The Sun.
London, England, 1865-04-29 00:00:00

NEWCASTLE- ON-TYNE.

A requisition to the mayor of this town is being
numerously signed by the inhabitants, requesting
his worship to call a public meeting to express sym-
pathy with the American people and the widow and
family of their late President, " in the terrible afflic-
tion into which they have been so suddenly plunged
by the assassination of their high-minded and pa-
triotic chief magistrate." The meeting, it is antici-
pated, will be held in the early part of next week.
Very great excitement has continued to prevail
among the communities in the north-eastern part
of England since the news of. the assassination of
President Lincoln was telegraphed. All classes and
men of all opinions express their horror of the crime.
The American ships lying in the Tyne have had
their flags flying half-mast high since the intelli-
gence of Mr. Lincoln's death reached this country.

The News of the Assassination in New

York.

(From the Tan& ',special Southern Correspondent.)
NEW YORK, April 15.

It may safely be affirmed that in the history of
mankind no civilised capital ever wore the aspect
which, upon the receipt of the ghastly tidings of this
morning, New York at this hour presents. There
was excitement, doubtless, in Paris when Henry
of Navarre fell before Ravaillac's dagger,--in
London when Mr. Perceval yielded his life to a
maniac's bullet,—in Rome when Cardinal Rossi fell
slaughtered in the public streets ; but what facilities
had Paris, London, or Rome for thrilling in an in-
stant the public heart and brain compared with
those which the diffusive penny press and swiftly
recurring telegrams of America place at this hour at
the disposal of New York ? Or was there ever nation
so sensitively plastic to the impress of great national
sentiments as the keenly sentient, mercurial, quick-
witted population which, in wild bewilderment,
surges and sways throng the thronging streets
now under my gaze ? Last night the people of this
great city went to bed, lulled by their cheerful
optimism, reckoning of the rebellion as already
a thing of the past, little heeding difficulties, social,
financial,- and economical, which might well make a
statesman stand aghast, believing that Abraham
Lincoln and William H. Seward were the chief
apostles of the revived American Union, which is
described in a work recently published as synony-
mous with the new Heaven and the new Earth.
This morning they woke to the stunning conscious-
ness that in the night the shadow of a great and
ghastly crime had passed over the land; that assassi-
nation, sudden and unlooked for, executed with
remorseless cruelty, but intrepid effrontery, had
engraven its hideous tale upon that page which
records four years of horrors without parallel, cul-
minating in the abhorred crime which has added to
the victims of this war the names of Abraham
Lincoln, and, as seems too probable, of William
H. Seward. A thousand American cities, linked
together by a network of lightning, have this
morning awakened to the simultaneous knowledge
that he who 12 hours ago was their first citizen,
the chief architect of their fabric of a resuscitated
Union, the figure-head round which clustered their
hopes and pride, is numbered with the dead. Al-
ready over hundreds of thousands of square miles
is every particular and detail of the rash and bloody
deed of last night scrutinised by millions of eager
eyes. It is believed that precisely at the same hour
two ruffians, manifestly in concert with each other,
lifted their hands against the two most valued lives
of the Republican party—that upon the night of
Good Friday Abraham Lincoln was stricken with his
death-wound in his private box at Ford's Theatre ;
that the small pocket pistol which launched the
fatal bullet was found, still smoking, on the floor
of the box ; that the undaunted assassin, having
entered the box from the rear, stretched his hand
over Mrs. Lincoln's shoulder until the muzzle of his
pistol almost touched the President's head ; that
the bullet, designedly (as it would seem) propelled
by a small charge of powder, did not pass through
the head, but lodged in the brain about threeinches
from its point of entrance ; that the ruffian who
fired it, rescuing himself without difficulty from Col.
Parker, of General Grant's Staff, who was in the
box with Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln, calmly stepped
from the private box upon the stage; that, brand-
ishing with melodramatic gesture a naked dagger in
his hand, he pronounced the well-known motto of
the State of Virginia, "Sic semper tyrannis," in ap-
parent justification of a deed against the atrocity of
which all that is noble and manly in that proud old
State will recoil with indignant execration ; that,
turning with unruffled imperturbability, he left the
stage and made his exit from the theatre by one of
the side scenes with which he seemed familiar, and,
mounting a horse which was attached to a tree in
the immediate neighbourhood of the theatre, gal-
loped swiftly off into the night, and was lost.
But it was reserved for his accomplice to exhibit
still more undaunted nerve, although wherever this
manalready
half t
of vin-
dictive tale is read humanity will shuddaesrsuastsinthtoe heartless
cruelty
an
cruelty which could instigate
hwaally
dead,to th the
abuedd stiudeanotficiapastouffbeny
suffering
avgsoldage
butchery
onchesreythede fyateaslteredvaeiyit
but
teretboyo
gravely Mr. Se-
ward's
menaced. It must be remembered that Mr. Seward
is 65 years old, and it would appear there are justi-
fiable grounds for the general belief that the suf-
ferer, if ever he arose from his sick bed again, could
scarcely have recovered, even without the horrible
events of last night, from a fracture of the arm and
jawbone, and from the exhaustion which is known
to have followed his accident, without a sensible
abatement of those singular powers, physical and
mental, which have enabled him during these
last four years to flood every European Foreign-
office with a deluge of despatches such as never
issued in like space of time from any single
pen. Boldly entering Mr. Seward's residence under
the pretext of being the bearer of some important
medicine which Dr. Verdi designed for his patient,
the assassin, undeterred by three men who attempted
to interpose, forced a road to his victim's bedside,

