The Sun. — London, England, 1842-05-06 00:00:00

IMPEhIAL PARLIAMENT. HOUSE OF COMMONS, May 5. The SPEAKER took the chair shortly before Four o'L;leck. KERRY ELECTION. The SPEAKER informed the House that the petition against the return of the Hon. W. Browne, and Mr. Morgan J. O'Connell, for the county of Kerry ViltS withdrawn. DUNDEE AND ARBROATH RAILWAY. The Report of the Dundee and Arbroath Railway was brought up. THIRD READINGS. The Bristol and Gloucester Railway, the Equitabie Gas, and the Bristol Floating Dock Bills were each read a third time and passed. CATHOLIC SOLDIERS. • Mr. ANSTEY presented a petition, complaining that Catholics were still subjected to many grievances, par ticularly those serving in the army and navy, or inmates of Poor-law union-houses and prisons. Mr. BUSFIELD presented a petition from Man chester, signed by 991 persons, praying that the hours of working in factories may be limited. Mr. HARDY presented a petition to the same effect. POOR-LAWS. Mr. HALFORD presented a petition from the guar dians of a Poor-law Union in Leicestershire, praying the House to protect the guardians in giving relief to able-bodied labourers for the space of one week at least. Mr. HODGSON presented a petition from Barnstaple, against the Poor-law Amendment Act. Mr. FERRAND presented two petitions from York shire, numerously signed, praying that the Poor-laws might be revised. NATIONAL EDUCATION (IRELAND). . . . Mr. Sergeant JACKSON presented a petition from a place in Mayo, against the system of National Education in Ireland. Colonel ACTON presented a similar petition from a place in Wicklow. An IIoN. MEMBER. presented three petitions from Cork, with a similar prayer. Mr. HARDY presented a petition from Dewesbury, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, praying that soli citors may be relieved from the certificate duty. Mr. FERRAND presented a petition from Clerken well, praying for the opening of the Metropolitan Bridges. Captain GORDON presented a petition from Aber deen against the importation of foreign cattle. An HON. MEMBER presented a petition from Macroom, in the county of Cork, praying for a post-office commu nication between Bristol and Cork. Mr. MUNDA.Y presented a petition from Belfour, praying the House to pass a measure to remedy the pre sent state of the law with regard to bastardy. The Order of the Day for the second reading of the Public I louse Bill was read for the purpose of its being postponed to the 18th of Ma)'. • Mr. 0. BANKES presented a petition from the in ' habitants of Portland against the admission of foreign stones free of duty. Mr. ROEBUCK presented a petition from certain in • habitants of Spitalfields, against the tolls on Metropolitan Bridges. POOR-LAWS. ' Mr. COLVILLE presented a petition from the Board of Guardians of the Poor-law Union of Ossulton, pray ing for an amendment in the Poor-law, but retaining the principle of Gilbert's Act. INC OME -TAX. Mr. MIME presented a petition from the Mayor, Aldermen, -find Burgesses of Newport, Isle of Wight, bearing the seal of the corporation, and signed by the Mayor. The petitioners stated, that the proposed Income tax was likely to be highly injurious to them as traders. The petitioners prayed the House not to tax profes sional income in the same way as capital and land. Lord F. EGERTON presented a petition from Pres ton, against the Poor-law Bill. Mr. BORTHWICK presented a petition from Eve sham, against the Poor-law Bill. Mr. S. WORTLEY presented a petition from Halifax and several other places, praying for au alteration in the Poor-law Bill. Mr. T. BUNCOMBE presented a petition from the Council of the British Medical Association, against the income-tax. LYME REGIS ELECTION. Lord GRANVILLE SOMERSET brought up the Report of the Committee of selection, reporting that the following Members had been selected to try the merits of the Lyme Regis election, viz.:—Mr. Thornely, Lord Barrington, Mr. E. Ellice, Mr. Round, Mr. B. Wood, Mr. E. Carwell, and Mr. B. Hawes. . CORN-LAWS. Dr. BOWEING presented a petition, which, he said' came rather after its time ; it was from Bolton, praying the House to con3ent to the total repeal of the Corn-laws. REGISTRATION OF BIRTHS, DEATHS, AND MARRIAGES: The HoN. MEMBER then presented a petition from the Dissenters of the same place, complaining of the dif ficulty of access, without the payment of heavy fees, to the documents relating to births, deaths, and mar riages, and praying for some alteration in the present system. SABBATH OBSERVANCE. • Lord SANDON presented a petition from some place in Scotland, praying for the enactment of a law for the better observance of the Lord's-day. NOTICES OF MOTION. Mr. S. FRENCH gave notice that, on that clay fort night he should move fur leave to bring in a Bill for the better regulation of Medical Charities in Ireland. ELECTION YETI LIONS. Mr. ROEBUCK gave notice that, to-morrow, he meant to ask of Lord Chelsea, Mr. Russell, Captain Plumridge, Sir John Cam Hobhouse, Sir G. Dc I.arpent, and M. 11. Elphinstone, whether any of them was cognisant of or party to any arrangement, by which it had been agreed that one or other of &rise Honourrble Methbers were to accept the Steward ship of the Chiltern Hundr,:ds, in order to vacate their scats, notwithstanding any of them had been declared duly elected by the Select Committee appointed to try the merits against his return.—(hear, hear.) Be also gave notice that he should, to-morrow, move for a Select Committee to inquire whether certain parties con nected with the trial of petitions presented to that House against the return of its Members, were not guilty of a gross breach of its privileges. The Hon. Member then added that he should put the same question to Mr. John Attwood and to Major Beresford, as to the other Members he had mentioned ; and he should oppose the issuing of any writ for a return for any of the places re presented by those Honourable Members, until the questions he should put were satisactorily answered. Mr. BORTHWICK gave notice that, to-morrow. he would move that the petition which he had presented yesterday, from the Mayor and Town-Council of Eve sham, be printed with the Votes. Mr. lIUME moved for returns, under various heads, of sums expended for the public service ; but the Hon. Gentleman spoke in so indistinct a tone of voice, and the noise in the body of the House was such, that he was qei:e inaudible in the gallery. CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. Mr. P. M. STEWART begged to put a question to the Right Hon. Baronet opposite, of the deepest import ance to the people of Scotland. Owing to the unex pected turn which the question dt the Scotch Church had ' taken on the previous night, from the Government promising to introduce a Bill for the .settlement of the Church of Scotland, he begged to ask when that. Bill would be introduced, and to express his earnest wish that, in justice to the people of Scotland, it might be introduced between the present time and the meeting of the General Assembly, which would take place a fortnight hence, that the measure might receive the consideration of that body. Sir J. GRAHAM said he would appeaUto the House to say Whether the Hon. Gentleman had rightly stated what he (Sir J. Graham) had announced to the House. In putting the question, the Honourable Gentleman had assumed that he had promised, on the part of the Government, the immediate introduction of the Bill. What he had stated was, that her Majesty's Go vernment had received from various quarters in Scotland, from persons of opposite opinions, all entitled to the highest respect,- such communications as had led her Majesty's Government to entertain a hope that a settle ment of the unhappy differences that had divided the Church of Scotland might be possible.—(Hear, hear.) To that statement lie adhered. Those communications were still in progress ; no measure had been matured but he. did entertain a hope that it would be possible for th e Govornmeht, on its responsibility, to introduce such measure. The Hon. Member for Argyllshire had con sented to postpone his Bill for six weeks, and he (Sir J. (iridium) would say now what he had said before, that between this time and that, if the hopes of the Govern ment should be realised, the Bill w ould be introduced, and the Hon. Member should have due notice of its in troduction. BOROUGH OF SUDBURY. Mr. REDINGTON said, that as he had given notice of a motion for Tuesday next respecting the borough of Sudbury; and es he understood that precedence was to be giVen to the Orders of the Day, he wished to know what course the Right Hon. Baronet would adopt with regard to his (Mr. Redingten's) motion,'dnd - whether he would allow its precedence ? Sir R. PEEL said, that when he proposed that the Orders of the Day should have precedence of motions, he remarked the absence of the Hon. Gentleman, and stated that he would not ask for precedence except on the condition of the Hon. Gentleman's acquiescence, be cause ar the Hon. Member had fixed Tuesday, he (Sir R. Peel), should be unwilling to interfere with him. But the Noble Lord the Member for Londo n suggested that the Orders of the Day need not be postponed in conse quence of the notice of motion of the Hon. Gentleman. The House would bear in min& that that was the cause why he (Sir h. Peel) persevered.— (11Kar, hear.) He thought the House consente 4 that he should take Tues -day next, and that he wouldAyt interfere with the mo tion of the lion. Gentleman Fif that day. N rAIEDINGTON said he was not present when the Bight Him. ilarillet spoke, and he could not lean. pre cisely what had pas Eel on the occasion. Ile would state to the Hoare, s sho rt l y as he could, the views of the c mimittoe. The Hon. Gentleman that.ha would move on-Tui sal,-y, that h writ for the borough of Sudbury ti n lat t the issuing of theen gave benotice, suspended to the 11th 'of June. MIL BIDDL T LPII. - Mr. SHIM.; gave notice, that he would postpone till Monday his question respecting Mr. Biddulph. NAVY ESTIMATES, Captain PECIIELL wished to know from the light Barpuet opposite, whether he would bring on the Navy Estimates to-morrow, or on - Monday ? The reason he 'asked the question was, that the Gallant Commodore, the Member for Marylebone, who was in terested in the subject, was in the country, and it would be's. convenience to him to ascertain the fact. Sir R. PEEL said, certainly not to morrow, in Con. sccittek.co of the Income-tax. APPOINTMENT OF BOROUGH MAGISTRATES Mr. HUTT presented a petition from Gateshead, against the recent4ppointment of borough Magistrates. The Hon. Membe. then proceeded to move for copies of circulars sent out by the Secretary of State for the Home Department to the various Town-clerks or Clerks to the Magistrates, between the months of August and December, 1841, requiring information as to the state of the Magistracy in the towns to which such circulars were sent, as to the number of such Magistrates, and of those who had qualified them selves to. act. He would offer no apology to the House for bringing under its consideration the subject of which he had given notice ; for if the view which he took was correct, it was a matter which imperatively required