The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-01-19 00:00:00

to maturity. He entered into a lengthened statement
of the causes which had led to the insurrection. He
strongly maintained the necessity of preserving invio-
late the connexion between the colony and the mother
country. He then proceeded to detail the plans which

ministers intended to adopt as their guides for the fu-
ture. He proposed that, during the abeyance of the As-
sembly, the legislative power should be exclusively
vested in a Governor and Council. The earlier adop-
tion of such a plan might have averted the serious con-
sequences which have been already experienced, espe-
cially if the Imperial Parliament or the Queen in Coun-
cil had the power to interpose a veto to the adoption of
the laws which might have been passed by such a Colo•
nial Council. It appears from what Lord John Russell
has intimated that the Governor And his Council are to
have the initiative in every act of legislation. To this
we conceive there will be very decided objections. Un-
der such an arrangement, neither the government at
home, nor the Imperial Parliament, will have any direct
influence over the administration of affairs in the colony,
further than by giving a negative to the propositions
which may originate with the Governor and his Council.
We are afraid that this will have a tendency to prolong
the differences which have already so long existed. Why
not pass such laws as are requisite fur the government
of the colony, in the first instance, in the British Parlia-
ment, and leave the Colonial Council to adopt or modify
them according to circumstances, as in the case of the
slavery abolition question, reserving to the Queen in
Council the right of finally rejecting or ratifying such
laws ? It appears that the Governor is empowered to
call in the advice of ten representatives from Lower and
ten front Upper Canada.

Such are the outlines of the ministerial scheme for
conducting the machinery of legislation in the Canadas.
We are glad to infer from Lord John Russell's speech
that the Papineau conspiracy is to be effectually quelled.
This cannot be dune without visiting the traitors who
have instigated this rebellion against the British Crown
with condign punishment. This is indispensably neces-
sary, in order that an example may be afforded to deter
others from venturing upon a similar course, and to show
that the Queen's authority shall not be despised with im-
punity. If such be not the intention of ministers, we
feel confident that all their attempts at conciliation will
be perfectly futile, and unproductive of any good result.

In the course of the debate which arose from the ex-
position of the plans of government in reference to Ca-
nada, those miserable theorists, Messrs. Hume and
Grote, embraced another opportunity of broaching their
chimerical views of colonial legislation. Their senti-
ments, however, met with but a cool reception from the
house. They still had the audacity to declare that the
" sober, steady, and reflecting people of England" were
on their side, and on the side of the traitorous, Popish,
and anti-British faction, by whom the flame of civil war
has been kindled in the Canadas. If such an assertion
is true, how comes it to piss that Hume, Leader, Grote,
Molesworth, and Co. have so signally failed in their re-
cent attempts to excite the popular sympathy in favour
of the rebels. How comes it to pass also that nine-
tenths of the public press are opposed to them, and de-
cry their mischievous agitation ?
The encomiums bestowed by Mr. Hume and Mr.
Grote upon the colonial administration of Sir George
Murray and the Earl of Aberdeen drew forth from Sir
Robert Peel some very caustic remarks on the infatuated
policy pursued by the radicals in depriving the coun-
try of the benefit of the eminent services of the very
men whom they are now disggsed to consider the best
friends of the Canadians.

We have elsewhere given at as great length as our
space will peernit the masterly and elaborate speech' of
Sir Robert Peel. This distinguished statesman has
given fresh proofs of his capacity for wielding the des-
tines of Great B►itain and its dependencies. On no
occasion do we remember having met with a more tri-
umphant refutation of the flimsy and shallow doctrines
of the philosophical theorists, nicknamed " reformers,"
on the subject of the relative obligations of the mother
country and the colonies. It has often been remarked,
that the abilities of Sir Robert Peel are always found to
rise more and more conspicuously into notice under
every fresh emergency. His speech on Tuesday even-
ing affords an additional confirmation of the truth of this
observation. We feel confident that it will produce a
powerful impression throughout the country, and add
fresh ignominy to the character of the unprincipled mi-
nistry, who conspired with the enemies of England to
deprive the country of the services of this most distin-
guished statesman of modern times. Soon may he be
restored to that post for which his consummate talents
so eminently qualify him.

