Star. — London, England, 1831-08-01 00:00:00

CONTRYA ACT FOR CANADA INCH MASTS RDS, BOWSPRITS, TIMBER, kc. NAVY-OFFICE, JULY SS, 1831. iIHE Principal Officers and Commissioners of J. his 'Majesty's Navy do hereby give Notice, that en WEDNESDAY, the 17th of Amuse nest, at One o'Clock, t bey will be ready to treat with such Persons as may be willing to contract for supplying bb Majeily's several Dock Yards with CANADA YELLOW PINE INCH MASTS, YARDS, BOWSPRITS, RAFTERS. ROCK ELM TIMBER, THICKSTUFF, YELLOW PINE, and WHITE ASH TIMBER. A distribution of the Articles and a Form of the Tender coy be seen at this Office. No Tender will be received sae; One o'Oock, on the Day of Treaty, nor any noticed, unless the Party or an Agent for him attends. E ve ry Tender must be accompanied by a Letter addressed to the Navy Board, and signed by two responsible Persons, o gsging to become bound with the Person tendering, In the u m of £5OOO, for the due performance of the Contract. G. SMITH. O\ SATURDAY NEXT, AUGUST 6, will V bepublisbed SIXTEEN QUARTO PAGES For FOURPENCE. Tug Atavisms JoossAs. or LreskaTgag, AND Aar, containing as much matter as oats-sura an era. nary octavo volume. Published every Saturday at the Mice, 7. Galeria,- eteet, London. e e • To prevent disappointment, &bedlam ha Telmer Country are requested to give their orders As sass! As r•aan.a to a Bookseller or Newsman In their Immediate . neighbourhood. HAMPSHIRE. MANOR AND ESTATE OF BOTLEY, In the County of HANTS, LAND-TAX REDEEMED. TO BE SOLD BY AUCTION, At the GEORGE INN, WINCHESTER. Oa SATURDAY, the 6th day of AUGUST Instant, at Two o'Clock in the Afternoon, by direction of the Trustees for Sale under the will of the late Henry Eyre, Esq. IN ONE OR MORE LOTS, As may be agreed upon at the Ti-ne of Sale ; r IHOSE exceedingly valuable and finely tim ll ESTATES, beautifully situate in the parishes art Butley and Droxford, in the county of Hants, seven miles !row Southampton, twelve from Portsmouth, and ten from WinehLster ; consisting of the MANOR of BOTLRY, -. hereof are holden THREE HUNDRED AND SIXTY ACRES Of Copybold LAND, subject to Fines arbitrary, Heriots, Quit Rents, with extensive Rights of Common ; and t pusnis of • EIGHT HUNDRED ACRES Of erellert Arable and Pasture LAND and WOODS, ntaining he finest Navy Timber, on the banks of the Bur,ledon Ricer, running into So uthampton Water, the Clppice an Underwood in Botley being free from Tithe. This E•tate, as a whole, presents great advantages, from union with the Manor ; its high character for the growth of tine timber, with the convenience of water carriage imme. dietely connecting it with Portsmouth ; its lying so com. pact; king exonerated from Land Tax ; its proximity to Southampton ; and the freedom from Tithes of the Cop y.:e at d Underwood in Botley. The Land is in a good state of cultivation, and in the occupation of opulent Tenants, And the Estate is conveniently intersected by excellent Roads. 31uch of the Timber is Navy Timber, being chiefly Oak, .nd very prosperous. The ccntiguity to the Bursledon River (some of the Cop vial standing upon ha banks) enables the Timber to be aswn down and shipped immediately for PortemouthDock nd ; and in other instances the land carriagevaries from ut half ;Valk to a mile tembe wharfs at Boa y, which ...ansunioate, by the navigable river Ramble, with the wharfs Burdedow-bridge, distant about two miles and a half, and ;ram the heaviest of the timber one mile. The Estate may be viewed by application to the Tenants. Particulars had of Mr. Geary, Land-agent and Surveyor, Farehani, Hants ; at the principal Inns in the neighbour tod of the Estate ; and of Messrs. Fladgate, Young, and Ickson, Solicitors, 12, Fissex.street, London; where a Plan 4.4 the Manor may be sew. BUTLER'S FLUID EXTRACT OF SARSAPA. RILL& 42ARSA PARILLA has of late years been used as 14) an alterative in Scrofulous A&ctions, Scurvy, and other cutaneous Diseases, and is considered by the most eminent Surgeons of the present day as the very best Medi eine for re-establishing the constitution after it has under gone the effects of Mercury, or has been injured by what is denominated Secondary Symptoms. This Fluid Extract contains all the properties of the root, in a concentrated state, keep for any length of time, and the Decoction is made it one mince. iota in bottles at 4s 6d, 7/ 6d, and 20s. by 3lesen. Butler, Chemists, cotnii of St. Paul's, and the prin cipal Druggists and Booksellers. Of whom may be had BUTLER'S l:0111 FOUND ESSENCE OF CUBEBS. —This Preparation is recommended for those afiections arising from diseases of the Kidneys, Bladder, &c. and that class of diseases generally in which the use of the Dabebs has been found so serviceable. It bottles at 4s 6d, tts 6d, and 20s. VI Ask for Butler's Fluid Extract of Sarsaparilla. New and Improved ditioa•. GOSS'S WORKS. Twentieth Edition, ss. each. I.IIHE ..EGIS OF LIFE.