The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-26 00:00:00

110YAL ST. JAMES'S THEATRE.
Manager, Mr. Benjamin Webster.
EMINEN l' TALENT AND COMEDY.
Lat 6 Nights of the Burlesque.
This popular Theatre is now Open for the Winter Season.
THIS EVENING:(tor the 13th Utile) Mr. Arthur Sketchly's
nighty •successful and original CJmedy of 110 W WILL
THEY GET OUT OF IT. After which, F. C. Burnand's
Laughable Travestie of FAUST AND MARGUERITE.
To conclude with UNDEtt THE ROSE. Those cele-
brated artists Mr. and Mrs. Char es Mathews are re-engaged.
Mrs. Stirling, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Matthews, Mr. F. Robin-
son, Mr. Ashley, Mr. J. Clark, Mr. Chamber,ain, Mr. John-
stone, Mr. H. Montague, Miss Cotterel , Miss Fanny Joseph
Miss Patti Josephs, Arc. &c. scenic Artists, Mr. Gates and
his pupil. Acting Manager, Mr. J. Kinloch. Musical Con-
ductor, Mr. Wallenstiene. Stage Director, Mr. F. Webster.

ROY AL STRAND THEATRE.
Sole Lessee and Manazeress. Mrs. Swanborough.
'ILIIS EVENING, SHORT AND SWEET. Messrs. Par-
selle and James ; Mesdames Carson and Johnstone.
After which, the great Burl, sqae, TIIE MILLER AND
nIS MEN. Messrs. Fenton, James, and Thorne; Mesdames
Swanborough, Simpson. Johnstone, Hughes, and Carson.
To conclude with WHERE'S YOUR WIFE ? Mr. Bel-
ford.

COUNTRY and SEASIDE DRESSES.
Messrs. JA Y", of IteErent-street, have now in stock a
variety of WASHING SILK. DREISES, suitatle for the
country and seaside, and at the clearing-out price of only
Ils. 6d. the dress.

JAY'S,
247,249, and 251, Regent-street.

LACK SILKS.—The price of Silks in the raw
material has already r'sen 15 per cent., and it will soon
reach a far greater per-centage. Messrs. JAY, therefore,
lavite their numerous patrons to take advantage of the stock
they have on hand, which they can now dispose of on favour-
able terms ; but the same qualities will naturally b, more
Co3tly as the price of silk fluctuates to a higher average

JAY'S,
217, 249, and 251, Regent-street.

COALS.—The LILIAESIIALL COMPANY'S
COALS.
Direct from their own Collieries.
Drarquis' 233. per ton. I Double .. 201 per ton.
Top 225• i, IDo p
K. screened awl delivered within five miles of their De-
pots, Westbourne Park-road, W., and 17, South Wharf,
Paddington, %V., and Maiden-lane, N.
Best Coke

Terms cash.
JOHN SCOTT, Sole 4gent

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HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
THIS DAL—Morning; 101. 59m.—Afternoon, 11h. 31m
ro-monnow.-Morning, h. m. Afternoon, 121. 5m

'
-- • -

LONDON, MONDAY, SEPT. 26, 1864.

Sir J. P. WeLDE's address at York was an ad.
mirable one, and may with great advantage be
studied by all those who seek to inform themselves
concerning the nature of the law. He grappled
with the difficult subject in a manner that showed
him to be a complete master of it, and that must
have proved most edifying to his hearers, and no
lees may it serve to inform many others relative to a
question of vast social importance. Sir J. WILDE
truly stated that we must bear in mind that though
many reforms have been already wrought in the
method of applying the law, " tlao body of the
law itself" must be now looked to. Can we boast,
he asks, that we are living under a system that is
not at all in unison with the requirements of the
age, or suited to the intelligence and advance of
the day ? Alas, the answer, it is only too plain to
all, we are burdened with a code that oppresses and
weighs us down, and yet that boasts of so many able
and eloquent defenders that it seems treason to
attempt its alteration. Men of Sir J. WILDE'S
position are great benefactors to the cause in thus
coming forward in so prompt and outspoken a man-
ner, and explaining the errors in which we lie and
the mistakes that are made in the carrying out of
our vaunted codes of law. How true is this remark
that "justice should be paramount and method sub-
ordinate." Is it not proverbially the contrary in
practice, is not a method, manner, and form always
suffered to prevail, to the detriment of our rights,
interests, and privileges ? Then the forms, says the
learned speaker, should be as few as possible, lest
they pass from being "guides and supports" into
" fetters and trammels." Is not this the fac simile
of the workings of our legal affairs ? Are they not
veritable breed-3 which cripple, confine, and circum-
vent all freedom of action and genuineness of
thought. When it is asked to what t x tent the
c Almon law of this country " can lay claim to aim-
ptieity, clearness, certainty, and unerring justice,"
we must answer directly and distinctly in the nega-
lave, BO fat as regards many points. Sir J. WILDE
very forcibly depicted the reason of much of this
inadequacy and incompleteness, by explaining that
sufficient 'changes had not been made in these
laws; they Were paw(' for the most part in the
time of the Plantagenets, and, therefore, it is not to
be wondered at that they fell so far short of the
necessities and exigencieseteenprhpatre. y sent age. The
emphatically need which existed
was
m shadowedthat o the
forth by the learned speaker. u said
gradual development which has turned a handful
of military adventurers and a population cif serfs
into the wealthiest commercial community of the
world, has surely called for the destruction of as

