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OBSERVATIONS,
SHEWIND THE MOST RPFECTVAi INR!t/lOD !'BAT
CAN DE ADOPTED Tb RELIEVE PIRMANENTLV
THE DISTRESSED IRISH AND SCOTVIsSI POOR,
AND LOWER THE *OOR RATES IN ENG,LAND.

BY JAMES MACPHIAIL.-1823. •

Parliament being prorogued, and no►hing having
been done that has a tendency to mitigate perma-
nently the sufferings of the poor oppressed peasan-
try in Ireland, or to better the condition of the
English agricultural labourers, or to cause the
Poor Laws to be carried into practice in Scotland,
for the relief of the indigent poor in that country,
agreeable to an Act
.of Parliament passed in the
'reign of King lames VI., which stands untepealed,
I wish the follovring observations to be geuetally
known and considered :

When a petition was presented to the House of
Commons in July lest, praying for a poor's rate in
Ireland, to relieve permanently the miserable coo-
dition of the poor Irish, unable to work, and to in-
duce the able peasantry of Ireland to stay at home,
which would benefit the labouring classes in Eng-
land, it was reported that Mr. Hume (and other
Members of Parliament) opposed the opinions of
those tfbmane gentlemen who approve of poor rates,
and said, he would refer to Scotland, where no
poor laws existed, and where /tone of the scenes
which are now passing in inland were ever exhi-
bited. He hoped that the poor laws would never
be introduced tato Ireland, and that they would
speedily be removed from this country, for he coo-
sidered them the greatest nuisance that ever ex-
isted."

If this be the language of Mr. Hume, and his
opinions, it appears he is unacquainted with the
state of the poor in Scotland, sad with the salutary
operations and effects resulting from the poor laws
of England. He has either not heard of, or for-
gotten the miserable state of the poor in Aberdeen
(the pipe which he represent.), only three years
ago. The following is copied from a Report of a
Committee in Aberdeen, appointed to inquire into
the state of the suffering poor in that large town,
in the years I 8 I 8 and 1819 :
" In a place behind the Record 011ee your Cowiniittee
found a population of 103 persons, more than thres-fourths
of whom were confined to bed in fever, sad the others crawl-
ing about during the hitervals of their relapses, the whole
destitute of the means to procure subsisleace or medicines,
and their neighbours, in lila adjoining houses, iu a similar
condition. The whole of the value of all the furniture and
clothing belonging to these 103 persons could not exceed
five potted's. It is true that is oo other part of the town
did your Committee lied so slouch hums misery condensed
in so small a place, but in many places of the town they
found particular senses of family distress equally 'Meting.
In 1819, the number of sew fevers Xras alarmingly great.
Strong fears were expressed that if the fever got footing
among the higher classes it would be more severely kit than
among the pour.
" By order of the Committee,
" A. BKEBNER, Provost.
" Catintil Chamber, Aberdeen, 1819."
And besides this, only a few years ago, when
provisions were dear and wages low, great numbers
of the poor people io Glasgow, and iii other
parts of Scot land, were in extreme poperty, andio a
state of starvation, which caused fever and con-
tagious disease among theirs. The poor in Scotland
and in Ireland, unable to work-, are always is a die.
tressed, filthy, miserable condition, which would
not be the case (for example, look at the poor in
poor-houses in England, where they are only mo-
derately fed, clothed, and kept clean) if poor rates
were levied and distributed, according to law, to
those parts of the United Kingdom. Scotland cer-
tainly has poor laws, but those who ought to see
them pat in 'presence, agreeable to the law, neglect
to do their duty, so that the debilitated poor are
certainly in a state disgraceful to a oation profess-
ing Christianity. It is true that in a few parishes
of Scotland the poor laws are partially carried into
practice.
That this is not au exaggerated account of the
poor in Scotland (and the poor in Irelands more nu.
tnerous, are constantly 1u a deplorable state) must
be allowed by every intelligent, impartial person,
conversant among the poor in those parts of his Ma. '
jestv's dominions. !laving resided in Scotland and
in kngland, among the poor many years, not an
idle spectator, I am fully convinced that there is
nothing in the power of the Legislature, nothing
in the power of man, which could so effectually
keep down oppression, and permanently relieve the
Irish and Scottish poor, and eventually benefit those
countries, as a compulsory poor rate levied on tithes,
land, and house rents in equal proportion, to feed
and clothe the poor. not those of them able to works
but the debilitated,- become so by the visitation of
God, or by hunger and disease, caused by the op.
pressioo of man. And I verily believe that poor
laws and compulsory rates collected to support the
indigent, instead of being a nuisance, are the most
humane ever enacted and put in practice, and are
agreeable to the Commandments of God—the pre-
cepts of the Gospel.
It is true that the poor laws and poor rates in
England are sometimes ttbused by impostors and
the neglect of overseers; but that is no just reason
why they should be abolished, or not extended to
Ireland and Scotland, from which parts of his
Majesty's dominions there are so many rich absen-
tees, who contribute nothing towards the relief of
the famishing poor reared on their estates, from
whence they draw high rents and tithes, which are
paid by their poor tenantry, whom they also make
pay the county rates and taxes of all kinds.
Compulsory poor rates, equitably laid on, to
feed and clothe the poor unable to maintain them-
selves, have no tendency to impoverish a nation,
but to benefit it. This I am able to prove by
ocular demonstration locally and generally, re-
garding the affairs both of the poor and iieh in
every well-managed parish in England. Poo.
rates, collected and actually applied to maintain
the indigent poor, are expended only in the pur-
chase of the real necessaries of life, produced and
manufactured in our own country. And as, agree-
able to the poor laws of England, every parish is
bound to take care of and maintain its own poor:.
surely it is for the interest of, and should excite *tits.
habitant householders, and landholders to endeavour
that none by idleless and immorality bring them-
'elves to a state of poverty and pnuperism. And
also, as the law does not prescribe the kiwi of food
and clothing with which the poor are to fie fed and
clothed, those who bring themselves t• pauperism
by their own bad conduct, should oaf be qua, so.

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