The Sun.
London, England, 1862-02-08 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON,, SATURDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 8, 1862,

them cut a road across Rotten-row, as was done in

18M during the time of the Exhibition, and which
could be done at a cost under £l,OOO ?
Mr. DAMER advocated the improvement of the
approaches to the city and the opening of South-
wark-bridge toll free, in preference to the making
of the new road now proposed.
Mr. EcKETT replied, and at some length combated
the arguments which had been urged against the
motion.

The CHAIRMAN put the question, and declared the
amendment to be carried by a majority of 22 to 17.
The amendment being put as an original motion,

Mr. LEGG moved as an amendment—" That Mr.
Cowper be informed that the board decline to take
upon themselves the formation of the proposed road
unless Government place at their disposal funds for
such purpose, the board having already deferred the
consideration of many great improvements in the
metropolis in consequence of not having funds to
carry them out; but this board are prepared to take
measures forthwith for the formation of the proposed
road through Hyde Park, in accordance with the
suggestion contained in the letter from the Hon.
W. Cowper, dated Jan. 30 last, provided Mr. Cow-
per will obtain the sanction of Parliament for trans-
ferring to this board, for the purpose of effecting
public improvements within the metropolis, the
income arising from hackney cabs and omnibuses
collected within the metropolitan area."
Mr. ECKETT seconded the amendment.

The CHAIRMAN put the question. The amend-
ment was negatived, and the former amendment
carried as an original motion by a large majority.

PROGRESS OE THE MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS.

Mr, Bazalgette, the chief engineer, presented the
following report of the main drainage works:—
" Spring-gardens, Feb. 6, 1862.
"On the northern outfall sewer contract Mr.
Furness has made good progress during the past
month. The ironwork for the River Lee aqueduct
is upon the ground, and the girders are fixed. 'lhe
subways for the East London Waterworks and the
suspension of the supply mains have been nearly
completed without accident, and a cutting through
the embankment of the Eastern Counties Railway,
24ft deep, has been made without interruption to
the traffic. The foundation of works for the new
Stratford-road and the concrete foundation along
the line of sewer towards East Ham are consider-
ably advanced. The three lines of intercepting
sewers are in course of formation between the Bow
and Barking Railway and East Ham. Sixty of the
arches, each of 18ft span, which will carry the in-
tercepting sewers across the marsh land, are com-
pleted. The materials supplied are abundant and
of good quality. The value of the work done is
about £185,000. Of the middle level sewer Messrs.
Brassey and Co. have constructed about 21,400 feet,
varying in size from 3ft in diameter to 9ft 6in by
12ft, at an expenditure of about £96,200. These
works were for a time retarded by an accident to
their coffer-dam while constructing the sewer un-
derneath the Regent's Canal, by which the water
escaped into the sewer and emptied the basin of
the canal ; but it was again opened in two days,
and no further mischief was done. Precautions have
since been taken to prevent the possibility of the
recurrence of such an accident in this difficult por-
tion of the work. The completing works of the
Ranelagh Storm Overflow are in a very confined
space in the Uxbridge-road, and progress slowly.
The value of the work is £26,900. The southern
high level sewer progresses very slowly, and the
works are subject to frequent stoppages, owing
mainly to misunderstandings between the contrac-
tors and their workpeople. About 7ei miles of sewer
are n•w constructed, valued at about £144,000. Mr.
Webster continues to progress satisfactorily with
the southern outfall sewer contract, which will to all
appearance be completed early in the spring, and be-
for the time named in the contract. He has now
constructed about 61 miles of sewer, at an expendi-
ture of about £263,000. At the Deptford pumping
station Messrs. Aird and Co. have brought up the
foundations of both engine houses to the ground
level ; they have constructed 484 feet of the double
line of low level sewer, near to and below Deptford
creek, and have laid 3,684 feet of cast iron pipe 3ft
6in in diameter, from the high level sewer under
Deptford creek to the pumping station, and driven
piles for about 150 feet of the wharfing. The value
of the work executed by them is about £57,000.
Mr. Pearson has commenced his contract at Dul-
wich, and Mr. Downes has constructed 332 feet of
the Southwark subway, 355 feet of sewer, and 70
vaults, at a cost of £3,600.
"J. W. BAZALGETTE, Chief Engineer."
The report was received and ordered to be printed,
and the Board adjourned.

