Col. Bastard disclaimed the intention of imputing any neglect to the office to which the honourable member alluded. The honourable colonel would be glad to have all the volunteers on the same establishment, and therefore did not object to the proposed change. As to the returns which ought to have been made from the corps under his command, he had to state that although the commander of five or six battalions, he left altogether the drawing of pay and the making of returns to the commanders of the several battalions, he being himself unable to attend to such things, from his connection with the militia, with whom he generally was out of the county in which the volunteers alluded to were stationed. The honourable colonel concluded with moving for copies of the letters addressed by Mr. Smith, of the secretary of state's office, to Mr. Moore, of the war-office, dated January 27, and February 1; and also of that addressed by Earl Spencer to the Secretary at War, in March last.

The two first letters were ordered, and upon the motion being put as to the last,

Col. Bastard expressed a hope that the volunteers would know ere long upon what footing they were to stand, as much confusion resulted from the uncertainty in which they were at present placed. Indeed the evil was such, that he could with difficulty contrive to keep quiet the corps over which he had influence, until their fate should be known. Perhaps this uneasiness might have arisen from misrepresentation, but certainly the regulations respecting the volunteers ought to be announced with all convenient expedition.

Mr. Wynne was surprised that any such uncertainty should prevail, as the honourable colonel alluded to. For it was already very explicitly declared, that among that great majority of the volunteers, who were on the August allowance, no change whatever has taken place, excepting the reduction of the drill serjeants' pay. And as to those on the June allowances, the intended change was very fully understood. With regard to the other point in the honourable colonel's speech upon the subject of the future regulations of the volunteers, they were of course to act upon the regulations at present existing, until the new regulations were communicated to them. These new regulations were already in a very forward train, and would be sent to the several corps as soon as they could be prepared. Upon the VOL. III. 1805-6.

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conduct of the honourable colonel, or his corps, he meant to make no other remark than was warranted by fact. As to drawing for pay, he could not say that the honourable colonel's sub-commanders had neglected their duty upon that point, nor indeed did he ever hear of any volunteer officers who were at all remiss in drawing for pay; but he was enabled to state, from papers he held in his hand, that notwithstanding the utmost endeavours on the part of the secretary of state's office, and frequent exhortations to the several commandants, to make the regular returns four times a year, no return had been made from the corps under the honourable colonel's command, on any of the quarters ending in the months of August, December, or April last.

Mr. Long asked the honourable gentleman, if he was competent to answer, whether it was meant that if any of the corps upon the August allowance should be reduced in number, they would be at liberty to admit new members, under the same regulations as formerly?

Mr. C. Wynne answered, certainly, until fresh regulations should be made out.

After a few words from Mr. S. Bourne,

Mr. Wynne repeated, that no diminution of allowance to the August volunteers would take place; at the same time he begged to be understood as not pledging himself to that point.

The motion was agreed to.

The Newfoundland trade bill was read a second time, and committed for Tuesday next.

Mr. Wynne brought up the papers ordered on the motion of Colonel Bastard. Ordered to lie on the table.

BANKRUPT LAWS.

The Solicitor General rose, pursuant to notice, to move for leave to bring in a bill to alter and amend the bankrupt laws, or rather, he said, more correctly speaking, to remove certain defects in those laws. It was by no means his intention to attempt the amendment of the whole of the law upon this subject, but to remove certain great defects, the mischievous consequences of which were every day observed, and most sensibly felt by all who had any opportunity of considering the question. His object at present simply was, to introduce some regulations which were obviously necessary. According to the existing bankrupt law, any acts done, or debts contracted by the bankrupt, in the course

of the period which intervened between the committal of the act of bankruptcy and the taking out of the commis sion, was, as it affected the creditors, completely annulled. The evils resulting from this provision were of the most serious nature; for it often happened that a bankrupt had sold a real estate, and received the money for it, after the committal of an act of bankruptcy, and yet, unless according to the act of the 21st of James I. such sale had taken place five years before the commission was taken out, the purchaser was deprived of his purchase, and it became the property of the assignces of the bankrupt. Another evil resulting from the present law was, that if money was lent to a bankrupt at any time during the period just referred to, such money was liable to be distributed among the creditors, and the lender was not, any more than the purchaser of the estate, allowed even the small consolation of receiving a dividend, or any portion of his money from the bankrupt's effects, nor had he, indeed, any remedy at all. The learned gentleman referred to the acts which it was his object to amend, and proceeded to observe upon their nature, the principle of all which was to protect the debts of a bona fide creditor's bankrupt. That act, the House must be fully aware, which in law was an act of bankruptcy, was by no means an act of notoriety, nor even such generally as a creditor could by the utmost vigilance contrive to know. In most cases, indeed, it was an act known only to the bankrupt himself, or any of his servants, who by his direction denied his being at home upon a creditor's calling for him. Why then, the learned gentleman asked, should such mischiefs as those he had described be allowed to accrue to men liable to deal with a bankrupt under such circumstances? and why should their ignorance of an event, which it was almost impossible for them to know, be permitted to involve the forfeiture of their just claims? But these were not all the evils which the present law produced; for it was not less severe against the bankrupt himself than it was against his creditors. The avowed principle of the bankrupt law was, that when a ba: krupt gave up all his property he should be discharged from all his debts: but by the law as it now stood, that principle was not acted upon; for the bankrupt's total release from the commission did not protect him from those debts which he might, perhaps unknowingly, have contracted after the committal of the act of bankruptcy which led to such commission; therefore Zz2

