The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-06-08 00:00:00

there were no direitiona to legume whether the Lord Chancellor or
the Maniere in Chancery hid ear had not discharged their duty pro-
perly i but when they ram • o selt whetter any part of the Citriadie-
don of the I ,trout out,hree 'meet not to be taken away. then must
oteeseariiv arise the question, whether the Judges had or had no[
discharged their duty princely ; for how could they detemiine the
piestinn. or decide whether the defects arose front) the practice of
the Court or the conduet of the men ! But it was said this was
raising an inquiry into the conduct of the Lord Chancellor inci-
dentally. He did not wish to avail himself of an incidental queer.
toe in order to bring the conduct ninny man before them ; but
when it became their duty to examine the course pursued by any in.
din ad, be trusted m God he had that mental courage which would
anab,e him to discharge that duty faithfully. How came he to be
placed in the Comnriesion' for no doubt could be entertained-of his
pained prieciplei? He could not be placed there as a spy. nor
toad it be with a view to any favours he had received or should re.
we ve from thehi gh personage who was at the head of the Commission.
Mut he trusted that, because he might be disinclined to acrn the
dischafge el his duty ln. a *Wit of don, he should sot be
aaapected of being umsidest he Mnsass (Hear.) He would
make known lathe Hews, any appeiderrwhich he might conceive
calculated to frustrate dos forrposeqd die Commhisien. It had been
raid that the Lord Chimer 'meld alum retard the Commission-
ses than assist them, If t .at Noble and Learned Len had been
alwahr present it their eseitittits. and had his eye epee them while
they were int • tin witnesses. that be should apprehend
that there wou • de' If iellasese unduly exercised ; but
In jubtice to the . be weld say, that his Lordship
tee relieved diem. ' ' le by peewee, fir be had said he
weitiki sot attend 0 Abe implies wen shag as, bet when they
elszerribe.
yin twOlittna the eibiletes be want woe- sad give his assistance.
• (ile"- best.) Rd leftlet tesesesit the Lend Chancellor,
. , best he bed dots. iip=sbies lay Is Mating what he had to
of . the Hews Me. die had not yet matte a
kaput,bet, in h epiwiew, Woes impsedble to do so without
slaking ltd being verp,leepes±L ilibeatilealties which they had
loheiseend with were poi, ab die lameated illness of the
Vieedateacelloe; hadleidiVie7ilbellot. idej would hear: been
able to have made a Repset laillomable, AM, however, they
. tad his easeble ' they. acid with pleasure, and his
etf.rrus irst, tabour sad a greet deal
•of tredble,l=thilhad its dee* deli* would be reify corn-
. . zar.ze tr.e.s_de bop, pith thee* ef that
`it rebels, . teen more werralry the
•:, ,aceeptatteWrhe Xing and this Hesse Mee could have been
• produced wi.bout his co-opssedes. i
Mr. bOCK H ART oppead the awake, yen the ground that
the pioduetton of the nadirs* was not: altogether refused, but only
delayed. He thought the *skim of the Commissioners should
eaten** the alerts Mira, as well sae to the Court of Chancery,
end he ansidered the sena of the Commisemn gave them this
power'.
Mr. A DERCROIRBY did net think any reasonable objection
etuld exist to the production Odes evidence, bat that it would be
eatresnely advantageous to the public ; he would therefore support
the neeinn of his non. Friend.
Sr M W. R IDLEY referred at the RdistarArh Review for • I
eiteze: er of Lord Eldon. la that work his Lordship was theme-
1 Witai as a great and learned Amiga, endued with singular powers
of mind, and mottoes and cirasmapeet itr ail his judgments.
Mr. JAMES considered the Caen of Chancery not as a Court of
Equity,• but a Court of robbery. (Hear, and a laugh.)
Ile. BROUGHAM was net earpripied at the attempts which
Ind been so anxiously made, towards a defence of the Noble
and beamed J..dge. Ne iedivielesl existed in a similar ta-
ped y that had ever manifested more courtesy and condescension
towards al who were in anywise connected with him than Lord
Eldon; in those 'respects time Noble and Learned Lord did un.
ennbredly surpass every Judge that bed at any time sat upon the
Bence, and, on this account, any man rising to make a charge, or
a aeries of charges, veinal Lord Eldon, in his judicial capacity,
mast, if he ever practised in the Court of Chancery at any period
eat bre professional career, feel a very great disinclination, and have
to overcome no small decree of reluctance, at using a single harsh
expression towards one who had himself Dever used one harsh ex-
pesaion towards an individual in the ley asses of his nublic life.
dime hear, from the Treasury Besabss. 1 Beeeerable Gentle-
men appeared to manifest some 14,011161 WINWINISA at those senti-
ments, coming as they did frees sb het limy went his sincere
convictive ; flowerer. is eieteieep shwas be did MIN to speak of
Lord Eldon at a Judge end age as aplidena. *peaking of Lord
Elden In nisi udieial estimity, es fek the moo eyepiece to touch
upon the subject in theiIIIDDET it eliasindes had bin previously felt
by Sir S. Remaly upon the emsiemismaiee. That esteemed, and
lamen re end g at men, felt hi timilsempalled to say harsh things
eat Lord Eldon, in his judicial eilleelefeedies so be was 'dandled
with the delays and the injurious spites poseselent in the Court aft
Chancery ; but that great lawyer bed atAbs same time does so
with pain and difficulty, and be thee.ae. ) inhered these
were the to-)logs which every ones admit had in wages
with in suth ate tree of conduct. Tees was, that al hawk in
h sjudicial c opacity, the Learned Lod was singularly mild and
CM! onus to all men ; yet, as a politiehm, and In his meths Par-
liament, he was always as ready to yea ansegly and freely of his
enemies es any man, and it he (Mr. BIWNWORRAW) bad is speak of
Lord Eldon io the sink capacity, Ists wield us die very weft
freedom. With respect to the quotatlea which had beet made by
the Honourable Baronet, (Sir hl. W. Ridley) from what he
been pleased to call a most important work, the Edinburgh Re-
sits, sod the testimonial to i he chewier of Lord Eldon, which he had
derived from that authentic source, the Hon. Member, in selecting
thateefeb. had winced hiesieguleraetuteness and tact, and in the
manner of his quotation, and the portion of the article he had
selected for that pm peee, he had displayed at least equal skill. Ile
had just selected what sunetehis purpose, and no more; for all the
rest of the article, which the -Honourable Member had not quoted,
curtained a very severe and rigorous and unsparing, but as he (31e.
B.) thought, just and merited attack upon the character of that
Judge. Indeed, he never knew anything more skilful than the
conduct of the Honourable Member, in quoting one-tenth of an
article (the exact portion ,which made for him) and omitting the 1
other nine-tentns, which were not so much to his purpose, but
which, and indeed the whole article taken together, quantum Bakal,
went to lower the judicial character of the Lord Coancellor. The
lion. Ban, was acting exactly in the same way as Mr. Butler. who,
in the liberality and kindliness of his flaunt, had quoted the opinion ,
of Sir S. Romilly as entirely favourable to Lord Eldon. Accord-
ing to Mr. Butler's mode of quoting Sir Samuel Romilly, that esti-
mable and able man was represented to say that no Judge was more
able, possessed greater subtlety. displayed wore courtesy, and
pester and more exteneive resources, than Lord Eldon. But here
Mr. Butler stopped : this was all he represented himself as having'
heard Sir S. Romilly say. Now he (Mr. Brougham) had often
heard that lamented and great lawyer say the same thing, but then
he had never failed to add, that • toy Lord Eldon was, from the
peculiar conssitution of his mind, one of the worst Judges in
equity that ever existed." (liter, and laughter.) By this ex-
ample the House would see in what manner a skilful Advocate,
brought up at the feet of Gamallel (a laugh), could support his
cause by suppressing every thing that made against him and was
Enpleasant. Never had there been a more gross perversion than
this character which Mr. Butler in his kindness had published of
