The Express.
London, England, 1867-02-19 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, - TUESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 19, 1867.

court in England, than it is for an English judge'
who is acquainted with only one of these systems—
so broadly distinct among us—to decide a case in-
volving the abetrusest mysteries of the other. But
it certainly may be expected that when the
mystery begins to verge into nonsense—as it must
be confessed it sometimes does—a Scottish judge
may gently hint that what is nonsense ought not
to be declared as English law.
For these reasons we are disposed to welcome,
as a first step towards the improvement of our
judicial system in its chief place, the elevation
of a Scottish judge who, bringing with him the
highest reputation for not only learning but ability
and discretion, is about to be called to the House
of Lords. And we believe the most enlightened
part of the English profession will be ready to
acknowledge the benefits which will ultimately
follow from such an infusion in the high court
before which they plead. It is a first step, indeed,
towards placing an anomalous tribunal on a
better footing, and the method adopted
may, if it is seen to work well, be
hereafter carried out more cou ipletely.
But the advantages which we may expect from
it suggest the necessity for deprecating any
arrangement which would not merely impair, but
reverse them. If the temptation of ease should
lead to any division of labour, we should gain no
benefit in England, while Scotland would unques-
tionably suffer. If, for example, there grew up
any tendency to give to the new Scottish peer a
virtual ascendancy in deciding appeals from his
own country, while ho abstained from attending to
those front England, we should lose more than all
the advantage to be hoped from his appointment.
In such a case we should merely see the decisions
of four judges in Edinburgh reviewed by one in
London ; and those at Lincoln's-inn or West-
minster, by melt of equal standing and no
higher knowledge who sit in the Chamber
of the Peers. Nothing is gained by re-
moving Sir 11 con CAIRNR from the bench of
the Lords Justices' Court to that of the
Lords, if he is only to do the work in the one
place which he would have done in the other. But
much is gained if he is not only to decide Chan-
cery casts but those at common law and from
Scotland. So, also, there will be even more gain
in obtaining the opinion on every point of English
law, after it shall have been argued before him, of
the eminent lawyer who has for a dozen years
presided over the Supreme Court of Scotland.
Even so, he will still not occupy the place of
overwhelming authority which for so long has
been advantageously filled by English lawyers in
regard to the jurisprudence of Scotland. Instead
of deciding solely, he will have but one voice
among several. He can therefore influence simply
by his reasoning, and will only arbitrate where
English lawyers are equally divided. In such cases
a vote cast in favour of reason and plain sense,
rather than in that of technical consistency, will
be of incalculable advantage to the future of our
law.

OUR CONTEMPORARIES.
(THIS DAY.)

against the employment of volunteers in the suppreasion
of civil disturbances wee never doubtfal until Monday
week, when Mr. Walpole seat to the Mayor of Chestsr
the extraordinary instruction to use the loeal volunteers
as a military force, under the name of special constables.
The Jamaica prosecutions, promoted by people who have'
as great an interest in the maintenance of order as the
defenders of Mr. Eyre, offer no illustration of any ten-
dency to try officers for their lives for simply doing their
best to put down rebellion. Neither Mr. Eyre, nor Colonel
Nelson, nor Lieut. Brand, is called to answer for anything
done in the suppression of what was at the time called
the rebellion in Jamaica, which was effectually put down
before the wanton hangings, and floggings, and burning'
condemned by the Jamaica commissioners, or the execu-
tion of Mr. Gordon, for which Mr. Eyre and his sub-
ordinates are being prosecuted, were committed.
No British officer who understande his duty, and can ap-
preciate the honour of serving a great and free country,
can desire to place himself above the law ; and he would
not be a friend to the belligerent services, however high
his station, or whatever his opportunities of making known
his opinions, who should represent subordination to the
law as a grievance.

AILMCA.

(lIT ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH.)
NEW YORK, FEB. 18, MORNING.

The Senate has passed a substitute for the bill
adopted by the House of Representatives on the
13th inst., establishing martial law in ten of the
Southern states. The Senate's bill makes the
military government in the South provisional until
the formation of State governments, with the prin-
ciple of negro suffrage, the disfranchisement of
prominent rebels, and the adoption of the constitu-
tional amendment.

The Guion screw steamer Chicago arrived out
yesterday.