SOME OBJECTIONS Humbly offered to the CONSIDERATION OF THE Hon. HOUSE of COMMONS, Relating to the present intended Relief of Prisoners
LONDON:
Printed for R. WALKER, at the
White-Hart,
without
Temple-Bar,
E. NUTT, at the
Royal-Exchange,
and sold by the Booksellers of
London
and
Westminster.
1729. (
Price
6 d.)
SOME OBJECTIONS, &c.
PART I.
Of the
Fraud
made use of by
Insolvents
to bring themselves within the Reach of the Acts of
Parliament,
with some Limitations; humbly offered to be considered of, in order (not to prevent an Act of Favour to real
Insolvents,
but) to prevent the Abuse of it by improper Objects.
IT is no wonder, if after so many Petitions from the several Prisons almost over the whole Kingdom, and such horrid
Cruelties
and Inhumanities, as appears to have been practised by some Jailors, especially by the
Warden of the Fleet
and his
Agents,
upon several unfortunate Gentlemen who have fallen into their Hands; I say, 'tis no wonder if a Bill for Relief of Prisoners is become very popular.
By how much the ill Usage of the Prisoners, who are thus abused by the
Keepers of Prisons,
shocks the tender and charitable Part in every Man's Breast; by so much the Case of the
Prisoners,
even of those who have not been used ill, prevails upon the
Publick
in favour of the GRACE desir'd.
Nor shall one Word be said, or one Thought suggested, in this Tract in Prejudice of the
Charitable
Intention of the House, or any way to lessen the good and generous Disposition of any Person whatever, whether in the Legislature, or out of it, towards promoting so good a Work.
Far less
shall I take one Step, or speak one Word, that so much as looks like a Plea for the
Cruelty
and Inhumanity of
Jaylors
and Prison-keepers; their Conduct in most, if not in all the Jails in
England,
calls aloud for a like Inspection of Authority and for Justice upon the Persons, as well as a severe Censure of the Practises of the Delinquents, in order to have that rigid, tho' necessary Part of the Law, call'd
Imprisonment for Debt,
be executed with
Humanity
and with Equity, according to the natural Rights of the Unfortunate, as Men; and according to their
legal
Rights as
Englishmen,
which it is evident has not been observ'd hitherto.
And to conclude this Part;
least of all
shall I say one Word here in behalf of the Persons at this time detected openly in the
Cruelties,
Inhumanities and Extortions, which they have practis'd upon the unhappy Gentlemen who have fallen into their Hands: I do not see they merit the least
Favour
from their Country; they have acted a
dreadful Part,
and they are in Hands, which I doubt not will have more
Mercy
than they have shewn to the Miserable, who have been under their Power; and tho' I shall not, on the other hand, prompt or push their
Misfortune,
yet this I may say without any Prejudice or Injury to them, that I hope they shall have such Justice, as will effectually disable them, and warn all others (of that
rough
Employment) from the
like
Practices.
Having laid down these
Postulata,
in order to prevent any prejudging my Design in this Work, or raising a
popular
Clamour, as if it was intended to lessen the intended
Grace
of the Government or Legislature, and to prevent the
Deliverance
of Prisoners; I shall with the more freedom lay down some Difficulties, which, as they occur to me on this Occasion, shall be worth the Consideration of the Legislature, not to lye as
Obstructions
in the way of the intended Bill, as a Reason
sine qua non,
but that the Parliament, taking them into their Hands, and
approving
or
disapproving
them, as they shall appear
important,
may find out such
proper Remedies
as to their great Wisdom shall seem meet.
Having thus, as I hope, remov'd the Prejudices which might lye against my present Design, I must also speak a Word or two, very briefly, to remove if possible a popular Objection (at least as it is used in the Mouths of some who are more particucularly concern'd in that part) namely, that it is
unchristian
and inhuman, and inconsistent with a
generous
Nation abhorring Cruelty, as
England
professes to be, to confine poor miserable People in
Prison
for Debt, especially such as have nothing to pay.
As to the latter Part,
viz.
of
confining
People in Prison who have
nothing
to pay, I come readily into that part, and in doing so I confirm what I have said above, that I am not writing in order to intercept the intended
Grace
of the Parliament to the
Unfortunate.
The honest Debtor willing to pay, but
unable
; and willing to pay as far as he is
able,
and ready to give all reasonable Satisfaction, such as the Parliament may direct, that he is so unable, is certainly an
Object
recommending it self to the
Charity
and Compassion of the whole Nation; and whatever intervenes by the Fraud of others, these, and these only, are allow'd to be the Persons for whom the
Parliamentary Grace
which has been settled, and extended in so many Acts of Parliament already pass'd, has been
intended.
