The Sun.
London, England, 1851-11-03 00:00:00

a. 4.
S
LONDON, MONDAY 1*
• e
;L, •
NOVEMBER 3, 1851.
, 2

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
CHRONICLE.—On Saturday last we offered some
comments on those sections of Lord Brougham's Act
to Amend the Law of Evidence, which govern the
admissibility as witnesses of parties to suits, and we
pointed out some curious and interesting results of
the new law, which had probably escaped notice in
some quarters. Had our limits permitted, we might
have dwelt at far greater length on the benefits
which will stccrue to the public from the passing of
t his Act, and we might have shown that, greatly as
the cause of truth and justice will be advanced by
bo*.h iq the Common Law Courts, the Courts of
Equity, and the Ecclesiastical Courts, the suitors of
the High Court of Admiralty will be, at least as much
as any other litigants, indebted to Lord Brougham
for the ability, energy, and zeal which he dis-
played in promoting and carrying the measure. In-
deed, it would be difficult to discover any class of
causes, in which the examination of the parties
would be likely to produce more advantageous
effects, than those suits which are, instituted in the
Court of Admiralty for determining questions of
salvage, subtraction of wages, derelict, bottomry,
and collision. In such causes it almost invariably
happens that the parties themselves are better ac-
quainted with the real facts in dispute than any
ocher persons can possiby be ; and we rejoice to
think that a law, which enables them to make their
own statements on oath, should, at the outset, be
administered by a judge of such known liberality
of sentiment and practical acuteness as Dr. Lushing-
ton. It would also be a most interesting subject of
inquiry, to consider the probable effect of the Act in
checking election bribery ' • and it would be no diffi-
cult task to show, that a law which authorizes both
the petitioner and the sitting Member to examine
each other before an Election Committee, cannot fail
to excite, in all candidates for a seat in Parliament, a
wholesome dread of being mixed up with those cor-
rupt and detestable practices, which are now in
the course of illustration before the Commissioners at
St. Alban's. For the present, however, we turn aside
from this seductive view of the operation of the Act,
as we are anxious to draw attention to one particular
clause, which, during the next four days, may exer-
cise a material influence over causes tried at the last
Summer Assizes. We allude to the 20th section,
which enacts that the statute shall come into opera-
tion on the first day of the present month, and which
was substituted by the House of Commons for a
clause which provided that the Act should not
apply to any proceedings commenced before the
date of its passing. The effect of this alte-
ration is somewhat remarkable. In the first place,
as the Act contains no words with limit its opera-
tion to suits begun after the 31st of October, it of
course extends indiscriminately to all legal pro-
ceedings which are at this moment pending ; and the
consequence is that, before the close of the present
week, ample opportunity will have been afforded by
the Nisi Prius sittings at Westminster of practically
testing its merits. In the next place, it will exert no
trifling influence over the motions for new trials,
which, during the first four days of Term, will be
made in our Common Law Courts; for it will obvi-
ously be incumbent ou dissatisfied suitors, before they
apply to the judges for relief, to consider calmly
what would be the effect of a second investigation
before a jury, at which the testimony of their oppo-
nents, as well as their own evidence, might be heard.
In some cases, no doubt, common prudence will sug-
gest the propriety of quietly acquiescing in a verdict,
which, however erroneously pronounced in regard
to the imperfect evidence on which it was founded,
would inevitably prove to have been correct in sub•
stance, when the parties themselves were examined
on the new trial. In other cases, it will become a
matter of most vital importance for a party to gain
the privilege of submitting his cause to a second jury,
since facts which, under the old law, could not by
possibility have been ascertained with precision,
may now, by the statements of one or both of the
litigants, be made as clear as the sun. And here we
may refer to a point which the judges will probably
be forthwith called upon to decide. At present, new
trials are granted when either the judge has mis-
directed the jury in point of law, or when material
evidence has been improperly admitted or rejected,
or when the verdict has been palpably given against
the evidence, or when some gross irregularity has
occurred in the proceedings, or the losing party has
been taken by surprise, or when some material evi-
dence has been discovered since the trial. Now,
-where any-one of these grounds -firttbe interference
of the court exists, the only effect of the new law of
evidence, so far as respects the judges, will be, that
they will naturally feel inclined, in a doubtful case,
to permit a new trial, when, in addition to the ground
on which their intervention is prayed, the applicant
is in a position to show that his own evidence, or the
evidence of his opponent, is calculated to throw
important light upon the matter in dispute. But
the question is whether, under the peculiar circum-
stances connected with this law, the judges will not
go one step further, and authorise a second investi-
gation of the facts—though none of the usual ob-
jections to the former trial be urged—provided
the losing party be ready to pay the cost hitherto
incurred, and can convince them that, by the aid of
the new Act, he could disprove the case on which
his opponent's success was founded. We have
seen that the Courts will grant a new trial, where
they are satisfied that material evidence bas been dis-
covered by the losing party since the cause was first
heard; and although the case just put does not full
within this rule, it certainly bears some analogy to it.