N E WSPAPER
- • •
•
and with hife deeply wo 9
, • 41.:4 ,
face and throat. Ci lsing w \ ";.•
Seward (the Assistant-Secretary o
son to the sufferer), the ruffian dealt hiEhLa b
the head which fractured his skull in two places,
and has probably terminated Mr. Frederick Seward's
earthly career. Almost simultaneous he poniarded
a male nurse in attendance upon Mr. Seward, in-
flicting wounds since pronounced to be mortal.
Upon Major. Seward (another son, if I am not mis-
taken, of the Secretary of State) the miscreant in-
flicted injuries which, though not likely to be fatal,
effectually prevented any further interference with
his own escape from under a roof which had looked
down within a few seconds upon the grim horrors
of a fourfold assassination. Mounting his horse
outside the door he saved himself, like his associate,
by swift .flight, and up to the present hour both
have escaped detection and capture. The public
voice seems unanimous in pronouncing the assassin
of President Lincoln to be an actor named Wilkes
Booth (the brother of the more celebrated Edwin
Booth, who has lately won highreputation in this city
by his admirable impersonation for 100 nights of
Hamlet)
whose face, it is asserted, was recognised by
many spectators acquainted with him. As I write,
fi aosfhaedparleocnogncthereteeldecctornicsNpviirraecsy,
in
nicwahtinichg
revelations,the
existence
Wilkes Booth was a principal, and which was designed
to have taken effect on the 4th of March,
are pla-
carded at the corners of the street, and devoured by
thousands of hungry eyes. The feeling with which
the brief record "Abraham Lincoln expired at 22
minutes past 7 this morning" is read may be con-
ceived by those of your readers who are acquainted
with the character and temperament of Americans.
How shall I describe the scene which. already
New York presents? There is, as I have already
_ 4141
aty up-O-n-*e-aiiii perm eaTergrnerves of
such exquisite sensibility, vibrating at the slightest
access of popular fever, carrying spasmodic sensa-
tion through a dense mass of human beings, which
in any other capital I have ever seen would take
hours to learn and understand what is here known,
felt, and appreciated in a few passionate seconds.
In a hundred instances during the last four years
your corresf4idents have. portrayed the fever fits of
New York—mass meetin in this square or that,
processions longer than that which welcomed tho
Prince of Wales, convulsions which shook Wall- '
street and Broadway like an all-pervading ague—
but I doubt whether a scene like that of this morn-
ing has yet been witnessed. The chronic excitement
of this war influences this strange population as
cumulative poisons are said to act upon their victims.
Instead of a dispersion of electricity through the
medium of these popular thunderbursts, the excite-
ment of the mass seems to accumulate and be hoarded
until, upon the occasion of each recurrent explosion,
the reserve of delirious passion is greater and greater
in volume. There have often before been paroxysms
of sanguine intoxication in this city, or of depres-
sion, if not of despair, but never before has the
thunderbolt fallen from a smiling sky, never has
the proud and swelling note of victory been con-
verted in the twinkling of an eye into the wail
of a nation. Abraham Lincoln had grown to be
regarded, in a higher degree than any soldier or
sailor, as the impersonation of the war power of
the Union. Creeping into Washington in disguise
and with timid irresolution to be inaugurated as
chief magistrate upon the 4th of March, 1861, he
lived so to conciliate and, within four brief years,
to win popular affection that his second inauguration
upon the 4th of March, 1865, was the ovation of an
almost unanimous people. The estimates of his cha-
racter and of the calibre of his intellect since he was
suddenly tossed to the surface of a great nation •
have been numerous and contradictory; but the
opinion seems to be daily gaining ground that im-
partial history will assign to him one of the highest
places among the statesmen who have hitherto pre-
sided over the North in the supreme agony of the
nation. There can be quoted against Mr. Lincoln no
such extravagant vaunts or unseemly denunciations
of others, no such rash predictions or disingenuous
colourings, as crowd the despatches of Mr. Seward ;
ou the other hand, there are thousands of Mr. Lin-
coln's anecdotes and quaint conceits, none of which
fail to indicate shrewdness, while many reveal a sin-
gular depth of insight into the circumstances under
which they were spoken. It was mentioned to me by
one of the Southern Peace Commissioners that at the
recent conference in Hampton Roads he was deeply
impressed.by the ascendancy of Mr. Lincoln through-
out the interview over Mr. Seward. The flags at
half-mast, the festoons of crape hung out by each
store in succession, and already creeping along the
whole length of Broadway upon either side of the
street, the eager closing of shutters and suspension
of business in Wall-street, the feverish bewilderment
of thousands who can as yet but half realise the
truth, the agitated swaying to and fro of hurrying
multitudes in the streets, the frenzied accents of
grief and rage, the tolling bells, the deep boom of
the minute guns, are fitting expressions of the pub-
lic grief, for they indicate not only the lamentation
that a just, temperate, calm, and well-intentioned,
statesman has died in the track of duty by the most
appalling of deaths, but that in one
of the most awful
of crises which ever overtook a nation his successor
should be Andrew Johnson.

