The Sun.
London, England, 1845-07-29 00:00:00

THE S LONDON, TUESD). EVENING,

taining judgments or orders in respect of debts not ex-
ceeding 201. each, may summon such debtor before a
Commissioner of Bankrupts or Court of Requests."
Clauses A, B, C, provide how the order of such Court
shall be executed; that the imprisonment of the debtor
may cease on payment of the debt, and that certain
Courts shall have the like power on original suits. By
subsequent clauses it is enacted that where several
Courts exist in the same town the business is not to be
transferred from one to the other; that application to
the Commissioner of Bankrupts or Court of Requests
need not be made by counsel or attorney; that affidavits
in bankruptcy or insolvency may be made and sworn
before keepers of prisons. Under clauses D, E, and F,
the jurisdiction of such Courts may be altered ;
judges of inferior Courts may be removed
for misconduct or incapacity ; that in the
absence of any sufficient number of Com-
missioners to hold a Court, according to the con-
stitution of such Court before the passing of this Act, a
single Commissioner being present shall be competent
to proceed and in all respects to hear and determine
causer as judge, &c., or a deputy may be appoint( d ;
execution of process in Westminster and Southwark is
duly secured; power given to judge of Court to frame a
table of fees, but tees under existing Acts are not
hereby affected; poundage to be demanded from suitors
upon sums claimed; lists of unclaimed moneys of suitors
to be made out, and all such motleys paid into court and
unclaimed for six years to go into the court fund; power
reserved to remove suits exceeding 10/. into superior
courts, and power given to execute warrants and levy
executions out of the jurisdiction of such courts. This
Act to apply only to England.
Such is the marginal outline, extracted from the
Bill itself, of the anomalous and excessive powers creae d
under it. If the House of Commons could possibly be
induced to stultify their past proceedings on the law of
debt (from those witching the abolition of arrest or
means process down to the act abolishing arrest for debt,
under 201., exclusive of costs, under certain limitations);
it would, by affirming the present Bill, create the must
unheard-of powers in petty courts, which have
hitherto exercised the limited jurisdiction they
already possess, by no means to the satis-
faction of the public, and with general indecorum;
and frequently in violation of all law and equity (we
mean ".Courts of Requests") ; but it would give ii Par-
liamentary sanction to such enormities as genera,l war-
rants to be issued under the authority of tribunals, fur
which it is impossible not to anticipate the least possible
degree ofrespect or confidence on the part of the public ;
we speak of those which the Bid proposes to reieterce or
to create. Now, with regard to the parties against whom
this Bill is directed :--" Any person indebted to any other
in any sum not exceeding 201., besides costs of suit by
virtue of judgment obtained, or of any order for the pay-
ment thereof, or of tiny costs in any court." It is obvi-
ous that now-a-days, when judgments can be so easily
"snapped up," as it is called, the scope of this ruele,ure
might just as reasonably have been extoncled to all :,imple
contract debtors as to debtors under judgments. And
this being so, we are struck with the folly of pulling
down the Fleet Debtors' Prison, which has been actually
accomplished, and the similar project or contemplation
of removing the debtors' wing of Horsemonger Gaol.
Pass this Bill and you must build a new debtor's prison,
in at least one hundred different districts of England ;
for to " England" only, by the last line and proviso of
the Bill, is the precious gift of its enactments to be ex-
clusively appropriated. " Happy lard ! Happy land ! "
But that other principle of limitation which directs the
enactments before us, against debtors under judgments
not exceeding 201. each, without costs, supplies the most
striking illustration of its cruelty. Why should the
Lords levy war on this class of small debts, in so in-
vidious and special a manner ? The presumption surely
is, that where a debtor, in a sum not exceeding 201.,
allows proceeding to go till a judgment is sued out
against him, he really cannot pay his creditor, for other-
wise he would never subject himself to the accumulated
costs incurred by the creditor's going on to judgment.
The debtor may be able, in a little time, to scrape to-
gether the 201., but the same causes which have made
him leave that amount undischarged, will, in nine cases
out of ten, leave it utterly out of his power to defray the
charge of the proceedings on which the judgment Is
granted. But this Bill is, from beginning to end, an
Attorney's Bill. It is prepared under a total in-
difference to all considerations of humanity, or
even of the • comraon motives of human con-