Since the above remarks were penned, we have per-
used a portion of the debate which took place in the
House of Commons, on Wednesday evening. We are
sorry to find that Lord Durham is to go out as governor
of our North American colonies, with plenary powers to
grant a general amnesty to the rebels in Canada. So,
then, after all the flourishes of Lord Melbourne and the
silly vapourings of Lord John Russell, the " base traitors,"
against whom our ministers have declaimed with so
much virtuous indignation, are to escape with impunity.
Such a course of proceeding will do no good whatever.
To extend pardon to Papineau and his fellow conspi-
rators, especially an unconditional pardon, would be an
absolute abuse of mercy. The proper exercise of this
God-like quality would be to expatriate the traitors.
This would be an act of mercy to the pour deluded
wretches whom the arch conspirators have plunged into
all the horrors of war.

In addition to the preceding consideration, we would
further nrge that the granting of a general amnesty to
the rebels in Canada will operate most mischievously as
a precedent for other coloniei, as well as for England
itself. How much more mischievously must it operate
in reference to Ireland ? It will be tantamount to offer-
ing a premium upon rebellion. O'Connell and his
seditious associates may now stimulate the disaffected
papists of the sister island into open revolt, and calculate
upon the tender mercies of an English government for
the favour of extending a general amnesty. Nay, they
may even take up arms themselves and attack the
Queen's troops, and assert the independence of Ireland,
and yet expect to escape the consequences of their re-
bellion. If Papineau and the other traitors in Canada
escape punishment, why may not Joseph Hume and the
other radical demagogues calculateupon similar leniency,
if they should venture to make a like experiment
upon the loyally of the people of England?
Lord Durham's mission will prove a failure, as Lord
Gosford's did, if he should act up to the spirit of his in-
structions. Nothing but the utmost firmness and energy
will now suffice to put down the rebellion. Energy
does not imply tyranny ; nor does the most uncompro-
mising firmness imply any degree of oppression. We
do not advocate the practice of harshness or cruelty ; we
merely recommend a firm and unflinching resolution to
maintain the supremacy of the Queen over her colonial
territories and subjects. This object cannot be attained
until we have a change of ministry.

THE LIVERPOOL TELEGRAPH.--The editor of this
contemptible print, which has not the good fortune of
being the acknowledged organ of any political party in
the town, has thought fit to question the propriety of our ,
remarks on the recent hole•and corner meeting of
Tradesmen's Reform Association. The logic by which
the Telegraph seeks to establish the position, that the
above meeting was a public one, is of the most extraor-
dinary character. We should not have thought it worth
our while to notice the subject any farther, but for the
sake of exhibiting the curiosity to which we have alluded.
The Telegraph remarks " that the meeting in question
was called for the purpose of petitioning the legislature
in favour of two great national questions—Vote by
Ballot and the Extension of the Suffrage—and a local
question of hardly less importance—the introduction
into Liverpool of Sir John Cain Hobl►ouse's Vestry Act.
The objects sought to be obtained are public objects—
and the utmost publicity was given to the meeting by
placards and otherwise ;" ergo the Telegraph concludes,.
this could not have been termed a secret meeting, or " a
hole-and corner meeting." Thus the specific object of

JANUARY 10, 1838.

any meeting of a political club, though none but mem-
bers are admitted, must be allowed to convert that meet-
ing into a public one ! This is a specimen of Telegraph
reasoning. The next remark proves the exclusive cha-
racter of the meeting at the Music Hall, even upon the
shewing of the Telegraph itself. The stupid writer
proceeds to acknowledge that " the meeting was coin,
posed of the members of the Association, all of whom
are favourable to the objects stated; and persons not
members of the Association were excluded." And yet
the ignorant scribbler pertinaciously maintains that this
was a public meeting ! "Verily this radical scrub
labours with wonderful success to bring his own friends
into contempt." As to the petitions which have ema-
nated from this hole and•corner meeting on the subjects
of Vote by Ballot, Universal Suffrage, &c., we feel con-
fident that a knowledge of their origin will prevent every
man who has a spark of self respect, from appending his
signature to either of them. The reaction on the Canada
question has almost proved the death-blow of the trai-
torous faction, which has its head-quarters in Clayton
Square. The diminished numbers of the Reform Asso-
ciation, afford ample proof of the growing unpopularity
of the principles which are advocated by the leading men
among the liberal party in Liverpool.

