The Sun.
London, England, 1844-07-26 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY MORNING, JULY 26, 1844.

sovs. each, h ft, for two years old, 6 subs. ; one of
200 sovs. each, pp, for two years old, 10 subs. ; two other
two years old stakes of 25 sovs. each, one with 11 subs.,
and the other with 10. The Duke of Richmond's Elate
of 1001. (to name the day before running). The An-
glesey Stakes of 15 sovs. each, gentlemen riders, 12 subs.;
and the match between Alva and the Purity filly,
complete a day's racing of extraordinary attraction,
amounting, after allowing for forfeits, to at least seven
thousand pounds. The Maid of Orleans is in one of the
25 sov. stakes, but the others are favourable to specula-
tion, On Friday the meeting will terminate, and as the
following sketch of the present fixtures will show, with
a brilliant promise of sport :—The Chesterfield Cup, 42
horses named. The Nassau Stakes of 50 sovs. each, pp,
for three yrs old fillies, 26 subs., including The Princess
(91bs extra), All-round- my-Hat, The Bee, Barricade,
and Zenobia. The Maidstone Stakes of 15 sovs. each,
gentlemen riders, 35 subs. The Match (in heats or
classes, . according to the acceptances) of 10 sovs.
each, h ft, gentlemen riders, 56 subs.)
,to name
in the race week. The Bathyany Stakes of 5 soya. each,
gentlemen riders, 14 subs., to name in the race week ;
and the post match between Lord G. Bentinck and Lord
Glasgow ; making in round numbers nine races a day,
exclusive of heats, amounting to 25,0001. The races
will be under the stewardship of Sir W. WT. Wynn,
Bart., and G. Payne, Esq., and will commence each day
at half-past twelve o'clock precisely.
We understand that for the furtherance of business
during the race-week, a subscription betting-room will
be opened at Chichester, within a few doors of the
Swan.

Handicap for the Goodwood Club Stake.
Lothario, 4 yrs, 12st 71b—Cattonite, 5 yrs, 12tt 21b—
Currier, aged, list 101'o—Aristides, 4 yrs, list 101 b
Fistieuff, 4 yrs, 1 Ist 101b—Porto Bello, 4 yrs, 1 Ist 813—
Naworth, aged, I Ist 31b—Priessnitz, aged, lOst l'2lb
—Queen Mal.), 5 yrs, lOst 1 11b—Quebec, 4 yrs, 10st I Ilb
—Pastoral, 3 yrs, lOst 91b—Emma, 3 yrs, lOst 51b—
Miss Miggs, 5 yrs, lOst 51b—Fox, 4 yrs, lOst 31b—Coal
Black Rose, 3 yrs, lOst—Elemi, 3 yrs, 9st 101b—Sea-
mew, 3 yrs, 9st 31b.
BLACKWALL AND POPLAR REGATTA.
Yesterday being the anniversary of the day on which the
first meeting was held at Blackwall for the establishment of
the Watermen's and Lightermen's Almshouses, the water-
men of All Saints, Poplar, and Blackwell, selected it to row
their match for a new skiff and some other excellent prizes,
liberally presented by the residents. The contest was with
six smilers, in four heats, and was highly attractive, there
being some thousands of persons congregated during the day
to witness it. Three men started in the first heat, and the
remaining three in the second, and the first man of each heat
laid by while the other four rowed for the third heat. The
fourth heat was between the best two of this lot, and the
first man of the first heat and first man of the second heat,
and the two winners only of this were qualified to row in the
grand heat. The boats started in each heat from Blackwell-
stairs, and went twice round the distance, extending from
the Folly-house to the East India Dock-bridge, opposite the
Brunswick Wharf.

FIRST HEAT.
J. Curd, light blue
H. Venton, red
G. Ball, yellow
SECOND HEAT
H. Corey, dark blue
G. Atkins, pink
0. Smith, green

THIRD HEAT.
Won by G. Ball cleverly, followed by G. Atkins.
FOURTH HEAT.
Won by H. Corey, G. Ball being second, J. Curd third.
GRAND HEAT.

