The Sun.
London, England, 1850-06-13 00:00:00

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a were contracted ; the reckless nature of the
trading; and the ebsolu'e deficit of assets at ito
conclusion. It cannot be urged in ealli tioss that
Mr. Delafield was the victim of any of those unto•
ward vicissitudes either of legislation or of the seasons
which will sometimes confound the best matured
plans, and involve not merely the speculator, but
the merchant, in irretrievable embarrassment. The
nature of theatrical property is well known. It is
proverbially dangerous, as is every species of pro-
perty which depends for its value upon the arbi-
trary fluctuations in public taste. Men are found,
however, who do " make a living," as the
phrase runs, and a handsome one too, out of
enterprises of this description. Nor can it be
said that the persons with whose assistance Mr.
Delafield and his advisers attempted to carry out their
views appeared ill-fitted for the object proposed. The
singers engaged at his theatre were the seine persons
who for many years had attracted the attention of the
town, and who almost possessed a monopol y of the
performance of the Italian lyrical drama. Certaitly
there was no reason for euppesing- that the aelnoy•
ance of an additional ten minutes' drive would keep
away an audience which had been long hubituated to
hang upon the strains of Grisi and Mario. Mr.
Costa in Covent•garden was the same efficient direc-
tor of an orchestra as Mr. Cast i; at the Haymarket.
The " artists" employed by Mr. Delafield were old
and well-tried favourites with the public, so that the
speculation was devoid of hazard in one important re-
spect. Whence, then, the appalling crash which has
ruined Mr. Delafield, erased his name from the list
of the money magnates of his time, and left him in
the condition of a dependent for life on the bounty of
those with whom he should have lived upon more
equal terms ? The answer is quickly given, and must
serve as a key to the judgment pronounced by Mr.
Commissioner Pane in awarding the certificate of the
bankrupt without any conditions of unusual severity.
Towards the conclusion of his judgment the Learned
Commissioner is reported to have said—" I look upon
the general body of creditors in this case as co-spe-
culators with the bankrupt, and as the speculation has
been a total failure, and he the greatest sufferer, all
ought to bear their share of the misfortune without
repining." Is not this so ? From first to last this
foolish man—he has not yet, we believe, completed
his twenty-fifth year—was a mere catspaw in the
hands of men of sharper wit, and of a body of
dissatisfied singers. We.-will not go so far as to
say that Mr. Delafield'a ruin was contemplated by
those who attracted him into the concern, but, at
least, he was the capitalist who was to furnish them
with the means of realising the dreams of their
fevered imaginations and to bear the brunt in case of
reverse. The speculation which commenced in July,
1847, by Mr. Delatield's consent to hand Mr. Beale
his promissory note for 3,0001., has terminated in Jules.,
1850, by the allowance of his certificate as bankrupt
to this misguided young man. He was but twenty-
three years of age when he took the first fatal step—
at the end of 1848 he was a ruined man. "Now, let
us see what was the sum actually lost, and therefore
what the implied adjunct to the bankrupt's certificate.
On coming of age, in the year 1845, Mr. Delafield
was entitled to a fortune bequeathed him by an uncle,
which, with its accumulations, amounted to upwards
of 100,0001., and, furthermore, to a reversionary in-
terest in 6,000/. under his father's will. On coming
of age he was admitted a partner in the brewery, and if
we understand aright the statement with which we have
been furnished, by investing his capital in the concern
he received interest upon it at the rate of 5 per cent ,
together with his share of the profits, 2,500/ per an-
num. In the commencement, then, of 1846, Mr.
Delafield was in possession of a fortune, well secured,
of 7,5001. a year ; by the end of 1848 he was a
beggar. The last year and a half has been spent in
a succession of painful embarrassments and legal pro-
ceedings—in a flight to the continent—in a re-ap-
pearance at the Bankruptcy Court, from which he
was dismissed on 'Tuesday with nothing in his pocket
but a certificate, to make trial of that hardest of all
fates—dependence upon others. We have already so
amply—we may add, so frequently, discussed the
circumstances and figures of this bankruptcy, that it
is not our intention to try our readers' patience any
more with details. It is but right, however, that so
enormous an instance of a young man's folly and of
the vicissitudes of fortune should receive some brief
notice at our hands, now that the lawyers have
done with it. The example of Mr. Delafield may
serve to deter others from engaging, at so early in
age, and in so reckless a manner, in speculations
which demand a long experience of business and
a sharp penetration into motives and character.
The downfal is so great that it must appear miracu-
lous to any but one of that infinitely small section
of the community which lives without a care upon
the accumulations of its progenitors, how a man
can throw from him in mere wantonness those
means, which, if they cannot secure happiness, may
at least deliver their possessor from many a bitter
trial and heart-Bch. Yet this is just what this
foolish and unfortunate young man has done.
