The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-11-11 00:00:00

COURT OF CHANCERY.-TUESDAY.

(Before the Lord Chancellor and Lords Justices of Appeal.)
POWLES V. HARGREAVES.
This was an appeal from a decree of the Vice-Chancellor
Stuart. The bill was filed by William Poles, one of the
registered public officers of the Liverpoolßanking Company,
for a declaration that the company was entitled to a sum of
£8,500, the produce of the sale of goods applied to the pay-
ment of bills drawn in anticipation of the receipt of those
goods, and that they were also entitled to share in a com-
position of Bs. in the pound, for the balance dne on such
bills, along with the general creditors of an insolvent estate.
The sole question in the cause was, whether the case of Ex
parte Waring, in 19th Vesey, applied to a case of actual in-
solvency, as well as to a bankruptcy, or judicial insolvency.
In 1847, George and Joseph Hargreaves and Thomas Platt
carried on business as merchants, in co-partnership together,
at Liverpool, Manchester, and Shanghai in China. Their
course of trade was for George Hargreaves to purchase at
Manchester, goods, upon condition that they were to be
consigned to the firml at Liverpool, and shipped to the firm
at Shanghai, for sale. George Hargreaves charged £1 per
cent. commission for his exclusive benefit, and the firm guar-
anteed the sale of the goods at a commission of 71. 10 per
cent., and with the produce the firm purchased other goods,
to remit to England at a commission of £2 10s. per cent.
To prevent the necessity of cash advances, the firm used to
draw bills upon their customers for . the price of the goods,
which they accepted; and these bills were then handed to
the original sellers of the goods in payment, or discounted,
and the money so employed. There was a further under-
standing that the goods sent back from China should be in
the hands of the firm as security for George Hargreave's
commission, and to the firm itself for the amount of the
bills so drawn by them. In December, 1847, a joint fiat in
bankruptcy, was issued against the firm, and a separate fiat
against George Hargreaves ; but subsequently a deed of
arrangement was entered into with their creditors, by which
the bankruptcies were annulled and their property vested in
trustees for their creditors. William Budd Prescott, the
acceptor of some of the bills of exchange, died without
leaving assets to answer them, but not being judicially
bankrupt or insolvent, and the bills were now in the hands
of the plaintiffs, the Liverpool Banking Company, unpaid.
A large quantity of goods arrived during the year 1848 at
Livorpool, onningnPd llv the China house to the English
firm of Hargreaves and Co., on aceouw. or Witham
Budd Prescott, in return for goods sent out to them at China
on the like account, and such goods had since been sold,
and the proceeds received by the trustees of the before-men-
tioned creditors' arrangement deed. Under these circum-
stances, the present suit was instituted by the registered
public officer of the Liverpool Banking Company, to have
the produce of such goods applied, in the first place, in pay-
ment of the bills of 'William Budd Prescott then remaining
in the hands of the banking company. The Vice-Chancellor
conceiving the case to be entirely governed by that of "Ex
parte Waring" (19 Ves.,) decided by Lord Eldon, decreed
in favour of the equity claimed by the bill. The appeal of
the defendants being from the whole decree, the case of the
plaintiffs was first opened.
Mr. J. Russell, Mr. Daniel, and Mr. H. Clarke appeared
for the plaintiffs; Mr. Wigram, Mr. Rolt, and Mr. Smythe
for the appellants.
Their LORDSHIPS, without calling for a reply, gave judg-
ment, and said, that the Court had felt no difficulty in com-
ing to the conclusion that the decision of the Court below
was substantially correct and in conformity with the princi-
ple laid down in Waring,'s case. An objection had been
raised that the present case ought not to be determined by
Lord Eldon's judgment in that case, inasmuch as the prin-
cipal ingredient—namely, a double insolvency—was want-
ing. It was quite clear, however, that Prescott, although
not adjudicated an insolvent, was not able to pay his debts,
and therefore the same equity must arise as if he had been
declared an insolvent. As to the Hargreaves, the creditors'
composition deed expressly defined that the property coming
to the trustees under it was to be dealt with by them in
the same way as if the bankruptcy had not been annulled.
What would have been the rights of the plaintiffs, supposing
that the bankruptcy had not been annulled, and the property
in question had been sold by the assignees instead of by the
trustees ? Without doubt they would have been entitled
to present a petition in bankruptcy, as creditors, to have the
bankrupt's estate duly administered ; and in no other way
could such estate be duly administered than by the payment
of these bills. It would be a disgrace to the administration
of justice if there should be any doubt of such being the right
course to pursue. The plaintiffs were therefore clearly en-
titled to have the proceeds of the sale of the goods applied
in payment of the bills, so far as they would extend, and to
prove against the estate of the Hargreaves for the deficiency.
Appeal dismissed.

