largest at present, and frequently secures immense attendances by inviting prominent people such as Mr. Booth, " General " of the Salvation Army, to speak. The Union is a very vigorously conducted society, and contains a number of first-rate speak ers. Among its past presidents have been Sir Henry James, Q. C. M. P., Mr. Gainsford Bruce, Q. C. M. P., and many other distinguished men. In its long history the Union has passed through alterna tions of fortune, sometimes prosperous, sometimes depressed; but it now bids fair to attain a very emi nent success. The Westminster meets in the West End, — formerly in Pall Mall, now in Piccadilly. It is the august debating society, the model of all that is gravely eloquent in public speech; impa tience of the irrelevant, eagerness for solidity of matter, and precision in treatment are among the high-sounding qualities which the atmosphere of this Society seems to generate. The young de bating desperado who bethinks him to startle the sobriety of the Westminster with some rude shaft of wit feels the springs of his inspiration freeze within him as he perpetrates for the last time amidst the grimmest silence the rhetorical outrage. I fear taxation and its incidence are scarcely matters that fall within the scope of a legal letter; however your readers will permit me slightly to divagate. For long the increase in London traffic has at certain times during the day rendered some of our leading thoroughfares almost impassable. Public opinion had gradually attained a certain unanimity as to the means which should be adopted to alleviate this state of affairs. The creation of new streets, and the widening of old ones com mended themselves as obvious courses to every one. Our County Council, giving voice to popular demands, had resolved on a number of far-reaching improvements. The widening of the Strand, the construction of a new street uniting it with Holborn, both of them forming two great parallel arteries through which the traffic of the city flows eastward and westward, were the more notable of a series of proposals which seemed at last within
reach of fulfilment. Estimates for the work had been invited and tendered, when, to the surprise of every one, the County Council declined to proceed with the enterprise, on the amazing ground that it would be unfair to do so until there has been a readjust ment of the incidence of taxation. The expla nation is that a majority of the present Council are extreme radicals, who entertain fiscal designs upon the colossal rent-rolls of the great ground landlords; they think that these great rent-rolls should bear a larger share than they do at present — consider able as that is, directly or indirectly — of the bur dens of taxes and local improvements. Of course this is not the place to enter into the merits of so large a question; it suffices to remark that many years will pass before the fiscal changes so ardently desired by our so-called reformers take place; the justice of even their partial adoption being ex tremely doubtful, so that the action of the Council, if it were corroborated by their successors, would indefinitely postpone exigent public improvements for purely visionary reasons. Almost every one condemns the policy pursued by the majority of the County Council. Society is looking forward with great curiosity to the result of a petition for judicial separation which the young and charming Lady Russell is bringing against her husband on the ground of cruelty. Lord Russell is quite a young man, not yet thirty, a radical, and I believe also a vegetarian. He was a notable figure at Oxford a few years ago, and is a grandson of the great Lord John Russell of Reform Bill fame. The case is said to be a very painful one; strong efforts will be made to have it heard in camera when it comes on for trial next month. The only legal news from Ireland to record is the administration to Mr. T. M. Healy, M.P., of a severe horsewhipping by a Mr. Macdermott, nephew of the late Mr. Parnell. Ere your readers peruse these pages, both sides of the Atlantic will be equally familiar with the details of this ludi crous episode.
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