The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-23 00:00:00

COMMITTEE.

Mr. R. ROWE said that at the last Court a question had
been submitted to the law officers of the Corporation through
a resolution proposed by Deputy Elliott, and he wished to
know whether those gentlemen had given an answer to that
question. (Hem-, hear.)

Mr, NELSON, the City solicitor, who was appealed
to by
the hon. memlioer, said that it was customary in all such
cases not to lay the opinion before the Court until it had been
submitted to all the higher legal clEcers. He had conferred
with the Common Sergeant and the Comptroller, and they
had given their opinion upon the question submitted to
them; but as the Recorder was not now in England he
had not had an opportunity of communicating with him
upon the subject, and he had, consequently, not signed the
opinion; but if the Court wished to have the opinion read
in its present shape he was quite ready to produce it.
Mr. TM:SCOTT, the chairman of the Royal Entertain-
ment Committee, expressed his wish that the opinion should
be read at once.

Some other members of the Court, however, said they
considered it advisable that the question and the opinion
should be first submitted to the Recorder ; and eventually
a division took place, when the Court, by a majority of 14,
decided that the opinion of the three law officers of the Cor-
poration who had been mentioned should be at once laid be-
fore the Court.

Mr. NV OODTHORPE, the town clerk, accordingly read the
document. The question submitted, upon the motion o
Deputy Elliott, was, whether any member of the Court had
the right to take into his possession any goods or chattels
belonging to the Corporation without the authority and
sanction of the Court ; and the reply given was, in
that,
answer to the abstract question submitted to them, the law
officers of the Corporation were of opinion that the members
of the Court had no right to take into their possession any
goods or chattels belonging to the Corporation without the
consent of the Court; but they qualified this opinion by
stating that in certain cases usage might confer such a right,
but that this usage was entirely under the control of the
Court, and might be annulled by it at any time.
Mr. TiII:SCOTT shortly afterwards brought up the report
.
of the Royal Entertainment Committee, and moved that 1,
be read.

Mr. WOODTHORPE accordingly read the document, which
extended to a very great length, but which merely gave a
detailed account of the proceedings taken by the committee
to prepare for the reception of the Prince and Princess of
Wales at the entertainment given to them in the Guildhall
on the Bth of June last. The public is well aware of the
many difficult duties the committee had to perform, and the
satisfactory termination of their exertions, and it will not be
necessary further to allude to these particulars. It ap-
peared that the total cost of the entertainment, and all the
arrangements connected with it, was only
£15,000.
Mr. TRUSCOTT then addressed the Court, and said that un-
der ordinary circumstances his duty would have been simply
to move that the report be received and agreed to ; but as at
the last meeting of the Court an hon. member had thought
proper to bring forward charges of malapproPriation of pro-
perty against the committee, and particularly against him-
self personally, he felt it due to his own honour, and also to
the committee, that he should state:every circumstance con-
nected with the transactions referred to by that hon.
member, and give, as he had promised to do, a complete
answer to the charges that had been made. He need not,
he was sure, remind the Court in the outset of the very im-
portant task that had been undertaken by the entertainment
committee, and he believed he might also say that they had
been congratulated on every aide on the success that had
attended their exertions and the manner in which they had
performed their duty. (Hear.) He might also inform them
that at a meeting of the committee on the day after the en-
tertainment there was a proposition by the members of it
that some acknowledgment should be made to him for his
services as chairman, but he at once refused to receive such
an acknowledgment, and stated that he wad only desirous
that the entertainment to be given to the royal pair should
be carried out successfully, and in a manner that was likely
to redound to the honour of the corporation, and if he suc-
ceeded in these objects he was amply repaid for any services
he had rendered. Nothing more was done at this time ex
cept to appoint a sub-committee to collect the various articles
and check the accounts, and the committee did not meet
again until the 12th June, and at this time every article ex-
cept a few trifling ones was found to be intact. He would
now tell them what subsequently occurred. They were
aware that two ladies rendered most important services in
carrying out the object in view of receiving their illustrious
guests in a becoming manner. One of these ladies was the
Lady Mayoress, who by the grace and dignity she exhibited
threw alineat a charm over the proceedings in which she
took a part. The other lady, although the duties that de-
volved upon her were not of such an onerous and important
character as those performed by the Lady Mayoress, still he
believed had carried them out to the satisfaction of their
royal and distinguished guests. (It should be explained that
the second lady referred to by the hon. member was Mrs.
lru He went on to say that when the committee met
ou'thsce°l.) 2th of June they came to a unanimous resolution
that the whole of the furniture and the fittings in the bou-
doir of the Princess should be presented to his wife. (Hear,
hear,) The hon. deputy who had brought these charges
against him and the committee appeared to have dived into
the recesses of the Chamberlain's office, and what ho said
was that all the costly furniture in the boudoir of the Prin-
cess had disappeared : but he would tell them what the real
facts were. The furniture was undoubtedly of the most
valuable and costly description, and was probably worth
£6OO or £7OO. (Cries of "Oh, oh.") He did not stand there
to disguise anything, and if hon. members would wait for
a short time before they expressed any opinion, he believed
they would say he had done nothing that was derogatory to
his own honour, or to the credit of the Corporation. (Hear.)
He looked at the articles that were proposed to
-be given to
his wife, and seeing their costly character, ho at once ob-
served to the committee that he would noe accept them ; if
he wanted such articles, he was net a poor man and was
nn
able to buy them, and the only articles he allowed to be
presented to his wife were some portions of tha furniture on
which the arms of the Princess were emblazoned, and other
articleswere the only which could not be purchased. (Hear, hear.) These
things which he would accept under the re-
solution of the committee, and he bolieved this Court would
so received, ho Was
say that hBwwisahsecjintsutified in' what be dd. (Hear, hear.) If
the entire Value of the
the Court
know the exact value of th© articles ho
howeverfu so limited in comparison with
No, no.") It
ass
squito willing to tell them. (Cries of
(Hear.) He trusted that thus far that ho thought it was
in the boudoir of the Prin-
cess,nh he
thug would t now
d o Npvritohcewedhaatrahe
casialetidsfy
feprehrheahpasdbevtitnedrienaottedtohdimosseolf.
from this portion of the char :
strde by the hon, member,
of
thetheavaifs and strays,
the Court
entertainment.
would auntie was
hanadd
or the "son and jetsam"
laugh.) The first subject to which he