The Sun.
London, England, 1850-02-07 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF COMMONS, Feb. 6.
(Continued from our Afternoon Edition of yesterday.)
REGISTRATION OF DEEDS IN IRELAND.
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL rose to ask for leave
to bring in a Bill to amend the law for registration of
assurances of lands in Ireland. He said, in England
there eves no system of registration; there was a kind of
qualified registration for two counties, Middlesex and
Yorkshire; but that was all. In Ireland there was a:very
stringent system of registration; but there was a very
general opinion that very considerable defects attached to
it, which it was of the greatest importance to remove. A
memorial of deeds was registered in Ireland in the first
instance, but in framing that memorial a disposition had
been shown to keep back the real contents and objects of
the deed, though he did not think that that disposition
existed to any great extent. In registering that memo-
rial all that was given was the information that certain
persons had dealt with certain lands which were
described in the memorial. That was all that it did.
The nafute of the dealing did not necessarily appear.
Besides that, it was not an easy thing to discover ,what
hal been dealt with, or what memorials had been regis-
tered in the cffice, owing to the defective system of keep-
ing the indicei. Unless a registry gave every deed
which by possibility might affect a person if he was
going to deal with the land registration became a snare
and an evil ; they had better have no registration at all
than an imperfect or a defective one.—(Hear, hear.)
The plan of the reforms now contemplated is, to some
extent, that of an eminent conveyancer, now deceased,
who prepared a Bill for the better conveyance of pro-
perty. He proposed to make a land index of Ireland,
from the trigonometrical survey lately made in Irelaud;
by that means they would have a map with the different
Riots of land marked upon with letter, each letter
having reference to another index which would be called
an index of titles, from which it could be ascertained
on search the exact plot of land, and the barony and
county in which it was, in the map. The apparatus was
too complicated by far for him to describe accurately to
the House without a map and other symbols. In the
registration of wills it was proposed that when a will
was not proved it would be necessary to register
the will with an index to the name of the tes-
tator. He proposed that all those documents
which were registered should have precedence of
those which were unregistered, otherwise there would
be little use in making any alteration. The system, he
hoped, would prove what was very desirable, a complete
protection to all who had dealings in land, and would
render the transfer of land a much simpler and less ex-
pensive transaction than before. It was with these views
that the measure was brought before the House ; and
he hoped, therefore, that they would allow him to intro-
duce the Bill, espe3ially as there would be ample oppor-
tunity of examining the details before it went into Com-
mittee.—(Hear, hear.)
Leave was then given to bring in the Bill, which was
at once read the first time.
LAW OF JUDGMENTS (IRELAND) BILL.

The SOLICITOR-GENERAL, after a- handsome
testimony to the House for the assistance rendered to
him leAt year in the construction of the Irish legal
Bills of last session, said that he trusted that they
would allow him to introduce this Bill. The law of
judgments affected land in two ways—both in its
management and in the disposal of it. By the Encum-
bered Estates Bill of last session it was decided
that when a judgment had passed by the day
of payment, with the limit only of those which were
claimed for 1501., that the creditor should take the land
and sell it a once. Now there was a great defect aris-
ing out of this system which required some other ma-
chinery to obviate it. The custom was, in the first place,
a hardship en the debtor, for without any notice he
might, and in some instances would be unjustly de-
prived of his property; and, in the second place, no
good title could be given to the land; while in the third
the first legitimate oreditors might be deprived of their
claims by the intervention of another party, whose
might was only secondary to theirs. To remedy
this evil they proposed a requisition that when a judg-
ment bad passed the time of payment, tho creditor
should register the judgment, and that from the moment
of registration it should act with the power of a mortgage
in fee, and thus the transaction being verified, he might
sell the land, and the proper certificate of the registration-
office would constitute the foundation of a second title to
the estate. The next thing they proposedto do was to pre-
vent any judgment creditor from taking advantage of his
own wrong; and in order to accomplish this it was pro-
posed to limit the operation of the Act to a certain
period. Thus, a person who had obtained a judgment
against another might have several judgments outstand-
ing against himself', and if he sold the lands and took
the proceeds, hie own ereditors would in their turn be
defrauded. This was pro►ided fir in the Bill, as were
also some other minor incidents; and as the Bill was
substantially the Bill of last session, with some improve-
ments, he hoped that the House would allow him to in-
troduce it. •

The question was then put, when
Mr. NAPIER, thought there never was a period when
the laws relating to property required more to be assi-
milated in both countries, especially in regard to regis-
tration and judgment. He would support the measure
before the House, but hoped that its provisions would
soon be extended to England.
