*gx 
 
 
 ^? 
 
 // ^ 
 
 NEX
 
 LETTER 
 
 TO THE 
 
 THE 
 
 LORD BISHOP OF DURHAM, 
 
 PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIETY FOR BETTERING THE 
 CONDITION OF THE POOR, 
 
 ON THE 
 
 PRINCIPLE AND DETAIL 
 
 OF THE 
 
 MEASURES NOW UNDER THE CONSIDERATION 
 OF PARLIAMENT, 
 
 FOR PROMOTING AND ENCOURAGING 
 
 INDUSTRY, 
 
 AND FOR THE 
 
 RELIEF AND REGULATION OF THE POOR. 
 
 By THOMAS BERNARD, ESQ. 
 
 THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 LONDON: 
 PRINTED FOR J. HATCHART), 
 
 OOKSEIUR TO HER MAJESTY, OPPOSITE ALBANY, 
 PICCADILLY. 
 
 1807^
 
 J. liitbiTBLL, 1'rniier, 
 Marshall-Street, 0"Mfn-S'ninvc.
 
 Notice to the Second Edition. 
 
 THE subject of the following Letter was 
 intended to have been reserved for the leisure 
 of the summer vacation ; when time and 
 opportunity might have been obtained, for 
 more attentively examining the merits and 
 demerits of the Bill in question, and for more 
 deliberately weighing any observations which 
 might be submitted to the Public. It appearing, 
 however, from what passed in the House of 
 Commons on the 13th of April, that it was 
 intended to press an immediate Decision on 
 the Subject, the Author conceived it to be his 
 duty to offer his immediate testimony on 
 the subject, though given in haste, and under 
 disadvantage and inconvenience. The first 
 Edition was ready for publication on the 2/th 
 of April, when the Subject was to have come 
 before the House, but for the Prorogation of 
 Parliament. 
 
 1 1 May, \ 807. 
 
 1140595
 
 >rn T 
 
 

 
 A 
 
 LETTER 
 
 TO THE 
 
 LORD BISHOP OF DURHAM, 
 
 MY DEAR LORD ; 
 
 THE consequences of any con- 
 siderable variation in the Poor-Laws are 
 of such infinite importance, the beneficial 
 effects of wise and unexceptionable mea- 
 sures so extensive and acceptable, and the 
 inconvenience and uncertainty, that must 
 inevitably follow any hasty and ill-con- 
 certed regulations, so fatal and destructive 
 to every part of the kingdom, that I am 
 persuaded that the honourable and respect- 
 able Proposer of the Poor-Bill, now under 
 consideration of Parliament /will be gratified 
 by any suggestions, which may be strictly 
 
 p,
 
 2 Introductory Observations. 
 
 and correctly applicable to the subject of 
 his Bill ; especially when all hostility of 
 opinion is avoided, as tar as the nature and 
 importance of the subject will allow ; 
 when those suggestions refer to imme- 
 diate and certain effects, and not to 
 remote or possible consequences; and are 
 offered in such a manner, as to leave 
 it in his power to make use of them in 
 any way that is most agreeable to him- 
 self, either for the defence and devclope- 
 ment, or for the amendment and improve- 
 ment, of the measures which he has 
 proposed. 
 
 IT has been a subject of regret to your 
 Lordship as well as to myself, that before 
 Mr. Whitbread had completed his bill for 
 the Alteration of the Poor- Laws, he had not 
 allowed of some communication with the 
 Society for bettering the Condition of the 
 Poor; or, at least, that he had not in- 
 quired whether such a Society did actually 
 continue to exist, or not. To us, in any 
 event, it would have been a benelit ; as 
 we might have had the advantage of his
 
 Introductory Observations. 3 
 
 talents and experience, to assist in those 
 researches, to which we have earnestly de- 
 voted ourselves for above ten years : and 
 to him it might have been more convenient, 
 to have had any observations which may ap- 
 ply to his bill, and which have been the 
 objects of inquiry with us, submitted to 
 his private consideration, instead of being 
 made the subject of public discussion. The 
 Committee would have been the more 
 anxious and diligent in its attention to the 
 subject, from the hope which it had en- 
 tertained, that, in the event of the agi- 
 
 o 
 
 tation of any great parliamentary question 
 as to the future system of the Poor-Laws, 
 we might have been allowed to contribute 
 our assistance. 
 
 As there has been no opportunity of 
 communicating personally on the subject, 
 it seems to be a duty to offer, in the 
 only way that remains, those suggestions 
 on the principle and detail of the Bill, 
 which we should have had more pleasure 
 in submitting by oral communication : and, 
 'if any of those suggestions should appear 
 
 B 2
 
 4 Introductory Observations. 
 
 to be deserving of attention, I have too 
 much confidence in the candour and libe- 
 rality of the gentleman who has proposed 
 this measure, to apprehend that they will 
 be considered as coming too late, merely 
 because they are offered after the introduc- 
 tion of his Bill. 
 
 YOUR Lordship will recollect, that when 
 these measures were first proposed, our ap- 
 prehensions were much relieved by the 
 hope, that alterations of such extent and 
 importance were not to be immediately 
 decided upon ; but that, where the 
 happiness of millions is at stake, the 
 quiet and leisure of the summer vacation 
 would at least have been allowed, for 
 minute attention to the various clauses 
 of the bill, and for repeated considera- 
 tion of its effects and consequences. 
 Apprehending, however, from what has 
 just passed, that it is the intention to press 
 the most material parts of it through the 
 House during the present session,* I have 
 
 * This was written and printed, just before the Proro- 
 gation of Parliament.
 
 Introductory Observations. 5 
 
 immediately devoted time, which I could 
 ill spare from other duties, to a careful exa- 
 mination of the Bill ; and I have endea- 
 voured, according to the power and oppor- 
 tunity which I possess, to understand its 
 true construction. If, therefore, it should 
 appear I have mistated any of the various 
 and complicated clauses which the Bill 
 contains, I trust that it will be imputed to 
 want of time, or to defective understanding* 
 and not be considered as a wilful and 
 intended misrepresentation. 
 
 IT is an unpleasing and ungrateful task, 
 to offer even simple discussion, when it 
 tends to raise doubts as to the wisdom of 
 measures, proposedso publicly and deli- 
 berately, as these have been, to the Le- 
 gislature. Previously, therefore, to my 
 suggesting any apprehension as to the effect 
 of some clauses in the Bill, I shall indulge 
 
 o 
 
 myself in the gratification of noticing those 
 parts, which have my applause and appro- 
 bation. As such, I shall observe that the 
 exemption of labourers from the Parish 
 Rate, is a measure deserving of the highest 
 commendation. And, in the next place, I
 
 6 Beneficial Clauses 
 
 shall notice with pleasure and satisfac- 
 tion, the repeal of that part of the 9th of 
 George I. which excludes from all relief, 
 the labourer, who will not condescend to be 
 the inmate of a Parish Workhouse. I am 
 aware that the effect of that act has been, 
 in part, done away by a subsequent one : 
 but in such a case, nothing less 'should be 
 admitted, than entirely to expunge a Law, 
 injurious to the feelings and habits of the 
 English Cottager, 
 
 THE Clause, which enables the Over- 
 seers, with the consent of the Vestry, to 
 board infants and weak and incapacitated 
 persons with their own relations or friends, 
 has, as far as it goes, rny unqualified ac- 
 knowledgements ; though I cannot help 
 wishing, that a provision so wise and be- 
 nevolent, had not required the consent of 
 the Vestry; the want of which will often 
 frustrate Mr. Whitbread's laudable inten- 
 tion. The tolerating Clause in the articles 
 concerning Schools, which, while it re- 
 quires that the children shall regularly 
 attend Divine Service, leaves them to ac- 
 company their parents, relations, or guar-
 
 in the Bill, 7 
 
 dians, to their own place of religious wor- 
 ship, has my warmest approbation. The 
 Clause for allowing Relief to labourers, 
 having a certain portion of property, is 
 good, as far as it extends ; though I could 
 wish it had been exactly copied from Mr. 
 Pitt's Bill, and not confined to a state of 
 actual sickness ; as I have known other cir- 
 cumstances, which would make such relief 
 very useful and proper, and in which, with 
 the Overseers* assent, I have sometimes 
 authorized it. 
 
