The Sun.
London, England, 1802-03-08 00:00:00

TOUSSAINT LOUPE RTURE.

• Otrk Readers will recoiled, that there lately ap_
peared in this Paper; a Proclamation, said to have
been issued by,ToussAiNTtovvE tTURE, on which
- the Editor. of ' the Gazette de France, after quoting
our 'Article-with regard to it, makes the following
observations:—" It is impossible to attribute to
ifiSAlttr the framing of that Proclamation, which
'the'tilitor.of the TRUE BR !lON so justly admires;
in the first plaCe, because the language and comp°.
sition are evide4tly theswork of a Native of France ;
-ftmirwondly,, becauselthe order and method in it,.
pliitily.4ikeoyers a skilful and pranised writer.—
TOUSSAIiIT usually_ 'speaks, harangues, 4tici
turea—c.his as a Creole, jt is plainly because he can-
not venture to attempt ,the French Language. But
these observations ought not, id detraft from.the
merir 'of the piece ; for it shews' much merit in a
man Of his situation td chose his' instruments well,
and to adopt wise measures, when offered to him.
Such cariddet sheWs disCernment, and laudable in-
`ten'tiOns ; but this is the utmost limit of Totrs-
s,arre's Merit. It is said, indeed, that he aspires
to some ridiculous pretensions, such as diaating
three Letters at *a time; and surrounding himself
with rolls of 1".1;;..2r, -which he cannot read. These
little artifice's, which 'hurt' nobody, amuse his at-
tendants; and as there are some able men, such a;
BORGt LL A, MOWE I.A, and COLLET, found Among
them, the Governor's Creole harrangues , being
:translated -into goOd French and good,sense, become
not only supportable, but even worthy,admiration.!'

At. the. Reading Assizes, R. 'Brown; for' orse-
,.ftealing, G. -Ring, for Thouse-breaking, G. Phipps,
for rql)bing his mistress, E. Painter, for stealing
heifers, and J. Williams, for sheep stealing, were
caliitaily eonvided, and the two- last left for exe-
"cution:---T: Sling°, for stealing a„sow and pigs,
and::
,fe, _ for 'receiving ; Belcher, for
steatitit a hog, H. Pizzey, for stealing a pair
of shoes- and buckles, acid W. Kember; for.stealins
apparell were --seotetued 'to- seven years
;
iciAspifirtatiovi.l

AW REPORr„

coORr OF KING'S BtNQH, km:aa G.

..ItTTINGS BEFOILE MR. JU•SY;CE LAWRENCE, AND A

SPECIAL JVItY, IN py_L.,Lnii4.LL, LONDON.

