The Sun.
London, England, 1831-07-01 00:00:00

lIWERIAL PARLIANIENT. •

HOUSE OF LORDS, JUNE $O.

The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the
Woolsack shortly after Five o'clock.
The Earl of RADNOR presented a petition from Berk-
.hire azait.st the tithe system.
The Earl of ORFORD presented a petition from King's
Lynn against any violent Reform.
FRAUDS ON CREDITORS.
_ _

Lord WYNFORD introduced his Bill for preventing
debtors from lying in prison for the purpose of de-
frauding their creditors. Originally he had intended
to introduce a clause in this Bill for the purpose
of reaching those debtors who had absconded be-
yond the seas for the purpose of defrauding their cre-
ditors, by which the law of outlawry would be materially
altered ; but since he last had the honour of introducing this
Bill, he had discovered that outlawry was an extremely
dilatory proceeding and attended with enormous
expense, and therefore what lie ( Lord Wynford)
proposed now, was to bring persons absconding beyond
the sea, for such a nefarious act, within the operation
of the Bankrupt Laws. At the present moment there
were no less than a hundred persons confined in prison
for debt who were living most luxuriously, whose creditors
were actually starving. The object of this Bill then was
to compel such men to do justice. It provided that any
person who lay in prison under execution for three
months, for a sum equal to that which would authorise
the striking a docket against a tradesman, and who still
continued in prison, or attempted a fraudulent conveyance
of his property, that this should be considered equivalent
to an act of bankruptcy ; and if any man remained abroad
for three months, and a bailable writ was served upon
him at his last place of abode, and he by public adver-
tisement in the Gazette and in a newspaper required to
come back and pay the debt, or compound with his cre-
ditors, and neglected so to do, it should be considered an
act of bankruptcy ; but from this he excepted generally
persons engaged in the public service, and fur twelve
months those absent in distant parts of the world. His
Lordship then concluded by moving that the Bill should
lie read a first time.
The Earl of FIFE considered the Bill most impolitic,
and that very injurious effects were likely to arise from
the passing of such a measure. It was, in his opinion,
likely to prevent the very object which the Noble Lord
wished to promote—namely, the extension of equal jus-
tice to the community. As long as the injurious system
of arrest and imprisonment for debt continued, it would
only tend to the benefit of the worst class of legal practi •
tioners. He had been told by some of the best and most
Honourable Members of that body, that it was their
strong desire to have an end put to the system. He asked
what was the consequence of this system? The honest
man would have all his money taken from him,
and it would go not to his creditors, but to a
nest of hornets who had been goading on the people
to put him into gaol. The rogue, on the contrary,
would have taken especial came to consign away
his property. The consequence was, that, according
to the existing law, where they succeeded in punishing
one rogue, they destroyed ninety and nine just people.
The Bill he pronounced to be a most disgraceful one, and
he was convinced, that when it came to be generally
known, it would excite greater dissatisfaction than any
measure which had been promulgated for centuries. The
Noble and Learned Lord, in introducing the Bill that day,
had adopted a different tone front that used by him on a
former occasion. The Noble and Learned Lord had de-
scribed this measure as an act of humanity to the great
mass of individuals confined for debt; but what was their
own opinion upon the subject? With their Lordships'
permission he would read a document to them, in which
the confined debtors expressed their feelings. It was
prefaced by three mottos; the first of which was an ex-
tract from a speech delivered by Lord Eldon. The Noble
Lord then read the paper, which protested strongly against
the system proposed by the Bill, declaring impolitic and
unjust, and one of the most disgraceful ever submitted to
their Lordships. Among fifty, thousand cases of insol-
vency, it had been established that there was only a divi-
dend of one farthing for the creditors ; and this because
the money had been all soent on litigation, and on putting
the men into prison. He was supported by a great meet-
ing of bankers in stating, that the smallness of the divi-
dend arose from the interested conduct of low practitioners
of the law, who worked upon the obdurate nature of the
creditors, and induced them to thrust their debtors into
the body of a gaol : and this meeting expressed its ardent
hope, this law of arrest and imprisonment for debt would
be done away with altogether. For all these reasons he
trusted that, if the Lordships did not positively reject the
Bill, they would at least most minutely examine every
clause of it when it came before the Committee. He
' remarked, that it was very strange the Noble and Learned
Lord who had presided over that which had been called
the lock and key of the common law, should be anxious
to introduce the practice of the Court of Chancery, while
the Noble and Learned bird who had now become fa-
miliar with the practice of the Court of Chancery, was,
on the contrary, desirous of assimilating it to the Com-
mon Law. He maintained that all the great Constitu-
tional writers condemed arrest and imprisonment for debt,
and quoted a passage from De Lolme, in which it is ob-
served that the system was only continued in England be-
cause the law then was still in its infancy. He proceeded
to contend that it was idle to argue any injury could be
done to mono rce by doing away with arrest and impri-
sonment for debt ; in confirmation of which doctrine he
read extracts from a work by the Marquis of Beccaria.
He remarked, that it would he exceedingly strange that
this Bill, which went in itself to form a new Constitu-
tion, as far as ptea- creditors were concerned, should be
suffered to pass almost without a comment, as a similar
measure had in the last Season, when the Reform Bill,
which also tended to the creation of a new Constitution,
was about to be so fiercely disputed.
The Bill was then read a first time.
TITHE COMPOSITION BILL.
The Archbishop of CANTERBURY deferred the se-
cond reading of this Bill to Tuesday next.
On the mot.on of Lord WYNFORD, a Bill to prevent
delay in the proceedings of the Courts of Law was read a
first time.

