The Express.
London, England, 1851-01-02 00:00:00

LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, JANUARY 2, 1851.

THE MANCHESTER SOCIETY FOR THE
PROTECTION OP ANCIENT FOOTPATHS.

The tor?. of the soil have a strange passion for
keeping everybody off it but themselves and families. Glen
Ti. and Arns.del are extreme cases ; but every now and
then oce hears of some ancient too•path, across some plea-
rint meadow, or roand some shady wood, stopped up, or
attemp•e t to be stopped up. Nobody—not even the
poorest mechanic among us—grudges our nobles and gentry
their broad acres. But there is a profoucd conviction in
the breasts of the " lack lands" that the rural pathways
trodden by their ancestors are theirs by u good • right an
that which gives his demesnes to the squire. This is •
coovietion that curet to be cherished, for it preserve.
• mate for healthful exercise anima our town popu-
lations, and the mass of obtaining it. It is unwise
in the gentry to prowl@ the feelings to which this cowrie.
Lion gives Rise. Thera ,re are associations for the protection
of ancient footpa•ho, especially in lug- manufacturing towns,
of all other associations the most truly co ive. They
prevent OCCailollll of q ,arrel between the " haves" and the
have-now." Ono of the oldest of these associations, and
one that bas been most useful and active in its day, is that of
Manchester. Mr. Archibald Prentice, in his pleasing and
pra'nble volume, Irons which we lately culled his account
of his interview with Benthem, has recorded the origin
and first achievemens of this society. Here is his umouot
of It:—

"In the year 1826, in which the deep distress of the poor
sad the timely benevolence of the wealthier deuce were
alike memorable, a society was established having for its
idlest the preservation of a right of considerable import-
ance to the former. The volumes of smoke which, in spite
of legislation to the contrary, eootiauelly Usu. from fanny
'hempen, and form a complete cloud over Manchester,
certainly make it less desirab:e as a
.place of residence than
kilos& place of business ; and the enjoyment of the inhabi-
tants would be greatly inenesed, could they breath* a purer
atmosphere, and have a brighter and more frequent sight of
the sun. Bat, to counterbalance the disadvantage, they
have the privilege of walking unrestrainedly through the
hoe hide of the vicinity; and thousands sod tens of
thousands, whcse avocations render fresh air and exercise
en absolute necessity of life, avail themselves of the right
of footway through the meadows, and corn fiel fa, and parks
is the immediate neighbourhood. There an so many
pleasant footpaths, that a pedestrian might walk completely
round the town in a circle, which would seldom anted a
radius of two miles from the Ezchange, and in which he
' would scarcely ever have occasion to mounter the liaise,
bad*, and dust of a public cart road or paved street. The
beautifully undulating country between the valley of the
Irk and Cheetbans Hill; the floe valley of the Irwell, with
its verdant meadows ; the slope from Pendleton to :he plain,
which, commencing between the extremities of Holm. and
Chorlton•upon-Meoletk, extends eolith and west over the
greater part of Cheshire; all this scenery, which in any
cottony would be admired, but which has a handfed addi-
tional charms to him who is condemned, day after day,
mouth after month, and year alter year, to toil in the dirt
sod smoke of a great town—all this delightful scenery lies
open to the pedestrian • and while he strays along through
the open hold, or wooded park, or the narrow and retired
lane, and breathes the pure air of heaven, he feels that all
these gelds, sod parks, and lanes, are as open to him, and to
those who hang on his arm, or play by his side, as if they
were his own, to have and to bold, as long as trees grow or
water runs.

