The Express.
London, England, 1852-06-12 00:00:00

EQUITY BILL.

The house went iniocOMenitte;con this bill.
The 12th clause, enacting that before the name of any
person shall be used in any suit as next friend of any infant
(unless father, mother, brother, sister, or testimentary
guardian), such person shell obtain leave from the court in
a summary way, was struck out, at the suggestion of the
Master of the Bolls, who objected likewise to the 69th
clause, which enacts that in any proceeding at law for reco-
very of real or personal property, if the defendant insists
that the plaintiff cannot recover by reason of his estate being
only equitable, the court may direct a case to be sent for
the opinion of the Court of Chancery.
Sir F. KELLY agreed that this clause was hardly within
the scope of the bill, and it was st•uck out.
The MASTER of the ROLLS moved the insertion of a
new clause, to the effect that no suit shall be epen to ob.
jection, on the ground that a merely declaratory decree or
order is sought thereby, and that the court may make
binding declarations of right without granting conse-
quential relief.
The clause was agreed to, and added to the bill.
The MASTER of the ROLLS moved another clause, to
the effect that a Court of Chancery shall not send cases to
the court of common law, but shall have power to determine
any questions of law.
Mr. WALPOLE thought this a most valuable clause,
which was likewise added to the bill.
The bill thus amended was reported.
The CHAIRMAN reported that tho bill bad passed
through committee.
MASTERY IN CHANCERY ABOLITION BILL.
The house then went into committee on this bill.
In clause 3, releasing four masters from their duties, ea
the motion of the Mores of the Roma the mambos
" two" was substituted for " four."

The initelciause•went agreed to, with certain amend-
ment., and some new glasses were added to the bill.
Mr. WALPOLE, before the bill was reported, felt it due
to state, and he was requested to state also on the part of
the Lord Chancellor, the great credit he felt was due for
those two great measures to the Chancery Reform Commis-
sioners, and to the great learning, research, and ability
they had shown la their report ; and he believed he was
right in saying that than measures were calculated to do
more good in reforming the administration of Chancery law
than any measures that had ever passed on the
subject.
a•biese.ar, .) He might also be permitted to add that ho
ht the Lad Chancellor was entitled to the thanks of
that of of the poodlssain, and the country, for the great
pains and attention be bad displayed in carrying oat the
recommendadese et the esounissioners.
Mr 1. GRAHAM here testimony to the attention the
Lord Chanoollar bad pad to the subject, and added that in
all the enmeaueleatiess be had had with the noble and
learned bed, be bed evinced an earnest desire to um his
best autkovours to give full effect to the recommendations
contained in the report of the commission, of which he (Sir
J. Graham) had had the honour to be a member. (Cheers.)
The Metropolitan Sewers Bill was read a second time, to
be committed on Thanday at 12 o'clock.
The Disabilities Repeal Bill pared through eommittee.
The Hereditary Casual Revenue is the Wades Bill
also passed through committee.
The Turnpike Acts Continuance Bill was read a third
time and passed.
Sir W. JOLLIFFE obtained leave to bring in a bill to
ildidain and amend the Public Health Act, 1848, so far as
ri the rates for the repair of highways; and
ttet.
. HAMILTON a bill for the application of certain
money accrued hos fines and forfeitures is Ireland in
aid of certain distressed unions and eleetarel &Haines in
that country.
Both bills were brought in and reed a Mt time.
The house arnedat half-past one

