The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1819-03-26 00:00:00

PO(. it'S 1..1 Ws.

Alt. S. ItlOVlttitt: rota. hr rose to move for le:..vt
to hr it.g in a 14111 which would Vitiatetrey brawn-,
alteration in the existilig system of the Poils'•
Laws. Iu doing this lie nierint shortly to set s iv
the present state or tho,., lisse. The 14th of
Zotiellt was mieittl for the purpose of prosiih.i4
for the pow; and, in older to g.ire et et to
Act, it was iirtvpsary to dsc'are akin persons win.,
meant by the poor, aoa, under what iircusioaaor,-,
and by whoa! they were to lie retorted, tti it
us the time of iticlmr.l 11. VII ides prsvoilid, met
lisimars or other 11E14 prl+llll4 difitsisi be trill J
by those districts its whicii thsy hail 'writ A hoot is 1.•.
the rot. I ist ;opt, Auld this ill ii.opie wits .4..1.1. 61 I 6.
the 41,1 of I::l44l2stit. Subeecievut rt.elati4.oo 414

,imfillg.

this subject materially altered the law as it respect-
ed the right or settlement. A residence of forty
rlsys, mid afterwards of only ist- month, was etiffi-
rieyt, at different period►, to gain a ►ettlenteot.
In Omar (pence, the 13th Nisi 14th'
(J lOch u.suy complaints were at
was enacted, to cure this evil. The

forth
ijiat poor persons were not
from rig from parish toAsarisis,
ir; such places of settlemegi ilba
tit, from which much kconvertialliCP
it therefore enacted, that " if any poor perton
cone into • parish, and remained there Cr forty
dor, hr should riot he worthier' to a settlement
in that potash. and might be immediately re-
moved, unless he reeled a tenet:tient of the value of
1 0/ " The consequence of this was, that poor per-
sons conc.-tiled their places of residence, and thus
evirl.(l the law. To meet this defect, it was en-
:alert, " that they should give notice, when they
ramie intr. a nitride and that they tii not oh-
fain a settlement, if they sieglectes* fo give due
tiof,ce to the parish Akers." This notice in some
degree checked the evil—but, by a subsequent Act,
it 1‘ la diverted, that " the notice should be pub-
lished in the church." The int onversience of this
suoti lise :us to be felt, as it deterierfpeople from
resin s%aig from place., where they could tint pro-
cure sirbsisteoce, and the expedient of certificates
woe resorted to us the rein of 11'illtato 111. Thus,
when a poor person removed from one parish ro
noel her, the period' in which he had trbtalortl
eittlemerit certified to the parish to which lie went,
that, if lie cause hock, they should receive tied
nisietein hon. This Wtl4l slime improvement of the
All 4 f Charles II but it was, in fact, very trifling.
Sou li, however, eoritintird to be the law fur a lose;
!series I. Set eral alterations were stills. sposio uy
made iii it. Sei yams, hired for al year. artier'
111141 Cllll4lltlif, poor persons, who bad served a err-
s-lite term as an apprenticeship. and others, who
lista on property, fur a liUcli they bail paid 301.
were admitted to obtain setileincuits. Two, coons-
tined to be the law, almnat down to the present
tittle-111d tlea,e who had not stuiltr.ti the subject
would he surprist sl to learn, that, dining the best
lime, re our heonry, wheal any eticroaehrberit, by
the force or influence of the Crown, was viewed
with Brent ieal••usly, 14broiriog versoirs might be
urinated, liy the power of the p offors, from
one cod of kingdom to Ihr oilier, iu the !nest
aiiititviry manner. Tius, if 11 1a1r,...11 migrated
Otto:: a place where lie could not procure a 1114411-
1 I, to a part where he could nreetire it, lie was
Kahle to be reirroetil, lest lie should become chargc-
aide ..4. the p!rish. At length, to she year 1795,
t 1.4. doe Rose brought in a BM fer the elicaii-
r sAcitici.t of Friendly Societies. and iii!roilticed into
it a those, pievenuog •Itirmisry r,inovut of
those person., who sillprillied to such Stoat-flee.
:tlr. Fait, now Judge of thy Sapretio. Court of
1, so,tirl, afterwards brought iu :mother Rill, which
prt.sr.itc•l, rolitely, the moot at of poor persons.
unless they %%ere absolutely char,rablr, It was an
‘11.44,41114444ty thing, that this ILO, which did more
for tile libu flits of the reople than any measure
that had beta preloe. 41 fur age*, passed soh si/entio.
31r. East did out riveter• as lie *limit., have: dune,
11. r t: nolo of the coin:try, and ilir 11111 was,
iu
knillV known. A•• die system now stood, 131
e1.!4 r 1.4 4:11:aill a seltl, went, it Uaa ileC::sll3ry that
scsah :ire and otter cif cumistatices .411041141 be tum-
ble, 0. A person must either be hired as a yrally
t, num:wird mid childless, or it.;:nir taut forty
days in a tenement, of the annual value of ltd. or
IL, t- mu :iii ertate, or it a I'M/4.P. purchase haul
hi.. o made for Jul, or upwards, or elt.t. have *rived
paicerind afters, in order to procure a legal settl..-
•rit. Tile first esil occasioned by this cotnhiria-
min of residenee aril sillier circumstances, a as the
litigation al.lch it tat/mil. lint that,
i:•
5,,„ as it sv.ai, a:IS a sulundinute cvii, w lieu rom-
-1 a t.. Ida others. The seetnal rtil a as, that per-
• is Cii they became aged, and writhed assist-
:usu.., acre seat bat k to disir origtind purist!,
al it hwarcbligell Yr stippott than, although they
laboured bur the greater part of their lives.
• Si rot tireir nage', in the distcct from which
y were removed, a ink the parish, ultimately
burdened, h.id iletived sin liens lit from their err-
vices. The third, a hich was the greatest evil of
01. v as the hardslii;) inflicted co the individual.
II perhaps, lived 40 44 50 tears in a p.tliah, he
• at an malvatitt ti period of life, sent to another
wLt se lie skies a perftct straeger. At a time
al cii he most stood in tired of the friendship and
ay.:Owl:love of those with %limn he had laboured, lie
mis turn fioni them, mid removed amongst parsons
4.f whom lie knew wathipg. Ile knew an instance
of
a lislict 111411 le lug removed from the beit-cosist to
the iiits rimr of tl.e country—and another, of a printer.
who was sent (wilt a large town to a village where
been Seel). With re.
ppert to the litigation occasioned by the law of set-
Ile ais lit, if the mode of lame; were altered, it would
check it consider:slily—soul waiving the value of
the tenement, which at present caused the tin-
ployment of a...tab-Ors 011 rich side, to prove that
',wort, would also he brio final. This would not,
hoarser, be sufficient. There were persons also
thate4lit the must simple mode would be to confine
all sedlemerits to the place of birth. This was a
very siintie plati,:ind every inan's bi.tli.place would,
in a shat time after it was carried into tli-ct, be
ra.ily kiwis n. Ent the difficulties: to imlividuals,
thousands of a litria Iris the place of their nativity,
a: u very early pular' of life, would be increased
a hundred fold. No plan, that lee knew of, remain-
d, race pt leaving both-wrote to Ise ecquired by
rc.:idesece alone, nocombined with any adventitious
I iressmstwires. The must important point would
be, to decide what lierind e.f residence should enable
an Individual to Claim a vettleincot. It should not, he
conceived, lit so short a time as prevails al before the
Act of Charles 11. The origical law specified a term
of three years, u period perhaps of bufricielit length.
%Vali respect to derivative settlenterits, from the
father or mother, with three lie did not mean to in-
terfere. lint those acquired by Moog, by renting
teriethents, by serving prirochial offices, he would
do away, and grant a N:ftlellielit to is residence of
from thrt* to five years, without ref Fen :e to elation
or servitude. I)uting the period he had mentioned,
the person claintieg the settlement sh sold nut re-
ceive relief f‘oan any parish whatever. The coose-
tittekur would lie, that the poor person would de-
rive his ineintrusnice from that parish where be
had last maintained himself. It would also be a
good provision, if, after hr resided 11w giveu time

