The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-20 00:00:00

PRICE 4D. STAMPED, 51)

the old saying is quo, that they are " necessary
evils." Their want in Victoria is supplied by the
courtesy of the Chief Justice allowing parties, liti
gants, to have advisers, who are permitted great
latitude in his court by their taking powers of
attorney from their clients to appear for them. The
duty has hitherto been performed by two American
citizens, lawyers from San Francisco, who I hope
are having what is commonly called in the classical
language of the place they come from "quite a fine
time of it."
In the criminal court the accused are allowed to
have the assistance of a lawyer or friend, who is
permitted every facility except the privilege of
pleading, which latter privilege, to be fair and put
both parties on an equal footing, is denied to the
Crown as prosecutor. Not exactly denied either :
the Crown solicitor refrains from pleading—an-ad-
vantage which he cannot well help foregoing, as he
is also ineligible to the privileges of the bar. This
state of matters will, no doubt, soon be remedied.
The Government will do what is required to supply
present deficiencies, both as respects the judiciary
and bar, to the extent necessary to represent the
Crown. In view of the result as I know from direct
correspondence that legal gentlemen in England
desire to conic out and try their fortunes in this
country, I trust you will allow me to explain to my
professional brethren which of them are eligible for
admission to practise. Such are, as barristers,
"such persons only as shall have been admitted as
barristers in England or Ireland, or advocates of
the Court of Session of Scotland, or to the degree
of doctor of civil law at the Universities of Oxford,
Cambridge, or Dublin."
Admission to practise as solicitors is given to
" such parties only as have been admitted to prac-
tise as attornies, or solicitors of any of the courts of
record at Westminster or Dublin ; or being proctors
admitted to practise in any ecclesiastical eourt in
England or Ireland; or being writers to the Signet
in Scotland."
The class-distinction of the bar is thus provided
for :

" The barristers of the court shall be allowed to act as
solicitors, and the solicitors of the court to act also as banis-
ters, so long only as there is not a sufficiency of banisters
or solicitors competent and willing to act for the suitors of
the said court in these capacities, and during the time of
such insufficiency only."
All candidates for admission must produce their
certificates, and make a declaration of having been
called to the bar or admitted to practice before they
can acquire the privileges of the bar of Victoria
" that is to be." How it is to be with the new
colony of British Columbia I do not know. A judge
is on his wav out. He will, of course, be fully in-
formed, and I will revert to the subject. The rules
which I have given are imperative, and cannot be
altered here, nor, indeed, at home without another
Order in Council, I presume. Their operation ex-
cludes all the classes of lawyers in Scotland—wri-
ters, solicitors, advocates of Aberdeen, solicitors be-
fore the Supreme Court in Edinburgh—except ad-
vcc ites and writers to the Signet. How they affect
the lawyers in Ireland I cannot say, as I don't know
the classification of the profession in that country ;
but they exclude the colonial lawyers in toto.
At present, as may be readily guessed from my
detail, a good English lawyer would find himself in
clover on the shores of Victoria Bay. For some time
to come the business must be confined to criminal
and commercial law. The titles are too new and
too clear to require the aid of conveyances to any
extent. The " black sheep "of the profession had
better stay away. This is not a congenial field for
them to pasture in.
It is hardly necessary to state, so soon after the
Parliamentary discussion upon the bill constitut-
ing the new colony of British Columbia, which
must be still fresh in the public mind, that the Go-
vernment of this colony of Vancouver's Island is
vested in a Governor and Council, assisted by a
Legislative Assembly, elected by freeholders owning,
not less than 20 acres of land in fee. For many rea-
sons the entire weight of the Government has
hitherto fallen on the Governor, whose office of late
has been no sinecure. In fact, it seems astonishing
how he gets through his work; but, as he sticks
close at it early and late, I suppose an active life
suits him. I sometimes hear of small standard griev-
ances, but they two so unreasonable some of them,
and others so childish, that I should feel ashamed
of being the medium of putting them in print.
While on the subject of government it may be as
Well to endeavour to remove a false impression
which has always existed in England, and which is
not yet eradicated, respecting the former government
of the island. It has been almost universally sup-
posed that the home Government committed a mis-
take, so serious a mistake as to have retarded the
growth of the colony, by appointing the local head
of the Hudson's Bay Company the Governor of the
Queen, both offices in one person being incompa-
tible. This is a most natural conclusion for persons
at a distance, judging from reports, and uninformed
of the facts and circumstances, to come to. I en-
tertained the same opinion, and drew the same con-
clusion from what I had learned in conversation
with the former Governor. But, bold or paradoxi-
cal as it may appear, the union of the offices in one
man makes the merit of the appointment in my
opinion, now that I am enabled to judge of it from
the lights which my investigations on the spot have
afforded. This very unpopular opinion I will try
to justify in a few words. The Hudson's Bay Com-
pany owned the whole island; the fee of the soil
was in them absolutely. They were the lords para-
mount. No one else could sell or buy or appropriate
an inch of land. The earth and its fulness belonged
to them. They had the only establishments in the
land. All the houses were theirs. They owned the
ships, the steany,rs, the boats, the batteaux, and
the canoes that kept communication with the rest
of the world open, that brought the necessaries of
life to the island, and that rendered its inland
waters accessible to the traveller for all purposes of
business or of pleasure. The horses to be ridden,
the cows to give milk, and the sheep to supply
mutton for the table were theirs. The trade was
theirs, and the traders were their debtors ; the
farmers were their tenants ; the other residents
were their servants and dependents. There were
a few who claimed to be independent. This small
tribe was composed of some old " servants" who
had retired on bits of land—good, decently con-
ducted persons, who left the service under the com-
pany's sanction ; some equally old servants, but
of bad habits, given to the bottle, who were dis-
carded ; and one or two wrong-headed adven-
turers who bought farms of the company,, but
never paid for them, and were consequently " inde-
pendent" only in so far as they did not wear the
company's livery. The Indians were not exactly
the company's vassals, for the policy was to pay the
savages for every service they performed, however
trivial; but the authority which the management
and tact of the company had established placed the
Indians under their control.
Now, just fancy the position of a gentleman in
no way connected with the body which owned all
wielding all the power in-
these worldly goods,
cidental to such ownership, coming out to govern
the island, of which this body in its corporate capa-
city was the lord and master—the owner, sole and
entire. Who was he to govern ? If he were to exercise
the duties of his office at all he must govern the
Hudson's Bay Company's people; for the Governor
tells us himself that, after nearly two years' resi-
dence, when he left there were only 30 settlers on
the island, and some of these were " servants" who
had purchased land.
Under the circumstances I cannot well conceive
a more difficult task than to govern the Com-
pany's people—men composed of various classes ;
but the upper " servants," nearly all gentlemen by
education, association, and habits, and some of
them gentlemen by birth, allied to ancient and proud
families in the old country, accustomed all their
lives to look for rules of conduct from the "chief"
of*"

eir own society, call it "council," " commit-
ce," "' directory," or any technicality by which
t was known, would naturally look askance if they
should be required to obey a new Governor uncon-
nected with the company. Besides the awkward-
ness of these " subjects" there were other elements
which made the position of a Royal Governor any-
thing but a dignified one. The company, being
bound to defray all the expense of the possession of
the island by their arrangement with the Colonial-
office, had to pay the Governor his salary, his pas-
sage out, and such like vulgar details.
I have been informed that the Company's people
who came in contact with the Governor were very
civil, polite and respectful iu their intercourse with
him. This was natural from men of their breeding•

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