The Sun. — London, England, 1853-03-04 00:00:00

MARKET NEWS-(THIS DAY.) CORN EXCHANGE. The pretent week's arrival of English wheat up to our market coastwise has amounted to 4,730 quarters, wholly f rom Essex, Kent, and Lincolnshire, and in greatly im proved condition. Fresh up to-day, the receipts by land lcuriage were but moderate ; yet the show of samples of ooth red and whit e was on the increase. Owing chiefly to the increased supplies of foreign flo - hr on offer, the demand for all kinds of wheat of home produce was in a sluggish state, - but we hav e no c h ange t o no ti ce i n th e quo t a ti ons . For forward delivery next to nothingwas doing. F ine foreign wheats sold slowly aefull currencies. Low and middlin qualities were very dull, and. the turn lower. cargoes Flo ating off Falmouth commanded very little at tention. f The show of English barley was moderate, but that of I ,, r eign was very limited. The trade ruled steady, and la rates were freely supported. We had a steady but not to say brisk inquiry' for malt, at fall currencies. b The arrivals of Irish oats haTe exceeded 12,000 quarters, tit those of English and foreign have been limited. Sales I % ° gressed slowly, on f ormer t erm s. "' e at's, peas, and flour, met a dull inquiry, at barely stationary prices. ngliSh .1 • : Foreign :. ARRIVALS THIS WHEY. Wheat. \ Barley. I Malt. 4.7.90 t 4,720 6,970 Oats. I Flour. 2,290 / 2,110 12,660 I 7,620 SMITHFIELD. The show of beasts in to-day's market was tolerably 4° —° (l , both as t o num b er an d quality. All breeds moved zit steadily, and Monday's prices were well supported.. e slight Scots realised 4s 2d per 81bs. There was hi " increase in the supply of sheep. On the whole , the _ u tton trade w as in a sluggish state, but we have no e u ange to n o ti ce i n th e quotations. The best old Downs, the wool, so ld a t 5 s 2d per 81bs. Calves were in full In supply, and sluggish inquiry, at barely late rates. v i o l' i gs, comparatively few transactions took place, at pre us currencies. • iaikh cows met a dull inquiry, at from 15/. 5s to 191.10 s each, including their small calf. Per 81135 to sink the offals. s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d. sec il lrerior B eas t s ... 3 •o to 3 2 Pr i me S ou thd own 5 0 5 2 o Pri t : d quality •..3 4 3 6 Large crse. calves 3 0 4 0 large oxen 3 8 310 Prime small do 4 2 4 6 rue Scots, &c. 4 0 4 2 rge hogs 210 3 2 C e rior sheep ...3 10 4 0 mall porkers 3 6 4 0 o aki quality ...4 2 4 6 uckling calves 20 0 25 0 e crse.-wlled.4 8 410 Quarter old pigs 19 0 25 0 teast TOTAL SUPPL Y . sheepealP‘e., pi gs. ....... FOREIGN SUPPLY, 972 I Beasts 4,020 I Sheep 299 I Calves 330 I Pigs NEWGATE AND LEADENHALL. lli though the supplies were seasonably extensive, the te ueral demand ruled steady, at full prices. Per 81bs by the carcase. tett' • a. d. a. d. a. d. a. d: b o , inferior 282 10 Mutton, Inferior 34 3 6 IJc: llllb: idling 3 0 2 2 Do.,middling 3 8 4 0 b o * , Prime large 3 4 3 6 Do., prime 4 2 4 6 1 , 41 :, do larges lc mall 2 8 3 2 Pork, small 3 4 4 0 BOROUGH HOP. 14 ,PLIz' market continues very firm for all kinds of hops, the si t -ces of which have an upward tendency. The show of 16 11 8 1 Ples is small. Mid and East Kent pockets 112 s to ; Weald of Kent, 105 s to 120 s ; Sussex, 100 s to 115 s kibo. COLONIAL. Ve r :elar• HThe market for British plantation has been o t' - urn; and the quantity in first hands being limited, 3 98 ders do not press sales. Barbadoes by auction sold at gom to 40s for fine yellow, and 37s to 38s 6d for mid to good ' w hite ; Demerara crystalised. brought 32s 6d to 35s for brown, and 36s to 39s for ord to good yellow. Re -1,7,e,r1 has b een i n d eman d a t 45 s Gd t o 46 5, f or b rown lumps t'in 48s f or l ow t o fi ne grocery. bra. B4 India. _Mauritius has been at about previous rates, 11 g ooa • 1121 less demand ; good yellow 37s to 37s 6d, low to 11 43 ,nnd 355 to 36s 6d and fine yellow 39s to 40s. Bengal t area in moderate 'request. Benares, good white 38s 6 : 1 , low "andmid white 36s 6d to 37s 6d, and fine Mad - " 38 s 6d. an aur privately has been sold at 28s. g o j . aa, at• auction, went rather lower • good mid to and.Yeellow. 33s 6d. to 355, low and mid 30s 6s to 32s 6d, ofr el f u le brovrn 29s to 30s per cwt. Foreign.—Pernambuco ?,". Publicly has been taken in at 30s to 33s for low and 1 , ; 1 8411 P brown and at 33s 6d to 35s for good and fine. 14. 1 ,, .a afloat ha; been sold for a near port for s cargo of 35 t ill s 1 at 19R Gd. Yellow Havannah, duty paid, brought 3 68:" 395 ; and Bahia brown 31s to 345, yellow 34s Gd to co e to th ee, : —The market is still improving, partly owin g eeyi n e „ tiavoura ma be tenor of the foreign advices. Native ord. - 74 been in much request at 48s 6d to 49s for good and a t has has been an active demand also f or p lantation, expeo„..," some advance in prices. A further rise seems to be tat' . r 7". ,, and there are export buyers in th e market. Plan- Pal i e ° l; A; u as advanced about is per cwt, low mid and mid 413 4 t ngsol(I at 60s to 655, ord small at 57s to 57's 6d, a nd the at 50s 6d to 51s. Costa Rica has been in demand, cargo of 1 , 811 .1)Ply is limited. Mocha has a readier sale. A Cotton afloat, has been sold for a near port at 425. Ataci ra "• -- -The market tends downwards, and at auction 4 4 d 8 was bought in at 3 1 d to 31,d, and Surat at R d to P e r lb p 3 i . eaVery little has been done. ~?chineal.—The re i s no a lt era tion. h,•orace.--F u ll prices have been obtained. Good white was - vten in at 12s for Bengal. Tea.—Thi s arti c l e has ' been inactive. Congou has been iteady, however, and fine green teas have been principally dealt in. Tallow.—Prices are firm, although not much has been gone. P.Y.O. is 44 8 3d to 46s 0 1 1 per cwt. on the spot. 15 Saltpetre.—Madras, 21 i to per cent. refraction, has been sold at 24s 6d to 25s for ord. Green Frait.—The market has been well supplied with Cl Uges. Two cargoes from St. Michael, and a parcel by S teamer from Lisbon, sold by Keeling and Hunt, at public , 44 , 1 -e ? went at a reduction of 2s to 3 s per packag e. Lemons s"litinue scarce. Two cargoes of Seville sours have arrived, 11 411 ( 1 been f r eely taken by the trade. Black Spanish nuts ) Main their price. Barcelona without alteration. No )18 _ . L in the market. TO Tll3 EDITOR OF TEE SUN. t in,---Perusing your paper of the 22d inst. it appears slat Coursevy estimates gave rise to much discussion, in e l e of which Sir G. Pechell made the following Foal :—" He had often expressed a wish to see a al officer at the head of the Board at Charing-cross, 1„„_. but he found that he had made a great mistak e in think ti that such an arrangement would be desirable." Now, cod' sing appears to me rather occult , and somewhat co h -Pr : Bing ; one side of the question is fully open for 1 4 : 4, deration, but the other lies much hidden, and I 11 1 .4 never been able to get fairly at it. My object is, ri e tefore information ; and I think it incumbent upon 4., 4 Jal Officer giving such an opinion in Parliament to %•'e his reasons fully before the public for coming to such sho °ll i ellis ien. At the same time, if any of your readers e b h l-141 take an interest in the subject, I should feel much of % g e ed by a consideration of the question. The good te Country is the first object, and, should this view quo 's4pL a civilian at the head of the Admiralty , th en it th;. - 0 - ars to me that the honour of the navy must be see: ll aside. But lam more particularly desirous of of te a valid reason why the honour and consequence Ai - o , ll avy should be placed on such a different standing for th"" e regime deemed to be appropriate and requisite no r e army. Should the question otherwise meet with be O P,l' . , the favour of your opinion, Mr. Editor, wou ld i galy esteemed. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, A NAVAL OFFICER. 81I0aWING MURDER NEAR LINCOLN. h eer T hursday a shocking murder was discovered_ havetoof The —6 the tL e alniitted upon a mother by her son. Th edY was a small house at Scotherne, nese;scene Lincoln. a Iv) d o l,- ,, nl ae of the murdered woman was Sarah Webster, ger e ," ; , about 67 years o f a ge, and the name of the mur 'with King, a farm labourer, her illegitimate son, li efort - " e ra his victim had resided since the 21st ult. The ehe 1111 ate , deceased was well known at Lincoln, where • W a d, resided f or the last twenty years, the greater part • 1 Period. she kept a house of ill-fame, where her ' 31 1 1 e, -a nghters re s id e d with her in a state of prostitution. I , ft e Married sonie time after the birth of the prisone as r, ,Ar c ,blad several children by her husband, whose name w has aster. It appears the prisoner is a married man, and In ltc 4 + °ll 12 years of age, and a daughter 17. He has boon l eat j t o — to fits, and his wife, who is in the habit of going ab - . w erk, had sent for her to take care of him d u rin g to th, —e ,nee. On Wednesday he struck his mother a bl ow day iL'uulTlach as she was giving him some tea ; and from }, - '` e she appeared terrified at his violence. On Thurs- Ida murderedwoman was left alone with the prisoner, an d htr h having gone to a funeral in the Arr of Seothe aug Pe n who lives next door to the pner was r rn et e u . rning e h - orn ra e o about four o'clock, when the taPpro'er beckoned to her from the window; aEld, as she " Iv e he put out his hands and said, "Come on, I tli A - T, a sPree and am ready for you again. tOnweonmtearn 'eatee P .e nse, she discovered the unfortunate h a chair and weltering in her blood. .Her head ' l4 e ro all g in g on her right arm, and she was bleeding from neigiZnth and face. An alarm was made, and that itte e nrs - were soon on the spot. They discovered l'eae t ee h eased was quite dead. It is believed that the pia -4'll'l f^ ab eaten his mother with his fists about the ead 'Nathr°ir and that she had fallen on the edge of the c_ h h air, her jaw in the centre. The blood had spurted tindl-1-7 the spindles of the chair, and stained the wall • e —ea % the window. The pris'oner's right hand was ii°e:(3lTered with blood. An inuest was held on the body af ter tis at elY afterwards by Mr. Hitching, the coroner, and pest l , l ?st tors le examination of a number of witnesses, and a m° examination of the body the jury returned a f- of " Wilful ?nurder" against ' ihe pr_ison_er, and he atthwith committed to the assizes a t Lincoln. /e 111241 I'REEDO3.I OF THE CITY VOTED TO DR. LAYARD, koh*,,----Yesterda.y at the meeting of the Court of Com (lob; ‘'°llneil, Mr:Deputy Bennoch moved that the free- Ali—stPf the city of London be presented to Dr. Henry an Layard, as a testimonial of his severing d kaitu,_`l3 exertions in the discovery of the . long-los . t 'Bee per?: of eastern antiquity, and for securing them in hißtoet Sa te as to demonstrate the accuracy of sacred ''ac e , l 2Y , ar illustrate the early history of the human a nd for hi s i ndefatigable labour and skill, by which keiti ellll trY has been enabled to place such valuable . th e pals of ancient grandeur amongst the collection of 4 Zre e l i t t ( l Bll Museum. The motion was unanimously 0v i ,, 0 • -11.4.x„—LAND EXPEDITION IN SEARCH OF SIR JOHN i 4 rri „717',11T,----The celebrated Arctic traveller, Dr. Rea, ap to wn on M on d a y, t o m a k e p re p ara ti ons f or ov erlap expedition i n search of Sir Joh n F ran kli n , —ll ls d h the survey of the nort h ern coast of America. "PPing Gazette. 