The Sun.
London, England, 1864-08-20 00:00:00

Answer, My Lord Chancellor !

Why is it that, with an energetic Lord Chancellor, earnest
in the cause of law reform, and sparing no personal "10;
tions to promote it, in a session that has had nothing also
occupy its time, and a dying Parliament desirous t 0 ,0-
something to save its reputation with the constituents w-,
are soon to sit in judgment upon its doings, perfortasn'
has fallen so miserably short of promise ?
It was not for lack of subjects, nor even for lack of Pre;
jects. The law bills introduced make a long list, but Wes
of them were permitted to perish by the way, et ve%i°lc
stages of their ricketty careers, before they had arrive
u -
maturity. It may be worth a few minutes investigation,
to learn, if possible, the cause of this failure. The lesson
may be useful to law reformers, official and amateur, by
showing them what are the rocks ahead on which their
crafts are in danger of shipwreck. cod.
The objects sought by the bills were generally g
They were designed to reform acknowledged abuses or '-
introduce unquestionable improvements. They failed he°
cause they were for the most part very imperfectly 011;
strutted. This was most remarkable in the bills produced
by the Lord Chancellor. The County Courts Bill was °-
bad in parts that its merits were forgotten in its defects ;
and the Solicitors' Remuneration Bill was in like manner
lost through faults in its construction. It was the sane
with others. Whence comes it that projects of laws intro:
duced by the ablest lawyer of our time are thus faulty I'
The reason is not far to seek. Lord Westbury, of course,
does not draw his own bills, probably he does
not even design them. He has a keen eye for legal
abuses, and a real desire for improvements in the law ;
but it is probable that he relies upon others who have
more leisure to prepare plans and construct the Work;
Looking at those plans, it is manifest that the authors 01
them are not practical lawyers, who knew and see the dill'
culties and obstacles that lie before them, and which it iS
necessary either to remove or evade, but theorists who, in
the solitude of chambers, spin out of their brains schemes
that are excellent in themselves and admirably adapted for
an ideal world, but unfitted for the real world with its pre'
judices and self interests, which he mustitake into account,
and mould his designs to meet. Law Reforms to be
successful, must, beyond any others, consult the condi-
tions of the community whose conduct they are to re-
gulate. They cannot do this unless they are framed
by men who mingle with that community, and are
familiar with its thoughts and ways. There is no mass of
men an little versed in the business of life as the specula-
tive gentlemen in chambers, who spin law reforms out of
their own brains. They have most commendable mime;
their plans usually wear a most comely aspect; only the/
are not practical—they don't deal with things as they ate'
but with society as the authors imagine or desire it to he:
These are the measures which a Chancellor, overwheltnea,
with work, is easily induced to take upon trust, attracts
ha
by the symmetry of the scheme and the manner in Wllll2 cd
it commends itself to the intellect. He is surprised to u
that, when it comes to be criticised by the Ines °f
the
busy world, they see what would be its a
exst
uon
f
material interests ; how it would disturb from
ing arrangements ; what uncalculated evils wortldll°W
it, far outweighing the benefits it brings; and they Protest
This
against it, and the country says that it cannot toy law;
;
was the cause of the failure of the new bankruptcy
.00
this defeated the bills that have perished during the 00°11
just concluded ; and it will continue to impede the Pros ay
of law reform, until its patrons in Parliament turn sweo
from the dreamers and take to their assistance the men ph
have had experience in the application of law to the Lin.
si
ness of life, and especially the practising solicitors,
know better than any other persons what are the defects 7,
the law, and how they may best be cured.-270 Law 21111
of to-day.

GEORGE DANIEL AND HIS SEVENTY 13144 C
Dann I
LETTERED BALLADS.—One day, Mr George ee
was leaving Evans's Rooms, when he observed a rtirr;
man on the point of putting his foot on the doorstep. iel
might
hh
young man asked whether that was the auctioneer's. Dan
told
edit
sewenass;omanetdhiiengqueifrtehie whateenQ. seen b
his business
im
be. He that ;
he had done him a service. He was aycler; or in 801111
much subordinate position in London. So Mr Daniel we
„ r plied
in a ' •
'mutton to put the query. The young ms- an
that he had got certain old black-letter ballads to sell,
he was going to speak to Mr Evans about them. " %11,1,1„t
sort of things are they" quoth Daniel. ~Elizabethan w-;
lade," answered the other. "In what state are they
asked Daniel. The young man told Daniel that they wili;
loose and unbound, in a portfolio, which notion Daniel P°°
poohed at first ; " but," said he to the young man, " C;cl
along with me, and life will talk abaut this." It turned
that the ballads did not belong to the young man
but to a friend at Ipswich. So Daniel jumped on the nhe-ia
Ipswich coach, with all the money he had by him ill •-ci-A
pocket, and was down there in double quick time. `-v-
-saw the rroprietor of the ballads, and bett:r still he
the ballads themselves. Nay, more, this wondrous Y°3-
had books of price to boot, viz..—" The Boke °f°-
not
kinge, Huntinge, and Fyshing," a Caxton (I hn,
what), XIII. Mery Jests of the Wyddow d
Daniel was, of course, in raptures. The price was agree
upon ;it was about £ 120 for the whole lot, and Daniel vl3O
happy.—Notes and Queries.
VESTIGES OF AFRICAN CHRISTIANITY.—So COM*
plete was the extirpation of Christianity in Africa, by lb!
Moslem conquerors, that, with she exception of some solo
chral lamps which I dug up at Carthage, and which boo.
the sign of the cross, the ruined churches of Hydra presea.s
the most important monuments of the terrible vire on
which the religion of the Prophet of Nazareth sustained 00
these shores. But how insignificaut even are they when W°
recollect that, according to the 11 otitis, there were at on!
time in North Africa no less than 600 episcopal sees
There is only one more vestige of Christianity which, 10
LI
marvellous way, has been preserved by some of the Arab
tribes—by the Cabyles, or Kaby lee, who inhabit the range
and outskirts of the Atlas, and by the Twaareg, who claim
a great portion of the Sahara, or Sahra, for their inherit'
ance, and of which they are the absolute masters. 1 allude
to the use of the cross among these people. It is geri:'
rally tattooed, sometimes on the cheeks or on the fore'
head, and sometimes on the arms or palms of the ban
of the men, but oftener of the women. What is also re'
markable is, that the Twaareg have the front of the
saddle which they use on the makri (the swift dromedary
in the shape of a cross to this day. Now, Ido not thleo
such a symbol could have been adopted accidentally.
must be a mystical religious representation which was at oh
4.
time common throughout the country, and which has ei:o
escaped the notice of the Mohammedan emissaries, or ites, n.
ed
so deeply engrafted on the minds of the people that it d
the efforts of the propagators of the religion of the propls`.
of Mecca, and has thus been preserved to the pres3nt
It has been conjectured that the Vandals, on their inva ortle7
of Africa, freed all those natives from the burden of ceity....l''
taxes on the condition that they embraced Christian
()
and that it was arranged that they should make kn rod
their faith by marking the cross on their Perso7._
hence the practice became universal..--. Dined Cities
4 /rim,