court, stated several grave charges affecting Mr. Wilde. One of them was, that in the accounts rendered (that is, the annual account which the officer is bound to render in order to determine the payments that ought to be allowed out of the chief registrar's fund, which is a fund for the payment of the officials), Mr. Wilde had made certain returns which purported to have been examined and approved by Mr. Commissioner Ayrton; and the statement was, that Mr. Commissioner Ayrton had never seen the account, and had given it no examination and no approval; that was one charge. The other charge was, that Mr. Wilde had passed accounts rendered to him by the official assignees and by the messengers, and had allowed sums of money without the production of any vouchers at all. He had taken the words of the messengers, and of the assignees, and, what is more, it was stated that he had allowed sums of money for work represented to have been done, but which had not been done at all; as, for example, sums allowed for journeys alleged to have been taken, but which had not been taken. There was another, and I thought a minor charge, though if it extended itself to any amount it would have been a grave charge, namely, that he had borrowed moneys from the official assignee and from the messenger, they being officers whom he had the duty of superintending as well as of examining their

accounts.

"Upon that report being presented to me, I desired that Mr. Wilde should give an answer to it. The answer was delayed; the first answer I think was not at all a satisfactory one. Mr. Miller communicated with me upon the subject, and he recommended that the course should be taken of summoning Mr. Wilde, if the answer was not perfectly satisfactory, to appear before me in the court for the purpose of showing cause why he should not be dismissed from his office. I must admit to you that I was extremely unwilling to take any such course, and although these charges were very grave, yet, having regard to the irregularity that had prevailed, I was extremely reluctant to entertain any thought of dismissing him. But it was the only mode by which he could be compelled to render an account, and as I thought it requisite that some public notice should be taken of his conduct, because I found

that he had been reproved on two former occasions (on one occasion by Lord St. Leonards, and on another occasion by Lord Campbell), I consented that notice should be given to him for that purpose. I remember at the time that Mr. Miller stated to me that he understood he was very ill and wanted to resign his office. I do not think (but Mr. Miller can probably recollect better than I can) that, upon that communication being made to me, I gave any direction or made any remark.

"I must here, for one moment, be permitted to advert to a circumstance which has been brought to my knowledge. I am very sorry that it was represented to the committee, as I am given to understand that it was represented, that I felt some pain that copies of the evidence had not been sent to me. It was just the other way. I was very glad the copies of the evidence had not been sent to me. I have not seen or had any communication with Mr. Miller since he was examined here, nor, except the general statement which the Lord Advocate thought proper to give me on one or two occasions, which was of the most general character, have I had any information of the evidence which has been given; and though I had the pleasure of receiving this morning a copy of the evidence, I have abstained from looking at it.

"Mr. Miller on that occasion told me simply that Mr. Wilde was ill, and was desirous of resigning. I cannot tell you at what date this was, but it was sometime at the end of May, I think. Three or four days after this Mr. Miller came to me, and brought a petition signed by Mr. Wilde, with an affidavit, requesting leave to resign, and the certificate of a physician or a surgeon, I forget which. Those papers were certainly all laid before me, and I felt very great embarrassment, undoubtedly. At that time I was not aware of Mr. Wilde's exact relationship to the judge of the Probate Court, and to my own Secretary of Lunacy; but I thought he stood in the relation of brother to them. That, undoubtedly, ought not to have influenced my mind, but I felt that the charge against Mr. Wilde, having regard to the former and general state of irregularity in the Bankruptcy Court, was not one upon which I could dismiss him without pronouncing a very severe sentence. I was painfully struck with the

great inconsistency of having directed him to be served with a notice to show cause why he should not be dismissed, and then permitting him to resign on a pension. The inconsistency was obvious, but, at the same time, unless I determined to dismiss him, I had no alternative but to allow him to remain in that department. I thought him a bad public officer, and I thought that it would be a gain to the public if he was permitted to resign; and therefore having only those two alternatives, either to permit him to remain or to allow him to resign, I certainly decided upon allowing him to resign, and I accordingly signed the order for granting him a pension.

