The Express.
London, England, 1849-07-31 00:00:00

OUR REPRESENTATIVE SYSTEM

ROCHESTER.
There ire few towns the: have experienced greater
changes than Rochester. It is curious to contrast
what it is with what it was. Now-a-days it is a sleepy,
almost menoolsat, cathedral town, with grass growing
in its or.e nag street, about which, except when the
holiday tulles strum into it of a Sunday,. there is a
Missies. &easy air only brats by thecaennes of the
eathedral rooks. Once upon a time it war a busy,
hustling, thriving city, the depot of tl.e Medway, the
seat fan Admiralty-: Se, a ibmishing market, and
the ha'f-w.ty bsltirg place on the great high road to
Dover end the south-eastern par: s of England. All
these glories hey° departed. The Admiralty have re-
moved their dikes to Sheernea ; the greater porion
et the tine. of Rochester hoe gone there with the
Aloe.. The main line of railway runs through the
heat t of Keut, leaving this part if it dependent on its
brae chts. Such are the revolutions which the spirit
of the nee predates. Tonbridge is now the half-way
town to Dover, and is becoming a busy place whilst
Rre ester is rsp:dly decking to den T.
W' en the Admiral y h.d t:.eir Aces at Rocki-
ly', the Fleet Lord alwrys thought hirmarli entitled
to nominate one member to represent the team. That
was, of rouse. in the gond old days of toryism, en-
ter dolt to the Reform Bill. l'he other member for
Lehr star the g•tverr.msnt kindly lift it to the inhebc
tants tamelvee to choose. T: ere were usually stiff
110ilests fur this recond re:r. The constituency
sonsfeed of 1,100 freeze• n, resident and non-resident.
A I.re potion of the r.ort-tea.deahs In re settled in
London. These Laudon men talc upon themselves a
great proportion el the bedlam of every Rochester
elecrian, e'.m times even to the exteet of declining to
be nterftrid with by their co-constituents at Ro-
cheese,. Tniy forme I their Dan committees, bth in
the e .p:t and at the place iuterested in the election;
ant tsey not nufreqnently exercised the r.ght of
selecting f r themselves a caxelilate suiterl to their
views, and whom means, at the came Vine, were fully
uteri ..t to the liberal defrayment of their expenses.
Ar the-r expense were always upon a reale of great
yr.ifLe'on (the whole of them ate and drank and livid
for a for. night t Tether 113Mettnt a, at t. e c-ndidate's
=unit). a emu. st for Roth e'er was scarcely a joke
le these who stood upon the independent interest. It
WM necessary that men of wealth should
be Lund an candidates. Mr. Barnett, the C:ty
beaker, was fur a long time the member ; and a wry
exerilent ene he made in ~any resecee. When he
relinqnslod itocheit,r, the recent member, Mr.
Bernal, wee introduced to cut (led him—a viol: man
▪ princ:plcs and art iarg-: West Indian pro-
perty.
At the eltrion of 1830, Mr. Bernal was for the
berth tined a ceedidati on the it d• pendent int-.re-t.
Lord V.:liers, eldest sun of the Earl of Jersey, was
the government nominee. At this period, however,
there was u rp'ir in Ih:cheater on the subject of the
,111111^ C -tho.,c Relef Bill. Ile high-church party
in the Close would afford no support to an adminis.
'elon w. ich lead 'admired p-ipoits to the House of
Crantuons. The y determined or. bringing down a
tory, at .d they selected Mr. Wiliiam Hughes-Hughes,
who four or Ave years ago was an al-
derman of Lord ea, but who has niece quitted
the put lic scene in cotetquetee of uoforturate
'emulations in the railroads. Mr. Hughes-
wee at that tame an ettire:y ot.known can.
How fir. Rehester toilets got him no one rctellccts.
Although, however, he wee recce before heatd of,
no wi old supp.i.e, from the way they lost him, the.
Mr. Mulles must have been tt gentleman b uncom-
mon polit"eal rityseet.
One marring, whilst the canvass for Rochester was
going on dashir gly, a gentleman in the town who
ply nr.d to have cone !rated' at Oxford, re-
ceived a teesi.aper from that city in which
there appeared an addicts to its independert
theme'', subscribed by a gentleman who signed him-
et
If" Wstliim Ileghes Hughes." Could he bslieve his
eyes ? Mus• tl ere not be some miler-Ike, or were there
two I hie! ce-Hughea's delightit.g in that duplicate
arum? Down went the gentleman in question to
the C ithelral c immittee-r rim lite flags and plate ds
were lyttl as rush 111 •t the slightest sign
was ?hero of ant c ange in the state of affairs.
Mr. Iltr•l.ce-llog,vs had not made his appearance,
hat CP lain members of the committee were present.
Ote of them pooh-pinked the address ; another, how-
ever, th-maht it odd ; a thin") erred the desirrbility of
inqn ry, in credit to remove doubt. A waiter it s eum-
se:ated to is quire when Mr. Hngher-IluiLes would
ho down. " Drer me, gentlemen," said he, "do
you 11 -t lt.tow? Mr. Huethes wett away by the mail
that passed threegh at two o'clock this morning!"
Tl.O Ertl Lad flawu! Imagine the consteinatien of
the "true blue" men at an even' et ucrxpected. "Our
proteete t institutions" le t in the lurch in this way ;
the bishop and all the chapter the laughing-stock and
ridicule cf the wh, le county. No rue could cceonnt
Le veldt:et 83 astonishing. 'Was it the fear of not
sue- dirg, or the fear of beer g plucked, or the pros-
pect of n b tter chance at Oxtord, or what was the
cause of this sudden flight ? The tircumetani es re-
• n explained to this any. Mr. Hughes, no
doubt had his reasons; and as he got in for Oxford
while tie sneerer-or did not then get in for Rochester,
they were probably subetantirl
141• w' at was to be dome? IL was at once decided
to be net e-saty to and a deputation up to London
to bitgdo en another yrotestant esudrdate. They
were on the eve of the election, end not 'a moment
was to be lest. The deputation most go up and re-
turn
Vett dlr. The deoutatien gat a carriage and
few a-. 1 'ignited to London accordingly. They
wee* ditee'erf by s tme one thry cot snitid to Mr.
Mills, a partner in the house of Messrs. Glyn
. nud C r., wn & was raid t s be of "the riAt soy."
The d paw ion drove at once to Lombard-street, and
saw Mr. Mil's. He was ant ambitious of parliamen-
tary honours, and he declined their %elation. They
priserd him, but he was risento. " Well," said one
of Cum, " whet arc we to d• ? We must take down
sontekdy; can yon recommend ns any one?" Mr.
• aid ' he really did net k-ow. Stith things
were entirely out of his line, but te ht.d a brother
who b Ight like to go to parlimatut; would they like
is all en him P"

