INQUIRY INTO THE STATE OF THE POOR.

The house of commons seems to have been determined on another measure, which, however, does not admit of explanation. An order was made in the month of February, that leave should be given to bring in a bill to explain, amend, and render effectual, so much of an act passed in the thirteenth year of George II. against the excessive increase of horse-races, and deceitful gaming, as related to that increase. The bill was accordingly presented, read, printed, and ordered to be committed to a committee of the whole house; but the order was delayed from time to time till the end of the session. Some progress was likewise made in another affair of greater consequence to the community. A committee was appointed in the month of March, to take into consideration the state of the poor in England, as well as the laws enacted for their maintenance. The clerks of the peace belonging to all the counties, cities, and towns in England and Wales, were ordered to transmit, for the perusal of the house, an account of the annual expense of passing vagrants through their respective divisions and districts for four years: and the committee began to deliberate on this important subject. In the latter end of May the house was made acquainted with their resolutions, importing, that the present methods of relieving the poor in the respective parishes, where no workhouses have been provided for their reception and employment, are, in general, very burdensome to the inhabitants, and tend to render the poor miserable to themselves, and useless to the community: that the present method of giving money out of the parochial rates to persons capable of labour, in order to prevent them from claiming an entire subsistence for themselves and their families, is contrary to the spirit and intention of the laws for the relief of the poor, is a dangerous power in the hands of parochial officers, a misapplication of the public money, and a great encouragement to idleness and intemperance; that the employment of the poor, under proper direction and management, in such works and manufactures as are suited to their respective capacities, would be of great utility to the public: that settling the poor in Workhouses, to be provided in the several counties and ridings in England and Wales, under the direction and management of governors and trustees to be appointed for that purpose, would be the most effectual method of relieving such poor persons, as, by age, infirmities, or diseases, are rendered incapable of supporting themselves by their labour: of employing the able and industrious, reforming the idle and profligate, and of educating poor children in religion and industry: and that the poor in such workhouses would be better regulated and maintained, and managed with more advantage to the public, by guardians, governors, or trustees, to be especially appointed, or chosen for that purpose, and incorporated with such powers, and under such restrictions, as the legislature should deem proper, than by the annual parochial officers: that erecting workhouses upon the waste lands, and appropriating a certain quantity of such lands to be cultivated, in order to produce provisions for the poor in the said houses, would not only be the means of instructing and employing many of the said poor in agriculture, but lessen the expense of the public: that controversies and law-suits concerning the settlements of poor persons, occasioned a very great, and in general an useless expense to the public, amounting to many thousand pounds per annum; and that often more money is expended in ascertaining such settlements by each of the contending parishes than would be sufficient to maintain the paupers: that should workhouses be established for the general reception of the poor, in the respective counties and ridings of England, the laws relating to the settlements of the poor, and the passing of vagrants, might be repealed: that while the present laws relating to the poor subsist, the compelling parish-officers to grant certificates to the poor, would in all probability prevent the hardships they now suffer, in being debarred gaining their livelihood, where they can do it most usefully to themselves and the public. From these sensible resolutions, the reader may conceive some idea of the misconduct that attends the management of the poor in England, as well as of the grievous burdens entailed upon the people by the present laws which constitute this branch of the legislature. The committee’s resolves being read at the table, an order was made that they should be taken into consideration on a certain day, when the order was again put off, and in the interim the parliament was prorogued. While the committee deliberated upon this affair, leave was given to prepare a bill for preventing tenants, under a certain yearly rent, from gaining settlements in any particular parish, by being there rated in any land-tax assessment, and paying for the landlord the money so charged. This order was afterwards discharged; and another bill brought in to prevent any person from gaining a settlement, by being rated by virtue of an act of parliament for granting an aid to his majesty by a land-tax, and paying the same. The bill was accordingly presented, read, committed, and passed the lower house; but among the lords it miscarried. It can never be expected that the poor will be managed with economy and integrity, while the execution of the laws relating to their maintenance is left in the hands of low tradesmen, who derive private advantage from supplying them with necessaries, and often favour the imposition of one another with the most scandalous collusion. This is an evil which will never be remedied, until persons of independent fortune, and unblemished integrity, actuated by a spirit of true patriotism, shall rescue their fellow-citizens from the power of such interested miscreants, by taking the poor into their own management and protection. Instead of multiplying laws with respect to the settlement and management of the poor, which serve only to puzzle and perplex the parish and peace officers, it would become the sagacity of the legislature to take some effectual precautions to prevent the increase of paupers and vagrants, which is become an intolerable nuisance to the commonwealth. Towards this salutary end, surely nothing would more contribute than a reformation of the police, that would abolish those infamous places of entertainment, which swarm in every corner of the metropolis, seducing people of all ranks to extravagance, profligacy, and ruin; and would restrict within due bounds the number of public-houses, which are augmented to an enormous degree, affording so many asylums for riot and debauchery, and corrupting the morals of the common people to such a pitch of licentious indecency, as must be a reproach to every civilized nation. Let it not be affirmed, to the disgrace of Great Britain, that such receptacles of vice and impurity subsist under the connivance of the government, according to the narrow views and confined speculation of those shallow politicians, who imagine that the revenue is increased in proportion to the quantity of strong liquors consumed in such infamous recesses of intemperance. Were this in reality the case, that administration would deserve to be branded with eternal infamy, which could sacrifice to such abase consideration the health, the lives, and the morals of their fellow-creatures: but nothing can be more fallacious than the supposition, that the revenue of any government can be increased by the augmented intemperance of the people; for intemperance is the bane of industry, as well as of population; and what the government gains in the articles of the duty on malt, and the excise upon liquors, will always be greatly overbalanced by the loss in other articles, arising from the diminution of hands, and the neglect of labour.