THE KNUTSFORD BENCH OF MAGISTRATES. [To THE EDITOR OF THE
"SPECTATOR.") last Spectator are some statements about the compo- sition of the County Magistracy which seem inaccurate, and which it may be desirable to correct. It is said that the Govern- ment "makes out new Commissions of the Peace," and that in doing so it must needs "consider the wishes of its own numerous supporters before the wishes of its few opponents." Now, by usage, a "Commission of the Peace" means the whole list of magistrates for a given county. A man who is made a magistrate is "put into the Commission of the Peace." A "new Commission of the Peace" is "made out" at the beginning of every reign, if I am not mistaken ; seldom, if ever, at any other time. But I think this is not what the writer meant. He meant that a Conservative Government, in placing indi- viduals on the Bench, mainly did so on political grounds, so as to please its supporters "among the squires," and no doubt he would say that a Liberal Government would do the same in their view. Now this is certainly incorrect. In form, not the Government, but the Lord Chancellor, appoints the magistrates absolutely, but in reality it is done by the Lord-Lieutenant of the county. It is no doubt possible that a Lord-Lieutenant may appoint none but those of his own opinions, or an unfair preponderance of them. Even then, I doubt if the Lord Chancellor would know anything about it, or ever ask a question on the matter. Undoubtedly if he were informed that such was the case—and he certainly would be so informed, if the case became very bad, by some one on the spot— he would, remonstrate with the Lord-Lieutenant, and it would lead to some rectification of the balance. But, as a matter of fact, I believe it would be found on inquiry that this is exceedingly rare. Lords-Lieutenant do not venture to show partiality so decided as to call forth such a representation with sufficient hope of success. Still more rare is it for the Lord Chancellor to exercise his un- doubted right, and appoint without or contrary to the recommen- dation of the Lord-Lieutenant. It has been done, in times of political excitement. It was done, not long after the Reform Bill, by Lord Cottenham in Nottinghamshire. The injured Lord-Lieu- tenant, the old Duke of Newcastle, thereupon wrote him so inso- lent a letter, that he was turned out of office for it ; and on his complaining to the Duke of Wellington, the Duke told him that no Government could have done otherwise. I will engage to say that no Liberal Lord-Lieutenant at the moment has the least ap- prehension that any reasonable number of Liberal names that he may send up will be disallowed by the Lord Chancellor, or even a question asked about them.
But it is only a modification which the statements in the article require. It says that when the Conservatives are in power, the new magistrates will, of course, be mainly Conservative. Subject to the important qualification above indicated, this is true, but indirectly, not in the direct way which the writer appears to mean. It is true in this way, that the Lords-Lieutenant are always, openly and by common consent, appointed by the Government ex- clusively from their own party. A notable case was the:appeiht- ment of Lord Sefton in Lancashire, when quite a young, and untried man, over the head of the late Lord Derby, then in the height of his fame. No one blamed the Government, nor was likely to do so ; though it was rather an extreme case, and possibly the Minister might have not been blamed, if for once he had varied the practice. But then it is obvious that this effect will be but slightly perceptible, except after a long continuance of the same party in power, so that they have many Lord-Lieutenancies to fill up, —in such a Government as Lord Liverpool's, or the long predominance of Liberal Administrations from 1830 to 1873. In such a case, there may certainly be some overweighting of the balance in one direction or the other. But neither Governments nor Lords- Lieutenant can go very far, according to the present usages which regulate such appointments, against a large actual pre- ponderance—if it is so—of Conservative opinions among the
squirearchy.—I am, Sir, &c., L. P.S.—It may be worth saying that, if I am not in error, Cheshire has for a long time had only Liberal Lords-Lieutenant.
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