in this talking on the foot of charity and
mercy to the debtor, but of the real and undoubted interest of the
creditor; nor could I urge it, by such arguments as I shall bring, upon
any other foundation; for, if I speak in behalf of the debtor, I must
argue commiseration to the miserable, compassion and pity of his family,
and a reflection upon the sad changes which human life exposes us all
to, and so persuade the creditor to have pity upon not him only, but
upon all families in distress.

But, I say, I argue now upon a different foundation, and insist that it
is the creditor's true interest, as I hinted before, that if he finds
the debtor inclined to be honest, and he sees reason to believe he makes
the best offer he can, he should accept the first offer, as being
generally the best the debtor can make;[24] and, indeed, if the debtor
be wise as well as honest, he will make it so, and generally it is found
to be so. And there are, indeed, many reasons why the first offers of
the debtor are generally the best, and why no commission of bankrupt
ordinarily raises so much, notwithstanding all its severities, as the
bankrupt offers before it is sued out--not reckoning the time and
expense which, notwithstanding all the new methods, attend such things,
and are inevitable. For example--

When the debtor, first looking into his affairs, sees the necessity
coming upon him of making a stop in trade, and calling his creditors
together, the first thought which by the consequence of the thing comes
to be considered, is, what offers he can make to them to avoid the
having a commission sued out against him, and to which end common
prudence, as well as honest principles, move him to make the best offers
he can. If he be a man of sense, and, according to what I mentioned in
another chapter, has prudently come to a stop in time, before things are
run to extremities, and while he has something left to make an offer of
that may be considerable, he will seldom meet with creditors so weak or
so blind to their own interest not to be willing to end it amicably,
rather than to proceed to a commission. And as this is certainly best
both for the debtor and the creditor, so, as I argued with the debtor,
that he should be wise enough, as well as honest enough, to break
betimes, and that it was infinitely best for his own interest, so I must
add, on the other hand, to the creditor, that it is always his interest
to accept the first offer; and I ne