in the psrisli, he went lwrine the 'Magistrate, and
certified that he had acquired a rettlemeid. subject,
if the parish thomeht fit, to an appeal h. lore other
Magistrate., at the Petty Sessional. This wool,'
-ffert of doing away that expensive liti-
ich swallowed up so much of the poor's
provision also, to ',resent removals. until
I was completely settled, was evidently
It would also have a most salutary ef-
ish officers were compelled to keep re-
of persons relieved, as they were bound
to du under the Act of ‘Villiam 111. He would
posh this principle further. and cause a list of per-
sons who had received parochial aid, to he published
peritalically. Such H regulation would be of great
lillpirrielier, with respect to this Bill, as it would
be the means of discoveriog whether persons claim-
tog setilements, had received aid front the parish
within the preceding three weirs. After some fur-
ther obsertatimp, the Hight Hon. Gentleman
inovtd—" That leave be given to bring in a Bill
fir the better regulation of the Settlement of the

Po. r."
Mr. Conwest said. if the Bill now iii progress 111
mother House should filially pass into a law, it
would he important that the present Bill should be
adopted. He complained or the evil consequences
arising out of the present system—it exposed
to disputes and litigivion, and created
many public ii.couveniestres, which it should be
the object of the Legislature to prevent. With re-
spect to the settlement ut the poor, he considered it
extremely unjust, dud oue which demsuded inime-
(hate Sl:eration.
Mr. Vtiesiots expressed himself entirely in fa-
vour of the 11,11; he object of it appeared to hint
to remove difficulties, which press in the way or the
industrious in carrying their labour to this best
mai krt. The great opposition to the fear's Laws
was,, that they took away the value of labour; they
put labour into the hands of the Magistrates. Thr
moment the laws give a given sum for labour, the
11agistrale Lite. Idiom loin his own hands. The
general demand for labour, and its value, must
always depend upon the prosperity of the country.
Laboor must find its own value ; if the law inter-
feres with the price of labour, if it asks the par-
clinger of 141 to pay more than his inclination
aid his into rests go, the law, in
that
case, inflicts
an toptry on the person it meant to serve. Labour,
lie said, like every other article, should he left to
find its own level—no law should regulate it. If
at the present moment an attempt were made to re-
gulate the price of provisions. would it not, he asked,
'he treated as an act of insanity ? The very at-
tempt to keep down the price of provisions was
• found to have a contrary effect—it was found to en-
!lance the price—so it wits with respect to pro-
, visions--o it must he with respect to labour.
On the whole, he considered the Poor's Bastes as
positive injury to the poor—he meant to the poor in
the mass. It was in that wav the question should
br eunsioltrre4. The Puor's Rates should he con-
s dried ns they affect the general interests—as
they affect the happiness of society : for his own
part. he di.l not see that any class of society were
beiletited by them. and lie considered the interests
of the industrious classes injured by the compulsory

