The Express.
London, England, 1850-02-06 00:00:00

THE OREkT EXHIBITION OF 1851.

The following letter has been addregotcl to his royal
bighusee Prince Albert •

"May it please your royal highness, or most noble
prince,—Seeing that your royal highness bas set on foot a
subscription fo- a great exhibition of the industrious' of all
nations, and feeling it to be the means, under God, of doing
much greed, and el.° calculated to bring 'thous a more
friendly feeling between the nations of the earth, 1 beg to
enclose my subscription of one shilling. It is all I can
afford, as 1 am a worhing man with a wits and fourclaildren,
but always ready to every rood work ; and would beg to
sward to your royal highness that if our great men
could inducer the working claims to give one shilling a family
to be plated with your large subscriptions, you would be
obi* to earn out the great work which has been begun by
your royal ;highness, in a manner becurein& a !peat nation
lrke ourr, presided over by • eoo.l a.d griccias Queen,
whom I hope God will bless and long preserve. lisping
you will halloo every imperfection, and pardon may boldness.
I remain your royal highneres I
" Most obedient servant,
" JAMBS RANDLI,
"Parish Constable, Braintree, Essen.
"To his Royal Highness Prince Albert, and
to his Cocoon our beloved Queen."

MELANCHOLY SUICIDE AND MURDER.—AI in-
quest wee held on Monday evening, before Mr. A. H Eat.
114 i, coroner for Beth, on the body of • man about 37 years
of age, named Edmund Francis Hunt, who committed
suicide by jumping into the river Avan with his child, a
little girl about two years and a half old. The deceased was
• plasterer by trade, and an honest and industrious man,
having worked for one master upwards of twenty years. His
wit.% however, had • great predilection for stealing,
and has several times been epprthended on charges
of shoplifing. The pot felbw seems to have ex-
perienced great anxiety and sorrow "on aceotint:of his wife's
conduct, and upon the last occasion of her apprehension,
three or four months sito, he declared that if she again
brought him into similar disgrace, he would do away with
himself. On Saturday night last as he was returning home
a neighbour informed him that his wife had been again ap-
prehended on • charge of shoplifting. Hunt immediately
hastened home. At the inquest his son, Edmund Hunt,
dappled ' am thirteen years of ago. and am the
ablest child of the deceased Edsant Francis Hunt. I have
two younger hero' hers at home, and another brother, a baby,
who is with my mother at the police station. My mother
was taken to the station-house on Saturday night, but I do
not know for what. My father returned home about one
o'cloi 1. I was sitting up for him. I think he was tipsy
when he came In, because he brought home a can of beer
with him, and he never did that helm but once, and then
he was tipsy. As awn as father came home, be asked
" Where's mother ?" and I told him I did not know. My
little sister, who was up stairs in bed, then called out
" Father!" My father told me ta go up stairs, end
fetch her. When I went up stain my father was sitting
by she fire in the front parlour, but wh.n I came down with
my sister, he was sitting by the door of the back perkier
which door leads down by two pairs of Mope to the river. I
gave him my sister, and asked him to come up to bed. He
gave my sister a drop of beer, and told me to go up to bed,
and said he sheadd not see my face any more. I went up to
bed, cad when I was in bed I bead my father go out and
shut the back-door. I then heard him say something to my
sister, but I could not understand what it was.
My enter was two-and-a.half years old. She was my only
sister, and my father was particularly fond of her. He liked
bar better than all the rem of us, and &ten had her brought
down stairs to him when he muse home. On Sunday morn-
ing, when I came down stain, my father's hat was upon the
table, the candlewick was in the wash-house, and the gate
leading to the water waa open. Father was not angry with
me when he asked where mother was, but seemed kind to me.
My mother has been taken up before for stealing. My
father at those theca wee almost out of his mind. It was
further shown that souse neighbArre, having become ac-
quainted from the children with their father and sister's
absence, their suspicions were aroused, and the river having
been dragged, the body of the unfortuaate mu was pulled
up about 60 yards below las own bone,. Hie arms were
folded over his chest, as *ones embrneieg something. The
water was very dash at the time, and the Odd mast have
been swilled eat of her father's arms, the body having been
discovered in the rte. r on Monde y, eighteen miles below
when that of the father was found. The jury returned a
verdict of "Temporary instioky." The woman was oe
Mohday committed by the City magistrates to take her trial
for shoplifting at th • neat sessions.
LONDON AND WATFORD SERINO WATER COMPANY.—
Yesterday the promoters of this measure were declared to
have complied with the standing onion.

PARLIAMENTARY
AND FINANCIAL REFORM.

