The Sun.
London, England, 1836-10-18 00:00:00

per cent.

" United Netherlands, with a population of 6,166,854,
recently contained 11,440 charitable institutions, which

contributed to the support of nearly one in five of the
whole population.

" GERMANY.—AS it is impossible for me to. Know what
portion of this vast territory is intended 'fly the worthy
editor of the Chronicle as exhibiting the. advantages of a
poor-law system, I cannot enter upon tllis part of Euroco
at present.

" SwiTzEntmin.---Canton of Berr.e. Every one is en-
titled to receive support out of t}'.e public property of the
commune to which he belongs +, if that property fails, then
from the landed proprietors. The number of poor has in-
creased in proportion as ti:.o number and amount of the re-
soraces for their relief leave been multiplied and the Go-
vernment of the civnton have declared, 'that numerous
examples might he cited where whole families ha* .e
lived in depenitence upon the commune from year to yr,ar,
and even. from generation to generation, and who 'nave
found in that resource their means of existence, while
examples of a contrary nature are e.rtremely rare.'
" But perhaps the most important evidence :Is to the
pernicious tendency of the poor-law system iP.. Switzerland
is to be gathered from a recent state de,cument of the
Grand Council of the Canton de Notre pays
offre done un etrange spectacle : une, 'bienfaisance pub-
lique et privee sans cesse croissante.:, et fine misere que
la swpasse toujours. Ce contr.iie est plein d'instruc-
tion, et nous vous prions de Y,.ge pas I'oublier dans la
suite de cette discussion. MAis un peuple qui se trouve
dans un position pareille,
peut pas la supporter long
temps ; ce malaise s'il et
Ait prolonge deviendrait intole-
rable ; it faut y Porte -:•emede. Telle est la pensee qui a
inspire toutes les prJt-,tions dont nous sommes appeles a
vous entretenir.'

" Thus it app'iars that although the public and private
beneficence or.' that country is constantly increasing, yet
the misery which it is intended to prevent always sur-
passes it.

"
ARK.—The poor law system commenced in this
eoun+.ry in 1798, and no change in the law has taker:, place
sinrse 1803. His Majesty's Secretary of Legatirn states
VI the English Government that the poor law s:i; stem has
produced a most injurious eject upon the iw;ustry of the
people it has lowered the middle men tf, be poor men,
and it has converted the labouring poor in'au paupers.'
" SWEDEN.—It appears that, under t'„ie existing system,
Pauperism has increased in Sweden in, a greater ratio than
the population, and it is feared that, the moral effect pro-
duced upon the labouring class, b'y the existence of a fund
upon which they have a legal claim, has occasioned, al-
though not in an equal degree,, many of those evils which
the same system has brougl',"c about in England. The food
of the agricultural labour,ers in the southern provinces is po-
tatoes and salt fish ; -in the northern, porridge and rye-
bread. Wages avi,rage the whole year round sevenpence
farthing a day. •

" NORWAY.- —Mr. Senior states, • that the great pecu-
liarity of the
**system in the north of Europe is the custom
of afforu.nr's ?ow by
quartering the paupers on the land-
holders ~n the country, and on householders in the towns.
It 18'40 be regretted that the information respecting tho
e-Y:tsting poor laws of Norway is not more full and precise.
"I:n 1829 a Government Commission issued, and two pro-
ects of law for the relief of the poor were drawn up in 1832,
I j
but the result is not known.'

ENGLAND.—,AS some are of opinion that no such
scenes of misery and destitution as exist in Ireland, where
there are no poor-laws, could by possibility occur in Eng-
land, I would direct their attention to the recent destitu-
tion and misery of the entire population of the parish of
Cholesbury, in Buckinghamshire, and to the TOTAL FAI-
LURE OF THE POOR-LAWS OF ENGLAND to remove that
distress. I would then direct their attention to the fact,
that that misery and destitution was occasioned BY THE
POOR-LAWS OF ENGLAND.

" SCOTLAND, too, has her poor-law system, and while
it is suffered to remain a dead letter in the statute-book, no
injurious consequences are perceptible ; but as often as tho
system is called into operation, with its machinery of
compulsory assessments and legal claims upon it, then the
misery which flows from it is instantaneously demon-
strated ; and it is only by retracing their steps, and annihi-
lating the compulsory fund, that the evil is overcome.
The evidence of Dr. Chalmers, before the Houses of Par-
liament,• and his yob:table works on political economy, sup-
ply facts which arc conclusive on this subject.
" AMERICA,'--There can be no doubt of the fact, that
labour exists almost to an unlimited extent, in the United
States ; nor can there be any doubt that the 'remunera-
tion for it is good. Now—notwithstanding These advan-
tages—that immense Continent has, in some, of her States,
the plague-spot of a Poor-Law system, rapidly interfering
with industry, and extending itself over the surface of so-

ciety.
In Massachusets, where a first-rate artisan can receive
for his labour from 9s. to 12s. 6d., and an inferior workman
6s. 9d. a day—where the commonest labourer receives, per
annum, from 56/. ss. to 671. 10s., and the subsistence of
the working classes is such that ' there are very few who do
not eat meat, poultry, or fish, twice or three times a day'—
there is or was a poor-law system."
Mr. Leslie will perhaps be surprised when we tell
him that all his statements are beside the question.
The question is, not what are the number of poor
maintained at the public expense in any given country,
but what is the condition of the labouring classes, and
what influence has that condition on the preservation
of order, without which capital cannot be embarked
and improvements undertaken. What we have always
maintained is, that a provision for the poor is essential
to a good police—that without ordel• in a country
wealth can neither be accumulated, nor properly en-
joyed—that it is for the interest
bf the rich and middle
classes that the poor shoul-a' not be left destitute.
Where there is no provisio-,
r for the poor, a class grows
up with disorderly habit:s, whose notions of comfort arc
low, and who sprP:ad moral and physical disease
throughout a .nr,untry. When Mr. Leslie tells lug,
therefore, that the number of poor is great in a
country, •
'ne tells us nothing which bears upon the
question. In Holland, for instance, the number of poor
;:s great, but the comforts of the lowest labourer are
great. Holland and Belgium are cultivated like a
garden. Cleanliness and order pervade the two coun-
tries. No starving wretches are allowed to disturb, hy
their squalid appearance, the enjoyment of the prs.
sengers along the streets and highways—to diss•2mi-
nate typhus and other contagious diseases ; no
'sturdy
brigands alarm the peaceful citizens. Withou', a pro-
vision for the poor, who would live in a co-antry like
Holland ? As it is, Holland is, after Er () land the
1
richest country in Europe with reference t onumber of
inhabitants. Why is it that rich men viill riot reside
in Ireland ? It is because there is a wrlnt of security
for life and property. A man who should attempt to
turnips, would be laughed at. They would be all
taken up by the poor. A good story is told of the -late
Bishop of Kildare (Leslie, a Scotchman), who VMS Scp