» 
502 
fory statement with consent of a// the 
creditors, { do not see that any person 1s 
injured. <A creditor may still be a friend 5 
and he may know circumstances which 
reasonably recommend an honest debior, 
perhaps suffering under misfortunes, and 
neither from vice, negligence, nor igno- 
rance, to be admitted | by other creditors 
to a compromise. His having been once 
unsuccessful from causes, perhaps, which 
no human prudence could avoid, is no 
proof that he will be always so. He may 
go on in business prosperously, and be 
able, as some debtors have done, volun- 
tarily, at some time, to paysall his credi- 
tors their ful! demands. Disclosing his 
situation before le may be absolutely zn- 
solvent, surely he is acting more honour- 
ably and better for his creditors than if 
he concealed it, and went on till a bank- 
ruptey should find him indebted ¢hree, 
four, or perhaps eght times as much us 
“he has means of payment. 
Why, then, should he not be allowed 
in such cases to compound his debts; to 
save the expence of a commis ton; to 
save his creditors from being deeper ‘and 
deeper losers, by his circumstances be- 
coming worse and worse? Why should 
he be expected to strip himself of ald ? 
That these compromises are often 
inczutiously accepted by creditors, and 
deceitfully propused by debtors, I very 
fully believe: but that they are never, or 
that they may not become frequently, in 
times like these, fair and proper, is what 
Tcannot admit; and that there are no 
duties of assistance but those of friends 
or relations, [ am sure neither religion 
nor common reason and benevolence will 
allow. 
With regard to persons who are naf in 
trade, I believe such compromises are 
but rarely, 1n comparison, either pro- 
posed by them or accepted. 
If they are, It must be rather an indi- 
vidual case, when it occurs, than a pubiic 
concern. 
JURIES. 
I own I object to raising the qualifica- 
tion of property. In civil cases a spe= 
cial jury may be had, if the nature of the 
subject, or extent of the property, seems 
‘to make it advisable. In all other, es- 
pecially in criminal, raising the property 
would remove the jury too far from the 
prisoner ; would reduce this invaluable 
institution into fewer hands, which ought, 
like our military defence, to pervade ‘the 
mass; and would be productive of in- 
conveniencies far greater than any good 
that can be expected from the change. 
REMARKS upon MR. SPENCE’S 
Inselvent Debiors—2Qualifications of Furies, &e. [May.1, 
I acted seventeen years as a jusétce in 
this county; and I found that constables 
soon became capable of returning cor- 
recé lists of persons diable to-serve on ju- 
ries at sessions or assizes. And ina con- 
stant attendance upon both, I have not 
found that complaints have often arisen 
of names improperly registered, or im- 
properly omitted. Your's, &c. 
April 5, 1808, Carpet Lorrt. 
Troston, Suffolk, near Bury. 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
PAMPH- 
LET, entitled, “ Britain independent 
of Commerce, % | 
HE pressure of particular circum- 
stances often gives birth to opini- 
ons and publications too momentous in 
inference to be hastily adopted. There 
are questions upon which no single mind 
is fitted to decide, but genius will never- 
theless invade ‘the province of experience. 
Of the abilits which Mr. Spence has dis- 
played, too much cannot be said: he rea- 
sons cogently, and elucidates satisfactori- 
ly: he treats his subject with a master ly 
hand, indeed! 
It z appears, however, that without fo- 
reign commerce, the profit resulting from 
the ingenuity of the nation, and from much 
of its labour, is entirely lost. 
Let us suppose, that Sir Joshua mee 
nolds could in a month paint | @ picture, 
which would produce abroad a thousand 
guineas. This is pure profit, as to na- 
tional gain, and it Is spent at home. If 
it be sold in England, it is a mere trans- 
fer. It matters not whether it be a pic= 
ture, or any other article, provided it be 
one which infinitely exceeds the prime: 
cost. in labour and materials. For in- 
stance, # merchant sells pottery and hard- 
ware at Surinam, at 2001. per cent. pro- 
fit. Every effort, therefore, of this kind, _ 
whether in the arts, or otherwise, brings 
home an actual profit; and further, let 
the price paid by the employer at home, 
he what it will, 1t is there only a transfer, 
but if the prime cost be low, of the ma- 
terial, it is an actual national profit, in 
what it produces from abroad. 
Thus it is, not from the quantity of 
imports and exports, that profit so much 
ensues, as from the kind and quality. 
When raw materials of many kinds are 
imported, and again exported in awroughé 
form, it is by no means a transfer. In 
the exchange for the raw material, there 
is the profit of each several branch, 
through which the work in its wrought 
state has passed, while that of the raw 
material 
