TOPICS OF THE DAY.

GOTHAM IN UPROAR : MORALITIES FOR MICHAELMAS.

THE rout at present making in London about the election of Mayor is as contemptible and empty, a piece of noise as well can be ima- gined. Out of the Livery, not a dozen persons feel any real inte- rest in the controversy. The chara.:ter of' time Corporation of Lou. don is well known. A congeries of companies have acquired and spend large sums of money, in this manner. Some hundreds of years ago, well-meaning people bequeathed occasionally to these bodies pieces of land, valued, it may be, at 41. or 51. of yearly rent ; the greater portion of the proceeds being destined to support aged paupers or to educate orphans, end the members of the cor- poration being allowed to eat or drink the surplus. In course of time, the bequeathed lands have conic to be worth some hun-

dred or thousand times what they were originally. The cote

- panics continue conacienti(msly to apply the paltry pittances named by the testators towards charitable objects, and to banquet upon the enormous remainder. As incorporated trades they are of little consequence, their exclusive privileges terminating with the liber- ties of the City. They are on this account composed mainly of persons who cutter them for the sake of good eating, a view to con- tingent peosion, the profits to be derived from jobbing in the man- neement of their funds, or the gratification to vanity arising from die exercise of patronage. By encraachments which it is not easy to trace in detail, the appointment Gf the municipal officers of the city of London has been transferred front the Folkmote to the aggregate members of' these companies, known by the designation of the Livery; and, as might have been anticipated, the municipal government has thus become a thing of antiquated and grotesque state—a hindrance to the amelioration of the educational and other charitable institutions intrusted to its management—an im- pediment in the way of the right management and improvement of the river Thatnes—an upholder of an inefficient system of police in the heart of the Metropolis—a nursery of jobbers—the source of debased political morality.

Were the Corporation merely absurd—a perpetuation of the garb and strut of the court of the King Arthur of Tam Thumb in real litl.i—its Lord 3Iayces coach, and the fustian speeches of its orators, might be kit to the admirers of hereditary jokes. The Cor- poration school of orators., it must be confessed, is sufficiently amus- ing. For example, 'Mr. ALcocK declares, that " Mr. Harmer now stands in precisely the situation in which Lord Brougham was placed some years ago! That nobleman was, day after day, ran dozen by the Times until he resigned; and then the paper, after ,f.ririqg hint the last stab, had the coolness to say, , Now we have done with the learned lord.'" 'Phe fancy which lucre runs riot in such a maze of figures, and the parallel after the manner of PLU- TARCH between Mr. Hanmea and Lord BROUGHAM, are only equalled by the sober dignity of Mr. GALLOWAY expounding Mr. Hanmas reason for wisluter to be made Lord Mayor- " It must not be supposed that Mr. Alderman Harmer, in desiring to ',3 selected, which he undoubtedly did, thought only of the ostentation attending the office: he had a strong desire that he might succeed, front respect for the great and prosperous want which bad so unequivocally called Min to till the office of Alderman. Ile felt that the ward would be compromised if he were not elected."

The leading opponent of Mr. Henmen represents his exclusion from the Mayoralty as of equal importance to the resistance of a foreign invasion—

if France or Russia were to make an aggression on our shores, all the dis- tinction of party and every political difference would merge in the eo•and neces-

sity of meeting ii n rounon and pressing danger: they would make a common cattie, and would he tucited together in preiaillops (?) a common enemy, and meeting a common danger. It was in that spirit and on such a principle that Ito and these with whom he acted on this occasion appeared before them."

The leading advocate of Mr. HAemEn's claims is equally em- phatic— " This was a war of opinion : woulul they lend themselves to such a contest? Tine was is' lien the mob wool-I fire the houses of those who differed in opinion from them : that time was happily gone by ; but the opponents of Mr. Bernier wire leadiag theta Leek again to the state of things which caused houses to be final anti 1,1,,-,a ,„ dc,„„, the streets."

