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    No. 411, February 6, 1858. j THE LE1DEB....

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    BANKRUPTCY REFORM. Having dealt with the...

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    H. M. Opposition. All Humbugs Are Unwhol...

    supernumeraries of E . T . Smith ' s theatre are the Senate of Venice , the Knights of Rhodes , or the 'Peers of England pillars of the State . ' They are as much ' dummies' as if they were paid hy the lessee PaIiMerston , and marshalled by the stage-manager Hatter . They are , in fact , paid by a certain amount of consideration ; they are honorary supernumeraries , glad enough to do the duties for the sake of the distinction , and for a free admission to the amateur theatre of St . James ' s . \ oo . ardiner to the traditions of the stagre

    play-acting of the place , the Opposition consists of the Tories ; but there are no Tories , or only stick a beggarly array of them as Falstait would scarcely have led through Coventry . If there are any genuine Tories , persons ready to swear by ' Church and King , ' they consist of men like Mr . BESTTnsroK , and some few other persons of no weight in the House ; whose only weight , in fact , is seen in their speeches . One of the genuine Tories died lately in Mr . Stafford , another in Lord "WiNCHEiiSEA ; but the breed is almost as

    much extinct as the cock-of-the-woods . The most showy section of so-called Tories is represented by Lord Derby ; but they are entirely spurious . Lord Derb y himself was a "Whig , an author of Reform Bills ; he went into Opposition as a Tory only because he was thwarted personally , and was too proud to associate with shopkeepers brought into Parliament by the Reform Bill . As he grew older he grew grander in his ideas of the quasi-royal position due to ' the house of Derby , ' and he has become a Tory principally through superciliousness of character , an Oppositionist chiefly through reckless insubordination . But without discipline to be

    a follower , he has no head to be a leader ., He has no faith in Tory principles , he does not care to keep up appearances , he deceives no man ; and his heir apparent , a devotee of * useful knowledge and practical art , ' already "belongs to the Germanized Whig party which considers itself to be for evermore in possession of office and its approaches . The most like a living Tory at the present day is Mr . Disraeli , who is as much like a living Tory as Mr . Charles Kean is like Uiciiabi > III . He plays his part admirably , and ' Lord , how he keeps his countenance ! ' But nil his notions are obsolete . He is a political Ruskik , who would introduce ' the Stones of Venice' into the debate of the week . He is

    perpetually for reviving Kunnymede , only he moves an amendment on the proceedings of that memorable field , and would omit Magna Charta . Hia aim is to lead the House of Commons with ' ideas '— -things about which liis following know so little that they agreed to support him in office , to try how 'ideas ' would work in the management of English administration . The best raau of the mixed jnob which is not admitted to the north side of the House , and is therefore contented to take his place on the" south side , is Sir John Pakingxon , the leading advocate of popular education ; a man more liberal than most on

    the Liberal side of the House , but for some punctilio refusing to > leave the sign of the Church and Crown . So that he forfeits his position in a Liberal Cabinet ; but being above hie company , he could not muBter a Tory Cabinet after his own improved fashion . As to __ tho half-dozen ^ gentlemen called r Peelifces , ' tlToy differ from oaoli other even more than they differ from ovory party in Parliament . All these persons form a large band of supernumeraries that fill the benches on . their side of the House , and they delude the public into "the belief that there is an Opposition . As they ore there they must do something , if only to keep up appearances ; but the difficulty ia to find a function for them . They

    ought to be able to oppose the Reform Bill , but they are almost as ready to accept one which will extend a county franchise as Mr . Cobdest is one to extend the borough franchise ; and they are perhaps less opposed to the Government Bill than Mr . John Bright declares himself to be . They can , of course , oppose the Indian Government Bill , just because it is a Ministerial "bill . It is their

    business to object ; but as Ministers are not likely to propose anything for which there is absolutely no demand in the market , and as the Tories do not wish to run' against the market , they have the greatest difficulty in learning how to object without offending their possible customers . Their great object of the day is to get into office if possible , but as they are not really an Opposition they cannot establish their claim to be ' sent for ;' and should Lord PaIiMERstost , by any mischance , vacate the seat at the head of the Treasury bench , somebody lower down on his side of the House would be ' sent for , ' instead of the leader on the opposite side .

