, in rising to move the Resolution of which he had given notice, begged to say that he had somewhat altered it from its original form. With regard to the spirit by which he was actuated in bringing it forward, he should say that he wished to show neither favour nor affection to any party. In fact, he knew nothing whatever of the parties who would be affected by it. The great object was to give time and opportunity to such subscribers to railway companies as might be undecided regarding the course they ought to pursue, to consider whether they would wish to carry out their original intentions, or stop short and dissolve the companies they had formed. He thought that subscribers should, under all the circumstances, be allowed time to consider the best course to be adopted. If meetings of shareholders were held, the probability would be that in nine cases out of ten the directors would willingly carry out the wishes of the majority of the subscribers; and the probability was that Parliament would soon pass some law to enable them to break up their companies. But in the present state of the law it was not unnatural that directors, who were responsible for the due appropriation of the funds entrusted to their care, should be unwilling to take upon themselves the performance of any act, the consequence of which might be doubtful. In order, then, to give time to subscribers living in the country to become acquainted with what was proposed, and to take measures for the expression of their opinions, it would be necessary that at least a fortnight should elapse. It might be urged as an objection to the Motion, that in many instances a vast number of witnesses would have to be kept in town at an enormous expense; but when it was considered that most of the Committees of the House would adjourn in the course of to-morrow, until the Monday week following, and that the Resolution extended the time for only another week, that objection could not be considered worthy of any very great consideration. Some parties had gone into a most reckless course of expenditure, and for such he had no pity; but for the remainder the hardship would not be very great for one week. He begged, therefore, to move—

"That all proceedings on Railway Bills in Committees, and in the House, after Thursday next, be postponed until Monday, the 27th day of this instant April."

had no objection to the Motion on general grounds, but there were certain cases which he thought should be excepted from its operation—those in which the proceedings before the Committees on Groups had been brought nearly to a termination, but which could probably not be quite terminated by Thursday. The Committee to which he belonged had nearly terminated the business before it, and it would be very inconvenient to have their proceedings stopped in such a summary manner.

did not think the objection of the noble Lord (Lord Harry Vane) a valid one. If any exception were made, he (Mr. W. Patten) thought it should be in favour of the Scottish Grand Junction Railway—a Bill in favour of which the House had already made exceptions to their Standing Orders for the purpose of expediting it, in order to give employment to the population along the proposed line.

said, that after having carefully considered the whole case, he thought it better that the entire business should stand over as proposed by the noble Lord (Lord Granville Somerset). If any exception were made, it ought to be only in favour of the extensions of the great trunk lines.

called the attention of the House to the consideration of the best possible means for lessening the labour and expense attendant on Private Bills, and for preventing, what he was sorry to say too frequently occurred, the sacrifice of the public interests. He did so on several grounds. But the Sanatory Committee had, in their second Report, embodied all the principles for which he had been contending for some years. They stated in that Report that, as matters had hitherto been arranged, there had been one Bill brought in for the construction of waterworks, one Bill for paving, one Bill for lighting, and one Bill for effecting other improvements—in short, a variety of Bills were brought in for one and the same locality, which had led to great expense to the public, whilst the interests of the public were not properly represented in the passage of such Bills through Parliament. By the Papers which he had moved for, it would appear that in the Session of 1844 there were forty-seven Bills before Parliament, consisting of paving, lighting, police, waterworks, docks, harbours, piers, and market Bills; that in 1845 there were seventy-two such Bills; and that this year there were no less than 134. Notwithstanding the Report of the Sanatory Committee, and the pledge which the Government had given to introduce a Bill for the purpose of carrying out the recommendation of that Committee, there were more waterworks Bills this year than had ever previously been known. He contended that none of those Bills should receive the sanction of Parliament until a Commissioner had been sent down, on the part of Government, to see that works of this description were required, and that evidence should be taken on the spot, where parties who were not interested might be examined upon the subject. It was a well-known fact that the best evidence was not produced before the House. A vast portion of private Bills were introduced upon the testimony of interested persons, whilst the interests of the public at large were almost entirely kept out of view. Instead of this House having to decide upon Bills running counter to each other, the question upon which the decision of the House ought to be asked was, what is the best mode of watering such places as Liverpool and Bristol; and money should not be expended upon such contentions as were now going on in the Committees of this House. There was no reason why a general Bill should not be passed, under which any town wishing to have waterworks might establish them without coming to Parliament at all. The same might be done with respect to Bills for the formation of piers, harbours, and gas works; and he hoped that after the Easter recess, Ministers would be prepared to appoint a Committee to take into consideration the best mode of framing one model Bill for all those different subjects, so that a form would be laid down in accordance with which the parties would draw up their plan, and on submitting it to the inspection of a public officer they should have their Bill agreed to without incurring the enormous expense of coming to that House. Those were the objects he had in view. The hon. Member concluded by moving—

"That a Select Committee be appointed to examine the applications for Local Acts during this Session of Parliament; to examine especially in respect to the Bills for the erection of new Waterworks, Drainage, and Paving and Improvements, according to the recommendations made by the Commissioners of Inquiry into the means of improving the Health of Towns and densely populated districts, and ascertain how far the principle of their recommendations may be carried out in relation to the Bills proposed, and whether any and what measures may be recommended for adoption by the House thereon."

