The Sun.
London, England, 1853-11-15 00:00:00

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(From the Daily News.)
The evidence of Mr. Pulling before the Commis-
sion of Inquiry into the state of the City Corpora-
tion is worth referring to, as it contains many de-
tails concerning the nature of the corporation in
ancient times which are not generally known.
Mr. Pulling directed attention to a fact which is
seldom takn into consideration, except by pro-
fessed antiquaries, that at an early date the corpo-
ration of London—and he might have added all
corporations—had stood in a peculiar position to-
wards the state, a position which it was impossible
that it could occupy at the present day. It had,
he said, possessed very extensive powers, which
appeared to have rendered it in some measure in-
dependent of the Crown. This may surprise many
who are not acquainted with the history of muni-
cipal institutions both here and on the continent,
but the fact is patent enough to all who have con-
sulted the early charters of the City and other cor-
porations. It appears at the first reading of these
that the cities treated, as independent powers,
with the sovereigns who granted or con-
firmed the charters. In one of the earliest—
that granted to the citizens of London by the Con-
queror—we may see this. William confirms the
citizens in all their ancient privileges, and adds a
clause which goes to the effect of establishing or
confirming the right of hereditary succession. This
is addressed to the officers representing the corpo-
ration. Now, the very treating rights like these
as privileges shows clearly that the citizens had
acquired something which other classes had not.
The fact was that no one, with few exceptions, had
the rights of a man in those times, except iose
who held land directly of the King, or indirectly
from the barons, and those who, by clubbing their
forces together as a corporation, attained that right
as a collective unity, which as atoms they were un-
able to enforce. The King claimed a limited mili-
tary service from a certain number of holders of
land who, saving this obligation, were freemen.
The population around them were mere serfs, hav-
ing no property either in themselves, their children,
or the paltry substance they had gathered together.
A town, by its collective strength, was enabled to
claim and exercise the privileges which every inch-
dual possessed on his own lands. A simple citizen
was powerful as an inhabitant of a town which had
strength enough to claim corporate rights--but in-
dividually he was nothing. Guizot, in one of his
treatises, treats very graphically the imaginary-case
of a resuscitated inhabitant of one of the old corpo-
rations entering his ancient dwelling place at the
present day. He pictures his dismay at the de-
fenceless state of the citizens without walls, without
closed gates, without fortifications of any kind,
and would tremble at the strange unwarlike ap-
pearance of the place.
The Lord Mayor, as a baron representing the
collective unity, Loudon, was considered of suffi

_
cient importance to fill such posts as the barons
holding the great crown fiefs were privileged to
claim. He had a right to the office of chief butler
to the Sovereign. He was a member of the Great
Council. On the decease of the Sovereign he en-
joyed, without any new grant from the Crown, any
dignity which he might have previously possessed.
All the conditions which existed when the muni-
cipalities were formed are so changed that it would
be absurd to say that the i egulations dictated by
such conditions should be now rigorously enforced.
The Lord Mayor has no longer the care of the mi-
litary defence of the City against Baron or King.
The Aldermen never have their slumbers troubled

by the sound of a " dreadful bell " ringing madly
in the market-place. The great body of the
citizens are relieved from all those fears which

formerly caused them to combine, and which have
given rise to the existing customs of the corpora-
tion. Let the municipality be remodelled with re-
ference to the new state of things. Preserve the
municipality itself. Do not touch the principle
of local self-government, but cut off all those tra-
ditional absurdities which have now as much

meaning as the ceremony in Westminster Hall, in
which, until lately, a quiet Englishman clothed

himself in armour,-grasp-eda lance he could nc;