THR RECENT COLLISION ON THE SHROPSHIRE
UNION RAILWAT.—BRIAZIGINURT, THURADAT ETININO.
I regret to say that the *lurks sustained by Mr. Thomas
'Mesabi's, who arms cm of the sufferers by the collision
which essayed at the Donningtou Station as the Shrop-
shire Vales Railway, terminated fatally yefterday. Mr.
laraghleft had swabbed • frame of the thigh, but his
dealt is attrasted to a were coarmies oa the chest, which
medased extensive Wessel Wary. Aa Mama was bald
Ms day, at the Crows Inn, Demakelm, boike IL D. No-
ells= one of the coroners far Shespelare,
paseezom
jury, who, after babe Ma salsa,
to view the body ; alter which tie Seas
satil Wedassday seat, at haU'-star la :Learlid
that
all theavailable evidence might be in the mew
Ens, so as to ensure the cause of the aftdiset being the-
rengitly investigated. The deceased was a maim egaut
is steward of the Earl of inlesatere, sail oems Dm Lan-
Whin. Mr. Shay, Mr. Treveth* losmative main-
lariat of the Load= and North /Nam Outpasy, who
have lamed the line from the Shropshire Vales Company,
sad Mr. Beech, their manager, who was is the Wain at the
Nuns, and bad • moat wonderful come, Minded. Mr.
P Hester, of Chester, also was_paiftent, Ile watch the
in em behalf of the Leaden end North
Wotan' Company.
BREW= OP TIER STEAMER MADRID.—The Penin-
sulas sod Orkatal Compare mail steamer Madrid, has
bees mini by She Onelesehenes authorities, at Southamp-
ton, la ameopmes of a large irantity of tobacco having
hesa Mat seassaied on bawd of her. Unless the parties
sr=his maseling the tobacco can be detected, the
paishly sail under had on the 17th, with the
Pwisarahe =oft It Is extraordinary that persons such as
the mew et shoe packet steamer', will run the risk of
wag psmaatat situations, and of being subjected
to a leap imprisonment, for the sake of smug.
g:ftis saw whisk is almost sure to be de-
m sefteesst of the rigid supervision exercised
by the Catewhotme titan. The Peninsulas and
Oriental wages. yMk with papariag severity any of their
n=a ealwrOkai aft Median of the ream la s ws,
7 es mead of be Mahal artw, bat also Manse
of she jasprdy Ice whisk their stensesea are pined by sash
adimass. Whoa any of the large pashas ham be asked
by the Chem-beaus Alm. the amps" to whom they
but ors Ailed #vs a bead to the tuns of 16,00 W.
to psalms the sessaar when required to der so
beim sash mixed packet is allowed to leave the port.
BATE AND Wen or ENGLAND AGRICULTURAL
Aftsootasiox.—The enamel settle show and dinner of this
easisty last Ore as Thursday afternoon at Taunton. The
weather peeved teallaeurabls, the rain rallies at intervals
heavily, but there was a very large attendance. Not only
did the aurromdag district send Its thousands, but there
were visitors As. Devonshire, Dersefthire, Cornwall,
Wiltshire, Glosineteeshirs, Yorkshire, Lancashire, Lineein.
shire, Re. The sheet of cattle and horses, as well et that et
implements and (a novel addition) of pouPry sad rabbits,
diproe:Ltreat eteefte of attraction, and were visited by
. The dinner took place in • very extendes
partition erected in the Vivary-park, which the owner, Kr.
Kilo/lake, had very kindly placed at the al the
committee. Between 600 and 700 perms tat men
whom were some of the leading reskison of an own
counties. The Right Hon. Lord Patna, preniamt of the
association, occupied the chair, and Bir T. D. itelimd, the
via-chair; and an: ong those present were, the Berl of
Caves, the Berl of Ilebester, Lord Burlinlitim, Viscount
likings., But Dengasven, Re.

gite erpreligi.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

A eee.got Ettlon .74`4 eezo. eveMeCe
Useette." L pubtlibed every lreeday &ad iriday oicbt, la thee
Igor poet
eez ow...sesta intended lee "The taproom,. Louden Evening paper,
MOOt he et the (Mee, !e, toe Torte-street, 7y The &clock tai 'he
day of poblicatico.

HIGH. WATItr AT LONDON BRIDGR
Tam Der—Yerafsg.loe. Bz *Rory huh. Sem
7,4OIIWW—MUNIIIB, 110. De. Altcramo, 111 33u.

LONDON, 6A2'URDAY, JUNE 12.

THE proceedings at the anniversary meeting
of the National Society are, for a while at least,
a heavy blow and great discouragement to the
cause of liberal and rational tducation, so far as the
church of England is concerned. They have, however,
had the good effect of roaming the opposition party iu
the Society to a senseof their own position and danger.
For those proceedings were immediately followed
by a very large assembly of the liberal clergy and
laity who had attended the meeting, at which, on the
motion of the Rev. MONTAGU VILLIERS, a committee
was appointed to decide whether they should perse-
vere in their efforts to reform the society, or should
secede from it and form new and better association
fur the promotion of church education—soliciting
from the crown a Charter and a share in the
proceeds of the tiicnrial Royal Letter. Yester-
day a deputation from the body waited on the
Primate to express the deep and general dissatisfac-
tion existing as to the present management of the
National Society; and last night the subject was
mooted in the House of Peers by Lord LANSDOWNE.
Good, therefore, may be expected from the temporary
triumph of those deep-dyed tractarians, Mr. KEBLE
and Archdeacon DENISON. Either the society must
be reformed, or a secession of its real strength is
inevitable.

