NONSENSE, BY A JUDGE.
MR. JUSTICE ALDERSON made what he thought a sly hit at the Ballot, the other day, at the Carlisle Assizes. There was a dis- pute as to the election of some harbour trustees at Whitehaven; and it was stated, that as the votes were given by ballot, it was impossible to say for which party the bad ones welt given ; where- upon the Judge said, that " it was a question well worthy to be esnsidered, when they came to discuss the subject of the Ballot in another place,"—meaning the House of Commons. When that discussion does come on, some profound legislator, some Solo- mon of the Quinquennial school, will doubtless turn the Judge's hint to good account ; forgetting, as Judge ALDERSON forgot, that no person is allowed to vote for Members of Parliament whose name is not on the register, and that every voter not struck off from that register must be deemed legally qualified. Before he became a Judge, Mr. ALDERSON, we believe, was consi- dered an unusually sound reasoner, with a very mathematical head. What a pity it is, that by talking on subjects which he does not comprehend, he should make people suspect that his reputation was ill-deserved ! Perhaps, however, he had the fear if Lord BROUGHAM and the hope of promotion in his mind's eye, and knew that he was speaking nonsense.
Previous page
