The Sun.
London, England, 1840-12-18 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1840.

CHANCERY COURT-(THIS DAY,)

13EALEY V. CURLING

The Loan CHANCELLOR gave judgment to-day in
this case, which was argued yesterday. His Lordship
said, after looking into the merits of the case, he found
that it was impossible to come to any satisfactory con-
clusion upon the facts ; there must, therefore, be an
issue to try whether Thomas Lee was duly authorised
to sign the agreement of 1824 on behalf of Bence
Curling.

ELECTORS OF SCOTLAND

A very detailed return has just been printed, giving
the number of electors in each county and burgh, clas-
sified according to their titles. It includes England,
Wales, and Scotland, and exhibits the results of the last
registrations for 1839-40, contrasted with those for
1835-36, thus showing the change which has taken place
in four years. At present we shall confine our atten-
tion to Scotland.

The number of county electors in Scotland, by the
registrations of 1836, was 41,315 ; by the registrations
for 1840, the number was 47,302, showing an increase
in the tour years of 5,987. The number of the old
freeholders on the roll seems to have decreased about
fifteen per cent. on the four years, and is still ,2,260.
There has been an increase in every county without ex-
ception ; but in Kincardine, Kinross, Elgin, Nairn,
Argyll, Sutherland, and Shetland, it has been trifling,
while it has been great in Edinburgh ; and next in the
descending order is Perth, Dumfries, Ayr, and Peebles.
The table as a whole is too large and too minute in its
details for our columns, but we select a few of the re-
turns, as a specimen of the composition of the electoral
body, and of the changes it is undergoing. Owing to
some oversight, the county of Linlithgow has been
omitted, and the total number of electors is of course
deficient so far :

COUNTIES.

Edinburgh. Ayr. Dumfries.
1840. 1836. 1840. 1836. 1840.1836.

Proprietors,sole or joint 807 581 1811 1621 534 414
Liferenters, do. d 0.... 530 74 61 18 11 6
Leaseholders, do. d 0.... 749 634 2128 1898 1242 903
Husband In wife's right 10 5 106 83 7 4
Ministers, schoolutas-
ters,and other officers 17 11 46 40 49 38

Peebles. Perth. Selkirk.
1840. 1836. 1840. 1836. 1840.1836

Proprietors, sole or joint 225 145 1401 1295 196 174
Liferenters, do. do. 261 10 119 52 176 21
Leaseholders, do. do 304 230 2118 1943 175 208
Husband in wife's right 4 2 58 46 5 3
Ministers, &c.

With a single exception, there is an increase in each
of the classes in every county, and in some its astound-
ing amount shows how rapidly the fabrication of votes
has proceeded ; for nine-tenths of the whole increase
belongs to this category.
The " leasehold " titles, though politically bad, as in-
cluding a class of persons much under influence, are
probably the most genuine in the list ; but even among
these there are many sham titles got up by pretended
joint-leases. In Dumfries, we find that this class in-
creased 35 per cent. in the four years. In Peebles,
the increase was 27 per cent. ; in Perth and Ayr, about
12 per cent. In Selkirk alone there was a diminution.
The class of " proprietors " includes a vast propor-
tion of fictitious voters. In Edinburgh county it in-
creased 50 per cent. in the four years, a sure proof that
many of the new freeholders were imaginary. In Peebles
it increased 50 per cent.; in Dumfries, 30 per cent. ;
in Perth, 14 per cent. ; in Selkirk and Ayr, about 12.
But the liferenters are the real men of straw ! In
Ayr this class increased in the four years from 18 to 61 ;
in Dumfries from 6 to 11 ; in Perth from 52 to 119 ;
in Selkirk from 21 to 176, or 850 per cent. ; in Edin-
burgh from 74 to 530, or 700 per cent. ; in Peebles
from 10 to 261, or 2,600 per cent.! In all Scotland
(exclusive of the omitted county, Linlithgow) the num-
ber of liferent county votes seems to be 2,360, of which
19 out of every 20 may be set down as pure fabrications.
As yet, we see only the germs of this monstrous abuse ;
for if all the counties were liferented on the scale of
Pceblesshire, Scotland would be covered with a brood
of twenty or thirty thousand of these vermin, who would
swamp the proprietors, and the soil of the country might
come to be represented by men who had not a foot of
land in it !

The number of husbands voting in right of their wives
in the counties of Scotland is about 600, and of these,
also, probably a considerable proportion have titles
vamped up by legal frauds.
The area object of the Reform Bill was to destroy
fictitious votes, and vest the representation in the pro-
perty and intelligence of the country. We fondly
thought that the hydra of corruption was vanquished ;
nut here we find it springing up in an altered shape,
and eating like a cancer into the vitals of our new
charter. This reflects no discredit on the authors of
that great measure. Human skill cannot frame any
law so perfect that it may not be perverted ; and hence
the necessity of what we yet want-.--a Legislature whose
spirit is in harmony with the new institutions—to watch
over their progress, amend what is faulty, supply what
is deficient, and guard against abuses tending to destroy
them, At the hands of a Liberal House of Lords, the
11 Reform Bill would have received justice.—Scotsman.

