The Sun.
London, England, 1861-04-17 00:00:00

THE ARMY.

Major-Gen. Sir Richard Dacres, attended by
Major Reilly, his aide-de-camp ; Major Milward,
Brigade Major, and Major Field, Deputy-Assist-
ant-Quartermaster-General, yesterday commenced
his half-yearly inspection• of the garrison at
Woolwich by going over the barrack quarters
and books of the 4th Brigade. The General
inspected the Royal Horse Brigade this morning
at 10 and the 16th Lancers at 11. The two corps
paraded at the time stated above on Woolwich-
common, in marching order, on ground pointed out
by the Deputy-Assistant-Quartermaster-General.
At 1 o'clock the general inspected the hospital be-
longing to the Horse Brigade, and examined the
books and barracks of the brigade shortly afterwards.
The 30th and 31st companies of Royal Engineers
have each been augmented to their full number of
100 non-commissioned officers and men, and have
been medically inspected at head-quarters. As soon
as the order for their leaving Chatham shall will
been received from the Horse Guards, they
embark for Malta and Corfu, to relieve two, com-
panies which have been doing duty in the Medi-
terranean for several years past.

THE DERELICT SUM—PLYMOUTH, Tuesday,.
The merchant steam vessel Sir Walter Raleigh made fast to
the derelict yesterday, at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, and
ructton to navi a•.
towed her about three miles north-west, when the warp
parted. The wind is blowing very strongly from the eastwa d,
and there is much sea on. The steamer resumes the attemptr
on Thursday, and will be able to continue on the duty until
bastby
. had narrow
escapes lost in
I MondayevlAi a
gTbhuet
for wreckth
eis l ai
lights
dangerousexhibi
toe
Lion. On Sunday no less than four vessels
escapes ;' one of them would have been
the trawl sloop,
which continues fastened t) the capsized
ship. The star-
board anchor can be seen, and thecl
chain cable is throng*
the hawse pipe. The suspended
chain hangs from thedeck,
deck, and is not now supposed to have an anchor attached'
to it. This chain was partly swept yesterday, and by
it the wreck was at one time towed. Tho bowsprit is
gone, and there is no ind •
ication of yards or masts. She
,i 1
built of pitch
pine, and her keel, which is 15 inches through'
has never been tarred, neither is there any tar on the
spaces originally covered by the builder's cleats, so that
she must be a new ship. From her continued buoyancy
it is new judged that the cargo is not timber, but cotton.
This supposition seems confirmed by the fact that the water
occasionally spurts through the seems in her sides which
may be bursting open by the swelling of the cotton. Tills
morning, at two o'clock, the wreck was 35 to 40 mil es
S.S,W. of Plytnviith Soled, or say: 0 Illikii Scittil Of tite
Xcidsame.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT,

HOUSE OF LORDS-YESTERDAY.

The Lunn GUANO:U.OI took his seat on the woolsack
It five o'clock.
PRIVATE BUSINESS.

The South-Eastern Railway (Capital) Bill was read a
second time. The ilaslingden Union Gas and Swansea
Gas Bills were read a third time and passed.
BANKRUPTCY AND INSOLVENCY BILL.

