The Sun.
London, England, 1844-04-13 00:00:00

FRO![ THE EVENING PAPERS OF THIS DAT.

GLOBE.—If the Tory press be a type of the Tory
party, there exists at the present moment pretty con-
siderable commotion in its ranks. Lord Abinger's death
having caused a vacancy in the Chiefship of the Court
of Exchequer, the changes in the official positions of
the law advisers of the Crown has placed the post
of Solicitor-General at the disposal of the Government.
The door of promotion being thus opened, every Tory
lawyer who has managed to get into the House of
Commons is pressing his claims upon the Minister; and
every imaginable and-far fetched reason is adduced by
the journal of the party which adopts one or other of the
expectants to show how much more strong are his
claims to the distinction than those of his competitors.
Mr. Fitzroy Kelly, Mr. Thesiger, the Hon. J. S.
Wortley, and Mr. Godson, has each his backer in the
Tory press, and, of course, his supporters among the
Tory party. The Government can make but one of
these Hon. acd Learned Gentlemen Solicitor-General ;
and, of course, three of them must remain as they are.
We know net how many more there may be who think
themselves supremely qualified for the post, and whose
merits ought therefore to be perceived and rewarded by
the Minister. That the heart-burnings and resent-
ments consequent upon disappointment will be nume-
rous and pungent, there can be no doubt. To render
the path somewhat more smooth to one or other of these
aspirants to the vacant post, some very ingenious expe-
dients have been devised. Among others it has been
suggested that the chiefship of the Exchequer should be
conferred on one of the puisne Barons, and thus post-
pone, or wholly set aside, Sir F. Pollock's claim, esta-
blished by prescription, to the vacant Chief Judgeship.
To this very ingenious mode of getting rid of
the difficulty, we think strong objections exist.
We admit the excellent qualities which two of
the Learned Puisne Barons of the Exchequer Court
have displayed in their judicial functions. It
would be difficult to name two judges whose conduct on
the bench—whether administering the justice of the
country in the civil or criminal courts—has so eminently
entitled them to the confidence of the profession and to
the gratitude of their country, as Mr. Baron Parke and
Mr. Baron Rolfe have exemplified. There is, however,
this strong objection to raising the Puisne Judges to the
Chiefship ; it would subject them to the suspicion of
being actuated—in Crown cases, and especially when
presiding at trials for political offences—by a leaning to
the prosecution, for the purpose of recommending them-
selves to the Ministry of the day for promotion. Thus
the independence of the Judges would be endangered.
However destitute of reason, a party cry would be raised
against the conduct of the Judges, in cases which in-
volved party feeling. The majesty of the law, and its
salutary influence upon the minds and conduct of the
community, would be diminished. By being suspected
of political bias in cases in which the prerogatives of
the Crown were brought into collision with real or
imaginary popular rights, the Judges would be de-
prived of their now universally-conceded respect, and
justice would be divested of a part of its terrors.
Thus society would lose a portion of the protection
which is essential to its safety. By exposing their
impartiality to peril, by agitating them with hopes
of advancement to superior office from the fa-
vour of the Government, the independence of the Judges
would be shaken -in popular opinion. l'reserve the
.Judges from all inducement to please the Government of
the day by the slightest relaxation of, or deviation from,
the rigid claims of justice, and their office will be respected
by the nation. Leave the Judges anything to hope or
tear from the Ministry of the day, and immediately they
are brought down to a level with the influences which ope•
rate upon men in the ordinary walks of 'life, and their
high office is in danger of perversion to the political de-
signs of Ministers, instead of its functions being kept sa-
cred from their approach. 'Of Sir F. Pollock's fitness to
succeed to the office of Lord Chief Baron, we have
already expressed a favourable opinion. No Attorney-
General of his party ever showed himself so little dis-
posed to use the prerogatives of his office with severity
Is he has done. The very defects which have mili-
tated against his acquiring the same extent of popula-
rity, as an advocate, to which some of his Contempora-
ries have attained, will render him better suited to
the duties of the Bench. Perhaps it will hold good,
as a general rule, that a barrister who has had an
extensive practice at nisi Arius—a practice which is
obtained and preserved by eloquence and tact in
addressing juries—has generally failed to sustain
the judicial office with the same efficiency as men
of less celebrity. The man of fewest words is
generally the man of closest thought ; while eloquence
at the bar has, in many instances, degenerated
into garrulity on the* bench. Sir William Follett's state
of health is, we regret to state, most fearfully impaired.
We were the first to make the announcement, which we
did a few days since in an article "On the Parliamen-
tary Elections consequent upon Lord Abinger's death."
The grounds which then existed for the apprehensions
we expressed are by no means diminished. It is, there-
fore, highly probable that a positive prohibition will be im-
posed upon him by his medical advisers, against his at-
tempting any professional exertions for a considerable
time to come. This may prevent his obtaining the
Attorney-Generalship ; and induce the Government to
substitute some other learned gentleman of their party,
whose physical powers are more equal to the constant
official and Parliamentary duties which the principal
law officer of the Crown is called upon to perform.
kir. F. Kelly's direct implication in the memorable
'lpswich election, for which his agents were committed
to Newgate by the Speaker's warrants, and he, with
his colleague, unseated, is now revived. There was,
•loubtleas, much to condemn in that transaction. Most
bitterly has Mr. Kelly deplored his having entangled
himself in the meshes of that net of corruption which
the Ipswich Tories have invariably spread at every
contested election, and in which they have caught
many. Once entangled in the toils, it was difficult to
get extricated. Mr. Kelly became the victim of the
system, since considerably checked by the new election-
, laws. In fair party fight we would still encounter Mr.
Kelly with the same uncompromising hostility with
..which we have encountered him. But we, will not join
in an attempt to place a ban upon any mans professional
hopes, for an offence committed long since in the heat
of a contested Parliamentary election—in which, though
the bribery was rank, it was sanctioned by .a too prevail-
ing practice, since happily checked by legislative enact-
ment. Mr. Kelly is a sound lawyer and an able advocate,
As a Tory must be appointed to the vacant post, we would
pay homage at the shrine of theacknowledged professional
attainments, and persevering industry, for which Mr.
Kelly is distinguished. We think Mr. Keny is immea •
iurably superior to those whose pretensions are put forth
to
41ioePnus;ushbajneadcsitd.e have hAis.We have said so on a former
seenocca-
fte
r all,.
reasonseri tous
illnesschg fo our
Sir
William
vi e o
' n
F Alett may alter the therelat' e positions of the rival •
claimants ; and thus materially change the controversy 11
which has
sTAN paAr i e
Dn oTnh"
et h eGrianzeestto n t
o.
f last night states
that the amount of bullion in the Bank of England on
the 30th of last month amounted to the large of six-
teen millions, three hundred and twenty-twouTho
pounds sterling. This, then, is the presentvfiarnalisiaetrhadle
position of the country—the revenue havin,,,,, improved at
the rate of more than four millions in the y
Three per Cent. Consols are half per cent, above par.
Sixteen millions three hundred and twenty-two thousand
pounds in gold and silver in the cellars of the Bank of
England ! Such, in brief, is the compte rendit of Sir
Robert Peel's thirty-one months' administration of
the financial affairs of the country, which, on pass-
ing into his hands, presented nothing but a bot-
tomless deficiency. The public will, we are sure,
pronounce justly upon the merit or demerit of
thi change, and upon the degree of gratitude or
o resentment due to its author—but let no man
expect perfect unanimity. :The discovery that
every ixtoot has - two aces, which may Do pre-

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