The Sun.
London, England, 1847-11-18 00:00:00

THANKS TO THE LATE LORD MAYOR.

Sir PE-rim LAuttln said he rose with much plea-
sure to move a vote of thani•s to the late Lord Mayor
for his excellent performance of the duties of Chief
Magistrate in the past year.—(Cheers) He could
not, he said, better convey his sentiments upon the
subject than by reading the vote which he had at his
leisure, and after full consideration, drawn up—
" That the thanks of this Court be presented to the
Right Hon. Sir G. Carroll, late Lord Mayor, for
the zealous, dignified, and conscientious manner
in which he discharged the arduous and
important duties of Chief Magi,trate during the
past year ; for his punctual, discriminating,-and hu-
mane administration of justice, in an unusually large
number of cases brought under his adjudication ; for
the liberal patronage and support he afforded to the
numerous charitable institutions of the metropolis,
and particularly for his benevolent exertions as
chairman of the Association for the Relief of the
suffering Scotch and Irish ; for the cordial hospi-
taility he displayed during his mayoralty, especially
towards many distinguished strangers, and for his
general urbanity and courtesy while presiding over
the deliberations of this Court; and his brethren
tender to the late Lord Mayor their best wishes for
his health and happiness, and their sincere hope that
he may long continue to enjoy that respect and
esteem of his fellow-citizens, to which he is justly en-
titled from his public services and private worth."
Sir C. S. HUNTER :seconded the motion in a few
words, expressive of the high gratification he felt,
in bearing testimony to the amiable and popular qua-
lities of his most worthy and excellent friend.
Alderman HUGHES HUGHES warmly approved of
the eloquent and effective style of the motion, and
said the conduct of Sir George Carroll, in a year
remarkable for its pressure upon the poorer classes,
haat been distinguished by humanity and discrimi-
nation, and entitled him to the warm gratitude,
not only of the members of the Corporation, but of the
great body of the public.—(Hear.)
The vote was carried unanimously, and ordered
to be presented to the late Lord Msyor with the
usual honours.

THE CITY PRISONS.
When the Sheriffs presented the reports of the
condition of the City prisons,
Alderman SIDNEY said he had last year found it
necessary to complain of the manner in which Gilt-
spur-street prison was crowded, and he regretted to
be obliged to declare that it was now 50 per cent.
more crammed ; that in the prison, originally built
for 150, and never spacious enough to give accom-
modation to that number, 32.4 persons were now
actually inclosed, and that the population there had
rapidly increased within the last month. He was no
alarmist ; but he must say that the magistrates were
bound to keep the approach of the cholera in their
view. If that awful calamity should come amongst
us, what might be the state of a prison so full of the
elements upon which infection would work ?—(Cries
of " Oh, oh.") He saw that Worcester and other
places were adopting measures of a sanitary character
against a cholera aggression, and he could not see
why London should form an exception to the rule.
Alderman CHALLIS said he should be sorry that
the expression of such feelings as had just been ut-
tered should go forth to the public without some ob-
servations calculated to qualify its operation. The
facts of the crowded state of the prison, and the
serious inconvenience resulting therefrom, were by
no means new to the Court. Alderman Sidney did
not stand alone in lamenting such contingencies, and
must be aware that his brethren sympathised with
him.—(Hear, hear.) Alderman Sidney must be
aware that the committee appointed some time ago
had introduced such regulations as could be adopted
in the present gaol, that the ground for a new gaol
had been selected, and that all that was now neces-
sary was the production of the plan, preparatory to
entering into the necessary- contract.—(Hear.) The
committee would be glad of the co-operation of Alder-
man Sidney in carrying out an object, of the im-
portance of which they were all perfectly conscious.
Alderman COPELAND wished for the production of
a detailed report of the sanitary condition of the pri-
soners from the surgeon cf the gaol, who stated in
his report to the Court that fever had been prevalent,
hut that it was abating.—(Hear.)
Sir PETER LAURIE said, it was not necessary to
rouse the magistrates of London to the performance
of their duties by a pressure from without. They
were quite aware of the consequences of distress.
They had melancholy experience of the effect of the
afflicting poverty by which they were surrounded,
and as magistrates they did all they could to alleviate
it. They would leave it to Alderman Sidney and
his brethren of Parliament, to propose some plan of
relief calculated to render any extraordinary labours
upon the part of the magistracy superfluous.--
(Laughter, and cries of " Hear, hear.") They were
determined to do their duty, and rejected the ap-
plication of the goad, by which Alderman Sidney ap-
peared to be accelerated.
Alderman MUSGROVE said, he considered that
Alderman Sidney's suggestion deserved the attention
of the Court.
Alderman GIBBS said that, although several cased
of fever had occurred in Giltspur-street prison, there
had been but one fatal case—(Elear, hear)—and that,
although the prison had been built for no more than
150, a considerable addition had been made to the
size and accommodations since its erection. He re-
peated his apprehensions as to the approach of the
frightful scourge of which he had spoken.
Alderman LUCAS said that Alderman Sidney was
80 confoundedly fond of the subject of gaols, that he
contrived to drag it into every subject on which he
spoke.—(Laughter.) The Government appeared to
him to be taken with a very strange fancy. They
were disposed to send out of the country all the
honest men, and to keep the others, whom they used
to delight in transporting. when no longer fit for the
national society in Enght.d.—(Laughter.) He could
very well see th:: principle of emigration was
promoted, but he could not, for the life of him, see
why the devil her Majesty's Ministers should be so
anxious to keep all the thieves at home.—(Loud
laughter.) lie was for continuing the good old system
of sending away from us those who hold our laws in
contempt, and who would not work for their subsist-
ence, and the sooner such fellows starved the better.
—(Hear, hear, and laughter.)
Alderman Copeland's motion was then carried
unanimously.

