The Sun.
London, England, 1848-09-19 00:00:00

LONDON. TUESDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 19, ma.

IRELAND.

people in their various skirmishes with the police.
The numbers are variously stated at from six to thirty.
The Culls, father and son, condemned at the last
assizes for murder, were execute d to-day. A large
number of people were present.
A rumour prevails in town that Mr. O'Brien, Mr.
T. F. Meagher and Mr. M‘Manus will arrive here to-
night from Dublin. I shall be obliged to proceed to
Tipperary, so bad are the post-office arrangements
here, for the purpose of having my dispatch in Cork
in time for your publication to-morrow.
TIPPERARY, SATURDAY MORNING, Two O'CLOCK,
A ar.—The night train has arrived from Dublin, but
none ot' the State .prisoners were amongst its pas-
sengers.
The Galway papers received this morning are
silent as to the alleged outbreak in that county.
On Thursday evening a distraint for rent was made
at Marmahone, near Waterford, the peasantry as
sernbled in thousands, and the bailiffs and police were
obliged to abandon the seizures. Immediately after
a large military force was in attendance, but the
offenders, as well as the property, had disappeared.

THE INSOLVENCY of MR. BURGE. 7
On Friday last, at York Castle, Mr. William Burge,
Q.C., and recently a Commissioner in Bankruptcy for ,
the Leeds district, an insoltetit debtor, came befcre
Robert Wharton, Esq.. Judge of the County Court,
for his first examination, touching his debts, his estate,
and effects.
The insolvent was opposed by Mr. J. 11. Hill, barris-
ter, on behalf of several Leeds creditors, of whom he
had borrowed money, and also of Mr. Lee and Mr.
Sangster, attorneys, of Leeds, on behalf of themselves
and other creditors,
Mr. Blaushard appeared as counsel for Mr. Burge,
but it was arranged that the insolvent should address
the Court and cross-examine witnesses in his own
behalf.
The grounds of opposition were that the insolvent
Lad contracted debts i❑ the manner of fraud, and with-
out reasonable or probable expectation of paying.
It appeared in the course of a very lengthy inquiry,
that the insolvent was appointed to the office of Com
missioner of Bankruptcy for the Leeds district in No-
vember, 1845. He entered upon the discharge of his
duties in the following month, and in February, 1846,
he brought his family to Leeds, and took up his resi-
dence at Oulton, the rent of his house being 100/. pet
annum. When he came to Leeds he was possessed
of a valuable library, consisting of law reports from
the earliest to the present time. He had also a verb
large collection of foreign jurists, ancient and modern,
and a large miscellaneous library. Previous to his en-
tering upon the commissionership, he had occasion to
borrow 8001. in London, for which he pledged his
valuable library as security. He estimated the value of
his law library, from the cost of it, and also from the
scarcity of many of the works, at from 1,000/. to 1,500/.
more than the sum for which it was held as security.
These books, however, were sold by Mr. Price,
auctioneer, of Chancery-lane, London, for less than the
800/., and the writ for the deficiency was the instrument
upon which Mr. Burge was committed to York Castle,
where he has remained for the last eighteen months.
With regard to insolvent's sources of income, he stated
that he was agent for Jamaica, at a salary of 1,0001. per
annum, and his commissionership was worth 1,800/. a
year. He was also recorder for Winchester, at a salary
of 40/. a year, but he did not consider that a source of
emolument, as his travelling expenses to and from Win-
chester, cost him that sum. Insolvent lost the agent}
for Jamaica in February, 1847, quite unexpectedly.
When he came to Leeds, he had that part of his last
library which was not sold in London, and the
miscellaneous library ; he also had a large
quantity of valuable furniture and wino at
Oulton, the value of which he estimated at
4,000/. This property, however, in April, 1847, was
sold under several executions, for only about 2,0002 In-
solvent further stated, that about 3,0001. is owing to him
by Mr. George Arthur Young, a barrister, with whom
he had made joint notes for sums borrowed at different
times previously to 1846, amounting to 6,0001.; and
some of these sums were falling due when Mr. Young
quitted England, leaving insolvent to pay them. At the