The LORD CHANCELLOR, in moving the emend
reading of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Bill, expressed
the hope that it would be unanimously approved by their
lordships. In bringing it before them he would abstain from
minute technicalities, an would in the first place endeavour
very-shortly to give their lordships some notion of the past
and present state of the law of bankruptcy. By the common
law of England there was no distinction between traders
and non-traders—between the bankrupt and insolvent—and
there was nothing resembling the cessio bonorum of the civil
law. No remedy was given to the creditor till he had brought
an action, and then, upon obtaining a judgment, he could
levy execution against the lands, the goods, and the person
of the debtor. But, however insolvent the debtor might be,
there was no remedy against him, and he could not be de-
prived of his property till an action was brought and he was.d
arrested. He was sentenced to imprisonment unless hell%
to the uttermost farthing. But this state of thinge
was equally disadvantageous to creditor anddebtohr,sn; which
was
Acteived
rein
some mitigation in the of Henry VIII., v
of Parliament was passed by which those wh o ~when
traders
and obtained the goods of others in their hands, and who
fled the country, or concealed themselves, or made away
with the property, were liable to be made bankrupts. A G
commission issued under the reat Seal, and they were
arrested and thrown into prison, and all their property
was confiscated and distributed among the creditors.
The debtors were, however, still liable for the debts they
had incurred. This state of things continued down till the
13th of Elizabeth, when there was an amendment of the
law, which was made more stringent. The debtor was still
liable to his creditors after he had been deprived of the
whole of his property, and nothing could satisfy a creditor
except the perpetual imprisonment of the debtor. So things
continued down to the 4th year of the reign of Queen
Anne, and then it was enacted for the first time that when a
trader honestly and fairly delivered up all his property to
his creditors he should be discharged from all liability
for his debts. He obtained what was called a certificate of
conformity, which protected him against further proceed-
ings for all bygone debts. The bankruptcy law received
various amendments, but still proceeded on the same gene-
ral principle down to the time of Lord Eldon. Lord Eldon
was a consummate judge in every department of the law,
and in none more than the law of bankruptcy. But, strange
to say, though he early denounced the existing system of
bankruptcy, ho did nothing to improve it. In the sixth
year of the reign of George IV. there was a consolidation
of the bankruptcy law carried out by Lord Henley, but it
was simply consolidation, and left all the abuses untouched
that before existed. In the first place, there was a patentee
of bankruptcy, who received £B,OOO a year for doing
nothing, raised from the property of insolvents. There was
no harm in the Bankruptcy Court being self-supporting,
but this patenteeship led:to enormous abuses. There were
other sinecures ; and, with regard to the judicial system by
which the law was administered, there were, strange to say,
in the London district 70 judges, who went by the name of
the Septuagint. There was hardly any qualification re-
quired for this office, and any one might be appointed. To
each of these 70 a district was assigned. He was himself
once a candidate to become one of the 70. The moment he
was called to the bar he had a promise from the then
Lord Chancellor that he should be named one of them, not
from any merit of his, but because his father had been at
school and college le ith the then Lord Chancellor ; but it so
happened that before a vacancy arose " all the talents" were
turned out. A great part of the estates of the bankrupts
were under this system consumed before the creditors were
thought of. In the country districts matters were much
worse. There a commission of bankruptcy resembled a
wrecked ship on the Cornish coast. The commissioners were
appointed by a solicitor, and the commissioner taxed the
bill of the solicitor. (A laugh.) The abuses that took place
were almost incredible. He had been informed by a gentle-
man who had sat on a commission of bankruptcy that on one
occasion they amused themselves by turning out a bagged
fox.at the expense of the bankrupt. (A laugh.) This state
of things continued till the time Lord Brougham became
Lord Chancellor. The country was much indebted to him
for his improvements of the bankruptcy court. These and
the establishment of the Judicial Committee of the Privy
Council and the Central Criminal Court, would make his
memory to be ever respected as a law reformer. Lord
Brougham swept away the sinecurists ; but there were com-
pensations, to be paid by those who might afterwards become
bankrupt. There were six commissioners appointed to the
London district, forming a Court of Bankruptcy. For the
country districts there were also commissioners, and like-
wise for Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, and other large
tawns. He also constituted a Court of Review, consisting of
four judges, and he introduced the great improvement by
the appointment of offic!al assignees, Previously the most
monstrous abuses had arisen from the assignees being chosen
by the creditors without any control whatever, and the attor-
ney became too often sole master of the concern, while a
great part of the effects of the bankrupt was expended in liti-
gation. Lord Broegham appointed official assignees, and the
consequence was, not less thann,ooo,ooo belonging to bank-
rupt estates was found to be in the hands of London bankers.
In the year 1849 there was a consolidation of all the bankrupt
laws, from the 3d and 4th of Henry VIII. down to the
13th Victoria, but great disappointment resulted therefrom.
Had the court and its machinery been properly constituted
they would have been generally resorted to by those who
wished for a fair distribution of the effects of the bankrupts,
but instead of that composition deeds became the general
rule. Such was the state of the law with respect to traders
• With respect to non-traders the evil was much greater, both
for the debtor and the creditor. Up to the establishment of
the system which as amended still prevailed in the Insol-
vent Court there was no tribunal to which the non-trader
was entitled to apply I', a. relief, The establishment of that
syFt-nn was regarded as a great relief to debtors. It was
even celebrated by an opera—one scene in which repre-
sented a number of insolvents dancing round a maypole,
and singing a chorus which commenced with the lines—
" Cease your funning—
Sergeant Running-
Ton will quickly set us free."
(Lauglat3r.) The new order of things then established af-
forded some relief, though to a very inadequate extent; and
even at the present time the working of the insolvency laws
were anything but satisfactory in the case of non-traders
who possessed or might become possessed of property. It
had been said that a strong reason for not reforming the laws
relating to the representation of the people in Parliament
was to be found in the fact that there was no demand for
such a reform. That could not be said in the case of the
bankrupt and insolvent laws. Indignation meetings had
been held, and almost every Chamber of Commerce in the
country had applied to him to receive deputations on the
subject of a reform of those laws. His official duties made
it impossible for him to receive those deputations ; but there
could be no doubt as to the strong and general feeling on
the subject. (Hear, hear.) More than one attempt had been
made to bring about a change. One had been made in that
house by a noble and learned friend of his who had held the
Great Seal ; but he believed the opinion of the mercantile
community was that the measure of his noble and learned
friend did not give sufficient power to creditors. Another
attempt was made in the shape of a bill, having for its ob-
ject not only an amendment but a consolidation of the law.
His noble and learned friend (Lord J. Russell), as member
fur the greatest commercial city in the world, was asked to
take charge of it; but it had never reached a further stage
than that of being laid upon the table of the House of Com-
mons. There was now before their lordships a bill which
had received the most laborious attention of the other
House of Parliament. Shortly after the formation of the
present Government his hon. and learned friend Sir R.
Bethell and himself considered the matter. They entirely
agreed in the principles on which a bill ought to be drawn
—but the details were undertaken by his hon. and learned

