The Sun.
London, England, 1834-12-29 00:00:00

POLICE COMMITTEE, GUILDHALL.

THE LATE MEETINGS AT THE TAVERNS
IN BISHOPSGATE-STREET.
On Saturday Mr. Peacock, Mr. Taylor, and other
Common Councilmen, appeared before Aldermen Chris-
topher Smith, Venables, Kelly, and Harmer, in conse-
quence of what had taken place in Bishopsgate-street on
Tuesday last, when the Whig and Conservative conflict
took place.
Mr. PEACOCK requested to know whether the police
under the management of the Committee acted by the au-
thority of the Committee on Tuesday last in tearing down
the placards and seizing the boards on which they were
exhibited, or whether the officers who had so acted were
under the control of the Committee ?
Alderman SMITH said the Committee knew nothing
about the employment of the officers on the occasion.
Mr. THEOBALDS, the Under City Marshal, had received
instructions from the Lord Mayor, particularly on Tues-
day morning, to prevent the exhibition of placards. He
believed that his Lordship had issued the direction in con-
sequence of having received a communication from the Se-
cretary of State.
Mr. PEACOCK—Were you to have acted so whether the
placards related to the meeting in Bishopsgate-street or
not ?

MARSHAL—We were ordered not to allow placards of
any kind to be exhibited within the City of London, and we
acted strictly upon that order.
Mr. TAYLOR—Was the order a verbal or a written
order ?
MARSHAL—It was a verbal order, delivered by his
Lordship to me, and by me communicated to Mr. Brown,
the Upper Marshal.
Alderman VENABLES—We surely ought to have the
same administration of the law at all times. What were
the time and circumstances under which you received this
order ?
MARSHAL—I saw the Lord Mayor at nine o'clock on
Monday morning, and at the same hour on Tuesday morn-
ing, and received from him instructions with respect to
the arrangements for the election at Portsoken Ward, and
the meetings in Bishops-gate-street. His Lordship stated
that he understood boards were to be exhibited at the Lon-
don Tavern, and he ordered if such should be the case that
we should cause them to be removed, and I directed the
officers accordingly.
Alderman SMITH---I know that the Lord Mayor issued
the order.
Mr. TAYLOR—Did the Lord Mayor order you to re-
move those boards which were within the doors ?
MARSHAL—Certainly not.
Mr. TAYLOR—For Mr. Brown, the Marshal, seized one
of the boards on the steps of the London Tavern, and
acted with the greatest brutality and violence to those who
held it. Z received a blow or a push from him when I in-
terfered, and I asked him whether he was not exceeding
his authority? to which he replied that he was acting upon
the Lord Mayor's orders.
Alderman SMITH—I would not excuse unnecessary vio-
lence, but I certainly would have ordered Mr. Brown to
take the boards from the steps of the door, for it would be
ridiculous to deny that they might cause a nuisance there as
well as elsewhere.
Mr. TAYLOR—But boards upon charitable occasions are
frequently exhibited at the doors of the London Tavern.
Would you have them, too, dragged away ?
Alderman SMITH—Oh, everybody knows that the placards
seized were not of that description. You don't recollect
what took place 24 years ago ?
Mr. TAYLOR—I perfectly well remember what you allude
to ; I cannot forget the brutal and disgraceful conduct of
the police on that occasion.
Alderman VENABLES—Certainly nothing can be more
mischievous than the interference of Magistrates on occa-
sions of the kind. It was but a week ago 1 had a man be-
fore me for carrying a board, on which was placarded a
quotation from an article in the Times respecting the Por-
tuguese Government, but I would not allow any political
matter to interfere with my duties as a magistrate, and acted
accordingly. I merely considered whether or not the carry-
ing of the board caused a nuisance in the street.
Alderman SMITH—The Lord Mayor has a very great re-
sponsibility upon him, and L must say that I would have
done exactly as lie has done.
Alderman HARMER—It is the duty of the Lord Mayor
to preserve tile peace ; but to bring the police into colli-
sion with the people, is an odd way of effecting that. No-
thing could more completely tend to a violation of the
peace, than the conduct of the officers in seizing the pla-
cards. In fact, nothing could be more calculated to cause
a riot. If I had seen one of the officers seizing a placard
of a peaceable nature, and ill-using the person who held it,
I should feel myself justified in seizing him by the collar.
MARSHAL—I was asked by Mr. Pewtress and others of
the Corporation, by whose order I caused the board to be
removed, and I said distinctly by the Lord Mayor's orders.
When I communicated the orders to Mr. Brown we con-
sulted together, and decided not to touch any placards, if
those who carried them consented to take them away ; and
it was upon their refusal that the boards were seized, and
we did not detain in custody any of those who held them.
I assure the Committee that we followed the directions with
respect to other boards, as well as with respect to those.
Alderman VENABLES—Have you acted upon these in-
structions since the day alluded to ?
MARSHAL—No. Whenever there is occasion we act.
There is an order to that effect under the Sewers Act.
Mr. TAYLOR—It has been a particular application of the
law for a party purpose.
MARSHAL—Whenever we find any annoyance arising
from the carrying of placards we uniformly check it in the
way complained of.
Alderman VENABLEs—It is evident that this was a part
of the machinery of party purposes, and the question is
is whether the magistracy ought to have interfered.
Alderman SMITH—Is there any one here who has been
ill-used I say we have nothing to do with this question
at all.

