The Sun.
London, England, 1860-09-28 00:00:00

TnE SUN, LONDON, tRIDAY EVENiN(3I, SEPTEMI3git 283 1860 f

appeared, laid therapaame'doirnintorrents:greatly
interfefing, with the latter half of the inspec-
tion ; both cavalry, and infantry; however, stood
th'e pelting-of the storm bravely, and, if as steady
under fire as they were under water, they will
make first rate soldiers. Th e inspection was very

satisfactory..
The contest of rifle sboolinr, which took its rise
from the late 'review off Volunteers at Newton corn-
inenced on Wednesday at Southport, and will be
continued from day to day throughout the week.
There is a numerous entry of competitors. The
ranges, placed along the shore, are 16 in number,
and each range can be extended to 1,000 yards,
great precautions having been taken to insure the
safety of the mat kers. The competition on Wed-
nesday was confined to shooting for the Grand
Cup, value £5O, given by the officers of the Man-
chester, Salford, and Ardwick Regiments, open to
the Volunteers of Great Britain. There was also

a second prize of 1.:241, and a third of £5. There
were 240 competitors in this competition, and it
necessarily occupied a long time. On the whole
the shooting was far from first-rate, but this might
be accounted for to some extent by the high wind
which prevailed. The conditions of the contest
were that the shooting should be with Govern-
ment Eufields, at ranges of 300, 500, and 600
yards, each of the competitors to have fire shots at
each of the distances; the Hythe position to be
used in firing. The winner of tl e cup was Ser-
geant Basil Hale of the 13th (Dakinfield) Cheshire
Rifles. His shooting was very steady, and. he
scored 16 points, his nearest competitor being Mr.
Adshead, of the Bth (Macclesfield) Cheshire, who
carried elf the second prize, scoring 13 points.
For the third prize four gentlemen made ties, each
scoring 11 points, and in shooting off the palm
was won by Captain Shepherd, of the 2d (Black-
burn) Lancashire. An objection was raised that
the captain, as a paid Government adjutant, was
not a Volunteer.
A grand review of the Rifle Volunteer forces of
Wilts and some of the adjacent counties, under the
authority of the Right Hon. Sidney Herbert, Secre-
tary of War, took place in Clarendon-park, near
Salisbury, the seat of Sir F.H. H. Bathurst, on the
afternoon of Wednesday last. A variety of evo
lutions were gone through, according to an official
programme, in the presence of the reviewing officer,
General Lord William Paulet, C. 8., at the conclu-
sion of which there was a general salute, the bands
playing the National Anthem. The General after-
wards addressed the Volunteers in complimentary
terms, as did also the officers in command. A cold
collation was subsequently partaken of on the
ground, and the yeomanry who kept the ground
were also entertained, the latter by Sir F. H.
Bathurst. Various games followed the luncheon,
and as the corps left the park hearty cheers were
given for Sir Frederick for his kindness in giving
them the use of it. The following is a list of the
corps present :-Ist Battalion— Salisbury, Trow-
bridge, Bradford, Southampton, Market Lavington,
Mere, Warminster, Melksham, Itomsey, Andover.
2d Battalion Malmesbury, Devizes, Maiden
Bradley Westbury, Milton, Portsmouth.
The first great meeting of the 2d battalion Glo•
cestershire Rifle Volunteers took place at Chelten-
ham on Wednesday morning. The competition
was restricted to three members of each of the 14
companies of the 2d battalion, and the prizes com-
peted for were the county prize of £25, £l5, £lO,
and £5, at 300, 500, and 600 yards range. These
prizes were won by Glocester and Cheltenham in
the following order :—First prize, Private T. A.
Washbourne, 3d company (Glocester); second prize,
Ensign Gregory, 13th Cheltenham; third prize,
Private
fourth
prize,Jack,
P 7 trhcompanyd cTo
rhde? t enh a
3d m and
l ;
company
(Glocester).

REV. DR. GUTIIRI ON 771 E VOLUN-

TEED moVEMENT.

