Star. — London, England, 1822-03-22 00:00:00

COURT OF COMMON COUNCIL. Yesterday, after some routine business, Itlr.f *out , rune to call the attention of the Court to what he con sidered as a most gross and unwarrantable attack upon its privileges and character. Within. the last few years. the years during which the Common Coun cil of London had ceased to be as it were the regi mental troops of the Court, they had been exposed to no small degree of neglect and insult from the cour tiers and tools of the Minister ; but it was reserved for the Ist day of March, 1822, to complete the in dignity. On that day, if the concurring testimony of the Reporters and writers in the Newspapers were to be believed, it had been reserved for an Alderman and Representative of the City, while seconding a Petition which had been unanimously recommended by the Court, and which had been prepared by a Committee, of which the Hon. Baronet was a Mern er—it had been so reserved for this Representative f the City to libel, in the most gross and scandalous roamer, his Constituents. lie should be happy if the Horn Baronet could deny that he had used the words in question ; hut there was a wonderful coincidence Ukthe reports of the Morning Chronicle, Times, and .:tfoning Post. Still, in order to give the Honourable Baronet every facility of denying this scandalous re port, he (Mr. Favell) would read the passage, and put the question as to its truth or falsehood, before he proposed the Resolution, with which, in the event of the Hon. Baronet avowing the statement, he meant to conclude. The Court were aware that their Peti tion. had been carried up by a Worthy Alderman (Wood), and supported upon the gtound that an in quiry was necessary. The Hon. Baronet, too, had allowed that an inquiry was necessary ; but he had 4 1pne so upon very different grounds, namely, that he thought the Sheriff, Who had been so actively and so meri:oriously employed on the day of-the disturbances a: Kaightsbridge, would have acted more wisely if he !tad remained at home. He had done more—he had felt it his duty to let the world know how very intermeddling and how foolish the Common Council were. He (Mr. Favell) did not mean to rest the ca lor:lnv upon the charge of a want of wisdom, but he would say that a gross insult had been offered to the City—an insult which the.Courtoh not to hear. Mr. JAMES objected to the pr oceeding, asthere was ro motion before the Court. Mr. FAVELL said, that be had delayed reading his Resolution, in order to allow the Hon. Baronet an, opportunity of retracting. After some further conversation, Sir Wm. Coars rose from the right hand of the Lord Mayor. He did not, he thought, go the whole length of the words which had been read ; but he certainly did make use of the greater part, and those he had no disposition to retract. The reason that he bad spoken, so was, that he was ashamed of the folly of such papers as the Court was in the habit of drawing up. lie did not hold the Court in contempt. Goa forbid that he should. He held it in great estimation, and he had made use of the words complained of, just to prevent it from frilling into contempt in other quarters. He would defy any man to say the the conduct of ' the Court had not of late years been, upon many oc casions, foolish. He thought it a disgrace to suffer persons to go on as they did. He wished to have a Corn inittee to inquire into the conduct of persons who, as he thought, had acted foolishly ; and was he tobe censured and found fault with for expressing his opi nion? The Court might attempt thus to prevent the liberty of speech ; but nothing that they could do should tie up his mouth or his tongue. No! He would speak boldly and truly. That Court had been very much changed within the last two years. In proof of this he would mention the Address which they had lately sent up to the King. There was among them factious men, and demagogues, and Jesuits, who made speechers—(Rend the Address to the King, it will make you—no, it will not make you tremble !) He hoped the time would soon come when they would expunge from their records much of what had been put there within the last two years. They should not allow themselves to be led by demagogues. He was al most the oldest Member of the Court. He might, like others, say things in the heat of the debate ; but though many differed with him in politics, he did not wish to carry his heat out of the House, but rather to let it evaporate. Mr. Fa YELL thought that the Hon. Baronet had aggravated his offence. Ile: felt proud of the history of the Common Council der ing the last few years. As the great Earl of Chatham bad said, they might now look the proudest connection in the face. There we:e times when they had merely re-echoed the notes of courtiers ; but. these times had passed away, and they now heard of