The Sun.
London, England, 1850-05-14 00:00:00

emasculate a Bill which they could not ventur•
openly to reject, and to render it worse than useless,
so that it may prove a curse rather than a blessing to
the community.

We have already emphatically warned its friends
against the attempt to place any restriction on the
wholesome discretion now allowed to the presiding
judge of ordering the debt or damages, as the case
may be, to be paid by instalments. A suggestion
was thrown out that the power should be taken away
if the defendants, or any of them, were within the ope-
ration of the bankrupt laws. It was also proposed that
the power to give time should be limited to two or
three months. And the Attorney-General thought
"that if the power should be so limited, the rule
should apply to all debts whatever under or over 201."
A distinction was also attempted to be made between
book debts and those on bills of exchange or promis-
sory notes. These various matters are to be fully
considered on the next discussion, and if, unfortu-
nately, the House should be induced to accept them,
it is impossible to calculate the extent of the mischief
that may arise. A fearful instrument of oppression
will be placed in the hands of creditors, which
may be used with the most tremendous effect,
and which may occasion the ruin of many small
traders, who, if they received a little indulgence
could honestly liquidate every demand.
But why, or for what purpose, should this change
be introduced ? Has it ever been even suggested
that debtors have been unduly favoured, or unreason-
able time been granted to persons who had the ability
but not the will to make full satisfaction ? We have
never heard of such a charge being preferred against
any of the Learned Gentlemen who have been ap-
pointed to office under the 9th and 10th Vic., cap. 95,
and we believe that in the great majority
of instances the leaning (if any) is the other way.
Before time is given inquiry is invariably
made, not only into the actual resources of the de-
fendant, and his means of liquidating the demand,
but also as to the circumstances under which the debt
was originally contracted; and any fraud or even
strong suspicion thereof is most stringently punished.
Under the 98th section the debtor " may be examined
upon oath touching his estate and effects, and the
manner and circumstances under which he contracted
the debt, or incurred the damages or liability which is
the subject of the action in which the judgment has
been obtained against him, and as to the means and
expectations he then had, and as to the property and
means he still hath, of discharging the said debt or
damages, or liabilities, and as to the disposal he may
have made of any property." And the person ob-
taining the summons, and all other witnesses whom
the judge shall think requisite, may be examined
on oath touching the above inquiries, and (sec. 99)
" If the party so summoned shall not attend, or if
attending shall refuse to be sworn or to disclose
any of the things aforesaid, or if he shall not make
answer to the same to the satisfaction of the
judge, or if it shall appear to such judge that the de-
fendant has obtained credit from the plaintiff under
false pretences, or by means of fraud or breach of
trust, or has wilfully contracted such debt or liabi-
lity, without having had at the same time a reason-
able expectation of being able to pay or discharge the
same, or shall have made any gift, delivery, or trans-
fer of any property, or shall have changed, removed,
or concealed the same, with intent to defraud his cre-
ditors, or any of them;' or if it shall appear that
the party has then, or has had at any time since
the judgment obtained against him, sufficient means
and ability to pay the debt either altogether, or by
instalments, and if he refuse or neglect to pay the
same," Ice., &c., such party may be committed to
prison for any time not exceeding 40 days, and (sec.
103) such imprisonment shall not operate as a satis-
faction for the debt.

Here, then, we find that an investigation as
searching as any that could take place if the
defendant were seeking to obtain the benefit of
the Insolvent Acts before the very same
judge must be instituted in every case
before time will be conceded, and that it is only to
the honest but unfortunate debtor that any indulgence
will be shown. What object can there be in driving
such a person to prison, and compelling him to be-
come an insolvent P If he can escape the ordeal pre-
scribed by the statute ; if, on inquiry, he should not
be found worthy of punishment, why should the cre-
ditor be allowed, for the gratification of his own vin-
dictive feelings, or mere caprice, to incarcerate him,
to the mutual injury of both ? It is contrary to
reason and justice that it should be sanctioned or
allowed, and we call upon the representatives of the
people strenuously to resist these mischievous, im-
politic, and oppressive provisions, that will be sub-
mitted for their adoption.

GRAND ENTERTAINMENT BY THE LORD MAYOR
TO TEE JUDO'S. - The Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress
have issued cards to a large party for the 28th inst. to meet
her Majesty's Judges, the Masters in Chancery, the ser-
jeants at law, the queen's counsel, and others in the legal
profession.

