The Sun.
London, England, 1853-04-11 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, APRIL 11, 1853.

also must all wills be proved, and all letters of ad-
ministration granted in the case of persons having
no fixed residence, or dying abroad. Caveats,
moreover, are to be lodged only in the Metropo-
litan Court ; indeed, the spirit of the whole pro-
posals are to centralise and simplify as much as
possible this important' department of the admi-
nistration of justice.
But what is to become of Proctors, Judges, Re-
gistrars, and sinecurists ? The whole staff, the
last excepted, are to be transplanted bodily to
Chancery—are to doff the ecclesiastical and to don
the Royal livery, whereat we, as loyal subjects,
of course greatly rejoice: The public, however,
has learned with indignation thp,t, while other
sinecurists are got rid of easily enough, Mr.
MOORE is secure of his disgraceful gains, and even
the reversion of the office is secured too. Parlia-
ment (as Mr. DISRAELI would justly say) "in its
wisdom," has solemnly guaranteed it ! ! The
almost only deserving parties in the whole affair
—the Proctors of Doctors' Commons—are to have
what strikes us as but imperfect compensation.
(it
eoucglluitsivtoe
conductb
be ten,
if
fhneoyt aretwenty
h have,
years, fora al
least)
the exclusive
of the business of proving wills in common form.
They will, of course, lose much of the practice in
contentious jurisdiction. It may be hoped, how-
ever, that the vast improvement of the mode of
conducting testamentary business, and the ge-
neral tendency of these measures to attract
it to. London, will lead to a great in-
crease of business in the department reserved
to them. In all the evidence taken, the highest
testimony is borne by the highest legal authorities
too, to the efficiency of the Judges and practition-
ers of Doctors' Commons in the TestAmentary de-
partment. Cases of fraud have occurred, and
lately too, in the Diocesan Courts, but in Doctors'
Commons the vast amount of the duties has been
regularly collected for the Government, and fraud
utterly unknown. It is to be remembered that
the education of a Proctor is a costly one. He
must be articled for seven years, must pay a
premium of from 6001. to 1,0001., besides a
stamp duty of 1201. on his articles, and expenses
of admission amounting to 1001. or nearly so.
No doubt there has been something too like a
" Proctors' Union" among them, tending to re-
press " unrestricted and even wholesome compe-
tition." The practice of permitting only the
thirty-five Senior Proctors to take articled clerks,
and that but once in five years, combined with
the seven years' articles, and requiring the appli-
cant to be under eighteen years of age, are all
arrangements intended to make the profession a
close one. Still the cost has been considerable to
those now engaged in it, and their average income
being no doubt in proportion, their claim for a
large compensation, either in money or in a
large exclusive practice, cannot be denied. The
Solicitor-General has wisely preferred the latter
mode of compensation, since the cost of pecuniary
compensation for a whole profession (and the
Proctors alone of Doctors' Commons amount to
about one hundred and fifty) would hardly be
endured. The more it is investigated, the mo r
clearly it appears that they have done their duty
well. Quite as cheaply, if not cheaper than the
Law Courts, and with much greater expedition on
the whole (we speak of course of the Testamentary
department), they have acquired, moreover, an
amount of knowledge and skill in this department
which will be for a long time unequalled ; yet, as
Mr. HENLEY observed, the Proctors are not in a
position to compete with the Solicitors and Barris-
ters of Chancery. The Solicitors of the country
have, in fact,
,Hitherto been the Proctors' almost
only clients, and the former would naturally
endeavour to retain in their own hands the profits
of both professions. They, too, have access to the
ear of every man ; they actually make the vast
majority of the wills ; and hence have every
opportunity to take the double business into their
own hands, if permitted. It will, however, as we
have just observed, be long before they can pos-
sibly equal the Proctors in knowledge and skill in
their particular department. We have no doubt,
therefore, that Mr. BETUELL will do full justice to
that class of men which alone merits consideration
in these soon to be abolished Courts. The sine-
curists he can hardly be unjust to. They ought
to think themselves richly compensated if not
called upon to refund.

