§ Sir John Campbellsaid, he had to lay upon the Table of the House the Report of the Committee to whom were referred, for a second time, the Bill for the Abolition of Imprisonment for Debt. He trusted that all the difficulties in the way of that measure being passed, would now be removed. One of the amendments agreed to in the Committee was, that book debts were to stand on the same footing as bills of exchange and bonds. After a great deal of deliberation, two clauses were introduced in conformity with the opinion of a large majority of the Committee, the operation of which would be to enable the assets of insolvent persons to be administered by trustees without taking out a fiat of bankruptcy. If creditors chose, they would have the opportunity of winding up the estates, the intervention of a lawyer not being necessary. It was proposed, that if seven-eighths of the creditors concurred in this arrangement, the one-eighth were to be over-ruled, and would not possess the power of fraudulently resisting the arrangement. He should move that the Bill, as amended, should be re-printed, and that the Report should be taken into further consideration on Wednesday se'nnight.
§ Motion agreed to.