The Sun.
London, England, 1867-02-07 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF T

A most amusing description is given in the letter
of the Washington correspondent of the Standard,
dated January 15, of THADDEUS STEVENS, the Re-
publican leader in Congress. The rumour is first
alluded to of his insanity, which the writer contra-
dicts. lie then asks who is TIIADDEUS STEVENS,
and proceeds to answer the question. Mr. STEVENS
was born in Vermont in 1783. He began life as a
teacher in a country school, from which he took to
the highway as a travelling pedlar. As a true
Yankee he was successful in this line,,and gathered
$3,000 in hard coin. With this he settled in Lan-
caster, became a justice of the peace, a member of
the State Legislature, and, finally, a Representative
in Congress in 1849. He was returned at every
election save one since that time. Yet this veritable
authority in the next sentence informs us that " he
obtained for himself the reputation of a harmless
old buffoon" (!) The old buffoon, however, cleared
a handsome fortune by extensive iron-works in
Pennsylvania, and rose to political eminence by un-
compromising opposition to the South. In person,
according to the correspondent, Mr. STEVENS is
short and gaunt, with a wizened, dried-up face,
shrivelled like a half-frozen apple ; sharp eyes, acute
nose, thin lips, large mouth, false teeth ; sur-
mounted by a juvenile wig, that gets awry as
the speaker becomes excited, to the amuse-
ment of the House. He is not a statesman nor
a scholar, with little ability as a politician, one who
never drew up a bill not unconstitutional, nor pro-
posed a measure not replete with flaws. Yet
comes the same absurd contradiction in our
authority, for " he is said to be something more
than the master of the Radicals in Congress—he is
their owner." This is a sample of the portraits
drawn of political opponents in the United States
when party spirit runs high, and it could not find
a better medium for expression than in the columns
of the Standard. Analyse all this, wash off the war-
point, and what do we find ? An old gentleman born
in a humble sphere of life working up by steady in-
dustry till he attains the most powerful position in
a leading nation of the world, besides accumulating an
immense fortune. Not one single act of meanness
or dishonesty can be attributed to him even in such
bitter sketches, as these. He sputters in speaking ;
his wig gets awry ! The Confederates, in their in-
vasion of Pennsylvania, destroyed his iron-works.
For this he hates them, and intends to make them
pay over and over again." Such pictures are too
coarsely and clumsily contrived to have any effect
in injuring the Republican leader. —Anglo American
Times.

Count de Castiglione, aide-de-camp of the King
of Italy, is on his way to Egypt, according to the
journals of Cairo, to present the Viceroy with the
Collar of the Annunciada. The Florence press,
however, declares that he is going to the East merely
for change of climate necessitated by the state,of
his health. Perhaps both accounts are correct.
SMOKING.—The Inland Revenue returns show
that the habit of smoking is gradually extending. In the
year 1841 the weight of tobacco consumed in tho United
Kingdom was less than 14oz. per head of the population ;
in 1851 it had risen to a fraction over llb per head;
in" 1861 it was llb 3oz. ; in 1863, llb 4oz. ; and 1864, llb
4/ ounces.

TlMES.—Never has Patlament been promised so
much work as the Royal Speech of 1867 has sketchel
out. The veriest glutton of business— the man who
appears first in February and is the last to quit the
precincts of Westminster at the end of July, or,
happier still for him, in August, who sits on every
possible committee, and never misses a sitting, who
secures his seat every night by being always at
prayers, and is more to be depended upon than the
Sergeant-at-Arms—may revel in the occupation that
lies before him. The affluence of the new Adminis-
tration in the matter of Bills is overwhelming ; no-
thing comes amiss to them ; there is scarcely a branch
of legislation they do not promise to touch, if not to
adorn. Indeed, the Parliamentary glutton we have
described might look forward with some dismay to
what would happen if all these promises were kept.
