The Corporation of London, Its Rights and Privileges Part 2

It is perhaps hardly worthy of remark that the selection of the persons to be appointed to set out the new wards should rest with the Secretary of State. Were it not for the constant augmentation of patronage afforded by each innovation, very little would ever be heard about reform of any kind. But every change, every act of abolition, affords am irresistible opportunity for providing for poor relations and importunate const.i.tuents. The Secretary of State, therefore, reserves to himself the choice of the "fit person or persons," which might more decently have been left to the citizens themselves. It is true the latter have not been altogether forgotten, and will not be altogether pa.s.sed over. To them is to be a.s.signed the privilege of paying five guineas a day to each of these "fit persons," as a recompense for their exertions in introducing confusion and perplexity where order and contentment now prevail.

Aldermen and Common-Councilmen.

The contemplated reduction of the governing body of the City is based upon a specious theory, which will soon be found to be utterly untenable. It is pretended that if the Courts of Aldermen and of Common Council were rendered more exclusive, it would be considered a greater distinction to belong to them, and that consequently a more wealthy and influential cla.s.s of individuals would seek to be elected.

In the first place, the exclusiveness sought to be established in the Corporation of London is the very blot which the Munic.i.p.al Act was intended to remove from other corporate bodies. What was in them a blemish, is to be engrafted as a beauty into the City of London.

But granting that a certain degree of exclusiveness may be not only un.o.bjectionable, but even desirable, is it so very certain that opulent bankers and men of high standing in the commercial world will be thereby induced to offer themselves as candidates for civic offices? Have they themselves offered any suggestion to this effect, or asked for any such motive to do their duty as free-born citizens?

Nothing of the kind. It is pure a.s.sumption to a.s.sert that when the honour is more difficult of attainment it will become an object of ambition to the mighty men on 'Change. The witnesses who gave evidence on this head before the commissioners were unanimous as to the cause that keeps our princely merchants aloof from the civic arena: it is want of time. One and all declared that they could not spare the time from their own pursuits and engagements. Private interests have more weight with them than those of a public nature; they wish no harm to their fellow-citizens, but will not sacrifice their own comfort or profits to toil for their benefit. Indeed, it is by no means manifest that bankers and merchants are the fittest persons to administer the affairs of the City. As a rule, their homes are as remote as possible from the scene of their daily labours. They know nothing whatever of their neighbours, and care no more for one ward than for another, all being equally indifferent to them. They are bound together by no common ties, nor have they any local or traditional sympathies. It is, therefore, very doubtful that their presence among the aldermen, or in the Court of Common Council, would prove at all beneficial to the City, or likely to enhance their own personal reputation. And if, as they themselves allege, they have hitherto been deterred from undertaking civic duties by the pressure of private affairs, there is no ground for the hypothesis that they will henceforth have more leisure to devote themselves to promoting the welfare of their neighbours. In truth, the office of alderman is no sinecure. He is not merely a very stout gentleman, wearing a blue gown, and guzzling enormous quant.i.ties of turtle-soup. That caricature is of a piece with the old fable of the lean Frenchman, starving upon frogs, and capable only of dancing and grimacing. An alderman of the City of London has most onerous duties to discharge, for which he expects no other remuneration than the approval of his own conscience and the respect of his fellow-citizens.

It is matter of public notoriety, that in the year 1834 the Corporation cheerfully complied with the requisitions of the Government with regard to the business of the Central Criminal Court.

