Staunton spectator, and general advertiser. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 183?-1849, 1842-01-20
THE BANKRUPT LAW.
From the National b,f,lIo.,c,r


The vote looking to the repeal of the Bank
rupt Law has, we confess, overcome MS with
surprise at its suddenness, and with apprehen-
sion Tor It's consequences. To this measure.
IN conncxion with the Land Distribution and
Presumption Law, we had pointed with triumph
as the two great pillars of Wing policy, of
which the third was to be, and we have
yet a liant hope is to be, the restoration las
lar as practicable) of q sound currency. We
could not bring ourselves to believe, though
threatened In the Senate, that there was any
serious design III Congress to repeal that ben
chcent act, which has called down upon the
heads OF It's authors more of that incense the
SAVIOR oil which ascends to Heaven than anv
measure ever passed by Congress. We sympa-
'hize most deeply in the anguish with which
ms ms, indication IN the House of Representatives
WIZ wing tho brcactS of ...-~-- .i,o,,a,,,l -,
ele helpless women and children, who have
io''uiy looked to the disenthraimcnt of their
natural protectors by process which, upon
an the consideration that we have been able to
oestow upon 1t, Is to our mindno less lust and
wise than 1t Is humane and provitent. We
shudder at the thought of the utter dcsoIation
which the consummatlon of the proposed re-
peal would bring upon hearihs long wretched
ana iorlorn, but upon which the benignant pro-
mise OF the Bankrupt act had at last Shed
reviving and consoling beams fhope and ioy.
we most earnestly hope that we may be spar
eu the spectacle of such an affection, the
uepth ana extent of which may be pictured i'm
the imagination, but whichnor pen nor tongue
could ever describe.
we 90 not, OF course, pretendto arraign the
'o'es OIL individual members on his question
OF the proposed repeal of the Bankrupt Law
lnoy Dctjpr l.
ana III conscientious spirit; some doubtless
under supposed instructions from their immc-
aiale constituents. If we could presume TO
address any argument to them, we should urco
that 1t might have been expected. as moro con-
iormable to usage as well as to reason. tb,t :,
law, sanctioned in terms by the Constitution.
passed with the consent of all branches of tho
Government, (under circumstances which have
SINCE undergone no change ought to UNDERGO
Il FAR trial before ii is doomed. This nr;v;-
iege, which is allowed to the most abandoned
naielactor, ought not, surely, to be denied bv
congress to Its own offspring. Let us have
the verdict ofpublic opinion upon it before if
Is condemned. That opinion has not been as.
cer!aihed BY any process to be relied upon ::
ana, according to all the information that has
reached us, Is altogether more favorable than
avcrse to the law. Obdurate creditors There
may be, who, not content with obtaining all
tlat men can pay, would yet hold their miser.
able debtors III bondage for life Imprecations
upon tile Bankrupt Law may be hurled bv
such men; but how feeble ough: not to be
Their Genuncatons against the force of reason
and the march of intellect which confourd all
the saws and sophisms ard dispcl the dark
ness of the bGrbarism of past ages. under which
not only the debtor, but the debtors family
his wife and his children, were condemned 10
servltude or penury for life, to atone for the
misfortune OF debt which it was impossible
tlat he should ever be able to pay Nav our
legislators, when seriously meditating further
legislation on this subject, ever bear in mind
that '''''
Earthly power doth then show nearest Cons
When Mercy seasons Justice!