Court Of Chancery, Friday...
The Times, 1824-11-06T00:00:00

L,Aw )?,gpoJT. xsr. OHADNWELL was nearti in repiy on thtis case, the particulars of which were published in our paper of Wednesday last. He con- tended that A\r. de Tastet's refusal to sign the certificate of the bank- rupt was founded uslon no rational grounds, and that it appeared from Air. de Tastet's examinations before the commissioners that the violent prejudice which he had conceived against the bantirupt was wholy canricious. The transactions between thc firnm of Latham and Parry ann 'Mr. de Tastet had been entirely conducted by Parry; the frauds by which MXr. de 'iastet had suffered so great a loss were committed by Parry, not only without the co-operation, but with. out the knowledge of Lathan' whom l\r. de Tastet never saw until aftcr the frauds had been tiscovered, and Parry had abscond- el. This fact 171r. de Tastet stated himself, He said, In hig cxami- nation, that he never saw Letham until after hia loss: and he add. ed, If I had seen him, I should never have lost six,ence; there is dissimulation in his very face, and ifthad onIelooked upon him,l would not have trusted him. His complexion ;s cadaverous, and he has the countenance of a conspirator. ' e afterwar4s gave an ac- coaunt of the transactions between Latham and Patty and himself, in a manner whimsical enough, but In which the motives he attri- buted to Latham were supported by nothing but his own fancy. He said, " I am not very fond of bUi in Chancery, but I like good billg of exchange when they are accepted by responsible persons, Parry discovered this predilection of mine, and brought me bills of exchange to discount, which I always received from him wi-jth an agreeable smile. Upon this a lscheme was laid, of which I believe that Latbam waa the contriver and the perpetrator." Upon being asked why he accused Air. La4tham of participating in this scheme, he replied, " I believe that he assisted Parry as Hunt assisted John rhurtdl." MIr. de Tastet went on to say, he believed that Mr. Lathum, harvng gained his cenfidence,and his favours by procuring him those biUs to discouat,of which he was ao fond, invented the plan by which Parry and l,atham had gained, and he had lost, so much monev. " This being done." said Mlr. de Tastet, " Latham set to work his industrious and active MUercury, who shiowed hitmself on tllis occasion no unworthy-repre. sentative of She old god of thieving." The LORD CHANCELrYoR asked, whether these were reaUvy lr. de Tastet's answers, or the effasions of his ettorney's poetical fancy. AIr. SHADWELL said, they were the imnprmnptu replies given by alr. de Tastet to the questions put to him at a private mHeeting be. fore the commissioners. The learned gentleman went on to argue, that aU these imputations which were cast so unjustly by Mr. dc Tastet upon Air. Latham were merely violent prejudices which he had adopted, for which there was not any reasonable ground, but which it seemed Impozsible to eradicate fromr. his mind. The LORD CIXAI'CELLOI said, that although they displayed considerable irritation, it was such as would naturally enough be created in the mind ofamnan who had sustained such extensive losses by the frauds which had been practised upon him. 51r. SHADWELL resumed his argument, and insisted upon the hardship which Mr. Lathans had already endureti. He had been for 12 years a bankrupt, prevented froni again embarking in trade, de. rived of the whole of his property by the sanie frauds under which 7tlr. de Tastet had suffered, and in which therc was no particle of evldenee that-he had shared. AU that could be alleged aeainst him at the most was, that he had been negligent; and when it was con- sidered how necessary it must always be for ;ierson's engaged in mercantile concerns to repose thc fullest confidence In their part. ner, he trusted this would forni a sufficient excuse for that negli- gence. The anxiety and privations which he had endured for so many years pwade himcthc httest object for the exercise of that wise and nercfulpowerwhichtheLgislature had thought fit, now for the first time, to vest in the Lord Chancellor, and the learned counsel confidently hoped that his client's certilcate would be-granted, and that he wduld have the benefit of the laws under the operation ef wvhich he had so long suffered. The l,oRD CHA'scELLon.-Before I can come to any decision on this case, I must read again the examinations which have been so often alluded to in the course-of this discussion. The painful and important duty which, under the new aet of Parliament, I am called upon to exercise, requdires on my part the utmost caution and deliberation. Before the passing thtat act, the conduct of bankrupts bad often been such as to call for the animadversion of every person who had an opportunity of observing it, and to give tooauch reason for the complaints made by creditors against tho state of the law which petrmitted nuch bankrupts to go free. These complainlts were often made personall? to me, by individuals who did not knoow that I had then no means of remedying an evil,the existence of which I re- gretted atleast as much