House
Surgeons at the Hospital, both were confessedly com-
petent men, and both were willing to devote them-
selves to the work, for the rake of the honour
attaching to it. To cheese between two such gen-
tlemen was a task of considerable difficulty, end •
mutest between two protesional gentlemen of

Dorchester, so universal; respected aaire Mr. Good
and Mr. reason, was most uncongenial to the feelings
of many of the governors. It was suggerted that
both candidates should be elected, and this
solution of the difficulty, so ample in itself,
and, iipperaitly Do highly calculated to be bene-
ficial to the hospital, at once oonitnended itself
to general aooeptance. Neither was there
pod argument wanting In support of the proposal,
for it was shown that onoe the commencement of the
hospital the number of beds in the institution has
been more than trebled, but the staff has received
nothing like a proportionate increase. Moreover,
two of the medical alloers came forward and stated
that additional help was required, and it has been
shown that one of them has for years expressed
himself to that effect All these circumstances
irresistably led ordinary minds to the conclusion,
that it would be lust in every way to appoint both
the gentlemen who had offered themselves. Bat,
we all know, that the fairest theories are sometime'
found very defective in their practical application ;
and, therefore, it was • matter of importance to
know the opinions of the committee of the hospital
—who must be the best judges of the requirements
of the institution—as to the proposed enlargement of
the surgical staff. It wassornewhat diroonoerting to
find that the chairman of the committee emphatically
opposed the appointment of a third surgeon as
unneoesuary, and that feeling was intensified
when it was stated that his views were
endorsed by • majority of the committee. Under
these Onomastics§ it was impossible to avoid
a contest on the subject, end, now that it is
finished, the only thing to be regretted about ills
, that it should have evoked so much of personal
rancour and party strife, as the speeches made on
Saturday, which appear in our oolanue to-day,
abundantly manifest. Much allowance is to be made
for addresses made in the excitement of an election,
' but, it seems to us that the " election squibs"
advertised in this and &cotter journal, called forth
an amount of tempestuous rhetoric which was to say
the least in very bad taste. To denounce the writer
of those lettere as "a Fenian who would shoot •
man from behind a wall for hall.a-crown," may be •
forcible figure of speenhAbut it to surely jut • little
too strong ; for if every anonymous writer is to be
branded as "a Fenian," wbat is to become of us poor
journalists, who, under the cloak of the anonymous,
constantly review the actions of public men and
public institution"? Bat, let us forget all the
hard words which were said, and hope that nothing
now remains of the feeling' which prompted them.
The fight is over, and the victory won. A decisive
majority of the governors have adopted the common.
genes view of the case, as it presented itself to
those who knew nothing of the under-currente
which were alined to have been set in motion. Two
good men oould[be had in the place of one, without
any expense to the hospital, and the governors
resolved to accept their aerates by 66 voices against
32, and 87 votes against 69, for the committee
failed to show that the appointment of two tarpons
would be prejudicial to the institution. We trust
that peace will now prevail, and that nothing more
of anger will be heard on the subject either
amongst the ...among or the medical staff of the
hospital. Banded together for promoting in this
county • noble work of charity, let as exhibit •
little charity amongst ourselves, swept the remit
cordially, forgive generously the unkind words and
thoughts the skunk has engendered, and forget all
differences entirely. Such a course will be honour-
able to all concerned, and we feel mare that it will
tend to promote the efficient working and usefulness
of the Dorset County Hospital.