His Honour Judge Lumley Smith, K.C., delivered a considered judgment, on the 30th ult., in the City of London Court, on a point of interest to solicitors. The plaintiff, Mr. H. S. M. Grover, solicitor, 27, Queen Victoria-street, E.C., had sued Mrs. Wright, 14, Harley.gardens, South Kensington, for professional services rendered. The judge said the plaintiff had obtained judgment for £61 23. 8d. for costs against the defendant, who was a lady in occupation of a leasehold house. It was said to be worth £120 a year. The lease was mortgaged for £750. She also had furniture which was mortgaged by a bill of sale to the Equitable Investment Company for its full value. Plaintiff now applied for the appointment of a receiver by way of equitable execution. Prima facie there was nothing to receive. But it was said that the practice of the Court of Chancery entitled the receiver to have an Occupation rent fixed at which the defendant must attorn tenant to the receiver. If that was a correct representation of the practice in the Court of Chancery, it was one with which the court and its officials were more familiar than the City of London Court and its officers. There was no convenient machinery there for carrying through or enforcing such process. The plaintiff's proper course, in his opinion, was to apply to have the judgment removed into the High Court under the County Courts Act 1888, s. 151, which exactly fitted that care. Orders for receiverships were not made ex parte except in cases of emergency: (see Annual Practice of Supreme Court, Order L., r. 16, p. 673; Yearly Practice of County Courts, p. 294; Daniel's Chancery Practice, 748, 1412). No emergency was shown in that care. He refused the application. Is it not remarkable that the recent growth of trade union indis. cipline, strikes, riots, and anarchy, the growing impotence of organised labour, the growing power of employers' associations, the growing harshness of capital, the reduction of wages, the increase of casual employment, the speeding-up of work, the rise in the accident rate, the growing horrors and tragedies of industrialism, have coincided with the rise of the Labour Party? This significant question is asked in The World's Work for September in an article on recent labour problems written by an active working-man. Just as the political side of trade unionism has developed, so has the industrial side gone out of gear. While responsible leaders have engaged in political work, the task of organising and drilling the unions has been left largely to young and inexperienced men. The recent politicalisation of trade unionism has been faulty, and the results are manifest in reduced wages, harder toil, and worse bargains with employers. Those few men who are endowed with the capacity of leadership have tried to do too much-they have tried to be politicians and trade union delegates at one and the same time, and they have failed. So long as trade unionism developed on strictly constitutional linesconfined its activities to negotiating and bargaining with employers aud promoting the strictly industrial interests of its members-it went along fairly well; it overcame the virulent opposition it had to encounter in its early days; it became a respected and respectable institution its leaders were in the closest possible touch with the rank and file; the leaders understood the men's grievances; the men trusted the leaders; and agreements made were honourably observed. Trade unions, with all their faults, did good solid work. Doctor Manoel Arriaga, who has been elected President of Portugal, belongs to a family of the Azores. The family is distinguished, but not affluent, and is allied to the Basque House of the same name. The name of Arriaga has achieved fame both at the Bar and in the army. The President, who was born at Foyal-one of the Azoresstudied at the University of Coimbra, and maintained himself by teaching other students. At the same time be assisted his younger brother during his college course. In due time the future President was called to the Bar. Some of his biographers make the President trace his descent from Hugh Capet. The great academic Clerical organ, the Gaulois, cannot find words to express its scorn at the suggestion that Dr. Arriaga is descended from the founder of the Capetian dynasty, and gets over the difficulty thus: "Certains de ses biographes font remonter aussi sa généalogie à Hugues Capet (?)" The Indépendance Belge, on the other hand, is more entertaining, if bordering on the grotesque: "Certains de ses biologistes font remonter aussi sa gécéalogie à Hugues Capet." This form of elevation, without expressing any view of the merits of the present case, is not uncommon when a man becomes famous, and it may be recalled that some writers represented Lord Chancellor Thurlow as a descendant of Thurloe, the secretary to Cromwell, which drew from the Chancellor the observation that he understood there were two families almost identical in name in Sussex, Thurloe the secretary and Thurlow the carrier, and he had always ocnsidered himself as a descendant of Thurlow the carrier. After this digression it may by stated that although President Arriaga comes from an aristocratic and noble family, he has always held Republican views. Elected many times deputy under the monarchy, he was the democratic tribune in the Chamber, and his views went out to the younger generations both when professor at the Lyceum and as Rector of the University of Coimbra. Under the new régime he acted as Procurator-General of the Republic. In this capacity he was perhaps less known outside Portugal than his competitor for the Presidency, Senhor Bernardino Machado, the Minister of Foreign Affairs. But there was no doubt as to the genuineness of Dr. Arriaga's views. The new President is said to be held in good estimation even among the old Portuguese society, and it is hoped that he will conciliate those Monarchists who are not reckoned as irreconcilables. Senhor Arriaga, who was born seventy-five years ago, is known in Portugal as a legal writer, and his Social Concord is a politico-philosophic treatise. He is said to carry his age well. The President's opponent is also a lawyer. Great inconvenience is still being caused to, and many complaints are being made by, the members of the Inner and Middle Temples, who are in London during the Long Vacation, by the west gate to the Temple being closed, and, by the notice affixed to the railings leading to Garden-court, it is proposed to keep it so closed until the 1st prox. It is beyond understanding why this entrance, which is used more than any other entrance to the