The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-03-08 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD, TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 1853.

REGISTRATION OF ASSURANCES.

THE Bill introduced by the LORD CHANCELLOR,
for the general registration of the title deeds of real
property, was read a second time in the House of
Lords on Thursday, after a lengthened and ani-
mated discussion. The object of this measure is to
establish a general registration for the whole of
England, on a plan almost similar to that which
has prevailed some time in the Counties of -York
and Middlesex, and which has also been practised
in Scotland, Ireland, and the Colonies. The Bill
was opposed by Lord ST. LEONARD'S, 011 the
grounds chiefly of its inefficiency and alleged great
expense; but as Lord CAMPBELL, who entered
warmly into its defence, asserted that all the ob-
jections to it might be obviated in Committee, it
was allowed to pass the second reading. We are
aware that the opinions of so able a lawyer as Lord
ST. LEONARD'S, especially on the subject of real
property, are entitled to great weight ; but, on the
other hand, the difficulties attending the transfer of
land, arising from the great expense in the investi-
gation of titles, are so formidable, that there is a
natural anxiety to surmount them, if possible. It
is one of the most serious imposts upon the landed
property of this country that the costs of con-
veyance operate in many instances as a complete
bar to its transfer, where the value is small; and
though the proposed registration may not operate
to render a defective title good, it will have that
effect in course of time, by securing existing titles
from accumulation of defects. By the registration
of every future transfer, the process will be con-
siderably simplified ; and though there are neces-
sarily defects in every system of human institution,
if the proposed registration does but help to remove
some of them, it will be an improvement on the
present system. The opposition of the late LORD
CHANCELLOR was backed by a petition from the
Committee of the Provincial Law Association,—a
course by no means to be wondered at, if the effect
of the measure will be to diminish the cost of con-

The public have here, however, an
antagonist interest, and it is to be hopel that the
Bill will receive such modifications in Committee as
will remove most of the serious objections which
have been raised to its passing.

veyances

THE ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS.
THE meagre list of paltry measures which has been
made to serve as the programme of Ministerial
policy has had the effect which we anticipated, and
the time of the Commons of England is nightly
wasted in profitless and wordy discussions on the
crotchets of obscure members. This was the case
on Tuesday, when Mr. COLLIER, a barrister of
humble reputation, and of no pretensions to occupy
the place of a Legislator, indulged in a long
harangue on a subject on which he had no expe-
rience; and, having retailed all the popular errors
in that direction, moved for a Select Committee to
pave the way for the abolition of the Ecclesiastical
Courts. The Crown lawyers—of whom the SOLI-
TOR•GENERAL, at least, has some pretensions to
legal experience—had not the moral courage to de-
nounce the motion as a mere vulgar clap-trap, but
urged its withdrawal upon an indefinite promise to
do something at some future time; and it was left
to Dr. PHILLIMORE—tO whom an Election Com-
mittee had just given a seat for Tavistock—to ex-
pose the worthlessness of the attack. We do not
express any opinion as to the merits of the Courts
of Ecclesiastical Judicature, nor the necessity of
their reform, which may be much needed, but
whatever may be their present state, and however
strong the necessity for their reform, it can only be
effected by such able hands as have already im-
proved the Courts of Chancery and the Criminal
Courts. To entrust so important a work to a
tenth-rate junior barrister, whose only experience
has been gained in Assize Courts and Petty Ses-
sions, would be to make the remedy worse than the
disetse, and to throw discredit on that gradual
amelioration of judicial proceedings which has been
so prudently commenced, and so successfully per-
severed in. Fortunately for the cause of justice,
the motion was a failure, and we may therefore anti-
cipate that in due time the abuses complained of
will receive proper attention from those whose posi-
tion and experience qualify them for the important
task. The curse of modern legislation is that
system of tinkering which is the distinguishing
characteristic of Liberalism, and every discourage-
ment should be given to its continuance. It was
the resort of a weak Administration, which, having
no principle nor unity of design, made every impor-
tant measure an open question, and, however it
may suit the views of the Coalition Cabinet to
pursue the same unworthy course, it is the duty of
the Conservative Opposition to interpose a firm
resistance.

THE NEW EPISCOPAL APPOINTMENT.
STATE OE THE CHURCH.

THE nomination of the Rev. JOHN JACKSON,
Rector of St. James's, Westminster, to the Bishop-

