The Express.
London, England, 1849-12-20 00:00:00

OUR REPRESENTATIVE SYSTEM

SOUTH WALES.
An adjourned mooting from the half-ye-0y meet-
ing of August of this company was hild osterday at the
Peesi, gum terminus, to further consider the report of the
direct .re which was :hen roc reed, and to receive and adopt
the rip ,rt of the deputation of sidoreholders which was then
nominated by the propri :tors. C.R. it.Te.thor, Rig , M.P.,
having taken the chair.
The SECRETARY was called en to red the report of
the deputa•ion or committee, a mummery of which appeared
in eloeday's Express.
It beteg moved that the repent be received and adopted,
lfaj-ir ACOURT said he thought they ought to ter .w out
of consideration altogether the line from Semmes to Fish-
guard, and take into their own hands the South Wales
Railway, and act didepeudentle of the Great Westeen. Ile
should like to know some bine more •kan the committee in-
formed them on the S racial ware of the concern.
air. CHAPMAN land other proiorietuts) expressed them
selves in favour of stopping at Seed-sea until tee line was
flushed to that pl ce. It would, he thought, be iglu, h better
to coecentrete their resources uu that part of the line, and
liniab it before they expanded +mother ohilling on the rest.
He maintained they were in • p sidon to exact their oan.
Toey had the semi' in tho it own hands and could resist any
inflame° of the Great Western Railway. Is it them &nth
their work to Swansea, and thee say to the 0, eat Western,
We will finish it to Fisguard, or you must cume to
terms."
Mr. NASII would move as a rider to the report, or as an
amendment it it could not be as a rider :
" That the accounts and reports 0' the directors and the
committee, and those of the 3 W's Cumpaey and of their
eedeolieec be referred to a committee u. ibvestigation, tape-
Melly with reference to the estimates for the lam-, the gauge.
the lane, and other tran-ections of the Great Wo eteru Rail
way Compeny end their directors, the neeeseity for oppodne
the bill and proposals of the 3 W's watt, and toe liability of
their company thereunder, and to carry out the suggestioes
sal said c immitter. and that t o sanction b-r given by the
directors' f this company on the 3 W'is hoard u the Ind or
proposal of that company. and that the Saut to Wales directors
on that booed do vote and en. accordingly."
The amendment having been seconded, it was put from
the chair and negatived, there not being one Mud raised in
its favour.
Ide. BURKE said he had acted as counsel for the Great
We-torn Hanway Ware wheezer t, but out of pailisment
be had no count:ion whatever with that company, and be
appeared there as a large end independent shareholder in
the South \Vales Rs:tear. (Hear, hear.) He thought
.t most unjust that the share twitters aboull be
deprived of their interest. But, apart from that, he held it
to be not legal to adopt such a reanlutisa at that meetiee,
which was an adjourned meeting of a termer one, at which
the subject had not been mooted a. all. The only legal way
of doin4 it was by silent epeeist notice to the seareholders
of its Ming intended to submit to them such.. prepcseion.
At the :Ist met ing they decided that the report alt all be
printed and circulated, aid roe' p -fled tor consideration to •
future meeting. Treat was the only course they could take
now reseectiog the report of the connate-, uskieg the met
meeting vette!, for the par use of aeop.iug it.
The CHAIRMAN thouabt they hed b tier act upon Mr.
Bethel sssss Ewen, and only receive the report at pr, sent.
Mr. DUNCAN then moved that the report of the commit-
tee be received, and hat they is quest the directors to brine
forward its rt commerel et ions at the nest haltevearly meetieg,
to be made spiciel ter the purpose; and that in the
mean time the cirectors proceed with their Legutia,ions with
the dinettes, of the Greet Western Co mpany as they might
deem expedient for the ieterests of the Siuth Wales Rail-
way. (Hear.)
Ties resolution was immediat ly agreed to, Instead of that
for adopting she report of the committee.
The edotitioe of the rep .rt of the diroctors which was re-
erivtd at the belflearly meeting in August. was then movod,
and, after some objections un the part of Mr. NASH, was

•
agreed to.
ins thanks of the meeting were then moved by Mr.
Nadu, and seconded by the CHAIRMAN, to the committee of
investigation, which was toil .w..d by a similar vote to the
ehaitmai., terminating the pror edirqs.

