DUDLEY UNION WORKHOUSE.

DUDLEY UNION WORKHOUSE.At a Meeting of the Inhabitants of Dudley, convened by the Mayor (Edward Terry, Esq.,) in compliance with a respectably signed requisition, held at the Town Hall, the 8th day of October, 1849, “to take into consideration the confined situation of the present Poor House, and the necessity that existsfor the adoption of measures without delay for its removal to a more open and healthy site.”Resolved,—On the motion ofThomas Badger, Esq.,secondedbyC. F. Hewitt, Esq., “That it is the opinion of this Meeting that the present Workhouse in Dudley is in a most inconvenient and objectionable situation, being too confined, and being too much in the midst of the population of the Town, and that during this period of pestilence it is (as on former occasions it has been) fraught with the utmost danger alike to the inmates, and to the inhabitants; and moreover, that it is the opinion of this Meeting that the situation of the premises does not admit of the said Workhouse being enlarged or improved.”Resolved:—On the motion of Mr.John Vaughan,secondedby Mr.Thomas Wood, “That this Meeting be adjourned until Monday, October the 22nd inst., at eleven o’clock, to afford time for further consideration of the subject; and that Messrs. C. F. Hewitt, John Marsh, William Bourne, C. F. G. Clark, Fisher Smith, Alexander Patterson, J. Bateman, and J. C. Cooke, be appointed a Committee to collect information as to the probable cost of erecting a suitable Workhouse for the Dudley Union, and to report on the probable value of the present Workhouses.”Signed,EDWARD TERRY,Chairman.October 8th, 1849.

At a Meeting of the Inhabitants of Dudley, convened by the Mayor (Edward Terry, Esq.,) in compliance with a respectably signed requisition, held at the Town Hall, the 8th day of October, 1849, “to take into consideration the confined situation of the present Poor House, and the necessity that existsfor the adoption of measures without delay for its removal to a more open and healthy site.”

Resolved,—On the motion ofThomas Badger, Esq.,secondedbyC. F. Hewitt, Esq., “That it is the opinion of this Meeting that the present Workhouse in Dudley is in a most inconvenient and objectionable situation, being too confined, and being too much in the midst of the population of the Town, and that during this period of pestilence it is (as on former occasions it has been) fraught with the utmost danger alike to the inmates, and to the inhabitants; and moreover, that it is the opinion of this Meeting that the situation of the premises does not admit of the said Workhouse being enlarged or improved.”

Resolved:—On the motion of Mr.John Vaughan,secondedby Mr.Thomas Wood, “That this Meeting be adjourned until Monday, October the 22nd inst., at eleven o’clock, to afford time for further consideration of the subject; and that Messrs. C. F. Hewitt, John Marsh, William Bourne, C. F. G. Clark, Fisher Smith, Alexander Patterson, J. Bateman, and J. C. Cooke, be appointed a Committee to collect information as to the probable cost of erecting a suitable Workhouse for the Dudley Union, and to report on the probable value of the present Workhouses.”

Signed,

EDWARD TERRY,

Chairman.

October 8th, 1849.

It is wise and prudent at times to look within ones-self and “try to see ourselves as others see us;” thus the subjoined public views of “Curiosities of Dudley” will illustrate this point.

