The Sun.
London, England, 1851-10-08 00:00:00

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.
TIMES —rhe lamentable exhibition made last
week by Mr. Ramshay, Judge of the County Court
of Liverpool, imperatively calls for immediate action
on the part of Lord Carlisle, as well for the sake of
the unfortunate gentleman himself as of the public.
We are not now about to reason with Mr. Ramshay
as to the extent of his power, or as to the peculiar
merits of the case which he dragged before his court.
Such a mode of dealing with the matter would prove
us to have misconceived the mischief with which the
Chancellor of the Duchy has to deal. The removal—
the immediate removal—of the learned person is of
absolute necessity, not because he has mistaken the
law, but because., from the peculiar state of his mind—
from the condition of morbid excitement in which he
now is—he appears utterly incapable of fulfilling the
duties of a judge. Unfortunately the late proceedings
which have occurred with respect to himself seem to
have taken so forcible a hold of his imagination es to
have entirely overturned his judgment. The ides
that he has been made the subject of a conspiracy,
and that he is in duty bound to undertake the specie!
mission of defending the administration of justice
from the machinations of interested opponents, has reached with him that degree of in-
tensity which constitutes monomania, and his
whole conduct is affected by this prepossession.
His mental state no longer that which is com-
monly described by the terms " bad temper," neither
does the word " anger " accurately depict it. One
notion has taken possession of his brain ; an unfortu-
nate train of events operating upon a mind already
lowered by illness has exaggerated this notion into a
portentous magnitude ; all other considerations seem
to him utterly worthless and insignificant when com-
pared with this monster of his imagination ; and he
proceeded to deal with the every-day circumstances
of life as if they were really exponents of the things
which existed only in his own distorted conceptions.
Don Quixote and the windmill is an exact foresha-
dowing of what occurred the other day at Liverpool.
A County Court Judge ought certainly to be deemed
a very respectable person ; his functions are impor-
tant, and the qualifications for his office are
such as ought to belong to a man of a learned
profession and a gentleman, but there is nothing to
mark such a man out for persecution. There is
nothing in the duties of his office or his relative
position in society to make it the interest of any
powerful class to select him as the victim of a
t g
h
conspiracy. Mr. Ramshay u
otherwise. He went to Liverpool fpuplliypersuadedhthat his predecessor had been destroyed by persecu-
tion, and he was resolved not like him to succumb or
yield to any such attacks. He had conjured up for
himself a band of moral assassins, whose every object
was to destroy an unright judge; and he fancied that
wonderful courage and ever-watchful vigilance were
required to resist their baneful machinations. His
manners were from the first not those of a man of the
world, but were abrupt, rude, and coarse. He was
easily excited to anger, and being so excited, he ex-
pressed himself in the first and least polished phrases
which the vernacular afibrded. This peculiarity laid
him open to attack—in fact, invited it; and any one
who knew aught of the habits of Englishmen could
quickly have foretold that Mr. Ramshay would soon
lay himself open to imputation and assault. If a man
hesitated, he called him a fool ; if he gave an unin-
telligible answer, he asserted, without further inquiry,
that he was drunk. If Mr. Ramshay wished to state
that the Court entertained grave suspicions of
a particular person's honesty, he at once
stated that he was " a rogue," "a rascal ;"
and thus he went on from day to day
exciting himself as well as those he thus abused, till
at length the storm which every man of common
foresight must have known would come burst over
the angry judge, who was in consequence cited to
appear before his superiors. To what took place be-
fore the tribunal, if tribunal it can be called, before
which Mr. Ramshay appeared, we need not now re-
fer enough was disclosed to show that Mr. Ramshay
ought never to have been appointed. There was
not, however, sufficient elicited to justify dismissal.
The position of Lord Carlisle was a difficult one, but
that difficulty was brought upon him by his own too
easy disposition, combined with a failing that belongs
to his party as well as himself, he and they being
always anxious to support and forward all those who
are related to their families, or connected with them
as clients and retainers. While the mischievous
effects of such a feeling are found resulting only
from appointments to inferior positions in the public
service, people shut their eyes, or indulge in a
little useless grumbling, their displeasure for the most
part evaporating in the expression. They treat the
proceedings as a foolish weakness, being unwilling to
look upon it as a serious evil. Bat when the same
spirit of family patronage affects the selection of men
for high judicial office—when such extraordinary
vagaries are practised as those of which we have
lately been wondering beholders, then the public in-
dignation is fairly roused, and punishment—we use
the word advisedly.—must fall, not on the unhappy
