The Sun.
London, England, 1844-09-26 00:00:00

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71

THE LORD IVIAI(CiR"'
A meeting was held at the Swan-ivith-Tw047,04
Lad-lane, of tho friends of Mr. Alderrnan.Tliotni
Wood, to support his election for thglorficg or Lois_
Mayor on the ensuing clay of nominaticsri,(Aici6iiiim
most numerously and respectably attended. Mr.
Coates in the chair.

Mr. COTES, having talon the chair, stated that
they were assembled together ,as. a few of the per-
; sonal and private friends of M.". Alderman Wood,
with a view of promoting his electk..n to the office of
Lord Mayor of the City of London a!; the next an-
nual period of election. And they did this, first, be-
cause he was the senior Alderman, and, secondly„
because they believed he had never, in word or deed,
done one thing which should prevent that distinctive.being awarded him by the Livery of London.—
,(Loud cheers.) The question now to be tried was.,
eihether a gentleman, supported by men of the highest
rt spta
men of all opinions (whether in politics:
ec bility,
or religion), was, through gross and false charges, to.
be driven from those honours which were not only
due to him, but to those whom he represented ?
(Cheers.) It had been said that the worthy Alder-
man was not qualified to be Lord Mayor of London ;
for what then was he qualified ? What was his pre-
sent position ? He was an Alderman of the City of
London, with the approbation and support of one of
the most respectable and wealthy wards in the City.
' He was chairman of some of the most important
Committees in the Corporation ; and he was
daily engaged in administering justice with
amour to himself and advantage to his fellow-
chizeias.—(Cheers.) And yet he was told that, though
fitted for all these offices, he was not fit to be Lord
Mcyor with its tinsel finery. Every attempt to prove
a charge against him had signally failed. He had
passed through a very trying ordeal, and yet he was
to be-dem....A the privileges and honours to which his
seniority ano
position entitled him. He could assure
them, that so i.2r as the worthy Alderman himself
was concerned, he lied little ambition to serve the
office ; but there were two coiasiderations moving him.
So long as a charge was made a reason for an exclu-
sion, if he submitted to it he wouild acquiesce in the
justice of the accusation ; and, in the next place, bet-
ing the Alderman of a wealthy and respectable ward,.
he could not be denied the privilege of rising to the,
civic chair without some reproach upon that ward.
itself.— (Hear, hear.) The friends of Alderman
Wood had gone into the whole of the case against
him as well as the answers he had made to it, and
they were one and all perfectly satisfied of the injusa
tice of the charges ; and the whole he could collect
was, that in Mr. Wood's connexion with the Talacre
Company he had been an unfortunate man, but that
he had never, in a single instance, dishonoured him-
self.—(Cheers.) Alderman Wood had come out of
that trying business with no loss of character, honour,
or reputation whatsoever. In supporting Alderman
Wood they must understand that his friends cnosed
no other candidate, nor would they coalesce with any
one ; they stood on their own ground. Should he be
elected, he would venture to assert that as Lctd
Mayor, he would prove himself to be a man of educa-
tion in mind and manner, and in the duties he would
have to perform, a perfect gentleman.—(Cheers.)
Mr. Alderman Woon then rose, and was re-
ceived with loud cheers. He said it would ill
become him to let this meeting pass without some
few observations from himself. It was true he had
been assailed in a transaction which, so far as regarded
himself, was as honest and fair as ever man entered
into. He might have been the credulous dupe of
others, but he had been conscientiously acquitted of
intentional wrong. He was the last man to bein-
duced to retire from a position in which he had,been
placed by the suffrages of his fellow-citizens. He did
not merely represent the ward, but of its honours and
character he was as jealous as of his own. Looking
at the show of hands at the time of the lest election,
he felt that he still possessed the confidence of the
Livery. IVith regard to the Talacre Company, the
matter had been investigated by his friends, whowero
satisfied with his explanation, and he found that other
gentlemen, residing in Liverpool, were now in pos-
session of a part of the Talacre property ; and thoughe
it had been sworn that there were no coals there,
those gentlemen were finding them in great abun-
dance, and he hoped they would make a:rich and suc-
cessful harvest. The affairs of that Company spread
over a wide field, and it had been found ini'possible to
bring them fairly and fully before the public. There
were those who would read only a distorted aceount,
but would omit to read any answer or explanateon.
His friends, however, had gone fully into the facia,
and minutely examined all the evidence ; and they„
judging as honest men would judge, had come to the-
conclusion that he had been grossly deceived.—(Loud
cheers.) Some persons had told him he ought to re-
tire and wait till called forward; but, with a clear
conscience, as long as he lived he was determined to
fight for his own character and honour. If they
could make a charge, he was ready to meet it, but
.he
was not to be silenced by sarcasm, or put down le
slanderous misstatements.—(Hear, hear.) Should he
be elected, they would find in him a person deter-
mined to support the rights and dignities of the Cit y,
not regardless of those duties he owed his poorer
brethren, to administer justice with firmness and de-
termination, but with mercy and kindness. _ _