The number of sessions and of courts was increased, prison accommodation considerably enlarged, and other arrangements made with the utmost liberality in order to facilitate the administration of justice. By the Act pa.s.sed in that year, it was specially provided that the aldermen of London should be members of the commission, which should be presided over by the Lord Mayor. The local knowledge possessed by these magistrates has enabled them on very many occasions to render important service to the judges in apportioning the punishment due to offenders. At the same time they acquired, on their part, a practical knowledge of the administration of law. The result of this training displayed itself in the soundness of their magisterial decisions, and the correctness of their application of criminal law. Six aldermen are placed on the rota for each month, and compelled to attend at the Old Bailey, unless they can furnish a sufficient excuse for their absence. If the number of aldermen be reduced to sixteen, it is not easy to perceive how this important branch of their duties is to be adequately discharged. In addition to their compulsory attendance at the Central Criminal Court, the aldermen are called upon to exercise various other magisterial functions, including the inspection and management of prisons. They have likewise to attend at the London Quarter Sessions; the special sessions for hearing appeals; the special sessions for licenses; the petty sessions; the special sessions; the Southwark Quarter Sessions, and the annual meetings and adjournments. Even this enumeration of duties, however, is no equivalent indication of the work to be gone through, the whole of which is done gratuitously and without expectation of reward. It is proposed, indeed, that the Court of Mayor and Aldermen of the City of London in the Inner Chamber shall retain the power of appointing the Recorder and certain other officers, and of exercising a supervision over the internal discipline of prisons, and in relation to charities and other trusts, but in most other respects their privileges and jurisdiction are to terminate.

On some points the Common Council are to be exalted at the expense of the Court of Aldermen. They are to administer the money and funds of the City, subject to the audit of three persons annually elected, an abstract of whose statement is to be laid before Parliament. The Corporation are therefore deemed unworthy or incompetent to manage their own finances. Men of business are told that their ignorance is so cra.s.s, or their honesty so doubtful, that the Legislature is compelled to keep a watchful eye on their expenditure. The proposition is as absurd as it is insulting and uncalled for. The Corporation are further to have no power to sell, mortgage, or lease their own estates. It may, perchance, be true, that in former times less regard was paid to the discovery of secure and profitable investments than suits the more grasping spirit of the present times. It may also be that greater extravagance was occasionally exhibited than would now be either justifiable or tolerable. But on neither of these grounds was it fitting to affix such a stigma, to pa.s.s such a vote of censure, on the existing governing body. Many economical reforms have of late years been spontaneously introduced, and an unmistakable tendency shown to make such further retrenchments as might be consistent with the efficiency of the public service. No doubt the expenses attendant on the collection of the City's income are susceptible of reduction, nor would it be amiss if the heavy outlay connected with the civic government were lightened of some of its items. Still, these are mere questions of detail, and might fairly be left to the good taste, judgment, and discretion of the munic.i.p.al magistrates. The steps already taken by the Common Council clearly evince their desire to keep pace with the liberalism of the age. Since the year 1835, the sum of at least 100,000 pounds has been offered on the altar of public opinion by the gradual abolition of the fines and fees which restricted the freedom of the City. In the same spirit they sacrificed the street tolls, which annually produced upwards of 5,000 pounds, as soon as they had redeemed the mortgage which enabled them to lay out the new street running north from Farringdon Street. They have also courted publicity, by admitting to their deliberations the reporters of the public press, and by publis.h.i.+ng minutes of their proceedings and detailed statements of the receipt and expenditure of public moneys. In these and many similar ways they have manifested their anxiety to act in strict good faith towards their const.i.tuents, and to do the utmost in their power to promote the welfare of the City of London. No allegations, indeed, have been made against their scrupulously honourable administration of the funds intrusted to their stewards.h.i.+p. Their integrity has never been impugned by their bitterest enemies--the charges that have been brought forward reflect only upon their judgment. They are accused of lavis.h.i.+ng untold sums upon idle pageantry and luxurious entertainments, while they have neglected to improve the great thoroughfares, to cleanse the river, and generally to embellish the metropolis and ameliorate the sanitary condition of its inhabitants. It is worth while to consider how much of truth lies in these accusations.

City Expenditure.

There is no denying that at the first blush it does appear that an unnecessarily large amount of money is laid out annually on festivities.

For instance, in the year 1855 upwards of 14,000 pounds were expended on the entertainments given to the Emperor of the French, the King of Sardinia, and the Prefect of the Seine. On minor occasions also very considerable sums are lost in like manner to the City treasury.

