The Statesman.
London, England, 1814-05-03 00:00:00

THE ffr ATE'SiikR.

..•
s• /81/411404.044q441111,11?.
. • . Homo iDapoutateut,, Who peopetty Wurresitiodr 'the
same to tie lipid Fleet wises) wit whit* the said il-
-rms.--
• leyJ feek vete refouded.
•-s• • gOUSE'OF LORDS, MAT Q. .
44 Th.s rut Peti‘eser appiied te Mr. Woodalwge
The Order far the consideration of the Claim re- • •• -
. : far Isis of in order to mod theologies to a Mir
"meting the Airly Peerage, was, upon the motion 1 . tree,
Jos t but it was refusedso that the officelis
of the Lord Chlnceilor, postponed from Thursday •• .
I of the priten neither sent said affiduit to the Magis-
neat until to-morrow se'nnight, for which day the
i trite till as above-stated, nor did they enable Peti-
Jukes were ordered to he summoned.

glllll=l== ilaliiii
liistier, 'Mb -
..operation of resentment and ranedbr ilsog the contempt he' is iiipriebited for the denial ;
natevaity to be caliulaied upon, and this kilt that is, he is punished for denying a fecnhood. But
arid but tesslargeg scope for the gratificatiee el lige system of fiction *.o traitentiett r i!1 firiber.7-
feelings. liereen'the Report already referstkl 14-Isiginall*.aithALactisms.accLl.rjjajailf4S4uUlt
• it appeared that a'Plaintill was not bound to de- • CemmoiteSsall :' bat tbir df- tleurtnit's I
ileserfbis declaration until the end of the nest term
leibirthe writ is retorisable, so that seven months
isilisityllapse before the Plaintiff need apprise the De-

to Itave

4hare of

li Ulli

brl6l.

