an important consequence, which immediately followed from it, was undoubtedly the removal of much of the destitution which had previously existed, and of the lawlessness to which that destitution led.

The length of time, in the second place, during which a legal provision for the poor has now been established in England, and the extent to which the habits of the labouring classes have become moulded to an accordance with that system, will be admitted, we believe, by all reflecting persons, to oppose an insuperable obstacle in the way of any attempt to effect its abolition except by the most gradual process. No such scheme can be entertained by any one who is not prepared to see society thrown into entire confusion. We must plainly lay our account, therefore, with the existing of the poor-laws for a long time to come. Indeed, the period of their abolition, if ever it should arrive, must be determined by the extent of the moral and intellectual advancement of the great mass of the working people. They must perceive themselves, that the poor-laws interfere with their advancement, and keep them down in the scale of society, before the removal of these laws can be safely, or even justly, set about. The only mitigation of the evil, which can be prudently attempted at present, is a reform of the administration of the law, and of such of its provisions as may be amended without its principle being interfered with. This being the case, it may not be amiss for us, before we proceed further, to notice shortly a few of the incidental advantages which seem to belong to a poor-law, that we may be the better disposed to submit to the pressure which, whatever may be its amount, we cannot all at once shake off.

INCIDENTAL ADVANTAGES OF A POOR-LAW. 1. A Poor-Law seems to create a strong motive in the wealthy classes to attend to the welfare of the poor.

The state of Ireland may serve as an illustration of the complete separation that will sometimes take place between the landholders and the labourers of a country, and of the dreadful condition in which the latter may be consequently left, when the misgovernment which has created the causes of the division is not met and counteracted by this corrective. The following is an extract from Mr. Scrope's able work on that country:

"A servile war has, indeed, been for some time raging in Ireland: a convulsed and desperate struggle of thousands for existence. Those who have undertaken the task of pacifying and improving that country are much mistaken if they think that the remission of church-rates, or the concessions they have made of a part of the Protestant church establishment, will go any way towards effecting their object. The tithe question the church-the grand-jury laws-the more or fewer Catholics appointed to the sheriffalty or magistracy, these are all topics for political agitation among idle mobs; but the midnight massacre-the daily plunder-the frequent insurrection-the insecurity of life and property throughout the agricultural districts of Ireland, these are neither caused by agitation nor can be put down by agitation. They are the desperate efforts at revenge of a people goaded by want and misery to madness: they are the necessary and natural results of a state of the law, which allows the landowners of a country at one time to encourage an excessive growth of the population on their estates, and at another, when the caprice seizes them, to dispossess all this population, and turn them out on the highways, without food, home, or shelter !

"That this is the true source of the horrible outrages which are now in almost daily perpetration in Ireland is proved beyond a possibility of doubt by an examination of the nature of these offences. Against whom are these sanguinary attacks and threats of attack for the most part levelled? The tithe-owners or their proctors? The magistrates and gentry? Excisemen or travellers? No! But against the land-takers,' as they are called-the incoming tenants of farms, whose former occupiers have been turned out to make room for them. Against those who, in the desperate competition for the occupation of land, as the only means of existence, outbid the herd of houseless wretches, and excite in them the same rabid jealousy as rouses a pack of gaunt and starving wolves against the one who may get possession of the morsel for which they are contending."

As a pleasing contrast to the conduct of many Irish landowners, we will lay before our readers a statement of the truly benevolent exertions of the parish-officers of Oldham in Lancashire, on an occasion of unforeseen calamity to the

working classes. We extract from the Report of Mr. Henderson, one of the Poor-Law Commissioners:"The sound condition of Oldham is not attributable to uninterrupted prosperity. In the year 1826, in consequence of the failure of Saddleworth bank, the accidental burning of the Priory mills, and many of the factories ceasing to work, a large portion of the population was thrown out of employment and reduced to want. The poor-rates were doubled; and the select vestry made great efforts to meet the evil, sometimes assembling at twelve o'clock in the day, and sitting until three or four o'clock the following morning; and it was remarked that the relief administered by the select vestry was far more efficient than the subscription funds sent from London, and distributed through other hands. A well-organized system of relief has peculiar value in fluctuations such as these, to which manufacturing towns are extremely liable. The expenditure of the township was gradually reduced to its usual limits, as the difficulties of the times were surmounted. The poor-rate last year was 2s. in the pound, on a valuation of three-fourths of the rackrent."

