The Sun.
London, England, 1860-06-07 00:00:00

COURT OF ALDERMEN.

A Court of Aldermen was held on Tuesday. The
Right Hon. the Lord Mayor took the chair shortly
after one o'clock.
The minutes of the last Court were read and
confirmed.

The Sheriffs made a report of the state of the
different gaols. It appeared that there were 87
prisoners in Newgate, one of whom only was in the
infirmary. In the debtors' prison there were 212
prisoners, six of whom were in the infirmary ; and
in the City Prison, at Holloway, there were 341
prisoners.

Several warders and other persons connected
with the Holloway Prison petitioned the Court for
an increase of salary.
Alderman CUBITT said, that applications of this
kind were constantly being made to the Court, and
he thought they should not be dealt with sepa-
rately, and that some :regular system of remune-
ration should be Adopted. He therefore moved,
" That the whole of the applications should be re-
ferred back to the Gaol Committee, who should, at
the same time, be requested to communicate with
the managers or committees of other county and
Government prisons, with a view to ascertain the
scale of allowance made to the different officers, in
order that the city of London might adopt a simi-
lar system, and a uniform scale of payment be
adopted."

Sir P. LAURIE seconded the motion, and said
that, in his opinion, it was extremely advisable
that some uniform system of payment should be
carried out in the city of London. At present they
had no system at all.
Alderman ROSE concurred in the opinion that
had been expressed by his honourable friend, and
he said it appeared to him that it was not a proper
course for those officers to be constantly coming to
the Court, begging for an increase of salary. It
ought to be understood that, after a certain term of
service they were entitled to an increase of pay.
The motion was then put and carried.
TIIE NEW CENSUS BILL.

Alderman LAWRENCE then moved, " That copies
of the bills now before Parliament, providing for the
taking of the Census of the population, should be
sent to every member of the Court!: He said that
his object in making this motion was, that the
Court should be aware of the fact that these bills
contained clauses of a very extraordinary kind, and
which appeared to him not only to affect the privi-
leges of the community generally, but were of con-
siderable importance to themselves as magistrates
of the city of London, and who might be called
upon to enforce the law and inflict the punishment of
fine or imprisonment upon their fellow-citizens, if
this measure became the law of the land. By some
of the clauses of the measure to which he referred,
persons were required to declare their religious
opinions, and if they failed to do so they were
liable to be sent to prison ; and he could not help
saying that it appeared to him that it was an en-
tirely new, and, he would add, a most dangerous
principle to introduce into the law of this country.
If such a thing had been proposed by a decree of
the Emperors of France or Austria, or by an ukase
of the Emperor of Russia, he had no doubt that it
would have been characterised by the people of this
country as an act of beaureaucratie despotism ; but
yet the Ministers of the Crown had actually in the
new Census Bill introduced clauses, the effect of which
was not only to require that the head of an estab-
lishment should not only declare his own religious
opinions, but also those of his wife, all his male and
female servants, and of any visitor who might
happen to be staying with him. If he failed to
make this return he was subject to be summoned
before two justices, and was liable to be fined £5,
or less than 205., and his goods were liable to be
destrained upon ; and if the fine was not paid he
might be sent to prison for a month. It appeared
to him that as magistrates of the city of London,
who might be called upon to commit persons to pri-
son for not complying with the provisions of this
Act of Parliament, it was very important that they
should be aware of the nature of its provisions. He
could not tell what opinion might be entertained
by other members of the Court, but he must say
that, in his view, to compel a man to declare his re-
ligious opinions, and to call upon his servants to
state what their's were, was degrading to both par-
ties, and it gave the Crown the right to ask, not
only the religious opinions of its first Minister, but
to do the same down to the very tidewaiters. (Oh,
oh.) He had no hesitation in expressing his
opinion that when the public became acquainted
with the provisions of this statute that they would
express their feeling upon it in such a manner that
it would never be carried, and he could not help, at
the same time, expressing his surprise that it should
be the act of a reformed House of Commons to pass
a law punishing with imprisonment the act of a
man declining to state his religious opinions. In a
similar bill for Ireland these clauses were studiously
omitted, and the Government did not venture to in-
troduce them into it.
Alderman LUCAS interposed, and said he thought
his hon. friend was out of order. This was not the
proper time to go into the subject, and if the debate
were to go on it would occupy the whole of the day.
(Hear, hear.)
Alderman LAWRENCE said he would only add,
in addition to what he had already stated, that in
the Census Bill for Scotland, these clauses were
also not introduced, and it was evident that the
Government was waiting to see how the measure
would be received in England before they ventured
to apply it to Scotland, and he could not help ex-
pressing his opinion that it was establishing a sort
of inquisition in this country. (Oh, oh.)
Alderman CUBITT said he had no objection to
second the motion of Alderman Lawrence, but at
the same time he wished it to be understood that he
did not agree with him in his opinion as to the
effect of the clauses to which he had referred. For
his own part, he was not at all ashamed of his reli-
gion, or of stating the religious opinions he enter-
tained. (Hear, hear.)
Alderman LAWRENCE (with warmth)--No more
am I. (Cries of " Spoke," " Order.")
Alderman CHALLIS had no objection to the mo-
tion of his hon. friend, but he did not agree with
the opinions he had given of the character of this
act. On the contrary, he thought that the act was
fair enough, and that there would be no difficulty
in giving the answers required, and that it was not
at all calculated to interfere with any man's reli-
gious opinions. (Hear, hear.) He believed that
the measure would be regarded favourably by many
of the large Dissenting and other religious bodies,
and that they would be very glad of making pub-
lic the numbers belonging to their different sects.
As to the difficulty suggested of ascertaining the
religious opinions of their servants, he had ten or a
dozen persons in his employment, and he should
not think it very difficult to put the required ques-
tion to them and ascertain the religious opinions
they professed to entertain.
Alderman LUCAS expressed his opinion that it
was greatly to the public advantage that such re-
turns should be made.
Alderman COTTLAND said he believed that the
last Census 13111 of 1851 had not had the effect of
procuring correct returns, and that through some
hocus pocus the returns under it were very far from
declaring the true state of things. He believed
the effect of the present measure would be to ob-
tain correct returns, and that this was the only
object the Government had in view. At all events,
it did appear to him that the present was not the
proper time to discuss the matter.
The motion was then put and carried.
A recommendation of the Finance Committee,
that a reward of 110, to be divided between them,
should be paid to a City police sergeant named
Watkins, and a constable named M'Leod, for the
activity and intelligence they had displayed in the
apprehension of two notorious housebreakers,
whose names were not mentioned, was ordered to
be carried out.
The Court was then about to adjourn, when--
Alderman ALLEN said that before they sepa.
rated he should wish to put a question to his lord-
ship, as the chairman of the Gresham Committee,
in reference to a charge that had been several
times made in the Times, that the committee had
refused an application made to them by a number
of influential merchants of the city of London, that
the roof of the Royal Exchange should be 'covered
with glass, in order that they might transact their
business in comfort. He wished to be informed
whether it was true such an application had been
made, and whether it had been refused, notwith-
standing the gentlemen who made it offered to de-
fray the expenses.
The LORD MAYOR said he had seen the subject
referred to, and was sorry that it had appeared in
the limes. As the chairman of the committee he
could state distinctly that no such application was
made to them, and if there had been the committee
would gladly have acceded to it. (Hear, hear.)
Alderman ROSE said it appeared to him that the
Lord Mayor might have taken action in the matter
of his own accord. If it really was the wish of a
majority of the merchants of the city of London,
and it was necessary for their accommodation, he
really thought such a Kish should be acceded to.
The LORD MAYoR said he had no power to more