The Sun.
London, England, 1830-04-14 00:00:00

WALLACE'S OAK, TORWOOD.

The ground on which this tree stood was elevated
above the surrounding level, which appears at one
time to have been a sort of swamp. Causeways of
a rude construction led up to the oak on different
directions; arid as the first formation of these cause-
ways is beyond the memory of the oldest inhabi-
tants living, it proves that the sheltering place of
the defender of Scotland must have been an object
of deep interest to his countrymen at a very early
period. Although this ancient memorial of Wal-
lace measured, in the recollection of the people still
living, 4,2 feet in circumference, not a vestige of it
is now to be. discovered. The veneration with
which it was regarded, secured it from all human
interference ; and it was left to the winds of
heaven, and the hand of time, till it leached
that state of decay which indicated an approach-
ing crisis. Its extinction was then hastened by
an anxiety on the part of visitors to possess some
portion of it, as a relic of one with whose name
it had been so long associated ; arid so far was
this feeling carried, that after the trunk bad dis-
appeared, the ground was dug up to the extent
of twelve feet round it, in order to get any
fragment of the root that might chance to re-
main. This grand search took place after the time
was fixed for the visit of George IV. to Scotland;
and Mr. Craig, an artist residing at lielensburgh, of
considerable taste in his profession, used a part of it
which had then been found, in the formation of a
snuff-box, ingeniously composed, besides, of various
small pieces of wood, including portions of " the
Elderslie Oak," " Queen Mary's I ew," the "Bush
abune Tsuji/air," and other celebrated inmates of
the forest, which have been consecrated by the his-
torical and poetical Muse of Scotland. This elegant
little national gem was with much propriety pre-
sented to, and graciously accepted by, his Majesty.
during his residence in Scotland. Thus, after a lapse_
of ages, the root of that oak which had preserved
the houseless patriot when outlawed by the enemies
of his country, has, by a strange vicissitude, been
transplanted to the personal possession of the legiti-
mate descendant of that race of kings for whose right
he so nobly contended, and whose beloved repre-
sentative now wields a sceptre over a countless ac-
cumulation of subjects, and a dominion from which
the sun may be said never to withdraw his light.—
Constable's Miscellany, Vol. LIII. Life of Sir Win.
Wallace.

" Lord is regularly done up— how very
extraordinary !" observed some club-lounger to BRUM-
MELT.. " Extraordinary ? not at all ! I always told him
he would ruin himself if he went on dribbling away his
fortune in paying his debts !" Court Journal.

The button-trade in Birmingham has greatly
improved within the last month. His MAJESTY has set
an example which has been generally followed by the No-
bility and Gentry. The plain extra treble gilt button (and
not the waved pattern) was the article accepted by his
MAJESTY from the Birmingham deputation.--Birming-
ham Journal.

Our fair on Monday last exhibited but a short
supply of stock, and we observed that the start which has
recently taken place in the corn-market, in some degree
extended its influence to cattle. Fat and meaty beasts sold
more freely than of late, at a little improvement in price,
averaging rather more than sd. per lb , and store cattle
also went off readily on comparatively still better terms.
Fat sheep were in demand—all in the market were sold,
and averaged full 6d. per lb. 'There were a great many
pigs brought, but in them business was not so brisk. The
horse-fair exhibited nothing worth notice.— Gloucester
Journal.

SERIOUS ACCIDENT.-011 Saturday after-
noon, as the Bishop of LONDON was proceeding in his
carriage along the King's Road, Chelsea, a little boy about
eight years of age was accidentally run over by his Lord-
ship's vehicle, which, it appeared, the coachman was
driving at a steady rate. The Bisiroe immediately alight-
ed and ordered tie little sufferer to be conveyed to St.
George's Hospital in his own carriage, whilst be walked
the whole of the distance. His Lordship, on learning
that the lad's family were in indigent circumstances, hu-
manely presented his father with two sovereigns, and un-
dertook to clothe his sen whenever he should be pronounced
convalescent.

MURDER AT CHARD.--CHARD, APRIL .12,
—A murder, of exactly a similar nature to the present,
was perpetrated near Chard, about six years since, in con-
sequence of which and the poverty of the friends of the
unfortunate victim, JOAN TURNER, a number of Magi-
strates and gentlemen met immediately after the discovery
of her murder, and formed themselves into a committee,
for the purpose of instituting an inquiry into the different
facts, with a view that the perpetrator might be brought
to justice. After several examinations the prisoner Rus-
SELL was apprehended, and having been taken before the
Magistrates, was committed for trial. After the condem-
nation of RUSSELL steps were taken by his Counsel, and
a respite was obtained ; the committee, therefore, again
met for the purpose of further investigation. As the case
has now become.-of very great interest, the committee
are prosecuting their exertions with ardour, in the hope
that they may be able to elucidate the truth.

