The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1807-01-29 00:00:00

HOME. OF CuMMONS.

The House proceeded this day to ballot for two
Eleltinn Coruna; tees.
The following Members were appointed u a
Committee to try the merits of the Stitalli Petition :
14... G. G. Y. Vemon. sir RA ph
WNluru lenri,k, Esq. Lord Henry Marra.
Wilt yin \UI.UIng. Esq. Henry Holland. L',l
Ss/Oswald 41eV, Bart. Awatt.m R.bars, Esq.
Lad.l.l,u Toynar. Lou. Tnatuas Knox.
Nathaniel %axon, Esq. Le•en, ky
Rutlv•rfurcl, Esq. Jo..a eolletk Hill, Sty.
tad of E.t.t.....
The folios ing Members were n-rt apppninted to
try the merits of tore Tregony Veit:tan Petition:
)paltryEa+ J. De Penthieu.
Sou. 1110 Ssarl.e. Ch..lla. /Atli., Fag.
Hoe. •,:r. J. l.guica.T.l.
Ewl• T. tithr,:cy.
W. 1 11!..p. a. Es 1 R. A. f./aatcl:
Sir Meth Wtvt...R.diey. dart. Jo.. NI eurAl. Esq.
LW at Yarmouth. Jas. Topptas, Esq.
Stir Jamas Pottroey.
The two list Gentlemen of each of these Com.
littees, weto appointed Nominees.
When strangers were admitted, we found
Mr. fiIiA.G(JE BATHURSr stating, that as
he conceived that the Committee appointed to in-
apt& the Journals of the House of Commons for
prec dents in Cawthorne's ease, had not sufficient
paweri, he should move, to-morrow, that the Or-
der their appoiatment be rescinded, riff the
puttiose of proposing another Committee, with alit.
qu at e 'powers.
Mr. lIORHOU SE moved, " 'chat the Report of
she titers I.epre Committee, laid before :lie HOUSit,
on the 27th of February, 1804, be-404 before
the Committee, now sitting upon the Petition of
the are&nrs of that Compaay."—thdered.
Sir Jehn hLvtpint brought op the. Iri,h Treee••
tiny Bills Bill, which was read a fist, and • q(-
tic red to be read a second time to-morrow. .•
tag rt KretAT OP MILITARY INQUIRY.

Lend ARCHIBALD HAMILTON, alter stat-
ing the degree of attention, intoyto. and iewliuge
wfUi:h the Iliad Report ot the Conosnissioneis of
Inquiry had emitted in the 'albite mind,
morel, 'Mtn there be laid le2fore the Home.
a iteentn of the Barrack St:Tidies, tuinished by
Alrximder Davison, h...6qi dosing tl,e last year of
his being so ernployesh string the Articles furnish-
. od. their qualities. quaninie-s, and prices, and the
.particular Barracks to wi ich they were delivered,
and stating the total Al2lolant. Also a similar Re-
turn6l the Supplies furnished by the Chmruissary.
General. dur ng the Scat year of his Ming ap-
pointed to supply these Articles."
. Mr. SIAIRGF.eI BOURNIL seconded this Mo-
tine. and said it was exert divi,tly desirable that every
information shcutJ Le laid b4ore the House.
allnded to the Pireeis which were produced du:-
Last Parliament. relative to the Barrack
Department. and thought it would b- obvious to all
who had read them, that it wai the intention of
the late Government to restriiin th: prema-
ture issue of public money for Barrack flcr.
Vices. I-le explained the mode in which he
meant this to have Leen done; and added, that
after the M;:tica now 1114.1.. Ly the Noble Lord was
disposed cf, he move. •• rhea the Pepin laid
before the House, on the Vi"i of Match, Isotit
bring a Beet:la:ion et His Maje%ty. relative to the
safe emtady of money iittrC fed an the hands of
the Bair.sek-Master General, be reprinted for the
use .f the House."
Both these Motions were severally agreed to.
Sir T. Tliki.TON gate notice ot his intention of
submittit.g a motion for the re-printing of the Papers
relative to the Assumption of the ( lnvernment of the
Carnatic by the East India Company. He regretted
that this rit`jelt had not fallen into abler bands; but
he was extremely gloat') find that be Well likely to
receive room t Irmo both sides of the House, and
teereture it was necessary that, at all events, the
matter clinuld be properly elucidated.
Mr. C. W. W. Wynne, pursuant to a former
Order of the I aretse, presented Copies of Circular
I.ett-rs sent by Government to the Leeds Lieu-
'truants of Counties. These were ordered to be
printed.
The same Member then brought up two Bills,
the one tp contiriee an Aa to prevent the seduflinn
of Soldiers and Sailors from their Allegiance; and
the other to continue an AS of the Irish Parlia-
ment, felled 't The Irish Gun Powder Bill." Both
these Bills were severally real a first, and ordered
to be read a second time.
The Thames Police Bill was read a second time,
and nedered to he committed.
The Corn Intercourse Bill was committed, and
the Report erderril t.) he received to-marrow.
Tiie House went into a Committee upon the
Woollen Yarn Expoetation Bill ; the Report mai
/none, up by Mr. Hothouse, and he obtained leave
to biipz in a Bill for allowing the expertation an-
ts/illy A a Bruited quantity tit- Wu:Ea Yarn to
Caned x.
IRIUTY OF RF.AL EgT‘TF. FUR PERSON
Obal.s
The •SOLICITOR-ZENERAL, its pOUU.alree.
er his entice, rose. to submit to the House the pro-
- •key of adopting some new regulations upon th:s


