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ment before, considered theinselves affluent, found they were destitute of all real property, and sunk, as if by enchantment, and without any fault of their own, into the abyss of poverty. The late Mr. Horner, the accuracy and extent of whose information on such subjects cannot be called in question, stated in his place in the House of Commons, "that the destruction of English country bank paper in 1814 and 1815 had given rise to a universality of wretchedness and misery, which had never been equalled, except perhaps by the breaking up of the Mississippi scheme in France." (Article "Money" in Supp. Encycl. Britt. by Prof. MacCulloch.) Agricultural produce became unsaleable. It was not merely that prices fell, but purchasers were not to be found at any price. Bank paper, which, when compared with gold, had been, at its greatest depreciation, upwards of 25 per cent in 1814, rose very nearly to par before the end of 1816. In October of that year the discount was only, L. 1, 8s. 7d. Such were the consequences of the Bank Restriction Act, a measure for which Mr. Pitt is now lauded by some writers, and held up as the benefactor of his country! It may safely be asserted that there never was a more pernicious scheme adopted in any country. Admitting that the measure was necessary in 1797, and without inquiring whether that necessity was not caused by the improper management of the affairs of the bank, why were not means devised to prevent the degradation of the currency by over issues of paper, and where was the necessity of continuing the Restriction for so long a period?

crops

not been one penny of profit notwithstanding the great outlay, and no return from the money expended on the farm. He had received no reduction of rent from his landlord. The farmers in East Lothian were living on their capital, and great arrears of rent were understood to exist. The prices which he considered necessary to remunerate the farmer were 84s. per quarter for wheat, and 32s. for oats. The average price in East Lothian of wheat for 1821 and two preceding years, was only 60s., of oats, 22s He was of opinion that without paying any rent, wheat could not be produced on the very best land, such as brought L.6 per aere during the war, under 36s. a-quarter; on land worth L.3 at the same period, the raising of wheat would cost 50s. to 51s; and on land worth L. 1 per acre, 70s. He thought the best land would require a reduction of rent of 20 or 25 per cent; middling land, 30 or 35; inferior soils fully 50 per cent. Mr. John Brodie of West Fenton concurred with the former witness in most particulars. His farm having been taken in 1801, had not been a losing concern for the preceding five or six years; but loss would have been sustained, had not a great deal of capital been laid out on it. For one article, he had brought from Leith and Edinburgh upwards of L.3000 worth of manure, and he estimated the carriage at L.1000 more. The tenantry in East Lothian, though they had not suffered so much as in other districts, had for some years been paying their rents out of their capital.

