POSTSCRIPT.

Of the 654 Members who will form the new House of Commons, 630 have been already returned ; leaving 12 Irish counties to select the remaining 24 representatives. The English and Welsh boroughs, including the Universities, return 335 Members, and have exercised their privileges by selecting 223 Liberals and 112 Conservatives. The English and Welsh counties have returned 56 Liberals and 103 Conservatives, there being a double return for Huntingdonshire ; while Scotland has contributed 39 Liberal Members to the new House of Commons and only 14 Conservatives. In Ireland parties have been more evenly balanced, 39 Liberals have been elected and 42 Conservatives. The relative gains and losses by each party stand as under—. Liberal Conservative gams. gains. English and Welsh Boroughs. . 37 19 English and Welsh Counties 23 1 Scotland 5 0 Ireland, at present 4 Total 69 27 Leaving a net gain of' 42 seats, equal to 84 votes, in favour of the Liberal party. The new Parliament will comprise 171 gentlemen who had no seats in the last House of Commons. Of the displaced Members, 106 voted or paired upon Mr. Cobden's motion, which produced the dissolution. Of that number, 62 voted in the majority and 43 with the Government.—Times, April 11.

Lord John Hay is the successful candidate for the Wick Burghs, but the state of the poll has not yet reached London. It is stated that "at Dingwall, yesterday, [Thursday,] Lord John Hay had a majority of 59; at Dornoch, a majority of 15 ; at 'fain, at two o'clock, a majority of 29. At Kirkwall, Mr. Shaw had at two o'clock a majority of 20. At Wick, the numbers uncertain, but the return of Lord John Hay secure."

The Notts Review institutes an original comparison between Queen Elizabeth and Lord Palmerston. It appears that the Premier is a nineteenth-century edition of good Queen Bess bound in inexpressibles. "That the First Minister of England should be without a definite policy on internal reforms is much to be regretted ; but at the same time the necessity of sustaining himself in the affections of the people cannot but tend, in the absence of better principles, to keep him in the right direction. His countrymen admire in Lord Palmerston the identical qualities which their ancestors admired in Queen Elizabeth. What made that imperious Princess the traditional favourite we find her ? Her rule was inflexible, though her principles were far from rigorous. She addressed her Parliaments in language which the submissive Chambers now meeting in Paris would not accept at the lips of Napoleon. Freedom of debate there was none.. Members were punished for their speeches, and that promptly. She legislated by means of royal proclamation. She made nonconformity penal.. She put Roman Catholics to death ; and yet how far she herself could be called a Protestant, is a point that has long been disputed. In. the Star-Chamber she out-Lauded Laud. In the dungeons of her prisons she extorted confessions by the application of torture. She did not shrink from the hypocrisy of even punishing the executioners of her instructions. And yet not only was she a most popular sovereign, but, as the historian has well pointed out, she had nothing but her popularity te sustain her. The secret of her reign was, that though stern, it wait thoroughly English. It was, so to speak, not so much her domestic as herforeign policy that gained her the hearts of her people. Our insular forefathers were as haughty as their Queen, and would have borne much for the princess that gratified their native pride by her ever-ready defiance of the enemies of England. Her conduct might be often wrong, but it was never weak ; and in the polities of an Englishman, weakness, then as now was the unpardonable sm. Many sins she might commit, but never that one. Her subjects found, moreover, that she respected as well as flattered them. Strong as was her own will, the imperious daughter of Henry knew how to give way. When the exactions of monopolists stung the nation into a temporary discontent, and country gentlemen went up to Parliament in no very complaisant humour, they found their Queen as eager to accord them redress as they to desire it. Through all the vicissitudes of her fong she maintained her popularity, because, with the strong resolution of a Tudor, she had resolved to maintain it. A dashing, vigorous, and withal thoroughly national policy, is as likely to be popular in the reign of Victoria. as in the reign of Queen Bess; and this is the popularity of the present Premier."

The telegraphic summary of the overland mail arrived in London last night. The latest dates are—Bombay, 20th March ; Madras, 13th March ; Bushire, 25th February.