That very great Numbers of
Fraudulent,
unqualify'd, wicked, and dishonest People have formerly receiv'd the Benefit of the like
Grace
by the Help of
false Oaths,
unjust Pretences, Connivance of Jailors, Bribery and Corruption of many kinds, has been loudly complain'd of, and I doubt is much easier to prove than to prevent; and not being willing, as I have said, to be any ways a Hindrance to the Relief of the
honest
and real Objects of
Grace,
who are indeed within the Intention of the Act, I cover all that Part with saying, Better
Ten
dishonest Debtors
escape,
than that
one
real Object of the intended
Good
should
perish.
Yet I humbly propose it, as a Thing worthy the Consideration of the
British Parliament,
whether it is any Way probable, that there can be such a Number of miserable Insolvents in one Year, and that of but the
lowest
Class too; namely, not owing above 100
l.
to any one Person, and all actually Prisoners, as have presented themselves yearly to the Magistrates, to be discharged by the
Grace
of Parliament, for these several Years past?
If it is true, as common
Fame
says it is, that notwithstanding there was an Act for Delivering such
Prisoners
but
two
Years past, there are at this Time near ninety Thousand such
Insolvents,
now on the Books of the several
Jails
in this Kingdom; I say, if this is
true,
is it rational to believe, that these are all really and fairly Prisoners, within the Intent and Meaning of the
intended Grace.
It would be a noble Undertaking, and in my Opinion well worth the House of Commons, tho' it took up a good Part of a
Session,
to find out some effectual Means to
separate between the Sheep and the Goats,
(speaking of that Allusion with due Regard) in this Case; and to discover, expose, and punish the
Frauds
which are put upon the NATION in this Affair.
It is true, the People are despicable; I mean, the
Guilty
; the Debts they lye for not large, at least not to particular Men, and some may suggest that it is not worth Notice; but I reply, the Number is great, surprizingly great, and the Injury to Trade is very
considerable,
nor is the Matter small among
Tradesmen,
tho' the Debts (as above) are not singly large. For as many of these
Insolvents
frequently fall within the Compass of one and the same Shopkeeper, it very often falls heavy; and as these
fraudulent
Debtors boldly run into Mens Books, with a Dependance upon such
Acts of Grace,
and with an evident Design to cheat and defraud their Creditors, and this
several
Times over, such People are, I think, very far from being Debtors who deserve Compassion, or within the Intent and Meaning of the
Parliamentary
Grace.
Likewise they are greatly injurious to Trade in general, as they
ruin innocent
Tradesmen by their Knavery; many Tradesmen having had thirty to fifty such Insolvents discharged by
one Act,
tho' they were never put in Prison, or so much ar arrested at their Suit, or for any Part of their Debt.
The usual
Practice
of these People has been to run themselves into the
Tradesmens Books,
as it is called, in as many particular and different Places as possible; always taking Care that it be for small Sums, within the usual Restraint of the
Acts of Grace
; and then when the expected
Favour
is in Prospect, get themselves arrested, and put in Prison, or turn'd over by
Habeas Corpus,
so to be within the Reach of the Law, and then all the other
Creditors,
who have never offered them the
least
Violence, are paid with a SUMMONS.
Others by
Corruption
of Jailors, and by
Bribery,
have obtained those Jailors to own them as
Prisoners in Custody,
tho' not
really
so, for a certain antedated Time, so as to be brought within the Reach of the Act.
What
Perjury,
what
Forgery,
what foul Things are practised under this Head, deserves the Inspection of the like Authority as lately detected the
Frauds
of the
Fleet-prison
; a Committee, who are above the Reach of
Fraud
or
Corruption
themselves, and fully qualified to search those
Deeds of
Darkness
to the Bottom; indeed it seems to be reserv'd to a House of Commons, and to them only.
It was the Saying of a known and judicious Writer, that no Man ought to complain in Print of any publick Grievance, unless at the same Time he proposed also the Remedies; I shall take the Hint, and offer something to the Purpose in this Case, that I may dismiss it as I go:
I. It would go a great Way towards preventing this Mischief, if it was provided in the
Act,
that no
Insolvent
should claim the Benefit
twice
over; it having been frequent to have them take
new Credit,
after their having been once
discharged,
seeking out new Places of Abode, and new Creditors, who, upon a Variety of Pretences, they insinuate themselves so far into, as to get Credit with them, their former Circumstances not being known.
