The Sun.
London, England, 1833-01-09 00:00:00

MIDDLESEX SESSIONS, JAN. S.

George CuVey, a private in the 3d battalion of
the Ist regiment of Foot Guards, was indicted for
assaulting D Avid George Alderson, one of the con-
stables of this county, on the 18th of September
last, when in the execution of his du'y.
The defendant pleaded guilty.
Mr. ALLEY, for she prosecution, could not allow
a case of so aggravated a nature to pass off in that
manner without some observation.

CHAIRMAN—AIthough the defendant has pleaded
guilty, you wish to state the facts of the case ?
Mr. ALLEY—Yes, Sir, by calling. the prosecutor,
who, as a parish officer, went to apprehend this man
upon an order of affiliation made by Mr. Hoskins
and Mr. Griffiths, two of the Magistrates of the
county, when he was assailed by a number of other
men, and cruelly maltreated; beyond the prosecu-
,orhe (Mr. Alley) would not adduce testimony.

Mr. Alderson, pursuant to a warrant a fined by
the Magistrates named by the Learned Counsel,
went repea'edly to the barracks, with the view of
apprehending the defendant. He showed the war-
rant to the officers in command, and wished to have
the man delivered up to him, or, if more agreeable
to all parties, that an appointment should be made
fur the defendant to meet him at the Marylebone
Police-office. The officers said that they could make
no order, nor would they lend any facility towards
apprehending the man, adding that he (witness)
must act by a soldier as he would by another man,
and take him when he could lay hold of him. Wit-
IleSB, after many fruitless attempts, heard that the
defendant was at or near King's-mews barracks,
Charing-cross, and, as he was unknown to him, he
took the mother of the child to identify him, and
she did so. Witness found the defendant in a tap-
room, and told him he must walk with him, which
he refused to do. There were fourteen or fifteen
other soldiers in the tap-room, some of whom shook
him, and put themselves in a menacing attitude,
and at the same time used threatening language.
CHAIRMAN—Ye s, that may have been; but they
are not before the Court. What did the defendant
do ?

Witness—He got hold of my arm, and then struck
me a violent blow on my body, fr“m the consequence
of which I was ill several days, and I feel the effects
of it down to this moment.

Mr. ALLEY—You have had some experience in
this way as an officer of so extensive a parish; do
you frequently meet with such obstructions in the
dischaige of your duty ? Witness—No Sir; the
officers of every other regiment but this deliver up
their men, when applied for under such circum-
stances.

Mr. Chesterton, the Governor of the House of
Correction, informed the Court that the defendant
was already in custody tinder a sentence of three
months, two of which %vere unexpired.
CHAIRMAN—What is that for ?

Mr. ALLEY—Oh, Sir, for the disobedience of
another order of the same kind. This is the second
charge. _ _ _ .

The CHAIRMAN then delivered the judgment of
the Court. Tnat for this offence the prisoner be
confined in the H use of Correction, and kept to
hard labour, for three calendar months, to com-
mence at the expiration of the term for which upon
another charge he was in durance; and if that was
two months, he must consider himself a prisoner
for five months henceforward.

DISCHARGE OF THE MIDDLESEX GRAND JURY.--01..

PRACTICABILITY OF INTERMEDIATE SESSIONS•

During the last week very considerable inconve-
nience has arisen in the Metropolitan Courts of Cri-
minal Judicature, in consequence of the sudden
manner in which the assent of the Home Secretary
of State was put in force relative to the holding an
intermediate Sessions, so as to effect a more frequent
gaol delivery.
This morning John Claik, Esq., the Clerk of Ar-
raigns for the city of London and the Home Circuit,
made an application to the Court relative to an
obstruction being thrown in the way of the delivery
of the gaol of Newgate, in consequence of the new
order or regulation of this Court, which had ad-
journed the sitting of the Grand Jury; hence the
persons whose bills of indictment had been ignored
could not be discharged.
The CHAIRMAN said that what the Court had
done had been done after considerable deliberation,
and tinder a high sanction.
Mr. Clark said he was deputed by the Judges
presiding at the Old Bailey Sessions :o represent
to this Court that they were of opinion that, until
the Grand Jury were discharged, the persons in
confinement could not be liberated, although no
bills were preferred against them, which was con-
sidered, as regarded them, a good reason for com
plaint, and an act of gross injustice.
The CHAIRMAN, after adverting to the history of
the difficulty into which they were plunged, said

CORPORATION REFORM.—Mr. CHARLES PEAR-
soN._Yesterday Mr. Charles Pearson applied to
the LORD MAYOR to know whether his Lordship
had given directions for placing upon the paper of
Corporation business two resolutions which, at the
last Common Council, he had intimated his inten-
tion of bringing forward to amend the municipal
representation cf the City ?
The LORD MAYOR had given directions for in-
serting the notices on the paper of business. It
was, his Lordship said, his intention to give the
fullest latitude to free discussion. He had seen it
announced in the public papers that the Livery
intended to ask for a Common Hall upon the sub-
ject of the ballot. He would certainly, if applied
to, call the Common Hall, as he had pledged him-
self to do so upon all occasions; but as the
constituency of the City was now changed, he
did not see how a meeting of the Livery could
he properly held to petition Parliament, without the
concurrence of the householders of the City.
Mr. Pearson had not heard of the requisition,
but it appeared to him quite clear that there could
be no objection to a meeting of the Livery to peti-
tion Parliament, as heretofore, upon that or any
other subject. He trusted he should see the day
when the corporate institutions of the City of Lon-
don would be freed from the abuses which now
surround them, and they might then serve as models
for the newly-enfranchised burghs. The present
state of the representation of the city in Common
Council was most preposterous. Bread-street ward
for instance, elected as many representatives as Far-
ringdon ward, whereas upon a fair calculation, upon
a combined view of taxation and population of
the wards of the city, Bread-street should return
three Common Councilmen, while the proportion of
Farringdon-wit hoot would be 59.
The LORD MAYOR considered that, as far as he
was able to discover upon a first glance, to be very
reasonable; but what, said his Lordship, will you
do with the Aldermen ?
Mr. Pearson—Make them better, if that be pos-
sible; if not, we'll dispense with them altogether.
The LORD MAYOR shook his head, and intimated
that there were many difficulties to be encountered
before the latter alternative could be adopted. The
police could not act effectively without the guidance
of a magistracy, and nobody impugned the capa-
bility of the City Magistrates, constituted as they
were by the voice of a free constituency. But he
spoke in reference to the particular question of
equalising the representation of the wards:
Mr. Pearson stated that the election of Alder-
men must afterwards be regulated by the same
principle. It was a monstrous anomaly that the
pocket Alderman of the ward of Bassishaw, which
contained 130 houses, and paid about 8001. to the
land tax, should fill the civic chair as often as the
representative of Farringdon, which contained 3,700
houses, and paid about 14,0001. to the land tax.
The following are the notices iuserted on the
paper. Considerable opposition is, we believe,
expected to the propositions, on the ground that the
chartered rights of the citizens of London will be
deeply affected by them.
" That it is expedient to amend the representation of
the citizens of London, in Common Conned, by adapting
the same to the existing state of the population and muni-
cipal taxation of the various wards of this city.
" That it is expedient gradually to reduce, and ultimately
to remit, the fine upon the admission of all householders,
paying their scot and bearing their lot, to the freedom of
this city, with a view to the removal of unnecessary re-
strictions upon trade, and that the inhabitants may not be
subjected to municipal taxation except by representatives of
their own choosing."