THE GREAT CENTRAL GAS CONSUMERS' COMPANY.
—Yesterday, on the re-assembling of this committee, Mr.
Cardwell in the chair, Mr. Croll, the engineer of the com-
pany and member of the Institute of Civil Engineers, was
under examination during the day. He stated that the
area of the city of London was nearly one mile, and its pre-
sent consumption of gas per annum was about 500 million
cubic feet, of which amount 5 t millions, or a tenth, was sup-
plied to the public lights. Last year the Citty companies
charged 6s. where they now charged only 4s. The diameter
of the mains of the Chartered Company would have to be
enlarged if the reduction in the price of gas brought a cor-
responding increase of consumption, and if they had to lay
down new mains, the old ones being wanted for the
gas at night, inconvenience would result from their
being obliged to do it by day instead of doing it,
as the new company proposed, by night. The new corn.
pany would be enabled to obtain their coal from the
Black wall Railway at 2d. per ton less than the City
Company, and at 2s. 6d. per ton less than the Chartered
Company; the latter having to cart their coals to their works
from the Regent's-canal. The witness, after explaining at
considerable length his patented improvements for the puri-
fication of gas, for which he had received the Telford medal,
was cross-examined by Mr. Burke, and deposed that the
laying down through the public thoroughfares of the 64
miles of main necessary for the new company's supply,
would occupy three months, working night by night between
seven in the evening and eight in the morning. Three miles
per week could be completed, and six if necessary. Believed
it might be done without, as had been the case in Dublin,
impeding the public thoroughfares. Mr. Burke intimated
that at a future stage of the proceedings he should object to
Sir James Duke (one of the members placed on the com-
mittee, as having a constituent interest in the question)
voting, on the ground of the absence of the Hon. Baronet
during certain portions of the evidence. Sir James Duke
said he had been unavoidably absent, but he should read the
evidence carefully; and the committee adjourned to this day
at twelve o'clock.

BUSINESS NECESSARY.—The experience of life
demonstrates that a regular and systematic business is es-
sential to the health, happiness, contentment, and usefulness
of man. Without it, he is uneasy, unsettled, miserable, and
wretched. His desires have no fixed aim, his ambition no
high and noble ends. He is the sport of visionary dreams
and idle fancies— a looker on where all are busy, a drone in
the hive of industry ; a moper in the field of enterprise and
labour. If such were the lot of the feeble and helpless only,
it were less to be deplored ; but it is oftener the doom and
curse of those who have the power to do without the will to
act, and who need that quality which makes so many others,
but the want of which unmakes them—the quality of vigour
and resolution. Business is the grand regulator of life.—
Eliza Cook's Journal.
The following account of violence and scanda-
lous conduct at the Somerset County Protectionist and
Conservative Association meeting, at their dinner, at the Old
Down-Inn, on the Ist of May, 1850, Sir John Cox Hippis-
ley in the chair, is stated to have taken place as per Bath
and Cheltenham Gazette, (a Tory paper), of the Bth of May,
Isso :—" After the usual toasts, Mr. W. A. Green stood up
for the purpose of proposing the healths of Mr. Miles and Mr.
Pinney. A burst of disapprobation from every quarter of the
meeting showed that there was no probability of Mr. Green's
propositionu being entertained
rtwaihnoedBB;t on the
atftheersicdoensoiiitehraebrloeocmonimfu...
sion. Mr. H.
opposite Mr. Green, rose from his seat, mounted
::711. at
be-
tween him and Mr.
with the assistance of others, ejected him from
tnihaedfloartme I,Y strode
Green,the four
seized tablesh i
mwhhyic le intervenedcollar
of
hiB
coat, and, w
saoretoromf
Blandford ? Neither Miles or Pinney were
g."preQsetintrY. present.—Frogs
must the chairman be? Who is this H.
the room, amidst the cheers of the meeting."
Correspondent. o nmd ea nn t .

ooff tsheeam reecneii
MERCHANT SBAMEN.—From return. just issued
Caonrdpothraetirl on
Widowsforßelief
and
Children, fur the year 1849, it appears that the total receipts
receipts
t s
thea d npayments
Merchants'
the
were 26,939/. 10s. 7d. Of this sum nearly 10,500/. was duty
from London vessels, and 5,4451. was derived from !vested
property; the remainder of the receipts was contributed
principally by out-port vessels of ports under the manage-
ment of the corporation. The expenditure for the year
amounted to 24,125/., of which 18,9461. was paid in pensions;
2,1231. in temporary relief, at London and the outports ; 4874 to the Seamen's Hospital Society, and the rest was ex-
pended in charges of management. The balance to 1850 was
2,813/. 15s. 10d.

•
THE BISHOP OF LONDON'S BILL FOR A COUNCIL
or BISHIPPS.—When, in the reign of Elizabeth, a similar
demand was made upon the Legislature by Archbishop
Parker with that which is proposed by his Lordship, it
was
we met by this sagacious reply :—" No by the faith of God,
l pass nothing before we know what it is, for that
were to make you popes: make you popes who list; for we
will make you none" (Speech of
Sir Peter Wentworth,
1571). And hereupon the Bill was lost.
DEFICIT AT AN ESTABLISHMENT ABROAD —The
deficit in the balancl-sheet of an Admiralty officer deceased,
and who held a responsible post in a Government establish.
ment abroad, amounts, we understand, to 8,000/.—Uieited
Service Gazette.