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The court at Leeds is an extremely important one. The registrars are obliged to attend, one at one town and one at the other, and there is a great deal of business to be done. The other registrar was a very old gentleman, upwards of eighty years of age. The great difficulty that I have felt in the working of the Bankruptcy Act of 1861 has been this, that I have been obliged to have it administered by persons who had got wedded to the old system of administration. I was, therefore, not unwilling to have another public officer in the room of Mr. Wilde. When I had unwillingly and reluctantly agreed to let him resign in the manner that I have mentioned to you, Mr. Miller told me that it was absolutely necessary to appoint another registrar without delay. I was desirous of appointing a gentleman from the Northern Circuit. I have generally divided my patronage between the common law bar and the equity bar, as far as I could, and I was desirous of appointing a gentleman from the Northern Circuit to Leeds, which is included within it.

"Being called upon by Mr. Miller to make the appointment, the person that had the largest amount of recommendations, and who had been last recommended to me, was Mr. Welch. Mr. Welch, if I recollect rightly, applied to me first in the year 1862, and I think (but upon that point I cannot be quite confident) that the late Sir William Atherton took an opportunity of speaking to me in his favour. I certainly received a letter from him, but I think I saw him personally upon it. I had received letters strongly in favour of Mr. Welch from all the leaders of the circuit. My

secretary tells me that there were letters from Mr. Edward James, who is one of the leaders, from Mr. Stephen Temple, from Mr. Manisty, from Mr. Udall, and from some others. My son had also mentioned, in the year 1862 I think it was, Mr. Welch's name to me, and had said that he was a gentleman he should be glad if I would recollect. The last application made to me, I think, before the communication of which I am speaking, by Mr. Welch, was on the 16th or 17th of May. I should not recollect the dates, but my secretary is in attendance with a book, in which it appears that on that occasion some recommendation was sent to me. I therefore gave Mr. Miller the name of Mr. Welch, and appointed him immediately upon the spot. I had not the smallest knowledge of Mr. Welch, other than from the information given to me which I have stated. I need hardly state to you, that Mr. Welch's appointment was made without the smallest reference or intent that it should be connected with anything relating to my son, with respect to whom, I am sorry to say, that I had then formed a final determination that I never would give him any public appointment. Mr. Welch's appointment, therefore, was made in the most absolute and unconditional manner, simply in the way in which I have stated to you. I think that concludes all I have to say with reference to that part of your inquiry."

Being asked whether his lordship was under the impression that the second report had been communicated to Mr. Wilde, the Lord Chancellor answered- "My general recollection of the matter, assisted by what I have seen here, for I have glanced over these papers, was that Mr. Wilde addressed to me personally a long letter in explanation, which was directed particularly to the first report by Mr. Commissioner Ayrton. According to my general habit, which I have no doubt I followed in this case, I directed that immediately to be sent to Mr. Miller. As the committee will observe, the Lord Chancellor can hardly by any possibility get through his duties without having some part of them delegated to, and discharged by, the officers about him, in whom he has every reason to trust. I had every reason to trust Mr. Miller, who has always been a very able and intelligent and active officer in this department. I directed Mr. Wilde's letter to be sent to him, and that

he should forward it to Messrs. Ayrton and Hardinge, and I suppose their second report, if I recollect it rightly, deals with Mr. Wilde's explanation."

Having thus completed the first part, the Lord Chancellor said, "If you please, I will state the other matter which is the subject of your inquiry; that is, if I understand it rightly, the allegation that I appointed, or desired to appoint, or intended to appoint (I do not know in what manner it is put), my eldest son to the office of Registrar at Leeds. The appointment of Mr. Welch to the said office "-that we have gone through, "and whether he was to resign his appointment in favour of the Hon. Richard Bethell' that I positively deny; it never entered into my mind, and to receive another appointment in London.' I think I had better tell you the whole of the circumstances, painful as they are. In the month of May 1864, I received from one of my daughters-in-law a letter, in which she enclosed a letter from my son to his brother, and it stated that he had lost a very large sum of money indeed on the turf; that came upon me in an overwhelming manner, and I wrote immediately to Mr. Miller, because I felt that it was impossible that he could do his duty; and it was also stated to me that he had neglected his duty, and I wrote to Mr. Miller a letter, in which I insisted that he should be immediately compelled to resign; I required the resignation to be sent to me the next day. Mr. Miller was at that time, if I recollect rightly, confined to his bed with gout; he wrote me a letter in a very proper tone, and in a very kind spirit; he begged that he might be allowed to make arrangements, and that I would not carry into effect any determination with regard to my son. I was certainly under the impression that he could not by possibility have acted in the manner in which he had done, or carried on his proceedings without neglecting his duty, and a number of tales were brought to me about it; and I therefore was very firm in my determination that I would hear of nothing but his resignation: I probably should not have acted in the same manner with regard to a stranger. With regard to him, I was determined so to act, because I thought it would be a reproach to me if I permitted him to continue. The consequence was that within a few days his resignation was sent,

