Chapter VIII: Part 8

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
exists for the adoption of measures without delay for its
removal to a more open and healthy site."

_Resolved_,--On the motion of THOMAS BADGER, Esq., _seconded_
by C. 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, _seconded_ by
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 Government _of_ all, _by_ all, _for_ all.

THE DUDLEY CHARTISTS, AND THE REFORM AND FINANCIAL ASSOCIATIONS.

_At a Committee Meeting, held October_ 15th, 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 the _Birmingham Mercury_, the
_Northern Star_, and the _Nonconformist_.

* * * * *

REFORM! REFORM! REFORM!

_The MANIFESTO of the NATIONAL_ REFORM 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 with
his 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 the _parish_ of 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 precautions for 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.
The labourer, 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 than _seventy-two_ per 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 the weaker 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. Paul _was_ the 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 thumb and
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 very influential 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 early period 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
fought the 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 change in 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 his _employes_; 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 energetic _convictions 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 paying _25 per cent. more_ for 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 the _first 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.

PAPAL AGGRESSION.

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 inhabitants _during 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.