The Sun.
London, England, 1853-07-13 00:00:00

ITALY.

The Parlamento of Turin, of the 9th, quotes a
letter from Faenza, announcing that M. Ghirri,
the governor of that town, had been fired at, and
I grievously wounded. The assassin, it is added,
has escaped.
A letter from Florence of the 2cl, in the Corriere
Mercantile, states that Gueriazzi has openly de-
clared that in the case of his appeal being rejected
or prevented by the Tuscan Government, he would
never apply for a pardon. The same letter states
that the police of Florence has received orders to
exercise special surveillance over Professor Cento-
fanti, who has lately been in the habit of speaking
very disrespectfully of the Government.

SPAIN.
There is not a line of political news of interest in
the Madrid journals of the 7th. According to the
Espana an understanding has been come to be-
tween the Spanish and French authorities as to the
boundary line between the two countries near
Navarre, and consequently the troops, which were
stationed on both sides the frontier to defend the
respective rights of both countries, have received
orders to return to their former quarters. The
Herald() complains that the payment of the inte-
rest of the Three per Cent. Stock, which ought to
have taken place on the Ist, has been postponed to
the end of August.
The Three per Cents. were done at 424.

COURT OP ALDERMEN.

Yesterday a court was held for the dispatch of pub•
lie business.

POWER OF EXCUSING PERSONS ELECTED SHERIFFS.
Alderman FAREBROTHER said he had observed from a
paragraph in the newspapers, that a gentleman who had
been chosen sheriff by the Livery was released by the
Court of Common Council from the obligation to serve.
Now, he did not mean for a moment to question the
privilege of the Court of Common Council in such mat-
ters, but he had always been under the impression that
gentlemen who wished to be excused made their appli-
cation to the Court of Aldermen. It would surely be
desirable to obtain a satisfactory decision upon such a
subject, and in order to accomplish that object he would
move that a committee take it into consideration, and '
report to the court upon the nature and extent of the
authority exercised as to releasing persons elected from
the compulsion to act in the office.
The TOWN CLERK said the Court of Common Council
had been guided by two precedents in releasing the gen-
tleman who had been chosen by the Livery from the
obligation to serve.
The motion, however, to which no objection was
made by any member, was at once carried.
ELECTION OF AN ALDERMAN FOR CASTLE-BAYNARD WARD.
The proper officer handed in the return of the election
of an alderman for the ward of Castle-baynard, in the
room of Samuel Wilson, Esq., removed to the ward of
Bridge Without. It stated that Henry Muggeridge,
Esq., who was the only candidate, had been unani-
mously elected alderman to the vacant ward.
Mr. Muggeridge was then formally introduced to the
court, and took the oaths of allegiance, supremacy, and
abjuration.

EXTORTION AT CORPORATE ELECTIONS.
Alderman WIRE (one of the sheriffs elect) gave bond
to perform the duties of the office.
Mr. TURNLEY was then called upon to go through the
same form as co-sheriff with Alderman Wire. The for-
mer gentleman appeared at the bar of the court, and
Sir JOHN MUSGROVE rose and said that he had been
requested by Mr. Turnley to present a petition to the
court complaining of the mode of nomination and elec-
tion to the office. He apprehended that the presentation
of such a petition would not have the effect of releasing
Mr. Turnley from the obligation to serve, or the heavy
penalty attached to the refusal, but it would at any rate
give him an opportunity of confirming the extraordi-
nary allegation in the document, and thus lead to the
correction of a very grievous and disgraceful evil.
The petition was then read. It detailed the par-
ticulars of a system which has been long in practice at
times of election to corporation offices by the livery of
London and by means of which certain persons well
known to the rabble voters are in the habit of
extorting money from honourable men, who, not
being able to serve for various reasons, found it
necessary to compromise for exemption, and it con-
cluded by representing to the Court that the petitioner
had been elected to the office, not by the free voice
of the livery, but by the conspiracy of persons, as a
punishment to him for not submitting to extortion ; and
by praying that the facts might be inquired into, and,
if proved, that he might be exonerated from the °ace of
sheriff without the payment of any fine. (Hear.)
Sir JOHN MUSGROVE said, he believed his brethren
were pretty well acquainted with the subject matter of
complaint, and moved that the petition be referred to
the committee of general purposes, from the report of
which might spring something upon which to found a
plan of complete relief, or, at any rate, partial mitiga-
tion. (Hear.)
Alderman FAREBROTHER seconded the proposition,
which was immediately and unanimously carried.
The LORD MAYOR told Mr. Turnley that the court
were not able to interfere upon the question as to the
obligation upon him to give bond to serve as sheriff.
Mr. TURNLEY—My lord, I decline executing the bond.
THE CORPORATION COMMISSION.
The TOWN CLERK informed the Court that a letter
had been received from Mr. Coleridge, the secretary to
the commission appointed to inquire into the corporation
matters of the city of London, stating that due notice
should be given of the time at which the business of the
commission would commence.
Alderman WIRE said he rejoiced to find that the in-
quiry was to take place, as the result must have the
effect of removing most erroneous impressions of the
conduct of the corporation of London, and the spirit by
which it was influenced and conducted. (Hear, hear.)
He could not, however, help saying that the commis-
sioners were invested with powers which appeared to
him to be exorbitant. But he did not object to the ex-
cessive license given by the act, because he not only had
reliance upon the honourable exercise of the functions of
the commissioners, but he knew that the more strict apd
searching the investigation should be, the more highly
would it redound to the character of the corporation.
(Hear, hear.)
Alderman FAREBROTHER said that whatever might be
the character of the act itself, the names of the commis
sioners were guarantees of fair play. (Hear; hear.)
The latter was ordered to be entered on the journals.

