The Sun.
London, England, 1859-11-02 00:00:00

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THE SUN.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1859.

Not one among our great public men has been of
late so conspicuously before the public as Lord
BROUGHAM. Notwithstanding his great age, and
the remembrance of those prolonged and herculean
labours of his in almost every department of
polite literature, and of very many of the more
abstruse among the natural sciences, those labours
which.might reasonably be thought long since to
have earned for him aright to repose at last upon the
bloodless laurels of his great reputation—the noble
and learned ex-Chancellor is more active and more
energetic as an octogenarian, than the vast majo-
rity of men are disposed to be, years before they
reach that critical period in life, technically
known as the grand climacteric. Passing over
Lord BnouGnam's masterly oration last year
upon the inauguration of the statue of Sir ISAAC
NEWTON, at Grantham, putting altogether on
one side his customary participation last session in
the debates in the House of Lords, and referring
here only by a casual mention to his nightly-
drudgery during the session at the Law Amendment
Society's discussions at their chambers in Water-
loo-place, over the publishing-house of the Messrs.
RIVINGTON—how prominently and how fre-
quently during the last month or two, but espe-
cially during the last week or two, the noble
and learned lord has appeared, and that, moreover,
to really good purpose, before great masses of his
fellow-countrymen ! At Bradford, as President and
originator of the Association for the Advancement
of the Social Sciences—during his labours in con-
nection. with which association his Lordship spoke
very frequently sometimes at great length, and upon
themes wide as the poles asunder ! At Edinburgh,
where 'he received an ovation from all ranks and
classes and political parties in his birthplace, one of
the two grandest and most gratifying ovations, ac-
cording to his own avowal, that he has ever received
during. the whole of his brilliant and extended
career ! At Newcastle, where he found himself
but a very few days after the grand banquet given
to him in his native city by four or five thousand of
his fellow•citizens—at Newcastle, where he found
himself but a very few days later on, addressing an
immense and enthusiastic meeting—one that he
himself pronounces to be ‘; the greatest by far that
he ever had the happiness of attending !" And
now, after all these notable demonstrations
in his great, perhaps his grandest role,
namely, as an
Orator, we have an elabo-
rate and impressive written evidence recently
afforded to us by him of his undiminished and vital.
energy as the boldest, the most re4olute, the most
industrious and utterly indomitable
among all our
gr3at Law Reformers.

We refer to the recent appearance of Lord
BROUGHAM'S last annual letter giving. a periodical
resume of the law reforms introduced, baulked,
thought of, or actually accomplished during the
last session of Parliament. Formerly this annual
letter used to be addressed by the noble and learned
ex-Chancellor, to Lord DENMAN. But Lord DENMAN
is now no more—and the letter of 1859 is in conse-
quence addressed to another—to one whom Lord
BROI:GHAM designates " My dear old friend, the

