The Sun.
London, England, 1834-04-04 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The public are probably not fully aware of
the benefits which have been derived from the
establishment of the New Court of Bankruptcy,
or what a frightful amount of fraud and perjury
might have been prevented, and how many tens
of thousands of pounds might have been obtained
by creditors from dishonest insolvents and un-
faithful or negligent assignees, had the present
system been brought into operation five-and-
twenty or thirty years. Those who are not con-
versant with the subject can scarcely conceive
what have been the number and extent of frau-
dulently concocted commissions of bankruptcy,
heretofore worked, as the term was, by a certain
class of solicitors. It was by no means uncom-
mon for a swindler who had got credit to as
large an amount as his means permitted, to
cause a. docket to be struck against himself,
and in order that friendly assignees might
be chosen, and his certificate insured, a
number of fellows were always ready to
prove debts under the commission, generally
as Holders of bills of exchange ; and the real cre-
ditors, who were perfectly satisfied as to the
nefarious character of the whole transaction,
were unable to counteract the impudent villany
of which they were made the victims. A case
which occurred just before the new court opened,
and which has been detailed to us by a well-
informed correspondent, furnishes a notable il-
lustration of these remarks :—A man was con-
fined in Whitecross-street for certain debts, and
considering probably that the ordeal of the
Insolvent Debtors' Court would not quite suit
his case, did not seek his discharge through the
medium of that tribunal, but became bankrupt.
His petitioning creditor was his own brother,
who had been some years back whipped at
Newgate for a felony, and being subsequently
found guilty of a second crime, was transported
for seven years. He is now, or was very lately,
again in prison ; a second creditor was one
William Taylor, notorious as a hired bail, who
had lived in every prison in the metropolis,
and who was transported last year for fraud ;
a third was John Thropp, whom the judges'
clerks well remember at chambers, and who
died in the House of Correction, where he was
undergoing a sentence of two years' imprison-
ment for personating some one as bail; the fourth
pseudo-creditor was Edward Smith, generally
called Ned Smith, infamous for the last 17 or
18 years as living either in gaol or by swindling
or acting as bought bail. This poor wretch
finished his career by being clerk to the cele-
brated Coster, with whom he was convicted and
transported for life. There were four others
who kissed the book on this occasion much of
the same description, whose turn to be trans-
ported has not, it is believed, yet arrived, three
of them old gaol-birds, and the other a common
justifier of bail for anybody that 'would afford a
moderate remuneration for false swearing. Surely
every one who feels the least concern for the
interests of morality, or commercial integrity
and security, will acknowledge that the country
is highly indebted to the Lord Chancellor
for originating and carrying into effect a sys-
tem which renders impracticable such knavish
conspiracies as those of which the fore-
going is an instance. These are unquestion-
ably the . chief advantages of the measure by
which Lord Brougham reformed the administra-
tion of the bankrupt law ; but the measure has
this other recomnlendation—a secondary one,
we admit, yet still one which should not be
overlooked—namely, that it achieved this great
moral good, and conferred these substantial be-
nefits to the commercial world, at a less expense
than that required for the mischievous and de-
fective system which it superseded. It appears
by a Parliamentary return " of offices abolished
and created in the Court of Chancery during
the years 1831, 1832, and 1833," that the
income of the 70 Commissioners of Bankrupt
mounted to 26,6001., that of the Secretary of
Bankrupts'-office to 5,2891., and that of the
messengers to the Commissioners to 9,3681.,
making in all 41,257/. On the other hand, the
return states the expenses of the Judges and
Commissioners of the new Court to be 15,000/. ;
of the Secretary of Bankrupts' office, 2,800/. ;
of the Messengers, 3,352/. ; and the salaries of
the Registrars and Deputy-Registrars, 8,000/.,
making in all 29,152/. The difference of ex-
pense, therefore, in favour of the new system is
the difference between 41,257/. and 29,1527.—
that is to say, 12,105/. This sum of 12,105/.
is not, of course, wholly saved at present, be-
cause it is subject to a temporary reduction
owing to the compensation granted to the holders
a the offices abolished. Still, however, the
difference between the expense of the two sys-
tems is 12,1051., and that sum will ultimately
be wholly saved.— Times.
The bill for the abolition of imprisonment for
debt, so long promised by the Government, is
still delayed. Even the provincial Legislature
of Canada has got the start of the British Par-
liament in this respect, as the Montreal Papers
announce the publication of a bill to repeal a
law which confounds misfortune with crime, and,
like all acts of injustice, has operated to the detri-
ment of society at large. Of all the laws derived
from less civilized times, it would be difficult to
point out one more absurd than that which per-
mits the incarceration of the body of a man
who is unable to pay his debts, without any im-
putation of fraud against the victim of this op-
pressive law. Where there is fraud, indeed, in
the contracting of debts, or in making away with
property which should be reserved for their pay-
ment, let it be punished, for fraud is criminal ;
and we do not wish to protect crime, but to
prevent innocence from suffering the punish-
ment which should be reserved for guilt.
The absurdity of the law is seen in this, that
it compels a man, as it were, to pay his debts
by depriving him of all means of retrieving his
affairs. In this way, it is true, a harsh credi-
tor may gratify a vindictive feeling ; but law
should never minister to the passion of revenge.
Many a man whose industry would enable him
to overcome the difficulties, not of his own
creating, with which he may be oppressed, is
utterly ruined by being thrust into a gaol.
Many an honest and steady man, too, by the
evil association of a prison, has been corrupted
in his principles, deprived of his good habits,
and has re-entered society reckless of character,
and qualified to follow any other pursuit but one
of honest industry. A great portion of the
criminals of this county are created by the
demoralizing instruction of a gaol. Thus one
of the great results of the oppressive system is
to multiply criminals, and thus the vindictive
law re-acts against the interests of society. One
pernicious effect of the law as regards the coni-
numiiv in general, is the system of false credit
which it engenders, whereby people are induced
to live beyond their incomes ; the creditor
knowing that the body of the debtor is
pledged by the law for the debt, and he relies
upon that law extorting from the sympathy and