On Saturday afternoon a young man named
ADAM HOULBORN, who was superintendent at Messrs.
HERBERT and SOUTHAM'S extensive saw-mills, in Gil-
lingham-street, Vauxhall-road, engaged with two other
young men in the same employ to have an excursion up the
river, for which purpose they engaged a small boat, with
a sail which was considerably too large for so light a boat.
The party had proceeded as far up the river as to be ap-
proaching Wandsworth, when one of the young men had
most incautiously made the sheet fast instead of holding it
in his hand ; a sudden squall came on, and the frail boat
was upset. HOULBORN, who was a good swimmer, made
towards the shore, but it appeared that his efforts failed
him, and on turning himself about, it is supposed he saw
11;s two companions clinging to the boat, for lie then at-
tempted to regain it ; but before lie could reach the boat.
he sank to rise no more. Fortunately for his companions,
boatmen put off as promptly as puss ble, and succeeded in
rescuing them from their perilous situation.

About four o'clock on Monday afternoon,
as the Rocket coach was proceeding to Chatham, a sailor,
evidently much intoxicated, got up near Shooter's-hill, in-
tending to be set down, as he said, at Greenhithe, where
his ship, an East Indianian, had only arrived the day pre-
vious, and from which he had obtained twenty-four hours'
leave of absence. He informed one of the passengers that
he had not set his foot iu England for nineteen years, and
on his landing had met with an acquaintanco of his family,
a young female, whom he should probably marry. He
got down when the coach stopped to change horses, and
had mere liquor; when be got on the roof again, the
coach had hardly proceeded a hundred yards beyond
Shooter's-hill, when he swayed over and fell backwards on
his head. The wheel passed over the right clieek, whirls
it tore nearly away, and split his ear in a most dangerous
manner. The passengers instantly rendered all possible
assistance to the unfortunate man, who was quite insen-
sible, end a medical gentleman being fortunately on the
coeds, advised his intmediate removal to the Duke of Wei-
linron public-house, where he examined the injury, which
he pronounced of the most serious description. The man
still lies there in a very doubtful state.

FIRE,-,Yesterday afternoon, about two
o'clock, the workmen in the employ of Mes,rs. J. and F.
SUTTON, the ship-chandlers, Bankside, were boding a
quantity of pitch, when the kettle or vessel in which it
was accidentally fell over, and in an instant the whole of
the warehouse was in flames; the men fled in all directions,
and the alarm soon spread ; the flames raging with the
most fearful rapidity, threatened destruction to the adjoin-
ing premises. With an alacrity that reflects great credit,
the engine belonging to the breweiy of Ak‘ssrs. BARCLAY,
PERKINS, and Co. was on the spot, and was as speedily
set to work by gbh'-bodied men in the employ of the firm,
but such a strong hold had the devouring ;:,;einent of the
premises, their exertions were scarcely of any avail, and
the flames raged wit!: alarming ascendancy, and ere the
arrival of the engines belonging to the Fire-offices they
had communicated to the roof of the dwelling house be-
longing to Mr. FRIEND, the timber-merchant, and zotliing
but the total destruction of that, and ;he, immense stock
of timber in the yard, was expected. However, by a
activity of the firemen, the flames were prevented loin ex-
powerful supply of water, aided by the experience and
tending their ravages farther than the ziJoiol Mr. FRIEN's
house, which was entirely destroyed. Mrs. FlttExt,, who
had been very ill for some time, was carried out and safely
lodged in the house of a neighbour. By half-past three
the whole of Messrs. SUTTON'S premises were entirely
burnt to the ground, and the chief part of the stock in
trade. A strong body of the new police, gulletthe direc-
tion of Mr. MURRAY, the superintendent, were in attend-
anct, and were of tbezp.o3 zssential service.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