A NARROW ESCAPE.—A gentleman was found in a state
of partial intoxication in the streets of Limerick the other
day, and was brought to the William-street station by Sub-
constable Delay. Upon searching him a sum of £1,346 in
notes was found on his person.
AN AMERICAN AmAzoN.—A melancholy affair occurred in
this county, about eight miles from the city, on the Bards-
town turnpike, on Saturday morning. A man named
Christian G. Martinf had been teaching there and engaged
CIL-, -
reside there. Martin had, in fact, obtained the marriage
license. Afterwards he determined not to marry her, and to
screen himself from the consequences, presented a paper to
her for signature, in which she was charged with having
exercised the grossest improprieties. She, of course, refused
to sign it. Martin and a brother, of Miss Shaw then got
into a fight on the road. Shaw drew a pistol, which Martin
attempted to wrench from him, and it went off accidentally,
the ball entering in front, near the shoulder of the latter,
and lodging in the back. Miss Shaw, unconscious that
Martin was wounded, then jumped the fence, walked up to
him, and shot him in the side. Ile died in about 15 minutes,
though it was thought that the first wound would have
caused his death.—Louisville Journal.
LAMENTABLE RESULT OF CARELESSNESS.—The famous
picture gallery of Mr. Thomas Baring, M.P., in Grosvenor-
street, with all its valuable treasures of art, narrowly
escaped entire destruction a few days since, owing to the in-
excusable carelessness of a servant, who, having entered one
of the drawing rooms for the purpose of closing the shutters,
placed his candle in such a position,near one of the shutters,
as to set it on fire after he left the apartment. The fire
was not discovered until some time subsequently, when the
room in which it originated, as well as two others of the
same suite, had attained the heat of a furnace, all the pic-
tures on the walls had become blistered, and almost every
article of furniture had been destroyed. Most fortunately,
the gallery, and all the drawing-rooms of the suite had been
only dismantled a few days previous, and the only pictures
remaining on the walls were those of modern artists. The
valuable ancient Italian and Spanish pictures, for which
this collection is so remarkable, had been removed from the
walls, and, being stacked close up together in one corner
of the gallery, they have scarcely suffered any damage from
the heat. The same remark will apply to the Belgian and
Dutch works, of which there are many almost priceless
specimens. The pictures which have suffered most are,
happily, the works of living artists, whose services may be
obtained in their restoration. Sir Edwin Laiadseer's
" Travelled Monkey " is among the few, modern pictures
that have escaped. The collection was insured, for about
£30,000,—scarcely a tithe of its value—chiefly in the
Globe-offices. Mr. Baring is stated to have borne his mis-
forutne with remarkable composure. The finest specimen in
England of Murillo's "Madonna on the Crescent" is in this
collection.

