Prior to the reign of Edward I., there were various instances of Normans and other foreigners having the Great Seal confided to them, although, like Lord Chancellor Longchamp, they could not speak a word of English,—but since then the Chancellors have all been native born subjects. Among these there are only two Scotchmen, Lord Loughborough and Lord Erskine. When the English and Irish Bars are amalgamated, as they are soon likely to be, Irishmen, it may be hoped, will often be Chancellors of England, as well as Englishmen Chancellors of Ireland. In the history of the Great Seal of England there is one and only one instance of its being held successively by two brothers,-John and Robert de Stratford, in the reign of Edward III. The new House of Lords has been adorned with an emblazonment of the armorial bearings of all the Lord Chancellors and Keepers of the Great Seal, who have presided on the woolsack since the end of the reign of Edward III.* This is a proper compliment to an order which includes many great names, and, through a long succession of ages, has been the main support of the hereditary branch of our legislature. I hope that the line may be continued with increasing reputation to distant generations. In any speculations for abolishing or remodelling the office of Chancellor, I wish Benthamites to consider whether, as it has subsisted since the foundation of the monarchy, it can be safely dispensed with, or materially altered. To insure the steady march of the government there must be a great Jurist to guide the deliberations of the Peers, and to assist in the councils of the Sovereign; he cannot do so advantageously without the weight to be derived from a high judicial office, and his political functions are incompatible with the administration of the criminal law. The CLAVIS REGNI must therefore be held by the first Equity or Appellate Judge in the land-I will conclude with a prophecy, that if the proposed experiment of a tripartite division of the Chancellorship should be tried, it will fail, and that there never will be Seven Volumes filled with "the Lives of the MINISTERS OF JUSTICE." * From Adam de Houghton to Lord Cottenham-in number 79. The arms of all of them were found by that very learned herald and most useful officer of the House of Lords, Mr. Pulman, except those of Searle, (or Scarle,) who held the Great Seal at the end of the reign of Richard II. and the beginning of the reign of Henry IV., whom I had designated as "the most obscure of the Chancellors." According to the arrangement which has been adopted, the shields are 102 in number; those of each reign being preceded by the arms of the Sovereign, of which there are 26; and, in order to preserve the chronological order, the arms of a Chancellor or Keeper are repeated as often as he received the Great Seal from the reigning Sovereign. LORD CHANCELLORS AND KEEPERS OF THE GREAT SEAL, FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TILL THE REIGN OF KING GEORGE IV. |