The Sun.
London, England, 1845-05-14 00:00:00

rather than of quantity, which i 3 to be submitted to the
det-rmination of Partiament—the question, whether the f
philsophical humanity of Lord Karnes, as exhibited in
full operation by heritors snd Kirk Sessions, or that of
a Christian code, is to influence the Legislature in enact-
ing laws for the relief of the poor in Scotland?
We shall commence our extracts of facts, to elucidate
the practical operation of the economical school of hu-
manity, from the returns to two addresses of the House
of Commons—of " the number of the population in
Scotland at the last census," and of " the management
and support of the poor from 1836 to 1841 inclusive,"
ordered by the House to be printed June 20, 1843. The
first of these returns includes the counties of Argyll,
Inverness, Ross, and Cromarty, Sutherland, and Caith-
ness, with a population of 340,926. The amount of
contribution for the relief of the poor is returned under
the following heads for the year 1841:
£. d.
Legal assessment of heritors 1,077 3 4
Voluntary assessment of heritors 1,178 7 0
Collections at the kirk door 3,337 1 1
Funds from other sources which
passed through the hands of
the Kirk Session 2,090 3 4

Total £7,682 14 9

The number of " impotent persons on the books
of the Kirk Session legally entitled to relief" is re-
turned at 8,463, but there seems to be more than treble
that number equally destitute. Among the latter class
the sum of 1,173/. 16s. 6d. was divided, and among the
former, 4,797/. 18s. 2d., being on the average about
21d. a week for persons entered as " impotent," and ad-
mitted to be " legally entitled to relief I" In addition to
this allowance, they are granted, by the Kirk Session,
" the privilege of begging from door to door." A few
extracts from the notes appended to the parochial returns
will show the working of the system :
" PARISH OF Dunoß.—The minister writes,---' The
poor obtain their additional support by begging from
door to door. Such of the paupers as have humane re-
latives get some pecuniary relief from them ; but such
as have not, and are unable to beg, are literally starving,
or next thing to it. Slavery is condemned, and justly
condemned ; but I am persuaded that the slaves are
far better fed than our paupers. I trust, therefore, that
prompt measures will forthwith be adopted to ameliorate
their wretched condition.' "

" GAIRLOCII.—The minister writes, Their mode of
living in general is but seldom far above starvation point,
especially from the latter end of r inter till harvest ; and
the consequence is, that few of them survive an attack of
any serious malady, and many of them labour under
severe chronic ailments. There are always a great
many applicants waiting till a vacancy occurs, in order
to be put on the ii "
. .

" litanntsu.—ln the new statistical account the
minister states, that Those (of the poor) who received
the highest allowance from the Kirk Session did not get
more than lOs.' 'There is no regular provision what-
ever made for the poor ; they beg from place to place,
and are always liberally assisted both by the tackstuen
and by the crofters, who have anything at all to spare ;
but at the same time the condition of those who are
bedrid is a very wretched one ; while some of those who
go about, though they receive food, are miserably ill off
in regard to clothing.' "
" STRONTIAN.—The minister writeP, Tlll about three
years ago the poor here were in great misery generally.
but during the last three years Sir James Riddell (an
heritor) has distributed some meal amongst them during
the summer months.' Their neighbours and relations
contribute the rest of their scanty supplies, the small
farmers and crofters being exceedingly charitable to their
destitute brethren. At pres'clit many of them are in
great need of clothing and shoes, but beirg only a quoad
sacra minister, I have no poser to remedy their wants,
otherwise than by representing their case to the heritor's
factor, and urging him to supply them. I may mention
that, owing to the absence of Sir James Riddell and his
family (they being abroad), and the removal of some
respectable families from the parish, the church collec-
tions were much reduced this last year, so that we had
only Is. 6d. to distribute to each person.'"
" KILLEARNAN. —The minister writes, How the poor
have been supported is to one a wonder. The :nly
ostensible means of support they have is begging from
door to door, and what the kindness of their neighbours
supplies—a meal a day often, and that of the poorest
fare, merely a few po-.atoes. Were it not for the Chris-
tian kindness of the middling classes, they would assu-
redly starve.' "
" ASSYNT.—The minister writes, The amount of pe-
cuniary aid afforded the poor is astonishingly small.
The truth is, almost our whole population is poor, and it
is extremely difficult to select the poorest. Of course,
the miserable annual pittance granted does little or
nothing towards their support; consequently they are a
burden on their poor relatives and neighbours, rendering
them nuirly as needy as themselves. We have no
wealthy people residing amongst us. The sole heritor,
the Duke of Sutherland, does a good deal towards alle-
viating distress, by remitting arrears and rents.' "
_