"But there are' tyrants of the field '—men who imagine
that that which rues through theirs mut netts be theirs;
and they must be withstood. About some twenty years
before the period of which we write, a Mr. Ralph Wright,
of FORM'', a pariah a few miles south-west of Manchester,
possessed en estate partly purchased and partly inheri•ed,
which had the usual complement of hedges, along which
ran commie footways, and by which they were concealed
from his house. Being desirous of giving to his property,
which did not consist of more than fifteen or sixteen acres
of land, a more park like appearance, he levelled she hedges
and fences; and boding that this brought the footways mire
i't eight of his meinitn, he began to use means to prevent
the vulgar part of his neighbours coming between the wind
and his nubility. One way, which went right across his
little park, he shut up altogether, without the lormslity
of any magistrate's order. Another, which formed pan
of a church road for several farm.houses, he diver ed to e
distance considerably farther from his house. To these
encroachments his neighlature, unwilling to be tl ought
quanelsome, peaceably submitted; but another effort met
with determined resistance; this was to divert the roads
to beyond the boundary of his own grounds, so that his pro-
perty might not be traversed at all. He was a magistrate,
and he obtained orders signed by two brother magistrates;
but, without waiting for the confirmation of the orders at
nest quarter sessions, he stopped op the entrance to his
grounds, ploughed up the old footway, and sowed the land
with oats. Mr. Samuel Wood, a farmer in the parish, like
the spirited old shoemaker of Bushy Pant memory, was un-
willing to hue the world worse than he found it, and,
misted by his neighbours, broke down three several times
the obstructions that bad bees put up, and restored the
ethical road to the public br treading down the oats.
"The muistrate proceeded hesitatingly. In 1824 be
obtained another order: this was appealed union ; but
when the applicants were ready with their witneres, it was
abandoned. Another order immediately followed, but it
was (loathed on a point of form. A third order was more
eacceseful, being cos firmed at the spring quaver sessions.
All this was attended with expenses which were too heavy
to be borne by a few persons of the class of country farmers.
Thomas and Richard Potts r had aided; but it was desirable
that some association should be formed for the purpose of
preventing this and similar encroachment,, and removing
from individuals the persecution to which they might be
exposed in resisting the encroaching spirit of powerful
country gentlemen. A meeting was accordingly held in
e Town H.ll, November 18, 1526, at which was formed
a Society for the Preservation of Ancient Footpaths, and
the following gentlemen were appointed a committee to
carry its object into ell, ct ;—Joseph Armstrong, Thomas
Heywood, Edward J. Lloyd, Archibald Prentice, J. B.
Weeklyn, Edward Baxter, Thomas Hilton, Robert Milling-
too, John Edward Taylor, George Wm. Wood, Robert Hyde
Greg, John Kenworniy, Richard Potter, Robert T. hbuto
A pleasant association this of tories, whip, and radicals,
and one which, in the successful results of its resistance in
many attempted cues of encroachment, spread amongst the
lountry gentlemen a wholesome terror of transgressing
against the right of the poor to enjoy their own, without any
one to make them afraid.
"The Flieton people, having now the 'archon and coun-
tenance of men holding at least as good a station in society
as Ralph Wright, E.q., resolved to make another effort for
the recovery of their right of road. They sued out a certiorari
and removed the case into the court of King's Bench, and
after many motions and counter-motions, the order of the
sages of the quarter session for confirming the order to stop
up the footways coveted by their brotherhoood of the bench,
was quashed; and oar Monday, the 14th of Juee, 1827,
several respectable inhabitants of Buxton, accompanied by
some of the Manchester Society, who wen desirous of
witnessing the renewal of a privilege of which the public
had been for two years deprived, went in procession to
open the roads, end the application of a saw gave them
ingress to Mr. Wright', perk.' The ground was covered
with a very fine crop of grass, nearly ready to be cut;
end the path, consequently, was not very obvious, but
here and there it was indicated by the growth being
shor:er, and it was sully traced. The party having craned
the park, cut down the fences on the other side, and having
thus asserted their and the public right, 'Aired peaceably.
I happened to arrive a minute or two after the procession
had crossed the park, but, though I mimed the satisfaction
of seeing the unlawful impediments out down, I experienced
a higher pleasure in observing the fresh marks of the saw,
the little two fut wide opening, and the newly-made track
through the tall grass than Inch sights might be thought
capable of giving. They spoke the triumph of an ancient
law over the grasping end monopolisiog spirit of modern
times. When I reached the middle of the large field which,
by the destruction of two or three hedges, had been raised
into the dignity of a ' park, I could not help being struck
with the bad taste, to speak of it in the gentlest terms,
which fought a solitary greatness by the exclusion of every
mark of rustic neighbourhood.
" These contests coat the appellants nearly 6001, and, as
they must hay* been equally expensive to Mr. Ralph
Wright, it might have been supposed that he would desist
from any further attempt at encroachment. Bet the ma-
gistrate w...s bent upon hie purpose, and on the 14th of
September four orders were signed by Robert Fielden and
Jos. Delaney. Hop., foe stopping up these path,. The perm.
meted inhabitants of Flixton entered another appeal. 1: was
tried at the quarter session, on Monday, October 29, luting
nearly all day, and entice in the final discomfiting) of Mr.
Wright, but at a cost of 7501. to the spirited vindicators of a
public privilege.
"I may have occasion again to mention other contests for
right of rood. In the meantime I may refer to one where
the opposition to encroachment arose directly from the
result of the Flizton ease. About a mile from Bromegrove
resided a Dr. Collett, sea whose house a footpath crossed
between two parallel roads. About the year 1814, he,
without any megistnee's order, diverted this cross pathway
to a greeter distance from his house, and formed a paddock
on the sits of the old pathway. Dr. Collett, having thus
driven the public to some distance from him, now wished
to drive them out of sight altogether. Mr. Wright wanted
to have his ' lawn' b himself. fret from public gene; and
Dr. Collett wanted to have his ' lawn ' m exclusive sight
as wall as exclusive occupation. He found two clerics:
magistrates ready to forward hie wishes—the Right Hon.
and Rey. Walter Hutchinson, Lord Aston, and the Rte.
William Vernon, who, on the 6th of June. 1827, signed
an order to shut vp the road es 'useless and ant eassery."
An appeal was w de to the Worentenhire midsummer
seniors', but the enlighteners confirmed the order of their
clerical brethren. Mr. Blinn, one of the appellate, was
not disposed to dlow a public right to be lost. lie had
heard of the nines ease, which much resembled his own;
he visited Manchester; consulted Mr. Richard Potter; had
Mr. Charles Worst, solicitor to the Footpaths Prone:ion
Society, back with him to Worcestershire, and ow the 20th
of May, 1828, a motion in the Court of King's Beach, for
quashing the ceder, came on to be heard. The order woo