aril

iem tit

.. I y le-LTHETITT. . boner, by putting the affidavieinto hisliand to send felorient of. the ground of action, and he might delay
it to a Magistrate himself. s, •e- 0
tar 'eft of the eitialei: althouelettite peeer had
As trial of that action for five months afterwards. not at all been violated:; the Chturt •of' Beebe.,
Lord STANHOPE rose, pursuant to notice, to - •
call the attention of the House toithit subject, and ; " That, after your Petitioner had regularly re. -Thee an individual might be imprisoned for twelve goer, an order also ter Midi' cipete of*the strolli With
he expressed his persuasion, that what he had to ' 40'4 th° said allowance, the same was .suddeoly months upon the mere oath of a Plaintiffs without•ltrisWdlteeztend its ferieffietieneseie civil itedoirei :ey
state with regard to the violation of Civil Liberty stopped foe Si;n- nay.e weeks, •previous to his discharge • trial or verdict; and if upon trial the veolictidie fiction of charging thee/41644,w with Wet* 'a
and common humanity, under the law as it at present der the general Insolvent Act, tholieb he still scull- should be in favour of the Defendant, he could have debtor tel. the King, tete' llitteley Vire dirt the
as aoh
existed, particularly in consequence ,of the-arrest Hued in the extreme of poverty' sod distress, and eecompence from the Plaintiff but his taxedcostshfcreditolewas rendered utrablet he 'Pay te debt to the
upon esesne process, was such as must excite the as- i was not sepersedable, nor entitled by law to be disheln fact, the Defendant in such a case had no remedi 4Ki I ng, a though no such debt'etisted. :Oete thus the
one' wider any Insolvent Act. i whatever, unless he could prove that the Plaintiff is $ action was extended, to elkend the seedidalous profit
tonishment, and interest the feelings of every one 1
66 That in consequence of your Petitioner having i arresting his, was actuated by malice, which in most ibf lawyers, and Whit it the'eppresvioleWilte
who heard him. Before he proceeded to this state-1 tleotelt.
been so reduced from absolute want and confinement, ; cases would be impossible. But if a Plaintiff should 'Fiction ' however, derehtittrelleiteh bveiterintieht
was on the point of death, and would, as he Teri- 'leers the country, if he should:emigtate to America,lStatote, it was prerioribed thee two litemeit
i . .
believes, and has been informed by a medical oraisewhere, arid before his departeredetermine to ' should become pledged tosproseeuee it: elteritotio• ti,
jeutteman who attended him, have perished during weenie his vengeance upon any man, or number of iiitiiihsa view to give some' security trehelwedefloident,
_ -
his confinement, had met the Keeper of the prison, i men, he might by his oath deprive such man or men But how did the lawyers contrietetsietidetitis,prit-
to order any imprisoned peuper an allowance offli.
per diem; .which • allowance their Lordships would • Mr. Nixon, permitted him to walk out into the rules .of liberty ;—and if friendless, unable to obtain bail, - vision ? Why, by introducing the two iietiiifiedet
headily feet to be shammy scanty, especially where and that neither he nor hie wife have ever since reco- ! condemn him or them to several months' imprison- names of John Doe and Rice/Lt R.otehsfThe whole
d their former health.
, a prieutter.should have a wife and family to support. verei sent, without any refuge or means of remedy what- system, however, relative to deft Weans was defec-
Bet before even such an allowance was granted, at " That during his said miserable confinement, : ever. Such were the cases which might occur—such tive—was frauJolent, affortlinis scope for the ptun-
. plisonmetaust swear thit lie-is not worth 101. in the Petitioner has witnessed several instances of persons • the .injustice and oppression to which people were dering practice of lawyers' which fully jestided the
. world. still aster that oath the prisoner was con- • who were nearly perishing from want ; and that he - rimmed in this country, which boasted the honour observation of Wilkes, witte,- when asked why Silr
eemned to remain in el situation of wretchedness was acquainted with a brother prisoner of the ulnae -of Magna Charts; and in this country, too, people Brook Watson should be generally so severe hi Ms
and starvations unleueg it .appeared from a petition of Teal, who lived for three whole elays . oat- sigh*** liable to be so imprisoned without clothing or animadversion upon the law lairs-? -said', " Don't you
which he held in Itielutods respecting the Flewelsaissepotatoes ; auti-aleo .that he knew several deaths in , bedding, or even medical assistance, except in some see that he has lost one leg by a shark." [ed iintels.9
