The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-11-25 00:00:00

THE NORTHERN TIMES.---LIVERPOOL, TUESDAY.

strengthr,of words introduced into the proposal, in
the handwriting of,their agent, and ha.ve. left Mr:
LAURIE'S representative to pay spine 2001. costs, in
a vain effort tb recover the sum insured. And this
is what the Courier lends its columns to defend,
under the head of "Honest and Dishonest

Assurers!"- Our readers are aware that we are not
•
very warm admirers of the pi-eva.ili.ng, principle of
Life InSurance, When stripped of all the' anomalous
practices of Insurance offices, and'our sole object
in alluding to this case is, to show what Companies
can do; and to illustrate our former assertion,
that " there is no safety for the insured, except in
" those offices where the policy is indisputable,
"once the proposal has been accepted;" and it would
be well-for those WhO'-are insured on other terms,
to endeavour to fix their insurers to the indis-
putable principle, and without a moment's delay,
notwithstanding all Mr. ROBERT WEBSTER or-
the Liverpool Courier may think or say to the
contrary.

GRACE v. WlLL.maa.—lt seems that there is one law for
attorneys and another for other people. Common suitors
may have their cases tried where justice is most likely to be
attained ; but attorneys can compel the courts to try cases
in which they are plaintiffs in Middlesex. This, a few days
ago, Lord Campbell was coerced to decide against his better
judgment, in the case of Grace v. Willmer. Mr. Willmer
wisheiLtatave .the case tried in Liverpool ; but, while the
Judge declared that the claim was reasonable and right, the
law said otherwise, and hence the defendant will have to
take his witnesses to London. The case arose out of wild
statement made by Mr. James M‘Donald; in the Birkenhead
County Court, against the Wappentake Court, over which
Mr. Grace presided. The report was printed from Mr.
M'Donald's MS., and not from the notes of the reporter ;
and hence the charge of libel. We afforded Mr. Grace
" ample room and verge enough' for bis own vindication ;
and as the " Wappentake" is now an old story, Mr. G,ace
would do well to let the matter drop. He is an able
lawyer, and really not a bad natured man, and he will
rather mend than mar his character by dropping this small
suit.—Daily Post. [Phis cause should have been entered
for trial on Saturday last, but was not.—ED. N. T.]

GREED OF LAWYERS FOR LEGISLATIVE HONOURS.—AI
present there are several vacancies for Members of Parlia-
ment, consequent upon certain legal changes, deaths, &c.
It is surprising to witness the eagerness and avidity with
which leading members of the legal profession thrust them-
selves forward for the purpose of obtaining senatorial
honours, and thereby promate the darling object of their
existence—self interest. Now, although it may be argued
that the education of a barrister, his habits of thought, and
the line of study he has pursued, as well as his supposed
acquaintance with former enactments, qualifies him, in an
eminent degree, for the duties of a legislator, we consider
that the practice of thus rendering the House of Com-
mons a congregation of military and legal aspirants is
becoming quite too rife, and recent events have shown that
both lawyers and soldiers enter Parliament more for the
purpose of attaining promotion in their respective callings,
than from any desire to benefit the country at large, or their
constituents in particular. The constituency which lends
itself to such a system cannot lay claim to independency of
action or self respect. At present Hull and Southampton
are besieged with the importunities of barristers to be elected
for the vacancies in the representation of these boroughs.
Mr. Edwin James, Q.C. first started for Hull, but his
quandam friend and brother prosecutor of the late unfortu-
nate William Palmer, the Rugeley poisoner, having ob-
tained a seat on the bench, he forsakes the electors of Hull,
and flies off to Southampton, in the hope that the official
mantle of Sir C. Cockburn, as Attorney-General, may fall
upon him, should he cajole the voters of that borough to
send him into parliament as their representative. Without
giving anything approaching a reasonable excase for flying
from Hull to Southampton, and thus manifesting a voluble and
giddy disposition, he lectures the electors of Southampton as
to the eminent' `services which lawyers have rendered in
Parliament, and then points to the •senatorial career of a
Brougham, a Denman, and a Roebuck, and hints that he
will follow in their footsteps. We fancy the people of
Southampton will be slcw to place much reliance upon such
professions ; they will take into account the late judicial ap-
pointments, not only here, but in the sister kingdom, as mani-
festing the clearand ultimate aim of the aspiring barrister, and
ambitious military officer, in obtaining seats in the Commons
House of Parliament. If the principle is at all legitimate,
why not admit clergymen so that they may obtain profes-
sional advancement upon the episcopal bench ? Surely
many of our staid and moderate divines would be an
ornament in the House of Commons, and prove really
useful in the concocting of laws, having for their object
the social, mental, and moial improvement of the people at
large.

