The Sun.
London, England, 1842-05-05 00:00:00

veiled, and that the inhabitants of Gateshead had, in a
previous Session of Parliament, returned a gentleman
of revolutionary principles to represent them. He (Mr.
Hutt) was not going to vindicate the character either of
his Hon. Colleague, or of the town of Gateshead.
It appeared that the Noble Lord had made
these observations. He (Mr. Hutt) would wish
the Noble Lord to remember, that in this
free and intelligent country no character was so revolu-
tionary in character, was so dangerous to the public
peace, as that of a man of high station, of princely for-
tune, of great political power, who used these uncommon
advantages in such a way as to alienate from him the
respect and the confidence of his country.—(Hear,
hear.) Let him return to the subject of Gates-
head. When he saw that there, and in other
places similarly situated, political party ran high
—when he saw that the Right Honourable Baronet
had established there a majority of Tory magistrates,
and had scattered between 3 and 400 magistrates of Tory
opinions in different parts of the country, he must
own that he was very much puzzled to know
on what principle the Right Honourable Baronet
had acted ; and he should probably have been puzzlod
to this day had it not been for the candid avowal of the
Noble Lord the Chancellor of England. He never
understood that these magistrates were appointed
solely for political purposes.—(Cries of " Hear, hear.")
He hoped no one would doubt his authority.—(Cheers.)
The Right Hon. Gentleman was extremely fond of to
quoque arguments. He (Mr. Hutt) would admit then
that it was true, he would go farther—(Hear, hear)
—for the sake of argument—(Hear, hear)—and would
now admit the Right Hon. Gentleman to say, that in-
stead of having appointed four hundred magistrates
from feelings of caprice, his predecessor had ap-
pointed a thousand.—(Ministerial cheers.) But then he
(Mr. Hutt) would ask, what was that to him?—(Hear.)
what was that to the people of England,
whose interest were deeply involved on the ques-
tion ? For his part he believed that the
to quoque argument, miserable as it was, at best would not
avail the Right Hon. Baronet on that occasion. This he was
bound to say, that having frequently seen his Noble Friend
(Lord John Russell) on the subject of those appoint-
ments, in consequence of a commission he had received
from the borough of Hull, he had always found his Noble
Friend anxious to see gentlemen of opinions opposed to his
own placed upon the bench of Magistrates. It happened
that the Corporation of Hull had originally recommended
gentlemen exclusively of the Whig party, upon which
the Noble Lord, when the list was presented to him,
said that that should not be.—(Hear, hear.) The Noltde
Lord did not approve of making the bench of Magis-
trates the scene of party politics. In consequence of
the statement of the Noble Lord communications took
place between him and the town council of Hull, and the
result was that Gentlemen of the Tory party were placed
upon the Bench. A similar course to his (Mr.
Hutt's) knowledge was pursued by the Marquis
of Normanby. Both those Noblemen were anxious that
the Magistracy should in some sort represent the feelings
of the country at large. He believed, however, that it
would be found the Right Hon. Baronet opposite
had acted in precisely the opposite way, Ile believed it
would be found that the Right Hon. Baronet had placed
upon the bench almost exclusively Members of one party
--(Hear)—and placed them there, as he believed, for
party and political purposes ; a proceeding which would
hardly be found paralleled in our history since the time
of Charles 11. He believed that the system introduced by
the Right Hon. Baronet was full of danger to the country ;
and that was not merely his opinion nor the opinion
of every party with which he might be supposed
to be connected. He could assure the Right Hon-
ourable Baronet that that was the opinion of men
in every position in life. It was the opinion of Ma-
gistrates of the same political opinions as her Majesty's
Government; it was the opinion of many who agreed
with Government in their general principles of policy,
but who were disgusted with this abuse of the powers
of Government, The House should remember that
those municipal tribunals were the only Courts of
Justice to which millions could appeal. (Hear.)
The Right Honourable Baronet was a man
of forture and high station, who could prosecute a suit
in a dozen courts if he thought proper; but the poor had
practically no other form of civil and criminal jurisdic-
tion than the local tribunals of the country.—(Cheers.)
He was glad to have that asscenting cheer. Was it then
right that that tribunal should be political ? He was
glad that at least on one point they could agree.
He was happy to have the concurrence of the Right
Hon. Baronet, that it was hither just nor right, that that
tribunal should be a political one. Looking to the state
of society in the country, and to the feelings that
were abroad, they must see that it was not fit
to add to the elements of confusion. The Eon. Member
for Bradbury—(Laughter)—he begged pardon for the
mistake, he meant the Hon. Member for Bradford
(Mr. Hardy) would do little, instead of answering
by jeers, to get up when he (Mr. Hutt) had
closed his observations, and to reply to those
observations if he could. With respect to the
Supreme Judges of the land, they were restrained
by their knowledge of the law, by their habitual defe-
rence to the forms of justiee from giving way to
any remarkable political tparty feeling or bias. But
what did these Borough Justices know about law or its
forms. They should be raised to their offices for their
personal intelligence and integrity, matters of
