that he had not had sufficient time to give | but he had, on more than one occasion, them that consideration which they de- received offers from men of the highest served, and which alone could enable him talents, to contribute their assistance toto form an accurate judgment of them. wards improving this part of our law; and Before he referred to the speech of the only a few days ago, he had received an hon. and learned gentleman, there was offer of services from a gentleman of such one point on which he wished to make great talents-an offer so tempting-that one or two remarks. There was one sub- he did not wholly despair of being shortly ject upon which, whether a man were a able to devolve on a few persons-and he Chancery lawyer or not, and whether he thought a few would be better than many had studied the report or not, he would he did not despair, he said, of being be able to form an opinion. He alluded shortly able to devolve on a few distinto the state of our law relative to the guished persons, the task of forming a transfer of real property, and the diffi- commission, meriting the confidence of the culty there was in making out a good House and the country, which should title. There was no man who had pur- consider the best means of carrying into ehased or sold real property, who had not execution the recommendation of the rebeen made aware of the numberless modes port, to lessen the expense and narrow which might be, and sometimes were, had the field of litigation respecting the transrecourse to, to defeat a just contract; fer of real property. If the inquiry were and thus, whether some means might not to devolve on such men, he was sure the be adopted to put an end to such pro-appointment of such a commission would ceedings, to facilitate the establishment of titles to landed property, and to give its owner a more ample security, became an object well worthy of attention. There, therefore, was one passage of the reportfor he had read that, though he had not had time to examine the whole of the resolutions in which he heartily concurred. The commissioners state, that "no person can have had much experience in courts of equity, without feeling, that many suits owe their origin to, and many are greatly protracted by, questions arising from the niceties and subtleties of the law and practice of conveyancing. Any alteration in this system must be made with the greatest caution; but, as connected with the object of saving time and expense to suitors in the court of Chancery, we venture to submit to your majesty's consideration, whether it might not be proper to commit to competent persons the task of examining this part of our law, with a view of determining if any improvement may be safely made in it, which might lessen the expense and narrow the field of litigation respecting the transfer of real property." In this view he fully concurred; but he felt there were great difficulties connected with the subject, and that it was one which ought to be approached with the greatest caution. He did not exactly see why he should be applied to on this subject; perhaps it was on account of his situation, and because he had made the improvement of another branch of our law the object of his study; meet with the cordial approbation of the public [hear, hear!]. After these observations, he would proceed to notice the speech of the hon. and learned gentleman. He could assure him, that in speaking of the lord Chancellor, he was under no obligation to him; he had never received from him any personal favour; and if he then rose to repel what he thought unjust accusations, he could assure that hon. and learned gentleman and the House, that he did it only from that respect which he bore him as a colleague, and from that personal friendship which the House would not undervalue. He hoped the House would bear in mind, that the very severe attack which had been made by the hon. and learned gentleman on the lord Chancellor had been made in his absence. Mr. Brougham interrupted the right hon. Secretary, by stating, that he was authorized by the constitution of that House, to make what observations he thought fit, with reference to a minister of the Crown, notwithstanding that he was, of necessity, absent. Mr. Secretary Peel said, he did not deny the hon. and learned gentleman's right to make the attack; he only wished to remind the House, that it had been made on the lord Chancellor in his absence, in a place where he had no right to come, and which made it the duty of those who entertained for him feelings of respect, to vindicate him from an attack, which he had a right to say could not have been expected on such a motion peerage. He believed the hon. and learned gentleman to have been misinformed. He would not enter into the circumstances which induced his majesty to confer a peerage; but he would say, as to the present chief justice of the court of King's Bench, who had at all times discharged his duty in a manner that would do honour to judges of the highest character who had ever filled his high office, that the lord Chancellor had never thrown the slightest obstacle in the way of his promotion to the peerage, and could have no occasion to fear in him either a competitor or a rival. But the lord Chancellor had, according to the hon. and learned gentleman, used his influence to raise an equity judge to the peerage, in whom he might, indeed, have expected a rival, and he had used his influence to keep back the chief justice, who, from being in another branch of the law, could never have come in collision with him. Nor could he fail to remark the conduct of the hon. and learned gentleman, in holding up a judge to approbation, for his undivided attention to business, and for his despatch in giving his [hear, hear!]