But this apparent extravagance is not without its advantages.

This generous hospitality has rendered the Corporation of London famous throughout the civilized world, and given it a fabulous influence among the nations of the Continent. The chief magistrate of the City is looked upon as only inferior to the sovereign, and far above all other princes and potentates. Thus, in a popular French play the princ.i.p.al personage is made to exclaim in an enthusiasm of ambition --"Yes, I will make myself great; I shall yet be count, marquis, duke, perhaps lord mayor." The credit acquired by the City has been reflected upon the whole nation, and there are none so mean as not to have heard of the wealth, magnificence, and genial hospitality of the free-born citizens of the metropolis of the British empire.

With regard to thoroughfares, it has already been stated that the street tolls were mortgaged for some years, in order to raise the requisite funds for carrying out Farringdon Street to the northern boundary of the City. More recently an enormous debt has been incurred in the construction of Cannon Street. Half a million sterling has been sunk in the attempt to erect a handsome street, which should take off from Cheapside a portion of the exodus to London Bridge, and at the same time furnish a n.o.ble example of street architecture. In a pecuniary point of view the experiment has not thus far proved successful, but the very errors of the Corporation are on a grand and magnificent scale. Upwards of another half-million has gone to the construction of the new cattle-market at Islington and the model prison at Holloway. Newgate, also, is being enlarged and improved, and it is proposed to build a lunatic asylum on some lands recently purchased for the purpose in the neighbourhood of Croydon. A very large sum is annually expended in street improvements, besides a contribution of nearly 12,000 pounds a year to a metropolitan fund for objects not comprised within the liberties of the City. The Corporation also pays 11,000 pounds per annum towards the maintenance of the police force, though in other metropolitan districts this proportion of the expenses is debited to the Consolidated Fund. Of the charitable donations and subscriptions of the Corporation it is needless to speak, for their fame has gone forth throughout the world. The City of London School was built at a cost of 20,000 pounds, and year by year receives substantial support and encouragement. The education and maintenance of a hundred orphan children are provided for at another establishment; nor is there any charitable inst.i.tution worthy of support that is not a.s.sisted with ungrudging liberality.

The conservancy of the Thames is another of the responsible duties of the Corporation. For all purposes of navigation the river is admirably adapted by nature, and improved by the thoughtful vigilance of its conservators. As a navigable river the Thames is actually in a better condition at the present day than at any period of its past history, a remark that cannot be applied to any other tidal river in the world.

As for the filthy and polluted character of its waters, that at least cannot be laid to the charge of the Corporation. So far back as the year 1842 the City authorities issued a commission to survey and report upon the state of the Thames, and in accordance with the report of those gentlemen proceeded to take measures for embanking the river so as to prevent the deposit of mud on the banks, to deepen the channel, and to improve the wharf.a.ge. Strange to say, these spirited proceedings in the interest of the entire metropolis drew down upon the Corporation the wrath of the "Woods and Forests." The foul fermenting acc.u.mulations of putrescent matter which send forth the pestilential exhalations that engender so much disease, are declared to be the property of the Crown, as "seised of the ground and soil of the coasts and sh.o.r.es of the sea, and of all the navigable rivers within the flux and reflux of the tide throughout the kingdom."

Thanks, therefore, to this precious prerogative of the Crown, her Majesty's lieges have for the last fifteen years continued to be poisoned "by virtue of the common law," while the Corporation have been punished by the infliction of a suit in Chancery for seeking to cleanse the river and purify the atmosphere, without first invoking the wisdom of the "Woods and Forests."

If the crown lawyers be correct, it will follow that the entire seaboard of Great Britain and Ireland is the actual property of the Crown, as well as all lands reclaimed from the sea, and that all other manorial rights are purely imaginary and unfounded.

Hitherto the tonnage rates levied on vessels in the port of London are admitted to have been as moderate as was consistent with the due maintenance of the port. The citizens, being themselves engaged in trade, have always been interested in holding out inducements for the s.h.i.+pping of all nations to frequent their port, and have thus systematically reduced the tonnage dues to the lowest possible scale.

