The Sun.
London, England, 1844-05-10 00:00:00

GRAND DINNER AT MERCERS'

HALL.

The Surveyor-Accountant of St. Paul's School, and
the Master Wardens and Court of Assistants of the
Worshipful Company of Mercers, gave a most magnifi-
cent dinner to the company who attended the apposition
at the school, and they extended their invitations to
many distinguished guests.
Amongst the company invited, and whom we noticed
as present, were—Sir Robert Peel ; Lord Hawarden;
the Lord Chief Baron of the Court of Exchequer,
the Bishops of Durham, Lichfield, and Ripon ; Sir
Thomas Fremantle, Sir George Clerk, Sir Charles
Clark, Mr. Richard Lambert Jones, the Chairman of the
Joint Gresham Committee ' • Mr. Tite, the architect of
the New Royal Exchange ; Mr. George Palmer, M.P. ;
the Examiners and the Masters of the school, and the
Court of the Mercers' Company.
The chair was taken by Mr. Walney, the Master of
the Company. The dinner consisted of every delicacy
of the season. The wines were of the finest quality,
selected from the well-stocked cellars of the Company.
After the usual loyal toasts were drank amidst accla-
mations,

The MASTER proposed the health of their distin-
guished guest, Sir Robert Peel, whom he characterised
as the greatest man and the kindest gentleman who had
ever honoured the Company with his presence.
Sir ROBERT PEEL, who appeared to be in excellent
health and spirits, acknowledged the toast in a manner
that delighted the whole company. He always, he said,
felt great pleasure in dining with the citizens of London;
but the pleasure he now felt was greatly increased by
the interesting occasion on which he was invited, and
the distinguished company by which he had been in-
vited. The Right Hon. Baronet then spoke very highly
of the Irish estate of the Company, and declared that
they had set a noble example to all landlords; that they
had utterly disregarded considerations of pecuniary gain
in carrying out the great objects of promoting religion
amongst, and in increasing the happiness and comforts
of, their tenants. So intent had they been in accom-
plishing these most liberal and useful ends, that with a
lame nominal rental they never suffered any part of it
to be employed for other purposes than such as made
their estates an example to the whole of Ireland.
He was most happy to hear of the flourishing condition
of the school, which had furnished no less than three
gentlemen, now living, who had filled the high and ho-
nousable ffice of Attorney-General, viz., Sir Charles
Wetherell, Sir Thomas Wilde, and his Noble Friend.
the present Chief Baron, Sir Frederick Pollock.—(Loud
applause.) Here Sir Robert Peel warmly and justly
eulogised the character of the Chief Baron, and said
that that able and enlightened individual had artained
his present distinguished position, not by the smiles of
Court favour, nor by aristocratic patronage, but by his
own legal skill and knowledge, aided by his great private
integrity and worth.—(Cheers.) He wished for the per-
petuity of the Company, because he was satisfied that
they would exercise their powers and wealth for the
promotion of religious and sound education amongst the
youth of that class to which his Hon. Friend belonged.
—(Cheers.) Sir Rebert Peel concluded by saying, that
if he might take the applause with which they had done
him the honour to receive him as an evidence of their
approval of his public conduct, he should feel most
grateful, and that it would constitute to him the highest
reward for the past, and the most powerful incentive for
the future.—(Loud and long continued cheering. Even
after the Right Hon. Baronet had sat down for some
time the applause was frequently reiterated.)
The next toast was " The Chief Mercer," who re-
plied with remarkable feeling, and stated, that twenty-
six years ago he had sat as a schoolboy at a similar
banquet; that under the auspices of the Mercers' Com-
pany he had proceeded to Trinity College, Cambridge,
where he became a student, and was subsequently ap-
pointed a fellow.—(Cheers.) lie concluded by propos-
ing "The health of the Master, the Warden, and the
Surveyor-Accountant, Mr. R. Sutton."
The Master acknowledved the toasts ; and having
drank the healths of the Recorder, the Examiner, and
the Ma,ster, the meeting broke up after an evening of the
highest enjoyment.

EARLY CLOSING OF TRADES-
MENS' SHOPS.

The Lord Mayor yesterday stated at the Mansion-
house that his attention had been called to a subject,
which appeared to him of a very important nature. A
highly respectable firm in the borough of Southwark
who, to their credit, took an interest in the intellectual
and moral welfare of that numerous class of persons,
shopkeepers' assistants, had urged him in a letter, backed
by an address from the town of Liverpool, to make an
effort for the limitation of business hours in the metro-
polis and its environs.
The following are the letter and address to which his
Lordship alluded, and the publication of which would, in
his opinion, materially advance the great object of the
humane writers :
" TO THE RIGHT HON. THE LORD MAYOR.
" My Lord,—The receipt of the enclosed address from
one of our correspondents in Liverpool has again forcibly
impressed our minds with the necessity for shortening
the hours of labour in the retail, wholesale, and manu-
facturing establishments of the metropolis and its en-