Temple, should be closed for two months. However, it is hoped that this gate will be opened long before the date mentioned. The annual report of Captain Sir William Nott Bower, C.V.O., Commissioner of City Police, was issued on the 6th inst. The force numbered 1166 of all ranks, fifty of whom were employed on private Bervice. Fifty-two men left the service. Of these, four died (three being the men killed in the Houndsditch affray) and one was dis missed for misconduct. The total gross cost of the force was £184,448, of which £130,341 was met from the police rate, £43,825 contributed by the corporation, and £10,270 received from services of constables on private service, &c. Of the cost, £118,072 represented pay, £6100 clothing, £18,260 rents and taxes, and £37,796 pensions. The net cost of a constable on ordinary duty was £114 per annum. The number of accidents (1382) caused to persons in the streets by horse and motor vehicles was slightly in excess of that in 1909, but below the average for the five previous years. By horse vehicles five persons were killed and 768 injured. By motor vehicles fourteen were killed and 595 injured. The number of persons apprehended was 2595, as against 2922 in 1909. The indictable offences reported numbered 963. For non-indictable offences 2011 persons were arrested, as compared with 2352 in 1909. There had been an increase of forty-three in betting and gaming, but a decrease of 217 in drunkenness. The holding of the Gainsborough County Court under a plane tree in a shady garden by His Honour Judge Sir Sheraton Baker on the 25th July, in consequence of the tropical heat, has abundant precedents in our legal history. The court-leet, the most ancient court in England; required the attendance of all those residing within the particular hundred, lordship, or manor. It concerned the administration of public justice, and was usually held in the open air. Again, the Piepoudre Court (Curia pedis pulverisati) was incident to every fair, to administer justice to buyers and sellers, and to redress disorders occurring there. It was always held in the open air all over England, but of late years has fallen into desuetude. Many of the older inhabitants of Bristol will remember that court being held in the open air in the old marketplace in that city for fourteen days, commencing on the 30th Sept. in each year. Further, a Piepoudre Court of a most transcendent jurisdiction used to be held under the Bishop of Winchester on St. Giles' Hill, near that city, in the open air during the fair time. The Court of Admiralty in the beginning of the fifteenth century was always held in the open air on a quay on the Southwark side of the river Thames. In the Rolls of Parliament (11 Hen. 4, No. 61) the Commons complain of persons being summoned by the officers of the Admiralty "à Loundres à la Key de William Orton, Suthwerke." ViceAdmiralty Courts were frequently held on quays, ports, banks of tidal rivers, or on the seashore. The latest example of this may be found in the holding of a Water Court, with Vioe-Admiralty rights, at Saltash in July 1885, that being the last occasion of the holding of a Water Court in England. That venerable court first took its rise in the reign of King John. It was held on the beach at Saltash within the liberty of the Water Thamer." Such examples of courts held in the open air could be multiplied ad infinitum. It has been pointed out by experts that the Government proposals in regard to sanatoria, while extremely valuable in themselves, are not to be treated as a complete solution of the great problem of tuberculosis. The system which has been at work in Edinburgh for some considerable time, and has been tried with certain modifications in the Paddington area, recognises that both before and after sanatorium treatment a great deal of preventive work is possible, and it would seem as though in preparing a sanatorium scheme some provision should be made whereby the sanatorium should be linked up with the work of prevention, even though the junction should entail some financial cost. The Tuberculosis Dispensary is, in effect, a system for detecting cases in their earliest stages, and it should be in the most intimate touch with the public health authorities in its area. In Edinburgh the medical officer of health has access to all the clinical information, and a most valuable set of statistics concerning the public health and environment is put at his disposal. The influence of such a dispensary is simply incalculable. It can often ascertain a case and completely oure it, or it may avert infection, and in so doing it may make it totally unnecessary to apply for treatment in a sanatorium. After such treatment, a case can be adequately watched with a view to the prevention of a relapse. The dispensary is, in fact, a clearing house on a large scale, and it recognises the medical and economic fact that a large proportion of patients, or potential patients, can be best treated in their own homes. To those of our readers who wish to study the subject further, we should advise them to examine some of the records of these dispensaries. They will then realise how important it is that their work should be supported by the State and brought into harmony with the scheme of sanatoria. In no department of public health is there more urgent need for co-ordination than in that concerned with the campaign against tuberculosis. LAW LIBRARY. BOOKS RECEIVED. Cransdell on Copyright in relation to Cinematography. Ganes, 85, Shaftesbury-avenue, W. P.ice 6d. Chitty's Statutes of Pra lical Utility. Vol. 2. Sixth Edition. Sweet and Maxwell Limited, 3, Chancery-lane; Stevens and Sons Limited, 119 and 120, Chancery-lane. PARLIAMENTARY SUMMARY. THE LATE JUDGE WILLIS IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. (From our Parliamentary Correspondent.) THE death of His Honour Judge Willis, K.C., will recall to recollection the fact that as member for Colchester he was a breezy personality in the House of Commone from 1880 till 1885. He had a profound knowledge of constitutional practice and history which he applied to the politics of the day in a manner which was at once forcible and original. Only a few months ago, in a letter to the lay Press, dealing with the matter on strictly constitutional grounds, he urged from the precedent of the action of Sir Robert Peel in relation to the legislation introduced as the result of the Anti-Corn Law agitation, which had the approval of the Duke of Wellington, that a fresh appeal to the country for its direct sanction of proposals to be embodied in a statute for the bringing of the House of Lords into