The Sun.
London, England, 1827-06-15 00:00:00

THE MAGISTRACY.

The Irish Lord Chancellor is shrewd, consi-
derate, and careless of fame. His legal decisions
demonstrate the extent to which he exercises the
first of those attributes. The deliberate and reckless
spirit with which he withheld a Commission of the
Peace, upon a late occasion, from two Catholics of
character, talent, and property, because they were
members of the Association, exhibits him in his
considerateness and indifference to public opinion.
Men of stern and unimpassioned temperament, sel-
dom wish to see others in tears. It was, therefore,
not only considerate, but philosophical, in Lord
Manners to make the close of his career in Chan-
cery as unpopular as possible. He dreaded, lest, if
he deported himself to the end with that sameness of
illiberality for which he was distinguished from the
beginning, he might be pursued with some regret
into the shade of private life. To render his resig-
nation of. Chancellorship a subject of joyance and
public gratulation, l►e was resolved to do some ex-
tremely obnoxious act. Lord Oriel and the Corpo-
ration -of Waterford supplied him with the golden
opportunity. The former recommended Sir Patrick
Bellew to his Lordship, as worthy to be invested
with the Commission of the Peace. The latter
made a similar application on behalf of Mr. Meagher,
a respectable Gentleman of Waterford. Fortunately
for the Lord Chancellor's views, both were Mem-
bers of the Catholic Association. He wanted no more.
The lucky hit was promptly made. It is needless to
say how wonderfully it has succeeded. We ask any
man who is acquainted with the general character
which the Irish Magistracy has borne—the job 7
bing and oppression which it has almost uniformly
sanctioned—the aversion to inquiry and reflection
which, even in matters of the greatest public moment
it has manifested—its passion to surfeit the gaols
with delinquents of a comparatively minor species,
and to refund them to society with all the contami-
nation of a prison about them—its propensity to
incarcerate indiscriminately the though tless and truant
youth, as well as the hardened and mature trans-
gressor—we ask any man, who is aware of all this,
(and a very short residence in the country will make
him perfectly acquainted with the facts), if he ima-
gines that virtue and intellect have been viewed as
essential to the decorous, wholesome, and effective
exercise of the Magisterial authority It would be
well for the country if Lord Manners had scrutinized
the moral capabilities of many of our Justices with
that acuteness which marked his inquiry into the
political demerits of Sir Patrick Bellew and Mr.
I Meagher.
The ground upon which the Chancellor refused
to confide to those gentlemen a trust, for the con-
' scientious discharge of which, their worth, station,
and property might be looked upon as a valuable
pledge, is, as we have already stated, the fact of
their being members of the Catholic Association.
Lord Manners may have yet some influence, and, if
he considers 'every member of the Association as a
being with whom no faith can be kept, he ought to
exert it in crushing and disgracing them. This, we
apprehend, would be rather an arduous task for his
Lordship. We know not the motives of, but we
are not blind to the consequences likely to result
from, the insult offered, not to Sir Patrick Bellew
and Mr. Meagher, but to the whole Catholic Gentry
of the country, by this ill-judged, and, at a juncture
like the present, infelicitous exercise of authority.
Faction, the restless persecutor of Ireland, was sink-
ing into a slumber—it is to be hoped that the calm
will not be disturbed by any retaliatory animosities,
and that the door of renewed discord will not be
burst open, even though no less a personage than
Lord Manners has said " open sessame."—Free-
man's journal.