NOBLE AND LEARNED VIRAGOS.
THE Session' is certainly dull. The Government intro- duces but one measure to the Lords, and that it sends to a Select Committee ; while the House of Commons has simply nothing to do, and does it. Sir Robert Peel unques- tionably exerts himself to amuse the public, but he cannot be expected to insult an Irish member every week. A little language which would hardly be tolerated in the Lower. mittee of the House might have thought reasonable, and In set terms the Chancellor imputed personal hatred to they are entitled to no more now. This they have been himself to his antagonist, and merely relegated to his igno- offered, and if they would petition the House of Commons, ranee what he would otherwise have attributed to his malice this the Government would readily assist them to obtain. out of pure favour and as matter of compassion. Really, if But they spurn at petitions, and committees, and compen- this sort of thing is to continue, the vicinity of an Indian sations, and demand as a right that the Chancellor should tribe in the far West will be safer than the quiet benches of introduce a bill to provide for the payment from the the Lords. This is not regular warfare ; it is the tomahawk and Consolidated Fund of an annual amount, in addition the scalping-knife. Poor Lord Granville was so bewildered to their salaries, equal to that which they received from fees that he could not muster even the faintest semblance of a during the last year of the existence of the Insolvency Court. joke ; and one wonders that both sides of the House did not The Government cannot seriously be expected to court an spontaneously burst (if only Peers could sing) into the inevitable defeat. If Lord Campbell inadvertently promised burden of the old-fashioned song in Midas : as much as this, he promised more than was just, and more But the fact is, that however unjustly the present Chancellor to form by any public official, the. Government is bound, may be assailed (and for reasons to be stated presently we right or wrong, to fulfil. The public, which pays, is the think on this occasion he was assailed unjustly), there is a only party to the bargain whose interests need never be general feeling everywhere that he has brought it on himself. thought of. It is the old, old story.. Quidquid delirant On this head Lord Derby told him no more than the truth. reges plectuntur Achivi. This is the system which swells the It is not only that he is " so self-endeared" that annual expenditure, and keeps up the income tax. If this Values itself so highly, that to him Government, Heaven help the taxpayers.
for many men do that. Nor is it even that he frankly tells —to mingle in the melee where we would but watch the fight, people who venture to differ from him that they are very and award his due honour to each of the noble and learned ignorant. That is an unpleasant habit, but it might be champions in the lists below. But how to decide between borne. But that calm mild tone of complacent superiority merits so equal, and where both competitors, likethe shepherds in which he launches his sarcasms is, as Lord Derby com- in Virgil's Eclogue, alike deserve the prize ? If we might yen- plained, really too aggravating. A man may be forgiven who ture to distinguish between gifts so well matched we would says savage things in a passion. But if, having war in his say that while Chelmsford is more ingenious in an unscru- heart, his speech is softer than butter—if while his words pulous imputation, Westbury is more vehement in an un- are smoother than oil, yet be they very swords—that is really scrupulous retort—that Chelmsford is greater in attack, and too bad. Whatever may be thought of the principle of Westbury in defence—that if the former has attained a more , aristocracy, a body of aristocrats is not readily cowed by perfect finish in inuendo, the latter has a more natural arro- any one man, whatever may be his courage or abilities. And gance of manner—that the one has exhausted art, and the so long as the junior law lord, Chancellor though he be, permits other snatched a grace beyond it. Meanwhile, in the Ian- himself to assume this Malvolio-like " humour of state," and guage of Lord Cranworth, who has sometimes an unconscious only addresses his fellow Peers "after a demure travel of wea,k way of saying good things, and, of course, has a chas- regard, telling them I know my place, as I would they tened pleasure in the misfortunes of other Law Lords, these longer and the murmurs of a populace in want of excitement should do theirs," he can hardly be surprised if at last some must have become a Cabinet question, when fortunately an irascible antagonist loses his temper, and replies in the tone unexpected door of safety has been opened to us. The of Sir Toby's ejaculation of " Bolts and shackles!" Chancellors in ease and in posse have both been bitten by a In the meantime, as in the last plate of Hogarth's Marriage tarantula, and after a terrible battle Lord Derby, who a la Mode, the Countess dies while the doctors are disput- never can keep out of any kind of sparring, rushed in and ing, so while the Law Lords are