The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-22 00:00:00

All7ain

THE LONDON GAZETTE..

(THIS EVENING)

LORD CHAMBERLAIN'S OFFICE, MARCH 22. 1844.
Orders for the Court's going into Mourning on Tuesday
next, the 26th instant, for his late Majesty the King of Sweden
and Norway, viz.:—The Ladies to wear black silk, fringed or
plain linen, white gloves, neeklaces and ear-rings, black or
white shoes, fans and tippets. The Gentlemen to wear
black, full trimmed, fringed or plain linen, black swords
I and buckles. The Court to change the Mourning on Tuesday,
the 9th of April next, viz. : The Ladies to wear black silk or
velvet, coloured ribbons, fans and tippets, or plain white, or
white and gold, or white and silver stuffs, with black ribbons.
—The Gentlemen to wear black coats, and black or plain white,
or white and gold, or white and silver stuff waistcoats, full
trimmed, coloured swords and buckles. And on Tuesday the
113th April next the Court go out of Mourning.
ST. JAMES'S-PALACE, MARCH 20.
The Queen was this day pleased to confor the honour of
Knighthood upon Williath 13ain, Esq., Master in the Royal
Navy.
CAMBRIDGE-HOUSE, Marled 18.
The Duke of Cambridge has been pleased, to appoint Dr.
Francis Hawkins to be one of his Royal Highness's Physicians.
DOWNING-STREET, MARCH 22.
The Queen has been pleased to direct letters patent to pass
the Great Seal of the Unites Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, nominating the Rev. Edward Field, Master of Arts,
10 the Bishoprick of Newfoundland.
WHITEHALL, MARCH '22.
The Queen has been pleased torant the archdeaconry of
the isle of Man to the Rev. Joseph Christian Moore, M.A.,
• the same being void by the death of the Rev. John Cecil Ha 11...
The Queen has also been pleased to present the Rev. Joseph
Christian Moore, ALA , to the rectory of Andreas, in the isle
of Man and diocese of the same, void by the death of the Rev.
John Cecil Hall.

WHITEHALL, MARCH 20.
The Queen has been pleased to present the Rev. John
Bethune to the church and parish of Uig, in the presbytery
of Lew is and county of Ross, vacant in consequence of the
Rev. Alexander M'Leod, late minister thereof, having ceased
to be a minister of the Chureh of Scotland.
WAR-OFFICE, Mime!' 22.
7th Dragoon Guards—Lieut. J. H. Gray, from 14th Light
Dragoons, to be Lieutenant, vice Robertson, appointed to 2d
Dragoons, March 22.
2d Dragoons—Lieut. A. Robertson, from 7th Dragoon
Guards, to be Lieutenont, vice Ramsay, appointed to 14th
Light Dragoons, March 22.
g3hdiLi ght D
Dragoon rar otno —b Ce or
Lieutenant,et E. B .witChuoruetton, from 6
purchase, 1 tviceh
White, deceased, Dec. 19.
14th Light Dragoons—Lieut. B. W. Ramsay, from the 2d
Dragoons, to be Lieutenant, vice Gray, appointed to 7th
Dragoon Guards, March t. 2.
15th Light Dragoons—CornetA. Blandy, to be Lieutenant,
without purchase, vice Ede, deceased, Dec. 21, 1843.
3d Foot—To be Captains - without purchase—Lieut. H.
Blair, vice tewart, killed in action, Dec. 30, 1843 ; Lieut. J.
Speedy, vice Magrath, died of his wounds, Jan. 14.
To be Lieutenants, without purchase—Ensign R. W.
Woods, vice Maude, appointed Adjutant, Dec. 30, 1843;
Ensign F. N. Dore, vice Speedy, Jan. 14.
To be Ensigns, without purchase—F. G. Syms, Gent.,
vice Woods, promoted, March 22 ; E. S. Charlton, Gent., vice
Dore, promoted, March 23.
To be Adjutant—Lieut. F. F. Maude, vice Blair, promoted,
Dec. 30, 1843.
9th Foot—Lieut. F. L. Bennett, from the 13th Foot, to bo
Lieutenant, vice Williams, who exchanges, Jan. 15.
13th Foot—Lieut. W. W.-Williams, from 9th Foot, to be
Lieutenant, vice Bennett, who exchanges, Jan: 15.

