The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-11-20 00:00:00

LONDON CORPORATION REFORM BILL.

Consternation and dismay reign in GuildhalL For
some short time a report has been rife in the Common
Council that Municipal Reform was to be extended to
that immaculate body. The notion was scouted, ridiculed,
and defied, but still it grew, and it is now pretty well un-
derstood that a bill has actually been drawn, and by a
person who rejoices in the i!1-emened cognomen of
thinkwater. We have long known the gross and daring
corruption of the Common Council of London, and have
not been'sparing in its exposure. We have noticed their
mean and clumsy attempts to wriggle out of investiga-
tion, by abusing, not only all other corporatiOns, but the
magistracy of their own (who do not receive one sixpence
from their offices;) cheering and chuckling over the
illegal comtnission, " hear"-ing and hiccuping at the
healths of the commissioners. To these unspotted pa-
triots, Norwich was an abomination and Liverpool an
unclean thing. BOt now their tine has come; ithey in
their turn must submit to the experimenium crucis, and,
from all appearances, the ceremony will not be dignified
by any great show of resignation. Like Falstaff, they
have no objection to fleecing others, or abusing those:_
who will not join them in their vocation; but when any
"insatiate archer," whether the trusty Blackburne, the
well-beloved Joe Parke; or any other equally amiable
person in buckram or Kendal green, attempts to interfere
with them, the jest is spoilt entirely, and the intruders
are as " oinn jpotent villains as ever cried ' Stand' to a
true man." We have from the first steadily and earnestly
denounced the so called municipal reform bill, commenced
illegally, carried on dishonourably, and terminated dis-
creditably. We saw from the first it Was a more scheme
to prolong the sickly existence of a reckless and unprin-
cipled ministry. Wire were alive to the importance of a
rational and well-digested regulation for corporate
bodies, and a healthy and efficient controul over their
administration; in none was this more necessary than in'
the Common Council of London; but that body have
managed .to steer clear of reformation by shouting for
reform; prcitecting their open misappropriation, of corp.
rale revenues by their pious horrcr at the sins of their
neighbours, and, in short,

"compounding sins they were inclined to
By damning those they had no mind to."

The scheme of reform' we hear, is briefly this :—The
aldermen are to be elected by the council for seven years,
and,-if.not-re- elected, are still to hold the commission of
the peace. The council is to be reduced to 120, including
magistrates. The recorder to be appointed by the crown.
All the present holders of official situations under the
corporation to vacate. Lord Mayor's day, Sheriffs' feasts,
lucrative under-shrievalties, sessions dinners, are to share
the same fate, for what man in his senses will expend
£5,000 to be the sheriff or mayor of such a corporation ?
No allowance of £3,000 per annum to committees. We
are not astonished at the alarm of the common council-
men.

We rejoice, however, to hear , that Sir C. Wetherell
'and Mr. Knight are to be retained. for the magistrates'
They will fearlessly expose the rotten part of the system
—they will defend the aldermen—show up the mock
patriots who infest the corporation—and will protect the
freemen in the preservation of their privilege •of freely
electing their own magistrates. Any alteration in the
elective system of the city of London will be an inroad
on rights founded on the most ancient and popular basis,
'and we await with some curiosity the apology for the
attack from the self-appointed and. self-styled guardians
•of the " people's. rights."—Morning Post.