The Sun.
London, England, 1849-05-03 00:00:00

-*6:l

LONDON, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 1849.

The Bill to facilitate the Sale of Incumbered
Estates in Ireland, to which we alluded :on Friday,
strikes aformidable blow at the mastergrievanee of that
unhappy land, and if duly carried out, as we hope and
believe it will be, under the superintendence of men
of learning, of integrity, and of prudence, it is impos-
sible to estimate too highly the beneficial results that
may reasonably be expected under its operation. It
will, in time, substitute a solvent and improving
proprietary, men capable of discharging the duties
incidental to the possession of property, for the present
incumbered and embarrassed owners, who can scarcely
eke out a scanty subsistence from their wide-spread
domains, after providing for the numerous claims
upon the producer. We say "in time," for it cannot
be supposed that the effect will be immediate, that a
miraculous change will take place, converting, as by
a touch of the magician's wand, barren and unculti-
vated wastes into rich arables or pastures, or ne-
glected holdings into smiling homesteads. But these
blessings will eventually be obtained. The difficul-
ties that have hitherto prevented the introduction of
capital into the country will be removed. A clear
simple and unimpeachable title will be conferred upon
purchasers, who will have a certainty of obtaining
that for which they may contract, and who will not
find their newly acquired properties charged with
heavy law suits, affording a certainty of expensive,
vexatious, and protracted litigation. Who could be
induced to invest his capital in the purchase of an
Irish estate, when he might find himself for years
deprived of the interest of the purchase money, which
should be paid into court, and not placed in the pos-
session and enjoyment of the lands for which
he had bargained. While so many impediments arose
at the very threshold, while so many obstacles were
suffered' to arise at the very first step of his progress,
how could he hope to reach the goal, to become the
prosperous and beloved landlord of a ;happy and
contented tenantry.

Efforts4well•intentioned efforts, have already been
made to provide suitable remedies, but unfortunately
all those attempts hare been clogged and rendered
unavailing from a too strict adherence to established
precedents, and a superstitious veneration for customs
that have existed for centuries. The " rights
of property": cannot be interfered with was the
universal cry, and any enactment suited to the
magnitude of the emergency, was cast aside lest it
might unduly affect the interests of persons yet
unborn, who might possibly have remote contingent
claims. It would not be sufficient to transfer such
claims to the fund that might be realised by the sale
of the estates. Nothing but the lands themselves
would suffice, and the purchasers who had expended
thousands upon permanent and lasting improvements
might be deprived of all the fruits of his capital and
industry, while the new claimant would receive
much more than he had any equitable right to
demand, sitiapily because the improvements could
ndi be separated from the corpu4 of the estate.
And yet this wag what our sapient lawgivers termed
" justice," and a due respect for " vested rights."
The Act of last year was framed in the best
spirit, and with the best intentions, and yet it has
been admitted on every side—even by its authors—
to have proved a complete failure ; that its provisions
hare been found wholly ineffectual for the purposes for
which they had been framed. In fact, the provisions
of the Act which authorised a sale out of court were
clogged with so many technical preliminaries and
safeguards against possible frauds, and eventually
confefred so incomplete a title on the purchasers, that
they were found to be practically inoperative and use-
less. A series of notices should be given by every
owner orincumbrancer proposing to dispose of lands,
at least once, in four successive weeks, by advertise-
ment in the Dublin Gazette, in two newspapers
published in Dublin, and one newspaper in
the county where the land is situate, and in
the London Gazette, and copies of such notice should
be posted on the church and Roman Catholic chapel
of the parish (if any), and should describe most phi.
cularly the lands intanded to be sold. But tedious
and expensive as this series of notices must be ad-
mitte4l tcr.be, they constitute by no means the ob-
jectioDttble portions of the measure. If the owner of
the Wad about to. be disposed of shall 740 t be entitled