--I " Homineni pagina nastra sapit. "Our page relates to man."—Ma am& A Non-Medical Commentary on the indiscretions aria g from Human Frailty, in which the nature, symptoms, at:cl baneful effects of Self-abuse, Iniemptrance, and Libertinism, &c. are fully developed ; with Practical Ob serrations on Sexual Debility and Mental Irritation, with some interesting Observations on Vegetable and Animal Lite: in Part 11. is a series of Cases illustrative of the pre ceding subjects, explaining them in a familiar manner. By GOSS and Co. Consulting Surgeons, London. " Natura beads Omnibus ease dedit, si quit cognoverit uti."—Ctrentias " Since Heaven to .11 the fund of bliss supplies, Its frugal application marks the wise." 2. THE SYPHI LIST, a familiar treatise on dirand.rs arising from Lues Vencrea, Gonorrhea, Stricture, &c. with a satiety of remarks occurring in a most extensive practice, cavil section explained by cases. ANA, a non-medical analysis of some com plaints incidental to females, as Lencorrliwa, Nervous Irri tation, &c. in which arc off ered some important admonitions tot the peculiar debilities attending their circumstances, sympathies, and formation. The subject of stsrility is especially dwelt upon. Interesting and important cases illus trate the subject. " Quo high Venus ? lieu ! quove color &cans ?" Hor. Lib. 4, Od. 12. Whither flies Love ? Ah ! where the charming bloom ?" Ile above may be had of Sherwood and Co. Paternoster. war, London ; 86, Trongate, Glasgow ; 9, Caton -street, Edinburgh; Wrightson, Birmingham ; Duff.eld, Bath; ' Reid, Bristol ; Weller, Chel.enbam ; Loder, Brighton ; Wood, Huntingdon ; Hatt, Cambridge ; Trewman, Exe ter Bacon and Co. Norwich; Dee*, Ipswich ; Hobson, Leeds: Gore and Soo, Liverpool ; Solder. Manchester; Plitt and Todd, Sheffield; Slat ter, Olford ; Brodie and Dowding, Salisbury; and of all Booksellers—Price Ss. each. Messrs. GOBS and Co. are to he consulted, as umiak "try day, at their house ; and Patients in the remotest tarts of the Country, can be treated suceessfulty on desert bit% minutely the ease, and enclosing a remittance for advice and Medicine, which cars be forwarded to any part of the mold. No diffitultycan occur. as the medicines twilit, Se curely packed and carefully protected from observation. • GOSS and Co. M. IL C. Surgeon*, No. 11, liesverie. i 'r.e:, Pliet-street, Laotian. MONDAY EVENING, AUGUST 1, 1831. N°. 13,850. LITERATURE. Re/Ise/ions on some Pointe of the Law, lances Debtor and Creditor, and en the constituent character o f the insol vent Court, artreetad Jr.. a Pamphlet under that title, to site the power to an Theelveni Debtor, 'Atheist any imprisonment, on an early and whoa/try sur render, as is the ogee of Anokrtipts, to come in and take the benefit qf the Ate. Should that proposition ever be thought worthy of consideration, the first objection taken to it will be its novelty. Advocates of imprisonment for debt do, indeed, arise, who keenly oppose every reform ; a perpetual war is waged between the abuse and the remedy. They fiy to the forlorn hope of every prejudies; setting op the cry of novelty and innovation. But the more ancient the abuse, the sooner it should cease. I shall here observe, that if its novelty be a sufficient objection to every reform of the law, we must also reject as law, every rule and every maxim, from which have resulted the progress and melioration of English jurisprudence. The abro gation of all the amendments must follow, for which we are indebted to the Lytteltons, the Cookes, the Hardwicks, the Peels, who, with cir cumstances, have interpreted the law and the con stitution, in opposition to false, though victorious opinions of the times in which they lived. Con suetudinis ususque longevi non vilisauctoritas est: vcrum non usque adeo sui valetura moment°, at ant rationem vincat ant legem, 1. 