The Express.
London, England, 1867-06-11 00:00:00

THZ WAR-OFFICE MEMORANDUM AND THS VOLI7NTSERN.

The construction which the Times puts upon the words
of the late circular from the War-office is, that when the
public peace is attacked or threatened the captain of a
volunteer company might get his men together, that these
men might AM themselves with their rifles, and that they
might avail themselves of their professional discipline and
organisation to act together as they would on parade or in
the field. To the Times this seems a very different thing
from placing the volunteers like the troops of the regular
army at the disposal of the civil power, and leas could
hardly have been done consistently with reason or pru-
dence.

The Daily News hopes th►t the volunteers are fully
aware that a War-office memorandum does not make law,
sad that if it should chance to interpret law wrongly it will
form no excuse to those whom it misleads. All this silly
and dangerous muddle arises from the craving of the
Derby ministry to seem strong in order to cover conscious
feebleness. Not content with the means for preserving
the public peace ani enforcing the law which have suf.
aced for two hundred years, and are now less required
than ever, they must insist on turning the new force of
volunteers to a purpose for which they are eminently unfit.
If the volunteer force is to be converted into a party
engine, if its members are to feel themselves subject to
be called on to act against their fellow-countrymen,
it will at once lose its popularity and its existence.
Its members, if sworn in as special constables, know their
civil functions. If paraded for military instruction, they
recognise their temporary subjection to military law. If
enrolled against a foreign enemy, they would be real
soldiers. But to be made into special constables with
rifle and bayonet, to be drawn up under officers whom
they need not obey, and required to use arms and org►ni-
s►tions, subject to their own judgment on abstruse legal
points, is to put them into an utterly false position. The
blunder of government lies in dealing with them as volun-
teers at all for purposes for which they never volun-
teered, and for which parliament expressly refused to
sanction their being used.
The Standard thinks most people will consider that it
will be rather a good thing if " the clue" that keeps the
law is prepared, to the utmost of its power, to discourage
the "class" that breaks it ; and that, should the occasion
unhappily arise, the volunteers will be found ready to de-
fend the laws of their Sovereign and their country from
outrage, se well as protect its soil from invasion.

We hear that the Bishop of Durham has inhi-
bited the Bishop-Coadjutor of Edinburgh from officiating
in his diocese, because recently, when preaching at St.
Oswald's, Durham, his lordship used the Invocation of
the Trinity before the sermon. In his letter the bishop
ignores the episcopal character of his brother, pointedly
addressing him as Dr. Morrell. —John Bull. [The Bishop
of Durham is quite right. Dr. Morrell is not a lawful
bishop, as by act of parliament there is no recognised
bishop in Scotland. Moreover, he is not • temtorial
bishop in England, and his claim to be Bishop of Edin-
burgh is invalid.)—Record.
REPRESENTATION OF LOWESTOFT. —The dieflßEL-
chisement of Yarmouth having left the shipping, fishing,
and other interests of the eastern coasts unrepresented, a
petition is being signed praying that • member may be
assigned by the new Reform Bill to Lowestoft and the
neighbourhood, which now embrace a population of from
13,000 to 14,000. The project has received the rapport
of Sir F. Crossley, M.P., and Sir S. M. Pato, M.P.
SOLICITORS' BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION. The
seventh annual forties] of the members and supporter of
this association was bald at Willie's-rooms, Bt. James.,
last evening, when about one hundred gentlemen sat
down to • sumptuous dinner. Lord Chief Justice
Bovill presided, supported by Mr. Keene, Q.C., Mr.
Serjeant Parry, Mr. Bristow (Solicitor to the Admi-
ralty), Dr. Spinks, and Mr. Secondary Potter. The objects
of the society are to relieve such poor and necessitous
members as may be incapacitated for business
through bodily or mental infirmity or other inevitable
calamity, and their wives and families, and the poor and
necessitous widows and families of deceased
mem-
ben ; and, where the state of the funds and the circum-
stances of the ease appear to the directors to justify
them in so doing to render pecuniary assistance to the
widows and families of deceased attorneys, solicitors, and
who we not members at the time of their death.
proctors
re
Chairman, in proposing the toast of the evening,
" Prosperity to the Solicitors' Benevolent Association,"
said the society was one which had claims on all branches
of the profession of the law, and it had especial claims on
solicitors, for, as he reminded them, there was so period
of life in which sickness might not attack the strongest
among them, and strike them down, leaving those who
were dependent upon them in poverty. At present the
members of the association did not comprise quite one-fifth
of the body, but he trusted the time would come when
they would comprise more than one-half, and eventually
the greater portion of the entire body. The Secretary
read a list of the subscriptions and donations, including
25 guineas from the chairman, 5 guineas from Chief Byron
Kelly, and • similar sum from Mr. Serjeant Parry and Mr.
Secondary Potter, and S guineas from Mr. Bristow, the
total amount being about 6001.