The Sun.
London, England, 1850-08-10 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS, August 9.
The LORD CHANCELLOR t)Ok his seat on the Woolsack
at Fivo o'clock.
TURNPIKE ACTS CONTINUANCE (No. 2) BILL.
On the motion of the Earl of GRANVILLE, this
Bill was read a second time.
FISHERIES BILL.
This Bill passed through Committee.
PORTLAND HARBOUR BILL.

The Earl of CARLISLE moved the second reading
of this Bill.

Lord REDESDALE objected to the motion. The Bill
was, in fact, an Estate Bill; several persons were desirous
of opposing it before Committee, and it ought to Lys
treated as a private Bill. He hoped it would be per-
mitted to stand over.

The Earl of CARLISLE hoped that their Lordships
would not delay the progress of this measure, which was
most important. All the parties interested had been
already fully heard.
The Bill was then rend a second time.
DECREES IN COURT OF CHANCERY BILL.
Oa the motion of Lord BROUGHAM. this Bill was
read a second tim?.

PAPERS.
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE laid on the table the
reports of the Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Mar-
riages, and of the Irish Poor-law Ceren3issi,ns.
PRINCE OF WALES'S PROVISION BILL.
This Bill was read a second time on the motion of the
Marquis of LANSDOWNE.
LIVERPOOL PETITION FORGERIES.
Lord MONTEAGLE moved that certain persons do
attend at the bar on Monday next, in order to be ex-
amined.—Agreed to.
BENEFICES AND PLURALITIES BILL.
On the motion of the Earl of CARLISLE the Com-
mons' amendments to this Bill were considered.
APPROPRIATION BILL.
On the motion of the Marquis of LANSDOWNE,
this Bill was read a second time.
JUDICIAL BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE.—CRI-
MINAL LAW, CONSOLIDATION.
Lord BROUGHAM then proceeded, according to his
notice, to call the attention of the House to this subject.
lieti thecommenced
a history of the labours of the
Criivigmninal Law from the first issuing of
himself in 1831 down to the present
in review the useful suggestions which
tn
commissionCommissionersHepassed
as s by g
they had made from time to time, and mentioned as a
proof of their industry that they had digested the crimi-
nal law into one statute containing 800 or 900 different
articles.• In the course of last summer the Commis-
sioners had completed their labours, and had pro-
duced another statute digesting all the rules and
proceedings of the criminal ' course. This mag-
nificent work having been completed, it ap-
peared to Lord Lyndhurst, Lord Cottenbam, and him-
self that the true mode of passing this legislative code
was not by sending these two Bills , containing from
1,500 to 2,000 articles, to the two Houses of Parliament
to legislate upon—for no legislative power of either
HOttse. separately, or of both Houses combined, would
bo able to undertake such a mass of legislation—but by
submitting them to another Commission well and care-
fully selected. It would be bad economy to allow the
Commission to fall to the around after the country bad
spent from 90,000/ to 100,0001. upon it; and he recom-
mended its continuance till the members of it had again
revised the code which they had drawn up. He denied
that the work of the Commission had been performed by
the late Mr. Starkey, its secretary, and contended, on
the strength of the answers which he had received to a
circular which he had himself addressed to the Commis-
sioners, that, it was their work, and their work alone. It
was too late in the day to advocate either the policy or the
necessity of having a good digest of the law, which all
were bound to obey, and instanced, at some length, the
advantages which France bad derived from the code drawn
up by the command and under the active superintendence
of that wonderful genius the late Emperor Napoleon. He
promised to bring the subject matter of this digest under
the notice of the House early in the next session of Par-
liament.

