Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1832-01-27
IMPRISONMENT FOR DEBT.
House. of Representatives. January II, 1882.

vi Ts N u.
tee, to which the subject had been referred,
made the following report:
The Committee to whom ,Oas refer ell so much
ofhe Message of the President Of the United
States, as respects imprisonment for De'f,re-
port:
That, acting under constitution of limited
powers, delegated by the people Of the several
States, an act of Congress to abolish imprison-
n,ent 70, debt, can have effect only iu cases be-
longing to the federal courts. The primary and
onlv legitimate object of Government is, to Sc
cure to ca Oh individual the enjoyment Of life, H.
berry and the pursuit Of happiness. These cannot
be forfeited without crime 1t is essential to the
preservation of liberty that crime should be de.
fined. and its punishment determined by law
To protect the citizen from acts Of tyranny, the
constitution secures, in all cases. to the accused
the right Of trial by an impartial jury. The vio
lation Of this principle is the essence Of despot
ism. If insolvency is fraud, and if that fraud is
a crime which Justly deprves the insolvent of his
liberty, the law should define it as such. and fix
its punishment. The trial should be like that of
other crimes, by an impartial jury, in the State
and district where the crime is committed; and
the punishment should be pronounced by the
court, subject, as in other convictions, to the par
doning power in the discretion of the Executive.
In the punishment of debtors, all these sacred
principles are subverted. The citizen is depriv-
ed of his liberty. without the accusation of
crime, without criminal prosecution, and with
out a jury to decide upon his guilt; and his pu-
nishment is submitted to the sole discretion Of
an individual creditor.
In all the catalogue of human crimes, there is
none which more imperously requires definition,
than that of fraud. To punish crime which is
not we'll defined by law. is always more injuri-
GUS to society, because of the abuse of power tn
which it subjects The accused, than to suffer it
with impunity. Why does not the law define
and punish ingratitude, crime that is marked
with universal execratIonl Because Of the diff.
ficulty Of giving to it ,such precise definition,
as would separate the innocent from the guilty.
BY emitting to punish this vice, we avoid great
er evil. SO. in abolishing imprisonment for debt,
absolutely, and without condition or reservation,
we shall avoid an evil infinitely greater. than can
be obviated by any restriction. Our constitution
denouuces privileged orders The warning voice
of history, bearing. like peals Of thunder. the
cries Of the oppressed from ancient and modern
nations, where these orders have existed. and
still exist, demanded this security for the citi-
zens Of our own country But to give to the
creditor, in any case whatever, power over the
body If his debtor, is violation Of this prnci-
pie. 1t subjects the liberty of the great mass
Of our most useful. because most enterprising
and industrious, citizens, to the caprice, the ven-
geance, or forbearance of the wealthy and more
fortunate. Why do we reprobate the act which
crowded 90 many human beings in the black hole
at Calcutta, where mortal pestilence was inhaled
from the infected atmospheric Because it was
an act Of cruelty; and it is the same adherence
that eli'Its this popular cry, which has become
almost universal against Imprisonment for debt.
Yet legislators, the majority Of whom have ge-
nerally been of the weather. class. or at leas,
free from pecuniary difficulties, have so compIi
Gated the system, that it has become involved IN
a labrynth Of mystery, and to secure its exis-
tence, they have surrounded it with such dark
suspicious Of fraud, that the subject can scarce
" be approached without embarrassment. Thus,
like all other systems of drspotism. it has impos
ed upon the minds Of men, with some shadow of
pausibility. the idea of necessity. till, by long
habit. they have gradually become, in some de-
gree, reconcled to the oppression. The victim
is cut of from sOcietv, and. because he pines in
solitude, where his miseries are not seen nor his
complaints heard. his case is passed over, as an
instance ofindividual misfortune, for which there
is no remedy. aud which is scarcely worthy Of OBJ
servation. But. il all these victims of Oppres.
sion were presented to our view in one congre.
gated mass. with all the train of wives children,
and friends, involved in the same ruin, they would
exhibit spectacle. at which humanity would
shudder. 1t was remark of one of the sages of
antiquity, that the best government is that Where
an injury to one citizen is resented as an injury
to the whole. Here, in our own free and happy
country. many thousands Of our fellow. citizens
are suffering annually the deepest injury. Chill
dren are deprived Of their natural guardians, "a
miles Of their support and freemen Of their Ii.
berry, bv remnant of barbarism. which re quires
nothing but the voice of legislation to blot it out
forever. From the earliest dawn of civilization, |
it has been subject Of the severest censure, and
Of the most unqualified denunciaIon.
But history teaches US that men. accustomed !
10 bondage, may contract a fondness for the |
chains that bind them. The subjects Of monarchs
become attached to their aristocratic establish
nents; and are hardly persuaded to forego the
Plendors Of royalty, for the simplicity of repub-
lean government. So in relation to this vest.
&c of despotism amongst US; the most obstinate
enlisted in ita favor, sustained by