The Express.
London, England, 1866-05-10 00:00:00

IPRING OVERCOATS, for the RACES and
present Season, are kept ready for use, and other articles
of gentlemen's dress mad* to order at HAMILTON and
KIMETON'S, 105, Strand, opposite Exeter Hall.

MIIRTLE, TURTLE, TURTLE.
A. Clear ThlelL and Invalid TURTLE SOUPS &WWI Nadi.
EFL JAILETSHALL. sr:GENT-slime-A riccAprar.
WK. DONALD, Proprietor.

liMiglnist have • SUPPER and MUSIC
tar Genttemew—Sewmber, WI wait for you at
" IYANSZAtar tAe Covent Garden Opera and the Tlwatres.

Eke erpregifs.

TO CORRIMPONDWCTII.
Two
Advertisements Intended for .The Zeprem" London Evening
moat be at the Mee, Bouverientreet, by
:ICA ea the My olpundeetind.

HAYMARKET.
Wm Emma. A ROMANTIC ATTACHMENT. Mama
and W. Farm AdaCaveadlah.—THE FAVORITE
=TIMM Werra 13647406 t, Mimosa* and Roams
Mn adspandala. &A.—And A DAUGHTER. TO MARRY.

PRINCESS'S.
Tao inaaso, A LUCKY RlT.—attar width THE maxims
OP LONDON. Masan. Vining, T. Mead, D. Murray, Shore, end
; H. Mailliol4 sad Mimeo E. Baraidt sad IL Radon.

LI MU 11.
Tlrts ITIRMIO, A DAY AFTER THE WEDDING. Mesas.
Harman, Fitzpatrick, and cusdrit p Mn. Hormuz", ac.—And
HAMLET. Messrs. Yachter, Einem Addison, Widdicorob, Yoshi,
Jordan, Fitzpatrick, de. ; Mesdames Flawortky and C Laelszoq.

iutrrerariA.
TM IMMO, THE LAST APPEAL—THE HURON CHIEF.
THEE Anderson.—TO conclude aids THE DARK HMO OF
BLACK MOUNTAINS. Mtn Clara SL Cora. Mira S.
and Master K Sanders.

HIGH-WATER AT LONDON-BRIDGE
THIS DAY —Morning, OIL 48m Afternoon, 103 25m.
To-Moscow—Morning, Ilh. Om Afternoon, Ilk Urn.

LONDON, THURSDAY, MAY 10.

Tim introduction of the new Bankruptcy Bill is
an event not only of importance to the mercantile
community, but of interest to all those who have
at heart the promotion of sound principles of
legislation. For the larger part of a century the
genius, it may be said the evil genius, of the law
has compelled the transference to legal tribunals
of all arrangements in which a debtor who had not
wherewithal to pay his creditors in full was con-
cerned. The law gave to each of them a right to
sue him for tho uttermost farthing, and to im-

- _
prison his body if they could not obtain their
demands from his property ; and when at length
it introduced a code by which, on surrender
of all his means for equal division, he was relieved
from the claims of all prior creditors, it insisted
that the distribution of the assets should be con-

ducted by its own officers, and under its own im-
mediate direction. In vain has the obvious pro-

position been urged for years that the creditors
to whom the property belongs are the fittest io
manage its division ; in vain has it been pointed
out that the employment of official personages in-
volves the endless multiplication of forms and ex-
penses, removes all sense of responsibility, or care
to superintend their own interests, from the
creditors, and gives no security beyond what
is attainable by direct management ; the
reply of the lawyers has still been that
if one set of courts was objectionable,
another set with a different name might be in-

atituted, while the that were pensioned off ; that if
one system of official supervision was found defec-
tive, another might be built on the top of it ; but
that still all must be done through courts, and all
arrangements be conducted in public offices. Two
circumstances at length brought this system to a
crisis. One was, that the public gradually showed,
by deserting the Courts of Bankruptcy and resort-
ing to every variety of private arrangement to
avoid the necessity of entering them, that the
whole principle on which they were based—
patched, darned, turned, renovated, as it had
necessarily been—was utterly and absolutely
faulty. The other was, that there appeared
to be in operation in Scotland a system
in which the creditors were left wholly to them-

selves, but with power to resort to courts if
judicial aid wore required, and that they had thus
been found by experience to be as capable of
managing the affairs of a bankrupt as of a solvent
estate. These facts established before the select
committaw, which sat in 18G4 and 1865, proved
too strong for the resistance of lawyers; they decided
the mercantile public to demand a reform, and the
Bill now in Parliament embodies the method by
which Government seeks to carry out the wishes of
the commercial classes. But while the Government
has done its part, it will be well to remember that
the legal interests, front the barrister practising in
Chancery to the hmnblest country attorney, arc ,
all opposed to the introduction of the now prin-
ciple, not only because it will run counter to all
their preconceived ideas, but because it will mate-
rially diminish their gains. It is important, there-
fore, that those who arc to be benefited should
thoroughly understand and intelligently sunport,
or if needful criticise and amend, a measure in-
tended solely for their advantage, and sure to be
opposed, covertly or openly, by much powerful
hostility.

Resting on the basis of the abolition of impri-
sonment for debt, a measure to which we have
been slowly and steadily approaching for many
years past, the Bill concerns itself solely with the
property which can be realised for the benefit of
the general creditors. Except in the rare cases in
which special need for instant interference can be
shown, it does not direct that this shall be taken
out of the debtor's custody until the creditors have
organized their own arrangements for the pur-
pose, hut it confers powers on the courts, on such
cause being shown, to order its instant seizure.
The creditors are to be summoned by the Gazette
notice of the bankruptcy to meet on an
early day, they are then to elect their trustee,
who is to be paid by a commission on the assets
ho realises, not to be fixed till after his work is
done—a method which, in Scotland, has been
found to work with perfect success, and to ensure
the attaining of the best qualified men of businef.s
fur the office. Two unpaid inspectors of his
proceedings are also to be elected from among the
creditors, to act as a committee of superintendence
and advice. The whole theory of the bankrupt's
" surrender "—based on a fiction that he could
only be deprived of his common law rights by vo-
luntary submission to the jurisdiction of Bank-
ruptcy—is ignored and laid aside, and the trustee
is directed to procure a summons, or, if neces-
sary, a warrant, for his examination before the
Court. When the sources of his available funds
are thus fully discovered—for this will henceforth
be the object of the examination, rather than the
ascertaining of his moral or commercial delin-
quencies—the trustee will proceed to realise them ;
and six months after the adjudication, to pay
such dividend as the inspectors have declared
from the funds then reduced into cash. At inter-
vals of three months afterwards successive divi-
dends will in like manner be declared till the
whole estate is divided, power being given to the
inspectors or creditors to direct either the advance-
ment or postponement of any of these regular
periods as Circumstances may require. To prevent
the incurring of any unnecessary expense in legal
or other proceedings, the trustee is expressly pro-
hibited from commencing or defending actions
unless by direction of a meeting of the creditors,