Everybody at all interested in the systematic
cultivation of Art in England, appears to be de-
cided in the conviction that the time has at length
arrived when the country should possess an insti-
tution worthy in all respects of being designated
a National Gallery. The unanimity of feeling
upon this matter is being every day more clearly
and 'unmistakeably demonstrated. An illustra-
tion of the fact was very recently rendered visible
by an agreeable coincidence. Mr. DYCE'S pamph-
let—already referred to thrice in these columns
in deserved terms of commendation—was scarcely
prepared for publication when the majority of its
suggestions was anticipated by an intelligent re-
viewer in the Edinburgh. This circumstance we
regard as singularly propitious, because singularly
significant. The simultaneous arrival at the same

conclusion of two writers, in no other particular
associated with each other, indicates very plainly,

we conceive, that the necessity of the desired
change had become rather apparent in its charac-
ter. The evil complained of by both with so
much earnestness had come, indeed, to be at
last, according to an odd expression now
popular, patent to the meanest comprehension.
It could scarcely, in truth, by possibility have
been otherwise. 'The symbol of the monster
grievance was staring us in the face every day in
the centre of our most populous and frequented
thoroughfares. Nobody could enter Trafalgar-
square either from Pall-mall or the Strand, from
Si,. Martin's-lane or Parliament-street, from Cock-
spur-street or Spring-gardens, without seeing be-
fore him the monument of our disgrace as a na-
tion incompetent to advance the real interests of
Art, whether pictorial or architectural. The extent
of that incompetence was visible, in fact, in every
stone of that odious building—poor Mr. WimirNs's
abominable masterpiece. It was small comfort to
know that, with a view to remedy this annoyance,
the surplus left by the Great Industrial Exhibi-
tion had been dedicated to the purchase of certain
market gardens situated between Brompton and
Kensington, as the site of a new gallery projected
by the Royal Commissioners. Experience made
us tremble for the consequences. Therefore, we
began to consider the chances of escape from
any repetition of our previous blunders in the
arrangement of a national collection. We began
—that is to say, every individual really interested
in the redemption of our character as a race of
civilised men seriously interested in the develop-
ment of Art, began—to dread the possibility of
the new establishment proving in the end merely
a disgraceful repetition of the old establishment
on the site of the Royal Mews of the Georges.
Hitherto we had seen no recognised system in
the purchase of paintings to he added to the Na-
tional Gallery. We say that that Gallery was in-
complete in a thousand particulars, and that what
there was in it was jumbled together in a state of
bewildering confusion. Therefore, we say, every
sincere lover of Art in England dreaded the possi-
bility of having all these errors reiterated in the
new structure about to be erected in the vicinity
of Kensington. Remembering that these views
have for some time past been very prevalent, it is
in no way surprising that similar suggestions as
to the future should have been almost simul-
taneously adduced by Mr. DYCE and by the
Edinburgh. Nevertheless, though the circum-
stance is thus perceived to be very account-
able, it is not the less remarkable for that
reason, as indicating the necessity for some
speedy and well-ordered innovation. It is
really to be hoped that the matter will in this way
force itself upon the judgment and candour of her
MAJESTY'S Government. Everything has proved
heretofore that the great want in regard to the

management of the National Gallery has been that
of concentration. Entrusted as the power has
been to a cluster of unpaid Commissioners, it has

naturally, or 'rather we might say inevitably, been
until now most loosely exercised. It is an old
saying that "what's ever7body's business is no-
body's business ;" and so it has unquestionably
turned out to . be in reference to the working of

the National Gallery Board of Management.
Never perhaps was the truth of the adage more
glaringly exemplified. Everybody, and therefore
nobody, was responsible. Within a considerable
interval of time, scarcely thirty pictures were
added to the Gallery by purchase, whereas within
the same period hundreds were being bought for
the Louvre and the Pinacothek by the French
and Prussian Governments respectively. The
majority of even the few paintings hanging on the
walls of the apartments in Trafalgar-square were
the gifts of private individuals, the fruits of pri-
vate munificence. From the merely " scrambling"
nature of these regulations, or rather from the
total absence of anything like orderly or compre-
hensive arrangements in the gathering together of
our so-called National Collection, it results that
we have at this period a gallery comprising a few
indifferent specimens of a few of the more cele-
brated masters of the European Continent. In-
stead of having every master in some sort repre-
sented ! Instead of having every school in some
way illustrated ! Instead of having every style
conspicuously placed before us in some picture,
however far removed from being a masterpiece !
Numerous artists of high and even illustrious re-
putation are unknown to the visitors of the
English National Gallery. A deplorable list of
Athegairinsntatmhe might b
es
folly
yof
senevhery readily yemienumssieenras enumerated.
have already more than once protested ; and
against it we shall continue to protest with un-
abated ardour until the whole of this important
institution shall have been reorganised.
It may readily be perceived, then, what is
actually required in this important matter in the
way of improvement. The present building
might be given up permanently to the Royal Aca-
demy—the front of it possibly to be adorned in
some manner, so as to render the structure some-
what less odious as a specimen of our ideas of
beauty in architecture. The new edifice would,
mean while, have been constructed on the chosen
site between Brompton and Kensington. There
the collection as it is at present might be adopted
as the nucleus of one more worthy of its designa-
tion. It might be scattered chronologically, or
otherwise, through the newly-completed apart-
ments, and the gaps or interstices be then filled
up, as opportunity offered, by purchases made
with rather more extended munificence on the
part of the Legislature. Besides rendering the
National Collection in this manner more compre-
hensive, it would be well, we repeat, if changes of
a no less notable kind were introduced into the
machinery of its Management.

