The Sun.
London, England, 1819-06-18 00:00:00

INSOLVENT DEBTORS;

To the Honpurahle the COMMONS of Um UNITED KING.
DOM of GREAT BRITAIN and IRELAND, in PARMA.
MENT assembled ;
THE HUMBLE PETITION

or Tne UNDERSIGNED PERSON.
CONFINED FOR DEBT
In his Majesty's Prison for Debtors for London and Middlesex :
SHEWETH,
That your Petitioners, having read the Bill, now in pro-
gress in your Honourable House, for the relief of Insolvent
Debtors, observe, with much real concern, several clauses,
which, they humbly submit, are of uncalled for severity, in-
flicting punishment un misfortune, and depriving an honest
debtor of all fUture prospects of success in business, and of all
hopes oNe:,ing able to retrieve his credit and maintain his
family, by honest exertions and application to business.
That it appears to your petitioners, that the number of
fourteen days, mentioned in the third section of the printed
bill, is too short a period, and may, insuany cases, operate as
a considerable grievance, particularly to persons in extensive
business, who, in that short space, may not be able to consult
with their friends, or so to arrange their books and affairs, as
to have it in their power to petition the Court : that it,there-
fore, appears to your petitioners that this period may, with-
out any hazard of injury to the creditors, be extended to
thirty day:.
That, by the seventh section of the intended bill, it is pro-
vided, that, after en application for his discharge shall he
made to the Court by a person in custody, no legal measures
whatever shall operate to his release, except by the order of
the intended Court; and your petitioners submit, that, in
many cases, where an arrangement and composition have
been made with nearly the whole of his creditors, he will, by
this clause, be prevented through the hostility, harshness, or
litigious spirit of one small creditor, from availing himself of
the liberality, kindness, or justice of the rest of his creditors ;
and not only be incarcerated unnecessarily, but driven to take
the benefit of the act, contrary to the wishes and interests of
himself, his creditors and society at large: they also submit,
that this clause abrogates the powers of the superior Courts,
and innovates, in a very material degree, upon the established
jurisprudential system of the Conotry.
That your petitioners fear, that the construction of the
fifteenth section of the intended bill may, if passed into a
law, in its present firm, be destructive of the principles of
public credit, by relieving securities in bona fide transac-
tions from all responsibility, merely because they had no
valuable consideration for monies, or property advanced to
others, on their security, which monies or property would
not, without such securities, have been advanced.
That nu creditor ought, in the humble opinion of your pe-
titioners, to be allowed to oppose the discharge of a debtor,
unless he has previously given, at least, two days notice of
such opposition, in order that the Insolvent may know whose
objections he has to combat.
That the incarceration of an honest man, after he has sur-
rendered the whole of his property for the benefit of his cre-
ditors, after having submitted to a full and minute investi-
gation of his conduct, and after he has been declared to
have acted fairly, honestly, and without fraud, is punishment
inflicted on misfortune, and not operating, or necessary to
prevent, or punish fraud or dishonesty, which are guarded
against by otter clauses of the said bill : and that the con-
tinuation of this imprisonment will, in many instances, ag-
gravate the distresses of suffering families, destroy the health,
morals, and habits Of industry of prisoners, and rub society
of the exertions of many of its useful members : and that
imprisonment for debt, on means process, is nearly, if not
wholly, unknown in all the other countries of Europe, and
has engrossed the attention and met the reprobation of the
most enlightened men in this and other nations. They
therefore submit, that such a clause is unjust in its principle.
severe and oppressive in its operation, and-destructive and
ruinous in its tendency.
That your petitioners apprehend that the intended enact-
ment against prisoners in the rules of prisons being entitled
to apply for their discharge proceeds on a wrong principle of
legislating, namely that of inflicting punishment on misfor-
tune, and will materially affect the health and morals of many
prisoners, who are driven into the rules, to avoid the dissi-
pation, or dread of contagion, which are too often occasioned
by an indiscriminate mixture of all classes of persons, as well
as by the poverty, and the crowded state of the interior of a