duct. It is to create new sources of litigation, to
multiply fees, to multiply Courts, to multiply office
patronage, by strengthening the hands of judgment cre-
ditors. It seems to be devised with a view to neutralise
opposition by the origination of such new powers
and places as we allude to. By clause 1 the debtor
shall be " interrogated before such Commissioner or
Court by the creditor summoning him, touching the
manner and time of his contracting his debt, the means
or prospect of payment he then had, the property or
means of payment he still hath or may have," &c. If
this proviso be not duly modified and guarded, the
debtor is to be subjected to the vexatious and intolerable
browbeating of any irritable creditor, to an extent not
Permitted to counsel on the examination of a criminal
arraigned for felony. Is such a process calculated to
refresh the debtor's memory—to prompt his candour ?
or to put him upon exercising his ingenuity and decep-
tion, to withhold all the information he can from a party
who proceeds by such means to extort it from him ?
It will be evidence of much the same value as that
given by a culprit under torture. The examination by
counsel or by Court, on the application and under the
suggestion of creditors,would not be liable to these grave
objections. But if the debtor "appears to have the
means of paying the debt by instalments, and
shall not pay the uitne at such times as the
commissioner or court shall have ordered," he shall " be
committed for any term not exceeding forty days to the
common gaol," &c, This is law that attaches to the
suspicion of dishonesty a penalty far more severe than
tollows on conviction for very heinous crimes. For a
debt of forty-cue shillings, without costs, the " Learnt d
Gentlemen" who play at judges in courts of request in
the borough of Southwark, in the cities and liberties of
London and Westminster, or under this Bill are to be
empowered to do so in any other locality "limited to
England," are to have the power of condemning any of
the QUEEN'S subjects brought under their petty juris-
diction to "fo, ay days' imprisonment," if only they shell
" appear" to have the means of paying down the debt
and fail therein. The mere question of construction—
the power to judge of the intention—is one with which
a judge of the superior courts would not trust himself.
He would leave it to a jury to determine that which
this Attorney's Bill unhesitatingly ascribes to a commis-
sioner of requests an intuitive faculty of discerning.
Clause 10 creates a " power to execute warrants, and
levy executions out of jurisdiction :" that is, an officer
charged with a warrant of execution against the goods
or chattels of a defendant who shall be out of the juris-
diction of the court granting that warrant, may call on
a justice of the peace in another jurisdiction, where the
officer declares upon oath, " that the person or goods
and chattels of such defendant are believed to he," to en-
dorse his warrant, which he is therefore empowered to
execute in any part of such other jurisdiction. A power
is thus originated, as large and as loose, surely, as that
of the most objectionable general warrants. The
patronage-creating features of the Bill are not a whit
less objectionable. The sole security devised for the
poor creditor is, that he is to have the satisfaction of
knowing that the court issuing the warrant or order
is presided over, whether it be one of bankruptcy or re-
quests, by " a judge, who shall be either a barrister at
law, special pleader, or an attorney, of not less than
ten years' standing, of one of her Majesty's Courts at
Westminster." A wonderful condition, no doubt ; but
the next claim, after empowering every "bailiff and mes-
senger and officer of the High Bailiff of Southwaik or
Westminster, holding such order," &c., to take the body of
such debtor, declare. that "no protection, or certificete,
or interim order, issuing out of any Court of Bank-
ruptcy, or for the
.relief of insolvent' debtors"—" shall
be available to any debtor imprisoned under inch
order." So that the laW jurisdictions called into exist-
ence, like mushrooms in an August morning, by this Bill
are to be superior courts to the last created tribunals in
bankruptcy I The other clausei of the Bill contain the
usual powers of this class of modern statutes for building
new courts, creating new offices, levying new fines to
defray in part the expenses thereof, See., &c. In short,
the Bill is one of those lawyer-jobbing affairs that are
the disgracti of modern legislation, from the costly and
excessive patronage they create, with this Superadded
distinction in the preeeet instance, that it involves great
violations Of the principles of humanity and justice, as
of the liberty of the subject, by confounding the princi-
ples of civil with those of criminal compensation, in the
excessive and arbitrary character of its penalties.

