The Sun.
London, England, 1852-11-17 00:00:00

THE ,SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 17, 1852.

rates in the ordinary way. The proceedings of the
coroner's inquest were laid before him, as Attorney- Ge-
neral of the Crown, and he had felt it his duty to signify
his consent to the soldiers being admitted to bail ; and
he was ready to take the entire responsibiliy of that
cause on himself, because he thought the protection of
the law should be offered to those who he be
lieved were free front blame, and only discharged thei-
duty under the most harassing circumstances. (Hear.)
The Hon. Member withdrew his motion on the under-
standing that the evidence should be laid before the
House when the judgment of the Court was given.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said
that there was no establishment in the country that had
i nade greater exertions than the Mint, which it should
b e remembered had to deal with circumstances of an
e: ttraordinary and unparalleled occurence. Upon the
pi roper day he pledged himself to prove that the officers
of the Mint had done their pty.
The subject then dropped.

DAILY WEATHER TABLE.

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 17, 1852.
State of the wind and weather at each of the following
places at nine o'clock yesterday morning. The stations
are arranged in order of latitude.
HASTINGS—S., fresh breeze ; partially cloudy.
SOUTHAMPTON—S., gentle breeze ; overcast.
FOLKSTONE—S., light breeze ; partially cloudy.
TUNBRIDGE—S.., gentle breeze ; overcast.
GREENWICH—S., gentle breeze ; partially cloudy.
STROOD—S., calm ; overcast.
SWINDON—S.W., gentle breeze; partially cloudy.
LEIGHTON—S.E., calm—overcast.
YARMOUTH—S., gentle breeze—cloudless.
HOLYHEAD—E.S.E., gentle breeze ; overcast ; rain.

THE WEATHER.--Sus OFFICE, Nov. 17.
THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE.
57—highest since noon yesterday.
47—lowest this morning and during the night.
49—this day, at noon.
BAROMETER, 22'24, the mercury is rising rapidly.
WIND S.W., fine breeze, and sunshiny weather—with a
slight sprinkle of rain. From present appearances to.
morrow "looms" cheeringly.

WE this week present The Sun to our Subscribers in nevv
type, from Her Majesty's Typefoundry for Scotland, by
the Firm of Messrs. MILLER & RICHARD, Typefounders,
Edinburgh and London. If the durability of the type
prove equal to its varied beauty, then we shall wish
Messrs. MILLER & RICHARD all the success which they
fairly promise to deserve.