. And he wished the hon. member for Durham, who now cheered, would recollect that in his speech he had been very tender of the character of solicitors, and had called on the House not to attack men who had no means of reply ing to the accusations, and who were not present to vindicate their characters. Though he was sensible that there was a great difference between these solicitors and a minister of the Crown, yet the absence of the lord Chancellor was the reason why he stood up to defend him, not intending, however, by so doing, to question the right of the hon. and learned gentleman to make any attacks he pleased on the ministers of the Crown. He would first state that he thought it was not consistent with fairness to attempt to throw discredit on the minister of the Crown for his private conduct. He would admit the right to call into question his mode of discharging his public duty; but he appealed to the good taste of the hon. and learned gentleman, and to the sense of the House, if it were proper to go into an examination of the faults of his private character, and make it a matter of reproach to the lord Chancellor that he employed the emolu-judgment, when his object was to disments of his office in heaping up money, until he had accumulated a fortune of a million and a half. If this accusation were not true, he would appeal to the House whether he was not justified in repelling it? The hon. member for Colchester also had stated, that the lord Chancellor's emoluments had been swelled by the enormous sum of 20,000l. a year, accruing from the bankruptcy department of his office. And was such a statement not to be contradicted? The amount of the income of the lord Chancellor had, on a former occasion, been laid before the House; and, out of that income, he had to pay subordinate officers' salaries, amounting to 2,500l. per year. He did not recollect the exact amount of the Chancellor's income, as he had not looked at the subject lately; but he believed it was less than 14,000l. per year, and about 13,500. When it was considered that this was the chief prize in the lottery of a very uncertain profession, he thought no man would consider 13,500l. per year too large a salary. The hon. and learned gentleman had insinuated, that the lord Chancellor had used the influence conferred on him by his situation, to prevent some of the judges being promoted to the parage the lord Chancellor; when, at other times, that learned judge was the object of the hon. and learned gentleman's attacks. But it served the hon. and learned gentleman's purpose now to praise that noble lord at the expense of the Chancellor. It was but justice in him to pay a tribute to the memory of lord Gifford; but, if there were any judge more capable than another of exciting a feeling of jealousy, such as the learned gentleman imputed to the lord Chancellor, it was lord Gifford, but who had excited no such feeling as that which the hon. and learned gentleman had attributed to the Chancellor, and which had certainly never influenced his conduct. The learned gentleman had been exceedingly severe on those who had advocated the appointment of the commission, and had said that when the commission was proposed, he had observed a smile on the faces of the ministers, as if they intended by the commission to defeat some hostile purpose of the opposition. He denied that the smileif smile there was-could justify such an inference. He had consented to the appointment of that commission, in common with his majesty's ministers, from a sincere conviction, that its members would honestly, conscientiously, and zealously | office which he held, as to have brought perform the duties assigned to them, and the great seals of England to the doors confer essential benefit upon the country. of any place which such a commission The choice the House was called upon to might occupy. And who was the man make rested between the commission then that it was now sought to bring to that proposed and that which was sought to be degradation? And, in what terms did obtained by the hon. and learned member even his enemies speak of him? The for Lincoln (Mr. J. Williams), after a hon. member for Colchester admitted speech in the highest degree criminatory that the learned lord had done more of the lord Chancellor. It was impossi- than any of his predecessors, and that ble for him, or for any other man, to deny the defects of the system ought not to be that the system of the court of Chancery attributed to him. That hon. member, in presented great impediments to the ad- a speech which displayed great knowledge ministration of justice, and entailed a of the subject, and which was calculated grievous expense upon the suitors. He to make a considerable impression upon had proposed the commission with a full the House, admitted, that the defects besense of those evils, and from a conviction longed to the system, and not to the man. that a commission so constituted could de- And, after admitting, that the learned vise the most effectual means of relief; lord had done more than all his predecesbut if he had stood alone in that House, sors, the hon. member concluded his paand not a single member could have been negyric with these emphatic words-" his found to support him, he never would decisions, though slow, are always achave consented to the appointment of a companied by a security which amply criminatory commission, such as was compensates for the delay." The