Delaware Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1843-1874, 1873-08-28
For the Delaware Republican

For the Delaware Republican.
IMPRISONMENT FOR DEBT.-Society secures
to its members certain rights known under the
several titles Of civil, political and religious
rights. Under these expressions there is abso-
utely but one right which Is applied to different
objects--the right of each individual to act
In accordance with the natural laws which
govern the development Of humanity. The
positive laws which secure the rights of the
citizen do but reflect or transcribe the natural
laws already discovered or they presume, ny
pothetically, those which are still to be discov-
cred. The right of acting, that Is to say, Of ex-
ercising our faculties In our relations with
things and with our fellow men, has for its sole
basis the free disposal Of ourselves; in other
words, personal liberty. In this connection, l
desire to call the attention Of your readers to
the manner in which the right to personal liber-
1t respected in our own state:for while slavery
has been abolished and most Of the States have
abrogated the law OF Imprisonment for debt,
Delaware still retains upon Der Statute Book
law which permits any hard hearted vindicliye
creditor to cast his debtor into prison unless he
be able to obtain special bail or pay the debt
Here the religious sentiment must be restrained,
since for prayer aud divine worship men feel
the need of Association and of grouping them
selves according to their spiritual afinities Iu
our prison 1t is even worse for there no prayers
are made and the sound of the Gospel is never
heard-not oven on a Sabbath. Imagine man
torn from his field his workshop, his office, his
family, his fellow citizens and shut up in prison.
The person so imprisoned, whatever may be his
condition in life, whatever the affection of
which he Is the object-a husband and father,
and whatever his influence In society, he Is, dur
ing the whole time of his confinement the same
as the poorest, the most desolate, and the least
respected of men. Now let us look at the way
our property Is secured against the Inherent
kinds OF dispossession to which it may be sub
ject from considerations Of public utility. The
State may desire N part Or the whole of my land
for somess great work, whose execution holds out
| some general advantage. Yet it can only take
possession after numerous and solemn formali
| ties. Even that power in our land, which the
people are beginning to fear, Railroad corpora
| tions-cannot take possession Of my land with
out like formalities and then Jury of Freehold
| els or Commissioners under the solemn sane
tiOn OF all oath, must determine the value of the
land so taken, ami still, after all this, If am dis
satisfied l may invoke judicial authority and
new Jury Is appointed TO determine the true val
| lie OF the land. What minute precautions, what
] strict formalities in such circumstances 1t
would be easy to multiply examples, and to
| show with what solemnity the State surrounds
whatever ray invade the rights of family even
remotely, whenever IL il a question of iilaton,
or adoption, or divorce. Yet let an assault be
made, not upon n simple attribute of the civil
person, but upon the person itself, and all these
guarantees instantly vanish and it is IA positive,
lamentable fact that while the rights of pro-
| perty are surrounded with the most minute guar
antees, while they cannot be touched without
moving all the public powers, the rights, much
more important, ofpersonal liberty lie at the
mercy 0fa single man ,chen preliminary inpris-
onnent Is in question.
| Now let us examine the operation of this law.
A man through circumstances beyond his con-
troll, or by his own imprudcnce, becomes involv-
cd In debt and unable to pay, his creditor finds
it Is q desperate case, and unless he uses very
extreme measures there is no hope of recover
ing tho debt and as is often the case feels very
angry and vindictive. He believes there may
| be Chance Of obtaining his money through the
| sympathy OF the creditors friends or otherwise,
and determines to have him imprisoned upless
be "forks over" as it Is facetiously termed. lie
employs an attorney, who without an oath that
| fraud has been committed, obtains warrant
for the body Of the creditor, who in nine cases
out Of ten Is totally ignorant of his true position
| under the law;with a heart torn with conflicting
emotions, dragged from his business, his family;
and society, he is shut up in a fe!on's cell aud
barred out from the pure air of heaven. Mean
while the judges of our court know nothing Of
| the transaction, because 1t never is brought to
the r notice unless the poor prisoner obtains
bail and an attorney who will demand his trial.
| Then again although the law intends such credi-
tors 10 pay the board of the prisoner while in
jail, it is seldom done, and l am credibly in
formed New Castle County has, within the last
| hfteen months paid about five hundred dollars
for board Of debtors which their creditors were
bound to ply Sometimes a debtor will "rule'
his creditor as ii is termed, the result of whicl
is they prefer to abandon the case rather than
pay the board.
Our laws are ample to punish fraudulent deb
tors and persons who obtain goods under false
| pretense, anu no one doubts the justice of tho
| DLnisment mated ia H. oil
time that public attention was earnestly direc
ted to this question which requires speedy re
form. Do people understand exactly wha
preliminary Imprisonment is A man is arres
ted, torn from his family, from his affairs dis
order and trouble are introduced into all his re
lations; he Is exposed to losses, perhaps ruiz
which he might ward off were he at liberty, bu
which his Imprisonment renders unavoidable
Not only has this suffered all the pains an,
} sorrow we have just described; not only has h
seen, without his being able to remedy, disor
der and ruin invade his affairs, but he is mark
+ ed with All indelible stigma. How can We ia
/ to turns our eyes towards his wife his children
=. his family, though innocent, yet smi ten wit
|, the same blow, ruined aud disgraced like him
e self without fault that cali be laid to the
o charge. Is this justice? In closing this hast
: ly written communication / must cite cas-
s which shows to what base purposes this law
"A put--ro-day there Is bolted aud barred up |
# our county prison healthy, sturdy industrior
g lrishman who had the misfortune TO owe a fe
Il low couBtryman small bill Tor whskey sold d.
q llvered and drank at his bar fearing he migl
: lose The debt he invoked the aid of the l,w
capias was issued,t the man arrested;put it prise
/ for whiskey bill anu now has lain there son
l. four weeks at an expense to the county and 10
. payers may well ponder this question, shall til
r, thing go on from year to year, shall the publ
" allow creditors TO imprison men as they ele
10 and Then compel us to pay their board? tro
= not. Let stop be put to this inhuman pracli
n OF imprisonment for debt! Finally would a
dress word to such creditors in the langua
nv Of the great departed Webster in an address
Nv his on the Bankrupt Law: "The slave maste
=. are compelled to feed clothe and protect til,
a. slaves you do nothing but bind" JusTcG.
a. Hardness Aagdzine.-The September nul
ber,of this Magazine is filled with interest
ID, articles. Among the number is "Wilningit
,r- and its Industries" entire, recently publish
wv In Lippincott's Magazine, and the seven cha
NC tiers which sold at sixty cents can now be U
ed tanned tor thirty. The illustrations alone a
mt worth far mere than this sum. We CONNIE
he 1t to the patronage Of the public.
. =, An Incident Of The Fiood.-On the night
Oh the great disaster, q. Newbold Price, snI OF
~ Superintendent of the Canal, john Il. Pri
Inv and Benjamin N. Osle, Of Delaware Ciiy,w
ia driving along the tow-path Of the lower lie
when the break Ia the canal occurred. II
A. heard the rushing Of the waters long before
ave food was precipitated upon them, but not kuo
in. ing what it was they alighted from the vehi
af. in which they were riding, and hitching III
,o,, horse, they started 10 walk OH down the ba
hi. They had not gone far, however, before u
ON were obliged TO seek safety In trees, which
To-. tunately withstood tie fury OF the food. III
cries for help attracted many persons to
nd, bank, but no one could be induced by tho