The Sun.
London, England, 1846-09-18 00:00:00

TH E SUN, LOriDON, FRIDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 18, 1 46.

COURT OF COMMON COUNCIL.
Yesterday a Court was held.
. . MARBLE DUST OF MR. R. LAMBERT JONES.

After some preliminary business,
Mr.D.W.WIRE rose to submit the following motion:—
" That permission be granted to the Jones testimonial
committee, under the direction of the City Lands Com-
mittee, to place a marble bust of Richard Lambert Jones,
Esq., upon a suitable pedestal in the Council Chamber
(which bust has been purchased by subscription), to re-
cord and perpetuate the grateful sense entertained by
the public and his fellow-citizens of his disinterested
and laborious devotion in the discharge of his duties as
Chairman of the Committee for re-building London-
bridge, and making suitable approaches thereto; for
re-building the Royal Exchange, and for effecting pub-
lic improvements within the City." He anticipated a
unanimous concurrence in his motion, the object of
which was to do honour to the corporation itself, as well
as:to the able and excellent member of it whose talents
and industry had been so long engaged in the service of
his fellow-citizens and of the community.—(Hear.) He
admitted that the four busts already in the Council
Chamber represented individuals of the most distin-
guished character, two most illustrious heroes and two
of our most remarkable philanthropists. He rejoiced to
see honour done to men whose energies had been called
forth by other excitements than those which led to the
effusion of blood, and amongst that most meritorious
class the name of Mr. Jones ranked high as a benefactor
to the commercial and trading community of this great
kingdon.—(hear.) He thought it unnecessary to say
more of the character of a person whose acts were writ-
ten in the hearts and memories of all present.—(Hear.)
Mr. JOIIN Dixox seconded the motion with the
highest degree of gratification, for he had long wit-
nessed the indefatigable exertions of the gentleman to
whom the honour was intended.

Mr. PRENDERGAST unwillingly opposed the motion,
for he was aware of the many great claims which Mr.
Jones had upon the citizens of London. He believed Mr.
Jones to be one of the ablest men with whom it had been
his good fortune to meet, and he was of opinion that the
merit of such a man ought to be noticed, but not exactly
in the manner proposed.—(Hear, hear.) It appeared
that the bust was to cost the corporation nothing. That
was one of the arguments for placing it in the Council
Chamber. Now certainlyiif it were not worth the while
of the corporation to purchase a bust, the chamber was
not the place in which to erect it.--(Hear, hear.) He
would ask the court whether they seriously thought that
the bust of one of their own body should be placed in
such company as that of the bust of the hero of Tra-
falgar, and that of that great advocate of the slave trade
abolition ?—(Hear, hear, and " Oh, oh!") He thought
that nothing could be more absurd. The individuals to
whom such distinctions had been awarded were public
men celebrated for their public conduct, which involved
the national honour in a high degree. Now, Mr. Jones,
when he meddled with public matters, was not consi-
dered by the very persons who were now advocating his
cause just the sort of public man whose deeds were
likely to attract their sympathy. Posterity had to do
with the names of the great men whose busts filled the
niches. The battle of Trafalgar and the abolition of
the slave trade were, after all, greater deeds than
the building of London-bridge, or Gresham-street,
or any other of those excellent improvements
for which the public certainly had to thank Mr.
Jones in an eminent degree. In a generation or two
people, who would know from history the achievements
by reason of which the warriors and philanthropists were
allotted their places in that room, would ask with sur-
prise, upon seeing the bust of Mr. Jones, " But who is
that?—what brings him into such society?" The an-
swer would be, "He was a man of high reputation in
the corporation, who greatly improved the City of
London, and preserved an unblemished private character
all the while."—(Cheers.) What had that to do with
the history of England, in which the names of all the in-
dividuals with whom he was proposed to be associated
would unquestionably appear? Why should the Court
place amongst such men one of whom posterity could
never know anything?—(Hear, hear, and murmurs.)
Finally, he disapproved altogether of the idea of erect-
ing any memorial for which the corporation did not pay
themselves, and with every respect for Mr. Jones, and
every wish that all honour should be rendered to him in
the various ways in which his claims were not to be for
a moment questioned, he proposed as an amendment the
previous question.
Mr. SELSON seconded the amendment, because the
bust would be ill-placed by being placed in that Court,
and the Court had already decided upon the question.
Mr. LAWRENCE ridiculed the notion of keeping the
Court as a place of exhibition for the busts of heroes and
men of high rank and connexions, and excluding their
own fellow-citizen from an honour to which he was
most indisputably entitled. If there were not the busts
there were the portraits of men around them whose great
actions were not chronicled. What had Mr. Deputy
Pindar done, to be remembered by posterity ?—(Laugh-
ter.) What had the Chamberlain (Mr. Clarke) done,
that he should appear at full-length in such company?—
(Laughter.) What was the case of Mr. Jones? Here
was a committee, consisting of merchants and bankers
of the metropolis, determined to carry out the principle
of extending the vast benefits of the arts of peace, and
manifesting their sincerity by subscribing for a testi-
monial to a member of the Corporation who had de-
voted his time and talents to the service of
the community. :That committee asked the Court
for permission to erect the bust of that man, and the
answer they were to get was, " What! admit a person
who was not victorious at Trafalgar or Waterloo!
Dreadful !" Would the Court be carried away by such
nonsense?—(Hear, hear, and laughter.) What! when
they wanted to fill up a niche must they look about for
a stray warrior, instead of fixing upon the ablest, one of
the most honourable men amongst themselves ?
(Cheers.) He would seriously ask the Court whether
the City of London had not derived as much advantage
from the labours of Mr. Jones as from the
labours of any of the men whose busts or por-
traits adorned their place of meeting?—(Cheers.) In
fifty or sixty years the likenesses of warriors would cut
but a sorry figure by the side of the great promoters of
national and commercial improvements.—(Cheers.) A
member of their body was chosen in preference to all
others to direct and superintend the great improvements
in the City of London. It was asked what member was
worthy to be in such company as that of the great person
to whom so much allusion had been made. It happened
to be a weakness of our nature that we should think the
only way to greatness was to aim at pulling down the
reputation of others.—(Hear.) Almost every man was
given to depreciate the merits of others. Now he hoped
to see the Court as a body throw that feeling aside.—
(Cheers.) The refusal to accede to the original motion
would cast indelible disgrace upon the Corporation, who
were bound to show to the public that they were de-
sirous to encourage the members of their body to adopt
1 a line of conduct similar to that by which Mr. Jones had
been so long distinguished.—(Cheers.)
Mr. BENNOCE, in supporting the original motion,
said the fit place in which to erect the bust of Mr.
Jones was certainly that which constituted the theatre
of his exertions.