2. The Poor-Laws put it in the power of society to check the rate of increase in population.

The very opposite of the advantage here pointed out is often, indeed, justly laid to the charge of poor-laws; for it is said that these laws, by making a parent sure that his child will be provided for, act as a premium to improvident marriages.

The fact is, that almost anything, however excellent in its nature, may be perverted into an engine of mischief. As Bentham says, a loaf, shot from the mouth of a cannon, becomes an instrument of death. So, in the present case, if pauper parents are put under no discipline, and no part of the burden of the child is thrown on to their shoulders, they will surround themselves with families, without making any provision for their maintenance; and not only disproportionately increase the number of labourers, but exhaust the labour-fund in the shape of relief for want. In whole districts in this country, too, the restraint upon encumbering society with illegitimate children is very small. The mother is allowed to continue at large, and positively to receive more money every week for the support of the child than the child costs.

But suppose that principle of the poor-laws, which gives to society the control of those it is called upon to support, to be carried into full effect in all parts of the country-as it is to a certain extent in the best-regulated parishes-and then how do matters stand? Parents, who are giving birth to children they are unable to support, would be removed to a well-disciplined workhouse, separated, and made to work hard, until they had shown that they can be returned to society without becoming a burthen to it, either as regards themselves or their children. If this plan were always adopted, those who, without considering their means of providing for a family, would run headlong into marriage, thinking to throw the support of their children on their more prudent and industrious neighbours, would soon be stopped in their career, and made to feel the consequences of their attempt to defraud society.

In illustration of the better course of things in a wellregulated English parish, we will give an extract from the evidence of John Grey, Esq., before the Committee of the House of Lords appointed two years ago to inquire into the working of the poor-laws" Do marriages take place generally at a very early period ?-Not very early. There is one check which I think is very salutary, the custom of being possessed of a cow. It is not considered a very reputable thing for a young man to marry, unless he can be so independent as to furnish a house and obtain a cow: when they are able to purchase a cow and furnish a house, they have a degree of independence which enables them to face the world and set up for themselves. It certainly does happen sometimes that there are early and improvident marriages, especially if there is a child in the way; that commonly ends in a marriage; but in such cases it is not unfrequent that there is that connexion between the master and servant, that the master may either lend him a cow of his own until he is able to get one, or give him a little assistance in purchasing it till he is able to work it out. I have done that, and prefer that mode, because it is desirable to let a man have a feeling of having a property of his own, for by so doing you encourage a spirit of independence.”.

3. The Poor-Laws, rightly applied, afford an additional motive to the exercise of foresight and prudence, by making the reward of good conduct certain.

Here again, as in the case of increase of population, the very opposite effect is often brought about by the unwise proceedings of parish officers and magistrates. In many parts of England, as we shall presently see more fully, a plan has been introduced, which, for its absurdity and demoralizing tendency, stands perhaps unrivalled. We refer to what is called the allowance system; which simply means an arrangement devised by certain country magistrates for securing to a pauper regular fixed wages every week, without the slightest regard to the man's character, his industry, or the value of his work. A pauper applies to the overseer for relief, and this is the kind of proceeding" Have you a wife?—Yes. And how many children?-Five. Let me see a man and his wife is nine shillings, and five children is seven shillings: that makes sixteen shillings. What wages are you getting?-Seven shillings a week, sir. Seven shillings? Hum! Seven from sixteen, leaves nine. There's your money. (Gives the man nine shillings.)"

This is no exaggeration of what takes place hundreds of times every week. But it is no more in the true spirit of the poor-laws to act in this way, or to treat all paupers alike, whatever be the cause of their poverty, than it might be to subject all criminals to the same punishment, whatever be the nature of their offence.

4. The Poor-Laws withdraw temptation to crime, and give security to property.

What we have said about the great decrease of crime in this country since the introduction of poor-laws, is here applicable; as are also our remarks on the vast amount of crime in Ireland at the present time.