LORD ELDON.—We have this day to record the death

of this distinguished lawyer and statesman, who so long
occupied a most prominent position in the government
of his country, with honour to himself, and advantage to
the nation. His memory will be long cherished by the
protestant people of Great Britain, as the uncompro-
mising opponent of catholic emancipation, on the passing
of which measure he had predicted all those melancholy
results which recent years have witnessed. We extract
the following tribute to the moral worth and professional
eminence of Lord Eldon from the Morning Herald :
The rise of Lord Eldon from a humble walk of life, and an
obscure origi❑ to almost the highest office of dignity and power
beneath the throne, was only one of the instances which so fre-

quently occur under our admirably-constructed free constitu,-
tion, of talent and integrity reaching the brightest rewards of an
honourable ambition by the force of their own merits. His
brother, the late Lord Stowell, was another exalted instance of
splendid ability, scholarship, and virtue, rewarded with well-
earned distinction. As a civilian, the latter has commanded
the respect and admiration of all Europe—as an equity lawyer,
the former, if ever equalled, has never been eXcelledl. Such
men, rise from what obscurity they may, confer as much lustre
on high station as high station can confer on them. Both have
gone down to the grave full of years and of honours—but the
name of the one will survive the oblivion of the tomb while

Europe has a code of international law, and that of the other
cannot perish except with the system of equity of which he
established the land marks.

Mortuary honours had been lavished on the memories, sta-
tues have been raised to the fame, of smaller men than these
two distinguished judges, who gave to most important and diffi-
cult branches of the law the benefit of so much knowledge and
ability. In public life, stern and uncompromising politicians—
on the bench as remarkable for suavity of temper and amenity
of manners as some far inferior lawyers, placed in such situa-
tions, have been for the opposite qualities of petulance and ill-
nature, Lords Stowell and Eldon displayed, under all circum-
stances, the singleness and simplicity of true genius. Can the
bar neglect to do adequate honour to their memories without ex-
posing itself to the reproach of being so absorbed in the drudgery
of sordid gain as to be indifferent to examples of the highast
moral and intellectual worth, connected with professional emi-
nence In any other country the funeral orations pronounced
over the graves of such men wonld be followed by such tributes
of public respect to their talents and virtues as would testify the
admiration inspired by men who, having run such a race, had
touched their goal of glory.

The best memorial of Lord Eldon is undoubtedly to be found
in the reports of the judgments which he pronounced during
the more than quarter of a century in which he occupied the
office of lord high chancellor of England. Those judgments,
displaying an intellect equally acute and vigorous, profound,
and lucid, constitute a monument to his fame aere perennius.
Equity, treated as a science, was never so capaciously grasped,
and so luminously expounded. Still it ought not to be left to
history, at a distant day, to sculpture its trophies, or inscribe its
praise upon the urns of great men, which contemporary evidence
shall have neglected. Of John Earl of Eldon, whatever else
may be said, this must be a portion of his epitaph, that he was
the greatest equity lawer his country has produced, and one of
the most consistent of England's politicians.
The following sketch of his public life is'also derived
from the same source :
This venerable nobleman was born on tile 4tlanf Jure, 1751,
at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. His father, Mr. &Ott, wes a coal-
fitter in that town, and, it is said, had originally been a domes-
tic in a nobleman's family. John, the subject of this sketch,
was educated with his elder brother, William, afterwards Lord
Stowell, at the grammar school at Newcastle, and both being
fortunate enough to obtain exhibitions, were sent to Oxford,
where they maintained themselves chiefly by their own exer-
tions. John was entered at the Temple, Hilary Term, 1772,
and, having kept 16 terms, was called to the bar in 1776. From
the commencement of his legal studies, Mr. Scott was pre-emi-
nently distinguished for his indefatigable assiduity. lie never
devoted to relaxation a moment more than was absolutely ne-
cessary to health ; and he resolutely resisted all the temptations
of society. Even the attractions held forth by the conversation
of the great literary leviathan of the day, Dr. Johnson, was in-
sufficient to entice the laborious young lawyer from the solitude
of his chambers, and the severe course of study he had chalked
out for himself. It is for this reason we find no mention of John
Scott in the work of that indefatigable chronicler Boswell, who
has given William Lord Stowell a conspicuous place in his id"'
teresting records.