time of his coming to Leeds, Mr. Burge reckoned his
debts at 14,000/., which he explained thus:—His liabili-
ties, as stated in the schedule, were 55,8741. 6s. ld,; but
the actual sum was 35,762/., there being various items,
amounting to 20,239/. 75., repeated in the schedule two
or three times. Of the 35,762/., 9,479/. 7s. were con-
tracted after Mr. Burge came to Leeds. The sum of
20,2391. 7s. was owing either to relatives or friends, who
would not, the insolvent said, for one moment have al-
lowed the existence of their demands to operate, in the
slightest degree, to his prejudice. The amount of his
hostile debts, therefore, was nearly 16,0001., and deduct-
ing the sum of 7,5901., which had been borrowed to pay a
portion of insolvent's debts, and adding the remainder of
those debts now owing, there was left a balance of 14,000/.
odd, which Mr. Burge treated as hostile debts. The
money he borrowed in Leeds was between 6,000/. and
7,000/., and the insolvent declared that he informed the
various lenders at the time that he was in need of the
money to pay off demands which were pressing against
him :in London. He bad effected policies on his life
amounting to 26,6481., the total amount of annual
premiums upon which was 1,588/. Upon 8,000/. of these
policies, which were effected under his marriage settle-
ment, the premiums had and would be paid by his
brothers-in-law, though he was liable to pay them. The
amount of his debts bearing interest at the time of his
arrest was 17,200/., but that included the bonds that were
owing. The insolvent's impression was, that under
1,000/. a ould be his annual expenses, including his chil-
dren; and he said that sum would be lessened by the re-
ductions which he made in his establishment in 1846.
Between the Ist of January, 1846, and the time of his
arrest, there were 44 actions commenced against him and
pending.
At the conclusion of the insolvent's examination, the
JUDGE expressed a wish to hear him upon the question
urising under the 24th section of the 7th and Bth Vic.,
cap. 96. His Honour said his impression was, on the
present state of the facts, that under that clause he had
no power to name any day for the final order.
After some conversation, the professional gentlemen
by whom the insolvent was opposed agreed to waive the
question of fraud, and to call no witnesses, with the
understanding that they were to be heard if Mr. Burge
should succeed in removing the impression which the
Court entertained.
The examination of Mr. Burge occupied from nine
~'clock in the morning until eight at night, at which hour
an adjournment took place.
On Saturday morning Mr. Burge addressed the Court
at great length, arguing that in construing the section
of the Act, the " reasonable or probable expectation"
must be the expectation which the debtor himself pos-
sessed, and that his mind and his intentions must consti-
tute the elements of any judgment as to the reasonable-
ness or probability of his expectations. He also con-
tended that, from the many friends he possessed to
whom ho might look for assistance, and from the ar-
rangements he had made for living at a very reduced
rate of expenditure, he had reasonable ground for think-
ing that he would be able to meet his engagements
when he obtained the loans from the opposing creditors,
and that there was nothing in his case which made him
a debtor acting maim fide, or deprived his Honour of the
power of naming a day for the final order.
His Hosoun, after some :observations on the facts of
the case, and on the construction to be put upon the
words of the section, declined to name any day for the
final order.
Mr. BLANSIIARD then applied to his Honour to name
a day when the insolvent might apply for his protecting
order, under the 29th section.
His HoNoun said ho did not feel inclined to name any
day at present.
An application was then made to the Court by the
insolvent's solicitor, that Mr. W. D. Child, of the firm
of Messrs. Pearce and Child, West India merchants, of
London, might be appointed trade assignee, he being a
creditor for 800/. The appointment of Mr. Child was
opposed on the ground that he was ono of the friendly
creditors, and the appointment of two trade assignees,
one a London and the other a Leeds creditor, was sug-
gested; but eventually it was agreed to fix and give
iotice of a day for the choice of assignees, the Clerk of
he Court to act in the meantime.