THE HUNGARIAN REFUGEES IN SCOTLAND.—Tbe
Moun!ttnart E:phinsmne, with a number of the Hungitesa
refugees on omit., .eft Glasgow hatbeur on Monday alter•
noon at 1 u'elcek. There was a b,rs. tee of epectators
exiles tau
lonrn tzprts-,cl I.3‘np.thy with the
u the veteei got undo way.—Grasgote Datig

Mail
LIBIGUTION OF CIIARTIST CONVICTS FROM HORSE-
YONOIII LANS GAOL —Y,l.eiday afternoon three of the
chartist prooners, coe.v.cted at tt.e 0:d Bailey in 1848, were
Aberated, by order of the Secretarlau y of
OS.
l, Sate k
whorer the 800rs
s
Dopartmenr, trout Horse monger-au ebeen incarcerated fourteen m da-bs. Their camel are Wil
liens Poole, Themes 1T041.. ant 'nom., Herbert. They
were apprehended by Mr. Superin'endent 'tut*, L divis.OD,
1
, I
and a body of police, in a publicehouee iu Webb... street
Blacklrisrs-road, armed with various weapons. For hik*,
offence they were treed at the Ott B hey S asions In Oe
mbar, 1818, end sentenced to .ight.,n m impriaon-
merit in lioreento. gee lane. Geol. ard a, the esperalen of
that period to find good bail fur their fumes epaduc: during.
five years. W,t .ia these lase months, hive, E*-.
pressed such contrition as to their . R. cce,V#l. the Beccetarci of
Sate commuted their sentence to eurtgen enoutpa' imprison.
meet, which expired yesterday It" ,the yri turud sureties
brii,g approved of by the alie arcialnt, they were- br:
dered to b. liberated Y'F? AgrT: r Mete
bnueht to the S nith w ark Poetajhryf I ,P,Y • Xi, rn", the
governor of the gaol, and the necessity Turinelities being
gone through befure the magistrate, they were immediately
liberated, and were juiced by their families and a number of
anxious friends.