harmony with the House of Commons was not requisite on constitutional grounds nor demanded in accordance with the very strictest conformity to the rules of constitutional morality. In the House of Commons his speeches abounded with recondite learning and attack on "wise saws" with a daring amounting to iconoclasm. He thus met the argument, advanced in the debates on Parliamentary reform in 1884, that people did not want votes unless they could be heard in the House of Commons. We quote from Hansard of the 8th Nov. 1884 : - Personally, he did not value the vote any the less because for twenty years he had voted in three constituencies and had never voted for a successful candidate. He was satisfied because in other constituencies candidates had been returned who did represent his views. But if there was anything in the argument about voices being heard, it surely applied to a majority of 130 in the House of Commons having their votes neutralised by a majority of 560 elsewhere.'" On more than one occasion Judge Willis in his very direct way in the House of Commons showed a remarkable foresight as to the tendency of political thought and movements. A generation ago in the House of Commons, speaking on the 24th Aug. 1881, he thus outlined a scheme of Imperial Federation which has now come within the sphere of practical politics: "It was said that England could not have her institutions Americanised by sanctioning any system of Federalism. Why, they had the authority of Lord Beaconsfield for saying that the next century would see the whole of Europe federalised that Federalism was the politics of the future. Why, then, should not Ireland enjoy a federal union with England such as was enjoyed by Canada, the Cape of Good Hope, and the other colonies of England? That was what was demanded, and it would be for the mutual benefit of England and Ireland if her demand were complied with. Federation would also be equally beneficial to Scotland and Wales, and, when they wanted it, Irishmen would assist them; but they did not press it upon them if they did not feel the necessity for it." Mr. Willis was so much of a voice crying in the wilderness in the enunciation of these sentiments, which to-day are very widely entertained, that during the speech from which the foregoing extract has been taken an attempt was made to count out the House of Commons on the ground of deficiency in the number of members prescribed by Parliamentary law as a quorum. Then, again, the following resolution, of which he gave notice on the 28th June 1884, and for which he, of course, obtained no opportunity for discussion, embodied, albeit unconsciously, the principal arguments used in criticism of the action of the House of Lords in the rejection of the Finance Bill in Nov. 1909: "That it is necessary to declare that the House of Lords in rejecting the Representation of the People Bill for the purpose of forcing toe Ministers of the Crown to dissolve Parliament has abused its authority, encroached on the prerogative of the Crown, and assailed the independence of this House.' And then the learned judge, who in his Parliamentary days so strongly anticipated the sentiments of the political party of which he was a member, was not merely before his time, but very considerably behind it. He was a laudator temporis acti, and the period from which he took his heroes was unquestionably the time of the Long Parliament, to whose doings he made frequent and eulogistic reference. On the 21st March 1884 he moved the following resolution : That the legislative power of the bishops in the House of Peers is a great hindrance to the discharge of their spiritual function, prejudicial to the Commonwealth, and fit to be taken away by Bill." This curiously worded resolution Judge Willis gloried in having appropriated from the proceedings of the Long Parliament. "In March 1641," he said, "a like resolution was accepted, and the men who passed it included such illustrious names as Hyde, who was a devoted partisan of Charles I., Falkland, Selden, Hampden, Pym, and Vane, and, last but not least, the name of a man whose name would be for ever associated with the cause of civil and religious freedomOliver Cromwell." These extracts prove that Judge Willis, alike in the House of Commons and on the Benob, was essentially an outspoken and courageous personality who never shrank from the expression of opinions he honestly held because they were not popular at the time and might be denounced as visionary and impracticable. His individuality was marked, and his thoroughness of purpose and devotion to principle gained him the respect of all sorts and conditions of men COUNTY COURTS. SITTINGS OF THE COURTS. FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, SEPT. 16. Aberdare, Monday Aberystwyth, Wednesday, at 10 Birmingham, Monday, Tuesday, * Bourne, Saturday, at 10.30 Grays Thurrock, Wednesday, at 11 Langport, Wednesday, at 10.30 Leicester, Friday (R. By), at 11 Liverpool, Monday (P. E. By), at Market Bosworth,* Thursday, at 1 Mountain Ash, Tuesday Norwich, Monday, Tuesday, and Nuneaton, Friday, at 9 Oldham, Thursday, at 9.30; Friday (By), at 11; Saturday (J.S. & A.O.), at 9.30 Oswestry, Friday, at 10 Ramsgate, Wednesday, at 10 Rochdale, Friday (J.S.), at 9.30 Sandbach, Tuesday, at 2 Sandwich, Friday, at 10.45 Scunthorpe, Monday, at 10 Southend, Thursday and Friday, at Yarmouth, Thursday and Friday. *Other sittings are specially fixed if necessary. GENERAL INTELLIGENCE. THE LAWYERS OF CHARLES DICKENS. Esther describes him as a sallow man with pinched lips that look as if they were cold, a red eruption here and there upon his face, tall and thin, about fifty years of age, high-shouldered and stooping. Dressed in black, black-gloved and buttoned to the chin, there was nothing so remarkable in him as a lifeless manner, and a slow fixed way, he had of looking at Richard." Can't you see him expounding to Richard in his "buttoned-up halfaudible voice ?