oldest now left me"—the Earl of RADNOR. In
glancing down this, the latest of these deeply inte-
resting documents, we marvel not, or course, to find
Lord BROUGHAM lamenting with great grief, and
with some little and certainly very natural impatience
the waste of last session for the most part, as far as
legal reforms, and for that matter as far as any re-
forms of any kind, but especially legal reforms, were
concerned. " Certainly," he says, "we have a
right to complain of the late session in comparison
with almost any of former years, both for the im-
portant measures of law amendment which were
suffered to drop, and for those which were abso-
lutely opposed and rejected." Among those we
observe with some degree of surprise that Lord
BROUGHAM makes no mention of Sir HUGH
CAIRNS' dropped project for the Registration of
Estates—though conspicuous mention is made as of
a loss, the most of all to be regretted, that, namely,
of the provisions agreed to by the House of Lords for
improving the procedure in the Divorce Court.
After expatiating at some length upon this as a
grievous source of regret, Lord BROUGHAM observes
very impressively and strikingly as follows. He
writes to Lord RADNOR—" You may recollect that
your objection to the action for criminal conver-
sation, now put an end to by the new course
of procedure, rested in part upon the indelicate
nature of the evidence generally adduced ; but
the details of the Divorce Court, especially in
suits of importance, very far exceed all that the
trials at Nisi Prius used to exhibit. Accordingly, the
Consistorial Court was always in the practice of
hearing such cases with closed doors; and the
Chancellor very naturally censidered that the
Divorce Court, having succeeded to their jurisdic-
tion, the same leave should be given to it of ex-
cluding the public. He merely proposed to vest a
discretionary authority of this nature in the judges,
and it was taken for granted that they would exer-
cise the power with a sound discretion. Unfortu-
nately, from an over-jealousy founded on a sound
principle, but carried to an unreasonable excess, this
provision, which he had, after much discussion,
adopted, was rejected in the other house, and I will
add that Sir It. BETHELL received very little of the
support which he had every reason to expect,
either on this or on the provision respecting the
Attorney-General." Reference is soon after this
made by Lord BROUGHAM to the imperative need
there is of an " Act to remove the stigma on our
law, of its being the only system of jurisdiction in
the world which regards breach of trust as no
offence"—aa act the urgent demand for which Lord
BROUGHAM reminds us has of late been only too
often and too frightfully demonstrated.
Towards the close of this comprehensive epistle
upon law reform, the noble and learned lord alludes
most feelingly to two matters of serious import not
directly connected (he acknowledges as much him-
self in commenting upon them) not directly con-
nected with the subject of his correspondence. In
one he pleads powerfully, as he has often done
before now, in behalf of the coloured race, with a
view to their elevation generally to a level with
the white people—his claim being now, that a
young negro, a native of Barbadoes, should not be
denied the realisation of his own ambition, namely,
that of being admitted to the bar. Applied to by
this young negro to know whether there would
be any probability of an impediment, Lord
BROUGHAM observes emphatically, "I have at once
answered that obstruction there will be none ; and
that I can almost undertake for one or other of our
equity draftsmen, or special pleaders, receiving him
as a pupil." The other incidental subject touched
upon at the close of Lord BROUGHAM'S epistle to
the Earl of RADNOR is suggested to the mind of the
ex-Chancellor by the perfect latitude allowed to
himself as well as to other citizens of this free coun-
try, the perfect latitude for speech and writing—
" Perfect freedom," he goes on to remark, " from
the constituted authorities of every description,
spiritual and temporal, civil and military, to discuss
without restraint, subjects of all kinds, affecting
the well-being of the Community, often, it may be,
giving umbrage to princes, principalities, and
powers; sometimes, peradventure, giving offence
to the people in their various classes. Now, I can
hardly think of this liberty and security (for such
it is) which we enjoy, and not wish, with the same
earnestness with which we ourselves prize the
inestimable blessing that other nations shared it,
especially our nearest neighbours. Sincere respect
and affection for them is, I confess, only the second
reason for this wish. My first is our own deep
interest in their possessing it. My confidence is
entire in the good sense and right feeling of the
great bulk of that renowned people ; and with a
constitutional government they never would en-
counter the hazard of beinr, overpowered by the
multitude, armed and unarmed. Even in the pre-
sent state of things we must trust the Government
and the nation—and we do trust them ; but we
trust our own Government and our own selves
more, and we must be content to undergo such
heavy burdens for defensive preparations by sea
and by land as shall make attack not only impos-
sible to succeed, but impossible to be attempted."
As Lord BROUGHAM adds, the burdens caused by
this weigh heavily both upon ourselves and upon
our French neighbours; adding, with only too
much reason—that " it is devoutly to be hoped "
they may both be relieved from it eventually—pray
Heaven that it may be thus and speedily !

Song-making is not our profession, but when
we read the description of Toryism as given
us by Lord DERBY and Mr. DISRAELI, and com-
pare it with the promises and acts of Whig ;ism in
eke, a certain old story occurred to us. It is said
that once on the occasion of a few minutes' silence
in the House of Commons, when every one was
looking as demure as silent senators ought, and the
President
.of the House in his robes and wig was
sitting in his chair with the solemn majesty of a
Constitutional Jupiter, a wag in the gallery, in
whose mind the associations of contrast were irre-
sistibly strong, could not avoid calling out, " And
now, Mr. Speaker, give us a song !" Of the grave
inquest by the Sergeant-at-Arms which followed
we need say nothing now, but it did strike us that
if Mr. Speaker should ever give us a constitutional
song, adapted to parties as they are, we could,
though no poet, at lea3t furnish the chorus. The
present Treasury benches should sing, " We're all
good Tories together," " We're all good Tories to-
gether"—and the responsive opposition should
alternate, " We're all good Whigs together,"
" We're all good Whigs together." Of course, now
good Mr. BROTHERTON is no more, to the air of
" We won't go home till morning."
It seems to us, as it did to Mr. Du CANE, that
" what they killed each other for, we never could
make out." One party does its best to prove itself
Liberal, the other its best to prove itself Conserva-
tive, till what is left between them but a hair's-
breadth
line of demarcation, it is hard indeed to
say. The great body of Lord PALM ERSTON'S sup-
porters certainly, if they could help it, would go no
further than the great body of Lord DERBY'S.
They equally wish to keep things as they are ; are
equally chary of granting any greater measure of
independence to the present electors, or any consi-
derable increase to their number. " The Reform
party is the Ballot party," and judged by this test,