OFFICIAL SALARIES.
The NOBLE and LEARNED LORD then proceeded to at-
tack the report recently made by a Select Committee
of the House of Commons on official salaries. There
were imperfections in every line of it. The savings
which it recommended were utterly insignificant in a
financial point of view. It trampled upon all considera-
tions of justice at home, and destroyed all our diplomatic
relations abroad. What inf. rotation. the Comm tee;had
got, where they bad got it, to what witnesses they bad
resorted to enlighten the darkne.s of their understand-
ings, he could not by any possibility conceive. With
regard to the reductions. to be made in the salaries of
the judges of the High Court of Chancery, they had
neither examined Lord Lyndhurst, Lord Cottenham, nor
himself. They had passed over all the abuses of that
court, and had made no reference to the salaries paid to
its subordinate officers. He particularly objected to the.
reduction of the salary of the Lord Chancellor to 8,000/.
a-year, and of the Lord Chief Justice of the Common
Pleas to 6,0001. a-year. Such a mass of contradiction,
absurdity, and ignorance, he had never seen comprised
in a single report. They recommended that the salary
of the Judge-Advocate .should be reduced on the next
appointment froin 2,0001. to 1,5001. a-year; but, as a
makeweight, they recommended that the future
holder of that office should not be debarred from the
practice of his profession. Why, he was not debarred
from it at present. The present holder of the office bad
recently pleaded before him; and if Mr. S. Wortley had
given up practising before the Judicial Privy Council
whilst ho held it, it was only because he was himself
a Privy Councillor. That gentleman, as Judge Advo-
eve, had as- much right as any of his professional
brethren to practise in tho Courts of Queen's Bench,
Common Pleas, Exchequer, and Chancery. He (Lord
Brougham) objected to many other reductions recom-
mended by the Committee, and especially to the reduc-
tion of the salaries of the Masters in Chancery to 2,0001. a
year. He had himself reduced them from 5,0001. a year,:to
which their salanes, with fees, in some instances, formerly
amounted, to 2,500/. a year; and below that sum he • was
sot prepared to go. Some three or four years ago
their number had been reduced by not filling
up two vacancies which occurred ; but now, owing to
the Winding-up Act, they were overwhelmed with
work; and their numbers ought to be increased. He
had, by means of a connexion of his own, some in-
sight into the amount of labour they performed; and
he would say that eighteen hours a day would net
enable them to get through it. Ile then reverted once
more to the miserable saving proposed in the reduction
of the salaries of the Lord Chancellor and the Chief
Justice of the Common Pleas. His Noble and Learned
Friend on the Woolsack was, he supposed, to have only
8,0001. a year. Considering that he was entitled to that
amount of salary as Lord Chief Justice of the Common
Pleas, he was surprised to find that his Noble and
Learned Friend bad given up that salary, which he
might have retained for life, for the same amount of
salary in an office far more laborious, and from which he
might be removed perhaps in the course of the next
four or five months, it might be with, and it might be
without, a retiring pension. Then, did the ignorant
men who formed this Committee know the difference in
the amount of the labour performed by the Lord
Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas and the
puisne judges of that court? The Chief Justice was
to have 6,0001. a year ; the puisne judges 5,0001.
All the judges of that court, the Chief Justice as well
as the puisne, had to go circuit. But the Chief Justice
besides that labour, had on the close of every term to
go the 'Guildhall and Westminster circuit or sittings,
which generally lasted two or three weeks after each.
term. Anything more ignorant than this arrangement
he could not conceive. Then how utterly ridiculous was
the plan of cutting down all the diplomatic salaries and
offices to the same size, All of them were to be abo-
lished, and a single mission at-some central point in
Germany was to be substituted for the several missions
now existing at Hanover, Dresden, Stuttgard, Munich,
and Frankfurt. Nay, more, the mission at Florence was
to 'be united with one of the Italian missions. He sup-
posed that the next proposal of this Committee would be
that a mission should he sent to one of the peaks of the
Andes, to superintend all our diplomatic relations with
the States of South America. After some passing sar-
casms _at the German principalities, the Noble and
Learned Lord suddenly crossed the Atlantic, and said
that it was one of the grossest of all pos-
sible delusions to suppose that these reductions
could be defended by the example of the United
Suites. The Government of the United States,
considered as a whole, might be a cheap Govern-
ment, but then it should •he considered that, besides its
expenditure, there was a heavy expenditure incurred in
And defenyed_by_each state for its own domestic govern-
ment and administration. America was not a cheaply
governed country, for each of the states swarmed with
myriads of placelsolders. After several other remarks
anything but eulogistic, on the institutions of our
brethren in North America, the Noble and Learned
Lord reminded the House that be had been all his life-
long an advocate for wise and well-considered measures
of retrenchment and reform; but he could not allow
their Lordships to part without entering his protest
against the unwise, nay, he must say, the absurd propo-
sitions of this Committee on oticial salaries. He hoped
that he should never see the administration of justice
poisoned at its source by measures which would render a
seat on, the bench unworthy the acceptance of the best
and- ablest and most experienced advocates at. the bar,
posts to
being filled eitb r by m
or e men ofenh of
great qualifications without fortune,
theby
which sr-
onforthtleeier
ddiopeloimhflautiecdazphoyintments of the country stripped
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•
other business.
The House then proceed to
THE POST-OFFICE.
from Lord BROUGHAM,
In answer to a question
ARDE tated that the
The Marquis of CLANRIC 5
appointed by the Treasur
Committee which had been
Commonsrelative to the
fications for
offmet t or three times, and
when he hoped they would
would meet again to morrow,
to a report.
be able finally to agree
duepwonptobsetavloaterraonfgtehmeeHdotsosheado
oWNE said it was highly
• of LikNSl) The Marquis
d
Scarcely a day had elapse since the new arrangements
without complaints of inconvenience, and in some cases
owes had resulted. There
the must calamitous cousenuoi
Mr. Pike's murder in Ire-
land, and when, in consequence
manQwas prevented from be-
ing present at the coroner's f
desirable that this matter should be satisfactorily settled.
was the case the other day
the postal delay, the
brother of the unfortunate inquest. The subject had
been one of unremitting inquiry by the Committee, who
he trusted would be able to propose a better arrange-
meat than the present.
NS drew the attention of the
The Earl of ST. GERM
Ad
House to the debate that ha already taken place upon
the subject of the Post-office appointments. With re-
ference to the clerks of the Money Order Department of
ty
o be an imression that
the Post-office, there appeared
The Net was, that
than he had represented it tu
crasb,lnYee b
ed.epssartnse.npt was better
tuhnetileorneoditnitolny onfotchleerpkroinbattiileonratroy