Dreadful as is the fashion of death, if ever man
was felix opportunitate mortis that man may be pro-
nounced to be Abraham Lincoln. The difficulties
which he has surmounted during the first term of
office, sttpendous as they have been, are features,
trifles, air bubbles when compared with those which
await his successor during the four coming years.
But there can hardly be two opinions that in the
interest of the South no event could be more pre-
judicial, or more deeply to be deprecated, than the
foul assassination of last night. There breathes no-
where in the Northern States a partisan so blinded
by sectional passion, :or so exasperated against Se-
cessia as to imagine that the execrable crime of
which Washington was last night the scene could be
regarded by Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and
the men who share their confidence, otherwise than
with unmeasured detestation and poignant regret.
This is not the place nor the moment for attempting
to expatiate upon the character of Mr. Davis. But
having long occupied a position which afforded pe-
culiar facilities for understanding him, I cannot for-
bear briefly saying that, be his faults what they may,
the time is not far distant when history will mete out
to Mr. Davis that justice which is at present denied
to him not only, as is natural by Northerners, but
by many of his own ignorant and ungrateful country-
men. Meantime. the natural vindictiveness, conse-
quent uptooninthteenfseifarfy
Nuleerrtibmerenofbliast?et night, willi be em-
which none would resent more than the latter. The
of demarcation
advocates of harshness will be fearfully augmented
already
between
anrcaertieoisn
by the crime of last night, against which Mr. Davis,
whose leniency throughout this war has amounted
to a weakness, and , who under terrible provoca-
tion has never committed one act of retaliation,
would revolt with unutterable horror. The denun-
ciations of General Grant for his liberal terms to the
Confederates who surrendered to him will be fiercer
than ever, especially those which proceed from Gen.
Butler, and which are embittered with obvious per-
sonal malignity against the General. It has always
seemed to me that the surrender of General Lee
and the opportunity for generosity so admirably
seized by General Grant bridged over the gulf which
divides the two sections to a degree which none
could have hoped two months ago. But the bullet
of a dastardly assassin has in one instant neutralised
the effect of the great stride towards conciliation so
happily taken by General Grant.

