Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1818-03-06

BY future expectations, held cut to the
debtor. The whole power and mac hinery
oil assignments, judgments, attachments,
are brought into action to promote and
secure purpose so Immoral and unjust
but at the same time so authorized by the
law as To be placed beyond the reach of
morality or Justice. Nor does the mis-
chief go no further than 10 secure AN I'm
justprelerence betweeD creditors of eLual
claims but the means bv which this NAV
be done furnish also full opportunity TO
place property i'll The hands ofiriends and
relations, TO whom nothing is due, TO come
afterwards to the use of the insolvent
himself. MIR. II. said that, under the pa
tronage of these insevcnt laws, the mer-
chants had now established code Of laws
for the payment oftheirdebts, which is at
once desiructN of all commercial credit,
aad of every principle of moral justice |:
they have, what they are pleased TO call
their debts Of honor, and their debts Of
business; and the former are preferred to
the ex fusion of the latter. Endorsements
are considered OF the first class; yes, the
indorser, by whose aid he has been ena-
bled Ia sustain his credit long after it ought
To have sunk; by whose means he has
been enabled TO make purchases of goods
from honest. unsuspecting venders-this
indorser finally carries of all the property,
perhaps the very goods purchased on their
immediate proceeds, and the sellers of
them obtain nothing from the wreck. To
say nothing of the moral injustice Of such
distinctions, observe the effect il has up
ON the commercial interest and prosperity
of the country. The debts of The failing
merchant may be S 100, 0o0-his property
may amount to S so, O00-of course, fair
distribution his effects would afford TO
each creditor 30 per cent. Of his debt. and
the loss would then be runous to none.
But II he Is permitted TO give the whole of
ms estate to his creditors of honor, they
may receive the full amount oftheir debts.
and the others, equally meriterious al
least, obtain not a cent, perhaps TO their
entire ruin. A strong case Of this sort
was lately stated in Philadelphia paper.
and Is but one of many which occur al.
most daily. A merchant, said Mr.. u.
whose dealings have been very extensive.
but who has lately failed, assured me that
ms destruction was owing entirely ia this
system OF preference for had he but got
fair proportion of the effects OF his debt
ors who had previously failed, he would
have been able TO continue in business
but, wherever such a failure occurred. he
found ali the property appropriated 10 a
few favorIies of the debtor. This shock
ing and destructive system, said Mr.. VI.
can br broken up only by general bank
ruDt law. by which The effects OF an insol
vent trader will be taken from his ca
price as well as his fraud, aud put INTO
tlc hands of those who will distribute.
them IN Just proportion among those
whose claims are equal. Mr.. Ii. made
some furtheriinstratiou of the pernicous
sliectS OF these preferences, made entirely
at The Will OF HE debtor, at time when,
In ruth, all his control over his property
ought 10 have ceased. But, said MIR. II.
one Oftlie best uses of a bankrunt law vet
remains 10 be mentioned. 1t is the in
ducemcntS it holds out TO an embarrassed
man, when be finds his affairs irretrieya-
BILE, to surrender th m into the hands of
ms creditors, before every thing is wasted
IN violent efforts to save himself. At pre-
SEM, seeing nothing before him but a gaol,
10 be followed by perpetual bondage
ana knowing that these consequences are
precisely the same, whether he paws TO
ms creditors one-half of their debts. or
not one cent, he plunges OH in mere des
par; posipoDng the catastrophe as long
as possible diminishing his property bV
desperate expedients dragging into the
vortex o.. his ruin every friend FROM whom
ne Can obtain either creditor money and.
hnaliy, fails, bringing down with him all
who have trusted him, and spreading his
Inisfortunes To every point within his
reach and influence.
If, said Mr.. Ii. such are the inconyen-
FENCES and III urIes 10 the creditor. the
debtor and the community, under the
present lnsolyent systems, what advanfa
geS do they possess to counterhalance the
evil! What has the creditor? Nothing but
the chance, the yalueless chance, of his
obtaining his debt from the future acqui-
slilons aud earnings of his debtor; il is
right, II is true, but It's an empty, WORTH
less, unproductive right which NAV, in
deed, he used to crafty malice, to saliate
revenge, TO Cypress the afflicted, to tread
OH The fallen but to obtain his debt, ne
Yer. now Is tins property, which is to pay
the debt. to be ob !ained Can the insol-
vent earn it by his industry, when YOU
place him ina situation in which industry
will be useless Can he earn it without
capita and you will not suffer liinl -
lnve one That may not be torn from him
IN d moment. Can he even RELY on the
aid OF has friends, when it would be idle
III them to afford him the meaus of help
ing himself, knowing they could not place
II al his disposal for an hour II is an un.
deniab lie truth, that thevery right the Gre
tliior has TO the future earnings of the
debtor, IS destructive ofitself, and renders
1t impossible that any such earnings can
ever be obtained; the mere circumstance
that he cannot hold or enjoy What he may
acquire, will prevent the attempt, if not
the desire TO acquire it. Mr.. II. appealed
to experience, and asserted, that of the
many thousands OfpeTsons WHO have been
by insolvent laws, he had ne
yer heard of one who afterwards paid his
iebls aud concluded, that this right of