The Press. — London, England, 1856-04-19 00:00:00

APRIL 19, 1856. immediate superiors, no matter how outrage ously illegal those acts may be—allow these superiors to tear up ad libitum the petitions presented to them on the subject of such mis conduct, or to fine or flog and send to hard labour those who persist in having their peti tions heard in the face of a cohort of hard swearing brother officials and a prejudiced and interested judge—let this be the practice here, and have three hundred thousand soldiers, and sixty troops and batteries of artillery, and four hundred thousand armed Police to support the system and shoot down at once the people of any town or county that may dare to rebel—do this, and, notwithstand ing the difference between Englishmen and Indians, it would not he difficult to play the same game here as long as the thing lasted, and enact in England what is enacted habitually at Madras. DEMOSTHENES, in his third Phil lippic, tells us that one of the chief causes of the decay of Athens was mercy to guilty men and a hatred of those who denounced their conies; and what was true of Athens in the time of DEMOSTHENES is true of India at the present day. The source of the evil being thus made clear, the remedy is obvious, though it was not so much as alluded to in the Loi d.s' debate. Lord ALBEMARLE, indeed, proposed a remedy that would have included it—extinction of the Company—and there is not a peer who, if asked for a verdict, on his honour could have denied the justice of the decree. But the remedy we would propose is more short and simple, and one involving not an hour's delay. It is merely to restore the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court at each Presidency to its pris tine integrity, by making all persons in the employment of Government amenable to it, no matter where serving, as fully as they are at the Presidency capitals at present It is immunity that has been the real cause of all the miseries inflicted on our Mofussil ryots— miseries unheard of in the Presidency capitals, where taxation is so much higher, and not inflicted even in the Nizam's territory, as Lord ELLENBOROUGH informed the House—the most misgoverned, according to the Dalhousie theory, of the native States. Immunity then, and that alone, being the true cause of the evil, the remedy is just to pass an act of three lines to the purport we have stated. That is the only Wactical measure that will insure its extinc tion; but, that measure taken, torture will be f Fund to cease as by magic throughout the whole length and breadth of our Indiam em pire. THE KEOGH JUDGESHIP JOB. A PLATFORM politician, raised to the Bench for factious services, and vociferously cheered by his partisans, is a sorry spectacle in a Tem ple of Justice. Such a sight is said to have been witnessed, when Mr. WILLIAM KEoon took his place this week amongst the Queen's Judges at Dublin. " I am for that applause " which follows, and not that which is run " after," said the great Lord MANSFIELD, but that sentiment could receive no approval in quarters where political barristers without standing are raised above their professional brethren. We decline to accept the shouts of con federates as the credentials for a public magis trate. We recollect the language of the Earl of EGLINTON, a nobleman of spotless honour. We remember how that eminent personage declined to retract or qualify his expression, and we cannot forget the convincing speech of the Earl of DERBY on that occasion. There is, however, such a thing as artificial applause. The "longshore men" in London, like the Irish chairmen in the last century, are often drilled for an occasion. It was only the other day Ulla Mr. WILLIAM KEOGH experienced another alrt of reception at Dublin. He was hooted fit his prosecution of Father PETCHERIN ; and fit opposing certain combinations of trades men the late W. DANIEL O'CONNELL had to be giu ! rded by policeme n. S o muc h f or "popu larity at Dublin. But the appointment of a Crown official cannot be deciAed upon by hollow " demonstrations." The fitness of a THE PRESS. judge for his post must depend on his ante cedents and his professional pretensions. Lucky adventurers are endurable in melo• dramas, but the Bench of Justice ought to be preserved from all haphazard calculations. We frankly avow our sympathy with struggling genius in every profession. We admire the gallant struggles of humble merit making its way against obstacles. But we scout the claims of mere audacity and unscrupulous designs to be counted in the list of triumph under difficulties. The annals of the Irish Bar preserve many a name associated with generous self-sacrifices. ANTHONY MALONE was no time-serving sycophant of the plat form—no glozing courtier of the antechamber. HUSSEY BURGH, " the silver-tongued orator" ( whose eh quence determined Lord PLUNKET to choose the Bar for his profession), gave up his lucrative office rather than vote against his opinions in 1778, as was recorded by GRATTAN'3 saying " The gates of tiro " motion closed on him, while those of glory " opened." Prime- Sergeant FITZGERALD threw up his post rather than vote for the Union. Mr. BUSHE, after having rivetted at tention by his classical eloquence, perused with delight by scholars, and heard with ad miration by crowds, declined the Solicitor- Generalship of Ireland, in 1799, sooner than compromise his character. Mr. PLUNKET left the English House of Commons in 1807, and would not play the part of an " adventurer." The affecting story of Cuatias'slearly struggles is known to all. These were noble natures. Their genius, like their moral character, was of the first class. Their eloquence has survived their careers. They were both " good and great." Pity it is that their posterity should have the sample of men elevated to lofty position, to whom the word " exemplary " would be the most poignant satire ! Pity it is that the Bench, which should be as a haven for a vii tuous (though storm-tort) course, should be converted into a refuge fur foundering political buc caneers! Looking at the facts of Mr. KEOGH'S per sonal career, unconnected