The Sun.
London, England, 1853-10-19 00:00:00

CORPORATION REFORM.

Yesterday a large number of the livery of London as-
sembled at the London Tavern, on the invitation of Mr.
Sheriff Wallis, to advise with him, and to decide upon
the best means of assisting her Majesty's Commissioners
in the forthcoming inquiry, and perpetuating the consti-
tutional right of local self-government.
Mr. Sheriff WALLIS having taken the chair, stated
that, in obedience to the command of his Sovereign, he
had waited until the very eve of the Royal Commissioners
entering the city of London before he, as the junior
sheriff, had taken any proceedings to assist them ; and
he assured the meeting that under no circumstances
whatever would he have come forward, did he not feel
that if he neglected to do so the c•mmission would end,
as others had ended, in a mere fruitletis inquiry. (Cheers.)
It had been stated that his desire in adopting these pro-
ceedings was to make an attack upon the livery. (Cries
of " No, no.") Did they think for one moment, that if
he wished to make an attack upon the livery he should

invite his fellow-liverymen to meet him there ? His
object was to assist her Majesty's Commissioners in a
searching investigation into all that was wrong in the
corporation of London, and with that view he had sum-
moned them to meet him upon that occasion. He did
not wish to dictate to the citizens of London what their
future policy should be, but merely to place the thing in
a tangible shape, so that they might, if approved of,
call upon the Lord Mayor to convene a Common Hall in
order that the voice of the citizens of London might be
heard. It might, perhaps, be asked why he had not
consulted his colleague in this affair. His answer
simply was, that because his colleague, for some unex-
plained reason or another, had refused to consult him.
He contended, however, that the interests of the citi-
zens of London should not suffer because two sheriffs
could not agree. He did not ask them to take his
word for granted ; but, at all events, they should not
have an opportunity hereafter of saying that Mr. Wallis,
the unanimously elected Sheriff of London, was not at
his-post when the time of trial was at hand. (Cheers.)
At a time of great difficulty, and when no other sheriff
could be found to support the dignity of his fellow-citi-
zens, he had come forward, and had taken upon himself
that arduous and responsible office. He had not forced
himself upon the livery, but had come forward, when
requested to do so, in a time of great emergency, when
their city privileges might have been involved and their
rights invaded. (Cheers.) It was under those circum-
stances, and those alone, that he had taken upon him-
self the office of Sheriff of London. The present meet-
ing was not his, but was that of the livery of London.
There had been no previous meetings--no secret inqui-
sitions held ; but he had upon his own responsibility
convened them there in order that they might fairly
ent9rtain this question, and might not allow her Ma-
jesty's Commissioners to depart from that city again
without having obtained all the information that was
necessary for their purpose. (Cheers.) He should now
leave the chair, and, if it were the wish of the meeting,
it would be competent for them to elect any other per-
son to his place. (Cries of "No, no.")
On the motion of Mr. SHEPHERD, seconded by Mr.
BROWNE, the sheriff was requested to retain the chair.
Mr. POTTER moved that those gentlemen who were
not liverymen, and who were present, should be re-
spectfully requested to retire.
Mr. JONES seconded the resolution.
Mr. BROWNE proposed an amendment, and Mr.
MASTERS seconded it, that the meeting proceed to
business.

The amendment was carried by a large majority.
The CHAIRMAN then submitted to the meeting two
resolutions, which he described as "hastily drawn,"
and which he left them to adopt or reject as might
seem to them desirable. He was not prepared with
the name of any mover or seconder ; but he would
read the resolutions, and then perhaps some gentle-
man would support them. They were in the follow-

ing terms :—•
" 1. That this meeting, informed of the appointment
of Royal Commissioners for Inquiring into the State of
the Corporation of the City of London, pledges itself
to afford them all possible assistance in the discharge of
their important, arduous, and responsible duties.
" 2. That a requisition be forthwith presented to the
Right Hon. the Lord Mayor, requesting him to con-
vene a meeting in the Common-hall to consider how they
may best aid the commissioners in the dispatch of their
important, arduous, and responsible duties."
A LIVERYMAN inquired whether it would not be pos-
sible to take measures for preventing the attendance of
any but liverymen in the Common-hall ? He had been
a member of the livery upwards of a quarter of a cen-
tury, and he had seen so much bribery and jugglery car-
ried on in that hall, and such an interference by persons
who were not liverymen, that he was positively disgusted
with the conduct there pursued. tCheers.)
The CHAIRMAN thought that the question was one
which the meeting could hardly deal with without
assuming a power which belonged to the authorities, of
preventing improper persons being in the hall.
The LIVERYMAN inquired who the proper authorities
were 1

The CHAIRMAN said, that the Lord Mayor had the
custody of the hall.
Mr. BROWNE, of Fenehurch-street, then moved, and
Mr. LIVINGSTONE, of Bishopsgate-street, seconded, the
first resolution.

