The Sun.
London, England, 1846-07-22 00:00:00

HOUSE OF COMMONS, July 21.

There being only twenty-six Members present at Four
o'clock, the House adj ourned till Twelve o'clock to-morrow

PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS.

(From the Votes and Proceedings of the House of Commons.)
MONDAY, JULY 20.
Messengers from the Lords brought up the following Bills,
to which their Lordships had agreed :
Viscount Hardinge's Annuity Bill—Lord Gough's Annuity
Bill—Election Notices (Ireland) Bill—Hull and Selby Rail-
way Purchase Bill—Great North of England Railway Pur-
chase Bill—Midland Railway (Leicester and Swannington
Railway Purchase) Bill—London and Birmingham Railway
and Birmingham Canal Arrangements Bill—Spitalfields New
Street Bill—Amendments to Kilmarnock and Troon Railway
Bill=Newry, Warrenpoint, and Rostrevor Railway Bill—
York and North Midland Railway (Widening and Enlarge-
ment) Bill, without amendinent—Ropeworks Bill, with an
amendment—Gorbals Gravitation Waterworks Bill—Pow of
Inchaffray Drainage Bill—Sheffield and Lincolnshire June-
:ion Railway Rill—Dudley Canal and Birmingham :Canal
CompartEs Amalgamation, Bill—Croinford Canal Bill, with
amendments.

COURT OF COMMON COUNCIL.
On Monday a Court was held, principally for the purpose of
discussing the motion of which Mr. Anderton had given.notice
at the Court immediately preceding, " That it be a standing
order of the Court that the Chamberlain shall not pay out of
the Chamber any sum of money for any charges or expenses
for any visitation or journey by the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, or
any other branch of the Corporation, either for the purposes of
conservancy or otherwise, when such visit or journey shall be
beyond the boundary of the jurisdiction of the City, without

the previous authority of the Common Council upori a motion
for that purpose." The notice of motion brought together a
large number of the Commners, but the number of Alder-
_._

men in the Court was very limited throughout the day.
A conversation took place upon the subject of the granting
of freedoms upon the presentation of the Chamberlain's list of
applications; but it was declared to be necessary that notice of
motion upon the question should be given previously to die-
cussiort, and Mr. Wire accordingly gave notice.

THE INTENDED TRIP TO OXIFORD.
This subject, which had been looked for with very great

interest, then came on.
Mr. ANDERTON commenced by alluding to what had taker
place at the late Court of Common Council, when it was stated
that the Court of Aldermen had determined that the Lord

Mayor should pay a visit to Oxford, and that the expenses
hould be defrayed by the Corporation. The Chief Magistrate
had, he submitted to the Court, just as much right to go in his
conservancy capacity to Cambridge or Portsmouth, or any other
place in which his jurisdiction was not known. The Mayor of
any one of these places might as well come in to the lower district
of the Thames to perform the duties of his (Alice, and would not
excite more surprise by his intrusion. After having adverted
to the occasions on which conservancy visitations had been
made within the last thirty or forty years, Mr. And rton
peremptorily denied the right of the Court to decide, that the
Lerd Mayer had the power to take the City cash and treat
with it whom he pleased, where he pleased, and to what
amount he pleased.—( Hear, hear.) No advantage could pos-
sibly be derived from any stretch made by his Lordship beyond
the boundaries of his own acknowledged jurisdiction at Staines.
The Corporation then were authorised by all the rules of com-
mon sense and common prudence to condemn the expenditure
of money on an useless expenditure, as wastet'u l and extravagant.
What practical good indeed, he would ask, resulted from any
view of the Thamft taken b' his Lordship at all ?—( A laugh,
and cries of " Hear, hear.") There were many ready to
assert that the Court of Aldermen were altogether independent
of the Court of Common Council, and in no ore point con-
trolable by that Court. He most distinctly denied that state-
ment. The Court of Common Council hat passed a law pre.
venting the Court of Aldermen from appointing any d( p•ity
who was not a member of the former.—( Hear, hear.) And
on several occasions an interference had been made, in which
the authority of the latter was shown to be subordinate. He