Mr. SADLIER agreed with the Learned Gentleman
that it was of th greatest importance that the course of
1. illation shotrl7l be, as far as possible, to assimilate in
both countries the laws relating to real property.
Nothing was more objectionable, than allowing encum-
bered estates t i be placed in the bands of receivers, and
he would suggest in suhititution that increased facilities
should be given to the judgment creditor to convert the
land, in orda: that he might get the rent which was
due to him.
Loire was then given to bring in the Bill.
CEYLO v.

Mr. HAWES movel for a Select Committee to inquire
into the grievances complained of in Ceylon, in con-
nexion with the administration and government of that
colony, and to report their opinion whether any measures
can be adopt hr the redress of any grievances of
which there may be shown just reason to complain; and
also, whether any measures can be adopted for the
better administration and government of that dependency.
Mr. BAILLIE c ,mplained that he had been accused
by the Governor of British Guiana, in a dispatch, of
having made inaccurate statements with regard to the
colony. and for which he held that the Governor, and
not himeelf, were responsible. This amounted to a
breach of privilege, and he wished to know whether
the House would sanction the practice of a speech
made by a Member being answered, not by the Hon.
Gentleman whose official duty it was to answer ques-
tions respecting the colonies, but by the Governor
of a distant colony, whose dispatch on the subject was
pubfisb.ed in a blue book, and circulated among the
Metnbera of the House. Now, ho wished to ask the
Hon. Gentleman the Secretary IR the Colonies if any
of the recommendations made by the Committee on
Guiana had been carried into effect? There were three
recommendations in their report—first, that the salary of
the Governor should be reduced; secondly, that a search-
ing inquiry should be instituted into the improper ap-
pointments made by the late Governor; and, thirdly,
that an alteration should le made in the constituticn
of the colony, in friendly c .neert with the colonial
authorities. He a; informed that so far from the last
recommendation being carried out, the Bill making an
alteration in the constitution had been forced through
the Colonial Legislature and carried by a double vote
of the Governor. It had since become law, and the
cons, quence was that all the elected Members of the
Assembly had resigned their seats.—(Hear, hear.)
Whether this was true or not he was unable to say, but
he trusted that the Hon. Gentleman would give some
explanation to the House on the subject. He (Mr.
Baillie) next came to the case of Ceylon. Certain
charges of a very grave and serious nature were made
against the Governor of Ceylon by parties residing in
the island, and the Committee which sat last 3 ear being
anxious to ascertain the truth or falsehood of the
charges, came to a resolution that it would be advisable
to haie some of the parties brought to this country, in or-
der that they might be examined before the Committee.
He (Mr. Baillie), in November, addressed a letter to the
Colonial-office, asking the Noble Lord at the head of
that department to authorise certain gentlemen to repair
from Ceylon to England without delay to give evidence
before the select Committee on Ceylon. The answer
which he received to that communication was
written by the Under-Secretary for the Colonies,
and was to the effect that Earl Grey was
unable to understanfi that a power was delegated to the
chairman of the Committee by the Committee to call for
the attendance of witnesses; that his Lordship hal al-
ready directed the attendance of two witnesses from
Ceylon; and that, with respect to the additional wit-
nesses whose attendance he (Mr. Baillie) required, his
Lordship did not feel at liberty to incur the heavy
expense
incident to their journey from Ceylon to thiscountry
Upon the receipt of that letter he (Mr. Bernie) concluded.
