Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

regulation of fees in the said Court, together with the claims of indemnification which may arise; thirdly, the regulation of forms and fees before the other civil courts of Scotland, The Commissioners apprehend, that these branches do, with the question respecting the introduction of trial by jury in civil cases, comprehend the whole business intrusted to them under the royal warrant.

The detail already given, shews, that their report on one of the most important objects of the Commissioners (the forms of court) is almost ready to be laid before His Majesty; and that, in the investigation of the other points, such progress has been made as they have been able to attain, considering the extensive and complicated field of inquiry which those objects presented, and the important points, both as to public policy and individual rights, which they necessarily involved. The Commissioners have held eleven general meetings, nine in Scotland and two in London; the three committees have held various separate meetings, and much business has been done, less formally, under the superintendence of individual members of the commission.

Several of the Commissioners are Judges of the Supreme Courts, others are professional men, whose avocations are both numerous and important.During the sitting of the courts, more numerous meetings could scarcely have been held; but had this been possible, it would not have forwarded the purpose of the commission, since no useful general deliberation could have taken place, until the reports were obtained from the persons of whom information has been demanded. Much of this could not be furnished without great labour and research. The report of the Principal Clerks of Session is an example of the extent of the voluminous investigations commenced

and carried on under the commission. Indeed the terms of the warrant under the statute are so broad, as to comprehend a complete revisal of the whole judicial procedure in Scotland, varied as it is, by local custom, thro' very numerous inferior courts and jurisdictions, together with the regulation of the fees exacted by the nume→ rous office-bearers in each of those courts, and an investigation of the multiplied and complicated forms of the Supreme Court itself, whose regulations alone fill a printed volume of three hundred pages. The warrant points likewise to the abolition of the mode hitherto observed of recompensing the clerks of court, with the numerous dependents and retainers in their service, and to the substitution of some other fund, which shall be as little burdensome as possible to the public, while it affords indemnification to the persons in possession. The warrant also requires a very difficult and important duty, in directing the consideration of introduction of the trial by jury in civil cases, for which, if it should be judged advisable to adopt the measure, it will be necessary to contrive a machinery of legal form, which cannot easily be engrafted upon the law of Scotland, without much and mature consideration: The Commissioners, in a matter of such great delicacy and importance, have thought themselves bound to proceed with the utmost caution in forming an opinion to be reported to His Majesty, on the propriety of making this great alteration on the law of Scotland, the extent to which the alteration may be carried, and the means by which it be effected.

may

Subscribed, in obedience to an order of a general meeting of Commissioners, held on the 20th day of May 1809, by

WALTER SCOTT, Clerk to the Commission.

Account

494

Account of the RUSSIAN Military Establishment.

From Etat de l'Empire de Russie, par J. B. Leroy de Flagis, (Paris 1807.)

Number of men.

114 of the Staff,

219,811 of Infantry,

51,730 of Cavalry,.

62,423 of Militia,

Expences in roubles.

290,476

5,824,340

2,265,596

184,608

184,608

295,764 of Cossacs, Calmucks, &c. .
250 Fortresses, their support,... 1,500,000

629,842

Here is a military establishment really formidable, yet scarcely sufficient for Russia, if she were seriously attacked on different sides, or if she should wish to act offensively against any one of the great powers of Europe. Of the 219,000, who compose her real force, supposing the corps complete, we must retrench 65,000 employed in the interior, in forming garrisons, or in other services which cannot be neglected. This force of 219,000 is thus reduced to 154,000 and of these we must deduct still a fifth for those who do not fight, surgeons, musicians, and persons attached to chapels, to boards, to diverse trades, and to the baggage of each regiment.

Her force in cavalry is more real; it consists of 51,730 men, to which we may add, the two new companies of horse guards, who consist of 60 men each. Thus the regular army consists of 205,850 men.

The Ukraine, it is true, supplies them besides with a provincial militia of 29,000 infantry, and the Dutchy of Smolensko supplies 32,000 Hussars, the remains of the ancient Pospolite of this part of Poland; this forms another army of 62,423 men. But this army, without uniform and without pay, composed in the Ukraine, of persons attached to the lands which they enjoy freely, with the mere obligation of defending the country in case of invasion, and in the duchy

10,249,628

of Smolensko, composed of peasants and the servants of Polish gentlemen, is not an army which can be made to act far beyond the limits of the country which furnishes it, and in which it is, besides, occupied in the service performed elsewhere by garrison troops. It may be good for defence, but yields not above 12 or 15,000 hussars to employ abroad.

