volution. It is open to remark that these alterations may have a tendency to affect the respective classes of practitioners. It may even be alleged, by way of objection, that an increased simplicity of procedure may have the effect of encouraging lawsuits, and, at the same time, of diminishing the profits of the lawyer. It may easily be discovered that the present staff of labourers in this harvest has grown up, and become enriched, during the progress of years and the absence of change. It is a fair observation to advance, that a course of legislation which threatens the well-being, if not the existence of a class, should be regarded with all reasonable suspicion. It is not unlikely that if the ample promise of improvement should be carried out in full, the result may be unfavourable to the condition of the attorney or the advocate. Should the public resolve to place their confidence in the barrister, their determination will threaten the attorney; should the attorney maintain his hold upon the general esteem, the vocation of the counsel, at least of the counsel of our own age, will bid fair to be lessened, perhaps extinguished.

In discussing, therefore, the merits of an extensive departure from ancient usages, the social consequence must certainly be taken into the account in arriving at a conclusion. Nevertheless, the accumulating necessities of a commercial and industrious people must be looked to as well as the prosperity of a particular section. The swiftly accelerating tide of population likewise will create a variety of small interests, quite capable, with prudence, of preserving an honest independence, but by no means competent to endure the expense of protracted justice. Men of such fortunes (and very many there will be) will not only be strict economists in the employment of lawyers, but will be with difficulty persuaded that in the arrangement of affairs, and the adjustment of complicated rights, some charge must unquestionably be incurred.

The concerns of the larger portion of the community must doubtless prevail in the balance. So that if, ultimately, the simplicity of modern constitutions should lessen the gains of practice, or if, instead of the double aid of attorney and advocate, the suitor should find it more politic and useful to be

content with the services of only one, it will be unreasonable to regret, on the one hand, the gradual retrogression of the solicitor, or as it may be, on the other, the fall of the counsellor. Still less can we listen to the antiquated doctrine, that solicitors should not be allowed to interfere with the practice of barristers, nor barristers with the practice of solicitors. Those who are yet under the control of that prejudice, and tremble lest the honour of the Bar be imperilled by a personal and exclusive alliance with the client, would not do wrong to view with more care the signs of the times. Such should reflect that whilst they are discouraging instead of fostering, as they ought, the aspirations of the youthful Bar to restore the old and right customs of their ancestors, the last hope of independence for the honourable advocate will soon have perished from amongst us.

It is pleasant to be able to relate that a Society has been organised in London, since the year 1844, for the furtherance of all useful suggestions towards the Amendment of British Jurisprudence.

It is a Society already indeed extensively recognised, but which, as it becomes better known to the people at large, will present high and strong claims to their patronage. It accepts from every quarter communications on the subject of Reform; it submits all fair proposals to the test of discussion; and not content, in case of approval, with a dry assent to just views, it uses endeavours, and with frequent success, to bring them before the notice of Parliament.

We will offer, in the next section, a history of the Rise of this Assembly, and give a brief history of the rules and regulations by which it is governed.

ART. V.-THE RELATIONS BETWEEN LANDLORD AND TENANT.

1. A Bill to facilitate the Improvement of Landed Property in Ireland.

2. A Bill to provide Compensation to Tenants for the Improvement of their Holdings in Ireland.

3. A Bill to simplify, consolidate, and amend the existing Laws which regulate the Relation of Landlord and Tenant in Ireland. 4. A Bill to facilitate the making of beneficial Leases and Agreements for Compensation for Improvement of Land in Ireland. 5. A Bill to establish" Tenant Right" by law in Ireland, known as Mr. Sharman Crawford's Bill.

(All referred to a Select Committee, in the Session of 1852.) FEW subjects have attracted more attention of late, or excited more angry discussion, than the relations which exist between the landlord and tenant classes of these countries. They have become, so far as Ireland is concerned, the watchword of faction, and the test of Parliamentary confidence and qualification. In proportion as the exertions of the one party increased, the resistance of the other redoubled, and the natural consequence has been, that while both insisted upon extremes, the true merits of the question were forgot, and the whole community deprived of the benefits of a just and equitable solution.