11R _EDWIN JAMES. '

Most people certainly, thought they had got rid
of Mr. Edwin James (still it seems), Q.C., for,
though disbarred, :the royal patent is still uncan••
celled. The man had gone to America, where he
had been admitted to the New York bar, and set
up a legal partnership. Of course, the conduct of
the New York bar in admitting such a person, after
being disbarred in England, furnished a tempting
subject to the anti-American writers here; but the
dispassionate observer ought to remark that the
Benchers of the Inner Temple are to some extent
responsible for the conduct of their American
brethren. It is not given to many Englishmen to
understand the precise effect of being disbarred.
Nor would it be correct to say that every cause of
disbarment in this country is sufficient to render a
person unworthy of practising as a lawyer in any
other country. It is true that the leaders of the
New York bar might-have written to the Benchers
of the Inner Temple to ascertain the grounds upon
which Mr. Edwin James had been disbarred—but
the necessity for such a step shows conclusively
that the grounds upon which the Benchers act in
disbarring ought to be made public. It is to be hoped
that in any future case, either of disbarment or of
reprimand, this course will be followed. In the
meantime 'an article has appeared in the Law
Magazine and Law Review for the present month,
setting forth all the circumstances connected with
the " disbarment of Edwin J. James, Q.C.," which
must have been communicated by the sanction of
the Benchers. The account is, therefore, probably
authentic, and deserves both for the sake of the
. British and for the sake of the American public,
the widest publicity.

Mr. Edwin James was the son of one of the Se-
condaries of the city of London. He had never
been to either University. Wild in his youth, he
had originally tried the stage; but to him tragedy
—which, like Mr. Keeley, he considered his forte
—was more a passion than a success. Failing in this
attempt, he was entered of the Inner Temple, and
afterwards called to the bar in 1836. His success was
considerable, and 10 years ago he obtained a silk
gown, and finally was elected for hlarylebone in
February, 1859. It cannot be said that he occupied
any position in society; but, considering his cha-
racter, it is singular that he should have associated
with men occupying the position of some of his
ostensible friends. Nor, ndeed, did it seem abso-
lutely impossible that he should become Solicitor-
General. It is true that, unlike most of the Queen's
Counsel of his Inn, he was not a Bencher; and an
attempt had been made by Mr, Craufurd, the mem-
ber for Ayr Burghs, on the occasion of Mr. James
being appointed Recorder of Brighton, to have the
causes of his exclusion from the Inner Temple Bench
investigated by a Committee of the House of Com-
mons. Mr. Craufurd's motion, however, was not
only negatived, but actually erased from the journals
of the house. The transactons for which Mr. James
was disbarred are long subsequent to 1855, but it

is some satisfaction to Mr. Craufurd to know that
his motion probably deserved a very different re-
ception than that which it obtained ; nor is it unfair
to add that if the Inner Temple Benchers in the
House of Commons had done their duty on that
occasion the career of Mr. James might have been
less discreditable to the country than it has been.
Let us now record the history of this wretched
man's fall. In the spring of last year, a few months
after the member for Marylebono had returned
from his campaign with Garibaldi, and had written
his letter on the writ of habeas corpus to Cavour,
London was surprised by the publication of an
address to his constituents announcing his resig-
nation, and this was speedily followed by his
retirement from Brooks's and the Reform Clubs.
At the same time it became notorious that there
was an execution in his new house in Berkeley-
square, on a judgment for a large debt. Then
rumours came to the ears of the Benchers,
and also one written complaint. It was resolved
that an investigation should take place, and Mr.
James, hearing of this, volunteered an expres-
sion of his anxiety to give the fullest infor-

mation. The inquiry began in June, and Mr.