II. That none should claim the Benefit of such an
Act,
who had
run
from their
Bail,
made
Escapes
from Officers or Prison-keepers upon their Parole, or that had committed any notorious
Fraud
punishable by Law, or that had obtained Credit upon Promise and express Conditions (before two or more Witnesses who shall attest the same) not to claim or take the Benefit of any such
Act of Grace.
III. That none should claim such
Benefit
who shall conceal any of their Goods and Effects from their Creditors, notwithstanding their having made Affidavit as the Law directs, as in the Case of a Bankrupt.
These Proviso's, together with a
New Method
to be taken, to limit and restrain the
Prison-keepers,
to prevent their keeping Prisoners on their Books after they have been
discharged, antedating
their Commitments, and giving
fraudulent
Certificates of their being
Prisoners,
when really they were not; I say these Methods, and such as these, under the farther Direction and Improvement of the Legislature, I perswade myself would go a great way to prevent the Abuse of
Parliamentary Grace,
and to make the future
Acts for Relief of Insolvents
effectually and truly, merciful and good, and the honest
poor
Prisoner, nobody repining at his Relief, would be deliver'd; the
knavish
designing Debtor remaining,
as he ought to do,
where the Law directs.
This leads me to enter a little into the Question so much insisted on by some,
viz.
that
no Man should be put in Prison for Debt.
It is true, that this
Doctrine
has many Advocates, and some have pushed it so far, as to think the contrary Opinion
cruel
and unchristian; but I shall enquire more particularly into it in the next Part.
In the mean time, I take this Occasion to repeat again what I hinted at before, namely, that this is so far from
impeaching
the common Charity, and the Compassion of the
British
Nation to Prisoners, that it prompts and recommends it by the meer Nature of the Thing; for when I argue against the Knavery of the Debtor, in making himself a
voluntary
Prisoner, on purpose to defraud and delude his
Creditors,
it naturally follows that the Prisons should be purged from all such voluntary, fraudulent People, and those that remain would be the more real and unexceptionable Objects of the National
Grace.
When the Prisoners were all really
Insolvent,
really miserable, and that without any room to charge either
them,
or the
Jailers
and
Keepers
with corrupt Practices, abusing the publick Mercy, and the like, the Parliament would always be the more ready to pass Acts for their Relief, as they should see Cause, so that this Proposal is evidently calculated to encourage and prompt the Mercy of the
Publick
to
Insolvents,
by removing all the just
Objections
which now lie in the way, and have so often obstructed it.
PART II.
Of the Necessity of Preserving to the Creditor the Right of arresting and imprisoning the
Person
of his Debtor; and how the Petty Credit given in all Retail Trade, and which is essential to the Support of our whole
Commerce,
depends upon it.
I Believe it will not be called
begging the Question
to lay it down as a
Foundation,
That as there is a greater Trade carried on in
England
than in any other Nation in
Europe
; so there is a larger Personal Credit given in Trade here than in any other Nation, not in
Europe
only, but in the whole World.
There are so many
Evidences
of the first, and so many Authors have written on that Subject, that I need only refer my Reader to them; and the last is evident to every MERCHANT now in Trade, who sees with the least Observation what Difference there is between the way of Trading here, and the like way of Trading in
Foreign
Countries, and between the Credit given in either.
Some would make it a Question,
tho' I think it is no Question,
whether the Greatness of our Trade is the Cause of giving this
large Credit,
or that the giving this large Credit is the Cause of the
Greatness of our Trade.
I say there is no room to debate this Part; the latter is evident to Demonstration, namely, that the giving such large Credit is the true Spring of the Greatness of our Trade: This appears by comparing the Bulk of the Trade in this Kingdom with the Bulk of our
Current Stock
in Trade. If no
Credit
was given, the Trade could not go beyond the
Stock
; it is true, it might go beyond the Current Coin, because some Trade may be carry'd on by Barter, or exchanging one kind of Goods for another, without the Interposition of any
Medium
(which is Money) But no Trade can go beyond the
Stock
without
Credit,
because one Value must always be deliver'd for another, and they must be always equal too, otherwise the Exchange is not equal, nor the Payment compleat.
But in Credit the Case is quite different; for here the Seller delivers his Goods (which are a
real Value
) to the Buyer on his Note for Payment, or perhaps on his Verbal Promise, either of which, is an
imaginary Value
only; in a Word, the
Fame
or Reputation of a Buyer is put into the
Scale of Commerce
with the
real
Value and Substance of the Seller, and the one is deliver'd for the other: the Account in the Tradesman's Ledger stands as a Register of the Case; the Buyer stands Debtor on one side for the Value of the Goods sold and deliver'd to him against an open
Blank
on the contrary side, to be fill'd up to his
Creditor
when he pays the Money.