LORD CAMPBELL ON CORPORATE REFORM : —At the city
banquet on Wednesday evening, in acknowledging the toast
of The Chief Justice of the Court of Queen's Bench, and
the Judges," Lord Campbell said that some persons had
talked as if the result pf the present commission of in-
quiry into the corporation of London would be the aboli-
tion of that corporation. He hoped, however, that no such
result would follow, but that in the reign of Albert the
Tenth the monarch would be invited to receive the loyal
hospitalities of the city of London. (Cheers and laughter.)
If the Corporation were to be removed at one fell swoop,
he thought a greater sensation would be created among the
Courts of Europe than would be caused by any other politi-
cal event (a laugh); for when tney heard that the office of
Lord Mayor was abolished they would believe that a revo-
lution had indeed commenced. (Cheers and laughter). He
would remind his noble friend (Lord J. Russell) that when
the general measure of corporation reform was proposed, he
(Lord Campbell) wished to include the corporation of
London, for he believed that to reform whatever abuses-
existed would be true Conservatism. (Hear, and cheers).
Such reform ought, however, to be cautious, safe, and
gradual. He had been glad to learn that before the com-
mission of inquiry was appointed the corporation had them-
selves offered every facility for the investigation (cheers),
and he trusted the result would be, not to destroy the cor-
poration, but to place it upon a more firm and satisfactory
basis. (Cheers).
CONSECRATION OF THE NEW AFRICAN BlSHOPS.—Wed-
nesday, the 30th inst., has been appointed for the consecration
of the Rev. Dr. J. W. Colenso, of St. John's College, Cam-
bridge, bishop designate of Natal, and the Rev. Dr. John
Armstrong, of Lincoln College, Oxford, bishop designate of
Graham's Town- The consecratincr prelates will be the
Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of London, the
Bishop of Oxford, and the Bishop of Norwich, and the
sermon will, in all probability, be preached by the Bishop of
Cape Town. It has not yet been definitively settled whether
the consecration shall take place in Lambeth church or in
Westminster Abbey. Dr. Colenso intends leaving England
early in December, for the purpose of making an extensive
visitation of his diocese, and will return to England in the
course of next summer to inform the Church at home
of the requirements of the see of which he is to have the
episcopal supervision. He intends paying a visit to all the
Zulu chiefs, in order to ascertain from them what are his
probabilities of being enabled to civilize and Christianize
them. Dr. Armstrong, the new Bishop of Graham's Town,
intends, after making due provision for the Church already
planted in the colony, to direct his attention to the Kafirs,
who have long been a most lawless and rebellious race, and
who were recently subjugated by the force of British arms.
Both the new bishops are men of great learning and energy,
and both have had much experience as parish priests, Dr.
Colenso having been rector of Forncett St. Mary, Norfolk,
and Dr. Armstrong, vicar of Tidenham, Gloucestershire,
prior to their nomination to the respective dioceses of
.Natal and Graham's Town, which they are now about to fill.

THE CABINET MINISTERS AT THE LORD
MA•YOR'S BANQUET.

Most of Her Majesty's ministers were present at the ban-
quet at Guildhall on Wednesday evening, on the occasion of
the inauguration of the Lord Mayor.
The LORD MAYOR having proposed the Army and Navy.
Sir JAMES GRAHAM was received with great applause. He
said : It gives me great pleasure to be called upon in my
official capacity to return thanks before this distinguished
company on behalf of the British navy, and the only assur-
ance I can give you in answer to your compliment is the
assurance, trite but true, that whether in war or peabe the
British navy will always be ready to do its duty. If war
should be imminent, and an enemy be found to insult the
British flag, the British navy I am sure will always be ready
to resent it. It is the duty of the British navy, in concert
with the allies of this country, to uphold the observance of
treaties as the best security for peace. (Cheers.) Another
thing the British navy is always ready to perform—it will
always protect the commerce and the trade of this coun-
try, which is the life and the strength of the British nation.
As I have the honour on this occasion to represent the
British navy, to whom I am sure your approbation will give
great encouragement, I again beg leave, on their behalf to
return you my most hearty thanks. (Loud cheers.)

