The Express.
London, England, 1864-04-22 00:00:00

VISIT OF GARIBALDI TO THE HOUSE.

At this period of the noble lord's speech the usual tran-
quillity and calm dignity of their lordships' house was some-
what disturbed by a rush of members from the lower house
to the her. in anticipation of a visit from Garibaldi. Lord
Outlmatonl for a minute or so evidently did
not know how to proceed, era stated that he
was afraid he should not be able very long to
obtain the undivided attention of their lordships. After
exchanging a word with the Earl of Derby be however pro-
ceeded with his address, and shortly afterwards the General,
accompanied by Sir Augustus Clifford, the L: chess of the
Black Rod, Mr. Seely, M.P., the Bishop of Ely, the Duke
of Su therland,and several other noblemen and geetlemen,was
seen approaching through the Prince's Chamber. At this
time the space on either side of the throne was crowded by
the eons of peers, and on each side below the bar the ups&
ICU filled by ladies. Several peeresses also graced the gal-
lery. The General entered the house about ten minutes to
six o'siock, and was conducted into tho space before the
throne. Sir Augustus Clifford pointed out to him the minis-
terial sod opposition sides of the house. Notwithstanding
all that has been mid to the contrary the General appeared
to be in excellent health, looking rather better, in point of
fact, tuna when he set foot on the platform
at Nine Elms. He was attired in his usual pin•
torseque grey poncho with the corner turned back,
displaying the characteristic Garibaldian red jacket.
The peers appeared bent upon preserving their dignity, and
for about a minute or so took no notice of the General, or
at the very most casting a side long glance at him. The
Bahop of Oxford was the first to leave Ins seat on the
bishops' bench and walk to the rail before the throne, at
which Garibaldi was standing. The General shook him
warmly by the band, and the three, Sir A. Clifford, Gari-
baldi, and the bishop remained standing together, engaged
in conversation for a short time. Standing as the three
did together, it was noticeable how much below the middle
height G►ribaldi really is, being in point of fact very little
taller than Earl Russell, who came up shortly after
from the Treasury Bench, end shook hands with
the General as he passed out. Lord Harrowby also left
his seat, and remained some time in conversatioo with
Garibaldi, and the Earl of Shaftesbury gave hint a greeting
and si warm shake of the hand as he paned by to take his
seat on the benches by the side of the woolsack, and a little
above the chief opposition bench. Of course Lord Chelmsford
continued all the while to address the house as if there were
no such person in existence as Garibaldi ; and neither the
Earls of Derby and Malmeebury, on the opposition bench,
nor Earl Granville, Lord Stanley of Alderley, or other peers
on the ministerial side of the house, thought it consistent
with their dignity to take the slightest notice either of the
General or of the unusual stir in the house. As may
be imagined, the seats were occupied by a much larger
number of peers than ordinarily attend the debates,
and it was rather amusing to see the straggle of many of
them to maintain an appearance of calm indifference, and
an enforced attention to the statement of Lord Chelmsford,
while the eager glances of curiosity which they every now
and then shot towards where Garibaldi was standing be-
trayed the true motive for their unusual attendance at the
house. Garibaldi seemed to inquire of Sir A. Clifford where
the reporters sat, for we observed him pointing in a very
marked manner to the reporters' gallery ; sod the General
seemed to survey the reporters with rather more
curiosity than he did the lords. He also appeared
to be more interested in the magnificent decorations of
the ceiling than with the floor of their lordships'
house. A little behind Garibaldi, on the right hand side.
stood the Duke of Sutherland, Mr. Seely, M.P., and the
Bishop of Ely, with some other gentlemen. After remaining
about five minutes in the house Garibaldi retired into the
Princes Chamber, accompanied by the same gentlemen with
whom he entered the house. We are informed that before
entering the house the General visited the library and the
private apartments of Sir A. Clifford. Shortly after the
departure of the General the members of the House of
Commons and other spectators left, and their lordships were
left to the undisturbed consideration of thepablic business
before them.

Lord CHELMSFORD, whose address as we before
stated had sever been interrupted, observed that very great
expectations had bees formed with reference to
the act of parliament alluded to by him, and it was
to ascertain how far those expectations bad been realised
that he bad moved for the returns in question. Of course
it became n the act having passed, to establish •
machinery by which it should be worked, and accordingly a
principal registrar was appointed with a salary of 2,500/.
a.year and assistant mistier at 1,2007., a chief clerk at
4001., and • second clerk at 1001. per annum. With respect
to the selection of gentlemen to fill these appointments he
had not a word to say. The very best persons were selected,
and the appointments would be altogether unobjectionable
if they had anything to do. So far as they went they re-
flected the highest credit on the noble and learned lord
who had made them. They were men eminently qualified
to fulfil the duties of such an appointment, if the business
of the office had been what certainly it wee expected it
would be. He had abstained from moving for the returns
at en earlier period, in order to give time to
get the act into full working operation, but
be now had them to the let of March this year.
He found that there had been since the act was pseud Id
apritcationa under it, and of those 11 bad been withdraws
and only nine estates or titles bad been registered. There were
two cases which he thought ought to be considered as added
to the number, and therefore he would say that there were
11 titles on the register. There were 4d application which
still remained to be decided upon. It appeared that the
value of the property. so far as it could be ascertained,
amounted to 1,500,000/. The amount of the average was
4,787 acres, and it appeared that the greater portion of it
warn building laud ; and that seemed to realise the expecta-
tions of a noble lord who was a member of the committee on
the bill, and who said that the measure would be useful
only to those who had land in the neighbourhood of towns.
From the great expectations that were put forth that
300,000 dude would be registered annually, it might have
been fairly anticipated that the measure would be self-
supporting. but he regretted to soy that all those expecta-
tions had been dimppointed. What would their lordships
suppose was the amount of the fees received to the lat of
March last? Oily 180/. He did not know what the other
forty.eix applications if carried to • successful result would
be likely to produce, but be was afraid they could not ven-
ture to expect very much. The measure itself was
considered to be the greatest political achieve-
meat
of 1862. He had been anxious that all
these facto should be known to their lordship.,
because it appeared that • measure which seemed to be so
ardently deemed bad produced no good result. The fact
was, they had been misled in pauieg it, and the only thing
they had done was to make a permanent charge op= the ,
revenues of the country.