Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1833-09-09
THE GAOL DELIVERY.
From q late British publication.

From late British publication.
II the Solicitor General carries his bill to abo.
lish imprisonment for debt, he will have saved
more undeserved suffering than either Ciarkson
or Wilberforce. Among all the monstrosItes Of
law, the most monstrous is that OF depriving
man Of the power Of paying any body or any
thing. because be cannot pay somebody or
something at given time. the present law OF
debtor and creditor entities man to say, Sir, you
owe me money, either pay me or be immured.
The answer to this might be, Sir. owe you no
money. 1t matters not, says law; go to gao' IN.
ill We see whether you do not, or lind securi-
ty for your appearance TO four times the amount
pretended to- Or, again, the answer may be, We.
nv we'll, owe this sum to- you, but l have no
means of paying you but from my professional
income; in year or two shall be able to save
all that is due to you and others. No, says law,
speaking the language of revensefnl creditor,
20 to gaol and starve-neither pay me nor any
body-go and be ruined; base is the slave who
cannot pay; 90 and be ruined in gaol; want not
nv money; like to see scoundrel punished.
The answer, again, NAV be thus-True, owe
you money, but | have property to pay you ten
times over-sive me tme-let me sell it-let me
look out for good purchaser. No, says law, 1t
we had your property, it would satisfy our debt
thousand times over, but we cannot touch IT,
but your liberty is in our power; 90 to gao, then
you will have no opportunity Of dlsposing OF your
property to advantage, but you may rad yourself
of it at sacrifice, and the proceeds lead Joi'
! ~ life in prison. Much will be wanted for the
officers Of the law; and since ruin necessarily
comes upon you, make the best OF your situation
lit is not to be expected, treated as you nave
been like felon, that YOU will now ever Vounta'
rv reward the person that has thus dealt win
you by the payment Of his debt Assured'y ne
has had his moneys worth in cruelty.
! This is the morality of imprisonment for debt
between one creditor and another. The debtor
does not. however, suffer alone; all the other
creditors are injured to the amount OF the debts,
or, at least, to the value Of the chance OF pay
mpnt. Because one impatient person pursues,
the law permits the body to be thrown into gaol,
and the property to be squandered among the
extorioners who surround it. In the ruin Of cha.
racter, of income, and from the circumstances
of personal movement, not only Is involved the
of the hopes Of creditors. but the pros.
poets perhaps Of every member OF family
When parental surveillance is taken from chill.
dren or young persons, when the reputation of
! the house is sunk, and the overtures OF its in.
mates met with contumely, then comes the reign
Of temptation. The great uphoder OF honest
pride or self.respect is gone; loose is gwen to
low inclination, and the means and the instru.
ments are never far off. 1t may be safely said.
that there never was a greater disproportion be.
tween any two things than sum of money alleg.
ed to be due, and the loss Of liberty in father
of family, the Garner Of an income, the protect.
! or of his wife. and the guardian Of his children.
The relation between the property Of debtor
and his debts is very precise. and he is not an no.
nest man who will hesitate to satisfy one with the
other; but we Englishmen, who above all others
are deemed most of all to value liberty IN the mass,
are those who of all others, the most carelessly
sacrifice it in detail; and not merely liberty. but
morals. What prisoner leaves the gaol-haunt
of vice. intemperance, and chcanery
ed? Who will answer for the purity OF his wife
and daughters who daily visit him, making their
way through an ordeal of temptation? How ma
ny youthful criminal dates his first crime by the
epoch of his father being dragged to gaoI!
There is nothing to be said for this helnous of.
fence against reason and morality The creditor
gets nothing, saves nothing; on the contrary, he
more commonly loses all, save the pleasant re.
Election that the man Who owes him money is mo-
rally and physically rotting in gaol. Credit is
more facile under this law, but it would be FAR
better for both parties if such credit were not, it
is a temptation to both parties-to the tradesnan
who speculatss on the body pledge" and the
sangune consumer who hopes he shall be able to
pay, but who may be seriously deceived. No
man should have credit who has not means; il
he has means, it is on these means, and not on
kidnapping the person, that the creditor should
depend.