"General Outran was about to send an expedition to eaptuie Mohammerah, on the Karoon. The embarkation of troops had commenced, and an

attack was expected to take place about the 15th or 20th of March. The Persian army was again collecting at Burazjoon. "Another and more serious mutiny among men of the Nineteenth Native Infantry at Moorshedabad had been suppressed by the presence of a small force of cavalry and artillery.

"At Bombay, the money-market was easier ; interest was reduced 1 per cent. The import-market was less active, owing to the holidays. Exports steady ; freights advanced ; exchange 2s. lid. At Calcutta, the bank rate of interest was reduced 2 per cent. The import-marketseas very firm ; exports were generally steady, but the demand for indigo was rather less active. Exchange, 2s. 21d. At Madras, grey shirtings and mule twist in good demand ; other articles less active ; export unchanged. Freights looking up. Exchange 28. 21d."

[The explanation of the paragraph respecting the mutiny is, that some time since the Sepoys at Moorshedabad allowed signs of insubordination, because they had learned that the grease supplied for the greasing the cartridges of the new rifle was animal fat. The grease was changed. It will be observed that the telegraphic message does not state the cause of the mutiny.] There lane news from China in the published reports.

The Montreal arrived at Liverpool yesterday from Portland, in the State of Maine, with advices to the 28th March. A telegraphic summary of the news is published this morning.

"The Washington correspondent of the New York Tribune save that Lord Napier came here to make a claim of four or five millions of dollars against our Government for alleged destruction of private property of British subjects at the bombardment of Greytown. Two weeks before the late Administration went out, M. Sartiges preferred a similar demand on behalf of the French subjects, requesting Mr. Blaney to leave them open for adjustment by his successor ; but he prepared a reply which is regarded as conclusive against our liability. Lord Napier, feeling its force and bearing upon England in its application to Copenhagen and Canton, will withhold Ina intended reclamation. The New )ork Herald states that the Washington Union is no longer the instrument of the Government.

"Mr. R. J. Walker has accepted the Governorship of Kansas."

It is stated that the Emperor of Russia only awaits the return of the Grand Duke Constantine to St. Petersburg to set out on a visit to Bessarabia. It is also said that the Grand Duke will visit England ; his arrival in London will probably take place towards the end of May. This is the first intimation of any intention of the Grand Duke to cross the Channel.

Accounts from the Danubian Principalities state that "the elections for the Divans have commenced. When the Divans shall have been instituted, the European Plenipotentiaries will begin their labours. Political schemers have attempted to influence the elections ; but the two Kaimakans have taken measures for counteracting such designs, and for eausing the elections to take place with the strictest impartiality. M. Vogorides, the Kaimakan of Moldavia, though personally opposed to the union, displays remarkable fairness."

The public feeling has been awakened by reports of the alarming illness of the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol. The Bristol Gazette of Thursday is authorized to state that Dr. Watson and Dr. Burroughs, having been in great anxiety about him on Saturday and Sunday last, now pronounce the Bishop to be out of danger, but in a state of extreme weakness, and unable for the present to transact any of the duties connected with his diocese.

The steam-ship Transit, notorious for its inability to carry the House of Lords to the naval review lust year, and recently compelled to return to deck on account of a leak, has met with another accident. She had taken 600 troops on board, and had left Portsmouth for China early in the week : on Tuesday, in a fog, she anchored off Yarmouth in the Isle of Wight ; and while lying there her anchor rubbed a hole in her bottom. "The engineer was the first to discover the accident, by going down into the engine-room, when he found himself up to his waist in water. The alarm was then given, and three pumps set to work; the troops were all got aft, so as to lighten the pressure forward ; and, finding that the leakage did not decrease the vessel was put about for Spithead and Portsmouth harbour ; which' she happily reached in safety and without assistance. The troops and baggage were immediately transferred to the Bellerophon, and hands from the Excellent and Marine Artillery barracks set to work forthwith to pump to keep her afloat and to get out the ammunition and stores. All her powder is damaged, sugar and peas spoilt, flour and oatmeal damaged, and all other matters under water. The men employed were up to their necks in water getting the ammunition out of the fore magazine. The bread, being stowed aft, has not suffered like the other provisions, which were stowed forward. The Transit owes her safety to having seven different water-tight compartments, so that the water did not get aft." A court of inquiry was held yesterday by Admiral Superintendent Martin, with closed doors. It is supposed that an open court-martial will shortly be held on Commander Ennis Chambers, who was in charge of the ship. The Transit was again made water-tight yesterday morning.

