John Smith

“ If it be ill in Thee, so well to doe; Then, is ill in Us, to praise thee too. But, if the first be well done; it is well, To say it doth (if so it doth) excell. Praise is the guerdon of each deare desert Making the praised act the praised part With more alacritie: Honours Spurre is Praise; Without which, it (regardlesse) soone decaies. And for this paines of thine wee praise thee rather, That future Times may know who was the father Of that rare Worke (New England) which may bring, Praise to thy God, and profit to thy King. ”

“ There have been many famous Universities, which are now but Stables for Fowls, and Beasts, and the Houses in most parts lie tumbled one above another; the Walls of Earth are with the great fresh Floods washed to the ground; nor is there any Village in it, but Tents for Strangers, Larbes and Moors. Strange Tales they will tell of a great Garden, wherein were all sorts of Birds, Fishes, Beasts, Fruits, and Fountains, which for Beauty, Art and Pleasure, exceeded any place known in the World, though now nothing but Dung-hills, Pigeon-Houses, Shrubs and Bushes. ”

“ That thou and wee (poore sixteene) safe retir'd Unto our helplesse Ships. Thou (thus admir'd) Didst make proud Powhatan, his subjects send To James his Towne, thy censure to attend: And all Virginia's Lords, and pettie Kings, Aw'd by thy vertue, crouch, and Presents brings To gaine thy grace; so dreaded thou hast beene: And yet a heart more milde is seldome seene; So, making Valour Vertue, really; Who hast nought in thee counterfeit, or slie; If in the sleight be not the truest Art, That makes men famoused for faire desert. ”

“ The debtor’s property was naturally regarded as belonging to the creditors, but it could not be distributed among them until it was realized, and until their respective right and interests were determined by competent authority. In some cases claims to rank as creditors are of doubtful validity. In others the creditor holds securities, the value of which requires investigation, or he claims a preference to which he may or may not be legally entitled. Creditors have thus conflicting interests as between themselves, and are therefore incapable of acting together as a homogeneous body. ”

“ O fauourable was your most renowned and memorable Brother, Prince Henry, to all generous designes: that in my discouery of Virginia, I presumed to call two namelesse Headlands after my Soueraignes heires, Cape Henry, and Cape Charles. ”

“ It is enough that the creditor is preferred. This avoids the nice questions of legal casuistry which have embarrassed the English courts, and it is the more rational rule, for creditors are not concerned with a debtor’s intention. Any person, trader or non-trader, may avail himself of the act, but, in the case of a corporation, there is this peculiarity: it may be petitioned against but cannot petition.
Insolvency is construed in a practical sense; that is, a person is insolvent where the aggregate of his property, at a fair valuation, is insufficient to pay his debts ”

“ They keep a shambles of Man's Flesh, as if it were Beef, or other Victuals; for when they cannot have a good Market for their Slaves; or their Enemies they take, they kill, and sell them in this manner; some are so resolute, in shewing how much they scorn death, they will offer themselves and Slaves, to this Butchery to their Prince and Friends; and though there be many Nations will eat their Enemies, in America and Asia, yet none but those are known to be so mad, as to eat their Slaves and Friends also. ”

“ For my owne part, I cannot chuse but grieve, that the actions of an English-man should be inferior to any, and that the command of England should not be as great as any Monarchy that ever was since the world began, I meane not as a Tyrant to torment all Christendome, but to suppresse her disturbers, and conquer her enemies. ”

“ On the other hand remedies against a debtor’s person, and still more against the persons of his family, are not only inconsistent with the growth of opinion among civilized communities, but are in themselves worse than futile, inasmuch as they strike at the root of all personal effort on the part of a debtor to retrieve his position and render a return to solvency impossible. ”

“ We have seene a man kneeling on his knees, and at Powhatans command, two men have beate him on the bare skin, till he hath fallen senselesse in a sound, and yet never cry nor complained. And he made a woman for playing the whore, sit upon a great stone, on her bare breech twenty-foure houres, onely with corne and water, every three dayes, till nine dayes were past, yet he loved her exceedingly: notwithstanding there are common whores by profession. ”

“ Only a trader can become bankrupt. The debt, too, for obtaining adjudication must be a commercial debt, the laws regulating bankruptcy being designed exclusively for the protection of commerce. To be made a bankrupt a trader need not be insolvent: it is sufficient that he has suspended payment. Commercial companies of all kinds are liable to be declared bankrupt in the same manner as individual traders. A trader-debtor can be adjudicated bankrupt upon his own petition, or upon the petition of a creditor, or by the court itself proprio motu. ”

“ Rodol not knowing how to draw the Enemy to Battel, raised his Army, burning and spoiling all where he came, and returned again towards Rebrink in the night, as if he had fled upon the general rumour of the Crim-Tartars coming, which so inflamed the Turks of a happy Victory, they urged Jeremy against his Will to follow them. ”