The two men, Corey and Ball, started away very evenly,
but in a few strokes Ball contrived to draw about half -a
length in advance, which he continued to bold throughout a
very spirited and closely-contested heat. Corey was hardly
half a length astern at the coming in, and both he and the
winner were much distressed.

WEATHER AND CROPS IN DERBYSIIIRE.—The
weather is as seasonable as the most sanguine could desire,
and, under its influence, the various crops are fast approach-
ing maturity. Wheat-cutting is likely to be almost imme•
diately commenced. The reports respecting the probable
yield are, with few exceptions, favourable, whilst the quality
is likely to be uncommonly fine. Barley, though greatly im-
proved within the last few weeks, can scarcely be expected
to produce well, the previously experienced drought having
had a very injurious effect on this plant. Beans have re•
covered wonderfully; and peas and oats will, we trust, yield
a better return than was earlier in the season deemed pos-
sible ; on the whole, therefore, our prospects are encouraging.
—Derby Mercury, July 24.
DREADFUL ACClDENT.—Wednesday morning, at
about nine o'clock, a man named Thomas Hudson, em-
ployed as a labourer on the Gravesend, Chatham, and
Stroud Railway, now in the course of formation, was
severely injured by the falling of some earth. He was,
at the time above-mentioned, engaged with many other
workmen in excavating at a cutting at a village called
Higham, about seven miles from Gravesend, when, from
an oversight, or the want of proper precaution for the
safety of the men (though no cause has 'as yet been
assigned), a mass of at least two tons of earth gave way
from above and fell upon him. Numbers of the men at
work close by ran to the spot and found Hudson buried
up to the chest, and suffering dreadfully from the im-
mense pressure upon the lower part of his body. With-
out loss of time they commenced shovelling away the
earth, and finding his legs crushed between the knee and
and ankle, carried him to a surgeon in the neighbour-
hood. The surgeon promptly attended to the poor
man's injuries, and found them to be of such a
serious nature as to justify him in sending him at once
to one of the metropolitan hospitals. A fly was then
procured, and the man was driven to town and taken to
St. Thomas's Hospital. Mr. Travers, one of the chief
surgeons of the institution, attended him upon his admis-
sion, and though the man's lower extremities are
crushed in a frightful manner, and his body in other
places bruised, there are still hopes of his recovery. He
was a steady man, and was in the employ of Mr. Brown,
contractor, of Shorn, Kent.
A CHILD POISONED.—On Wednesday afternoon
Mr. Baker, Coroner for the eastern division of the county
of Middlesex, held an inquest at the Hen and Chickens,
Bath-street, Shoreditch, on the body of George Greene,
a very fine child, eighteen months old, who came by
his death under the following circumstances :—lt
appeared by the evidence of a number of witnesses
that on Sunday afternoon last, about half•past two
o'clock, a man came into the shop of deceased s father,
who is a boot and shoemaker in a small way of buai •
ness, residing at No. 1, Bath-court, Shoreditch, for the
purpose of having a pair of boots repaired. The indi•
vidual was only known to the deceased's father by the
name of " George," from his having called some time
before on a similar errand. During the time occupied
by the repairs the man, apparently feeling incom-
moded by something in his coat pocket, took out a
four ounce phial and laid it upon the leathern seat.
The boots having been repaired, the man went away, and
no notice was taken of the bottle until about an
hour and a half after he had left, when the father had
occasion to pass through the shop into the yard,
and was followed by the deceased, who was his youngest
son. 'The boy espying the bottle on his father's seat,
seized it, and immediately drank off a portion of its con-
tents. Its excruciating effects instantly took place, and
the poor child ran screaming after its parent with the
bottle containing the remnant of the liquor in its hand.
He was immediately conveyed to the surgery of Mr.
Morgan, of No. 14, Old-street-road, who, on seeing
the state of the infant, instantly pronounced the
case to be hopeless ; and, notwithstanding he
administered every possible antidote, the poor child
only survived a few minutes after he was brought
in. It appeared by the subsequent evidence that
the man George ran back in about two hours after
he had left the bottle in a most excited state, to
inquire for it, and upon being told that the de-
ceased infant had swallowed a portion of its con-
tents, and was then dead, was extremely affected, and
said that the bottle contained a preparation used in his
business as a jeweller. Mr. Morgan said he had no
doubt the deceased had died from taking a portion of
.

