The Express.
London, England, 1867-09-16 00:00:00

SADLIERS WELLS.

Mr. Edgar re-opened this theatre on Saturday
night and produced Mr. Fitskalre spectacular drama of
Azoil--• play founded upon Anber's opera of L'Eafang
Prodigre, which was first performed at Drury-lane
Theatre in 1861 when that house was under the menage.
meat of Mr. James Anderson. The chief characters, Awl
and Reuben, originally represented by Mr. Anderson and
the late Mr. Vandenhuff, are now played bT Miss Marriott
and Mr. H. Loraine, who have every qualification to give
them breadth of effect. It was the' dagger-dance" in this
play, with the original music by Amber, copied in an Indian
Wlet produced at the Alhambra in 1864, which gave rise
to those legal proceedings that have led to an investigation
into the whole question of dramatic licenses.
A lively and well-written dramatic address, by Mr. G.
Linnaeus Banks, was spoken by the manageress, Miss Mar-
riott and the chief member of her company.

Euteriow or LOAD Maxon. —The election of
Lard Mayor will take place on Saturday, 28th ineX,
Miahaaimas-day falling on th.nday. All the aldermen who
have filled the office of sheriff are eligible, but it is not at
all likely that the usual custom of electing the next in ro-
tation will be departed from, consequently the civic
mantle will fall upon Mr. Alderman Allen, of the ward of
Cheep.— Clip Press.
COUNTY OF MIDDLE/MX RZOISTRATION. —MT.
J. N. Goren, the barrister appointed to revise the list of
voters for the county of Middlesex, has intimated his in-
tention of holding courts for that purpose, wording to the
following arrangement i—Oct. 1, the Chequers los, Ur-
i bridge ; Oat. 3, the Black Dog, t ; Oet. 4, the Enfield
Arnie, Enfield ; Oot. 7, the Court-house. Edgware ; Oct. 8,
the Vestry-hall, Bancroft-road, Mile-end-road; Oct. 10,
Jack Straw's Curti*, Hampetead ; Oct. 14, Lord Justices'
Court, Westminster-hall ; Oct. 15, the Town-hall, Church.
few, Bethnal-green; Oct. 17, the Windsor Castle, Hammer-
smith ; Oct. 18, the Oastle Inn, Brantford ; Oct. 20, the
Vcstry.bsll,King's-road,Pancraoread; Oct. 22, the Vestry-
hall, ; Oct. 24, Baclley's Hotel, Bridge-street,
Biackfriars.
NEGRO JorftitALTEIN IN AMERICA. —The Elevator,
published at San Francisco, is edited by a coloured man.
sad eironlates 2,300 owl/la—The Pee* Appeal is published
by coloured mm—The Now Orleans l'erbunr, published
daily and weekly, is managed and edited by men of colour,
and circulates about 10,000 of each isuus.—The True Coin-
senniesSor recently suspended, but to be revived, was pub-
lished at Baltimore, and had for its editor George T. Cook,
• coloured man.—Sion's Standard sad Weekly Review,
published at New York, edited by William Howard Day
(coloured), circulates 4,000 copies, has all its literary and
mechanical work done by coloured people. —The Christian
Recorder. Philadelphia, published by the African Metho-
diet Episcopal Church, and edited by Rev. JamsLyash,
a man of colour, circulates 5,OOO.—TAe People's Journal,
Brook 46, edited and printed by • sobered man, Otsubo
Lion 2, , and The Freedman's Toreidruk, are both pub-
Belied by the African Colonisadon Society.—TAe Coloured
Chews,Umed at Cincinnati, Ohio, sireulates 2,400 copies,'
and is under the satire eadrol of coloured rimu.—Triiereses
Record.
llogirrrAL son Dews= or via CREST, Vicrouk.
PANZ.—The number of patients relievol at this instillation
during het week was 1,097, of which 266 were new Cam"