and from the time of my receiving this imputation upon his conduct until now, I have never seen him, nor have I had any communication with him, except that on one occasion when he had a son born, when his wife was confined, he wrote me a very proper letter announcing that event. He went to Paris, I think, and I had formed a firm determination never to appoint him to any office. But in the month of February of the present year his friends surrounded me, and his wife wrote to me, and I ascertained that there was no reproach attaching to him on the ground that he had neglected his duty; I found that it was a false imputation. I was then entreated to give him some appointment, provided he got a release from all his creditors. What I said upon that occasion was this, that I would make no promise, but that I would consider the matter when the release was obtained. Some suggestion was made to me at the time (I think it was by my son's wife, my daughter-in-law) that he might have an appointment to a registrarship in the country. I made no promise, neither did I give any encouragement to it. This was some time, if I recollect rightly, in the month of February in the present year. Information then reached me that there was so little hope of his being weaned from these courses, that I found he had pursued the same thing at Paris. I then sent for Mr. Skirrow, and I begged him never to mention the subject to me again, for that I had determined never to appoint him. I am now told, but of that I had no knowledge, that in consequence of the manner in which I had received his wife, or his wife's letters, his wife gave him some encouragement to hope that, if an arrangement was made with his creditors, I might appoint him to Leeds. The consequence was that he was induced, I believe, to go down to Leeds upon that encouragement, and to act in the manner that you have heard. All that was unknown to me, and when I found from the information I received, that there was no hope of his getting rid of these temptations to go upon the turf again, I made the communication that I have stated to you to Mr. Skirrow."

The Lord Chancellor was then asked whether he ever gave Mr. Skirrow reason to suppose that he would be willing to appoint Mr. Bethell to Leeds and Mr. Welch to London, and his

lordship answered: "Mr. Skirrow was the gentleman who solicited me to appoint my son to an office in the country. Two places, I think, were mentioned to me by him on that occasion; one was, I think, Leeds, and the other, I think, was Bristol. I never told Mr. Skirrow anything more than this, that if my son succeeded in getting released from his creditors, I would consider the matter. I wish to give you the fullest possible answer; will you direct me to the passage in the evidence?

"Both Mr. Skirrow and Mr. Miller, and my daughter-in-law, were all most anxious to press and prevail upon me, and I have no doubt they did several things in the hope that I should be ultimately induced to appoint him. I have no doubt that my son was led to do and to say many things in the hope-I do not know that I ought to say of committing me, but yet, at the same time, of producing a state of circumstances that would almost compel me, to make the appointment. I cannot account for these things in any other way; but I am quite confident that Mr. Skirrow never could have done any such thing. He never could have directed Mr. Miller to prepare the orders, I am quite sure. If Mr. Miller prepared the orders, he did so out of regard for my son, and simply in the manner in which he has always acted. He has always taken the liberty, whenever he could do so, of stating to me in a very proper manner that he thought I had acted with undue severity towards my son, and he was always anxious to prevail on me to give him something by way of reparation of what he thought was a severe and unjust sentence, so far as it was founded on his supposed neglect of duty."

FIRING ON MERCHANT VESSELS IN THE STRAITS OF GIBRALTAR.

Declaration of the British and Spanish Governments for the Abolition of the Practice of Firing on Merchant-Vessels from British and Spanish Forts in the Straits of Gibraltar. Signed at Madrid, March 2, 1865.

THE Government of Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Government of Her Majesty the Queen of Spain, taking into consideration that the causes which gave rise to the estabVOL. I.

lishment of certain precautions in the fortified places which command the Straits of Gibraltar, in the case of vessels approaching them within the distance of cannon-shot while sailing in those waters, no longer exist; and having regard to the inconveniences to which the navigation of merchant vessels has been liable by a compliance with the formalities to which they are subjected by reason of the aforesaid precautions, when the currents or the winds oblige them to enter into the waters belonging to the maritime jurisdiction of the aforesaid fortified places; and taking into consideration, finally, that those fortified places, under normal circumstances, are exempted by the good faith of nations from surprises or attacks which the law of nations condemns, have agreed upon what follows:

1. In the places of war and fortresses belonging to Great Britain and Spain which. command the Straits of Gibraltar, those regulations are abolished, in virtue of which it is required that merchant-vessels which cruise in the said Straits shall show their flag in passing within cannon-shot of those places or fortresses; and it is agreed equally to abolish the intimation by means of shots, at first with powder only, and afterwards with ball, to those vessels which neglect or refuse to comply with the aforesaid obligation of showing their flag.