such things as recommendations of re trenchment and Reform. If the Hon. Baronet did not like the Petition, or did not like any of the pro ceedings, he could have said so at the time they were )idopted. The Court was an open Court. No open ness could, however, do much good to the Honour able Baronet, for his politics were founded on his pre judices; yet, if he had spoken out in the Committee, the rest would not have been afraid to hear. The Address which had given so much offence to cour tiers, had been agreed to almost unanimously. In it nothing was meant offensive to the King ; but it cer tainly did that which courtiers would not dare to do —it told the King the truth. The Hon. Baronet had avowed all that had been reported; and he had done more—he had libelled anew the whole Members of the Court, so that wherever he (Mr. Favell) looked round, his eye would light upon a factious person, a dernoctat, or a Jesuit (Sir W. Curtis said that these terms " were only figures"). He (Mr. Favell) would urge nothing beyond the fair construction of the words: and he thought that sufficient to warrant the Resolutions which he should read. The Resolutions were read and seconded. 11Ir. Alderman WA trustaN expressed his,regret that somebody else had not risen before him, as he was anxious to hear the opinions of others before he I stated his own. During the discussion upon this sub ject in the Court, as well as before the Committee, he h a d a b s t a ined from waking any observations upon it: but he remained present as he knew that be was enabled to give the best account, should it be re quited, of the circumstances which had occurred. • He, however, left it to the witnesses who were ex amined, and their evidence was so conclusive, as to render his unnecessary. It was a serious thing to question the conduct of a Commit tee at all ; but if it I were to be questioned anywhere, it should only be in thi:, Csult. He thought, the assertions which were the subject of the present motion, tomitained and most unfounded aspersions drat banger be. uttered, and were wholly destitute .of tooth.. 'rimy were but a repetition of the aspr , rsions contained in some of the Papers at the time of the Committee making their report. He could not . coneeive brow a man could dare to stand Up in the House of Com mons, and assert that which was substantially untrue. He as s erted it, too, in a place where he knew the Committee could not refute hiM. Alter practising! his trickeries and cajoleries for thirty-six Yeats --after having taken him (AlJemmy Waldman) by the atm and attempted to cajole him—the Hon. Baronet now, told the Corporation that they were half knaves and fools: that they were composed of factious men, and.ap plied to them the epithets of demagogues and Jesuits. SirW.Cu errs.— I used them figuratively.(A lertgA). Mr. Alderman WA ITHMAY continued.—Would the Corporation allow itself to be reflected upon in this! way, and have their acts stigmatized as folly ? How came the lion. Baronet to assume to himself all the transcendent wisdom of the City ? Had he AIM* wisdom than the rest of the CorpoYation together? or had he as much as any one Member of this Court? Had he more political k nowledge,' more learning, or more virtue ? With all the truth, and honour, and wisdom, of which he talked, how was it that all his talents were confined to the House of Commons?-- How was it that those factions men of whom be spoke, could discuss public questions in this Court, and he could not face them and put them down ?—(Hear). He (Alderman Waithrnan) would not attribute bad motives to any man ; but he always suspected a man who proclaimed his own good qualities. One would suppose that the thirty-six years during which he had been a Member of the Corporation, were suffi cient to make those of the Hon. Baronet apparent, without' rendeiing it necessary for himself to tell them. With respect to the Report of the Committee, it was rather extraordinary that the evidence of 34 witnesses should go for nothing. Tim Hon. Baronet had also stated, in the House of Commons, that one Sheriff could not act. The worthy Alderman com bated this opinion, and said it affo-deal another proof of the extraordinary wisdom of the Hun. Baronet.