The Express.
London, England, 1848-11-10 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, FRIDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 10, 1848.

the King, by his demeanour tow eras the Assembly, and '
his soadoet towards the Central rower at Frankfort,
hr evinced an unmistakable desire to head, rather
than thwart, the great Herman movement. Though
some of his military chiefs, at.d other people as frantic
as oar Pau. and M stymie len organs in London, daily
incite the King of PRUSSIA to the bombardment of
his capital and the dissolution of its Assembly, he,
on the contrary, refuses to break with liberal Her-
many. He continues to hope, and trust, and tolerate.
Already things were improving, and better symptoms
apparent. burgher guard had, on several occa-
sions, put down the mob, and even the Assembly was
growing more rational, when these unfortunately
precipitated events at Vienna burst forth, throwing
back Berlin and its population into their old frenzy
and

ram enormous dinxers at times, but they devolved
the task of eating—every man for twenty—upon their
retainer,. The civic dignitaries of London are
the only migrates on record who perform at once the
parts of the fords of the holiday and the consumers of
the oxen roasted whole.

Mena is no doubt," admits one of the officers of
the Orphan Asylums, " that the number of children
provided for by these institutioes is very limited, but
you most rev:elect taat that number could be at any
time leavened in proportion to the contributions of I
ths public. If we had more fund., we should take
more children."
Are these societies, then, in want of funds ? Is it
with good cause that they issue touching appeals far
more subscriptions? Is there any justice in their ex-
cuse for closing their doors against the poor ? Further
examination into their accounts leads us to very dif-
ferent conclusions, and induces the belief that their
performances fall very far short of their promisee.
We take the " Landon Orphan Asylum." In its
report for the current year the board of managers re-1
gret their inability to extend the advantages of the
institution. They state that, " notwithstanding the
number e candidates is unusually large," they do not
feel themselves justified in admitting more than 30
children. They "invoke their benevolent supporters
to renewed efforts on their behalf." They "think
that their strong claims on general support have not
been adequately met." They " urge, therefore, the
importance of every exertion," and conclude, as usual,
with " the widow and the orphan," and the reference
to the "heart that sang for joy."
Well, we turn from this piteous appeal to the ba-
lance sheet, and what do we find ? In that page of the
report, be it remembered, there is no cajolery. Gen-
tlemen of high standing in the City, who consent to
act as auditors to a public body, will put their names
to no balance sheet that is not accurate and straight-
forward. A reference to the " widow and the or-
phan " will not stand with them in place of a clear
and comprehensive schedule of what you have
in hand. It won't do to tell City auditors that you
caused " the widow's heart to sing for joy." In
place of such vague and general statements, they
request to know the precise particulars of year as-
sets and liabilities. Accordingly, in the report of
the London Orphan Asylum for the present year we
find the following set out with due and proper parti-
cularity :
Balance in the hands of the treasurer, 1981. 2a
Stock : 45711. 4s. 51., Three per Cent Reduced ; 4611.11,.
C•msols• 3,5471. 16.. 9d. Annuity. terminable sth Jan.,
1860; :Ise, 3,4711. 10.. Three per Cent. Reduced, in true:
fur presentation; and 4,7001. New Three-and-a-Quarter
Annuities, for the Wellington Fund.—Audited Jan. 13.
litib:W JACILEON, BENUE CAPEL, J AIIIM DEAR, auditors.
Well, now, would not the expenditure of some of
this money " have caused the widow's heart to sing
for joy " a great deal more than talking about it?
For what purpose are riches heaped up in this way P
litre is a sum of nearly 17,0001. of charity money,
available at the very moment that the board of
managers are lamenting that " notwithstanding the
number of candidates is unusually large, they du not
feel justified in admitting more than 30 children at
the election." Thirty children, out of probably more
than 130 candidates!
The " Royal Asylum of the St. Anne's Society,"
being an " asylum" for " the children of those once ,
in prosperity," feels it unnecessary to enter into those
vulgar particulars which the " orphan asylums " (low
institutions!) degrade themselves by giving to the
public. If the St. Anne's Society given a general
account of what they have got, that is quite enough.
Brien', auditors are not quite so knowing and pre-
cise as those of Capel-court. The St. Anne's account
wrordingly is rendered u follows :
Jan. 1848.—Wehave compared the foregoing accounts with
the books and vouchers, end find them correct, and that
there is a Wane/ in the hands of the treasurer on the pre-
sent account of 731. Ils. Cu., and on the building fund ac.
count of 191. 13s. Bd., bends the several amount: of stock
standing in the names of the trustee: of the instatution, and
also a sum of hl7l. Os. 2d., three per cent. consolidated hank
annuities, separately invested on account of the new " Town
School Aiqlum Fund," and a balance of 41. 3s. in hand on
account of the Exhibition and Reward fund.

