The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1872-01-23 00:00:00

norrat Conutti Cxfrtoo.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 23, 1872.

NOTES OF THE WEEK.

The announcement that the Queen will attend
in State a Special Thanksgiving Service at St.
Paul's will be everywhere received with plea-
am a for many reasons. First, on account
of the convalescent* of the Prince, then
because it is • fitting acknowledgment of the
national blessing, and also because it is associated
With evidence of the full recovery of the Queen
herself, when it seemed probable that anxiety
during the Prince's illness would have still further
impaicel her health. All that is wanted to Com-
plete thc gratifying anticipations of this event
Is an intimation that the Prince himself will be
able to be present, and this, it would seem, is
probable. The physicians have taken formal
leave, but they consider another month's recruit-
ing of strength will be needed before the Prince
can leave his home. He apparently contemplates,
as his first act, going .to London and with
Her Majesty returning thanks publicly for
his preservation, and thus the day remains un-
certain until the progress of his recovery is seen.
The enthusiasm that will be manifested on the
auspicious occasion, should the Prince himself be
present, will be no doubt without a parallel.
••-- • • •

In the 'meanwhile, a special form of thanks-
giving was on the 18th ordered to be prepared
by the Archbishop of Canterbury for use in all
the churches of the English Establishment, and
the Privy Council, according to precedent, ca-
balled the Established church of Scotland and
the Spiscupal coluniunion of that country to j
in the thanksgivings of the church of England.
No command or request is sent to Ireland, it
will be observed, the Anglican church there being
now loos soknowlaigod by the Stith than the
Episcopal church in Scotland. But though they
are not formally commanded or Joked to return
thanks to God for the Prince's recovery, Irish
ministers of all denominations will not be found
wanting in interpreting the gratitude of their con-
gregations for a blessing which now, in all human
probability, is assured to us.
The first Cabinet Council of the new year was
held on Friday, and no doubt the programme of
the session was thcn discussed, as well as a few
other little matters which are likely to require
the attention of Ministers, if not to embsirsis
them. By this time the various departments
must have practically complete 1 their various
proposed measures, and the question for Cabinet
Councils to mettle is, how many of these measures
shall be proceeded with, and hew many deferred,
in order to prevent the deadlocks win& occurred
last session. With the Ballot Bill to come up
again, with various other arrears to fetch up,
and with the question of Primary Education both
I' 3 affecting England and Ireland to disco we
need not expect any great legislative novelties
to be referred to in the Queen's speech at the
opening of Parliament (which it is hoped Her
Majesty will deliver in person); but apart from
ler station, there will be some subjects for the
speech which will be very acceptable to its com-
k4)..Tismancha as the happy t recovery
&very of
ItilliestiPtrubleeonft
of our differences with the Ccited States.

On the other hand, there are several subjects
which are likely to cause considerable discussion
in Parliament, but which are not likely to be
mentioned ;a the -Royal Speech. For ; istanee
the appointment of Sir Robert Collier to the
Judicial Committee of the PHI/ Council, which
M. Fawcett prorr;sesto divide the House upon
if no one else 11, and the lose of the Megtera.
On the former matter the " Daily News" of
Raturday had an article which show( .1 some
symptoms of trepidation, and the possibility of
the retirement of the Lord Chancellor or of the
Ministry in -01 iequeuce of a vote on the subject
wes r knitted. As for the load the Megasra, it
might have t um& valuable one for Indy purpc see
if it ha I not been been already done to death;
and if the public will not take any interest in the
proceedings 1 ;fore the Maguire Comm'ssion
(which promises to last as long as the Tichbo.is
trial), it is not to be expected that much will be
got by 11 );:ag a dead dog" onco more in
Parliament,

In a week in which Mr. Faweett, Mr,
Roebuck, aud Mr. Horsman have had the public
ear, we may be sure to find many fine illustra-
tions ot knock-down oratory. The member for
Brighton ou the whole, however, was moderate.
It Will to 13 expected that one of the trio who
opposed the dem) of the Princess Louise, for
which 1.., was specially thanked by his oon•
stituentr, should come to Sir Charles Dilke's
help, though even Mr. Faweett finds things in
the Newcastle speech which he disapproves. It
was not, however, to be expected that the Pro-
testor would say that at least as much harm was
done by cal:testae tobacco-smoking as by excessive,
dru,k nig, because it is not true. But this is by
the way.. Mr. Fawcett drew attention to the
..x.ing indifferent* of British statesmen to our
}...astern dominions, rod gave warning that "If
we continuo to do in the future that which we
have • .e p vit. the day is not far distant
when the Indian question will disturb every
English Louie from John o' Gruat's to the Land's
End." Mr. Roebuck does not mince matters.
In his youth he wrote a paper entitled "of what
Use is the House of Lords?' but growing, as all
men do, inure Conservative with riper years, he
now confesses his mistake. and argues that the
action of the House of Lords last torsion show.
a very healthy state of things. Mr. Roebuck
very severely censures; Mr. Gladstone for • mass
of :ong doing. but the recent Pz;vy Council
appu'itinout exceeds all. This (Sir Robert
Collier's elova.:on) is declared to be "a. here
faced, as sorry, and as thorough a chest as over
was passed upon a gaping multitude by • thimble-
rigger." Why does not Mr. Roebuck persuade
his old friends in Sheffield to elect Min again to
Parliament,
where, cemmehufsinwgoirnkhishemwiould
would be
and gradually warming to
able to call every one to. account But tire
Government have sat for judgment before one
other caustic judge this I,looi. It is Mr.
Borman. There was in the Oove.mnent an
'awful deficiency of common sense.' The
Cabinet had nude ass of means wich iu other
days cost monarchs their crowns. Stall,
he toured his constituents that .he pursed this
criticism inafriend.ly epirit; and, It is tuba hoped
that the Government trill wend their way,

"Not the sun rising west, not the
spectacle of an Irish Catholic bishop
teaching in a Protestant Sunday wheel, not a
Teetotal Lord Mayor, not the appointment of
Mr. Tomlin. as Master of the Mint, of Sir
Charles Dilke as Lord-Lieutenant of Middlesex,
not the total abolition of the income tax, not the
cow ersion of Mr. Whalley and Mr. Newdegate
to Popery, not the purification of the streets—
no, not even the bestowal of the Grand Croft of
our own Order of the Bath on some Englishman
eminent in ark Literature, or Science !"
could have aurprised Mr. Patriots more than the
aneounoement that a Grand Cross has been con-
ferred by the King of Spain on Mr. Joseph
Pease, the Quaker, and has been accepted by him.
No doubt the Friends have been very much
above all that kind of thing. Like Miss Brooke
' in " Middlemarch," they might have had mis-
giving, about the commonplace level to which
they might sink, but a cross would be the last
thing to wear as a damnation. However, as the
spoil is broken, we may yet live to see Mr.
Bright among the peers.
It is suggested that the weakest part of the
Attorney-GeneraPs speech for the Tichborne
family is his strong language; even to the
&hese of the Counsel for the other side. If this
be so, the elm stands poorly for the claimant,
for it is fair to suppose that the jury will be
influenced by the more moderate part. The
Attorney-General evidently thinks • good deal
about the public outside, and is anxious that no
one should suppose him uncertain auto the true
character of the claimant.