The Sun.
London, England, 1842-04-16 00:00:00

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appointed six of their own party and no other: -1 lail.v. TW-:,
the Noble Marquis to have the face to niike such . Vargo
(A laugh.) Take another case, Coventry. !Ostr i , 'an'ugh
had twelve Magistrates. Perhaps they mightou& 4.
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who were Conservatives, and who were Whigs `an
He would tell them. Oat of those twelve Megrims% '
~,ti*ht
ikleiltt,
were on the Committee of the Members who suppoited the
Noble Marquis's party. The four others bad no vows fee the
county, but three of them voted in the borough for the lic -ig
Member, and the fourth was a Whig Member himself.
(Hear, hear, and cheers.) What had they (the AO-
nisters) done in this borough ? They had been content wit.lr
having one-third of the Magistrates Conservatives. Take
another instance, the borough of Leicester. The.'e were tee!.
i Magistrates for Leicester ; nine of them voted at the election
for the friends and suprortera of the Noble Marquis. In Ply-
mouth there were eight Magistrates, two of them were Members
of Parliament, consistent supporters of' the 11Tob:e Margit is; five
others voted for them at the election, and one was a Cu inser-
vative. In Bristol the Town Council agreed that twelve ,' ames
should be returned by one party, and twelve by the ci. her.
Now, how were they marshalled—were the twenty-four sar-
pointed ? No, the twelve Radicals were taken. and only aix
of the others. In Manchester the whole of the Magistrate i
were Radicals. After this how could the country be
surprised they had attempted to regulate these mattere.'
He was answerable for the manlier in which he exercised thee
prerogative of the Crown. Every care had been taken in the,
appointments, and provisions to making them. He had com-
municated with the Secretary of State on the subject.
The Marquis of NORMANBX said that the cases to which
the Noble and Learned Lord had referred were precisely the
same as those which Were brought before the House in le3ti.
With regard to Guildford, he begged to say that the Noble
and Learned Lord had certainly been misinformed, for there
was not one Whig Magistrate in the borough. He (the Mar-
quis of Normanby) had been requested to add others to the
Commission, but he refused to do so, because the number was
complete. He would again repeat that the present Govern-
ment had made most unnecessary addition. to the number of
Magistrates. They had added no less than 364 to the Borough
Magistracy since they had been in power.
The Earl of WINCHIL SEA said, that he thought the Noble
and Learned Lord was entitled to great praise for the manner
in which lie had acted in this matter, and for his endeavours
to put a stop to the disgraceful system of parti.an.,hip that
exited under their predecessors. With regard to the borough
of Rochester, he could bear testimony to the disgraceful appoint-
ments which had been made in that borough. He thought ;hat
the Noble Marquis had gained nothing by his motion, but an
exposure of the system of partisanship which prevailed under the
Administration to which he belonged.

Lord COTTENHAM thought it was important to know in
what way his Noble and Learned Friend on the Woolsack had been
influenced in the appointments which he had made. His Noble
and Learned Friend could not have known personally, all
those 364 persons.—( Hear.) He could only hare chosen them
on the representation of others. Now, according to the old
plan there was a local authority, in the person t f the Lord--
Lieutenant of the county, who was acquainted with. the lo-
cality, and who knew the character of those whom he recom-
mended.—(" Hear, hear," from the Duke of Wellington.)
There was now in the boroughs also a local authority, which
was consulted by the late Government—the Town Council—
and if that body were not consulted, he shoeld ask what autho-
rity was to be consulted ?—( Hear, hear.) Was the Great
Seal to be affixed to Commissions of the Peace upon
the recommendation of persons who had access to the
Lord Chancellor, and were not before the public in ativ re-
sponsible character ?—( Hear. ) His Noble and Learned
ariend must have a very extensive knowledge of the boroughs
throughout the kingdom ; still he thought the recommendations
of the Town Council, which was a public and respon-ible body,
was a much safer source of reeommendation than any private
individuals.—( Hear.) His Noble Friend, in the charges which
he made against the late Government. had gone back as far as
the year preceding 1836, and he could only find two cases--
Guildford and Bristol. But those cases had been discussed in
Parliament in 1136, and the charges were proved to the satis-
faction of both Houses, to be entirely without foundation. He
did not see why the same course should not be adopted with
respect to the appointment of Borough Magistrates, as in
County Magistrates. These were appointed upon the recom-
mendation of the Lord-Lieutenant. 1 here was no office in
boroughs certainly, similar to the Lord-Lieutenant's in coun-
ties, but there were parties holding official situations in boroughs
capable of making the recommendation. This might be inconsis-
tent with the ancient institutions, yet his opinion was that the
alteration would have a beneficial effect. He seas at a loss to
know to whom to apply for the information required in these
appointments, but it certainly should not be left to politicaily
interested parties. He hoped his Learned Friend would state
to their Lordships whether such a system would be adopted, as
had been recommended by his Noble Friend with respect to
obtaining this information (as we understood, but the Noble and
Learned Lord spoke in so low a tone of voice that we frequently
found great difficulty in understanding his points.)