friend, whose great exertions and ability in dealing
with those details would, he trusted, meet with that

success to which they were so eminently ent:tled. The ob-
ject with which the bill of last year was introduced was to
consolidate the law of bankruptcy; but objections were
raised to that proposition, in the propriety of which he him-
self was ultimately induced to concur. In the House of Lords,
and still more in the House of Commons, the distinction
between what was new and what was old was unknown to
the majority of the members, who conceived that every-
thing which existed mug have been law from the time of
Henry VIII. or thereabouts. The bill of this year was
not so ambitious in its character, and confined itself to a
mere alteration of the law. The leading feature of the bill
Was to do away with the distinction between trader and
ton-trader, and to enact that when once a state of insol-
v!tcy had been established with regard to either, his effects
10 ullOll :11d be distributed by the same tribunal and according
tv,tixe same law. There was no reason why such should
to p the state of the law. As soon as a man was unable
eumlaYt
th,labedeht his property, which was no longer his,
that laadaedutered by other naiads. But, assuming
that be
nabsolute and really honest surrender of all
likewise she to
hirn'
it was only just that the non-trader
have the
Bankrupt Act, ttha benefit of the provisicns of the
relieved of respensi:o,r the future that he should be wholly
which had been adolitit'l in respect of his de t ;. In a bill
to the other house,Ptheel by their lcrdships, and sent down
ple of extending the law of
bankruptcy to non•traZwrorin.::liad been sanctioned, and he
trusted their lordships
henyoth.o.n the present occasion
depart from the rule which t
dt4to laid down. The
noble and learned lord enumerated
tacts which would
be held sufficient to constitute a bankrue
hPou,seand stated that
by a clause introduced in the other
the danger of
prematurely creating a non-trader bankrupt had been
vffeetually guarded agaitut. Thirty days,
notice were
given him, and he was afterwards at liberty to show
if he could that he had reasonable means or expeetatio:3
of being able to pay his debts. A wise distinction
Was made in law between a trader and non•trader, the
farmer being supposed to have some settled place in which
he was to bo found when his liabilities became due, while
the non-trader was not so restricted, 134 t no moll