Towards the close of a grand volunteer fete at
Lochnaw Castle, last week, the Galloway Adver-
tiser says :
At the earnest request of all the guests as-
sembled, Sir A. Agnew prevailed upon Dr, Guthrie
to address the volunteers, who were drawn up in
front of the main entrance. The rev. doctor, who
was received with loud acclamations, said—Ladies
and gentlemen, and particularly gentlemen volun'
teers—l have great pleasure, and consider it a
great compliment to be allowed to address you on
this interesting occasion. My friend Sir A.
Agnew, with whom I am staying, was pleased to
apologise for not being able, as he said, to pay me
attention ; but 1 said to him that I considered it
far more flattering to be allowed to pay you atten-
tion. (Cheers.) I never addressed a corps of
volunteers before, but there is no person- in the
country who sympathises more with the great
volunteer movement. A friend of mine, a minister
whom I need not name, to whom I expressed this
feeling, said to me, are you not a man of peace ? I
said I am a man of peace, but if the French fleet
were in Lochryan you would become a man of war
yourself. (Great laughter and cheers.) I am, as
I ought to be, a lover of peace, but to ensure peace
we must be prepared for war—we have on divine
authority the prayer " Lead us Lot into tempta-
tion," and I hold that the men who have the
charge of the destinies of this country would
merit tne severest reprobation were they, by
allowing us to remain defenceless, to tempt
our neighbours into war. The rev. doctor
then referred to the great Indian mutiny, to
the paucity of our troops, to our arsenals entrusted
only to treacherous Sepoys, and asked if that was
not enough to tempt rebellion, and what other
cause need be assigned for the dreadful convulsion ?
He then referred to the Emperor Napoleon, who,
he said, was a man of too much sense to think of
attacking US', as he knew the first cannon shot he
fired would be the signal for his own doom ; but
that of course was contingent upon our keeping up
a strong defensive position. He referred to two
timid ladies who could- neither eat nor sleep for
fear of invasion, but he contrived to quiet their
fears by solemnly promising that whenever Napo-
leon actually landed he would come and breakfast
with them. (Great laughter.) He believed that
any visit that potentate would make would be a
pacific one, and he, thought we ought to have
invited him to come and see our Queen review
21,000 brave and armed men in the park at Hely-
rood, and then give him his dinner, and that would
put all thoughts of invasion out of his head fast
• enough: (Laughter and cheers.) I value, he con-
tinued, the voluntary—(laughter)—no, I mean the
volunteers ; but, after all, it was one and the same
word, for are not volunteers voluntaries ? I value
the volunteer movement because it is not, nor can
it be, one of offence or aggression, but is and must
be one of defence alone—like our national em-
blem the thistle, with its motto, " Nemo me
impune lacessit," -which means, hands off if
you're wise. (Great laughter and cheers.) The
thistle is a quiet enough plant —it is only
when you meddle with it that you feel its
prickles. (Loud chem.) Such being its object, I
hold that every man who has health and strength
ought to be a volunteer—and there is no woman
deserving of the name who should not may to her
lover, " Join the volunteers, or I'll have nothing to
say to you." (Great laughter and cheers.) The
doctor then jocularly referred to the notion among
the fisherwomen, that the wife had to keep the
husband, and said that certainly a man was un-
worthy to obtain a wife unless he was prepared, as
a volunteer to defend his fireside. He continued—l
have six sons—two are already volunteers, and I
hope that all will become so except one, who is a
minister like myself—and should, which God forbid
the enemy land upon our coast, I should go with
my sons to the battle-field, not to fight, but to
cheer them on and share in their peril, in defence
of all we hoiti dear. I again repeat, lam a man of
peace, but I inherit the blood of those who died
upon the scaffold or the battle-field in defence of
religious freedom and national independence, and
therefore I hold myself entitled to congratulate you
assemblage
(ie
upon the display you have made this day. I con-
..h-kigsnheowspuitpaolintsb—rinigeoinnggrsauteuh
agnra sstulcte Sirage A
to n 1
share -
late my Lord Dalrymple for the noble corps he has
raised and comminds so well—and I confess I
felt prouder of my name When I heard the speech
of your gallant captain—Provost Guthrie. (En-
thusiastic cheers.) It is the duty of all men to de-
fend their liberty with the last drop of their blood,
but they must be qualified to use their weapons with
skill and efficiency, they must mind their drill. Our
ancestors at Pentland and Bothwell Bridge were
the bravest of the brave, bnt they wanted drill, and
so they lost the day. I am sure I have said nothing
to create dissension or to spoil unanimity ; we differ
among ourselves—we would be fools or slaves if we
did net—but we love ene another, and will stand
by one another. (Cheers.)
He then alluded to the
huge iron-sheathed ships w hid) Napoleon was pre-
paring—which, m he said, reminded hi of the clumsy
armour worn in the olden time, in which when a
man was down he was as helpless as a " partin,"
and could rot, get up again--(laughter)—but he
said that neither these nor the fortifications wo are
rearing at such expense would, under God's bless-
ing, be as available as the banded united will, the
stout heart, the strong arm, and the high moral and
religious feeling which would prove our sure and
impenetrable defence. The rev. doctor concluded
amidst loud and long-continued cheering.
Dr. GUTHRIE on retiring was vociferously called
on to address them again ; and as they literally
•would take' no denial, he came forward and spoke
to them at some length on their moral and religious
duties. He showed how the fear of God raised a
man above all other fears, and, in illustration of the
magnaminity which piety gave, paid a high and
well-deserved compliment to the memory of the late

