The Express.
London, England, 1846-11-14 00:00:00

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LONDON, SATURDAY, NOV. 14.

IT is one of the strange anomalies of our system,
that a place in the Cabinet should be reserved for au
officer whose functions should really be but those of a
prefect or provincial judge. Antiquity hallows these
things, but does not fit them to work well with more
modern arrangements. Such, too, has been the
jealous economy of Parliament, that although funds
are never wanting for commissioncrships and scores
of new offices, the endowment of any new, however
much needed, ministry, has been an act so certain to
I provoke opposition, that the boldest leaders have
shrunk from it.
Hence we find a seat in the Cabinet joined with
the salary and patronage of the Chancellor of the
Duchy of Lancaster. This is very convenient for
political administration, but not at all so for the
Prince who enjoys the revenue of the duchy, and
' who may be anxious to have such property carefully
and fitly managed. A Cabinet minister cannot attend
to such details.
Prince ALBERT, we believe it is, who has from
these motives desired to introduce into the duchy
of Lancaster a system of management similar to that
which has been found to answer so well in the Duchy
of Cornwall. Accordingly a committee, or perma-
nent board, has been created for the management of
the Crown property in the Duehy of Lancaster. The
members of the board have been selected from both
the great parties, and from such men as would not
require salaries. The board consists of Earl SPENCER,
Lord PORTMAN, the Earl of II kRDWICKE, the Earl of
LINCOLN, and Sir JAMES GRAHAM.
_ _.

The Tory journals descry something profoundly'
political in all this. The truth in, that politics have
nothing in the world to do with it. The political
duties and patronage remain as before with the
Chancellor.

PRACTICAL men are intolerant of all sanguine expec-
tations, but especially so of those which concern social
and political improvement. They sympathise with
every application of cold water to educational so-
cieties, sanatory associations, temperance movements,
benevolent unions, and the other thousand and one
. .

shapes in which is embodied the kindly spirit of a
society which keenly feels its own dangers and ..s.`",
and earnestly gropes after a road by which to escape
them.
Nothing is easier than to sneer at would-be social
regenerators. When Christianity itself leaves the
world as we see it, what is to be expected from such
panaceas as every day thrust themselves forward,
with the most benevolent blindness, and saintly
shortness of view? The means proposed by most
of these one-idead philanthropists, are as ludi-
crous as the ends are noble. Look at the one, and
ridicule is irresistibly provoked ; keep the other in
mind, and your laughter becomes profanity.
But even sneerers may be staggered. They may
laugh at the philanthropic "humbug" which dreams
of reforming workhouses, and making schools of
prisons. But what will they say when reform pene-
trates the citadel of Law itself? Their very fort-
ress is garrisoned with traitors. These impious
warders threaten not merely to shut the gates of
their hold against the quirks, quibbles, and delays,
which have been wont to fly to it for protection,
when ousted from every other place, but to
drive out the sacred prejudices, solemn technicalities,
and grey-headed abuses which have held free quar-
ters within the walls from time " whereof the me-
mory of man runneth not to the contrary." Legal
improvements are the surest sign of advancing in-
telligence in the times which originate them. When
these are carried on temperately and with caution
(the new being engrafted on the old, where the old is
sound, and no rude amputation practised, where re-
medial treatment is possible) they indicate that those
rare and invaluable heads are at work, who under-
stand the true nature of the reformer's mission.
There are many evidences of such a spirit of sound
and well-considered improvement operating on our
law and legal institutions. The great simplification
of pleading is one. The Small Debts Act is another.
The existence and activity of a Society for the Amend-
ment of the Law, numbering men of the highest
eminence in the different branches of the profession,
is a third. With these we would connect the new
scheme for forwarding scientific legal education in
the inns of court. The newly-appointed Reader in
Jurisprudence has already commenced his labours in
the Middle Temple. A most numerous audience
assembled for the opening lecture. We trust, that if
the number of those who attend the course be some-
what smaller than that which crowded the noble hall
on Monday evening, it will still be such as to show
that there is among our students an appreciation
of something beyond the details of practice and
case-law.
There are many reasons for attaching especial value,
in the legal education of this country, to scientific
lectures in general and comparative jurisprudence.
Such is the intriewy and extent of legal business in
England, that the st?ident who is plunged suddenly
into it in a pleader's or conveyancer's chambers,
must flounder on, for his first year at least,
if not for his whole pupilage, in a perfect slough
of despond. He may, if rarely gifted, work out his
principles for himself. In some particular branch,
perhaps, he will meet with books to point them out for
his guidance. He may, if still more favoured, find
himself in the chambers of a man who understands
the value of principles, and has time and will to direct
his pupil to them, through all the perplexities of prac-
tice. But all these advantages are exceptional. As
a general rule, the student passes the ordeal of
chamber work, and is called to the bar with a very
unscientific view of his subject, and often with a half
contempt for views more comprehensive than his own.
The extensive influence of the Roman law in most
continental systems has kept the legal education of
Holland, France, and Italy more systematic and com-
plete, if less practical, than our own. It is more
likely to form great jurists; less likely to form skilful
and powerful advocates. But it is less perfect as a