would not detain the House more than a minute. He merely wished to state that he quite agreed with the hon. Member for Montrose, that great public interests were involved in the question he had introduced. Last year, with reference to Enclosure Bills, the Legislature had adopted a principle which had been found to be most advantageous. They had passed a general Bill giving great facilities for passing local enclosure Bills, at the same time reserving to themselves complete control over the particular measures passed in each Session. He must say he thought that principle quite capable of very advantageous extension; and so far from opposing the appointment of such a Committee as that the hon. Member moved for, he thought it would be most advantageous to have it appointed after the Easter recess. With respect to the waterworks, the noble Lord the Member for Plymouth (Lord Ebrington) had done him the honour of calling his attention to the particular subject; and he regretted that his noble Friend Lord Lincoln was not at the present moment a Member of that House, as he had been prepared, on the part of the Government, to introduce a general measure to improve the health of large towns, by the supplying them with water, cleansing, draining them, &c. The effect of the announcement of that measure had been to stimulate speculation on the part of public companies, and a great number of Bills had been introduced in the present Session for the purpose of taking possession of all the great springs which could be obtained under a general measure. With reference to those Bills before the House, he thought it was indispensably necessary to take steps on the part of the Government; and he intended to propose that there should be a clause inserted in each of them, limiting the power of the companies over the springs they might have obtained, so as to give them not an indefeasible title, but only a dependent title contingent on the general measure which might pass. Then, with respect to gas companies' Bills and others of that kind, he thought that the jealousy of Parliament ought to be exercised, and that the Committee should devote their attention to the subject with a view to the benefit of the interests of the community at large. He should be most happy to support the appointment of the Committee.

said, that the right hon. Gentleman having referred to him, he would take the opportunity of saying, that he rejoiced the subject had been brought under the notice of Parliament. The course now indicated by the Government had been taken by them perhaps somewhat later than it ought; but now that they had entered upon it, he hoped the principle it comprised would be extended so as to lead to a general system of legislation with respect to all those matters which were, from the nature of them, monopolies.

wished to ask one of the Lords of the Admiralty a question respecting a retired list of naval officers. About eight months ago, an announcement was made that it was proposed to make a retired list for officers in the navy, and 30,000l. a year was represented as being requisite for that purpose. A circular was then written and sent round by the Lords of the Admiralty, announcing that such a list was to be made out, of 300 captains above the age of 55, and who were to send in their names for that purpose. If this list was not completed, the Admiralty intimated that they would not be bound by their proposition. On the 1st of October, the date when the time of sending in the names expired, only 267 officers had signified their assent. Another circular was issued, with different terms, which was to be filled up by the 1st of January; but he understood that it had not yet been filled up. He wished to know from one of the Lords of the Admiralty present whether the Government had taken any steps to fill up the retired list? Many old officers felt great anxiety on the subject; and he trusted that some explanation would be given as to when it was likely that this arrangement would be carried into effect.

was understood to reply, that the Admiralty had not yet finally decided as to the course which should be taken, but a decision would be formed with as little delay as possible.

said, it might be in the recollection of hon. Members that towards the close of last Session, he had brought under the attention of the House a point connected with the management of the Ecclesiastical Commission for Ireland, which he had thought required the consideration of Government—namely, that the Ecclesiastical Commissioners had the power of selling the Church lands. He conceived that the capital derived from the sale of those lands ought to be invested in the funds, and the interest accruing thereon disposed of by the Commissioners, and not the capital itself. He regretted to say that the Ecclesiastical Commissioners had taken a different view; and up to the 1st of August, 1843, lands had been sold by them to the value of 422,000l. The whole of that sum was gone, spent, and lost for ever to the Church, and the State as the guardian and trustee of that property. The question that he wished to put to the right hon. Gentleman was that of which he had given notice, namely, "whether it were the intention of the Government to take any steps in order to restrain the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for Ireland from expending the capital sums derived from the sale of Church lands, in defraying the annual current charges of the Commission?"

said, the hon. Gentleman, in putting his question, had referred to the Correspondence which he had had the honour of laying on the Table of the House, towards the close of last Session, which had taken place between the Lord Lieutenant and the Ecclesiastical Commissioners of Ireland. From that correspondence it would appear what was the opinion of the Government with respect to the right construction of the Act to which the hon. Gentleman had referred. The Lord Lieutenant had expressed in very strong terms to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, that it was inexpedient to expend the capital arising from the sale of the property, but that it ought to be be invested, and the interest accruing on it only expended. Since that correspondence, a further communication had taken place between the Chief Secretary for Ireland and the Ecclesiastical Commissioners; and he was happy to inform the hon. Member, that in the course of the present year the Commissioners had announced their intention of confining the expenditure to the interest only, and that they would would not expend the capital. More than that, the Ecclesiastical Commission were in debt some 60,000l.; but he was happy to state, that they last week announced their intention of liquidating 10,000l. of it.

