The Sun.
London, England, 1852-08-11 00:00:00

T ITE S UN LONDON,

the whole of our North American fisheries. Nobody
ventures to gainsay the veracity of this declaration.
Mr. EVERETT'S dispatch is admitted. Lord ABER-
DEEN'S note is admitted. Mr. WEBSTER'S disclosure
is accepted (so far as it goes) as conclusive and
unanswerable. But what does all this de-
monstrate ? How far does it prove that
Lord MALMESBURY has acted unjustly toward
the United States ? Where are the " rights" in-
vaded ? Where—to come to the point at ~once—are
the " concessions" said to have been shamefully set
aside by her MAJESTY'S Government ? Lord ABER-
DEEN'S note of 1845 certainly speaks of concessions—
and goes so far even as to speak of particular ones
having reference to the Bay of Fundy—but he speaks
of them at the best as merely in contemplation.
Against this hint.of a scheme entertained by the then
existing Cabinet, the DERBY Administration can
adduce a solemn and ratified series of
stipulations. Against the note of 1845, Mi-
nisters can oppose the Treaty of 1818.
Against the assurance of Lord ABERDEEN
that her MAJESTY'S Government was disposed to con-
cede to American fishermen the right of
pursuing
their occupations in the Bay of Fundy, Lord
MALMESBURY can bring forward the words of the
memorable paper already specified, showing that the
Americans are expressly debarred from the right of
fishing within three marine miles of any of the
coasts, bays, creeks, or harbours of the British
dominions ! Justice compels us to put the
facts plainly before the public, in order
that there may not be any gross or lamentable
misapprehension. We leave it to the apologists of
the present Foreign Secretary to show that he has
acted in this matter judiciously by seizing the
vessels
of the United States' fishermen without first an-
nouncing his intention to the United States' Go-
vernment. For ourselves—as altogether apart from
the present Ministry—we are content to insist upon
the recognition of the facts of the case, so far as
they demonstrate the reality of those rights which
have recently been insisted upon by the Noble Earl
at the head of the Foreign Department.
It has so happened with the Earl of MALMESBTJRY
that his proceedings have been carped at more than
those of any other am ,eg the principal members of
the DERBY Government. First of all he was villified
for the course pursued by him in regard to the
MATHER Question : and now he is condemned yet
more loudly for the manner in which he has con-
ducted these proceedings in reference to the Question
about the Fisheries. In this there really appears to
us a rather glaring inconsistency. It is nothing less
than the old Satyr fable again—the blowing hot and
the blowing cold in a ruthless mood of by no means
discriminating condemnation. When the Earl of MAL-
MESBURY acted without vigour—in the MATHER
Question—he was condemned as too " weak." Wben
he acts with vigour—in the Fisheries Question—he is
condemned as too " strong.' It is said that he
conceded too much in the first case, and that he con-
ceded too little in the second. Really, in speaking
thus, the depreciatory of the Foreign Secretary seem
plainly to evince their determination never to be
satisfied at all, no matter what may be
the policy adventured upon by the Earl of DERBY'S
Government. Against such a course we must, for one,
at least, protest with all the earnestness of indignation.
We must protest against it as both unjust and as un-
generous—unjust to the Earl of MALMESBURY and
ungenerous to the Earl of DERBY'S Administration.
That Administration, let it be recollected, was
formed abruptly in February as a Cabinet of Ether-
gency. England was at the time surprised by the
unexpected RUSSELL Resignation. The Whigs sud-
denly left office in the sulks—disgusted and dismayed
by the defeat hurled down upon their heads with such
summary vengeance by Viscount PALMERSTON.
Her MAJESTY, placed in a somewhat embarrassing
position just at the commencement of the Parliamen-
tary session, sent for the Earl of DERRY to under-
take, at a few hours' warning, the formation of a
new Government. Viewing the situation of his
SOVEREIGN, viewing the conduct rof the Whigs,
viewing the necessity of the times and the require-
ments of the country—Loci DERBY at once
boldly undertook to construct a new Cabinet, not-
withstanding all these discouraging and disadvanta-
geous circumstances. Such was the difficulty of his
undertaking that, in order to form any administration
whatever, he was compelled to gazette in one day no
less than eighteen new Privy Councillors. Imme-
diately the Cabinet was thus arranged, a certain sec-
tion of the ex-Ministers, aided by their personal fol-
lowers, commenced what we protest_d against from
the first moment as an unjustifiable and (as we were
the earliest to call it) a manifestly " fectioter
opposition." Upon the utter absence of anything
like magnanimity in those proceedings of the Oppo-
sition we enlarged for a considerable period, until
the factious course was at last abandoned and a more
honourable mode of action adopted towards the
DERBY Government. Again we observe this
factious course reviving—but this time having
exclusive reference to the Noble Earl the
Foreign Secretary. Again, therefore, we pro-
test against it as unjust and ungenerous, and,
therefore, as wholly unworthy of the members of her
MAJESTY'S Opposition.
One simple act on the part of the DERBY Cabinet
may effectually prevent the recurrence of these fac-
tious proceedings on the part of their antagonists.
Let the present Ministers manfully avow their in-
tended policy on the assembling in October, or at the
latest in November, of the newly-elected Parliament.
Let them then boldly declare themselves as in the van
of the great onward movement, and they will at
once secure the confidence of the nation, and become
consolidated into a string Government. They have
withstood the Scylla of a Parliamentary Session,
they have triumphed already over the Cyclopian
attacks of an infuriated Opposition. To their ranks,
therefore, Lord DERBY might speak in the language
of Virgil :
" Vos et Scyllxem rabiem, penitusque sonantes
Accestis scopulos: vos et Cyclopia saxa
Expsrii: revocate animos, moesrarcque timorem
Mittite: forsan et t W.l olim meminisse juvabit.
Per varios casus, per tot discrimina reruns)
Tendimus in Latium; sedes übi fats quiets s
o _ tendunt: illic fax regna resureere
Durate et vosmet rebus servate secundis

