The Sun.
London, England, 1859-02-12 00:00:00

THE WEATHER.-SUN OFFICE, FEB. 12.

THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE.
55—highest since noon yesterday.
48—lowest this morning and during the night.
55—this day at noon.

_. a .•r~- ~s--

quired to complete the entire transaction from file
date of the first petition to the ultimate transfer.
Every landowner may thus obtain a recognition of
his title, and have his name placed on the registry, 1
as the absolute owner of the land, and entitled to
dispose of it forthwith to any bona fide purchaser
for valuable consideration.
But there may be incumbrances, or parties hav-
ing family charges, on the estate. Their interests
are effectually guarded by the power granted of
entering caveats against any disposal or transfer
of the estate without due notice. These caveats
may be of two descriptions, but either will be quite
sufficient to maintain the rights of the claimant, if
he can establish the justice of his demand. The
present measure will even, if alone, render the ses-
sion a memorable one. By increasing the value
of landed estates by at least three years' purchase,
or ten per cent., it will increase the resources of
the landed gentry by fully two hundred millions
of pounds sterling—three times more than the
fundholders and commercial classes lost by the
reckless speech of LOUIS NAPOLEON on New Year's
Day, or the various matters that have followed in
,s wake.

BAROMETER-29'73.
WIND, Southerly; fresh and squally, with cloudy
weather, and some slight rain.

* 4- '
~
F."!.-4),;?. i
.. , „
..
s.
q.- - *" ' ajh 45R(.--N
,
A
'

~,

The Registrar-General's last quarterly report, in
regard to the state of the Public Health, is worthy
of everyone's perusal. It appeals to the reason and
right feeling of the whole community. It argues a
question of the most vital importance, not only

plainly and logically, but eloquently and most per-
suasively. Like the wedding guest, spell-bound by
the glittering eye of the Ancient Mariner, we must
needs listen to the words of wisdom vouchsafed to

us by this eminent public functionary. It is use-
less beating our breast idly when, we hear the
"loud bassoon" of Debate resounding from the

recently opened doors of Parliament. The Registrar
General compels us to pause and listen, warning us
into attention by the double threat of—
CHOLERA and DIPHTHERIA !
The impressive report of Mr. GEORGE GRAHAM,
the able and giftedßegistrar-General of England—
the particular report now referred to, dated from
Somerset House, on the first of this present month
of February—is in its every syllable so directly
to the purpose that we would fain have it read far
and wide by every thinking man both within and
without the walla of the legislative palace at
Westminster. At the outset of the more im-
portant section of the report, Mr. GRAHAM
reminds the public of Lord BYRON having
once upon a time, in justification of his
plain speaking, quoted the sardonic sentence
of VOLTAIRE—" La pudeur enfuit des cceurs, s'est
refugiee sur lee levres." Coming, thereupon, directly
to the point, the Registrar-General refers to France
by way of appropriate illustration. He says—how
truly, let every traveller answer—that " if the per-
fumery of France is exquisite, if her cuisine is the
despair of English gourmands ; if her acts are
admirable ; if her society is charming ; her
'cabinets' are everywhere detestable." He adds
that they literally give mal a la gorge to
Englishmen. Yet have we small reason
in truth to plume ourselves upon any fancied
superiority in this respect upon our own side of the
Channel. The report has already intimated the
painful truth of our own monstrous culpability in
not yet initiating the required most rational social
reform, when it is observed in general terms that
the evil complained of has for years past been in-
creasing annually in all the cities of . Europe with-
out distinction, " from St. Petersburg to Paris,
from Vienna and Venice to London and
Liverpool." What comes home, however, nation-
ally to every French household, " stinks in the

nostrils" of the whole population of our vast metro-
polis, surging to and fro twice regularly each way
in the course of every twenty-four hours—steadily
up and down with the ebb and flow of the tide
along the channel of that broad river of the
Thames, running pestilence and liquid disease
among 2,500,000 inhabitants. The distribution of
the evil complained of among the houses of the
Parisians has been touched upon with a droll
particularity by one of the most keen and
humorous observers among travelled. Englishmen.
We allude to the veteran Sir FRANCIS B. HEAD,
who, in his delightful " Faggot of French Sticks,"
Vol. ii., p. 12, amuses his readers with the comical
record of his own experience. He had just ensconced
himself in a new apartment greatly to his liking—
"My Lodging" is the heading of the chapter—
when the calamity forces itself upon the recog-
nition of his olfactory nerves. He describes him-
self as standing at the moment " very much in the
attitude of a young artist joyously admiring the
painting he has just concluded, when, with great
velocity, there shot past his nose—to tell the truth
it actually hit it—an arrow of air about a foot
long, but no thicker than a piece of packthread,
that did not smell as it ought to do. 'lt is the
breath of envy,' said I to myself, ' mortified at my
happiness." Some hours afterwards, he writes,
" I retired to my apartment, and, like a young
love; was again admiring its charms, when another
little arrow, from an unpleasant quiver, flew by
me. It's all fancy,' said Ito myself ;' it can't
come from my kind landlady, nor from my chest
of drawers. I'm two stories above the drains,
and two stories below the gutters of this
world " and so forth, in his bewildered
self commnnings. The infliction recurs from
that time forth, AS MTS. ANASTASIA'S PIPER

THE SUN.
SATURDAY. FEBRUARY 12, 1859.