REGULATIONS AT WARDMOTES.

Alderman WILSON gave notice of a motion rela-
tive to the holding of ward,Dotes on St. Thomas's
Day, to prevent any difficulties which might arise in
the performance of the Aldermanic duties on the oc-
casion of the elections.

PRISON DISCIPLINE.
Alderman SIDNEY gave notice of motion, that it be
referred to a committee to report upon the expe-
diency of consolidating the gaol of New gate with
the intended new house of correction at Holloway;
also to report upon the most eligible site for con-
structing a new sessions house, capable of affording
three courts, with increased accommixlation to wit-
nesses and others attending the sessions, as also for a
new house of detention contiguous sufficiently large
for remanded prisoners, and prisoners conveyed from
the common gaol for trial.

Alderman COPELAND brought up the report of the
Gaol Committee, which stated that three of the turn-
keys of Newgate had been discharged from their
situations, for having permitted spirits and tobacco-to
be brought to some of the prisoners.
The report was confirmed by the Court.
TH2 GUARDIANS OF THE WEST LONDON UNION AND

Tiia MAGISTRATES OF THE CITY OF LONDON.
Alderman SIDNEY said he had a memorial of very
great importance to present to the Court, from the
(Imam'
Lans of the West London Union, and as it
embraced all that he could say upon the subject,
he should read it as part of his speech in introdu-
cing it tciihe notice of his brethren. lie then read as
follows :--
"That having, with regret, observed that their
labours in their sutte tomiently-painful and onerous office
have been fro
worshipful meinbers, tp,reetizr•neeedby? if notvar maligned,
inusofyonr
and that observations
more than
endingue It)yo hold them
one on the magisterial bench e"
publicputitrrsons, if not desti-
up to the eyes of the
practice those
tute of humanity, yet not
principles which humanity inculcates,
inion
putting in
they are
° they:believe
desirous to set themselves right in most
vindicate themselves from aspersionsy whichur , and to
to have originated, rather from
want of real information of the fa,s thaninconsideratenessfrom and
desire to do them actual injustice.ct any
46 In order to this, if they should appear prolix in
their address, they intreat your forbearance, believing
that nothing can be too tedious which may attain the
desirable result of producing unity of action and
identity of feeling and purpose between you, acting
as magistrates, and them, acting as guardians ; and if
in any allusions that may be made, there may be
anything harsh or ungracious in matter, they entreat
you to have the candour to believe it is from no de-
sire to offend in any degree, much less to insult; but
that it is alluded to because they conceive that the
important object in view makes such allusion indis-
pensable.

" In the first place they submit the law to be, that
magistrates have, except in one or two cues, spe,cifi-
%lV given to them by tho statute, no power to order