, 1840-07-11

slness Is with citizens of other states than hi:
own, and with foreigners, that the partial ~
tent to which the validity of state discharge:
reaches is Of little benefit. -.
Ihe states, then, canno pass ~effectua
bankrupt laws: that is, effectual for the dis
charge OF the debtor. There is no doub,
that most, if not all of the states would now
pass such laws, if they had the power; al.
though their legislation would be various, in.
terfering, and full Of all the evils which the
constitution of the United States intended
10 provide against. But they have not the
power. Congress, which has the power,
does not exercise il. This is the peculiarly
oil our condition. The states would pass
bankrupt laws, but they connot; we can, but
we will not. And between this want of power
IN the states, and wan of will in congress,
unfortunate insOlvents are left to hopeless
bondage. There are probably one or two
hundred thousand debtors, honest, sober and
industrious, who drag out lives, useless TO
themselves, useless to their families, and use
less to their country. for no reason, but that
they cannot be legally discharged from debts,
in which misfortunes have involved them.
and which there is no possibility of their
ever paving. | repeat, again, that these ca
ses have now been accommodating for a whole
generation.
1t is true, they are not imprisoned; but
there may be, and there is, restraint and
bondage outside the walls of a Jail, as well
as in. There power of earning is in truth
taken away, their faculty of useful employ
ment is paralyzed. and hope itself becomes
extinguished, creditors. generally, are not in
humane Or unkind, but there will be found
some, who hold on, and the more a debtor
struggles to free himself, the more they ieel
encouraged to hold on. Their mode of rea-
soning is, that the more honest the debtor
may be, the more industrious, the more dis
posed TO struggle and bear up against his
mIsfnrtunes, the greater the chance is, that
in the end. especially If the humanity Of 9TH
ers shall have led them to release him, there
own debts may be finally recovered.
Now, in this state of our constitutional
powers and duties, in this state of our laws.
and with this actually existing condition o.
so many insolvents before US, it is not too
serious TO ask every member of the senate 10
put 1t TO his own conscience 10 say, whether
we are not bound To exercise our constitution
al duty? Can we abstain from exercising itl
The states give TO their own laws all the ef.
feet they can. This shows that they desire the
power TO be exercised. Several states have.
in the most solemn manner, made known
their earnest wishes TO congress. II we still
refuse, what is to be donel Many of these
Insoivent pc sons are young men, with Young
families. Like other men, they have capa.
cities, both for action and for enjoyment.-I
Are we to stife all these forever? Are we
TO suffer all these persons, many Of them
every way meritorious and respectable, TO
be pressed to the earth, forever, by a load of
hopeless debt, The existing diversitIes and
contradictions of state laws on the subject
admirably illustrate the objects Of this part
of the constitution, as stated by Mr.. Madi-
son; and they form that precise case for
which the clause was inserted. The very
evil intended TO be provided against is before
us, and around us, and pressing US on all sides.
How can We, how dare we, make n perfectdead
letter of this part Of the constitution. which
we have sworn to support? The Insolvent
persons have not the power of locomotion.
They cannot travel from state to state.
They are prisoners. To my certain know
there are many who cannot even come
w ~ SCht " thC give iHiCuts " PiC-
sent their petitions to congress, so great is
fear that some creditnr will dog their
and arrest them in some intervening
state, or in this District, in the hope that
will appear to save them, by payment
IF the debts, from Imprisonment. These are
truths, not credirabIe to the country, but
they are truths. | AN sorry for their exist
snce. Sir, there is one crime. quire too COM
non, which the laws OF man do not punish,
nut which cannot escape the justice Of God;
md thai is, the arrest and confinement Of a
by his creditor, with no motive on
earth but the hope that some friend, or some
perhaps almost as poor as himself,
his mother, it may be, or his sisters, or his
daughters, will give up all their own little
and make beggars of themselves,
% save him from the horrors of a loathsome
Human retribution may not reach this
yuili; human feeling may not penetrate the
1inty heart that perpetrates it; but an hour
S surely coming, with more than human re.
on its wings, when that flint shall
De melted, either by the power Of penitence
ind grace, or in the fires of remorse.
Sir. | verify believe that the power Of per-
debts against debtors, for no SUBJ