the contents of the phial, which was a solution of nitrate
of silver, a deadly poison, which is frequently used by
jewellers in their business. The jury returned a verdict
of " Accidentally poisoned from drinking a solution of
nitrate of silver."
ASCENT OF ANOTHER MONSTER BALLOON.--OB
Monday evening last Mr. Hampton, the aeronaut, who, it
will be recollected, about five years since made perilous
descents in a parachute at Chelsea and Cheltenham, as-
cended from the Vauxhall-gardens, Birmingham, in a
stupendous new balloon. The machine, which is
the sole invention of Mr. Hampton, has been con-
structed in an entirely novel manner, both with.
respect to the valve, shape, and car, the silk of
which it is composed amounting to several thousand
yards, being manufactured by Spitalfields weavers. his
nearly the size of the great Nassau balloon, being 67 feet
in height, 124 feet in circumference, calculated to contain
about 24,000 cubic feet of gas, and the car, which, is
capable of holding six persons, being five feet in
diameter and of a circular form. The fete was
under the patronage of Colonel Whyte, of the
7th Hussars and the officers, who attended the gar-
dens, as also a large concourse of spectators. Several
gentlemen having expressed their desire to ascend with
Mr. Hampton, amongst whom was a Mr. H. Wells, of
London, some considerable disappointment was caused
as the time drew nigh for its inflation, for, by
that period, the machine was found not to be one-
third inflated, and the gas of so inferior a description
that it soon became apparent that it had only ascend-
ing power enough to take up the aeronaut by himself.
Every endeavour was made to further its inflation, but
to no effect, and at seven o'clock being liberated from
the earth, and it rose almost perpendicularly from the
gardens. The atmosphere being very clear, the ascent
was beautiful in the extreme, and after the aeronaut had
gained an altitude of two miles, he effected an easy and
safe descent at Shear's-hill, near Wolverhampton. It is
understood that the valve and other improvements have
fully answered-the inventor's expectation.
TRADE OF DUBLlN.—Another quarter of the
financial year has been accomplished ; its results in Dublin
have been again favourable to the Exchequer of the country.
Notwithstanding the decadence of manufactures—the nearly
total annihilation of commerce, and the prevalence of almost
universal poverty—the improved habits of the people are
fully exemplified in the continued increasing amount of
the duties received fin teas, sugars, &c., and a corresponding
decrease on those which accrue from malt and spirituous
liquors. In the quarter ended the sth July, 1843, the
amount of moneys received at this port was 223,228/. ;
the number of entries passed to obtain that sum has
been 5,160. The quarter ended the sth of the present
month gives 261,9761., and 6,587 entries—increase in favour
of the late quarter over the corresponding one of 1843
38,748/. To this increase on the quarter sugar has contri:
buted 6,3801. ; coffee, 1,176/. ; tea, 6,732/. ; wine, 17,559/. ;
and tobacco, 6,527/. For the quarter just ended, sugar pro-
duced 53,894/., in that 0f1843, 47,514/. Tea stands at 87,421/.
against 80,689/. for last year. Wine returned 38,044/. in
• place of last season, 20,4854 and tobacco 65,7311. in place of
59,2041., the receipt of 1843. In the various departments
connected with the receipt and discharge of the goods sub-
ject to customs duties, the great accumulation of business
which is daily occurring entails on the very meagre and
scanty paid establishments who are now employed at this
port a vast increase of responsibility and heavy work, and
causes to the public delays which result in great inconvenience
and loss of time.—Dublin Freeman.

IMPEI-tiAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS, July 25.
Their Lordships met at Five o'Clock.
OPENING OF LETTERS.

The Earl of R ADNOR gave notice that he would, to-
morrow, put a question to the Noble Lord opposite, the
President of the Council, on the subject of the Post-
office inquiry (opening of letters).
The Marquis of NORMANBY presented a petition
from Paisley, complaining of the gas works as a nuisance.