A great and comprehensive measure of legal
reform was last night introduced to the House of
Commons. The Solicitor-General has at length
grappled with the difficulty that had puzzled all
his predecessors in office, and explained the prin.
ciples of the proposed amendments in a brilliant
and lucid address, that elicited the earnest applause
even of political opponents. It is now more than
ten years since we urged the vast importance of
simplifying legal titles—of enabling landowners
either to raise money on their estates, with-
out incurring ruinous:expenses, or to dispose of them
without a loss of a least two or three years' pur-
chase-money. Competition was checked, inasmuch
as the retired tradesman could not invest his
savings without the certainty of a heavy immediate
outlay for costs, and a still more serious charge
when his executors required to realise his estate
for distribution. It would add at least ten per cent.
to the selling value of such properties if they could
be disposed of at a brief notice and moderate cost.
But, as the Solicitor-General clearly pointed out,
the inevitable difficulties attendant on a sale dis-
couraged all such purchases, and, by lessening the
demand, diminished the value of the article sup-
plied.

Sir HUGH CAIRNS has acted judiciously in
limiting the registration to titles, and not extend-
ing it to deeds. His objects are twofold-Ist, to
show that there is a perfect title which cannot be
impeached ; and, 2dly, to maintain the evidence of

would say repeatually. Until—muttering to him-
self the familiar -words "home, sweet home"—
the travelled Englishman, ringing the bell, requests
the garcon to ascertain whether Madame would be
visible to him: Then—" in broken sentences and
faltering accents" Sir FRANCIS tells him that—(we
quote his own graphic record)7—" the room was
in every respect all I could desire, ' BuT that
• . . it . . . had . . . at times . .
• . a very unpleasant smell." Now, Monsieur !'
she replied. with great gentleness. I assured
her that it was the case. ' Now, Mon-
sieur ! !' she replied. with greater gentleness,
'Madame,'said, It has twice over given me a
headache, from which,' laying my hand. flat on my
forehead,
'I am suffering at this moment." No,
Monsieur,'she repeated, so gently and so faintly,
that I could hardly
t— "
close of the grotesque aa soon t ole
description. nNoNv, th e
o
ti
difference with us in this
matter, as compared with
our neighbours, is discoverable in the circumstance
that the agreeable little bouquets distributed there
among the population, are here -
combined into one
monstrous whole, resulting not • in headaches and
meagrims alone, but in diphtheria an(l
diarrhoea,
cholera and consumption.
The sanitary reform so long demanded,
the
Registrar-General reminds us, would be not merely
the removal of one evil, but the substitution for it
of a very wonderful advantage. Upon this point
he writes—"LlEßlG, the great agricultural chemist
of Europe, has recently reminded us of English
guano as a. substitute for foreign supplies." Fur-
thermore, upon this point, he adds—" Science has
demonstrated that fermenting human excrement is
a poison in and near human dwellings ; and
chemistry has shown that the same ele-
ments in other states become grasses,
grain; fruit, and flowers by the natural magic of
the earth." Finally, as solemn words of warning,
to which we would earnestly commend the (Men-

that title, so that it may be transferred with com-
paratively little trouble or expense. A new court
is, of wane, indispensable, but it will be self-
supporting, for those who seek the advantages
tendered for their acceptance will properly
and fairly be required to pay the expenses thereof,
and they will receive an ample equivalent for the
outlay in the enhanced value of their properties,
and the satisfaction of knowing that, under any
circumstances, their title cannot be questioned or
disputed.
There is, as we have stated, to be a new court,
with a Chief and Puisne Judge ; the former
to receive £3,000 and the latter £2,500
per annum—by no means extravagant remu-
neration when the arduous and responsible nature
of their duties is taken into consideration. In-

deed, it would be hard to find gentlemen of ade-
quate ability at a lower rate. Each of the learned
judges will be assisted by a secretary and registrar.
The total cost will, therefore, not be more than
£B,OOO a-year, and we shall feel greatly surprised
if there should not be a handsome surplus for the
consolidated fund, after liquidating every demand,
to say nothing of the " unclaimed dividends," which
grow by degrees to a very considerable amount.
The first step will be to obtain a provisional
recognition of title. This cannot be achieved
without reasonable time being allowed to every
possible claimant, and due Publicity being given to
the nature of the application. Twelve months is
allowed for this purpose, and three months more
_ _ _

for what may be termed "making the rule abso-

lute," or, in other words, final and conclusive.
This time has been taken from the Irish act,
which has worked so admirably, it being found
that fifteen months was the period generally re-

THE SUN,I ;'LONDON, SATURDAY- EVENING, FEBRUARY 12, 185 c).

LATEST NEWS..

THE BOMBAY MAILS.

(BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.)

SOUTHAMPTON, SATURDAY MORNING.

The Peninsular and Oriental Company's steamer
Orissa, Captain Joy, has arrived, with the heavy
portion of the mails.
She left Alexandria on the 23th ult. ; Malta,
31st ; Gibraltar, sth inst.

She has 32 passengers, including Capt. Sellers,
of the ship Ireland Queen, of Sunderland, lost off
Rasher Island, in the Red Sea.

The Orissa brings four packages of specie (value
not stated), 997 boxes oranges, 631 bales flax,
949 bales silk, 10 cases shawls, and sundries.
Gibraltar exchanges on London, 501 to ; Paris,
526 ; Marseilles, 527 ; Genoa, 529.

The French steamfrigate Magellan, and transport
Seine left Cadiz on the 3d for the Mediterranean.
The British merchant steamers Gibraltar, Milan,
Araxes, Brenda, and Euphrates had severally
arrived out at Gibraltar.

The following telegrams have been received at
Mr. Reuter's office :—•

MARSEILLES, FEB. 11.
Advices have been received from Rome to the

Bth instant.

The Pope having sent his Major Domo to pay
his compliments to the Prince of Wales, the Prince
made yesterday an official visit to his Holiness.
His Royal Highness was accompanied by Mr. Rus-
sell, the secretary to the English embassy at the
Court of the Grand Duke of Tuscany.