The Sun.
London, England, 1840-07-17 00:00:00

SCOTCH JUDGES.

Lord LYNDHURST said he rose to put a ques-
tion to the Noble Marquis (Lansdowne) respecting
the Judges of the Court of Session in Scotland. On
several occasions the salaries and retiring allow-
ances of the Judges of England and Scotland
had been increased, but on a late occasion the
name of Judge Cranstown had been omitted. The
Noble and Learned Lord then passed a high and elo-
quent eulogium on the Learned Judge, in which their
Lordships appeared fully to concur, and concluded by
expressing the hope that the omission had not arisen
from any desire to deteriorate the character of that
Learned Judge, or to undervalue his services.
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE entirely concurred
in thehigh eulogium just passed by the Noble and Learned
Lord on Judge Cranstown, and emphatically denied that
there had been any intention of the kind adverted to.
The Bill to which his Noble and Learned Friend al--
luded had passed with a clause which was introduced
for the purpose of new modelling the salaries, and'un-
der that Bill an increased salary would have been given
to Mr. Cranstoun, and nothing but the omission of that
clause prevented that being done. Fortunately her
Majesty's Government had the satisfaction of knowing
that he retired in circumstances of independence, and
that he was followed into that retirement by the re-
spect and admiration of all who knew him.—(Hear,
hear.) Perhaps he might be permitted to show that that
feeling pervaded her Majesty's Government by reading a
paragraph of a letter addressed to Mr. Cranstoun by
Lord John Russell, who was then at the head-of the
department in immediate connexion with the adminis-
tration of justice in Scotland :—" In making this com-
munication I cannot refrain from expressing my very
serious regret that the services of so high a character
should have been prematurely lost to the people of
Scotland ; and that the Bench and the country should
have been so suddenly and painfully deprived of the
assistance of one so well calculated in every way to
elevate its character, and give confidence to its deci-
sions."—( Hear.)
Lord BROUGHAM said, no one who had assisted
in the administration of justice either at the bur or the
bench, could allow that opportunity in point of strict
justice, and in the discharge of a strict public duty,
to pass by without joining his testimony to that
already borne, to the genius, the le trning, and the
integrity of that eminent man.—( Hear, hear.) That
they should see the space he had left vacant filled,
however, he rather hoped than expected. One thing
he would take leave to add to what his Noble Friend
had stated with respect to the project once in
contemplation, which would have added Lord Core.
house to the Members of that House, that it
was not one Ministry but successive Governments,
who having entertained that plan, by the com-
mon consent of all parties fixed their view upon Lord
Corehouse. But for the objection of a general nature
which caused its abandonment, that accomplished Law-
yer and Venerable Judge would have become an orna-
ment of the assembly which he had now the honour of
addressing.
Lord DENMAN felt bound also to bear his testi-
mony to the high judicial character of Mr. Cranstoun.
He hoped, at some future period, the other House of
Parliament would feel that a debt of gratitude re-
mained to be paid to Mr. Cranstoun.
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE moved for the
return of minutes of proceedings before the Privy
Council on the , subject of education, which he said
would be satisfactory to all who took an interest in the
important subject of education.
The Archbishop of CANTERBURY expressed
satisfaction at what had fallen from the Noble Mar-
quess, and was gratified that all the differences that had
existed on the subject between the authorities of the
Church of England and the Committee of the Privy
Council, with respect to the appointment of inspectors
of schools had been arranged.
THE REGENCY.

The Lord CHANCELLOR then rose and said,
My Lords, I trust your Lordships will be of opinion that
the importance of the subject to which I am about to
call your Lordships' attention justifies me in depart-
ing from that which is the custom of this House
not to make a statement on any Bill until it comes
to the second reading. But, my Lards, I am anxious
that your Lordships should be put in possession
of the general provisions of this Bill before it is placed
in your Lordships' hands. Your Lordships will re-
collect that immediately before the accession of
her Majesty to the Throne it was thought necessary to
make a provision for the only contingency which
might at that time occur, and which appeared
to be a possible event—of the Crown descend-
ing to an illustrious individual who, from his impor-
tant position as the Sovereign of another country,
_might not be in these dominions at the time of his ac-
cession to the sovereignty. For that contingency
your Lordships and the other House of Parlia-
ment thought it proper to make a provision
for the Government of the country until the
Sovereign himself should arrive to fulfil the duties and
prerogatiies which so devolved upon him. That is
not the only contingency, my Lords, which is now to
be guarded against. An event may occur Alich
for a long series of years may leave the cone-
try in this state that the heir to the Throne
may be an infant of tender years, and incapable of dis-
charging the duties and of exercising the rights and pre-
rogatives ofa Sovereign. That is a contingency which your
Lordships do not contemplate—( Loud cries of " Hear,
hear")—and if the prayers of a nation be heard, it will
not occur.—(Much cheering.) The nation hopes, my
Lords, that the life of her Majesty may be prolonged,
far beyond the term when the presumptive heir may
arrive at a majority.—(Cheers.) But it is necessary
for your Lordships, with all trust in Providence,
to . guard against the possibility of that event
which might happen at any term within a long
series of affairs, during which the heir to the Throne
would be in a state of infancy. Your Lordships have
therefore to consider whether it is not ex-
pedient to guard against this possibility, and
to provide the means by which, in such an
event, the Royal functions should be exercised.
If that should be your Lordships' opinion of the
duty of Parliament, and your Lordships should
think it expedient now to make the provision, the
question then will be—First, To whom the important
right of exercising the royal powers, during the infancy
of the Sovereign, shall be confided, and whether
theta shall be any provision made as to the mode in
which that individual shall exercise those functions. It
is a relief to me in submitting a measure for this pur-
pose to your Lordships'consideratien, to find that under
circumstances very similar the opinion of Parliament
was declared in an Act passed in the year 1830. I say
it is a great satisfaction to me, because that Act passed
under circumstances which entitled it pre-eminently to
the consideration of this House, and not only re-
ceived the sanction of both Houses, and became the
law of the land, but was introduced by a Noble and
Learned Friend, a member of the then Administration.
It made but little progress before that Administration
changed, but it contained provisions so much ap-
proved of by Parliament, that it was taken
up by the Government which followed, and became law
by the unanimous approbation of all parties in Parlia-
ment. I said it was a great satisfaction to me to find that
precedent, because it enables me to recall to your Lord-
ships' recollection the provisions introduced into that
measure on the two subjects I have referred to, and
therefore supersedes in a great measure the necessity of
travelling back to .an earlier period of our history,
and to the discussions of former Parliaments. The
Act of 1830 was passed on the accession of
his late Majesty, her present Majestybeing then. of
tender years : of years that it would have been lm-
possible. for her, if the crown had descended to her,
for her personally to have administered its duties. The
provisions of
that Act Were, that in that event the
illustrious Mother of her Majesty should have the guar-