The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-24 00:00:00

Jenins

LONDON, MONDAY, AUGUST 24, 1846.

Sincerely do we anticipate, and cordially do we
hope, that the Noble Lord the Member for Lynn,

will henceforth be deterred from that recklessness of

accusation for which, during the present session, he
has acquired such an unenviable notoriety. Let him
in future, for the sake of his Parliamentary character,
bottle his acerbity ! Never, possibly, has a repre-
sentative evinced such boldness in the arraignment of
contemporary statesmen, and never has a representa-
tive been reduced to such unfortunate straits by the
fluency and audacity of his tongue. FOUQUIER
TINVILLE had not abetter right to the title of " Public
Accuser." The redoubtable Member for Knares-
borough has scarcely ever made himself more
eminently ridiculous. And if, as the ex-Chancellor
insinuated, Lord GEORGE BENTINCK'S tongue does
" out-venom all the worms of Nile," he
will find that eating his own words is a
very, poisonous kind of deglutition. A more crush-
ing explanation never supervened upon any one of
the Noble Lord's gratuitous personalities than that
given on Saturday afternoon by Lord LYNDHURST.
Sir ROBERT PEEL'S masterly refutation of the
charges in reference to the moral assassination of
Mr. CANNING was scarcely comparable to that
eclaircisement. The philippic delivered on Thursday
evening, by Lord LYNDHURST, was not so painfully
conclusive as the simple statement of facts uttered by
that Noble Lord on Saturday.

Our readers cannot have forgotten our exposition
of the nature of Lord G. BENTINCK'S intimation with
regard.to the:ex 'Chancellor. Any recapitulation would,
therefore, be:altogether superfluous. Scarcely had
our comments upon that matter gone through the
press, when Lord LYNDHURST had risen in his place
in the Upper House, had given a dignified explana-
tion of the circumstances alluded to, and had scorn-
fully and emphatically repelled the deductions drawn
from those circumstances by the Noble Lord the
representative of Lynn. Our opinion that the fact
of a message being sent by the ex-Chancellor to
Lord G. BENTINCK, on the 10th of July last, might
still be consistent with the ministerial rectitude and
political integrity of the former, has been fully cor-
roborated by his very candid avowal.
From that avowal the following circumstances ap-
pear :—Lord LYNDHURST regretted the dispersion of
the Conservative party; and, regretting it, he con-
sidered within himself whether it might not be pos-
sible " that former differences should be forgotten
now that the great measure which had caused those
differences had been passer One Smongst other

consequences of this reflection was, that an applica-
tion was made to Lord GEORGE BENTINCK. So far
the account given by the noble representative of
Lynn is straightforward (Dough, but only so far.
First of all, the application was not (as had been in-
sinuated) of a secret character; secondly,:thatapplica-
tion had no reference whatever (as had been in-
sinuated) to the sugar question ; and thirdly, that ap-
plication was not made (as had been insinuated) for
the purpose of reinstating Lord LYNDHURST in office,
as keeper of her Majesty's conscience. All these
malign accusations have been thoroughly disproved
by the Noble and Learned Lord last mentioned.
Far from endeavouring to re-organise the Conservative
party sub rosa, Lord LYNDHURST had called per-
sonally upon Sir R. PEEL and Sir J. GRAHAM; he had
then applied to Lord G. BENTINCK as the ostensible
leader of a large division of the dispersed
Conservatives ; he had subsequently made similar
applications elsewhere to bring about a political re •
conciliation. " More than this," continues the Noble
and Learned Lord, " I mentioned it to several Noble
Lords who are members of this House, and amongst
others I stated it to a Noble Lord opposite, whom I
have now in my eye.—(' hear, hear,' from the Earl
of CLARENDON)" Far from making the application to
the Noble Member for Lynn with the intention cf
interfering in the Bill for the equalization
of the differential sugar duties, Lord LYNDHURST
expressly declares that that application " was a mere
message. No allusion whatever was made to the Sugar
Bill, nor did it ever enter into my conbhnplation.
It was a mere simple message, requesting to know
whether he would meet me, either at his own house
or at my residence." Nor is Lord LYNDHURST satis-
fied with this very explicit denial ; he subsequently
refutes the charge still more plainly, when he.observes,
" It is said that I wanted to raise a factious opposition
to the Sugar Bill. That I utterly deny. I took no
part in the discussion upon that measure ; I did not
even vote upon the question." Far from that appli-
cation being made with a view to re-elevate Lord
LYNDHURST to the Woolsack, the Noble and Learned
Lord declares that he was mainly impelled to make
that application, " it being. welanown he was no longer a
candidatefor an official appointment," and that he there-
fore considered himself able " to undertake that task
without incurring the suspicion that he had any per-
sonal object in view." Besides this, Lord LYNDHURST
again rebuts the accusat on that he was influenced by
sordid motives, where he afterwards observes—
" Everybody well knows that I am not a candidate for
office. Everybody holding office has been acquainted with
the fact, that in consequence of a late severe attack of illness,
office has been to me a painful and irksome task, and that I
am desirous of retiring from public life, and passing the short
remainder of my days in the society of my friends and family ;
and nothing could have dragged me forth, even on this oc-
casion, but the virulent and personal attack which has been
made upon me."

