of one goes about from place to place, but must not take the same road more than once in six months. With these intervals he is again and again assisted, and, as in the present case, for a very long space of time together.

"This ticket is available in every part of the United Kingdom where a club or lodge of the trade is established. The individual in question might have had work at 17. per week, but he refused to take it, or indeed 30s. per week; nothing under 27. will satisfy him; and when pressed for reasons to account for his refusing such offers-when asked whether it would not be better to get 17. per week than to trust to casual sources of support, he replied, that he should not like to be turned black' (query-returned black?) which would be the case if he worked under price.

Thus, then, as far as an individual instance will avail, (and it seems to be a fair sample of the general system,) we see the effects of parish aid upon the combinations for raising and keeping up wages, whose ramifications extend over the whole of these kingdoms. This man gets a ticket; he is, by his own admission, a most worthless fellow: to use his own mild and gentle language, he has been ' a very foolish man, his fault has been drinking. Though at times of his life, and that too for long periods, he has been earning from 27. to 31. per week, he has neglected to make the slightest provision for his future necessities; his health has been greatly impaired by his vicious habits; his character, probably his value as a workman, has been lowered by his own deliberate acts, yet he is not to take employment but at the highest wages; and in order to support him in this unreasonable demand, he gets a ticket from the trade, for which he pays 1s. 6d. per month, constantly: this furnishes him with his own support as a vagabond; for when he is at home his relief from the trade ceases, and the intervals of travelling are filled up by parish aid. His wife and family, let it be observed, are constantly on the parish, for he only travels his rounds. No source of support is objected to by his fellows; nothing incapacitates him from receiving the benefit of his ticket, but honest industry in his own trade: let it be known that he has once been guilty of this-of making the best terms he could-of agreeing for what his services are worth, and supporting himself and his family honestly and in comfort-and he is struck off the list, and denied all future benefit from this fund; the payments to which are in a manner compulsory, and raised from all in the trade. It is probable that this fund, if honestly, and fairly, and properly expended, might nearly destroy all necessity for the members of this trade having recourse to parish aid: so far, however, from the funds being applied to such honourable and beneficial purposes, they are made to contribute to the support of combinations."

This is a condition which, we should think, every honest and intelligent workman would shrink from as the worst of

calamities.

PUBLIC PETITIONS.

SINCE our last publication nine Reports, from the twentieth to the twenty-eighth, both inclusive, of the Committee for

the Classification of Petitions have been issued. As before, we

give an abstract, showing the most important parts of their contents. The number of petitions and signatures are the total amount presented during the session, except where mentioned to the contrary.

No. of
Petitions.

No. of
Signs.

25299
9290
3155

IN the Companion to the Newspaper, for May last, we gave a detailed statement of the contemplated improvements in the Post-Office arrangements with France. We have now to announce that, to a certain extent, these arrangements are completed. The treaty was signed in London on the 21st of June last, and sent on the following day to Paris to be ratified; on the receipt of this ratification, which must arrive in a few days, the arrangements will be immediately carried into effect. As we formerly stated would probably happen, the proposal on the part of the French that the whole of the letter, has not been acceded to; and another proposal, of the postage, in either country, might be paid on delivery for the mutual transmission of newspapers, either free or at a low rate of postage, has also been rejected, together with some other suggestions of a similar tendency.

The points agred upon are, that the communication shall be daily instead of four times a week, as has hitherto been the case; and that misdirected letters, which have up to this time been retained by the respective post-offices, shall 1594 be returned monthly; in order, wherever possible, to be re5214 stored to the writer. This, in many cases, will be found of great importance, as the letters often contained money, which, although the address of the sender may have been 271282 stated, was taken possession of by the post-office establish2914 ments. This unfair gain, which in France, is said to have 1307 in some years amounted to seven or eight thousand pounds, 119 is at length to be abolished. We trust, however, that the 4570 steps now taken will lead shortly to still further improve22248 ments; and that a principle of co-operation, which bids fair to establish one branch of that harmonious arrangement 66197 9915 which ought to subsist between two great nations, may not be prevented reaching its full practical operation, through any technical difficulties which perseverance may surmount,

2542

ABSTRACT OF PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS.

TRADE.-Trade of the United Kingdom, in the Year ended 5th January, 1832.

