A TALE OF CITY STATECRAFT.
AN intrigue is said to be going on in the City of which the bodily victim is to be Alderman Carter, while in an testhetical sense, the worst used victim will be Alderman Cubitt. A report is current that at the next election of the Lord Mayor, Alderman Carter is to be passed over, with the peculiar object. of covertly and crookedly favouring the advance of Alderman Cubitt to the civic chair. When we first heard of this report we regarded it as an idle fiction, until it was explained to us that Alderman Carter had been already passed over in a manner that at first appeared to be accidental, though the accident turns out to have been the commencement of a curious intrigue.
To understand the position we must explain the routine in the election of the Lord Mayor. A " Common Hull" of all the Lon- don livery is summoned to attend in the Guildhall, and before this meeting the name of the senior Alderman is inscribed on a board, and put up in sight of all, and then the Sheriff demands a show of hands. That done, the next Alderman on the list is put up, then the next, and the two men who have the largest show of hands in their favour are returned to the Court of Aldermen ; which is charged with the duty of choosing one of the two. As a custom which has become almost a law, the show of hands is habitually in favour of the two Aldermen who have not already "passed the chair" ; and from these two, the upper Court almost as invariably chooses the senior. There have been deviations from these rules, either in favour of candidates extraordinarily popular, whose election was employed to signify the sense of the City on some urgent question ; or in other cases where the senior Alderman lay under some charge that he could not or did not distinctly meet and repel. This last fact it was which made us ask whether Alderman Carter lay under some kind of imputation of misconduct, eccentricity, or unfitness. It proved by no means difficult to obtain information on this head. Alderman Carter is descended from a family which can trace its descent to so early a date as the fourteenth century ; some patricians in this country would be glad if they could satis- factorily do as much. For nearly two centuries his family has been actually resident in Southwark, where his father had some small freehold property. He himself was from an early age brought up in the watchmaking trade ; and while he has become the master of the Clockinakers' Company, he has also earned, it may be said, an European reputation by his success as a maker of chronometers. So far Mr. Carter is " a citizen of credit and renown" ; but in these days a man may be an honest and accredited citizen, and be also something much more. Mr. Carter was originally destined for the military profession ; it is, perhaps, in consequence of some taste in this direction that he has taken an active interest in the subject of our home defences ; and he was lately elected Colonel of the City Rifle Brigade. It is said that technical difficulties have occurred in the appointment of a civilian to such a post ; but the election proves the estimation in which Mr. Carter is held. Nor has he limited his attention to merely professional objects or local polities; his tastes have led him to other inquiries, and he is an elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and of the Royal Astronomical Society. Instead of ascertaining that there is any slur upon his character, or any eccentricity which excludes him from posts of public representa- tion, we find that his character stands every test by which it can be judged, commercially, officially, and socially. 'Why, then, is he so deliberately and so systematically passed over on one occa- sion, with the ascertained intention of passing him over again ? Now this question we cannot answer, but we can state some facts which will perhaps help our non-municiyal readers to come as near to reasonable conjecture as our inquiries have enabled us
to do ; and our City readers will be able to correct us if we make any misstatement.
For, let us say before we add another word, that we have not the slightest personal knowledge of any of the gentlemen whose names are in question. We believe that all are worthy of esteem ; and if we have any doubt, it is whether certain very in- telligible ambitions have not rather warped the judgment of cer- tain persons who are endeavouring to court and twist tempting opportunities to their own ends.
Should Alderman Carter be passed over, the two Aldermen next in succession would be, Alderman Cubitt and Alderman Sir Henry Muggeridge. Alderman Cubitt is exceedingly well known ; his character stands high, he enjoys great wealth, his avocations have brought him into such relations with society as almost, it may be said, to place him amongst "the aristocracy "; while he is an au- thority in matters of taste. It happens, and of course it can be nothing but accident, that there are family relations between Alderman Cubitt and his junior, Sir Henry Muggeridge, insomuch that Sir Henry may naturally consider it a matter of proper acknowledgment for his own position in the City, if he should exert himself to the utmost to promote the elevation of his father- in-law to the civic chair at as early a date as possible. And in the present instance the date is of peculiar importance. There are some who anticipate that the City " Reform ' Bill proposed by the present Government will pass nearly in its original shape, and that after the next mayoralty London City, as it has been in his- tory, will have ceased. Consequently an unusual value is at- tached to the occupation of the office for the ensuing year. But there is a further reason. On the 9th of November next, the Prince of Wales will attain his majority ; according to ancient custom, the men who is Lord Mayor on that day will be made a Baronet, and many estimable persons feel a very natural desire that the sunshine of Royal favour on that historic occasion should fall upon Mr. Cubitt. Now, if it had been his turn of office, we not only should have been thoroughly satisfied to see the civic chair so well filled, but might have found in the circumstances of his position peculiar reasons for rejoicing that the City should be thus represented. But should Alderman Cu- Litt, by favour of intrigues—although he may not be a conscious party to those intrigues—should he through an act of striking unfairness to a meritorious citizen and an esteemed gentleman, enter the mayoralty out of his turn, by favour of manoeuvres, all the honour to be derived from the day will be tainted and spoiled ; and we much doubt whether Mr. Cubitt himself would value a Baronetcy which should thus come to his hands discredited and soiled.
It may be said that Mr. Cubitt is not answerable for the man- oeuvres of his friends ; and that if a Baronetcy is not to be so ex- travagantly valued in his case, it needs not be invidiously coveted for Alderman Carter. But this is entirely to miss the point of •the whole case. It is a natural, and not an improper ambition on the part of a London Alderman, that he should be the representative of the City on that historic occasion ; but it has heretofore been the very spirit of City government, that each man should fairly take his turn, solicitous only to do his duty when his turn should come. It is therefore only a just protection of the City usages and privileges, if Alderman Carter should diligently defend rights which he suffered in one instance to lapse because he did not suspect the peculiar and unforeseen attack which would be made upon him. The right which by the course of rotation is now his, it is his duty to defend for those who may succeed him.
For we are by no means amongst the number who assume that the Lord Mayor who takes his seat on the next 9th of November will be the last on the list, the Prince of Wales's majority being fatal to the ancient corporation. There is a mode in which Alderman Cubitt may make his own Mayoralty quite as illustri- ous. The Corporation has been attacked in a Government bill. Leading citizens have succeeded in compelling the Government to put off their legislation, and reexamine their ground. Let Alderman Cubitt take an active part in helping to throw light on the claims of the Corporation to continued power, and even extended utility, at the head of the great London dunicipality, and lie will throw on his year of office a lustre that he needs not envy to any one in the long list of predecessors and successors.
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