THE COURT.

HEALTH OF HER MAJESTY.

The following Bulletin of her Majesty's health was
issued on Saturday :

"Buckingham Palace, April:9, 1853,
Nine o'clock, a.m.

" The Queen has slept well.
" Her Majesty and the infant Prince are going on
quite favourably.

" JAMES CLARK, M.D.
" CHARLES LOCOCK, M.D.
" RopT. FERGUSON, M.D."
Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent visited her
Majesty on Saturday.
Yesterday the following bulletin was issued :
" Buckingham Palace, April 10, 1853.
Nine o'clock, a.m.
" The Qu,een has had another good night.
" Her Majesty and the infant Prince continue well.
" JAMES CLARK, M.D.
" CHARLES LOCOCK, M.D.
" ROBERT FERGUSON, M.D."

His Royal Highness Prince Albert, with the Prince of
Wales, the Princess Royal and the Princess Alice, her
Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent, and the Princess
Adelaide of Hohenlohe, the ladies and gentlemen in wait-
ing, and the domestic household, attended divine service
yesterday morning in the private chapel of Buckingham
Palace. The Hon. and Rev. Gerald Wellesley officiated.
Her Roy
al Highness the Duchess of Kent visited her
Royal Highness the Duchess of Gloucester on Saturday,
at Gloucester-home.
The Duke and Duchess d'Aumale and the Princess de
Salerno visited her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent
on Saturday, at Clarence-house, St. James's.
Lord Monteagle, the Hon. S. E. Spring Rice, and
Mr. F. W. Russell, M.P., had an interview on Saturday
with the Right Hon. E. Cardwell, at the Board of Trade.
A meeting of the " Museum of Patented Inventions "
Committee of the Royal Commission for the Exhibition
of 1851, was held on Saturday at the Privy Council-
office. Present--Eart Granville (chairman), the Right
Hon. E. Cardwell, M.P., the Right Hon. B. Disraeli,
M.P., Sir W. Cubitt, Mr. T. F. Gibson. Dr. Lyon
Playfa ir, Professor Forbes, Professor Woodcroft, and
Mr. Edgar A. Bowling (secretary).
A deputation, consiting of Mr. Murray, Mr. Henry
Rose, and Mr. V. H. Wilson (on the part of the Wy-
combe Railway Company) ; and Mr. Marsden and Mr.
Bowers (on the part of Mr. Pearce) had an interview
with the Right Hon. E. Cardwell at the Board of Trade
on Saturday.

A deputation from the Church of Scotland, consisting
of the Rev. Dr. Simpson, Mr. Sheriff Tait, and Mr.
Pringle of Whytbynk, had an interview with the Earl of
Aberdeen on Saturday, at his official residence in Down-
ing-street.

TA. deputation, consisting of the Hon. E. Bouverie,
M.P., Mr. Edward Drake Brockman, M.P., and Mr.
Stewart Marjoribanks, had an interview with the Right
Hon. E. Cardwell and Lord Stanley of Alderley on
Saturday at the Board of Trade. Mr. Brockendon had
also an interview with the right hon. gentleman and
noble lord on Saturday.
The Lord Chancellor will receive the judges, Queen's
counsel, &c., at his lordship's residence, Upper Brook
street, at 12 o'clock on Friday next, being the first day
of Easter Term.

MONEY MARKET AND COMMERCIAL
INTELLIGENCE-(THIS DAY.)

CITY; TWO O'CLOCK.

