The Sun.
London, England, 1854-07-03 00:00:00

IN RE CHARLES 3IATHEWS.

His Honour to-day gave judgment on the question of
certificate. He said—Mr. Charles Mathews, the emi-
nent actor, having become bankrupt, and having passed
his last examination, applied for his certificate about a
week ago, his application being not only unopposed, but
supported by a paper signed by almost all his creditors,
which was in these words :—" We, the undersigned
creditors of Mr. Mathews, beg most respectfully to ex-
press our unabated confidence in him, and to request, if
it be not improper in us to interfere, that your Honour
may be pleased to award an immediate and high class
certificate." This paper was signed by his largest cre-
ditor, Mr. Allcroft, and by the Marquis of Abercorn,
also a large creditor, and by other creditors of amounts
varying from hundreds to sums of 201. and under. I
should have been glad to have relieved Mr. Mathews's
anxiety at once, but I knew so little of the case, owing
to there being no dissatisfied creditor, and therefore no
discussion before me at any stage of the proceedings,
that I felt it necessary to call for the papers and examine
them at home. I have now done so, and am happy to
find that I can comply with the wishes of the creditors
and give him a first class certificate. (Applause.) The
outline of his case is as follows-:—ln 1838 Mr. and Mrs.
Mathews were induced by very tempting offers—offers
which held out the realisation in a short time of 20,0001.
and upwards, to go to America. They were at that
time managing the Olympic Theatre, which had for
many years been a successful undertaking. -Unfortu-
nately their voyage to America ended in entire disap-
pointment, and during their absence the Olympic ceased
to be successful, so that the result was, that Mr. Ma-
thews, whilst gaining nothing in America, lost about
3,000/. in this country. Mr. Mathews seeing no hope
of retrieving so great a loss at so small a theatre, was
induced to accept an offer, seemingly very advan-
tageous, of a lease of Covent Garden Theatre,
but after he had struggled through three seasons the
theatre was taken from him, all , his theatrical pro-
perties were seized, and he found himself charged with
several thousand pounds for rent, the justice of which
charge, however, he never acknowledged. This com-
pelled him to have recourse to the Insolvent Debtors'
Court, which granted him the usual relief. Unfortu-
nately, under the influence of a high though mistaken
sense of honour, he was no sooner relieved by the In-
solvent Debtors' Court than he renewed such of his debts
as he thought were justly due, by giving his acceptances
for them to the amount of 3,0001. This, of course, in-
volved him in fresh difficulties, for the acceptances were
passed to persons who had no scruple in suing upon
them, and in a short time his difficulties were as great
as ever, and in 1843 he found himself again obliged to
apply to the law for relief. Relief was again granted,
but unfortunately, unwarned by the past, he would not
retain the protection of the law, but endeavoured, by
means of Mr. Delafield, to make a private arrangement
to pay his creditors 6s. Bd. in the pound, and, thinking
he had arranged it successfully, he procured his petition
to be dismissed. Mr. Delafield was prevented from cir-
cumstances, from performing his part, and Mr. Matthews
was, in consequence, unable to pay the last instalment,
the non-payment of which placed him in his old posi-
tion. His debts were revived. Meanwhile a capitalist
had offered to assist him in taking the Lyceum Theatre,
and so decorating it and furnishing it to wake it attrac-
tive, and having determined to engage in this specula-
twn, he spent a large sum, and incurred a large debt in
carrying it out ; but, unfortunately, when the expense
had been incurred, and the debt had to be paid, the ca-
pitalist failed, and Mr. Matthews found himself in greater
difficulties than ever. Still he struggled on till 1851, when
he found himself again compel!ed to invoke the aid of
the law. His case happened to come before me, and lie
sought relief:under a modern act, which provides for pri-
vate arrangements. At first I was impressed with the
feeling that his case was not one entitling him to the pri-
vilege of arranging his affairs privately, but that lie
ought to settle iu open court, and I refused to sanction
the proceeding ; but upon having the case more fully
inquired into by an accountant named by myself, and
being furnished with full details by that accountant, I
decided to protect him, and accordingly he was protected
under that petition, on certain terms approved by his
creditors, one of those terms being that the accountant
named by me should keep the accounts of the theatre,
and act as trustee of any surplus for the creditors. Under
that protection and arrangement Mr. Mathews continued
his theatrical exertions till the time of his bankruptcy,
the Lyceum furnishing him and Mrs. Mathews with a
moderate though decent return for their exertions, and
paying its way till the Easter season of 1853 again
brought him into difficulties from which his only rescue
was, what he had been constantly though foolishly endea-
vouringto avoid, bankruptcy. I say, foolishly, because
to an honest debtor bankruptcy is the best protection.
It will be seen from the above detail, that his life from
the moment of his departure for America to the present
time has been a constant struggle with difficulties, diffi-
culties against which it was vain to contend, because he
was always in the position of a man trying to swim with
a stone round his neck ; he was overweighted with debt.
He has been guilty of no dishonesty, no extravagance,
that I can see. The only fault he had committed is one
which, though in my opinion the greatest of faults—l
had almost said crimes—public opinion will not regard
as such, the fault or crime of flying in the face of the
law on two occasions by rejecting its provisions and
substituting his own notions of right, la 1842, when
he applied to the Insolvent Debtors' Court, the law
took all he had, but left his talents and industry unbur-
dened with debt ; he rejected this advantage and re-
vived debts to the amount of 3,0001., thus wronging him•
self and inflicting a cruel injustice on his future credi-
tors. I say a cruel injustice, because no man has a right
to commence a career which of necessity involves the
incurring new debts whilst burdened with old debts
which he cannot have assets to meet except such as may
be obtained frim new creditors. Such a system is, in
fact, robbing Peter to pay Paul. He repeated the same
fault in 1843. He bad again obtained from the law that
protection which was necessary to enable him to do jus-
tice to future creditors, yet he procured his own petition
to be dismissed, and thus threw away that protection,
and placed his new creditors again at the mercy of his
old. I hope that he will not do so again. Indeed, if
I thought he would, I would not grant him any certifi-
cate at all, for if I did I should feel I was entrapping
future creditors. It may be difficult to persuade the
world that such conduct is a crime, bui, in my opinion
it is a commercial crime of a deep die, a crime which
nothing could extenuate, except a warning to each new
creditor, without incurring a new debt, that he had by
his own act made that law, which professed so send him
back into the world of industry a new man owing
nothing, a mockery and a snare to new creditors. I
give Mr. Matthews a first-class certificate with pleasure,
and I hope his future career may be more fortunate in
its pecuniary results than his former exertions have
been. Of course if, after fulfilling all new obligations,
he at any time found himself in possession of a surplus,
which he could justly divide amongst old creditors, and
his high sense of honour disposed him so to do, to such
a course no exception could be taken.
The decision was received with applause.
Mr. Whitmore, the official assignee, reported on the
case as follows :—The plaintiff was the lessee of the
Lyceum Theatre, has been in difficulties since 1838,
when, as lessee of the Olympic Theatre, he incurred a
considerable loss, from the effects of which he has
never recovered. By that loss, and by the loss at
Covent Garden in the year 1842, he became so involved
that in that year he was compelled to petition the Insol-
vent Debtors' Court, in which he got his discharge. He
appears, however, to have renewed immediately afterwards
many of his old debts, for which he gave acceptances,
which, passing into the hands of third parties, the
holders took proceedings upon them as they became
due ; and in 1843 he was again compelled to seek pro-
tection, when he petitioned the Court of Bankruptcy as
an insolvent debtor, under the sth and 6th Vic., cap.
116. This petition was annuled on the creditors agree-
ing to accept a composition of 68. Bd. in the pound.
Mr. Mathews, however, was not able to carry that
arrangement entirely into effect, and having already lost
the protection of the Court by the annulling of his peti-
tion, his unsatisfied debts again pressed upon him. In
1851 he petitioned the Court, under the 7th and Bth

