The National Register. — London, England, 1816-07-07 00:00:00

, No. 439.—V0L. IX. legal Charactero. I'iUNIBER I. TIIERE is no statimi in a free country like ours,—of more importance, true dignity, or permanent utility, than that of the JUDGES, by whom are administered the laws of the land, as they arc emphatically styltid, to distinguish them from the arbitrary and variable decrees of u sole M on arch . By the Constitution, the King, who is the fountain of all honour, dignity, and authority, in the administering of the law, has vested all his power in the Judges of his several Courts, and cannot create a new Court without the authority of Parliament. By an Act of the present reign, the Judges, who had been made immoveable for the life of the King, except for just cause, on the ground of some misdemeanours on their part, were finally ren dered independent of the Crown, by being declared to hold their office for life, provided they conducted them selves uprightly, anti were declared not to be removable on the demise of the Crown. These additional securities for the purity of justice, and the preservation of our li berties, are the fruit and immediate offspring of that happy revolution by which the House of Brim:wick was placed on the Throne ; and, during the whole reign of that family, there has not the least suspicion attached to the character of any one of our Judges—or that any taint of corruption has insinuated itself beneath the ermine robe ofjustiee. This is a proud and honourable reflection for the pre sent age ; anti, at a time, when charges of extravagance are openly made against the Government ; when Parlia ment is accused of containing within its walls a majority— influenced by the Crown, as Contractors, Officers, Place men, Pensioners. and Borough Representatives,—who, having bought their scats, are suspected of indirectly sell ing their votes ; the utmost latitude of malice has scarcely ventured to impute corruption to one of our Judges. A remarkable instance of a charge of partiality we shall hereafter be compelled to notice, only to repel it with indi f riation; but the exception is so rare, and the calumny so wild and presumptuous, that it serves only to confirm the truth of our general position. The law is deemed so plain and open a path to ho nour and influence iu the State, that we are persuaded we cannot, in the present era of peace—when all eyes are turned upon our domestic situation, do better than lay before our readers a concise, but clear, authentic, and we hope just and impartial account of the present BENCII of icnoES. We are the more induced to do this from the circumstance, that, within a short time, nearly the whole number have undergone a change, and three new ay ' ointments have been made almost at the same time. In executing this task, we shall fecl great and sincere plettsure in being enabled to unfold to the world, the characters of men whom we know to be possessed of every virtue that can adorn private life, and in public to have given recent and splendid examples of talents fully adequate to the arduous situations which they are to Mt The duty of a Judge in England is indeed no easy task. The business of the Terms occupies nearly ninety days in the year; the long Circuits nearly seventy-six, and the intervals of Vacation arc occasionally tilled up by the ex. tra business which is done at chambers, and the sitting on criminal trials at the Ohl Bailey. The learning ab solutely necessary to the making of a tolerable appear ance upon the Bench in England, is such, that no law yer in full practice has attained it much betitre fifty years of age, and latterly, few have been deemed adequate to the task who have not parsed that age. With a judg ment of competent maturity, It is not always to he ex pected that vigorous health should be united after twen ty-five or thirty years' service in a laborious profession, which, during the whole time, Las kept all the faculties of body and mind in full exertion. Yet such is the happy dispensation of Providence towards industry and activity, that we have seldom round bodily imbecility aiionat itittr+ Our littna, Comltitution anb Rai'. SUNDAY, JULY 7, 1816. attack our greatest lawyers at an immature age. Lord Mansfield continued on the Bench thirty-three year's and (lied at the age of eighty-eight. The late Chief Jus tice of the Common Pleas is still in full possession of his faculties, and walks and rides with much vigour at nearly the age of eighty; and we have several Judges on the bench, who have long passed the grand climacteric, yet in whom we have never perceive d any diminution of that energy which is necessary for the functions of their office. It is our intention to collect as much of the history of these venerable characters, as it can be of importance fin. the public to know. We shall not enter into the gossip of the day : we shall not endeavour by surly criticisin or affected candour, much less by heedless and perverse hu mour, to expose private infirmities, or extend trifling scandals, it' any such were found to exist. It will be, on the contrary, our chief aim to direct the attention of the public to the early progress of our great and eminent Lawyers, to point out the peculiar qualities in which they have excelled ; to trace the causes of their elevation to their rank; and to exhibit to our readers a just and faith ful picture of their merits as servants of the Crown and of the Public. We have for some