The Express.
London, England, 1852-07-06 00:00:00

written such a letter to the Corporation u bound "
him morally, although not legally. It is, we "-
apprehend, reasonably to be complained that from a u
manifest misunderstanding of the function imposed

upon him by the act he hose given his yrwi sanction
to the site not very considerately. Mr. fititztrew, tso
the spokesman of the deputation, pertinently pointed 121
out that the minister's approval should not have
been signified without some previous inquiry. *.
Mr. WALPOLE, however, seems to think that s
the act merely imposed upon him a simple u
ministerial form, and that the Market Com-
.

missioTiers had simply to present their choice L 24:
for his signature, and that he is bound to give it— ,
just ass judge signs an affidavit, or Xing Bwea& a lEJ
death-warrant—without reading it. But surely e<
when the legislature made the approval of one of the Is
principal Secretaries of State a condition, it submit- 12
1 ted the question to that high officer's judgment ; for it
of course implied a right of refusing his cement. 23
Otherwise had the City selected Kensuigton-gardens 30
or the Regest's-park, the Holtz SECRETARY must sci
have made the selection good with his signa-
ture. On the contrary, the act, clearly mistrusting
7 the London ration, calls in " one of her MA- ek
'LETT'S principal Secretaries of State" as umpire
is
between it a the public. Such an office Mr. Ware 1:,
rime has indeed, by his own confession, performed. '
Evidence was brought before him for him to adjudi- 'u
cats upon, but it wee evidence all on one side. His 4
witnesses took care to indoctrinate him with a fore- ,1
gone conclusion. They had made up their minds as I:
to the site, and took care to let the weight of cvi- s,
denote tell in its favour. Plans of no fewer than 3
28 proposed sites for the new metropolitan cattle 124
marketed been prepared—were laid before him; one 04
purposely planned, perhaps, to show how eligible that 5,;'
of Copenhagen-fields would be, and 27 to demon- se
state the extreme ineligibility of all the others. to
et
It was not a judgment formed on such materials se
that the act appeals to when it imposes the ratifies- ;;
tion of a Secretary of State; neither does it, on the 64
other hand, impose the onerous task of examining ie
witnesses pro and eon, and asking every intereeted 2:.
person's opinion on the matter. But it ails from the it
Minister a fair common-sense judgment—a judg- 1
merit derived partly from a half-hour's ride to the ,t
proposed ground, and a cursory survey of it, but a 33
judgment more weightily swayed by a comprehen- Is
sive consideration of the interests of the public at •
lame, of which the greatest is the public health. 10
MM id r. WALPOLE trusted such evidences, he would if
certainly have written veto instead of concedo to the n
Copenhagen-fields proposition. se
This brings us to our starting point. There is no
reason whatever for supposing that, so far as their g
lights have led them, the City Market Committee
have not exercised industry and ears in picking out
Copenhagen-fields from the mass of Oasis presented to C
them farchoice. Whoa all the tangible and commercial' se
advantages of having a settle market as near as I I!
possible to the heart of London have been weighed 1 ;
and considered, Copenhaps4elds form—except as 1 10
regards public health,periep, swindling considered, 22'25
a not wholly unsuitable its brew* a purpose. But' ...
whatever advantage, it m_ay mom the one objec-
tion against it is fatal. Preforms it such a site,
stultifies the principal object of ahatiehing Smithfield ,t
as a cattle market—that, namely, of removing a ";
beast and butcher market ben a thickly. peopled I
locality. The am evils carrying on of :
nezious trades, the mem dr rem tem driving of m
cattle through frequented thetweghlerne, will remain; Li
for be it observed, the nearer the nettle market is to
town the smaller will be the temptation to slaughter 10.,.
the animals on the spot and convey then t• the re- ro
tailer's shop in the condition of beef mad mitten. In le
spite, therefore, of the best made bye-laws, the ''',
'Uinta of London will, unless the public bestir itself,
be still obstructed by crowds of sheep, and infested 2;
with infuriated oxen. a