The Sun.
London, England, 1845-09-30 00:00:00

Real del Monte Unrsd.

JOINT STOCK BANKS.
London & Westminster. 20

ELECTION OF LtiRD MAYOR

Yesterday being Michaelmas thy, agreeably to the Charter
of the City of London, and also to annual custom, a Common
Hall was held in the Guildhall, for the purpose of enabling
the Livery of London to exercise their undoubted rights and
privileges in electing a Chief Magistrate for the ensuing year.
Of late years the election of a Lord Mayor, of London has
been considered a subject of great interest among the
Livery, and not that common-place routine proceeding
which it formerly used to be. The severe but unsuccessful
contest of. Mr. Harmer for the Civic Chair, and
the untiring determination of Alderman Thomas
Wood to present himself annually as a candidate for the office
of chief magistrate of the first city in the world, which his
brethren of the Livery had always accorded to him by a show
of hands, but whose wishes the Court of Aldermen, in the
plenitude of their judgment, had not thought it right to ac-
cede to, have in no small degree increased that interest, and
strengthened the determination of the Livery to persevere in
returning to the Court of Alderman a gentleman whom they
were convinced was in every respect well qualified to till
the office, and who had only been prevented from doing so
by the unjust scruples entertained by the Court of Alder-
men. The intention of Alderman Thomas Wood again
to ask the suffrages of the Livery having been an-
nounced, all was excitement and bustle at the
Guildhall to-day. At an early hour the neighbourhood of
King-street and the Guildhall presented a good show of pla-
cards calling upon the Livery to elect Alderman Thomas
Wood and Alderman Johnson. to the civic chair, but those of
the former preponderated considerably. Shortly before 12
o'clock the Lord Mayor, aldermen, and sheriffs assembled
in the Council Chamber, and from thence proceeded in state
to the chureh of St. Lawrence Jewry, where a most excellent
sermon was preached by the Lord Mayor's chaplain, the Rev.
Michael Gibbs, M.A., of Christ Church, from the 23d chapter
of the 2d book of Samuel, and the 3d verse, " He that ruleth
over men must be just."
Shortly after one o'clock the Lord Mayor and Aldermen
returned to the Hall, which was at the time densely crowded.
Mr. Alderman Wood was most enthusiastically cheered.
Among the Aldermen on the platform we noticed Johnsen,
Sidney, Farncomb, Sir James Duke, and others.
The usual preliminary business having been gone through,
The COMMON SERGEANT, in the absence of the Recorder,
then came forward, and said, that in consequence of the un-
fortunate absence of the Recorder, occasioned by an over-
whelming calamity, it was his duty to tell the Livery that
they were convened for the exercise of the valuable privilege
--(Cries of " Bravo")—of electing a chief magistrate for
the year ensuing. The Livery had the power of nominating
two persons to be returned to the Court of Alderman who
had served the office of sheriff ; the name of those
Aldermen who had not passed the chair would all
be put up for their choice, and they could choose
any two of them, provided they had filled the office of sherifl.
That the election of the Livery would fall upon the most
eligible person, he had no doubt, from the former choice they
had made, and in order that their election should be free and
unbiassed, the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, in company with
the Sheriffs, would retire from the Hall.
_

A LIVERYMAN—WiII the Court of Aldermen elect the
person who is the choice of the Livery?—that is all we re-
quire.— (Great cheering.)
Mr. Alderman WOOD then came forward amid cheering
from all parts of the Hall, and when silence was somewhat
restored, he spoke evidently under considerable agitation. He
said,—Gentlemen, I am aware that it is not customary for an
Alderman, before the chair, to address you at so early a stage
of the meeting as this. Jut I have done so before, and I
mean to follow the same course to-day. I shall, however,
only addrest a few words to you on this occasion.—(Cheers.)
lam in . the rotation under circumstances very different
from former years, and however my claims might
have suffered or my motives been maligned—however
much I might have been made the dupe of others in all
these relations, I think I have a warrantry to
say, by the respectable assemblage I see present
to support me, that your confidence is not diminished, and
that you will exhibit your sense of fair play and justice by
returning me to the office I so highly covet.—(Cries of
"We will," and cheering.) I would not have
addressed you at all but for certain slanderous
reports that have been circulated in the course of the
morning that I ani- so embarrassed by, writs that no trust
of any respectability can be reposed in me.—(Shame and
cheers.) No grosser falsehood could be published. There
is no such thing as a writ out against me—(Cheers)—there
never has been one, and if those persons who have the dis-
position to slander would have the courage to come forward and
avow these reports here, I should know how to deal with them.
I stand here, as I have done before, claiming your support
as a city servant faithful in the discharge of my duties, and
firm in the execution of them. I stand hree as anxious) to
extend the rights of my fellow-citizens as I am to preserve
my own.—(Great cheering.)
The COMMON SERGEANT then again came to the front of
the platform, and the names of the Aldermen who had not
passed the chair were proposed seriatim to the Livery.
The greatest acclamation followed the announcement.
of Mr. Alderman Wood's name, nor was the cheering much
lessened when sir. Alderman John Johnson was mentioned.
Scarcely any hands were held up for the remaining Alder-
men, Sir George Carroll, Sir James Duke, or Messrs. Hooper,
Farncomb, Hunter, Musgrove, Sidney, and Moon.
The COMMON SERGEANT announced that the choice of the
Livery had fallen on Messrs. Aldermen Wood and Johnson.
The Lord Mayor, with the civic body, then retired.
After an absence of about half an hour, the Lord Mayor,
Aldermen, and Sheriffs returned to the Hall, when

