The root of the power of the bureaucracy in France
has always been that in questions between rich and poor the State officials are more trustworthy than anybody else. We wonder if that feeling will ever extend to this country. It may do so, for there can be no question of the extraordinary reliance placed by the poor upon both the London Stipendiaries and the County-Court Judges. The former are constantly consulted by the poor as unpaid advisers, and dissatisfaction with the decisions of the latter is almost unknown. This week, again, the labourers out of work in Kent have selected the County-Court Judge of Canterbury, Mr. George Russell, as their arbitrator, no less than 900 of them having agreed to refer their quarrel with the employers to his decision. It is not known whether the masters will agree, but the confidence expressed by the men is something more than a testimony to an individual. The best defence for the jury system is, that under it the people trust the administration of justice, and that is rapidly becoming an argument for local Civil Courts. They have their own evils, the principal one being that they encourage a second- rate class of lawyers ; but they are trusted by the people, the firit condition of good-order and prosperity.
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