The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-22 00:00:00

certainly seems as if the managers of these places
went out of their way to render them as obnoxious
possible to the unhappy creatures who are forced to
resort there. As the Marquis truly observed, it is
not to be wondered at that, under these circum-
stances, so large a proportion of the population
should turn their attention to crime, and that our
streets should be infested by beggars. Lord GRAN-
VILLE'S answer was as unsatisfactory as possible,
for the noble lord went back to the old story
of the necessity that existed for not increas-
ing the vagrant poor of the metropolis.
It is not among the class who resort to
workhouses that the regular vagrants are
found, for these are too sharp to waste their time
where they can get so little. The full severity of the
rigorous measures of our Poor-law guardians presses
upon the wretched classes who are too weak or de-
pressed to enter upon the crafty pursuit of vagrancy,
and hence the utter want of feeling exhibited in the
arrangements is the more to be deplored. Lord
GRANVILLE said that he believed many of these
poor people started in the morning of their own
accord, but this is not likely to be the case in many
instances. No doubt the Poor-law Board may not
be aware of the fact of this early clearance system,
but it is their duty to acquaint themselves with the
particulars of the case, and to sift the conduct .of
those officials who persist in dealing out such scant
accommodation, and insufficient assistance to those
whom the law has decreed shall receive it during cer-
tain months of the year. What with one excuse and
another, it is really extremely difficult to come to a
definite conclusion as to what is or is not done in
Unions. The startling fact remains, however, that
it is always the reiteration of wrongs that we hear
"the sad rehearsal of the past," informing us that
here the casual poor are turned out, and there the
sick inmate neglected. Then follows the old ex-
cuses and the worn-out reasons, and the matter
fades away from public recollection for a time. But
this is not what it should be, and the sooner some
alteration takes place the better for the reputation
of all concerned. Lord HOUGHTON'S view of the
matter is doubtless that of a large number, and
therefore it is well to consider some of his state-
ments. In the first place, instead of its being a
proof that the new workhouse wards are not re-
quired for the reception of the casual poor, be-
cause they are not fUll, it is rather an evidence
that the poor are not rightly attended to, and,
above all, received in such a churlish spirit that
any other place is preferable, or even the streets are
chosen rather than the receptacles provided by law.
As for the Refuges being full, that is because those
institutions are provided with more consideration,
and their managers do not go out of their way to
insult misery by a supercilious treatment. Lord
HOUGHTON, and those who think like him, need not
be afraid that wholesome arrangements are likely to
prove so attractive as to draw people from the
country to share its comforts. It will be very long,
and a change must come over the spirit of the dream
of poor-law officials, from the highest to the lowest,
before there be any chance of such an inconvenient
practice obtaining. The suggestion of the noble
lord's concerning the propriety of having some one
in the House of Lords who would represent the
Poor-law Board, was a very wise one, and might be
adopted with considerable advantage to those con-
cerned in the discussion of those important matters.