— He then alluded to the circumstance of Mr. Ex-Sheriff Williams-having giVen a private letter of his to Mr. Butterworth, to make use of it in opposing the City Petition. This conduct was most reprehensible. He never had any altercation with his worthy colleague; heknewlintto be a man of sulky habits, but he had kept that to himself. He had therefore drone nothing to justify this conduct. The statement, too, which Mr. Butterworth had fuended upon it was wholly false. The worthy Alderman then proceeded to point out the inaccuracies of Mr. Butterworth's statement. Mr. OLDHAM rose to older. The introduction of this subject was unfair in the absence of Mr:Williams. Mr. Alderman WAITHMAN said, it was.not unfair, kW he .had written several letters to Mr. Williams, apprising him of his intention to bring for ward the subject, and he had not thought proper to send an answer to any of them. Mr.JAMEs rose to order on another ground, namely, that the subject had nothing to do with the question before the Court. Mr. Alderman Wa mtM AN contended, that he was not out of c: der ; and if he even were, he thought some indulgence ought to be shewn to him, when his personal feelings were concerned. He then recur red to the former subject of discussion ; condemned the conduct of Sir William Curtis as unfair, in se conding a motion for the purpose of depreciating it : and concluded by stating that for 14 or 13 years he had struggled in this Court against a large majority, and had never thrown a reflection upon the motives of those to whom his opinions had been opposed. Sir W. CURTIS made a few observations in support of his opinion that it was illegal for one Sheriff to have acted without his colleague upon that occasion. Mr. JANIES contended, that some of the evidence l antlered to the Report was absurd and irrelevant;— ' and justified the'allegation of Sir William Curtis, of evidence having been selected by the Committee, in which there was no impropriety. It was the prac tice of every day: and it would be absurd to suppose dint a party would bring forward evidence to deny what it was intended to prove. He was sure that in the heat of debate the Hon. Bart.had applied stronger objections to the Committee than he intended. Mr. OLDHAM could not help going the length of saying, that the lion. Baronet deserved censure for impugning the conduct of the Committee in a place where they could not defend themselves. He had taken as an extract from the Report, that part of the evidence which was its only main vulnerable part.— However, he was prepared to acquiesce in part of what the Hon. Baronet had said respecting the con duct of the Common Council ; for lie could not ap prove of their first voting thanks to the worthy SheriC and then instituting an inquiry. He then reverted to Sir William Curtis s speech, and expressed his regret at the Address which had been voted to the King. He was not sorry, however, that this inquiry had been instituted. With respect to the Hon. Baronet calling them a learned Council, he dared say he did ' not mean to use that tem ironically, since it was partly composed of Aldermen. In looking over book the other day, which treated of the origin of! Aldermen, he saw it stated, that an Alderman was ! created non propter senectatem, sed propter 3apientiam. l The Hon. Baronet was an exemplification of this -I.(Laugkter).—But when the Hon. Baronet accused I ,the Committee of taking evidence in a slovenly Man ! ner, he would beg leave to ask him if he knew of no other Assembly whose Committees took evidence in ' a slovenly nianner?-(fieer.)—Had he never been present at a Committee, where he had seen the Mem ' bets of it, when a certain bell rang, rush out, leaving the Chairman by himself, to vote upon a question which they knew nothing about ?—(Hear.)—He (Mr. Oldham) had with his own eyes witnessed such a scene, when the Hon. Barbnet himself was left alone in the chair !—(Clear, hear). He should have blushed to belong to such. an Assembly. He was not afraid, therefore, to compare this to another—an august As ;useably. They could here produce four , men who possessed as much wisdom, learning, and talent, as Any four men that the august Assembly could pro dnee... He had much personal respect for'Sir Wil liams Curtis, but he felt himself -obliged to support the vote of censure. • Sir CLturnos lluerze imputed the expre>sions of SirWilliainCuhis to the warmth of debate; and nib miued, that the ntilster would be the more dignified course for the Court to pursue upon this occasion.— In 'the Neil of dabs*, a bna's iintinkwunikleopeesdis had just been casting reflections. Commons-4 4 No I" from Mr.blihi Trion, 'nine Out otevery ten tPeichei had better be•kseviiih tte. ir they looked to thie words of the Hon. Baronet, they really Were net sto,aborni nablY c"ProtiLeed laughter).