taxation meanwhile upon the industrial energies of the country is fearful. If matters are to stand as at present, the weekly bills of the British nation may be set down at about one million and a half sterling a-week. In this calculation we scarcely take account of local burdens—as county rates, &c.—which may be looked upon as payments for service actually performed; nor of Indian deficits, for the responsibility for these has not yet been fixed upon the British tax-payer. Nor is it easy to see how this alarming sum total can be modified, in the present position of Europe. The figures of the interest on the debt are engraved upon bronze. The chisel of the Financial Reformers cannot reach them. The expenditure upon the two services may perhaps be handled to a certain slight extent, but never in such a way as really to relieve the nation until the continent is tranquil again.
The suggestions, however, for legal reforms inserted in the Royal Speech might be carried out, whatever may be the turmoil upon the continent. It would be an inestimable advantage to the mercantile classes if this last attempt at Bankruptcy Reform should prove successful, for Sir Richard Bethell’s bill of last session—with the exception of the two propositions which were so summarily and so deservedly negatived last year—was framed in accordance with their views. The public, however, must not look for ‘finality’ in Bankruptcy Law. Englishmen of middle age have already lived through three or four systems, and if they attain the average term of man’s existence, they will in all probability see three or four more. Considering that the subject-matter of Bankruptcy Law is the cheapest, the speediest, and the most efficient method of winding up the affairs of bankrupt traders, it is not wonderful that the additional experience of each successive decade should suggest improvements. It is otherwise with regard to the cases of Real Property Law, and to the maxims and definitions of Criminal Law. Property must rest upon secure and unshifting foundations. The harmless act of to-day must not be the crime of to-morrow. The great principles of law should remain unchanged—alter forms of procedure as much as you will. It is to be hoped that the various measures for the consolidation of the Criminal Law, introduced last year, may also be carried through this session; for this would have a great tendency to promote clearness and simplicity in a branch of jurisprudence in which these qualities are much to be desired.
A fearful tragedy, which happened at the beginning of Last Week, may possibly suggest to our legislators the propriety of raking up from their archives the recommendations of one of their own Select Committee. The reference of course is to that miserable accident by Wimbledon, and to the untimely end of poor Dr. Baly. One would grieve to hear that any human being had been cut off in this untimely and tragical manner; but, in the case of Dr. Baly, we have lost one of the most useful Englishmen of his time. He had just attained the age when his skill, as a scientific and practical physician, was at its maturity. For thirty years he had been sedulously engaged, night and day, in studies and attendances which had qualified him to hold the foremost rank in his profession; and, according to all probability, there were before him yet another twenty years during which he would have brought consolation and relief to suffering humanity, and have saved or prolonged many a life upon which the lives of many depended. Now of all this there is an end. That wise head and kind heart can no longer be summoned to counsel when the agony of the sufferer, and the anguish of those to whom he may be dear, are at their highest. As we have been told, Dr. Baly, after a hard day’s work, was on his way to visit a sick child, when he himself was killed as by a thunderbolt. Better, since it was to be, that the death should have been so sudden, in the case of such a man.
Now, some three or four years ago, there was a Select Committee of the House of Commons which sat to take evidence upon the subject of Railway Accidents. They met, they took evidence, and they published a report. In this report are contained the most valuable suggestions for giving additional security to the passenger-traffic upon railways. We may presume that the inquiry was fair and ample, and certainly the railway interest was largely represented both on and before the committee. All that is now necessary is that Parliament should give authority to the Board of Trade to see these recommendations carried into effect, and comparative security in railway-travelling would be the result. This matter affects us all, and any Member of Parliament who would take the subject up might be very sure that he would be heartily supported by the people and the press of this country.
Two other notable events were recorded Last Week. The one was the final closing of the inquiry in the Road Murder case, by the decision delivered by the Queen’s Bench with regard to the coroner, and the direction for a fresh inquest. Practically, the affair came to nothing, and the result matters but little; for if the police did not succeed in getting upon the traces of the murderer or murderers within twenty-four hours after the deed was done, the inquiry became one of mere hap-hazard. We may know all about the Road Murder yet, but Chance and Conscience are the only two detectives who can help us now.
The second event is the departure of Garibaldi from Caprera. It seems, the guerilla chieftain has departed from his island, yet no one is able to state whither he has gone, or by whom he is accompanied. Last year he disappeared in like manner, and conquered a kingdom. Upon the present occasion, the suggestion is that we shall hear of him next upon the coast of Dalmatia, or perhaps in Hungary. If so, this means insurrection in Austria, and Austria in desperation may endeavour to meet the attack by a forward movement in Northern Italy. We now see why Garibaldi refused to accept military rank under Victor Emmanuel. As a private individual, he does not drag the new-born kingdom of Italy at his heels. His acts are his own; but if he is able to give a formal shape and colour to the national movement in Hungary, he will not have laboured in vain, and his present action will have greater political significance than even what he accomplished during the year 1860.