The Sun.
London, England, 1852-10-25 00:00:00

—JACK, in the story of the Bean Stalk, parting with
his mother's cow for a handful of mottled beans—

afford us tolerable illustrations of the bargain re-
cently made by the Royal Commissioners in the pur-
chase of a few market gardens between Brompton
and Kensington in return for the sum total of
nearly 300,000/.,the surplus of the Industrial Exhibition.
Spectacles are, of course, very good things in their
way, and especially we might presume them to be
useful to such a particularly short-sighted stripling
as the dupe of BALTHAZAR alias JENKINSON. Beans,
again, are capital eating no doubt when nicely pre-
pared and seasoned ala haricot. But surely it must,
on thelvery face of it, be regarded as a rather remark-
able act of extravagance, the purchasing, for a sum
so enormous, a collection of potato patches like those
intended for the site of our future National Gallery.
The bargain, however, bad though we cannot but
deem it, has been made—c est un fait accompli—the
land is the nation's—the money is that belonging to
the Baron de VILLARS and to Lord HARRINGTON.
Forty-eight acres have been bought for 150,000/.—
twenty acres for 60,0001.—end smaller parcels of
land, at the rate of 4,000/. per acre, have been ob-
tained in " hot haste" by the zeal of the Royal
Commissioners. There appears to be no help for
it—the ground referred to is now the property of
the country, and the House of Commons will conse-
quently be called upon to advance additional sums of
money for raising the superstructure. The " deed
being done," Parliament must make the best of it;
and we shall now, therefore, look forward with no
small solicitude to the course about to be adopted in
the matter by the lower branch of the Legislature.
At present, the few valuable paintings belonging to
the nation are scattered about in various directions—
some of them, and those not the least interesting,
being only accessible with some difficulty, and under
particular circumstances. There is the noble collec-
tion in Trafalgar-square—disgraced by being depo-
sited in one-half of that miserable edifice, the other
half of which is appropriated to the Royal Academy.
There is the collection, in some respects still more
choice, at the Dulwich Gallery, with those exquisite
Pouissms and incomparable MURILLOS. There are
the specimens of the English school in the curiosity-
rooms of what is known as Sir JOHN SOANE'S
Mu-
seum—comprising, among other treasures, some of
the most masterly productions of HOGARTH. There
is the magnificent store of native works of art, now
decorating the apartments of Marlborough-house,
and renowned by the name of its public-spirited
founder as the VERNON Collection : and there are
other and smaller groups of paintings still more widely
distributed, and some of them, for that reason, almost
entirely overlooked. If these treasures of art could
by any possibility be collected together in a grand
central gallery, worthy of England and of her.Metro-
polls, the citizens of London might not find such
ample reason to blush for our national want of taste
when visiting the gorgeous galleries of the Louvre,
and surveying the storied walls of the Luxembourg.
Under the particular circumstances of the occasion,
we must henceforth, therefore, look hopefully in this
matter to the munificence of the House of Commons—

a munificence more than ever requisite, now that the
whole of the surplus of the Exhibition has been ex-
pended in the purchase of those unfortunate market-
gardens, now that the amount, nearly reaching the
splendid total of 300,0001., has been exhausted, now
that the country may be:said, in plain terms, to have
bought a " pig in a poke," at the precipitate recom-
mendation of the Royal Commissioners.

The Common Law Procedure Act—one of the
most important measures of legal reform ever intro-
duced to, or sanctioned by, the British Parliament—
has at length come into practical operation. The

dynasty of Joux DOE and kiculup ROE—time-hon-
oured potentates— is overthrown ; writs of distringas,
whether for the purpose of compelling an appearance,

or proceeding to outlawry, are, henceforward and for
ever, abolished ; and special demurrers and rules to
compute will be numbered with the past. We have
frequently expressed our opinion respecting this im-
portant measure. It is unquestionably a step in the
right direction, calculated materially to simplify the
proceedings in the Superior Courts. It does not,
however, go sufficiently far, and will scarcely be
accepteu ay Legal Reformers as a perrn.ucu, oettie-
ment of the question, or as full satisfaction of the
general demand for cheap and speedy justice. The
end of the wedge has, however, been admitted, and
the power of future resistance to reasonable altera-
tions will he greatly reduced.
Tho statute, which contains no less than 2s=6 secs
tions, exclusive of the schedules, is founded on the
report of the Common Law Commissioners, most of
whose recommendations have been adopted. It in-
troduces very important alterations in practice which
may lead to considerable expense and vexation, until
the new system is thoroughly understood, and the
opinions of the judges have been taken on all doubt-
ful points which the ingenuity of counsel or solicitor
may discover. Its object is unquestionably meri-
torious. It aims at the abolition of useless techni-
calities, and allowing the decision of the Courts on
the merits of each action to be obtained so speedily as
may be consistent with a duo regard to substantial
justice, and at a moderate expense. The forms of
action are, however, still retained, although the neces-
sity for such a course was strongly devised by com-
petent judges. The pleadings, too, are to be framed
in a formal manner, and forms are given in schedule
(B) as statements of causes of action which may
serve as precedents in similar cases.
It might have been better had the parties been al-
lowed to state their own cases in their own language.
We are aware of the high authority on which it was
considered that such a course would lead to useless
prolixity, and the introduction of unnecessary mat-
ter. We cannot, however, help thinking that a
plain and simple story briefly setting forth
the nature and character of the acts complained
of, and an answer, either denying the facts
or explaining them, would be far preferable to any
set forms, although the latter were free from all need-
less averments. The object of pleading is to enable
the presiding judge and the opposing party .illy to
understand the case set up, and the points relied on ;
and it certainly appears that would be more fully ac-
complished, and the danger of "surprise" considerably
diminished, by the mode we have suggested. There
was, however, apparently too great a dread of the
assimilation of the proceedings in Law and Equity,
and the fusion of the several tribunals—a reform that
must eventually be accomplished, to permit the adop-
tion of such a course.
We shall now briefly explain some of the provi-
sions of the Act, which it is essential should be gene-
rally known, although it would manifestly be im-
possible to enter into all its details within the space
allotted to a leading article in a public journal. The
writ of summons is, as heretofore, to be the first step
in every suit ; but it is no longer necessary to specify
the form or the cause of action therein, and it may be
served anywhere within the jurisdiction of court, in
place of being limited to the county or bailiwick for
which it was issued. Concurrent writs, too, may be
obtained for service within, and without the juris-
diction, so that it will scarcely be possible for any
person whose locality is known to evade the service of
process, and thus set his creditors at defiance, while
he is certain of obtaining full notice of the proceed-
ings that may be instituted against him—a very
valuable improvement in every respect.
As we have already stated, writs of diJeringas are
totally abolished. It is only surprising how long
these absurd practices were tolerated. The object
for which they were sanctioned was that of enforc-
ing the appearance of a defendant, who could not be
personally served with the writ of summons, but who
knew of the proceedings, and kept out of the way to
avoid service, under the system now happily abro-
gated. When the various calls had been made, and
-fide attempts to effect
tphe erjudgeonai
service—in sa ti ti ed of the
plat© br
of
fa
n appearance being at
once entered for the defendant, the writ was issued,
under which they were authorized to distrain on his
goads and chattels to the value of 40s. This dis-
tress, although utterly useless to the plaintiff, was
generally presented in the most stringent and vexa-
tious manner. It could not be sold, and, therefore,
it signified nothing whether what was taken wag of
the value of 403., or of a single farthing. The full
value was, however, invariably taken. The Sheriff
was bound to restore the article or articles seized, on
an appearance being entered ; but although this
was the law, still vexatious impediments were