lecture was delivered last night, at the United Ser-
vice Institution, Whitehall-yard, by W. H. Smith, Esq.,
C.E. on a new principle of construction of harbours
and light-houses. The present suggestion is the esta-
blishment of them in front of the Goodwin Sands ; but
their application is quite general. The lecturer lucidly
explained his views to the satisfaction of a highly re-
spectable meeting, presided over by the Earl of Rad-
stock. The leading feature of the new theory is the re-
placement
of stone and other harbours, and light-houses,
which resist the force of the waves by their weight and
cohesion, which will not yield an ell, by comparatively
light wooden fabrics resting on iron beds, firmly screwed
to the sea's bottom, and held in their places by metal
cables, weighted in such a way that, to the violent rush
of a wave, they yield and then return to their places in
obenience to the laws of gravitation, aided by the re-
bound. The notion of such structures standing the vio-
lence which could tear down the grandest and best con-
structed stone work, may seem strange to the superficial.
It is nature's law : "The reed in storm may bend and
quiver, then rise again ; the tree must fall.'
A good idea would be formed of the arrangement, by
fancying a swinging-pole, having its fixing ropes ex-
tended, and a weight attached to the centre of each, so
that it just rests on the ground, any force acting on the
toe s
edraws up the weight, which keeps pulling it again
itrect position. Such would be the lighthouse, and
the harbour would be enclosed by a wooden wall sup-
ported similarly. This method is capable of being applied
in deep seas—a harbour may be formed anywhere, and
in three months --two circumstances of no small moment.
Such harbours would not silt up as all harbours have
hitherto done. But we must not, in our limited space,
attempt to describe all the advantages of the system, if
carried out successfully, as the author proposes, nor the
many beautiful details which have been conceived for
the adaptation and completion of them. The plan has
obtained the approbation of our Admiralty authorities ;
but the British Treasury treats it as it has always treated
every good thing.
Too much praise could not be bestowed on the author
of this conception, and it is to be hoped that the result
may reward his ingenuity and industry, as he seems to
have reason to expect ; for the British Treasury Lords
are not the only men to whom h can appeal. No arvgu-
e
the is are needed to enforce the e importance of improved
harbours of refuge, as well as of defence. Five hun-
dred vessels were wrecked in twelve months on the Goodwin Sands alone. 2,000,0001,
were lost in the
Christmas week, and all mariners Cry for incre
accommodation. Several inquiries were made by the
ased
scientific gentlemen present and to all of them most
satisfactory replies were made. Among those of this
class who seemed to take a peculiar interest in the pr
Sw in-
ciple, and the future applicability of it, were Captain
yne R.N. and Mr. , , J. G. D. Marshall, 8.A., C.E.,
of Westminster. The noble Captain Swyne, thanked president, seconded by
the able lecturer for his very
interesting statements and explanation; and the audience
separated.

_ __r.
ing of the governors HOSP
CHARING-OROSS ITAL.—The annual general meet-
noon held in the of this charity was yesterday after-
board-room of the institution; the Rev,
Mr. Hull in the chair. The report stated that in the
course of last year 16,286 indigent sick persons had
been admitted on the books for relief, at a cost of
2,5531. 4s. °id., and that of these, 1,282 had been in-
patients, and 15,204 out-patients, many of whom had
been visited at their own homes, and the greater
part restored to the blessings of health, and to their
occupations for the support of their families. The
committee, while respectfully soliciting the affluent for
their support to so meritorious a charity, thankfully
acknowledged the kind contributions toy,
tho hospital
during the past year, and also the liberal dona-
tions to the fund for the completion of the building,
and the fitting-up of four additional wards for children--
an addition which will supply 50 additional beds, and
enable the hospital to receive between 400 and 500 more
in-patients than heretofore ; and recorded the following
legacies—from the late T. Croft, Esq., one of 4001. ;
from the late Mesdames Hatch and Harris, and the late
Miss Harris, three of 200/. each ; and from the late Miss
Gauntlett, one of 20/. They also gratefully thanked her
Majesty the Queen, and the clubs in the neighbourhood,
for a supply of old linen. Of the cases relieved they re-
marked that 2,428 of them bad been cases of accident and
sudden injury, of which 324 had been of an extremely
danerous character. It appeared from the financial
statement tliat 1,308 t. had been expended in the pur-
chase of stock. The report was unanimously adopted
aud some other routine business having been transacted;
the proceedings terminated with a vote of thanks to the
chairman,