In both cases it must be assumed that sulastantial in-
justice has been done. In the one, beabse, from ac-
cidental causes, the evidence which would have esta-
blished the real circumstances was not forthcoming ;
in the other, because by a law which is now repealed
as unjust, that evidence, though forthcoming, could
not at the time of the former trial be used. We offer
no opinion respecting the merits of this argument,
but
be n
attention to it as one which can scarcely
fail to be urged. Another startling effect will be
ion of the 20th section, which,
as we have before observed, was made by the House
the alteration
t Act to improve
the Law
producedo f
Commons.
om
in 1843, and
of Evidence, which passed
niobnys. Lord Danman's grea
record, and II oethaer
mmpedaridattiees
bt o
behalf
rsonf rsomo
competenti t operationaavho
teo
testify,
contains
for
clause which formed in fact the precedent
which
—vecr;eburOjugght or defended—rendere a a
interested witnessespe
the one originally int rod
he shallm not
Act, and which providesu c
that t Leasure
.t
commenced before re-
affect any legal proceedings
ed into ord Brougam's
ceived the Royal assent. But Lord
on the contrary applies, as we have seen, to all
commenced • and, conse-
suits, no matter when Brougham's Act,
, now
t Acts
quen ,t d
that in every legal proceeding
which was u e
which is still
before the 22d of August, 1843, and
tly, the combined result of the. wo . will be,
under
mediately interested, may give their evidence
have only
Lord Brougham's Act, but witnesses who
.f
pending, the parties themselves, and. the persons im-
ce
Lord Denman 's Act. It is true that this varian t
an ordinary interest in the cause cannot testify u.nder
between the two measures will have no effec!_ a
which were brought prior to 1843; but in the Court
common law, since no actions are now undecided
of Chancery, where proceedings unite the longevity
vity
of the parrot with the vitality of the polyp—
dying of old age, and resisting all efforts to kill them
which the anomalous state of the law, as just pointed
—there are, we are grieved to say, very many
out, may be practically displayed.
suits in
HERALD.—As our legal readers are aware, this
is the first day of Michaelmas Term, when the legal
business of the country re-commences after the long
vacation, and probably no occasion could be more
fitting to draw public attention to the condition of
both branches of the profession, and more especially
to the condition and prospects of the bar of England.
If a judge, a Queen's counsel, a barrister, or an at-
torney, gathered to his fathers a quarter of a century,
or even ten or twelve years ago, were to rise this
morning from among the dead, the individual entity
in question would scarcely credit his eyes or ears as
to the state of things now actually existing in that
profession which he had left so flourishing in 1826,
in 1839, and in 1841 respectively. Nay, supposing
that great ornament of the legal forum who has de-
Hail de-
parted scarcely more than six years from among us
—supposing the late
i
i SnisrtainVtilliiaemudFayolmleettrutiourge,vitshiet
Westminster
3d of November, we doubt whether he would credit
the amezing changes that have taken place since he
was called away in the full vigour of his prime
from a scene of which he was one of the brightest
ugiesshe
do f
by th e
n land,iutegarsity,in a 118e4a5r
ianngd,
ornaments. The great advocate and lawyer would
fliBu4d6,thdeistjudges
au
gd
and assiduity above all paise—he would find the prin-
cipal members of the bar distinguished by as much
zeal, energy, ability, and ingenuity as in the days of
his own most successful forensic contests—he would
find the attorneys as astute, as eager, and as active as
in his own busy day ; but he would also discover a
most lamentable lack of causes—a greatly diminished
and a still diminishing business. Without going
precisely the length of Lord Denman, who maintained
in his letter to Lord Brougham " that the present
state of things threatens the annihilation of the ly.r
as a class in society," it may, nevertheless, be safely
averred that the state of business in the superior

courts affords grounds of anxiety to a large body of
influential'and educated gentlemen. 'Without assert-
ing with the late'revered Chief Justice, that for the
most part the most eminent men in the profession sit
idle in court, or that the juniors are losing all hopes
of succeeding in the world as barristers, we think it
will be allowed that the state of Westminster Hall and
the circuits of her Majesty's judges all over the king-
dom strangely and disadvantageously contrast
with—to use the language of Lord Denman—the
redundant stream of business that flows into
the county courts. We are not now contend-
ing that judges, high legal functionaries, and
barristers are not in some degree to blame for this.