The COMMON SERGEANT announced that the choice of the
Court of Aldermen had fallen upon Alderman Johnson.—
(Cheers and hisses.) _ _ _

The LORD MAYOR Elect then came forward amid a storm
of cheers and hisses. He was understood to say that he
thanked them sincerely for the honour they had done him, and
that it would be his duty to advance those objects which would
tend to the good of their city. He trusted to meet them at
the end of the year, and to receive congratulations as sincere
as those which greeted him that day. He again cordially
thanked them for the honour they had done him.
Mr. Alderman Woon, who was received with tumultuous
cheering, said—Gentlemen of the Livery, although defeated
for the time, and deprived of my just rights and expectations,
be assured of this, that I feel the utmost gratitude to you for
your honest and earnest efforts to secure my election. I have
never witnessed a more respectable hall, or a more intelligent or
distinguished Livery in the course of my life, and consider-
ing the support that you have given me, it is not the least
of my disappoiatments thas expectirtions. have, not-t
been realised.—(Cheers.) is i not • /foi me 'fa divine.
the reason which operated for my rejection—it is only
for me to deal with the facts as I find them. I came among
you as a magistrate, and, having fulfilled the
duties of a magistrate correctly, I was returned
for the honourable office of sheriff. I did not come among you
as a rich man, making a boast of my riches as a
more substantial qualification for the performance of
the duties of that office. You have seen me
performing the various duties of the Livery, and I can appeal
with confidence to themannerin which those duties have been
discharged las a man making no pretensions to extraordinary
wealth I was surprised to find that that was one of tha
causes of my rejection. I am not, forsooth, rich enough
to sustain the office with dignity.—(Cheers, cries of
" Shame," and hisses.) If you look to this test you will
find that you exclude men of honour, men of probity, and
men every way fitted for the high office. But, apart from this
consideration, it is alleged against me that I was unfortunate
enough some five years ago to enter into a speculation which
turned out bad. is there no speculation now?—(Tremendous
cheering.) Why speculation is the order of the
day.—(Cheers.) Who can take up an ordinary
newspaper, without seeing the names of the magistracy
of the City attached to schemes which every one knows
cannot be realised, and which are only for the purpose of
selling Scrip, those respectable names acting as a decoy.—
(Load cheers and hisses.) If this is to be the
rule which is to deprive men of this high office,
lam quite content. I have received my punishment, and I
shall watch with attention, and give my sympathy to those
who shall be similarly dealt with.—(Cheers.) The worthy
Alderman again thanked the Livery, and assured them that,
through good and bad report, he should still claim their sup-
port and sympathy.—(Cheers.)
Mr. Deputy ALLEN proposed, and Mr. HOPPER seconded,
a vote of thanks to the late sheriffs, which, having been car-
ried, Mr. Alderman Hunter and Mr. Alderman Sidney returned
thanks.
The Hall was then dissolved.

We understand that a company is in formation for
the refining of sugar in this port, and that the necessary
steps have been taken for registering it. —Hull Advertiser.
Cuarous EXCEPTION.—The resident medical officer'
of one of our London hospitals receives a salary of 1201. per
annum, with board and lodging, but has to find his own tea
and sugar.—Medical Times.
" GENTLEMEN OF THE BAR."—At a meeting of
attorneys and solicitors, which took place a few days ago in
Dublin, a resolution to the following effect was unanimously
agreed to :—" That some members of the bar were in the
habit of taking instructions, attending the local courts, police-
offices, and prisoners in the gaols, without the intervention of
an attorney, contrary to the usage of the bar, and to the
infringement of the rights of attorneys, and that henceforth
those present at the meeting would not act professionally
with any member of the bar who should continue to conduct
himself in such a manner." It was mentioned at the meeting
in the course of the proceedings, that members of the bar
had been known to take even a shilling from a person in the
dock.

-----
WINDOW CLEANING.—A dreadful accident hap-
pened on Saturday evening, at the house of the lion. Mrs.
Newenham Collingwood, 30, York-place, Portman-square, to
Richard Alphich, a bailiff at that lady's country seat, who
lad come to London for a few days. It appears that, in the
absence of Mrs. Collingwood, Alphich was assisting some of
the other servants sa cleaning the upper windows of the
house, and while standing on the sill his foot slipped, and he
fell into the area beneath, a height of nearly thirty feet.
Assistance was rendered as soon as possible, and upon his
removal to the hospital, it was discovered that he was suf-
fering from a very severe fracture of the hip, besides other
injuries on different parts of the body. Every means that
surgical skill could suggestwas adopted, but he lies in a very
precarious state.

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