—gr. Abilorono *Brown, who was a very mild man, and himself, had , been hissed from the top to the bottom of die Thom' 'On the last day of meeting, because they withdrew when Mr. tiume was about to present hinitelf ad% Cdurt. He had not done so froth any •disrespeet to' the GentleiWen, aleintigh he disuppeeved , of the vote, but because he was hot suitably *Wed; So much: for the consistency of the Court; and yet be did not, make any complaint, although he was not indifferent totheepinion of his fellciw;citizetii. lie eimicluded : by moving the previous question. Mr. %Newt could tell the Copit why the wortb.y Baronet had been hissed; it was because,. when .retirs in*, he said to the Lord Maypc, " I wish your Lord ship joy of your company." With teipeCt to the duct of Sir Wm. Curtis, he had greatly aggravated it by the ungentleinanly language Which kb had used that day. Like an old sinner, he had added sin to sin. If the Court, therefore, did not give this vote of cen sure their decided support, they did not deserve the. name of Englishmen—(Applause). • • Alderman ATKINS submitted to the good sense of the Court whether they would visit with such severity. , an inadvertency of expression occurring in the warmth of debate ? or whether they would not better consult their own dignity by supporting the previoUs question? ' Mr. Dixos wished that this business had not been brought forward. Although the Hon. lia•onet had Unguardedly used expressions which were too strong, no man possessed better or kinder intentions. He con demned the communication of private letters written by one Gentleman to another. Bin he opposed the passing of a vote of censure upon the lion. Baronet. Mr. Alder Man HEYGATE did not defend the wis dom or prudence of the Honourable Baronet's ex pressions, pai titularly as he had been so long a mem-. ber of that Corporation, from which he bad received so many kindnesses ; but still he thought it might not be high treason to say that the Common Coui.cil did sometimes step out of their line. He (the worthy Alderman) had heard Members of Parliament in that very Court of Common Council avow that the House of Commons was profligate and corrupt: having heard this language used here, what was thereto pre vent the House of Commons from visiting the party suing it. with a greater punishment than this Conic could inflict, namely, sending him to the Tower?-- lie was an advocate f•r the freedom of debate, and that principle governed him in the vote which he would give that day. Dangerous precedents ought to be avoided; and he would therefore support the previous question. Mr. TAYLOR might consider this vote of censure inexpedient, if it had the effect of sending the Ho nourable Baronet to the Tower. If this Court de rived honour from anything, it was from the stand it had made against the progress of corruption— (Hear, hear).—lt would never fall from its high cha racter by being told by courtiers that it meddled with matters above it. In all that the Honourable Baronet had said, he had not heard him offer any apology. Sir W. CuRTIs.- 4 "None." Mr. TAYLOR would be proud, if he had used inso lent language, to apologise it—(Hear). —This was not the hist insult that the lion. Baronet had offered. Sir W. Cunrts.—" Nor. perhaps, the last!" Mr. GALLOWAY said, that the - perverse line of con duct pursued by the Hon. Baronet that day, proved how well he merited the punishment proposed to be inflicted upon him. The conduct of that Baronet on that occasion was the most disgraceful of a long life. of disgraceful acts—(Cries of " Order"). He had at length, by his folly, unmasked himself, and sliewir to his followers he was no longer worthy of their sup port—(C'heers). Mr. GRIFFITH condemned the language which had just been used. Stones should not be thrown by Gentlemen with glass heads. For his part, he thought it would be most advisable to let the matter drop. Mr. FAVELL briefly replied. He wai happy to see a tolerable sprinkle of Aldermen on the bench (there were twelve present) upon this occasion; particularly as they were so punctual in their attendance, when the business of the Corporation required their pre sence. The principal excuse offered for the espies- I sions of the Hon. Baronet, by his friends, was, that they had been uttered in the warmth of debate; and yet, after having been cooling ever since the Ist of March, he had repeated them that day in an aggra vated shape. The previous question was then put by the 11 .CORDER, and negatived ; and the original motion car ried by a great majority, without a division. Mr. FAVPLL then moved that the foregoing Reso lutions be signed by the Town Clerk, and published in the Newspapers. The motion being seconded and put, Mr. Alderman A•rxists put it to the prudence of the Town Cie: k, if he would set his hand to those violent Resolutions. If he did, let him take the con quences—(A laugh). Mr. OLDHAM asked the Re corder, as the legal adviser of the Corot, if the Town Clerk could sign those Resolutions without incurring the risk of personal injury ? The Reconoza could not answer the question.