quashed, on the ground (bat the reverend magietrates who
signed it did not state, as the set required, that it having
been on ' view ' bound to be useless, it should be stop pee,
but 'as it appeared' to them. The fact was, that they could
not have viewed the road. The road ordered to be stopped
was not the diverted but the old road, and to view it they
must have broken through a garden wall, sod cut through a
plantation which had existed for fourteen years. At the
opening of the road, on the 26th of May, a portion or the
wall was razed to the ground, part of a gm obtuse wee
destroyed, several cf the trees in the plantation were eat
down to the ground, and, as at nixing', a procession was
formed of public epirital individuals who exercised the I
rescued right, and rejoiced in the triumph of the law over the
grasping Cesigcs of another' little is rant of the field.'
"In the beginning of 1827, Mr. Thomas Bargees, one of
the members of the Footpaths Protection Society,' called
my attention to another attempted encroachment, and I
find the following notice of it in my Gazette of the 17th of
February :—' Every inhabitant of blinchester must have
observed, with some degree of pride, the wide and noble
approach to the town from the Liverpool and great north
r. ad, and they will learn, with feelings of indignaVon, that
the apace between the houses, and what is strictly the public
road, from the Crescent to Pendleton.pole, has been, or is
to be, !eased by the Chancellor of the Duchy to an individual
whe will have it in his power to erect cottsges in front of
the elegant mansions which have be en built in the faith
that his Majesty, the Duke of Lancaster, would never per-
mit that noble eppren.ch to be encroached upon. When eo
much has been expended in the purchase of old buildings to
widen cne short street in Manchester, we cannot mention
with any tolerable degree of patience, this permission to
cover with buildings one of the finest outlets from thin
greet. eensu W. stonily think, Ow, 4101111,11 of the duchy
could' not 'have devised any means more likely to make
the chancellor unpopular; and it is astonishing to us,
that any inhabitant of 'the township could be tempted,
by any prospect of profit, to make a bargain which he must
have known would be a most odious one in the eyes of his
fellow townsmen. A meeting has been held at Pendleton,
at wh• oh Mr. Burgess brought forward a draft to the chan-
cellor on the subject, and at which Mr. Q. Jones acknow-
ledged, or rather avowed, that the lease conferring on hies
such odious powers was already granted. We trust, how-
ever, that the chancellor has it still in his power to arrest
ns.vsares which, we are confident, our gracious sovereign
the Duke of Lancaster, would be sorry to permit against
the wishes of the inhabitants of this, the second town in
nu kingdom.' In addition to the Pendleton memorial,
one was sent from the police commissioners of Salford,
and the result was, that Lord Bexley, th' chancellor of
the duchy, refused to complete an arrangement into which
he had been led by false representations of the nature of
the property."