14/,, tene t iii seimiTrEs.— -Yesterday the bill "for the l'eli g i o % her Majesty's subjects professing the Jewish Te Werd s „ was published, consisting of clauses. h h aki n , on the true faith of a Christian, 'in the oat o held e a c ,"?o, are to be omitted. The Jews are not to 13 ' 4 114 4 -I\34 ° offices in the state, nor to advise in the ap ent of offices in the church. IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. HOUSE OF LORDS—(YESTERDAY:) The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the woolsack at five o'clock. Lord FEVERSHAM presented a petition from York against the admission of Jews into Parliament. Lord LYNDHURST gave notice that he would to morrow put a question to the noble earl at the head of the Government with regard to the asylum afforded in this country to foreign refugees, The Earl of HARROWBY presented &petition from Walsall against the admission of Jews into Parliament. REGISTRATION OF ASSURANCES BILL. The LORD CHANCELLOR moved the second read ing of this bill, the object of which he explained to be to put an end to insecurity of title. He would gladly enhance the transferable value of land. It was not his intention by it to change the manner by which land as a species of property could be dealt with, but only give more facility to its transference. Property in land was very different to any other species of property, and in the transfer ait the vendor had all sorts of difficult opera tions to go through before he could effect a sale. The ven dor had it thrown upon him to prove a negative, and though he did not mean to say•that there were many cases of fraud under this state of things, yet without some mea sure of this sort, no security could be obtained. If such a measure had been passed 20 years ago, when the first report of the Commissioners was published, he had no doubt that incalculable benefits would have resulted from it. (Hear.) The outline of the bill was this. 'He would suppose a man to purchase an estate—sayßellpnden Park —for 5,0001. After that the man married and made a settlement of the property on his wife,. to be held by her on his demise, and after her death by their son. Now, by the present law, in the event of the son wishing to sell or raise money on that land, he should produce in numerable deeds and documents to prove his title. It would be also necessary to examine into the question as to whether any money had been raised, by mortgage or otherwise, on the property during the lifetime of the vendor's father ; and further, to ascertain if a deed of appointment had been executed by him. The family solicitor might be applied to on the subject, and he might answer "no." But he also might add, that "deceased was some time in York, where he might have executed such deed of appointment without the knowledge of his family ;" so that they would be entirely dependent on the honesty of the father, who was the original purchaser. Now, all that would be obviated by the present mea sure ; for, instead of overhauling title-deeds and heaps of documents, they need only apply to the registrar, in case of sale or mortgage of the property, when the title could be easily ascertained ; as, also, every pecuniary circumstance connected with the property. (Hear, hear.) That was the scope and object of the measure then before their lordships ; and without such a measure, he believed perfect security, in cases of purchase and sale of landed property, was impossible. (Hear, hear.) From the very dawn of modern civilisation, in the time of Henry VIII., the registration of deeds had been more or less recognised. In the reign of Henry VIII. an act was passed for the " enrolment of bargains and sales." Again, in the time of the Commonwealth, and subsequently, in the reign of Charles 11., the principle was recognised. In the reign of George I. three ridings of Yorkshire and a portion of Middlesex were brought under the operation of the system. Attempts were made towards the close of the 18th century to extend the system ; but nothing was done until the reign of George IV., when the noble and learned lord (Lord Brougham) made his great speech on law reform, which was followed by the Lord Chancellor of the day attaching the Great Seal to a commission constituted to inquire as to what amendments could be made in the law, particu larly as regarded that important subject— real property. That commission consisted of some very eminent men, one from the common law bar, two from Chancery, and five of the most excellent conveyancers of the day. They investigated the subject very minutely and made several reports. In their second elaborate report they recommended unanimously this system of registration as " a system necessarily the foundation of all real and practical improvements." They added these remarks, "very inadequate estimate's will be formed of the evils of the present system in considering the cases where loss arises•to purchasers or mortgagees. It is a consideration of the greatest importance, and one which presents the existing evil in the strongest light, that, in all transactions respecting the sale of real property, the suppression of title is treated as a risk to be apprehended and guarded against." In that report the establishment of a general registry was recommended as the founda tion of every improvement ; and he believed it was in con sequence of that report that his noble and learned friend (Lord Brougham, we believe), who had not at the time been in office, had introduced a bill into the House of Commons. That bill had not been proceeded with, al though a committee of the other house had unanimously approved of the principle on which it proceeded. His noble and learned friend had introduced another bill, which had been thrown out by a considerable majority. The fact was, that great opposition had been offered to the measure thronghout the country, and had been of fered mainly by solicitors, acting, he believed, for the most part, from perfectly conscientious motives, and in fluenced by a sincere conviction that the bill, instead of remedying existing evils, would greatly aggravate them. He did not wonder that they should entertain such a conviction. He did not wonder that persons who had not fully investigated the subject should come to the conclusion that the measure would be attended with dangers which there were no advantages to counterba lance. It had been said that it would lead to the ex posure of family transactions, and that persons would go prying into those deeds fro s m a feeling of improper curiosity. But if parties really wished to invest their money in purchasing property, or in advancing loans upon it, there could be no reason why they should not have access to the deeds by which the title to the pro perty was regulated ; and as to the fear that persons might examine those documents from motives of mere curiosity, he believed that such an apprehension was un founded, and that people seldom or never looked over deeds without some justifiable reason. It had also been said that there would be a risk of losing those docu ments. But that risk would be entirely removed by en abling parties to register, not the deeds themselves, but copies of them. In the year 1846 there had taken place some proceedings bearing upon that question. At that time the corn laws had ,been abolished, and many persons thought that measure would very prejudicially affect the landed interest, and that some measure ought to be adopted for the relief of that interest. A com mittee of their lordships' house had consequently been appointed to inquire into the burdens on land, and more especially into the system of local taxation. That committee did not consist of mere theoretical law reformers, and among its members were many of those among their lordships most conversant with the wants and the general condition of the landed interest. He would name a few of these members. There were Lord Redesdale, Lord Colchester, the Duke of Richmond, the Duke of Buckingham, the Marquis of Salisbury, Lord Stanley (at present Earl of Derby), the Duke of Buc clench, the Earl of Malmesbury, and other practical authorities on questions relating to landed property. In their report they declared that " the marketable value of real property was seriously diminished by the tedious process of the transfer of land, and that a regis try of the titles of all real property was essential to any attempt to simplify the system of conveyancing." Some years later a commission had been appointed to inquire into that subject. That commission had consisted of the late Lord Langdale, of three barristers , n amel y , Mr. Bellenden Ser, Mr. Colston, and Mr. Humphrey ; and of two eminent solicitors, in order that every important interest might be repyreessteingtaetdedtthhreouggnheosuttieints, iannqduitriheesy. i They had carefully n had come to the conclusion that without a registry it would be idle to speculate on any other reform in respect to real property. They ha d made their report in the summerled rn ofth fri e yearfriend thle 3 " present ;and c i h n ie th f e j y ns e t a i r ee lB o s f l hi the s C n o o u b rt le of Queen's Bench had, as the organ of the Government, introduced into their lordships' house a bill carrying out the recommendations of the commissioners. That bill, after having been read a second time, had been referred to a select committee. which, after having sifted the question to the 'bottom, had suggested what they had believed would be improvements in the measure ; and their suggestions having been adopted the amended bill had been read a third time, and passed their lordships' house unanimously, or at least without any division. It had been sent down to the other house, but at so late a period of the session, unfortunately, that it could not have been discussed there, and the measure had conse quently been lost. Then came the year 1852. The Go vernment had been changed early in that year ; and the new Administration had not thought proper to deal with that subject. He did not blame them for that. It was well known that they had had many other important measures of legal reform to consider ; and besides, their highest legal functionary, his noble and learned friend who had preceded him as Lord Chancellor, was hostile to the change in question. As soon as he (the Lord Chancellor) had had the honour of receiving the Great Seal, it had occurred to him that he ought at once to direct his attention to that subject, and to take up the measure which their lordships had already sanctioned, unless he should find some very strong reason for not doing so. The bill, as it had been referred to the select committee of their lordships in the year 1851, would have carried out the recommendations of the commis tions in their integrity, and would have settled the re gistry on the basis of a general map of the whole country on the large scale, as well as he could recollect, of six inches to the mile. Two of the commissioners, however, had thought that such a map would not afford the best mode of attaining the objects of the bill ; but he confessed that for his part he believed that it would be the best plan if it should be practicable. It appeared, however, that the formation of the map would cost be tween 2,000,0001. and 3,000,0001. ; and it had been thought that if it were proposed that the bill should be postponed until the map should be made, the public would very naturally think that there existed no serious intention of proceeding with the contemplated reforms. Now he did not wish that they should expose themselves to that imputation ; and as the map was not essential o to the operation of the bill, while it might be engrafted it hereafter, and while every private proprietor might get a map drawn up of his own property, y,it had been thought advisable not to insist on the formation of the map as the indi s p ensable basis of the measure. While he endeavoured to make their lordships h . ch had , ac quainted with the nature o f the bill he felt that he ought not to omit to notice t he main objections w been urge d against it. He coul d not but feel that among one w hi c h was certainly entitle d to ver y g reat weight, a great nu mber of persons the rea l ob j ection to it was and it was this—that, in spite of the great and almost overwhelming array of authority in its favour, there was one very distinguished authority opposed to it—his noble and learned friend, his predecessor in the office of Lord Chancellor. There were, no doubt, many people who thought that no person was more capable than THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY E - ITEING: MARCH 4, 1853 his noble and learned friend of forming a correct judgment upon the matter, and that they could not do better than accept his decision with respect to it. Their lordships would not however, he felt assured, be influenced by any such reasoning, and would not reject a measure which came before them with so many recommendations in its favour, merely because it was opposed by his noble and learned friend, however high might be their respect for his abilities and attainments. But what were the actual objections to the bill. It was said, in the first place, that it was impracticable, because they should have enormous buildings and a vast staff of officers to receive and arrange the immense masses of deeds they would have to deal with. But that diffi culty, like many others, when fairly looked in the face, became sensibly- diminished. The size of the building and the number of officers they would require would, of course, depend on the number of deeds to be regis tered. Now, he thought that that number had been greatly over-estimated by his noble and learned friend. But, even if his estimate were a correct one, there would be no insuperable difficulty in providing a re ceptacle for these deeds in a country in which the Crystal Palace had been raised in the course of five or six months. The commissioners of 1829-30 had inquired into that question of the probable number of the deeds to be registered ; and they had found a means of forming a reliable estimate upon the point. There had already been in force a registration of deeds in Yorkshire, although an imperfect one ; and of course the proportion between the area of Yorkshire and the area of England afforded a good test of the proportion which the number of deeds registered in Yorkshire would bear to the number that would be registered in all England. The area of Yorkshire was about 3,800,000 acres • the area of England and Wales was about 3 7, 100000 ; and as the number of deeds registered in Yorkshire in the year 1829 was 6,900, it followed that if a proportionate number of deeds should be registered in England and Wales, they would amount to a little over 67,000, or say 70,000. It was true that a portion of Yorkshire consisted of waste land ; but Wales presented, on the other side, a propor tionate amount of land of an equally worthless descrip tion. Then, again, they might arrive at an estimate upon that subject by taking the population in Yorkshire and the population in England and Wales. In the year 1821 the population of Yorkshire had amounted to 1,200,000 souls, and the population of England and Wales had amounted to 12,220,000 ; and those propor tions would give to England and Wales 70,265 deeds. The commissioners who had last inquired into the sub ject had come to the conclusion that the number would probably amount at present to 80,000. But he would take it at 100,000 ; and he would ask whether that was a number so great as to prove unmanageable. Mr. From had entered into a very elaborate calculation upon that point. He found that deeds usually consisted of two skins of parchment, that a certain number of them, when made up into nine folds, could be put into a box of a certain size, and that in a house with a frontage of three windows, and of the ordinary depth, accommoda tion could be found for all the deeds of this country for the next sixty years. But that calculation went on the supposition that the deeds were to be registered, while it was the copies only that were to be registered, and those copies would not occupy half as much space as the deeds themselves. There was other evidence to show the practicability of dealing with that case. Mr. Trevor, the comptroller of legacy duties, had been examined before the commissioners • and had informed them that in Somerset-house they had copies of all the wills and administrations in the United Kingdom, which had been furnished to them for purposes connected with the taxa tion of the country. These wills amounted for England and Wales to about2s,ooo, and for Ireland and Scotland to little more than 400 ; making in all, in round numbers, 30,000. Those copies of wills were elaborately endorsed, and careful abstracts of about 20,000 of them were made, while the keeping of them formed but a small portion of the business transacted by 70 clerks, a large number, certainly, but not a very formidable number. Mr. Trevor further informed the commissioner that they never experienced at Somerset-house the slightest difficulty in making out any will they might wish to have produced. In his (the Lord Chancellor's) opinion, that evidence went far to show that the difficulty to which he was then referring was not by any means one which it would be impossible to overcome. Another ob jection to the bill was that it would lead to an exposure of titles. But he had already stated that he considered that it to be no objection at all. But in order to meet the wishes of some parties upon that point, a means was provided by which they might keep their deeds a secret from the world. That object was effected by enabling them to imitate the mode in which stock was, transferred in the name of one or more trus tees. Under the present bill parties might give to trus t tees the same power over their lands which were given I to trustees over funded property. It was true that the trustees might be disposed to cheat the parties confiding in them ; but he believed that such a disposition would very rarely exist, and in order to guard as much as pos sible against its evil consequences, that bill would con tain a provision under which an inhibition might be ob tained for the purpose of stopping a gross breach of trust by a sale of the property. But it was essential to the working of the system of registration that no que.i tion of notice should be admitted, for if a notice were once made necessary all the advantages of a registration would be lost. A further objection to the measure was the expense which it was supposed it would entail. Upon that point, too, he believed that in some quarters considerable misapprehension prevailed. There could certainly be no great expense in getting a copy made of a deed and in transmitting that copy to London. Then, again, it was calculated that the expense of the registra tion ffice would amount to about 20,0001. a-year, and that expense might be defrayed by a charge of 4s. on each deed, supposing the number of deeds to be 100,000 —and as that was to be an average charge, it might be increased in the case of documents which involved large amounts of property ; and the poorer classes of persons effecting registration need be subjected to hardly any payment at all. He would conclude by moving the se cond reading of the bill. Lord ST. LEONARD'S presented a petition from the managers of the Provincial Law Association, praying that the bill might not pass their lordships' house. The noble and learned lord, who was almost inaudible in the gallery, then proceeded to say, that he rose with great regret to oppose the bill of his:noble and learned friend who had just sat down. His apology for taking that course was, that the measure then under the notice of their lordships had received from him (Lord St. Leonard's) during the last 23 years a most strenuous opposition. He had, both in and out of Parliament, been most decided and consistent in protesting against it. Both Houses of Parliament had frequently listened to very elaborate statements in favour of that bill, but nobody had as yet come forward to state the objections to which, in his opinion, it was open. He therefore desired to lay before their lordships the reasons which had influenced him in coming —with reference to that measure—to conclusions quite the contrary of those at which his noble and learned friend upon the woolsack had arrived. Ho had been rather surprised to hear his own want of coincidence in the views of his noble and learned friend mentioned as forming one ground of objection to the mea sure. If he (Lord St. Leonard's) asked their lordships not to read the bill a second time, it would be only upon prin ciples which had the sanction of reason. Upon those prin ciples, and those only, he desired the support of members upon his own side of the house ; and he felt assured, not withstanding all that had passed upon previous occasions when the objections to the bill had not been put forward, that upon those principles, if clearly established, noble lords opposite would lend him their support. Ho had this difficulty to encounter at the outset—the bill had, in effect, passed their lordships' house, and therefore noble lords, if they should upon the occasion upon which' he was addressing them vote against it, would appear to be incon sistent, inasmuch as they would be opposing, by such a course, a measure of which they had at a former period ap proved. He was sure, however, that the circumstance to which he referred would in no degree influence the decision to which their lordships would come. The bill which his noble and learned friend had introduced had been originally introduced by the real property commissioners. Those commissioners had, in their investigation upon the sub ject, the advantage of their services of Mr. Duval ; and if a bill could ever be expected to come forward in a perfect shape, it was that which had that evening been laid upon the table of the house. Now, in 1830, the mea sure had been introduced into the other house for the first time, and it was a second time introduced at the com mencement of the year 1831. At that period the bill not only received the sanction of the other house, but the table of that house was loaded with petitions against it. It, had been again introduced into tho House or Commons