wished to know from the hon. the First Lord of the Treasury, whether there would be any objection to lay on the Table the instructions to Sir E. Lyons with respect to the Greek loan. He wished to call the attention of the House to the declaration recently made by the Minister of Finance in Greece, that all interested in the loan should know what they might expect. The Minister for Finance, in addressing the Chamber of Deputies in Greece, said, that he had come down to tell them that the treasury department was in a complete state of disorganization; that there were no accounts of the revenue or expenditure; and that he could not furnish anything in the shape of a budget, in consequence of the dishonesty of the public functionaries; that millions were due to the State, and he did not know from whom. This was the financial statement of the Greek Minister. He (Mr. Coehrane), therefore, wished to know whether the right hon. Gentleman was buoyed up with any hopes of getting any repayment of the loan to the Greek Government.

said, that at any rate one thing might be said, namely, that the most frank and candid Chancellor of the Exchequer in Europe was to be met with in Greece. As for the interest of the debt, he had never been very sanguine on the subject. He proposed to lay on the Table of the House a statement as to the failure in making provision for the payment of the interest of the debt, and also the communications from Her Majesty's Government to the English Minister in Greece, and the answer received from the Government of that country. When those Papers were furnished, the House would see what was the state of our relations with that country.

rose to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the public general Bill for "the inclosure of those waste lands which the Inclosure Commissioners for England and Wales have certified, in their annual Report, to be expedient, but which may not be further proceeded with without the authority of Parliament, will be presented to the House; and also whether the said Commissioners will be instructed to report specially, at a later period of this Session, upon such applications for inclosure as have been received by them since the date of their annual Report; and if so, whether a second public general Bill will then be presented to the House, with a view to avoid delay; and also what restrictions, if any, are contemplated to the introduction of private Inclosure Bills, with a view to an efficient and inexpensive protection of the interests of those commoners who, by petitions to this House, allege that there are not any circumstances so special in themselves as to render the provisions of the General Inclosure Act inapplicable in whole or part to such inclosures?"

said, that he had obtained permission to bring in a Bill to give effect to the inclosures specified in the Report of the Inclosure Commissioners of the 31st day of January last, so far as those inclosures required the additional sanction of Parliament. He was aware that, under the Act of the last Session, the Commissioners would make separate reports; and if the number of additional applications for inclosures was such as to render it advisable, they would make a second report this year, and he should be ready to proceed with another Bill to give effect to it. With respect to the last question of the noble Lord, he agreed with him, that since the general Inclosure Act had passed, they should view with jealousy any private Inclosure Act. Great facilities were now given to the rich supporters of such Bills, but poorer persons interested in them laboured under great disadvantages; and, therefore, the House should view them with jealousy. He thought that some restriction was desirable, but he was not then prepared to say what that should be.

would at once state, on the part of the Government, the course which he proposed to pursue with respect to the public business. He did so when the House was full, and when a greater number of Gentlemen were present than probably would be the case at the subsequent part of the evening. He mentioned it also now on the chance that some amicable arrangement might then take place as to the progress of public business; finding that it was most desirable that a fixed time should be appointed when the sense of the House could be taken on the important questions before it. He did not think that under any circumstances at present it could have been his duty to propose any other adjournment than for the shortest period that was usually taken at Easter. No one looked with more joy towards an adjournment than he did; and he had intended to have proposed that it should take place from Thursday to Monday week next; but he now did not think it proper, in the present state of public business, to propose such an adjournment. The loss of one of those days which Government took for public business could not be well borne. He, therefore, should propose that the House should adjourn from Thursday next, to the Friday in the following week; and on that day he should propose, as the first business, to resume the debate on the Protection of Life (Ireland) Bill, as it was not probable that he should be allowed Thursday next for that purpose. Several hon. Gentlemen had proposed that the adjournment of the House should take place from to-morrow instead of on Thursday; but some hon. Gentlemen had given notices of Motions for Thursday, and this could not be done without their consent. If, however, it was the general wish of the House, and if those hon. Gentlemen concurred in that wish, he should have no objection to move the adjournment to-morrow instead of on Thursday. They would thus lose no opportunity for discussing the important subjects before them. If an arrangement could be made with those Gentlemen, and they would consent to withdraw their notices, he would at once give notice that he should follow that course. If this was not agreed to, there would be no opportunity of proceeding with the Irish Bill on Thursday night when the notices were gone through. Under these circumstances he should now propose that the Protection of Life (Ireland) Bill be postponed until Friday week. The Monday following he should fix on for the further progress of the Corn Bill and the Tariff. This was the arrangement which he proposed to make with the concurrence of the House.

