The Sun.
London, England, 1858-10-18 00:00:00

veyance is simple in its form and conclusive in its
essence. The actual working of the system was the
subject of special inquiry before a very competent
commission of learned men of both countries, and
afterwards before the select committee of the House
of Commons in 1856, by both of which it was re-
commended that the principle and the procedure
should be extended to the sale of unencumbered
estates. One further step was needed, namely, to
include the case of persons not seeking a present
sale but to whom it might be a benefit to obtain a
judicial declaration of good title, which might be
registered, and so made indefeasible. This step has
at last been taken by the recent act. This class of
titles will be subjected to the same process of in-
quiry and to the same publicity as in the case of a
sale ; and although this was considered by some as
a bold advance, yet, when it is remembered how
the former act was. evaded in order to bring unen-
cumbered properties within its operation, in order
to obtain a benefit which adds about 4 years' pur-
chase to the marketable price ; when it must be ad-
mitted to be essentially unjust, and therefore im-
politic, to depreciate to this extent property not
actually in the market, but the owners of which
may at any time have occasion to sell or to mort-
gage, when the delay in obtaining an indefeasible
title might not only be inconvenient but injurious •
and as evasions by colourable sales to trustees with
secret trusts would be resorted to to bring cases
within the letter of the act, it may be now conceded
that the plain, straightforward course was the best,
to include all withm the plain:provisions of the
new law. By the imposition of a very moderate
duty, regulated according to a graduated scale, a
fund will be realised, which, together with the in-
vestment of other moneys that would otherwise be
unproductive, will render this court not only a per-
manent boon to the landed- interest, but a benefit
instead of a burden to the consolidated fund. This
has grown out of a kind of bankruptcy code for
landed estates, and this naturally leads to the
subject which has specially, occupied the atten-
tion of this section, I allude to the proposed
amendment of the English bankruptcy law. It
does seem to be most desirable to attain to the
utmost practicable uniformity in the laws of com-
merce, and to begin with the attempt to assimi-
late the commercial law of the United Kingdom. It
may be that this must await the formation of a
department for the affairs of justice ; and for the
present we must make the most of the materials at
our disposal. In bankruptcy we have a sepa-
rate code in each of the three countries. I am happy
to say that the new code recently constructed for
Ireland works satisfactorily. In the last report of
the Chamber of Commerce of the City of Dublin it
is stated that the new law, " under the able and
judicious administration of the court, has proved of
the most important advantage to the public. Under
its operation the expenses of bankruptcy have been
considerably lessened, the proceedings of the court
have been expedited, the power of the selfish cre-
ditor has been curtailed:;" and the report adds that
just provision has been made both for relieving the
unfortunate and punishing the dishonest and reck-
less trader. There are still difficulties to be over-
come in checkmating fraud and contrivance, and
calling in aid the intervention of official duty where
private interest cannot be brought into efficient ac
tion. But as we must proceed upon the facts of your
own actual requirements in England, and as I am
rather disposed to be a listener than a lecturer on
the English code, with which I am not familiar, I
will reserve for the discussion to-morrow such hints
as have been supplied by the very competent and
esteemed judge of the Irish Bankruptcy Court,
whose administration of the bankrupt law for so
many years has so much contributed to its efficient
working. I come now to a subject in which
I have for some time felt a great interest—the
consolidation and amendment of our criminal laws.
Commission after commission has reported, select
committees have inquired, a code has been digested,
bills have been proposed—a succession of dissolving
views before Parliament and the country. But I am
bound in common justice to say that much has thus
been done in preparing and providing, in separat-
ing and classifying most valuable and available
materials, which are now ready for the builder's
use. A great work had been done by the late Sir R.
