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MORALS OF THE DIFFERENT PROFESSIONS. [Part V.

unsubstantial display of wealth, made by the aid of the endorser,whose name and promise have thus been the instruments of de-ception, the lures to entice the unsuspecting into a gulf of ruin,against which the endorser expects to be protected by the virtue ofan assignment. And the case is greatly aggravated, it becomes,in truth, a case of unqualified plunder, when this endorser, afterputting his preference into his pocket, never pays the engagementfor which it was given, but settles with his creditors in the sameway. Can we imagine any thing more shocking to every sense ofjustice and morality, than that an honest merchant, who, but afew days before the failure of his debtor, had delivered to himgoods, at a fair price, should be called to witness his bales ofmerchandise, his barrels of flour, handed over, just as they werereceived from him, to some preferred, some favofite creditor,under the pretence that he was an endorser, or under some pre-tence equally iniquitous. Yet it is affirmed, that such things havehappened among our merchants, and that neither shame nor dis-honor has overwhelmed the perpetrator of them. *

This usage, this system of preferences, its injustice, its impol-icy, its pernicious effects on fair trading, might be more fully ex-posed ; and it might be shown, that, while it is countenanced, it isvain to expect a healthy state of commercial credit, a conscientiouscaution in contracting debts, or an honest endeavour to dischargethem. The only case of preference entitled to favor seems tobe, where money, or other property is deposited in trust. Thiscase is peculiar, and the trust should be held sacred. It has noth-ing to do with the trustee’s business or trade ; it never, in anyjust acceptation, became a part of the property of the trustee,assignable by him as such. It never was, morally, at his disposalfor any other uses or purposes, than such as were designated bythe terms of the trust.

The usual system of endorsing, too, which prevails amongmerchants, the well-known facility of obtaining credit on the faithof mere names , is another part of commercial morality whichhas been severely animadverted on. f An endorsement purportsto be a surety for the payment of the note; an additional security

Hopkinson’s Lecture on Commercial Integrity, p. 19. t Idem, pp. 12,13.