The Sun.
London, England, 1850-09-06 00:00:00

T El E SON,

LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 6, 1850.

CONDITION OF YOUNG MEN
ENGAGED IN CO %1 ERCI AL PURSUITS
PRACTICALLY CONSIDERED.

LITERATURE.

MR. HUDSON'S EVIDENCE AT YORK.
" A Revised and Complete Report of the Recent
Trial for Libel, Richardson v. Tfodson, pub-
lisher of The Yorkshireman,' with preliminary
Observations, 6-c." London. C Mitchell, 1850.
2. " R"port if the Evidence of George Hudson, Esq ,
ALP., on the Trial of the Cause, Richardson
v. Woolson, York Summer Assizes, 1850.
Edttcd by a Barrister." London, John Hearne,
Strand, 1850.
The fact that Mr. Hudson was subpoenaed as a
witness for the defendant in the action for libel re-
cently tried at York,—to be subjected to cross-
examination in a court of justice in respect of all the
heavy charges brought against him in relation to the
York Union Basking Company, the York, Newcastle,
and Berwick Rail way, and the York and North Midland
Railway, and to be placed in a position where the
truth, and the whole truth, would be extorted from
him, whether he would or no—naturally excited an
extraordinary degree of interest in York and the
northern counties. lie was, as it were, to be publicly
put ulna his trial, with this difference, that whereas
in ordinary cases the accused stands passively at the
bar, listens to the evidence brought against him, and
hears,bis accusers attempt to make out their case,—be
was to be compelled (if he were guilty of the enor-
mities bid to his charge) to criminate himself, and
out of his own mouth to supply facts for his
own condemnation. No wonder that his friends
and his enemies, and those who were neither,
but who wished to see fair play, and who
thought it hard ta condemn a man on ex-
parte statements and anonymous newspaper para-
graphs, without hearing his account of the transac-
tions, should feel curious to know how he would pass
through such an ordeal.
He appeared in court on the'clay in question;—he
appeared under circumstances calculated to make the
strongest nerves quail. Public feeling in the city
was heated by the vehement diatribes of the journal
interested in the verdict of the day,, which endea-
voured to prejudge the case by creating a public sen-
timent in its own favour; and Mr. Hudson was called
as a witness after the jury had heard directed against
him one of the most forcible rhetorical efforts of the
greatest Nisi Prius advocate on the Northern Cir-
cuit, or, indeed, at the bar of this country,—whose
thrilling tones may be said at one time to resemble
" the thunder," at another time, " the music of the
spheres." And how did Hudson bear himself after
all this storm of invective, after all these withering
sarcasms ? He stood in the witness-box cool, col-
lected, like a man of business prepared to give infor-
mation on every point to which hisattention might be
called ; and then Sergeant Wilkins commenced his
examination. As the editor of the second pamphlet
above mentioned, remarks,—" All the consummate
skill and practised ingenuity of the Learned Sergeant
who cross-examined could suggest was with masterly
dexterity exerted to elicit every point which could
appear to make his conduct censurable, or throw a
suspicion on the purity of his motives." The ease
and frankness with which he answered every interro-
gatory, and the apparent reasonableness of his expla-
nations, struck everybody, and, as those who were
present at the trial testify, produced a powerful sen-
sation in his favour.
The pamphlets before us both purport to contain
the evidence given by Mr. Hudson on this occasion ;
and because it is important to the cause of truth,—
important to the character of a public man, who is
admitted even by his most envenomed personal op-
ponents to have achieved no inconsiderable amount of
public good, and to have promoted great public works
which will last for generations,—who was, only
a few years ago, by the public voice, recog-
nised as one who ,had promoted useful enterprise,
who had assisted in developing the resources of
the country, and supplying employment to thou-
sands,—and because it is important to the national
character, which has suffered in the eyes of Europe,
who have seen a large portion of the British public
turn round and assail with indiscriminating obloquy
the person they lauded to the skies as long as railways
were making large profits,—like Actaeon torn to
pieces by his own hounds, mistaking him for
a Stag,—that we invite particular attention
to the two pamphlets at the head of this article.
The first is printed at the office of the York news-
paper, against which Mr. Richardson brought
'ais action for libel. It professes to be "a
revised and complete " report of the trial ;
but a most casual examination of it will show that in
the really important part of the whole trial, viz., the
evidence of Air. Hudson, it is mutilated, garbled,
abridged,—not giving a full and fair report of Mr.
Hudson's testimony on oath, as it was, in common
decency, not to say common honesty and common
fairness, bound to give, but clipping his answers and
condensing his explanations! What will be thought
of the animus of the writer who, in a "revised and
complete" report, can be guilty of such gross abuse of
the license of printing ? The charges against Mr.
Hudson are printed, literally, as the special-pleader's
ingenious pen drew them. The criminatory speech
of Mr. Sergeant Wilkins is reported, in the first
person, verbatim. The explanations of Mr. Hudson
are cut short, and the speech of Mr.
Martin, Q.C., in reply to the scandalous
aspersions on Mr. Hudson, is imperfectly reported in
the third person, in this style—" Having recapitulated
the facts given in evidence by Mr. Hudson, he con-
tended, &c." The examination of Mr. Hudson by
Mr. Martin, Q.C., which in the York Herald and the
Yorkshire Gazette occupied half a column, and which
in the report of Mr. Hudson's evidence, as revised
by a member of the bar present in court, extends to
six pages, is cramped into seventeen lines of narrow
column ! Such a circumstance cannot fail to awaken
the public to the fact that there are motives of
malevolence in play against Mr. Hudson, w hich
make certain parties desirous, if possible, of preventing
his explanations having their full effect, which par-
ties systematically circulate statements distorted by
their own prejudices or sinister designs to keep up
misconception as to his conduct. There is
and partisanship stamped upon the title-page of this
" revs ed and complete report and no person can
possibly form a just opinion of Mr. Hudson's conduct,
without perusing the entire and correct report of his
evidence on the occasion in question.
Before we proceed to the consideration of the seve-
ral charges made against Mr. Hudson touching the
matters in question, and the answers which he gives
on oath to each of them, we cannot refrain from a
rematk or two on " the preliminary observations,"
which are prefixed to the report of the trial, printed
at the Yorkshireman office, and published in Red Lion-
court. The pamphlet is anonymous—a fact not without
its significance. Surely, Wnen such accusations as
are here advanced are preferred against an individual,
the public ought to know who makes them,—Quis
vituperavit, " Who is the instigator?" Are these
charges made by a man whose own character can
stand fire ?—are they made by one respected for inte-
grity and respectability—for his position in society
—for regularity in his payments, and exactness in
money matters? Are they the candid remarks of an
impar-tial public journalist jealous for the public in-
terests, or ve ere they incited by some discarded offi-
cial, some disappointed speculator, some bitten share
jobber, some " obliged friend,"—
" Was it the &quire, or parson of the pari,b,
Or the attorney ?"
Who is this Jack the Giant-killer who moves about
in his " coat of darkness," and stabs unseen?
If the charges advanced against Mr.lludson in respect
of the York Union Bank, the York, Newcastle, and
Berwick Railway, and the Yolk and North Midland
Railway, were, as they are represented to be, sub-
stantial and damnatory, it is obvious that they could
standalone, arid would require no support from dark
surmises, bodiless rumour:, and idle gossip. In try-
ing the commonest felon in our courts of law all
knowledge of a previous conviction is studiously kept
from the view of the jury till their verdict is found,
in order that they may give a fair and impartial ver-
dict, and not be prejudiced by importing into the
case any circumstances not bearing on the matter be-
fore them ; but this writer studiously lays a
foundation of prejudice before he proposes
his accusation, tied tries every expedient
to damage the reputation of Mr. Hudson before he
approaches the facts of the case ! He mentions that
in May, 1827—that is eighteen years before the rail-
way mania—a relative of Mr. Hudson, named Bot-
terill, bequeathed to Mr. Hudson the sum of 30,000/. ;
and he hints that there was foul play in respect of
Mr. Botterill's will, because Mr. Botterill left the bulk
of his property to Mr. Hudson, leaving little or no-
thing to nearer relations, nephews and nieces ! Is it
to be borne that the character of men, public or pri-
vate, is to be dealt with in this manner ? Is it to be
borne that in order to tell off a one-sided report of a
trial, involving the character of ore who has three
times filled the office of Lord Mayor of York, and
who still occupies a seat in the Legislature, such a
viperous calumny should be put into circulation ?
" I wit; be banged if souse eternal villain,
Some busy slid insinuating rogue,
S,,rne cogging, c<z ning slave, to serve some purpose,
Have not devised this slander!"
That those who were overlooked by the testator
should be dissati,ne d,— that less fortunate neighbours
should envy the man who fell in for such a fortune,
is prob .ble enough,—but there were the strongest
possible reasons why Mr...Botterill should prefer Mr.
Hudson to the rest of his relations. Ile saw in him
an active, steady, indefatigable, and (as his traducers
themselve admit) exemplary and useful member of
society, and no doubt he telt satisfied that Mr. Hudson
ould make good use of his property. Is it even
pretended that the will was impeached ? The
will was in the York Willa'-office, in Minster.
yard; it could be seen by anybody on papnent
of a shilling ; there is a Prerogative Court
at York for the trial of testamentary
causes—the city contained then, as now, several en-
terprising attornejs and proctors,--the prize was

