§ SIR JAMES ELPHINSTONEsaid, he would beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury, On what ground and under what authority Mr. Leonard Edmunds has been arrested and is now confined in Whitecross Street Prison, the Act 32 and 33 Vic, c. 62, declaring—
That no person shall, after the commencement of this Act, be arrested or imprisoned for making default in payment of a sum of money?
MR. GLADSTONEThe ground, Sir, upon which Mr. Leonard Edmunds has been taken is his debt to the Crown of the sum of £7,904; and the authority on which he has been taken is the authority of the law, which has not been altered in respect to Crown debts by any recent legislation. The hon. and gallant Member, I apprehend, proceeds upon the assumption that the Act for the Abolition of Imprisonment for Debt affects Crown debtors; but we are advised that this is not the case, and that writs have been issued in consequence of the non-payment of Queen's taxes; so that Mr. Edmunds has been subject to the same treatment as any other debtor to the Crown. I am informed that Mr. Edmunds calls in question the legality of the arrest, and he has applied to a Judge for his discharge; the point will, therefore, be immediately determined. Under these circumstances, it would not be desirable to notice the subject further at present.