1803.) 
with fuch incalculable mifchiefs isnot 
rendered more difgraceful. There is one 
Chrittian fociety who have.a law, that if 
one of its members fails, unlefS he can 
prove it to be the confequence of inevi- 
table misfortune (in which cafe he is affif- 
ed and encouraged), he is immediately ails 
owned, forteits all the privileges of the 
fociety, and is Juffered to link into the dif. 
grace he deferves. The confequence is, 
that a bankruptcy is a very vare event in- 
deed amongit that very refpeGtable body 
the Quakers. . In the community at large 
this evil feems to be rather encouraged 
than checked. _When a man finds, owing 
to batl management in trade, ex'ravagance 
in: his family, and.a general, improvidence 
which commonly runs through the whole 
fyftem, that ke can go on no longer,» he 
geis fome perfon -who is conne&+d with 
him to ftrike what sis called a. friendly 
docket (in order to prevent his being ‘ent 
to prifon), pays his creditors the compo- 
fition he chufes, gets his certificate ficned, 
and, io the aftonifhment of ali but the in- 
itiated, in a little time gets on in a higher 
ftyle than before ; vies. with his neigh- 
bours in expence, takes. his journies of 
pleafure, and. boalts of his profperity ; 
while the humble hard-working manufac- 
turer or mechanic, who had perhaps en- 
trufted his little all in his mafer’s hands, 
is crufhed to rife nomore. The oppreffor 
flalks by with unfeeling fupercilioufnels ; 
but the hour is not far diftant. when he 
fhall be made to know that a day of retri- 
bution is coming. 
The man who trades beyoud his capital, 
or who lives beyond his income, is a peft 
tothe neighbourhcod and an enemy to 
the great interefts of f{eciery. He is a 
public robber, a robver of the moft dan- 
gerous kind ; for, under the {pecious pre- 
Aence of lawful traffic, of enlarging his 
connections, and increafing his trade, if he 
happen to have any relative fufficiently 
kind and ¢redulous, he will not ref till 
he has fecured the honeft earnings of pa- 
trent induftry, or the humble independence 
of an unconnegted female. That he may 
bring down the grey hairs of the former 
with forrow-to the grave, or plunge the 
latter into all the horrors of want; that 
he is bringing up his children in habits 
which mutt render them mifcrable, never 
enters into the calculation of this hero of 
Aniquity.. ToJ/ive, and to make an ap- 
pearance, is his object; and fhould the 
tranfient pang of remorfe threaten to be- 
tray itfelf on his. bloated countenance, 
with a tew addiional glaffis he drives off 
2ions on Benkrupicy. 
RefleTions on Benkruptey 
559 
care till to:merew. Tire defperado whe 
charges his piftol, and puts en his crape,: 
feems to have fome fente of right left; he 
fteals from the common walks of decent 
life, the faces he has known, the benefac- 
tors who have raifed him; hecalls on the 
darknefs to cover him) ; he feeks the path 
of the traveller; he sflaults the ftranger, 
the unknown, one to whom perhaps a few 
guineas may be ‘no ferious lofs. He-has 
abufed no confidence, ke bas infulced re 
relative, he has tortured no tenderne(s ; 
yet he is purfued I:ke-a demon, he is drags 
ged to adungeon, to fetters, and. hurled 
from a tribunal (unfanétioned by divine 
laws to take away lite, excepting in cafes 
of murder) to the gallows! . It certainly, 
ought to be the abject of civilized Rates to 
prevent crimes, and aillchaftifement fhouid 
have this end in view. It mufi be allowed 
toat bankrup'cy is an evil which involves 
more pernicious eoafequences than high- 
way robbery ; and it is aftonifhing that 
benevolent legifistures and moralifts are . 
Not intent on sevifing means for diminith- 
ing its frequency. A fenfe of honour and 
fhame has, it is prefumed, yet fome influ- 
ence 5 and were bankruptcy made infa- 
Mous, as it ougne to be, it would generally 
be avoided. It deferves  confideration, 
that the perfons who fail are feldom thofe 
who have earaed what they begin with ; 
had they laboured hard for it, they would 
have learned the value of property better 
than to have fooled itaway. But the pa- 
tient, plodding charaéter is gore, and with 
it the pradence and circumfpeS&tion to 
-which our upftart owes his all. He be- 
gins, it may be, with two or three thou- 
fand pounds, but he wiflies to live and to 
trade as if he hadten. _ The old fyftem of 
economy 1s laughed at: his maxim is, 
that it is neceflary to make an appearance; 
to this, comfort and real enjoyment is fa- 
crificed, and the appearance is foon. fol- 
lowed by embarraflment. He muft now, 
if poffible, borrow; but he forgets that 
he who borrows: puss on fetters. It was 
the excellent advice of that very exalted 
character Philip Henry to his children, 
** Tremble to borrow two-pence ;” bur 
theres a.fatal fore. of wrong-headednefs 
accompanies the unwife in “all that the 
do ; the maxims of wifdom, the counfels 
of friends, avail nothing to_bim; his 
eyes are only open when. complete ruia 
overwhelms him, 
Should thofe hints be of any ‘fervice to’ 
thofe young perfons. who have their .fuc- 
cefs to creste, and to whom caution and 
circum!psstion are at the. prelent. crifis fo 
that 