30,000/,—was, we repeat, the will ever impeached
Is it credible that if there were a shadow of even a
suspicion on that will that it would have been al-

lowed to remain undisturbed ? The thing is prepos-
.terous ! It is a wicked invention, printed for the
sake of galling, insulting, and nettling Mr. Hudson ;
but it will, we are of opinion, have a tendency to show
to the public of the United Kingdom that there is
more at the bottom of all this outcry against " the
Railway King " than meets the eye !
But having admitted that in May, 1827, Mr.
Hudson was possessed of 30,0001. and a busit.ess suf-
ficiently lucrative to enable the proprietors " to ac-
quire small fortunes," this candid representative of
the fourth estate in Yorkshire describes Mr. Hudson
in the following strain :
They only saw a man t the a leap from behind a
counter to become one of the moat i,.fluential men uf his
da3 —from a respectable tradesman, posAessing a Jew
huhdreds, to take sank as a millionaire; a Aletuber of
Patituuent; a boroughtnanger; the owt,er of lour or
five estatts; and at whose bulls and soirees dukes and
nobles attended to pay court and do homage. The
nation only saw this, and manelleel"
The pamphleteer wishes to represent Mr. Hudson's
fortune as like the gourd of Jonah, which shot up in
one night ; but the truth is that his rise has been slow,
gradual, progressive, the reward of many years of
perseverance and steady tuil. Equally correct is the
following :
" Having, then, as we have said, by virtue of his
newly-acquired wealth, advanced in the estimation of his
party, he vtry soon began to participate in those muni-
cipal honours which that party had the powtr of con-
ferrinn."

