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London, England, 1818-10-12 00:00:00

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weol,. or any part of Florida, and doing any Ober
act .4 sear. And
Tliat St. Marks, being a military post, situated in an
immense wilderness, and surrounded by hostile Indians, will
tiot be restored until Spain shall sufficiently garrison and
cause her authority to be respected in that quarter. -

New York-Papers to the 15th ult. arrived This
rn,()rililig• They state that the crops have fallen
"ort of an ordinary average, which is attributed
to the great drought that had prevailed.

ilarnburgh Pap
ers arrived last night to the 3d
i"st• They contain a spirited Note (which will
fo:ind in another column), presented by the
bpattish Minister for Foreign Affairs to the Ame-
rican Ambassador at Madrid, respecting the oc-
cupation of Florida by General JACKSON.
We stoppedthe Press on Saturday last, with-
Out a formal notice, for the pleasure of briefly an-
botincing the flourishing state of the Revenue
1u the following words :
We are extremely happy to state that the pro-
'lace of the Consolidated Fund for the Quarter
"ding this day, is to the amount of 1,700,000/.
a'c're than that of the corresponding Quarter of
'tie la" Year. The improvement in the Customs
ttnd Excise amounts to 1,500,0001."
Rut We have taken the particulars of this most
ittat‘fYing,fact from The New Times of this clay,
libleb °lir Readers tvill find under the head of
CilsltiON JOURNALS.

\l'e have taken this day, from The Morning
Chronicle, a Letter from Earl
BATHURST, addre-ss-
eil t,
tilt lILTDSON LOWR, with the Observations
tiv°%).PARTE on that Letter ; but if it were not
"r ozlr respect for that Nobleman, we should nothink
any observations of the infamous prisoner
Ivnrth
notice. He was stilecl by JOEL BARLow
the greatest botcher of liberty that ever exist-
' " and the American Politician might with
troth have ridded, the greatest butcher of man-
-4' y This ruffian ought to have expiated
I.lnormntis and multiplied atrocities on a pub-
sca ffolrl
vet there are ideots in the world who
Iris crimes with admiration, and pity his
I;"3ertt condition, though it has been brought
4P" Ilin) by his own wickedness and folly. To
tat'ch whining ideots we submit the following
:-;)ectlote of this wholesale murderer, taken from
:e,_l4st Number of The Quarterly Review, which
tb 4ntilV
has peculiar sources of intelligence, and
:11ithful in recording it. The anecdote is re-
" ill a Note to an admirable Review of the
-lennsisteticies and contradictions in the produc-
ti°ns "°f Sir ROBERT WILSON. " The fact
s.'e '"3lf) S
aY3 the Reviewer, " is abundantly cu-
Z,'.i,4 4"`i We particularly recommend it to
dition ""1.1. Wresosi for insertion in the next
of
144 E
P.::atEgyptian Narrative. It was
the table of an eminent Banker
by a
Qt iiGentleman who, for many years,
igh place in the service and con
fi
APoLEosr, and who gave it, in the sim-
,lo'; 4t his heart, as an instance of the address
""ible firmness of his late Master. Several
di both French and English, of the first
‘tiil bea lueti''n, heard him, and, we have no doubt,
11.4 e r testiinollY to the general correctness of
ii,thi:mtes which follow.--General BUONAPARTE,
:hk! C"il.o, had succeeded in quelling a very
111itlitI)1.- insurrection, the signal for which had
I,‘lt" g.ken horn the Minarets of the ity b the
41:4eins, while
professing
eat to call, in their y usual
tl:rter, the faithful to their devotions. The
burl of ihsurgentS were driven into one of
cili"f ruch, mosques, and obtained qtiartet• onstir-
L
rii"g to punislitnent 600 of thei;- ringleaders.
'lst eicrttl Were immediately coertacted to a spa-
atdti.s en"rt, where they were guarded by French
le's. L, ,r
It
At midnight BUONAPARTE visited them
*i)".'". and selected fifteen for execution, who
e b°4nd~tl tin to sacks and thrown into the
r()r forty sticcessive nights these visits
t4i-e rte
' Prince 14_;UGENE and mystlf,
h; the narrator, ' fell on out• knees night after
'Ott •,
he,. ‘ll'l°ling the lives of these wretches, but
joi." it WaS absolutely necessary, and remained
intiveahle.'
,b°l`l. OP 1-IUNTINGDON.-IVe inserted on
fPfuld,' ia't a paragraph taken from The
1),.-i7)7, Corre-
a respectable Evening Paper, published
‘l',l-Nt,p"' which stated, that " the ATT,ORNEY7 1?•11glitlid has declared HANS FRANC?,
'l'v ittl‘s 10 be now Earl at IIuNTINGDoN, &c•
(.4N1,1`1%4e since heard, that though the ATTORNEY-
it. t: 'nay have given his opinion on the sines-
proFer place, yet it is impossible that,
r that opinion may be, it could have been
tintv,,lilte.d ill au authorized way in any Newspaper,
se I respectable.
tvt„...`l".id liritish Officers are now in London who
r"Pas4l(..l7.,"ttached to the Patriots in the Ca-
y have visited this country tor the
}errht, `'"'e uf pi., • •
to
se„t t c lasing stores and aninninitton.
.n Atignstura, the lit ad•tpiarters of that
teadiness for the opening of the
cantpaign. The American Papers have
ott slated the arrival of Sir G. M`Gne-
sty, the (),.
•"l •tutokt). That Oflicer, we tinder-
icltt
moment, in Loutlun.—(Eegi'sh-

FOR THE sus.