admitted that the Court of Aldermen had privileges not
capable of being invaded by the other branch of the Corpora
tion, but over the City cash their worships certainly, in his
opinion, had no power, putting out of the question the un-
limited control which they assumed on the subject of the
projected visitation.—( Hear, hear.) He hoped the Court
would unarimously adopt the motion. If it appeared that
notwithstanding the objections thus made to an unnecessary
expenditure the object of the Court of Aldermen were
likely to be attained, the Livery, who bad an unquestion-
able power over the Chamberlain, was still to be applied to.—
( Hear, hear.) The Lord Mayor could, and he had no doubt
would, go to Oxford, and treat all his visitors there and at
other places beyond his jurisdiction as a private gentleman, and
at his own expense, (for a more liberal naan never presided in
the City of London), but it was quite absurd to carry the
expenses of the mayoralty beyond the stone which marked the
City boundaries at Staines.—(Hear, bear.) Mr. Anderton
concluded by submitting the motion.
Sir PETER LAURIE most cordially seconded the motion.
The subject was, he said, by no means a new one. He had

successfully opposed it in the late Mayoralty, when an attempt
was made to obtain permission to perform the agreeable cere-
mony. The first visitation within his memory was that made
by Sir C. S. Hunter, who was dubbed Doctor of Law upon
tne occasion at Oxford.—(Laughter.) It would no doubt be
extremely agreeable to the present Lord Mayor's friends to see
him covered with the same sort of distictien, but his Lordship
was too independent to seek any honour at an expense which
proceeded from any other source than by his own pocket. It
was with mingled pride and regret he had to declare that upon
almost every occasion on which he advocated the cause of
economy, he found himself in a minority.—(Laughter.) He
believed the present would be a decided exception.—(Cheers.)
He hoped so, for he did not wish to have it as an argument to
be handled by the versatile power of Lord Brougham, that the
Corporation of London yielded to so unjustifiable an expendi-
ture.—( Hear, hear, and laughter.) It would be ridiculous to
attempt to keep th 3 matter secret, but it would come as the
decisivebill of the Mercer; Company came through the medium
of Lord Lyndhurst, and with comments as benevolently in-
tended.—( Hear, hear.) It was not to be wondered at that
Charitable Trusts' Bills were brought unto Parliament when
Bills resembling that which the Noble Lord had taken under
his patronage, and introduced to the notice of the House of
Peers, were perpetrated,—( Hear, hear.) The motion of Mr,
Anderson was exceedingly temperate and moderate, and the
City were indebted to the Lord Mayor for having so promptly
called a Court for the discussion of a question of such vital
interest.

Deputy STEPHENS said he had no objection to see the Lord
Mayor and his party go beyond the boundaries, if they paid the
expenses incurred after they quitted his jurisdiction. If the
Corporation should at any time have any remaining after the
payment of the expenses of the prisons and the various contin-
gencies which were inseparable from its maintenance, the over-
plus ought to be given for the support of charities and educa-
tional institutions. —( Hear, hear. )
Sir JAMES DUKE was not only opposed to the expenditure of
money beyond the limitsof the City jurisdiction, but he wished
that the expenses within the limits should be defined.—( Hear,
hear.) He wished them to be limitted to 1501.—( Hear, hear.)
Alderman Witsow said he thought every real friend of the
city of London must very much regret to hear such a discus-
sion as the present in the Court of COMMOU Council.—( Hear,
hear.) Had he consulted his own feelings he would have fol-
lowed the example of some of his brethen, and absented him-
self from the meeting ' • but he attended at much per-
ional inconvience, lest his absence might be construed
into acquiescence in the truth of the observations and asser-
tions which had been made by some members of the Council
against the Court of Aldermen. With regard to the first
charge against the Court of Aldermen, a " breach of faith,"
he denied most positively that the Court of Aldermen had
acquiesced in a joint address to the King of the French, but
that two Aldermen had dune so he would not deny, because