The prospects of success were therefore much improved.
—(Hear, hear.) He had always been of opinion that an
imperfect watching of the coasts of Africa and America
was an injudicious employment of our force. We knew
from what part the slaves must come, and whither they
must be carried.---(Bear, hear.) On that account the
force had been increased at these two parts. It had
been pretended that part of the coast of Africa was in a
state of blockade. That was not true. Every facility,
every help, was given to commerce, and the only employ-
ment of the force was to watch those vessels which the
municipal law of this country, and our treaties with
other nations, authorised our naval officers to enter and
seize. A sufficient force would be kept up on the coast
of Brazil to secure any slaver that might escape the
vigilance of the cruisers on the coast of Africa.
The Earl of MINTO was very glad to hear so satis-
factory a speech. But he must say that he never
heard of any complaint on the part of the officers, as to
any difficulty in understanding their instructions. Ap-
proving as he did entirely of the system which had been
adopted, of closely watching the particular part of the
coast of Africa from which slaves were exported, he felt
bound to say, that if a sufficient force were employed,
it must prove an effectual means of checking the trade ;
but he feared that the naval force employed was not
sufficient.

Lord COLCHESTER having, in the command of one
of her Majesty's ships, acted under the former instruc-
tions, when the officers had in many cases nothing but
the bare treaties to guide them, must, in the name of
the gentlemen engaged in that service, return thanks to
her Majesty's Government for the complete and intelligible
code of instructions which his Noble Friend had now
laid on the table. These instructions would give those
gentlemen a confidence which they never felt before.
The Earl of HADDINGTON wished to explain that

the increase in the slave trade last year, as compared
with the preceding two years, was not altogether owing
to the removal of the ships to the river Plate. That re-
moval, however, was rendered necessary for the protec-
tion of the lives and property of British subjects.
Lord MINTO said that the force was diminished by
the total withdrawal of part of the force, besides the
transfer of two or three ships to the La Plata.
The Earl of CLARENDON expressed his satisfaction
with the speech of the Noble Earl (Aberdeen). He re-
joiced that her Majesty's Government had reason
to hope for the co-operation of France. He
was also happy that Spain had at length
been induced to send out the order which was contained
in the treaty which he (Lord Clarendon) had made with
Spain in 1835.—(Hear, hear.) He wished to know
whether it was true that Government had sent orders to
the officers on the coast of Africa, not to destroy the
baracoons (in which the slaves were confined previous to
embark ltion) without the permission of the native princes?
He could not, he regretted to say, join in the sanguine
expectations of his Noble Friend. After all the expense
which this country had lavished for the suppression of
the trade, he feared that at the present time, although
fewer negroes reached the West Indies alive, a greater
number were torn from their families and friends, and
perished on the way, than were stolen when the slave
trade was in its free and most open state.— (Hear, hear.)
It was greatly to be regretted, that General Valdez—as
honest, benevolent, and wise a man, as ever was placed
at the head of a great empire —for such Cuba now was—
General Espartero had been compelled by public opinion
in Spain, to order that excellent man not to be so active
in checking the trade.—(Hear, hear.) The treaty with
England was most flagrantly violated by the present
Captain-General of Cuba, General O'Donnell.—(Hear,
hear.) No country but England had honourably and be-
nevolently applied itself to the suppression of the slave-
trade.—(Hear, hear.) He thought that our Govern-
ment ought to insist on the fulfilment of the treaties on
the part of Spain and Brazil. It was said that our ex-
periment of abolishing slavery was a failure. But the
fact was, that in Antigua, and other of the small colo-
nies, the production of sugar had been greatly increased
since the emancipation ; and the free negro worked
more industriously, and more to the profit of his
employer, than in a state of slavery, and lived in luxury.
If the larger islands were placed in a similar position as
regards the employment of labour, thosb colonies would
be raised from their present languishing condition, and
their prosperity would be the strongest weapon that
could be used for the suppression of the slave-trade. No
treaty would avail in that suppression until it was proved
that free labour was more profitable than slave labour.

Lord BROUGHAM said that the thanks of the Par-

liament and country were due to the four gentlemen who
had framed these instructions. He believed that any-
thing which could encourage the immigration of free
labour into the colonies would put an end to slavery ;
but he was not for waiting for the extinction of slavery
before he would suppress the slave trade.
INSOLVENT DEBTORS BILL.