compassion of relatives and friends the payment
of debts which the debtor himself may be unable
to discharge, and which, but for the facility of
credit that the law of imprisonment creates, he
never would have contracted. But if the case
of the honest debtor of the male sex who is
dragged to a prison is bad, how much worse is
the situation of the unfriended female, whom
some heard-hearted creditor thrusts into the

noisome moral atmosphere of a gaol, to pine in
broken-hearted wretchedness, or fly from the
gloom of a comfortless cell, and despairing
thoughts, to its debasing associations ! It is
painful to think how many have fallen in this
way from honesty and virtue to the depths of de-
pravity. Thus does the operation of this cruel
law extend the influence of vice, and prove itself
a moral calamity to this Christian land. Rea-
son, justice, and sound policy, dictate that
if a debtor has property whereby he can
pay his debts, and will not pay them,
that property should be made available to
the payment of his debts ; but that if a debtor
has no property, he should not be deprived of
the chance of making any, or of retrieving his
affairs, by being thrown into prison. The
matter has been seen in this light by the com-
missioners, who reported in favour of the aboli-
tion of imprisonment for debt. Government
has incurred the charge of a most culpable ne-
gligence by allowing the introduction of the bill
for that purpose to be so long delayed. It
seems as if they were, always to be most re-
luctantly dragged to any improvement which
concerns the reformation of the laws, and the