sts.em.
After a few words from a Member, whose name
we could not learn, the motion was put, and leave
vas given to bring in a Bill to regulate the Settle-
ment or tile Poor.
Mr. S. BOURNE rose to move fur leave to bring
in a Bill to prevent the misapplication of Poor's
Rases. It gil4s, he said, but within a few years that
raii-h officers were empowered to evilest( pour out
of the workhouses, and this opened thi dour to
many *brows. One great object, he said, of the
present Bill was, to eel childreis to work in a way
whirls lie thought deserved every applause. The
object was not to leave the wages of those children
under the direction of their parents; because in too
many tnstances it was found that they had inisap.
plied them. He said the idea deserved applause,
but he dot not mean to take the applause to him-
self. Mr. Lucke had recommended the very regu-
lation which was now proposed by the Bill. The
great object was, to combine the advantages of in-
dustry wad education—and this could br done.
He could riot, lie said, anticipate airy objection to
the Bill. It was very evident that when the parents
of children were so poor as to be no longer able to
support, they must be uu longer able to educate
them. The object was, to take these children
away from their parents and to educate them in
schools iu the same parish. To that object, lie
repeated, there could be no fair objectioo.
When it was recollected that the higher orders of
society part with their children fur years—send
them not merely out of the parish, but, in many
casts, out of the realm in which they live, lie could
not help thinking that any objection to the plan of
taking away the children of the poor to educate
them in the same parish where their parent» live,
where they are always muter the eye of their parents,
must proceed from is very overstrained sentiment of
humanity. In noticing the Unstably of parents to
educate their children, he condemned, in strong
tensor, the shameful reduction of wages in many
Darts of the country. He concluded 1,6 moving
fur leave to bring in the Bill.
Mr. CALVERT condemned the system of snow-
once for children. It had the effect of promoting
idleness in the parents, having wine six, and some
eight shillings a week, they did not mals'e those ex-
ertions for their fissuilres which otherwise they would
base felt it their duty to make. In his parish, he
said, there was nu allowance whatever, and yet the
pour were much better off than in those parishes
iu whirls allowances were given.
Mr. Maast-trau said, that in many parts of the
country the most industrious poor in full em-
ployment. workiug tiftteu or sixteen hours a day,
could not obtain more fur their labour than six or
seven
Mr. D. RH:mum said, he was persuaded that
the establishment fur education would be properly
and humanely conducted. There could be no
motive for cooducting it otherwise. There were,
however, evils against which the Bill provided no
remedy, and gave no security. With respect to the
wages of labourers, hr thirtight that mould regulate
itself—every person had a right in this imitative to
act as lie thought fit.
Mr. ALtxwet.t. ...id, that many of the poorer
claw of peurle intermarried with no other object
than that they might receive parish allowances fur

their children, which was rise of the mists of a re.
oluirdant population.
The question was then put, and leave was 64cti
to bring in the Bill.
FRIENDLY SOCI F.TI ES.
Mr. 1410WIFIS CoVRTEN%Y moved for leave to
bring iii a Bill for the further encottrogetnent of
Friendly Societies. The lion. Gentleman Slid, lie
could not apprehend much opposition to the Bill.
II opposition were made, it would arise, perhaps,
from the love of novelty, or from an apprehension
that it was opposed to the system of the Saving
Batiks. After some further ohmervations on the
general principle of the Bill, the Hon. Gentleman
moved fur leave to bring in a Bill fur the further
encouragement of Friendly Societies, which, after
a few words from Mr. Uar, was agreed to.
Ile then rose, and moved for leave to bring in a
Bill for the Establishment of Parochial Benefit So-
cieties, which, after a few words from Sir GERARD
NOEL, was agreed to.
TLe Claims on France Bill was ordered to be
read a second time on Friday next.
Doctor Pitt !AMORE postponed his motion to the
29th of April next, respecting the Solt Duties.
The ether Orders of the Day were then disposed
of, and the House adjourned at Eight o'Clock.

FOREIGN I NTE LLIGE NC E.

-apto ,
. ,

4/
Of Charles IL ' have tiw et
Itiewtit witi 1111 l vsliii
e prem. A pi
of
eel twist
1/2 ilkid • ry.
411. thought if poti
ialliCP wove ;" 1 gular hos 1