— He not prepared to say what might be the extent of the risk to which it would expose him. Mr. DIXON, whatever his opinion of the Resolutions might be, would certainty have no hesitation, were he the Town Clerk, in signing them after they had I been passed by the Court, which would, of course, bear him harmless. Mr. Alderman HEYGATE called upon the Court to pause before they asked the Town Clerk to put his name to those Resolutions. It was a standing rule of the House of Commons, that none of its Members should be questioned for words spoken in Parliament. On the present occasion that rule had been violated, for the Hon. Baronet had been so questioned. Sit C. HUNTER wished to know what use there was, since they had passed the Resolutions, to ask the Clerk to incur a personal danger—(" No, no ;" and cries of " Question, question l ).—Was this argument, or was it decency ?—(Repeated cries of " Questionr)—lie would stand there till midnight, if lie thought it iros sible fur the Court to be rallied into a &emir coots*. Mr. Alderman WarrHuaat rose to 'order; those expressions Were quite disordeelp • Mr. Alderman WAITIULSK.asked if this was de cent or orderly.? , Sir C. Hua'ragt, if he wal 'oC!t of orcler, had taken leave:of tifs monies. • ' Mere wart/Se policy 4- asking 'the 'Wien - Clerk to put Ms name-to that which wan'd beet& •Of the Hilletet•of the Reese ef.Centimons?- H cilia Molre Warned bins of his Ask, Mr. Alderman WAITIIMAN s aid , Ti was absurd to talk of rule of Paidianten which only -applied -to brintint actiont An# such cases, but which did not .free de itOnstittsenti froni asking . questions of their Represehtittives-4:Proceeding practised every day. Mr. thaws asked, if there were not three persons .ih New ate, connected with the John Bull Newspaper, - for Having called the conduct of a Member of,Parlia ment in question? . The cries of 66 * Question" being now renewed, the Reiblntion ants put, and carried the same way as the other Resolutions.—(See Advertisement). ••••••••...•••••••••••••• FRONT TAXATIOM In the Thistle of last Stmday, the Editor proposes a 64 New and ample source of Relief from Taxation," 't/hichris worthy both of the attention of the Legisla hire and the Public. After noticing the amount of Ind:timed Dividtinds in the Bank of Engrand, and the appropriation of them by the Government, he isms explains the extension of the same principle to other Funds: " If, in the course of less than a century, there has acct.mu ; turd in the hands of the Bank nearly a tnillion and a half of un claimed dividends due by Government, how great, we would ask, may be the accumulation of money due by tha Bank .of England itself to persons who hare not demanded it, and who, from the lapse of time, arc nut now ever likely to demand it? If this question may be .fairly put to the Bank of England, of which, we think, there - can be no doubt, why may it not, with equal teirnees, be put to every other public and incorporated body in the kingdom? " It is one of those necessary consequences more or less com mon to all countries, that the various accidents and vicissitudes' of life should throw the rights of many individuals into abeyance, and occasion the entire neglect and relinquishment of a still greater number. The chance of these events is, however, muck increased in a country such as thii, which has long abounded in rkhes, long been exempted !tom those domestic convulsions, which give new owners and new titles to everything, and where, from a continual tom:lsere.: with all parts of the world, and a prevailing passion for foreign adventure, more instances are daily occurring of the legal claimants to property being missing than in all the world beside. For a century and more such accumola dons of unclaimed money must have been going on amongst us; and that their amount, at the present day, can be otherwise than of immense marnitude, no person can possibly suppose. " With respect, then, to these accumulations, we would just observe three things :-Ist. They are, at present, of use to nobody why hod any ri,Vir la Mein ; they consist either of capital which Gears ne interest, or of interest tench bears no accumukiiim.-2d. The only party who is enticed to turn them to use, while in this state of inoccupancy, on the established maxim quod satins est credit domino regi, never was in greater need of any benefit which can possibly be derived front them.— And 3cl. Such public ap propriation could he objected to by nobody who has any right to object it ; since it is the absence of those who have such right which is the sole reason for proposing it, and since it 'may be fairly presumed that every person would wish that what can be of no service to himself or his natural representaives, may, at least, be of ,- er vice to his country." ' PIDDING and Co. No. 1, Cornhill, request their Friends and the Puhlic will bear in mind that Two out of the THREE remaining I'rizes of X 20,000 Sterling are liable to he &aided the Next Day of Drawing, Nr7:T Tan/SD.