Peel in reducing to order and system the chaos of
criminal law. His acts for England were followed
up by corresponding acts for Ireland, with fewer
variations ; and the criminal statutes of a later
period are generally imperial. It is of the very
highest policy to assimilate the law of England and
Ireland to the utmost practicable extent ; and as
the legal scavenger and the rubbish cart must be
freely employed m cleansing and clearing the statute
book, for Ireland as for England, it is not too much
to expect that any plan of consolidation and
amendment which Parliament may adopt and
the country may sanction will remove all the
rubbish, and make use of the best mate-
rials which can be selected from the statutes of
either country, in order to construct an imperial
code for the common benefit of both. In thus deal-
ing at this time with the construction of the code
of criminal law, we may test the practicability of
further assimilation. It may become a question
for Parliament to decide, by resolution or otherwise
authoritavely, in which form the work should be
done to render it finally acceptable. Some earnestly
contend for repeating in the new law the very
words of the old enactments, with all the jargon of
the Old Bailey. Others more rationally suggest
that a new code should be framed, in the most
exact but plain language ; what was doubtful
should be made clear, what was defective should be
supplied ; and, for this purpose, we should turn to
account authentic judicial decisions ; in a word,
that we should avail ourselves of all the light and
all the information within our power to command,
and use our best efforts to make the law consistent
with' the present state of opinion, and to have ex-
pressed with grammatical accuracy, and as a model
for the consolidation and amendment of the
entire of our statute law. I must say, I am
entirely of this opinion, and am prepared to
defend and to enforce it whenever called upon to do
so. It is high time to be- delivered from the bond-
age of such mischievous, because unjust, classifica-
tion of crime as felony and misdemeanour, and all
the kindred verbiages. Why should we have the
most important differences in the procedure for the
trial of a felony, which is in substance a misde-
meanour, and of a misdemeanour, which is in sub-
stance a felony, if by these terms we designate the
essence of the crime ? And if we do not, why is
the obsolete and unjust distinction to be perpetuated ?
Instead of these let us have a sound and rational
classification of punishments ; and here we are re-
quired to make up our minds upon a very solemn
question, which now awaits decision—whether we
are to retain on the statute book, as a punishment
of any crime under the degree of treason, by which
human life is not murderously taken away—whe-
ther we are to continue in this class of cases the
punishment of death ? I cannot touch upon this
topic without a feeling of deep thankful-
ness to God that so much of our law that was
once written in blood is in the course of being
gradually replaced by a humane reformatory
system. There is, perhaps, no point of comparison
between the past and the present more interesting
to those who mark with gladness the progress of
society, than the change in the moral sense—the
public conscience in reference to the punishment of
death. The sacredness of human life is of the es-
sence of religious truth. The unnecessary retention
of the punishment of death in any one class of crime
is not only a foul stain upon the statute book, it is
constructively, at least, a capital offence in the Le-
gislature itself. There may be—l believe there is a
voice within—which in the case of a clear convic-
tion for wilful murder ratifies the sentence of the
law, and recognises expiation in the capital punish-
ment. But where life has not been taken—where
the intent has been frustrated by providential inter-
ference—it is an intimation to us that human
justice is to be so far moderated by an overruling
Providence, and we should follow the merciful sug-
gestion. I believe that such a view, if adopted in our
laud, would be consistent with the profound convic-
tions of the wisest and best of our people, conducive
to public morality, and expressive of the attainment '
of another stage in the march of civilisation. If,
then, this question of classifying punishment were
decided, and the appropriate class allocated to each
specified crime—and if the work of consolidation
and amendment would embody the conclusions of
Parliament on the classification of crime and punish-
ment, and the new law be framed after the manner
I have already suggested—l do not believe that the
apprehension would be realised which some enter-
tain, that the controversy on the new phraseology
would in effect defeat the project. I think this is a
libel on the Legislature, and I would add that if
this limited project could not be thus completed, I
would altogether despair of any general assimilation
of the law of England and Ireland, and of any
amendment of the statute law of either country that
would satisfy public expectation, or be in any sense
worthy of the occasion. But I am not disposed to
take a desponding view of a work which has become
national. We have had of late years a great im-
provement, wisely though tardily effected, in the
procedure of the superior courts of law and equity.
It is, doubtless, easier and safer to remodel the
remedies which a system of laii admits, than to in-
terfere with the rights which it confers. This species
of reform comes into speedy and general operation .
without disturbance or confusion. It is about 15
years ago, when I was engaged in arguing a case
at the bar of the House of Lords, and in speaking
of a decision of the very eminent lawyer then Lord
Chancellor of Ireland, I said it was made in the
hurry of the Court of Chancery. Lord Brougham
replied, " We never talk of the speed of a broad-
wheeled waggon." At present how great is the
change which has been wrought. Properties which,

under the old system, must have_been devoured by
the delay and expense of a cumbrous, stall-fed sys-
tem, may now be administered without any unrea-
sonable delay, and at a moderate cost. And it is
well that this most beneficial change has been set
on foot. It is not as yet matured as I could wish it
to be, for I confess I heartily desire to see the High
Court of Chancery worthy of being regarded as the
inner shrine of the sacred temple of public justice,
and not the byeword for costly, vexatious, and
ruinous litigation. The blind idolatry of technical
procedure, the false worship of our superior courts,
roused that impatient and indignant zeal which
smashed the ancient tables of the law ; but this has
ended in the destruction of the idols and the reno-
vation of our judicial system. We are at present
dealing in each country with an improved but dis-
tinct system of procedure. That such a distinction
should. be permanent cannot be rationally contended.
