The Sun.
London, England, 1837-10-09 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1837.

mercenary Isiah deraassestgue to rude; tlle ;lestieles
of this mighty empire. History records nothing
half so- degrading as the present situation of the Whiff
Ministry in this respect ; and we should, indeed,°
despair of the country, were it otherwise inclined than
to resent with scorn the indignity thus put upon it.
Happily our anticipations are more than realized ; and
the Ministers who arc content to owe their political
existence to the nod of the very man who has loaded
them with every epithet of scorn and ignominy, now
find the sober judgment of the country everywhere
recording its verdict against them. Yet these Mi-
nisters, thus backed and supported, and aided by the
delusion which they have hitherto been enabled to
practise upon the mind of their youthful and inex-
perienced Sovereign, intend, it seems, to meet Par-
liament, and thus to brave the recorded condemnation
of the great bulk, at least, of the English constitu-
ency—of that tribunal to which it was heretofore a
favourite doctrine of the Whigs, that every Minister
should bow. If it were possible to imagine that this
mode of braving public opinion could lsst, and that
the country was doomed to witness another Session
pass with Lord Melbourne and Lord John Russell as
the Parliamentary leaders, it is not difficult to foresee
that it must result in the repetition of another of those
do-nothing periods, by which the interests of the
country have already suffered so greatly. Such a long
and open defiance of public opinion will he a novel
spectacle on the part of the government of a country
avowedly and essentially popular, and in which hitherto
every attempt to resist the will of the people, ascer-
tained through their representatives in Parliament, has
been looked upon as little short of treason to the
state. If it be contended that Ministers will have a
nominal majority, considering of what that majority is
likely to be composed, it in no way shakes the argu-
ment, or alters the real position of Lord Melbourne
and his colleagues. That majority, if found to exist,
all the world knows will be composed of votes pur-
chased of Mr. O'Connell by the transfer of the go-
vernment patronage in Ireland to him, many of the
persons thus sold liaying obtained their seats by means
which will soon be brought to the test and scrutiny of
Committees, who, if they do their duty, cannot fail to
oust these intruders. All these circumstances render
it the more consolatory to know that the cause of the
Qseeen and the Constitution is everywhere triumphinz
in the Registration Courts, end that, when the people
are appealed to again, they will respond in numbers
even more marked and conspicuous than those which
have latdr la2en exhibited.—Morning Herald.
Lord Plunket, as we learn from our Dublin Corres-
pondent, has just been making another conspicuous
display of his parental affection ; arid parental affec-
tion is a quality with the due exercise of which it
would be monstrously unnatural to find fault. But
Lard Plunket occasionally requires to be reminded that
the country has a right to expect from a person filling
the high, and important, and well-paid office of Lord
Chancellor of Ireland, the exhibition of other excel-
besides th:it iostinct which irnpels, in common,
A, our Correspondent intimztes, a Phmket and a
Kangaroo to find convenient and secure s!)alter for
their young. It is but fair, en passant, to re-
mark, that there arc two or three points in which
the comparison does scanty justice to the respect-
able animal last mentioned. She provides for
the comfort and security of her offspring by with-
drawing then from public view—the L,rd Chan-
cellor of Ireland obeys iris instinct in the oppo-
site manner by forcing his progeny upon the attention
of mankind. The unsophisticated quadruped, again,
never seems unwilling to bear the burthen of her own
sounz, or for a moment so much as to think of shift-
ing it off upon others. In this respect it must
he admitted that our learned specimen of parental
fondness shows an opposite instinct. Another, and
a still more important, distinction yet remains. The
Australian example of parental care offers to her voting
no asylum unsuited to their faculties and dispositions,
natural or acquired. Here is a contrast humiliating to
the Irish model of the same virtue, and disgusting to all
disinteres:cd, as well as to all interested, observers—
the Noble and Learned Lord makes the asylum
of the Hon. Mr. Plunket the important and ju-
dicial office of Master of the Court of Chancery.
Leaving similies and contrasts, however, out of