2. The agreement which precedes does not deprive the Governments of Great Britain and Spain of the right of taking, in the aforesaid. places and fortresses, in time of war, those precautions which they may think necessary, and which are in conformity with what the law of nations prescribes in regard to this matter.

3. The present Declaration does not exempt the vessels of either of the two nations from the observance of the rules of maritime etiquette in seas common to both, on meeting ships of war of either of the two nations; nor does it exempt them from the formalities respectively established for the entrance into the ports of the aforesaid British and Spanish fortresses which command the Straits of Gibraltar.

4. It is understood that this Declaration of the British and Spanish Governments in no way alters, modifies, or derogates from the dispositions, regulations, and practices which at present are in force in the aforesaid places and fortresses with regard to ships of war

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which navigate in those waters or which enter their ports.

5. Both Governments will give the necessary orders for the execution of the present agreement, which will begin to come into force from and after the 15th of the present month.

In witness whereof the present Declaration has been signed in duplicate by Sir John Fiennes Crampton, Baronet, Knight-Commander of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Her Britannic Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of Madrid, and by Don Antonio Benavides, Knight Grand Cross of the Royal and distinguished Order of Charles III., and Her Catholic Majesty's Minister of State, who have affixed thereto their respective seals.

Done at Madrid, the second day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.

JOHN F. CRAMPTON.

THE WOUNDED IN ARMIES.

Accession of the British Government to the Convention signed at Geneva, August 22, 1864, for the amelioration of the condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field, signed at London, February 18, 1865; and acceptance thereof by the Swiss Confederation in the name of all the Contracting Parties, signed at Berne, March 3, 1865.

THE Swiss Confederation, his Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Baden, his Majesty the King of the Belgians, his Majesty the King of Denmark, her Majesty the Queen of Spain, his Majesty the Emperor of the French, his Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Hesse, his Majesty the King of Italy, his Majesty the King of the Netherlands, his Majesty the King of Portugal and the Algarves, his Majesty the King of Prussia, his Majesty the King of Wurtemberg, being equally animated by the desire to mitigate, as far as depends upon them, the evils inseparable from war, to suppress useless severities, and to ameliorate the condition of soldiers wounded on the field of battle, have resolved to conclude a convention for that purpose, and have named their plenipotentiaries, who, after having exchanged their powers,

found in good and due form, have agreed upon the following articles :—

I. Ambulances and military hospitals shall be acknowledged to be neuter, and, as such, shall be protected and respected by belligerents so long as any sick or wounded may be therein. Such neutrality shall cease if the ambulances or hospitals should be held by a military force.

II. Persons employed in hospitals and ambulances, comprising the staff for superintendence, medical service, administration, transport of wounded, as well as chaplains, shall participate in the benefit of neutrality whilst so employed, and so long as there remain any wounded to bring in or to succour.

III. The persons designated in the preceding Article may, even after occupation by the enemy, continue to fulfil their duties in the hospital or ambulance which they serve, or may withdraw in order to rejoin the corps to which they belong. Under such circumstances, when those persons shall cease from their functions, they shall be delivered by the occupying army to the outposts of the enemy.

IV. As the equipment of military hospitals remains subject to the laws of war, persons attached to such hospitals cannot, in withdrawing, carry away any articles but such as are their private property.

Under the same circumstances an ambulance shall, on the contrary, retain its equipment.

V. Inhabitants of the country who may bring help to the wounded shall be respected, and

shall remain free. The Generals of the belligerent Powers shall make it their care to inform the inhabitants of the appeal addressed to their humanity, and of the neutrality which will be the consequence of it.

Any wounded man entertained and taken care of in a house shall be considered as a protection thereto. Any inhabitant who shall have entertained wounded men in his house shall be exempted from the quartering of troops, as well as from a part of the contributions of war which may be imposed.

VI. Wounded or sick soldiers shall be entertained and taken care of, to whatever nation they may belong. Commanders-in-chief shall have the power to deliver immediately to the outposts of the enemy soldiers who have been wounded in an engagement, when circumstances permit this to be done, and with the consent of