The National Register. — London, England, 1809-03-05 00:00:00

111.VRCII 5. TIIE NATIONAL REGISTER. thus the original creditor received only a dividend upon a divi dend. This was evidently a great abuse, and he meant to pro pose, that the creditors should be authorised to appoint a bank, in which the bankrupt's property may be deposited. The creditors had this power already, but there was no penalty on the assignees for non-compliance. By way of remedy he meant to propose, that if the creditors did not at their second meeting appoint such a place of deposit, then it :hi) ;id he done ;my the commissioners; and that the assignees should be charged 20 per cent. on the value of all time efiects which they kept in their hands. lie also meant to pro pose enactments which ••could have the effect of lessening the expellees attending commissions of bankruptcy : in particular, that no actions at law should be brought against assignees fur non-payment of dividends, which was a very fruitful source of ex pencobto the bankrupt's estate. He proposed that in such cases there should be a summary remedy by petition to the Lord Chancellor. An uncertificated bankrupt was placed in the most deplorable situation. His industry was lug to himself, and to the country, because he could never con s ider the fr u it s of it as his own, and he was constantly liable to be impri soned during the remainder of his life, for debts contracted previous to his bankruptcy. Before the Act of the 30m Geo. 11. the granting of a certificate was left to the Chan, cellar alone; but now by that Act it was left to the creditors, and unless four-fifths of them in number and value consented to his 'Teel vinga certificate, however fair and honourable the con duct of the bankrupt had been she was liable to remain 'facer tificated for li fe. This was not the only hardship ; for he knew if to be the fact, from his experience in the Court of Chancery, that creditors sometimes kept away, the bankrupt did not receive his certificate, and he immediately became liable to imprison ment by the creditor who kept aloof. This part of the subject was connected with the policy of imprisonment for life on ac count of debt, and on it he would express his opinion, that it would be doing the greatest benefit to society by abolishing altogether such a system. If the bankrupt retained any property, his life was forfeited ; and after all he was liable to be imprisoned for not having what he thus could not possibly have. From his experience he could say, certificates were seldom withheld from dishonest bankrupts, hut often from those who had acted honestly. The general object of withholding these certificates was to ex tort money, either from the bankrupts themselves, at after periods, or from their relatives, and the father of the bankrupt, from paternal sympathy, was ()Reim compelled to part with the earnings of a life of iutiost ry to save his on from perpetual im prisonment. The number of uncertifieateil bankrupts aas very great. In the year ISO) there were 940 ban!crupts, and of these there werelSl without a certificate ; iu 1;406 there were WS and of these 601 were uneertificated. Within the 1:14 20 years, the whole number of bankrupts had been 16,202. and of these 0,597 were without certificates. In 1772, a temnoorary Act was passed, similar to the Insolvency Act, by which time Lord Chancellor was empowered to grant certificates in such bank rupts as he thought proper ; and in 1775, a similar Act was passed. Was it reasonable that the fate of bankrupts should be more in the power of their credttors now th;al was thought proper then I Why should these acts have been only temporary What he should propose was this : ifat the end of 2 years after the bank rupt's last examination his certificate should not he signed by four-fifths of his creditors, then he might apply for it to the Lord Chancellor, who should have power to grant the same, unless the creditors assigned satisfactory grounds for the refusal. He should propose also that this should have a retrospective in fluence, and that all those who were at present w ithout their cer tificates for two years should have liberty to appeal to the Lord Chancellor. Here it might be asked, had he nothing to propose for securing the punishment of dishonest bankrupts, the numbers of whom had multiplied. He believed that one great reason why the offence itself was multiplied, because it was made a capital felony. It was now $0 years since the crime was made capital, during which period tbere must have been very nume• rous instances of fraudulent bankruptcy, aod yet ' . 