ECCLESIASTICAL REFORM.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SlR—With reference to the " Letter to the People of
England," recently published in The Sun, I beg to
enclose the draft of a petition to the substance of which
any well-meaning man, whether Dissenter or Church-
man, might affix his name. It should be presented to
her Majesty the Queen in Council, and, when signed,
should he respectfully sent to the Secretary of State, or
to the First Lord of the Treasury for that purpose.
I remain, Sir, your most obedient servant,
HENRY ERSKINE HEAD.

To Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen, &c. &c. &c.
the humble Petition of your Majesty's loyal and de-
voted subjects ;
Most humbly sheweth,—That an approximation, in sen-
timent and doctrine, between many of the divines of the
Church of England and those of the Church of Rome,
has lately increased so steadily and effectually as to
threaten the re-establishment of the Papal dominion within
your Majesty's realms.
That the main principle of a Protestant Church (the
sufficiency of Scripture as a rule of faith) has been, and is
in danger of being, still more obscured by certain inconsis-
tencies in the laws of clerical subscription, occasioned, and
therefore remediable, by Parliament.
That the clergymen of the Church of England declare
at their ordination that "they arc persuaded that Holy
Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation, and
that they are determined OUT CF THE SAID SCRIPTURES to
instruct, &c., and to teach NOTHING as necessary to salva-
tion but what THEY SHALL BE PERSUADED may be proved by
Scripture ;" they promise to " be diligent in the study of
SCRIPTURE :" and they moreover subscribe to the 6th Ar-
ticle, which nullifies all authority except Scripture in mat-
ters of faith.

That the declaration of conformity required of clergv-
men by the fourteenth Act of King Charles the Second
directly militates against these Protestant principles, by
forcing (as far as human authority can do so) upon the
consciences of men certain dogmas in the book of Com.
mon Prayer, which cannot be proved by Scripture, but
which are contrary to it.
That this declaration, which is to be classed among the
"OFFENCES OF OUR FOREFATHERS," was framed by them
from an evil motive, was directed to an evil end, and pro-
duces to this day evil results.
That, according to the historian Hume (who was far from
being favourable to men who suffered for conscience
sake) this declaration was inserted in the Act of Parlia-
ment, on purpose to grieve the conscientious ministers of
the Church of England, in the days of King Charles the
Second, and that it actually constrained two thousand con-
scientious clergymen to relinquish the national ministry—
a clear and decided proof that this declaration was a mea-
sure which grieved the Holy Spirit of God.
That to this day the operation of this declaration is
equally pernicious, by shutting out from tke national
Church men, who humanly speaking, would support and
adorn it, and by exalting the book of Common Pi ayer (to
every practical intent and purpose) above the Bible.
That one of the Acts passed in the reign of King
Henry the Seventh has been now repealed (by the recent
Church Discipline Act) with a view to the preservation
of the ecclesiastical laws, and the power of the Bishops;
but that nothing has been done in Parliament concerning
the repeal of. King Charles the Second's parliamentary
enactments, which " make the word of God of none effect."
That your Majesty's humble petitioners, in all reveren-
tial loyalty arid submission, most humbly implore your Ma-
jesty to take into your Majesty's royal and gracious consi-
deration the very great necessity of commanding a revision
of the Act XIV. Caroli IL, and that a general promise of
conformity to the Liturgy be substituted for the declaration
now in use according to the above mentioned Act, by
which clergymen are required to " declare their unfeigned
assent and consent to all and everything contained in the
book of Common Prayer.
And your Majesty's humble petitioners, as in duty bound,
will ever pray.

THE NEW ROMANCE BY THE AUTHOR OF
" THE PILOT," " THE PATHFINDER," &C.—." MERCEDES
OF CASTILE; A ROMANCE OF THE DAYS OF COLUMBUS."
By J. FENIMORE CoorEa, Esq.—ln regard to Mr.
Cooper, who has acquired a European reputation, it would
seem almost impertinence to speak in the language of cri-
ticism. The public owes to him some of the most excit-
ing and admired novels of the present day. His new work
is one of great merit. In selecting Columbus as a subject
for his pen, Mr. Cooper had to cope in the onset with a
great difficulty. His own countryman, Washington Ir-
ving, had already employed his masterly pen upon it. Mr.
Cooper, however, has successfully accomplished the pur-
pose he prescribed to himself. The progress of Co-
lumbus forms the chief subject of the work ;
but not the least part of its interest will pro-
bably attach to the loves of a young Spanish
nobleman, Don Luis de Bobadilla, and the fair 6 Mer-
cedes de Valverde, a favourite of Isabella of Spain.
They are true lovers, but need we say that their affection
is checked and thwarted by innumerable " moviag acci.
dents" literally "by flood and field," which, however,
have a happy termination. Mr. Cooper's beautiful de-
lineations of all that appertains to the sea are fresh in the
recollection of every reader. These volumes show that
he has not lost any of his vigour or nautical accuracy.
Upon the whole, " Mercedes of Castile" has that about
it which stamps it as the production of a powerful and
highly imaginative writer.—Courier.

We understand that the determination of
present French Cabinet to maintain the " Paix arrne!,"
gives great offence to Great Britain, Austria, and Prussia.
Representations of a decided character on this subject are
being made, and unless France lowers her tone, the set-
tlement of the Egyptian question will not produce the
beneficial effect in Europe that was expectol—Morning
Herald.