—— 66 What are you to do, sir, you inquire, during the vacation. I should hope you gentlemen of the army may find many means of amusing yourselves, if you give your minds to it. If you had asked me what I was to do during the vacation, I could have answered you more readily. I am to attend to your interests. I am to be found here, day by day, attending to your interests. That is my duty, Mr. C.; and term time or vacation makes no difference to me. If you wish to consult me as to your interests, you will find me here at all times alike. Other profesNot that I blame them for going; sional men go out of town. I don't. I merely say, I don't go. This desk is your rock, sir." It would be well, if there were time, to make some mention of Mr. But it is Guppy, the efficient young clerk of Kenge and Carboy. evident we must dismiss him with the little touch we all so well understand that he reveals when he goes down to inspect the portraits in Chesney Wold: "Us London lawyers don't often get an out; and when we do, we like to make the most of it, you know.' 66 Perhaps this law-laden story cannot be better dismissed than by quoting Esther's short description of the Court of Chancery-so obivously accurate and true, that it has considerable historical value: When we came to the court, there was the Lord Chancellor sitting in his great state and gravity, on the bench, with the mace and seals on a red table below him, and an immense flat nosegay, like a Below the table, again, little garden, which scented the whole court. was a long row of solicitors, with bundles of papers on the matting at their feet; and then there were the gentlemen of the Bar in wigs and gowns-some awake and some asleep, and one talking and nobody paying much attention to what he said. The Lord Chancellor leaned back in his very easy chair, with his elbow on the cushioned arm, and his forehead resting on his hand; some of those who were present dozed ; some read the newspapers; some walked about or whispered in groups; all seemed perfectly at their ease, by no means in a hurry, very unconcerned, and extremely comfortable." "Hard Times" is lawyerless-a serious groping of the author in response to the serious call of humanity, and in that respect a distinct departure from anything he had previously done. It was followed by "Little Dorrit," which to say the truth, is apt to bore the real lover of Dickens. It is a book with a purpose, but am I guilty of lèse-majesté when I say that the purpose is rather too heavily rubbed in? It contains an amusing and satirical sketch of a typical hanger-on at fashionable dinners, called Bar. "The engaging young Barnacle was the first arrival; but Bar overtook him on the staircase. Bar, strengthened as usual with his double eye-glass and his little jury droop, was overjoyed to see the engaging young Barnacle; and opined that he was going to sit in banco, as we lawyers called it, to take a special argument. 66 6 Indeed,' said the sprightly young Barnacle, whose name was Ferdinand, how so?' Nay,' smiled Bar. If you don't know, how can I know? You are in the innermost sanctuary of the temple; I am one of the admiring concourse on the plain without.'" 66 Bar could be light in hand, or heavy in hand according to the customer he had to deal with. With Ferdinand Barnacle he was gossamer. Bar was always modest and self-depreciatory-in his way. Bar was a man of great variety; but one leading thread ran through the woof of his patterns. Every man with whom he had to do was in his eyes a juryman; and he must get that juryman over if he could. "Our illustrious host and friend,' said Bar, our shining mercantile star; going into politics?' • Going? He has been in Parliament some time, you know,' returned the engaging young Barnacle. “True,' said Bar, with his light comedy laugh for special jury men; which was a very different thing from his low comedy laugh for comic tradesmen on common juries; he has been in Parliament for some time. Yet hitherto our star has been a vacillating and wavering star? Humph?' An average witness would have been seduced by the Humph? into an affirmative answer. But Ferdinand Barnacle looked knowingly at Bar as they strolled upstairs, and gave him no answer at all. "Just so, just so,' said Bar, nodding his head, for he was not to be put off in that way, and therefore I spoke of our sitting in banco to take a special argument-meaning this to be a high and solemn occasion, when, as Captain Macheath says, the judges are met; a terrible show! We lawyers are sufficiently liberal, you see, to quote the Captain, though the Captain is severe upon us."" There are several passages of this kind, but we must leave the scenes of the frail, fatuous old Father of the Marshalsea and pass on to Dickens' concise and masterly essay in historical romanticism-the dignified and eloquent "Tale of Two Cities." The picture of the sublimely self-sacrificing, dissipated, ambitionless Carton, furnishing the brains and ingenuity for the strident, pushing, and successful Stryver, is one whose appeal is never lost on the lawyers of any day and generation. Mr. Stryver, a man of little more than thirty, but looking twenty years older than he was, stout, loud, red, bluff, and free from any drawback of delicacy, had a pushing way of shouldering himself (morally and physically) into companies and conversations that argued well for his shouldering his way up in life." Listen, then, to Sydney Carton, as he dines with the man whom his resourceful daring wit of applying a striking physical similarity in himself to confuse a witness had saved from the clutches of the law. "Do you feel, yet, but that you belong to this terrestrial scheme again, Mr. Darnay? I am frightfully confused regarding time and place; but I am so far mended as to feel that.' "It must be an immense satisfaction!' He said it bitterly, and filled up his glass again, which was a large one. "As to me, the greatest desire I have is to forget that I belong to it. It has no good in it for me-except wine like this-nor I for it. So we are not much alike in that particular. Indeed, I begin to think we are not much alike in any particular, you and I.' sir. "I think you have been drinking, Mr. Carton.' 646 Think? You know I have been drinking.' 66 6 'Since I must say so, I know it.' "Then you shall likewise know why. I am a disappointed drudge, I care for no man on earth, and no man on earth cares for me.' But as Dickens says, Those were drinking days, and most men drank hard. So very great is the improvement Time has brought about in such habits, that a moderate statement of the quantity of wine and punch which one man would swallow in the course of a night, without any detriment to his reputation as a perfect gentleman, would seem, in these days, a ridiculous exaggeration." The following contrast between Stryver and Carton, and how the former progressed on the peculiar talents of the latter, is admirably drawn. "It had once been noted at the Bar that while Mr. Stryver was a glib man, and an unscrupulous, and a ready, and a bold, he had not that faculty of extracting the essence from a heap of statements, that is among the most striking and necessary of the advocate's accomplishments. But a remarkable improvement came upon him as to this. The more business he got, the greater his power seemed to grow of getting