When, in carrying forward the principle of the poor-laws, a good system of national education shall be established in this country, we may hope to see even the present amount of crime in England greatly reduced. The improvement in the public morals effected by education in some of the American states is most gratifying. It is the province of the poor-laws to step in, when, from any cause, whether from inevitable calamity or from sheer misconduct, a man is reduced to that state of destitution in which he is placed under great temptations to commit crime. For its own sake (to say nothing of the unhappy individual) society should take charge of any one of its members who has arrived at this point, unless the doing so is likely to bring others into the same situation.

There is much evidence in favour of the belief that the number of thieves is not very great. The person at the head of the police of the town of Birmingham informs us that the same set of offenders come through his hands time after time. He mentioned one case, in which a young woman had been committed to the county gaol nine times in one year. A cunning rogue, however, will not, he says, venture on more than two convictions in the same county a third conviction being too frequently followed by transportation, a punishment not at all popular among thieves; after a second conviction, therefore, he generally moves his quarters to a neighbouring county.

The tax which society is silently paying in consequence of the existence of but a comparatively small number of thieves is enormous. How many thousands are there in this country who would gladly pay a yearly tax of ten, twenty, or fifty pounds, to be freed from the necessity of guarding against robbery! How much, too, would most kinds of property be increased in value, and how greatly would the daily transactions of life be facilitated, by any arrangement by which those who are likely to commit depredations should be placed under control!

5. Mild punishments can be of little avail, unless either there is but little poverty in the country, or there is a provision for relieving the poor.

It is evident that to a starving man, a prison in which he would be fed, clothed, and lodged, and required to work but moderately hard, would be anything but an object of fear. He would wish for admittance; and if he were not allowed to enter without going through the ceremony of breaking a law, the breach would soon be made. As it is, and even with an asylum provided for the poor, the dread of being placed in an English gaol, or of being sent to the hulks as a convict, is not always very great, as the following extracts from Mr. Chadwick's Report (pages 241-243) will show.

Mr. Brown, one of the present overseers of Bethnal Green, stated that

"It is quite common for the officers from the policeoffices to come to our parish to inquire for bad characters against whom charges are made. The police-officers are well acquainted with their characters. It is the worst characters who generally raise tumults. They repeatedly tell me, that, by being sent to Bridewell, they are sure of getting plenty of food, and shall be sent out with clothes. I do not know what clothes are given to them there but I have frequently seen them better dressed when they came out of prison, than they were when they were sent in. They frequently dare me to send them to Bridewell. There is no difference between the girls and the men; except that, of the two, the girls are the worst."

Mr. Charles Mott, the present contractor for the support of the poor of Lambeth parish, and who formerly contracted for the poor of Gosport, gave the following evidence :"I am sure, from conversations which I have had on the subject with the superintendent of convicts, that the convict receives more bread a-day than the pauper. Indeed, it is notorious at Gosport, where I have heard it descanted upon by many of the inhabitants, that the convicts receive one ounce of meat per day more than the soldiers set to guard them. I heard at Gosport, that the convicts being told to do something which they did not like, one of them exclaimed, in the presence of the military guard, 'What next, I wonder! d-n it, we shall soon be as bad off as soldiers. The convicts ridicule the soldiers; and I have myself seen a convict hold up some food to the guard, saying, Soldier, will you have a bit?' Yet the operation of this system in gaols and workhouses was pointed out years ago, and it still continues. The convict's labour is proportionably slight.

"Do you find this state of things, as to punishment, react upon the workhouse?

"Decidedly so; and most mischievously as to discipline and management. The paupers are well aware that there is, in fact, no punishment for them. From the conversation I have had with convicts, it is clear, that confinement in a prison, or even transportation to the hulks, is not much dreaded. We are better fed,' I have heard them say, have better clothes, and more comfortable lodging, than we could obtain from our labour;' and the greatest, in fact almost only, punishment they appear to dread, is being deprived of female intercourse. Some months since, three young women (well-known prostitutes) applied for relief at Lambeth workhouse; and, upon being refused, two of them immediately broke the windows. On the moment, the three were given into custody to the police; but recollecting that only two were guilty of breaking the windows, the beadle was sent to state the fact, and request from the overseer, that the innocent person might be discharged: she, however, declared that she would not be separated from her companions, and immediately returned to the house and demolished two or three more windows to accomplish her desire."