the adoption of any tactickby their own party
through which they wouldbe deprived of the
Budget which has been so ltg "Looming in the
Future." After enduring ap%tiently the weary
years of Sir CHARLES Wooi incapacity to make
an honest Income-tax, or eld a Stamp Act him-
self, all of us are intensely )li3itous to see what
confessed genius and abilitican do in the Ex-
chequer. Of this we must Dt be cheated. We
can afford even to let lee-trade resolutions
slumber a little. The ccniry, generally, has
taken its own resolution tofirmly to make it of
very serious importance "tether the House of
Commons record that resollion a week earlier or
a week later ; but it is of Ity serious importance
thoroughly to break up the'amily inflexibility of
Whig Exchequership, as wl as of Whig official
nepotism. The latter, as Ni showed rather largely
the other day, Lord DEmphas done most effec-
tually. The country will ong owe him cordial
thanks for having at least dtiated the policy of
Free Trade in the persons, of the Ministry. In
the other matter, Mr. DISAELI has his part yet
to perform ; and till we edness a failure, we shall
continue to believe that hwill, not disappoint fair
expectation.
Not only in the case °the Income-tax, so ter-
rible a puzzle to Sir CHALES WOOD, but in the
Assessed Taxes, the Legac Duty, the Excise, and
Customs there is much o do, which we believe
the late CHANCELLOR of to EXCHEQUER did want
ability, good man, to accomplish. Mr. DISRAELI
has not only the ability° put all right, but he
has one advantage, as on;he Law Reforms, which
the Whigs had not—the ,dvantage of diminished
opposition to really liberi and national measures.
The Conservatives and he House of Lords will
grant as their own conessions, what they would
ad will not unwillingly
receive at his hands,
resist with every device f ingenuity and faction if
it were attempted to b wrested from them by
the- Whigs. The Whig; on the other hand, dare
not oppose liberal ineaaires so proposed. We
have acknowledged before that this may be a poli-
tical hardship on the Whigs. Still they can only
do two things; for one, they must bear it patiently
now they are out for another, they must keep
much further in atvance of the Tories next time
they are in. At resent, they may rest assured,
that the country is really more concerned about
taxation than about Free Trade. One they know
is safe. The other, they as well know, needs
such a thorough adjustment to the policy of unre-,
stricted competition, is Lord DERBY intimated in
plain terms, in his :lace in the House of Lords.
We remember, too, flat even Mr. HENLEY told his
dinner-table audienc( that it was vain now for
farmers to hope for relief except from measures
which should equally lenefit the whole community.
Everything yet said uy Members of the Govern-
ment has pointed in tre same direction ; hence we
do fully expect such a readjustment of taxation as
shall place it in part :mmediately, in part pro-
spectively, on the right shoulders.
What, then, is to Le done with Mr. VILLIERS'
resolution ? Is he to adjust it to Mr. CHRISTO-
PHER'S and Sir FREDERICK THESIGER'S hustings'
declamations, lest he -upset the Ministry?—or, is
he to give it up ? Not the former certainly. The
Ministry will never reign to keep in the same
boat with these gentler&en. It is the latter who
must take to swimming, or keep close to the Pre-
mier and his Chancellor. On the whole, we
should prefer its postponement till after the
26th. Mr. VILLIERs, however, Mr. CotDEN,
and their friends, have to satisfy their great party,
as well as Mr. DISRAELI his, and they may deem
it necessary for the redemption of their pledges,
and for their political credit, to bring on the
Free-trade motion distinctly and unencumbered by
questions of detail ; and to bring it on in this
form before any other business is permitted to
engross Parliamentary attention. They have, un-
doubtedly, very much to say for such a course,
and Mr. DISRAELI must deal fairly and candidly
with them as a political party, if he expects them
to receive hia measures, when proposed, in a
similar spirit. Should Mr. VILLIERS then feel
bound to persist in his motion, we think it might
easily be one for which Mr. DISRAELI, and all the
talent in the Cabinet could readily vote. It might
affirm the great pyinciple of Free Trade, and, ii
out, no class was entitled •to compensation, by
measures not giving equal relief to all other classes
in the community. The squires themselves might
vote in the House of Commons for what Mr.
HENLEY had already taught them deep down in
the very recesses of the country. As Mr. COBDEN
truly observed—" The CHANCELLOR of the Ex-
CHEQUER had said that unrestricted commerce
was the principle held and adopted by the Cabinet.
Very well. The Right Hon. Baronet had only to
get up and second the motion of his Hon. Friend
the Member for Wolverhampton, and in one short
hour, for he could promise the Right Hon. Gentle-
man he should not be troubled with many
speeches afterwards, the question would be dis-
posed of." Mr. COBDEN has a right to speak
or m thus, and to demand that the Free-trade resolu-
tion otoion be kept quite clear of other ques-
tions ; for all must do him the justice .to own the
firmness with which, amidst the greatest tempta-
tions, he has refused to mix up that question with
others ; and kindred ones too, to which, moreover,
the vast majority of his supporters were ardently
attached. The chiefs have only therefore to make
fair allowance for each other's political position,
and either by postponing Mr. VILLIERS' resolution,
or by the cordial acceptance of a fair one on the
part of the Government, the whole difficulty may
be easily got over. The country then may have
what it undoubtedly desires, both a solemn
affirmation by the House of Commons,
of Free-trade Principles in the clearest form, and
also the Budget of a CHANCELLOR of the Exenn-
otTEß, the financial fruits of whose genius it is
certainly impatient to behold with no inconsider-
able hope that they will be not only " pleasant
for " the sight, but good for food." We think
that candid men, glancing over the declarations of
the Members of the Government in the debate on
the. Address, can hardly doubt that any thing
remains but the Merely formal renunciation of
Protection. When Lord DERBY declares that
" they will not consent to the imposition of any
tax on the introduction of articles of provision,"
that,
," on the part of himself and his colleagues,
he bows to the decision of the country," and
"that there must in consequence be a complete
change in our financial system,"—when Mr.
DISRAELI enables us to interpret this last clause
by saying, " Neither I ter any y of my colleagues
have any intention to propose any policy which
will give artificial Prieesi or what has been called,
by the Honourable Gentleman on the other side,
compensation for losses Wad, have been occasioned
by changes in the I
g ---dion which, regulated the
commercial system, of lias country"—when Mr.
WALPOLE thinks it might be inferred from the
QUEEN'S Speech, and tie Address, that Ministers
will not "propose to reverse the recent legislation
which has led to those improvements in the con-
dition of the industrioTh classes of the community
to which the Speech refers"—when we have such
language from the Government, however we ma

regret the ill-conceived paragraph in the Quimes
Speech—we are bound, in all fairness, to feel
pretty well at ease on the main point, and to re-
gard them as men wio only want to take their
new position in the vay most pleasant to them-
selves. The victors may concede this to the van-
quished, with credit rather than with damage to
themselves.

