Great Britain -- Description and travel; Great Britain -- Rural conditions
Poulter and Wright said they took in the case of Mr. Deller; because, if
these counsels' opinions are paid for by the county, and if a Justice of
the Peace can take as many counsels' opinions as he chooses, I should
like to know what fellow, who chooses to put on a bobtail wig and call
himself a lawyer, may not have a good living given to him by any crony
Justice at the expense of the county. This never can be legal. It never
can be binding on the county to pay for these counsels' opinions.
However, leaving this to be enquired into another time, we have here, in
Mr. Deller's case, an instance of the worth of counsels' opinions. Mr.
Deller went to the two Justices, showed them the Register with the Act
of Parliament in it, called upon them to act agreeably to that Act of
Parliament; but they chose to take counsels' opinion first. The two
"counsel," the two "lawyers," the two "learned friends," told them that
they were right in rejecting the application of Mr. Deller and in
binding him over for the assault; and, after all, this Grand Jury threw
out the Bill, and in that throwing out showed that they thought the
counsels' opinions not worth a straw.
Being upon the subject of matter connected with the conduct of these
Parson-Justices, I will here mention what is now going on in Hampshire
respecting the accounts of the _Treasurer of the County_. At the last
Quarter Sessions, or at a Meeting of the Magistrates previous to the
opening of the Sessions, there was a discussion relative to this matter.
The substance of which appears to have been this; that the Treasurer,
Mr. George Hollis, whose accounts had been audited, approved of, and
passed every year by the Magistrates, is in arrear to the county to the
amount of about four thousand pounds. Sir Thomas Baring appears to have
been the great stickler against Mr. Hollis, who was but feebly defended
by his friends. The Treasurer of a county is compelled to find
securities. These securities have become _exempted_, in consequence of
the annual passing of the accounts by the Magistrates! Nothing can be
more just than this exemption. I am security, suppose, for a Treasurer.
The Magistrates do not pass his accounts on account of a deficiency. I
make good the deficiency. But the Magistrates are not to go on year
after year passing his accounts, and then, at the end of several years,
come and call upon me to make good the deficiencies. Thus say the
securities of Mr. Hollis. The Magistrates, in fact, are to blame. One of
the Magistrates, a Reverend Mr. Orde, said that the Magistrates were
more to blame than the Treasurer; and really I think so too; for, though
Mr. Hollis has been a tool for many many years, of Old George Rose and
the rest of that crew, it seems impossible to believe that he could have
intended anything dishonest, seeing that the detection arose out of an
account published by himself in the newspaper, which account he need not
have published until three months later than the time when he did
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account