to an estate of inheritance (and this is almost invariably
the case, where settlements and entails are all
but universal), personal notice must be served
on every person having estates in remainder or other
future estates. Then follow a long series of clauses
for carrying this portion of the Act into execution.
When, however, this complicated machinery of no-
tices of affidavits, and of regulations of sale had all
been brought into operation, the purchase money paid
into the Bank of Ireland, and the deed of
conveyance properly executed, five years were
allowed to parties to rake up imaginary claims
and institute proceedings against the purchaser,
who could within that period have no real security
for his money, and who could not, of course, be ex-
pected to commence an extensive course of improve-
ments. In fact, the money he had destined for that
purpose might in the interval be absorbed in litiga-
tion,l or applied in other directions, before he could
acquire a simple or indefeasible title, such as would
warrant the expenditure he had originally contem-
plated.
Other difficulties of no less magnitude prevented
the beneficial operation of that part of the Act that
was to be worked through the medium of the Mas-
ter's offices. In fact, the impediments were more
formidable and would probably be more expensive to
all parties interested therein. If a person entitled to
a subsequent charge upon lands desired to enforce a
sale, he could not proceed until he had in the first
instance paid or lodged in court the entire amount
of all sums due, or claimed as dee, to any prior
incumbrance. This, of course, prevented all
such parties from instituting proceedings, and
the owners or first incumbrancers were practically
alone qualified to institute proceedings. These pro-
ceedings should be commenced by a petition, verified
as the Court shall direct, which should be as full
and precise in its statements, both as to the nature
of the title and the various incumbrances, as any bill
that should be filed under the former system. The
references to the Master—those monster abuses,
which must be modified—would be at least
as expensive and tedious as they now are,
and, during their progress, questions might
arise that could only be disposed of in a
plenary suit. Under such circumstances, it is
by no means surprising that the provisions of the
Act should be but little resorted to, and that suitors
should prefer the old and beaten track, with all its
acknowledged abuses, to the adoption of the new
remedy, wholly untested by practice, and which
might chance to prove even worse than the disease.
Now, however, a new and independent tribunal is
to be created, which will be enabled to dispense with
or control these legal technicalities, which may regu-
late the sale of the lands brought within its jurisdiction
cheaply and expeditiously, and which will at once con-
fer a simple title upon the purchases that will be good
against all the world, and which he may transmit to
his posterity without any danger of their being de-
prived of the fruits of their ancestor's patient indus-
try. This will, indeed, be adequate to the purpose,
for which it was intended, but nothing less would
suffice.

