The Sun.
London, England, 1849-09-06 00:00:00

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LONDON, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1849.

Lord BROUGHAM has long occupied a prominent,
indeed we may say, the most prominent position
among the legal reformers of the age. Since he first
entered into public life, his active mind has never
been permitted to remain for a moment quiescent.
Notwithstanding the multiplicity of his avocations as
a working barrister, in full practice, and a leading
member of a great political party, he found leisure
to become a copious and able contributor to
literary and scientific works, and in every branch he
appeared to have devoted his entire labour
.to that
alone. So great were his attainments and profound
his knowledge, even in the minutest points. He per-
formed the work of half-a-dozen different persons,
"rid performed it well. It might be said of him—
" tetiget quod non ornavit;"

for although we cannot say that he was at all
times free from error, yet the mistakes he
committed were those of a great mind,
There was nothing common place or mediocre in any
act or production, and considering the vast amount of
his labours, and his undertakings, it is only surpris-
ing that these errors should be so trivial and insigni-
ficant in comparison to the beneficial results of his
unceasing exertions. But it is not on his achieve
ments as a fervid and impassioned orator, an acute
advocate, a sound lawyer, a learned and impartial
judge, a liberal politician, a profound mathematician,
or a witty end talented author, that his more enduring
fame will rest. Although the future historian will
necessarily dwell upon these various excellences, his
chief theme will be the amelioration of the statute
law, introduced and carried into execution under the
auspices of the legal reformer, who cleansed
the Augean stable of the law. That mighty
task is not yet performed. Much has, un-
doubtedly, been done, but more remains
to be achieved. There can, however, be but little
doubt that if the Noble Lord shall be enabled to apply
himself for a few more years with zeal, energy, and
ability, such as he has manifested throughout his
entire career, but little will remain to be called for
by the most enthusiastic advocate of legal reform.
The letter from his Lordship to Sir JAMES GRA-
HAM* on the "Making and Digesting of the Law,"
which Lae just been published, will undoubtedly be
received with that respect and consideration to which
anything proceeding from his pen is so justly en-
titled. It is scarcely necessary to bespeak attention
to any production of Lord BROUGHAM'S. But even
were it the work of an unknown writer, the vast
importance of the suggestions and the absolute neces-
sity of some changes in our legislative system
analogous to those so - ably advocated by
the Noble and Learned Author, would secure
to the letter, now under notice, a serious and
deliberate perusal. The machinery of legislation is
bedly and powerfully attacked ; the loose and
imperfect system that occasions the errors and
absurdities so often deplored by judges, and by which
the intention of the Legislature is so frequently
defeated, is exposed in all its folly. Instances are
given, that would be exceedingly ridiculous were they
not of such grave import,. of mistakes that have
already been committed owing to the mode in which
Bills are framed, and carried through both Houses of
Parliament, without being subjected to competent
supervision, either before their introduction or during
their progress. The same inadvertency and want of
care, that produced the memorable enactment re
ferred to by his Lordship, " which awarded one moiety
of a penalty—namely, transportation or whipping,
to the person suing for the same, and another
to his Majesty, his heirs, and successors," may be
detected, although not quite so glaringly, in numerous
inetaeces of every-day occurrence, and even in enact-
ments that have been submitted to the revision of
S.
Select Committees, and received as much considera-
tin Parl'arnent as could possibly be bestowed upon
any measures. These mistakes necessarily arise from
the want of concert and co-operation on the part of
the members of the different Houses
and of the
painstaking and experienced men by whom the Bills
v‘ ere originally prepared. Each man amends and alters
to suit his own taste, or fancy, without regarding
objects, or the unity of the entire law. The labours
of one House are disregarded by the other, and the
exertions of the original framers by both. Hence
there is that crude and incongruous legislation that is
so much to be lamented, and which is calculated to
bring shame and disgrace on Parliament, and to mar
the general et.licacy of its exertions.
The alterations introduced by the Select Committee
of the House of Commons in the Bankrupt Consoli-
dation Act of ?ait session—alterations which were by
no means improvements on that well considered and