We have received about a thousand letters ire
favour of the brewers' and publicans' monopoly of
the sale of beer, now about, we do ardently hope, to
be abolished entirely, and for ever. We have also
received some pamphlets on the same subject,--for
your monopoly is a troublesome and vivacious
beast : it yells, and kicks, and twists, and struggles
indefatigably, until the death-blow has been struck,
and only then have me any chance of relief from its
annoyances. It is the same with all monopolies :
they, every one, assail us with their " reliance on
public faith,"—their " vested interests,"—" their
freeholds." A pretty thing, truly, when alehouse
and gin-shop-keepers have a vested interest in rob-
bing and poisoning the King's subjects, and raise an
outcry against the Legislature for its first, though
shamefully tardy and timid, attempt to release the
people of England frotn a nuisance imposed upon them
by the fraudulent adulteration of a lawful bever-
age, and a scandalous abuse of magisterial power.
A pamphlet-writer, who professes to be a magistrate,
—ten to one a licensing magistrate,—charges Mr.
Calcraft and his Committee with precipitancy, and
the Government with want of" due deliberation,"
for a measure which goes to cancel 2,000,0001. of
property, arid by which the value of licensed houses
has already been depreciated more than 10Q per
cent. ; which means, we presume, that they are
worth less than nothing. Now we do not believe
one word of public-houses being depreciate° by the
Bill for opening the beer trade, a single farthing
more than they ought, for the sake of the public, to
be depreciated. The public houses will still have a
great advantage over all others, if they confine their
sale to genuine beer, which the great brewers will
manufacture of a better quality, and the large and
accustomed houses will continue to sell more exten-
sively than will those which are occupied by any
other class of persons. But if the alehouse keepers
want to perpetuate the advantages so long enjoyed by
pt hoelym,
and throughif Loh r
eulny ieorsn ofaf
nactluy tl
ht ear.:a t
ti ohne y aterdaomono
con-
tinue to found on such exclusive and iniquitous pri-
vileges of the publicans an exaction of the same
enormous rents for their houses as heretofore, when
to pay such rents monopoly itself has not sufficed
without the additional help of adulteration, we
may not feel surprised or provoked at any such in.-
dulgence of human selfishness ; but astonished we
are, at the grave presumption of men who write pam-
phlets with the apparent design of turning the tables
on the whole community, and making a pour mouth
on behalf of the ancient wrongdoers,as if they were the
aggrieved parties, merely for being hindered from
doing for ever what it was criminal to have done at
all. Due deliberation ! Why, Government did
not require twenty years to show them what was
manifest on the face of every licence granted or re-
fused, and on the first taste of every pot of beer that
left any of the privileged houses, that the licence
was a tyranny, and the liquor a deception. If the
houses have acquired, through so base a traffic, art
unnatural and unlawful value, and if the pro-
perty of " 2,000,000/." has been swollen though
a system of such rank abuse, are we to be told
that that there is no relief for the cheated Red op-
pressed consumer, but that en this as on most other
occasions, the country, being the weaker party,
must go submissively to the wall ? The writer of
this pamphlet to which we are adverting takes it
quite coolly, as a postulate, that the alehouse
keepers are as much entitled to compensation as the
losers of patent offices under a law for the abo-
lition of sinecures. But what is the real tenure
of a publican's " office"—why, from one October
to the following ! Arty bench of licensing Magi-
strates can cut away the " vested interest" of the
biggest " patentee" among them all, without
hearing a word about compensation. There is one
species of attack upon the new law, which, if not
remarkable for its modesty, is, at least, for in-
genuity and frankness. It is, for sooth an in-
sult to the unpaid Magistracy 1 to suppose
that they " have been instrumental to the
high price of malt liquor, in the mode they have
pursued in granting licences." Why so they
have : every fool, much more every knave, knows
that. The magistrates, in league with the brewers,
have notoriously committed the most flagrant and
impudent abuses; and because a set of tradesmen
have got rich through these abuses, the public is
never to be relieved. So, for the abuse of Magis-
terial authority where it has occurred—as the
" county magistrate" ingenuously confesses it has
sometimes—we are to go to the Court of Kinjeg
Bench for redress ! This is best of all—as if it had
trot been sufficiently understood that the King's
Bench, aceordieg to the nearly invariable course of
modern decisions, was protector-general of the un-
paid magistrates, unless positive—that is almost im
possible— proofs of corruption could be brought
home against them. Then for the guardianship of
public decency and morals under the new system.
Are there no such things as flash houses, and no-
torious receptacles of thieves and abandoned women
under the old ? We say, let the police da their
duty, and there need neither be breaches of pub/:c
decency, nor of the public peace. The paniuhlet of
which we have been speaking calls itself a Dispas-
sionate Appeal to the Legislature, 111aejstrates,
Clergy, &c., against Mr. Calcraft's proposed
Bill. We have never read upon a public question
a less dispassionate, a less satisfactory, or, indeed, a
more inconclusive performance, than this "free-end-
easy" thirty-five-paged book.—Tinze.s.

