The Sun.
London, England, 1851-03-17 00:00:00

THE METROPOLITAN MARKET BILL
AND THE CORPORATION.

The following is the report of the Markets Improve-
ment Committee, to whom it was referred by the Court
of Common Council to watch the procedings on the Bill
for providing a metropolitan market, and conveniences
connected therewith, in lieu of the cattle market at
Smithfield, now pending in the House of Commons:—
" The copies of the Bill having been laid before us by
the Remembrencer, we proceeded to consider the same,
and are of opinion that the Bill is an unjust and arbi-
trary interference with the prescriptive rights, privileges,
and immunities of the Corporation of the City of Lon-
don, which has been seised in fee of its ancient market
from time whereof the memory of man runneth not to
the contrary,' and which privileges have been fully es-
tablished and confirmed by charters from King Edward
111., Kings Chasies I. and 11., and from other Sovereigns,
and still further confirmed and acknowledged by many
Acts of Parliament, and especially by an Act passed so
lately as the sth and 6th of King William IV., and is in
direct contravention of, and opposition to, the opinion of
the judges of the land, solemnly pronounced in the House
when, in answer to questions pro-
pofouLnodreds dbyin BthleHouse, they advised their Lordships That
a new market could only be legally granted so as to pro
might be called the surplus accommoda-
tionbeyond what the market of Smithfield
can eaofffofortrhwde pa,h'autnbdlictbat the rights and interests of Smith-
field ought not to he affected; that the Bill would be a
grievous interference, not only with the privileges of the
city of London, but with the trade of its citizens gene-
with those having dealings in
oslr:iaacrryiliYng on business in the centre of
meatral gene-
rally,
and
dd
cattle, more e
the City, and would occasion a disruption of a branch of
trade on which upwards of seven millions of money
change hands annually in the sale of live stock, inde-
pendently of enormous amounts paid for dead meat, and
would interpose greet and unnecessary difficulties to the
effectual and speedy accomplishment of commercial
transactions in the Elite and purchase of so important an
item of the people's food; and because the Bill provides
for the establishmalt of a new corporation, consist-
ing of five persona tominated by the Crown, under the
title of Incorporated Commissioners, who, whilst they
will be wholly irresponsible either to Parliament or to
the country, will nevertheless be invested with arbitrary
powers of imposing tolls and fines upon the subject, of
making rules and regulations having the effect and force
of law, and even of levying a distress without resort to
any of the ordinary tribunals of adjudication upon
any individual incutring debts to them for tolls;
and because the necessarily heavy costs of this
Incorporated Comnissicn, together with the sa-
laries and wages of the staff of officers, and all other
expenses whatsoever incurred by its authority, are to be
defrayed by additional tolls upon meat and cattle dis-
posed of in the market, thereby inevitably increasing
the price to the people of one of the articles which enter
most largely into theft consumption. And that it is also
proposed, for the purpose of carrying out this Bill, to
authnrise the Incorporated Commissioners to raise a sum
of 200,0001. by mortgage of the anticipated tolls to the
Commissioners of Public Works, the sole security for
such loan being the market tolls, dependent in amount
on the success of the project, and which, in case of a
failure (as at Islington) would leave the amount of a
loan for a local purpose a permanent burden on the con-
solidated fund. That the Bill further provides that so
soon as the proposed now market shall be opened, Smith-
field market shall be closed, and no new cattle market
shall thenceforth be opened within five miles of St. Paul's
Cathedral, thus establishing a monopoly in favour of the
proposed new market and the parties upon whose lands
such market shall be held. That the Bill having been
introduced into the Home of Commons was referred to
the examiner of petitions for Private Bills, who reported
that the standing orders had not been complied with;
and the said Bill and the report of the examiner were
thereupon referred, to the Select Committee of the House
of Commons on Standing Orders, who, after hearing the
statements for and against dispensing with the standing
orders, agreed to the following resolution :---
..