KIDDERMINSTER.
In the series of ar ides whicle have appeared uneer
this til le, it has fallen to our lot to describe borupges
which have oc-upied a very lex position in the k.lec-
to.al and social scale. Few boroughs, we thougta,
could be mach wise than Ripen, a town whet..; no
one dares open his mouth under any circumstances, or
on any occasion. Great Merluw is debased, Ponte-
fract teoroughly and to the core corrupter!. Bast if
you would have .he worst prints of all of them c m-
lit.ed, with but a very fee, if any, redeeming goalie I
ties, you will and patection in the town of &eddies
miester.
Morally, sweetly, and locally, this is a bad Awe. I
lu all E gland it would be difficult to find a mere I
thoroughly disagreeable town.. It is close, confined,
dirty, and dingy. Its sheets are irregular, biddy
paved, and indifferently lightel. Judging from the
offensive nuisances which meet your eye and nosee.at
every corner, there is neither drainage nor decescfy.
And the character of the town is only a reflex of the
character of its people.
Kidderminster contains 22,000 inhabitant.. , Oat
of this population you may select two gentlemen.
Those whose a. quaintanee with the place is of some
standing declare that they should have some difficulty
in pricking out a third. And let it be undersea. d w hut
we mean by gentlemen. We do et reler to '• gents"
in white hate, Albert ties, and patent leather beots
—rich in pocket and empty in head—of whden a
score c r so may be found every night in the euretiog
room cf the Lion, flirting with tee pretty bar-meett,
atter a C 311,80 Kidderminster fashion, Omer
sleety disgusting to those who know better.
Neither do we class as gentlemen p•rsons who
hold, weheut knowing how to exerces e the
commission of the peace, and who have been pet' into
it because there happen to be so few qualilledemesons
in the neighbeurboud, and because they have influence
with the lord-lieutenant of the county. In speaking
of gentlemen, we refer, as Mrs. amp would' say, "to
those who act as sick," and a very lit le expel:envy of
Kidderminster will show treat the s eat of people .who
I are to be met with there are people carefullya to be
avoided.
In very email towns, such as Totnem cr
Walling-
ford, where party spirit rune deep and eireug,
them is always to be found some rancour and
ill-feeling. But in towns which are higher
up in the scale of population, this sort of
perms-Al hostility is usually less prevalent. Met
are swayed by better twelves, and mom gene-
rally set upon public grounds or off considerations of
commercial desirability. At any rate they can give
reae ins for their epee me,—reasons based upon the
result of their own experience; or culled from the les-
sens which thinkers have inculcated. Bet Kidder-
minster, in all these respects, ie an exception to other
large towns. There is no class of reflecting or of
illieking men : there is no section influent d by the
nobler or better motives: even " party," in the more
generous meaning of the wore, is unknown:
for '• party," in Kidderminster, does not
mean °pint-a ; it sign:ties simply the array
of man against man, of one carpet weaver neatest
a rival carpet weaver, of a tradesman on one ride
the way agait et a tradesman at the corner of the
street—it means nothing more than envy, hatred,
malice, private fend, pervnal discord, unchatitebe -
noes, or ieelouey. Ask a man in Kiddermin-ter why
he is a tory and he will reply to you with some ell' se
oath, Whyelon't yousce that Se-and-sovntesupnn the
other side r And •e it has been ever since this plece
was entrusted with the exercise of p eblic rights, and,
unfortunately, te ere have been found men to cherish,
fewer, and promote these intender', to excite three
feelings for their own advantages, and to make Kid-
derminster what it has been now for 18 years—a
very hell upon earth to every class of its inhabitants.
The frarchee wee given to Kidderminster unit. r
the Reform 811. It was supposed teat tie • boron eh
would under that bill have been annex. d to Bee elley,
which is only three miles off, and which at ti at time
was a close berme') in the hands of a body of twelve
bure=au. This arrangement would have been ac-
e' ptahle to Kiddermineter, and would not have been
disedvantigeous to the independence of Bewdley.
But it. was decreed otherwise without Kid-
derminster having any concern in the ar-
rangement. In fact the great whit; it tomato'
then prevailing in the neighbourhood and by
certain of which Bewdhey was controlled, prefet red
to keep that borough as sum; as could cons stently he
managed, and not. to merge it in a large (owl. by
which they supposed it would be swamp. d.
Accordingly, Stomped, which bee no connexion
with liewdley, was added to that town, and en K
eerminster was conferred the right to return one
member to the House of Commnns, itelependently of
any extraneous influence. From the character of the
population it was supp •sed that the town would in-
variably return a member of extreme liberal politics.
Probable fleet consideration had ils weight wi'h tie
goveeement which mode the arrangement in favour
of this borough. For et the time Kiderrmin-
ster was enfraieheed the Political Union of Bite
mirechem lied a strong hold unon this piece.
And the circumstance s which gave them addi-
tional influence in Kiddermineter were t! eec.
In the winter of 1830 there had been a dis-
pute—no uncommon thing in Kidderminster—b
twe en the carpet manufacturers and their workm. n.
The workmet struck. They formed a combination,
and would not allow a machine to be put in motion.
The mas*ers, or. their side, c mhit ed against the men
to refuse the increased wages and to fence the m back
to work. This strike eentieued many menthe. It
caused the greatest injury to Kiddermineter, as well
to masters as to men. Carpet manufacturing is a
trade which may be carried on anywhere es well are
at Kidderminster, and it is one which no large amount
of capital is needed to commence.
The consequence was teat a very great amount of
the Kidderminster trade was carried to menufnctnries
in other per's of England. Once th- re, it could to'
be removed ; and Kidderminster toner quently re-
ceived a blow from which to this day it has not nee-
ve red.
As the old win`er of 18:10 set in, the wants of the
carpet makers bezame greeter, and their urgeocy
was of ceur e increased by the period during which
they bad been out of work. All efforts at accomm
t-
detton failed. Ti;e all reeling between the masters
and the men increased ; and at length, driven to dee-
per& ion, the latter began a riot. This was what the
masters wanted. They celled in the military, aeia d
a large number of the rioters, committed then to
earl to take their trial, and hoisted of the " arm and
determined mr Reeves by e hich they had put down a
most formidable and dangerous disturbance."
The poor Kiederminster weavers lay in gaol all
through the winter, their families starving out of
doors, their treaters relentless, and they themselves
helpless and almost hopeless. As the ass zee+ ap-
proached, however, their friends and comrade% mus-
tered money enough to employ an attorney to defend
them. It was not mulch they could raise ; so, when
the attorney went to the assize tows, it was re cet-
sary for him to get the beet remise' he could at tee
smallest price. No silk gownsman could he afford to
pay, and most of the best stuffs" were engaged for
the crown. But the attorney found one man whom
he thought fitted for his work, and he accordiegly
sent him a retainer.
The counsel we refer to was Mr. Richard Godson,
then of the Inner Temple Hall Staircase. He wee
the son of an attorney at Tenbory in Worcestershire,
and was a well-known, though not at that time at all
an eminent, member of the Oxlord circuit. A few
years previously he had married a lady of good
I family in Lancashire, who afterwards succeeded tol
very considerable property both in that county and
In the Weet Indies. But at this time Mr. Godson
was rather glad to get businete, and he took the
attern• y's brief wehout remonsteriting at the small-
' nee of tee fee. • . .
Mr. Godson was a blustering, rude, bellying sort
of conteiel : nen berdeheentor a Worcestersetre com-
met jury,, such as
was empeonered to try there
prisoners. tic sucrmedt d in getting many of them
lefts the offence's(' Aare he mitigated so much that
the Jentges, coweideribg hew long they had been. in
gale, itipomeds[ll:oo2 theen'iref light eereenees. Tae
general result Was re. gned..d, by to .tiefret. weevers of
K'delermineter, u*.' rosaph Ayer Pelt
masters ; and the whole tem magma Mr. God. oars
praises. ' • •e. •
The sobs which' wag lerentid is Kieder-
Minstir at the Period of the dirifationeferreform
hart, amongst its legeling 14en:Ctezai ulauY.of th.be who
had been most deeply interested in the result of the
trials for rioting. 'Whatever else may be said or
thought of these men, it must be admitted that they

