The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1819-08-11 00:00:00

'JAMBI:ROM AND DAJTCH MAILS.

LONDON, •
WEDNESDAY. AUGUST 11.' 1519.

The Report from the Select Committee on the
Pour Laws. appointed during the last session of
Parliament, loas been printed, and will be found in
smother part ,f this Paper. This Report must he
eunsidertd rather as s review of the suggestions
hitherto rustle ou this 'inpatient subject by the
Committee of the last Parliament, and of the toea-
sures pr.'pased and adopted during the last Session, -
than as holding oat the promise of future proceed-
i from %hien any serious. relief to the country
Call be anticipated. The principle of compulsory
relief therefore may be considered us fully este-
hlislierl„and the only restraint imposed upon the
prruicious effects which, stutter the present system,
have for centuries been seen to flow from it, is the
right given by the Act of the last Session to parishes
of appointing select vestries to watch over the eiw.
peuditureof the parish funds. It is impossible to
regard Ibis provision as of any effectual or
onti momentary cheek to the growth of pauperism.

If the omen of the sums
of the indigent were limited to a fixed timustity, or
if the &mint were restricted to a certain *amber
of individual claimants, can Bad etionapty in the
til,enditure trio doubt at all times and iniifer every
'Circumstance desirable) might be attended with the
beet cad must ravourable results ; but when on the
one band all the "local and visible" property in
the cousins is liable Ito he meginied to the poor
'rules, owl when experielice Wiesen on the
Ohre, that the deuiand his uniforady and pro-
gressively increased, and that from its irattste It
must increme In ptupotlion to tl.e amount
'apply, it is evident that ma tare or economy,
however exemplary nod strict, can eff,ctually
mitigate the V.lfit4 or permit the shims of pub.
lic charity. The stirnrising increase within
p comparatively short period in the sums annually
raised in this country fur the relief of the poor)
cannot be too strongly or ton frequently premed
upon the attention of the public. ki far back lab
deed as the taiddle of the 17th century, complaints
appear to hove been made of the increasing 'toot-
bars and burden of the pour, for we Bud it
recited it) the preamble of the 13th and 14th
CHARLEs 11. that " the necessity, number, ant
commis:al iotrease of the poor is very great, sod
exceeding burthensome ;" and in the year MIL
king WILLIAM in a speech from the Throue de:
clam, that 64 the increase of the poor is becothe a
burthen to the kiligdom." But not until the year
1776 were any authentic records preserved, front
which we might estimate the justice of these com-
plaints by comparison with earlser periods; from
that year, however, the burden has increased with
a rapidity by no means commensurate with the
iticresse of population, end altogether iiseotnpatible
with the avowed and manifest improvement which
during the same period has taken place in the porn-
ductive powers of the country, the extent of it.
Imanufactures, and the accumulation of wealth.
By the returns made under the authority of the
Legislature, it appears that in the year 1776, *loch
complaints were made of the gtowing evil, the
whole sum expended upon the poor ors 1,550,8041.
The sum expended in the same manner on the
average of 1783, 1734, and 1785, was it,004,293/.
its 1803, the sum mu expended unmounted to
4,07.965/. ; in 1813, to 5,078,028 i. ; and in 1818,
1817, mid 1818, the average was 6,132,7191. No
doubt can be entertained that during the premise
year pauperism bus considerably incrtaved, so that
the amount of the taxation to be raised this yogi'
for the relief of the poor only, independent of the
taxes fur the ordinary supply, militia, and other
purpose., will we fear not he less thorn 8,000,0001.
it is a huetiliuting reflection that one million of
our fellow-sobjecta, being a tenth part of the pm
pulacion of England and Wales, are supported
either io the whole or in part by public charity,
without feeling one sentiment of shame or repug-
uance at being reduced to a necessity so degratliog !
Such being the nature of the malady, and such its
progressive advance, it is idle to think of allaying
it by gentle treatment. Should some thousands by
strict economy be saved in one year, they will be
swallowed up in the eularged demand of the year
ensuing. There is no corrective principle in the
present systems to which we can look with confidence
as calculated to prevent the certain fulfilment of
this assurance. So long as idleness io the minds of
the lower orders of the people possesses more charms
than labours-so long as • workhouse offers no tin
rors to the imagination, and uo distinction is taken
between the idle and the unfortunate-4o long will
the lower classes of the people look With confidence
to the parish for support. The independent spirit
of mind which once characterised the labouring
classes of society in this country, and taught them
to look with sentiments of horror and degradation
to the state of psupelisiu, has been of late years
much impaired, and the sense of pain which ope-
rated where no pride existed, and tnade the dirrei-
pline of a workhouse an object of terror and dis-
may, has ceased to exercise a beneficial influence
as the severity of die systeni became relaxed. These
and other circumstances urcestartly accompanying
them, will cause the 'lmam(' on the public charity
to increase iii every successive year rather that. dimi-
nish, and after the experience we have already en-
dured, it is impossible nut to apprehend, from a
continuance of the present system, that, at no very
distant period, the poor rates will have increased to
such on extent us to transfer the groat amount of
the agricultural profits of the country to the poor
assessment. The principle of pauperism has seised
firm hold of at least cite million of our people, it
has uniformly been increasing for at least one hon•
died years, but has within the last twenty
years with seceletaiLd velocity. Li proportion as
it has advanced, the harriers against its further pro-
gress have beets imp aired. I it is now striding
onward*, siweading desolation and ruin.
Wheo the Committee of the House of Commons
was first appointed in the Session of 1817, the public,
looked to Its proceedings with sanguine hopes. No.
subject had for :natty years so intensely occupied'
the public 'Mud, ur on which mate was spoken
written; both in Parliament and thronghotit the
kingdom. To say that the measures suggested by
the Committee have grievously disappointed the
public, would. perhaps. be thought by some to
prove only that the public expectations were too
highly raised, and that its prudence and policy they
ought o$ to have ,been gratified. We cooked.

