CHANCERY REFORMS—INCAPACITY OF LORD LYNDHURST.
THE PRESS.
MORNING CHRONICLE—When the secret history of the present session of Par- liament comes to be made public (and that it must be one day or other), there will be much to amuse, and more to surprise the unlearned reader. We are in possession of many anecdotes, whose " hour is nut yet come ;" but we cannot withhold one connected with the cushioning of Lord Lyndhurst's Equity Bill in the Lower House. From certain symptoms, easily discoverable by experienced practitioners, it was apprehended that an opposition to the bill had been prepared and organized in the House of Commons. Directions were, in consequence, given to a scientific tactitian to " sound ;" his report was, that a determined stand against the measure was decided upon, and that it would certainly be a troublesome,
and possibly a hazardous experiment to persevere. Under these circumstances the bill was withdrawn, much to the surpri8e of all parties. The noble and learned father of the bill, who, in the hurry of the moment, had not been consulted, felt aggrieved and slighted by this unceremonious abandonment of his progeny; and an estrangement and cessation of intercourse with the personages directly con. cerned (notwithstanding the semi-official assertions to the contrary) did actually take place ; and it was not until after an interval of many days, and a satisfactory explanation of the motives of the step complained of, that any thing like cordiality was re-established. The very intelligent person who had so adroitly ascertained the feeling of the Lower House on the subject, was selected to manage the eclair- cissement, and he conducted this intricate negotiation to a happy consummation; but not without considerable difficulty, and a great deal of personal exertion.
CODRIER—It may tend to console the readers of the Morning Chronicle, under the disappointment which this delay in the publication of other anecdote mus, no doubt, occasion, if we enable them to judge of the credibility of that one anec- dote, which is, no doubt, the most important, and the best authenticated of all those of which the Morning Chronicle is in possession. Our answer to the whole of it shall be very brief, but very decisive—There is not one word of truth in any part of the statement. Equally false are the reports which are daily and indus- triously circulated about the differences in the Cabinet, and the retirement of members of the Government. Once for all, we caution our readers and the pub- lic against attaching the slightest credit to these reports. They are the artifices of a disappointed party, who now openly avow that as all their efforts to injure or weaken the Government have signally failed, and have tended only the more clearly to prove its strength, their future policy will be confined to the propaga- tion of false tumours, in the hope that they may disturb the public mind by " the fear of change."
STANDARD—Who arc the " disappointed party ?" Not the Whigs or Papists, for the first have gotten, and are still getting, the object of their soul's adoration- piace and salary. The Papists arc not the disappointed party. They have got all that they could desire, and more than they asked for—boun'dless power. Who, then, are the disappointed party ? Upon whom has the Duke of Wellington's government proved its strength ? The King, the clergy, and the people of Eng- land. Over these it is that the Duke of Wellington's chariot-wheel has rolled, and these are the objects of his slave's mockery.
Times—The inevitable division of the business which has hitherto appertained to the Lord Chancellor, has given occasion to a rumour that the changes which himself has recommended or arranged are pointed at the breast of their author. 'rhe inventors and propagators of this rumour say well that they do not know who is to succeed his Lordship. Who is to succeed him indeed ? Who can direct the movements which are already begun, and cannot now retrograde, in what may be called the attributes of the Chancellorship as it once stood ? If the hand that first impressed motion were withdrawn before the goal were reached, the most mis- chievous confusion would follow. We should suspect that every slander that is conveyed to the Royal ear is reported on the way by its bearer to the attendants in the surrounding apartments, who give it weight by surmising and reporting that its object is attained ! But this is not so : the King is not so indifferent to a ser- vant like the present Lord Chancellor as some would represent His Majesty: neither are the friends who really possess the Royal confidence, so treacherous as to blazon the private conversations of the closet.
STANDARD—SO, then, no matter what may be the force of the motives for re-
moving Lord Lyndhurst, he must be permitted to remain in office until his pro- jected changes shall be completed, and until a successor can be found for him. A convenient doctrine this—but one which we suspect may not be permitted to pre- vail in the present case. Delighted as we shall be to witness the fall of the chamelion Chancellor, the chief almost in the great apostacy—much as we should rejoice in the early exposure of the secret springs operating upon the constitution- breakers, our object would be fully obtained by the removal of the unfit magis- trate, without exacting the sacrifice of the man. As to "the slanders conveyed to the royal ear," and other trash of the same kind, we shall not be provoked to a reply. because we only wish the removal of the Lord Chancellor, and are far from desiring to wound the feelings of Baron Lyndhurst. We shall, therefore, say no more of the causes which render the change unavoidable, than in justice we are bound to say, that they do not in any measure respect Lord Lyndhurst's conduct as a private nobleman, nor yet are they in the least degree connected with his political conduct. Let any one who wants to know more ask in Westminster Hall, or content himself with the noble baron's own acknowledgment, that he is not qualified for the office of Chancellor by a sufficiency of learning in the equity department of the law.
GLORE—The Lord Chancellor—against whom, by the way, not a word of re. preach was whispered by the high Tory party till he took part in the wise m ea- sure of relief, which, in conjunction with his Colleagues, he has accomplished—
has become a favourite object of reproach and insinuations on the part of the very men with whom he was formerly an especial favourite. We believe that be has in point of fact had considerable difficulties to surmount—having undertaken the duties of the high judicial office which he fills at a time when the business was particularly pressing; and when he himself did not possess the facility of de-
spatching it, which long acquaintance with equity courts could alone give. But it would he difficult to change for the better, even as respects the ordinary de- spatch of judicial business, and still more difficult to find a man who, with any capacity as an Equity Judge, would combine the qualifications for Parliamentary and political affairs which Lord Lyndhurst possesses.
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