person chosen, but upon his erring patron. The
person really to blame in this matter is, not Mr.
Ramshay, but Lord Carlisle. Lord Carlisle was bound
to be particularly careful in this case. A great expe-
riment was being tried in our judicial system. The
success of the new arrangements necessarily depended
upon the fitness of the judges appointed to administer
justice in the newly-framed County Courts, and a
failure in any one instance would be likely to excite
doubts, and check our advance in cur lately adopted
career of legal reform. We know, indeed, that the
Administration of which Lord Carlisle forms a part
are not, and have not even affected to be, law re-
formers. But we suppose that, with some exceptions,
they are not opposed to improvement in our judicial
system, and we cannot suspect any one of them of a
desire to throw discredit upon the new plan by means
of an incompetent judge, and among the last of those
to whom we should attribute such an unworthy mo-
tive is the Noble Lord himself. His intentions, we
have no boubt, were pure, but he certainly was care-
less; he thought little of the importance of the se-
lection he was hound by his office to make, and under
the influence of this want of consideration, and a
wish to forward the son of an old client of his family,
he risked, with his eyes open, the mischief that was sure
to follow an injudicious appointment. By inquiry, if
inquiry had been needed, Lord Carlisle might have
ascertained the habits and the character of the
learned gentleman, and he would have at once dis-
covered therefrom that however estimable in other re-
spects Mr. Ramshay might be, be was totally unfit
for the office of a judge. This want of precaution on
the part of Lord Carlisle, and his unfortunate selec-
tion, resulting from the mixed motives we have de-
scribed, deserve, and doubtless will receive, severe re-
prehension. Still, even from this most painful occur-
rence we may derive a salutary lesson. We are by
it driven to ask, why is the duty of appiontieg a judge
left to the discretion of the Chancellor of the Duchy
of Lancaster ? The office is one now purely poli-
tical; it is held by persons of importance to an Ad-
ministration merely, and is not conferred with any
reference to legal knowledge or peculiar ability. Lord
Carlisle is an important person in the Whig party,
endowed with many amiable qualities, but he knows
nothing of law, and must judge of legal attainments
and of a man's aptitude for the performance of judicial
duties upon hearsay, and by the opinions of others.
We have thus one man responsible, and possessing
the power of appointment, and we have another
really deciding and selecting, who, though the actu-
ally efficient person in the proceeding, is unknown
and irresponsible. Such a system ought to be altered.
One person, and one alone, ought to have the appoint-
ment of the judges of the county courts, and that
person should be the Lord Chancellor. He is, or
ought to be, a lawyer ; he has passed his life in the prac-
tice of his profession ' • he must, in some degree, be
acquainted with the characters and capacities of most
men practising at the bar; and he is
thus from
oomhbls
position
able to make the right choice, and
re
if he make an improper one. We hope, then, that
hereafter this mischievous anomaly with respect to
this important subject—this idle and foolish privilege
now to the Chancellor of the Duchy o I
Lancaster—will
belonging
be immediately done away with, and
that the power and duty of selection throughout the
kingdom will at ouce be imposed on the Lord Chan-
cellor, who we also hope will not, like Lord Carlisle
in the case of Mr. Ramshay, be induced by favour or
personal feelings to forego public for private ends, or
allow prejudice and partial affections to usurp the
place of duty and of reason.
DAILY NEWS.--To those who have watched the
course of public affairs in France, there is nothing so
surprising, and so mortifying to behold, as the simi-
larity, almost the sameness, indeed, of all Administra-
tions in that country. Whether the monarch reigns
by what is called legitimatist right, whether he seeks
to enforce that right with zeal, or render it palateable
by conciliation—whether the occupier of the throne
be a king elected by the choice of politicians and the
sanction of the people, or whether in fine the Govern-
mentd be a republic based on universal suffrage, and
proclaiming universal rights—it all comes to. the. same
the
point; the Administration is found proced.ionogutiinon
of
self-same path. Fear of the
law guaranteeing
the press, the grossest infractionp.
and of everyit, proscription
individual
rpe
iiepdrtui
oa
ol
oi liberty
e thert y
lace
n
of
halfevery
trhigeh
mind
s an d practicef th e
French o fd
of association,yFe French
et
nhc;mtpharen manhood
onetocaedendeavoureitusnhnget
cojeken,rpf the
djreesauditso'f andt tghaeelmerientFahhrereoapwnotchlleieicbeeroaffilceteher; during a
tor-
ney-General— hchasarascteris characteristics
eAedemtuirnyis.traNtieonmthtaeht6tir
o who
f
fke administrationoffi c n o matter att
becomeser how absolutist,tesaine.the principle
You may
execrate Poligneo and Peyronnet, you may rejoice
at the accession to power of men so liberal and
so honest as Barrot and Faucher, yet you find the
former eager to bolster up the Pope's despotism by
the bayonets of French selsiiers, and you tied a severe
pelPeCgti9n a the Pxtu mark the Government of the