they admitted the fact. With regard to the motion then
before the Court, he begged it might be understood that he
did not attend as the representative of the Court of Alder-
men, but he spoke as a member of the Court of Common
Council, and he regretted that any member should have thought
it right to attack the Aldermen in their absence without
giving any notice of such intention, but assuming the plea of
breach of privilege as an authority for the scandal.—( Hear,
hear.) H. should show that no Lord Mayor had ever been
more imperatively called upon to take the view his Lordship
had signified his intention to take than the present Chief Ma-
gistrate. He would then show that two or three, who were
the most noisy and clamorous against the Court of Aldermen,
ought to have been the very last persons to join in the unge-
nerous attack ; and, lastly, that if any portion of the freemen
and liverymen of London had cause to complain of a wanton
and wasteful expenditure, the Court of Common Council did
not form that portion.—(Laughter.) As to the necessity
which existed for the Lord Mayor's visit, any one who knew
anything of the lands and navigation must be aware that they
were in the very last extremity in consequence of the comple-
tion of the railways, and that it was only by adopting an im-
proved mode of navigation, by reducing the tolls, and by giving
to these traders advantages in the mode of towing and other
improvements, that sufficient income would be producable to
pay their expenses. As to any profit, that could hardly be
iexpected, now that the Corporation bad raised a sum of
153,000/. for the purpose of improving the navigation of the
Thames, from which, in the year 1839, they derived an in-
came of 20,4191. Under the Act of Parliament they were
bound annually to pay off not less than 5001. in reducing the
debt. Owing to railroads, and other circumstances, the in-
come had fallen off in the last seven years 4,8651., and bat for
the reduction in the interest effected last year by the Committee
under a new Act of Parliament, they would not have been able
at the present time to pay off the 5001. of debt annually re-
quired. The great carriers of the canal, too, had complained
to the Committee of inability to pay the present high price of
toll, and made so good a case as to induce the Committee to
pass a resolution that the tolls should be reduced But that
would be of no avail unless the Commissioners of the upper
districts would unite and do the same. They had refused to
make the reduction, Now, it was well known, that in the
upper districts barges were frequently aground in such sea-
sons as the present for want of water, for which they were in a
great degree at the mercy of the Corporation, and mill-
owners of that district, who would shut up, and withhold or
abstract the water as they pleased. It was necessary to the
navigation that the Lord Mayor should occasionally visit the
upper district, and ascertain what new darns, sluices, and other
alterations had been made. The Commissioners always re-
oeived the Lord Mayor most cordially, and readily listened to
any useful suggestion for the improvement of the
navigation, either above or below ; and it was
hoped that his Lordship would be able to convince them
of the propriety of concurring with the Committee on re-
ducing the tolls.—( Hear, hear.) To say that the Lord Mayor
was only to visit once in seven years, and pass over a time like
the present, when his presence might be the means of saving
the income of the navigation, was to say that his office, as
Conservator, was useless.—(Hear, hear.) With regard to
the intention of the Lord Mayor to sleep at Oxford, it was
only reasonable that when his Lordship was obliged to leave
his home and his family, in the discharge of a public duty, he
should be allowed, if he found that better accommodation could
be obtained at Oxford than at Staines, to make his election.
Alderman Wilson then referred to the speech of Mr. Anderton
in which that gentleman spoke of wontonly expending the
City money, by junketting at Oxford; and of the septennial
visit np the River in 1839, the cost of which freak was
1,099/. 6s. dd. He denied that it was a septennial visit.
The upper district had not been visited for thirteen years at
that period, and the Court should see who it was that took
upor himself to call the Court of Aldermen to account for
having expended in thirteen years, i n support of a great pri-
vilege, ana the performance of a very important duty, the