Lord Sr. LEONARM has fully verified the
he would achieve
anti-
cipations of those who believed that when he
directed his mind to the cause of Law Reform,
greater progress than had ever,
on any previous occasion, been accomplished.
He has already evinced the greatest promptitude
in dealing with the important subject. Not a
single day has been lost in
explaining the Mini-
sterial intentions, with respect not only to the
measures now ready or in course of preparation,
but to others that will be brought forward at no
distant day. He also made very satisfactory
allusions to the working of the , 4ictments that
received the Legislativ© sanction last Session, and
to the order's framed under his direction, and
many of them prepared by his own hand, for the
purpon of giyizig eflideuoy and vgitlity to time

enactments. The greater portion of the Noble
and Learned Lord's vacation had been devoted to
this purpose ; and those who have carefully pe-
rused the new orders will agree in the opinion,
that " they will fully effect everything that the
country and Parliament have had in view." We do
not by this mean that further reforms are not re-
quired. Far from it; much has unquestionably been
done, but more remains to be accomplished, and
Legal Reformers should not relax their exertions
while a single abuse remains unredressed. The
orders, however, will carry the new statutes fairly
into execution, all that had been left to the discre-
tion of the LORD CHANCELLOR and the other
Judges in Equity, being fully performed. His
Lordship last night explained the intent and ob-
ject of many of these orders, and placed them in
a new and very favourable point of view. So
that, although we cannot, as yet, and without
further information, agree in the opinion that the
old proverb with respect to Chancery delays, will
be either entirely forgotten or completely reversed,
we readily admit the best improvements already
effected, and the probability of further ameliora-
tions being accomplished, in accordance with the
principles so clearly and distinctly laid down by
the Noble and Learned Lord. If the result
should, indeed, prove that the administration of
justice in the Court of Chancery will be rendered
so efficient, and that all questions of property can
be there determined with the greatest speed, con-
sistent with mature deliberation, it will afford an
additional reason for the complete amalgamation
of the Legal and Equitable tribunals, and the
fusion e& the jurisdictions, retaining all that is good,
and abolishing that which is evil in both systems.
The " limitation of claims within the Court
itself, notwithstanding a lis pendens," and the
provisions for terminating proceedings, and fix-
ing a time within which appeals must be prose-
cuted, are unquestionably boons which will re-
move some of the most serious evils which had
been most loudly and justly complained of. No-
thing could be more objectionable than the r&
viva! of a litigation which had been suffered to
remain in abeyance for many years, and which
was brought into activity at the very time most
inconvenient to some of the parties, who, relying
on its virtual termination, are no longer in a po-
sition to defend their rights. The most satisfac-
tory reasons should be assigned for such conduct,
in order that it might be shown that the suspen-
sion arose from inevitable causes, and was not in-
tended to operate prejudicially so far as the in-
terests of the other side were concerned. The rules
adopted in Ireland under the auspices of the
Noble Lord when occupying the Woolsack in that
country, worked very beneficially, and we may
now congratulate the country on the fact that
most, if not all, of the restrictions on the effects
of the several statutes of limitations, have been
judiciously removed.
The rules for carrying into effect the Suitors
in Chancery Relief Bill merit equal praise ; and
no exception can be taken to the principles enun-
ciated in the statement of the Noble Lord, we had
ahnost said discussion, for the different points
were elaborately reviewed, and the reasons for
their adoption clearly assigned. He declares,
" that the administration of justice ought to be
paid by the country, and not by the suitors." This
is the point which we have long laboured to estab-
lish, which strikes at the very root of the abomi-
nable " fee system," the fertile source of expense
to suitors, and of inordinate profits to, and occa-
sionally peculation by, officials. The substitution
of stamps for fees, and the payments of the officers
in the different departments by salaries, in the place
of indirect emoluments, was an unquestionable
improvement; but every charge should be abolished,
and the man who surrenders a portion of his
natural liberty and of his pecuniary means, in re-
turn for protection to liberty and property,
should receive that protection, and be allowed to
enforce his rights at the expense of the Exchequer
to which he has contributed " sectindum statism
et facultates." The actual saving -his year unde r
the recent law will be 34,439/. ; but others are in
progress from which much greater reductions
