We have been favoured with the following particulars of the attack recently made at Canton upon the Hon. Mr. Montgomery Martin, Mr. Jackson, the vice-consul, and the Rev. Mr. Staunton, the colonial chaplain: About seven o'clock on the morning of the 18th inst. these gentlemen, while walking along the North Wall outside the city, were attacked by a body of Chinese, who followed in increasing numbers, using the most insulting terms, and pelting them with stones, in which they were aided by other Chinese, who had their position upon the city wall. Mr. Jackson, who was a short distance behind the others, had his arms pinioned, his clothes torn, and a gold chain taken from his neck. Mr. Martin and Mr. Staunton having returned to his assistance, were themselves assailed; Mr. Martin narrowly escaping with his life from a thrust with a dagger aimed at his breast; and Mr. Saunton being robbed of his watch, and every thing valuable upon him. While endeavouring to reach the river-side, they were attacked by another party, who tore the roof from a house to furnish themselves with missiles; but upon reaching a more populous part of the suburbs, the gentlemen were enabled to secure the services of a guide, by whose assistance they contrived to regain the Factories by flight.China Mail, April 27.

SHANGHAL-Our accounts from Shanghai come down to the 1st March. The Pantaloon arrived from Hong-Kong on the 19th Feb.; Charles Jones, from Liverpool, 20th, with Mr. Norris, passenger; and the Litherland, from Liverpool, on the 27th; passenger, Mr. Bland.

AMOY.-From Amoy we learn that the troops were withdrawn from Kolungsoo on the 22nd instant, and the island delivered over to the Chinese. The admiral appeared delighted at this observance of faith on our part, of which he had probably entertained suspicion. The Chinese flag was hoisted by the troopship, and saluted with three guns, according to Chinese custom. The admiral, on his part, hoisted the British ensign, and saluted it with the same number.

The Medusa had left Amoy to convey Mr. Alcock, the consul, to his destination at Fuh-chow-foo, and bring Mr. Lay to Amoy.

Reports have been current here that the sudden departure of the Vixen steamer to-day (Monday) was occasioned by intelligence of some rioting at Amoy. On inquiry, the only ground we can find for such a report is that the Chinese guard stationed in the buildings evacuated by our troops, had performed their duty very inefficiently, as by next morning there was a great lack of doors and windows, all of which had been left entire the day before.

The schooner Vixen left Amoy on Friday afternoon, and anchored outside on Saturday night, after a run of 30 hours. On Saturday forenoon, when about 40 miles from land, a small object was noticed floating, which on closer observation was found to be a small boat. Captain Miln shortened sail and picked up two Chinese in a perishing state, having been blown off the shore two days before. The boat, which was eight feet long by about four broad, was nearly full of water, and only supported by its own buoyancy, the wind being fresh, but off shore. The men were properly taken care of and brought to Hongkong, where Captain Miln generously gave them a few dollars to pay their passage back to their homes.-Hongkong Register, April 1.

SHANGHAI.-Our accounts from Shanghai reach to the 13th March. A good deal of business has been done lately, buyers having come in from Soo Chow and other neighbouring towns after finishing their new-year festivities. As usual, they were

anxious to carry on a barter, giving silk and teas for European goods.

The vessels in the harbour were the Tory, Charles Jones, Will o' the Wisp, and Litherland. The Rob Roy was expected, being understood to have reached Woosung on the 11th.

DISTURBANCES AT AMOY.-It seems that some disturbances have taken place, or are apprehended, at Amoy, for the steamer Vixen, which had been ordered up the Canton river, to remind the Chinese authorities that we still possessed the means of redressing the outrages of the people, the residents of Canton, has been suddenly despatched to Amoy. Our information does not lead us to infer that the disturbances there have been of a serious nature, as they are not even alluded to in some of the private advices received from that quarter; but the fact, that the consul has deemed it necessary to send for assistance is another proof of the necessity of Government fulfilling that part of the treaty which provided that a vessel of war shall be stationed at each of the five ports at which the English trade is carried on. It argues an excess of confidence in the good faith of the Chinese that not one of the ports should be so protected.

S. P.-The Vixen after all has not accomplished her object, and we were surprised to observe her return to the harbour yesterday forenoon. It seems that when within ninety miles of Amoy, she broke the main shaft of her engine, and will probably have to proceed to Bombay for repair.

