The Sun.
London, England, 1817-12-19 00:00:00

FOR TliF. SUN.

No very great ctstrust might havebeen necessary,
Until it was ascertained that the Mr. Jon s Tv t4ILY
who lately addressed a Letter to Lord Et.noN, was
not a regular Solicitor, to believe that prod,ct ion
no other than a shrewd endeavour at impairitie
the cause of the Certificated Conveyancer,,. by
weak arguments and an artful exposu, e of its most
assailable points. The Letter, however, as re-
cently published in THE SUN, appears s'itficieutly
authentic to deserve a Reply ; not so much, per-
haps, on account of its arguments, ,ts of its 8,1-
thenticity. It is to be treated, iherefore, until
disclaimed, and superseded by stronger reasoniug
in their favour, as the accredited djence ut the
Certificated Conveyancers.
With some d,•gree of unluckiness, this defence
of an irregular liody is addressed to the highest
Officer of the Law ; who rose to his present ele-
vated and deterred rAnk not only by talent and
study, but by a reguhr initiation inio its proles-
Tha; disc ingin shed man, , whose youth was
secluded trout ail you. hod pleasures, te hose edu-
Cation was dhstracted from all foreign pursuits,
whose prospects were sepArated front all external
advantage, :s called upon to open the profits of
the Law, to thlow dovvii its privileges, and to
make common its qualifications for any and every
individo4l, no matter how incompetent or how

ignorant_
This argument of Nlr. Jotitst Talsit.vsl does not
require any discussion of t:.e general question.—
This most he teserved against some shrewder and
sharp.r advocate, if the Certificated Convey.
tamers can fit ally s!teli in their cause ; but as•
suredly a botv of men, who have taken to the
Law for " a livelihood," as Mr. TAN4Lvtc stiles
it, and whose knowledge is only coeval with their
necessity, cannot reasonably he expected to un-
Ilerstand the reasons or the principles of that Law
whereon they have so ;at, ly entered. It
therefore, he sufficient to correct Mr. TAMLY N'S
'wrong statements, 111111 to expose his ,„.to„g infer_
1•11CCS , leaving his linty to all the benefit of
any bet ter Advocate, when such shall present him-
self.,
The Solicitors and Attornies have not expressed
dissatisfaction that any other than themselves
should practice in conveyancing 3 but that its
practice .should be left open to indkiduals who
bare not given to it the time and the study and
the expence which they base devoted.
Neither do they seek " to obtain some Re-
" straining Laws, favourable to their interests
" atone," heraiise they setk, not only the reward
of their 0" 0 time, study, and expenee, hut also
the prorec,ion of floe roblie from uneducated, in-
. VOID pr !Clot , and igoor.int pretenders.
TAmLYS: is perfectly right in oire part of
division 4 the quest ;as between the At-
tornies one the C,,nveyan",„ : not ,mite so right
as het eel. :he A;toroies and the public. That the
fair „,„lexadvantage of the Attornies
shie,ut be- intercepted from them by the Convey-
ancers tt, a grievance, of which upon the grounds
already stated, the Attornies have a right to cont-
plain. And so rrtr the point is at issue, between
the -regular Attorlies who ;weer sought any other
occupation, and the irregular Conveyancers whom
every other act:notion has abandoned.
But the qice,tiou is not " between the Attor-
nies and the public." Flowerer the former may
desire to protect the community, they are not ac-
countable for the dangers and evils which they did
not occasion. They Can only warn the public
against employing uneducated men :—the legisla-
ture can exclude uneducated men from being
enti.loyed.
Butween the Conveyancers, indeed, and the
public, there is a long account to be settled.
That individuals, who, as Mr. TAMI 4 N feelingly
expresses it—are " by the sudden transition front
" a state of war to that of peace," deprived of
- their manual and mechanical trades, should take
on a sudden to the law, and become instinctively
conversant wide the niceties and intricacies of
-property, is rather an alarming " transition" for
the public, and may deserve well to be looked
into. But the responsibility of this mischief does
not rest upon the Attornies.
imagine for a moment some strange " transi-
tion," sending the Attornies to handicraft open-
. !rations. Shall we bespeak a coat, or a pair of shoes,
front a man who never before had handled a Pair
of sc.i,sars or a paring-knife ? Yet, turn a taylor or
a shoemaker over to the law, and we are expect-
ed to confide our land or money to a man who
bad never before investigated a principle or copied
a precedent.
And this monstrous position Mr. TAMLYNT il-
lustrates by Archdeacon PALEY'S definition of
civil libery. To all its consequent deductions
we make. no other objection, than simply, that
that they do not apply to the case before us, for
Ave will not lie so ill-natured as to urge what we
fairly Wright, that their application is utterly
- against Mr. TAM LY N and his appeal. Assuredly,
restraint is alt evil ; the Newgate Calendar, and
the Bankrupt List, prove not only the extent of
the evil, but the nutubcr of the sufferers. But
-it is an evil which the same proofs evince to be
indispensibly essential to the public safety ; the
evil .of the restraint therefore is overbalanced by
its advantage. Aid, as the-proof lies upon the
Legislature, all its circumstances will be laid he-
tote that Assembly, which shall be convinced
that the restraining law, serious an evil as it may
be to the Certificated Conveyancers, will be a
signal henefit.to the public.
• That the Conveyancers, who have been " for
,f_r nearly a quarter of , a century," accustomed to