Every one must be aware that the actual miseries
of poverty and ,‘ ant must be greater in winter than
in summer; and that in such a winter as we have
just emerged from, the sufferings of cold alai hunger
must have been greatly enhanced; but it is an im-
pious mockery for people to be told that any are to
look to a change of season as the only alleviation of
evils which their rules have brought upon them—
and which their rulers could, if they pleased., in a
great measure remove. The bounties of Providence
we all know the value of; but it is not the duty of
man, first to thwart those bounties; and then to ap-
peal to them as the refuge of those from whom they
are, in a great measure, intercepted. That an
abundant harvest will greatly alleviate the sufferings
of the people no one can doubt; nor is it less
certain that another deficient or bad one would
plunge them still deeper in ruin and despair.
But it is the duty of those who wield the de-
stinies of nations to provide against such con-
tingencies as the last—not to depend wholly upon
the uncertainty of the first, Would any wan have
believed that, at the end of Li years of peace, this
once-prosperous country could have been reduced
to such a pass as to have the existence of its popu-
lation depending upon the change and state of the
seasons ? Yet such, or very near it, must be our
stare, when ti,e main consolation which the organs
of Government can hold out to the people is, that
when nature puts on the livery of Spring, they may
stand a chance to smile too. What a hand-to-
mouth life must a nation lead that depends upon
this sort of logic for its main political consola-
tion ! We would warn the Government and the
Legislature against trusting to such a life of expe-
diency as this; for let their reliance upon the seasons
but fail, and then, according to their own doctrine,
there is a limit to the powers of human endurance.
No, much as the bounties of Providence may be-
tatihihuitige(ti ni liNaty:Ctlaenoirid:isNtitilbiaeet
npgee,
outmf:tr.ei
et sac,
loect:arnpiataocni,t
ayi
to
ll Nosv
hptohlaeci
look
outkshi
the
calmlyeasff business orsf
of nations beyond the mere contingencies of seasons ;
and impartially to the causes of our present distress,
that though the hand of Providence may, in its
mercy, relieve
.us, it is to the errors of our rulers
and that it is to a retracing of
those errors that we haven right to look for perma-
nent relief.,—/liorning Herald.

The Scotch Law Reforms have already brought
into the geld some of the parties whose interests are
threatened by them. The faculty of Procurators
before the High Court at Admiralty at Edinburgh
had a meeting on the Bth of April, when they de-
termined to petition Parliament against the abolition
of the High Court of Admiralty. A great deal of