What is the fact ? That he acquired his wealth in
1827, and did not participate in any sort c f municipal
honours till December 25, 1835. In 1835 Mr.
Thomas Wood IVi!son was Lord Mayor of York.
On the 25th of December the first elections under
the new law took place ; Sir John Simpson
was chosen Lord Mayor, and Mr. Hudson was
then elected a councillor. In 1836-37 Mr. James
Meek was Lord Mayor ; and in 1837-38 Mr. Hudson
was chosen Lord Mayor. In 1838-39 he was re-
elected. Now all this was before the railway days—
for the York and North Midland Railway was only
opened to Castleford in May, le4o, and the Great
North of England line was opened to Darlington in
Mirch, 1841. Any one acquainted with the facts knows
that Mr. Hudson then maintained the same hospitality
in the Mansion-ho Use which be afterwards did when
he was at the head of the railway world ; he was then
considered by his party to have rendered eminent ser-
vices to the Tory cause in the city and in the North
and East Ridings, and before we believe he ever
made a farthing by railways, he was presented
with a valuable peace of plate by his fellow-citizens,
and was visited by the aristocracy of his native
county.
So far from its being correct that Mr. Hudson,
" possessing merely a few hundreds," took " a leap"
from behind a counter to be a millionaire, the truth
is that he had retired from, business in College-
street' as early as 1838—seven years at least before he
took that leap ! But instead of retiring to the country
on the fortune he had secured, and living as a squire,
as men of vulgar minds would have done, he resolved
to employ his capital in a way more congenial to his
temperament, and more beneficial to his fellow-men.
One more sample of the honesty of the writer
whose representations have been palmed off on a cre-
dulous public :
" We verily believe, that if a proposition had been
made during that period, of tunnelling the Atlantic, or
of laying down a line to the moon, no smile of derision
would have been raised throughout the country. Such
was the public credulity of the age. But, anon, through
the influence and repeated warnings of the press, this
delirium abated; it was suddenly discovered that more
railways were pre ected than the capital of the country
(threefold) could construct. The Stock Exchange be-
came alarmed; scrip holders trembled and rushed breath
lessly to the market; but, ales! it was too late! The
huge bubble had burst, and prices fell more rapidly than
they had risen; provisiocal committeemen absconded
with the funds entrusted to their custody, leaving the
shareholders to their fate:—
" The earth bath bubbles, as the water bath,
And these were of them !"
We hare already said that for all this mischief, the wide-
spread rum and multitudinous evils which subsequently
ensued, and which a, e even yet travelling ' their sow
length along,' George Hudson, the dis-crowned Railway
Monarch, is to be held as answerable."

We deny this utterly. So far from encouraging
these bubbles, Mr. Hudson invariably cautioned Parlia-
ment and the public against them; he pointed out
the dangers of this very speculation; he predicted the
ruin that would inevitably flow from it; he warned
the holders in all the substantial lines to discourage
all the wild prvjects afloat ; there was no one
more opposed to the " Stags" than he was. How,
then, with any colour of justice and trutb
can he be held responsible for the ruin that men's
own rashness, recklessness, cupidity, insatiate avarice,
selfishness, folly, miscalculation, and disrt gard cf good
faith brought upon their own heads ? Let him be
judged of by his own acts,—if his management of the
great lines committed to his charge was open to cen-
sure, let him be censured by all means ; but in the
name of common sense let him not be held respon-
sible for doings with which he had nothing to de, an&
which he actually exerted his influence to counteract !
The first topic on which Mr. Hudson was exa
mined by Mr. Sergeant Wilkins related to his con-
nexion with the York Union Banking Company.
The imputation on Mr. Hudson with respect to this
bank was that through his mismanagement the
manager had over-drawn his account to the extent of
16,0001. more than he was able to repay—he having,
to promote his own echernes, advanced that gen-
tleman from being a clerk, at a salary of 2001 a year
in another bank, to be manager of the York Union
Banking Company, at a salary of 1,0001. A few
words of explanation will mt et this charge.

