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    filled with curious listeners , reporters , < &c , is another defect in the practice of the court . To lose money is bad enough , without having your loss paraded before a room full of strangers , men in the same trade , and the public press . Sometimes , by the courtesy of the Commissioner , these sittings are taken in private , but there is no rule for such a proceeding , and it is no rare thing to find that while one urbane Judge is acceding to this very natural wish of the trading community , an obstinate Commissioner in the next room

    is refusing to hear a ' trader debtor summons in private , thereby doing all in his power to cause a run upon , perhaps , a solvent house , and aiding in the good work of creating bankrupts . A great injustice to the bankrupt is the fact that a certificate does not absolve him from all debts up to that date , as is popularly supposed . He may be an endorser of a bill of exchange , and a judgment may have been granted against him upon a trial , but unless the plaintiff in the action thinks proper to sign judgment , and prove upon the estate , he can hold the claim over , and come upon the bankrupt for payment after he has received the discharge of the court .

    In all cases of leasehold property , where the assignees refuse to take the lease amongst the assets ( and they have the option ) , the bankrupt , unless he can arrange with the landlord , is still liable for any rent that becomes due after the fiat . Sureties also for payment of money or breach of trust are not discharged by bankruptcy from any liability in respect of embezzlements or insolvencies occurring on the part of persons for whom they are bondsmen , after the date of the fiat .

    The complaint that the Commissioners do not give a more frequent or lengthy attendance goes to show ( as the work is got through ) that there is a glut of officers for the business requirements of the ' place . The peculiar organization of the court ( with its attendant affidavits , powers of attorney , adjournments , meetings , delays , &c ) , goes to swell the costs of the fortunate solicitor employed in a case , until he absorbs one-fourth of the assets . So lucrative is it to him that

    it is no uncommon thing for him to buy out opposing interests , rather than lose the chance of working a good and complicated estate . It is the old story of a court constructed by lawyers , and worked by lawyers for the benefit of themselves .

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    THE FUTURE ( XF ' THE EMPIRE . ' It is not often that good may be said to come out of evil . Nevertheless , there are some exceptions ; and it is certain that the recent attempted assassination in the Hue Lopelletier has , for the first time , enabled us to form a clear and definite idea of the position of the French Empire—not only of its material position , but , which is more important , of its position in the public opinion of Europe . The advantage of getting nd of all confusion on this subject need not be pointed out to statesmen .

    We now know what many were before disposed to deny , what wo ourselves were compelled sometimes to doubt—for how could the truth—be-agcertained-P—bhafc-all—the-parties which were vanquished by the Coup d'Etat remain as hostile as ever to the present regime , and hnve indeed rather increased than diminished in force . There can be no longer any quibbling on this point . The menacing language of the Emperor , his demand for repressive laws , his violence towards the organs in the press of two opposite parties—the JJoyaliata and the moderate Republioana-rmay bo taken as unerring indications . Bub we have ,

    besides , the text of one of the repressive laws which have been h urriedly brought forward ; and this informs us that not only are all the men who actively or otherwise opposed the Coup d'Etat in December , 1851 , still objects of suspicion to the Government , but likewise all those who joined M . Ledbtt-Rollin in 1849 , in his protest against the piratical attack on Koine ( of which the Pianobis , the Orsinis , and thePiEBBis are the baleful results ) , those who fought in June , 1848 , and all who opposed the Constituent Assembly in May of the same year .

    Now , it is well known that the parties thus indicated include every shade of liberalism , from the most frantic Socialists to the most moderate Orleanists ; so that at once and for ever falls to the ground one of the pretences on which the Empire based its appeal for support . Its partisans have constantly asserted , that if some small sections of obstinate or corrupt men continued to withhold

    allegiance , the great mass of liberal France had long since been won over , that the working classes especially , and the Socialists ( of June and May ) , had submitted to the Empire , partly from conviction , partly from hatred of the party of CavaignAC , which was first defeated in December , 1848 , and then again in December , 1851 . It is now officially revealed to us that all the men who made the

    revolution in all its stages , even those who fought in the streets , one with the other , are as hostile to the Imperial Government as the Orleanists themselves . Nothing is particularly said of the Legitimists ; but the Spectateur represented the Fusion , and we need no information as to the feelings of the followers of Henbi V . These are important data ; but we have learned yet more . It is now patent to all the world—as it has long been evident to ourselves—that the passiveness which France has recently exhibited was not in reality

    acquiescence in absolutism , but simply public weariness , want of means of communication , want , above all , of a reasonable object for which to strive—and the presence also of a tacit understanding that the signal for action would be given by the hand of Providence when Napoleon III . should be gathered to his fathers . The public mind has long been p recisely in the same state as during the years preceding 1848 . It was not then more clearly understood that the demise of Louis Philippe would be the beginning of revolution than it has been in France any time since the establishment of the Empire .

