Star.
London, England, 1824-04-02 00:00:00

upon
' Mr. Seeretuty PERL considered it much wiser not to invite dis-
cussion upon it, and tboagbt it wt. better to proceed to the iII:1014.
dive enactment.
The RR was then reads third time and payed.
ISLE OW MAN.
Mr. CUR WEN rose to bring forward the motion of
which he had given notice, for the production of a copy
of a Memorial concerning the absence of the Attorriey-
General fiom the Isle of -Man, and also a copy of the
Patent of his appointment. He contended that it would
be absolutely improsilele that justice could be properly
administered among the parties into which the Isle of
Nlan was split, unless the Attorney-General were a per-
son altoeether unconnected witlr these parties. It was •
therelore necessary, in the first place, that he should nut
be a netlvee he. should also be resident in the island, and
fully comeetent to'decide such questionsas might come
before him. 'pas would preve.it the ruinous appeals
that were now so fiequent. As all prosecutions were
careiedon.by the Attorney-General, if he were a native
ok the island. it would be hardly possible for him to
execute the office uninfluenced by partialities; peisOtt
should therefore be selected 1.002 the &glide Bar. At
present,' in the ca:e of mi6crilduct on the part of the
Judges of the island, or of any ()titer public officers, the .
only appeal was to the Attorney•(ienera:. It was fit,
in Ins opinion, that some other tiibunal ,:houla be sUb-
stituted. It' might be said that in Gentleman of the
English Bar would accept of the situatiou of Attorney-
General with so small a salary as C5O) a year, and
with the obligation of permatiept residence on the island.
He did not mean to confine the-salary to 1:500. There
was no reason why it should not be extended to £lOOO.
Part of the surplus revenue of the island could not be
better employed.
Mr.'Secretary PEEL said that he did not rise for the
purpose of objecting to the motion of the Honourable
Member for Cumberland, altluitigh he felt rather. sur-
prised at the course taken by that Honourable Member,
who moved for certain papers, and, without waiting for
their production, ente:ed at once into a detail of the cir-
cumstances to which they were supposed to refer. had
the Honourable Gentleman centined himself to the sim-
ple object of his motion, he (Mr. Peel) should not have
thought it necessary to do more than express his ac-
quiescence; but as he entered neon other.topics, it was
' necessary for him to offer a feev words in explanation.
With respect to the office of Attorney -General of the
Isle of Man, the only question with him (Mr. Peel) was,
how it could be best and most economically allminis-
tete.] ; arid those two objects, he thought, had been at-
tained by the appointmeat of the Gentleman who now
held it. That Gentleman was. Mr. Clarke, an eminent
English lawyer, who held at the same time t!:e office of.
Recorder of Liverpool, a situation which made him ne-.
cessat ily acquainted with the Criminal Jurisprudence of
this country, and therefore the more likely -to adminis-
' ter the law with advantage to the Isle of Man. The sa-
lary of the Attorney-General was only 1:4-00 per an-
CORWEN said across the table; £5OQ3.
. The Honourable IVlerrber said 5001. but lON. was :de-
ducted in consequence of absence. No person could
perform these- duties with greater ability than Mr.
Clarke. If it could be proved that his office was a sines
cure, he (Mr. );'eel) had no objection that he should be
l'superseded. But what was the fact? During the last
year this eminent individual had been three times, in
the Isle Of Man, engaged in very arduous causes. 'The
first was a case of murder; and, as it was a crime of
rare occurrence, and accompanied by.peculiar circum-
stances, he thought the prosecution ought to be cone
dutied by the first Law Officer of the Wand. lle ac-
' cordingly.wrote to Mr. Clarke, Who, in obedience to his
order,• went over, and the consequenceswas, the execs-
don of the murderer. On another occasion his assist-
ance was required to investigate a charge of cciruptioa
brought against one of the Judges of the Island, which
he (Mt.sPeel) was sorry to say had been so incontesti-
bly proved as to lead tp the dismissal of the individual.
The Honourable Member for Cumberland had,..vith
reference to this circumstance; adverted to what had
fallen from him (Mr. Peel) on a foimer evening.respect-
ing the appointment of his (Mr. Curwen's) son to the of-
fice of Judge, which had become vacant by the rui:-
cenduct of the individual alluded to; he wished him to
disavow the fact of this appointment having taken place
through his (Mr. Curwert s) interference. He could have.
no objection to do so. He certainly was not influenced
by any regard for the Honourable Member's wishes,
and had alluded to the subject for the purpose of shew-
ing that in this appointment he had not been actuated
by political motives. Toe Hoacalrable -Member's son
was amongst the candidates, and he (Mi. Peel) selected
him because he thought hies the best qualified, and not
in consequence of the exeicise of any undue influence.
To return to the Attorney-General. Mr. Clarke held
that office with a salary of 4-00/. per annum, and until
it couid be proved that he was unfit for the situ:it-tot'
or negligent of its duties, be Or. Puri) thought he
should nut be doing hi; duty if I.e displaced that
gatie•nato and put in ano:ber with an increased
salary of £lOOO ur £lsoo—(lfear). Mr. Claike's
pivate fortune rendered the emolument a .secondary
coasickration to him, and he saw Ito' reason, wider all
the circunistauces, for subjecting the I-land to any ad-
ditisnai expense. He was a most able.nian, and a sound
lawyer; his situation as Recorder of Liverpool gave' bins
great practical experience, and in ;di ct.hes respecting
the Isle of Min, he was of the greatest peasible• use'to
hint (Mr. Peel). Ile could not help saying that Le
placed the greater reliance on him, in consequence of
his non-residence in the Island, as it rendeicei him the
less likely to be influenced by those local prejudiceseind -
partialities which were ineeparable from a small com-
munity. If a. precedent fur his absence stele required,
there was the case of the Shelia of Counties in
~Scotland, who resided the greater piut of the year in
Edinburgh,inatio
nint wit
heel a v
Courts there ot ialeteerhwards- ;tit's;
them it the performance of their duties in the country.
Upon the whole, he could only say, that hi- the case hf
a vaceaey, which lie hoped might
.not soon tutor, he
should endeavour to select the. person Must eligible CO
the office of Attorney-Gent:TA. !lite.4%aw no reaaon,
press
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