' SMITH AND OTHERS,

Ma. EttsktNE-said,' this w.ai; a6tion •brought
by the Assignees ..oFettie Thomas. Charter, , a Corn_
Chandler, a bankrupt,. . to -recover the,,sum 0f..64.91.
3s. 6a., being found to be the difference upon a
balance of accounts between him and the Defendant,
and paid by Charter to the Defendant in.contetqla.:
. tieff of hit hankrupig,,,and, •aS such, a fraud upon.
the rest of the creditors, for that this ought to
have been brought into the mass to be divided by
the creditors at' large, whereas this was a fraudulent:
preference, given to one over the rest of the credi,:..
tors, and consequently illegal. The law upon this
subjeet was so extremely clear and simple, and stood'
upon principles, the policy of which had been so
frequently recognized, that little was left for burn •
to say in opening this ease. After a bankruptcy
took place, the bankrupt ceased, to have any pro-
perty whatever. However secret that ad might be,
at the tune it took place, 'yet the instant it did'so,
a period was put, by law, to every one of his ads
afterwards, as fat as they related ro • any property
he had the care or control' of, except as to common
affairs and business which was under the protedion
of the statute. • An at of bankruptcy, though a
secret aft of the party, had the efFeet of diVesting
him of theproperty that 'was in him before; Its
did not, however, very often happen, without the
trader having sbine reason to exped it, a while
before it happened ; 'and, if under that expettation,
for motives of his avn, he favoured any particular
creditor, and preferred/his demand to that of any
other; and paidticri the'debt. in contemplation-of a
'bankruptcy, such payment was void in law, and'
• the assigneeS should recover-if back for •the benefit
•of all the' creditors in common: That was the
case in the present,instance.; was a necessary
interptetation'of the Bankrupt Laws, for, .withodt
it, statutes concerning bankruptcy. would become...
a dead. letter ; the bankrupt,' as soon,..as' he appre-•
failure, ~.would' pay one or two of.. his
creditors whom„ he wished to favour, 'the wh6lo)l'
their debts - and. there
~'woold be nothing left:to
distribute among, the, rest; it was, therefore, de:.
termined, that when a person knows he is about. to.
become a bankrupt, he shall not select any One ..Of
his creditors and, prefer him to the rest. He had
only this farther remark 'to make upon the subjed
.Where a creditor of a bankrupt hears; or has rea_
son to suspeft that he ,may become insolvent, he
threatens to sue his debtor, and theteby he obtains
payment of his debt, the law will support such
creditor in his legal vigilance : it; under a threat
of arrest, even though a trader contemplated a,
bankruptcy, .he paid the creditor who'threatened to
arrest him, that, shall not be ,deerlied a fraudulent
preference, but shall be deemed a legal payment to
the creditor who shall thus 'Stand upon his right,
for the law would always support legal diligence ;
but where the bankrupt, of his own mere motion,
Without any arrest, or threat of an arrest, of.any
process, without any proposition from his creditor,
does, of himself give the preference voluntarily to
a-creditor, that preference cannot stand. Now the
bankrupt, in this case, communicated the circum-
stances of it t 6 ,the Commissioners., He stated the
account between him afid ;,
the
Defendant. and the
Defendant himself, in his examination said, that the
bankrupt paid hiM the money, and delivered to him
goods,' and that two or three days afterwatdi he
stopped payment. That the bankrupt paid the cash,
and delivered, the goods voluntarily, and: the, acr
counts, were settled between the bankrupt and De;.'
fendant at the bankx.upt's"own instance and request;
_and that he w,is noL,requested by the Defendant so
to do.• -It had frequently cost a Counsel 'the lab Our
of a quarter of an hour to prove a case so plainly
by mesns of big ow p .Witness as the Defendant had
by these words upon his examination prOved against.
himself in this case.. He then went on to say, that
preirious to the. 6th or 7th of March, when this
payMent was made to him by the bankrupt, he had
heard that bills had been dishonoured by the bank-
rupt, and that in case he, the Defendant, had not,
received cash and good's on the 6th of March, he
would have been a creditor di the bankrupt
,to the
amount of 6001. or, 7001. That, Mr. ERSKINE
said, Was just the complaint the Assignees made by
this.aftion. He should have been a creditor like
the rest, and-come in under the commission, instead
of taking all to hiniself.
The Bankruptck of Charter, the, Petitioning
Creditor's Debt, &C. were admitted. Commission
ad. April, • .
Hugh Ushek said, that he knew Charter, the
Bankrupt, was' Bonne led with him in trade, (had
several tranSAelionS with him. He knew that on
the-9th, or loth of March Charter was about to call
his creditors together,—.they were called together
On the :twit. .

The, account, as settled, between Charter the
Bankrupt, and- the Defendant, by which he paid to
the,Defendant in. Bills and goods on the. 6th of
August,, to the amount of 64.91. 13s. 6d. was then
put in and proved, 'and that part of the examina-
tion of the Defendant alluded to in the opening was
read—so ;hat the :Case: was made .out on the part
of the Assignees,'
The ATTORNEY GENERAL said, he. did not
mean to controvert any of the fads under One of
the heads of the examination, but .he submitted
that unless other fads were proved, Or cbosidered
by the Jury. already proved, especially after what
he should prove, the 'Defendant, in this Case would
be entitledsto a verdid ;.-for although the payment
might be voluntary. on tihe part of the Bankrupt,
,and made only.a feW dayttibefore. the Bankruptcy,
yet, unless it was made,; in. contemplation, . of a
Bankruptcy,. and with a viewto prefer - this De%.
fendant to the rest of the Creditors, the payinent
was a valid payment, Before this payinent could-
be bad, and the, Assignees recover in.thii Adlion,
there must be two ingredients, namely—a. purpose
:of preference,' and a, contemplation of 'a pending
Bankruptcy. • Now, on the part of the Defendant,
he Would call Charter,. the Bankrupt himself,' who
certainly knew better. than any..body else could,
what his purpose Was, and with what view he paid
accounts between biol. and 414 Po-

