this debt he will be the less able to satisfy his debt to His Majesty. That prima facie this was, and must have been, the real foundation of granting the aid desired, is selfevident: the words themselves, in perfect consistency with the obvious intention, afford irrefragable proof of it; and yet the common practice is to grant the writ when this is not believed on the one side, nor even pretended to be true on the other; nay, where even the insinuation of its truth would be treated as an affront, at least, if not as a libel. On what grounds, then, is it defended? First, on the quibble, that of whatever surplus a man may be possessed beyond what is required for the discharge of his debts, every diminution of that surplus brings him nearer, and consequently makes him more liable to, actual insolvency; and that therefore if he cannot be said to be actually less able at the moment, he may be less able at some future time; i. e. supposing a man worth 10,000l. surplus, to make the affidavit in order to prevent a loss of 501. it may be said that a surplus of 9,950l. will exteris paribus, be sooner exhausted by misfortune or accident than one of 10,000l. But another plea, of a nature quite different, is also offered; viz, that the words are merely formal in this case, as well as when used in common suits between subjects in the same court; and therefore ought so to be regarded, and to be dispensed with entirely. * The

*This opinion seems to be in some degree countenanced by the fact, that though this allegation has by some been deemed absolutely necessary, yet in practice it was omitted in many of the affidavits on which

obvious reply is, that in other suits the words are known and acknowledged to be employed merely to bring the plea into that court which is peculiarly the King's; and no prerogative advantage being afforded to either party, the use of verbal forms is wholly indifferent and innocent; whereas in the present case they are used on a pretext, known to be untrue, to work a real wrong. Your committee cannot but be of opinion that both excuses are equally unsatisfactory: that the oath ought to be materially altered, so as to make it really what it seems: or if there be any solid and substantial objection to the alteration (of which your committee are not aware), that it would be better to abandon it altogether, than to suffer it to remain a casuistical snare for perjury, and an opprobrium to the administration of justice.

On this affidavit however, and the previous legal proceedings, loose and unsatisfactory as they are at best, and often hurried through with all the expedition of a race, to defeat that equitable division of the property which a rival commission of bankrupt is seeking to effect, does an extent in aid issue; and against a person, not a debtor to the crown, sometimes not so even in the second degree; but it may be against a solvent man, unfortunately indebted to one who chooses to believe him insolvent, and who has sufficient ingenuity to set himself up as a crown debtor. The execution is of the severest kind-every thing, down to the minutest article of his property, is

writs were granted in the last year; but as the omission was unnoticed, the grants might have been made only through inadvertence.

them

then seized; his books, papers, and accounts by which he might be enabled to dispute his creditors' demands, or to enforce his own, are carried off and withheld from him. Nor is this all; his person too* (which a common execution, after having taken the property, would leave untouched) may be thrown into gaol, and kept there at the discretion of that very creditor by whose oppressive conduct such a waste of his property may be occasioned, as alone to produce that very insolvency, on the allegation of which, as previously existed, the whole process was founded; and neither can a commission of bankruptcy or an insolvent act release him. Nor is this mere imagination: it appears to your committee, that, as far as respects the debtor, the whole is realized in at least one case detailed in the Appendix.

Your committee apprehend that enough has been stated to point out the extreme oppression often worked by this mode of procedure on the unfortunate debtor who is the object of it, and the injustice committed towards his other creditors. It remains to inquire into the validity of the reasons urged for the maintenance of any portion of the practice, which are all contained in the one sweeping phrase, the security of the revenue. One indeed of the witnesses has spoken of "the right of the subject to claim the benefit of this prerogative, that the solvency of the crown debtor may be sup

It seems, by rule 3, 15 Charles I. that the person could not be taken unless by special order made in open court, nor any debts without specialty; if so, the late prac tice is an encroachment.

ported;" but as it has been allowed, and even maintained by the most respectable authority, that in these cases the prerogative is only another name for the public interest, a certain and unexceptionable standard to which to refer is thereby furnished. Is the revenue hereby secured? Is the public interest advanced? Of the numerous cases which have of late been brought within public observation (and a small portion only of which could be inserted in the Appendix) this does not appear to have been the object in one single instance; in very few can it be shown to have been even incidentally or probably served; and in several, the interest of the individual prosecutor of the extent has been pursued to the absolute injury of that very revenue, for the safety of which, exclusively, the process was originally instituted. To the former part of this statement the solicitors of the Revenue Boards bear the most unequivocal testimony; and the cases mentioned, besides others which might have heen produced, afford decisive proof of greater loss than the whole list can supply of probable advantage. Indeed it seems scarcely doubtful whether the whole process for private debts might not be abolished, without any disadvantage to the public interest; while it will be worth consideration how far any supposed benefit may be outweighed by the evils attendant on continuing the practice. The ruin of unfortimate debtors, the injury of innocent and unsuspecting creditors, and the extensive injury wrought among the community at large, by the breach of good faith, and the consequent destruction of that ho

nour

nourable confidence on which the interest and the prosperity of a commercial country so essentially depends.

To one argument which has been adduced, your committee are disposed to allow considerable weight, viz. that all the sureties or bondsmen for crown receivers of every kind, having become such, depending on their claims to this process in case of necessity, it would be unjust to deprive them of this weapon without notice; and that perhaps in equity, if not in law also, they might thereby be discharged of their responsibility.

