The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-04 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.-.- A less attractive subject for a debate
than Irish Chancery procedure can hardly be ima-
gined, and yet it proved capable of sustaining a
somewhat lively discussion on Thursday night. Our
readers will easily guess the reason. The reform of
most institutions, and especially of Law Courts,
entails the creation of new offices and the superan-
nuation of many "valusble public servants." This
is always a painful process, and though the scale of
compensation is generally excessive as compared
with the working salary, the struggles of the victims
about to be laid on the shelf are often distressing to
witness. Masters in Chancery notoriously die hard,
and that in more senses than one, for, after exhibit-
ing the greatest tenacity of official life, they gene-
rally manage, as Mr Whiteside says, to punish the
public by prolongirg their natural lives, on comfort.
able pensions, for an unconscionable time. Now, it
happened that. the Government bill for reorganising
the Irish Court of Chancery threatened to displace
several of these formidable functionaries. It is pro-
posed to retain one only out of tour, and to substitute
for the remaining three a Vice-Chancellor with two
chief clerks. The object of this change is to intro-
duce "the Vice-Chancellor system ;" in other words,
to assimilate the constitution of the Irish to that of
the English Court. Having said this much, we have
already suggested to persons conversant with such
matters the arguments proper to be used on the Con-
servative. What have these masters done to deserve
such treatment ? Did not Master Litton hear some
6,000 causes and nearly 40,000 motions in thirteen
years and a half ? Were not similar prodigies of
industry performed in the offices of Master Brooke,
Master Murphy, and Master Lyle, and is it not
well-known that not above a fraction of their decisions
was ever reversed on appeal? Would their successors
or rather their substitutes, the Vice-Chancellor and
his clerks, be equally Efficient ; and would it not be
as well to know the names of the gentlemen to be
appointed before passing the bill ? Has any com-
plaint been made against the present system by the
bar? Will not the alteration bo more expensive
than it looks on paper ; will it not give much scope
for jobbery; is it not, at least, " premature iv' No
one expects objections of this class to be answered
seriously. They are duly paraded, because they
have a sort of prescriptive right to be employed on
such occasions, just as ushers and pages are always
in attendance at Court ceremonials, though their
presence is not not;ced. There is, however, a real
principle involved in this measure, though it is
rather difficult to disentangle it from these acces-
sories. That principle is the expediency of a cause
being prosecuted through all its stages under the
direction of the same Judge or judicial officer. It
was the impoenibility of carrying out this improve-
ment by any addition to th. steff of Masters under
este Chancery Judge that led to the appointment of
our own Vice-Chancellors and the abolition of
Masterehipe in Chancery. The opponents of the
bill now before the House contend that while the
English Chief Clerks are Masters in disguise, the
Irish Masters are not Masters at all, but Vice-
Chancellors in all but the name. The obvious
answer is that, if eo, there are too many of them,
and that the name of the officer who is hereafter to
act as Vice-Chancellor had better be made to cor-
respond with his duties. " What is wanted," how-
ever, replies Mr. Longfield, is "men not above
their business, and accessible to the practitioners
with whom they are daily brought 10 contact."
A Vice-Chancellor is a man of " unapproachable
dignity," and might be tempted to job—a thing
which no Master has ever been known to do. In
short. " what is wanted," is the retention of their
situation by the individuals now called " Masters,"
and herein consists the oniwf difference between the
Government scheme and that formerly advocated by
Mr. Whiteside himself. In the year 1856 he brougl,t
in a bill of his own, the preamble of which fully
recognised the "delay, expense, and other incon-
venience" arising from the practice of references
to Masters, and the enacting causes of which pro-
vided for the substitution of three Vice-Chancellors,
with a Chief Clerk and two Junior Clerks apiece.
But then he proposed that the first Vice-Chancellor
should be seleeeed from the body of Masters, and
otherwise "utilized the existing staff, as Mr. Long-
field calls it, thereby admitting the plea "il faut
que existe" and propitiating vested interests. It
was perfectly competent, therefore, for Mr. White-
side to oppose Mr. 0. Hagan's Bill on personal
grounds, but it was scarcely consistent to oppose it
on grounds of principle. There is nothing less credi-
table to our legislative wisdom than the difficulty
experienced in maturing and carrying reform in
the administration of the law, and the worst is
that our Constitution provides no alternative or
remedy. Take the history of this very question.
A Royal Commission issued in 1854 to inquire into
the working of the Landed Estates Court in Ireland
reports in favour of changes in substance the same as
those now contemplated. Mr. Longfield himself
gave evidence in support of them, but now recants
his opinion. Various attempts were made to met-
body the recommendations of the Report in a
formal Amendment Bill—Mr. Whiteside's among
the rest— and the result was that a Select Commit-
tee was nominated, took evidence on their compara-
tive merits, and elaborated the compromise now in
operation, which Mr. Longfield considers perfect.
Then came a motion of Lord Clanricarde on the
abuses of Chancery in Ireland, and the House of
Lords, too readily believing that " nothing Irish
could be "right," manifested a desire for a new
Commission. The new Commission being composed
of most eminent lawyers, both Erigli,,h and Irish,
and of both political parties, unanimously confirmed
the practical conclusions of the forme7 one. It is
not, we believe, denied that the bill unifPr con-
sideration faithfully represents these conclusie'ntO
which are, in fact, those of Mr. Whiteside him-
self. We cannot help thinking that the puh,ic
ould have been quite content to take it on trust.
The spirit, however, of Parliamentary govern.
ment will not suffer this ; the whole controa
versy must be re-opened, the private opinions of
Irish Judges and English lawyers must be quoted
against the authority of the Commissioners, and the
bill, if allowed 'to be read a second time, must be
made, if possible, to run the gauntlet of a select
committee. There it is pretty sure to be so muti-
lated as to be robbed of some essential feature, and
so the way is paved for further legislation. How is
all this waste of power to he avoided ? The House
of Commons is perfectly incapable of examining in
detail the 192 ctauses of such a bill as this. Yet
how can the house delegate its duties to ,1.11- other
tribunal ; and what other tribunal would be satis-
factory ? Mr. George, inveighing against the course
taken by the Government, thinks " a mixed Com-
mission of English and Irish barristers" might be
able to produce something superior between them ;
Mr. S. Fitzgerald, following on the sem side,
thinks the lest Commission " lost much of its value
by the fact thst it was composed of professional
men." At all events, Parliament cannot part with
its ultimate responsibility, and if this constitutional
safeguard is worth preserving it seems that we must
be content to pay for it in this way.
HERALD.—The Yelverton case, which is again
occupying public attention, presents in the midst of
its romance some strange anomalies. IVs have the
wild Irish trial. We have the sober Scotch inquiry.
The former was a boisterous Hibernian ovation for
the lady. The whole fact was summarily prejudged,
on the instinct of a people, that the man who takes
a woman for his wife at the foot of the alter, and
lives with her, is to all intents and purposes, by the
law of God and man, her husband. Major Yelver•
ton himself and his counsel felt the strong force of
such a prejudice, so to call it, in Ireland. The
object, therefore, was to show, not only that the
marriage in Scotland by consent was illegal,
and the more formal ceremony by the priest in
Ireland, but that the sole cause for both pre-
tences was the strong affection the gentleman had
entertained for the lady. He was resolved to
have her. But as, on account of family reasons,
he could not do so in the usual public manner, he
determined on risking such a union as would
constitute a marriage in Scotland, and such a
ceremonial matrimony as was binding in the
Catholic Church, and therefore on him at least
in honour, and on the lady strictly in religion
and conscience. This may be the conduct of a
weak and unprincipled man, but it certainly is that
of an ardent lover. But, when we come to the
Scotch case or cases—for there was a judgmentao
in one court and an appeal from it in another,
the latter decision setting aside the former; and
when we examine the arguments urged by m
Yelverton's counsel in Scot tend, we find his ground
of defence strangely shifted. He is no longer the