If every grievance were at once to be abated, what
would Parliament have left to do next session ? If
the law were to be perfected out of hand, the busi-
ness of Reformers and politicians would be sus-
pended, and common humanity should make us feel
some pity at the prospect of a House of frozen-out
legislators. Perhaps, however, there will be one or
two questions left unsolved to afford matter for a
Royal Speech in another session. 'There is room
for hope, and, indeed, our confidence in the future
is increased when we come to scan the details of the
Ministerial Bill of fare. Some of the dishes are
already rechauffes, and there can be .no surety that
a thing which has been twice warmed may not be
warmed up again. That terrible piece de resistance,
for example, in the centre of the menu has proved to
be too much at many banquets, and, though our
hope of seeing the last of it may be stronger now
than it ever has been, hope does occasionally tell a
too flattering tale. Reform is, however, not the
only item in the programme which isan old acquaint-
ance. We seem to have heard before of the amend-
ment of the Law of Bankruptcy. What session has
there been for many years past in which we have not
been promised a full, final, and perfect amendment
and consolidation of the Bankruptcy Law ? Lord
Westbury, when he was as yet Sir Richard Bethel], to
go no further back, introduced a bill which was to
cure every past defect, and was warranted against
subsequent failure ; but the end of the session came,
and the bill had to be withdrawn before it could get
out of the Lower House. A year later, and the
Bankruptcy Act of 1861 was actually passed; and
after all the lawyers discovered, and too plainly
proved, that it was one of the worst measures that
ever received the sanction of Parliament. Incom-
plete and discordant clauses brought about a plen-
tiful crop of cases and decisions. We have had two,
if not more, Parliamentary Committees since, and
last year another bill made its appearance in the
House of Commons. Very much to the credit of
our legislators, it never got out of it. Accidents
arose which proved fatal to divers reforms, and the
Bankruptcy Bill perished without regret. Bad as
the Act of 1861 was when it came out of the hands
of Parliament, the Judges have by this time given it
a meaning and it can be worked. The bill of last
year would have provided the legal profession with
a fresh stock of puzzles, in addition to which it is
proposed to introduce into the Law of Bankruptcy
the novel principle of offering a complete immunity
to insolvents provided a certain proportion of assets
were forthcoming at the time of insolvency. It is
not difficult to foresee what would have been the
consequences in the commercial world had such a
principle been adopted. The Houses of Parliament
were once more told on Tuesday that their attention
would be called to the amendment of the Law of
Bankruptcy, and a rumour has arisen that the Law
Officers of the Crown have taken the bill of last year
as the basis of the measure to be introduced this
session. However that may be, the language of the
Royal Speech gives occasion to a preliminary objec-
tion. We are promised an amendment of the Law
of Bankruptcy, or, in other word 3, that a new Act
shall be put into the Statute Book as an addition to
the Statutes of Bankruptcy already existing. Another
thicket is to be added to the jungle, and the practi-
tioner will have to find his way through a brake which
the man of commerce will abandon in despair. This
is not what is wanted. The Law of Bankruptcy is
now ripe for codification. Amendments are, no
doubt, needed, but the experience of six years has
revealed the weak points of the law, while the con-
struction put upon the different sections! of the ex-
isting statutes by the Judges have removed the
difficulties of ambiguous or contradictory phrases.
If the present law officers have nothing to produce
but an amending bill, we shall have a double satis-
faction at its miscarriage • something pretty nearly
worthless will have perished, and, as things cannot
remain as they are, something really valuable may
be expected in a forthcoming session. The existing
law of bankruptcy is unsatisfactory, but it is not
absolutely intolerable. So much cannot be said of
the law affecting insolvent railway companies. In
fact, there is no law dealing with the case of a rail-
way company unable to meet its engagements. The
ordinary judgment creditor—the holder of a Lloyd's
Bond, for example—may enter if he is quick enough,
and seize upon the movable property of the com-
pany, or may avail himself of such remedies as a
judgment creditor has against its real estate ; but
the decision of the Lords Justices in the London,
Chatham, and Dover case shows that the much more
important class of debenture-holders have nothing
to do when their interest is not paid but to wait for
better times. Hitherto a fresh private Act has been
obtained from the Legislature when railway com-
panies have found themselves insolvent, and Lord
Redesdale has been practically the judge in bank-
ruptcy of railways. Recent experience has unfortu-
nately proved the frequency of insolvency among
railways, and some general legislative dealing with
them is obviously required. The promise to intro-
duce a Bill making better provision for the arrange-
ment of the affairs of insolvent railway companies is
very opportune, but we await the Bill itself with
'some anxiety. No more pressing case, certainly, no
more difficult subject also, for legislation exists, and
the only hints towards dealing with it yet thrown
out—those contained in Lord Redesdale's letter to
ourselves—fail to strike us as being just or exhaus-
tive. Ministers may, however, have some surprise
in store for us, and until their proposals are
known it is but fair to suspend our criticism.