It is clear that dechnnation of' this kind, characterized by fttlse e:nphasis, incongruous metaphor, and a diction vibrating between turgid uirel vulgar, can only be afil.:cted by a class of men hedged in by the narrow limits of' their Own putty affairs; and that the sayings and doiege Or aildi a set emit furnish rich food for laughter. They are the true deacetel,:ets of the worthies whose annual show, in the ,f Poet:, " lived in ;iettle's numbers one day Inure." But 1 ,l,i , ;mint of view the subject is hackneyed. Our obii et in advertin,g to the topic at all, is to try whether ..ome ume*el eeueral moral may eot be deduced from the election of , 1,1 .NlayGr FA- I 8-10. Extept for the purposes or pert, vulgar re- . le:Fte'•, Ilf) Mall CaieS a pin e !tether the Times have observed a decent col,- etuency in adopting it Mildsterial version of the Pot-boy Plot in , order to have a fling at Alderman If A Fist eft ; or what Idiot of figure . the Aldermati make, is lion he seeks to nvioic the charge of being .icee-.v.ry to the I, wik,oi,,,t of a Democratic: and Anti-Church ' journal, by professiog that Ile is a siucere eintrcitInan and a

; stanch Conservative. But their controversy km incidentally

1 raised a question which it is of Home consequence to have settled upon sad:lie:tory grounds, and which again raises other questions 1:1111a1 ie importance ti) litielf. Thi; question to which we advert is thie--Whether it be morally right in any man to derive profit as proprietor of a journel from the Attach the due degree of blame to Iffin who contributes to dissemi- publication of sentiments and opinions which he thinks improper nate opinions indifferent whether they be true or false. Let anti dangerous? The plea advanced by Alderman Ilan:atm, and Alderman Ilairann, if it must be so, be branded by exclusion froin others who with him maintain the affirmative, is that a Mere pro- the :Mayoralty ; not indeed, because by investing- his money in priettlry interest in a journal does not render a man responsible for ne wspaper-property he bectune aceeasory to the publication and its contents unless he take an active part in editing it. They say support of vomit) opinions, but because (as ‘vould appear both that his relation to the journal is merely that of a person from his own letter and the line of argument adopted by his who advances money to a man engaged in business upon a friends) he did so believing at the SnIne time that these opinions

certain percentage, and takes a security over the stock in trade. are false and mischievous, or feeling to indifferent what their

Tbia is pretty anich Onr view of the matter; but we do not think chasm:ter sees. Punish such insincerity by all it let it be that it shuffles the weiaht of 1,sponsibility or the shoulders of the henceforth unflerstood, that the man who acts as he lets done, is capitalist. It is true that Mr. Alta.a, the ostensible leader of the regarded with the seine feelings as he who says the thing that opposition to Alderman I I ii i I.11, said in Guildhall—" If is not. Anil cerry out the application of the principle. Deal with aunt Ilarmer had devoted his tuktris or r mburlod his properly in the the men wimi mem y by pm:le:sing the copyrights of books, pace/it/on qt. a mereantde spoodat;uu of ever so questiontrY, ti Cita VO.; :jou deal. with the proprietors of newspapers.. 'Whenever you meter, provided its consequences rt.,'re coujined to the acennuirdiurt of find a nem hebitually gnieg curreety to opinions he does not sin- a frrtane or MC acquirement of (1 flume, nu opposition would have cerely entertain, er NVIliCil lie 1111ti not deliberately sermiuized, with been ventured on to his eleethm" : but we suspect, that out. of the a view to profit by the transection—be it a medical man affecting Livery few men will be found so tolerant towards adventurers " in teautsfelit al sentiments to it:crease the number of his patients—be ever Si) questionable a speculation.'"Ibe keeper of a brothel is a it a Parliamentary candidate winning votes by an affected zeal for ifisreputable character ; end the capitalist who by advancing money churell-eetettsion—er tat it a partisau hack bawling in praise of an to him tipon the contlition of partiebettinv in his gains should en- opinion alien it tells in ftvour °Ibis party, and suppressine. it ehen able hhu to prosecute his disgreceffil avocation, must submit to it tells agemst them—stigniatize sordid hypocrisy, wherever or in share also it) the infamy. The same principle applies to the capt- whatever shape it is found. talist who by sinking money in a newspaper enables the literary NN e anticipste little objectien to tie mode in which we propose manager of the enterprise to carry it on ; with this dilkIMICe. to deel with all offendera o i the iiret elass; but we anticipate con- There is nothing either rep it able or disreput:ible in entertaining siderable demur to the comprebeesive eastiaation o th,,se of the or uttering purely abstract opinions. A very inferior degree of I second. I be obrcet of those who raise a cry against eny man who credit or discredit may at to the tone or temper in which op- profits by the sale of a DC Nvspaper to a! the opinions of which he pions are advocated. Again, a newspaper may seek to increase its dissents, is not to put down insincerity, it is indirectly to :mach a circulation, not by the advocacy of particulttr opinions, bet. by stigma to those dangerous things newspapers. Our obji et, on the pandering to the scandal-loving propensities or even to the prurient , contraraa is, in the first place, to elevate tht! CliaraCter of new,i.epers, appetites of a portion of the public. In the last-mentioned ease, by seeking to keep them, like Ca:saa's wife, free not nwrely from the capitalist investing his money in such a speculation incurs a guilt but from suspicion also; and in the second place, to attack disgrace eaactly amdagous to that incurred by the person who that unmanly insincerity which is the worat canker of civil and should derive profit fecal) lending money to support a brothel. In the social life. We ■vould embrace evi. ry oppertunity, and this among first, the loss of gain or reputation depends not upon the nature Of the rest, to expose and extirpate the eironeous apprehension NS hiell the opinions advocated, but upon the question whether the party imputes criminality to the sincere holding of certain opiniona, in- aiding hi their dissemination by advancing his money and partici- stead of reserving the imputation fur tile insincere profession of any putting in the gains earned by their advocacy entertains them or opinions. Even admitting fbr a moment that the knoekdge of any