The complaint against the society is, that whilst
in name National, it is in management thoroughly
sectarian. And if proof were wanting of the truth
and justice of this complaint, there is abundance of it
in Thursday's proceedings. Though no fewer than
2,800 persons of standing in society bad memorialised
the committee—with a view to all parties in the
church being fairly represented in that body—the
memorial was rudely repulsed, the memorialists were
severely censured, and not the least improvement
has been made in the committee. Far different,
however, was the treatment that tractarian notices
of motions received from the governing body. These
were accepted with every expression of satisfaction
and courtesy, and—by the committee's concessions,
and by the influence brought to bear on a tory
government—discussions on these motions were
avoided, whilst their offensive spirit was sub-
stantially adopted by the committee. And thus
the society, without being at all consulted, is plunged
deeper and deeper in the course from which so large
a portion of the subscribers decidedly dissent.
One of these new resolutions aimed at the enforce-
ment of the Church Catechism on dissenting children at-
tending the schools. Now, though the National Society
is a Church institution, and its schools are intended
to form part of our parochial system, the Royal
Charter, by which it is incorporated, did not restrict its
operations ere/wird!, to Church education. The or igi n al
terms of connexion with it state that the Society
has been instituted principally for the purpose of
educating the children of the poor in the doctrines
and discipline of the established church." In all its
schools the Church Catechism and Liturgy have, of
course, to be used principally, but not—the language
we have quoted proves—exclusively. And gradually,
as education has become more and more valued, a
large portion of the clergy have availed themselves
of this liberality. They receive dissenting children
into their schools ; and, where their parents object,
they do not insist on their using the Church Cate-
chism. They are quite, and wisely, content with
having them in a church atmosphere; and therein
doing them all the good they can.
This liberal practice of a large portion of the paro-
chial clergy the tractarians object to; and accordingly
some time ago the leaders of that party addressed
their reclamation on it to the committee. That body,
however, then declined to interfere; whereupon
Archdeacon DENISON gave notice of motion for the
anniversary meeting to censure it. Tho motion
would, in all probability, have produced a very
serious discussion ; and the committee became
alarmed at that prospect. Mr. KEBLE came to their
assistance. On Monday last he memorialised the
committee in strong condemnation of the practice,
and urged it to institute inquiries into the extent to
which it prevailed in National Schools, with a view,
of course, to its repression. On Tuesday the com-
mittee acceded to that request, and referred the
inquiry to the bishops. So that by this complicity
between the tractarians out of the committee and the
tractarians in that body, the practice was substan-
tially censured ; inquiry was directed; discussion at
the anniversary was averted ; the society was pledged ;
and, on Thursday, Archdeacon DENISON was able to
withdraw his motion with flying colours.
The resolution for inquiry did not, however, pass the
committee without resistance. Against it the Arch-
bishop of CANTERBURY protested, declaring that he
never would influence the clergy of his diocese to
exclude dissenting children from their 8420018 by
forcing the Church Catechism on them ; and though it
was ultimately
.carried, five hands were held up
against it, eves in the committee as now constituted.
The other resolution of which Archdeacon DENI-
SON had given notice, was one adverse to the Ma-
nagement Clauses for the trust deeds of church schools
receiving state aid, u prepared by the late govern-
ment. And this resolution the archdeacon also with-
drew; the tory government having, it seems (to the
amazement of every one), consented to modify those
clauses.

Oa this subjects the conduct of the DEBBY admi-
nistration is characteristically audacious. It was
only a week ago that amongst the civil esti-
mates the. House of Commons passed a vote of
160,0001. for educational pnrpaaea in Great Britain.
Now, some years ago, an in tending was made
that on this vote the government should state gene-
rally to the house the position and progress of the
education question. No such statement was this year
made • and the house, believing that nothing new had
wearied or was intended, made the grunt in silence.
Whereas it now turns out that all the while mi-
nisters had large modifications in hand of thine very
Management Clauses on which, for year after year,
the Howse of Commons has been making these grants.
And thus, having at the tail end of a session obtained
the money, they are now going to alter the principles
on which parliament has hitherto sanctioned its ex-
penditure. A more scandalous trick was never
played off on any assembly of gentlemen than this.
" Well done, Lord DISILBY r exclaimed a voice as
Mr. DENISON told the National Society of this
triumph of tractarianism in the councils of the
crown. " I ain," he added, " aware of their nature
and extent." No doubt of it. That which Mr. WAL-
roLE on Wednesday refused to tell the House of
Commons was well known previously to this high
church confessor of the DEBBY cabinet. Now, so
secret bad this resolution of ministers to modify the
Management Clauses been kept by Lord DEBBY
and his colleagues that the very officers of the
Committee of the Privy Council, whom their prede-
cessors used to consult, were in profound ignorance of
what was going on. Not so Mr. O.A. DENISON. He
knew all about it. Before the " wording" of the new
clauses was settled, if it be yet settled, ho boasted to
the National Society that he was " aware of their
nature and extent." Here, then, we have evidence
of tractarian complicity with the DZRBY cabinet;
proof of the influence that has produced these modifi-
cations of the Management Clauses. No wonder that
Mr. Demson, all powerful in the Committee of
Privy Council, was content to withdraw this resolu-
tion also from the consideration of the National
Society.
But will the House of Commons, thus bubbled out
of 160,0001., also say, " Well done, Lord DEBBY "
Will the house suffer itself to be thus trifled with by
• government in a minority to serve its shabby
electioneering ends with the high church party?
Short as the remainder of tho session may be, these
arc questions the Cabinet should yet be called to
eccount for. In passing resolutions to exclude dis-
senting children from national schools, and in
procuring important modifications in the Manage-
ment Clauses, tractarianism has then had a triumph
which will recoil not only on the National Society
but on the DERBY cabinet.