Mr. TAYLOR—I expect several Gentlemen who were
present and strongly condemned the conduct of the police.
I was myself struck.
Alderman HARMER—We must proceed in the regular
way. It is necessary to have the accused and the witnesses
here.
Alderman SMITH—I shall not be a party to the busi-
ness. We have nothing at all to do with the question.
Mr. PEACOCK—It is not necessary to proceed further.
Our object is, I think, fully attained. We wished to
know from the Magistrates who form this Committee
whether they they had issued orders on this occasion, and
we are satisfied that they had nothing at all to do with the
matter.
Mr. TAYLOR—It is all between the Lord Mayor and
the Secretary of State, who wrote to his Lordship upon
the subject,
Alderman SMITH---I hope that such a a thing as this will
not occur again,
Mr, TAYI,PR—If the citizens of London 114€1 not been
shut out of their own hail so absurdly, nothing of this sort
worikl. have occurred.
Alderman VENABLES—There has been a great want of
judgrrianf, 41 .
,PaTe., entertain a high respect !IT the
office of the Lord r 1 and at a wardmote of 'my own
ward, when the constituency were proposing a vote of cen-
sure for what they considered a violation of promise upon
thg L
fif Lordship,
the' i9Fdallip, suggested the impropriety of
woesisail, evidence, 1 rtigret'ex-
condemning with
e
the injudicious course adopted in this late instance.
nt Superintendent of the City P01i,!..„-_TA
NYityear, the
regret very much that the ofileers under my superintendence
hate got int@ cIiPLI4O tqkPll 1114P(':
henddd what might ire gig cpu§eqiience of the is§np crtcco or,
der, arid I remonstrated a..gainst it, for I thought that n riot
would ensue! I rerll9-4§tra,o4llloWiltPrl in vain,
Alderman V"Alimiii—You could not
hPJ-
of course blame you for c I cannot
—•...vingacted in obedience to the or-
ders of the Lord Mayor. You were right in so doing.
MARSHAL—I kn9Wthat the Lord Mayor received ajetter

from the Secretary of State on the subject, and I dare say
his Lordship acted from that communication.
Here the parties left the Committee-room.

MANSION-HO USE.

THE LATE POLITICAL MEETINGS IN BISHOPSGATE-
STREET.—Mr. Brown, the Marshal, mentioned to the Lord
Mayor that he understood it was the intention of Mr. R.
Taylor, the Common Councilman, to make a complaint of
him before the Police Committee at Guildhall, on the sub-
ject of his Lordship's orders for the removal of all placards
from the streets on Tuesday last, and he wished to know
whether his Lordship had any instructions to give upon the
subject.

