40 SMITHSONIAN BEQUEST. 



The Attorney General on the same occasion remarked, that 

 whilst throughout a long course of time the population of 

 England had been increasing six-fold, and her. wealth twenty- 

 fold, the judicial establishments had remained nearly the 

 same, so as to amount almost to a denial of justice. There 

 are only eleven masters in chancery, whilst there are those 

 who tlnnk that double the number would scarcely be suffi- 

 cient for the wants of the court in all the different depart- 

 ments of its business at the present epoch. In the midst of 

 such discouragements, and I am bound to state them as truly 

 such, I still do not despair of having the case of the United 

 States brought to a final and successful close in the course 

 of the ensuing winter or spring; it shall be sooner, if pos- 

 sible, as all obstructions that might once have been thought 

 to imply serious difficulty or danger are, I think, overcome. 

 Nevertheless, no assurance can be given that it will be fin- 

 ished as soon as the latest period mentioned. Should it 

 last even through the winter, and my last letter will have 

 informed you that the next term of the court (the present 

 drawing to a close) will not be held until November, there 

 is reason to believe that the fund created by the act of Con- 

 gress of the 1st of July, 1836, will, through the accruing 

 legal charges and drafts, to which the fund is otherwise 

 liable under your instructions, be exhausted. 

 . In regard to the first legal account, now enclosed, I can 

 only say that I believe it to be reasonable, judged by the 

 standard of similar charges in this country. I felt myself 

 to be an incompetent judge of all the minute items, filling 

 fourteen pages, folio, of an account founded upon the mul- 

 tifarious and artificial proceedings in an English court of 

 chancery; but I went over the whole, judging as well as I 

 could of each, and obtained explanations from the solicitors 

 where I found them necessary. I also sought other aid; I 

 resorted to a citizen of the United States now here, intelli- 

 gent and trustworthy, and conversant with such accounts, 

 from having superintended several suits in which American 

 interests were at stake in English courts. His opinion was 

 decidedly favorable to the justice and even general modera- 

 tion of the items, tried by the precedents of which he had 

 knowledge. These precautions, added to the fair character 

 of the solicitors, and their verification, severally, by my re- 

 quest, of the whole account, in the special manner that will 

 be noticed at the foot of it, afforded the only guarantees I 

 could command for its correctness. 