YFATERDAT a deputation of agriculturists waited
Upon Lord DERBY to learn what-help ho could give
them towards throwing open the trado in guano ;

and we regret to find the protectionist Ynrwr:rt say.
ing he can afford his agricultural friends on aid.
Ile was obliged to confess a mortifying hiability,
either to induce the Peruvian government to relax
the monopoly they have established in the article,
or to oppose them on the ground of proprii torship
to the Lobos Islands. Although those islands had until
lately been considered waste and valueless—the nitre
derelicts of the ocean—the Peruvian title of wallet--
ship he thought ineontestible. Proximity, name, the
opinion of experienced lawyers—and, elan°
all, possession—were in favour of Peru. Eng-
land had no sound claims to enforce; and
as for influence, his lordship told a melancholy tale
of baffled efforts already employed in the vain hope
of softening the hard heart of privileged monopelists.
The subject of discussion was one of mere real im.
portance to the agriculturists of England than any
one of the protectionists issues raised by Lord
DERBY or the SOLICITOR-GENERAL hinistir. What
can it matter whether the British isles produce a
few thousand quarters less of a given grunt, in con-
sequence of the millions imported, when the query is
set face to face with another, touching the acquisition
of two million tuns of a substance, every hue-
dredweight of which, am Mr. 11CDSON tells La
is equivalent to two bushels of corn? Well might
the agriculturist of Castle Acre feel persuaded that, if
they could only get Peruvian guano at til. per ton, it
would be better for the farmers than the reimposi.
tion of any probable duty on foreign corn. Lame-
rated in simple figures, the importance of the prise
assumes a very striking magnitude. Visitants to the
island of Lobos Afuera have estimated the quantity
of guano deposited there, on a very moderate wale,
at two million tons. This is the contents of the
mine, with more to come if thriftily worked. Taking
Mr. Memos's valuation of its fertilising qualities,
the produce, when transmuted into COTa by the myna
terious chemistry of nature, would be worth more
than ten millions sterling. What can the PRlallEkt's
" compromise," or Mr. DISRAELI'S "compensation,"
offer to the suffering farmer that would bear cumpa.
risen with this rich booty?
Unsatisfactory as may be the result of the ministe-
rial conclusion, yesterday announced, its effects upon
the general interests of commerce, cannot be worse
than those to be apprehended from the pre existing
state of uncertainty. With an object so lucrative in
view, and with ostensible ground fur believite, or
assuming that the ownership of the guano island was
an open question—a rapid affluence of British trading
vessels was certain to be attracted thitner, with the
determinati,:n among captains and crews of helping
themselves, without stint or tribute paying, to what-
ever cargos of the coveted deposit they could carry
away. lhese acts of appropriation yould of course
be resisted by the custodians entrusted with the main-
tenance of the Peruvian monopoly. The admiral on
the station has felt it to be only within his compe-
tence to instruct one of Ilia capta ns to inquire
in passing " What was doing on the island," and
cannot be expected to interfere to any useful extent.
Frequent collisions between the British traders and
the dottaniers of l'etu are almost inevitable, and
outrages may in all probability be perpetrated for
which even Lord NIALMESBURY may Lc unable to
obtain a plaster sufficient to cure or cover the wound
inflicted "upon the honour of the country." It is
no vain apprehension that inspire% us with some
fear, that little short of an actual war lies %011ie
the hazard of every day's uncertainty upon this ap-
parently trivial question. At last we have the point
finally, though adversely, settled. But why was the
conclusion suffered to remain so long in doubt?
Many weeks have elapsed since the question was
first mooted in this country. An administration with
any character to lose, or any strength to ware from
the daily exigencies of self-preservation, would hare
put an end to this international question long ago.
But the demands of the country upon a weak govern-
ment are met like those of a creditor upon an in.
solvent debtor, with shuiflings and delays that only
exasperate the evil. So the British nation has still
to run the chances which may evolve a emus Lai
any day at the Lobos Island.
The accident of a name has added some extra con-
fusion to the entanglements that were inevitable,
when different nations came to dispute for a posses-
' /lion which had been allowed for centuries to remain
unclaimed, because no one thought it worth claiming.
Lobos, or " Wolf" Island was a name frequently
given by the early Spanish navigators to newly dis-
covered sea-specks on whose desolate beaches the
sea-wolf, as they called the seal, was observed in
conspicuous numbers. ALCEDO, the Spanish
geographer, enumerates no less than nine
islands all bearing this designation. A tenth
was described by Captain BENNETT, who
commanded a whaler in the South Seas, and
spoke of the island almost in the style of its first dis-
coverer in a paper read before the Geographical So-
ciety in 1837. The island now under debate is,
however, one of two, lying between the tith and
7th degrees of south latitude, and called respectively
Lobos de Tierra, or Sotovento, or Inner or Leeward,
and Lobos Afuera, or Barlovento, signifying Outer or
Windward. The position of these islets seems to
have been first laid down with any accuracy in the
excellent charts prepared by Captain Fermis as the
result of his surveying expedition in command of
her NIAJESTI'S ships Endeavour and Beagle. The
gallant captain, however, never landed on either of
them • and the islands were, in fact, left until very
recently, as aria and useless wastes, to the undis-
turbed possession of the sea birds, who have, in
course of ages, rendered one of them an object worth
serious contention.

