The Sun.
London, England, 1848-08-19 00:00:00

We give in another column the Report of the
Select Committee on Lord BROUGHAM'S Bankrupt
Law Consolidation Bill, and shall on Monday give a
portion of the evidence taken before it, and continue
the publication of this evidence from time to time until
we have completed it. This Bill is one of very great
importance. It is intituled "An Act to consolidate and
amend the Bankrupt Law of England ;" and, unless
we are much mistaken, will be well received in the
mercantile world and by the public in general. It
may not contain all that is desired by the former—or
rather by those who put themselves forward as repre-
senting the former—but it unquestionably appears to
be supported by the evklence, and is a very much
better measure than am that has heretofore been
submitted to Parliament on the same subject. The
Bill was introduced by Lord BROUGHAM on the 29th
of June ; it was -immediately referred to a Select
Committee; the Committee has since sat fifteen days,
and certainly the opponents of the measure, or, to
speak more correctly (for it has no opponents), those
who desire to go further, and who also desire the
restoration of arrest on mesne process, must in com-
mon candour confess they have had fair play ; for,
contrary to the usual and ordinary course of proceed-
ing, the Committee on this Bill was open to all—an
open court, in fact—all who chose to attend were
allowed to do so ; they sat round the table, as if they
had been persons on the Committee, and several of
the members of the Metropolitan Committee and of
the City of London Trade Protection Society were
every day present accompanied by one or other of
their solicitors. Every opportunity has been afforded
them of calling witnesses in favour of their sug-
gestions, and the witnesses opposed to them were
subjected to a cross-examination. Every question
they wished to ask was allowed to be put, and the
Committee even allowed Mr. Commissioner FArna
(the only Commissioner, we believe, who goes along
with these Associations) to cross-examine as their
advocate, and as if he had been a Peer. These things
we state, having ourselves been present, though with-
out any kind of title to be there, except the permis-
sion given by the Chairman to all who took an in-
terest in the Committee. All this was quite right, and
due to the great importance of the subject, and the
interest felt in it. But it is a great fallacy to represent '
the petitioners for the restoration of arrest- on mesne
process (as has been attempted elsewhere to be
done) as being first-rate merchants, or as represent-
ing the great body of London traders. These peti-
tioners are, no doubt, highly respectable persons—
most respectable traders—but, in truth, those of the
great London Bankers and Merchants who were sum-
moned said they had not turned their attention to the
subject, thus showing plainly that they had no fellow-
feeling with the petitioners, who all regard, or say they
regard, the subject as one of life and death to them.
We cannot help thinking that Lord BaouGuAst has
had scant justice meted out to him on this occasion
by the Associations we have named. His Lordship's
Bill gives them a very considerable portion of what
they contend for—goes a great way
,in the same
direction—all profess to be pleased with it ; but not
content with this—not content to wait the result
of this Bill, or the Select Committee on, it, they,
on the 13th July, through Mr. BOUTERIE, had a
measure of their own submitted to the House of
Commons; and only the other night that Honourable
Gentleman, on moving the second reading of his Bill,
so far from stating that the subject was before the
other House of Parliament, or that a Select Com-
mittee of the House of Lords had been sitting and
examining witnesses, and inquiring into it, took •
no sort of notice, made no allusion to, or any mention '
whatever of any other Bill having ever been intro-
duced, thereby leaving it to be inferred that nothing
has been done ! This, we say, is not right ; on the
contrary, it is most unfair. .No doubt Mr. Bouvßaim
must have been ignorant of the facts, otherwise he
would have stated them; but they ought, neverthe-
less, to be known.