Lord ST. LEONAILDS has done a great deal in the
way of Law R-form, but he is much mistaken if he
thinks that his labours, in this respect, have termi-
nated. Re has broken through many of the abuses
which prevented the prompt and efficient administra-
tion of justice, in the Court of Chancery—but he
must not pause until all such abuses are thoroughly
swept away. Re has before him, now, the amplest
opportunity ever yet afforded to a lawyer of earning
the gratitude of his fellow-subjects, and be must not
turn his hand from the undertaking be has so well
commenced. Above all, it behoves him carefully to
la
wr.utnt
akdeeresl ari n g
what CANNING called "the ordinary sources
Theh Fourth
fe.atrlesss throughandt
Estate—the
owfatinhformation," betcanutse
Press—that
111?ntelligence of abuses, whether in omdnirp: estatesmen and
com-
monly receive i
: udence, or Morals, which are pal.
vernment, JUI,sPr for reform..
pable and cry °Penl Y
One of the correspondents of a morning Contem-
poi any lar drawn public 3 -
Vention to some of the
.
a
evils in and from the
of the Accountant-
General in Chancery, office
h from our own
which
knowledge —we are free to say do exist,
ago. The evils
and should have been remedied years
complained of arise entirely out of the closing of the
Accountant-General's office during
the
greater parte&rred to
r
of the lcng vacation. The correspondent
thus tersely illustrates his point :--``l have a poor
relation who is entitled under an order of the Court
of Chancery to an annuity of about 401., PlYablfr
half-yearly, on the 24th of February, and the 24th of
August, but for the payment which becomes due on
the 24th of August she has every year to wait till the
2d of November. I have also a cousin who is en-
titled to a rent of about 2501., which the Accountant •
General was, some years ago, ordered to pay him by
quarterly payments on the four wual days; but he
has always to wait till the 2d of November for the
payment wlaichbecomes due Cu the S9la of September.
I am myself entitled to the dividends of some Reduced
Annuities, which, if the fund were not in Chancery,
I could receive at the Bonk on the 10. h or 12th of
October, but now I must wait till the 2d of Novena-
bor before I can get them."

In compliance with long-establisl-ed routine, the
CHANCELLOR annually issues a general order for closing
office from the 19th of
the Accountant- General's.