The promised consolidation of the Courts of Pro-
bate and Divorce and Admiralty is, we presume,
part of the scheme contemplated when the Divorce
court was first created ; and, although there is no
necessary connection between the two proposals, we
may echo the hope expressed by Mr. Graves that
the opportunity will be considered of establishing.
Local Courts of Admiralty. Considering how im-
portant time is in the disposal of shipping cases, it
is somewhat surprising that Local Admiralty Courts
have not before this been called into existence. The
language of the Queen's Speech respecting the busi-
ness in the Common Law Courts at the Assizes is,
to say the least, ambiguous. The means of dispos-
ing of this increasing business with greater despatch
and frequency are to be considered; but whether
the project of creating three more judges is to be
adopted, or the judicial force at Westminster is to
be better distributed is left in doubt. ' We are quite
sure the House of Commons will not hesitate for a
moment to sanction the small outlay incident upon
the appointment of additional judges, should the
necessity of more judges be proved; but proof of the
necessity is essential. It is impossible to compare
the economy of the Judicial Bench at Common Law
and in Equity without coming to the conclusion
that there is a great waste of power at Westminster,
and few observers, whether in or out of the profes-
sion, will deny that some risk must be run of lessen-
ing the influence of the bench if the number of the
Judges be unnecessarily increased. We may, how-
ever, be permitted to look upon the whole project
of modifying the Common Law Bench and re-
arranging the Circuits as at present a mere project,
which, like many other proposals in the Royal
Speech, must be canvassed in all its bearings before
it can receive the approval of Parliament.
HERALD.—EIeven new members of the House of
Commons have been elected during the recess, which
terminated on Moniay. Of these eight are supporters
of her Majesty's existing Government, while the
ranks of the Opposition have only been strengthened
by three recruits ; and against two of these returns
petitions will be immediately presented, so that the
pretensions of Mr. De la Poer and Captain
White may be said to be adhuc sub judice. From
this it would appear that the unanimous indigna-
tion of a great people against Tory tricksters and
class legislation, of which we have lately heard so
much, has only found expression in the person of one
solitary representative—to wit, Mr. Jervoise Smith.
The mountain has been in labour for six months,
and the result is a respectable London banker who
has found favour, as a London banker has every
right to expect, in the eyes of the immaculate con-
stituency of Falmouth. It is not to be denied that
the actual result of these appeals to individual con-
stituencies, at least until the decision of their respec-
tive committees on the disputed elections for Tip-
perary and Waterford, is to -leave things just as
they were. One seat has been gained, much to Mr.
Bright's chagrin, by the Conservatives in the case
of Brecon, where a local gentleman, Mr. Howel
Gwyn, succeeded in defeating a young nobleman
from a distance, whose only apparent recommenda-
tion was the circumstance that he was brother-in-
law to the late member, the present Marquis Cam-
den. And one seat has been lost, pending the
hearing of a petition in the county of Waterford,
for which Mr. De la Poer has temporarily replaced
the Earl of Tyrone. If Mr. Gladstone's voluntary
exile during the winter is to be attributed less to
any political design than a very natural preference
of Italian skies to the atmosphere of manhood suf-
frage meetings, he may at least flatter himself that
his homage to Pius IX, has enlisted in the cause of