Undoubtedly they are. For twenty-five years the lay
public has been hungering and thirsting for a large law
reform, and for a liberal instead of a Darrow construc-
tion of the rules' of pleading ; and yet, with few, but
most creditable exceptions, the great mass of legal
functionaries and practitioners have opposed them-
selves to all change, or have advocated may such small
and insignificant reforms, that a feeling of alienation
and distrust, if not indeed of disgust, has arisen against
the profession, which it is found difficult to conquer or
to overcome. We do not say that this feeling, which
has somewhat suddenly sprung up, is perfectly just or
fair on the part of the lay public. Unquestionably it
is neither just nor fair to the extent which it has
lately grown, but the only way now to combat it is
by the establishment of a rational and intelligible
procedure in the superior courts —by the abolition
of ficticious verbiage and tautologous formalities—and
by rendering Westminster Hall and the judges of
her Majesty's superior courts subsidiary to the
attainincna of a justice as prompt, as itemensive,
and as untechnical as the nature of human affairs
will admit. We are of the number of those who look
up-on a body of men of the attainments, learning, and
station of her Majesty's judges of the superior courts
as a necessity of a civilised state—who regard an
educated and incorruptible bar as one of the bulwarks
of liberty, and an indispensable complement of jus-
tice and of order—who look upon the profession of
attorney and solicitor as one of trust and intelligence,
difficult, if not impossible, to be dispensed with in
,a
commercial and civilized country, but we are con-
vinced that these three valuable orders of men—the
judges, the bar, and the attorneys—can only hence-
forth be made most usefully to work in harmony for
the public good by large reforms in the principles and
rules of pleading, by large reforms in the practice of
the courts of common law, by the sweeping away of
all fictions—and by rendering her Majesty's superior
courts more in harmony with the exigencies of the time
in which we live. The institution and successful work-
ing of the countycourts have given an impetus to law re-
form, with which it is no longer safe to trifle or to dally,
and the bar now perceive that their own interests are
identified with the progress of rational change. Had
we a Chancellor or a Ministry who comprehended the
eager cravings of the public in reference to law re-
form, all interests might be conciliated, and the bar
and the attorneys might 'be brought into harmony
each in his proper and peculiar sphere. But, with
Lord John Russell as Premier, and Lord Truro as
Chancellor, it is vain to hope that this desirable con-
summation can be effected. We must, therefore, look
to the good sense and good feeling of both branches
of the profession to consider and adjust their con-
flicting claims in reference to the oounty courts.
If the inns of court were what they ought to be, or
what they profess to be—we might indulge the hope
that a committee of benchers would come to some
regulation with the Law Society in reference to
the question mooted at the Freemasons' Tavern,
in a meeting of attorneys held there on the 20th of
last month, but under existing and actual circum-
stances we can only hope that a committee of
barristers chosen from each circuit, with plenary
powers, may confer with a committee of the Law So-
ciety. in Chancery-lane, touching the points of differ-
ence between the professions. Barrister and attorney
have hitherto had but a common interest, and we are
willing to hope that even in reference to the county
courts, by explanation and arrangement the good un-
derstanding between the superior and the subordinate
branch of the profession may be renewed. With re-
ference to the superior courts, we repeat our belief
that nothing can be satisfactory to the public and the
suitors, or conducive to the honour or the interest of
the bar and the attorneys, but large reforms and an in-
telligible course of procedure. Unless the technical,
vicious, and artificial system of pleading be speedily
abolished—unless fees be greatly reduced—and
justice be administeredaspot narrowly end sophis-
tically, but liberally and largely—there may be reason
to apprehend that the fears of the Law Review and
Law Magazine as to the annihilation of the class from
whom alone judges can be supplied may not be so
wholly visionary as some people imagine.