An old house in Little Russell Place, Great Russell Street, suddenly fell down yesterday morning, burying five men in the ruins. They were dug out. One man was dead ; two were very dangerously injured., and two others comparatively unhurt. The houses in Little Russell Place belong to the Duke of Bedford. Workmen were demolishing them, and it was one of these that fell.

GOOD FRIDAY AT THE CRYSTAL PALACE.—Good Friday, the most solemn fast appointed to be observed by the Church of England, has long been especially set aside by tradesmen of the metropolis—why, we scarcely know, excepting that it is looked upon as the advent of the spring-season—for scouring and decorating their shops; but few persons, until of late years, thought of making it a popular holiday. The advent of railways, with cheap excursion-trains, and more recently the construction of the Sydenham Crystal Palace, appear to have rendered it a great day "out of town" for the masses. How far the Crystal Palace Company are justified in opening their establishment on Good Friday or Christmas-day is a matter of question, their charter precluding them from opening on the Sunday, and the Law placing, so far as regards the houses of licensed vietuallers and places of amusement, those two days on the same footing with regard to management; but that they do so is patent to the world, and the attendance of .yesterday would seem to argue successfully. Last year the 'ember of visitors on Good Friday was a little more than 17,000: yesterday considerably above 27,400, of whom 1700 held season-tickets--a class which we should have supposed would be scarcely represented at all. The opening was fixed for one o'clock ; thereby apparently giving visitors an opportunity of first attending divine service; but the scene at London Bridge showed that any such idea had been far from the thoughts of the "holiday folk." Before the clock struck one, the crowd endeavouring to obtain an entrance to the Crystal Palace Railway station was most dense, extending beyond the offices of the South-Eastern Company into the road ; and when the doors were opened there was a rush sufficient to fill constant trains for above an hour, and many who arrived at the station before two did not find their way into the Palace until nearly four. Those who were wise, and they were sufficiently numerous, gave up all idea of travelling by the Crystal Palace line proper, and booked themselves on the Croydon line to Sydenham or Anerley, from whence they had an agreeable half-mile walk to the Palace, without the crowding, the inconvenience, or the delay consequent upon waiting for the regular trains, numerous and constant as they were. The West-end line, via the Waterloo or Vauxhall stations and Wandsworth, also added to the visitors ; and the omnibuses, cabs, and a goodly sprinkling of private carriages, showed that the road had not been altogether neglected. The crowd poured into the Palace continuously from a little after one until past five. In addition to the regular band of the company, conducted by Mr. Maims, the band of the Coldstream Guards, led by Mr. Godfrey., was engaged for the amusement of the company ; the two playing a selection of music to which certainly no objection could be reasonably raised.—aforning PUBLIC EXAMINATIONS IN DBAHINO.—During the last month public examinations have been held by the Department of Art under the Education Committee of the Privy Council, in the several Metropolitan district schools of Art. The examination was open not only to the students of the schools, but to all who presented themselves. Two grades of proficiency were recognized.

At Rotherhithe District School of Art, 41 exercises were worked and 6 rewards were given; at Lambeth, 92 exercises, 24 rewards ; at Spitalfields, 168 exercises, 47 rewards ; at St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, al exercises, 107 rewards ; at Kensington, 548 exercises, 184 rewards ; at St. Thomas' Charterhouso, 598 exercises, 212 rewards; and at Finsbury, 686 exercises, 259 rewards. The proportions of rewards to exercises were as follows—Freehand drawing, 4; practical geometry, 24; perspective, 52; mechanical drawing, 33; drawing from solid models, 3; drawing from memory, 42. The rewards consisted of drawing-boards and rulers, eases of mathematical instruments, colour-boxes, and similar objects useful in drawing. These were the first public examinations in drawing which have taken place in. the metropolis; but it is intended that they shall be hold annually.

