The Sun.
London, England, 1839-08-01 00:00:00

repeated, and had only been allowed a place4q4Nsttiztap
the loose conduct of country commissions.
Mr. Beers, M. P., brought forward a case showing that
an assignee, resident in London, under a country com-
missioner had, at great personal expense and inconve-
nience, been obliged to travel into the country an immense
distance only for the purpose of auditing an account, sett-
ing forth that 201. had been received since the last audit.
Nothing but a personal attendance could be accepted. He
. thought, at least in country commissions, when one-third
or two-thirds of the creditors resided in the metropolis,
that such bankruptcies should be narked in the London
Courts.
After a few further observations to the Lord Chancellor
by Mr. Crawford, the purport of which were not caught,
The LORD CHANCELLOR said that the memorialists asked
for an Act to remedy the evils complained of, in the present
Session. He hoped it was too late, and the session too near
the close to allow it.—(Laughter.) But what he asked
was this (he should meet Mr. Crawford again), not that
he intended or should forget, but he would ask Mr. Craw-
ford to remind him, and he would then see what could bo
done between this and the next Session. He desired to
have Mr. Crawford's assistance. The Attorney-General
had had instructions to bring in a Bill on the subject of
bankruptcy, but having been fully occupied of late, he had
Leen unable.
Mr. CRAWFOfiD was understood to say that he should
be most happy to co-operate in the work with his Lordship ;
in matters of account, he might be of some assistance;
but when there came a legal point he hoped his Lordship
would not look to him for an opinion.—( Laughter.)
Mr. Eeeis urged strongly upon the attention of his
Lordship the want of power in the Commissioners' sitting
singly to commit for contempt. The insults the Commis-
sioners daily received at the hands of bankrupts and
others while in the discharge of their important judicial
functions were hardly to be tolerated.
The LORD CHANCELLOR was understood to reply, Yes,
yes. The nature of the business before them would lead
me to suppose so. The whole subject shall have my best
consideration.
We understand the undermentioned statement was made
by Mr. Wryghte to the Committee, and accompanied the
Memorial :
Seven years had elapsed since the Lord Chancellor of
that day, disregarding the conflicting difficulties which his
predecessors had deemed insurmountable, effected the im-
portant change in the mode of administering the laws in
bankruptcy; substituting six independent Judges instead
of seventy appendages to the Great Seal, converting a
scene of clamour and confusion into the solemnity of an
organized Court of Record, and by the introduction of
commercial activity and intelligence, affording a link of
communication between the commercial public and the
Court, and happily blending the authority of the law with
the details of commercial arrangement.
It e ill be recollected the merchants of London
came forward cordially to support and sustain the Lord
Chancellor in the task he had undertaken, and at one of
the largest meetings ever held in the City of London,
carried by acclamation resolutions declaratory of their de-
termination to assist a change in the system which had
been too long tolerated, and upon which they reflected with
severe reprobation, and utter disgust.
The Lord Chancellor proceeded with the caution best
adapted to all matters connected with trade, by first render.
ing the fountain of justice pure, and deferring the amend-
ment of existing statutes till the advantages of the new
Court should be confirmed by the text of public approval.
The innovation was ample, but the success was signal.
Dormant Commissions were penetrated, sound decisions
were promptly pronounced upon cases which bad been the
sport of litigation for years ; vast sums were produced
and distributed, which had long been quietly nursed up,
or diverted into improper uses. Redress was afforded in
old bankruptcies, and in new fiats plunder ceased to
prevail.

lk`

It was not surprising, if, upon a change in this tribunal
so sudden and so sweeping, practice should have discovered
that all had not been contemplated, and that some omis-
sions had occurred ; therefore, it was found in operation,
that the restrictive powers of the Commissioners not only
prevented them from controlling and disposing of mat-
ters of daily occurrence in bankruptcies, but they were
even deprived of the power of preserving decorum in their
own Courts, a circumstance calculated to bring the office
of Judge in any Court into contempt.
It was considered the period bad now arrived when ex-
perience would justify an attempt to render perfect a sys-
tem, wherein, upon practice, these only blemishes were
found to prevail, and at the same time to amend those sta-
tutes, which, though now wisely and faithfully adminis-
tercd, were, in themselves, capable of many improve-
ments. But individual interests and prejudices are ever hos-
tile to general improvements, and insinuations were afloat
that the new system of conducting bankruptcies had lost
the support of the commercial world.
To ascertain the truth of this, and set the question at
rest on this head, it was determined to mal•. e an appeal to
the commercial community in the shape of a memorial to
to the Lord Chancellor, approving of the new system
of conducting bankruptcies, and requesting its extension
to a further convenient distance from London. The
manner in which this appeal was responded to is best tes-
tified by the writer, who witnessed the signatures, and
beard the individual expressions of satisfaction of fifty-
seven merchants, twenty-six bankers, and 537 traders
of the highest rank, affluence, and intelligence in the first
commercial city in the world.

With this document, then, the first public testimonial
since the establishment of the Court, this approval ascer-
tained and expressed as to the present mode of adminis-
tering the law, the Legislature can be confidently solicited
to advance with that correction and improvement of the
law itself, which the author of this wholesome reform in
the Court originally contemplated.

"IF
EVENING EDI