The election contest at St. Alban's has been one of
unusual excite- ment. At the nomination, on Tuesday, Mr. Jacob, Bell, the wealthy Quaker chemist, was proposed by Mr. Kinder, and seconded by Mr. Bow'. man amidst cries of " How much did. you get ?" and a multitude of similar imputative exclamations. Mr, Carden, the London Alderman. and Sheriff,' was proposed by Mr. Searancke, a Conservative Churchman, and seconded by Mr. J. Bennett, a Dissenting Liberal, with speeches which asserted the venal-character of their borough in past times, and declared the intention of a party now to redeem the character of the constituency. The speeches of these gentlemen were interrupted with ejaculations by the crowd, showing their habitual debasement by bribery. "More men,' said Mr. Bennett,. had lieen poisoned by gold. than by arsenic." "Oh, then,"-sicained one, "you ought to be dead long ago." Another, "I likes poison." " Would not the man who bought yee-sell you ahw ?" continued Mr. Bennett: hundreds answered, "To be sure he will—you and all of us : we like his drugs, wholesale and retail ; and. so do you."
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Mr. Bennett declared that the pawnbroker could vouch that money was flying about ; and the smaller landlords were getting their arrear rents paid up in a manner inconceivable. As a man, went by him the other day, another man said, "There goes another who got five pounds for his vote and confessed it " and the man who was accused walked on hang- ing his head like a bull;-ush. Mr. Gresham accused Mr. Blagg, the Town- Clerk, of taking a sum of money from Mr. Bell for being neutral. Mr. Bliagg was thankful for the opportunity of giving the statement his " so- lemn, unvarnished, and positive denier' : he meant to take no part in.the contest but Mr. Carden's party-had so disgusted him that he should show his contempt for them by voting tomorrow for Mr. Bell. " Mr. Bell would be elected," added Mr. Blagg, with a knowledge and confidence surprising in a neutral, "by a majority of a hundred." He admitted having influenced " one policeman."' Mr. Sheriff Carden, in his address to the constituency; followed up the line of revelation- which had been indicated by his mover and seconder- The-man who sold the borough, and made the bargain; told him the-late Mx; Raphael paid 4000/. for it. ( Name name ! " "It's true ! " "It's a lie !" 65c.) The very person who sold the ficirough and did the job told him the story ; and while the election was going- on, the Committee had to post up to London for 7001. more, or -they could- not insure the election.. . . .Mz Carden continued. Before he thought of coming down a person had. applied to him in London to know if he was desirous of a seal in. Parliament; and in the course of conversationhe modestly asked.2000/. as the cost of it. He observed that it was a large sum, and raked what it was for ; when the gen- tleman replied, "Oh, you have nothing to do with that—you. have no right to ask the question." He then told him that the borough was St. Alban's. (Great cheering and groaning, and cries of "Name, name !") He pledged his word and honour to the truth of what he said. When he understood what the money was for, he told the gentleman at once he would not give it for each a purpose. He then went away, and in a short time returned to his office and asked if he would give him 15001. He utterly refused any bargain for votes; and in ten days came the honest requisition which brought him there. Their town was neglected ; they never saw their Member from' one end of the session to the other, for their Members treated them with indiffer- ence. There was a story of one poor man who went up to town to ask Mr. Raphael for some place for his son. When he stated what he wanted, and that he had voted for him at the election, Mi. Raphael said, "Why, I owe you nothing ; I bought you—I bought you all; and I have that in my pock- et -which- will buy-you- again." (Loud cheers and groans.) Could they ex- pect any other answer- from a Member so returned? Ten out of sixteen Town-Councillors supported him, and they-would rescue their borough. The election took place on Tuesday. Mr. Bell took the lead- at the be- ginning, and won by a larger-majority than even Mr. Bliagg had antici- pated : the votes were—Bell 276, Carden 147, majority for Bell 129. During the contest a formal notice was published by Mr. Rumball and Mr. Bennett, that Mr. Bell had " by himself and his agents been guilty of bribery and treating, both before and during this election," and was thus incapacitated to sit in the present session of Parliament. On the hustings, after the announcement of the poll by the returning-officer, Mr: Carden told Mr. Bell that he would " take every legal means to enable the electors to place on record their unbiassed votes," and should still sit as the " free, =pledged; and =bribing- Member" for the borough.
