The Sun.
London, England, 1853-11-05 00:00:00

F"
I RICE SD.

against the " sitting Member." The counsel may
know perfectly well that it has rained 51. notes in
a borough which, in its normal condition, was
usually free from any such refreshing visitation.
Voters in their evening walks have had little
packets containing precisely two sovereigns slipped
into their hands, and they have continued their
walks, and ultimately voted on the right side. Lia-
bilities have not been enforced, arrears of taxes
have been paid up by some benevolent genius,
and nobody wondered at such a result, for was it
not election time ? Everybody is fully aware of
the existence of bribery; but, of course, there
must be some difficulty in proving that which the
guilty parties are at most pains to conceal. But
some way or other murder will out. The air which
floats over rotten boroughs and rotten corporations
is pregnant with revelation. In the case of Par-
liamentary elections there are two points chiefly
worthy of wonder—first, that every member is
not unseated ; and, secondly, that any member
is ever unseated. In other words, corruption is
general—the difficulty of proving it enormous.
So, with the London Corporation in the present
instance, it is astounding that the very stones in
the Poultry and King-street do not rise up
in witness against, them ; on the other hand,
so completely have they had all the sources of
evidence under their own control, that it is still
more marvellous that Aldermen and angels are
not taken as synonymous expression.s. But we
bare no kind of • doubt thit before the inquiry by
the Commission is concluded, by hook or by crook
every point of their management and corruption
will be brought to light, and that not through chan-
nels to which one might naturally have looked, but
in unforeseen ways. In the case at present before
us, who would ever have supposed that a zealous
Common Councilman, in the plenitude of his civic
energy, should have jumped up in his place and
made the requisite admissions, when there was
some little difficulty in bringing the case home to
the principals ? Mr. Wood tells us that the prac-
tice is to order . 300 copies of the newspaper con-
taining the longest report of the proceedings of
the civic court. The purchase is made under the
authority of a report from the Consolidated Com-
mittee, which had been received by the Court, and
acted upon by the instrumentality of the Hall-
keeper. The Town-elerk, on Thursday last, de-
clined furnishing our reporter with a copy of this
document. We are bound to say that the refusal
was made with all circumstances of courtesy ; but
still the document was kept back. Here it is—at
least, the most important part of it—as handed in
by Mr. Acland yesterday to the City Corporation
Commission :

" We, whose names are hereunto subscribed of your
Consolidated Committee, to whom, on the 22d day of
May, 1846, it was referred to confer with her Majesty's
Government and others upon such of the matters speci-
ally referred to the several committees, as we may deem
expedient, and to report thereon from time to time, do
certify that, pending the progress of the negotiations
had on the references to us with various departments of
the Government, and also in the proceedings in Parlia-
ment during the last two sessions, it has appeared to
your committee that the motive and objects of the Cor-
poration have frequently been much misunderstood, to
the great hindrance of your committee and the embar-
rassment of the concerns intrusted to them, impeding
materially the arrangements they were proposing with
the Government and the Crown ; and that these incon-
veniences have in a great degree arisen from the imper-
fect publication of the reports of the proceedings of the
Corporation, by which means want of confidence was
engendered and misconception encouraged. That the
proceedings of most other corporate bodies, of public
meetings and public transactions, are more fully reported
and published than those of this Corporation."
We believe we are not in error when we assume
the document from which the above extract is taken
to be identical with the one which was refused on
Thursday by the Town-clerk on the application of
our reporter.