I look forward, therefore, with hope that, at an
early day, we may.frankly compare notes, and con-
struct one system, in which we may. thenceforward
• have a common interest, and which, I trust, may
soon be watched over by a department common to
both countries. Much has been done, much is under
consideration; but the work is great, and we must
not expect to be able to sow with the one hand and
reap with the other. There is one department,
which, of itself, might well claim the undivided
attention of the most diligent and thoughtful—l
mean the lunacy and minor department of the
Court of Chancery. Whether any man
should be allowed to have a private asylum for
making money by the custody and maintenance 'of
lunatics, where, generally speaking, his interest is
not on the side of duty ; where the continuance,
not the cure of the afflicted and helpless being
under his charge, is for his pecuniary profit ; where
inspection cannot sufficiently secure the parental
care which the state owes to those who cannot be
entrusted with their personal 'liberty ; where the
withdrawal of a license may rebuke the offender,
but cannot provide a remedy for the unhappy vic-
tims of the offence ; whether it is not the responsi-
ble duty of the state to interpose its authority
where' private interest is not only insufficient but
adverse; and whether in every case whete personal
liberty is interfered with there should not be the
means for promptly bringing the matter under the
notice of responsible authority, and making ade-
quate provision for the future custody and treat-
ment (if necessary.) in a
_public institution. These
are grave questions—well worthy of the deliberate
attention of this association. There is another sub-
ct vitally connected with all that we can hope for
in the improvement of our jurisprudence, and that
is the subject of legal education. Improved proce-
dure—amended laws—mnch to be valued though
they be, yet if we do not secure the moral elevation,
, the trained capacity, and the love of justice in those
who are to administer these laws. we deprive them
of their living power, and they, take no root in the
respect and the affections of the people. Why,
may I ask, why should not the profession of the
law be dealt with as other professions ? Why
should not the proper qualification be required, and
the suitable education made compulsory, in order
to obtain the status of a barrister ?. And when ob-
tained, why should preferments be set apart for the
barrister of six years' standing, or any longer
period of more seasoned incompetence ? Some
years since it was said, in the presence of
a Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, that " there was
neither 'honour nor honesty to be found in
the country." An old sagacious physician who
was in the room observed that that was going
a little too far. " Perhaps," said he, " there
is no great market for the articles—for, surely,
supply will soon . meet. demand." In the several
inquiries on education,, military, medical, and the
commission- on the inns of court, there will be
found a concurrent testimony in favour of laying
the foundation of a good liberal education before
the work Of special instruction should begin.. This
instruction is not education; and, without educa-
tion, it is but handicraft. I must not be tempted
to poach on the manor of Mr. Cowper ;
.but I know
he will net object
.to my recording the heartfelt
pleasure with which I paid the testimony, that it is
our interest, not less than our duty, to educate a
man for • his own sake, as a moral, intelligent,
accountable, and immortal being ; and the more
careful this training and teaching, the more com-
plete this education, the more certain the success of
special and subsequent instruction. If, then, the
progress of education would be ascertained by
periodic tests ; if university degrees were made a
plain reality, and not a pompous fiction ; if the inns
of court would (as I have reason to believe they
will) secure the required qualification before they
admit to practice_; and if the policy of the public
service were such as to encourage and reward merit,
doing justice to those who devote themselves to the
administration of justice—then might we reason-
ably expect to have men worthy of that profession
which has given to the county its Hale and its
Somers, with Holt and Mansfield, with Bushe and
Plunket, these lights of other days, illustrious men,
who have left behind them a track of glory which
has not ceased to shed its lustre on. the 'profession
which nurtured their genius and their virtues.
The country is deeply interested in surrounding the
profession with all the security which can be
afforded by liberal education and enlightened
policy. On the moral results may much depend
the pure, dignified, and impartial administration of
justice, and with this are bound up the order, the
freedom, and the maintenance of civil society.