Lord BROUGHAM moved that the report of the
Committee on this Bill be taken into consideration. He
thought that the standing orders ought not to hamper
the House in the discharge of important duties. He
should, therefore, move that;—also, that the Bill be read
a third time this day.
Lord COTTENHAM did not think it necessary to
suspend the standing orders, as, if the Bill passed
through one stage this day, there would be another day
in the week for the third reading. With respect to the
present operation of the laws of insolvency and bank-
ruptcy, it was to be observed that three-fourths of those
who took advantage of those laws were traders, and two-
thirds of those who took advantage of the Insolvency
Acts were traders. Now, it would have ben supposed
that the bankruptcy laws were intended for the relief
of traders, and the Insolvency Court for the relief of
persons who could not pay their debts. In the Bank-
ruptcy Court there was no arrest of the person neces-
sary as a preliminary. All that was required was the
surrender of the property. In the Insolvent Court the
very contrary was the principle. Imprisonment was
a necessary condition. Again, under the bank-
ruptcy laws, the future property of the bankrupt
was protected. Here, also, the contrary principle ruled
in the Insolvency Court. The object of the Bill which
he had brought in was, to abolish imprisonment for debt
altogether, and to place all insolvent debtors in the same
condition as the bankrupt trader. He did not believe that
such a measure would check credit. It had been said, when
the abolition of mesne process was passed, that small
tradesmen would not be able to get credit. But the fact
had proved otherwise ; and credit had not been checked,
except in cases where it ought never to have existed.
The Bill which he had laid on the table provided those
amendments in the bankruptcy laws which had been re-
commended by the Commissioners themselves. It pro-
vided that the property of an insolvent should be given
up to be distributed amongst his creditors either upon
their application or that of the debtor himself ; and that
his future property should be protected. That was the
Bill which he proposed in 1842. His Noble and
Learned Friend on the Woolsack brought in at the
same time another Bill embodying one-half of the
provisions of his Bill, and his Noble and Learned
Friend's Bill was passed —(Hear and laughter.) He did
not complain of his Noble and Learned Friend's taking
one-half of his Bill. He complained that he did not
take the whole. In this session he brought in a Bill
containing so much of the former Bill as had not been
embodied in the Lord Chancellor's Bill in 1842. He
brought in the Bill before Easter, and, on the 16th of
April, which was fixed for the second reading, he was
was requested by his Noble and Learned Friend to post-
pone the second reading until a Noble and Learned Lord
(Lord Brougham), who took a great interest in this
subject, should be in the House, he being at the time on
the Continent. On the 30th of April the Bill was read
a second time. The Lord Chancellor on that occasion
made a most important speech, the whole of which he
(Lord Cottenham) would not read, but he would read
one or two passages.—(The Noble and Learned Lord
then read extracts from the Lord Chancellor's speech ap-
. .

