The Sun.
London, England, 1861-08-15 00:00:00

the gradual progress of such improvement is not to
be lamented, but rather in the bulk of instances to
be deemed beneficial and safe. He is no friend
to the advance of social science in any of its
branches who hastens forward with heedless, unre-
fleeting speed, despising all that is gained because
it is less than all that he desires, and looking down
With contempt upon those whom he passes in his
impatient course. This spirit, so inimical to real,
solid improvement, sometimes is the fruit of zeal
without knowledge, and not unfrequently arises
from mere selfish desire of distinction, when a man,
sacrificing a great cause to his personal ambition,
becomes a public enemy—
" Vainglorious, who through infamy seeks fame."
For this is one of those occasions in which variety,
from being, as it commonly is, a harmless folly, only
ridiculous, rises into a crime, becoming selfish, un-
principled, pernicious, and disgraceful. It is, how-
ever, fit that vie now consider the progress which
has been actually made since our last congress; and
here I would first of all mark the very gratifying
change that has taken place of late years, and to
which our labours have materially contributed—the
change in the economy and management of their
estates by the owners of property. The improve-
ments in agriculture have obliged landlords to make
a great outlay upon draining and farm buildings,
te
hielly beneficial, no doubt, to themselves, and there-
fore well bestowed ; but in most instances so diffi-
cult as to require the help of loans. Yet, at the
same time, they have generally contributed in a de-
gree formerly unknown to what could afford no pe-
cuniary benefit, the building and support of schools,
improving the dwellings of the poor, and the build-
ing and repair of churches, thus spending most
upon these excellent objects when they had least
to spare. As a learned and reverend friend of
mine,l‘l r.Elwyn, has observed :—" It is one of the
happy effects of advancement in any path that it
begets a zeal for advancement in other directions,
and he who begins by improving his estate ends
in wishing to improve the people upon it and near
it." Nothing can be more delightful than to
contemplate this progress in classes, generally
speaking, the most reluctant to approve changes,
because the slowest to believe in their
expediency, or even safety; and it affords the
strongest reason for extending to the agricultural
labourers and their children the benefit of those
wholesome restraints of late years imposed upon
the improper employment of labour in other
branches. It is a most consolatory circumstance to
all friends of such improvement, and of the sound
and liberal principles which insure its progress,
that the reign of these principles seems to be esta-
blished universally. We cannot, indeed, say with
the great poet, when expressing his thanks for the
Restoration,—
" At home the hateful names of parties cease,
And factious souls are wearied into peace."
But at least they are tired of resisting the truth,
and thus we find that upon the most important
questions there is now little to distinguish conflict-
ing parties, all being alike the professors of opinions
which but a few years ago formed the main ground,
or, it might be, the chief pretext of their differences.
Thus, the stoutest adversaries of secret voting (per-
haps well advised in their opposition) have lately
insisted upon introducing it at one of our Univer-
sities, with an intimation that it ought to be gene-
rally applied ; for the voting by signed papers,
though its proposed object be to save the voter's
journey, of necessity insures his escape from obser-
vation. The most important of all our departments,
unquestionably, is the first—that of Jurisprudence ;
and here we have not to report a great number of
measures recommended at our former meeting and
adopted by the Legislature, but those which hap-
pily have been approved and passed are of very
great moment. An elaborate report, with sugges-
tions on the Patent Law and the reports on Private
Bill legislation, has as yet borne no fruit. But the
important propositions respecting Charitable Trusts,
made by our learned and distinguished colleague,
Sir W. Page Wood, have to a great extent been
adopted by the Education Commission, under the
Duke of Newcastle ; and the amendments of the
Bankruptcy and Insolvency Laws, which, after the
fullest investigations, are so strongly recom-
mended, have almost all been introduced into the
new act, the careful framing of which reflects the
greatest credit upon the Lord Chancellor. It has
not passed through the ordeal of the Lords without
material changes; but it is an important amend-
ment of the law. Great complaints were made at
the last congress of the manner in which the time
of the Legislature was consumed, almost to waste,
by endless and useless debate in .one of the houses ;
and the worst consequences of this was felt and
deplored in the loss of the bills for the Consolida-
tion of the Criminal Law. Although it cannot be
with truth affirmed that the grounds of the corn-
plaint are removed, yet they have been somewhat
lessened during the last session ; and certainly
there has been the most satisfactory change in the
manner of dealing with these important Consolida-
tion Bills—a change which may, in part at least,
be ascribed to the effect of our remonstrances. The
wise resolution which we strongly urged, supported
by the high authority of my esteemed friend Lord
Lyndhurst, has been adopted, of taking upon trust
the project framed by learned and skilful persons,
and examined by a committee of the Lords ; and
thus five Acts have been passed containing a digest
of the main body of the criminal statute law. That
there is no other conceivable means of attaining
this great object has long been the opinion of prac-
tical lawyers, and, after it had so long been rejected
by the Legislature, it is gratifying to reflect that
the labours of this association have contributed to
its adoption. Nor can any gain to our jurispru-
dence be more important, both in itself and as lead-
ing to a digest of the law in all its branches, for
nothing can more directly tend to its improvement
in every way. But, furthermore, it is confessed on
all hands that the subject has an indisputable right
to protection in return for his allegiance ; nay, as
the very condition of his allegiance. Yet, in-
volved in this is the right to be made acquainted
with the laws under which he lives, and sub-
mission to which his allegiance implies. But
the ancient tyrant who placed his laws at
such a height that the people could not
read them, hardly did a worse act than they
who so wrap them up in vague language, and
so mix and confound their provisions, that when
read they are not understood. Happily, there is
now an end to this grievous defect in our system—
a certainty of having a digest, which for many
years was beyond my
most sanguine expectations,
years ago I eo°milirnsit4t)efd
when the lab
tthhoes eu
out
sou l
1. wd
shtoi
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u3Os
most valuable reports, seemed doomed to disap-
pointment by the course pursued in the House of
Commons, ;13oron thesand have continued ineffectual
bu
exertions
and the influence of our
hold m
Na-
tional Association. Let us, however, •
would
grate-
ful remembrance the invaluable services of Messrs.
B. Ker, Starkie, Greaves, and Lonsdale towards
the success of this great work. We may now hope
to see the expectations of our learned colleague,
Sir F. Kelly, fulfilled, who, in his repeated at-
tempts at consolidation, and in presenting the ably-
framed bills which he successively brought in, cal-
culated upon the number of statutes which they
embraced, and saw good reason to believe that he
would reduce the 40 volumes now filled by the
statute law to four. His services have not been
confined to this branch of jurisprudence. In two
succeeding sessions he introduced a most important
bill for removing the defect of our law as to the
wills of British subjects executed abroad, and it
passed the Commons both times, but fell through
in the Lords. Lord Kingsdown's Bill now passed
with the same object, though less extensive than
Sir Fitzroy's, removes a great part of the defect
complained of. Finally, a most important Act has
been happily passed, and with less difficulty than
our excellent colleague, Mr. Villiers, its author,
expected, reducing the time of gaining settlement
from five to three years, extending the required re-
sidence over the whole union, and distributing the
payment of rates more justly and equally. We may
congratulate our colleague on a measure which will,
in all probability, be followed by others to re-
move the whole defects of the settlement law: It is
very unfortunate that the lamented death of his
brother, the Bishop of Durham, deprives us of his
attendance at the congress. In this department of