The Sun.
London, England, 1860-01-31 00:00:00


7t-7-777"'.
,

NEWSPAPER
"The Doncaster and Wakefield, 17 -ttpecAre, 1,,,),
leTorthern districts are promoted xe;' 004144-C.Tee • rl'sTst.
.J 1 went Valley, 13 miles 24 4 41116'44.04 e'. - 'ire,
frint
Eastern (Blaydon and Conside VittiellOtga '''. c \ ''''4.4
16 chains ; Sacriston Junction aft&Cf3dliffiW'e*, :AT •
17 miles 69 chains; Wharfedale eitel
Upsall and Oimesby, 4 miles 47 chaifereW s Y'lz -,
Railway Bills include the Inverness andltoss : .irttpS
31 miles 28 chains; the Keith and Dufftown, 9
miles 44 chains; Montrose ante Bervie, 12 miles 7
chains; the Morayshire, 9 miles 31 chains; the
Caledon (Lanark branches), 10 miles 44 chains ;
Dumfriei, Lo-chmaben, and Lockerby Junction, 14
miles 50 chains; the Galashiels, Inverleithen, and
Peebles, 16 miles 3S chains; the Monkland, 11 miles
27 chains; the North British (Stations), 10 chaiks ;
the Lymington, Biggar, and Brottghton Exterfaien,
11 miles 9 chains; and West_ of Fife Mineral, 3
Miles 64 chains. The Irish Railway Bills incledo
the Belfast and-Bangor, -7 -Miles 74 chains; the
Carrickfergus and Larne, 15 miles 16 chains ; the
Dublin and Drogheda, 121 miles; Dublin find
Meath, 11 miles 64 chains ; Finn Valley, 13
miles • Kells and Baillieborougb, 181 miles ;
Letterkennv, 15 miles 38 chains ; Londondetry
and Lough. S:villy, 11 miles 19 chains ; Ulster, 2
miles 8 . chains ; Bagenal.stown and Wexford, 7
miles 55 chains ; Dublin and Wicklow Extension,
18e miles; Kilkenny Junction, 25 miles 12 chains ;
Attenry and Ennis Junction, '25 miles 74 chains ;
Cork and Limerick Direct, 17 miles, 2:3 chains ;
Ennis and Galway, 34 miles 53 chains ; Kilrush
end Kilkee, 8 miles 48 chains; Galway Pier Junc-
tion, 75 chains; Waterford and Limerick, 45
chains ; and the West Cork, 44 miles 33 chains.
Yesterday the following bills were declared •to
have complied with the standing orders :
(Before Mr. Smith.ee . '.
HORSHAM AND CriaLrFORD DITIVCT.,---:-TO make
a railway from Horsham to London and &nth-
Westerh Railway at Godalming.
EPPING.—To male a railway from Chi ping
Ongar to Dunmow. • . Lae .
ere
. .A
(Before Mr. Feere.)—
WIMBLEDON AND DORKING.—To., make a rail-
way from Wimbledon to Dorking. erjr he standing _
orders were complied with.:. - = ) eireier •
~et, "
, 7-- • --e-e• :4 4-, 141`
TILE CORP 01?...-1 TIO A' OF LON DriY.:7
- •
The City of London is one of the paradexes of the
age. We smile at foreigners who entertain se geand
an idea of the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, -yet we
should be ourselves at a loss to assign to these func-
tionaries their real -dignity and position. They are
not the mere exaggerat 101 l and abuse that they seem.
An indefinite feeling that the Corporation of London
could not be included in the same category with our
other municipal corporations led to its omission from
the Municipal Reform Act. Sir G. C. Lewis ascribes
this to the services rendered by the Corporation to
the Liberal cause and to its liberal constitution. As
it was the most popular body in the kingdom, so
it seemed in no reed of reform. This, however,
is not so near the truth as Mr. Ayrton's account of

the matter. The Corporation of London, he says,
as originally conatituted, was not a merely local
body, but a union and representation of all the
trading companies in the metropolis. It was not
necessary; as we know, for the freemen of a com-
pany to reside, and thus it was compatible with the
laws and principles of the Corporation that the
whole of the metropolis should be included in the
City of London. This made the City less of an
anomaly and less of an abuse than it is commonly
supposed. Yet, even in general opinion, the City
is not a mere local constitution. Not only the civil
functionaries, but most of the freemen who possess
influence in City affairs, reside far omt of the City
bounds, and have for the sphero of their business
the country at large, if not all the world. It is this
which has sustained the City in its exclusive as-
sumption of the metropolitan character ; for if it
had dwindled into a mere local tradition of old
London, like the 6i City" of Paris, it wocld long ago
have been laid under the axe of Reform, Before

the 'Corporation, then, be further reformed, we ought
to know exactly what it is and what it is not. It
is not merely a representation of a twentieth of
this metropolis, that by lapse and error of time has
stolen the right and title of the rest. Oa the
other hand, it cannot quite be classed with the
universities, as a community just anchored to one
spot, but riding free on the tides of life and tho
currents of thought. The City of London does not
profess to represent the commerce and trade of all
England. Yet it certainly represents, both in
theory, in fact, and in public opinion, much more
than is contained within the old City walls.
To the 'difficulty of ascot tabling exactly what the
City of London is, what it affects to be, and what
it ought to be; must be ascribed the deiay iu its
reform. It comes before us in a double character,
and when we take it in one it falls back on the
other. If we treat it as a local corporation, it
appeals to its:inetroptiTifitti and trzeful aspects. If
we propose to -e4trty--4-int---its metropolitan design,
and include within its circle the two millions or
three millions comprised within the modern metro-
polis, it then takes refuge behind the line of its old
walls, and claims to be a favoured locality. Sir G.
C. Lewis, as we understand, and as Mr. Ayrton
interprets his bill, would sink the City to the or-
dinary municipal class, deprive the freemen of their
votes, and restrict the freedom of the City to £lO
householders. This, of course, is either a singular
blindness or a bold indifference to the lofty preten-
sions of the City. If actually carried out it must
tend to lower the City and its functionaries. On
the other hand, is Mr. Ayrton prepared to show
that the freemen of the present day do really re-
represent the higher element of the City? Aro
they its metropolitan element? Are they the
trading communities not so Much of London as of
England? If they are not—if they are rather a
scandal and a weakness to the City, then it is a
mere sentimental indulgence to retain them, and
any sensible reform must extinguish the class.
We do not fight for shadows in these days. It
is the present., not the past. that is in question. •
If the City of London can really, with the aid of
Mr. Ayrton, assert its metropolitan character, affi-
liate all trades, and represent all the interests of
manufacture and commerce, we shall then be pre-
pared to give it a wider reign, and to give the whole
metropolis the rights of its citizenship. If, on the
other hand, the City has no such territorial ambi-
tion, but wishes to be simply a very rich munici-
pality, surrounded by some others not so rich, then
its most romantic champions must see the necessity
of treating it as we have done all the other corpo-
rations of the kingdom.
The difficulty will be solved, in all likelihood, by
practical remedies. The majority of the freemen
below the class of £lO householders are no great
strength or credit to the City companies, so they
will therefore, probably be allowed to die away, till
the order comes to an end. The coal dues and
other ways in which the City taxes the surround,-
ing metropolis or the public at large, will one by
ono expire. Public opinion is quick to dis-
cover an actual wrong, and wherever there is a
payment or a loss without its equivalent we may
be sure the end is not far. Ih this way, either by
Sir G. C. Lewis's bill or other measures of the kind,
the City will probably become at last a merely
local municipality. Once in that state, it cannot
long escape the consummation its friends havelong
dreaded. It will find itself merged in a huge me-
tropolitan constitution. For our part, we are
quite resigned to this catastrophe, shocking. as it
is to all civic feelings. It will not be in our
time. For many a year to come the Lord
Mayor's State coach, as well as her Ma;
jesty's. scarcely less hideous vehicle, will rumble
its appointed rounds. We shall have Guildhall
banquets and Mansion-house balls. We shall have
the revenues of a kingdom disbursed by clerks
among the population of a moderate-sized Pyirfi,
We shall have a thousand charitable
.institutlt
oond,
and as many separate and conflicting/
empowered to do everything short o eat jai
heads off. But at length we shall hnadv
et all the
n-
pality with sufficient power to co r
ye
affairs of this great metropolis.,,Under themild
for the water;
all London, colic
streets will not be torn up one day
dictatorship of a real Mayor of
another for the gas and the sewers, another fof
repair and another to begin the course over again:
We shall have a power that can improve the me-
tropolis as' i
*ell as keep it in order—that can do
for us
Emperor, and an Emperor alone,
can do for what
r.naris.
We are aware that of such a
power there is a
a
jealousy in some quarteri. . The
municipality of a Corporation which by that tinemay embrace four millions
will be formidable
to the Government which meets within its own.
limits. There will be collisions, in h whi the
c pre-
sence of the municipality 'will
give it a certain ,ad=
vantage. This we believe to be all nonfente,- Lon»
don can never rival in power the mannfaefuring
interest. Lancashire
and
the West Riding-alone
will always be too much
will of its own, and at va •
'lance with the interests
and opinions of the whole, it will receive a lesson.
But these are speculative considerations. What
we have to do is to adopt practical improvements;
and do what is now right, just, and good, leaving
the future to takc its own course.—limes.

[ADVELTISEMENT.I—HoIIoway's Ointment and Pius.—
Tumours—Scrofulous and Glandular Swellings - Abscess.—
At this season of the year, while the temperature is EO
variable, such diseases are constantly presenting themselves
in sanguine and feeble frames. All have placed within their
reach the antidote to these dreadful scourges ; which at their
commencement may be readily checked and cured, but when
neglected, resist for a long time the most appropriate reme-
dies. liollovvay's Ointment, rubbed on or near the affected
parts, will thoroughly eradicate the cause of these maladies,
and expel their seed from the system. Scurvy, Scrofula, and
all kindred diseases disappear before this cleansing Ointment
and these purifying Pi ls, which cleanse and invigorate. For
scurvy, in every shape, they are unfailing specifics.

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