 THE principle of giving Rewards to la- 
 bourers, who have brought up families to 
 the age of fourteen years without Parish Re- 
 lief, I highly approve. At the same time, 
 I cannot help regretting that it is re- 
 stricted to parents having six or more such 
 children, and that the conferring of it is 
 to be so long postponed. The measure, 
 which made part of Mr. Pitt's as well as of 
 the present Bill, that Residence shall, un- 
 der certain circumstances, give a settle- 
 ment, is in itself unexceptionable : but it 
 lequires to be modified. Fraud and incon-
 
 8 Control of the Vestry 
 
 venicnce * would, I fear, be generated by 
 a law, which should make Residence the 
 single qualification for the acquisition of a 
 Settlement; instead (as has been proposed 
 by our Society) of limiting it to a person 
 who has not more than three children, and 
 requiring that the party should be generally/ 
 working in the parish, and be a subscriber to 
 the Parish Fund. 
 
 WITH those who have given much time 
 and attention to the detail and execution 
 of the Poor-Laws, considerable objections 
 will occur to placing the Parochial Con- 
 trol of the Rates, and of the Relief of the 
 Poor, in the hands of theVESTRY, instead of 
 those of the Overseers. The Overseers are 
 officers appointed by the Magistrates, 
 accountable for the neglect or breach of 
 their trust, and liable to punishment for 
 default. They are generally aware, that, in 
 case of partiality in the proportion of the 
 Rate,, of wasteful jobs in their Expendi- 
 ture, or of wilful neglect in the Relief of 
 
 See a note on this subject, in page 63.
 
 as to Rates and Relief. 9 
 
 the Poor, they are liable to be dragged 
 into public notice, as criminals; and I have 
 found very beneficial effects, from the sense 
 which they entertain of this responsibility. 
 The Overseer knows that cases may occur, 
 in which he will have personally to pay 
 the costs occasioned by an unjust Rate, or 
 the expense incurred in an idle job; and 
 where, if the Poor perish for want of necessary 
 Relief, he may suffer capitally as a felon. 
 
 IN Rates which have been quashed for 
 inequality, and in fraudulent Expenditure 
 of the Parish Money, it generally turns out 
 that they have been sanctioned by the act 
 of the Vestry : And in cases of gross un- 
 kind ness to the Poor, I have been in the 
 habit of inquiring into the fact ; and I 
 have seldom found an instance of such 
 misconduct in an Overseer, for which he 
 has not produced the authority or' his Ves- 
 try. It will often occur, that Farmers and 
 Shopkeepers, with a view to present sa- 
 ving, have farmed the Poor, and driven the 
 aged and infirm into a dirty and disorderly 
 Workhouse, in the hope of deterring them 
 
 c
 
 10 Control of Vestry 
 
 and others, from claiming the necessary 
 relief; and I have again and again Lad 
 occasion to warn the Overseer, not to suf- 
 fer his Vestry to induce him to commit 
 that officially i for which he is liable person- 
 ally to suffer. 
 
 IF what I am stating on this subject, 
 should appear to have any weight, I trust 
 that the clause, which enables the Vestry 
 to control the Parish Officers in making 
 the assessments, and in the Relief of the 
 Poor, which directs the Overseer to lay 
 the Rate before them, to be corrected and 
 amended, and (except in cases of urgent 
 and immediate necessity) forbids the Over- 
 seer of himself to supply any Relief to the 
 Poor, will be again and again discussed, 
 before it becomes part of the Law of the 
 Land. I trust that the Legislature will 
 again and again consider, what it is to 
 take power out of the hands of accountable 
 persons, and to place it in the hands of 
 those who are not liable to account : that 
 they will consider of what materials Vestries 
 arc composed ; that they are interested
 
 as to Rates and Relief. 11 
 
 in the questions before them, and at the 
 same time are not liable to punishment for 
 misconduct : that if they do an act of 
 pecuniary injury to any of the Parishio- 
 ners, they can defend themselves at the ex- 
 pense of the party injured ; and if the act 
 be of a criminal nature, no corporal or capi- 
 tal punishment, however merited, can be 
 inflicted : and, lastly, that the Vestry ex- 
 presses the sentiments of only a part, and 
 sometimes a mere party, or faction, in the 
 Parish ; many from situation and circum- 
 stances, others from age or sex, others from 
 religious opinions, and some from absence 
 or non-residence, being precluded from 
 attending them. 
 
 OP the next Clause, which confines 
 within very narrow limits the amount 
 of the relief, which the Poor " not actu- 
 ally in a state of sickness* shall, under 
 any circumstances, by order of a Magis- 
 trate, be entitled to, I would submit to 
 your Lordship, whether it does not exhibit 
 an unwarranted distrust of the Magistracy 
 pf this Kingdom ; and whether it may not 
 c 2
 
 12 Restriction on 
 
 be a proper subject for reconsideration. 
 Perhaps 1 misunderstand the intent of the 
 Clause ; but if I conceive it right, the effect 
 is this : Taking the average, price of labour 
 at any certain sum, say twelve shillings a 
 week, the effect of the Clause will be, that 
 no Magistrate shall in any case, except 
 that of actual sickness, have power to order 
 the Poor Man more, than with what he 
 earns, or with reasonable diligence, can car?i, 
 will amount to three shillings a week. The 
 allowance for women and children is more 
 limited. But I confine my observation to 
 the aged cottager, and 1 ask, Will not the 
 labourer, who has spent the vigour of life 
 in the service of the other classes of the 
 community, consider such relief as inock- 
 ery and derision ? What is to become of 
 the variety of helpless cases, that cannot 
 be precisely ranged under the head of 
 actual sickness ? What is to become of the 
 infirm, the convalescent, the cripple, the. 
 ideot, and what of the imbecility of old 
 age ? I once ordered (and the Overseers 
 assented to it with pleasure, though pro- 
 bably the Vestry would not) the allowance
 
 Parochial Relief. 13 
 
 of eight shillings a week, for the relief of 
 an old man, of excellent character for 
 sobriety and industry ; who, after fourscore 
 years of labour, had sunk into a state of 
 helpless imbecility. What is to become of 
 such an object ? Is he, at the close of a 
 life of labour and hardship, to be told that 
 the Magistrate can order him only fow- 
 pence a day, in addition to the two-pence 
 which he may earn with reasonable diligence ; 
 so as to make up, with his exertions, the 
 amount of three shillings a week ? Is this 
 the utmost sum, which the liberality of his 
 country will allow the Magistrate to give ? 
 this sum, which, it is curious to observe, is 
 the same allowance that, in a subsequent 
 part of the Act, may be given to a young 
 and healthy Pauper, publicly convicted of 
 idleness and misconduct, and wearing the 
 infamous badge of " Criminal Poor." 
 
 I COME next to the consideration of those 
 Clauses which relate to Workhouses. Of 
 these, the most important, in my mind, is 
 that, which directs that all contracts for 
 the maintenance of the Poor, shall be by
 
 14 Clauses relating 
 
 Weekly Rates per head. The doubt 
 which I entertain of this Clause is, that 
 it will operate to fill the Parish-Workhouse 
 with guests. For, when a weekly rate per 
 head is to be fixed, at which the contrac- 
 tor can make any profit, (and we must not 
 suppose that these contractors will be satis- 
 fied without any profit) it will be as much 
 bis interest to fill the Workhouse with Pau- 
 pers, as it is for an innkeeper to supply his 
 inn with customers. If he can make a cer- 
 tain sum by boarding fifty Paupers, he will 
 get considerably more than double that 
 sum, if he can drive a hundred poor per- 
 sons into the house ; for, with the same es- 
 tablishment, he will entertain double the 
 number of guests: and, if he can squeeze 
 in a still greater number, his profits will accu- 
 mulate to a great degree. What the ob- 
 ject of this'Clause may be, I have not 
 acutenessto comprehend. As to its effects, 
 however, I can venture to predict, that it 
 will add another instance to those, in 
 which the interest of Farmers of Work- 
 houses, is diametrically opposite to the 
 welfare of the Poor, and of the Parish.
 
 to Workhouses. 15 
 
 WITH regard to the direction that, in 
 every Parish, Regulations shall be prepared 
 for Workhouses, I would submit whether 
 they should not be uniform throughout the 
 kingdom; and if so, whether these regu- 
 lations should not make a part of the Act; 
 leaving a power for Parishes, with the 
 consent of the Quarter Sessions, and for a 
 limited time, to make occasional variations 
 and additions ? 
 
 IN regard to the effect of a Clause which 
 follows, for the correction of the idle Poor, 
 I have considerable apprehensions. Though 
 we may endeavour to reform by punish* 
 ment, I would ask, whether the publicly 
 declaring a person a rogue and a vagabond, 
 and making him wear the badge of crimi- 
 nal poor, until he has behaved well for a 
 year, will offer any opportunity of reform ? 
 and whether it will not rather operate to 
 exclude every rational hope of amend- 
 ment ? 
 