Enj iyinent, even in its lowest sense, he can
have received none in exchange for - this
enormous sacrifice. To preside nominally over
the engagements and jealousies and squabbles of 's
parcel of singers and dancers for a couple of
seasons is at least so poor a compensation that we
refu.e to take it at all into account. And now he is
left to test the value of the obsequiousness of a few
transitory parasites and dependents, and to discover
how much of the regard paid to him was given to
himself, how much to his fortune, and to his sup-
posed means of advancing the fortunes of those around
him. Either the world is changed, or the few men
who would have stood staunchly to him in his hour
of trouble are the very persons he missed at his table
in the heyday of his festivities, when the opium
dreams of continuous fortune and splendour were at
their highest. If Mr. Delafield be doomed to inevi-
table disappointment in one sense, let us hope that
he may meet with assistance and a helping hand
from others on whose regard he may just now sup-
pose himself to have but slender claims. There
is one ;point in the judgment of the Commis-
sioner, however, which we would notice be-
fore dismissing this subject for ever from our
columns. It appears that expectations had been
entertained that some conditions for future payment
would be affixed to the bankrupt's certificate because
be was known to possess rich relations, who, as it was
supposed, would not be likely to leave a member of
the rich family of Delafield under the sharp pressure
of money difficulties. The suggestion operated with
the Commissioner in a way contrary to the one in-
tended. There was so much good sense in his re
.-
marks, .c
-
arks, and theat
wpointewill he
isorne reproduce
so much
importance, roducemabhriepf usebnh-
th
sen-
tence or two from our report of yesterday:—"lt may
he said that the bankrupt has rich relations. Perhaps
he has; but if it were true, this argument is one
which will never weigh with me. 1 will never be a
oocntrtinoepaasy thate
debts of extravagant connexions. A contrary doc-
rpiacrhtyretloattihonese3atbliushnidDegr° of
any yosbul iegha tdi
doc-
trine is a far more wholesome one." The case is one
of such common occurrence that too much stress
cannot be laid upon the point so forcibly insisted
upon by the Commissioner. A more cruel injustice
cannot be conceived than to place the prudent and
well-conducted members of a family under the neces-
sity of paving the debts of a foolish young spendthrift,
who never would have obtained the credit but for the
reliance placed upon their fair fame and delicacy of
feeling. This point is of rarer occurrence before the
Bankruptcy than the Insolvency Commissioners, but
there we meet with it as an every-day matter. It is, of
course, more difficult to deal with it in the latter
than in the former case ; but, yet, something may
be done by facilitating the passage of foolish
young spendthrifts through the court who have
fallen the victims of a practice as common as it is ne-
farious. Be this, however, as it may, it appears from
the judgment of the Commissioner that
not the
slightest personal complaint was made against the
bankrupt; that the expenses of his private living did
not exceed the limits of the income to which he might
suppose himself fairly entitled ; that there
was
technical obstruction to the granting of the
certifi-
cate ; and finally, that none of the Under these cir-
cumstances itorsinsisted
upon the addition of conditiobne disposed to quarrels.
curnstances few persons t
I a fortune the com-
mon papers of a certifies .y
with the decision whizh grants e to a youth who has
forfeited by his folly so princely
ted bankrupt.

the English Mint pormie4epoe:
MONEY MARICET.—The premium on gold at Paris
la
3/ 17s. 10fd. per ounce for standard gold, gives an en-
is 16i per
change of 25.56; and the exchange at Paris on London
mille, which, at
cent. dearer in Paris than in London. By advice* from
Hamburgh the price of gold is 4361 per mark, which,
at short being 25.55, it follows that
at the English Mint price of 31. 17e. 10id. per ounce fur
standard gold, gives an exchange of 13.104; and the ex-
change at Hamburgh on London at short being 13.11,
it follows that gold is 0.11 ner cent. dearer in London
than in Hainburgh. The course of exchange at New
York on London for bills at 60 days' sight is 110
per cent., and the par of exchange between England and
America being 109 23.40 per cent., it follows that the
exchange is nominally 0.42 per cent, in favour of Eng-
land, and after making allo4ance for difference of
interest and charges of transport, the present rate
leaves a small profit on the importation of gold from
the United States.
CONSECRITION OF A CUURCII IN SOUTHWARK,..•
On Monday morning the Bishop of Winchester consecrated a
church in Southwark under somewhat peculiar circum-
stances. The building, which is one of ancient date, stands
in St. George's-iields, and has been known as a chapel in
connexion with the Philanthropic Society. The removal of
the society's premises to Iledhill, near Reigate, rendered the
chapel useless for the purposes to which it had hitherto been
devoted, and arrangements were consequently made with
the Rector of St. teorge's that an ecclesiastical district
should be assigned to the chapel, and that henceforth it
should become one of the parochial churches. In order to
carry out this object the ceremony of consecration was ren-
dered necessary, and Monday was appointed by the Bishop.
for that purpose. The Bishop has licensed the Rev. G. E.
Tate, M A., late curate of Great Warley, Essex, to be the
first incumbent of the new church.