week I had never left my house without looking
well to the right and the left to see that no
suspicious character was near my door. I shaved
off my whiskers, dyed my iron-grey hair to a
jet black, adopted a very broad-brimmed hat,
and bought a false pair of black moustaches,
which gave me the appearance of a Frenchman.
At my place of business the clerks had strict
orders not to admit anybody unless they knew
them to be perfectly safe. After living in this
continual dread of capture, it was no small
relief to have in my pocket a document called
my " protection," by which I was secured
from arrest. This paper I procured before
leaving the court, when I went to file my
petition, and it guaranteed me perfect freedom
until what was called my "first meeting,"
when the choice of assignees from amongst my
creditors would take place.

But what a joke it was, that first meeting!
Of my creditors, who numbered twenty-five or
thirty, not more than four or five were present,
and these, seeing how very much my affairs
were to the bad, declined to serve as assignees,
evidently thinking that it was no use throwing
either good money or profitable time away after
debts which they had set down as irretrievably
lost. As none of these gentlemen would act as
my assignee, it became needful for the
Bankruptcy Court to appoint one, which they did,
in the person of one of their own officers, who
is called the " official assignee."

The most extraordinary bear-garden-like
proceedings take place in the Bankruptcy Court
when a meeting for the choice of assignees
is going on, or rather when three or four are
going on at the same time, as is usually the
case. There appears to be no order, no
regularity of any kind observed. The creditors
of the different bankrupts are crowding here
and there, discussing in a loud tone the affairs
of the estates in which they are interested;
attorneys are looking out for their clients, and
clients seeking their attorneys; whilst the
various officials of the court attempt in vain
to pay attention to the numerous persons, who
seem all to ask questions or to want signatures
to documents at one and the same time. Why
it should be so I cannot imagine, but the
Bankruptcy Court always appears to be perfectly
different from every other court in England.
Noise, confusion, and overcrowding seem to be
its normal conditions, and how the commissioners
are able to pay that attention to the
cases before them which the natural difficulty
of all money questions demands, has been a
marvel to me ever since I became acquainted
with these courts.

After my meeting (" the first meeting," as it
is called) for the choice of assignees, my
"protection" paper was renewed for another six
weeks, until the day named for what was called
my "last examination and discharge," and in
the mean time I had to prepare my accounts
and file them in the court for the inspection of
my creditors. This work had, of course, to be
done by a professional accountant, whose
services cost me ten guineas, and very hardly
earned the money no doubt was.

And here let me point out one or two of
what seem to me the anomalies of bankruptcy
proceedings. According to a legal fiction, I
ought, after having been declared a bankrupt,
to have been without any money whatever of
my own, or I ought to have given up everything
to my creditors. And yet, if I had done so, it
would have been utterly impossible for me to
prepare my accounts in the clear and explicit
manner in which the court demands they should
be written out, and which no one who is not
a professed accountant could by any possibility
accomplish. In like manner, when I determined
to seek the protection of the court, I was able
to file my petition because I had between
twenty-five and thirty pounds at command.
Had I not had this money I could not have
paid the necessary fees of court, to say nothing
of legal assistance, and I should have been
obliged to go to jail, where I must have
remained at least one month, and where, if my
creditors were vindictive, I might have
remained three or four.

My accounts were all filed in time, and upon
the day appointed I appeared before the
commissioner for my last examination and
discharge. But I had not yet done with the
court. One of my creditors opposed me. The
attorney who represented him declared that I
had contracted debts without a reasonable hope
or expectation of paying them, that certain
parts of my accounts were not clear, and that
I ought to furnish a cash account for at least
two years previous to my having been declared
a bankrupt. The commissioner accordingly
ordered an adjournment of my case for six
weeks, directing me to furnish the accounts
required, my protection from arrest being
renewed for the interval. When the six weeks
were over I came up again, and as the only
creditor who objected to my getting my
discharge had been privately "squared" by some
portion of the money I owed him being paid,
and bills at six and nine months being given for
the balance, I was this time unopposed. My
discharge was granted, and I stepped forth
from the court with a load of some seven thousand
pounds and more, having been wiped off,
as it were, with a wet sponge. In less than a
month I had re-hired my old premises, and was
at business again in the old place as a builder.
It is true that I had no capital to begin upon,
but those who know how to manipulate stamped
paper need never fear the want of money,
provided they have the shadow of a shade of
pretext to be thought traders. And as to the
process of going through the court, I can only say
that it resembles very much the process of a
Turkish bath. It is a most unpleasant ordeal
to contemplate, for those who have never tried
it. But once make up your mind to face the
hot ordeal, and it will be found that the results
are most pleasant. It is true that there is a
little badgering and brow-beating to be feared,
but the person who is going through the washing