gay Lothario,• the iniatua ted lover, or ev/ the wily
and reckless e‘educer. Tlee hero of the. story bee
comes suddenly a v ictim. There he "je—a hand-
some Irishman, ten leonouraNe, and heir to A
noble title, a gallant officer withal, 'end one too in
the roll of brave an I. clever artillerists. Here is
this valiant soldier .plersued by a pertinacious lady,
who is resolved to ct tp Lure him at any hazard. If
,
Major Yelverton, the soldier, by the advice of his
opt this droll line
of defence, his frier Ids and he are alone snorer-
able for and nnest accept the consequences. We
Scotch counsel,. thot ight fit to a 0
are only concerne d for th e public morality, and we
must say that we do not like to find any English
lady, and one in pa t ticula r who holds a goof post;
tion in society, dese rib: d as pursuing a man ant:.
determined to make him oar own even at the cost
of all that a women h. olds most precious and s- credo
:or even this last of imputations is freely charged.
UntortuDaiely for the inventors here, we have the
previous acceunt in the Irish court of justice,
corroborating in ontiny a strong outtice the
real dispositions of the wronged woman—her
depth of affection—h er respect for appearances--
her firm resolution u nder all trials to defend tier
honour—and her thoi*oul;h confidingness iu the
truth of her lover. We citi not say that it was the
wish or rise direct aim of Major Yelvetten, to
the Irish triai,, to brieg onto relief these genuine
traits of character; but unquestionably there wag
much in his teen mony th ioughout to prove the re'
solution of Miss IT4ongwo rth to become nothing
ferior to a lawful w ife•
be married to the at; it If this le dy was reeolved to
or of her choice, she certainly
succeeded in obtaini, ig from him who professed to
be so ardently ettacue d to her as bold a confirrna"
tion of wedlock, both it Scotland and Ireland, e 5 he
could make underexistin g circumstances. The! lady
was formally married, ant. there the matter would
have ended had not Major Yelverton. according to
his own showing, chosen t 0 pursue a course o,‘
fl 'grant betrayal. The breach of good taste
judgment of which we complaTh did not c ccur in
Ireland. Major Yelverton w tin in his own c, )untryl
he had Irishmen for his counsel, for his ju ege, for,
his jury, for his audience, and he dared a et libel
the whole of the sex in the person of the la dy who
was his lawful wife in the sight of the nation,
The lesson, however, ought not to be los. t on our
country women. They cannot be too tie ut ions and
circumspect with men who have pretee,eicaes above
their own condition. It were far bed ;er that 00
charge of prudishness should remain th an that any
now Major Yelverton should be enable ,d to get UP
a sham defence on the strength of a free outpouring
of simple and sincere affection in a worm in. No one
can doubt that the lady in this instance was AMU,'
attracted to her suitor by a warm re turn of at'
tachment and by professions of mutual regard'
This is the common sense view of the case. It is
borne out by the evidence of Major Yelverton him-
self on the Irish trial, it is confirme,l by the entire
tenor and language of his corresporidence, and by
much of the concuct he formerly pursued towards
this truly unfortunate lady. It is utterly incredible
that the persistent pursuit of Miss Longworth was
to become the mistrese of Major Yelverton if she
could not be his wife. Border marriages and other
facile contrivances and substitutes for matrirannl,
may habituate our northern neighbours to an sere"
of the sex so strange in itself and so unusual in the
world. There must have been some strong itv
palling motive to urge counsel to proffer this pit's
of the woman's reckless pursuit and the manl
constant avoidance an d escape. To represent 0
gallant officer worried to death by the attentions ,
a lady determined to have him " wilt he, nil be,
might be a truly original picture, or one with 80°1:
foundation in the marriage customs of Scotland'
The common beaten track of defence proved a l'ailate
in Ireland, so new ground had to be taken. But, Ile
if ilt.luck haunted the gentleman, we find him mote
unpopular in Scotland than even in his own coup'
cry. The universal public voice is decidedly ageinBt
him, as, indeed, it ought to be; for at best INltti°e
Yeiverton can only plead an iniquitous law egaine,..
nis lewtut marriage is Ireland, and his consent to
this union is of a character to constitute wedlock
Scotland. The pretext that he was the victim Of a
cunning Englishwoman's designs may have been
sought as a last refuge in the Scotch trial and apra
but it will never do to persist in an assertion es'i,
flimsy, involving the unreasonable supposition that
this accomplished lady pursued Major Yelverton
not, be it remembered, to me ke him her husband'
but her paramour. This is tb-a immoral and absurde
conclusion, urged against his own former evidence
in open court, against his published letters, ai 8t
tne testimony of most respectable witnesses, an;
against the known and recognised usages of English
society. The whole plea is, as we have said, a gross
libel on the sex, arid will, we trust, for the bonon'
of the country, be completely abandoned in the
appeal to the House of Lords.