much as was old and useless as the creation of what
was new and requisite." It seems very strange,
certainly, that none of our advanced statesmen
should have had sufficient foresight and intelligence
to enable them to remedy this deficiency, and meet
the requirements of their generation with skill and
spirit. Instead of this, where do we find more com-
plaints made, and hear of more dissatisfaotion ex-
pressed, than in the workings of the law. Men
who willingly obey the other regulations of their
time, instinctively turn with annoyance, dread, or
irritation to the vexed and harassing requi-
sitions of common law and its mystifying
procedure. Resting every thing upon precedent
has been a fatal error and a ruinous
course in our judicature; as Sir J. WILDE has
adroitly put it. the life, body, and spirit of the
feudal system was gone, "but the armoury of its
weapons and defences is still cherished in our halls
of justice." Thus if an immediate analogy was
not found, a different one was taken, and
bent and distorted till it served the turn and
fulfilled the sacred duty of establishing a pre-
cedent. What can be said too strongly or severely
against this Procrustean form of making the laws of
one time to suit another, when all else has changed
over which time and manners can exercise control
and alter in form and style. What we seem espee
cially to want has been described by Sir J. WILDE
in a very concise form : it is a resume of the actual
working of special laws for particular purposes.
He hopes that he is not too sanguine in expecting
within the bounds of labour and time this idea may
be found capable of realisation, and that therefrom
the most beneficial results may be experienced.
"For the student and the general public the vast
area covered by the law would present a district set
out in order instead of a tangled thicket." It would
be well if this suggestion could be carried out, for
there is no doubt that there is great truth in it, and
that its practice would conduce to the welfare of all
concerned. The concluding passages of Sir J.
WinDE's discourse are particularly deserving of
notice, and contain some sterling truths that can-
not be too earnestly studied nor too deeply dwelt
upon. It is a proof of his conviction of the opinions
which he expresses that he thus steps out of the
beaten track to show us the errors of his pro.
fession, instead of doing what so many persist
in—namely, upholding its fallacies, and through
thick and thin clinging to all the prejudices and
malpractices of the affair, totally ignoring the con-
sequences which such a course entaild'on others.
Let those who are sceptical as to the necessity of
Reform in the law, and are apt to sneer at what
amateurs or novices may put forward, regard the
expressed opinion of one who surely is well quali-
fied to judge of the merits and demerits of the ques-
tion. He says that "a severe exactitude in the
application of a highly technical system has ever
been the foremost blemish of English jurispru-
dence." How true is this declaration here put forth
that "the spring and root of all our law expenses
have been laid in public opinion." What, then,
should prevent that solitary change and desirable
alteration taking place which are so ardently de-
sired by many, and of such vital consequence to
the best interests of the community. Sir J. WILDE
has done his part freely, fully, and fairly—he has
extenuated nothing, and set down naught in ma-
lice. It remains for others to do their part also, to
treasure up his precepts and ponder well upon the
principles which should inform and animate the
laws of this great country. We live in a progrese
sive age, and yet the laws seem to stand still. It
is difficult to find any old-established institution
that has not to bend to custom, and conform to
Ihe sweeping doctrine of change ; and yet there are
'hose who would desire and demand of us to leave
411 masters connected with the law in st.du quo
rather than introduce most needful innova-
tions, and the adaptation of special require-
ments. Sir J. WILDE remarked that legal
education engenders great evil, that of " prizing
above their worth, and precision, and refinement.'
This has grown with the growth and strengthened
with the strength of the law, and many have suf-
fered in consequence of its almost universal adoption
and the firm hold it has taken on the minds of the
profession. What can be truer than this definition
of things as they at present exist. " The fear of
going too far ever present, the fear of not teaching
justice faintly felt, positive injustice worked in the
present to avoid possible injustice in the future,
rights so bound in safeguards lest they become
wrongs that they cease to be worth asserting--a
structure in which form ever overlays substance,
and a contest in which justice is apt to sink under
the weight of her own armoar, while precedent,
casting its shadow both ways, binds the present by
the errors of the past, and narrows it by the possi-
bilities of the future. Such are the fruits which e
spirit of over-jealous caution and exactitude is cal-
culated to bear." This is a sketch drawn by a
master-hand, which admirably displays the anoma-
lous state at which we have arrived. Stretched on
the rack of a too easy chair, as it were, in the en-
tanglements of over• wise definitions Sir J. WILDE
counsels those who would aid the cause of Law
Reform to become animated with the requisite
boldness. This is the right sort of advice to give,
for the task is a burdensome one, and a faint heart
will never win the day nor carry off the coveted
prize. The country will have cause to rejoice at the
advent of the time, when many brave spirits will
arise to carry out the long-desired reformation that
our law requires, and apply themselves with might
and main to the noble endeavour according to the
axioms here set forth. " I mean that boldness
which is bora of the firm conviction, that whatever
is contrary to commonsense and national justice,
ought also to be contrary to law—the boldness
which fears not to depart from the past to render
homage to the present, which acknowledges that
thanedlwawhicishmmaadre for
ches straight
and
ig,
httonio man
tstobject,rprtehfe law ;
preferring
simplicity with some defects to the perfection at
which complexity aims, but rarely reaches."

