The Sun.
London, England, 1834-01-03 00:00:00

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The case was clearly proved against the prisoners, and—

The Jury found both of them Guilty.
Mr. Farmer stated, at the conclusion of the case, that
within the last 12 or 14 years he had lost property to the amount
of 2,0001. or 3,000/.

MIDDLESEX SESSIONS-(THIS DAY).

The Court was occupied the whole of the morning with the
trial of prisoners for passing bad money. No new feature was
presented. The incidents were the same as usual in all Mint
cases. Two persons go out together, one goes in and buys
some trifling article, for which a bad piece of money is offered;
the other stops outside, and he keeps the stock of counterfeit
coin, so that should the one who offers the money be found out
no more bad money may be found upon him. However, in
the greater part of the cases both were taken. There were
eight prisoners, and all were found Guilty, and received
sentence of imprisonment, some for twelve months and others
for two, one week out of every month to be spent in solitary
confinement.

CITY OF LONDON CORPORATION
' INQUIRY.-(THIS DAY.)

The Commissioners resumed their adjourned investigations
this morning, at ten o'clock. Sir F. PALORAVE in the Chair.
Mr. Woodthorp continued his evidence. The Common
Hall is composed of Lord Mayor and Aldermen, Common
Councilmen, and the Livery of the several Companies of the
City ; but since the Statute 2 George 1., Common Halls have
been recorded as meetings of the ‘,*,..,0rd Mayor, Aldermen, and
Liverymen of the City of London. Since the time of John
Wilkes, meetings of Common Council had become more fre-
quent and consequently they had been separated from the
Common Halls. In the record of the meetings of
Common Hall, now the words "an immense number
of the citizens" are added. The Aldermen are summoned as
to a Court of Aldermen, with a note bene stating that a Corn.
mon Hall will be held on the same day. The Common Council
are not summoned at all. It is the duty of all the principal
officers, such as Recorder, Common-Sergeant, Judges of the
Sheriff's Court, Common Pleader, Chamberlain, &c., to attend
the Lord Mayor on all public •wilotis. Thellheriffs were
necessary on all days of election. The Lord Mayor was the
chief, the Recorder was his mouthpiece, and the two
Sheriffs were his two eyes. The liverymen are sum-
moned by the precept through their several masters and
wardens directing them through their own beadles. One of the
attorneys of the Lord Mayor's Court is called the clerk of the
Common Hall, but all the proceedings of the meetings are
drawn up by the town clerk. Common Councilmen, though
not summoned, and not of the Liverymen, have a right per.
.sonally to attend on the hustings, but could take no part in
election proceedings. The word " Common-ball," which he
considered a mere designation of locality and not describing
the quality of the meetings, was first used in 1738, after
which the meetings of Common Council were separated
from the miscellaneous entries. The statute of the 7th of
William the Third gave the Lord Mayor the sole power
of assembling the Common Hall, and it is by an act of Common
Council that the Lord Mayor's election takes place on Mi.
chaelmas Day. It is not necessary that more than four Al.
dermen besides the Lord Mayor should be present at a Common
Hall. If an Alderman speaks at a Common Hall he acts
most irregularly; lie has no more right to influence
the elections of the livery than the Sheriffs have to exer.
cise official influence in the election of Members of Parliament.
The Aldermen were to be considered as the returning-officers,
at common-hall elections. Therehave been instances in which
aldermen, having been personally alluded to, have spoken at a
Common Hall in order to vindicate themselves. Alderman
Waithman has done it, but he has invariably put off his civic
robes before doing so. If a common councilman, though not
of the livery, were to hold up his hand to vote, neither the
Lord Mayor nor Sheriffs had the power to order him to take it
down, but he could not by any means vote at the poll. A
liveryman of a company, though not a freeman of the city,
may attend a Common Hall, but could not vote under the
statute either on a show of hands or at the poll. Indeed, if
the Lord Mayor knew that such an individual was present,
not being a freeman of the city, he could turn him out of the
Hall. In the year 1769, the Livery first met in Common Hall
as a deliberative body; but it was decided by Plumbe's cele-
brated case of the Goldsmith's Company refusing to attend to
the Lord Mayor's precept, except in cases of elections,
that the Lord Mayor had not power to enforce the
attendance of the Livery as a deliberative body. The
Common Hall claim the privilege of addressing his Ma-
jesty on the throne ; in the year 1773 it was exercised, and
the King returned a gracious answer. No other instance, how-
ever, has since occurred. In fact, two years afterwards the
Earl of Hertford, then Lord Chamberlain, wrote a letter ad-
dressed to the Lord Mayor, intimating that the King would
not receive any address, remonstrance, or petition on the
throne, but from she body corporate of the city. All re-
solutions respecting the Court of Aldermen and Common
Council, passed in Common Hall, must be served by the clerk
on the City Chamberlain, the officer of the liverymen, to be by
him presented to the Court of Aldermen ; in June and Sep-
tember, 1819, certain resolutions of that sort were come to
relative to the city funds, and a Committee of the Court of
Common Council were appointed to consider them. In Ja-
nuary, 11=31, they made the report, and recognised the right of
he livery in Common Hall to pass such resolutions.