Madrid journals of the 21st have arrived.
The insurrection in Catalonia may be considered as termi-

nated.

The Castellano and the Posdata both affirm that M. Cis-
raw 7 AYENSA, the Spanish Ambassador at Rome, had re-
ceived positive orders from his Government to demand his
passports, should he see no hope of obtaining the uncondi-
tional acknowledgment of ISABELLA 11. from the Holy See.
The Tiempo announces that the Ministers were to set out
that very day for Saragossa. It was reported in Madrid that
the object of this journey was to endeavour to induce h'r
MAJESTY to forego her visit to the Basque provinces, and

that in case her MAJESTY nould persist in her determina-
tion, the Ministers would trader their resignations.
According to the Espunc the new system of taxation had
met with a vigorous oppoiiion in Catalonia, Gallicia, Castile,
and Andalusia.
We have received the saris papers of Sunday.

The death of N. LEL still continues to be the subject of
comment in all these jounals. The c'onstitutionnel says—

" The authorities of Lucrne have caused a past martens exa-
mination of the body to tu made by two physicians of their own
appointment. According s their report, which, however, is as
yet but imperfectly known. the ball which caused his death en-
tered in a nearly horizonta direction, and, after having shattered
the heart, passed out nearthe left shoulder. The opinion of the
physicians is, that from thedirection of the wound, the crime must
have been committed by lose other hand than that of the deceased.
The judicial inquiries prow that all the coors and windows of the
house were chased, but no mention is made of any arms having
been found in the cbambe: of the deceased, although the inhabit.
ants of the house affirm thit they saw a pistol lying on the ground
close to the bed. This afair is still involved in obscurity, which
threatens to increase railer than to diminish, as the canton of
Lucerne has neglected tie only means of clearing up doubts in
the minds of the populaton of Switzerland, by calling in to assist
at the inquiry and at the port smortem examination persons un.
connected with the cantos."

The Jesuits' organ, the Gazette of Lucerne, is perfectly
rabid in its cries for veigeance. We give one or two ex-
amples of the style of this religious firebrand :—" Who is
not for us is against us The enemies of
the Church and of the tountry shall learn that the blood of
our fathers must be visited on their heads." After insinu-
ating that certain other Jesuit chiefs are in danger, it adds :
—" A t least one hunered heads of these execrable seides
(the Radicals), who dshonour Switzerland, shall pay for
their sacred lives. The people will purge our soil of
these cannibals." After elevating M. LEu to the dignity
of a martyr, the Gazette de Lucerne goes on to state that
" he is a companion of the blessed NICHOLAS, that other
patron of Switzerland."
The Journal des Debate, in an admirable article, rebukes
the infernal spirit. by which it would appear that the ultras of
both parties in Switzerland are actuated, and it calls upon all
sensible men in that country to interfere to save their native
land from the bigots on the one hand, and from the revolu-
tionists on the other.

It appears from the Arno Zurich Gazette, that the funeral
of 111. Lat, which took place on the 22d, at Hochford, was
attended by about 1,000 persons.
It is stated in the Gazette de Hite of the 24th that the
amassin of. M. LEU had been apprehended, but had escaped.
His name is REDLINGEE. He was a labourer in the
employ of the deceased, of whom he had borrowed
money, the repayitea of which 31. LEI; had recently de-
manded. The rdarderer said that he had used an old musket
to fire the fatal shot. :

The-total- value of the commerce of France during the year
1844, as appears by a return published in the Jloniteur, was
2.347,000,000 of francs, beingtwo-thirds of that of Engl.ind,
double that of the United States, and double that of the
German Customs Union.

The statue of the Duke of ORLEANS was erected in the
Court of the Louvre on Saturday.

Letters from Tunis of the 11th, published in tha Courier de
Marseide, contain no .dlu•,ion to the report published in the
Phure des Pyrenees of the commencement of hostilities be-
tween Tunis and Tripoli.
No business was done at TonzuNt's on Sunday.
The following are the quotationi: for the nee• lines:—

MARSEILLES, .JULY 23.—Marseilles and Avignon, 950 f. ;
Boulogne, 605 f. ; Orleans and Bordeaux, 6651. ; Vierzon,
735 E ; Avignon and Lyons (Talabot), 527 f. 50c. ; ditto (Sebas-
tiani), 510 E ' • ditto (Compagnie Meridionale), 500 f. ; Bor-
deaux and Cette (Espeleta), 501 f. 50c. ; Toulon, 495 f.
LYONS, JULY 24. Avignon and Marseilles, 980 f., end of
July ; Paris and Orleans, 1,1851., ditto; Paris and Rouen,
I ,046 f., ditto; Orleans and Vierzon, 748 f, ditto ; Orleans
and Bordeaux, 673 f, ditto ; Boulogne, 625 f. ditto ; Nismes
and Montpellier, 540 f., cash.