2. But the law of sudden imprisonment for debt is, by the super stitious reverence of lawyers, considered of the irrevocable class. " If the same principles were inexorably pursued, what would be the conse quence ? that, in the process of time, the business of legislation would be at end : the conduct and fate of men would be determined by those, who neither knew nor cared any thing about the matter ; and the aggregate body of the living would remain ever in subjection to an inexorable tyranny, exercised, as it were, by an aggregate body of the dead." It is not however a little remarkable, that Lord Vyndford, then Mr. St. Best, in the debate on Lord Redesdale's amended Insolvent Act, in which the principle of the cessio bonorum was first introduced, made the following liberal observa tions ; from which, in his Fraudulent Debtors' Bill, he seems to have retrograded. " To the principle of this measure, and to the policy of rendering Imprisonment unnecessary, on the honest surren der of the debtor's property, he was not hostile; but as it stood at present, it made no difference between the honest and the fraudulent debtor. It was said to be founded on the principle of the ceasio bononses, but not suiliciently so. He wished it to be carried farther on that plan. He wished to make this eeuio &moron. in some cases, preventive of the imprisonment, which insolvency was likely to occasion. There were many individuals, for whom passing the threshold of a prison was as severe a punishment as pro tracted confinement. The idea of it was revolting to their minds. The present bill did not offer these any relief ; it did not go far enough. He wished to present a temptation I to a timely settlement; and to induce debtors, as soon as ' they found themselves likely to become insolvent, not to hold their creditors at arm's length, but to immediately call them, and adopt the only means which could procure a sa tisfactory arrangement to all parties, securing the one against further losses, and the other against ctmlinement.— He would, therefore, propene a clause enacting, that debtors rendered insolvent by proved misfortunes, and coming forward in time to satisfy their creditors as to their real condition. should have the benefit of the act without being sent to prison. If they were to be confined even three I months only, then the greater part of the money they might', still possess would, in that period, have passed into the hands of jailers and other persons, to the real detriment of the creditors." A member in reply to these observations said, that " imprisonment is not recognised by the law as a punishment, but to enforce the discovery of property and the payment of demands." Then if it be nut considered a punishment, its infliction which constitutes its disgrace, is with the warm approbation of the gentleman, to be permitted, as a torture. A creditor, a private, an angry and dis appointed individual, may therefore employ the interdictio tyre et ignis; ho may use it at his pleasure, to enforce and constrain, by its sudden anti harsh violence, a man to do that, which, nine times in ten, he may have no means of perform ing. In the early and barbarous ages of the Romani republic, the same cruel and absurd practice was the law mtainst debtors. But when that republic advanced in civilization and refinement, the cessio bonorum was introduced, and the hideous bru tality abolished. Omni quoque corporuli cruciatu senwto.—Cod. 7. 71. But, before its abrogation, the creditor might confine his debtor in privato careers; whip and torture him at his discretion, to coerce or to enforce the discovery of property and the payment of demands, or, in default of which, take a legal satisfaction in the indulgence of savage resentment Imprisonment, however cruel and unrelenting, being recognised by the law a satisfaction, not a punishment, may, it seems, b advantageously and justifiably employed, without limit and without mercy. But where is the proportion between the damage done to the creditor, and the cruel satisfliction so profusely assigned to him ? The sum for which he proceeds can never be put into competition with the personal liberty of his debtor. When the debt is contracted, to consummate the injustice-of taking the body in execution, it is never in the contem plation of either of the parties, that the liberty of the debtor's person should be hypothecated for the payment of it. It is said, that if he did not coerce, yr. in other words, torture his body, he would run the risk of losing his demand. Is there a cotnpa. rison between the loss of a sum of money, and the privation of a man's liberty ? The money could be spared, or there would not have been a creditor. But when a debtor loses his personal freedom, he loses his all. The imprisonment of his person is, ezeept death, the severest infliction of the law- The coastrainiug a man, the father of a family,Au o ur _ render his person, to enforce on • surmise of his , being solvent, the discovery of property, of which he may have none, or the payment of a debt that he has not the means of discharging, is a mistake the most absurd and barbarous ever committed io legislation. This strange tyranny, the peculiar opprobrium and scandal of our law, is exposed and reprobated by the most enlightened philosophers, statesmen, and lawyers. The act of Lord Redesdalo, sa a permanent measure, on the principle of the cessio boxerunt and