The bank was formed in 1833, whets the notion of
a railroad from York to London would have been
considered as about as practicable a scheme as a sub•
marine telegraghic communication now between
Liverpool and New York ! Among many con-
&dates for the office of manager, dr. Wilkinson
applied for the vacant appointment. From
his experience as a clerk at Wentworth's
and the York City and County Banks, he was con-
sidered to be a proper person, and he was appointed
at a salary of 4001. a year—certainly not too much
for a post of such trust. Mr. Hudson was from the
year 1833 a director of the bank; in 1841 he became
chairman. The bank prospered; it was regarded as
one of the best conducted J. int Stock Banks in the
county. Many of our readers will remember the
fearful commercial crisis in 1837,—those who do not
will do well to refer to some year-book or register of
that date; they will find an appalling chronicle of
the effects of speculation and over-trading. The York
Union Bank pssaed safely through that crisis, and
again, in 1842, when the manufacturing districts
were suffering the most frightful distress, the Union
Bink, under the safe guidance of the man
who is now denounced r s the most rash
of all speculators, weathered the storm, while the
Yorkshire Agricultural and Commercial Bank, with
a capital of 400,0001., broke, involving its un-
happy shareholders in liabilities to the amount of
201,6981.9:. 5d., which utterly ruined several families.
The proprietors of the York Union Bank were natu-
rally satisfied with the vigilance of their directors and
managers, and on three successive occasions, as the
business of the establishment increased, step by step,
the salaries of the officers were all increased together,
till at length the manager's salary was 1,000/.a year !
Mr. Hudson's railway connexion brought a large
amount of business to the bank, and although the
shareholders then knew that he could bestow little
more than a nominal superintendence over the affairs
of the bank, they were but too glad to have the pres-
tige of his name as chairman, and the profit of his
connexion. Well, in the beginning of this present
year, it is discovered that the manager is in debt to
the bank 16,000/., and the Yorkshireman publishes a
paragraph attempting to fix the responsibility of the
defalcation principally on Mr. Hudson ! From the
evidence, however, of Mr. Wilkinson himself and of
Mr. Hudson, it appears that 16,000/. of the amount
overdrawn was taken by the manager during the last
twelve months, the greater part of which time Mr.
Hudson was in London, and that Mr. Hudson had
nothing directly or indirectly to do with the defal-
cation.
Mr. Hudson, in his evidence, in answer to the
questions of Sergeant Wilkins, thus explains the
course of business at the bank in reference to ad-
vances . . _

" Q. When advances were made by the bank to any
parties, were not they made under your control and
directions?
" A. Under my directions jointly with Mr. Scawin;
and, under particular circums!ances, with the advice of
the entire board of directors.

" Q. Was it not your duty to exercise your discretion,
and take care that these advances were made on proper
security?
" A. Jointly with my colleagues.
" Q. De you mean to tell me that no advances were
ever made on your own responsibility, without the
sanction of your colleagues?
" A. I do not think that I ever sanctioned any ad-
vances without the concorreece of Mr. Seawin, except
when he was absent at the time they were made; then I
acted on my own responsibility.
" Q. Telt me, sir, is it not the fact that you frequently
wade advances without the knowledge of Mr. Scawin,
without his being personally present?
" A. I occasionally made advances in his absence; I
may have n.ade advances without consulting him ; I
would have done so in a 501. ease, but not to any large
amount; but no advances could be made without his
being aware of them. They must have come to his
knowledge from the counter-book.
Q. When you gave your sanction to advances, did
you always communicate that to Mr. Seawia?
" A. Certainly; if the amounts were large I certainly
would tell him. I believe I have done to in every in-
stance; but he certainly must have known' of every
advance."

During the fifteen or sixteen years Mr. Hudson
bad been on the directorate of the
_bank the concern

prospered ; and, at a period when it was physi
tally impossible for him to have been acquainted
wino the details of all the accounts of the bank,
when the shareholders eltcted him, well knowing
that he was engaged in Parliament, and that he had
reveral railway works cf magnitude in hand, more
than suffiAent to task the energies of one man, he
is held responsible, by this scribbler, for the indis-
cretions of a manager who had gone on steadily,
without givirg any occasion of complaint, for
the previous fiftcen years, although those on the spot
at Yolk knew nothing of the matter! We put it
fairly to the mercantile community of this metropolis
and of the country at large, on this first issue—ls
Hudson Guilty or Not Guilty ?

ELIZA COOK'S JOURNAL.
The last page of the new monthly part of Eliza
Cook's Journal bill be most welcome to all the ad-
mirers of her natural and warm-hearted muse.
" Bessie Gray," a lament over the death of an old
plu)fellow and ..school companion, is one of the f‘weet.-
est and trndere.at of the many effusions of unaffected
pathos'
firn;liar to the reader's uf Eliza Ciok, be-
ginning—

Anoaier of my childhood's friends has passed into the
grave,
The living waters of my heart are ebbing, wave by
wave;
The fl odtide of my youthful love has lift its sparkling
strand;
But Memory i4eeps the margin worhs in rifts of golden
sand."
Then; with a mingled tone of sorrow and playfulness,
the childish frolics and the girlish employments shared
in by the two friends are enumerated—
" Arad then our blight half-holidays, our happy sum-
mer walks,
Oh, Childhood's richest fruit e'er hangs upon the poorest
stalks."
Bessie Gray found a foreign home and a foreign grave,
but her memory lingered with the companion of her
childhood so tenaciously, that the latter exclaims—
" I will not say, poor Bessie Gray, that later years
have not
Strewn truest friendship on my path in many a fairy
spot;
But, favoured as my heart has been, I never yet could see
Two merry girls in giddy sport without a thought of thee."
The concluding stall za is rendered most affective by
its exquisite simplicity, and will find an answer in the
hearts of
,many who read it :