MEETING AT COVENTRY.
On Mreiday evening the friends of governmental
promos held a pubis meeting in Sr. Mar)'slf all at Coven-
try. The meeting was wormed by the mayor, upon a
requisition presented to his worship, signed by nearly all the
hi-uds of the liberal cause resident is the city.
Shortly after seven the mutable hail was filled in every
part with the meat repeatable of the weevers and other
artisans of the thy. Tile !Dept., la amuntleg the chair,
was greeted with mach applause, which was t, sumed
Sir Joshua Walmsley, M.l'. and Mr. George Thompson,
M.P., were introJaced to the matting.
The mayor bavior formally opened the meeting, a latter
was read ham Mr. W. Wdlienss, lets H.P. for the city,
expressive of hie hearty mourns= is the objects of the
meeting, and of his regret that in eminiquentn of a pare
*afar engagement he was usable to Woad.

Mr. CMAMLBS BRAY, proprietor of the Cayman,
Herald. moved the Brit trodetioe:
- .

71st It le the dallboraia pad= of tid i marAlsa Vat Use nom of
p, at at peen' staaltuted does awl My sad fairly repro.
mat as walla tad tviehas et the BrftlA aiilsit oat that a refocus In
tlat hose, is mordease wilt the flr " National Par-
amilitary and Ylamaid Ileina ', las bees= absolutely
=—lbr as oat povarasunt ot the eressloy—s thorough re-
as mai um/oft yam st temiata a sion fald Sao'
way la as earedllaos et the peals nary.

kr. FARA • walla maim, siososilsd t). raselatles:

Sit JOSHUA WALHSLEY,..P., next rese,nadiias
greeted with load applause. It was almost unnecemary that
be should say anything to urge the adoption of the resolu-
tion which bad been_propeseed, expressing as 1; did the fact,
that the House of Commons did not fully represent the
people. (Hear.) By the aids of him there slt his hon.
friend the member for the Tower Hamlets, repreirentieg
some 10,000 electors, and he had in his mind's eye a man
who had stood high In the councils of his Emereign, a man
who was Slit to poems both talent and worth—the represen-
tatives cf whom, a Angle individual, the Marquis of Exeter
—(" shame")—the votes of the two individuals representing
that noblemen in the House of Commons for the borough of
Standard. ate made to neutralise those of my hon. friend
here and his colleague for the Tower Hamlet.. (Hear.)
These two c metkuenries—so opposite in every essential prin-
ciple upon which representation should be based—are on a
par witjt each other. (Hear.) But we are told that it
no[ population, bat property and population,
that is to be the ingredient for consideration.
(Hear.) If it is property, it is equally fallacious. Take
Manchester, or take Liverpool, with which he (Sir Joshua)
was better acquainted : there they had a pepulction of three
or four hundred thousand souls, with ad assessment tothe
poor Titl million and a half, and two representatives In
parliament. Take Buckinghamshire, which was hall the
amount of assessment to the poor rate, less than
half the population, and there they had eleven mem•
hers of parliament. (Cele, of "theme !") Now, for
his part, he had no objection to abide by the
principle on which our representation was professed
to be based, because he bzlieved tkat where Were was popu-
lation there was also property. Ho asked for the on operation
of all in this movement, but especially the middle and work-
ing classes; by doing this they would be snaking neither
couctsiion nor compromise to any principles they might
attain of • more advanced character. (Heat.) He asked
them to aid in this movement bwawe it was the one most
likely of attainment; they sought to obtain vote by harlot ;
the establishment of triennial parliaments, the abolition of the
proplrtyqualificaima,and Lost of all,such an avortionment of

ineisbeisio population as would esters to people some.
thing lA° a full and fair representation. (Cheers.) They
did not contend against the charter, nor were they opposed
to complete suffrage. (Cries of " That's the thine') But
they ask.d the paople to aid them in obtaining that winch
they believed to be the most practicable. lie believed that
no man could get up in that hall, and show to him that the
charter was not a La better measure than that which they
'ought to obtain; but what he •ished was, that the poop!:
should take hold of that lever which would aid them in the
accomplishment of their rghts. Tr• eonstitui a AM its
safety rendered it nerseisory that some concessions should be
made to the people who had hitherto been excluded foal all
share in tneir own governiaent. (Hear) Ile was a sup-
porter of the constitution, but not of a sham—of a reality.
He wanted the crown to have its rights, and the poor to have
their rights ; but of all thiurre—the people to have their
rights. (Cheers.) It properly supported by the people he
and those with whom he was acting would tamer cease disk
efforts until they obtaieed for the people their just rights.
(Bear.) They had now held one hundred and twenty meet-
lags on this subject, and whatever had been the
character of the assembly, tearer had never boon
a man to raise his voice against the principles
they advcsated. Sir Joshua proceeded at some length to
illustrate the manner in which public opiuion might be
brought to boar in th's movement; it was, he said, ad pow-
erful, and all the public bad t. do was to show that they
were in 'truest; they must show this by registering their
names and addresses as members of the National Assoeistion,
and by subscribing to its funds, and basing manilested their
spirit and determination iu every peeceable and legal man-
ner, he would est whether any minister, a wis', a just man,
would dare to refuse the dement:s of the people. Alter s ime
further general observations, Sir Jain* rid that he took
leave of them, rejoicing at their aarnesterai in the cousin
and urging them to subscribe their names, as men deter-
mined to struggle for their rights by peaceful, legal, end
oonnitut;ontil means. (Much ch, enng.)
The resolution was then put and earned unanimously.