the term of imprisonment, to he fixed by law, if properly understood, and equality administered, is a great acquisition for the public; inasmuch as it has set up a leading proposition on which every necessary and meliorating reform might be apdy smi — itresdently engrafted. By dm curio boosernm;Tuider certain restrictions, on tut honest and fair surrender of property, the body oll.the debtor is to be discharged from confinement. ,A law borrowed from the code of Justinian, immemo rially established in Scotland, and every where practised on the continent of Europe. In every civilized and commercial city, it has been long and uniformly acted upon and approved. This princi ple, so obvious to common sense, so congenial to enlightened policy and humanity, was most perti naciously resisted, from the blindest prejudice, and the most deplorable repugnance, at every improve ment in our civil code. The true cause, however, of the great evil of innumerable insolvent debtors now annually to be relieved, had escaped his lordship's consideration. The original evil continues with all its inevitable and fatal consequences. I fear, as long as the sudden arrest on mean process, with its destruc tive practice, the perennial sources of wretchedness, the great fountains of sorrow remain undrained, the jails must fill. It is the sieve of the Danaids ; as fast as arbitrary authority empties the prisons of its victims, sordid ferocity, in still greater num bers, gluts them again, " dirnit sedificat." There is the secret, there is the whole policy of the law of imprisonment for debt; as much the scourge as the dishonour of England. The spring must be dried up, or the waters of bitterness will continue to flow. If the efforts of reason and humanity have been feeble and unavailing against the ty ranny of prejudice and custom, much may be pre sumed from zeal and information. Deeply imbued with these sentiments, it will be readily conceived, that I would carry my re form to the radical cure of the evil ; and that, under certain restrictions, I would entirely abolish the law of imprisonment for debt. " Bona debi toris non corpus obnoxium ease :" the debtor's goods should be taken, but his person should be free. I must ever remain attached to that opi nion, as long as nothing else is opposed to it than a chimerical inconvenience; an usurped and arbi- trary practice, in which the first process is in ex ecution of the highest nature. Imprisonment, the only notice given to the victim of his prosecution, who, without the opportunity to object to the alle gations on which it is founded, becomes instantly surrounded by the furies of the law.—The hideous prison opens to receive him, and be suffers before he is judged. I can feel no parti ality for a law, discordant in its principles and re voking in its punishments, striking carelessly and indiscriminately the innocent and the guilty. It does not even inquire after crime. It seems to seek only the unfortunate ; it is on the poor and mid dling orders that it inflicts all its ruin. Can I entertain any other opinion, when the law against debto-s is more severe than that against atrocious felons, .and by condemning the debtor to a per perpetual and starving imprisonment, indicts a pu nishment more cruel than death. The felon has his aliment, his maintenance ; the imprisoned debtor is without support, and often perishes of want. Can I conceive any thing more atrocious than that, under the pretext of a possible inconvenience the whole order of justice should be reversed, and that the infliction of punishment in a savage im prisonment should be the commencement of a pe nal process. It partakes of the same barbarism as when, before the immortal Beccaria, by his divine book on crimes and pnnishments, accomplished the abolition of torture, the limbs were dislocated, the flesh by burning pincers torn from the bones, and the punishment given in advance, as the bert cri terion of discrimination between the innocent and the guilty. In the eyes of humanity, an accused is ouly an unfortunate ; in the eyes of justice be is still innocent. It is the humane maxim of our law. But in the case of the debtor it authorises every injustice ; with respect to him, the practice is a manifest violation of that sacred rule, it pro ceeds on the presumption against innocence. Be fore any conviction, it exacts, except death, the severest penalty known to the law. On the first surmise, on a perjured affidavit, without warning, without notice, before trial and before judgment; the debtor is hurried to a loathsome confinement, subjected to every privation and disease, and disre garded as much by the law, as by his destroyer. His family, whom he once supported, left pining in