CONSTANCE KENT'S CONFESSION.—That Con-
stance Kent had made no communication to her family of
her intention to charge herself with the murder is pretty
clearly demonstrated by the following incident :—Mr.
Kent, who resides near Llangollen, visited Oswestry on
Wednesday, and his conversation impressed the first per--
son on whom ho called with the idea that he was much
more cheerful than usual. He made an appointment to
call again, but failed to keep it. About two o'clock he was
at the Cambrian Railway Station, and there purchased a
newspaper, which first acquainted him with theßow-street
proceedings. Temporarily paralysed, his first impulse
seemed to be to hide himself from human observation, and
rushing up the main street he entered the Wynnstay Arm
Hotel, where he ordered a carriage, in which he imme-
diately started for his home.

THEATR E—R OYA L, DRURY—LANE,
Managers. Jilessrs. E. Falconer and F. B. Chatterton.
THIS EVENING, Shakespere's Play of HENRY THE
EIGHTH, te; minating
iss Atk nson. with the fal of Wolsey. Messrs.
Phelps, w atter Lacy ; Ml
Aft er which, on a scale of grett splendour, Milton's Mesk
of CO: Messrs. Waiter Lacy, Si illaye Cooper, Li en i
Drayton, Miss roole, Miss Augusta Thomson, and Mrs. H.
Vezia.

THEATRE-ROYAL,HAYMARKET.
Lessee. Mr. Buckstone.
Tilts EVENING the performance will commence with
THREK WEEK'S ArTER 3IA UtIAGE. Mr. Chippen-
e ale. Mr. VV. Farren, Mr. Gordon, &c ; Mesdames Fi zwilliam,
Snowdon, &c.
Atter which, THE WOMAN IN MAUVE. Meseta.
Sothern, Compton, Howe, Farren, Braid, &c ; Mesdames
Stuart, Lovell, Buckstone, &c.
Followed by LORD DUNDREARY MARRIED AND
DONE FOR Dundreary, Mr. Sothern.
And FAMILY JARS. Mr. Compton, &o.
To commence at 7.

NEW THEATRE-ROYAL, ADELPHI.—
~ele Proprietor and Manager. r. B. o sonar.
THIS EVE \TING (by (1. sire), MASKS AND PACES ;
or, Before and Behind the Curtain. Mr. Benjamin Webster,
3lessrs. Paul Bedford, Billington, Ashley, Stuart, C. Smith,
Mrs. Stirling, Miss H. Simms. and Mrs. Billington.
Atter which, 17th time, a new Extravaganza, entitled
PAN ; or, The Loves of Echo and Narcissus. Messrs. J. L.
Toole, Paul Bedford, J.„J. Smith, H. homer, Miss Woolgar,
Miss K. Kelly, Miss Lillian Bruce, and Miss A. Seam .n.
To conclude with THE STEEPLECHASE; or, In the
Pigskin. Mesa's. J. L. Toole, Paul Bedford ; Miss K. Kelly.

Commence at 7.

ROYAL LYCEUM THEATRE.
Under the Sole Management of Mr. l"echter.
THIS EVENING, A DAY AFrEIL THE WEDDING.
Messrs. C. Horsman, Collett, M'lntyre, &o. ; Mesdames C.
Horsman and G. Leigh.
After which, at halt-put Eight, THE MOUNTEBANK
Belphegor (the Mountebank). Mr. Pechter; Paul (his s
Master Pechter; supported by Messrs. Widdicomb, Ryder,
B. Emery, Fitzpatrick, E. Garden, C. Horsman, Raymond,
Moreland; Miss C. Leclercq, Mdlle. Beatrice, and Mrs. O.
Horsman.
To conclude with THE LOST CHILD. Mr. Widdicomb.
Doors open at Hall-past Six.
The Box-office open daily from Elevtn till Five.

