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• r .t.t I •
4.
). art
41110

L')NDON, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1856.

The Moniteur —which ere this has probably
repented in sackcloth and ashes its insolent, un-
warrantable, impolitic, and unavailing onslaught
on the Press of England—has discovered a new
topic wherewith to edify its readers. Its columns
are occupied with a long and fulsome ,political
address, delivered in the Imperial Court by M.
YAMS; the Procureur-General, and which, how-
ever misplaced, was " frequently interrupted by
the plaudits of the assembly." The speech might
have been very appropriate if delivered from the
Tribune in the Senate or the Chamber of Depu-
ties ; but it was in singularly bad taste when
made before the venerable Judges of the land ;
and if it had the effect of inducing any of the
number to join in the applause that
repeatedly disturbed the Court, it will indeed
have tended to bring the majesty of
of the law into contempt and disrepute, and to
prevent] the hope of judicial impartiality in any
trials where political questions may be at issue.
In many respects the practice of the French
and English Courts differ materially. We may
consider our own system best calculated to pro.
mote the ends of justice, and much fairer to the
accused. We may therefore criticise the admi-
nistration of the law, although we cannot com-
plain that an independent people should retain
the plans most congenial to their habits and mode
of thought. But heretofore there has been one
point in common between the tribunals of both
nations. The Judges, while on the Bench, have
refrained from discussing political matters, and
restricted themselves solely to legal and profes-
sional questions. But M. VAISSE has greatly
exceeded the salutary limits hitherto prescribed,
and reached per saltum a senatorial position. He
earnestly protests against what he is pleased to
term " the false maxim which has fallen on our
ears," that " Judges should not meddle with
politics."

The learned Procureur certainly attempted
to qualify the strange doctrine he was promul-
gating by fine-drawn distinctions between the
political subjects into which a Judge might pro-
perly enter and those from which he should
carefully abstain. They should eschew as
abominations all liberal notions—everything that
°mild by any possibility promote the liberties of
the people. But the " Divine right" of
Emperors should be supported to the utmost, so
that, in fact, trial might be dispensed with, and
the act of accusation deemed equivalent to con-
demnation.

M. VAISSE certainly bids high for imperial fa-
your. Ho puts forward some startling doctrines,
which might have puzzled " toadies" of inferior
skill. He advances views of the prerogative
that would have delighted the heart of our own
JAMES the FIRST. He declares that " the will
of GOD has laid upon us in this matter only the
law of obedience to powers regularly established,"
greatly prefers a parvenu to a long-established
dynasty, insisting that " to say it is new, is only
to say that it is, and should be so much the
more dear to the nation, as it is nearer to the
time in which public gratitude consecrates it.
Its title is not in its antiquity, but in its work
accomplished !"

This is a view which will doubtless be very
acceptable to LOUIS NAPOLEON (and probably very
profitable to the orator), inasmuch as it places him
on a pinnacle far beyond any contemporaneous
Sovereign to whom the Crown has descended
through a long line of ancestors. But the worthy
Procureur is not quite consistent, for he strives to
carry back the title to the First NAPOLEON, in
place of resting it on the present inheritor of his
name and fortunes. According to his theory, the
title of the EMPEROR would be far preferable if it
rested solely on his own acts than on those of the
founder of his family. But it is of the departed
that he speaks in the following terms :—" What
work is greater in its results, more marvellous and
more worthy of a crown, than the work of NAPO-
LEON? What founder of a new dynasty like this man,
who held, like C.:ESAR, the sword and the pen; who
commanded like ALEXANDER, who governed like the
Antonines ! What glory, what prestige, surrounds
this name, so often repeated in the homes of the
people and the palaces of kings? By what sign
are we to recognise a consecration by PROVIDENCE
if we deny it to this legislator, this captain, this
statesman, who has given to France laws which
all nations envy, and a glory which will remain
immortal, and who only sinned against humanity
by the exo:ss of his genius ?"
This certainly seams extravagant enough, but
Mr. VAISSE goes farther. It would be casting an
imputation on PROVIDENCE, or rather " blas-
phemy against its laws," not to have desired for
this founder that he might have descendants, and
enjoy, like all the great men who preceded him,
the supreme glory of transmitting the Empire to
the heirs of his name." What would be the senti-
ment of posterity "if PROVIDENCE, belying itself, had
not accorded successors to this new CHA.RLE3LAGNE ?"
And this, with a variety of similar inflated eulo-
giums, is delivered in a court of justice, and
received with rapturous and enthusiastic applause,
each Judge striving who should most loudly
express his individual concurrence with the
bombastic and inappropriate rhapsody. This
may bring them the rewards they aspire to,
but will not add to the dignity of their position
or increase the confidence felt in their disinterest-
edness and impartiality. The subject is, however,
better than that on which the Moniteur so re-
cently interested itself ; it will only excite con-
tempt, and not fierce and burning indignation.

