The Sun.
London, England, 1841-09-03 00:00:00

EVENING S Vic

LORD COTT LNHAIII.

iitt It was impossible for us to publish, as we id yester-
day, the orders just issued by Lord Cottenb qi for the
better regulation of the business of the Court f Chan-
cery,
cery, and ';hick may be regarded as his partinitencr
to the profession over which he has so usefully of,
without feeling that some pUblic expression of the sense
universally entertained of is services was due to the
Noble and Learned Lord. It is usual, when an eminent
Judge retires from the Bench, for the leaders of the bar
to deliver, in the name of their brethren, a parting ad-
dress in acknowledgment of his claims upon their respect
and esteem, and we may be very sure that such a com-
pliment would not have been omitted in the present case,
bad the Courts of Equity been sitting at the time of
Lord Cottenham's retirement. • We think it highly pro-
bable, from our knowledge of the opinion which prevails
on the subject of his merits, that the bar will even .now

find for- themselves some opportunity of performing
this pleasing duty, • notwithstanding the acci-
dent which pro-cuts them from doing it in...the
customary manner. In the mean time, we 'trust we
shall pot be considered to be intruding improperly upon
their province, if we take advantage of the delay which
must intervene to anticipate, in some degree, the senti-
ments which they may be dxpected to express. •
It has been the peculiar good fortune, or rafther merit,
of Lord Cottenham, to have sustained with universal ap-
plause an elevation for- which his qualifications were not,
at the beginning, appreciated by the public. To a per-
fect familiarity with the practice, and acquaintance with
the recorded decisions of those Courts, he brought an
enlarged common' sense, and a mind disposed to recur to
the fundamental principles of equitable jurisdiction.
Few Judges have approached more closely to the true

medium lietween a slavish adherence to furies and prece-
dents, and a carelessness about tampering with established
principles of action. There has been nothing technical
in Lord Cottenham's judgments, and yet he has never
departed from the settled artificial system of his Court,
but has left it developed in clearer, more consistent, and
. .

more legitimate proportions than when it began to re-
ceive modification under his hands. He has always ap-
peared to feel the importance of checking undue hap.;
Pon, not by delays and harassing costs, which yemier
justice inaccessible, but by throwing a steady light upon
the principles of the law, and marking out as clearly as
possible the rules which ought to govern the practical
intercourse of mankind. Great industry, and an intellect
apprehensive of principles, and quick to detect and dis-
cLd secondary and irrevalent matter, have enabled
him to despatch the business of his Court With
comparative speed, without withholding from the
most trifling case that full attention and con.
sideration which was its due. His decision.; ipse
given an unusual degree of general satisfaction ; and
it has been a remarkale merit, that instead of shrinking
from making precedents, amd endeavour'mg (as Lord
Eldon was apt to do) to confine the tr'nciple, and there-
fore the public utility, as well as the personal responsi-
bility of his' judgments, vvitltin the narrowest possible'
limits, he has always manifested a desire to exhaust,
as far as possible, the questions at issue between par-
ties, and to take every fair opportunity of settling the
future law of the Court.

Lord Cottenham's demeanour towards counsel, and all
other parties concerned before him, has been uniformly,
and without exception, and in an equal degree to all,
courteous and attentive. No Judge was ever more free
from the weakness of lending his ear with an undue bias
to particular individuals. The youngest member of the
bar, when arguing before him, was under no apprehen-
sion that the effect of his case or of his arguments would
suffer on account of his personal obscurity, or the
eminence of those who might be retained on the oppo-
site side. Lord Cottenham was in every respect the
master of his own Court.
The services of Lord Cottenham to the country linve
not been confined to his excellent administration of jus.
tice. He has introduced several useful measure's into
Parliament, for the purpose of facilitating justice ; and,
had he met with the support which *as due both to his.•
character. and to his measures themselves from his col-'
leagues in the late Government, the public would, ere.
this, have had the benefit of the chief of those improve-
ments. As it is, he has succeeded in procuring the
enactment of a statute by which new powers have been
conferred on the Lord Chancellor, with a view to changes
in the practice of the Courts of Equity. The first points
of that enactment we yesterday laid before our readers,
in a series of judicious regulations, which, although
they do not carry the work of simplification by any
means so far as may hereafter be found advantageous,
are an exceedingly valuable step in a right direction, ..
As a politician, we have differed from Lord Cor..eti-
ham. We believe him to be a very decided Whig par-
tisan, and to have exhibited that partisanship in the use
of the influence and patronage of his office. It may
fairly, however, be inferred from the circumstance that
his official conduct has never been impeached with suc-
cess in any point of detail, that it has not been possible
to lay to his charge, .as a Minister of the Crown, any
action unworthy of his high character as-a. Judge and as'
a private gentleman.

There has been for some years an increasing opinion
in the legal profession of the unreasonableness and pub-
lic mischief of uniting with the office of Chief .Judge
in Equity political functions which make it neces-
sary to remove that officer upon every change of Ad-
ministratiun. In that opinion we coincide : we can
see no more ground, in ,reason or practical conve-
nience, for making the Lord 'Chancellor a member
of the Cabinet, than for making the tenure of the
' Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench' equally preca-
rious. On the present occasipn the. public will
probably be less impressed with these considerations
than might otherwise have been expected, 'on account of
the vast capacity and long judicial experience of Lord:
Cottenham's successor—the first Englishman, we be-
lieve, who has ever received the great seal the ce different
times from the hands of his Sovereign. But on that very
account, and because under such circumstances there
can be nothing invidious in the suggestion, we would
now urge upon the Conservative Ministry that the prinr.
ciple of arrangements which might have deprived the
country of Lord Cottenhanes services at the present mo,
ment, even had there been no man competent to succeed;
him, cannot be good.