Sir Andrew Agnew, and closed by calling on them
to be, amid the temptations to which all men are
exposed 4 as good soldiers of the Cross as he had no
doubt they NV ould prove themselves, were the enemy
to invade our shores, brave defenders of their Queen
and country. The Doctor then retired amid testi-
monies of deserved applause and sympathy.

SOCIAL SCIENCE CONGRESS.
GLASGOW, SEPT. 25.
THE Lora) -ADvocATE ON JURISPRUDENCE.
The LORD ADVOCATE, who was received with cordial
cheers, rose and said,—Ladies and gentlemen—After the
wry comprehensive view of the duties and objects of this

association which ‘939 delivered last night hy your noble pre

sident, I shall proceed to fulfil the duty imposed upon me b:

the kindness of the committee in asking me to preside over
the sect ion devoted to jurisprudence by a few introductory
remarks, confined entirely to the proper business of that
section, and devoted to elucidating shortly, and as clearly as
I can, the principles upon which we should seek for the
reformation and improvement of the law in respect of its re-
lation to social science, and some of the more salient and im-
liortant topics 'which may probably fall under our attention

in the course of our deliberations. We are to consider in
this section law as a branch of social science—that is, in its

mmediate practical relation to common life. In one sense
is nothing but a department, or rather the embodiment o:

social science, inasmuch as it is the mainspring of all social
movements and relations. But the science of jurisprudence,
in its more specific acceptatfon, is apartfrom its social results
_ _

It deals with what is, not with what ought to be, and the ten-
dency of the study is rather to shut out than to enlarge the
contemplation of its practical effects. It is, indeed, a science
of the highest order, tasking the intellectual powers by
demands on them for all the qualities combined which the
exact and the more general sciences require—the grasp of