morals of the people. Under the law of im-
prisonment for debt, a man is allowed, con-
trary to the first elements of justice, to be judge
in his own cause, for upon his ex parte affidavit
a man who does not owe him a farthing, nay,
to whom he is himself a debtor, may be torn
from his family and employment, and immured
in a dungeon. How long is this disgrace to
our laws to be tolerated ?—Morning Herald.
Mr. Robert Grwme, the nephew of Lord
Lynedoch, has obtained the seat at the Treasury
Board, and will stand for the great county of
Perth, on the Whig and Reform interest. It is
doubted by many, whether, after the clearing
out, to use a familiar but expressive phrase, of
Sir George Murray, at the last election, he will
again attempt this formidable county. The
Conservatives are strong in the counties of Scot-
land, and in Perthshire, if Sir George can
prevail on the Carlton Club to come hand-
somely down, he may run Mr. Grime hard.
But it is believed, the Conservatives generally
are somewhat in the predicament of Sir George.
They have been now long out of office ; and as
the hope of a speedy return cannot be very
strong, subscriptions must, in consequence,
' slacken. Thanks to the ten-pound constitu-
ency, a county, more or less, will not affect the
relative proportion of Tories to other members in
the House of Commons, and as no men are snore
practical than Conservatives, the subscription
purses are somewhatlong-necked. We do not say
that they may not make a dash to favour Sir
George, but as they are Jews to the backbone,
we do not believe that they will be inclined to
hazard much in a case which cannot hasten their
return to the Treasury, and which would merely
give an elegant, but somewhat holiday speaker
to the House of Commons. The conservatives
have besides never trusted much to mere oratory.
Their strength lay in intriguing, and in argu-
ments ad crumenam. They are the spawn of

loanmongers, contractors, &c. ; and so long as
they had the public money at their command,
they were truly formidable. But the 101. con-
stituency can neither be bribed nor bullied, and
whatever else may happen, this is certain, that
the conservatives never can again have a majo-
rity in a reformed House of Commons. No-
thing amuses us so much as the doleful lamenta-
tions of the conservatives on this subject, and
the reproaches they now utter against the Duke
of Wellington for his political blindness in re-
fusing all reform, instead of conceding a mo-
dified reform, and thereby obtaining the
guidance of it. In Blackwood's Magazine
there are occasionally articles on this subject, in
which a good many truths are told, for your true
conservative, having much of the Jew in him,
will not easily forgive any blunder which cuts
him off from the Treasury. In an article in
Blackwood for April, on the progress of social
disorganization, the writer calculates with all
the keenness of a Herries the forces under the
Reform Bill. He analyses the population of
the island, and shows that the great cities of
the empire have tripled their population since
1801, the manufacturing districts more than
doubled, while the increase in the agricultural
districts has not been more in general than 20
or 30 per cent. And he then proceeds to show
that the Duke of Wellington should have ob-
served this change, and gained the direction of
the new power, by enlisting on his side the
leading men in the great manufacturing towns,
who are more conservative than the Conserva-

tives themselves. The subject is curious, and
handled with some ingenuity. We, at the time,
told as much as this to the Duke ; but he was
blind ; and the Tories, to whom he yielded in
an evil hour, now reproach him with his
obstinacy. But we must return to the sub-
ject.—Morning Chronicle.

Several of the Ministerial Papers have been
commenting for the last day or two, in a manner
which they manifestly intended to be severe,
upon a charge to the jury delivered by Mr.
Justice Patteson on a trial for libel at Shrews-
bury. The publication on which the action
was founded consisted of a report of the pro-
ceedings of some of the corporation commis-
sioners, and it was urged on behalf of the de-
fendant that the report was a faithful one.
To this it was replied that the correctness or
incorrectness of the report was immaterial to the
issue, inasmuch as, the commission being an
illegal commission, the publication of its pro-
ceedings was not a privileged publication, and,
supposing the matter to be in its own nature
libellous, the fact of its having been stated be-
fore the commissioners would be no legal de-

fence. The Judge overruled the defence set up
on behalf of the Shrewsbury Chronicle, upon
the specific ground that the proceedings before
the commissioners of Corporation Inquiry were
merely initiatory, and that for this reason, if
there were no other, their publication was not
privileged, adding, however, that " it was very
much questioned whether the commission of
Corporation Inquiry were legal." We have thus
stated, accurately we believe, the conduct on the
part of Mr. Justice Patteson which has excited
the grave displeasure of some of our ministerial
contemporaries. This displeasure, and the
manner in which it has been expressed, convey
to us a more lively impression than any other
circumstance of recent occurrence of the value
and importance to the nation of the independence
of the judicial bench, and of the weight of the
calamity which was averted the other day by

