The Statesman.
London, England, 1820-05-16 00:00:00

Tflt
.STATES.:MAN.

Fein does in Ittglari were hi favour of four. It
was Illief4S4tr that the C 0,114 1410.1141 consist partly
of English and teirty of Scotch lawyers. bemuse there
were many paints wi:ich It retell Enaii,ll :awyt is
to dvserniln... It was held that tii•ce Judres were ue-
y from the Scorch Hie, for tit r .serf de:, r-
osining tionterotto rases leapert4sie Seiishoid ; th:s
since. had maily tonitiptied, and he was au:e the
business co ild root be tronsenienly duns with a less
eiuteilwr. It was a ari at nii,tulte to Par that the chief
business was done by the 11, inembrancer. There acre
various mars 'dative to the horns of the Cr ova,
required the strictest site, !ion of the Judges of 'Y.,
Conn. Noel:sr:et. could puss withoitt their deei..lo,l;
and there were varies" Other 11114.4 of a similar kind
which required their close attention. In answer to
all this, there was nothi.ig Litt a report of some rai -
11anientary Conimisaioners, who Ptatell that one of the
Harms :litchi be dispensed with. lint be contended
that these Coniiiiiseloners eitreeilod their r.,%, r., sort
amen out sit their way when they reported on the run-
stitatiun it this Court. Their col W 3,, to inquire
into the emoluments of Officers :oat Mitti-tets of Jus-
tice. He wished to know in what instance the Judger,
of Scotland timid he called .titti,teri of Justice.—
(Hear, bear')—They ol.P.,•rat• of the word,
be called so; but in ,he %.ords of the art, appointing
the couri,i,‘i,,,teri, it e!. 11.4 tieti etot tiaitt the Judges
should came tinder that denemination : for if the J utIE is
Were to :31);eet to tit, it inquiry • they would haVe
been tlalel.3l tir:t. The only olijcet of the Commis-
sion was, to in wire into fees of racers, clerks,
and to the reatedy of aiime, that toir.ht be practised
in the receipt of fees., salaries, awl emoluments, on the
part of the under Officer% of the Court. The Commix-
si ,ners,!hereforc, had no lamer to nial.e may report
respecting the J..!-res. On this orrit4iott, hr could
not mold exore-sing ...me .ensure at the wanner in
which the Noble Lord had hr ,nght forward the name
of a venerable and respectable Judge, whose grey hairs
might have been 33%rd from the severe reflect' of
the Noble Cont.—pier, there was a loud cry of" Or-1
der," and " hair.")
'I he SPEAKER observed, that it wa._ not consistent
with order to enter into observations of this kiwi.
The Learned Lord said, he hail no intention to give
any offence, and he then proceeded to argue against
the power exercised by the Co 11111 l issioners, with regard
to the Judges of Scotland. He then altuded to the
appointment of Sir Sa ttttt el Sheppard to the oilier of
Chief Baron of Seotlatol, awl declared that the people
of that country felt grateful to the F.,,glb-h Govern-
ment for sending a gentleman of his excellent charac-
ter, his amiable manners, and great legal knowledge,
to preside in their Court. Anil unless it ',myth! Ire
supposed that there was sowerhing infecti tt 3 is the
air 01 scoria,' I—(a lauoh)--it was incredible to con-
ceive that that Learned and reseertahle person would
giv.• an opinion which he did nat fiel to he fair and
impartial respeeting the constitution of the Court
where he presided. His opinion was in favour of the
Court, as it was now constituted ; and with such an
opinion before the House, he trusted they would nut
attend to the unanthorized report of a set of Com-
missiotters. He now wished to inform the liottllf. that
instructions had been given to him to I.rerare several
Arts. a liirh he was to submit to the House, for the
repletion of the Court. iu Scotland. In the isiono
of December last, he gave notice of his intention to
bring forward these Bills ; before lie did that, it
would have hero necessary to tote the salaries of the
different lace' s in a Committee of Supply; and his
Intended lIICASIIrP3 were delayed on account of the
Homo- having been occupied in preparing measures
for the defence of the country; and since then be had
been unavoidably absent from the House. Ile hail,
I however, in the interval, taken the trouble to draw
lent the heads of the hills he intruded to offer to the
House, hail them printed and submitted to the law au-
thorities and the whole of the Bar in Scotland. They
met the approbation of all those parties; and he now
gave nosier, that in a few days lie would move for
leave to bring them in. Therefore, nothing should
be left 1111410ilY whieh might he eonsid.-red necessary
for the constittitien of the Scotch Courts, the nninber
of Judges in a hich Parliament might Ii as it pleased.
With regret to the ass-o-tion that the late Huron
Campbell had not attended the Conti fur three rears,
that was not the fact. He was only ahaent one year;
and when he resided at Bath, old t gh in an 11l state
of health, he used to go to Scotland during the terms
to attend hi. duty.
Lord A. HANIIITON, in explanation, said, that
he had not applied his argument ad homiarat. He
only tes•ant to say, that if one of the Barons was absent
for a year, and that the business of the Court suffered
no injury thereby, it was protahle that the three
others, by whom the business in the wean time was
carried on, might be sufficient for all the duties of the
Court.

'1 he Loan Anvocave explained.
Sir JOHN NEWPORT took a review of the pre-
ceedings connected with the institution of the l ors-
mission, and the final allamloninittst or filet fetal*,
mentlation by the tiovernment, and contended that the
llothe should look upon the conduct of Ministers with
great distrust. Ile appealed to a precedent in the ease
of Ireland, in answer to the objection, but the Coln-
ntissioners, by ina.uirinx into the duties, the sums and
'salaries of offices in the ton t, had exceeded the antho-
rity of their Commission. Ile next adverted to the
Convis•don appointed to imenire into abuses in the
others of Masters of Chancery, and endeavoured to ;
show, from the conduct of Ministers in that transac-
tion, that he was war anted in calling upon the House
exercise sns;4,•ions upon the conduct of Ministers;
!for, after tl e sommirsiol was appointed against the
'consent of Ministers, they, in order to defeat its object,
appointed two Masters et 1 hanrery to the Commission,
land the eon oluence was,t hat they left many important
abases unnoticed. It was urged that the present I'm's-
imissioners stated no grounds for the conclusion which
ithey promulgated. Hut had they not stated the nature
iof the duties of the othee--ihe number of rattles heard
in Court— t ;4e number of motions on an average of the
!last yrars—the extent of the sittings, which by
!the lofted about 65 days in all, without deduct-
ring Sttridari and 3londays, on which dais they did
' out sit. •,ech were the grounds of the Cunitnissioners'
epinizans. Le. rn,l Lord, indeed, could not get
' rid of the inveterate prejudice of having fire instead of
'four Aides. lie seemed to think tbat even this unto.