The Sun.
London, England, 1856-02-28 00:00:00

THE IVENSI,EY I).ALE PEERAGE.

(Prom the Times of this day.)
The Peers of England are reconciled, and the
House of Lords, no longer torn by contending
factions, resumes its ease and its good humour.
Ie Granville acquiesces in the decision of the
Committee of Privileges, and will divide no more.
Lord Campbell assures the house that he is no
longer pugnacious, and, believing himself vie-
torious, is, with his natural aial unsophisticated
simplicity, anxious for peace. Lord Derby wishes
Lord Wensleydale to be made an hereditary peer,
but admits that he can see advantages in a peerage
for life ; his doubt is whether a life peerage be a
sufficient honour for eminence in any professional
department. Men of literature and science are too
much absorbed in their pursuits, soldiers and
sailors would disdain the honour, lawyers in full
practice could not afford to accept it, and it would
tend rather to the length than to the intelligence
of the debates. He is afraid of being lawyer-ridden
but let him dismiss the apprehension from his mind,
for recent events have shown that it is the pride
and happiness of lawyer peers to bow their shoulders
to the litter in which hereditary nobility is borne
rather than aspire to assert the claims of learning
and intellect over the pretensions of birth and
wealth. Lord Wensleydale is not to intrude upon
this newly-established harmony, and Lord Campbell
will be spared the pain of ordering the room to be
cleared and appealing to physical force, in order to
vindicate on the person of an old colleague of the
bench his own view of the law. In imitation of
the plenipotentiaries, the peers have proclaimed
an armistice, and glad indeed should we be could
we hope this armistice might lead to the rectifica-
tion of the boundary which separates modern usur-
pation from antiquated prerogative.
We ventured from the first to anticipate that all
this noise and fury, this ransacking of ancient pre-
cedents, and keeping the house up till midnight,
would end without establishing any right, without
settling any principle, without increasing any repu-
tation, and without exciting any violent public in-
terest. The squabble has been the topic of the
day, but neither 'side haS succeeded in enlisting in
its favour popular sympathies, and the people have
looked on with wonderful complacencyaud quietude
hile oue branch of the Legislature has been de-
polling the other of its rights. But, the sham
ontest being over, the real difficulty succeeds,
nd the House of Lords finds that the struggle on
the Wensleydale peerage has only opened the
way to a much more serious question—the appel-
late jurisdiction of the house. The peers may
succeed in excluding everything except wealth
from their political arena, but they must not
any longer trifle with the sacred trust they bear
es administrators of public justice. On this
point they begii to perceive that the public is
eutirely in earnest, and that the dream of Lord
Lyndhurst, that after having, by whatever means,
got rid of peerages for life, things would return to
their old state, is as unreal as those hallucinations
teat made him during his long political life the
l'AistAnt adversary of reforms be was obliged to
adopt, and the unwearied advocate of abuses he
wes compelled to surrender. The house was about
take measures for reforming its appellate juris-
diction. It is a was resolution, and one which
they cannot too speedily or too effectually carry
ow. They have ended where we imagine they
should have begun, and have now at last got into
train of thought which may, if carefully followed
out, had to great advantage to the public and to
t wmselves. The appellate jurisdiction cannot
ssibly te main in its present state. The committee
dl out to be appointed must not delude themselves
with the notion that trivial changes will do. It is
5 mply ridiculous to suppose that any eatisfaotory
tr bunat can be made by a mere reconstruction of
the old ma. oriels. The house has not sufficient
power and weight, and no mere re-allocation of
Tiarts will :,.u!tice to give it. Assistance must be
sought from without, for it is quite clear that the
.eieditary peerage will never supply lawyers
enough for a good Court of Appeal, and the ex-
ieriment of life peeresses is, we may pie sume to
not likely to be repeated. This baling so, the
'louse must seek for the elements of a Court of
epeeal in some other body than its own.
The horror of admitting lawyers-4n act of in-
,,ratitude in return for the efforts they have re-
-ently made on behalf of the peerage, of which
hey are the humble admirers—seems universal,
,nd Lord Lansdowne and Lord Derby, agreeing in
eothing else, combine in their desire to exclude as
much as possible these faithful and valuable auxi-
!iaries from the house. Then, there is the remedy
imposed in the House of Commons, which con-
sists in giving the judges of law and equity
votes on appeals ; in other words, in creating'
-,hem a Court to hear appeals from their Own
tecision,. This could be effected at once by'
inahling the Court of Exchequer Chamber
to pronounce its decisions in the name of
-.he House of Lords, and the Lords Justices, the
Lard Chancellor, and perhaps the Vice-Chancellors,
o exercise a like jurisdiction over equitable deci-
sions. This would have the advantage of virtually
.weeping away one of the Courts of Appeal, and
tiding the suitor in his weary course from one tri-
meal to another, but it would have the disadvan-
taee that the Court of Appeal would be composed
if persons fully occupied with the ordinary business
if their respective courts, and possessing little
tuthority or pre-eminence over those judges whose
ipinions they might modify and 'averse. For a
-supreme Court of Appeal, we should imagine for
iurselves a tribunal of higher merit and more illus-
rious composition, not consisting of the ordinary
udges, but of men illustrious among their fellows
for learning and acuteness, above the average of
udicial ability, and chosen not necessarily from the
auks of the judicature. It is worthy of remark
-.hat the judge of greatest weight in the Judicial
Committee of the Privy Council is one who never
tdininistered justice elsewhere, and who, contrary
to the ordinary opinion, has not ' the advantage of
exercidng original as well as appellate jurisdiction.
Co get the ablest men that can be found, from
whatever part of the profession—to pay them
iberally—to admit such as are wealthy enough to
-he hereditary peerage, and to bestow upom those
'ot sufficiently rich judicial titles, similar to those
if the Lords of Session in Scotland—to form such
t body into a Judicial Committee of the House of
Lords, and thus, while retaining the honour of
tchninistering justice, to provide that it shall be
13 well administered as possible—seems the most
feasible scheme, and one which, now that the
Lords have agreed to suspend the Wensleydale
introversy, wo begin to have some hope of seeing
carried into effect.

