The Sun.
London, England, 1835-04-30 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The proposed separation of the offices of Lord
Chancellor and Speaker of the House of Lords has
often been talked of, and is a subject upon which, as
may well be imagined, much diversity of opinion exists.
It cannot be doubted but that the person hOlding the
Great Seal, being also Speaker of the House of
Lords and a Cabinet Minister, must of necessity oc-
casion frequent interruption to the busines of the Court
of Chancery, while the retirement of the first Equity
Judge from office on every change of Administration,
to say nothing of the amount of pensions which it en-
tails upon the country, is a serious, and, in many in-
stances, fatal impediment in the administration of the
affairs of a Court on whose decision so vast an amount
of property depends. We have, both in England and Ire-
land, two most striking illustrations of this inconve-
nience in the forced x ettrement of two persons from the
respective Woolsacks, who, laying their political
attachments out of the question, cannot be succeeded
in either country by any one at all qualified to compete
with either, in the eminent qualities which this high
office so peculiarly calls for. At the same time, look-
ing at both sides of the question, it cannot be denied
that the subject is one of considerable difficulty, and
is not likely, we should think, to be disposed of in the
summary manner in which the present temporal dis-
posal of the Great Seal in Commission would seem to
anticipate. We do not know that we can better sug-
gest to the mind of the reader what some of those dif-
ficulties are than by giving, in the very works of Black-
stone, a concise account of what the present nature of
the Lord Chancellor's office really is :

" The office of Lord Chancellor, or Lord Keeper (whose
authority by statute 5 Eliz. c. 18. is declared to be exactly
the same) is with us at this day created by the mere delivery
of the King's great seal into his custody ; whereby he becomes
without writ or patent, an officer of the greatest weight and
power of any now subsisting in the kingdom, and superior, in
point of precedency, to every temporal Lord. He is a Privy
Councillor by his office, and, according to Lord Chancellor
Ellesmere, prolocutor of the House of Lords, by prescription.
To him belongs the appointment of all Justices of the Peace
throughout the kingdom. Being, formerly, usually an eccle-
siastic (for none else were then capable of an office so con-
versant in writings), and presiding over the Royal Chapel, he
became Keeper of the King's conscience, Visitor, in right of
the King, of all hospitals and colleges of the King's founda-
tion, and patron of all the King's livings under the value of
201. per annum in the King's books. He is the general guar-
dian of all infants, idiots, and lunatics, and has the general
superintendence of all charitable uses in the kingdom ; and all
this over and above the vast and extensive jurisdiction► which
he exercises in his judicial capacity in the Court of Chancery,
wherein, as in the Exchequer, there are two distinct tribunals
—the one ordinary, being a Court of common law ; the other,
extraordinary, being a Court of equity."—Commentaries,
vol. iii. c. 4.

