The Sun.
London, England, 1807-01-29 00:00:00

BARRACK DEPARTMENT.

Lord A, II A !WILTON said, he now rose to move
for certain Papers relative to a subjeft which had al-
ready, in some degree, occupied the attention of the
House, and which, he believed, had out of doors ex-
cited universal indignation. He then moved—
" That there be laid before the House a Return of
the barrack Supplies for the four,years during which
A. Davison, Esq. was employed therein, enumera-
ting the articles under different heads; specifying
the ytalitiei, the amount, and charges, respectively."
STI,IIi4LES BOL/ANE seconded the 1110,
Cott, tarn said, it Lave him great pleasure to find an
inqairy was tO be made into the subjea. There
'Was a Paper on this head presented to the House dur •
ing the last Se.:sioo of the,last Parliament, which con-
tetintql a general statement. of the w-ticles wikuted for
the Barrack Department, and 'he' moved team that
Paper be re.-j), tilted ; which, with Lord A.
,Hamil-
tou s Motion, was.accordingly agreed to.
Sir sTnomAs Tt7RThN gave notice, that:be -would
on Monday fortnight move for • the production of
Papers relatint to the Assumption of the Govern- .
Anent tai the Carnatic by the past.lndia Company.
11t.Vii,LLIANs WyNtsttr presented the Circular
Letter to the Lord Lieutenants of Counties, pur-
suant to an Order of the House.—Ordered to be
printed.
Mr. WILLTAMS WYNNE brought up the Reduc-
tion Bill, and the Irish Gimpowder 13111 ; they were
severally read a first 'time, and ordered to be read a
second time to-morrow.

. FREEHOLD ESTATES ASSET 81LL.....
The SO UCITO J R 11, rose, pursuant to
notice, tnd said, that the evils which it was. tj#te ob-
ject of th .! proposed Bill to do aWay, 'Were of a na-
ture st.) magnitudinous, and, indeed, in general, so
well understood and so long complained against, that
Ile should not think it advisable "to. detain the House
with any prefatory ob rvations in farbur.of the re-
tnedy suggested;.tvere it not that it had been once
submitted to that HoUSe before, and had been for-
molly rejected. .This circumstance, perhaps, ren-
,clered it necessary_ for him in the present instance to
trouble the House with one or two introductory
observations as to the evils which the Legislature;
were so imperiously called upon to remove; and as
to the retudy" he-should have the honour of sub-
mitting to .that House, conceiving that remedy to
be, in his humble judgment, competent to remove
them. Gentlemen were aware, that,. by the laws
of England, a man seised of a freehold estate might
Contract debts to any amount. without subjecting
that fee to the responsibility of the debts incurred-,
provided the debtor had passed no securities under
teal." Boa debts and bills of exchange, which were
not undersea!, it was unnecessary to say, did nor
affect freehold estates. If, then,- a man; owner of
a freehold estate, at extravagant habits, and-of that
unmeaning profusion which prompted him- rather
to be generous than just, should die indebted to one
or more creditors in an enormous amount, and in-.
stead of bat rug left sufficient means to satisfy their
*just demands, should, with a caprice worthy of his-
prudenee, have transferred to some unknown un-
deserving • heir that ..ntire estate -which was the
source of their confidence, and ought to have been
their remuneration—he appealed to that House what
Must have been the sentiments of such ita'-itijured
bady of men as the creditors in stieha case. d Mat-
ter how wanton or caprieious:the will= itself that
Constituted the heir, his ,title iu law-is indisputable
to that property, which,. hi common jtistfee,-ouhf
to have been another's.' He may look Witif in-
tifference upon the claims of -Creditors, who have,