said, in undertaking to bring forward the Motion, of which he had given notice, for a Select Committee to inquire into the present state of legal education in Ireland, and the means for its further improvement and extension, he wished that he could say that he had those qualifications which would entitle him to demand the attention of the House. He wished that he had either the ability or the experience of the professional man, or that he could boast of being acquainted with the general wishes of the profession, so as to enable him to speak with, some degree of authority in introducing the subject to the House. But the disadvantages under which he laboured in this respect were, he flattered himself, counterbalanced by advantages on the other side. He believed that he stood there unaffected by any partiality towards any particular system, and that he could not be accused as a party wishing either to invade or to preserve ancient, but at the same time antiquated usages. He came forward influenced by a general and comprehensive feeling for the extension of education in every branch, and penetrated with a strong conviction of its paramount importance in the legal profession. Nor was this the first time that he had expressed a, deep interest in this question. As early as the year 1838 he had in the Select Committee on Irish Education—and he had the pleasure of seeing some of his Colleagues who assisted him on that occasion at present sitting near him—expressed his views on this subject. In the Report from that Committee it was stated that—

"In addition to the academical and collegiate institutions already noticed, your Committee feel the advantages arising from establishments for the full cultivation of those strictly professional studies for which preparation only has been made in the above-mentioned schools;" and also "the present deficiency of institutions for the regular study of law is generally admitted."

In the year 1840 he had the gratification of heading a deputation that waited on the then Secretary of Ireland (Lord Morpeth). On that occasion he was accompanied by Mr. Lynch, Mr. Emerson Tennent, Mr. Serjeant Curry, and Mr. Tristram Kennedy, all names of the greatest influence. They prayed that his Lordship would become the means of conveying to Her Majesty their hope that the society then organized and established for the first time in Ireland should receive the benefit of a royal incorporation, the object being, in some degree, to form a substitute for a university establishment for law education, by means of the Law Institute of Ireland, and thus, through lectures and the establishment of classes, to give that instruction in the profession of the law which, he regretted to say, was not yet generally adopted in this country. On the 23rd of May, 1843, he presented a petition from Mr. Tristram Kennedy, the Principal of that institution, the prayer of which was the same as that used at the deputation, namely, for a charter of incorporation for the institution. He also gave notice of a Motion for June 20, in the same year, for a Committee "to inquire into the present state of legal education in Ireland, and the means for its future improvement and extension." That Motion was afterwards adjourned till the 11th of July, and from that till the same day in August, when it was deferred to the following Session. Under these circumstances he believed it was not necessary for him to apologize to the House for again submitting the subject to their consideration. He pleaded the deep sympathy which he felt at all times in the establishment of a system, truly comprehensive and national, of education for Ireland; and he considered that such would be impossible without embracing amongst its departments one which appeared to him in no particular inferior to any other; for, after all, who was there in that House, or he might say in any part of the community, who did not feel in almost every relation the all-pervading influence of this profession? No ago, no class, no period, was unaffected by its power. To some the theological instructor, the religious teacher, claimed a higher preeminence, and with reason. The physician, too, the preserver of life and health, had also his title to the gratitude and admiration of society; but the lawyer touched on all these, and had a province beside of his own. His moral and intellectual qualifications were felt not for one generation, but for many; not in private only, but in public. He was not only the regulator of the domestic concerns of the social intercourse of the individual, but the instrument by which constitutions and laws were upheld or destroyed. He might be the protector or the oppressor of the poor, the sword of the despot, or the shield of the innocent. He had great privileges and functions, but also great duties, and it behoved society for its own interest to see that every means were taken for their due performance. He saw no better means to attain this desirable end in this profession, than what had been adopted in others. No country had thought it right to allow its religious instructor or its physician to be uneducated. He laid little stress on the usual objections to any interference with existing habits and systems, or rather no system. He admitted that the bar and bench of these countries displayed a series of names for virtue and talents perhaps unequalled in the legal records of Europe. He admitted, too, that necessity was a great teacher, and practice or experience, for most of the ordinary purposes of life, superior to any theory; but he could not understand how experience could be rendered less efficient by having theory for its guide, or how the lawyer could improve by depriving himself of means which were thought and found to be of advantage in disciplining and preparing theologians and physicians for their professions. If they found that they had only done enough in their instance to protect society from in-competence or disqualification, he could not see why they could not be accused of negligence or inconsistency in not extending the same qualifications to the legal profession. In the interest of the bar itself, previous discipline and regulated study were scarcely of less importance. How many passed a large proportion of their early years in experimentalizing, in groping about, in attempting to discover, often foiled by many disappointments, the surest way to the great end which they had in view! These were not his experiences, but those of men to whose long labours, and