tvhat is stated by the speakers is sheer nonsense.
Whenever it is proposed to introduce an improve-
ment or alteration, the parties affected are sure to
bandy about the Treaty of Union. The !treaty of
Union I As if the people of Scotland in the present
day cared for the Treaty of Union I It was natural
enough that the Scotch, who had been struggling
for their independence for four or five hundred
years, against a people twenty times richer than
themselves, and six times more populous, should
feel a little uneasiness on entering into a closer con-
nection with them. But now that the two nations
have been closely united for 121 i years, and are to
all intents and purposes one people, so much so,
that the connection between a town in England and
another town in Scotland is as intimate as that be-
tween any two towns in either division of the island,
it is time to forget as much as possible the former
separation. The question ought to be, is a mea-
sure conducive to the welfare of the people ? and
not is it 'contrary to any provisions in the Treaty
of Union ? The people of England and of Scot-
land being one, it is impossible to conceive that
the English part of the Legislature can have any
wish to injure Scotland, or that the Scotch part of
the Legii.latnre can have a wish to injure England.
It is as reasonable to suppose that the English have
a design against Wales, or the Counties Palatine of
Chester and Durham, in the Duchy of Lancaster, as
that they have a design against Scotland. If a
measure is beneficial to the people of Scotland, why
are we to be everlastingly told by monopolists of one
'lass or another that it is contrary to the Union?
The absurdity of supposing that one age can deter-
mine the institutions of a country for ail time to
come, is, we should think, too glaring for the pre-
sent day. Had a Treaty of Union been entered
into in the age of Edward of England and Robert
Bruce, how many of the Scotch institutions would
have remained in the present day ? When the al.
turation is acceptable to the people of Scotland ge-
nerally, although it may run counter to some stipula-
tion in the Union, there can be no reason why it
should not be made. The great use of such a
Treaty is to guard the minor nation from having
measures forced on them contrary to their wish. If,
for instance, the Parliament of Britain should be de-
sirous of extending the Church of England to Scot-
land, and the people of Scotland should be hostile to
sea an extension, the Treaty of Union might be ap-
pealed to. But if the people of Scotland were to be-
come emus-loured of the Church of their neighbours,
and be desirous of the establishment of Episcopacy
(we put an extreme case) the Treaty of Union
ought riot to stand between them and their desires.
It would be hard indeed if a people should, by any
coatract entered into for their own protection, be
for ever precluded from the changes of which they
should themselves be desirous. So much for the
Treaty of Union, which, as it is seldom if ever re-
ferred to but by those who have sinister objects, or
objects which cannot be defended on the principles
of general utility, carries with it no charm for
Whenever we hear the words greaty of Union, we
are sure that some job is to be defended. But
though the practitioners before the Court of Admi.
salty may not be justifiable in laying any stress on
the Treaty of Union, we fear the Lord Advocate is
rot more justifiable in his Reforms, the vulnerable
parts of which are pointed out by one of the
Speakers :
" Is the Court of Session," says Mr. Campbell, " the
espence of making up a record was from 55/. to '7Ol. ; in.
the Court of Admirany the same record could be prepared
with equal ability for from 151. to 20/. ! In the Court
of Session an account of 100/. contained fees to Counsel,
361. Is. ; and fees of Court, and other disbursements,
34/. 14s. Sd. ; being together 69/. 15s. 3d. of outlay, and
801. 15s. 6d. of protits.—(Vide Appendix to Report of
W. S. this Court, in an account of 1001., the outlay
did not exceed 10/. or 151. Thus a• much business could
be got done in the Admiralty for 100/. as in the Court of
i+.ession for 300/. This -would perhaps explain why he
(Mr. Campbell), who practised both before the Court of
Session and Court of Admiralty, deoidrdly preferred
the practice of the latter Court. In support of the aboli-
tion of this High Court, the Learned Lord argued—ln the
first place, that it was necessary to add to the business of
she bar of Scotland—that most influential body, whom,
if Ministers were anxious to maintain their popularity,
they ougbt by every means to coneiliate."f his, no doubt,
was one reason. But it appesrad not very consistent with
the profession of the G overnment to render justice cheap,
w increase the expense of a maritime process from 20/. to
70/. on each side, merely to be popular' with the bar of
the Court of Session."

This is what is meant by law reform in the pre-
sent day i The bar of Scotland, that most influen-
tial body, forsooth, 'mist be conciliated ! Con-
ciliated at the expellee of suitors, who must not
be allowed to enter a Court till they have forced
their way by a golden passport through this influ-
ential body I AU the law reforms are the work of
Bairisters; and, as far as we hate ever been able to
the great of jest of them is to enrich the profes-
sion. The public is nothing in the eves of the
Lord Advocate, the influential profession every
thing. Cold for ever, if you wish to remose profes-
sional prejudices. They seldom hold out long
against a prospect of increased fees I We are glad
to see the Scotch Press bestirring itself against the
attempt of the Lord Advocate to pander to the pre-
judices of the English Aristocracy, by an alteration
of a part of the Scotch judicial system, against
which there never was a complaint in the country.
The Coledonian Mercuu of Saturday last, after
noticing the disgraceful proceedings in the House
of Commons in the Ellenborough Divorce Case,
which occupied the House for several days, to the
exclusion of the business of the station, observes
forcibly :
" Yet it is at the moment when a learned Civilian pro-
nounces stteh an opinion as to the state of the English
Law of Divorce, that we are threatened with a change of
that part of our exclusive national jurisprudence relating
to this very point, and of which we have, when compared
with our Southern neighbours, such just reason to be
proud That law has hitherto saved us is a great degree
front the infliction of aim. con. trials, and the disgraceful
and disgusting disclosures which they involve. We pro-
t,sst in //mini, and shall continue to protest, most strenu-
ously, against a change so portentous as the removal of
such eases from the Court of their special jurisdiction to
the Court of Scion to form the subject of jury trials."
It is true there is no stipulation in the Treaty of
Unix' against throwing difficulties in the way of
divorce; but if the people have lived for centuries
satisfied w;th the law, and if the crime of adultery
is hardly known among them, whereas the English
are exceedingly lax in their morals, notwithstanding
the abundance of cant in the country, why are the
Scotch to be assimilated to the English ? It is quite
time enough to alter the lawe of a country when the
people themselves call for the alteration. We dis-
trust all grievances which lawyers alone have the
discernment to find out. It is like the wolf finding
fault with the sheepfold. We cannot quit this sub-
ject without remarking how quickly the monopolists
of one country lay hold of an abuse in another
which keeps them in countenance. Our readers
may remember a case decided in the Common Pleas,
which ought to have been brought before the Bos-
ton Court of Conscience, arid in which Judge Best
held that as the debtor lived at Boston, and the
creditor in London, it was quite proper to allow the
creditor to sue in the Common Pleas for 31. 6s. In
the Scotch Court of Admiralty, a party residing in
the Orkney or Shetland islands may be compelled,
in like manner, to come to Edinburgh. This the
practitioners justify, because it favours creditors for-
sooth. It would not be a bad speculation for a
London or Edinburgh attorney, possessed of some
capital with little business, to have an understand•
ing with a traveller, for the sake of commencing suits
against the debtors in the respective capitals. But
-tee will allow the Edinburgh monopolists to speak
for themselves :