THE ENGINE DRIVERS ON rne NORTG WESTERN
R►ILWAY.—Tbe directors of this line yesierdey gave 14
tier,' notice of di.charge to 10 dtivere, in addition to the 12
to whom sintilu notices were given oa Monday.

CRO:ISING rIIOIIOI:GIIFARES.—The terribly crowded
condition of our great thoroughfares renders the crossing of
them at all times a difficult and slow business, and sometimes
even a dangerous performanc . Permit me, through your
medium, to suggest the expediency of threwicg light cut-
Won bridges over the most frequented crossings. The Lridges
might he divided longitudinally by • light fence or railing,
to enable parties to pass to and fro; and access to them might
sully be gaiaed by a double spiral staircase. By this means
our thronged street might be crossed in s►fety, and without
exposure to the unctuous mud, while those who preferred
rioting their necks by thr.ading the gea, etc., to losing
the few moments of addiiional time required for ascending
and crossing the bridges, would still be at perfect liberty to
do so.—t:. R. WELD.—Royal Society.

CAFTI:RE OF STARLINGS IS THE HEBRIDES.—The
following amusing paragraph i. from the Inverness Adver-
tiser:—There are immense flocks of starlings in Ural, and up
to this year they found their roosting place in the reeky eaves
which abound along the shore. They are excellent keepers
of time ; for, if watched, it will be seen that, at a given hour,
they leave their roosting place, and at a certain hour they
are to be noticed at different resting, places on their way to
the end of their daily tcur, of some ten miles, for food. At
a given time, almost to a minute, they are to be peen again at
certain points, on their return homewards. This year they
found out a new night asylum, mere comfortable then the
damp caves. A lake of considerable extent was drained Fonts
years ego on the west side, between Belalone and Soolpek,
and the reclaimed land was converted, by the Enterprise of
Dr. Macleod, into good pasturage. For this the Highland
Satiety voted a handsome premium, and the worthy doctor
built a small tower on the enclosure to commemorate the
work. The top storey of this tower was made into a pigeon-
house, and we. well stocked ; but the pigeons are now few
in number, owing to the ravages of the many large hawks
which are to be teen everywhere. The starlings took &fancy
for the almost untenanted pigeon-house, and they might have
erjoyed possemion if only they had been quiet. But their
restless, ceeseless noise and chattering attracted the attention
even of the almost deaf and now "old Ewan Oar," who lives
hard by, and who takes charge of the tower. The news
spread abroad, and on a hapless night the dovecot wiadows
were stuffed. The youths of the neighbourhood were next
day summoned to the exploit of capturing the starlings. The
ladder of the pigeon-house was speedily scaled, with a light
foot and a Ight beset. They found a motly crowd of noisy
occupant., who perched on their ahculders and caps—very
many hundreds, perhaps thousands. They might have bad
the whole, but thinking some three hundred sufficient for
icodly pies hr all the party, the rest got their liberty. Very
army foolish starlings still continue to go every night to this
" Castle Dangerous.
AFFRAY WITH POACHERS AT EASTWELL.— On the
morning of Coristrau.day, at about half past two o'c:ock, as
William Peach, head gamekeeper to Lsrd Winching",
with hia son, Thomas Pesch, accompanied by a young man
named Scott, who was on a visit to Peach, were on the look-
out in his lordship's preerves, Eutwell.puk, they heard
the firing of guns. They went in the direction where the
shots were firing, and soon cams up with a body of men,
about nine in number, armed with gun,. Young Peach
seized one of them, who had • eon in his hand, upon which
a sodas mud, the poachers endeavouring to rescue their
comrade, whose name is George hues. The old man Peach,
wba if GO years of age, endeavoured to keep the gang back,
by intimidation, bet to no purpose, and upon calling upon
them to stand back al times, to which they paid no heed,
Peach, who carried a bayonet on the end of a suck, stabbed
