CONTEST BETWEEN THE CITY AND LEGISLATURE.
Another occasion of contest between the city and legislature arose from the introduction of a bill for enclosing and embanking a part of the river Thames, adjoining to Durham-yard. The city considering that their rights were about to be invaded were heard by counsel. They produced a grant by Henry VII. of all the soil and bed of the river, from Staines bridge to a spot near the Medway, and likewise a lease granted by them of a nook of the river near Vauxhall, for which they had received rent upwards of sixty years. On the part of the legislature, a charter of Charles II. was produced, in which he had reserved the bed of the river, by the acceptation of which, it was argued, that the city had forfeited that granted by Henry VII. It was also contended that the charter of Henry only extended to that part of the river which was within the city, and the lease at Vauxhall was, therefore, an encroachment. These arguments prevailed, the bill was passed, and a pile of buildings, called the Adelphi, was erected on the site, and disposed of by lottery. The disposal of them in this manner was to eke out the ways and means, and this mode of procuring money called forth the indignant denunciations of Mr. Burke and Colonel Barré, who stigmatized it as an iniquitous project to bribe the servants of the public; a use to which lotteries had been previously applied.