Lord Calthorpewished to put a question to the noble and learned Lord on the Woolsack, with regard to the Norfolk Circuit. That Circuit had experienced considerable and singular inconvenience for some years, owing to the circumstance of only one Judge of 1296 Assize going that Circuit. Such had been, unhappily, the increase of offences latterly, that the most serious inconvenience and injury had arisen from there being but a single Judge on that Circuit to discharge the various duties which devolved upon him. He wished to know from the noble and learned Lord, now that some additional Judges had been appointed, if it was intended to make any arrangement to remedy that inconvenience?
The Lord Chancellorsaid, that the subject adverted to by the noble Lord was certainly one of great importance; and, undoubtedly, serious inconvenience had been felt for many years from the want of two Judges going the Norfolk Circuit in Spring and Autumn. He (the Lord Chancellor) was one of those who deeply regretted such an inconvenience, and who only submitted to it from the necessity of the case, there being too few Judges to do the business of the country. Twelve Judges had been long considered sufficient; but now that three additional Judges had been appointed by his Majesty's late Government, with the sanction of the whole profession, and in conformity with the wishes of the public, there was no pretence whatever that only one Judge should go the Norfolk circuit. He saw no reason why it should not be otherwise: perhaps some persons better acquainted with the matter might think that the old arrangement should continue, but for his part, he (the Lord Chancellor) could not discover the shadow of a reason why the evil complained of should not be remedied. Two of the additional Judges would be allotted to the new circuit which had been made, and one would be thus left unappropriated. Now, he would say, and the person who held the Great Seal had usually a voice in such a matter, that it would be better that two Judges should go the Norfolk Spring Circuit, and that for that purpose the additional Judge left unappropriated should be selected. He was of opinion, that it was not seemly that either the Norfolk circuit or the Midland circuit, should have one Judge assisted by a Serjeant or some other makeshift, when the country had now provided individuals of the highest legal attainments and character. He might, perhaps, be permitted to take that opportunity to advert to some suggestions which he understood had been thrown out elsewhere, respecting certain appointments vested in the hands of the Lord Chancellor. 1297 The suggestions to which he alluded regarded the Court of Chancery, and the disposal of the patronage of the Great Seal; and, as they had been described as worthy of his attention, he should give them all the consideration which they deserved. It had been said in another place, that he had taken upon himself to name an Attorney to a place which would be more fitly filled by a Barrister. He certainly felt the propriety of that suggestion, and he had endeavoured to fill the places, the disposal of the appointments to which was vested in him, with Barristers. But the great difficulty to be encountered in accomplishing that object arose from this circumstance—that the Great Seal was only held during pleasure, and that on the Lord Chancellor's going out, his Secretary, and the other officers whom he might have appointed, were turned out with him. It was impossible, therefore, for the Lord Chancellor to call upon a Barrister to sacrifice his profession for a place of that uncertain description, and to leave the Bar, for perhaps only a few years, or a few months. On the other hand, it required a person of considerable experience in business, to discharge the great and important duties attached to the office of Secretary in the Court of Chancery. It was absolutely necessary, for the proper administration of justice, that the office should be filled by a person of experience, and no Barrister of experience would accept of it. He had tried in vain to get an experienced Barrister to take it. Now if the place were given to an inexperienced Barrister, the duties would not be performed, and thus would arise a great and grand evil, worse by many degrees than the mischief complained of respecting the appointment of Solicitors,—namely, that it was giving them an undue means of showing favour to the suitors in the Court in which they practised. He begged to state, that the persons filling the situations alluded to, in the departments to which he had the power to appoint, had renounced all their private professional practice in the departments in which they were employed under the Great Seal. But if a Barrister, who intended to go back to his profession, filled one of those situations, there might be great danger of his making friends amongst the suitors in the Court, in order that he might have their aid when he returned to his profession. He spoke only of what might possibly occur, constituted 1298 as human nature was. That certainly was felt by his predecessors, and the offices to which allusion had been made had been held by Solicitors very recently, with the exception of one place. He did not suppose that any charge was intended to be made against him with regard to the general disposal of the patronage attached to his office. No man could consider that patronage a greater burthen than he did; and there was nothing he wished more to get rid of. It was the usual practice when a new Lord Chancellor was appointed, to dismiss all the individuals who held offices under his predecessors; but when he was appointed to hold the Great Seal, his first observation was, that he would not dismiss one of the individuals who held office under the former Lord Chancellor. He was told, however, that it was absolutely necessary to dismiss two confidential Secretaries, which he did because it would have been improper to retain men acquainted with matters confidentially intrusted to them by his predecessor; he retained, however, five out of seven persons who filled situations under his predecessor, and one of them, a learned gentleman whom he had appointed to a particular office, he had never seen until he came to thank him for having appointed him. He could declare, that no human being that he had ever known or seen before, had received an appointment from him in Church or State, with the exception of two individuals, from private motives, and the nature of those motives, he was sure, would be properly appreciated by their Lordships and the public, when he mentioned the names of Romilly and Clarkson, as those of two persons whom he had so appointed Commissioners of Bankrupts.