Some objections humbly offered to the consideration of the Hon. House of Commons, relating to the present intended relief of prisoners

Table of contents

- [titlepage]

- PART I.

- PART II.

SOME OBJECTIONS, &c.

FINIS

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.)

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 100l. 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 5000l. in Goods, and may trade for 10000, nay for 20000l. 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 10000l. per Annum with but 1000l. 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.

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Some objections humbly offered to the consideration of the Hon. House of Commons, relating to the present intended relief of prisoners

Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731.

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9781106004840

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— Some objections humbly offered to the consideration of the Hon. House of Commons, relating to the present intended relief of prisoners, Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731.. [2],24p. ; 8⁰. London :: printed for R. Walker, E. Nutt, and sold by the booksellers of London and Westminster,. 1729.. [Anonymous. By Daniel Defoe.] [Reproduction of original from the University of London's Goldsmiths' Library.] [Moore, 509] [Hanson, 4017] [Goldsmiths', 6704] [English Short Title Catalog, ESTCN23621.] [Electronic data. Farmington Hills, Mich. : Thomson Gale, 2003. Page image (PNG). Digitized image of the microfilm version produced in Woodbridge, CT by Research Publications, 1982-2002 (later known as Primary Source Microfilm, an imprint of the Gale Group).]

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