The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1875-02-02 00:00:00

J3orset Cottutq EXilterfi.

TURSDAY. FEBRUARY 2, MR

NOTES OF THE WEEK.

The Liberal party will choose their leader on
the 3rd of February, and it seems most likely
that their choice will fall on Lord Hartington.
His speech at Lewes was in his favour. He
advocates union on general principles and agree-
ment to differ on minor matters, and deprecates
any individual or suction of the party insisting
, on united effort for any one particular crochet.
"The time of opposition," he says, "is the
, time of freedom," but he thinks that neverthe-
less the Liberal party can be re-united and
powerful, relying on the good sense of the
people. Acting on this broad policy seems to
be the only coune at present open to the
Opposition.

Mr. 13right's second great speech at Birming-
ham shows, amongst other things, that he intends
now to devote his efforts in the direction of the
disestablishment and disendowment of the
Church of England. It will be seen that he has
made another onslaught upon it. This looks
like plan and purpose. The other leading
feature of this last speech is his opposition to
what is called working men representation. He
shows clearly enough that there is no occasion
for anything of the kind, and that the House of
iCommons, for many years past at least, has had
, most powerful representatives of that class with-
out absolutely belonging to it, and he himself,
by the way, is not the least powerful of the
party. Mr. Bright, however, did not touch
upon the chief point in connection with the
election of working men to the House of Com-
mons, and indeed this point is one that every-
body seems to shirk. There is nothing to
prevent the election of working men, and never
has been since the abolition of property qualifi-
cation, except—though at first sight it seems
anomalous—money. A genuine working man
cannot afford the legal expenses of canvassing
and election, or the cost of maintewsnoe as a
member of Parliament; and if a man can afford
these, he is not a working man in the usual
sense of the word. It follows, therefore, that if
a constituency want such a representative the
electors must find the money for his candidature
and pay him a salary while he is their repre-
sentative. This is really the gist of the whole
question. We have heard it said that Mr.
Bright is making himself unpopular with the
working classes by speaking in this strain. Not
at all. There is not, we verily believe, one
working man in a hundred who really desires
the election of one of his own class.

Mr. Gladstone cannot complain that he ha 3
been treated with ingratitude by the different
sections of his own party even if the fickle
majority of public opinion did turn against him.
Nothing but regret has been heard from Liberals
of all sections at his retirement; and even the
Labour Representation League (which seems to
exist for any purpose rather than to obtain the
direct representation of labour in Parliament, as
it started to do) has passed a resolution express-
ing deep regret at the retirement of Mr. Glad-
stone from the leadership of the Liberal party,
and gratitude for the many services which ho
has rendered to the cause of progress. Grati-
tude is perhaps an unknown quality in politics
of the highest order, but it is pleasant to think
that one of our quali political associations can
still recognize that virtue.

The lock-out of colliers and ironworkers in I
South Wales will be perhaps the greatest
struggle that over occurred between Capital and
Labour. On the side of the latter it affects
some 120,000 "hands," representing at least
four times as many persons, including women
and children. And with some 50,000 of these
workers the masters have no direct cause of
peered, since they are either ironworkers not
, involved in the dispute, or colliers who have
returned to work at the reduction proposed.
But, as it is necessary to stop the works alto-
gether in order to conquer the malcontent
majority of the men, the unoffending minority
must suffer. Truly those labou- wars are
assuming vast dimensions, and it is time that
something were done to make them unnecessary.
Mr. Hawkins, Q.C., was offered the Judge.
ship vacated by tho retirement of Mr. Justice
Keating, but he declined the honour, his real
'reason, it is said, being that he was unwilling to
sacrifice income, for his earnings are consider-
ably larger as a Queen's Counsel than they
would be as a Judge; and Mr. Field, Q.C.,
has accepted the appointment. Talking
of Counsel's income, we may here remark
that Mr. Sergeant Ballantine has so fine a
practice that the Guicowar of Baroda —of whom
till lately few people had heard, but who has
now become a notability—had to be liberal in
retaining his professional men :cos. The learned
sergeant is now on his way to India to defend
the aforesaid Guicowar from the charge of
poisoning Colonel Phayre. The celebrated
lawyer is to receive a foe of 10,000 guineas,
which is pretty well, seeing that he will be
absent only about four months at the most.

Mr. Gladstone has always been understood to
be in favour of the inviolability of the marriage
bond, and opposed to the law of divorce; and it
is said that he is engaged on a work on marriage
viewed from religious and ecclesiastical stand
points.