AN IRISH AGITATOR AT THE ANTIPODES.-Who has
not heard of Mr. Charles Gavan Duffy, _the leader of the
Young Ireland party, the late proprietor of the Dublin
Nation, and formerly Member of Parliament for New Ross ?
His name to the , readers of newspapers has become as
" familiar as Household Words." The career of Mr.
Duffy having proved a complete failure in this country,
both as a political agitator, a journalist, and a statesman,
he betook himself to the Antipodes, proposing to follow
the profession of the law, for which by the way—his subtle
pleas and demurrers against the prosecutions instituted
against him by the Irish Government, prove that he is
eminently qualified. Mr. Duffy, however, has again
embarked upon the troubled waters of politics, and being
petted and coaxed by a number of his admirers in the
Australian settlements, who have subscribed together, and
raised a fund amounting to £5,100, to qualify him for a
-'eat in the Legislative Assembly of Victoria ; he lays aside
the cares and turmoils appertaining to courts of law, and
the administration of justice, and places his services as a
Statesman at the command of the people of Victoria. On
the occasion of presenting him with the proceeds of the
subscription alluded to, Mr. Duffy addressed his partisans
in a lengthened speech. He could not, however, forget
the repetition of some of those smart and threaten-
ing sentences, for which in days of yore he had
become somewhat notorious. He tells an assem-
blage of friends - and sapporters at Melbourne,
that to make helots of the Roman Catholics of Australia is
what cannot—shall not be done. This is something in his
Nation style of speaking ; but we trope that the quiet and
peaceful minded colonists will give but little attention to
such political diatribes. Mr. Duffy would best promote his
own interests, and serve the colonists, whom it is his ambiti n
to represent, by dwelling less upon the exciting topic of
religious disparities, and leriding his inclinations to the
development of such projects as will raise the colony to the
highest state of civilisation and agricultural and commercial

prosperity.
SHOULD LORD JOHN RUSSELL BE MADE A PEER ?
This is a question which is now generally asked in all
political circles, and the opinion gains ground that his
lordship should no longer be isolated from the Liberal
party, and thereby prevented from rendering that effective
aid to the cause which his talents and crmmanding influence
as a statesman can confer. Lord John has spent a
somewhat long and useful life in the service of this country—
some of the greatest legislative measures of the past century
are the productions of his fertre intellect—and no matter
who may have been in power, " principle" and '° duty"
were his guiding star. Circumstanced as the Government
of the country now is, it is felt that there is no
position which could be given him, as a member
of the House of Commons, equal to his claims
and deserts. To elevate him to the Peers, and
constitute him ministerial leader of the House of Lords,
would enable him to act in unison with the premier and his
colleagues, and give him an opportunity of introducing
some of those important projects of Reform, whether they
regard the representation of the people, the extension and
improvement of education, or the further emendation of the
criminal jurisprudence of the country: Taking all these
matters into consideration, '.e are of opinion that the
elevation of Lord John Russell to the peerage would greatly
strengthen the position and standing of the present adminis-
tration, for on no other ground than that of being the
mouthpiece of the present cabinet in the House of Lords do
the friends of the noble lord desire his retirement from the