forts for the
abolition of imprisonment for debt; and a better work was never begun in
the Capitol. Ever remembered and ever honored be that noble effort! You
drew the attention of the public to the question, whether, in a
civilized and Christian country, debt incurred without fraud, and
remaining unpaid without fault, is a crime, and a crime fit to be
punished by denying to the offender the enjoyment of the light of
heaven, and shutting him up within four walls. Your own good sense, and
that instinct of right feeling which often outruns sagacity, carried you
at once to a result to which others were more slowly brought, but to
which nearly all have at length been brought, by reason, reflection, and
argument. Your movement led the way; it became an example, and has had a
powerful effect on both sides of the Atlantic. Imprisonment for debt, or
even arrest and holding to bail for mere debt, no longer exists in
England; and former laws on the subject have been greatly modified and
mitigated, as we all know, in our States. "Abolition of imprisonment for
debt," your own words in the title of your own bill, has become the
title of an act of Parliament.

Sir, I am glad of an occasion to pay you the tribute of my sincere
respect for these your labors in the cause of humanity and enlightened
policy. For these labors thousands of grateful hearts have thanked you;
and other thousands of hearts, not yet full of joy for the
accomplishment of their hopes, full, rather, at the present moment, of
deep and distressing anxiety, have yet the pleasure to know that your
advice, your counsel, and your influence will all be given in favor of
what is intended for their relief in the bill before us.

Mr. President, let us atone for the omissions of the past by a prompt
and efficient discharge of present duty. The demand for this measure is
not partial or local. It comes to us, earnest and loud, from all classes
and all quarters. The time is come when we must answer it to our own
consciences, if we suffer longer delay or postponement. High hopes, high
duties, and high responsibilities concentrate themselves on this measure
and this moment. With a power to pass a bankrupt law, which no other
legislature in the country possesses, with a power of giving relief to
many, doing injustice to none, I again ask every man who hears me, if he
can content himself without an honest attempt to exercise that power. We
may think it would be better to leave the