Now it will be found that the average prices of British grain The Scotch Banks, resting on a more stable basis than the for the six years 1815-1820 were, wheat, 769. 3d.; barley, English Provincial Banks, and avoiding the speculations in 40s. 11d.; oats, 27s. Sd. per Winchester quarter; while the which the latter so often and so improperly engaged, withstood average of the ten years since 1821-1830 per imperial quarter, the storm, but were under the necessity of greatly limiting the which is about two per cent larger than the Winchester, are accommodation they had hitherto afforded. From the successes only for wheat, 59s. 4d.; barley, 32s. 6d.; oats, 23s. 6d. ; which had hitherto attended their exertions, and the ease with being a fall of about 20 per cent. If the witnesses examined which money was to be had, many agriculturists had engaged in before the committee were, therefore, correct in estimating speculations more extensive than their capital warranted, and the reduction on rents, which ought generally to have been being called on by the banks for payment of the loans, necessarily made to enable the tenantry to cultivate their farms at 30 per became bankrupt. In a few years, the profits which had been cent, it is obvious that a still greater reduction from the rents made during the war were lost, and in many instances the ori- paid during the war would now be necessary to attain the ginal capital besides. In proportion generally as a fariner had same object. But it is well known that in very few instances, been fortunate, were his speculations extensive; and the more indeed, have reductions to the amount of 30 per cent been extensive his concerns, the greater and more rapid his loss. made. Indeed, in most cases, reductions have not been given Money could not be had at the legal rate of interest. Any so long as it was possible to recover the rent from the tenant. amount might have been lent out in Edinburgh in 1816, 1817, In this manner his capital has been exhausted, his meaus for snd 1919, on the best landed security at 12 and 15 per cent, and the proper cultivation of his farm diminished, and the soil higher interest even was paid. The money had of course to be greatly deteriorated. When the reduction of rent was, thereborrowed on annuity to avoid the laws against usury, and many fore, given, it has very generally turned out inadequate, for in instances could be pointed out in which the creditor received 10 the period which had elapsed between the demand and the per cent clear, and the debtor had also to pay 4 or 5 per cent complying with the request, the farm had decreased greatly in more, as the annual premium to secure the creditor in re-pay-value by the deterioration of the soil, and the exhausted cirment of the principal sum, at the death of the person on whose cumstances of the tenant, did not enable him to bring his farm e the annuity was payable. In 1817 wheat rose in England to its proper state of fertility. to 948., and in 1818 it was 84s. per quarter; but the were deficient, foreign grain, to the enormous amount of 14 millions and a half in value, having been entered for home conmption in these two years. The average price of wheat in Scotland, for the years 1819, 1820, and 1821, was under 60s. per quarter. The proceedings before the Committee of the House of Commons, on the depression of agriculture in 1821, farnishes us with much valuable information. It appears from the evidence then adduced, that the fall upon all the produce of the soil, and on sheep and wool, as compared with the prices from 1800 to 1818, amounted to 31 per cent, and those on which the farmer has most to depend on to 40 per cent, while in England, the taxes had increased 75 per cent, the poor's rates, 52 per cent., and the price of labour had fallen only 12 ent. It further appeared that in England the soil had be much deteriorated by over-cropping since 1818, by the quantity of stock kept in farms being greatly diminished. The greatest distress prevailed among the tenantry, and the rents of preceding year, where not in arrear, had been generally paid from the capital of the tenantry. Only two Scotch farmers were examined, both from East Lothian. Their evidence is of importance even at present, because it will be shown that griculture must necessarily be more depressed now than it was at that time, as the price of agricultural produce is lower in the 10 years since that investigation, than it was between 1813 and 1. Mr. John Brodie of Scoughail, stated that he had taken farm of 670 Scotch acres," in the year 1812, at a rent of 1.2900, that rent being more than double what the preceding at had paid. He expended L.5000 in putting a proper ck on it, and L.3000 more in buildings, his lease being for 2 years. Since 1814 his lusses has been very considerable, though great proportion of the farm was fine land, and the loss on such not so great as on that of inferior quality. There had The cotch cre is a fifth larger than the English.

The outgoings of the farmer have not diminished in a proportional degree since 1813. Their servants are paid their wages in grain, and the quantity given to them has not been diminished, while the charges of the saddler, blacksmith, and wright are not much lower than they were during the war. These tradesmen contend that there is no room for lessening their charges, as they allege that their charges did not rise previously, in any proportion, to the increase of the price of food. On sheep farms, again, there has been no saving whatever in the outgoings, as the shepherds are, it is believed, universally paid in stock.

In Scotland, pastoral districts are of more than usual importance. The total extent of the kingdom is nineteen millions of English acres, of which little more than five are under cultivation, and of these, one half is estimated to be in pasture or hay. In the Committee of the House of Commons on the wool trade in 1828, it was said that more than one half of Scotland was occupied in the rearing of Cheviot and black-faced sheep, but the proportion is probably much more considerable. The distress in such districts can easily be understood. On sheep farins, it is expected that the wool should pay the rent, leaving the carcase to discharge the other expenses, and for profit on the capital employed; but between the years 1813 and 1827, Cheviot tarred wool had fallen fully one half in value, and other wool in nearly the same proportion. The value of sheep and lambs had also fallen nearly to the same extent. Lord Napier has extensive sheep farms in Ettrick Forest, which he inanaged for many years himself, and he stated in his evidence before the Committee on Wool, that the produce of a farm which, on the average from 1806 to 1817, yielded L. 490 per annum, only brought L.240 in 1827. He was asked "Are the Committee then to understand from your lordship, that the produce of at least half of Scotland, and from which half of the rent is paid, has fallen 50 per cent in value?""Certainly." The value of black cattle fell also considerably,

but never reached so great a depression as the produce of sheep farms, the average price of the last 15 years compared with the war prices, shewing a fall of about 30 per cent. Since 1827 or 1829, the value of sheep and wool has risen considerably, and now approaches within 30 per cent of the war prices. Next week we shall give the present state of Scotch Agriculture.

SCRAPS.

ORIGINAL AND SELECTED.