By this strange thing call'd
Credit,
all the mighty Wonders of an exalted Commerce are perform'd; a Tradesman beginning with a Thousand Pound Cash, and a good Character, shall store his Shop or Warehouse with 5000
l.
in Goods, and may trade for 10000, nay for 20000
l. per Annum
; and so long as he manages
prudently,
pays currently, and keeps up his Reputation, shall run almost what Length he pleases in his Trade, so much greater a Stroke in Trade does his
Character
furnish to him, than his
Cash.
Upon the Foot of this very Article call'd
Credit,
as a private Man may trade for 10000
l. per Annum
with but 1000
l.
Stock, so if the Stock of the who
e Trade of
Great-Britain
be, as some insist, Ten Millions, the Trade may actually return a Hundred Millions of Pounds Sterling in a Year; an
immense
Sum, but not at all
improbable
to be true, and perhaps within Compass too.
But to bring it down to the Subject: Take the Credit given in smaller Articles; I mean, in
retailing
Goods to the
last
Consumer: This is what I call
petty Credit,
and is the particular thing which fills our Jails with
Insolvent
Prisoners. Even this
petty Credit
is, though small in the particular, immensely great in the general; and tho' it does not
encrease
the Stock of the Retailer, it certainly does
encrease
his Trade, and causes him to sell a great deal more Goods than otherwise he would find Customers for.
Thus the
Wholesale
Dealer trusts or gives Credit to the
Retailer,
and thereby encreases
his Stock
(for Credit in Trade is Stock in Trade) the
Retailer
gives Credit to the
Con
umer,
and thereby increases
his Sale.
Now upon what Foundation is all this Credit given? The
Retailer,
being a
Woollen-Draper,
trusts his Neighbour with a Suit of Clothes; how comes he to do it? perhaps the Man has no extraordinary Character; well but, says the
Retailer,
he is a Tradesman as well as I, and he must pay me, or he shall not be able to stand at his Shop Door, or sit behind his
Counter,
for I will
arrest
him and make him pay me; and upon this
Power
of
Arresting the Debtor,
and carrying him to
Prison,
or whether he is carry'd to
Prison
or no, the exposing him, disgracing him, and ruining his Credit; I say, upon this is founded the Freedom of the Tradesman to trust him.
If you destroy this Power of
Coercion,
you destroy the
Credit in Trade
; for if the Man cannot be
credited,
he cannot
buy
; and if the Tradesman cannot
arrest
him, he will not sell.
This particular Case merits to be
very well observ'd
; and there is more Weight in it than perhaps appears at first View.
1. I say if the Buyer cannot be trusted, he cannot buy,
that is to say,
he cannot buy at that time; he will make shift for a while, will wear his old Clothes longer, go without such or such
fine things
for himself, or Wife, or Children, and abate in his Expence, because he has not Money to buy, and the Shop-keeper will not trust him.
Even the
Drunkard
will abate his Liquor, if the
Alehouse
or
Tavernkeeper
will not admit him to score; abundance of
Luxury
and
Gaiety,
as well in
Food
as
fine things,
must abate for want of ready Money; whereas Men will venture to buy if they have Credit with the Tradesman.
To say, let Luxury and Extravagance
abate,
it will perhaps reform the Town, is to say nothing; for the
Question
does not lye that way: It is not whether the Luxury will abate, but will our
Trade
abate or not; if the
Trade abates,
as it certainly will, my Argument is good.
2. On the other hand, if the
Buyer
cannot
buy,
the
Seller
cannot
sell
; then his Stock lyes dead on his Hands, the Money for it, and for which perhaps he has been trusted himself, grows due, and he cannot pay; he had better sell, and give some
Credit
; but he is afraid to do that, because if his Debtor refuses to pay, he cannot force him to it. In short, he must
trust,
or
shut
up Shop, and
break
; and thus if a LAW should be made to prevent
arresting
the
Person
of the
Debtor,
you at once destroy
Personal Credit
and
ruin
the Tradesmen.
I remember an Attempt ignorantly made, (as it appear'd afterwards) even by the
Tradesmen
themselves, to destroy this
Petty Credit:
The Shop-keepers mightily affected to write over their Shop-Doors, No TRUST BY RETAIL. But the Consequence soon appear'd, to the opening their Understandings; for
Thousands
of Buyers, who laid out their Money freely, and who, tho' they might not always pay down upon the
Spot,
yet paid tolerably well, went from their Shops, and bought where they knew they could be
trusted.
In a Word, any LAW which abates
Petty Credit,
or Trust by Retail, will be fatal to TRADE, and would give such a
Blow
to our Commerce in general, as it would be impossible for all our Heads put together to retrieve.
