The Sun.
London, England, 1825-07-04 00:00:00

. .
EBRITISII PRESS.]

Another Bill has passed the Legislature of
much importance to the- Commercial Interests of the City of
London. It is commonly called the Merchant and Factor Act,
and materially amends the law relating to consigned property.
Previous to the passing of this excellent Act, no merchant was
safe in advancing money on consignments, as, in case of bank-
ruptcy, the owner had the power to follow his property, and re-
possess himself of it without any liability for the money which
might have been advanced on it. This system often produced
injustice, and in many cases fraud. Thus, A was a merchant
at Hamburgh, B was his agent in London, and C was a Lon-
don capitalist. B owed A three thousand pounds, and in-
formed him that he had no means of repaying him. A ex-
pressed his great regret at the misfortune of his agent, renewed
the assurance of his friendship,- and, as a proof of his confi-
fidence in B's integrity, consigned him property to the amount
of five thousand pounds, restricting the sale until prices should
advance considerably above the currency of that day. Soon
afterivards, A availed himself of a favourable exchange,
and drew on his agent Bto the extent of 3,000/. When
these bills became due B borrowed from C 3,000/., in se-
curity for which, he lodged A's consigned property, valued,
we will suppose, at 5,000/. With this sum, B paid his ac-
ceptances to A's bills, and by paying them, repaid the debt he
wed him. As soon as this operation was. completed, A ap-
pea_red in London, and compelled C to restore to him the pro-
, perty which B had given him in security for the loan, thus
transft Tring to C the debt of 3,000/. previously due by B to A.
Anothe,- case, still of greater injustice, is on record. A was a
Iclover-secd-merchant, in the Borough, and B was a London
merchant: 13 purchased from A seed to the value of 2,0001.,
and paid him. cAsh for it. As this was a speculation, and the
seed was intend ed for re-sale, it was not removed from A's
premises. Scvertil months after thii purchase, B borrowed
from A one thous'and five hundred pounds on this seed,
and soon afterwarls became a bankrupt. A thought his
security in the clover seed
good enough, until C, a foreign mer-
chant, whom A had never previously known, even by name,
demanded from A the delivery of the seed, and having after-
wards proved in a covrt of law that B. was his agent in the
purchase of the seed,. A was consequently compelled, by a ver-
dic of the Jury, to give to C the seed, which had never been
removed from his warehouse, and to prove a debt of 1,5001. on
the insolvent estate of 13.--The new Act alters this system of
injustice, and in future, as is the case throughout Europe, the
proprietor will he responsible for any money which his agent
may borrow on the security of his consignments. His Ma-
jesty's Ministers ore entitled to the thanks of every merchant
in the United Kingdom for carrying this Act through both
Muses of Parliament, in spite of the strong opposition it en-
countered from the Gentlemen of the Long Robe in Parlia-
ment. The new Act will undoubtedly have a direct tendency
to repress litigation, but that is, with the mercantile commu-
nity at least, one of its best recommen4ations.

A NECDOTE.-Mr. MoarEa, in his journey
through Persia, relates the following anecdote.--
The Serdar of Erivan, who amuses himself from
the windows of his Palace in shooting the ape 9 of
the peasants whn happen to be going along the
road, in one of his predatory excursions into
Georgia, took, and carried into his Harem a
Georgian maid, who had been betrothed to a
youtli of her country. This youth followed her
to Erivan, and having acquainted her with his.ar-
rival, they contrived to escape, but -were over-
taken and brought back. The lover -was ordered
to leave Erivan ; and as he was crossing the
engui, a river which flows between ; high 'wed-
!pices, his mistress espied him from the top of one
id the banks, and immense as the height was,
threw herself down; determined either to join him
,or to die in the attempt." Her fall was broken
:by the intervention of some willows, and she was
t*en up much bruised, though not dangerously
To the honour of Serdar, he did not carry
' hiS tyranny farther, but restored the• couple, to•
each other, gave them their liberty, #nd protec-
tion to return to their homes.