The Sun.
London, England, 1838-04-09 00:00:00

TEE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY, APRIL 9,183 S,

THE CORONATION.

I -
'-eremony of the homage, which, It is untiergtootii has
prothieed differs weighty discussionts attiong thki gentleineti of
the A College,ii. ;With it i7iew to its abolition or madification in
the ease of -her Majesty Queen Victoria, s.tis alsO the Occasion
of Mitch oti the tt)i*Sion of the
IV.,
who, it was said, entertained strong objections td LElng 600-
polled to receive the lip service of his faithful Peers on so
wholesale a scale. In 1831, the subject of the homage was
frequently discussed in the Privy Council, and, on the 11 th
of August in that year, a rumour that it was intended to cur-
tail this part of the ceremony occasioned a somewhat ani-
mated conversation in the House of Lords. It had been pro-
posed in the Privy Council, that the homage should be con-
fined to one Peer from each order of the Peerage, in pur-
suance of the plan which had been followed at the coronation
of George IV. ; but this homage by sponsors was indignantly
repudiated by Lord Strangford and the Duke of Wellington
as " disgraceful and unseemly ;" and the Marquis of London-
derry went so far as to declare, with much warmth, that
" there were individuals in the Peerage who would transfer to
no man their right of tendering homage to their Sovereign,
which was a sacred and most important part of the ceremony."
Ultimately the homage by sponsors was abandoned, and the
ancient ceremonial observed, as follows :
" The Archbishop of Canterbury knelt before the King,
and, for himself and the other Lords spiritual, pronounced the
words of homage—' I, William, Archbishop of Canterbury,
will be faithful and true, and faith and truth will bear unto
You, our Sovereign Lord, and your heirs, Kings of Great
Britain; and I will do and truly acknowledge the service of
the lards which I claim to hold of you as in right of the
Church. So help me God.' The Archbishop then rose and
kissed his Majesty's left cheek; the Bishops present did the
like and retired.
When the Lords Spiritual bad performed homage, the
Duke of Cumberland ascended the steps of the throne, and,
kneelinr, before the King, pronounced for himself and the
other Dukes' of the Blood Royal the words of homage
Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, do become your liege
man of life and limb, and of earthly worship, and faith and
truth I will bear unto you, to live and die against all manner
of folks. So help me God.' The Duke of Cumberland then
touched the Crown on his Majesty's head, and kissed his Ma-
jesty's left cheek ; the rest of the Dukes of the Blood Royal
doing the like after him, and then retiring.
" The Dukes and other Peers then observed the same ce-
remony—the senior of each degree pronouncing the words of
homage, and the rest of the same degree saying after him,
and each Peer of the same degree successively touching his
Majesty's Crown, and kissing his Majesty's left check, and
then retiring."
The anointing is a part of the ceremony more recommended
by antiquity than delicacy, and will probably be omitted alto-
gether.
Several workmen were on Saturday taken on by Mr. Ben-
nett, one of the contractors for the erection of the platform
on which her Majesty and the procession will walk from the
Royal Palace to Westminster Abbey on the approaching so-
lemnity. The platform is to pass through the Park. The
exact line has not yet been promulgated, but the works are to
be commenced next week.

BANKRUPTCY REFORM
BY
C. PANE, ESQ., ONE OF TILE COMMIS3IONERS OF lIER
)ESTY'S COURT OF BANKRUPTCY.