Therefore if we will support
Trade,
we must encourage
Petty Credit
; and if you will support
Petty Credit,
you must not take away the
Security
to the
Creditor
; the Security of the Tradesman's trusting his Neighbour is the Power he has by Law to
enforce
his Payment, and of arresting and imprisoning the Debtor if he fails or refuses: The Law is the Tradesman's
Security,
and if you take away the
Law,
which is his
Security,
you take away his Trade.
What is the Reason why in
Scotland,
and in other Countries, they have so
little
Trade? 'tis because you cannot
enforce
your Demand of Debt, you can't send the Debtor to Prison; and therefore no Man
buys
till he has
Money
to pay; if you will imprison the Debtor, you must allow him a Maintenance, or he will come out before your Face.
It may be true, that there is some
Humanity
in such a Law, but I cannot say there is any
Policy
in it; for it overthrows
personal
Credit, and that in effect sinks Trade, lessens the
Consumption
of Goods, and
ruins
the Tradesmen themselves: I cannot but think it were much better to have an
Act of Mercy
every Year, to release poor Insolvents upon reasonable Conditions, than not have it in the Tradesman's Power to
imprison
them when they do not pay; for this
Mercy
will not be so prejudicial to the
particular
Creditors, as the other would be to the
general
Credit.
It is our Business to
increase
our Trade to the utmost by all lawful Methods; nay, wise Men in Commerce tell us, some Errors, even in Morality, had better be wink'd at, than the Trade be ruin'd, or than any
general
Head of Trade be impair'd; the Meaning is, that, in some Cases, even our Luxury or High-living,
I do not mean our Drunkenness and Vice,
is so essential to our Trade, that it were better
continued,
than be entirely
suppressed,
the Trade would suffer so much.
It must be confess'd, a Set of
Sumptuary
Laws, as they are called, to reform our Extravagancies in Equipages and Dress, House-Furniture and Diet, would effectually
ruin
our Commerce, starve and leave unemploy'd our
Poor,
and reduce the whole Nation to a most deplorable Condition of Misery and Distress.
It would be the like,
in Case of a Stop to
Credit,
for it would be an Abatement of the Consumption in all Sorts of Goods, as well our Manufactures and Home Product, as our importation from abroad; for as the last Consumer is the Life of all, if Credit abates, he abates his Expence, and buys less; consequently Trade declines, and less is consumed. By Credit here,
that I may explain Things as I go,
I must be understood to mean not
publick
Credit, I have nothing to do with that Part here; but
personal
Credit, the
ordinary
Credit given by one Tradesman to another, as well in
wholesale
Dealing and Merchandizing, as in Retailing from the Shopkeeper to his Neighbours and Customers, and indeed chiefly the
last
; for on that does the Wholesale Part depend.
Upon this Foundation I build the Consequences which I insist upon, as above; this
Trust by Retail,
this
petty
Credit entirely depends upon the Right which every Citizen, thus selling his Goods to his Neighbour
upon
his Word,
that is, upon his
personal
Credit, has by
Law to sue, arrest, imprison,
and
keep in Prison his Debtor,
if he delays or refuses to pay the Money when it is due.
If you take away this
Right,
you take away the
Credit
; for no Man will sell his Goods upon a
Faith
which the Debtor is not obliged to
keep.
It is a great Mistake to say,
personal
Credit is given upon the
Honour
and
Faith
of the Debtor; the case is quite otherwise, the
Credit
is given to the
Law
; 'tis my being able to prosecute the Debtor in a Course of Law, and
(as we call it)
make him pay me, that encourages me to trust him; and therefore 'tis the ordinary Enquiry of a Tradesman, when he would
inform
himself about a Man he deals with, not whether he be
honest,
but whether he is
able
; if you tell him he is a
Knave,
and won't pay any body if he can help it,
O,
says the
Tradesman, I don't value that; I am willing to get off the Goods, and if he is
able,
I'll venture; for I know how to make him willing.
Nor does any Part of this Discourse, to repeat it again, tend in the least to prevent our
Tenderness
to any of these
Debtors
who are thus
imprison'd,
if by Disasters, Losses, Misfortunes, or any visible Accident they are render'd really poor and unable, but that such should always be reliev'd; and if the Creditor be
cruel
and inexorable, as some perhaps will always be, the Parliament will, on all just Occasions,
of which also they are the proper Judges,
deliver such Insolvents by
Acts of Clemency and Grace,
as they do
now,
and no Christian Tradesman can, I think, repine at their commiserating and relieving
unfortunate,
tho' otherwise
honest Insolvents.
FINIS