Nothing can be clearer than that the actual condition of the labouring man, who maintains himself and his family without assistance from the parish, ought always to be kept in view in regulating the allowance of food, and the different comforts, of criminals and of paupers. The quantity of food given to the pauper ought always to be less than that obtained by the independent labourer, and of a coarser kind; he should also be required to work harder than the free labourer, and in every other respect he ought to be in a worse condition. So again the prisoner, the man who has committed a moral offence, ought to be in a lower state of comfort than the pauper. All this, one would think, is as plain as possible; yet as we have seen, and as we shall have occasion to point out again, this order of things is frequently positively reversed. The root of the evil is the want of an uniform system, as well for those receiving parochial relief, as for prisoners. As regards both classes, there is the widest difference in different parts of the country.

6. The Poor-Laws, if fully administered, may be made to supersede the necessity of other charitable institutions of almost every kind.

There is unhappily no doubt that the effect produced by many of the numerous charities of this country is by no means one of unmixed good.

Charitable relief injudiciously applied acts as a reward to imposture, distracts the attention of the working man from

The poor-rates are raised by a tax on all the real property (as it is improperly called) in the parish.* Real property is defined to mean land, and every thing attached to the land, as houses, canals, &c. The yearly value of such property being assessed, the occupier or tenant is required to contribute towards the support of the poor in proportion to the amount.

The parish officers, whose business it is to make the assessment, to collect the rates, and to take the charge of the poor, are chosen in part by the rate-payers, and in part by the magistrates of the parish. The appointment of the overseer, who is nominally at the head of the parish, as regards the administration of the poor-laws, always rests with the magistrates, excepting in cases where, by the provisions of a local act, the power has been taken out of their hands.

In the best managed parishes, the rate-payers place the powers entrusted to them in the hands of a small body, chosen by them from their own number and called sometimes the Select Vestry, and sometimes the Guardians of the Poor. This body appoints the assistant overseers and other standing officers, fixes their salaries, and holds them to responsibility for the performance of their duties.

In other parishes there is an open vestry; by which is meant that the management of the concerns of the parish, instead of being put into the hands of a chosen body, is left to the great body of rate-payers, each doing as much or as little as he likes. The affairs of such parishes are generally wretchedly managed; and when, as is often the case, even the assistant overseer is not a paid and permanent officer, the whole business is usually a scene of confusion. It remains to point out how it is determined to what particular parish a pauper belongs, and what are his means of enforcing relief. The law of settlement is one which gives rise to endless disputes. By the enactments regulating this matter, every person is made to belong to that parish in which he was born, unless he has subsequently served an apprenticeship in another parish, or been hired in service for a whole year, or has occupied a house rated at not less than 107. a-year. Either of these gives a settlement; but a man cannot have two settlements at the same time; by acquiring a new one, he always loses his former settlement. When a pauper applies to the officers of a parish for relief, and it appears that he does not belong to that particular parish, the officers apply to the magistrates of the district for an order of removal to the parish in which the pauper was last settled. Should this order be disputed by the officers of the other parish, the question is carried before the next quarter-sessions for revision.

Bastardy. In cases of bastardy, the law of settlement is frequently very mischievous in its operations, as we shall presently see. A bastard child, like any other, obtains its first settlement in the parish in which it was born; but the parish officers may obtain an order of removal for any woman, not belonging to their parish, who is in a state of pregnancy. If the woman does belong to the parish, then their interest is to hunt out the man, and if he belongs to another parish, to frighten him or bribe him into marrying the woman. If they succeed in this, they can then get rid of the woman, (for the husband's settlement always extends to his wife,) and be secure against being burthened with the child. Parish officers have been known to go to the expense of a license, when time would not admit of the publication of banns, or when they feared the man would

he may compel the overseer to grant the relief applied for, during one month from that time; and if at the end of the month the overseer should again refuse, the magistrate may grant a new order, and so on. The exercise of this right of magistrates to interfere with the parish officers has, in country parishes, been carried to a very great extent; and, as we shall presently see, has been productive of endless mischief.

There are many other provisions in the English poorlaws, such as that for obliging parents to support their pauper children, and children their pauper parents, &c.; but the clauses we have mentioned are the most important.

DEFECTS IN THE ENGLISH POOR-LAWS. Without disputing the soundness of the general principle of compulsory relief to the poor, the questions to be considered are, what description of persons ought to be relieved? what should be the nature and extent of such relief? how ought the necessary funds to be raised? and under whose control should they be disbursed? In examining each of these points, we find much in the English system of poor-laws that cries aloud for amendment. We shall consider the two first questions together.