The Governmentofall,byall,forall.THE DUDLEY CHARTISTS,AND THEREFORM AND FINANCIAL ASSOCIATIONS.At a Committee Meeting, held October15th, 1849, It was resolved:—“That the Committee of Dudley Chartists renders its most cordial and energetic aid to any and all parties favourable to the present move for Financial and Parliamentary Reform, at the same time reserving to itself the right of progressing when these objects are achieved.” N.B. The above resolution has been copied into theBirmingham Mercury, theNorthern Star, and theNonconformist.REFORM! REFORM! REFORM!The MANIFESTO of the NATIONALREFORM ASSOCIATION.After mutual deliberation, the Middle and Working Classes have agreed upon the basis of a representative system—both parties accept the principles of the National Reform Association. They are—“1st. The extension of the Suffrage to every Occupier of a Tenement, or portion of a Tenement. 2nd, Vote by Ballot. 3rd. Triennial Parliaments. 4th. A more equal apportionment of Members to Population, 5th. The abolition of the Property Qualification.” Such a Reform carried in its integrity would make the House of Commons the embodiment and expression of the mind and will of the people; and with this, and with nothing less, should the people be content. To work, not words, we must devote the next few weeks for the advancement of our political rights, and to the means of alleviating the burdens of our fellow men. Republished by order of the Committee of the Dudley Mutual Improvement Society.DUDLEY REPRESENTATION.(From the Daily News, December 1st, 1849.)Dudley was enfranchised by the Reform Bill. It is the centre of a manufacturing district; it contains a population of nearly five and thirty thousand; it has 1,300 £10 householders, of whom nearly 1,000 were registered electors: corruption has not been practised in it, and nevertheless it returns a strong Tory representative, and, under existing circumstances, would continue to do so, let the suffrage be extended as it might.It will at once be inquired—what is the cause of this? An anomaly is here presented which requires explanation. These facts, it will be said, appear to militate against the arguments in daily use—that the feeling of the country is Liberal—that the people are well fitted to receive an extended suffrage—and that the large manufacturing constituencies are the most enlightened, and, as a rule, return the most useful representatives. It will be observed, too, that the position of Dudley appears the more anomalous because the town is immediately adjacent to, and in many respects materially influenced by, Birmingham and Wolverhampton—places which may almost be described as centres of political enlightenment. It will be asked how these things are to be accounted for and reconciled. In dealing with the borough system of England it is certainly our duty not to pass them over.The Toryism which is predominant at Dudley is a very peculiar Toryism. It is a low and vulgar Toryism; an ignorant and very brutal Toryism. As a rule Toryism is the aristocratic principle of England: it presents itself in the flowing wig and ruffle style of the early days of George the Third; it boasts of long descent and ancient pedigree, and, as many a Tory of the present day will tell you, came to him as an inheritance withhis family plate and pictures. But the Toryism of Dudley is nothing of this sort; there is not a Tory in the town who can boast of his grandfather; it is difficult to put your finger upon a member of the party who is entitled to the position and reputation of a gentleman. A coarser and more vulgar crew than the Tories of the town of Dudley, high and low, it would be impossible to pitch upon in any community in England.The Toryism of Dudley is a Toryism of ignorance—a Toryism of habit—a Toryism of self interest—and a Toryism of coercion. We have been in places where Toryism was the representative of loyalty. At Dudley they care as much about the Sovereign as they do about the President of France. There are other towns where Toryism shadows forth the Church of England, and where Tories march in array to the poll with a view, as they believe, to keep dissent in check. At Dudley the Tories profess no Church principle, nor, indeed, any description of religious principle. Up to 1845, when a diocesan effort was made to civilize this locality, there were few places where the Church was so completely useless—where it was so apt a representation of the dried up well of the desert in which thousands are perishing of thirst. Even now, when the Church is making some effort to enlighten this depraved and almost heathen population, it is not the Tories of Dudley who support its efforts, nor the Tories of Dudley who promote its usefulness.And this fact shadows forth one of the great causes of the Toryism of this town. We have said that the Toryism of Dudley is a Toryism of ignorance. The ignorance of Dudley Tories is not mere personal ignorance—though there is an ample amount of that—but it is an entire and utter ignorance of the population amongst which they live. That population is a most important population. It is almost exclusively a mining population. Within theparishof Dudley there exists 32,000 souls: but within a circle of three or more miles around it there are scarcely less than 100,000 more, and the great proportion of these are engaged exclusively in the mining operations of the district. Talk of our large towns—why the population of the parishes of Dudley, and of Tipton, Clent, Kingswinford, Sedgley, and West Bromwich, all in close proximity to Dudley, equal the population of Birmingham itself! What is the condition of this population? Who cares for and protects this enormous mass of labouring poor? The Dudley Tories—for whom so many of them labour? We lament to say not one of them.It is a painful fact to record, but we do believe that there is not one of the employers of the Dudley district who knows one per cent. of the men who toil and labour to produce his wealth. Take England through, and you will not find a locality where there is not so little sympathy between the employers and employed, but such an utter regardlessness on the part of the former of every single interest appertaining to the latter. It is upon the records of official evidence that they omit even the commonest precautionsfor the preservation of their lives. Human existence here is treated as a cheap commodity. Those horrible pit accidents, of which we hear so frequently—(and yet, in comparison of the frequency of their occurrence, so very rarely)—proper precautions would prevent one half of them—precautions entailing trouble and expense no greater than is the bounden duty of every master to provide.But the utter ignorance of the Dudley Tories of the population amongst whom they live is no better exhibited than by “the strikes,” which are of habitual occurrence in this important district. If the history of the labour of this locality were written, it would be found that “strikes” amongst the pitmen were the rule, and continuous labour the exception. The pitmen in the Dudley district are always, in fact, in an incipient state of strike, or else in strike itself. It is evident that there must be something wrong in a system under which such a state of things as this exists. We do not hear of these repeated strikes in the cotton manufacturing districts, in the woollen trade, or in the clothing trade, at Manchester, or Bolton, or Huddersfield, or Leeds. Why should the population on the Dudley side of the coal country “strike” so much more frequently than they do upon the Wolverhampton and Bilston side of the same district? There must be a fault here, and we have little hesitation in attributing it to the want of sympathy of the employers for the employed.In order to explain this more thoroughly it is necessary to describe shortly how the mines of this coal district are worked. We will take the district immediately adjacent to the town of Dudley. The great owner of the soil is Lord Ward. Lord Ward lets his land on royalties: that is to say, the person taking a lease of it engages to work the minerals upon the property, to pay so much per ton for all the coal and ironstone obtained, to get no more than a certain maximum quantity, which is agreed on, every year, but to pay as for a certain minimum quantity, whether he may get the maximum or none. This is the contract as between the owner of the soil and the ironmaster. But the ironmaster does not work the mines himself: he contracts with a middleman, called a butty-collier, who engages to open the mine for him, and to get a certain quantity of coal or ironstone per week, at a price to be agreed. The butty-collier employs a gang of men for this purpose. These men are consequently never brought into connexion with, nor do they in the slightest degree engage the sympathies of, their real employer. In many cases they do not even know the “butty,” for the butty contents himself with negotiating with the master, and contracts with the men through one of their own class, who is ordinarily called a “doggie.” The master never goes into the mines: the “butty” very rarely. But it is in these mines that the colliers exist from one week’s end to another; it is here that they live, and breathe, and have their being.Now, the effect of this system of labour in the iron district is highly detrimental to every class engaging in the trade. Thelabourer, having nothing in common with the employer, is continually striking to get more out of him—and hence the “strikes” by which the trade is continually suffering. On the other hand the employer is led to treat the workman as a mere machine; as a machine without wants or feelings; as a machine in which he is only so far interested as he can work it. A remarkable proof of this position is to be found in the fact, that although accidents in the pit-work are in the fearful proportion of no less thanseventy-twoper cent. per annum to the number of labourers, yet there is not in the Town of Dudley, or in the country round about it, a hospital, or even a dispensary! “All cases requiring peculiar care must be sent to Birmingham,” twelve miles off!When people are found so careless of the lives of the labourers by whom they live, how can it be expected that they can be anxious concerning their political position? The late Vicar of Dudley put it upon record that his rich fellow townsman cared nothing either for the spiritual or moral welfare of the poor. “I had the greatest possible difficulty,” he says, “in obtaining money for building district churches. On coming to the parish I found only two old endowed schools in one building, and they were in great difficulties.” This reverend gentleman and other clergymen detail the difficulties they have in extracting a sixpence from the richest masters in the district for the benefit of the poor, and the utter regardlessness which there is for their social or spiritual well being.This ignorance of the working class—of their wants, wishes, feelings and interests—is no doubt a predisposing cause to the Toryism of the Dudley ironmasters. The system of their trade is another predisposing cause. Most people know, that virtually, the iron trade is a monopoly. The large ironmasters are continually struggling to maintain it so. You have heard probably of what are called “Ironmasters’ Quarterly Meetings.” Allow us an opportunity of exposing one of the greatest absurdities that ever existed in any trade. In the week after every legal quarter day the ironmasters of South Staffordshire perambulate the district to hold what they call their quarterly meetings, and to arrange what the price of iron shall be for the ensuing quarter. The ironmasters meet, say at Wolverhampton or at Dudley. They dine at the hotel. They fix the price of iron—the price that is to govern all the trade. One of them—a jolly red nosed old Tory—the most convivial of all the lot, and the most emphatic about the price, returns home after dinner, and finds a letter on his table requesting him to tender for a quantity of rails. Within twelve hours after he has “settled the price,” he is certain to be underselling all his neighbours. This “settling the price” of iron is a farce. But if so, what is the use of the quarterly meeting? Why, the use of the quarterly meeting is to keep up the monopoly, to afford an occasion for excluding “the new man” in the business—to present a favourable opportunity for a combination against theweaker and humbler manufacturer—and, in addition to all this, to put the screw upon the labourer, by combining to enforce the lowest rate of wages in the works and pits. For at these Ironmasters’ Quarterly Meetings, wages, forsooth, are regulated, as well as the price of iron. And you will find, if you examine the subject attentively, that these wages are fixed without regard to the quality of the labour or the skill of the workman, in the same way as the price of iron is fixed, without regard to its quality, or the nature of the supply.Their monopoly, therefore, makes the Dudley ironmasters Tories by habit and Tories by position. We will now show how they are also Tories by self-interests and Tories by coercion. The coal-field, or as it is sometimes called “the great black cake,” is of limited extent. The lords of the soil are few in number. Lord Ward possesses the largest share of it. Sir Horace St. Paulwasthe next greatest proprietor. Now it is a matter of absolute necessity with the lessees, that they should be upon as good terms as possible with the owners of the soil. And we will explain the reasons why. When a coal-field is taken to work a considerable amount of capital is necessarily invested. Works have to be erected; a shaft has to be sunk. From the nature of the property no very large quantity of land can be taken at once. In a little time, probably, all that has been originally leased is worked out. The lessee has now to obtain a new piece of ground. You will see at once that in order to make his original pit and works available it is necessary that such new piece of ground should adjoin that he originally took. The instances are rare in which this adjoining ground does not belong to the same landlord. If the master is on good terms with the steward he gets it; if he is not, a large proportion of his capital is necessarily sacrificed. The self-interest, therefore, of these ironmasters induces them to go with the owner of the soil, and obliges them to submit to the coercion of the steward. At Dudley, as we shall presently find, this has gone so far that the constituency are content to swallow Lord Ward’s own agent as their representative in parliament, a person who rarely comes amongst them, who does the town no earthly good, and who is as careless about the fulfilment of his parliamentary duties as if he was sitting for Gatton or Old Sarum.Such, then, to conclude this branch of the subject, are the circumstances under which the important town of Dudley is a Tory town. The explanation will set at rest all cavil as to the reason why this large manufacturing constituency should now send a Tory to the House of Commons. We started by saying that there was little hope of improvement—that an extension of the suffrage would probably have no effect whatever on the returns of this constituency. If the suffrage was household, it would be extended in Dudley to a lower class of “buttys” and “doggies,” who are all under the thumb and immediate influence of the master. If it was universal, it would be extended to the mining labourers, who in their turn are under the thumband immediate influence of the “buttys” and “doggies.” Indeed the character of this particular population requires that, before the suffrage, another enlightener should be introduced, in the person of the schoolmaster. “The old collier of this town,” says the late Vicar of Dudley, “is a heavy, superstitious, gluttonous animal, most harmless, and naturally good natured,without a spark of political feeling, unless as regards his daily wages: all beyond is to him dreary and unreal.” Some years ago, the Chartists thought they had made an impression in the coal country; but it was a mistake. They were all powerful in Birmingham, but not in any way understood in Dudley. “The Chartists,” says a working man, “had a room in Dudley for a year or more before the strike. Occasionally Lecturers would come and lecture there. Not many men at any time enrolled their names. I should say 50 or 60 might be the most, and they paid 1d. a week, but the room could not have held that number at once.” Another working man says: “The men did not follow the Chartists from any principle, but fled to them for refuge in the strike, and were glad for any one to come and instruct them in the prices of iron and so forth. Political affairs had nothing to do with us; we had to deal with our masters. The Chartists never had any friends in Dudley.” A population of this sort evidently requires instruction in order duly to exercise political privileges.And, now, having fully pointed out the position of Dudley as regards the social and political influences at work there, we proceed to give that which is more immediately the business of this article, the electoral history of the town. It is a short and dreary one, only marked by the occurrence of one exciting contest.The large towns which were enfranchised in 1832 felt at the first election which occurred in them all the awkwardness of a first appearance in a new character. Parties were unformed, no combinations of any sort prevailed, and in the majority of cases accident rather than deliberate judgment determined the choice of the electorates. An accident threw the representation of Dudley into the hands of no less a person than the Solicitor-General, Sir John Campbell. Mr. Campbell had sat for Stafford in the parliaments of 1830 and 1831. But with the passing of the Reform Bill he was desirous of obtaining election by a different constituency, and indeed circumstances which had occurred at Stafford prevented his again sitting for that town. Dudley, a borough not far distant from Stafford, was selected, it is believed, by Mr. Joseph Parkes. Sir John Campbell went to Dudley in utter ignorance of the character of the constituency and of the men with whom he had to deal. But it was a new borough, a large borough, and a manufacturing borough, and therefore was supposed necessarily to be a Liberal borough. When Sir John Campbell got down he found apparently a veryinfluential opponent in the field. This was Sir Horace St. Paul, one of the principal owners of the “great black cake.” The nomination of Sir Horace St. Paul, however, was not free from objection. He had represented Bridport in several preceding parliaments, and had been an opponent of the bill by which Dudley was enfranchised. For common honour the great body of the new electorate were obliged to set their faces against this. But there was another circumstance greatly to Sir Horace’s disadvantage. Although he owned a considerable part of the mineral property of the district, his possession of that property was far from beneficial to the iron and coal masters. Sir Horace St. Paul worked his own mines, and the ironmasters regarded him with some jealousy, as a rival in their business. The support he received from them was, therefore, anything but warm; and the political Union of Birmingham having declared for Sir John Campbell, “plain Jack” was enabled to secure a comparatively easy victory at the poll, where the numbers were—for Campbell, 348; St. Paul, 229. At this time there were only 670 voters on the poll, instead of 1000, as at present.In February, 1834, Sir John Campbell having succeeded Sir Wm. Horne as Attorney-General, came down to Dudley to obtain his re-election. Circumstances, however, had vastly changed since 1832. The reform excitement had passed away. The Birmingham Political Union was defunct. The Liberal party had become less popular, and in Dudley Sir John Campbell had done nothing to secure for himself any local sympathy. The party which had brought him in in 1832 was a party without any influence or weight whatever in the town. They had succeeded mainly in consequence of the feeling of the day, and the fact of their having succeeded was sufficient to unite against them very strong and powerful influences. The Dudley Tories, in fact, had now begun to shew a formidable front, and were prepared stoutly to contest the seat.The candidate they selected was a local man—Mr. Thos. Hawkes, of Himley. Mr. Hawkes was an amiable man, whose family had made their property in Dudley, and who had himself been engaged in the glass trade of the district. He was a man of some ambition, and had aimed for a long time at high society and a seat in parliament, without having either the means sufficient for the one, or the ability desirable for the other. However, the Dudley Tories were disposed to gratify him, the more so as he was a man very likely to succeed at an election from his general popularity, and the more so from his residence being next door to Himley Hall.Mr. Hawkes was accordingly proposed. The Tories exerted themselves indefatigably on his behalf, and it was speedily evident that they would be successful. But the Tories of Dudley are not a class of people who can bear either success or defeat with moderation. They had displayed from an earlyperiod of this contest violent passions, and an infinite amount of bad feeling towards their opponents of all classes. Gangs of bullies had gone about to threaten and assault individuals, canvassers upon the Liberal side had been insulted in the public streets, and it was an open boast with the Tories that they would make the town too hot for their adversaries. On the day of election all those coarse and vulgar methods of exasperation were increased tenfold. People were insulted at the poll, and the authorities, all Tories, would afford them no protection. At length the town became a scene of riot and confusion. It was feared that Sir John Campbell would personally become an object of attack, and he was advised to leave the town. Accordingly whilst the Tory mob was bellowing in the street, in the front of his hotel, the Attorney General, accompanied by a friend, and disguised by a muffler round the lower part of his face, left the inn by a back door, and proceeding through the narrowest and dirtiest parts of the town, escaped from it by a circuitous route. The passage by which Sir John left Dudley received the name of “Campbell’s flight,” and will probably be so distinguished long after the circumstances which gave it celebrity have passed into oblivion.An hour of retribution, however, was now at hand. The Tory mob had held the town all day, but it is a dangerous thing in a district of this sort to play a game at mobs. No sooner was it known that there was rioting in Dudley than the largest coal and ironworks on the Stourbridge side poured forth an army of miners; men to whom to see the light of day was itself almost an excitement. Into Dudley they poured with wild shouts and outcries. The people fled in terror. The shop windows had all been closed. As they came down the streets the colliers pulled down every shutter, and threw them through the windows into the houses. Not a whole pane of glass was left. The pavements were torn up. Stones began to fly in all directions. The town for a whole hour was given up to a worse riot than before, and then the Blacks began to retire.The rear of their army was at one end of the town when the Dragoons from Birmingham galloped in at the other. The authorities who had permitted riots on their own side all the day, had sent expresses for the troops the moment they found they had got the worst of the game they had begun. The military arrived too late to prevent the mischief; but they held possession of the town all night, and thereby afforded security to the inhabitants. And thus terminated one of the most riotous elections ever known in England—an election thoroughly disgraceful to the town where it occurred, but of which the Dudley Tories boast to this hour, as if, instead of exciting the worst feelings of humanity, they had achieved some great moral triumph.Mr. Hawkes sat for Dudley from February, 1834, to July 1844. At every successive election some one was brought forward to oppose him, but his majorities increased at every contest, and the Liberals polled fewer and fewer the more frequently they foughtthe borough. Except the excellence of their cause, they have not in fact a single element of strength in Dudley.Mr. Hawkes probably acquired some additional influence in consequence of the marriage of one of his daughters with the brother and heir presumptive of Lord Ward. The peer himself was for a long time understood to be the lady’s suitor, but the younger brother ultimately obtained her hand. Mr. Hawkes might have continued, under these circumstances, to represent the town, but unfortunately the pressure of pecuniary embarrassments obliged him, in 1844, to go abroad, with a view to repair his fortunes. He accordingly relinquished his seat, to which Mr. John Benbow, the agent and auditor of the Ward estates, immediately succeeded.Mr. Benbow’s pretensions to the representation of the town rest exclusively upon the office which he holds. He is neither a native nor a resident, nor in any other way connected with the place. He is comparatively very slightly known in Dudley. He visits it but rarely, and does nothing of himself to advance its local interests. A representative he can scarcely be called, for Mr. Benbow is one of those members who rarely record their opinions by a vote in Parliament, being contented with the seat without the trouble of attending.Dudley, thus represented, has reached, as one may suppose, the lowest point of its political degradation. It fell very low when the seat descended from the Attorney-General to Mr. Hawkes. It fell still lower when the resident and the friend was superseded by the stranger and the mere official. Nothing can change Dudley but a change in the opinions of Lord Ward. And stranger things may come to pass than that.Dudley, in outward appearance, is an improving place. Within the last five years its shops have assumed a much handsomer aspect, some of its streets have been widened and more attention has been paid to cleanliness. It has all the bustle of a busy and a thriving town; but as its trade depends exclusively upon the coal and iron districts all around it, it is necessarily subjected to many fluctuations. We cannot recommend Dudley to the tourist as a halting place, for the smoke renders the atmosphere in the town and country all around it particularly disagreeable. But there is no district in England better worth examination, both as regards the state of an important trade, and the condition of an enormous population. Those who will face the dirt and dinginess of Brierley Hill and Tipton will find ample food for study; and they will see a scene of industry and wealth where, within the memory of man, little else was to be found but open waste and common.