indigence and in the extreme of wretchedness. It is not in the power of man to make reparation for evils so great and overwhelming. But surely, by the ruin being irreparable the necessity of the remedy not being delayed, to so monstrous an op pression, is not rendered less imperious and less urgent. It is no fanciful case Let the prisons be exa mined, and it will be found that the majority con sists of prisoners confined on what is called mesne process ; that is, on arrests before judgment. Now before a judgment has been obtained, ought any thing to be taken from the most obscure citisen, even the meanest utensil in his apartment ! Can his person be less sacred than the conch on which he reposes ? On a warrant issued with poacher formelity than on the affidavit of a creditor, or pre sumptive creditor, and with no other notice, his supposed debtor is committed to prison. It ahhe be said, be may give bail. But where are the' poor to find bail ? The poor have only the poor for relations and friends. Where Gan he find it, when that scandalous arrest bas ruined his reputation and credit ? where can he find it. at the moment when he sees the frail edifice of his industry crumbling under him ? at a moment, when he himself, who the night before indulged the Battering perspective of the future, has lost all hopes of prosperity ? Is it possible not to sae, in this penal process between debtor and creditor, the most atrocious defects. It always exceeds the measure in its punish ments, it multiplies and aggravates the misfortunes which it ought to mitigate ; it is not the criminal, but the unwary and the unfortunate, that it pur sues with all its vengeance. I dare not flatter myself, from the powerful in terests which oppose it, with the hope of accom plishing, by these observations, reforms so necess ary, or, that this atrocity of our law will be soon sr entirely abrogated. But I cannot pass to other ensiderations, without anxiously urging its re peal, as it relates to women. It is impossible to resist a lively sentiment of compassion for so large sad interesting a portion of society. Imprisonment often destroys not only one unfortunate, but per haps a whole family, not for what she has dons, but for what sho had no power of doing. It is not her conduct, but her poverty which constitutes her swims, and overwhelms her in misfortune. This most barbarous and terrible scourge, under the name of law, does not seize its victims from the most abject. On the lowest wretchedness it avoids to prey ; but carries its devastations into that class, who, living respectably, are anxious to preserve a decent appearance, and to acquire some distinc tions, as modest as their manners. Confined strictly to necessaries, never above want, when a disap- pointment supervenes, nothing is left to give as a redemption from the inhuman law. What then becomes of the asylum of pure morals and indus trious poverty ? Every thing is lost, because they did not do what they had no means to perk's. Innocent and virtuous ; confined among the vicious and the profligate, they are overcome by the misery which leads to crime. Abandoned to !be severities of extreme justice, the hand of Despair eradicates the seed of every virtue. She becomes lost in the paths of shame, who, bad fortune placed her in less dreadful circumstances, would never have wandered from the career of honour. It is misfortune and calamity that offer to the angry law the victims immolated on its altars. The imprisonment of women for debt, I am convinced, answers not one geeffor useful purpose of society, and is often the primary cause of depravity and prostitution. It is obvious, that the visitation of that cruel law must fall with peculiar malignity on women, so often unprotected and destitute. " Far more she seems, and in, than man forlorn, More rudely from her proper station torn." The necessity of an efficient remedy to this great abuse becomes everyday more evident. The reform is loudly and universally called for. The voice of the public is joined to that of reason and humanity in attesting, that the laws, by which the abuse is principally upheld, for the most part grown up in barbarous times and odious in their origin, ale un just and savage in their execution. The subject is most interesting ; and taking confidence from my zeal, I shall proceed in the attempt to support my proposition, that of " ex tending the benefit of the act to all prisoners with out reference to the length of imprisonment ;" and, upon an honest surrender of the property of an insolvent, for the benefit of his creditors, of rendering imprisonment unnecessary. It will be generally conceded, without going into nicer distinctions, that insolvents might be divided