WEST INDIA PRODUCE.-The following returns of articles | manufacture, 1864 cwt. 3 qrs. 3 lbs. ; manufactures entered chiefly of W. India produce imported into and exported from by weight, 1 cwt. 1 qr. 16 lbs.; entered at value 1577. the United Kingdom, are all for the year ended 5th Jan. 1833. Copper, British.-Exported :-unwrought, 77,497 cwts. Sugar. The quantity of sugar imported was, of the pro- 3 lbs.; coin, 2 cwts.; sheets, nails, &c., 79,994 cwts. 10 lbs. ; duce of the British plantations, 3,784,244 cwts. 2 qrs. 6 lbs.; wire, 13 cwts. 2 qrs. 18 lbs.; wrought copper of other sorts, of Mauritius, 541,770 cwts. 1 qr. 6 lbs.; of the East In- 37,155 cwts. 1 qr. 19 lbs. ; total of British copper exported, dies, 175,252 cwts. 5 lbs. ; of the foreign plantations, 366,481 194,612 cwts. 22 lbs.; smelted in the kingdom from foreign cwts. 2 qrs. 21 lbs.; making a total of 4,867,784 cwt. ore, 13,894 cwts. 1qr. 18 lbs. 2 qrs. 10 lbs. The total amount of duty received was 5,354,4407. 168. 9d.; the bounty paid on the exportation of British refined sugar, and repayments on over-entries and damages, &c., amounted to 960,1017. 198., leaving 4,394,338/. 178. 9d. as the net produce of the duties on sugar. The total quantity exported was 1,143,034 cwts. 3 qrs. 17 lbs., of which 368,095 cwts. 3 qrs. was raw; and remainder refined, reckoning the latter in the proportion of 34 cwts. of raw to 20 cwts. of refined sugar.

Iron, Foreign, imported in bars or unwrought, 18,961 tons, 12 cwts. 2 qrs.; in rods, pigs, wire, old broken, and old castiron, &c. 192 tons, 1 qr. 5 lbs.; iron ore, 377 tons, 17 cwts. 1 qr.month to 79,0067. in the last. 19 lbs.; chromate of iron, 339 tons, 17 cwts. 15 lbs.; unBankruptcy. The following is a list of the commissions wrought steel 622 tons, 4 cwts. 2 qrs. 9 lbs.; steel wire of bankruptcy, sealed and opened, in the years from 1822 to 50 lbs. ; iron and steel manufactures, not otherwise described, 1832, both inclusive. entered by weight, 197 tons, 6 cwts.; entered at value 27727. 18s. 3d.

statute measure, profitable and unprofitable, attached to each
see, with the gross amount of rent received from tenants of all
descriptions, whether holding in fee, or for terms of lives and
years, or at will, or without lease. This rent, of course, forms
part of the sum stated as the whole revenue of the see.
Acres. Rents.

Net Revenue.

£

£

14,494 100,563 4,634
7,786 34,040 3,202
6,308 20,046 2,100
6,996 86,899

22,591

..

a collection of thirty-five pictures, chiefly by able masters, by the late Rev. Wm. Holwell Carr. There are also enumerated twenty-six other accessions of minor value. The number of MSS. in the Museum in 1821 was 17,937, there are now 21,604. The number of charters in 1821 was 16,423, there are now 19,093. The number of volumes of printed books in 1821 was 115,925, there are now 218,957, and 14,410 duplicate volumes have been parted with.

Diplomatic Pensions.-The following is a list of the 2,730 names of persons now receiving pensions for diplomatic 29,269 3,065 services, with the length of service, the annual amount of 2,356 present pension, and the aggregate amount of what has 1,352 been paid to each person, as abstracted from a return pre2,593 sented to the House of Commons, which contains in addition the date of the grant of pension, the number of years it has been paid, and a statement of the capacities in which

77,102

..

30,244

18,422

26,294 2,096

12,985 2,452

..

3,933 13,189 2,493

..

16,765

1,345

Adair, Right Hon. Sir Robert.

6

2056

44843 12 10

Bagot, Right Hon. Sir Charles
Cathcart, Earl

£128,808

1516 17172 8 8

Killala

669,247 £45,258

From another paper it appears that the gross income of the deans and chapters is 42667.; that of the vicars' choral estates, 11,2617.; that of the minor canonries, 7627.; and that of the economy estates (the funds appropriated to the repair of cathedrals, &c.), 73167. The total income of these ecclesiastical corporations, therefore, is 23,6067.