MONEY MARKET.

STOCK EICHAISOE, TRURRDAY Aron:How.

The Bank of England gave notice after business hours on Monday, that the rate for advances on Mock would be 7 per cent, limited only to seven days. The English market has been depressed all the week, and a fall of per cent has taken place since the opening. The first price of Consols on Monday was 93t and remained steady till the afternoon; when the fact of the Simla having brought from Australia only a fourth of the amount at first reported tended to diminish the disposition to steadiness : the price at the close was 93 1 for Money, and 934 for the May Account. After regular hours, owing to the notification from the Bank, there were sellers for Money at 921 : they have gradually declined since ; yesterday there were at ono moment sellers at 924 for the 7th May. A good deal of business altogether has been transacted in English Securities at depressed prices. A much better feeling reigns today, from the fact of the Bank Directors not having again resorted to further restrictions, as was currently reported yesterday for a certainty. Console opened this morning at 94 3 for the A.ccount, and close at 931 1. Bank Stock, 216 218 ox. div. ; Reduded, 93/ ; New Three per Cents, 921 4. Payments of the dividends on the Stocks lately shut commenced yesterday. Applications at the Bank for accommodation have been very numerous, and full rates have been freely given on loans in the discount-market.

Foreign Stocks have been active, but at a considerable decline in quotations. Turkish Six per Cents are as low as 97 1, and the New Four per Cents Guaranteed 100 4. 'Venezuela Active Bonds, 3738. Peruvian Fourand-a-half per Cents, 64 774; Ditto Three per Cent, 64 55 ex. div. Business has been principally confined to Turkish and Mexican Bonds ; the latter are slightly better, and close at 234 4. Railway Shares have been much depressed all the work; and a fall of from 108. to 308. has taken place all round, in sympathy with the English market, and consequent upon the restrictive measures adopted by the Bank Directors. Midland Stock leaves off at 811 ; Caledonian, 341 4; Brighton, 1074 84; Great Western, 664 67. A fair amount of business has been done.

Foreign Shares have been extremely heavy ; a decline of 30e. per share taking place in most of the leading French lines. Business, however, has not been very extensive. Paris and Lyons close at 62 4; Central, 34 44; Sambre and Meuse, 9/ I. Indian steady at rather improved quotations: Great Indian Peninsula NowShares, 11 4; Punjaub, 41 premium. Riga and Dunabourg, 1 premium.

SATURDAY, TWELVE o'Ciocz. This week's return of the Bank stock of bullion shows the large decrease of 643,839/. English Securities opened steadily at the closing prices of Thursday ; the market is quiet : Consols 94 1. There is a little business doing in Foreign Stocks and Railway Shares at a shade higher valuations. Chester and Holyhead mark 36; Eastern Counties, 118 ; East Lancashire, 94; Edinburgh, Perth, and Dundee, 34; Great Western, 664; Lancashire and Yorkshire, 1014; London, Brighton, and South Coast, 1071; London and North-Western, 1044; North British, 44.

SATURDAY, ONE O'CLOCK.

There is no alteration to notice in the prices of Stocks since the opening— Consols have been 934 sellers, and are now buyers again at that price. The markets are flrm, but operations limited. The Foreign Market is steady at former rates. The latest official bargains in Railway, Shares and Miscellaneous Stocks are as follow—Chester and Holyhead, 36; Eastern Counties, 114; East Lancashire, 981; Great Northern A Stock, 864; Great Western, 66f ; Lancashire and Yorkshire, 1014; London and Blackwell, 6 ; London, Brighton, and South Coast, 1074; London and North-Western, 1044; Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire, 391 ; North-Eastern—Berwick, 84 ; Ditto York, 631 ; East Indian, 1091 ; Northern of France, 401. Miscellaneous—Australian Agricultural, 21.

3 per Cent Consols 924 4 Dutch 24 per Cents 644 54 Ditto for Account 934 4 Ditto 4 per Cents 96 98 ox div.