into three classes ; the unfortunate, the extravagant, and the fraudulent. It is to be la mented, that none of our laws have hitherto ad mitted that distinction. But bow important and how necessary, that it should be accurately as certained ? Yet the laws continue silent : and the irreparable evils, which that error never fails to bring after it, have not discountenanced its precipitate approbation and repetition. The honest and the fraudulent are confounded ; and every idea ofiroportion in the punishment disregarded. I am aware of the delicate shades which separate guilt from innocence; but if there be a difficulty in drawing the line, it is not creditable to the legisla ture always to postpone the difficulty without any attempt to overcome it. The most essential laws are those which prevent crimes ; and the man who commits an injustice, and he who does not obstruct it when in his power, are equally guilty. Est sa pientia judicis en hoc, of non solum quid possit, sed aims quid debeca, ponderet I Justice de mands that the honest insolvent, willing to make a surrender of his effects, should not be confounded with the impostor, who, to enrich himself, becomes bankrupt to rob his creditors of their property, The present system is pregnant with two dang ers. that of giving impunity to fraud, and of punising the honest but unfortunate. The same principle which determines the magistrate in his severity towards the guilty, ought to awaken his caution lest he should destroy those who are net so. If justice be the first duty of a magistrate, humanity ought to be his first virtue. But the greatest out rage is committed on justice and common sense, in considering every insolvent, without distinction, a criminal ; the law admitting no degree in the punishment of the most hardened offender or the most innocent prisoner. it is time that a wiser and more equitable legislation should be introduced, one which wilt distinguish indiscretion and the casual absence of prudence, from premeditated und• inveterate profligacy ; which will not plunge indilibrently, into the same gulf of, rein and ignominy, the baroviefie insolvent,•poe mean •every claim tor minshieratioa and indul-' genes, and the deliberate and practised offender, who inspires only sentiments of indignation. Th l / 4 abuse is acknowledgml, yet it is permitted to pre vail. The unfortunate, the dupe, and the knave, are, in the eye of the law, alike criminal, and put , sued with the same severity. The argument supporting this mistake - is, that credit must not be destroyed ; that it is essential to the prosperity of society that credit should be freely given and taken. Those who hold that ar , crument, and are for inflicting impriaonment upon all insolvents without distinction, become involved in this contradiction and 'humility. They intiA that credit is generally and mutually advantageous; that it is as lawful to tike as to give it : yct they immediately affix guilt on ltim who obtains it ; hi crime begins when he continent the debt, and ac cepts the,credit. Thus;, crime is annexed to that which they declare to be indispensable and the moat cruel, homicidal punit.lcumt kneel to the law, is in waiting to overtake it. It is tin more repugnant to common sense, am it mikes n, distinction between him, spew whom it may hays been forced, at a time when there was cNery more probability of securing not only reimbursement, but considerable profit, and between the adven turer, guilty of the fraud of contracting a debt without any view to the means of payment. It the more absurd, as it frequently happens, that hi who gave credit is more criminal than he who ac oepta it. If the giving credit we a compulsory there would be a greater show of re :son in taking the body of a debtor, as a estisfactios in default of punctuality. But credit is entirely optional, and the risk is considered iu the price. As the perso nal liberty of the debtor is never hypothecated upon his acceptance of credit, it can in no case be equitable or reasonable that he should be coerced of it. Yet the law confiscates, in case of failure, the body of the debtor who accepts credit, and with the aid of the Insolvent Court, annexes dis grace to the punishment of a felon. It is alleged that credit is for the purposes of commerce; yet imprisonment, to support it, wa: found so destrucrive of that end, so ineriiiveniao impolitic, and oppressive, that it was tlibeotari..:, , , and taken away by the bankrupt laws. But if im prisonment to support it be intended as a emit, it should be preceded by a convie..i..n. of the verdict of a jury ; if as a sacsfaction to ,Tratif , siiva,se resentment, it would be ateocio3s. Buz it be maxim of the law, that iutprkonrnent for debt