had gra.satil 1 warts. Nr tomer was is tie:. smi,isd
the Ki,141, r s`lou'Al be ref. anthis.d ti.an they
sent Of to M-. xl Le.ggi ig tint to 1.-t them e!, oS
him. r:s t mirk or the.r reakesat and gnv.ll.,d: for his

n..
I I th! short puliamcnt of 16;;, M . Gods ma had
arained aatat br borough <S. An :T.'s. it.:w
Le managtd it we explain d in giviog ac account of
•hat mat not,,ritus of towns. But a m who sits
once fir St. Albino usually has quite emagh of it.
Mr. God.= was coosequently only too glad to ec2kpt
the invlation o' the men a r; a aingat

whom he appeared to be so great a favourite.
It was natural, however, that Mr G ids in should not
be by any means so metier with the masters of Kid-
derminster as with their moo. The masters were all
combined agaiast him. They procueei a candidate
of their own, Mr. (now Sir) G. B. Phillips,
who had represented the dis!ranchiveii borough
of Steyning in preceding parliaments, and who
had been a consistent whig and a friend of
the Reform Bill. Mr. Phillips as the sou of a
manufacturer, was thought in many respects a proper
man for Kidderminster. But those who sent hint
down did not know the town. Kidderminster did not
want a man of quiet, gentlemanly demeanour—it
could not appreckte such a person. Mr. Godson, with
his bu'ly and bluster, was much more to the tart, d
the population. Whilst Mr. Phillips's cin TUS was being
quietly conducted, his opponent w..• haranguing
crowds of tee popu'..ace, and atterwaids repairing to
public hnuses to dares, sing, shout, and driuk with
the rabble to whom these houses were thrown open.
From a very early period of the contest there was no
question which was the poplar candidate. Mr.
G eleou carried every thirg b..fore him, except the
votes.
For it could searmly bo expected in a town
where every employer was arrayed on ooe side,
that the c sndidete opposed to the empl.yers could
secure the large share of electoral support. Besides,
the Kidderminster masters us.d the screw urimar-
ingly. They had always been accustomed to treat
their men like dogs, and it was not to be supposed
that they would be specially considerate et their
meting in the matter of a vete. Mr. Phillips, t siere-
fore, stood upon the canvassing books as the maudi-
date to he elected, and there is no doubt that he
wauld have got in but for unexpected eircuin-
, stances.
The canvass was a lot g : ne. So long as tic members
of Mr. Phillips's committee wcte actively engaged in
it, so long they were kept out of mischief anal dispute.
But it was no sooner Over than bickeringe and squab-
Wings in the committee evidenced to experietice d eyes
thtt it was composed of very hetereg• neous and di-
escorted materials. At length, only a day or two he-
' fora the nomination, the 'nitrate hatreds, tr e ill-will,
jealousies, strifes, and discords of these pemle were
exhibited in all their hateful varieties. Af et a scene
of enfesion, wising out a f some very trivial matter,
a number of th• m declared they amid not act
with "such fellows as these," pointing to sums
, other people about as nape. table as thenise:eer.
I Some said they would not vote at all ; others
avowed that they would go over to tire other candi-
date, in order to keep out the man supootted by their
rives. No tact, no managem •nt, cool! keep these
misetable minded animals mettle r. And on the thy
of nomination Mr. Phillips, in conerqutrce of these
defections, instead of finding it "a hollow thing,"
found his elation quite in jeopardy.
Still those who stuck to him acre sanguine, and
believed he would get in. There was one thing. I ow-
e'. r, which they bad forgotten. It. was ant Mr.
Godson had taken a lesson in electioneering in the
borough of S-. Albans. The value of that Ilsioa
he made evident on the morning of the
poll. By the purchase of some twenty votes at
no nonuser able prices (for Kidderminster is pier
and the people then did not kaiow th, is value), his
election was secured bye majority of 13, the numbers
being for aidion 172, Pnillip 159. There were at
this time 390 registered elearere, of whom 331 vu'td.
1 Toe election cost Mr. Godson 3,0001., and Sir Richard
i Paillips not much less.

THE CHANCELLORSHIP OF B kNGOR