Mr. Under-Sheriff ANDERTON said he thought thee
had heard enough. He had left the performance of
duties at another place, to come there to perform a
greater duty—that of doing justice to a persecuted.
man.—(Hear, hear.) He had for some years narrowly
watched the worthy Alderman as a private indi-
vidual, as a magistrate, and as a professional man, ani
he would defy any one to put a finger upon any one
act dishonourable to him, eitheras a magistrate, a soli-
citor, or a private individual. In all the relations of
life there was not a single act which his enemies had
ever pointed against him. They had made charges,
and confined them to one unfortunate act in his life—
that of being connected with bad men ; but if it was
to be said that, because men chose to embark in un-
successful speculations, they were to be unfit for any
public office, what would become of three-fourths of
our public men?—(Cheers.) There was not a single
advertisement for a bubble company in which they-
would not find an alderman's name. He did not
oppose any other alderman, because they were aI 1 his
personal trends ; but he supported the gentleman who
by right was entitled to the honour. No man had
performed the several duties of the Corporation with
mere credit or honour than Mr. Wood, and he trusted
the Livery would support him. He begged to pro-
pose the first resolution.
Mr. HARRISON, in seconding the resolution, felt
assured that it would be unanimously adopted. He
had felt it his duty to come forward to support Mr.
Wood, because he considered he had been unjustly
persecuted. Ile had no doubt they would be sue-
cessful in their efforts, and that Mr. Wood would be
elected. He had everything to recommend him, and
was an honour to the City and Corporation.—(Cheers.)
The resolution was then put, and carried unani-
mously.
.Mr. Deputy MUDDELL proposed the next .reselu-
tion, which was seconded by Mr. Hour.
Mr. Harms would take the liberty of saying a
few words before this resolution was put. There
were many charges, as they were aware, which had
been made against Mr. Wood ; some of them were
of great magnitude, others were but trivial ; he
would, therefore, only allude to the former. Toe
first charge was that Alderman Wood, with the
other Directors, had passed a resolution that a cer-
tain quantity of shares in the Talacre Mining Com-
pany were to be appropriated to him, as paid-up
shares, with the view of putting the produce into his
own pocket. Now, that was false.—(Cheers.) It
was done by the other Directors, but refused by Mr.
Wood. In his absence from London an opportunity
was taken to send for his son, and ask him to receive
those shares ; he, young as he was, hesitated—it was
insisted that he should take them; he said, " I
know nothing about them," but, ultimately, he said
he would take them, and sealed them up and put them
into his strong box. On his father's return he de-
sired them to be sent back, and back they went—
(Cheers)—stating that the Directors had no right to
treat the proprietory so unjustly. He (Mr. Harris)
thought that was a sufficient answer to that charge.
against 111 r. Woodwas,
es
under this Company
Director, a Trustee, andregeirector,
ah(sCe, ItihNeNea,artss
h. —(Cheers.)
heldpT Proprietor,
The ep
various
aierti nextooru: cohaffia
Chairman. Now, one thing he certainly was not,
and that was auditor of his own accounts, which the
man was who had made these charges.—(Cheers.)
But he believed there was nothing unusual in this.
Mr. Wood had taken his shares and paid his money.
At a meeting of the Proprietors he was elected a Di-
rector, and the Directors had selected him for their
Chairman, knowing him to be a man of great expe-
rience, deep knowledge, and sound judgment.—
(Cheers.) If men were to be assailed with lies and
slander in this manner, who was safe ?—(Hear, hear.)
There was another charge—it was stated most
wickedly that Mr. Wood had lent himself to get coals
of a most excellent quality from some pit not belong-
ing to the Talacre Company, and had sent
that coal over to Dublin, as Talacre coal,
with a view of inducing persons there to take shares
in the Company, now, a grosser falsehood never was
uttered; there were three pits belonging to this com-
pany known by the names of the Picton, the Bryn,
and the Marsh, but there was no mine called by the
name of Talacre—that was merely the name of the
Company, and the coals in question came out of the
Bryn pit, and did belong to the Company, so that the
public were fairlydealtwith in this matter.—(Cheers.)
There was but one other charge. It must be under-
stood that Levason and Baker had assigned their in•
terest in this property to the Talacre Company, for
which they were to receive a considerable sum oi
money, and the charge against Mr. Wood was that he,
as chairman of the Directors, had refused to sign pro-
missory notes for the payment of that money, allegia;
that he could not do so on account of an arrangerner
between himself and partner ; but, it had been clearly
proved that Mr. Wood bad previously entered into I

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