DRINKING" BY INFERENCE." Of Mirza Abu Taleb Khan, the well-known Persian Ambassador, Sinclair re lates: At one of the dinners I gave to the Mira, the celebrated Dr. Watson, Bishop of Llandati, was present. The Bishop observed that the Persian took wine very free. ly; upon which he said to him, "Mirza, how comes this? Is not drinking wine prohibited by the Koran?" Upon which the Persian said, "I take it by inference. In the health. I am informed, that taking wine in this country is good for the health, therefore, I infer, that I may take it consistently with the precepts of the Koran."

Edinburgh has been often praised, but seldom so success-Koran it is said that we may take whatever is good for our fully as in the following sonnet, translated from the Latin

of Arthur Johnstone:

Install'd on Hills, her Head near starrye bowres,
Shines Edinburgh, proud of protecting powers:
Justice defendes her heart; Religion east

With temples; Mars with towres doth guard the west:
Fresh Nymphes and Ceres seruing, waite upon her,
And Thetis, tributarie, doth her honour.

The Sea doth Venice shake, Rome Tiber beates, Whilst she bot scornes her vassall watteres threats. For scepters no where standes a Towne more fitt, Nor place where Toune, World's Queene, may fairer sitt. Bot this thy praise is, aboue all, most braue, No man did e're diffame thee bot a slave. TRIBUTES.*—It would require a volume to describe all the curiosities, ancient and modern, living and dead, which are here gathered together. I say living, because a menagerie might be formed out of birds and beasts, sent as presents from distant lands. A friend told me he was at Abbotsford one evening, when a servant announced, "A present from"-I forget what chieftain in the North. "Bring it in," said the poet. The sound of strange feet were soon heard, and in came two beautiful Shetland ponies, with long manes and uncut tails, and so small, that they might have been sent to Elfland to the Queen of the Faries herself. One poor Scotsman, to show his gratitude for some kindness Scott, as Sheriff, had shown him, sent two kangaroos from New Holland; and Washington Irving lately told me, that some Spaniard or other, having caught two young wild Andalusian boars, consulted him how he might have them sent to the Author of "The Vision of Don Roderick."

LONDON SPARROWS.-At a late lecture on animal and vegetable life in London, delivered by Dr. J. Mitchell at the London Literary and Scientific Institution, he stated that the London sparrows were often as sooty and black as chimney-sweepers. Their favourite abode for building their nests is within the foliage of the capitals of Corinthian columns and pilasters. He stated that they also build within the mouth of the lion on the top front of Northum berland-house. The benevolence of some, and the cruelty of others, placed pots on the sides of houses for their reception. Dr. Johnson marks with his abhorrence one man who did this. The sparrows, not knowing the character of the man with whom they had to deal, built their nests in his pots. It was disgusting to hear the fellow express his delight at the prospect of making pies of their young. BEGGARY.-There is a saying among country-people, that many insects in spring is a sign of many birds in summer. Begging keeps pace, or slackens, with the disposition to give, or withhold, alms. In a former age, the rich dispensed liberally to the poor, and poverty itself could afford to relieve indigence. Then, beggar joined company with beggar, and troops of mendicants, swarming from towns, overspread the country, and fattened on gleanings which, in the midst of plenty, were scarcely missed. The demands outgrew the supplies. So early as the reign of Henry VII., there is a statute directing that every impotent beggar should resort to the hundred where he has dwelt, was best known, or was born, and there remain, upon pain of being set in the stocks for three days and nights, with only bread and water, and then sent out of the town. In the next reign, when Henry VIII. dissolved the monasteries and nunneries "with good incomes and warm kitchens," whence provisions were daily distributed to the needy, the helpless poor wandered far and wide, and so troubled the kingdom for sustenance, that parliament authorised the justices of every county to grant licenses to indigent, aged, and impotent beggars, to beg within a certain district.

Account of a Visit to Abbotsford,

Mr. Locke was asked how he had contrived to accumu late a mine of knowledge so rich, yet so extensive and deep. He replied, that he attributed what little he knew, to the not having been ashamed to ask for information; and to the rule he had laid down, of conversing with all descriptions of men, on those topics chiefly that formed their own peculiar professions or pursuits.

