The Sun.
London, England, 1831-09-28 00:00:00

ERRATA.—In the Report of the House of Lords in The Sun of
yesterday, it is stated that Lord CLIFFORD presented a petition
in favour of the Galway Franchise, whereas it should have
been Lord STOURTON who presented it, and that it was from a
parish in the town of Galway.—ln the Report of the Middlesex
Meeting yesterday, it was stated that Mr. HUNT, M.P. was
present : for Mr. HUNT read Mr. HUMF., M.P.

r _

boys and girls' school was much injured, the
Custom-house utterly destroyed. Some of the
most opulent of the families of Barbadoes were
without any shelter, and not only had the entire
crops been utterly destroyed, but all the provi-
sions housed have been swept away. All the
vessels driven on shore, with the exception of
the two mail-boats and a schooner, had been
total wrecks. At Guadaloupe, at St. Vincent,
and at Dominica the effect of the gale had been
more or less felt, but no lives are reported to
be lost.

By the Hamburg mail we have advices from
Poland so late as the 17th instant, and we are
glad to learn from them that the cause of that
unhappy country is not yet lost. The brave
army which retired from Warsaw after the late
desperate conflict, have taken up a position from
which the Russians will, we trust, find it difficult
to dislodge them. The Polish Chief, General
RozYcKI, has addressed a spirit-stirring procla-
mation to his army, which, we are informed,
amounts to from 50,000 to 60,000 men, urging
them on to greater exertions in the cause of their
country. The next arrivals, which will probably
give the result of a grand battle, will be eagerly
looked for.

The Bill for the Registration of Deeds is

now in a state of progress to afford a prospect of
its passing during the present Session. In-
troduced at the recommendation of the Law
Commissioners, by their intelligent Chairman,
Mr. CAMPBELL, the measure is, perhaps, the

. _
best digested of the many Law Reforms that
are before the public, although it was not to be
expected that it would be received with the
unanimous approbation either of the landed

interest or of the profession.
It is notorious that there is scarcely a title in
existence in England which is not in strictness
open to objection. People who have long had
an uninterrupted possession of their estates, do
not trouble themselves about the evidence of

their right, unless they propose to sell or
mortgage. Then come the objections of con-
veyancers, and the multitude of formalities and
technicalities, without a compliance with which
a purchaser or mortgagee is advised he cannot be
safe. The expense of these is always heavy,
sometimes enormously so, and it is a very com-
mon result that the parties are driven by legal

difficulties into the Court of Chancery, as the

conclusion of their transactions. To this state

of things is to be added the opening to frauds
held out by the existing law, from the difficulty
of detecting prior incumbrances, and the irre-
regularity in parish registers, and other such
records. It appeared to the Commissioners
of Enquiry into the Law of Real Property,
that the establishment of a national registry of
all deeds and assurances affecting lands, would
be a security to property, and a means of the
prevention of fraud, and would materially dimi-
nish the expenses and difficulties with which the
present system is entangled. It is urged, more-
over, that considerable benefits have arisen from
the existing registries of Middlesex and York-
shire.

It is, on the other hand, to be objected,
;hat it is premature to establish a registry until
some alteration is made in the practice of con-
veyancing, and that if the law, as regards real
property, is to remain the same, registration is
only so much trouble superadded :to what is al-
ready required. The late Mr. HUMPHREYS
pointed out plainly the mode of effecting a real
Reform, but it does not appear that his
suggestions are likely to be availed of. Be-
sides which, there is a strong prevailing dislike
against a needless exposure to the public of
documents that only concern individuals ; and
it is thought that credit may often be seriously
affected by the publicity of mortgages and in-
cumbrances. Upon the whole, it is contended,
that the complicated state of real property in
this country place it quite on a different footing,
from other parts of the world, where titles de-
pend altogether upon register books, like our
registry of ships, and that a sufficient case of
registry has not been made out to warrant the
introduction of a new system of this kind.
We do not see that there is much in the
alleged mischief to be apprehended from publi-
city, as it is intended that the register should
only be open to such as can shew that they
have an interest in inspecting it. Besides
which, the publicity of wills in the Ecclesiastical
Courts has long existed without any complaint
or inconvenience. We think, however, that if
the registration be established, it ought to be a
preliminary to changes of greater importance,
and calculated to give the landed interest more
substantial relief. An equalization and modi-
fication of the taxes on real and personal pro-
perty would do much good, for it would be
found that the Stamp Duty on conveyances,
mortgages, and other deeds, is a burden upon
the land, that is far from being counterbalanced
by its exemption from probate and legacy duty.
A relief from some portion of these duties,
coupled with a commutation of tithes, and an
adoption of some of Mr. HUMPHREYS' sug-
gestions for the reform of conveyancing, would
place the landed interest in so favourable a situa-
tion, that we should hear very few complaints
from it against Mr. CAMPBELL'S Bill.

Brussels Papers have reached us this morning;
from which we make the following extracts

ANTWERP, SEPT. 23.—The fine weather and the sea
being very low favour the reparation of the dikes, in which
the workmen are proceeding with the greatest activity.
We are able to affirm that all the accounts from London
are favourable to a speedy pacification, and that the cries
and wishes for war exist only in the Journals, and by no
means in foreign Cabinets. The non-evacuation of Bel-
gium by the French is confirmed.
BaussaLs, SEPT. 24.—M. de Aleulinaere, Minister
for Foreign Affairs, will have the Department of the In•
terior in the room of M. Teichman, who has resigned.
The department of Foreign Affairs will be given to M.
Lebeau. M. Duval de Beaulieu returned from Berlin the
day before yesterday. M. Joseph d'Hoogvorst was ex-
pected yesterday. A British Cabinet messenger arrived
yesterday morning from London with despatches, and set
out in the afternoon in company with the Secretary of the
Legation for Berlin.
It was reported yesterday that a forty-fourth protocol
had arrived, by which the Conference assigned to Belgium
the whole of the left bank of the Meuse except half of the
Sovereignty of Maestricht, which would belong to Hol-