3 per Cent Reduced 914 4 Mexican 8 per Cents 231 1

New 8 per Cents 914 4 Peruvian 44 per Cents 76 8 Long Annuities 2 7-10 9-16 Ditto 3 per Cent 54 6 Bank Stock 216 218 Portuguese 3 pers Cents 1833. 444 54

Exchequer Bills par 3 pm. Russian 5 per Cents 104 6

India Stock 222 225 Ditto 44 per Cents 95 7

Austrian 5 per Cents 91 4 Spanish 3 per Cents 41 2

Brazilian 5 per Cents .. 99 100 ex div. Ditto Deferred 241 54 Belgian 44 per Cents 98 100 Sardinian 5 per Cents 90 2 Chaim 6 per Cents 101 8 ex div. Swedish 4 per Cents 85 8

Danish 5 per Cents 101 .3 Turkish 6 per Cents 97 4

Ditto 3 per Cents 81 7 ex div. Ditto 4 per Cents Guaranteed 991 1004 ....._

Mr. John Ennis M.P..has been reileeted Governor of the Bank of Ireland.

The principal merchants of Florence and Leghorn propose to establish a Tuscan Bank ; they will lend a sum of money to the Government, and their notes are to be made a legal tender.

The Governor and Company of Copper Miners in England have declared a dividend of 3 per cent—an increase of 1 per vent over last year's distribution.

The Colombo, which left Southampton on Saturday, took out to the East no less than 780,686/. in silver.

There was a renewed fall in the Corn-market on Monday : a reduction of Is. to 2s. per quarter on the best wheat, and a greater reduction on inferior sorts.

Large quantities of teas have been released from bond this week by payment of the new duties : in London, on Monday, 320,000/. was paid.

As much as 21 per cent has been paid. at Lloyd's as insurance on some of the gold in the missiug steamer Oneida.

The last aulvices from Melbourne report a dull state of the markets, owing to the too great increase of exports from Europe.

The dividend of the Great Western of Canada Company is to be at the rate of 9 per cent per annum, carrying a good balance forward.

Several rather large commercial failures have occurred at New York. CRYSTAL PALACE.—Return of admissions for six days ending Friday April lath, including season-ticket-holders, 35,169.

ljP On.trrs.

The following will be the theatrical aspect of Easter Monday, if all prophecies be fulfilled. At the Haymarket, there will be a new burlesque on the subject of " Atalanta" • being the only novelty on this side

of the water. At the Adelphi "Atalanta"; Celeste, after an absence of many weeks, will reappear in Tie Elves. At Sadler's Wells, which will be reopened for a short season by Mr. 0. A. Webster, Mr. Charles Dillon, having left his own theatre in the hands of Mr. Gye for lyrical purposes, will " star " as Rolla in _Pizarro. The Surrey will rejoice the holiday visitants with a new drama called The Iron Arm, and the engagement of Miss Poole and Mr. Flexmore. That laxity in the observance of ecclesiastical festivals which is so obviously on the increase among the playgoers North of the Thames is without influence on the inhabitants of the Southern region, who still think that without some theatrical novelty Easter is not duly celebrated.

We have passed over the Princess's, simply because that establishment is completely unaffected by the season. _Richard II is too bright a luminary to need the aid of a Paschal satellite in the shape of drama or burlesque. Drury Lane is—to let.

PARISIAN THEATRICALS.

The ballet Marco Spada, founded on the opera of that name, and alluded to in the programme of Her Majesty's Theatre, was produced last week at the Grand Opera, with Madame Rosati as the principal character.

MUSICAL GOSSIP.

The musical season, properly so called, will date from tho simultaneous opening of the two great Italian Operas on Tuesday next,—for, though the Lyceum is a small theatre, yet tho Royal Italian Opera is a groat establishment.

