6

6

1736.

⚫tural Right a Man has to dispose of his own, at what Time Anno 9. Geo. II. ⚫ and in what Manner he thinks moft proper, ought to take • Place. It is certain, that a Power to difpofe of a Man's Eftate at his Death, in fuch Manner as he may then think beft, is a great Incitement to Induftry and Frugality, and confequently a great Encouragement to Trade in every Country where it is established; and we may obferve, that the Trade and Riches of this Kingdom has increased more in the two Centuries fince this natural Right was restored, than it did in many Ages before. It is a Power that is coveted by every Man, because when he has any Estate, and a Power to dispose of that Estate by Will, while he lives he may expect to meet with a proper Regard and Attendance, both from his next Relations and all those who happen to be near him; whereas, take this Power from him, and he may very probably, in his laft • Sickness or Extremity, be neglected by his next Heirs, and

6

6

defpifed by all his Servants. For this Reafon, if you lay any Restraint upon a Man's difpofing of his Land Eftate by Will, it will certainly prevent many from laying out any Part of their Money upon Land, which will of courfe fink its Value; for the Value of Lands, as well as of eC very other Commodity, depends much upon the Number ' of Buyers that happen to be in the Market. Even our Ancestors, my Lord, notwithstanding the Dangers and the Apprehenfions they were under from the Infidiousness of Popish Priefts; yet fo fenfible were they that this Power of difpofing of our Eftates by Will, was an Encouragement to Trade, that, by the Cuftoms of all our trading Towns, and wherever the Tenure would admit of it, even Lands were devisable by laft Will: I mean thofe Lands which were held by Burgage-Tenure; and though Sir Edward Coke does feem to throw fome Reflexion upon making other Lands devitable by Will, yet we know it to be an Axiom in Law, as old as the common Law of England, that Intereft reipublicæ fuprema hominum teftamenta rata haberi'; which Axiom that great Lawyer has mentioned with a feeming Approbation. I fhall grant, that the Power of difpofing of a Land-Eftate by Will, may subject a Man upon his Death-bed to many Solicitations and great Importunities; by which fome Men may be, in a Manner, forced to difappoint their natural Heirs, though this laft I believe feldom or ever happens, except where fuch Heirs have been guilty of fome Misbehaviour, or at leaft of fome Imprudence; but there is no Convenience in this Life without fome Inconveniences attending it: The ⚫ Poffeffion of a great Eftate, or of great Power, fubjects a 1736. " Man

6

Ꭰ

Anno 9. Geo II. 1736.

Man to many Solicitations and much Trouble, yet no Man would give up a great Eftate, in order to avoid fuch Solicitations, and very few would refufe to accept of a great Employment, because of the Trouble attending it. If this Argument were good, against leaving it in a Man's Power to difpofe of his Land-Eftate by Will, it would likewise be a good Argument against leaving it in his Power to dif pofe of his perfonal Eftate by Teftament, and therefore it might be faid, we ought to return to the ancient Welch Law, which was abolished by an Act of the late King William. In the fame Manner, if the Multiplicity of Law-fuits occafioned by Devifes of Land, could be a good Argument against admitting of any fuch Devifes, it would likewife be a good Argument against admitting of any fuch Devifes, it would likewise be a good Argument against admitting of any Property; because it is certain, if there were no Property there could be no Law-fuits. But the • Conveniences attending Property, as well as the Conveniences attending the free Difpofal of that Property, are ⚫ much greater than the Inconveniences, and therefore both ought to be established and preserved in every well-regu⚫lated Society: Nay, in moft, I believe in all Societies, a greater Latitude has been given, and more Favour shewn to the difpofing of Eftates by Will, than to the difpofing of Eftates by Deed: In this Country we know, that a more benign and favourable Interpretation is put upon the Words of a Will than on those of a Deed; and Perfons under the Age of 21 are allowed to dispose of their Estates by Will, though they are not allowed to difpofe of them by Deed; befides feveral other Privileges with refpect to Wills, all which it would be too tedious to mention.