    The principal reasons why there is no Opposition lie with the Ministers and with the country . There is no exposition because there is no position . The Cabinet Ministers at present in office are carrying on Her Majesty ' s administration , and are bringing in the bills which are demanded by public importunity ; but they are giving expression to no positive opinions of their own , are maintaining no principles distinct from those of the men against them , are sustaining no struggle for the rights from which the people

    are debarred ; they are not even vindicating the independence of our country against the atrocious demands of a foreign despot . But if Ministers personate no great public principle , champion no great public measure , they may justly say that they are no worse than other Liberals , for there is no man speaking out his mind . Lord Campbell , like Charles James Fox and other jurists of past generaions—like jurists of our own day—has declared that resident burgesses have a right to vote in the election of a member of

    Parliament ; that the } ' have that right at common law , which is only suspended by our so-called reform statutes . But we look in vain for the man Avho stands out to claim that existing right of the British people . There is compromise in office , and therefore there is compromise in opposition , compromise in the independent party below the gangway . Any statesman who could take heart of grace and embody the just claims of the people to a recognition of their existing rights , that man would again call our Opposition into being , and would establish the right of himself and his friends to be ' sent for' on tho next occasion .

    No. 411, February 6, 1858. J The Le1deb....

    No . 411 , February 6 , 1858 . j THE LE 1 DEB . 135

    Bankruptcy Reform. Having Dealt With The...

    BANKRUPTCY REFORM . Having dealt with the questions of expense , and the qualifications and practice of the officers , let us now devote a little attention to the powers of tlio Court of Bankruptcy as a legal tribunal . In the first place it has no power to enforce payment of disputed claims . It may issue circulars to debtors of estates winding up under its jurisdiction , it may even go the length of summoning a debfcou to show cause

    wh y he does not j ) i \ y ; but if he has a colourable pretext rieadyln the sTTape " of a defence ( which he always has , as a matter of course ) , the expense , trouble , and risk of suing for the claim in tho ordinary couuty or superior courta are then thrown , upon the Official Awsignoe . A prudent officer , in such a position , will naturally consult his own interest in preference to that of the creditors , and refuse to riBk the small assets , which , untouched , will just pay hia

    commission and the © otivfc expenses , in standing the issue of a trial , even to recover property that he kflowB has been dishonestly removed out of the reaeh of the estate . Nearly every debtor who comes , or is brought to that court , shorws in his ' balance sheet ' the disposal of property , varying from onefourth to three-fourths of his whole assets , under the convenient heading of ' creditors holding security . ' Whether proper consideration has been given , whether the conveyance has been legally made , and the hold

    over the property can be maintained , or whether there has been nothing more than a fictitious transfer between the bankrupt and an accommodating and interested relative , for the purpose of securing capital to begin trade with again , can only be ascertained by a tardy and expensive trial against men who have taken the precaution to secure the sinews of war out of the pockets of the ill-used creditors . The court has a check upon this kind of dealing in that part of the statute providing the punishment for what is called a ' fraudulent preference ; ' but the offence is so difficult to define , and so much

    more difficult to prove , that out of a hundred such gross cases not one is dealt with as it deserves to be . "When the judicial wrath does descend , it punishes the bankrupt by a suspension of certificate , but it has no power to benefit the estate and increase the dividend . The fraudulent creditor , with his illegally and unjustly acquired property , walks out of the court untouched , before the eyes of the Official Assignee , who , having an establishment to keep up , and a family to maintain , very properly declines the risk of attacking a man in such an entrenched position .

    Again with regard to compromises of claims . If the law and practice on this point in the Bankruptcy Court were more clearly defined , and the trade and official assignees had the power of acting as they would undoubtedly act if they were mercantile men managing their own affairs , it would be of immense benefit to the trading community . Upon the break-up of a corporation like the British Bank , it ia not alone the shareholders who become timid or dishonest , it is the numerous large and small debtors of the bank ,

    who begin to look into their affairs and judge whether it will not be profitable or necessary to declare a suspension . It is then that the clumsy and ineffective machinery of the Court especially manifests itself . The Official Assignee has no power to arrange or compromise ; the matter is placed unreservedly in the hands of the solicitor to the fiat , whose interests centre in costs , and whole troops of insolvent petitioners are created clay after day , with assets barely sufficient to cover tlie heavy expenses .

    Another serious defect is the fact that , with all the lavish expenditure of the court , the Trade Assignee , usually the principal or most active creditor , is left entirely without compensation for time , knowledge , and trouble expended for the benefit of the estate . The law certainly gives him considerable powers , but it forgets to provide any inducements for him to put those powers in action . The experience that he must possess of the bankrupt ' s trading and concha

    duct , naturo and value of his stock , - TracFer ^ nnrb ^ iraera ^^^ hood of his accounts , one would think warbh purchasing at somo cost for tho benefit ot a body of creditors . But the law , in its wisdom , has thought otherwise , and the result ia an official scram bio for assets without any real checking power , and a routine signature given as a matter of course at a thing called an ' audit . ' Tho necessity for proving debts m a place

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 6, 1858, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_06021858/page/15/