The Governmentofall,byall,forall.

THE DUDLEY CHARTISTS,AND THEREFORM AND FINANCIAL ASSOCIATIONS.

At a Committee Meeting, held October15th, 1849, It was resolved:—“That the Committee of Dudley Chartists renders its most cordial and energetic aid to any and all parties favourable to the present move for Financial and Parliamentary Reform, at the same time reserving to itself the right of progressing when these objects are achieved.” N.B. The above resolution has been copied into theBirmingham Mercury, theNorthern Star, and theNonconformist.

REFORM! REFORM! REFORM!

The MANIFESTO of the NATIONALREFORM ASSOCIATION.

After mutual deliberation, the Middle and Working Classes have agreed upon the basis of a representative system—both parties accept the principles of the National Reform Association. They are—“1st. The extension of the Suffrage to every Occupier of a Tenement, or portion of a Tenement. 2nd, Vote by Ballot. 3rd. Triennial Parliaments. 4th. A more equal apportionment of Members to Population, 5th. The abolition of the Property Qualification.” Such a Reform carried in its integrity would make the House of Commons the embodiment and expression of the mind and will of the people; and with this, and with nothing less, should the people be content. To work, not words, we must devote the next few weeks for the advancement of our political rights, and to the means of alleviating the burdens of our fellow men. Republished by order of the Committee of the Dudley Mutual Improvement Society.

DUDLEY REPRESENTATION.

(From the Daily News, December 1st, 1849.)

Dudley was enfranchised by the Reform Bill. It is the centre of a manufacturing district; it contains a population of nearly five and thirty thousand; it has 1,300 £10 householders, of whom nearly 1,000 were registered electors: corruption has not been practised in it, and nevertheless it returns a strong Tory representative, and, under existing circumstances, would continue to do so, let the suffrage be extended as it might.

It will at once be inquired—what is the cause of this? An anomaly is here presented which requires explanation. These facts, it will be said, appear to militate against the arguments in daily use—that the feeling of the country is Liberal—that the people are well fitted to receive an extended suffrage—and that the large manufacturing constituencies are the most enlightened, and, as a rule, return the most useful representatives. It will be observed, too, that the position of Dudley appears the more anomalous because the town is immediately adjacent to, and in many respects materially influenced by, Birmingham and Wolverhampton—places which may almost be described as centres of political enlightenment. It will be asked how these things are to be accounted for and reconciled. In dealing with the borough system of England it is certainly our duty not to pass them over.

The Toryism which is predominant at Dudley is a very peculiar Toryism. It is a low and vulgar Toryism; an ignorant and very brutal Toryism. As a rule Toryism is the aristocratic principle of England: it presents itself in the flowing wig and ruffle style of the early days of George the Third; it boasts of long descent and ancient pedigree, and, as many a Tory of the present day will tell you, came to him as an inheritance withhis family plate and pictures. But the Toryism of Dudley is nothing of this sort; there is not a Tory in the town who can boast of his grandfather; it is difficult to put your finger upon a member of the party who is entitled to the position and reputation of a gentleman. A coarser and more vulgar crew than the Tories of the town of Dudley, high and low, it would be impossible to pitch upon in any community in England.

The Toryism of Dudley is a Toryism of ignorance—a Toryism of habit—a Toryism of self interest—and a Toryism of coercion. We have been in places where Toryism was the representative of loyalty. At Dudley they care as much about the Sovereign as they do about the President of France. There are other towns where Toryism shadows forth the Church of England, and where Tories march in array to the poll with a view, as they believe, to keep dissent in check. At Dudley the Tories profess no Church principle, nor, indeed, any description of religious principle. Up to 1845, when a diocesan effort was made to civilize this locality, there were few places where the Church was so completely useless—where it was so apt a representation of the dried up well of the desert in which thousands are perishing of thirst. Even now, when the Church is making some effort to enlighten this depraved and almost heathen population, it is not the Tories of Dudley who support its efforts, nor the Tories of Dudley who promote its usefulness.

And this fact shadows forth one of the great causes of the Toryism of this town. We have said that the Toryism of Dudley is a Toryism of ignorance. The ignorance of Dudley Tories is not mere personal ignorance—though there is an ample amount of that—but it is an entire and utter ignorance of the population amongst which they live. That population is a most important population. It is almost exclusively a mining population. Within theparishof Dudley there exists 32,000 souls: but within a circle of three or more miles around it there are scarcely less than 100,000 more, and the great proportion of these are engaged exclusively in the mining operations of the district. Talk of our large towns—why the population of the parishes of Dudley, and of Tipton, Clent, Kingswinford, Sedgley, and West Bromwich, all in close proximity to Dudley, equal the population of Birmingham itself! What is the condition of this population? Who cares for and protects this enormous mass of labouring poor? The Dudley Tories—for whom so many of them labour? We lament to say not one of them.

It is a painful fact to record, but we do believe that there is not one of the employers of the Dudley district who knows one per cent. of the men who toil and labour to produce his wealth. Take England through, and you will not find a locality where there is not so little sympathy between the employers and employed, but such an utter regardlessness on the part of the former of every single interest appertaining to the latter. It is upon the records of official evidence that they omit even the commonest precautionsfor the preservation of their lives. Human existence here is treated as a cheap commodity. Those horrible pit accidents, of which we hear so frequently—(and yet, in comparison of the frequency of their occurrence, so very rarely)—proper precautions would prevent one half of them—precautions entailing trouble and expense no greater than is the bounden duty of every master to provide.

But the utter ignorance of the Dudley Tories of the population amongst whom they live is no better exhibited than by “the strikes,” which are of habitual occurrence in this important district. If the history of the labour of this locality were written, it would be found that “strikes” amongst the pitmen were the rule, and continuous labour the exception. The pitmen in the Dudley district are always, in fact, in an incipient state of strike, or else in strike itself. It is evident that there must be something wrong in a system under which such a state of things as this exists. We do not hear of these repeated strikes in the cotton manufacturing districts, in the woollen trade, or in the clothing trade, at Manchester, or Bolton, or Huddersfield, or Leeds. Why should the population on the Dudley side of the coal country “strike” so much more frequently than they do upon the Wolverhampton and Bilston side of the same district? There must be a fault here, and we have little hesitation in attributing it to the want of sympathy of the employers for the employed.

In order to explain this more thoroughly it is necessary to describe shortly how the mines of this coal district are worked. We will take the district immediately adjacent to the town of Dudley. The great owner of the soil is Lord Ward. Lord Ward lets his land on royalties: that is to say, the person taking a lease of it engages to work the minerals upon the property, to pay so much per ton for all the coal and ironstone obtained, to get no more than a certain maximum quantity, which is agreed on, every year, but to pay as for a certain minimum quantity, whether he may get the maximum or none. This is the contract as between the owner of the soil and the ironmaster. But the ironmaster does not work the mines himself: he contracts with a middleman, called a butty-collier, who engages to open the mine for him, and to get a certain quantity of coal or ironstone per week, at a price to be agreed. The butty-collier employs a gang of men for this purpose. These men are consequently never brought into connexion with, nor do they in the slightest degree engage the sympathies of, their real employer. In many cases they do not even know the “butty,” for the butty contents himself with negotiating with the master, and contracts with the men through one of their own class, who is ordinarily called a “doggie.” The master never goes into the mines: the “butty” very rarely. But it is in these mines that the colliers exist from one week’s end to another; it is here that they live, and breathe, and have their being.

Now, the effect of this system of labour in the iron district is highly detrimental to every class engaging in the trade. Thelabourer, having nothing in common with the employer, is continually striking to get more out of him—and hence the “strikes” by which the trade is continually suffering. On the other hand the employer is led to treat the workman as a mere machine; as a machine without wants or feelings; as a machine in which he is only so far interested as he can work it. A remarkable proof of this position is to be found in the fact, that although accidents in the pit-work are in the fearful proportion of no less thanseventy-twoper cent. per annum to the number of labourers, yet there is not in the Town of Dudley, or in the country round about it, a hospital, or even a dispensary! “All cases requiring peculiar care must be sent to Birmingham,” twelve miles off!

When people are found so careless of the lives of the labourers by whom they live, how can it be expected that they can be anxious concerning their political position? The late Vicar of Dudley put it upon record that his rich fellow townsman cared nothing either for the spiritual or moral welfare of the poor. “I had the greatest possible difficulty,” he says, “in obtaining money for building district churches. On coming to the parish I found only two old endowed schools in one building, and they were in great difficulties.” This reverend gentleman and other clergymen detail the difficulties they have in extracting a sixpence from the richest masters in the district for the benefit of the poor, and the utter regardlessness which there is for their social or spiritual well being.

This ignorance of the working class—of their wants, wishes, feelings and interests—is no doubt a predisposing cause to the Toryism of the Dudley ironmasters. The system of their trade is another predisposing cause. Most people know, that virtually, the iron trade is a monopoly. The large ironmasters are continually struggling to maintain it so. You have heard probably of what are called “Ironmasters’ Quarterly Meetings.” Allow us an opportunity of exposing one of the greatest absurdities that ever existed in any trade. In the week after every legal quarter day the ironmasters of South Staffordshire perambulate the district to hold what they call their quarterly meetings, and to arrange what the price of iron shall be for the ensuing quarter. The ironmasters meet, say at Wolverhampton or at Dudley. They dine at the hotel. They fix the price of iron—the price that is to govern all the trade. One of them—a jolly red nosed old Tory—the most convivial of all the lot, and the most emphatic about the price, returns home after dinner, and finds a letter on his table requesting him to tender for a quantity of rails. Within twelve hours after he has “settled the price,” he is certain to be underselling all his neighbours. This “settling the price” of iron is a farce. But if so, what is the use of the quarterly meeting? Why, the use of the quarterly meeting is to keep up the monopoly, to afford an occasion for excluding “the new man” in the business—to present a favourable opportunity for a combination against theweaker and humbler manufacturer—and, in addition to all this, to put the screw upon the labourer, by combining to enforce the lowest rate of wages in the works and pits. For at these Ironmasters’ Quarterly Meetings, wages, forsooth, are regulated, as well as the price of iron. And you will find, if you examine the subject attentively, that these wages are fixed without regard to the quality of the labour or the skill of the workman, in the same way as the price of iron is fixed, without regard to its quality, or the nature of the supply.

