SOLON ROBINSON, 1847 103 



ants, appalling vice, crime, and misery, which renders 

 the suffering of the masses in that country so hideous; 

 no, it is full well known — the starving millions there rise 

 in attestation of the execrable system. 



Then let us look around, and while it is to-day, raise 

 our hands to stay such evils from overtaking our own 

 heaven-favored land. Already, in some of the older 

 States, we see destitution and want prevailing to an 

 alarming extent, the evils of which, we need not now de- 

 tail, since every journal is filled with an account of them. 

 The anxious inquiry now seems to be, "how shall those 

 evils be arrested, how shall they be avoided." They can- 

 not be arrested by subjecting the destitute to greater 

 want, and greater destitution; by circumscribing their 

 means, or by enforcing laws more rigid, and more de- 

 grading. No; the general conclusion now seems to be, 

 that the most effectual way to prevent such evils, is to 

 allow every family, under whatever circumstances, the 

 privilege of acquiring and holding, exempt from execu- 

 tion and sale, a sufficient amount of property to meet the 

 absolute wants, and afford the absolute comforts of life. 

 This can be done by exempting from execution and sale 

 the Homestead to a limited amount, and a necessary 

 amount of personal property. And surely this could do 

 nobody any wrong ; for when one individual entered into 

 an engagement with another, he would do so knowing 

 what to rely upon. Such a law could have no retrospective 

 bearing whatever — it could operate only on the future 

 engagements of the parties. Who can doubt the beneficial 

 effects of a law making such an exemption? Who then 

 will withhold his hand from this act of beneficence? Let 

 this measure assume to party grounds — let the Legisla- 

 ture act as did the Legislature of the great State of New 

 York on this subject, with an eye single to the public 

 good. 



In the opinion of the humble writer, a law making such 

 an exemption as we have spoken of, would do more to 

 prevent destitution and want, with their sure attendants, 



