The Press. — London, England, 1853-12-03 00:00:00

LORD JOHN BEFORE THE CITY COMMISSIONERS. On Wednesday last, shortly before the Commissioners for inquiring into the City Corporation rose, the Right Hon. Lord Jetts Russsu. appeared, and stated his willingness to be examined, as member for the city of London. The Commissioners very rudely replied, that it Ibis Loc,blip, promising revelations, made any worth hearing, it would be a total departure from his ordinary practice, but intimated that he might come in if he liked. Lord JOHN RUSSELL examined : Am M.P. for the City ; l►ave been so since IN-11, when I was returned at the bottom of the successful list, defeating the next man, a Conservative, by the glorious majority of nine, in a constituency of 8,000. The CHAIRMAN : How was your majority attained ? Lord JOHN Rusaw. : That is a subject on which I had rather not speak. I only know that, so far as I was personally concerned, I bribed nobody ; and, if the injudicious zeal of those who allowed their attachment to constitutional principles to hurry them too far, in sup port of one who has all his life asserted those principles, laid them open to imputation, I must deplore what I can hardly condemn. The CHAIRMAN : You might think the end justified the means. Lord JOHN RUSSELL : Upon that and all other Popish doctrines I have ever looked with scorn and contempt, as you may convince your selves by my celebrated Durham letter, and by the speech with which I introduced the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill. The CHAIRMAN : Aud by the Bill itself? Lord JOHN RUSSELL : That, sir, is beside the question. A states man may advance, opinions which it would be indiscreet to expect a popular assembly to confirm by legislation, and ho should, therefore, make his speeches as good as possible, and his bills as good as is ex pedient. But I did not come here to talk political ethics, but to do my duty by my constituents. The CHAIRMAN : Very well. Please to do it. Lord .1. Russam.: It does not appear to mo that in any of the evidence which has hitherto been given before you a large and ex tended view of the subject has been taken. It is all very well to talk of the abuses existing in the present day, but, unless we trace those abuses up to their remotest source, I cannot think that we shall deal with the evils in a constitutional manner. I observed that the other day one of your witnesses took the City history as far back as the time of Athelstan. But surely we may go further than that. London was a considerable commercial place in the days of Nero, as we are in formed by the historian Tacitus, and I do not think it is too much to surmise that the character and policy of Nero might have some effect upon the institutions of this important portion of his empire. Very Then how unjust it would be to punish those who at present administer these institutions for the defects of a system which had descended to them through so many hundreds of years, tainted with the original vices of the worst of the Ciesars. The CHAIRMAN : Can your Lordship give any illustrations of a position which appears to us untenable ? Lord J. Itussim.: Certainly. Nero at his banquets let in a lot of beasts. What does the corporation do? Nero boasted that the build ings of Rome were improved by what he had done with the firing. The corporation point to the new streets RR the result of their preying upon the coals. Nero played the lyre while Rome was in flames. The corporation aro playing it while the country is burning with indignation. The CHAIRMAN : There is R sort of elevernes4 about whnt you have said, but we fail to see its bearing on the subject. Lord .1. Ressm.i. : My , primary object is to show you that you ought not to report against the City, inasmuch as all its abuses are constitu tional ; and anything that is constitutional must be right. In the next place I am desirous to say that. your interference will be useless, as by the Reform Bill which I am about to introduce all abuses, of all kinds, will be removed. The CHAIRMAN : Let us hear what yoi propose to do with the " longshom men," for instance. Lord .I. Itessm.t. (turning rather red) : The question is offensive. In the first place, there is no such name known to the constitution. lin the next, I have yet to learn that the living beside a majestic river is a disqualification for the exercise of the elective franchise. The CHAIRMAN : But this body of men is notoriously corrupt, and their votes can turn a City election. They did so in Is4l. Lomd .1. A n il, if for no (Ater reason than that, their privileges should be respected. The longshore men" gave a Leader to the House of Commons. As for their corruption, I repeat to you that 1 know nothing about it ; but, if it ever were venial to be venal, it is when men received pecuniary reward for doin. , a great political good. And having defended, 1 hope, this portion of my con stituents, I shall venture to proceed with iny inquiry into the consti tutional history of the City. Let us examine a little into the