wield, mounted a horse furnished from the "ring"
at Astley's, flung down a glove that he knew no
one would pick up, challenged any individual pre-
sent to fight him, although he was aware that the
effect of any acceptance of the challenge would be
to cause himself and his opponent to be bound over
to keep the peace ; and finally, reeled backwards
out of the Hall, thankful that the solemnity of the
occasion has preserved him from being overwhelmed
with ridicule for his participation in one of the
most bygone of all farces. It was very right for
the City to have the conservancy of the river when
fish of ordinary stomachs did not disdain the
Thames water, but what do they want with the
conservancy, now no respectable fish would swim
up its waters ? It was very natural that in the
infancy of trade, men who exercised certain
trades or " mysteries," as they were called,
should unite for the purpose of fellowship, im-
provement, and protection, and claim within the
city which they enriched by their labour certain
exclusive principles. It is absurd, when trade has
assumed such gigantic proportions, to apply to it
the same rules which were sufficient at its origin.
You cannot grow oaks in China jars. The City
itself virtually acknowledges the absurdity of the
privileges claimed by the companies, by never ex-
ercising them except in the case of the brokers,
publicans, and retailers. But this virtual aban-
donment of the exclusive privileges does not
abolish the exclusive right, which is always at
hand to serve the purpose of the mischievous and
the litigious. To what extent this reaches may be
imagine from the fact stated by Mr. Pulling, that_
there are 700 local metropolitan acts, nearhlycouV
charters, and nearly as many customs,
be called from their slumbers by any adventurous reomu.s
attorney wishing to experimentalise uponiet them.
Here Here is a legal volcano, over which
are sleeping. It is time that all danghecirautfrothme suchcity
a source should cease. It is timees t
should give up antiquated privile,g,ere
Let it
w.sehsi.ch are of
no use, and which it seldomd,tax
take
its duo place
join in the work of reform, an
in au age of progress.

;---
MOSLEM TOLERATION.—Christians have at all times
had churches in 'Turkey, but Turks have rarely been
allowed a mosque in a Christian land. To this day, no
Mussulman can settle in the Pope's dominions, nor even
disembark upon the eastern coast of Naples ; though on
the opposite shores
eorfshTipurGkeeyd
iaeNheisapeowlintawnav maynalav;ild
V:riifyh°aUtpoll-tax of 3 dole. in compensation for Way, paying
is exemptfrom military service.—Letters on Turkey.
OPENING IN FRANCE FOR ENGLISH IRON
this head we lately quoted facts fromthenet tioaurrana:i des
Debets, intimating a changeinth
and practiclel3res a all ironWe
have since been informed that the Frenchc Government
have resolved on making a
serious
reduc-
tion in the duty on and
acleiumnptroirteee.d
Tinhteo
France, whether from England
or other
principle of the measure has already been settled, and
the only question is as to the precise amount of reduc-
tion, and the period at which the measure will come
into force. it is expected that the decree on the subject
will appear in theollstoniteur in the course of a few days.
appearancei,
KENNY DODD
\\vvi(tlhare not far from a war ; but where it's
THE RUSSIAN QUESTION.—To all
lieve, 110 countring is
a
to be, an(
doubt but fi,lit• whom,. is hard to say. There's no
costly amusement ; and, I be-
would so much tend' to,
pays.t,ut so heavily for her fun in that
revi‘,eher
shape as EncilalYid nevertheless, d
rtohoepr
ien
gi s
annodt h •ds,e;.
elinin— • '
b inauencc on the Continent as a little brush at
sea. She is, I take it, as good as certain to be victo-
rious ; and the very fervour of the enthusiasm success
would evoke in England would go far to disabuse the
foreigner of his notion that we are only eager about
printing calicoes and sharpening Sheffield ware. Be-
' lieve me, it is vital to us to eradicate this fallacy ' • and
until the world sees a British fleet reeling up the Downs
with some half-dozen dismasted line-of-battle ships in
their wake, they'll not be convinced of what you and I
know well, that we are just the same people that fought
the Nile and Trafalgar. Those industrial exhibitions, I
think, brought out a great deal of trashy sentimentality
about universal brotherhood, peace, and the rest of it,
I suppose the Crystal Palace rage was a kind of alle-
gory to show that they wholt 'ye in glass houses shouldn't
throw stones ; but our ships, Tom, our ships, as the
are "hearts of oak !"—The Dodd B . 1
song says, Witt y
Abroad.