A spirit of reform has gone abroad, which pervades
the entire nation and which is increasing in interest
day by day. The fearful sufferings which the indus-
trious classes have sustained—the commercial embar-
rassments—the cessation of credit—the monetary
crisis—and the general failure of employment,
together with the severe distress consequent thereon
—have directed the public attention to the causes
which have led to such calamitous results, and pro-
duced an anxious desire for the complete and per-
manent removal thereof. Many clear-headed and
intelligent men have thoroughly investigated these
causes, and exposed the abuses that sprung up during
a long series of years. They distinctly and unanswer-
ably proved that for many years there has been a
profligate and extravagant expenditure of the
national income ; that millions have been wantonly
and unnecessarily squandered in each and every year ;
that the mode in which the public revenue is col-
lected is essentially impolitic and unjust; and that
the circulation of the country, artificially reduced by
the stringent provisions of the Acts of 1819 and of
' 1844, is far beneath the wants and exigencies of the
community—and that the very life-blood of industry
is thus wanting. Hence the demands for financial,
for fiscal, and for monetary reforms, and coupled
therewith for Parliamentary reforms, which, by puri-
fying the Legislature, and making the popular branch
thereof indeed a fair representation of the entire
people, will afford the strongest guarantees for the
enactment of those sound and comprehensive mea-
sures that may be required for the attainment of
permanent national prosperity.
To Liverpool--that great commercial emporium—
we are indebted for the first organised movement in
favour of fiscal and financial reform. An association
was formed, having for its objects a considerable reduc-
tion in the national expenditure, and the substitution of
direct taxation, judiciously and equitably apportioned,
for the present unfair and oppressive system of indi-
rect imposts, by which the charges for many of the
chief necessaries and luxuries of life are enormously
increased to consumers, and our commercial inter-
course and trade with foreign nations is so injuriously
fettered and restricted. The tracts that, from time
to time, emanated from the Liverpool Financial Re-
form Association revealed a system of wanton and
flagitious extravagance, the existence of a series of
abuses that could not possibly be justified or excused.
The people wondered while they perused the shameful
details, and in astonishment inquired of each other if
these statements could possibly be true, if such things
could be tolerated in a free country in the middle of
the nineteenth century. As the LORD PROYOST of
Edinburgh happily remarked " a fit of thought
seized the nation," and strenuous exertions
were made in every district to promote the
success of the movement for " fiscal and
financial " reform. Various associations were formed
in other localities„for the purpose of co-operating with
what might justly be termed " the parent society,"
and meetings were held throughout the entire coun-
try in favour of a reduction of the national expendi-
ture and of a more equitable system of taxation,
Under such circumstances. it might reasonably be
expected that London and the surrounding districts
would not be found wanting ; that the heart of the
nation would not remain indifferent to the evils that
have excited such strenuous and laudable exertions in
the provinces ; that the home of so many tried Libe-
rals would fully participate in the great struggle that
is manifestly approaching. That hope will not be dis-
appointed. The Metropolitan Financial and Parlia-
mentary Reform Association has been formed under
the presidency of Sir JOSHUA WALMSLEY, and many
influential and veteran Reformers have already enrolled
their names in its ranks. The less wealthy classes will
not be excluded ; all persons who shall subscribe one
shilling or upwards per annum will be admitted
to all the privileges of membership, and will be en-
titled to attend the meetings, and to receive the pub-
lications of the society. District associations are
also to be organized in and about London, and the
system ~that proved so efficacious during the free-
trade contest—the arrangement of freehold qualifica-
tions for those friendly to the objects of the society,
and a close attention to the registries throughout the
entire sphere of its operations—will again be resorted
to. The proceedings of the Anti-Corn-law League
have taught the nation the mode in which political
triumphs may be gained, and the valuable lesson, the
great example, that has already been afforded, will
not be disregarded. The society does not purpose
limiting its exertions to the promotion of merely
fiscal or financial reforms, all the great questions
of constitutional reform will also be agitated. The
extension of the suffrage—a more equal distribution
of the constituencies—protection to the honest exer-
cise of the franchise, by means of the ballot, will be
advocated; in fact almost every liberal measure will
receive a steady and consistent support.
The committee have not as yet given expression to
their views on monetary reform, or declared to what
extent they are prepared to go in affording a free
and unfettered currency, and thus applying the
strongest stimulus to industry. We are aware that
many influential Reformers have thought it expedient
to postpone the consideration of this subject, lest the
prospects of success on the other
points might be deterio-
rated, if many changes were simultaneously advocated.
We
tecl.
We cannot, however, coincide: in this opinion ; it is
by no means the least important of the alterations
that have forced themselves upon the consideration of
the people. We have witnessed periodical fluctuations

of the currency that have occasioned " greater evils—
pecuniary, social, and moral—than the direct failures
of all the banks of issue ;since they were first
established in this country." This was the language
of RICHARD COBDEN when examined before the
Committee of the House of Commons on banks of
issue in 1840, and it is impossible to deny the
truth of that statement. Since that period the
fatal Act of 1844 has been enacted, which natu-
rally increased the mischief, and involved the
nation in difficulties, from which it could not be ex-
tricated save by the virtual suspension of that impo-
litic law. And yet we are told to wait pa-
tiently for another crisis, to see the national
wealth deteriorated by millions—aye, hundreds of
millions of pounds sterling—and thousands of families,
some in the enjoyment of comfort and independence,
reduced to misery and destitution. To this we can-
not assent. Fiscal, financial, and monetary reforms
are so intimately connected, the one with the other,
so closely blended together, that any severance must
weaken the people's cause.
We wish, the Metropolitan Financial and Parlia-
mentary Reform Association good speed ; and we
trust that they may receive that general support to
which the importance of their object so eminently
entitles them.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the French papers of yesterday.
The committee of the reactionary club of the Rue
de Poictiers, has addressed the following letter jo the
electoral committee of Charente Inferieure, on the
subject of the candidature of M. NAPOLEON Bo•
NAPARTE :.....