Is: is not, then, without reason that juris-
prudence has been placed at the head- of the
sections of this association. Why should not it
alio have a separate and principal depart-
ment of administration ? How otherwise can we
collect, and record, and make timely use of the
practical suggestions which come from those who
are engaged in working the laws ? How can we
bring public opinion. steadily to bear in judicial
procedure without regular judicial statistics ? How
is our code of judicial decisions to be maintained as
part of a binding system of law, if these decisions
be not authenticated, reported by responsible offi-
cers, and -published under responsible authority ?
The suit between A Band C D involves a decisionin which *the public is a party deeply. interested.
But there is no public pFovision made for an au-
thentic report of such decision, or that it should be
dealt with otherwise than as the private litigant—
the casual, perhaps incompetent reporter, or the
speculating publisher may secure. If there were a
department of council with the Chancellor at its
head, and, under this, a secretary for the affairs of
justice, with a seat in the House of Commons, and
a staff sufficient to enable this. department to super-
vise the administration of public justice in the
United Kingdom, with a view to the amendment of
the law, and the exigencies of public justice, there
would be, to use the words. of the late Lori Lang-
dale, a very busy and most valuable department.
And, if the legislature might require the occasional
assistance of such a department in aid of current
legislation, it could be given without in any degree
interfering with the constitutional freedom and
accustomed privilege of any. member of either house
of Parliament. Nor is -there a session in which
examples of imperfect or erroneous enactments
could not be found, to prove the need of some such
protector of the public, who suffer frequent injus-
tice under the present system. I am not disposed
to indulge in any visionary expectation of a perfect
system of laws, or that we can by any contrivance
secure absolute purity of administration. " Human
institutions," says South, " cannot wholly be con-
structed. on principles of science, which is proper
to immutable objects. In the government of the
visible world, the Supreme Wisdom itself submits
to be the author of the better, not the best,-but of
the best possible in the:subsisting relations. Much
more must all human legislators give way to many
evils rather than encourage the discontent that
would lead to worse remedies." But the use of
timely remedies is a standing duty. The continued
neglect of functional irregularity leads to chronic
disease and organic disorder. All analogy and all
experience, from the pruning of the tree to the re-
pair of the building, teach us that the conservative
spirit is necessarily remedial, and that the demands
of time cannot safely be postponed. " Time," says
Sir Matthew Hale, " is the wisest thing under hea-
ven. He that thinks that a state can be exactly
steered by the same laws in every kind, as it was
two or three hundred years since, may as well ima-
gine that the clothes that fitted him when he was a
child should serve him when he was grown up as a
man. The matter changeth the custom, the con-
tracts, the commerce ; the dispositions, education,
and tempers of men and societies change in a long
tract of time ; and, so must their laws in some
measure be changed, or they will not be useful for
their state and condition." The living law must
not be left to perish in the arms of the dead. Law
is a rule of present obligation, and the statute book
should therefore be cleared of all that is not now
proper to bind the free citizens of this generation.
Some laws have been but the scaffolding of our
social system ; the removal of such cannot weaken
the foundation or shake the superstructure. Others
have lost the sanction of public opinion, and a law
which cannot be enforced without offending public
feeling ought not to be retained. Again, there
are laws which are now happily superseded by the
improved intelligence and moral. convictions of so-
ciety, laws which may perhaps:have aggravated the
evils which they. were called on to remove, for these
could not yield to higher influences ; moral evils pro-
perly require moral remedies. Thus is there a great
work of reconstruction, in which we are called upon
to proceed as wise master-builders, with the caution
of men who profess to honour -jurisprudence as the
chief department of social science. Ignorance or empi-
ricism, with a rude or unskilled hand, might level in
an hour the work of a century ; but we seek for
sound experience, the test of free discussion, the

approval of practical wisdom. It is in this spirit
—thus led by the hand, with an honest desire of
keeping pace with the progress of enlightened
opinion—that I have advocated, and still advise,
the formation of a department of jurisprudence,
like that of education.

" Learn to be just, just through impartial law,
Far as ye may, erect and equalise ;
And what ye cannot reach by statute, draw
Each from his fountain of self-sacrifice."
