The Sun.
London, England, 1844-06-24 00:00:00

No. 16,179. LONDON, MONDAY EVENING SUN 7 JUNE 24, 1844.

PRICE sd.

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• N
)MPRISONMENT FOR DE (~•-•
. FROM A CORRESPONDENT.)
Under this vague expression, which mean u u
• z-
as another expression in common use —"
no crime "—and both ineaningnothing, much r 111-
ous conduct is extenuated,:and much evil-loin44ll,_T r,
petrated with impunity. A man, true"enough7salitax t-f•Aiam
-to be imprisoned for debt any more than' he is to be
hanged for killing-anian, but both are to be punished
.accerding.to.the animus which caused the acts. And
he who has gained credit—he who has been entrusted
with his neighbour's goods or his money, having given
his distinct promise 7 to restore that withiwhill he has
been trusted—who,his. been_ believed ,on h's solemn
promise, and then does not restore aseqrding' to his
promise, is yet not to be punished, if by.real, clearly
'defined misfortune, he be unable, so, to qo ; but if be
become unable, so, to. do, from voluntary aot'S, either ..
before he made the promise, or from voliinbry acts ~•
after he made the promise, or knowing at the time that
he should be unable
.to UM his pronii,e,'-th4 he
punishment-worthy, ftir he has voluntarily injured his
neighbour, he has done what in him lid; to des:rey
confidence between man and man, and is so far
a public
_enemy. His degree of wrong will. depend
upon the class of voluntary acts he has committed : he
msy'have been id!e, and as a mechanic has neglected
hi, work, or has worked only four days a-week in-
stead of six, whereas he agreed to do the contrary,
for, in every act of credit- taking, it
is most distinctly 'implied, that a man shall
put himself -in -a situation and continue in it, by
which he will alone be able to 'fulfil his promise ;
or, as a tradesman, or merchant, or banker,
he most distinctly, yet tacitly, promises that he will
use all due diligence, and observe good, industrious
business habits, for if he does not do all this he volun-
tarily places himself so as to be unable to keep his pro-
mise., Or as a gentleman, a clergyman, or nobleman
when he borrows money, or gets wine and other lima
ries on credit, he distinctly promises that he is in arid
will pursue such a course as alone will enable him to
keep his engagement; and thus ex uno disce oirines, in
every case of credit, idleness and extravagance, or
voluntary acts of the least criminal character, which
render a man unable to keep his word, and which vo-
luntary acts he also -Finalises not to do. deuce be
who becomes insolvent by reason of his idleness and
extravagance has done an act and acts which are in-
jurious to the public, and he deserves to be punished.
Still more so, when it is considered that he who took
his solemn promise is quite unable to know and to
Watch whether he does pursue the requisite course of
conduct. He who lent the money on the goods can
only know how he can give the credit which is asked ;
he can but very imperfectly know how his debtor can
take the credit ; that is the matter for the debtor
alone to know. All this seems so simply clear,
that it were a waste of words—it were crush-
ing a gnat on a wheel, to make such a
parade of reasoning, were it not that quite
the contrary is spoken by many men about town,
who take their cue from the talk of others in high
places, commissioner of insolvency courts, legislators,
law lords, and still more, from acts of Parliament, for
all these authorities declare the contrary, and s 4, no
man should be imprisoned, who cannot pay his debts,
except by reason of fraud; s hereas, in a commercial
country like this,' where millions of treasure are and
must be every hour passing on credit among the people,
where it is absolutely indispensable that men should
believe one another, with just as much confidence, as
they go to the Exchange, believing one another that
there is no intention of assassination ; men must be
punished for every cause of voluntary insolvency.
And this would be the case,!if it were not for the pes-
tiferous influence of class legislation. If those who
were exposed to these dangers made the laws, they
would be protected ; but the laws are made by a
privileged body, who care not for the people, a pri-
vileged body, who as landlords, law lords, tithe eat-
ers, pensioners, and annuitants, haVe the debts due to
themselves secured by almost irresistible powers,
bringing in many instances (as in rents, tithes, and
taxes) all the machinery they themselves have pecu-
liarly devised, to obtain their claims, and then,
having so done, they " do a bit of humanity ;"
indulge in the luxury of a little cheap bene-
volence by crying out against the unprotected cre-
ditor, who is seeking to get payment of his debt
out of the small wreck that these privileged law-
makers have left, and after 20s. in the pound has been
got on their claims. There would be a little decency
in their outcry in favour of poor unfortunate insol-
vents, if they would consent to make a hodge-podge
with al the creditors ; but no, the tax-gatherer cbines
first, and takes away the bed from under the partu-
rient wife, in order to get the money wherewith to
pay the 5,0001. a-year pension to Lord Brougham,
and then this cosmopolitan patriot talks loudly and in-
dignantly about the cruelty of taking the husband to
gaol at the suit of the doctor, who has been called at
midnight hour, to minister his art to the sufferer,
" trusting" to payment at some future and more con-
venient time. Like the young French Prince who
saw his domestic shedding tears of heart-moving mi-
sery, said, " Why, what do you cry for, I have had
my breakfast ?" So his Lordship, whose pension is fur-
nished by the poor woman's bed, cries out to the doe-
tor who trusted, "Why do you pursue the poor hus-
band thus ? you can't have more of the cat than is ha
her skin ; if the poor family can't pay, what can you
get by imprisonment. I've got my five thousand a-
year The subject admits of interminable illustros
tion, and yet the argument itself is in a nutshell.
Rather than the whole nation should be dislocated
in its mercantile relations, and dishonesty and roguery
taught and encouraged by law, it were much better
to give the privileged classes the further privilege re-
specting debt which they claim for others, but with
the object of our protection. It is not that they care
for the poor insolvent, that they are demoralising the
whole nation ; but it is that they, of the Lords and
Commons, and the pious divines of Oxford and Cam-
bridge, may eat ices and drink champagne, and not
be troubled for payment thereof—that they should.
thus, to use a homely phrase, set their neighbour's
house on fire to roast their own eggs. Let them lire-
ware—there is but one step between public and pri-
vate dishonesty. The lax laws of the United States,
copied fl.om the mother country, destroyed the cha-
racter of their traders and merchants, and that they,
having found it convenient not to pay their private
debts, they declared they would not pay their public
debts. As with America, so will it be with England,
if this destructive amateur law-making be allowed its
course.