THE JAMES BAINES.—The James Baines, from
Melbourne, baying been now 94 days out, some
dixiety is expressed for her safety ; but, as no
)ther vessels have arrived from the same quarter,
It is believed she is detained by contrary winds.
_tt Lloyd's; yesterday, however, some small risks
,r.!re takenjupon,the ship at 151. 15s, per cent., free
,f average, and atB/. Bs. per cent. upon the gold.
Insurances on the cargo of the Pacific steamer,
(mg overdue at New York, from Liverpool, have
)eti made at 261. 55., free of average.
THE MAILS.—SOUTHAMPTON, Feb. 27.—The
Penin-
,ular and Oriental Company's steam-ship Madrid, Capt.
Bradshaw sailed this afternoon with the mails for Vigo,
iporto, Lisbon, Cadiz, and Gibraltar, 11 passengers,
1,0001. in specie for Lisbon, 22,000/. ditto for Cadiz, and
an average general cargo. The Royal Mail Company's
,team-ship Atrato, Captain Woolley, is preparing to
:nnvey the next outward West India, Mexican, and
Pacific mails on Monday next. The Parana, with the
qoineward mails from the West Indies, Mexico, and
the Pacific is expected about the same date. The United
states' mail steamer Hermann, Captain Higgins, sailed
this afternoon for New York, with the German, French,
and English mails, 90 passengers, and a very large cargo
general merchandise, a considerable portion of which
is goods transshipped from the unfortunate steamer
Belgique.
LUCCA AND PISTOJA RAILWAY.—The Monitore Tos•
cano announces that the Grand Duke of Tuscany has
waived his right of dispossessing the Lucca and Pistoja
Railway Company of their concession in consequence of
their having failed to have the line ready by the 31st of
Dec., 1854. The works are to be continued to meet
the Montecatini and Pistoja line, and the whole railway
is to be opened to the public before the expiration of
nine months.

MDLLF. Ram:mi.—A New Ycrk correspondent writes
on the 12th inst.:--" Rachel takes her final departure
to-day from the United States. She has not been able
to fulfil her engagements, which extended to one hundred
and fifty perforinancer, and it. is feared she returns with
ner health materially impaired. But she carries back
with her the affectionate regards of at least two bun-
,ired thousand Americans who have seen her impersona-
tions, and felt her magic power."
THE RECENT BURGLARY AT WALWORTH.—A report
was circu'ated about town yesterday morning that the
woman whose throat was cut by the men who committed
the recent burglary at Walworth had died from the
effects of the wound. The report, we learn, is untrue--
great hopes are entertained of her recovery. The poor
woman has been able to give a full description of the
,e3rulars to the detective officers who are in pursuit of
them.

THE LATE FLOUR ADULTERATION AT WAKEFIELD.—
On the hearing of the late flour adulteration case, in
which Abraham Ginn, a flour dealer, of Wakefield, was
defendant, it will be remembered that 40 bags (13 con-
sisting of sharps, and ?27 of flour) out of the quantity
taken from G'inn's premises were ordered by the magis-
trates to be retained for the purpose of being analysed,
and accordingly the Rev. W. It. Bo wditch and Mr.
Scatter, surgeon, on the part of the prosecution, and
Mr. Ruse, on behalf of the defendant, were instructed to
analyse the same. The analysis being concluded, the
result was reported to the magistrates at the Court•bouse
on Monday, when the whole of the 40 bags were ordered
to be sold for pigs,—,keeds Mercury.