ic of Lincoln, rendered vacant by the death of Dr
lAYE, appears to have given general satisfaction
The selection of Mr. JACKSON is the more gratify-
kg, as his clerical life has been devoted to the
pestoral duties of an important and populous metro-
poltan parish, and he is favourably known to the
puKic by the publication of several sermons of a
purely practical character, altogether free from con-
troversial discussion, or that dogmatic assertion on
disputed points which has tended to make parties
in the Church. We are not aware to which member
of the Cabinet is owing the selection, but it is far
more creditable and likely to prove beneficial to the
true interests of the Church than the conduct pur-
sued by Lord JOHN RUSSELL when Dr. HAISsI,.
DEN was tyrannically thrust into a Bishopric,
despite the protests of those who gravely objected
to his orthodoxy. We do not assert for an instant
that there was any ground for the objections which
were raised; bat considering the nature of them, the
formal manner in which they were put, and the
position of those who made them, they were at the
least entitled to enquiry and refutation. Whereas
the conduct of the PREMIER on that occasion was
the assertion of the right on his part to appoint to
so responsible an office without the slightest re-
ference to the qualification of the individual selected.
It was a bad precedent; and for the alditional
reason that his nominee was believed to entertain
extreme views on theological questions—a quality
by no means desirable in a Bishop ; the more so, as
it is well known that extreme views in any direction
tend to destroy that peace and unity which it
should be the anxious endeavour of every member
of the Church to maintain in its fullest efficiency.
In the present exercise of episcopal patronage the
Ministry appear to have steered clear of this error ;
Churcha
a long as the new Prelate is known only as
the zealous promoter of every good work, and the
faithful
head of that portion of the Christian
entrusted to his superintendence, his
appointment will be considered a set-off to the many
short-eml:resinelignists opfartthoaftthCeaibrindeutty%.vho have so well
performed t •
with reference positiontot
appears to be divided
h e twoof
greatthe
parties Church
in
nf
which England,
sh e
sveieriwouhseraapsprtehheenwsiitoiss'has naturally excited much
in the minds of those who
and keeper of Holy Writ,
and the especial instrument of the evangelisation of
mankind. It is a subject on which we feel loath to
comment in the columns of a newspaper ; but in
recent times it has been brought so prominently
under public discussion, as literally to force itself
upon our attention. We cannot conceal from
ourselye§ the lamentable fact that, while the Church

in her formularies and her articles lays down a
simple rule of faith, based upon the Holy Scrip-
tures and the practice of the primitive church,
there are zealous clergymen, of undoubted ability
and unsuspected integrity, who take opposite views
on what some would consider minor points ; and in
the exuberance of their zeal make little or no
allowance for the opinions of others. It will be
found that in many of these controversies much of
the difference arises from giving a varied interpre-
tation to the same word, which, if understood by
both parties in the same sense, would render both
of one mind. It is, we are sure, the anxious desire
of many that the Church should be at unity
within herself ; and this is a consummation the
more devoutly to be wished, as she will require all
her strength to combat her enemies from without.
She has Romanism on the one hand, with all the
insidious arts of superstition fostered by gaudy
ceremonial; and on the other hand, she has the
monster of Infidelity and the varied phases of lati-
tudinarian heresy. With her own simple rule of
faith, the Holy Scriptures for her guide, and her
services, magnificent in their beauty and simplicity,
she requires but the union of all her members to
realise the promise of her being founded on a rock.
She has but to be true to herself to withstand the
shock of a world in arms against her ; and we have
hazarded these few remarks in the hope that the
appointment to the see of Lincoln is an earnest of
better times ; that those who have hitherto avowed
extreme opinions, wil!, in Christian charity, accord
something to the convictions of those who may have
conscientiously differed from them ; and that all will
cordially unite in furtherance of the one great
object which has hitherto made the Reformed
Church the pride and the blessing of Christian
England. •

CORRESPONDENCE.

Letters addressed to the Editor should be accompanied by the
real name and address of the writer, not for publication, but
as a guarantee of guod faith ; this is indispensably requisite
in any statement of facts.
The Editor wishes it to be understood that he does not hold
himself responsible for the opinions or statements of his
correspondents.

LONG SERMONS.

To the EDITOR of the LIVERPOOL STANDARD

SIR,—How does your correspondent " Ephra" get over the
notorious fact, that (with very few exceptions on either side)
the long preachers in this town have large congregations, and
the short preachers comparatively small ones ? This may be
no proof that sermons ought to be long; but it seems to mili-
ate rather strongly against the notion which " Ephra" enter-
a ins, of long sermons being generally disliked.—l am, Sir,
A CONSTANT READER.

THE LIVERPOOL ELECTION PETITION.

DURING the last few days some little excitement has
been created, owing to a number of individuals in the
town having been served with Speaker's warrants to give
evidence before a committee as to certain alleged illegal
practices at the last election for this borough. The cir-
cumstance has been eagerly seized hold of by our Radical
contemporaries, with a kind of " Didn't I tell you so" air.
Nevertheless, we shall adhere to our former opinion, until
there is something more definite, as Liverpool is not
among the places for which committees are provided,
though several have been appointed for more than a month
beforehand. To charge a man with bribery who had above

1,200 votes to spare, is something new in electioneering
matters ; but in the present temper of election committees
there is no telling what testimony they may choose toadmit
as proof. In the meantime, it is shrewdly suspected
that the affair of the Speaker's warrants is intended more
by way of inducing a compromise than with any serious
intention of prosecuting the petition. In either case it
must be a failure ; and we caution our Conservative friends
against giving any credence to the reports so industriously
circulated.