Monthly Chronicle.

at St . Petersburg )] , of the College of Commerce , or of that which shall hereafter be established for the purpose of administering justice in commercial affairs , and , in the other cities at a distance , under that of the Magistrate of the city ^ . and the business shall be carried on according to the laws which are , or shall hereafter be made upon that subject . If , however , 'British merchants , obstinately resolved not to become bankrupts , should refuse to pay their debts either into the Banks of his Imperial Majesty , or to individuals , it shall be permitted to arrest a part of their effectsequivalent to their debts : and in case those effects should

inade-, prove quate to that purpose , they may arrest their persons , and detain ( hem uiifi ! the majority of their creditors , both as to number and value of their respective demands , consent to liberate them . With respect to their effects which shall have been arrested , they shall remain in the custody of those who shall be appointed and duly authorized for that purpose by the majority of the creditors as aforesaid ; and the persons so appointed shall be obliged to appraise the effects as soon as pos . - . ible , and to make a just and equitable distribution to all the creditors ,

according to their respective claims . The same course shall be pursued , in similar cases , with regard to Russian merchants in the dominions of Great Britain , and they shall be protected therein in the manner regulated in the preceding article . XIX . In case of complaints and of law-suits , three persons of irreproachable , character , from amongst the foreign merchants , shall be , according to the circumstances of the case , appointed by the College of Commerce , and , in such places to examine the books and of the

where there is none , by the Magistrate , papers complainants , and the report which they shall make to the College of Commerce , or to the Magistrate , of what they shall have found in the said books and papers , shall be considered as good proof . XX . The Custom-houses shall take care to examine the servants or the clerks of Russian merchants , at the lime of their eiiregistering their purchases , if they are furnished , for lhat purpose , with the orders or full powers of their masters ; and if they are not , they shall not be credited . The same measures shall be

adopted with the servants of British merchants ; and when the said servants , having orders or full powers from their masters , shall have euregistered the merchandize on account of their masteis , the latter shall be responsible therefore , in the same manner as if they had themselves euregistered them . With respect to Russian servants employed in shops , they-shall in like manner be euregistered by the tribunals established for that purpose , in the cities where those shops shall he ; and their masters shall be responsible for them in matters of trade , and in the purchases which they shall have inade in their name .

XXI . In the case of Russian merchants who are in debt to British merchants upon bills of exchange , or who have made contracts for the delivery of merchandize not paying their bills of exchange , or not delivering' their merchandize at the place or at the time agreed upon and mentioned in the said bills or contracts , the College of Commerce , after complaints to that effect shall have been made , and proofs given , shall summons them three times , granting them sufficient time to appear in person , and if they allow it to elapse without appearing , the said College shah condemn them , and shall send an exwess , at the expence of the

plaintiff " , to the governors and to the tribunals of government , enjoining them to P'K the sentence into execution , and thereby compel the debtors 10 fulfil their engagements . And if the demands shall be found frivolous or unjust , then the British merchants shall be obliged to pay the damage which they shall have occasioned either by the loss of time , or by the expellees of the voyage . XXII . The brack shall be established with justice , and the brackers shall be answerable for the quality of the ' mercbaiy . iize , and for fraudulent packages , and obligedupon sufficient proofs against themto pay for the losses which lhey have

, , occasioned . XXfll . A regulation shall be made in order to prevent the abuses which may be practised in the packing of leather , hemp , and lint ; and if any disputes should happen between the purchaser and the seller respecting the weight or the tare of any merchandize , the Custom-house shall decide it according to equity . XXI V . In every thing which relates to taxes and duties upon the importation VO . L . IX . S