The Sun.
London, England, 1818-05-07 00:00:00

LITERARY REVIEW.

'CONSIDERATIONS on the ORIGIN, PROGRES, and
Plt ESE NT STATE of the ENGLISH BANKRUPT LAWS,
with reference to their existing. defects; humbly submitted
to the Select Committee of the House of Commons, ap-
pointed to consider of the Bankrupt Laws.—MAxwELL,
Bell-yard, 10s.

As this is a trading nation, and as the interests
of the people in general are much aUcted by
-BaLkruptcies, and the operation of the Laws le-
_ ating to them, we feel it ro he-our (boy to take
an eativ notice of the work before us, as it seems
to be written frOm the best intentions, and wi!lr
a tun knoi‘ledg.• of the subject. The Author has
slc,rn great self-dtmial in not putting his name
to the work, for if.he is in the profession of the
Lacv, as may naturally be supposed, it is highly
probable that this judicious Tract might have
raised hint i;ito considerable repute, and have in-
troduced him into very successful pr actice re-
lative to the purpose in view. We therefore
advise loin to affix his name to a second edition,
which we presuNe is not far distant, a 3 he win
then he lik sly to obtain a cous,quent recom-
pense for his rare, industry, and knowledge.—
Our Headers are probably aware, that a COM-

nnitee of the Horse of Cfmmons has bee►► ap

poi'ited, and is now sitting, to` consider of the
Bankrupt Laws, and of their operation. Pre-
siously to the publication of the book above-
mentioned, the Con►ntittee had presented to the
House a Report and Minutes of the Evidence
taken before them, which were printed by order
of the House. The Author of this work seems
to consider that etidence to be defective. After
making a just acknowledgement of the patient and
hpnlication on the part of the Committee
to the snhjrcr before them, he says—

" But I hope that I shall not he considered to speak irre-
verently of the Conroittee, or disrespectfully of the Gentle-
men who were examined before them, if I venture to state,
that, in ms• humble judgnient, the evidence already taken
before the Committee is very far from satisfactory.—From
the commercial men who were examined very little informa-
tion of importance was elicited ; general statements of the
frauds and dishonesty of debtors; complaints of the expences
of proceedings in Bankruptcy, and of the delays of Assignees
in making oividends; and a concur•iu opinion, that the
Bilikrupt Laws are admi;.►stered in Ireland less beneficially
for the Creditors than is tlqe case in England, seem to form
nearly the whole amount of their testimony. When we con-

sider the great portion of talent which is, unquestionably,
to he found among the commercial men of the present day,
ron:e important results than those which have transpired;
were, I think, to have been expected from their examination,

The evidence of the profes%ional men who were examined

was certainly much more satisfactory; several of them point-
ed out particular abuses, and suggesied specific remedies.
Much however of very serious grievance has passed unnotic-
ed. Considering the eminence of many of them, a much
ino;.e coMprensive view or the• subject might have been ex-
pected than that which their evidence•has disclosed. It is
to he lamented, that they did nut enter into a more enlarged
and •systematic view of the subject, and did not advert more
than they have done to first principles."—Prof. zii.

The Author then proceeds to investigate the
subject, in the order in which the proceedings
occur tinder • Coismission of B tukropt,' noticing
the several matters which he considers as ex-
yvils in this branch of the Law, as they
wise in practice. Such investigation necessarily
itleolees so moot of minute detail, that it is im-
possible for us, within the limits of this notice,
to specify its sever,' particulars. He protesses
to cothprebend-wiliin his examination the most
material defects in the Law of Bankruptcy, which
arise in practice between the first issuing of the
Commission and its final close ; and his observa-
tions appear to teach that extent. lit the result
be conies to the conclusion which was expressed
by a Committee of the [louse of Commons in the
year 1759, who resolveil, that " Some amend-
ments maybe made in the Laws relating to Bank-
rupts, to the advantage of the Creditors, and in
case of the Bankrupts." p. 312. 'He suggests
throughout tire hook particular alterations, which,
in his opinion, are caiculated to soporess the evils
of the existing law, and to promote its improve-
ment.