proving of the Bill, and especially that part of it which
removed the anomaly of different and conflicting laws re-
lating to debt, the bankruptcy and insolvency laws, and also
the protection of a debtor's future property.) With that
speech he (Lord Cottenham) was highly gratified, for
he thought that the time was come when the recommen-
dations of all who understood the subject would be car-
ried into effect. That speech led many of those who
were lingering in prison to expect that they would be
released from prison without the expense of the Insol-
vent Debtors' Act. In that expectation they had re-
mained until this time, and now they must remain in
prison until Michaelmas next. In the meantime, his
Noble and Learned Friend (Lord Brougham) had a plan
of his own. His Noble and Learned Friend stated that
his plan had the sanction of the Government, and, ac-
cordingly, it was arranged that the two measures should
be sent to a Committee together. In that Committee
there were twenty-one members, of whom seventeen
were in the habit of taking their legal opinions from the
Noble and Learned Lord on the Woolsack. Of the
other four, there was only one (Lord Campbell) who
had any chance of attending, as the others had to at-
tend to judicial duties. A Bill was brought in in
the meantime, founded on a report of Sergeant
Mainwaring, which would repeal all the laws
, and abolish all the institutions connected with the rela-
tions between debtor and creditor, that had been estab-
lished since the days of Queen Elizabeth. That was
abandoned; and so was a second Bill, also intended as a
rival to his Bill. A third Bill was brought in to amend
the Act which was passed in 1842. to enable persons to
declare themselves insolvent, and to be protected with-
out going to prison. The proposed amendment was
abandoned, and the Act of 1842, was still the law of the
land. There was one defect in that law. It took the
property from the insolvent; but there was no provision
for distributing the property amongst the creditors.
Many thousand persons had taken the benefit of that
Act, and in all cases the creditors were baffled, and ob-
tained nothing. The Bill—the applauded Bill—had not
been rejected on consideration of its merits. His Noble
Friend had adopted that portion of his Bill which pre-
vented persons from being arrested who were sued in the
inferior courts, and, as he (Lord Cottenham) considered,
most humanely adopted it. Th6se traders, however,
who held more than 3001. property, were not subject to
the provisions of this Bill. The Committee reported
that the Bill which he (Lord Cottenham) brought in
should not be proceeded with, but that the Bill of his
Noble and Learned Friend should be adopted. The
next provision of the Bill, should it be passed
into a law, was, that persons who were indebted under
20/. should not be arrested ' • and that those who
were in prison for such debt should be discharged. He
did not undervalue that provision. There could be no-
thing more cruel than the imprisonment of that class of
debtors; they were, for the most part, persons who had
only their labour to subsist on, and in some prisons they
I were not allowed to use their tools for the support of
their families, who, consequently, wereleft to starve. But
1 he objected to this, that the release of those who were
actually in prison was left to the discretion of the indi-
vidual judge or commissioner who had examined the
case. He admitted that it was dishonest to incur a debt
without the means of paying; but imprisonment for
life was rather too severe a punishment. He objected
also to the omission of his clauses for enabling the credi-
tors of landed gentry, and of Members of both Houses of
Parliament, should have execution against the property,

of every kind, possessed by the debtors; snob property to
be vested in an officer of the court, to be distributed
amongst the creditors. Would Parliament claim for its
Members as a privilege the right of living upon the pro-
perty of others ? In the present Bill, there was an enact-
ment, which, whilst it inflicted a great hardship
upon a large portion of the community, pro-
tected the Members of both Houses. If they were
to be protected let it be by a distinct enactment. But
do not let imprisonment for debt be continued to pre-
serve that protection. It was useless to suppose that the
public would not see that such was the object. And
why not avow it ? The Bill which their Lordships were
about to give their assent to, would perpetuate those
evils which his Noble and Learned Friend on the wool-
sack so eloquently and powerfully exposed on the intro-
duction of his (Lord Cottenham's) Bill at the beginning
of the session. The concurrent opinion of all the lead-
ing authorities in the House were in favour of his Bill,
which he was confident, if not in this session in the next,
would, at no distant time, become the law of the land.

Lord BROUGHAM did not complain of his Noble and
Learned Friend for the various topics which he had intro-
duced into his speech of two hours' duration. His No-
ble arid Learned Friend had promised that he would
make a long speech, and he had kepthis word.—(Laugh-
ter.) His Noble Friend called in to his aid, to fill up
the time, the speech of his Noble and Learned Friend
on the Woolsack.

Lord COTTENHAM—Not for the last time.

