The Sun.
London, England, 1841-07-02 00:00:00

THE SITN, LONDON, FRIDAY, JITLY 2. 1841:

THE IRISH CHANCELLORSHIP.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN
Sia,—Believing that your Journal is conducted on the
principle of giving fair play to all classes, I solicit the
admission of a few remarks on the above-named subject.
I am not one of those who forget the just feeling gene-
rally manifested towards Ireland by the present Ministry;
and for that reason I would forego any observations on
the appointment of Lord Campbell to the Irish Chancery,
but that some misrepresentation and great error exists
in this country as to the opinions and the treatment of
the Irish bar. But first permit me to notice some topics
urged against the appointment my dissent from which,
although disapproving of the appointment, I the more
willingly record, as, where no party feeling exists, it is
as undesirable as it is unjust to take advantage of an un-
founded objection, however plausible or popular. It is
objected that Lord Campbell has been chiefly
a practitioner at the Common Law bar. Was
Lord Eldon a bad Equity Judge, although taken
from a Court of Common Law, to be placed
on the Chancery Bench ? Was Lord Lyndhurst not an
instance to refute the objections entertained against one
of the best qualifications which a Chancellor could have?
Much as it was the fashion to decry Lord Brougham's
merit as a Chancellor, has not the attempt been defeated
by the result of the appeals against his decisions ? The
well-known maxim, " Equitas sequitur legem," has been
fully exemplified by the generally superior success of
eminent common law practitioners, when called to the
Chancellorship. Another objection is, that the Whigs,
although at present holding office by a precarious tenure,
have appointed a new Chancellor at the commencement
of the long vacation, a change of Ministry being pro-
bable before the beginning of term. It appears to me
that no duty is more imperative on any Ministry than
that of performing their public acts in accordance with
public convenience, without regard to the vicissitudes
to which all Ministries are subject. The ques-
tion hero is, was a change in the Irish Chan-
cellorship necessary, or at least useful, to the public ?
Painful as it may
.be to speak of the growing infirmity
of a great man, it is not unkind to tell the English reader
what the,,lrist:practitioners have for some time known.
That the number and the result of the objections tto
many of Lord Plunket's later decrees, give warning
which it does not disparage that Nobleman fame to re-
spect. The special agreement regarding the retiring
pension removes all ground of cavil arising from Minis-
terial vicissitudes ; and, assuming the propriety of a
change, no period of the year can be more suited to the
public interest than at the commencement of a recess
which aftbrds to the new official who, especially if a
stranger, needs leisure to study the local practice and
peculiarities. To me it appears that the real, and the
only, ground of objection to the appointment of a stranger
is, that it deprives the Irish bar of that fair share of pro-
nibtion to which they, as well as Englishmen, are en-
titled. It is for the public benefit that a profession, en-
gaged in such responsible duties, should have the ordi-
nary incentives. But, in this case, the Irish Solicitor-
General (the Attorney-General being a Catholic, is ex-
cluded by the sectarian legislation of this country),
the Irish Sergeants and the leading men of the Irish
bar, arc passed by on the occasion of a vacancy, which if
it had occurred in England, would, as every one knows,
have been filled up from the English Bar alone. The
English newspapers affect to accuse the Irish Bar with
exclusiveness—they repeat the liberal-hearted proposi-
tion (made by Spring Rice !) that Ireland should be
called West Britain, in order to cement the friendly
feelings between the two countries. All this kindness is
to result in a reciprocity all on one side. No Irish bar-
rister has ever yet sat on the English Bench. But the
liberality has been evinced merely by placing English
barristers on the Bench in Ireland and in Scotland ; and
here let me define the words, for they have been used in
a sense calculated to lead the people of England astray—
the words English, Irish, or Scotch barristers mean not
to designate the birth-place of the individuals, but the
bar for which they have been trained, and to
which they have committed their prospects in life.
Charles Phillips is a member of the Irish Bar, but he
dots not by virtue of that degree practise here. If a
man were of fifty years' standing and practice as an Irish
Barrister, or as an English Barrister, he is compelled,
on becoming desirous of transferring his practice from
one country to the other, to become again a student,
and keep terms, as such, in the Inns of Court, and to
pay over again the cost and nharges of taking a Barris-
ter's degree. The Scotch her is similarly circum-
stauced, but with some show of reason, seeing that the
course of legal study in that part of the United Kingdom
differs to a very considerable extent from that requisite
in England and Ireland. Some observations in The Sun
of Friday last, are calculated to create mistakes on this
point, for in no instance is a Scotch or Irish Barrister
admitted to practice in the Courts here, unless he goes
through the full course in the English Inns of Court, and
pays the full fees, according to the rules laid down for
students in this country. The house of Lords and the
House of Commons are Imperial and not provincial, as
all other Courts in Great Britain and Ireland are, and by
virtue of that quality, barristers of all parts of the
kingdom, have equal right to practice before the t\vo
Houses. The Irish bar does not deserve the non-
sensical charge of exclusiveness urged by the English
press against the recent manifestation of disapproval.
The objection to the placing of. English barristers on the
Irish Bench is that there is no reciprocal equivalent—
that no Irish barrister was ever yet appointed to the
English bench—that the man- who devotes himself to
the Irish bar, has but a part of the Irish promotion,
whilst the English barrister, together with his exclusive
promotion in his own country, is generally quartered
upon Ireland whenever the highest vacancy occurs there.
The objection to Lord Campbell's appointment is but an
objection to the one-sided system which the Irish are called
upon to bear—with liberality ! !
The place of Lord Campbell's birth, or of any man's
birth, has nothing to with the question. No one ever
objected to Judge Burton's appointment to the Bench, of
which he is an ornament. He is an Englishman, but he
is also an Irish barrister. But it is not fair that a man
who throughout his career has enjoyed the splendid
prospects of the wealthier bar, should retire on the emo-
luments which should of right be bestowed on an Irish
practitioner. I am, Si
AN IRISH BARRISTER.