high honours, and unquestionable information, the House would bow with reverence. He need but to refer to one name amongst many—a name in itself a eulogy—the late Master of the Rolls in Ireland—Sir Michael O'Loghlen. He remembered well at a dinner with which he had been honoured by some of the most eminent men at the bar, hearing that distinguished Judge say, that the difficulties he had himself experienced in the direction of his own course of study, on entering the legal profession, were too deeply impressed on his mind to be easily forgotten. The ordinary obstacles to which all men were exposed who made the law their study, induced him to hail with extreme satisfaction the establishment of any such institution in Ireland. Of the same opinion was one of the late Attorney Generals in Ireland, but especially the Solicitor General, who stated, in a manner not to be misunderstood, that he never conversed on the subject of legal education with a professional man engaged in the practice of the law, who did not concur with him in deploring the enormous waste of precious, because irrecoverable, time lost in the early years of a lawyer's reading. "It is not," he added, "until we have lavished much labour in a course of study in which one-half is not always understood, and of the remainder a large portion is ill-arranged, and, therefore, soon forgotten, that we begin to learn how we ought to have tracked our way." Hence it was the learners of law feel the want of a safe and early guide in teaching the two great objects of the student—method in his studies, and economy in his style. Judge Story, too, a name which belongs not to his country only, or to his age, but to Europe and posterity; who united philosophy, science, and literature, with law; who is an authority on our Bench, and in the courts and universities of the Continent, as at home; he also not only expressed his sense of the same evil, of the same want, but was one of the first to take active measures to remedy it in America, by the superintendence of the Dane school of law in the Havard University, and the intercourse which he established between the student and the judge; giving lectures as well as decisions, and encouraging the young pupil to follow in the same track in which he proceeded with so much honour. Nor were these maxims only of the wise and few. Europe, with almost the single exception of England and Ireland, has from the earliest period acted upon them. In almost all the universities of the four or five faculties, jurisprudence usually occupies the second place. In some, such as that of Bologna—which Tiraboschi calls the most renowned and conspicuous amongst the schools of Italy—Bologna gloried most in her jurisprudence. Of all her other departments of science, it was that which rendered her pre-eminent, and sought in the remotest parts of Europe. In early time the jurisconsult was held in reverence very little inferior to the ecclesiastic. In the new constitutions of Leo XII., for the education of his States, the legal college scarcely holds a secondary place to the theological. The same may be said of the universities of Pisa, Padua, and Pavia. In the latter university the political sciences connected with law, or dependent on it, are combined. The law course in that institution embraces the following chairs:—first, statistics; secondly, natural law; thirdly, criminal law; fourthly, Roman law; fifthly, ecclesiastical law; sixthly, Austrian civil code; seventhly, commercial law; eighthly, political science, constitutions, and penal code; ninthly, judiciary practice. The university of France, which is peculiarly constituted, and differs from that of any other country in Europe, spreading over the whole of the French territory, comprehends nine faculties in law, situated in nine of her principal towns. In all these schools they teach the institutes of Justinian, the civil code, and the modes of judicial proceeding. There are also chairs in some, of the commercial code, of the administrative code, or of the droit administratif, of the pandects, besides chairs of the history of law, of the natural law, &c. Students who enter—and none are eligible to special official situations who have not passed through the course—are required to attend the three months' courses; and cannot obtain without certificates of diligence the privilege of examination, or degrees, without which they are not admissible to the bar. The legal courses in the universities of Belgium embrace, besides the institutes, pandects, natural law, &c., both public law—ecclesiastical included—modern civil law, modern criminal law, canon law, practice of the courts, the political history of Europe, statistics, and diplomacy. But perhaps the most remarkable instance of a special law institution abroad, superior even to several of the great faculties of jurisprudence in the universities of Germany, is the Imperial Law School, established at St. Petersburgh in the year 1835, on the suggestion of the Prince of Oldenburgh, by an organic statute of the Emperor. It is destined to fill the ranks of the magistracy and of the jurisconsults with men penetrated by the spirit, the science, and the sanctity of their profession. This school is a true judicial seminary; and no other establishment of Europe can be compared with it in point of magnitude and munificence. To secure a perfect unity of view, the age of admission is fixed at twelve years. The complete course of studies lasts for six years. The early classes embrace the study of the ancient and modern languages, history, geography, mathematics, the physical sciences, natnral history. In the fourth class the study of philosophy and history is commenced. In the third, they enter upon a course of Roman law, administrative law, civil law, the history of law, and an extensive course of political economy. The courses of religious instruction and the fine arts are frequented by all the classes in the school. In the last class, the pupils receive instruction in feudal jurisdictions, in procedure, in legal medicine, financial law, provincial law, law of police, of administration, and international law. They are then fit to enter upon their functions. But even in these countries, where circumstances permitted, the utility and necessity of such special course had been recognised. In the recommendations of the Commissioners, issued in 1826 and 1830, on the part of the Commission appointed to consider the study of the Law in Edinburgh, we find it strongly maintained:—