average sum of 841. 11s. 2d. per annum, for that period. It
would have been but modest and fair if the mover had to'd the
Court that he had been present himself, and had helped to
increase the amount, and how much enjoyment he had expe-
rienced.—(Laughter.) He had rot the candour to tell the
Court that he was Deputy-Governor of the Irish Society; that
he went to Ireland last year; that instead of going direct
to Londonderry, where the society's property lay, he took
a most delightful tour over the Welsh mountains; stayed
some time in Dublin, was absent a month, or six
weeks ; and that the deputation expended 3001., in
addition to 527/. set apart for the society to dine upon,
or spend as it pleased, and one dinner to the amount of 150/.
given in the extreme of luxury. Had he forgotten that he was
a member of a Court which annually sanctioned the expendi-
ture of a fixed sum of 2,6751. in eating and drinking ?—( Loud
laughter)—Another fixed sum of 7001. annually, in eating and
drinking, and dancing, and music, with their wives and daugh-
ters, on the river, and on parts of it w hich were not confined
to the limits of civic jurisdiction ?—(Laughter. ) In fact, in
the Common Council, in eating and drinking last year—of
which the mover had, God knew, his share—there was ex-
pended the sum of 4,4801.; and the Hon. Gentleman had par-
ticipated in all these luxuries without seeming even to remem-
ber that such things had ever been. —( Laughter, and cries of
" Hear, hear.") The worthy mover, at the same time that he
attacked the Court of Aldermen, for expending, in 13 years,
1,099/. 6s. 6d., at the rate of 84/. 1 Is. 2 id. per annum.,
knew well that he and the Irish Society were spending trust-
money at the rate of 12,0901. in ti e same period.—( Hear,
hear, and murmurs.) He would next say a few words about
the Chairman of the London-bridge Approaches-fund, who
had also been a partaker of the good things of the Irish Society
without uttering one syllable of complaint—(Laughter)—an
who joined in the sally against the Court of Aldermea. It
wouldbe an interesting document which contained an account
of the funds of the freemen of the City which had been ex-
pended in the delighted presence of that worthy gentleman, in
eating, and drinking, and music, and dancing, and entertain-
ments, splendid and multifarious, to ladies at Richmond and
Greenwich, and Illackwall, since his appointment as Chair.
man of the London-bridge approaches Committee.—( Laughter
and great murmuring). He had applied to the Chamberlain
' for the returns, but that officer "Vert courteously declined
giving it ; very probably because he was ashamed to produce
such evidence. Under these circumstances he was obliged to
make a rough guess,' and that amounted to no less a sum than
between 12,000/. and 13,0001., exclusive of extras, such as cost of
laying the first stone, opening the bridge, and summer excur-
sions. --(The Court here betrayed great impatience). Alder-
man Wilson then alluded to the expenses incurred in opening
the Royal Exchange, and finally contrasted the sum expended
by the Court of Aldermen in entertainments for the last twenty
years with those which swelled the bills of the Court of Com-
mon Council, to the amount of 89,600/. for that period. He
hoped the mover would withdraw his motion until the actual
expenses of the trip, which certainly would take place, should
be ascertained.

