The Sun.
London, England, 1836-01-12 00:00:00

'IRE SUN,
?o.l\l-' DON TilESiii.A'V JAN-UAitir 18°6.
7 - 5

.
stopplikg the machinery of two Courts of ;E'quity alter-
nately, for the purpose of setting the machinery of the
third Court a-going; Whether this bright project ori-
ginated 'Atli Lora Melbourne-, or Lord Vinicainwn! Vii'
Mr. Spring Rice, we knew 1104 Wilt certainly it is it
very peculiar niod4 +Jr t, progression" which talwA two
steps lotAlli%ra for one in advance. The Lords Corn-
Mlssioners are Judges who are, each in his own Court,
respectable and efficient ; but both the Court of Rolls
and the Vice-Chancellor's Court require all the time
and attention which their respective Judges can give
to them, to prevent the business from accumulating to
the great detriment and vexation of the suitors. As
to the Vice-Chancellor's Court, there was an accumu-
lation of arrears in it before the Comthission-job was
hit upon, which ought to have convinced Ministers of
the absurdity of any plan for working the Lord Chan-
cell;Jr's Court which would have the effect of with-
arawing the Vice-Chancellor for a certain portion of
his time from his own Court. We need not say that
those arrears have ever since progressively increased,
and that in both that Court and le Rolls there are
very heavy arrears at present. The public will recol-
lect that Sir Edward Sugden says in his letter, rela-
tive to the appellate jurisdiction upon which we lately
commented, that " on the 19th of this month there
were waiting for hearing 334 causes, further directions,
and exceptions at the Rolls, and 326 before the Vice-
Chancellor, besides motions, &c.: and there were 23
causes, &c, abated, and standing over before the Mas-
ter of the Rolls, and 64 before the Vice-Chancellor,
while the former Learned Judge, notwithstanding all
his diligence, had a good many judgments to deliver."
The Right Hon. and Learned Author of the letter in
question might well add, " This is a formidable quan-
tity of business, and requires all the judicial hours
which the Judges of the two Courts have it in their.
power to bestow." • Let the public also bear in mind
that for an arrangement which seemed admirably
adapted to increase the arrears of business in Equity
the country is paying not only the salaries which be-
long to the Lords Commissioners in their respective
Courts, but the salary of an efficient Lord Chancellor
besides I Truly, our Whig-Radical Reform Ministers
can job at the public expense with the coolest assu-
rance imaginable ! In Lord Chancellor Brougham's
time Mr. Lynch showed in Parliament that great de-
lusion was practised upon the public mind as to
clearing off the arrears in Equity, there being then
in the Court of the Vice-Chancellor nearly, the
same number of causes in arrear that had accumu-
lated in Chancery, when it was thought neces
sary to relieve those arrears by saddling the coun-
try with the expense of an additional Court of
Equity. At that time, too, the Lord Chancellor had
to transact the bankruptcy business, for which the
country now supports the expensive and cumbrous ma-
chinery of the Court of Review, with its three Judges.
Talk of Chancery reform indeed -1 When Chancery
suitors feel the effects of such reform they are reminded
of a familiar fable touching the fate of certain live fish
undergoing the culinary process, whose condition was
reformed " out of the frying pan into the fire." But
the best jobs must come to an end some time or other,
and the growing indignation of public opinion in regard
to the Chancery Commission-job makes it impossible
for Ministers to allow it to continue much longer, unless
they are resolved to brave public opinion both in and
out of parliament. Should it indeed continue until after
the opening of the Session, it will most assuredly be-
come a subject of Parliamentary complaint and discus-
sion, as it would have been long before the end of last
Session had it been the job of a Conservative Ministry.
The necessity of doing something to get rid of this
bungling and unfortunate arrangement before the open-
ing of the Session is, we believe, a truth of which the
Ministers themselves are at length convinced. It was
even reported yesterday in the Court of Chancery that
the days of the Commission are numbered and a Lord
Chancellor fixed upon—the new Chancellor being,
according to the same report, the present Master of
the 'Rolls. That Sir C. Pepys would make a better
Lord Chancellor than any common lawyer that conld
be appointed we believe. We have always been of
opinion that a Lord Chancellor beginning to learn
equity on the Bench is a practice that ought to be
reformed. What would be thought of one of the
Universities choosing for its Professor of Astronomy a
man who,when seated in the chair of that science begins
to learn the uses of the celestial globe. With regard
to the successor of Sir C. Pepys, supposing he should
be appointed Chancellor, there were two reports yes-
terday—one giving the Mastership of the Rolls to
Mr. Bickersteth, the other to Sir John Campbell.
In point of etiquette the Attorney-General has, we
suppose, the superior claim to the. promotion, but the
objection is that which applies to every case of a com-
mon lawyer raised to the Bench of a Court of Equity.
Were it right to appoint a common lawyer at all, Sir
John Campbell is, no doubt, a very able one as his pro-
fessional character and eminence in the King's Bench,
testify ; but there is no question that Mr. Bickersteth
would be as superior a Master of the Rolls to the At-
torney-General, as the Attorney-General would
be superior to Mr. Bickersteth in presiding over
a Court 'of Common Law. Besides, from the
Whig, or Whig-Radical portion of the Bar, the
Ministers would not find it an easy matter to sup-
ply the place of Sir John Campbell as Attorney-Ge-
neral. His very ffficiency, therefore, in his present im-
portant office may be an obstacle to his promotion at
present. Nevertheless, we should not be surprised to
hear of his appointment. It is generally understood
that a Bill will be brought in early in the Session to
separate the political from the judicial functions of
Lord Chancellor, and to make the office, like that of
every other superior Judge, for life. From the best
consideration which we can give this subject, we think
such a separation of the judical and political functions
of a Lord Chancellor advantageous to the public in-
terest, but we shall enter more fully into this question
another time.—.—Morning Herald.