at its pith and marrow; and however late at night he sat carousing with Sydney Carton, he always had his points at his fingers' ends in the morning. "Sydney Carton, idlest and most unpromising of men, was Stryver's great ally. What the two drank together between Hilary Term and Michaelmas might have floated a king's ship. Stryver never had a case in hand, anywhere, but Carton was there with his hands in his pockets, staring at the ceiling of the court; they went the same circuit, and even there they prolonged their usual orgies late into the night, and Carton was rumoured to be seen at broad day, going home stealthily and unsteadily to his lodgings like a dissipated cat. At last, it began to get about, among such as were interested in the matter, that although Sydney Carton would never be a lion, he was an amazingly good jackal, and that he rendered suit and service to Stryver in that humble capacity." This is the way it was done : "The lion then composed himself on his back on a sofa on one side of the drinking-table, while the jackal sat at his own paper-bestrewn table proper, on the other side of it, with the bottles and glasses ready to his hand. Both resorted to the drinking-table without stint, but each in a different way; the lion for the most part reclining with his hands in his waistband, looking at the fire, or occasionally flirting with some lighter document; the jackal, with knitted brows and intent face, so deep in his task, that his eyes did not even follow the hand he stretched out for his glass-which often groped about for a minute or more before it found the glass for his lips. Two or three times the matter in hand became so knotty that the jackal found it imperative on him to get up and steep his towels anew. From these pilgrimages to the jug and basin, he returned with such eccentricities of damp head-gear as no words can describe, which were made the more ludicrous by his anxious gravity. "At length the jackal had got together a compact repast for the lion, and proceeded to offer it to him. The lion took it with care and caution, made his selections from it, and his remarks upon it, and the jackal assisted both. When the repast was fully discussed, the lion put his hands in his waist band again and lay down to meditate. The jackal then invigorated himself with a bumper for his throttle and a fresh application to his head, and applied himself to the collection of a second meal; this was administered to the lion in the same manner, and was not disposed of until the clocks struck three in the morning. 666 'And now we have done, Sydney, fill a bumper of punch,' said Mr. Stryver. The jackal removed the towels from his head, which had been steaming again, shook himself, yawned, shivered, and complied. 666 You were very sound, Sydney, in the matter of those Crown witnesses to-day. Every question told.' 66 6 I always am sound; am I not? "I don't gainsay it. What has roughened your temper? Put some punch to it, and smooth it again.' But why follow the scene further? Why follow the wasted desert of forces to his neglected bed where he throws himself down, to dream of the golden-haired doll in the court whom he had purposely disparaged to Stryver-on a pillow wet with wasted tears.' 66 Sadly, sadly, the sun rose; it rose upon no sadder sight than the man of good abilities and good emotions, incapable of their directed exercise, incapable of his own help and his own happiness, sensible of the blight on him and resigning himself to let it eat him away." There is no need for words of mine to carry the picture forward. Everyone knows the tale of love and sacrifice that Dickens so artfully and beautifully has told. How this ill-directed drunken failure of a man gave up his love and gave up his useless life that another might fulfil his much more rational destiny. No wonder it was said about the city that night of his death, that his face looked sublime and prophetic." What lawyer even in our own day who cannot feel and understand this bitter, bitter story of misdirected emasculated ambition, in far greater measure than those who have never known the gnawing pursuit of oneself by oneself, when one has fallen by the wayside in the profession of the law! We know and best understand the, unspoken thought of Carton with which the book closes, as he goes to lay his head beneath the cruel knife: It is a far, far better thing that I do; than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to, than I have ever known." We come now to what, in the judgment of this reviewer, is the finest and greatest book that Dickens ever wrote-" Great Expectations." Its art is more perfect, its humour more mature, its dramatic power more consistent, its balance and form, its morality, and its analysis of human character, more assured. Of special pertinence to this paper, it contains the best-drawn lawyer character that Dickens ever attempted-Mr. Jaggers. To us with whom the practice of criminal law has degenerated and descended for the most part into the hands of a few jury-bribing jackanapes and smart Alecks, this man of power and force and domination is superb and refreshing. It is no ideal picture that the author draws-but a big, bullying, able, forceful man, at once the idol and the terror of the unfortunate classes upon whose crimes and misdemeanours he builded his fame. The indecisive Pip, scarce more than a child, encounters this strange guardian of his on the stairs of Miss Havisham's house. "He was a burly man of an exceedingly dark complexion with an exceedingly large head and a corresponding large hand. He took my chin in his large hand and turned up my face to have a look at me by the light of the candle. He was prematurely bald on the top of his head, and had bushy black eyebrows that wouldn't lie down, but stood up bristling. His eyes were set very deep in nis head, and were dis agreeably sharp and suspicious. He had a large watch-chain, and strong black dots where his beard and whiskers would have been if he had let them." Now let us have a glimpse of Mr. Jaggers' workshop: Mr. Jaggers' room was lighted by a skylight only, and was a most dismal place; the skylight, eccentrically patched like a broken head and the distorted adjoining houses looking as if they had twisted them. selves to peep down at me through it. There were not so many papers about as I should have expected to see; and there were some odd objects about that I should not have expected to see-such as an old rusty pistol, a sword in a scabbard, several strange-looking boxes and packages, and two dreadful casts on a shelf, of faces peculiarly swollen, and twitchy about the nose. Mr. Jaggers' own