An Irishman, some years ago, when he was studying at Edinburgh, asked a celebrated teacher of the German flute on what terms he would give him a few lessons. The and one guinea for the second."" Then, by my soul," said answer was, "I charge two guineas for the first month, the Hibernian, "I'll come the second month first."

and was greatly lamented by a contemporary, though they A very old lady died lately in a certain country towa, had not been the best of friends before. ment her so grievously?" said a friend. "Why do you la "Don't you know?-was she not the only person left between me and

death ?"

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Various poetical tributes to the memory of Sir Walter Scott are ceived for the Schoolmaster and the Chronicle. As we cannot adopt them all, we must resolve on omitting all, as it is unfair to make invi dious distinctions.

Our good friend in Forfarshire appears entirely to misunder stand the gist of Dr. Kidd's argument. His reply is, besides, far too long We gave the theory of the East Wind, mentioning that we did not recollect whence we obtained it. If not satisfactory, and we admit it u not, let our polite pupil send the Schoolmaster a better if he can, and we shall be glad to give his exercises publicity.

We feel deeply obliged by the amiable letter of T. & M. The weather may henceforth be unfavourable for rambling till the return of spring; though we may before then resume our excursions, di recting them to favourite portions of the "rich store of scenery" to whic he alludes. In the meanwhile, we shall be glad if he, or any one of congenial tastes, shall indicate their own peculiar paths to those

"Fresh fields and pastures new.'

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THE

AND

EDINBURGH WEEKLY MAGAZINE.

CONDUCTED BY JOHN JOHNSTONE.

THE SCHOOL MASTER IS ABROAD.-LORD BROUGHAM.

No. 12.-VOL. I. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1832. PRICE THREE-HALFPENCE.

ORIGINAL LETTER OF BURNS-POLITICAL
MARTYRS OF THE END OF LAST
CENTURY.

overt acts of a dangerous tendency; such as demurring to the health-not of his Majesty, but of his Majesty's "Heaven-born War Minister," Mr. Pitt! It is even alleged that his atrocity amounted to the height of leaving How we wish some one qualified in intellect and spirit would write their history! Muir, Gerald, Palmer, Skir- drink the health of George Washington, which he wished a room in displeasure, when some of the party refused to ving, and many others; nor last nor least, among the illus- to substitute as that "of a greater and better man.” “I trious band-ROBERT BURNS. His political sentiments are suppose," says Mr. Lockhart, in his life of the Poet, "the well known. The letter we publish to-day merely confirms warmest admirers of Mr. Pitt's talents and politics would them, without adding at all to their force. It was address hardly venture nowadays to dissent substantially from ed to Captain JOHNSTON, the proprietor of the Gazetteer, Burns's estimate of the comparative merits of these two upon perusing the prospectus of that "Revolutionary print." great men." We rather believe they would. But on this We regret that we cannot procure a copy of the prospectus, point, the Editor of the Quarterly may consult the writers though there may still be one in the archives of the of its American articles, Mrs. Trollope and Captain Hall Sheriff's Chambers, to which, we believe, the types, paper, inclusive. Burns had been persecuted and ruined before he files, &c. &c. of that obnoxious paper, were, by an ordon-sealed his fate, and committed another unpardonable overt mance, carried en masse. It must, however, have been a act, by drinking, in a public company, pithy document. Burns writes,

SIR,

66 May our success in the present war be equal to the justice of our cause.” To this ruinous and most disastrous war, into which Mr. Pitt, in despite of his own better judgment, precipitated the country, that, by gratifying the Tories, he might

I have just read your prospectus of the Edinburgh Gazetteer. If you go on in your paper with the sime spirit, it will, beyond all comparison, be the first com-retain place, Burns, in common with nine-tenths of position of the kind in Europe. I beg leave to insert my name as a subscriber; and if you have already published any papers, please send me them from the beginning. Point out your own way of settling payments in this place, or I shall settle with you through the medium of my friend, Peter Hill, bookseller in Edinburgh.

Go on, sir! Lay bare, with undaunted heart and steady hand, that horrid mass of corruption called Politics and State-craft. Dare to draw in their native colours, these→→→→ "Calm-thinking villains, whom no faith can fix❞— whatever be the shibboleth of their pretended party. The address, to me at Dumfries, will find,

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the nation, was decidedly hostile. Meetings had been held, and declarations and petitions adopted over all the country against a war with the French Republic. Much ignorance seems to prevail now on this point. As Sheridan said at the time, "No one liked the war save those who were to share in the taxes raised to support it,” nor was it ever endurable, till the alarm of invasion roused the spirit of the country.

