TOPICS OF THE DAY.
THE LORD CHANCELLOR'S INCOME.
Is not the Chancellorship the high reward of the greatest ability and integrity conjoined, to be found at the Bar at the time the Woolsack happens to be vacant? If it be not so, is it not to be so?
The income derivable from the highest judicial office, ought not to be less than that to be earned at the bar by an advocate—with more éclat, though perhaps not with less true glory. There are always barristers, in some one or other of the Courts, netting from ten to twelve thousand per annum. This fact alone would fix the Chancellor's income.
As to this or that Judge being a man of simple habits and cheap pleasures, we think that such a man would now have a fine oppor- tunity of getting fame at the expense of his successors. - In this and in all countries, the greatest powers must be greatly and proportionately paid ; for various reasons. The first is, that a poorly salaried office ceases to be a great object of popular am- bition; unless, perchance, the power is also accompanied by the means of procuring wealth by by-ways,—the history of half our offices.
It has been said with truth, that the ambition of filling a high office makes twenty candidates, each worthy of filling it; but if the great office brings state and form, and but inferior pay, who will covet it?—the pompous, the vain, or the wealthy. Ten thousand per annum, regularly paid, for regular service, is a great income ; but, as pay goes in England, by no means too much for a selection of the best man in England from its best men. If he be a man of no expense, and few luxurious enjoyments, and no family, then are ten thousand pounds per annum assigned for distribution to the judicious hands and chastened senses of the first man in the country in his class. A mistaken economy, in individual cases of great importance, is worse than extravagance.
As for the 4,000/. per annum arising from the Speakership of the Lords, it is an abuse. If the Chanccllor is worth 10,000/. per annum, it is all he is worth; and calling him by another name in the evening, does not make him two persons, or invest him with additional powers. The retiring pension is a monstrous abuse; but not to be reme- died until the Chancellorship is made independent of the Minis- try, and on the same footing as the Chief Justice of the King's Bench. It is impossible to find men equal to the post, who will take it on the chance of being turned out in a few months or years : and on the other hand, for the sake of a few months or years, it is a disgusting shame that the country should be saddled with so high a pension for the remainder of the individual's life. This is just now made a personal question, and the Chancellor's salary is squared on the simple habits of the present holder of the office. But the real question is—will men of the very highest abilities work hard and late for the enjoyment of the pleasure of labori- ously deciding causes, when, many years before, they may have reached the same income with the pleasure and satisfaction of advocating causes ?
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