19 all that time there had been only three instances of conviction, it s two of which they had received a pardon. The truth was , that men felt an extreme repugnance at putting the law in force, and therefore, in most cases, the fraudulent bankrupt escaped alto gether. He did not wish to harry through time Bill which he proposed to bring in. If such a' Bill had passed many years ago, how much wealth would have been acquired to the nation by the industry of individuals, who had now been left to pine in absolute want and penury, and how many ileartb that were now brukeu dowu with affliction ,would have 151 heat high from the honest coin iction, that, by well-directed in dustry, they had been enabled to pay all thoso debts which they had formerly incurred. The 'lon, Member then coneluded moving for leave to bring in a Bill to alter and amend the Bank • rupt Laws.—l.eave granted. The A 1 CE 1.3.0 It of the Ex(' n 17911 ER moved the third read ing of the Sugar Distillation Bill : after a fzw words from sir .lames Hall who opposed the Bill, and from Air. DaN is 'l% hu supported it, the Bill wai read a third time and passed. The other orders of the day were then disposed of t and the House adjourned. ThursdaN, .11arch 9. SC 97(11 It 1:CO it DS. The Loan A nvocATr. for SuoTt.A.ND, while he admitted that in its original concoction, there was no s stem MOW pletely calculated to produce the desired effect, than that which had been adopted in Scotland for the preservation of its records, declared his conviction, that still there was I) sv stem w hick, by the lapse of time, might not require improvement. Such was the situation with the regulations for the preservation of thp Records in Scutlaud, His wish, however, was, Dot to do away the cx istihg u:ulations, but gradually to ameliorate and im prove them. lie concluded by moving for leave to bring in 3 Bill for the better regulating the public records of Scotland. twelve was accordingly givel, and the Lord Alvocate, Sir I'. Murray, Mr. H. Dundas, &c. were authorised to prepare and bring in the same.—Adjourned. Friday, hArch 3. • A message from the Lords announced that their Lordships had agreed to the Irish Militia Enlistment Bill. The Vauxhall Bridge Bill, to enable the subscribers to collect a capital, sue and he sued, build houses, and purchase landote t was read a first time. Mr. Lo (' - - KIIART brought in a Bill tiApra the Golden-lane Brewery to sue and be managers. Sir S. ROM ILLY brought up the lit laws now in force concerning bankrup time, and ordered to he read a second 19th inst. and in the meentione to be G Emma T. CI, V E Mr. WI'S N E called the atteatipm of ta u If ouse to the conduct of this officer when he •was examined before the Committee of the whole House respectin his knowledge of Mrs. Clark's terference with military promotions. lo his own mind, the belief of General elavering's having grossly prevaricated wal strongly impressed, and, under that` conviction, no had on a formf.r eventig made a motion upon the sullied, which he was; • aftemards induced to withdraw, at the suggestions of variou4 Members„who thought it would be more properly di ett.:sed winat, the minutes shquid be printed and distributed, and every Geatto t man rod& refreshiiii(anemory with those parts of the testitany wltieh',.intatht heroine the sullject of debate. Ile thought that General (layering's own friends would be nn‘itia,, for a speedy decisiiie of the House respecting him. To support the, motion w Welt he should have the honour to make, he should call the attention of the House to the circumstances of the case. In the first place, General Clavering had offered himself as a vo luntary It - loess, without solicitation. Dad he been compelled to attend the House, prevarication might have been more ex-, cusable ' because a w itness so situated would endeavour to pr o t ec t himself, but:43eneral Clavering, who offered to invalidate the testimeityliCiimither„ and a material lyjtngss, was entitled to no indulgente.' That General paVering had prevaricated he believed tq GOtleman wo ‘ fild entertain the lest domht, if thity peruse the minutes of the • evidence. The non. Member then read questions and aufswers from General elaverines evidence. After which he moved, " That it was the opinion of the Douse that General Clavering had grossly 4)revaricated in the evidence which he had given at the Bar." Sir M ATII VW WHITE It tot.Ey 4tated, that General Clavens ing, in his examination, had no intention of prevaricating when he was examined ; and proposed, berore they should come to a vote, that the Duke of . Argyle, to whom . the (ieneral was relat f ed by marriage, should be permitted to give evidence at the Bar, to confirm the conversation which General Clavering had in his examination stated to have had with him. General Clavering ha 4 been in the service of his country since he was 14 years of age, and had always conducted himself in a manner becoming the charactej to onabk the proprietors et e sued in the names of4heir bill to alter twit ) • tpts,. t . • .o:et ) • ri tit p • chi ' prime .