The LORD MAYOR (after proposing " The health of the
Lord Chancellor," who briefly returned thanks) said they
were on that occasion honoured with the presence of many
of Her Majesty's Ministers (cheers), and among them the
head of a Government which, it was well known, had ex-
erted itself to the utmost to preserve the peace of the world.
(Loud cheers.) The most unwearied endeavours had been
made by the Cabinet to maintain the peace of Europe and
of the world at large, and he had much pleasure in proposing
" The health of the Earl of Aberdeen and Her Majesty's
Ministers." (The toast was received with loud cheering.)
The Earl of ABERDEEN rose to respond to the toast. The
noble earl said,—My Lord Mayor, I have to return you
my sincere thanks for the very flattering manner in which
you have proposed, and in which this company have re-
ceived the health of my colleagues and myself. Perhaps it
is not too much to hope that, with regard to persons in our
situation, a favourable construction at least may be placed
upon our motives and intentions in the discharge of our
duty. (Cheers.) It is true that we are the servants of the
Crown • and happily, in these days, such service is not in-
compatible with the• most sincere desire to promote the wel-
fare, the happiness, and the prosperity of the people.
(Cheers.) Notwithstanding the prosperous condition of this
country in all its great interests, and the wonderful advances
that have been made in every department of art, science,
and industry, I am quite aware that much yet remains to be
done, the success of which may be promoted by Her Ma-
jesty's Ministers. Much improvement—much reform—in
the condition of the people, whether social, moral, or poli-
tical, is demanded. I know, my Lord Mayor, that much
is expected from us by the country, and I hope we
shall be found ready and willing to answer to the call.
(Hear, hear, and cheers.) In a country such as this,
and in an age of civilisation like that in which we
live, these are the real triumphs—these are the
glories—to which any Government ought tar aspire.
(Cheers). I trust that nothing will happen to impede or to
check the progress of those improvements and of that re-
form which I so ardently desire to see effected. (Hear,
hear). They can only be successfully carried out by the
continuance of that tranquillity which we have so long
enjoyed (Cheers), and in the absence of all disturbing
causes, whether foreign or domestic. (Renewed cheers).
My Lord Mayor, some time ago, when I last had the honor
of being the guest of your predecessor in office, I made a
declaration, perhaps in the hearing of some now present,
that the policy of Her Majesty's Government was a policy
of peace. (" Hear," and cheers). I desire, on this oc-
casion, to repeat that declaration. (Renewed cheering).
I will go further, and I will say that no other principle of
policy will ever be announced by me. (Cheers). But, em-
phatic as these words may be they are not to be under-
stood as signifying the impossibi lity of war. On the con-
trary, we know full well that this cannot be the case ;
but they signify that, so far as I am concerned, war
will never be undertaken by me without reluctance, and
never but when demanded—plainly demanded—by a due
sense of the honor and the interests of this country.
(" Hear," and cheers). This I believe to be the duty of
English Ministers. lam certain it is the duty of a Christian
man. (Cheers).
The LORD MAYOR having returned thanks for his health
having been drunk, concluded by proposing " The Earl of
Clarendon and the House of Peers.
The Earl of CLARENDON begged to return thanks for the
honour conferred upon him in coupling his name with
the House of Lords. It would ill become him, on that
occasion, to proclaim the merits of the body with which he
was connected, or to defend them against the attacks which
had been made upon them. He might, however, be allowed
to express his own conscientious opinion that the Home of
Lords rendered great public services, not alone by the man-
ner in which its judicial functions, as the highest court of
appeal in this country, were performed, but also in its legis-
lative capacity. (Cheers.) The speakers there might not
be so numerous, or their speeches so long, or the debates so
often adiourned as was necessarily the case in tne outer
house of Parliament ; but he could say that in the House
of Lords the public business was performed with conscien-
tious care, and with an earnest desire to promote the re-
ligious welfare and the temporal prosperity of every class in
this country. (Cheers.) The days of aristocratic priviliges
were now happily gone by, never to return, and he believed
the House of Lords. maintained its high position from
the deference which it exhibited to public opinion, and
from its willingness to receive impulses from without upon
all questions affecting the general as compared with what
he might call the class interests of the country. (Hear,
hear.) Thus, •on a recent occasion, when a great social,