Mr. H. BROWLIT, draper, next moved, and Mr. DAVID
BOCHDRY seconded, in • forcible speech, the next relic-
lotion

That this meeting, approving of the policy and p:ana of the National
Reform Association, pledges itself to austAin It by it. contributions to
the 10,0001. fund, and by every other sacealtle mid constitutmnal
MOW!.

Mr. G. THOMPSON, M.P., next rove, amidst loud
applause. He commenced by observing that it might be
asked what business two members of parliament had at the
meeting that night, at a time when parluameat was as-
sembled; and it certainly did seem strange that his hon.
friend, who had just addreqed them, should have left
London within two hours of the time when the House of
Commons again met, and when, as the phrase went, he
oeght to be " in his place." The same °Nervation might
be mode as regarded another individual, to whom ho would
not mere particularly refer, bat it should be personal. (A
laugh.) He heard an answer suggested behind the chair
which might, perhaps, have some foundation ; the tact was
that at this time they believed they could be doing more
good out of the house than in it. (Hear.) Two years' ex-
perience had taught him that the House of Commons was
anything but • commons home ; and, not to libel it, he
might say that it s'emed to bean attempt to cheat the public
with • mockery, by giving to that hems a character which
it not only did not merit, but which it did everything to
falsify and to prostitute. (Hear, hear.) Now, these were
bard things tor • man to say of • house of which
he was a member, and he repetted the necessity
for making such • remark; but he was sent there with the
complete concurrence of the unentranahised men of the
Tower Hamlets ; he is prepared to &minute them at any
time in the largest uuaecupied space in the HanCets, and if
10 out of a thousand would say that they would not have
sent him there if they had the power to prevent it, he was
prepared to resign his seat. (Cheers.) Now he looked for
other men like himself in the House of Commons, and he
could sot find them, at least, they were so few in number
that they were ineffective for good. (Hear.) And if it
were not for public opinion, if It were not for the prase, and
the ready pencils of those gentlemen who surround the
table ; if it were nut for the thousand means which In these
glorious days (for they see such) are to be made avail-
able for getting hold of opinion, there are seventy or
eighty members of the House of Commons who
would be held in unutterable contempt, who would
be thought lea of than the door-mat on which my
lord rubi his shoes, or than the doorkeeper who lets him into
the house. (Cries of "Shame.") But when it is known
that thew men represent public opinion out of doors, that
they are its very retie:, that they speak backed by its eutho•
rity and its force, and that what they do say there will go
back again to the people—why, then the feeling with which
they are nearded is of a somewhat different character.
He warned the aristocracy who prided themselves so
much on descent and on the existence of their
manes in " Doom'e-day Beek," how they prov. ked the
people to remember, that ere • Norman despot over-ran the
shores with big marauding land pirates, that they had free
institutions under their old Saxon ruler.. Let the Duke of
Richmond, the president of the society at 17, Old Bond-
street, who in the chair at Brightoa last week said that the
object was to turn out the government and re-impose the
corn laws—let him be cautious how fez the people were pro-
voked. He gave Isim and his fellow aristocrats nodes;
and with reference to this same Duke of Richmond there
was one little fact worth mentioning : that duke's ancestor
was a celebrated monarch, who followed the worthy
Oliver Cromwell—he meant Charles the Stewed, who,
being • great lover of the fair sex, had, as a
, ' natural consequence, • large family ; and one of his
favourites—the Duchess of Portsmouth, had a son called
Charles Lennox, who was made Duke of Richmond, and
this son was to be provided for, hie purse and credit in the
city being gene ; and Charles provided for him. He made
a grant to him and his heirs of Is. per ton on every ton of
coals seat oat of the Tyne and c dimmed in this country ;
end this grant costumed in existence until the time of Pitt,
diming whose premiership it was deemed essential to transfer
them coal duties to the crown, and a committee was
appointed to mama the lees to the Duke of Richmond. The
estimate wee 21,0001. a year—(shame)—on an average of
ten years So mach for coal. The result was, that the
whole was commuted for by the purchase of' 633,0001.
stack in the 3 per cents., which met the nation half
• manilas, a sum which was added to the national
debt for ever, unless the people themselves Mammal it.
(Cries of "shame.") Now, this large sum enabled the duke
to add largely to hie domains at Goodwood, in Sussex, and
he made use of the propeety he acquired by seeding his sons
and nephews late the House of Commons to further augment
hie rent-roll by voting for the perpetuation of a tax on the

fail ill the lc (Mar, hem) no ham gamesman
sia Aiwa applwase whisk lasted several seismal.
isssississ was married asswiatously, as was also a sub.
=rMO. swing to pinkies_ parlissawat ea the suldeet
eiss • vas M %Maks to the Mayor, the meeting, wide!'
disposssurdirasil amiss satislaritory spirit throughout, quietly