The Sun.
London, England, 1865-07-05 00:00:00

Election of Sheriffs,

Yesterday at 2 o'clock, a meeting of the Livery-
men was held at Guildhall for the purpose of re-
ceiving the official return of the election of sheriffs
of the city of London and Sheriff of the county of
Middlesex for the ensuing year, commencing on the
28th of September next. The present Sheriffs
(Alderman Dakin and Alderman Begley), with the
Under-Sheriffs, and accompanied by Mr. Secondary
Potter, appeared upon the hustings and announced
that the numbers at the close of the poll were—
for Mr. Sells John Gibbons, alderman and salter,
887 ; Mr. James Figgins, citizen and stationer,
777 ; Mr. John Bennett, citizen and spectacle
maker, 581 ; Mr. D. H. Stone, alderman and
spectacle maker, 84 ; and Mr. Sydney H.
Waterlow, alderman and stationer, 55. They
therefore declared Mr. Alderman Gibbons and Mr.
James Figgins to have been duly elected by the
Livery of London to serve as Sheriffs. The result
of the poll was then reported to the Court of Alder-
men, upon which the Aldermen, with the Lord
Mayor at their head, proceeded to the hustings in
the Great Hall, and declared, through the Common
Sergeant, that the election had fallen upon Mr. Al-
derman Gibbons and Mr. Figgins. The Sheriffs
elect were then called upon by the Town-clerk (Mr.
Woodthorpe) to come forward and take upon them-
selves the office " upon the pain and peril" that
would befall them in case of their declining, mean-
ing that in default the customary fine of £6OO
would be imposed, which when paid invariably goes
by Act of Parliament towards the support of the
Freemen's Orphan School. There have been occa-
sional instances in which gentlemen elected to fill the
office have preferred to pay the fine rather than
serve, Sir Morton Peto and the late Mr. Tegg, the
bookseller, being among the number. 'ln the latter
case, the Freemen's Orphan School not having been
then established, the fine paid by Mr. Tegg went
towards founding a scholarship in the city of Lon-
don, which to this day bears his name. A letter was
then read by the Town-clerk from Mr. Alderman
Gibbons to the effect that he was ready to assume
the office. Mr. Figgins personally expressed his ob-
ligations to the Liverymen for having spontaneously
returned him, and his willingness to act. Mr. Ben-
nett and Alderman Waterlow, two of the unsuccess-
ful candidates, then briefly addressed the Livery,
and intimated their intention to present themselves
for election next year. On the motion of Mr. Fin-
lay a vote of thanks to the Lord Mayor for presid-
ing at the Common-hall was carried by a cclama-
tion, and the proceedings terminated.

The rumours at the West End this morning rela
tive to the successor of Lord Westbury as Lord
High Chancellor, were very conflicting. The At-
torney-General, Sir Roundell Palmer, was freely
mentioned as being likely to be the successor of the
noble lord, but in one generally well informed
quarter it was thought that Lord Cranworth would
be again offered the Great Seal, or that it would be
placed in commission until after the general
election.

THE NEW BRIDGE AT BLACKFRIARS. —Thursday,
July 20, has been fixed by the Bridge-house Estates
Committee of the Corporation of London for laying the
foundation-stone of the new bridge at Blackfriars, and great
preparations are being made for the ceremony, which will
bo conducted by the Lord Mayor. As a precaution against
accidents by the possible overcrowding of the temporary
bridge, it will be entirely closed, both against carriage traffic
and foot passengers, on the day of laying the foundation
stone from 10 in the morning until 5 in the afternoon, and
the stone will be laid at the Surrey side of the river. The
City authorities will first assemble at Guildhall, and pro-
ceed thence in great state to the place appointed, headedby
the Lord Mayor. A luncheon will be served at the cost of
the Bridge-house Committee, at Guildhall, before the pageant
starts, and in the evening the Lord Mayor, following the
precedent of Mr. Garratt, his predecessor in office, when the
foundation-stone of London-bridge was laid in June, 1825;
will entertain the Court of Common Council at a banquet
at the Mansion-house. The finding of the foundation-stone
of the old bridge is anticipated with some curiosity, inas-
much as it contains many valuable gold coins of the period,
and some other articles of interest. The old foundation-stone
was laid in the north abutment, and as the work of removing
the arch there proceeds the spot is watched night and day
lest any unauthorized hands should remove the stone. The
stone was laid on the '3lst of October, 1760, so that the
bridge has been a comparatively short-lived one, being little
more than 100 years old, and during the last 20 or 30 years
the repair of it has cost the corporation from first to last a
sum fabulous in amount. The foundation was laid on the
day just mentioned by Sir Thomas Chitty, the then Lord
Mayor, accompanied by the members of the Court of Alder-
men and Common Council. As the stone was adjusted the
Corporation sword and mace were laid upon it, and several
roundS of cannon were fired. There were deposited in it a
gold five-guinea piece, a two-guinea piece, a guinea, and a
half-guinea, a crown, half-crown, shilling, sixpence, a half-
penny, and a farthing, "to show," as a record of the trans-
action written at the time states, " at a future distant period
the standard of the coin in the late reign" (that of George
II.). The architect of the bridge was Mr. Robert Mylne,
and there is a tradition that in the enthusiasm of the mo-
ment he took from his neck a silver medal, bearing a com-
plimentary inscription, which had been presented to him
when a very young man as a token of professional promise
and skill by the College of St. Luke, at Rome, and threw it
into the cavity of the foundation-stone, in which it was
afterwards hermetically sealed along with the various coins.
There was also enclosed in the cavity a piece of pure tin,
on which was an inscription in Latin, stating that the stone
of the bridge, undertaken by the Common Council of Lon-
don,.was laid "amidst the rage of an expensive war, for the
public accommodation and ornament of the city (Robert
Mylne being the architect) ; and that these might remain
to posterity a monument of the city's affections to the man
who by the strength of his genius, steadiness of his mind,
and a certain kind of happy contagion of his probity and
spirit (under the Divine favour and fortunate auspices of
George II.) recovered, augmented, and secured the British
empire in Asia, Africa, and America, and restored the
ancient reputation and influence of his country among the
nations of Europe, the citizens of London have unanimously
voted this bridge to be inscribed with the name of William
Pitt,"