-
Vic., cap. 70, when an investigation was instituted, un-
der the direction of the Court, as to the origin of his
then difficulties, which were ascribed by Mr. Mathews
to his having been induced by the prospects of success,
in which he had been disappointed, to incur a large out-
lay in re-decorating and embellishing the Lyceum Thea-
tre, and by the joint affidavit (filed upon the proceedings
9f Mr. Thomas, who prepared the account of Mr.
Mathews it will amount to 9,3801.) Mr. Mathew's pro-
position, under this proceeding, was to the following
effect ;-----
~ That trustees should be appointed, to whom
h-l"r°;6lß of the threatre (which, from the great undis-
puted
a'au.l Of visitors to the Exhibition in 1851, were
expected to reach a large sum) should be paid over for
division a
in common
managers, miscalcu-
-r"Zfththe creditors. Mr. Mathews, however,
other theatrical .
fated the effect
the time when th
asmuch as, between
of that Exhibition upon the theatres, in-
was a loss of 2,56e0/mnses
the date of the petition in April and
end of the season Nierese
pen '' Id, and the subsequent large
receipts only recoup began to visit London, there
from October to Christmasduring
pay the rent of the theatre&, which was insufficient to
`:7tollis loss, and the profits by the
particular remark except the
inks as to the threatre do no 'trhe
appear to call for any
the:
ru e timearesult
oo ffv itsiizt ~acl
lltoihsse,e
subsequent proceed-
tart to which Mr.
incurred prior to
Mathews ascribes his present
Easter of 1853, by which a loss w
gement in
the end of the season of 3,226/.
that since the date of the petitionTalfPu
1851, the deficiency has increased from ail."
22,445/. ; the increase being accounTend 1f07,7271. to
in-
terim law costs and necessary personal expernsbe
and
ex-
ceeding in amount the profits of the theatro
Mr. Mathews's professional engagement. The bkof an
rupt has no assets whatever ; neither under the
cir.'
cumstances ought it to be otherwise, fur he has not had
for many years the means of either giving credit or of
accruing property. The furniture of his house was
originally rented, and the subsequent arrangement for
the purchase of it from economical motives was ulti-
mately obtained. The bankrupt has given all the as-
sistance required in the office of the official assignee.
Mr. Mathews, in a printed statement dated Lyceum,
May 5, 1854, has related the history of his case; the
principal facts of which being vouched are embodied in
this report.