The Sun.
London, England, 1853-07-08 00:00:00

of a five hours' discussion in the secret conclave.
'Even Lord JOHN himself, although willing "to
take command of the Channel Fleet in a storm,"
to perform the operation of lithotomy on an aged
and exhausted patient," or " to act as directing
architect during the construction of a neva St.
Paul's," or, in fact, to undertake any other task,
however arduous in itself, or beyond the line of
his ordinary avocations, could scarcely have arro-
gated to• himself any degree of superiority on such
a subject over Lord PALMERSTON or Mr. GLAD-
STONE. We do not, of course, allude to Sir
CHARrss Woon—the House could scarcely be
mesmerised or the country placed in a state of
somnolency on such a subject. His prosaic and
sleep-compelling powers could not be made avail-
able ; and therefore, as usual, the dirty portion
of the work devolved upon him, and thus it
turned out that it was by his orders and by his
misconception (!) that the unauthorised- postpone-
ment from Friday until Monday was effected.
The evil, however, cannot now be averted.
We cannot obtain the authentic information
which, under existing circumstances, is so very
desirable, until Monday. But we hope that there
will be no further shuffling or equivocation. The
Ministry have obtained three days' grace, and it
is essential that they patch up their differences
within that time, and come to some decision
which they can venture to disclose to Par-
liament and the country, without exciting shame
and indignation. Mr. LAYARD cannot with any '
regard for his own character withdraw' from the
self-imposed duty, or suffer himself again to be
chiselled out of the opportunity for the second
time given by the Ministry. If he should drop
the motion, it will doubtless be taken up by some
really independent Member. Let it not for a
moment be supposed that we pay so bad a com-
pliment to the Hon. Gentleman as to think him
capable of such conduct. His remonstrances at
the unjustifiable alteration made in his name, but
without his sanction or connivance—his manlyper-
severance in insisting upon knowing how it was that
the alteration was made, and who it was that dared to
make it in his name, in his absence, and without
his knowledge and the copious helping of
" humble-pie" which he compelled the reluctant
President of the India Board to swallow, with so
many wry faces, entitle him to our confidence.
We must, therefore, for the present, suspend our
curiosity, certain that it will eventually be satis-
fied—probably on Monday, but certainly at no
very distant day.

The community in general will cordially concur
in the opinion expressed by the Attorney-General
on Tuesday evening, " that the House of Com-
mons and the country are largely indebted to the
Hon. and Learned Gentleman the Member for
Plymouth for his zeal, and attention, and the
singular ability with which he brought forward
the important subject of the Reform of the Eccle-
siastical Courts." These crying grievances have
long excited the disgust and the indignation of
those who had the misfortune to come within
their clutches, who found themselves mulcted in
enormous costs for the purpose of enhancing the
profits of the Leviathan sinecurist, or some of his
rural brethren. It was, indeed, too bad when a
person who, on an uncontested will, about tho
validity whereof no dispute or difficulty could
possibly arise on even an intestacy, found himself
compelled to take out different probates or letters
of administration in the different courts of York
and Canterbury, and also in Ireland and Scot-
land. The questions naturally arose—Why the
same expense should be so frequently repeated ?
—with what object ?—or for whose benefit ?
—was any degre3 of additional security against
fraud, however trifling, conferred by the numerous
proofs required ? And if not, what excuse could
be offered for the deliberate and wanton plunder
of individuals ?

It surely afforded no possible excuse for the
continuance of this iniquitous system, that in the
olden time, when the amount of personal pro-
perty was inconsiderable, the bishop of each dio-
cese was authorised to seize the "goods and chattels,
, rights and credits," of persons dying within his dis-
trict, for the purpose of having it applied in
masses for the benefit of the soul of the deceased,
or that when that absurdity, which frequently left
widows and children penniless, was abolished, that
the Prelates still insisted upon being entrusted
with the administration of assets, and retained
for that purpose numerous expensive and com-
paratively useless staffs. That even the Minor
Clergy had their own peculiar jurisdictions, in imi-
tation of their Ecclesiastical Superiors, until no less
than 372 district tribunals—" Archiepiscopal,
Episcopal, Manorial, peculiar Diocesan, and
Deaconal," &c., &c.—were to be found spread
throughout the country, " the limits of whose
jurisdiction, as well as the nature of the bona
notabilia, it was," as Mr. Collier justly remarked,
"exceedingly difficult to define." The amount of
property became too large, the pickings and per-
quisites too considerable, to allow the continuance
of such a system in the 19th century. And the
just complaints of the sufferers were materially
aggravated by the contemptuous disregard exhi-
bited by the well-paid officials to the safety of the
important documents committed to their charge.
Those who have read in Household Words the
admirable series of papers " The Doom of English
Wills," may form an adequate opinion of the
manner in which the duties, which were so hand-
somely remunerated, had been discharged, and
the justice of the charges preferred against all the
parties concerned ; so that not only was the multi-
plicity of proofs and the accumulation of expenses
a serious grievance, but even the appearanc e
before a single Court of Prerogative in testamen-
tary matters (or indeed in any others), became an
evil no longer to be tolerated, a nuisance to be
abated at the earliest opportunity.

For, after all, what was the benefit to be do-
rived from these elaborate and costly proceedings
The Prerogative Courts only determined on tI:L3
validity of the will, as to personalty. If any
question arose as to its construction, the Court
of Chancery should be appealed.to —if real estat6
had been devised, a Common Law Court should
determine the validity of the bequest, so that not
even the Scotch, the-Irish, the York, and the Can-
terbury probates were sufficient to avert litigationt
in the Court of Chancery, or to determine
title to a single acre of freehold land. So that the
unfortunate victims who had been so heavily;•
mulcted by the gentry` of the Ecclesiastical Court. 4
would frequently find themselves parties to
in Equity and at Common Law, and the same
will which had been established at Doctors' Com-
mons not only disputed, but held to be bad in
the law courts, so that the personal property
would go one way, and the real estate another,
although disposed of by the same document, and
sustained by precisely the same evidence.

Under such circumstances, it is only surprising
that such gross abuses should have been tolerated,
that when the cry for the amendment of the law
became audible in high places, and the pressure,
from without could no longer be resisted, that the
Ecclesiastical Courts were not among the earliest
to be reformed, and placed upon a sounder foun-
dation. So it was, however, that they contrived;
we will not say to avoid notice, but to prevent,
any kind of legislation ; so that of all the national
tribunals, they alone remained unaltered and rin-
improved, with all the ancient abuses flourishing
in rank luxuriance. Other courts were abolished
or reformed ; the ecclesiastical tribunals remained!
the sole relics of the dark ages—the only memo-
rials of the follies of our ancestors.
But, in proportion to the protracted impunity
which they have enjoyed will be the treatment
they now experience. The day has long since
gone by for reform or amelioration—Detendce cunt
curiae Ecclesiasticce. They must be totally
abolished—cut off root and branch. They have
too long cumbered the earth, plundering the
people, and reflecting disgrace upon the nation.
The jurisdiction which they have exercised must
be transferred to other and more efficient tribu-
nals so that the multiplicity of suits and the
enormous accumulation of unnecessary and u seless
costs may be avoided. We had hoped that such
might have been the case during the preseirt ses-
sion ; that the Commissioners appointed to in-
quire into the subject would have long since pub-
lished their Report ; or that, at all eventor the