The Press.
London, England, 1854-02-25 00:00:00

lIIMIIIMMIIIMIENIMMIIE

THE PRESS.

themselves, and very indifferently told—is
only a plain though possibly unpleasant
statement of facts. The best part of ithe work
is a description of La Paz and its society,
from which we extract only the following:—

The law officers, judges, councillors, and attorneys or
notaries, in this part of the world, are, without doubt, a most
favoured race, since, before they undertake any of their
duties, all payments accruing to them must be paid in ad-
vance. The spirit of litigation and chicanery in this law-
beridden country seems to have reached the acme of ab-
surdity. There is scarcely a family or even an individual
in respectable society who ►s not involved, more or less,
in some one or more lawsuits. The great power which the
tribunals exert is maintained chiefly by the extreme intri-
cacy of their interpretations. Bribes are certainly resorted
to, till the least wealthy of the parties is forced to submit
simply from the want of means. An extraordinary case
came under my knowledge, which I consider worthy of in-
sertion here.
A gentleman belonging to one of the first families in the
Republic purchased a large and valuable estate, estimated
at from 70,000 to 80,000 dollars. He undertook to hand
over this sum of money in certain stipulated payments to
various parties to whom the estate had been bequeathed
by the deceased proprietor. In consideration of his high
repute and general character for probity, he obtained pos-
session by fixing a day for the first instalment. This point
gained, he clandestinely presents 100 dollars to some in-
dividual to start a claim to the property. This has the
desired effect; lawsuit after lawsuit follows. Months and
almost years roll away before justice is done to the rightful
owners. They at length, at a great pecuniary sacrifice,
obtain a judgment in their favour ; when, lo and behold !
another claimant appears. The former judgment is re-
versed. The time, anxiety, and expense by which it was
carried on are found to have been entirely thrown away,
and a like process must again be instituted.
13y following up this system the fortunate possessor had
enjoyed the proceeds of the estate for at least seven years,
and quite unmolested in his nefarious robbery; for, by the
use of a powerful interest, he bad obtained from the courts
the appointment to an office by which he became the de-
posit or trust-holder of all properties and rents. This
hopeless cause so reduced the circumstances of the rightful
—though, by a legal quibble, not the lawful—owners of the
estate, that they were unable, at length. to furnish the ne-
cessary funds for the furtherance of their claims ; and, after
seven years of fruitless litigation, the present occupant was
left in undisputed possession of a property, thus fraudu-
lently acquired, worth at the present date at least 100,000
dollars.

A great deal of feasting and merriment pre-
vails in these primitive towns, where the time
of the inhabitants is pretty equally divided
between gambling, drinking, religious cere-
monies, and revolutions. These last have
very little of a political character, being mere
scrambles for power between opposing leaders,
carried on by the agency of an armed mob, at
the expense of the respectable part of the com-
munity, the plunder of whose property usually
concludes the quarrel.
Here is a good picture of Bolivian man-
ners, drawn from the life at Chuquisaca :
One of the judges, a man of letters, but of dissolute
habits, was not a personification of Justice, as respects her
blindness. The charms of beauty had evidently not been
lost upon him, as was clearly evinced by the number of
pretty Cholo girls, with infants in their arms, of whom he
was the reputed father. One of these women, whose
claims upon him had been utterly disregarded by this ad-
ministrator of justice, unfortunately had no means of
redress, as it was hardly to be expected that the judge wbo
presided over the tribuntl to which alone the case could be
carried would condemn himself in the matter. However,
she was determined to shame him into an observance of his

duty, and made an appeal to her fellow-citizens in the fol-
lowing fashion. Having dressed up her little one as a
judge, with wig and robe, and all the other paraphernalia
belonging to the office, and affixed to it, both before and
behind, the name of its father, written in large characters,
she carried it in procession through the city to the sound of
a drum and trumpet, with a crowd of women, children, and
the lowest rabble, who joined in u long-continued volley of
shouts, groans, and hisses, coupling, at the same time, the
name of the learned doctor with the most opprobrious
epithets. This curious proceeding was effectual in gaining
the mother's cause, and the judge and father was but too
glad to come to any terms, to avoid so glaring a scandal.
A description of the Pampas, and a slight
sketch of Roses, vague, and apparently drawn
from newspaper stories, conclude the book.

