The Sun.
London, England, 1818-12-17 00:00:00

COUNTY FIRE-OFFICE,

•Ir„ SOUTIIAMPTON-STREET, STRAND.
rj'CRiPTS for the Rencwai of POLAC.MS,
Ish falling dire at Christmas, are now in course of delivery.
lait'',l• MINAGERS of the COUNTY FIRE-OFFICE invite a
Utlile.examination into the 'principles and practice of the
the fee whicti'they act.' • They are proud to declare, that
44,4, r.eat object of Insurance, viz. a prompt and ample in-
Chat '"Y' been invariably yielded by the County Office,
zit
11, s so .
14ta.0, sing e litigation has ever arisen to disturb the bar-
; th 41,1 ctur, and Claimants. This security the Office is
1 'qv .."1 at all tunes to afford, because, Ist, the Orighsal
Ittilibers Flare provided a Capital of 400,0001. over and al,ove
:414s1.1".".,'Pting Fund- arisinr front the Premiums ; and be-
iilthough such profits as arise are equally di-
'/ice -1,111')"g those who insure. the Directors of the County
kat,ii,"ve shunned the delusive and pernicious practice •of
:"141,.. 4 large return of profit uniform and ertain, and of
'eft. ulg the liarment of claims dependent on what maybe
llhhdfixed rule is the payment of all just claims Mi-
:l4l,l7—the return prsfit is left to vary with events.
Pithl Likve additiiri.allyttotihserve, that as the original Ca-
; Nit deemed of sufficient magnitude for all purposes of se-
a tititY.; it is expressly provided in the Policies, that the Sub-
to that Fund alone shall he answerable for Losses.
tot, those who insure while. entitled to share profits are
et* 'ed from the liability for tine losses of others, which has
411. tlilu„""Yely felt in Societies upon the Contributicnship
th4:l,l4l:l,nrPtarr ; and which, together with the difficulty
procuring restitution, has generally led to
lure or dissolution of'such Societies.

v -.....,_
• .
3/IVANTED, a COUNTRY SEAT, from 20
,1-161,, to Po Miles from London, at Lady-Day, 18. 19—A.
71-:,',\ in good I e'tir, COMPLETELY and MODERNLY
je
~,'''" El) : to consist of three' or four sitting rooms on
'NI. ''''''lid flo:ir, (h. bed rooms, and dressing rooms, a
!141iiftZ12,.! aCcon),nodations for sixteen servants, and the usual
rt ': of offices with brewhouse, poultry do., pigger.Y,
llik l' 14rder 8„ '&
• double coaeli house, and stabling for
Iflvt: (*'ght lor;es c.a. good walled garden, from thirty to
!xelu-,.rt' of grass laud,-good roads,. near a post town, and
4,,,,1Y t,' right of sjinoting over i. • .ii two to three. tl..ithand
App"it laud. where there is opon ano winter shooti.n. .
r,
ta, vt Y per5,,,,,11,,,, or by letter (post paid), to Mi• li cnto p
~.., • J"..---s bt;ett.
5''..".."."..-----•--•- .
..
pc, f*N
k,OUNTF,R itcT the many attempts that
htN, o:ir,`; daily mode to impose on the unwary a sporbms
N-.... 4.11.,: --•,.0n iHstc. Ifti . (genuine Til,,,iiiii4-, prepared -by
i, 4,1(1 MARTi".I; u -x"- . i t •,) a new label, iii whitl,
)t}'l klik,„ , '''' they ha" a' 'T ' s ~,,,!, placrd
tlift e ~,o, • 5 9e, I Tigh Ifolbora, is Si co•t. i .. ,
.•,
.. i ,
'' 'le" a‘'e, that li -.v trust an Atter,: i .ii to t.ii•, :i, .1 12.,
a,llil--''" 1t• .e it
• i • • II I •t• .•-iiri,s, wiil
•.e type, WII1C!/ IS 1,:,11he. ,i t if. I , llnteh.
4•1 Asers at once to detect the imposition. ."" It!.
I:'Al.' 'l 14143;:"" BLACKIN(4, lomfe nod ".Id NT,Tholes.altyr.
,14i3/41,,1„,•,1i*P1N, 97 High Ihnliorn, aml 'el"'1"1 :''Y , I'
I r-
"N ' 1Yrt1f,•,,,,, I) _ • 'if 1-.• Olvs c. I riimlllitillg'erS. . ,
t 1. j 5, no,
~ , tuggisis, mo ...,, •
1 44.
Is, ' lase"I" &c. in the United Kii.gdo:u, in Bottles
aild s. ach.

