The Sun.
London, England, 1830-09-11 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, -1?1-;-E1MBIER 11, 180.

relied upon confidence in the parties instead of the
protection afforded by the law, and will have no
Just cause of complaint.
It may be further urged, that little apprehensiOn
is to be entertained of the failure in the registration
of an instrument, and that the cases, where this
failure and the existence of a fraudulent intention
to take advantage of it by the vendor or mortgagor
concur, must be so rare that they may safely be dis-
regarded. It is only in such cases that the proposed
rule of letting in notice would be beneficial to the
purchaser or mortgagee, and then only in case he
shoUld succeed in establishing, by a suit in equity
or an action at law, notice against the subsequent
purchaser; ,and that it appears a conclusive argu-
ment, that in a prospective law made for the se-
curity of all future purehasers, it would be unwise_
to introduce.. a *rule necessarily detracting from the
security of every purchaser, for the purpose of giv-
ing'a very uncertain chance to individuals in eases of
rare occurrence to repair the effects of their' own
misfortune or carelessness. -
If all persons about to become purchasers of morts
gagees could be consulted on the subject, little doubt
can be entertained that the great majority would
prefer the rule by which their own diligence would
ensure their perfect security, to one by which they
might have a chance given them Of obviating :the
consequences of failure, but upon the terms of being
exposed to the chance of having-the consequences of
another person's failure fixed upon them by evidence
which they, might not be able to rebut.
Upon the whole, the question of giving or deny-
ing effect to actual notice against the Register, ap-
pears to be a question of balance of evils; it is there-
fore material to consider how far and in what cases
evil is likely to arise from the rule denying effect to
notice, and whether sufficient remedies consistently
with the rule can be provided.
It will be found, that to obviate the danger that a
purchaser may be defeated before registration by the
activity of another purchaser, we propose to allow of
the entry of a caveat, to prevent the registration of a
grant from the parties named in it for a limited
period. We consider this greatly preferable to the
plan of letting deeds have effect according to the
priority of execution, so that they be registered
within a limited period.
Of course a person having contracted for a pur-
chase without notice of a prior unregistered deed,
might use such deed, when discoiered, as a defence
against a bill for specific performance of an action
by the seller.
To make registration salutary, the process of re-
gistration must be so simple, that the lowest ordi-
nary care will suffice to secure against any fatal
error; it must be so little costly, as not to create
any serious burden or alienation. As it will have
to be gone through on the execution of every instru-
ment relating to real property, there is reason to
hope it wily riot be more liable to be -forgotten by
the agents of parties, than the sealing of a deed or
the signature of an agreement. It is highly pro-
bable that registration will scarcely ever be omitted
unintentionally.
The omission may happen, in case of a principal
party cemifiding in the personal honour of the man he
deals with, and desiring to keep the transaction
secret at his'request (especially in cases of loan) or
for some purpose of his own; It may happen through
gross miscondmitt or neglect of a professional agent.
lii the former case, the party has voluntarily taken a
risk on himself, relying on the character of the per-
son he dealt with, and in strictness he can require
no protection against the consequencesof his own act.
We feel it indeed to be possible, that the attempt
to take advantage of the non-registration of a deed
may be made in same cases, as by a man in embar-
rassed circumstances, and that be may find a person
willing to give effect to it, for instance, a creditor,
in order to get a security for his own demand;
against such cases the personal remedies to which
we shall presently advert, are the only safeguard we
can offer, independently of giving effect in equity to
notice. This possibility will operate as a reason
why registration should never be neglected.
The case of misconduct or neglect of the agent
will probably be of very rare occurrence. Perfect
security for the good conduct of a person entrusted
by another of course cannot be obtained, but there
is, we think, no doubt that the risks arising from the
negligence, forgetfulness, or insufficient skill avows
under the present complicated system, greatly exceed
the risk now in consideration. These risks, too, are
out of the observation of the principal, who has no
means of judging of the existence of the danger till
he actually suffers. On time contrary, every man
may easily ascertain whether his conveyance or
mortgage has been registered; and as men now at.
tech importance to the possession of their title
deeds, they are likely to attach it to the possession
of a certificate of the registry of their title. If ti
habit arose for the solicitor of a purchaser or mor

gagee, upon the completion of the transuetion,t-0
give his. principA a certificate from the Register
Office' (a much more portable assurance than a
bundle of deeds), the case of non-registration could
scarcely occur. An important gOurd will also exist
in the personal remedy against the agent.
This leads. to the consideration of the remedies
which may be provided, without infringing the rule.
(To be, continued.)

lISTORICAL SKETCH OF BELGIUM.

