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

r trend AIX

LONDON, THURSDAY, JUNE 13, 1850.

The long-expected
LAFIELD has at
judgment of the Court of Bank-
ruptcy in re EDWARD THOMAS D E
__
length been pronounced. After stringent an
searching investigation into the affairs of theunford-
tunate young gentleman, during which every trans-
action of his life was laid bare—after a rigorous—
we had almost said a vindictive—opposition, by which
the final adjudication was retarded for eleven months
from the time of striking the fiat, a certificate has
been granted, unclogged by any conditions. All the
circumstances of the case were remarkable : the mag-
nificent inheritance to which the bankrupt had suc-
ceeded on attaining his major ity in 1845—the po-
sition he had subsequently occupied as a partner in a
commercial firm of great wealth and high respect-
abiliry—his operatic and theatrical speculation,
under which his splendid fortune dwindled away as if
under a blight, leaving him at 24 years an utterly
ruined man, not only deprived of the 100,0001. into the
possession and enjoyment of which he had entered
three years previously, and of his share of the pro-
fits of the establishment of which he had been a
member, but involved in debt to the amount of
30,000/. and upwards, and, without a hope of ex-
tricating himself, save by an appeal to the Court,
which the humanity and justice of the British law
had established for the relief of unfortunate debtors ;
All excited a deep feeling of interest and compassion

in the public mind, and an earnest hope was enter-
;tained that he might pass scatheless through the
painful ordeal to which he vas about to be exposed.
The stern rigour with which any breach of the com-
mercial code was regarded by the Commissioners of
that Court the vast importance of its deci-
sions to the trading community, and the
danger....,of , establishing a precedent which
might by any possibility, be tortured into a
precedent for the justification of extravagant
or reckless conduct, were also well known, and
anxious fears were entertained lest in the discharge
of his imperative duty the Learned Judge might
have deemed it necessary to iaflict further punish-
ment on one who had already been so heavily
afflicted. These fears have, however, happily proved
groundless. In an able and well-considered judg-
ment, which reflects the highest credit on the
Learned Gentleman, Mr. Commissioner FANE, whose
great experience in all matters relating to bankruptcy
must give the greatest weight to his decisions, has
exonerated Mr. DELAFIELD from the charges brought
against him, and declared him entitled to his certifi-
cate, which it was insisted should either be altogether
withheld, or that, if granted, it could only be after a
considerable suspension, and on condition of devoting
a large portion of his future earnings to the liquida-
tion of his existing debts.
The facts were simple. Mr. DELAFIELD on attain-
ing his majority had come into possession of 100,0001.
bequeathed to him by an uncle, and was also entitled
under his father's will to a reversion in the further
sum of 6,0001. He was shortly afterwards admitted
into the house of COMEE, DELAFIELD, and Co., from
the profits of which he derived a further sum of
2,5001. per annum, so that he found himself at that
early age in the enjoyment of a clear income of
7,500/. per annum. He had been educated at Ox-
ford, and there had probably contracted certain habits
of extravagance which the alumni of that University,
are generally supposed to acquire during their so-
journ, to at least as great an extent as classical
knowledge. His fortune and expectations were well
known. He could find no difficulty in obtaining any
amount of credit which he required from the civil
and accommodating tradesmen. The only wonder,
therefore, was that his university debts only amounted
to 3,000/., and that a much larger sum was not re-
quired. He did not immediately receive his
money on coming of age, and being anxious to
pay off all his creditors, he borrowed a sum of
4,6001. in March, 1846, which it was agreed
should not be repaid or demanded without twelve
months' notice on either side. In that year, 1846, he
entered into a small theatrical speculation, bringing
over the Brussels Operatic Company to sing in this
country, by which he lost 2,3001. In February, 1847,
he presented a sum of 5,000/. to his friend (Mr. WEJI.
STER), and in the latter end of August of the same
year he withdrew his capital from the brewery and
became the lessee of the Royal Italian Opera House,
where his losses in two short years amounted to no
less than 81,355/. Indeed he was " thoroughly
ruined" at the end of the season of 1848, and, although
he struggled on for a time and kept the theatre open,
he had to fly the country to avoid arrest in April,
1849, and the fiat was struck on the 12th July in the
same year, which brought him within the jurisdiction
of the Court of Bankruptcy.