two of the prowlers, and threatened to shoot at the gang if
they did out desist. This had the desired effect, and they
decamped, leaving Ranee in custody. Superintendent Gif-
ford soon received information of the affair, and in the mune
of the day apprehended a man named Darrell, at Wye, who
was wounded in the hand, and who had in his possession a
loaded gun. He also searched the boas. of a man named
Edward Rana, of Withersden, brother to George, and there
found a smock frock, jacket, and tremors, smeared with
blood, and flutes wires used in soaring hares, also a powder
flask containing powder. Ranee and Darrell were examined
on Thursday, at Mr. Furley'a olfice' before W. Buena, Eq.
and the Rey. N. Tcke, and sentenced to three months' hard
labour, and at the expiration of that time to bud securities to
be of good behaviour fer the following six months. From
directions which the superintendent gave to the constables
of Wye, they succeeded in apprehending the whole of the
remainder of the gang, who were examined before Dr. Carter
and W. Burn, Esq. ; four of them were discharged oa
recognisance., and two of them, named Barham and Rum,
were remanded for farther evidence. Runes he a bayonet
wound in his thigh. Some of the gang are noted poachers,
and great credit is due to Superintendent G.fford, for the
exertions which he has used in causing their apprehension,
and for the assistance rendered by him to the constables.
PARLIAMENTARY APPLICATIONS FOR THE ENSU-
ING SllllBlo:l.—Yestexclay, from the returns made by Mr.
Hawn, the registrar of the Private Bill-cffice of the House
of Commons, of the applications in connexion with joint
stock undertakings, deposited in the House of Commons, up
to Tuesday, the 31st of December, the lest day allowed by
the s•aading orders, it appears that the total number of
applications to parlianteat for the ensuirig melon for all
classes of bills amount to 216, about one-half being for
railways, end the other hall for miegellaaeoue companies,
showing that the joint stock enterprise of the country is
by no mesas daunted by the drames now daily enacting
under the Joint Stock Companies Winding-np Act. There
are the following applications for new water companies:
Metropolitan Water Supply Amor:Mien (fir the control of
the representative body); 'Wandler Water and Sewage Com-
pany; London (Watford) Spring Water Company • Metro.
politan Waterworks (Henley-on-Thames and 'Londe.
Aqueduct) ; East Lancashire Waterworks; Cambridge
Waterworks; Leicester Waterworks and Sewage; St.
Helens Waterworks; Whitby Waterworks ; But Stone-
house Waterworks, making four applications for the metro-
polis and five for the provincial districts. There are five
pp int ions for new electric telegraph companies—viz Tree
United KingdomElectricTelegraphCompany (Allen's patent),
the European and American Printing Telegraph Company
(Jacob Bretts), the Submarine Telegraph C .mpany between
Great Britain and Ireland (J. Bretts), the Submariag Tele-
graph Company between England and France, and the
Magnetic Electric Telegraph Company. The Electric
Telegraph Company also apply for amendments of their
present acts. There are several applications for the municipal
and other improvements of Liverpool and Manchester. The
Great Central Gas Consumers Company apply for an incor-
poration of their company. There are also several spplica.
tints for local gas companies. To rapine de the" Smithfield
nuisance" measures are proposed, called the Railway
Insurance Cattle Market and the Metropolitan Cattle
Market, the object of the latter being the removal of Smith-
field and Relegate Markets and the prohibition intramurally
of slaughter-houses. The maintainers of Smithfield as it is
also have a bill entitled " Smithfield Enlargement," one of
the objects being the removal of the dead meat market from
Smithfield, and the levying of tolls, manages, and dies for
the proposed purpose.
L Latin UNION RAILWAY.—It is proposed to apply to
parliament in tha ensuing session to wevert the o:d Ulster
r canal into a railway to unite with that between Armagh and
Belfast.