The Cossacs, the Calmucks, the Bashkirs, and other such hordes of Tartars, are more formidable, since the number of light troops which Russia can draw from them is estimated at 295,754. This may, strictly speaking, be the number of Cossacs, Calmucks, and others, who are in a condition to serve; but it never was, and never could be, the number employed. In peace they have neither uniform nor pay; but to make use of them in time of war, it would be necessary to support them while they which the finances of Russia could could not live by plunder; a burden not sustain. Accordingly this force, has never hitherto been raised above 60,000 men.

It is with fortifications as with troops; they are good when they answer the Suppose, in Flanders or on the Rhine, purpose they are intended for. the best fortified places of Russia, they would signify nothing; because it is easy, though expensive, to transport into a fine country whatever is necessary to form a siege; and because in

this part of Europe the attack of

strong places is entrusted to engin- Procedure in RUSSIAN Courts of Jus

eers.

On the side of Sweden and Prussia, Russia may indeed see herself attacked by the arts of Europe; but if we at

tend to the difficulty of transporting OUR
artillery for a siege through the pro-
vinces that must be traversed, we
shall see that an obstacle of three
weeks elsewhere, becomes here one of
three months, and that during this
time the climate, making war in fa-
vour of the natives, soon brings them

resources.

On the side of the Tartars, of the Circassians, of the Bashkirs, of the Kirguises, and of other half savage people, who surround Russia armed and on horseback, a great number of forts are necessary; but, in return, it is enough that these forts should be barracks palisaded with any sort of hillock of earth to serve as a battery. It is true that a bomb only is necessary to set on fire those great barracks, but they are raised against people who have no bombs; they fulfil their purpose.

However indifferent these fortifications may be, yet as, besides the 50 strong places which are known to be in Russia, there are more than 200forts, fortlets, redoubts, or entrenched posts, the reader will be surprised to see only 775,950 rubles (about 155,000) employed in their maintenance. This economy seems stupendous, and to admit it, we must recollect there are 84 companies of 100 men devoted specially and continually to the reparation of the fortresses of the empire. The materials in wood and brick costing nothing, one would suppose that the fortifications of Russia should be always in the best condition; yet this is not the case; because it is not in the disposition of the Russians to take constant care of any thing; or because people in office find their account better in building new fortifications than in repairing the old.

tice.

(From the same.)

Russian tribunals sleep more

at their ease, and are not so númerous as yours. A president, one or two counsellors, and an assessor, form the judges, and, with one or two secretaries, compose all our tribunals. These five or six personages assemble on fixed days, between ten and eleven in the morning. The judges sit round a table covered with green cloth, the president at the head, in an elbow chair; the two counsellors at the side, with the assessors, on chairs; the secretaries, at one or two tables, in a corner of the room. An old soldier,

armed with a staff, guards the door, which is besieged by the crowd of clients, or advocates, not seeking to enter, for it is not allowed to every one to penetrate into this sanctuary; but, by a million of the lowest bows, to attract the eye of the divinities, whenever the doors are half opened; which often happens, because the assemblage is made in a room, where scribes in rags, and covered with vermin, seated on trembling benches, around trembling tables, deliver the oracles of Themis, or forge her instru

ments.

Thus, when one of our magistrates has need of any instrument or assistance, he calls to the old soldier, who, on receiving orders, goes to seek the scribe, or to get from him what is wanted. Sometimes a secretary comes. in person to enquire what the council wishes; then he receives, as he passes, the homage of the assembly; he claps. the shoulder of one, he kisses another, he embraces a third. Some, on the contrary, he brushes by, others he pre

tends

* The writer is a resident in Russia

tends not to see, he spits on the face of him who complains, he returns into the sanctuary, then comes out and repeats the same part.

It is said that Peter I. when about to die, regretted that he had not been able to establish Turkish forms of law in his states. This idea, which may appear to you quite extravagant, has passed through many European heads; and if they had been listened to, Europe would at this moment have been treated in the Turkish style. I am convinced of the extravagance of this project, and yet I should be tempted to adopt it in regard to Russia. Already, as much as is possible under our sky, we have the manners and customs of Byzantium; we are already fashioned to grimaces; we are accustomed, at all times, to present ourselves before men in power, only with our head bent, and our hands full. It is only introducing some blows with a cane instead of writing; and I believe, if Peter had lived, he would have made this reform. It was, doubtless, to supply its place, that this prince, on his death-bed, passed the edict, which fixes the time during which a process is to be begun and ended, at eleven days. I do not believe that, since the death of Peter, his will has been fol

lowed eleven times.

