The Sun.
London, England, 1831-12-28 00:00:00

LOWEST FEES UNDER THE NEW ACT,

.E. s. d.
Fiat lO 0 0
Payment, by provisional assignee, out of first
assets
Payment to Compensation Fund lO 0 0
Ten shillings per 100/. on the amount of divi _
... ..

dend — .
20 0 0
Commission to official assignee, which is discre-
tionary with the Commissioners, but cannot
be less in each case than two per cent BO 0 0

£l4O 0 0

Thus, according to this estimate, the fees in a
case of bankruptcy, where the assets are 4,0001.,
were about 451. under the old system, and will
be about 140/. under the new Act. This, of
course, will be no saving of expense—though,
on the very great bankruptcies, the fees will bear
a smaller proportion to the property to be reco-
vered than under the old system, and, conse-
quently, in those cases the expense will be less
than formerly, though not so much so as might
be supposed in the first instance, in consequence
of the greater *number of tribunals created by the
new, thrcugh which every important question in
a bankruptcy case may be dragged•in succession;
fer in the first instance the question may come
before the Subdivision Court—thence'be carried
to the Court of Review—thence, upon appeal,
to the Lord Chancellor—and, in some instances,
' before the House of Lords. Under the old sys-
tem there was but one tribunal—namely, that of
the Lord Chancellor—before which petitions
could be brought ; so that not only will the
number of tribunals under the present Act in-
mase the expense—because in each there must
be new briefs, and new fees to Counsel—but the
delay and difficulty of coming to the grand point,
which is the ascertaining the share which the
fingers of the law will leave to the creditor out of
the wreck of the bankrupt's property will be
much increased beyond what it would be if the
system were worked by the simpler machinery
of one effective tribunal. -Mr. Basil Montague,
who, from his knowledge
:and experience in
bankruptcy cases, is entitled to great attention,
disapproves decidedly of the provisions of the
new Act, for reasons which he gives at large in
his publication on that Act ; but as those reasons
general, more intelligible to members of
the profession
in
of the law than they could be to
the public, we do not think it necessary in this
place, to enter into the consideration of them
but we will submit his own plan, which has, at;
least, the recommendation of being more cheap,
and would, no doubt, be more expeditious in its
operation, than the tribunals established by the
new Act. He proposes, as sufficient for all
purposes, a tribunal, consisting of the following
official persons :—Six Commissioners, at 1,500/.
a year each, making 9,000/. ; a Commissioner
for Assignees, 1,5001.; a Commissioner of Ap-
peals, :2,000/ ; his Clerk or 'Registrar, 500/. ;
in all 13,0001.—being less than one-half of
the- amount of salaries to be paid to the Judges
and officers of the new Court. This tribunal;
,if efficient persons Were selected, he thinks,
would give the 'maximum of justice with the
minimum of delay and expense. But, after all
it is only fair to abstain from giving a peremp-
tory opinion upon the merits or demerits of the
new system until it shall be brought to the test
of that experience which proves the true value
of theory.—Morning Herald.

It continues to be asserted by the Ministerial
Press, that in defiance of their own declarations

in Parliament (so unequivocally. expressed by
Earl Grey himself, and so completely condem-
natory of the self-admitted unconstitutional
principle of creating Peers for the purpose of
carrying any particular measure), a sufficient
number of new Peers will be created to effect the
' enactment of the Revolutionary Bill now before
Parlianient. After the manly and constitutional
sentiments already avowed by his Majesty upon
this subject, we are not without confident hope
that he will not suffer his noble spirit to yield to
the wiles of the enemies of the Constitution, and
his own prerogative and crown. The expe-
dient now proposed to be „resorted to for carry-
ing. the dangerous measure is obnoxious and
abhorrent beyond all precedent—that of
giving the Peerage to the eldest sons of
Noble Lords who have already devoted
themselves to the revolutionary views of
Ministers. The colourable pretence for this un-
worthy stratagem is, that the new Peers thus
created will not eventually cause any augmenta-
tion in the number of the regular Peerage, as in
the end they will merely succeed to their fathers'
titles. But in the mean time, we would ask, is
not the grossest violation of the Constitution
committed in the proposed creations, by means
of which a vital stab is to be inflicted on the
Constitution ? We pity the wretched Minis-
ters who in their weakness feel themselves
obliged to have recourse to so disgraceful an
expedient ; nor have we less compassion for the
elder sons of Peers mentioned in an article in
another part of our Paper, who in their due
sense of honour must feel how much they are
degraded and insulted, in being made the com-
pulsory instruments of the ruin of our Consti-
tution. Their feelings must indeed be most
acute on so degrading an occasion.—Morning
Post.

The conduct of Russia becomes every 'day
more suspicious, and that of the King of Hol-
land more intelligible. We had our apprehen-
sions from the beginning that, one day or other,
the free Governments would regret the heartless
and impolitic part they had acted towards the
Poles ; we had our apprehensions, and we made
no secret of them at the time, that Russia,
puffed up with pride by the subserviency of
France and England, and armed with power by
the overthrow of a band of heroes the most de-
voted and illustrious in the records of all time,
would profit by the fall of Warsaw to pro-
secute a higher game against the inde-
pendence of Europe. But, though we saw
the probability of such a result at no distant
period, we did not anticipate that a Con-
ference, in which the Russian Minister was as
busily occupied as the Ministers of other Powers,
and to which the faith of the Russian Emperor
was as strongly pledged, that such a Conference
was likely to supply a pretext for the undertaking.
Now, however, it would appear to be the case,
and, after having failed to satisfy either Belgium
or Holland—after having heaped protocol upon
protocol, with a view of securing the peace of
Europe, which could have been better secured
by insisting on the claims of the Polish people
—we are beginning to suspect that the Confe-
rence itself was but a delusion, a trick to gain
time, to steal a march, as it were, upon the unsus-
pecting honour of those who were sincere in their
endeavours to do justice between the parties. Still
it is scarcely possible that the rumour which im-
putes to the Russian Emperor a design as un-
principled as the rejection of the treaty, under
the circumstances in which he stands with respect
to that treaty, can be true. Character is, after
all, of some importance. Power it.df, though
it be the power of an Autocrat, must have some
limit while there exists such a thing as opinion
in Europe. It is impossible that honour and
honesty can be set openly at defiance without
weakening the cause for which the outrage is per-
petrated against the moral feeling of mankind.
We cannot, therefore, dismiss altogether from
our minds the belief that the intentions of
Russia are misrepresented or mistaken ; but
if that Power should be so far infatuated as to
rouse the indignation of every generous spirit
by attempting a crusade against freedom in the
present state of the world, let it not suppose that
there are sinews and blood enough in its un-
wieldy empire to put down the mind, the en-
lightened, irritated, unquenchable mind of Eu-
rope. That crisis, which Canning foresaw, when
all the dissatisfied spirits would rush to one
standard, would be realised on the first move-
ment of a French army in such a cause. But
we hope, for the sake of peace and order, that
the speculation is premature. We will not pursue
it further. The Emperor of Russia will, we
trust, prove himself possessed of more virtue
and more wisdom than public rumour ascribes
to him at the present moment—and as for the
King of Holland, no language could adequately
describe the part lie has taken in the affair, if it
should turn out to be the work of conspiracy.—
, Morning Herald.