NCHofE poorS TER.
andARREST OF CURTIS, LATE COLLECTOR OF TAXES
IN MONDAY.—Thomas
assessed
.—Tholnas
St
hAeL
aotaenMA. .
collectortaxeCsuforr-
the borough of Salford, and who absconded from "
this city
few months ago with upwards of 1,600/. which he had
collected on account of the Commissioners of Assessed
Taxes and the overseers of the poor for Salford, was ap-
prehended at Hull yesterday morning by Mr. Stephen
Neal, chief constable of Salford. When Curtis de-
camped from Manchester he brought his wife and family
with him to Liverpool, and engaged a passage in the
packet-ship Niagara to Boston, for himself and family.
lie sailed in that ship on the following day, having
Boarded her as she was leaving
from the Cheshire shore. Whilst on the voyage he be-
came very intimate with a fellow-passenger who pre-
tended to be well acquainted with the States, and who
promised to do everything in his power to forward Cur-
tis's interest. Curtis seems to have placed implicit con-
fidence in this man, for on his arrival at Boston he
placed some of his luggage in the stranger's care, but the
latter took the liberty of walking off with the box, in
which Curtis had a large sum of money deposited; and,
although a rigid search was instituted for him by
the police at Boston, ho succeeded in evading their
vigilance, and in victimising Curtis. The captain of the
Niagara, finding that Curtis was left penniless, raised a
,übseription for him, and handed him the amount.
Curtis, on seeing that his money was irretrievably lost,
Ind that all his plans were frustrated, determined upon
returning to England; and, to carry out his design, en-
gaged a passage on board a ship bound for Hull, paying
half the passage money out of the sum handed to him by
the captain of the Niagara, and promising to pay the
other half on his arrival in England. He arrived in
Hull last Monday, and remained there up to the time of
hi. apprehension. On tits arrival in Hull he was unable
to pay the balance due for his passage, and to enable
him to do so, his wife wrote to the bank of Messrs. Cun-
litre, Brooks, and Co., of this city, for a sum of 251.,
which she had lodged there previous to her departure.
Half notes for the amount were sent her, and the other
half notes were to have been forwarded to-day. It is
presumed that this was what led the authorities to be-
lieve that Curtis was in Hull. On Saturday evening a
warrant for his apprehension was placed in Mr. Neal's
hands, and yesterday morning be proceeded to Hull,
where he succeeded in apprehending him; and he will be
brought up for examination before the magistrates at the
Salford Town-hall tu-morrow morning.
SOUTHAMPTON, SEPT. 18.—The Royal Mail West
India steam-ship Dee, under the command of Captain
Allen, left this afternoon for the West Indies with the
mails and 50 passengers. She took out specie to the
amount of 2,0641. 7s. 2d., and a very large general
cargo. The Peninsular and Oriental Company's steam-
ship Madrid, Captain J. Weeks, with the usual mails
and about 12 passengers, left to-day for Gibraltar, &c.
She took out a full general cargo, and a small quantity
of specie. The Ocean Steam Navigation Company's
steam-ship Hermann, commanded by Captain Crabtree,
arrived in the Docks yesterday morning from Bremen.
She brought 98 passengers from Bremen for New York,
and will leave for America on Wednesday, taking out
the large number of 150 passengers, and a very large and
valuable cargo from Bremen, Havre, and Englant.
The Severn, Royal Mail West India steam-ship, is due
at the post-office on the 22d inst., but is fully expected
here by to-morrow.
THE PEACE MEETlNG.—Yesterday a large number
of the Society of Friends met at the Hall of Commerce,
and proceeded to Blackwell, and there embarked on
board the General Steam Navigation Company's steam-
ship Giraffe, R. Stranack, for Ostend, en route to Brus-
sels, to attend a great Peace meeting to be held in that
city to-morrow (Wednesday). The party will return to
London on Saturday evening next.
Viscount and Viscountess Castlereagh arrived in
Cheshamplace at the close of last week, from the Isle
of Wight, and have since left town for Powerscourt
Castle, county Wicklow.