August till the 28th of October (which, for all
purposes of real business, means the 2d of November,
the first day of Michaelmas term), and the reasons
for is,uing such order ere stated on the face of it in
the following recital :
" proper that the accounts kept by the
AccWounhtearneta i
Accountant-General of this Court should be examined
and compared in order to settle the same. And whereas
it will reqaire considerable time to perfect such exami-
nation, and it is necessary that a time should be ap
pointed for closing the hooks of the Accountant-General
for the purposes aforesaid."
We have seen what inconvenience this causes, as
far as the public are concerned. We have yet to
learn that it is necessary or indispensable. We should
like (being fond of ex imining natural curiosities) to
behold the man, not in, or fitted for a lunatic asylum,
who will seriously contend that there is the slightest
necessity for this ten weeks' closing of the office. A
large and very experienced staff of clerks is main-
tained therein, at the public expense; the Accoun-
tant-General himself (a favoured and fortunate Rus-
SELL) receives an annual income of some fifteen
hundreds of sterling pounds for the nominal surveil-
, lance of these numerous clerks, and surely he must very
inadequately or carelessly perform his duty, if he does
not see that the accounts are accurately kept, the
balances frequently struck, and the hooks fully entered
up. The Manager of a Bank would see this done, as
a matter of course, and there is no reason whatever
why the Accountant-General should so far neglect it
that his office mast be ten weeks shut up " to examine
and compare" the accounts, "in order to settle the

same."

There would be a good deal of public sympathy, we
doubt not, were it believed that, during these ten
weeks, Mr. Accountant-General RUSSELL and his
numerous and clerkly satellites were continuously at
work on the accounts without intermission. They
are differently employed, and rather more pleasurabl9-
The time taken "to examine and compare," with a
view to settle" the accounts, need not, and does not,
exceed two out of the ten weeks. The truth is, the
recess is the holiday time of the Accountant's-office-
Let the clerks have relaiution by all means. All
work and no play" never served any one ; but
do not let the public be inconvenienced by the
clerks' recreation. In most of the other public offices
a certain number of clerks are always on duty, and a
certain number, in turn, taking their month's leave of
absence. Let the clerks have their holidays,
but do
not let them, under the fiction of performing heavy
duties, inconvenience the public by taking them all at

once.
The same evil extends to the office of the Ac,
countant-General in Bankruptcy, and there also
tinder an order from the LORD CHANCELLOR. From
the 12th of August until the 4th of October there is
a total cessation of the usual business of that office.
Whoever may receive a dividend warrant during
the next seven or eight weeks, no matter bow much
he may require the money, cannot
have it cashed,
because the office of the Accountant-General i▪ n
Bankruptcy will be closed during that time. i
In both cases the grievance is great. It s conso-
latory to know that the remedy may be exceedingly
prompt and simple—it is only for the LORD CHAN-
CELLOR to direct that both offices shall be open all
the year round, and the clerks may still have their
holidays, only they must nos take them at once.
Fancy what a check would be given to public busi▪ -
ness if a Treasury minute directed the office of the
Accountant-General of the Customs to be closed for
a couple of months, &c.! Nut more absurd is the
Chancery and Bankruptcy closing.
The evils complained of can be removed with a
single stroke of the LORD CSANCELLOR pen. They
will be removed, we doubt not, if his Lordship's at-
tention be once drawn to them. Lord ST. LEONARDS
is eminently a practical man ; he proved himself such
while presiding in the Irish Court of Chancery,
long before he sat on the Woolsack here. It is un-
derstood, and,
indeed, reasonably expected, that new
rules and orders in Chancery—rendered necessary to
suit the altered practice consequent on the recent
Reforms—will be issued at the close of the long
vacation. They will, probably, amend the mal-
practice in the offices of the Accountant-Generals in
Chancery and Bankruptcy. At the same time, it is to
be hoped, the public may receive the long-delayed and
much-required rules and orders which ought to have
been issued when the Bankrupt Laws Consolidation
Act of 1849 came into operation. As things now
are, in Bankruptcy, a new vehicle is running in
old, much-patched, and cumbrous harness, which
does °Len greatly impede its proper progress.
But, though a set of new rules and orders were
drawn up, the illness of Chancellor COTTENHAM
prevented their being formally revised and issued.
His successor was too hazy, in politics and law, to
give them his imprimatur—particularly is it is pos-
sible his shrewd mind detected many inconsistencies
in them. We speak the opinion of the profession
when we say that the present rules and orders in
Bankruptcy do not advance the interests of creditors
or facilitate the smooth working of the law.
Lord ST. LEONARDS, amid the many recent law
reforms to which he has stood sponsor, if not actually
parent, has scarcely done anything better than his
substitution (by the 15th and 16th Victoria, cap. 73)
of salaries instead of fees in the Common Law Courts.
There are many reasons why public officers should
have fixed incomes. A certainty is better than a
fluctuation of income, for no man with an uncertain
and fluctuating income can know how to square his
annual expenditure. We trust that this most whole-
some reform may ha carried not only into the
Common Lew Courts but into the Bankruptcy
Courts, in which the official assignees and the
messengers are still remunerated only by fees.
The misfortune is, also, that under the pre-
sent system, while there is a fixed scale for
the fees payable to the messengers, the official as-
signee—who is actually the treasurer of the court,
and ranks next to the Judge—is payable only ac-
cording as the Judge may think fit. Incredible as
this may appear, it is the fact. The law leaves the
Commissioner arbitrarily to fix and declare in each
case what the official assignee's remuneration may
be ! Thus, the income of an officer of such trust,
that he gives security for 6,0001., depends on the
liberality, the meanness, the temper, or the caprice of
the Judge ! If payments by fees be continued in
this case, the amount should, by the LORD CHAN-
CELLOR, be fixed and determined, as, indeed, the Lords
Justices of Appeal strongly and publicly recom-
mended last spring. At present, just as the Com-
missioner pleases, the official assignee may have 2001,
or 1,5001. a year.
By far the better way would be to reduce the
numleir of official assignees, leaving one to each
court as treasurer; to have only one court in a town,
except in London; to pay the official assignees by
salaries commensurate with the responsibilities they
are under, the duties they perform, and the average
incomes of the whole lady during the last seven