with the conduct of any one else, we tell the Cabinet that a more reckless deed was never committed by any Ministry than in nominating Mr. WILLIAM KEOGH to a judgeship. If the Queen's Go vernment be allowed with impunity to set at nought all judicial traditions, and to disavow 4.bligations of what is due to the public at large, the Constitution is a mere farce, and political responsibility a delusion But such is not the case. This empire is still governed by opinion, and we shall boldly appeal to its moral power for its deliberate sentence on the appointment of Mr. KEOGH. In ordinary cases, we frankly admit that we should be disposed to touch tenderly on judicial appointments; but it is on account of our reverence for the Judicature that we feel it incumbent upon us to exclaim against so grievous a political job as the elevation of Mr. KEOGH. Administrative Reform is the great question in our domestic politics, and it is a ludicrous instance of the contempt of Lord PALMERSTON for public opinion that he should choose Mr. WILLIAM KEOGH for a judge, when at all sides there is a demand for the " right man in the ri, ht " place." Our military and naval administra tors have been called to account, and we, therefore, have a decided right to direct the people's attention towards this extraordinary appointment. To choose a judge in Ireland for his mere political notoriety, without due regard to his legal qualifications, or his professional position, is an outrageous abuse of patronage. Only a few months since two vacancies oc curred upon the English Bench, and Govern ment chose Mr. Justice WILLES and Mr Baron BRAMWELL. Neither of these eminent personages had the slightest political influ ence. They did not sit in Parliament, and the public universally acquiesced in their eleva- tion. But some of the Whigs have let out part of the secret why Mr. WILLIAM KEOGH was appointed. " Oh! It is only an Irish appointment, "and you know that Indian and Irish appoint " ments rest on the same basis." Such, we are sorry to say, has been the principle avowed and acted on by the Whigs. 1 n other words, they would provincialise Ireland for their own 363 party purposes. While the Conservatives have endeavoured to raise Ireland to the imperial level, the Whigs oppose the " Agitators " in words, and then secretly subsidise them. But the case of Mr WILLIAM KEOGH carries the system to an extravagant length. He was at every side of the question in politics, and such another whirling tergiversator does not figure in Hansard, or in the memorandums of Mr. HAYTER. Addressing Colonel SMITH on the 2tsth of March, 1848, he wrote, " I have " given up my profession and its prospects to " achieve this victory, and the result is that I "am embarrassed." Then he turned exclu sively to politics, coquetted with all parties, and rushed to the head of the Brass Band Now, taking these simple facts, we raise the question at once, " to what was it that Mr. KEOGH owed his elevation?" His law? Minis ters cannot indicate in the reports of the Irish Courts the names of any legal arguments exhibiting his claims to be placed over the leaders of the Irish Bar. His eloquence ? Show us a single speech from which a solitary passage could be quoted as a specimen of genius He was a furibund declaitner ; a roaring rhetorician of the most rancorous school of mob oratory ; he shouted out school boy harangues garnished with scurrilous epithets. The poetry of invective, the subtle gift for intellectual sarcasm, which a scho lar and a gentleman might utter, were entirely beyond his compass. When was he taken special in a leading case of great importance ? Where are the proofs that the attornies of Ireland highly appreciated his forensic powers? If it was not his law or eloquence that got him his judgeship, we suppose that it must be ascribed to his influence with his " party." We cannot describe that " party," but we recollect how the late HENRY GRATTAN de nounced adventurers who " indulged in a ter " magant vulgarity debasing to a plebeian " level courts and senates, canvassing for " Insh infamy, on speculation of British " promotion." Let the consequent effects of public opinion in Ireland be observed by all. In Sligo the Premier's " bosom friend " was left in a de cided minority At New Ross Sir THOMAS REMINGTON was hopelessly beaten. At Athlone, last week, after the Conservative candidate had actually retired, a number of Roman Catholic electors spontaneously called on a Conservative again to come forward, and the Honourable Captain HANDCOCK obeyed the sum mons, and was triumphantly elected. These events took place not all at once, but seriatim, with the full delil eration of the Roman Ca tholics and (quondam) " Liberals" in those boroughs. But it may be urged that neither Sir THOMAS REIHNOTON, nor Mr. JOHN ENNIS, nor Mr. SOMERS, were members of the Brass Band. True ; but they were attached to the Liberal Irish party, which returned seventy members in 1852, and which ignominiously disgraced itself by choosing persons whom we need not name for their " leaders " The popular op!- nion in Ireland now revolts from that party. Yet Mr. WILLIAM KEOGH'S chief political con nection was with the least " reputable " section of that body now so discredited in Irish popular opinion So that it would be absurd to say that it was legitimate political influence ob tained for Mr. KEOGH his unmerited elevation. Then what could have been the power that raised him to a post which was not conferred upon such brilliant orators as Mr. SHAW or Mr. SHELL, in character gentlemen of spotless honour, in eloquence orators whose language was worthy of the best days of Ireland. An answer to that question will require more space than we can spare to-day. FUTURE POLICY OF RUSSIA. As long ago as the 16th of February last we declared our conviction " that the decision of " the Court of St. Petersburg in favour of " Peace marks distinctly a change in its na " tional policy." The manifesto of the Emperor ALEXANDER amply confirms the justice of this assertion. He passes lightly over the con cessions enforced by the Allies, and prefers to A