The Sun.
London, England, 1852-07-23 00:00:00

THE SUN,

be scattered as a select group, now that they are de-
prived of such men as Sir GEORGE CLERK, by the
electors of Dover, or as the Hon. GEORGE SMYTHE,
by the electors of Canterbury, or as the Right Hon.
EDWARD CARDWELL, by the electors of Liverpool.
But, in spite of these local misfortunes, perhaps we
should rather say because of these local mis-
fortunes, petty differences must be laid aside
in common by Whigs, Peelites, and Radicals—and
banding together under the comprehensive name of
Liberals, an united and formidable, and, even con-
sidering the proportion of numbers in their favour, an
irresistible and overwhelming Opposition may before
another quarter has elapsed confront the minority
pledged to uphold in the new House of Commons the
interests of the Derby Government. Against
proceeding . the only serious obstacle appears
to be the superfluous numbers of great
undoubted
powers claiming by right of theirthis
powers to be the leaders of the ranks of the op-
position. Amongst the foremost men in those
ranks, for example, are three administrators no
less illustrious than Lord JOHN RUSSELL, Lord
PALMERSTON, and Sir JAMES GRAHAM—any one
of whom might reasonably aspire to be the re-
cognised chieftain of a great Liberal Administration.
In reference to Lord Jour: RUSSELL—it must be
remembered that his claims upon the gratitude of the
Reformers are of a magnitude such as can
never by any possibility be overlooked. The
man who introduced the Reform Bill into
the House of Commons—who carried into a law the
Test and Corporation Act—and who by his memor-
able letter, dated in the November of 1845, from
Edinburgh, prepared the national mind for the glo-
rious measures inaugurative of the free-trade system,
soon afterwards submitted to the Legislature by Sir
ROBERT PEEL'S Government—cannot be denied by
the Liberals of the United Kingdom the considers-
tien due to the patriot whose labours have
resulted in such momentous achievements.
At the same time the confidence necessary
to the Prime Minister of England, as the sustaining
force that can alone support a Cabinet for any length
of time, has been so far alienated from Lord JOHN
RUSSELL by the disappcintment caused by the short-
comings of his recent Administration, as to render it
idle to dreran of seeing him once more elected
as the chieftain of a stable Government. Besides
which, the late retirement from public life of the
venerable and revered Marquis of LANSDOWNE
necessitates the nomination of some leader of
a Liberal Ministry in the House of Lords—
a post for which the gentle rather than
vigorous intellect of Lord CARLISLE appears to be in
no way qualified. The conclusion to be drawn from
these reflecticns we conceive to be sufficiently ob-
vious. An Earldom has been bestowed before
now for services by no means comparable
to those performed by the late PRIME MINISTER
of England. A leader in the House of Lords on the
Liberal side has become, moreover, of late more than
ever imperatively requisite.
In reference to Lord PALMERSTON—it must not be
forgo ten that his genius as a statesman is peculiarly,
if not inextricably, bound up with the guidance of
affairs in the Foreign Department. Of him may be
said what cannot be said, and we think else never
could be said of any other administrator in our
bistory—that his transference from the office of
one of the Secretaries of State to that of First Lord of
the Treasury would be, so to speak, rather a u'egrada.
tion (if that were possible) than otherwise. As Sec-
retary of State for Foreign Affairs Lord PALMERSTON
is, in the estimation of the rest of the nations
of the world, the foremost man amongst En-
glishmen. In this respect, Lord PALMERSTON
occupies in regard to the Foreign-office the position
occupied up to the period of his lamented death by
Sir ROBERT PEEL in regard to the House of Com-
mons. In the House f
Commons Sir ROBERT
PEEL was about the first man in Europe.
So in the Foreign-office with Lord PALMERSTON.
With the guidance of the affairs of that office
intrusted to him, Lord PALMERSTON was
to the foreigner the very incarnation of the British
empire. Tale to the Greek—daring the Noble
Lord's continuance in office—talk to the Rus-
sian, to the Spaniard, to the German, of
England, and he spoke at once not of Rus-
SELL or of MELBOURNE, but—Of PALMERSTON. it
were idle then to deem it likely that Lord PAL-
MERSTON would be more important as the Premier
in a Liberal Government. He could not with his
ripened experience and his resplendent genius be
otherwise than great as Prime Minister, but he
would, if possible, be greater as Foreign Secretary,
Then there remains Sir JAMES GRAHAM.