there are as, many Reformers among the Tories
themselves as among the genuine Whigs.
Lord STANLEY, indeed, gave a somewhat diffe-
rent reason for this similarity of parties. Accord-
ing to him, extreme opinions of all kinds are at a
discount ; grievances have almost all been removed,
and no crop of new ones springs up in their place.
" The old breach between the landed and the mer-
cantile and manufacturing interests has been effec-
tually and finally closed ; and I believe that those
two great interests are more thoroughly identified
in sympathy and feeling than at any previous
period in our history. The masses are Conserva-
tive, because they are contented, and they will re-
main Conservative, for without them political agi-
tation is only a symptom and an effect of social
uneasiness ; they will remain Conservative as long
as the governing classes shall bear in mind, as I be-
lieve they will, that the true Conservative policy
consists, not merely in checking agitation when it
has arisen, but in anticipating agitation by remov-

ing its causes."
We think there is It great deal of truth in this
representation of the lower classes. They are Con-
servative in the sense that they have always proved
themselves most accessible to Conservative influence.
Liberty has generally found her home and her de-
fenders among the middle classes. The aristocracy
naturally uphold their own order and the Crown,
only as giving dignity to it. The middle classes
have nothing to gain from honours and titles, which
they can rarely show, or from hereditary privileges
not earned by industry and merit ; they rely on
their own energy and skill, and need for their suc-
cessful exercise the freedom which they idolise.
But the lower and more helpless classes are dis-
posed rather to lean on the aristocracy than on the
class just abo're them—the class of their masters—
the class with which they are frequently in angry
conflict—the class which wants to buy their la-
bour as cheap as they can, while they want to sell
it as dear as they can. We should not be
at all surprised if, under the Ballot, many of our
manufacturing towns, if the suffrage were also
extended, would return Tories. The agricultural
aristocracy, miserably as the labourers on their
estates are paid, have generally assumed to be the
manufacturing operatives' protector. To the coun-
try gentlemen, led by the then Lord ASHLEY, and
employing as their tool the redoubtable BUSFIELD,
FERRAND, the ten hours' bills, and factory in-
spectors, and the fencing machinery, and every-
thing of that kind is due. The masses are Conser-
vative, Lord STANLEY says, when they are con-
tented ; we might almost say, when they are dis-
contented, too; for often their greatest displeasure
was with the class immediately above them, quite
as much as with the higher classes. Chhrtism it-
self frequently allied itself with Toryism, so much
so as to cause suspicion that it was prompted in
many of its doings by Tories in disguise. But the
present state of things is plain proof enough that
when they are contented, because on the whole
earning good wages, they will care little to agitat e
on political questions.
Both Whigs and Tories will, however, do well
to ponder over Lord STANLEY'S closing remarks.
They know, indeed, its truth full well; yet how
slow they are to act upon it. At present our
governors have an opportunity, if they would but
use it, to anticipate political agitation, agitation
for Reform at least for many years to come; and
with all the uncertainties of our foreign relations,
and of the course of trade before them, they cannot
tell when another such opportunity may occur.
Extensive enlargement of civil privileges may be
safely made at a time like the present, because they
would be used without excitement, and by the
time that causes of greater excitement
rived, the people would already have become
accustomed to use them with comparative dis-
cretion and sobriety. The too general tendency of
Cabinets, however, is, to avoid concessions on the
most favourable terms, to be afraid to make them
at less desirable seasons, and then to find them-
selves obliged to surrender far more than they had
ever contemplated.

We are reminded by Lord DERBY of Wakefield
and Gloucester disclosures, and of Trades' Unions.
But he does not remind us that besides the stringent
means proposed by Lord BROUGHAM, there is the
plan against which his son, we believe, has never
voted, and to which he is supposed to be well in-
clined. The plan, which would not only neu-
tralize borough corruption, but would also make
the tenants of Lord DERBY, and the rest of the
aristocracy, Free and Independent Electors in
reality as well as in name.