ROYAL PRINCESS'S THEATRE,
Sole Lessee and Manager, Mr. Geo. Vining.
'THIS EVENING, # new Farce, by Mr. David Fisher,
entitled HEART-STRINGS AND FIDDLE-STRINGS. •

Alter which, ARRA!' NA POGUE : Messrs. Dion Bond
vault, J. Brougham, H. -Vandenholt D. Fisher, li. Murray
Mrs. Boncicauit and Miss 31. Oliver.

To conclude with AN AMPLE APOLOGY.

ROYAL STRAND THEATRE
Sole Lessee and Manageress. Mrs. Swanborough.

THIS EVENING, at 7, DEAF AS A POST. Mr. Thorne.
Mesdames Johnston, Weston, and Hughes.

After which, at 8, ONE TREE HILL. Messrs. Craven,
Stople, Jame., Belford; Miss A. Swanborongh and bliss M,
Palmer.

To conclude with PATIENT PENELOPE. Miss Simp-
son.

GRATIS AND POST. FREE.
E. MOSES and SONS' New Pamphlet,
THE PHILOSOPHY OF DRESS.

MOSES AND S ON
E• respectfully call attention to their large and well-
assorted htocz of JUVENILE CLOTHING. The newest
Wines are combated with the latest and moat fashionable
designs, and the best workmanship. E. MOSES and SON
give particular attention to this important branch of their
business, and they can with confidence affirm that the prices
xr, such as must satisfy the most economical. This depart-
ment is in a distinct part of the premises, which will be found
a gre convcnience for ladies and children,

MOSES AND SON
E(• respectfully invite public attention to their large and
well-asavrted
SPICING STOCK.

EMOSES AND SON'S
• "S ANDRINGHAM" and "DANISH " WRAPPER
introduced by them) is the newest and most lashiontb.e
style of Overcoats for the season.

MOSES AND SON'S
E 4 • READY-MADE and BESPOKE CLOTHING for

all classes and all ages,

MOSES AND SON'S
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E MOSES AND
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• HAMS AND (JAYS,
for all c asses and all ages.

MOSES AND SON'S
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EIOSES AND SON'S
• OUTFII'S.
for ail classes, all age 3, and all climates.

MOSES AND SON'S
E• LONDON HOUSES,
icl, 155, 156, 157, Minories; 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, Aldgate
506, 507, 508, New' Oxford—street ; 1,2, 3,, Hart-street;
137, 138, Tottenham-court-road ; 288, Euston-road
Also, Bradford. Ynrkahire.

MOSES AND SON'S
~• Estabiishments are closed every Friday evening at
auuset until Saturday evening at sunset, when business is re-
sumed until li o'clock.

All articles aro-m—arked the lowest prices in plain figures.
Any article not appnved of will be exchanged, or the money
returned.
List of Prices with Rules for Self-measurement, Fashion
Card, and our new pamphlet, " The rhilosophy of Dress,"
gratis and post free.

THE LATEST EDITION of " THE SUN "
supplied, as soon as published every Evening by
W. ALEXANDER (late BROOKS), Newspaper Agent, 21,
Old Oavendisn- street, Oxford-street.

THE LAST EDITION of " THE SUN "
supplied as soon as Published. containing all the
LA TEST NEWS ant SPORTING INTELLIGENCS, by
11. W. HARRIS, Nesspaper Agent, 4, Blacklriars-road,
London, S.

TIME LAST EDITION OF " THE SUN,"
11 Containing the Cutest sPOILTINU IN TELLILIEA
Sun be bad Every Evening of

U. ft. GIANIE, Navra AGENT,
No. 4, Connaught-terrace, Hyde-park.

certainly deserve to expect.

A PHOTOGRAPHIC CURIOSITY.

