The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-03-03 00:00:00

down and acted upon for so many years, utast be

viewed as a dangerous precedent.
Why should Lords LUCAN and CARDIGAN, General
AIREY and Mr. FILDER, be handed over out of
the usual course to a Royal Commission composed
of general officers? They one and all had specific
duties to perform, and the question to be decided is,
did they, or did they not, discharge those duties ?
How can a commission sitting in London decide in

such a case? A

hey simply to read the report of th

former C

and to say whether the

)mmissioners

evidence it contains is true or not ? The testimony

fy the

adduced is sufficiei

t we repeat, to

officers alluded to being sent before a court-
martial. An officer, who leav(

s the horses of his

regiment or brigade to eat off each others mains
and tails, after being told that forage could be
had within an hour's rile of his head quarteis,

must surely be amenable to those laws which have

been designed to secure the country against the
losses which it has sustained. Stepping out of the
beaten track in this instance will be viewed with
the utmost disapprobation by the whole army, and
by the public as a species of favouritism which
cannot be too gravely deprecated. The Royal
Warrant issued for the establishment of the new
Commission states that in the report of Sir JOHN
M`NEILL and Colonel TIILLOCH the conduct of

certain generals, staff, and other officers in the
the army has been animadverted upon, and
as these officers have demanded a full
enquiry into their conduct, and being desirous

h sh

,justice done to all parties, the Commission has
been appointed, with power to summons such
persons as they may deem necessary, to give
information, and having examined such witnesses,

the Commission is to " make a report there-
" upon, together with their opinion, whether the
" said officers of our army above referred to, be or
" be not responsible, to any and what extent, for the
" unsatisfactory condition of our said army, or
" any portion thereof, noticed by Sir JOHN APNEILL
"and Colonel TuLLocu, in their reports and the
" evidence thereunto attached."

Here it is quite obvious that the Government

do not view the evidence contained in the report

in question as implicitly true, or else, knowing it
to be so, they would fain screen the responsible
parties from the infliction of the penalty
a court-martial would
should the present Commission deny the
truthfulness of its predecessor's report, what
is to become of Sir Jona APNEILL or Colonel
TULLOCH'S character, to say nothing of those whose
evidence they have published? How is the truth
to be extracted from such a mass of contradictory
testimony, and made manifest, and how can justice
be done to all parties? There must be some ears
of corn among the tares in so wide and well
harrowed a field, and if there be but a shadow of
truth in the charges laid at the door of the accused,
is this second commission to palliate and render it
tolerable to the outraged feelings of humanity and
justice ? Sir Jolts NPNEILL and Colonel TULLOCH
have done their duty in reporting all they have
heard from eye witnesses, and in animadverting
on the conduct of those whose names were brought
prominently under their notice. And as these men

enforce

lave not shrunk from a duty which must have

been as painful as it was onerous, it behoves the
British public to see that those who are appointed
to test the veracity of their report, act with equal
impartiality, and adhere with the same untirriching
rectitude to what appears, in theirjudgment, to be
plain, unvarnished truth.

The bill now before Parliament to enlarge the
qualification of magistrates by extending it to per-
sonal property, is a measure which is likely to meet
with very partial approval. While landed
property constitutes the sole qualification, we may
be quite sure that in tbe adjustment of taxation the
landowner pays especial heed to the interests of
his own class. Nothing could be more natural,
and probably less reprehensible. The great aim of

our Constitution is, however, to give equal
representation to all, and so guard against a
preponderance of interest or influence on any one
side. This change will, therefore, contribute very
materially to the attainment of that salutary end
But as the commissions of the peace are derived
directly from the Crown, like those bestowed upon
officers in our army and navy, the magisterial
bench is little more than a court-martial. When
bodies thus constituted enter upon taxation, we
have that most unconstitutional of all things—tax-
ation without representation. It is true that the

landed interest in counties is, for the most part,
that which ought to be most largely represented.
Still there are county towns, large and populous
seats of industry and trade, and villages whose
inhabitants have no more pecuniary interest in the
surrounding territorial possessions, than the
ratepayers of Liverpool have in the estates of
Lords DERBY and SEFTON. And yet all localities

so situated are now represented at their
boards of local taxation by gentlemen who must
prove that they have a sufficient interest in landed
property, to establish a belief that that particular
portion of the national substance they represent,will
form a primary consideration with them in all their
acts. Any measure which is likely to alter,g it to b
in the
remotest degree, this state of the law, ought
hailed as a great boon. At present the qualifica
tion for the commission of the peace in a county, is
landed property to the value of 1001. per annum,
and it is now proposed that a person in possession
of 3001. a year personal property, or holding a
government office, or a plale under the East India
Company, with an income to that amount, shall be
entitled to hold a commission of the peace for a
county. The new bill further provides that prac-
tising attorneys and solicitors shall not act as
county justices,whilo it gives to county-court judges
that power in right of their offices. The bill is, how-
ever, purely permissive. The lords lieutenant are
left in the full exercise of the discretion and
powers they now enjoy. Consequently the landed
interest will have but little to fear from the inno-

vations it contains.
If the bill has anything more to recommend
it, it will be found in the few words employed by
its promoters, and by Mr. SEYMER, the Protec-
tionist member for Dorchester, in the debate on
its second reading. That gentleman observed
that "there was a great want of magistrates in
" some districts, and he thought that the East
"India Company's servants, settled in different
" parts of the country, would be a class of men
" extremely well qualified to discharge the duties
"of magistrates." It is somewhat fatal to the
morality of Mr. SEYMER'S view of the proposed
change, that on the very following day the Earl of
ALBEMARLE moved in the House ofLpolorydesdfotor
" various returns connected with the taxation of
" the nations of India, the means em
" levy it, and the character of the officers of police
" and revenue, in illustration of the official report
" recently laid before Parliament on the system of
" torture used by the Government agents in the
" Presidency of Madras. Notow
rcaaisneitthbee possible
.
that the new bill proposes
ment agents, here alluded to, to the local revenue