If things had remained as they were previous to the last eight years, it may have been necessary to travel back and search the records of the past for precedents to guide the future. If the laws of nature had continued the same, and the spirit of unbounded enterprise, which now pervades the whole world, had not broken loose, then, indeed, we might have tided on for years to come; for with home produce at war prices in times of peace, and foreign necessaries cheap in proportion, it was no party's interest to disturb the happy equilibrium which existed. But a great change has taken place within the last few years, and the events of 1845 and 1846, following each other in rapid succession, ended in the memorable Resolutions of December last, which, in a few emphatic words, dissolved the spell, and flung the whole

country upon the inevitable career of "unrestricted competition." It is from that point, therefore, that it is proposed to start; for every thing before 1845, like so many leaves of an old almanack, is calculated, from being out of date, rather to mislead than otherwise, and only useful as landmarks, to be avoided; consequently, we shall confine ourselves to the period since which Free Trade became an acknowledged principle, and was engrafted on the Constitution.

In considering what is called the "Tenant Right" question, we have the interests of three distinct parties in view; First, the landlord or proprietor, whose object it is to turn the land in his possession to the best account; Secondly, the occupant or tenant-farmer, who seeks to work the land upon the most favourable terms, and to apply his capital, industry, and labour to the greatest profit; and, Thirdly, though last not least, the public generally, whose direct interest it is to have the land tilled and cultivated in the best and most effective manner, so as to secure the greatest amount of produce. To show that the first two of these great interests, when united and pulling cordially together, will not only benefit themselves respectively to the greatest extent, but also the third party, namely, the public in an equal degree, is the direct object we have now in view.

The cultivation of the land must depend to a great extent, upon the nature of the terms upon which the occupants hold it, and until lately it really appeared as if the law, more particularly in Ireland, absolutely laboured to establish tenures and a system of holding calculated, more than any thing else, not only to retard and prevent good husbandry, but even directly to produce the disastrous state of things which has lately taken place in that country. Land considered as a manufacture, more perhaps than any other raw material, requires certainty and security above all things in its enjoyment, to reap the benefits of industry and capital; and yet, strange to say, for centuries the tenure of land depended upon the uncertain duration of human life for its continuance, and does so in many cases up to the present day. Nay, to such an extent was this anomaly carried, that all the franchises and privileges of the country depended upon this precarious or

"Freehold" tenure, as it was called; and until some years back, a few acres held for an old man's life on the brink of the grave, conferred more powers and civil rights, than hundreds of acres of land held for as many years certain. To any one acquainted with modern cultivation, the results of such a system were apparent; but as long as potatoes and Protection flourished, it contrived to hold together, until the whole fabric tumbled about our ears in the autumn of 1845, and the spring following. Things then came to a regular stand still, and have continued so ever since; The tenantfarmers, thrown exclusively on their own resources, naturally sought for a relaxation of those rigid and absurd rules to which they were subjected in "the good old times," while the landlords determined to hold their own, in the hope that the times would mend, and that war prices would come round again in regular rotation: In this, however, they were both disappointed.

The settlement of Protection enables us now to grapple with the subject upon the most advantageous terms; in fact, it was the most fortunate event that has occurred in these countries for many years, as it opens the way for the final and satisfactory settlement of a vital question in which the domestic peace as well as national prosperity are mainly involved; and with this view, we shall proceed to state its leading features as advocated in both countries, as well as the various means that have been proposed for its settlement and solution.

Several champions of "Tenant Right," as it is generally called, have appeared in the field from time to time; but the late Mr. O'Connell was one of the first to give it political importance. He started what he called "Fixity of Tenure," which he defined to be, " Every man in the undisputed possession of the land he occupies for ever, at his neighbour's valuation."

It can easily be seen what a bonus this held out for agitation and resistance, and it is to the effects of this pernicious doctrine that we attribute most of the agrarian outrages that have since followed, and the difficulty of dealing practically with a question damaged by such a theory. It is to be re