Their monopoly, therefore, makes the Dudley ironmasters Tories by habit and Tories by position. We will now show how they are also Tories by self-interests and Tories by coercion. The coal-field, or as it is sometimes called “the great black cake,” is of limited extent. The lords of the soil are few in number. Lord Ward possesses the largest share of it. Sir Horace St. Paulwasthe next greatest proprietor. Now it is a matter of absolute necessity with the lessees, that they should be upon as good terms as possible with the owners of the soil. And we will explain the reasons why. When a coal-field is taken to work a considerable amount of capital is necessarily invested. Works have to be erected; a shaft has to be sunk. From the nature of the property no very large quantity of land can be taken at once. In a little time, probably, all that has been originally leased is worked out. The lessee has now to obtain a new piece of ground. You will see at once that in order to make his original pit and works available it is necessary that such new piece of ground should adjoin that he originally took. The instances are rare in which this adjoining ground does not belong to the same landlord. If the master is on good terms with the steward he gets it; if he is not, a large proportion of his capital is necessarily sacrificed. The self-interest, therefore, of these ironmasters induces them to go with the owner of the soil, and obliges them to submit to the coercion of the steward. At Dudley, as we shall presently find, this has gone so far that the constituency are content to swallow Lord Ward’s own agent as their representative in parliament, a person who rarely comes amongst them, who does the town no earthly good, and who is as careless about the fulfilment of his parliamentary duties as if he was sitting for Gatton or Old Sarum.

Such, then, to conclude this branch of the subject, are the circumstances under which the important town of Dudley is a Tory town. The explanation will set at rest all cavil as to the reason why this large manufacturing constituency should now send a Tory to the House of Commons. We started by saying that there was little hope of improvement—that an extension of the suffrage would probably have no effect whatever on the returns of this constituency. If the suffrage was household, it would be extended in Dudley to a lower class of “buttys” and “doggies,” who are all under the thumb and immediate influence of the master. If it was universal, it would be extended to the mining labourers, who in their turn are under the thumband immediate influence of the “buttys” and “doggies.” Indeed the character of this particular population requires that, before the suffrage, another enlightener should be introduced, in the person of the schoolmaster. “The old collier of this town,” says the late Vicar of Dudley, “is a heavy, superstitious, gluttonous animal, most harmless, and naturally good natured,without a spark of political feeling, unless as regards his daily wages: all beyond is to him dreary and unreal.” Some years ago, the Chartists thought they had made an impression in the coal country; but it was a mistake. They were all powerful in Birmingham, but not in any way understood in Dudley. “The Chartists,” says a working man, “had a room in Dudley for a year or more before the strike. Occasionally Lecturers would come and lecture there. Not many men at any time enrolled their names. I should say 50 or 60 might be the most, and they paid 1d. a week, but the room could not have held that number at once.” Another working man says: “The men did not follow the Chartists from any principle, but fled to them for refuge in the strike, and were glad for any one to come and instruct them in the prices of iron and so forth. Political affairs had nothing to do with us; we had to deal with our masters. The Chartists never had any friends in Dudley.” A population of this sort evidently requires instruction in order duly to exercise political privileges.

And, now, having fully pointed out the position of Dudley as regards the social and political influences at work there, we proceed to give that which is more immediately the business of this article, the electoral history of the town. It is a short and dreary one, only marked by the occurrence of one exciting contest.

The large towns which were enfranchised in 1832 felt at the first election which occurred in them all the awkwardness of a first appearance in a new character. Parties were unformed, no combinations of any sort prevailed, and in the majority of cases accident rather than deliberate judgment determined the choice of the electorates. An accident threw the representation of Dudley into the hands of no less a person than the Solicitor-General, Sir John Campbell. Mr. Campbell had sat for Stafford in the parliaments of 1830 and 1831. But with the passing of the Reform Bill he was desirous of obtaining election by a different constituency, and indeed circumstances which had occurred at Stafford prevented his again sitting for that town. Dudley, a borough not far distant from Stafford, was selected, it is believed, by Mr. Joseph Parkes. Sir John Campbell went to Dudley in utter ignorance of the character of the constituency and of the men with whom he had to deal. But it was a new borough, a large borough, and a manufacturing borough, and therefore was supposed necessarily to be a Liberal borough. When Sir John Campbell got down he found apparently a veryinfluential opponent in the field. This was Sir Horace St. Paul, one of the principal owners of the “great black cake.” The nomination of Sir Horace St. Paul, however, was not free from objection. He had represented Bridport in several preceding parliaments, and had been an opponent of the bill by which Dudley was enfranchised. For common honour the great body of the new electorate were obliged to set their faces against this. But there was another circumstance greatly to Sir Horace’s disadvantage. Although he owned a considerable part of the mineral property of the district, his possession of that property was far from beneficial to the iron and coal masters. Sir Horace St. Paul worked his own mines, and the ironmasters regarded him with some jealousy, as a rival in their business. The support he received from them was, therefore, anything but warm; and the political Union of Birmingham having declared for Sir John Campbell, “plain Jack” was enabled to secure a comparatively easy victory at the poll, where the numbers were—for Campbell, 348; St. Paul, 229. At this time there were only 670 voters on the poll, instead of 1000, as at present.

In February, 1834, Sir John Campbell having succeeded Sir Wm. Horne as Attorney-General, came down to Dudley to obtain his re-election. Circumstances, however, had vastly changed since 1832. The reform excitement had passed away. The Birmingham Political Union was defunct. The Liberal party had become less popular, and in Dudley Sir John Campbell had done nothing to secure for himself any local sympathy. The party which had brought him in in 1832 was a party without any influence or weight whatever in the town. They had succeeded mainly in consequence of the feeling of the day, and the fact of their having succeeded was sufficient to unite against them very strong and powerful influences. The Dudley Tories, in fact, had now begun to shew a formidable front, and were prepared stoutly to contest the seat.

The candidate they selected was a local man—Mr. Thos. Hawkes, of Himley. Mr. Hawkes was an amiable man, whose family had made their property in Dudley, and who had himself been engaged in the glass trade of the district. He was a man of some ambition, and had aimed for a long time at high society and a seat in parliament, without having either the means sufficient for the one, or the ability desirable for the other. However, the Dudley Tories were disposed to gratify him, the more so as he was a man very likely to succeed at an election from his general popularity, and the more so from his residence being next door to Himley Hall.

Mr. Hawkes was accordingly proposed. The Tories exerted themselves indefatigably on his behalf, and it was speedily evident that they would be successful. But the Tories of Dudley are not a class of people who can bear either success or defeat with moderation. They had displayed from an earlyperiod of this contest violent passions, and an infinite amount of bad feeling towards their opponents of all classes. Gangs of bullies had gone about to threaten and assault individuals, canvassers upon the Liberal side had been insulted in the public streets, and it was an open boast with the Tories that they would make the town too hot for their adversaries. On the day of election all those coarse and vulgar methods of exasperation were increased tenfold. People were insulted at the poll, and the authorities, all Tories, would afford them no protection. At length the town became a scene of riot and confusion. It was feared that Sir John Campbell would personally become an object of attack, and he was advised to leave the town. Accordingly whilst the Tory mob was bellowing in the street, in the front of his hotel, the Attorney General, accompanied by a friend, and disguised by a muffler round the lower part of his face, left the inn by a back door, and proceeding through the narrowest and dirtiest parts of the town, escaped from it by a circuitous route. The passage by which Sir John left Dudley received the name of “Campbell’s flight,” and will probably be so distinguished long after the circumstances which gave it celebrity have passed into oblivion.

An hour of retribution, however, was now at hand. The Tory mob had held the town all day, but it is a dangerous thing in a district of this sort to play a game at mobs. No sooner was it known that there was rioting in Dudley than the largest coal and ironworks on the Stourbridge side poured forth an army of miners; men to whom to see the light of day was itself almost an excitement. Into Dudley they poured with wild shouts and outcries. The people fled in terror. The shop windows had all been closed. As they came down the streets the colliers pulled down every shutter, and threw them through the windows into the houses. Not a whole pane of glass was left. The pavements were torn up. Stones began to fly in all directions. The town for a whole hour was given up to a worse riot than before, and then the Blacks began to retire.

The rear of their army was at one end of the town when the Dragoons from Birmingham galloped in at the other. The authorities who had permitted riots on their own side all the day, had sent expresses for the troops the moment they found they had got the worst of the game they had begun. The military arrived too late to prevent the mischief; but they held possession of the town all night, and thereby afforded security to the inhabitants. And thus terminated one of the most riotous elections ever known in England—an election thoroughly disgraceful to the town where it occurred, but of which the Dudley Tories boast to this hour, as if, instead of exciting the worst feelings of humanity, they had achieved some great moral triumph.

Mr. Hawkes sat for Dudley from February, 1834, to July 1844. At every successive election some one was brought forward to oppose him, but his majorities increased at every contest, and the Liberals polled fewer and fewer the more frequently they foughtthe borough. Except the excellence of their cause, they have not in fact a single element of strength in Dudley.

Mr. Hawkes probably acquired some additional influence in consequence of the marriage of one of his daughters with the brother and heir presumptive of Lord Ward. The peer himself was for a long time understood to be the lady’s suitor, but the younger brother ultimately obtained her hand. Mr. Hawkes might have continued, under these circumstances, to represent the town, but unfortunately the pressure of pecuniary embarrassments obliged him, in 1844, to go abroad, with a view to repair his fortunes. He accordingly relinquished his seat, to which Mr. John Benbow, the agent and auditor of the Ward estates, immediately succeeded.

Mr. Benbow’s pretensions to the representation of the town rest exclusively upon the office which he holds. He is neither a native nor a resident, nor in any other way connected with the place. He is comparatively very slightly known in Dudley. He visits it but rarely, and does nothing of himself to advance its local interests. A representative he can scarcely be called, for Mr. Benbow is one of those members who rarely record their opinions by a vote in Parliament, being contented with the seat without the trouble of attending.

Dudley, thus represented, has reached, as one may suppose, the lowest point of its political degradation. It fell very low when the seat descended from the Attorney-General to Mr. Hawkes. It fell still lower when the resident and the friend was superseded by the stranger and the mere official. Nothing can change Dudley but a change in the opinions of Lord Ward. And stranger things may come to pass than that.