"My gay young playmate! can it be and art thou
lying low,
Where tawny footsteps leave their trail and waves of
blossom flow ?
OW can it be that thou art gone—so bl) the, so brave,
so strong,
And I, the weaker one, still left to hum thy requiem
song?
I wonder where my eyes will close, and sleeping place
will be—
No mater; sleep where'er I may, 'iis little care to me.
I only hope some gentle hearts, when I have passed
away,
Will think of me, as I do now of thee, poor Bessie Gray."
Among the prose contributions to this part is one of
Anna Maria Sergeant's very interesting stories, " The
Second-Floor Lodgers ;" a tale of the reign of terror,
by Percy St. John, whose pen is so familiar with
the incidents of the revolution; " A Stitch in Time,"
an attractive little history with a most useful moral ;
"Chemistry for the Kitchen—Vegetable Food ;"
an essay on " Castle-building," in which that most
delightful delusion is denounced, and perhaps very
deservedly, as "selfishness," and with yet greater
justice it is said, in oppoition to a practice to which
we are most of us too prone, that on waking up the
dreamer finds that while he has been dreaming others
have been working, and that he is farther behind than
ever. "The Birth of Charity" is a delightful alle-
gory, which it would be well for the world and all
its inhabitants if it could be realised. These, and a
variety of other equally attractive papers, make up
the new part of the journal, which is, as usual,
characterised by the genial kindliness of spirit and
the practical good sense by which it is animated.

COURT CIRCULAR.
BALMORAL, SEPT. 2.
Her Msjesty and his Royal Highness took their
usual early walk this morning.
His Royal Highness afterwards went out shooting.
Her M.jesty drove out in the afternoon, attended
by the Marchioness of Douro.
The younger members of the Royal Family went
out walking. _ . _

Her RUYaI Highness the Duchess of Kent, his
Serene Highness the Prince of Leiningen, Lady
Augusta Bruce, Baroness de Speth, Lord James
Murray, Sir George Couper, and Dr. Robertson,
will have the honour of dining with her Majesty this
evening.

SEPT. 3.

His Royal Highness went out shooting this morn-
ing, accompanied by his Serene Highness the Prince
of Leiningen and Sir George Grey, and attended by
Lieuttnant-Colonel the Hon. Alexander Gordon.

Her Majesty drove out in the afternoon in an open
carriage, with the Princess Royal, the Princess Alice,
and Prince Alfred.

The Prince of Wales rode out this afternoon, V-
tended by Mr. Birch.
The dinner party this evening will include her
Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent, his Serene
Highness the Prince of, Leiningen, Lady Augusta
Bruce, Baroness de, Speth, and Sir George Couper.

OLYMPIC THEATRE.
Since last Tuesday, the favourite drama Secret
Service has been substituted for the Daughter of the
Stars, in consequence of the temporary indisposition
of Mrs. Stirling ; she is expected, however, to resume
her duties on Monday next. Secret Service has.
been received with great applause. It appears to
greater advantage in this theatre, and the actors seem
to feel more at home, and the play " goes" better in
this larger theatre. The houses are every night
overflowing. The public is now taught to look for
comfort as well as amusement in a place of entertain-
ment, and in the Olympic they meet with both in
perfection. The stalls and dress circle in this theatre
are admirably arranged, and the private boxes are
luxurious; while the separate entrances to various
parts of the theatre give great facilities of entrance
and exit. The new extravaganzi receives nightly
applause; it has been much improved by some judi-
cious excisions. The orchestra is remarkably good ;
it plays with precision and feeling.

ST. GEORGE'S CATHOLIC
ciIURCH, YORK.
The opening of this beautiful church took place at
York on the 4th inst. There was an immense con-
course of Catholic families from York and its county
to celebrate the event. Four bishops, and upwards of
40 of the clergy, both secular and regular, attended.
Amorgst the company present we observed the
Right Itev. Dr. Briggs, Bishop of the Northern Dis-
trict; Bishops Ullathorne, liogarth, and Gillis • the
Revs. Tate, M. Trapper, F. Trapper, Father Dent
'
(Dominican), Glover, Clifford, the Very Rev. J.
Reader, V. G. of York ; and the Revs. W. Fisher,
Bridge, Cock,hoot, Cooper. Amongst the gentry
were the lion. C. Langdale and family, the Lady
Stourton, Mr. C. Maxwell, of Everingham, Mr. 11.
Maxwell, G. Salvin and family (Croxdale), Mr. 11.
Cholmondeley (liroadsly) and family :Mr. George
Clifford andfamily, of York, Drs. Goldie and Dolman,
Messrs. Weld and Middleton, Mrs. Dods worth and
The
Rightup w
Rev. Dr.
of
Gillis t thirty (
wohf
o theis
spoken clergy
Miss Wallis, Messrs. Caveson and Dearsly, &c.,
&e.
A grand high mass was performed at half-past ten
oo'ffic lcoicakt: d .1" whi
of as the new Archbishop of Westminster) preached
an eloquent discourse, in which he delicately alluded
to the present disordered :tate of the Anglican
Church. After the service a grand banquet took
place in the Musical Concert Hall, at which the
Honourable C. Langdale presided. The first toast
was "His Holiness the Pope as the representative of
the Divine Head upon earth of th. Church." The
Queen and the Royal Family followed. And after the
health of the Bishop had been drank, Mr. Dearsly,
the barrister, proposed in an eloquent speech the
healths of the Revs. Render and Fisher, of York, and
the clergy of the district. The learned gentleman
said that the success of the Catholic cause was mainly
owing to the virtue, the labours, and the indomitable
energy of the clergy. Another cause was to be
found in the increasing zeal, piety, and learning of the
Protestants themselves. He was glad to find
this, die first church built in York since
the Reformation, was one dedicated to the poor
Irish. It was a fashion to lavish abuse upon
the Irish, but Catholics could not do so ; under Provi-
dence, they had been the great missionaries of Ca-
tholic truth. They had spread it both over the old
and the new world, and their steadfast adherence to
their faith called for their admiration. They might
depend upon it in building these magnificent
churches, in which their poor outcasts might jean in
the beautiful services of the Church, their labour
was not lost upon them.
The health of the architect and the honourable
chairman was then drank amidst great applause.
About 500 persons sat down to this banquet. There
was some excellent music, and Miss Witnel, of Liver-
pool, delighted the audience with her singing, espe_
cially an Irish melody, which she surf; with exquisite
taste, after the speech of Mr. Dearsly.

