570 NOTBS AND EVENTS OF THE MONTH. 



tithes, receivable by him ; and, as this reduction was unsolicited and 

 unexpected by the tithe-payers, the liberal conduct of his Lordship has 

 been much vaunted by the church-in-danger people. But, without 

 making any detracting insinuation, we would desire to know whether 

 the clergy have any right to make such gratuitous deductions. Tithes, 

 we are told, are an imposition upon the laity, intended not only for the 

 support of the clergy, but for providing that body with a fund from 

 which donative distributions might be made among the necessitous 

 brethren of the several churches, at the discretion of the dispensers. So 

 that these liberal deductions (handsome as they appear in print) are, in 

 reality, either a positive loss to the needy of the flock, or a proof that the 

 clergy are in receipt of a greater share of the wages of unrighteouness 

 than they actually require for the support of their calling : and it does 

 really seem to us that, if tithes be of the divine ordinance, and appointed 

 for the purposes which the dignitaries of the church would fain teach us 

 to believe, the clergy have no more right to abridge, modify, or release 

 the payment of tithes, in part, or in whole, than the tithe debtors would 

 have in refusing its payment altogether. The " liberality" in question 

 already originates a wrong ; by whom is it done, and who is the sufferer ? 



INDEPENDENCE OP THIS BAR. The conflicts which occasionally take 

 place between the Bench and Counsel, at some of the minor metropolitan 

 courts, are sorely disgusting ; the parties not only disgrace themselves 

 in the estimation of all right-thinking persons, but bring into contempt 

 the seat of justice itself. It may appear, to a barrister, vastly inde- 

 pendent to bully and defy a high civil functionary to his face ; but the 

 temerity bespeaks very bad taste, and great native vulgarity : it may 

 appear, also, to the court a very dignified leniency to sit quiescent under 

 virulent attacks ; but such patience, though estimable enough in the pri- 

 vate character of a conscientious man, comports not with the respect 

 which is publicly due to his office. We blame both parties : first, and 

 particularly, the advocate, whose insolence gets the better of his discre- 

 tion ; and, secondly, the court, for submitting to an insult, gratuitously 

 offered to the King's Majesty, whose presence, by a fiction of law, is at 

 all times supposed. If a judge be incompetent, partial, or unjust, a per- 

 sonal insult is not the fitting rebuke, neither is it a means of repairing a 

 wrong done to the public service ; a simple representation of the fact, to 

 a superior tribunal, would rectify that error. Or should his manners 

 be haughty, discourteous, or revolting, public opinion would soon 

 impart a better tone to them, without the intervention of open contempt 

 on the part of a hot-headed barrister. A white horse-hair wig, and a 

 black silk gown, are no justification to a person for behaviour within the 

 walls of a law-court, which would insure his expulsion from private society : 

 and, whilst we despise the advocate who could so misdemean himself, 

 we cannot chuse but blame the court (or rather its personal representative), 

 who can passively endure the indignity without taking instant measures 

 to redress such an outrage, by inflicting, on the malapert, summary 

 punishment. 



These exhibitions, indeed, are most common at the sessional courts : 

 and when they do occur, the chief performers are not many. Fortunate 