"L-itter from Lord Brougham to Sir James Graham
r"----on the Makii:g and Digesting of the Law." London;
awes Ridgway, Piccadilly. .Lp. 42.
11.4

carefully digested measure—form the immediate sub-
ject of the letter. But his Lordship had long since
directed his attention to the question of the prepara-

tion of statutes generally, and the feelings of annoy-
ance at the rash and inconsiderate changes perpetrated
in his bankruptcy code have only revived his former
determination. After entering freely into the history
of that statute, and exposing with a masterhand the
folly and inutility of some of the so-called amend-
ments, his Lordship says :
" Can any one doubt that Parliament must now adopt
some method of placing under proper and able, as well
as honest and responsible superintendence, the prepara-
tion of all Bills, and the watching of their progress
through both Houses? Two years ago, I laid before
the Lords twenty-four resolutions propounding a scheme
of this description. The principal provision was the
appointment of a board or court of five members, irre-
movable without address of both Houses, to which either
House might refer any Bill, and. whose opinion might be
taken upon the draft of any Bill before its introduction.
It was part of the plan that all questions of fact might be
tried, and reports in the nature of special verdicts re-
turned on all such points, the two Houses only omitting
in their proceedings the Committee and report, but
tither House having the full power either of remitting
for inquiry to the board, or of taking evidence itself,
notwithstanding the board's report."
Under this improved system, there would be no
undue interference with the rights of either House or
of individual members.
" No person," says his Lordship " no person, nor any
department of the Government, would be bound to follow
the advice of the proposed board, or to lay before it any
proposed Bill. The privileges of both Houses, and of all
the members of each, would remain inviolate. But a
helpmate would be provided for all, both Government
and individuals, and for both branches of the Legislature
a helpmate whose aid, both in preparing Bills before
their introduction, and in watching them during their
progress through Parliament, would be altogether be-
yond any estimate we can form of its value. Ner is it
only in preventing error, and in improving legislation,
that it would be of invaluable use. `The mere saving of
time would be incalculable, and this consideration is now
become of such importance that Committees have
actually been sitting to inquire how debates may be
shortened so as to render it possible to transact the
business of Parliament—it being discovered that the
Parliamentary sitting has but narrow limits, and that
the desire of Parliamentary debate has no limits at all."
Such are the outlines of the plan for remedying an
evil which is admitted on all sides to have reached to
an extraordinary degree, and which undoubtedly
requires immediate attention. Valuable reforms can
scarcely be hoped for while the source of all legisla-
tion is avowedly defective. Let this point, then, be
first attended to, and if the suggestions of
Lord BeouGIIAM be fully and judiciously
carried into execution, reasonable expectations may
be entertained that necessary reforms may be no
longer postponed or retarded from the pressure of
Parliamentary business and want of time on the part
of legislators—and the complaints that hare been so
rife at the conclusion of every recent session, " that
Bills of importance have either been altogether with •
drawn, or so mutilated in their progress, as to be
worse than useless," will at length be removed.

It is a relief at the present moment, amid the
gloomy details which now daily fill our columns of
the ravages of the pestilence, of the movements of
murderers, of the disasters of war, and treachery
combined—it is a relief to contemplate a ceremony of
a peaceful and festive character, which, although it
took place in a foreign country, is interesting to all,
inasmuch as it was commemorative of genius, which
is universal. The anniversary of GOETHE'S birth was
last week (August 28th) celebrated at Berlin by a
grand banquet. The proceedings have been described
by an eye-witness as very dissimilar to those :at
public dinners in this country. Instead of the dinner
first and the speeches afterwards, " the feast of reason
and the flaw of soul" are, in Germany, intermingled
with the more substantial banquet. Thus, several
times during the dinner, a flourish of trumpets en-
joined patience to the hungry while a toast was
honoured, a song listened to, or a discourse recited.
Chacun a son gout; for ourselves we cannot but
consider the English custom as the more satisfactory
both to those who wish to enjoy the intellectual
and the material feast.