lid it uresuld have been little short of rood.
Meinb have at such a moment deuroy.d
system that had existed for centuries,
which so large 6 portion of our
pended for subsistence; hut we do not tt,,
those tilises were Um sanguine, itt in Shy deper,
Icompatible With good sense and 'sound
tt,,,,t
contemplated a return to the piritieivie on oh,rh
43,1 of Ell*. lefty Iwo together with A ,fete
bbilteVAliCe of the ow wodthouse *stem, which,
the wordlist the Report at 1417. " for a tjas
sited eery powerfisily in efcterciPtg
rirosting thehiseites co 'their parishes for
The humane aud iutrlligihle principle of the
Aft
of Eliz. was to set to work all sturdy
paupers, slid to procure relief for the
potent, old, •41.1 blind, and such oilt,rt
110 or end not aide to work." Thus tj>t id:,
*gee to be set to 141 hour, and then! bait is"
to receive peCiiiiiary or other relief wild Out
not Able Is, ekert their owls uhdtahtry. Ls *said oil
bre,,,a, any nation to •offer thi•se lo endure az4
*hum fulauttuw, MCAWe-tit. or Mgt reigitweii uhr
pable of suppoeting themselves; hut it ill i else,
hog outrage Upetls cidninon pebte, odd /talks:hurt
rubbery Utica the iholu.thiotts and thsefhl win i
t
society, to compel them to simmitt iu ruluotsit
idleness those 11,110 oft. aisle to labour, Not a sh:i.
hog should bit givru to one einabie of woildrg
which WAS out teeMearntili and all ilia sur!t ithlt,.
triduals Could of right cooped or claim Irian *Lew;
is the means of stqfporthrig themselves by their yeti
industry. It is to. chject that 1114 t
Width otitis circUttistances might be
Synder hu kifetiMAtialiCto CAI) utatwai 14'11101/y 14.
theiously directed hr unprofitable ; lib/ we 4.0
that it would he better fur tociety, pod fur 9,
Individuals claimihie parish relief,
in pwlirhw~ rantiort balls, rather Anti to pripht
them to taste tiot sweets of Idleness, by Qtr
them one rhillitig front the public fond-, wr
as winch, or even more labour than way lie remind
in the ordivary atmeations of life:

Paris Paper.; or F..itiay si.d Ratonlay
rived at our Officr.—The five par Cam:: are 7 ;.
Bank Stock, 1,430 f.

Dutch and Malibu rgh NIA+ liftte etrii.ll; trittt
Papers to the 7th *lust. 'Direr ituviotts 6htvi Itce
arrived at Coprultagru, pructedivg sou s tot.te
found the world.

A Stepp!meat to the London Getrite of Sitar.
day was pubhshed yesterrlq, contaissitsz rtot.tr.4
from dispatches received ut the last !Haw lionw.
from Furt William and Illsolsay. Tlleve truvrcse
relate to the mils!..ry operatimis or the. lust ic.lr t
India, but they ate all ost a mall bcAled mid potato
little interest.

The PliWitt RtGENT'S Mivel tkUrsinr, we .
demand, will be distinguished by a new 1,1,'
promotion to the rank• of Admirals of all
Captain& mode down to 1796 inclusive, eve:,
with Captain A I.FXANDFS.

