The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-09-27 00:00:00

panv altogether. For these boons the good peOple of.
London, who have hitherto enjoyed the benefits of the
late East India Compapy's trade, will also be grateful
when they discover that they are nOlonger encumbered'
with it.

As to the corporation of London, Seeing the hands'that
it has unfortunately:. fallen into,_ seeing that Mr. HAR-
MER presides in the police.courts, and sits upon the bench
at the Old Bailey, and seeing moreover that Sir .LIC.EY is
still an Alderman, a -Magistrate, and a criminal judge,.
seeing all this with unutterable .disgUst, it isa'atatter Of
little consequence whether the corporatiori •of :Tondos
stands or falls. To be a member of it has now 'ceased
to be an object with persons of the first grade either as
traders or merchants:, There are, however, about one
hundred other corporate bodies, such as the grocers, mer-
cers, apothecaries, and , others, that never possessed or
exercised any municipal rights or privileges whatever.--
They were originally incorporated for the purpose of
im-
proving the several trades and professions whose names
they still bear. Many of theni are in the pessessiOn of
large landed and funded prOperty; which was for the
most part bequeathed to them by members of their body
for charitable purposes. The cloth-workers', the cord-
,wainers', and the painters' companies have several thou-
sands a-year, which they distribute exclusively among
the indigent blind, in annuities of from five to twenty
pounds, besideS other. funds divisible among the decayed
,members of their own body. , The merchant tailors, and
the mercers, have each schools,. that have produced some
of the greatest names that adorn the annals of our coun-
try, and yet one of :the objects of the meeting was to
compel these corporations to submit themselves to an
examination by his MAJESTY'S commissioners.

The power ofa public meeting composed of the political
shoeblacks r before described: goes. for nothing, for if
these companies choose to remain silent, we apprehend
that the commissioners themselves cannot compel them
to answer their interrogations. The legislature might
pass an act to authorise•connissioners to examine their
accounts, and it might pass an act' to confiscate their pro-
perty at once, but the time has not yet arrived for the
perpetration of so gross art outrage upon property, or so
flagrant a robbery.- But judging by the spirit of the.
times, and the reckless measures. of the present minis-
tersthe intimidation of the political unions on the one
hand, and the infatuated apathy of .men of property on
the other—it would not surprise us to' see some plan of
this kind openly advocated and conceded in the next ses-
sion of Parliament. With this possible and even pro-
bable invasion of private rights in their view, it would be
well for the persons most interested to be rigging out
their storm sails. It will be a consideration to save
even a remnant in the scramble. These companies pos-
sess large funds in the three per Cents. and other govern-
ment stocks. We believe the very largest sums at any
one credit in the dividend books stand in their names.
Incorporated companies, and charitable institutions in
England, own as much stock as the different banks of
Scotland. In 1826,- the amount held' by the latter was
stated in evidence before a Parliamentary committee to
be upwards of twenty five millions. Let us assume
therefore, that the same sum, or say only twenty mil-
lions, are held by the .various companies, and that Par.-
liament is induced to expose their affairs, and overhaul
their accounts before a select portion of the collective
wisdom of the 'nation. What then ? Oh !my Lord AL-
THORP, and my very .sagacious Lord JOHN RUSSELL; we
have you here! The money in the funds—the twenty
millions in the per shents —that fs "the sheet an-
chor of the companies! If they are .menaced if the
gin-spinners prevail—if the KEYS, •PEARSONS, and
the cheap-shoppery bear sway—they will " sell. out,"
and then would the all-hallowed funds come tum-
bling down some :fifteen or twenty per cent. in a
single day. Look to this Lord ALTHORP! You are per-
plexed.enongh already to make.the two ends of the year
meet, and sore 4alled in riding . over your ricketty
finances; but if once you make war upon the companies
therewould be an end of Yon-I
-finance system altogether.
With respect to the corporations and the attack which
has already commenced upon `them, 'we' seriously ques-
tion the right of the commissioners to enforce answers
to any of their questions: -We' -should like to see this
point brought to an issue. Every.lawyer knows that for
any undue exercise of their powers, or misapplication of
the funds. entrusted to their care, these corporations are
amenable, on complaint being. made, to the .established
courts of law ..a441 ,equity of the realm; but law and
equity. are
.now out
.of fashion., These, proceedings re-
mind .us of the Star Chamber court, the .exactions of
which assisted in. bi inging CHARLES the Firtsr to the
seaffold!