The learned author of "Cosmos" presided over the
banquet, and during the evening read a paper which
excited great enthusiasm. In this he extolled the
conduct of those Princes who (as the saying is)
patronise genius. " If," he said, " the simultaneous
appearance of great men lies beyond the authority
and sway of earthly powers, not so is the uniting them
when they appear, and aiding the working together
of their mental endowments. It is an elevating
spec tac le," continued Dtuun IlesenOLL'l' "to see,
through several generations, a noble, princely Nice,
animated by the lofty idea, not only of increasing by
such an union of genius the glory of their native
land and their own enjoyment of life, but of inspiring
by that drawing together of mental greatness its
creative spirit to bolder flights." The encouragement
which ,it is enabled to afford to men of genius
may be considered as one of the happiest preroga-
tives of royalty, and in former days Kings and
Princes, by availing themselves of this privilege,
transmitted their names to posterity surrounded with
a lustre which no action of their own could have
obtained. Not
.insignificant Sovereigns only have
been rendered celebrated by the glory of those whom
they thought to patronise. Even the Qrande Monarque
is indebted for some of the grandeur of his reign to
the literary men who found favour at his court—a
circumstance which rendered him an object of
,envy
even to NAPOLEON. " Had CORNEILLE lived in my
reign," exclaimed the Soldier-EurEuou, " I would have
made him a Prince." ELIZABETH, also, is as much
renowned, and justly so, for her friendship with
&TAMPERE as for any other characteristic of her
reign. In more modern times, however, the privi-
leged few—forgetting that the patronage of genius,
like charity, is twice blessed, and confers more honour
on the donor than on the recipient—have neglected to
win for themselves this happy celebrity ; but, fortu-
nately for genius, the many have more than supplied
their place. It is on popular favour, and not on
Ministerial pensions, that literary men now depend.
Literature is now identified with the people, which
is a striking evidence of the " march of mind."
The Italian correspondent of one of our contempo-
raries expresses great surprise that the revolution
numbered among its supporters so many artists and
actors, and others, who personally suffered from its
effects. " They are as mad as ever, and they cannot
be yet convinced that the rich and the noble are their
only customers, and that patriotism never buys works
of art, or fills the side-boxes at the opera." These
artists, &c., however much they might suffer for the
moment, justly recognised that their cause and that of
the people were one. Now and then, perhaps, as a
solitary flower occasionally (but very rarely) may
bloom within prison walls, some great work of art
may be produced under the shadow of tyrannical
protection, but genius only flourishes habitually in
the soil of freedom, strengthened by the invigorating,
if sometimes rough, blasts of popular opinion.
Nevertheless, Baron HUMBOLDT is right in eulogising
those Princes who honour themselves by honouring
and encouraging great men.

The Lord Mayor had the honour of entertaining at
dinner last evening a party of sixty gentlemen, merchants
and others, connected with the city of London.
MEETINGS FOR THE REMISSION OF THE HOP DUTY.
—A meeting of the hop-growers of East Sussex was held
on Saturday at Hurst-green, for the purpose of consider.
mg the reply of the Lords of the Treasury to the memo•
rial of a meeting held at Hastings on the 27th of July
last, praying for the remission of the hop duty on the
crop of 1848, the reply having been one of a negative
character. The chair was occupied by Mr. Selwes, and
Sir P. Mickl9thwaite moved a resolution to the effect that
the circumstances which had induced them to ask for a
remission of the hop duty of 1848 had now become in-
finitelymore urgent by reason of the unfavourable pros-
pecand increased dit9culties of the hop farmers; that
the withdrawal of so large a sum from the hop districts
would paralyse any interest connected with these locali-
ties,compel the farmers
swell
t to h
epdoiosrehraartgese t; h
thatei their la and
du
er efiresi,e
n cy
thuste s ' alarmingly
of the crop, caused by a blight, would preclude the pos-
sibility of their meeting the demand coming due in
October and November; and that therefore a memorial
should be presented to the Lords of the Treasury pray-
ing them to suspend the collection of the hop duty of
1848. The resolution was unanimously adopted, and
after some observations from Mr. llodges, MT., Mr.
Curteis, M.P., end other gentlemen, a committee was
I named to carry out the object of the meeting, and to take
charge of memorials from every parish in the hop.grow-
ing districts.
THECwheoal
reerah IHalpaopscypui
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aa rt)l,,Ah
demo
sdnt aeo
ritldysahmoreturns of the cholera,
iwncrease. ass
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hActatshe the
on the 3d, and 28 under treatment. At Scheveningen it
is on the decline, the daily average number of deaths
being only 4. At Madstricht, Groningen, and other
places, the dis,-ase is on the decline.
FOREIGN HONEY.—A vessel arrived fram Caen has
brought 22 casks and 50 cases of honey, the produce of
Normandy, as a portion of her cargo.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris papers of yesterday.
Rumours of an approaching change of Ministry
are again rife in Paris. It is said that MM. PASSEY,
DLIFAURE, and DE TOCQUEVILLE will retire, and be
replaced by MM. BENOIT, LEON DE MALLEVILLE, and
LEON FAUCHER.