This is the work of social science—a work emi-
nently Christian. The Divine founder of our pure
and practical religion, the greatest yet the lowliest
of beings, was the gentlest, and the kindest, and
the best, and they who would follow Him need not
turn from the path which leads to the social wel-
fare of others, nor reject the agencies which we
here seek to invigorate and improve. This co-
operation in duty may help. to soften the severity,
to subdue the pride of opinion, and nourish the
spirit which should ever urge us to love our neigh-
bour as ourself. In this season of prosperity, in
this time of peace, how thankful am I to have the
privilege of uniting with the elevated peer, the en-
lightened commoner, the sagacious statesman, and
the thoughtful scholar, upon common ground for
the common weal, under the blessing of God, pub-
licly and solemnly invoked. The future of Eng-
land, which Niebuhr rather supposed than pre-
dicted, was this : no longer to try to domineer over
the continent of Europe, but to busy herself with
the nobler work of social reformation. One of her
own great poets has assigned to her the lofty
mission to teach *e nations how to live. Another
—the purest, most thoughtful and tender-hearted
—has recorded the triumphs of her social industry
in words which are associated with all that sur-
rounds us in this great community :

" At social industry's command
How quick, how vast an increase! From the germ
Of some poor hamlet, rapidly produced,
Here a huge town continuous and compact,
Hiding the face of earth for leagues—
" Hence is the wide sea peopled ; hence the shore
Of Britain is resorted to by ships
Freighted from every climate of the world
With the world's choicest produce. Hence that sum
Of keels that rest within her crowded ports,
Or ride at anchor in her sounds and bays ;
That animating spectacle of sails,
That through her inland regions to and fro
Pass with the respirations of the tide
Perpetual, multitudinous !
Hence a dread arm of floating power—a voice
Of thunder, daunting those who would approach
With hostile purposes the blessed Isle;
Truth's consecrated residence—the seat
Impregnable of Liberty and Peace."

Lord BROUGHAM—Though it is not usual to come
to any resolution on the reading of an address, I
think on account of the absence of my noble and
learned friend, the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, we
ought to break through that rule in this instance
in order to testify the great gratification we have
all of us, I am sure, derived from the reading of
this address, in which it is difficult to say whether
we most admire the great eloquence of the execu-
tion or the true, sound, enlightened, and learned
views of the writer. I hardly remember-anything
proceeding from any branch of the profession, and
more especially from the highest seat of justice—
the woolsack itself—which has struck me with more
admiration or impressed upon me a deeper debt of
gratitude to the author ; and therefore I beg to
propose a resolution testifying our regret at his
absence—a regret rather increased than diminished
by the admirable and useful paper he has contri-
buted, because it shows how much valuable assis-
tance we have lost by my learned friend's absence
in the business of 'the section over which he was to
have presided.
Mr. COOKSON seconded the motion, and bore testi-
mony to the valuable aid the Lord Chancellor of Ire-
land. had rendered as a member of the commission
on the sale and transfer of land in Ireland, upon
which he (Mr. Cookson) had acted with him.
Mr. G. W. HASTINGS read the. report of the
council of the results of the Congress, which had
been agreed to at their meeting that morning.
On the motion of Mr. W. COWPER, seconded by
Dr. FARR, the report was adopted.
Lord BROUGHAM referred to the great services
rendered by the officers of the association, and
especially by Mr. Hastings, their very able,
talented, and energetic secretary. He (Lord
Brougham) had been referred to as the founder of
the association, but he believed that it was in the
mind of Mr. Hastings that the felicitous .idea first
originated. When that gentleman called upon him
first upon the subject he had great doubts of the
success of the project, but those doubts were alto-
gether removed when he considered the matter
further, and he had consented to be its president—
a position which he had been desirous of abdicating;
and though they would not allow him to do so now,
he hoped they would allow him, before another
year came round, to abdicate in favour of his noble
friend the chairman. Amongst the many advan-
tages the National Association was calculated to
confer, not the least was the communication it
established between the upper and the working
classes. This had commenced auspiciously at the
present meeting in Liverpool, and he hoped it
would be continued by the working men forming
from amongst themselves a social science committee.
The noble lord also observed that the association
were deeply indebted to- the press, especially that
part of it, viz., the cheap press of Liverpool, which
was more directly the means of conveying a record
of their proceedings to the working men, for the
accuracy and fullness with which the proceedings
had been reported, and included that body in the
vote of thanks.

