The Press.
London, England, 1856-04-26 00:00:00

THE IRISH JUDICATURE.

FOR the last few years it has been unfortunate
that, owing to "a distaste for Irish subjects in
" England," the Whig Oligarchy has been
allowed to run riot in its caprices at Dublin
Castle. The feeling which revolts from con-
siderations of Irish questions has been car-
ried too far. The Whigs have now assaulted
the Irish Bench in the extraordinary appoint-
ment of Mr. WILLIAM KEOGH. The important
part which the Judicature plays in Irish
society, and its immediate connection with
the Imperial Executive, will justify us in con-
tinuing to direct the attention of our readers
to this grave matter.
We are sorry to say that, owing to the or-
ganised clamour of late years, the voice of
truth has been drowned in many affairs re•
lating to the government of Ireland. For
example, if the question were raised in any
company as to whether there were more nomi-
nations to the Irish Bench by Conservative
or Liberal Ministers, the answer would pro-
bably be—" Oh! the Bench of Ireland is in
" the interest of the old Protestant ascendancy
"It is a regular Tory institution." The very
reverse is actually the case. So far from being
" a Tory institution," the Irish Judicature is
a " Liberal " connection. There are eight of the
judges who have been nominated under
" Liberal" Ministers, and only four under
Conservative Cabinets ! We were struck with
the fact, while perusing the returns to Sir
JOHN SHELLEY's sinister motion ; but we were
not surprised at it, recollecting Mr. DISRAELI'S
recent remark about the Liberals having been
in office since 1830, with a few brief excep-
tions.

Here are the facts about the Cabinets who
have advised the Crown in the nomination of
the sitting twelve judges in Ireland :

QUEEN'S BENCH.
PRIME MINISTERS.
Chief Justice Lefroy, appointed by Earl of Derby
Judge Crampton ig Earl Grey
Judge Moore gg Lord J. Russell
Judge Perrin gg Vis. Melbourne
COMMON PLEAS.
Chief Just. Monahan, appointed by Lord J. Russell

Judge Keugh
Judge Ball
Judge Jackson

Vie. Palmerston
Via. Melbourne
Sir Robert Peel

COURT OF EXCHEQUER.
Chief Baron Pigot, appointed by Lord J. Russell
Baron Pennefather ~ Earl of Liverpool
Baron Greene ti Sir Robert Peel
Baron Richards " Via. Melbourne

As our readers will perceive, this is a most
remarkable statement. Here we have the
fact proved, that on the Irish Bench eight of
the judges have been nominated by Liberal
Cabinets, and only four by Conservatives. Or,
in other words, that the " Liberal" judges of
Ireland are in the proportion of two to one
against their learned brethren selected from

the Conservative connection. Let us n,

again of the Irish Bench being a " T
tution." Only four of the twelve
Ireland—to wit, Chief Justice LEFROY

JacasoN, and Barons PENNEF4THER an

—have been nominated by Conscrvai
nets.

But we must now call attention
claims of the Irish Bar. It is a
fession, and none other offers finer

Irishmen of talent and "reputable"
The Bar of Ireland has glorious rep
and spirit•stirring traditions. A
great names illustrates its annals.

many practical statesmen, and produ,
ral orators of high renown. The
the Irish race has been splendidly
o•.Is in the vivid versatility of intellect .
variety of mental force, shown by the leading
practitioners at the Bar of Ireland during the
last hundred years. In the opinion of some
keen observers, her brilliant Bar is the finest
proof of the power of Irish mind. It has
sent forth many men whose names, in Lord
PLUNKET'S words, " are buoyant enough to
" float down the stream of time." Mr. HELY
HUTCHINSON, the author of "Irish Commercial
Restraints," was a formidable Parliamentary
leader; YELVERTON (Lord Avonmore) encoun-
tered the famous HENRY FLOOD in 1783 with un-
common vigour, succeeding triumphantly when
GRATTAN faltered. Lord CLARE (Fitzgibbon)
was a bold thinker, and had signal capacity
for affairs; CURRAN was a glorious child of
genius, who challenged the rivalry of ERSKINE,
and won the enthusiastic admiration of BYRON.
Mr. SAURIN was a great proconsular ruler,
deep, wary, and profound. Mr. BLACKBURN, in
our own days, showed masterly talent in deal-
ing with grave emergencies,—as Lords ANGLE-
SEY, WELLESLEY, and Clarendon, well knew
Sir MICHAEL O'Loarmix was reverenced for his
truth, impartiality, and honour. 0 CONNELL,
at the Bar, was universally admired for his
extraordinary forensic prowess. SHELL and
SHAW were debaters of refined style and
vigorous effect. The talents of banisters
now practising the law in Ireland we do not,
from motives of delicacy, enumerate ; but we
could easily specify upwards of a score of most
honourable gentlemen, Conservative and
Liberal, who have a better right than Mr.
Wuxi/4m KEOGH to sit on the Judicial Bench.