unfortueately for 'themselves, founded them upon
no stronger principle than the honour of their debtere
but it is not for the Legislature of a great commercial
country to look with indifference upon any measure
that tends-to shake that generous confidence Which
is • the support of British credit and the pride of
• British commerce; but were even the law itself not
objectionable, still the abuses of which it has been
productive would sufficiently warrant its abolition.
He regretted that there had occurred within the re-
colle4tion of the present age so many instances of
men possessed offreehold estates, Who, finding them-
. selves overwhelmed with an accumulation Of debt,-
bad resolved upon the desperate alternative of ;
priving themselves of existence, and thus, by a sort
of posthumons- injustice, put out of the reach- of
their creditors every possible- means of redress or
recompence: Strange as it is,' that. such a mho
should exist in any country, it is still more unac-
countable. that such a rule Should be peculiar to this
.country. On the Continent heirs are subject to the
debts of those from whom they inherit, and grate-
ful it is to observe the . pious industry with which
they persevere in their efforts to redeem the faith
they justly conceive to have been pledged by those
who held before them. In Scotland this rule is not
entirely recognized—why it continued in force in
England down to the present day, was what he
found difficult to account for ? To trace its origin it
was necessary to recur to the feudal times, when
allodial property was annihilated, and that in order
to secure any it was necessary to hold it of a su-
perior liege—the relations between the
.vassal and
the lord rendered all alienation of property impiae-
ticable, and when, after the gradual relaxations from
the strielness of this rule, the owner was allowed to
relieve half his property,, and subsequently the
whole. The statute Of the iath of Edward theTirst,,
called from its own commencing words the statute
of " Quia Empteus,': was engted for the purpose
of checking the then progressively increasing system
of subinfeudation, so that the law may be now said
to have survived for five hundred years the reason
that produced it, and therefore to have. been for five
hundred years, if pot mischievous, at least, useless,
and yet not what all useless laws should be, obsolete.
He could iipchelp remarkieg upon the inconsistency
of this law, ltiose, e. hen it was so desirable it should
be strict, and in other respeas rigid to a de-
gree bordering upon a severity almost censur-
able.—ln the case of personal goods, and all,
Species of chattel interest, the operation of this
law in iniorcing the payment of -debts. Was known
to be summary, decisive, and efficient. He coeld

not say inueh in favour of the impartial appli-
I cation of that law, which, while it screened the
• freehold estate of the idle, the dissipated or disho-
! nest debtor, gave up the iierson and property of his
perhaps struggling creditor to all the fatal conse-
quences of some unforseen vicissitude of trade, the
little he had (his all) to bankruptcy, and himself to
the moral as well as physical contagion of a gaol,
where he is doomed to linger out the wretched rem-
nant of his days in unavailing sorrow, unless restor-
ed to the world by one of those rare instances of the
interposition of the legislature to ameliorate toe stern
rigour of the law. As all debts due upon negotiable
securities were simple contract debts, the object of
the Bill to be proposed would be to put all simple
contract creditors upon the same footing Iv; t h special
creditors. Gentlemen of that House who were tint
conversant in his profession might
.nut be aware that
a Court of Equity was the only Curt in which real
estates could possibly be made liable to simple con-.
tract debt:;. This Serious evil, Courts of Equity have
.endeavoured to remedy, by .a mode of proceeding,
which professional men understood by the terms
marshalling of assets." He should conclude by
observing, that in order to. combat the general pre-
judice against innovation, it is the duty of any per,
son proposing that one measure should be .adopted in
the place of another, not only to state the alledged
good cads of the new, but also the advantages and
disadvantages of the old one. In the latter statement
he had certainly' been partial, but he was unavoida-
bly so. He.had stated the disadvantages only, be-
cause in his view of tilt measure (and it was not an
inattentive one) it appeared but productive of -pure.'
and unmixed evil. He had now only to apologize
to the House for trespassing so long upon their time,
and hoped that if he had been guilty of prolixity, it
would be rather imputed to an anxiety int him, to
make himself as clear and intelligent as possible tip-
on a subject of slid), importance to the landed and
commercial interests of the country. He concluded
by moving, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to
make the freehold estates-of persens dying in debt
. assets for the payment of simple contrast debts. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL seconded the motion.
11,1r.Wt 5 MSWYNNE hoped the Honourable and
Learned Gentleman would not stop here, but apply
his mind to a similar consideration as affeeting the.
estates of the
The Thames Police Bill was, read a second time,
and ordered to be committed for this day -se'nnight,
The Grain Intercourse Bill went...through a etirn-
mittee. •

The Rowe went into a Committee on the Aets
relating to Wool and Yarn.
Sir JOHN NEWPQRT, intimating the necessity of
making presents to the American Indians, of various
articles composed of worsted yarn, moved, that the

Chairman be justrthed to 'ask leave to bring ii a Bill
.
to allow the annual exportation of Worsted:larn

Canada.

This being agreed to, Cap House was resumed,
the Report was received, and leave granted accord.,
ingly.—Adjourned.

MAILS.

ARRIVLD--1 Lisbon, 3 VVateiford. Dua—t Gottenburgh,
i uolin;* t Witerford. '

PRICE OF STOCKS
THIS DAY AT TWE&VE
Consols - - 6oi

L 0 IV D 0
TAURSDA.Y, JANUARY 29, 1807.