may be anticipated, so that the hope expressed
by Lord ST. LEONARDS may be verified, " that
the hour may come, and is not far distant, when
LO pay
for the administration of justice, irrespective, of
course, of the costs, which must always exist
between solicitor and client ;" and not only that,
but that the Consolidated Fund may also be re-
lieved from the payment of the salaries of
Judges," which will be altogether defrayed from
the portions of " the suitors' fund," property ap-
plicable to the purpose. We commend the proposed
arrangements with respect to the Accountant-
Generals' office, more especially that which proposes
to get rid, in a great degree, of buying and selling
of stock, and thus giving the suitor the benefit of
the saving of brokerage and of the turn of the
market. Heretofore it was the practice to buy or
to sell in every transaction ; so that there were
dealings to the extent of nearly five millions per
annum, the expenses of which may be averaged
at one-quarter per cent., or 2,5001. per. annum.
Now, henceforward, the buying and selling will
be balanced, so far as practicable, and sales only
made when there is a necessity for cash. The
dealings will thus be reduced from nearly
5,000,000/. to 100,0001. or 200,000/. in the
year. This saving will be given to the suitor,
for, as Lord ST. LEONARD justly remarked, if a
suit could be worked without expense, the benefit
should be given to the suitor, and not to the
country. The average price at one o'clock each
day is what is to be allowed to sellers and
charged to buyers, when there is not a sale or pur-
chase in the open market. The office of the Ac-
countant-General will no longer be kept closed
during the long vacation, to the serious
injury of those who are entitled to receive sums
of money, but delayed for months through
the injudicious arrangements heretofore in opera-
tion. It may be all very well to allow a certain
leisure time to officials, but it might be done
without causing such serious damage to those
whose resources are placed under the control and
direction of the Court of Chancery.
Another great improvement proposed by the
Noble Lord will remove one of the greatest re-
proaches to which the Court had previously been
subject. Itself the Leviathan " TRUSTEE" of the
country, ana holding the property of others to
the extent of nearly fifty millions sterling—the
sole tribunal for enforcing the conscientious exe-
cution of trusts, it was in the habit of committing
acts every day which it would have heavily cen-
sured in others. One of the first principles which
every Trustee was bound to observe, was that he
should not deal for his own benefit, or speculate
with the funds entrusted to his charge ; but
this salutary regulation the Court habitually
disregarded. It thUs realised large profits
at the expense of the suitors. That objec-
tion will for the future be remedied.
The suitor will receive the benefit of the invest-
ments made with his property, after two years.
We confess we do not quite understand the
.ex-
ception to the equitable and salutary principle,
why the Court is to be treated as a banker for
two years, and a trustee after that time. We
have no doubt, however, that there is some rea-
son for the provision, and that full effect will
ultimately be given to the equitable doctrine.
It is impossible, within the limits assigned to a
single article, to explain all the changes proposed
by the Noble Lord, suffice it to say that they in-
clude reforms in the Law of Lunacy, and also in
the Ecclesiastical Courts, so far as the
testamentary jurisdiction with the prospect
of other and far more extensive altera-
tions, leading, we hope, to the ultimate
abolition of these tribunals. Another Act, that
may be termed an extension of the Masters in
Chancery Abolition Act, will be introduced,
carry-
ing that exceedingly beneficial statute consider-
ably further, and saving much time and expence
to the suitors. Changes will also be made in the
Bankrupt Laws ; and a complete Digest of the
Criminal Law will also be brought forard.
These are the chief measures now in contempla-
tion. They are clearly but instalments, although
large instalments, and merit the eulogium s which
they received from Lord BROUGHAM, and which
we have no doubt, will be re-echoed by the regal
.practitioners and by tho commVaity is moral.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT

HOUSE OF LORDS--(THIS DAY,

The Royal Assent was this more given by Com-
mission, to the Bill for making provision for the payment
of Bills of Exchange and promissory notes falling due on
the 18th inst.

The Lords Commissioners were the Lord Chancellor,
the Marquis of Salisbury, and the Earl of Lonsdale.

HOUSE OF COMMONS-(THIS DAY)

The SPEAKER took the Chair shortly before 12 o'clock,
A few minutes afterwards, the Deputy Usher of the
Black Rod summoned the House to the House of Peers.
On the return of the House, the SPEAKER intimated
that the Royal Assent had been given by Commission to
an Act making a provision concerning the payment of
Bills of Exchange and promissory notes falling due on
the day fixed for the Duke of Wellington's funeral.