The Sun.
London, England, 1829-11-13 00:00:00

TIFLIS.

The local advantages of Tiflis will, at no great
distance of time, render it another Ormus, a new
Pal►nyra—a second Alexandria. It will be the
great emporium of the East and West, the cent! e
by which the commerce of Europe and Asia is to
be carried on hereafter.

Tiflis is about a hundred leagues distant from the
Black and Caspian Seas, and can at all times main-
tain with them a quick and easy communication, free
from danger, and subject to little expense. In times
of peace, ships from the Phasis, if laden with the
produce of Asia and Southern Russia, may display
their flags in the ports of America, and compete
with vessels from European ports, however advan-
tageously situated.
By the Caspian Sea, the exclusive maritime do-
main of Russia, vessels laden with the manufac-
tures of Europe can go in 36 hours from Balton to
the coast of Ghilan, of Mazanderan, of Asterabad, or
to the Gulf of Balkan (on the east side of the
Caspian Sea.) Thus the merchants of Tiflis may
embrace, with their vast combinations, all Af-
ghanistan, Bokharia, Cashmere, and Thibet, and
restore the old commercial road, by which the mer-
chandise of Chen•i, the most western province of
China, arrived in 80 or 100 days at the banks of
the Oxus, or in 200 days at the shores of the
Caspian Sea. And, least this should be called a
wild speculation, I will call the attention to the
route of 2,000 leagues, by which the Cloths of
Silesia arrive at Kiakhta, on the frontiers of China.
These cloths can afford to pay a duty of eight per
cent. on their entrance into Russia, because -the costs
of carriage through that country and in Asia are little
or nothing, the animals finding unlimited pasturage
wherever the caravan stops. The profit of these
speculations is such, that they have succeeded one
another, uninterruptedly, since 1818, and amount
sometimes to 15,000 pieces of cloth per year, value
4,500,000 francs-180,0001. sterling.--Foreign
Quarterly Review, p. 580.

It was on Wednesday announced to the Cor-
poration, that Mr. BOLLAND had been made a Baron of the
Exchequer, and that he had alienated his place as one of
the four City Pleaders to a sou of Mr. GvaNE-IG the
King's Counsel.

There is now in the Maison de Santo, at
Rouen, a patient, who fully impressed with the belief
that be was killed at the battle of Austerlitz; at which he
was, in fact, present, and received a wound, If his health
is inquired after, he answers, " You are asking atter M.
LAMBERT; but AI. LAMBERT is no more : he was killed
by a cannon-ball. 1 know aim, which you see bears some
resemblance to him ; but it is by no moans a good like-
ness. I wish you would construct a better." lie falls
occasionally into at state of insensibility, which sometimes
lasts for several days, during which tie application of bl s-
tets, pinches, and eve❑ pricking him with a pin, appears
to give him uo kind of uneasiness,

