The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1819-01-29 00:00:00

4coMmo,v COUNCIL.

. • .
Yesterday Cainpson Council was hegat Guild,
I'll, for the consideration of a variety of private

business.. • •
• . cOMMITMIDITII TO NV.yrtiATE.. ,
• Mr. Shansi. Dittom rose to calk the attention of
the Cowls, the osopiter iu which.,lllagistretto made
out Coulatitasents to, Newsates :without „reference
to the 1191101 l atate..,n, the . rigout. ,could not
*help pu'rticularly altPding to,thie circumstance. in
eanuervteisee,af the recent comoittilent to.llfewgate
of 10 wretches to shills *Menem of. long duration.
which. Anal tide erowdoi state of the vrisuo, tire,
must endure i. ape mud the,,same ram. The
practice formerly was,.. to restore Owners to
Nesmate :frees. other placer of espial!), two dsy. he,.
' fere the Old Bally Sessions comMenCed ; now it
the course for Magistrates tp cottttutt thesis
there in the natant,. thPigh the offence. were
committed ip tbe.cquoty:fit. Alpddlesex. fly which
heavy and intolerable expense was Unposed upcin
the City..!—(Herte. Afar.) . _ , .
The LAS. Mairos Said, that ip consequence of
the cOnusitateist.allnded to, which Most be sloe:
abided by, as sentence was passed, he had had two
interviews with Mr. Habhouse. He finAVeriesented
to Lord Sidusoisth the heavy expense and tinuwal
manner in which commitmentit to Pfewnte were
made, and he had rectisced, ip relsly,r tottrongeA
assurances that a tioletty abased be to such

on evil. , .
Mr. Aldershot' Witiniaiit .0, that as Mi-
inkiest !enact given mein of • Committee to nig:hire
the Mat; of Omits generally, it would be eS
well to reserve whet the Court had to sey
.iipoil
tbti
faspoetant 'subject, Until the House of Canons'.
shall hake appointed a Committee to make the in.
quiry-..theu the entement Of grievances which the
City could furnish might be laid before that Coin.
millet.
Mr. Alderinen C. Stilts aid, that the evil wos
of such a nature, as to call for a remonstrance in
strong and energetic language.
kink* AGAINST THE 11000E01T bEIITORS'
ACT.
Mr. FAVPLI. rose to moire that • Petition be
presented to Parliament Our a repeal of the inset.
vent Debtors' Acts. The prayer of die Petition
which he meant to more, wee, that Pirli.iihent
would repeal the Acts now in Torn, or at all eve,"
as then would expire at the end of the 'Anent Ses-
sion, that no renenol of them should take place;
at the tame time, esstiring the House of Commons,
that the Court would he ready to toncur in any
measures for the relief of unfortunate penult! who
May be under embarrassments, in any Masser
which should appear to the Hoose expedieht. The
worthy Oentlernan said, that the honest and 'finfoio.
curate debtor was entitled to every protectionh bat
the general opinion, in which he concurred, wash
that the present Insolvent Debtors' Aet was the
mesas of letting in every species of fried epos
the inanition. classes of soeiely. He concluded
by moving that his Petition should be reed.
Mr. Htecowee, iu Seconding this motion, said,
that so extensive were the abuses tinder this Atth
that it was no uncommon practice foe the defendant
to carry the writ 'genet himself to a Sheriff's eau's.
cer and order St to be executed. for the purpose of
enabling hint, by three months' imprisonment, to
whitewash his affairs. he knew of two such ini.
Mantes, the debts of ohe of whom were 17,000 t. and
of the other 7,0001. The Act now in force was every
waymOsi inittrious to society.
Mr. Alderman Wareillluil said he *bold not
enter into this question—first, betanse there could
not, he thought, be • single objection to the tool
lion; and sectindly. because he meant to di.cuss
the question at large. although his opinion upon it
was already on record, when the Petition now be.
fore the Court tame to be presented to the House
of Common.. He could not allow this opportu.
pity to push without saying, that from every quar.
ter bf town and eotintty he had received complaints
of the operation of the Insolvent Debtors' Act, and
also a number of cases in which it hod covered
frauds upon honest tradesmen. Au !molest debtor
already had the protection of the law, and required
not the aid of such a la* as this.
Mr. J•cies concurred in the general necessity of
a repeal of this measure, and believed that iii this
respect the worthy Alderman spoke the sentiments
of the people throughout the country.
Mr.OLblikeK sahib that the Act, instead of bring
entitled an Act for the Relief of unfortunate
Debtors, should be styled an Act for the Encou-
ragement of unfortunate Debtor,. He never knew
one instance of an honest debtor whole creditors
were not es anxious as himself to extricate hint
from his difficulties. He thought the laws pre.
viously subsisting quite strong enough to shield a
debtor from the persetutien of an obdurate creditor
without the emit-meat of such an Act as that now
in form end vrhith, iu reality, onetimd to prevent
fair credit bring given to honest tradesmen. front
the facility it gave to the clearing away of all debts.
The only thotiVe in eontinuirqc this Act would be
to provide • plate for some Barrister who had no
othtt meat* of livelihood.
Mr. CitOokz had known several instances of the
frauds committed under this Act. to the expe.
tient! of one lock-up-hoax, debts to the amount
of 140,000 i. *ere got rid of In the Insolvent Debtors'
Court, nett One of whith was less than 401. and the
avenge Meets in the several schedules dial uot pro.
duce more than half • farthing In the panel, He
knew one thottsand mires of such frauds upon
Creditors.
Mr. Alderman IV elefillaie said that they did not
want coin in support of their opinion respecting
the operation of the Att. The difficulty was not to
get rase but toeless them, so perplexing was the
number which pressed upon them.
After • few words from Mr. DtZoll respecting
the form of the Petition, the motion was agreed to,
and • Petition adopted. and ordered to be presented
to both Houses of Parliament.
KOCK AUCTIONS.
Mr. railrett promoted a Repast from the Com•
mitten appointed to consider of Mock Auctions,.
He stated, that the Ball lest int introduced to
Parliament, was abandoned it consequence of a
these being affixed to it whit* effected the prinCiee
septorsienthoeLdi.deoeThecomademsbdigemaiimil; hogowoezerioroiitt ipfhLt
vented people of feeblet' why used to louilite in tout
woke portholes-et each piano ss Both, and other