. ,
snbjea, and to propose a Bill for iLat purpose. He
observed.that the taw had hithetto been en exceed-
ingly inicliquate to •the prevemion of thia . many
evils that arose upnn this point, and at the same
aime, the remedy was so very plain. that it Was,
scarcely necessary for him to comment ranch upon
the propriety of adopting some new regulations, an I
cleating a change. In order, however, to prevent
any misconception of his motives, and to explain,
more minutely than he had hitherto done, the na-
ture of the Bill of which he had given notice, he
could not help enlarging at present upon the sub-
ject. lie should commence by observing. that
something similar to what he was now proposing,
had bien thought of some years ago, by high and •
respectable authorities. The plan, however,: had
never been properly digested, and Consequently
the °llea in view had never yet beet accom-
plished. It was well known, that. by the law
in its present state, the owner of freehold property
may. notwithstanding the debts which• be had
justly contraaed, convey over to the object of his
capricious bounty, that species of property which
ought in equity to have one to satisfy the claims
of his lawful creditors. Phis the holder of free-
hold property could do, ahhnugh, perhaps, to the
total ruin of a creditor, whose own and whose fa-
mily's existence might depend solely upon the
punanal payment of what was doe to him by loch a
debtor. He did not dispute the propriety pCfreehold
estates being in general guarded as winch as possi-
ble for the benefit of the descendant of their original
prop' is s ; but in a great commercial state, such
as Great Britain, where so much depended upon
the pennnal payment of e,.bt< cnntraifted in trade,
it was surely but just and rt esonable, and it would
be most advantageous to the country at large, that
the surest prospect of their discharge should be
held out. In this particular, however, there s-as a
great deficiency in the law, as Wet present existed ;
arid it was astonishing, that it should have remain-
ed so till this motile:sr. All debts, due upo s nego-
ciable securities., are merely simple contract debts.
Cases have very frequently occurred, in which rn, n
have embarked it great niets...atile adventures, and
wio-, although possessed of great landed properties.
have not the means of extricating themselves, and
were therefore under the necessity of borrowing
Money Item others, who were, no doubt, induced to
advance. from a kaoss ledge of their debtors being in
easy circumstances. To such cr. divers, there was
apparently no great danger or risk to arise during
the life time of honest individuals to whom they had
advanced; but how ,wi-h was 'ilfe case altered,
when the terminetion of exigence put an end to
their favourable prospects of repayment, when they
found their debtors leaving the hulk of their pro-
perty•to heirs, 2nd leaving their creditors to suffer.
I believe thiirto. is peculiar to England and Ireland.
In every part of the Continent of Europe, where their
laws are derived from she Roman law, no person can
smiths himself to thus. rights And prvileges of an
heir, without subjeaing ltitri,eit to all tae oblig I-
tions of hi, ancestor. It is the praetice of some
States to iLGUICSIN the, moral obligation upon their
children, to pay the debts of their parents, previous
treiggewJetig to their own permaal mijoyments ; o
zedecni, as it were, that fail which had formerly