. son, than hirleenter anietiatedchte pay illegal. ken ,u-ieensequesco of the effects of imprisonment; some in few prisons, while felon committed for crimes The Noble Lord conjured their Lordships seriously
the gaoler or e meet. Thus was this Petitionei
i the prison, and some soon after the individuals de- : marked by the most cool and deliberate 'rancour, to consider the whole of this ire-es/44n with a view
-hk
treated, left without the means of even keeping 4, parted from it. i while the most atrocious offenders are supplied with to reform—to reflect upon the injustice of eitcrwidg
body end pout together./ With a view to extort ille- 1 " Wherefore your Petitioner most earnestly be. i all these accommodations, thus confounding the an v man to be a Judge in his own catese-441 permit
gal AM, : Wu it. than, ite would ask their Lord-
'leeches your Lordships to take such measures, as distinction which nught ever to prevail between the scales of justice to remain in the handsofpamion
ships, to be endured in this boasted country
.
of Lis your wisdom shall deem advisable, to prevent such , misfortune and crime, between the casualty of and prejudice, to bear in mitidelle titehnorableetbrds-
betty, *eine, and beinatltity,-tiret *w. bile felons—that . illegal oppressions as your Petitioner has ezperienc- distress and the turpitude of guilt.—The Re- of the magnanimous Emperor of Russia, "to frame,
'white the most atrocious criminals were by law al- - eds as well as to abolish by law the abominable prac- port before alluded to, the Noble Lord ob- lijeial institutions conformable to the improved state.
.lowed bedding, clothing, fuels and food, unfoctit- tice of imprisonment for debt on mesne process, the served, had recommended, and very properly re- of human knowledge." Recollecting oleic would,
nate deetcreeeouldbe ;dosed common sustenance?
dreadful consequences of which may not be fully commended, ghat where the Defendant confessed a coinbitied with the observation of the Noble Presi-
Was It_ p4sible;tissi:Use Hone. and the country , known to your Lordships' House, but are too wo- • debt further expence should be prevented ; and what dent of the Committee, to whom be had so often re-
fully
could acquiesce in the longer continuance of suchor himself be had no experienced, not only by the but could be at once more absurd and unjust, than that {erred (Lord Moira); namely, that "it would behet-
gross injustice and cruelty. ? F
, generally by the creditor himself. I proceedings should go on after such confession ; that ter reform should begin with the head than details('
-
difficulty in star' his full belief, that cases of 1 " And Petitioner will pray, i the expellee of trial should be incurred where there he trusted their Lordships would commence the
" Wild. WRIGHT."
.1 was nothing to try; yet any rascaliy attorney, by work of Reform in this the most improved irides off
greater oppression than had occurred under the sys- • .
teat Of imprisenmeheforedeht in,Ettgland, had never This Petition being ordered to lie on the table, the ', eiterlaw, as it now stood, was at liberty, after a Europe. Their Lordships had seen the consequence
been witnegs" ineny:nuonn
ow,nahhh Tae hurna. Noble Lord thought proper to advert to the Peti-; Defendant was committed to prison for fifteen pounds, of a Reform beginning with the tail. They had seen
tions which he had presented. to their Lordships on ai to lead him with the expence of trial. ift:c. with costs, that it at first led to anarchy, and then to military
nity of that •Itonse andtheerteintry had revolter, and
former day. One of these Petitioners, Mr. Bald- iin fact, exceeding far the origieJl aovaint of the despotism, and he hoped that they would learn a useful
' .at length succeeded-in wheliebing the African Slave
wyn, had, it appeared; been eleven months in pri. :debt. Were such proreedin,s, lie would ask, re- lesson from that impressive example. In that hope
Trade, and that aboldion-was a glorious act. But
son, although, at the close of that period, the Court ' concilable in any degree with humanity and consist- he should move for leave to brinj in a. Bill to abolish
this system of imprisonment for debt was antly •
English , decided that he owed nothing. Yet, after that de- envy: Such proceedings were, indeed, ineompatible for ever the"Pr ,eletrar tete— ---er
called, and justly to be considered, the 66 nipre4stre -systent of
clam, Mr. Baldwyn was detained a fortnight before with the interests of both Plaintiffs and Defendants, ari......elLutio.-
.Stirve Trade;" for the abolition of which hurnard,y '
he could obtainjiis liberation. In another case, Mr. and this was evident from the deposition of Mr. read tiTe-Bit