the question, is it not, we ask, monstrous to a degree
which almost surpasses credibility that the flagitious
job described by our Correspondent should have
been perpetrated even by Lord Plunket ? What is
Mr. Plunket that the interests of suitors in the Court
of Chancery should be placed in his hands—interests
so important that 3,0001. a year has not been thought
too high a stipend to sustain the dignity of those by
whom they are to be guarded, and to allure to this
elevated employment the requisite degree of learning
and ability ? He is the son of Lord Plunket. This
is the most favourable reply that can be given to the
question. It is a reply which does not necessarily
include the idea of unfitness for the office ; for, how-
ever certain it may be that the Hon. Mr. Plunket
would never have been a Master in the Irish or any
other Court of Chancery but for the circumstance that
he happens to be the son of the Lord Chancellor, he is
not the less likely to be qualified for the office that he is
thus descended. When, however, the country pays 3,0001.
a-year to the holders of an important judicial.office, the
object, no doubt, is to obtain the services of persons
who not only possess, but who previously to their ap-
pointment shall have afforded conclusive and satisfac-
tory evidence that they possess, merits and claims of a
nature altogether different from those of being the off-
spring of the Lord Chancellor .for the time being.
There are many distinguished advocates at the Irish
Bar, any one of whom would have considered the office of
a Master in Chancery worth his acceptance, and who
have by their forensic career manifested to all the
world that they possess the learning and talent which
the office requires. Why is Mr. Plunket selected from
a host of candidates so numerous and so worthy? Has
he passed through the ordeal or the Bar in a manner
to silence all objections as to the adequacy of his
talents and attainments ? Has he been one of the dis-
tinguished advocates engaged successfully for a series
of years in assisting- the Judges of the Courts of law
or equity in Ireland to unravel the intricacies which
perplexed, and dispel the mists which obseured, the
cases brought before them ? Have juries listened to
the persuasion of Iris eloquence, and anxious litigants
sought advice from his legal wisdom, and succour from
his dexterity, judgment, and learning ? To say merely
that Mr. Plunket is the son of the Lord Chancellor,
is surely not enough in such , a case ; and yet
what more, what better, what else that is even so
good, is it possible to say ? Mr. Plunket's descent is,
at the worst, an indifferent circumstance. If it proves
nothing in favour of the appointment, it has at least
the negative merit of proving nothing against it. Should
any attempt be made to seek other excuses for the
appointment than that of parental partiality the
case, although it is not one which admits of being
spoiled, will become even more desperate, if that
be possible, than it is. We earnestly advise the friends
of Lord Plunket, therefore, whenever the appointment
is mentioned in their hearing, to content themselves by
saying that the Noble and Learned Lord, having a
place of 3,000/. a year to give away, could not resist
the temptation of giving it to his son. As to qualifi-
cation for the office, that is a branch of the subject
which the judicious friends of his Lordship, if he have
any such, will anxiously avoid. What, indeed, can
be said in addition to the fact that the new Master in

- - •SI
Chancery is nearly related in blood to the high func-
tionary upon whom the duty of appointing a well-
qualified person to the office devolved ? Can it he
pretended that Mr. Plunket's qualifications for a
Master in Chancery are to be inferred from his recent

possession of the office of Chairman of a Board of
country Magistrates ? The answer to this is so obvi-
ous and overwhelming, that the pretence, we imagine,
will scarcely be advanced. if proof were required that
Mr. Plunket is not of the class of men who, in justice
to the suitors and to the country ought to be made
Masters in Chancery, better proof conic! not be ad-
duced than the mere fact that Lord Piunket, if
not an accurate judge of the talents and learnin(4 of
his sons, is at least nut prone to err on the side of se-
verity, permitted and induced this gentleman to rclin
quish the chances of the Bar—chances in his case in.
calculably improved by the position of his father—to
occupy the comparatively humble, obscure, and un-
profitable position of Chairman of the Meath Ses-
sions, with a salary of seven or eight hundred a year. ,