Mr. Charles Austin, the eminent Radical barrister, has been ap-
pointed Recorder of Hastings ; very much to the annoyance of the Times, which sagely opines that a Tory Town- Council ought to have had the nomination of a Recorder out of its own Tory clique. The Times was equally sore that Mr. Sergeant Adams was not made Re-
corder of Coventry, nor a Mr. Deedes Recorder of Faversham—both of these gentlemen having held the office of Steward under the old system, and having influence in the respective Town-Councils. The
Courier, in reference to this snarling of the Times, explains, that with regard to the important office of Rrvorder, Lord John Russell has not generally regarded the recommendar..-ms of the Town-Councils ; deem- ing it a good rule not to choose persons for judges who have influence and partisans in the places' where they are to administer justice. It is not, therefore, to be taken for granted that the gentlemen in question were rejected beause they were Tories. Of Mr. Charles Austin's ap- pointment, the Courier says- " Mr. Austin's Radical polititics did not prevent time Tories from retaining him to fight their battle in the Carlow Election Committee : surely they ought not
to have hindered the Secretary of State for the Home Department from nomi-
nating to an office which has ceased to be political, one of the most fit and highly.qualified men in England. Hastings is honoured far more than Mr. Austin can be by such a choice ; and "the unanimous repuguanee of an entire community,"—that "entire community" which returns the Radical Mem- ber, Mr. Howard Elphinstoo,—though it may be very strong language, such as the Times excels in, is also very inapplicable."
The Times was hoaxed in regard to the Faversham case, when it stated that the appointment of Mr. Gambier was distasteful to the Council : it was only annoying to Mr. Deedes and his friend the Town. Clerk, a presuming person, who has received a severe rebuff- " From some acquaintance with that part of the country, (says the Courier) we can inform our contemporary, that the officious meddling of a certain Town-Clerk in Mr. Deedes's behalf, is well enough known, and duly appre- ciated, at Faversham. It was rather indiscreet in the journalist to use the name of the Town- Council as remonstrating against Mr. Gambier's appoint- ment ; seeing that, although a recommendation of the old Corporation Steward, Mr. Deedes, had been got up in the first instance, yet When the nomination of Mr. Gambier was announced from the liome Office, the only letter sent from Faversham to Lord John Russell, from any member or by any authority of the Town- Council was one of satisfied acquiescence in the ar- rangement. '
Mr. Sergeant Adams was the Steward of Coventry, and the Council recommended him to the office of Recorder— "Why not ? the late Mayor is his brother, an influential Councillor is hisbro- ther-in-law. But we have already seen that Lord John Russell has disre- garded all such recommendations for the judicial office of Recorder ; and assuredly Ste paid no attention to that of the Coventry Council, beyond what official civility required. He did much better : he took pains to find out and appoint a fitter man than Mr. Sergeant Adams, who, though a violent Tory politician, and already Chairman of the Middlesex Sessions, is not a very distinguished barrister. Mr. Long is not a violent politician ; but he is a sound lawyer, of ample standing and experience, of calm temper and a proper judicial bearing, esteemed in his own profession, and kuown out of it only as an honourable gentleman and no " jobber." The Times app als to the " bar of England: there there needs no other verdict than that of the bar of the Coventry Circuit ow the comparative merits of Mr. Sergeant Adams and Mr. Long."
So much for the Recorderships. The Tories would have acted more kindly towards their disappointed friends, bud they suffered this sub- ject to rest.
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