The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-21 00:00:00

PATENT COMMISSIONS BILL.

This Bill was read a second time.
RECTORY OF Nr)CTON.- EXPLANATION OF
LORD GEORGE BEN riNcK.

On the motion for going into the order of the day,
Lord G. BENT] NCK rose and said, that after the accusa-
tion that had been made on his conduct Us this transaction elFe-
where, he was sure the House would grant him its indulgence
while endeavouring to justify his own conduct, and to defend
his character. He would not stop to excuse himself
for having hastily made on last Wednesday a retraction
of some expressions he had uttered. It had been stated that
he could make that retraction as unfoundedly as he could make
the charge, without investigation. Now if he had made any
unfounded charge, he would be as ready as any one
to admit his error. Now it should be remembered
that he made this retract!on on an investigation
of the Clergy List. But he took leave here to say that the
nobleman who had made the charge should have been the last
to do so. The Clergy List was no copy of the Ecclesiastical
report. That ecclesiastical report was made by a Government
of which Sir IL Peel was the head, and the nobleman to
whom he alluded was the Lord Chancellor.

(LEFT SPEAKING.)

THE RESTORED IRISH
➢IAGISTRATES.

The Dublin Evening Post gives the following as an
accurate list of the restored Irish magistrates :—Lord
Ffrench, county of Galway; Daniel O'Connell, MA' , county
of Kerry; Sir Michael Dillon Bellew, Bart., county of
Galway ; IT. Bridgeman, M.P., county of Clare ; Pierse S.
Butler, M.P., county of Kilkenny; Cornelius O'Brien, M.P.,
county of Clare ; R. A. Fitzgerald, M.P., county of Tipperary ;
Caleb Powell, M.P., county of Limerick ; Daniel Clanchy,
county of Cork ; Nicholas Boylan, counties of Meath and
Dublin; Francis Comyn, county of Galway; Christopher
Nugent, county of Longford ; J. Si. M'Djnnell, M.P., county
of Mayo; R. L'e Verdon, county of Louth; Sir W. Verner,
M.P., county of Tyrone.
It adds, of these fifteen, fourteen have been superseded by
the late Government, for being Repealers, or attending re-
peal meetings. The fifteenth is a remarkable name. At
present we can only say we are delighted on various accounts
at the restoration of Sir William Verner.
Besides the foregoing-, Sir Richard Musgrave, Ra-t., of the
county of Waterford, and J. A. O'Neill, E-q., of the county '
of Galway, who resigned, have been reinstated.

A BIT OF DEVONSHIRE.--Mr. Justice Platt "brought
out" a Devonshire boy in good style last week at Exeter, and
evidently enjoyed the fun. In a case of arson, one of the wit.
nesses against the prisoner was John Brown, twelve years of
age, whose business, he said, was to "go about 'long wi'
mother," selling " vish." He stated that he was on an arch
over the tunnel, about vower o'clock in the afternoon, and
teed amok a' coming out o' the back houze ; he know'd 'twas
vower o'clock, 'cos he thought when N% as a tap o' th' arch
that his mother wid'n catch him to whop hint. The Judge
—When did you expect your whopping, that evening?
Boy—When her catch'd me. Judge—What made you go
upon the arch. Boy—Cos I could see her a coming.
Judge—And then you could bolt, eh? Boy—Eees, zur, my
board.
SHE REGISTRATION.—Tuesday next, the 25th inst.,
will he the I,.st day for serving obje..tious county borow;h
electors, and r r borough elec isr s sending in itch claims.

IMPERIAL PA Li Of EIS T.
HOUSE OF LORDS, August 20.
CHIEF-JUSTICESHIP OF BOMBAY.— LORD G.
BENTINCK.
Lord LYNDHURST begged to call the attention to cer-
tain statements which had appeared in the morning papers
yesterday, and which had reference to a Noble Friend
of his who was now on duty in a distant part
of the country, and be deeply regretted that their Lordships
not sitting yesterday prevented his making this statement
earlier. He would not allude to the coarseness of language
which had fallen from the Noble Lord (Lord George
Beutinck) by whom this charge had been made, but he was
Put#4l6llY WiliollB on meant of the petition which