Surely after this very cogent explication Lord
GEORGE BENTINCIL will be awed into silence, or, at
least, into the suppression of his personalities. We
cannot dismiss this affair without remarking that
such scenes are altogether derogatory to the
dignity of Parliament ; though in the present instance
the squabble between our Legislators gives us one very
satisfactory assurance, namely, that so much ran-
corous hostility and bitterness of feeling survives
among the protectionists as to render the re-organisa-
tion of the Conservative party all but an impossi-
bility—for which assurance we are grateful.

The Small Debts Bill has passed through the
Committee of the House of Commons, its principles
having been affirmed in every respect by large ma-
jorities wherever controverted. There has long been
felt the want of some such measure, and the attention
of the Legislature has been directed to the subject,
with a view to supply a remedy. It is admittedly
one of the most useful essentials of good government
to afford a due degree of security to property, and
the enforcement of civil rights in a cheap and ex-
peditious manner. Accordingly, we find that a measure
very similar in its nature was brought before Parliament
by the present Government during their former
tenure of office, in the session of 1841, and that it:was
in each succeeding session presented to Parliament by
the late Administration. The reform, however,
though exceedingly useful, was not showy ; and,
therefore, a series of accidents in each successive year
prevented it from becoming the law of the
land. ' This untoward result was generally
occasioned by the unaccountable delays that are per-
mitted to take up and uselessly to consume the ear-
lier part of each session, and the spirit of procrasti-
nation which appears to hold undisputed dominion
over both branches of the Legislature until the latter
end of June or beginning of July in every year.
Happily, however, the late period of the session at
which the present Ministers succeeded to power has
not exercised its blighting influence over the present
Bill ; but, with a degree of activity that reflects great
credit OR all the parties concerned, they gave the
measure that had been brought in by the former
Ministry the closest attention and consideration, made
several important alterations and amendments therein,
and have nearly perfected a measure which, though
we think it susceptible of improvement in many of
its details, will, undoubtedly, confer much benefit on
the country.
On the discussion before the House went into
Committee on the Bill, Lord GEORGE BENTINCK—
who appears to be strongly affected by the
cacoethes loquendi, and quite determined to make ample
amends in this, the eighteenth year of his Parlia-
mentary career, for his total and unbroken silence
during the first seventeen sessions—opened the ball,
and expressed his opinion that a measure creating so
great an amount of patronage, and effecting
so great a revolution, should not have been brought
forward at so late a period. His Lordship
appears to have forgotten the extraordinary de-
gree of attention devoted to the subject during
the last five years, the almost unanimous feeling of the
House and the country in its favour, and the fact
that many local Bills had been stopped during the
present session on the distinct assurance that a
general Bill, if possible, would be passed during the
present sittings. He is, however, quite alive to the
fact that a number of snug places will be placed at
the disposal of the Liberal Government, and
he cannot help thinking how desirable so large an
amount of patronage (which he conceives sufficient
to purchase half the boroughs in the country) would
be, in the event of the advent of the protectionist
party to :power—a vision which, however wild and
chimerical it may appear to all sober-minded men,
his Lordship appears to look upon as not only possible
but very likely to be realised. 117,0001. per annum
would indeed create some stir amongst the wigged
supporters of his Lordship, who consider it a down-
right sin that so many snug berths, so pleasing an
opportunity for the enjoyment of the otium cum
dignitate, should be divided amongst their more libe-
ral-minded professional brethren. his Lordship, like
the occupant of the manger so celebrated in nursery
fable, not being able to secure this desirable patronage
for himself or his party, was desirous that it should
not be placed in the hands of his political opponents,
and that it should be conferred upon the Custodes Rotu-
lorum of the several counties. Now we cannot
imagine anything more mischievous : we should
then have young men going to the bar,
not because they were possessed of the
talent or industry calculated to attain success in that
arduous profession, but because they had influential
relatives who would have the disposal of such desirable
situations. Far better is it for the country that the
patronage should be placed in the hands of a high
public officer, like the Lord Chancellor, acting under
his responsibility as a Minister of the Crown. Such
a person, in the first instance, is much better qualified
to form a correct estimate of the qualifications of the
respective candidates; and, secondly, from the large
amount of patronage in his hands, he is much less
likely to be influenced by nepotism in the selec-
tion, than a person who had the bestowal of only a
few such offices, and who would have friends and
relatives to provide fur, which he would gladly do at
the expense of the country. It is more desirable,
therefore, that the Government should have the dis-
posal of the offices' in the first instance; besides, we
have the assurance of the Attorney-General that the
judges of the different local courts who would be
superseded by tJe new Act, would, so far as they
were found qualified, be considered as having a para-
mount claim to the new appointments.
Without intending any slight to the respectable
gentlemen constituting the important body of attor-
neys and solicitors, we think that persons appointed
to fill the judicial station should be selected from the
bar—their education, the nature of their practice