Another paper has been printed containing an account of the respective values of the benefices in the several dioceses in Ireland. From this it appears that there are, in all, 1456 benefices or livings in the Irish church, of which 1, (in the diocese of Down,) is of the value of 28007.; 10 are between 20007. and 2600l.; 20 between 1500l. and 20007.; 23 between 12007. and 15002.; 48 between 1000. and 12007.; 74 between 8007. and 10007.; 148 between 6007. and 8007.; 281 between 400l. and 6007.; 386 between 2007. and 4007.; and 465 between 30%. and 2007.

Chad, George William

Clancarty, Earl

Cockburn, Alexander

Cowley, Right Hon. Lord
Crawford, Sir James
Douglas, Andrew Snape
Elgin, Earl of
Falcon, John

Frere, Right Hon. J. H.
Frere, Bartholomew
Hailes, Daniel
Hammond, George
Hervey, Lionel
Hamilton, Terrick
Heytesbury, Lord
Keene, Charles

Liston, Right Hon. Sir Robert
Mackenzie, Colin Alexander

Merry, Anthony

Morier, John Philip

1786 53133 10 0 436 12317 0 0 1516 40553 0 0 1066 12132 12 4

17

1000 31196 7 3

Onseley, Sir Gore

51

1786 31255 0 0

Paget, Sir Arthur
Penrose, Rev. Thomas

288,685 0
176 772 0

375,058 0

Pierrepont, Henry

St. Helen's, Lord

Smith, John Spencer
Strangford, Viscount
Stuart de Rothesay, Lord

Talbot, James .

Taylor, Right Hon. Sir Brook

Thornton, Right Hon. Sir Edward
Walpole, Thomas.

Taxation.-Estimated gross and net amount of taxes repealed, expired, and reduced, and of taxes imposed in each year since the termination of the war.

Repealed, Expired, or Reduced.

Morier, James
Morton, Earl of

Orford, Earl of

Imposed.

1814

948,861

7,991 0
1,356 0

Werry, Francis Peter

0 3,102,302 0

Wickham, Right Hon. William

Willock, Sir Henry

61 17

44,842 0

British Museum.-A return of all bequests, donations, and contributions made to the British Museum, from 1821 to March 1833, has been printed by order of the House of Common The principal gifts have been that of the library of George III., the cabinet of Greek coins of R. P. Knight, Esq, the coins and medals of George IV., a collection of Italian history and topography by Sir R. C. Hoare, a collection of architectural and other casts in plaster, formerly the property of Sir Thomas Lawrence, by the Royal Academy; and

COMPANION TO THE NEWSPAPER.

No. 7.

JULY 1, 1833.

Price 2d.

Introduction

Incidental Advantages of a
Poor-Law

Provisions of the English Poor-
Laws

Defects in the English Poor-
Laws

THE POOR-LAW S.

CONTENTS.'

PAGE

Necessity of an Improved and
Uniform System in the Ad.

97 Proper Mode of Relief

98

100

Education.
Tabular Accounts

.

101

INTRODUCTION.

110 111, 112

As to the punishment of ordinary offences, such as theft, burglary, &c., no bounds appear to have been observed. Sir ministration of the Poor-Laws 106 Frederick Eden, in his History of the Poor, says, when speaking of the state of things in the sixteenth century,"Writers who contend that severity of punishment is not the best preventive of crime, are fully justified by the history of the period. Never were severe laws issued in greater abundance, nor executed more rigorously; and never did the unrelenting vengeance of justice prove more ineffectual. The prisoners for debt, in the different gaols in the kingdom, are stated by Mr. Hume, on the authority of an Act of Parliament passed in 1512, to have exceeded the number of 60,000; and Harrison, a writer soon after the period in question, assures us that the king (Henry VIII.) executed his laws with such severity that 72,000 'great and petty thieves were put to death during his reign.' Harrison adds that, even in Elizabeth's reign, rogues were trussed up apace; and that there was not one year commonly wherein 300 or 400 of them were not devoured and eaten by the gallows in one place and other."

