The Sun.
London, England, 1829-02-20 00:00:00

hope that ere this his Majesty's Government would have
seen the propriety of something being done to put a stop to
what appeared to him, and he believed to a very large por-
tion of the public, to be a grievance of a very serious na-
ture. The evil was very extensively felt, both immediately
and in its collateral and distant effects. Whilst this coun-
try boasted superior advantages to all others—whilst it
specially boasted the superior protection afforded to the per-
sonal liberty of the subject—the fact was, that with re-
spect to debt, there was no country in which personal li-
berty could be so easily destroyed, and on such trifling
grounds, as in England. Whether it was strictly by 1 ne-
m. not, it was undoubtedly the fact, that a practice had
grown up by which an individual on the plea of debt could
confine another, whether that debt might prove, on inves-
tigation, to be correct or nut. By the present practice any
individual was allowed, on oath, to charge another with
debt, and to arrest him, upon an affidavit which could
not be taken or admitted in a Court of Justice,
for in such a Court the plaintiff would not be allowed
to make affidavit in his own cause, or to give oath whe-
ther the debt was due or not. He did not intend to state
all the extreme hardships growing out of such a practice,
nor the great injustice arising from the subject ; but he
must say that it had been his expectation, and he believed
the expectation of the public, that the Commission of Law
Inquiry would have taken the whole matter under its con-
sideration. At least, he felt convinced, that it was quite .
impossible that the Right Hon. Gentleman opposite (the
Secretary of State) could be adequately aware of the great
extent and serious nature of the evils under the existing
system, and not feel desirous of putting an end to them.
There were now lying on the table of the House Returns on
the subject for four successive years. The object of the
Motion be was about to submit to the House was, to bring
upon the table a continuation of those Returns in the same
form as those of which the House was already in possession.
When the whole of the papers were on the table, they
would establish whether there had been an increase or a de-
crease of the evil, and would justify further measures in re-
lation to the subject. A strange notion has unaccountably
crept into this country, that to imprison the person was the
best mode of obtaining- a payment of a debt, and in every
respect better than having recourse to the effects and
property of the individual. But the chief evil of
the practice existing in England was, that the families
of debtors were destroyed. Persons who were not
criuri-
nale, but only unfortunate, were subject to arrest, and
were exposed to the contamination and degradation which,
it was allowed on all hands, were the necessary copse-
quenees of a confinement in the gaols of this country. In
many respects it was shameful to the country to allow the
gaols to continue in their present state. He had not pressed
upon the House any arrangement for the abolition of
arrest for debt upon judgment, or after due inquiry by
Courts of Law ; but he had pressed on the House, and he
did expect that the Right llon. Secretary would have also
pressed upon it, the rational and fair proposition of abolish-
ing the power of arrest under mesne process. In mesne
process the allegation might be from spite, and under a
consciousness that the imputed debtor did not, honestly,
owe a single shilling. The result of the Returns on the Table
was a conviction that the present state of things could not
continue long. In the five prisons of the metropolis—the
King's Bench, the Fleet, Whitecross-street, the Marshal-
sea, and the priion in Horsemonger-lane—there were com-
mitted, in 1827, not less than 5,d59 prisoners for debt ;
and on the Ist of January, 1828, there were 1,515 per-
sons within the walls of these prisons. Those who knew
the want of accommodation in the prisons might judge of
this fertile source of demoraliz rtion. Fur thousand one
hundreri and seventy-two persons were in confinement upon
mesne process. Seventeen hundred and ninety-nine per-
sons were committed upon judgments. In Scotland, Hol-
land, France, in Canada and tire English Colonies, arrest
upon mesne process was not permitted. It was singular,
that even in the British Colonies the liberties of the subject
were better protected than at home. The effect of the
law in these places afforded the Government sufficient ex-
perience how safely they might proceed upon the subject in
England. Government ought to extend the principles on
which they had acted last year, when they had limited ar-
rest to a higher amount of debt. This would greatly de-
crease the evil. The following was a correct statement of
arrests for debt :

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If arrests Nye'

'United to 501. much of this evil would

be removed. He was convinced that every respectable
attorney would state at the bar of that House, that the
abolition of arrest on mesne process ought to be abolished.
He was now inclined to notice the extent of imprisonments
by sentences of Courts of Requests. From the papers on
the table, the numbers were not so large as he had an-
ticipated, but they were very respectable. The average
of these imprisonments were for debts between sixteen and
seventeen shillings. The general rule was to imprison
the person one (lay for every shilling he owed, and the ex-
pence of supporting the debtors in gaol fell upon the
counties, and was of a great amount. It appeared also by
Returns on the Table, that there were not less than 161.
persons who had the power of committing to gaol upon
allegations of debt. In Ireland the evil, if any thing,
was more severely felt. The Returns from Ireland were
not very accurate, bat it appeared that of 660 individuals,
350 were confined for debts under 201. ; 129 under 501. ;
and the remainder for debts above 50/. Limiting the
arrests to 50/. would diminish the numbers confined in
gaols, and would relieve the country of great and unne-
cessary expellees. In Ireland the expenses of the gaols
were very considerable, and the five prisons of Dublin
were a serious charge to the Government. Ile believed
that three out of every four arrests proceeded more out of
spite or revenge than from any hope of payment of the
debt. The following statement would further illustrate
the evils of which he complained :
WARRANTS for ARRESTS for DEBT in the year 1827,
No. 149 of Parliamentary Return of 1623.

Secondaries' Office, London
Sheriff of Middlesex
Ditto of Surrey

•
Total
Exclusive of Writs issued

in the same year:

Vide No. 117 01 1828. No.
By Lord Mayor's Court • 854
By Sheriffs' Tellers 635—

No. of Writs Number
issued. executed.

9,979
16,258
3,278

Total

23,515

• 1,459

2,362
7,'261
:1,691

111,317 executed
in one year.

^125,004 in one year in Lon-
don and Middlesex.

Exclusive of all the Cotirts of Requests.

The expences of these arrests, including the Attorney,
the Sheriff's Officers, the Lock-up House, and incidents,
could not be estimated under 59,0001. Much of this
fell on the poorest class of people. When a person was
driven to the Insolvent Act to get clear of such debts, the
expense was about 151., with the loss of time, of cha-
racter, and the ruin of the family of the debtor, without
any benefit to the parties having the power of putting the
writs in execution. There were not less than 25,000
writs in London alone against debtors, and of these 1489
were writs of the Sheriff's Courts. The Society for the
Relief of Persons imprisoned for Small Debts had, in the
last year, discharged 43,399 debtors, involving the actual
comforts and welfare of 147,600 persons in their fami-
lies. The average of these debts has been 21. 14s. Wol.
each, including the expences of the Society's establishment.
Many Societies in London had come to the resolution of
not arresting for debts, the expences being so great. This
was a sad state of the law, and lie trusted that the Right
Hon. Gentleman would permit a Bill to be brought in to
remedy the evil. In the mean time he would move for a
" Return of Persons confined for Debt in the five Gaols of
the Metropolis in 1828, distinguishing those on Mesue
Process from those on Judgments entered up, and for Costs