FOR TUE

BEAUTIES OF SHA SPEARE.—(No.

If this man, who excites our astonishment at
his powers of diserimination, del ived, as sorer
have ssid, no advantage from a profound educa
don, little in his time could he derive from his
experience in the ways of wen. He mitsi there-
fore owe the brill; .ney or his menial facilities only
to Nature, and to Nature's God, who, as if per-
sonified, •poke through :Ite mourn of all hi• cha-
racters. - Born in the early prt of the reign of
ELIZABETH, when liberty, civil and religious, be-
gan to da,eu, as the happy conitecrience of a wise
Reformation, he had no opportunity of knowing
any thing of politiCal intrigue, the arts of a Court,
or tl.e tricks of trade. His attention was drawn
ro imartful life ; but how he could pourtray -the-
objects of it, as if he himself were the object of
What he pourtrayed, puzzles the will, staggers
the mind, and passeth all ondetstanding. Human
events in this enlightened reign of improvements
were scanty, and then increased hut slowly, under
the Revolution of the Catholic Relikion, through-
out the life of this mortal prodigy, who died in
the subsequent reign of a superstitions Pedant.—
He wes, indeed, what GARRICK called him in his
Jubilee, the Pride of all Nature, and so say all his
►'lays, which, however destitute of mechanism in
the Aristolean school, are always new, always
followed, for now more than two centuries ; which
seenwto portend that they ever will be so. Ile of-
fers himself tc, our view in various points, and he
commands our admiration in all. Viewed on the
side of art, the freaks of fancy, or the simplicity of
nature, he runs away with our esteem, increases
our wonder, and affords us pleasure. But he was
all genius !

Let the dullest of intellects read the forthcoming
passage, and, they will start from their Slum-
bers :--

Oh gentle sleep !
Nature's soft nurse; how have I frighted thee,
That thou no more wilt wsigh my eyelids down,
And steep my senses in forgetfulness ?
Why rather sleep ly'st thou in smoaky cribs,
Upon uneasy pallets stretching thee, •
And hush'd with buzzing night-flies to thy slumbers,
Than in the perfurn'd chambers 4" the great,
Under the canopies of costly state,
And lulrd with sounds of sweetest melody!
O thou dull God, why ly'st thou with the vile,
In loathsomab and leav'st the kingly couch
A watch-case, or a common 'laruni bell
Wilt'thout upon,the high and giddy mast,
Seal up the ship-boy's eyes, and rock his brains
In cradle of the rude imperious Surge ;
And in the visitation of the winds,
Who take the ruffian billows by the top,
Curling their monstrous heads, and hanging them
With deaf'ning clamours in the slipp'ry shrouds,
That with the burly death itself awakes ?
Canst thou, Oh partial sleep, give thy repose
To the wet sea-boy in an hour so rude;
And in the calmest, and the stillest night,
With all appliances, and means to_,boot,
IhNy 'C N ?

Hen. IV. Purt 2.
TASTE.

The Archduke MAxismlAN and suite, accom-
panied hv Sir W. \V \V NN, visited the Castle of
Ci,e,tei on Saturday last, and, attended by Mr.
14NttathoN, the architect, examined, with cop-
.idvr a.teni ion,' the Gaol, County Hall,
A rumiry, and other buildings, with which his
Ili6butis was much gratified.

MR. E DITOR,—if ever a subject came before the
Community of a nature particularly interesting
to the Commercial World, and eminently requiring
the exercise of talent, ingenuity, and all the in-
tellectual faculties of man, it is the present ques-
tion, and particnlarly on the eventful Epoch
which now approaches for the consideration of
this Theme before the Legislative Body.
Impres.ed_as Lam with the sense of the ne-
cessity of such exertion, and feeling as I du my
own inferiority and inability to pursue the task
which I am about to engage in, and which I
could much desire to see in abler hands, it is With
considerable diffidence that 1 again offer myself
to public notice. But when I consider the nature'
of the subject under consideration, and the weighty
interests it involves, and that it embraces objects
very dear to the Community, I feel emboldened
to proceed will) a degree of confidence which I did
not expect to attain, and with which nothing but
the diguity of the subjeCt could inspire me.