Yesterday the Deputation from the Metropoli-
tan Board waited, according to appointment, on
the Chief Commissioner of Works. To the
report
elsewhere,of w
thee interview, which will be found
beg to call attention. The pro-
ceedings, it will be seen, were sufficiently re-
markable, at all events in this country, where
members of the Government are geneifilly found
at such interviews in a deprecatory attitude.
The Board were taken to task for their lathes
by the Minister, and 4nade to appear in any-
thing but a favourable light. They were both
schooled and rebuked, and stood self cor-
rected.
We do not remember anyoccasiotno
in which a Governmental official appeared
more and representatives of the people to less ad-
vantage. The Minister had just cause for com-
plaint, and used, without abusing, his opportunity.
He would have failed in his duty if he had said
less—he could not have been blamed if be had
said more. Fully aware of the pugnacious spirit
manifested towards him in his official capacity by
the Board, no traces of animosity are observable
in his remarks. He was arm, courteous, and dig.

uified. The shuffling imbecility of the Board'

met its severest rebuke in the simple statement,
elicited and otherwise, of the facts ; and never
were facts more condemnatory of those they told
against. They have but to be repeated to de-
monstrate the utter incapacity for any useful pur-
pose of the Metropolitan Board. The ratepayers
have hut to master them to be thoroughly ashamed
of their representatives.
At the outset Sir BEsual.lN HALL had to re-
mind them he had responsibilities as well as the
Board, leaving them to infer he was not likely to
overlook them, or in any way to shirk the obli-
gations they entailed. Having called for and
received a thorough exposition of the plan sub-
mitted for his approval, he proceeded to remind
them that two plans had been already rejected,
and very pertinently demanded why a plan which
they had in the first instance partially condemned,
and in the second wholly, was now brought be-
fore him ? Adding, "on the latter occasion,
when the chairman gave the casting vote, he (Sir
B. HALL) recollected reading that one of the mem-
bers exclaimed, in reference to that vote, You
have saved the Board.' " Of course, Mr.
THWAITES made the best reply in his power, but
ifar from a satisfactory answer, on which the Chief
Commissioner somewhat ironically " supposed the
plan B had been submitted to him under the im-
pression that it complied with the provisions of the
act," and promised his best and most speedy atten-
tion to the whole subject. The contrast was
further marked, and the culpability of the Board
made still more glaring, when the plan for the
Covent-garden improvements was next handed in.
Sir BENJAMIN had " very serious complaints" to
make against the Metropolitan Board. He had
called their attention to the subject so far back as
the 16th July, recommending the Board to
execute the works, but, 'if unwilling to
do so, undertaking to see to their being exe-
cuted himself. From that time to this the
only reply he had received was a letter of thanks
for the plans ! and he was now called on to decide
at once, so that the Parliamentary notice might
appear on the 15th. Even Mr. THWAITES as good
as admitted in reply, "It was really too bad."
This, however, was not all Sir BENJAMIN had to
prefer against the Board. To their inquiry in
March last as to what funds there were at disposal
for Southwark improvements, he had replied—two
sums of 30,0001., which, with interest, amounted
to 83,0001., raised under two acts of Parliament,
for making a continuous line of street between
Southwark and Westminster-bridge, within a given
period, on the expiration of which the money, if
unapplied, was to be repaid to the Consolidated
Fund. The Board had contented themselves with
a few tardy inquiries until to-day, when he was
told a plan Trould be laid before him involving an
outlay of 300,0001. of public money, leaving him
five days only (out of eight months) to decide
upon it. "It was really too bad." Not a doubt
of it ; so bad that the sacrifice of convenience and
oversight of other business the Chief Comm is-
sioner is prepared to make will tell as much to his
credit as the idleness and shiftiness of the Boatel
which have called for it infallibly will be to their
disgrace. This may be poor consolation to the
putative father of the delinquents in their official
capacity, but it is the best we have at present to
offer—" Your own son, Mr. CHUZZLEWIT !"

