The Sun.
London, England, 1823-06-06 00:00:00

manifesethe utter and.egregious fallacy °Mile argument, heha:l
only to tell the House that it was the Lord Chancellor himself
who appointed what business was to go before the Vice-Chan-
cellor, and. that the suitors had no election whatever in the
matter. That Learned Poison (the Vice-Chancellor) was one
of the quickest in decision and examination that ever was
known to sit on the Bench. But he was not there to insti-
tute a comparison between these. two Learned Judges. At
the same time it was no discredit...to the Master of the Rolls
that he did not run an equal race with his competitor and co-
temporary. The inference which his H ou. and Learned Friend
had drawn from the premises was notoriously false, and' he
did not see any occasion for his introducing the observation
at all. 'lt was in the same erroneous spirit that his re-
marks upon the Chancellor of Ireland had been made. But
what it was his particular wish in rising to point out to the
House, although he could not suppose it had escaped obteerva-
don,. was the personal spirit in which that debate had been
carried on from beginning to end. - In the first place be referred
to the opening speech of his Hon. and Learned Friend (Mr.
Williams), which, however, it had avoided, which he admitted
it had, in terms, to attack the personal character of the Lord
Chancellor ; he appealed to Those who heard him, that such
had been the impression of all who were present at its de-
livery. For instance, he alluded to an insinuation of a sure
reptilians decree, on which instead of disclaiming all belief
of it, his Hon. and Learned' Friend had said, I gave no
opinion upon this—l leave the House to judge for itself on the
facts 1 have laid before it." Was it possible for any one to
doubt the conviction of the Speaker, or the impression he wished
to make on his hearers ?—( Hear!)--Ile admired the adroitness
of his Hon. and Learned Friend, but as he was a man of a can-
did and honourable mind, he would disdain to shelter himself
from such a charge under the garbled words of the statement.
It was not the private or public character of the Lord Chan-
cellor they were engaged or called upon to trY...it was not his
mental or moral capacity for his situation. Yet the whole
course of the debate on the other side assumed that that was the
real question. The Hon. and Learned Member for Nottingham
(Mr. Denman), in speaking to the question before the House,
thought tit to make allusion, as all his Hon. Friends had done,
to that Noble and Learned Lord. According to him, he doubted
and hesitated upon all questions of law ; but whenever a poll-
tical question came before him, his doubts vanished at once,
and he rushed with fearful speed to a conclusion. In illus.
tration of this, his Hon. and Learned Friend adduced the
instance of the Queen—and eternally the Queen it ever was
with his Hon. and Learned Friend, let the question be what it
would.—(Hear, hear !)—Upon that occasion, he acted with be-
coining promptitude, and with false and corrupt motives.—
( Hear from the Opposition.)—Those cheers he took to re-affirm
that doctrine—if so, it proved all lie was asking, viz, that his
Hon. and Learned Friend meant to make a personal attack
on the Lord Chancellor.—( Hear, hear! from the Ministerial
Benches.)—Then, again, the same Honourable and Learned
Member said, that in the Portsmouth Case, the Lord
Chancellor made a, wrong decision eight years ago. Thus
he first attacked his integrity, and then his ability to discharge
the duties of his office, and thus it was, that throughout
the debate in tone, topics, and in argument, every thing on
the other side had been personal. It was urged, amongst
other things, that the appointment of the Vice-Chancellor's
Court had been a failure. By the documents on the table
the business dispatched in that Court was prodigious. lf,
therefore, that Court had not been created, the conse-
quence must have been that the whole of that business would
not have been done. It was impossible the Lord Chancellor
could do more than he did. For six months in the year he
had to attend three days in the week to the laborious duties of
hearing and deciding on Scotch appeals. After the conclusion
of the Session of Parliament came on the Bankrupt Petitions,
the accuracy and intelligence required in which was really
astonishing. It was characterized by the late Sir S. Romilly as
one of die most extraordinary displays of legal talent and legal
acumen that had ever been witnessed. With respect to the Chief
Baron of the Exchequer, from what feeling. his name had
been introduced he would not attempt to divine; but it was
certain that his absence had caused no inconvenience to his
Court as there were no arrears. He sat there before last term,
and was at that very day sitting in his Court, to the detriment
of his private comfort and health in faVour of his public duty.
But the way to view this question in its true light was to oi-
-1 amine what real foundation there was for that inquiry and re-
medy called for. It was called for on the ground of great
in
wereall
arrears in all the Equity Courts. Now he denied that there
ntloinese,e Courts. In d
win aidemiVueiced-Ctlareriecelwloerr'es
hwvais.beaednmdititsepdostehderoetiwanerde
in these
none, .In the Court of Exchequer there were none, and it had
