The Express.
London, England, 1849-06-18 00:00:00

flonshis and if it shall appear to the commis-
sioner that there is reasonable cau.,e for relying on
such defence, he is to make an in•torsemsnt upon the
gumming to that effect; otherwise, the act of bank-
ruptcy will be complete, if payment or security be
not given.
The power here given to the commissioner is no
doubt great, and *id require to be exercise d with a
wise discretion: The second he►d relates to the
bankru,a's discharge from his debts by the certificate
of coaf•irmity. On this more extensive power to
limit the certificate is given to the commissioner than
at present exists. After the last examination 21
days' notice of a public sitting for the allowance of the
certificate is tobe given, at which any credit er who
has preyed his debt, and given three clear days notice
in writing of his intention, may oppose the grant of
the certificate. The court may allow, reuse, or
suspend, the certificate, or annex to it ally conditions;
and such conditions may extend. under special cir-
cumstances, to deprive the bankrupt of any real cr
personal property, which may descend, be devised, or
bequeathed. ur come to him, othe, wise than by his
own tenoned earning, or as the salary of any office,
after the allowance of such certificate, in which case
such property Chill pass to the esslgneer.
This, however, will sometimes be u e'ul, but it is
one which may be very severe in its operation, and
will require to be exercised with due forbearance.
Wet hold it to be genially impolitic to deprive the
fallen trader of all hope of re-cs'ablishing him,ell,
which the exercise of this pricer would often do. It
must not be overlooked that not a fore traders fail
from the facility with which credit is afforded to
them by the very creditors who are, perhaps, in the
end mutt incensed against them. We doubt whether
much enffer.ng may not be inflicted on traders who
have Gilt d under this power, without any substan-
tial what Cage ti the creditors. The prosision that
no promise to pay a debt from which the bank-
rupt has been discharged by the certificate shall be
binding, is a most valuable clause ; for amongst the
chief ob•tacles to a trader who has failed e ill be found
the undertaking to pay his old debts, under hie
al °lei circumstanms. From the passing of this ac.
all such engagements will in law be nugatory.
The third alteration refers to composinons with
er ditors,and it is provided that two-th.rds of the ere-
diturs' approval of a prop meal by the debtor, to be
carried tut under the control of the c onmissio-er,
may bind the rest of the creditors, and the deb or
will tien be discharged by a certificate as under •
bankrute ey.
The loath head is that which we think is most
open to ojecion. It is provided that a bankrupt
may be imprisoned by the commissioner for any term
not exceedmil one year for v. xetfour defence to a me-
diter'e suit, for withholding within two months prior
to b inkru,etty the production of any hooks, papers,
or documents re lining to his trade et. effect; ; t• r ha-
ving, fur one year prior to his baakrup cy, omittel
ti keep proper hooks, or kept them impel Uctly, so
as not to exhibit the real poeiion of his
aff.irs ; or if he shall have omitted to
take stock and enter it in a book ; or if the debts so
far exceed his probable means of payment as to show
gross misconduct in con•racting them ; ani lastly,
" if the bankrupt shall in his conduct as a trader, a•
any time after his bankruptcy, or within twelve
mouths next preceding his bankruptcy, have wi fully
committed any act which, in the opinion of the court,
shall not amount to any of above specified, her
which nevertheless may appear to the court to hive
been camm.thd in viol aim' of good faith, or with
int. nil to de fraud or injure any of his creditors."
Now it is a matter for grave conside ration whether
such a power of imprisonment ought to be given to •
comenbs.en Ir, and whether it would not b., better
that iii serious cases of misconduct the cimmiseioner
eh odd have power to direct the indictment of the
bate krupt in a criminal cuurt. We hill, how& von have
occasioie again to ached to this part of the subject in
connexion with the law of insolvency, which i' is ti
r. go ted has not been more assimilated to that
of bankruptcy.