asatiyother person. Thegreatest scoundrel in the world upon becoming bankrupt, if he could succeed in prevailing upon a certain proportion of the persons whO clained debts against him, to sign'his certilicate, and if he duly submnitted himself to the operations of the bankrupt laws, was sure to procure a release trom his engagements of every kind. The Chancellor had no power to wvithhold his certificate, and it has bcen ruled from thiS cIair, ovcr and over again, that the person who fllled it lad i4o right to look at the past conduct of the baukrqpt, however dishonest and atioci. ous it might have been. I have know in many men become bank. rapt whose condpct has been as imnQoral, and who have as fully merited the beavieut penalty of the law, as thoie criminals upon vwhomi in-its just severitv the law has' inflicted the punishment of death. Frequently, instauces of the following kind havc come be. fore me :-Pcrsons reposing fuU confidence In thle intogrity of agents, bat reinljed to their hands large suYns of money, tbr the purpose of haying thgni ipyested' ini thc ftitds. These agents have repre- sented- to the1 pjrsops so trusting thein that tbey have obeyed their *direpdons. - They have pqnetuatly p4id the diyidends on the dlays whien~ they beame due. "The prilnepals lave felt themselves free from aD anxiety on this subject; and even in* the event of any misfortune happening to the persons in whons 'they -bhd confided, they have congratulated themselves that they had escaped Sha t hipwrvck Wt which t e affiirs 'of their agent might happen,to be jiwolved. _Thdren, howeveri'comes the disclosure'that the monies have never 'be'ert tixyested-that the agent has dissipated them, -iomnt(e'r how,-.-aid the iinfortftnate pIople-find themselves zuddedty'stirj-ped rJiked of 'Ul tlieir' neans- of aupport,Joerbaos of existence,'. rhe ingiWdcial t whomn the suipremen adainistsration of tlite b3nkrf`V wips intrtl8ted, wis -too frequently obliged to se4 ande kn.ow thig, vsitlioittthe power of preventing the fraudu. lent agnt"' from going hack into tlhe world' 'freed froas :allh the weight of, his Oebts, from the respollsibllity of iccoant.' ing to the person hie had ruined5 and with- inereaset. ooleo t to, repeat' the dishonesty of -.which he had eshown hin SeRf 'c pable.- 'By 'the act which has lately passed,- this difficulty has been removed. It is well-known witlt what- faslity hankruptsliW" general' obtbin their ~ersites; the' feelings of humanitv *lhich nSlish ereditors are always ready' to exercise toiwards Englishmen, reno~rthtem'soieimes' too ready -to release thei from 'theie bank.' nipteles. 1'hisacet'of Perllamaens has in -some degree limited the power of the er,editors, eid has give a reinendy to that small mino. 'rity of theist t6;upol godd zeaiosis s ?shall.0bje6t to the passing of a bankrpt's cettlfieate t haid thath ti t ujd o lF t 'what the Lord Chaucelatr of Englaiid, unon -a1ew u~ the cit.. ihmstaaee ofthecase, halsthinkfitR. 4ejtt, that in,cx#rcIsg *iiis poWeH for. the, lnt time, I ieel the, nce softy tot .yEfm4a inqmry into all thIe factbe b ywhlche Ay dsim . utnt be eqlated Oneobservation I mug makhe onz the came, anid It is at, asbcsta ted,thatalr.dc Ae'.risies Al,~ n' certi acerte iDine s bein fomu rid upoevhe odnie. Tf'hese-:clvi uMa .LUwe; l ho has told hi that by doing soe ulet wb'e bank. kupt's evidenice probably t h pcuieo londb:.fll. 'Ulhas.doone Ihe h so n a ct for mte to siy, here, --that' Shi whe to deal witlithe debtof a crediter whorefused tonitI veigaiion of it the vdence ban oy e I'takeof my duty Unwer the act-is th-IrutactsuboeI 7fiAierrfuse to. a11w a ctificate, that thcIe.cst'd au'ih. vidua credfitor is foni-pn nmfvv:6 mtisconduct on-the part of-ishelngoni the boklt T i act o hesi. rately aseetaining this must strikeseve h one. thse l u,ust be' itirely of bean inatu.Ie, .nd'i hafi the iorqte,.r po alibi that a pezsozz,:-neither in - the stain fdbo r rdtr shaii'e-'able to ~ay in every. ease wa r n htaent~El ,clentrniotie. Itiulkitlbughly proabISa- o thi ?sOTTsome veri considerable alterations,,may ie made In this act before the'uonth of Maybexr the Ceriodurt whod iw niall timeprotiabnofthe adt are to be In f'ulI'opceritf6oi), adid that- the Leegislature aball lay down somne gtneral.ruJewblch shall gvernall possIble cases, n. stead of. leaving. them to the decision of any'kinlvidoa1- Up'o"na prniciple', which I always efide~ivoLi 44 act -upo-n..that- of;snylngr, nothing which mnay pr&jdice the cause of.-any person_whom,, upon further consideration, I should, regretvery muchi tOhave!prejudIC6..< Idecline to state' even _ivhat- 0inciain D yoiib h present case. R ~I did other-mine thttaeezt1oudgeot to-' the pablic; and from whiat -is going on in the world, I haLVe no hesl.. tatioa jp saying, that publication 'does-much mnpre cell thaul publica.. tion cani ever repei;r, I shell, therefore, address miyself_to the perussl of the examination%n, feeling th%t. -b s,e not 9tnrc,ejt II at suafficiently accuratC; to enable me to dclIrgi which I havi been invested. J wvould ifth napessitof copfon'au~ tojas'bthe COURT OF CHANCERY. VPTnV . nv,v x IN RE LATHIAM, A BANKRUPT.