“ Hence the necessity for calling in the aid of professional assignees or trustees, solicitors and other agents, who made it their special business to deal with such matters, exercising both administrative and quasi-judicial functions, in return for the remuneration which they receive out of the property for their services. Professional interests, which are not always identical with the interests of the debtor or the creditors, are thus called into existence, and these interests have from time to time exercised a powerful influence in shaping the course of legislation. ”

“ I Know not how Desert more great can rise, Then out of Danger t'ane for good mens Good; or who doth better winne th' Olympian prize, Than he whose Countryes Honor stirres his bloud; Private respects have private expectation, Publicke designes, should publish reputation. This Gentleman whose Volumne heere is stoard With strange discoverie of Gods strangest Creatures, Gives us full view, how he hath Sayl'd, and Oar'd, And Marcht, full many myles, whose rough defeatures, Hath beene as bold, as puissant, up to binde Their barbarous strength's, to follow him dog-linde. ”

“ Whereof they suppose by those Indians, they understand are many hundreds more, unfrequented till then by any Christian, most of them stark naked, both Men, Women and Children, but they saw not any such Giant-like Women as the Rivers name importeth. But for those where Captain North hath seated his Company, it is not known where Indians were ever so kind to any Nation, not sparing any pains, danger or labour, to feed and maintain them. ”

“ A bankruptcy terminates by an ordinary composition (concordat) , a sale of the debtor’s assets (union) , or a composition by relinquishment of assets. It is a striking feature of the French system, and highly creditable to French commercial integrity, that a discharge in bankruptcy, even when accompanied by a declaration d'excusabilité, leaves the unpaid balance a debt of honour. At the time of the French Revolution the National Convention passed a resolution that any man who contracted a debt should never be free from liability to pay it. ”

“ The Spaniard still playing upon him with all the shot they could; the open Places presently they covered with old Sails, and prepared themselves to fight to the last Man. The Angry Spaniard seeing the fire quenched, hung out a Flag of truce to have but a Parley; but that desperate Merham knew there was but one way with him, and would have none, but the report of his Ordnance, which he did know well how to use for his best Advantage. ”

“ But we chanced in a Land even as God made it, where we found onely an idle, improvident, scattered people, ignorant of the knowledge of gold or silver, or any commodities, and carelesse of any thing but from hand to mouth, except babies of no worth; nothing to incourage us, but what accidentally we found Nature afforded. Which ere we could bring to recompence our paines, defray our charges, and satisfie our Adventurers ”

“ The spirit of this resolution still survives, for until a trader has paid every penny that he owes he is not rehabilitated and remains under the stigma of various disabilities: he has no political rights, he cannot hold any public office, or act as a stockbroker, or sit on a jury. Banqueroute simple is where the bankrupt has been guilty of grave faults in the conduct of his business, such as extravagance in living, hazardous speculation or preferring creditors. Banqueroute frauduleuse involves the worse delinquency of fraud. ”

“ As for those lasie servants, who had rather stand all day idle, than worke, though but an houre in this Vineyard, and spend their substance riotously, than cast the superfluity of their wealth into your Treasury, I leave them as they are to the eternall Judge of the world. ”

“ Captain Woodhouse Governour. There are few sorts of any Fruits in the West Indies, but they grow there in abundance; yet the fertility of the Soil in many Places decayeth, being Planted every Year, for their Plantains, which is a most delicate Fruit, they have lately found a way by Pickling or Drying them, to bring them over into England, there being no such Fruit in Europe, and wonderful for increase. For Fish, Flesh, Figgs, Wine, and all sorts of most excellent Herbs, Fruits and Roots they have in abundance. ”

“ In the distribution of the debtor’s property certain claims are entitled to priority over others. Thus the landlord, although not entitled to a preference out of the funds in the hands of the trustee, can distrain for unpaid rent on the goods and effects of the debtor remaining on the landlord’s premises, but where the distraint is levied after the commencement of the bankruptcy this right is limited by the act of 1890 to six months’ rent due before adjudication, the remainder of his claim ranking for dividend with the claims of other creditors. ”

“ As for the losse of men, if Religion had not taught us what by the providence of God is brought to passe, yet daily experience might informe us, of the dangers of wars, and perils at sea, by stormes tempests, shipwracks, encounters with Pirats, meeting with enemies, crosse winds, long voiages, unknowne shores, barbarous Nations, and an hundred inconveniences, of which humane pollicies are not capable, nor mens conjectures apprehensive. ”

“ Having satisfied himself with the Situation, and the most convenient Passages to bring his Army into it: The Earth no sooner put on her green Habit, than the Earl overspread her with his armed Troops. ”

“ And whereas the Countrey was heretofore held most intemperate and contagious by many, now they have Houses, Lodgings, Victuals, and the Sun hath Power to Exhale up the moist Vapours of the Earth, where they have cut down the Wood, which before it could not, being covered with spreading tops of high Trees; they find it much more healthful than before; nor for their Numbers, few Countries are less troubled with Death, Sickness, or any other Disease, nor where overgrown Women become more fruitful. ”