DAILY NEWS.—The honour done by the Cor-
poration of the city of London to Kossuth, and the
reflection on it of the very just and proper eulogium
he paid to municipal institutions as the basis of civil
liberty, must not prevent us from examining into the
internal affairs of that Corporation when light is
opened upon them by its members ; and after the
reception of that illustrious man on Thursday, in a
manner worthy of the old glories of the city of Lon-
don, considerable light was certainly thrown on the
duties levied by the Corporation on coals. Those
duties are to the inhabitants of London, and of a cir-
cuit of twenty miles round, numbering probably
nearer four than three millions of people, an octroi
duty ; and against them as such all the popular objec-
tions are valid which annually, our continental
travellers on their return, urge against similar im-
posts in the great towns of Europe. These we
are not, however, going to repeat; it is unnecessary
to do so; they are well known and unanswerable.
The continental octroi duties are, however, gene-
rally impartially levied, and impartially
they are bad taxes, usually well spent. Paris, for
example, has a very fair show, externally, to make for
have impartiality of levy with, applied;
the amount levied at its gates. But in London we
posed, partiality of expenditure. These duties are
levied on all the coal we Londoners consume by a
corporation which has jurisdiction only over one fif-
teenth part of this metropolis ; and they are chiefly, it
is said, laid out in improvements in that portion only
as is gePerally sup-
which it represents and governs. And so far as this
is the case, our London octroi on coals wants the im-
partiality in its outlay of the Paris octroi. No doubt,
it may be replied, that all London bee interest direct
and immediate in some, if not in most, of the great
works for which a duty was imposed on the coals it
consumes ; and so it has. We are all concerned in
the bridges ; we are all interested
having good
streets to get at and across them. And so deep and
great is our interest in these improvetnen olists, that we
cannot see why a fifteenth of the met p
ro
have the direction and superintendence of what
concerns the whole metropolis. We
should
say that, if
our coals are to be taxed for local purposes,
let the whole of London have some share in
and power over the expenditure of tax paid by
all. And we further say that if coal be not a proper
subject for such taxation, the very best svay of getting
rid of the impost is to give those who object to its
prolongation some power over it. These duties on
are all mortgaged
coals, it may be further answered,
and appropriated until 186% But that reply has
really nothing to do with the question of their conti-
nuance even until then, if a better substitute could
be found to meet the repayment of what had been
borrowed on their security, and of the further works
they may have been designedto defray the cost of.
And we are persuaded that
there is no real difficulty
t of the coal duties in a
in providing for the amount
much less injurious an
but, thatressive the greatcostly
obstacle to
d opp and way, as
London ha ' a
this im osvtinge
.e coorporation
possessing v d
influence
a peo-
:eutetiantigenrsi,d thesen f th e
n dutiesb before
f ro
en.
and e Y ogn of whopm has i
as any i
apdoinglquestione ,
s e
eoryc oosfnmsfilasnl consists
jnpocoiernit;
popular until 1862 though no wrong
over it. Were the corporation of London under
duties returns. appear from his
would be attempted
ted in Friday's Daily Aeles) to show
coal would
speech (reported
the corporationof
London
that from their origin
uilndfluzein
not
te
nue
has from that source of rhe.ve. lased no less a
Mr. Dakin's coal
sum than 3,738 laston suinch
,0661, T is the disbursement only.
In what number of years that enormous sum was
spent, and What in that series of years the duties
actually produced, were not stated by Mr. Dakin,
a
particulars are indispensable
to of course these
on of what he wanted
to a proper comprehenst.
sum _ to ex-
plain ; and that gigantic of 3, 38,0661 Mr.
Dakin divided thus—
w'ithin ,345
Improvements i
C't
thoutthe Cit y
£1,117
the y 807,500
Improvements w
mixed character 1,813,221
Improvements of a m
Wishing, of course, to show that the corporation
applied the tax
to general metropolitan purposes.
But when Mr. Dakin descended from
gross amounts
much
to detail, he very m e damaged this general view of.
City impartiality; fur amongst his mixed improve-
BI kf ac nars-bridge for
ments, be placed, for instance.,
230,0001. ; that bridge. being in the City, over a river
of which the corporation possesses the conservancy,
being a bridge it is liable by law to maintain; and
in every sense popular and legal a city bridge. So
that here again a very, nice scrutiny of the details of
Mr. Dakin's figures is necessary before we can say
what his larger amounts are really worth. This is
what Mr. Dakin does not seem fully to comprehend.
