The Sun.
London, England, 1850-12-05 00:00:00

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

EAST AND WEST INDIA DOCKS AND BIRMING-
HAM JUNCTION.—It appears that the Railway Com-
missioners have signified their approval of another
portion of this line, extending from Islington to
Carnden-town, and it is accordingly intended to open
that portion on Saturday next. By arrangement
with the Blackwall Railway Company, the East and
West India Docks Railway conveys passengers from
Camden-town, Islington, Kingsland, and Hackney,
to the station at Fenchurch-street, the Brunswick-pier
at Blackwall, 0r.,. any other station on the Blackwall

line. From Islington the railway has been working
about two months as an omnibus line, at the fares of
6d. end 4d., and appears to give great facilities to the
inhabitants of the districts through which it passes.
When the junction of this line is made with the Lon-
don and North" Western Railway at Camden-town,
passengers will have the opportunity of booking for
that railway in the City, or at any of the stations on
the East and West India Dock line, without the ne-
cessity of a journey to Euston-square. On the com-
pletion of the junction at Camden-town, the goods
traffic from the London and North-Western Railway
will be conveyed over the line to the river Thames.
At present the Dock Railway is worked as for pas-
senger traffic only.
SOUTH WALES RAILWAY.—It is stated that ad-
vances will again be probably made to this railway,
if not by the Great Western, by some other parties.
SHREWSBURY AND BIRMINGHAM RAILWAY.—It
is expected that the recent decision, adverse to this
company, instead of being injurious to the shareholder,
will prove beneficial, inasmuch as the effect of it
will be to facilitate arrangements between them and
the London and North Western Company.
DIRECT BIRMINGHAM, OXFORD, READING, AND
BRIGHTON RAILWAY.—His honour Master Brougham
has just instructed Mr. Hutton, the official manager,
to appeal forthwith, at the expense of the estate,
against the order of Vice-Chancellor Rolfe in the
case of \Valstab, the effect of the decision of the Vice-
Chancellor being to remove all allottees from the list
of contributaries as liable, and, consequently, forming
3ne of the most important decisions hitherto oome to
under the Winding-up Act. Owing to the impor-
tance of the principle involved in the case an oppor-
tunity will be taken to obtain a hearing at the earliest
sitting in the ensuing session.
LONDON AND SOUTHEND RAlLWAY.—Yesterday
the Master the Hon. Sir George Rose erased from the
list of contributories Mr. Scratton, one of the pro-
visional committee, in conformity with the decision of
Vice-Chancellor Knight Bruce, in the case of Brewitt,'
but retained on the list the executors of Mr. P.
Skipper, on the ground that he had attended several
meetings at which a variety of expenses were ordered
to be incurred.

RUGBY, WARWICK, AND WORCESTER RAILWAY:
On Monday his Honour Master Richards allowed the
claim of Messrs. Hall and Smith, the solicitors to the
company, amounting to 500/. Mr. Wryghte, the
official manager, reports the assets of the company to
consist of about 3,0001. in the hands of the Account-
ant-General, and the liabilities to be discharged at
about 7,0001. There is a claim on the part of the
Northamptonshire Banking Company of 3,3001.
About 20,000 shares in the company were allotted,
and 40,0001. received as deposit ; 5,600 shares were
bought up by the directors at a premium in the
market, and 9,000 shares were reserved, as alleged,
for landowners. The 40,0001. were spent in " Par-
liamentary preliminaries," and the last rendered ac-
counts of the company exhibited a balance of 21.

S U N. ()N

MR. HUDSON'S EVIDENCE AT
YORK.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.

Sir,—A letter has appeared in your columns to- day
signed " John Henry Doyle," which has a tendency
to involve me in the very disgrecetul imputation of
having attempted to corrupt the Weekly Chronicle.
That letter does me gross injustice.
With what has taken place between Mr. Russell
and Mr. Doyle I have nothing to do, nor is it neces-
sary that I should express my private belief on one
side or the other ; but I do solemnly and unreservedly
declare that I never, by act, word, or suggestion, held
out any hope, or led Mr. Russell to expect, or autho-
rised him to offer, any consideration or reward, pecu-
niary or otherwise, for the insertion of any article
having reference to Mr. Hudson, or any one else, in
the columns of the Weekly Chronicle.
That I wrote a short notice of Mr. Hudson's evi-
dence at York, which appeared in that newspaper on
the 15th of September, is true. I wrote it at the in-
stance and request of Mr. Russell, and, as I then
believed, with the entire sanction and concurrence of
his partner, Mr. DoylQ.
That I asked Mr. Russell to direct Mr. Dillon, the
publisher, to forward '2OO copies of the paper con-
taining my article to the addresses mentioned in Mr.
Doyle's letter, is equally true.
That I wrote a second article, concluding and in
completion of the former (but not a "panegyric on
Mr. Hudson," and merely a review of his evidence),
is also true—but I did no more.

