London Legal Letter. into dismay by a prosecution at the instance of an envious, but less unscrupulous rival, or one perhaps who considered it unneces sary to " conspire." Therefore, we say, extreme caution should be exercised in the adjustment of the " machine." Certainly the writing of such or similar letters as the one which we have just seen, should, in prudence, be eschewed. Seriously, though, such a disclosure as this is very suggestive of speculation as to just how far, and to
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what extent, in the average case, the influ ence of the "boss" extends beyond the nominating convention and the polls, and controls the candidate after he has become the office-holder. Do the ones favored of the bosses in most instances bargain for favor by such compacts, express or implied? We ask for information, merely, and promise immunity from prosecution or blackmail, so far as we are concerned, to any one who will enlighten us.
LONDON LEGAL LETTER. London, October 3. THE all-pervading incident in local legal circles is the interminable vacation which is dragging its slow length through the dullest days of a specially dull season. The Courts closed, nominally, on the 12th of August, but practically nearly a week before that date. The next term does not begin until the 24th of October, and, as that happens to be Saturday, which is always a half holiday, no business will be taken until the following Monday or Tuesday. Thus three months of enforced idleness will have been the experience of every barrister before the courts are open for him to resume his work. To many men, those who depend for their daily living upon their prefessional earnings, this means anxiety and misery and, in many instances, acute privation, and sometimes actual want. To nearly every member of the Ear it means ennui and unhealthy idleness. It is absurd to suppose that the average man with a busy occupation, in which he is interested, can every year contentedly spend three months at the seaside or on the Continent, or with fishingrod or gun in hand. As a matter of fact, all but a very few have willingly finished their holidays and enjoyed all the rest they care for weeks ago. They are now back in town longing for work, but unable to engage in it. Few come down to their chambers, for they know that no work is awaiting them, and the Courts of the Temple are deserted, except for the office-boys and clerks, while the buildings are given over to painters and plasterers. Every year there goes up a protest from the Junior Bar against the length of the vacation, and from many solic itors at the delays to litigation which it necessitates; but the old order is maintained because those who alone could establish a reform, the judges and the leaders, are those only who find pleasure in the present state of affairs. Most of these officials make extended tours on the Conti nent, and then return for a round of country houses and for the pheasant shooting, which begins on the first of October. There is one official, however, who by law is forbidden to go out of the country, and that is the Lord Chancellor, who, as Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, must always guard
that emblem of sovereign power in his personal custody, and to take it out of Great Britain would be an act closely bordering on high treason. When Cardinal Wolsey was Lord Chancellor to Henry VIII he carried the sea! with him on a visit to France, and that act was one of the causes which ultimately led to the fall of the great Churchman. The Great Seal is a double silver die into which, with painful care, molten wax is poured when an impression is required for a state document. It is as large as an American waffling iron, and its appearance in this respect doubtless inspired some mischief which once occasioned its custodian a good deal of anxiety. The story goes that while Lord Chancellor Brougham was staying, in 1833, at Rothiemurchus, the Scottish residence of the then Dowager Duchess of Bedford, the ladies of the party got possession of the Great Seal and hid it. After the Lord Chancellor had become thoroughly alarmed, apprehending that some one had abstracted it for purposes of evil design to the state, the ladies relieved his anxiety by promising to assist in the search for it if he would submit to be blindfolded. In this condition he was taken over the house and finally brought up opposite a tea-chest in the kitchen, where the Seal was discovered buried in the tea. In his joy in regaining possession of it he further submitted to see it used for making pancakes which, as they were turned out, bore the impress of the royal arms. There are now, or will be before this sees the light, no less than ten judges of the High Court who are entitled to retire on pension. Two of these, the Master of the Rolls and Sir Henry Hawkins, are very old men, but the in firmity of age sits comparatively lightly upon them. They show no disposition to retire until compelled to do so, and the Master of the Rolls, judging by his appearance off the bench, will hold physical compulsion at arm's length for some time to come. He constantly suggests, as he walks through the corridors of the Court, clad in garments that would outshine the best dressed young lawyer on Piccadilly, the gay picture of Sir Adonis Evergreen as presented by Charles Matthews. There is, however, gossip constantly afloat as to his successor, and this may mean that the Bar and the public differ with him as to the prob able date of his retirement. The Mastership of the Rolls