virons.
" The spirit that is at work at Liverpool and other
provincial towns would, we doubt not, spring into lively
exercise in the metropolitan city under the influence and
sanction of your Lordship.
" My Lord, when you reflect upon the immense
amount of moral good that may be effected, the de-
' velopment of intellect, the comfort of families, and, above
all, the promotion of Christian principles, likely to arise
from the adoption of measeres so wise and salutary, we
feel confident that your Lordship will not hesitate to
bring them before the public in that way and manner
which may be most accordant with your Lordship's views.
" Christianity, philanthropy, interest, all demand that
this subject should be seriously considered; and should
your Lordship be pleased to take the lead in a course so
noble, we feel assured that a victory would be achieved
that would gladden the hearts of thousands who are
living under your Lordship's judicial influence.—We
have the honour to be, my Lord, your Lordship's obe-
dient servants, " BICKF,RTON AND SONS.
" 51 and 52, Castle-street, Southwark."
" COMMITTEE
" For promoting the Closing of the Shops at Seven
o'clock in the Evening. His Worship the Lord Mayor
in the Chair
Rev. 11. M'Neile, Rev. Fielding Ould, Rev. Thomas
Nolan, Rev. F. Parry, Rev. F. Barker, Rev. D. Raffles,
Rev. W. Bevan, Rev. John Kelly, Rev. Dr. Crichton,
Rev. C. M. Birrell, Rev. Dr. Beaumont, Rev. D. Fer-
guson, John Cripper, Esq., Robertson Gladstone, Esq„
Adam Hodgson, Esq., Thomas Blackburn, Esq., John
Smith, Esq., W. B. Hodgson. Esq., C. Bushell, sq., J.
Shuttleman, Esq. (Treasurer).
" At a meeting of the Committe, held in the Town-hall
of Liverpool, on Tuesday, April 26, 1844, it was re-
solved to adopt and circulate the following
" ADDRESS TO THE TRADESMEN OF LIVERPOOL.
" The Committee appointed to carry out the designs
of the public meeting, held on the 10th instant, consider
that they would fail in their duty if they did not promptly
call your attention to the object they have in view with
reference to the hours of business. They disclaim all
desire for officious interference. They have no wish to
prejudice your interests ; but they cannot remain in
silence when humanity and justice demand vigorous ef-
forts in behalf of 15,000 persons, retained in your em-
ployment, and in whose character and wellbeing your
own prosperity is materially involved.
"The Committee are persuaded that to many of your-
selves the inconvenience and injury resulting from late
hours, are as great as to your assistants, and that you
would hail a longer evening for personal improvement
and family comfort with delight. They are in posses-
sion of information which leads them to believe that in
many cases the gains of these houses are small, and in-
adequate to compensate for the expenditure of money,
health, and time ; that in a few no real profit accrues
from nightly transactions; and, hence, that many among
you would soon appreciate the economical argument.
They are, also, firmly of opinion, and this opinion they
place prominently in the view of your customers, that
all the demands of general convenience may be met in
every department of business before seven o'clock in the
evening, while provision may be specially made for the
unfrequent cases of urgent necessity ; and, therefore,
that you would be in every point of view the better, but
in none the worse, fur tht adoption of their principle, and
the release of your assistants at that hour.
" The Committee combine with their appeal to you
an earnest call upon the community at large. They
will endeavour to sustain a system of operations
which, in its effect upon the public mind, will
be productive of advantage rather than damage to
yourselves. Their object is not to secure immuni-
ties to one class at the expense of another. but to pro-
mote the weal of all. They desire to destroy all neces-
sity for the extension of your business hours beyond the
suggested limit, not that your business may be con-
tracted, but so concentrated within a reasonable time,
that your profits may be increased. Not less do they
seek that you should have the satisfaction of seeing your
assistants enter into the proper enjoyments of their
being, having time both for obtaining and doing good.
At present they have neither ; and it is no matter of
surprise that they should seek, as the only brief grati-
fication they can command, that which is alike ignoble
and prejudicial.
" The Committee are gratified in observing in some of
the shops a notification (honourable to those who have
spontaneously put it forth), that henceforth they will
be closed at seven o'clock. They wish you all to co-
operate in the plan, and prove that you respect the rights
of men, cf minds, of souls, in those whom you employ.
" The Committee consisting, as it does, of not a few
ministers of the Gospel, attached to various religious
denominations, feel assured that if the opportunity were
afforded, measures would be taken to advance the moral
and spiritual improvement of your assistants, while
through other channels they would obtain the means of
intellectual elevation. Is it wise, is it just, is it safe,
that they should be as they now are, entirely cut off?
We appeal to you as those who are accustomed to esti-
mate the profit of every transaction, whether it be not
more advantageous to you to be surrounded by persons
of intelligence and virtue fitted to discharge aright the
social duties under the commanding influences of the
Christian religion?
" The Committee solicit from you the recognition of
their principle—its conscientious adoption—its constant
observance. Let all your assistants be released from
business every evening at seven o'clock. Let it be the
honourable distinction of the tradesmen of Liverpool
that they stand foremost in this beneficent movement.
Those who refuse so equitable and expedient a proposal,
will then be held in public estimation as the known sup-
porters of a system which public opinion, public mo-
rality, and Christian principle have concurred to con-
demn.—Signed, by order of the Committee,
" THOMAS SANDS, Chairman."
The LORD MAYOR observed that there was everything
in the important results of such a change to recommend
it to the adoption of every thinking man, and nothing,