Ai The
,Learned Lord in his speech had stated his rea-
sons for toe abolition of this Court, which would be after-
wards noticed ; but the Learned Lord did not seem to be
aware that the principle of his plan was reprobated by the
superior Courts in England. His Lordship says tidy High
Court ' was not a superior Court, nor had it the advan-
tage of a local Court in cheapness or convenience ; be-
yeause all men, even in the remotest parts of Scotland,
joust some to Edinburgh, if concerned in proceedings in
that Court respecting a matter from thirty shillings to five

pounds.' This his Lordship might consider very conclu-
sive, but it was entirely erroneous in principle. In proof
of which he referred to the case of Abbey v. Lill, Bing.
(Common Pleas), 299, where, in an action for three
pounds six shillings, a verdict was obtained in the Com-
mon Pleas, and a rule Nisi to set it aside and to deprive
the plaintiff of his costs, on a suggestion founded on the
Boston Court of Conscience Act, 47th George 111., c. 1,
sec. 18, which gave jurisdiction to the extent of five
pounds ; and Best, C. .1. (now Lord Wynford) said, 'lt
the Boston Act had been confined to cases where the
plaintiff and defendant both lived at Boston, I should have
been disposed to give it the fullest effect ; but I am un-
willing to make Boston a place of refuge for debtors, when
the debt had been incurred in London.' In the Law
Chronicle, vol. i. p. 189, it was said, The dictum of
the Chief Justice shows the error of the I.ord Advocate's
Act, which deprived the Admiralty of its ancient jurisdic-
tion iu actions for recovery of sums under 251. In prac-
tice, much inconvenience has been experienced, chiefly in
the case of debts tinder 251. incurred in London, Edin-
bureh, and Glasgow, which can only be recovered in the
local jurisdiction. The consequence generally is, the debt
is lost ; and the local jurisdictions are thus made so many
' places of refuge for debtors.' The Legislature was
bound to consider the interest and benefit of the creditor
as well as the debtor ; but the Learned Lord's bowels of
compassion appeared to be all in favour of the debtor."
It appears to us that the abolition of the Admi-
ralty Court is a good, but that the transference of
the causes to a more extensive Court is an evil ;
and when we consider that the causes taken from
the Consistory Court, as well as the causes taken
from the Admiralty Court, will be decided at a
greatly increased expence to suitors, in nineteen-
twentieths of the cases, we have doubts whether,
on the whole, the Scotch Law Reforms ought not
to be characterized as a job, favouring one set of
professional men at the expence of another, and also
at the expcnce of the public.-3/orning, Chronicle.
The Scotch, if we may judge from the Papers,
seem to think very contemptuously of the projected
Law Reforms:—
" Retrenchment (says the Aberdee., Chronicle) is so