THE working of the poor-laws has at length taken so forcible a hold on the public mind, that it is easy to foresee that important changes in these laws must soon be made. It would be but a truism to remark that, when on the point of legislating, it is of great importance that the whole country should have before it a clear view of the facts and arguments of the case.

The question of the poor-laws, that is, the question whether or not it is really wise and humane in society to undertake the care and relief of the indigent,-is one on which able, upright, and benevolent men have come to opposite conclusions. Thus it is that, at the present moment, while many excellent persons are strongly advocating the introduction of poor-laws into Ireland, others, with equally good motives, are not only opposing such a measure, but are condemning the existence of poor-laws altogether, and endeavouring to prepare the public mind for their repeal in this country.

That the numbers of executions just given are not exaggerated, is rendered probable by the fact that, great as they are, Harrison complains of the relaxation of the law, and regrets that so few rogues were punished in his time; and yet confirms, by his own statements, the numbers of deaths we have given.

To picture to ourselves the bloody work of the law (which Harrison thought insufficient) in its full extent, it is necessary to bear in mind that the population of the country three hundred years ago was much less than it is at the present time.

The fact is, the question is one of such extent, and branches off in so many directions, that it is no easy matter to get that general view of it which is necessary to enable us to pronounce whether, as a whole, the institution is good or bad. For so much is there of good and of bad in the These accounts are strongly corroborated by a statement working of it, that any one who enters upon its examina-preserved by Strype, which was written by an eminent Justion, with an impression either in its favour or against it, tice of the Peace for Somersetshire in the year 1596. In will find plenty of materials to support his opinion. enumerating the disorders which then prevailed in that county, the author informs us that 40 persons had there been executed in a year for robberies, thefts, and other felonies; 35 burnt in the hand; 37 whipped; 183 discharged: that those who were discharged were most wicked and desperate persons, who never could come to any good, because they would not work, and none would take them into service: that, notwithstanding these great number of indictments, the fifth part of the felonies committed in the county were not brought to trial; and the greater number escaped censure, either from the superior cunning of the felons, the remissness of the magistrates, or the foolish lenity of the people: that the rapines committed by the infinite number of wicked, wandering, idle people, were intolerable to the poor countrymen, and obliged them to a perpetual watch of their sheepfolds, pastures, woods, and corn-fields: that the other counties of England were in no better condition than Somersetshire, and many of them were even in a worse: that there were at least 300 or 400 able-bodied vagabonds in every county who lived by theft and rapine, and who sometimes met in troops, to the number of sixty, and committed spoil on the inhabitants: that if all the felons of this kind were reduced to good subjection they would form a strong army: and that the magistrates were awed by the associations, and the threats of confederates, from executing justice on the offenders.

The English poor-laws, as they now stand, were enacted somewhat more than two hundred years ago,-namely, in the year 1601, being the 43d year of the reign of Elizabeth. For many years previous, owing chiefly to the breaking up of the feudal system in the reign of Henry VII., by which the retainers of the great landed proprietors were dissevered in vast numbers from their ancient connexion, pauperism and crime (which almost always go together) had existed to a frightful extent in this country, and many ineffectual attempts had been made to suppress them. Punishment in its most appalling form had been tried in vain, not only on the malefactor, but on the mere beggar. In the year 1546 (1st of Edward VI.), a law was passed condemning any ablebodied man or woman, who should refuse to labour, and who should be idle for three days, to the punishment of being branded with the letter V, with a red-hot iron, on the breast, and adjudged the slave of the informer for two years. If, after this, he ran away from his master, he was, on being caught, to become his slave for life. Subsequently to this statute, another was passed (in the year 1572), by which begging, if by children under fourteen years of age, was punished, "in the first instance, by grievous whipping, and burning through the gristle of the right ear," unless some creditable person would take the beggar into his service for a year; and if a vagabond, above eighteen years old, offended a second time, he was liable to suffer death as a felon, unless VOL. I.-SUPPLEMENT.

It is plain, therefore, that, at the time when poor-laws were introduced, the country, from whatever cause, was in such a condition, from the prevalence of beggary and crime, as to make the adoption of some measure for the alleviation of the evil a matter of absolute necessity. The poor-law of the 43d of Elizabeth answered at least this temporary purpose; and whatever may have been its effects on the whole, [WILLIAM CLOWES, Printer, Duke Street, Lambeth.] H