.and wisdom loudly called. Yes, the wisest and the
most humane had long and unanswerably enforced Manie was in custody for two months, although Nixon before the Committee he had referred to.— , otsieetelsiyh,
the propriety of the abolition of that system, which ' upon reference to Mr. Justice Le Blanc, that Judge For Mr. Nixon deposed, that " the Plaintiff and an ' defendant
declared that the affidavit upon which the Prisoner ;'the Defendant were often to be found in the same ver ict o a ury the existence or a ~0.._
bad precedent or parallel in any civilized country
had been arrested was defective. But many similar prison, the one for the debt, the other for the costs" "iinaticeti- he NSble Lord disclaiming any intention
-open earth. The opinion and argument of Dr.
johmenn mewl this subject must be familiar to the re-
cases of injustice and oppression could be adduced` —some rascally Attorney being the main cause of To;Tignrauduietit debtors, or to interfere with the
collection of their Lordships, and in addition to vie.
notwithstanding the prescriptions of Magna Charts the oppression of both, after possessing himself of ri_hts of bona fide creditors.
"ions other high authorities, a distinguished writer and the Bill of Rights. The exactions practised in whatever property they possessed. Thus too often This Bill was read a first time, and ordered to be
had justly characterised this system as 'c a miserable the prisons were, he understood, most severely op- did these base lawyers exemplify the fable of La mod-.seemereeesee
pressive upon unfortunate debtors, and in order to Fontaine, respecting the oyster, where the lawyer is His Lordship then presented a Bill for amending
mistaken invention of artificial science, operating to
put the House in possession of the necessary informa- described as opening the oyster, swallowing the fish, the Act of the elst Geo. 111. relative tothenvietimnot
change a civil into a criminal judgment, and to
punish. , tion upon this subject, he should move for a return and giving the shells to the Plaintiff and Defendant. sum of arrest, observing-that lawyers had differed as
scourge misfortune or indiscretion with a
of the fees demanded or paid in the several prisons, aln the same report the Treasurer of the Society for i to the construction of the Act, whether it was gee
meld which the law does not visit on the greatest •
since the 10th of July, 1811, stating the grounds the Relief of Persons confined for Small Debts, de- : nerai in its enactments, or confined to neesne peocesst
crime."
upon which such fees were claimed ; and also for posed, that to his knowledge, out of 520 prisoners : He therefore proposed to enact that no person sheeld
The Noble Lord then briefly described the Peti-
sinsoyishseh, he huh referred at the uhtaht Ruh capies of Aviles of fans, if soyeeteeted_ _ sup sh_itelf,ort esexcises toe doletried meter - paideeitiser 'debt or' bet enertsteMetitybultretedierf3tlereihtlifiTt9e7f
h , ferent prisons. By the Act of the 324 of tieo. I . **she- se that Me abominable system,- instead of r accruing in any legal proceedinlo Should not ler In-
mishits moved to have read. It was accordingly
, c. 28, a. 5, it was directed, that the Chief Judges serving, really injured' those for whose advantage it , eluded in such 11001.—This Bill seas also read a first
peed es follows:
.. i of the Courts of King's Bench, the Common Pleas, I was profeesedly amintained, the creditor ultimately i time, and en moving that it Should be printed, his
64 TO esti Loans SPIRITUAL AND TEMPORAL OF THE I and the Exchequer, together with three Magistrates j becoming a debtor through the deficiency of the law ! Lordship made some further observations upon the
lIIITTen lIIINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRS. Middlesex, :of Surrey and should arrange a table of; and the knavery of the -lawyers. But he had not ! subject, arid sugegsted that it rredultlbe espedient file
• Lawny IN PARLIAMENT ASSEMBLED. I the fees to be paid at the several prisons of the King's j yet finished the detail of a debtor's misfortune. In the House to have three Amesiois, one corwereinit
• ' .46 THE PETITION OF WILLIAM WRIGHT, Bench, the Fleet, and the Marshalsea, and that ei- i fact,. exaction and oppression were his fate from the , with the practice in Chatreerys beet good -common'
' " !HEW ETU, 'I miler tables should he settled at the several Quarter I newest of his arrest. At the " lock-op-liaise" to . lawyer. and sequainted witt ill-the technicalities of
" That your Lordships' Petitioner was arrested, ' Sessions, for the different county prisons. It was ; which, he was first led, hecould not•eubsist for loss ; the common law, and the lehithhoell sequitnetei
