Punch (10.1846)

200 PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

GOING OUT ARRESTING.

" Veil, Aaron, my tear, ave yer ad ary Sport T "

" Pretty veil. I've bagged four Allottees and two Provisionals.

MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATION.

In the City Article of the Times of the 17 th April is the Report of a
Select Committee of the Mississippi Legislature, the object of which is
the abolition of all laws for the recovery of debt. It is not against
mere imprisonment for debt, but against legal intervention generally in
obtaining performance of a contract. The Report terminates with the
recommendation of a Bill.

A copy of this Bill has been forwarded to us exclusively, and we have
great pleasure in laying it before our readers.

a bill for the total abolition of all means of recovering
debts in the state of m1ssissippl

W3fyzvzvi$ the practice of applying for, and recovering debts, is
found detrimental to that spirit of friendship and good fellowship that
should prevail among the citizens of a free and enlightened state : And
whereas, in cases of debt generally, the lender is the primary cause of
the debt being contracted, and should not therefore be allowed to take
advantage of his own wrong : Be it Enacted, That from and after
the 30th day of June next, no person in this State to whom a sum of
money is owing, shall make any attempt to recover it from the party
from whom it is due, either by legal process, application, plain request,
delicate allusion, gentle hint, or otherwise ; nor shall he in the presence
of the said indebted party ever make any mention of the said sum due,
either directly or indirectly, under penalty of forfeiting hi3 rights as a
citizen of this State.

LL And be it further Enacted, That if at any time after the
said 30th of June any party shall, contrary to the provisions of this
Act, make any mention of a debt due to him in the presence of the
party indebted, and such last-mentioned party shall resent the same by
a prompt application of the bowie-knife, the said party last-mentioned
shall be deemed to have committed no offence whatever against the
laws of this State.

III. And whereas, sundry schoolmasters in this State have been
in the habit of instructing the children committed to their charge to
write on divers slates and copy-books such pernicious maxims as
" Honesty is the best policy,"—" Out of debt out of danger," and the
like : Be it hereby Enacted. That any schoolmaster who afte» the

said 30th of June shall be convicted of having taught any child or adult
these or similar maxims, or any other maxims tending to show the
justice or expediency of paying debts, shall be deemed to come within
the application of the law of John Lynch, of blessed memory.

IV. And be it Enacted, That this Act shall not be repealed by
any Act to be passed in this or any future session of the Legislature.

HER MAJESTY'S (LEGAL) STAG HOUNDS.

The celebrated Stag, Walker, was last term uncarted at Nisi Print;
where he afforded a good run of several hours' duration. After he had
been allowed the usual delay, significantly termed, in sporting phrase-
ology) law, the hounds were fairly set on his track ; when he started
gallantly across country in the direction of several projected lines of
railway, displaying his usual ingenuity in baffling and doubling on his
foes. After leading them a brisk gallop over several wide fields of
legislation, in the course of which more than one eager sportsman was'
deposited in the mud, the dogs came up with him at a corner of the
Joint-Stock Company's ground, where everybody expected he would
have been taken ; but turning off at a very acute angle, the wily animal
suddenly took to the Court of Exchequer ; thus successfully eluding
his pursuers. In this asylum he has thus, for the present, realised
Edwin Landseer's picture of the " Sanctuary," not having as yet been
captured ; and his ultimate seizure is extremely doubtful.

French Polish.

Jules Janin has published a translation of Clarissa HarUywt, with a
long preface, in which he talks about having improved Richabdson.
The next literary attempt of this generous critic will be, we are told, to
rub up Milton, polish Scott, give Byron a lift, and throw a little light

upon Shakspeare.

all mrs. harris's doing.
It is very currently reported that the conversion of the Earl or
Essex to Free Trade was occasioned solely by his having been in the
habit of reading the leaders of the Standard.