Star.
London, England, 1829-10-21 00:00:00

THE RASCALLY CORPORATIONS.

We subjoin, from the Dublin Evening Post of Thurs-
day last, an account of a most characterisdc attempt of tbe Cor-
poration of Dublin to give a monopoly of the sale of fish to one of
their Members; that is, to tax the Citizens of Dublin for the sake
of enriching that Member, who will, no doubt, join in the creation
of other job. for other Members.
" THE CORPORATION AND FISH TRADE.
" An effort is about to be made by the Corporation of Dublin,
acting by the Lord Mayor, tojai the extensive Fish Market of
this City, in favour of a person of the name of Stephens, a Mem-
ber of the Corporation. With a view to make the reader ac-
quainted with the extraordinary circumstances attending this
effort, we beg that he will attentively peruse a minute of a discus-
sion, or conversation, or whatever it may be between the
Lord Mayor and the persons concerned in the wholesale Bah
trade, which conversation occurred at the Mansion-House, on
Tuesday last.

" Now, on perusal, we think the public will be of opinion with
us, that a more monstrous attempt was never made even by the
Corporation of Dublin than this—nor one that bears so strongly
she marks of gross injustice to a respectable class of our fellow-
citizens, and of shameless jobbing in favour, if not of the Corpora-
tion' of a Member of that worshipful body. The Lord Mayor is
pleased to consider Pill-lane Fish Market as a nuisance. A fish
market does not always consist of the most elegant members of
society, and wherever it happens to be, will not be distinguished
for harmonious sounds, or odorous perfumes, or for any other
Sowers of rhetoric, but those which have bloomed and blossomed
for ages in the gardens of Billingsgate. But a fish-market, not-
withstanding, is not the less important or the less necessary to a
great city. To ears police, as well as critical nose., a fish-market
must not be mentioned. But the question here is, do the people
of Pill-lane complain of the Lb market as a nuisance? We be-
lieve the answer must be in the negative, because we take it for
granted, that if such were the case, we sliduld have heard of it.
Of thil, at all events, we are certain, that the public would have
heard of the fact through the medium of the Courts. It would be
presented as a nuisance by a Grand Jury, and a legal adjudication
would take place.

"No such thing. The Lord Mayor, from his mere motion and
acting upon what he thinks, no doubt, his chatter, is determined
at once to suppress a market, which hu existed nearly a century,
and to transfer the sale of fish to this Mr. Stephens, who it seems,
has built sheds on the speculation. He not only undertakes to
turn the Fishmongers out of Pill-lane, but compel them to choose
a Corporation-man for a landlord. e have told their Honours
long ago, that they are travelling too fist. But as we really wished
to think well of the Lord Mayor, we were very much surprised to
And that be, upon his own hobby, was galloping the Corporation
as madly to destruction as the rest of them. Are they not doing
now—have they not been doing enough, any time this twenty
years, to disgust all moderate and decent men with their conduct?
But the Lord Mayor must come at the twelfth hour, and we
will not say for the purpose of putting money in the pocket of a
Corporation-man—though the Lord Mayer actually commits
himself by saying that it would be cruel not to compensate
this Mr. Stephens—but on account, as he avers, of the public
convenience, tells the proprietors of a market not only that they
must wheel out, but occupy the stalls and sheds of his brother
Corporator.
" If the citizens of Dublin suffer tids—if they permit themselves
thus to be driven about by such a paltry, contemptible, and corrupt
set u the Corporation of Dublin, they deserve to be ridden by their
shabby Honours to the end of the chapter.
- -

" But this disgrace will not be endured. It is not a question
merely between the Fishmongers and the Corporation of Dublin.
It is a question between the Citizens and the Corporation. The
latter say they have the right, and will, no doubt, be ready to pro-
duce their Charter. So they said in the case of tolls, and yet they
were deprived of a revenue of seven or eight thousand a you.—
So they said with respect to their impost upon coals, and yet they
have not attempted to remove the injunction of the King's Bench,
er to act in contravention of it. They said they had the right by
Act of Parliament, to plunder the city of Dublin, on the pretence
of levying a tax for the Metal Main ; and yet they will be obliged,
to-morrow or the next day, to disgorge some fifty odd thousands
of pounds of the public money. They had a great many rights
which they dO not possess now—which they forfeited for iU con-
duct—on account of the gross and manifold corruptions of which
they have been proved guilty. and which rights they can never
hope to recover. They discharged, at one time, the duties which the
Wide Street Commissioners now omit to discharge—they had the
complete mismanagement of the harbour of Dublin until the job
was taken cut of their bands and placed under the controul of the '
Ballast Office. They had the management of the Nightly Watch
and of the Police, until burglaries and street robberies became so
alarming that the power was taken out of their hands—they had
the care of the Paving and Lighting of the City until no one could
hod his way after dark through the streets, and until the latter
became totally impassable. They had great estates, which would
be now worth two hundred thousand pounds a-year, until they
jobbed them off. In short, they might have been a wealthy and
powerful body, like she Corporation of Liverpool, if they had been
commonly correct, or even decent.
" But that at the approaching nightfall of their reign, they should
attempt another outrage upon the patience of the Citizens of Dub-
lin surpasses in impudence and in dotage anything we could have
previously imagined, even of this Body.
" Let them show their Charter •••••••
MAIM THEY ♦ CHARM.?

" This matter, though comparatively trivial in character. will
lead, if we do not grievously miscakulate. to very serious and sa-
Wary results.
" In the meantime. we advise' the Fishmoogera not to yield a
single jot—not to sulk+ thentvelves to be tantid dut of their rights;
or to be brow-beaten by, threats of Corporation warrant,. There
t
ust be law beforethe Lord Mayor can use force. Asd we ite
isned that Alaermao Dinky win not lead the Polk, to the Lord
)Mayor merely foe the purpose of &flag a questioh of fight, which
must be decidedly ultimately in the Courts."