The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1875-09-28 00:00:00

Illin3tt entultti Express.

TUESDAY, SEPTEKBER 91& ISt&

NOTES OF TEIE WEEK.

It is not often that our humble town of Dor-
chester is honoured by a pamphlet all about
itself, and therefore we ought to welcome
"Church Needs in Dorchester" (a letter to the
Churchwardens of the parish of Holy Trinity,
by a Dorchester Churchman) as an acknow-
ledgment of our importance as a county town ;
but when we come to look into the "Needs of
Dorchester," we are struck by the absence of
any mention of what is important, and the sug-
gestion of remedies that are curious for their
absurdity. As to the endowmenta of some of
the parishes, we have no doubt that the
Incumbents of them would gladly accept a
practical remedy for their "needs" in the shape
of a larger income instead of which the writer
, thinks that a little extra work would do quite
as well. The evident intention of the pamphlet
is the introduction of Daily Service and Weekly
Communion, by a combined action of all the
clergy. The writer, who speaks of Roman
Catholics and Nonconformists as "all trusting
in one Saviour" (evidently ho has never heard of
Mariolatry), may be excused for suggesting such
a combination. But reasoning men believe
that there is an eternal difference between
Truth and Error, that Light and Darkness
cannot unite; and Christians are warned "to
have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of
darkness," and therefore such a combination
between men who believe what they preach and
do not preach alike, is simply impossible.
Evidently the writer is one of those unhappy
people who have nothing to do, and who can
from experience deeply sympathise with Dr.
Moberly s mild plea for daily service, one of
those who are glad to have any excuse for getting
rid of their time; who will attend every
meeting, whatever the object; take part in every
committee, and bore the members to death; go
to every service in every Church. Be it so; but
it is rather hard that clergymen should be kept
at a round of useless duties, simply to amuse
such idle unprofitable cumberers of the ground.
As to the Weekly Communion, the writer
forgets that it is illegal to attend the Lord's
Supper in any but the parish church, i.e., if the
law be pressed; and so to meet his idea of our
needs, it must be administered in every church
on every Sunday. "When a church hath back-
slidden furthest in matters of doctrine and lively
and spiritual worship, then she will be most
forward to devise and observe ceremonies of
her own wherewith to serve God ;" sensible
words though written A.D. 1857. One of
the greatest needs in Dorchester in the Church
is a more intelligent and spiritual use of her
services, not the multiplication of them : a
%consideration of the language used, and a con-
formity of feeling to that language. What good
to pastor or people to speak to God what they
do not mean; to say "Amen" to prayers with which
they cannot sympathise, and then go away and
think they have worshipped God. Experience
shows that nothing so hardens the conscience,
and renders a man so insensible to the influence
of true religion, as the continual repetition of
words of prayer without the sympathy of the
heart. Therefore, wo are not so anxious to see
Daily Service in the town, nor does it make us
very desponding to consider that if it depends
upon the combination of tlim durgy, we shall
have to wait for it a long time. A much better
plan would be that the clergy who can preach
the gospel or expound Scripture, and who love
the work, should continue to do it ; and that
they who have no taste for it, should perform
daily service and so the requirements of all
parties would be met.
The letter announcing that the Admiralty will
give pecuniary assistance to Mrs. Stokes and
Mrs. Turner was not written until a public appeal
had been made on their behalf, on the ground
that no intimation of assistance from those who

caused the catastrophe had been received. The
promise now given has lost all the grace of spon-
taneity, and with that has lost half its value.
And further, it is clogged with hard conditions.
Both widows are told that they must undertake
not to bring forward hereafter any claim upon
Her Majesty's Government on behalf of them-
selvw or their families in respect to their loss ;
the effect of which is that by accepting the
proffered help with this condition, they forego
the chance of far larger damages in case the
officers of the Alberta should hereafter be

adjudged responsible for the accident, while' if
they refuse the terms, and the verdict be in
favour of those officers, the Admiralty would not
be likely to repeat the offer.
Our Parliament out of session has been largely
engaged on educational schemes, upper, lower,
and middle class of various kinds. The Marquis
of liartington has been spe.iking on the subject
at Nottingham, Earl Fortesetie down in Devon,
and Mr. Gladstone has twice laid the woodman's