Or IMPRISONMENT FOR DEBT, AND THE ACT OF

INSOLX NCY.

LETTER 17.

If credit be given only to a debtor who has
property to answer it, his person will be consi-
dered as productive of nothing, and the serving
him with process, wic hoot arresting him in the
first instance, might recover the creditor's money,
his property being much more responsible than his
body.

Bit creditors in general are gamblers, and they
sport within the law. Honesty is over their
Moots more than in their shops, and their motto
is, that " there is Ilf; friendship in trade." Their
customers are their bank, which when broken,
they shelter themselves under the statutes of
bankruptcy and insolvency, having bestowed less
attention to their debtors means of payment, than
the figure they will make in their day-book and
ledger. Other gamblers sport for the amusement
of the game, more than lucre (black-legs except-
ed), and they are goveined by HONOUR, which
they hold more sacred than HONESTY, though
these two words are derivatively the same, with
this difference only, the civil law compels the pay-
ment of debts contracted for value, and the law
of honour requires the payment of debts waged in
her forum. On default of the former, the gam-
bling debtor is liable to imprisonment ; and on
default of the latter, the gambling loser is ex-
cluded the tables of play.
Such has been the conduct of some men in legal
trade, where we look fur simple honesty, distin-
goished front honour, that they have sent goods
home to a customer by a sheriff's officer, rho on
delivery and non-payment for them has arrested
them in the moment. One in particular was is
tailor. lie swore to a debt for goods sold, and
arrested his customer the instant he lord tried
them on, which on making the oath and issuing
the writ were nut delivered. The defendant pato
the motley and three guineas costs, rasher than
be troubled with disputing such infamous con-
,duct, by a man tvlo) soon after helped himself to
some silver spoons at a fire, for which be was
transported. What was this but oppression, un-
der the statute of Geo. 1. which was meant for
the contrary.
It may be said, that if a man be aggrieved by
the abuse of this act, he may indict his com-
plainant for perjury. Not so. No indictment
can be maintained ; as the deponent believes what
he swears, and not wilfully and knowingly that it is
false ; but suppose his oath be true, all the time
between the arrest in consequence and trial he is
deprived of his liberty, if lie cannot find bail, or
taken to a lock-up house, there to sleep a n'ght
or two under bars and bolts, before he can be li-
berated, it bail be ready ; and not then, if there
he any other action to detain him, but on equal
condition of bail.
Previously to the statute which required the
true cause of action to be stated iu the writ on
eolith airy one should be arrested, creditors in
their evil spirit often arrested their debtors on
writs which stated a false one, when for want of
bail, they were obliged to summon their malig-
nant complainants before a judge at his chambers,
to slaw the true. If they failed in this by not
swearing to their demands, the defendants were
discharged; but in the mean time they were in cus-
tody, and summonses were no less frequent to
sbew cause why prisoners should not be dis-
charged on cotillion' appearance to the action.
This work of deceit contituted till the act of Geo.
1., as premised. If the first process against the
person had never beet, issued, but in cases where
notice on the original mandate was disregarded,
this Act and the Act of Charles 11. would not
have been necessary. They wete intrinsically
good, and their principle without fault. It is their
perversion, and the foul use subsequently made
of them, that causes complaint. They leave the
liberty of the person not sufficiently protected ;
and under both attornies, sheriffs' officers, theirfo/-
lowers, jailors, and their hangers on, are the chief
gainers ; while the general advantage is sacrificed,
I and liberty disgraced, at the expense of their rash
and inconsiderate employers.
We have had the experience of near a century
since the Act of Geo. I. passed, but what is the
amount ? It has convinced us that' a man when
arrested knows the cause by the affidavit and writ,
but not that the number of revengeful creditors is
lessened, or that their regard for au oath is at all
times so strict as to make them swear truly to
their demands. Were it nevertheless otherwise,
their oaths are at best a de parte evidence, on one
side only, and partially for themselves. Under the
arrests of their supposed debtors, it operates as au
EXECUTION before JUDGMENT. Let a needy ne-
cessitous luau, from whatever cause, be thus
at rested for what he cannot pay, be may then.
either be pillaged of the trifle he may have about
him by the sheriff's officer and his men, aa the
price of avoiding a prison, into which he must
inevitably go ; or it he be destitute, he may he
conducted to a spoogino-house, dark and un-
wholesome, where he may be subject to extor-
tion, in spite of the statute made to prevent it ;
and at last hurried away to the county jail, there
to die, or lead a life of wretchedness.. 'But if his
condition should he less perilous, and some kind
hand enable him to discharge his debt, how great are
his sufferings ! His imprisonment and expenses,
under the accursed names Of office fees, garnish,
civility money, &c. are altogether a punishment
without a crime. Should he be unable to obtain
his discharge, he must droopingly await the event
of a supersedeas, or the non-prosecution of cre-
ditors, or become an object of the Lords' Act,
for the sake of the daily sixpenres, and lastly of
an Act of Bankruptcy or Insolvency; or live in
prison on the bounty of his friends, until death
may release him from their commiseration, anal
the rigour of those creditors? who, by means of
the present practice of arrests, have made his life
hateful, it not iusupportable.

AN OLD BARRISTER, of the Inner Temple.
(Tu be Continued.)