With these observations we refer our readers to
the report and evidence, which is well worth a careful
perusal, and when the latter has all been laid before
them we may return to the subject. The evidence
of Mr. Commissioner HOLROYD fully explains the
nature and objects of Lord BROUGHAM'S Bill, and we
entirely agree with that Learned Gentleman in think-
ing that if the Court of Bankruptcy had the
powers proposed to be given to it, there would
be no necessity for arrest either on mesne
or final process, and that a very marked improve-
ment would soon be perceptible. We are clear, too,
that all imprisonment ought to be by the Court, not
left with the creditors; but we concur with the peti-
tioners in thinking that clauses ought to be intro-
duced into the Bill enforcing the registration of bills
of sale and composition-deeds, and permitting the
sequestration of a deceased trader's estate, and we
trust that Lord BROUGHAM, before again introducing
his Bill, will see the propriety of acceding to this.
THE

FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris papers of yesterday.
The speech of Lord PALMERSTON in reply to. Mr.
DISRAELI, on Wednesday, is the subject of laudatory
comment in almost all of them. It has been most favour-
ably received by the Parisian public.
The following proposition, tending to modify the de-
cree of the 27th June, authorising the deportation of the,
insurgents, has been presented to the Assembly by M.
JOLT. It is said that the Government will support it.
" Considering that tho decree of the 27th June will be
more salutary if clothed with all the characters of
legality, and that it is necessary to observe judicial
forms and the security they afford to the accused, in
order to impose silence on the enemies of the Republic,
and restore tranquillity; the Assembly decrees that
the decree of the 27th June shall bo modified as
follows:—All persons who shall be adjudged, after
trial, examination of their witnesses, and defence,
to have taken ;part in the insurrection of the 23t1
June and following days, shall be transported into the
French colonies, comprising those of the Mediterranean.
The wives and children of those transported shall be
allowed to accompany them. The trials before the
councils of war shall be continued, notwithstanding the
raising of the state of siege, as to those who shall be
charged as chiefs, leaders, or instigators ; as having
furnished or distributed money, arms, or ammunition',''
exercised a command, or committed any act aggravating
the rebellion. This also shall apply to all forcats liberl3,
or escaped prisoners, who have taken part in tlif4l,l_lq.

and the authorship thereof was admitted by his able
Counsel, when entering upon the defence. Further
proof also was given to the effect that the prisoner,
when first brought before the magistrate, had de-
clared that " he knew the several articles, and he
was morally responsible for what they contained."
There was, therefore, no question for the jury
in the latter case, but as to the ten-
dency and effects of these articles, and whe-
ther they clearly and unequivocally established
the intents charged, so as to leave no reasonable ,
doubt thereof. That question the jury answered in
the affirmative, and the unfortunate man is now
convicted felon about to undergo the weighty punish-
ment which the law has affixed to his crime.
The Learned Chief Baron, in his able and luminous
charge, clearly laid down the law on the subject,
with the full concurrence of the venerable and ex-
perienced judge who presided along with him. His
Lordship said, " the jury were to consider first,
whether these articles were published by the prisoner
2dly, what was the meaning of those publications, and
3dly, were they published with the prisoner's know-
ledge, and did they express his intentions His Lord-
ship further stated, " that as to the question of pro-
prietorship and publication there could be no doubt ;
but another and most material question then arose,
via., whether the prisoner entertained the intent, -
whatever it was, that was expressed and entertained
in these documents ;" and, subsequently, " that it
would be for the jury to say whether he did not
know of these publications, according as they pro-
ceeded from the press, prior to the period of publica-
tion, and whether the intentions contained in them
were adopted by him ;" and afterwards in explaining
the point to the jury, who were recalled into court
after they had retired, " that :if at the time of the
publication of LeLoa's letter of the 24th June, the
prisoner was not aware of its contents, but after-
wards became aware of it, that was not such an adop-
tion of the letter as to prove that the prisoner enter-
tained similar intentions on the 24th June ; the
Court did not mean to convey that a subsequent
adoption would constitute the offence contemplated
by the Acts of Parliament." This is the just and
constitutional law. This is, indeed, what we should
have expected from such men as Chief Baron Pioor
and Baron PENNEPATHER, who hold the scales of
justice with equal and impartial hands, guarding
alike the rights of the Crown and the liberties of the
subject against encroachment or invasion.