Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-06-08
QUEER MANUSCRIPTS
Stirring Days Of King William
Recalled.
SALARIES COMPARED
MORE MACMILLAN MEMENTOES
ON THE AUCTION BLOCK.
Old Gainsborough Portrait Brings
Nine Thousand Guineas = More
French Plays for London.

French Plays for London.
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.
LONDON. May q, 1908.
Some of the most curious seventeenth
century records 1 have ever seen have just
been published in a new series of the house
of lords manuscripts They deal with the
period l695-97. including two parliamentary
sessions, and the papers specially affecting
the crown are those concerned with the plot
to assassinate the king CWilliam). Those
were stirring days for the sovereign, whose
slumbers cannot have been very tranquil,
with a Jacobite plot the one hand and
| on the other recalcitrant peers refusing in
large numbers to join the association for
his safety.
The manuscripts dealing with the nom
attendance of peers in parliament are very
curious. Neglect of the business of the
house was evidently then no new thing, for
| there are records of fines imposed on alb
SenteeS, increased In severity to meet the
later circumstances from os. in 1925 to f10o
in 1892 In 1886 the house of lords passed
this order:
THAT no lord absent himself from the
service of the house (by being out of town.
without the leave of the house, upon pain
OF being sent for in custody. and that no
such leave be asked for but between the
n.
| This order led to the forwarding of a
| great variety of excuses. chiefly urging alb
Sence on account of illness. The Duke of
Beaufort sent a medical certificate that it
would be hazardous to his grace's life to
attend the chamber. The Bishop of Car
| Isle was unable to obey the order of the
| house as ''he is now entering upon his
| eighty-third year, and the total decay of
! his eyesight, with other growing infirmities,
has for some years past rendered him ut
| terly unfit for travel The Earl of Brad
| ford sent the following, dated December s,
| 1896:
| Received summons by order of the house
| to attend there this day. No lord has given
| a more constant attendance when able. At
| this time has distemper for which he is in
| a course of physic. Has not been out of
| his chamber these four days, and If he
! should stir abroad in this weather 1t would
| endanger his life. Hopes the house will
| have compassion for him."
Salaries and Fees in England.
| The question of official salaries and fees
| is about to be brought up in parliament.
| with view of settling some anomalies in
| the way of pay which British officials
ceive. Money is always interesting sub
| ject, and comparison of English and
American salaries for similar posts may be
worth while.
The attorney general and solicitor general
| draw, in salary and fees, something like
| $15O,OOO a year between them. In 1SS6-S7
| the attorney general, OH ItlCIdEO WeDSUeT,
| received in salary and fees, $6O.50O. and the
| solicitor general. Sir Edward Clarke, $43, 600.
| These, however, were In the halcyon days
when private practice was permitted the
| law officers. whose income from this source
was probably as great as that they re-
| ceived from the treasury. In 1892, Mr..
Gladstone arranged with Sir Charles Rus
sell and Sir John Rigby, his two law Off
GERS, to give up their private practice en-
tirely while holding the law citizenship of
the crown. Their remuneration was &C
cordingly raised, and the attorney general
in the financial year 1895 was paid in sal
airy SAL 900 and SO, 400 in fees for conten-
| tious business. while the solicitor general
received during the same period $4,000 for
non-contentious work. and $3.50 for con-
tentious business Under Lord Salisbury'S
premiership however, the old rule of pay
ing the attorney general his old-time fixed
salary of $4,000 year, and Mr.. Solicitor
$50, OOO a year. with fees for contentious
business, was reverted to, though the re-
striction imposed by Mr.. Gladstone that
the law officers should not indulge in pri-
vate practice was maintained.
The result of this change was that In the
year 1898 Sir Richard Webster drew S35,-
600 year salary attorney general and
$42, 900 in fees, and Sir Robert Finlay was
paid $4,000 year as solicitor general and
$50, 100 in fees. l have been unable to OBJ
tain any later return than this. but 1t is
we'll known that the law officers of the
crown receive about the same amount for
contentious business as for on-contentious
n.
paid even than the lord chancellor, who
draws $4,000 year, the lord chief justice
with his $4,000 a year, or the master Of
the rolls and lords of appeal In ordinary,
who receive $50 900 year. All the other
English judges of the high court are paid
$25, 900, including the lords justices of the
court Of appeal. In Ireland the lord chan
cellor's salary is $4,000 a year. the chief
baron Is paid S23. 900, the lords justices $780,
900, the master of the rolls and vice chan
cellor $4,000 each, and the judges of the
kings bench division $17, 800 a year each.
The attorney general for Ireland receives
SO, 600 year, and the solicitor general
$4,000 in both cases. The lord advocate
for Scotland, whose Office corresponds to
the English attorney generalship is also
paid $4,000 year, and his deputy, the So
licitor general, $4,000 a year When one
takes into consideration the fees paid to
county court judges, registrars masters
and stipendary magistrates, and recorders,
it is safe to say that no profession receives
so numerous and such rich rewards from
the public funds as the higher branch of
the legal profession.
Collection Of Cur1os.
1 take the following from a catalogue
containing many similar lots which are TO
be offered for sale in London tomorrow
afternoon:
'.221.-The last plate the Emperor Maxi
milan of Mexico ate from and a portion of
loaf of bread he partook the morning Of
'.222-The last glass he drank FROM and
his serviette used before his execution.
"223.-His pillow case he reposed on the
last night, his spoon he last used, the piece
of soap he made his last toilet with.
''224.-Two pairs of socks and pair OF
gloves"
These surely cross the border line which
divides a permissible curiosity from morbid
vulgarity. The Emperor Macmillan was,
of course, the younger brother of the EN-.
peror of Austria, whose family has been
logged so persistently by the irOnies and
tragedies of fate.
The Empress Charlotte. who lost her rea-
son when she vainly came to Europe in
1866 to try to enlist sympathy and support
for her brave and rashless husband. is now
dying. after having lived for nearly thirty