ALLEN'S INDIAN MAIL, LONDON,

WEDNESDAY, July 23, 1845.

66

WE anticipate that our readers will peruse a report of certain recent proceedings in the highest legislative assembly in the empire with those mingled feelings of disgust and indignation which we believe they have universally excited wherever they have become known. It is not long since that we had the painful duty of reporting the death of Mr. EDWARDES LYALL, Advocate-General of Bengal-an event which spread a gloom over the presidency at which it occurred proportioned to the warm feelings of respect and affection with which Mr. LYALL was regarded by men of all parties and all ranks--of every creed, country, and complexion." At home the shock communicated by the melancholy news of his premature decease was far wider and deeper than is remembered to have been witnessed on any similar occasion, and the expressions of regret and sympathy current among the Indian public of this country were such as might have been looked for had each individual been deprived of a dear and valued personal friend. But amid the general flow of sorrow which thus follows the death of one cut off in the prime of life, and in the very dawn of a brilliant career, there are found two men-and happily only two-prepared to insult the ashes of the dead, and aggravate the pangs of those who mourn an irreparable loss, by an attack alike unjust, ungenerous, and unfeeling, on the lamented victim of an early grave. The House of Lords was not deemed an unseemly place for the exhibition of this scene of malignity, thus carried beyond the verge of that dark and narrow resting-place where, if not before, all human enmity should terminate; and the Earl of ELLENBOROUGH and Lord BROUGHAM did not feel ashamed of appearing as the principal actors. We point, not without shame, to the report which appears in another part of our paper, wherein the indecent attacks made by those noblemen on the late ADVOCATE-GENERAL of Bengal are chronicled; but yet not without consolation and triumph, for the same report contains a speech delivered by the Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Queen's Bench, which must put the slanderers of Mr. LYALL to the blush, if the power of blushing be yet retained by them. That truly noble

person, with the generous ardour which enters so largely into his character, came forward to vindicate the departed dead, and performed the task to the confusion of those who had rendered it necessary. Lord DENMAN was not actuated by any feelings of private regard, for he stated that his acquaintance with the subject of the discussion, was only slight. Neither was he actuated by any political feeling; we know not what the political opinions of the late Mr. LYALL were, but they may be presumed to have been those of his father, the Conservative member for the City of London, while those of Lord DENMAN are known to be Liberal-to an extent which has been sometimes regarded as extreme. But the absence of both personal and political predilections mattered not. It was enough that Lord DENMAN witnessed an attempt to blight the memory of an able and honourable man, and he, without hesitation, interposed the weight of his own character as a lawyer, a man, and a gentleman, to crush it. His lordship has given utterance to the general conviction of the Bar and the public as to the merits of Mr. LYALL; a more dignified or respected organ for its expression could not have been desired, and the impotent attack upon his character has ended in the dismay of those who made it.

On the professional qualifications of Mr. LYALL we will not say one word. It would ill become us to add to the testimony of Lord DENMAN in regard to a subject upon which his lordship is so well qualified to speak. No one now will venture to impugn Mr. LYALL'S character as a lawyer. But there are two or three other objections brought forward, ad captandum, to which we may without indecorum advert. These are, that the deceased Advocate-General, was appointed at a very early age; that he was the son of the gentleman who happened at the time of his appointment to be Chairman of the Court of Directors of the East-India Company; and that his practice at the Bar was not extensive. These objections, it will be obvious, are not of the slightest weight, if the main question-was the deceased Advocate-General competently qualified for the duties of the office?-be satisfactorily answered; and on this point Lord DENMAN has put the objectors out of court. But let us spend a few moments upon each of these paltry cavils. Mr. LYALL was a young man. Surely if this charge had been made while he had the means of personally answering it, he might have retorted upon his detractors in the language of the first PITT, when assailed by the hoary profligate, HORACE WALPOLE" The atrocious crime of being a young man, which the honourable gentleman has with such spirit and decency charged upon me, I shall neither attempt to palliate nor deny; but content myself with wishing that I may be one of those whose follies may cease with their youth, and not of that number who are ignorant in spite of experience. Whether youth can be imputed as a reproach, I will not assume the province of determining; but surely age may become justly contemptible, if the opportunities which it brings have passed without improvement.