77,
‘.4 4"
NGARTC7OIfrifdA MAIL
m Xl "

An extraordinary general meeting of the shareholders
of this company was held at the London Tavern,
Bishopsgate-street, yesterday, for the purpose of re-
ducing the time required for the tenure of shares by a
director previously to his election, from the period o
six consecutive months, now required by the deed of
settlement, to the period of ten consecutive days next
preceding his election, as agreed to at the general meet-
ing of shareholders, and since sanctioned by the Presi-
himself master of the question ; the second, the dent of the Board of Trade, and, so far as may be requi-
Governor of the Bank, has a stomach too weak for site in relation thereto, annulling, altering, or varying,
civic festivities and a conscience too delicate for or authorising the directors to annul, alter, or vary the
Aldermanic justice ; and the third, Mr. Dillon, existing provisions of the deed of settlement, or any of
though he deserves the credit of having considered them. Also for the purposes of appointing new directors,
and grappled with the question, can scarcely be
and appointing an auditor, and fixing the remuneration
congratulated on the success of his solution. Mr. '
c• directors and auditors.
Dillon desires the Corporation should be continued of -
Mr. J. G. FRITH, the chairman of the board of di-
because it comes from old times, and is mixed up '
--the more the pity, we should say—with the
manners and institutions of the city. Having ar-last re
sued for the permanence of the nuisance on settlement which makes a six months' tenure of the pre-
scribed number of shares a part of the qualification of a
grounds wide enough to perpetuate everyother that director, and reducing the period to ten days, had
has been or will be swept away in this country
' received the sanction of the President of the Board
Mr. Dillon proceeds to allot to the Corporation jof Trade, and the shareholders were now at liberty to
the functions which it is to exercise, having first elect seven gentlemen as shareholders, under the new
offered his opinion as to the future constitution of arrangement. He trusted that the most perfect ununi-
the body, and as to those departments which will i mity would prevail on the present occasion, for the
be better taken from its administration. Mr. dissensions and delays which had hitherto prevailed hurl
Dillon thinks that, reform the Corporation as you been destructive of all prosperity whatever. (Hear,
will, the leading merchants and bankers of the hear.)
in his The gentlemenhand,
near him had pl aced
the
first
their
rreessoligu.-
Fity will never take office in it
, so that the body he nations
tion, he should proceed
read andafter
the
proposing
is anxious to perpetuate is to remain for ever in
names of the retiring directors, and leave the meeting to replace them in
the hands of a class of persons not admitted to such manner as they might think proper. He would
municipal honours in the other great cities of the now move :—" That so much of the provisions of the
kingdom. Then as to the functions of this other company's deed of settlement, and particularly of its
great body. It is to be deprived of its present 44th clause, as provides that no shareholder shall be
share in the administration of justice. It is to eligible to the office of director unless for six consecutive
have no control over the police, the sewerage, the months previously to the time of his election he shall
lighting, the paving, or the water supply, and it is have been registered on the register of shareholders as
to be relieved from its duty as joint trustee for the proprietor of the number of shares which shall from
charities with the companies. Of all the functions time to time be prescribed as forming the necessary qua-
of the Corporation, then, not one will remain to lification for a director, shall be, and the same is, with
this body except the expenditure of the very ample the consent and approval of the President
er of the Board
revenues which belong to it, and which, exempt as of Trade, testifiedbLer, 8
awlrlsl3 altered andngund his
varied hand,. datedil
d2is4tehn day of October,
it will be from all other public duty, the Corpo-
thenecessity of any such tenurea a:f
ration may probably think it expedient to divide to
such sharesse with the
by any person who may be hereafter elected
among its members according to a scale to be fixed to be a director for any longer period than ten consecn-
for that purpose. So that, according to Mr. Dil- tive daye next preceding the time of his election, and
lon's philosophy, a body, to be made of bad mate- that such period of ten consecutive days shall be and is
rials for the purpose of doing nothing but job away hereby substituted for the said period of six consecutive
public money, is the form which the present imper- months mentioned in the deed of settlement."
sonation of Plato's Republic in the city of London The resolution, having been seconded, was put and
is to take in order to attain perfection. agreed to.
The CHAIRMAN then proceeded to read the names of
the directors, and inquired if any person was prepared
to name a gentleman to succeed Mr. East.
Mr. MAnufs thought it most undesirable that the
directors should retire in a body, and moved that Mr.
East be requested to accept the office of director.
Mr. MOORE understood that the directors were to
