The Sun.
London, England, 1860-05-02 00:00:00

BANKRUPTCY BILL.

The number of the Law Magazine, published
yesterday, has the following remarks on the sub-
ject of this measure : _ _

" Upon the merits of this bill we have elsewhere
fully entered ; but upon the imperfect and indeed
wholly erroneous statement of the Attorn er- General
in introducing it we must here make an observa-
tion, because it tended to mislead the public very
materially. The profession could not be misled by
it, because those branches of it which are interested
in the subject are fully aware of the facts.
" The Attorney-General described his task in
amending the law, as rendered difficult only by the
wrecks'of former laws which covered the ground ;
and, in order to make good this description, he
stated that the Act of 1831 (abolishing the Septua-
gint, as the 70 commissioners were termed), had
substituted a new tribunal, and that this measure
had only lasted a few years when it was replaced
by another system in 1842, which after seven years
was exchanged for the cne of 1849. So far is this
from being the fact, or anything like the fact, that
the court established in 183 k exists at the present
day, the change effected in 1842 (5 and 6 Vic., c.
122) being only the increase of its powers in sum-
moning trader-debtors, and in granting certificates,
formerly granted by creditors, and the extension
of the system to the country by the appointment of
district commissioners—while the Act of 1849 was
only a consolidation of the former statutes, with the
addition of giving the commissioners original juris-
diction without a fiat, and the adoption of the clas-
sification of certificates proposed by the London
mercantile body.
" Whoever instructed the Attorney-General re-
' specting the history of the bankrupt law, and told
him how well the Scotch system worked by ad-
hering to the ancient jurisdiction of the Local Courts
(Sheriffs' Courts) in Bankruptcy, should have in-
formed him that Lord Brougham's County Courts
Bill of 1833 vested this jurisdiction in the proposed
courts. That bill was only lost by a majority of
one on the third reading ; and it had been
thoroughly examined in committee of the whole
house according to an agreement come to by Lord
Brougham with Lord Lyndhurst, that it should be
made as perfect as possible in detail, and then the
vote taken on the third reading ; but that, if passed,
it should be in the shape which the committee had
given it. Therefore the Attorney-General would
have had the authority of the Lords substantively,
and of Lords Lyndhurst and Brougham, in his
favour upon the important branch of this bill, for
vesting bankruptcy in the County Courts. The
rejection of the bill of 1833 is deeply to be regretted.
It decided the necessity of Lord Lyndhurst's Act
for the appointment of district commissioners,
whereas the Act would have entirely sufficed, and
some hundreds of thousands would have been saved
to the country, besides removing the only difficulty
which lies in the way of the Attorney-General's
bill as aegards County Court jurisdiction. •
" His informants have equally kept from his
knowledge the great expense of the old system
which, upon the accounts obtained in 1831, shew
the average of the incomes of the commissioner,
was about X5OO, and roust have amounted to abev..
£300,000 a.year out of the fund for distribution
among creditors in the London district. The ac-
cording of compensation from the consolidated fund
was the greatest blot in the new system; and that
grievance of creditors, so much and so justly com-
plained of, is now, we rejoice to find, on the point
of being removed.
"The Attorney-General's principal difficulty will
be how to deal with the existing commissioners—
who, having patent places, can surely not be treated
in the manner proposed by the bill; but on this and
the other parts ofthe proposed change we do:not( nter
further, than to express a hope that care will be
taken to prevent the former abuses from again
springing up, by restricting the power of the official
assignee, and that no door may be left open for
fraudulent conduct in arrangements by amicable
composition."

A letter from Hung Kung, dated Marchls, says:
—" The Samson arrived yesterday evening from
Cheefoo and Shanghin ; she left the gunboats all
sale at the former place (Cheefoo) on the 4th of
March. It is said the Chinese are assembling
50,000 cavalry at Tientsin. The mail sailed on the
15th of March."

Vice-Admiral Alexander Renton Sharpe, C. 8.,
died yesterday at his residence at Stockwell. The
gallant deceased was midshipman in the Kent in
the expedition to the Helder in 1799 ; and of the
Hercule, at Cape Francois and siege of Curacoa, in
1804 ; Lieut. of the Topaze in action with two
French frigates near Corfu in 1809, and commanded
the Scout at the destruction of three French armed
ships and some batteries in Sagone Bay in 1811.
The late Admiral was in 1815 nominated a Com-
mander of the Order of the Bath, in recognition of
his services afloat. His commissions bore date as
follows :—Lieutenant, Dec. 8, 1806 ; Commander,
March 5, 1809 ; Captain, Jan. 22, 1813 ; Rear-Ad-
miral, June 1, 1848 ; and Vice-Admiral, July 30,
1857. A service pension becomes at the disposal
of the First Lord of the Admiralty by the demise
of the Admiral.

Since the issue of her Majesty's proclamation for
the increase of the' navy the officers in charge of
the recruiting establishment on board the receiving
ship Fisgard at Woolwich have entered since the
Ist of May, 1859, to the present date, the following
number of men and boys—viz., ablebodied seamen,
140 ; ordinary seamen, 117 ; Ist and 2d class
stokers, 204 ; landsmen and novices, 400 ; grown
boys and artificers, 56 ; and Ist and 2d class boys,
3,443 ; making a total of 4,360.
The screw steam-frigate Forte, Captain E. W.
Tumour, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral the Hon.
S. H. Keppel, K.C.8., embarked his Excellency Sir
George Grey, Governor of the Cape of Good Hope,
and suite, and taking a mail, sailed from Plymouth
Sound on Monday afternoon for Table Bay, where
the Forte will replace the Boscawen, flag of Rear-
Admiral the Hon. Sir Frederick Grey, K,C.B.
The seamen belonging to the steam reserve at
Plymouth have begun to fit out the screw steam.-
ship Desperate, 8; her masts have been taken to
Keyham, and were ordered to be shipped yester-
day. The screw steam gunvessel Espoir, 5, will be
masted immediately after.
The screw steam-frigate Melpomene, 51, Capt.
Ewart, was taken out of the lock at Keyham steam
yard on Monday and towed to her moorings at
Hamoaze, off the Devonport Dockyard.
The screw steamship Royal Albert, 121, Captain
Lacon, was placed in No. 3 dock at Keyham on
Monday, to be cleaned and repaired—her false keel
is slightly damaged aft.
The naval apprentice brig Nautilus, 6, Lieut. B.
Grant commanding, put to sea from Plymouth
sound on Monday, to exercise the boys in shorten-
ing and making sail, and returned to her moorings.
The steam gunboat Shamrock, 60-horse power,
Com. Edye, sailed from Plymouth on .Monday, to
resume her surveyinf duties.
The following appointments were made yester-
day at the Admiralty—Capt. J. A. Paynter to the
Exmouth, vice Stopford ; Capt. W. C. Chamberlain
to the Racoon, vice Paynter ; Lieut. A. Tupman to
the Forte, additional, for disposal; Lieut. S. Long
and Lieut. R. L. Turton to the Edgar ; G. West,
acting first class assistant-engineer, for temporary
charge of the machinery of the Bustler ; James M.
Wortley, assistant paymaster additional to the
Victory ; J. AV, Featherstone, assistant clerk, to th•
Neptune ; W. F. Woods, assistant clerk, to the
Euryalus ; F. C. M. Sadler, assistant clerk, to th•
Bacchante ; B. F. Meyer, assistant clerk, to the
Asia.