existed why in the event of his being unable to discharge'
his liabilities he should not equally with the trader be com-
pelled to surrender his property. While it would punish
the extravagant and fraudulently disposed, the Act would
entail no hardship whatever on well-intentioned persons.
By the next clause the Insolvent Court was entirely done
away with, for it was absurd and mischievous to have two
rival systems of jurisdiction, regulating cases of a kindred
nature by wholly different modes of procedure. The expense
of the Insolvent Court would be done away with,and in future
there would be one general court for traders and non-traders.
There would be in London one supreme judge in bank-
ruptcy. In the country all cases in which the property was
under £3OO would by law be referred to the County Courts,
and in all other cases it would be open to the creditors,if they
pleased, to take them into such courts. He hoped that
eventually all the bankruptcy business in the country would
be disposed of by the judges of the County Courts, and that
we should be able to do without country commissioners. In
this respect a good example had been set us by Scotland,
where already bankruptcies were administered by the She-
riffs' Courts, and a trustee was appointed by the creditors
to manage the estate. The result of this was that, while in
England the expense of distributing a bankrupt estate
amounted to 33, in Scotland it reached only 13 per cent.
By this Bill the Government promised to confer the man-
agement of the estate upon a trustee to be appointed by the
creditors. The measure did not, however, abolish official
assignees. The enormous profits of those officers would be
reduced, but it would still be their duty to take possession
of the bankrupt's property, to hold it until a trustee, or cre-
ditors' assignee was appointed, and to superintend the latter
functionary in the management of the estate—a check which
would, no doubt, prevent the waste and extravagance which
prevailed under the old system. The next improvement of
the law contained in this bill was the provision that all
deeds of composition should be registered, and that if any
dispute arose upon them the facts might be stated to the
Court of Bankruptcy, which would at once decide the ques-
tim. By this means justice would be done speedily, and at
little expense, without the necessity of bringing the estate
into bankruptcy. It was further proposed to abolish the
classification of certificates. There had never been any
rules according to which certificates were classified, and in
consequence great uncertainty had prevailed in that respect.
For instance, in London during five years Mr. Commissioner
Evans out of 479 applications granted but 17 first-class cer-
tificates, or about 1 in 28 ; Mr. Commissioner Fonblanque
out of 653 applications granted 31 first-class certificates, or
about I in 14; and Mr. Commissioner Fane out of 653 appli-
cations granted no fewer than 161 first• class certificates, or
nearly lin 4. The punishments to which a bankrupt was
liable for not appearing when summoned, and for other
offences, were formerly excessively severe, but by the Bill
all such offences were made misdemeanours, and three
years' imprisonment was the heaviest punishment which
could be inflicted for any of them. He understood that the
clause imposing a stamp duty had given rise to a great deal
of complaint, which was really groundless. There were
now no sinecurists to be paid out of bankrupt estates, for
the Chancellor of the Exchequer had agreed, though not
without great reluctance, that the payment of compensation
for abolished offices should be transferred to the Consoli •
dated Fund. A number of fees were suppressed, and cos-
tdn meetings rendered no longer necessary; and the stamp
was imposed for the puxpo se of defraying only the necessary
expense of proceedings. He had the most sincere respect
for the body of solicitors, but he believed that the distinc-
tion between the bar and that branch of the legal profession
was salutary and ought to be preserved. He held therefore
that solicitors ought to be excluded from the superior courts.
His lordship concluded by moving the second reading of the
bill.