Burns had committed another great indiscretion. He chanced to capture a smuggling brig, and at the sale of the condemned effects, purchased four carronades, which (before war was declared) he presented to the French Convention, accompanied by a letter expressive of his respect and admiration of the new government of France. This present was intercepted at Dover, and the Poet became a marked man. His memorable letter to Mr. Grahame of Fintry was written in the mouth following the above letter to the Editor of the Gazetteer, and immediately on his being informed, that "Mr. Mitchell, an excise collector, had received an order to inquire into his political conduct." The subsequent history of Burns' martyrdom we shall give in the exact words of Tory writers, that the testimony may be less questionable. "The exact result of the Excise Board's investigation is hidden," says Lockhart," in obscurity; nor is it at all likely that the

cloud will be withdrawn hereafter. A general impression, letter to Mr. Grahame of Fintray, disclaiming the foul imhowever, appears to have gone forth, that the affair termi-putations which the servile creatures of the period attempt. nated in something which Burns himself considered tanta-ed to cast upon him, and avowing his real sentiments as a mount to the destruction of all hope of future promotion in REFORMER, gave, as has been stated, great offence" te his profession ***. In a word, the early death of Burns that pure and august body, the Board of Excise. "One has been (by implication at least) ascribed mainly to the our supervisors general," BURNS writes, was instructed circumstances in question." This Sir Walter Scott seems to inquire on the spot, and to document me that my to have believed. In an article on Burns, written in 1809, business was to act, not to think and that whatever might in the height of Sir Walter's partisanship, if he might ever be men or measures, it was for me to be silent and obe be called a partisan, he says, "That the poet should have dient.' chosen the side on which high talents were most likely to procure celebrity; that he, to whom the fastidious distinctons of society were always odious, should have listened with complacence to the voice of French philosophy, which denounced them as usurpations on the rights of man, was

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precisely the thing to be expected. Yet we cannot but think, that if his superiors in the Excise department had tried the experiment of soothing, rather than irritating his feelings, they might have spared themselves the disgrace of rendering desperate the possessor of such uncommon talents. For it is buf too certain, that from the moment his hopes of promotion were utterly blasted, his tendency to dissipation hurried him precipitately into these excesses which shortened his life." Here is the martyrdom of Burns distinctly stated; and we shall not stop to remark that Sir Walter Scott might at once have placed the saddle on the right horse," as he could not but know that the same creatures, who, in the insolence of office, crushed the mighty spirit of Burns, or broke the heart where they were powerless wholly to crush the spirit, would have crawled and licked the dust in his path, had this course been imagined acceptable to the faction for which they acted, and which then, unhappily, governed this country. On the subject of BURNS's martyrdom, we must quote one more Tory writer, Mr. Wilson, alias Christopher North, says, " Burns, gave great offence to that fine and delicate abstraction, the Board of Excise; and at one time there seems to have been some danger of his losing his splendid situation—no sinecure-of something less than a supervisor of the district, with an annual salary of L.70. The Excise rebuked him for thinking'†➡a vice to which, from infancy, he had been sadly addicted, as well as to the kindred, and even more dangerous one of feeling and Burns, we believe, came under a sort of half-and-half promise and threat to do what he could to wean himself from that habit; but he made no promise at all not to feel; and feel he did, till his heart bled at every pore with indignation, shame and grief a state in which he must have been found an easier prey to the evils which beset him from other quarters, and to those social seductions to which, in the heroism of his hard-working youth, he had so often shown himself superior." All this is truly and well said. But why blame the wretched Board of Excise, and it alone, when the justice seat was equally culpable, if not in the individual case of Burns, yet in many as flagrantly oppressive. The Excise had but one political victim-the tribunals a hecatomb.

WHAT HAVE YOU TO DO WITH POLITICS?

A letter of BURNS to Mr. Erskine of Mar, which Dr. Currie has but very partially quoted, places this question in the true light, and is so intimately connected with the affair noticed above, that we cannot forbear giving a fuller extract of it than would otherwise suit our limits. His Published in the Quarterly Review.

+"He was admonished that it was his business to act, not to think." -Lockhart's Life of Burns,

"Mr. Corbet was my steady friend; so between Mr, Graham and him, I have been partly forgiven; only I understand that all hopes of my getting officially forward, are blasted.

