The Sun.
London, England, 1853-02-18 00:00:00

lIIJARY 18, 1P53.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS—{YESTERDAY.)
THE LORD-LIEUTENANCY OF IRELAND. '
. ' The Earl of CARDIGAN apologised for intruding
himself upon their lordships, but made the importance
of his topic his justifica.tion. He drew attention to the
recent history of this question, and to the fact that one
or two years since , a .ro easure for' the abolition of the
Lord-Lieutenancyleadtbeen introduced 'lacier the direc-
tion of the present' Secretary for Foreign Affairs—still
Secretary he believed, 'though rumour called him the su-
pernumerary member: of her Majesty's Government.
That noble lord—for whom he had the highest personal
regard—introduced the question. of the abolition of
the Lord-Lieutenancy. The other house came to
divisions on that subject, and the majorities were in-
variably in favour of the measure introduced bythe noble
lord. There was no reason either to suppose it was con-
sidered a party question, as those who supported it
were of different parties. Thus the matter stood ; but,
before putting his question to Government, he was
anxious to make one or two observations. It seemed
to him that those noble:lords, wbo were' Selected to fill
this important post, were placed in a very equivocal and
anomalous position when thus officiating as mock kings,
or, to recall thatexpres,Rion as fictitious kings. He was
perfectly aware that some of these noble lords, placed
though they were in an awkward position, had rendered
great service to their country. He remembered that
a noble lord (Lord Clarendon) had evinced great talent,
and taken great trouble in suppressing disturbances
in Ireland ; • and that ,more recently another (Lord
Eglintoun) by the sound' judgment, discretion, and tact•
he had shown during his Government of that country,
had obtained a very general and a very well deserved
popularity. Still he did not think that even if the noble
earl had not occupied that position, the United Kingdom
we slsl jx, consequence have been dismembered, and he did
think that the noble lords who undertook that position
were exposed to very great difficulties. He would suppose a
case. Some noble lord of the highest and most unblem-
ished character was selected for office over the other side
of the water. The noble lord might be young in age,
and younger still in the peerage of this country, but he
was suddenly moved to the other side of the water to act
as Viceroy of Ireland. He arrived in that country, and
on his arrival there was a great parade of troops to re-
ceive him. Afterwards there were levees and drawing-
rooms, and there the new viceroy had to go through the
form, he would not say of embracing, but of saluting
300 or 400 ladies. (Much laughter.) He would ask
their lordships whether this was a position in which
any noble lord ought to be placed ? Then came din-
ners and fetes at the castle—dinners and fetes which
were very agreeable, and very useful as acts of hospi-
tality, and for the advancement of trade, but not neces-
sary for any one who did not wish to assume royal
habits. The Lord-Lieutenant was surrounded by a splen-
did stall, but the principal duty which they had to per-
form was to carve the joints which were placed upon the
vice-royal board. There was a Master of the Horse
for instance, with, he believed, a very high salary, who '
had to superintend an establishment of six or eight long-
tailed horses. But there was more serious matter be-
hind. A great many of these staff officers were on full
pay in cavalry and infantry regiments. They were
taken Eiway from the military duties of their regiments,
and received salaries for their services on the staff. Ho
thought that a very objectionable system. (Hear.)
It was necessary that the Viceroy should go to the
theatre, on which occasions he went through the streets
of Dublin with a magnificent cavalry escort, and showed
himself off to his admiring subjects. (A laugh.) These
were only some of the follies and absurdities to which
the establishment of a Vice-Royalty in Ireland gave rise,
but he would-now come to the office itself ; and he con-
fessed that from all the information which he had re-
ceived, he believed that that office did not tend to expe-
dite business, but led to various inconveniences. The
chief of these was irresponsibility, for he was told that it
was difficult to find out where responsibility lay. When
parties went to the office of the Lord-Lieutenant in Dub-
lin, they were told, "We can give you no decided
answer—the matter rests with the Imperial Government."
The parties then came over to London, and the answer
they got was, "We can do nothing without the ad-
vice of the Lord-Lieutenant." The noble earl went on to
complain of the frequent changes which took place in the
office of Lord-Lieutenant, and of the manner in which
they reviewed and sometimes reversed the acts of their
predecessors. By abolishing the office the Government
would effect a very useful and economical reform, and
one which should have his firm support. He begged,
in conclusion, to ask whether her Majesty's Government
intended to carry into effect the measure announced by
the noble lord the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, when
Prime Minister of this country, for abolishing the office
of Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland ?
