Common Council.
The Times, 1824-03-06T00:00:00

V#eiiftday W baurt of wS;, beld by . DLoRM ?lI4tfe, it Greidf l l r t t eto a reqoiop g lr s d Wcjr~b6~urp W PUT.considerinK theiproriejoty .egtiPnm if the Whea ( ifnc to .epeat the houseinnd-window dsitaEsago.; ACtt.'Wh? tJAt*ls b*hV.be mos bntfirsal MDtotl,iteres'tfs of te ni e a,ses forlh6 dem, tch of other business. ,a heoMAsoU. said-ho lteXd in hius liaaahaper ssgeed',An- dreasQUrlXt-to,and Jhhn Lurietts; whigs h he o ord er to beW.ad to the Court. The Coutt would recollegt, *ths some ti me ago they had v&t- d ines.ofI,OO0l. iaid-of the b,(3ae who were thed en- aed in :a- streqgle- fortheir liberty. That vDte heu-ew`tb beobf ibfinite -im oriancett the: rbjecta ofAit, inasmuclh as it marked the inse of thq great city respecting their cause. Ie now: held ij hi4 hand a letter directed to the Courtby thedeputies wwho hadlately aTwived frorn that country. His Lordship thenhanded the letter to-the officer, who read "S follo*8s e a ' Alfabrch 3, 1824 Ary Lord Mayor and 'Gentlernen,-Amongst the events vihich have encoutraged and consoled us-in the propgress of the struggle in which out nation bas been engaged against their tyrants, whose des- Ipotism has oppressed our country through agesofsuffringga strug-' gle whose happy' termination we now venture to anticipate_vwe ai'm#e been sensibly affected by that proof. of. the interest felt by the first city of the universe in our arduous strife, made evident by the mtu- niticent grant of 1,00l. applied.opportutely to our a.ssis'ance from the cirs find. fGreece teels the debt of gr4titude and we deein it a high and distinguished privilege to be the organs of the expression of that gratitude. The part which the people of England, anid you, my Lord Mlavor iLnd Gentlemen, tnost. Pre-eminently and espe- cially have ta7en in the advancement of the independence of our venerable and beloved country, is deeply written in out hearts, and shall be conveyed- down in thankful memonrils to our children. i; -lohave the honour" &c. On themotion of Mr. HunRCOasE itas ordered to be entered on the journals of the Court. ASSESSED 1iAY?S. The LoRD AfAYOR haviig ordered the requisition to be read, AIr. FAVELL rose to move a resolution, upon which he trusted that an united teeling would preyail in the-Court. It seemed as if there was at th's moment some conjunction of' auspicious planets for the diinmution of taxe. iii this country. We were blessed with peace at home and witupeace abroad,and wewere advandng in wealth and prosperitvas^terhaving long laboured under a heavy load of taxa- tion. It most be a pleasure to contemplate that the day had at length arrived when we might entertain hopes that weshould be relieved from that burden. Ile hoped nothing would ariseto disturb or strew with thorns this bed of roses on rhich we were at present reposing. He congratulated the country upon her improved condition * the [Lord Mayor knew that neither his lordship nor himselfever despaired tthat the resoulrces of this country, and the energy which she posiessed, would ultimasely overcome every difficulty with which she was sur- rounded. In bringing forward.the present mnotion he did not feel dis. posed to deprecate the liberal policy of AMinisters, to whonm he al- lowed great merit, in taking off the duties on silk andl wool -'but feeling thatthe:assesed taxes pressed moat heav'ly on the md'dling and lower classes of the coinmmnitv, it -was- the duty of that Court to come forward firmly, boldly, and manfully, -to express 'that feeling to the legislature, and call upon it to relieve those classes which had sufFered so screrely for such a length of time. Every Fentleman who had acted as commnissloner oftaxes, was aware of the grievous surcharges and inquisitorial conduct of the tar, assessor, from which every one must wish to be freed. Some doubts mizht be entertained as to-the propriety of this Cour. interfering ; but he referred them to the conduct they had pursued with respeet to that odious impost the prop ey-tax. They had a good cause to interfere in then; they had also a good cause now. A great reduction of taxes had alreadv been obtained by a band of honnurable-senators, with Mr. Ilumne. a citizen of this city, at their head; they would be equally successfsl, he hoped, in obtaining the abolition of the xssessed taxes. Some persons might saeppose that they (the Court) were actuated bv h'dfwh motives on the gresent occasion; but they did not wish to otpose any measure that, ad for its object the promotion of'a free trade, their only anxiety was, that the people in general should be relieved from. L burden which press- ed most heavily'upon them in a iaticty of ways. It-was well.known, that upon the termnination oftbe late war,a numsber ofhalf-payoflicers, small annuitants, anid other persons of limited income, were driven to foreign countries by the pressure of the assessed taxes, wliTst those who remained behind were more heLvily oppressed. He did not know where he could anticipate any solid objections to the resolu- tion he was about to propbsc, which he therefore trusted would be uuanimously agreed to. The worthr member concluded by moving 'a resolution framed in the spirit of bis sneech. (See advertisement.) Mr. SLADE, in seconding the r:sohition contended, that relef ought to be afforded to the courntry in general'by the reduction of the assessed taxes. It would appear ?om the statement of the Chan- cellor of the Exchequer, that the aIinisters coeld do so if they thought proper; for that statement contained one item-miscellane- ous articles, 2.A millions-for which he could give no explanation whatever, althlotgh he conleseended to go into pence and farthings in other items. He (M!r. SLade) could not, therefore, allow the Mi- nistry all that merit which liis hon. friend had given them. N1ei ther could he help reminding the Court, that the present Chancellor of the Exchequer was the very Mfr. Rlobinson who had stood up in his place in the House of Commons, and unblushingly as- serted that corruption was necesscry to carry on the Govemment of the country. Since then Mr. Robfnson fille4.a diffhrent situation ; but cesium ionz nuimansmnutant qt?i trans mare cw rrunt. The wor- thy member then went into some particulars to show the oppressive nature of the liouse-and windowduties, particularly on the middling and lower classes; and conchsdei by expressine a hope that the re. solution of his fr;end would be adopted unanimously. Alessrs. JANIES, PATTET, BUTTERWMOITI, .CAWTHOBX, PP'.w'rREsS, and DoBFOau, respectively addressedt the Court; but a press of matter has left us without space for their speeches. iUr. FAVELL having replied, the resolation was put and carried unanimnousy. A petition framed upon it was adopted, - and or(ered to be presented to thc House of Commons by the city members. NEW Lo6DoX-BRsDGE. Mr. .JovEs brought tip a report from the Bridze.house commit- tee,statiug that they had accepted the proposal of Meesrs.Jolliffc and Banks, wrho had given security to tfibtsh she bridgc, with the ap- proaches, wvithin six years, for 46@0,0001 After a few observations from three or four memnbers, the report was agreed to. rLEET.MARXET. The report of the improvement committee, presentea by MIr. rIedger, recommending the removal of Fleet-market, to a neigli- bouring plot of ground nearer to Shoe-lane, and opening a wide street into the North-road inits stead, was also, after a short discus- sion, aeed to, arid referred back to the committee, to consider the best means of carrying it into effect. The expense is calculated at about 1l0,0001. - tt i othWiL.