the attention of the House of Commons. Fortunately for the liberty of the people of this country, the right of nominating municipal Magistrates had never, till a very recent period, been vested in the Go vernment. Up to the year 1836 the municipalities of England, almost without exception, enjoyed the right of electing their own Magistrates. The right was one which had lbeen inherited by the people from the earliest founders of their institutions, and on that account perhaps it was entitled to their veneration. But it had more solid and practical claims on their re spect. It was admirably adapted for preserving harmony between the Government and those who administered the law throughout the country. Accordingly it was preserved by the Government of Lord Grey, in the Bill which was introduced for reforming the Corporations of Scotland ; and as the Right Hon. Baronet had been a member of Lord Grey's Government, he must have heard with interest and satisfaction of the well-weeking of the system for which he was in part respon sible. In 1835 it formed one of the provisions of the Bill introduced by the Government of Lord Melbourne for reforming the Corporations in Eng land and Wales. The provision received the unanimous sanction of the House of Commons, but unfortunately, in one of those angry quarrels which had occurred with the other House, it was struck out of the Bill. When the Bill came down from the other House of Parliament, mutilated in that, as well as in many other respects, the Noble Lord, then the leader of that House, though he deplored the circumstance of this provision being struck out of the Bill, did not consider it a sufficient reason for rejecting the measure. He observed that he did not think any Minister would be found hereafter who would refuse to the corporations the exercise of this right; and he remarked, that if any Minister should 'hereafter be found, he did not doubt but that the House of Commons would not be slow to censure his conduct. The Noble Lord further added, that so long as he held the seals of the Home Office, he should think it his duty to perpetuate the ancient practice of the land ; and that no Magistrate should be appointed in the cqeporii dons till he had previously consulted with the town council. With this understanding the Bill passed the House of Commons, and then it was that the ancient rights, which they had recently granted to the people of Scotland by the unanimous sanction of both Houses of Parliament in 1833, which the people of England had inherited from the date of their earliest in stitutions, which they bad preserved in some Sort or other through all revolutions for eight hundred years, were snatched from them at last, and uncondi tionally given up. He hoped one day to introduce a Bill into that House which would restore to the people of England those ancient rights, for he believed the am nicipalities of the country were the only safe sup ports of the Constitutioa.—(Hear, hear.) The -Noble Lord, the then Secretary of State for the Home De partment, acted up to the declaration he made. It was then remarked that his declaration was made before the Bill had received the sanction of that House. It had been said, " Yes, it is very fine to consult the corpo rations so long as the corporations are of your own po litical opinions." There would have been some justice in the sarcasm if the Noble Lord had made that declare don after the result of the municipal elections had been determined. But he determined on his course before the Bill had passed that House—before the corporations had been established—before any man living could pos sibly foresee what would be the result of the municipal elections. It was then that the Noble Lord made that declaration to the House and to the country, and to that delaration he adhered. He (Mr. Hutt) could not con ceive why that example could not be followed. He knew very well it might be said that corporations did not invariaby recommend the fittest persons to the borough Magistracy. He (Mr. Hutt) admitted that he thought it not impossible that the Right Honourable Baronet (Sir JameS Grahatin) might be prepared to show many instances in which they had erred ; but did not Lords- Lieutenant sometimes err in their selections of the Ma gistrates for the borough municipalities ? No man would argue that because they sometimes erred, there fore they must never be appealed to.—(Hear, hear.) Whoever was a good Magistrate for his neighbourhood, for the municipality in which he resided, was good enough for a Secretary of State. The Secretary of State, in the selection of ,borough Magistrates must apply to some one of local knowledge, and he was sure be could not find any persons more calculated to give information than those in authority in the borough. If he did not apply to them, be must apply to some of his own partisans, for he could not be acquainted with the respectable inhabitants of every place. That course, however contemptible it was, and he consi dered it so, had been pursued by the Right llon. Ba ronet. He thought such a course was highly to be la mented. When they considered that the people of Scotland enjoyed the power of electing their own Magistrates by the Act of the year 1833, when it was considered that the Citizens of London dit4 the same thing; and when the people of this country had enjoyed for 800 years a similar right—he thought, under all these circumstances, the House would be of opinion that the Right Hon. Baronet had taken a Very improper course, and had most improperly strained the power of the Crown. He had in his hand a list of 400 Magistrates appointed during the last eight months, and, such being the case, he should like to know from what motives the Right on. Baronet had set about this Magistrate making ? Was it because the Magistrates were inefficient, or was it because he had documents showing that justice had been improperly administered? The Right Hon. Gentleman had evaded the question with less than his usual address. Would he answer it to-night ?—(Cheers.) The question, however, had already been answered in another place.—(Cheers.) It was customary to speak of the appointment of 'municipal Magistrates as the act of the Home Secretary ; every body knew that it was the act of the Home Secretary, although the Lord Chancellor was no minally the person making the appointment. But the Lord Chancellor himself had declared in another place the reason of these appointments. They batt the authority of the Lord High Chancellor himself for stat ing the reason of these appointments to be, that the town councils had recommended too many Liberal Magistrates to serve the purposes of the present Go vernment—(Cheers)—that it was necessary to redress the balance by making a large number of Conservative Magistrates, in order to secure to the Conservative party the privilege of licensing public houses l --(Cheers).—a power intended to be used for electioneering purposes.— (Cheering and counter cheering.) Such was reported to have been the statement made by the Lord High Chancellor of England in another place. But the Right Hon. Bart. himself, who seldom indulged in any excess of frankness, was reported to have made an avowal of a si milar nature, in answer to certain persons who had I waited upon him as a deputation from the Conservative Association of Devonport. These persons had paid a visit to the Right Honourable Baronet, to arrange about the appointment of Conservative Magistrates for Devonport. These persons had reported that they were charmed with the condescension and kindness with which the Right Hon. Baronet had received them ; and in describing their interview with so distinguished a personage, they stated that while they were dilating on the special merits of the Conservative can didates for the Magistracy, the Right Honour able Baronet had interrupted them by exclaiming— , " Never, mind about particulars—how many will it take to swamp them ?''—(Great cheering, laughter, and cries of "Name, name.") Ha had read the statement in a Devonport newspaper.—(Cheers, and cries of " Oh I Oh !" and laughter.) Ile did not wish to take any unfair account of the transaction. Did he understand that the Right Hon. Baronet disclaimed it ? Sir J. GRAHAM—I have not the slightest recol lection of it.—(Cheers and laughter.) Mr. HUTT thought, that as the Right Hon. Baronet had not the slightest recollection of it, perhaps the transaction had not taken place—(Cries of " Oh ! oh !") —but would the Right Lion. Baronet deny that he had acted on those principles ?—(Loud cheers.) If he had not done so, had the appointments been made 'because there had been any complaints made as to the manner in which justice was administered in the country, or as to the insufficiency of the existing number of Magistrates ? He was not going to quarrel with the appointment of any individual.—(Tory cheers.) He had received, since he gave notice of his intention to ask the House to look into this subject, suggestions from various quarters, as to why this or that man was improper to fill the office in such or such a place. He gave no heed to any such communi cations, and he would do the Right Hon. Baronet the justice to express his belief that he had never placed upon the Bench any individual whom he did not think qualified to fill the office.—(Loud cheers.) As far as he had any personal knowledge of the appointments, such unques tionably was the case—(Cheers)—and whilst ho com plained of the large addition which the Right Hon. Ba ronet had made to the Magistracy, he admitted that in no case had he appointed a person who was not qualified to discharge the duties.—(Loud cheers.) But, he would ask, when he made the last addition to the Magistracy of Hull, why did the Right Hon. Baronet place Dr. Alderson at the head of the list ? That gen tleman was highly respectable •, and when he (Mr. Hutt) had the honour to represent the borough, Dr. Alderson was of the Liberal party, although, like the Right Hon ourable Baronet, his opinions had since undergone some change.—(Cheers and laughter.) But it was a great slight to other gentlemen, who were quite as re spectable, to have him placed upon that account above them. With respect to the town which he now had the honour to represent (the borough of Gateshead), there were six Magistrates in the borough ; and in number and efficiency they had appeared quite equal to dis charge all the duties of the Magistracy ; and one of them was a Conservative.—(Great cheering from the Tory benches.) He (Mr. Hutt) very well understood the meaning of the cheers. But he would remind Gentle men opposite, that there was as great a preponderance of Liberals in the borough.—(Hear, hear.) The Right Hononourable Baronet, however, did rot think six Magistrates enough, and he gave to this fa voured town six Conservative Magistrates in addition, making as many Magistrates as policemen.—(Cheers, and great laughter.) He asked, why did the Right Hon. 1 Baronet so accomodate a town—why did he give a town, in which Liberal opinions predeminntO, a majority of Tory Magist ra t es ?