Alderman WOOD said, that in these days of reform it was
the duty of the court to look with jealousy to any expenses dis-
tinct from actual corporation purposes. The question before
the court was simply whether the journey to Oxford was ne-
cessary to be undertaken by the Lord Mayor as Conservator
of the Thames. It had been well said, that his Lordship
might as well go to Portsmouth as to Oxford for any purposes
connected with the office of Mayer.—(Hear, hear.) He de-
precated any personal allusions between the two courts, and he
should avoid the conflict which an indulgence in such allusions
was calculated to produce. He must, however, advert to an
historical fact, supported by the records of that court, in justifi-
cation of the argument, that the Court of Common Council
had interfered with the power of the Court of Aldermen in a
matter connected with a visit to the upper district.—
He meant the refusal of the Court to grant the expenses, of
Kennet, the Mayor, of 1,780/., for conservancy expenses and
the compromise which took place in consequence of that re-
fusal—( Hear, hear.) That was a precedent of the interference
of the Court of Common Council. Each party gave way a
little, and the Lord Mayor bowed with deference to the autho-
rity of the Court in which the opposition was made—(Hear,
hear ) The present system, Alderman Wood contended, was
decidedly superior to that by which members were allotted
certain sums of money, for their attendance on Committees—
an intense fatigne—entertainments were substituted. There
existed no doubt as to the power of the Aldermen to command
all the expenses incurred in the performance of their duties—
(Hear, hear)--but the present was no time for demanding
more than our necessary claims. The Corporation of London
was no isolated corporation. It was known that it had a voice
all over the world ; that on all great questions it gave a tone
which was caught up and re-echoed by other important insti-
tutions. The Court should then be cautious how by an
unwise expenditure, at variance with the spirit of the times,
it provoked an interference which, it it came, would certainly
not be satisfied with effeeting a superficial change—(Cheers.)
Mr. LAWRENCE spoke with great force in favour of the
motion. He said that if it were not for the discursive speech
of Alderman Wilson, he would not entertain a thought of
speaking. He had heard a great deal of complimentary
matter uttered towards the members of the Court of Aldermen,
and Alderman Wilson had spoken of the expenses incurred
by the two Courts, and of the hospitality of the Mayoralties. It
was not to be denied that the present Lord Mayer carried out
to perfection the principle of hospitality, unlike some of
his brethren, who made the Mansion-house a place of enter-
tainment for the members of their own families, and the people
wi'li whom they transacted business.—( Laughter, and cries of
" Hear, hear.") In the mayoralty of Alderman Wilson, in
which the sort of hospitality he described had been exercised,
the allowance had been larger than it had been since. It was
at that period about 8,0001.
Alderman Wxtscoar—Yes ; and add to that some 7,0001.
more, which I spent for the honour and reputation of the City.
Mr. LAWRENCE said the expense had been incurred in
treating strangers to the City, and individuals who were a
source of advantage to the hospitable entertainer. The Alder-
man had spoken of the expenses of the committees. Why, it
was notorious that the Aldermen, who were, as it happened,
upon all the committees, attended more of the dinners than any
of the ordinary members beyond all comparison.—( Hear, hear,
and laughter.) Upon one committee alone (the City Lands)
there were 12 Aldermen out of the 26, while there were only
30 commoners out of the 240; so that the Aldermen came in
for an incomparably larger share of the luxuries, while the
business of the Corporation might go to the devil for their
worships.—(Loud laughter.) It was notorious that the mem-
bers of the Court of Aldermen r ever attended to the duties
of the Corporation, but observed the most rigid punctuality at
the eating and drinking boo's, at which they powerfully sus-
tained the high reputation of their predecessors.--(Laughter.)
It was notorious, that when propositions were made in that
court for the reduction of the allowances, the persons who
most resolutely opposed all reduction were the Aldermen
( Hear, hear.) Those who performed the laborious business
from twelve or one &clock till four or five, were willing to give
up, while nothing could prevail upon the Aldermen to resign.—
( Laughter and cheers.) Mr. Lawrence then, amidst the ap-
plauses of the court, defended the chairman of the London-
bridge Approaches Cernmittee from the charge of encouraging
an exorbitant expenditure, and drew a picture of that gentle-
man, and of his extraordinary and disinterested exertions' for
the service of the City, which the whole court, by one burst of
approbation, acknowledged to be correct.
Alderman SIDNEY moved the previous question, in a speech
which our limits prevent us from giving.
Mr. LOTT seconded the amendment, which, after a few words
from Mr. Norris, and a reply from Mr. Anderton, was nega-
tived by an immense majority.
The original motion was then carried, only four hands havinE
been held up against it.

TUESDAY NIGHT'S GAZETTE.
WHITEHALL, JULY 20, 1846.
The Queen has been pleased to direct letters patent to be
passed under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom, consti-
tuting and appointing the Right Honourable George
Earl of Auckland, G. C. B.; Vice-Admiral Sir Charles
Adam, K. C. B. ; Rear-Admiral James Whitley Deans
Dundas ; Maurice Frederick Fitzhardinge Berkeley,
Esq., Captain in the Royal Navy; Lord John Hay, C. 8.,
Captain in the Royal Navy; and the Hon. William Francis
Cowper, her Majesty's Commissioners for executing the office
of High Admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, and the dominions, islands, and territories thereunto
belonging.

CROWN-OFFICE, JULY 21.
MEMIERS RETURNED TO SERVE IN THIS PRESENT
PARLIAMENT.

Borough of Liskeard—Charles Buller, jun., Esq., Judge
Advocate-General.
Stewartry of Kircudbright—Thomas Maitland, Esq., her
Majesty's Solicitor-General of Scotland.
County of Stafford, Southern Division—The Hon. George
Anson, Clerk of her Majesty's Ordnance.
West Riding of York—The Right Hon. George William
Frederick Howard, commonly called Viscount Morpeth,
First Commissioner of her Majesty's Woods, Forests, Works,
and Buildings.