high-backed chair was of deadly black horse-hair, with rows of brass nails around it like a coffin; and I fancied I could see how he leaned back in it, and bit his forefinger at the clients. The room was but small, and the clients seemed to have had a habit of backing up against the wall; the wall, especially opposite to Mr. Jaggers' chair, being greasy with shoulders." Now for Mr. Jaggers in action: "First he took the two secret men. 666 'Now I have nothing to say to you,' said Mr. Jaggers, throwing his finger at them. I want to know no more than I know. As to the result, it's a toss-up. Have you paid Wemmick ? ' "We made the money up this morning, sir,' said one of the men submissively, while the other perused Mr. Jaggers' face. "I don't ask you when you made it up, or where, or whether you made it up at all. Has Wemmick got it?' 66 6 66 6 'Yes, sir,' said both men together. Very well, then you may go. Now, I won't have it!' said Mr. Jaggers, waving his hand at them to put them behind him. If you say a word to me, I'll throw up the case.' "We thought, Mr. Jaggers--one of the men began, pulling off his hat. "There was nothing very surprising in that; but again I was rather surprised, when he said, as if he were animated by a brilliant idea: Let's go in !'" 66 666 A couple of pairs of gloves were strangely found in his pocket, and then, to cap the climax, Halloa!" said Wemick. Here's Miss Skiffins. Let's have a wedding." And so a wedding was had, and like all Wemmick's good deeds, was to be carefully kept from Mr. Jaggers. 'He might think my brain was softening, or something of the kind." The last complete book of Dickens, "Our Mutual Friend," is a strange mixture of his new manner and his old vein-and is on the whole rather unsatisfactory. Compared with the great artistry of its predecessor, it is confused and unconvincing. Its mystery refuses to mystify. For our purposes it contains two hitherto untouched types of legal gentlemen-the rather purposeless and decidedly indolent young men about town, Mortimer Lightwood and Eugene Wrayburn. They represent the society side of the law-but their worthlessness is not really as deep-seated as their own polite patter would indicate. Their manner of speech doubtless reflects the affectation of their class and of their day. Let me see,' said Mortimer as they went along; I have been upon the honourable roll of solicitors of the High Court of Chancery, and attorneys at common law, five years; and except gratuitously taking instructions, on an average once a fortnight, for the will of Lady Tiffins who has nothing to leave-I have had no scrap of business but this romantic business.' 666 'Your man comes you.' 'Well, Mas'r Jaggers,' returned Mike, in the voice of a sufferer from a constitutional cold; 'arter a deal o' trouble, I've found one, sir, as might do.' "What is he prepared to swear?' "Well, Mas'r Jaggers,' said Mike, wiping his nose on his fur cap this time; in a general way, anythink.' "Mr. Jaggers suddenly became most irate. Now, I warned you before,' said he, throwing his forefinger at the terrified client, that if ever you presumed to talk in that way here, I'd make an example of You infernal scoundrel, how dare you tell me that?' you. Take him past that window and let me see him.' "The window indicated, was the outer office window. We all three went to it, behind the wire blind, and presently saw the client go by in an accidental manner, with a murderous-looking tall individual, in a short suit of white linen, and a paper cap. This guileless confectioner was not by any means sober, and had a black eye in the green stage of recovery, which was painted over. "Tell him to take his witness away directly,' said my guardian to the clerk, in extreme disgust, and ask him what he means by bringing such a fellow as that.' It is a pity one cannot follow this really superb piece of character drawing further. He is worthy of appreciative study. On the whole, we cordially agree with Wemmick, after he and Pip had dined with Mr. Jaggers: Well,' said Wemmick, that's over! He's a wonderful man, without his living likeness; but I feel that I have to screw myself up when I dine with him-and I dine more comfortably unscrewed.' "I felt that was a good statement of the case, and told him so." The clerk Wemmick is really delicious, too. This man, who is the devoted slave and whipper-in for his imperious master, becomes when he goes home and leaves the office behind, a most filial and delightful and humane character. He lives in an extraordinary house, fortified like a castle, with drawbridge and moat, and evening gun for the delight of his harmlessly childish and deaf old father. "Is it your own, Mr. Wemmick ?' Oh, yes,' said Wemmick. "Is it, indeed? hope Mr. Jaggers admires it.' 66 6 'Never seen it,' said Wemmick. Never heard of it. Never seen the Aged. Never heard of him. No; the office is one thing, and private life is another. When I go into the office, I leave the castle behind me, and when I come into the castle, I leave the office behind me.'" With this bit of philosophy, time compels us to leave the excellent Wemmick-although one would like to dwell for a moment on his delightfully casual wedding. After a little luncheon, Wemmick picks up a fishing rod. I hate,' said Eugene, putting his legs on the opposite seat, 'I hate my profession.' **Shall I incommode you if I put up mine too?' returned Mortimer. Thank you, I hate mine.' "It was forced upon me,' said Mortimer, because it was understood that we wanted a solicitor in the family. And we have got a precious one.' . "Then idiots talk,' said Eugene, leaning back, folding his arms, smoking with his eyes shut, and speaking slightly through his nose, of Energy.' If there is a word in the dictionary under any letter from A. to Z. that I abominate, it is energy. It is such a conventional superstition, such parrot gabble! What the deuce! Am I to rush out into the street, collar the first man of a wealthy appearance that I meet, shake him and say, "Go to law upon the spot, you dog, and retain me, or I'll be the death of you?" Yet that would be energy.' And it is likely enough that ten thousand other young men, within the limits of the London Post-office town delivery, made the same hopeful remark in the course of the same evening." We all know, though, how they both became involved in the mystery of John Harmon's disappearance. We all know how they both showed they had real stuff in them, in spite of foppish disclaimer-in spite of Eugene's purposeless pursuit of Lizzie Hexam, and brutal badgering of the half-insane Bradley Headstone. The whirl of events showed them both