Jeffersonian Republican. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1840-1853, 1848-11-30
sTRoUDsBURG MONROE COUNTY THURSDAY
,.,.s. Published by request az - -
Dymond's Essays Om the Principles of
Morality.

,..,.s. Published by request ~s ~ -.
Dymond's Essays Om the Principles of
Morality.
- :. INSOLVENCY. ;
Why is man obliged to pay his debts ! 1t is
to be hoped that the morality of few persons is
lax enough to reply-Because the law compels
him. But why. then. is he obliged to pay Them!
Because the Moral Law requires it. That this is
the primary ground of the obligation is evident;
otherwise the payment of any debt which vicious
or corrupt legislature resolved to cancel, would
cease to be obligatory upon the debtor.
A man becomes insolvent and is made bank
rupt he pays his creditors ten shlings instead
of twenty, and obtains has certificate. The law,
therefore, discharges him from the obligation to
pay more. The bankrupt receives large legacy,
or he engages in business and acquires property.
Being then able to pay the remainder of his debts,
does the legal discharge exempt him from the OBJ
legation to pay them' No: and for this reason.
that the legal discharge is not moral discharge;
that the duty to pay at all was not founded prl-
marily on the law, the law cannot warrant him in
Withholding part. ~ =.
1t is however said, that the creditors have re-
linquished their right to the remainder by signing
the certificate But why did they accept half
their demands instead of the whole !. Because
they were obliged to do it they could get no more.
AS to granting the certificate they do it because
to withhold j. would be only an act of gratuitous
unkindness. 1t would be preposterous to say that
creditors relinquish their claims voluntarily for
one would give up his claim to twenty shillings
on the receipt of ten, if he could get the other
by refusing. 1t might as reasonably be said that
a man parts with limb voluntarily, because, hav-
ing incurably acerated it, he submits to an ampu.
ton. 1t is to be remembered, TOO, that the neces-
sary REIMBURSEMENT of half the demand is occa-
stoned by the debtor himself: and it seems very
manifest that when man, by his own act, de-
prives another of his property, he cannot allege
the consequences of that act as justification of
Withholding it after restoration is in his power.
The mode in which an insolvent man obtains
discharge, does not appear to affect his subse-
quent duties. Compositions and bankruptcies,
and discharges by an insovent act are in this re-
spect alike. The acceptance Of part instead of
the whole is not voluntary in either case and
neither case exempts the debtor from the obliga-
CATION, to pay if he can: -. ,....,:!. ~,
If should be urged that when person intrusts
property to- another, he knowingly undertakes the
risk of that others insolvency., and that il the
lingent loss happens, he has no claims to justice
on the other, the answer is this that whatever
bo Of tb..o al .l,o
grounds upon which the debtor is obliged to pay.
The debtor always engages to pay, and the en-
gagement is enforced by morality the engage
ment therefore is binding, whatever risk another
man may incur by relying upon it. The causes
which have occesioned a persons insolvency. al
though they greatly affect his character do not af-
feet his obligations the duty to repay when he
has the power, is the same whether the ,insolven-
cy were occasioned by his fault or his misfortune.
In all cases, the reasoning that applies to the debt,
applies also to the interest that accrues upon 1t
although, with respect to the acceptance of both.
and especially Of interest. creditor should exer-
else considerate discretion A man who has
failed Of paying his debts ought always to live with
frusaliy, and carefully to economise, such money
as he gains. He should reflect tha. he is a trus-
tee for his creditors, and that all the needless
money which he expends is not his, but theirs.
The amount ofproperty which the trading part
of commercial nation loses by, insolvency, is
great enough to constitute considerable nation
al evil. The fraud, too, That is practised under
cover Of insolvency, is doubtless the. most extern
siye of all species of private robbery. The pro-
fi9acy Of some of these cases is we'll known to be
extreme. He who is bankrupt to-day, riots in
the luxuries of affluence to. morrow bows to the
creditors whose money he is spending, and ,ex-
ults in the success and the impunity OF his wick
edness., Of such conduct, we should speak
or think but with .detestaton. We should no
more sit at the table, or lake the hand, of such
man. than if he knew he had got his, money last
night on the highway. There is a wickedness in
some bankruptcies TO which the guilt of ordinary
robbers approaches but at distance. Happy. if
such wickedness could not be praciiced with le-
gal impunity! Happy. il Public Opinion supplied
the deficiency Of the law, and held the iniquity In
rgh,ful adherence! H,!.j sss<
Perhaps nothing would tend so efieaciously to
diminish the general evils insolvency, as sound
state Of public opinion respecting the obligation
TO pay our debts. The insolvent who, with the
means Of paying. retains the money in his own