not ? man who advocates erroneous doctrines front a mistaken opinion can be dangerous, still there remains this consideration Our oltjeet is, to the best of our ability to aid in enlighttniing pub- phasis and on all occasions. lie opinicni, and strengthening its influence, by evolving the piaci- ples upon which praise or blame ought to be applied, sued pointinrt out the full range of their applicabiiity. The sins for wide]) the news- paper editor and his needed ally are (it' our view of the matter is A. 11 N OLDS.

knowingly derives a profit front dealings with the anliogons classes condttet hypothetivally :ttimitted devoted to tin advocacy of principles which lie believes to he erro- guilty, but, Jr guilty,' publication of sentiments and opinions which he thinks improper nate opinions indifferent whether they be true or false. Let anti dangerous? The plea advanced by Alderman Ilan:atm, and Alderman Ilairann, if it must be so, be branded by exclusion froin others who with him maintain the affirmative, is that a Mere pro- the :Mayoralty ; not indeed, because by investing- his money in priettlry interest in a journal does not render a man responsible for ne wspaper-property he bectune aceeasory to the publication and its contents unless he take an active part in editing it. They say support of vomit) opinions, but because (as ‘vould appear both that his relation to the journal is merely that of a person from his own letter and the line of argument adopted by his who advances money to a man engaged in business upon a friends) he did so believing at the SnIne time that these opinions

certain percentage, and takes a security over the stock in trade. are false and mischievous, or feeling to indifferent what their

