"journey without having large sums of money "confided to him by European merchants, Turks, " and others; yet he jogs along with all the se"curity of an empty purse, and is often to be seen, "when on the road, comfortably smoking his chi"book within the coffee-house, and his bags of sequins thrown down at the door. Through a wildly-desolate country, where almost every step presents scenes that seem made for the haunts of "robbers, Sheriff has travelled in the way I men"tion, for many years, without ever being robbed."

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Two causes concur in producing this state of security in Turkey; the one is, the English Tories have never been able to gain an influence in her councils-and the other, the invariable rule adopted by her sultans of never suffering great criminals to go unpunished. There are no heads but those of ministers and high officers of State seen on the top of the Seraglio. The system for making the punishment of official delinquents operate to banish theft and robbery from the Turkish dominions, was founded by Constantine, as appears from the following edict, issued by that illustrious and immortal monarch :

"To all our Subjects throughout the Provinces of the Roman Empire.

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"If there be any individual, of what place, condition, or quality soever, who can fairly "and substantially convict any of our judges,

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generals, favourites, or courtiers guilty of any undue or corrupt practices in the discharge of their respective trusts, let him, "with all possible freedom and security, ap

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"proach the throne, and appeal to us. We "ourselves will hear his accusation swith con"descension and patience; and if he make good "his allegations, we shall be happy and eager "to do ourselves and our people justice on the "man who shall be found to have thus im'posed on us by specious but deceitful coun"sels. And for his encouragement, who shall "make so useful a discovery, we will amply "reward him with honours and riches. So

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may Divine Providence ever protect our "royal person, and make us happy in the

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'prosperity of the Roman empire."

"This edict," says an able and enlightened author, ought to be written in letters of gold, and hung up in the portico of every law court in the kingdom.”

Having gone so largely and so minutely into the analysis and dissection of the atrocious system of "imprisonment for debt," in the first letter I had the honour of addressing your Lordship on the subject, I naturally gave myself up to the belief, that I should not again have occasion to revert to it; but the observations reported to have been made by several noble Lords in the Upper House of Parliament on the Lord Chancellor moving, on the 11th of July, the second reading of the "Bill" he brought into the house, professedly to effect that object, convinced me I had come to a hasty conclusion. And first, with respect to those reported to have been made by the Lord Chancellor. Before I proceed to make a single comment on those doctrines said to have been laid down by his Lordship, I beg most distinctly to state, that in whatever re

marks I may feel myself called upon to make on his Lordship's speech, as reported, I by no means intend those remarks as applying to his Lordship, personally. His Lordship has been imposed onmost grossly imposed on. If I did not know the accuracy with which the debates in Parliament are reported in the Times Journal, I should instantly conclude, on reading that speech, that it was in reality not made by his Lordship, but by Lord Ellenborough. Every passage-every sentence-every part and particle of that speech, bears a strong, and I will say, a friendly leaning to the present position of Lord Ellenborough. It is precisely such a speech as a man having a positive income of 10,000l. a year, arising from the atrocious system of "imprisonment for debt," would make. Lord Ellenborough, had he been prepared to at once unmask-come forth and boldly, before God, and his country, advocate the continuance of that atrocious system, could not have made a more forcible-more argumentative-or more homepressed speech. The "speech" commences by expressing consideration for the creditor, and a negative, or conditional feeling for the debtor: that is, in plain version, pity for the oppressor, and contempt for the oppressed! A question, big with import, here presents itself, a question, on which the misery or happiness of millions depends,namely, who is the creditor to whom the speech alludes? A man calling himself a creditor, does not make him one. And sure I am, that the floor of Parliament is not the floor on which he could establish his claim to that character. A court of

law, alone, is the place where a man can, by the verdict of a jury, prove himself a creditor. And even after a jury has given him that right, he ceases to own it, from the moment he avails himself of the power, the atrocious system of "imprisonment for debt” gives him, of incarcerating his fellow subject. Once he avails himself of that power, he loses the appellation of creditor, and takes on him, in exchange, that of informer. This being the case, the question is, can an "informer," notwithstanding his efforts to retain his former character-that of creditor, and notwithstanding the assistance he receives from the Law Department in giving life to those efforts, prosecute a freeborn subject, without being supported in his evidence by corroborative testimony? Our law books speak a different language, let us hear them. Where a statute "appoints a conviction on the oath of one witness-this ought not to be on the single oath of the "informer; for if the same person should be allowed

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to be both prosecutor and witness, it would in"duce profligate persons to commit perjury for the "sake of the reward."-L. Ray, 1545.

In this sound view of the case, laid down by our law books, I would again ask, who is the creditor to whom the speech alludes, and for whom the Law Department feels such intense-such neverdying sympathy? A creditor-a real bonâ fide creditor I mean, is a contractor,-and in that capacity must have a contractee. There cannot be a contractor, without a contractee. That a contractor-that is, a bonâ fide creditor, can enter a civil suit against his contractee, for the recovery of

a fair and just demand, there can exist no question; but that such creditor or contractor can enter a criminal suit-that is, a suit in which, on conviction, punishment was to follow, against his contractee, I utterly and peremptorily deny. Such a doctrine would not be tolerated even among freebooters or footpads! Before a creditor can criminally prosecute, he must, as I have before said, turn informer, and with that, his new character, he must remain branded to the last hour of his life.

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For this "informer" then, for this wretch-this miscreant-this monster without a name, the speech" reserves all its pity-all its commisseration. Throughout the entire of that "speech," there is scarcely a sentence to be found that does not breathe pity and commisseration for the creditor thus transformed into an "informer," and contumely and contempt for his victim. Do the annals of the world present us with a parallel case to this? Do the annals of the world present us with another instance of a judge-and that judge a chancellor, rising in his place in Parliament, professedly, to propose a measure which should have for its object the opening the prisons-striking off the chainsand setting the victims free, turning suddenly round, and attacking with virulence-unmitigated virulence, the very victims whom he professed to relieve and cherish! But the "report" of his Lordship's speech in the Times Journal must be incorrect. The "reporter" slept. What of that? Homer slept. The "reporter" slept-evidently slept, and by his sleep, broke his sentencesdisplaced his notes-and thus, instead of a true