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that the loose and careless adminis tration of the law, by which it has been aggravated, will be essentially corrected.

But this is not all that your Committee deem requisite to secure the kingdom from the calamities that must attend the continued progress of this evil; and they do not believe that such security can be obtained, as long as by an erroneous construction, as your Committee believe, of the Act of Elizabeth, parishes are supposed liable to be called upon to effect the impracticable purpose of finding employment for all who may at any time require it: they believe the ill consequences which have arisen from this practice are most palpable, and most mischievous; and they are, therefore, peculiarly anxious to recall the most serious attention of the House to this construction which has been put practically on this part of the statute.

Pecuniary relief seems indisputably to have been only contemplated by this act for "the lame, impotent, old, blind, and such other among them being poor and not able to work, and also for putting out children to be apprentices;" but the direction to set to work all persons having no means to maintain them, and using no ordinary or daily trade of life to get their living by," has been acted upon as if it were a clear authority for requiring the parish to find employment for all who want it. The Committee, in 1817, question ed the soundness of this construetion in the following terms:-"If the object of the statute was merely to set to hard labour such idle wandering persons as might be found in a state nearly approaching to that of vagrancy, such an object might possibly be carried into effect with a fair hope of beneficial consequences; but if the object of the statute was

(as it is now interpreted) that the State is to find work for all who in the present, and in all succeeding time, may require it, your Committee are of opinion, that this is a condition which it is not in the power of any law to fulfil; what number of persons can be employed in labour must depend absolutely upon the amount of the funds which alone are applicable to the maintenance of labour." The Committee proceeded to illustrate their position by a train of reasoning, which will be found in the 14th page of that Report.

The further consideration and investigation of this subject has confirmed their opinions; for your Committee are not aware, that the Courts of Law have at any time construed the act according to this practice; indeed, the decision referred to in the former report, in which it was held that an order of maintenance is not valid without it adjudges the party seeking relief to be impotent, leads to an opposite conclusion. If reference be had also to the authority of early writers, or to those who in modern times have bestowed the most attention on this subject, the same inference would follow. In a work which has been lately cited by an able anonymous author, entitled, "A Description of England," by W. Harrison, and which, as published in the Chronicles of Holingshed, is brought down to the year 1586, it is stated, that "the poor are divided into three sorts, so that some are poor by impotency, as the fatherless child, the aged, blind, or lame, and the diseased person that is judged to be incurable; the second are poor by casualty, as the wounded soldier, the decayed householder, and the sick person visited with grievous and painful diseases; the third consisteth of thriftless poor, as the rioter that hath consumed all, the vagabond

that will abide no where, but runneth up and down from place to place, (as if it were seeking work, and finding none); and finally the rogue," &c. "The two first sorts, that is to say, the poor by impotency, and the poor by casualty, are the true poor, indeed, and for whom the word doth bind us to make some daily provision; there is order taken throughout every parish in the realm that weekly collection shall be made for their help and sustentation; but if they refuse to be supported by this benefit of the law, and will rather endeavour, by going to and fro, to maintain their idle trades, then they are parcel of the third sort, and so, instead of courteous refreshing at home, are often corrected with sharp execution, and whip of justice abroad.”

Now, this classification of the poor, in the very age of Elizabeth, leads to the conclusion, that the persons designed by the terms "using no ordinary or daily trade of life to get their living by," were, as the Committee of 1817 supposed, that third class who are deemed "thriftless poor, &c.," who, it should seem, were made to labour as long as they continued within their own parish; but if they left it, were subject to the severe penalties then inflicted on vagrancy, and would now come within the provisions of the present vagrant laws.

In the year 1695, another author of eminence, referring to the sums raised for the relief of the poor, says, "As this money is managed in most places, instead of relieving such as are truly poor and impotent (which the laws design,) it serves only to nourish and continue vice and sloth in the nation. The real and true objects of charity would cost the nation but little to maintain; and it is to be doubted they have the least share in the public reliefs."