 UPON the Clause (as printed) for 
 the Adjudication of Settlements, I shall 
 now say very little. But I cannot help
 
 16 Adjudication of Settlement. 
 
 asking, with regard to questions between 
 parishes several hundred miles asunder, 
 where the parties must either submit to 
 an ex parte judgement, or take a very long 
 journey with their attorneys, witnesses, &c. 
 to contest a Pauper's settlement, which 
 might otherwise never have come in issue, 
 or, by a short residence or some other cir- 
 cumstance, may be put entirely out of the 
 question, I cannot help asking, whether 
 such a compulsory increase of law-suits, 
 will not produce heavier and more vex- 
 atious parochial burthens, than any which 
 we are now subject to* ? and whether 
 the appeal being restricted to the next 
 Quarter Sessions, and being to be made 
 to parties interested in the event, instead 
 of being addressed to the King's Bench, 
 
 * WHILE lam putting this Letter into my publisher's 
 hands, I find a report in the Newspapers, that this part 
 of the Bill is given up for the present : 1 have therefore 
 abridged whtrt I had to say on this head. Hut, as the 
 measure seems to he rather postponed, than abandoned, 
 I have not thought it proper to pass it by entirely unno- 
 ticed. :\pril 18, 1807.
 
 Assessing of Stock in Trade. 17 
 
 would offer substantial and satisfactory 
 justice to the parish aggrieved ? 
 
 ON a subsequent Clause, for assessing the 
 STOCK* IN TRADE of country shopkeepers, 
 my doubt and anxiety is of this nature; 
 
 * THE exemption of stock in trade from assessment 
 to the Poor's Rate, so far as it is exempt at present, 
 is not owing to the want of legal authority, but to 
 difficulties in the execution of the Law. LORD 
 MANSFIELD, in the Case of the King and Ring- 
 wood, thus expresses himself on this subject: 
 
 f< Some artificers have a considerable stock in trade ; 
 " some have a little; others none at all. Shall the tools 
 " of a carpenter be called his stock in trade, and as such 
 lt be rated ? A tailor has no stock in trade ; a butcher 
 " has none ; a shoemaker a great deal. Shall the tailor, 
 " whose profit is considerably greater than that of the 
 " shoemaker, be untaxed, and the shoemaker, taxed r" 
 I have always a pleasure in referring to my friend 
 SIR FREDERICK EDEN'S valuable and laborious work on 
 the State of the Poor. In vol. i. p. 453, he quotes this 
 Case, and observes, that it does not seem possible to 
 rale the visible stock of a tradesman, or artificer; or 
 even to ascertain correctly, what is to be considered a* 
 visible stock. 
 
 T>
 
 18 Assessing of Stock in Trade. 
 
 not merely that with little or no object in 
 view, and with great difficulty and uncer- 
 tainty in the detail, it will disturb the 
 Law of the Land 'and vary the present 
 mode of pecuniary contributions, but that 
 it will bear heavily on the Poor, by rais- 
 ing the price of the necessary articles of 
 life. We all know that those who keep 
 shops in country parishes, have a difficulty 
 in making (as it is termed) the two ends 
 meet ; and we also know by unvaried ex- 
 perience, that not only country shop- 
 keepers, but all other persons concerned 
 in trade, who have any new or extraordi- 
 nary tax laid on them, take care imme- 
 diately to charge it with usury to their 
 customers ; so that in fact this assessment 
 would operate, partly as a tax on the Poor, 
 affecting them where they can least bear it, 
 in the necessaries of life ; and partly as a 
 preventive against the shopkeeper laying 
 in his commodities by wholesale, at chea'p 
 periods, so as to be enabled to sell them 
 at a moderate price, and yet with profit 
 to himself.
 
 County Rate for the Poor. 19 
 
 I PROCEED to consider the next part of 
 the Bill, which directs the levying of a 
 County Rate in order to relieve those pa- 
 rishes, where the Poor's Kates are heavy: 
 As the Law now stands*, if the Magis- 
 trates are of opinion, that the inhabitants 
 of any Parish are not able to levy among 
 themselves sufficient sums for the Relief of 
 their Poor, they may assess other parishes 
 within the Hundred, or, if the Hundred is 
 insufficient, within the County. This is good 
 sense. It has been acted upon for above 
 two hundred years ; and the books supply 
 abundance of cases, by which the construc- 
 tion of the Law is now settled. It has often 
 surprised me, that the Parishes eastward 
 of the Metropolis, which consist chiefly of 
 Poor, and which are the residence of the 
 porters, carmen, and other labouring men 
 who are employed in the hard work of the 
 City of London, should never have taken 
 the benefit of the act of Elizabeth, and 
 applied for aid from the opulent adjoining 
 
 * See act 43 Eliz. cap. ii, sect. 3. 
 D 2
 
 20 County Rate for t/ie Poor. 
 
 parishes, in which their own poor are em- 
 ployed in labour.* Nothing could be more 
 equitable than such an application of the 
 "Law, made as it ought to be, at the discre- 
 tion of the magistrates. 
 
 ; 
 
 BUT what is proposed, would be injuri- 
 ous to the Individual, and prejudicial to 
 the Public. The Bill directs that, when- 
 ever the charge of maintaining the Poor in 
 
 -^ O 
 
 any Parish, shall be more than double 
 the average amount of Poor's Rates in the 
 county, the surplus expense shall be made 
 good by a County Rate, to be levied on 
 the total Rateable Value, ascertained by 
 Parochial Returns. Now, if we apply this 
 to the case of the Parishes just mention- 
 ed, we shall find that by the proposed 
 Bill, the whole of the County of Middle- 
 sex is to be taxed, to maintain the labou- 
 rers of a particular district; instead of the 
 relief being supplied, as it ought, by those 
 Merchants and Manufacturers in the vicir 
 nage, who are receiving the benefit of the 
 
 * See a note on this subject in Mr. Colouhonn'sTrea- 
 j , 
 
 tise on Indigence, p. 243.
 
 Provision for Education. 21 
 
 labour of these Poor. And again, if we 
 apply the effect of the Clause to the Coun-r 
 ty of Rutland, those parishes which have 
 not thought fit to follow LORD WINCIIIL- 
 SEA'S excellent example, but who, by farm- 
 ing and depressing their Poor, have augt- 
 mented their Poor's Rate, will have, by 
 this Act, a scale of mismanagement offered 
 them, by which they may levy upon their 
 enlightened and benevolent neighbours, 
 the costs, charges, and expenses, incurred 
 by their own culpable imprudence. 
 
 THE making of a general provision for 
 the moral and religious EDUCATION of the 
 Poor, has, your Lordship well knows, been 
 a primary and unvaried object of our So- 
 ciety, ever since its first formation in 1796. 
 Our Reports and Publications have con- 
 stantly had in view this great object ; which, 
 under proper direction and regulation, pro- 
 mises the greatest and most unequivocal 
 advantages to the Labouring Class. By 
 referring to direction and regulation, I do 
 not, however, mean to express any appre- 
 hension of any consequences, from a ge- 
 neral provision of this nature. For, if a
 
 1 'revision for the 
 
 j)ublic system of Education be impartially 
 and generally made, as it ought to be, ex- 
 tending to all the classes of the Poor through 
 
 o o 
 
 every part of the Kingdom, the generality 
 of the measure will obviate every incon- 
 venience, which cautious politicians have 
 apprehended from a partial and capricious 
 system of education. 
 
 ADOPTING therefore the general idea, it 
 will remain to consider whether the mode 
 of execution proposed by the Bill, is the 
 best that can be adopted. In the mea- 
 sures suggested by our Society, as to this 
 desired object, and indeed as to every other 
 amendment of the Poor-Laws, the follow- 
 ing principles have been kept in view : 
 " That the plan should be simple and in- 
 " tclligible ; adhering as far as may be 
 " to existing regulations and forms ; using 
 " and applying such means and instru- 
 " incuts as already exist, and are capable 
 " of being brought into action ; and so 
 " framed and constituted, as to supply in- 
 " ducemcnt and interest to all parties con- 
 " ccrned in it, to contribute earnestly and 
 " assiduously to the success of the measure."
 