Now that the elections of reformed Town Councils
are over, it will not be time mis-spent to look now and
then at the sort of Reform that the Bill under which
they have been chosen is likely to effect. We have
already noticed the proceedings of one or two of these
bodies, and the impression on our mind is, that the
members of them are by no means likely to be of any
service, except to themselves and their political parti-
sans. Nay, some of them, more honest or more im-
prudent than others, profess nothing more. At Cam-
bridge, for instance, not satisfied with displacing old
officers, to whom it was admitted that no blame
attached, the new corporators have not scrupled to
give their reasons for so doing. But we are wrong in
using the word in the plural, for reason there was but
one, and that one our readers will learn in the sub-
joined extract from the report in the Cambridge
Chronicle :
" Mr. Alderman Foster next proposed that the two
Coroners should be removed. He had no complaint to
make against either of the individuals holding that office,
but it was requisite, in order to complete the arrangements
they had entered into, that those officers should be removed.
" The motion was seconded by Mr. Coe and adopted,
upon which—

" Mr. Foster again rose, and said they were under great
obligations to an individual he would name for the assis-
tance he had rendered to the cause of Reform. He had
gratuitously given up much time to forward that interest,
and he therefore thought they were bound to give him some
recompense for his services.—(Hear, hear.) He, therfore,
begged to propose Mr. Charles Henry Cooper as their new
Coroner.

" The proposition was seconded by Mr. Bacon, and
unanimously carried."

So, because a man has " rendered assistance to the
cause of Reform" he is to have " some recompense for
his services" out of the pockets of the whole local corn-
:nullity, no matter whether they think him a deserving
person or merely a pestilent fellow. The newly-chosen
Coroner for Cambridge may, for aught we know, pos-
sess the highest qualifications for his office ; but, if
such be the case, his proposer has done him but scant
justice in not devoting a single syllable to the
commendation of his fitness. He has been what
in the cant of the day is termed a Reformer, and,
therefore, he is to have a place ; and meritorious
public servants are to be dismissed, and, for being
dismissed, compensation must be granted to them ;
and, as in the case of Liverpool, to which we lately
alluded, a debt is to be incurred by the Corporation,
already equal to two years of its surplus revenue.
" Excellent good, my masters I" This is the ,c Re-
form" the country has got, where the thing wo*s ;