The wretch who, after having seen the consequences of a thousand ferrors, continues still to blunder, and whose age has only added obstinacy to stupidity, is surely the object of either abhorrence or contempt, and deserves not that his grey head should secure him from insult." This is the

language reported to have been used more than a century ago by a young and vigorous mind burning with high and

honourable ambition in answer to the miserable abuse of one whose feelings with regard to all elevated objects of desire had been deadened less perhaps by age than by a long and intimate acquaintance with all the most contami nating influences of the baser portion of society. But we may refer to a more venerable authority for the testimony that "honourable age is not that which standeth in length of days," but that "wisdom is the grey hair to man, and an unspotted life is old age." Such a life, it may be affirmed, in as far as that tinge of human infirmity which clings to the past and present will allow of the assertion,—such a life was that of the prematurely-stricken Advocate-General -his days were few, but he left behind him a memory from which his friends may derive consolation, while the pointless shafts of unfeelin'g revilers fall harmless around it.

But once more as to the question of youthfulness. Is it so unprecedented for a lawyer to attain in early life those honours and dignities which are and ought to be regarded as the distinctions of professional learning and ability? It was late in life, indeed, ere COPLEY and SCARLETT attained the positions which they were formed to grace; but there are precedents enough to justify the promotion of young men, if young men be but qualified for promotion. ERSKINE, after serving both in the army and navy before he applied himself to the study of the law, received a silk gown when he had been only five years at the bar. His political opinions prevented his further advance till he was of mature age; but had it not been for this obstacle his progress would undoubtedly have been, through the usual course of promotion, to an early elevation to the chief seat in one of the chief courts of law or equity. The late Lord GIFFORD was appointed Solicitor-General when neither his years, nor his standing at the bar, nor the extent of his practice, seemed to give him any special claim to the distinction. But those who recommended and those who appointed him knew his qualifications; he did not discredit their judgment; and within seven years from the first great step of promotion he became Attorney-General, Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, and, finally, Master of the Rolls. We turn with grief to the next illustration, for reference to it awakens sensations akin to those excited by the death of Mr. LYALL. We refer to Sir WILLIAM FOLLETT, a man, like Mr. LYALL, not more honoured for his professional talents than beloved for those virtues which lend to talents their best and brightest charm. When Sir WILLIAM FOLLETT was appointed Soli citor-General of England, his age, we believe, did not exceed thirty-six years. Like ERSKINE, his career was for a time impeded by the state of the political world, but, unlike ERSKINE, he did not live to benefit to the full extent which he had a right to expect from the elevation of his party to power. It would be useless and wearying to pro duce more instances. These are enough to shew, that notwithstanding the denunciations of Lords ELLENBOROUGH and BROUGHAM, the merits of young men have not in all cases escaped the observation of those able to reward them, ' and that the merited reward has not been withheld. With the deepest possible sense of the retiring modesty of Lord BROUGHAM-a feeling which has stood so much in the way of his lordship's success-we venture to think that even when his lordship was a very young barrister he would not. have declined the advocate-generalship of Bengal, or the solicitor-generalship of England, had either appointment been

offered him. In after-life, when circumstances favoured his professional advancement, it is said that his own estimate of his claims differed widely from that taken by the founder and head of the Reform administration. It is only rumour, and till the secret history of Earl, GREY'S administration be laid open it can only be rumour, but it is reported, and generally believed, that in the original draft of his lordship's cabinet the Great Seal was not allotted to Lord BROUGHAM, that the office destined for the learned person last mentioned was that of Attorney-General, --that a letter was written, tendering that office for his acceptance, and that the indignant lawyer tore it to pieces in the face of the messenger who bore it, contemptuously observing that there was no answer. This may be true or not, but it is certain that he looked for the custody of the Great Seal; and it is certain also that he obtained it. No one ever supposed it possible that Fortune, even in her wildest freaks, should toss HENRY BROUGHAM on the woolsack; but so it was. His tenure of the soft seat was indeed short. The Ministry, of which Lord BROUGHAM was one of the component parts, was not long-lived, and the LORD CHANCELLOR went out with his friends, complaining bitterly, and it is believed without reason, of the hostility of the highest female personage in the kingdom. But his lordship was doomed to something worse than going out with his friends. Companionship in adversity abates its sharpness; but it is hard, after sharing in the sufferings of a party, to be deprived of all participation in its triumphs. The Whigs returned to power, but Lord BROUGHAM did not return to the care of the great seal. We cannot interpret this, nor do we feel much anxiety about the matter. We acquiesce in Lord BROUGHAM's exclusion from office with far more philosophy than he displays under it; but it is strange that from the time when Earl SPENCER'S seces sion broke up the first Whig cabinet, no administration has been willing to have Lord BROUGHAM, either at his own price or any other.

