NAVY PROMOTIONS. PROMOTIONS. 12. To be Rear-Admiral on the reserved half-pay list, Capt. Percy Grace. -To be Rear-Admiral of the Blue, Capt. Henry Dundas; to be Rear-Admiral of the White, Sir James Stirling; to be Rear-Admiral of the Red, Sir Watkin Owen Pell. ECCLESIASTICAL PREFERMENTS. Right Rev. W. Higgin, D.D., to the Rev. R. W. Barnes, Canonry in the Rev. J. Drummond, Honorary Canonry in Peterborough Cathedral. Rev. T. Fell, jun., Honorary Canonry in Peterborough Cathedral. Rev. F. H. Freeth, Honorary Canonry in Collegiate Church of Cumbrae. Rev. E. H. Gifford, Honorary Canonry in Worcester Cathedral. Ven. Rev. S. Hood (Dean of Argyll and the Isles), Honorary Canonry in Collegiate Church of Cumbrae. Rev. E. Huxtable, Canonry in Wells Cathedral. Rev. J. P. Keigwin, Honorary Canonry in Collegiate Church of Cumbrae. Rev. G. C. White, Honorary Canonry in Collegiate Church of Cumbrae. Rev. H. M. Mapleton, Honorary Canonry in Collegiate Church of Cumbrae. Rev. H. H. Westmore, Minor Canonry in Manchester Cathedral. Rev. T. Protheroe, Chaplain in Ordinary to the Queen. DECEMBER. GAZETTE PROMOTIONS. 6. Rear-Adm. Sir William Edward Parry, knt., to be Lieut.-Governor of Greenwich Hospital. 7. Hercules James Robertson, esq., advocate, to be one of the Lords of Session in Scotland. 8. Robert Campbell, esq. (now Consul at Dunkirk), to be Consul at Rhodes and the other Turkish Islands in the Archipelago. Niven Kerr, esq. (now Consul at Rhodes), to be Consul at Dunkirk. 9. Major-Gen. Henry Godwin, C.B., Brig. Gen. Scudamore Winde Steel, C.B., of the Madras Army, and Commodore George Robert Lambert, R.N., to be Knights Commanders of the Bath; and Lieut.-Col. Edward Alan Holdich, 80th Foot, Capt. John Walter Tarleton, R.N., and Capt. Charles Fred. Shadwell, R.N., to be Companions of the said Order; Lieut.-Col. James Colley Tudor, Bengal Fusiliers, Lieut.-Col. Hugh Fraser, Bengal Engineers, and Capt. Henry Blosse Lynch, of the Indian Navy, to be extra Companions of the same. Lieut.-Col. Archibald Bogle, of the Bengal Establishment, Civil Commissioner in the Tenasserim and Martaban Provinces, knighted by patent. 13. Niven Moore, esq., now Consul at Beyrout, to be Consul-General in Syria. 22. Robert Macfarlane, esq., advocate, to be Sheriff of the shire of Renfrew. 23. The Hon. Henry Elliot, now Secretary of Legation at the Hague, to be COLLEGIATE AND SCHOLASTIC APPOINT- Secretary of Legation at Vienna. 24. John Bowring, esq., now Consul at Canton, to be Plenipotentiary and Chief Superintendent of British Trade in China. 27. Joseph Burnley Hume, esq., barrister-at-law, John Simon, esq., and John Frederic Bateman, esq., to be Commissioners for inquiring into the causes which have led to and aggravated the late outbreak of Cholera at Newcastleupon-Tyne, Gateshead, and Tynemouth. Mr. Temple, Mr. Edward James, Mr. Grove, and Mr. Montague Smith, to be Queen's Counsel. John J. Dyer, esq., to be Chief Clerk of the Admiralty. REGISTER ARMY APPOINTMENTS. 2. 53rd Foot, Capt. John M'Neill Walter to be Major. 7. Royal Engineers, Lieut.-Gen. Sir Charles W. Pasley, K.C.B., to be Colonel-Commandant. 9. 20th Foot, Major-Gen. Henry Godwin, C.B., to be Colonel.-Brevet, Col. Sir John Cheape, K.C.B., of the Hon. East India Company's Service, to be an Honorary Aide-de-Camp to Her Majesty. To be Lieut.-Colonels in the Army: Majors Francis Wigston, 18th Foot, A. C. Errington, 51st Foot, C. A. Edwards, 18th Foot, and A. T. Rice, 51st Foot. To be Majors in the Army: Capt. A. N. Campbell, 18th Foot, and Capt. W. T. Bruce, 18th Foot.-To be Lieut.-Colonels in the Army in the East Indies: Majors Joseph Turton, Bengal Art., John Welchman, 10th Bengal N. I., William Hill, 1st Madras Fusiliers, J. G. Neill, 1st Madras Fusiliers, J. C. Boulderson, 35th Madras N. Inf., Hugh Fraser, Bengal Eng., G. C. Armstrong, 47th Bengal N. Inf., Henry Cotton, 67th Bengal N. Inf., and C. S. Reid, Bengal Art.-To be Majors in the Army in the East Indies: Captains W. A. J. Mayhew, 8th Bengal N. Inf., S. G. C. Renaud, 1st Madras Fusiliers, Grant Allan, 3rd Madras N. Inf., A. R. Dallas, 1st Madras N. Inf., W. F. Nuthall, 18th Bengal N. Inf., and Albert Fytche, 70th Bengal N. Inf. 13. Coldstream Foot Guards, Lieut. and Capt. William Mark Wood to be Captain and Lieut.