on the 16th of June last, on mesne process, for the also prescribed by the same Act, that such table of ' then eight or ten shillings!-day; and to thiseaptendi- 1 with the law merchant. TheseVentlemen might bWe
sum of only 141. 12s. and he subsequently surren- fees should be hung or posted up in the several pri- tore a poor debtor was coooPelled to submit, iodepend- ! employed during the recess- iwetediseinee' into a system
dered to the Fleet Prison, to save his bail from being sons, so as to become fully known to the prisoners; out ash legal costs. Was it then too meet to mill such ; the various enactments on the Statute Book, an row
ebaneed.wlth the debt. j and that no jailer should, directly or indirectly, de- a system the English Slave Trade ?—Was not such a ' gives tibiae— The BathitretstAsaws, for instance,
' -"•Tli, ei,-near half of the said debt, for which your !mend or accept any fees but such as were specifically description fully justifiable ?—lt might he, notwith- might he thus cbmpressed into a practicable western,.
Petitivainfr was arrested, had been owing under a sta- ` allowed by such tables. Through his motion he standing, that a Learned Lord, the Chief Justice of . and tiostersofesion in the Statute Book might be re
fete of hatikrnptcy near tern years before, and was proposed to ascertain vi hether the direction of this the King's Bench, it he were present, would at- '. time wholly remedied. se' ,t
konsetibily iiino way recovenble by law, as Pe- statute was complied with at the Fleet, and also at I tempt to say something it favour of the law. : Tine Bill was ordered to be printed.
_ • .
litioner bad obtained his certificate, but from a prig- the several other prisons.—Here the Noble i• yers, but he was sere that the Learned Lord on the fr
dip!. Of Integrity,"' was induced to include it in the Lord referred to the legal and general inforesa-1 Woolsack would not.—[A laugh]—For himself
mid eterwerf--141-. lea: -- -•- ---- - --I tion which he had obtained epee this nappy-11re could not conceive how the lawyers and their
" Thst your Petitioner, son:: after being commit- tent subject, especially to that contained in 0 i practice under the system of inesne process could be
tied to prison. ..:as r.Lligril for suosi.tence, to sell his letter with which he had beeotavoured by one ti; defended. For lotteries; how could any elan of
shop.fixtrurth for fire pounds, w hirh shortly before the most able lanyers in the country, respecting as. common seem defend the terms of a deciaretion.--
cost upw4lids cf 50!.; his hous,-hold-furniture hash- rests upon wane process, and also to the Report or He had seen one of these declarations upon a tailor's
ars, been previously seized for rout. the Committee of •which that excellent man, Ihe-per- ; bill, which contained no less than eight counts, al-
'l That 10O:1 after% P.rds Petitioner, together with_ sent Chief Governor of India, was President.-- I though in point of fact and reason, only one count
hie 'tifffe• and ceiel, tan ) ears old, viias actually , Ivery one, indeed, who admired the genuine pried-; was necessary. Theist count was for work and la-
starritg,. bijrni at tithes for whole days without a {pies of our Constitution, must view with regret anti I boor donee; the 21 for whet the work and labour
morsel of toot; and having diseosed of all their . surprise the various infractions of it which aortic- I was worth; the 3d for goods sold and delivered ; the
'swearing apparel, :without 0. chimp left, or even a tensed this system of arrest—a system which in- facti4th for what the goods were worth ; the sth for aro-
,
bed-to lie on, was obliged to apply far the allow- gave birth to numerous glaring abuses, which were : ney lent, although in reality no money was lent ; the
snce, of lid. a week, under au Act passed in the' not only not authorised by law, but in most cases in 6th forsenoney paid and advanced; the 7th for mo.
63d cf
.Itir`lcing, chapter 113, ititituled `cAn Act direct violation of its spirit and character. Was it,4ney hart and received : and the Bth for the balance
for proetsPie_Ohelief for Poor Prisoners confined in for instance, consistent with the Constitution of this i dee. Ibis the Noble Lord offered as a specimen of
the King's Bench, Ffeet, and Nlarstialses. Prisons," Country, that, upon the mere asseveration of an in- the-simplicity of the law, which, outraging truth and
WhicAshassed on the 10th dayeof /Ay, 1813, and dividual, any British subject should be condemned common sense, introduced a variety of superfluous
oil- the sleidav of Augnst last visur Petitioner made to imprisonment without a trial—without the verdict words and fictitious statements, filling parchments