M. p , Sir Cornwallis Ricketts,
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. —At the monthly
gchen47ll,misceoetuinntg
Nheelwdpyorets,terday, at the society's house in
Hanover-square, 111 r. 'l'. Charles Harrison, F.R S., in the
Bart., Mr. Henry Wordsworth, and Mr. G. Ransonie were
elected as fellows of the society, and Mr. J. S. Gaskoin and
Mr. R. Hartley Kennedy were proposed as candidates for the
fellowship. The report of the Council stated that the num-
ber of viitors to the gardens in August was .4,564, being an
increase over August, 1849, of 27,92, and that the number
of visitors since the arrival of the hippopotamus (a period of
only fourteen weeks) bas been 226,988.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SM.V.

Sin,—The condition of young men is a subject,
the importance of IN hich will always be felt in a
country in proportion as that country obtains correct
views of the source's of its strength, and cf the methods
by which to secure its advancement and happiness.'`
Catiline saw the influence which might be exercised
through the instrumentality of young men, and see-
ing it, sought to corrupt them, with a view to the
overthrow of the liberties of Rome.
Judging from the utterly neglected state in which
the great mass of our commercial youth werd al-
lowed to continue till within the last few years, it
would appear that the leaders of public opinion in
this kingdom were far less shrewd than Catiline. Ot
late, however, a great change has taken place. Think.
ing men, of all classes, at length have begun to per-
ceive that it is not only an unchristian thing and a
c:uel thing for young men and young women to be
overworked, es they are, in our shops and woikreoms,
but that it is also an exceedingly impolitic thing in a
national point of view ; such overwork having been
proved to exercise the most baneful influence—morally
and physically—on the tens of thousands of persons
who have to undergo it, and through them, more or
less, on society at large; It is true, there are some
persons even in this, the middle of the nineteenth
contury, who, trampling under foot first principles,
still assert that young men would only abuse their
liberty if they possessed it, and that therefore it
should be withheld from them. But these individuals
are so comparatively few, and so obviously in the
wrong, that I will not now stop to do more than
merely caution them against the jeopardy into which,
by the preaching of such a doctrine, they place them-
selves; for, I presume, if the argument, that because
a portion of a class of persons would abuse their
liberty the entire class should be deprived of it, apply
to shopmen, it is also applicable to all other classes of
the community—and if so, then of necessity to the
sections to which these individuals respectively be-
long ; and, as there was never yet known any section
of society, the whole of the members of which were
immaculate, these gentlemen are entrapped by their
own philosophy—they have themselves, upon their
own showing, plainly no right to be at large.
I have already said that thinking men have begun
to perceive that the late-hour system is not less
widely spread than disastrous ; and that they are,
consequently, desirous for its abolition. This is all
well, so far as it goes ; but the mere perception of a
truth is only valuable so far as it leads to the carry-
ing out of the principles which it involves ; and it is
much to be lamented that, in the present case, the
discovery specified has not, to the extent that could
have been desired, produced this practical result. No
doubt a great change for the better has taken place
within the last few years, in reference to " closing."
The very existence of such excellent societies as the
" Young Men's Christian Association," the " Church
of England Young Men's Society," and the " Even-
ing Classes for Young Men," go far to prove this ;
inasmuch as, prior to the establishment of the Early
Closing Association it was simply impossible for as-
si3tants, excepting on Sundays, to avail themselves of
such provisions for their improvement.§ But great
as is the change for the better which is thus made
apparent, it sinks into insignificance when compared
with what remains to be accomplished ere business
can be said to be restricted within reasonable and
proper limits. This never can with truth be asserted
to be the case till, at the latest, seven o'clock for
winter, and tight o'clock for summer, are generally
adopted as the hours for closing. And if the ques-
tion be only taken up with an amount of spirit at all
commensurate with its importance—with that zeal, in
fact, which is often employed (and properly) on
objects connected with foreign countries, there is no
conceivable reason why—commencing the reforma-
tion at once—closing this winter at seven o'clock
should not be as general as heretofore it has been
rare. All persons may, more or less, assist in bring-
ing about this desirable consummation. Much good
may be done by those benevolent and enlightened
shopkeepers who are desirous to see early closing
carried out, canvassing their respective localities, with
a view to the achievement of that object. Assistants,
too, have a vast amount of power in their own hands.
By their studying how most to promote the interests of
their employers whilst in business and by exert-
ing themselves unceasingly, after its suspension, to
secure their emancipation, they will give the best
of all proofs that they both desire and deserve
it ; and they will furtbermore, by so acting,
create an influence in their favour which must
ultimately prove irresistible. For a time the move-
ment will, doubtless, continue to be opposed
in some districts, both of the country and metro-
polis.ll In all cases, where argument and persuasion
prove insufficient to overcome such opposition, an ap-
peal must be made to that more formidable power—
public opinion. Effectually to secure the aid of this
power, the pulpit and the press—those mighty levers,
with, ut the aid of one or other of which few good,
and still fewer great, changes have been wrought in
this country—must be brought into active operation.
The service already rendered the early -closing cause
by those two all-powerful agencies proves the abun-
dance of desire and ability to assist us which exist in
both those quarters.
Impressed, therefore, with a conviction of the holi-
ness of our cause, and of its paramount national im-
portance, and encouraged by the past, we would,
through you, Sir, earnestly, and confidently, but
respectfully, call upon ministers of religion and gen-
tlemen of the press to do their utmost, where neces-
sary, to arouse the public to a due sense of their
duty in the matter. By observing the following
rules, heads of families would materially contribute
towards the accomplishment of the object under
review :