also been admitted ; and in the office of the Master of the
fe
therear,
the Court of Chancery it appeared that in ten years 20,000
no ar-
rears. ,In the same period five or six thousand petitions had
hear
been heard, and in these there were no arrears. In the
causes there watt exactly, one-tenth in arrears, and the 'louse
would mark the conclusion from that fact, viz, :—That
there was just one year in arrear, and no more. This was
all the immense load of arrears, and with the exception of
I the appeals -he defied any one to point out mord in any
lof the Equity 'Courts. This being admitted, he asked if that
VMS an uncommon arrear in any of the Courts at *Westminster-
Hall. In the appeals it appeared 104 were arrear, die earliest
of which was dated in 1619. In this department, therefore, there
was no more than one year's arrear. Thus the only argument
on which it was attempted to support the motion, fell to the
ground. The motion was for inquiry, and it was incumbent on
those who made it, to make out a case. This he conceived
they had not done, and therefore he called on the House not to
listen to the motion.—( Hear, hear !)
Mr. Secretary CANNING assured the House it was
not his intention to detain them many minutes longer, nor
should he have intruded himself at all, the only unlearned
man who had offered to take part in the debate, but for, the
personal allusion to himself, made by the Hon. and Learned
Gentleman who opened the discussion. He believed that the
Right Hon. Gentleman in the Chair and himself were the only
two persons who hind been present during the whole of the
to the
debate ; and be was quite wiping to hear Ins testimony
character for talent of the English Bar, who out of a subject
stedry in its nature, and so perplexing in the details, had con-
trived to make to interesting, and instructive a discussion as
he had found it. The ques.ion was with reference to the
arrears of the Court of Chancery and the appellant jurisdiction
of the House of Lords, and on neither of those heads had a case
been made out, as it appeared to him. He admitted the part
he had taken in 1813, the period of the creation of the ice-
Chancellor's Court, and although his prophecies had been ad-
verted to on that occasion, be could have no objection, for the
public good, that they should be falsified. If substantial busi.
ness had been done in that Court, pro toe°, the Bill had been
answered. If not, the arrears of the Court of Chancery would
skew it; whereas it appeared those arrears were reduced
below what the imagination of man could have suppsed.
But even supposing that it were otherwise, the argument
against raising a certain superstructure was not good for
its demolition when raised. If a man broke his leg .I,v
tumbling out of a window, it would not cure him to throw
him in again.—(A laugh.)—The view he took on the oc-
casion alluded to, therefore, availed nothing in this ques-
tion. Then us to the second point, the appellant jurisdic-
tion of the House of Lords, the introduction of that would
lead him to his vote that night. The Lords were themselves
engaged in a'scheme to remedy the evil complained of there,
and it would neither be expedient nor proper for that Heuer!
to enter upon the same course, before the result of the labours
were(:)intl otittlirsot isthere arrears
of the other House was known. He could not admit with his
Hon. and Learned Friend. (the Solicitor-General), that there
had been any studied unkindness evinced towards the Lord
Chancellor on the part of Gentlemen opposite.. He thought
much that meant no ill, but % Mel might have evil eonsequencee,
had been inadvertently said, and he hoped the Howse would
take care in its decision to clear itself from any idea of casting
an iniputation upon the character of that Noble Personage.—
Many things had undoubtedly been said, which would be caught
up out of doors, and affixed as a stain on the talents and integrity
of that Noble Lord. On this ground alone, be would not vote
with the Hon. and Learned Member; even had lie no other ob-
jections. He would do nothing, and he hoped the House
would suety there was no disposition on its part to cast any
imputation, by the vote of that night, on the personal charact‘ r
of that Noble and Learned Individual.--(Hear, hear!)
Sir F. BLAKE said, that if the suitors of' the Chancery
Court for the last 119 years were to have , the decision of' this
question, the noes would stand no chanceeand the ayes carry it
by acclamation.
After a lengthened reply from Mr. WILLIAMS, the House
divided—

For the Motion

89
174
Majority -85
The other Orders of the Day were then disposed of, and the
house adjourned at HALF-PAST Two.

Against it

This clay being the Anniversary of the Birth
of GE ()Roy; 1717:11I0T, is observing with the usual marks of re-
spect to the memory of so excellent a citizen.- The boys of the
Hospital founded by Mr; /I eriot (amounting in number to 181)',
and those of Watson's Hospital, and the girls of the Merchants'
and Trades' Hospitals, walked in procession, newly clothed,
to the New Greyfriare Church, where the Lord Provost. Na.
gistrates and other Governors attended. The , sermon was
preached by the Rev. Pr. William Muir, Minister of the New
Oreyfriars Church. The statue of the-founder of. the Hospital
Is very tastefully decorated with flowers.--(Ediniltrgh Corr rent,
June 2.)