existed betwixt the original d'-titer and his creditor.
Thai the heir at law should inherit that property •
upon which a 'credit had been originally givea, he
believed was peculiar to the southern putt of this
island.' it is not so by the law of Scotia:rd.-I'o
digaver the origin of that law, it was necessary to
go back to a remote period of time, when society was
in a very :life. ent state from what it Is at present ;
a time when intirely different modes and habits of
life preveiled. It was necessary CIA: the House, in
judging cf this subjea, shoals' look back to those
feudal times, when every proprietor of land held it
by feudal tenure, to owe service and ..licgiance to
his Lord, where the aftenation of prolog}, or even
of changing the meant, was not permitted.—
Where catch chi ages were not permitted, therefore,.
it necessarily follower!, that the occupiers of such
estate/ could not be permitted to canttatt debts, so
as to affea the property, that being only an in-
(tired mode of alienation. Hence has originated
that law which exists, to prevent personal debts
from being paid fom the real estates '1 he
heirs of the tenants were obliged to retain their land-
ed property free fern ateaation. in order to enable
them to Ji.charge their military duties. By the
Statute of Westminster, in the 13th year of the
Reign of King Edward the First, the right of alien-
ation was; first permitted, and the creditor was
allowed to have recourse to h elf of the land. A
few years afterwards, the 84.1111te of Quasi Engrain:
was pa,sed ; and the 1 • .e has ever since remained
in its then state—a law which had so far overcome
the sound reasonings of our ancestors, as to ex-
ist for no less a period than five hundred years.—
The more be considered whist was the present state
of the law, upon this Auf-ject, he cou:d not but feel,
the more fore.bly. the ttr,!rn:y of the reasons to
change it. The law that is so regardless of the
rights of creditors, is, at the same time, the most
severe upon debtors who are possessed of mere
personal property.' One cannot; but be surprised
that it should be so negligent, in one respea, and
so rigid in the ether. The mischiefs, which na-
turaily and inevitably resulted from this incon-
gruity, were truly grievous. A man, en-
mid in trade, witty have given a large cre-
dit to a perion. having a large landed pro-
perty, and his debtor dies without having had
an opporturity of paying his debts, or to have made
provis.on for them The consequence is, that, the
onsuspealing tradesman, who has trusted him, while
he has no mean: whatever of getting payment. is
oppressed by the claims of his own creditor ; who,
by the rigidaess of the law, force from him his
personal chattels, or doom his person to per-
petual imprisonment. That unfortunate man must
remain to spend his time in idleneg, suffer all the
co itagion of a gaol, and perhaps end his days in
misery and want ; unless by good fortune one of
those extraordinary acs takes place, which, when
our capaciuns gaols are filled with prisoners, the legis-
lature thiaks proper to adopt for the purpose of doing
away one.evil, perhaps by the gra ituess of another.
.oust by their supreme authority, cancelling contraa s ,
and relieving those persons who are bound by them.
What he had stated to the House, was not an
imegiftary case ; it was one which had often
happened. and must inevitably arid frequently
happen, so long as the Lea:pilaw:it islaweil such laws