No country in all Europe has been the theatre of
so many revolutions as that part, of ancient Gaul,
called Belgium. We shall recapitulate here the
princiPtil traits of its history, dating it from the
middle age.
It was in the year 1106, that Godefrey Count of
Louvain, having received from the Emperor henry
V. the investiture of the Duchy of Lower Lorreiti,
assumed for the first time the title of Duke of Bra-
bant, and from that period the country began to be
considered as a separate State.
In 1218, Henry IL, one of the successors of
Godefrey, granted by his testament to all the cul-
tivators of Brabant their liberty, who were always
considered earl's according to the law of the German
Empire before. He delivered them from the tax of
mortmain, and ordered that, like the inhabitants,
they should be judged only by their own Magistrates.
This testament of Henry IL has been constantly
appealed to during all the insurrections which have
taken place under his successors.
These popular commotions were sometimes so
violent, that the Kings of France saw, or conceived
themselves, obliged to interpose. Thus Philippe
le Bel gained in 1:164 the battle of Mons en Puelle
against the Brabanters or people of Flanders ; Philip
de. Valois in. 1328, that of Cassel; and Charles
IX. in 13;2, that, of Itosbeek ; but at that period
the
.kings of France were &reedy invested• with the
Supremacy (Suzerainet6), as Lords. Paramount of
Brabant ; tt feeble indemnity made by King John
to Philip le Hardi (the Bold), his• fourth son, for
the impolitic cession of the country, John being in-
contestably the heir of Philippe do Rouvre, the last
Dukp of the first /louse of Burgundy.
$€ By an act of imprudence, for which his children
paid very dearly, King John," says the President
Heinault, " instead of preserving so important a
doinein, gave it to one of his sons, by way of a
separate. settlement (appanage); to revert to the
Crown in default of heirs nde. Thus it happened
'by this arrangement that a French Prince became
the head of the, race of this second House of Bur-
piety ; which proved, in the sequel, so fatal to