Oar contemporaries of the Times and Chronicle see
and desire no cure for this, save bloodshed. We alto-
gigher deprecate that extremity, which, whether in
Paris, or Berlin, or Vienna, will infallibly make mat-
ters permanently worse, whatever apparent tranquil-
lity it may effect for a time. There are ample ele-
ments for a rational conservative party in Prussia.
The provinces have lost some of their effervescence.
And a re-election, whenever it takes place, would
restore the King and assembly to unity of purpose
and understanding, if sanguinary collision be avoided.
Peace and patience are the tzuest principles in in-
ternal ea in external pulley. There is always reaction
after revolution ; an ebb succeeds the Bow ; and if
princes will but wait for it, and take advantage of
that popular ebb, they would far better conciliate
order with liberty, than by attempting or even sue-
, oeeding to crush both by brute force.

IT must afford matter for intense self-gratulation to
every well-regulated conservative mind, in this age of
revolutions, to witness tie unchanged and seemingly
unchangeable character of the Lord Mayors and other
corporate dignitaries of the City of London. The crown
, has been shorn of its patronage and the civil list regu-
I lated ; the House of Commons has been reformed ; the
church has been subjected to the inquisitorial proceed-
ings of commissions, and its bishops have been put
upon allowances; but tho Lem) MAvott and Lord
Mayor's ])ay of 1848 differ little, if any-
thing, from those immortalised in the " Dunciad."
There has been no successor to ELKANAH SETTLE—
tbe voice of the bard has been silenced in the Man-

'ion-house—but the broad furs and broad faces are as
warm, comfortable, and unmeaning u ever.
It is not therefore to be wondered at that a dove-
like spirit of conservatism should have yesterday
brooded over the LORD MAYOR'S guests and inspired
their tongues. With the exception of M. OUsTAVE
DE BEAUMONT, who in few and hearty words re-
turned thanks for the cordial reception his country-
men recently received in London, the one theme
of the speakers was the wonderful snows
of the corporate authorities of the City in pre-
serving the peace of the City during the late troubles'
times. A stranger unacquainted with our recent his-
tory might have been pardoned, if, while listening to
them, he had imagined himself to have arrived. not
in the city of special constables who turned out as
the 10th of April en mouse to show they were all
peace-makers, but in some city of discord, Mien
bloodshed and contusion had only been prevented
by the peaceful influences emanating from
Guildhall, thu temple of Peace, and the Mayor I
and aldermen, its officiating priests. He might nave
fancied the Mansion I louse to be to wild Londoners
what Fran MINNETROsT's castle in the " Zauberring"
was to the wild Frieshinders. The oratory way
worthy of a Lord Mayor's dinner, composing, tran-
quillising, admirably calculated to promote quiet
digestion.
Turtling for a moment from the solemn feast of the
evening to the solemn pageant of the forenoon, it
must be remarked as a misfortune that the annual
procession of the Loan MAYOR should follow so close
upon that of GUIDO FAWKES. The heroes of the two
ovations are apt in courquence to get so closely ammo-
elated in the imaginations of youth, that in
matarer years men are not always able
entirely to rid themselves of the habit of
regarding the chief magistrate of the me-
tropolis as a kind of more magnificent and living
Guy. The procession of the man stuffed with
turtle, and that of the doublet staffed with straw,
bear somewhat the tame relation to each other that
was borne by the real coronation of GEORGE IV.
to ELLISTON's theatrical reproduction of it.
Still it cannot be denied that the stability of these
civic institutions of which the LORD MAYOR, with his
man in armour, his sword-bearer, and his state
coach, are the Corinthian • capital, is mainly
owing to the annual procession and dinner
of the 9th of November. In our boyish days we
make interest or scramble for places to see the for-
mer; when the judgment begins to develop itself
we canvass for tickets to admit us to the latter. The

Why so very particular about the 41. 3s. and so
entirely careless about w the several amounts of stock
standing in the names of the trustee' of the institu-
tion" ? This is remarkable. Several years ago
a curt of pamphlet was published giving an
account of the "origin" of this society, and filled
with an immense deal of bombastic trash about
the asylum. It was then stated that the society "had
funded upwards of 5,0001." We don't understand that
word " upwards." The society has gone on reprint-
ing this statement almost word for word every year
since; and though it gate on purchasing stock every
year, it does not deign to state what that up-
wards" is meant to convey. There is however one index
to the amount of their capital—namely, the dividends
upon funded property of which they are annually in
receipt. These amount with income tax to about
8001., which at five per cent. represents 16,0001.
They must have put their money to very bad use,
indeed, if they have less than that amount invested.
Every farthing of this they must have received for cha-
ritable purposes, a portion of it probably from the altar
of the church, and nevertheless they continue to
hoard it up, adding to the number of boys purchased
into the asylum, but certainly not increasing the
number to be elected from among the "orphans or
not" who present themselves as candidates. Does
this not look like proportioning the children to the
means at command ?
We turn to the Orphan Working School, a society
whose governors state themselves to " stand in the
place of guardians to the helpless—u friends to the
'friendless, and take by the hands of charity and kind-
ness the destitute and forsaken ones." Fine ideas
these, though perhaps not expressed in exactly the
best English. The grammar, however, would be of
very little consequence if the "guardians to
the helpless and friends to the friendless " did their
duty. We fear, however, to use their own words, that
ithey "stand in the place of the guardians to the help-
lees" in another sense than that in which they employ
the phrase.
What is their present position? In 1847 they opened
their new building, with accommodation, u they boast,
for :40 children. Contract the board-rooms, which mo-
nopolise the best parts of thelrailding, and aooommoda-
tiot would probably be secured for 300. Well, how many
children are there in the institution ? On the 26th of
April last the number was only 152; on the present
day there are, we understand, no more than 164. Can
a good reason be assigned for limiting the numbers in
this asylum to one half what it might accommodate P
Is this institution so poverty-stricken and wretchedly
provided ? By ita last report we find that ita pro-
perty consists of the following :
Term per Cent. Consolidated Bank Annuities £2,240
Three per Cent, Reduced Annuities
New South Sea Annuities 3,800

banner. and the bargemen defiling in long array be-
fore us fill the eye and the fancy; the one thousand
two hundred and fifty pints of " real turtle " are an
ocean of luxury in which the imaginations of even the
uninvited can wallow like leviathans. The Lord
Mayor's day and the Lord Mayor's dinners were
the theme which awakened our wonderment

in the nursery: to have dined on this great civic
anniversary in the Guildhall is an era in our lives.
Without them the world would be as drab-coloured a

one as Tom PAINE maintained the Quakers would have I
made it had they been consulted at the making of it. We
do not reverence the Lord Mayor's day out of our
respect to the corporation whose high festival it
is, but we are loyal to the Corporation, because were
it subverted we might have no Lord Mayor's day.
This world has witnessed many unaccountable
forms of government in its time, but none that for
strangeness surpasses that of the City of London.
Some governments have swayed their subjects by
priestly mummery, like that of Egypt ; some by pa-
geantry, like the Persian dynasties ; some by myste-
rious secrecy and affectation of the invisible, like that
of Venice; but London is governed by means of eat-
' ing. The real onerous duties of the civic function-
aries of London are all comprised in the one item of
eating. Other charges of municipal government
they discharge by deputy—the judicial by their Recor-
der, the police by Mr. WHITTLE HARVEY, and so
forth; bat eat they mast in propriis personibut, and
eat they do on a scale that is astounding to ordinary
capacities.
The citizen of London eats his way to the lower
grades of civic dignity ; he eats his way up through
them to the highest; and the chief magistrates year
of office is spent in dining and giving dinners. 'The
aspirant after the civic honours of London commences
by being enrolled in a company ; he works his way
up till he becomes a member of its council ; be
next, or about the same time, becomes a member
of the common council ; he then gets himself
made an alderman ; and in due rotation he
comes to be Mayor. In the companies he serves his
apprenticeship to the mystery of dining. The com-
panies are in possession of funds—the accumulated
bequests of centuries—of which a moderate portion is
devoted to the maintenance of schools, alms-houses,
&e., and the immense surplus has to be consumed in
eating and drinking. It is as much as even the
practised gobblers and 'wilier, of these companies
can do to eat and drink their way through the
annual revenues of their companies. The youngest
member must face his twelve luxurious
dinners annually, ' and the councillors their
weekly gormandisings at the lead. The mayor and
aldermen must eat their corporation dinners, and their
company dinners also. And as the aggregate
stomachs of any one company generally prove inade-
quate to get through their year's eating in the course
of the year, the members of the Tarim companies,
with a self-devotion that is truly magnanimous and ,
affecting, mutually aid each other. The Loan
MAYOR s dinner is merely the climax of a whole year
of dinners. The annual labours of a true civic
stomach are to the feats of HELIOGABALUS as the
labours of HERCULES were to the toils of ordinary
mortals.
It is no slender testimony to the innate strength of
English intelkets that individuals can be found ca-
pable of uneergoing these huge trencher labours and
yet remaining shn wd, capable men, when business
calls upon them. Yet no man will deny that the civic
dignitaries of London have been found ere now ade-
quate to trying emergencies. It could be desired, how-
ever, that some way of spending their surplus revenues
more consonant to the tastes and habits of the age than
mere eating and drinking could be devised. A little
attention devoted uccivionally to the patrooage of the
liberal arts, the promotion of education, or other pur-
suits worthy of the rulers of the capital of England,
might agreeably diversify the monotony of ever-
' recurring dinners, and impart better appetites for the
feasts that were retained. The feudal barons of old