What description of persons ought to be relieved? and what should be the nature and extent of such relief?

We have already intimated our opinion, that a regimen of hard work and coarse food should be provided for all who choose to accept it; and not only for these, but for all who cannot show that they are earning an honest livelihood, whether they are inclined to submit to the discipline or not. Such men are not safe members of society; they are constantly exposed to strong temptation to crime; and it must always be borne in mind, that by some means or other, either by begging or stealing, such persons are, in fact, living on society. Society does not and cannot escape from the cost of their maintenance: and the only question is, how can they be maintained with the least cost to society, and with the best prospect of their own reform?

In answer to this question we reply, and we think most of our readers will agree with us, that this object can be best attained by subjecting the destitute to strict, but kind treatment-by enforcing the regular performance of hard bodily labour-by withdrawing stimulating food of every kind-by the adoption of a judicious system of encouragement and advice as soon as amendment begins to show itself. This we maintain to be the best and the cheapest way for society to go to work with the idle, the drunken, and all who are destitute in consequence of their own misconduct-hard work and spare diet for the body, and for the mind, the alternate use of remonstrance, friendly counsel, and sympathizing interest.

Such is the treatment which experience has shown to be the best for the idle and the vicious. But for the poor of another class-for those who have been struck down by a power beyond their own control, or against which no common prudence or foresight could have protected them-a very different management should be adopted. These latter should, wherever it is practicable, be kept quite separate from the idle, the vicious, and the drunken; not only is it desirable that they should occupy distinct rooms, but, if possible, they should live in separate buildings, and in different quarters of the town. Every regard, consistent with economy, should be paid to their feelings. The husband and wife should not be kept apart, nor should they be debarred from the occasional society of their children. Relief may, indeed, often be safely given to paupers of this class at their own homes, or work provided at which they may, without degradation, earn sufficient wages to procure the necessaries of life. In all arrangements, however, even for this class of the poor, the condition of the independent labourer must be steadily kept in view. To whatever degree our sympathies may be excited, it is unwise, nay, it is unjust to the independent labourer, to raise beyond a certain point the condition of the helpless.

The standard of the comfort of the man who earns his own bread, ought always to be in advance of that dependent on others. Before society ventures to increase the comforts of

the latter class, let it first see that the independent labourer has risen in the scale of comfort and happiness.

We will now see how far the principles just laid down are abided by in granting relief to paupers in many parts of this country.

In the first place it is notorious, that numbers of beggars and prostitutes are to be found in most of our roads and streets; it is also tolerably certain that many of them would not, if allowed the choice, accept of a permission to enter a well-regulated workhouse; and that the mere knowledge that they should be placed there, if they did not change their mode of life and look out for honest work, would of itself greatly reduce their number. However numerous the remainder might be, it would be better to support them in a house than allow them to remain at large: in other words, it would be better to maintain them in a cheap way than in a dear way. But is this the usual mode of proceeding? On the contrary, are not our streets and roads allowed to harbour beggars, drunkards, and harlots, to the injury of public morals, the encouragement of impostors, and to the restriction of the personal liberty of the virtuous female? No one can hesitate in the reply, and few we hope can differ from us as to the remedy to be applied.

Let us now inquire what plan is followed in the treatment of the applicants for parish relief. Is it made to depend on the past and present conduct of the pauper, and on the condition of the independent labourer? Is the treatment in all cases such as to make a man earnestly desire to cease to be a pauper, and maintain himself and his family by his own efforts? Is it such as to correct the habits of the idle, the drunken, and the vicious? To all these questions we are compelled to answer in the negative, as regards the greater part of the country. A most absurd and mischievous arrangement has been adopted in the whole of the south of the island, in many of the midland counties, and in some districts in the north, by which the question of character is altogether set aside; the idle and the industrious, the virtuous woman and the prostitute, the rogue and the honest man-all are treated alike; except, indeed, that the most insolent and turbulent are generally best served.

