The Express.
London, England, 1857-07-23 00:00:00

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Esausanvt—Esseas, Y. Menace. 41.

LONDON, THURSDAY, JULY 23.

I;vf:v under the prevailing despotism of the Dog-
Star we sometimes meet with a portly gentleman of
the old school tightly done up in the old costume.
Ilia blue coat and brass buttons, buff waistcoat
and old-fashioned boots may be tolerated; but those
swathes of starched linen which envelop his neck
seem to the modern devotee of the single-tie a
needless torture. it is of course useless to attempt
to argue the old gentleman out of the propriety of
his costume. It is idle to hint vaguely at
apoplexy, or to explain how that twenty-fold
neckcloth is the surest means of catching cold.
The venerable bigot is inexorable. Ho insists upon
the coil of linen round his neck—it is essential to
his existence. We don't know whether Lord
ST. LEON %ADS adopts these ideas in his
toilette, but the spirit in which he discussed
various measures proposed to facilitate the transfer
of land oa Tuesday evening shows that he is ani.
mated with an analogous obstinacy in matters juri-
dical. Prrjudieed as he is in favour of all
those legal technicalities by a knowledge of
which he has achieved for himself • seat in
the House of Lords, he is yet compelled to
admit that the law of real property and the
doctrines of conveyancers ars full of absurdities.
He allows the necessity of reform, but the
reform must, it seems, be as small as pos.
aible—a mere matter of detail. He is shocked at
the very notion of making the transfer of land—
from • seller to a purchaser—perfectly simple. It
had been somewhere said that a certificate of
title ought to be as negotiable as • bill
of exchange. " I hope," exclaimed the noble
and learned lord, " I shall never see such facility for
the transfer of property. If a man could carry his
title deeds in his cigar-case no one would answer for
the consequences. There is no necessity to render

property so easily transferable." Why for if a
man wants to raise money on his property be an—
lialftage !"

This is the starched neckcloth style of jurispru-
dence with a vengeance. Why, in the name of all
that is absurd, should not a man carry about his
title deeds in his eigar.cue, if he has nothing
better to fill it with? Many Irish proprietors can
Garry their titles ►bout in their waistcoat pockets,
bet we have never yet heard that this fatal facility
his been complained of as an injustice to Ireland.
Why insult landowners, swathed, like Egyptian
mammies. in skins upon skins of parchment—bound
hand and foot by mortgages, and charges, and
judgments, and settlements, and a thousand other
legal complications—by telling them that if
they want to borrow mosey they may—mortgage?
Because Lord Sr. LEONAILD3 prefers the old compli-
cated system of real property—as his ancient friend at
Bootite's prefers the cumbrous involutions of the
prirateval choker—let not his lordship for a moment
imagine that the public agree with him. They are
prepared to adopt any plan which, whilst it leaves
untouched the power of disposition, facilitates the
eel* of land end the using it as a security for money
lent. Nay, we aro even disposed to think that
they would gladly accept the proposal--ehaddered
Over by Lord Sr. LEON tans —that the Government
should open a shop for the sale of good titles—
which meal's, of course, a sort of Incumbered Estates
Court ; and that so far from the scheme being unen-
durable, landowners and the public at large would
hail it as a great boon.

From the tone of Lord Sr. Lsoxssns' speech we
should sac that his lordship regards the plan of re-
gistering titles advocated in the Bloc Book by Mr.
WALPOLE and the other Commissioners SA not only
practicable, but likely to command the sanction of
Parliament—the spirit of his remarks is so bitter
and the objections urged against the scheme are so
grossly unfair, that we can scarcely suppose them to
have been actuated by any other feeling than that
of a panic MIS of danger. The object of his
Lordship's remarks is uot, indeed, very clear. If
his aim was to impreoi the public with the idea that
he wan apprehensive of the effect of the proposed
measure upon the profits of Conveyancers and Soli-
citors, he might have been more succeeeful had he
been more direct. If, on the:other hand, he desired
to prove that the proposed measure is not exposed to
any serious objection, be could not have done better
than to make objections and conjure up difficulties
which, if he will only read the Report, he must see
are totally groundless. One of the most characteristic

parts of the great real-property lawyer's address was
the arrogant disrespect which he evinced for the
auderstandinga of his lay auditory. This eminest
legal Peer condescended seriously to declare that the
effect of the plan proposed by his learned and able
friend Mr. WALPOLE would be to put Cr. end to their
Lordships' power of making settlements upon their
own estates. It may be as well to remind the lay
Peers that this is simply not the case. If the pro-
posed plan were carried into effect to-morrow, every
man with an acre of land would hare precisely the
Mae power over that acre which he now has. He
would be able to carve it out into as many estates,
to subject it to as many obligations as at present.
Nor is his Lordship less incorrect in saying that
ander the new system it would be impossible for
two persons to purchase an state together. We
do not allude to these mis-statements so mach
with a view to correct them as to express our
regret that a lawyer so deservedly eminent as,