• .P,•••,• . •

•
ta exlit. • 1-fe should be 'Memel), many, if hs trey
thing he had said as to heirs who were entitled to the
real property of an indaddital. dying without dig-
chargitay, his debts, he should be mi.represented as
_wishing to sacritice their interests. It was no re-
proach to them; they had and •übtrdly a right to
enjoy what the law has given them. It these was a
repeoac'n any where, it was r reproach against
the Legislature of the country. far having allowed •
such a law so long is remain in existence. It had
at first occurred to him, that it• would be most
expedient to place the simple eontrad creditor in the
same situation as the specialty ceeditor, that they
should have in every particular the same privileges.
It had afterwards, however, appeared, that it would
be most expedient only to declare, that the real
estates should be assets to be administered in a Court
of Equity. It was in that Court, indeed, where real
estates could be assets, far any thing for it was there
only where it could be ascertained that the personal
funds have been exhausted,. and the real estate sub-
jelled to any part of the piyment of such debts, or
that it can be sold. There could not, therefore, be
any reason to complain. It might be proper, how-
ever, to apprise those who were not of the profes-
sion, that Courts of Faidity have attempted to sup-
ply some remedy to the evils which he enumerated ;
unfortunately, however, a very imperfed one. They
are bound to discharge, first, the specialty debts.
What was denominated marshalling the assets, was a
step which was deemed bold in, Chancellors to put
into pradice. It was his intention, to apply this BiU
also to Ireland, for in that country he 1143 not learnt
of any difference existing as to the law in this particu-
lar. It was necessary, when a persan proposed to the
House to remedy an evil, to state the advantages and
disadvantages of the present state of things, for it
was only by thus corneal ing the one with the other,
that the House could be called upon to make any
material alteration. lle had endeavoured to state
the case as fairly as he could, from what he had
been enabled to learn upon the subjed, after the most
anxious investigation. He had, upon the whole,
found nothing but an unmixed evil, without the
smallest portion of gotta like', to result from it.
After the explanation he had given, he should only
trouble the House farther, by moving. " For leave
to bring in a Bill, •to make the freehold estates of
persons who died indebted, assets far the payment of
their simple contred debts."
This Motion was seconded by the ATTORNEY-
GENERAL, without any obseraations.
Mr. C. W. W. WYNNE then rose, and said,
that, after what had been stated by the Right lion.
. and Learned Gentleman, which entirely met with
his approbation, he should not have risen, had he
not wished merely to express a hope that he (the
Solicitor-General) would not stop there, but that he
would apply his mind to devise an efedual remedy,
not only as to the estates of those :As are dead, hot
also to the estates of those said are livias. IT.
meant, that viine measures ought to be adopted,
in order to gi►e additional efficacy to the dght of

rile Motion was put from the Chair, and carried
nons con. soon after which the [louse adjourned.

G 077 is' MI tiG H MAIL.

COPINHAOtN, *CC. 9.
The report of the batteries of the fortress of
Cronenburgh having been entirely destroye.l, oa the
2011 of this month, during a violent storm, mid that
the &snug: WAS estimated at one million of fix-dol-
lars, is grosAy exaggerated.
ILSINEUN. JAN. 12.

Captains liorneman and Schuh, who arrived
here, this day, from Dantzick, which they left a
fortnight since, state, that the garrison, composed
of Prussians and Poles, amounts to 20,u0D men;
that no apprehensions are entertained there of the
French, and that the latter seem determined to di-
rea their operations against Koningsberg.

••• Per the £*u•Q• treat the New York Pipet', ea the
tut pge.

THE BRITISH PRESS.

LONDON,
THURSDAY, JAIVAIT 29.

We lately announced the capture of two Dutch
East lndiamen and a frigate. The New-York Pa-
pers, which we received yesterday, contain the fol-
lowing intelligence upon this subjeet :
A letter, dated Batavia, Sept. 14, 1806, says t-
-14 The Dutch Spice Fleet, from the Moluccas, bound
for this place, has been captured by an English
country ship and frigate. This fleet is valued at
three or four millions Spanish dollars—a loss which
mu.t be most seriously kit by the Company at this
momer.t."

In further confirmation of this account, we have
been favoured with the following correa translation
of the dispatches of the late Govenor.General of the
India N-edclerlande (the Netherlands), found(on
board the Danish ship L'stte, detained en her •op.
age from Bstavia ai Copenhagen, and sent into
I),Artmouth by Ills NIA) :rv's ship Pia% Ric RD
JANYLRIM. Curtin:ander.