Dudley, in outward appearance, is an improving place. Within the last five years its shops have assumed a much handsomer aspect, some of its streets have been widened and more attention has been paid to cleanliness. It has all the bustle of a busy and a thriving town; but as its trade depends exclusively upon the coal and iron districts all around it, it is necessarily subjected to many fluctuations. We cannot recommend Dudley to the tourist as a halting place, for the smoke renders the atmosphere in the town and country all around it particularly disagreeable. But there is no district in England better worth examination, both as regards the state of an important trade, and the condition of an enormous population. Those who will face the dirt and dinginess of Brierley Hill and Tipton will find ample food for study; and they will see a scene of industry and wealth where, within the memory of man, little else was to be found but open waste and common.

The concluding paragraph in this severe editorial, but too truthful recital of the political status of Dudley at this period of our history, wherein it is written that, “Nothing can change Dudley, but a changein the opinions of Lord Ward,and stranger things may come to pass than that;” has been most unexpectedly fulfilled by his Lordship’s recent recantation of his former steadfast political views, discarding now for ever the long held Conservative principles of the House of Himley, and passing over with all his enormous powers and local belongings into the ranks of the modern so-called Liberalism. Pitiable is it indeed to witness the twingings of a forced compliance now to his new-born politics in all degrees and stations of hisemployes; whose former by-gone stereotyped orders, wrung from many an honest heart the secret feelings of a detestation of such doings, but silenced by the sense that his daily bread absolutely depended upon his compliance. Such is the fate of Political Toadyism!

Died January 10th, 1850, Mr. George Lester, Pork Butcher, High Street. Aged 32 years.

Died February 9th, 1850, Mr. Frederick Johnson, Solicitor, Wolverhampton Street. This was a young gentleman of brilliant talents, and had he lived would have been an ornament to the town. Aged 27 years.

“The Truck or Tommy system,” an odious practice of paying hard working men in kind or provisions instead of money, had very extensively ramified itself into the business operations of Iron Masters, Coal Masters, Nail Factors, and Nail Foggers to such an extent, as to threaten the annihilation of all fair dealings betwixt the employer and the employed in our varied labour markets. The consequence was, that a public meeting (under the auspices of Thomas Fereday, Esq., the Mayor), was held in the Old Town Hall, on April 1st, 1850, to form an Association for enforcing the law against the payment of wages in Truck or Tommy. A very influential Association was at once formed, and Mr. Geo. Boddington, Solicitor, Dudley, was appointed Solicitor to this Association; which, by its energeticconvictions of numerous offending parties, speedily gave a sensible check to this wicked and dishonest usage. It was clearly shown that the poor working man was paying25 per cent. morefor his provisions than he ought to do; besides being deprived of the right to buy his daily food in the best market. Mr. C. F. G. Clark became a prominent Lecturer to the working classes in this district on this burning question, and laid bare with an unsparing hand the iniquity of the Truck system.

May 1st, 1850. The South Staffordshire Railway was this day publicly opened. It runs from Dudley to Alrewas, joining the Midland line at that Station. A procession took place from the Dudley Station to the Hotel, where was held a public Dinner to celebrate the event.

Died May 8th, 1850, by his own hand in a fit of temporary insanity, Mr. Joshua Wilkinson, Anvil and Vice Manufacturer, Queen’s Cross, Dudley. This sad death was most grievously deplored, for Mr. Wilkinson was a large and liberal employer of labour, and a most kind and genial friend and neighbour. Aged 56 years.

May 20th, 1850. This being Whit-Monday, the Dudley Castle and Silurian Caverns were opened to the public with uncommon array and splendour, as the caverns were lighted thefirst time with gas. Mr. Elliott Hollier, Chemist, was the chief instrument in having this grand spectacle opened to the public, for his untiring exertions throughout were truly extraordinary, the whole entertainment devolving upon his efforts. The fetes were kept open for three successive days, and as the profits were to be appropriated to paying off the debt of the Geological Society, it was gratifying to find that the realization of £750 was the result of this wonderful and pleasurable exhibition of nature and art. Upwards of 20,000 people attended these fetes.

May 26th, 1850. An Evening Lecture was commenced this day (Sunday) in St. Edmund’s Church, the Rev. A. Kerr Thompson, M.A., the Head Master of the Grammar School, was appointed the Lecturer. The stipend was raised by a voluntary annual subscription.

July 2nd, 1850. Miss Ellen Browne, second daughter of Dr. Browne, Vicar, was this morning married to the Rev.—Osborne, M.A., with much ceremony and rejoicing.

July 2nd, 1850. Died, in consequence of a fall from his horse in St. James’ Park, London, Sir Robert Peel, Bart., M.P., acknowledged the greatest statesman and debater of his day. Aged 64 years.

Died, August 26th, 1850, at Claremont, near London, “Louis Phillippe” ex-King of the French. Aged 77 years.

Died, September 8th, 1850, Mr. Mark Bond, many years Clerk at St. Edmund’s Church. Aged 79 years.

Died, September 13th, 1850, old Mr. Morris, maltster, Castle Street, much esteemed. Aged 78 years.

September 20th, 1850, there had been a great dearth for want of rain, as there had been none since August 20th till this date. The want of rain had dried up all vegetation and created a great scarcity of green meat for cattle all over the country.

Died, October 11th, 1850, Mrs. Wilson, formerly of Queen Street, feather dealer, &c. Aged 93 years.

Died, October 29th, 1850, John Roberts, Esq., J.P., Surgeon, Wolverhampton Street, Dudley. Aged 62 years. This gentleman was a noted but bigotted politician in his day; was appointed a Borough Magistrate; very fond of office, but was not always wise in administering the claims of justice; was a warm friend and good counsellor to those intimately acquainted with him. A marble monument erected in St. Edmund’s Church records the many virtues of this gentleman.

On November 26th, 1850, a large and influential public meeting of all denominations of Christians, Thomas Fereday, Esq., the Mayor, in the chair, was held in the Old Town Hall, for the purpose of presenting an address to the Queen, “against the recent insolent usurpation by the Pope of Rome of authority and jurisdiction in this your Majesty’s independent dominions.”

This meeting was addressed at great length by the Mayor, Dr. Browne, Vicar; Rev. Jno. Wesley Thomas, Wesleyan Minister; Rev. Jno. Palmer, Unitarian Minister; with our ever-green and watchful friend, Mr. Saml. Cook. The meeting passed off most enthusiastically, and the address was duly presented to the Queen; but, like all other efforts to put down freedom of opinion in religious faith, it signally failed to secure the ends aimed at; for all parties seemed to have forgotten “Catholic Emancipation,” granted some twenty-one years before.

February, 1851. This month all the Market ground which had been cleared of the old buildings was paved with new stones.

Died February 27th, 1851, Mr. John Smith, the kind, considerate, and jovial landlord of the “Hotel.” Aged 58 years.

1851. March 30th. The Census of the United Kingdom was taken this night.

Marriage of Lord Ward.—April 24th, 1851, the marriage of Lord Ward, so well known as being one of the largest proprietors of the empire, with Miss Selina Constance De Burgh, eldest daughter of Hubert De Burgh, Esq., was celebrated at St. George’s Church, Hanover Square, in the presence of a select circle of the friends of both parties. The ceremony was conducted in a comparatively private manner, owing to the recent demise of a member of the De Burgh family. The Rev. Legh Claughton, Vicar of Kidderminster, and brother-in-law to Lord Ward, officiated. Shortly after nine o’clock the bridal party entered the church; Mr. De Burgh gave his daughter away. Lady Wallscourt, the Hon. Mr. and Mrs. Dudley Ward, Mr. and Mrs. Hawkes, the Hon. Mrs. Blake, the Dowager Lady Ward, and other friends of the families, were present. At the conclusion of the ceremony the bridal party repaired to the residence of Mr. De Burgh, in Grosvenor Crescent, and there partook of breakfast. The happy pair subsequently left town for Sandgate, to pass the honeymoon.—Birmingham Journal.

This unhappy lady died shortly afterwards of fever, and was interred in the family vault in Himley Church, amidst a grievous sorrowing throng of relations and friends. Aged 22 years.

1851. May 1st. This day the Great National Exhibition was opened in Hyde Park, London, by the Queen and Prince Albert, in great pomp and state, attended with an immense retinue of English and Foreign potentates. Many of us denizens of the Black Country attended also and paid our respects to the immense block of coal exhibited, which came from the bowels of the earth at Dudley Port, or Horseley Fields.

May 5th, 1881. This town and locality was this day visited with a terrific storm of thunder and lightning. Some houses in Prospect Row and St. Thomas’s Church were struck with the lightning, but fortunately no lives were lost.

July 28th, 1851. A partial eclipse of the sun took place this day, at the hour of 3 p.m.

August 6th, 1851. “Proposed Application of the Public Health Act to Dudley.” Mr. Lee, one of the Inspectors under the Sanitary Act,held a Public Enquiry, and made a survey of the Borough of Dudley, and he declared “that this town was the worst drained and the filthiest of any town in the kingdom.” The death-rate was much higher than any other, being 28 deaths in every 1,000 inhabitantsduring the last 10 years!!!whereas the general average was 20 deaths in every 1,000 inhabitants. Oh! ye advocates for economy, and keeping your hands tightly on your breeches pockets; who draw the rent, with greed, from your ignorant tenants, but refuse to bear the burden which belongs to the landlord for the domestic health of those very tenants you live upon day by day, read the subjoined astounding report and ask yourselves whether conscience does not struggle hard to resume her seat!