lately held in the Ministry to offer an explanation. With
respect to this statement, he had to say that it was particularly
unfortunate that this explanation had not been made earlier,
for it was almost impossible to meet it by reason and
argument. In the early part of the year he had been applied
to to fill the office of a chief justice in India by his Noble Friend
at the head of the Board of Control. In consequence of that
application he had named six or seven persons, among whom
was Mr. David Pollock. All who knew that
gentleman knew how well he was fitted to fill
the situation. His connexion with the Chief Baron of the
Exchequer had in no way affected the case. A vacancy
having been created gave him an opportunity of filling it. Three
or four years ago, he (Lord Lyndhurst) had appointed Mr.
Phillips a Commis,ioner for the Court of Bankruptcy. From
domestic circumstances the office had become immediately dis-
tasteful to him. His wife and family had separated from
him, and were now living apart from him at Cheltenham.
Mr. Phillips had been suggested to him as a proper
person to fill the office of Chief Justice of Mitlras,
but Mr. Poinck seemed to him the more proper person,
and his appointment was sanctioned by the Queen on
the 10th June. Mr. Phillips' office had been vacated, and he
was prom ited to the office left by Mr. Pollock. Ni) one con d
doubt the ability of the gentleman to fulfil the duties of the
office. He had appointed his secretary. Mr. Perry, to execute
the duties of the office which Mr. Phillips had left, and e ith
reference to the appointment of that gentleman, and the obser-
vations of the Noble Lord to whom he had alluded respecting
it, he would say that had he not appointed Mr. Perry, he
would have been guilty not only of the grossest forgetfulness, but
of the grossest injustice in overlooking the merits of a person
who had served him with the utmost fidelity and intelligence,
and who had recommended himself to manyof their Lordships
by those abilities which had always been serviceable to the
State, and particularly useful to himself. With respect to the
Noble Lord who had made these remarks, in another place,
he might refer to some observations in a speech of Pitt upon
Napoleon, upon whom that Minister had remarked that there
was nothing too great for his ambition, nor too mean or too
small for his rapacity. The Noble Lord had abandoned the
statement he had made in reference to the presentation to
Nocton, hut he did so on wrong, grounds, for he, when Lord
Chancellor, did present to the living in Nocton, and that pre-
sentation had no connexion whatever with the judicial appoint-
ment of Mr. David Pollock, as he had nothing what-
ever to do, directly or indirectly, further than he had
stated. The charges, therefore, of that man were
made on light ground, and his retractations were made with
the same levity. The Noble Lord then proceeded to describe
the circumstances under which the presentation to Nocton
was made, and read letters, one from the Earl of Ripon and
from Lady Ripon, soliciting the appointment for the Rev.
Mr. Wilson, who was then in the possession of a living of the
same value as that of Noctor under the Bishop of Bath and Wells.
The Rev. Gentleman had, it appeared, endeavoured to promote
the well-being of those in the neighbourhood in which he lived.
He afro received a letter at the time from Lady Ripon, thanking
him most cordially for the appointment he had conferred upon
the Rev. Gentleman. The charge, considering the evidence on
which it rested, was one of the most extraordinary that was
ever brought against a public man. He could not conceive
how a nobleman, occupying a high position, could bring so
grave a charge, not on his own evidence, but on the evidence
of another, and without investigation against another public
man. Such a charge could not be otherwise than condemna-
tory of the individual who uttered it, and whose weakness and
folly were only equalled by his baseness.—( Cheers. ) The
Noble and Learned Lord then referred to the appointment of
Mr. D. Pollock to the judgeship of Bombay ; who, he
contended, from his previous duties was fully capable of
discharging the duties of the office to which he was
appointed by him. The course he adopted with respect to
Mr. D. Pollock was only such as was adopted in similar cases.
He asked their Lordships, then, if he had not justified himself
in their eyes ? Could any one justify such conduct on the part
of the Noble Lord, who made the charge ? But, perhaps, he
might consider it not inconsistent with party to asperse those
who differed with him; or, perhaps, his early habits had taught
him to form so low an opinion of men as to suppose that every
man in public life must be actuated by some base—some un-
worthy motive; but the best proof of calumny was to oe found
in the character of the calumniator. There was no want of
will, but inability to distil his poison ; he was not unlike a wasp
who took delight in stinging. Such aspersions were not with-
out harm, after they had been perpetrated, as people remem-
bered them. It was humiliating at the close of his political
life, and at the close, he might almost say, of his natural life, to
have to repel accusations of this kind. He honed their Lord-
ships would bear with him on an occasion like the present.
(Cheers. ) He thanked their Lordships for the attention with
which they had listened to him, and in their hands he would
leave the matter.

The matter then drnpred.
MILITARY FLOGGING.

Earl FORTESCUE presented a petition from Penryn in
favour of the abdition of military flogging.
AUSTRALIAN LANDS BILL.

Earl GREY mowed the third reading of the Australian
Lands Bill,
After a few observations from Lord ELLENBOROUGI!,
the Bill was read a'hird time and passed.
LUNATICS ASYLUM AND PAUPER LUNATICS