A grievance affecting a considerable body of
public servants was last evening brought before the
House by Mr. HENNESSY. No practical result came
of it, for though, when the motion for a select com-
mittee was pressed to a division, the Chancellor of the
Exchequer only secured a small majority, yet it was
sufficient to postpone at least inquiry into the cir-
cumstances. Mr. HENNESSY has, however, done good
service in bringing the question forward, and we
hope it will not be suffered to be entirely overlooked
in more pressing questions. The motion of Mr.
HENNESSY was for the appointment of a committee
of inquiry into the grievances complained of in " the
petition of the mayor, merchants, shipowners, and
commercial trades of Liverpool with respect to
the out-door officers of Customs," but the number
of. members representing different parts of the
kingdom who supported the motion, and had
already interested themselves in the subject, proved
that it was no trifling or fanciful grievance. It
appears from the statement of Mr. HENNESSY, sup-
ported by numerous petitions, and even by the
Commissioners of Customs themselves, that these
gentlemen have really hardships to complain of.
Their work has considerably increased of late years,
while their pay has not been raised, and their chance
of promotion is taken from them. Formerly they
had the hope of rising from their small income of
£9O per annum to £l3O ; but owing to certain
changes in the departments they have no longer
that prospect. There are several minor points of
which they complain, more especially the competi-
tive examination for men who have been for some
years in the service. On this head Mr. GLADSTONE
observed that he admitted as a general rule that
the test of competitive examinations should only
be applied to those entering the service ; but that
when a man was transferred from one department
to another it was necessary to ascertain whether
he was fitted for the higher branch. This is true
enough, but in such cases the examination might
be a little different. It should be more practical
in its nature, and refer rather to the actual busi-
ness in hand than to those obsolete and intricate
pieces of information required to be furnished by
the examination papers. It is most likely that a
first-class schoolboy could distance considerable
proportion of our merchants and men of business
in the dates and names, the
_bars
facts or rote

With a copy of
the Suit
PRICE 4D. ; STAMPED, SD. ;
is presented GRATIS (with a Supplement)

A MINIATURE PHOTOGRAPHED FAC-
SIMILE of the FRONT PAGE of THE SUN
of MONDAY, the 2d January, 1865.

*,* For the convenience of Subscribers wishing
to preserve the Photograph, a suitable frame is pro-
vided, and may be had at The Sun Office, price ls.
The Photograph, ON CARD, 6d.; or mounted in
frame, ls. 6d.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.

Tm DAY.—Morning, 4h. 30m.—Afternoon, 4h. 54m.
10)-310Ritow.-Morning, sh. 16m.—Afternoon, sh. 34m.

44 li- Ann

LONDON, SATURDAY, APRIL 29, 1865.

The Courts of Justice Building Bill was read a
second time last night in the House of Lords.
The Lord Chancellor, in proposing the second
reading, Observed that 'there had seldom been a
measure of legal reforin of greater importance before
the House. There was great truth in his lordship's
strictures on the inference that has been mani-
fested in this country as to the condition of the
Courts of Law, which has for so long been a stand-
ing disgrace to the metropolis. No one who is
intimate with them can fail to acknowledge the
justice of these remarks If the construction
and locality of our Law Courts and Offices had
been wantonly designed on purpose to impede and
justice
render difficult the administration 'of
it is impossible to imagine a state of things
more calculated to promote that view,,,
This exhibits most certainly the necessity that exists
for a change being introduced, and it is to be hoped
that no obstacle will be put in the way of the speedy
execution of this scheme. The inconveniences that

are experienced at present are most numerous, and
it seems really extraordinary that, long before this,
something decisive was not done. The Lord Chan-
cellor briefly enumerated some of the difficulties
that now impeded the administration of justice in