-1-(Hear; The Noble Lord-Lieutenant of Durham thought he could justify the proceedings at Gateshead, by remarking' that it was a place where revolutionary opinions .pre- Tailed, and that the inhabitants of Gateshead had; in :. previous session, of Parliament, returned a gentleman of revolutionary principles to represent them. He (Mr. Hutt) was not going to vindicate the character either of his Hon. Colleague, or of the town of Gateshead. It appeared that the Noble Lord had made these observations. He (Mr. Hutt) would wish the Noble Lord to remember, that in this free and intelligent country no character was so revolu tionary, no character was so dangerous to the public peace, as that of a man of high station, of princely for. tune, of great political power, who used these uncommon advantages in such a way as to alienate from him the respect and the confidence of his country.—(Hear, hear.) Let him return to the subject of Gates head. When he saw that there, and in other places similarly situated, political party ran, high —when he saw that the Right Honourable Baronet had established there a majority of Tory Magistrates, and bad scattered between 300 and 400 Magistrates of Tory opinions in different parts of the country, be must own that he was very much puzzled to know on what principle the Right Honourable . Baronet bad acted ; and he should probably have been puzzled to this day had it not been for the' candid avowal of the Noble Lord the Chancellor of England. He now understood that these Magistrates were appointed solely for political purposes.—(Cries of " Hear, hear.") He hoped no one would doubt his authority.—(Cheers.) The Right Hon. Gentleman was extremely fond of to quoque arguments. He (Mr. Hutt) would admit then that it was true, be would go farther—(Hear, hear) —for the sake of argument—(Hear, hear)—and would now admit the Right Hon. Gentleman to say, that in stead of having appointed four hundred Magistrates from feelings of caprice, his predecessor had ap pointed a thousand.—(Ministerial.cheers.) But then he (Mr. Hutt) would ask, what was that to him—(Hear) —what was 'that to the people of England, whose interests were deeply involved on the ques tion ? For his part he believed that the tit quoque argument, miserable as it was at best, would not avail the Right Hon. Baronet on that occasion. This he was bound to say, that having frequently seen his Noble Friend (Lord John Russell) on the subject of those appoint ments, in consequence of a commission he had received from the borough of Hull, he had always found his Noble Friend anxious to see gentlemen of opinions opposed to his own placed upon the bench of Magistrates. It happened that the Corporation of Hull had originally recommended gentlemen exclusively of the Whig party, upon which the Noble Lord, when the list was presented to him, said that that should not be.—(Hear, hear.) The Noble Lord did not approve of making the bench of Magis trates the scene of party politics. In consequence of the statement of the Noble Lord communications toek place between him and the town council of Hull, and the result was that gentlemen of the Tory party were placed upon the Bench. A similar course to his (Mr. Hutt's) knowledge was pursued by the Marquis of Normanby. Both those Noblemen were anxious that the Magistracy should in some sortrepresent the feelings of the country at large. He believed, however, that it would be found' the Eight Hon. Baronet opposite had acted in precisely the opposite way. lie believed it would be found that the Right Hon. Baronet had placed upon the Bench almost exclusively Members of one party (Hear)—and placed them there, as he believed, for party and political purposes ; a proceeding which would hardly be found paralleled in our history since the time of Charles 11. He believed that the system introduced by the Right Hon. Baronet was full of danger to the country ; and that was not merely his opinion nor the opinion of every party with which he might be supposed to be connected ; he could assure the Right Hon ourable Baronet that that was the opinion of men in every position in life. It was the opinion of Ma gistrates of the same political opinions as her Majesty's Government; it was the opinion of many who agreed with Government in their general principles of policy, but who were disgusted with this abuse of the powers of Government.' The House should remember that those municipal tribunals were the only Courts of Justice to which millions could appeal. (Hear.) The Right Honourable Baronet was a man 'of fo,rtune and high station, who could prosecute a suit in a dozen courts if he thought proper; but the poor had practically no other form of civil and criminal jurisdic tion than the local tribunals of the country.—(Cheers.) He was glad to have that assenting cheer. Was it then right that that tribunal should be political ? He was glad that at least on one point they could agree. He was happy to have the concurrence of the Right Hon. Baronet, that it was neither just nor right that that tribunal should be a political one; Looking to the state of society in the country, and to the feelings that were abroad, they must see that it was not fit to add to the elements of confusion. The Hon. Member for Bradbury—(Laughter)—he begged pardon for the mistake, lie meant the Hon. Member for Bradford (Mr. Hardy), would do better, instead of answering by jeers, to get up when be (Mr. Hutt) had closed his observations, and to reply to those observations if. he could. With respect to the Supreme Judges of the land, they were restrained by their knowledge of the law, by their habitual defe rence to the forms of justice, from giving way to any remarkable political party feeling or bias. But what did these Borough Justices know about law or its forms ? They should be raised to their offices for their personal intelligence and integrity, matters of which the Secretary of State could know nothing, but which their townsmen were sure both to know and appreciate. But they did not suffer their townsmen to take part in the election of these Magis trates to their offices ; they did not care whether those Magistrates obtained and possessed the confi dence of their fellow-townsmen ; all that they cared for was, that they should be active political partisans. He protested against this system, and he hoped the House of Commons would see that the time had come to oppose it. It was now declared that the nominations of the %,wn councils were to be set aside ; that every successive Secretary of State was to appoint as many Magistrates as suited his purpose, and was to be the sole judge of' their fitness and character, while an inquisition was set up on the political opinions of every Magistrate on the Bench, for the purpose of swamping them every time those opinions might be opposed to those of the party in power. He again protested against the system ; it could be fruitful of nothing but mischief, and would render the Bench a scene of violent party and political conflicts, and produce a system about as respectable and respected as the system of this House with regard to the trial of controverted elections.—(Hear, hear.) The whole system (vas calculated to deprave the character of the Bench ; it was to the confidence which the people of England felt in those who were entrusted with the administration of justice they owed that High tone of feeling which was their charac teristic. Let them destroy this confidence, and the hour was not far distant when they would deeply lament it.—(Hear, hear.) He remembered a passage from Lord Clarendon, which was well worthy of the attention of the Right Hon. Baronet, and of all who were en trusted with the reins of Government in this court try.—(Hear.) In tracing the causes of the disasters which raised the people of England against the institutions of the country, and which at last drove them to meet their Sovereign in the field, Lord Cla rendon says, " It was not the ship money, it was not the exaction of forced loans, which smothered in the hearts of Englishmen those feelings of affection and loyalty to their Prince, which, in every age and all circumstances, had been the characteristics of the race. It was not these things ; it was the scorn and irreverence into which the Judges of the land had fallen ; it was the consequence of the people hearing the Magistrates pronouncing that to be law which every one knew was not law." If this course was pursued, and if the sanction of the House was given to the innovations of the Right Hon. Baronet, he believed it would be pregnant with disaster to the country. The Right Honourable Baronet at the head of the Government, in the course of his elo quent peroratioh in his speech on the finances of the country, took occasion to notice the va rious calamities with which the country was visited, in the course of the last century—the mutiny of the Nore, the rebellion in Ireland, and the war abroad ; but if the Secretary of State were allowed to appoint to the Magistracy political parties, disgrace and dishonour would befal the country. He did not think the Right lion. Baronet (Sir R. Peel) would get up and give his approval to this system. He was surrounded by those who said it was his duty to maintain the supremacy of his party under all circum stances, but he (Mr. H.) presumed to give him other advice.—(oh, and laughter.) lie could assure Hon. Members that interruption was very disagreeable. He hoped the Hon. and Gallant Officer opposite would per mit him to offer a few remarks. He would suggest to the Right Hon. Baronet (Sir R. Peel) that he could not lay the foundation of his power on surer grounds, - than by securing to the people the equal administration of the law.—(Ministerial cheers.) He would sug gest to him that he could. not raise his name to a higher pitch than by taking care that no individual was raised to the Bench of Justice, whether it was in the Supreme Courts of the country or in the local tribunals, except those who possessed the confidence of their fellow-ceuntrymen. Others might be disposed to give different counsel ' • but he was sure that he would do better to give up the little interests of party, which would be fatal to his power and the permanence of his fame.—(Cheers.) Mr. JERVIS seconded the motion. The question having been put, Sir J. GRAHAM said that when the Hon. Gentleman who had just sat down gave notice of his motion, he took the first opportunity of thanking him for giving that notice. He certainly felt that ho was under great obligations to the Hon. Gentleman ; for after all t hat had been said, there and elsewhere, with respect to his conduct on this particular subject, he felt satisfied that the Hon. Gentleman was about to bring that con duct under the consideration of the House in some tangible shape. so that he might appeal to its deliberate judgment, and asscertain whether the House thought it worthy of reprobation. Now he would just call the at tention of the House to the nature of the speech which the Hon. Gentleman had thought fit to make on that oc casion, as a preface to his motion. He had recalled to the recollection of the House the declaration of the Noble Lord, the Member for the City of London, at the time of the passing of the Municipal Corporations Bill, that any abuse of prerogative on the part of the Secre tary.of State, in recommending persons as municipal Magistrates, would be noticed by that House. Not sa tisfied with that, he had gone on to speak of his (Sir J. Graham's) conduct in terms which he would repeat to the House, for he had carefully taken them down. l le had said that his (Sir J. Graham's) course was highly to be condemned, that he had strained the prerogative of the Crown—that the interest of the people was deeply interwoven with the .question now before them—that there was.,no:,pirAilel- in the history of this country to tich an abuse of power. since the time of Charles the Second—and that he hoped that that House would interpose a check to so great an evil.