The Press.
London, England, 1856-03-15 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

tion in all matters, whether civil or criminal,
as they had been amenable to the prede-
cessors of the Supreme Courts—the Mayors'
Courts—established by Royal Charter in the
year 1726.
No sooner had the first Supreme Court of
Judicature thus established begun to en-
deavour to fulfil the ends proposed from it—
in conferring on native complainants the bene-
fits of actual and practical relief against in.
justice—than a loud outcry sprang up among
the officials, whether native or European, on
every side. The revenue was said to be en-
dangered by its interference, and the state of
disorganisation was described as quite de-
plorable. But as the Company and its ser-
vants, or dependants, were the only parties
whose representations could find their way to
England, very little reliance can be placed on
the statements that were thus sent home.
Making some allowance for the natural inex-
perience of the first appointed judges, there is
no doubt that any little difficulties attending
the working at the outset would soon have
worn off, and the result of the continuance of
the Supreme Court on its then footing, and
the gradual extension of its jurisdiction over
every province thereafter acquired, would
have been productive of vast and lasting good.
For it must be remembered that the same
complaints were made by the Indian Govern-
ments of the check given to their proceedings
by the Mayors' Courts, on their first establish-
ment, exactly half a century before. Then,
too, the Councils complained that the Courts
encroached upon their authority, and the
Courts complained that they were oppressed
by the Councils. The most violent dissen•
sions, says MILL, prevailed, and many of the
members of the Mayors' Courts quitted the
service, and went home with their animosities
and complaints. If the light check upon mis-
rule introduced by men in the Company's own
service had thus proved so unbearable—Courts
over which the Governors in Council had an
appellate control what might we expect
would be the sensation at being held in order
by the iron arm of judges wholly independent
of them, and appointed directly by the Crown ?
It is a fact well known in history that it was
the flaunting extravagance of these nabobs,
as they were called, more than anything else,
that first attracted the notice of the Ministers
and the public so prominently to India, and
led to those damaging inquiries into the
modes in which money was made there that
are so familiar to us all. Nor were their
masters in England any better. The India-
house was powerful, the Ministry was weak.
Lord NORTH, who did more mischief to Eng-
land by his good nature than any other Minis-
ter had ever done by the worst misconduct,
yielded ; and just before resigning office in
1782, he passed a bill exempting from the
jurisdiction of the Supreme Court the
Governor General and Council, all matters of
revenue, and all zemindars and other native
farmers, and collectors of the revenue. In
the position then fixed, with but trifling altera-
tions since, the Supreme Courts have stood
from those days to the present time. The
exemption of the Governor-General and
Council personally from their jurisdiction was
reasonable and judicious, but the exempting
all revenue matters, and all zemindars and
other farmers, and native collectors of the
revenue, was productive of the most fatal
fruits ; and, indeed, was the parent of that
impunity under which the torture system
sprung up and flourished to the enormous
extent which recent revelations have dis-
closed. We shall proceed to review the Com-
pany's judicial system in our next issue.

THE PREMIER AND HIS " BOSOM
FRIEND."

No lass a personage than the Premier has
figured vicariously at the hustings of Sligo in
the last few days. Lord PALMERSTON has a
large property near the town, and has besides
house property in the borough, A couple of
years since JOHN SADLEIR, aided by a priest,
a double barrelled gun, a vast mob, and
boundless corruption, defeated Lord PAL-
MERSTON'S own candidate. When SADLEIR
killed himself, Mr. JOHN PATRICK SOMERS
again started for the seat.

SATURDAY,

The address of that gentleman on the hust-
ings deserves notice. Instead of a fowling.
piece with two barrels, Mr. SOMERS astonished
the nerves of the electors with a Parliamen-
tary " great gun"; of high calibre. " He" (tile
Prime Minister), said Mr. J. P. SOMERS, "it
"my bosom friend. I acknowledge that Tam
" here as his candidate—l may say his nomi-
" nee. I admit—l will not disguise the fact."
This is certainly a wonderfully frank confes-
sion. The speech was inatutinal, and not post-
prandial, and was delivered by daylight. If
it had been an after-dinner burst of Irish ora-
tory, it would have been pardoned, cheered,
an forgotten. But it was spoken when re-
porters were present, and in the presence of
the honourable candidate's opponents. The
Premier is only too apt to quote CANNING,
whose words he remembers, but whose prin-
ciples he forgets. He might probably, on
perusing the oration of Mr. SOMERS, have re-
collected CANNING} St lines on a " candid
friend," and with a slight alteration have ex-
claimed—

Of all the plagues, good Heaven, thy wrath can send,
Save—save—oh ! save me, from the bosom friend.
But Mr. SOMERS did nit stop there. He
contributed some interesting facts to the
political history of his own times. Alluding
to his former contest against the Coalition
candidate (JOHN SADLEIR), and the petitions
against his return, the honourable candidate
stated, " I refused the offer of ten thousand
" pounds ten times over" (the offer being
made for his withdrawing the petition against
SADLEIR). He then proceeded : " I was asked
" to write down what I would have, and I
" would have—"

Here we must pause. The situation was
intensely dramatic. There was what critics
call " compound action" in the scene. There
was the table in the middle ; the anxious SO-
LEIR at one side, the patriot SOMERS at the
other side, and the virtuous COPPOCK as arbi-
trator between them, while the Lords of the
Coalition were in the background. But Mr.
SOMERS would have—nothing. Other Irish
patriots cried "No taxes," "No tithes," "No
rent," but there was more grandeur and sim-
plicity in the cry of the Cato of Sligo—" No
nothing;" and, unlike other raisers of cries,
the Honourable Gentleman seems to have got
" nothing." He then proceeded : " Mr. TOWNE-
" LEY'S agent, Mr COPPOCK, said to me write
" down what sum you walit.' " But Mr. SOMERS
declined to be " Coppocked." He scouted the
proposal, and would not sell Sligo to please
any clique. His statement was loudly cheered,
and caused sensation at Sligo and in London.
How Lord PALMERSTON and Mr. J. COPPOCE
liked it, we do not know ; but we shall proba-
bly hear more about it.

It may be necessary to explain how the
name of Mr. TOWNELEY of Towneley came
into contact with Sligo electioneering. Mr•
TOWNELEY is a Roman Catholic, and (we need
scarcely add) an English commoner of high
rank. He was induced to go into Parliament
for Sligo, and, in promoting his return, Mr.
(ex-Judge) STONOR (the Duke of NEWCASTLE'S
client) distinguished himself so much as to
cull for the notice of a Parliamentary Com-
mittee. In drawing up their report the com-
mittee expressed their regret that a gentleman
like Mr. TOWNELEY had been in anyway
associated with such proceedings. We con-
cur in that sentiment ; but there are some par•
ties who may be surprised that the Premiers
own borough should be so outrageously pro-
minent in the scandals of Irish electioneering.
In the meanwhile the election proceeded,
and Lord PALMERSTON'S " bosom,friehd " and
" nominee" was signally defeated. For six-
teen years the town of Sligo was in the hands
of the Liberals, but the history of the Brass
Band effectually disgusted them. Thirty-one
Roman Catholics refused to vote for Lord
PAnmEasToN's " bosom friend," and more than
that number voted for the Conservative can-
didate, the Right Hon. JOHN WYNNE, of Hazle-
wood, who was elected by a majority of 148 to
117. Mr. WYNNE has a rising reputation as a
practical official of sound political views. He
discharged the duties of Under Secretary. in
Ireland during Lord DERBY'S tenure of office,
with tact and courtesy. It is likely that he
will be a valuable addition to the Legislature.