 Education of the Poor. 2$ 
 
 N this country we possess many cha- 
 ritable endowments for the instruction of 
 the Poor; not only providing a great part of 
 the means required for a general system of 
 Education, but supplying important infor- 
 mation as to the application of them ; and 
 affording experimental proof, that it is es- 
 sential to the general and extensive utility 
 of all such establishments, that those em- 
 ployed in them, should have an interest in 
 their extension and utility. If the Masters 
 of all our Charity Schools had 'had an in- 
 creased advantage, in proportion to the 
 number of Children properly taught, there 
 would have been very little occasion for 
 Parliament now to discuss the Question of 
 the Education of the Poor. The funds and 
 endowments which we possess, are, in many 
 instances, more than adequate to the ge- 
 neral object. 
 i 
 
 IT is with the greatest pleasure that I 
 refer to the honourable and patriotic con- 
 duct of some gentlemen of the Parish of 
 AVhite-Chapel, in preparing to extend the 
 Charity-School in that Parish, with the 
 improvements of Dr. Bell, for the benefit
 
 J-i Provision for the 
 
 of o// the children of their Poor ; and 1 
 have still more pleasure in adverting to 
 their liberal and benevolent expectation, 
 of making their funds adequate, not only 
 to the Education of all their own poor, but 
 to the extension of the benefits of their 
 Charity far beyond their parochial limits. 
 Many and large endowments of a similar 
 kind exist in every other part of the King- 
 dom ; and if the same benevolent spirit 
 should actuate the breasts of other Trus- 
 tees, a great part of the expense and diffi- 
 culty of providing for the Education of 
 the English Poor, would be supplied from 
 funds already existing. 
 
 AFTER these general remarks, I proceed 
 to consider that part of the Bill, which ap- 
 plies to the EDUCATION OF THE POOR. 
 It enacts that, within a year from the pas- 
 sing of the Act, a sufficient number of 
 Schools shall be provided in England and 
 "\Yales, for the Instruction of the Children 
 of the Poor: and with this view, that suffi- 
 cient Buildings shall be erected, purcha- 
 sed, or hired in every Parish ; and that the
 
 Education of the Poor. 25 
 
 Minister, Churchwardens, and Overseers, 
 shall make a Report upon the subject to 
 the Vestry ; which, if approved by them, 
 shall be laid before the Magistrates, for 
 their approbation. If disapproved by either 
 of the parties, it is to be returned, with- a 
 statement of the grounds of disapprobation. 
 -In default of such an approved Report, 
 the Justices are to have power, to order 
 suitable Buildings to be hired, purchased, 
 or erected, for such Schools, under certain 
 limitations. A similar Report is to be 
 made as to the appointment of Masters, 
 and Salaries, and as to the establishrtient 
 of Regulations for the Schools. In these 
 Schools, certain poor children are- to be 
 taught, free of ex pence, for the space of two 
 years, between the age of seven and fourteen* 
 and other children are to be admissible on 
 weekly payments. The Expenses of the 
 Schools are to be paid out of the Poor's 
 Rate : and there are clauses in the Act, 
 enabling two or more parishes to unite in 
 forming one School ; and permitting small 
 parishes, in lieu of establishing any School, 
 E
 
 26 Provision for the 
 
 to place their poor children in Private 
 Schools. 
 
 SUCH is the general outline of this part 
 of the Bill : as to which, the first subject of 
 consideration that occurs, is whether, and 
 how far, it gives an opportunity of making 
 use of our present Schools ; so as to render 
 them subservient to this national object, 
 either under the direction of their present 
 Trustees, or under any other authority. 
 For example, in the case of the parish of 
 Wbitechapel, whether their being already 
 in possession of a school, which they are 
 now making competent to every desirable 
 object, that Parish is still to be liable to 
 the expense of erecting, purchasing, or 
 hiring the Schools directed by the Act ; just 
 as an opulent parish, where, with a popu- 
 lation of 63,000 inhabitants, there may be 
 a provision for the Education of only a 
 hundred Charity Children : or, upon suppo- 
 sition that the Trustees of the Whitechapel 
 School were not paying so conscientious 
 and honourable an attention to their duty, 
 whether it would be required, that a new
 
 Education of the Poor. 2? 
 
 establishment should be formed by the 
 parish, at a large expense, and the present 
 trust, with an abundant and improving in- 
 come, should be left in a state of useless 
 inactivity. 
 
 I SUBMIT these considerations, with a 
 view of suggesting, that a constituent and 
 essential part of any plan for the general 
 Education of the English Poor, must be 
 the bringing usefully and effectually into 
 action, all the present Charity Schools, and 
 all other Schools for the Poor, within the 
 Kingdom. By such a measure, an immense 
 Parochial Charge will be saved ; and, which 
 is of more importance, the general object 
 will be speedily and effectually obtained, 
 especially if the whole can be so arranged, 
 as to give the Masters and Conductors of 
 those Schools a benefit in their extension 
 and utility, in proportion to the capacity 
 and attention which they shall apply to the 
 general object. 
 
 IN the proposed Bill, I have not been 
 able to discover any reference to the pre- 
 E 2
 
 28 Provision for the 
 
 >cnt existence of any Schools, or School 
 Endowments, in any part of the Kingdom ; 
 nor, which is still more essential, any in- 
 ducement offered to the "Masters, to en- 
 deavour to extend the benefit of Educa- 
 tion, diffusively and generally to all the 
 Poor, The Master's salary and advantages 
 are to be fixed ; and whether he teaches 
 three, or three hundred poor children, no 
 difference as to his recom pence is discover- 
 able on the face of the Act. I know it 
 raay be said, that the attention of the 
 Overseers, the liberality of the Vestry, and 
 the justice of the Petty Sessions, will be 
 awake to extraordinary merit, and prompt 
 to reward it. But twenty }'ears experience 
 as a Magistrate, has taught me not to ex- 
 pect more than solitary and extraordinary 
 examples of such attention ; and it must 
 be obvious to the most careless observer, 
 that rare, distant, and uncertain rewards 
 \vili never produce general or permanent 
 effect on conduct. 
 
 
 I HAVE therefore no hesitation instating, 
 that nothing will give full and complete
 
 Education of the Poor. 29 
 
 effect to this measure, without certain, 
 and immediate recompence to the Masters, 
 in proportion to their attention and success : 
 and, with such an advantage before 
 them, I have no doubt but that the Masters 
 and Trustees of the present Charity Schools 
 will gladly and earnestly unite in giving 
 their assistance, so as to produce great and 
 powerful co-operation. 
 
 THERE is another circumstance, that 
 occurs on the perusal of the Bill ; that 
 the Children of the Poor are to be taught 
 gratis in these Parish Schools, while the 
 Master is to receive a stipend for instruct- 
 ing the other Children who attend. 
 Can any one suppose that, under such cir- 
 cumstances, the Children of the Poor will 
 have adequate justice done to them ? and 
 that the same attention will be given to 
 the Paupers, for whom no payment is made, 
 as to the Children of the Tradesman who 
 pays for their education ? Is it not obvious 
 that it will be the interest of the Master, by 
 neglect and seventy, to drive from the 
 School these unprofitable pupils, and to
 
 50 Provision for the 
 
 replace them with those who are really 
 profitable ? 
 
 Ix what I am stating to your Lordship, 
 throughout this Letter, I am aware that I 
 am again and again repeating, what has 
 been again and again stated, in the Re- 
 ports of the Society for bettering the Con- 
 dition of the Poor. I must take the 
 liberty, however, to proceed ; feeling as I 
 do, that a mere reference to those Reports 
 will not be always clear and intelligible; 
 nor will it apply, with any power or effect, 
 to the points under consideration. 
 
 IT appears to me that, in order to unite 
 the Master's interest with his duty, every 
 Scholar in these Schools should be individu- 
 ally paid for; so that the Master, having 
 only the retainer of a small salary, should 
 feel that the profit of his situation depends 
 on his capacity and assiduity, and on the 
 effect with which they are applied. The 
 payment for the schooling, ought to be cer- 
 tain and unvaried ; the same for the poor, 
 as for the rich. Suppose it to be a shilling
 
 Education of the "Poor. 31 
 
 a month, always paid in advance ; and that 
 the salary of the Master is 0/. a year. If 
 he have only twenty scholars, his income is 
 321. a year ; but if, by exertion and talent, 
 he obtains two hundred scholars, the benefit 
 he may produce, will be very considerable, 
 and his income will be very considerable 
 also. It will amount to 140/. a year. 
 Upon this plan, it would be the interest of 
 the Masters of our Charity Schools, to make 
 their Endowments extensively useful ; and 
 Parishes would, in a great* multitude of 
 cases, avoid the expense of purchasing and 
 fitting up the Schools, and hiring the Mas- 
 ters. The whole cost of the Education of 
 the Poor would, in many cases, be confi- 
 ned to a trifling monthly payment, either 
 supplied by the Overseer, or ordered by 
 the Magistrate. At the same time, the 
 object in view would be effectually obtain- 
 ed ; as it would become the interest of the 
 Master so to execute his duty, as to make 
 all the Poor of the parish desirous that their 
 Children should attend and be taught by 
 him.
 