First, by abstaining from evening shopping them-
selves, and causing others to do so, especially in the
case of their servants; and,

Secondly, by patronising, as far as possible, those
tradesmen who close earlyl-
By so acting they will protect those who deserve it,
and convince every one of the unprofitableness of late
trading.

Sir, I do trust that early closing will no longer
be spoken of as merely desirable, but that by means
of all persons who have hearts to do good, thus lend-
ing their aid according to their respective stations and
opportunities, it will soon become a practical, tangible
thing. In proportion as this is the case, shall we find
the members of our various religious and literary so-
cieties increasing in number. This will necessarily
result in the moral elevation of our young men; their
physical powers (under the more healthy system)
may also be expected to increase in the same ratio ;
and with their minds and bodies thus strengthened
and improved, who can doubt that they would soon
become not merely more efficient salesmen, and in all
points, more valuable assistants, but also, under God,
active instruments in the great work of Rational re-
generation ?

" Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy
might," is a scriptural command. That this divine
injunction may be speedily acted upon by the advo-
cates of early closing, and that their number may be
increased a hundred-fold, is the heartfelt desire,
Sir, of ycur obedient end obliged servant,
JOHN LILWALL,
See. of the Early Closing Association.
Offices, 32, Ludgate. hill, Sept. 3, 1850.

* "For it ie obvious that the mass of the young—
look but a few years forward—is society. Those who
are now amongst us constitute the future population of
this earth. . . What they are or what they become,
the age must be when their imm.diate predecessors
sleep }with their fathers."—Prize Essay, Our Young
Men, by Dr. Cox, p. 238.
t "I find, from papers lying at Somerset House, that
a thousand lives are annually sacrificed in the metropolis
stone by the late-hour system, and that the health of at
least eight times that number is made to suffer from the
same cause."—From a Speech by Dr. E. Lanhester,
delivered at a Meeting of the Early Closing Association
in 1849.

"By contival confinement to the shop, young men
are made incapable of intellectual improvement, they
are excluded tram social intercourse, and ars thus often
driven into that course which is destruction to their
bodies and ruin to their souls."—From a Speech delinered
by the Bishop rtf Oxford, at a Meeting of the Early Closing
Ashociation in 1848.

t To show the 13( aring of the Early Closing Move-
ment upon the welfare of the nation, it is sufficient to
mention that it is estimated there are engaged in busi-
ness in London alone upwards of a hundred thousand
young persons, the chief portion of whom are, more or
less, the victims of the late hour system.
§ " I am thankful to know of the existence of institu-
tions, that by the blessing of God upon them shall help,
and lead, and guide the minds of our young men; and I
know enough of the operations of these institutions to
be satisfied that they are gathering into their fold very
many who, but for the operations of the Early Closing
Association, would have been altogether destitute of the
privileges which they now enjoy."--From a Speech by
the Rev. George Fisk, LL 8., Minister of Christ Church,
Maids-hill.

II Ir an account were taken of the business done in
thu several retail shops in the United Kingdom, after a
given hour in the evening—say six o'cl,ck—and if the
profits of such business were compared with the ex-
ppnses which attend its transaction, it is believed it
would, in most cases, prove to be a Source of positive
pecuniary loss to tradesmen, and had therefore better te
sacrificed than cultivated; but, when it is remembered
that such business would cot te sacrificed if shops closed
at an early hour, the folly of continuing the late-hour
system becomes still more palpable.
" When you see a trader close at seven, note that
man, and, it possible, have your dealings with him : he
is a public benefactor, and entitled to support."—From a
Se, mon by the Rev. James Hamilton, F.L.S., of the Scotch
Church, Reyent-square.