time made preparations in collecting materials, but as there are many circumstances of edu- cation, and interesting anecdotes in early life, which it would be very desirable to know, but which cannot be often gathered from ordinary sources, we shall be grate ful to any of our correspondents who, by furnishing us with correct dates, will enable us to render our sketches more complete and accurate. We shall in our next number present our readers with a Memoir on the present Lonn CHIEF JUSTICE of the KING'S BENCH. AMERICA. The following' case appears in the Philadelphia 31cr. cantile Advertiser of the 7th June : 4 4 Just as one paper is preparing for press, we hear of a most distressing occurrence. The world is aware of a dispute be tween Peter Randolph, Judge oft he Cirrnit C.onrt. and 'nutting Wells, a delegate from Nottowae, in the General As. e nay. On Wednesday evening Judge liandolph rode to the Court Rouse of Nottoway ; his friend and cousin, Colonel Greenhill, was in his company until he came w ithin a short distance of Mr. Wells's I se. Wells keeps a public-house, the Piazza, which k near the road. Judge K. went to the Clerk's office, and on his return by W.'s house approached it as if to speak to Mr. M . and stepped into the Piazza. Wells came to the dour; no cons ersatiun ensued : the latter tired, and shot Judge IC in the breast: he staggered out of the house, and had not yet fallen, when Col. G. who had been to the gaol, and heard the report of the pistol, came up, and found him wounded. ifillg u It. told hint of what hail passed, and begged him not to hurt Wells. The latter again came to the door, and ordered Col. off. The colonel ganged to obey the command; when Mr. W. fired at him and wounded him with two balls, one of which struck on one side of theneek, and wounded round to the other; the other is not yet funnel. After a short time, the two gentle.- inert were removed. The physicians have not definitively pro nounced upon Judge R.'s case.—T he ball was supposed to ha% e passed through and lodged near to the region of the back bone. The above is a hasty sketch, and may therefore prove defective.' CIINtLESTON, M tN' tn.—Arrived the British brig Emperor Alexander, Wan, from Dundee, and last from Falmouth England), in 62 days. On the Itith inst. in lat. 30, 50, long. 10. Mt Bermuda, at two p.m. Capt. Watt descried a brig to oindward, making for I • ; on approaching, he discovered her to he a man of war, under Spanish colours; she hailed in English, " w hence from. and where hound?" and was instantly answered, from Dundee. Ordered to shorten sail, till they came alongside, as they wished to board ns, in order to obtain a supply, being very short of provisions.—They then lowered their boats, maimed her with seven men and came on board; informed us that the brig was a Spanish man of war, and de manded of Capt. Watt his papers, which he delivered, having discovered that the pirates were armed with daggers concealed in their bosoms. Atter has ing obtained the papers, they put off fur the cosec of war, and about half an hour after, returned with them. Not satisfied with this outrage, they began to plunder, and robbed Capt. Watt of his watch, wearing apparel, a pair of Bunter scales, a mathematical instrument, surd his crew of the principal part of their clothing, a spare lower yard, one coil of rope, and a number of spare pieces, and about 300 pounds of heel and pork, which they made off with. Capt. Watt, thinking that they had committed all the depreda tions they had in s iew, made sail, and endeavoured to escape ; hut the pirates, diseoveriog his intention, ordered him to back Isis main yard, when they again boarded, and desired him to open his hatches, threatening, in case of refusal, to break them open, which they did, and stoic a bale of Osnatrurgs and the bouts oars, leasing with us two of their own. After they had boarded us a third time, and while sonic of them wee e employ ed in robbing, the rest were endeavouring in 'perform a hiJekrr died, that of murder; they attempted to stab Capt. Watt's Mate, bin fortnnately without effect ; and not having succeed ed, made towards the cabin boy, who narrowly escaped death uy running and secreting himself in the after-cabin. They Men quitted the brig, wishes*: ('apt. Watt a good passage, and Win; him he migist consider himself lucky in Bening on so. PRICE 9.d. IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. BOUM; OF LORDS, SATußnir, JuYE 49. SALNION BILL. Cotuisel appeared at the bar for the Marquis of flute. m head all corporation against that part of die salmon preset-A:aloft bill which seemed to deprive all corporations, except that ct London, of some por tion of their jurisdiction in riven. The sum of the argument wa... that the bsll itself a as an excellent one, but defective in not saving the rights of corporations. The I.OIID CHANCELLOR said, that the matter stated at the bar was well worthy of consideration, and ought to be attended to when this bill came to its third reading on Monday. The bill was ordered for a third reading on Monday. The clergy tarns hill, the watch and and bIII, the hydrometet the Elgin marbles bib, die new strict bill, and several others, were m i d a third time. and passed. The pillory bill, with an amendment by the (mid Chancellor, passed the committee: repiat on Monday.