§ MR. BAXTERsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, If any changes are contemplated in the management of Scotch business in the House of Commons? It was not generally known by hon. Members in other parts of the United Kingdom that the Lord Advocate was not only the Attorney General for Scotland, having very important and varied legal duties to perform, but he was also expected to take charge of the general civil administration of that part of the Empire, with only a nominal responsibility to the Home Office. The Lord Advocate, in fact, was the political dictator of Scotland. What he wanted to lay before the House was, that there existed a very strong, reasonable, continual, and increasing feeling of dissatisfaction in Scotland with regard to political matters, that so much power, patronage, and legislative responsibility should be placed in the hands of a practising lawyer, whose ordinary duties were onerous enough and quite sufficient to occupy his whole time, without casting upon him other functions which he could not adequately perform. The Lord Advocate of Scotland was always one of the most distinguished members of the Scotch bar, with a large practice before the courts in Edinburgh, which rendered it quite impossible for him to be at all times present in London when those courts were sitting. Three years ago the hon. Member for Ayrshire truthfully described the duties of the Lord Advocate as being so diverse, 398 so conflicting, and so complicated that no parallel to them could be found either in England or in Ireland. That hon. Gentleman then moved for a Select Committee to bring about a change. In 1858, he (Mr. Baxter) submitted a Resolution to the House that one Under Secretary of State should be appointed in the Home Office to perform the functions and the political duties of the Lord Advocate; but the matter was not understood by the House, and they would not accept the proposal though many Scotch Members had voted in its favour. The question, perhaps, was not then ripe for discussion; but circumstances had since occurred which might ensure a more favourable answer to his inquiry. In the year 1858 petitions and memorials had been sent up from all parts of Scotland advocating the proposed change. The people of that country generally were persuaded that no measure was more likely to prove beneficial to them than one of that character, which would have the effect of relieving them from the domination of a few Scotch lawyers. In 1858 he had ventured to say that the time might come when the Lord Advocate would not have a seat in that House. That statement was received with a smile of incredulity; but it was the fact that at the present moment the Lord Advocate had not a seat in the House of Commons, and the consequence was that Scotch business had come to an entire dead-lock in that House. He was aware that the Home Secretary was nominally responsible for the conduct of Scotch business; but the right hon. Gentleman, when asked a question on Scotch business, appeared perfectly helpless. This state of things could not be permitted to go on much longer. If he were rightly informed, the Government had a number of important Bills in readiness with reference to Scotland, but there was no one to take charge of them; and he believed that for the future there was less chance of the Lord Advocate obtaining a seat in that House. He knew that it was objected that a Scotch lawyer was needed to take charge of the Scotch Parliamentary business, because it was invariably of a technical nature connected with the peculiarities of Scotch law. He denied that that was the case, and during the twelve years he had sat in the house he had noticed that the great majority of the Scotch measures introduced had been of that nature that, had they related to England, no one would have thought of placing them in the hands 399 of the Attorney General, as they would naturally have fallen to the province of the Home Secretary. The financial part of the question, as relating to the salary of the Under Secretary of State for Scotland, or by whatever title the new officer might be called, was comparatively of little importance. If the change could be made, the money necessary for it would be well expended; but, as the First Scotch Lord of the Treasury received £1,000 a year, and the Secretary to the Lord Advocate £350, he did not see the necessity for any great increase of expenditure. He hoped that the Government would take his suggestion into consideration, and he could assure them that the Scotch people would be grateful if the Government took the present opportunity of putting an end to a system which was most unpopular in Scotland.
§ SIR ROBERT ANSTRUTHERsaid, he believed that the Lord Advocate, if he were present in the House, would admit that the amount of business he was called on to transact, both in London and Edinburgh, was of such a nature and extent that it was next to impossible that it could receive that attention which its importance demanded. The fact of the Lord Advocate having no seat in the House had at last brought the matter to a crisis, for it was impossible that the Home Secretary could be conversant with the details of Scotch business. It was not too much to expect that some Scotch Member might have the opportunity of taking part in the official transaction of Scotch business, and that that business should not be solely placed in the hands of the legal profession. He made these remarks in the most friendly spirit both towards the present and past Lords Advocate. He had no objection whatever to make to the present Lord Advocate; on the contrary, he entertained the highest respect for his character and abilities; but it was impossible that any man in his position could properly discharge the political duties committed to his hands.
§ MR. CUMMING-BRUCEsaid, he could entirely endorse the observations which had been made on this subject, and he most sincerely trusted that the Home Secretary would take the matter into serious consideration.
§ MR. DUNLOPsaid, he wished to express his concurrence in what had fallen from the hon. Member for Montrose (Mr. Baxter.)
COLONEL SYKESsaid, he could bear testimony to the great inconvenience incurred by Scotch Members in having to trot to the Lord Advocate's office in Spring Gardens if they had to ask a question about Scotch business. The absence from that House of the officer responsible for that business was an intolerable nuisance.
§ MR. HENRY BAILLIEsaid, he hoped that the right hon. Gentleman would consider the propriety of appointing an Under Secretary of State for Scotland. The fact was that the Scotch were the most lawyer-ridden and priest-ridden people in the world, and they were anxious to emancipate themselves at least from the dominion of the lawyers. Complaint was made on the score of the Lord Advocate not having a seat in the House; but he considered that if he had a seat he would be of very little use, inasmuch as the duties he had to perform in Edinburgh were such that he could not possibly, with satisfaction to Scotch Members, take charge of the Scotch business that came before the House.
§ MR. M'LARENsaid, he believed that in Edinburgh the feeling in favour of the suggestion of the hon. Member for Montrose was as extensive as in any part of Scotland. About fifteen years ago a large public meeting was held in Edinburgh, at which the Lord Advocate presided, and a memorial to the Government was decided upon, which was subscribed by large numbers of the inhabitants. The Town Council, the Chamber of Commerce, and other public bodies also memorialized the Government on the subject. He was of opinion that the Home Secretary could not do a more popular act, as regarded all parties in Scotland, than accede to the suggestion made by his hon. Friend the Member for Montrose.
§ MR. CRUM-EWINGsaid, he could assure the right hon. Gentleman the Secretary of State for the Home Department that in the great city of Glasgow, of which he was a citizen, and in the burgh which he had the honour to represent, but one feeling prevailed, and that was strongly in favour of the recommendation of his hon. Friend.