Minutes on the Resignation of the late General Sir
Charles Napier of the Command of the Army in
India. London: Murray.
"LET the dead rest." Sir Charles Napier is gone ;
and now, when soldierly skill and indomitable courage
like his are more than ever needed, we feel reluctant
to approach a controversy which ought to have ter-
minated with his life. Itii not while the grass has
scarcely covered the grave of a hero that we wish to be
reminded of his shortcomings, if such they were.
Nor do we see, after a carefal perusal of the adverse
case, sufficient reason to reverse our former judgment
in favour of the commaudtr-in-chief as against the
governor-general. Lord Dalhousie has on his side
strict professional rule and the great authority of the

SATURDAY,

Duke of Wellington. Sir Charles violated this rule,
was held culpable by the duke for so doing, but, in
our belief, saved thereby the army of India from a
mutiny. Military critics will naturally side with the
Horse Guards; but popular opinion holds Sir Charles
blameless, and the more so because, with all Lord
Dalhousie's undoubted ability, he has the reputation
of being—like Sir Robert Walpole—a monopolist of
power, simewhat unduly jealous of a "brother near
the throne." It is bare justice to him, however, to
acknowledge that he has been driven into self-
justification by the posthumous pamphlet of his
antagonist.

Magisterial Reform. Suggested in a Letter addressed
to Viscount Palmerston. By Sir George Stephen.
London : Crockford. •
SIR GEORGE STEPHEN IS the author of an amusing
book : it was, therefore, with a prepossession in his
favour that we opened this pamphlet, but the feeling
was dissipated by the first few pages. Sir George
prefaces a suggestion ior the abolition of the present
system, and the t übstitution of a stipendiary magis-
tracy, by an unjust attack on the gentlemen who now
gratuitously discharge the duties of their onerous
office. Sir George mentions acts of corruption and
instances of incapacity so gross that, if they can be
proved, he should furnish Lord Palmerston privately
with the names of the delinquents, so that investiga-
tion may be made and punishment follow ; but he
should never have ventured on specific charges
against unnamed members of a particular class, in a
manner to bring odium on the whole body to which
they belong. Of the literary powers and the accu-
racy of the author the reader can judge from the
following extract :
" It redounds but little to the credit of our legislators
that they should have been sufficiently alive to the value of
the little responsibility which existed, and have passed the
11 and 12 Viet., eh. 41, to render it more difficult to en-
force, while they have as yet been inaccessible to the po-
pular complaint, that as magistrates they exercise a power
that is oppressive, because it is practically irresponsible
both to law and opinion."
From the latter part of the sentence one might sup
pose that we had neither a Court of Queen's Bench,
a Home Secretary, nor public press. Ignorance of
legal technicalities is necessarily incidental to a class
which includes few lawyers, but we cannot admit that
this is an unmitigated evil. Even Mr. Macaulay, in
his celebrated sketch of the country gentlemen of
England in the reign of Charles 11., enumerates
amongst their merits the gratuitous administration of
justice. The blunders of " the quorum" is a tra-
ditionary subject of ridicule, from the days of Shallow
downwards. Of Selwyn the it it is even related that the
only occasion on which he acted as a magistrate was
when he detected his gardener pillaging him ; and
then be prosecuted in person, gave evidence, decided
the case, and committed the delinquent to prison
himself, the whole proceeding having taken place in
his own hall ! But country magistrates are no longer
what they were in the days of Selwyn. A system of
stipendiary magistrates may or may not be advisable,
but such a change will certainly not he hastened by
the advocacy of the anther of this intemperate
pamphlet.

Carna tic Stipendiaries. Petition Presented by
William Digby Seymour, Esq., M.P., on Behalf of
the Stipendiaries, to the House of Commons, in the
Session of 1853. London :

A PETITION presented by Mr. Digby Seymour on
behalf of the Carnatic stipendiaries, complaining that
the treaty of 1601 has been violated, and that, as the
families of the petitioners have increased, while their
allowances have been reduced, they are left in a state
approaching destitution. Their claim is supported
by letters, extracts, and other documents corrobora-
tive of the facts here stated. It is quite clear that
this case is one with which Parliament cannot deal.
We doubt whether there are in the House of Commons
fifty members who know of the existence of the
Carnatic stipendiaries, or oi the treaty of 1801. And
it is quite certain to us that, were the question
brought on in the course of this or any other session,
a count-out would put a speedy end to the debate.
Why is there no authorised tribunal in England to
which complaints against the East India Company
can be referred?