The Government, however, looking only to the actual amount of revenue to be obtained, intimate the probability of a future augmentation of these dues. The effect of even a trifling increase will naturally be to divert a portion of the trade to other ports, and to inflict a proportionate amount of injury on the port of London. Such will be the first fruits of Government interference, such the inevitable result of superseding customs and usages which have grown out of the character of the Anglo-Saxon race.

City Receipts.

It has already been stated that in order to carry out street improvements and the construction of public buildings, the Corporation has incurred a very considerable amount of debt. These pecuniary obligations, however, were not rashly undertaken. There was excellent security to offer for their gradual but certain redemption; nor is it anywhere affirmed that the governing body exceeded their powers, or evinced a want of proper caution and foresight. The money raised was applied to just and legitimate purposes, and secured on revenues enjoyed from time immemorial, the usufruct of which might fairly be deemed perpetual. Prescriptive right, however, is no barrier to reformers greedy of patronage, whose only thought is to buy cheap popularity by yielding to vulgar prejudices at the expense of their neighbours. It is thus proposed to abolish all metage dues, to deprive the Corporation of their portion of the coal duties, to remove all restrictions upon brokers, and to sanction the establishment of additional markets within the prescribed distance of seven miles.

Nothing is more easy than to pull down and destroy, but to fill up the vacancy thus created is a very different matter. It requires no great amount of moral courage, or of power, to dry up the sources whence the corporate funds are derived, but far less easy will it be to obviate the consequences of a step so ill-judged. It is one thing to demand the usual tale of bricks when the supply of straw is cut off, and another to obtain it. In vain will the Government call upon the City to construct prisons and asylums, to widen the thoroughfares, to cleanse the river, to embellish the streets. Such work as this can only be accomplished through the employment of large funds, and these will no longer be at the disposal of the Corporation. In the first place it is proposed to take away "all such right of metage of any grain, fruit, wares, or merchandise as the Corporation is ent.i.tled to by custom, charter, or otherwise." In other words, 11,000 pounds a year of the income of the City is to be confiscated for n.o.body's benefit, but simply out of deference to a senseless clamour. The officers employed in the collection of this revenue are to receive compensation out of a fund provided for the purpose by a duty of three farthings on every quarter of grain, seed, and pulse brought into the port of London. But nothing is said about compensating the Corporation by remitting their annual contribution to the expenses of the police force, and by defraying the same out of the Consolidated Fund.

However, there is cause for grat.i.tude that a still more serious loss is not yet to be inflicted upon the ways and means of the City. The metage duty on coals which may belong to the Corporation after the year 1862, under 1 & 2 William IV., and 8 & 9 Victoria, is not to be affected by the present Bill; but he must be a confiding and unsuspecting individual who can trust to a long enjoyment of that source of income. It is now commonly supposed that the Corporation receive the entire duty of thirteen pence per ton, whereas their actual share of the impost is only fourpence. The remaining nine-pence are taken by the Metropolitan Board of Works, for the general benefit of the capital of the British empire. Against this arrangement no valid objection can be urged, but it is at least unfair to throw the odium of the tax upon those who derive the smallest benefit from its proceeds. It was upon the security of this revenue that the Corporation were enabled to raise the 580,000 pounds required for the construction of Cannon Street. From the same hitherto secure source of income, two millions and a half sterling have been expended on City improvements since the reign of William and Mary. But whence are means to be obtained for carrying out any enterprise of large utility if this revenue be confiscated? It is, besides, not a little characteristic of the late, perhaps of every ministry, that not a word has been said about the surrender of the nine-pence per ton received by the Government. The City alone is to be made the scape-goat--the least offending party is to be sacrificed to screen the real delinquents,--the Corporation is to be thrown overboard, that the ministerial vessel may be the more easily righted. Equally silent was Sir George Grey on the subject of compensation. And yet, when it pleased the Legislature to take from the Duke of Richmond the duty of one s.h.i.+lling per chaldron on coals s.h.i.+pped in the Tyne for home consumption, which had been granted to the family by Charles II., it was deemed only just and equitable to make a reasonable compensation to his grace. The duty at that time (1799) yielded some 21,000 pounds a year, and was commuted for a perpetual annuity of 19,000 pounds, payable out of the Consolidated Fund. In like manner the Duke of Grafton was indemnified in 1806 for loss incurred through the resumption of the "prisage and butlerage" of wines; nor was Lord Gwydir permitted to suffer by the compulsory surrender of his lease in the mooring-chains.