Lord BROUGHAM said it might not be so inte-
resting to the House as to his Noble and Learned Friend.
He agreed with him in wishing to abolish imprisonment
for debt. But they differed in this—that his Noble and
Learned Friend would throw open the prison door, and
throw it upon the creditor to prove that the debtor was
in the wrong ; whereas he (Lord Brougham) would
throw it upon the debtor to prove that he was not in the
wrong. Prima facie, the creditor was the person en-
titled to the consideration of the law. The object of
this Bill was to assimilate the two systems of bankruptcy
and insolvency. And as to the charges of partiality in
the Committee, he must say that he never saw a more
impartial Committee. He said this only to console
his Noble and Learned Friend (Lord Cottenbam). He
wished to pour oil into his wounds, and he assured him
it should not be bitter oil.—(A laugh.) If a debtor
would not give up his property to his creditors he would
be imprisoned as much by his Noble and Learned
Friend's Bill as by his own (Lord Brougham's). If a
debtor concealed his property— if he committed any
fraud on his creditors—if he came with the pretension
of wealth and rank to the shop of a jeweller or other
industrious tradesman, and obtained a couple of thou-
sands of pounds worth of goods without any intention
to pay—then he should be imprisoned. His Noble and
Learned Friend would allow the remedy to be in such
cases a prosecution for fraud. But what would that do
for the creditor ? Why in the only case of prosecuting
for fraud, under the Act of 1842, it cost the unfortunate
creditor 2501. But the occurrence of cases of indict-
able fraud was rare. The most common cases were those
of gross, reckless extravagance—of running up scores
without the prospect of paying.—(Hear, hear.) His
Bill would give a remedy in these cases, which the
other Bill did not. His Bill would prevent
dishonesty, and not misfortune. But the Bill of his
Noble Friend would extend the bankruptcy laws to the
peers of the realm, the judges of the land, the princes
and princesses of the blood royal. That was the enact-
ment, for the loss of which his Noble and Learned
Friend complained so piteously, as to move the heart of
a stone.—(A laugh.) He never saw any measure of
legislation so utterly hopeless, because it was against all
the notions and usages of the present state of society.
(The Noble and Learned Lord drew a laughable picture
of a process-server waiting on the Prince of Wales
under Lord Cottenham's Bill. The Prince would say
that the law was retrospective, and that when ho bought
his pictures, deferring the payment, he never thought it
would bring him into the Court of Bankruptcy. The
process-server would reply that the Act must be good
law, because it was framed by Lord Cottenham, who
was four years Lord Chancellor.) His Noble and Learned
Friend had a better memory than he (Lord Brougham),
for he (Lord Brougham) could not repeat to-
night, word for word, the speech which he
made two months ago—(Hear, hear, and a laugh)—
yet he remembered one thing, which their Lordships
would scarcely believe, that the clause which was held
up to so much odium, as if it were intended to give an
undue protection to Members of both Houses of Parlia-
ment, was actually copied from a Bill introduced by
Lord Cottenham himself, when Lord Chancellor. On
the third reading of this Bill he would move a clause to
prevent a debtor from being remanded for more than
twelve months. The Bill, however, would in all cases
abolish imprisonment for debt under 201. The
number of small debts courts in the kingdom
was 272, and the condition of the unfortunate
debtors imprisoned by them was most deplorable. In
many cases they were confined upon bread and water,
and subjected to felon's fare and felon's punishment.
This would be abolished by:his Bill, which would in fact,
abolish imprisonment for debt in all cases; as no man
need be arrested, or, being arrested, need remain in pri-
son one hour. As to the statement that the pro •
cess of liberation would be expensive, he would
only say that he understood that the attorney
generally charged 201. for getting a man out •f prison
under the Act of 1842. But the advertisements re-

quire(' by that Act cost 51. That expense would be
done away with by this Bill ; and he cautioned those gen-
try (the attorneys) that he would keep a watchful eye
upon, them, and if he found any of them charging 151.
for expenses under this Act, they should hear from kim.
He concluded by moving that the report be received.
Lord CAMPBELL expressed surprise that the Lord
Chancellor, the speaker of that House, remained silent
under a charge of gross inconsistency. The charge was
made by a Noble and Learned Lord on that (the Oppo-
sition) side of the House ; and another Noble and
Learned Lord (Lord Brougham) who still continued to
sit on the same side of the House—(A laugh)—and who
seemed to be the standing counsel of the Lord Chancel-
lor and of her Majesty's Government.—(A laugh.) That
Noble and Learned Lord defended the Bill, but he
said not a word in defence of the Lord Chancellor's
inconsistency. He (Lord Brougham) complained, in-
deed, of Lord Cottenham's too often quoting the speech
of the Noble and Learned Lord on the woolsack—but
he (Lord Campbell) thought that so excellent a speech
could not be too often repeated until its arguments were
carried into practice—
. . .