 32 Provision for the 
 
 I HAVE asserted, on a former occasion,- 
 that there is no more objection to a payment 
 of three-pence a week, for the mental and 
 moral improvement of a child, than to the 
 payment of ten times that sum, for its bodily 
 food. To me there seems to be an advan- 
 tage, in instruction being thus supplied ; 
 not only because the child of the poor man 
 enters the School, as one for whom the 
 same price is paid as for others ; but that 
 the discretion left in the Overseer, under 
 the direction of the Magistrate, removes a 
 very questionable part of the Bill ; which, 
 by the very narrow ground* it takes, ex- 
 cludes children in a variety of instances, 
 where they have a claim to the benefit of 
 public instruction, not only on their own 
 account, but on the account of the public. 
 
 As to the Parochial Reports, which are 
 to be made on the arrangement of the 
 Schools, another observation occurs. A 
 general system of Education for the Poor 
 of any country, should be uniform and sim- 
 
 * See Section C. Article 1 1 .
 
 Education of the Poor. 33 
 
 pie ; but that, which is proposed by the 
 Bill, would vary essentially, in every dif- 
 ferent part of the kingdom. The variations 
 would be excessive and capricious. The 
 difference of the rate and measure, by 
 which the inestimable blessing of moral 
 and religious instruction would be dealt 
 out to the Poor, in the various Parishes, 
 &c. would depend on the turn of mind, 
 the habits, and the character, of the Over- 
 seers, Vestries, and Magistrates, in the 
 different Counties. A Plan like this would 
 not possess the features of those wise and 
 successful laws, which were established in 
 Scotland and New England,* for the gene- 
 ral extension of Education ; laws, which fix- 
 ed precisely the limits of duty, and marked 
 those parishes to be punished as culprits, in 
 which this duty was neglected. 
 
 UPON the subject of the " POOR'S FUND," 
 I would avoid the suggestion of any objec- 
 tions, but such as can be stated clearly and 
 
 * See note in p. 63 ; and the Reports of the Society, 
 vol. iii. App. p. 63, 
 
 F
 
 34 " Poor's Fund" its Objects. 
 
 distinctly. Remote and metaphysical cal- 
 culations of consequences, I shall put out 
 of the question ; submitting to considera- 
 tion only a few of those common and obvi- 
 ous remarks, which might occur to any one 
 on the cursory perusal of the Bill, and 
 which may be made familiar to every reader, 
 
 IN the first place, if this part of the Bill 
 is to operate to any effectual purpose for 
 the general Improvement of the Poor, it 
 must be presumed that a certain propor- 
 tion of the Labouring Class will take ad* 
 vantage of the offer thereby made them : 
 for we are not to imagine that the remedy 
 -will be in the nature of a charm, which is to 
 produce any effects, unless it should be ac- 
 cepted. Let us then suppose, that, from 
 the Labouring Class in this country, a remit- 
 tance of some part of their savings shall be 
 made by one person in twelve ; a propor- 
 tion as small, as would be compatible with 
 any considerable degree of effect from the 
 measure. 
 
 THE number of the Labouring Class- who
 
 " Poor's Fund" its Accounts. 35 
 
 would be objects of the " Poor's Fund/' 
 would probably amount to about six mil- 
 lions, exclusive of the Army and Navy ; 
 and also exclusive of Scotland and Ireland, 
 as to which it does not appear from the Bill, 
 whether they are comprehended in this part 
 of it, or not.* Calculating, however, upon 
 six millions only, it will follow, that there 
 must be half a million of accounts^- opened 
 
 * As the expenses are to be paid by tbe Treasury out 
 of the Consolidated Fund of Great Britain, it should 
 appear to be a measure of Great Britain ; but other 
 parts of the Act are confined to England and Wales. 
 This should be ascertained. 
 
 f- IT may be said, I have over-estimated in this instance ; 
 and (which I do not admit) that the numbers estimated 
 should be of heads of families. But in proportion as all 
 other persons are excluded, and there is a diminution in 
 the number of those who, out of a population often mil- 
 lions, accept the offer made by this Bill, such will be the 
 diminution of its effects. Upon the population we pos- 
 sess, small numbers will hardly be a subject of attention. 
 Let us, however, ..suppose that these accounts shall be 
 only a fifth part of what I have here stated, and let a 
 banker's opinion be then taken, how these hundred thou- 
 sand paupers' cash accounts are to be dealt with.
 
 36 " Poor's Fund" its Accounts 
 
 with poor persons in different parts of Eng- 
 land. The Office will then, if the measure 
 succeeds, have 500,000 labouring persons 
 to correspond with, and to receive and re- 
 mit monies to and from, in FOURTEEN 
 THOUSAND* PARISHES, &c. in England 
 and Wales. 
 
 IN an ordinary Banking Concern, one 
 thousand different accounts are reckoned 
 sufficient to occupy the attention of a large 
 establishment of Clerks. It is said that a 
 Banking-House in the city, at one time, 
 boasted of having kept, and without irre- 
 gularity, the banking accounts of 3000 
 persons; and it is supposed that in the 
 Bank of England, the number of Cash 
 accounts (that of Dividends being a dif- 
 ferent concern) is more numerous. But 
 then it should be considered, that these 
 are accounts of persons who can write and 
 
 * THE number is, in fact, not much under 15,000. 
 There were 14,611 Parishes, or Places, wjiich made 
 separate Returns respecting the Poor in 1603. Some 
 lleturns were wanting.
 
 and pecuniary Transactions. 37 
 
 read, most of them resident in the neigh- 
 bourhood, known in character and situa- 
 tion, capable of being referred to, and fre- 
 quently attending the office in person. 
 
 BUT, instead of 1000, or if your Lord- 
 ship pleases 3000 accounts, endeavour to 
 extend your imagination to the cash ac- 
 counts of 500,000 persons; remitting and 
 receiving trivial and broken sums, most of 
 those persons not able to write or read, all 
 of them (with very few exceptions) in dis- 
 tant situations, unknown to the Office, un- 
 used to pecuniary transactions, your Lord- 
 ship may then in part conceive, but it will 
 be absolutely impossible for anyone entirely 
 to anticipate, the labyrinth of difficulties, 
 in which the conductors of the proposed 
 Office must be involved. 
 
 I WILL presume that very strict Regula- 
 tions shall be made to prevent fraud. We 
 all know by experience that, in complicated 
 transactions, no Regulations are competent 
 entirely to exclude it : And we also know 
 that no very strict Rules can ever be made,
 
 35 " Poor's Fund" Cases of Fraud. 
 
 and adhered to, without some inconveni* 
 ence and injury to the parties concerned. 
 J will suppose that, in the course of a year, 
 there shall be one case in a thousand, 
 where fraud is not prevented ; and one 
 other case in a thousand, where some 
 party is prejudiced or inconvenienced by 
 the attempt to prevent fraud. Here would 
 be 500 annual cases of fraud practised up- 
 on the .Fund, and 500 more of injury done 
 to the objects of the Fund ; and (where 
 the parties are so numerous, so distant, and 
 so unknown) no practicable means could 
 be generally adopted, for making either a 
 criminal investigation of the former with a 
 view to exemplary punishment, or of the 
 latter with the desire of equitable com- 
 pensation. I am aware that, in order to 
 ascertain facts in many cases, the aid of 
 the Minister, Church wardens, Overseers, and 
 Country Postmasters, to the amount of about 
 70,000 persons in the 14,000 parishes, &c. in 
 the kingdom is to be called in. But they are 
 likewise, many of them, distant, unknown, 
 not entirely uninterested, frequently chan- 
 ging, and so numerous as to require others
 
 'Remittances by Post. 39 
 
 to come forward to describe and identify 
 them, in most of the transactions which 
 they may have with the Office. 
 
 AGAIN these communications are to be 
 sent by the post, free from postage, being 
 marked as the remittance of money to or 
 from the " Poor's Fund. ' Now, therefore, 
 let us consider the security of the convey- 
 ance. We receive by public advertisement, 
 from time to time, instructions as to the 
 manner in which Bank-notes shall be cut 
 in two, so as to secure the receipt of one 
 part, before we adventure to transmit the 
 other. We may therefore suppose, even 
 if we had not acquired experience at our 
 own cost, that the transmission of Bank- 
 notes by the General Post, is not entirely 
 free from risk. Who then is to sustain the 
 loss ? Is it to be the pauper, who has re- 
 ceived a public invitation to take what is 
 called the benefit of the Act ? Is he to lose 
 what he has hardly earned, and hardly 
 saved, by joining in a transaction, the ob- 
 ject of which is to better his condition ? 
 And will the conveyance be more secure,
 
 40 
 
 and these robberies less frequent, because 
 the letter is marked on the cover, as in- 
 closing the money of an unknown labourer, 
 by whom no prosecution could probably 
 be instituted, to convict and punish the 
 thief? 
 