SHERIFFS' COURT.-(THIS DAY.

(Before Mr. Under-Sheriff BETRCHILL.)
LIPSCOMBIR V. SHEARSBY.

The plaintiff is a corn-dealer, in Pratt-terrace. St. Pancras,
and the defendant is an omnibus proprietor. The action was
brought to rec.ver the sum of 121. 17s. 6d. for corn supplied
to the defendant.

It appeared by the evidence that there had been extensive
dealing. between the parties, and the present dispute arose in
consequence of a doubt as to the delivery of two or three quan-
tities of corn charged for. The evidence was very vague. The
plaintiff's witnesses said that five quarters of corn were delivered
every ten or twelve days to defendant's horsekeeper, and it was
farther proved, that on defendant being applied to for the
amount, he went through the account, and paid something on
account.

In cross-examination it was admitted that the ten or twelve
days might, on two or three occasions, have been three weeks.
The corn was sometimes delivered to defendant himself, and
when nei!her him nor the horsekeeper were present, it was de-
livered to a boy.
Mr. Fitz contended that the plaintiff was bound to give clear
evidence of the delivery of goods, as it was impossible for the
defendant to prove a negative. He urged that there was a
great discrepancy as to time, and to whom the corn was deli-
vered. In March last there were no less than four deliveries
charged for. It was these two or three extra items which
formed the ground of eomplaint.
The UNDER- SHERIFF said that, as as abstract principle, it
must be admitted that the defendant could not prune a negative ;
but he could have called the horsekeeper to prone that he had
received so much and no more. In all these matters of account
it was difficult to prove matters satisfactorily, unless the parties
themselves were examined. It was certainly the bounden duty
of the plaintiff to submit clear evidence, and the question here
was, whether that given, standing as it did uncontradicted,
was sufficient to convince the jury of the delivery of the whole
of the goods. It would be seen that although there were four
items in March, there were only two in February, which
would give about ten days interval.
The jury consulted ten minutes, and then gave a verdict for
the full amount.
The other cases were not of the slightest public interest.

LONDON AND BLACK WALL RAIL-

WAY.-(THIS DAY.)

A special meeting of the Directors and Shareholders of the Lon.
don and Black Wall Railway Company was held this day at the Lon-
don Tavern, Bishopsgate.street, for the purpose, as the advertise-
ment stated, " of taking into consideration the report of the Direc.
tors on the proposed extension of the line to Epping." There was
a very numerous and respectable attendance of Shareholders.
Mr. Daniels, Chairman of the Board of Directors, took the
chair, and the Secretary read the advertisement calling the
meeting, and also the report of the Directors, recommending the
course the Shareholders ought ,to pursue. Wbeis_the report had
been read,

The CiIAIRUAN then briefly addressed the meeting. He con-
gratulated the Shareholders upon the prosperous position of their
affairs. He had no doubt but that their present terminus would
bring to it all the traffic of the West-end, and that it would
render unnecessary a station at Farringdon.street, a project
for the formation of which a Bill had been before a
Committee this session, but had been deferred for
another session. The Blackwell terminus had many ad-
vantages, amongst which were, that it formed not only the north-
ern terminus for the traffic of the City, but would also be a direct
means of communication with the west-end, when the project now
and that he conceived
w
tedaving disposed of this
ina r a ogremssatstheroulodf haveraat been
importance.comple H
point, he next called the attention of the meeting to the sub.
ject then under consideration, namely, that of taking up
the junction from Stepney to Old Ford. The Directors had taken
a great responsibility upon themselves in recommending the adop-
tion of this plan, but they felt assured the Shareholders would
concur with them when they considered the importance of the pro-
ject. He concluded by proposing a resolution embodying the
above proposition.

Dr. seconded the adoption of the resolution,
and in
so expressed his admiration of the unanimity of feel-
ing that he was so fortunate as to have witnessed in the Board of
r.
M.P.,
Directors in all their proceedings.

The resolution was then put and carried unanimously, after
which a vote of thanks was passed to the Chairman and Directors
for the care they had taken of the interests of the Shareholders,
and the meeting then separated.