Some time during the last session of Parlia-,
ment a return was ordered, in consequence of
the motion al Mr. Protheroe, of the different
courts and other authorities in the country em-
powered to grant probates of wills. That a re-
gistry of wills is necessary no one can doubt,
and that every measure of security should he
adopted for the preservation of them, and every
faCility afforded to the inquirer, seems equally
evident. From an examination of the report,
and a practical knowledge of the system, it is
however, no less evident that the latter objects
are far from being accomplished. In many
cases there is considerable difficulty in getting at
them, and in all cases the object is only to be
attained at great expellee. Of course, Ido not
speak of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury,
inasmuch as all wills are there easily obtained
through the medium of Is. and an alphabetical
index for the year; although, as far as regards
the poorer inquirer, to whom the facilities ought
to be greater, the hand in which they are tran-
scribed must be. nearly as illegible as Greek or
Hebrew; and then another is. is required, in
order that he may be made.'to understand it.
A slight survey of the different courts iu the
kingdom will serve to convince any one of their
insecurity and their inconvenience. Let us take
a few, by the way of example. In the see of
Bath and Wells, one court keeps its records
room "at the outer entrance- of the
palace," '*thither a room. beltmging to
and adjoining to the house of a late deputy
registrar," a third in a room " at Taunton,
and a fourth in a room " over the cloisters."—
In Bristol some wills are in the Cathedral, some
at Blandford, and others at Wiaiborne. In
Chichester we find them not only in a pri-
vate dwelling-house in that city, but at Lewes
and at Battel. In St. David's they are to be
met with at Haverfordwest and Brecon. In Ely
at no less than five different courts. In Exeter
the scope for inquiry ranges from Exeter- to
Totness, from Totness to Bodmin, from Bodmin
to Barnstaple, and from Barnstaple to Penzance.
To have a better idea of this disjointed system,
take the following case :—A person writes to
Exeter for the will of a man who has died
within the limits of the Archdeacoury of Corn-
wall ; a letter comes back informing him that he
must write to the registrar at Boumin. The
registrar at Bodmin writes that the will is •not
there, by reason of the Bishop's inhibition (a
periodical suspension of the lesser powers),
and he then re-writes to Exeter. All this is
frivolous, vexatious, and absurd. To proceed :
in Gloucester they are kept in an insecure build-
ing, and the Dean and Chapter have nut (as
the return testifies) yet been brought to allow a
more secure place to be provided ! In Lich-
field, we are sent sometimes to Bridgenorth, at
others to Shrewsbury and Ellesmere, and even
to the Peak of Derbyshire. York is eminently
fertile in the abuses of peculiars and manorial
courts—but it is useless to swell the list. One
diocese telleth another, and the evil will be best
explained by referring to the report. One
hypothetical instance more will suffice. A person
wishing to obtain the will of a man who died
at Thatne, in Oxfordshire, naturally writes
to Oxford ; from Oxford he is referred to
Lincoln, and from Lincoln to Aylesbury, in
Buckinghamshire, that place being a-peculiar in
the deanery of Lincoln ! To give a still better
idea of the peculiarities of some of these said
peculiars, the following note, relating to that
of Corsham, in Wilts, occurs in the report ;••,-
4' The vicar is now abroad, but is expected home
shortly : no wills can be proved, in his absence !"
First, then, the keeping of wills over porches
and cloisters in cathedrals is bad, because they
are exposed to damp, and are therefore insecure.
Secondly, the keeping them in private dwellings
is bad, because they may be lost or destroyed,
and are therefore insecure. In stating this, no
charges are brought against any individuals for
neglect—it is the fault of the system, and should
be corrected. Nevertheless, it is a notorious
fact to all who have been engaged such re.
searches, that many wills of no very ancient date
have, through the insecurity of their situation,
become totally illegible, or been reduced to a,
mass of powder, and that many, mentioned in
the indexes, are not to be found. The registry
of wills in the different dioceses is generally in-
tended as a facility for the poorer classes ; and
in order to proportion the expellees raNsordingly,
they are called upon to pay ss. Gd. for a search
which the wealthier citizen can make at Doctors'-
commons for Is. This is bad—unjust as far as
regards the poorer inquirer, who is made to pay
such a sum,—injurious as far as regards the
interests of all whose property may depend
upon the issue of a search, and voseatious to
the antiquarian, who may find all his labours
lost in a cloud of pulverized parchment,
which simultaneously blinds his eyes and
stifles his inquiries. The remedies (better
late than never) which may be suggested, are—
first, that all wills, now to be found in the dif.
ferent dioceses, whether kept by the bishov or
the steward of a manor, should be transcribed
witleproper, alphabetical indexes, and forwarded
to the registry office in London, or to some
other room chosen for the purpose, and to be
open to public inspection on. the same terms as
those now in the Prerogative: Court ; secondly,
that an alphabetical index be likewiao kept at the
different registry offices in the counties, or at the
Episcopal registry office in each diocese, and
that care be taken to put the wills themselves
into a proper place of security, either in the
office or in the vestry ; and lastly, that from
henceforth, transcripts of all wills be sent annu-
ally to the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. As
a quest= of expense, when we are engaged in
building palaces, bridges, arches, and
P
offices, it would be perfeerly contempti'aie tooospt--
pose such a proposition ; and, as a Question of
difficulty, should it be deemed impracticable
(not
that obtain
transcripts of every will throughout the
kingdom,no
that it is admitted by -any room)
laot
daglel
de vienn tis4einite:reN:ganitiivgehct
obuert.macle
Theo longerand
we wait the worse will the evil became, and in
point of mere utility the transcribing of the tes-
tamentary evidence in the different dioceses, on
which the fate of much property may depend,
would lie far greater than the printing the In-
quzditio»es Post-mortem, and the many other
public records which Parliament has proceeded
in a most praiseworthy manner to rescue from
destruction, The evil of these petty jurisdictions
is palpable, and the remedy plain. It is to be
hoped that Parliament will do something.

PROVIDENTIAL ESCAPE.— On Tuesday
evening as a child of Mr. Fixer, baker, in the High-
street, was reaching a bird from the mantel-piece, her foot
slipoed, and her clothes taking fire, she was immedi:lttly
enveloped in flames. The screams of the child attracted
the notice of two gentlemen who were passing at the time,
who instantly rolled the little sufferer in a carpet, lvhe,ehv
she was saved from greet misery and prcittat.ly front .:eath.
—Cite/Unita/N. ChroniCir.