To thefe may be added the parochial inftitutions for religious education of children of the poor, and Society for promoting Religious Knowledge among the Poor; but perhaps as these are wholly of a fpiritual nature, their revenue is not to be added to the above account.

mere

The conclufion of the report of the Society for Suppreffion of Beggars, (the writer of which feems to have had the Bath reports in his eye,) describes correctly the best objects of charity as the aim of the inftitution. "Investigation is the bafis of their "fyftem. True charity looks beyond the "giving of alms. It aims at the amendment of the poor it directs its efforts to the education of the 66 young; to the recovery of the fick; the reforma"tion of the diffolute; the employment of the idle "and unoccupied; the comfort of the aged, helpless, "and afflicted. Thefe duties, the fociety, as far "as in their power, attempt to fulfil.' power, attempt to fulfil." What heart, in any quarter, wherefoever humanity exists, would not prompt a prayer for their fuccefs.

The population of Edinburgh is faid to be near 90,000. That of Glasgow is faid, in the Picture or Stranger's Guide, to be 110,000.

The charities of Glafgow appear to bear a due proportion to those of Edinburgh. There is, however, a toll levied on the trades' incorporations, which appears to be peculiar to Glasgow incorporations.

Hammermen pay annually to the poor £250

Tailors

Cordiners

Maltsters

Weavers

Bakers

Skinners

Wrights

250

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440

Befides above 80l. paid to the Trades-house School, in different proportions.

The amount of collections at places of worship is to be added to the above amount of contributions for the poor in Edinburgh.

From the best account of each, which I have been able to procure, the total amount of charities in Edinburgh equals at least 40,000l. per annum.

Let us compare the revenue fo dedicated, with that of Liverpool. Edinburgh, inhabitants, 90,000. Charities, &c. 40,000l.-Liverpool ditto, 94,000. Poor-rate expenditure for the poor, 1803, 23,1197.

Liverpool has many fplendid establishments of a charitable nature, hofpitals, afylums, difpenfaries, schools for the poor; yet, probably, not amounting, in total expenditure, to more than 24,000l. per ann.; fo that Liverpool will not appear to apply to the support of its poor, even with its very high poor-rate, a much greater fum, in proportion to its population, than Edinburgh.

The public charities of Milan (A. Young, before quoted) are faid to amount to 87,500l. fterling: the population to 116,000.

English Poor Law.

We have seen the rudiments of a poor law, in the allotment of a portion of tithe to this object, by the law of Mofes. We have found that the neceffity of fome continued provifion for the poor has been recognized by most of the civilized ftates, ancient and modern; and that the mischievous tendency of habitual mendicity has been generally and duly reprobated, and marked out for fuppreffion; except only where the human mind itself has been generally degraded by the groffeft fuperftition. England, in the different periods of its hiftory, prefents an epitome of almost all other nations. The Jewish law naturally influenced the ordinances of the Catholic church. The common law of England, compounded of Jewish, Greek, Roman, Papistical, British, Saxon, Danish, and Norman, laws and cuftoms, ordained generally, that the poor were to be fuftained, fo that none die for want of fuftenance. Yet till the time of Henry VIIIth, the means of providing fuch sustenance appear to have been left principally to the care of the church.

"The clergy moft affuredly, from the nature of "the ecclefiaftical establishment, and the eleemofy"nary principles upon which every donation to religious bodies was conferred, were confidered as "the peculiar and official guardians of the poor; "and whatever doubts may be now entertained of

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any legal claim that the indigent claffes of the "community have on the much reduced revenues "of the church, it seems clear, from the unequivocal "expreffions of the Legislature in 1391, that a "certain portion of tithe, when appropriated to

"monaftic inftitutions, was fet apart for purposes of

cr

66

H.

charity." St. xv. R. II. c. 6, confirmed by 4. II. "IV. c. 12. In this (the former) statute, and in the "12th of Richard II. we may obferve the great out"lines of a system of compulsory maintenance, which "is commonly imagined to have originated in confequence of the Reformation. I fhall, however, fhew "that the 43d of Elizabeth, however highly praised "for its originality, is nothing more than a developement of an ancient fyftem, and a more perfect "organization of legal regulations, that, from lapfe of "time, had become either impolitic or impracticable." Sir F. M. Eden, v. i. p. 62, 63.

66

"It is justly observed, that, among other bad "effects which attended the monaftic inftitutions, "it was not perhaps one of the leaft (though fre"quently esteemed quite otherwife) that they fup

ported and fed a very numerous and very idle poor, "whofe fuftenance depended upon what was daily "diftributed in alms at the gates of the religious "houses. But upon the total diffolution of these, "the inconvenience of thus encouraging the poor in "habits of indolence and beggary was quickly felt "throughout the kingdom; and abundance of "ftatutes were made, in the reign of King Henry "the VIIIth, for providing for the poor and impo"tent; which, as the preambles to fome of them "recite, had of late years ftrangely increased. Not

withstanding this opinion and expreffion in the "statutes, I very much doubt, however, whether the "monafteries generally and greatly troubled them"felves with relieving the poor that did not imme"diately belong to their own demefnes. The fame "fort of charity was practifed by the nobility on "their eftates. The ftatutes before this period often

mention the great increase of the poor." Id. p. 95.

"To the introduction of manufactures, and the "confequent emancipation of those who were dif"miffed by mafters, and those who ran away from "them, with the adventurous project of trying their "fortunes in the lottery of trade, I afcribe the in"troduction of a new clafs of men, thenceforward "described by the legislature under the denomina"tion of poor; by which term, I conceive, they "meant to fignify freemen, who being either inca

pacitated by fickness or old age, or prevented by "other caufes, from getting work, were obliged to "have recourfe to the charitable for their fubfiftence. "It is impoffible that the term could have been "applicable to those who ftill continued in a state "of fervitude; fince the obligation to serve another "for life, according to the definition of Grotius, imports a reciprocal obligation in the master to

provide his flave with, at least, the bare neceffa"ries of life; and indeed, in the early periods of "our history, this muft of neceffity have been the "cafe; for with the exception of those who were "engaged in trade and manufacture, who formed "a very inconfiderable portion of the nation, the "people in general must have fubfifted by agri"culture and as the land was poffeffed by a few

great proprietors, and cultivated by their fervile "dependents, it was only to territorial lords that, in periods of diftrefs, a bankrupt tenant, or an aged bondfman, could look for fuccour." Id. p. 57. "When, by flow degrees, a new race of men arofe "in the country, and manufactures became firmly "eftablished, it is remarkable that the existence of

poor was first noticed by the legislature. The "decrease of villenage feems neceffarily to have been "the era of the origin of the poor. Manufactures, "though they added to the capital stock of the