at the close of the session of 1831, and had been submitted for the fourth time to the consideration of that house in 1833. On that occasion it had gone to a division, and 82 votes had been recorded against it, while there were forward 9 in i ts favour. The bill had again been brought in the year 1834, and was rejected upon the second rear"ig by a majority of 92. Their lordships would, from • these their lordships, to see t L h e a o t n t a h rd er 's e ) was havi n n g othin tak g en ve t rY hat su oTpo ris rt in u g ni i t n y his of which he entertained to the the country, the objections a(Lordi a facts, tin g had been • hear.) There a commission lordships,ap pointed and, through burdens land, and he be lievedregistry. that commission their(gea gear, ad been led to believe that relief f i o n u q n ui d r . e f oinrtootohseeburdens densuipnona general era measure ° . p ne o ni in d ted be to the subject, and that bill was shortly afterwards dropp ed. The Government, however, ll s the had, recommended Upon ward in thatthe otherreco r ecommendation upon ion a bill had been brought for t of which Lord John Russell s what he g consideration, anwasfinally measureh a d been thet the result consideration i Thede ra bill had of aanbeen Parliament. brought, W el after repeated postponements a nd g reat un der the notice of the House of Commons, d tand a as it been originally framed by the Government t lerdshi referred to a select committee. That committee had made m h a a de a a report which entirely destroyed the measure it powerless. But, not to trespass upon th eir s first introduc tion ; that it had on each occasion been rejected and, time, submittedhe eshigohultdtinisheosrtiolypsatralitaemtehnattstinheeemiteasure had been p conseq t u o consequently, it y, th i a n t t a o ll a th la e w ir . efforts had dheadmitted, been found mea sure calculated to do the greatest service, provided it could be made to work ; but it was impossible to reduce it to anything like working order, and it must, therefore prove insuffi cienta powerless in effecting the objects which its framers had in view. There were many men, whose opinion it was that the measure would prove to be a snare, and that it would introduce into the system of transfer of land greater con tentions than had ever yet been known to prevail. The ob ject was to alleviate the burdens of the landed interest, but the proposed measure would not lessen those burdens one farthing, and never could. It was one of the most fortu nate of circumstances for the holders of landed property that the bill bad not passed into law, but remained still unsettled for the consideration of Parliament. Their lordships had been told by his noble and learned friend upon the woolsack that for centuries it had been the desire of the most learned and able men in this country to have a registry of deeds.. If such were the case, why was it, ho would ask, that no measure had ever been passed for carry , ing out the views which those individuals were said to have entertained? The system of registering had been tried in Yorkshire, in Middlesex, in Ireland, and in dif ferent shapes in Scotland, and what had been the result ? The result had been failure in every instance. It had been asserted that the bill would afford safety to purchasers ; that it would prevent fraud, perjury, and what was called tacking. Now, his opinion was that the bill would not give to purchasers that security which its framers antici pated. Mr. Duval, in a letter which he had written to him (Lord St. Leonard's), had given some explanations as to the mode in which the bill was likely to work. That gentleman had mentioned in that letter that very great pains had been taken to render the details of the measure as perfect as possible. He had further stated that he be lieved the working of the system proposed would be ex tremely simple, and that, if there were in that system any apparent complexity, it had arisen altogetherfrom his (Mr. Duval's) desire to leave as little as possible for after deci sion in respect to the matters with which the bill had been framed to deal. Well. Mr. Duval's plan had been pro ceeded upon, and what did their lordships suppose was the decision at which a commission which had been appointed to examine into the working of Mr. Duval's plan had ar rived ? Why that commission had come eo the conclusion that it had proved altogether ineffectual for the attainment of the end which it was desired to attain. That commis sion had illustrated their views by reference to a number of instances in which the plan of Mr. Duval had completely failed. The commission had further stated, that, after a long investigation, their conviction was that the plan of mapping, though specious in theory, had been found deficient in practice. The noble and learned lord then proceeded to comment upon the system of mapping, which he felt assured would be found produc tive of serious expense and inconvenience. He did not think their lordships ought to support a bill which was di rectly opposed to the report of the commissioners. He de nounced the measure before them as one which would pro duce great evils, and no benefit to the landed interest of the country. The expense and the delay which the measure would occasion would be enormous. The bill did not state what the number of registrars and clerks, or what their sa laries and fees would be, and differed in this respect from the first bill, in the schedules of which every charge was specified. It had been said that the measure would facili tate the transfer of land, but it was a great delusion to sup pose that it would have that effect. Neither would it shorten abstracts or .conveyances. Up on th a t po i n t h e spoke with some experience, for the first part of his life was passed in the consideration of the validity of titles. He should like to know whether conveyances had been short ened in Yorkshire, in which county there was a register? His noble friend had mentioned the number of deeds regis tered in Yorkshire, but he had forgotten to state the num ber that had not been registered. Thousands of titles to property in that county had come under his notice, and he had never seen one in which all the deeds were registered. Something had been said as to the bill being a security against the suppression of titles. In the whole of his ex perience he never knew of a single instance of the suppres sion of a really important deed. The committee of the other house, in 1832, stated that the suppression of deeds was very rare. The Incorporated Law Society, in their petition to the other house against the bill of 1851, stated the same thing, and the commissioners had come to the same conclusion. Why, therefore, should their lordships legislate for particular cases, and sanction an enormous expenditure to guard against the chance of a deed being suppressed. Instead of the bill protecting a purchaser, there was great danger that under it th e property might be mortgaged and the title defeated. There was also th e dan ger arising from the registrar making a mi▪ stak e in the name of the purchaser —a mistake which might invalidate his title. In fact, in seeking to remedy a pretended evil they were, by this measure, introducing evils of the greatest magnitude, which would strike at the root of every man's title. It appeared that the registrar was not to be liable for mistakes, but that the person injured was to have re course to the consolidated fund for compensation. Car e , however, had been taken to throw impedi▪ ments in his way, by giving to the registrar power to make new r u l es and re gulations, which, if the person claiming compensation did not comply with, he would lose all claim. It ought to be understood that there was nothing in the law to render long conveyances necessary. He would undertake to draw a conveyance of any noble lord's whole property on a sheet of common-sized letter paper. What really was wanted was a simplification of the law of real property. At the present day facilities existed for the transfer of land which did not formerly exist. The system of fines and recoveries had been swept away. Instead of a person being now re quired to make out a title for 60, the time had been limited to 40 years ; and the difficulties that formerly existed to bar a dower had been got over. No man more than he desired to cut down unnecessary expense in titles to land. That expense was not so great as it had been represented to be. A country agent had furnished him with a statement of the whole expense of the transfer of property to the value of 1,068,0001., and it did not amount to more than 3,6211, He wished particularly that their lordships would consider what the effect of a registry would be on the lower cla sses , even down to the labourer. He did not think their lord ships were fully aware of the number and smallness of the purchases of property in land or in houses that were made by persons in humble life. He had received many letters on this part of the subject, which he regretted his various duties prevented him answering, pointing out the hardship which the measure would inflict on small purchasers, and generally concurring in the opinion, expressed by the com mittee in their report, that a registry was not necessary was not necessary for the safety of such purchasers. He would, however, trouble their lordships with one com munication, which elucidated the question very com pletely : " The counsel and eminent London solicitors, who alone appear to have been consulted on .this subject, have little con ception of the number and minuteness of the transactions with which the general practitioner is conversant, and of the effect which would be produced by the.additional expense and delay of registration. These would not be proportioned to amount, but would attach themselves without distinction on every transaction. A difference in the rate of registration fees can be a question of only a few shillings—the real bur den lies in those multitudinous details which rest with the solicitor, and which will be exactly as troublesome in the smallest as in the largest transaction. It is important to ex hibit the proportion of small and large transactions as ascer tained by actual experience. I believe that the business of my firm represents rather a higher proportion than the aver age business of the kingdom; for, while the great London offices have many larger transactions, the great body of prac titioners have fewer transactions above 500/. Yet an exami nation of upwards of 300 conveyances and 450 mortgages transacted by my firm in the last three years, exhibits the following per tentage proportion : Conveyances. Mortgages. 3,0001. and upwards 3 41 From 2,0001. td 3,0001 '} ' 3 From 1,0001. to 2,0001 3O 10 26 From 5001. to 1,0001 l4 10 From 4001. to 5001 9 121 From 3001. to 4001 6 12 It From 2001. to 3001 l9 70) 11 1 74 From 1001. to 2001.1. l7 13 Under 1001. 