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Leader (1850-1860), 7th August 1852, Edition Town of 2, Page 755, Untitled Article

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      Bless its slow imbecility ! Had it not been f r that gentle dulnees , swimming without adnnce in the Fleet of old routine , we might have "had London by this time mined with a magnificent modernization of Roman grandeur—just t the point of time when we have all but convinced ourselves that Roman grandeur of that subterra nean kind is not- at all the thing wanted , but a totally new plan . " Dirt , " says I ^ ord Palmerston , after an excellent propagandist of sound sewage views , "is but is

      matter in the wrong place . sewage oreaa , t ) ast and prospective , in its transition state . If , Indeed , you arrest its transition , and keep it stagnant your bread will not be replaced , or must be replaced by some great effort with extraneous matter , just as we replace it with guano from P eru , while we pour millions sterling into the T hames in the shape of our own indigenous euano , sent to waste . Water used to be bthe Romanin noble

      transmitted y s aqueducts , of great architectural pretensions : we find pipes more convenient , especially at the branches . Pipes to bring in the water fresh for human use ; pipes to carry away the refuse , the matter that has subserved human use—such would be the beau-ideal of drainage ; drainage being , in fact , but the half of the entire circulation . ' With that ever moving vehicle , our surfip p and house drainage might be constantly

      carrying back to the fields , by a cheap and inoffensive process , that which has been borrowed from the fields , in the . shape of water and food . A £ feat arterial and venous system of pipes , conveying reci procally the matter that has to be restored to vegetable and animal organization , is the desideratum which has now obtained the recognition of all clear-sighted Sanitary reformers , lias been illustrated by Mr . Mechi at Tiptree , and proclaimed by Lord Palmerston at Lewes .

      But Lord Palmerston is far ahead of the Metropolitan Sewer Commission , and it is only by its fortunate imbecility that it has been prevented from constructing under London a subterranean labyrinth of arched ways , highly convenient for armies of mudlarks and rats , but as wholly unsuited to be the channel for a rushing circulation of water aa the Thames Tunnel would be to serve

      by way of hose for a iire-engine . It has amused the public ; it has illustrated one true position of Whiggism in draining reform—pretending to get ou , building up exploded institutions , and blocking out real workmen ; but has happily carried Whig principles so far as to do nothing . Wo have as yet no Chandos clause in favour of the rats . We are almost where wo were ; and if we

      keep so until we have in power a Minister who understands the matter , we shall find the ground less embarrassingly preoccupied . So long live Sir John Burgoyne and tho Metropolitan Commissioners of Sewers .

      Untitled Article

      OUR FAVOURITE TYRANT FOB HOME CONSUMPTION . BiCFOitrc us is a copy of the will of John Paver , dated January 15 , 1721—a document by which hangs a curious tale . There is , indeed , a tale incorporated in tho will itself—how John Paver , of A ( raster Sclby , in tho county of York , late of Virginia , had lost writings relating to property in America and Bohemia , " which came to Milliania , lny lato wife , " whereof advantage had been taken to ] uh tho will also recitindivers gonea-¦ w «»¦ -

      wrong ; g * 'w jun vy J . \ JxMti j * ji Iks " »•» w »"" * v v « v » * j— ^ . »» T . ^ -.------. logical facts , back to the reign ot Queen Elizabeth , and connecting tho testator with divers other families—notably with the family of Woodroof , Woodrofl'o , or Woodrooflb , and also with tho Percys of Northumberland . The small bequestrt made by John Paver , of " live pounds unto Kllen , daughter of my lato son , Woodroo / Ib Paver , " can bo of little interest at the present day , but some facts connected with this will arc worth attention .

      Tho will of Maximillian Woodrooffo was proved at York on the 2 nd of Juno , 1 ( 552 , and his position in tho compound pedigree is clear « nougli . it is remarkable , howover , that in the will of John Paver no mention in made of the testator ' s second wife , Lucy , tho daughter of Bernard . Kllin , of York , nor of William Paver , of York , their hod , who compiled a . pedigree of the family in 17 < ) 4 . On the face of it , therefore , the document in peculiar for its elaborate recital of certain genealogical facts , und its silence ro-Hpecting another genealogical fact . In tho llaronia Analica , vol . i . p . 3 ( 30 , published in 1814 , in

      this not e respecting the pedigree of Paver , of York : —" Mr . Paver , it is to be observed , is the eldest co-heir of the baronies of ' Percy' and ' Poyninge , ' and holds one entire moiety of the same . " Thus there may probably be some surviving interest in this will , so remarkable for its genealog ical discrimination , although the bequests have lost their interest . The custody of wills is a function of the Ecclesiastical Courts , and it is one which they have exercised with more tenacity than fidelity to the trust , Registrars have been so tenacious , that they

      would induce poor people to come in and prove their wills under threats , though the property was worth little to the legatee ; but then the fees were worth something to the registrars . They have been so tenacious of the status quo , that _ the inquirer seeking information , even for historical purposes , met with repellant insolence . Sir Harris Nicolas , who emphatically describes this kind of treatment in the preface to his Testamenta Vetusta ( page 13 ) , is not the only person who complains : and he says the tone was still more insolent than the terms . With all this

      tenacity , however , the fidelity is not great . One facetious registrar , at Kilkenny , kept the wills in open hampers , and his servants used to burn them for domestic purposes . The registers of the sees of Ferns and Leighlin do not go back further than the latter end of the seventeenth century . Indeed , it is notorious that in many hands old wills are rubbish to be thrown about at pleasure—kicked about as the vent for passion , or treated as a joke , as those in charge of the fawho habituall

      cetious registrar at Durham , y lighted his pipe with a fresh will , and exclaimed every £ ime , with outspoken relish of the fun , ' " Here goes the testator ! " Sometimes , however , the treatment of the wills is promoted from culpable negligence to an attention of a still more culpable kind . An example is ready to our hand in a story told in a new , beautifully printed , and erudite publication . , called Postulates and Data , by a writer who tells the story of that very will to which we - alluded at the commencement of

      this paper : — " The disgraceful state of the wills in the diocese of York appears on several occasions to have called forth public indignation ; and the honourable member for Halifax , in his examination before Parliament in 1832 , states— ' 1 inspected the registry at York , and found it perfectly accord with tlia description T had Tfircived from various literary and antiquarian gentlemen . The place where t he records are kept is not secure , exposed to the effects of the damp , nnd accumulation of dirt—wi ng much torn tied with common string . ' On

      19 th February , 1850 , two gentlemen had occasion to visit the Will Office at York , for tho purpose of making some searches among the early records . In searching the Index No . 76 , for the years 1721 and 1722 , they discovered written in a , modern hand the name of John Paver . It appeared that a clerk in the office , of that name , claimed to he the representative of tho house of Percy , and heir to all the ancient baronies of that illustrious family ; this modern insertion caused a doubt in their minds , and the doubt was considerably strengthened by the production of the protended will itself , dated if > January , 1721 . It actually recited that the

      testator , John Paver , had married Milhan , ojily daughter and heiress of Maximillian Wood rootle , « m and heir of Max ' nnillian Woodrooil ' e , who was eldest son und heir of Richard YVoodroofle , by Lady Klizabeth Percy , daughter of tho Karl of Northumberland , and that the said John Paver , eldest son and heir , was then dead , and that William Paver , his grandson , was his oldest son and heir , and that his ( Win . P . ' s ) eldest child John was then living . Tho ICarl of Northumberland was beheaded in 1572 , and the last-mentioned John Paver died in l 7 (»() , so that this will extended over no less than 188 yearn and proved eight generations . It is fortunate for those persons having estates or titles dopending on tho records at York , that about this period

      the wills were all copied into volumes , which Mr . l * rotheroe describes as ' of prodigious bulk , and requiring a man of herculean strength to move them ; ' for , on a most careful search made by both gentlemen , from 1719 to 1 . 731 , no such will could ho discovered in those books , which clearly proved that tho will hud boon placed in tho office long since that period . Shortly after , several articles appeared in Mr . Charles Dickons ' s lloumliofd Words , on tho ( subject . Those had tho effect of the removal or destruction of the pretended will , and tho erasure from the parchment Index Hook , No . 70 , of tho name of John Paver j for , on a visit to this office by tho same gentleman , on 10 th and 24 th July , 1851 , for the purpose of showing the document to u gentleman of high standing in tho logal profession ,

