The Sun.
London, England, 1827-02-16 00:00:00

- -
Mr. Canning's department—and though there would be 1
a kindness, one would think, in- easing him at this
moment from an additional weight of business not pe-
culiarly his own, his colleagues in the House of Com-
mons seem one and all unwilling or unable to undertake a
task in which, we suppose, it is expected that the Right
Honourable Gentleman's well known eloquence will at
once astound the eountry gentlemen, puzzle the econo-
mists, and silence, if not satisfy, the manufacturing inte-
rests. Now, much as we admire Mr. Canning's talents (an
admiration not the less earnest or sincere for the free-
dom with which we treat his measures), we must say
that there is an indecision and vacillation about this,
amounting almost to puerility. Why this important subject
has been delayed till now, no person in or out of Parlia-
ment has ever been able to inform us. Why the wonder-
ful panacea of Ministers, if it were then concocted, should
not have been laid before the last Parliament, we never
could comprehend. Why it was not opened to the' new
Parliament, as soon as it met in November, is still more
unaccountable. And why, if it is to consist of a mere
set of declaratory Resolutions, which are to stand over for
future discussion, it should be delayed by Mr. Canning'i
illness, we still less see the policy or necessity of. The
Right Hon. Gentleman's name must have an almost talis-
manic influence in the state, if a question of mere domestic
policy (for such the Corn Question really is) can be
brought forward by no one else. Most ardently do we
wish that the Right Honourable Gentleman's health may
be so restored as to enable him to do this on the day now
appointed—but we as earnestly deprecate any further .de-
lay ; and trust, therefore, that the poverty of men of talent
, ,
is not so great, but that some other person may De found
competent to undertake the task, should Mr. Canning still
be unable to encounter it. A discreet manager has; what
is called in theatrical phrase, a double for every part, and
there can be no reason that we can imagine, why the poli-
tical stage should not be furnished with a similar stock of
performers. The evident object of Ministers seems, how-
ever, to have been to gain time, and to stave off a discus-
sion on which no great deal of unanimity or clear under-
standing can be said to prevail. The period of the Assizes
being that in which the principal landowners 'assemble in
their different counties, it is intended, no doubt, that the
proposed Resolutions shall be printed, and stand over for
discussion, till the return of County Members from serving
upon their respective Grand Juries. We had almost
hoped that this course would have been avoided ; and that
the subject having been already discussed so largely, Mini-
sters would have drawn on the preyious stores of informa-
tion for a measure which would have been decisive in its
character, and have saved the public from a new war of
words, on a topic upon which the respective combatants
appear to have already said all, and much more than all,
that can be said to any useful purpose.—Morning Herald.
A Contemporary, who seldom strays beyond the pre-
cincts of a police-office, has ventured to take' a peep' into
the higher Courts of Justice; and, with its usual facility
of blundering -or inventing; has madb its own mistakes a
ground of imputation against the whole Bar. It supposes
that a complaint has been lately made on the part of the
Equity Bar, against permitting Counsel, who practise in
the Court f King's Bench, to sign cases sent out of Chan-
cery for the opinion of the former Court; and it expa-
tiates at large, on the meanness and degradation of such
paltry jealousies and bickerings between two classes of the
same profession. We concur in the sentiment, that dis-
sension between the . Equity and Common Law Bar,
would lower both;- but no such dissension has ever existed
nor is there at this moment, any trace or symptom of so
unworthy a spirit. The circumstances which have led
our Contemporary into error, are altogether different from
whas he has supposed them to be. A case has been di-
rected by the late Master of the Rolls for the opinion of
the COurt of King's Bench. Being prepared, settled, and
signed, by the Counsel for the different parties in the cause,
it was transmitted by the Solicitor to the proper officer of
the Court of King's Bench. That Officer, falling, from
some misapprehension, into a notion which never entered
into the head of any man before, refused to receive it be-
cause the Counsel, whose names were subscribed to it,
were not King's Bench Counsel. This refusal occasioned
some less of time to the parties ; and, rather than lose
more, their Solicitor complied with the whim of the func-
tionary, and paid fresh fees for the signature of other
Counsel. The conduct of the officer was without the
sanction of any Judge of the Court, and proceeded upon
an idea which would have been deemed quite as absurd
on the Common Law side of Westminster Hall as on the
Equity side. But an absurd practice must be checked at
the outset ; and Mr. Sugden, therefore, most properly
brought the matter before the' Lord Chancellor. The
Equity Bar claimed no exclusive privilege; they did not
pretend to say, that a case directed from Chancery should
not be signed by King's Bench Counsel—they merely
said, that the signature of any Counsel, whom the client
chose to employ, should be sufficient, whether that Coun-
sel practised at the one Bar or the other.—ln fact, in this,
as in most other matters connected with the etiquette and
the regulations of the Bar it was the rights of the suitor,
and not of the .Counsel, which were concerned. Where a
case is directed out of Chancery, that case will, almost of
necessity, be prepared and settled by the Counsel who
have been engaged in the suit : for they alone are likely
to be acquainted with the rights of the diffe-
rent parties, and the state of the questions between them.
The parties, therefore cannot dispense with their assist-
ance, and if a practice were permitted to grow up, which
required the case to be signed by other Counsel, than
those who prepared it, the effect would be, to burden the
suitor with the payment of a new set of fees. We ob-
serve, also, that some reproach has been thrown upon the
Bar, for complaining of a want of proper accommodations
in the New Courts at Westminster. We know not what
reason they have to murmur; but this we know, that So-
licitors and suitors complain loudly of the inconveniences
to which they are subjected. A Solicitor must see his
Equity Counsel almost constantly. For that purpose, he
must waste a considerable portion of the forenoon in trudg-
ing down to Westminster Hall; and when he arrives
there and finds him at leisure, there is not a single room
belonging to the Court of Chancery, in which the Coun-
sel, the Solicitor, and the suitor, can meet for the purpose
of consultation or communication. In the attempts which
are at present going on, for the improvement of justice, it
would be well to give some attention to the localities of
our Courts; and we cannot help thinking that the change
would he for the better; if they were placed in a central
situation, instead of being removed to the very extremity
of the Metropolis. The distance of Westminster Hall
from the places in which the greater number of professional
men, and of suitors, carry on their avocations, produces
not a little delay, expence, and inconvenience, in the minor
details of legal business.—New Times.