condition of London in the times of Hengist and Horse. I regret to see the Commissioners yawn. for such an investigation is nothing to what I shall do when making my ihreliminary Reform Bill statement. would say, then, that II cultist----( The 4 ‘ hairman being here taken ill, the CoNlNliBmion adjourned ). SATURDAY, THE PREMIER'S VERSES TO LORD CARLISLE. (WITH THE GARTER.) Obligingly and exclusively furnished to the Patois by a distinguished individual in Lord Aberdeen's confidence. AN there is supposed to be but one, it is needless to Willie the Noble Earl. CARLISLE, my dear friend, you're away in the East, Where by splendour of costume mans worth is increased, So, to make my good MORPETH look sweeter and smarter, I beg to enclose hint a trifle—the Garter. We were all veld• sorry, but fate and position Forbade listing yon in our late Coalition ; But the broth's boiling over ; the next that we brew May demand the kind care of our new Cordon Men. Jonn RessELL'a quite pleased—though he looks rather grim— To give up a Garter we'd thought of for him ; But he's booked for the next that a Knight may abandon, If, after next year, he's a leg left to stand on. Lord PAT.MERSTON says (and its truly provoking, That worldling will always keep jeering and joking), There'll be nothing in future the Garters to fill, For he's smashed all the " legs" by his Betting-house Bill. But GLADSTONE retorts, and I must say completely, (You know when he's playful he smiles very sweetly,) That, though of some candidates thus we're bereft, The Garter is meant for the legs that are left. We've had other mild jokes—not of very first force— We thought that the silk of your ribbon looked coarse— But GRAHAM declared, with his sinister smile, Ile'd found coarseness by no means disliked by CARLISLE. BERNAL OSBORNE declared that the Order you see Was a fair type of England while guided by me; " For I managed aftkirs at the pace of a waggon, And the nation resembled St. George—with the drag on." So you see (and it's not the first time), dear CARLISLE, You've ate riled your friends an excuse for a smile ; And now I enclose, to retain you my vassal, Your pass to the Ribbon Lodge held at the Castle. We'll dub you a Knight when you choose to return, And hope your support for the future to earn ; For I think I remember the fly-fishers state, That " dubbing" implies the completing a bait. We shall need all your help when the session comes on. The thought makes us tremble, small thanks to Lord JOHN, Who swears, if we smash, that his woes as a martyr Shull be solaced, like yours, with a Peerage and Clder. SHIPPING IN TELLIGEN CE. PUDDLEDOCK, Friday Night. H.M.S. Aberdeen, 70, Captain Nicholas, has put in for general repairs, having run upon a rock near St. Petersburg. Crew in a state of mutiny, in consequence of false signals having been hoisted. At. present it is impossible to ascertain the exact amount of damage; though, her hold being very small, and the vessel having numerous pumps, it is hoped that the worst will soon be known. This ship was originally built in the dockyards of Messrs Metternich and Co., but has been so altered from time to time, and has had so many new figure-heads, that she is made out with difficulty by those who used to know her. She was thought a tolerable tender, though slow, in the times when she used to sail with the Conservative and Honourable. but she must soon be broken up. In her last voyage she was obliged to throw overboard her sheet anchor, which she had borrowed from a vessel named Consistency, when she unluckily came into collision with the Expediency Rocks, off Cape Swindle. It is supposed that H.M. Government will have little further use for her. H.M.S. Palmerston, 70, is ordered to be ready for sailing orders. Her guns have been lately taken out of her, and she has been on the home service, being rather a wicked-looking craft, and well known on foreign stations ; but her commander is smart, and it is understood that she will supersede the Clarendon, screw, which smokes too much H.M.S. G rollout (621 has been ordered to exchange flags with the. spittle/. This vessel sails deep, and is seaworthy, but certain hints o f mutiny have been heard of, in connection with provisions, and it is deemed better to put her out of harm's way. She will, probably, be shortly Owed on the home station. She carries too many guns for her tonnage, and her swivel has been exceedingly ill-managed of late, having thrown shot into a French vessel without provocation. The remainder of the fleet is still lying here. and various rumours are afloat as to their destination ; but 'several of them will, there is no doubt, go to the Jones Locker station. The disagreement among the commanders is notorious, and, thouo the Union lack has been hoisted on the Ilefiwon, the signal has not been answered, the Graham sending up the red flag, and the abolstone (4:5) hanging out the St. Peter's Keys. Although in harbour it is thought that, in conse quence of recent intelligence. the entire squadron will be shortly at sea. THE PRESS.