- -
The qualifications of a good judge are so high
ihat we cannot be surprised at their rarity, and when we
remember the way in which many judges are selected, we
sea hardly **opiate' that there are such flagrant examples
of unfitness. Is we observed last week, the borough re-
oordsra are some times jobbed into their places, and even
whe fairly chosen they an nut appointed by those who
can test their capacity. In the superior courts • seat
on the bench is the reward of political service.
The bar he. had too good an opportunity of judging
the wisdom of rapid promotions from advocacy in
opposition to the cushion of • chief justice. But though
such extreme instances are rare, the general course of ad-
vancement hag been faulty, and if instead of fifteen judges
we ale to have twenty, it is to be feared that an increase
in the number of appointments will cause the multiplica-
tion of jobberies. When people talk of the higher stan-
dard of judicial capacity which prevailed in their youth,
they forget that while the work was not so multifarious
the judges were fewer. The government had not so
many places to give away, and of course the claims of the
real chiefs of the profession could not be disregarded.
Add • junior judge to each court, and you have posts
which are not so oonspicuous, but which are extremely ,
serviceable. • man must have done something for the
I= to be made • chief justice. Two or three con-
elections are enough for • potpie. Yea, while
the chances are in favour of the first being a man
of ominous, and great lawyers are often keen politicians, _
' the Mar Iran acidly steads for places is apt to be a"
mediocrity. One can point to judges of this kind niece,
tunately, sad it is not right that judges should be nude to
be pointed at. There is no reason why • man should not
be • good lawyer beams* be has strong *pinions on reform.
But we have no right to aisume that he is • good lawyer
booms* he has such opinions, and, of the two, his legal
qualifications are more important: than his political oboe.
The assumption to which we object is quite different,
and does not follow logically from that we have
been considering. Bain if • man's politics enable
you to judge of his law, end the streogth of his mind
as it is displayed on some points is • promise et
general capacity, there is nothing to show that one
who is willing to spend money for his party is
either • political thicker or a fit subject for prof's-,
sional advancement. We know something about a man,
who has borne the burden and hat of the day. One who.
comes in at the eleventh hour with • cheque-book in his
pocket, or after beginning to wort has been put out into
the market-place, as only fit to stand there and idle, doe
not deigns the penn7. It would, however, be unjust to'
attribute judiehd failures exclusively to political appoint-
emote. Them is no sufficient previous test of • man's
fitness for the poet' of judge in his mucus as an advocate.
The talents by which he rums to the absolute monopoly of
business on his oiroeit are, perhaps, thrown away on the
bench. In erne.-examination, for instance, the object of
• counsel is to confuse the witness and make him talk
nonsense. Whenever you bear • ernes-examine may,
" Now, let us understand this clearly," you know that
he wants to throw dust in the eyes of the jury, and
to prevent that clear understanding which he professes
to be promoting. But the duty of a judge is to un-
derstand the case himself, and to most the jury
to a oen.prehenaion. Some leading counsel always bully
the witnesses. A judge who did so would be unworthy
of his robes. Some counsel are so accustomed to mug-
mate that they cannot make • speech without moving
heaven and earth. The first requisite in a judge I. calm-
ness. It is not always easy for • counsel, on rising to the
bench, to abandon all the characteristics he has so long
been acquiring. At the bar, too, • man nattu ally comes
I. for the largest share of that/11MM which he has made
his study. One excels in mercantile oases, and is left to
them by the common consent of the attorneys ; snake him
• judge, and he has to try criminals, as well as every de-
seription of civil MUM. Yet not only is such a man iDtlx.,
portaged in criminal law, but by the regular practice of
the wises the seniors never show themselves on the crown
side. The practice • man gains in criminal law . depends
on the length of time that it takes him to nee from
two guineas to five or ten. Except in his capacity as
recorder, or in the oocaidocal conduct of • heavy prose-
cution or cidmice, • Queen's counsel never sees • pri-
soner. Such as are not recorders, and have special
branches of civil practice, have not even that opportu-
nity, and when they become judges, they electrify the.
bar by their summing* up and sentences. Anything we
may have said last week against the unpaid chairmen of
quarter sessions is mild compared with the judgment+,
which have been gassed deservedly on incompetent sti-
pendiaries. But it is an easy and ungracious task to
condemn. What we wish to do is to touch on the awes
of failure and to suggest a remedy. We have already
pointed out the waste of power and resources caused by
the excessive subdivision of counties and boroughs,
and by the capricious allotment of sessions. Would
it not be an easy change to remodel the legal boundaries,
and apportion sessions and recorders to • certain number
of tion ? Let the appointments be in any reopen-
sibr E
that may be selected, and let the payment be
on such • scale as to attract merit end distinction. When
we suffer from now in our minor appointments is the want
of really good men, of men whose names are some guaran-
tee of capacity.and whose faults might be discussed without
an apology. If • chairman of Quarter Session, or a
recorder, or • bench of magistrates passes an unjust ma-
tenos, who wonders and who cares? If Mr. Payne at the
Middlesex Sessions allows the keeper of a brothel to go
free on entering into his own recognizances, and gives