REFORM.
The Marquis of LONDONDERRY, in rising to pre-
sent petitions against the Reform Bill from the freemen of
Durham, from Shields, Newcastle, and other places in the
county of Durham, trusted he might be excused by their
Lordships for taking that opportunity of -alluding to ob-
servations made at Reform dinners and meetings in the
county of Durham. lie had a great an deep interest in that
county, and was v. ell acquainted with it, and he would,
therefore, take upon him to assert, that the doctrines held
at those dinners and meetings are by no means congenial
with the feelin:s and wishes of the constituency of Dur-
ham. And he' also considered himself free to state, that
if the Hon. Gentlemen who now represented that county
in Parliament had promulgated these opinions pre-
vious to the election, they would nut now enjoy
the high honour of the position in which they stood.
The doctrines promulgated upon the occasions to
which he alluded to were decidedly levelling to the
Church, and subversive of the Aristocracy : and much was
it, in his opinion, to be regretted, that personages occupy-
ing the stations of those Honourable Personages should
hold forth doctrines fraught with danger to the settled or-
ders of society, and to the institutions of the State, since
they could not fail to produce a popular excitement. A.
none of those Honourable Persons were present, he would
refrain from reading any extracts, or particularly referring
to any extracts from their speeches, nor would he enter
upon any discussion respecting the doctrines they set forth
and advocated, unless some Noble Lord connected with
Durham, or some other Noble Lords opposite, would
stand forward and undertake to promulgate and defend
those doctrines in that House. Ile would only say, that
he at least hoped the expression of these opinions and doc-
trines would not be made the p (aspect to the honours of
that House.—(Hear, hear.) lie was sorry that any ex-
pressions reflecting on the Church and directed against it
ahould have been made in Durham, over which a Bishop
presided who was surpassed by none in learning, piety, be-
nevolence, and truly Christian feeling—(llear, bear)—and
in which the religious establishment generally was so de-
serving of all praise : and he could confidently assert, that
the universal feeling had been one of sorrow and regret
that such feelings should have gone forth. Very much
advice had been given to their Lordships within the wails
of that House touching the course which they were to
pursue in respect to the Reiurm Bill, and even a greater
quantity of advice was given them by individuals from
without, so that, in the multiplicity of their counsellors,
they stood a chance of being sadly puzzled. But amongst
the various kind pieces of recommendation given to that
branch of the Legislature, there was one to which he
wished to advert ; and he begged to ask the Noble
and Learned Lord on the Woolsack, whether he had
seen or heard of a brochure (he would not, most pro-
bably have the courtesy to tell him whether he had written
it)—(Laughter)--entitled " Friendly' Advice most re-
spectfully submitted to the Lords on the Reform
Now, with their Lordships' permission, he would read an
extract from this pamphlet, which referred to those Noble
Persons who were nut favourable to the Ministerial plan
of Reform. The Noble Marquis then read as follows :
" These may not venture to attack the Reform Bill openly
in front ; but they will try to take it in flank. They will