The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1851-10-07 00:00:00

TO CORRESPONDENTS

In consequence of the great press of Advertisements—and the
early hour at which we have been compelled to go to press,
in order to supply the enormous demand for the drawing of
St. George's Hall, which we this day present to our readers
—we have been obliged to withdraw several articles of an
interesting character, and to considerably abridge others. We
have also been compelled to alter the general arrangement
of the paper this week.
C. E. M.—lf her statement be true—which we very much
doubt—she should have given us her name in confidence;
but whether true or false, the part she has acted, according to
her own admission, reflects no credit upon her, and we there-
fore decline to mix ourselves up, in any way, in the matter.
It is needless for us to state that we are on principle strongly
opposed to Roman Catholicism ; but that is no reason why
we should admit into our columns a foul and unauthenticated
calumny upon the Romish priesthood of Liverpool ; and
if C. E. M. had stated her grievance to one of the rev. gen-
tlemen alluded to, we are sure she would have received
redress.

We shall be happy at all times to receive communications
on subjects of local or general interest ; and if our frien•ls
will be good enough to authenticate the same by their signa-
tures, for our own satisfaction, we shall feel obliged.

titicrpoot -;-tanbarb+

TUESDAY MORNING, OCT. 7, 1851.

THE JUDGE OF THE LIVERPOOL
COUNTY COURT.

IT is stated of a learned, amiable, and excellent
judge, who still occupies a distinguiShed place on
the English bench, that in a late trial of a noto-
rious criminal he requested his brother judge to
preside, as he feared that his own patience would
hardly stand the test of the prisoner's persevering
impertinence ; and the dignifiea forbearance of
Lord Cranworth, who tried the case, was the theme
of general praise. In fact, judicial patience is
quite as necessary as learning to every one that
judges between man and man; arid such dignitaries
should remember the lesson of,,St. Paul, that a
great difference exists between what is " lawful"
and what is " expedient." Of the impropriety of
what Mr. Judge Ramshay has done, in the late
cases of committal for contempt, there can be but
one opinion. The committals, and the mode of
them, all prove that Mr. Ramshay is not a man of
judicial temperament, and, in plain English, is
quite unfitted for his place. We are old enough
to remember the chancellorship of Lord Brougham,
when the streets of London were placarded with
caricatures of, and libels upon, the chief magistrate
under the Crown—his public character slandered,
and his very person brought into contempt; but
his lordship committed no man for contempt,
though about his power there was no doubt, nor
ever put the law in motion, except against the
printer of the Morning Post for an attack purely
personal. But it is useless discussing the disposi-
tion Mr. Ramshay has shewn ; let us inquire what
is his power. In the first place, then, it is un-
doubted that the judge of any court of record (of
which the County Court is one) may attach a per-
son and bring him before him for a contempt com-
mitted out of court (1 Lill. 305), and that this
power has been frequently exercised. This con-
tempt, however, must have been committed against
the judge, for something said or done in his capacity

of judge, and not when he was merely acting as a
private individual. Now nobody will pretend that
Mr. Rarnshay was acting in his judicial capacity
when he was entertaining his friends in-the court-
house ; or that Mr. Whitty, in remarking on his
proceedings there, was remarking on his conduct
as a judge. While Mr. Ramshay was upon the
bench he was Judge of the County Court of Lan-
cashire, holden at Liverpool. When he quitted
the bench he was Mr. Ramshay, and in the latter
capacity had no privilege whatever. It is idle for
him to say that he is allowed by the statute to be
judge of whether or not he is insulted. Being a
county ccurt judge, he must have been seven years
at the bar (though we admit our ignorance of any

distinction he ever achieved in the profession); and
as a barrister he must know that the discretion
given him of deciding what is contempt does not
enable him to make that a contempt which is not
so in law; and we venture to say that no other
gentleman that wears a wig, of all in the Law List
but Mr. Ramshay, will call Mr: Whitty's placard a
empt. To the argument of Sir Geo. Stephen,

. _
respecting the supposed necessity of a written war-
rant to arrest Mr. `ti kitty, we give no weight. If
a contempt had been committed, Mr. Ramshay bad
ver to send his officer by a verbal commission, to
g the person in contempt before him ; and this

sposes of the question as to the fining of

Mr. Whitty the younger, for if the officers were
justified in attempting the arrest, he was not justi-
But no contempt in law

fled in resisting them

~twas committed, and Mr. Ramsbay is therefore
open to proceedings by Mr. Whitty, the conse-
quences of which must be exceedingly serious.

"

Ir. Whitty sued out a habeas corpus, we are
I to think that Mr. Rarnshay's warrant
-e been held insufficient, (it being abso-

would ha

eiv nec

sary that the matter of a contempt
should he certain*), and that Mr. Whitty would
have been discharged. As to the committal of
those who applauded in court, there can be no

doubt of Mr. Ramshay's jurisdiction.
It is, however, deplorable that by any accident
so important a town as Liverpool' should have its
who seems to have studied the law more in the
spirit of one of the counsel of James 11. than of

1 Debts' Court presided over by a gentleman
the present day,—who seems to ifiquire not what he
ought to do, but how much flie can do,—and who
has allowed himself, by temper, to be drawn into
the committal of an act grossly and palpably illegal.
No part of editorial duty mofe painful than
that which requires us to.. discuss the conduct of
those who administer justice. 'Happily, in Eng-
land, the necessity seldom arises; but when it does
arise, it is as obviously the duty of the Press to
meet it, as it is its duty to avoid such discussion
until it is forced into it. We.have no desire to
afer any impertinence to the Judge of the Liver-
pool County Court, and we are conservative enough
eve that such ofl•'icials are better left to the
control of the constituted authorities ; but one fact
is obvious, that the dignity of our County Court

that there is at leastu large body of the

people of Liverpool who have not confidence in the
court; and that, in fact, the local tribunal of the
'second town in the British empireianswers the pur-
pose of its foundation worse .than,any other court

*-The Court of Queen's Bench has p6O-; tb commit, by rule
without setting out the cati;e Coinmitrnent, but
er was only used in the despolaotinios•bf Charles I. -

in the country. Mr. Ramshay's proceedings
of course, compel next session the prtssir of "a
strictly declaratory clause in the County pour?
Act, protecting the Press of the country frOm the
personal vengeance of such people as County' Comit
Judges—who, as a general rule, are a class who
have failed at the bar, and are placed in their office
by the connexion of family or service, or by the
charity of the Chancellor.