• of erit before a Commissioner for obtaining said aletbf a Jury ? It was obviously the interest, as well as unnecessarily, and reiterating so often a simple claim,
iewance, as directed by the Act. • the duty, of every man in the country to consider merely upon a tailor's bill. Thirty years ago he knew
V
44. that your Petitioner, immediately OR making this question—for itestablished &precedent incompi- little upon these subjects, but since then he had ex-
-3
W
N sit, lodged it with Mr. oodroffe, Clerk tible with the character, and dangerous to the exist- perienced enough himself fully to inform him, and
44111
of the stiol fleet. prison ; but yet Petitioner could mice of civil liberty. It was notorious, that any man ar- now he believed he knew as much as many, or any
n.rq .4.btain the rigid the law allowed, as illegal fees, rested uponmesneprocen must, if he could not find bail of the lawyers. As a farther instance of the ab-
unt sithorise.d by the Act of Parliament, were de- submit to imprisonment, and thus a creditor was en- surdity belonging to the practice of the lawyers, the
niiedWof him ;at 6s. Bd. were demanded, and abled to gratify his revenge—thus a man was, con- Noble Lord stated, that in a village in his neigh-
afterwards4s, Gel. bat it was not in your Petitioner's trary to the first principles of justice, made a Judge bourhood some years since, a stroller happening to
po.wer,to comply will} either. in his own case. He was aware that in actions of go into a cottage, observed a pair of leather breeches
" That le consequence of your Petitioner's nut Trover, the amount of bail is at the discretion of a hanging up, which he thought proper to put under
being able tp ply either of said demands, his aifida- Judge, anal the rule upon thishase -rose out of an his arm turd walk away. Well, what followed—an
sit was net before the Magistrate for nearly six extraordinary eveut which occurred about five years Attorney in the vicinage came to him (Lord S.) and
weeks-.-ua y, until the 15th of September fol- ago. A swindler who came to this country, per. to show his skill drew up a declaration for Tres.
aid
lowing, during which time Petitioner and his family sonated the heir of an opulent family in the West pass, consisting of no less than twelve count.,
were in the most deplorable state of misery, and Indies, and thus obtained credit. But having cam- eleven of which were alisolate nullities ; but in
would, in all probability, have fallen victims to mitted forgery, be was arrested, and in order to em- these comets he alleged that the stroller came with
absolute star t Mien, had it not been for your Peti- barrass his prosecutor, he (the swindler) had Ma force and arms, and cannon, and mortars, arid
boner's having got a little credit from some of his arrested in trover for 20,0001. which he swore to be bombs, toottack the cottage, and although the whole
fellow-prisoners, on the ground of his expectancy of the value of a deed withheld from him by the P. • seas a fiction, the stroller having quietly stolen away
secutor. The whole, however, turned out to beetedliiebrisecies. [A laugh.] But the se stem of fiction
Mid allowance.
66 That one of your Petitioner's fellow-prison- trick, and the swindler was executed for the forgery!.
might form an warmest. .e. omprehe naive in the practice of the lawyers.
Cr. had made a coinplaint to a Member of your Lord- But from this case their Lordshipsopt. For titer Lordships must be surprised to learn, that
ship' House on the subject of the fees, which had nion of the latitude which the law of arrest up!)n the snot-open warm process arose entirely oat of
been illegally extorted from a great number of the seine process in this country afforded to stndiolietr fiction. For thetChtert from which the writ issued
prisoners ; and the said Peer transmitted the said and unprincipled individuals to oppress the
innocent. charged the defendant with being guilty of contempt
cempialot to the Principal Secretary of State for the In actions, particularly for assault sad battery, or 411 not appearing, and then upon the defendant deny.

resne wocc-it. Here the -Noble I..rti
le propose( to )ring forward, 024 u
is to prt.vent the actual committal of
until judgment is had—until 6y tile

r-rt rat-. Lr 3.
The Earl of LIVI4:RPOOL.tv, catassaadjartetiVo
Prince Rezent, laid on theraSie a Treaty or.liOvz4
cert and Subsidy, concluded between Ibis .4)4044ey
and the Allies ;
,and also vi,o.'convotion gslt h,
France, for a sespeasiom 6f teostilides
laud.

eat
•‘"11r.

'.:

sent, he thought it proper to advert to the Act of "
bit Seatios for the Relief of PaeoenWrirrr:he
theliCfs 13et1 the Fleet and the been. IY ~
wat authoriatd • t 7.1