that Earl Grey had not been completely informed as to
what took place in that House, seeing that complete as-
surances were given that all necessary witnesses would
be sent for from Ceylon; and he (Mr. Baillie) wrote a
second letter to the Colonial Secretary, informing him
of those assurances, in reply to which he received a
letter from the Noble Lord at the head of the
Government, who said that when he assented
to the proposal that the Committee should name the
persona whom it was necessary to summon from Ceylon
. to give evidence before the Committee, it was not in-
timated that the Chairman should be intrusted with the
sole authority of naming the witnesses on behalf
of the Committee, and that Lord Grey had there-
fore very properly declined to comply with his
(Mr. Baillie's) request. The House must now
perceive that the result of those proceedings on
the part of the Government was to
protract the
inquiry, in all probability, oven beyond the present ses-
sion of Parliament.—(gear, hear, and a laugh from Mr.
Hume.) If those wthaesses were not sent for, it followed
as a matter of course that they should not
proceed fur-
h ther with the inquiry. Now, w
fature proceedings of the House—
aind t
ou g
those
siet
right that it should be understood that,
had
witnemeg been called, he should not have addressed a
single word to the House on this occasion—(Hear)
he bad no hesitation in now declaring to the House-.
se
and he felt not the slightest doubt that his Pon. Friend
the Member for Montrose would bear him out in the
statement he was about to make—that if this inquiry
ght country,
a
were fairly and properly carried out, if the witnesses
who were called fur were brought
gh
broburgohottto
ttohisli
as muoh atrocity wank' at
compared with which the deeds of Field-Mar-
shal Hayniu, in Hungary, would appear to
have been rard and merciful.—(Load cries of "Hear,
hear.") In Austria or in Hungary no prisoner had
been put to death by the Government who had not
been tried before a tribunal properly and legally cee-
itituted—(Hear, hear)—and no sentence of death had.
been carried into effect in Hungary without having re-
ceived the approbation
.of the Commander-in-Chief.

Now what was the case in Ceylon? There were few of
the prisoners who were put to death who were
tried before tribunals legally and properly constituted,
or which were composed of the number of officers re-
quired by law.—(Hear, hear.) In some case the courts-
martial consisted of only three officers. The judge was
absent ; the officers were ignorant of the native: lan-
guage—(Hear, hear)—and the sentences ef those courts
were confirmed and approved by whom? By the
captains commanding the regiments. In some cases
the prisoners were led from the court to the place where
they suffered instant death.—(Hear, hear.)
An HON. MEMBER asked if the Hop. Member ad-
dressing the House had any confirmation of those state-
ments?
Mr. BAILLIE (not noticing the interruption) said—
Compare the two cases. In Hungary thousands and
tens of thousands had perished in the recent struggle
in that country ; in Ceylon an unimportant riot
had been quelled without the loss of the life of a single
one of her Majesty's subjects.—(Hear, hear.) Compare
then, he said the two cases, aml teil him whether he
used any exaggeration when he said the as compared
with the proceedings of the Governors of Ce)lon, the
proceedings in Austria were not mild and merciful.
They had heard a good deal from the Honourable
Member for the West Riding of Yorkshire, of the
savage proclamation of Field-Marshal Haynau. Let
the House listen to the proclamation by one
of her Majesty's Represent wives in Ceylon,
to whom was entrusted the life and death of
her Majesty's subjects in that island.—(Hear.)