have submitted a list of names to the meeting ; and if
they were not prepared to do so, he would suggest an
adjournment to this day fortnight. (No, no.)
Mr. SHEPPARD said that some time ago he brought
forward the names of several parties, but they had de-
clined to act.
A SHAREHOLLER suggested that at least seven names
should be proposed before any election took place. If
more than seven were given in, then a selection might
be made.
Mr. LEACH held in his hand a list which had been dis-
cussed by many of the large shareholders, and had re-
ceived the approval of many of the members of the
board. He understood that measures were in progress
for improving the position of the company, and as those
measures might result in the junction of the board with
many influential persons connected with the shipping
interest, he did not think it very important that the
new board should consist of that class, and should be
satisfied if they were men of business and honour. The
list which he was about to move comprised three mem-
bers of the old board, and four gentlemen from the body
of the meeting. The old members were Messrs. East,
Kennedy and Sheppard ; the new ones, Messrs. Maims,
Henry Tootal, Davis, and Jackson. He believed all
these gentlemen to be perfectly competent, and that they
would act together. (Hear, hear.)
The CHAIRMAN then put the name of Mr. East to the
meeting.
Mr. MOORE said he could not concur in the appoint.
ment of such a list, and thought it would be better to
wind up the concern at once. He moved as an amend-
ment that this meeting do adjourn until this day three
weeks, for the purpose of electing new directors of this
company ; that any shareholder willing to serve in such
office do send his name to the office of the company on
or before Saturday, the 26th instant ; and that a list of
such names be circulated among the shareholders at
least six days before the day of election. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. DAVIS said there was an old proverb that "delays
are dangerous," and trusted the meeting would consent
to elect new directors without any further hesitation.
(Hear, hear.) There were gentlemen of eminence in
the City who were prepared to treat with a new board,
but who were unable to treat with a board which had
been condemned by the proprietors.
Mr. W. HAWES did not dispute the truth of the pro-
verb that " delays are dangerous," but wished to remind
the meeting of a motto equally significant, "look before
you leap," and in this case he thought a few days' more
delay absolutely necessary.
The CHAIRMAN then put the amendment, and declared
the show of hands to be 27 for and 34 against. The
amendment was therefore lost.
Mr. MOORE demanded a ballot on the proposition,
according to the constitution of the company.
Mr. DAVIS and several other members expressed a
hope that Mr. Moore would not persevere in his inten-
tion, inasmuch as a ballot would be productive both of
delay and expense.
Mr. Mooan, however,. declared that he would not
give way, and that the further proceedings ought to be
adjourned.
The CHAIRMAN said he was advised that the name of
Mr. East might now be put, and put it accordingly, and
declared it to be carried.
Mr. Moorin said he should demand a ballot on that
question also.
The CHAIRMAN next put the question that Mr. Henry
Tootal be elected in the room of Mr. Hawes.
Mr. Mooan denied the right of the chairman to pro-
ceed until the result of the ballot should be known.
Mr. HAWES declared the course pursued by the chair-
man to be illegal.
The SoLICIToR to the company, having been appealed
to, said it was competent for the meeting to go on with
the other business, just as if the question had not gone
to the ballot.
The CHAIRMAN said he would now put the question
that Mr. Henry Tootal be elected a member.
Mr. MooRE demanded a ballot upon that question.
(Hear, hear, and great uproar.)
The CHAIRMAN considered this mode of proceeding
highly undignified and indecorous, and declared that he
would quit the chair. He thought they had better ad-
journ. (No, no.) He eventually put the motion, and
declared it to have been carried.
The names of Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Malins, Mr. Shep-
pard, Mr. Richard Belgrave Jackson, and Mr. Davis
were put and agreed to in a similar manner, Mr. Moore
demanding a ballot in each case.
Mr. Charles Whetham was elected an auditor of the
company.
Mr. MOORE said that all the proceedings which had
taken place since he had demanded the ballot had
been illegal, and if the new directors presumed to act as
a board, lie would take the best legal measures to pre
vent themfrom so doing.
the company
on hours of
The CHAIRMAN said that, according to the charter,
the ballot must take place at the offices of
on the 15th, 16th, 17th inst.,
meetingbetween
lock, to receive the result
adjourned till Friday at two o c
twelve and four each day, and the would be
of the ballot and continue the business. No proxies
would be allowed.
Mr. HAWKES said it was but just
shareholders residing at a distance should have a fair
and fair that the
opportunity of recording their votes, and he therefore
taken from twelve o'clock till
moved that the votes be
week, and that the meeting
four each day during the
thatay
A
Mr. WALTON seconded
the motion, which was stand adjourned until d week at two o'clock.
nega-
tived, and the meeting was then adjourned until Friday