Having thus, my Lords, fhewn that there is now no Danger to be apprehended from Alienations in Mortmain, or from a Liberty of devifing Land-Eftates by Will, I muft next beg Leave to take Notice of that particular Sort of • Devises which is to be restrained by the Bill under our Confideration; and here I hope your Lordships will excuse me, if I fay a few Words in Favour of Charity. I am fure it does not ftand in need of an Advocate with any Lord in this Houfe; but as the Bill now before us will, in my Opinion, be a great Obftruction to all Charity for the future, I think myself obliged to fay fomething in Favour of that amiable and ufeful Virtue. To affift the Widow and Fatherlefs, to relieve the Unfortunate and Diftreffed, to give Bread and Employment to the Indigent and Industrious, to nourish the tender Infant, and fuccour the helpiefs Old, are Actions in a private Man, which I

am

1736.

• am fure, will always meet with a general and juft Applaufe ; Anno 9.Geo. II. and if they are commendable in a private Man, furely ⚫ they are not fo abominable when performed by the Pub• lic, as to deserve being prohibited by a public Law. On 'the contrary, we find that in all Countries, and in all Ages, a proper Care of the Poor, and proper Hofpitals for that Purpose, has always been taken notice of as a certain Sign of a wife and good Magiftracy, and of a well-regu"lated Commonwealth. I am fure I have often heard it 'told to the Praife and Honour of a neighbouring Republic, that a Native of their Country is feldom or ever feen begging in the Streets; and but very lately in this House 'I heard great Encomiums thrown out. upon a certain Set of People in this Kingdom, for that they took a particular Care of their Poor. Now, my Lords, if it be a good and laudable Thing in a State, if it be a good and • Laudable Thing in any private Society, to take a proper ⚫ and effectual Care of their Poor, what can we think of a • Law in any Kingdom for preventing its being ever in their Power, in a public Way, either to fupply the Poor, or relieve the Diftreffed? In no Country, in no Society can this. ' be done, in a public Way, without a public Fund for that Purpofe; and the larger the Fund is, the more effectually ' and the more generally will the Poor be fupplied, and the 'Diftreffed relieved: Therefore in every Country and in ' every Society, there ought to be fome fuch public Fund; ' and till that Fund be grown fully fufficient to answer the 'Purposes defigned, furely no Methods ought to be taken to prevent its Encrease.

6

We have, it is true, my Lords, many and great Hofpitals in this Kingdom, but they are far from being fuffi'cient for the Purposes defigned. To nourish and feed our Children, to educate them in the true Principles of Religion and Morality, and to breed them up to fome Trade or Employment, by which they may provide for themfelves, and be useful to Society, are Duties incumbent upon every Parent; but when the Parents are dead, or rendered unable to perform those Duties to their Children, the Children then become the Children of the Commonwealth, and those Duties ought to be performed by the Public. Let us take a View of the feveral Parts of this great City, or of any Part of the Kingdom, and we may fee that the Hofpitals we have for poor Children are far from being fufficient for all the poor Children who have no Parents, or whofe Parents are unable to provide for them. To fupport a decayed and decrepid Parent, who through Age or In-, firmity is not able to provide for himself, is a Duty incum1736.

6

D 2

• bent

Anno 9. Geo. II. bent upon his Children, but when he has no Children, or 1735.

6

6

fuch as are unable to discharge that Duty, it then be- ́ comes a Duty upon the Public; and though we have se• veral Hofpitals for the Old and Infirm, I am sure they are • far from being fufficient for the Purpose. In the fame 'Manner we fhall find that our Hofpitals for Sick and Wounded, and our Hofpitals for Mad-men and Ideots, are far from being fufficient for providing for all fuch Objects of Charity: And when we find there is such a Deficiency ' in every Branch of public Charity, I must think it both • uncharitable and unwife to make a Regulation which will very much prevent the Increase of every one of our public charitable Funds.

