The Sun.
London, England, 1836-10-08 00:00:00

PUBLIC MEETING IN GREENOCK.

MR. WALLACE'S ADDRESS TO HIS CONSTI.
TUENTS.

Mr. Wallace, the indefatigable Member of Parliament
for Greenock, met his constituents on Monday evening, ac-
cording to previous arrangement, in the Sheriff's Court
Hall, Greenock ; and, as he had done annually since he be-
came a representative in Parliament, resigned his situation
till his conduct should be approved. The Hall was crowded
to excess. Provost M‘Fee occupied the chair, supported
by Bailies Stuart and Stewart.
Mr. WALLACE, on presenting himself to the meeting,
was received with enthusiastic cheering. It would he
quite superfluous, he said, were he to assure them that he
felt great pleasure in meeting with them again. The
kindness which he had received from them enabled him to
say that no other representative was on better terms with
his constituents.—(Great cheering.) He stood before them
in a peculiar situation. He had been four years the re-
presentative of the constituency of Greenock, and this was
the fourth time he had resigned his trust into their hands.
—(Cheers.) By their kindness he had been three times
returned to Parliament, and there had been no immorali-
ties practised in order to secure his return. He had en-
couraged no immoralities in canvassing—he had been re-
turned free of expense, and no person had been driven to
those scenes of vice and dissipation which too frequently ac-
companied elections.—(Renewed cheering.) He had no
danger to fear in placing again into their hands the trust
which they had reposed in him.—(Continued cheering.)
And here was a proof of the unnecessary length of the Par-
liaments. By the bye, in looking over the chronological
events, he had perceived that the Septennial Act was
introduced the same year, 1716, that the Northern
Lights were first discovered—the one discovery was more
harmless than the other, for the seven years Parliament
had entailed a certain degree of slavery, which always
lasted seven years. He would now enter upon a subject
in which he had long taken a deep interest, and in doing
this he would express a hope that the cause of which he
meant now to speak—that of Law Reform—would ere
long be triumphant. He had been induced to notice this
from the encouragement which he had met with in the
course he had pursued, and which was so necessary to his
success, through the memorials and remonstrances which
they—his constituents—had forwarded. Three Bills had
been introduced into the House of Commons ; the Court
of Session Bill, the Sheriff Small Debt Court Bill, and the
Burgh Court Bill, but only two of these—the two first
named, had been taken up. The first of these had been
introduced by himself, so far back as the year 1833 ; and
last session it had been again brought forward by the Lord
Advocate. It was in every respect well matured, yet it
was thrown out by the Lords. With respect to the other
Bill of which lie had spoken, being satisfied that the
Court House i❑ which they now were, was well fitted for
conducting jury trials in civil causes, he had gone to Glas-
gow last week, and taken notes of the proceedings in order
to be able to make the subject still more plain, and lie
would now state his conviction that their own Sheriff might
dispense justice as well, and at far less cost, in their own
Court House, than could be done at Glasgow. He was
sure that excellent Judge now at Glasgow, Lord Jeffrey,
would fully agree in what he had said.—(Great cheering.)
Was it not monstrous that the people of Greenock, of
Dumbarton, and of Paisley, should have to go to Glasgow
for the settlement of their civil causes? They were likely
soon to have a railway to Glasgow, in the forming of which
much valuable property must be broken in upon. Houses
would have to be driven down, iron foundries would have to
be demolished, and entailed estates, the most difficult pro-
perty of all to interfere with, would have to he encroached