-Colonel, vice Paget. -48th Foot, Lieut. Col. Henry McManus, Inspecting Field Officer of the Militia in the Ionian Islands, to be Lieut.-Colonel, vice brevet Col. Hon. A. Dalzell, who exchanges; Major Benjamin Riky to be Lieut. Colonel, vice McManus; Capt. Andrew Green to be Major. 16. Major-Gen. the Hon. Sir George 23. 60th Foot, Major C. H. Spence Major E. S. T. Swyny to be Lieut.- 30. 4th Foot, Lieut.-Gen. Sir John Bell, K.C.B., from 95th Regt., to be Colonel. 20th Foot, Major-Gen. Nathaniel Thorn, C.B., to be Colonel.95th Foot, Major-Gen. Sir Francis Cockburn to be Colonel.-14th Light Dragoons, brevet Major William Wilmer to be Major.-20th Foot, Capt. F. C. Evelegh to be Major.-34th Foot, Lieut.-Col. C. F. Maxwell, from 82nd Foot, to be Lieut.-Colonel.-68th Foot, Major Henry Smyth to be Lieut.-Colonel; Capt. H. G. Wynne to be Major. -82nd Foot, Lieut.-Col. Nicholas R. Brown, from 34th Foot, to be Licut.Colonel.-87th Foot, Capt. Alexander Murray to be Major.-Ceylon Rifle Regiment, Major Lord Mark Kerr, from 20th Foot, to be Lieut.-Colonel. NAVY PROMOTIONS. 5. Capt. the Hon. Montagu Stopford to be Rear-Admiral of the Blue.-Retired Capt. William Hotham, K.H., to be retired Rear-Admiral on the terms proposed 1st of September, 1846. Appointments.-5. Rear-Adm. Arthur Fanshawe, C.B., Superintendent of Portsmouth Dockyard, to succeed Sir George Seymour, K.C.B., in the Command-in-Chief in the West Indies. -Rear-Adm. William Fanshawe Martin to succeed Rear-Adm. Fanshawe as Superintendent of Portsmouth Dockyard. 19. Capt. R. L. Warren to the Cressy, 80, screw-steamship. 21. Comm. John W. Domville to the Cressy. 22. Capt. Thomas S. Brock, additional to the Britannia, 120. 28. Capt. John Shepherd (1840) to the Fisgard, flag ship, for service as Commodore Superintendent of Woolwich Dockyard.-Capt. George Ramsay to the Euryalus, 50, screw steam-frigate. -Capt. Sir Fred. W. E. Nicolson, bart., to the Pique, 40.-Capt. A. P. Ryder to the Dauntless, 24, screw steam-frigate.-Capt. Charles Graham, C.B., to be Naval Aide-de-camp to the Queen. To be Captains: George A. Bedford, James N. Strange, James Stoddart, and George A. Seymour. PROMOTIONS. To be Commanders: Frederick H. Stevens, George P. Mends, Charles H. May, Fred. A. B. Craufurd, and Francis H. Shortt. To be Captains on the Reserved List: R. S. Hay, W. C. Browne, Felix Edwin, J. L. Parkin, S. C. Umfreville, H. D. Twysden, T. P. Dobree, T. Baldock, and H. M. Ellicombe. To be Commanders on the Reserved List: W. P. Newenham, A. J. Clifford, Thomas Strover, John Bowden, William Luce, Henry Lawless, John Parsons, G. Raymond, and Peter Barnes. ECCLESIASTICAL PREFERMENTS. Rev. W. Atkinson, Honorary Canonry in the Cathedral Church of Durham. Rev. W. F. Kaye, Honorary Canonry in the Cathedral Church of Lincoln. Rev. W. Procter, Honorary Canonry in the Cathedral Church of Durham. Rev. W. Sherrard, Prebend and Rectory of Inniskenny, dio. Cork. Rev. W. C. Williamson, Chancellorship of the Cathedral Church of Cloyne. COLLEGIATE AND SCHOLASTIC APPOINT MENTS. G. W. Dasant, M.A., Professorship of English Literature and Modern History, King's College, London. Rev. A. McCaul, D.D., Professorship of Ecclesiastical History, King's College, London. Hon. and Rev. L. Neville, Mastership of St. Mary Magdalene College, Cambridge. Rev. C. A. Swainson, Principal of the Theological College, Chichester. CIVIL PREFERMENT. 6. Capt. Sir Charles Hotham, R.N., K.C.B., to be Lieut.-Governor of the colony of Victoria. MEMBERS RETURNED TO SERVE IN PARLIAMENT. Clonmel. John O'Connell, esq. Warwickshire (S.).-Evelyn Philip Shirley, esq. TRIALS, LAW CASES, &c. THE BRIDGEWATER CASE. IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS. August 19, 1853. EGERTON, Appellant; BROWNLOW AND OTHERS, Respondents. THE leading facts of this very remarkable case, which arose out of the extraordinary provisions of the will of the last Earl of Bridgewater, and involved the diversion of estates valued at 70,000l. per annum from the sons of the last possessor and the natural heir of the testator, have been sufficiently set forth in the "LAW CASES" of the volume of the ANNUAL REGISTER for the year 1851. It is there recorded that the cause was argued with great ability before the present Lord Chancellor, then one of the