Among our many other charitable Foundations, I hope it will be granted, that the public Charity established by her late Majesty Queen Anne, for Augmenting the Maintenance of Minifters of the established Church, not sufficiently provided for, and from thence called The Corpora-" tion for Queen Anne's Bounty, is a neceffary and useful • Foundation. The diftreffed and narrow Circumstances of many pious and worthy Clergymen of the Church of Enggland, is an Evil and a Scandal that has been often taken Notice of, and heavily complained of; therefore, in order to provide a Cure for that Evil, and to remove that Scandal from the Nation, her moft gracious Majefty, by Authority of an Act of Parliament, did establish a Corporation, upon ⚫ whom she settled the First-fruits of all Benefices fpiritual, ⚫ and by the fame Act of Parliament any Perfon is enabled to grant to the faid Corporation any real or perfonal Estate; all which they are to apply to the Augmentation of the • Maintenance of Minifters of the Church of England, hav⚫ing no fettled competent Provifion, to be applied according to the Will of the Benefactor, or in fuch Manner, and according to fuch Rules, as fhould be appointed by their Charter: Accordingly, divers Rules and Orders were fettled by her faid late Majefty, by fome of which Rules and Orders, the Augmentations to be made were directed to be by way of Purchase, and not by way of Penfion; and the stated Sum to be allowed for the Augmentation of each Cure, was limited to 200l. and the Corporation was empowered to give the faid Sum only to Cures not exceed351. per Annum, (which was by Authority of his late Majefty King George I. enlarged to 50l. per Annum but this Sum of 2007. each, is firft to be applied to thofe Cures not exceeding 50l. per Annum; where any Person will give the fame, or greater Sum or Value in Lands or Tythes to the 'fame Cure. Now, my Lords, let us confider the proper

6

• Fund of this Charity, and the Uses for which it is intended, Anno 9. Geo. II.

• in order to see whether the Fund is any way sufficient for

6

anfwering the Defign. The only proper Fund they have, is the Revenue of the Firft- Fruits and Tenths, which was granted them by the late Queen Anne, and which does not amount to 14,000l. a Year; the Ufes to which this Fund is appropriated, are the Augmentation of all the Livings • in England under 50 l. a Year; and as it is computed there are above 5500 fuch Livings in England, we must conclude that it will be above 300 Years before they can make any proper Provision for all thofe of the Clergy, who have not a fettled competent Provision; and I am fure every one of your Lordships muft think, that it would be a great Scandal upon this rich and opulent Nation, to leave many of their poor Clergy almoft in a ftarving Condition for fuch a great • Number of Years: This, the Parliament which established the Corporation, feemed to be fully fenfible of, and there•fore they enabled them to take Donations in Land as well 6 as Money; and if we are now of the fame Sentiments, we ⚫ must be of Opinion, that this public charitable Fund, like all the reft, is far from being fufficient for the good Purpofe intended.

6

It being thus apparent, my Lords, that every Society ought to fupport the Poor, and relieve the diftreffed Mem⚫bers of their Society, and it being impoffible to do this without proper and sufficient Funds for that Purpose, there⚫fore it is certain, that in every well-regulated Society, they ⚫ will endeavour, as much and as foon as they can, to esta• blifh fuch Funds: And it being likewise apparent, that no one of our public charitable Funds is fufficient for the Purpose for which it was defigned, it must be inconfiftent ⚫ with good Polity at leaft, to make any Regulation, which 'will very much retard, if not entirely prevent the Increase • of either of them. That the Bill now before us will very ⚫ much retard the Increase of any one of our charitable Funds, is evident; for it puts it out of the Power of any Man to' give Charity at that very Time, when all Men are most apt to give Charity, which is when they find themselves drawing near to the Gates of Death, and begin to despise thofe Riches and Estates, which they were fo fond of, while in Health and Vigour, that no Confideration could prevail with them to give away the most inconfiderable Part: • This of itself would, in my Opinion, be a very great Bar to the leaving of any Eftate in Land to a charitable Ufe; but to make this Prohibition extend to charitable Donations granted either by Will or Deed, by Perfons in full Vigour ⚫ and Health, and to make them alfo void, unless made to 'take'

6

1736.