long his services, could recc.:ye more than 701. a year.
13y a recent rtgulation 101. a year additional might be
addrd after five years service, but beyond that there
could be no augmentation. The otter point he would
advert to had reference to the appointment of Mr. Far-
mer, from Edinburgh, to the head clerkship of the Money
Order-office. From what the Noble Marquis had stated
on a former occasion, it would be inferred that the other
clerks in that office had been passed over on account of
incompetence. That, however, could hardly be the case,
since it had been represented to him that the vacant
situation had been offered to three of the senior clerks in
that office, if they would consent to retract certain state-
ments in a memorial to which they had attached their
names.

The Marquis of CLANRICARDE replied, that with
regard to the first point, relative to the clerks in the
probationary class, the Noble Earl was perfectly correct
in his stateme Ir. With respect t.) the promotio❑ of Mr.
Farmer, he could only say that no offer had ever been
made, with his sanction, upon any conditions, to any
clerk in the office, nor did he believe that Mr. Rowland
Hill would have sanctioned such an offer. lle did not
think that the promotion of Mr. Farmer could be sup-
posed t cast any di:crelit upon the clerks in the
Money Order-office; but ho believed, under all the cir-
cumstane,-!s, that that gentleman was the best qualified to
till the place.
The matter then dropped.
The Police Superannuation Fund Bill was read a
e on d time.

The Sumriviry Jurisdiction (Ireland) Dill, and tho
Grand Jury Ceis (Ireland) Bill, severally went through
Committee, and, the other Bills on rill table having been
forwarded a stage, the louse adjourned until One o'clock
to-morrow (dd., day).