generalization, which is essential to mental philosophy
with the careful analysis or induction characteristic o
mathematical inquiry. We are to try this great science
by its existing results, as compared with existing
necessities, to see how far this great machine corresponds
in its effects with the great object for which alone it was
created. Lord Bacon says, in his essay on the advance-
ment of science:—" All those who have written of laws
have written either as philosophers or as lawgivers,
non) as statesmen. As for the philosophers, they
make imaginary laws for imaginary commonwealths,
and their discourses aro as the stars, which give little
light, because they are so high. For the lawyers they
write, according to the States where they live, what is re-
ceived as law, and not what ought to be law; for the wisdom
of a lawmaker is one, and of a lawyer is another." Jeremy
Bentham, in his Treatise on Legislation, treats the lawyers
with still more suspicion; he says,—" When a religion
its ministers fall with it. Everything which diminishes re-
spect for the idol enfeebles that felt for the sacrifice to it.
So the voice of all jurists is raised in concert to celebrate an
established system, and the people, misled by their unani-
mity, do not stop to discover the self interest which produces
it." It is impossible to deny the justice of this sentiment.
The juristdeals wi th men as with the pieces on the chess board,
the debtor and the creditor, the man with securitysand the
man without, the grasping landlord or the refractory tenant
are so many dramatis persona, who are to play their parts
and be removed, according to the most approved rules of the
art. But in the intellectual absorption of the struggle, the
flesh and blood of the matter is necessarily forgotten. Such
is the inevitable tendency of the exclusive pursuit of any
science ; but in the study of the law, and the practice of
it, which entails such stern demands on a life',s erection,
it is inevitable. Of course, this criticism, or rather con-
fession, of the necessary tendency of legal training is
only comparative. I need not, in this presence, tell you
that a great lawyer may rise above the trammels of his art
and combine the grasp of the philosopher with the know-
ledge of the jurist, and superadd to bo h the practical
sagacity of the statesman. Still less am I disposed to en-
courage sciolist or empirical innovation, springing gene-
rally out of specific cases, and propounded in ignorance of the
system to which it is proposed to apply them. If high scien-
tific acquirements in jurisprudence have a tendency to pro-
duce too extensive devotion to things as they are, it does not
by any means follow that enlarged views and wholesome
change are only to be looked for as the companions of igno-
rance. Still, in prosecution'of the objects of the department
over which you have asked me to preside, wo must be content
to throw behind us the professional fetters of our training. I
therefore come to consider in what spirit and on what prin-
ciples the social results of our system of law are to be can-
vassed and reformed. I shall start with a caution on the
other side. If the jurist be too apt to hug the chains of his
science, and magnify the importance of time-honoured
forms and axioms, the unskilled reformer has also perils of
his own, and among the chief is the danger of unsettling
much in order to rectify a little. The legal system of a
country like ours, in which the laws have not been dictated
by a Justinian or a Napoleon, but have been made by the
people for their own use, is a plant of slow and gradual
growth, spreading its tendrils widely, and striking its
roots deeply around and throughout the whole social
economy of the community; just as our system of civil
liberty and Parliamentary Government subsists and
flourishes by a secret spell, the fruit of gradual accommoda-
tion to the habits and associations of the people, notwith•
standing many anomalies and theoretical contradictions, so
it is with our laws. The law which is most imperfect in
theory may be most useful in practice, or tray, through
length of time or repeated judicial consideration, have be-
come, while retaining its outward form, animated by a
spirit never contemplated by its authors. We shall bo
merely shallow innovators if we neglect this unseen, but
potent element—that which in truth is the very life-blood
of a nation's prosperity. It might, I believe, be said of
our law, as was said of our political constitution that if the
whole fabric were swept away at once, and the greatest
which the land could furnish were to devise a new system,
they would not produce anything which would be compar-
able to that which they had destroyed. I may here remark,
that the element to which I speak is one of which the legal
reformer cannot avail himself. What he does in:the way
of change must be done by specific enactments. Ile can-
not provide for the effect which his now law may have