but.. in some places. it does tat si-e.l-1; pild theme; "sf I
course, there is no Refoini z.t: L'l'..
ieadi ilitlgioned Rochester as au 4;:iCs6t and the I
matter has beccque cohsid _
421:11-11V WP.r.F.!:_', than when tic
~iniacve'?e once al- I
then wrote. At a irieetlin th outer clay (l'httifs(i*
, t.
we believe) the Town Cotip6l aclea6iii'ett to pro-
ceed to blisitiess. A Chairman to the meeting was
proposed ; the votes were equal ; and as the Bill makes
no provision for such an accident, no Chairman could
be chosen, and the Reformers were fain to proceed
without one. A Mayor was then proposed—then a
Town Clerk—then the days for the quarterly meetings
—then Commissioners of Pavements—then those for
the Court of Requests—and, as upon no one of those
questions could a decision be come to, for want of
a casting vote, the Reformed Councillors adjourned,
re infecta. So that the law business Of the Corpo-
ration may go undone, and the tradesmen lose their
money, and the inhabitants break their horses' knees
or their own necks, in the absence of a down clerk, a
Court of Requests, and a Paving Board. We wonder
if twelve months hence this will be considered-a pro-
per sort of " Reform." A suspicion crosses our mind
that it will not ; and we are inclined to think that a
similar suspicion has also occurred to Messieurs of the
new town councils, for we observe that in several of
them the public is excluded from their meetings. We
have never been advocates for an indiscriminate ad-
mission of all corners to the assemblies of municipal
or other public bodies ; but the reformed town coun-
cillors—the majority of them, certainly--have. And
the consciousness exhibited in the difference between
their theory and their practice " shows some sign of
grace
"-it looks at least as if they feared the scrutiny
of their fellow-citizens into their conduct. Is it likely
that men thus doubtful of their own popularity should
be able to exercise any very powerful influence over
their neighbours and constituents ? We submit this
question for the consideration of the writers in Mi-
nisterial newspapers, when they are next disposed to
boast of the political strength acquired by Government
in the late municipal elections.—Morning Post.
Our readers will have perceived that since our last
commentaries on the dispatch in the Portfolio from
Prince Lieven to Count Nesselrode, an attempt has
been made by the Conservative press devoted to the
Duke of Wellington to vindicate his conduct with re-
gard to the campaign undertaken by Russia against
Turkey. It is sought to mitigate the effect of the ex-
posure of -a ministerial incapacity almost amounting to
imbecility, which is charged upon him by a friendly
functionary, and by the representative of that Court
to which every Conservative hope and every absolutist
eye-are always turned for means of either recovering or
maintaining a tyrannical predominance over public
opinion. An attempt is made by an assertion that a
remarkable word, translated " Money" in the dispatch
as given in the Portfolio, is mistranslated, and that
the original word is " Soins." No proof of this allega-
tion is adduced;There is as much reason still to believe
the word to be " Money" as there was before ; but the
context is quite sufficient to show whether it be money
or exertions. The object of the exertions was pre-
cisely the same—to corrupt and bring over whatever
aid was purchasable, in order to bolster up the inco-
herent materials of the " recanting" and " agonizing"
Ministry. We might express our conviction, and give
pretty strong evidences for the conviction, that secret
service money was employed to purchase support in
the press, whether by the conversion of Radical papers
to Toryism, or by the extrusion of Reform editors and
the substitution of Tories in their room. But we have
started other game at present in the form of another
despatch, and we shall pursue it into that brief field
of expatiation to which our paper for the present limits
us. The deOpatch is dated June, 1829,—the same
year as the fdregoing,--and it is also addressed to
Count Nesselrode. The person who writes it is the
famous Russian - exquisite, Matuzewic, celebrated
equally at Almack'S and Newmarket. No one doubts
the latter's professed friendship for the Duke of
Wellington. The despatch in question is a long
rigmarole, which in point of real diplomatic talent,
we are bound to say, exhibits precisely that
calibre which we should expect to find in a dancing
and racing combination of Parisian polish with the
semi-barbarism of the North. But even he must have
his opportunity of dashing off a caricature likeness of
the illustrious Duke. It is given in a few Retzch-like
outlines ; but the touches are equally expressive as
those of Prince Lieven. Among other things he says,