-41-lear, bear.) + THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY MORNING, MAY 6, 1842 Now those were the declarations of the Hon. Gentleman --d,elarations which, as a Member of Parliament, he 1 was fully entitled to make, of which he (Sir J. G.) had no right whatever to complain, since they were boldly made, and made openly to his face. But entertaining those opinions of his conduct, having formed those opi nions without waiting to hear what he had to urge in his vindication, coming from the calm atmosphere of that judicial tribunal, the Southampton Committee—(Loud cries of " Hear, hear," from both sides of the House) — entertaining those opinions, what was the motion with which the Hon. Gentleman had concluded ? Why, he imagined that the Hon. Gentleman would have concluded with some motion condemnatory of his conduct—some address to her Majesty, praying that he might be re moved from her counsels.—(Hear, hear, from the Min isterial benches.) No motion of the Hon. Gentleman — if he really entertained the opinions which he had ex pressed—no motion could be too strong for the occasion. —(Hear, hear.) But what was the miserable subterfuge, the wretched evasion, by which he had escaped from a vote 9f that House ? Why, he had concluded with a motion asking for a paper which it was impossible the Government would refuse.--(Hear, hear.) He frankly avowed that he was responsible for those appointments. though, as the Hon Gentleman said, the Lord Chancellor was technically responsible. He did not say that any divided responsibility attached to his office. He told the Hon. Gentleman, and he told the House, that he (Sir J. Graham) only was responsible for the advice tendered to her Majesty in respect to these appointments. The Hon. Gentleman said that it was most desirable to have a Magistrate devoid of poli tical character, and at the same time he expatiated largely on the great advantage of a municipal Magis tracy chosen by the people. Now, in the present state of parties in this country, it might be most desirable to have Magistrates free from all political bias, but in the present divided state of the public mind he (Sir J. Gra ham) did not see that it was possible, if they had muni cipalities chosen by the majority of rate-payers. Was it not, he said, absurd, to suppose that under such circum stances the Magistrates would be devoid of political bias ? Now, if it was impossible to find muncipal Ma gistrates free from political bias, he must decidedly agree ith the Hon. Gentleman that it was most desirable that the Magistracy should be composed of persons possessed of influence in the narrow circle of the neighbourhood. He admitted that it was most desirable that in those communities whose property, lives, and persons were affected by these tribunals, it was of the last importance that those communities should, without exception, have confidence in the justi ce o f t h ose who exercised that jurisdiction. As the Hon. Gentleman said it was not just —it was not right, it was not safe that persons exercising authority in those communities should be attended with the character of partisans. Those tribunals should be so comprised as to assume an exclusive character. The Hon. Gentleman had stated that he had no complaint to make against the appointments which had been recom mended.—(Cheers from the Ministerial benches.) The Honourable Gentleman was so minute in his criticism, that when he talked of Hull—a place which he the Honourable Gentleman had had the honour of representing—he distinctly admitted that, with respect to the gentlemen whom he (Sir J. Graham) had recom ' mended to the favour of the Crown,in that case he had not one word to say against the selection. So minute was the criticism, that he had nothing to say against the persons, his objection was confined to the particular place in the list which Dr. Alderson happened to assume. He (Sir J. Graham) did not know the reason of that, unless the name was placed there alphabetically ; he knew no other reason. Now he (Sir J. Graham) would take a view of the circumstances in which he found the muni cipal Magistracies, when he had the honour of coming into office.—(Cheers.) He did not mean to go into any minute particulars ; he would avoid that, and state ge nerallly what was the condition of the municipal Magi stracies when he succeeded to office, what were the mo tives which actuated his conduct, and leave the House and the country to determine whether he had forfeited the confidence of the country by the course he had pur sued. The Hon. Gentleman had very correctly referred to what had taken place on the original passing of the Municipal Bill. With respect to the statement made by the Noble Lord, the Secretary for the Home Depart ment, it had been proposed, by the then Government, to introduce into the Municipal Bill a provision that the municipal Magistrates should not be ap pointed by the Crown, but elected by the town council. The clause, containing the enactment, after full dis cussion— Lord J. RUSSELL—It was not a clause, but merely a recommendation. Sir J. GRAHAM thought the provision was em bodied in a clause; however, it was the intention of the framers of the Bill that the municipal Magistrates should be elected by the town council, and not nominated by the crown. Did the Noble Lord dissent from that ? Lord J. RUSSELL might be wrong, but, as far as his recollection served him, the provision was, that no person should be appointed by the Crown, unless recommended by the town council. Sir J. GRAHAM was obliged to the Noble Lord for his correction, and he would state his case according to the Noble Lord's conception. At the time the Bill was brought forward, it was proposed to limit the power of the Crown. That was the mode of nomination proposed to Parliament, and it was rejected by the Legislature. The undoubted prerogative of the Crown was recog nised by Parliament., and the absolute power of nomi nation was given to it. The Noble Lord, either during the passing of the Bill through Parliament, or immedi ately after, made an announcement that, notwithstand ing the decision of the Legislature in the way he had stated, that in the exercise of his power as a Minister of the Crown, he would not appoint any Magistrates unless they received the recommendation of the town council ; in short, that he would, by the use of the pre rogative of the Crown, or rather, he would say, the straining of it, frustrate the decision of the Legislature, and give effect to the opinion of the town councils. Now, the Noble Lord having established the rule, it was of the last importance that he should abide by it. Now he (Sir James Graham) would just advert to one or two cases of appointments by the Noble Lord, in order to show how strictly the Noble Lord had adhered to the rule which he laid down of not appointing any per sons except those recommended by the town council. The first case to which he would call the attention of the House was that of Bridport. The town council there were very much divided in politics, but they agreed in recommending to the Noble Lord a mixed Commis sion of the Peace. But the Noble Lord if he (Sir Jamas Graham) mistook not, set aside the recommendation and appointed five gentlemen attached to the party now on thel Opposition benches of the House, and one of the principles of the party now on that (the Ministerial)sido, —(Cheers.) However, that was a case which might appear not very strong. But he would now bring the attention of the House to the case of the borough of Hastings. In that borough the town council had re peatedly recommended one gentleman, residing in Hast ings, as a person quite fit to fill the ffice of one of the town Magistrates. Now, the Noble Lord repeatedly set aside that nomination. — (Cheers from the Tories.) But it might be said that in that case, there was some par ticular reason wily the Noble Lord had thought it his duty as the responsible advistr of the Crown to make that case an exception to his own general rule, and not to act upon the recommendation of the town council. But let him now mention another case, that of Bristol.—(Cheers.) In that city, at the first election which took place under the Municipal Reform Act, the parties in the town coun cil stood in this relative.positioni—there were 24 Conser vatives, and 20 of the opposite party. Both parties, for the sake of peace, came to the determination that they should recommend an equal number on both sides, twelve Whig-Radicals, and twelve Conservatives. Let the House remember the doctrine of the Noble Lord, that they should have in the municipalities important tribu nals, Magistrates above the influence of party-feeeling, and that the local a dministration of justice should neither be violated nor s uspected.—(Hear, hear.) It had been said that he (Sir J. Graham) had been compelled by his Conservative supporters to swamp their opponents, and to reward and strengthen his partisans, by giving them seats on the Magisterial bench. Let them take the conduct of those Conservatives in the Bristol town council. The Conservative majority was predominant, and very predominant, and what did they do ?—(Hear, hear.) They had a majority, and they knew that the Noble Lord was bound by his promise to abide by the recommendation of the majority ?—(Hear, hear.) Did they take advantage of their superior posi tion ? No ; but for the sake of harmony they agreed to recommend twelve Magistrates on each side.—(Hear, hear.) But what did the Noble Lord do ? He took the twelve recommended by the Whig-liadical Ministry, and six of those recommended by the majority, rejecting six from the list of that majority.