Those who are inclined to look more minutely into
the subject will find the details of this high office still
more fully described in the volume and chapter to which
we refer. As much is here transcribed as our circum-
scribed limits will permit, and quite enough, we imagine,
to show that a new arrangement and division of its
multifarious powers and duties is not quite so easy a
matter as some persons have been induced to presume.
At the first view it would seem as if the more obvious
course were to separate the Speakership of the House
of Lords from the Chancellorship solely, leaving the
latter all his other duties to perform. But then the
question remains whether either and which of those
officers should be Cabinet Ministers ; and also how the
Lord Chancellor can retain anti properly exercise those
other important duties without continual access to and
intercourse with the Crown. A question may likewise
be raised, whether as Speaker merely, the House of
Lords should not have the same power of electing their
moderator as belongs to the other House of Parliament ;
though that, perhaps, may be answered, and the ap-
pointment retained by the Crown, on the ground that
-the Speaker must likewise be a judge at the head of
the High Court of Appeal. Many other difficulties
obviously present themselves ; and we take this cursory
view of the subject that those who give it their attention
may be prepared to consider it in all its hearings,
before the approaching discussion of it in Parliament
takes place.—Morning Herald.
There does not seem much ground for doubt that
Mr. Poulett Thomson will be returned for Manches-
ter. He is the personification of the system of policy
which would condemn the British agriculturists to
certain and instant ruin, in order to afford to the ma-
nufacturing interest an augmentation of temporary
profit. This, we believe, to be really the secret of
Mr. Poulett Thomson's popularity and success at
Manchester. The sp:'—nrs and weavers will no doubt
speedily discover that he has cheated them, whether
he does or does not succeed in abolishing the corn
laws ; for, even in the former case, the principle of
competition will soon reduce manufacturing profits to
their present, or perhaps even to a lower, level. Such
as we have described being the cause of Mr. Poulett
Thomson's success at Manchester, that success ought
to impel the agricultural population, wherever there is
a contest in which their voices can prevail, to the
most strenuous exertions in favour of the candidates
who regard the interests of the cultivators of the soil
as of some value, and who have sense and patriotism
enough to perceive and acknowledge that a nation ab-
solutely dependent upon foreign lands for its necessary
supply of food, must speedily become ungovernable,
cowardly, and feeble—formidable only to its own
Government, contemptible in the estimation of every
foreign State.—Morning Post.
The people of Taunton have already made up their
minds with respect to Mr. D'lsraeli, and may feel
little curiosity to know more of the history of that
gentleman. As, however, men who like him con-
ceive themselves to be spirits of a higher order, destined
to guard the nations when statesmen of a vulgar order
must quit the scene, are not to be driven from" their
purpose by a succession of defeats, we are induced
to insert a Letter from "An Elector of West-
minster," in answer to the statement in the speech
of the Hon. Candidate at Taunton, that he never
belonged to the Westminster Reform Club. The
originals of the letters of Mr. D'lsraeli inserted in
the communication of an " Elector of Westminster,"
have been shown to us. After this denial, and the
avowal in direct contradiction to it in Mr. D'lsraeli's
own letters, most people will be able to answer the
question, What is he ? without any farther elucida-
tion from that gentleman. By-the-bye, we observe
that a great portion of Mr. D'lsraeli's speech was di-
rected against Mr. O'Connell, whom he termed " an
incendiary," " a traitor," and so forth. The learned
author of " Vivian Grey" has some advantages over
most people, for he seems to have succeeded in per-
suading public men of principles the most opposite
that he shared their opinions—so that no man knows
whether his knowledge is derived from private con-
fidence, or from sources accessible to all. If our re-
collection serves us, Mr. D'lsraeli presented himself
to the electors of High Wycombe with a letter of re-
commendation from that Mr. O'Connell whom he
brands as a traitor. Did Mr. O'Connell confide any
of his treasonable papers to the author of " Vivian
Grey," when he enjoyed his intimacy ?—Morning
Chronicle.

MISS MITFORD'S NEW WORK.—Upon the pub-
lication of her last volume of " Our Village," it was suggested
to this successful author, that since she had taken leave of rural
life, she should visit the next country town, and present us with
sketches of the inhabitants—a class of the community in which
may be traced the peculiarities, the prejudices, and the excel-
lencies of the national character. Upon this hint, it appears,
Miss Mitford has composed her new work, entitled " Belford
Regis," which is announced for immediate publication. No
more faithful delineator'of English domestic habits exists than
this charming writer.
THE BRISTOL CASE OF POISONING.--A vast
sensation has been excited by the crime of the woman Bur-
dock. All the facts connected with her crime were extraor-
dinary, and afford a striking instance of the adage, that even
in this world murder will not go unpunished. On the trial it
appeared that the victim, Mrs. Smith, could not, from her age
and the nature of her illness, at the time when Burdock admi-
nistered the arsenic, have survived above a few weeks. The
cupidity of the murderess could not brook delay--she suc-
ceeded in poisoning and burying her lodger without suspicion
—notwithstanding which, after 14 months, suspicion is awak-
ened—the grave gives up its dead--and the stomach, still fresh
from the effects of the arsenic, which preserved while it poi-.
soneci, bears witness to the diabolical deed. It is said that
previous to her execution she gave dark hints of being able
to convict some other of her acquaintances of similar atrocities.
We have not heard that she did so—but there is reason to
think that the practice of poisoning has been frequently, of
late, pursued in Bristol. Persons have disappeared—none
knows where—though from what has transpired in the case of
Mrs. Smith, there is every reason to hope that the guilty will
speedily be disturbed in their fancied security.