James was the first witness. The writer of the 1
articles from which these facts are obtained does not
produce the evidence of Mr. James, probably for the
very sufficient reason that it ins, as he says, a
" tissue of suppressions, falsehoods, and perversions
of fact." But he does give the summary of the evi-
dence adduced by Mr. J. Parkes and Mr. Tallent,
the legal advisers of the late Lord Yarborough.
There was great difficulty in obtaining this evidence
from these gentlemen, who considered themselves
bound by a secret promise not to make any disclo-
sures. After some hesitation Mr. James permitted
them to be examined, although it is tolerably cer-
tain that if he had refused his permission the scan-
dalous transactions with Lord Worsley would have
remained a secret. The policy which dictated the
giving of this promise was adopted in order to allow
Mr. Edwin James to practise at the bar, and so to
discharge his large debts ; but simultaneous seces-
sion from two clubs, resigning a seat in Parliament
and a recordersbip, were occurrences so striking and
unusual that they attracted public attention, ren-
dered a public inquiry necessary, and thus defeated
the whole object of Lord Yarborough's forbearance.
The precise mode in which Mr. E. James came to
owe young Lord Worsley 135,000 would be an in-
teresting study. It is the duty of the Benchers to
publish the full details. In the meantime all that
is known is, that Mr. James, by some means or
other, induced this young nobleman, just on coming
of age, to incur liabilities for his friend, the Queen's
Counsel, who had become acquainted with his family
in the year 1849. For those debts Lord Worsley

obtained not one farthing of benefit; on the con.
trary, the very money which Lord Worsley ob
tained from his father to discharge them was mis.

applied by Mr. E. James. Nor was it easy even
for men so shrewd and experienced as Mr. Tallent
and Mr. Parkes to bring the imperturbable Q.C. to
reason, for it was not until he was threatened with
an exposure at all hazards that even a full state-
ment of his liabilities could be obtained. This act
of the drama was concluded about April by an
agreement, in which Mr. James consented to retire
frem his clubs and public life, and to execute a war-
rant of attorney to Lord Worsley.
But the incidents of the trial of " Scully v. In-
gram" are even more interesting. Mr. James was
counsel for Mr. Scully. Mr. Ingram was the pro-
prietor of the illustrated London News, and was
unfortunately drowned in the Lady Elgin on Lake
Michigan. The case was tried twice, and on the
first trial Mr. James cross-examined Mr. Ingram.
His cross examination was so severe that a friend of
Mr. Ingram thus described it to Mr. James when
he met him at the Euston Hotel :—" It is a singu-
lar accident (he said) that it was into this very
room I with difficulty led poor Mr. Ingram after
your cross-examination of him ; and I must tell you
that if ever a man had a narrow escape of causing
another man's suicide, you had it on that occasion."
Mr..ln gram himself seems to have been of the same
opinion, for before the second trial came on he said
to an intimate friend, in a state of great excitement,
" I must lend Mr. James some money ;" and although
the friend objected, Mr. Ingram insisted, saying,
"I must—l am so afraid of him; I must do any-
thing he asks, and you must lend him the money
for me." Mr. Ingram had, in fact, between the
two trials, lent Mr. James the sum of £1,250. A
doubt seems to be expressed whether such an act as
this would be sufficient cause of disbarment. But
if any counsel, on the eve of an important trial, is
to be allowed to borrow money of his adversary's
client and remain a member of the bar, the sooner
a new Temple is built the better.
The other vicitim of this forensic Macaire was a
west country solicitor. Early in 1858 Mr. James
formed this gentleman's acquaintance in a profes-
sional case ; fascinated him ; visited him ; borrowed
money of him, which, beginning with the modest
sum of £4OO, soon rose to £22,000. In the mean-
time the creditor received the whole of the fees of
the eloquent debtor; and when he had been elected
for Marylebone the enthusiastic creditor, inspired
by the possibility of his debtor obtaining the
office of Solicitor-General or the Woolsack, took
for him the mansion in Berkeley-square.
On the 27th of Stine he told the story
of his disappointment. Upon all these things being
proved, the Benchers had but one course open
and they followed it. Edwin John James was for-
mally disbarred, and it is something to know that
he is the only Queen's Counsel who has ever ob-
tained this infamous pre-eminence. In vain he
attempted to resign ; his resignation was refused.
Indeed, it is to be observed that after he had, in
a moment of reckless infatuation, permitted the
advisers of Lord Yarborough to give evidence, he
never again appeared in person before any tribunal.
His last public act was a confession of guilt.—
Daily News.

in the abdomen, which produced internal hemorr-
huge. All the usual remedies were applied, but',
without success, as death ensued from loss of blood,
and the internal injury. He had since ascertained
that the liver had been penetrated. The butcher's
knife produced would inflict such a wound.
The coroner then adjourned the inquiry to give
time for the accused men to be brought before the
court on a warrant to be obtained from the Secre-
tary of State.
The inquiry occupied nearly three hours.