The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-11-17 00:00:00

EVERTON ELECTION 1839

COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH, Nov. 12
THE QUEEN AGAINST GEORGE QUAYLE.
(Front our Friday's Second Edition.)

The ATTORNEY-GENERAi (with whom was Mr. Cromp-
ton) showed cause against a rule calling on the defendant to
show by what title he claimed to be a councillor for the ward
of Everton and Kirkdale, in the borough of Liverpool, and
relied on several objections, one that it was not sworn that
Mr. Quayle had been sworn into the office of councillor, or
in what manner he had exercised that office—it was merely
stated that he had been present at two meetings of the Com-
mon Council, which might have been as a mere bystander ;
he cited " the Queen v. Statter," and pressed the court to
decide on this preliminary point, which would prevent the
necessity of going further into the case.
Lord DENMAN said that the case of " the Queen v. Stat-
ter" was distinguishable from the present, that the affidavit
of Mr. Quayle's having acted as a councillor was sufficient,
and that the case must therefore proceed.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL. then admitted that two cases of
personation by voters for Mr. Quayle were proved, but said
that there was also evidence of personation in favour of his
opponent ; he admitted that Mr. Shand would be in a ma-
jority unless he were at liberty to attack certain votes given
for him, on the ground that they were not legal, by reason of
certain defects in the voting papers. He admitted that he
could not impeach in this proceeding the title of the voters
to be on the burgess roll.

Lord DENMAN- observed, that Mr. Shand, the relator, had
no opportunity of answering these objections, and that he
therefore doubted whether the court could entertain them as
a ground for its decision, and he directed that this point
should he first argued.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL then argued that it would be
most inconvenient if the defendant was not at liberty to im-
pugn the votes given for his opponent.
Mr. CROMPTON then argued the same point, urging that
this case depended upon the documentary evidence of the
voting papers.
Mr. KELLY (for Sir W. Follett) and Mr. HENDERSON,
on the other side, were stopped by the court.
Lord DENMAN.—Great as the inconvenience alluded to
by the Attorney-General may be, the inconvenience would
be still greater if the court refused to put the ease in a course
of investigation. It is clear that the superintendence of this
court is most important in such cases. I will not disqualify
any man as a burgess, without first hearing him. The refer-
ence to documents is by no means decisive. This is my pre-
sent impression ; but we will consider the point, and if we
see any occasion to alter our opinion, we will hear Mr. Kelly
before we conclude.

Mr. Justice WILLIAMS.—The affidavits for Mr. Quayle
leave the case of the relator unanswered, but lead into a dif-
ferent inquiry of facts which were not before the court. This
is no answer to the case as shewn by the relator for inquiry.
The case stands over for decision.

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY HIGH STEWARDSHIP.

ELECTION OF LORD LYNDUURST

CAMBRIDGE, FRIDAY.—Among the more distinguished
voters this morning for Lord Lyndhurst were the Marquis of
Douro, the Bishop of Lincoln, both of whom were most
loudly applauded, Mr. Darby, M.P., &c.
Lord Monteagle was the last who presented himself at the
polling table. Some objection was made to his vote, but it
was ultimately received in favour of Lord Lyttelton, amidst a
perfect storm of groans and hisses.
The Vice-Chancellor, assisted by his assessor, then pro-
ceeded, in presence of the scrutineers, to open the ballot-box
and reckon up the votes. This ceremony occupied upwards
of an hour, when the numbers were announced as under :
For Lord Lyndhurst
Lord Lyttelton 487
Majority for Lord Lyndhurst

The Hon. Wm. H. Adelbert Fielding, youngest son of the
Earl of Denbigh, who has been appointed one of the Queen
Dowager's pages of honour, is about five years old.
A few days ago, the " Coast Guard" stationed at North
Shore, found floating in Sandwich haven, 13 tubs of brandy,
which they conveyed to the customs at Ramsgate.
Seamen (says the Devonport Telegraph) continue to enter
the service with alacrity. Some hundreds are entered every
week at the different ports.

• -- ---
There are 150 English consuls abroad, distributed in some
30 kingdoms or states. The number of British ministers
abroad is also 30.

Mrs. Harris, otherwise Jane Pieresci, (the lady thief) has
been liberated from Glasgow gaol, on procuring bail, to the
amount, we believe, of £5O.

The sum already subscribed for the widow and family of
the late Mr. Williams, the missionary to the South Sea Is-
lands, amounts to £1658 18s 10d.

It is said to be the intention of more than one of the suf-
ferers by the late accident o❑ the Southampton railway to
claim of the directors compensation for the injuries they have
sustained, as well as for any loss cf time they may lave been
subjected to, and if this be not fairly suet, to bring the ques-
tion before a court of law.