But to come nearer to our own times, and to the most laborious, copious, and valuable work on this subject, we find the opinion of the judicious and unprejudiced author of "The State of the Poor," expressed in the following decided terms:

"From the language of various statutes concerning the poor, which passed during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and which being in pari materia, explain each other, either in matter of law, or illustrate each other in matter of fact, it may fairly be implied to prove, that the relief of the able-bodied poor, with or without families, was no part of the original system of the poor laws. The 3d of William and Mary, c. 11, s. 11, corroborates this idea, which is put out of doubt by the preamble to 8. and 9. William and Mary, c. 30, s. 2. "To the end, that the money raised only for the relief of such as are as well impotent as poor, may not be misapplied or consumed by the idle, sturdy, and disorderly beggars."

These opinions would, in the absence of any decision of Courts of Law to the contrary, be entitled to much weight; but this preamble referred to by the last author, and which was cited in the former report, p. 20, for the same purpose, seems decisive on the question. Nor, indeed, can it be well imagined, that the supreme legislative power of any country would have anticipated a permanent order of things, in which a large class of the people should be habitually and necessarily without employment. Your Committee conceive that the demand and supply of labour have, in the natural course of things, such a tendency to regulate and balance each other, unless counteracted by artificial institutions, that any excess of either, arising from temporary causes, would, if met by temporary expedients alone, in no

long time correct itself; whereas the practice now under consideration, originating perhaps in a humane extension of the law to meet cases of occasional and pressing emergency, and inconsiderately continued, is calculated to perpetuate evils that would otherwise be transient, and permanently to derange the whole industry of the country.

That such has been its effect in those parts of this kingdom where the practice has most prevailed, is but too manifest. Your Committee say, where the practice has most prevailed, because they have learnt that some Magistrates have resisted this, which they have deemed, with your Committee, a misconstruction of the law. We may feel and lament that a compulsory provision, for even the helplessness of age and infirmity, has a tendency to weaken in a degree the natural efforts of men to provide against future ill; but if, by any human institution, the present wants of life are to be obtained otherwise than . by human exertion, the very sources of all industry must be destroyed. If, therefore, the parish be bound to find employment for those who are, from whatever cause, without it, it is obvious that in cases where the family is numerous, and the honest pride and independence of selfsupport is extinguished, it becomes on calculation a matter of perfect indifference, whether the money requisite for their maintenance be derived from the wages of labour, or the alms of the parish. The consequence is, that the motive that would naturally impel men to active and faith ful service is wanting; for even if employment be forfeited by misconduct, the same means of support, in the case supposed, will be given, and probably little labour will be exacted in return; for the parish work is in all cases performed without the su

perintending control of private interest; and it must be remembered, that the persons who make this demand for work on the parish, are, generally speaking, (though at the present time it is certainly in many instances otherwise), the least active, the least strenuous, and the least industrious of the community. It is the want of those qualities which has, generally speaking, deprived them of employment. It has consequently appeared to your Committee, that under this practice, not only the pressure of the burden of the poor's rate has become almost overwhelming, but that the amount of regular labour has been greatly diminished, and its quality materially impaired; and that it should be so, under such direct temptations to idleness, can scarcely be matter of surprise, or even of inculpation, But a striking proof of the prejudicial consequences of this practice is afforded by the circumstance, which for other purposes has been pressed on the attention of your Committee, that it is uniformly found that such inhabitants of a parish as have not acquired a settlement in it, and can obtain no such relief without being removed, are distinguished by their activity and industry, and generally possess not only the necessaries, but the comforts of life; and your Committee. have lately learnt with satisfaction, that the operation of the act of this session has already relieved some parishes of the metropolis from the heavy burden of maintaining numbers of persons without settlements in England; who are stated" now to support themselves, instead of applying for parochial relief, under the apprehension of being sent home."

If, therefore, from a due consideration of this part of the statute of Elizabeth, from the opinions of early and late writers of authority on the

subject, from the nature of the case itself, and, above all, from the express terms of the statute of William III., this supposed obligation of parishes to find work for all who require it, is at variance with the letter and spirit of the law, and has been, and is productive of the most baneful effects: it appears to your Committee to be of the last importance that the practice of the country should be made consonant with the law in this respect by a new enactment, specify ing distinctly to whom, and to whom alone, relief derived from a compulsory assessment shall be afforded. At the same time they are well aware, that it is not at a moment like the present, when, from a concurrence of circumstances, the country is unusually embarrassed by the number of persons without employment, that it should be attempted to bring this better system at once into operation; and it would be probably expedient previously to remove any impediments which are thrown in the way of the free circulation of labour, either by the existing laws respecting the settlement of the poor, or those which relate to vagrancy; the former of which, it must be recollected, did not exist in their present form, when the compulsory system of providing for the relief of the poor commenced. Your Committee, indeed, recommended to the House to re place the law of settlement upon its ancient footing, as the first step to wards removing that restraint, which they deem a serious obstacle to any radical amendment of the system; and they regret that the view which they had formed for the attainment of this object, and at the same time simplifying this law, and thereby diminishing litigation, did not meet with the concurrence of the House; which they attribute rather to its apprehended operation upon particu

lar local interests, than to any defect in the principle on which it was recommended.

