The Sun.
London, England, 1818-01-05 00:00:00

Fait THE SUN.

MR. EDITOR,—I have been much gratified by
the perusal of the various Communications which
have recently appeared in your truly independent
Journal, relative to Certificated Conveyancers.—
Tire importance of the subject is obvious, whe-
ther considered in a national or private point of
view j and I fully agree in the opinion, that Em-
piricism of all descriptions should be discouraged,
and especially that species of it which is calcu-
lated to bring the Legal Profession into disrepute,
and'to sap the foundations of private property.-
13ut while I agree in this opinion to its fullest
extent, I never can bring myself to think, that
any person should be excluded from the exercise
of a Profession, who is found competent, after
.
due examination, to perform the duties of that
profession. To the System of Certificates, as at.
present pursued, 1 have the strongest objections;
it is a system at once absurd and impolitic, and it
is my decided conviction, that no one ought to
be admitted a Conveyancer, excepting a person
who is found,. after due inquiry, to be conversant
with the principles of the art ; the modern prac-
tice of admitting Grocers, Stationers, &c. &c.
merely upon their 'paying the stamp duty, is a
complete anomaly, and cannot be too soon ex-
ploded.

The intention of the proposed measure is, as I
understand, to prevent the Inns of Court from
granting any certificates excepting'to persons who
have kept the regular Terms preparatory to their
being called to the Bar, and to limit the practice
of Conveyancing to such persons, and the Profes-
sion to which I have the honour to belong ; now

this, to my view, is too sweeping an enactment ;
it will shut out froth all hopes of practice, the
honest, industrious Managing Clerk, who has
had the direction for years of the Conveyancing
department of an extensive office—it will shut out
the Student who has not property sufficient to
bear the expences of a clerkship—and for whose
accommodation will this system of exclusion ope-
rate ? Why, fOrthe son of the rich man, who
• is perhaps merely brought up to the Law to know
how to manage his estate, and who, should he
practice, must avail himself of the assistance of
the honest, industrious Clerk, or the humble
Student, to conduct his Conveyancing business
I am convinced, Sir, that if a survey of the Con-
veyanciog business of this country could be accu-
rately taken, it would be found, that by far theme-
jority of it is not conducted by the attornies; look
at the state of this business in town ; who draw
the driats ? are there not as many or more drawn
.by Certificated Conveyancers as Attornies ? Look
at the state of this business in the country—..in
extensive offices—(and in such the evil which we
principally deprecate must occUr)—does not the
honest, industrious, Managing Clerk draw the
conveyance, and is he not entrusted with the di-
rection of the whole business, as far as cnnvey-
aiming is concerned ?—lt does not follow as a
matter of course that an Attorney must be a Con-
veyancer; and many young men know just.
.as
much about conveyancing at the expiration of
their clerkships, as they did when they entered ;
an Attorney is as complete a different profession
from a Conveyancer, as light from darkness ; and
a man may excel as the one, with an almost 'total
ignorance of the distinguishing features of the
other. It is well known that some of our best
Special Pleaders profess to know little beyond the
rudiments of conveyancing ; so, by the same rule,
a man may make a very good Attorney to conduct
a cause, who would cut a very indifferent figure in
drawing a family settlement. I would, as I said
before, have the existing system altered, but al-
tered no further than necessary ; let it not be so
modelled as to pieclude the honest Draftsman
from all hopes of independence, and to immure
him for the residue aide days in the office of the
Attorney who receives the benefit.of his labours.

Before I conclude, let me entreat the advocates
for the proposed alteration in the law—(and to a
certain extent, as I observed before, I am one)—
let me to entreat theta to be consistent. I have
been just informed that it is intended by - the
Attornies to apply to Parliament for licence to act
as General Notaries Public. Now does not the
Act of the 41st of the King (c. 79) prescribe a nu-
merous train of requisites to be observed before
any one can be admitted as a General Notary ?
Is not a severs year's clerkship requisite, and have
not many young men, upon the faith of that Act
of Parliament, observed the requisites laid down,
—paid large premiums, and served the requisite
term of clerkship ?—i-low then can any applicants
who come before the Legislature on the ground
of their having complied with the requisites of the
4ith of the King, expect any attention to be paid
them, when they themselves are accompanying
heir request with the very impropriety of which

they complain, anti are petitioning to be admitted
into a profession neither directly nor indirectly
connected with their own. I ant a person who am
willing to lend my trivial efforts to the alteration
of the existing law, as far as I consider it neces-
sary or equitable; but who
_will never cpalesce
with any persons who chew a disposition for the
promotion of monopoly, when their interests fa-
vour it, but who will not scruple to peti►ion the
Legislature to commit a breach of faith, when
those interests favour the Committal.

Yours very truly,
A BARRISTER.

HAMBURGH RESTORED.*

HAMBURGH,' IST NOV. 1817.
" Iquitos alterna rerisens
Lusit et in solido rursus Fortuna locavit."

The anniversary of the great battle of Leipsig
—a day that must ever remain sacred to the Ger-
mans, in as much as it was he glorious precursor
of their emancipation from Gallic slavery—,was
Celebrated with great splendour and ceremony
here on the 18th ult. Early.in the morning, di-
vine service was performed in all the churches.
The great church of St. Michel, however, was more
especially selected for the scene of a solemn re-
quiem, in pious and grateful remembrance of those
patriot sons of. Hamburg!' who had gloriously
fallen in their country's cause, The names of
175 warriors, whose lives had been sacrificed in
the fight for liberty,' were inscribed, in alto re-
hero, on two large tablets of brass, which were
hung up-in a conspicuous part of the church. -The
borders, or rather: frame-work, had branches of
palm and laurel leaves beautifully introduced, the
whole reflecting great credit on the ingenious ar-
tist, Mr. Repsold.
Underneath was the following Inscription, in
German :

Den Gefallexen fur Frelllicit and Recht.
1813. FBl4. _
Das erstandene Hamburg air 18 ten Oct. 1817. -
Anlice. Dedicated to those who fell for Liberty and the
National Rights in 1813 and 1814.
Hamburgh Restored, the 18th October, 9817.