Ono word more and we have done. If there is any
mark of Royal favour and distinction which Lord Cot
tenham, on leaving office, would be willing to accept, it
would be universally felt to be a tribnte due to his ser-
vices, and we are sure that it must be an equal satisfac-,
tion to Sir Robert Peel to advise, to her Majesty to' be-!,
stow, and to the nation to witness, it.—Times.

BARTHOLOMEW FAIR.—The preparations for
holding the fair, which will be opened to-day at noon by
the Lord Mayor, were being actively made last night,
where the different stall-keepers obtained their locations.
These, at the head of which is the large travelling me-
nagerie of Mr. Wombwell, will be nearly on the „Same
scale of extent of those of last year. Yesterday the
usual proclamation was issued from the Pie-poWder
court., at the Band and Shears, public-house, Cloth-fair,
calling on all who take part in the fair. to pay their
" stallage, piccage, customs, tolls and duties, to such
Court, and to all freemen of the City who trade there to
produce their licenses." With the fair this very ancient,
and the most expeditious as well as cheapest Court of-
law in the country will expire, as the Fair of St. Bartho-
lomew is now nearly the only place in the kingdom where
any vestige remains of its former powers. It now merely
collects the revenues of the fair for.the Lord of the Ma-
nor, who is Lord Kensington, and whose steward pre-
sides, who was, until the last few years, a Judge of all
the civil cases, and of many important criminal ones re-
lative to the said Fair. This Court was estal/lishedlin
the reign of Edward the Third, for the summary redress
of all grievances at fairs, its original name, Pied-pouktre,.
being derived, according to antiquarians, from the dusty.
feet of the suitors, or because justice was administered
there as speedily as it was possible to wipe the dust frcial
the shoes.—Moruing Paper.
PRINCE ALBERT.—It is currently, and we
believe correctly, reported that his Royal Highness
Prince Albert has expressed to the gentlemen of his
suite who have seats in Parliamant, the deep regret he
would feel in being deprived of their services, and has
intimated, at the same time, his Royal Highness's very
decided opinion that such of them as wish to retain their
offices near his person ought either to retire from politi-
cal life or to atibrd their Parliamentary support to her
Majesty's Government.-11forning Post. . [Surely kis.
1
Royal Highness cannot have so speedily given in his ad-
hersion to the masters of the Queen. He cannot hate
entered into a conspiracy with the Tories to deprive her
Majesty of liberty. This must be a calumny.—En• Sun.
THE WEATHER.—On Saturday and Sundayit to
we had excellent weather, but its effect, we
of rain on
say, vas considerably marred by a heavy fa_l_lteorday, but.
Monday. The weather again cleared UP es
it is so changeable that there is no c
aleniwhile the far-
continuance for any length of time. 31
that do occur,
mers are not idle during the sunny
blinksd 'weather to ren-
and we only want a week of really
g°°untrv.—Scotsman..
der harvest general throughout the
ncEo
Yating upon to.
Last eVellihe
DEATH OF A CHILD BY Fiat
St. Bartholomew‘s;
an inquest was held by Mr. Payneen
Robinson, aged tent •
Hospital on the body of Maryd,
r was occupied ill frying
it appeared dinner, when a piece of
grate and set the child's
years. The child,
to the bed l h
some potatoes for her brothee
extending.-c ot es, the
ewloootldiesfeolni
probablity, been burned down
house *would have,
in all -arrived. She lingered till Wed-
had not timely assistancshe
fire,lih which
tof
died of the burns. Verdict,
nesday evening, when
Accidental death.
CAUTION a
guano
To THE PUBLlC.—Yesterday
'af-
ternoon tv of Lucifer-matches, in boxes, exposed.
i
for sale in the window of a tobacconist's shop, in Upper
Thames-street, were
ignited by the heat of the sun, ar.d
exploded
one after the other, setting fire to various r_rt,i_
in the window.
The flames at one time prese'.,ted a
rather alarming appearance, but were ex tinguishe'll before
the fire extended farther than the shop-windoY: by the
police
and others who came to the spot. 146", er-matches •
and Congreve-lights ought not on any aced unt to be de-
posited in a warm place or exposed to the 'heat of the sun.
SHOCKING ACCIDENT.—CAUTION TO PA.
nnvrs.—Between seven and eight o'clock on Wednesday
evening, a shocking accident happe.aed to a little boy,
residing in the Queen's Bench-walk., It appears that the
poor little fellow had got up behiritl n. cab, unperceived
by the driver, till he stopped in, the Borough-road, to
put down a lady, when he was ',Alarmed by seeing the
feet of the unfortunate boy 4tanding upwards, and his
body entangled in the wheel, from which perilous situa-
tion he could not be extricated without the wheel, being
taken otf. He was conveyed to a surgeon's in an alinost
lifeless state, when his injuries were discovered to be. of
the most serious nature ; he was subsequently conveyed
to St. Thomas's Hospital. . - -
Dr. Lizars has been appointed to the Ifr*s7
sorship of Anatomy in Marischal College, vacant by thei
resignation of Dr. Allen 'Thomson.—Aberdeen Herna

Mr. Charles Ketnble has arrived in Paris, his
numerous friends will be gratified to learn, in a state of
convalescence, after his long and severe illuesi.