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

'addition ; but was there any necessity for the enormous
addition which he thought proper to make ?—(Hear.
hear.) In 1830 the Borough Magistracy amounted to
six huudred and thirty, and up to September of
last year it remained pretty nearly the same. But
whatever application wat made representing to him (the
Marquis of Normanby) that variations had take place,
and that additional Magistates were necessary, he made
such additions as upon inquiry appeared the best accord-
ing to the best of bis judgment, although he would ad-
mit that any person filling the office which he had lately
the honour to fill might make mistakes through
misinformation. Such mistakes were not what he now
complained of. What he objected to was, the enormous,
the extraordinary addition of some hundreds.—(Hear.)
Whenever he (Lord Normanby) made appointments 1w
endeavoured to distribute them amongst all classes of
opinion.—(Hear.) With respect to the town of Hull
itself, he received representations that vacancies had oc-
curred, which it was necessary to fill up; but upon inquiry
he did not tide& that the number of men was necessary,
it had been at first represented to bins—(lleer, hear)
—and baying decided on a smaller number, he
wrote down to five Members of the Town-Council,
requesting them to recommend to him some gentlemen
who were known to entertain opinions different from
those of the majority of the Council. To this he re-
ceived for answer that several of those gentlemen had
been requested to undertake the office of Magistrate of
the borough at the time of the passing of the Municipal
Reform Bill, and they refused to serve. however, after
a time one of those gentlemen did consent to accept the
appointment. He mentioned that as an instance of the
principle upon which he always endeavoured to.regulate
those appointments. In the returns before the House
there was a deficiency, which he really thought could
not be justified. There was no return of the number of
Magistrates appointed in the borough of Lancashire.—
(Hear.) He knew it was necessary to apply to two
officers, but then the responsibility of applying to the
office of the County Palatine lay with the Home-office.
From the Ist of January, 1841, the number of new ap-
pointments had been only 58, and of these the greater
number took place on arc- unt of vacancies. But from that
to the Ist of January, 1842, the number of new appointments
was 364:—( Hear, hear.) And let their Lordships mark the
distinction with which these appointments were attended. In
the whole number of small boroughs which send no Member to
Parliament, no new Magistrates were made in the first in-
stance. But after it was known that there had been no
liberal restitution in other quarters, applications were made
from some of these places, and the Right Hon. Baronet, per-
haps with ne unwillingness, gave 41 Magistrates amongst 30.
T here were some, however, particularly attended to. For
instance, Hull, where a triumph had been just gained, and the
appointments were, no doubt, intended to remove those gentle-
men from their exertions.—( Hear, hear.) Bath was the next
where • signal defeat had been suffered, and when it was
politic to encourage those who lent their services in a nicely
balanced state of parties, in one day 90 Magistrates were added
in 10 boroughs; nor was it on account of their insignificance of
the non-Parliamentary boroughs, that caused them to be over.
looked, for Buckingbam,Grimsb y, and Harwich, all small Parlia-
mentary boroughs; were similarly favoured with Hull and Bath.
In Nottingham, and in Sunderland, where there had been a
striking contest after the general election in October last,
in November .an addition: of eight Magistrates were made to
the borough. Plymouth, no very considerable place; Tiverton,
Wallingford, no very considerable place—these were the towns
in which an addition of ninety hlasostratet had been made. He
would revert, for a moment, to the case to which he had parti-
Milady alluded—that of Hull. He had felt great anxiety with
respect to the appointments, and he had made twenty-four in
addition ; but since then there had been an addition made, and
now The borough contained no less than one-fifth more than
any other borough in the country. He wished to call the
the attention of the Noble Lord to the convenience that mould
be attendant upon applying to some public body to give
information on the subject to the Government.—(Hear.)
The Magistrates of the borough of Hull complained
that the name of Dr. Alderson, an active partisan, had been
inserted before the names of all the Magistrates in the commis-
sion of the peace. These magistrates were told that in general
the Magistrates were inserted according to the rank the person
held in seciety. They accordingly went to Bluemantle.—
( Great laughter)—and he replied that medical distinction
gave no rank. He (the Marquis of Normanby) was not
quite sure that Bluemantle was right in that respect.—
( Laughter. )—He should not have adverted to this if there had
not been another Doctor in the case, who was the Mayor, Dr.
Chalmers ; and Dr. Alderson had been inserted before Dr.
Chalmers. He trusted that, in future, information would be
obtained from some person with respect to these appointments
being made, and that those persons should not be those who
were prejudiced on one side or the other, and unless they had
recourse to this system, they would constantly do injustice.
He did not think it would show good sense to bring in
a bill for, the purpose of altering the system, but if these
appointments were continued to be made in a similar manner to
that to which he had alluded, Borough Magistrates would soon
be lie:d in the most suverign contempt, and be made the means
of political corruption. He did not mean to say that that was
the case in the present instance, and he hoped to see the remedy
in future applied which he had recommended, and which was
the only one in their power to apply.
The LORD CHANCELLOR confessed he felt grateful to
the Noble Marquis for having called the attention of their
Lordships to that petition, because many observations had
been made from time to time as to the manner in which the
Magistrates had been iecently appointed. The responsibility
of those appointments rested with him (the Lord Chancellor).
although, as his Noble Friend had correctly stated, he had
conferred with the Right Hen. Baronet, the Secretary of
State for the Home Department, as to the manner of filling
up those commissions; and he (the Lord Chancellor)
was desirous of satisfying their Lordships as to the
propriety of the course which had been pursued.
He would now refer to the observations made by the Noble
Marquis, and direct their attention to the petition from Hall,
by taking the Corporation of Hull itself, as an instance of the
general spirit in which the Government acted. When the Mu-
nicipal Corporation Bill passed, it was found necessary to re-
model the Magistracy. New Magistrates were appointed in
many places, the borough of Hull amongst others. For this
borough twenty-three Magistrates were appointed. Did those
who made those appointments do so without reference to party
or Parliamentary objects? Out of the twenty-three magistrates
so appointed, four were Conservatives, and nineteen were of
the other colour of politics. He did not mean to say that all
of those were of the same party. but there were nineteen who
might be characterised as Whigs and as Radicals—steady
supporters of the Government; all of them, or the greater pro-
portion of them, zealous, warm, active, and cage r partisans. Such
was the composition of the magistracy of Hull, up to the time
the ?resent Government came into power. Two of those Ma-
gistrates, whom he had designated Conservative, never acted ;
one resided at a distance, and another was disabled from acting
by his health. The Magistracy of the borough were therefore
of one colour of politics, warm and eager partisans of the late
Government. If this was the proceeding of the late Govern-
ment, what had been that of their successors? They added
eight names to those formerly appointed. Those eight were of
respectable character, and of weight and station in the borough
of Hull. No imputation could be made against these. a ppoint-
meets founded an the character of those individuals. They
were 6onservatives, and he would ask their Lordships whether,
considering the character of the bench up to that time, the Go-
eetfitnent were not justified in the course they pursued, and
whether it ititg riot their duty to dilute and soften the spirit of
partisanship that had exist, din that borough ? If anycomplaint
were to be made it should not come from the Noble Marquis
and his friends.—( Hear, hear.) It ought to be from the Con-
servative party, because, when the Government bad the
power to place a majority of Conservatives on the bench, they
had appointed only eight, leaving two to one against the party
which the Government represented. But why did the Go-
vernment do so? Because it felt it to be its duty to act with
forbearance, good temper, and moderation, and thus put an
end to that party feeling and those party disputes which should
never be displayed on the bench of the Magistracy, or be
mingled With the administra'ion of justicelor the performance
of those ministerial duties that belonged to that class. He
appealed to their Lordships whether they were not justified in
the course they had pursued; whether it was not the duty of the
Government to appoint Magistrates who would dilate the
party spirit of the borough, and be least offonsive to
the inhabitants of that town ?—( Hear, hear.) His No-
ble Friend said that Goverment were wrong-in having in-
creased the Magistracy of Hull ; but of the 23 appointed, two
had died, two removed to distant places, and three never quali-
liEd; leafing an artuarnumber of 16, to which the Government
added eight, obleh *ottld only make one more than the origi-
nal number of 23. The Noble Marquis objected to some of the
appointments; but his (the Lord Chancellor's) answer was,
that as the names came in they were arranged in the usual man-
bar in the Ace by the proper officer, and if one were a doctor
of medicifia, and the other a knight, they were arranged only
according to the rank they appeared to have by the returns.
This much he would say for Hull, and now he would say a few
words, to enable their Lordships and the public to understand
the general conduct of the Government. When they
found iH 6 particular borough an exclusion or a
preponderating number of Magistrates of one class, as at Hall,
they added a small number of Conservatives for the purpose he
had stated, but carefully abstaining from swamping the exist-
kg Magistracy.—( Hear, hear.) The Government wished to
show
to encourage moderation in the opposite party. In no
wounds its
andpower, re butnot
e avoidedgrievances,
givi g
an d offence,
by
b i they desired
gm o
d rate toh
eal
them-
selves
this course.
The eh a
tGe ov ern
Noble-
sn en t were no
case do they
mtawkiethaomutajaoiritithyoroifiyCionn
Baron, a Member of that House, who was a high authority,
alluding to a similar subject, thus spoke—" the responsibility
of appointing Magistrates rests with the Lord Chancellor,
and it is the duty of that high functionary to recommend
only such persons as he thinks duly qualified to
discharge the duties reposed in them. I de not mean to ques-
tion the motives, or to impugn the conduct of any particular
party, but I think, in common with the mass of the country,
that if men of our colour of politics, only be nominated to these
offices, though justice may not be corrupted in consequence,
the administeation of it would be subject to doubt and sus-
picion."—( Hear: hear) Thisbe thought was justifiable, because
the Government look tai Mitigate the preponderance of one
,party on the bench. His Noble Friend complained that a
great addition had been made to the Magistracy. In conserd-.
quence of that statement, it was necessary for hint (the
sLnan
hei most t
say
cre
Chancellor) to call their Lordship'sattention to the em
.ces under which the appointments ware made, and
should
it did appear most extraordinary that the Noble Marquist.n.
appointed.
the case of Yarmouth-19 Magistrates had e
d the 18 were violent
have brought before their Lordships such an allegation. Take
Of these one was a Conservative,
la et gh ee Borough
nl. etruorofnf odid
political tl T
consultedse own
partisans on the other side.
But then his Noble Friend said they
Guildford. In that
and
That was one instance.
Conservatives ; the
wagt h the evaesreyo
boroughCoaeei therel. T ak
Takeenames; they
inhabitants were called on to make a le
so, and menticned all Conservatives. What did the Secretary
ted one Conservative and two Ra-
at State tro ? He appointed
d' 1 Was this to
IL S. go ou? Were they (the Ministers) to be
trampled under foot by their opponents? Take Wigan.
appointment in that borough was confined
Eve!y. sax That was another case. Talk
to wings and is le P•
of taking the sense of the Town Council I Look at Ro-
chester, where
the Council consisted of half Conservatives
and half Whigs. They sent up names, and the Government