In 1801, when Lord Eldon first took his scat as Lord Chan-
cellor, he described the Bankrupt Law as a disgrace to the
c itintrv. " There is no mercy" he said, "to the estate.
Nothing is less thought of than the Commission. Unless the
Court holds a strong hand over bankruptcy, particularly as
administered in the country, itis itself accessory to as great a
nuisance, as any known in the land, and known to pass under
the forms of law." According to his Lordship, justice and
equity were entirely disregarded, and the only object of Com-
missioners, Assignees, and Solicitors, in the country, was the
plunder of the estate. Just thirty years afterwards, Lord
Brougham found the system nearly as bad ; the law, and the
administration of the law, he ascribed as equally defective, and
so inveterate, and so enormous had the mass of abuses become,
that even with all his Herculean powers, he shrunk back at
the attempt to clean out at once this Augean stable. He
commenced by establishing a Court for the better admi-
nistration of the law, as preparatory to the improve-
ment of the law itself, but with the exception of the
benefit derived from the appointment of official assignees
the evil remains in all its original magnitude. The Court, ac-
cording to Mr. Fane, is not much improved, for " it has been
decided by the Court of Exchequer that the administration of
justice in Bankruptcy, so far as concerns the really useful
Courts, should remain as before, under the old species of ,
un-
intelligible jurisdiction which may well be called nondescript,"
and, according to the same authority, the law is still, as it
formerly was, only an instrument whereby to practice folly,
absurdity, fraud, and perjury. This startling fact he describes
as a truth, which a ten years' experience under the system
lately superseded, and a six years' experience under that which
has succeeded it, have indelibly impressed upon his mind;
namely, that the Bankrupt Law is a mass of folly and absur-
dity from beginning to end ; that it violates every principle of
common sense ; that it is the occasion of the grossest injustice,
and the most appalling frauds and perjuries ; that, as a whole,
it is a disgrace to a civilized community ; and that, if it does
not produce all the mischiefs, which its monstrous principles
would naturally generate, it is because the good sense and
good feeling of mankind counteract the absurdities and
iniquities of the law. He gives an outline of this
beautiful system in three letters addressed to Sir R. Peel,
and announces his intention of proposing, after he has finished
a series of letters, a plan for remedying those evils. He bears
ample testimony to the practical soundness of the principles
on which Lord Brougham's plan was founded, but despairs of
these principles ever being carried out by the present head of
the law, or the law-officers of the Crown, or the functionaries
of the law, who have evinced their aversion to it by "putting
forced constructions upon the Bankruptcy Act, and the King's
Letters-patent—constructions utterly subversive of the prin-
ciples upon which Lord Brougham's plan of reform was
based." We are afraid there is too much truth in the statement.
Onemight as soon expect to see a miracle as sec a private or
public body reform itself, or remove abuses by which it profits.
" .Pressure from without" is the only disinterested ge-
nuine, radical reformer, and till this agent undertakes
the cause debtors and creditors will continue to be plun-
dered as they have hitherto been. The case of Mr.
Chambers shows how much the services of this agent'
are required to abate the abominable nuisance of the
Bankruptcy laws. " Mr. Chambers," says Mr. Fane
" was declared bankrupt in 1823 : he denied that he had coin.'
mitted any act of bankruptcy, and resisted his commission.
From that time to the present, the question whether he is
bankrupt or not has lren in litigation ; and although twelve
years have elapsed, and 170,0001. have been received by his
assignees, the question of his bankruptcy remains undecided
and not one farthing has reached his general creditors.'
Meanwhile, there has been that wasteful administration of his
property, which, without any fault in assignees, is inseparable
from such a state of things : thirty thousand pounds (! !!) have
been paid to the solicitors to the estate, and other solicitors, who
have concurred with them in supporting the commission;
between ten and twenty thousand pounds have been the costs of
Mr. Chambers ; between three and four thousand pounds have
been paid to an accountant, and more than one thousand to
the official assignee ; and thus nearly fifty thousand pounds
have been spent, without even ascertaining whether the party
be bankrupt. It will scarcely be believed, that the question,
upon which fifty thousand pounds have been spent thus fruit-
lessly, was, whether Mr. Chambers had on some occasion
desired a servant to say not at home' to a creditor when he
called. When I last heard of Mr. Chambers, he was in a
debtor.' prison."

•4 may
convenient a stopping-pisicebe fcr the passing trade
adverse winds.
I therefore submit that Holyhead Harbour is, perhaps, the
most eligible situation for the packets, as at present established,
but that it does not offer a suitable place for the erection of
large ends expensive worles in order to protect vessels of in-
cieaged draught Cif water; and that for a harbour of refuge it
si So situated as to lie iristifficient..,-.I
(Signed) W. L. 011BRINGHAM, Lieutenant, R. Ni
Capt. Beaufort, R. N., F. R. S., Hydrographeri Admiralty: