The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-21 00:00:00

longer would have been to say that no Roman
Catholic lawyer, however eloquent, however dis-
tinguished, however fitted for the office, was to bet
made a judge. That is an announcement which not
English Government would make, and which the
English nation is not prepared to receive. In these
days questions of theological import are rarely,
ever, mooted before a common law judge ; and when
the interests of the Church of England are not
directly or indirectly involved, no Englishman
wishes to see unnecessary barriers interposed b
tween merit and success. The only tangible dif-
ference between a Catholic and Protestant Judge,
as far as the public are concerned, is that it might
possibly be deemed inconvenient for a Catholic to
attend the English cathedral service while on cir-
cuit. The difficulty will probably be found one
rather of theory than practice. A year ago Mr.
Shee was appointed to travel one of the circuits in
the south of England as a deputy. It was, found
that he did not object on religious grounds to eV°
the commission and attend Divine service in the
usual way. Judges, who are Dissenters, or even
Unitarians, do so without reproach; and what they
may do, a Roman Catholic may do also. Were it
even otherwise, two judges invariably travel the
spring and summer assizes in company, and an
arrangement would easily have secured the presence
of one upon occasions where the presence of a
judge was made important by sound and ancient
custom. It is a tribute to the discretion of tb°
Government to be able to say that, while the con-
ecientious feelings of the new judge on religious
subjects need no vindication, no contretemps is eVeir
likely to occur under the regime of Mr. Justice Shee'
In his elevation to the Bench the Bar loses its
greatest orator; and perhaps its only orator pro*
perly so called. Those who have heard Mr Shee
to
his finest speeches have heard something that is not
easily reproduced. There are other and younger,
speakers at the Bar, whose genius a
eloquence are of the highest order. The,
age, the presence, the dignity, and the fire,
of Mr. Justice Shee placed him at the head ,
all. It is said usually that he was not a successful
Parliamentary debater. His style perhaps is tee
purely oratorical for the House of Commons in the
present day. But at the Bar, in the conduct of
case of great public interest, when he had enjoyed
full time to prepare his line of argument and to rise
to the level of the subject, Sergeant Shee could hold
Westminster Hall breathless with suspense and
interest for hours. Mr. Gladstone is a fluent and
accomplished rhetorician, qualified by his cultiva-
tion and his nature to ravish the ears of a business-
like assembly of educated gentlemen. It will be
long before he ever shakes and thrills an audience,
as Mr. Shee has often before now shaken crowdec,'
courts. Since the appointment of the present Lord
Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench the bar had not
another speaker of the sort ; and Mr. Shee's years
and presence have of late given him an advantage
which even Lord Chief Justice Cockburn did not
possess while at the bar. The new judge's chief
difficulty will be to subside into a president, in the
court where he has been so long an orator. Great
advocates, it is said, make bad judges. It is to be
hoped that Mr. Justice Shee will be an excepticni
to the rule, which he will no doubt have rasa
temptations to trar gress.
For some years Mr. Sergeant Shee has led thell
in virtue of his rank of Queen's sergeant and his patens
of precedence. Of late, his appointment to th
Bench has been almost demanded on the part of the
profession. It has been a growing habit with eh°l3;
ce,lors to make their appointments to judgeshi,ll.i;
serve Parliamentary purposes. Men have begun"
talk as if a seat in Parliament and success as a us.
hater in the Commons were necessary stepPin,F
stones to the Bench. The idea is distasteful to tc's,
bulk of the profession, which sees sonic of its able"
and most 'learned leaders excluded by circumstances
at this moment from the House. They naturally
feel that genius and profound learning are nArei
important qualifications for a judge than politic
activity and interest. Why are X and 1 all°
and A ane B not judges? They are masters of the
English law, and their character is qual to their
experience and talent. Barristers will naturally
continue to think it a poor answer to say that these
lawyers have not had the luck to be elected some'
where to serve on the other side of Westminster
Hall. The honours of the bar, in their opinion,
should be for the bar alone. At the bottom, accords
iogly, of the enthusiasm with which Mr. Shees
elevation has been welcomed, there is a strong sen-
timent of the kind. It is said indeed, that the bar
intend to signalise the event by a dinrer given to
the new judge himself. We cannot wonder at it.
We can well understand that no vacant judgeship
could be more popularly bestowed than on a lawyer
who is both esteemed for his personal dualities, and
who, in a certain sense, is the father of the profes-
sion— the Grand Batonnier of the order of Esg-
ish advocates.