—Adjourned. MONDAY, JULY I. The royal assent was given by commission to the paper duty bill, the loan charge bill, the Exchequers' consolidatiou hilt, the HI itish and Irish spirits' trade bill, the, Scotch distillery bill, the Irish stamps' ditty bill, the beer duty bill, the Claremont estate bill, the silk-mattfacturer's bill, the habeas corpus bills the spirit licence bill, the American passage bill, the oil and blubber bill, the gaol fres' abolitim bill, the• lead mines' coal bill, the small coal hill, the inland coal bill. the leather or tan • tiers' and carriers' bill, the clergy farms bill, the insolvent debtors' amendment bill, the Irish insolsent debtors' bill, the mines' machinery bill, die militia pay bill, the mutiny act amendment bill, the criminal lunatic bill, and some private hills, including the New street bill. Commissioners, Lords Eldon, Redesdale. and Shaftesbury. The pillory bill and parish apprentices bill, were manct from thu Commons with the amendments agreed to. GAS RILL. On the motion of the id reading of the raft bill, The Earl of LAUDERDALE Observed, that it was absolniely impossible that any peer could state any gaud ground tut the passing of this bill. It was as dry and glaring a job as ever had been presented to the consideration of any legislature. The principal upon which their lordships ought to act on such oc casiisis was plain and clear. N hen a company came to them to ask for extraordinary and exclusive privilege' and powers, it was expected that they should show that it would be for the public advantage to grant these powers and privileges; and also that the powers and privileges so granted should not be of such a nature as to ruin the company itself. Now as to the first of these points, they had shown no public art% outage that would arise front it: on the contrary, the object was, to procure these powers and privileges to this company, so as to enable them to present competition by pris ate capital; and so far this would hare the effect of a monopoly. The advantage they had promised to the public when they obtained their for mer act was, that they could by this afford for the public lamas a better and a cheaper light. Now it evidently appeared Irma the examinationa on the committee, that they could nut continue to perform their promise without ruin and bankruptcy. His lordship read several passages from the evidence ; from which, as he contended, it was clear that the concern had all along been a losing one, and that there was not a shadow of prospect that they could render the concern profitable without consi derably augmenting their prices. In this state of things, how could their lordships, consistently with the pr:nciples upon which they usually acted with regard to these matters, consent to pass a bill which would enable the directors of this company to ruse an additional 200,0001.; when they must be aware that, if the public were thoroughly acquainted with the state of the concern t no mao would advance his money upon it's It was in the conhilence that the legislature would not pass bills in sup port of A consent which must be a losing one, that tile sub scribers advance their money ; he trusted, therefore, they world see it was their duty not to pass this bill. Besides these objec tions, they had to consider the injury which they would do td the whalefishery, which had reeds ell particular encounter 'tient by no less than sic acts of parliament since 3 Geo. 111. It was most important in a public view, that the whale-fishery 'honld not be injured by giving these extraordinary powers to this gas company. They ought at least to allow the whale oil to have its fair competition. Then on these three grounds— that no public ads antage would arise from the passing this blll— that the proceeding would reduce the company itself to bank. ruptcy—and that the whale-fishery would be injured—theit lordships ought not to pass this bill, which was a mere job and humbug upon the public. The Earl of LIMCkiCIL said, that notwithstanding the con fident assertions of the noble earl, he would support the bill. Great good had resulted to the public from this invention ; and the company had not as yet derived nine!' profit from it, he maintained that there was reason from the evidenee to cou elude, that the complain; would derive considerabli profits limn the convent. 'I hey were perfectly ready to falai their stipu lations with the 'white, and supply gas on the term s which they had promised and as to 11a: whale fishery, what had those co rned in it to apprehend, if this company t become bank. rapt accoi ding to the noble earl's prediction r But granting that sane injury might lie done to the public in that may. it would be inure than compensated by the increased eonsumptihn of coals, the cual trade being notoriously the best nursery for sea awn. The Earl of H maownv ARK that though his noble' friend had the -age to mount the breach, he had not been able to resist the fire. He had not showu that any public ads antage would arise from the passing of thill bill. Ho thought the whale fishery of public importance, though not of so much impottiwee as some conceived it to be. He would not theta fore discourage this new and beautiful invention merely to support the whale fishery ; hut then the oil ought to be 14.6 to its fair coutp-titidn : :and e'en with a view to the advantage to be dcrised front this very discovery, no extraordinary powe s ought to be granted td any particular company.. Tins would on!y a liable . them tat drive aumpotttors from the market by whiereelimg them rotgu OE7