The sales of cotton at Liverpool on Saturday
were estimated at 6,000 bales, of which 2,000
American were taken for export and on specula-
tion. The market was tame, but closed firmly.
The sales comprised 5,000 American, 500 Pernam
and Maranham, at 6d. to Bd., 70 Bahia at 6kd.,
200 Egyptian at 6fd. to sid., and 300 Surat at
31d. to 4id. per lb. Railway shares were dull at
rather lower prices.
Wheat is ls. lower in Mark-lane to-day.
The railway meetings announced are the fol-
lowing :

Date. Place.
Aberdeen April 19, Aberdeen.
Belgian Eastern Junction April 18, Brussels.
Demerara April 18, London Tavern.
Dieppe April 29, Paris.
Dijon to Besancon April 18, Paris.
Grand Junction of France April 30, Paris.
MayAApril
Aprili
30;340„ J a r Paris.d Paris.i
n e s
Paris,
ayoarorn;s Lyons
Cah
en,
and
Fnh
rM:affai
dei
andte n aLn en a
en.
AprilAp r
1330: Paris.
Manchester.
Cherbourg
Paris and Strasbourg April 28, Paris.
Sambre and Meuse
Southern of France April 30, Paris.
South Yorkshire May 12, London Tavern.
West Flanders April .19, Bruges.
The following communication, dated Ist April,
has been received from the secretary of the Hull
and Selby Railway :
" I am this morning in receipt of your favour of the
30th ult., and beg to state, in reply to your inquiry,
that the quarter shares in this railway were created for
the Ist August, 1843. Interest, at the rate of 6 per
cent. per annum, being guaranteed for ten years from
that time, of course this term will expire on the let
August next—when the, quarter shares will, in every
respect, be upon the same footing, as to interest, &c.,
as the original and half shares. There will be, in the
December half-year, one month's interest due on them,
at the rate of six per cent., and five months at the rate
of ten per cent."
The following note, dated the 2d inst., has been
received from the Secretary of the Birmingham,
Oxford, and Dudley Railway Companies :
" I beg to inform you that the interest warrants were
forwarded to the proprietors by last night's post. In re-
ply to your letter, the interest was at Si. per cent. on
201. per share, from 16th January to 31st March, 1853,
viz., 4s. ld. per share, and on the premium of 101. ss.
on those shares, which .have not been in arrear three
months, viz., 2s. ld. per share.
"The Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and Dudley in-
terest was, on 201. per share, from 11th February, to
31st March, at 5 per cent., viz., 2s. Bd. per share, and
on the premium of 101. ss. on those shares which have
not been in arrear three months, viz., is. 4d. per share."
The Overland mail is telegraphed, and it appears
that the markets at Calcutta were rather dull.
The letters from the United States represent
money as being rather easier. The imports during
the month of March were unusually large, and the
exchange tended upward in consequence.
The progress of gold mining in California was
very favourable. The El Dorado News says that
" gold dust continues to pour into Placerville in
unprecedent quantities ; seventy thousand ounces
per week may be set down and safely relied upon
as a fair average, purchased by the regular dealers
in gold dust, and the coming season bids fair to be
one of unprecedented prosperity."
At Yankee Hill, near Sonora, a piece of gold
weighing 247 ounces had been picked up, and in
other parts the diggers had been very successful.
Accounts of Feb. 7 from Honolulu, Sandwich
Island; describe trade as being brisk.
The following is an official order from the Em-
peror of Hayti
FAUSTIN THE FIRST, EMPEROR OF HAITI, &C.

Company.

" From the Ist of Jan:, 1853, we order that metallic
money shall be received at the following rates in all trans-
actions (by way of adjusting the nominal value of me-
tallic money with its commercial value), say—
Coins of 1 centime for 4 centimes.
2 id for 8 ...
6f id for 25 ...
125 id for 50 ...
25 id for 1 gourde.
50 id for 2 id
1 gourde for 4 id
Our Minister of Finance shall cause the present ordon-
nance to be executed. Given at our palace, &c. &c."
Our last advices from Oregon are down to the
19th of February, and represent the mines in the
vicinity of the Oregon settlements as exceedingly
rich. The affairs of the Territory are progressing
favourably, and agriculture receiving proper at-
tention.

News from Vancouver's reaches to. the 12th.
One or two English ships from Liverpool arrived
in January, with a large number of immigrants.
The Ottoman Embassy has at length announced
the terms upon which it is prepared to pay off the
subscribers to the loan. It appears beyond the
instalment, there will be 34 francs given both as
bonus and interest, making 284 francs return upon
every 1.000 franc bond. Where parties have paid
up in full, they will be allowed 6 per cent. interest
from March 1 to April 15, in addition to the 34
francs.