Thy haughty foes shall fall, when they
Behold thy girdle bright;
Their blinded eyes can not endure
Truths flashing, vivid light.
Harmless behold their darts recoil
From off thy polished shield ;
To Him who nerves thy giant arm
The proudest foe must yield.
Yet rest not, for not yet to blood,
Soldier hast thou striven ;
Be thine the martyr's fiery zeal,
And thine the martyr's Heaven.
For sooner than our blessed land
Should crouch 'neath Rome's dark reign,
The stake shall flame, the life-blood flow
From many a British vein.

Oh ! many a prayer ascends
For thy high cause and thee :
Warrior, go forth ! and may thy God
Lead thee to victory!

t. E. M

CONTEMPORARY PRESS

ARREST FOR DEBT
_ __ (From the Times.)

Arrest for debt on mesne process having now been
abolished by act of Parliament, we are not surprised to
find the public expecting as a consequence the aboli-
tion of imprisonment in execution. The Commis-
sioners for inquiring into Bankruptcy and Insolvency
recommend this abolition in their report (p. 26), and
to such a measure (as part of their general plan, and
particularly in connection with their proposal of a new
and speedily enforceable act of bankruptcy by default
of the debtor to pay or secure the debt on summons)
we incline to assent, provided that all the debtor's
means of every description, whether he be a trader or
not, be made available to his creditors, without any ex-
emption of half-pay or pension, or debts owing to him,
or property in Ireland, or in the colonies, and so reci-
procally. (See the evidence of Sir F. W. Myers, pp.
131 to 141.) The only property which the law could
not be made to reach is what the debtor may possess
in any foreign country; and if, having foreign pro-
perty, he refuse to apply it to the payment of his debts
here, his case may be very fitly left under the law of
imprisonment in execution, on the same principle on
which the general exemption from arrest on mesne
process is withheld from a debtor attempting to go
abroad. All that can be done for the creditors is to
secure to them the whole of his remaining property :
when this is effected (as in general it might be through
the speedy act of bankruptcy proposed in lieu of the
arrest on mesne process), there is no further fruit to
be obtained from the imprisonment; but until the le-
gislature ensure justice by the introduction of an im-
mediately enforceable act of bankruptcy, and by the
extension of the creditor's remedy to the whole of the
debtor's property, it is plain that the law of imprison-
ment in execution cannot be abrogated with safety.
Nor under any circumstances would we place the dis-
honest debtor, whether in or out of trade, beyond the
reach of some penal power of imprisonment like that
now exercised by the Court of Insolvency. ' Of this
we shall have occasion to speak more precisely in its
proper place, as being an imprisonment rather for pu-
nishment, which is example, than for debt. And the
same principle will apply to a suggestion of Mr. S.
Batchelor, solicitor (p. 503), for leaving the law of im-
prisonment to take effect " in cases of crim. con. and
cases provided for by the new act for abolishing arrest
on mesne process."—See 1 and 2 Victoria, c. 110,
s. 78.
On the whole, condemning as we do the paltry, po-
pularity-hunting policy, which abolished arrest on
mesne process without providing any tantamount re-
medy to the creditor, we yet decidedly wish to see the
abolition of imprisonment in execution. The late Mr.
Raincock, an eminent barrister on the northern circuit,
says neatly and truly, " arrests pay debts—gaols do
not."—(P. 380.) The following passage too, of the
evidence given by Mr. P. Johnson, one of the official
assignees of the Court of Bankruptcy, has great
weight :—" The average number of insolvencies for the
last three years is upwards of four thousand per an-
num; the debtors, on an average, spend more than
40s. a week in gaol, and, I suppose, 30s. for their fa-
milies. To raise these sums property belonging to the
creditors, to more than double the amount, must be
sacrificed; and if only six weeks are reckoned for each
insolvent, the property thus sacrificed would amount to
£42 each, or £168,000 per annum. If you add to
this the lost wages of the debtor to society while in
prison at 30s. a week, and the prison expenses to the
county, the amount will be nearly £250,000 per an-
num. —(P. 194.)
But this is not all. There must be added to the
account the costs of the creditor in obtaining his judg-
ment, and the costs of the debtor in obtaining his dis-
charge from the Court of Insolvency. It appears, on
a return made from that court (Report, p.-23), that
the number of persons imprisoned in town and coun-
try during the 14 months which intervened from the
Ist of October to the let of December in last year was
3,905. Out of this number of cases, dividends were
paid in only 199. and 361 were remanded, " whilst in
the remaining 3,345 cases the costs of proceedincr to
judgment, taken at the estimate of £2O for each action
(which would be a low estimate for actions in the su-
perior courts), would have amounted to £66,900. It
appears that the minimum expense attending the dis-
charge of an insolvent is five guineas, and if be
taken as a low average, £20,070 would have been ex-
pended by the 3,345 debtors above-mentioned in pro-
curing their discharge ; adding this to the £66,900
expended in putting them into prison, £86,970 would
appear to have been unprofitably consumed in the
above period of 14 months!'