The Earl of SHAFTESBURY seconded the motion,
and, in reference to the second part of the noble and
learned lord's proposition, observed that during his
life he had been brought very much into contact
with the members of the Twess—with those who
filled the high offices of editors and managers, and
also those who discharged the responsible and one-
rous duties of reporters ; and he could bear testi-
mony to their activity, intelligence, and faithful-
ness. The skill, the readiness of apprehension they
evinced, the way in which they caught the slightest
expression and transfused into their columns not
only the words, but the very spirit of the speech
or the debate, must rank amongst the greatest
efforts of the human intellect. (Cheers.) But, great
as was their ability, they were still more to be
praised for their fidelity. (Hear.) Take every
public meeting, take the debates in the two houses
of parliament—and the speeches made on great
public occasions elsewhere—how often did it occur
that a single mistake was made ? ( Hear.) And
how much less often did it occur that a mistake was
wilfully made ? He would venture to say that,
taking the whole year through, thei e were not two
wilful mistakes to be found—so great was the in-
telligence and so Feat was the fidelity evinced. In
a mixed constitution such as ours we were all deeply
indebted to the press for it was of the utmost im-
portance that faithful should be transmitted
through the press to the public; By means of that
agency what was spoken from the public platform
was in effect spoken to millions of people, and if he
might be excused for doing so, he would remind
the editors and conductors, the great giants of the
press, that they had the greatest engine in their
hands ever wielded by man since the creation—
they had in their hands the greatest power of doing
evil. They had, consequently., resting upon
them the greatest responsibility, and he knew
no one single thing of a subordinate character
for which as Christian men they ought more
to pray day and night than that the conduc-
tors of the press might be animated by a true,
a high, a holy spirit, and governed by a desire to
_advance the temporal, the moral, and the spiritual
welfare of all their fellow-creatures. (Cheers.)
That being the case, a free press, instead of proving
in the least degree a vexation and an annoyance,
was, without exception. the greatest blessing that
could be conferred on any people, without which
there could not be a free people, and with which, if
allowed to spread itself far and wide, in the course
of a short time there would not be an enslaved
people on the face of the earth. (Cheers.)
Lord J. RUSSELL, in putting the resolution
(which was unanimously carried), bore testimony
to the very valuable services of Mr. Hastings, and
expressed his entire concurrence with what had
been said with regard to the press.
Mr. HASTINGS acknowledged the resolution in an
appropriate speech, in which he referred to the
valuable aid he had received from Mr. Melley, the
indefatigable local secretary, and the other local
officers, but for whom the meeting at Liverpool
could not have taken place.
Thanks were afterwards voted to Mr. George
Melley and the local officers, to the:Mayor and Cor-
poration of Liverpool for the use of the hall, to the
inhabitants of Liverpool generally for their assist-
ance, to the several presidents of departments, and
to Lord John Russell, as the chairman of the
meeting.
In acknowledging the compliment paid to him,
the noble lord said it was extremely gratifyini. to
him—when some people seemed to think that *?121
his great age he was altogether worn out and in•
capable of exertion—to find himself complimented
upon his energy by a still hale and energetic noble
friend friend (Lord Brougham) near him, who said he had
known him from a boy, and by another learned
friend (Professor Pillans) who stated that he re-
membered when he (Lord John) first entered the
university—that was when he was about 17 years
of age. (Cheers and laughter.)

In the evening St. George's Hall was converted
into a banquet room—and a more magnificent
dining hall there is not in, the kingdom—'Perhaps
in the world. Its noble 'and lofty proportions,
its highly-enriched and ornate style of architec.
ture, its warm colouring heightened by the beauti-
fully polished granite eoluinus which support the

arched and many pannelled rooms, render it, espe-
cially when lighted up, peculiarly adapted fes.
tive purposes. At the banquet of last night there
were 400 persons present, many of them ladies, thee
council having wisely resolved that the ladies, who
had rendered such important aid in the compara-
tively dry work of the sections, were entitled to
share in the more agreeable business of the closing
festivity; and their presence, dressed in every
variety of female fashionable costume, in which the
florid head-dress now in such general favour was
coraondnspdictthe
fnsair.— the roses, the fuchsias, and camelias,
and
lady-grass which were entwined in wreaths
brows seated at the table, harmonis-
ing prettily and gracefully with the embellish-
ments of the prandial board. The spacious gal-
leries, which had been thrown open to the public,
on payment of an admissionfee of half-a-crown
each person, were crowded,the
principally of the fair sex. There wasabras being
s band:
occupants
the musicians being
e,
d who
appropriate
ladadamateurs—the
volunteered
airs
in
theirthe Workmenintervals
services a
—canwteehfacptloaryy
tespdewiechthest;he n
who
betweenalalternated
r the
na a party of glee singers,
in band the musical duties.
