The Sun.
London, England, 1846-10-08 00:00:00

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THE OFFICE OF LORD MAYOR.
Mr. Anderton having waited upon the Lord Mayor
yeSti,fait77,..for the purpose of requesting his L:;rdship
would publicly investigate a matter connected with the
contest in the Co:nmon Hall, his 14,rcIship wr,te a
note to Mr. Yates, the chairman of Alderman Wood's
committee, who, together with other gentlemen of that
committee, immediately attended to answer any charge
or statement which might be made.
['he Lord Mayor having taken his seat in the Justice
Room at the Mansion House,
Mr. ANDERTON said he appeared to request his Lord-
ship would be kind enough to investigate a charge which
he had publicly made against the committee (Alderman
Wood's, which had appeared in the newspapers) that
day, and had also appeared in placards, in a letter
of which he was the author, and which he had sent to
Sir George Carroll's committee, believing it to contain
the truth. If be had so far committed himself as to
have stated what was untrue he would henceforward
allow himself to be branded as the greatest of liars.
The letter was as follows :

" Gth October, ]Sall.

" Gentlemen,—ln an advertisement in the Times
newspaper of this day, signed John Yates, Chairman
of Alderman Wood's Committee,' it is stated that all
the counsel's fees, charged by me as not having been
paid by Alderman Wood. as the solicitor of the Irish
S“ciety, have been discharged, as appeared by receipts
produced by the committee.
" I non, positively state that such statements are un-
true, and that it the receipts have been produced, they
are fabricated, at least as respects one of the counsel,
whose fees, with those of his clerk, were not paid at
twelve o'clock this day.
" I am, Gentlemen, yours faithfully,
" JAMES ANDERTON.
" Sir George Carroll's Committee."

It was a necessary consequence of such a communi-
cation, that one party or the other must be in a
situation of disagreeable responsibility. Either he was
chargeable with having uttered a falsehood, or Alder-
man Wood's committee were guilty of having imposed
upon the public. All he had to do, he submitted, was
toshow that the statement he had made was acorrect state-
ment; that be bad received the communication which had
been published from an authentic source. Until he
should prove that fact, or be convicted of a falsehood,
he had determined not to go to his usual occupation.
Every thing he had said or written upon the subject
had been said and written under the strongest inipres-
sion and conviction of its truth. The first question was
whether it was the fact that he received the communi-
cation in the letter just read from a good source. The
next was whether the case was as it had been repre-
sented to him. Now, having ascertained beyond a
doubt, that, as regarded one of the counsel, the fees had
not been paid at twelve o'clock on the 6th instant, his
Lordship might guess what his astonishment must be
upon recsiving yesterday evening a letter as he was
about to leave town, of which the following was a
copy :7

Sir,—ln a placard addressed by you to Sir George
Carroll's committee, you assert that my statement of
all the fees having been paid to counsel was untrue, and
that if the receipts have been produced, they are fabri-
cations, at least as respects one of the counsel, whose
fees, with those of his clerk, were not paid at twelve
o'clock this day.'
" I now inclose you a copy of the declaration of the
gentleman who made the payments, and call apon you
publicly to retract your statements, now proved beyond
any question to be untrue.
" I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
" JAMES YATES.

" James Anderton, Esq."
On the envelope was written " As answer is re•
quested before twelve o'clock to• morrow."
The declaration referred to in Mr. Yates's letter ran
titus :—" I George Scores, of Lower Eaton-street, Gros-
venor•place, in the county of Middlesex, Gent., do so-
lemnly and sincerely declare that I did, on Monday, the
sth day of October last, pay to Sir T. Wilde, Mr. Kin-
dersly, and Mr. W. P. Wood, the sum of 5641. 195.,
being the full amount of fees respectively due to them.
on account of the Irish Society from Mr. Alderman
Wood, the solicitor in the cause, and that I did at the
same time take receipts for the same, and I make this
solemn declaration conscientiously believing the same to
be true, &c. &c.

" GEORGE SCORES, jun.
" Declared this 6th day of October, 1846.
" John Johnson, Mayor."
Now, be (Mr. Anderton) came to the Mansion
House under the impression that it was most fit to con-
firm or to retract the accusation he had brought before
his Lordship. He was ready to prove that the state-
ment he had sent to Sir George Carroll's chairman, and
which had appeared in the public papers, was, so far as
he was concerned, a true and correct statement. He
had called at the chambers of one counsel, and
learned, upon questioning one of the gentlemen there,
that the fees of his principal had not been paid by
twelve o'clock on the 6th instant, and that gentleman
had come forward to corroborate his assertion in the
presence of Alderman Wood's Committee.
The Chief Clerk of the council alluded to was then
called by Mr. Addertoa. He said litat the statement
in italics in Mr. Anderton's letter, to the effect that
the fees of one of the council had not been paid by
twelve o'clock on the 6th instant, was correct.
In answer to Mr. Harris, one of Alderman Wood's Com-
mittee, the witness stated that he was not at the Council
Chambers between three and four o'clock OR Monday, the
sth instant, and he did not know that it was at all the
practice of the clerk of one counsel on a case to receive,
in the absence of the clerk of another counsel in the
same case, the fees due to the former. He did not
know what clerks of counsel might do in the event of
occatonal absence as regarded briefs,-, but the receipt of
briefs was very different from the receipt of fees. He
received a cheque from his principal for fees in the case
from his assistant clerk before two o'clock on Tuesday,
the 6th inst. _ _