If you are surprised at the little effect of this edict, admirable in speculation and in books, you will cease to be so when you know the forms of procedure used in the countries for which it was made. Suppose that I have a just law-suit, that I wish, for instance, to recover my property out of the hands of a man who wishes to keep it. In order to spare myself the odious and disgusting view of law proceedings, to rescue myself from the insolence of those judges, I take an advocate, who should rather be called a solicitor. I engage to pay six per cent. of the sum which I sue for; I give him my papers, and he presents a petition. If my party is

not informed of the step I have taken, and has taken none, the petition is commonly received, and some days after, the college to which I addressed myself, fixes a day for my man, and cites him to appear.

My party, thus informed of the prosecution begun against him, seeks also an advocate, and finds one; but, as his affair is supposed not so good as mine, my adversary pays in advance, to his advocate, six per cent. of the sum which he wishes to keep. But as six per cent., once paid, would be very little in comparison of the capital, the advocate makes his client understand, that he must throw in also something corresponding to the importance of the cause and the dignity of the judge, or of the secretary, or of those protected by both, or of all those perBy offerings thus distributed, my affair is retarded, and never gets beyond the first citation; yet three are necessary before a process can be entered upon. My advocate, who knows by experience how the second citation is to be brought about, comes and informs me that it is now my turn to give, represents eloquently that it is the custom, and that we must sacrifice something not to lose the whole by sleeping over our right. Well, I give, and the second citation is made.

sons.

Then begins, between my adversary and me, a combat of generosity, which turns all to the benefit of these worthy magistrates; for if my party gives less than I, he is condemned, and if I do not give more than him, I do not obtain justice. At last, after several months of hurry and impatience, after having exhausted my purse, I am quite surprised to hear that the tribunal which has received my complaints begins to doubt its own competence, or that another tribunal claims it.— Here then am I, pleading before a tribunal which will not judge me, or waiting the end of a plea between two tribunals, who wish each to judge, and are quarrelling about my spoils. This

odd

odd accident, which is yet very common, happens because a man here depends always on one tribunal by his class, and often on another by his actions; that the distribution of classes and subjects is not clearly made, and that the kind of right of committimus which every individual enjoys, is neither fixed nor understood.

My process, however, is not yet begun. Suppose it begun ; my advocate makes my papers be transcribed or translated; the advocate who opposes me does the same: if there is any thing to add, they write, and write again both give their writings to one of the secretaries, who, after reading, makes his report in writing to the judges, who give sentence also in writing. But the decision of a process, however important, is never public; the decree which terminates it, is thought to exist only for the persons interested; no other is supposed to have any concern with it.

All is not lost, however, when we are condemned in one tribunal; we can appeal to that department of the senate on which this tribunal depends. Between this court and the former, however, there is no difference, except that the senators being great lords, the secretaries more important gentlemen, and the scribes less ragged, we must employ more bows, more humility, more patience, and richer offerings. Here end the hopes of innoAfter the condemnation of the senate, nothing remains but an appeal to the prince; but Peter I. attached such hard conditions to this resource, that it is in a manner prohibited, by the punishment of death pronounced against any one who should wrongfully appeal from a decision of

cence.

the senate.

High Roads and Mail Coaches.

THERE have been several meetings lately, both in Edinburgh and London, of the Proprietors of Land, July 1809.

and Trustees for High Roads in those counties of Scotland through which the Royal Mail Coaches travel, with the view of obtaining a repeal of the exemption enjoyed by those coaches from payment of toll. In a statement published by those Gentlemen, it is observed, that "it is not from a view of the aggregate loss, that the extent of the evil is to be estimated. The great weight of those carriages, and the velocity with which they travel, injure the roads to an extent which the toll chargeable for them, though paid, would not compensate. A mail coach, with its passengers and other loading, will weigh two tons, and it must travel from eight to nine miles in the hour, whereby the road suffers infinitely more than by the slow steady pace of a cart or waggon of the same burden."

Next follows an estimate of the loss sustained by the exemption from toll, and also the weight of the mail coaches.

"Mode in which the Loss affects the Counties through which the Mails

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
« ZurückWeiter »