The Express.
London, England, 1849-02-10 00:00:00

THE

limy against Mr. Cues t he is s most painatak;eimind
advisees where kis OiffiOSO are
auisedirette a Au lawyer, leaned, versatile, and ready.
Bat if the diem deem by MN man, why
_should the
=oak Ism kr Ivor Why Shedd a very
lessam liedsind eat of dl parse
—widow mmilsoil pedeote—upen main liplidomali•
whose netoriens inessagainsey is then theme et son-
stoat maim in Cennayslot? Is it Wass old Mr.
Oxen inemicet is the lade of Lord De Finns,
and of Mr. Frioteririns Fsssscs, the mess-
bar ter Iteneemen. that be he penaftted
to go eirenitr and earthen the Awee of &A-
-lio( as grown esamo4 when the grand jury,
sad the petty juries, sad all the bar know, and
see that the real sunset air
the crown is Mr. Cum; ?
This aloes in the Connaught circuit is flagrant and
disgusting. Whims ma Irish grand jury names a
son publicly as is ?ash, we may be sus they would
not expose an aristocratic job, Was the matter was
of the most soandaloas character. Mr. Fnsxcn has
neither the:energy nor ability to set as a public prose-
cutor, and it is a most shameful thing to waste public
matey by employing one who does no service for his
pray. Only thigh, also, that at this very moment
Mr. FFRENCII is in the receipt of a large pension as a
superannuated assistant barrister! He is superseded
in the:department which requires far less energy than
a crown prosecutonhip, and be is maintained in an
dace in which he should have bees superseded long
affo
Next, take the Leinster Circuit. There Mr. Scorr
is the leading crown prosecutor. Now who hears, at
the Four Courts in Dublin, of Mr. Scary being en-
gaged there in any practice of the least consequence ?
Is Mr. Scorr a fit man to bold the office of leading
prosecutor on a circuit of snot' importance as tile
Leinster ? The answer given by the whole Irish bar
would be in the negative. Mr. floorr is in no kind
of practice—he is neither eloquent nor horned, except
by the courtesy of the profession, sad yet he
fills, or vainly tries to fill, a place which, in
former years, taxed the energies of so able
an advocate as the present Chief Justice of
the Common Pleas in Ireland ! Again, in the north-
west bar, there is old and feeble Mr. Sammie, a
crown prosecutor. Why, what legal energy can there
be in a man who was a reporter in Chancery so long
ago as the time when Lord REDESDALI mass Chan-
cellor of Ireland ? But the old gentleman has power-
ful friends, and retains his post despite of his incom-
petency.
The Munster Circuit is the heaviest in Ireland, and
that which most requires able men to fill the public
prosecutor's duties. Its leading crown counsel is
Mr. Ottoaoa Bittern—a man of very great
profeisional distinction, and a most respected
gentleman, with many estimable qualities. Mr.
BENNETT is one of the leading practitioners on the
circuit, and holds a brief in nearly every record. It is
evident that such a heavily engaged advocate most
depend very much on his second crown counsel. And
who is that gentleman ? Well, he is one of those in-
satiable salary sponges, "the little Ihrxthaeti,"—
the Hon. boar PLuxxxr. Without being a down-
right noodle, Mr. ionic PLUMMET is notoriously one
of the dullest barristers (we will not sly lawyers)
who ever wore pig's hair oa an unlearned head. When
a nice tinestiou of law wears about an indict-
ment, he is totally unfit to compete in argu-
ment with expert criminal lawyers like Sir Consul(
O'Loonnee, or Messrs. Dwcn, FREEMAN, and
O'Hr.x. He is incapable of a good speech; he is
prolix u an examiner-in-chief, and utterly inonm-
potent at cremsexamination. The sons of URATTAN
and O'Coicem. have inherited the names, but
not the tale• te, of their great sires ; and Mr.
Sone rumen is in the same predicsment. He has
been going the Munster Circuit these twenty years, and
who ever beard of the attorneys retaining him in any
case in the Record Court, at Limerick or Cork? And
what is the consequence of having sub an incompetent
man to do the public business? Why, in every
heavy owe, the clever crown solicitor, Sir Mammy
Baitsunoroe, retains Mr. Halm, of course at addi-
tional expense to the Public. The proper course
would be that an effective seemed prosecutor should
be joined with Mr. Beritearr, who discharges his
share of the duty with eminent ability and praise-
worthy humanity. Mr. Haim, or Mr. COPPINOER,
0f Mr. Burr, or Mr. J. D. FITEORRALD, should be
put in the place of this talentleas bearer of the great
name of Fulmer. Bat so things are mismanaged
in ill-governed Ireland ! The Connaught Circuit has
an effete senior crown prosecutor, because he:happens
to be uncle to a lord and a county member ; and the
Monster Circuit has a fifth-rate barrister tor its junior
crown prosecutor, because he is son of an ex-lord-
chancellor.

And can we wonder at the blunders in the state
prosecutions when this lax system obtains in Ireland?
The public business is jobbed and given away into
the hands of incompetent persons, and a low standard
of duty and industry is allowed in quarters where
severe public discipline ought to be enforced. They
are talking of changing the whole system ; and, verily
it does require a total change. Bat, as we will prove
another day, the changes meditated will only make
matters worse. Meantime, let our readers recollect
that some four or the thousand pounds of public
money pass annually as salaries through the hands of
" Counsellor Methusalenn," who has gene ninety cir-
cuits—of old and stupid Mr. Scorn—of the old and
sickly Mr. &HOULE!, and the pitiful sou of the great
Lord Pitinturrt