" kill-MICHAEL AND CULLICUDDEN.—The minister
writes, That whilst ss. is the average annual sum which
those on the poor's-roll in this pari,h receive from the
poor's-funds, their other means of support throughout
the year I really cannot very well describe. They live
in wretched hovels, and are supported by the charity of
their more immediate neighbours, and thus contrive to
eke out a miserable, half-starved existence. For their
hovels they are charged with rent either by the landlords
or by their tenants ;at least most of them are.' lie then
states that none of the heritors contribute anything to
the poor• funds, except an occasional small contribution
oa the Sabbath."

However repulsive such statements may be, we im-
plore our readers to master them ; the task cannot be
more loathsome and humiliating to them than it is to
us ; but there is a solemn duty to be performed towards
those neglected starving creature's, who are lift to
prey upon on another until all within their
sphere are involved in equal destitution. Tak-
ing these eases in the order they stand, we see
" that such of the paupers as are unable to beg are lite-
rally starving ;" that " their mode of living, in general,
is but seldom far above starvation point ;" that
"there is no regular povision whatever made for
the poor ;" " they beg from place to place, and
the condition of those who are bedridden it: a very
wretched one ;" that the Church collections were so
much reduced from the absence of a landlord and
his family, and the removal of some respectable families,
that " last year there was only Is. 6,1 to distribute to
each poor person;" that "the only osteesible means of
support they have is begging from door to door;" that
" the miserable annual pittance granted does little or no-
thing toward their support—consequently they are a
burden on their poor relatives and friends, rendering
them nearly as need) as themselves;" that a resident
minister " cannot very well describe" how " they con-
trive to eke out a miserable half-starved existence ;"
but that, in this case, " none of the heritors contribute
anything to the poor funds, except an occasional small
contribution on the Sabbath."

It is by e.uch masses of facts occurring under the
existence of a law for the relief of the poor, that
the Lor3-Advocate's proposed measure for amending
this law is to he tested, and not by his unmeaning
assertion, that the condition of the poor in Scotland 44 is
not what it ought to be." A measure, to justify any
expectation of its being effective, must not be founded
on such a trumpery mincing negative, but on the damn-
ing facts of the case—on the positive existence of a
huge, monstrous, foul series of national crimes, com-
mitted with impunity on the helpless., under the sanction
of metaphysical economists, and impiously defended
under the cloak of religion.
We leave these facts for the present without fur-
ther remark, as examples of that horrible accumu-
lation of suffering and criminality, which calls for the
most unflinching scrutiny. The question now raised
is, not as to the character of these disgusting pro-
ceedings, but whether the remedial measure pro-
posed by the Lord Advocate is sufficiently strin-
gent to deal satisfactorily with suck 'enormities. This
requires an induction from a still more copious selec-
tion of facts, with which we shall endeavour to supply
the public, as the course taken in Parliament incontro-
vertibly proves, that it is to the operation of the facts of
the case on the public mind that men should chiefly rely
for humanising this stupendous embodiment of sordid
cruelty and cold calculating fraud.

COURSE OF EXCHAIs
Amsterdam CF. 12 8i
Ditto, at sight l2 6i
Rotterdam 2U. 12 9
Antwerp 26 15
Hamburgh M.B. 14 0
Altona

1 GE.—(YESTEADAI.)
.
Leghorn ..... 31
Genoa
Milan .
Naples
Palermo, OZ ll9
Lisbon .. 524
Oporto ....... 53
Rio Janeiro
Bahia • •
Buenos .A.yi .38
NewYork.::ltlyssight
......
PRICK 4 ate BULLION, PER OZ
Foreign .1-.41, bars. £3 17 9
Tortuga' ';'old Coin 8 17 5
New Poubbons 0 0 0
New s 0 4 91
Silvor • gars 1 4 1011

Paris, 3 days' sight 25 90
Ditto, 3 months 26 10
Marseilles
Bourdeaux 26 15
Frankfort on Maine 123
Petersburgh, 3Us —

Berlin —

Vienna, effec. fl. 3 M lO 2
Trieste, ditto
Madrid 36i
Cadiz

Bilbao
Baroalona

Saville

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