The Sun.
London, England, 1862-11-19 00:00:00

but few men would defend the seller who should
add a large sum to what he had previously been
willing to take, because the land was needed for
the service of the poor, the sick, and the dying.
It was very well to use this as a pretext to save
the Grand Committee from too much humiliation,
but till we see it we will not believe of any of our
countrymen that they would demand more for
their property, because it was wanted for an hos-
pital. The man who could do so ought to be
haunted by the remorse which would make his
gains a very uneasy possession. Its full value he
ought to have. All beyond that would be robbing
the poor.

At the first general meeting of the Law Amend-
ment Society, held on Monday evening, when
Lord BROUGHAM again, according to annual wont,
occupied the chair—an admirable speech was de-
livered by the Noble Lord the member for King's

Ly nn—
a speech in which the progress of the cause
of Legal Amendment during the 'last few sessions
was tersely and most clearly epitomised. By the aid
of Lord STANLEY'S opportune reminders, it becomes
at any rate clearly recognisable that if the Legisla-
ture has been otherwise idle of late, it has made an
appreciable advance in the way of realising a variety
of most important legal improvements. So viewed
—regarding our legislative labours of late years,
that is to say, exclusively in reference to their effi-
ciency in bringing about many desirable changes

or modifications in the laws of England—the sea

eions of 1860, 1861, 1862, cannot be deemed to have
been in any way inoperative. They clan, on the son-

trary, be looked back to, with extreme satisfaction

They have secured and realised to the nation, in ra-
pid sequence, beneficial changes of an extraordinarily
comprehensive kind, in regard to the law of divorce,
in regard to the law of bankruptcy, and, last not
least, in regard to the laws hitherto regulating the

transfer of_ land. Besides all which, and a multi
tude of minor improvements, there are those grand
preliminary steps which have been at length taken
towards the general consolidation of the law; steps
that, if persevered in, must ultimately lead us to
the codification of the whole mass of our ancient,
composite, and, at present, most complex system of
jurisprudence. Numerous other legal improve-
ments are still, as many of them have been,
indeed, long since, in active preparation.
Upon the law of patents—the most diffi-
cult and complicated question, Lord STAN-
LEY protests, he had ever had at any time brought
under his consideration—a Commission having
been issued by the Crown, has actually this very
day commenced its sittings ! As to the question
of the Concentration of the Law Courts, we are
rejoiced to observe the noble lord the member
for King's Lynn asserting that, in his opinion, it
must prove one that cannot possibly give much
trouble, if only for the simple reason that, upon
the theory of it, there is just absolutely no dif-
ference of opinion at all anywhere discernable.
" The whole world," said he, " agreed that the
concentration of the courts would be an advan-
tage to all parties ; the real point being whether,
in the present actual state of affairs, when the
expenditure was going on at a rate absolutely
unprecedented in a time of peace, it was possible
to find funds to accomplish that reform." As to
that vitally important problem relating to the
possible creation of a Department of Justice—a pro-
blem, the solution of which, Lord STANLEY observed,
with truth, that the House of Commons has now,
for some years, stood formally pledged, that for rea-
sons specified by himself, reasons, however, that we
candidly confess we do not recognise as in any
point of view either cogent or conclusive, Lord
STANLEY does not deem to be ready for any im-
mediate action. In the first place, he thinks thus
unfavourably as to the probability of its early so-
lution, because the subject itself is not exciting any
great amount of public interest. And, in the
next place, he is led to that disheartening con-
clusion in the matter, by a vague conviction that
but few among his fellow members would
care very much to go into it. Neither
of these reasons, as we take it, being in any
way sufficient to justify the relaxing of the
efforts making of late years, both within and with-
out the walls of the Legislature, towards the bring-
ing about, if possible, of this long wished-for crea-
tion of a distinct Department of Justice, a depart-
ment comprising amongst its great functionaries
that most desirable Law Officer—a Public Prosecu-
tor I The questions that Lord STANLEY considers
are among all others the ripest just now for the
immediate consideration of Parliament, the noble
lord, on Monday evening, with an evident gusto
gladly and even eagerly enumerated. First and
foremost among them being of course the still in-
complete and indeed (considering its magnitude and
complexity) the as yet hardly commenced work, the
great work of Consolidation ! " This," Lord STAN-
LEY shrewdly remarked at the first mention of it,
" was really a double process, for unless, besides
consolidating existing laws, they devised some plan
for incorporating new acts as they passed them, in
the legislation of which they formed a part, their
work would be like pouring water into a sieve, and
they would never see the end of it." So re-
garded and so treated, however, namely,
as a double process, it does undoubtedly,
we cannot but. recognize with him, admit of
a gradual solution. The work must be done, of
course, slowly, continuously, and with the utmost
possible circumspection and systematization. It
cannot, by possibility, be accomplished—all at once.
The labour is herculean of its kind, and must be
accomplished (above all things, this should be borne
in mind by the promoters of the enterprise) gradu-
ally. were
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close of his remarks on Monday : legal improvements
projected in regard to railway legislation, in regard
to the ecclesiastical courts, and in regard to pri-
vate bill legislation. Alogether, the noble lord's
speech, brief and condensed though it necessarily
was, was fun of encouragement.
____......-----

It is not simply interesting, it is also in the
highest degree important, to note in some way the
exact extent of the progress made and making to-
wards the relief of the immense distress now deso-
lating Lancashire. Several weeks since Mr. COBDEN
warned us, through a singularly impressive speech
of his in reference to this destitution among the
manufacturing operatives, that the loss in wages
alone amounting then to a weekly lose et the rate
of £7,000,000 per annum, would inevitably (ac-
cording to his calculations) before the winter should
have passed by, have risen to a still more frightful
magnitude. He told us plainly that, in wages
alone, before the turn of the year the manufacturing
districts would be losing week after week at the
\
ion. mt
annually of £10,000,000. At the time when the
e was uttered we believed it to be no g.-
\ gyration, Reflection and inquiry have since then
t
only toC clearly convinced us that there is no exagge-
ration. The evil requiring
to be dealt with, increases
still steadily In wways—in
me
efforts of a mitigatory
et cdoinffsueclsiounenantlydbiyn
uinn-
tensity. It requires to be -
remitting and enlarging
kind. These efforts, we have the
c
onsolation of
knowing, have all along been making, and are
being made, in all imaginable directions, and still
with
a fervour of unanimity beyond all praise. Still—
one thought remains through it all, shining but too