The most peVect purity and the strictest impartiality

in the outlay of the coal duties will neither reconcile
us to them nor to the continuance of the corporation
of the City in its present restricted form. The tax is
a bad tax; and being bad ought, regardless of its ap-
plication, to be rendered unnecessary ; and the cor-
poration of the City, though of course even in its pre-
sent form much preferable to none at all, is so far be-
hind the wants of the metropolis, that it ought to be
greatly improved ; not by any means, however, got
rid of. That was a folly we cannot fall in with.
The Corporation of London H, nevertheless, it must
be admitted, unfortunately situated on this question
of municipal institutions for London generally. It
is neither its duty nor its mission to offer to extend
itself and take in other parts of the metropolis; its
obligations are limited to its own circumscribed ter-
ritory, and that territory is becoming less and less a
place of residence. Within those limits it has already
greatly improved, and is still further improving its
organization; but the community therein is not so
willing to take advantage of as it is to make such im-
provements ; and it is from its wealth an object of
envy and of suspicion. Its wealth, too, is in the way
of its union in a better system for all the metropolis.
Then, again, the inhabitants of the other metropoli-
tan districts are not as yet up to the mark needful
for action in the question; opinion is not yet quite
formed ; it is, however, rapidly growing, and its
growth will be greatly promoted by the eloquent
testimony we have lately listened to with such rap-
tures. When, moreover, public opinion has been fully
formed, prejudices, fears, and timidity, such as those
expressed even by Lord John Russell, will have to
be stormed and carried ; and then a plan will have to
be prepared, discussed, and finally agreed on In all
this there is great and serious work, which it will be
painful and disagreeable to have the existing corpora-
tion of ',London opposing; for the accomplishment
will increase and not diminish popular power and
authority. And though we grant that meanwhile
the corporation does well in improving its own in-
terior system, it does ill in supposing that any im-
provements will perpetuate that system ; worse in de-
fending a tax which is indefensible on any sound
principle of political economy ; for it represses pro-
duction, is a burden on raw material, is paid by the
poorer classes, and in its outlay is partially expended.

DINNER TO ADMIRAL SIR CHARL
NAPIER AT FALKIRK.
On Friday the inhabitants of Falkirk, out of re-
spect to their townsman, Admiral Sir Charles Na-
pier, invited him to a public dinner, which took place
in the Red Lion Hotel of that town. About 120 of
the most influential inhabitants of the town were pre-
sent ; and the provost of the burgh (Mr. Adams) oc-
cupied the chair, supported by the Earl of Zetland,
Mr. Baird, M.P., Colonel Dundee, &c. The usual
loyal and constitutional toasts having been disposed
of, the chairman in a long speech proposed " The
Health of Admiral Sir Charles Napier," remarking
that the inhabitants of Falkirk were proud indeed to
welcome their distinguished townsman, whose heroic
deeds at Acre, in the Tagus, and other parts of the
world, were matter of history, and whose indepen-
dence while in Parliament was the theme of their
warmest admiration.
Sir CHARLES NAPIER, who was much cheered on
rising to reply, said that it gave him much pleasure
again to revisit his native town. He could not ex-
press in language sufficiently strong his sense of the
kindness he had experienced in being invited to a
public banquet by his fellow-townsmen. The Provost
had been too lavish in his praise, more especially with
respect to his (Sir Charles') exertions at Acre, where
ha was not, as the Provost had stated, the commander-
in-chief, and that the merit of that achievement be-
longed to Sir Robert Stopford.—(Cries of" No.") The
Provost had truly said that he (Sir Charles) regretted
that, after all the exertions that had been made on
that occasion by the British Government, the indus-
trious people of Lebanon—the only remnant o f
Christianity in the East—had been freed from the
bondage of Mehemet Ali, only to suffer under the
worst yoke of the Turks.—(Hear, hear, and cheers.)
It was sincerely to be regretted, he maintained, that
the policy of Europe should have left that noble race
under such a tyrannical Government ; but so it was.
—(Cheers.) I have good reason (continued the Gal-
lant Admiral) to remember the affairs of Portugal.
I certainly' as the chairman stated, did proceed there,
I will not say unknown to the Government of this
country, but certainly without their permission,
although, no doubt, they were well enough pleased at
it. I was employed at -that' time in the oftese-of
liberty in Portugal; and I delight, as I have no
doubt all Englishmen will do, that I was enabled to
lend a helping hand to relieve the people of that
country from the tyranny exercised over them by a
usurper, wbo had usurped the throne of a Queen
recognised by the Government and people of this
country.—(Cheers.) I had the honour as well as
the pleasure of upsetting the usurper, and re .estab-
lishing the legitimate sovereign.—(Loud cheers.)