The Hoy. Gentleman then read the proclamation, which
was to the effect, that whosoever had concealed the
prisoner, or the goods of the prisoner, or had been
privy thereto, should be taken and shot. It was signed
"A. Watson, Captain, Commander." Now, was this
a proclamation fit to be sent forth for the destruction
of mankind?—(Hear, hear.) When thatjproclamation
was first brought under his (Mr. Baillie's) notice, he
was perfectly incredulous as to its tenor. He could
not believe it. He said that there was surely some
mistake'; but there was no mistake. It was all true,
too true, and yet that proclamation had received the full
sanction and the cordial approval of the Government at
home.—(Hear, hear.) He did not wish to trespass at
too great a length on the time of the House, but he
felt that he must cite one or two other cases
which he felt bound to bring under their
notice, and with difficulty refrained from bringing
the circumstances which induced the immediate procla-
mation of martial law under their especial attention.—
(Hear, hear.) When martial law was first proclaimed, a
young officer, Colonel Droff, was seat with full authority
into the disturbed districts.—(Cries of " A young

officer!") He meant an officer young for that yank: The
Commander-in-Chief was General Scheldt, but that
officer never once made it his business to
appear in that quarter ; he (Mr. Baillie) sup-
posed, for there was no other reason that he
could, imagine, that the General conceived the affair to
be of too little importance to need his attention.—(Hear,
hear.) ',When Colonel Droff was at Candy—and he
wished to call the attention of the House to the circum-
stance, because it would show the reckless way in which
human life had been sacrificed—when Colonel Droff was
at Candy, he sent Captain Bird to Cronigal with instruc-
tions to proclaim martial law, and to apprehend all
those who were charged with what they called high
treason. Captain Bird apprehended one man, who was
said to be a noted offender—but whose Cingalese name
we could not precisely catch—and held a court-martial,
at which the prisoner was condemned to be shot and his
body to be hung upon a tree for four days.—(Hear,
hear.) And he was shot, and his body did hang for
four days ; and yet in the very next dispatch from the
Governor he found by the blue-book that this supposed
offender was all at large and perfectly %ell, so that ano-
ther man had been shot in his place. Within two days
after the occurrence of this circumstance, Captain Bird
reported that he had apprehended the Pretender Dinga-
ralle himself, and received instructions accordingly to
immediately hold a court-martial. The court-martial
was held, when the prisoner was condemned and in-
stantly shot, together with four other men accused of
high treason, and yet it afterwards appeared that not
only was the Pretender still at large, but alive and well
at this moment in Ceylon. Neither was it a brother of
the Pretender, but only one of his adherents.—(Hear,
hear, cheers and counter-cheers.) Not only had they
ascertained that such was the case, but they hal also
ascertained the name of the unfortunate individual who
had been shot instead of the Pretender.—(Hear, hear.)
The Howe would therefore perceive that neither he
nor his Honourable Friend the Member for Montrose
(Mr. Hume) could possibly bring this matter before them
with any probability of getting at the trutb, unless the
evidence which they desired was brought forward; and
it remained for them to say whether it should be pro-
duced, or whether, in order to stifle inquiry, it should be
put back.—(Hear, and cheers.) He had thus, to the
best of his ability, done his duty, and it now remained
for the House to say whether there should be a fair and
full inquiry—(Loud cries of Hear, hear," and cheers,
especially from Mr. Hawes)—and whether there
should be full investigation into these statements,
and give its support to his Hon. Friend the Member for
Montrose and himself—whether it would give its sup-
port for a full inquiry, or to an 'unscrupulous Govern-
ment in stifling all investigation.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. HAWES said that the Hon. Member had pri-
vately given him notice that he meant to make some
observations on his motion for a select inquiry. He had
commenced his speech, on a former occastue, with some
very unqualified observations on the conduct of the Go-
vernment with respect to Guiana, and had stated that
not a single order of the Government had beg' carried
out in the colony.
Mr. BAILLIE—It is in the blue book.

Mr. HAWES—As an isolated passage. The fact was
that instructions had been sent to the Governor of Guiana
recommending the adoption of free institutions; and
though some objections had been male, a new set of
members had bi en electel to the Court of Policy, and
no recommendations cf the Government had been car-
ried out without the opposition of a single dissentient.
‘Vith regard to the salary of the Governor, the Hon.
Gentleman (Mr. Baillie) had said that the Committee
had recommended a reduction; he would read the pas-
sage in question, and the House would see that it was
not a direct recommendatioc. But the Governor had
stated to the Court of Policy, that as far as his
own individual interests were concerned he should
not stand in the way of any alteration which they might
have to propose. But the court had not reduced his
salary, and a new election since the extension of the fran-
chise hat taken place, and yet the Governor's salary
had not bean reduced by the new Court of Policy.
