The Bankruptcy Bill was read a third time in the
House of Commons on Tuesday, amidst something like general acclama- tion as to the ability shown by Mr. Chamberlain in his conduct of the Bill though the Grand Committee. Mr. Dillwyn especi- ally, who had not been sanguine as to the working of the Grand Committees, expressed, in the most cordial manner, his pleasure at the success of this Bill, and the hope which it raised in him of the utility of these Grand Committees. All that has been said of Mr. Chamberlain's lucidity and tact in the manipu- lation of this Bankruptcy Bill is fully deserved. At the same time, it must be admitted that he had a very much easier task to achieve than that of Sir Henry James in the Grand Committee on Law. It was differ- ent in this way. In the Grand Committee on Trade were gathered a number of men who really desired to have this particular experiment tried for the benefit of trade. They desired this in their own interest, and desired it much more than they desired to gain repute as critics of a Bankruptcy measure. On the other hand, in the Grand Committee on Law were assembled a number of lawyers who cared exceedingly little whether a special penal code were enacted this year or next year, or not at all. Their interests were not involved in either carrying it or rejecting it. But it was for the interest of a great many of them to get a name for acute and successful legal criticism, and hence, to some extent, Sir Henry James's failure. By all accounts, Sir Henry .Tames showed hardly less tact and temper than Mr. Chamberlain ; but he had a very much less tractable body of colleagues.