Has :ng obta nod Mr. John Mills's addr-se, the ch.-
putation vent dir.ct to that gentlemen's house, and
Omen, r e. k at d crop throat aim into their carriage,
nal drove him off to Iti.cleater. My. John Mills wu
• gestwiosn well k, own in yachting circles. Yacht.
lag vas his he bhT, and he eared for little else. If he
d not oliect ce-3, straitly to go to Rochester, it
was probably beam° the to. n was on the Medway,
which *Ulla g tad shelter for a Yacht, 'Adler than
hecata'e he caned a strew about a seat. Oa the way
dawn M. M lls's conversation was iron his favourite
topic. Hs dotermined the in, rits of every yacht upon
tiver, sod doligiled his enuaproona with a
fend tf want :cal arecaote. They had forgotten all
about chinch and state, v.hen this towers of Roches-
ter Cathetrul appe try; on the Ober side the bridge.
se the airtime emerged from the narrow streets of
&rood.

Ti. cathedral party, with binds and banters,
were awaiting the return o? their deputation ; and,
without askit.g eetio so much tie the came of the new
emendate, the horses were taker from the cerrisge,
and rope. were :Bathed to it to draw it through the
town. Mr. Mille was bowing to the crowd and his
friends Cr.! hoisting at the the top of their voices,
when t ~y pureed the indeperdcot committee room.
r • there happened to be, looking out of the win-
cow, two or three London gentlemen—club frieta's
of Mr. B-rtail —men who knew everybody. " Why,"
said one of them, " its Mlle, Jack Mills." " Jack
Mine," raid another. "impossible, what on earth can
be bare to do aril them P.' " Jack," eueg out e
third, " iwthat you P Never, sorely." " Yes, it is,"
replied Mr. Mills, and why n.,t r Wby not," re-
sponded his friend, " why, do you know what you're
sr.,: do yen know whom you're with?" "After,"
said Mr. Mills, "to be sum I do: I'm come here u
a asedidate, and these are my friends." " Your
irienda." *hewed the untleman, " shy, Jack, they're
all twits." " Tories r exclaimed the candidate, sink-
big back, " the Lord defend me!"
The "Cathedral party," the "True Blurs,"
"Chu. eh and State," " Bible and Sceptre" man, had
brought down as their candidate—a whig of the purest
water!