true men, and brought to them in time, it is hoped, though the story does not disclose it, the fruits of energy appropriately directed, even in the business of the law. It was said at the start that the range of legal characters conceived by Dickens was very wide. We have seen the trim, trig, and ordinary in Mr. Perker; the contingent fee sharpers in Dodson and Fogg; the bullying pettifogging in Serjeant Buzfuz; the commonplace, hard-working. cunning barrister in Serjeant Snubbin; the sloppy, down-in-the-heel bankruptcy braggart in Solomon Pell; the reprobate magistrate in Fang; incarnate villainy in Sampson Brass; the faithless humble hypocrite in Uriah Heep; the weak, ineffective, and unfortunate man of promise in Wickfield; the ingenious humbug in Spenlow, and his incompetent partner, Jorkins; the faithful, assiduous old-fashioned family solicitor in Mr. Tulkinghorn; the self-satisfied legal narcissus in Kenge; the eminently respectable expert Chancery cunctator in Vholes; the sublime sacrifice of the brilliant jackal in Carton; the strident, successful, and shouldering barrister in Stryver; the great, forceful, bullying master of criminal law in Jaggers; and the social legal dilettante in Lightwood and in Wrayburn. What is there left? Notice, too, that each is a distinct type, complete and disassociated in its setting. Only the other day I read of some modern Buzfuz fulminating against what he called the "cheap caricatures" of Dickens as libels on our noble profession. The fact of the matter is that any lawyer who takes himself too seriously to appreciate Dickens' art-true shafts of humour when directed at as vulnerable a point as so many of our brethren present, deserves a specially reserved spot in the lower regions. He certainly has no place amid the great majority. Dickens' weapon was ridicule-after all the most effective disturber of social weaknesses. It was what made Molière one of the world's greatest writers. The comparison of Dickens with the great Frenchman is suggestive. As Molière made mad to their own destruction those very few social sinners whom he did not overwhelm with delight, so Dickens holds up to wholesome ridicule the objects of his keen observation among a profession that is certainly open to attack, but whose back is usually broad enough to laugh with the rest of the world, as it attempts to sit a little bit straighter in response to the artist's wit. No lawyer, it seems to me, can really afford to take offence at Dickens' art, or Dickens' method. Call his creations caricatures, or call them rich, red, human characters; we know them all; we ought to understand them all. It has not been possible to touch upon every man of the law or characteristic scene that Dickens has woven into his treatment of legal subjects. If, in this very fragmentary way, I may have stirred some of you to wander back into half-forgotten fields of fragrant memory, I have accomplished my object. It is appropriate on the approach of the great man's centennial, that we should express anew in some such way, if in no other, our gratitude for the gift of his genius to the world. Chicago, Illinois. GEORGE PACKARD. THE PERMANENT COURT AT THE HAGUE. By Dr. ALGERNON S. CRAPSEY. (From Case and Comment.) THE 22nd July should, and doubtless in due time will, be set apart as a holiday by the people of all nations. On that day men, women, and children of every land, leaving their common tasks, will celebrate with pomp and ceremony, with dance and song, the anniversary of one of the most important, if not the most important event in the political and social life of man on the earth. For on the 22nd July in the year 1899, twenty-eight sovereign States, including all the great Powers of Europe, Asia, and North America, took order to establish a permanent court of international jurisdiction to try and determine questions that might from time to time arise between the nations and threaten the peace of the world. This action was taken by the duly accredited representatives of the signatory Powers at the Peace Conference held in The House in the Wood (Huisten Bosch) at The Hague on the day and year above recorded, that will be henceforth memorable in the history of the world. The significance of this event will be seen more and more clearly as time goes on. Men of the future will look back to it as we Americans look back to the Declaration of Independence. It marks a new era in time. Before this event, war was the court of last resort between the nations, and all international questions of a critical nature were settled by the ordeal of battle. Brute force sat in the seat of judgment, and might, not right, ruled in that forum. Before the establishment of the Permanent Court of International Justice at The Hague, each nation, as an attribute of its sovereignty, claimed the right to be the final judge in its own quarrels. That which every nation has long since denied to every citizen under its rule, it has until now claimed, and even yet in a measure claims, as an inalienable natural right. It has long since been established as a principle of jurisprudence that no man may be a judge and a party in the same cause. The slightest personal interest in the question at bar incapacitates a man from acting as judge in any given case. By the establishment of the Permanent Court at The Hague, the sovereign Powers have taken a great step toward the recognition of this principle as binding upon the nations, even as the nations have made it binding upon individuals. The saying that the King can do no wrong is obsolete. It does not and cannot apply to the relations of the various nations each to the other. Nations are only enlarged personalities. Their actions, like the actions of individual men and women, have a moral quality, are good or bad, are just or unjust, and must come for judgment to the bar of a court where each nation shall be the equal of every other nation; where there shall be no respect of persons, but every question shall be decided upon its merits as justice and equity may demand. In creating the Permanent Court at The Hague, the nations acknowledged their own moral fallibility. They abandoned, each for itself, the doctrine of absolute sovereignty; they acknowledged the oversovereignty of the world. In the modern world no nation can be absolute unless it can conquer all other nations and hold them in subjection, or unless it can build a wall around itself and isolate itself from all other peoples. But neither of these courses is possible in the modern world. The age-long Western dream of universal empire, and the equally age-long Eastern dream of absolute isolation, are