• poor girl eight months' hard labour for acting
as the wife of • men who had treated her as his wife,
again who wonders and who cares? A deputy-assistant-
judge, who is appointed by an assistsetjudge, who is ap-
pointed by ratepayers, may feel himself above all respona-
bility, as it is alwas his endeavour to place himself be-
neath contempt But it fe essential that those who have
the power of vindicating the majesty of the law should be
in • position where they may be mached by public opinion,
and should not be trusted to kee' up the dignity of the
law if they have none of their own to forego. It seems
scarcely worthy of anything but a local press to criticise
the judgments of such a man as Mr. I'ayne, and one would
rather hope that it was the dearth of subjects during the
vacation that has led to his being brought forward foe
yearly censure. It is just twelve months ago
since he was captivated by • ballet girl, and wee com-
plimented on his impressionable nature. We believe he
made some answer to the charge of susceptibility, but
unless thecharge of cruelty brought against pus treatment of
Augusta Mitchell ia met by • second defence, the first will
have been rendered unnecessary. The case of Augusta
Mitchell is not one about which we would excite any sym-
pathy. We are willing to take • purely legal view of it,
and to appeal in support of our remarks to the severest of
her Majesty's judges. A girl, of respectable family, is
seduced by • groom, end lives with him for souse weeks,
He leaves money with her, and she spends sonic of it on
necessaries. Being prosecuted by him for theft, she tells
her story, which is co-ifirmed by the inquirlea of the ses-
sions' officer, and which lea& us to infer that she had no
{Memnon of stealing. Still, she had no right to take the
money, and she was found guilty, with a strong recom-
mendation to mercy. Mr. Payne, however, was in • virtuous
mood. While the girl told her story he kept up • running
comment on her having bettered her virtue, and then
robbed her paramour ; on her having no right to claim
respectability when she had lived with • groom, and had
been renounced by her own grandfather. In passing sen-
tence, he told her that she bad committed an offence foe
which, within his recollection, she would have been hanged,
an he evidently thought that he was treating her mildly_
in giving her eight months' hard labour. As at the same
sessions two other cues of larceny were punished with
three and four months, an indecent assault on • child
with six months, and gouging out an eye with three, it is
not quite clear what is Mr. Payne's criterion. But the
severity of the sentence seems to us the least part of his
offence. A judge has no right to be a common scold. Occa-
sionally, when the law ousoot punish, two or three words
of moray reproof are not misplaced, and we have heard
them used with much effect. But what is the use of lec-
turing a victim on the sinfulness of the conduct which she
has so bitterly repented? If any one deserved the reproof
it was the groom. Yet he seems to have left Mr. Payne's
court without a stain on his character. Fortunately for
him, the case was not defended, and any one who has
watched the course of undefended cases, either at motions
or assizes, will know the full meaning of this phrase when
the judge does not take part with the prisoner. Whether
it would be well to adopt Mr. Fitsjanies Stephen's hint,
end assign young counsel to defend those prisoners who
cannot afford the guinea, is • question that must often
ooeur to the frequenters of the courts, especiolly if they
dislike to see justice 'camped and the rules of evidence
violated. But in Mr. Payne's coart the choice seems
to lie between a quarrel with the judge and an assault on
the prisoner. Young barristers would not be equal to the
wor of bandying personalities with the deputy-sasistant.
The only remedy is to expose such judgments as often
as they recur, and to call on the Middlesex rate-
payera to move for • better legal representative. We ma
hardly hope that anything will be done till there is some
change in the system. It is almost impossible to get
at Mr. Payne, and at any other Mr. Payees that
may be scattered over the country, except through
the newspaper.. When the newspaper. write on
such a subject, they are either warned not
to attack the administration of justice, or accused of
personal prejudices. That such exposures do cause harm
to the administration of justice, and lower the regard felt
by the public for judicial dignity, is only too certain. The
tone whit* we were compelled to take in drowsing the
Toomer case most have been obnoxious to one of the
judges, and may have seemed irreverent to others. But if
amass exist in say pert of our , the scandal which
results from their exposure is tos•L'lni at their door, and
the longer the controversy lasts, and the wore embittered
it grows, the worse for thees who refused • proper is-
quiry, and would take no steps to alter peacefully what
they had to yield to clamour.

COVENT GARDEN PROMENADE
CONCERTS, CoVENT OARD}:N THEATRE.
Under the sole direction of Mr. JOHN RUSSELL
limit of 100 performers
FIRST APPEARANCE of Madame J VITT TREFFZ.
The Programme this Evening will include Grand Orchestral
Selection from DER FREVSCII UTZ. A Selection of Classical
Musk. New Quadrille PotiPourri : Nachfelter Conned's
Meditation : Stenniale bennett's Overture, The Naladm, Re.
Soofta by Madame Jetty Treffa and Mr. Wilford Noreen. Solos
by Mr. J. M. Webb, Mr. Lazarus, Herr A. Vas BMus rte.
Conductors—Signor itorrtmxi: and for the Dunce Musk,
Herr JuillAN N SlR.ll'sS.
Wednesday nest, Sept. IS :for the first time in Englanik, an
Orchestral and Choral raise by Johann Strauss, entitled ON
THE BEAUTIFUL DANUBE, fur hill Orchestra and Chorus of
Male Voices.
Thursday nett, Sept. 19, a SPOHR night. The Power of
Sound Symphony, Overture to JOI•ollth. cc.
Commence at tight.
Promenade, Amphitheatre Stalls, and Amphitheatre, One Shilling.