The Sun.
London, England, 1845-11-27 00:00:00

CHRIST'S HOSPITAL AND THE
CORPORATION OF LONDON.
We are given to understand that a very full meeting
of the Governors of Christ's Hospital was held on
Tuesday, and that a discussion took place, which ter-
minated in a resolution, in effect condemnatory of the
whole of the proceedings of the late Lord Mayor and
the Corporation of the City of London, in the much-
agitated question of the right of the Chief Magistrate to
take precedence of all other persons, with the exception
of the Sovereign, within the walls of the City.
Alderman Thompson, the President of Christ's Hos-
pital, took the chair, which was powerfully supported
by the benefaction Governors, who formed the great
bulk of the meeting, and seemed determined to carry
everything their own way.
There appeared to be a disposition upon the part of
the majority to adopt a resolution expressive of the in-
tention of the Governors to resist every attempt upon
the part of the Corporation to interfere with the privi-
leges of the body without discussion ; but
Sir P. LAURIE rose, and said that he 'came down to
the Court of Governors with the view, and in the hope,
of preventing any collision, which could not be service-
able to either party, from taking place. It would, in
fact, tend very much to cast ridicule upon all concerned
if a difference of opinion on so important a subject were
maintained by either in such a manner as to become
matter of adjudication in a court of justice ; and be be-
lieved that those who were capable of calmly taking the
question into consideration, would agree with him that
the more advisable course would be to come to
such an understanding as would prevent the
ridicule which was so greatly to be apprehended.
He was most decidedly of opinioa that the late Lord
Mayor had betrayed a want of judgment in making the
parade of going in state, with his official attendants, to
demand admission to Christ's Hospital, when it was dif-
ficult to suppose that his Lordship could have been igno-
rant that an opposition to his entrance would surely
take place. The demand was made and rejected, and
the late Lord Mayor returned without accomplishing
any object. Now, it was no credit to the station of Lord
Mayor to be involved in such a predicament. It was
not agreeable in such a case to hear a bark without
seeing a bite; and he could not help expressing his dis-
approval of the course which had been taken upon that
memorable occasion. He also could not help declaring his
objection to the principle upon which the late Lord Mayor
acted in summoning the Governors to assemble at Guild-
hall, to supply him with corrected lists. That such a
power existed as that which had been assumed had
never been shown. He at the same time must declare,
that the plan upon which the Governors had acted for so
many years with respect to the lists, in placing the name
of the Lord Mayor before that of the President, ought
not to have been violated, and ho hoped that the form
would be restored without an appeal, which must end in
the discomfiture of the intellectual character of each
party.
Alderman LUCAS, as Governor of St. Bartholomew's
Hospital, was understood to say that he considered the
Lord Mayor for the time (being to be ex officio at the
head of all the royal hospitals. When he (Alderman
Lucas) was Lord Mayor, his late Majesty, William the
Fourth, when Duke of Clarence, acted upon that under-
standing in refusing to take precedence of him. In fact,
the Chief Magistrate had been, time immemorial, looked
upon as the principal person at every assemblage of in-
dividuals in the City. Alderman Lucas, at the same
time that he acknowledged the privilege, hoped that an
amicable adjustment would take place between the com-
petitors for the dignity of precedence.
Sir P. LAURIE said that he did not consider the power
of the Lord Mayor to comprehend the right to go to the
royal hospitals, and take upon himself to preside in
matters of business necessarily arising from the duties
of the Governors. The Lord Mayor could no more be
justified in taking the chair on such an occasion than he
should be justified in going to any wardmote but his
own and pushing the particular Alderman of the ward
from his stool.
Alderman THOMPSON (the President of Christ's Hos-
pital) altogether differed in opinion from those gentle-
men who had advocated the line of conduct pursued by
the late Lord Mayor and the Governors who acted with
his Lordship. Ile insisted that the Chief Magistrate was
not sanctioned by established practice, or by any one
principle of reason or justice, in adopting such a course;
and he declared that if the Corporation of London were
disposed to try the question in a court of law, they
should be most resolutely met by the authorities of the
hospital, who were determined not to submit for a
moment to an usurpation. He defended every atom of
the correspondence which had taken place on the part )f
the Governors of Christ's Hospital, as regarded the visit
of the Queen and the refusal to admit the Lord Mayor
into the hall, and repeated, that if the Corporation enter-
tained the fancy to appeal to the courts of judicature,
they should certainly not be disappointed in their wishes
to try the experiment.
The Governors generally approved of the tone of de-
fiance in which the President spoke of the Corporation,
and the energy with which he expressed the determina-
tion of the authorities of the hospital to resist any future
attempt upon the part of a Lord Mayor to enter the hall,
and occupy the seat to which he was appointed as the
presiding officer of the institution.
Resolutions were then passed, to the effect that the
conduct of Alderman Thompson, the president, and Mr.
Pidgeon, the treasurer, in the whole course of the pro-
ceedings on the question, were eminently entitled to the
thanks of the Governors of Christ's Hospital.
We understand that a meeting of the Royal Hospitals
Committee was subsequently held at Guildhall, at which
an account of what had taken place at Christ's Hospital
was detailed, and that the members came unanimously
to the resolution to assert the right of the Lord Mayor
to take precedence.
The proceedings of Monday and Tuesday have placed
it beyond all question that the matter will be immediately
handed over to the lawyers.