"The country," say the Resolutions, "is deeply interested in the character, the independence, and influence, of the advocates to whom the defence of their property and liberties may be intrusted; and it would be vain to hope that the independence and character of the bar can be maintained, if the study of law is not conducted on an enlightened and philosophical plan. The great extension of the subject only renders it the more important to provide that the instruction of the students shall not be limited to the details of a technical art, and the philosophy and science of law sacrificed in order to furnish materials for the manual of a practitioner."

Accordingly they recommended that the study of law in the University of Edinburgh should include attendance for three sessions, embracing the study of the civil law and Scotch law in its several branches, as the qualification for a degree. This Report was subscribed by the names of Rosebery, Gordon, Haddington, Aberdeen, Rae, and others, which necessarily must command attention from either side of the House. But in turning to England they met admissions indeed of the necessity, but very partial evidences of the zeal with which such a system had been carried into execution. The Statute 33rd of Henry VIII., indeed, enjoined of those whom it requires "to be demurrant and resiant in one of the inns of court in England studying and practising, or endeavouring themselves, the best they can, to come to the true knowledge of judgment of the said laws." But little seemed to have been done in following up that injunction. They collected from Lord Campbell's "Lives of the Chancellors," an authority of deserved influence in all inquiries connected with legal history, that Wolsey, when keeper of the great seal, is reported to have openly complained—

"That the lawyers who practised before him were grossly ignorant of the civil law, and the principles of general jurisprudence; and to remedy an evil which troubled the stream of justice at the fountain-head, he, with his usual magnificence of conception, projected an institution, to be founded in London, for the systematic study of all branches of the law. He even furnished an architectural model of the building, which was considered a masterpiece, and remained long after his death as a curiosity in the palace at Greenwich. Such an institution (adds the noble and learned Lord, a Member of the other House, from whose writings I quote) is still a desideratum in England; for, with splendid exceptions, it must be admitted that English barristers, though very clever practitioners, are not such able jurists as are to be found in other countries, where law is systematically studied as a science."

Milton and Bacon each complained of the same deficiencies; but they found by references to different orders established in the time of Philip and Mary, that most cases, and pleadings, and points, were all prescribed as portions of the exercises to take place in the inns of court. That other orders were established by command of Queen Elizabeth, and the Justices of the Queen's Bench and Common Pleas:—

"That moots and other exercises of learning be a condition for admission, and also for a continuance as either barrister or pleader."

The preamble to orders made by the judges and barons for enforcing education at all the inns of court in the 33rd year of Elizabeth, 1591, laments that there has been interruption to these studies, which, if it should be permitted, they add—

"Would be almost an utter overthrow to the learning and study of the law, and, consequently, an intolerable mischief to the commonwealth of this realm."

The preamble leads to several rules, under the authority of the judges, for the future facilitating of the acquirement of legal knowledge. In referring, however, to the late returns of the regulations of the four inns of court, as to the admission of students and calls to the bar, made on the Motion of an hon. Friend near him (Mr. Christie), he found little or no mention of such exercises—the only notice being the reading exercises prescribed in 1762 in Lincoln's Inn, but afterwards apparently not insisted on; and some reference in the regulations of the Middle Temple to examinations on the learned languages, history, and general literature, prescribed by an order of February, 1829. The large majority of the rules applied solely to the keeping of commons, and the payment of deposits and fees. The same inattention would also appear to have been tolerably prevalent in the great Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, recently placed upon the Table of the House—an inattention naturally arising from the incompleteness of the course, and the want of regular system both in lectures and professors. He should wrong, however, the enlightened portion of the bar, if he were to take these facts as evidence of disregard either to the importance or necessity of a wide and philosophical system of legal education, He held in his hand the opinion of one of the most distinguished judges on the English bench, communicated to the Dublin Law Institute; and, to this again, he could add a more striking testimony from an authority not less distinguished from the Scottish bench. The first was to the following effect:—His lordship states that he—

"Is very glad to perceive that Ireland at least is likely, in the Dublin Law Institute, to have a prudent and careful guide to the studies and talents of her rising bar. On that body, to which ultimately must come, at some future time, the administration of her laws, much of the future happiness of their beloved country will depend."

The other authority is that of the Lord Justice Clerk, communicated in a letter on the subject to the same institute:—

"The Lord Justice Clerk, when dean of faculty, had many projects of attempting to institute some similar society at the Scotch bar to that in Ireland, the Dublin Law Institute, very much, in order to bring the minds of the junior and senior members of the bar more into contact in the discussion and consideration of legal points. The difficulties, however, were great—some peculiar to our profession as conducted in Scotland. He cannot but think the commencement of such a thing in Dublin so very admirable and excellent, that he hopes it may be continued and encouraged. He cannot hardly conceive any object more deserving the personal attention of the many accomplished leaders of the Irish Bar."

But what he would rely on with still more confidence was, not the opinions of individuals, but the proceedings of one of the very bodies to which he had referred. He had heard suggestions had been made by a distinguished ornament to the bar, for the foundation of a legal university, to comprise the four inns of court; but he had not yet learned that this invitation had been universally responded to. Perhaps neither the bar nor the country were yet ripe for so comprehensive a reform; but though he could not congratulate the House on any immediate approach to such a consummation, he yet saw with delight and rejoicing the augury of such a change in a late remarkable document, proceeding from one of those bodies—the Middle Temple. He read in that document, that in compliance with a report which had been made by a committee empowered at a parliament holden on the 21st of November, 1845, to ascertain the best mode of promoting the legal education of the students of the house, measures were taken to bring into operation much of the reform to which he had been just referring. He saw in that report a recognition of the statements which he had ventured to make, and a fearless and enlightened resolution to act upon them. The committee, in the words of the report—

"Have also adverted to the acknowledged deficiency which has long been felt to exist in the education of English lawyers, in consequence of their entire neglect of the study of jurisprudence and the civil law, although in all places where law has been or is taught as a science, these subjects have uniformly formed the first and one of the most essential parts of legal education."

