Excerpt from Imprisonment for Debts Bill: Two Sides to a Question; Debtor Versus Creditor, Observations (the Result of Twenty Years Experience) On the Imprisonment for Debts Bill Although the sudden dissolution of the late parliament be on some points matter to regret, yet the inconvenience is somewhat compensated, by its having afforded time for a more mature consideration of one of the most important bills that ever (in a commercial country) engaged the attention of the legislature: viz. "The Imprisonment for Debts Bill." Not that sufficient time has not been spent, or that a profuse quantity of words have not been expended upon it, - but it is evident, that the argument was carried on, during the late parliament, with more regard to party spirit, than was consistent with a question evidently unconnected with party considerations. The attention and the eloquence of honorable members having been so engrossed with the consideration of foreign policy, the drier questions of home policy were, in a great measure, left to take their own chance. Is it not marvellous that no public meetings have been called - that the attention of the public has not been roused - or that the representatives of commercial districts have not been publicly advised of the views of their constituents upon this bill; - a bill affecting no less the rights of every honest tradesman's fire-side, than it does our national credit, and that in one of its most sensitive points. There are always two sides to a question; the observation was never more fully verified than upon this occasion; here are the opposite extremes of debtor and creditor. The debtor says, "release me from jail;" the creditor replies, "why did you give me cause to put you there?" and thus tho matter is brought to endless recriminating argument. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.