Mr. L. TAYLOR objected to the proposition to erect a
bust to a person while he was a member of the Court.
The case would be different if Mr. Jones did not happen
then to be a member.

Deputy STEVENS said that more public money passed
through the bands of Mr. Jones than through the hands
of any other man in the City of London, and slander
was never breathed against him in the application of it.
—(Cheers.) It was by his integrity, as well as by his
zeal and activity, and skill, that he entitled himself to the
gratitude of his fellow-citizens. His words were some-
times as rough as the stones with which the magnificent
buildings he directed were raised. He made no friends
by his mode of treating the language in which he com-
municated his sentiments, but the straightforwardness,
the fair-dealing, the integrity of the man, were impos-
sible to be mistaken.—(Cheers.)
Mr. PEWTRESS was surprised at any hesitation in the
Court, upon the very first occasion on which the honour
had been done to them of an offer to put up a bust of one
of themselves.

Mr. R. TAYLOR never heard a speech in which inge-
nuity and subtlety had so completely failed as that of
Mr. Prendergast.
Mr. LOTT objected to the original motion, because he
could not admit that the Royal Exchange and Gresham-
street were so decidedly superior. He thought, too,
that Mr. Jones's influence would increase if his bust
were placed in the Court, and everybody knew that there
was quite enough of him there when he presented him-
self.—(Laughter.)
Mr. ASHIIRST said the Government of the country
had for 20 years maintained such an opinion of the Cor-
poration as to pass into their hands two millions of
money to accomplish certain public improvements. Mr.
Jones was the person who devoted his time and talent
to the judicious expenditure of that enormous sum, and
through him the trade and commerce of the great port
of London was benefitted to an immense extent.
Mr. KING had the greatest respect for the integrity of
Mr. Jones, but it did not follow that he was, therefore,
to do all he could, by placing Mr. Jones's bust in the
Court, to make the gentleman uncomfortable as well as
useless.
Mr. ANDERTON said the Court would disgrace itself
by agreeing to the amendment.
Mr. DE JERSEY deprecated the haste with which the
business was got up, and said that Mr. Jones's character
could not suffer by delay.
Dr. LYNCH accused the panegyrists of Mr. Jones of
the grossest sycophancy. Praise undeserved was cen-
sure in disguise, and the sycophancy of that day ope-
rated as the most severe censure.—(Cries of " Hear,
hear," and " No, no.") Who were the parties to whom
Mr. Jones was indebted for so much compliment ? Just
the aspirants for municipal fame, who, while they were
advocating their friend's bust, were carving out niches
in the Court for themselves.—(Laughter and cheers.)
They supposed that if they could only get in so large
an object as Mr. Richard Lambert Jones, they would be
able to squeeze in themselves by and by.---(Great
laughter.) Their praise was one for Mr. Jones and two
for themselves; and, as cheapness seemed to be a recom-
mendation, it was possible that a pawnbroker's shop
might supply them with the materials for the exhibition.
Indeed, he had been given to understand that Mr. Wire
had a bust quite ready for use after Mr. Jones's should
be safely deposited.—(Great laughter.) Of all the gen-
tlemen in the court, Mr. R. L. Jones was in the most in-
describable position. Some called him a colossus, others
asserted that his feet were of clay. He was certainly a
most antithetical character, made up of the most contra-
dictory and unintelligible materials. Some said that he
had made his own greatness, and others declared that he
was merely great under the shadow of the corporation.
But how barbarously did they treat him by raising
him to a parallel with those men whose high names had
been so profanely mentioned in the course of that discus-
sion. Dr. Lynch concluded a most humorous speech,
which we are obliged to curtail very much, by calling
upon the Court to pass the amendment.
Mr. WiTLE replied, and drew an admirable character
of gr. Jones.