of the chair, supported by
Lord Brougham was
Lord J. Russell, the Earl Carlisle, the Earl of
Shaftesbury, Lord Sandmoni).,Mr.the
Monckton Mimes,
M.P., Mr. W. Brown,
oomßdr.
T.
B.
Horsfall,lderman m 3.211.:
Penn-
sylvania, Sir Harry Varney, M,
p,,
of
~AMr. Hanbury,
listerl.l, Mr. W. Tite,
Turner,M.P.,
s 1 irmr
J.
ra.JmaC
h
r
ems essi
ts
ellt
po
C.
Hastings,Turner, the Rev.
p
herwhene
r
,
Sir J. K. Shuttleworth, Mr.
Archdeacon Jones, Mr. G. W.
oard,chainedf
Heath, Mr. Hadfield, M.P., Mr. Cowan, 41r-p. Edw.
ivr
Wood, M.P., Mr. Akroyd, M.P., and the '' —l.'
members of the Town Council, Dock B
other local bodies.
The usual loyal toasts were given and enthusias-
tically honoured.
In proposing the House of Lords, Lord BROUGHAM
said—When I look around this great hall, a sight
presents itself I believe wholly unexampled in this
country. (Hear, hear.) A sight so magnificent in
every respect to the outward eye, and to the inward
contemplation, it never certainly has been my for-
tune to see. And yet, forgive me if I add, contrary
to the maxim, that " comparisons are odioils; and
that other maxim, that " the absent are generally
in the wrong,", forgive me if I add that all I see here
around me, great though the impression is, deep as
that impression is and striking as the view present-
ing itself physically and morally is, it is nothing
equal to the sight I saw last night at the amphi-
theatre in this your town. For, surrounded as lam
by dignity and respectability that command obser-
vation, by a constellation of beauty that wins ad-
miration, I confess that I still feel nothing equal to
that feeling with which the sight of last night in-
spired me. (Hear, hear.) There we assembled under
' the same roof from 4,000 to 5,000 of the working
men of Liverpool--the very sinews of the strength
of the community--that part of the community
without which all the rest would not only be as
nothing, but I may say, literally speaking, must
cease to exist. (Hear.) And -any set of men on
the one hand more zealous for the good work in
which they and we are all now engaged, but onthe
' other hand more , rational, more temperate, more
decorous in their demeanour, I never saw in any
place, be it a court, or be it a.senate, in which it
has been my lot to be. And it was not for the want
of capacity to debate, for we were addressed by
two persons, one of them a working man, and
the other an employer of working men, and by
the working man in as good *a speech as I ever
heard. (Hear, hear.) I find that those men who
are deeply impressed with the great importance
of this movement, feel that it is for the benefit
of all classes—their own included—(hear, hear)
—and I have had a communication an hour before
I came here which shows their determination to
help us on to the best of their ability in carrying
into effect our great plans of public improvement.
I have a letter from a young man who says that he
signs his name without any Oat of arms. There
was an illusion last night to armorial bearings, and
he said, "My quarterings are neither griffins nor
lions, but a jack-plane, an axe, and . a saw"—(hear,
hear)—aild he- proposes as a communication be-
tween his body of working men and our body of
' the National Association, that there should be a
committee of working men, a social science corn-
mittee of working men, to communicate with the
general committee of our Social Science Associa-
tion. Most entirely am lof his opinion. The best
answer I can give is to say that we entirely accept
his proposal, and hope and trust, even before we
leave Liverpool, they will have formed a Social
- Science Committee of Working Men to co-operate
with ours. -Now, one word as to the general suc-
cess of this association. I find that last year, at
Birmingham, the number of admittances into our
association at the end of the meeting did not quite
amount to 800 ; here they amounted to 1,200 on
Monday morning, ,before we began, and they are
now 2,000. This is a proof of progress. (Hear,
hear.) I, however, greatly grieve to find—an in-
timation having been given at the close of the last
year's meeting that any institute in this country,
either as mechanics' institute, or 'prentic library,
or any other such institute in the country, that de-
sired to be an• incorporate member of this associa-
tion, might do so upon the same payment as any
ordinary individual—that, either from inadver-
tence, or from not understanding the drift of the
proposal, hardly any of those bodies in the country
have come to join. us. From the letter I have
just referred; I hope that that apathy and indiffer-
ence exist no longer. Upon the subject of the toast
the noble learned lord said—The Holise of Lords is
of the most essential service in the mixed con-
stitution of this country, and to dispense with it
would be to alter the constitution. (Cheers.)
