The National Register.
London, England, 1818-01-12 00:00:00

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Our /ding, Concititution and 3t aI3A.

MONDAY, JANUARY 12, 1818.

lives would have been spared to society, crimes would
have been prevented, and the duty of the Recorder at
the Old Bailey would have been rendered much lighter
than it has been fur many of the preceding Sessions.
We trust that yet much good may be done, and hope
the Mag,istrates, and Parish Officers, and others in au-
thority, will follow up the efforts of the late Meetings
.jsLttipit4kg an object so congenial to every feeling
mfitrs To this end the Laws already in force, and
which have been but partially, and in many instances
improperly administered, are fully sufficient atul ought
to be carried into effect on a more liberal and compre-
hensive scale. The rigorous and more coercive part of
the system has been executed to the very letter, in the
imprisonment for seven days, and then passing to their
parishes hundred of wretched beings, who in many in-
stances have thus been driven from the only spot where
they were likely to obtain employment, and fixed in re-
mote parts of the country, where they must remain in a
state of pauperism, being driven from the place were
work was to be obtained, and where with the aid of a
little temporary relief, they would ere long have been
enabled to obtain an honest livelihood.

We would address ourselves, on another part of this
subject, to the Officers and Vestrymen of the parishes,
particularly in and about the Metropolis, where an ex-
traordinary increase of poor has of late been experienced.
What in the name of common sense, could have induced
these people, day after day, to behold the most wretched
miserable and famishing objects of their own parishes
as well as casualties, crowding their, doors and their
Vestry Meetings, without determining' to put the law
in rime, in its most 6enevoiesttltißtirm, fur their assis-,‘
tance and relief?—Can it be founded on any rational
principle that the inhabitants of •Bilston, Wednesbury,
or %Wolverhampton, should be paying a rate of fifteen or
twenty shillings in the pound, because the situation and
numbers of their poor required it, while the rich and
populous districts of Bloomsbury, Mary-le-bone, !sling-
' ton, &c., where the same cause existed, have been mode-
rately assessed at Ss. Gd. or 4s. 61. in the pound, mean-
while numbers of poor, honest, yet distressed persons,
not without claim upon, them, have been reduced to the
lowest ebb fur want of a trifling allowance, and the
streets of these parishes crowded with poor Sailors and
Mendicants of every discription. It is in vain for these
persons to say that their rates arc higher than they
ever were before, •that the parishioners will murmur at
any further increase, that the Woridiouse is already
full, &c. The plain and simple matter is this,—the poor
)LUST be supported, even though you should be obliged
to raise your rates from Ss. Gd. to 10s Gd., or even more,
in the pound.—That they should be rescued from their
present wretched condition is absolutely INDISPENSIDLE
—your duty is imperative—the nation calls for it—
the voice of suffering humanity donands
then your houses of reception, youriWerkhouses, your
Asylums—extend your alms, your pensions, your gra-
tuities—the law of the land will bear you out—it au-
thorises you to raise supplies in proportion to the exi-
gencies of your ease.—To delay this is trifling with a
serious and important duty; a duty which lies with
heavy responsibility on every person placed in the situa-
tions of Guardian, Guveraor, or Overseer, of the poorand
indigent part of the Community. 'This extention of re-
lief will be required only for a short period: The day
of amelioration we are persuaded cannot be far distant ;
and there is little doubt that there will ere long be a
considerable demand for labourers and mechanics of
every description ; there is indeed at the present time,
more general employment, than has been at any period
since the termination of the war. Already the manu-
facturers of Spitalfields, Manchester, and other weaving
districts, (notwithstanding the cheek which they have
received by a late unfortunate event) find abundant
employ, for their looms; the Iron %Veils and other

PRICE 9id

Mining operations of the country have been consider-
ably extended, and the price of their produce is advanc-
ing in the market; While the docks, the quays, and
water-side parts of the metropolis, exhibit a scene of
bustle and business strongly indicating a growth and
increase in the general trade and prosperity of the coun-
try: These considerations will, we are persuaded, be
an inducement, (if any inducement be wanting) to lead
the persons we hare been addressing' to a more liberal
and benevolent exercise of their functions as Parish Of-
ficers in the protection and relief of those indigent and
unfortunate beings whom mischance and not their own
misconduct has driven to the sad necessity of seeking
their assistance. N,

FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE.