The Sun.
London, England, 1835-08-01 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY, AUGUST. 1, 1835.

hart eleven presentations,' and Oxford had four. As they (the
Commissioners) journied onwards northward, by means of the
Leedi mail, they found that in that city the Mayor and three
senior aldermen had the patronage of two livings, one of
500/. a year, the other 300/. Now none of these places had
charges made against them ; and that they were blameless is
corroborated by the fact that not only the present jobbing
Commissioners had nothing to say against them, but that the
Commission issued at Lord Brougham's instigation to report
on charities had also acquitted them of any wrong-doing.
They were not sent as tools of a party and as promoters of a
political job, yet they allowed no corruption to pass unexposed.
Still they found that then no charge of malversation could be
brought against Bristol, against Oxford, against Leeds, or
any of the places he should have occasion to mention. The
Commissioners had done all this without trickery : so that
the circumstances connected with these preferments had un-
dergone a searching inquiry, aot only by the sublimepoliti-
clans of the Commission of the Municipal Corporations, but
by the Commission to inquire into charities. Well, then, leav-
ing these places, the Riding Commissioners go across the coun-
try to Norwich. Riding Commissioners he might well call
them; for no rider from Lombard street, sent out to scour the
country, with his cotton, ever travelled at such speed. The
expedited Commissioners had to prick on their hacks to in-
creased expedition. They had hardly time to lunch on the
road. No leisure for lucubrations, and scarcely time to change
their wearied beasts. But on they were compelled to travel,
to furbish up materials by a particular time for this Report of
an inquiry. There was to be no delay. The information was
to be in town in time for the penny post-bag, that a draught
Bill might be prepared, and the wet sheets obtained from the
printer.—( Laughter.) -These Gentlemen arrive, then, at
Norwich. They greatly disliked interference with the Church.
It was a commodity they did not like to deal with. They
were, it was true, for a voluntary religion, annual Parlia-
ments, and universal suffrage. However, at Norwich, they
reaped a large clerical crop.—( Laughter, ) The Cerpoptioo
had in its gift eleven advowsons, Thetai was no complaint
against Norwich, except, say the Comimissioners, the Corpora-
tion "is a great deal too popular." They did not dragoon the
people, but they were " a great deal too popular." t5,,,,;-;10
Corporations were found fault with by thesc.pgelst§ ftrj.l„;ing
too much this and too little that, bat it was the tatilt of the
Corporation of Norwich " that they were too popular,', In ad,
dition to these eleven 4dv9wsensi tlign Cilinaitisioners found
other things—sorts of Hcoleslastioal waifs and strays, such as
the Lord of a Manor or his steward might pick up in riding
over his domain. There was 2501. a-year applied to char;ta,
ble purposes, Also there 'YtW4 school called ii)dwaril the Vl.'s
School, so called from a.. co.nfirroatien hy that Moriarolt of 4
charter of another Royal Fonnder. Now that tilt: GF,O4$ seal
was vacant, the King might, parliaps; be advised to hand the
revenues of this school over to the• new class of so called Cor-
porators, Well, this school handed over, it wonAld rant end
the p, Thpre were five pre§Pn4tig;ig to qcwiki;§ Christi Col,
lege, founded by Bishop Parke. At Coveotry there was g
rectory belonging to the schoolmaster, and alottm preferment
belonging to the Pteetey. The porporation had a right to
two- Fllowships at• St. John's, Cambridge, to name one Fel-
low tq C4thririe Hail, o;ll.ll?ridtrei and had fglAr Pite§eiAtittlens
of forty-eight pounds a,year each. NCIW, Was tins patronage
to be handed over to persons professing any or no religion,
or, it might be, even to Profess.ors c,€ joa;sm. Yet,
the 11111 was founded on that principle.—( Hear, hear, hear.)
And here again he must express his regret that the seat of the
Lord Chancellor was vacant. Had Ministers ;4:Pirated a re-
sponibie person to hold the itireat Seal, it would, as a lawyer,
have been his duty to inform his colleagues, that, without any
proved abuse, such a Bill of pains and penalties as the present
could not be sent from one House of parliarlc4t to 414,thar.
Fhe la4arnc4 (leaf-lea-14a thin proc,ocde4 to argue that the
jouse'qf Parliament had pa more title to confiscate property;
wio;ant first hearing evidence, than ally other Coort. Ile re-
gretted the abscn& of the NOhle Lord the Chief Baron, of
the Noble Lord the late Chief Baron, and of the Lord Chief
bistiee.
flora 31'4'4114P13' bare Intimated he was pot Oxicnt.
Sir C. WuflpriEr.b resnined,-,1-Ie had also to regret the
rftii-i-iPeof a Noble Learned Lord whom old pug prevented
from attending. He did 'not know whether, at that stage of
the proceedings, to allude to any of the numerous allegations
Pritiqi9i4l I.P the corporations made in the Report, Or to the
numerous cases ;TdsreprevyltMl9a: In Coventry there wag
one instance that might' be allnded to. The Free Grammar
School at Coventry had a library attached to it, and the "march
of intolieetil men 'had complained of its being neglected. In
the Report it was said that the "books had been used to light
the fires," yet no complaint was made to the corporation visi-
tors at the time ; and other books had been used by the
boys to pelt earth other, they qp,R,og them a very handy
soft of ntissito. The Commission under Lord Brougham's
motion to inquire into charities then came round. The school-
master was then absolute—he was quite autocratic—no-tyrant
of the ferule ever reigned with more imperious , sway. It
then appeared that the books had not been sufficiently attend-
ed to by the corporation. gut this arson of Looks took place
in 1791; and was tacked into the Report of the Municipal Cor-
poration Commissioners in 1335, from a Report of the Com-
missioner's te enquire into charities. This was at one a speci-
men of the Report, and of the negligence of the schoolmaster,
This literary incendiaristo Was quite as had a; agricultural in-
cendiarism, • The visitors of the school wore in the habit of
giving ten guineas a year to the library, the books of which
the master permitted the boys to light the fires with. Now,
if on some nice cold morning it should so happen that some-
- thing in the shape of a Parliamentary Report might he u4.-o-,
.-fi.Al, its devotioa to the flames would eerrainly throw no very
serious impediment in the way of the intellectual progress of
the pupils. Lucan's ardentia verba would then be realized.
He had already called their Lordships' attention to the three
distinct propositions of the preamble, and he had endeavoured
to show that if the corporations had been guilty of abuses,
these abuses could very easily be remedied by the ordinary
tribunals of the country. In all matters affecting the Magis-
tracy the King possessed a visitorial power, which was dele-
gated to the Court of King's Bench. In all matters respect-
ing charity property, or trusts, the King, through the Lord
Chancellor, t, is the visitor ; and so if it could be proved that
any of the corporations had beer, guilty of abusing the privi--
loges given to them by their charters, or had been gui!ty of
breaches of trust, those abuses could all be satisfactorily reme-
died by recourse in the one case to the Kin ;'s Bench, and is
the other to the Court of Chancery. The powers of those
Courts were amply sufficient, but the Reformers chose to con-
tend that the abuses of the corporations were too great for the
laws now in force, and they were desire us of adopting the princi•
pie that it was the better policy if you cannot cure the malady to
kill the patient. Kill the patient first, and then, undoubtedly, no
disease would exist. If he be cold, warm him not ; and if paraly-
tic, leave him to his fate. If this were good philosophy, the
application of it to many was not quite so agreeable as its appli-
cation to a body of the metaphysical nature of a corporation.
Ile would proceed now to state the name which, in his opinion,
the Bill ought to bear. It was a Bill of pains and penalties—
a proceeding well known to the law, but only had recourse to
in cases where it was difficult or impossible to meet delin-
quencies according t.) the ordinary principles of the law. In
eases of chartered rights such a proceeding had never, except
in one instance, been employed before, and it became their
Lordships to consider what were the special circumstances
that justified it. The sole, existence of exception he had been
41.40 to discover was the ease of the City of Cambridge Cor-
poration in the reign of Richard the Second. In this solitary
case, however, it was to be observed that the decision of the
House of Lords was precisely that which the Court of King's
Bench would have come to upon a case of quo worranto. If
the prerogatives of the Crown arc to be abolished—if Charters
are to be confiscated—if Corporations arc to be annihilated in
lump, why,.then, let the thing be done decently, with some
respect for the forms of justice—let the thing be done in the
usual way of proceeding, by a Bill of pains and penalties—let
Sir J. Campell, the King's Attorney-General—who is to do all
the Government jobs, for there is at present no lawyer in the
Cabinet—bring the ffair into the Court of King's Bench—let
this Learned Personage, the quasi Sir R. Sawyer of the pre-
sent day, try the delinquencies of the various boroughs which
arc pronounced by their exterminators to be corrupt, be-
fore Lord Abinger, or even before the Lord Chief Justice

—let him bring in his specific accusation against them seria-
tim • but he must not—the Government mast not—the revo-

lutionary Jacobins must not—attempt to mow down nearly 200
boroughs in the lump, when it is admitted by the Report on
which this spoliation scheme is based that 96 of them are in-

nocent, and do not:deserve this summary process of amputa-
tioa. Why can he not try the job in a court of law, where
if the parties are found guilty they would receive condign
punishment, and where alone they ought to be tried? But if
he fears to faro the King's Bench, or any other Court, let
him try the House of Lors—let him have the matter sifted
there, and he (Sir C. Wetherell) would be satisfied. He
would be glad to meet him there, hand to hand. Nothing but
the grasp of tho Sergeant-at-arms would remove him (Sir
C. Wetherell) from that bar, and prevent his defence of the
institutions of the country. Nothing but the monitor mantis
of the authorised officer of the House, would prevent him
from standing there, and advocating the undoubted and un-
alienable rights of the Corporations of Great Britain. This
monitor manna was before applied to an Attorney-General, and
it might. in this case he applied to him ; but if Mr. Attorney
met him at their Lordships' bar—and glad he ( F.,h• 0. Wetherell)}
would be to see him fur.! to face—(Laughter)— lie would fight
it out to the last with him. He should call his witnesses to
rebut the charge, the odious and unfounded charge, of delin-
quency against those loyal bodies of Englishmen—.on who
would stand by the throne as they stood by it before, and in
load tirfiefie=arten who were some of the safeguards of the
country, and reared a barrier against democracy and revolution.
By vvhom was the 'present Bill produced? He, for one, did
not know. He d.d not know the prosecutor of these Corpo-
rations. There was ca Law Officer of the Crown in the House
—no keeper of the King's conscience—no Lord Chancellor,
a thing unheard of before. But, perhaps, we were making
strange strides to democracy, and that state of things that
would dispense with Chancellors and Lords ?—(Liattghter.)
Wile was the soolmr of this §poliatinij—this pillaging—Bill ?
Wo grip 'acktif4leciged it—every member of the Government
was anxious that it should not be affiliated on him. It was a
strange Bill, and a dr.:igerotts ()TIP, and no wonder that it
should be disowned. By it the King could not act a regal
part. He was only to discharge vice-regal functions, at the
beck of the Town Council and democracy. If this be a
Government measure, then the Attorney-General must appear.
He would not retire- from the bor till their 6ccined
I' tight to b. 6 &Luce of his clients.
Tt they doceeide that he has, then will he proceed with his evi-
luter
dence ; if not, that will be enough to regulate his conduct.-
Under the system procosed a new kingdom was about to he
set 14p, of which the King was net p Ile the le4t,'4'np,ty re-
pifolt4al I,`Q Zri;ttitiie4 to'dependettt of, and 6.4
Y at varvariance
the Mena ctly 'existing
country, A
ratsow wit.. 4 er about to be create Ain the samo
• -
King tit; King 'was hot In
raked up thin n-e" -
-is •

Lo ueard the

under the system that
constitution in the monarchy of Great
uct a ref,r,al part; his functions were to be only vice-

. .
icgal ; he was rit',t to haste. the appointment of the magistrate:
of the new corporations tt he was to be stripped of all jurisdic.
tion or control over thy corporations of the country, which
their charters end the Constitution of the empire gave him.
retiring, he once snore entered his protest against the den-
gerous provisions of this Bill. The Learned Gentleman then
withdrew from .the bar.
Mr. KNIGHT then appeared at the bar, ar.d said that-if it
was their Lordships' pleasure he was ready to proceed.
A Normr. LORD inquired whether there was any likelihood
of concluding the subject to-night?
Mr. Ksion-r replied in the negative.
He was then desired to proceed.
Mr. KNIGDT then said that he appeared on behalf of the
same parties as his Learned Friend (Sir Charles Wetherell)
to protest against a Bill 'of pains and penalties now before
their Lordships' House. This Bill, according to the title,
purported to be to regulate the Municipal Corporations of
England. Now that title presented two notions to his mind.
first, that'. the Bill was general in its operations; and se-
condly, that the operatiOn of the Bill would' be to preserve,
whilst it corrected, the management-. of those Corporations.
Neither of those two features which the title presented were
proved in the Bill itself. This Bill would have the effect of
totally annihilating 1t r corporations, together with every law,
custom, official station, and method of election connected with
them; and proposed to substitute in their stead an equal num-
ber of newly-constituted bodies, the greater number of the
individuals connected with which must necm-irliy belong to
the very lowest orders of society. Yet these bodies, so con-
stituted, were to embrace the entire authority within the
respective borottgha, without any controlling power over
them, and were to have the full and cntiro control
of the corporate and charitable Condit attached to •
borough, without tiny f4cow4y or test of. Qu'Au..-
the thle 4,1* fifth t 1
_oiercitto of 50,,-

1,110
acation for

- • •—• • -
lie 'Tally doubted :whether-on a important tru ,ts.
.neir Lordships' journals so
wholesale an act of (I;!.....a:ioliisement was to be found. There
was one clarse, and only ono clause iu the Bill (clause 60),
which PP3vidt'...l for eowpensatiGn to the parties so disfran-
.l.iefl, Dili how was that compensation to be adjusted?
Whyl by the Lords of the Treasury, without any appeal
what'ever. He would ask their Lordships whether they
would consent to pass such a measure as this, whereby the
rights and properties of the King's subjects were confis
cated in this worse thaw despotic manner? The Bill
effectually provided for the destruction and annihilation of
all Corporations. There was a portion of it, however, to
which he wished to call their Lordships' attention, which
was the clause giving the Town Council a power of rating
the borough when the borough funds should be found in-
sufficient. There was an appeal allowed, to be sure, but it
was of no importance in the consideration of the subject. A
power of taxing a great portion of the community at discre-
tion was thus confided to the councillors, of whom no climb&
cation, it should be remembered, in point of property was re-
quired. It was well known that in all popular modes of
election a majority of the electors were always possessed of a
very small proportion of property. That majority of course
could at any time elect whom they chose. Thus the Bill
placed the property of a gloat portion of the kingdom at the
mercy of a majority of its poverty. The Learned Counsel
here intimated to their Lordships that he was about to enter
on a fresh head of argument.
Lord LYNDHURST said that the House had been sitting
thiPtetn hours already.
Lord BRO UG HA 11 had been there since ten o'clock in the
morning.
It was then intimated to the Counsel to be in attendance to-
mepoW cwt one o'clock, when their Lordships would hear the
resumed argument.

Tito Marquis of LONDONDERRY ‘vas understood to
postpone his motion relative to the three British sailors shot by
Carlists in Spain until Monday.
Adjourned at 114 f past Elcven.