Lord CHELMSFORD said the commercial world was
very much divided in opinion on the subject. Although the
subject was an important one, it was not an inviting one,
and therefore he feared he could not obtain their lordships'
attention while he referred to the proposal to abolish the
distinction between traders and non-traders. That was a
subject important to all of them. It was very hard to re-
concile conflicting interests, and he would be very glad if
the Government could succeed in passing a measure which
would satisfy all parties in the commercial community.
With every disposition t 3 look favourably o n this measure,
be regretted to say, that from communications he had re-
ceived from persons connected with the trade and com-
merce of the country, as well as from his own examination
of the bill, he thought it required considerable alteration
before it could secure the approbation of the country.
When, in 1839, he introduced a bill against premature
consolidat'on, his noble and learned friend (the Lord
Chancellor) said he was surprised at such patchwork
legislation. Now, the noble and learned lord had intro-
duced a fragmentary bill, and many of the fragments
were so misplaced, that they would require much
polishing and squaring before they could be made to adapt
themselves to each other. He missed here the guiding hand
of the Mercantile Law Amendment Society. This society
was composed of men engaged in wholesale houses—persons
of the greatest respectability, and who had peculiar views
on this subject. There were two classes of opinions on the
question as to how the bankruptcy law should be adminis .
tered. One class thought that the creditors should have
)
complete and absolute control over the administrat'on of the
effects; and others thought that official assignees should
exercise dominion, and should almost exclude the creditors
from any interference in the winding-up. The Mercantile
Law Amendment Society were in favour of the former view.
The property was then to be handed over to a person to be
called the creditors' assignee, and the first meeting of the
creditors was to be held in the place most convenient to
the majority of the creditors. How this was to be ascer-
tained he could not understand. The noble and learned
lord then went through the various details of the bill,
and proceeded to contend that great delay would take
place in winding up the affairs of the bankrupt, and
frequently to the prejudice of the estate of the bankrupt.
At present the debts of the bankrupt were collected
by the official assignee to the estate, and this was done in
a manner that gave satisfaction to the mercantile public.
Under this bill there would be a double collection, the
official assignee having charge of the collection of all debts
below a certain amount, while the debts beyond that
amount were to be collected by the trade assignee. How
that could be done without a double set of books was a
matter which he could not understand. His belief was
that these proceedings would add to, instead of diminish-
ing the cost of the bankruptcy. He ventured to say it was
impossible to pass the bill in its present state, for should
the house agree to do so, it would lead to mortification
and disappointment. The noble and learned lord then re • I
ferred to the clauses relating to traders and non-traders, and
said that the non-traders' clause had a retrospective opera-
tion, so that a person who had been a debtor, although not
in trade, could, under the provisions of this bill, be made a
bankrupt within six years from the passing of the measure.
He hoped to be able to induce their lordships to insert a
clause in the bill to prevent it from having a retrospective
operation. Then as regarded the county court judges, he
did not concur in the proposal made in respect to those
judges under the bill. How was it possible for the county
court judge to administer the estate of a bankrupt, and how
could the county court registrar discharge the onerous duties
of an official assignee ? The thing must break down. The
judges and registrars were already overloaded with work,
but even if they could perform these new duties, there was
an injustice in asking them to do so without an increase of
pay, and in that case the jurisdiction of county court
judges ought to be confined to cases of bankruptcy under
£3OO. The gaol-delivery clauses, as he might call them,
were humane, and properly considered ; but they were
clogged by previous provisions in the bill which he trusted
their lordships would agree in considering inapplicable.
He especially alluded to the 115th and 116 clauses of the
bill. There was a general impression that this measure had
not received in the House of Commons the attention which
it deserved, and that was an additional reason why the bill
should receive from their lordships the fullest consideration.
The best mode of giving it that consideration would be, in
his opinion, to agree in the suggestion of his noble friend
(Lord Derby), and refer the bill to a select committee. He
hoped their lordships would adopt that course.
Lord CRAN WORTH considered that there were many
excellent provisions in the bill, and he especially approved
the satisfactory and skilful manner in which the abolition
of the distinction heretofore maintained between trader and
non-trader had been framed. He also commended those
clauses which enabled an insolvent estate to be administered
by trustees, with power to appeal to the Court of Bank-
ruptcy for assistance, should necessity arise for so doing.
Some of those clauses, however, would require very con-
siderable modification, so as to give persons tried before the
Bankruptcy Court the same right of appeal as persons
criminally tried before other tribunals at present possessed.
He adhered to the opinion he gave in 1859 as to official
assignees, and disapproved of the wish expressed to abstract
the proceedings in Bankruptcy from the hands of official
assignees and place them in the hands of what were called
creditors' assignees. He should like to see defined in the
bill what the proposed duties of the chief judge were to be.
If his duties were to be confined to appeals there would not
be business to occupy his time for more than twenty days
in the year.