when a century of application and decision has passed over
its head. Lord Bacon felt this so strongly that in a sketch
which he entitles " A Proposal for Amending the Laws of
England," he has hardly courage to propose proceeding by
Act of Parliament. lie says :
" It is objected that labour were better bestowed in bring-
ing the common laws of England to text law, as the sta-
tutes are, and setting both of them down in method and by
titles."
To which he replies:—
"It is too long a business to debate whether lex scripta
out non scripta, a text law or customs well regiStered, with
received and approved grounds and maxims, and acts and
resolutions judicial, from time to time duly entered and re-
ported, be the better form of declaring and authorising laws.
It was the principal reason or oracle of Lycurgus that none
of his laws should be written. Customs are laws written
in living tables, and some traditions the Church cloth not
disauthorise. In all sciences they are the soundest that
keep close to particulars, and sure I am there are more
doubts that rise upon our statutes, which are a text law,
than upon the common law, which is no text law. But,
howsoever that question be determined, I dare not advise
to cast the law into a new mould. the work which I pro-
pound tendeth to pruning and grafting the law, and not to
ploughing up and pruning it again ; for such a remove I
should hold indeed for a perilous innovation."
Yet, Lord Bacon on this, and'aome other of his fragments
on the same subject, shows himself to have had large and
enlightened views on the subject of legal reform, and was
not unprepared to have proceeded boldly enough in the
direction of repeal. Lord Stair, a name not unworthy to
be placed alongside of that of Bacon in respect of power and
learning, but who does not disclose the same tendencies in
favour of freedom, treats the same subject in strong and
serious language, but in sentences tinged with the predi-
lection for the arbitrary power of courts, which was cha-
racteristic of our Scottish system for many years after-
wards. But in both there is much truth; and herein lies
the great difficulty, in England especially, of dealing with
the great mass of the sta'ute law. There would be no great
difficulty in expurgating dui statute book of laws wholly
repealed ; but the next step
.Is surrounded by difficulties.
The re-enactment of statutes partially repealed, and the
consolidation of laws relating to the same subject, bring the
le7al reformer at once into contact with that unwritten law
which has sprung from the stern of the statute, and has
been engrafted in it by judicial decision. This difficulty
has ale ays appeared to me so great that I am rather in-
clined to think that either more or less should be attempted,
and that if we are ambitious of more than publishing a
compendious edition of the statutes, embracing those in
ordinary use, it will be found impossible to effect any very
material improvement short of codification in some
branches of the law. (A pplause.) It is worthy of considera-
tion whet her in the more important branches of the law codi-
fication should not supplement the attempt to consolidate
It would be presumptuous in me to do more than offer a
suggestion on this important subject, in so far as it relates
to the sister kingdom. But, looking at the enormous and
heterogeneous mass of statute law under which the juris-
prudence of England lies, and through which the precious
cars of grainer° to be searched for,it would seem a task more
likely to succeed to sweep away much that existe,and supply
its place not by new words, professing to repeat old provi-
sions, but by clear and specific codification. With us the
case is different ; the statute law of England was the bulwark
and protection of her liberties. If,in Scotland's early history,
we could not boast of similar protection, on the other hand
our statute-book is not similarly encumbered ; unlike those
of England, a Scottish Act of Parliament is abrogated by
disease, and those that remain are short general enactments,
drawn to be the basis of future law, to bo founded on them
by judicial interpretation; and so, as Lord Stair expresses
it, attain the maturity of a law. This, however, is a sub-
ject which the members of this section will be better able to
discuss than I can pretend to be. The same general pi in-
ciple which makes it necessary for the legal reformer in the
changes he proposes to consider the effect of long-continued
dismissions or indurated popular customs, applies with still
greater force to the introduction of the laws of other coun-
tries on the faith of their popularity or success where they
:prevail. It were easy to furnish or imagine illustrations
of laws, admirable where they prevail, but entirely inappro-
priate to other conditions of society. (Applause.) To a
,stranger or a philosopher it is apt to seem a trivial ano-
maly that in ono island of no very great extent two
different ayatema of law should prevail; and the anomaly,