THE FUNDS.-(THIS DAY.)

CITY, TWELVE
.0' CL 0 CK..

Up to the present hour we have a complete blank morning
in respect to intelligence, there being no arrivals of foreign
mails, or any others of consequence.

THE FUNDS.

Although heavy sales were effected yesterday in the various
Funds, they still continue firm. Consols, which left off at
891 90 for the Account, opened at 90 buyers, at which price
they are at present, with very little doing.
Wednesday (New Year's Day) being a holyday at Paris, we
do not expect the prices of the French Funds ; but the speech
of the Russian Ambassador, on complimenting the King, is
anxiously looked for.
The letters from Liverpool say, that for thirty years past
they have not experienced so severe a gale as on Wednesday
last.

Nothing doing in the Foreign Market.
HALF-PAST ONE.

Four foreign mails still remain due, which causes a great
dullness in the political circles in the City, as well as in the
Funds. The French mail is hourly expected, but that of the
Dutch is not looked for till tomorrow.

Consols have been during the whole of the morning at 90
for the Account, alternately buyers and sellers,withilittle doing.
The Foreign Market is also inactive. Dutch Stock, 49% to
50 Ex-dividend ; Spanish, to I ; Portuguese, 561 to 57
Brazil, 671.
We have no reports.

THREE 0' CL 0 CK.

Consols for the Account, 90.

PROGNOSTICS OF THE WEATHER.—The
following method, it is said, will show the approach of
dry and wet weather. Having tied a plummet at the end
of a piece of whipcord, hang it against a dry wall or wains-
cot, and then draw a line at the bottom of it just where
the plummet reaches : let this be done when the weather
is neither very wet nor very dry. When it is likely to be
dry weather, the plummet will reach below the line ; and
on the approach of wet rainy weather, it will be above the
line.—From Thompson's Gardener's Calendar.
DOING TOO MUCH GooD.—A surgical
friend of ours was called in, some years ago, to•attend a
woman who was suffering from an attack of paralysis,
which bad affected her tongue so much that she was un-
able to articulate. Among other remedies he employed
that of electricity. At his next visit, when the electrical
shock was to be repeated, the husband took him aside, and
begged of him not to give it so strong. "So strong—it
produced no ill effects, I hope ?" "Oh uo— it did her a
deal of good—but don't give it so strong again."
PARISH REGISTERS.—Parish registers were
fisir,sotrLiiiy,traofdteurcweadvbiy, CromwelltLieieoisersrcerltdeveiwitrwtysahsaoiinsrifn,oLsaroicesnagdn
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commencing
t appears
15pbeb,3eneiit andor:i.nraegb(
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dog that copies of them should be sent to the bishops of
each diocese, which was complied with for many years.
earlier—oTtei:reeri
etanht ealrsnea3tt‘6hvfe.aowt
nTrstehttgi
churchwardens' accounts of S. Margaret's that they paid 2d.
for a registry hook in 1538, pursuant to Lord Cromwell's
directions; they followed immediately on the dissolution of
the monasteries, the monks being previously the regis-
ctrnavresred in t
for the parishes. By that injunction the parson,
vicar, ories r the curate, was the person directed to make
o
andhe Seetapte Paper
thebookos.fri
Office, from
letter r
Sirl telpyeadricse-
Edgecombe, of Cornwall, to Cromwell, states that
the origin of this register-book had caused great
discontent in the shires of Devon and Cornwall, the people
supposing it was the beginning of new taxes which they
should have to pay for their marriages, burials, and
christenings.—Evidence of Mr. Burn before the Paro-
chial Registration Committee.