That the market for labour is in many parts of the kingdom at present much overstocked, does not admit of dispute; nor does your Committee believe, that in other parts the demand is greater than the supply: it is not probable, therefore, that even the entire and immediate removal of all such impediments, if it were practicable, would of itself, at this moment, cure the existing evil. Other measures, assisted by the unrestrained operation of natural causes, will yet be wanting to bring the kingdom, in this respect, to its ordinary and healthful state. Your Committee, therefore, must recur to the opinion expressed in the former report, that "all obstacles to seeking employment wherever it can be found, even out of the realm, should be removed, and every facility that is reasonable afforded to those who may wish to resort to some of our own colonies;" for it seems not unnatural, that this country should, at such a time, recur to an expedient which has been adopted successfully in other times and in other countries, especially as it has facilities for this purpose which no other state has perhaps ever enjoyed to the same extent, by the possession of colonies affording an extent of unoccupied territory, in which the labour of man, assisted by a genial and healthy climate, would produce an early and abundant return. Your Committee thought it desirable to make some inquiries on this subject, the result of which will be found in the minutes of evidence.

If by these and other means, by a continuance of the blessings of peace, and a consequent augmentation of capital, the demand and supply of labour should be nearly balanced,

and the wages of labour become a more adequate remuneration of industry, your Committee are satisfied, that the object which they recommend might be gradually attained, without material embarrassment or difficulty; provision continuing to be made by law for the infirm and help less, and the partial and temporary distress which might occasionally befal even the able and industrious, being left, as it confidently might, to the aid of voluntary and discriminating benevolence, to which alone it should be remembered, the wants even of age and infirmity in most other countries are referred. The assessment, thus limited in its application, would no longer threaten to absorb all the sources of supply, nor continue to seduce the labouring part of the population, by the delusive promise of parish relief, from their natural habits of industry. The greater part, your Committee believe, of the sums of money which are now forced into the poor's rate, and under a compulsory, and for the most part unprofitable distribution, would probably be restored to their natural channel, giving thereby an increased activity to labour, under the interested but beneficial superintendence of their owners; from which would necessarily result a rise of wages, with the beneficial consequences that would naturally ensue to the labouring classes; active and faithful service would indeed be found indispensable for the supply of present wants; and recourse would doubtless be had to those facilities and inducements which are now afforded to realize the benefits of exertion and frugality. Your Committee need not dwell on the importance of giving undoubted security to the acquisitions of industry, however small.

From the evidence in the Appendix to the first Report (1817,) it will be

seen how much security was wanting, and how beneficially it would in all probability operate. This advantage, for the attainment of which hopes only were entertained at a very recent period, is now very generally afforded, and in the most inviting form, by the numerous and successful establishments of Banks for Savings. They present the most undoubted security for the sum deposited, the certain profit of interest or accumulation, and the constant and immediate command over the principal itself. If, however, ensuring against the contingencies of life should be more acceptable, your Committee trust, that the calculations on which Benefit Societies may be formed will in future be placed on a surer footing; some information respecting both those institutions has been obtained from a gentleman to whom the public is under great obligations, for his exertions in constructing and promoting the former of those establishments.

Under these circumstances, your Committee would therefore anxiously direct the future attention of the House to such measures as may be calculated ultimately to relieve parishes from the impracticable obligation of finding employment for all who may at any time require it at their hands, and to confine the relief derived from compulsory assessments to the "lame, impotent, old, blind, and such other among them being poor, and not able to work;" and they are satisfied that the best preparation for such an enactment will be made by the careful execution of the act of the present session, by remov. ing any restraint on the free circulation of labour, and giving every facility and encouragement to seek employment in any part of the King's dominions; the provident habits of the people being at the same time

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