The Sun.
London, England, 1853-11-14 00:00:00

come—

" When languid JOHNNY glows to glorious JOHN,"
it may yet be questioned whether past occurrences
have actually brought about an irretrievable loss
of character to the present Administration. The
perfectly monstrous arrogance of the position at
last assumed by the Russian AUTOCRAT may just
possibly, at the eleventh hour and three quarters,
drive the Coalition into a course worthy in some
manner of a British Government.

Important and interesting as have been the
various inquiries instituted under the auspices of
the Society for Promoting the Amendment of the
Law, there is one subject of paramount conse-
quence which has not yet been touched on. No
question respecting the propriety or utility of im-
prisonment for debt has been referred to a com-
mittee to report on. Thousands of British citi-
zens are kept in a state worse than felons, for
there is no certainty with respect to the duration
of their punishment. The Crown itself cannot
remit the punishment to which they are subjected.
Convicts who have been sentenced to transporta-
tion beyond the seas for life or for protracted
terms of years, may obtain tickets of leave, au-
thorising them to remain at large during good
behaviour. No such relaxation is permitted to
the mere debtor, who could not, even on
the most undoubted security for his return, be
released for a single hour to receive the last sad
greetings from a dying wife or child. And yet
the causes that led to this extreme rigour have
been greatly, if not altogether, removed. It is
impossible for a person now to retain adverse
possession of property. There are so many modes
in which creditors can attack any kind of
estate, real or personal, that we cannot now,
as iu the olden time, see men living
luxuriously in prisons on the money that ought
to be applied in liquidation of their just liabilities.
That system is altogether changed through the
alterations in the law, and why should not its
adjunct, that of detaining men, who have nothing
to give up in close confinement, casting their sup-
port on the counties in which they are incarce-
rated, and that of their helpless families on the
several unions in which they may be entitled to
settlements ? Thousands are exposed to this
iniquitous system, punished without having done
anything worthy of punishment, and that not on
the sentence of a competent tribunal, but at the
mere will and pleasure of an exasperated, and too
often a vindictive, creditor, and not for a fixed or
certain period, but for an indefinite term, until
the sufferer be totally forgotten ; his creditor
being removed to another world, and there being
no person on earth capable of giving him a dis-
charge. Surely the system that tolerates such
proceedings, or under cover whereof they are
transacted, imperatively demands a close and
searching investigation. Surely, even if some
portion of it should necessarily be retained, the
gross and palpable abuses ought to be removed,
and that fully and completely, so that no ves-
tige thereof may remain as a memorial to posterity
of the folly and wickedness of their ancestors.
We have already stated that the only cause for
which imprisonment for debt was tolerated—
namely, a compulsory surrender of property—has
been removed. If not, let any possible enactment
be framed for that purpose—let the debtor, who
declines paying after a certain notice, be divested
of every particle of property, and let him when
called on be compelled to attend before a Judge,
and to give ample information on every point
on which it may be required or desirable ; but let
him not be subject to arrest at any moment,
liable to be dragged away from his family, from
his employment—deprived of the means of earning
an honest livelihood, with all his prospects in life
blasted and destroyed, because a creditor chooses
recklessly and wantonly to exercise a power with
which he has been very improvidently entrusted.
It is impossible to estimate the amount of mischief
that has been occasioned to innocent persons by
the imprudent use of this dangerous weapon, and
that without any corresponding benefit ; or, in-
deed, the slightest advantage whatsoever to the
creditors. We are firmly covinced that money
which might otherwise be paid is constantly lost
to creditors, and so is the amount expended in
bringing parties through the Insolvent Court,
which, we believe, far exceeds the amount re-
ceived by creditors through its intervention.
It may be said that this Insolvent Court affords a
means to every person of getting free. It is un-
questionably a great improvement on the older
system, and affords a vast quantity of relief to
those who, but for its aid, would linger in hope-
less misery. But, without taking into considera-
tion the injury done by the publicity that attends
s u
all the proceedings, and which prevents a person
who has gone throughintdheepeonrddeenatl
mfroamn,
whichb =.e-
quently becoming an
paralyses his exertions through life, exercising
the most demoralising influence—there are many
unable to avail themselves of its assistance.
There are hundreds too poor to become insolvents,
who are without the means of going through the
court. It must be remembered that it costs, in
any case at all complicated, from 201. to 401. to
obtain the benefit of the act ! and that in many
instances the bill which must be liquidated before
the hearing greatly exceeds the latter amount—a
sum not often within the means of a prisoner in
close confinement, who is not, according to the
theory, allowed to make away with his pro-
perty, but in practice is compelled to do so if he
wishes to obtain relief. The Insolvent Court may
still be necessary for the administration of estates
and effects ; but other inquiries should be insti-
tuted before an appeal thereto be rendered indis-
pensable. In nine cases out of ten there is no
property to be distributed. No dividend is paid
to the creditor. Why, then, send the nine cases
iittnsnjeucreisd
saaill
ri tol take up the time of the Court ?
Why bring parties uselessly and wantonly within

It may be asked, by what means would we sub-
ject the fraudulent debtor to punishment, and
insure the fair division of his assets amongst the
creditors. Although it is not our duty to provide
a substitute, it being sufficient to point out
the evil, and leave it to the 'wisdom of Parliament
to discover an adequate remedy, we shall offer a
we believe, prove effec-
suggestion which would,