Tbia is pretty anich Onr view of the matter; but we do not think chasm:ter sees. Punish such insincerity by all it let it be that it shuffles the weiaht of 1,sponsibility or the shoulders of the henceforth unflerstood, that the man who acts as he lets done, is capitalist. It is true that Mr. Alta.a, the ostensible leader of the regarded with the seine feelings as he who says the thing that opposition to Alderman I I ii i I.11, said in Guildhall—" If is not. Anil cerry out the application of the principle. Deal with aunt Ilarmer had devoted his tuktris or r mburlod his properly in the the men wimi mem y by pm:le:sing the copyrights of books, pace/it/on qt. a mereantde spoodat;uu of ever so questiontrY, ti Cita VO.; :jou deal. with the proprietors of newspapers.. 'Whenever you meter, provided its consequences rt.,'re coujined to the acennuirdiurt of find a nem hebitually gnieg curreety to opinions he does not sin- a frrtane or MC acquirement of (1 flume, nu opposition would have cerely entertain, er NVIliCil lie 1111ti not deliberately sermiuized, with been ventured on to his eleethm" : but we suspect, that out. of the a view to profit by the transection—be it a medical man affecting Livery few men will be found so tolerant towards adventurers " in teautsfelit al sentiments to it:crease the number of his patients—be ever Si) questionable a speculation.'"Ibe keeper of a brothel is a it a Parliamentary candidate winning votes by an affected zeal for ifisreputable character ; end the capitalist who by advancing money churell-eetettsion—er tat it a partisau hack bawling in praise of an to him tipon the contlition of partiebettinv in his gains should en- opinion alien it tells in ftvour °Ibis party, and suppressine. it ehen able hhu to prosecute his disgreceffil avocation, must submit to it tells agemst them—stigniatize sordid hypocrisy, wherever or in share also it) the infamy. The same principle applies to the capt- whatever shape it is found. talist who by sinking money in a newspaper enables the literary NN e anticipste little objectien to tie mode in which we propose manager of the enterprise to carry it on ; with this dilkIMICe. to deel with all offendera o i the iiret elass; but we anticipate con- There is nothing either rep it able or disreput:ible in entertaining siderable demur to the comprebeesive eastiaation o th,,se of the or uttering purely abstract opinions. A very inferior degree of I second. I be obrcet of those who raise a cry against eny man who credit or discredit may at to the tone or temper in which op- profits by the sale of a DC Nvspaper to a! the opinions of which he pions are advocated. Again, a newspaper may seek to increase its dissents, is not to put down insincerity, it is indirectly to :mach a circulation, not by the advocacy of particulttr opinions, bet. by stigma to those dangerous things newspapers. Our obji et, on the pandering to the scandal-loving propensities or even to the prurient , contraraa is, in the first place, to elevate tht! CliaraCter of new,i.epers, appetites of a portion of the public. In the last-mentioned ease, by seeking to keep them, like Ca:saa's wife, free not nwrely from the capitalist investing his money in such a speculation incurs a guilt but from suspicion also; and in the second place, to attack disgrace eaactly amdagous to that incurred by the person who that unmanly insincerity which is the worat canker of civil and should derive profit fecal) lending money to support a brothel. In the social life. We ■vould embrace evi. ry oppertunity, and this among first, the loss of gain or reputation depends not upon the nature Of the rest, to expose and extirpate the eironeous apprehension NS hiell the opinions advocated, but upon the question whether the party imputes criminality to the sincere holding of certain opiniona, in- aiding hi their dissemination by advancing his money and partici- stead of reserving the imputation fur tile insincere profession of any putting in the gains earned by their advocacy entertains them or opinions. Even admitting fbr a moment that the knoekdge of any belief in them, is nevertheless an honourable character; and on the that if any 11111 11 be rendered dangerous by entertaining an other hand, the man who advocates truths which himself disbelieves, nion, the danger is doubled by every encouragement given him with it view to profit, is a dishonest character. The rule applies to I to retain that opinion secretly and openly to profess another. him who by advancing money facilitates the dissemination of op- . yet si preyaleta is the silly. prejudice against some classes of nions: if he honestly entertain them, no discredit ought to attach opiniens, and the weak deference to this prejudice, that you to him because he derives profit from their publication ; but if he scarcely meet one man out of ten who has not his coterie earn money by helping to publish opinions he believes dangerous, and exoteric creed—the one to be professed in company, the he acts culpably. This responsibility is not to be evaded by the other to be confessed to his bosom friends, or acted upon without plea that a man has no very decided opinions one way or another : avowal, In business, public and private, in religion and in there are such things as truth and falsehood; and he who directly science, we are baffled and bewildered by this engreieed, unmanly or indirectly contributes to time dissemination of opinions, ought insincerity : it is at once the main obstacle to the advancement of betbrehand to ascertain whether they' are true or 'Use. Ihe knowledge, and impediment to political, 11101.:11, and religious ante- intermediate case we have stated contemplates the advocacy of lioration. At the a' no time that insineerity is attacked, the eon- opinions sincerely entertained with bad temper or bad taste. yietion ought to be kept alive, that opinions. as the motives and These qualities render the active advocate amenable to a minor guides of action, can at no time be matters of indifference—that degree of reprehension; the degree to which they avail to attach no inau can without euilt take up opinions on chance mei without blame to the moneyed participant in profit, depends upon the de- investitation—that playing at thst-and-loose with opinions, as if grce and frequency of their displays. they were ineonsequeetial trifles, is not to be tolerated. Men in So thr we have argued the question with reference merely to the great business of life ought only to embrace oolnions.after tie- proprietors and sbareleAders in newspapers. The general prin- liberate investigation ; and having once embraced, frankly to avow elide of responsibility, however, extends to the transactions of tht ta on all proper oppertunities. A deep religious worship of many other classes of citizens, and must in common fairness, if' truth ought to tat-vatic both the thoughts mid actions of mcn. In- rigidly entbreed in the ease of newspaper-proprietors, he equally so sinct rity, or trifling with truth, ought nowhere to receive quarter ; with regard to all the others. We are not speakina at present of euti WC 1h-to to ,COt 110 pahrl: 111112,-'1116011 Of ii i i ty t, 5iCi1 prae-

acts which subject men to the visitations of penal law ; we speak tiees in t toetter of newspaper ownership, which has OCeasioned of such as can only be reached by the check of public opinion. these 1'011:irks, rendered real, and turned against them ia every