PROPOSED APPLICATION OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH ACT TO DUDLEY.On Tuesday last,William Lee,Esq., one of the Superintending Inspectors of the General Board of Health, opened an enquiry at the Old Town Hall, Dudley, for the purpose of enabling the authorities at Whitehall to form an opinion as to the desirability of bringing the provisions of the Public Health Act into operation within the Borough. Such investigations have mostly hitherto been instituted upon the petition of the inhabitants of such towns as were considered to require improvement in sanitary matters. In this instance, however, the Board had taken advantage of the powers given them by one of the sections of their act, which directs them to take steps for the application of its provisions to towns where the returns of the Registrar-General showed that the deaths annually exceeded twenty-three in the thousand. Although doubtless the attention of the Board had been called to the matter by some influential gentlemen of the town, we suppose we must attribute the very thin attendance of the inhabitants at the opening of the enquiry as much to the private and non-popular nature of its origin, as to any want of interest in the matter either as a question of public health, or as one which may ultimately become important to the community as ratepayers. The proceedings did not commence until nearly an hour after the appointed time, and even then not more than a dozen or fourteen persons were present. Amongst them were the Rev. Dr. Browne, (the Vicar,) John Houghton, Esq., T. W. Fletcher, Esq., (firm of Robinson and Fletcher, Solicitors,) Messrs. Hollier, Fisher, Richardson, Bowen, Bateman, T. P. Stokes, Minty, Griffiths, and Cook.Mr. Leebegan by remarking on the scanty attendance, which either showed that the inhabitants were not generally aware of the enquiry being about to take place, or that they did not feel very much interested in the question. It was, however, a question of very great importance to all the residents of the town, and he regretted very much that the room was not filled. All the rated inhabitants had a right to be present, and to be heard on any matter touching thatenquiry, and it had been proved that full notice had been given, so as to enable the inhabitants to know when and where the enquiry would be held. The fact of there being reporters present would enable those inhabitants who were not present to know something of the proceedings, and he hoped that the result would be that if any misapprehensions existed, they would be removed. In the few remarks he should make, he thought it would be well to direct their attention to that portion of the Public Health Act which related to preliminary inquiries. Under that Act, the General Board of Health was appointed to intimate its application under certain circumstances stated in the 8th section. They were to appoint inspectors to make preliminary enquiries in large and populous towns and places, and these enquiries would be instituted either upon the petition of not less than one-tenth of the inhabitants rated for the relief of the poor, or where the returns of the Registrar-General showed that the deaths annually exceeded the proportion of twenty-three to a thousand. Upon the latter alternative the Board had the power of directing an enquiry to be made, without any petition from the Inhabitants. The section then went on to state the chief objects of the enquiry. The report was to be made to the General Board of Health by the Inspector in writing, and was then to be printed and circulated in the parts to which the enquiry related. Upon that report any inhabitant might make any statement in writing, as to anything contained in, or omitted from, such report. It would be the duty of the General Board of Health to consider the report and statements made; and there were then two modes of proceeding for that body to adopt, according to circumstances. If the inquiry had been instituted upon the petition from the inhabitants of the locality, if the boundaries for the district were the same as those from whence the petition came, and if there should be no local act of Parliament in force in the district, then the act might be applied by an order of Privy Council, naming the day when the election of a Local Board of Health should take place. But if the inquiry should have been instituted in consequence of the mortality being over twenty-three to a thousand, and if the boundaries were different, and if there were a local act of Parliament, then the General Board, if they thought the Public Health Act should be applied, would have to make a provisional order, which would have no force or effect until it had been approved by Parliament. In the case where a Municipal Corporation exists, it is made the Local Board of Health. As the inhabitants of Dudley had no Corporation, either the Commissioners must act as a Local Board of Health, or the residents must meet and elect one. Mr. Lee then proceeded to detail the duties that would fall within the province of the Local Board, stating that their powers were permissive, not compulsory, and that money to carry out the necessary works could be borrowed on the rates, to be repaid by equal annual instalments, running over a space of thirty years. By the latter provision, all difficulty as to causing a burden on theinhabitants was removed, for if the amount should come to anything like the sum of £5 per house, the rate of interest would not be more than one penny per week. He would now take them back to the grounds on which that inquiry had commenced. The census of 1851 had been taken, but the returns of the Registrar-General had not been made up so that the general rates of mortality could be ascertained. There was no difficulty, however, in the returns for any particular town, and it would be sufficient for him to show to them that the rates of mortality had increased very considerably in Dudley since 1841. He had before him the Registrar-General’s return for Dudley, dated the 7th of June, 1851, made according to the terms of the act, from the year 1844 to 1850 inclusive. The present population of the parish of Dudley was 37,954. The deaths during those years were 6,864, giving an annual mortality of twenty-eight to every thousand of the inhabitants living. If he took the comparative returns of 1841, he should take a much more favourable view of the condition of Dudley than now existed. In 1841, according to the census returns, the rate of mortality in England and Wales was little more than twenty to a thousand of the population; and at that time the rate of Dudley was 26.7, while in Walsall it was 24.2, in Wolverhampton 25, and in Birmingham, (with a population four times more than Dudley,) 26.5. He found that in the same year the deaths in Dudley were 1 in 37; in Walsall, 1 in 41; in Birmingham, 1 in 38. The deaths from epidemic diseases in Dudley were 1 out of every 131 of the population annually; in Walsall, 1 out of 154; and in Birmingham, 1 out of 202. The average age of all who died in Dudley was only 17 years, at a time when the mortality was less than it was now. In Walsall it was 19 years and 3 months; in Wolverhampton, 19 years and 1 month: and in Birmingham, 23 years and 9 months. They would see by that excessive mortality how large a proportion of the community were cut off before they arrived at the years of maturity. Of those who died above 20 years of age, the average was 50 years and 10 months; in Wolverhampton it was the same; in Walsall, 52 years and 6 months; and in Birmingham, 51 years and 7 months. There they saw that no place among them all was so bad as Dudley. Taking the whole of the deaths, and dividing their per centage, there were 34.5 per cent. under a year old, in Dudley; in Walsall, 29.7 per cent.; in Wolverhampton, 27.6; and in Birmingham, 24.8. Under five years, in Dudley, 60.8 per cent.; in Walsall, 55.7; in Wolverhampton, 55.3; and in Birmingham, 48.4. Seven out of every ten persons under 20 years of age died annually, a much larger rate than any other place mentioned. As death had done its main work during the years of infancy, they were not persons who had lost their lives in mines, for two-thirds of their population died under five years of age; as they got farther on in life there were, of course, fewer remaining in Dudley to be killed, and consequently the per centage was less in unhealthy than in healthy districts, as the greater portion had been destroyed before arriving at theyears of maturity. He would give one instance—between 70 and 80 years of age 4.4 died in Dudley; in Wolverhampton, 4.8; in Birmingham, 5.7 The figures were greatly to the disadvantage of Dudley. Indeed there were very few places in the kingdom so unhealthy as Dudley. To show the enormous disparity that existed between Dudley and registration districts in the counties of Worcester, Stafford, and Warwick, Mr. Lee quoted a number of other figures. For instance, he showed that in the district comprising Bewdley, Martley, and Tenbury, (containing a population equal to that of the Dudley district,) the average age at death was 41 years and 4 months against the average of 17 years in Dudley. Now he said, there might be persons who talked about economy with respect to sanitary arrangements, and would be fearfully alarmed at the expense that would be brought upon the town of Dudley by the adoption of sanitary measures. It would be found from the registration districts he had named, with a population equal to their own, by the most extensive experience, not only of the medical men, but of those who had made the strictest enquiries into the sanitary condition of the country, that there were not less than twenty-eight cases of sickness in excess, spending on an average 20s. each, to every death in excess. Well, comparing the registration district of Dudley, which contained, in 1841, 86,000 inhabitants, with the district he had cited, they would see that there were 831 deaths in excess in a year, and of these more than one-third were due to the parish of Dudley. Taking twenty-eight cases for each death in excess, it exhibits a loss of £23,268. Taking next, the mourning fees, coffins, and other incidental expenses connected with a funeral, which could not amount to less than £5 each, they would have a loss by funerals of £4,115. Every adult lost eight years and eight months of his life, and every individual twenty-four years and four months. Taking only the adult deaths, and reckoning those adults to have been able to earn only 7s.6d.per week each on an average, the loss in labour would be £115,934. Those three items of loss, by one year’s deaths alone, for sickness, funerals, and labour, was £143,357. They would all admit that, at a very moderate estimate, one-third of that cost would fall upon the parish of Dudley, and they then would find that the parish were annually losers in those three items to the extent of £47,786. That was the loss upon a mortality of 26.7, but the last returns exhibited a mortality of 28 to every thousand of the inhabitants, during the seven years’ average. They might, therefore, fairly conclude that their loss at that present moment, from excessive deaths, was £50,000 per annum. Could anybody imagine for a moment that the most efficient sanitary works that could be constructed in Dudley, would bear to be looked at, in comparison with these figures. He could direct their attention to a very important table from the same returns, containing 61 registration districts in England and Wales, with a population of 1,003,124 persons, having a mortality of only 16 to a thousand, and where all who wereborn, on an average lived to the age of 37 years and 5 months; and adults on an average to 60 years of age. Now, compare that with Dudley, and though no sanitary means were used at the places he referred to, nevertheless the mortality was 16 as against 28, in the parish of Dudley; average age, 37 years 5 months, as against 17 years; adults, 60 years as against 50 years and 10 months, and the percentages of deaths under 20 years of age, 38.4, as against 70.1. Could anybody doubt that there was a cause for that, and one that might to a great extent be removed? Could any reasonable man say it was not a case of vital importance, and one that demanded careful enquiry? Was it not the duty of every inhabitant to promote such an enquiry, and if it were found that remedies could be applied, to take the greatest interest in their application? He did not suppose that any person resident in Dudley was aware that such a comparative state of things existed. They had the facts now before them, and he therefore anticipated that he should receive all the assistance they could render him in making that enquiry, while he stayed in Dudley. They perceived that the jurisdiction of the General Board of Health arose from the excessive mortality, over 23 to 1,000, which the Legislature regarded as such an excess as to call upon the General Board to take proceedings to apply the act without any petition from the locality. The mortality of Birmingham, Sheffield, Bradford, and Leeds, was less than Dudley, and he did not believe the mortality of Manchester was higher. He could not recollect a large town in the whole country, except it was Liverpool, as it existed previous to the application of sanitary measures, that was in such an awful condition as Dudley appeared to be. It was growing worse, as was the condition of most unimproved towns. The filth accumulating in open cesspools, ash-pits, privies, &c., in consequence of badly-constructed channels and drains, was constantly saturating the earth, and going into the subsoil underneath. As that saturation increased, the unhealthiness of the town would increase, and there would come a time when the subsoil of such towns would become a mere dunghill, and the site of the town would be uninhabitable. They saw themselves how the healthiness of the place had decreased since 1841. He next explained the manner in which he intended to conduct that enquiry. Awaiting the assembling of the inhabitants that morning, he had taken down several complaints that had been made to him of nuisances existing in the vicinity of houses, and he should be glad to enter more upon his minutes. He would place also upon his minutes the name of any person who should wish to accompany him in making an inspection of the town. He should adjourn the enquiry, as far as that room was concerned, until that inspection was complete. He should have to depend upon those who accompanied him to point out the worst parts of the town, and, if there was a difference of opinion existing amongst them, he should wish both parties to accompany him. After other general observations, he concluded by saying that his object was to discharge faithfully his duty to the Board of Health and the inhabitantsof Dudley.About five minutes before Mr. Lee concluded his address, Isaac Badger, Esq., entered the room. As soon as the Inspector sat down, Mr.Badgersaid he wished to ask a question, as he had that morning met most of the principal gentlemen of the town, not one of whom knew anything about the origin of the enquiry. He wished for some information why the meeting was held, and was proceeding to remark that although he did not deny something of the sort was wanted, yet that he thought Dudley could very ill afford to go to any expense at all; when Mr.Leeinterrupted him with “Don’t make a speech, if you please; if you ask any questions I will answer them.” He had before met with cases of this sort, where gentlemen of influence in the locality came in after he had given his explanation of the cause of the enquiry—an explanation which in the present instance had occupied an hour in the delivery, after waiting nearly another hour past the time appointed—and would have him to go over the explanation again, for their personal information. He would put it to those present whether such a thing could be expected from him.—Mr.Badgersaid it was an important thing for the town, and he was surprised the authorities knew nothing about it. He might have signed a requisition if he had been asked to do so, and he wanted to know who was the cause of the meeting being called.—Mr.Lee: As they doubtless knew there was to be an enquiry here this morning, they should have been here at ten o’clock.—Mr.Badger: What I have asked for is information that the town ought to have, but as he refuses to answer the question, I will now withdraw. I saw a very respectable medical practitioner yesterday, and he tells me—Mr.Lee: You had better address yourself to me, sir.—Mr.Badger: All I have to say is, that the town never was in a more healthy state than at present; and I object to the whole proceedings. Mr. Badger then left the room, accompanied by J. G. Walker, Esq.—Mr.Leesaid that any other gentleman might come into the room and put such questions, and with equal reason expect him to answer them. It was not a matter affecting his own convenience, but it was a waste of time which he would not permit. The gentleman had thought proper to withdraw, and perhaps he would say that he had been refused information, but there were those present who could correct such a statement. At a subsequent stage of the proceedings, the Inspector, in reply to a remark that he had spoken to Mr. Badger “in a way to which he was not accustomed,” said he had no respect of persons, and could make no distinction between the rich and the poor.Mr. Fletcher presented the evidence taken before Mr. Slaney, M.P., in 1842, while inquiring into the state of Dudley under the Public Health Commission; and after receiving some evidence as to the nuisance in existence, Mr. Lee adjourned the inquiry.Tuesday afternoon was spent in viewing some parts of the town; and on Wednesday Mr. Lee continued his inspection, incompany with the Rev. Dr. Browne, J. C. Bourne, Esq., J. Maughan, Esq., Messrs. Bateman, J. Marsh, and other respectable inhabitants of the borough. He proceeded to the Friends’ Chapel, in the High Street, Wolverhampton Street, Shaver’s End, St. James’s Terrace, the Dock, Vicarage Prospect, Spring’s Mire, Stafford Street, Cross Street, &c., jotting down his observations as he went along. We may venture to affirm that few places require the surveillance of an inspector of some kind or other more than the Ball Court, Belper, Marrian’s and Pagett’s Yards, the Barracks, the Lodging-houses, (chiefly occupied by Irish) in Cross Street, and some other places, which have always been noted as hotbeds of epidemic and contagious diseases—the cholera, fever, small pox, scarlatina, and measles, having always in these localities assumed their most virulent type. By some of the gentlemen in attendance it was confessed that they were entirely unaware of such hotbeds of pestilence existing in such crowded localities. On Thursday Mr. Lee again attended at the Town Hall, when some evidence was offered on the part of J. Bennett, Esq., as to Messrs. Smith and Pigott having certain premises in Tower Street, to which, on account of their close proximity to the Workhouse, whenever epidemic disorders prevailed, many pauper patients were always brought, thus becoming to some extent an hospital for the poor. Mr. Lee was this day attended by J. G. Bourne, J. Bennett, and J. Maughan, Esqrs., Messrs. Hollier, Dudley, Bateman, Marsh, and some others, and inspected the Workhouse, New Street, Tower Street, Green Man Yard, Birmingham Street, Pottery Fields, &c. Some of the courts and yards, in Birmingham Street particularly, attracted the notice of Mr. Lee and the gentlemen with him as being close, confined, ill drained, and badly ventilated.As it appears very probable that the provisions of the Health of Towns Act will be enforced in Dudley (for we cannot imagine what other report than an unfavourable one can be presented to the Board by Mr. Lee), would it not be better that the town itself should take the matter up, and by a new Town Act or Charter of Incorporation endeavour to procure those powers which will enable the inhabitants to act for themselves rather than be compelled to adopt the provisions of the Health of Towns Bill, which must entail upon the Borough a vast expense, that at the present time it is but ill able to bear. It is high time these matters were thought of by the inhabitants of Dudley, and that the obstinate opposition of some one or two parties should not be allowed to stop all improvements, as otherwise they will be compelled at last to adopt those measures which a little more consideration might have prevented.We believe Mr. Lee will continue his inspection, which is expected to last some days longer.

