The Express.
London, England, 1849-10-26 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, FRIDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 26, 1849.

DUBLIN, TKURSDAT MORNING.
OPENING OF THE
COMMISSION. BRED ESTATES
Yesterday the Right Hon. Baron Richards, Mono-
tifort Longfleld, Esq., LL. D., and C. J. Hargreave,
Earl., the commissioners under the new act for the
sale of ineumbered estates in Ireland, held their Bret
pablie sitting, in the Court of Exchequer, to open
their Commission. The court was crowded by legal
gentlemen, and the occasion was regarded by all u
oar of deep importance.
Baron Richards, the chief commissioner, delivered
the inaugural address. After referring to the act by
which the commission was constituted, describing
the process by which the formation of the code of
rules was managed, and making some observations on
the necessity of providing themselves with a special
seed and domicile, which be trusted would be soon
htgeruccetted to maks the following remarks
=1:111* addressed to the general public, as well as
to men, and are of importance, as indi-
the spirit in which the proceedings of the
court shall be conducted, and meeting
.some of the
objections that are made to the commission ; his
Lordship said :-
1 de not feel that it is within my province to touch upon'
tilt eneral policy of this meager', except to say that nothing
shall be wanting on the part of the commissioners to carry
out, as far as in them lies, the great object which the legis-
lature had in view in the enactment of this law ; and we
hope and twist that public expectation will not be disap
pointed. Upon the subject of the rules before us, I would
wish to all particular attention to our 16th rule; and chiefly
because that rule establishes a practice essentially at varianoe
with the practice of every other court of equity in England
and Ireland. By that rule we have precluded ourselves from
opening any ale, by reason of en advance in the bidding
merely. lianypersons, I dare say, will disapprove of the prin.
dole of that rale; bat we do not expect to please all parties.
We can only say that the principle of that rule engaged
our slit earnest and anxious consideration, and, upon the
deepest »Bestial, we have arrived at the conclueioe that
the practice of opening sales from time to time, by reason of
an advance in the ,btddinge, was calculated to damp very
much the ardour of bona Jade parchment, to delay the final
completion edam sale, and the winding up of tho ease, and,
in tact, more or less to damage all parties interested in the
seas. It is essential, however, that this most important
alteration in the mode of procedure in respect to the sales
of property shoal* be generally known, and we trust it
will obtainuniversal publicity. On the other band, to
guard against a collusive and fraudulent attempt to have
property knocked down at a gross undervalue, we have re-
served to ourselves a power, by the 15th rule, to adjourn
the sale of any I,t, if in our opinion the highest
pries offered is elvirly inadequate. This is a power
which I apprehend we shall very seldom have occasion
to exercise, and most likely never shall exercise, except
where we have reason to suspect something in the nature of
band or connivance in the case. It is right, however, that
vs scald have such a power, to be used or not, as the els.
samalances of the case may appear to render necessary. In-
deed, I have heard it said by some that unless we are pre:
pared to sacrifice all property brought into our court, we shall
net be able to effects/ilea. Ido not know whether it is ex-
pected that I should enter at any length into the subject.
I presume it is not ; and I confess I have no disposi-
tion to prophecy one way or other on that point.
All I shall, therefore, say is, that I see no well-
founded reason why persons desirous of investing
capital in a profitable manner should refrain from doing
so in the purchase of land, and especially in the purchase
of land to be sold under our court ; for, first, they will
have a clear and indefeasible title, not depending
on the preservation of any ancient deeds or charters, on
the aceuracy of marches, or upon the opiaions of counsel ;
but deriving its validity from the statute under which we
are acting. And, secondly, they will have a clear pm-
missies, free from all claims of tenants, save those subject
to which the propel Is expressly sold. But chiefly, the
purcluunr under this court will obtain the benefit of his
contract at once, and not be delayed, as is sometimes the
case, for years, not knowing almost to the latest mo-
ment whether his purchase is to be on or off. As to the
objection I have heard made about the propriety of
purchasing land in Ireland, arising out of the present state
of the country, I shall only obrerve, that ff we reflect upon
the calamitous events of the last four years, it is not very
surprising that the state of to:Zile in Ireland should be, to a
m tain extent at least, discouraaiog. We have had, by the
awful visitation of Providence, may say, four successive
years of partial famine, accompanied with pestil.nee and
weetchedusts unparalleled; and it has been our fate, during
the same time, to have had a code of laws, to werk out
which, even in better times, could not fail to
press severely on many I mean the poor law
acts. Bat this state of things, I trust, is not to last CA,
ever, and I confess I have strong to and expectation
that ere long we shall see Ireland awaking from her pre-
sent condition, and ruing to a more elevated and healthy
vete, both morally and physically, than we bawl ever yet
known her to enjoy. With regard to the frauds attempted
by tenants on their landlords is carrying away their crops, and
tno efforts made to avoid pimento( their lawful debts and en-
gagements,l have es ery confidence that such a state of things
will not continue, and that contracts between landlords and
tenants will be observed with the same fidelity in Breland es
elsewhere. But, however fraught wi.h matter of observation
the present state of Ireland may be, it is not fur me to enter
upon that wide field. There are far more competent persons
engaged in considering what is bet to be done Cr the im-
provement and amelioration of our country ; sad I shall
not, therefore, be tempted to pursue the subject.
The three comeniesioners then adjourned the court
for a brief period, for the purpose of inspecting the
apartment known as the Court of Admiralty, with a
view to see whether it would afford sufficient accom-
modation for holding the sittings of the Incumbered
Estates Commission pending the selection and pre-
paration of a permanent court for the purpose. On
their return,
Baron Richards stated that he bad communicated
with Mr. Serjeant Stock, the judge of the Admiralty
Court, and that he was informed by him that they
(the commissioners) might make use of his court and
chamber for the present. What they proposed under
these circumstatces was, that their secretary and
officore would occupy the Admiralty Court until ac-
commodation could be provided for them elsewhere.
The Court, after replyiag to some queries on points
of practice, adjourned.

LAMENTABLE SUICIDE.—We (says the Cork Ego-
miner) have just seen a letter, dated from Galway, the 22nd,
in which the writer states that Mr. Francis Burke, a mer-
chant of Dublin, cut his thrust on Sunday night lest, and is
since dead. Mr. Burke was one of the sureties for the com-
pletion of Mr. Brady's contract for building the Galway Col-
lege ; and the contractor not being in a position to redeem
his contract, it is supposed that the government called upon
Mr. Burks to carry it out, as in duty bound. It is right
illat I should add that **Galway paper of yesterday only men-
tions the " sadden death " of Mr. Burke, without stating the
cause. An inquest was to be held this day.
Mn. REYNOLDS, M.P.—The revision court was
occupied daring the whole of yesterday by the strenuous
attempts made by the conservatives to oust Mr. Reynold?,
our Lord Mayor elect. It was generally expected during
the day that the attempt would be sucensfa4 and that a
new election for Lord Mayor would be the result, but the
decision of the case was adjourned.