years.
the amounts
b ouunrttshm
ereceivednso eo
andncreditors divided
in A
eachpe per-tentage
et awge on the
be less
trhuranthetheoffiprceisaelnat sssigynseteems ,wahnd owwouoludldreatimrep,lyaspwreolvlide
as
for the salasies of those who would remain. Nor is
thgiestrrearanhyavcianugse
rwehtiytitnh gepensions, Commissionerth and the Re-
e samejustice
should not be rendered to the official assignees, on
whom, after all, depends the benefit to creditors from
proceedings in bankruptcy.
Judging of the future by the past,
we may leave
these requisite reforms in the hands of the LORD
CHANCELLOR. Ile has shown himself resolute in
reforming proved abuses in the law and its practice;
and we balieve that h- only requires to have his at-
tention
called to practical abuse. He is as quick
in action as in perception, and is not likely to turn
„ide from the course he has entered upon as a
Law Reformer.

thenficontrary, we have ex-
ent asertions of some
of
iotnhtsemanpdoirnagriethse "
to
cellprit reason for being convinced that the long-
talked of marriage between the Prince Louis
1:11°r t g
Napoleon and the Princess of the House of Wasa
will never take place. Almost insurmountable
difficulties are, we believe, found to exist.

Considerable anxiety appc arB to be felt by the pre-
sent Ministry of the Prince President as to the course
likely to be pursued by the refugees, the majority of
whom are understocd to be rapidly congregating in
Jersey.

DEATH OF LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIR T. DOWN.
regret to have to iecoid the death of this distin-
gu'thcci officer, which tc )k place v-Iterday in a sudden man-
uer at Woolwich, where he Was co-wraandaiat.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris journals of yest-rday.
M. MAGNE, Minister of Public Works, is charged
with the department of the Interior during the short
absence of M. DE PERSIGNY.
We read in the Patrie—" The conferences between
the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Plenipoten-
tiaries of Belgium have terminated neither in a defi-
nitive treaty nor in a prolongation of the convention
of December 13, 1845. As that convention expires
this day, August 10, the produce and merchandise of
the two countries are respectively placed under the
regulations of the common law." A similar state-
ment appears in the Moniteur of this morning.
The Patrie says—" The telegraphic dispatches re-
ceived to-day announce that the new elections which
took place yesterday and the day before are favour-
able to the Government. The relative majority of
the greater number of the Government candidates has
been considerable."

