The Sun.
London, England, 1856-12-01 00:00:00

LoN ooN MONDA Y EVENING DECEMBER 1, 1856.

THE WALLACE MONUMENT.

(Front the Caledonian Mercury.)
Friday night, a public meeting in favour of the pro-
posed monument on the Abbey Craig, Stirling, to Wal-
lace, was held in the Queen Street Hall. The Lord Pro-
vost, on the motion of Bailie Grieve, took the chair ; and
among those on the platform were Professor Blackie,
Bathes Blackadder and Grieve, Councillors Mackinlay,
Corti°, Potts, Cassels, Dick, Murray, LL.D , and
Crichton, George Harvey, Esq , R.S.A., Noel Paton,
R.S.A., A. B. Shand, Esq., W. Downing Bruce,
Esq., John Foreman, Esq., W.S., John Dick, jun., Esq.,
Win. Begbie, Esq., Robert Bald, Esq., C.E., F.R.S., J.
W. Mitchell, Esq., Leith, Lieut.-Colonel Somerville, Capt..
R. C. D. Bruce, Sheriff Tait, Rev. Mr. Grahame, New-
haven, Rev. A. M. Halkett, Provost Gray; of Lanark, W.
Fairley, Esq. of Moss. From Glasgow—Councillors
Gemmel and Binnie, J. T. Rochhead, Esq., Wm. Forbes,
Esq. From Stirling—Provost Savers, P. Drummond,
Esq., Rev. Dr. Rogers, J. Gair, Esq., Procurator-Fiscal,
of Clackmannanshire, Major-Gen. Yule. The hall was
filled with a numerous and respectable audience.
The CHAIRMAN said he the
pleasure of being there tht there-
fore, prepared to enter at 3et-
ing. He was glad, however isi-
astic manner in which the their
entrance, that it was altogt say
anything in commendation hick
they had met to promote. ob-
ject was to adopt measure is i❑
the West in their proposal man
who stood out prominently Autry.
Ages had come and gone since tut) .!.lays in which he wield-
ed his prowess iu order to secure the independence Ps'
native land. And heliTed stillynlhe memory
-TT. knew= Asti-they` would

