The Sun.
London, England, 1858-09-06 00:00:00

SPECULATION.

In fairness to the great mass of debtors—that is
to say to that half of society which lives upon the
other half—it is necessary again to draw attention
to certain provisions of the law which will enable
them to escape their creditors without being subject
even to those mild proceedings in our courts that
are supposed to be indispensable before a discharge
can be obtained. If any man after a career of reck-
lessness finds himself annoyed by expense and delay
in getting purged so as again to be m a position to
resume his vocation it is not the fault of the Legisla-
ture. Our laws are intended for the equal benefit
of all, and if one person does not avail himself of
them to the same extent as another he must blame
his own iminrnnee er the stupHity of his attorney.
There is a pleasant path through bankruptcy which
seems at present to ,be known only to the most
astute adventurers. These resort to it in swarms
while the purely unfortunate trader, and, indeed,
most of those who get into difficulties through
thoughtlessness rather than design, still submit to
all the disagreeable processes of examination in
Basinghall-street and its concomitant publicity.
This is wholly anomalous. Of course when benig-
nant provisions are enacted it is impossible to
prevent rogues taking the benefit of them
in common with better men, but it is alto-
gether unsound to see them enjoyed by the
rogues alone. Henceforth, therefore, let no insol-
vent merchant, :manufacturer, or trader of any
kind permit his affairs to be thrown into any
English court. By a method which will require
simply that he should take five weeks' quiet recrea-
tion, such as every- business mind must sigh for, he
may wipe away his entire liabilities, place such small
assets as he may have considered right to reveal
to be administered through the hands of his own
nominees, and be perhaps the first to announce to
his astonished creditors the fact that he is a free
man and owes them nothing. This is better even
than winding-up under a committee of inspection
and paying os. in the pound, although in that case
you may elude all inquiry about past appropriations
or private settlements, and enjoy, in conclusion, a
vote of sympathy. The machinery has already been
described in The Sun, but still seems to be imper-
fectly known, and the opportunity, therefore, may
be taken to illustrate it by a case which has just
occurred, premising that it has accidentally tran-
spired, and that it is only one of a multitude of
which nothing is ever heard. Mr. Wm. Gill, a barris-
ter in London, of 7 years' standing, having contrived
during his short career to incur debts for £17,000,
finding last month that his assets were reduced
to £662 55., considered that the period had come to
remedy the inconveniences of this position. For
the past year he had been obliged to live on the
Continent, and as he was almost a professional con-
coctor of public companies, and the improving state
of the money-market seemed to show that his ser-
vices in that line would soon again be wanted by a
confiding community, he doubtless felt that no
time should be lost. Accordingly he proceeded to
the Western Islands of Scotland, and, having
located himself at Tobermory, in Mull, which is
not readily accessible from the mainland, he at the
end of 40 days, the period required to constitute a
domicile, made application to the Court of Session for
sequestration of his estates. A meeting to elect a
trustee was appointed with an expedition likely to
keep the creditors in England from the slightest
knowledge of what was going on ; a legal gentleman
from Edinburgh, now employed by the bankrupt,
acted as president ; a Mr. Fraser, of the Isle of
Skye, about 10 miles northward of Mull, was named
trustee ; and personal protection was granted against
arrest or imprisonment for civil debt for 12 months.
The next desirable thing was to hurry forward the
public examination, so as to render it physically.im-
possible for any opposition to be offered. In eight
days the whole affair was to have been got through,
and as the distance from London was 600 miles,
and the course of post a week, nothing but the
most untoward fate could prevent success. Mr.
Gill, however, was less fortunate than others.
Through some mismanagement one or two of his
creditors seem to have been made aware of the pro-
ceedings, and these persons at great expense em-
ployed agents specially to proceed to Tobermory
and interrogate him. Mr. Gill being a man of
mark, the examination has found its way into the
Scotch papers, • and thus the complete immunity-
upon which he relied has not been obtained. This,
however, need not operate as any discouragement
to others, since it is not one time in a hundred that
any difficulty occurs, or that creditors, even sup-
posing they get any information on the subject, are
found willing, either by themselves or in the person
of a paid agent, to travel 1,200 miles in urgent
haste merely to expose the manner in which they
have been made to suffer. The peculiar features
of Mr. Gill's case, moreover, were such as to excite
curiosity and impair the prospect of his passing
quietly. He is a son of Mr. Thomas Gill, a mer-
chant of Plymouth, and formerly member for that
borough, and the narrative extracted from him
appears to have embraced the following facts.,
Starting as a barrister in Lincoln's-inn in 1851, his
professional practice brought him about £3OO per
annum, and his father allowed him another £3OO.
In the course of a year or two he commenced specu-
lating in stocks and shares. From time to time his
father paid his losses--in one instance £1,000.,
in another £BOO, and so on; but, apparently,
on none of these occasions was any warning
given to the public, and the only result,
therefore, was to enable him to continue his
game—figuring as a great financial personage—
until the total against him reached £16,750. He
was a director of the Brighton Hotel Company, and
chairman of the Garnet and Mosely American Gold
Mining Company, and was under a contract to bring
out before the Ist of May in the present year a sub-
marine telegraph company to America and India.
The latter work has been interfered with by the
difficulties which have temporarily deprived the
world of his services ; otherwise he " would have
realized £10,000"—a sum, it is to be presumed,
was to have been extracted from the pockets of
such eager shareholders as might have been allowed
to participate in the benefit of the idea. He may
yet, however, put it forward, as his passage through
the Scotch courts will most likely be quick, notwith-
standink the unlooked-for interruption, and the pro-
tection he has already obtained is sufficient to
enable him to return to the metropolis. For a
little while, till his notoriety has subsided, he will,
doubtless, have to work through third partiep ; but
he is evidently one of those dashing spirits in whom