We have almost exhausted our space, but we must not altogether pass over the second head of charge, which seems to be thought very formidable. Mr. LYALL's father was Chairman of the Court of Directors of the East-India Company and notwithstanding this disqualifying circumstance (if it be one) Mr. LYALL was appointed AdvocateGeneral of Bengal. The whole question here may be disposed of (as we have intimated) by asking another was Mr. LYALL a fit person to be appointed or not? and this question Lord DENMAN has answered in the name of the profession of which his lordship is so eminent an ornament. Mr. LYALL then being competent, was he bound, either in law, or reason, or honour, to repudiate an appointment, in the bestowal of which his father had one vote out of twenty-four? Or, was the Chairman of the Court of Directors bound to vote for the rejection of a competent man because that man happened to be his son? Lord ELLENBOROUGH, indulging in that rattling mode of advocacy which hurries on without looking to the most obvious consequences, thought fit to bespatter with his praise Sir LAWRENCE PEEL, once Advocate-General of Bengal, now Chief Justice of the Supreme Court at that presidency. We respect Sir LAWRENCE PEEL, and should rejoice to find him receiving praise from a better quarter. But let us look at the recollections which Lord ELLENBOROUGH'S blundering has unwittingly stirred up, and at the comparison which he has so imprudently invited the

world to draw. Sir LAWRENCE PEEL is Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and he reflects honour on the office; but from whom did he receive it, and to what motive is his appointment to be ascribed? The Judges of the Supreme Courts are not appointed by the East-India Company, but by the Crown-that is, in fact, by the Prime Minister for the time being. Sir LAWRENCE PEEL is nearly related to the Prime Minister now in office, and who was in office at the time when the vacancy occurred which Sir LAWRENCE PEEL was worthily appointed to fill. No one denies that the Chief Justice is fit for his office; but does he owe his elevation solely to his fitness? Had he been equally fit, but a stranger to Sir ROBERT PEEL, does any one believe that he would have been appointed? His qualifications formed a necessary condition of his promotion; but not the moving cause to it. He is indebted for his seat on the judicial bench to the affection of his relative, and there. is nothing discreditable in indulging the feeling, or in deriving benefit from it. Now then, apply this case to the appointment of Mr. LYALL, and see how the matter stands, Lord ELLENBOROUGH himself (by implication) being judge. The first member of the British Cabinet appoints a near relative to a high judicial office; the person appointed is fitted for the office, and no one impugns the selection. The Chairman of the East-India Company promotes the appointment-for he cannot appoint by his own authority—of a near relative to another judicial office. The person proposed, and by the Court of Directors, not by the Chairman alone, appointed, is in like manner fitted for the office. Treat this case like the former, deal justly and equally with both, and we ask, competent qualification being secured, what matters it whether the name of the officer be LYALL or PEEL-or even LAW?

We come to the last cavil, that the deceased AdvocateGeneral had little practice. This must always be the case, when an appointment is made to the office of Advocate-General. A barrister in high practice at home will not take it. No doubt the emoluments are very tempting to a man who sees before him here a long and anxious struggle for success, but those with whom the struggle is past will look upon the prize in a very different manner. Ask Sir FREDERICK THESIGER, or Mr. KELLY, or Sir THOMAS WILDE, to go out as Advocate-General of Bengal -will they go? certainly not. They have higher views in a more eligible place. The officer, therefore, must be generally procured from among the ranks of those who have not attained much eminence. They must, consequently, be men unknown except to their brethren at the bar, and with little practice because unknown. So, too, in India, they must for a time have little practice, because those who are unknown here will certainly be unknown there also, and attorneys and clients will be cautious of trusting them with business till they have had time to establish a reputation. This difficulty Mr. LYALL was rapidly surmounting, his talents and acquirements were winning the confidence of the public, and preparing the way for his attaining the position which his professional rank entitled him to occupy, when his prospects were cut off by death.