"Now, sir, to the business in which I would more im mediately interest you. The partiality of my COUNTA MEN has brought me forward as a man of genius, and has given me a character to support. In the POET avowed manly and independent sentiments, which I trust will be found in the MAN. Reasons of no less weight than the support of a wife and family have pointed out as the eligible, and, situated as I was, the only eligible line of life for me, my present occupation. Still my honest fame is my dearest concern; and a thousand times have I trembled ae the idea of those degrading epithets that malice or misrepres sentation may affix to my name. I have often, in blasting anticipation, listened to some future hackney scribbler with the heavy malice of savage stupidity, exulting in his hire ling paragraphs- BURNS, notwithstanding the fanfaron ade of independence to be found in his works, and after hav ing been held forth to public view, and to public estimation as a man of some genius, yet, quite destitute of resources within himself to support his borrowed dignity, he dwind led into a paltry exciseman, and slunk out the rest of his insignificant existence in the meanest of pursuits, and among the vilest of mankind.’

“In your illustrious hands, sir, permit me to lodge my disavowal and defiance of these slanderous falsehoods. varel sdt 0 BURNS was a poor man from birth, and an exciseman by necessity; but I will say it the sterlings of his honest worth, no poverty could debase, and his independent British mind, oppression might bend, but could not subdue. Have not I, to me, a more precious stake in my country's wel fare than the richest dukedom in it? I have a large family of children, and the prospect of many more I Wave three sons who, I see already, have brought into the world souls ill qualified to inhabit the "bodies, look tamely on, and see any machination to wrest, from them the birth-right of my boys, the dittle independent Britons, in whose veins run my own blood? No not! should my heart's blood stream around around my

to defend it?

slaves

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service; and that it does not belong to my humble station
"Does any man tell me that my full efforts can be of to
to meddle with the concerns of a nation?
“I can tell him, that it is on such individuals as I that
a nation has to rest, both for the hand of support and the
eye of intelligence.”

HOW TO PLEASE YOUR FRIENDS. Go to India, stay there twenty years, work hard, get money, save it, cothe home-bring with you a store of wealth, and a diseased liver; visit your friends, make a will, provide for them all then die-what a prudent, good, generous, kind-hearted soul ou will be!

duo was a syòl gainutes (201

PRICE OF JUSTICE.

REMARKS ON THE COURT OF SESSION, AND THE EXPENSE

ATTENDING CAUSES BROUGHT BEFORE IT.

The courts of law and equity in every country ought to be open to all classes at little expense. In fact, justice should be administered freely, and without delay.

The Court of Session, which is the Supreme Court of Scotland, is now composed of thirteen Judges, including a President. These are divided into two Divisions, which form distinct Courts, called the First and Second Divisions. The Lord President is chairman, and has the casting-vote in the First Division, and the Lord Justice Clerk in the Second. These are again divided into the Outer and Inner House, each having four Judges composing the Inner House, and two, who act as Lords Ordinary, in the Outer House. The junior Judge is common to both Divisions.

The Judges of the Inner House compose what is properly called the Court, and act both in a judicial and ministerial capacity. They review the judgments pronounced by the Lords Ordinary, which are brought before them by a reclaiming note, at the instance of the party who considers himself aggrieved. The Lords Ordinary sit in the Outer House, and all cases, except summary applications, and a few others, come before them in the first place; and it is only when a party is dissatisfied with the judgment of the Lord Ordinary, that he takes the opinion of the Court. Appended to the reclaiming note, which requires to be printed, there must be a full record of the proceedings before the Ordinary, together with the proof or documents founded upon; all which must also be printed.

From such a number of Judges, and such machinery, one might suppose that justice would flow like a stream, and that a law-suit could not be long in dependence. But experience has taught us, that even from this Court justice comes forth with tardy steps. The existing forms are not so complex, neither do they admit of such delay as formerly; but still under them a case can seldom be brought to a conclusion in less than two years; and a much longer period is often occupied in the discussion than three or even four years. A part of the delay may, and often does arise in consequence of the conduct of the agent; but the chief cause of it is in the long vacations, which take up nearly seven months out of the twelve; and in the consequent arrears of cases before the Ordinaries and the Court.