the defeat of that portion of the administra-
tion who were desirous of sacrificing Sir Wil-
liam Smith to propitiate Mr. O'Connell. Had
this division of the Whig ministry succeeded
in their base design there can be no doubt,
from the spirit manifested towards Mr. Jus-
tice Patteson by some of the ministerial
journals, that, by this time, the country would
have rung with the fierce denunciations of the
whole of them, and that the first proceeding of
the House of Commons, after the recess, would
have been to debate at least, probably to pass,
a resolution of censure against that judge.
And for what ? For explaining to a jury, with
the simplicity and moderation which best befit
the seat of judgment, what the law of England
is in relation to a case which that jury were
called to decide, under his judicial guidance.
The statement of the learned judge, that " it
was very much questioned whether the Com-
mission of Corporation Inquiry were legal,"
amounted, we admit, to a plain intimation that,
in his opinion, the Commission was illegal.
But can any thing be more clear than that, in
conveying this intimation to the jury, the
learned jndge did the very least that was con-
sistent with his duty ? Are judges to permit
juries to decide in cases materially affecting 'the
property arid the rights of their fellow-subjects
'without letting them know what the law of the
land is in reference to those cases, rather than
express their opinion, whenever that opinion
may seem to militate against the legality of some
antecedent measure of the executive government ?
Can our ministerial contemporaries imagine that
there is a single judge upon the bench, includ-

ing even the two Whig judges, Lord
Denman and Mr. Baron Williams, who does
not fully coincide in the opinion intimated by
Mr. Justice Patteson ? Can they imagine that
there is a single lawyer of the least reputation
in the three kingdoms, except such as either are
or hope to be placed by the Whigs upon some
jobbing Commission, who would hesitate to
avow his full concurrence in this opinion ? Are
our judgesohen, to be tongue-tied, is the law
to be veiled and obscured, by those who are
emphatically called the luminaries of the law,
because a reckless and ignorant House of Com-
mons have advised, and a reckless, ignorant,
and rapacious Administration have accomplish-
ed, an illegal stretch of the Royal prerogative ?
We had thought that the principles of the Bri-
tish Constitution—we had thought that the
essential principles of any Constitution pretend-
ing to respect and preserve the freedom of
mankind—were still held in some estimation in

this country. It appears, however, that we
were mistaken. Reform must have obliterated

those principles from the national mind, or we
should not find public journalists, and the
Ministers whom they desire to serve, overlook-
ing, as they do, one of the most important
of the number, the perpetual separation and
independence of the executive, the legislative,
and the judicial functions. Mr. Justice Pat-
teson intimated his opinion with great caution
and moderation. We do not say that he per-
mitted those valuable qualities to degenerate
upon this occasion into timidity. But we do
say that, in speaking of the Corporation Com-
mission, he might have held a bolder and a
stronger language, and not only have escaped
censure, but have earned a title to the highest
applause. He said what was necessary to the
case before him, and he said no more. Had he
been disposed to travel beyond that he might,
without the risk of impeachment to either his
learning or his discretion, have denounced Pre-
rogative Commissions generally, not merely as
illegal, but as repugnant and odious in the
highest possible degree to the law of England.
—Morning Post.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

MIDLAND CIRCUIT.—WARWICK, APRIL 2,
(Before Chief Justice TINDAL.)
OSBORNE V. BENNETT.

This was an action by which the plaintiff sought
compensation in damages from the defendant, for
criminal conversation with his wife.

The plaintiff is a stone-mason, residing at Ben-
ton, in this county ; and the defendant is a pin-
manufacturer, living in the neighbourhood. During
the plaintiff's illness, in the spring of 1833, the de-
fendant frequently called to see him, and took op-
portunity of those visits, and of the plaintiff's ill-
ness, to debauch the mind of plaintiff's wife. They
met afterwards by appointment at an inn in Bir-
mingham, and acts of adultery were there com-
mitted.