And now in bringing these remarks to a close, we cannot refrain from inquiring who it is that thus goes out of his way to trample on the dead, and to heap additional sorrow on the heads of those whose tears have not yet ceased to flow for the loss of a beloved relation. It is Lord ELLENBOROUGH, a man rejected and disgraced by the Court of

This

Directors of the East-India Company, and whose hostility to any appointment made by that body may therefore very readily be accounted for. We do not ask where is the generosity, the humanity, the common decency of the accusation? We have said that Lord ELLENBOROUGH is the accuser, and we have no space to devote to unnecessary questions. But we do venture to inquire into the peculiar pretensions of his lordship to set himself up as a champion and pattern of official prudery. Who is Lord ELLENBOROUGH? He is the second Baron of the title, the first (the father of the present peer) being an eminent member of the profession which the son vilifies in the person of the late Advocate-General of Bengal. The first Lord ELLENBorough, after being all his professional life under the ban of Lord KENYON, Succeeded his lordship in the office of Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench. Lord ELLENBOROUGH (the first we mean) was a man of masculine understanding, a good lawyer and a good general scholar. Neither his mental powers, his legal acquisitions, nor his proficiency in classical learning would, however, have placed him in the seat of his old persecutor; but he was the intimate personal and political friend of Mr. ADDINGTON, afterwards Lord SIDMOUTH, and to his influence while Premier he was indebted for his promotion. was before the era of reform-it was in the days of fat sinecures and luxuriant fees-when men in office could provide for their families, and did not fail to improve their opportunities. The Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench enjoyed his share of these opportunities, and among other good things at his disposal was an office designated as that of the chief clerk of the court in which he presided. This appointment Lord Chief Justice ELLENBOROUGH, in the plenitude of his regard for the public interest, conferred upon his eldest son, the Honourable EDWARD LAW. The office was executed by deputy, the honourable incumbent never rendering the slightest service in return for the remuneration which he received, which it was the current belief of the profession amounted to not much, if any thing, short of TEN THOUSAND A YEAR. Yes, an income of somewhere about ten thousand a year was drawn by this champion of purity in consideration of an office which was of no earthly benefit to any one, but the incumbent and his deputy—which was neither more nor less than a monstrous abuse supported for the purpose of levying fees upon the public for the use of the Chief Justice's eldest son, who did nothing for them. All that was done in the office consisted of useless forms and signatures, and these were managed by deputy. In due time the Honourable EDWARD LAW became Lord ELLENBOROUGH, and the noble peer continued to draw his fees with the same regularity as had been displayed by the honourable commoner. We believe they were drawn by the Honourable EDWARD LAW and the Right Honourable Lord ELLENBOROUGH for a period of between twenty and thirty years; and when, in 1837, the lesson of reform at length reached this pestilent sty, Lord ELLENBOROUGH received compensation. Aye, the denouncer of all abuses of patronage, and especially of legal patronage, actually consented to soil his hands with money given as compensation for the reduction of a loathsome and festering abuse. Not only so, but he stood stoutly on his rights. A few years before the question was put at rest-namely, on the first day of March, 1831, Lord ELLENBOROUGH stood up in his place in the House of Lords, and declared that he

deemed himself as fully entitled to what he received as a sinecurist of 10,000l. a year or thereabouts-as any member of that House could be to his estate. He clung to his principle, and when the fabric of corruption came toppling down, he got compensation-on which compensation he now supports his coronet. Here are purity and patriotism! And is not Lord ELLENBOROUGH exactly the man to stand forward and impugn a legal appointment given to a deserving man, because the favoured party is the son of a gentleman who had a voice in the disposal of the favour?