Lord Ordinary, a fee of 53. must be paid for enrolling. In fact, nothing can be done without the hand of the agent being continually in his pocket. No wonder, then, that an account of charges soon swells up, and that a client should grumble at the sum total. Two-thirds of a business account, as taxed by the Auditor of Court, is for pure outlay, which has in the first place to be advanced by the agent, and often at the risk of losing the whole. No doubt the agent's fees are high, and we shall say far too high; but it is the dues paid to the fee-fund, which go to the payment of the public officers, to clerks, and for printing, &c., that bear so heavily upon the shoulders of litigants.

Even if a person should be so fortunate as to gain his case, he frequently comes off a loser; for, although he may get his expenses allowed him, these are generally taxed by the Auditor at a sum which does not nearly cover the actual charge for business, which was indispensably requisite for amount incurred by him to his agent; as many items of the due conduct of the case, are disallowed by that officer.

We hope we have succeeded in showing our readers where the rock lies; and as we like to call every thing by its proper name, (which is one of the principal duties of the Schoolfrom a great deal of unjust opprobrium, which has been master,) we have endeavoured to clear professional men attached to them on the score of expense. In doing so, however, we must not be understood as defending their scale of charges. On the contrary, we also consider the agent's fees capable of much reduction, and of being put upon a better footing; and we hope that a reformed Par liament will repeal the attorney tax, which bears hard upon the agents, and do away with the abominable fee-fund; that the fees of all public officers will be reduced; and the business put upon a footing which will enable the practitioner to make moderate charges, and the public to get a cheap and efficient administration of justice.

HYDROSTATIC BED.

AMONGST the numerous and important uses to which water has been applied, that of a comfortable bed is one, which, to say the least, does not naturally present itself to the mind. A watery bed, and a watery grave, have hitherto been held to be synonymous, or convertible terms; and we would as soon have thought of lying down in the Grotto del Cani, as in a trough filled with water. For, not being gifted with the power possessed by amphibious animals, of living equally well in water, as on land we would not have As to the expense attending the procedure, it is so great, hazarded so dangerous an experiment; yet, true it is, that in that it often acts as a barrier in the way of justice; for, in the progress of knowledge, this discovery has been made, consequence, many a man will rather, and often does suffer and not, it is observed, accidentally, as many valuable disoppression, than attempt to vindicate his rights by an ap-coveries have been, but by reflection on well-ascertained peal to the laws of his country. Many persons cannot comprehend how this expense is incurred. Now, as we wish to put the saddle upon the right back, we shall briefly show how this expense in general arises.

It is a common opinion, though an erroneous one, that the agents are chiefly instrumental in incurring a long string of charges; and that the greater part of a law-busisem account goes to the lining of their pockets. But upon examining an account, one will find that the greater proportion of charges is for outlay, or cash advanced in the course of the proceedings. To account for this it is only necessary to attend to the following facts:

facts, by a mind capable of grasping these facts, and of applying them to practical purposes.

It is well known that "the support of water to a floating body is so uniformly diffused, that every thousandth part of an inch of the inferior surface has, as it were, its own separate liquid pillar, and no one part bears the load of its neighbour." Reflecting on this fact, Dr. Arnott was led to infer, that if a person were laid upon the surface of a bath, over which a large sheet of the waterproof India rubber cloth was previously thrown, the pressure would be so uniform over the whole body, that no one part could possibly Every step of procedure, excepting the first, and ofttimes suffer more than any other part, and consequently that one even that, requires, by the forms of Court, to be drawn by who had already suffered from inequality of pressure, as alcounsel, whose fees are paid beforehand, and rather in the ways happens to bed-ridden people, especially when the shape of an honorary, than a remuneration for the work to constitution has been debilitated from whatever cause, be done. These fees vary from two to five guineas in ordi- would, on being placed on such a couch, be immediately nary cases, exclusive of a fee of 7s. 6d. to their clerks. relieved of the pains and other disagreeable consequences of Again, upon every step of a process there must be paid, be-long confinement to even the softest bed; and the result face it can be received by the Clerk of Court, a sum of from showed the correctness of his reasoning. A lady who, after to 30%. in name of fee-fund dues; and then there comes her confinement, had passed through a combination of dis the clerk's dues, which amount to 28., and often more, eases, low fever, jaundice, &c., rested so long in one posture pon every paper. At every borrowing up of the process, that mortification came on, sloughs formed, inflammation also here must be paid a sum varying from 2s. to 6s., and 1s. occurred, terminating in the formation of abscesses. She at every returning. Before a case can be moved before the was watched with the most affectionate assiduity, and every

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