little familiar to the ideas of this Learned Gentleman (the
Lord Advocate), and to that school in which he was bred,
and of which he has always been a promising disciple,
that the work sits awkwardly on him. To do him justice,
it is not of his seeking—it has been put upon him. First
be tells us that the Scotch were found not to be so averse
to Jury trial as was ac first imagined—for it was supposed
that they were wedded to old forms; and that Jury trial
went on till it became acceptable to all classes of Scots-
men. The Lord Advocate here talks of the administra-
tion of justice as if it were a mere matter of taste with the
Scots, as if their reason had nothing to do with the mat-
ter, and as if they were to be cajoled into Jury trial by de-
grees. The Scots try the whole matter by an entirely
different standard. They are not wedded to any forms--
they are wedded to the cheapest and the most expeditious
mode of doing justice ; whatever system conducts to this
end will be acceptable to them. So far from being re-
conciled to Jury trial by any experience of its benefits, as
the Learned Lord states, it has, on the contrary, been
found, as it has been administered, the most expensive,
uncertain, and unsatisfactory mode of administering justice
ever introduced into Scotland ; and the dread of the Jury
Court has driven numerous litigants to submit their cises
to arbitration, rather than encounter its perils. This is
tno well known to be disputed in Edinburgh, the head-
quarters of litigation, where these matters are well under-
stood."

Lord Tenterden is reported to have said some
time ago, that cheap and expeditious justice was a
bad thing, as it encouraged litigation. The Jury
trial is to he forced on the Scotch, who hold it in
great aversion, in order to prevent litigation. The
meaning of all this is obvious enough. Let us make
justice as dear as possible, that we may exclude the
mass of the people from our Courts, and drive them
to help themselves the best way they can. Parties
who are at issue for large sums, will riot be deterred
by expence; and by excluding the people from the
Courts, they will be occupied only with causes which
can pay the profession liberally. It would be had tact
in a lawyer in full practice, to favour the introduction
of causes respecting small sums, when his whole time
can be occupied with causes for large sums. Twenty
or thirty pounds may, to a man in an bumble walk
of life, be of more importance than fifty thousand
pounds to another, but the happiness of the man in
humble life is considered as nothing. The great, the
only matter deserving of a moment's consideration
with the Bar, is how shall the men who are at the
top of the profession make princely fortunes in a
few years.—All the Law Reforms of this country
have for object what the Lord Advocate calls
very naively conciliating the profession. The pro-
fession in Scotland have discovered what is well
known to the profession in England—that Jury
Trials are easy and profitable work. The opinion
of the public must, therefore, go for nothing, and
the opinion of the profession for every thing.—ls
there any one thing which a Jury can do which a
siugle Judge sitting in an open Court cannot do
hater ? If the object be to ascertain by evidence
the truth in those points respecting which the par-
ties are at issue, the Judge can weigh that evidence
more correctly than any one of the twelve Jurors
can be supposed to do. lint even if every one of
the twelve men were able, who does not see that so
numerous a body is a nuisance as a tribunal ? When

the Scorch had in the Court of Session fifteen
Judges, it was almost impossible to anticipate in
any case what the decision: would be. The Court
was a sort of Debating Club, the Judges regularly
answering each other. There is the same uncer-
tainty with a Jury; and we have again and again
heard Barristers say, that in nineteen cases out of
twenty, it is impossible to anticipate the verdict.—
However, the people of England are used to this
sort of judicial gambling; but it is rather going too
far to force the system on a people by whom it is
detested. We are convinced that all the Law Re-
forms will turn out, as far as:the public is concerned,
a mere illusion, or, as in the case of the Scotch,
something worse—an attempt to exclude a greater
number from access to Courts of Law.—Morn.Chron.

The Parliamentary Return of Committals and
Convictions, &c. for England and Wales, from 1823
to 1829 inclusive, which has just been distributed,
exhibits a fearful progression in crimes against pro-
perty, while, on the other hand, crimes of violence
have not increased. We are every day becoming
more and more a pilfering and a swindling people ;
but it is a great satisfaction to know that the more
atrocious crimes, which fill society with alarm, do
not more than keep pace with the increase of the
population. Thus, for instance, the convictions for
crimes of violence stand thus :-
1323. 1824. 1825. 1526. 1837. 1958. 189.
Arson 6 6 7 3 3 3 8
Manslaughter. 53 50 02 es 83 72 58
Murder li 17 12 13 12 20 13
---- shooting at, stab-
bing, wounding, and ad-
ministering poison, with
intent to murder, exc 14 21 17 IA 35 20 65
But' the commitments for the above years have '
arisen from 12,263 to 18,675 by a sort of
regular progression ; thus, 12,263, 13,698, 14,437,
16,164, 17,921, 16,564, 18,675. The propor-
tion of the acquittals to the convictions for
different crimes furnishes matter for reflection.
Thus the convictions for larceny (not other-
wise described) in 1829, is 9,444, the acquittals,
2,036 ; while for murder, the convictions for that
year arc 13, and the acquittals 27—that is, the
convictions in larceny are to the acquittals as 4
6-10ths to 1, while the acquittals are to the convic-
tions in number as two to one. In manslaughter,
too, the acquittals exceed the convictions. In
several of the Welsh Counties the commitments
remain nearly stationary; but Westmorland is the
only English County in which the commitments are
fewer in 1829 than in 1823, being for the former
year 23, and for the latter 11. The agricultural
districts in England exhibit the greatest increase.
On the other hand, crime increases in tl,e great
towns in Scotland, and seems stationary in the
merely agricultural districts. Thus, for instance,
the following account is given in the Scotch Papers,
of the AssiEes for the three counties of Roxburgh,
I3erwick, and Selkirk, held at Jedburgh :
" Lord Pitmilly opened tlse Circuit at Jedburgh, on
Thursday, Ist inst. There were only three eases ;—One
panel, for theft, was sentenced to seven ears' transporta-
tion
afuounioidtltle,,rb,efoirnsaasnseiult, to ten months' imprisonment;
a man, named Fraser, accused of wilful fire-raising,
and ordered to be confined to the
Castle of Jedbv rsh
, subject to the future orders of the