On Tuesday last,William Lee,Esq., one of the Superintending Inspectors of the General Board of Health, opened an enquiry at the Old Town Hall, Dudley, for the purpose of enabling the authorities at Whitehall to form an opinion as to the desirability of bringing the provisions of the Public Health Act into operation within the Borough. Such investigations have mostly hitherto been instituted upon the petition of the inhabitants of such towns as were considered to require improvement in sanitary matters. In this instance, however, the Board had taken advantage of the powers given them by one of the sections of their act, which directs them to take steps for the application of its provisions to towns where the returns of the Registrar-General showed that the deaths annually exceeded twenty-three in the thousand. Although doubtless the attention of the Board had been called to the matter by some influential gentlemen of the town, we suppose we must attribute the very thin attendance of the inhabitants at the opening of the enquiry as much to the private and non-popular nature of its origin, as to any want of interest in the matter either as a question of public health, or as one which may ultimately become important to the community as ratepayers. The proceedings did not commence until nearly an hour after the appointed time, and even then not more than a dozen or fourteen persons were present. Amongst them were the Rev. Dr. Browne, (the Vicar,) John Houghton, Esq., T. W. Fletcher, Esq., (firm of Robinson and Fletcher, Solicitors,) Messrs. Hollier, Fisher, Richardson, Bowen, Bateman, T. P. Stokes, Minty, Griffiths, and Cook.

Mr. Leebegan by remarking on the scanty attendance, which either showed that the inhabitants were not generally aware of the enquiry being about to take place, or that they did not feel very much interested in the question. It was, however, a question of very great importance to all the residents of the town, and he regretted very much that the room was not filled. All the rated inhabitants had a right to be present, and to be heard on any matter touching thatenquiry, and it had been proved that full notice had been given, so as to enable the inhabitants to know when and where the enquiry would be held. The fact of there being reporters present would enable those inhabitants who were not present to know something of the proceedings, and he hoped that the result would be that if any misapprehensions existed, they would be removed. In the few remarks he should make, he thought it would be well to direct their attention to that portion of the Public Health Act which related to preliminary inquiries. Under that Act, the General Board of Health was appointed to intimate its application under certain circumstances stated in the 8th section. They were to appoint inspectors to make preliminary enquiries in large and populous towns and places, and these enquiries would be instituted either upon the petition of not less than one-tenth of the inhabitants rated for the relief of the poor, or where the returns of the Registrar-General showed that the deaths annually exceeded the proportion of twenty-three to a thousand. Upon the latter alternative the Board had the power of directing an enquiry to be made, without any petition from the Inhabitants. The section then went on to state the chief objects of the enquiry. The report was to be made to the General Board of Health by the Inspector in writing, and was then to be printed and circulated in the parts to which the enquiry related. Upon that report any inhabitant might make any statement in writing, as to anything contained in, or omitted from, such report. It would be the duty of the General Board of Health to consider the report and statements made; and there were then two modes of proceeding for that body to adopt, according to circumstances. If the inquiry had been instituted upon the petition from the inhabitants of the locality, if the boundaries for the district were the same as those from whence the petition came, and if there should be no local act of Parliament in force in the district, then the act might be applied by an order of Privy Council, naming the day when the election of a Local Board of Health should take place. But if the inquiry should have been instituted in consequence of the mortality being over twenty-three to a thousand, and if the boundaries were different, and if there were a local act of Parliament, then the General Board, if they thought the Public Health Act should be applied, would have to make a provisional order, which would have no force or effect until it had been approved by Parliament. In the case where a Municipal Corporation exists, it is made the Local Board of Health. As the inhabitants of Dudley had no Corporation, either the Commissioners must act as a Local Board of Health, or the residents must meet and elect one. Mr. Lee then proceeded to detail the duties that would fall within the province of the Local Board, stating that their powers were permissive, not compulsory, and that money to carry out the necessary works could be borrowed on the rates, to be repaid by equal annual instalments, running over a space of thirty years. By the latter provision, all difficulty as to causing a burden on theinhabitants was removed, for if the amount should come to anything like the sum of £5 per house, the rate of interest would not be more than one penny per week. He would now take them back to the grounds on which that inquiry had commenced. The census of 1851 had been taken, but the returns of the Registrar-General had not been made up so that the general rates of mortality could be ascertained. There was no difficulty, however, in the returns for any particular town, and it would be sufficient for him to show to them that the rates of mortality had increased very considerably in Dudley since 1841. He had before him the Registrar-General’s return for Dudley, dated the 7th of June, 1851, made according to the terms of the act, from the year 1844 to 1850 inclusive. The present population of the parish of Dudley was 37,954. The deaths during those years were 6,864, giving an annual mortality of twenty-eight to every thousand of the inhabitants living. If he took the comparative returns of 1841, he should take a much more favourable view of the condition of Dudley than now existed. In 1841, according to the census returns, the rate of mortality in England and Wales was little more than twenty to a thousand of the population; and at that time the rate of Dudley was 26.7, while in Walsall it was 24.2, in Wolverhampton 25, and in Birmingham, (with a population four times more than Dudley,) 26.5. He found that in the same year the deaths in Dudley were 1 in 37; in Walsall, 1 in 41; in Birmingham, 1 in 38. The deaths from epidemic diseases in Dudley were 1 out of every 131 of the population annually; in Walsall, 1 out of 154; and in Birmingham, 1 out of 202. The average age of all who died in Dudley was only 17 years, at a time when the mortality was less than it was now. In Walsall it was 19 years and 3 months; in Wolverhampton, 19 years and 1 month: and in Birmingham, 23 years and 9 months. They would see by that excessive mortality how large a proportion of the community were cut off before they arrived at the years of maturity. Of those who died above 20 years of age, the average was 50 years and 10 months; in Wolverhampton it was the same; in Walsall, 52 years and 6 months; and in Birmingham, 51 years and 7 months. There they saw that no place among them all was so bad as Dudley. Taking the whole of the deaths, and dividing their per centage, there were 34.5 per cent. under a year old, in Dudley; in Walsall, 29.7 per cent.; in Wolverhampton, 27.6; and in Birmingham, 24.8. Under five years, in Dudley, 60.8 per cent.; in Walsall, 55.7; in Wolverhampton, 55.3; and in Birmingham, 48.4. Seven out of every ten persons under 20 years of age died annually, a much larger rate than any other place mentioned. As death had done its main work during the years of infancy, they were not persons who had lost their lives in mines, for two-thirds of their population died under five years of age; as they got farther on in life there were, of course, fewer remaining in Dudley to be killed, and consequently the per centage was less in unhealthy than in healthy districts, as the greater portion had been destroyed before arriving at theyears of maturity. He would give one instance—between 70 and 80 years of age 4.4 died in Dudley; in Wolverhampton, 4.8; in Birmingham, 5.7 The figures were greatly to the disadvantage of Dudley. Indeed there were very few places in the kingdom so unhealthy as Dudley. To show the enormous disparity that existed between Dudley and registration districts in the counties of Worcester, Stafford, and Warwick, Mr. Lee quoted a number of other figures. For instance, he showed that in the district comprising Bewdley, Martley, and Tenbury, (containing a population equal to that of the Dudley district,) the average age at death was 41 years and 4 months against the average of 17 years in Dudley. Now he said, there might be persons who talked about economy with respect to sanitary arrangements, and would be fearfully alarmed at the expense that would be brought upon the town of Dudley by the adoption of sanitary measures. It would be found from the registration districts he had named, with a population equal to their own, by the most extensive experience, not only of the medical men, but of those who had made the strictest enquiries into the sanitary condition of the country, that there were not less than twenty-eight cases of sickness in excess, spending on an average 20s. each, to every death in excess. Well, comparing the registration district of Dudley, which contained, in 1841, 86,000 inhabitants, with the district he had cited, they would see that there were 831 deaths in excess in a year, and of these more than one-third were due to the parish of Dudley. Taking twenty-eight cases for each death in excess, it exhibits a loss of £23,268. Taking next, the mourning fees, coffins, and other incidental expenses connected with a funeral, which could not amount to less than £5 each, they would have a loss by funerals of £4,115. Every adult lost eight years and eight months of his life, and every individual twenty-four years and four months. Taking only the adult deaths, and reckoning those adults to have been able to earn only 7s.6d.per week each on an average, the loss in labour would be £115,934. Those three items of loss, by one year’s deaths alone, for sickness, funerals, and labour, was £143,357. They would all admit that, at a very moderate estimate, one-third of that cost would fall upon the parish of Dudley, and they then would find that the parish were annually losers in those three items to the extent of £47,786. That was the loss upon a mortality of 26.7, but the last returns exhibited a mortality of 28 to every thousand of the inhabitants, during the seven years’ average. They might, therefore, fairly conclude that their loss at that present moment, from excessive deaths, was £50,000 per annum. Could anybody imagine for a moment that the most efficient sanitary works that could be constructed in Dudley, would bear to be looked at, in comparison with these figures. He could direct their attention to a very important table from the same returns, containing 61 registration districts in England and Wales, with a population of 1,003,124 persons, having a mortality of only 16 to a thousand, and where all who wereborn, on an average lived to the age of 37 years and 5 months; and adults on an average to 60 years of age. Now, compare that with Dudley, and though no sanitary means were used at the places he referred to, nevertheless the mortality was 16 as against 28, in the parish of Dudley; average age, 37 years 5 months, as against 17 years; adults, 60 years as against 50 years and 10 months, and the percentages of deaths under 20 years of age, 38.4, as against 70.1. Could anybody doubt that there was a cause for that, and one that might to a great extent be removed? Could any reasonable man say it was not a case of vital importance, and one that demanded careful enquiry? Was it not the duty of every inhabitant to promote such an enquiry, and if it were found that remedies could be applied, to take the greatest interest in their application? He did not suppose that any person resident in Dudley was aware that such a comparative state of things existed. They had the facts now before them, and he therefore anticipated that he should receive all the assistance they could render him in making that enquiry, while he stayed in Dudley. They perceived that the jurisdiction of the General Board of Health arose from the excessive mortality, over 23 to 1,000, which the Legislature regarded as such an excess as to call upon the General Board to take proceedings to apply the act without any petition from the locality. The mortality of Birmingham, Sheffield, Bradford, and Leeds, was less than Dudley, and he did not believe the mortality of Manchester was higher. He could not recollect a large town in the whole country, except it was Liverpool, as it existed previous to the application of sanitary measures, that was in such an awful condition as Dudley appeared to be. It was growing worse, as was the condition of most unimproved towns. The filth accumulating in open cesspools, ash-pits, privies, &c., in consequence of badly-constructed channels and drains, was constantly saturating the earth, and going into the subsoil underneath. As that saturation increased, the unhealthiness of the town would increase, and there would come a time when the subsoil of such towns would become a mere dunghill, and the site of the town would be uninhabitable. They saw themselves how the healthiness of the place had decreased since 1841. He next explained the manner in which he intended to conduct that enquiry. Awaiting the assembling of the inhabitants that morning, he had taken down several complaints that had been made to him of nuisances existing in the vicinity of houses, and he should be glad to enter more upon his minutes. He would place also upon his minutes the name of any person who should wish to accompany him in making an inspection of the town. He should adjourn the enquiry, as far as that room was concerned, until that inspection was complete. He should have to depend upon those who accompanied him to point out the worst parts of the town, and, if there was a difference of opinion existing amongst them, he should wish both parties to accompany him. After other general observations, he concluded by saying that his object was to discharge faithfully his duty to the Board of Health and the inhabitantsof Dudley.