political, and commercial question was under consideration,
they had seen the House of Lords laying aside what some
might call its prejudices, and others its interests, and volun-
tarily deferring to the unmistakeable wish of the people.
(Cheers.) Of this he was sure, that there was no body of
men more anxious to obtain and to deserve the good opinion
of their fellow-contrymen. (Loud Cheers.)
The LORD MAYOR next gave "The House of Commons,"
coupling with it the name of Lord J. Russell, who, he said,
had secured universal respect from his advocacy of every
measure of public improvement. (Loud cheering.)
Lord JOHN RUSSELL was received with loud cheers. He
said : If an anxious desire to discharge their duty, if earnest
and long-continued endeavours to maintain the best interests
of the country, deserve the approbation of Englishmen, then
the House of Commons was well entitled to the compliment
which it had just received from the Lord Mayor. (Cheers.)
Whatever measure might be proposed in that house, or what-
ever might be the views which were at first entertained
with regard to it, either in the house or in the country, yet
in the end that which most conduced to the public welfare
was sure to prevail. He attributed that to the habit of
free discussion which prevailed in the house. Cheers.)( In
the earlier part of the proceedings, the Lord Mayor made
some illusion to the inquiry which was now taking place
into the affairs of the corporation of the City. For himself,
he must say that, as a representative of the City, he was
proud to find that, when an inquiry was proposed, the
authorities of the City, instead of shrinking from it, openly
and manfully courted the inquiry. (Ceers.) He felt
sure that they would continue to give every facility to
the prosecution of the inquiry, and that if there were abuses
to be corrected—if there were reforms to be made—they
would be carried out on the old principles on which the
corporation was founded, principles belonging, indeed, to
an earlier period of their history, but which were still in
vigorous operation at the present time—he meant the prin-
ciples of free election by the citizens, and of the independent
municipal government. It would be the desire of the Gov-
ment to adapt the principles which had come down to them
from the feudal ages to the wants of the more enlightened
and civilised times in which they now lived. He begged
again to return thanks on the part of the House of Com-
mons. (Cheers.)
Lord PALMERSTON, who was received with loud cheers,
said he had received the permission of the Lord Mayor to
propose a toast, and when he mentioned it, and the grounds
on which he proposed it, they would then, perhaps, see why
it was that he ventured only to call the attention of a portion
of those who were now in the hall to its merits. Their
distinguished guest—the representative of the United States
of America—he ought, rather, perhaps, to say, of their
brethren on the other side of the Atlantic—with whom he
trusted this country would always be able to maintain the
most friendly relations (loud cheers)—that distinguished
man, who, honoured in his own country, had come here to
cement and draw more closely the bonds of relationship
between the two countries— had stated the impressions
made upon his mind by the splendid scene he had wit-
nessed to-day. He had been struck, no doubt, not only by
the magnificence of the banquet, but also by the urbanity
and courtesy with which the Lord Mayor had received his
guests. He had also been struck, he (Lord Palmerston)
was sure, with the blaze of beauty which surrounded him
on every side, and of which he might say, without national
vanity, and without any offence to the representatives of
other countries, that it could not be exceeded by any other
nation on earth. (cheers). It was natural, while on this sub-
ject, to turn to the lady who presided over their festivities
with so much grace and dignity., and he was sure all the
gentlemen present would join him in drinking " The Health
of the Lady Mayoress" (cheers).

THE EAGLE AS A BRITISH Bum—Notwithstanding all
the endless means that are taken to make the eagle cease to
belong to the list of British birds, it is amazing with what
tenacity the noble birds keep up a respectable remnant,
even although their ranks are thinned by at least 20 in this
quarter every winter. We have just seen a most splendid
specimen of the sea eagle which was caught the other day
in a trap at Strathgarve. The extended wings measured 7
feet 9 inches ; length of body, 3 feet 2 inches ; weight, 151 b. ;
the outstretched claws covered as large an extent as a man's
hand. Who would not go a journey to see such a noble
fellow hooking a salmon from the lake, and carrying it on
his broad pinions to his home among the cliffs ? —lnverness
Courier. .

LINDLEY MURRAY pronounces "A" to be an in-
definite article ; and we regret to say that our agricultural
experience of the pastseason leads us to agree with
that hay is an indefinite article; indeed.--Dioyeales.