of the

WE this day devote a portion of our columns to
civic festivities and banquets. The circumstance has
made ns, by contrast, pay more attention to
rustic meetings and enjoymentsot the same kiud ; and
we must own we are struck by the contrast. Country
folk are generally represented as high and mighty
dons, disdaining all contact with their humbler fel-
lows; whereas civic folk are supposed to be the
middle term, the link, as it were, between the aristo-
' erivic folk and the mere enlightened of what the
French call theproletariat. So much isthis felt elsewhere,
that we will be bound to say that the municipality of
Paris, or Berlin, or Vienna (not at present—Heaven
forbid that we should allude to such a state of things
as the horrid present)—but in the meet palmy days of
the monarchy, would not think of giving a bat quet
without inviting the notabilities of sciesee, art, and
literature. Such considerations, however, do not pene-
trate the thick rind Bceatian fog which surrounds the
London Mansion-house. .

Turn we, therefore, to the rustics, at whose
banquet in Maidstone we find the press and its re-
presentatives in great honour, and in full speech—so
full that they almost oat-talked the noble chairman
and the counts, member. And they did perfectly
right. Fur the Earl of ROMNEY, who presided, being
piqued by the gnat-sting of some querulous corre-
spondent in the columns of the local journal, straight,
with the headlong frankness of the country gentle-
men, denoin ced the press, which, from the character
of being anonymous, he ordained that no one should
mind. . .

What writers are to do between such high authorities
as Lord ROMNEY, Lord Ilacuoitast, and the Times
we do not know. Lord Itourrer would kick the
press out of society and consideration because it is
anonymous. The Times declares its great title to re-
spectability and consideration depends precisely on its
remaining anonymous. And Lord BROUGHAM records
a quite contrary opinion—that every ass should sign
his name to the effusions of his own donkeyism, a rule
to which his lordship in his own case rigidly conforms.
Now, what is a plain man to do between two lords
and one great commoner, of such divergent opinions ?
It would puzzle the very " hop judges" to decide.
Kentish men, however, have no idea of preserving
the" anonymous," and when attacked are quite ready
to turn out for a round, even with a lord. Punch
has well depicted Lord BROUGHAM in the character
of a bear, sting to desperation by the inmates of the
press-hive, whom his snout bad disturbed. Lord
ROMNEY seems to have assumed the same character,
set out upon the same quest, and been visited the
same castigation at the Maidstone dinner. Mr. WHI-
TING'S speech was a pungent one.
At the same time we must do Lord ROMNEY the
credit to say that he bore the retort in very gentle.
manly and good-humoured part. Instead of chafing,
frowning, er standing on his dignity, his lordship
proposed a toast to the " Next merry meeting of the
Association." And we really think the the Maid-
stone press and hie Kentish lordship ought to shake
hands thereon. We do not see that great difference
of opinion, which should prevent them associating to
reward ploughmen, agricultural, non-agricultural, and
female servants, as well as helping the "judges" to
decide between the three best cants," offered to
their impartial and worshipful decision.