—(Tory cheers.) Amongst those rejected was Mr. Daniel—(Hear, hear)—who was at the head of the Conservative party in Bristol—(Hear, hear) : -a man of large property and of unblemished re putation, and possessing the confidence of his fellow citizens. .He was rejected on account of his alleged ill 1 836 to the present day he had enjoyed health and shamed the weak pretence— eeringing him at the head of the le )—and he (Sir J. Graham) had health,(ihnGavdra theeraiat b oo t gnr f 3oo r , ouoa:cmi placing Con servative of M , y agistrac... ' but n ot for the same alphabetical guided reason which hi m in the case of Dr. Al derson, but, on account of his station and character. Allow him now to bring u nder the consideration of the House the case of Poole. In the spring o f 1836, it bein g understood that Lord ohn Russell would adopt the re -1 commendation of tow n councils throughout the kingdom, not read the na mes sent in the follo w i ng list to the Home-office. He would would imagine, w ou l d have exerc i s ed some discretion, and would have t a k en some an d rejected others who were recommend e d b y the town council: The whole by the town council of Poole were re jected by the • Nobl e Lor d , an d he substituted for that list another list of names. H e a ppointed, he (Sir James Graham) thought, seven m ag istrates, and would the House believe it, notwithstanding the recommendation of the town council, w h o recommended Conservatives, one of them only w as conne cted with the Conservatives. Now, in the first pl ace, h e was most anxious to assure the House, that he v i ewe d w ith extreme regret the ne , cessity of inquiry into the political opinions of municipal powers connected with the a dministration of justice. He saw as strongl y as any Gentleman opposite the great misfortun e t h at j us t i ce should be so con nected with p arty po l i t ic s. But that was not the case with whi c h he had to deal. He had to deal with municipal Magistrates, steeped up to their necks in party politics—(Hear, hear)—and it was not for him to determine should this Magistracy be so deteriorated, but finding it so, should he with firmness and moderation apply a corrective.—(Hear.) He conceived that with the honest purpose of avoiding undue temptation o n t h e par t of the Magistracy to inter fere with party politi cs, t h e re were two classes of .per sons whom he though t s h ou ld not be appointed—those were practising attorneys and .brewers.—(Hear, hear.) The late Government made no such exceptions in, their :ippointments-7-they appointed both brewers and prat rising attorneys. Notwithstanding the practice had been so exteusive ke (Sir James -Gragiu) wris aot-araid-to apply the corrective generally—and he had applied it generally.—(Heir.) On the other side practising attor neys and brewers had been very generally appointed ; but he (Sir James Graham) was not aware that there was to be found on the whole of his list one practising attorney, one brewer, or one beneficed clergyman. He had stated that the Noble Lord had not very strictly adhered to his own rule in regard to making appoint ments from those recommended by the town councils. He wished now to bring under the notice of the House what was very remarkable, that when Conservatives were appointed a very curiot.s selection was made in many instances. Conservatives were, it was true, ap pointed in some instances, but in many cases—it would be tedious to go through the whole list—in many cases gentlemen of Conservative opinions were appointed who either had positively informed the Noble Lord that they would not act, or who had made a statement to that leffect through their agents, or, as was the case in several instances, who were from particular circumstances dis qualified from voting. He might illustrate that by several examples ; but he did not think he could find any case which would make his assertion more clear to the House than the case of Norwich. In the year 1837 he found that six additional names were selected by the town council of Norwich to be added to the commission of the peace ; three of these were Whigs, and three were Conservatives. These six were approved of by the Government ; but while the three Whigs were active men, in the prime of life, two of the Conservatives were extremely aged, and the third was paralytic. At another period he found there were 19 Magistrates appointed, 13 of whom were Whigs able to act on the bench, while of the six Conservatives. two could not act, one was unable to walk, and of the re maining three, one was 86 years of age, another was 77, and the third was 75.—(Hear.) It would be tedious to go through details on the subject ; but still it was his duty to bring under the notice of the House, in a com pendious form, the general results of the proceedings of the Noble Lord, as contrasted with his proceedings. The Hon. Gentleman said, that the object of the Noble Lord had been to select not from any party exclusively. He believed the Hon. Gentleman even went the length of saying that the Noble Lord had succeeded tolerably well. He would read to the House some specimens of that suc cess. The Magistrates appointed in Bath were twelve ; of those nine were Whig-Radicals and two Conservatives. I . In Burnley thirty-three Magistrates, of whom twenty seven were Whigs and six Conservatives. Boston five Magistrates, all Whig-Radicals. Carlisle ten Magistrates, all of the same party. Coventry twelve Magistrates, all Whig-Radical. Tenby four Magistrates, Whig-Radical. Derby, eight Magistrates, Whig-Radical. Dartmouth, six Magistrates, all of the same party. Flint, eight Ma gistrates ; Grimsby, seven, all Whig-Radicals. In Li verpool thirty-one Magistrates had been appointed, of whom twenty-five were Whig-Radicals, and only six Conservatives. Newcastle-upon-Tyne sixteen Magis trates, of whom thirteen were Whigs and only three Conservatives. In Poole, which he had mentioned be fore, there were nine Magistrates, of whom eight were Whigs and one Conservative. Portsmouth, fortunate for being represented by the then Chancellor of the Exche quer, had eleven Magistrates appointed, all, without ex ception, supporters of the late Government. In Rich mond, Yorkshire, there had been four Magistrates ap pointed, all Whig-Radicals. Stockport, twelve Magis trates, alt of the same party. Sunderland, ten Magis trates, all Whig-Radicals: and that brought him to the question of Gateshead. There were two or three towns in the county of Durham, having each municipal Ma gistrates—Stockton, Sunderland, and Gateshead. the aggregate number of Magistrates in which amounted to, he thought, about twenty. In Stockton there were three, in Sunderland ten, and in Gateshead six, that was nine teen in all. Of all those municipal Magistrates of the county of Durham, one only was Conservative; the six Magistrates of Stockton being all Whig-Radical, the ten Magistrates of Sunderland, all, without exception, of the same party, and of tlee six in Gateshead, one being a Conservative. And now he was complained against in his place in Parliament for having advised the Crown to temper this state of things with moderation ! —(Hear, hear.) Because he had endeavoured to over throw a tyranny- of this description, by which, under the forms of justice, Justice herself was prostituted— (Hear, hear, and cheers)—by a fair exercise of the pre rogative of the Crown ! Let us have done with trum pery motions of this description ; let the lion. Gentle man raise the question fully and fairly before the Hous, ; let him appeal to its decision; and let the House itself pronounce whether or not he had discharged a duty iine perative on him.—(Hear, hear.) He had not yet . ex hausted the list, and would proceed to Tiverton, where five Magistrates were appointed, all Whig-Radicals ; at Totnes, four appointed, all Whigs ; at Walsall, seven appointed, six Whig-Radicals, one Conservative ; at Wigan, fourteen appointed, thirteen Whigs, one Conser • vative ; at Worcester, nine appointed, eight Whig- Radicals, one Conservative ; at Yarmouth, of nineteen appointed, eighteen were Whig-Radicals, and one Conservative. At Kidderminster it had been stated that the Noble Lord appointed three of one side, and three of the other ; but it was singular that shortly afterwards, one of the Conservatives died, and the Noble Lord filled up the vacancy with two Whigs !—(Hear. hear.) And what was the whole state of the municipal Magistracy, when he acceded to office ? Omitting fifty seven Magistrates from thirteen places, where he had not added to that Bench, and which, therefore, were not included in the list, the whole number of the Magistracy was 1,026 Magistrates, nominated by the Whig Govern ment, of whom 743 were Whigs, and 226 Conservatives. That was the proportion he had to deal with when he came into office ; the appointments themselves were cavilled at by the Hon. Gentleman ; individually he did not complain of the selection, but he rested his com plaint on general grounds. The gross number had been increased from 1,026 to 1,435. The House would recol lect that he had been accused of yielding to undue pres sure in his exclusion of particular names, but in no in stance did he displace a name from the list ,which had been left by his predecessor. He had received communi cations on the subject, but he always answered, that the march of the Government would be unsteady if lie removed those names which had been left by his predecessor. He did not think it would be safe to enter into the question of individual character; and he therefore did not remove a single name from the list.—(Hear.) The entire number now was 1,435, and yet he was accused of swamping the Magis tracy. He denied the conversation attributed to him with the gentlemen of Devonport. If the Hon. Member had it from any person who was present on the occasion his recollection might be more accurate than his (Sir J. Graham), but, speaking from his recollection, he should say he was misinformed on the subject. But so far from wishing to invert the balance of parties—though in some cases that was the case—(Cheers) —the general result was that whereas the proportion before was 743 to 226, the proportion at present was, Whig-Radicals 745, and Conservatives 629.—(Cheers.) He would, therefore, appeal with confidence to the House that he was nut seeking to swamp any party.—(Cheers.) But lie was ready to vindicate his ciinduct on special or general grounds. It was asked from what source he derived his information. He did not apply to the town council, but he was responsible for the advice he had given, and to the best of his belief he had not made any objection to individuals, ex rept on the lastest grounds. He could say that he derived his information as to the character of individuals from the highest quarter,. --from gentlemen of honour and integrity, on whose represen tations he could depend, and on whose recommendations he acted.—(Cheers.) But he would now let the blouse hear in what way the Noble Lord, the Member for Lon don, when Secretary- of State, obtained his information with regard to the character, age, and to the politics also, of those whom he appointed to the Magistracy. In a Buckinghamshire newspaper would be found a notice to correspondents, which bore date January, 1836. There was there a letter, dated " Reform Association, 3, Cleve land -Tow, 24th of January, 1836," signed " James Cop pock," and directed to James Bowles, Esq., Wind sor. He would read to the House that let ter :—" Will you have the goodness to in form me by , an early coach to-morrow morning, the professions or trades, and politics of the following gentlemen in Windsor—W. Lee, R. Blunt, R. Pigot, E. Bovenden, and Sir J. Chapman. I shall feel much obliged by your attention and reply. Yours, James Coppoek." The answer bore date the 29th of January. Mr. Bowles began by apologising for the delay, which he stated was caused by his having been absent, end the letter continued thus—" I now beg to forward to you the information you require. W. Lee, brewer, Liberal ; R. Blunt, saddler, always supported the Government, and voted. for Ramsbottom; R. Pigot, the like ; E. Bovenden, gentle man, and Liberal; Sir J. Chapman, surgeon, High Tory."