The Sun.
London, England, 1853-02-12 00:00:00

the most puissant. Once establish to the con-
trary, and the science of diplomacy is a mere
farce. We may then abolish the complicated system
known as the Foreign Department of the Admi-
nistration—we may at once relieve ourselves of
the costly employment of our consuls, attaches,
and ambassadors.

Regarding the subject as we do in our heart,
and in our conscience thus seriously, we are rejoiced
at the notice given to the House of Commons last
evening by the Right Hon. the ex-CHANCELLOR of
the EXCHEQUER. In consequence of the bold de-
termination arrived at in this instance by Mr.
DISRAELI, the disgraceful speech delivered the other
day by one of the Cabinet Ministers at Halifax will
not be permitted to pass by without an opportunity
at least, of its being expiated by some distinct
Legislative condemnation. Possibly that oppor-
tunity will not be allowed to come and go on
Monday evening without some reference being
made, in like manner, to the observations, no
less disgraceful in their character, which fell from
the lips of another and a more important Cabinet
Minister, when, some weeks previously, addres-
sing his constituents during the course of a con-
vivial meeting in the city of Carlisle. Until one
or other of those ill-judged and most intemperate
harangues have been brought directly under the
notice of the Legislature, there must remain a

chilling misapprehension, during a period of pro-
found peace, between the Governments respectively
of France and of Great Britain. It is essential,
therefore, that the matter should be decided with
as little delay as possible, and that it should,
therefore, be brought, at the earliest moment,
under the consideration of the popular branch
of the English Parliament. More especially
is such a course desirable, when, from the
peculiar situation of the two countries, there
is, in one of them, at least, a panic as to the
chance of a speedy, if not immediate, collision—
when this panic is such, indeed, as to induce our
Ministers to pay serious attention to the national
defences, and, after judiciously increasing ournavy,
to entertain the project of materially enhancing the
amount of our military armament. An interposi-
tion like that promised for Monday evening, by
the Leader of her MAJESTY'S Opposition, had con-
sequently become (all things considered) obviously
and imperatively requisite. It is with peculiar
satisfaction, therefore, that we direct the atten-
tion of the community to the notice made yester-
day, in this particular, by the Right Hon. Gen-
tleman the ex-CHANcEmoR of the EXCHEQUER.

We, yesterday, briefly alluded to the important
measures of Legal Reform brought forward by
Lord ST. LEOARNDS in the House of Lords on the
preceding evening. But these measures, valuable
as they must be admitted to be, form but a por-
tion of the ameliorations which we are justified in
anticipating from the Legislature during the pre-
sent Session. Not only have we the promised
bills of the LORD CHANCELLOR, which are to be
introduced on Monday, and which, it is believed,
will comprehend the fusion, to a certain extent
at least, of the legal and equitable tribunals a
general codification of the laws—an improved sys-
tem of legal education, ensuring a competent
knowledge of the principles and practice of the
law, by parties desirous of admission to any
branch of the legal profession—and, probably, an
improved system of legal legislation, ensuring a
greater degree of accuracy than can at present be
relied on—we should also have anticipated some
proposition for the reform of the Ecclesiastical
Courts, had it not been for the procrastinating
suggestions of Lord JouN RUSSELL, who appeared
to think that the subject ought to be postponed
sine die, or, at least, until the Commission of

Inquiry had presented its report. We much question I
whether the Legal Reformers in and out of Parlia-
ment will consent to this delay. It may not, on con-
sideration, be deemed expedient to permit the Hon.
an d Learned Gentleman the member for Plymouth to
seize the laurels that might so easily be gained by
the Government. There is no such superabund-
ance of popularity that the Ministry for the time
being can afford to disregard 'so feasible an oppor-
tunity of attaining public approbation, by abet-
ting this odious nuisance, or rather series
of nuisances, that " stink in the nostrils" of
the people. The views of Lord JOHN RUSSELL
were so very coolly • received by the House and
country, that it is by no means impossible that

an attempt may be made to retrace the false steps

already taken, and that Ecclesiastical Courts
Reform may be hacluded in the Ministerial pro-
gramme of measures of Legal Reform in the course
of preparation.
But, independently of Ministers, we have the
admirable series of Bills introduced by the late
Law Officers of the Crown in Ireland. Those for
the improvement of the relations between Land-

lord and Tenant in the sister kingdom, which
have already been referred to a Select Committee,
and Mr. WHITESIDE'S excellent Bill, which
elicited the unanimous commendation of Legal
Reformers of all classes and shades of political
opinion. The present ATTORNEY-GENERAL vied
with his predecessor in well-merited eulogiums on
the Honourable Gentleman who had proceeded
so very far in advance of all previous " official "
reformers, and in declaring that the same principle
should be applied tq the English Common Law.
The Procedure Act of last session was a very im-
portant amelioration of the practice previously in
operation. But it is universally admitted that it
did not go far enough—and, indeed, we can only
wonder at the timidity that prevented the com-
plete carrying out of more enlarged views.
It is true that special pleading was there-
by abolished, but the forms of action were
retained, to which the Ex-SOLICITOR-GENERAL
of Ireland gave the coup de grace. It was im-
possible that so great an improvement, adopted,
too, in accordance with the recommendations of
the English Common Law Commissioners, could
be limited to the other side of St. George's
Channel, and that there would not be a general
demand for its extension to the whole of the
United Kingdom—an extension which Sir ALEx-
ANDER COCKBURN advocated and Sir FREDERICK
THESIGER " was prepared at the proper time to
adopt." The abolition of the declaration and the
substitution of a plaint and summons as one step,
and appearance and defence as another, was also
a great 'improvement, as well as the verification
of the pleadings by the oaths of the parties,
so as to prevent the possibility of specula-
tive litigation where parties relied on the
weakness of their adversaries' case rather
than on the strength of their own—putting forward
the most conflicting and contradictory state-
ments.

Our readers must be familiar with the
American sneer at our system of pleading
where the satirist supposed an action brought for
injuries to a kettle that had been borrowed by the
defendant in a damaged condition, and to which
declaration three distinct pleas were put on the
file :

Ist. That the defendant never borrowed the
kettle.

2d. That the kettle was damaged in manner
and form alleged in the declaration when he bor-
rowed it.

3d. That it was whole and in good condition
when he returned it.

We can assure our readers that matters
fully as ridiculous, and exhibiting as many con-
tradictions in the same pleadings, are of daily
occurrence in. our Superior Courts, the business
of the pleader being to exhibit his ingenuity in
discovering every probable ground of defence, and
raising the necessary issues for the purpose. A
system which greatly enhanced the expenses, and
complicated the proceedings of suits in the Supe-
rior Courts. The now and simple test provided
by the Bill of Mr. WHITESID; the abolition of the
necessity for personal service of writs or notices,
the pending chores in action assignable and en-
abling the Courts of Commoal Law to give effect
to equitable defences and. relief in cases of
lost documents, and the codification of the
new rules of practice and pleadings, in the
face of the Bill, are all matters of vast impor-
tance, and the benefit whereof cannot be re-
fused to the English suitors. These matters,
then, must be fully and completely
carried i
•into
operation. If by the Government—if Ministers
..,]-J. p, .7 • -- .1 .-.,-.‘aaanra well.