SPIRIT of th

LAMBETH ELECTION.
Mr. L. D'EINCOURT (in continuation from. our Evening Edition
of yesterday) saitt,Their oppotitnis thought to find the giant of Libe-
ralism in Lambeth sleeping ; they Wad found him partly slumbering,
but they had roused him, and he had given them a " back.hander,"

buch a; it would be. long before they would recover from or

forget.—(Loud cheers.) Mr. Hawes had expressed to them
much better than he could, the principles on which
his (Mr. L. D'Eyncourt's) father had acted and meant to act.
He (Mr. T. D'Eyncourt) had always acted upon those principles,

which had first recommended him to their notice.—(Cheers.) Fo.r

years he had advocated those measures which her Majesty's Minis-
ters now proposed to the country. From the first he had advocated the
repeal of the Corn-laws.—(Cheers.) And he need not assure them
his father's public character was a sufficient guarantee that he
. _ _

would continue to act on the same principles.—(Cheers.) So far
as his father ' was concerned no elector need call for
shortening the duration of Parliament, for he had desired
him (Mr. L. D'Eyncourt) to assure them that if any numerous
body of electors at any time should express a wish that he

should resign his trust into their hands, he would be ready to
do it.--(Cheers.) They had now responded to the call which their
truly patriotic Queen—(Loud cheering)—had made to the

country to rally round her Ministers. The Tories, no doubt,
would obtain a majority in the next Parliament—(No, no)—but let
them await the result. They were now full of liberal professions,
and advocates of the extension of trade, of education, and, in

_ .
short, for all the measures the Liberals themselves had so long ad.
vocated, but they were advocates in words only.—(Loud cheers.)
He dared say many of them had heard of a body of assassins in
India called Thugs, who would meet a man with professions of the

greatest respect, eat and drink with him, and insinuate themselves
into his confidence in every possible way, but when he slept,
trusting to their friendly protection, would strangle him as he slept.
The Tories were full of these liberal professions, but as soon as
corresponding measures were proposed in the House, their only
object would be to strangle them.—(Loud cheers.) The Corn_
law monopoly would be continued, that monopoly by which a class

was supported by the robbery of many.—(Cheers.) They would
have national education, but it must be taught by high church
schoolmasters—(Cheers)—and no p ,or man's child would be taught
to read and write until it had been first thoroughly imbued with
the 39 articles.—(Loud cheers.) These were the only liberal

measures they would receive from the Tories, and he
doubted not that before long such would become the
abhorrence of Tory misrule that our noble Queen would again
appeal to the people, and appeal with success.—(Loud cheers.)
Before he retired, he wished to mention one circumstance. During
the short time they had had to prepare for that struggle their

united Committees had placed their whole reliance on Mr. William
llawes, and every thing that was not owing to the spirited con-

duct of the electors was owing to him.—(Cheers.) He wished
therefore to say on behalf of his father's Committee who had now

for the first time united with that of Mr. Hawes, that they en-
tertained the highest sense of that gentleman's truly valuable ser-
vices, and also of the manner in which Mr. liwes himself had