passing into the waking consciousness of a world life in which nationality, like personality, is an indestructible factor. The world might as well think to flourish by destroying its nations, as a nation to flourish by destroying its personalities. The Western night. mare of universal conquest, and the Eastern pipe dreams of complacent self-sufficiency, are both merging into the world consciousness, wherein all the nations come to know themselves, each in its relation to other nations, not as foreigners and foremen, but as members one of another and brothers in the household of man. Brain v. Brawn. The signatory Powers at The Hague were compelled to do as they did by a power greater than themselves. They were forced to their action by the pressure of the growing intelligence of mankind. The old method of settling international disputes by an appeal to arms has long been condemned by the enlightened thought of the world. It is a survival in the modern world and intellectual era out of the primitive period, when brawn, not brain, ruled among men. Then Herakles, with his big stick, was the typical hero, and the final argument of Joab with Abner was a stab under the fifth rib. Seen in the light of the modern intellect, war is worse than wrong; it is stupid. When men come up against a question, and have not intelligence enough to think it While the intelligence of the world condemns war,' it is at the same time working to make war impossible. The most potent ally of the peace party in the world is natural science. It is hoisting war with its own petard. Modern inventive genius is making the machinery of war so costly and so destructive, that the nations can no longer afford to indulge in this pastime. The Peace Conference at The Hague was called to action by the fact that the appalling expenses of preparation for war on the part of the various Governments are crushing the peoples of all lands into ever deeper and deeper misery. Modern science has not only made war expensive, it has also made it uninteresting. The modern soldier can find no exhilaration in lving on the ground and shooting at a speck a mile away. The lust of killing is gone, and a battle-field is as stupid as a target practice. War is Bad Form. To the modern man war is not only disgraceful, it is disgusting. Butchery of all kinds is growing more and more distasteful to the refined soul. The grossness of the ancient and medieval worlds is shocking to the men and women of to-day. It is bad form to give a man a bloody nose, to blow out his brains, or disembowel him. Modern realism is the deadly foe of war. It sees the battle-field not as a scene of glory, but as a spectacle of horror. It is no longer the business of a gentleman to fight; he leaves that kind of thing to the bully and the bravo. The Immediate Cause of The Hague Court. The Hague Court had its origin in the financial necessities of the Russian Government. One day, it is said, the Minister of War in the Russian Cabinet came to the Minister of Finance and said: "All Europe is arming with a new rifle; we must have the same weapon or be at disadvantage." The Minister of Finance said: "We have no money." The Minister of War said: "We must see the Czar." The Czar said: I will call upon the nations to agree not to purchase new weapons, and so I will save my money.' Such is the legend concerning the calling of the first Peace Conference at The Hague. Whether this legend be true or not, it is a fact that His Imperial Majesty did on the 4th Aug. 1898, through his Minister of Foreign Affairs, address the diplomatic representatives accredited to his court, in which address he declared: "The maintenance of general peace, and a possible reduction of the excessive armaments which weigh upon all nations, present themselves, in the existing conditions of the whole world, as the ideal toward which the endeavours of all nations should be directed." With these and many like words, "The Hercules of Nations, shaggy browed, invited the nations to join with him in a conference that should consider the ways and means of settling the disputes of nations by some method less expensive, less destructive, and less brutal than war. This invitation of the Czar met with an eager response, and in the following year the accredited representatives of the various nations then in diplomatic relations with the Czar met in the Huisten Bosch, at The Hague, to take order for the peace of the world. The South American Republies, not having representatives at the Imperial Court of Petersburg, were not participants in the first Hague Conference, but they were among the first to take advantage of its Permanent Court of International Justice and were duly and properly represented in the second Peace Conference at The Hague in 1907. The first conference was, in effect, a world congress, having delegated powers from the various Governments to discuss and determine certain matters of common concern. This congress considered many subjects and issued various recom mendations, rescripts, and declarations for the information and guidance of the nations. But the most important act of the congress was the creation of a Permanent Court of International Justice to try and determine disputes between nations and causes between individuals of different nationalities. The Constitution of the Court. The first difficulty in the way of the creation of the desired tribunal was the personnel of the court itself. It was evident that the nations could not each have a member upon this permanent court. Such & body would be unwieldy and ineffective. It was equally evident that there was no electorate nor appointing Power which could choose out of the world men competent to sit upon so august a tribunal. The congress showed great wisdom in meeting this difficulty. It provided that each of the signatory Powers should appoint four men of ability, versed in international law, as members of this court. When any nations having matters in dispute wish to avail themselves of this court, then each of them is to choose one or two men out of this body of judges, and these are to choose a third, or if there be four, a fifth as umpire, which umpire, according to the original articles, was ex officio presiding judge of the court. This provision was, however, changed at the instance of the first court, to come into existence under the new provisions, and the umpire is now simply one of the judges, of equal rank with the rest, and the court is free to choose its own presiding judge. By means of this expedient, while the court is permanent, the judges who try any given case are chosen for that occasion out of the whole |