 BUT, if the poor man is not to undergo 
 the loss, is it to be paid by the Office ? and 
 what kind of evidence, from unknown 
 parties and distant counties, is the Office 
 to require ? If the failure is of money re- 
 mitted to the Office, the first intelligence 
 would be by a letter, from a distant and 
 unknown correspondent, requesting an ac- 
 knowledgment that his remittance made 
 to the Office, under the late act, had been 
 duly received. If, on the contrary, it is 
 of money arising from Dividends or from 
 the sale of Stock, months sometimes would 
 intervene, before the poor man would ad- 
 dress himself to the Office ; and anxiety, 
 vexation, and suspicion would agitate his 
 mind, while he was informing himself, how 
 to make his inquiry. Thus would the 
 Office aggravate its pecuniary losses by the
 
 how to be made good. 41 
 
 loss of credit and reputation ; and though 
 not exempt from fraudulent imposition, 
 though " more sinned against than sinning," 
 would undergo with the most numerous 
 class of individuals in the kingdom, the 
 imputation of knavish and dishonourable 
 conduct. At the same time many of these 
 losses (all ultimately to be made good by 
 the Treasury) would not come into the 
 estimate of the five hundred annual losses 
 above stated ; because they would not be 
 cases calculated, as one in a thousand upon 
 actual remittances : for, if we may judge 
 by the history of swindlers given in the daily 
 papers, frequent instances would occur of 
 money fraudulently claimed by those, 
 who had never made any remittance at 
 all. 
 
 IF the loss is not to be paid out of the 
 " Poor's Fund," or sustained by the la- 
 bourer himself, is it to be made good by 
 the Post-Office ? Can this be admitted 
 in a case where all the letters are to go 
 Post-free ? And where an addition to the 
 trouble and expense of the Post-Office is 
 
 o
 
 42 " Poor's Fund," Remittances 
 
 to be made, not without only an increase, 
 but with a diminution, of the income of the 
 Office; as it is well-known, that no exemp- 
 tion from postage ever existed in this 
 country, without some abuse ; very trivial 
 perhaps in the detail, but of magnitude in 
 the total. And would it be the duty of Ilia 
 Majesty's Ministers to support a Bill in the 
 House, when the public revenue is to be 
 prejudiced, its charges increased, and at 
 the same time its funds made responsible 
 for all the miscarriages, losses, and frauds, 
 that may occur upon remittances, or 
 alleged remittances, from families, com- 
 posing more than six millions of the la- 
 bouring class in England ? 
 
 THERE is another very obvious difficulty. 
 The Dividends are to be remitted, when- 
 ever they amount to, or exceed, ten shil- 
 lings; and it will hardly ever occur that 
 they will be exactly twenty shillings, two 
 pounds, or the precise amount of a Bank 
 Note. Unless therefore you suppose, 
 that the Bank is to establish an office 
 for issuing notes of the exact amount
 
 of broken Sums. 43 
 
 of the odd shillings, pence, and farthings, 
 which these remittances under the Act 
 would require, they must be made in silver 
 or copper coin; or in Bankers* bills, if 
 Bankers should think it worth their while 
 to issue them, and the Poor should be satis- 
 fied with the security, 
 
 BUT, if the Poor would be satisfied with 
 the security ef Bankers' Bills, a very easy 
 and unexceptionable way of attaining all 
 the benefit that is proposed by the " Poor's 
 Fund," without an}' of its objectionable 
 and intricate machinery, would be to adopt 
 the practice, that has for some time back 
 existed, among the Bankers in Scotland. 
 Any labourer or servant may carry his sa- 
 vings to the next Bank, and receive an 
 indorsable note for the amount, with four 
 percent, interest, payable on demand; and 
 if the note is lost or burnt, they seldom 
 find any difficulty in receiving the amount, 
 on explaining the manner in which the note 
 has been lost, and rinding that kind of se- 
 curity, which no honest man has a difficulty 
 in obtaining. The Bankers lend their as- 
 
 c 2
 
 1 j* " Poor's fund" in Scothuid. 
 
 sistance to this plan, not so much for profit, 
 as on account of its affording the means of 
 encouraging industry and prudence among 
 their poor neighbours, and of conciliating 
 their good will ; and they allow that rate 
 of interest, which, it is generally estimated, 
 a prudent and attentive Banker may make 
 of cash in hand, after paying the expense 
 of management, and securing against the 
 risk of loss. 
 
 IN that case, the computing of interest 
 is a simple operation, resolved immediately 
 and satisfactorily, by the common tables 
 of Interest. In the case of the " Poor's 
 pund," where only one stock account would 
 be kept, the calculating and apportioning 
 of the monies arising from sales and divi- 
 dends, many of them trifling, and all of 
 them broken sums, and the remitting and 
 obtaining discharges for them, would create 
 a com plication of the greatest difficulty and 
 risk ; and that, in money concerns, where 
 no general satisfaction could possibly be 
 given ; as the parties to the transaction 
 would be the poorer and more igno-
 
 " Poor's Fund," next of Kin. 45 
 
 rant class of persons, in the 14,000 pa- 
 rishes, &c. in England, possessing no habits 
 of business, nor any knowledge of the 
 world, to remove suspicion, and induce 
 confidence. 
 
 IT should have been ascertained, what is 
 to be the situation of the next of kin, in 
 case of the death of any of the parties. Is 
 the poor Widow or Orphan to be driven, 
 to take out a regular administration, 
 and to transmit the original or an office 
 
 o 
 
 copy, in order to receive some petty ba- 
 lance, or trivial sum, due to the deceased 
 from the Office ? Or is the Office to take 
 upon it the functions of the Ecclesiastical 
 Court, and, in the case of six millions of 
 Poor, to decide all the questions of next 
 of kin ? In the last supposition, the loss 
 to the Office would be considerable : in 
 the first, the hardship upon the Poor would 
 be intolerable. 
 
 WHAT I have written, is founded on the 
 supposition of the success of the " Poor's
 
 46 " Poors Fund," probable Success. 
 
 Fund/' It presumes that this measure, 
 which the Legislature shall have provided 
 for the improvement of the Condition of 
 the Poor, is thankfully accepted by them ; 
 in the confidence that Parliament would 
 never offer them as a boon, what might 
 prove to them a very serious injury. But, 
 at the same time, I entertain great doubts, 
 whether all the eloquence of both Houses 
 would ever be able to inspire them with 
 that confidence ; and my own experience 
 of the English Cottager, whose character 
 
 o o * 
 
 I have studied attentively for above 
 twenty years, induces me to believe that 
 such a confidence never would be obtained. 
 If, however, we can suppose that the Poor 
 may be naturally inclined to accept the offer, 
 it will be obvious, that those who would 
 have the most influence with them, I mean 
 country bankers, attorneys, shopkeepers, 
 and alehouse-keepers, will have a personal 
 interest that a, Plan shall not succeed, by 
 which their influence with their poorer 
 neighbours, and their profits from their 
 earnings, would be diminished; and I need
 
 " Poor's Assurance" considered. 47 
 
 not state to your Lordship, that persons 
 So situated, and so interested, will find no 
 difficulty, in instilling into the minds of their 
 poor and ignorant neighbours jealousy 
 and suspicion, which would not only de- 
 feat this, but, in the consequence, would 
 affect the success of any other measure 
 respecting the Poor. 
 
 To the proposal for the " POOR'S Assu- 
 * ; RANGE," the same considerations as have 
 been suggested on the " Poor's Fund," will 
 in a great part (if the measure should succeed) 
 be applicable. Similar difficulties from 
 the number and complication of the ac- 
 counts, from the situation of the parties, 
 and from a variety of other unfavourable 
 circumstances, may by analogy be expect- 
 ed to operate on the Fund for the " Poor's 
 " Assurance." There is no circumstance 
 to diminish their effect; there are many to 
 increase it. The parties being distant, un- 
 known, and of a character and local situa- 
 tion to elude inquiry, would operate much 
 more powerfully when it was a transac-
 
 48 " Poo;-'.-? Assurance," Regulations 
 
 tion of Insurance, than as in a simple Cash 
 account! 
 