The English Stocks have been scarcely so buoy-
ant, but there is no speculation going on. Consols
have been marked 1004 to 1001 for Transfer, and
1001 / for Account. As settling day approaches,
the dealers are engaged chiefly in arranging their
books. The New Three-and-a-Quarter per Cents.
have been done at 1031 to f, and the Three per
Cents. at 991 to par. Bank StoCk is fluctuating
between 224 and 2254. South Sea Stock is at
1121. Exchequer Bills are par to ss. premium for
those dated March.

Foreign Securities have been generally very good.
Peruvian Scrip is looking up, being 4 to 4i prem.
The 4i per Cents. are 881 to 89. The Turkish
Loan has been done at 311,- prem., from which it is
inferred that the holders will readily accept the
proffered bonus. The Swedish Loan is at 1 dis.
Spanish New Deferred Stock has dropped to 241
to and the Certificates have fallen to 7i and 61.
This is probably owing to the heavy speculation
of the last week or two, and which may have
been carried too far. The New Spanish Railway
Scheme, being a private undertaking, does not take
in the Certificates. Portuguese 4 per Cents. have
been marked 40i' and the Old 5 per Cents. are up
to 43. Equador Bonds are steady at 6, and Bra-
zilian New have been done at 99. Belgian 4i per
Cents. are quoted 1001 ; Austrian 5 per Cents.,
994. ; and Danish 3 per Cents. 85, ex dividend.
fthe Railway Share Market is lower, and there
is a preponderance of sales. North-Western have
dropped to Great Western Caledonian
Eastern Counties I:, Lancashire and Yorkshire
f and the South-Eastern, and others, in pro-
portion. The French lines have been firm.
The Gold Mine Shares are dull, except those of
California, which are on the advance.
The Australian Land Company's Shares are
lower, and the British American firm.
The Australian Bank Shares are steady.

BRITISH FUNDS THIS DAY.
(From the Official List.)

1 - Business done.
Bank Stock
3 per Cent. Reduced Annuities 94 105 994
3 per Cent. Consols Annuities
Now 34 per Cent. Annuities... ........
Long Annuities, Expire sth Jan., 1860
India Stock . 261 60
India Bonds, £lOOO 43
South Sea Stock
South Sea Old Annuities
Consols for Account
Exchequer Bills, lid. June. Mare's.
£l000
£5OO — 5 p par
Small 2 5 p par
PRICE OF FOREIGN FUNDS THIS DAY.
Austrian Bonds, 5 per Cent.
Brazilian Bonds, 5 por Cent. — x d
Ditto New, 1852, 41 per Cent 99 4
Danish Bonds, 3 per Cent.
Ditto, 5 per Cent ...................
Equador Bonds 6
Grenada Bonds, LDeferred,
Mexican 3 per Cent 278 i
Peruvian Bonds, 1849, 41 per Cent.
Peruvian Scrip
Portuguese 5 per Cent. 421 3
Ditto, 4 per cent. - 4 O 4O
Russian Bonds, 4i per Cent.
Spanish Bonds, 3 per Cent 4B 8
Spanish New Deferred, 3 per Cent 244 a 4
Ditto Passive (Converted) 54 4
Spanish Committee Cert. of Coup. not fun 7l 6i 7 61 7 ie
Swedish Loan lh d
Turkish Loan, 6 per Cent., 1852 3l P
French Rentes, 41 per Cent lo4f Ex.2sf 100
Belgian Bonds, 4/ per Cent. Ex. 25fr lOOl fi
THREE O'C LOCK.
Consols
100 f; 3
Ditto April Account

CABINET COUNOIL.—A Cabinet Council was held at
the Foreign office, Downing-street, on Saturday. The
Ministers present were the Earl of Aberdeen, Lord
John Russell, the Lord Chancellor, Earl Granville, the
Duke of Argyll, the Marquis of Lansdowne, Viscount
Palmerston, the Earl of Clarendon, the Duke of New.
castle, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir James
Graham, Sir Charles Wood, the Right Hon. Sidney
Herbert, and Sir William Molesworth. The Council
sat three hours and a half.

.„..
COURTS OF CHANCERY AND BANKRUPTCY.-It appears
it is not intended that the enormous amounts stand-
in the names of the Accountants-General of the Courts
of Chancery and Bunkruptcy should be in any way
affected by the present measures of the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, but that they are to be dealt with by a sepa-
rate proposal. This-proposal will probably involve a re-
duction of interest to 24 or 2i per cent., with a
guarantee that the eXact amount of the principal shall
always be paid whenever any demand arises, without
any reference to fluctuations in the market price.