is considered nut a punishment, but to an'o:or the discovery of property, an early cession woul, render it unnecessary. If, upon a voluntary and full di4covery, the law should continue neverthe less to confine, impris.mment would become not only unreasonable end prejudicial, but would ' corrupted into useless vexation, and oppresk, injustice. It should be grounded on a sensibh- a jest cause; a reason and motive should be Assigned Oa direct it. To decree an imprisonment for ar months, or three days, as a punishment, in t commencement of a civil process, and without i quiry, and in every cue of insolvency, is to connect the idea of punishment with the presumption of innocence: it is to adjudge a certain punishment to an uncertain offenc.t. Propositions repugnant and incompatible with every idt a of criminal jus tice. An honest and early surrender of property. giving a protection against the ignominy tf prison, would, it appears to me, inspire and eu courage sentiments of honesty and good faim Such is the human heart, tl:at it is irritated at dis trust and prohibition, but sodued by contid-tc.e. When the cession of property is a willing sac thee, it becomes a point of honour; but coerced and ett forced by the squalor of a jail, it a.isstmes the elc.- racier of a compulsory proceeding, and is degradt..l into humiliating punishint nt. It would indeed oe the perfection and triuntili of legislation to rem!..r prisons unnecessary ; but we cann...t, eveu hove .or so much virtue. Let us aspire only to tinder the occasion of them less frequent and less necessary. By permitting the surrender of property to ex clude imprisonment, it would bring, under its et-u -siderate and protecting wing, all those penguins a ho are no less an object of couspassion, and ought to be considered in the provisions of ten act, intended as a general and permanent relief of insolvents—l mesa those wretched fugitives, who, flying front the horror and the disgrace of a jail, exhaust ail that remains of fortune in ruin to themse:ves, without benefit to their creditors ; who at hide and-seek, lead a miserable, wandering and en pbond life. " Exilioque demos et dulcis lamina mutant." To what dangers, to what privations, to what torturing anxieties, are they not con stantly exposed ? expecting every hour the htal term to arrive, in which all their apple lbensions will be turned into realities; when, with blighted prospects and ruined fortunes, the - hags of a preposterous and inconsiderate law will hstsa upon them ; when a disordered imagination extinguishes every hope, and magnifies every fear ; when— " Still as they run they look behind, They hear a voice in every wind, And snatch a fearful joy when every abode appears a prison, and every hiend a traitor. The cruelty of such a situation is, that the lees it is deserved, the more it afflicts. The guilty, in expecting, are prepared to support it ; the innocent sink under it. That relief shook' be administered, and the remedy extended to a class, as numerous as it is distressed, suffering all the tortures of a real evil in the expectation of a great approaching calamity, is as much called fo r by humanity as it is by prudence and necessity. It will scarcely therefore be doubted that, with out any imprisonment, or the shorter the term of imprisonment, on the surrender of effects, it would be the more beneficial to the creditor ; for it is ob vious, the more protracted the confinement of aim insolvent, the greater will be the waste of property. To take a man from that labour, by which he sup ports himself and family, to keep him in confine ment, has been found by experience to be as una• Imitable to secure the payment of debts, as ►t is injurious to society. It would be equally just as it respecti the cre ditor, that a compulsory, as well as voluntary sur render should be enacted, in all mow in which the debt was acknowledg4d by tognevit; by a judg ment, or when the debtor was charged in tit ration. An early surrender would then swim the means • H of eatiafying.tbe demands of creditors, now ex hantted injqd, or tram a honor at imprMonment, in the ninon expense of /yang from it. • la reference to bankrupts. Sir Wink= Stich • elearlas laid it Sows, 4 •Tht - tite hiw k extteatery • to detect the man whoa* ciretuaelesese ire declining in the first instance, or, at last, as early as possible, that the cream seay receive as U ~. 41 111 e Oi (I IC .41 0/ I; Fi oVIS1 01 .41W21 ) 111.1"22 1788. PRICE SEVENPENCE. rho ye, ur- hat tint be ar • wrJ red us; 3e7 hie de • t.) iR ; wn thP nu Iwo at, ,n. iy 3t ho ac- ory ing t of and •so- ,ted be I of the ith dis- t of xas 4 ;1 IMF • 1 I 611 t:ty z if 1.4 t.ce ft lid the- not I be rt.e a a 'nett hr e t se t it- OPOt