The following extract will exhibit a fair speci-
m►n of the Author's mode of treating the sub-
ject. Speaking of the incongruity between the
objects of the law, and its operation, ‘vhich ►s oc-
casioned by the existence of the spectic acts of
Rit►ktt►ptcy that are now requisoe to support
Coit>H>>ssio►n, l►e says—

" The principle upon which the several Acts before spe-
eihel are declared to be Acts of Bankruptcy is, that they are
indications either of fraud or of insolvency. See Blackstone's
Ex oocition of these several Acts, 2 Comm. 478.—N0w, by a
curious inversion of law, the indication of Insolvency is de-
clared to be offensive, while no criminality is imputed to In-
solvency itself. If a man lie two months in prison -for debt,
such a presumption of insolvency arises from that circum-
stance as subjects him to a retrospective imputation of Bank-
ruptcy ; hut open and notorious, and even avowed Insol-
vency, if unaccompanied by any of these specific indications
of it, will not bring him within the range of Bankruptcy. In
like manner, the intent to delay creditors, when evidenced
by any of these particular Acts, is criminal, and will super-
induce Bankruptcy:—for example, a man's absenting him-
self to avoid an arrest for debt (2 Str. 809), however short
the period of his absense may he (Palm 3'45. 2 Show. Rep.
.523) ; but if, instead of absenting himself, he stays in the
way and submits to be arrested, and then puts in bail, pleads
sham pleas, or brings a dilatory writ of error, even with the
most profligate acknowledgement that all this is done to
delay his creditors, this avowed intent to delay draws on bins
no penal consequence ; because it is unevidenced by any of
these specific indications. A mere momentary absenting,
with the intent to delay creditors, is an indelible Act of
Bankruptcy; but the actual and avowed delay of creditors is
not so, if unattended by some or one of these particular evi-
dences. In other words, the intent to accomplish the object
is criminal : the actual accomplishment of it, unless evidenc-
ed in a particular mode, is innocent. It is inconsistent with
due reverence to o it laws to ask, whether such doctrines are
reconcileable to reason or to justice?"—p. 77.

The stile is plain, perspicuous, and correct, and
the work itself will he in no ordinary degree prac-
tically useful.

WATERLOO CIIURCIL

FOR THE SUN.

MR. EDITOR,--1 felt myself much obliged by
your ready insertion, some time ago, of my two
letters, ota the intended Public Monuments of
Waterloo and Trafalgar; as well as of another
letter, under a different Signikture, on the suppres-
sion of the 11. ink Tokens, ,execittetl by (tie late
eminent Dieteugraver, NATHANIEL MARCHANT ;
and 1 am induced by your coot tesy in those in-
stances, and by the general high estimation of
your public zeal, to submit to your Headers some
tarther reflexions on what lately passed in the
House of Commons respecting the former of the
subjects above-mentioned, when, from a conver-
sation that took place between the CHANCELLOR
of the
.EXCHEQUER aud Mr. TIERNEY, it appear-
ed probable, that the stuns designed to be ex-
pended on those costly records of our victories
may ultimately be directed in.aid of the general
nlan for increasing the number at our places of
Public IVorsbip.
Another design is also circulated by rumour,
viz, that, instead of the expensive and precarious
experiment of erecting a future work to the me-
Mory of Waterloo, the Govt rumens has it in coo-
templatiom to assume one already exis:ing, and
?roved by its excellence to be worthy of being
consecrated to such a purpose ;--that the
cent Bridge, • on which the victorious WELLING-
TON, ill person, conferred the name of IVaterloo—
the greatest Public Monument in the world of
the opulence and dignified exertions of the sub-
jeets of any Empire, should be adopted as the na-
tional record of the great contem,,oravy event
here in view; and dedicated, with all due and ap
propriate honours, in eternal remembrance of our
Triumph. 1 shall at present confine myself to the
first of those designs, as tar as concerns We. M-
emorial of Waterloo.

The victory of reason, then, has been obtained
over the advocates of Egypti grossutss and
Roman vanity ! T.e soil of England is not. to he
polluted by exotic loads of cumbrous pyramids, or
ostentatious columns ; but the exalted gratitude
of a rt fine,i people is to be recto ded, in native ex-
pression, by the most exalted trophy, by the erec-
tion of a Church to Cod—
DEO GLORIA !