      no traces could be discovered save the erasure from the Index under the letter P ¦/ " We enter into no other iniquities of the Ecclesiastical courts . We say nothing of their tyrannies exemplified , as in the case of David Jones , the Unitarian weaver , of Llanon , in Carmarthenshire , who was imprisoned for contumacy as churchwarden , because he . had no funds out of which to procure bread and wine for the sacrament . Exemplified also in the case of the respectable farmer James , who , opposing a Tory candidate , was cited by the Tory Vicar of Llanelly

      for " absenting himself from church ; was tried before the rural dean , who was judge of the Ecclesiastical Court , and editor of the Tory Carmarthen journal , and condemned to prison and costs . We say nothing of the nonsensical penances and other obsolete offences which these courts still have the privilege of committing . The mistreatment of the Wills should alone suffice to ensure the abolition of public incorporations which so grossly misbehave themselves . JSTobody , however , can agree upon the particular plan by which the courts shall be abolished ; and thus

      while honourable Members , in the intervals of business , occasionally jangle over a " Bill" to do something or other in reference to those courts , the Registrars and other people with vested interests continue to enjoy their fun and profit amongst the Wills . " Here goes the testator — and a pedigree , cries one humorous functionary at Durham . Here goes the testator—and the legatees , might the Kilkenny Registrar cry , chucking them into the common hamper . Here

      goes the testator—and the Baronies , might some gentleman at York exclaim , inserting the will on the record . Here goes the testator—and the Baronies , might some one else . ejaculate , while abolishing the record with the stroke of Ms pen . To the dying man the Will is the one great last act of life , involving affection , duty , and all that remains of this world . To the survivors the Will may be independence or penury . To the Registrar , whether the Will be in hamper or rat ' s-

      nest _ whether he folds it up carefully amongst the records , or puts it in his pipe and smokes it the Will is but the means to an end , and that is the great end of official life—Fees .

      Untitled Article

      ARMY PURCHASE . —CORRUPT PRACTICES . Although commissions are procured by purchase , the applications for them are so numerous that the issue is always in arrear , and the Commander-in-chief has to keep a list of persons who have applied . The United Service Gazette states that this list generally contains about 1800 names . Of course the military secretary cannot keep these names continually in his mind , and hence ho relies on the recommendation of officers with whom he comes personally in contact . Of course , also , such a plan gives rise to many abuses . There is favouritism ; and many who have every right to take their turn in duo order remain on tho list for years , with slight hope of a commission . Our contemporary avers , however , that

      the abuse is still greater : —• "Though theexcellent and honourable Military Secretary may know to what extent this goes on , we unhesitatingly state , Unit then ! are persons of nil classes , in town and elsewhere , putting themselves in communication with the gentlemen who prepare young men for the army , olleiing , for certain minis , to get their names brought ' forward some months earlier than they could otherwise hope for . No less than four persons totally unknown to each other , assured a friend of ours tho week before last that they possessed this mysterious power . Of course they wen ; very close as to the manner in which the thing was done ; but , one of them

      having , demanded ' AOOL or 400 / . to ellect a certain ohjeet , " ho was roundly asked into whose pockets such a sum would go ? lie answered , in great confidence , that he was obliged to bribe certain necessitous general oflieers , who would wait upon Lord Fit zroy Somerset , and , on the strength of their rank and services , solicit the favour of his speedily nominating the youth who was to pay the amount , " 'Hie others asked much lews for what they proposed to cfU'ct , and declined to . state how they accomplished the end ; hut that they had tho means they were prepared to prove by reference to certain successful cases-- Mini , in <<> nay , eorta . n preferential nominations obtained throug h their mouiiM , » i . no distant date . "

      According to this . statement , a very corruption ih making it * way into- tho army ; and military men wellknow , that froo as oiheora usually uro in many mutLcrn , moral con-iyUion ,

      Untitled Article

      Attgust 7 , 1852 . ] THE LEADER . ™*

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 7, 1852, page 755, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1946/page/15/