The Presse states,that on his return from Epernay
on Sunday, the PRESIDENT of the Republic invited
M. LEON FAUCHER into his own carriage, and that
they thus travelled to Paris together.
It is said that a reconciliation has taken place
between the PRESIDENT of the Republic and the
members of the family of his uncle JERoIiE BONA.-
PARTE.

At the review at Epernay, on Sunday, a disgraceful
scene took place between General RULLIERE, the
Minister at War, and General DE NEUILLY the
Commander of the Department of the Maine.
The latter wished to present a young officer
to the PRESIDENT for the Cross of the Legion of
Honour. This was loudly and violently opposed by
the Minister at War in the presence of the PRESI •
DENT, his staff, and the troops, as being contrary to
the regulation, on account of the youth of the officer.
The cholera still continues to rage with great
violence in Paris. M. ROBERT, representative of the
department of the Yonne, and M. CouLorl, the regis-
seur de la dame at the Grand Opera, died of this
disease on Tuesday. The disease is daUy gaining
ground in Marseilles, where the deaths average forty
a day.

The Moniteur contains a report from M. DurAiniE
to the PRESIDENT of the Republic setting forth the
necessity of establishing in the department of the
Seine a commission of prisons, for the purpose of
promoting all objects likely to lead to the material
or moral amelioration of the prisoners in
that district. According to the ordonnances
of April 9, 1819, and of June 25, 1823, simi-
lar commissions were ordered to be nominated in
all towns having one or more places of confinement,
but in the department of the Seine those ordonnances
were never carried properly into execution. It is to
fill up the void so left that, the Minister of the Interior
now makes his proposition. The report is followed by
a decree from the PRESIDENT of the Republic appoint-
ing ➢IM. BAROCHE, BExENGER, DEBELLYME, RE
BILLOT, and sixteen other men of eminence, to compose
I the commission proposed.