" Gentlemen,—General Regnault de Saint Jean I
d'Angely has communicated the letter by which you '
make known to him that the electoral committee of
Saintes had chosen M. Napoleon Bonaparte for one of
the moderate candidates of the arrondissement ; and you
ask him what was to be thought of the uneasiness
which had been excited as to the political utility of
that choice. You fear that his candidatesbip might
cause embarrassment to the President of the Republic,
and perhaps a dangerous rivalry.
" The letter addressed to his cousin by the President
of the Republic, and the authenticity of which is incon-
testible, is a sufficient reply to yours ; our uneasiness
was but too well founded. All those who rally round
the Government of the elect of the 10th of December,
and support his personal policy, cannot now give their
votes to M. Napoleon Bonaparte, who, moreover, is cer-
tain of being elected in Corsica.
" Multiplied elections in favour of M. Napoleon Bona-
parte can only have the effect of strengthening a policy
opposed to that of the Government and of dividing the
Moderate party. In thus expressing our opinion to you
we feel that we use a language in conformity with the
intentions and the personal desires of the President of
the Republic. Allow us to recommend these observa-
tions to your most attentive consideration.
"Accept, &c.,
(Signed) " MOLE, TRIERS, BARTHELEMY, GE-
NBRAL PIAT, F. BARROT, H. DE
MONTALEMBERT, BERRYER, V.
BROGLIE.

" On behalf of the Electoral Committee
of the Rue de Poictiers."
M. DE LANGEENEE is said to have been appointed
Ambassador at Madrid, in place of M. NAPOLEON
BONAPARTE.

The Prince DE LA. Mosiows. is a candidate for the
department of Moselle.
M. DE SALTANDT has declined offering himself as
a candidate for a seat in the Legislative Assembly.
The National Assembly has adopted the Army Bill
of General LAMORICIERE, by which conscription and
the system of substitutes are abolished, exoneration
from military service being obtained on payment of
a fine, assessed according to the amount of direct
taxation paid by the individual (the amount to be
paid by a rich man being, according to this system,
much greater, of course, than that to be paid by the
poor man), the persons thus exonerated being com-
pelled to subscribe annually to a fund for the pay-
ment of pensions to retired soldiers, and of bounties
to those who choose to enter into the service or to
remain in it after their period of service is expired. This
proposition was strongly opposed by the reaction-
aries, but was carried by a majority of 190, the
numbers being 369 for, and 179 against the measure.
M. NAPOLEON BONAPARTE had an interview with
the PRESIDENT on Monday, in which words ran so
high that the PRESIDENT seized his sword, and would
have fought his cousin on the spot had not the at-
tendants interfered and separated them. The
PRESIDENT then requested two friends to arrange a
meeting, but the Council of Ministers represented to
him that the first Magistrate coiled not with pro-
priety fight a duel, whereupon he desisted from his
intention. The insult which occasioned this out-
burst was that after a great deal of recrimination M.
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE denounced the PRESIDENT as
a bastard, and told him that he was not only a kite's
egg put into an eagle's nest, but that the whole of
the BONAPARTE family knew him to be so. The
Government have received a telegraphic dispatch,
announcing the march of OUDINOT upon Rome. The
Roman Government are everywhere making prepara-
tions for resistance. It was only because the expedi-
tion was considered friendly to the Roman Republic
that it was suffered to land at Civita Vecchia.

The committee of the National Assembly appointed
to consider the application of the Mirawrxit of the
INTERIOR for a grant of 200,000 f. to defray the ex-
penses of the celebration of the 4th of May, have ap-
proved the grant, but they suggest that the anniver-
sary of the 4th of May shall be marked by an act of
clemency. They propose an additional clause in the
following terms :—" A full and entire amnesty is
granted to every individual transported by virtue of
the degree of the 27th of June, 1848." This propo-
sition is to be taken into consideration by the National
Assembly on Wednesday.
BOURSE—PARIS, WEDNESDAY, MAY 2.
THREE o'CLosic.—The funds were steady all this day,
and towards the close rose considerably. The Five per
Cents. closed per cent. higher than yesterday.

BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK-EXCLIANGE, MAY 2.
.7 . .

Boulogne; and Amiens, B%—Central of France (Orleans
and Vierzon), 144—East Indian, 31a ex. in.—Great In-
dian Peninsular, 51/B—Northern of France, IlLA—Orleans
and Bordeaux, 34—Paris and Orleans, 33—Paris and
Rouen, 224—Paris and Strasbourg, 4%—Sambre and
Meuse, 3%—Tours sad Naites, 3%.