Vice-Chancellors, who, in giving judgment, stated that the only questions were, first, whether the conditions of the will by which Lord Alford and his heirs would become vested of the estates in fee were conditions precedent or subsequent; and, secondly, whether the conditions were or were not impossible, or contrary to public policy and his Lordship was clearly of opinion that the conditions were conditions precedent, and not having been complied with, that the estates passed over to the next substituted heir of entail; and his Lordship thought that, in consequence, it was not necessary to enter into the question whether the conditions were contrary to public policy or otherwise. An appeal against this decision was brought to the House of Lords, the court of last appeal; that august tribunal, constituted, as to its operative part, of those lawyers and jurisprudents who have achieved, by the wisdom of a wellproven legal life, those dignities which place them among the hereditary legislators and councillors of the realm; and whose judicial decisions, based upon the experience of the bar and the bench, are sanctioned by those hereditary peers, whose position places them, as a body, above all temptations to unjust judgment. The result of the appeal to this tribunal upon the present occasion was most remarkable. Upon ordinary appeals, whatever may be the result, the decision, however unexpected, is seldom in direct conflict with those of the ordinary tribunals. In the Bridgewater Case, the House of Lords took an entirely independent view of the case, and gave a decision not only directly reversing that of a most able and conscientious Judge, but in utter conflict with the opinions of the ancient and constitutional assessors of their Lordships' House, the Judges of the land. The case having been most carefully argued before the House of Lords, by the most able counsel, their Lordships directed the following questions to be submitted to the learned Judges. "Taking the facts from the printed cases, but reading the will as if it were a devise to the uses therein mentioned, and not a devise to trustees to convey to those uses, the following questions are to be put to the Judges: 1st. On the decease of Lord Alford, did his eldest son, the appellant, become entitled to any and what estate in the lands devised in remainder immediately expectant on the terms of 99 years? "2nd. If he did, is such estate liable to be defeated, on any and what events, and may it or may it not come in esse, or revive again, on any and what event or events? 5th. Are all or any, and which, of the several provisoes void? "6th. Are the provisoes, or any and which of them, to be treated as conditions precedent? "7th. In the events which has happened, has the jointure of Lady Marianne Alford ceased?" Upon the points involved in these questions the learned Judges were divided in opinion; they therefore delivered their answers severally, and at great length. It will be evident from the questions propounded by a Court of such dignity, that legal points Crompton, J., was of opinion (1) that the appellant, Lord Alford's son, took no estate on the decease of Lord Alford; (2) that if Earl Brownlow, Lord Alford's father, should acquire the desired title of Duke or Marquess of Bridgewater, the appellant would take an estate in lands "thenceforth;" (3 and 4) that on Lord Alford's decease Mr. Egerton became entitled to the remainder of the term, subject to be defeated by the provisoes, or by Earl Brownlow acquiring the title; (5) that the provisoes are not illegal; that the provisoes are separable, and if the two last should be bad, they would not affect the good; (6) that the conditions are conditions precedent; (7) that Lady Marianne's jointure had ceased. Williams, J., expressed nearly similar views; but thought (2) that the appellant's title would not revive in any event; (6) that the first and third conditions are precedent, and the second and fourth are precedent or subsequent, according to the state of things as they may arise. Creswell, J., Talfourd, J., Alderson, B., Coleridge, J., Parke, B., expressed the same opinions as Mr. Justice Crompton. Coleridge, J., was of opinion (5) that those conditions are valid which merely point to the acquisition of |