They proposed, in consequence, bringing back these institutions to what they were designated by Lord Mansfield, "Seminaries for legal education," to establish, as the commencement of a sound and comprehensive system of education, the appointment of readers on jurisprudence and civil law. By the term jurisprudence the Committee mean to indicate general jurisprudence as distinguished from the particular jurisprudence of any individual nation; and by the term civil law they indicate what may be termed modern Roman law, which has formed the basis of the law of many continental nations, and entered so largely into our own. They believe that this study of the theory of civil law may be most advantageously combined with the study of jurisprudence, and that the two united will furnish the best means of preparatory legal culture, and the formation of an enlarged and comprehensive legal mind. They allocate with this view the annual sum of 300 guineas from the society, in addition to one guinea to be received from every student for each terminal course of lectures. The appointment to continue for three years certain with the additional honorarium of 100 guineas, should the lecturer have discharged the duties of his office during the whole period for which he is appointed. The qualification of the lecturer to be that of a barrister or a doctor of civil law, and the lectures to be open to all the students of all the societies. Not content with lectures, they recommend, that for the greater efficiency of the system, an annual examination of students for the bar previous to their being called, not compulsory, but offered as an unexceptionable mode of becoming known and distinguished. They propose, that on the occasion of every call to the bar, such examination should be conducted by three benchers, assisted by the lecturer, and that it should consist of questions in jurisprudence, common law, equity, and conveyancing; and the names of those students who would submit themselves to it should be published by the society, with such honourable additions as they may appear to have deserved. To complete the institutions they desired to establish, and as an additional inducement to attendance at the lectures, and to exertions at the examination, they propose two exhibitions or prizes of 100 guineas each should be given by the society to the two students who should diligently have attended at least three terminal courses of lectures, and passed the most meritorious examination. He did not refer to these grateful alterations with a view of entering into any disquisition on a subject which, however collateral to his Motion, might still be considered by some as not immediately connected with it—with any view of passing judgment upon English legal education; but solely to prove to the House, that in submitting to its consideration improvements, and inquiry into the best means by which it could be effected in legal education in Ireland, he had the encouraging example of a body to whom all must bow with respect. The reform was not rash nor premature. It arose out of the exigencies of the times, and the advancing demand for larger and more liberal strides. They had been recommended, and, he was glad to say, in course of being carried out by the order of a parliament held on the 16th day of January, 1846, not in an innovating but a conservative spirit, preserving the old where it was worthy of preservation, but adding also to it the new when it was re-required by the circumstances of the age and of the country. He would beg, therefore, the House to keep that in their recollection, whilst he advanced to what was more specifically the object of his Motion—an inquiry into the means of effecting a similar or still greater reform in legal education in Ireland. He would now turn to the case of Ireland. In the year 1839 an institution was established in Dublin, upon the suggestion of Mr. Kennedy, a gentleman well known at the bar, called "The Law Institution." In 1840 the Lords Justices of Ireland expressed their conviction of the utility of this institution, and recommended that it should be endowed for the purpose of facilitating its incorporation; in order to justify the claim for incorporation, application was made for endowment to the benchers of Queen's Inns. The benchers of Queen's Inns granted 400l. for the current year, as an earnest and mark of their sympathy with the object, and of their approbation of the exertions of the founders. They also required to be ex officio fellows of the institution, in order to preserve control over its operations and proceedings; and in order to provide additional security and permanence it was recommended in the month of June 1840, by thirty-nine Queen's Counsel, five of whom had filled the office of Attorney or Solicitor General in Ireland, that the institution should be incorporated. In 1841 application was made to Government for this purpose, which was favourably considered; but in the subsequent year, the grant from Queen's Inns having been withdrawn, it was found necessary to suspend the operations of the class instruction given in the Law Institute. The Queen's Inns in Dublin was much in the same position as the inns of court in England. The aggregate income of the Queen's Inns since 1832 amounted to no less than 57,186l., making an average annual sum of 7,147l. He did not wish to throw the slightest slur upon the highly respectable body who presided over Queen's Inns; but this income, being intended to promote legal education, it was a proper subject for inquiry in that House, whether a portion of such funds might not with advantage be applied to the endowment of professorships, either in the Dublin Law Institution, or in any other similar establishment in Ireland which it might be advisable to either found or to maintain. This, however, had not stopped the operations of this body. Even after the grant had been withdrawn by the benchers, and during the last year, additional lectures had been delivered there, and the number of pupils had increased. In November, 1845, the number of students in the common-law department was 115, in the equity department 30; total, 145. By means of this institute several classes of the students had profited by the lectures, instruction and guidance of six experienced professors, acting under the control of a numerous council, selected from the most distinguished members of the profession. The lectures had been delivered by some of the most eminent men at the Irish bar. He had only to mention names whose distinction was not confined solely to their own country, but had now become familiar to every one who respected knowledge or admired eloquence—the names of Mr. Whiteside, whose eloquence during the trial of Mr. O'Connell had added a new illustration to the honours, already great, of the Irish bar; and the calm comprehensiveness, and grave experience and philosophy of Mr. Napier, in supporting the Appeal before the Lords. These men must be fresh in the recollection of the country. With all these facts before them, he was justified in calling upon the House to inquire how far such an institution might be made still more useful in promoting legal education—whether it might not be a matter of primary importance both to the bar and to the country, to enlarge and secure these benefits by extending its professorships, and giving permanence to the institution by endowment and incorporation. He wished to see it presided over by the judges, the benchers, and other authorities who adorned the Irish bar. He wished to see the judges, those venerable authorities, in habitual intercourse with the younger portion of the profession, encouraging them by their counsel and example to the attainment of the same honours which they themselves had acquired. Such feelings, he knew, were encouraged in England, and it was one of the benefits which had been ascribed to the institution of the inns of court. Judges in this country were not separated from their original inn, except in the case of such as were promoted to the common-law bench, who, from the circumstance of their being Serjeant, were transferred to Serjeants' Inn. This did not apply to Ireland. A distinction, however, which he would maintain would be, to separate the judge from the bencher, so far as identification with such a body remained. He would rather see them in the position of visitors, judging of appeals from that body, than as acting upon all occasions with them. Much had been done for education in Ireland; but he called upon the House to complete the great task, by comprehending in the scheme due provision for legal education, by establishing a school and college of law in Dublin, to be maintained by the State, or at last aided by its contributions. As that plan originally stood, he had intended to have had a regular gradation of establishments over all branches of education. He had begun with the elementary school. The second class of that department was formed by the model school. He hoped later to see one in each county—a county academy, by the enlargements which he had proposed, and reforms over diocesan and royal schools, and other schools of public foundation. The provincial colleges formed the third class; and he saw with pleasure that in them due provision had been made for a chair of law. Means had been secured for the study of theology in the three persuasions; by Maynooth, Belfast, and for the education of the Protestant Church of Ireland, by the University of Dublin. The study of medicine had secured to them chairs in the several colleges, and they also had provision for the higher branches of the same departments in the Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons. It only remained to complete that higher education in respect of law, by establishing a college or institute somewhat upon the plan which had been already tried, and with success, under the name of the Dublin Institute. This was the view entertained in the Report of 1838; and by the present Motion he took the opportunity of more fully developing it. Such a school or college of law would not only benefit the bar, but it would be an advantage to society. It would infuse into what must often be a course of mere technicalities, something of a lofty and more philosophical spirit. It would not only produce lawyers, but, he hoped, legislators; for every one in that House must be conscious how much the want was felt of opportunity of any real acquaintance with the great principles of jurisprudence, especially in their direct bearing upon those functions which he had afterwards to exercise, whether in the Senate, whether as an ambassador from his country, or as a negotiator for its interests. Philosophic study and a large and embracing spirit was its first essential. In all this we were deficient. Well known through Europe as were all our talents, we not un-frequently wanted the ordinary elements of instruction in these several branches. We should also remember the lawyer was essentially the manufacturer of our Acts of Parliament. Upon his knowledge, experience, and intelligence depended the accuracy and facility of application, but still more the clearness, of our legislation. Without opportunities for the cultivation of these qualities, we should long continue to laments the defects to which we were at present subject. Nor was this an object limited to an hour or a party. We had already been engaged during this Session, upon more evenings than one, in devising the means by which the majesty of the law might be vindicated with the most efficiency; but we should recollect that it was in the power of the bench and the barrister, as well as of the law, to attract confidence. It should not be feared only, but trusted and loved. It was not enough to have justice for the poor as well as the rich; there should be hands to administer—there should be a judge for the poor as well as the rich. He could not better conclude than in the remarkable words of a distinguished man, Mr. Webster, in his funeral oration, last September, upon one not less distinguished, Judge Story:—