Smithfield-market
" That in the ease ofthe Smithfield-market Removal
Bill the standing orders ought to be dispensed with.
That the parties be permitted to proceed with their Bill
on inserting the notices once in the London Gazette and
for three successive weeks in the newspapers; and that
the Committee of Selection be instructed not to appoint
the first meeting of the Committee on the Bill for an
earlier day than Thursday, the Ist of May.'
" The resolution was reported to the House of Com-
mons on Tuesday, the llth inst., and agreed to, and no
progress can therefore be made with the Smithfield-
market Removal Bill for three weeks from the present
time.

" Under these circumstances your committee have
deemed it expedient to be prepared with a petition
against the said Bill, and they directed the Rembrancer
to settle the draught of a petition in consultation with
the counsel retained on behalf of the corporation, and the
said draught petition having been approved by your
committee they submit tha same to this court.
"H. L. Taylor. " Valentine Rutter.
" Richard Hicks. " W. Webster.
" John Dixon. " R. C. Backnall.
" William Williams, " R. Obbard.
" Stephen Baker. " George Harker.
" J. Josiah Millard. " T. J. Holt.
" T. H. Hall.
" Dated March 13, 1851;

HOW ISTHE
CARRUD ON?
This
GOVERNMENT TO BE
asked with some emphasis at
theprbeysewnhtich Metternich
juncture. `` Afler me the deluge!" was the
i s
a question
to QUEEN'S
be
hesmerised men into fealty
through fear. " Myself or a dissolution!" such is the
alternative by which Lord John Russell alone can stand.
spell
An appeal to the country eta moment like the present,
is the foreseen calamity which " makes the Cabinet of
so long life.*
With the" No Popery" eicitement only dormant, and
capable of being !mu re-stimulated from the hustings
into "Free-trade" struggle to be
foughtfier undercer esta n
the most unfavourable to the
advocates of progress, it may well be that the Liberal
li fei:rc with
um the
e es
party should prefer the perpetuation of a feeble Ministry
to the
.precipitation of that great conflict, compared to
success or failure in which the mere interests of party
arr as nothing.
Before going to the country on the issue of " Taxed
or Untaxed Bread," let us dispose of the Ecclesiastical
Titles Bill. Don't let the sry of "Protection" be
strengthened with the roar of "No Popery." Don't ex-
pose the seal of the Free Trader to be " sieklied o'er"
with the fanaticism of the Religions Protectionist. Let
not Corn and Catholics divide the Liberal forces which
they so long united. Do not hazard a return to fixed
duties by exposing the weaker brethren to the anathema
of relaxed principles.
Even with the utmost degree of dissolution panic of
which an Honourable Rouse is capable, it is impossible
not to foresee more than one tempest gathering on the
sky, under stress of which it seems but too
probable that the already water-logged barque
must finally go down. Can the Colonial-of-
fice weather Mr. Baillie's Ceylon motion, of which
we observe notice
is given for next Tuesday
week, and which lowers ominons on the journals of the
House awaiting " in grim repose " its red-tape prey.
Escape is no doubt possible, but surely the Noble and
Right Honourable rulers of th, Colonies must begin to
regard Downing-street with those sentiments of natural
piety with which men of feeling minds take their last
look of the scenes of their greatness and their glory.
It would serve no purpose to run through the many
similar instances of possibly impending discomfiture: it
is the very nature of such a situation as the present to
stimulate attack, and enfeeble defence. Men will
fight hard for glory or for life, they will
but faintly struggle to prolong a state which
is, after all, but a lingering death. The Whigl/4
Ministry carrying through the session of 1851 is a
spectacle which it depends on themselves to make either
sublime or ridiculous. If, feeling that they are restored
to office by a state necessity, they seize the opportunity
of signalising their newlease of power, by well-considered
and honestly-urged measures of practical reform,
they may retire at its expiration with general respect.
If, on the other hand, they rely on the peculiarity of the
crisis, as a sufficient excuse for inaction and reserve, the
consequences of the national dissatisfaction may prove
permanently disastrous to their hopes of future power.
Let them be wise in time.—Weekly LVews.