. -
latter. We might say the same of sovereigns, and
ask where has been the difference between the elder
Bourbons, the Orleans ditto, and the lesseißonaparte?
Are they not all one and the same, except, perhaps,
that some one prince may have had a little more fa-
tuity, and another somewhat more cunning ? But all
run the same career, to reach the same end—viz., the
unpopularity and universal contempt under which
king and dynasty sink, to rise no more. Is it not
clear as the noun-day that Louis Napoleon is going
the way of all French princes, and by precisely the
same road which they all took ? And we see the con-
sequence. At this moment the political class, those
who have influeucean(l hope for place—these people
are in the fiercest agitation and commotion, some score
fur the Bonapartist, some dozen for the Orleanist, and
as many for the Legitimatist. But look away from
some hundreds of these professional politicians to the
country at large, and there will be found a uni-
versal indifference and contempt for every one of
the candidates, not one of whom either inspires hope
or commands respect. Yet all hope to be elected,
nay, to convert the elective chair into an hereditary
throne. They are building a pedestal of hatred and
contempt; they are anxious to get up upon this pe-
destal, and they hope to support themselves on such a
basis. Verily, kingship is the most unpromising of
professions, followed by the most fatuitous of men.
But whatis the cause of princes being such puppets,
and of liberal statesmen proving the contrary of what
they themselves promised and all their friends ex-
pected ? The reason lies in the terrible and vast cen-
tralization of French government, in the number,
power, hierarchy and traditional spirit of that bureau-
cratic, which, wherever it reaches firm establishment,
soon absorbs everything else, prince, ministers, states-
men, and even public opinion itself. This immense ma-
chine is the only mode by which a minister can govern.
Yet all he can do is to set it in motion, and be satisfied
with what it produces; for regulate or stop its move-
ments he cannot. A home minister may be shocked
by those freaks of power which his subordinates coin-
mit, such as the breaking in upon convivial meetings
in the provinces, threatening deputies with arrest for
opening their mouths, or issuing an ukase that libe-
rals shall not be supplied at any hotel with dinner.
The prosecution and condemnation of young Hugo
for denouncing the punishment of death as cruel,
whilst such men as Thiers and Changarnier talk and
do treason aloud every hour in the day, may shock
the sense and good feeling of a minister of justice.
But what can he do ? The home minister can no
more restrain his myrmidons of police and prefecture
than the justice minister can check his procurcurs
and, substitute. And it is the same in foreign policy.
A rench agent at Athens or Alexandria will get
into rivalry, and quarrel with his English colleague
for some trifle or another, and the Minister at
home can do nothing but sanction and abet. In fact,
it is a bureaucratic that governs France, that has
governed, and rll govern it,
arid under Cavaignac
under Louis Napoleon,
under Louis-Philippe, aye,
himself, all-republican as he is, but infeodated as he
is to the party of order. The French bureaucratic is
of course monarchic, which is very ungrateful of it,
for it enjoys greater power, and exercises greater
tyranny at present than it did in the days of any
monarch. But then it fears that the golden reign
may not last. An official aristocracy cannot well
stand based on universal suffrage, meet yet universal
suffrage has rendered the French bureaucratic more
powerful and numerous in the republican Assembly
than ever it was before. But, as they say, this is not
solid ; and they would sacrifice the freedom and. the
greatness of France to-morrow to any king of any
race, or of any principle, that would secure them
this monopoly. It is the same thing in Prussia, ex-
cept that the Prussian bureaucratic will not tolerate
even constitutionalism, which it considers hostile
to it; whereas French officials would at
least have the form of representative go-
vernment, although with so little of either
the reality or the advantages, that but for the
appearance of the thing they might invoke absolutism
at once. The struggle in France and in Prussia is
now much the same. It lies between the bureau-
cracies and the people, the former supported by the
army, of which the officers form a class and hierarchy
of placemen, with interests similar to the civilian
servants of the state. The people of both countries
have the satisfaction of seeing that they pay largely to
support these classes for tyrannising over them. An
aristocracy weighs over both countries, not an aristo-
cracy of either birth, wealth, or talent, but an aris-
tocracy of placemen. It is the system of centraliza-
tion which supports them. And it is for the people to
devise how they can get rid of these incubi, and go-
vern themselves constitutionally and monarchically if
they will, but without an official multitude to prey
upon them and tyrannise over them. This is far more
important than to decide whether a Legitimatist, a
quasi-Legitimatist, or a Republican chief shall be the
head man—the great chef de bureau of the bureau-
cracy. A

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.
The broad pendant of Commodore Seymour WWI
struck at sunset on Monday evening, or. board the St..
George, 180, in Hainoaze ; and the commodore pro-
ceeded on six days' leaveof absence, in order to bring
down his family. The duty of the dockyard will .W
performed by Mr. Millis, master attendant, and that of
the ordinary by Captain Joseph Nias, Companion of
the Bath,

A superannuation board sat at Deronport en
Monday, at the Commodore Superintendent's-office,
in the dockyard, Devonport, consisting of Commodore
M. Seymour, Captain Nir,s, of the St. George; the
master-attendant, Mr. Mills ; Mr. Turner, acting.
master shipwright ; and Mr. Folds, surgeon, when
the whole of the men on the hst returned from the
Admiralty were inspected, with a few others who are
considered worn out, and the opinion of the board was
to be transmitted to the Admiralty.
Dauntless, 33, screw-frigate, Captain Halsted, and
Sutlej, remained at St. Helen's, and were not likely
to get away yesterday, as it blew a gale with foul
weather from the westward.

Elfin royal yacht-tender, Master Commander Bal-
liston, returned to Portsmouth from Osborne yes-
terday morning.
PORTSMOUTH, TUESDAY.—This morning all the
officers of this dockyard were personally presented
to the new Commander-in-Chief, Admiral Sir Thomas
Briggs, G.C.kLG., by Rear-Admiral Superintenthnt
Prescott, C. 8., at the Admiralty-house. Each officer
received a most cordial and courteous recognition from
the Port Admiral.

The Odin steam-frigate, Commander Sir William
Wiseman, will come into harbour to-morrow, to re-
sume her former position in the ordinary.
The Avon steam-vessel, Mas ter-Com wander NYE itch,
came into harbour this morning from the eastward,
on her return to Plymouth.
The Furious, new steam-frigate, was taken into the
Angle Dock to-day to be coppered.
The Rodney, 92, Captain Charles Grahnin, C. 8.,
is entering hands but slowly, men not being so plen-
tiful here as was supposed, and none being accepted
for this ship but fine ablebodied men.
Woonwicu, OCT. G.—The Resolute, Captain Ho-
ratio 'T. Austin, C 8., the Assistance, Captain Eras-
mus Ommanney, and the Intrepid, Lieutenant-
Commander John B. Cater, all arrived at Woolwich,
between twelve and one o'clock to-day, and the two
sailing vessel 3 were brought up at moorings opposite
the dockyard, while Mr. Atherton, chief-engineer,
went on board the Intrepid screw steam-vessel, and
went down the river a short distance in her, to be able
to report the state of her engines. The whole ofthe
vessels employed under Captain Austin in the Arctic
Expedition are to be paid off at this port on Thurs-
day next.

Captain Ommanney has brought home the first
relic that was found by him of the traces of Sir John
Franklin's party at Cape Riley. It appears in the
form of a rake such as is used by persons employed
in collecting seaweed. The handle is about twelve
feet long, and the gathering part about two feet six
inches long, on which six teeth have been fixed, about
five inches in length, formed of narrow hoop iron
curved inwards. Captain Ommanney has also
brought home a young man, about nineteen years
of age, of the Esquimaux tribe,
and near
The
in-
habit the country beyond Cape York,
the place where the N orth Star wintered
kind of Esquimaux youth is clothed in the samears remarkably
cos-
tume as the other sailors, dwhnoear to
and appears
with a face
good tempered and stout for.
The Esquimaux is very
very flat and more round.
after the gallant officer who
of an Asiatic cast, near.lnyolirakemtahnanteoyr, a.anCabinhea.sse,bbeeunt
much attached to Captain
'country, and the name of the
named
The
brought
t Erasmushi
m
cape where he came from.
by the respective. are now nearly completed,
and afford evidence of the exertions of the officers in
the execution of their arduous duties: and will add
many hundreds of miles of hitherto unexplored lands
to Yactia_krom.
to future maps of the Arctic regions, and many parts
only put down in haste by former navigators have
been corrected by Captain Ommanney. Bathurst and
Cornwallis, both described as islands by former navi-
gators, have been found connected together, and to
the mainland, by Captain Austin's expedition.
The cfficets and crews o'; the whole of the vessels
have returnt,d in tolerable health, and only one man
has died since the expedition left ViToolw ich in June,
1850.

PROPERTY IN GREAT BRITAIN.—The Committee
of the House of Commons, in their report on the law of part-
nership, which has, with the evidence, just been printed,
state that, in round numbers, in thirty-three years since
the peace, whilst lands in Great Britain have increased
818 only 8,500,0001. in annual value, or a little • more thau
5 per cent., messuages (being chiefly houses and manutac-
tories and warehouses in and near towns, and inhabited by
persons depending greatly on trade and commerce) have
augmented above 26,000,000/. in annual value, or about 30
per cent. in the same period. The value of railways, ges
works, and other property chiefly held in shares as per.
sonal property, had increased about twelvefold in the same
PeNi9d.

5