The objections to his certificate were partly on
public and partly on private grounds—the public
being, profuse and reckless personal expenditure and
making away with his only remaining assets,
when his circumstances were utterly hopeless. The
gift of 6,0001. was also alluded to in this part of the
case. The only private complaint was by the lender
of the 4,6001., who had instituted proceedings for its
recovery without giving the notice which he was
bound to give under the terms of his agreement, and
who was consequently obliged to pay the costs of the
suit.

On the first point, of profuse expenditure, it
appears that his personal expenses amounted during
the period that elapsed between his coming of age
and bankruptcy to 22,0001., of which 3,0001. was ap-
plied to the liquidation of his Oxford liabilities ; his
personal outlay then amounted to about 5,000/. per
annum, or little more than two-thirds of his actual
income at that period. It might have been impru-
dent not to live more sparingly. A bachelor,
without any incumbrance, could undoubtedly
lead a very comfortable and pleasant exist-

ence on a much smaller income, withou

being compelled to submit to any great privations, or
to deny himself any gratifications in which he though
proper to indulge. But, notwithstanding these facts,
it could not, as Mr. Commissioner FAME justly re-
marked, be termed " reckless expenditure in a person
who bad above 7,0001. a year." Neither could the
gift of 5,000/. to Mr. WEBSTER, although such dona-
tions are by no means of ordinary occurrence ; for it
appeared that at that time, and after making the large
present, Mr. DELAFIELD had 80,0001. remaining in the
hands of Messrs. Comms and Co. over and above every
demand ; and the recipient of his generosity had been
his most intimate friend during his college career,
where he had rendered him services of the utmost
importance, and it was also supposed that he was
about to become very closely connected by a mar-
riage, then in contemplation. This ground of com-
plaint, then, also failed.
The assignment of the debts of the concern to Mr.
BEALE, in April, 1849, was a more formidable point.
There is nothing which the Court guards against with
greater vigilance than any undue or fraudulent pre-
ference in favour of one creditor at the expense of the
general body. Mr. DELAFIELD had assigned all his
remaining assets to Mr. BEALE the very day of his
departure from the country to avoid arrest. But a
small portion only was for an existing debt ; by
far the greater part was to enable the performances to
be continued, which gave the only chance to the bank-
rupt of in any degree retrieving his position, and was
(the expenses having been already incurred and en-
gagements entered into) the best course for the
general body of the creditors.

The matter did not therefore really call for much
censure, and if it had, it had been condoned by the
acceptance of 1,0001. by the assignee, with the consent
of the general body of the creditors. The opposition,
then, totally failed on public grounds, and the private
matter was not more tenable. A gentleman thought
proper to bring an action, contrary to the express
terms of his own agreement ; Mr. DELAFIELD de-
fended it from not having received the stipulated
notice. Had he done otherwise, it is by no means
improbable that he would be charged with having
given an undue preference in favour of his old friend
and college companion, Mr. EVEItSFIELD.
The Learned Commissioner most properly decided
against the condition that was asked for. Nothing
can be more impolitic than to clog the future in-
dustry, to mortgage the labours of any man who has
no other dependence. It would prove a mill-stone
about his neck, from which he could never extricate
himself; it would deprive the creditors of the chance
of payment, which they might have at some future
time from his honour. Not one case in ten thousand
that pass through the Insolvent Court is afterwards
paid through the steady industry of the insolvent.
It may from future bequests, although the probability
is that it prevents any legacy from being left to the
party. It would, therefore be useless to the creditors
and most unfair to the bankrupt, from whom it would
take
that
iatw
wa yo ue l a
e ryf f
ord gleam
of of
extracting h ope As
somethingto the chance
his wealthy relatives, that alone was a sufficient rea-
son against it. All persons will, therefore, coincide
in the propriety of the judgment that refused' it,
and bestewed his certificate on the unfortunate young
man, who has received " a terrible lesson, which
we
trust may be of use to him during his future exi3t-

efICC."

The rule which had been obtained from the Court
of Exchequer, calling upon the Commissioners cf
Land-tax in the Holborn division cf the county of
Middlesex to show cause why they should not meet
at the usual place, and make an equal pound-rate for
the several perishes and places within their division,
was yesterday discharged with costs. The real
merits of the case were not entered into ; there
was no decision on the true intent and meaning of
the 38th George 111., cap. 5. The Court deter-
mined that any jurisdiction it might formerly
have possessed was taken away by the sth and 6ch
Wm. IV., cap. '2O ; that consequently it had no
authority to interfere, but that the statement
of the Commissioners, that they had made such
a rate was,
to all intents and purposes, binding
and conclusive. Although it was notorious, that no

THE SUN,