" The Prime Minister made the amende honourable
as soon as he perceived that his words and his brava-
does would only serve to trouble that peace which is
necessary to him. It is perceptible that he avoids,
and even dreads, the examination of the situation in
which he stands, and that, according to his custom, he
charges events tuith the care of overcoming difficulties.
But the more this situation is critical, the more it
would enter into his character to turn to profit the
slightest incident to emerge from it by a coup d edat.
Singular combination of timidity and audacity—the
Duke of Wellington provokes often the chances which
he apprehends, and thenceforth he confronts them with-
out calculating the real consequences of his determina-
tions." Matuzewic subsequently makes the following cu-
rious expose :—" With respect to the guarantee of the
free passage in the Bosphorus, it constituted one of our
necessities, for, in fine, the free navigation of the Bos-
phorus, and the prosperity of a part of the domains of
the Emperor, were united by an indissoluble link. We
could not permit the caprice of a Vizier of a favourite Sul -
tana to arrest at will the whole movement of commerce—
the whole progress of public and private industry in
many of our provinces. We explained that in reality
this blockade (of the Dardanelles) was not a blockade
in the strict acceptation of the term, and that it did not
impose any loss on commerce. To this declaration,
which the Duke of Wellington seemed to wish to em-
ploy as a bugbear (epouvantail), we opposed a deduc-
tion from the policy of the Emperor, founded on his
acts and words." The word "epouvantail" in the above
extract, is an apt symbol of the whole make-believe po-
licy of the Ministry of 1829. In such a maze of
tracasseries and intricacies does a plain straight-for-
ward man involve himself, when he quits the camp for
a-diplomatic warfare, for which he was neither pre-
pared nor intended by his military habits. We leave
the thick and thin special pleaders of the Duke's policy
again
to take up the gauntlet of- his Russian diplo-
macy. . It is easy to say that Russia was frightened at
the Duke, and to argue by contraries. It is easy to
say that Lord Brougham was favourable to Russia be-
cause he exposed the fatal combination of " timidity
and audacity" in the Duke of Wellington. It is easy
to say that Lord Palmerston is incapable of his position
because the writer exaggeratingly describes him to be
,the " most eloquent orator in Parliament." There-
fore, because the Duke made himself a public laugh-
ing-stock in office, according to this logic, he was
better fitted for a Prime Minister. Oxienstern's adaue
about " little wisdom," is here reduced to a scherneOf
Government. It is useless to bandy words with faith-
less reasoners, who are determined to maintain that
black is white, and to make " the worse appear the
better reason." Let us come to facts. Of these the
concluding paragraph of the letter embodies quite
sufficient for our purpose. " It is in the midst of our
camp that peace must be signed, and it is when it shall
have been concluded that Europe must know its condi-
tions. Remonstrances will then be too late, and it will
then suffer what it can no longer prevent. We
cannot doubt that such will be the result of our cam-
paign. The British Ministry can undertake nothing
without our furnishing it with motives by alarming
operations in the Mediterranean. Our security is
complete—our forces are immense. It remains, there-
fore, only to combine them all, and to employ them
with energy on the theatre of war. It will be there
that we shall conquer all our known and secret foes,
there we shall obtain that consideration which is our
due—there, finally, we shall confirm the influence of
Russia on the internal and external repose of the rest
of Etn:ope." It may be seen from the above extract,
that Russia felt her power in the buke's weakness,
aa
inndb
idt
ieol iubse rately
intentionsa c ted i
su upon
ti
ot . b
elhe declaration
mistaken,
ta
keil
, a e of
and we
svele
arei r
is
thankful additionalftohrusthesupplied
tou
s.
information osniode
this ptooirnat
which
off the mask. Rape, transfer, aufer is her motto, like
that of Rome. Anticipate your opponents, and seize
what you desire. Let them talk after having secured
the prize. It will then be too late ; the time of action
i
will then be passed. Such s her diplomacy. The

Ball 0,
Datti ;,
terwards was, indeed, an epoutidiitaii; Alt A: the
word," cgins" (onglice) has been discovered to lit:
SOins,l46ilt,apo Cparcvantail will be found
uy tue Wine filed kit the j 44.0. trl Itavu lice', spb-
stltuted foreventail ; and certainly to be i‘ ily
a lady's fin," would seem to be the fate of the Duke,
while labouring under the infliction of sarcasm.from a
"fourth-rate" Calmuck Dandy.—Morning Advertiser.