Under these circumstances, the Honourable Gentleman
is not entitled to say that the Committee recommended
a reduction, and that that recommendation was not
attended to. The whole contest in this House arose
about some 1,0001. which was guaranteed by the Civil List,
and over which it had no control, while the Govern-
ment, by a careful supervision, had saved the country
some 70,000/. or 80,0001.—(Hear, hear.) In many cases
it was the opinion of the Secretary for the Colonies, and
his (Mr. Hawes) own also, that the reduction made had
been too great, and the new trade in some instances in-
creased the salaries. But he would return to
the affairs of Ceylon, and here he must protest against
the course.taken by the Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Baillie).
It showed his usual want of candour. In the midst of an
inquiry, on the eve of the sitting of a Committee, he
talked about the abandonment of the inquiry. He could
assure that House that that inquiry should go on to the
end, and there should be a fair inquiry. What would
that House think when be told them that there had been
no refusal of witnesses? On the 28th of July, 1849,
a motion had been made in that House that the Com-
mittee of Inquiry should not be renewed, but that a
commission of inquiry should be sent out to Ceylon.
The motion was rejected, but how was it rejected? was
it rejected by the Government ? No; for on looking at
the division-list he found that of the Members uncon-
nected with the Government, 33 had voted for the
motion, and 64 against it. He would call to mind what
had taken place in the House upon that occasion, and he
spoke in the presence of the Right Hon. the Member
for Ripon and of the First Lord of the Treasury, who
would confirm what he would state. The Right Lion. the
Member for Ripon proposel that the Committee should
meet on Monday, and decide what witnesses it would
wish to be sent for to Ceylon. The Committee did
meet, and the witnesses whom it named had been sent
for, and would be ready to appear before the Committee
when it sat.—(Hear.) They were at that moment in this
country waiting for that inquiry. Had power been given
to the Secretary of State to name his own witnesses?
No; but the witnesses alone named by the Committee had
been sent for. On the 28th of November, without any
communication with the Secretary of State, the Hon.
Gentleman called upon the Secretary to produce certain
witnesses, besides those ordered by the Committee. Of
course Lord Grey refused to do this—these were not
the witnesses ordered by the Committee, and in doing
so he showed great discretion. Every witness brought
here, it mutt be borne in mind, would cost the
country no less a cum than from 4001. to 700/. each.
He thought it right to protest against the course of
the Honourable Gentleman. In the midst of the inquiry,
while the witnesses were ready for examination, he
makes charges and attacks upon men who were in at-
tendance in this country at his own request. Was that
justifiable? Certainly not. He, however, could assure
the House that as far as he was concerned the inquiries
should go on. Witnesses and petitions were ready to
be: examined. Sir Emerson Tennent, the Colo-
nial Secretary, was now in this country on leave
of absence, ready to be examined, and he there-
fore asked the House what necessity there
was for delay? But he could allow the attack upon Cap-
tain Watson to pass so lightly, because it was unusual
for a Member of Parliament to attempt to prejudice the
House and the country against a witness who had been
summoned, and was about to be examined before a Com-
mittee. If the Committee, when it met, should assign
good grounds for calling additional witnesses, he saw no
reason why they should not be sent for; but on
another cccasion he might point out the inexpediency of
sending for witnesses whom the Hon. Gentleman oppo-
site might name. In the mean time he hoped the
House would direct the inquiry to be proceeded with
at once.

Mr. HUME said the Honourable Gentleman need
not be alarmed about the inquiry not proceeding, for
so long as he had power to perform his
duty he would never rest till this atrocious Ceylon affair
was sifted to the bottom. Government had attempted
to stifle fair inquiry; but as the affair in Ceylon was
even more disgraceful than many of the transactions
which had taken place in Hungary, he hoped the
House would support him and his Honourable Friend
opposite in having this inquiry properly conducted.
He might have made assertions in the House which
he was not prepared to prove, but the assertion that
the scenes of atrocity which had occurred in Ceylon
were more disgraceful than those of Huagary, he was
ready and willing to substantiate with evidence. Why,
then, did the. Hon. GoutAaman who last spoke,;with a de-
gree of audacity that :was really surprising, dare .to tell .