The Sun.
London, England, 1830-01-20 00:00:00

turn of certain goods to a vendor; but it should be
recollected that these goods had been sent in on ap-
probation, and it would be too great an extension of
the bankrupt laws (already too severe) to interpret
such a proceeding into the commission of an act of
bankruptcy. If such a principle were once ad-
mitted, there was nobody in business who might
not be entrapped into a bankruptcy. The Jury
would recollect the dismissal of six shopmen from
Nevarino-house on the 18th June, and there could
be little doubt that these persons, actuated by a
feeling of revenge, had gone into the City and
spread reports calculated to injure White and Met-
calf's credit. The consequence was, that several
creditors came to Lamb's Conduit-street, on Satur-
day, the 27th of June, and by unexpectedly de-
mandin: payment of their accounts, caused the
failure. Neither the return of the goods to James,
the creditor, on the Monday, nor the fair sale of the
361. worth of goods to Mrs. Frowd, on the Tues-
day, constituted acts of bankruptcy; and this being
the case, it followed that the action could not be
maintained by the plaintiffs as assignees of sup-
posed bankrupts ; consequently, there must be a
verdict for the defendants. The bankruptcy was
the foundation of this action, and if it were not
established, there was end of the entire proceeding.
He contended that the wholesale transactions of the
house were as fairly conducted as the retail sales,
and the latter were not impeached; consequently,
there existed no ground for imputing fraud to
the defendants, White and Metcalf, or those who
dealt with the latter. He repeated there was
no reason for imputing fraud to the wholesale pur-
chasers,—no ground for supposing that they were
instruments in the hands of the defendants; for they
had paid fair prices for the goods (with perhaps the
exception of a lot of carpeting, which, having been
six months in the house, was sold at 3d. a yard un-
der invoice price) : and it should be remembered
that the bills passed on account of the wholesale
transactions had, in most cases, been regularly paid.
As a proof that the wholesale contracts were not
fraudulent, it would be observed that none of them
had been set aside or rescinded by the assignees.—
There was no pretence for saying that either White
or Metcalf had entered into a conspiracy with Bee-
ston to perpetrate a fraud. They had neither of
them any thing to gain by such a proceeding, but
the contrary. There had been no forced sales—no
attempts to raise money at a sacrifice of property;
on the contrary, the heaviest portion of the sales
was upon credit, and all the sales were at fair profit
prices. This action was in itself a ratification of
the validity of the wholesale transactions; for, so
far from impugning the sales, the assignees now
ratified the contracts by endeavouring to recover the
proceeds of the bills passed upon those occasions :
and the condition of the creditors was benefitted in-
stead of being impaired by the sales. Metcalf had
not been deceived by I3eeston into embarking in an
mprudent undertaking; for he had been three
months in Nayarino-house, with daily opportunities
of investigating its condition.
The LORD CHIEF JUSTICE charged the Jury and
said, that the first point for their consideration was,
whether Messrs. White and Metcalf had committed
an act of bankruptcy ? If they should be of opinion
that they had, it would then be their duty to deter-
mine whether the defendants had obtained a fraudu-
lent preference over the other creditors.
The Jury, at half-past eight, returned a verdict
for the plaintiffs, for 14,4261. on the act of bank-
ruptcy, with regard to the transactions with James.
The case occupied the Court from the time of
its sitting till eight o'clock, and appeared to excite
the most lively interest among a very numerous as-
sembly of commercial persons, by which the Court
was crowded during the progress of the proceedings
upon this and the preceding day.