Lord KINGSDOWN expressed himself decidedly
opposed to the aboition of the distinction between traders
and non-traders. He thought it most important that that

distinction should be preserved. He thought their lord-
ships should not act on a uniform rule for persons placed
in very different situations, nor should they pass a law
conferring a benefit on creditors to which they were not
entitled, and inflicting en injury on the debtors to which
they ought not to be subjected. Why, for example,
should a creditor be enabled t, seduce a young man at a
university to run into debt, and to come down upon his
estate the moment he attained his majority ? The noble
lord then proceeded t) review the various changes made in
the law of bankruptcy, and proceeded to observe that this
bill would in eff:ct renew the Court of Review, which ha -1
been abolished on account of its inefficiency. The bill also
would occasion much inconvenience by allowing a mul-
tiplicity of appeals, although the Lords Justices were quite
competent to pronounce a final decision on all such matters.
Lord WENSLEYDALE was understood to support the
bill.

The LORD CHANCELLOR said as no opposition to the
!econd, reading of the bill was intended, he should not think
it
necessary to occupy their lordships in replying to the ob-
jection s
e,„ Urged, Ile thought, however, that his noble and
eAaa would have clews better if, as they dicl nvt

oppose the second reading, they had reserved the greater
part of their observations until they went into committee
on the bill. The House of Commons had been gravely ac-
cused of precipitation and of sending up a bill which they
had not properly considered. Now, he had known the
House of Commons many years, and he must say that he
never remembered an instance of a bill, with the exception
of the Reform Bill, which had occupied so large a portion
of the attention of the house. When the bill was in corn-
mittee there was a large attendance of members, all the
clauses were carefully considered, and everything likeparty
spirit being set aside, the house devoted itself to improving
the measure. Several of the most important improvements
in the bill came from his Conservative friends. After that
deliberate consideration of the bill by the House of Com-
mons he felt that he should neglect his duty if he consented
to send it to a select committee, and he would most respect-
fully, but to the last, oppose such a proceeding. The whole
commercial world had been informed in the morning how the
clauses of the bill had been disposed of in the House of Com-
mons on the previous evening ; and now that the bill had
come up to their lordships' house it would not be respectful
to send it to a secret tribunal where many of the clauses
might be smothered in secret. It was with deep regret he
heard the view expressed by Lord Kingedown, whose
opinion he respected as much as that of any man alive ; but,
at the same time, he knew that the current of authority for
the last 50 years was against the barbarous distinction which
now existed between a trader and a non-trader. With re-
gard to the objection that family settlements would be die..
turbed by the bill, he had to remind their lordships that a
provision similar to that now proposed had long been the
law in Scotland, and had worked most beneficially. The
noble and learned lord, in conclusion, said that, when the
bill went into committee, he would enter at greater length
into the different objections which had been urged against
it that evening.
The bill was then read a second time, and ordered to be
committed on Monday week.