 TII E Insurance Offices can inform us, that 
 with a hundred eyes awake to every point 
 of interest, with several hundred agents 
 dispersed over the kingdom, and dealing 
 with characters known in the world, they 
 have never succeeded in the prevention of 
 imposition, though secured by all the ad- 
 vantages, that personal examination and 
 medical skill can afford. What then must 
 be Ihe consequence when the Poor of J 4,000 
 parishes, &c. apply as a matter of right, 
 sanctioned by Parliament, for the benefit 
 of the National Insurance-Office? Is there 
 any variety or amount of Fraud, that may 
 not be attempted ? Is there any degree of 
 official inconvenience, to which the par- 
 tics, by regulations calculated to oppose 
 that fraud, will not be subjected ? Will it 
 be enough to say, that the extraordinary 
 necessity of the case will produce strong 
 means, to repel the attempts of the knave 
 and the swindler? To enact a Law, which 
 existence and activity to the knave
 
 to prevent Fraud. 49 
 
 and swindler, and which enables him to 
 make successful depredations or even at- 
 tempts on the Publick, is to become an ac- 
 cessary before the fact, and to participate in 
 all the crimes that may attend the measure, 
 and all the profligacy that may be the con- 
 sequence of it. 
 
 BUT to proceed to those circumstance*, 
 which are peculiar to the " Poor's Assu- 
 rance ;" we shall find that the Bill directs 
 that a poor person, desirous of taking the 
 benefit of this measure, shall make his 
 proposal, annexing affidavits of age, health, 
 and peculiar circumstances of constitution, 
 sworn to by himself and his medical atten- 
 dant ; and then enacts that, " in case any 
 " such proposal, or affidavit, shall contain 
 " any untruth or misrepresent at ion, the as- 
 " surance shall be void, and the money 
 *' forfeited/' Now, we may readily sup- 
 pose that a knave or a swindler, who un- 
 derstands his own trade, may venture, not- 
 withstanding this Clause of Forfeiture, to 
 make his application to the Office. But 
 the simple, honest labourer, who has with 
 
 ii
 
 50 " Poor's Assurance" 
 
 great exertion earned andlaid-by a pittance 
 of money, how will he reason upon this 
 Clause? He will find, that the terms of 
 Insurance are to be calculated in the 
 ordinary way, by what the Act affects to 
 call an Actuary ; not professing (as all 
 other Offices do) to give any extraordinary 
 advantages to the insurer ; nor offering, 
 what they all afford, the assistance of their 
 agents in country towns in preparing the 
 papers ; but requiring the labourer to pro- 
 duce his own proposal and affidavits ; and 
 then informing him of the forfeiture, in 
 case of error on his part. Will not the 
 cottager naturally say, This Assurance does 
 not offer me greater, nor even so great 
 benefits, as any other office ? It gives me 
 no aid in my application : and yet it tells 
 me that if, in the papers sent in, either I, or 
 even my apothecary, shall happen to make 
 a mistake, I lose both my assurance and 
 my money : for it is curious to observe, 
 the Act docs not say, If I, or my medical 
 friend, make a material and wilful misre- 
 presentation ; but if there is any untruth or 
 misrepresentation whatever, in the proposal
 
 Principles to be adopted. 51 
 
 or affidavits, I forfeit my assurance and 
 my money. Who would be likely to ap- 
 ply to the Office under these impressions; 
 while it does not even affect to offer in 
 the prospectus of the terms, a tithe of the 
 advantages, that would glare in the front 
 window of every shopkeeper, in the ac- 
 count of the Office, for which he was the 
 accredited a<rent? 
 
 WHENEVER the Legislature means to 
 encourage prospective prudence in the 
 Cottager, it must offer him what will amount 
 to a reward. The whole might be bounded 
 to Life-annuities to the Cottager and his 
 wife : and if much more advantage were 
 
 o 
 
 given them than the purchase money ac- 
 tually authorised, according to the talks 
 of calculation, still the advantage would 
 be in favour of the community ; for it is 
 much more beneficial to sell annuities at a 
 cheap rate to the Poor, thereby keeping 
 them in habits of industry and prudence, 
 than to maintain them in idleness and pro- 
 fligacy, without any contribution on their 
 
 part. 
 
 H 2
 
 52 " Poor's Assurance," 
 
 1 feel the utter impossibility of discussing 
 this subject, without being compelled to 
 repeat what has been already repeatedly 
 stated in the Reports. But, if the Publick 
 desires to give practicability and success to 
 a measure of this kind, " it must offer not 
 " only very favourable terms, but those 
 " terms must be plain and obvious to every 
 " understanding, fixed and unvaried in 
 " every instance, the negociations and 
 " payments within their own vicinage, 
 " conducted by persons known to the la- 
 " bourer, and to whom he is known, and 
 " stated in away that all the essential fact* 
 " may be at once before the parties/' 
 
 DIVESTED of these circumstances, the 
 payments would be liable to all the diffi- 
 culties, that would attend the remission of 
 monies in the detail of the " Poor's Fund." 
 The transaction would be subject to innu- 
 merable frauds, which the odious law of 
 Forfeitures would never be able to repress. 
 Their web might entangle the honest ; but 
 would seldom catch the knave. And 
 when, recurring to daily experience, we
 
 Principles to be adopted. 53 
 
 consider how impossible it is for a land- 
 lord, who has a short rent-roll of lifehold 
 leases held under him, to detect the frauds 
 of his own tenants, who will hold over after 
 the cessation of their interest ; or when we 
 witness the half-yearly muster of a few Chel- 
 sea Pensioners, in order to ascertain their 
 being still living, let us calculate, if we 
 can, the complication of machinery which, 
 should success attend the measure, would 
 be necessary, and the perjuries that would 
 ensue, on the accounts and transactions 
 of several hundred thousand unknown an- 
 nuitants, occasionally changing residence 
 and names, and dispersed over fourteen 
 thousand different parishes, c. and yet 
 to be all controlled, ascertained, and kept, 
 by one central office in the metropolis. 
 
 IF this measure should be at all practi- 
 cable, I must again repeat, that it can 
 only be practicable, (and so it was arran- 
 ged in Mr. Pitt's Bill) as a Parochial Fund ; 
 where every Labourer in a parish, ma- 
 king a certain payment for himself, his 
 wife, or child, should be entitled to certain
 
 oi Cottages f err the Poor, 
 
 benefits: for example, that the youthful 
 labourer should, by a very small annual con- 
 tribution, be enabled to purchase an annuity 
 for the decline of life, either for himself or 
 his wife, or divisible between them ; and 
 that, upon marriage, he should be allowed 
 to resume the money subscribed, if wanted 
 to purchase a cottage, a cow, a piece of 
 ground, or any other means of improving 
 his domestic comfort and condition. The 
 difficulties, even of such a measure, would 
 be considerable. Their comparative amount 
 might, however, be calculated; as this would 
 apply to parties known, and living on the 
 spot, that of the Bill, to parties distant and 
 unknown ; and as the magnitude and in- 
 
 ^ 
 
 tricacy oi" these transactions would be con- 
 fined to one, and those of the Bill would 
 be extended to fourteen thousand Parishes. 
 
 Tin: Clauses in the proposed Bill, respect- 
 ing the Purchase of Land and the Erection 
 of Cottages, to be let to the Poor at reduced 
 rents or rent-free, is deserving of repeated 
 deliberation. It should be again and again 
 
 O O 
 
 considered, whether this measure may not
 
 General Observations. 55 
 
 prevent the erection of cottages by the 
 land-owners, or occasion the pulling down 
 of those already erected. The Poor would 
 gain little advantage by a change, which 
 moved them into pauper cottages belonging 
 to the parish ; and separated them from 
 the land-owner ; whose place would be but 
 ill supplied by the Parish Overseer. The 
 43d of Elizabeth* has given a distinct and 
 unexceptionable authority, for Overseers to 
 erect cottages for the Poor on the waste. 
 This law has been acted upon without in- 
 convenience, for above two centuries. It 
 has not required the erecting of the Church- 
 wardens and Overseers into a Corporation, 
 as proposed by this Bill, nor yet the autho- 
 rity thereby given for Bodies Politic, Trus- 
 tees of Infants, Lunatics, &C.&G. to convey 
 to these new Corporations ; nor has it cal- 
 led for the annual expenditure-)- of THREE 
 
 v- ~ ' " ' 
 
 * See Cap. ii. Sect. 5. 
 
 -} I had originally inserted a smaller sum ; but after 
 the above was written, I perused Mr. Wey land's 
 Observations, which the Reader may refer to, and which 
 will probably convince him, that the sums hcjf stated 
 &re not over-calculated.
 
 56 Cottages for the Poor. 
 
 MILLIONS, or the raising of FIFTEEN MIL- 
 LIONS on loan, the limitations which the 
 Act has provided, for the expense of this 
 part of it. 
 