That is the head and front of my offending ! I
never suggested—l never offered a bribe. The idea
never crossed my mind.
It is true that the second article did not appear, but
I myself insisted on its being restored to me, and
destroyed it with my own hands rather than accede
to the terms upon which it was offered to be inserted
—an offer which did not come from Mr. Robert W.
Russell.

I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
Wm. DIGBY SEYMOUR.

2, Inner Temple-lane, Dec. 4.
[As the strange and, it now appears, utterly
groundless charge of an attempt having been made to
corrupt the Weekly Chronicle for Mr. Hudson's pur-
poses, has led to a public acknowledgment by Mr.
Digby Seymour, that he is the author of the review
which appeared in that paper on Mr. Hudson's cele-
brated evidence at York, it may gratify our readers
to peruse that learned gentleman's views, of which he
now takes the responsibility on himself. We, there-
fere, reprint the article in extenso.—ED. Sun.]

MR. DIGBY SEYMOUR'S FIRST REVIEW OF
MR. HUDSON'S EVIDENCE AT YORK.
(From the Weekly Chronicle of September 15.)
When Mr. Hudson had left the witness-box, during a
late remarkable trial at York, there was a movement
among the bar, many of whom hurried forward to con-
gratulate him upon the manner in which he had passed
through the difficult and unsparing ordeal to which he
had just been subjected. The tone and gestures of his
friends told that a triumph had been gained, while his
more immediate accusers either found a different
exit, or

" Astonished stood and blank!"

As this scene was going on outside the court, an
acute and gifted Member of Parliament, who remained
behind, and whose fame as a senator is only equalled by
his reputation as an advocate, turning to those who
stood near him, somewhat roughly, but forcibly, re-
marked—" Mr. Hudson has shaken off a great deal of
dirt during these last two hours."
We are jealous, as a nation, of the character and
" good report" of our public men. We know that
their biographies must go some day to make up our
history. They represent us in the eyes of foreigners;
and we desire to see none conspicuous who are
not respectable. We feel, too, that they who are
in high places should continue worthy of their
good fortune, and that their virtue should be firmer in
proportion to their eminence. We are especially vigilant
about those who have been raised by a rapid prosperity
and the concurrence of unforeseen events. Taken from
among the people, they are to a greater degree identi-
fied with the people; many entertain doubts as to how
they will demean themselves in their new position; and
many envy whom all are forced to applaud. When we
add this consideration to the circumstances of the times
through which we have of late years passed—amongst
other things, the wild fever of speculation which so dis-
turbed the national mind, and which his unusual success
only tended to encourage—referring, too, as we must
do, many losses and much ruin to railway invest-
ments and expenditure—without being driven to
assume that Mr. Hudson is guilty of all that his accusers
allege, we may sufficiently account for the fact that
his condemnation was so general and his fall so preci-
pitate. His position, when assailed, was extremely cri-
tical; it was no time for a cool trial; and it is not to be
wondered at that evidence of alleged misconduct, which,
two years before, might have been laughed to scorn—
which would not have provoked a local inquiry—should
have flung him from the height to which he had risen,
and injured so deeply his public character. Nor should
we feel much surprise that one who, in the midst of his
success, and while his influence was felt widely abroad,
was pointed at as an instance of what good talents and
great energy can accomplish in a free country, should,
at such a commercial crisis, when every man was panic-
stricken, tall before an accusation of delinquency.
But as with individuals, so with us as as a nation—
where we have acted most by impulse, we are most dis-
posed to be afterwards forgiving—if we have in hash
done a partial injury, when prejudice and passion have
cooled down, the reaction is as sure as the infliction was
sudden, and all will listen to his vindication whom many
condemned without a hearing. We have been led to
make these observations from our attention having been
called to a full report of Mr. Hudson's evi-
dence on the trial above referred to, and which
politics
—etw,hhibenaeveimnatughasekoef:telantst few days issued from the
everhem
o severelypt the more
censured
ee mnd
sourt
roe e cheerfullyd
r.him—personallyuHudson
si
on
n t h ins
wholly unacquainted with him, they will, we believe,
be received by our readers in the spirit in which they
are offered—a spirit of " fair play," and from a desire
to see done to every man, but especially to one whose
name is so connected with great public undertakings,
ample and impartial justice. We confess, too, that the
explanations Mr. Hudson gave so recently upon oath,
and in a court of justice, of those transactions which
have drawn upon him the greatest share of discredit and
blame, are calculated to pave the way for his regaining to
a considerable extent the place in public confidence ho
seemed to have lost so hopelessly.
One transaction, indeed, appeared hitherto so utterly
disgraceful, that had its truth been admitted, or had it
been left unanswered, and no explanation offered, Mr.
Hudson's character would have still remained under
a cloud which no sophistry could brighten and no
ingenuity could clear away, We allude to the
circumstances connected with the contract for the
supply of iron by. Messrs. Thompson and Forman to
the Newcastle and Berwick Railway Company. The
charge egainst Mr. Hudson was, that the company, of
which he was a director, requiring to purchase
20,000 tons of iron, cognizant of this, and knowing
that tenders must shortly be advertised for, he bought
from the above gentlemen professedly on his own ac-
count, but at the real risk of the company, 10,000
tons, at 6/. 10s.; that when these gentlemen subse-
quently sent in their tender to supply the required
quantity at 121. per ton, Mr. Hudson being chairman
it was accepted; that of these 20,000 tons 7,000 were,
as between him and Messrs. Thompson and Forman,
treated by Mr. Hudson as his own; and being
" under the blind " of Messrs. Thompson and For-
man's name sold to the company, he became thus a
gainer to the amount of 38,0001. Such is the charge,
and viewing it in its " naked deformity," Mr. Hudson's
conduct is wholly inexcusable. What is his answer ?
It amounts, in effect, to this:—" In October, 1844, the
Newcastle and Berwick Railway was a mere project.
It had not yet gone before Parliament. It had immense
opposition yet to surmount. In that month believing
that iron would rise, because I foresaw a great and
coming demand for it, I thought it a good specula-
tion to purchase iron. I invited many friends
to join me at the time. Finally, I bought
10,000 tons of Messrs. Thompson and Forman, wholly
on my own individual account. I alone was respon-
sible to them, whatever happened. In March, 1845,
the Bill, for the first time, went before Parliament.
The company then advertised for tenders. I had
bought at 61. 10s. and upwards. Meanwhile, iron
had risen to 12/. 109. and upwards in the market.
Messrs. Thompson and Forman's tender was accepted.
They supplied 20,000 tons, of which 7,000 tons were
a portion of my purchase. I gained nothing by sell-
ing it to this company. Others would have bought it;
Messrs. Crawshay offered me 50,000/. for my bargain."
Were the company losers? No. Was the price above
the market price? No. Was it bought in the name, or
on account, or at the risk of the company. No. If iron
fell, who would be the loser? Mr. Hudson. Iron having
risen in price, and Mr. Hudson having made a profit,
what was his crime? That he did not make the company
a present of 38,0001.!
We have not space to notice this evidence further. We
have said enough if we have, as far as lay with us, pro-
voked a disposition for a more calm and impartial exa-
mination of the charges against Mr. Hudson. Our aim
is not to vindicate him. We do not seek to be his apo-
logists; but a public journalist assumes no unbecoming
attitude when an effort is Made to secure a fair and pa-
tient hearing for one who was condemned almost un-
heard. Often of necessity the advocates of a party, we
may sometimes of choice prove the minister of justice.
" Audi alteram partem" is a heathen precept, but should
not a Christian practise it?
If further inquiry into Mr. Hudson's conduct leads to
clearer proof of his criminality, it is well—his sentence
will be snore severe, and the pause we have recommended
in public opinion would bo followed by his more indig-
nant condemnation. But if—and " charity hopeth all
thinge''—further inquiry teads to restore him even par-
tially to public favour, it is better—for then at least
dishouour and disgrace will not for ever attach to a man
whose name must go down to future ages associated with
some of the kreatest and most enduring monuments of
British art and genius which England in her palmiest
days has exhibited to the world!

- -
The Westminster Freehold Land Society held a
public meeting at the Railway Tavern, Richmond, last
Wednesday evening, for the purpose of making arrangements
for the transmission of stbScriptions from members in that
locality ; Mr. Gringell in the chair. Mr. Steere was unani-
mously elected agent for the district. Mr. G. E. Downes
having explained the objects of the society, a number of
shares were taken, and a votes of thanks to the chairman
I closed the proceedings.

PAPAL AGGRESSION.

THE BISHOPS.

The following is a copy of an address from the
Archbishops and Blshopi (except Exeter and St.
David's) to her 11,19,j€sty