appe all the greater when tho community of transactions
and of.interests is considered, It would also seem, in an

--- ---
abstract consideration of the condition of the country, that

the Taws which are good for 18,000,000 would also be good
for 3,000,000. The conclusion which a philosopher
would draw from this would be that the laws _of the
two ends of the island should be assimilated by those

of flit) larger being imposed on the Association. It [
needs, however, but a moment's reflection to satisfy any-
one
that such an attempt would be wholly impracticable,
simply because, it would be made without any regard to the
associations and traditions of a people jealous of their na-
tional integrity, and without estimating the necessary al-
though tacit part which these bear in the operation of any
system of law. But, if convinced of the difficulty of the
I task, our philosopher should abandon this:design, and pro-
i pose to assimilate the laws of the countries by a considera-
tion of the abstract merits of each, the impediments which
beset this path are quito as great. He would find the ab-
stract advantage, for the most part, on the side of the mi-
nority—an advantage arising, in great measure, from the
fact that it is a minority. It is easier to produce results by
working on a model than on the large, and so it is easier
to produce a harmonious system of law in a small nation
than a large one. The law of Scotland has been the work
of jurists; that of England, of the people. With us, laws
have been framed to carry out legal principles ; with them,

to protect their freedom. While the law of Scotland,. framed
on the feudal and civil systems, and borrowed from, and
illustrated and methodised by, the analogies of Continental
nations, presents on the whole a theoretical and philoso-
phical unity, the law of England is a work of gigantic
power, reared from materials of English growth, and piled
up from one century to another by thehands of great judges
who defied the powers of courts and of patriots jealous of
the liberties of the Commons, and forced into rugged but
magnificent administration by the wealth, the enterprise,
and the commerce of the people. (Applause.) Judged of by
its results, tho world never saw a more beneficent or en-
lightened system ; but, taken in detail, few of its component
parts would stand the test of philosophical scrutiny. But
shall we therefore come to the conclusion that this work of
assimilation should be conducted on abstract merit only,
and propose to abrogate at once the great common law of
England, under the mighty shadow of which her vast
empire and human libertyhas so longprospered and reposed?
We must content ourselves with humbler and more attain-
able improvements,- and proceed in the great work of assi-
milation by such degrees as may seem practicable and safe.
But in this direction there is a great and important field
open to the legal-reformer. Of late seine important steps
have been taken in this direction, some by direct, and
others by indirect assimilation. A few years ago a com-
mission was appointed, consisting of eminent English and
Scottish lawyers, to consider to what extent the law mer-
chant of the two countries could be assimilated, and their
deliberations ultimately received the sanction of the Legis-
lature in an Act of Parliament. The subjects which were
dealt with by this statute were carefully selected, and, I
think, well and successfully disposed of. And, in regard
to the points to which legislation was applied, preference is
given to the English or Scotch law according as such might
seem to have the advantage. The ehanges introduced by
it were not very radical or extensive; but the proceeding
indicates the principle on which assimilation may be at-
tempted, and, I hope, is only the forerunner of reforms
equally well considered, and of more enlarged general
operations. Indeed, as regards the general system of mer-
cantile law, it is to the sister kingdom that we must look
for the soundest principles and the best administration of
them. It is not by any means a hopeless task—indeed, it is
one which I trust to see attempted—to place the mercantile
law on the same footing. This leads us naturally to say a
word on a subject which will engage our attention more at
large—l mean the law of bankruptcy. In common with
all who take an interest in legal progress, I lamented the fate
—the undeserved fate—of the bill of my friend, the Attor-
ney-General, during the last session. The general features of
a useful system of bankrupt law may be very safely gathered
from what I may call the instinct of trade. When we find
traders flying from the laws made for their benefit, arid re-
curring to private tribunals of their own construction, we
may conclude with absolute certainly, first, that there
must bo some especial defect in the law as it exists ; and,
secondly, that the true remedy to be sought is in the direc-
tion to which, with all its difficulties and uncertainty, the
-creditors of insolvent debtors have had recourse. In other
Nio- rd s , let the creditors, as the Attorney-General proposed,
[ -,-
manage their own affairs when they propoie to do so.
The true object of the law of bankruptcy should be the
rapid, thorough, and 'economical application of the whole
available funds of the debtor to pay bis creditors. (Ap-
plause.) That is the main and primary object of a system
of bankrupt administration. The discharge of an innocent,
the punishment of a fraudulent debtor, are subsidiary ob-
jects, important in themselves, but which- should not be
allowed for a moment to interfere with the main object of
realising and distributing the debtors' estate with economy
certainty, and despatch. (Applause.) It should never be
forgotten that the end and aim of all proceedings in bank-
ruptcy is the benefit of the creditors ; and no element which
interferes with or retards the accomplishment of that object
ought to bo admitted. (Applause.) Thus, it may be true
that settlements by composition have a tendency to pi event
investigation, and encourage the reckless trader. Still, if