France during the long wars she had to wage against
England.
Charles le Temeraire dying, in 1477, without any
male issue, his States ought to have reverted to the
Crown of France, but they passed to the House of
Austria, by the marriage of Mary of Burgundy, the
daughter of Charles, with the Archduke Maxi-
milian, son of the Emperor Henry 111. The Ern.
peror Charles V., who issued from this branch,
united the 'Netherlands to the Spanish Monarchy;
and it was under the reign of his son Philip 11. of
Spain, that those disturbances broke out which, after
the most obStinate struggle of 80 years' duration,
terminated in the complete and absolute independ-
ence of the Northern part of the Netherlands (the
Seven United Provinces).
' The,southetn part, properly called Brabant, and
now more commonly styled Belgium, remained under
the dominion of 'Austria—at first of the Spanish,
and subsequently Of the German braneh.
Louis XIV. repeatedly conquered Brabant and
Flanders. Louis XV., whose armies were com-
ma nded -by the celebrated Marshal de Saxe (the
natural-v*l of .-the King of Poland and Oector of
Saxony and the Countess of Koningsmark), like-
wise conquered it entirely, and began even to pene-
trate into Holland by Bergen-op-Zoom and Mtlf.
trick, when, by a condescendence more generous than
political, he restored those provinces to Auitria, 'in
1748, by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.
Belgium remained subject to Austria under the
reign of the Empress Maria Theresa, but revolted,
in 1789, against her ion Joseph If. The brother
and successor of this Emperor, Leopold IL, suc-
ceeded in restoring his authority in these provinces
by the influence of concessions rather than by the
force of arms, although he had made a disudviin.
tageous peace with the Turks, giving up Belgrade
and other important fortresses, for the purpose of
turning his whole force against Flanders; but they
were shortly afterwarda conquered by the French
armies from his son Francis 11., the present Emperor
of Austria. From they year 1794 they constituted
part of the French Republic and Empire till 1814
•—that is to say, for 20 years.
After the overthrow of the colossal empire of Na-
poleon, the Holy Alliance met in Congress at
Vienna, to appropriate the spoils of the vanquished,
when in their wisdom they thought. fit to transfer
the sovereignty of Belgium, which bad been so long
an integral part of the French Republic, one and
divisible, and afterwards of the French empire, to
the Prince of Nassau Orange, the restored Stadt-
holder of Holland, not by way of a reward or
indemnity for his exertions against the gigantic
power of Napoleon—in consideration of which
Russia received Poland, Austria Venice and
LoMbardy, Prussia part of Saxony and the
Rhenish provinces, Sweden Norway, and the
minor powers, minor slices (for the poor man had
been living, frugally and peaceably, in Harley-street,
London, on a pension of 16,0001. per annum from
our Consolidated Fund, three-fourths of which he
wisely laid by)—but for the purpose of forming a
powerful barrier against France; and graced and
dignified this newly-created power, by subsequently
bestowing a Regal crown on the new Sovereign
Prince of the Netherlands. Thus were four mil-
lions of inhabitants, and one of the must flourishing
countries in Europe, bartered away, alienated, and
transferred, without their will and inclination being
in the least consulted, like a parcel of negroes in the
West Indies, or as cattle are sold in England.—
However, the difference of religion, language, laws,
customs, and sentiments, between Belgium and
Holland, rendered this forced amalamation of hete-
rogeneous parts a source of weakness instead of
strength ; such unavoidable effect having been
wholly overlooked by its unstatesmardike com-
pounders, Prince Metternich and Lord Castlereagh,
and though England was so lavish in the expen-
diture of millions after milliOmu to consolidate the su-
perstructure raised on an unsound foundation, we
see it now shaken to the centre, and on the point of
tumbling to pieces, unless supported by myriads of
Prussian bayonets and millions of English' sove-
reigns. However, these subsidies may not be quite
so readily forthcoming now as in Lord Castlereagh's
time; and even in that case the issue would be
doubtful. The Belgians were ever difficult to rude,
as Austria, though un infinitely greater Power, and
professing, moreover, the same religion, and holding
the sovereignty by much better title deeds than the
house of Orange, found to her cost. So common
were insurrections in Belgium, that a German pub-
licist found in her annals no less than three changes
of sovereignty and six internal revolutions, on un
average of each century. Such is the disposition of
the people whom Metternich, Castlereagh, and com-
pany, foolishly expected to wean of their restless
love of liberty by a chimeriusul, an impossible fusion
with Holland, under the feeble sway of the crippled
house of Orange, ruling a country overwhelmed
with debt, totally eclipsed as a maritime power, and
destitute of a native army of any consequence !

'ROM THE GAZETTE OF LAST NIGUT

Foreign-Office, Sept, 10, 1830.
The King has been graciously pleased to appoint George
Bryan Brutnmell, Esq., to be his Majesty's Consul at Caen.

Crown-Office, September 0.
MIXERES RICTURNEO TO SERVE IN TUE NEW VARLZA,

ORICHRY AND ZETLANn—George Trail!, Esq. the younger,
of llobister.
RUTLA Nunn' r—Sir Gilbert Ileatheote, of Nortntinton
Park, in the said county of Rutland,
,Hart. ; Sit
Orrard Nod Noel, of Exton-park, iu the said county
of Rutland, Bart.
BURGHS ON KIRKWAL, TAM DENOVALL, DORNOCIII,
MOD WICK.--.JalTlett Lod, Esq., of Bloomsbury.square,
in the county of Middlesex, barrister-at-law. •

