The Press.
London, England, 1856-11-29 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

tern now adopted at the Castle. Sir MICHAEL
01.0011 L EN was a great lawyer and a truly gene-
rous man. He rose to the Bench neither by
politics, nor accident, nor by electioneering
services, nor by the whisper of a faction His
first-class position at the Bar entitled him to
a pre-eminent position on the Bench. Such a
man, if he flourished in our time, and saw the
Protestant talent of the Bar left without ade-
quate recognition, would be the first to pro-
test against a system of such injustice.
We repeat, that when we perceive five
Roman Catholic Queen's Counsel looking for
promotion by reason of their representing
constituencies, for which they have been re-
turned by priestly influence, it is time for the
enlightened opinion of the country to be
roused. We showed last week that in all great
cases, where " special retainers " are given,
Conservatives are selected by clients. We
might even go much farther in exposing the
injustice of the pro-Romanist system adopted
by the Whigs. Let us look, for example, to
the Circuits. On the North-West Circuit all
the leaders are Protestants. On the North-
East, Mr. O'HAGAN is the only Roman Catholic
of superior ability, and he has been made a
county-court judge. On the Home Circuit all
the leaders are Protestants, bxcept Mr. DAVID
LYNCH, an able, learned, and honourable prac-
titioner, but not a politician, and therefore not
promoted. The manner in which this gentle-
man has been passed over gives strong cir-
cumstantial proof as to the ultra-partisan
system on which official routine is now worked.
On the Munster Circuit the leadership is
divided. Mr. BUTT, Mr. LANE, and Mr. CLARKE
are all Protestants ; Mr. COPPINGER is a Con-
servative Catholic ; Sir COLMAN O'LOGHLEN a
Roman Catholic, and one of Lord CARLISLE'S
county judges ; Mr. DEASY, Q.C., the leader
of the circuit, is a Liberal and a Roman Catho-
lic, whose abilities and professional status
are beyond question ; Mr. O'BRIEN is a Roman
Catholic, and has received a Crown Sergeantcy.
Thus, too, in the Court of Chancery, in nearly
all the important cases the leaders are Pro-
testants,—as, FRANCIS FITZGERALD, BREWSTER,
HENRY MARTLEY, CHRISTIAN, with many others.
At this portion of the profession, Mr. DEASY,
Mr. HUGHES, and Sergeant O'BRIEN are the
chief strength of the Roman Catholic Bar
So that, in point of fact, when it comes to
the competition of superior merit, the Pro-
testants have the ascendancy ; but where it
depends on ;Government favour, the Roman
Catholics and pro-Romanists have the first
position assigned to them. Now, if it could
bo shown that in any one instance a Protestant
has been appointed where a superior Roman
Catholic has been passed over, there would be
a just grievance. Is not the converse as just a
grievance ? Was not the concession of " Ca-
tholic Emancipation " greatly quickened by
generous sentiments of manly sympathy with
genius in a stuff gown left to languish behind
the Bar? The line of the Irish poet,
Undistinguished they live, if they shame not their sires,
struck a chord which vibrated in many a
generous heart. The same class of truly liberal
and noble feelings should now be awakened at
seeing the flower of the Irish Bar left without
official notice, while judgeships and legal
honours are accorded chiefly by the favour of
the Roman Catholic priesthood.
In 1826 the priests for the first time were
used on a great scale for electioneering pur-
poses. They became tribunes ; and the system
then discovered has since been patented, and
members of Parliament manufactured off-
hand by parish priests and curates. It is now
sought to carry the system further, and allow
the same influences to appoint the Judges.
Many of the Whig gentry, we are aware,
secretly remonstrate against a system on
which the people of England, sooner or later,
will pronounce an emphatic condemnation.
We say that the system must be stopped. Its
result is the absolute discouragement of merit.
Its religious and political tendency is to check
and injure the Protestant interest, and to foster
the growth of political Romanism. It works
by unfair means for unconstitutional ends.
It has the worst faults of the exploded system
of Protestant Ascendancy, with the additional
fault of giving improper aid to propagandism
and the Church of Rome.