100 100 It appears, therefore, that of conveyances 70 per cent., and of mortgages 74 per cont., are under 500/. I may add that in 40 per cent. of the conveyances, and in 98 per cent. of the mortgages, we were concerned for both parties. The prevalence of this practice diminishes so much the expense and delay, that the increase of both, resulting from the re gistration, will be out of all proportion to the present amount. In these cases the cost of the conveyances under 5001. has been from 2/. to 71., and of mortgages from 1/. to 61., in proportion to the amount, exclusive of stamps. There is nothing in the proposed system of registration which will subtract ls. from these minor conveyances and mortgages, and every proceeding under it w ill b e an amount of labour and expense. I have carefully computed the expenses which must be incurred on every occasion, and cannot make them less than 51. on every conveyance, and 41. 10s. on every mortgage, exclusive of registrar's fees, and assuming that printed forms and every facility will be provided. And in the case of a mortgage there will be at least half the same expense incurred in clearing it from the register on its dis charge; and these processes can never be waived, but must invariably be pursued in every transaction great and small. But tip expense, great as it is, will not be the only or even the principal objection. A considerable and indefinite amount of delaymust be occasioned. Delay in mortgage transactions is of great moment. Of the 70 per cent. of mortgages under 5001., I venture to say that half were prepared and executed within a week from the application for the money, and many of them on the same day... Equitable mortgages or memo randa with deposit of title deeds are invariably completed on the same day, and are commonly managed by bankers in the country, without the interposition of a solicitor. This would now be impossible. In the case of mortgages and conveyances in general, the time occupied in searches and subsequent registration of the deed cannot be much less than 14 days." It was plain that there was a large number of conveyances and mortages of small value in the country, the expenses of which for conveyancesvaried from 2/. to 7/., and for mort gages from 11. to 6/. in proportion to the amount. Every proceeding in these matters under this bill would be at tended with additional expense. In addition to this there would be a positive delay of 14 days. The bill as it stood would deeply injure the vast body of small purchasers—the expenses and the delays would be ruinous, while no corre sponding benefit in any other direction would be given. The system of registration would be complicated and ex pensive—there would be caveats, inhibitions—going to the court—going to discharge, and other forms, all of which would have to be paid, and, to crown all, the attorney would come from the country to see after the transactions in which he was engaged, and he would of course expect to be paid in proportion to his labours. There was one anomaly in the bill—that you might put a titlean might on the find register whore no title existed, and refer to some trust of tdoa cument in which no trustee was named. This would g i ve an opportunity that his for fraudulent frau w du a l s eu r t uin sa e l d es t , h a ro n u d g t h hus th e a man dishonest trustee. Was such a possible state of things to be tolerated? Instead of having the security of the regis tration of a real title, he was to be left to the, honour or honesty of a man who might possess neither, and the only redress he had was that he might apply for an inhibition, on the ground that he thought the man was an honest man, but found the man was dishonest, for he was about to mortgage his estate without his consent. All sorts of questions would arise, and there would be no end to difficulties. Th ere was one ther point, which had reference to a question his noble and learned friend had declared was the most impotant question which could come before Parliament. That ques tion was that in order to make the system workt h o a u d b mustbeen e y do away with notice. Now, the object of regi s t ra ti on was to give knowledge, and, therefore, he thought full notice ought to be given to persons of what was intended with regard to their property. It asked,' if notice was not to be given, where were they to stop ? Notices were two-fold—actual and constructive ; and it had been alleged that equity went too far in the definition of what was called constructive notice. If so, he said, remedy the evil. That was the proper way to deal with that difficulty. But the system of the noble and learned lord put an end to common law and equity. The proposition to register would not be responded to generally, for at the present time in many instances whore registra tion was required, the parties would not always take the trouble to register. He held in his hand the heads of the bill prepared by Mr. Duval, before it was brought into their lordships' house. This would explain how the matter respecting notices stood. Mr. Duval said : " I send you a printed copy of the Registration Bill. Upon the clause p. 31, as to notice, and the proviso, p. 24, which you will find struck out, the commissioners aro equally di vided. The consequence is, that as this provision is not authorised by the report it will not be included in the bill as brought in by Campbell, Sanders, Tierney, Brodie, and my self, are in favour of the clause, and Bell has written a long paper on the same side, which is in the appendix to the re po , it • and I send you a co py of a letter he wro te to me a day qr two ago, which, in substance, proposes what I had in ser t e d in the bill, and is now struck out. that the provision saving the jurisdiction of eq u it y, i n cases of actual isghly r p The Duval referred did away w ith notice clause notice, to ice;butthwhi h c n h i M. im D Mr. Duval added this proviso, Provided always that this present provision shall be without preju dice to the provision hereinafter contained for preserving the jurisdiction of courts of equity in cases of fraud,' and by another clause in the act it was provided— " Provided also, and be it further enacted and declared, that this act shall not prejudice the jurisdiction of courts of equity in cases of fraud ; and that the provisions hereinbefore contained for giving priority to subsequent assurances regis tered in the manner required by this act, notwithstanding notice of a prior assurance, or proceeding, or act, or matter, and for protecting assurances executed during the pendency of suits in equity, shall not be construed to enact or declare or imply that actual notice at the time of making any assu rance by this act authorised to be registered, either to thi party to or in wh•se favour suck assurance shall be made, or his attorney or agent, 3f any such prior ,assurance, or pro ceeding, or act, or matter, as aforesaid, or of the pendency of any such suit as aforesaid, or of the presenting of any peti tion or appeal or rehearing in any such suit, shall not be considered or made use of as evidence of fraud iu such party, or his attorney or agent." By that bill, then, Er. Duval provided that distinct notice should be binding upon a party, and that he should not be allowed, as the bill now before their lordships proposed, to defraud a person of his property. On the 30th of March, 1834, Mr. Duval wrote again to him, saying, "There is one point upon which I think I have made some communi cation to you before. It is my clear opinion that equity must retain its jurisdiction in cases of fraud. The former bill had such a pro vision which I introduced, instead of leaving the party to bring an action, and I never had a doubt of such a clause being ultimately inserted in the bill." The commissioners, then, were equally divided upon the point, and up to the last moment Mr. Duval was of . . opinion, as he (Lard St. Leonard's) was, and always should remain, that direct notice should be binding upon a party. The object of registration was to give notice. If a man had notice it would bo the most inequitable of all transac tions to say it should not be binding. It was very tedious to go through all the points of the subject, but it was most important that their lordships should be made acquainted with them. Thus it would be seen that the act, as originally drawn, intended to save the jurisdiction of equity in cases of fraud. But this had subsequently been struck out. The noble and learned lord made the original bill of 1851 more stringent by his alterations. But he thought the bill would have no chance of passing the two houses of Legislature in its present shape. In the first place, the great expense and the vast number of deeds to be registered would have to be seriously considered. The Incorporated Law Society, in a memorial to Parliament, had ventured to tell the house that the number of instruments to be registered would be upwards of 300,000, or at the rate of 1,000 a day. This vast mass of documents would have to be examined by a corresponding number of persons, and an enormous deal of room would be required for the deeds and for the accommodation of those who wished to consult them. The expense of each registration would be Si.; and if he de diicted one-third from the number stated by the Law Society there would remain 200,000, and this would bring the expense to 1,000,0001., a-year, besides 2,000,0001. or 3,000,0001. to start with. Were the house prepared to incur that expense? The object of the bill, it was said, was to relieve the burdens on land ; it would really increase those burdens. It would necessitate a large expense, without any corresponding benefit. People refused to submit to the house tax. Would they be hkely to submit to a regis tration tax of so large an amount—a tax from which, like the house tax, there would be no escape ? The bill in 1851 was called a Bill for Registration in England and Wales. But his noble and learned friend had recently struck out Wales, and he should be glad to know the reason why Wales was excluded ? Lord CAMPBELL—WaIes is comprehended in the bill, Lord ST. LEONARDS—If so, the noble and learned lord deserved great credit for the ingenuity and cleverness with which he had disguised the circumstance. He had read the bill through, and had been unable to discover that it extended to Wales. If the bill would work well, he would have given it his support. If they must have a registration, let it be local and domestic, and not central ised, like this bill. The bill was no protection against fraud—it ought not to contain anything by which a man would he enabled behind your back to sell your estate. It was said that the object of a general registration was to prevent forgery; but so far from the bill doing this, it would invite and assist forgery. By this bill there was no cer tainty that a deed was what it was represented to be, a real deed ; it might be a forged deed ; but, forged or not, it must be registered. He regretted to say that cases of forgery were committed by agents and solicitors, who had a person's deeds, and who used those deeds without the owner's knowledge, executing a mortgage and transferring the land. The forgery in several instances had remained undetected for years, for the offence would not appear on the registration. But registration would give a certain validity to a spurious deed, and therefore the bill, instead of being any protection against forgery, added to its faci lities. There was another point to which he begged to direct attention, and that had reference to the disclosures of the transactions