Sr. MARK'S COLLEGE.—Considertible progress has
been made with the new buildings at St. Mark's College.
The roof is on, and it is expected that the whole of the works
will In completed tiara lyr opeuipg at Christ is

POISONINGS AT CLAVERING.
GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE.
NEWPORT, E.TSEX, SEPT. 4.—No trifling sensa-
tion has been caused in this district by the apprehen-
sion of Sarah Chesham, who at the spring assizes
for the county in 1848 was tii.d and acquitted of the
murder of her two children. Tne arrest took place
at the instance of the Secretary of State, on suspicion
of her having destroyed her husband, Richard Chesham,
by administering anenie. At the gaol of this place
this day she underwent an examination before Mr. B.
Wolfe and Captain Henry Byng.
It appeared that after the prisoner was acquitted
she returned to the village, where there seems to have
b?en some gossip about poison, and how bad hus-
bands could be got rid of. About three or four
months ago the husband of Sarah Chesham was sud-
denly taken ill. Ile was a farm-labourer, and ac-
cordin4 to the statement of the neighbours was con.
sidercd a healthy sort of man. Ile died, how-
ever, and Mr. Lewis, the coroner, made another
attempt to uproot the mystery attending these
secret end diabolical acts of poisoning. The
contents of the body were forwarded to Mr.
T4310r for analysation, and at the sittings of the
coroner's jury there was a vast amount of prevarica-
tion among the witnesses, with a view, apparently, of
screening the guilty party. Mr. Superintendent
Clarke-, of the E•a-ex constabulary, on searching her
cottage found a bag containing rice. She informed
the superintendent that it was her father's, and she
hoped that he would not take it away. Ile, however,
disappointed her; the rice was sent to Mr. Taylor
for examination, and that gentleman found arsenic in
a powder mixed up with it. Several witnesses sppke
of the deceased being seized with the symptoms at-
tending the administration of arsenic, and his violent
purging and vomiting a day or so before his death.
The mother of the deceased swore positively that she
had seen the prisoner give him some rice, the last
time about four days before he died ; but upon the
prisoner being asked whether she had any state-
ment to make, she denied that he ever had any.
The most important witness, however, was a woman
named Hannah Phillips. This person has since
made a different and far more conclusive statement
against the prisoner, which she solemnly swears is the
correct one, but which she was afraid of giving lest
she sustained the injury she was threatened with had
she done so. Her former story was that she met the
prisoner crying about the loss of her children, and
that she would never get over it. She added that she
had hidden the poison under a tub in a neighbour-
ing lane, that she had had a deal of trouble, and that if
anybody asked her (witness) about it, she was to
deny all knowledge -of it. Other parties made
doubtful statements before the coroner's jury, and
then came the rather delicate testimony of Professor
Taylor to convict upon. He found the presence of
arsenic in the stomach of the deceased, but the quan-
tity found was not sufficient for him to say that it had
caused death.
In this difficult position the jury did not feel them-
selves justified in returning such a verdict as would
send the case elsewhere.
The Coroner suggested, however, that the magis-
trates might probably proceed against her for ad-
ministering the poison with intent ; and in order to
carry that into effect, the depositions were forwarded
to them.
The bench of magistrates for the district then re-
solved upon making an effort in solving the mystery,
which appeared to defeat every inquiry. The con-
duct of different parties was watched, and at length
an important piece of information was elicited from
Hannah Phillips, the witness previously alluded to.
She stated that in course of conversation the prisoner
alluded to the ill-treatment she (Phillips) had received
from her husband, and that she (prisoner) would not
have lived with her husband if he had treated her in
the same way. She added that she ought to do what
she had done, make him up a pie of sheep's liver,
lights, &c., and that if she brought it down to her
(prisoner) she would season it tor her. Mrs. Phillips
made some additions to her testimony with reference
to the arsenic being hidden under the tub, and the
secrecy the prisoner enjoined upon her.
These with other new facts were submitted to Sir
G. Grey, the Secretary of State, with a view of as-
certaining from the law officers of the Crown their
opinion as to the best course to pursue in the matter,
more especially in suppressing the abominable sys-
tem. Tbe whole of the evidence was laid before the
Attorney and Solicitor-Generals, who expressed an
opinion that sufficient had transpired to warrant a
re-investigation at least of the last case. Accordingly
the magistrates acted, and a warrant was placed in the
hands of Mr. Clarke, the superintendent, and on
Monday evening the prisoner was arrested at her
cottage in Clavering, and conveyed to the gaol of this
town, and being of a methodistical turn of mind, as
she states, she immediately repaired to the Bible.
When before the magistrates, and more particu-
larly while the woman Phillips was giving her addi-
tional evidence, she exhibited much uneasiness. On
the witness concluding her testimony, the prisoner
said that she could tell the ttuth as well as Mrs.
Phillips, and the fact was she (Mrs. Phillips) had ap-
plied to her for a poisoned pill. She asserted her in-
nccence of having caused her husband's death.
Mr. Superintendent Clarke, and Mr. Welling', re-
lieving overseer, having repeated what they adduced
at the coroner's inquiry, and some other facts bearing
upon the case, the bench remanded the prisoner for
the purpose of enabling the police to procure the at-
tendance of other important witnesses.