The Express.
London, England, 1861-02-22 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, FRIDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 22, 1861.

evidently bent on following his father's example.
And if we may judge from his first published at-
tack, the Imperial finances are even more vulner-
able, being trebly more extravagant than those of
Louts XVIII.

Here will come the trial of Imperial constitu-
tionalism. If the existing system of revenue and
expenditure be found faulty, be powerfully ex-
posed, and a majority obtained against it, will
the EsirEitoa change that policy, or can he
change it without substituting other men I
His avowed system of listening to Parliamentary
advice, and only taking such notice of it as he
pleases, will but exasperate opposition, and turn
the representative system to discredit. Should
be, on the contrary, bow to the majority, reform
his policy, place so Orleanist a name as that of
Patna in the Government--and how can a con-
scientious member of Opposition refuse to
servo when naturally raised to office by the action
of the Constitution?—then NAPOLEON 111.
will have achieved the greatest of his triumphs,
and overcome the most formidable rivals of his
dynasty by the adoption of their great principle.

Tiis good sense of the Houses of Commons
triumphed last night over inveterate prejudice in
the discussion of those essential clauses of the Bank-
ruptcy and Insolvency Bill, which are to make the
property of a non-trader debtor liable to the same
law of distribution among his creditors as that
of the trader. Sir G. Bowvsa described
the law of Bankruptcy as a tremendous
engine for cutting up a debtor and dis-
tributing his property among his creditors, and
hoped the country gentry would consider care-
fully before they subjected themselves to its
tremendous power. Everybody, but especially
their creditors, must hope so too, but this they
may do by the simple expedient of paying their
debts. If through misfortune or improvidence
they are unable to do that, it does not seem so
very hard that their property should be divided,
just like that of other insolvents, amongst
their creditors to whom it of right belongs.
It is very incorrect to represent the Law
of Bankruptcy as it is proposed to settle
it by this Bill, as a law of severity not
calculated for the relief of the debtor. Colonel
Dvrnr repeated the " country-gentleman's "
argument, until a stranger might have supposed
that the class endangered instead of being rooted
in the nation by fixed possessions were a mob of
Montague Tigys. As the Arroszvar-GtwEasx
observed, the people who will feel the inconveni-
ence of the proposed reform are those who go
abroad, live in shameful extravagance, on means
which rightfully belong to others, and laugh at
their creditors. Cases of this kind are very
common, and it is not because such persons are
not traders that the law should not provide means
by which their property may be given to those to
whom it is due. Sir livtox CAIRNS and Mr. Wm.-
roxa put the opposition on most tenable ground
when they admitted the principle of assimilation and
directed their criticism to the guarantees against im-
proper adjudication of bankruptcy which the cir-
cumstances and legitimate habits of the non-trader
render necessary. In opposition to Sir G. Bow-
l' XX, Sir H. CAIRXS admitted that to be subject
to the bankrupt law is, to a certain extent, a
benefit and not a disadvantage to the non-trader.
But he apprehended danger from the power which
be supposed would be given to creditors to present
a petition for an adjudication in bankruptcy before
judgment obtained. But, as the Arroastv-
CIESLIAL showed, in every such case the creditor
seeking to establish an act of bankruptcy against
the non-trader debtor must prove the ntal,,s
animus of the debtor; and not only so, but
that he had exhausted all the means in his power
to give the debtor notice of his application to
the Court. There were clauses which provided
the mode of giving such notice, if it could be
done ; and they were for the benefit and secu-
rity of the debtor, and to prevent his being
made a bankrupt before he had received such
notice. But, even if notice could not be given
to the debtor, it would then be necessary for
the creditor to satisfy the Court that all the
means within his power had been resorted to
to do so. These explanations appear to have
satisfied the House.

Mira arrest comes to be known there, from the'
following extract of a letter, dated Feb. 13, re-
ceived by the mail just arrived :
The news that the Bank of France has refused to dia.
count Constantinople draft. on the house of Mira.
ban produced a tremendous sensation. These drafts,
mind, are made payable to the order of the
Minister of the Interior, and are endorsed by him.
As soon as this resolution of the bank wan known at Galata,
several leading bankers went to Ali Pacha to entreat him
to find some means to mitigate the existing embarrassment.
Ali Pacha replied that he was aware of what had passed at
Paris—that he would telegraph to the ambassador there to
do wh►t he could to remove the difficulty. At the same
time Ali Pacha solicited the favourable intervention of M.
de la Vallette, the French ambassador. " What an we
r said Ali Pacha, in dismissing the bankers. "We will
give you our blood, if you wish it ; but as to money
we have none." ,Anxiety is at its height. We await
with breathless impatience the despatches from Paris,
which will decide the fate of Galata. Everybody his mare
or less paper drawn upon Mires. Only a few days aim:otitis
paper was more inquired for than any other—it was the
only paper, in fact, which inspired confidence. if the
Bank of France persists in it. refusal to discount it three-
fourths of the houses in Galata will be compelled to stop
payment. By the boat of the Menageries Imperiales, which
leaves for Marseilles this evening, several Galata houses
have sent specie to take up drafts ooming due. This place
is drained of bullion, and this accounta for the extraordi.
nary movement in the exchanges. Tho English pound is
now worth 150 piastres.