The trade and finance of the British Empire is
a sUbject sufficiently large to tax the powers even
of so able and accomplished a speaker as Mr LAING
to compress its salient points into the compass of a
single lecture. Yet the ex-Financial Minister of
India was sufficiently familiar with his subject to
accomplish his task without difficulty, and to en-
lighten the young men of -Wick on the doctrines
of political economy, without encumbering his dis-
course with useless details or perplexing his hearers
with abstruse theories. Mr LAING having beer in-
vited by the Young Men's Association at Wick to
deliver a lecture, wisely selected a topic which espe-
cially concerns all who are about to enter upon
a commercial life, and who, as Mr LAING reminded
them, may hereafter be called upon to play their
part
n the tea plantations of India, the mercantile
houses of China or Japan, or the gold diggings and
sheep-runs of the Australasian colonies. His ad-
dress was clear, sensible, and highly instructive,
always supposing that his hearers did not accept
his political opinions as equally uncoutrovertible
with his statistics. Mr LAING iS a man of unques-
tioned ability and great experience. His capacity
as a financier has been proved by t is services to
India, and it is nut surprising that h- should dwell
osinaetrhaebies
alteredprospectsotieuteien. of that cuu a try with con-
lie tells us at he is not,

and has never been, an ardent partisan ; but we

must not suppose that the absence of party spirit,
however desirgble, necessarily renders the sound-
ness of a man's judgment unimpeachable. Indeed
in some cases the coolness of temperament and re-
flective disposition which keeps him apart from the
exeitement of the political arena, prevents him
from accurately estimating the intensity of a na-
tional sentiment. For some reason or other Mr
LAING has altogether miscalculated the public feel-
ing with regard to the Danish question. In the
first place, he entirely misstated the question at
issue, which was not whether we were "to rush
into a great war with 45 millions of Germans to
decide whether Danish or German should be taught
in the grammar schools of Schleswig," but whether
the wealthiest and most powerful nation in the
world should stand tamely aside while two strong
States dismembered a weak one without the shadow
of a just pretence. The reduetio ad absurdum is
always easy, and we might as well say we would
not go to war to stop French from being substituted
for English in the grammar schools of Ireland, if
the question of language and of nationality were
nothing more than an empty word. It is easy for
a speaker to declare that a nation should only appeal
to the sword in cases clearly affecting its honour,
good faith, or practical interest, but unless the in-
habitants of Wick are very far behind the rest of
their compatriots in intelligence and political know
ledge, they have long since been convinced that no
war was necessary, but that the simple announce-
ment that the passage of the Eider would be re-
garded by Great Britain as a casus belli would have
preserved the Danish dominions intact without a
shot being fired. An English fleet cruising in the
Baltic, another in the Adriatic, and a Union Jack
hoisted on the Dannewerke would have promptly
and peaceably settled questions whose final solu don
may possibly be left to another generation. Sach a
course far from costing life would have spared the
bloodshed and misery now inflicted by the war, and
would have probably averted those European con-
vulsions to which the greed of Prussia will infallibly
give rise. But it is something new for our politi-
cians to stand in such wholesome awe of these for-
midable millions of Germans, and we should imagine
the Vaterland itself was rather astonished at the
sadden timidity of Englishmen. It would, in truth,
seem as if that great prosperity of which Mr LAING
gave so striking a picture had produced nationally
the same effect that it often does individually, and
had narrowed the mind, hardened the heart, and
shaken the nerves of stout JOHN BULL. He has
certainly no ground for financial uneasiness, being,
as Mr LAING reminded him, about the only solvent
one among his European fellows, while the New
World is rapidly doing its best to eclipse the Old
in the extent of its embarrassments by incurring a
national debt already reckoned by hundreds of mil-
lions without the smallest prospect of being able to
pay the interest. France, says Mr LAING, has in
ten years added a hundred and fifty millions to her
debt. Austria and Italy bombard each other with
budgets showing annual deficits of six or eight
millions; while Russia is always borrowing, and
the financial condition of Spain and Turkey is