The counties of Dewitt; Monmouth;,, and llereord, add their late pre- tests against the Pope.
At the Devon meeting, in the Castle-yard at Exeter—an immense and influential gathering—the two great political parties of the county ranged themselves as opponents, and some respectable leaders of opinion took what was variously deemed a mediatory or a trimming course. Earl Fortescue had eireukted, for adoption at the meeting, an address to the Queen, which attributed the Papal movement to a gross misappre- hension of the feelings of her Majesty's subjects, "founded probably on exaggerated representations of some conversions among our clergy, and of the disposition' in others of the clergy to engraft certain forms and doc- trines of the Roman Church on the purer and simpler ritual of. our own." The Conservative party, headed by Mr. Buvk, M.P., objected to this ad- dress, that it " staled a single reason for the aggression"—Romanizing tendencies in the. Church, " and ignored- the more- important reason that the Pope had been encouraged by successive Governments to believe that his measures would nut be opposed." In his speech at the meeting, Earl Fortescue, with much party effectiveness, urged that the amendment which was proposed in the sense of the above objection went back to the endowment of Maynooth by Sir Robert Peel's Government : " its framers would censure the head of the present Government, and of the late, and the noble Lord who was looked-to by them as-chief of their own. Govern- ment, whenever they -might form one." Ho asked, "Is it desirable thus to introduce a censure upon so many heads of Government, past, present, and to come ? " Sir John Yarde Buller, one of the mediating leaders we have alluded to, hoped there would be no division of loyal Devon in this business of repelling the Pope's intrusion on her Majesty's prerogative. Was it of any use to resort to recrimination ? Did any one contemplate the repeal of the Ca- tholic Emancipation Act, now it was passed ? Pray lot the address be unanimous from the loyal men of Devon. Unanimity was of greater im- portance than carrying a vote against the Government. Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, M.P., was the other influential mediator; he strongly deprecated disunion, on such a momentous occasion. The political parties being thus in opposite fields, the Reverend Mr. Hatched proposed, amidst signs of support, to add to the address a rider which acted as an Anti-'fraetarian diversion. Matters were farther complicated by Mr. George Cornelius Gorham's proposal of an address altogether from the Brampford-Spoke point of view ; which seemed to have many strenuous supporters. Last of all, Mr. 1P-Donnell, a Roman Catholic priest, moved an amendment dictated by his religious position ; but it found no seconder. The High Sheriff Mr. Yee of Fremington House, first put the amendment moved by Mr. Buck ; he considered the numbers to be very close, but pro- nounced that the amendment was negatived. He then put Mr. Hatch- arcl's rider : but at this moment " there seemed to be a debate going on in_the meeting as to the comparative numbers of the preceding division and the question was not much attended to" ; so the rider was negatived: Considerable dissatisfaction was expressed at this result; and. Mr. Gor- ham!s-address being put at the last—instead of at the first, as an amend- ment on the origipal address—it was " carried 'enthusiastically." The Sheriff declared, amidst laughter, that he found himself commissioned with. an address on each hand ;__and this.view was ratified by a formal re- solution, "That the Sheriff do present the addresses" : a result which may counterbalance the proceedings of a recent meeting which could not resolve on any address at alL The Herefordshire meeting was marked by a Roman Catholic opposi- tion-conducted with spirit by Mr Bodonhain; who pointed his attacks almost entirely in a personal direction. His onslaught on the f'ram'er seemed to be the least objectionable feature of his opposition, with the as- semblage, who were almoet unanimous in a loyal Protestant addrois. Mr. Bodenham declared that his amendment had the very object of securing the civil and religious liberty which was dear to the heart of his beloved Queen, but which had been endangered by her Minister— By whom had that sacred cause been endangered ? By that Minister -who, compared with the great men who had_ gone before him,. was like a tomtit compared to an eagle—by that Minister who, a Socinian in his heart, was a Lutheran only from policy—by that Minister who was at once Loth a firebrand and a humbug—Lord John Mummery. (Uproar.) He found he had fallen into a mistake, and called him "Lord John Mummery," but his real name was Lord John Russell. (Interruption.) He repeated that Le was a humbugt, and let any man present say he was not. They had chalked. on the walls No Popery—No Pope" ; but let them beware, for, in the opi- nion of many wise and sensible men, the days were coming on, with arapility which it was awful to contemplate, when those inscriptions would be taken or and others placed there instead—inscriptions more terrific to some than those which now occupied the walls, namely, " No Tithes !"