Lord BROUGHAM said, that before his Noble Friend
answered his Noble and Learned Friend who spoke last, he
wished to say a very few words upon this most important con-
versation. He was exceedingly glad that the subject had been
brought before their Lordships, for nothing could be more im-
portant than that which related to the administration of jna-
tice. The principal ground upon which he wished to address
their Lordships was that the Noble Lord who had spoken last
had referred to the appointment of County Magistrates, and
recommended the same course to be adopted with respect to
Borough Magistrates. He (Lord Brougham) would remind
their Lordships of the course adopted by the Great Seal with
iespeet to County Magistrates In order to have a person
of responsibility and of undoubted local knowledge, it had
been the usual course to act upon the recommendation
of the Lord-Lieutenant. The Great Seal was uncoubtedly re-
seonsible for the appointment, and was at liberty either to fol-
low or reject the advice of the Lord Lieutenant. generally
speaking, unless a satisfactora, reason was given, that recom-
mendation was acted upon. It did so happen that when he
( Lord Brougham) held the Great Seal, for the first two years
t here was one perpetual list of complaints made to him by va-
rious persons connected with the different parties, that political
influence was used in the recommendations of the different Lord-
s It was said that the Magistrates were all Conser-
vatives, and that notone Liberal Magistrate had been appointed.
Ile did not think, that during the whole of the four years that
he was in office he was besieged on any subject so much as
thiQ. For the first two years especially; at the end of that time,
a general election—that which was commonly called the Reform
Parliament—took place. At that time recommendations poured
in upon him from Lords-Lieutenant for the appointment of
County Magistrates. He was consequently led to inquire the
anon why the administration of justice should just happen
to require so very ample an addition to the Alegi:-
tracy. This was in the months of December, 183'2.
and January 1833. He did inquire, and he found that those
persons were all well and duly qualified to exercise judicial
functions. In making those inquiries he did not itnpute
any improper motive to any one, and he was bound to
say that in no one instance did he find either of the persons
unfit for the commission. He was bound to say this to justify
himself and hi. Noble Friend on the woolsack. He gave the
lists of the different Lords.Lientrnant to the Whig Govern-
ment, requesting them to point out any objections to the
names. lie gave the list of recommendations made by the
ruling :Members to the Lords-Lieutenant far them to examine
them, and no objections were made. He did not recollect any
one objection being stated save one, and that was because he
was a manufacturer, because the rule was not to appoint a
manufacturer to the commission, as there were frequently die-
, pules between the master and the men respecting wages. He
did not think that there could be any objection on the part of
the Right Hon. Baronet, the Secretary for the Home Department,
of adopting asimilar course with respect to borough Magistrates.
If a cause could be shown, then eject them ; if not, it was to
talk of an Utopian state of things to believe that party was to
have no effect, and that it was love of discharging the duties
of the office, and that they must be given to those who were
the best fitted to discharge the duties. At the present time
it appeared to him that the spirit of party divided and split up
the country more than at any former period, not only in
counties and large constituencies, but the most insignificant
communities. It was almost impossible to expect that, in such
a state of things Magistrates would be chosen without re-
ference to political bias. This was to be lamented as unfor-
tunate, and he had wished he could have lived to see the time,
when it would not be the case ; but he should have been more
surprised if the change in the late Government had taken
place without being followed by a considerable change in the
Borough Magistrates. They had now unknown advisers, con-
cealed nominators of the Magistrates. Why not make the re-
commendation of political friends the con-taut rule in such
cases? Why not permit the members of different placess to
suggest the names, and show, if they could, some cause of ob-
jections; prove that from their characters and capabilities they
were unfit for the office. He could see no objection
to adopting this course He by no means inteneed to
say that they ought always to be bound by the ma-
jority of the Town-councils, anti for this reason.
the councils were chosen by the majority of the. community
they represented, and his Noble Friend said, generally speak-
ing, it was better to have the Magistrates of the same political
opinion as the majority. If the councils changed, then the
Magistrates underwent a proportionate change. But be thought
there was another thing which he considered it incumbent on
the Government to consider, and that was the protecting the
minority against the majority. 1f he was morally certain that
there was the greatest possible disproportion between the two
parties, and that that disproportion could be shown to be so
large as ten to one—if he was satisfied that the proportion of
ten to one was a just expression of the feelings of that place, lie
should say, all the more on account of that very disproportion,
all the more because the numerical strength of the minority
was so insignificant, it was the duty of the Government to pro-
tect that minority egainst that majority, and see that the majo-
rity did not have it all their own way. He thought his Noble
Friend was mistaken in stating, that these appointments had
been made principally in the Parliamentary boroughs. He
found, from the return, that there were thirty-three Parlia-
mentary boroughs where no Magistrates had been added; and
in those thirty.three places were some that had been con-
tested, and where additions might have been expected. These
were such places as Leeds, Newcastle-under-Lyne, and another
borough which was very well known—the borough of Sudbnry.
In conclusion he hoped his Hon. and Learned Friend would
lay down some general rule which might guide them in their
future appointments.
The Marquis of NORMANBY briefly explained, and stated
that though they (the Ministers) might talk of having acted
the same way as the opposition, he would beg to remind them
that eight months previous to his (the Marquis Normanby's)
quitting office, he had only appointed fifty-eight new Magis-
trates, whilst in seven months the present Government had
made no less than 364 new appointments.
After a few words from the Duke of BEAUFORT,
The petition was allowed to be laid upon the table, and their
Lordships adjourned at Half-past Seven.