La Narrativa de Henry Fielding y la Sociedad Inglesa del Siglo XVIII

La Narrativa de Henry Fielding y la Sociedad Inglesa del Siglo XVIII
En Amelia (VIII, 2) se menciona el hecho de que se trata de una
innovación con respecto de la antigua Constitución de Inglaterra. 230 En ese
episodio el alguacil habla a Booth de los caballeros que están detenidos en su
casa, y le habla del escritor que aguarda ser liberado tras saldar la deuda por la
que allí se encontraba, y relatarle a Booth sobre las cosas que escribía el
alguacil prosigue:
“ -It is about liberty and freedom, and about the constitution of England. I say
nothing for my part: for I will keep my neck out of a halter; but faith he makes it out
plainly to me, that all matters are not as they should be. I am for liberty, for my part.' 'Is
that consistent with your calling?” cries Booth, “I thought, my friend, you had lived by
depriving men of their liberty.” “That's another matter,' cries the bailiff, “that’s all
according to law, and in the way of business. To be sure men must be obliged to pay their
debts, or else there would be an end of every thing.' Booth desired the bailiff to give him his
opinion of liberty. Upon which he hesitated a moment, and then cried out, 'O 'tis a fine
thing, 'tis a very fine thing, and the Constitution of England. Booth told him that by the old
constitutions of England, he had heard that men could not be arrested for debt.”
El alguacil contesta:
“ ... that must had been in very bad times. Because a why,” says he, “would it not
be the hardest thing in the world if a man could not arrest another for a just and lawful
debt? Besides, sir, you must be mistaken: for, how could that ever be! Is not liberty the
constitutions of England? Well, and is not the constitution, as a man may say, -whereby the
constitution, that is the law and liberty, and all that-.”
A principios de siglo, según D. George, los vendedores a crédito
(tallymen) se habían enriquecido con el sistema vigente, y las artimañas que
éstos empleaban hicieron que la prisión por deudas fuese de consecuencias
desastrosas para muchos. George cita a Firmin quien en 1681 describió a los
vendedores a crédito como aquellos quienes:
“trust poor persons with 20s. worth of goods, or rather with twelve or fourteen
shillings worth instead twenty, to pay them by ed. or 12d. a week, wherein if they fail to
pay, they hurry them into prison, with great charge for arrest and proceedings at law, which
many times exceed the said debt.” 231
Las consecuencias de la prisión por deudas eran entonces de tal
298, cita a T. DELAMAYNE, The Rise and Practice of Imprissonment in Personal Actions Examined (London,
1772) como un estudio critico y documentado de la evolución del sistema legal inglés en el siglo
XVIII.
230 De las sesenta y tres cláusulas originales de la Carta Magna una de las más significativas era
precisamente la que decía: “No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or prossessions ...
except by the lawful judgement of his peers”
231 FIRMIN, Proposals for the employment of the Poor, 1682, p. 41, GEORGE, London Life, p. 299.
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