. .
tendant. Fre
.would shew that tile Defen4ant.-and
..qhitiJcr, the Bankrupt, were in the habit of settling
their acconnis toge.ther,"and !hit' at 'the time this
'account was last settlerl'between them, Charter had
'no idca that he should become a Bankrupt.—lf so,
the Defendant would be entitled to a verdiCt. It
Was:true, the settlement of. thesi atodhis Proeed-
etri-rom the rnntiOn' of the -Bankrupt -himself, and
'that: the payinent was not 'made under tenor of
arrest; Or any particular legal diligence' on the part
'of the Defendant in.. this- Mtion, which, as Mr.
ERMLNE had very properly stated,..,.*!ould have
legalized the payment of it; but- it was, a payment
made' in the course of trade, not under any con-
templation of Bankruptcy, and therefore 1ega1....
the la%V"of Bankruptcy, in'over-hauling by-gone
transaEtions..in trade, in consequence .of a secret
aft of 13ankrupterbeing discovered, was' abundantly
hard and-hprsh already:; . there .was. no O'ccasion to
extend thatconstruaion was not
arraigning the Law, it .was' wise, '`an
al if' a ' Man in
contemplation. of a Bankruptcy, preferred one cre-
ditor to another, ankpaid whom. he pleased, there
would. only be left a husk for: the
.mass of the
creditors—a thing which the Law would certainly
not endure; but the Bankrupt himsrelf,Wotild prove
that he settled this account, in the.common course
of business, and that be had not, at the time, 'any
idea that he was.to,beCorne a Bankrupt, and that
one of his creditors called the rest together, which
brought on,his Bankruptcy., and therefore the De.,
fendant would, in this Case, he. entitled to the pre-
ference which the course of business, had, .by acci-
dent, thrOwn in his way.

Tho'ruas Charter, the Barikotpl, was, then calls.ed, and he swore that when he--settled this account
with the Defendant,-he did it ill the usUal'course of
business, without any idea of giving the Defend-
ant- any .reference over the rest of the creditor,sp
nor had he the least idea of becominga Bankrupt at
the time,afthough it turned-put so afterwards ;of
of his creditors to whom he .owed +cool. coming
spdtlenly tTon him, &c.--That he was theta worth
r3s. in the pound, on the winding up of his ac,
cOunts. That his father offered the creditors to
,pay Nit sum, but they did' not take it—proceeded
to law, in a manner, that swallowed up almost All the
property— no dividend hal 7,et been made, nor
did he know whither_there ever would be any.
This after,, a ,long cros-s.*amination, did not
appear, so iio awry the prestlmption that this. pay..
nicht' Was 'made by itim to ihe.Defendant in contem-
plation of IlankruptcYr„and therefore the Jury found
A verdia for 'the rtitiptiGtikroages64)l. 13s, 6d:
The Sittings were
,thcri jootrik,.., Lot ,A 2 tLv,a7
z of April:. next. .

U k`l4'. 0 E X R,.
.I‘,l cit 5.

BEFORE Sl,l+o t'D,CH-Lbtl IttC&9ll:4N D SPECIAL JURY.

THE ATTORRIEY-0.E1t4 4.4.16-tiislitOgEGOßr.