something proverbial. Meanwhile, our statistics
show a very different result, and although our
annual expenditure is something between 60 and
70 millions, we have a yearly surplus which enables
us to reduce taxation. "In the four years between
1860 and 1864," says Mr LAING, " the taxpayers
were relieved of taxation to the amount of
£9,425,000, and yet the revenue of 1864 remains
almost the same as it was in 1860." A great part
of the national prosperity indicated by these facts is
doubtless due, as Mr LAING justly attributed it, to
the diffusion of the principles of free trade, So
rapid has been the rate of increase in oar imports
and exports that the speaker was puzzled to being
it fairly within the grasp of his hearers, justly re-
marking that the figures were like those of astro-
nomical distances, and almost escaped us by their
magnitude. Twenty years ago, when Sir ROBERT
PEEL was just inaugurating the practical applica-
tion of free-trade principles, the foreign trade of
Great Britain and Ireland was valued at 150 mil-
lions per annum. The imports and exports for
1863 were estimated at no less than 444 millions, and
the increase of the year 1863 over 1862 amounted to
£53,000,000, so that the rate of increase is rapidly
augmenting. Of this " the largest commerce the
world ever saw," Mr. LAING gave some interesting
details, entering very fully into the principal items
of our trade and commerce, and bringing some very
important facts under the notice of his hearers.
One of these which may furnish an additional ar-
gument against the adoption of Mr. GOLDWIN
SMITII'S anti-colonial theories, is that the natural
tendency of colonial trade is always towards the
mother country, and that " a given population,
whether it be of British origin as in Australia or
Canada, or of foreign race as in India or Ceylon,
will always furnish a larger trade per head with
Great Britain, if they form part of the British
Empire, than if, as in the United States or in China,
they are subjects of a foreign government." He
illustrated this by citing from statistics, substan-
tiating from British India,
oar largest customer, giving us fifty millions of ims
rla rg his theory and ranging
ports and taking twenty millions of exports, down
to the little island of Mauritius, which under British
government gives two millions and takes half-a-
million annually, sums altogether disproportionate
to its size and importance. Our trade with France
has increased immensely of late years, while that
with America has of course sensibly diminished,
though happily without affecting the general pros-
perity of the
.country. The high rate of interest
Mr. LAING attributes solely to the activity of trade
and the high rate of profits, waving the question
as to the want of sympathy between our expanding
trade and our non-expanding currency. It is a pity
that a gentleman who so clearly appreciates the
value and beneficial results of Free Trade, should
not see that the great want of our commercial life
is its extension to the money market. One would
think that Mr. LAING'4 own quick financial intel-
ligence might show him at a glance the disproportion
between a trade increasing at the rate of fifty mil-
lions a year and the narrow limits of our currency.
Most assuredly the Bank Act of 1844 was never
adapted for a growing commerce, and it is in spite
of it, not.by its aid, that our mercantile interests
have flourished. But despite some questionable
theories Mr. LAING'S address was well worthy of
his reputation, and the Wick Association may thank
him for a clear, succinct, and admirable summary
of the vast dealings of British commerce.

DEATH OF WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR.—lntelli-
gence has been received at Bath (of which city he was for
many years a resident) of the death of Walter Savage
Landor at Florence on the 17th inst. Mr Landor wes born
on the 30th of January, 1775, and had obtained celebrity as
a scholar and poet before the end of last century. His
"Imaginary Conversations" have rendered his name fami-
liar as an accomplished littcratcur.
FUNERAL OF CAPTAIN SPFKE.—The funeral of
Captain Speke took place at, the village of Dowlish-Wake,
two miles from Ilminster, on Friday afternoon. 'rho body
was removed from the residence of the Rev. B. Speke,
brother of the deceased, at 3 o'clock, and was followed to
the grave by a long procession of mourners, clergy, and
friends of the family. Amongst others present wero Sir R.
Murchison, Dr Livingstone, and Captain Grant. The latter
carried a wreath of laurel leaves and fl)wers, which be
Placed upon the coffin as it was being lowered into the
vault. The service was performed by the Rev. Paberahoy
Coles.