The Express.
London, England, 1853-07-11 00:00:00

In principle this Bill goes much further and is
inch better than !any preceding project relative to
haritics. Former Bills only aimed at the better

administration of the Trusts already in existence,and
wore little more than measures for the proper audit
of accounts ; whilst it, in addition, provides ma-
chinery " for the more beneficial application of chari•
table funds;" and thus goes to the very root of what is
so defective in the present state of the law. No
doubt there are still some huge instances of scanda-
lous and flagrant abuse of Trusts in our greater cha-
ritable foundations to correct, and much petty

mal-administration in our smaller Charities to ex-
plore and root out. And very certain it is, that under
enlarged powers of the law, and a better system of

management, the produce of Charity estates may be
very greatly improved, as has been the ease with
Church property under the charge of the Ecclesiastical
Commission. But, except in the instances of the
Earl of GUILFORD and such impenitent offenders
against all law and morals, the improved tone of so-
ciety, and the care and attention given by the va-
rious Attorney-Generals of late years to the superin•
tendence of Charities, have to a considerable extent
abated the scandals which the reports of the First
Charity Commission exposed twenty years ago.
What is now wanted is, not so much a
crusade against charitable foundations as chronic
abuses, as a system of continuous check
and publicity to their administration, en-
larged powers of leasing, mining, and other-
wise increasing the value of their properties.
and the formation of new schemes for the better
application of their funds, where either the old trusts
have become obsolete and unfit for modern times, or
where, after providing for their due fulfilment, there
is a surplus revenue to be disposed of. Such a system
can perhaps best be carried out by a public Board
specially devoted to the task, with subordinate func-
tionaries charged to inspect and report on the Cha-
rities to be dealt with after the fashion of Poor Law
Inspectors, and having authority to prepare such
schemes. Such a Board the Bill proposes to establish.
The measure in no way interferes with the
rights and duties of existing Trustees ; it contains
no proposition to change the mode of their elec-
tion, and it does not diminish their powers. On
the contrary, it will in many respects very largely
increase those powers. At present Trutdees are
bound within the four corners of their deeds of
foundation or of trust. They are limited, confined, and
restricted by the language of those instruments, fre.
quently centuries old; often to the serious prejudice
and injury of the Charity. But by this Bill they can
make application to the Board for their advice on all
questions ultra rim', and when they act upon it, they
are to be indemnified. At present any person can
call them to account for the administration of

the trust in the Court of Chancery, and
so dissipate and waste the funds in a liti-
gation that may be malicious or perverse; bat
under the measure, the Courts of Law cannot enter-
tain any proceedings as to Charities, except upon
certificate of the Board. At present Trustees in many
cases cannot improve the properties of their trusts
by granting building leases; under this Bill the
Board can enable them to do all acts calculated to
increase permanently its value. At present the bet-
ter application of charitable funds can only be arrived
at after years of litigation and dispute in the Courts
of Equity; under this Bill there is ample power
to frame schemes without putting the Charities to a
penny of cost. Other Bills touching Charitable Trusts
proposed to defray the expense of carrying out their
objects by levying a small tax on the Charities that

came within their provisions ; this Bill is founded on
the sounder principle, that their improvement, being
a matter of general interest, is a fair and proper
charge on the country generally, and its execution
will not, therefore, prove any burthen on the Charities.
The measure is one of good faith and kind inten-
tions to our Charitable Foundations. It is meant for
their better administration, for the improvement of
their property, and for the extension of their useful-
ness; it will remove difficulties, secure integrity,
increase the sphere, and render popular the ma-
p angement, of Charities, about which there are now
so many doubts and suspicions, that the wonder is
any gentleman will assume the responsibility of
Trusts which it is next to impossible he can conduct
agreeably and satisfactorily.
Its chief value is, however, the power of expanding
and augmenting the action of Trusts which is con-
fided to the Board, by the preparation of schemes for
that purpose. Most of our richer Charitable Founda-
tions exhausted the income of their endowments
when originally made, and are defective in internal
authority to extend their usefulness as their funds
increase. Their founders seem, indeed, never to
have had any notion of growth in the value
of property, and making no provisions for it,
the persons they charged with the fulfilment
of their designs,—the very guardians of their
will,—have themselves monopolised, in modern
times, the wealth of the foundations they were
selected to protect. This is the case in the now liti-
gated question of St. Cross ;—four years and more has
that been in the Court of Chancery, and even
now no decision has been come to. Years will pro-
bably pass away under the present system before a
satisfactory conclusion can be reached. But enact
this Bill, and six months will do for such cases what
six years now fail to accomplish. And then there is
another class of cases, the reform of which cannot

now be attempted, because to attempt it through
the Court of Chancery would be ruinous. Pus this
bill, and an inspector will in a week or two, at no
cost to the Charity, put the abused on a sound founda-
tion.

The great opposition to this measure will probably

come from the London Charitable Foundations, such
as Christ's Hospital, and from the Foundling Hospi-
tal, and establishments of that sort. But the bill is
not framed in any spirit of hostility to these founda-
tions. In respect to them, what it will principally
secure is publicity to their management, and with it
security that the public have the full benefit
of the rapidly-increasing value of the Trust proper-
ties. Schemes for their extension must necessarily
—for so the Bill provides—come under the conside-
ration of the Legislature ; and by legislative improve-
ment such Charities will rise from local and com-
paratively little known institutions into establish-
ments of almost national importance.
On every ground, then, this Bill deserves support,
and ought to receive attention this session. Having
passed the Upper House, it needs but two or three
days' consideration of the Commons to become the
law of the land in the session 1453.

PORTSMOL7II, JULY 10.—A court martial wee
held on board the Victory, flair ship, yesterday, to try
George Weston, a stoker belonging to the Leopard, steam
(float.. on a charge of desertion. On the 27th of February
last, he asked for and procured 21 hours' leave of absence,
but he did not return. In his defence prisoner admitted
his crime, but pleaded for mercy on the ground that he bad
a wit. and six children, together with an aged mother, de-
pendent on him for support ; he also pleaded his previous
good conduct and long services of 18 years. He was sen-
tenced to six months' impri•oornent in Winchester gaol.
THE CITY HE LoNros STEAMER has been char-
tered by the Peninsular and Oriental Company for four
months longer. This steamer has been running on the
Southampton and Constantinople line. The outward gar-
gles of this ship have been considerably reduced lately,
owing to the prospect of war. The homeward cargoes have
not been diminished.
Exri.osns or EtEcrioNs.—The bill to diminish
the expenses of elections as emended was printed on
Saturday. Since it was noticed in the Er real several
clauses have been struck out, and it is confined to prohibit-
ing bends of mask and all such natters from elections.