will HE ROYAL INSURANCE COMPANY a fitting manner. The atmosphere of these crowded
T
now be prepared to give the to lowingßenefits :
courts is so oppressive that many find it diffi-
-Ist. In order to enable the Insured to receive the benefits
of the Reduction of Duty at the earliest poo
Government), comp ssib!ep
niDtyh mreosent rate cult to remain in them long ; and those who are
will at olive grant Annual Policies, charg compelled to do so feel the effects more delete-
of duty to Midsummer only (as r• q
and for the year born that date at tueuifd i,eeduced rate of Is. 6d.
rious, and are often prevented thereby from
per cent.
2d. It will grant Policies without ch rge for stamps, no
giving proper attention to the case before them.
matter how small the amount insured.
PERCY n. DOVE, Man ager.
The scattered condition of these courts is also
JOHN B. JOHNSTON, Secretary in London.
Royal Insurance-buildings, Lombard-street, E.C., the cause of great loss of time to those who
April 26,1865. .
can ill spare to waste their hours, and the access in
many instances is so bad that another impediment
obtrudes itself. Unless there were very great objec-
tions in the way of the proposed scheme, all minor
considerations should be put aside in order to
further the object in view and to forward the pur-
pose of those who are essaying to effect a work of
great national importance and social convenience.
The idea of having concentrated in one part all the
various courts and offices now scattered far and
wide, and of presenting ample accommodation. to
the numerous persons assembled there, is a very ad-
mirable one, and yet one that is not incompatible
with the requirements of a community like ours.
The fact is, that instead of setting forth the diffi-
culties that lie in the way of accomplishing this
scheme, we should be too glad to find it proposed
and only too eager to accelerate its progress. It is
now forty years since it hasbeen admitted on all sides
that the plan of concentration was desirable, but
not until now has any attempt been decidedly made
by the Legislature to carry resolutions into effect
and put designs into execution. The site now pro-
posed is admirably adapted to the purpose—in the
centre of the metropolis—and the legal locality par
excellence. Another advantage in the choice of this
spot is, that it is now crowded with wretched tene-
ments, the removal of which will be an advantage
to the metropolis in many respects, and especially
in regard to sanitary matters. It is proposed to
carry out this bill without touching the public
money ; and the Lord Chancellor stated that the
necessary sum would be derived from three sources.
In the first place, there is a sum of £200,000
which the Government will advance as the price of
the buildings and grounds, which the Government
would have received when these Courts have been
erected. The sums received from these sources
will in all probability greatly exceed this specified
sum of £200,000. The piece of land now occupied
by the Courts of Justice to the west of Westminster
Hall has been valued at £86,000 if sold for building
purposes. Another source from which tJe money
is to come is the Suitors' Fund in Chancery. The
profit which has grown out of the dividends result-
ing from the investments of the suitors' money
belongs to the State, and it is this sum which it is
proposed to apply to this great work. Lord ST.
LEONARDS strongly disapproved this part of the
scheme, but the noble lord's objections were not
very tenable ; and, indeed, it may be argued against
him that most of the suitors whose claims he advo-
cated were now dead. The Duke of ARGYLL very
truly said that his noble and learned friend enter-
tained extreme opinions upon this point. The
noble Duke declared that Lord ST. LEONARDS had
not drawn a proper distinction between two parts
of the subject, namely, between " objections taken
to the system under which this fund had arisen, and
objections to taking possession of the fund now it
existed and was at the disposal of the House."
These objections are merely technical, and it was
clearly shown by the Lord Chancellor and the noble
Duke that this sum in question had always been
considered as belonging to the State, as the
Duke of ARGYLL said " How could suitors in
the Court of Chancery be defined as a class ?"
It is not now necessary to determine
whether the money should have been taken
from the suitors under a system which dates back
from the early part of the last century, but the
noble Duke expressed his conviction that Lord ST.
LEONARDS was right in condemning the course
alluded to. The third source from which the
money is to be derived is by the imposition of a
small tax on suitors in the courts of law, and on
those who prove wills and take out letters of ad-
ministration in the Probate Court. The trifling
sum of is. 6d. on every writ issued in action, and
2s. 6d. on every grant of probate or administration-,
min 'u ..meient to proauce more than the sum of
£16,000 a year. The Lord Chancellor effectively
concluded his speech by expressing a hope that no
lasting opposition would be made to this Bill, which
was " full of the greatest promise, calculated to
effect the greatest amount of benefit, and with re-
gard to which no sincere and true Reformer would
desire to see his name in opposition." It is, of
course, impossible for any scheme to be proposed
which is not open to objections on some score or
other, and some captious critics and particular indi-
viduals will aways discover some flaw in the affair;
but it may fairly be said that the Government have
come forward in this matter of the Courts of Justice
Building Bill with unwonted energy and determi-
nation ; and it rests with Parliament to afford them
that support and assistance which they require and