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the bankrupt was placed in the extraordinary situation of being called upon to pay that which he could have no property to pay, unless he were guilty of an act of felony.

What he had already stated the learned gentleman conceived quite enough to impress upon the House the necessity of amending this law. But there was a still greater evil than any he had mentioned, produced by the present system. If, after a commission had been taken out, an act of bankruptcy was proved anterior to that upon which the Commission was grounded, all the proceedings of such commission were void, and the commission was superseded. In consequence of which the assignees, who were made responsible for all the bankrupt's property they possessed, or had previously sold, were placed in a situation of extreme hardship. It had not unfrequently happened, and indeed, in the course of his own experience, he had known an instance in which a first, second, and even a third commission had been set aside in this way. In that instance, as no doubt in others, the object was to defeat the proceedings taken against the bankrupt, by whom, with that intention, the anterior acts of bankruptcy were kept back.

If then, in addition to the injuries thus arising to the bankrupts, the assignees, and the creditors, one considered the enormous expence of actions depending on the committal of acts of bankruptcy, the amount of the bankrupt's property dissipated in such actions, and with no other object in general than mere litigation, it was impossible not to feel astonished that the law should have been suffered to remain so long in its present state.

Three modes were suggested, the learned gentleman stated, of remedying the evils complained of: the first was, entirely to abolish one of the great principles of the present bankrupt laws, namely, that no man should be considered a bankrupt until the time at which the commission should be taken out. But various objections offered against this suggestion, arising out of the expedients notoriously resorted to by bankrupts fraudulently disposed. Another provision was recommended, that no commission should be granted unless the act of bankruptcy alleged by the petitioning creditor had taken place a certain time before the commission, according to the advice of some, three or six months. But to this recommendation he knew of several objections, which urged at least the propriety of a much greater distance of time. When it was considered how re

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luctantly creditors in general took out a commission of bankruptcy, how frequently they granted a deed of trust in order to avoid bringing expence and trouble upon themselves, or disgrace and ruin upon the bankrupt, and when it was recollected that those deeds were often protracted much longer than six months, he trusted the House would feel that no such period ought to be fixed. But although great inconvenience and injustice might result from such an arrangement, still the law was not to be left as it stood. It appeared to him, that without fixing any period upon this point, bona fide debts contracted by the bankrupt at any time before the commission, should be recoverable from the effects of the bankrupt, notwithstanding any previous act of bankruptcy. This seemed to be the only remedy fairly applicable to that part of the law, namely, that all honest debts contracted, all payments made, all conveyances and engagements entered into by the bankrupt, should be good and valid, notwithstanding any previous act of bankruptcy, provided the person or persons entering into such contracts or lending such money to the bankrupt, should have no notice of such act of bankruptcy, or knowledge of the bankrupt's insolvency. He proposed too, that as to such debts, the bankrupt's certificate should be a protection, as complete as with regard to any debts claimed under the commission. Another object of the bill he meant to bring forward would be, that no commission of bankruptcy should be superseded in consequence of previous acts of bankruptcy done by the bankrupt; and also, that debts contracted by the bankrupt, which were not payable until after the commission was taken out, should be provable under the commission, whether they were simple debts or those for which securities were given. The learned gentleman concluded with observing, that these were the only objects which the bill he proposed to bring forward had in view.

Leave was given to bring in the bill, and the Attorney and Solicitor Generals, with Mr. Perceval, Mr. Morris, and others, were appointed to prepare and bring in the same.

Mr. Hobhouse brought up the report of the committee on the propriety of granting certain salaries to the new commissioners for auditing the public accounts, which was agreed to, and it was ordered that the gentlemen appointed to prepare and bring in the auditors' bill, do make provision pursuant to the said resolution. A similar order was made to the gentlemen who are to bring in the Greenwich

pension