 HABITATIONS for the Poor are certainly 
 wanted in many parishes. I should have 
 wished, however, to have found something 
 in the Bill about gardens; something that 
 was to afford the Poor the means of thriving, 
 and maintaining their families ; as well as ho- 
 vels, wherein to multiply and increase their 
 numbers. Political wisdom should never 
 forget, that, if these habitations were sup* 
 plied to their full extent, a vicious and in- 
 jurious degree of population would ensue. 
 I am far from presuming to contravene the 
 primary command, " BE FRUITFUL AND 
 MULTIPLY." But there is such a thing as 
 forcing an extraordinary population ; a po- 
 pulation which leads to nothing but vice 
 and misery: and one of the defects of our 
 Poor-Laws at present is, that, by the falla- 
 cious hopes which they administer, they 
 have a tendency to promote this species of 
 population.
 
 Difficulties considered. 57 
 
 AT the same time, the friends of the Cot- 
 tager should not conceal the fact, that the 
 Poor themselves have been in part the 
 cause of their want of habitations. From 
 motives of caprice, or with the object of 
 small pecuniary advantage, they have car- 
 ried their labour from their Landlord and 
 his Tenants, to other persons and to other 
 parishes j and they have interposed the de- 
 lays and difficulties of the Law, when they 
 ought to have given up possession. This sub- 
 ject, your Lordship will recollect, was under 
 the consideration of our Committee a few 
 months ago, on the motion of LORD DYNL- 
 VOR ; and the Committee thought that the 
 mode of obviating the inconvenience, and 
 of inducing the Land-holder more readily 
 to supply and maintain Cottages for the 
 Labourer, was obvious and practicable. 
 It was merely, that " when any labourer 
 " should think proper to apply to the Ma- 
 " gistrate for an habitation, the Magistrate 
 " should have power, with the assent of the 
 " Landlord, to order him possession, upon 
 " the condition of his being removable, on 
 
 i
 
 58 Effect of Changes in the Poor-Laws. 
 
 1' a short notice, by the same autho- 
 
 ft 'A *> 
 
 ' nty. 
 
 I WILL not lengthen what has already 
 been too much extended, by going into the 
 detail of all the Clauses of the Bill. But I 
 will only observe generally, that it should 
 be a principle, not to vary any part of our 
 System as to the Poor, unless for some real 
 and solid advantage. There is a consider- 
 able inconvenience in every change of our 
 Poor-Laws ; inasmuch as it disturbs the 
 decisions of the Courts, which at a con- 
 siderable expense have settled the Law as 
 it now stands ; and in respect that it un- 
 settles and embarrasses the mind of the 
 Cottager. Such is my objection to those 
 Clauses in the Bill, which make a small 
 and trivial variation in the Law, or 
 enact, in other words, what is already in 
 the Statute Book. 
 
 I TRUST that the honourable and respect- 
 able Proposer of this Bill (for, though I do 
 not know him, 1 highly respect both his
 
 Board of Commissioners for Education. 59 
 
 public and private character) will be of 
 opinion, that, in a measure in which the 
 interest of so many persons is involved, and 
 of persons who cannot come forward and 
 plead their own Cause, it is much better 
 that difficulties and objections, if there are 
 any, should be anticipated and considered; 
 rather than that they should rise in every 
 embarrassing and alarming form, after the 
 measure has once passed into a law. 
 
 IF, upon examining the Act, we shall 
 find that the expense of the Board of Com- 
 missioners for the Poor's Fund and Assu- 
 rance may be dispensed with, I should hope 
 it may be transferred, where it will be much 
 wanted, to the great and important con- 
 cern of EDUCATION ; and that a Board 
 may be established, to which returns on 
 the subject of Education, shall be address- 
 ed and required from the different Parishes 
 of the Kingdom ; and which shall have 
 power to watch over and enforce the exe- 
 cution of the Act, and to assist the success 
 of the measure. A Board so constituted, 
 and made respectable, might be of great 
 
 i 2
 
 00 Advantages of such a 13oard. 
 
 collateral use in the examination of any 
 measures, which the fancy and poetical 
 imagination of politicians might invent, for 
 the melioration of the Poor-Laws. To such 
 a Body might be referred the previous in- 
 vestigation of the various experiments, 
 which Theorists are incessantly desirous to 
 make on the comforts and condition of the 
 Poor. And (which would be of infinite 
 service) to such a Board might be referred 
 the mass of useful information, which en- 
 lightened and disinterested men, in the dif- 
 ferent parts of the Kingdom, arc perpetually 
 supplying on the subject. The study of 
 this most important science would no 
 longer be cpnsidercd as a matter of casual 
 and desultory speculation, but of experi- 
 mental and practical knowledge ; and 
 would be placed in that elevated rank, to 
 which it is so justly entitled. 
 
 Ix Mr. Pitt's Bill, your Lordship will 
 recollect that, whatever doubt might have 
 existed as to some Clauses, there were parts 
 deserving of the most unqualified commen- 
 dation. The arrangement of the
 
 Reference to Mr. Pitt's Bill. Cl 
 
 Petty Sessions, and the Regulation that all 
 Contracts for farming the Poor, should be 
 subject to their approbation, the Paro- 
 chial Funds for the Sick and Aged, and the 
 Clause which enacted that no Subscriber 
 to that Fund should ever be subject to re- 
 moval for temporary sickness, or for the 
 assistance incidental to it, the relief grant- 
 ed in certain cases to persons having pro- 
 perty, and the equitable limitations, which 
 that great Man adopted, to prevent fraudu- 
 lent settlements acquired by nominal resi- 
 dence, all marked the extent and capa- 
 city of his mind. If the honourable and 
 respectable Member, who has proposed the 
 present Regulations, had attended fully to 
 all the points of Mr. Pitt's Bill, he would 
 have enjoyed the opportunity of increasing 
 his own veneration, and by his eloquent 
 testimony of renewing and perpetuating our 
 gratitude, to the memory of the GREATEST 
 STATESMAN that this Country ever possess- 
 ed ; to the memory of a PATRIOT who, in 
 {lespight of external hostility and domestic 
 treachery, preserved entire and uninjured
 
 6$ Conclusion. 
 
 the British Isles, while Empires mouldered 
 around them ; and, by a disinterested Sys- 
 tem of Finance, is, at this moment, the one 
 individual, to whom Britain is indebted, 
 and will, I trust, be for ages indebted, as 
 the Friend, the Guardian, and Protector of 
 his Country. 
 
 With united sentiments of affection and 
 respect, I remain, 
 
 My dear Lord, 
 
 your Lordship's obliged 
 and faithful Servant, 
 
 Vv-impole-strcet, TlJO s . BERNARD. 
 
 April 18, 1807. 
 
 The Hon. and Right Rev. 
 The Lord Bishop of Durham.
 
 Note to Page 8. 
 
 THE making of Residence, singly, a Qualification 
 for a Settlement, would lead to a variety of experiments 
 of fraudulent Settlements. Mr. AVeyland has noticed 
 one, which I shall state as an example. " Suppose 
 " the Proprietor of a whole Parish to possess or pur- 
 " chase Cottages, or Ground on which to build Cot- 
 " tages, in the adjoining District, it would be in his 
 " power to move his own Paupers into these Cottages, 
 " and, after five Years of Residence on their part 
 " and of Relief on his, to leave them a permanent 
 " burthen on the adjoining District. Ten such Cot- 
 " tages might, in twenty yeajs, saddle a Parish with 
 " forty additional Paupers, and their Families." 
 This is one instance. The industry and ingenuity of 
 Country Attornies, and of Parish Officers, would supplv 
 many ; which, though they might savour of Fraud, 
 would yet be safe from the Letter of the Law. 
 
 Note to Page 33. 
 
 BY the Scotch Law, a Rate is to be raised for estab- 
 lishing and maintaining Schools; which are to be 
 settled in every Parish, and Schoolmasters appointed, 
 by the advice of the Heritors and Minister of each 
 Parish. For that object, the Heritors are to meet, and 
 provide a commodious House for a School, and fix tilt- 
 Schoolmaster's Salary, within certain limitations ; tlx- 
 charges are to be defrayed by the Ueriiors and Lif< ; -
 
 64 
 
 renters, according to their valuations, they being intitled 
 to Relief as to a Moiety from their Tenants. If this duty 
 is neglected, the Commissioners of Supply have power 
 to make such Orders as will be effectual for the pur- 
 pose ; the Heritors being liable to a Penalty in default 
 or delay of Payment, and being intitled to an Appeal 
 if unequally charged. 
 
 J. BRETTELL, Printer, 
 Marshall-Street, Golden-Square,
 
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