EXPERIMENTAL SQUADRON.—The following was
2postedhi
inst.
Leilgohytd'siinteh.losf.bmatotrlneinsghi:p—s,Fianfsrlostrtr.n4,B
dJeIYgL.YS62.B7:::
light breeze from N. W.
Penningham Purchase, arrived to-day from Maceio, passed on the
100. 11 deg.
lIIN2GmiOn; W., light
NETHERLANDS.—This morning
his Majesty received a deputation from the Consistory of the
German Lutheran Church, amongst whom was the Rev. D. Stein-
kophff; after which his Majesty held a diplomatic levee, at which the
following Foreign' Ministers, &c., were present :—His Excellency
Count St. Aulaire, French Ambassador; Count Maurice Dietrich-
stein, Ambassador Extraordinary from the Court of Vienna, at-
tended by Baron Koller, Councillor, and Baron Brenner,
Secretary of Legation ; his Excellency Baron Brunnow, Envoy
Extraordinary arid Minister Plenipotentiary, attended by M.
M. Bunsen, Prussian Minister; his Excellency Baron De
De Berg and M. De Koudriaffsky, Secretaries of Embassy ;
Torre de Moncorvo, Envoy Extraordinary; and Minister Pleni-
potentiary of Portugal; M. Sylvain Van de Weyer, Envoy Ex-
traordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary from Belgium, attended
by M. C. Drouett, Secretary of Legation. There were likewise
present the Ministers from the United States, Brazil, Denmark,
Greece, Mecklenburgh Schwerin, Mexico, Peruvian Republic,
Sardinia, Saxony, Turkey, Two Sicilies, Venezuela, and Wurtem-
burg; Charge d'Affaires, Chevalier de Teem), Spain ; Texas, the
Honourable Ashbel Smith, and General James Coiquhoun,
Hanseatic Republic. The consuls from the several European
powers were likewise present.
VISIT OF THE KING OF HOLLAND TO MESSRS.
HUNT AND ROSIILIL—YEAterday morning his Majesty the King
of Holland paid a visit to the establishment of Me.ers. Hunt and
ltoskills, the well-known goldsmiths and jewellers, of Bond.street, in
order to inspect their magnificent stock. His Majesty, who was
attended by two of his suite, arrived shortly after twelve o'clock,
and was received by Mr. Hunt and Mr. Hancock, partners in the
firm. On entering the shop his Majesty cordially shook hands with
Mr. Hancock, at the same time saying, with great alfibility, " You
see, Mr. Hancock, lam here, according to promise." He then
proceeded round the rooms and expressed his high admiration of
all that he saw. One ex
not fail to attract his attention was a small silver statue of himselt. I
quisite piece of workmanship which could
This his Majesty looked at with evident pleasure, and graciously I
acknowledged to Mr. Hancock the compliment paid to him by hay.
ing his effigy placed amongst the splendid and valuable collection.
His Majesty, having examined the great variety of jewels and other
tiberjallteirie°stNio-r—H3eirreforld,°
valuable trinkets, made several purchases, and took his departure-
at two o'clock, with evident satisfaction at all that he had seen. srl,
lai:tso
starfitedEloLEnFtOhen
his prospects, that it was for some time supposed that the Tories
would not venture to opposehis return. They, however, have at
Price
flattering has
I
the eleventh hour started
Mr.. Seymour Fitzgerald as their candi-
date, but to slight is his chance of success, that it is doubtful
whether he will "screw 'his courage to the pulliwg place." The
Dissenters have had a meetifig, and declared their determination
to support Sir It. Pict. The election is fixed for Thursday.
SUNDERLAND ELECTIoN.—Mr. Hudson was to
make his public entry on Monday. Mr. Bright, M.P., assisted
Colonel Thompson in his canvass on Saturday, and lectured in the
evening at the Atheneum. Mr. Cobden, M.P., arrived in Sun-
derland on Saturday, and was to lecture on Monday evening. Both
parties seem sanguine, and the contest will be one of the severest
ever know..

PEDesrattrusm.—On Monday morning a foot-race
came MT in Hyde-park, which attracted a large muster of spec-
tators. The competitors were Scott (of Piccadilly) and Mellish
(a waiter) ; the contesting distance was 400 yards, and the stake
10t a side. At the start the former took the lead, which he
rnaint-iined for 200 yards, when his opponent same up, and, after
3 struggle, passed him, and ran in the winner by five yards.
The distance Was covered in fifty-eight seconds.