eThe Earl of ABERDEEN observed that, before
answering the question of the noble earl, he might say
that he did not think it necessary to enter into an in-
quiry how far it would be expedient or not to abolish
th - office of Lord-Lieutenant ; nor ehotacl- he inquire
into the various relaxations to which the noble earl
had alluded, by which the anxieties of office were
lightened. With respect to the measure introduced
by his noble friend when he was at the head of affairs
in this country, the subject had no doubt engaged,
more or less, the attention of Parliament and of their
lordships' house ; but he believed ho might say with
truth that, whatever might have been the opinion of his
noble friend at one time, his intention of abolishing the
offic of lord-lieutenant was abandoned before he resigned
the situation of Prime Minister. Whatever might have
been the reasons which induced his noble friend to make
that proposal, it was found that it would be received
with so much aversion in Ireland, than any advantages
which the noble earl had pointed out—even the abolition
of fates, and dinners, and parades—would not compen-
sate for the ill feeling which the measure would generate
in the minds of the people of that country. His noble
friend, therefore, abandoned his intention before he left
office. For his own part, he was afraid that even at
the risk of losing the solid vote of the noble earl, he
should not be able to meet his expectations. The rea-
sons which appeared so strong to the noble earl unfor-
tunately had no weight with him - (the Earl of Aber-
deen) ; but he was surprised that the noble earl should
not have urged those reasons in the course of the last
session. (A laugh). As the noble earl, however, had
now asl-ed what were the intentions of her Majesty's pre-
sent Go' ernment, he could have no hesitation in saying
that they had no intention of abolishing the office.
The Earl of WICKLOW expressed his disappoint.
ment ar the answer which had been given by the noble
earl at the head of her Majesty's Government. From
the difficulties of communication between the two coun-
tries, it was formerly necessary that some person should
reside in Ireland to exercise the prerogative of mercy.
No such necessity existed now, and if the office of Lord-
' Lieutenant was to be continued, at all events the prero-
gative of mercy ought no longer to be intrusted to a

viceroy.
The Earl of DESART fully acknowledged the ano-
maly of the present system, but considered that better
reasons should be assigned than those which had been
alleged for abolishing an office which had been in exist-
ence five centuries.
The conversation then terminated.
LAW REFORM.
Lord BROUGHAM laid on the table a bill to extend
to Scotland the provisions of the act passed in 1851, to
amend the law of evidence, by making the parties to
suits examinable as witnesses. The noble and learned
lord took occasion to make some remarks on the scheme
of law reform lately laid before the house b 7 the Lord
Chancellor, and characterised it as an attempt to "mark
time," without making any real progress. He approved,
however, of the resolution of the Government to proceed
with the Registration of Charitable Trusts Bills, and to
make a digest of the law, than which nothing could be
more important. The noble and learned lord had
observed, also, on a subject in which he took an interest,
the question, not of abolishing trial by jury, but in
certain cases giving an option to the parties. He admitted
that it required great consideration ; but he could
not forget that the experience of the County Courts,
where parties had the option of having a jury, or taking
the decision of the judge, in ninety-nine cases out of
every hundred they did not choose to have a jury. There
were one or two other subjects on which he wished to
express an opinion, but when the bills were brought in,
he should have abundant opportunity of discussing them.
He hoped his noble and learned friend would apply his
mind to other matters as well as those upon which he
had given notice of his intention to proceed ; and such
was his entire confidence in the good sense, learning,
and experience of his noble and learned friend, that he
felt assured he would treat them in- accordance with
those sound, rational, and moderate views which he was
known to entertain. (Cheers.)
The LORD CHANCELLOR said he could assure
their lordships, and his noble and learned friend in
particular, that no one in that house regretted more
than he did that he had felt bound to make that state-
ment on a day when his noble and learned friend was
not present in his place. But he would observe, it
might well have been supposed out of doors that he
wanted to mark time instead of advancing, if he
had not taken the very earliest opportunity of stating
to their lordships, and through their lordships to the
country, what were the intentions of the Government on
the important subject of law reform. Had he known
that his noble and 'milled friend would so soon be in the
house, he might, perhaps, have been induced to make
that statement somewhat later. He took some blame
to himself that he did not make the inquiry ; but it did
not occur to him that his noble and learned friend would
not be there, so he gave notice on the first night of the
session that on Monday he would make the statement
which he then did. He regretted his noble and learned
friend was not present, because he felt persuaded he
would have seen that he (the Lord Chancellor) exhi-
bited no intention of marking time, but of advancing, as
he was sure his noble friend would wish him to do,
safely and surely. (Hear, hear.) He had announced
his intention of immediately proceeding with the Regis-
tration Bill, amended, he hoped, but certainly laboured on
by him. He stated also that the Charities Bill, which
was not exactly the same as the bill introduced a session
or two ago, was in such a state of progress, that he
hoped in a short time to lay it on the table of the house
and he pbowed that, having the means, he intended