We now bid good-bye to Lord ELLENBOROUGH, the lion of the evening; but we must have a parting word with the learned peer who condescended to play the part of his lordship's jackall. Lord BROUGHAM was not so furious as his friend-he had not the same reasons for being violent. But Lord BROUGHAM rung the bell for the commencement of the drama-he struck the key-note for the assistance of the principal performer: and he is thus in some measure accountable, not only for his own share in the representation, but also for that of his noble associate -or we should rather say client, for it is notorious that on all occasions Lord BROUGHAM most ostentatiously throws the shield of his protection over Lord ELLENBOROUGH, But for Lord BROUGHAM. Let the reader turn to that interesting compilation known by the polite as the Royal Kalendar, by the vulgar as the Red Book. Let him open the page which records the names of the Masters in Chancery, and passing his eye over it, he will, in proper time, read that of WILLIAM BROUGHAM. The office of Master in Chancery is one of great dignity, great importance, and great profit; and it is usually bestowed on men who have established a claim to it by their display of learning at the bar. Should the reader be tempted, as perhaps he may, to inquire into the claims of WILLIAM BROUGHAM, it is right that he should be gratified. He will ask in what court WILLIAM BROUGHAM earned the reputation which gained for him the valuable office which he now holds? Did his bag overflow with briefs? Were his chambers besieged by attorneys, anxious beyond all things to obtain his opinion for their guidance in conducting the affairs of their clients? Has he given to the world any elaborate treatise on Law, which, like the great works of COKE or SAUNDERS, shall be pole-stars to lawyers yet unborn? Should the reader put these questions, the answer must be as follows. It is not believed that Mr. WILLIAM BROUGHAM was oppressed by the extent of his business in the courts, or that his repose was annoyingly interrupted at chambers; nor is it known that he has contributed any thing to law literature which the legal "world will not willingly let die." But still he is a Master in Chancery, and he and the public owe this to the circumstance that Mr. WILLIAM BROUGHAM is a brother of HENRY LORD BROUGHAM, some time Lord High Chancellor of England. And so having exposed this last " great fact," we leave our friends to digest the whole by "much pondering thereon.” And we think they will come to the conclusion that a dismissed Governor-General of India, who affords in his own person so extraordinary an illustration of nepotism, and a superannuated Lord Chancellor, who, in his family affords

a like instance, are not exactly the persons to declaim against all in authority for the mode in which they bestow their patronage. The adage giving a wholesome caution to those who have glass windows is very trite-but it is sound

also.

PARLIAMENTARY PROCEEDINGS.

HOUSE OF LORDS.

JULY 8.-ADVOCATE-GENERAL FOR BENGAL.-Lord BROUGHAM wished to know whether an office which he held to be of the greatest possible importance, next to that of the GovernorGeneral of India-the office of Advocate-General of Bengalhad been filled up.

The Earl of RIPON did not know whether the office had been filled up, but he believed it was. He agreed that this was an office of infinite importance, but there had been considerable difficulty in procuring a fit person to fill it.

Lord BROUGHAM said, that the late appointment was of a near relation of the chairman, who had never been heard of in Westminster Hall.

Lord ELLENBOROUGH said, the salary was 5,000l. a-year, and there was also the liberty of private practice worth 6,000l. a-year more: it was also an office which led to great distinction, and he really thought, if due diligence were used,a fit person might be found. He agreed in what had been said of the importance of the office. The Governor-General had no other adviser, and his opinion was necessary on great questions of international law, and on the construction of treaties, as well as in conducting matters of great importance to India. The juries of Calcutta were willing enough to find verdicts against the government, and it required the best advocate to conduct a case before them; not only was this gentleman not the best advocate, but he was the very worst, and he had never heard a reason touched on for his appointment except that touched on by his noble friend, that he was the son of the then chairman of the Court of Directors. He would ask, what would be the opinion of their lordships, or of other houses of Parliament, or of the people of this country, if the prime minister of England should suggest his own young son, a barris. ter without practice, as Attorney-general? The administration of that gentleman would be at an end, by the universal disgust of the country, in twenty-four hours. Yet it was of infinitely less importance to England who was Attorney-general, than it was to India who should be Advocate-general. He would only express a wish that, in this instance, former precedents, and not the last, would be taken, and that a really competent person would be appointed. The office had been held by Mr. Serjeant Spankie, and recently by Sir L. Peel, than whom there could not be a more able and competent person, and he hoped, moreover, that in the selection, care would be taken to avoid a person in any way mixed up with local interest, for if he were so, the result must be universal suspicion of every advice given to the board.