On Friday last the English residents at St. Maio
waited on Prince JEROME BONAPARTE, and addressed
him in a speech of congratulation. They afterwards
sent a magnificent bouquet to the- Prince. Prince
JEROME then proceeded to the Cathedral to hear mass.
He was received by the Bishop of RENNES and his
clergy. On leaving the church he went to St. Ser-
van, where he had accepted
carriage was preceded by a accepted a d6euner offered by the
Aiu
de-
tachment of gendarmerie. On reaching St. Servan,
the
epeatlity
ew.
ereH His
so crowded with people that the
horses could only proceed at a walking pace. The
Prince was received with the loudest cries of " Vive
Napoleon ! Vive le Prince Jerome !"
The Government has received news from Cayenne
to the date of July 13. The situation of the penal
colony was satisfactory. The transported persons
were still at the Salutation Islands, their total num-
ber amounting to 1,900. The transport of all these
men was most happily effected, the orders of the
Minister of Marine having been strictly followed.
M. DE SARDA GARRIGA, the governor, was about to
make a tour in the interior of the country. The
sanitary. state of the colony is reported to he excellent.
The inauguration of the statues in bronze of BER-
NARDIN SAINT DE PIERRE and CASIMIR DELAVIGNE
took place on Sunday at Havre. The statues, exe-
cuted by DAVID (d'Angers), are set up in the Place
Francois I. in front of the principal entrance to the
Museum. This place was decked out with flags and
with escutcheons bearing the arms of Alencon, Caen,
Evreux, R
-"len, St. Lo, and some of the principal
towns of Europe. The Rue de Paris leading to
it was also decorated with flags. In the square, a
platform was erected for the authorities, and stands
afforded accommodation to a great number of
ladies. A procession of the local authorities, the
judges, of, deputations from the Academie Franc tise,
the Academie of Moral and Political Sciences, and of
a great number of eminent persons, went along the
Rue de Paris to the Place Francois I. When it ar-
rived the statues were uncovered, and M. ALFRED DE
Mussar,. Chancellor of the Academie Franclise, de-
livered a brief speech; M. ANCELOT, also of the Aca-
demie, then read a very long piece of verse in honour
Of DELAVIGNE and BERNARDIN DE SAINT PIERRE.
Count DE PELLEPORT, a relative of the latter, delivered
a speech, thanking the town for the honour done to
his ancestor. M. Micasr, CHEVALIER also addressed
the assembly. Then came a set of public amusements
for the people ; and afterwards there was a banquet,
with illuminations and other rejoicings.
The regattas of Havre have, on account of the bad
state of the weather, been postponed to the 15th.
The postal service between Paris and Strasburg
will soon be definitely organised. The mail train
will leave Paris every evening at balf-past seven, and
arrive at Strasburg at 25 minutes past 8 next morning.
The preparations for the fete of the 15th are pro-
ceeding actively in all parts of Paris.
There has been another fall in the price of public
securities at the Bourse. Tho Four-and-a-Halt per
Cents. opened at 104 f. 80c , and closed at 104 f. 50c. for
the end of the month; the Three per Cents. closed at
741. 80c.; Orleans Railway Shares, 1,370 f.; Rouen,
8521. 50c.; Havre, 360 f.; Great Northern, 650 t.;
Avignon, 4701.; Basle, 302 f. 50c.; Paris and Stras-
burg, 638 f. 75c.; Paris and Lyons, 746 f. 25c.; Lyons
to Avignon, 590 f.: St. Dizier to Gray, 545 f.; the New
Austrain Loan, 95f.
BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE, AUG. 10.
Grand Junction of France, s%—Luxembourg, 65A—
Madras, 2
- P.—Northern of France, 201. 3 per cent. Bondi,
13 and Lyons, 19%—Paris and Rouen, 34 lA—Parts
and Strasbourg, 247/s—Rouen and Havre, 14- Sambre and
Meuse, 7—Tours and Nantes, 13%—Western of France, 9.