The Allowance System. The most disastrous system, to which we have already referred, and which is called the allowance system, originated in an order published by the magistrates of Berkshire in the year 1795. It is very probable that the error made by these magistrates sprang from good motives; but it betokened, it must be confessed, a most profound ignorance of the principles of sound government. The order was to this effect:-every labourer who received wages below a certain scale (drawn out by the magistrates) might require the overseers of his parish to make them up to that scale, on his showing that he had nothing but his wages to live on. It may readily be conceived what evils must have been created by this plan of laying down a rule of relief, to be abided by without regard to the character of the applicant, or the means of the rate-payer. It is evident in the first place, that, under this system, unless a man does work enough to get higher wages than those on the allowance scale, he may (as regards the amount of wages) just as well do no work at all; for all that he gets will be deducted from his allowance; whereas every hour's hard work ought to better a man's condition.

In some places the scale of allowance is so high, and consequently the inducement to work so low, that the greater part of the parishioners are positively living in idleness, whilst men from other parishes are hired to do the work, A man will frequently do work by stealth, and thus get a full allowance and wages to boot; or he will get a false statement of his wages from his employer; the farmer and pauper dividing the difference between them. Sometimes he will deceive the overseers as to the number of his children; for his wages, according to the allowance scale, increase with every additional child,-which increase is, in some parishes, so large as to more than cover the cost of the child's maintenance. In fifty different ways then is this absurd allowance system destructive of the morals of the people, to say nothing of the effect on the property of the community at large.

"The amount of rates, 3970%., and of charities about 1200%. per annum.

"The bench of magistrates meet once a year at Michaelmas, and call before them all the overseers, and say to this effect: We have considered the price of things, and shall recommend 1s. 6d. for a child, &c. We shall make order according to this scale, and we think it may save trouble to you and ourselves to tell you so at once. Mr. Bishop and I examined eight or ten persons, being overseers and vestrymen. They described themselves as having no chance whatever against a pauper before a magistrate; declared unanimously that they were disgusted with applying to magistrates in any case, however flagrant; and as finding it, by experience, to be the best way to settle as well as they could with a pauper claimant, without permitting him to summon them."

"They pay the parish paupers every Wednesday, from six to nine o'clock in the evening, who are so turbulent and violent, that they are obliged to have a constable always present for their personal protection. Relief is independent of character, and they make no inquiry as to whether the wants of the applicants are real or simulated; guiding themselves, in giving or withholding relief, in every particular case, by their conjectures as to the probability of the magistrates ordering it or not.

"The following was given us as a specimen of the way in which applications were made and disposed of. "I want my money.'

"How much have you earned?

Four shillings,' "How many children have you?'-' Six.' "Well, here are six eighteen-pences for you.'

"We inquired what, if the man had said he earned nothing, instead of 4s., they should have given him.-13s. instead of 9s. We inquired if they could assign any reason why the man earned or acknowledged earning 48.-None.

"Publishing the names of paupers is rather detrimental than otherwise. Those who are not receiving relief, read the names of those who are, and come immediately and apply for their money;' and if they do not receive it, abuse the overseers, and say they will have them up before their betters.

"There is quite work enough in the parish for all the population; the labour of which, however, under the system above described, is insufficient, and recourse is had to ex-parishioners, whose wages are half as much again as those of the native population, owing to their superior conduct, accounted for by their having no dependence except on character and ability.

"A pauper named Sutton returned to the parish with his wife and child, having been away some time, and applied for relief and clothes for himself and family. The overseers, suspecting that he possessed clothes, managed to get him and his wife out of the room, keeping his little girl in, and then asked the child where her Sunday frock was. She answered, that it was locked up in a box at Cambridge with other things. Here the mother came in to call the girl out, but the overseers would not let her go, whereupon the father Sutton came in with a bludgeon, and seized the child by the arm. The overseers held her, but the father pulling her so as to hurt her, they let her go, and he took her out and beat her violently. He then returned, demanding relief, which they refused. He abused them dreadfully, threatening to rip up one, burn the town, &c. and behaved with such violence that they were compelled to have him handcuffed and his legs tied, and he was wheeled in a barrow to the magistrate, where they charged him with assault. The magistrate asked whether they could swear they were in bodily fear of Sutton, and they replying that they were not, he dismissed the charge, and ordered Sutton relief."

page 386.

Ely is divided into two parishes; of which Trinity contains 4325, while the total population is 6189.

present form, introduced into England in the year 1601; the allowance system was a device of 1795: so that of the 232 years during which the present poor-laws have existed, the allowance system has defaced them during thirty-eight years only.