Star.
London, England, 1826-05-19 00:00:00

11.._

entire renovation of the system. But when he heard
of the persona being selected out .1 this number of Conon li ss inners
as a sort of appellant jurisdiction ; and when be heard there was to
be an appeal from them to the Vice Chancellor, he could see
nothing but an increase of expense and delay.—(Hear, hear!)—
And he only discharged his duty to himself and his country when
be atated he entirely disapproved of it altogether.—(Hear !)
Mr. BROUGHAM wished to make some observa-
tions. In one r spect the Report was lamentably de-
fective. It omitted to take any notice of the evidence
which had been brought forward to prove the abuses
which existed in the Court of Chancery. The Com-
missioners off:red their opinion as to the changes which
they considered beneficial, but in no part of their 11.-
pol t had he found any reference to the evidence. He
had looked in vain for it in the inn oductory part, in
page 187, and in that part which had been designated
the labours of Mr. Beames, and in his search he had not
trusted altogether to his own recollectiOn, having con-
stilted several of his L'alsed Friends who took an in-
terest in the sn"ject. He was sure this nmi•sion could,
he accounted for, and he looked with some anxiety for
an explanation. In the progrets of such an inquiry, the
obvious course in his (Mr. Brougham's) opinion, was to
inquire, in the first place, what were inc evils com-
plained of, and next to ascertain what were the real
causes of those evil,? The evils of the Court of Chan-
cery, it was univtr,ally allowed, were its delays, ex-
pense. and abuses, an 1 the great. question was, to what
were they owing? To the system, or to the manlier in
which that system was conducted? In plain, honest
language, without heating about the bush, or sacs ificing
too much to personal feelings, he would ask wheeler I
these evils were or were not a.trihntable to the Noble
and Learned person who presided over the Court of
Chancery ? lion. and Learned Friend had said that,
in the course of the inquiry, the presence of that Noble
and Learned person had done much to facilitate that
inquiry, and that he had not opposed any obstacle to
the fullest investigation. He (Mr. Brougham) would
ask his Hon. and Learned Friend, whether anybody
had accused him of doing so? He (Mr. 134 certainly
had never charged him with having opposed any obstacle
to the inquiry. His Hon. and Learned Friend, the
Member for Durham, had never done so. They had
never accused the Noble Lord of having acted so clum-
sily. The objection which he had, however, made, was,
that his presence (and bad his manners been more re-
pulsive and less fascinating than those of the Noble and
Learned Lord were universally allowed to be, the
effect would have been the same) did silently and im-
perceptibly operate upon those who had the charge of
drawing up that Report. This had been his (Mr. B.'s)
abjection to the original construction of the commission,
and nothing that he had since seen induced him to alter
it. Much stress had been laid upon the opinion of Mr.
Basil Montagu, and an endeavour had been made to
prove that the opinions of that Gentleman, and those of
the late Sir Samuel Romilly, vpnn the subject of the
Court of Chancery, coincided. He (Mr.B.) must take
leave, however, to say, with all possible respect for the
character and talents of Mr. M .ntagu, that no persons
could difftr more widely upon this subject, for whether
it was to be considered the misfortune of Sir Samuel
Romilly, or of the Lard Chancellor, he should not stop
to inquire, hut it was very well known that that lamented
individual (Sir Samuel Hominy) had always entertained
ae most unfavourable ol,isaon both of -the judicial and
political conduct of the Lord Chancellor. One of the
witnesses had been asked whether, if a person duly
qualified were to devote himself for six hours a day,
from ten till four, with his faculties all the time upon
the stretch, he would be able to get through the busi-
ness of the Court of Chancery ? and he replied, that
be would not. In this answer he (Mr. Bosughani) per.
fectly agreed. But there was a very unfair iidetence
left behind, which was, that the Lord CliancelLo did
not actually devote himself fur six hours a day to the
duties of his Court. In common fairness, the question
ought to have been followed up by anothet directed to
this particular fact. If any Geotleman who proct'sed
in the Cowl of Chancery could be found to say that
the Chancellor did devote himself to the business of
his Court float ten till lour, let him come forward, and
he (Mr. Brougham) would gii e up his doubts of the
fairne sof the i. ference ; but until then he must be
permitted to retain them. The Report, in alluding to
the arrear of c +uses, stated there were 109 cases of
appeal io art ear. This certainly was not a vet y splen-
did, nor, to suitors, a gratifying, proof of the Lord
Chancel o's Went for dispatching bush e,s. The Chan-
cellor, in fact, d'sposed of no original motions at all.
Ile confined himself chiefly to cases of banks uptcies and
lunatic peitionf. And what was the cause of this
at: ear ?—lt was in his (Mr. Brougliam'a) opinion chiefly
attributable to the union of judicial and political foam-
tiotis i s the sane person. Hcw much better would it
be it ttese fun( ti its were separated, and if the public
could have tie opinion of the first Law Officer of the
country, wholly uninfluenced by his political feelings.
For it was toeiess to deny (and in speak'ng of a public
character, I e (Mr. B.) did not conceive, that he l;ad any
light to conceal his teA', sentimen's, that the great infir-
mity of the L rd Chancellor, and that which everybody
compi -fined of, was the habit of doubting, which seemed
to be a part t 1 I-is nature. Now he (\lr. Brougham)
did rot conceive that this habit proceeded from any
want t f quickness upon the part of the Noble Person in
coning to a deci since it was IMI.OIO.IhIC to conceive
a man of more acntene-a, or one more likely to come to
a correct judgmeia upon the instant. He had no hesi-
tation in avowing, that no man who had occupied the
elevated station which the Noble Lord filleddiad brought
to it a mind of greater power, or one, which, from long
rracticr,h4cl more knowledge of the laws of this country.
Ile, theeefoie, could not attribute the Noble Lord's
doubt► to any want of perception of the merits of
cause, hut to a slowoess in giving judgment, which, to
the unfortunate suitors, was the most fatal quality of
which a Judge could be possessed. And to is hat, he
repeated, was This to be too ibuted ? "lo the fact of hi,
having too much to do, too many things to a tend to,
and the impnssibi'ity that he could give his undivided
atteolii nto any one subject. One day he is wanted its
ti,e House of Lords, another, to attend the Recorder',
Ito to rt, v bile, at some other period, be is called to at-
tend a Ceoecil. Under these circumstances, it was
absolutely imyossible tl at he could discharge, with any
thing like fail nes., his functions of a Judg•. Aries's
wet e not to notorious in former years, they arose within
the last 25 years; these was no Committee of Inquiry
appointed ist tl use day,—no motion for an inquiry out-
voted in tl.e lien-eot Comnonis by political adherents,
and Maters is Chalice! y. lit 1810. 11, 12. 22, and
t 4, in a course lit 16 years, since 1810, the Clothe-11ot
Lad root made one step, one movement, one thought, to
remedy or :riot m the L ast abuse of his course. On thi,
ground, Lord Sunlit., and or her Chancellors, were out to be blamed,
ss hoht of tin 111 sat at the head of the Cuo t twenty-five years; and
as they bad not got so ara.y mulcts, and bad IlJt dawn such a