The Royal Commission appointed by the Government to jar vestigate
the international law in relation to fugitive slaves re- ceived on board Government vessels is an unusually imposing one. It is to consist of the Duke of Somerset, Sir Alexander Cockburn, Sir R. Phillimore, Mr. Justice Archibald, Sir Henry Holland, Sir George Campbell, Sir H. S. Maine, Mr. Fitzjames Stephen, Mr. Rothery, the Right Hon. Montagu Bernard, Rear-Admiral Sir Leopold Heath, and the Hon. Alfred Thesiger. Here are numbers, and wisdom, and dig,nity, and pre- occupying engagements enough to render any conclusion impos- sible for an indefinite period of time, especially as it is not clear exactly where the Commissioners are to go for evidence. The " extinguisher " so happily depicted by Punch has been made of the most magnificent materials, and is therefore so much the better adapted for putting out a rather shabby departmental flame.
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