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

COURT OF COMMON COUNCIL,

A Court of Common Council was holden yesterday in the
Council Chamber, Guildhall.
The Right Hon. the Lord Mayor presided, and among the
membersof the Upper Bench present were Alderman Sidney,
M.P., Alderman Carter, Alderman Gabriel, Alderman Mechi,
Alderman Sir F. G. Moon, Alderman Finnis, Alderman
Dakin, and Alderman Lusk, who took his seat for the first
time since his election to the cffice, and who upon doing so
was received with cheers from the members of the Court.
There was a very full attendance of Common Councilmen,
as it was known that there was a notice upon the paper of
business having reference to the charges made against the
Entertainment Committee upon the occasion of the visit of
their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales
to the City in June last.

The LORD MAYOR, after the Court had been formally
opened, rose and said that as this was the last time he should
take his seat as chief magistrate of the city of London, he
would take the opportunity of expressing his sincere thanks,
both individually and collectively, to every member of the
Court for the kind assistance they had rendered him during
his year of office in performing the duties of their president.
He had had the unprecedented honour of being chief magis-
trate of the City during one of the most eventful periods in
the history of the Corporation, and when they had sought to
give an expression of their loyalty to their beloved Sovereign
and her family under most eventful circumstances. The
coming of age of the Prince of Wales and his marriage with
the beautiful lady the subject of his choice were events that
called upon this great Corporation to express their feelings
of loyalty, and he thought it was a matter of congratulation
that they had done so in the most satisfactory manner ; and
he thought it was also a matter of congratulation that the
country generally had so well followed their example. For
his own part he could only assure them that he had most
anxiously endeavoured to perform all the important duties
that devolved upon him in a satisfactory manner, and he
again thanked them for the kind assistance they had ren-
dered him in doing so. (Cheers.)
FARRINGDON-MARKET,

Mr. ANDERTON gave notice of a motion for the next
Court, the object of which was to improve the present con-
dition of Farringdon-market, which, he said, in its present
was a disgrace to the Corporation. (Haar, hear.)

THE CHA:RQES AGAINST THE ROYAL ENTERTAINMEN T

COMMITTEE.

Mr. R. ROWE said thi! at the last Court a question had
been submitted to the law officers ;If the Corporation through
a resolution proposed by Deputy Elliott, and he wished to
know whether these gentlemen had given an answer to that
question. (Hear, hear.)
Mr, NELSON, the City solicitor, who was appealed to by
the hon. member, 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 officers. 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. TRUSCOTT, the chairman of the Royal Entertant•
went Committee, expressed his wish that the opinion should
be read at once. i

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 01200 laid be-
fore the Court.

Mr. WOODTHORPE, the town olerk, 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
belcnging to the Corporation without the authority and
sanction of the Court ; and the reply given was, that, in
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. TRUSCOTT shortly afterwards brought up the report
of the Royal Entertainment Committee, and moved that i
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 L 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 forwaed 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 side 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 ho at once refused to receive such
an acknowledgment, and stated that he was 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 vew 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 almost 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.
Truscott.) He went on to say that when the committee met
on the 12th 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 he 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 thst was derogatory to
presented to his own honour, or to the credit of the Corporation. (He ir )
He looked at the articles that were proposed to
_be given to
his wife, and seeing their costly character, he at once ob-
served to the committee that he would noe accept them ; if'
articles
were the only thingseem
able
elwe anted such articles, he was not a poor man and was
them, and the only articles he allowed to be
of the
the arms. of the Princess were emblazoned, and other
which to his wife were some portions of the furniture on
'which could not be purchased. (Hear, hear.) These
the Court wished to
.which he would accept under the re-
solutionjuemtiree, and ho believed this Court would
justified in what he did. (Hear, hear.) If
say that he was
he
was
quite
the exact value of the articles he
"No, no.") It was however so received,
the entire value of the er so limited in comparison with
furniturewas
in the boudoir of the Prin-
cess, that he thought it
made by
vindicated himself
(Hear.) He trusted that thus far he
satisfy
iy bettertth h eac:c
.nouourt
membert
toh dato
hs oe
t
d strays
from this portion of the charges
and he would now proceed also to
or tthi to do with what he called ;
he " flotson and jetsam" of thetas ntertainar:
laugh.) The first subject to which he would allude Was