hon. moved for by the hon. and learned mem- member for Colchester was followed by a ber for Lincoln in a speech in which that gentleman totally unconnected with the criminatory commission was advocated, profession of the law, holding a high rank and which speech was seconded and sup-in that House, and among the commerported afterwards by many other members cial men of the country. The hon. memof the same side of the House. In that ber for Midhurst (Mr. John Smith) adspeech the hon. and learned member said, mitted, that "no man in his high situation "It is not the system, but the man. I had ever had so much to do as the lord mean not to criminate the system, but Chancellor; and that no man had ever the man; and it is into his conduct done so much." He again was followed that I call for an inquiry." He thanked by the hon. and learned member for WinGod that they did not listen to that ap-chelsea. And, in what terms did that peal. He thanked God that the House had withstood the attempt to humiliate the lord Chancellor; and that they did not submit to have the lord Chancellor dragged from his high situation, forced to abandon his court, and brought to wait in humble attendance upon a quorum of those who were to be appointed to sit in judgment upon his conduct. He believed they never could, however, have had the satisfaction to witness such an act of degradation. He was sure that that illustrious individual knew too well the respect due to his own character, and to the high station he occupied, to have consented to hold office for one instant after such a commission had been appointed. He was sure the lord Chancellor of England never would have been found dancing attendance upon a quorum appointed to inquire into his conduct, for the purpose of crimination; and that he never would have so far forgotten the respect due to the hon. and learned gentleman speak? He admitted, that in the whole course of his experience, he had never pleaded before any judge with so much satisfaction as before the lord Chancellor; not alone from his invincible patience, but from his urbanity, his profound legal knowledge, and his discernment in detecting the slightest fallacy. And the learned gentleman went on to say, that if he had a fault, it arose from a sincere desire to administer the most rigid and impartial justice. He had thus quoted, he would not say from the mouths of his enemies, for enemies he hoped they were not, but from the mouths of his political opponents, testimonies to the character of the lord Chancellor, as high as any man could be ambitious of obtaining. He would not attempt to weaken their effect by any thing which he could say; and he would therefore, only add, that if the description thus given was a true one, he had great consolation in the reflection, that he had raised his voice against the appointment of a commission, the avowed object of which was, not to inquire into the system, but to criminate the man. He would now say a few words with regard to the charges brought against himself. It was perfectly true that he had recommended the appointment of the members of the commission, and he had done so, because he thought they would honestly execute the task assigned to them, and because he further thought that they were the men most competent to the duties which were to be performed. The hon. and learned gentleman said, however, that the commission was composed wholly of the friends and immediate dependents of the lord Chancellor-persons who either owed him obligations for favours past, or were seeking obligations for the future. He could not, he confessed, avoid feeling astonished at such an assertion. The Vice-chancellor was one of the commission. What motive could he have to screen the lord Chancellor's errors, or to decide according to his wishes? Mr. Hart was another-a gentleman high at the Chancery bar, seeking neither favour for the future, nor owing obligations for the past; for he believed that he was indebted for his silk gown to the recommendation of lord Erskine. He could have no motive for concealing a fact or changing the truth. Mr. Bell was another person proposed to be a member of that commission. He had himself intimated to Mr. Bell his wish that he should become a member; but not until Mr. Bell had retired from practice at the bar. It was impossible, therefore, to accuse that learned gentleman of a desire to curry favour with the lord Chancellor. Then there was the hon. and learned member for Tregony (Dr. Lushington), and the hon. member for Lincoln (Mr. R. Smith), and the hon. and learned member for Calne (Mr. Abercromby) none of whom were likely to be influenced by any improper motives in their decision upon the objects of the inquiry. Was it possible, he would ask, that all these gentlemen, some of them members of that House, who almost uniformly espoused the hon. and learned gentleman's views in politics, should be so weak and effeminate as to suffer themselves to be deluded by the lord Chancellor's urbanity of manners, into a consent to propositions which they knew to be decidedly erroneous? The very supposition on the part of the hon. and learned gentleman, was a species of censure which he would not venture to cast upon them. If they felt, however, that the commission was pursuing a course which they could not approve, why did they not decline to give their attendance? Was not that the course which would have been obvious, if the proceedings were not satisfactory to them? But even the hon. and learned member for Lincoln (Mr. John Williams) had declared at the close of the last session, that he thought it due to the commission to state, that the whole of their proceedings had been marked by the most anxious desire to investigate the subject of their inquiry. No man, however hostile, had refused to bear testimony to the indefatigable perseverance of the commission, in getting up what the hon. member for Durham had, however, been pleased to call a very flimsy report [hear!]