No official intelligence from the Continent bad
'reached Town when this Paper was put to. Pren" hnt
we have mac:) to. that Government du not
*entertain the Mallen doOt of •the truth of the ac-

tat*, which were received tin Sat4day..
Moors have been circulated, without any authority,
"of vietories obtained by the French subsequent to
the 3d January, and it was even asserted that Go'-'
vernment had received French Papers containing the
Bulletins which announced that fa&. We stated on
Tuesday that Government had received no such Papersk
there appears, therefore to be no foundation whatever
for the report. But though no official details have
yet been received respeCting the vi&ory of the Rus-
' sians, yet all the accounts which have been received
from the Continent within these three or four
.days
concur in mentioning the total defeat of the French.
The Dutch Papers which have been received do net,
it:is true, announce the defeat of BONAl'ARTE—they
dare not do it; but we believe that very little doubt
is entertained upon the subject in Holland,
received this morning the
.following. Letter from.
Dover, which shews the anxiety of the Dutch Go-
vernment to prevent the accounts of the successes
of the Russians from reaching England.
" DOVER, JAN. 28.—Came in the Belisarius, of
New York, MILLE.R, from Amsterdam, for "New
Orleans, with butter and cheese. Before the Ship
-was suffered to proceed on her voyage, the captain
was obliged to enter in.tn a Bond not to go into any
English Pert, being fearful that he would communi-
pte the reports in circulation, that the Freneh had
been deteated, with the loss of u,net) men, and
that in retreating from the theatre of war, the Poles
had risen upon.therg en nzasse, and massacred be,
tween 10 and 20,000 men."

The Hale, Capt, Ba.aNsToN, arrived in the River
yesterday from Copenhagen. Capt. B. sr.Med on the:
0h hist, and he states, that at that time it was'-
confidently believed that a 4ciiire yitfit(4,y had
been obtained by the Itussians. Letters tatvq
also been received from Warsaw, dated the 4th ;•
.
of course, personl writing froin that Cite would be
very cautious in their statements, but one of Ole
letters reeeived ypsWday, by a very tespee.tahle
house in the City, has the following short but signi.%:_
ficant postscript : " 1v B. and co. have .ktopped.-:-..
minus 50,0001."

If the writer troartt merely to announce airier,:
eantile. failure, he would probably have been :more
explic;,t, and we eannpt b.ut believe that tll.e
N. 8.. were meant for NAPOL.ON 40NA?4RTE.,

Ws have received Anzericem Pcoers to, the 6th
inst. from which we bave Made • several Extracts.
The Bill for suspending tae Non.imrNrtaiirt At;
has passed, conswiu,ently the trade with Great
taiu is again perfectly free. Colonel fly-aa sless been
acquittcd oX all the Charges brokrht against

, The snbie& of the Aill which the S.ot.rcrvolt.;
GENERAL la.st night moved for leave to bring into
the House of Commons, is of the highest importance
to the commercial part of the community. It IA a
measure founded upo.n humanity and the interests of
substantial justice.. The objet} of it is, to render
_ freehold Estatea of persons who die in debt assets
for the payment of their simple contraa debts. The
law has too long been wholly inadecia rene_ dx,.
the evils arisinKfrom the want of•sueh a provision, It
will tend to render the prOprietors of landed pro-
perty more prudent, more
.iust, And not less regard-
ful of their heirs., It will also tend to • obviate
necessity of ',Ads •of Insolvency, by' which.
many persons are inaterially injured, and often
brought to ruin by th,e misfortune -of' theii.•
Creditors; rather than by their fraud or extrava;
ga nee. It is impOisible to do justice to the eloquent,•
clear, and accurate Speech which Sir SAMUEL. Ro-
tor delivered, on-this occasion. explained -the'
subje& with the utmost pe*rsspicnity, and enfcirced
the po'icy as well as,iustice-pf the proposed measure
with irresistibje force of argument. As far as the
s.ubjed admitted, we may indeed fairly say, that a
More luminous, appropriate, and impressive ,Speech
never was heao., in Parliament.

Tua Aesolutions which Lord H. PETTY is this. day,
to submit to the HOOK of Commons, 'are we under-
,
stand intended to develops an entirei new and exten-
sive system of Finance. Lord GRENVILLE has, we
know, devoted his attention with-unwearied persever-
ance to. this subjeet ever since he came into office, and
he has matured a System of Finance most compre.
hensive in its nature, and which promises, tot x
most heneficial in its effelis. •

We.-have the pleasure to inform, the pAblic,, that
the-,4rigade of British Troops, under the orders of
General . WYN YAR44 arrived in.Skily on ,the 3th, Qf.
Dec.ernber,.in the. very best state of health, there.
tia scarcely a case of
.serious illness among the-
_Never,. in fact, .-Were the accommodatiou
itid7l,mforts of our brave countrymen in arms more
amply erovided for-than in the whole of the Expe-
dition's which halie lately been fitted out. riche
a Svc Brigade landed a; Catania, in which, place and.
ii,.neight7ourhood the corps are for the. present 'to'
be stationed.

Yeiterday the,payrnent of 'His Majesty's. Frans-
hoki-, to Michaelmas quaittr, took'place.
Aeording to all accounts, of BON AP A RIM anxi his
t;ruvps in Poland, they gas Ot swimmingly.
0, • •