War-Ofhce, Sept. 10.
10th Regiment of Light Dragoons---Cipt. W. ()Aortae,
from the half.pay, to be Captain, vice Hon. It, Watson,
who exchanges, receiving the difference, dated Sept. 10,
1830.
10th Regiment of Foot—Ensign and Adjutant E. Slm,:
ley to have the rank of Lieutenant, Sept. 10,
Ilth Foot--Capt. O. Pinckney, from the half-pay, to
be Captain, vice A. Bolted, who exchanges., receiving the
•difference, Sept. 10.
gist Foot--Lieut. C. O. Booth to be Captain, by
purchase, vice Lord W.'Paulet, proMoted. Second Lktit.
tr. Brady to be Pirat Lieutenant, by purchase, vice Booth.
H. -Wecayss,,Gent. to be Second Lieutenant, by purchase,
vice Brade, Sept. 10.
22d Foot--Capt. J. M'Plierson, from half-pay Pith Foot, to Captain, vice Killikelly, whose appointment
has not taken place, Sept, 10.
27th Foot—.. Capt. Ainaick, from the half-pay, to
be Captain, vice M. Galbraith, who exchanges, 'receiving
the difference, Sept. 10.
20th Foot—Lieut. W. 11. Shippard to be Captain, by
purchase, vice Chilton, who retires; Ensign W. G. Alves
to be Lieutenant, by purchase, vice Shippard; E. 11. M.
Kelly, Gent,. to be Ensign, by purchase, vice Alves,
Sept. 10.
81st Foot-r-Lielit..Col. Sir S. It. Colletcm, Bart., from
the'half-pay,. to be Lieutenant-Colonel, vice Daly, whose
appointment bat not taken place, Sept. 10.
33d Foot---Major C. Knight to be Lieu-tenant-Colonel,
by purchase, vice Moffatt, who retires, Sept. 10.
SSd Foot—Capt. W. 11. Grote to be Major, by 1"""*-
chase, vice Knight ; I,ic ut. G. B. Tathwell to be Captain
by purchase, vice Crote ; linsign'T. S. Smith, to be Lieu-
tenant, by ptirebne, vice Tethwell; T. S. Clarke, Gent.,
to be Ensign, without purchase; vice Smith, Sept.. 10.
86th Foot—Capt. W. Killikelly, from the half pay of
the 6th West India Regiment, to be Captain, vice M. 11.
Grey, who exchanges, Sept. 10.
40th Foot.—Litut, J. Stopford to be Captain, by per-

PRICE 7D

chase, vice Montazu, who retires, Sept. 10 ; Ensign T,
Rawlings to be Lieutenant, by purchase, vice Stopfonl
F. W. Smith, Gent. to be Ensign, by purchase, vice Raw.
lings, Sept. 10.

421 Foot—J. C. Macpherson, Gent. to he Ensign, by
purchase, vice Dundas, appointed to the Coldstream Foot
Guards, Sept. 10.
' 50th Foot—Brevet Major If. Shum, from half-pay
ifith Foot, to be Captain, paying the difference, vice
Petre, appointed to the 60th Foot, Sept. 10.
60th Foot--Capt. lion. F. Petre, from the bOth Foot,
to be Captain, vice J. Campbell, who retires on half-pay
26th Foot, receiving the difference, Sept. 10.
68th Foot—Major N. Gledstanee, from the half-pay,
to be Major, vice Reed, promoted, Sept- 10.
74th Foot--Lieut. J. Earl of Portarlington, from the
half.pay, to be Lieutenant, vice A. Atkinson, who ax•
changes, recievinF the difference, Sept. 10.
84th Foot—Lteut. C.. Adair to be Captains by pur-
chase, vice Stiteeny,. who retires, Sept. 10.
87th Foot—Lieut. A. Thompson to he Adjutant, vice
GIVAVOiI, who srseigns the Adjutancy only, Sept. 10.
Rifle Brigade—A..l. Frazer, Gent. to be Second Lieu-
tenant, by purchase, vice Buckner, promoted, Sept. 10.