The Counstl'On. the part of rite Ciatvt> stated to
the Court and jury, that this prosecution was corn_ .
menatibtorder ofl-ii;'.Maje..tyl.§:Coiiiis'sionats of
Sceii p .Dttifie's, to .re. evb the .oe,fentlant. pe
nalties to the amount.of ocol. for a, tao cothmon
anti injurious farted upon. the revenue,,OT giving re-
ce.ipts upon unstamped paper. that,the.DOend.
ant was a- potato merchant; 'residing in Crispin_
street, Spitalfields,. where .he'carried on a very ex-
tensive trade. That he had considerable dealings
with the- Witness whom he Should call to 'prove
the case.' That the infOrmation contained thirty.
two c..ounts for. various. offences,.-sixtcen of which
were for giving receipts can pry ment• of money
upOn unstamPed paper, whereby the Defendant
had forfeited for each offence the swn o.F tot.. and
-the other sixteen counts -for penalties of Sol. each,
incurred by the Defendant for. a fraubdent contriv_
atter to evade the usesofsstamps. . That one mode,
arnOngst others *adopted by the Defendant in giving
'these- receipts, was what •is too commonly used
by most tradesmen, tat the foot of their shop.
bills for goods, viz, writing the word ". Cash," op
posite the sum Faid,
.and which the Defendant- had
often done. But he -had recourse to, another
,itsge;
nious device, which he supposed would 'secure him-
self from any, penalty, if .hiS -customers were sa-
tisfied to accept such receipts, viz. by writing
" 1 e do.,y of the.nontb and ihe year," 'on which, the
money was paid, aft& the letters '' A, B, C,'' at the
foot of his bills of parcels, which he . delivered to
his customers a discharge for the sum paid.
~ •
Two witnesses were called, who proved the pay:.
went of the money to the Defendant, and
.his hand-
writing to tile severalpieces of paper whiCh he de-
livered as receipts; whereupon the Counsel on his
behalf said the case was
.sO fully made out, that he
would not trouble his Lordship and the Gentlemen
of the' jury, and requested the `Counsel for the
Crown to accept a verdict for such. penalties as
would be,a *son to the Defendant in future, and
others guilty Of sitrillar pradiceS. It was there-
fore greed, under the dire lion of.the,Chief Baron,
to take..a,verdia for pehalries to the amount of r6ol.
which his Lordship said he hoped-would operate
as a'eaution to. Others -who were in the habit of de:.
trawling the .reeeipt. duty, •and lie trusted they
would not in future .subjeft -them.ielveS ro such heavy
penalties 'forsO trifling a sum, ai3dwhich moreover
they had "right ley law, to charge to their custo-
mers.

COV,I34•.9,F7CkiANCERY, Mmtcht 4.

• In the case .of
,tile University, of Cambridge, anti
Mesirs. W. J. and- J. Richardsons, Booksellers in
London, respeeting an injunction restraining the
safe
.d£ certtain and.,Comnion- Prayer Books,
printed by the .King's Pr,inter.in *cotiatici, the Lon
CH4N.O ,has given judgment..
Hts Lordshiis'first considerej
~the stature of the
'application, and the right upon which that applica-
tion was grounded, also.tlieptinoiples pen which
that right had been dispute& taking -A comprehen-
site view of all the 'arguments use 4 by, Counstl for
and against the injunaion. `.-.
oppositionlr it hadbeert argued,' that' this'authori-
ty 7.vasa mere license. to print. 'or his Own part, he
felt considerable doubt whether in its nature, it was
nat..tintatouietO the patcot granted to the King's
Printer, with the exception only of the/prohibitory
elauses.; therefore,-• if the University had a concur-
rent. right to print and it was but reasonable
they shoUitt wave aconcutrdnt right to.exClude others

Last week Henry 'Harris, a blind man, clirribed
up a poplar tree 6o feet high,-which hangs civet' the
River Stour, ' very near to Siontbriake',.- which he
cropped in a worknian-like. manner,. -without any
,az,l.4.t.Anee : two cart loads of the kid-wood Wc:e
li:Nwa'rkis-rakul. out Of tile %water, ' •
• . _ ,

1,0 •:1)il
SlaiN.C)fiZfE;