The National Register.
London, England, 1818-09-28 00:00:00

LORD MAY O 1 DAY.

Aft. J. Davies moved the discussion on a roper: eta
committee, recommencliug that when the day far swea:•
ing in the Sheriffs or Lord Mayor s:itudd happen to 1,3
Sunday, it should be altered to the day befete ar the
day after.
Mr. Dixon said he might he deemed irreligious, but
there was more danger, perhaps, in those who Well
ri;;liteousovertnuch ; zeal bliu:l4 the undarstantli:,,;.
For his own part, he saw nothing itupr.tger in alut-
nistering the sol.min and religiona.ohiigation of an oath
to a .nasgigrate on a Sunday. Nathing could be a
nwre impressive leslon to the young and rising gene,
ration than to.behold such solemnity, and at the same
- time it would stirau'ate the4i to correctness of coudttet
r and attention to uncle moral and _religious duties,
throgg'a which stew they could hope to attain similar
honours at the hands of their fellow citizens.
Mr. Davies thought it had been well known that lie
was not to be ri,licalcd out of his opinions, or out aT
any thiag which .he had to propose t.) that Court.
Gentlemen, he heped, had lived long enough to kuow
that much goal hal been done by pereons of Pei,.
Oats sentiments. He maituained that the Sabbath
day ought to be kept holy, and he would ask if a reli-
gious oblervance of it wits eousistent with the great
and tumultuous procession ticnal on the swearing to of
every Lord Mayor. The appointment of the Sabbath
day for that purges:: would have'been purely accidental,
and not at all is the contamplation ethos: who framed
the act, that it should be so employed. To the simple
swearin3 ht of the Lord .Mayor he would not object ;
but who recollected its ever taking place without the
procession being attended by disorderly persens? 'lie
hoped that the Court would take cure that the Lord
Mayor should be sworn in on some other day than
Sunday, and that they weall ,not statfer religion to be
scoffed at.

Mr. Dixon said, the ;ledges thought no Icarus in
dining together on the first Sunday of Trinity Term.
For his part, he would rather have the dining portion
of the civic ceremonies put off from-Sunday, and he
hoped that fature .Lord Mayors and Sheriff's would
take care to postpone their entertainments from
Sunday till some othersday in the wreck.
Mr. Alderman Gtxxlbehere said, that magistrat,-!s :11-•
luded to were obliged to•serve one year, according to
law ; and if they were sworn in on Saturday or Mon-
day, they would serve either a day more or a day lef,s
than the complete year. Besides, before they could
make any alteration in these matters, they mu,•t have
an act of the legislature. He had attended •both tire
ceremony and the entertainment given afterwards en
many occasions, and never witnessed any .disorder, Lis
much of good fellowship, peace, and•harmony.
Alderman Waithman said, tltat in deliver;ng an cr!..
nion respecting a question on eating and drinking, ITO
man could be more at a loss than he was, inasmuch
he bad been but a short time in a situation from wlll.ll
he could derive much information on those topic
which furnished sunding jeos upon the Corperatioe.
He cared as little about those meetings as any man,
but he could not agree with the recommendation
the Committee, which assumed that the Lord Mayor,
Judges, and other grave personages, could not meet
to swear in Sheri& without committing some excess
This practice e.tt as institutcd in timcs-quite as religious
as the present, and .had never been complained of till
now. 1:1-.c Court ought not to pass a vote of censure
on itself, by sluming to• the Corporation that it cod
not meet without launching into eaeesses.
Mr. Ligon then said, that, in ot.lor that this cpE
tion might die a natural death, he moved that the rep.:,:t
should lie oa tin, table, wkicli etas car iat. iu the
tiralat4e.