% v (March e 9), for one is to be attached to the First-drawn Prize en that day, and another is to be attached to the Nialr..7ra \‘n Prize above seLleo; and as there are to be at least .1,000 Numbers drawn, such an occurrence is not very unlikely; but, independent of these, there are :16 other Capitals of £tl,ooo. £l,OOO, &c. Zee. many of which will also be drawn. PIDUP;C: and Co. hope some of these desirable thins are destined to reward those who make their purchases at the Lucky Corner, No. 1, CornhilL MURDER or :alas. DitsArre.—m. sitting Magistrate at flow street was occupied five hours on Wednesday night, in the exa mination of a whole fandly, brought before him by gone Officers of the Thames Police, on suspicion of their haviag been con cerned in the murder of Mrs.. Donatty. The prisoners were Robert Rigby, a jobi•ing porter ; Ann Rigby, his wire, with an in fant in her arms; Eisabetli Rigby, their daughter, about six years old ; and Mary fiCrel, slater to Ann Rigby.—The circumstances which led to their apprehension were these :—Yesterday se'u night a Mrs. Ilaines, who keeps an old clothes shop at No. 9. New Round-court. Strand, purchased, for a shilling, a pair of breeches and a pair of woman's half-boots, from the little girl Elizabeth Rigby. The breeches, which were of light drab ker •seymere, very much worn, had a few spots of blood about the knees, and they were much torn behind. On perceiving this blood, the cluthes-woman—having heard of the horrible mur der in Robert-street—became very much alarmed, and her step-son, who, it appears, is a city officer, happening to call upon her on the following day, she shewed them to him, at the same time telling him from whom she had purchased them.—He communicated these circumstances to Jeiferies, an officer, and he and some of his party apprehended the whole family at their lodgings, one wretched room, in Lemon-tree-yard, Bedfordbury. —The three grown prisoners positively denied all knowledge of the articles in question, and were remanded. Yesterday Mr. ‘TINSIIELL, the Magistrate, resumed the exa mination of Robert Rigby, alien, his wife, Mary Worti, her sister, and a man of the name of Samuel Askew. One of the pentlemen of the Parish Committee 'hewed tie prisoners the finger of Mrs. Donatty, which was preserved in spi rits, but did nut tell them what it was. Atter they had looked at it for some time, they all declared they could not tell! He then told them; and watched their countenances very closely, to see what effect it had on them, but no material charge was ob served.—Two females, who lived near the deceased, attended; one of them was intimately acquainted with Mrs. Donatty, and stated, that on the night of the murder she saw a man loitering about the house of the deceased for two hours in the course of that evening ; she described him as a tall, thin, gentlemenly-look ing man—he had no resemblance of either of the prisoners. Richard Waller, groom to T. U. Whitmore, Esq. stated that on the night of the murar he sew five mil moiling quite fast, as if front Millman-place, at the back of Mrs. I)u:tatty's house. He pursued and overtook one man, with whom lie had a struggle, but he got away. This man much res,nuhled Rigby in point of size. Amongst the other four men, witness said, one resembled Askew. He very closely examined both the prisoners with their hats on and oil; slouched and not so, behind as well as before. The sack which was left in the house of the deceased had a numbeiof small shaviii,ls in it. A Gentlemen of the Committee produced one of them from his pocket-bon!:, and asked the pri. sutler, Askew, if he knew what it was? who, af:er examining it, declared he did not. It was fromall!lit-coloated wood, sup posed to he sycamore, and Askew bring a viol:a end maker, some of his shavings were brau,;itt to the Office, which resembled those found in the sack. Askew's landlord said he had lodged with him for twelve months. He was a man of regular habits, and had been only twice out lately. Aim Rigby and Mary Wood were pat to the Bar, after the men were taken away, but nothing material transpired. M. Donatty, the nephew of the deceased, attended and examintd the boots sold hy,the child to Mrs. Haines, which si•ert net his aunt's, tlierhaving buttons, and she mostly had them to. lace. The examination continued till nearly five o clock, when it was adjourned. liarroo-Gaansw.—A man of the name of Gregory was exa mined yesterday, on suspicion of being concerned in the .munler, P ilo osi dire to c ti t t e h v 3 i- 1 fled for fo,r -drthaleienvlck:einaztunauwinaarndutiadeiuulthlehedignfgat.osahleitEthei'oetrhoreifdriltarra"atrilicnut4ipoiittl)ahuslanUr _ . . . . . nal! *swam be saved Melt MrGlitrirenriqpin uttemptatarftpakk, unlit. for itssfitnes • -theAgat speaker I . oeat confulipt. jle ppealpd.to,thfir former kind. I •eflections ,on the, HOW. of towards him , , *kw ha lind the honour to WI the - n Mr.blikam).-Ifi his lapl- "civic Chair ; and asked liii e t o E n in g them Viet to en speeches that were made,. a sense of decency,ncitorder; ~ .