so far as he could perceive, to discourage the attempt as
impracticable. He understood that in Liverpool the ex-
periment was in progress, and, he was happy to say,
with every prospect of success. Why should it not be
equally successful here? He could only say, for his
own part, that he would most willingly apply his endea-
vours in any way that could be pointed out to forward a
proceeding so benevolent in its objects, and so truly bene-
ficial in all its consequences. Under the existing custom of
keeping the shops open until late hours, the whole
time of those who attended was occupied in busi-
ness, without affording any opportunity for mental
culture and reflection, at a period of life when
it was of the utmost importance that the mind should be
exercised in useful and virtuous pursuits. These young
persons who were employed in shops were so wholly
occupied in business that when the hour of relaxation
came they were too much exhausted to employ it in
mental exertions. It was true there were numerous in-
stitutions and libraries at which, for a trifling expense,
knowledge was to be acquired ; but of what use were they
to the young young man whose whole time was occu-
pied in his daily employment ? The most common me-
chanic was better off in that respect than the poor people
whose case the Liverpool Committee was so warmly
advocating. The mechanic's work was over at six in the
evening. Now, if the shops were closed at seven o'clock,
ample time would be afforded for business, and some
portion of that invaluable possession, with the whole of
which no man ought to be required to part, as it in-
cluded in the bargain a surrender of intellectual. and
moral, and religious advantages, which degraded him as
a thinking and responsible being, from the station he
ought to maintain—a portion of that invaluable posses-
sion would be left for the improvement of his mind, and
his general elevation in the scale of existence.

CLEANSING THE CITY STREETS.
The Lord Mayor, on Wednesday, intimated to Mr. Charles
Cochrane and the other gentlemen who last month waited
upon his Lordship for the purpose of requesting the corpora-
tion to prevail upon the Commissioners of Sewers of the City
of London to make experiment of the machine by which
Regent-street and Oxford-street were cleansed, that he had
received an answer from the Commissioners of Sewers, to
whom he had made the statement from the deputation, to
the effect that they had received the specification for cleans-
ing and performing the other duties connected therewith, and
that they hoped the revised specifications would meet the
wishes of the►r fellow-citizens.

The following regulations, which are the revised ones,
are selected from the large number of which the specification
consists

" The contractor or contractors shall cleanse the following
streets daily (Sundays excepted) throughout the year, and
shall complete the same respectively before eight o'clock in
the morning of each day from Lady-day to Michaelmas-day,
and before nine o'clock in the morning from Michaelmas-day
to Lady-day, namely :—Fleet -street, Ludgate-la and street,
south side of St. Paul's-churchyard, Cheapside, Newgate-
street, Poultry, Watling-street, Budge-row and Cannon-
street, Mansion-house• street, Cornhill, Leadenhall-street,
Aldgate-street, and Aldgate, King William-street and Lon-
don-bridge, Fenchurch-street, Moorgate-street, the Pave-
ment, and Princes-street.

" The contractor or contractors shall cleanse the following
streets three days in every week throughout the year,
namely :—Holborn, Holborn-bridge, Skinner-street, Old
Bailey, St. Paul's Churchyard (north side), Lombard-street,
Long-lane, Barbican, Beech-street, Upperand Lower Thames-
street, New Bridge-street (so far as is within the jurisdiction
of the said Commissioners), Farringdon-street, Aldersgate-
street, and St. Martin's-le-Grand, Finsburyplace South,
Gracechurch-street, Bishopsgate-street Within and Without,
the Minories.

" The whole of Smithfield. market, Farringdon-market,
Newgate-market, Leadenhall-market, and the market in
Aldgate High-street, with Harrow-alley, and Chequer-yard,
and the several approaches thereto respectively, shall be
severally cleansed daily, excepting Sunday, throughout the
duration of the contract.

" The dust, ashes, dirt, rubbish, refuse vegetable and animal
matter, and all others, the usual refuse of a house or building,
by the contractor or contractors for that work, at least twice
in every week, and oftener if required by the housekeepers or
their servants, without fee or reward, and before ten o'clock
in the forenoon, from the houses situate in the streets herein-
before required to be cleansed daily, or three days in every
week.

" For every street, lane, court, alley, or place required to
be cleansed as hereinbefore described, for every day the same
shall be omitted or neglected to be so cleansed, the sum to be
inflicted-405."