upon. Still they were to be sent before a stranger judge in
order to arrange all these intricate affairs, although their
own Sheriff, assisted by 12 or 15 honest men, was perfectly
fitted for all that was to be done. He would declare
solemnly that he would as soon trust his whole property to
the decision of the Sheriff, with the aid of a jury, as to the
whole array now assembled at Glasgow. The Judges
were generally supposed to be hostile to trial by jury—at
least in county Courts. They now called on the Sheriff
to decide in the most difficult causes—provided he did so
according-to lie own individual judgment ; but if he were
to ask the assistance of 12 or 15 honest men, he was imme-
diately declared totally incapable. This was so monstrous
an absurdity that it ought not to be borne. He would
wish it to be kept in mind, however, that in speaking of
the Judges of the Court of Session, he spoke of them as a
body. As individuals, he entertained for them the highest
respect. As an instance of the different aspects in which
their Lordships appeared as members of the Court of Ses-
sion, and as individual Judges, he would remark, that the
decisions of the Lords Ordinary gave universal satisfaction,
while those of the Outer or Inner Houses were viewed by the
public in a very opposite light. The public had no
confidence whatever in the Court of Session ; the Judges,
when assembled in that Court having no individual respon-
sibility. Hence it was that so many appeals were taken
to the House of Peers ; and out of this again rose one of
the difficulties in law reform, as the lawyers found it to be
their interest that such appeals should be numerous.
With respect to the differences existing between an
Edinburgh and a provincial Court, he might express it
in the words of a note, which he had at one time taken,
and which he had found the other day. It might be
composed in the words," wigs, wigs." A respectable, in-
telligent, and able lawyer had at one time actually proposed
to him, that the Sheriffs should wear wigs in their county
courts, in order to put them on a level with the judges. He
would here express his satisfaction at the assistance which
he had obtained from Sir George Clerk and Sir William
Rae, in expressing the farce of attendance on the part of the
judges in the Court of Session. These two gentlemen had
observed with him that the fact of the judges sitting only,
on an average, 2k hours a day, for 5 days in the week, or
104 days in the year, was a monstrous abuse which could
not be too soon remedied, and he was sure that no reflecting
person would hesitate an instant in expressing the same
sentiment.—(Loud cheering.) He would now come to a
subject which many of them might think somewhat of a
hobby of his—he alluded to post-office affairs. It was well
known to the present meeting that, during four long ses-
sions, he had labopred incessantly to reform that once highly
lauded establishment. The real Post-Master-General of
some fifty years standing, was now no more—and while he
would retain the privilege of exposing his official mismanage-
ment, he would abstain, as he had hitherto done, from say-
ing anything personal respecting that individual. Various
Commissions, composed of high sounding names, had en-
quired officially into the allegations which he had brought
against this establishment—these had beenborne out to a won-
derful degree, and in many instances, to the very letter. He
imputed the whole blame and mismanagement to the Secre-
tary and assistant Secretary—excusing the Postmasters-
General on the score of their entire ignorance of, and unfit-
ness for the dutieß. The country at large had encouraged
him in these assertions with the most praiseworthy fortitude,
and he might proudly boast of having been backed by the
entire periodical Press, whilst even the most grovelling
among them had not upheld the conduct of the Postmas-
ters General, or other high officials. The Treasury had
seen proper to remove Mr. Freelin,g, now Sir Henry
Freelin
g, from that department, and in their wisdom
it would appear they bad promoted that gentleman
from a situation in the Post Office of 8001. a year, to
be a Commissioner of the Customs with 1,200/. or 1,4001.
The Post Office inquiry was still in progress under Lord
Duncannon, a Cabinet Minister, Lord Seymour, one of
the Lords of the Treasury, and the Right Honourable H.
Labouchere, Master of the Mint, and Vice-President of the
Board of Trade. Their Reports had made a deep impres-
sion, and the extracts he had taken from the sixth Report
of these very able Commissioners, would be read with no
small degree of astonishment by an intelligent public. His
(Mr. W: s) speeches during the last four years, and the
documents he had repeatedly brought under the notice of
Parliament would show that he had alleged, over and
over, that the actual loss to the country, by the Post Of-
fice Packet Establishment, amounted to many hundred thou-
sand pounds, all of which remained uncontradicted and un-
disproved. Who the guilty persons were he had been un-
able to discover—under whose charge the Establishment
was, the whole evidence and the Reports of the Post
Office Commissioners leave no doubt. The Treasury,
on the meeting of Parliament, would, of eourse, assign
their reasons for appointing Sir Henry Freeling to the
Customs, in the face of an existing enquiry and of the
reports of the various Commissioners, showing an im-
mense loss, and gross malversation, while the authors
remained as yet undeclared. To him this appointment ap-
peared but a poor compliment paid to the Post Office
Commissioners in return for their valuable labours. But
with the Treasury, the Commissioners, and with the public
zealously upholding a reform Ministry, he would now kave
the question, having no desire to appear to follow any indi-
vidual vindictively—it being sufficient for his purpose that
the parties to whom he attributed the whole blame, whether
i
right or wrong no longer held office in an Establishment he
had sought. and would continue to seek the reformation of.
Colonel Maberly was supposed to be an efficient officer—be
had been exchanged from an office of 1,2004 or 1,400/,