The Press.
London, England, 1853-11-19 00:00:00

It would follow even from this change in the
physical relations of the City that its corpora-
tion should have materially dwindled from its
pristine greatness. The 1,• ird Mayor of London
is not, in fact, as he is proud (of being desig-
nated, " the chief magistrate of the first city
in the world," but ouly the chief magistrate of
a population which is a little greater than one
of our second-rate commercial or manutitetur-
ing towns. Even this will nut wholly &coolant
for the inferiority, in many resperts, of its
governing body to that of Liverpool. for ex-
ample. While the latter cam procure for its
chief magistrate such persons as its late Mayor,
Mr. SAMUEL HOLMV., the Corporation of Lon-
don is in such disrepute that, as Mr. TaAvEtts
bean evidence, " such a man as Mr. THOMAS
" BAnINO, who may be held to represent the
" merchants of London, would consider it an
" inside to be asked to become an alderman."
In fact, it appears that civic dignities go beg-
ging—that they may be picked up by those
who will stoop for them—and that, us those
who accept ordinarily abuse them, Uwe is
now, as a very natural consequence, a solemn
inquisition into civic malpractices.
it is singular to compare this submission to
a eritninating—and it may even be termed a
degrading—inquiry with civic antecedents.
In the days of ATHELSTANE the magistrates
of the City made a treaty with their king.
In a suecession of civil wars, including those
of the Roses, their influence sufficed to turn
the scale of the contending parties. Alter-
nately they offered aid or opposed resistance,
and nobles and Crowns went down in the con-
flict. But kk they are called to account for
a series of extortions and malveraations—of
mean and corrupt acts—important in the aggre-
gate, but petty in detail, and farcically trivial
and vulgar, as compared with their historical
reputation.
From the instalments of evidence, as they ac-
cumulate day by day, we learn, in illustration of
civic voracity, that the expenses of the Lord
Mayor's office are 250101. a year. The annual
salaries of the officers of the corporation are
40,090/. In the year 1852 the taxation on each
house for civic purposes was 17/. The cor-
porate estates are as badly managed as the
Crown lands were recently. What the annual
revenue of the corporation is no one seems
to know ; for the accounts are kept, not
for use, but to puzzle accountants and defy
investigation. How pia of it is spent, some
of the witnesses have told us. Whenever a
committee is formed, 200/. or 3001. is placed
at its disposal, and this is spent in a series of
dinners, which appear in the Recounts under
the head of " sandwich and a glass of sherry
"to the committee." The labours of the com-
mittee being of this nature, the chairman is
selected more for his capaeity to undergo a
severe course of eating and drinking than for
the clearness of his head (in the ordinary
sense) or his business-like habits. In addi-
tion to the statement of Mr. ACLAND, that a
sum of money was allotted to purchase the
support of newspapers, Mr. Bv.Nnoen asserts
that articles have been sent, accompanied by
money, to ensure their insertion. With these
extra expenses the coffers of the corporation
occasionally want replenishing ; and the mode
they adopt on emergencies, whatever one may
think of its morality or justice, is certainly
striking and ingenious. They nominate and
elect to the office of sheriff gentlemen whom
it is previously known will refuse to serve.
The refusal subjects them to a fine, varying
from 400/. to 000/. By this means, Mr. Mn.i.s
stated, the expenses of the corporation on the
visit of the Emperor of RUSSIA were defrayed.
As more of these particulars are made
known through the agency of the Commission
we may from time to time return to the sub-
ject. But we retnark already their tendency
to support the worst imputations made against
the corporation. For jobbery and gluttony
--floss --Tears probable
• in a popular
.4tic elements
idol, and which
to aristocratic
the grave in-
iting may be
history of t wo
London, from
or the " Bria

in unalloyed grossness it upper
that we shall find an exemplar i
~,hulE fr 4 an which all aristocrat
. that: likill 2votiqat jenny exclude
,
1 ••• 1,.. •el 4 ' ely opposed to
' - - •.verdict of tl
4,44 ~. • e
e'..l r, . . . t. e now await
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