Mr. Bennetpresented a Petition from John Hammond, a prisoner in the Fleet, who was committed to that prison on the 28th of November, 1814, for a Contempt of the Court of Chancery, and 159 was still detained there for the costs of that contempt. Such was the distressed situation of this person, so frightful and extreme his poverty, that he must remain in confinement during the term of his natural life, unless the House should interfere to procure his release, as there was no likelihood whatever of his being able to pay the costs. Good God! was it possible, in a country which boasted of its justice, its freedom, its humanity, that any man should be incarcerated for years, merely because he was unable to discharge the fees of a court of equity! Alas! the case had too frequently occurred, and many had fallen victims to this barbarous mode of administering the laws. Last year, when he called the attention of the House to this subject, there was a wretched individual in the fleet, who had been confined there under an order of the court of chancery, for no less a time than thirty-one years. The name of that man was Thomas Williams. He had visited him in his wretched House of bondage, where he found him sinking under all the miseries that can afflict humanity; and on the following day he died. There were at this moment within the walls of the same prison, besides the petitioner, a woman who had been in confinement twenty-eight years, and two others who had been there seventeen years. The petitioner, he repeated, was detained for costs, and for costs only! he had committed no crime, he had not been guilty of any moral offence. This was a disgrace to England, a disgrace to the laws, and a disgrace to those by whom they were administered. The lord chancellor on a former occasion had said, "Why did not I know of these cases before?'* He had known of them since, and he (Mr. B.) did not find from the keeper of the prison, that the learned lord had interfered to restore these wretched persons to liberty, to their families, and to the world. It was high time, then, that something should be immediately done, or "the law's delay" would drive them to madness, or consign them to the grave. Whether his majesty's government intended to make any regulations on this subject he could not tell; but the lord chancellor was bound to consider it; and if that learned lord neglected it any longer it would be a great breach of his legal duty [Hear, hear!].
Sir F. Burdettcould not restrain his feelings on hearing such melancholy cases stated. That a man should be imprison- 160 ed his whole life for a contempt of court, no man could hear without shuddering at the very thought of it. This was a subject of the utmost importance: it required that some steps should be instantly adopted, and he trusted that such regulations would be made as might effectually pre-vent its recurrence.
§ Sir J. Simeonobserved, that every body must know the lord chancellor had a very unpleasant duty to perform on these occasions. It was, however, his official duty in which he could not suffer his private feelings to interfere. If these persons were to present a petition to the court, stating that they had purged their contempts as well as they could, there could be no doubt that the learned lord would do every thing in his power to relieve them.
Mr. Bennetsaid, it was a mere mockery to talk of presenting petitions to the court. Some of them had no means of doing this, and to others no attention whatever had been paid. Their cases were well known, and they ought to be restored to liberty [Hear, hear!].
§ Mr. Lambthought it a great hardship that persons, after purging the contempt, should be detained in confinement for costs. He saw no reason why the provisions of the insolvent debtor's act should not be extended to these cases, as well as to all those of common law.
§ Ordered to lie on the table.