What is the average rate of vehicular progress
over London-bridge ? We should excessively like
to know, not only as matter of present interest,
but also for our guidance in the future. Is there
nobody prepared to solve the problem ? The length
of the bridge may easily be ascertained, and
for the rest a couple of shillings and a spice
of arithmetic will suffice. To give the reader
some idea of the state of things, we may inform
him, on demanding of a timekeeper who was
pacing his beat the other day, evidently in a state
of high nervous excitement, when the next omni-
bus would start? "HEAVEN only knows, sir,"
was his reply ; adding, " It's long past due, and
ought to have started again by this time."
" How is that ?" we inquired. " London-bridge,
sir. It took the last 'bus twenty minutes to come
across. That's the reason, I suppose." An eager
glance, and with a long sigh of relief he stepped for-
ward, exclaiming, "There he is !"—and up came
the dilatory vehicle, to be despatched back again
with hardly a minute's interval of rest for the
smoking horses. On further inquiry we ascer-
tained this was by no means an isolated case, such
delay being fr:r from uncommon, with apparently
no prospect of amendment. Oa the contrary, it
would appear, matters are getting daily worse,
and the public will have no great cause for sur-
prise if some fine morning they find a dead
lock of the preceding evening in a stato of inex-
tricable entanglement.

In Cheapside the rate of progress is something
between ten yards a minute and a mile an hour,
making no allowance for dead locks. In Chan-
cery-lane the "Now then, young man, move on,
h—a !" is of repeated occurrence, often in tones
of sufficient aggravation to curdle a dead man's
marrow. One is daily tempted to speculate on
the remarkable sights which would be presented
in the excavation of London if the fate of Pom-
peii and Herclflaneum were to overLke the mo-
dern Babylon. Were it a subject to wager on,
we would go for the discovery of—we won't say
how many—dead locks.
We always are—if not quite as we always were'
—a sensible people, more so than ever since the
late wan, and the " precious peace." Our City
folk, in particular, are terrible monopolists of
wisdom. " Slow and sure" may be a good motto,
but it is not theirs ; " slow, and anything but
sure," suits theta better. This is the more re-
markable when it is remembered that out of the
civic boundaries they like to "go the pace" more
than most people, the rattling express at its
bounding speed being hardly fast enough for them.
The contrast between ten yards and a mile an
hour is certainly great enough to furnish them
with " a sensation." There may possibly be
something in this. The worst of it—that is the
most provoking part of the affair—is, the remedy
in most cases is not far to seek nor very difficult of
attainment. An arrangement whereby a portion of
the vehicles should travel in the direction of Lon-
don-bridge by way of Cannon-street, as suggested
by Mr. LOTT, would relieve Cheapside amazingly ;
while, for the relief of London-bridge, the throw-
ing open of Southwark-bridge for the vehicles
returning from the Borough presents itself as an
easy, if somewhat costly, solution of the monster
difficulty. The discovery or promulgation of a
remedy unfortunately nowadays has too often the
effect of perpetuating instead of curing the disease
—palliatives being resorted to in preference.
Great, however, as may be the risk, it is not in
human nature to be silent when absurdities so
flagrant and injurious as those we have been com-
menting on are daily thrust into notice. We
want some moving power from among the non-
official population—that's a fact !—and perhaps
the best plan would be to set about discovering
where it is to be found. There is abundance of
energy to be met with, and the fault will be our
own if we do not substitute " fast and sure " for
the motto which now so generally obtains in l-
Clal but which in practice is so much per-