In the reign of William IV. the Crown claimed and received a compensation of 300,000 pounds for giving up the pa.s.sing tolls, and the Corporation itself was awarded upwards of 160,000 pounds on the abolition of the "package and scavage" dues. But if such zeal for retrenchment and economical reform fills the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of modern statesmen, how comes it that they have no qualms about retaining the duty of four s.h.i.+llings on every ton of tin extracted from Cornwall, and which swells the revenues of the duchy? In what respect, in short, is the tenure by which the duchy is held more sacred and inviolable than that which ent.i.tles the Corporation to the permanent possession of its various sources of income? It were well that the advisers of the Crown first cleared away all obstructions and nuisances front their own precincts, before undertaking to cleanse the premises of their neighbours. But it is far easier to preach than to practise, and to detect the failings of others than to correct one's own.

Another "liberal" clause repeals any charter or grant which prevents the holding any new market within seven miles of the city. The framers of the Bill appear to have overlooked, or laughed to scorn, the ancient common law of the land which prohibits the establishment of any fair or market within "a third part of twenty miles" from one already in existence. This common-law right has been further specially confirmed, so far as the City of London is concerned, by an Act of Parliament in the reign of the third Edward. But considerations of mere law cannot be expected to have much weight with those who have resolved upon setting at naught the eternal principles of justice and equity. Little did the wolf care which way the stream ran, when once he had made up his mind to dine upon lamb.

Yet one other proof of "liberality" before we close these desultory observations. At present the Corporation exercises a watchful surveillance over all persons acting as brokers within the City of London. No one, indeed, is permitted to carry on that highly responsible business without the previous sanction of the Court of Aldermen. This restriction is admitted to have been most beneficial to the public, and the brokers themselves are fully sensible of its advantage to themselves by inspiring a reasonable confidence in their honour and respectability. All this, however, is to be done away with.

Government care for none of these things. They prefer punishment to prevention. Let every man do as seemeth good in his own eyes, provided only that he escape conviction for evildoing. In that case the "majesty of the law" will be vindicated by the house of correction or the gallows. Why then take any thought to check the downward step?

That is the province of parents, masters, and pastors. The wisdom of the Legislature cannot stoop to such elemental questions. It is unworthy of the wise and ill.u.s.trious senators of this great empire to take heed of such a vulgar consideration as commercial morality.

This is a free country, wherein every man may freely live, providing for himself, and warring upon his kind. Such throughout is the tone and the spirit of the proposed measure for the "better regulation"

of the City of London. If this is better, it is devoutly to be hoped that no future ministry will bring forward a Bill for the "best regulation." Every additional step in this direction can only be worse than its predecessor, for the goal to be attained is not only the ruin of civic influence, but the subversion of self-government throughout the realm.

For the present, indeed, this precious Bill has been withdrawn; but let not a suspension of hostilities be construed into a conclusion of peace. The question will certainly be brought before Parliament under a modified form in the ensuing Session, and it is then that the fate of the Corporation will be decided.

Are the citizens of London--are the people of Great Britain--prepared to resign without a struggle the last of the glorious rights and privileges bequeathed to them by their Saxon ancestors? Are they willing to exchange their old ancestral customs and usages for the dogmatic theories and arbitrary practices of continental systems?

In short, will they consent to barter freedom for absolutism, the happiness and independence of the many for the aggrandizement of the few? For that is the real question at issue, and one the answer to which cannot be much longer deferred.