At Her Majesty's Theatre, the note of preparation is sounding loudly. Spezia and Giuglini, the new soprano and tenor—the two stars to appear on the first night--are already arrived, and la Favorita is in full rehearsal. Of Giuglini some particulars are circulated by way of " introduzione." He is young, and his reputation is as yet confined to his native country. He was originally educated as an ecclesiastical singer, and sang in. the choir of the Cathedral of Fermo,—a training which must have been advantageous to him, by extending his knowledge of his art beyond the narrow limits of a theatrical repertoire. While in that situation, the beauty and sympathetic quality of his voice attracted notice ; and the tenor of the theatre happening suddenly to fall ill, Giuglini was persuaded to supply his place in the Due Foscari. His success was instantaneous, and he was recognized at once as the first tenor on the Italian stage. While ho was singing at La Scala in Milan during the Emperor of Austria's late visit to Italy, he was appointed chamber-singer at court, and was tempted by brilliant offers of an engagement for the opera at Vienna. His engagement for three years with Mr. Lumley having prevented his acceptance, our manager was applied to by the Austrian court to let him off, with an offer of ample compensation for the loss of his services: but Mr. Lumley knew his business in London too well for that ; and the upshot is that Giuglini is engaged at Vienna from the termination of his three-years engagement here. Piecolomini is not yet arrived. After appearing nineteen times in the Traviata at Paris, she has been for some time at her native place, Sienna, living in repose in the midst of her family. She is now, we hear, on her way to London ; and she will ntake her debeit probably in Violetta, or if not, in the heroine of Lucia di _Lammermoor or of La Figlia del Beggimento, or in the Zorlina of Don Giovanni. To her appearance in this last part, which she is said to have studied assiduously, we look forward with interest; it will be the "pietist di paragonc "—the touchstone—of her musical progress.

To all appearance, Mr. Lumley will maintain the ancient glories of the ballet. His principal danscuses, who are all arrived, are not only artistes of renown, but are described as quite a constellation of beauties. Mademoiselle Pochini, who appears the first night in _Esmeralda, has been called a young Carlotta Grisi ; and Massot, who appears along with her in the part of Gringoire, is said to be so like Perrot, the inimitable comedian of the ballet, that the one might be taken for the other. The Lyceum opens with the .Puritani. Grisi will reappear in the character in which, four-and-twenty years ago, she captivated all eyes, delighted all ears, and moved all hearts. She will still be the great, the unrivalled artist, whose name will long live in the history of the musical stage ; but where will be the Elvira—the " vergine vezzosa " in all the bloom of early youth—whom she once personated so charmingly ?

The musical performances of Passion Week have been few, and generally of the grave character befitting the season. The Messiah has been performed on a great scale, both by the Sacred Harmonic Society and by Mr. Hullah. The "Concert for the People," at St. Martin's Hall on Monday evening—one of the series of very cheap entertainments set on foot for the sake of the working classes—also consisted of sacred music. The Lord Mayor, Lady Mayoress, with the Sheriffs of London and Middlesex and their families, by their presence set a good example of encouraging a benevolent object ; and a judicious selection from the oratorios of Handel, Haydn, and Mendelssohn, was respectably performed and attentively listened to by a large assemblage.

There has been, moreover, a good series of secular concerts, given in the evenings of the week at Drury Lane Theatre by Mr. Alfred Mellon. The excellence of his own orchestra, formed and trained by himself, is well known. He added to it some of the best performers of Jullien's band; and, with the further help of several favourite singers, got up admirable entertainments, in which the finest symphonies and overtures of the great masters were intermixed with elegant vocal music. Another secular concert, given on Monday evening at Exeter Hall, by Mr. George Case the concertina-player, was what he himself called a concertmonstre,—a huge "feed" rather than feast of music, which brought together a huge number of feeders ; the hall being crammed to the doors with people who listened from seven o'clock till near midnight to a multitude of common things, sung and played by as many people as Mr. Case could possibly get together on terms sufficiently easy to himself. There are several persons in London who make a regular practice of giving these monster concerts, with profit to themselves no doubt, but with little profit either to art or artists.

Iptirrs In Iip titnr.

LIMIT OF A BARRISTER'S DUTY TO HIS CLIENT.

New Square, Lincoln's Inn, 0(11 April.

SIR—In the notice which you have kindly taken of my Letters to John Bull, you have unintentionally done me an injustice, by representing me as maintaining the barrister' s right to lie for his client,—a "monstrous doctrine," as you truly assert. The very reverse is what I intended to maintain. And as I am sure you would not yourself be intentionally guilty of the " suppressio veri," much less of the " suggestio falsi," will you kindly make room for the following extracts which show my real opinion. "It is strange, however, that barristers themselves do not always entirely understand their own position. Some have not hesitated lb express a belief of that which they know to be untrue ; forgetting that their office is not to decide, but to argue—not to give opinions, but to state reasons."— Page 24. Again. "The zeal of the advocate may lend him into bye-paths, may tempt him to deviate from that strict truthfulness for which he should ever be distinguished."—Page 26. I have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient servant,

JOSHUA WILLIAMS.

[Mr. Williams's letter speaks for itself. Indeed, we wrote in doubt of his intention,—implied in the words "as we understand him,"—because the inference was drawn from the tenor of the letter on Advocates, and a misapprehension of the spirit in which Paley's opinion was quoted.—En.]

TILE RULES OF LAW-PAY THE FIRST OBSTACLE TO ALL LAW-REFORM.

Hampstead, 4th. April 1857.

Srit—In your article of today, entitled " The Cry for Reform," you say truly that " Law amendment, under one head, would do more for the welfare of every part of society than any other class of measures." In your review of Williams's Letters to John Bull, you speak of the proposal to abolish taxation of costs " as abolishing the restraints of the law, and that in favour of lawyers alone." And you speak as if such a change would only operate in shortening written instruments and have no beming on " other modes in which clients can be fleeced."

Permit one who has subscribed to your paper since its birth, and has worked at law reform during all that time, to express a regret he has felt during nearly the last thirty years, that the Spectator, always looking, he thinks, pretty much in the nght way on these matters, has never addressed itself radical7y to this subject of imposed scales of prices for law work. The legal mischief under which the public suffers arise from defects in procedure immeasurably more than from defects of abstract law; and there is not a single defect of procedure which is not more or less sustained by the system on which the tariffs of legal wages are constructed. There is in hugland no one item of a solicitor's or a barrister's work, as to which the prescribed or allowed remuneration does not more or less militate against the client's interest to have the work done as simply and quickly as possible. If cabs were paid by time and allowed to go at their own pace, and pretty much their own route, and we were forced to ride in them instead of walking, we should have an exact parallel of the system forcibly imposed on every part of the law.

The principle on which these tariffs are constructed has important bearings on the enforced division of the profession into two or rather half-adozen branches, (doctor of civil law and barrister—silk gown and stuff— attorney, solicitor, proctor, and so on—divisions only good if they come of themselves,) and on the maintenance of licensed legal tieket-porterism ; and the required employment of two, three, or four men, to do work which one could often do better alone. In a word, this principle produces, at every point, a variance between the interests of the employer and the employed— pays the ignorant better than the skilful, makes all law work verbose and. slow ad libitum, and doubles or trebles the natural number of workmen. It is opposed to the very basis of the rules of political economy. Its sinister influences affect the habits of all the courts and all the judicial offices, and operate on the frame, plans, and language of the laws themselves. Its cost and delay-mischiefs are as nothing to the unwholesomeness of the atmosphere it creates—surrounding; the profession as it does with a perpetual devil and tempter to evil. The forthcoming report on the Registration of Titles (the greatest project of legal revolution seen in our days) points out that these enforced tariffs, based on words and steps, must be done away with, or that that great scheme cannot be tried. And a special committee of the Law Amendment Society appointed to consider this question, and composed in part of eminent commercial men, has unanimously resolved to the effect that the errors of these legal tarifft lie at the bottom of the evils of the law. If we had an efficient department of State addressed to the subject of Timtice, and bound to maintain the legal establishment in full working order, and to answer to Parliament for unredressed legal evils, the very first thing, if they knew their business, which its officials would apply themselves to, would be this subject of legal coats; not indeed to prohibit taxation of costs, as you say Mr. Williams proposes, but to allow on such taxation the principles on which Nature regulates prices Ind rewards skill to operate as to this most important branch of labour. At least so thinks an old and not inactive law-reformer.

E. W. F.