Mr. John Scott devoted his attention principally to the courts
of equity, but in those days it was the custom for chancery
barristers to attend the assizes; and was a member of the north-
ern circuit. It was at Newcastle that he became acquainted
with Miss Eliz. Surtees, the daughter of a mercantile gentle-
man of that town, and the young lawyer laid siege to the heart
of the lady. The match, however, was opposed by the Surtees
family, in consequence of the poverty and humble origin of the
bold aspirant. Gretna was invitingly near, and thither the
young couple eloped. The father proved implacable and re-
fused forgiveness; but, years afterwards, when honours, riches,
and rank showered profusely upon the fortunate adventurer,
overtures for a reconciliation were made by Mr. Surtees and his
family. But the great Lord Eldon turned the cold shoulder
towards those who had treated the poor and unfriended barrister
with contempt, and whose motives in seeking a renewal of
were too glaring for charity herself to misinterpret.
It is a fact worth remarking that, in his office of chancellor,
Lord Eldon affixed the seal to a commission of bankruptcy
against Aubone Surtees, the father of his wife.

For the first few years of his career Mr. Scott confined him-
self to the business of an equity draftsman, shunning with an
almost invincible'timidity appearing as an advocate. He soon
acquired an extensive chamber practice, but his health, which
was delicate, suffering from the confinement incident to that.
labourous branch of the profession, he was compelled to accept
briefs to appear in the court of chancery; and his success in
this latter department was even more signal than in the former.
He was remarkable for the clearness and precision of his style,
for the logical chain of his reasoning, and a most extensive
knowledge of cases. Lord Chancellor Thurlow was so im-
pressed by Mr. Scott's pleading, that one day, on breaking up
the court, he invited the barrister into his private 'room, and,
offered him a vacant mastership, which, however, I♦lr. Scott
very wisely declined. A mastership in chancery is an office.
shunned as the grave of legal ambition, by all men of talent
who aspire to the high honours of their profession; for very
seldom it is that preferment follows the acceptance of such an
office, and Mr. Scott's subsequent career certainly left him no
cause to regret having declined Lord Thurlow's offer. In 1783,
Mr. Scott obtained his patent of precedency, and in 1788, he
was made solicitor-general and knighted. It is said that he ex-
pressed to George the Third a modest desire to decline the latter
honour, but the King exctaimed, " Pooh, pooh, nonsense,
man," and gave him the accolade, nolens volens. In 1793, Sir
John Scott was made attorney-general; and in the memorable
prosecutions against Hardy, Horne Tuoke, Holcroft, &c., his
speech in Hardy's case may be referred to as a fair specimen of
forensic oratory. It occupied nine bourse in delivery.
Soon after obtaining his patent of precedency in 1783, Mr.
Scott was introduced into parliament for Lord Weymouth's
borough of Weolby, in Herefordshire (disfranchised by the
Reform Act.) He first distinguished himself in the debate on
Mr. Fox's India Bill, when he "fleshed his maiden sword"
in a contest with the great whig champion himself. Mr. Scott
had stipulated on standing for Weobly to vote according to his
conscience : he sided with Mr. Pitt, and commenced the advo-
cacy of those principles which he continued to hold up to the
last hour.of his life. Mr. Scott drew the East India Declaratory
Bill, and that service is said to haue gained for him the solicitor-
generalship.
Like many other eminent lawyers Scott failed in making a
vivid impression on the house as a debater. His style was too
cold, precise, and strictly forensic. Pitt himself whilst he derived
the utmost benefit from Scott's consummate legal talents and
knowledge, did not consider him a❑ efficient defender in debate
of the measures of government, and, on one occasion particularly,
he evinced such to be his opinion by rising immediately after
the attorney-general to speak to the same question—a breach of
etiquette which was in effect saying, that all the crown lawyer's
speech went fur nothing-
During the attorney-generalship of Sir John Scott, there
were more than double the number of prosecutions for libel.

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