In this manner has the guod sense, and (new
as the tern) may appear to some critic) the good
taste, of this reflecting nation prevailed, to
cinch-
care the indefeasible riJit of PUBLIC UTILITY.
Such, 1 am persuaded, would ever be the lest&
of the popular judgment on puhlic undertakings,
it Cie subject were t,irly placed itt view, and due
time allowed to collect the general sense)—l
speak of the People of England, accus.uni,d to
weigh, to examine, to de►iberate and discu,s—
awake to its own powers, aware of its own defi-
deuces.

Li the supposed adoption of this design, it is
first pre-eminently to be desired, that the Church
dedicated to so solemn an occasion, to the corn-
memorati )u of an event which put a stop to the
calamities of civilized Europe, should be in all
its parts, and in all its appurtenances, a pure offer-
ing to the Almighty ; an ()Tering from hearts
which a,knowledge the justice of his chastisetnents
and the nieviv of his healing band For this end,
it must be jealously kept tree from abuses, which
haVe•crept into some other of our religious-edi-
fices ; from the exhibi •ion of all arrogant records
of human p:owess, all vaunting symbols of human
glory, whetlwr achieved by counsel or by at 1114.
%711,1IeVer symbok. whatever allusive imagery may
adorn its ‘valls, they ought to reinind us only that
the dreadtiil scon;ge of war, inflicted for so long
a I erm of years, on us and other nations, by that
Supreme Being' to whom we raise our offering,
has ceased; that thy- tearful instruments of his dis-
pleasur.• are witlidnaun, and that lie deigns once
more to receive from us the tribute of thanks for
his 'overflowing love -and kindness towards our
race.

From a fixed abhorrence of all that profanes
religious worship, by blending it with polirical
purposes, I would close the doors of such a
Church against all shews and processions of arms;
all banners, stand3t ds, &c &c, in shor., against
all ti-ophies of warlike contest- anal victory. 1
would equally close them against all records of
the conquered and the conquerors—, xcepting the
sepulchral urns of the latter, inscribed simply with

Omit names. Let the sentiment couveyed, anti the
lesson itnprinred, by the sight of the xvitole struc-
ture, be HUMILITY IN MAN, BEFORE GOD•:
I am aware, Sir, that it may he asked in
what manner, then, will the Church here pro-
posed correspond to the idta of that great
National Trophy which it is the obiect of
the public rote to raise, for the instruction
and emulation of future ages; and 1 shall
proceed directly to the satisfactory solution of
that point. But another question also is obvious.
There can he no doubt, that, in the minds of the
first projectors of the Waterloo Monunzent, that
attestation of public gratitude and prosperity was,

in no small measure, connected with a view to the
advancement of the Fine Arts in this country.—
Although Architecture is the principal agent in
such a structure, more than architecture was in
contemplation ; sculpture would have contributed
considerable portions of ornamental embellish-
ment, and, in Mr. WILKINs's first splendid model,
large spaces appeared likewise to be allotted to
the display of our heroic achievements by the
hand of painting.
Both these points are of great (though not of
equal) importance. The mere erection of a
Church, however beneficial to the morals of a
people, would in the present instance, be unsa-
tisfactory to the nation, unless it fully declare the
important cause of its erection ; and the nation would
also lose its just privileges if it should be de-
barred either the production or the contemplation
of such examples of heroic record by the Arts, as
tend to establish the dignity of its mental acquire-
ments. It must therefore be desireable to exa-
mine how far both these .purposes may still be ob-
tained, under the present conversion of gentile
abominations to Christian Pieties.

these questions the remainder of my propo-
sition will be a full reply. The same statement
will answer both.

it is first obvious, that the Church to be
erected will obtain the popular appellation of

We received this morning the Paris Papers of
Monday last. The following are Extracts :
" PARIS, MAY 4.—Yesterday being the Anni-
versary of the happy re-entry of the King into
Paris, it was kept as a day of rejoicing in the
Capital, and there was a splendid Court at the
Thuilleries. His Majesty reviewed his household
troops, and afterwards went through the principal
streets of Paris, amidst shouts of acclamation.
The houses were decorated with white draperies
and flags. In the evening the City was illu-
minated.

" A dreadful storm, which commenced the 30th
ult., at midnight, has desolated the Commune of
Nogent-sur.seine. The wheat, the vines, the