Lord Br. Lrorraans should lend himself to what
is little better than a fraud upon his brother
Peas and upon the public. Of souse, if any man
be once satisfied that an opinion expressed by Lord
LEONARD!, if a lawyer OR a point of real pro-
perty law is his honest opinion, he will be disposed
to bow with deference to the authority of so great a
jurist. It is, therefore, somewhat painful to see so
distinguished a man using his vast influence to mislead
people—to throw discredit on a measure which has
been elaborated with the utmost care, and which,
whatever be its imperfections, is certainly not liable
to the objections urged against it. Perhaps, how-
ever, Lord Sr. LEONARDS, like Lord CAMPBELL,
is not fully aware of the strength of the expres-
sions he uses; or, like the Loan CHANCELLOR, he is
ready to express an opinion upon a measure
before he has fully considered it. It is only a few days
Inc. Lord CRANWORTH declared that he considered
this plan chimerical. On Tuesday night, however,
he told the House of Lords that though he had read
it, he had not mastered its details, and in fact had
laid it aside. We trust that Lord Sr. LEONARDP,
for his own credit, will yet see fit to make
the same apology. At all events let us hope
that no time will be lost in laying the Bill
promised by the ATTORNEY-GENERAL on the table
of the House of Commons. The LORD CHAN-
CELLOR seems prepared for this. The ArroaNer-
OXNUAL has promised more than one to do so.
And Mr.W.u.rots mast now think himself bound to
enter into some explanation of the plan which Lord
Sr. LIONARDS treats so contemptuously. If Mr.
WALPOLE, or some other of the Commissioners, will
only take the trouble to explain the real nature of
their recommendations to the House of Commons,
not only will the injury likely to arise from Lord
Br. LEONARDI' speech be neutralised, but some pro-
gress will be made towards enlightening the public
as to the real merits of this great legal reform.

Txs House of Commons is this day asked to
pronounce a definitive opinion on the claims of the
Civil Servants. The questions is reduced to its sim-
plest form. The Act of 1834 for the first time in-
troduced that system of deductions against which
that class of the Civil Servant" who are affected by it
have never ceased more or lea strenuously to pro-
test. The 27th clause of that Act is the funs et
origo mall. It is this clause which first divided
the Civil Service into two clauses—those who
had taken office before 1829, and those
who had taken office since. On the first
class it imposed no deductions; :on the second
it imposed a deduction of 21per cent. on salaries
under 1001. a year, and of 5 per cent. on salaries
above that amount. The complaint of the Civil Ser-
vants affected by this rule is very simple. They say,
first, that the deductions are levied compulsorily on
all, in order to provide a superannuation fund, thei
benefits of which are only enjoyed by very few;',
secondly, that the clear amount of salaries upon'
which the deductions are imposed is not, considering
the present expenses of living and the existing re-
muneration for skilled labour, at all more than an
adequate equivalent for the value of the services they
render to the public, while it barely affords the
means of maintaining that decent respectability of
social position which it is on all grounds so desira-
ble that the employ's of Government should be
enabled to keep up.

The views thus advanced have been repeatedly
adopted by those who have from time to time been
specially appointed by the Legislature to investigate
into the merits of the case. The Report of the Civil
Service Superannuation Commission, which appeared
last May, announced in the most explicit terms that
the Commiseioners had felt it their duty "to recom-
mend the total abolition of deductions for the pur-
pose of superannuation, without any eorresponding
reduction in the salaries on which such deductions
hare been charged." The Bill introduced by lord
Na.ts is framed upon the principle of this
recommendation. It consists of a single clause, and
that clause is confined to a single object—the repeal
of the 27th section of the Act of 1831, which first im-
posed the existing system of deductions. More than
this the Civil Service do not require ; this, at all
events, the House of Commons, we confidently trust,
will not refuse to concede. The case made out fur
the abolition of these deductions is totally unan-
swerable. The salaries, free from the deductions,
are not one farthing more than a fair compensation
for tie work done, at the average market price of
the day for skilled labour of a similar kind. The
tax has all the objectionable characteristics that any
tax can poesibly have. It is levied under • false
plea. It is exacted from all under the guise
of an insurance premium, in order to pro-
vide • superannuation fund in the benefits
of which it is absolutely certain that all cannot, and
Basally certain that bat very few can, participate.
It is peculiarly oppressive and unequal : it mulcts
most heavily those who are least able to support it.
On the highest class of salaries it is not levied at all :
the tide-waiter and the poet-office clerk are vic-
timised—the judge and the ambassador escape soot-
free. It is needless, however, to recapitulate the
long catalogue of anomalhe and hardships which,
whenever the ease has been fully and dispas-
sionately looked into, even by those originally most
prejudiced against the claims of the Civil Servants,
has, without a single exception, produce' the result
of establishing the justice of their complaints and
the validity of their petitions for redress.
The one objection which is urged on the other
side is simply the cost of being jest In the first
place, whatever the figures may be, we demur to
the plea. Justice, above all things, is the true
maxim for such a Government as ours. Justice, ob-
serve, not weakness. We would not, to avoid a
clamour or to secure a majority, vote compensation
to thine interested in the maintenance of au
abolished monopoly, but we would allow no popular
clamour to stand in the way of giving a fair remu-
neration to thine in the efficiency and value of whose
service the whole community has • very real and
deep interest. It is an important public object
that we should not deter able men from the
public service by a niggardly scale of remuneration,
or a vexatious system of deductions. It is an impor-
tant public object that we should not encourage dis-
abled men from lingering on in the public service by
postponing superannuation allowances till too late a
period, or fixing them at too inadequate a scale. If
in order to secure these objects there should be re-
quired an additional sum of 75,0001. a year for the
present, and probably 100,0001. a year for the future,
who shall say that this is too large an amount to be
expended by this great and wealthy community In
procuring the moat efficient service from those to
whom the civil bushier of the country is entrusted,
and in removing from their minds that rankling same
of injustice which the maintenance of the existing
system is certain to perpetuate ? Let the House of
Commons be well assured that in this matter the just
and generous line of conduct is also the popular one.

The following members are nominated to serve on
the retort committee on the Chelsea New Bridge Bin
Fir Francis Baring, Mr. Stafford, Viscount Duncan, Lord
Orate Hazleton, Mr De Lacy Evans, Mr. Jackson, Captain
Gray ,Mr. Patrick O'Brlns, Mr. Blackburn, Mr. Monkey,
Mr. The, Mr. C. Mewl, Sir Benjamin