advocated their cause.—(Cheers.) He would now only detain
them further by expressing to them again, on behalf of his father,
his most grateful thanks for their generous support.—(Cheers.)
Mr. BARKER then came forward to propose a vote of thanks to
the Returning Officer for his conduct during that election. He
(Mr. B.) was truly grateful to him for the disinterested assistance
that he had given him yesterday, but having said
that, he feared he must stop there, for, to his own
knowledge, there was not a single metropolitan borough so
badly registered or arranged for polling purposes.—(Loud cheers.)
Would they believe it, the very hustings he stood on, and beneath
which they had to transact their business, was only of an elevation
of five feet six inches or five feet seven inches? Moreover he
(Mr. B.), who l.ved in the Kent-road, was obliged to come there
to vote and pass a polling-booth on his way.—(Shame, shame.) He
thought, however, Mr. M'Lean and the body who had acted under
him were entitled to their best thanks for their able services.
He would now give them a parody, he thought at that mo.
ment might be fitly applied to the Tory Candidates. They all re.
membered the old school verses called the "Beggar's Petition?'
He thought he might say of them—
Pity the sorrows of two poor old raen,
\Vhose trembling limbs have borne them to your door,
Whose cause has (swindled to the shortest span,
Pay their expenses and they'll come no more.
—(Loud cheers and laughter.)
Mr. Was. HAWES came forward and said he should protest
against any vote of thanks being given to the Returning Officer.—
(Cheers and uproar.) From the first moment he was in possession
of the writ, every obstacle that one man could throw in the way of
the proceedings of this election, had been used by him.—
(Cries of " Shame.") The returning officer denied that.
When the writ was issued there was no opposition thought of, and
the nomination might have taken place on Monday, if he had acted
as the High Bailiff of Southwark had done.—(Cheers.) He was
applied to on the night he received the writ, to appoint a day for
the nomination, but he would not do so.—(Shame, shame.) And
during this *lay an opposition was formed. Every other arrange-
ment of the election was in accorda.ice with this. He (Mr.
Hawes) resided at Denmark-hill, and he had to pass
1 y that place (Kennington) and go to Stangate to give his vote.—
(Hear, hear, and cries of "Shame.") Gentlemen living at Den-
mark-hill and Brixton, .and its neighbourhood, almost all kept their
carriages, and were mostly Tories, and it was no matter where
they went. (Cheers and laughter.) But the hardship was thrown
on the poor man, who was called from his work to poll at booths
several miles distant. By the arrangements of the returning officer,
all sorts of difficulty was thrown in the way.—(Shame.) With re-
gard to the vote of thanks, he would not propose an amendment to
that motion ; but as chairman of Mr. Hawes' Committee, on be.
half of them he would protest against that vote.—(Loud cheers.)
Mr. HOPE (the Returning Officer) then came forward, and said
he could not see why they should throw blame on him, as he had
nothing whatever to do with the distance parties had to come to vote,
as he was obliged to put 300 voters to each booth, and he took them
numerically as they appeared on the register, and not with regard to
the residences of the p4ities ; therefore, he thought that the
charge against him with regard to the residences of the voters was
not made out. With respect to the construction of the booths,
he would refer them to the time that was given for their erection,
and let that speak for itself.—(Uproar.) It would have been quite
impossible to have constructed them in any other way in the time
allowed. Had he not ordered the booths to be built as they were,
the electors would have had no place to have given their votes in.
—( Hear, hear.) He had endeas oared to throw as little
delay in the way of the proceedings as possible, and in the
arrangements, politics were never considered. He was not even a
voter on the register. He would scorn to use any influence, if he
possessed any, to the prejudice of any one.—(Loud cheers.) He
would tell them that he was not a paid officer.—(A voice in the
crowd—" Who gets the Is. for registering F') He did not—he
got no payment whatever—his services and his trouble were unre-
quited. The poll-clerks were paid, but he was not.—(Uproar.)
He had also been charged with delaying the Proclamation. He
could not have issued it earlier, as he had previous engagements
which prevented him.—(Cries of " Name them.") He made the
Proclamation within the time limited by law. Here-great confu-
sion arose, and Mr. Hope became quite inaudible, and at length

retired.
Mr. Cox said he wished to put a question to the Returning
Officer ; he would ask him if the arrangements were the same as
at the last election ? We understood Mr. Hope to say that they

were not.
Mr. Cox then came forward amidst great noise and confusion.
He said he was one of those who liked to hear both sides of the
question. He had done so on the present occasion, and he would
say that a more lame defence then that of the returning officer he
had never heard in the whole course of his life.—(Cheers.) He
(Mr. Cox) was one of the parties who had felt the inconvenience of
Mr. Hope's arrangements. Mr. Cox proceeded amidst great up-
roar, and concluded by moving, That the censure of this meet-
ing be given to the returning officer for his conduct on this occa-
sion.''— (Cheers and uproar )
Mr. SELL, a gentleman in front of the hustings in the crowd,
said he wonld second the motion.
Mr. PALMER came. forward, and said he thought they
were rather hard upon Mr. Hope. He (Mr. Palmer) would
take it for granted that the lesson they had given him (Mr. Hope)
would be all sufficient.—(Cries of " Put the amendment.'') He
(Mr. Palmer) hoped the gentleman would withdraw his amend_
ment.—(Great uproar.)
Mr' Cox said he should not do so, as he saw no reason for it.
Mr. Cox then put the amendment himself, which he declared to be
carried ; but the meeting did not seem to understand the ques-
tion, and very few hands were held up.
A vote of thanks was then proposed and carries unanimously
for Mr. Wm. Hawes.
Three cheers were given for the Queen, and three groans for
he Tories, and the meeting separated.