£10,890
Two and a half shares in the Leeds and Liverpool Canal,
producing 851. per annum.
An annuity payable by the Accountant-General
Court of Chancery, .rodusing 601. per annum.
An estate in the City-road and an estate at Haverstock-
hill, producing 1,4001 per annum.
Yet the committee of this asylum have the temerity
to 'tell the public in their last report that the in-
terests of the charity cannot be sustained without
farther funds are placed at their disposal. " Cannot be
sustained," forsooth ! Some of the poor orphans, we sup-
pose, are to be turned adrift because the treasurer is
unable to make further purchases of Consolidated An-
nuities, or Liverpool Canal Shares, or estates in the
City-road, or Hampstead. It was said of a statesman
of some standing, that if Great Britain and Ire-
land were given him for an estate he would want the
Isle of Man for a kitchen-garden. Give these pmple
all Lombard-street, and they would not be sadist
unless George-yard or Abchurch-lase were Wad
* it. The grasping, wealth-heaping chandler
of these asylums cannot be better exemplified
dies by this instance. At the last " general oast,"
as they call it, of this Orphan Working School, there
were no less than 92 candidates on the list for admis-
sion. Of these, only 25 were permitted to enter. In
do face, therefore, of this enormous rallerty-
-11,0001. in tne funds, canal shares, and aed es-
tates showing a rent-roll of no less than 1,4001. per
annum—the managers of this asylum condemned the
friends of SIXTY-SEVEN unhappy orphans to all the
heart-sickening misery of disappointment —to the
keen anguish, possibly, of desperate despair. At the
present time they tell us, in large ca-
pitals, with a view to obtain more money,
that " Orphans from England, Ireland, Scotland, and
Wales are seeking admission, and even France has
added its number." Shall they, whiningly inquire the
committee, " shall they ask in vain ?" On the part
of the public we answer NO. Let them be admitted
instantly.

,100
would t, the
hike. 1n
orby pireeereatini'tgeein. sUartein nomination': to
makea"'
bY
"la/
(ig fereemil'Cin'evaltip:en'scq
One word to prevent cavil or misconception. If these
mylnms had laid slide a motkrate portion of their
his ;he 1 that e
ranee
cue we might, in deckying foss hi, or re.
ahiii!naosfLwtaohndeueiltonusasunalayl: tbe moderate 0-
grow might
oreeeabeiPtseessonquwitee sborrim'ghtithdeton
..uotprohvamivdstaes
number of applicants being pl Iced upon the '
,cliac'ceseino!iip in the name nf the moderate:, there be no cmdi.
lists. If each asylum invested the amount, say,
of one year's expenditure upon its orphan inmates we condition.. It would, moreover, be the di •.4 of twdb"4
might have thought the step wise and prudent. But of t h Berate
t P parry,
e
aw.thiewhh.e.lienprime in France at lend nine-tenee°.
the managers have no right to invest in the funds candidate ;bora we leeiligyhrtounld sawn a pert to be given to utt
what is given them to be spent in succouring the For these motives I believe :hateet—wa put
ta
the
Pneeeemilftikti.
fatherless and the widow They are not justified in to follow its/wee/go/a, and not preeee umt aiettaleaee'the -'
hoarding np ten, sixteen, twenty thousand pounds at a acc'w" undulate oases
time. The money was given them for the poor, not
for the purposes of trading on the Stock Exchange.
To deal in canal shame, house property, and landed es-
tates,and in the face of their immense investments to
turn away the orphans who are beseeching charity at
their doors, and still to shake the platter—
still to call upon the public for " more, more"—
not to be spent on the fatherless andafflicted, but only
be invested like the rest—this is really to reach a
point so tar beyond the limits of the widest discretion
on the part of managers, that it is difficult with
courtesy to give such acts their proper designation or
a name. "a:thee:lk: thatei "ii

We have received the Madrid mails of the 3rd and
4th. The Gage te, of the 3rd, contained two official
announcement., in one of which eighteen primers
of the republican faction, newly arisen in Al:cant, an
said to have been shot in colu blood by order of the
commandant-general of the province; and, according
to the other, eight stragglers of the Cellist faction of
Glamundi, caught at Fortanete, were subjected to the
same fate.
AiAl.ll/1% Nov. 4. Three Per (hate, Ili Parer; after Boa, lel
ha per etata.. 11. Parer; after Boa, aj cart. Paa.
ram a parer , after Bola. i rash. Cooroo-. 5 Parer. Tishale
on Inaba, deyr, 41160 ash.