The Council of state are engaged at this moment
with the law relative to transportion to Algeria of the
prisoners of June, 1848, who are still at Belleisle.
They will be subjected to military rule, but are
capable of becoming, after having given proofs of good
conduct, colonists and even proprietors. The law on
deputation is also a subject of deliberation with the
Council.
The Constitutionnel says that letters from LA
Rochelle and Perigueux mention that 2,000 men ci
the 75th and 59th of the Line, in moveable columns,
had marched in all haste to the Lot. This display of
force had reference, it was said, to the collection of
the 45 centimes.
Letters from Oran state that serious differences
have arisen between the French and the Moors, in
consequence of the latter having bastinadoed a Jew
who was under French protection.
The following letter from the Count DE CRAM
BORD, dated Ems, August 29th, has been extensively
circulated among the Legitimatists in Paris :
" It is with the liveliest emotion that I have received
the homage offered to me by workmen of every trade
from the city of Paris. I have been profoundly touched
at seeing their del( gates coming to me in a foreign
country, and I charge them to be with their comradts
the interpreters of my gratitude and of my affection.
To learn that my name is pronounced with sympathy
in my native country, in the city where I was born, is
the most soothing consolation that I can receive in exile.
In perusing the numerous lists which have been brought
to me, I was happy and proud at being able to reckon
so many friends amongst the labouring classes. Inces-
santly occupied in studying the means of being useful to
them, I am acquainted with their wants and their suffer-
ings, and my deepest regret is that my absence from my
country deprives me of the happiness of being able to
give them aid and ameliorate their lot. Bat a day will
come—such is my fondest hope—a day will come, when
I shall be permitted to serve France, and to merit her
love and her confidence. " HENRI."
M. DE LESSEPS has just published his reply to
the report of the Council of State. The Siecle, which
has been one of the warmest advocates of M. DE
Lessees extracts it from a letter written by him during
his mission. The remarks with which the Siecle in
troduces the letter are naturally those which the com-
munication would suggest to any person at a moment
when the accounts from Rome seem to show that
M. DE LESSEPS, whatever may be said of the way in
which he executed the mission entrusted to him, had
not taken an incorrect view of some of the results
which were to be expected. The Siecle says—
" The following is a note which on the 20th May last
M. de Lesseps addressed to the Government. It will be
seen that warnings have not been wanting to arrest the
Cabinet on the fatal steep over which certain persons
wished to lead it. France must not,' says M. de Les-
seps, under pretence of disputing with Austria her
inguence in Italy, take on herself what was odious in
the part destined to that power by her policy, her
natural tendencies, and her interests. Austria has
always been much better informed than we as to th,
value of the opinions which constitute the strength of
parties in the Italian peninsula. She knows the horror,
that is the word, which the Romans have of a
priestly Government, and she will with satisfaction see
us take on ourselves a restoration which is more political
than religious; that is to say, much more desired by
absolutism than by Catholicism.' We almost believe it;
ask the Emperor of Russia—ask even the pastor, Da.
Coquerel. 'lf we wish,' continues M. de Lesseps, 'to
occupy Rome by force, without first obtaining an ex-
plicit declaration from the Pope, we shall have nothing
but embarrassment. It is certain that our soldiers will
triumph over all material obstacles, but this is the leas,
of the difficulties. When we shall have entered Rome,
after having put down the Republic, most certainly the
Holy Father will refuse to return on the conditions
which it will suit us to impose on him. On this side
there is an absolute principle which cannot be agreed to.
M. d'Harcourt was as well convinced of it as myself at
the first conference. He told me he gave up the idea of
obtaining anything at Gaeta. On the other side there
is also in a contrary sense an absolute principle. An
Ecclesiastical Government will not be submitted to ex-
cept by force. We must maintain a permanent occupa-
tion, as well to preserve the restoration which our arms
shall have implanted, as to repress the manifestations of
opinion, which from day to day will become more hostile
to temporal power. We shall therefore end by losing
our influence over all parties. Our efforts and our ex-
penses will only have served to unite all Italian passions
against us."

—Seals have been affixed on the Paris and Sceaux
Railway, at the request of the State, and also of some
private creditors of the undertaking. The circula-
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embankments, which had been made at the expense
of more than half a million of francs, to continue this
railway to Palaiseau and Orsay, are being demolished,
in consequence of a decision of the Constituent As-
sembly.
The dispatches received yesterday at the Ministry of
the Interior from the Prefects of departments set forth
that there will be few demands for a revision of the
Constitution on the part of the General Councils. If
they express a desire, it will no doubt be on the neces.
sity of giving fixity and stability to the Government for
the encouragement of commercial transactions and the
public prosperity. The Prefects announce in advance
that the proces-verbaux will principally contain cer-
tain wishes for decentralisation, and for the re-elta
blishment of the taxes abolished by the Constitution,
together with a very decided opposition to the income
tax proposed by M. PAslv. The departments which
express themselves most strongly to this effect are
those of the south, the east, and the west ; those of
the north do not appear disposed to declare themselves
so explicitly on these questions.
General PACHECO Y OBEs, one of the most distin-
guished citizens of South America as a soldier, an
orator, and a poet, has just arrived in France, as ex-
traordinary envoy from the Republic of the Uru-
guay. On account of the treaties concluded by Ad-
miral LE PREDOUR, he has appointed Commissary ad
hoc. The General is said to be a great partisan of
European colonisation in South America.
The Five per Cents. closed on the Paris Bourse on
Wednesday at 911. 500.; the Three per Cents. at 561.
10c. ; Orleans Railroad Shares, 7751. ; Rouen, 54
50c. ; Avignon, 2301. ; Basle, Mt: 25c.; Vierzon,
3151. ; Bordeaux, 407 E. 50c. ; Great Northern, 4421.
50c.; Strasbourg, 3581. 75c. ; and Tours and Nantes,
305'.

BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK-EXCHANGE, Snrr. 5.
Anglo Italian (late Italian and Austrian), I—Central ol
France (Orleans and Vierzon), 12%—Luxembourg, %%
Northern of France, 21 dis.— Orleans and Bourdeaux,
Rouenand Havre, WA—Sambre andMease, 2%.