oY A L INSTlTUTloN.—Yesterday, Mr. Webster
gave a Lecture upon the Steam Engine, and, by means of diagrams
and some very admirable models,_explained the nature and prin-
ciples of the engines of Captain Savery and Mr. Newcomen. The
Lecture Room was crowded, and the company appeared to be
highly gratified with the clearness and perspicuity of Mr. Webster's
explanations. The Duke of Somerset has succeeded the late Earl
of Chichester, as President of the Institution.

We lately mentioned, with much satisfaction, that
Mr. Secretary Peel had caused the Clerks of the Peace to be
written to, on the subject of fees claimed from parties who were
tried and acquitted. A case notably in point occurred on Wed-
nesday. It was a petty assault case, and the matter of complaint
was so trifling, that the Chairman gave it as his opinion, that it
did not amount to an assault. Upon this, Mr. Clarkson, who
appeared as Counsel for the defendant, instead of arguing that
no assault had been committed, to the surprise of most present,
begged the Jury to find his client guilty, because he felt satis-
fied that the Court would inflict merely a nominal fine of is. in
case of conviction; and if his client should be acquitted, he would
have to pay one pound, Se"" shillings, and eightpence, fees."
A strange anomaly this, that the advocate paid to assist a pri-
soner, should in. the exercise of a sound discretion, seek to procure
his client's conviction, from a knowledge that, if declared inno-
cent, more than twenty times the punishment must fall on him,
which the Court would award if he were proved to be guilty.—
Morning Paper.