The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1859-04-26 00:00:00

DORSET COUNTY EXPRESS

DORCHESTER, TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 18:0.

HONESTY, AUDA X.

AUSTRIA has virtually declared war against
Sardiiiia. The Cabinet of Vienna, after assent-
ing to the proposals of England for a general
disarmament, has declined to admit the Italian
States to the Congress on conditions to which all
the other great Powers, as well as Sardinia, have
assented. It has, moreover, directed the Aus-
trian commander in Lombardy to present an
ultimatum to Sardinia demanding her immediate
disarmament and the disbanding of her volunteer
corit, with the alternative of a declaration of
war at the expiration of three days from the
reception of the summons. At the same time,
two more divisions of the Austrian army, com-
prising 80,000 men, have been ordered to the
Ticino, so that at the expiration of the pre-
scribed period, Austria will have A force of
200,000 men ready to cross that river and march
upon Turin. On the receipt of this important
news in Paris on Thursday afternoon four
divisions of the army of Paris were despatched
by railway to Toulon, and orders were sent to
the divisions of the Lyons army to march itnme-
diately to the Piedmontese frontier. On the
same afternoon a Cabinet Council was held in
London, the result of which is indicated by the
statement of the Times that "the same wires
which told us of the demand which General
GYULAI has made by direction of his Imperial
master, have by this time carried to the Court
of Vienna the strongest protest of England
against this hasty and haughty menace." It is
not supposed that Sardinia will entertain the
ultimatum of Austria, and if the protest of
England be disregarded, there is little doubt that
before Monday morning (yesterday) the Aus-
trian army would have crossed the frontier.
Later news states that General DELLA MARYORA,
the Sardinian Commander, has informed the
French Government, by telegraph, that the
Austrian army has already made a significant
movement on the strategical line of the Ticino,
and that ho feared being attacked at any
moment. The latest intelligence up to the
hour of going to press merely brings telegrams
confirmatory of the extremely threatening
aspect of affairs, but it is at this moment not
known whether war has actually commenced.
The Prorogation of Parliament took place on
Tuesday by commission. The QuEEN's Speech,
which was very brief, stated that it was her
MAJY-sTY'S intention to dissolve the present
Parliament, with a view to enable her people to
express, in the mode prescribed by the Constitu-
tion, their opinion on the state of public affairs ;
and that this appeal had been rendered necessary
by the difficulties experienced in carrying on the
business of the country, as indicated by the fact
that within little more than a year two successive
Adminittrations have failed to retain the confi-
dence of the House of Commons. A Privy
Council was held at Windsor Castle at which the
dissolution on Saturday was formally declared.
The election for the boroughs will take place on
Friday next, and for the counties on the Monday
following.

Ir the moral responsibility of the electors of
this kingdom is at al times great, it must be
especially so at this moment when called upon
to discharge their duty in a variety of circum-
stances of an important and conflicting character.
If the state of parties in the House of Commons
is such that no strong Government can be formed
—that successive Ministries are to be shaken
and displaced from year to year, it is not at all
surprising that when a dissolution arrives the
Sovraxiosi should announce her royal will and
pleasure in that behalf with something of a
rebuke administered to the expiring Parliament
for the want of a better understanding amongst
the members of the House of Commons, upon
which the Government of the country might be
carried on with something like steadiness and
consistency. The opinion of the people is, then,
once again sought by the Queen as an expression
in favour, or otherwise, of the Derby Administra-
tion. That opinion is necessarily of considerable
importance just now—when continental nations
are on the eve of a bloody war, and when the par-
ticipation or non-interference of England must
be a subject of gent caution and the most grave
deliberation. Besides these momentous foreign
questions, there are questions of domestic policy
of scarcely less importance, and which are now
pressing with much earnestness for satisfactory
settlement at the hands of the Legislature.
Then, looking at all these things, we repeat that
the proper exercise of the electoral franchise—
the conscientious, intelligent expression of
decided political opinion—as found in the use
made by the people of their electoral privileges
—is a matter, if possible, of greater urgency at
the present moment than for many years past :
and it cannot be denied that the first proof of
fitness on the part of the people for an extension
of the suffrage must be sought for in the use
made of the political power already within their
grasp. The grand plea for an extension of this
political power is advancing intelligence and
increasing education among the people; and
this plea cannot be better supported than by the
exhibition of clear perceptions of leading political
principles, with a straightforward course and a
manly resolution in the enforcement of those
principles.

These reflections very naturally bring us to
the state of political opinion in such boroughs
as Dorchester, which opinion being represented
by two gentlemen of opposite views, is neces-
sarily, in its effect upon the legislation of the
country, null and void—as completely so indeed
as though the borough were altogether disfran-
chised. We feel persuaded that the respectable
burgesses of this good old town have never pro-
perly reflected upon the position in which they
place themselves by becoming willing parties to
a compact, in which good sense and political
integrity are alike offended—on the one hand, by
an unnatural coalition, and, on the other, by an
act of self-stultification and a virtual abnega-
tion of political rights. Such is the position in
which the electors of this borough, who give one
vote to Mr. &roar and the other to Mr.
SHRRIDAN, are unquestionably placed. They
will, however, endeavour to excuse themselves
by the fact of the election being uncontested,
sad the pleasure they feel in dividing their
favours between these two gentlemen, both of
whom must, for want of opposition, inevitably