The Foreign Secretary was not called upon to open
the juggling chapter of national title in order to bnag
this question to a satisfactory conclusion. All that
was required of him was to demand from the Peru-
vian government a just and liberal interpretation of
the treaty of 1837. In that treaty—granted in
the most friendly spirit by England, at a time
when the support of a powerful ally was all import-
ant to the young republics of Peru and Bolivia--eadt
nation bound itself to place the trade and traders of
the other upon the "most favoured" tooting, and
allow of free exparts and imports under the most
convenient arrangements and at the lowest scale of
duties reciprocally. At that moment the advantages
were all on the side of Peru. Nevertheless, England
has faithfully fulfilled her share of the treaty
and afforded to Peru, besides an amount of assistance
in hard money and other " value received," without
which it would not be going too far to say that the
independent existence of the republic could hardly
have been maintained. When lately the Peruvian
government found that their territories were almost
the sole producers of a commodity for which the
English were the only and most eager customers, it
was apiece of sharp practice barely within the strict
legal rights recognised by the treaty of '37, to de-
clare every deposit of guano national property, and
refuse to allow its export except under payment of a
" royalty" such as was never exacted by the most
monopolising sovereigns of old Spain for pennissioa
to:tranship the precious metals.
This exorbitant royalty has hitherto been allowed
to be paid to Peru rather on sufferance than as a
right. The point was conceded to their poverty and
weakness, and allowed to pass unchallenged by the
British government, because if taken up seriously,
the controversy might have compromised the very
existence of the tottering and insolvent republic,
which, besides its character of ally, pos-
sesses another strong title to our affections
in the light of a considerable debtor. The
discovery of the vast deposits of guano on the Lobos
Island afforded an opportunity by which this ques-
tion, so prominently interesting to the British agO-
culturist, might have been settled, between the
doubts as to title and the treaty of 1837, upon Lord
DERBY'S own principle of a " compromise." Thu
opportunity, notwithstanding the unfavourable
opinion yesterday given by the Premier, seems
to be still open. The question is, whether the
MUTE ministry will have wit or tact enough to avail
themselves of it. If they call, it mill be the first
practical step they have taken towards proving the
lustneas of their self-asserted title of the farmem
friends." If not, guano can but share the fate of the
many other "compensating" and promised boons for
which the native agriculturist is required to pay sit
enormone price for the sake of obtaining a preca-
rious, and sometimes fraudulently adulterated, supply

EDINBURGH BOOKSELLERs' AissurIATION. _A
meeting of this association, which embraced within its
mcmbenhip all the booksellers in Edinburgh, except sass
ono or two, was held on Monday. evening ; when, follow-
ing the example of the trade to London, it was unard•
mously agreed to dissolve the association; so that here-
after there will be free trade in books in this city. 02,
the principal rules of the association was to allow in no
case a reduction of more they 10 per cent, on the *diet'
Used price of books.—Scotsnson.