Justiciary Court. Sir Walter Sdatt (gays the Kelso
hail), whom the Edinburgh Papers, We observe, have
dispatched to London, was present as Sheriff of Selkirk,.
shire.' "--Aforning Chronicle.

Among the pamphlets which have just issued
from the press, there is one, entitled " A new Salve
for the State; or an Examination into the Causes
of the present Distress of the Country, and what is
the Remedy P" which is one of the strangest com-
pounds of occasionally sound principles and absurd
dogmas that it has ever been our lot to peruse, and
which we merely notice because among the ignorant,
who know as little as the writer the distinction be-
tween cause and erect, the doctrines which it en-
deavours to promulgate may produce much mis-
chief. The pamphlet commences with some high
sounding speculations on the growth and decay of
empires, respecting which we find no new observa•
tions, and then proceeds to discuss the various
causes which have been assigned, and the various
remedies which have been proposed, for the exist-
ing distress of the country. A want and deficiency
of currency, in consequence of calling in the
small notes, is not, he says, the true cause,
for " men," says he, " soon know what they
hive to depend upon, and the value of the
currency is then regulated according to its
intrinsic worth ; yet he seems to allow, even in the
same breath, that it is " a main point that the cur-
rency should be kept up and never varied !" In
this country, however, it has been varied to such an
extent, as nearly to double all money obligations, of
whatever nature; and if, therefore, it be a main
point that the currency " should never vary," we
are somewhat apt to think that it will follow as a
not very unreasonable conclusion, that the alteration
of the currency is also a main, if not the principal,
cause of the present distress. With regard again to
taxation, the notions of the author are equally sin-
gular. He does not indeed deny that the great
amount of taxes now raised, add considerably to
the distress of the country; but he is, neverthe-
less, disposed to think, that " if we could pay off
the National Debt to-morrow, (ef which, by the
bye, there is no great danger,) the momentary alle-
viation !" (only think of that) " received from it,
would in ten years' time have totally disappeared !"
Such opinions are rather too hard of digestion, con-
sidering that we have a debt of nearly eight hun-
dred millions, and that the paying of it off to-
morrow would relieve us of all state taxes for
upwards of thirteen years to come ; but these are
nothing compared with his contradictory notions
respecting trade. In one part of his pamphlet he
observes, that " a great cry is always raised about
trade ! give encouragement to trade ! Trade
requires no other encouragement than liberty and
freedom; it is our forced encouragement to trade,
arising out of our aim at monopoly, which has done
much harm in causing the present distresses." Now
we perfectly agree in these obseevations. The doctrine
is, generally speaking, sound and wholesome, and
we have no doubt that much of the existing distress
may be traced to the application of another theory
to the industry of the country, than that which re-
gulated it for many years ; but what are we to
think of the consistency of the writer who in a page
or two after delivering himself of this pithy apo-
thegm proposes, as the first grand remedy, " the
prohibiting of farmers from keeping more than one
horse to-convey their produce to market, and from
using ploughs, harrows, and every species of ma-
chinery and instrument, except the hands of man,
for digging and cultivating the earth ;" and finally
concludes by declaring that, " if the Government is
wise, and wishes to promote the happiness of the
people, and to see the country, pheenix•like, rise
from its ashes, it has only two things to do, to give
work, and prohibit gin entirely!" Verily a Daniel
bath arisen in the land, and his words are the words
of wisdom I—Morning Advertiser.