Mr. BROOKE, in supporting the resolution, said his
wish was that every man who paid scot and bore lot in
the city of London should enjoy the right which inalien-
ably belonged to him, of voting for the chief officers ;
and he believed that he spoke the feelings of the livery
of London when he said that they were prepared
to assist her Majesty's Commissioners in knocking down
those barriers which existed, to the disgrace of the
city of London, and which excluded men from
voting because they did not pay a fine to a trading com-
pany of the city of London. (Cheers.) He assorted
that it was essentially necessary that the commissioners
should be supported in their investigations, because he
knew the power of the corporation of London, and he
declared to them it was an immense power. As a for-
mer member of the Common Council, he had no hesita-
tion in saying that the management of the corporation
was corrupt, and that, test it whenever they would, it
would be found to be as defective and corrupt as it had
lately been proved to be in the election of Sheriff, of
Chamberlain, of Alderman, and of Lord Mayor.
(Cheers.) He complained that while a bill had passed
the Legislature which had reformed nine-tenths of the
municipal corporations throughout the kingdom, the
city of London had dexterously managed to exclude
themselves from its operation ; and expressed a hope
that the present meeting would prove the stepping-
stone to a great movement, which would result in the
thorough reform of the corporation of London.
Mr. JONES, in a lengthened speech, dwelt upon the
theory of the corporation, and hoped that the time would
come when the dignity of labour and the skill of handi-
craftsmen of London would be recognised, as of yore,
through the medium of the various guilds of the city.
He believed that if a Plato were to visit the earth to
project a new republic, he would take the theory of the
corporation of the city of London as his model. (A
laugh.) Hemaintained that that corporation was vener-
able by its antiquity, and that by its powers had been
gained in past times much of the liberty which the people
of England now enjoyed.
Mr. WALTER supported the resolution, and while admit-
ting that in past times the corporation of London had dis-
tinguished itself in advancing the liberties of the people,
said, that they might look in vain for such instances
in the present day. In vain they looked to the
corporation to cleanse the river, to throw open the
bridges, to construct baths and washhouses, or to estab-
lish free libraries. In every respect there was a short-
coming, and he trusted that, when the inquiry took place,
it would be a thorough and searching one, and that
there would be found a sufficient spirit among the citi-
zens to induce them to come forward and give their evi-
dence before the commissioners freely and independently.
After a few words from Mr. CARDEN, in which he
gave it as his opinion that the commissioners would be
perfectly competent to conduct their inquiry without the
assistance of that meeting,
The resolution was put and carried almost unani-
mously, but one hand being held up in opposition.
On the motion of Mr. MASTERS, seconded by Mr.
W. SMITH, the second resolution was carried, with two
dissentients.
A requisition to the Lord Mayor in the terms of the
resolutions was also agreed to, and the proceedings
concluded with a vote o thanks to the Chairman for
having called them together and presided over the
meeting.

SUSPECTED SUICIDE OF A GENTLEMA/C—Yesterday
information was forwarded to Thomas Wakley, Esq.,
coroner for Middlesex, of the discovery of the body of
a gentleman in the Regent's Canal. The deceased is
described by the police as being about 35 years of age,
5 feet 7 inches in height, dark hair and complexion, and
rather stout. The clothes of the unfortunate man con-
sist of a plain cloth waistcoat, dark cloth trousers with
stripes down the sides, a calico shirt with linen front, a
black silk neckerchief, white stockings, and button
boots. The quality of the materials and the general
appearance of the attire, as well as of the body, would
indicate that the deceased was most respectably con-
nected, and from the coat and hat being missing, there
is no doubt that he has committed suicide. The body
now lies at St. Pancras dead-house to await the coroner's
investigation.