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
FROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF THIS DAT. '
STANDARD.—The silence (so proper in their po-
sition) which the .Members of the House of Lords have
hitherto observed upon the subject of the State trials in
Ireland, is, it appears, about to be interrupeed by the
Marquis of Lansdowne and the Marquis of Clanricarde,
who have given notice of motions referring to the trials
in question for this day week. The public has been
long aware that the convicted traversers have given no-
tice of applying for a writ of error, resting upon those
very circumstances which, as it appears, are to institute
the ground of the motions of the two Noble Marquises ;
but a writ of error from the Court of Queen's Bench in
Ireland passes immediately into the House of Lords,
and the effect of the motions of Lords Lansdowne
and Clanricarde will be to anticipate a judicial deci
sion of the House by an extra-judicial debate
and judgment—a , proceeding which is, -to say
the least of it, somewhat irreplar and un-
usual. It may be, that thee absurd project of ir writ of
error has been abandoned, and that the Noble Lords, in
question have been let into the secret. If such is the
case, however, we must think that this secret ought to be
kept no longer, for surely it were an ill precedent
for the Appellate Court of the empire to take volun-
tarily and irregularly into consideration. a process
in an inferior Court, without • an assurance
that the process was not to come regularly before it, in
the form of *s appeal. In other respects there is every
reason to rejoice that a question which has been so
much obscured by falsehood and calumny as the State
prosecution in Ireland has been, shall be submitted to
investigation by a body comprising so many able and
learned men as the House of Lords ; a body, too,
which can claim the assistance of the 15 judges of
England. We know `what the result of such an investi-
gation must be (for it is impossible that Lords' Lans-
downe and Clanricarde can be allowed to have the whole
game to themselves) ; and if the effect, of the premature
movement be to revive, a fortnight before sentence, in
more lively force, a sense of the deep criminality of the '
convicts, they will have to blame none but their own
m officious friends., ,
GLOBE.—The Bill for " Improving the Practice of
the Ecclesiastical Courts of England and Wales," which
Lord Lyndhurst has originated in the House of Lords,
gave rise last evening to a rather animated discussion,
previously to its being read. a second time. The
Royal Commission, which was issued in 1829 for in-
quiring into the constitution and practice of these odious
• Courts, may be regarded as the first blow struck at:their
• existence. The discussions which have arisen" upon
the different Bills that have been . framed for the
purpose of improving their practice and remedying
their abuses—although the measures have, from various
causes, been withdrawn—hare had the effect of
drawing attention to the monstrous injustice in-
flicted by these tribunals. They owe their continued
14 existence to the concealment and deep secresy which
they succeeded in keeping up. The invasion .of
their retirement, by . means of the inquiry to which
their proceedings, were subjected, and the persevering
'34 attempts to dragthem forth into light—resisted, as those
% efforts have been, by those who have an interest
in preserving and perpetuating as many of their abuses
as is possible—these agitations and collisions will be
lil beneficial in their immediate and remote results. They
will secure a diminution of the abuses so long com-
;plained of--a partial cleansing of the Augean stable.
, Preparatory to the sweeping flood being let in, which.
'34 shall purify the jurisprudence of the country from these
1 anomalous and oppressive jurisdictions which, to the
reproach of everything spiritual, are distinguished by
,14 the appellation of Spiritual Courts, it is something,
gained to have the nuisance abated. ' For these
' reasons we congratulate the country upon the in-,,
;% troduction of Lord Lyndhurst's Bill.. The Noble
'and Learned Lord, it will be seen, adheres to'the mea-
-4 sure as it was originally proposed ; and thus demon-
-6%
-5N strates the difficulties with
.which " a strong Govern-