From the statement of counsel, and the evidence
on the other side, it appeared that the plaintiff and
his wife had sometimes quarrelled about two years
ago, when the plaintiff called her a --, and she
gave him a blow of her fist. Before the departure
of the wife from plaintiff's house, he went to defend-
ant's, and told him he (the plaintiff) was turning
away his wife, and he (defendant) might do what he
liked with her. Subsequently to the discovery of
the meeting in Birmingham, the plaintiff was seen
to visit his wife at Stratford, in this county, and a
conversation between them was heard in respect to
damages, and the wife said she should have the 1001.
This was an allusion, it was insisted, to this action,
which the plaintiff and wife were concocting between
themselves. They were seen more than once to re-
tire into a private room together.
Upon a suggestion from the Learned Judge, at
this stage of the case, the counsel on both sides
consented to stop the case by withdrawing a juror.
Amongst the other abortive actions tried this
day and
.yesterday, were the following :

LAWRENCE V. LAWRENCE.
This was an action of libel contained in a letter
written by the defendant, imputing to the plaintiff
that he had been detected by his own wife making
violent love to a cutty of a warehouse girl, and that
for that act of adultery he had been dismissed from
the Scotch Church at Birmingham, of which he had
been an elder. The defendant had also posted up
a placard in front of plaintiff's house, with the words
You lying villain," in large letters.
The CHIEF JUSTICE, learning from the opening
of the case that the parties were brothers, and both
much respected in Birmingham, more than once re-
commended a private arrangement, which was ac-
ceded to after the case on both sides had been fully
gone through.

OXFORD CIRCUIT.—GLOUCESTER, APRIL 2,
(Before Mr. Justice PARK.)
POWELL V. BUSH.

This was an action of trespass, brought by the
plaintiff, a game-keeper of Lord Seagrave, against
the two defendants, who were brothers (one of them
being a student of the Inner Temple, and the other
an attorney), for sporting on a piece of land which
was in the occupation of the plaintiff. The de-
fendants pleaded as a justification that the land be-
longed to Sir Samuel Wathen, and he had given
them permission to sport on this land under the ith
section of the new Game Act.

The justification was not fully made out, and there
was a verdict for the plaintiff, with Is. damages.

FLINTSHIRE.
(Before Mr. Baron BOLLAND,)
There were 10 prisoners for trial, and three causes

at Nisi Priu.c.

Edward Ankers, aged 20, James Thqnzas, aged
28, Thomas Davies, aged 26, and William Thomas,
aged 22, were indicted for being out armed, on the
29th of January, in the night-time, upon the en-
closed grounds of Sir Stephen R. Glynne, Bart., in

the parish of Hawarden, for the purpose of killing
game.

The jury returned a verdict of Guilty, and his
LORDSHIP sentenced them to be each imprisoned
12 months, and kept to hard labour.

WESTMINSTER GENERAL QUARTER

SESSIONS, APRIL 3.

These sessions commenced this morning at the
Guildhall, before F. CONST, Esq., Chairman, and a
bench of magistrates.
Several persons called to serve on the juries made
various excuses, most of which were rejected. One
gentleman said he had been deaf for thirty years
past. A colloquy ensued, in which the venerable
Chairman said, " Sir, you hear me in a moderate-
toned voice at this distance, and in the Grand Jury
room you can compel the witnesses, who are not
likely to be so old as I am, to be cloie to you, and
to speak as loud as you may desire."—Application
refused.

THE KING, ON THE PROSECUTION OF FORBES AND

OTHERS V. R. AND T. BOND.

Mr. ADOLPHUS applied to the court in this long
continued cause. The learned counsel then pro-
ceeded to state the facts as they have been repeat-
edly detailed in The Sun. The defendants, by their
artful conduct, and wealth was not wanting to as-
sist them, managed by a course of conduct and by
practices which the law allowed them, to evade
trial and the justice sought for by the prosecutors
for sixteen months. When first indicted they re-
moved the indictment by certiorari into the Court of
King's Bench, thinking they might not be followed ;
in that, however, they were mistaken, and were
beaten out by a writ of procedendo. Then by re-
moving the venire into another court, and putting in
bail, which were not known or to be found, they
succeeded in gaining further delay, yet they said
they were certain to appear and take their trial that
day. " But," said Mr. Adolphus, " the devil a de-
fendant have we here in court, or ever shall have,
without further measures." His application to the
court was, and it was one of course, that the recog-
nizances of the defendants should be estreated, and,
further, that they should enter into fresh sureties ;
and, under the circumstances of the case, he trusted
the court would consider they should be more re-
sponsible in the amount, and he therefore moved
that the defendants should enter into securities of
1,000/. each in themselves, and find two sureties in
500 L to appear to take their trial.
The CHAIRMAN said that, before the Court could.
grant an application for such extensive bail, it must
be furnished with an affidavit of the matters which
the Learned Advocate had stated as facts.
After some conversation Mr. ADOLPHUS assented,
and time was allowed to prepare an affidavit.
The clerk of the peace stated the present recog-
nizances to be, each of the defendants in 801., and
two sureties in 401. each.