. If any gentleman wished to know what was the daily labour of the lord Chancellor for the last three years, and what was the amount of business disposed of in the court of Chancery, let him turn to the pages of that "flimsy" report, and he would find it described with the most painful particularity. It was, to his mind, a most painful and humiliating sight, to see the daily occupations of such a man, as lord Eldon detailed. But, if any gentleman wished to see them, let him turn to that report, and he would find them. He was not one of those who thought the lord Chancellor-the first lawyer in the kingdom-ought to be excluded from all connection with the cabinet. He did not think that the first law officer in the realm should be precluded from giving his opinion upon those cases of criminal law which came before the government; and if there were any who thought, in looking at that report, that the lord Chancellor had not done enough in his six hours a day, let them recollect the various other avocations which required a share of his attention. Let them take the whole tenor of that excellent person's life: let them consider the panegyrics bestowed upon him: let them remember that there never has been the slightest imputation of any thing like a departure from the purest integrity: let them consider, that the whole gravamen of all the charges against him rested upon a too scrupulous desire to administer impartial justice; and when they had further recollected that he has seemed to have had such an intimate connection, to point out what there was in the one motion, which must cause the lord Chancellor to resign the instant it was carried,'different from the other, which, being carried, yet allowed him to remain held the situation of lord Chancellor for a Mr. Secretary Peel said, he was sure the learned gentleman must recollect, that the speech of the learned member for Lincoln was mixed up of grave charges, and ridicule; and that the notion of the motion for a commission was taken from the complexion of his speech. Leave was given to bring in the bill. HOUSE OF COMMONS. Thursday, March 1. Mr. Peel said, that his earnestness on the subject proceeded from a desire to CORN LAWS.] Mr. Secretary Canning guard against the probability of such re- moved, that the House should resolve itself port going abroad among the people at into a committee to consider of the Acts the present moment, as that the lord of 55 Geo. 3, c. 26, and 6 Geo. 4, c. 65, Chancellor had amassed an immense for-relative to the Trade in Corn. tune by bankruptcies; such an assertion. being calculated to make an impression which might be extremely prejudicial. Mr. Brougham said, he had made inquiries as to the income of the noble and learned lord, and had found that it never exceeded 18,000l. annually, and that the bankruptcy portion of it did not amount to a fourth of that sum. Sir E. Knatchbull said, he had no objection to the House resolving itself into a committee; but he begged that such assent on his part might not be understood as pledging him, with respect to any ulterior measures which might be proposed for their adoption. Mr. Secretary Canning said, that of course it was impossible that the hon. baronet, by assenting to the motion, could be so pledged. He was aware, that the more regular course would have been, to have given notice of this motion yesterday; but that had been rendered impossible, in consequence of there being no House. The House having resolved itself into the said committee, Mr. Secretary Canning addressed the Committee to the following effect :- Mr. Abercromby said, he would not at that late hour detain the House by many observations; but he could not allow the argument which had been pressed so strongly by the right hon. gentleman upon the subject of the Chancellor's resignation, to pass without a slight explanation. The right hon. gentleman seemed to think that the motion of his learned friend the late member for Lincoln (Mr. Williams) contained propositions so degrading, that it Before I open the propositions which it was impossible for the lord Chancellor to is my duty to lay before the Committee, hold his place for an instant, if the House I trust they will permit me to detain them had consented to adopt it. Now, the a few minutes, while I express my grateful motion of the year 1811, which the House acknowledgments for the indulgence which had actually adopted, was in every respect they have lately extended to me. I do the same; the motion of the hon. mem- assure them, that I should neither have ber for Durham in 1811, was for a com- called for that indulgence, nor have been mittee to inquire into the means of expe- disposed to avail myself of it from considiting the decision of cases in the court derations merely personal to myself; and of Chancery. The motion of the hon. certain I am, that there are those among and learned member for Lincoln, was for the colleagues with whom I have the a committee to inquire into the causes of honour to serve, into whose hands a questhe delays and expense of that court. He tion of this nature might have been inbelieved it would puzzle the conveyancers trusted, with advantage greater than, I with whom the right hon. gentleman I fear, it will prove to have been to mine. |
