The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1804-10-02 00:00:00

GUILT) HALL.

ELECTION FOR A LORD M YOR.
At the close of the I'oll yesterday at three o'clock,
the numbers stood as follow :

For Mr. A1.1,-rtr,:t Perchard . . • . 693
Yw. Mr. AHeroi.oti Shaw 444
Fur Mr. Alderman Flower
Immediately after the numbers were rued up ;
• Mr-Wail-144am came forward, and begun to ad-
dress the Livery, when. a Imo, tumultuous uproar
took place of-011/ fgt.! of! accompanied by vio-
lent bisiinj. Mr. W. retired, and soon after
Mr. Sheriff !knot CY 4Jsressed the Livery, and
begged they would.. give Mr. W. leave to speak.
This request procured a tomporiult silence, and
once more

Mr, %VA truss AN came forward, and spoke to the
following purport:
" GINTLEMEN Of TURJ.IfERY,
" I should not have attempted..to trespass on your
patience, on the present occasion, had i: not been
for the advertisement of Mr. Alderman Shaw, in
the public prints of this day, in which he assures
you, that • it is the most distant thing from his in-
tention, by enteiing, on a poll, to seek the office of
Chief Magistrate for the next year, or to disturb
the order of succession for that proud eminence ;
his only objed is to be included in your return to
the Court of Aldermen, as next in seniority to Mr.
Perchard, and thereby to vindicate to the world,
that he continues as high in the estimation of
his brother Liverymen, se when he first received
the sacred trust of Sheriff from your hands.'
" Gentlemen, it is clear, from the tenour of this
advertisement, the sole obkft of Mr. Alderman
Shaw is to put the Lively of London to the trouble
and expence of an Eledion that may last eight days,
for the purpose of obtaining the sanetion of a part of
the Livery, as to the crnaluet he thought proper to
pursue during the course of the late Middlesex
Eledion.

•• Gentlemen, admitting that it is • the most dis-
tant thing from his intention to seek the oific- of
Chief Magistrate for next year ;' what security
have we, if he should be nominated jointly with Mr.
P.rchard ; what security, I say, have we that the
Court of Aldermen will not tile& him ? Gentlemen,
1 can by no means allow that the proceedings of this
day's poll do not give rise to a suspicion that this
is the objea ; because, let me tall it to your obser-
vation, that almost all the votes given this day for
Mr. Shaw ars plumpers, and of course tend to ex-
clude Mr. Perchard ; while, on the contrary, Mr.
Flower's ft tends, with a very few exceptions indeed,
have unif mly voted for Mr. Perchard. Gentle-
men, I think it necessary to declare to you that it is
not our intention, in bringing forward the present
eleition, to stigmatise the chat-oder of Mr. Alder man
Shaw; we only wish to state that it is under such
circumstances of suspicion, as to induce us to is ,sh
for a suspension till an opportunity can be had of in-
vestigatiug his conduCt, in which he may meet us
face to face, and vindicate himself, by fairly ai.d
fully evincing to you, and to the public at large,
that his charader and reputation are free from those
unfavourable suspicions which now attach to them.
(Lind opplause,.)
•• As to the state of the Poll this day, I assure yr
that I by no mca... consider It as unfavourable to
our cause, when I reflect on the means that have
been used to obtain a majority, and the quarter from
which they come. If you will come forward with
spirit and unanimity, and aft with energy and vi-
gour in defence of your constitutional rights, and I
maintain, Gentlemen, that those who defend the
tight of Eleillh n are the only real friends of the
Constitution ; I have not the smallest doubt but
your virtuous efforts will ultimately be crowned with
the most unequivocal success. Gentlemen, I beg
leave to declare to you, that provided the different
Candidates possess fair charaflers in other respells,
I not consider their political sentiments as any
objection to their being eleited to the office of Chief
Magistrate of the City of London. In that point
of view, the three gentlemen who now contend for
your eleelion are exaCtly alike; they are all known
to be Ministerial men, yet on that account there is no
objection to them. It has been said, that by re-
turning Mr. Flower, we endeavour to set aside the
rule nt rotation, according to seniority ; but I beg
Ge..tlemen, to tali it to your recolleCtion, that d).
very persons, who are now so clamourous in support
of rotation, are the very men who broke it down for
three or four years in the case of Mr. Alderman
Combe for political purposea only." (Loa and uni-
versal applause.)
The Court was then adjourned to nine o'clock
this morning.