Though liberty has been established in that
country, it is greatly to be regretted that the
people of Portugal have not known bow to make
the best use of it. It came upon them unawares,
in fact, and perhaps almost too suddenly ; for, unfor-
tunately, that country has been, to some extent, in a
state of revolution ever since. It is now, however,
getting into a more tranquil state, and I hope, in time,
that a legitimate and constitutional Government will
be established, not only in Portugal but also in Spain.
—(Cheers.) Having said so much in answer to the
Provost, 1 will now express my great delight in re-
turning to this country to see the numerous improve-
ments that have taken place in almost every part of
it. When I look back to that magnificent city, Edin-
burgh—the capital of Scotland—with its noble towers,
spires, churches, and hospitals—l must say that liam
proud of my native country.—(Cheers.) I have only
one regret in looking upon that magnificent city, and
it is this, to see the little attention that is paid to the
Old Town, a part of the Scottish metropolis for which
I have a particular affection; for it was there that I
lived in my youth, and there I was educated. When
I passed, the other day, up the High-street, I re-
gretted to see so little improvements made in that
noble street, which had the Castle for its one end and
the Palace for its other. I saw, in fact, some four or
five houses in the direction of the Castle tumbling
down, and I could not help expressing my regret that
no attempt had been made to purchase these houses,
and throw the Castle open up to the High-street.—
(Hear.) I may mention to you that I was not satis-
fied by a mere expression of my regret. I did more,
I wrote to the Commissioners of Woods and Forests
on the subject, recommending them to pay some
little attention to it. Lord Seymour, in answer to
my letter, said the Commissioners were not bound to
expend their funds in improving the town of Edin-
burgh. This led me to say, that I wished to God
we could get a Scotchman introduced into the Woods
and Forests, because I felt confident, if this were the
case, that he would consider it to be his duty to do
something for the metropolis of his native country.—
(Hear.) London is at present the centre of all the
efforts of the Commissioners of Woods and Forests,
and they have done much to improve it ; but I believe
that, as regards Scotland, there has been almost no-
thing given for its improvement, except the trifle to re-
pair and improve the old Palace of Holyrood.—
(Hear.) Sir Charles then referred to the great im-
provement that had taken place in agriculture in
Scotland since his boyhood. He also adverted to the
improvement apparent in its harbours, such as Leith,
where there was now a pier that stretched into the
centre of the Firth of Forth, and at Glasgow, where
there was now water sufficient at the Bromielaw-
quay to allow the largest class of ships to come to an
anchor. He then alluded to Aberdeen, where he saw
on the stocks some of the most beautiful ships he ever
witnesses in his life. I feel certain, indeed, he con-
tinued, if the same sort of shipbuilding is followed
in other parts of Scotland as I saw at Aberdeen,
that we shall be able to bid defiance to opposition in
the competition of ships from all parts of the world.—
(Cheers). Looking at these and other improvements,
I feel sure that, notwithstanding the changes that have
taken place in the corn-laws, the industry and enter-
prise of the people of Scotland will enable them to bid
defiance to these and all other laws made for the pro-
motion of the great principles of free-trade.—(Loud
cheers.) I have myself always been a friend of free-
trade, and I am perfectly certain, from what has come
under my observation, that the industry and enter-
prise of the people of Scotland will enable them, some
of these days, to export instead of import.—(Hear,
hear.) The Provost was pleased to say that during
the time I was in Parliament, I had acteeidallalynopiinpnodsee-d
ionppendentre-
ferenceppoos wede
torhp part.—(Hear,
ntatr
hn ed—(lm when Hanelnaer h
supported
r, t
hino euat
thought
h. hear.) s
hweSer
when
reideni Redh
t.
eoPwwweraeohsl
rwcgihga;
hs thent and
need not tell you that there were a great many
Ipaonhidanytlse
tthhaet
hlotnootualrly
todibsaeplopnrogvedwaosf,
cmonodreanetsepde.
everything that I thought was wrong—everything
vhmeerillsiince
that I thought was extravagant
minanenxefieninsew,
an lav navy
Particularlyohrrays t
boe sesani yn hasconducted
th ab ep been the
peace
these shi hwichhichth.le
been spent every year in buildinglsh.iprs,emanerad remember it.