FRANCE.
PARIS, SATUIID P N.
The Chamb'r did not it to-day ; it ddib-rattd in
i'e bureaux on the prof, et of law on the clubs, end

notning more.
In ,he C amber yesterday the authorisation to
prost cute MM. Menant, H itzmann, Rougeot, Rol-
land, L indolphe, L. Aerd, a-,cl J. annot, all
reptesentalivea cf the people, for being concerned in
the late insurrectional movement, was voted unani-
mously, the members of the left abstaining from

votin.c.
A vote of thanks was passed in the midst of the
great t.t enthusiasm on the right, to Genera. Clan-
earn.er, the NAtimal Guards, and the army f r their
c-m•tuc. on Wednesday last, the left again abstiinit,g

from voting.
M. Vic or Hugo then asked explanations as to the
destruction of certain Printing presses and premises
by a b Key of National Guard.
M. Dufaure, in the name of tho government,
expressed hie regret at what had taken place,
and declared that the authorities would have
warred the utmost readiness to prevent such
acte cou'd they have been ant;cioated. The
minister then. as he was in the tribune, took
cores on to inform the Assembly that, according to
the despa•cbea arrived from various parts of the coun-
try, it appeared be 3 and a doubt that the signal had
been given to commence an insurrection on the same
day in every part of France. The authorities, how-
ever, having been forewarned in time, would, he said,
be. able to prevent en outbreak in every quarter ex-
cept, probably, at Lyons, where, as the prefect wrote
wad, a struggle was inim'nent, and which city had
been placed in a state of siege. No apprehension,
however, was felt as to the result. In the course of
the sitting the President informed the Assembly that
the funeral of Marshal Bugeaud would take place at
the Invalides, on Tuesday, at ten in the morning.
The Opinion Publique says that, after escaping
from the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers, M. Ledru
Rollin went to Versailles. where he passed the night.
At an early hour the next morning he went to St.
Germaine, and from that place proceeded on foot
through the lot est to Poisey. He there took the rail-
way to Havre, from whence he immediately em-
barked for England.
M. Longep'ed, the Commissary Extraordnary of
M. Ls dru Rollin, whose name hes been so often before
the public, has been arrested.
Tne Gazette des Tribunatsz has the following :
"By decree of the government the Rifionte, the
Peuple, the Dasoeratie Pacifique, the R•volution
Dhrwcratique et Societe, the Vraie Republique, and
the Tribune des Peeples have been suspended." We
do not find this decree in the Moniker.
The following order has been posted up in all the
rooms of the National Assembly :
Considering that it concerns the dignity ant security of
the National Assembly, as well as the order and regularity of
its sittings, that no stranger should enter, not only into the
chamber in which the members of the Assembly sit, but even
into the rooms rear the chamber, and upon the demand of a
great number of repre-entatives—the questors declare—No
person except representatives, whatever may be his quality,
unless he be attached by special functions to the service of
the Anembly, can be admitted into the rooms called Salles
Ides Conterences,of Cssimir Wrier, and Pea-Perdu, nor into
the lobbies of the Assembly. No person, unless iumished
with a wander letter Gum the Assembly can be admitted,
I under any pretence, into the Sidles des Quatre Cotonnes anti
de la Rotund., and. in all cues, the number of persons ad-
mitted under particular letters from the representatives can
never exceed twenty persons at one time. The strict execu-
tion of this order is placed under the responsibility of the
chief of the huiedera.
The Queston, General Lx FL°, PANAT, HAZE.
. The Moniteur contains a report from the Minister
of Justice on the necessity of rendering justice in
France g a•uitous for the poor. The law, as at pre-
' sent administered, is attended, the report says, with
so me ay formalities, that the poor are very fre-
jqcouruueislnddlibeyeioetsrt.eavbTelin.sitedhreedm,edfsfuyoemhthaehseavvaireiln,geistleserenecr osiunpeersepitielWdcomuorintstst
under the d.signation of coulter for the pcor ; or all
fees could be done away with, as is practised in Bel.
giuin, Holland, and several states of Germany.
Tt ere is a report in the Moniteur from the Minister
of lue ice recommending the appointment of a special
commetee to consider the difficult question of the

mortgage system.
The Atmiteur publishes a cattec'ed remit of the
deaths by cholera in Paris on the 13. h. They were
as f lowi—ln private practice, 264 ; in the ci‘il hos-
pLals, 115; and in the military hospitals, 11. The
.11.1.itear adds: "The deaths in private practice, on
th' 14th, amounted to 136, bat the return+ are not
comp et^. In the hospitals on that day the deaths
were 120.
The lolowing table, published in the (lido: Medi-