The Express.
London, England, 1849-10-25 00:00:00

mitigated the sec( ray of the judgment
pawed upon him. Bloated ignorance and co: oar,
and therdrui kennees of vanity, were supposed to have
first unsettled his judgment. end lack of moral prin-
ciple to have reconciled him to shifts, tricks,. and
deceptions, when he found that he had set a machine at
work far bsyond his p seer to regulate or coutrol,
and that it was working to the destruction of himself
and his duper. The revelations of the final report,
on the antral' force urn all minds the conviction
that Mr. IIuDSON did not bec ;me dishonest under the
pressure o: circumstances, and in the cenfuaion of a
weak mind,but that his system was, upon cskulation,
I fraudulerst from the beginning.
The accounts of the York, Newcastle, and Berwick
railway have been systimatisally falsified from the
Best half year of the railway (ending 31st December,
UM) down to the time when Mr. HUDSON resigned
his office. The extent to which they rave
been falsified, up to the 31st of December, 1848, is
121,9211. Tuis seem of deception enhanced the
price of shares, fostered speculation, and encouraged
to the madly premature formation of new lines and
besmear. Me. HUDSON bad a Ceep personal interest
to the falsification ; for the increased dividends enabled
him to realise increased profits by the sale of the
shares which he took from the company for his own
benefit. The cool meaner in which be set himself to
delude his dupes is beautifully exemplified in a letter
which his confidential creature, CLOSE, addressed to
Mr. ALLPONT in F. bruary last : " To make all plea-
sant," says this notable document, " we have had to
take in last half-yea the first week of this."
This' is not all. In the balance-sheet on the Great
North of Eogliall perches?, made tip in February
last, " GZORGE HUDSON acd others" are made to
appear as creditors to the extent of 14,0721., wh:reas
there were no " others" concerned in the affair, and
Mr. HUDSON was, in fact, a debtor to the amount of
28,8551. for moneys he had received and used for hie
own purposes. More than one-half of this amount
had been in Mr. HUDSON'S possession at the time the
false balance was made out from the beginning of
February, 1848, and the remainder was accumulated
by meats of no less than eleven entries in " error" ex-
tending through a period of eleven months.
The primary books of the company, kept at New-
oteele, have not yet been thoroughly examined by a
professional accountant ; they never were examined
by the former board of directors or their auditors.
Yet, in these backs deficiencies exceeding 1,0001.
have already been detected in one department
clone. An instructive comment on these facts is
supplied by a correspondence bAween the committee
of investigation and Mr. PIIILLIPSON, Mr. HUD-
SON'S legal adviser. Mr. HUDSON is at present
working the Newcastle and Carlis'e and the Mary-
port and Carlisle railways, on his own account, through
the menager of the York, Newcastle, and Berwick
Railway. The committee having applied for a state-
ment of the revenue and exeenditare of these liuee,
received an &rawer from Mr. PILILLIPSON, of which
the following is an extract :
I Sad it will not be practicable, without a little time, to
send you the Carlisle accounts in a satisfactory state, for
they require some examination and dissection ; end Mr.
Hudson having left the matter to in., I must in these times
be vary particular as to the accuracy of an account for which
I am to be in every way responsible.
Mr. Pateetetioe knows his client.
Finally, is is stated by Mr. Correm, the profes-
sional accountant, in his report to the committee :
I regret heirs obliged to accompany this report with
aI t nr list of naming vouchers for disbursements on weal
account. alshough it appears Out, for most of them, the com-
pany has had work or materials supplied, or value in some
r 1,4 ; whilst on the other hand, there are various sums
for which no considerstion has been received, the thief of
which are those taken by Mr. Radon and afterwards re-
turned.
The game of Mr. Humes has for some time been
obrione. It hie been, as the Scotch express it, "to
jouk and let the jaw sae by." He and his friends
have calculated, and with shame it must be confesied
not without reason, on the readiness of English society
to peas an act of oblivion in favour of the dslinquencies
of any wealthy culp: it against whom a formal legal
sentence of cenderunution has not been awarded.
They have counted upon the chance of Mr.
HUDSON'S being re-habilitated, provided it shall
appear hereafter that he has realised money,
and provided, by keeping himself judiciously quiet
in the mean time, he allow other topics to super-
sede his defalcations in the attention of the puulic.
These hopes must now be at an end; the story of the
committee is too explicit and too damning, and the
c'aime against Mr. HUDSON too great to admit of his
b coins whit waseed by the operation of time, or re-
taining money enough to gild over the stains on his
character.
Mr. HUDSON is too insignificant to waste much
thought or many words upon him on his own account,
but the reception which he met, daring his prosperity,
in the proudest circles of English society calls for ani-
madversion. Though possibly no man was prepared
for what has of late been proved against him, be never
was regarded as a man of high and pare integrity.
His vanity was of that kind which led him to display
ostenta ietusly the laxness of his business principles.
He was fawned upon for a share of gains acquired
by avowed " sharp practice." There was no fascina-
tion or charm about the man to blind others to what
was equivocal about him. Yet to the entertainments
of this man did the titled and untitled aristocracy
of England fleck with eagerness—even the
blood royal and the Duke of WELLINGTON
were to be found among his guests. And the politi-
cal party which would lain be thought the incareation
of English chivalry, ko-cooed to the wooden idol
and servilely tried to puff him off as a financial
oracle. The gross Mammon-worship and innate yel-
p:ay of English fashion was never placed in a
stronger light than by its adoption of Mr. HUDSON.
The !ache is ineffaceable. If despair can inspire this
man with courage, the public may, when he finds
himself hopelessly cut by his great friends, be
favoured with some edifying revelation.. The chap-
ter of the hi-tory of Pari-ian society devoted to the
Mississippi :scheme, may yet find spiquant rival.