COUNTRY MAIIKETS.

--------r-------

LIVERPOOL—FRIDAY.
There was a pretty fair attendance to-day of the t 0 Iv°
and country trade, and both wheat .and flour met with A
good consumptive inquiry at a turtiler trifling advance,
say 3d per cental and 6d tier barrel and sack on the wee•
Indian corn mostly held for an advance of 6d per qr, but 18
not saleable over 3d. Oats and oatmeal stoady. but dal"
Beane advanced 6d per qr. Barley and peas unchanged'

STAMFORD—FRIDAY.
White wheat, 4is to 4,6; red, 3bs to 406 per 36 stone.r.
.
Barley, malting, 30s to 338'; grinding, 276 to 306 per
Oats, 17s to 22s per 24 stone. Beans, old, 386 to 415 1)"'
qr. ; new, 36s to —s.

LINCOLN—FRIDAY.
All the growing crops in this district are in a satisf4esti
tory state. The hay crop promises a heavy yield. 11712°-
has made great progress since our last report.
^Os
White wheat new, 40s:to 44s Barley, grinding..27s to `)6
Red do 3Bs to 40s Oats, old, ..
Old white —s to —s New do
Red do. sto —s Beans..
Barley, malting.... 32s to 34s Beans, new 3322
;044 8 0
3:
tt
000
at0.,19

WAKEFIELD—FRIDAY.
The wheat wheat trade was dull to-day, with only a retail tber
nese, and prices were rather over last week, In °
articles there was no material ci:ange.

Averages for the week :
Wheat 13,03.. qrs., at 39s $d
Rye
.

CORK-THURSDAY,

The following were the quotations this morning :^""1;73
wheat, 8s Od to Ss 10d ; white, 8s Od to Os 8d , barleYl to
Id to Os Od ; oats, 5s 8d to Os 4d ; black do., 53 3
615 scl.

BRISTOL SUGAR—FRIDAY.
The market has become rather qniet during the last as
or two, and only small sales on the spot, are being made'
n.
prices rather in favour of buyers. Refiners' produce co
tinues dull, and prices must ba quoted 3d to 6d to
There has been little business doing in rum, at about Pr"
aloud prices.