1f.14 months would have produced this loss, one
year must have produced a loss of about £74,545,
which, being added to the £250,000 computed by Mr.
P. Johnson, gives a total damage to the country of
almost £325,000 per annum.
It is true that imprisonment in execution has some-
times the effect of inducing payment from the families
and friends of the debtor; but it is scarcely possible
to approve this pressure upon the feelings of persons
not being the parties to whom the credit was given.
Young people indeed, at college, and elsewhere, are
sometimes supplied with goods on the credit of heir
friends ; but, except as relates to those necessaries for
which the law makes parents liable, it is obvious that
instead of protecting, at the expense of relatives, those
tradesmen who lead young people into extravagance
by facility of credit, the legislature should in every'
possible way discourage such creditors, for the pur-
pose of preventing such credits. 'Where the debtor
has arrived at an age at which he may fairly be pre-
sumed to be dealing upon his own means, and not
merely relying upon the responsibility of his friends,
we do not, we confess, entertain the hope that the
abolition of the remedy of imprisonment will produce
any very great increase of caution among the creditor
classes. We do not apprehend that amidst the hot
competition of trade so remote a consideration can
ever have much force in withholding shopkeepers
from executing orders. But certainly so long as im-
prisonment in execution be suffered to remain, we shall
not have given to this check its fair trial. When the
law shall have completely abrogated the power over
the debtor's person, by abolishing the final as well as
the original imprisonment, then it will be, if at all,
that the caution of the creditor will be brought fairly
into exercise.

It has been objected, say the commissioners, that if
the power of arrest in execution shall be taken away,
the burden and risk of realizing the debtor's property
will be thrown upon the creditor instead of the debtor
himself. But to this they conclusively answer, that if
it be desirable to leave the realization of his property
to the debtor, he is likely to effect it more profitably
when at liberty than within the walls of a prison.
The effect of confinement, according to the evidence
of the keepers of the prisons, as given before the
Commission on the Courts of Common Law , is, that
debtors speedily begin to feel the contaminating influ-
ence of the gaol. To that evidence the present report
refers, adding this cogent remark, with.
which we con-
clude our observations upon the question of imprison-

went for debt :—" There are in the prisons individuals
connected with the law, who, having been disgraced
and fallen from their station, instantly take pains to
become acquainted with every new coiner, with a view
to teach him how to defraud Ins creditors. The result
is, that debtors who really had the inclination, hut
wanted the means, to satisfy their debts, are led to form
a determination not to pay even if they should be able
but rather to remain in prison for the number of da
that the law affixes as the
tion is one of the causes of the demoralization of the

This contamina-

lower classes in the metropolis, and of preparing for
crimes which swell our crhninal calendar." (Page 25.)

FATAL ACCIDENT ON THE YORK AND NORTH
MIDLAND RAILWAY.

[ln a fourth edition of the STANDARD of Friday we put
our readers in possession of the occurrence of the above me-
lancholy•accident, and we are now able to furnish the follow-
ing additional particulars.]
(From the Leeds Intelligencer.)
We regret to have to record the occurrence of an accident
on the York and North Midland Railway, in the immediate
vicinity of the village of Monk and Frystone, and about fif-
teen miles from Leeds.
We announced last week that in consequence of the leasing
of the Leeds and Selby line of railway to the York and North
Midland Company, all the passenger trains from Leeds to
Hull, as well as those to York, would be despatched from the
North Midland Company's station in Hunslet-lane, on and
after Monday last. This new arrangement led to several
changes in the plan by which a continuous succession of en-
gines was kept up ()hi different parts of the line. In conse-
quence of this the York and North Midland Company have
projected a new station, about half a mile from the village of
Monk Frystone, and nearly the same distance from South
Milford, at the point where the branch which connects the
York and North Midland line with the Leeds and Selby lino,
on the south side, branches off in an easterly direction. At
this point a general stoppage of all the trains takes place, the
engine which draws the carriages from Leeds for York and
Hull, for instance, leaving those for the latter place at this
new station, to be taken forward by the engine which may
bring the carriages from Hull from York and Leeds.
It was at this point that the accident took place. It ap-
pears that the usual passenger train for York and Hull left
Leeds on Wednesday evening at six o'clock, there being six
carriages, or one of each description for each town, and that
it was followed in about ten minutes or a quarter of an hour
afterwards by a goods train for York. The passenger train
arrived at the junction in due course, and the customary
changes were in progress when the goods train from Leeds
bore up, and for want of keeping a•good look-out, came upon
the passenger train from Hull with a most tremendous crash.
Two of the three carriages for Hull, which Lad been detached

from the engine and train that was about to proceed to York,
were dreadfully shattered, and precipitated down a short de-
clivity of about six feet. The passengers were squandered in
all directions.