the creditors thereby receive their share of the debtor's
estate more rapidly and cheaply, these contracts ought to
be. encouraged. (Applause.) We must look to more general
and deeper sources for the repression of the gambling spirit
in commerce. A sounder and more healthy tone of mer-
cantile morality and the instinct of self-preservation are
the only real safeguards against it, while by endeavouring
to the prejudice of the creditors, to make our bankrupt
system one of rewards and punishments, we shall accom-
plish little in the way of improvement, and promote much
individual injustice. (Applause.) I cannot say that in
the-recent discussion on Sir Richard Bethell's Bill I was
much impressed by the objections which were raised to the
extension of its provisions to non-traders. Indeed, I am
at a loss to understand what prejudice can possibly accrue
to non-traders by the extension of a system beneficial to
the mercantile community. (Applause.) The exclusion
of non-traders from the provisions of the bankrupt law is
not a privilege, but a penalty. The vicissitudes and un-
certainties of commerce were supposed to excuse the in--
solvency of those engaged in it, while on the part of the
community at largo bankruptcy is regarded as an offence.
The law abated none of its rigour in regard to the
non-trading debtor, as the dismal walls of Whitesross-
street and the Fleet can so well attest; but it withheld, as a
boon not deserved by hini, the ready means of payment and
discharge which it provided for the unfortunate trader. In
all this, there is not favour but discouragement to the hon-
ourable trader ; it is exclusion from a privilege, not exemp-
tion from a penalty, which is the object of the law. (Ap-
plause.) There are many reasons which to my mind are con-
clusive for the abolition of this distinction. A non-trader
is as much bound as a trader to pay his debts, and to pay them
according to the precise time and manner of his contract.
It is as desirable for the creditors of a non-trader as for
those of a trader that his available estate should be rapidly,
cheaply, and justly realised and divided. But there are two
special reasons for extending the operation of the bankrupt
law to non-traders—one in which the public has an inte-
rest, and the other important to the debtor. The first is the
equalising operation of bankruptcy. Of all the frauds to
which insolvency gives rise, collusion and secret prefer-
ences are the worst, and the greatest and most salutary
benpfit of a correct system of bankrupt administration is the
even-handed justice it secures. There can be no reason why
flittreditors of a non-trader should be deprived of this pro
tection. (Applause.) The other is the power of discharge.
It has been said that the worse use you can put a man to is
to hang him ; certainly it is little more profitable to shut
him up, or to leave him at large an encumbrance on society.
It may be true that it is a homage to the virtues of prudence
and forethought to nail unhappy debtors to our barn• doors,
and leave them there to tho terror of the lieges ; tut I doubt
if mankind ever learn the lessons which such discipline
teddies. The man may be useful if free—ho is worse than
useless if he is not—and at all events it is but reasonable to
give him the chance of freedom, if those who have suffered
throughhim be willing, and his own conduct has been honest.
(Applause.) The distinction between trader and non-trader
has become so shadowy that the filmy line of principle which
used to separate them is now utterly capricious in its operation.
I conclude, therefore, that the bankrupt law of both coun-
tries should extend to all, and should have for its object the
shortest and cheapest way of dividing the debtor's estate
rateably among his creditors, subject to judicial inspection,
but under the management of the creditors themselves.
(Cheers.) Turning from the department of mercantile law,
I glance,for a moment at the great subject of our land
rights, nor is there any department of the law more conver-
sant with social science than this. The feudal system under
which the land of Scotland is hold, combined with its sys •
tern of public registers, has given us a very logical and safe
series of titles to land. It is expensive, but it is sure. But
it is another question whether it does not admit of improve-
ment, by the adaptation of some English principles, and
whether our neighbours might not also teneficially learn
from us. But first I swill(' suggest, as regards both sys-
tems, they are tar too complex and far too dear. I should
gladly see all restraints on the transfer of land removed.
(Applause.) What a practical satire on the law of entail it is
that the proprietor of an enormous estate should not be able
to give. a few square yards to build a school on, excepting
under the special and stringent provisions of an Act ofPar-
liament ! (Applause.) The change I would shadow out is
ono ioo sweeping to be practicable in the present state of
public opinion ; but in principle the transfer of land should
be free. (Applause.) Secondly, it should also be as cheap
as is consistent with security. (Applause.) Thirdly, laud
rights should be public. Land is so stable and permanent
h source of income that its commercial value should be put
to the highest account. But this can never be done, unless
the public, who buy a land in the market have the means of
knowing the state of the incumbrances which affect it. It
seems, therefore, desirable that a system of public regis-
tration should prevail in both countries, 'and that land rights
in England should bo registered. (Applause.) The landed
proprietors dread the publicity it implies; the provinces
dread centralisation ; the profession in the metropolis do nst
see their way to the change. Ido not venturs to attempt a
solution of difficulties. I only suggest what seems a sound
fundamental proposition. Fourthly, conveyances should
be simple; and since I have suggested that our southern
neighbours should borrow our system of registration, I
may, ou the other hand, express an opinion that the time