MEETING A MANIAC.

" The madman or idiot is universally looked upon
in West Barbary as a person to be held in reverence.
The Moor tells you that God has retained their reason
in heaven, whilst their body is on earth; and that
when madmen or idiots speak, their reason is for the
time permitted to return to them, and that their words
should be treasured up as those of inspired persons.
These wretched people are allowed to parade the
streets in a state of nudity, and the maniacs sometimes
prove most dangerous to unwary Europeans. A
French Consul-General, some years ago, was nearly
ki•led by a sainted madman, and in 1830 I had a very
narrow escape for my life from another. •
" T happened to be walking on the sea-shore with
my sister immediately below the walls of the town of
Tangier, when I espied above us a wild-looking
follow, about seventy or eighty yards off, with
a clotted head of hair that bespoke a sainted
madman, aiming at me with his long gun, which
ho had rested on the wall. We were near a rock
at the time, behind which we took refuge, and
waited there a good while, in the hope that
the madman's patience would be worn out; but he did
not stir, and the passers-by, whom I appealed to for
their interference, shook their heads, muttered some-
thing about Seedy Tayeb, which proved to be the
name of the saint, and went their way. In the mean.
time the title was rising rapidly, and we had the un-
pleasant choice of being drowned or shot. We agreed
it was better to risk the later; so telling toy sister to
run offin another direction, I stepped forward and gave
him th© preference ofa standing shot. The maniac took
aim and fired ; and I heard the ball whiz into the water
behind me. I was proceeding to run up to him by a
path which led to that part of the town wall where he
was standing, when I observed that he was coolly re.
loading his
gun ; and as the next shot at close quar-
ters might have proved more effective, I thought the
best thing I ecaild do was to follow my sister; so I
fairly too* to my heels."—Hay's Western Barbary.

HOSPITAL FOR CONSUMPTION AND DISEASES OF
THE CREST. —His Royal Highness Prince Albert has
been graciously pleased to forward the munificent sum
of 100/. in aid of the building fund of this Institution, so
that the committee are now enabled to proceed with one
wing. The total amount collected at the fancy bazaar
exceeded 9,4004, but the gross amount required to com-
plete the splendid building contemplated is 16,0004 This
Marquis of Westminster has also forwarded fifty guineas
for the same object. The benevolent founders of the in-.
stitution have great cause to congratulate themselves on
the flivourable auspices under which they taw) com-
menced their labour.
HEIRS-AT-LAW AND FORTUNri HUNTING. —We
have this week received from s person in Manchester, a
letter inquiring ;or some particulars of an advertise-
ment for a next of kin, which some one had told the
,:•;liter he believed ha had seen in a Lancashire newspa,
per, some years since, Scarcely a week passes but we
have applications. thr similar advertisements, about which
the avp,licasts are about as ranch, or even more, in the
diArk Itp an the present writer. The applications are
generally for copies of advertisements for next of kin„
but of the per in which the advertisement appeared, or
the tiont at which it was published, they, in nine eases
cu of ten, are entirely ignorant. They are generally
set upon their wild-goose chase by some one who has
heard a neighbour say that such a one believed he had
at some time or other seen Rome person who 'thought
the advertisement, had been published !" Much time is
lust, and much money thrown away, by parties who got
it into their. heads that they are the heirs to preerty,,
and act upon that idea without getting proper advice ok"
assistance,—Preston chreniole.