— (Laughter.) Now he found in the records of the Home-office the appointments en lst of February, of W. Lee, the brewer, and the Liberal ; of R. Blunt, the saddler, who always sup pried Bamsbottom ; of E. Bovenden, the Liberal ; of R. Pigot, the like; and at last of Sir J. Chapman, for decency's sake, although he was a High Tory.—(Laughter.) He might, indeed, have been deceived—he might have been unfortunate in the appointments which he had made ; but as yet no gentle man whom he had recommended to the Crown to be placed in the municipal Magistracy had been convicted of treason.— ( Loud cries of ‘. Hear, hear," from the Ministerial benches. ) He was not the Secretary of State who had recommended John ' Frost to fill the office of Magistrate.—(Cheers.) He would not add one word in reference to the Hon. Gentleman's mo tion. He would only say that he wished him joy of the speech which he had made on that subject.—( Cheers.) Mr. FOX MAULE—Having occupied the official situation he did.in the Right Hon. Gentleman's office during most of the period referred to by him, must be his excuse for address ing the House. On the present occasion he addressed the House under considerable disadvantage, as be hail not access to the documents the Right Hon. Gentleman had. There were, however, some points in the Right Hon. Gentleman's speech which he thought he could give a satisfactory explanation to ; before, however, alluding to them, the blouse would, per haps, allow him to say that he thought the Right Hon Gen tleman might have answered the speech of his Hon. Friend with a little more calmness and temper. He could not see what necessity , there was fir alluding to the position of his Hon. Friend . in an Election Committee. He thought he would have been more likely to have carried the public with hint in his defence, if he had abstained from any such allu sions. The Right Hon. Baronet might have drawn some dis tinction between his own position and the position of his Noble Friend. His Noble Friend's pe,sition was this : After the Act of Parliament passed which abolished the 01. l Magistrates in the municipal towns , . it was his duty to advise the Crown as to the constitution of the municipal Magistrates. The clause giving a vote to the Crown was rejected by ;he House of Lords, and when the Bill, with that. clause struck out, came down to the House of Commons, his Noble Friend, in order to induce the House to accept the Bill, stated that though the power of the Crown was paramount, yet he, as Secretary of State, might modify it. They ought to appoint men to ad midster justice, in whom parties to whom they were to ad minister justice entertained entire confidence. No man could say that in. the selection the Right Hon.. Baronet had made, in listening to the recommendai ions generally of the town councils, that he had failed to fellow a just and right principle. It was not so, if it was not just. why heave it to tikm ? It it was not just,.why did the Government submit to the passing of the Scotch Reform Act, which gave to the municipal council the election of municipal Magistrates without, the interference of the Crown, which system any Scotchman in that House would tell them worked well, and of which there had been no com plaint? Why did they continue that system in Scotland it' it was so . obnoxious in England? If it was so obnoxious in Ensland i why did they not interfere in the great City.. of London, where Magistrates were men of the highest respeeta- I bitit y, and which city win, the highest in the world? There were cities in this country no: less respectable and intelligent, though they did not stand so high in point of commerc as London, equally entitled to this privilege. His Nob:e Friend, after the elections took place in 1836, issued a circular to the ho roughs, in which circular he intimated his intention of listening to any recommendation they might send up. But the Noble Lord, contrary to what was stated by the Right lion. Baronet, did not pledge himself to attend to that recommendotion. He left himself entirely open to exercise his ju Igment It tumor out, that the great maj city of Magistrates appointed by the Noble Lord, were of one political party. He del not mean t., deny that it was obvious in 1836—50 obvious, that the Right Hon. Baronet, at the head of her Majesty's Government brought the q'iestion immediately before the Hou-e; acid it was also brought before the House of Lords by Lord Woarneliffe, and a very long debate en-ued in both Houses of Parliament. The very case in Bristol to which the Right Hon Baronet had alluded, was discussed in 1836, exactly as it had been discussed that evening. The house of Commons then disposed of the case, and it had been revived exactly that night as it had come before the House six years before. The case or Mr. Daniels was then referred to, and he ( Mr. Fox Mauls) could not imagine why the Right Hon. Brironet had placed him in the Commission of the Peace of Bristol, except it was to confer an empty honour in the evening of his dais, and without at all being useful to the town of Bristol. lie asked, was Mr. Daniel's case a fair one for the Right Hen. Gentleman to put to the House, and could he take any'credit to himself for conferring on him a mere empty honour ? The Right Hon. Gentleman read a long list of places, and to every one he received a corresponding party cheer, as to the party politics of the Magistrates in the various boroughs; but the Right Hon. Baronet did not say, nor did he intimate to the House, in any way, that those lists were not the lists sent up by the town councils, nor did he presume to say that they had been altered to suit the purposes of the party then in office.— ( Hear, hear.) He (Mr. F. Maule) believed those lists to contain the names of those recommended by the town councils, and if they were recommended, however different the propor tion might be, he was ready to maintain that the parties having confidence in them, in their administration of justice, no injury had been done to the individuals in those boroughs. The Right I-lon. Gentleman spoke of his lion. Friend who brought forward this motion, having made a great charge against him, and then ended in a paltry motion. What had the Right Hon. Baronet done? He had made a much graver charge against the late Ministry who preceded him in office—that of prosti tuting justice.—(Hear, hear.) He (Mr. F. Mauls) had no hesitation in saying that the Right lion. Baronet had given utterance to an accusation which was totally, utterly, and en tirely groundless—( Hear, hear),--one which could not be proved; for if it could have been proved, he was not the n-an to have left it untouched.—( Hear, hear.) Justice prostituted in England ! and that to be asserted in a speech from the Secretary for the Horne Department, in that House of Com mons—( Hear, hear)--and that to be asserted for no other purpose than that of getting a party cheer ! That assertion was utterly groundless, and he would fearlessly appesl to the people of England, and more particularly to the mu nicipalities of England, to give a firm and direct contradiction to the accusation of the Right Hon. Gentleman. And he (Mr. F. Maule) must say that until he came for ward and retracted that accusation, or did by proof substantiate it to the country, he himself stood in an equivocal position.— ( Hear, hear.) That was his (Mr. F. Maule's) opinion, and he thought it was the opinion of the country at large—Hear, hear)—tor did the Right Hon. Baronet suppose that such an accusation as he had made was to be passed over by that House, or by the people of England ?—( Hear, hear.) The Right Hon. Baronet had in the course of his speech contradicted an aster then of his Noble Friend and colleague the Lord Chancellor, who was reported to have said in another place that " in no instance in the recent additions to the Magistracy had the balances of parties been changed." He added that, " lie would yositively assert that in the appointments which had been mode, the prerogative of the Crown had not been exercised with a view to give a majority of Conservative Ma gistrates in any one case." The Right Hon. Baronet had, in passing, contradicted that statement ; and he, too, was pre pared to contradict it. He found that in the borough of Gateshead the original number of Magistrates was six, five of whom were Liberals, and one was Tory. The Right Hon. Baronet had added to the cumber six Tories, thus subverting the original state of the respective parties. Again in Bath, there were two Tories, two absentees, and six Liberals; the Right Hon. Baronet had added seven Tories, thus again subverting the respective position of yarties. In Chester there were three Tories and tour Liberals, to whom the Right Honourable Baronet had added six Tories.—( Hear ) In Dover there were five Tories anti seven Liberals, to whom he added seven Tories. He (Mr Fox Maule) would not men tien these eases, but that the Lord Chancellor of England, in his place, deliberately and unscrupulously stated that in no instance had this addition t ffected a change in the balance of parties. He thought the Noble and Learne Lord mu't have dune so either from ignorance, or from that readineso of asser in which he sometimes indulged—(Th, oh, and cheers.) He now came to Poole, tin which tile Right Hon. Gentleman had laid considerable stress, and accused his Noble Friend of reject ing altogether the recommendation of the town council. He (Mr. Fox Maule) admitted at once that his Noble Friend did reject the recommendation. But he thought that when the House considered the fraudulent means by which that council was erected, and the conduet of the r• turning officer ; and when he brought their attention to the Report of the Committee of that House appointed to inquire into that election, the House would see that his Noble Friend was justified in rejecting the recommendation—(Hear, hear) — especially when it was considered that at the time the whole of the acts of the council were questioned in a Court of Law. The returning officer was Mr. Hebert Slane, the old Mayor, who, when examined before the Committee of the House, admitted that he in all eases where there were duplicates of candi dates, had taken the Tory list first and recorded the votes, refusing to look at the lists offered by the other side.— ( Cries of " Hear, hear.") It was that person who selected the list of the town council which Lord J. Russell rejected, and he asked, was not his Noble Friend justified in appointing another set of Magistrates ?—( Hear.) The number was eight Liberals and one Tory. The Right lion. Baronet added five Tories, among whom was Mr. Slane, who had been guilty of the frau • dulent return—the man who was mixed up with the transac tions exposed, before the Committee.