Decimal Coinage. A Letter from William Brown,
Esq., M.P., to Francis Shand, Esq., Chairman of
the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce. London :
Ridgway. _ _

A CONCISE and popular ristunh of the coinage ques-
tion by Mr. Brown, chairman and author of the late
committee. It contains nothing which has not
already appeared in our columns, but is well calcu-
lated, in respect both of brevity and clearness, to call
public notice to the subject. With the pamphlet is
printed a letter, written by order of Lord Granville,
recommending the decimal system to be taught in

I

oPuT

FEBRUARY 25, 1854.

schools. This may be taken as a proof of the
adhesion of Government to the new method, though
official caution may interpose some delay before its
practical adoption.

1. A Plea for National Education with Religion and
without Rates. By the Rev. William Francis
Wilkinson, M.A. London : J. W. Parker and
Son.
2. A Voice from the Church. Edinburgh : Moodie.
3. Parish School Statistics. Edinburgh : Moodie.
I. The substance of this pamphlet of fifty two
pages has, we are told in the preface, already ap-
peared "in a periodical of large circulation." The
author clearly and dispassionately examines and
discusses the various schemes that have been put
forth on this difficult and important subject, and
finally comes to the conclusion that the system
adopted "by the Committee of Privy Council, with
" the acquiescence of Parliament, is the best that
"can be pursued." But Mr. Wilkinson recommends a
large extension of the system, which would, he
thinks, result in " a truly national constitution and
" Christian education." The author is happy in
pointing out the impossibility of separating education
from religion. If the attempt were made, the task
of selecting books " could be only assigned, with the
" chance of approximating success, to some very
" zealous, sensitive, sharpsighted unbeliever." Mr.
Wilkinson somewhat fancifully rejects the proposal
to support schools by rates, because it would lead
to the association of education and pauperism in
the popular mind, and would so far, therefore, be de-
trimental to the cause intended to be advanced.
This pamphlet was, however, worth reprinting, and
its appearance is opportunely timed.
No. 2 is reprinted from the Church of Scotland
Magazine and Review.
No. 3 is the second edition of a pamphlet in which
certain speeches and resolutions made at a public meet-
ing on national education are reviewed, and the Church
of Scotland is " vindicated from the aspersions of
" Lord Panmure" and others. The numerous and
recurring publications on education show the increas-
ing interest which is taken in the subject.

Colonial and International Postage. Arranged by
Henry Derecourt. London : Cawley and Co.
A. COLLECTION of letters, speeches, petitions, articles
from newspapers, and miscellaneous information
from various sources, relating to the mismanage-
ment of the Post•otllce, which is now, especially in
the transmission of letters to and from our distant
colonies, a general subject of complaint. Mitch
desultory information is brought, together within a
small compass, but there is no attempt at order or
arrangement.

Rhymes. By George Thomas May. London :
Hardwicke.
As at first we did not observe anything in this little
volume to distinguish it from the thousand similar
productions which the new method of publishi
to png
assfor
authors has brought to light, we were about
it without comment, when our attention was attracted
by the following instance of the absurd, which
certainly deserves to be rescued from silent
oblivion

Could the memory kindle a flame,
Such as Muses are wont to inspire,
Old Ocean should heave in my strain,
And my narrative glow with the tire!
It is well for the fishes that the author cannot
accomplish his desire, otherwise their condition as
described in the famous poem beginning,

The aun's perpendicular rays
Had illumined the depths of the sea,
which wrung from them the complaint, " Oh, how
hot we shall be," would seem paradise in compa-
rison.

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.
Poetry of the Anti-Jacobin. Second Edition. By
ill is. C.
Edmonds. W
A Letter to the Earl of Derby on University Reform. By
H. B. Wilson, B.D.Ridgway.
Wellington and Napier. A Supplement to Indian Mis-
government. eterton.
A Voice from the Church on National Education.
Edinburgh : Moodie.

Parish Sehoul Statistics.
Shall Turkey Lire or Die, By T. Carlyle, Esq.
Bosworth.

A Word to the British Public before entering intoGo; War with
Russia. bourn.
Private Lefties on the Eastern Question. By Lord Pon
sonby (Viscount Ponsonby ). Folthorp.
The Advocate of National Instruction. Cash.