Lord Herschell was in a mild way mobbed in the
Moses Room of the House of Lords on Wednesday by 210 Glad- stonians and 70 Irish Members, who waited upon him to urge greater energy and speed in the process of filling the Magistracy with men of more impartial politics, and broader and more various social sympathies, than those whom it has hitherto been customary to place on the Bench. Mr. A. C. Morton, who introduced the deputation, admitted frankly that the Irish Members, having a separate Lord Chancellor of their own, had very little to do with the English Lord Chancellor's appointments, but they came nevertheless, first, because the House of Commons had passed its resolution on this subject for the whole United Kingdom ; and next, because they had kindly expressed their wish to assist the Liberal Party in its movements. In other words, we suppose, the Irish shillelagh was thought useful for hastening the pace of so moderate and cautious a Liberal as the Lord Chancellor'. Mr. A. C. Morton added that the Radicals had no objection to Lord Herschell's consulting the Lord-Lieutenant, or even the parish beadle,— whom he regarded as rather more likely to give him sound information about candidates for the Magistracy than the Lord- Lieutenant of a county,—about any suggested appointment, but what they, as Radicals, were aiming at, was to do away with all class privileges, and to choose Magistrates for their character and independence, and not for their title or station. When Mr. Conybeare came to speak, he said brusquely that he contended that the recommendations of the county Members, given on their responsibility as representatives, ought to be regarded as final, without the necessity of submitting them to tie Lord- Lieutenant. Altogether, the deputation certainly assumed a tone so dictatorial as to be quite inconsistent with Mr. Morton's profession that they did not wish to dictate. To judge by their tone, that was exactly what they did wish.
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