About five minutes before Mr. Lee concluded his address, Isaac Badger, Esq., entered the room. As soon as the Inspector sat down, Mr.Badgersaid he wished to ask a question, as he had that morning met most of the principal gentlemen of the town, not one of whom knew anything about the origin of the enquiry. He wished for some information why the meeting was held, and was proceeding to remark that although he did not deny something of the sort was wanted, yet that he thought Dudley could very ill afford to go to any expense at all; when Mr.Leeinterrupted him with “Don’t make a speech, if you please; if you ask any questions I will answer them.” He had before met with cases of this sort, where gentlemen of influence in the locality came in after he had given his explanation of the cause of the enquiry—an explanation which in the present instance had occupied an hour in the delivery, after waiting nearly another hour past the time appointed—and would have him to go over the explanation again, for their personal information. He would put it to those present whether such a thing could be expected from him.—Mr.Badgersaid it was an important thing for the town, and he was surprised the authorities knew nothing about it. He might have signed a requisition if he had been asked to do so, and he wanted to know who was the cause of the meeting being called.—Mr.Lee: As they doubtless knew there was to be an enquiry here this morning, they should have been here at ten o’clock.—Mr.Badger: What I have asked for is information that the town ought to have, but as he refuses to answer the question, I will now withdraw. I saw a very respectable medical practitioner yesterday, and he tells me—Mr.Lee: You had better address yourself to me, sir.—Mr.Badger: All I have to say is, that the town never was in a more healthy state than at present; and I object to the whole proceedings. Mr. Badger then left the room, accompanied by J. G. Walker, Esq.—Mr.Leesaid that any other gentleman might come into the room and put such questions, and with equal reason expect him to answer them. It was not a matter affecting his own convenience, but it was a waste of time which he would not permit. The gentleman had thought proper to withdraw, and perhaps he would say that he had been refused information, but there were those present who could correct such a statement. At a subsequent stage of the proceedings, the Inspector, in reply to a remark that he had spoken to Mr. Badger “in a way to which he was not accustomed,” said he had no respect of persons, and could make no distinction between the rich and the poor.

Mr. Fletcher presented the evidence taken before Mr. Slaney, M.P., in 1842, while inquiring into the state of Dudley under the Public Health Commission; and after receiving some evidence as to the nuisance in existence, Mr. Lee adjourned the inquiry.

Tuesday afternoon was spent in viewing some parts of the town; and on Wednesday Mr. Lee continued his inspection, incompany with the Rev. Dr. Browne, J. C. Bourne, Esq., J. Maughan, Esq., Messrs. Bateman, J. Marsh, and other respectable inhabitants of the borough. He proceeded to the Friends’ Chapel, in the High Street, Wolverhampton Street, Shaver’s End, St. James’s Terrace, the Dock, Vicarage Prospect, Spring’s Mire, Stafford Street, Cross Street, &c., jotting down his observations as he went along. We may venture to affirm that few places require the surveillance of an inspector of some kind or other more than the Ball Court, Belper, Marrian’s and Pagett’s Yards, the Barracks, the Lodging-houses, (chiefly occupied by Irish) in Cross Street, and some other places, which have always been noted as hotbeds of epidemic and contagious diseases—the cholera, fever, small pox, scarlatina, and measles, having always in these localities assumed their most virulent type. By some of the gentlemen in attendance it was confessed that they were entirely unaware of such hotbeds of pestilence existing in such crowded localities. On Thursday Mr. Lee again attended at the Town Hall, when some evidence was offered on the part of J. Bennett, Esq., as to Messrs. Smith and Pigott having certain premises in Tower Street, to which, on account of their close proximity to the Workhouse, whenever epidemic disorders prevailed, many pauper patients were always brought, thus becoming to some extent an hospital for the poor. Mr. Lee was this day attended by J. G. Bourne, J. Bennett, and J. Maughan, Esqrs., Messrs. Hollier, Dudley, Bateman, Marsh, and some others, and inspected the Workhouse, New Street, Tower Street, Green Man Yard, Birmingham Street, Pottery Fields, &c. Some of the courts and yards, in Birmingham Street particularly, attracted the notice of Mr. Lee and the gentlemen with him as being close, confined, ill drained, and badly ventilated.

As it appears very probable that the provisions of the Health of Towns Act will be enforced in Dudley (for we cannot imagine what other report than an unfavourable one can be presented to the Board by Mr. Lee), would it not be better that the town itself should take the matter up, and by a new Town Act or Charter of Incorporation endeavour to procure those powers which will enable the inhabitants to act for themselves rather than be compelled to adopt the provisions of the Health of Towns Bill, which must entail upon the Borough a vast expense, that at the present time it is but ill able to bear. It is high time these matters were thought of by the inhabitants of Dudley, and that the obstinate opposition of some one or two parties should not be allowed to stop all improvements, as otherwise they will be compelled at last to adopt those measures which a little more consideration might have prevented.

We believe Mr. Lee will continue his inspection, which is expected to last some days longer.

August 16th, 1851. Nothing especially resulted from the aboveexposéof the flagrant unsanitary condition of this town, excepta scare, from which the Town Commissioners (the only ruling authority we then had in the town), began to fear that their brief authority would shortly be taken from them by the Board of Health in London; consequently on October 3rd, 1851, an extraordinary meeting of the Town Commissioners was held this day at the Hotel, “to consider the propriety of applying to Parliament for increased powers in the Dudley Town Commissioners Act,” which dated back to 1791. After a lengthened discussion (in a very numerous attendance of members) it was resolved on the motion of Mr. C. F. G. Clark, chemist, seconded by Mr. Thomas Fletcher, “That the anticipated early application of the Health of Towns Bill to this parish would obviate the necessity of any increased powers in the Dudley Town Commissioners Act.” There was also a very strong feeling expressed in favour of applying for an Act of Incorporation as soon as it might be deemed advisable. This desire for incorporation very soon cooled down, for the town was not incorporatedfor sixteen years afterwards(in 1867).

Died, August 24th, 1851, Mr. Wm. Badger, the second son of Thos. Badger, Esq., J.P., “The Hill Home,” Dudley. Aged 34 years.

August 27th, 1851, a new fire engine was sent to this town by the Birmingham Fire Insurance Company; Mr. C. F. G. Clark was the local agent.

Died, November 14th, 1851, at Schwalbach, Duchy of Nassau, the Lady Selina Constance, the first wife of Lord Ward. Aged 22 years.

December 1st, 1851. This new company gave public notice of their intention to apply to Parliament for a Bill to give to a large portion of South Staffordshire, together with the town of Dudley, a better supply of water. After considerable opposition they succeeded in obtaining the Bill in the main, and from that time our water supply has been given by that now very enlarged company.

March 2nd, 1852. Married Miss Cresswell, of the Priory Home, to Mr. John Beddard, Nail Factor and Iron Merchant.

Church Ratesbecoming yearly more deservedly unpopular, not only in Dudley but in the country at large, on March 24th, 1852, a severe contest took place this day in St. Edmund’s district parish, betwixt the Church party and the Dissenters. A Church Rate of5d. in the poundwas proposed by the Churchwardens, and 1d. in the pound by the Dissenters; the result of the parish poll was—

April 10th, 1852. St. Thomas’ parish was also most vigorously and successfully assailed against Church Rates, and, as the parish contains some of our large manufactures, it was at first doubtful which way a poll would terminate; but when it became known that Messrs. A. B. Cochrane and Samuel K. Blackwell were decidedly turned against the future imposition of the obnoxious Church Rates, it became a foregone conclusion that the Church party would lose the day, and be left to provide for Mother Church as well as they could.

The following hearty appeals were made to the ratepayers at this memorable Dudley fight for Mr. Samuel Cook’s innate principles of civil and religious freedom:—

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