The Sun.
London, England, 1862-12-15 00:00:00

of an independent People by a previous agreement
among the leading Powers of Christendom. The
Bavarian Prince who, thirty years ago, was pre.
sented to Greece as her Sovereign—whom Greece
was really then constrained to receive as such, with
the best grace possible under the circumstances,
from the chief Powers of Europe in Coalition—
this Bavarian Prince, we say, in his foreign-made
capacity as OTIIO, King of GREECE, after being
just barely tolerated for thirty years as such
by the Greeks themselves, has been recently
driven from that land in which he has all this
while been living and reigning as an alien—King
a/110 has been drivn thence, at last, we say, as
t an occupant of the throne, really and truly no
, longer to be tolerated.

Whatever decision may now eventually be
arrived at, in regard to the selection of a successor
to the ex-King OTno, it is most earnestly to be
hoped that, in making that selection, the Greek
people may be left absolutely to themselves.
Already they:have—as plainly as a people could—
evidenced their preference for his Royal Highness
Prince ALFRED of England, as their future Con-
stitutional Sovereign. England, herself, has de-
clined to yield (at this stage) to a demand, in
itself, of course, eminently complimentary to her
Royal Family, to her national repute and to her
system of Government. France has manifested a
decided reluctance to accede without demur to the
wish of the population. Russia distinctly avows her
ineradicable repugnance to a choice so directly
opposed to her own cherished ambition. Instead of
Prince ALFRED—it is suggested to Greece that the
country would do well at once in putting aside that
preference,and in accepting in lieu of Prince ALFRED
the ex-King Consort of Portugal, another Prince
of Coburg blood, his Majesty Dorn FERDINAND.
As a wonderful inducement to the Greek people
to accept Dom FERDINAND as their new Sovereign,
England offers, it is said, forthwith to cede the
lonian Islands bodily to the Greeks, to be incorpo-
rated at once with the Greek kingdom.
It will probably occur, however, upon the instant,
to the astute statesmen of Greece, to the members of
the Provisional Government now in power at Athens,
to the leaders of the newly-elected Chamber of Re-
presentatives, that in either case Greece would be
now secure of having the lonian Islands banded over
to her authority by England, whether the choice of
the Greeks were to fall upon Prince ALFRED or
upon DOM FERDINAND. By refusing to accept
Dom FERDINAND as her future King, by insisting
upon still demanding Prince ALFRED as her new
Sovereign, Greece would in no way, Greece could
in no way, diminish the likelihood of retaining pos-
session of the lonian Islands as part and parcel of
her own dominions. Whatever may be the preju-
dices or the predilections of the three Great Powers,
to the Greeks alone belongs in simple truth by
right the inalienable prerogative of selecting their
own future Sovereign. To their own wisdom, to
their own discretion, to their own instinct let that
choice be left. The voice of the Greek people must
decide, and that voice alone, who it is that ought to
be raised to that still vacant throne—whether it
shall be King ALFRED or King FERDINAND.

A paragraph, copied from the Herts Guardian,
has been going the round of the newspapers, and
got copied into our issue of Saturday, as to the
Crown Solicitorship in Bankruptcy in London, held
by Mr. ALDRIDGE, alleging that his fees during
twelve months have amounted to the enormous
sum of £15,000, wrung out of the pockets of the tax-

payers of this country, and that he is the eon-in-law
of the Lord Chancellor, from whom he received his
appointment; and in the Solicitors' Journal of last
Saturday, a correspondent, alluding to the subject,
states that Mr. ALDRIDGE'S fees are, by an order of
the Lord Chancellor, fixed for each bankruptcy in
London in forma pauperis, or under an adjudica-
tion by a Registrar against a prison debtor, at £3,
exclusivn of payments made for copies of proceed-
ings, and 5 per cent. on such assets as may be re-
covered; and, in the event of their being no assets,
or not sufficient to satisfy the fees and payments,
then that the amount thereof, or the deficiency,..be
paid out of the Chief Registrar's account.
A reference to the peerage will at once show that
neither of the Lord Chancellor's daughters is mar-
ried to Mr. ALDRIDGE ; information on this point
being so easily accessible, it is most reprehensible
that in an article on such a subject, the false asser-
tion that Mr. ALDRIDGE was the Lord Chancellor's
son-in-law should have been made ; the rest of the
article seems to be equally devoid of truth, because
even if the whole of the fees of £3 for each bank-
ruptcy in London in forma pauperis, or under an
adjudication by a Registrar against a prison debtor,
have been paid out of the Chief Registrar's account,
there must have been over 96 of such bankruptcies
per week to have made the fees amount to £15,000
for the last 12 months; but on reference to the week's
list of bankrupts, published in the same number of
the Solicitors' Journal which contains the letter
on the subject, it will be found there are only eight
such bankruptcies in that list, at which rate the
fees would amount for a whole year to only £1,248.
In such bankruptcies it is not likely there would be
any estate either for payment of the fees, or on
which the Crown Solicitor could charge his com-
mission of 5 per cent.
The article in the Herta Guardian states that
several complaints have been made as to the manner
in which the duties of Mr. ALDRIDGE'S office have
been performed. We have made inquiry on the sub-
ject, and are informed that Mr. ALDRIDGE has per-
formed the duties most satisfactorily.

The article, however, is evidently not directed at
Mr. ALDRIDGE, but rather at the Lord Chancellor;
if Mr. ALDRIDGE had been the Lord Chancellor's
son-in-law, even then there would have been no cause
for cavil, but quite the contrary, if he were a fit
and proper person to fill the office, especially as at
the time of the appointment it was not considered
in the legal profession to have been at all a desir-
able one, and many persons, we are informed, ex-
pressed surprise that Mr. ALDRIDGE, who was in
good practice, should have taken it.. The present
Lord Chancellor, least of any one, deserves to be
charged with nepotisM. It is well known that he
has selected most fit men for the various appoint-
ments which have been in his gift ; and it was only
last mirth that he gave great satisfaction to both
branches of the legal profession, by conferring a
valuable appointment upon a son of a Chief Clerk
of one of the Equity Judges, simply on account of
the son's fitness for the appointment,- and
the long and meritorious public services of
the father, who, except in his official capa-
city, was, we believe, totally unknown to the
Chancellor. Indeed, so fully is the Lord Chan-
cellor' determination, as far as ho can, to put
the right man in the right place known to bis
colleagues, that he was requested by one of them,
who had a lucrative legal appointment in his gift,
to fill it up, which the Chancellor did, and the
gentleman nominated was found end admitted to
be most fitted for the office. The writer in the
Solicitors' Journal complains that there are errors
in the Lord Chancellor's Bankruptcy Act,
.1861.
It certainly requires amendment in some details,
but the necessity for such is not properly attribut-
able to the Lord Chancellor, but is rather due to
the rejection, in its entirety, of his scheme of bank-