Cylchgronau Cymru

Chwiliwch trwy dros 450 o deitlau a 1.2 miliwn o dudalennau

SIR BENJAMIN AND LADY HALL IN THE 1840's. Part II: 1846-1849 (PLATES XIV. 13-14) THE early part of 1846 seems to have been singularly uneventful, apart from the usual round of visits from relatives and friends at Llanover,1 but on 3 July, Sir Benjamin2 attended the famous banquet given by the Reform Club3 to Ibraham Pasha,4 when his co-M.P. for Marylebone, Sir Charles Napier, 5 was in the Chair; the celebrated M. Soyer6 was the chef de cuisine, and Palmerston 7 made a speech. In August he went with another party of sportsmen to Scotland for the shooting, whilst his wife8 remained at Llanover, busying herself, among other things, in writing to Lord Cottenham9 to urge the claims of their old friend, Arthur James Johnes10 of Garthmyl,11 for an appointment as a Judge of the Small Debts Courts in Wales: loth August, 1846. My dear Lord, In consequence of Sir Benjamin's having left this place for Scotland before the arrival of the post on Saturday last, I was unable to deliver to him a letter from Mr. A. J. (who) had asked Sir Benjamin to certify to your Lordship his good opinion and knowledge of him, and as ten days must elapse before Sir Benjamin could receive this letter, I venture to assure your Lordship that I can answer for Sir Benjamin's sentiments in his favour, and that for many years we have both watched with much anxiety the Small Debts Bill in the hope that the Principality might be benefitted by the appointment of a person whom we believed to be so eminently well suited for the office of Judge in Wales as Mr. A. J., and much is it to be desired that a combination of such qualities as he possesses (particularly including that of a knowledge of the language of this country) had always been insisted upon before, as it would have prevented many sad occurrences. I must apologise for the liberty I have taken, but the indulgence shewn me, and the benefit conferred on a parish in Wales by one of the last appointments to livings by the nomination of a Welshman (Mr. Jones, (Tegid)12 at Nevern in Pembrokeshire a few years ago) induced me to hope that you will still believe that I have no interest to serve beyond the hope of doing good to that portion of the community in which I am particularly interested. May I add that in consequence of the nominal and real boundaries of Wales being at Variance that should the jurisdiction of a qualified Welsh judge not include the County of Monmouth that thousands and thousands of Welshmen who ought not to give evidence in any other language (to promote the ends of truth and justice) will be debarred from the advantages consequent on such an appointment as a proof of which I need only mention that the County is Ecclesiastically admitted to be essentially Wales, and forms a large part of the Diocese of Llandaff, and that within the County of Monmouth there are about 100 places of worship where the service is Welsh, and yet there ought to be double that number to meet the wants of the Welsh population'13.