to the confirmation
of the bankrupt's certificate; but the chancellor had power to judge
whether the objection was frivolous or well-founded: yet, by a latter
act, the chancellor is obliged to confirm the certificate, if it is
agreeable to four-fifths in number and value of the creditors; whereas
he cannot confirm it, should he be opposed, even without any reason
assigned, by one creditor to whom the greatest part of the debt is
owing. It might, therefore, deserve the consideration of parliament,
whether, in extending their clemency to the poor, it should not be
equally diffused to bankrupts and other insolvents; whether proper
distinction ought not to be made between the innocent bankrupt who fails
through misfortune in trade, and him who becomes insolvent from fraud or
profligacy: and finally, whether the inquiry and trial of all such cases
would not properly fall within the province of chancery, a tribunal
instituted for the mitigation of common law.

INQUIRY INTO THE STATE OF THE POOR.

The house of commons seems to have been determined on another measure,
which, however, does not admit of explanation. An order was made in
the month of February, that leave should be given to bring in a bill to
explain, amend, and render effectual, so much of an act passed in
the thirteenth year of George II. against the excessive increase of
horse-races, and deceitful gaming, as related to that increase. The bill
was accordingly presented, read, printed, and ordered to be committed to
a committee of the whole house; but the order was delayed from time to
time till the end of the session. Some progress was likewise made in
another affair of greater consequence to the community. A committee was
appointed in the month of March, to take into consideration the state of
the poor in England, as well as the laws enacted for their maintenance.
The clerks of the peace belonging to all the counties, cities, and towns
in England and Wales, were ordered to transmit, for the perusal of the
house, an account of the annual expense of passing vagrants through
their respective divisions and districts for four years: and the
committee began to deliberate on this important subject. In the latter
end of May the house was made acquainted with their resolutions,
importing, that the present methods of relieving the poor in the
respective parishes, where no workhouses have been provided for their
reception and employment, are, in general, very burden