Subsequently, Mr. Noel, the attorney, put in and
swore to an affidavit, in which he deposed that he
had made search and inquiry respecting the bail,and
that he could not find them, and that he verily be-
lieved they were men of straw. The deponent-also
stated that he had been put to great trouble and ex-
pense by the vexatious delays of the defendants.
Mr. ADOLPHUS said that 1,0001. had been ex-
pended to prosecute, and they were as near its con-
clusion as at first.
The COURT received the affidavit, and directed
the former recognizances, in a 11320/., to be estreated ;
and ordered the defendants to find fresh ones in the
sum of 2001., and two sureties each in the sum of
100/., making altogether 800/.
There was another indictment preferred by a Mr.
Fisher, which stood precisely in the same condition,
and the recognizances were estreated in the like
manner, and fresh ones ordered, as in the last case ;
24 hours' notice of bail was also ordered to be given
to the prosecutor's attorney.
Bench warrants, it was stated, would forthwith
issue.

Mr. Forbes, who is made to appear as the prcise-
cutor, is only nominally so, his name as a witness
being the first on the back of the bill of indictment.
He chanced to mention he had seen play at the
Athenaeum gambling-house, when he was served with
a subpoena.

In another indictment Ephraim Bond is included
with Robert and Joseph.
Elizabeth Hurley was convicted of stealing a so-
vereign from a Frenchman named Augustus Le
Brun, who stated be came to London to study the
English language ; but who, from the evidence, ap-
peared to have neglected the study of prudence.
Sentence—Four months' imprisonment.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

MA NSION-HOUSE.

The LORD MAYOR directed that the water-bailiff
should attend at the justice-room, in consequence of
the statement in the newspapers that the late melan-
choly accident on the Thames, by which the boat of
Pope, the waterman, had been swamped, was occa-
sioned by one of those perilous obstructions which
were so often complained of on the river Thames.
The water-bailiff stated to his Lordship that the
owners of pieces of timber, which were found to
form serious impediments to the navigation of the
Thames, were frequently indicted for such nuisances;
but the indictments had not, though prosecuted
vigorously, the effect of clearing the river of these
obstructions.

The Loin MAYOR said that the river was ren-
dnuerd mebemr oorfe dsteaanmg-evreosusselbs by the v
which
at a
plied
s tdod iatni odn fromto the
all
parts. He had refused a license to a company
calling itself the Woolwich Steam-vessel Company,
to ply from Woolwich to Hungerford-stairs, on
account of his knowledge of the dangerous swell of
the water produced by the propulsion of those
enormous boats, as well as on account of the great
injury which the watermen along the river would
encounter if he had consented. His Lordship was
of opinion that the harbour-masters ought at all
events to assist in preventing nuisances from being
made in the river, or that, if they hesitated to do so,
the economical principle should be extended to the
office, and a diminution take place in the numbers
paid. In a case of the awful nature which had
called his attention to the subject, the public natu-
rally looked to the conservator of the river Thames,
and he was determined to let no opportunity pass of
causing the strictest investigation to be made. His
Lordship also informed the water-bailiff that he had
received, as conservator of the river Thames, a
communication from the Lords of the Admiralty,
intimating that they had given orders to make im-
provements in the river Thames, near Woolwich-
dock, calculated to prevent the great deposit of mud
in that vicinity, and to give great improvement to
the navigation ; and his Lordship directed the
water-bailiff to give every facility in his power.
A man, who said that his name was Stewart, but
who is known to the Mendicity Society as a begging
letter-writer, with many different names, adopted to
suit his convenience, was brought up charged with
having beaten and dragged about his wife by the
hair in the streets.—The man was committed.