which the Secretary of State could know nothing
but which their townsmen were sure both to know and
appreciate. But they did not suffer their townsmen
to take part in the electiem of these 111;q,is-
trates to their offices ; they did not care whether
those Magistrates obtained and possessed the confi-
dence of their fellew-townsmen ; all that they cared
for was, that they should be active political partisans.
He protested against this system, and he hoped the
House of Commons would see that the time had come to
oppose it. It is now declared that the nomination of
the town councils were to be set aside ; that every
successive Secretary of State was to appoint as many
Magistrates as suited his purpose, and was to be the
sole judge of their fitness and character, while an
inquisition was set up, or the political opinions of
every Magistrate on the Bench, for the purpose of
swamping them every time those opinions might
be opposed to those of the party in power. He again
protested against the system ; it could be fruitful
of nothing but mischief, and would render the Bench
a scene of violent party and political conflicts,
and produce a system about as respectable and respected
as the system of this House with regard to the trial of
controverted elections.—(Hear, hear.) The whole
system was calculated to deprave the character
of the Bench ; it was to the confidence which the
people of England felt in those who were entrusted with
the administration of justice they owed that
high tone of feeling which was their charac-
teristic. Let them destroy this confidence, and the hour
was not far distant when they would deeply lament
it.—(Hear, hear.) He remembered a passage from
Lord Clarendon, which was well worthy of the attention
of the Right Hon. Barouet, and of all who were en-
trusted with the reins of Government in this cum-
try.—(Hear.) In tracing the causes of the disasters
which raised the people of England against that
institutions of the country, and which at last drove
them to meet their Sovereign in the field. Lord Cla-
rendon says, " It was not the ship money
it was not the exaction of forced loans which smothered
in the hearts of Englishmen those feelings of affection
and loyalty to their Prince, which, in every age and al,
c,rcumstances, had been the characteristics of
the race. It was not these thingl
it was the scorn and irreverence into which the Judgess
of the land had fallen ; it was the consequence of the
people hearing the Magistrated pronouncing that to
be law which every one knew was not law."
If this course was pursued, and if the sanction of the
House was given to the innovations of the Right Hon.
Baronet, he believed it would be pregnant with disaster
to the country. The Right Honourable Baronet at the
head of the Government in the course of his elo-
quent peroration in his speech on the finances
of the country, took occasion to notice the va-
rious calamities with which the country was visited,
in the course of the last century—the mutiny of
the Note, the rebellion in Ireland, and the war
abroad, but if the Secretary of State were
allowed to appoint to the Magistracy political
parties disgrace and dishonour would befal the country.
He did not think the Right Hon. Baronet (Sir R. Peel)
would get up and give his approval to this system.
He was surrounded by those who said it was his duty to
maintain the supremacy of his party under all circum-
stances, but he (Mr. HO presumed to give him other
evidence.—(ob, and laughter.) lie could assure Hon.
Members that interruption was very disagreeable. He
hoped the Hon. and Gallant Officer opposite would per-
mit him to offer a few remarks. He would suggest to
the Right Hon. Baronet (Sir R. Peel) that he could
not lay the foundation of his power on surer grounds,
than by securing to the people the equal administration
of the law.—(Ministerial cheers.) He would sug-
gest to him that he could not raise his name
to a higher rpitch than by taking care that no
individual was raised to the Bench of Juustice,
whether it was in the Supreme Courts of the
country or in the local tribunals, except those
who possessed the confidence of their fellow-countrymen,
others may be disposed to give different counsels ; but
he was sure that he would do better to give up the little
interests of party, which would be fatal to his power and
the permanence of his fame.—(Cheers.)
—Mr. JERVIS seconded the motion.
The question having been put,
Sir J. GRAHAM said that when the Hun. Gentleman
who had just sat down gave notice of his motion, he
he took the first opportunity of thanking him for
giving that notice. lie certainly felt that he was under
great obligations to the Hon. Gentleman ; for after all
that had been said there and elsewhere, with respect to
his conduct on this particular subject, he felt satisfied
that the Hon. Gentleman was about to bring that con-
duct under the consideration of the House in some
tangible shape, so that be might appeal to its deliberate
judgement, and anxious whether the House thought it
worthy of reprobation.
(LEFT SPEAKING.)

TATTERSALL'S (THIS EVENING)

Six O'CLOCK.

5 to 1 agst Frederica.
27 to 1 agst Chatham
16 to 1 agst Auckland,
30 to 1 agst
9 to 1 agst Canadian.

DISAPPEARANCE OF THE BODY OF A MURDERER.—
We understand that the hody of the man Cook, of Bitton, who
committed murder and suicide, and whose interment, owing
to the peculiar nature of the verdict of the Coroner's Jury,
could not take place without permission of the Judges, was
secretly removed at. night from his late residence, and con-
veyed no one knows where, or by whom, or for what purpose.
That the door was found open in the morning and the body
gone, is all that the neighbours know about the matter.—
Bristol Times.