§ MR. PELLATTsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether, as there were above 1,000 persons in England and Wales lying in prison for debt, 240 of which were under £6 (debts and costs), who might be restored to their families and occupations for the sum of about £1,500; and as there were a few confined for protracted periods, extending to forty years, the Government would recommend them to Her Majesty, and debtors under £10, to be included in the commemorative peace amnesty, so graciously extended to Frost, Williams, and Jones, and other political offenders?
§ SIR GEORGE GREYin reply, said, that the hon. Member did not seem to be aware of the difference which existed between persons suffering punishment as criminal offenders and those in custody for debt. With respect to the former, the Crown could, if so advised, exercise its prerogative of mercy; but it had no power to release prisoners for debt, which must be a matter of arrangement with their creditors. With respect to the allegation that some of those persons had been confined for protracted periods, he was informed that no persons were detained in custody so long, unless they wilfully declined to avail themselves of the humane provisions of the law for the relief of prisoners for debt.