We have repeatedly insisted on the vast import-
ance of maintaining the distinctions between the two
branches of the legal profession. Nothing could in
our opinion be more injurious to the interests not
only of the parties more immediately concerned, but
also of the community in general, than the joinder
of the functions
which have heretofore been exer-
cised by barristers and attorneys respectively. A
case heard before the Judicial Committee of the Privy
Council, on Tuesday, affords a powerful illustration
of the evils arising from the confusion, and we
earnestly commend it to the consideration of both
classes of practitioners, in the hope that it may tend
to prevent the invasion, by either, of the rights and
privileges properly belonging to the other.
The case above referred to was an appeal by her
MeaesTv's Attorney-General for Gibraltar from a
decision of the Supreme Court there, discharging a
rule which had been obtained calling on Mr. WIL-
LIAM CORNWELL, a gentleman who had for nearly
a quarter of a century acted as barrister, advocate,
solicitor, and attorney, within the jurisdictions, to
show cause why he should not be removed from those
stations. It appeared that Mr. CORNWELL had, with
two others, his clients in the transaction, pleaded
guilty to three counts of an indictment, charging the
destruction and subversion of the course of justice, and
the compounding of a felony, n
--ee was thereupon
fined 1001., while his companions were only mulcted
in 51. each, the Court very properly considering the
offence much more serious when committed by a
Person invested with such powers and privileges as
Mr. CORNWELL. The Attorney. General of the
Colony, actuated by a laudable anxiety to preserve
the honour of the profession, of which he was himself
a member, intact, subsequently obtained the rule
above referred to, which was discharged in due
course, and
ve
thence the appeal now under notice.
irop
The facts we
re
not very complicated. It appeared
thatlicatod a
named to one of the parties
, ssel
robbed so far back as DCIU'EY'
bad been piratically
however, been taken
lice until the month
thetob year 1833. No steps had,
bring the plunderers to j us-
was charged The extraordinary April, 1850. when a
warrant was applied for°
against a person named
'ter to rest for aeulvaen—yt lades which
RODRIGUEZ, who
being concerned
watehede
peinrmthiettetdranthsaectmioant
explained, or rather attempted to be ex
, by the
garrison until
the
seventeen
oainyears was
assertion that, although constantly
had never since been in the
to receive payment of a prize of 3,0011:til
be
ecccuasmede i n
which he had obtained. On these alr
4,000 dollars,
legations the warrant was granted, and RODRIGUEZ
taken into custody. When brought before the cap.
tarn of the port the prisoner was immediately recog.
nised by that functionary, as a man whom be bad
often seen before, and it turned out that he had been
a matriculated seaman in the port for the last twenty
years. Oae portion of the assertion was thus; clearly
disproved ; it was, however, more than probable that
he had obtained
good fortune in that respect was the cause of the
the prize in the lottery, and that his
prosecution. When Mr. CORNWELL appeared the
accusation was formally abandoned, the Learned
Gentleman having stated that in consequence of the
absence of a material witness he could make no fur-
ther progress.

The suspicions of Captain GREY
were excited, and on
inquiry he found that there was a more cogent reason
for this forbearance, viz., the payment of 1,000 dollars
bard cash to Mr. CORNWELL, who had twice visited
RODRIGUEZ in the gaol, and after representing that
he was liable to fourteen years' transportation, ob-
tained the above-mentioned sum, which was most re-
luctantly paid.
It is but justice to Mr. CourrwELL to state that
it was admitted that he had not been influenced by
any sordid or dishonourable motive, and that he had
not received any portion of the money for his own
personal benefit. Re had also previously maintained