—( Hear, hear.) That was the man selected by the Right Hon. Baronet for the Magis tracy. How could the confidence of the people be reposed in such a body? It was extraordinary that the Righ Hon. Baronet should accuse his Noble Friend of political motives in these appointments, when in the borough of Poole he himself should have appcinted a person who must have been cogni , ant of a fraud in the return. He preferred the system pursued in Scotland as better than that of England ; but still, in the absence of it, he would attend as much as possible to the recommendations of town councils. There hart been no accusation of misconduct against the individuals appointed by the late Government, and if there had been, it had always been at te.ided to. Under these I circumstances he thought it -was unwise and impolitic in the Hon. Gentleman, in eigh t months, to hav e ma d e such a sweeis ing addition to the municipal Magistracy. It might be fo'- lowed as a precedent, which would compel them in borough towns, to have recourse to other modes of administering jus tice. Had he taken all the vacancies by death and removal and filled them up with Conservatives, he should have made no oh - jection ; tut the course he had taken was a bad example, which lie hoped might not have the eff ect sf lessening confidence in the administration of justice. Sir J. HAMMIER, in connection with the discussion, ad verted to the appointment of the Marquis of Normanby as Steward of the Borough of Hull. He did not think the late Government could be acquitted of having made many of their selections in a spirit of partisanship. Im media; ely after the passing of the Municipal Act there were eighteen Magistrates appointed in Hull, and out of the number there were but two Conservatives. The present Government, in adding to the number of Magistrates in that borough, had selected, among others, two gentlemen of the highest respectability, well known in the commercial world, who had formerly been rejected by the town council ; and the result of the appointments was in creased respectability and increased confidence in the bench. Mr. HENRY BERKELEY said that the Right Hon. Baronet had not stated with perfect fairness the case of th appointments in the ci'y of Bristol. In that city twenty-tour gentlemen had been selected by the town coined, twelve o whom were Liberals and twelve of whom were Tories. But ttf the twelve Liberals two never voted at tali at any elections, and two had actually voted against the Liberal candidates. Mr. BROTHERTOiNasaid, when the Corporation Bill was in the House he hatVivided in favour ce &aiding the towns into wards. He stated at that time that he had great objection to making coiTorations political bodies. He believed in Man cheater that the reason of there being so many Liberal Magis trates was, that gentlemen professing Tory politics had refused to have anything to do with the corporation. He was sure there was a feeling on the part of the Liberals of Manchestor to concilia.e the Tories.—( Hear, hear. ) Sir C. DOUGLAS felt bound to say a fsw words on that question, as it was a subject in which many of his constituents had taken a great interest. It had been stated that thu Noble Lord had thought it his duty to consult the town council, but he thought it would have been well for him, with respect to Birmittgham, if he had consulted a petition that had been pre sented on the subject from the clergy and bankers of Birming ham. That petition showed clearly that the appointment of Magistrates was very unfair, and ought to be altered. The Noble Lord gave no answer to that petition, except acknowledging the receipt of it. In Coventry, 12 Whigs had been appointed, and a memorial had been presented from that city, praying that some Conservatit es might be appointed. The Magistrates of Coventry had shown as much partiality in grant ing licenses to public-houses, as it was possible for them to do. No license was granted to any Conservative, however anxious he might be to obtain it.—(Hear, hear ) In Stratford-on- Avon, the town council recommended three persons for ap pointment—namely, a Quaker, who had never voted, a Radical, and a Conservative. The Government rejected the Conserva tive and accepted the Radical.—( Hear, hear.) Under the Municipal Act, the town council of Warwick recommended seven, of whom, one only was a Conservative. In that town, parties were very nearly balanced. A petition, signed by six hundred persons, was sent up praying that two Conservatives might be appointed. But five only were appointed, four Liberals and one Conservative. With regard to the granting of licenses in Warwick, of fifteen which had been granted, thirteen were Liberals; and of those, one, who had gone over from his party to the other side, was deprived of his license, on the ground that his house was a noisy one. He would next advert, and in a few words, to the conduct of the present Government, with respect to the borough of Warwick. For the purpose of neutralising the ex treme party appointments made in that place by the late Go vernment, he had applied to the present Government, stating that the prevalence of Conservative opinions among the inha bitants of Warwick, entitled them not to a majority of Con servatives in the borough Magistracy, but to an equality with the Liberals; and he recommended three gentlemen, whose conduct had given much satisfaction to the inhabitants, and who were of independent fortune. Nothing could be snore fair than the conduct of the Government on the occasion—they appointed four magistrates of each party, and left it to the people them selves to appoint by election the Mayor, and thus to have it in their power to decide which party should have the majority on the bench. He thought that he had made out a sufficiently strong case to show how impartial had been the conduct of the Government. with respect to the borough which he represented. Captain MANGLES complained of the conduct of the Bight Hon. Baronet with regard to the borough of Guildford. A Noble Lord, in another place, had assumed that the majority of the respectable inhabitants of the place belonged to the political party to which the Noble Lord belonged—( A voice from the Ministerial side of the House, " To be sure")—and that the Noble Lord, the late Secrete! y or the Home Department, had shewn great partiality in his appointments to the islagistracy at the tatrough. He (Captain Mangles) thought he could chew the House that both these assumptions of the Noble Lot d were incorrect. First, with regard to the assertion that the politi cal opinion preponderating in the borough, was decidedly Tory ; he would observe that in MI, two Liberals were re turned for Guildford • in 1832, a Lib era l an d a Conservative were returned, the Liberal being at the head of the poll. In 1837, the Liberal was voted out on petition, and two Tories re presented the borough, being the only instance of a similar nature which had oseured, and in 1841, two Liberal Members had been returned. So much for the assertion, that Tory opinions preponderated in Guildford. Now, as to the political opinions of the Magistrates appointed by the Noble Lord. Four gentlemen had been appointed by him to the Magistracy of those, two were gentlemen who voted for Liberal candidates at elections, but who, beyond the mere act of voting, took no part in politics whatever ; they were most respectable men, and of very moderate opinions. One was a gen tleman whose political opinions were of the mos moderate description, but rather inclining to Conservatism, and the fourth was a very strong Conservative ; ,and the Right Hon. Baronet hal thought proper to destroy this balance 11 apps intlug to the Magistracy two of the most active partisan* ~f his own party. As a proof of the manner in which the late Secretary for the Home Department had acted, in rela tion to their Magisterial appointments, some time ago, be (Capt. M.) before he was a Member of that House, bad re corn mended a gentleman to be a Magistrate in the event an vacancy occurring, of which at that time there was a strong prokbility. This was on the eve of an election. The Go" vernment knew that he (Capt. Mangles) was a candidate at that election. They knew that two Tories were oppeied to nim. The majority of the town council was Tory. ~ Therel was every temptation to the Government to comply with Whi request; but the answer he received from the Noble Lord wail that the rule laid down must be strictly adhered to, and that unless the gentleman in question was recommended by th e town council he mould not be alaointed. Col. SIIITHORP said, that the town of Lincoln felt - exceed' ingly gram eful to the Right Hon. Baronet for his appointment of the Magistrates in that town, for at the time the appoint ments were made, there was only one Con s ervati ve Magistratein the town. The Right Hon. Baronet appointed five gentle men, and more exemplary men could not exist. There still remained a majority of them on the Whig side. Lord R. GRO VESNOR would not have addressed the 1-101.13 e, had he not felt a deep interest in the subject. With regard to the town of Chester, the Noble Lord, who sat near him (Lord John Russell) had appointed six Magistrates three Whigs and three Tories. Since that time another Magistrate had been aided, and he was a gentleman favourable to the Government of the Right Honourable Gentleman, but he had refused to vote at the election, because he could notgive tt to ,a party attached to his own principles. The Right Hon. Gentleman had no notion of the state of party in the town of Chester. The town council was remarkably free from an, party f , eling ; as an instance, he might tell the House that gentleman, the present Mayor, would never take part in any address to the Throne which bore reference to party, al' though he was considered an active partisan. He thought it right. to mention these few facts to the House. His Hem Friend, the Member for Gateshead, had asked the Right Hot , Baronet upon what principle he had appointed these nese Me' gistrates ; but the Right Hon. Baronet had avoided any' repli to the question. The only principle he seemed to have gone upon was, that the appointments were made solely because they were political partisans ; and if so, the Right Hen. Baronet was introducing a dangerous principle. Mr. MAIN WARING said that the appointment of Magis', trates generally were the appointments of the town -council virtually, although they were appointed by the Secretary et State. With respect to the town of Newport, there was ne town council to make a recommendation. The commission, of the peace was, before the late appointments, in a very bad state, and the consequence was, that during thetime the late Go' vernment were in office, a remonstrance was sent up, complain ing of the state of the comission of the peace, and the Go' vernment promised a remedy, but they kept the word o f promise to their ear and bloke it to their hope. The present Government appointed six Magistrates, three of whom were Whigs, and three Conservatives, so that there was no favour show in that case. Mr. LAM :TON said he wished to say a few words on this subject, as reference had been made to the appointment of Ala' gistrates in the county of Durham. It hail been stated' by Noble Lord, that there had been fifty appointments of the 3: 11 ' gistrates for the county of Durham, by the late Government , only sixteen of whom were Conservatives, and all the rest Whigs, He should not have attached particular importance to this observation, but that he recollected that the appointmeote, were made by the late Government, on the recommendation 0 ' the late Duke of Cleveland, and he (Mr. Lambton) felt called upon to allude to it. He was prepared to show that no •charee of party appointments could be brought against the late Ad' ministration. How (lid the case stand? The appoint; ment of Magistrates for the county of Durham rests°, with the Bishop of Durham, as Prince Palatine ' an d Custos Rotulorum. The Noble Lord, who sat near him (Lord J. Russell), had always acted on the recommendation of these parties and the late Duke of Cleveland made his re' commendation upon those of the Chairman and Court of Qua"' ter Sessions. It did so happen that the last appointments of the Noble Lord were upon the recommendation of the Court 0 , Quarter Session, and were two Tories—( Hear, hear)-eMle' ftobert Certy and Mr. Robert Redley. It bad been said be s Noble Lord, in another House, that the :tiagistrates of Sunder: land hail refused to grant licenses of public-houses to any bl° their own . party. This was a very grave and solemn aecusation , and he called upon the Noble Lord, or any Hon. GentleMe ° who supported him, to prove that accusation. His (Mr. Laltellr ton's) impreeeion was that the Magistrates of Sunderland We e r e peifectly innocent of the charge brought against them. if t'P', Noble Lord could prove that accusation, he (Mr. Lavabtoni would be one of the first to stand up to hold those Magistrate s up to the censure and condemnation of that House and th e public, but if it could not be preyed, it was, in his oP i ' s non, most unjust to bring it forward.