The LORD MAYOR—Oh certainly ! You have nothing
to do with the Police Committee. You have very properly
obeyed my directions, and I have nothing whatever ,to
complain of in your conduct.
Mr. BROWN—It maybe the intention of the Committee to
send for me to answer for my conduct. I have not the
least objection to appear and justify myself.
The LORD MAYOR—Appear before them ! For what ?
You are not to act under their instructions, but under mine,
and I desire that you do not go before them at all. I am
responsible for what you have done, and I do not shrink
from the responsibility. Is it to be supposed that I, as
Lord Mayor, am to allow such nuisances to exist as are
likely to lead to breaches of the peace ? Those who think
so, are most grossly in error.

Mr. BaowN—The directions which your Lordship gave
were literally obeyed. We made no distinction between
placards—we permitted none to be exhibited ; and in exe-
cuting our orders we were not influenced by any other than
the authority under which we considered ourselves bound
to act.

The LORD MAYOR said that from all he had learned
the Marshal had acted with his usual forbearance on the
occasion alluded to. He did not exactly understand the
sort of authority which the Police Committee soemed dis-
posed to assume to themselves. Their recognised occupa-
tion was that of regulating the police, or the material by
which the public peace was to be protected. What had
they to do with his office as Lord Mayor ? It was ridicu-
lous to assume any power which he alone was warranted in
doing ; and they had no more right to order the officers to
act on the occasion of the nuisance in Bishopsgate-street,
than the officers bad to order them. He should be glad to
know if a murder had been committed, whether the Police
Committee would not be very anxious to leave him the
whole responsibility,-without at all wishing to participate ?
No doubt of that. He knew how they would heap the
blame upon him, and say, " Oh ! it was all the Lord
Mayor's fault ; if the Lord Mayor had directed his officers
to act resolutely, this would not have happened " He
did not think it necessary at all to ask the advice of
the Committee, and certainly should not allow them to in-
terfere with his duties which he found himself quite ca-
pable of perfoiming. Mr. Taylor knew as well as any
man that the Committee of Police had nothing whatever
to do with the question, and if that gentleman had any-
thing to say against Mr. Brown, he might have visited
the Mansion House, and regularly made his complaint.
Mr. BROWN—Nothing could give me more pain than
the idea of impressing the members of the Corporation
with the opinion that I do not exercise due forbearance in
doing my duty ; but in the performance of that duty I
certainly act without regard to persons.
Mr. HOBLER said that Mr. Croucher, the owner of some
of the placarded boards which had been seized, had, in the
absence of the Lord Mayor, applied for the boards.
The LORD MAYOR—Why did he not come in the first
instance himself? Where are the boards ? In the green-
yard ?

Mr. HOBLER replied that they were in the Mansion.
house.

The LORD MAYOR—They ought to have been taken to
the Green-yard, and then Mr. Croucher would have to pay
fees upon them. However, I have no objection to give
them to him if he comes himself ; but I know nothing of
the person who called here and demanded them, saying that
he was an honest man.—(His Lordship then repeated his
orders to Mr. Brown not on any account to attend the
Committee of Police if summoned, to answer for obeying
the orders of the Chief Magistrate.)

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

QUEEIV-SQUARE.

An unwashed cadaverous, half-starved-looking cobbler,
named Elwood, was charged with stealing a fat goose and
a leg of mutton from the shop of Mr. Watling►, the pro-
prietor of a cook-shop in Arabella-row, Pimlico.
It appeared that the prisoner had been seen lurking
about the shop, and feasting in imagination on the smoking
geese, rounds of beef, and other luxuries of the season. At
length, it would seem, his appetite got the better of his ho-
nesty ; he boldly entered the shop when a favourable op-
portunity served, and slipped into his apron a large fat
goose ; in addition to which he had laid his bands on a
fine leg of mutton, and made it the companion of the goose.
He was, however, seen to take these liberties with the
cookshop-mUn's property, and on being pursued by a pot-
boy, he threw the goose at him, and nearly knocked him
down. The boy, however, recovered his equilibrium, and
continued the pursuit, and on being joined by a policeman
the prisoner was captured.
The cobbler, in spite of such evidence, boldly asserted
that he never was near the shop at all, and, moreover, that
he could not bear the taste of a goose.
The MAGISTRATE, however, committed him for trial.