prison : and that, in the rules of prisons, many persons,
whose industry is their sole dependance, may be enabled to
obtain a subsistence for themselves and their fatuities, of
which they would be deprived within the walls.
That the hopes of release, held out by an application of
at least three-fourths in number and value of the creditors
of an insolvent, are delusive, as scarcely one prisoner in a
thousand cart calculate on availing himself of its advantages;
the creditors of even an honest insolvent, after be has been
driven to this measure for relief, being too often unneces-
sarily harsh and exasperated against him ; and your peti-
tioners submit, that au honest insolvent, after all his pro-
perty is surrendered to his creditors, ought to be entitled to
his liberty, as a legal right, without depending for it upon
the caprice of his creditors; and that the method of obtain-
ing the consent of creditors to a bankrupt's certificate has
beets strongly disapproved of by the highest authorities, and
its oppression tuost heavily felt by those who have experienced
that painful ordeal ; and, if this difficulty hasbe‘evnithfionuandprsio..
great to the bankrupt, who bas
can a wretchedaslilsertyofpers insolventon,atidcan
go about to influence his creditors, your petitioners beg
lheaa
ve of
fo
beinga , wahbalte possible prospect
raplishit,
immured
son, and, perhaps, without the means of subsistence ?
That the poster vested in assignees under the intended act,
gives an inquisitorial authority not only to inspect the inci-
pient means of the insolvent, after his discharge, but a right
to deprive him of every portion of property, which, on such
scrutiny, may be discovered, and to apply the same to the dis-
charge of his former debts, under the judgment ordered to be
entered up in one of the superior Courts; the insolvent being
consequently deprived of the power of obtaining future credit,
no provision being made by the said Bill to give his future
Lena fide debts a preference of such judgment: that, there-
fore, no friend, who might he inclined to assist the insolvent
its his future exertions in business, would venture to place
property in his hands, which would be constantly liable to be
swept away by such judgment; and it is also visiting the in-
dustrious Itisolvent with repeated punishment, as often as he
begins to acquire, even a small portion of property, by in-
dustry or the assistance of friends, from which evil the exten-
sive bankrupt, who has been, perhaps, the original cause of
his misfortunes, and whose failure is productive of far more
extensive injury, is, by his certificate, totally exempt.
That the publication in the Gazette of the names and last
places of residence of Insolvents, liberated under the intend-
ed act, seems nut to answer any useful purpose, as, after all
their creditors have been apprised,by advertisement or other-
wise, of their intention to take tire benefit of the Act, and
after their conduct and affairs have been fully inquired into,
the Public have no interest in the further exposure of their
unfortunate situations ; and it seems only calculated to aggra-
vate the wounded-feelings of honest men, and to accumulate
insult upon misfortune.
That it be particularly an obiect of considerations for your
Honourable House to snake the proposed Bill nit to be ope-
rative ex post facto, so far as regards persons arrested fur
debt previously to the day ou which the present Insolvent
Act is to expire.
That the want of power in the intended Court to review
its own adjudications, ever. although the same may have pro-
ceeded on false grounds, and been owint to misapprehension
or mistake, seems pregnant with injustice ; and your peti-
tioners submit, that leaving a general discretion to the
Court to review its own decisions, is in conformity to the
acknowledged beueficial practice of the superior Courts, can
be productive of none of the evils resulting from a contrary
enactment, and will free the unfortunate Debtor from the ope-
rat too of mistake.
Your Petitioners, therefore, most humbly pray your Ho-
nourable House, that the cause of honest distress and
unavoidable misfortune may be taken under your espe-
cial care and protection, and be exempted from the
punishrneut contemplated by the intended Bill ; while
they are at the same time anxious, that persons in
trade should be protected against the frauds which
bare been so repeatedly practised, and of which they
themselves have been too often the victims they,
therefore, humbly pray that the said clauses may out,
in their present shape, pass into a law, but that you
will afford such relief as to your Huuourable klulAse,
its lour wisdom, shall'seem fit.
sisad your Pctitiutiers will ever prah ice.