of private life. At one time it was thought quite right that a party should be compelled to disclose all the circumstances connected with his title. But times changed, and he recollected that Lord Kenyon had told a person who had come into court with his deeds to sit on the box, and let no man see his title. He had to apologise for having trespassed so far on their lordships' attention ; but the importance of the subject demanded a lengthened investigation. However, he hoped his observa tions would be received in the same spirit in which he tendered them. (Hear, hear.) Lord CAMPBELL felt sanguine, notwithstanding the objections raised by his noble and learned friend (Lord St. Leonard's), that they would go into committee on this bill. Indeed, his noble and learned friend would have acted better had he reserved his observations until the mea sure had arrived at that stage when every objection raised by him could be fully discussed. However, unless the noble and learned lord had more cogent reasons to ad vance against the bill than those put forward by him that evening, he thought his opposition must vanish into thin air. He entertained the highest opinion of the noble and learned lord's acquirements as a lawyer; indeed, he re garded him as a consummate master of law—(hear]—but, nevertheless, he seemed to have an unaccountable horror of registration. The noble lord declared himself a friend to registration ; if so, why not prove it by going into com mittee, where the bill could be moulded into any shape ? In every country where registration was adopted it had been eminently successful. It had been so in Scotland, in Ire land, in the colonies, and on the Continent. The noble and learned lord had adverted to the expense of regis tration, as also the necessity of a vast building to contain these documents. He could assure their lordships that the commission which inquired into the subject came to the conclusion that such a building —a fire-proof building—could be erected for 20,0001., and sufficiently extensive to hold all the deeds of England and Wales for the next sixty years, and that for 20,0001. a year, a suffi cient number of officers of character and importance might be engaged to take charge of them. (Hear.) What was more, such an institution might be made self-supporting. (Hear, hear.) Another objection rai s ed was th e expense which registration would entail on s ma ll p urc h asers . B ut though that was objectionable, yet it could easily be re medied in committee, and a scheme devised which might make the expense insignificant. (Hear.) The noble and learned lord relied much on the point that mistakes might be made in the registrar's office, by which loss would be certain to occur to the parties registering. But the noble and learned lord should have remembered that all the officers would be liable to actions in such case ; and, as far as the system was in operation at present, no mistake was ever known to have occurred. As to the objection raised on the ground of disclosure in the case of wills, he should say they had the will of Napoleon Bonaparte to deal with, as well as those of the highest personages in the country, and yet he never heard of any evil resulting, or even com plaint made, on the ground of disclosure. One of the great advantages of the . bill was, that under its provisions, when the registration was once made, no subsequent in strument could affect the property. His noble and learned friend said that they ought to be governed by the opinion of the solicitors in that matter. Now, he admitted that the solicitors were a most respectable and intelligent body of men, but there prevailed among them an esprit de corps, which prevented them, in his opinion, from being the best judges upon a question of this character. The country solicitors were, however, no doubt the most powerful and influential body in the kingdom. They had great influence in both houses of Parliament ; but, notwithstanding that influence, their lordshins had on a former occasion passed that measure, and would, he felt persuaded, pass it again. The want of a registration of deeds had long been felt as a great evil in thiscountry. In the reign of Charles 11. a Parliamentary committee had specially recommended two measures for the benefit of the landed interest—the one being a registration of deeds, and the other the prevention of the importation of Irish cattle. (A laugh.) The cele brated John Evelyn had in his diary expressed his belief of the great advantage to be derived from a system of•re gistration, while ho feared that its adoption would be pre vented by " those locusts," the attorneys. The first act of the reformed House of Commons had been, he (Lord Campbell) was sorry to say, the rejection of a registration act. That had been an inauspicious commencement of the career of reform ; but he believed it had been mainly owing to the influence which the country solicitors had exercised in that house. With respect to the question of the notice, he believed that it would be a most unwise provision, and one fatal to the efficiency of the bill, that the necessity of notice should be allowed to throw any doubt upon the title to a property. His noble and learned friend had objected to the measure as one of a centralising character. But his noble and learned friend might, if he should think proper, propose that there should be a registration within every . . electoral division, or poor-law union, or other district he might choose. Me (Lord C.) felt bound, however, to state that he would most strenuously oppose such a proposition ; for he believed that a metropolitan registration would be more efficient and more economical than a system of pro vincial registrations. He believed, too, that it would be infinitely less inconvenient. In considering that point, it should be remembered that all England and Wales might at present be looked upon as one great city, and that peo ple at present travelled more rapidly to London from Northumberland or from Cornwall than they had travelled to it not many years ago from Bedfordshire or Warwick. shire. With a system of provincial registrations they would have discrepancies of practice, and one great secu- tyagainst litigation would then be destroyed. There were some persons who said, that although a system of re gistration might have been an excellent thing some twenty, or thirty years ago, the time for it had gone by. Now he believed that greater nonsense than that had never been written or spoken. No other improvement could be a substitute for registration, because registration was the foundation of all improvements in the law of real property. His noble and learned friend had told them that he could, on a page of note-paper, write a deed which would transfer the largest property in the kingdom; and he (Lord C.) felt that his noble and learned friend could not more benefi cially employ his transcendant talents than in drawing up a model deed of that kind. (A laugh.) He should go further, and say that if such a deed could be framed he would heartily concur in passing an act of Parliament making the use of it compulsory on all parties. Ho trusted that his noble and learned friend would not divide the house against the second reading of the bill ; and if his noble and learned friend should go to a division, he trusted that a majority even of the small number of peers then sitting 'on the opposition benches, would support the mea sure. He earnestly hoped, for the credit of their lordships' house, that the bill would then be read a second time. It had already been adopted by their lordships, after great deliberation on the part of lay lords as well as of law lords ds ; and he should say that upon that question lay l w ho were practically convers an t w ith th e working of the' present system, were as capable of arriving at a e co nclusion as law lords c ou ld b e. His noble and l orrecte friend had formerly been opp ose d t o other bills re a c rn om ed . mended by the real property commissioners , but had s i nce acknowledged that exp er i ence h a d proved tt; him the bene ficial character of th ose measures. He con fidently beli eve d that in the prese n t i ns t ance, as in those former instances, the alarm of his noble and learned friend would be shown to be groundless, and that the day would come when he would get up in his rtlace in that house, and tell their lord ships that they had conferred a great benefit on the corn. munity at large by establishing a general registration of deeds for England and Wales. (Hear, hear.) Lord BEAUMONT said that the second commission which had inquired into that subject had carefully con sidered the bast mode of carrying out the En e isuro, and, after having sifted various plans,had come to the conclusion that Mr. Duval's was the best. Mr. Duval had devised a most ingenious system of indexing, although under that sys tem there would be a difficulty in getting the titles into the index. That difficulty he proposed as far as possible to re move byinserting the names of the granters ; and it was true that some inconvenience might occasionally arise-from the fact that &number of persons sometimes bore the same name. The commission set about obviating the objections,-enter tained to the index of names by means of maps. A majority of the commission were in favour of the latter system. However, upon examining into that portion of the subject there were two of the commissioners who dissented from the majority and the consequence had been that they had returned to 'the index of names, having effected certain alterations and modifications in that system. The plan which had been recommended by Mr. Bellenden Ker and others—namely, to divide the districts of names into various small districts, so as to render it probable that there should not be many persons of the same name within those districts, was adopted. That plan had, in a great measure, overcome the objections to the system of Mr. Duval, and all the members had concurred in approv ing of it. With reference to the other observations which had fallen from his noble and learned friend (Lord St. Leonard's), he should only remark, that though he had listened to those observations, as being opposed to the bill, with pain, yet that they had been a source of pleasure to him on one account, because he felt that they embraced everything that could be urged against the bill. His noble and learned friend had not denied the statements which had been made by the noble lord upon the woolsack with respect to the inconveniences of the existing system of registration ; he had not denied the insecurity of the title and the thousand other difficulties connected with the sub ject. He trusted that when- they went into committee these matters would be discussed fully, and that they would have the advantage of his noble and learned friend's guidance on points upon which he was so eminently en titled to give an opinion. Lord 'BROUGHAM begged to express his unqualified approval of the principle of the bill ' • and he believed he was fully authorised to add that such were also the senti ments with respect to it of his noble and learned friend Lord Lyndhurst. The bill was then read a second time. Their lordships then adjourned. HOUSE OF COMMONS.