The Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, Sir William Bovill,
best known to the English public as the Judge who tried the first Tichborne case, and committed "the Claimant" for perjury, died this day week at Combe, near Kingston-on- Thames, at the age of fifty-nine. He was not a great lawyer, but he was a very popular man, and is greatly regretted by his colleagues at the Bar and on the Bench. His death left a vacancy, which has been filled by the promotion of the Attorney- General Sir J. D. Coleridge, while Mr. Henry James,—against whose return we regret to see that a petition alleging bribery has been lodged,—will, of course, become Attorney- General in his place. The difficulty will be to fill up the post of Solicitor-General. Mr. Watkin Williams has a good claim to the appointment, though it is unfortunate that he, like Mr. H. James, is a common-law lawyer, so that, if he were appointed, neither of the law officers would be skilled in Chancery doctrine and practice. In this respect, Mr. Vernon Harcourt,—who, besides, has not been a very loyal follower of the Government, —would be no better, as he practised at the Parliamentary bar, and indeed rumour says very positively that he flies at higher game than merely legal promotion, and even that he would take nothing short of a Secretaryship of State, which is not very likely, though he is certainly a bumptious man. Mr. Osborne Morgan is a Chancery barrister, and has been a lively and entertaining, as well as cordial supporter of the Government, but of his calibre as a lawyer we know nothing. There is a dearth of long robes just now in the House of Commons.