To this it may be replied, that if it be so, notice may be given; and as far as experience can guide us, no great difficulty need be expected to arise. The situation of Receiver-General is too much sought after to excite any apprehension that it will not be able to find itself securities. In the case of the increase of surety required on account of the collection of the property-tax, no additional emo lument of poundage was granted; nor have the instances of default been so frequent as to create alarm but should such a difficulty be unexpectedly found, it may easily be removed by lessening the balances now allowed to be retained, accelerating the payments into the Exchequer, and increasing the number of receivers: by all or any of which means the responsibility of the securities would be diminished, and the facility of obtaining them proportionally increased. On referring, however, to the evidence, it will be found that scarcely any surety has ever been called on, and that very few of the receivers, not being bankers, have ever employed the

process. It will also be seen that an intention has been declared, of not appointing bankers in future to these offices. Of the propriety of this supposed determination, or how far it may have been influenced by considerations connected with the subject of this report, your committee offer no opinion: but they have no hesitation in saying, that in the instances which have come before them, of the exercise of the power by banking-houses, the advantage of the individuals seems alone to have been attended to, without any reference to the safety of the

revenue.

There are also various other embarrassments and vexations in the course of these proceedings, which, though small in comparison of the enormous grievances which have been detailed, are yet too considerable in themselves to be passed without observation, and which, your committee hope, will, ere long, he also subjected to legislative correction. Such are, the waste of the property by the sheriff's poundage, by forced and hasty sales, and by other expenses of the process, especially that of resistance, or the attempt to set aside the extent, which even when successful, must equally be borne by the insolvent's estate: the extending the operation of the writ to the debtor in the fourth degree, instead of the third; the issuing immediate extents instead of scire facias; the modes and rules of pleading, all too much in favour of maintaining that possession which is so hastily, and which, sometimes when too late, appears to have been unjustly obtained; and all of which, whether dependent on the rules of court, or otherwise,

otherwise, undoubtedly require a careful revision.

That these practices, though really so injurious, should have been permitted so long to exist, and of late even so greatly to increase, seems easily explicable from what has been already stated. It is but too much in the nature of all old establishments to be partial to their own modes: to be slow in perceiving their imperfections, and not very forward in correcting them, even when acknowledged, especially if risk be thereby incurred of diminishing their influence or jurisdiction. It has been already observed, that previous to 1814, the whole number of instances in which these writs were employed was comparatively very small, and the gross abuse of them still more rare, so that the call for reformation was neither loud nor urgent; but as soon as ever they began to be more known and used, the encroaching principle of power began to operate; each instance of their unjustifiable misapplication served also as a pretence for another, by way either of self-defence or reimbursement; and those persons with whom interest is the rule of action, eagerly sought the means of including themselves within the class so privileged, at the expense of their neighbours: while the profits arising to all the agents and officers engaged in the soliciting the issue, and the execution of the process, naturally induced them to facilitate it by every means which could be desired, and to recommend its adoption, till, by the concurrence of all these causes, the mischief was increasing with a rapidity which,

had it not been speedily checked, threatened to supersede all the fair and ordinary modes of recovering debts by the common course of law.

Your committee cannot conclude without expressing their satisfaction, that even during the consideration of this report, a bill has passed, which, in its present state, they trust will remedy much of the evil which they have been compelled to expose and to condemn. But as much power is still continued to some classes, in which are found individuals who have exerted it in the most censurable manner, they feel bound to recommend an increased vigilance over its exercise in every quarter in which it may be at all controlled, in order that it may be at least confined to the objects of its original intention. The laudable practice of the Post-office, the Board of Customs, and, perhaps, more prominently still, of the Excise, has shown not only how unnecessary extents in aid are to the security of the revenue, but how beneficially the solicitors to the public boards might be employed, in limiting their issue; but your committee must observe that, in order to gain this advantage to its proper extent, the example of the Excise should also be followed in another point, which to them appears very important, viz.-that these solicitors should confine themselves to their official practice; or at least be absolutely prohibited from undertaking, for private individuals, the management of any affairs in which the revenue is at all concerned.

July 11, 1817.

CHARACTERS.

I

RESPONDENCE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL.D. F.R.S. &c.

TO GEORGE WHITEFIELD, (The Preacher.)

SIR,

On Faith and Good Works.

Philadelphia, June 6, 1753.

RECEIVED your kind letter of the 2d instant, and am glad to hear that you increase in strength; I hope you will continue mending till you recover your former health and firmness. Let me know whether you still use the cold bath, and what effect it has.

As to the kindness you mention, I wish it could have been of more use to you. But if it had, the only thanks I should desire is, that you would always be equally ready to serve any other person that may need your assistance, and so let good offices go round; for mankind are all of a family.

For my own part, when I am employed in serving others, I do not look upon myself as conferring favours, but as paying debts. In my travels, and since my settlement, I have received much kindness from men, to whom I shall never have any opportunity of

and numberless mercies from God, who is infinitely above being benefited by our services. Those kindnesses from men, I can therefore only return on their fellow men, and I can only show my gratitude for these mercies from God, by a readiness to help his other children, and my brethren. For I do not think that thanks and compliments, though repeated weekly, can discharge our real obligations to each other, and much less those to our Creator. You will see in this my notion of good works, that I am far from expecting to merit heaven by them. By heaven we understand a state of happiness, infinite in degree, and eternal in duration: I can do nothing to deserve such rewards. He that for giving a draught of water to a thirsty person, should expect to be paid with a good plantation, would be modest in his demands, compared with those who think they deserve heaven for the little good they do on earth. Even the mixed imperfect pleasures we enjoy in this world, are rather from God's goodness than our merit: how much more such happiness of Heaven! For my part, I have not

the