The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-19 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDATI EVIIINIIMG,I AUGUST 19, -~184e!,

service, namely 1,0001., whereas, if he retired at the expira-
tion of five years, he would be only entitled to receive 700!.
That letter arrived in England on the 27th March, and on
the 4th of May following the Earl of Ripon, having
taken her Majesty's pleasure on the subject, accepted his re-
signation from the time requested, so as to entitle him to the
seven years' pension. Lord Ripon wrote in consequence to
Mr. Gladstone, the Secretary for the Colonies, to make out
letters patent conferring the office on Mr. Pollock from the 2d
Nov., which fact was at the same time communicated to the
Board of Directors of the East India Company. Mr. Glad.
stone wrote to the Earl of Ripon, saying that the appointment
could not be made in that form—that a judge could not be
appointed in prospective. In reply to this the Earl of
Ripon wrote back, desiring that letters patent should
be made out, appointing Mr. Pollock Chief Justice forthwith ;
and accordingly letters patent were made out appointing him
Chief Justice from the Ist July, and a clause was inserted in
the patent annulling the patent of Sir Henry Roper. The
consequence of this was, that all the civil and criminal suits
which took place before Sir Henry Roper after that were not
legal, as he ceased to be Lord Chief Justice. For this state of
things, by the advice of the Attorney-General, a Bill was
brought 'in to legalise the proceedings, as an Act of Parlia-
ment was considered to be the only remedy, and a Bill for that
purpose was now before the other House of Parliament. Illegal
and irregular as these proceedings were, he was bound to state
that they were not unusual, for a similar course had been fre-
quently adopted by former Governments. Having stated thus
much, he did not consider it necessary to say more. When the
Bill, which was before the other House of Parliament, came
down there, the whole subject might be discussed,
but at present he did not consider it right to
go further into the question ; and if his Noble
Friend (Lord George Bentinck) wished for any additional
information which he could give him, he would be most happy
to do so.

Sir J. W. HOGG was bound to say that the course adopted
by the late Government in reference to the appointment
of the Chief Justice of Bombay was not an unusual one, for
a similar proceeding had taken place during the last 100
years. The reason of it was obvious, for if the Judges
in India did not notify to the Home Government their
intention to resign, their successors could not be ap-
pointed in time to carry on the administration of justice.
If this were law, then every other appointment of Governors-
General in India had been done on the same principle. Every
commission that had been issued in regard to India was the
same, and they were worded so as only to take effect on the
arrival of the party appointed in India. The provision of law
in India invariably was, that the old governor should administer
the law till the new one arrived, and produced his letters
patent or commission, as the case might be. It was right that
the House should know exactly how these matters had been
conducted in India, and they were such as he had described
them to be.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL said the observations of
the Hon. Baronet required that he should say a few words.
The Hon. Baronet had referred to the opinion of the late
Attorney-General ( Sir W. Follett), but to that he would answer,
that the opinion he was about to give bad the sanction of
the Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, the late Attorney.
General, the present Lord Chancellor, and he believed the late
Lord Chancellor also. Now the law of the case was, wLen a
new letters patent was issued to revoke the old one, under
which a Governor-General or any other officer in India acted.
The patent under consideration was issued in the usual form of
all such letters patent. It was worded in the customary way,
declaring the appointment of Mr. David Pollock to the office of
Chief Justice, and containing the usual clause revoking the
previous patent appointing Sir Edward Roper. The
whole matter was, therefore, perfectly
.regular, and accord.
ing to the usual form in which such appointments were made.
. _

Sir J. W. HOGG whiled to knov;.if it was lawful for the
Queen to appoint the parties without the certificate of the
East India Company?
The ATTOItNEY•GENERAL intimated that it was.