—(YESTERDAY.) The SPEAKER took the chair at four o'clock. NEW MEMBER. Viscount EMLYN took the oaths and his seat for Wor cestershire. BOSTON ELECTION. The SPEAKER intimated to the house that he had received a letter stating, that it was not intended to pro ceed with the petition against the return of Mr. Bond Cabbell for Boston. WIGTON BURGHS ELECTION. Sir J. TROLLOPE said he had to inform the house, that Lord Charles Pelham Clinton, who had been ap pointed to serve on the Wigton Burghs election com mittee, was in a bad state of health, and unable to attend to his duties in that committee. The medical attendant of his lordship was in attendance, and would, if called in, inform the hous e o f th e s t a t e o f hi s l or d s hi p ' s health. The medical attendant was then called to the bar, and stated that his lordship was suffering from a severe bronchital affection, and was incapable of attending the committee. On the motion of Sir J. TROLLOPE, the services of his Lordship were dispensed with. PETITIONS. Mr. W. WILLIAMS presented a petition from Bel fast against granting any public money for horse-racing. Mr. SPOONER presented a petition from working men in Worcestershire against the opening of the Crystal Palace on Sundays ; also a petition from Warwickshire against the removal of Jewish disabilities. Sir J. TROLLOPE presented a petition from medical men at Long Sutton, in Lincolnshire, complaining of the present mode of taxing their incomes. Lord I3ROOKE pre - knted a petition from Learning ton, against the admission, of Jews into Parliament. DERBY ELECTION. The members of the Derby Election Committee were called to the bar and sworn. The committee was ap pointed to sit to-morrow at 11 o'clock. SUPPLY OF WATER TO THE METROPOLIS. Lord R. GROSVENOR gave notice that to-morrow he would ask the Government what their intentions were with respect to the hint; which were introduced in the present session, for the purpose of supplying the metro polis with water. THE SIX-MILE BRIDGE AFFRAY. Mr. NAPIER gave notice that on the 17th of March he would move for the production of all papers relating to the disturbance at Six-mile Bridge. FISCAL REFORM. Mr. W. WILLIAMS gave notice that this day fort. night he would move a resolution to the effect that al public money passing through the revenue departmen should be paid into the exchequer. OFFENCES !AGAINST WOMEN & CHILDREN Mr. FITZROY gave notice that this day week he would ask for leave to bring in a bill for the better pre vention of offences agai:ast women and children. THE MAIL BAGS OF THE AUSTRALIAN. Sir D. L. EVANS gave notice that to-morrow he would ask the Governnient whether any measures would be adopted to enable the public to ascertain what letters in the last Australian mail by the ship Australia had been destroyed by water. CONVOCATION. Sir J. PAKINGTON, in rising to put the three questions of which he had given notice to the Govern ment, said he begged it to be distinctly understood that he disclaimed all intention of offering any, insult or disrespect to the clergy, who had formed the Con vocation, but he thought it right that the house and the country should be in possession of the information he was about to ask for. He wished, therefore, to ask Lord John Russell whether the attention of her Majes ty's Government has been directed to the appointment of a committee by the Upper House of Convocation at their last meeting, on the 16th February, for the trans action of business during the prorogation ; whether they area satisfied that a committee so appointed can legally act when Convocation is not sitting ; and whether it is their intention to take any steps in consequence of that proceeding. Lord J. RUSSELL had only say, in answer to these questions, that the attention of the Government had been directed to this question, and the law offi cers of the Crown had been asked to give their opinion as to the legal powers of Convoca tion, in respect to the appointment of the committee on the 16th. February. No formal opinion, however, had yet been given by the law officers of the Crown, and he must, therefore, defer giving a direct answer to the other question until to-morrow. GOVERNMENT OF INDIA. Mr. H. BAILLIE said the committee now sitting up stairs, would probably not be able to make up a final report until a late period of the session, and in the meantime, therefore, he wished to ask the noble lord, the member for the city of Lon don, whether it was his intention to introduce a bill for the permanent Government of India during the pre sent session, and if s o , whether he was prepared to state when the Government bill will be laid upon the table of the house. Lord J. RUSSELL had to state, in answer to these questions, that it was the intention of the Government to introduce a bill in the course of the present session for the Government of India, for a space of time to be named in the bill, but he could not state when the bill would be introduced. Due notice, however, would be given of the day on which it would be brought in, and ample time would be allowed for discussing it. Mr. lIUME said, last year the committee determined to inquire into three great heads connected with the Government of India. The committee had reported upon one of these heads, and he wished to ask whether t was the intention of the Government to bring in a bill before the inquiry on the other two heads was brought to a close? Lord J. RUSSELL could only repeat what he had already said, namely—that it was the intention of the Government to introduce a bill in the course of the pre- sent session. TURKEY, RUSSIA, AND AUSTRIA. Lord D. STUART, who had given notice to call the attention of the house to the affairs of Turkey, as affected by the contest now proceeding in Montenegro, said he rose to bring forward this subject because he believed that by the present position of affairs in the eastern part of Europe those objects which had been always considered by English statesmen as of paramount importance with reference to Turkey were endangered. (Hear.) Large armies of Aus trians were approaching the Turkish frontier on one side, and large armies of Russians on the other. Language of the most peremptory character had been held towards the Sublime Porte, and ultimatums of an extraordinary nature delivered in with very short notice. These proceedings related to the territory of Montenegro —a territory ex tremely small in extent (not above GO miles in length by Turkey, laying 30 or 35 in breadth), and containing only about 100000 inhabitants, who had always been noted for their lawless including and predatory character, and who clearly had always been deemed to be under the sovereignty of Turkey. In 1699 oreuantdaiesriesbetbweteewneenAtushetrwa oancodunTtriutics, down n l7 th lB e boundaries the territory of Montenegro within the dominions latter power. And so with all treaties down of the of Vienna in 1815. Of late the Montenegrins to the treaty deavoured to become independent of the egrilas had en " had done so under peculiar eircumsta Turks, and they grins were governed by a bishop, who The Montene hereditary ; for as the Greek bish p, *whose authority was marry, and consequently not to , ops Were not allowed to —the right to rule over the nave children —(laughter) father.to son, but from uncle e totrY descended, not from bishops having died in the coursenephew. One of these nephew succeeded him. This of the last year, his Daniel, and was about th.rt nephew was called Prince desire to assume the fund' 1 y years of age. Having no . being more sincere with lolls of bishop (the nolo epi . scopari. Protestant countries th. Ilim . than was the case in some as a t emporal princ , I. individual wished to act simply to St. Petersb ~.. •h, urgh, in order to Czar , not, however , T late Secret The e : Prince Daniel accordingly Pr"' of the the assent I: ()num., as procure _„,,, as the head of the Greek ary of State for Foreign Affairs had ° pe rsons he of Russi had jurisdiction unposed• rsons over thosehp: own professing the Greek a religiondominionslooked residing ; but Greek religionist, belong:lnv ;_,_ up , to the patriarchs of Cons le as their tantinop this spiritual that when spuiLuai superiors. It was state d he he received Prince arrived at St. P e tcr u s a b r u te rf s to a dopt a advice from the highest q rebellious course the nap. Whether that asser °wards Lion was true or not, it wa s tor A ur gh, those disturbances from St• Pe upon his return had led to the ) commenced which present uneasy state of the East, and which had called for the active intOerference of Turkey. It was said, however, that, notwithstanding this advice to Prince Daniel, the Emperor had given dia metrically opposite advice to the Sultan, recommending the subjugation of the Montenegrins. Thus, Russia would ap pear to have been true to her old policy of exciting discord suitaud a h n er im o ty ly in b o e r ca de l r le t d ha in t, wi th mediator. In taking this course she had only followed the e be nd tw s, ee s n he et m he ig r h ee t u un iti t m ri a es te Precedent she had set herself inthe case of Poland, Turkey, and ultimately in Hungary. But the Montenegrins, hav ing received this advice from Russia, proceeded to act upon it, commencing incursions upon the neighbouring territory of Turkey, and committing acts of robbery, pillage, and murder. With the commencement of hostilities came the interference of Austria, who addressed very extraordinary and peremptory demands to Turkey, couched in a manner wholly incompatable with the position of that country as an independent state. The Austrians complained that a large army should have been assembled by Turkey, with out previous intimation; they demanded the removal of certain Hungarian refugees engaged near the Austrian ter ritories, and the cession of certain portions of the Turkish territory. So peremptory were these demands, that the ambassador threatened to withdraw if within five days his ultimatum were not assented to. Now, undoubtedly, the raising of an army might require explanation, but that ex planation ought to be sought courteously, and not by means of threats. If Austria had taken that course, the Turkish Government would have been quite ready to give an assur ance that the army was not intended as a threat to Austria, but to suppress disturbance, and re-establish a peaceable state of things in Montenegro. The idea of Turkey enter taining any hostile intentions towards Austria was prepos terous, asthe slightest consideration of the force of the two countries would prove. The Montenegrins were a brave and generous people, with whom the Turks had had several encounters, who found great difficulty in subduing them. Montenegro was not an independent state, but as all maps, official or otherwise, would show, a part of Turkey. With what grace, however, could Austria contend for the inde pendence of the Montenegrins ?