The Statesman.
London, England, 1818-02-25 00:00:00

71`,/07

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loopiest or otherwise, was impeded for public pur..
poses —a lid was the duly elute Houseto see that the
vies for which these grant 14 wet, made, were perfectly
fulfiller!, before they .permitted them to he appro.
rioted to ettrarieous purposes. By the 53r1 of the
the City obtained leave to raise 96.0001. ter
the purpose of building a new Prison--end, when
that Act was called for, the City did nut plead po-
verty-as the raison for having recourse to it, Un-
doubtedly, the trodden of prisons was a maitre of
Wrest laillorsancelitd, if the City had proceeded to
build them, with their owes fouds., instead of lavish.
lug those feuds in arts of magnificence and roonifi.
fence, no person cnula have quarrelled with them.—
Bat they had nos only dime this, they lad impru-
dently made away with theism which had already
been greeted. The Prison, often built, was found
quite TilaYequate to its object...-and the;. the Corpo-
ration, a ithout any Parliamentary sanction what-
ever, on their Own mere authority, added 34,0001. of
*.debt to the sum of 96,0001. previously expended.—
If there were no other ground than this, the Noose,
,be thought, would consider it to be quits sufficient
to induce them to refuse the grant which the City
'stow called for, word they had satiSfactorily account.
ed fur the mosey they bad *heady expended. lle
held an Accoont •in kip heed; ',bids was peblisbed
for the usd .
of the MeMberi of the Corporation them-
selves, and therefore might be presumedto be correct.
From this it'appeered, the', in the last 37 years the
Corporation had expended—
In the Improvements of Public Streets 5e51,0130
.Gold sexes, swords., dke. 7,699
Statue of the Kisig—hireormeatsto ford Chatham,
Mr. Pitt. and UNA Nelson—Geld Aexe. so the
• Makes of Kees mod Sums. Voleaft Arad -.
• usher public etwaractenTia laugh]
*Ceirears of Me Volaaseer Crops 1,60 d,
Public Charities • . . w •
Dowitious to peblic abfeess, coaisected with pro
. Piers—(a . Mat
Making a total of ,e 126,810
If they had bad srperdeous money to mend, many
.61ethe objects seleited for their bounty he considered
extremely proper—but, becenceired, when they had
.tio-money of their own to command, their munifi-
cence was extremely reprehensible. They had ex-
• vended on the Jail the sum of 130,0001. which they
wit obliged to burrow. But, if they, had abstained
front laying out the sums be had mentioned—
'if they had adhered to the maxim, 66 Be just before
.yon are generous"—they would havo'had a fund ca-
pable of carrying on the work without applying to.
Pe(liament. This was net the first time their funds
liferedeficient. In a former period of their history
4750,0001. had been forcibly taken from orphans, on-
der the specious plea of protecting their interests, in
'consequence of the supineness sod inattention of that
!Douse. That sum '(which gave rise to what was
'called the Orphans' Fused) was dissipated—was made
a source of private emolument to the Corporation.—
Ile held in his hand a paper, which wee called a brief
:statement of their accounts. They there made them-
liettes debti•rs in the sem of 33,0001. to a fund of
LWl,ich they were the trustees—and which was granted
tree a specific purpose—he.meant the Bridge-house
ids' tate Fund, which was given for the purpose of
-bending and repairing London bridge. From this
-fund they had, without security, borrowed 33,0001.
'hi money, and 45;0001. three per emit. Consols,
which amounted to 40,0001. So that if London.
bridge were swept away to-morrow,' they had not
the means of re-building it—Mit must again apply to
• the Orphans' Fund. This was not the only misap-
plication of money, which s as intended solely for
the, use of that bridge. By an ancient Charter,. the
'Corporation had a jurisdiction hr the Borough of
Southwark, but it was not eligible for any person to
assume it, unless lie had passed the Chair. This
*right lay dormant for many years • but it was
lately revived to create a place for a decayed Alder.
man. It was a gross, a nefarious job! Did the
''Corporation mean to say, that there was a want of
'Justice in Southwark ? There were 34 Justices of
she Peace resident within that district. Now, great
• Inconvenience had been created by this new system!
The Sessions, must, of course, he all held in the samd
'week, so that there were two Courts sitting in Sur-
rey, two Grand Juries were acting, and the suitor
did not know to which he was to proceed. To de-
' tray the expence of this establishment, 1,4001. per
''annum were taken from the Bridge-house &tale
Fetid. This was•the maiverntiou of which he com-
plained. With respect to the Prison, nothing could
be worse planned or worse constructed. In the
Course of a year 20 persons were called on some.
times to fill the office of Sheriff, 19 of whom, it
was well known, would not undertake the duties of
'the office, and must, of necessity, fine. These fines,
in one particular year, hail amounted to 9,4001. and,
on an average of four years, had produced 20,0001.
'or 5,0001. per annum. Had they appropriated this
sum to the payment of interest. they might have bor.
rowed the money necessary for building the Prison.
For all these reasons, it was proper that the House
`should colf" Yee the City Acenems, that they might
see whether the sums granted to the Corporation
Mar) been faitirfolly applied or not, and he should,
therefore, move—
" That there be laid before this House a State- I
meat of the Account of the Revenues of the City of
Loodon, the same have been received in the Chaos.
tier of the said City, for five sears, ending the 31st
of December, 1817; distinguishing the sums coming
in from vents and quit.rents, partial offices and be.
quests, brokers, freedoms sold, freedoms taken up,
fines for sales, insurance of officers' lives, interest of
public securities, sale of securities," &c.
Sir W. CUU.I'IS said, the Honourable Member
bad made several observations on gross jobs—but,
for his part, be never heard so gross a speech in the
course of his life.—( laugh.)—The Corporation
'had been most unjustly accused. The City were
obliged, in some degree, to maintain Jails for all the
counties of England—and they were put to a most
"enormous expence by the County of Middlesex. Last
'year it cost them 19,0001. for the maintenance of the
several prisoners, who came to London from all quar-
ters. The City of London had no objection to give
an newt of the expenditure of the 95,0001., but they
did not wish to furnish a copy of the whole of their
accounts. On the issue of the City Bonds, there
had been a loss of 10,0001.—and, therefore, the
Honourable Gentleman called the 'rosiness a job—
bat he would state as broadly, that it was not the
fact. The Corporation ReCOintS were quite 'FPI..
gate and distinct from those relitive to the Prison—