Mr. Halms asked whether the clerk of one of the
other counsel in the cause was present, and the answer
being in the negative, said that that individual ought to
be in attendance, in order to show that the committee
were perfectly justified in the statement they had made.
The Assistant Clerk to the Counsel, whose chief clerk
had been just examined, stated that between one and
two o'clock on Tuesday, the 6th inst., he received a
cheque for the fees of his principal, in the name of Al-
derman Wood, from a young man without a hat, whom
be did not know. He did not give a receipt for the
cheque. He paid it over to the chief clerk a little before
twoonthe same day.
_ _

Mr. HARRIS said he should lay before the Lord Mayor
a plain statement of facts, to which he defied the slightest
contradiction. On Monday last, at about three o'clock,
he saw three cheques delivered to Mr. Score, the gen-
tleman who made the declaration before his Lordship
on Tuesday. He saw *sat they were in accordance with
the amount of fees due to the three counsel. Mr. Score
took them to deliver to the several counsel. It was well
known that the present time was the long vacation, and
that counsel were absent, and their clerks were not
always at chamber. Mr. Score, upon calling at the
chambers of two of the counsel. found neither prin-
cipals nor clerks, and to a female, who expressed her
readiness to take care of anything left for one of the
counsel, he handed one cheque, while to the clerk of
the third counsel he handed the other two cheques, to`
be delivered according to direction. (Here Mr. Harris
produced receipts for the three cheques, two of which
were signed by the clerk of one of the counsel for each
of the principals, and the third by the housekeeper to
the remaining counsel, and on each of them were the
words, " Paid by me, George Score, the sth of October,
1846.") Mr. Harris proceeded—Mr. Score, he said, re-
turned about four o'clock, bringing with him these
three receipts, so that the cheques had been paid for
the use of counsel between three and four o'clock on
Monday. If the clerks were not all at chambers to re-
ceive them, it was not the business of Alderman Wood,
or his committee. . . _

Mr. ANDERTON—The question is, whether I have
said anything that was untrue. I have produced my
authority for the fact, that neither his principal nor
himself had received a cheque for the fees at twelve
o'clock on Tuesday. It is that lam called upon to re-
tract. I ask your Lordship whether I have not been
borne out in the statement I pride by the evidence ?
The LORD MAYOR—Certainly, your statement is
borne out.
Mr. HARRIS said that both sides were borne out in
their statements. The cheque had been paid, as was
manifest to all, on the sth instant, but, by the contin-
gency observed upon, did not reach the proper hands
until next day, atter the hour stated by Mr. Anderton,
who had made use of the information he received to suit
his own views and wishes. It was true the statement
which had been made had proved injurious to the cause
of Alderman Wood. He (Mr. Harris) would not use
any harsh comments ; neither he nor any one of Alder-
man Wood's committee had resorted to any angry or
unkind words during the election, but they all regretted
to see Mr. Anderton deserting his old friend.
Mr. YATES, the Chairman of Alderman Wood's corn.
mittee, said he came to the Mansion House to meet Mr.
Anderton, and to contradict the statement made by that
gentleman. Before four o'clock on Monday he had the
receipts in his hand, and he was therefore exonerated
front all imputation as to publishing an untruth. He had
no disposition to cavil or to quarrel with Mr. Anderton,
but he believed Mr. Anderton had said much during the
contest for which he would upon consideration feel
sorrow. He bad night and day during the struggle been
engaged on the committee, and he had abstained from
personalities, however strong the temptation and the
ground might have been. It was for the enemies of
Alderman Wood to acknowledge that from his friends
they had never heard one word of calumny, or one syl-
lable calculated to show the existence of animosity.
Mr. ANDERTON said that nothing whatever could have
prevented him from giving his most warm and active
support to Alderman Wood, if the conduct of Alderman
Wood had been such as to justify him in giving his as-
sistance. He acted according to the dictates of his con-
science in coming forward to prevent what ought not to
take place, and he was satisfied with the course he had
adopted.
The LORD MAYOR said it was his duty to request the
attendance of the gentlemen who had so readily ap-
peared, and he was glad that an explanation had taken
place, which left both parties completely free from im-
putation as to a disregard for truth. He regretted that
the mistake had occurred, and, in his opinion, all the
trouble they had just been at might have been' avoided
if the money had been paid at the proper time to the
proper person.
Mr. ANDERTON—WeII, my Lord, what is your ver-
dict—guilty or not guilty ?
The LORD MAYOR said he acquitted all parties.

We regret to learn that Mr. H. Hamilton, the
British Plenipotentiary at the Court of the Brazils, is
coming home on account of ill-health. It is hardly
necessary for us to state that the merchants at Rio
Janeiro hold the highest opinion of the talent and judg-
ment of this gentleman.