—that country which only a short time ago had called another independent state a " geographical atom "—that country which, in defiance of all treaties, had annexed to it the republic of Cracow, an apt which had called forth the p'rotest of England and France. To make the matter worse, the person whom Austria had sent as ambassador to defend the independence of the Montenegrins was no other than Count Leinengen, the Military Governor of Cracow. Then came the demand for the removal of the Hungarian refugees. No doubt some of them had embraced the Mahometan faith, but by doing so they acquired all the privileges of Turks. Instead of demanding the extradition of such persons, their; re moval to some other part of Turkey not on the frontier would have been sufficient. Austria had also put forward the singular claim of being the protector of all Roman Ca tholics within the Turkish dominions. The Turks might with justice say that such an assumed protectorate was un necessary, as in no country were the Roman Catholics per mitted so free an exercise of their religion and religious rites as in Turkey. No country was more tolerant of all religions than in Turkey. Religious processions were per mitted to pass through Constantinople without the slightest interference on the part of the Government ; while Pro testants could point to their English bishop at Jerusalem in pied' of the toleration extended to Protestantism. In deed, under the Mussulraan government, Protestants, Ro man Catholics, and Greeks enj o y e d th e mos t perfect free dom in the exercise of their religious rites. He wished the same could be said of some Christian countries which he could name. (Hear.) Austria, who made these de mands, had been the most intolerant state which the world had seen for ages. It had persecuted Protestants, it had decimated millions, and, but for the assistance of Turkey, Bohemia would have been exterminated. He feared there was something lurking behind the specious pretences of Austria. If Austria had any quarrel with Turkey she could state [her grievance openly. A few years back had we not seen Austria demanding foreign refugees upon whom to slake her vengeance, and was it not owing to Turkey that they remained in security ? It was plain to every thinking man that under this pretended solicitude for religious freedom and inde pendence lay a vindictive 'spirit against Turkey for the share that power had taken on behalf of Hungary and Kossuth. Turkey, however, had never found fault with Austria for hiving a large force in Hungary, although that force marched to the confines of the Austrian territory, retreating before the irresistable banner of brave old Bern. The cause of Austria was, in fact, the cause of might against right—illegality against justice. Urger such circumstances, he wished to know what would be the policy of the present Government with regard to those transactions—whether they held the same opinions and convictions as to the ne cessity of preserving Turkish independence which had been expressed and felt by former Governments, whether they were Tory,, Liberal, or Peelite ? We were bound to sup port Turkey by treaty, and if we did not, the equilibrium of Europe would be destroyed. He did not join in the contempt which some persons felt for the maintenance of this equilibrium, for if Russia and Austria took possession of European Turkey they would acquire such power that it would be difficult for us to interpose, and serious danger would threaten the liberties of Europe. But in a commer cial point of view, it was of the utmost importance to maintain the rule of the Sultan in Turkey. Our commerce with that state hid increased in a most prodigious ratio ; for our exports to Turkey for the last 20 years had nearly quadrupled, whilst our exports to Russia had not doubled, and our exports to Austria had absolutely diminished. If Turkey fell under the dominion of Russia or Austria, our trade would suffer most materially. In such an event, how much longer, he would ask, would religion be free in Turkey, or an English bishop be found at Jerusalem ? Austria instead of being our ancient" ally, as she was called, was one of the most modern of empires. The alli ance formed by Marlborough was not with Austria, but with the Emperor of Germany, and a very small portion of the Austrian dominions was German. But look at what was occurring in Italy under Austrian rule, where the people were kept down by large armies, where executions were frequent, and where, owing to the barbarous system of Government pursued, the unfortunate Italians, like crushed worms, were almost tr-ning upon their oppressors. Now it had been very much the fashion to attribute the bad feeling manifested by Austria towards Turkey to the conduct pursued by his noble friend who now filled the office of Secretary for the Home Department. But it was a very remarkable thing that all the proceedings to which he had been calling the attention of the house took place subsequently to that noble lord's retirement from the Foreign-office of this country. On the other hand, while there was a Government in power which had been always most profuse in its declarations of amity towards Austria, an insult which never could have been expected was per petrated by the Imperial Government against the people of this country; for Austria was the only state in Europe that refused to send over a field marshal to honour the funeral of our illustrious hero, by whose victories it was no exaggeration to say the Austrian empire had been preserved. (Hear.) He hoped that this question would not be regarded as a pal ;:y question, for the independ ence of Turkey was a matter that interested all. Were hon. gentlemen Protestants, then he could show them that Protestants might expect better treatment from the Turkish Government than at the hands either of Austria or Russia. Did hon. gentleman belong to the opposition, he could show them that their party had given utterance to declarations of the importance of this matter, and that their leader on the only occasion of his addressing the house this session stated, in terms for which he (Lord IL Stuart) felt most grateful to him, and which did the right hon. gentleman infinite credit, that he too felt the gravity of the considerations which he had that night urged upon them. And turning to the Treasury benches he saw there men who had for years maintained the neces sity of supporting Turkey. Well, Turkey having agreed to listen to the recommendations which had been pressed upon her by our Government, was now about to pay the price of having so listened to that advice, and was the English Ministry about to allow foreign governments to be avenged on her for her noble conduct, while, at the same time, they satisfied their own lust for power and increase of territory ? He had seen with dissatisfaction the re marks of a portion of the press on the proposed partition of Turkey. That question was discussed just as if there was no doubt of its admissibility, even if things were ripe for it. As to the interest which England had in altering the present position of Turkey, that interest was entirely directed to the possession of Egypt, in order thereby to secure a free passage to our Indian empire. But, in his opinion, that passage w as a s free and unchecked already as could be wished. He trusted that the good understanding which the house heard with such pleasure the other night existed between the Governments of France and England would make the settlement of this question all the easier, because it was evidently the interest of both countries to protect Turkey, and to preserve the faith of treaties un broken. He must say of the French Government, that ever since the peace it had adhered most rigorously to the treaties which had been made, although, generally, those treaties were obnoxious to her interests (hear, hear) ; but he was sorry he could not say as much for the other great powers, for Russia and Austria had repeatedly and openly violated the treaty of Vienna. He had no doubt but g ie h u t w, a give odu it.n bound to unfold I t i.ak wase neverthelessimpossible h ifet o c4 roi d nv i v e i tn i n h e e. that Turkey would readily a d o pt any a d v i ce which our f awG ohmerit e r not of t n E e e g tu l ataunl might n course of time great changes were brought about, that this country should not have to behold Turkey divided b two powers that would overthrow both h er r r etween civil independence, an d wou ld reduce h e i gious and inhabitants to a con diti on i nfinitely er unfortunate y worse than that in which they were at present. The noble lord moving for the pap ers o f w hi ch he had concluded b y e Mr. M. MILNES seconded th yen notice. Ur that the independ ence o f T key motion, and h ope d m o France and E ng l an d . would be preserved by Lord J, RUSSELL—I trust that has brought f orwar d this mot. my noble friend who to press for the papers asked flo°ll will not fe e l it necessary subject h ave not yet come t o a r, as the n ego ti at i ons on t h e ever, follow te rmination. I will, how my noble f • to which he r mud in his remarks upon this sub jectfesses in • tion of the house P his notice to call the atten tion the contest —namely, the affairs of Turkey as affected now iroce • -kr • I agree in the general prin •edmg in Montenegro. this count principles entry ought to b laid down by my e cautious to main friend, that noble • tain the indepen dence and integritylong formed of Turkey. Turkey has an i mportant part of system. Its indepen dence and integrity have been repeatedly tre aties, and san c ti one d by a convention of egeneral powere of Europ e , no l o nger ago than in 1801. I trust 'fled, and I own that independence may long be maintained, on Europe could not conceive any greater calamity e cessity - should arise of at the present time than that the . n u such a case as the dis memberment what should be doig 'seen, therefore, with pain memberment of Turkey. have l been recently put forth upon the speculations that we could not attempt the this subject. In my opinionby farce and aggression without dismemberment of Turkey t cri me and breach of faith towards committing gml.:tion of all the ties which bind nations Turkey, and a vio together. (Ue3".' I trust there is no Englishman who wishes to be a party to s uc h transactions as those which the par t i tion of Poland. (Cheers.) But if unfortunately accompanied Turkey should fall to pieces from her own weakness, a question • of very great importance mi g ht ar i se; and for my own part I own that it appears to me a ques . tion g ravit y of such great gray that I can hardly ex p ec t i t to be exciting awar in Europe. lam afraid, solved without_ _ l o oking at the position of the different powers, that it would be hardly possible to provide for such a case without producing in Europe se such a preponderance of on e power as would naturally rai the envy and opposition of all the other powers, and without producing such a state in Asia as it is fearful to contemplate. Forof anarchy I think, therefore, that on grounds of • my own p art tional law, of faith towards our all right, of i n t erns . of general policy and expediency, the an d &lab on grounds integrity and independence of Turk e maintenance of the point in the foreign poli c y o f E nea e y is a great and ruling respect to the transactions nd. (Hear.) Sir, with will state to the house, Lehwitho have lately occurred, I ut of these negotiations the going into the. particulars cured with respect to _ general outline of what has oc- Montenegro. I will nof enter into questions relating to the other powers, but wiioz regard to 4