Year: 1859

which he would, at some future day, have OBJ
tanned, had the individual been protrected in
the enjoyment of what he had, until sufficient
time had elapsed to have enabled him to over
come present msfortunes


The whole operation of this law, as it now
stands, is bad 1t induces men of doubtful in
tegrity to resort to deception aud fraud, to get
others to give them obligations containing a
waver of exemptions, by promising them all the
time they may desire, even after the debt shall


become due (such promises are generally
made in the private counting room, where
there is no witness present ; and if there should
be, he is apt to be some deaf clerk, who did
not hear any bargain except what was nOmi
rated in the bond," and that before it was
signed } and while it cannot be denied that it
is temptation to men of easy virtue, it is q
downright license to riHians to make paupers
of cur people. Hence it is, the law should be
complete, and the full and free enjoyment of
these exemptions secured to the debtor in such
a manner that he may not be either oVerawed
or cntrapped into stripping himself of it and
that is what the bill under. consideration pro
poses to do. Where are the beneficial results
of the law as it is now Will it be pretended
for one moment that the collection of few
dollars from a poor debtor, and the small
amount of advantage it affords to the poor
creditor, are to be put in the scale against the
misery produced by bringing a whole family to
want and destitution Nor is this often the
end of the sad misfortune Not unfrequently
is it the case, that under such circumstances the
kindeSt husband and father, driven to despera-
ton, falls into habits of dissipation and drunk
ennesS is led on from indulgence in that one
master vice to participation in others, until at
last, in an evil hour, under the influence of the
maddening bowl, he commits some offence
against the criminal law, Git may be to keep
the issue of his own loins from starvation, and
is consigned to prison. Thus the once especta-
ble and honest citizen, with q family around
him, under the operation of inhuman laws, has
been made forever an outcast in the commu-
nifty, spotted felon, stunned like a lcper, and
lost to his family, his friends, society and the
Commonwealth. The sons, too, having wit
messed the degradation of the father, feel them
selves to be like OutcaSts, and find enjoyment
only by indulgence in the same vices while
the daughters may be growing up to maturity,
exposed to the manydangers that surround the
humble and unprotected female and after
being constantly in the way of temptation,
from infancy up to womanhOod at last yield
themselves victims to the vice that always in
ours certain and enduring disgrace All this
degradation may be brought upon family to
crafty the avarice of a man without heart
1t may be said that such cases are rare 1t is
to be hoped that they are ; yet fear, could we
penetrate the secrets of all the trials and diff
culies, the sorrows and suffering, the vice and
crimes that have been brought upon our peo-
pie by the abuse of misplaced confidence under
this law, we would have list that would as
tonsh ourselves A single instance would be
amply sufficient to justify the passage Of this
bill into a law at this time and if even
that could not be adduced the fact that it
would be a Legitimate consequence of existing
practice under the law, as now construed and
carried out would demand the enactment of a
remedial measure. Although drunkenness,
crime and misery are the legitimate results of
unjust and iniqutous laws, in this case they are
not the only great evils that can be remedied
in great degree, by the enactment of law
such as the one contemplated by this bill
One Of the many good results that would follow
the passage Of this bill, would be that it would


udhC CfNI lLIt1li hu ilINit pChhCuO IL VII
can exercise the right of suffrage without dan
ger of being sold out of house and home The
theory of our institutions is, that elections
should be free the voter should 60 the polls
untrammeled by nppreheDsions, lest some indi-
vidual who may hold claim against him.
should punish him for the exercise of the elec-
tive franchise in accordance with his convic-
tions, by suit exaction and the expulsion of his
family from their home pcnnilesS deprived of
every comfort, and stripped even of all the
neceSSaries of life Beautiful as is this theory
is it not often nullifed in practice Is it not
perfectly apparent that it may be ? And shall


the freemen of this Commonwealth be left by
the Legislature liable to the operation of lille
gitimate influences of this kind +? 1t is the in
terest Of the State, that the spirit of her inst-
tutons should be fully carried out in this re-
Spect. TO that end she has surrounded the
voter with many immunities He is safe in
going to, remaining at, and returning from the
polls. He cannot be arrested on any civil pro.
cess. He is protected from the overawing
presence of armed and embodied troops, while
exercising his part Of the popular sovereignty
anywhere in the Commonwealth. Shall, then,
the mean and mercenary fear of the " almighty
dollar be permitted to deprive the State of
the honest, unbought aud generous expression
of the popular will, under the operation of ex-
isting law, which places this injurious power in
the hands of those who are unscrupuIous
enough to use it ? Let the original object of
the exemption law be truly attained by de-
priving the debtor of all right to waive prvi


ege which the humanity Of the law has con
ferred upon him, not merely for his benefit,
but as a protection for his family, and secure
great public Objects and he becomes freeman
not merely in opinion, but in action, and need
fear the rich mans contumely and threats, and
actions of punishment through an abuse Of


legal process, as little as the proud mans
scorn or the aristocrat's oppression.


To encourage industry, economy, and the ac-