"Justice, Sir, is the great interest of man on earth. It is the ligament which holds civilized nations together. Wherever her temple stands, and as long as it is duly honoured, there is a foundation for social security, general happiness, and the improvement and general progress of our race. And whoever labours in this edifice with usefulness and distinction, whoever clears its foundations, strengthens its pillars, adorn its entablatures, or contributes to raise its august dome still higher to the skies, connects himself in name, fame, and character with that which is and must be as durable as the frame of human society."

But we never should strengthen the pillar, nor adorn the entablature, nor raise the august dome, without having first sunk the foundations solid, deep, and comprehensive. We never could hope to see a system which would realize all this country could aspire to, without assuring ourselves in the first, the earliest moment, of the legal career, of the intelligence, the acquirements, and the morality of its cultivators. Not by her arms chiefly, not by her navies, nor her labourers, nor her arts, but by her Constitution, had this country become the wonder, the admiration, and the example of the nations of Europe. From her came out the light that was now spread in freedom through every part of the world. But to keep it pure and unsullied, the fons et origo legum should be equally so. We should cherish, as the first jewel in her diadem, the wisdom, and the morality, and the experience of her bar. With this view, in this profession as in other professions, we should seize the mind when it was young, and devote it to its country and its country's glory. In one word, we should found an education to raise the fame and the power of the profession still higher—to make it a still greater instrument of good than it was at present, and allow it to develop the means it had of enlightening and blessing the community. Upon these grounds, he should move for "a Select Committee to inquire into the present state of Legal Education in Ireland, and the means for its further improvement and extension."