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

DAILY WEATHER TABLE.

FRIDAY, JULY 8, 1853.
State of the wind and weather at each of the following
places at nine o'clock yesterday morning. The stations
are arranged in order of latitude.

SOUTHAMPTON—N.E., gentle breeze—overcast.
FOLKESTONE—Cahn—partially cloudy.
TUNBRIDGE--N. • gentle breeze—partially cloudy.
GREENWICH—S.W., gentle breeze—partially cloudy.
STROADD—S.W. calm—partially cloudy.
SWINDON--S.W., light breeze—cloudy.
YARMOUTH—W., calm—cloudless.
The returns from the following places indicate the state
of the weather on Wednesday morning at nine o'clock :
LIMERICK—W. gentle breeze—partially cloudy.
MULLINGA.R— W.. gentle breeze—partially cloudy.
LEIGHTON—W.S.W., strong breeze—partially cloudy.
HOLYHEAD—S.W., gentle breeze—overcast, rain.
DARLINGTON—S.S.W., gentle breeze— overcast, light
rains.
SNAP—S., gentle breeze—overcast.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRI
MIS DAY —Horning 4 min. after 3 I Evening
goalurf—Morning 42 min. after 3 I Evening

FSHiatt. 3
niin.aft. 3

THE WEATHER.—SUN OFFICE, JULY 8.
THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE.
77—highest since noon yesterday.
64—lowest this morning and during the night.
73—this day at noon.
BAROMETER, 30'03—going up.
WIND, N.N.W.—Light breeze, with fine weather.
There was a heavy storm of lightning, thunder, and rain
in the night.

t - k...6.H.
wt
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Lj , _ rtLtii &arch ~' • ,_ _
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b
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,

LONDON, FRIDAY, JULY 8, 1853.

It is greatly to be regretted that the Marquis
of CLANRICARDE should have suffered himself to
be persuaded into the withdrawal of the motion of
which he had given notice in the House of Lords,
while the Honourable and Learned Gentleman,
the member for Aylesbury was so unceremoniously
dealt with in the House of Commons by the un-
authorised postponement from this day--the time
originally fixed by the Government for the dis-
cussion of the unjustifiable and unprovoked ag-
gression of the EMPEROR of Russia on the Danu-
bian Provinces—until Monday next It is im-
possible to conceive a subject of deeper interest or
more vital importance at the present mo-
ment than that referred to in the notices of
the Noble Marquis and the Honourable Gen-
tleman. The welfare, nay, more, the ho-
nour of the British nation is at stake, and
Parliament and the country are entitled to
the fullest information, the most unreserved dis-
closures, on the topic. They have a right to
know whether there are those divisions and dis-
sensions in the Cabinet of which rumours have
been so widely circulated and so generally cre-
dited Whether there are indeed to be found
persons holding exalted positions in her MAJESTY'S
Government, and high in the confidence of their
Sovereign, who advocate a feeble and. vacillating
policy—which would indeed truly subject us to
the reproaches of our Continental brethren, and
warrant the title " PERFIDIOUS ALBION," by
which we have been so frequently, so un-
justly, and so erroneously designated ; and
which would be as much opposed to the best
interests of the nation as it would be derogatory
to the reputation of its statesmen. On such a
point concealment is a crime, and all should be
open and above-board. It is no time for the ex-
hibition of courtesy, or the bandying of compli-
ments. If unfortunately the Ministerial leader
of the representative branch. of the Legislature be
so grievously indisposed as to be unable to attend
in his place, and to give the necessary explana-
tions, surely he has colleagues competent to give
expression to the views and feelings of the Cabinet,
or to detail the nature of the unfortunate differ-
ences that may have arisen in the composite concern.
Where is the " English" Minister ? Where is
Viscount PALMERSTON ? Who could be found
better qualified to vindicate the policy of a
united and vigorous Government, or with greater
tact to slur over its dissensions, or to excuse in-
convenient or mischievous revelations, than the
Noble Lord ? To whom would the House of
Commons yield a more attentive hearing than to
a man whose great experience in such matters
confers additional authority on all his opinions,
and whose antecedents afford the strongest possible
guarantee that he would adopt a bold and energetic
course on such an occasion as the present ? The
mere fact that Lord PALMERSTON was not put for-
ward, would be proof positive that there was a
divided Cabinet which must speedily fall asunder
from its internal defects.

But even, if Lord PALMERSTON were not forth-
coming, where was the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer ? The Right Hon. Gentleman has given
ample proof of his ability and influence—of his
power of persuading the House to adopt the plau-
sible views he may be pleased to put forward—
and his influence in inducing Hon. Gentlemen to
vote black -white at his dictation. Why then,
if there was any objection to allowing Lord
PALMERSTON to appear as the exponent of the
foreign policy of the Government, lest the
fact of his holding a prominent position in the
Joint-Stock Administration might be displeasing
to the absolutists whom he had offended by his
bold and manly conduct on all previous occasions
when he held the seals of of6.ee—whY, we ask
Was Mr. GLADSTONE passed over ? He would not
have been an inefficient representative of the
Government; and might have detailed the results

of 'a five hours' discussion in the secret conclave.
Even Lord Joni 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 fts directing
architect during the construction of a new 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
CHARLES 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. LAYAItD 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 manly per-
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 the
validity whereof no dispute or difficulty could
possibly arise on even an intestacy, foulid 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—Vhy the
same expense should be so frequently repeated ?
—with what object 9—or for whose benefit ?
—was any degree 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 beuefiL or 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 appearance
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 de-
rived from these elaborate and costly proceedings ?
The Prerogative Courts only determined on the
validity of the will, as to personalty. If auy
question arose as to its construction, the Court
of Chancery should be appealed to —if real estate
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 litigation
in the Court of Chancery, or to determine the
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 Courts
would frequently find themselves parties to suits
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 suclri 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 un-
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—De/endce sent
curice 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 useless
costs may be avoided. We had hoped that such
might have been the case during the present ses-
sion ; that the Commissioners appointed to in-
quire into the subject would have long since pub-
lished their Report or that, at all events,. the

solemn pledge given on behalf of the Government
to Mr. COLLIER, when he brought forward his
motion for a select committee to inquire into the
whole of the jurisdiction of these courts, would
have 'been faithfully redeemed. These reason-
able expectations have, unfortunately, been
disappointed. We must submit for another year
to the " hope deferred "—but, happily, we can
now look forward with confidence to the time
when an adequate remedy will be provided.
Mr. COLLIER has afforded incontestible evi-
dence of his ability to grapple with the subject,
to crush the Hydra. He has brought forward a
plan, which, although not complete in itself, in-
asmuch as it only interferes with the testamentary
jurisdiction, yet strikes at the root of the evil by
taking away the supplies, for, as the Honourable
Gentleman justly remarked, "the testamentary
jurisdiction was their great source of nutriment,
and if they were deprived of that, all the rest of
their functions would, in course of time, cease."
The Government will, therefore, take it up in
earnest, and deal boldly and vigorously with the
evil. Should they not do so, we have this con-
solation, that we are enabled at any moment to
fall back upon the excellent propositions of the
Honourable and Learned Gentleman the member
for Plymouth.