A-burglary in Herefordshire presents a new and glaring instance of the audacity of robbers in assailing lone houses. Mr. Pritchard, who lives in the pariah of Longtown, was aroused by a noise during the night. He found three men outside his house ; they demanded bread, and immediately smashed in a whidow ; then asked for money, and proceeded to break open the door with an axe and a shovel ; and finding only Mr. Pritchard and his wife in the house, they leisurely ransacked it, and made merry with what they could lay hold of to eat and drink. Mr. Pritchard managed• to escape in his shirt, and gained a neighbour's half a mile distant ; when he returned with assistance, the burglars had fled. They were disguised by handker- chiefs tied round the face.
There has been a fatal poaching outrage near Thetford. The keepers of Mr. William Newton, of Elvedon Hall, having had an intimation of a yid; from poachers, were on the watch at night ; they discovered the depredators, and followed them ; the poachers threatened to fire if the pursuit were con- tinued, but, though. only armed' with sticks, the keepers never halted. At length, after a pursuit of four miles, the poachers turned about, and three shots were fired at the keepers : Napthan, the head keeper, was shot through the heart, and died instantly ; MM. Jessup Allen, an assistant, was wounded in the hand. A struggle now ensued, but the poachers proved- the stronger party, and got clear off. It is supposed that only two men fired, one having discharged a double-barrelled gun. Seven men were subsequently appre- hended on suspicion. A Coroner's Jury returned a verdict of "Wilful mur- der against several persons unknown.'
In the Provinces as well as near the Metropolis there have been serious railway accidents. A heavy luggage-train had partly ascended an incline on the Leeds and Selby Railway, near Milfordjunction, when it was found that the engine could not draw so great a weight. The train was divided; and the locomo- tive took the first half up- the incline ; meanwhile, the other carriages began to descend, and soon acquired a great momentum. Another. luggage-train was approaching on the same line of rail, and the descending carriaget dashed into it. The engine'Aild ',tender Were ertishert; 'end. th'e drOsighld stoker, with a third manwho'happened to be with them, were oolbool On the branch railwaye-asiegieline-s-from Tewkesbury to Ashchunshelitn the junction with thesBrastol.and Birmingham Eailwaet some of the.traiat: are moved by horse:Tower:and; some by locomotives.: While tstrOgei was proceeding at litAleng.. the branch, the .horse that slrew fell,- and,
rolled down an e pst, • The_ ,driver and a passenger:endeavoured to get the horse on to , Jntt a geods-train drawn an engine, dashed.
into the stationag- „lemishing it, and hurling the wreck over the
embankment ' Th* tstpassengers : Mrs. 'Nee, wife of a farm- bailiff was killed MIN? Waage • the person Who was Assisting the driver was also killed ; Berro*,.alfeatpenier employed on the railway, died ina few lours. Two persons in the etirrisge—Mrs. Budge' and her son--estapedwithi a few bruises. :The honsiswaskilled. A Coroner's Juryhas given.a verdict: of Aecidental deatbs",withsadbondenenation therusaid horsetuid.steturis power on the same Nnikkii !,1:11.- .1J; nal: The very extensive:papdnanilise of the Messrs.: Wealleesleys:AteClharthanqi -on the Stour, ,three,mderedsoluseanterhury, were,,burned dbent ron Mondays -morning. A workmen dieetweeed the fire. at an nearly limos; every effort W* made to stay thp pingristes‘ the Aimee, but in vin : nearly the whole pres raises and a large,atoek ,,ef ;peer, were, .consumed. Nearly one hundred and .fifty people were eniplOyeti at the milli. The insurances amount to 16,0001.
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