If the provisions of-the Act were found to em-
brace the whole of its objects, the present Address
would he needless, because the exact adoption of
the humane and politic principle would meet
every objection, and remove every, complaint on
the part of the Creditor as well as the Debtor.
But in truth, Acts of 'lnsolvency have hitherto
only produced a partial remedy, exceedingly limit-
ed, and frequently unjust. Although most of the
provisions have been founded in equity and good
sense, their operation is to be considered as a
palliative to check the progress of a dreadful dis-
ease, - rather than as a remedy to renovate a
vitiated system.
In jos!icre to the framers of the Act, and in
commendation of its liberal sentiments, I wish
ro evince a sense of public justice in declaring,
that I conceive many additional regulations are
required to render it more acceptable to the Com-
munity, and more advantageous to the interests of
Creditors, without violating the claims of hu-
afanity, justice. or freedom.
It is well known, that the present, as well as
the former Ac's of Insolvency, has frequently iu-
dueed the contemplation of fraud, tinder the en-
couragement of persons become Practitioners in the
Court, called Agents, and unrestrained by censcien-
lions motives, or legal responsibility ; and it must
he admitted, that the Act has given great scope
to their pretensions ; it has been to them a forlorn
hope, when all other hopes have failed.
Amongst other mischiefs attendant upon the
rapacious and sordid avarice of the lowest practi-
tioners, whose contracted principles have disgraced
the law, and who have sheltered themselves under
the appellation of Law Agents, never before recog-
nized or admitted by any le gal Tribunal, they have
imposed pecuniary conditions on the debtor, which
have either detaineo hint b(!yond the time prescribed
by law, or have subjected him to future perplexi-
ties, by entering into ne.w engagements to defray
Agents' costs. It' would be impossible rationally
to contend that the Legislature ever had in con-
templation the admission of such a host of per-
sons as have, during the administration of this
law, intruded themselves in the Court ; and as it
is perfectly clear, team the experience of the Public,
that the Mischief's produced have been incalcu-
lable, so it- is to be wished that the seasonable
'sand of legislaAive correction may be speedily ap-
plied to prevent their future recurrence. This can
only be done by the wisdom and authority of Par-
liament, to whom the Public may confidently look
for redress of such evils, and which will redound
much to the honour and credit of 'the Legislative
Body. In the language and express words of the
great and incomparable COKE, I will add,
" Blessed' shall he be that layette the first stone of
this building,lmore blessed that proceeds in it, most
of all that finisbeth it." 1 therefore look forward
with confidence to that much desired period, when
the powers of comprehensive and deserving minds,
the stores of legal knowledge, • and the luminous
perceptions of men celebrated for their learning
and philanthropy, shall contribute to rectify the
errors and curb the exuberant growth of abuses
through Illegitimate Agency, whose baneful in-
fluence has extended beyond the reach of ordi-
nary correction.
As to the Act itself and its operation, I would
observe, that all contracts, by the obligation of
natural justice, impose a duty and responsibility
on those who enter into them ; and whenever an
equivalent recompence or payment is' withheld
wilfully, an injustice is committed, and the party
who is deprived or stopped of his right is there-
fore aggrieved. The common attendant on the
circumstance of those who have engaged to per-
form the contract, will not be the sole object of
legislative discrimination and: policy, for whether
inevitable misfortune or unexpected loss has occa-
sioned the breach of proinise or non-performance
of contract, the injury is the same. The Law of
Restitution should be resorted to, the breach of
Contract or Engagement should be repaired. If
the debtor bas not wherewith to.pay, time same
coercive severity which would be edviseable
against time maim of bad principle, possessiog the
means and not the. will, might be impolitic if re-
sorted to in the .case of the unfortunate debtor of
good principle, possessing the will and destitute of
the means ; and it will 'be admitted that the gene-
rosity which assents to credit ought not to be

checked by too great an indulgence in behalf of
the person to whom it is given.
It is considered that the object of a creditor in
arresting his debtor is to obtain his own rilzht,
and the end and purpose of imprisonment is to
compel the payment, and it is not until imprison-
ment has become useless, and manifestly untruita
ful to the interests of the creditor, that the inter•
position of the Insolvent Act is considered a, pro-
party applicable.
There is no class of persons who sustain so
much injury from the ineffectual application of
legal process as persons in trade and commercial
occupation• Credit is given In proportion to the
facility which the law allows for recovering debts,
and if the debtor pertinaciously withhold the pro-
perty of his creditori it is bat just to restrain his
person as the only mode of obtaining pay-
ment, or as a proper chastisement for his
dishonest conduct ; but in many cases tradesmen
are exposed to the depredations of sharpers,
and frequently sustain heavy . losses from the
extravagant and thoughtless, and in the result
have only the naked ultimate satisfaction of
incarcerating a Pauper, and giving an unprin-
cipled Adventurer the opportunity of dissipat.
log in low debauchery ; and until prbvisions are
duly applied to the prosecution of fraud, indus-
trious tradesmen will be continually injured by
destructive contrivances and desperate devices.—
Whenever an unprincipled man contracts a debt
which he means not to pay, he calculates upon
every expedient to avail himself of a lapse in pro.
ceedings,' and to obtain his liberty without
charging the just claim against him. With the
aid and advice of a low Practitioner, or soi-disant
Agent, he can readily find an associating fraud
to swear to facts, and descend to practices which
may accelerate the projects of villainy, and defeat
the aim of Justice. ‘Vhether it be to promote
collusion to fabricate statements, to support a bad
cause, or to uphold in evidence facts which never
existed, rhete ale rho e Agents to be found with.
hum the te ecnoay of swearing is considered as
a mere matte' of course, and who, with the most
hardy and unblushing effron ery, will go through
the necessary formalities for accomrlishing their
sinister ends; and as their studied inventions evade
discovery, they are too commonly successful in
their schemes and pernicious pursuits.
It is much feared that numerous Debtors, seek-
ing relief under the Act, have given encouragement
to unprincipled persons for the purpose of pro-
moting their own dishonest views, and under the
conviction that professional men, who are legally
responsible for their conduct, will not lend them-
selves to mal-practice—a total Prohiblion of un-
authorised illegitimate Agency will tend to defeat
their machinations, so obviously carried on in con-
cert by unprincipled Debtors, and those whom they
select as the instrument of their designs. Hence
it is that the Act, in its consequences, has created
public odium and indignation. '1 he mischiefs are
rendered more ohnoxiohs by reflection that these
persons, it) contemplation of the Act itself and its
framers, must be pronounced lawless intruders and
daring innovators; it so appears to the IVriter, and
it is not probable that many of them will have the
hardihood to contradict a position which he can•
not disprove.

I feel, Mr. Editor, as I premised in the early
part of this Letter, that the importance of my
subject will be some apology for the length of my
address, not meaning to relinquish a further con:i-
nuation of it. I will now close with the earnest
expression of • a sincere hope that a Committee of
•the Legislature may be appointed early in the en-
suing Session, to deliberate upon existing evils,
and, after a full examination of evidence, to adopt
such enactments as shall, in future, counteract
the abuse I have detailed, and produce a total and
radical Reform in the machinery of the Act, which
Ido not hesitate to pronounce will he found to
have been lunch crippled, misapplied, or grossly
abused by Debtors, tinder the advice of persons con.
stituted Insolvent Debtors' Agents.

SCRUTATOR.

FOR THE SUN.

QUERIES to a PAIR of CORRESPONnENTS in the
TEMPLE and WINE-OFFICE-COURT, on Me
INSOLVENCY ACT.

1. Under the old Acts, which were executed by
Magistrates in Sessions, was-it ever thought ne-
cessary that none but Attornies-at-law should as-
sist imprisoned debtors to take the benefit of them?
2. Are those who assist these paupers, as agents
or accountants, a pack of incorrigible rogues and
vagabonds, because
.they have not been admitted
Attornies-at-law, or have beets discharged from
prison as insolvents ?
3. Are the admitted Attornies such pieces of
Pure and distinguished virtue and transcendant
ability, as never w do an ignorant or a dirty trick ?
4. Have not many super-eminent Attornies been
in jail for debt, and slipt through the fingers of
their creditors by their art, _or been white-
washed ? and because they are Attornies, are they
the only proper persons to assist their fellow-
sufferers, who sue for liberty accor4ing to law ?
5. What merit or qualification ought a man to
have, so as to assist insolvent debtors towards
their discharge ?
6. Is it not assassin-like to attack men in the
dark by the weapons of broad intinustion; and to
condemn them namelessly, without telling us who
and what ye are yourselves 9
If ye blink these questions, which, if ye have
any modesty ye will wisely du, I will search ye
out, and finding you, treat you as you deserve.--.
At present, you are only laughed at in our Office,
for saying much about nothing at all, and larding
it with scraps of misapplied Latin_ and passages
from Shakspeare, tipp'd with a bit of Greek, like
!cif gold on your boluses, the better to make them
go down.
SIMON, of the Six Clerk's Office, Chancery-lane.