me it is the cause of the
flourishing state of the community. The bee can always work; indeed the
bankrupt-laws themselves provide for a man's not starving. In the city
the bankrupt's household furniture is sacred, that his family may not be
beggars; and in case of the bankruptcy of a farmer, he is permitted, not
only to retain the furniture of his cottage, but even his plough, with a
proportion of his team, his kine and sheep, are reserved for him, that
he may still be able to support his family. Surely this is much
preferable to the English system under which the furniture is dragged
away, the hearth made desolate, and the children left to starve, because
their father has been unfortunate. Is it not better that a little
villainy should escape punishment, than that such cruelty should be in
daily practice? I say a little villainy, for if a man becomes bankrupt
in New York, it is pretty well known whether he has dealt fairly with
his creditors, or has made a fraudulent bankruptcy: and if so, his
character is gone, and with it his credit, and without credit he never
can rise again in that city, but must remove to some other place.

In England, character will procure to a bankrupt a certificate, but in
New York it will leave him the means of re-commencing business. In
England, it is a disgrace to be a bankrupt; in America, it is only a
misfortune; but this distinction arises from the boldness of the
speculations carried on by the Americans in their commercial
transactions, and owing to which the highest and most influential, as
well as the smaller capitalists, are constantly in a state of jeopardy.
I do not believe that there is anywhere a class of merchants more
honourable than those of New York. The notorious Colonel Chartres said
that he would give 20,000 pounds for a character, because he would have
made 100,000 pounds by it. I shall not here enter into the question,
whether it is by a similar conviction, or by moral rectitude of feeling,
that the merchants of New York are actuated; it is sufficient that it is
their interest to be honest, and that they are so. I state the case in
this way, because I do not intend to admit that the honesty of the
merchants is any proof of the morality of a nation; and I think I am
borne out in my opinion by their conduct in the late state of
difficulty, and the strenuous exertions made by them to pay to the
uttermost farthing, sacrificing at times twenty per cent--in order to b