Lord CAMPBELL knew of no office under the Crown which had been filled by persons of greater competence; whether there was an exception in the last case, he did not know. He was astounded, however, to hear that the office was going begging in Westminster Hall, for he had always considered it a prize for a young lawyer of great eminence, and he had no doubt that men among the highest honour-the brightest ornaments-without local connexion, would accept it.

The Earl of RIPON said, the salary was only 3,500l. a year, though the emoluments from private practice might make it reach 10,000l. Certain it was that this office had been offered to eight or ten individuals of very distinguished talents, with respect to whose competency every means had been taken to ascertain the truth, and that it had been declined by them one after another, as not being consistent with their professional views.

Lord BROUGHAM said, that nothing was so easy as to make an offer to those by whom it was certain to be refused, that under cover of these refusals an incompetent, though a worthy and well-meaning man, might be appointed.

Lord DENMAN said, the office had been very properly offered to many gentlemen of ability, whose situation at the bar of this country could not make it a safe speculation to refuse this appointment; they were gentlemen of moderate business, though of high expectations and of great talents and learning. With regard to the last person who had held the office, he had the slightest possible acquaintance with him, and had no evidence to bear of his position at the bar; but many persons who well knew him had formed the highest opinion of his ability; they would hear with pain the observations now made, and their opinion was that he was overcoming his difficulties, and was getting into a position in which, by his application and industry, he would in time remove the objections to him. He had heard this from many individuals, for whose opinion he had entertained a high respect.

The Earl of ELLENBOROUGH did justice to the good intentions of the gentleman, but he did not enjoy the public confi

dence, and the strongest evidence was that he had no privatə business whatever.

The conversation then dropped.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

JULY 15.-LORD ELLENBOROUGH.-Mг. HUME intimated the withdrawal of his often postponed notice of motion on the recal of this nobleman.

JULY 17.-HILL COOLIES.-Mr. HAWES wished to put a ques tion to the Under Secretary for the Colonies. He believed that a committee had been appointed in the Mauritius on the subject of the immigration of the hill coolies into that colony, and that a report had been prepared on the subject. He wished to know whether the Colonial-office had received a copy of this document, and whether there would be any objection to lay it on the table? He also wished to know whether there would be any objection to furnish the continuation of the various reports received from the stipendiary magistrates on the same subject?

Mr. G. W. HOPE stated that a copy of the report of the committee alluded to had been received at the Colonial-office, but not the evidence on which it was founded. The report contained very full statistical statements on the subject, which appeared quite long enough to enable any one to form an opinion on the subject. There would be no objection to place this report on the table. With respect to the papers sent home by the stipendiary magistrates in the West Indies, the only objection to their production was their extreme bulk, considering also the very little use hitherto made of those which had been printed. If the honourable member would look at the papers, and select those which he thought to be important, they would at once be furnished.

JULY 18.-Captain BERKELEY brought forward his motion of which he had given notice, that this House resolve itself into a committee for the purpose of considering the propriety of an address to her Majesty, humbly requesting that she will be graciously pleased to take into consideration the claims for further pecuniary recompense to the officers, seamen, soldiers, and marines engaged in the operations against the Chinese empire in 1840-41-42. After a speech of considerable length from the hon, and gallant member, in which he eloquently put forth the claims of those engaged in the war,

Sir C. NAPIER seconded the motion.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER rose to oppose the motion on grounds of public principles the rewards of officers and men engaged in war had always been left to the discretion of the Crown. If rewards were given in every case, men, would not march to battle without promises of largess.

Sir C. NAPIER, Mr. J. A. SMITH, Mr. H. BERKELEY, and Capt. PECHELL having spoken in favour of the motion,

Sir R. PEEL rose and said he entertained no doubt that the House would feel they ought not to interfere in the case, nothing could be more dangerous than making that House a court of appeal respecting the rewards to be bestowed on the naval and military establishments of this kingdom. It was quite a mistake to suppose that the Government were not disposed to be liberal with the servants of the state.

Mr. W. WILLIAMS opposed the motion.

Lord PALMERSTON did not think that the House ought to interfere in such cases, but thought that the Government ought to reconsider their determination respecting the case under dis