Not less than 10,000 persons, it is calculated,
were assembled in the church : never, in fact, on
any previous occasion, had so prodigious a crowd
been -witnessed. •A very appropriate sermon was
preached by the Rev. Dr. Horn, from the tst Ge-
nesis, 34 verse, " And God said, let there be
light : and there was light." On the termination
of the sermon, a grand anthem, accompanied wi►h
music, and composed for the occasion, by Mr.
Leonard, Wachter, was sung with an animus and
enthusiasm well suited to the solemn rites of the
day. The whole was grand and-impressive.
Another ceremony yet remained to be perform-
ed. Although organized three years ago, the
volunteers of Hamburgh (a body of between eight
and nine thousand men) none of the nine batta-
lions had as yet received their colours. 'Phis,
therefore, bad been fixed upon as an appropriate
day on which to present them. 'Nine very beau-
-6101 standards, which had been embroi►lered by
the fairest hands of the republic (for in Hamburgh
all the ladies are patriots !) were placed on the
altar. The ceremony of consecration was then
performed by the Rev. Dr. !Limbach, the senior
Clergyman, a patriarchal looking man, in the 834
year of his age. He who knew so well how to touch)
the strings of the heart, found it no difficult task
to awaken the keenest sensibilities of his hearers.
Many shed tears as the venerable Doctor, in the
happiest strain of piety and patriotism, unfolded
and expatiated upon the manifold duties of his co-
citizens, now that they Were about to be entrust-
ed with the sacred banners of their country. The
worthy Commander in Chief, Colonel Kleudgen,
was not one of the least moved on tl►is very inte-
resting occasion. After being thus consecrated,
tlie colours were transported to the Holy Ghost
field, a large plain in the immediate vicinage of
the city: They were there deposited on an ele-
gant sciaare platform, erected for the purpose, the
tour sides of which were tastefully decorated with
crimson and white drapery, festooned, the whole
attended by a guard-of honour. •
A little after mid-day, the nine battalions of
volunteer infantry, including the corps of artillery
and the lancers, marched on the ground, in full
military array, drums beating, music playing, &c.
To those who recollect the excellent appearance
made by the British volunteers, a few years ago,
nothing farther need be said of their brethren in
Hamburg!), than that they are perfectly assimi-
lated to them in every thing that constitutes mili-
tary efficiency and character. Like the former,
too, many of the first citizens have elicited a pri-
vate station, preferring to be commanded rather
than comMand.

Mr. Senator Bartels, an active and enlightened
member of the Government, addressed to the as-
sembled soldiery, a speech replete with every
manly and patriotic sentiment. It was listened" to
with great attention. When concluded, these gal-
lant sons of Mars gave three hurrahs that " made
the welkin ring.'• Near 50,000 persons, it is sup-
posed, witnessed the imposing spectacle. The wea-
ther was serene and beautiful; the sun emitting
his bright and cheering rays through a perfectly un-
clouded atmosphere. And every countenance, in
fact, scented to indicate a soul animated with the
happiest presentithents, seeing such a host of gal-
lant defenders marshalled forth, ready to protect
(heir liberty and laws, in case of hostile aggres-
skit. The day ended with'a grand dinner at the
Russian Hotel, on the Jungfer-Steig. The Com-
mander-in-Chief, Colonel Kleudgen, was in the
chair, and did the honours of the day in, the most
pleasing and able manner : the number that dined
was 285, including moat of the Members of
the Senate, and several visitors of distinction.
The table was profusely covered whit the delica-
cies of the season, and the greatest harmony and
enthusiasm prevailed till a late hour in the.eveh-
in. Immediately that dinner was finished, and
an appropriate thanksgiving had been very em-
phatically delivered by the Rev. - Frenden-
-11)61, how delightful to a Briton was it to hear the
;rand national anthem of " God Save the
King !" struck up by an orchestra of
.nearly an
hundred performers, the . whole company rising
simultaneously, as if they bad absolutely lived

under the paternal sceptre of the "British Sove-
reign ! It was whispered such a mark of re-
spect, they conceived, was pre-eminently due
to that noble nation and its Prince, through
whose magnanimous efforts Continental Europe
had, in fact, been redeemed from slavery,
and an end put to tyranny in its worst of forms.
Here was a compliment paid to the policy of Eng-
land !—a compliment which, the writer must be
permitted to say, was a main inducement to hinito
put upon record the proceedings of this day, me-
morable as it will ever be in the annals of Ham-
burgh.

While in so many parts of the. Continent we
are toll the name of England is reviled, bow truly
refreshing is it to meet with enlightened and liberal
foreigners, though in a small State, displaying the
nicest sense of honour and principle, in speaking
of a country which, certainly, on all occasions,
sought its own welfare only in as far as that welfare
could be advanced, consistently with the good of
neighbouring nations.

" Conscia, wens recti farnm tnendacia'ridet."

T. 6.

* It is, perhaps, not generally known that,; though the
French troops evacuated the Hamburgh territories so long
ago as the 31st May, 1814, the administration of Government
was merely provisional till the.l7th October last. •