There may be some who think that we • should
be better without a House of Lords ; and in
off eon-
Com-
their
view, uponthe principles followedin other countries,
sthtietyutmioany,
wbeitahbloenityo
osntreike
chamber—ao
utane
no
wform ()
House
mons, without an hereditary chamber. That may
be a very good constitution, and well adapted for
some countries ; but it would not be the constitu-
tion of England under-which we have so long lived
and flourished, and we should have reason to regret
- the day when so fatal a change in our constitution
was made. Ours is a mixed monarchy. We have a
Crown, not elective, but hereditary. And why ?
To avoid the 'greatest of all curses—eternal civil
war every time there is a vacancy in the Crown.
(Hear.) Set against this all the objections that
can be made to hereditary monarchy, and in this
one great and precious andinviolable security, that
hereditary rule prevents disputed succession, which
means civil war, you have a complete answer and
defence. But people may say, why shouldwe have
an hereditary aristocracy ? Does it follow that be-
cause they succeed to others by birth they are en-
doWed with the same qualities their founders had 7
But that is the case in every branch of the commu-
nity. Take the example of property. Does it follow
that when a man succeeds to the property of his
father, whether in land or in trade acquired, or in
any other: way, does it follow that he has the qua-
lities which his father had, and which enabled him
to gain that property ? Yet nobody denies that the
right of property ought to give a man the power of
disposing of it, and that if he makes no will the
law ought to dispose of it for him. (Rear.) But the
use of a hereditary peerage is manifest, and is
most material. If you only had two chambers—the
Heise of Commons elected by one qualification,
and the House of Lords elected upon some other
qualification, it would only be that the bills that
pasted through the House of _Commons, through
their various stages, then would have to pass
g
through so many more stages of what would
be
really another branch of the House of Com-
mons ; and'there would be no possibility of better
inquiry, of greater deliberation, of greater security
adding
of
against error, than there would be in •
two or three stages in the llmise of- Commons-
The -
true course is that which our • constitution.
takes, to have all that comes from
..the House of
Commons scrutinised by a body,
and authority
H to
Lords, which owes its place an
a totally different principle from the principle of
election, and thus-you have a security against error
I have seen u.
errors might have
in-
stances u i
n es
which i n thessuch
e lower w
frightful e r h ose
been committed by the House of Lords, if they had
adopted merely as a matter of course
House of Commons sent u Ile h. what the
an alblunders
frightful errors as
would, if anything could have done
to the House of Commons and it, put an end
not of the Lords.
(Hear.) These errors rarely are committed ; but
that they rarely are committed, and
is owing to there being two chambersare never fatal,
appqmted
upon a different qualification and
thority to different sources of appointment. lam
sure that I need hardly.. add that, although the
House of Lords has occasionally differed with the
rest of the country upon one or two
Minister
remark-
able occasions—one while I was a
Crown, upon the Reform Bill—yetthe of the
Lords invariably came in, sooner or later, to the
general opinion of their fellow-citizens,
cer-
tain modifications and exceptions,i izens, with
the whole, very likely their h and that, upon
benefit rather than an injury. holding out was a
there-appeared differences Thus, even when
cileablef the -House- of Lords
which seemed irrecon-
It still less neeess °ids proved its usefulness.
aryfor me to say that the House
of ommons is necessary to the constitution because
the constitution without the House of Commons
would be very • , like the play of " Hamlet " with the
part of Hamlet • a' (Laughter.)
ht )
The Earl of C
omitted. ,—auge
.. er., .
thanks , and Mr.
I. „,,,.., ARLISLE return nod
-sumes, M.P.f, acknowledged. the next toast,
viz., the House of 'Commons. • •
Lord J. RUSSELL gave ,c The Health of Lord
Brougham," which was drunk with honours; and