Mr. S. WORTLEY was not prepared to say at that moment
that it was illegal to issue a patent for giving effect to an ap-
pointment on a future day, even though the office might be full
at the time such issue was made. He trusted, therefore, the
Noble Lord the Member for Lynn, after what had
been stated, would be satisfied that in this re-
spect the patent was issued in the usual way.
He (Mr. S. Wortley), however, while speaking to this ques-
tion, would not allow the opportunity to pass without bearing
his testimony to the high character and qualification of Mr.
David Pollock and Mr. Phillips. From all the opportunities
he had had of acquiring a knowledge of those gentlemen, he
must say that the charges of the Noble Lord against
them for the mode in which they had obtained their ap-
pointments were most unwarran'able. The Noble Lord
seemed to think that public men, in obtaining particular offices,
were always influenced by corrupt and improper motives. The
Nob'e Lord, however, after what he had stated about
the late Mr. Canning and other Members of that
House, and the way in which these charges had failed,
should take care how he made similar charges in future.
After those affairs, he (Mr. S. Wortley) had hoped that he
would not again have acted in such an objectionable manner.
Mr. HUME thought the House had nothing to do with
what the Noble Lord the Member for Lynn might have
stated on previous occasions. What they had to do with
was the present appointment, which he thought looked very
much like a job. Looking at the patent making the appoint-
ment, it appeared to him to contain a downright lie.—(Cries of
" Order.") He repeated a lie, for it declared that Sir Henry
Roper had intimated his resignation, whereas he had drily in-
timated to the Government his intention to resign at some dis •
tant day.
Lord LINCOLN said the wording of the patent was the
same as in all similar documents. The Hon. Member might
call it an error if he liked.

Mr. HUME—Then he would say an error if it was not a
lie, though he could not but look upon the whole
affair as a most suspicious and objectionable pro-
ceeding, and one which he must condemn. He thought
the course that had been pursued by the late
Government with respect to this matter deserved the highest
animadversion. He could not, for the life of him, see the
justice of a competent judge being superseded by one who
understood nothing of the laws he would be called upon to ad-
minister. He thought the House and the country were in-
debted to the Noble Lord for bringing this question forward.
Mr. BERNAL thought that all feeling of irritation ought
to be set aside on this subject.
Sir G. GREY said that the appointment of Mr. Pollock
as Chief Justice of Bombay revoked the appointment of Sir H.
Roper, and, therefore, it became necessary to have an Act of
Parliament on the subject.
Mr. GOULBURN defended the course pursued by the late
Government. If any party was to blame, it was Parliament
itself. The course the present Government had pursued was
the right one. He complained of the Noble Lord bringing the
subject forward without notice, and that he should have made
charges against a man as honourable as himself of nefarious
practices.—(Hear, hear. )
Mr. HENLEY hoped that the House would not be led
away from their decision by the legal hare which had been
started by the Hon. Member the Chairman of the Board of
Directors, or the personal matter introduced by the Hon.
Member for Bute.

Lord LINCOLN said, that a more unfair misrepresentation
never fell from the lips of any Hon. Member in that House
than the speech of the Hon. Member, and he was the
more surprised at it as that Hon. Member was hahitu
ally correct. The course taken by his Noble Friend
the Earl of Ripon was to write to Mr. Gladstone to ask him
to make out a reversionary appointment, to commence on the
of November. Mr. Gladstone wrote, in answer, that such
a thing could not be done; and the Earl of Ripon then re-
quested that the appointment should at once be made out. He
thought that they had reason to complain of the course taken
by the Noble Lord, for the notice was so worded as to induce
the supposition that it was a mere ordinary question, and one
upon which no discussion would take place.
Mr. DISRAELI said that the late Ministers ought
not to complain of being taken by surprise, for
the notice was given that the question would be asked at a
time when every Hon. Member in the House would be at
liberty to express his opinion upon it, and of course such a
course intimated that it was to be no ordinary matter. It was
not usual to give any further intimation, unless it was intended
to take a course adverse to the Government, and no
such course was to be taken in the present instance.
The defence as to there having been similar appointments
would be no justification, for he denied that the circumstances
of those appointed were similar. He believed that Lord Lynd-
hurst was perfectly immaculate as to the appointment in ques-
tion, believing, as he did, that that Noble Lord was always
influenced in his appointments-Ist, by what was due to his
party ; 2d, by what was due to the public and to his
friends. He believed that the whole transaction was
to be set down to the account of the late
President of the Board of Control. That Noble Lord
commenced the transaction when the Government of which he
was a member was in extremis, and completed it when it was
only the phantom of an Administration.—(Hear,-hear.) The
members of the late Government evinced such extreme sensi-
tiveness with regard to imputations on their character, as to
remind him of the nervous irritability of certain females who
had lost their character. He could not help thinking
that there was a close affinity in the feelings
with which they were respectively influenced. The Hon.
Gentleman, after repelling the imputations of the Hon. Member
for Bute, said that no answer had been given to the Noble
Lord with reference to the appointment. The President of
the Board of Control had fully confirmed the Noble Lord's
statements; and he was very much afraid that though Lord
Lyndhurst might come out clean of the disgraceful transaction,
another noble, but not so learned, a Lord, would not be so
fortunate.