bandying reproaches, the made it a free fight. No doubt even in former days Lords unhappy clerks of the Insolvency Court are in danger of Campbell and Brougham used to indulge in an interchange hunger or arrest. It is true that their first champion, Mr. of very bitter amenities, but these were Aristoplianic in their Law, had already quarrelled with the Chancellor, but so terseness, and were not delivered from the woolsack. But distinguished an advocate as Lord Chelmsford should have last Tuesday it was a pitched battle, a premeditated scrim- seen that his clients' interests would not be forwarded by wage, with a full attendance of Peers to hear the fun. Can repeating the operation. But his object was clearly not so it be that the astute Premier, the man who has earned the much to further justice as to make hard hitting ; and for the title of the judicious bottle-holder, is becoming seriously charges more immediately persoual to the Chancellor there alarmed at the reckless irritability displayed by the legisla- seems scarcely a shadow of ground. The sole evidence that tive mind under this prolonged inertia—and that mindful the latter knew at the time of the passing of the Bank- who it is that still finds work for idle brains to do, he has ruptcy Act that the clerks were partly remunerated by fees, passed the word to his underlings to pipe all hands to mis- is that a return moved for by a private Member had been chief? Can Sir Robert Peel have only been acting under laid on the table of the House before the bill became law. orders, and Lord Westbury's little aggravating ways have And an ex-Chancellor ought surely to have known from ex- been designed to do for the Lords what the Irish Secretary perience, however short his tenure of office, that cases sub- bed already done for the Commons ? Lord Palmerston's mitted to the Law Officers of the Crown are prepared not audacity is equal to conceiving even a row in the Peers, and by the Chancellor, but by the Solicitor to the Treasury. the possession of two such perfect instruments may have The fact is, that if the blunder by which the clerks, suffer suggested the idea. But no. The Chancellor's career has is to be imputed as a fault to any one, the late Lord been too consistent. Lord Westbury is so like Sir Richard, Campbell must bear the blame. It was he who asserted and Sir Richard was as natural a development of plain Mr. that the bill awarded them their full incomes. But it Bethell. The merit is all his own. Qualls ab incepto. What seems difficult to escape from the conclusion that there he was at the beginning of his course he will remain to the was either some tactique or some concealment on the end. part of the clerks themselves. Men are not usually so It must, however, be admitted that whatever may have easily quieted and so supine when their incomes are at been the case on former occasions, on Tuesday the Chan- stake. But if they felt that, while their salaries were cellos did not begin. It is certainly unlucky that a blunder safe, the Commons would certainly only compensate them in an Act of Parliament should have left all the clerks of the for the loss of their fees on an average extending over a defunct Insolvency Court minus half their incomes ; but if series of years ; and if they fancied that under the new act your predecessor in office, who is, perhaps, at no distant they had secured a salary equal to the exceptionally large date to be your successor, roundly charges you with a desire amount which they had received during the last twelvemonth, to oppose obstacles to their obtaining redress, and more than it is easy to see why they were not disposed to risk this gain insinuates that you garbled the facts submitted to the law by calling attention to it. By an unlucky oversight they officers of the Crown, even a Quaker, or the meekest of men, have lost not only what they expected, but what they ought like Mr. Bright, will be loud in his own defence. But to in justice to have had : but they have no right to ask more imitate the violence of which you complain is to forfeit the than to be placed in the same situation now which they sympathies of your audience ; and Lord Westbury was not occupied last year. Had all the facts been before the Com- content to imitate, he outdid even Chelmsford in his wrath. mons then, they would certainly have got no more than their The unaccustomed atmosphere of the Upper House heard full salaries, and such compensation for their fees as a Coin- " Pray Goody please to moderate than his colleagues ought to perform. But there are persons The rancour of your tongue.". who seem to fancy that whatever hopes they have been led — " His wit is what we are to expect from the promised Conservative All matter else seems weak ;" But to be drawn into'discussion istobe lured from our theme quarrels are really very shocking. Surely, with Easter only a few weeks off, some reconciliation might be effected ; there is the precedent of Peachum and Lockit. Could not Chelms- ford fall on Westbury's neck, and each murmur through his tears, " Brother, brother, we are both in the wrong ?"
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