    But only of late has anything reasonable been done towards providing for such a contingency . " We believe it is now generally understood that , in default of proper means of meeting , a sort of implicit reconciliation has been effected between the more important sections of the Opposition . There remain obstinate and enthusiastic men who still believe in the triumph of their cherished doctrines ; but the idea of compromise and mutual concession has at length , perhaps for the first time , found favour in France . This is in itself a great advance . When such a spirit

    is abroad , the dangers of a revolution are already half averted . But more than this has been effected . We enjoy the confidence of several marked men , totally unconnected one with ~ the ^ other , _ ancUwJiQmre prj ^ various stages of French Liberalism we have already mentioned—aye , and many moreand we are enabled to state , partly from their example , partly from their testimony , that the idea of seeking any triumph of absolute doctrines haa * been "indefinitely adjourned in France by the best and most influential mind& , and that nearly all desires have merged into one humble and moderate tendency to something better . Of course this may be regarded

    by some as the hypocrisy or self-deceit of adversity . But we do not think it is so . The talk current about ' something better' is rational ; meditation has evidently flowed in the right direction ; its result is the result that any stranger would arrive at who knows anything about the capabilities and require - ments of France . We need hardly add that a monarchical revolution is now the fondest hope of men who have formerly talked with B £ bangeb of ' giving alms to the last King . ' This is admirable—not more to sturdy constitutionalists than to others who still love to look forward to the flying horizon of perfection .

    On the other hand we must not omit to notice the steps taken by the Empire for its defence , nor forget that if attacked its resistance would be heroic and probably successful . Let us not commit the impertinence of advising French liberals as to their duty . "We may say , however , that we should look with extreme alarm on any attempt to try armed conclusions with the Empire ; for a failure would be the greatest disaster that could happen to liberty . Though we could not call it criminal if successful , and though we could not class it therefore in any case with the recent affair of the Rue Lepelletier , we

    should be obliged to say that it was , it unsuccessful , a mistake . Perhaps even the time has not yet come in any way . We know some very fierce Republicans who think so , and whose prayers for the Emperor ' s life are more ardent and perhaps more sincere than many that have recently been sent up to Heaven in France through the official medium of the Mbniteur .

    It is positively repeated by those who beat know what takes place in Paris that the Emperor never understood the real truth as to the state of the public mind with reference to the fortunes of his dynasty until the bursting of the hand-grenades . The lurid light of fulminate of mercury enabled his glances to pierce farther than they had ever pierced before : He saw that nobody , neither the public nor the officials , neither his enemies nor his friends , still less the representatives of foreign Powers , regarded what exists in

    France as a permanent arrangement . The joy which every one expressed at his escape struck him to his heart . He was not spared one jot of the humiliation . From all sides lie learned that he was regarded as an expedient , little better than a rag to stop a leak until the vessel could get into port . His wife , his son , his family , his institutions , were estimated at less than nothing . Everything for which he had filed his mind was condemned by public opinion to vanish as soon as he drew his laat breath : and Banquo ' s issue to take

    was calmly waiting over the Channel up its inheritance . _ Wo have here the true explanation of his subsequent conduct , of the reckless and violent manner in which he has attacked the press , of the curious hiatorical heresies ho lias promulgated with reference to the policy of William III . of England , of the noisy and importunate way in which he has maae arrangements for a Regency , and , above Ml , of the strange and most dangorous chU on the army to make a sort of pronunciamento in favour of his dynasty . Pronuuciamentos aro alwavs danererous things ; and we are

    ^]] So ^ ln ^ clin ¥ d"to ^ t ; mnlr"tVrat-this-ini 8 tfti £ Q was suggeeted by the Spanish lady w shares the Imperial throne . To the declarations oi the soldiery aa represented by their Colonoia in'this specific case , wo do not attach an undue importance . It may be true , aa has been remarked , that some regiments ma ^ r conaiaer themaelvea bound by them . But it ia probable that others would reaent this unwarrantable use of their names . The repre-

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    136 THE LEADER . [ No . 411 , Februar y 6 , 1858 , ! — ' _^

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 6, 1858, page 136, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2229/page/16/