ment" has to contend, when it applies. itself to the rev
534 moval of abuses in which the Church has a pecuniary
3 interest. There can be no question but that any Go-
D vernment, if left to itself, unfettered by the Eccle-
Si' siastical influence which - invariably busies itself in
7;.. such matters, would gladly assimilate the jurisprudence
8 of the country on all subjects relating to the pro-
-61.3 perty and liberty of the subject, to *one uniform mode
itfa of administration. This, however, is .an attempt:too
dangerous to be made on a large scale. The State may
41 nibble at the outworks, but must not venture to assail
i 5 the citadel. The Courti Peculiar are to be abolished.
41 The Arches' and Prerogative Courts in the provinces* of
2 Canterbury and -York are to be consolidated. This is
s.• - something—a small' instalment of th'e whole, which will
certainly be demanded, and obtained, at no distant day.
4% The Diocesan Courts _ are to
.. be retained. The reasons
5 assigned by Lord Lyndhurst for their preservation
2 are worthy of notice. Antiquity is. their sole recom-
-2% mendation. Lord Cottenham expressed his dissatisfac- ;
4 tion with the Bill as it stood. Hii Lordship com-
mented, with great force of argument, and with, some
t severity of language, on the constitution and practice•
i a
of the Ecclesiastical Courts as they now exiit ; and
.74 showed the insufficiency of the remedy sought to
;4 be applied for their improvement. In this he was
th ably supported by Lord Campbell ; and also by Lord
Brougham, who gave an amusing historical sketch of
3 the opposition with which Lord Grey's. Govprnment
N was assailed upon attempting to carry out the
i% recommendations of the Commissions of Inquiry.
344
414 ro the speeches of these Noble and Learned Lords,.
3's and to that of the Bishop of London, we can only
54 generally refer as well deserving of careful perusal.
ii% The Right Reverend Prelate's remarks we -regard as
valuable, inasmuch as they concede several of the objet-
tions which are urged against these courts.. The Bishop
admits that the opposition which would be raised ,agaiii-st
any attempt to remove them, is the principal object to
their being abolished. This, from such a quarter, is
gratifying, for the candour displayed and for the en-
couragement afforded to hope for their eventual removal.
The adhesion of Lord Lyndhurst 'to the' law of
bona notabilia, as it now stands, is, however, in 'our view,
the most glaring defect in his measure, and for which we
cannot discover the shadow of an argument. We take his
Lordship's own statement as the best exemplification of
the mischiefs which result from the law, and the folly of
allowing them to remain unremoved and undiminished.
In ,order to regulate and preserve 'evidence Hof the
succession to personal property (and, for certain reasons
with which lawyers are familiar, but which are not easily.
understood_ by the rest of mankind, land is frequently
treated in this respect as personality) by testament,
or intestacy, tertian legal - ceremonies are re-
_quired. It is necessary to prove the *ill in the'
one case ; ' and, in -the other, to take out letters
of administration in the proper Ecclesiastical Cintil.
If there were -one - general court in the metropolis,
for the whole of England and Wales, there world be no
difficulty ; nor, perhaps, if there were one in each
county town for the entire county. But wills and
intestacies, being matters of spiritual cognizance, the
familiar division of sheriffs and their counties must
not be followed, but that of bishops and their dio-
ceses. An executor, or administrator, must make him-
self acquainted with the divisiOn of England into
dioceses ; for if it should be discovered, subsequently
to taking out the grant, that there were bona notabilia
above the value of five pounds in any other diocese than
that in which the grant was taken out, the will must be
proved over again in the courts there, and fees must .
.be paid there also. _ And this process must be ' re-
newed upon the discovery of goods or moneys in any .
other diocese, how often' soever the' discovery may be
repeated! Every Bishop is privileged to recfuiren fresh
probate to be taken out, at the same expense as the
first! And this-annoying 'machinery, falsely called the
administration of justice, is to be retained!