—(Hear, , beer_ e • , They might have done ill on one side, but he thought they br e done much worse on the other.—( Hear, hear.) Theeool; principle on which they ought to argue this question, le" whether or no the Magistrates ought to be elected by the people. people. Here they saw the Right Hon. Baronet stand his place, steeped in party politics up to the very lips. elsh„ was a melancholy sight to see. Let them recollect who wet: looking on their proceedings.—( Hear, hear.) •Public opioic" was watching what they were doing at that moment; foreiel t nations, who were accustomed to admire our institutions, would , see that the Lord Chancellor got up in his place. arid 'state° , and the Home Secretary repeated it, that appointments to th e Magistracy should henceforth be founded upon party pi r ° ciples. He would appeal to the House whether this was principle on which the Magisterial appointments in this countr l were to be conducted. He hoped such a principle would a be allowed longer to exist, though they might have erred upon both sides. He trusted that the Right Hon. Gentleman at the head of her Majesty's Government would command thoe. e energies which he possessed in so emi nen t a d egree , t o see i there could not be some other system more proper, 'W e : English, and more constitutional established, of appoi n ting te - ' Magistrates of this country.—( Hear. )- Mr. W. T. EGERTON said that the Hon. Gentleman Wh o , brought forward this motion, had spoken of packing ithe lots institutions of the country. What could afford a better seee l. men of packing than that which took place in the year Bee'"; in the county which he had the honour to represent? In T e borough in the county there was net one Conservative ine eh ' o r w A h p o r l i e l, b t, e , n er c e h w o e f re M t a e g n is A t i r a ate is s t . rat l e n s o S n t o th ck e p b o e r n t, ch i , n a t u he w mo ir r ue e ra s i cals; in the month of June, which was just-after the eer i e a election, and when it was pretty well known what would Dav e been the fate of the late Government, a list of five gentler e 'd was prepared, consisting of three Whig-Radicals, and Wl t , the other side. What did the Noble Lord do? lie said would act on the same principle as his predecessors had don e What did he do, therefore? Why he appointed three gen tle , men, all professing Whig principles, and there were then th is teen Magistrates in the borough all professing those prineiPle s. He hoped occurrences of this kind would b e now an d for ever done away with.---( Hear, hear.) Mr. JERVIS said be thought there was some excuse for the Right Hon. Baronet with reference to the part he had ta ke l in the borough o f Che s t er , w hi c h he: was abed could not be found for his conduct in other place!' It was not to be supposed that if he were liable to es e mistaken, those who were behind him should have beeo,n, v e fluenced by party political feeling in the nomination of parties whom they proposed. The appointment of silt TorS gentlemen, in Chester, had produced the greatest confusion and dissatisfaction throughout the city, and if the Right 1 1, , 5 ' Gentleman thought that those appointments would give otg; :action, he could not have been properly acquaintedwith real state of feeling in that city. Parties of all politi ca ,' creeds in Chester had determined to keep apart frortq a political feeling in their municipal elections, and there was , 0 believed, no place w h ere p ar ty h a d so littl e t o d o with tho s e elections as there ; they did, out of compli me nt to Liberal party, always appoint a Liberal Mayo r , b u t the el“ e e,, men and town council were universally chosen from the t oo fittest to fill the situation. There i were indeed there i t/ contests for the magisterial chai rs , th e on ly ditnee u r b e was to get a fitting person to serve at all. es t Right Honourable Gentleman, therfore, must not be surPri s ld if that which had hitherto been a peaceful town ehrk e he changed altogether into one where political partisanle should prevail. No one knew from %%hence the recommen r a y tins tame for the appointment of those six Magistrates ; °f e d one suspected the source, and the whole of the odium res . ), upon the Right Hun. Baronet.. It would be invidious to lode to the fitness or unfitness of individuals, and he though t 4 Hon. Friend hail adopted the right course in giving the -Ries s :ion. Baronet praise for the capacity and fitness of all :tiro e whom he had appointed. The Right Hon. Baronet said " b s he congratulated himself, that this motion had been brats* 6 forward, and he was obliged to his Hon. F r i en d f o r hot. brought it under the consideration of th e H ouse . He ( s ," . Jervis) could well understa n d i n w h a t f ee li ng t h e Ri g ht el‘r b i Baronet had said that he could well understand that the Rig l d Hon. Baronet, conscious of the innocence of his conduct, big come down there well sati s fied with the i n tegrity of. m _ purpose, and well prepared calmly to vindicate ln .di g self ; but he (Mr. Jervis) must say that ha' b ps not observe, from the course which the Right Honours a Baronet adopted in answering his Hon. Friend, that he se° s e gratified at the disclosures which had been made tiethe FiV e d; or so confident in the justice of his conduct , as he had inePi le 0 He could not well understand how the Right Hon. (Sentlee n° , could, consistently with the o ffi ce he held, commence his mar es , in answer to his Hon. Friend with personal matter, svhiel o e quite irrelevant to the matter in question.—( Hear, hear)! ao did he think it well or dignified in the Right Hon. Gentlerbt to conclude his address by alluding to an accident, which ne,tn bs even happen f rom th e i mpar ial recommendations of the 111 /f es t Hon. liaronet.—( Hear. ) The Right H on . B aro net ntse t e be well aware that the N o ble L or d, b e f ore ma ki ng the aellwlnisl Au er to to which he referred, had taken th e b es t course he r to ascertain the fitness of the individual for the o ffi ce. N ettl e s se _ e7n e could he (Mr. Jervis) understand how the Right Hog. e o ' .ek . tre could consistently stigmatise the party with Ifn i . Was was formerly associated, as " Whig-Radical." • us The of a new-coined term, invented for the exclusive "- T he those who had seceded from the Liberal ranks. violent Right Honourable Baronet was once a most rss , Whig, he had used the term as an excuse for hi s twe e " to tion, and had called them Whig-Radicals . in opt° that very wide term " Conservative."—( Hear, hear.) Le e , him call them if he chose " Whigs," let him call the"; Liberals," or let him call them " Radicals," but let him' O te apply to them that epithet which was meant to itint - , ignorance. But he (Mr. Jervis) eared not what words he ene e for it appeared to him, that the words had been used by Bight Hon. Baronet only as an excuse for hiver b ", in having seceded from the Whigs, became se e aeon t alleged they had joined with the Radicals.—(Hear, bear',/, The Right Hon. Baronet had not by any accident fallen fsei one Whig, in the appointment which he had made.--(Cheer, ° ) He did not select brewers, or clergymen, or Whig-Radie l l he supposed, from his dislike to them ; but when he spcito . L desiring to avoid all party feeling in hi* appointments, anan, it was not desirable to appoint brewers, or attorneys, or bee; ficed clergymen, or persons engag e d i n manu f actures , iles manufacturing towns, that they should not have to decide e l e cases of wages in which th ey t h emse l ves m i ght be interestenee should recollect that he had appointed silk. mercers . 1 1 cotton-spinners in th e town of Congleton to satisfyet people—( Hear, hear)—who would have to decide in es ° , (,f wages. H e did not, t h en, adhere to h i s own princi ples The very lett er w hi c h t h e Ri g h t H on. B aronet read ellOsenesf that the N o bl e L or d k ept h i mself free from loca l i n fl uenc ee, persons on his side of the House were not found writing ° tic NaPl e letters. He w as no t th ere to j us tify th e condu c t o f the se ses e Lord, but if it was bad, why did the Right Hon. Baronetsn? to justify hi mse lf by re f er e nce to the conduct of the Nolte —( Hear, hear.) When he considered the important functS ts of these :Magistrates, and that they were to perform their, sl' es t ties without any rerson to check or control them , *re( hat they were, as he believed, appointed for the seitClb obtaining political influeiice—( Hear, hear)—by preser l s e mg their official duties to those Magistrates, by giviDg.:ht ccnses to those who supported the Government, he th°;es the county was coming to a melancholy position, and . it s e s , vain to condemn constituencies for swerving from their du ( when such lures were held out them by Government. senee could not but think :that such was the object, when the m l ye Chancellor said it was necessary, to restore confidence, th e y t e' s er power of granting licenses should be in the hands of G o , ment.—( Cheers.) toof ibe Mr. SCA RLETT said th a t h e did not un d er s s ed o o grounds upon which the Hon. Member who made this nl& had discussed it. He agreed w i t h hi m t h at t h e case of il l t est was the highest concern of the Crown, but•he considere d r ipe the Right Hon. Baronet h a d on l y ta k e a r i g h t step inleel°,Sese hat security which ail persons should have in. the adeninlele .ion of justice. —( Cheers. ) In 1830 the :cooduct. of the ee , ;, toed was discussed, end lie met with a harsh conderon e 'LcA but he must say the Goverfluitutt tivsestAilkheirAliataiO' at that the ste sally to said th trig ton Let a n ord I ing in '1 he H Goyim by sayi just in