system of naval administration, both ene
with
hmoney i
gs aa
nv have
wafter-
wardsth i n
Tories.destroying
T 1 awas
t
I opposed when in Parliament ;
the opportunity presented a. system which, withhm n
aby eype
voice
no thees
and with
itself, since I have been

out of Parliament. Ido not know that that was ex-
actly a wise policy, because .1 have fallen by it under
the displeasure of the Government ; and what is more,
I do not think it is very likely that I shall ever fall
under their pleasure.—(Laughter and cheers.) I
believe that all men who find fault with Government,
be they Whig or Tory, are naturally disliked. They
never like to have their misdeeds exposed—(Laugh-
ter)—but I know one thing, that unless their mis-
deeds are exposed they never will be corrected.—
(Loud cheers.) It was Sheridan, I think, who once
said, " Give me a venal House of Commons, and a
corrupt House of Lords ; but give me the press, and
I will defy the world."—(Cheers.) I perfectly agree
with him in what he has said ; but woe betide the
man who uses the press to bring such things forward.
(Hear, hear, much laughter, and cheers.) Bat, ne-
vertheless, I will persevere in an independent man-
ner, supporting a good Government, and opposing a
bad Government; and if I get back to Parliament
again, I shall, whether Whig or Tory be in power,
pursue exactly the same course, in endeavouring to
keep up the British navy to what it ought to be for
the defence of the country, and higher kept up than
at the present moment; but I will not keep it up in
tho extravagant manner in which it now is, especially
in the dockyards. I remember when I was first in
Parliament that I accused the Admiralty of building
four or five iron steamers without having tried them ;
when the Secretary of the Admiralty got up, with a
self• exultant smile, and said, " we are building forty."
—(A laugh.) True enough, they built thirty-three
iron steamers, without making any experiment whe-
ther they were fit for use or not ; and when they did
make the experiment it was found that they wtra
fo:
them were fit for some purpose. Theywere fit
the
world to
totally useless. But fortunately a large iniinbe
carrying troops from one end of the _
other, and that was all the advantage we had from
building them, because it gave the soldier much bet-
ter accommodation than they had hitherto had.—
r
(Hear, and cheers.) Well, you have heard enough
nto know that, while I am the friend of economy I am
not the friend of throwing open the country to the
attacks of its foes. Sir Charles then alluded to the
Duke of Wellington's letter on the defences of the
country, and said that the Duke being high in office,
could state with impunity his views on that subject,
' but not so men like him (Sir Charles Napier.) To
prove the defenceless state of the country, he adverted
to the time of the Syrian war, when, he said, the
French fleet might have been made to rendezvous in
Cherbourg, whence it could have made an easy
descent on this country, and landed troops for its in-
vasion, without our being almost able to man a single
ship to oppose it. He then concluded by tendering
his warmest thanks for the cordial reception which he
had met from his fellow-townsmen, and stating that
he was proud of being " a bairn of Falkirk."J
Several other toasts followed, and the evening was
spent with great cordiality.

LIIPROVEMENTS IN NOTTINGHAM.
On Friday last his Grace the Duke of Newcastle,
accompanied by Mr. Felkin (the mayor of Notting-
ham) and the enclosure committee, visited the Arbo-
retum, recreation-walks, and pleasure grounds, which,
thanks to the New Enclosure Bill, and a desire
amongst the local authorities to improve the town and
the social position of the poorer classes of its inhabi-
tants, have been recently constructed. After having
made the inspection, his Grace was entertained at a
splendid lunch in e Exchange Rooms, at which
also Mr. Walter, M.P., Colonel Rolleston, and the
magistrates of the town were present.
After the usual loyal toasts had been received,
The Mayon rose to propose the health of the
Noble Duke, and in doing so he presented to his
Grace the good wishes of the town in relation with
certain matters connected with its improvements, and
expressed the pleasure the inhabitants would feel if he
could more frequently appear among them.