The following has beta communicated to us i,•.
a Correspondent, as a sketch of the Addre.s ~;
Chief Baron litcuAsuit to the Graud jury at
Warwick A ssosrs
Chlef•Barciii IticuAaris—" tecatlem.a of 11. e Ori,rl
Jury—l have noibing of woweequenee to slats to you
this occasion. and therefore will owl detain you ft.on 7t.u.
important duties.

Yusir experience, without soy direction from me,
quite sufficient to guide you iu titan Ut trjettitat lithe
which may lie brought before you-
'4 There is something its the shape of antlicitaents to L.
brought outfir your tonsiderriCtin, sail unless thr
mauls east be supported ultimately, it will be ptvdeiit not : •
filted them, for the subject is one which ought out to be 14
CIIIIIS4d. [This alludes to the indictments preferred agsti.,i
Messrs. Cart orithi, Wools?, L.ltnunilo.ke. who were prows,:
at the Birmingham ;Sleeting when Sir C. wulaeley was clect•
ed Legislatorial Attocueyj.
The Learned Judge then requested tLeJory to hrielf Sir
hank befsinees to an issue as soon as possible, for ;be ..tid
the Gentlemen helotigiug to that Exhibited:l.'la
rosiest' humans to perfutai eirgeohere."
The Grand Jury ret.rid, sod fohott trite 1.t4
fur misdemeanor. tiL:ut Hence,. (tit tt.t. at Ott r,
EDIWSUS. Wout.t.st. LaWll, Maittdol, 81,11 :II-
other. Bail will be Otis at use Judge'. Chainbe, e
before thr Asstsrs do.e.
Watiisith, 9fh Aspital, 1.10.

Jamaica Papers to the idd of June hare csfue
hand.—According to accounts received at Riug.t,,a
front hlargaritta, discussions have Visits in that
Island among different Members of the Resists,:
ti tttt ary Government. It is affirmed that ARISSIIINDIs
the Commander in Chief, lard been deposed, as,d
Uanax yr* had been appointed in his place;
Jot.t.t. the Naval Commander, held nn
Inn BRION had proceeded to the blockade of Li
Guide.
It is said to he the intention of hie Rival fligt4
nest the PGINCE REGENT, after visiting the Pr
of Wight, &c. to proceed up Chaim,' 'n the N.E.
coast of Scotland, and hind at Baia, to visit the
Earl of Flee, where his Royal Higd
„mows will Speld
a few days in .hooting grouse. He will also vlot
hi. Grace the Duke of Gottooti, abase seat is lie
a few miles distant from that of the Ea:l Of. Fars.
His Royal Higlinet4 will extend Isis excurssun rou
the north, through the Pronlatid Flat% toriassli
the West coast of Scotland ; and after sutveyisig
the %Vesterai Islands, will proceed on a visit to hid
Grace the Duke of ARGYLL, at Invermay, *hers
he will enjoy the romantic scenery of Beft-LO
mood, &c. end the bottotio of Loeb Loatotter
Loch !!'fn,

wilrll DrCKer will .:CllillUilletl oil[ 01 We lOW Ilg 111. i
--.
rtUdelits pursued Into. sod assailed him with stunts.
CiII:SSELo. AVJOYST 4. - • 1
cAnuIRVIIII. JVLY 3%
.4 (unreal
4:ltetvoNplyacii.orn"tlrei!ihto(iiihireetr:llll f:ellet: powers The :11:1:, itif
.BeertirsiianateNttip:MtoreLor:.thit:lthery3o.for
ii
frnsu C:esseral .11.GreKur to raiite men for cli7 In-
Aluslii:h. Tfse 2 rpuct of the morriatgr of one of fits '
aserrPista is. Nest nrass.if!,,. is shortly expected In ditughiei, dith tier Brithisr it • of p • 1,-' I
lilieur. T4,r pirselit (.:,ithinniitter of the 'wilier:, rot c.„iiiii.4..- -. • 7 ris'ec flisesa
••• ' I
1,
vela' ragai,m,Kll4 in the Fre..cls army. This (:e- • The ntiat, ow the state or the geiser3l kiiiitb tile 1
threat is ha." at Ghent with a Cialtihiwiarp•Gelitenii. not very troognillltl rg. 141. ere, were iti the course s
%Ow. for:orrly io.rftti ill the British army. Several of the ititulashly permits• ortieted with the plague I
oflirers out half.iny have al.eid, ieceived commis- in the latish:o of ilk!. Seven Towers, 12 its that of 1
i mous (ruts. Maciamse. It persist that tiogs. Corn- Pers. ell of ?shorn have distl. Thus were.no sick.! i
usasetiera tie by Do mentsi destititte of snooty, but to the Isoppilitt pithe Eunkroosts. i I
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