The Bar in Ireland, however, is peculiarly
circumstanced. Though in many respects a
powerful body, and with many prizes,
yet when disgraceful appointments and scan-
dalous jobs are perpetrated it is tongue-tied.
It cannot under ordinary circumstances hold
meetings, and dispute the right of the Crown
to make appointments. It refrains studiously
from coming into collision with Government.
Yet when Mr. CANNING nominated Mr PLUN-
KET to be Master of the Rolls in England, in
1827, the English Bar successfully protested
against the nomination, as trenching on its
rights. Now let us see how the Irish Bar
has been treated by the nomination of Mr.
WILLIAM KEOGH to a judgeship of four thousand
pounds per annum.
We have been assured, upon indisputable
authority, that of late years the highest sum
realised by private practice at the Irish Bar
has been three thousand and five hundred
pounds. The practice at the Irish Bar has
from the decline of the country diminished in
all respects ; and when a man is selected for
elevation above his fellows in that learned
body, his pretensions ought to be of a purer
and loftier kind than the miserable claims of
having " sold " the infamous Brass Band to an
unscrupulous Cabinet in want of political sup-
port. Mr. KEOGH was only seven years at the
Dublin Bar. He went into Parliament, at the ex-
pense of a Tory connection, which he afterwards de-
serted. It is worthy of note also that he was not
retained during any of the State trials in 1848
and 1849. Surely if he had been a brilliant
forensic orator, or a skilful advocate of the first
class, it is not very likely that the friends of
SMITH O'BRIEN, T. F. MEAGHER, MITCHELL,
DUFFY, MARTIN, and 0130FIERTT, would have
allowed him to go without a retainer? In
those days Mr. WILLIAM KEOGH was a stuff-
gownman, but the friends of the accused
sought talent in all directions, and along with
the leading abili"- -
Burr they enr

• •
387
never hear
Tory insti-
judges in
itOY. Judge
id GREENE
itive Cabi-
in .to the
noble pro-
• prizes to
conduct.
eputations
galaxy of
It reared
uced seve-
genius of
aonspicu-
Tt and the
ie leading

, -
,ities of Mr. WHITESIDE and Mr.
;aged also the argumentative
AA

I

powers of Mr. FRANCIS FITZGERALD4IIO ingenuity
of Sir COLMAN O'Looncis, and the professional
abilities of many more like (the late) FRANCIS
MAHER, and others. But it is not a little
singular that in none of those trials Mr.
WILLIAM KEOGH was ever retained.
The Irish Bar, as we said, labours under
difficulties about ventilating facts like these.
Its members have a dislike to assail the
Crown, and until the case of Mr. W. KEOGH
occurred no one would be disposed to call in
question the co.iduct of the Government.
But the case of Mr. KEOGH cannot be passed
over. The Bar of Ireland has its prescriptive
rules, and its members have a clear constitu-
tional right to know upon what grounds is an
adventurer raised above their heads . Many
of its members have read the significant sen-
tence in Commissioner PHILLIPP'S biography
of CURRAN (so much praised by Lord
BROUGHAM) :—" Let us hope that in the learn-
" ing, the integrity, and the eloquence of the
" Bench and Bar, Ireland may find some
" compensation for the loss of her Parliament
" and the ruin of her independence."—(Plia-
lipp's Curran, p. 340.) That feeling should not
be baulked by unscrupulous promotions.
Let us request close attention to the more
official views raised in this deeply disgraceful
appointment. Many persons supposed that
Mr. WILLIAM KEOGH would have ended in
some colonial appointment. Major BLACICHALL
was member for a county, and parroted the
Repeal Catechism, and the Whigs in 1849
sent him out as a Colonial Governor Doctor
MAURICE POWER was " Liberal" member for
the county of Cork in 1850, and the Whigs ap-
pointed him Governor of St. Lucia in 1851.
If Mr. WILLIAM KEOGH had ended his career in
that fashion, people would not have wondered.
But to have appointed a person with his most
singular antecedents to a Judgeship on the
Bench at four thousand pounds per annum
does indeed call for and justify the most in-
dignant reclamation.
Nor must it be forgotten that there are
some special circumstances connected with
this appointment which suggest reasons for
further inquiry about it. In 1850 the Whig
Ministry appointed Mr. HENRY GEORGE
HUGHES to be Solicitor-General. He was a
gentleman of great legal talents, extensive
practice, and untainted public reputation.
Why was such a gentleman as Mr. H. G. Hughes
passed over to make worn for Mr. W. Keogh ?
But something more also remains. Mr. JOHN
HATCHELL was for many years one of the lead-
ing Whig Crown lawyers in Ireland. Along
with Chief Justice MONAHAN, Mr. HATCHELL
conducted the State Prosecutions in 1848-9.
He was Solicitor-General at that time, and had
realised (like Mr. HUGHES) a large fortune at
the Bar. Why was Mr. HATCHELL refused the
Attorney-Generalship by the Coalition in
1853, and thrust into a subordinate judgeship
as Commissioner for Insolvents, at twelve
hundred per annum, while such a person as
Mr. WILLIAM KEOGH is raised over his head, at
a salary of four thousand a year ! !
These are in truth most singular facts. They
well deserve the astonishment which they ex-
cited at Dublin and in Parliamentary circles.
If it was a purely Irish subject, we would not
bring it at such length before the notice of
our readers, but the nomination of a politician
like Mr. KEOGH to a judgeship is an English
as much as an Irish question The Executive
of the Crown is common in both countries,
and the standard of official honour should he
the same for both. The fact, also, that the
equilibrium of the Judicature in Ireland has
been disturbed, and that the " Liberal " party
threatens to monopolise the whole Bench in
Ireland, will demand the attention of all
thinking persons interested in order and at-
tached to fair play. Already there have been
symptoms that the appointment of Mr WIL-
LIAM KEOGH has produced a peculiar effect on
the Irish Bar; but these and other grave
issues raised on this most improper appoint-
ment shall be discussed by us on another
occasion.

CIVIL-SERVICE EXAMINATION.
THE scheme of competitive examination for
admissions to the Civil Service must evidently
be judged solely by its power of adding to the

thi,