- decies repetita placebit,
and it could not be more aptly quoted than on the pre-
sent occasion. When the two Bills were committed, the
Noble and Learned Lord on the woolsack took care

that it should be so constituted as to express his own
opinion, and in truth, the report of the Committee was
the report of the Lord Chancellor.—(A laugh.) The
Bill of Lord Cottenham, which had been so lauded by
his Noble and Learned Friend on the woolsack was
thrown overboard. What was it that caused the change
in the opinion of his Noble and Learned Friend on the
woolsack? Was it a miracle—was it:mesmerism, of which
they heard so much of late ?—(Laughter.) He could not
ascertain the cause, but the event was most extraordinary,
and not more extraordinary than deplorable. There
would have been no difficulty in introducing a clause
exempting members of the royal family from the opera-
tion of the Bill. He rejoiced that the Government had
changed its opinions on the subject of imprisonment for
debt by the courts of conscience. Whereas in this
session a member of the Government introduced a Bill
continuing imprisonment for debt by courts of conscience,
and assigning a day's imprisonment for every shilling
of debt, he hoped that in the next session of Parlia-
ment, the Lord Chancellor himself—(A laugh)—who-
ever he might be would come down and bring in
the Bill of his Noble and Learned Friend (Lord Cot-
tenham.) No one could be better qualified than the
Noble and Learned Lord on the woolsack to consider
this question, as he had made the best speeches on both
sides of it.

The LORD CHANCELLOR said he should have

before replied to the personal attack made upon him,
but that he waited to bear what the Noble and Learned
Lord who had just sat down, and who had
.been a mem-
ber of the Committee, would say. But he ought to have
spared himself that delay, for the Noble and Learned
Lord had done no more than to follow, longo intervallo,
the arguments of his Noble and Learned Friend, the late
Lord Chancellor. He would not occupy the House
many minutes. He would only say that he had not been
guilty of any inconsistency. He supported this Bill be-
cause it put an end to the imprisonment for debt—for
mere debt—for debt in all cases where it was safe to do
away with it.—(Hear, hear.) He had always declared
that he would, if he stood alone, resist the introduction of
so great a novelty in our law, as that the peers of
the realm, and the princes of the blood should be sub-
ject to the laws of bankruptcy. As long as he held a
seat in that House, he Would oppose such an innovation.
He had declared to his Noble Friend in the Committee
that he would never consent to so great a novelty. That
was the reason, although it might seem to his Noble and
Learned Friend to be a good reason, for the course
which he had taken. The present measure would give
every assistance to the just creditor, and every protec-
tion to the honest debtor, who was willing to give up his
property to pay his debts as far as he could. No debtor
who was willing to give a fair account of his property
would be imprisoned. But if you act leniently to the
honest debtor, you should be stringent in your dealings
with the fraudulent. Upon these grounds he supported
the present Bill. His Noble and Learned Friend had
said that there was a great difference of opinion between
him (the Lord Chancellor) and the Secretary of State for
the Home Department in respect to imprisonment for
small debts. He (the Lord Chancellor) had not known
that a Bill was introduced into the other House, re-
taining the power of imprisonment by the courts of
conscience and the county courts, of " not more than
one day for one shilling." •He was not aware that such
had been done. But it was only an enactment, which
was usual in those Bills, and it would be rendered null
by the present Bill. He had always, upon principle,
been opposed to imprisonment for debt. He had always
looked upon it as equally cruel, but not equally reason-
able, with the old practice (which we read of in history),
of allowing the. creditor to sell the debtor as a slave.
The law of imprisonment for debt operated in the same
manner, though not to the same degree. It punished
the debtor, but it did not, like the old practice, repay the
creditor. It had been said that the effect of abolishing
imprisonment for small debts would prevent poor men
out of work from getting credit. But the evidence
taken before the Committee on this Bill had proved
that such was not the case.—(Hear, hear.) The Com-
mittee had examined witnesses from the Tower-hamlets,
when the Commissioners of the Court of Requests lost
the power of imprisonment, in 1842, in consequence of
the magistrates of Middlesex refusing to allow the pri-
soners to be lodged in the county gaol. From that time
the summonses fell off from 30,000 per annum, to 13,000.
But there was no diminution of the credit given to poor
people of good character. Similar evidence was received
from other parts of the country. The Committee had
alsoinquired into the state of the prisons for small debts
throughout the country, and the description of some of
them was appalling. If this Bill did not pass, it would