axe at the root of the tree of popular ignorance
—at Chester and at Ilawarden. But by far the
most remarkable speech was that of Mr. Cross
at /null. It was something like that of Balsam :
invited by the Church and Conservative party
to curse the compulsory and Board School
system, he ended in blessing it altogether. His
words are ominous of something like a new de-
parture of the Conservative leader on the educa-
tion question. Having educated his party to
accept household suffrage, he evidently intends
them to adopt another clause of the Radical
charter. The speech of the Hume Secretary was
strikingly in accord with that delivered at Dor-
chester by Mr. Floyer, on the same subject :
Mr. Cross, indeed, follows not only the line of
thought, but almost the very expressions used
by our senior county member. The views of
Mr. Cross are expressed with convincing force in
the following passage :
" Hew children are to he got into the school is a
problem which, of couree, twist be solved, and I
earnestly implore you to solve it for yourselves. The
State has said that there shall be school accommodation
for every child. Throughout the length and breadth
of this country do you think when the schools are
built and the State finds that they are not filled, it will
be content to rest there? The State at present says,
' We give you time to show that you yourselves will
send your children to • school where there is no School
Board. Take advantage of the opportunity, or, depend
upon it, the State will before hog again interfere and
see that the children are brought to schooL' And is
this not plain reasoning? You .lo not allow a parent
to let his child go into the streeti without clothes, for
the make of decency; on do n..t allow a parent to let
his child if he can affonl it, go into the street without
food, for the sake of humanity ; and what right has a
man to let his child go into the Amite without educa-
tion, and become • prey to all the criminals who are
about him, and distress and woi ry to others, and of
enormous expense to the country, for he is sure to
become a criminal? You cannot, in reason, suppose
that a man, not sending his child to school, has a nght
to neglect to teach him any more than he has to feed
and clothe him. If he does not do it he must be made
to do it; and the question you are to solve is whether,
without asaltance from the State, you can succeed in
getting your children to school, for at school they must
be, and the State ham • right to take oar* that it is not
flooded with persons who an living a life of crime and
misery to all around them."
Mr. John Tomlinson Hibbert, who hag after
all come forward as a Liberal candidate for
Blackburn, is one of the Liberals whose defeat
at the general election WM most regretted. He
came first into prominence during the debates on
Mr. Disraeli's last Reform Bill, and displayed so
much tact and good sense that when the changes
took place at the Local Government (then the
Poor Law) Board, consequent on Mr. Gosehen's
trasference to the Admiralty, Mr. Hibbert was
1111141 e Parliamentary Secretary of the Board, and
acquitted himself very well. Before the late
Government left office he was made a Privy
Councillor. He is used to close fights. He
stood for Oldham in 1857, on the death of Mr.
Platt, and there were three Liberal candidates
for the seat; yet, so strong was the Liberal party
there at this time, that no Conservative stood
against them. Mr. Fox won, mid Mr. Hibbert
was third. In 1862 he wae elected without a
contest. In 1865 he was opposed by the two
gentlemen who now represent Oldham, but beat
them, being returned at the head of the poll. By
the Reform Bill the constituency was increased
about six-fold, and then followed a very severe
contest, so close that between Mr. Hibbert, who
was at the head of the poll, and Mr. Spinks, who
was fourth, there was a difference of only 56
votes, Last year the constituency had again
greatly increased, and on that occasion Mr.
Ribbed was 144 votes behind Mr. Cobbett, in a
total of 16,938 votes. At Blackburn, for which
he is now standing, the contest was even closer,
there being but 13 votes difference between the
second candidate, Mr. Briggs, and the third, Mr.
Thwaites, who is now offering !Mined again.
The signs are increasing that the Conservatives
will be found quite disposed to pronounce in
favour of Household Suffrage in the Counties
whenever a fitting opportunity for doing so
arrives. The Juleu hull, which occasionally
receives mum front Downing-street,
announced in a recentissue that the party would
be prepared to consider the question, and that
in all probability a bill on the subject would be
introduced, and this now receives confirmation
in the Standard, which, referring to the Liberal
demonstration at Newcastle, remarks that
whereas the late Government is divided on this

question, and do not see their way to an enfran-
chisement of the agricultural labourer, the !
Conservatives "have no reason whatever to
shrink from it, and they are fully alive to the fact
that the enfranchisement of the peasantry would
bring an enormous reinforcement to the voting
strength of the country party." Probably there
is no intention of dealing with the matter next
Session, nor has any delinits decision been
formed as to when such a measure ought to be
introduced. But when the matter is raised by
the Opposition the Ministry will no doubt make
it apparent that they do not mean to allow it to
pass out of their hands. Such a Reform Bill will,
of course, involve a largo redistribution of politi-
cal power, and the Conservatives will take
care to have the manipulation of the new
constituencies.
- -

The Serapis left Spithead on Sunday for
Malta, and the Royal paddle-yacht Osborne
steamed from Portsmouth on Monday afternoon
for Gibraltar and thence for Brindisi, where sho
embarks the Prince of Wales, his Royal High-
ness travelling from Venice to that port by
railway. The Osborne took out a few personal
friends of the Prince of Wales who are not on
the Staff or in any official way connected with
the Royal excursion. From the latest itenarary
of tho Royal progress, we find that the Prince
Nvill be engaged for nearly five months in visiting
various parts of India, remaining longest at
Bombay and Calcutta, though at these places less
than a fortnight. The first visit will be to
Bombay, November 8; and the last to Sattara,
March 19. Luoknow, Cawnporo, Delhi, and
other spots made memorable by the Mutiny,
are amongst the places to be visited.