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

THANKS TO THE LATE LORD MAYOR.

Sir PETER LAURIE 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
i:ot, 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 Magistrate 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 ; tor
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 e'xcellent friend. -
Alderman LluGues ileGues 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,
had] 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 Mayor with the
usual honours.

TUE 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, 324 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 oc such feelings as had just been ut-
tered should g , 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 wan 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 of the gaol, who stated in
his report to the Court that fever had been prevalent,
but 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 Musoaovs said, he considered that
Alderman Sidney's suggestion deserved the attention
of the Court.
Alderman Ginus said that, although several cases
of fever had occurred in Giltspur-street prison, there
had been but one fatal case—(Hear, 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 tethe approath of the
frightful scourge of which he had spoken.
Alderman LUCAS said that Alderman Sidney was
so 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 I
were disposed to send out of the country all the 1
honest men, and to keep the others, whom they used
to delight in transporting, when no longer fit for the
national society in England._(Laughter.) He could
very well see why the principle of emigration was I
promoted, but he could not, for the life of him, see t
why the devil her Majesty's Ministers should be so
anxious to keep all the thieves at home.—(Loud
laughter.) He 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 th,-3 sooner such fellows starved the better.
—([fear, hear, and laughter.)
Alderman Copeland's motion was then carried
unanimously.