Lord Eldon, and put into the mouth of Sir S. Romilly. With re- 1
gard to the motion of his Hon. Friend, now before the House,
never, he thought, WAS there a motion which stood upon a stronger
or more Irrefragable ground than it did, particularly as it had not
been opposed by one lion. Gentleman who constituted a part
of the Commits.on, and was supported by another Hon. Member,
sinekrly situated. Under those circumstances, what had been
urged :against the motion—what, but delay ? They. were told to
wait till the next Session, till the lteport of the Commissioners had
been male, and the mass of evidence accumulated beyond all
bounds anSlimits. That de:ay would nominally procrastinate the
examittrion of the evidence till next Session, but in reality to the
Seeiien seer. For, at the commencement of the Session they
would have their hands full of Irislt dieturbanera and Insurrection
Ac's, and then the House would be told to wait till the backwater—
the peliceful backwater after the Easter recess, and that would be
telly to wait till the next Session had passed over, for it would be
impossible to read and determine on Cie mass of evidence that
would be then produced within the limits of the remainder of the
!smite), and so it would be thrown into die next. The present
time, before the long vacation, was the time to produce the papers,
e.d so afford :11 entlem s an opportunity to mark, retie, and digest their
contents previous to the commencement of next ricasion. 1V hen in the
next Session the House on the production of these papers and the re.
port of the Commissioners, learned, that the Commission had nut
done its duty, ar d he was satisfied in bit soul they had not—. cheers)
tie felt a "Dotal certainty and assurance they bad failed-_(bar)
--what then would be theeline of arguteent adopted by the abettors
of the Chancellor and the Court of Chancery e They would sew,
here is a vast mass of docuinentery evidence, examine is--came
not toe rash conclusion, you have not time to determine this Bee-
man ; end surely you cannot think of hanging up a Judge under
the weight of heavy imputations during the whole continuance of
the long vet: aeon. You can never send him during the remainder i
of the session to administer justice with the weight of those accu-
sation* hanging over his head in the interim. lie had not the sha-
dow of a doubt such an appeal would he made, and he entertained
RR little doubt it would be made successfully, and leave the effect of
rani iii ti fug the present system, and protecting the Lord Chancellor
1., his praceces. The question was, whether the state and
eranice of the Court or Chancery was to be inquired into
text Session or in the Session afier ; and he was sullied, unless
the evidence required were given now, and time permitted to Gee-
mine it during the long vacation, they' might despair of effecting
WY thirg in the next Session. When he looked to the component
Pens which eonsituted the Comatieition, and considered the infir-
mity of human nature (he did not them to speak personally or par-
tlerlaely, but generally), and when he farther observed that there
Ti? only one Opposition 'Member in the Commission, and come
1, •-
Al the strong influence of gratitude for favours received, and the
tell stronger influence of hope for future favours, and tile candour
them would be expected front aliberal foe towards an adversary—
!bib be reflected on all this, and moreover that the Hun. and
framed Member to whom lie had alluded, was an entirely insulated
. eher on that Commission, he could not Neater expressing the
fees he felt, and his mere that other Hen. Gentlemen who vat at
h, side of the House had nut been included in the Commission.
It- Te•ttetted they had been bereaved ut the assistance to be de-
-7,,,ed Iron, the talent' of the Hon. and Learned Member for Lincoln
lilt. .1. Williams) and also the loss of the assistance of the ho-
table, conscientious, consistent, anti beareed(Member for Dur-
we theerand laughter,) who had been nuot active In drawing the
fatten of the Hoene to the state of the I aurt of Chancery : he
teed whet he had already said In chaeacterising his Hon.
need 131 r. Larnbton), and he should like to see the man who took
• that Gentleman as he did, and repeated hie conviction of his
r• le's) conscientious coneisteney and learning. He saw•Mem-
&bout him who were scarcely able to count tea upon their