The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1881-01-18 00:00:00

MR. WARTON'S REPLY.

Our reale s will remember reading the •eport of the
meeting c nvened at the Town Hall, on the Bth December
last, under the auspices of the " Central ansociation for
stopping the 'ale of lotoxicatin: I.iquors on Sundays."
At that meeting, in spite of a oisferous element, several
resolutions were unati.mously catrie and woong oth •is
the following, which WAS signed by the Ma“ar, who pre-
sided, on behalf of the meeting. This resolution, in the
form of a memorial, was as follow: "That the follow.
jog memorial be sinel by the chairman and forwarded
to C. N. Wart ,n, Esq., M.P., Hon. W. H. B. Portman,
M.P., Col the Hon. E. T. Dit.thy, M.P., and John Plover,
Esq., M.P., the metuorial of a public nveting of the
inhabit nta of Bridport bold in the Town Hall on We Ines.
day, Dec mber, Bth, 1881), sheanth that your memoraliste
believe that the male of intoxicating liquors on Sunday is
a fruitful source of intemperance, domestic misery,
pauperism, and crime. That it is injurious to those who
are engaged in the traffic, to their families, and their
servants ; that it in unjust to other trades, because on the
day following that on which the waeu of the country
are usually paid, the liquor traffic has the monopo y of the
profit from the expenditure of those wages.
;. . . . _

-"
Th rt your meinorialista believe that the stopping of
the sale of b toxicating liquor. on Sunday, except in the
case of lorlger.r, arid bona Ms travellers, would be produc-
tion of great benetibi to this 'credits% and to the country
in general, and earnestly request iota to give your
persistent support ti a bill for this object."

The au hic;iiled -cautious-- reply has just been
received :

"How. of Commons,
"703 January, 11381.

_
"Dear Sir,—l have this day taken the earliest possible
opportunity of presenting the petition which you did me
the honour to send me. Accoiupanying that petition was
a memorial asking me to support its prayer. While
honouring as! heartily do the motives of the petitions, I
must randidly say that I cannot support the prayer of th •
petition. Ido not now give my reasons, because I do not
a ish ta enter lot tcontroversy with any of my constituents.
I shall most propahly, should the questi ~,, arise, state those
rests snit from my place in the House. I ante to you in
your rowicitv of chairman. or representative of the meeting,
from wlt ch the petition awl the mew ntial • manated, in
full reliance upon your exercisimr that court. sy which will
lent you to take whatever me ills may seem lest to you to
convey to the petit tonera awl the niemor.alist. my sense of
the honour they hove done me, ond to express to them my
regret that I caanot do more tor them in this matter than
I have done— viz., to have pre•ente.l the petition.—l am.
dear sir, your aithful servant, U. N. WARTON.
"To Charles FAmunds, Fast., ic, ec., tc., Mayor of
Bridpert, D.irtet. "

. The cowardly attack on the police. on Saturday, the
Ist, remains fresh in the recollection of all who
witne.sed it, and the verdiet of the majority of the
public is that the scene an+ a mat disgraceful ..no.
It is needless to go into the facts detailed above, but
it is fair to say that the constable, who ha. since
resigned, was unnaturall.. and unmercifully trea•ed,
and that it is unfair to lay the blame and responsibility
of the affair upon him. Statements have been made
which tend to accose the constable of being in an
intoxicated condition, hut the belief that he wad
purposely drugged is as stedfastly entertained. How-
ever that may be, the is.ue is much to be regretted.
There is no doubt but that there are a few who hold
a grudge against a policeman for no other reason than
because he is a policeman, and hasten to avail them-
selves of revenge on such ,cc 'done with impartial
severity. Even when a policeman acts with reckless
tyr.u.ny, it is hardly fair to attack an undefended
man, for fifty to one are, to say the least of it, fearful
odds. I should presume that if a constable, or any
other public servant exceed a duty, a way is open to
the public fr coinplaint, the facts of which would be
fairly heard, and the offender punished. Under all
circumstances the much-t.-be-regretted events of
Saturday may pass unnoticed, but it is well that
those who may not hesitate to join in a like attack, to
be aware that future raids upon the force will not be
perpetrated without subsequent and merited punish-
ment.

When the November fogs bring on influenza, and
the December cold keeps the •.i.o.shy" at their firesides,
many of them ruminate over their annual accounts,
and are happy in their element because the
world, I sit of doors and in, goes well with them. Yet
some of them do not remain satisfied with their
ruminations, but call friends and neighbours together,
and by those cosy firesides are held, so to speak,
" Inquests for the poor." Utterance is given to stray
thoughts as to how the shivering brethren are getting
on outside; so the theories are carried into practice,
the donors feeling it a good thing to relieve necessity.
Now, without due consideration it is a somewhat
difficult task to disponi-, even charity without
repressing the springs of self-reliance or self-exertion.
But many overcome this difficulty without a deal of
trouble, and without finding that they have rewarded
imposture or ingratitude for their pains, leaving out
that the mote of doing it sets a g•ssl example. The
poor am o grateful for the help afforded them (I am
speaking more especially of the receivers from the
soup-kitchen), and as the supply is voluntary in the
part of the giver, the receiver can accept without
humiliation. Existing examples of this are the
distributions if soup, twice a woek, by Miss Legg.
And the th oghtful kindness of Misses and Miss
Montagu to the Union children, of whom, with your
permission, Mr. Editor, I should like to say a little
next week. These ladies deserve more encomiums
than in my power lies to give them. Only the po,r
themselves know how much these modicums of
iroo gladden and relieve them. The dole of soup
may be destin,d to fee I the children of the bread-
winner who is out of employment, er carried to the
bed.side of a past-labour sufferer, whose day of energy
has past, and the vessel of welcome steaming soup
comes in the shape id another weapon with which to
ward off the demon—Want. And all praise to those
who remember the children of the Workhouse, who
are refreshed and gladdened by the annual benevolence
at those hearts who are moved to pity for their sad fate.