The Express.
London, England, 1863-02-21 00:00:00

tHR DUCHY OP CORNWALL.

The Prince of Wales baring attained hie majo-
My, the powers delegated to the "Council for the Affairs
of the Dnchy of Cornwall " expire. In resigning their
trust the members of that body hare presented a report to
her Majesty, describing the "main features of the system
of management they h►ve adopted, and the results that
have been produced." The document contain an account
of the administration of the duchy for a period of four

and-twenty year'. The council was appointed under letters
patent in 1838. The chief point of the instructions under
which they acted (observes the rinser) was • direction to
inquire into the system of laming sod disposing of the
poesessions of the duchy, with the view of remedying any
abases that might be found to exist in it. There had
been abuses, which the council discovered much sooner
than they could remedy them. But the work was began,
and has been continual ever since. It appeared that in

the old period of mismanagement, customs bad been aban-
doned, mute hat, fees and hernia not duly received ;
boundaries bad become mattes, of doubt, and therefore of
dispute, while adverse claims of cutting timber and fuel,
and of pasturage, had been permitted to grow " into habit",
if not into rights.* But these were small matters compared
with the system of granting leases of portions of the pro.
party for lives or in reversion, end commuting the greeter
part of the rents for finer. It reduced the income of the
&may to an amount that was no just manure of its fair
mead value. The expeoste of the management of the
doily property, before the appointment of the council,
bad rise to 30 and 35 per ant of the realised revenue.
Prom 1783 till 1830 the duchy was administered for
the last Prince of Wales, afterwards George IV., who re.
cieved in the above period about 370,0094 from the fines
taken on the renewal of lessee. From 1830 till 1837 the
revenues of the duchy were received by William IV., and
in his short term of seven years there seems to have bees
an unusual number of renewals, as the fines produced
171,3431. This system ceased to exist under the adminis-
tration of the council. No leases are now granted for
lives; • fixed term of years is in all cases substituted
for them, and life laves have been exchanged for
holdings on the more certain tenure. The old fines
have, of course, taken the more regular and calculable
form of rent. By these means, the report stater, "the
council has established the income of the estates on a
sound bas's," and at the seas time has enabled her Ma-
jesty, "by the investment of • surplus revenue, to provide
a large sum for the privy pane of the Prince of Wales."
While the revenue obtained from the duchy in 1860 was
fourfold that of 1838, the expenses of its administration
have not increased more than 1,2001.
The estates of the Duke of Cornwall are by no means con-
fined to the county from which he takes his title. The
derby derives rents from Gond, Hampshire, Bomersetahire,
sad even from the suburbs of London. Boom of these out-
lying estates have been sold •ith advantage, other
holdings have been exchanged. Some ancient dues
and customs have been commuted, others have be-
come obsolete. Time has destroyed all that once
made the Duchy of Cornwall a kind of sovereignty, with
a peculiar people and special interest". The juriedictics of
the Seminary Courts has been superseded, and the disputes
that arise from mines and th,ir machinery are now among
the nand punling and profitable came brought up to West-
minim-hall. The report of the expiring council meals to
ifiemethe the last stages of the process by which the duchy
hes been clawed of the ethos and remains of ancient usage,
but so degree of improvement will ever restore it to the
importance it 003 e possessed as an appanage of the crown.
Now, the *stets of many private gentlemen exceed it in
Wm. Centuries ago the mime of the Earldom of Corn-
wall, afterwards converted into the prompt duchy, produced
an amount of wealth in money that seemed inexplicable to
the possessors of mere "lands and beeves." By the infiumes
(Atha' exoeptional commend of money, an Earl of Cornwall
Weems a candidate for the imperial crown of Germans.
The extravagance and necessities of the sovereigns and
their heirs exhausted • means of supply that for several
ages seems to have been something of • mystery to the
popular mind ; but of the revenues that still remained to
the crown, in the matter of accounts the mystery came down
to a ray modern period. The officials of the duchy ri quired
so votes of salary from the Home of Commons, and
the rents sod revenum were not paid into the public
exchequer. We speak of • time before the settlement of
the civil list on its existing conditions. Bat the council
for the affairs of the duchy, who in this report render an
account of their loos stewardship, present • very clear and
simple babsesahmt, with the excellent results we
have described. Jonly, aid with evident feeling.
the council express their seem of the advantage
they derived. for so many yearn, from the superin-
tendence of the late Prince Comport, They may,—
" To kis just mind and clear judgment, his quick perception
of what is right, his aiugular discretion, his remarkable
aptitude for the conduct of affairs, we never looked in vela
for guidance and advice on any occasion of difficulty. The
sonodoess him opinions in all our deliberations was ren-
dered more apparent by the toleration with which be listened
bad was slimy* ready to defer to those of others. He sever
' lest eight of the improvement of the condition of the trorot
sod the labourer, while anxiously seeking to restore the
' property of the duchy to a state of prosperity ; and to him,
we may truly say, it is mainly due that the PriDee of Wales
will now enter into pomeesiou of an estate greatly Increased
in value. and free from ne.rlv all the disputes with the
neigh bowleg proprietors mid others which at one time pre.
veiled."