1131

WAVERING POLITICIANS.

THE appointment of Mr. STUART WORTLEY to
the Solicitor-Generalship has taken many
persons by surprise. The Learned Gentle-
man's standing at the Bar or in Parliament
does not justify his elevation. A severe
analysis of his professional pretensions has
appeared in a daily organ devoted to the
Liberals who support Parliament, and the
Whig Examiner has, also, expressed its dis-
pleasure in caustic language. We can under-
stand how disgusted the Whig Bar must
be at seeing one who personifies the " pale
" cast of political Jesuitism" placed over their
heads.

What official aptitude has Mr. STUART
WORTLEY ever shown to justify his selection?
His capacity for affairs was never remarkable
at the Bar, though his connections secured
him a full bag at Yorkshire Sessions. After
his call within the Bar his practice did not
seem to rise with his silk gown. As a speaker
in Parliament he was always pert, and his
highest flight in oratory was to spice a moral
platitude with an offensive sneer. He plumed
himself on being prompt, where he was only
flippant ; when he was prosy, he thought that
he was profound ; and he sometimes could not
clearly discern the bounds where sauciness
begins and sarcasm ends. He had pedigree
and patrons ; and, to judge by his deport-
ment, the Learned Gentleman thought too
much of the first, while his promotions proved
that he had relied justly on the last. Sup-
pose a more reticent kind of Mr. Roebuck,
and blend the character with that of a super-
fine sessions practitioner fancying himself an
Ellenborough or an j Erskine, and you will
have the result in Mr. STUART WORTLEY.
The Learned Gentleman, of course, never was
one of " the waverers." Not he, indeed ! He
was true as the needle to the Pole, and his
career consistently pointed to Number One
and PALMERSTON. Pity it is that he did not
speak as well as Sir ALEXANDER COCKBURN in
the Pacifico debate. But let not Whig banis-
ters be angry. The Honourable Gentleman
can solemnly assure them that ho has taken
office under Lord PALMERSTON pro bono publico.
Besides, was not Lord WHARNCLIFFE
" Canningite," and when Mr. CANNING became
a chief in Parliament, was not Proteus (alias
PALMERSTON) a "Canningite," and ergo —.
Every one who knows the immense value
placed by Mr. STUART WORTLEY on his own
little "ergo," can see how skilfully ho pushes
forward himself and his argument.
We recollect how solemnly, not to say se-
verely, the Learned Gentleman lectured an un-
happy person, who was hunted down by pri-
vate malice, although Sir ALEXANDER COCK-
BURN officially declined to prosecute one whose
open confession of his offence had been in
itself a most severe punishment. We remem-
ber, too, how ready was this same Mr. STUART
WORTLEY to caution the House about not
turning OUL JAMES SADLEIR. But, doubtless,
next session we shall have this gentleman's
official indignation in full swing.
Mr. STUART WORTLEY is braherin-laW of Mr.
FRANCIS LAWLEY, of financial celebrity; and we
think that a little judicious modesty would be
an immense improvement in Mr. WORTLEY.
With Sir 'RICHARD BETHELL'S most extraordi-
nary " if," and Mr. STUART WORTLEY'S still
more extraordinary " therefore," the Justice
of the Crown will be wonderfully represented.
This is the pass to which the Liberal party
has come. It cannot grow Ministers, but
must take them ready made, and it must
accept a brace of Conservative recreants for its
law oticers !

But the party is one of " progress !" To be
sure it is the Reform Club that laughs at the
discomfitted and humbled Whig Bar. Should
the Premier, in his vaulting ambition, resolve
to stand for the West Riding at the next elec-
tion, it will be a capital card that the profes-
sional lawyers of Yorkshire should be on
intimate terms with one of his chief law officers.
Thus, though the Whig Bar may be disgusted
at the selection of Mr. WORTLEY, the Reform
Club may have grounds for not being displeased
with a bold stroke of electioneering.

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