- _ _ sympathise in
the efforts being made in favour of that great and pa-
triotic movement. He was sorry to have to announce to
them that the Rev. Dr. Guthrie, whom they expected
to have had the pleasure of seeing there that evening, was
prevented from being present by indisposition. The Rev,
Dr., however, said in a note that he hoped the meeting
would be a very successful one, and that the monument to
Wallace must be followed up by the erection of monu-
ments to two other great Scotchmen, John Knox and
Thomas Chalmers. (Cheers.) The Rev. Dr. concluded by
expressing his regret at not being able to be present. The
movement, as they were aware, began in the mouth of
August last, at a meeting held in Stirling, the report of
the proceedings of which was doubtless familiar to all of
them. Since that time the committee had prosecuted with
considerable success the object that was entrusted to their
care. He was glad to be able to inform them that subscrip-
tions had already been collected to the amount of 2,250/. '
A committee had also been formed in London, which was
prosecuting the same object, but they had not yet received
any return of the subscriptions there, and the amount he
mentioned was altogether exclusive of what was to be
received from the metropolis. He was also requested
to state that a committee had been formed in Dublin, and
that there was a gentleman then present, as a representa-
tive of the Glasgow Committee, whom he would introduce
to them by and bye, and who would give them an account
of the proceedings there. The movement ho would have
them remember was no party one. It was one in which all
classes, the holders of all shades of opinion on civil and
political subjects, could unite; and he did trust that they
would show their earnestness to the cause by giving it
their hearty and warm co-operation. Since he entered the
room a note had been handed to him addressed by a lady to
the Rev. Dr. Guthrie, and enclosing Si. in aid of the Wal-
lace Monument Fund. He congratulated them on the largo
numbers who had attended the meeting, and on the spirit
which he knew animated those who had come. Within the
last few weeks they had had the privilege and honour of
welcoming home the heroes who had lately fought the bat-
tle of national independence in the East. He was glad to
think that they were then ready to blend their respect for
the heroes of the distant past with the recently expressed
gratitude to those who had done so much to support
the honour of their country. His lordship concluded by
again apologising for any deficiency in his remarks, and
called upon Mr. A. S. Logan to address the meeting.
A. S. LOGAN, Esq., said this meeting would be known
as the meeting of apologies. He felt that he himself was
but a poor apology for the rev, doctor who, by indisposi-
tion, had unfortunately been prevented from appearing on
the platform. He had, however, in addition to being an
apology himself, to make an apology, for, owing to circum-
stances to which it was unnecessary fur him to do more
than allude, he had reason to believe, until about a couple
of hours before the meeting, that the part which he
would have to take would be very formal indeed.
He had, however, been called upon not only to propose a
resolution, but to occupy the dangerous position of coming
forward in the van of the meeting. He could not say
that he was unaccustomed to public speaking, as most
of them knew public speaking was his profession ; but
he had always shrunk instictively from addressing
public assemblies like the present. He felt, however,
that on this occasion it would not do for him to allow feel-
ings which, however commendable as feelings of modesty,
were more or less selfish, to prevent him from coming
forward. He would throw himself upon the sympathies
of the meeting, because, if it were true that
To Wallace name what Scottish blood
But boils in a spring-tide flood ?
Surely a man who had been brought up to speak his mo-
ther-tongue should be able to say something to Scotchmen
on the subject of Wallace. There was one circumstance of
fitness to which the Lord Provost had alluded, in his taking
part in such a meeting. It was true that he had first
drawn breath upon the field on which Robert Bruce fought
and conquered at Bannockburn ; and what to the less
sentimental was perhaps a more substantial consideration,
he was the owner of a considerable portion of the field
on which Sir William Wallace fought and conquered at
Stirling. Now, he would say that, although some
progress had been made in achieving the object they
had in view, he must say —and he said it with regret
--that that progress way far from satisfactory to
bins. He did not think that as yet Scotland had been
aroused on this sill-eject. (Hear.) They had had eminent
Scotchmen cPsming forward—some by speeches, some by
puree, a':.Ct some by both—but little or nothing had been
doe,' to rouse the general people of Scotland.—(applause)-
and although he was by no means a demagogue, nor one
inclined to flatter the people, when telling them the truth
would do more good, there was a peculiar fitness that, in a
movement like this, those who were connected with it
should throw themselves on the common heart of the people
of Scotland. There was this peculiar fitness in it :—When
Wallace was not a name, a mere shadow of renown, but a
living, toiling, hoping, working man for Scottish rights and
Scottish liberties; when the high nobility frowned upon
him, and the middle-class gentry, to which ho belonged,
looked on him with suspicion and distrust, what made
Wallace the Protector of Scotland ? What made him
what he truly was, notwithstanding what he after-
wards owed to Bruce, for he made Bruce what he
was ? What made Wallace the Saviour of his country
was the hearty co-operation and support of the
peasant
people, people
whether residing of his native
inscattered
land.
villageswas
o fitr it
no
that
dense and crowded towns, that peasant people of Scotland,
at all times the true representatives of nationality, and
among whom lingering nationality longest remained, who
were the last to be rubbed smooth into a common mass
with a greater nation and a higher civilisation -it was to
that people that they should appeal in such a movement as
they all had at heart. He could only notice ono object on
which had been put forward in the public papers—he did
not think it was a solid one—but it was a prominently
stated objection to the monument, and he thought, too, it
came very much from those who did not feel its force in a
literal sense, but whose temperament rendering thorn
keenly sensitive to ridicule, were averse to the under.
taking lest the thing should be a failure, and the pro.
rooters only get themselves laughed at. The objec-
tion was— Wallace was much too great a man to re-
quire a monument, and the nineteenth century was
much too late to speak of giving him one. Now, he
agreed that Wallace was too great a man to need a
monument. For five centuries and a half (it was just 550
years since the dishonoured remains, but most honourable
fragments, of him whose head was struck off on Smithfield
were put upon London-bridge), but during those five and
and a half centuries the imperishable renown gained by
the unequalled deeds of Wallace had been his great and
imperishable monument, and they would continue to be
so as long as Scotland was surrounded by the sea, and con-
tinued worthy of her name, and that would be (for he was
a hopeful patriot, notwithstanding all he saw) as long as
Scotland remained an independent people, but it was
thought a man was too groat to require a monument,
therefore we should give none. Now, if they were to act
in this way, all the most illustrious men would be without
monuments, and those who were merely distinguished,
without being illustrious—such as he took Dugald
Stewart and David Hume to be, might have them.
Such men it was said should have monuments, be-
cause their fame would be helped by them, and with-
out a monument they might come to be forgotten.
Now what did that amount to ? it amounted
to this, that the great men of every age and country,
Washington, and Milton, and Shakespere— Wellington,
whose statues were seen at every corner, like a policeman
upon picquet, that all these should have remained without
a monument, and that that beautiful gothic structure
which beautified and honoured our city, should have still
lain in the quarry, because Scott, in addition to being the
greatest poet of the 19th century, was the author of Wa-
verley and those unequalled romances which would carry
his name clown to the latest posterity. There VilEi

lutely nothing in this objection. But the tree point of view
in which to look at it was not—does Wallace need a mo-
nument?—but, was it right and duty that the Scottish
people should give a monument? From time to time the
idea had been mooted and dropped—it had now been
mooted once more, he hoped not this time to be dropped.
Sensitively alive to the honour and fame of his coun-
try, he must say that, now that the idea bad been
made public, the honour of Scotland required that it
should not be abandoned. (Hear, hear.) His subscription
would-be fartheoming to the extent of his ability ; but, if
it wore not enough, ho would rather give ton times as
much than that the taunt bellowed forth by the Times,
and gehood by the penny trumpets, should be justified—
that " Pride made Scotland patriotic, and poverty made
Scotland feckless." Sheriff Logan then made the follow.
ing motion :—" That this meeting warmly entertains the
proposal to erect a national monument to Sir 'William
Wallace on the Abbey Craig, near Stirling, and earnestly
recommends the citizens of Edinburgh to co-operate
heartily in this national undertaking." Before sitting
Mown, and at the chance of repeating himself, he would
implore them to take up as a national act, and one to be
carried through and mash) permanent by the people of
Scotland ; and by the word people he did not, as was
often done, use it in a restrictive sense—he did not
moan the higher, the middle, or the lower class ; it
should be taken up by all classes of the people. In
other words, what they presumed to call a national
monument must be taken up by all classes without
distinction. Let the very poor come forward
with their pence, those a little less poor with
their shillings, and let them have pounds and guineasfrom
those gentlemen who delighted to appear on platforms.
We live in an age of projections, and he would appear be-
fore them, ere he sat down, in the character of a projector.
Of „assume, be mods.; stire.,hst taoy Would catch their hire
before he gave directions for dressing it. (Laughter.) The
Lord Advocate the other day had suggested a very striking,
but rather bare idea. It was, that on the Abbey Craig
should be placed a huge cairn, very like to a continuation
of the Craig itself. He (Sheriff Logan) had this further
idea, that ho would take his right hon. friend's word as a
pedestal, and on the top of it he would place a lion of pro-
digious dimensions, whose grim countenance would face
England, where, in the year 12)7, in September month,
Wallace stood, or sat, or crouched in the same place, over-
looking the river Forth, which, ere the noon of that day
came, ran red with English blood ; and truly if blood was
ever grateful to the god of battles, it was when shed in the
defence of a country to which the world owed much of the
civilisation and improvement to which it had attained.
Bailie BLACKADDER said ho had been asked to second
the motion for something like the same reason for which
his friend Sheriff Logan had been asked to propose it. He
considered it a great honour, whatever others may think,
to have been born on the classic field of Bannockburn ; and
he considered it a great honour that this monument was to
be erected in his native county. That country was worthy
of all the honour that could be conferred upon it. There
was not a more beautiful place in the world. From the
Castle of Stirling they had a prospect, the like of which
was not to be seen anywhere. The monument was proposed
to be erected on a situation where it would be seen on all
sides—by travellers coming to Stirling from the north, and
also by those coming from England. He thought that those
English tourists would now view that monument without
any jealous feelings, but rather the reverse. They would
respect us rather than the reverse, for now doing an action
which ought to have been performed five or six hundred
years ago. (Applause.) But it was never too late to
mend—" Better late dae weel, than ne'er dae weel." He
thought the present generation had great credit in resolv-
ing to erect a monument to that great patriot who had
fought and died for the freedom of his country, and for
the liberty and freedom which we enjoyed in our own day,
because the freedom which was so purchased in one age did
not then die, but descended from generation to generation,
and it was well seen now that those principles, in defence
of which Wallace spent his life, and for the upholding of
which he was murdered—for it was a regular murder—it
was soon that the love of those principles had descended to
our own day, and ho was sure there was not an individual
present but would, if they had means and opportunity, be
ready to follow the example of that great man, and do for
his country— he would not say that they would like to lay
down their lives—but he was sure they would go a very
great length in supporting the liberties of his country. Ho
need not go over the grounds on which Sheriff Logan had
already spoken so well ; but, as that gentleman had said
at the end of his speech, the real object for which they
were called together was that money was wanted ; and
there was no need for going about the bush in the matter.
(Laughter and applause.) It was all very well to sit and
listen to the addresses of Sheriff Logan and other eloquent
gentlemen who were about to address them—it was all
very well to sit and listen to them—(cheers)—but it would
would be a poor compliment to the practical force and
effect of such speeches, were wejust to hear them, and then
go away and button up our pockets, and there was no-
thing more about it. They had applauded that speech,
Nud the practical application was just this —that they
must show their estimation of the object, and the plead-
ing for that object, by liberal subscriptions. He need not
say more to induce them to give either their pounds and
shillings, or whatever else they could afford. Every one
present could give something, and there was not a doubt
but a monument would be raised, and one, toe, worthy of
Scotland, and, above all, worthy of Stirlingshire.
Professor BLACKIE, on rising, was received with loud
and repeated cheers. He said—Nothing is more
delectable to a public speaker than to be greeted with ap-
plause before he opens his mouth. Because it makes him
sure of so much applause at least, and it is not always very
sure that when he ends there will be any applause at all.
If I were merely wishing to shy off on this question, as my
task is altogether a mere piece of formalism and not requir-
ing a long speech, I might say nothing at all. I have to
propose that " the following noblemen and gentlemen be
appointed a committee, with power to add to their num-
ber, for procuring the aubseriptions of the citizens, &c."
I put it to you as plain practical Scotchmen whether the
motion requires a single word of speaking from me ? But
as I feel, like my friend Sheriff Logan, as a man and as a
Scotchman on the subject, I feel bound to say what comes
uppermost, and the extempore is sometimes the best, as
we have seen to-night. We have been laughing and
amused, as my leerued friend Mr. Blackadder said, and we
all seem to be in very good humour, and that you know
is extremely proper and very conducive to health, both of
mind and body. But I beg leave to say that I look on this
whole matter as a very serious matter indeed. There may
bo some to whom it is a matter of mere sentimentality.
There may be parsons who study blue books and figures
and political economy, and who aro always talking about
" production," who think the highest happiness of man is
iu raising masses of beef steaks and mutton chops, and
nothing more, for that is what they call " production,"
and if that is achieved these very dry and meagre and
sanctified politico-economical gentlemen are perfectly well
satisfied. Ido not belong to that school; but, however,
I do not think this is a matter of sentiment at all. I think
it is a most serious question. It belongs at least to a grand
question. It is a fraction of the grand question of Scot-
tish nationality. Are we or are we not a nation ? Is
Scotland a district an independent, integrant, and compo-
nent part of the brotherhood or sisterhood composing the
British empire, or is it only as Lancashire, or Yorkshire,
or Middlesex, or Surrey—nothing at all. (Cheers.)
Now, that is a point that is very serious. I say
there is a tendency on weak pretences, and in one
quarter that I respect very highly, for in no quarter
is there greater talent exhibited, or generally more
patriotic words spoken with reference to Scottish affairs
than in the Times newspaper—iu the Times newspaper
there are often most patriotic and useful words spoken
with regard to Scottish affairs, when the local representa-
tives of opinion iu Scotland seem to be timid, and afraid
to speak out boldly—but I must say I hove seen articles in
that very influential paper, which is a good friend of mine,
and which I respect vary much, which seemed to sneer at
what is called Scottish nationality—which seemed to tell
we are not a nation—and, in fact, in plain words, that
Scotland is nothing more than a Lancashire in the history
of the country. Now, against that I most distinctly pro-
test, and I believe every heart in this meeting beats in-
stinctively with mine in making that protest. The question
of a Wallace Monument is in itself of comparatively small
importance. 'Whether a certain amount of stone and lime
be glued together in honour of that great name, is, after
all, but a matter of small importance ; but if it he viewed
as an index of moral feeling in this country, if it be an
index of the amount of self-recognition and self-esteem
in Scotland, it becomes a very important question in-
deed, and I for ono would be extremely sorry, I would
weep bitter tears, if this monument should not be success-
ful in Scotland, now that the notion has begun. It is a
matter of no consequence whether Wallace gets a monu-
ment or not, abstractedly speaking; but if you once begin
thinking about it, and if you make an appeal to the peo-
ple, and you find they do not care a single straw for their
old traditions and patriotic memories, then this is a very
serious relater indeed. And I say that the days of Scot-
land are numbered so soon as the names of Wallace and
Bruce and John Knox shall be mentioned, without excit-
ing memories and aspirations that are not known in Lan•
shire, nay, nor in the whole world. (Cheers.) So much
for the exemption, " out of the fulness of the heart the
mouth speaketh." Humbug requires some time to be got
up, but we have had no time to get up anything of the
sort, so we say what we think and what we feel. With
regard to the question of nationality there can be no
doubt, as a matter of political history, that God has
created social men in various types. They grow out
of various roots, out of different nation; and different
divisions of nations ; they Grow in different elements and

form themselves into distinct entities, as much as the oak
tree, the fir tree, and the beech tree are separated, and dis-
tinct one from the other. It is the will of God that the
beech trees should not be transmogrified into fir trees to
the honour and glory of the fir trees. It is the will of God
that there should be various kinds of dogs, deer hounds,
mastiffs, Skye terriers. But it is not the will of God
that any one of these tribes, in its separate type, should
be absorbed and swallowed up in the general idea of " dog;"
or by any other separate kind of dog, even supposing it
could be proved before a society of zoologists that one spe-
cies of dog was better than every other. Therefore, ac-
cording to the system of nature, it is in the same way the
will of God that Irishmen ought to be Irishmen, that Eng•
lishmen ought to be Englishmen, end that Scotchmen
ought to be Scotchmen. And if that be the will of God,
it is our duty to take care to watch jealously any of
that secret influence and those insidious workings
that may tend to make us forget ourselves, to allow our-
selves gradually to be drawn away by some larger creature,
and to forget our great duty of developing ourselves accord-
ing to the original idea. (Cheers.) It is the proper business
and functions of snch despotisms as that of Russia and else-
where to develope whole peoples in one type. It draws up
the Pole in the idea of. Russia; it swallows up Hungary
under the idea of Austria. It destroys the original type, be-
cause the original type is the idea of liberty. (Cheers.) Now
we Flo not fear a violent and forcible despotism in this
country, but we have reason to fear a despotism—the quiet,
insidious, slow, corrupting despotism of custom and fashion.
We have reason to fear that we may all become Anglified—
that we may forget we are in Scotland ; and I am happyto
say that even in the south they begin to speak with wise
warning on this subject. I read a very str .g paper to-
day or yesterday in a London paper on t very sub-
ject--a warning to Scotchmen not t .-^t that
`they- were Seotchmen ftsning into coq.:, .7- with
Episcopacy, and then marching over in a while
to Rome. In other matters in law, for instance
I find it the same. We must take care that England does
not force us to take their laws, that we do not give way
before blind admiration of mere multitude, though our
laws be superior to theirs. It is their duty to come down
to us and borrow from us what is better in our laws then in
their own. Most unquestionably that is their duty, There
is a great danger that people, for the sake of fashion, and
the glitter of rank and show, and many other causes, may
go away to England and become Englishmen, to forget
that they are Scotchmen at all. Young men go and study
at Oxford and learn very little Greek, and a great deal cf
Episcopacy, and a small portion of Popery, and a great deal
of anti• Scottish notions. I❑ fact they are completely
smoothed over. Now that is a serious business. You will
find that the Wallace monument goes into a very deep
question with regard to the general tendency of Scotchmen
to forget themselves and to become apes of, what I call in
many respects, an inferior people. (Cheers.) At all
events, I will never allow that the English Church,
with its semi-Popish flirtations and mummeries, I would
never allow that that Church, manufactured by a king and
a pack of sycophantic men, is equal to the Scotch Church,
worked out of the very blood and muscle of the people.
And I deny that even Oxford and Cambridge, with all their

means 'and appliances, can produce such an amount of
strong, real, and independent intellectual vigour as the
Scottish universities, provided only the Scottish universi-
ties be true to themselves and Scotland be true to her uni-
versities. (Cheers.) You are very dull indeed if you do
not see that the monument to Wallace has to do with a
great branch of an important question. It is right wo
should be an independent nation; that is a fact. Another
fact is that you are constantly exposed to a great number
of insidious influences of a low kind that tend to make you
forget you are an independent nation. I say, therefore it is
our bounden duty at the present moment to take every
possible measure to restore and to re-animate half your

lost, your slumbering feeling of nationality. University
reform, that is my hobby you know, is one point. But, in
the meantime, and in reference to the present meeting,
there is no public meeting of such importance in keeping
alive the national feeling than the erection of monuments
to your great and distinguished Scotchmen—to Wallace in
the first place—(cheers)--to John Knox in the second
place, to Dr. Chalmers in the third place—(cheers)—and
to Dr. Guthrie when he dies. (Cheers.)
The following are the names of the gentlemen who form
the committee proposed by Professor Blackie:—Tho Right
Hon. the Lord Provost, Convener, the Right Hon. Lord

Dunfermline, the Right Hon. the Lord-Advocate, Lord
Murray, Lord Ardmillan, Lord Neaves, Sir William Gib
son-Craig, Bart., of Riccarton, Sir John 2rl`Neill, G.C. 8.,
Sir William Johnston, of Kirkhill, Charles Cowan, Esq.,
M.P.. John Inglis. Esq., Dean of Faculty, C. Bairn°, Esq.,
Sheriff of Stirlingshire, John Tait Esq., Sheriff of Ditack-
rnanuan and Kinross, Alex. S. Logan, Esq., Sheriff of For

farshire, Win. E. Ay toon, Esq., n.d. L., Professor of Rho-

toric, University, J. Y. Simpson, M.D., Professor of Mid-

wifery, University, Professor Blackie, Professor Trail, Pro-
fessor Gootisir, Professor Balfour, Professor M'Dougall,
George Harvey, Esq., R.S.A., James Drummond, Esq.,
R.S.A.. P. S. Fraser, Esq., J. M. Mitchell, Esq., Leith,
Bailie Brown Douglas, Bailie Kay, Baillie Clark, Bailie
Blackadder, Bailie Grieve, Dean of Guiki Wemyss,

cillor Dick, Councillor Cassols, Councillor Forrester, Coun-
cillor M`Kinlay, Councillor Gorrie, Councillor Richardson,
Councillor Dickson, Rev. James Grant, D.D., D.C.L.,
Edinburgh, Rev. Thomas Guthrie, D.D., Edinburgh,
Robert Chambers, Esq., Charles INPLaren, Esq., William

H. Lizars, Esq., John Rogers, Esq., S.S.C., James Ballan-
tine, Esq., William Tullis, Esq., James Clay, Esq., Adam
Morrison, Esq.. S.S.C., John Dunlop, Esq., 15, Dean-ter-
race, J. A. Campbell, Esq., W.S., A. Burns Shand, Esq.,
advocate, James C• Tait, Esq , W.S., James Forman,
Esq., advocate, Major-General Yule, Lieutenant-Colonel
Somerville, Thomas Murray, LL.D.

Sheriff TAIT seconded the motion.

After a vote of thanks to the Chairman, on the motion

of Mr. M`Dlillan, the meeting broke up.

COURT OF ALDERMEN.

(A. summary of the folio aiig appeared in our impres•
lion of Saturday.)

On Saturday a special Court was held for the pur?ose,
as stated in the paper of business, of receiving a corn
munication from the Lord Mayor relative to the office of
Recorder. There was an unusually large attendance of
members.

The minutes of the last Court having been read and
approved,
The LORD MAros rose and said he had called his
brethren together in consequence of a letter which had
been addressed to him by the Recorder.
His Lordship then handed the letter to the Town
Clerk, who read it as follows :
" 3, Carlton.gardens, Nov. 28.

"My Lord,—ller Maj.-sty having been graciously
pleased to confer upon me the office of Solicitor-General
to the Crown, it becomes my duty to resign that of Re-
corder of the City of London into the hands of those by
whose favour I was elected to that honourable and im-
portant post.

" In thus ro'inquishing the office which I have been
proud to hold iu connection with the Corporation of Lon-
don for the last six years, I pray to be allowed to convey
to your Lordship and to the hon. magistrates who are
your colleagues in the Court of Aldermen the renewed
expression of my indelible gratitude for the honour they
originally confetred upon me by my unsolicited election
to the highest station in their gift. My endeavour has
since been to justify their choice, and to maintain on all
occasions the dignity and efficiency of the chief officer
and legal adviser of your ancient corporation, as well as
to assert and defend the essential rights and privileges
of the citizens of London, and I trust that I shall sur
render the office to my successor, when appointed, un-
impaired in honour and undiminished in authority.
" I now take my leave with the regret that naturally
mingles in the severance of public ties, cemented by per
sonal regard and respect, and in doing so I beg to tender
to your Lordship, to the ma[;istrates, and to the whole
body over which your Lordship so wor hily presides,
my warmest and sincerest thanks for the uniform and
great kindness, courtesy, consideration, and support
which I have received from every member of the corpo-
ration and from ali my brother officers during the whole
period of my service.
"There is nothing in the new position to which I have
been called inconsistent with a deep interest in the pros-
perity of the corporation, and, hoping long to retain the
many valuable friendships I have gained during my
connection with your city,
" I have the honour to remain, my Lord,
•' Your faithful and obedient servant,
" A. STUART WORTLET.
"To the Right Hon. the Lord Mayor, &c."
Sir P. LAURIE —My Lord Mayor, I move that that
letter be entered upo❑ the minutes of the Court.
Mr. Alderman SIDNEY—Do you not move that the re-
signation of the learned Recorder he accepted ? ,
Mr. Alderman CHALLIS—At the next Court I shall
move a resolution expresilve of our admiration of the
manner in which the learned Recorder has performed the
duties of his office.

The LORD MAYOR—The resignation may not be ac-
cepted, but the letter may be received.
The TOWN CLERK—The resignation cannot bo re-
ceived to day.
Mr. Alderman WlRE—Certain formal acts are required
to be done by the learned Recorder, and he will perform
them until his successor is appointed, and therefore the
motion is a proper one, that the letter be entered on the
minutes of the Court.
Mr. Alderman SIDNEY—I never heard of such a thing
in try life, and I am not prepared to sit down without
hearing some explanation of the course of proceeding.
The learned Town Clerk says that the resignation cannot
he received. I really do not know why. It is formally
tendered. The Court is specially called together to re-
ceive the resignation of the late Recorder.
The LORD MAYOR—No ; the Court is called together
"to receive a communication relative to the office of
Recorder." (Hear.)
Mr, Alderman smigy.—lf there be any pia of

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