The Duke of NEWCASTLE most cordially thanked
the Mayor forthe kind terms in which he had pro-
posed his health ; but not only were his thanks due
for this additional mark of his kindness, inasmuch as
he had to thank him not less warmly for allowing him
to appear among them as his (the mayor's) private
friend. He felt their kindness greatly, and it would
only increase the interest he had ever felt in the town.
lie thanked him also for the opportunity of meeting,
as his guests, so many gentlemen whom he had had
the pleasure of shaking hands with six or seer( n years
ago. He saw before him men of various politics—
men differing in their views with regard to the topics
of the day—but who could assemble together with all
good feeling and cordiality to esch other, while, at
the same time, they preserved their own honest opi-
nions.—(Cheers.) He mentioned this as showing the
success of those great and important works for the
benefit of the town, and the improvement of the
poorer inhabitants which they had had the kindness to
explain to him. lle would not walk round the table,
and, following the example of an " honourable gentle-
man," embrace in public any one of those who were
present, and subject himself to be called to order
by his host—(Laughter)—but he assured them
that if it did not go through that outward form, he
fraternized no less sincerely with them.—(Cheers and
renewed laughter.) lie rejoiced at the conversation
he had with the Mayor some years ago, when he
(the Noble Duke) was a Member of the House of
Commons ; and now that his position was moved into
another sphere, although he was no longer able to
promote the interests of the town in the Lower
House, if they would permit him he should be most
happy at any time, in the other House, to act as their
representative.—(Applause.) It was a much longer
time than they would perhaps imagine since he visited
the town, and notwithstanding he had come prepared
to see many valuable improvements, his anticipations,
great as they were, had been much more than realized,
for he had been really astonished at the progress
that hail been made.—(Cheers.) It had been a
matter of regret that the commonable lands sur-
rounding the town had not been earlier enclosed, but
out of evil frequently good arose. They would not
30 or 40 years ago have had the same public spirit
in the town ; they would not have had the same
judgment; they would not have had the same ob-
jects paramount in their minds which had obviously
ruled in the undertaking they were carrying out.
They might not have been enabled to obtain the valu-
able cemeteries, putting a stop to intramural inter-
ments ; they would not have been able to see those
beautiful walks of recreation open to all classes ; they
would not have seen valuable institutions rising around
I the town ; but they might have seen an overcrowded,
unhealthy, and, as a necessary consequence, a vicious
population, crowding upon those spots which would
now really delight as well as astonish all who visited
them. Ile rejoiced, therefore, now, however much he
might have regretted it before, that these measures
were not carried out earlier. Having alluded to the
baths and washhouses as being means of raising the
characters of the wives and daughters of the mechanics,
and as enabling them to study habits of propriety,
decency, and cleanliness in their homes, the Noble
Duke concluded by observing that he feared the
mayor had greatly overrated his abilities, but certainly
not in any way his anxiety to serve them.—(Cheers.)
The MAYOR said the next toast would be "The
members for the town of Nottingham," but he should
confine his observations to the singular.—(Laughter.)
When they considered the great talent and the com-
prehensiveness of the views of the gentleman whom
they had the pleasure of meeting that day, they had
reason to rejoice that he was a representative of the
town.—(Cheers.) Such men as Mr. Walter were
the best exponents of the interests of a town like
Nottingham.—(Cheers.) And as it was now five or
six years since they had had the honour of having ene
listed his talents in their service, his present duties
must, in the ordinary course of time, come to a
close ; but be thought he was not taking too much
upon himself in saying that in another Parliament
Mr. Walter would, in all probability, again be the
representative, not of a party merely, but of the town.
He rejoiced that in him, and in many others in that
truly honourable assembly, they had men with
British hearts and feelings, animated by true, honest
Saxon sentiments,
and anxiousof
theto promote the great
interests of this country and
Mr. WALTER. most returned his cordial "rll—(Cheers.)
the Mayor for the flattering manner inwlfitcilifahnekshatdo
introduced his health to that assemblage, not only es
of
a private guest, but as one their members. He
thanked them for the extremely kind manner in which
they had expressed their wishes with regard to the
continuance of the office which he had the honour of
holding, and especially for the too kind way in which
they bad overlooked those shortcomings of which he
was deeply sensible. He was also bound to thank
them for having on that occasion afforded him an op-
portunity of meeting at that table the highly distin-
guished nobleman he had had the honour of sitting
opposite to, whose name and family had been iden-
tified with the interests of this borough for so many
generations.—(Cheers.) Few and far between as
his (Mr. Walter's) visits to the town had unfortunately
been, they bad been attended with the advantage of
enabling him the better to judge of the great im-
provements which bad been effected within the last few
years, and which he had perhaps been enabled to ap-
preciate more than if had been a resident in the locality
—(Hear.) He had only returned within the last few
days from a tour abroad, in the course of which he
had been particularly struck with the ad vantage that
I most continental towns presented
in the advantages