



1831.] Affairs in General 201 



repulsive nature. We do not deal in scandal ; and we, therefore, leave 

 the details to others. But we have her galloping about Syria in men's 

 clothes, praising Mahometanism, and indulging in all sorts of extra- 

 vagant and foolish eccentricities; and this woman's fooleries we are 

 forced to pamper at the rate of ] ,200. a year ! Infinitely better would 

 it be for her, if she were compelled by necessity to recollect that she 

 had other matters to do than indulge in her foreign vanities and Mussul- 

 man nonsense, and make herself a show and burlesque to strangers. 

 The instant stoppage of her pension would be the most salutary lesson 

 that she could get ; and if she wore fewer pairs of Turkish trowsers, or 

 rode astride on a less imperial stud, she would be only the better for the 

 restriction. But the whole system must be revised. 



It is a curious circumstance that in the Law Establishment, if we may 

 so call it, of England, which ought to be the defence against all abuses, 

 there are perhaps more abuses, more licensed and long-standing sources 

 of public plunder, than in any other department of public administra- 

 tion. The Commission on the Irish Law Courts and their sinecures, a 

 few years ago, disclosed abuses of such an inordinate nature, that the 

 public were in a state of general indignation ; and the prominent pecu- 

 lations were obliged to undergo some kind of deduction. The state of 

 the English law sinecures, the great clerkships and reversions, the 

 Doctors' Commons,, and Testamentary Offices, still affords a fine field for 

 revision ; and we hope that some member of Parliament will be found 

 honest and active enough to sift the business to the bottom. 



But the Bankrupt Commissioners are now the more immediate griev- 

 ance. The subject was largely discussed in a late meeting of merchants 

 and traders, at the London Tavern, for the purpose of bringing some 

 proposition on the subject before Parliament. Mr. Bousfield observed, 

 " That, in the first place, though some of the commissioners might be 

 able men, most of them were unfit, by age, &c. for their offices. That 

 their charges were enormous for their work ; the number of bankrupts, 

 between 1 824 and 1830 inclusive, being averaged at 7^7 a year, while 

 the sums received by the commissioners, in pay and fees, were 40,000. 

 a year ! The meeting declared the system to be ruinous to the trader, 

 as involving both unnecessary expense and loss of time. That the 

 bankrupt fees, from 1811 to 1826, amounted to 114,000! and, more- 

 over, that the fees of the Secretary of Bankrupts, for 1830, amounted 

 to 10,000. ! That in nine cases out of ten, the effects of debtors were 

 swallowed up by law proceedings." 



All this argues an intolerable system ; but then we are to recollect that 

 there are fourteen sets, or " Lists," of Bankrupt Commissioners, amount- 

 ing to, we believe, about seventy persons, who receive, as the least 

 salary, 300. a year, to say nothing of the fees. Will this patronage 

 be given up without a struggle ? We strongly doubt. Well, then, 

 those who are on the right side must only struggle the more. 



In one of the multitude of duodecimo-libraries we find the following 

 apocryphal story : 



"In 1534 Blasco de Garay, a captain of a ship, offered to the Emperor 

 Charles V. to construct a machine capable of propelling large vessels even in 

 a calm, and without the aid of sails or oars. In spite of the opposition which 

 his project met with, the Emperor consented to witness the experiment, and 



M.M. New Series VOL. XI. No. 62. 2 D 



