The Sun.
London, England, 1826-09-07 00:00:00

'POOR LAWS-lIMAND.

As a very general feeling is beginning to gain ground
of the necessity of extending the system of the English

Poor Laws to Ireland, we think it will not be uninte-

resting to our Readers to present
,them with an extract
from a very able pamphlet on the English Po**Laws,
published in .180,. in which this measure was first
suggested, and recommended to be adopted.

The pamphlet to which we allude was a Letter to
the Right Hon, GEottoE C ANN I 144-3 on the Prin-
ciple and the Administration of the
,English Poor
Laws." It was published anonymously, but is known

be from the pen of the Reir.. W. CARMALT, of

Putuiey ; mid for: practical information, correct views,
and sound reasoning, it stands unrivalled amongst the
numerous pamphlets to which this subject has given

tirth, Most write on the Poor Laws have fbundeci

their opinions on theoretical principles, while the opi.

Mons contained in the pamphlet to which we allude,
appear to have been drawn from experience, obtained
in the succesafnkxnanagement of the, affairs of the
pariah in, which the author resides ; guided by a power-

ful judgment and discrimination, a thorough know-
' ledge of human nature, and a perseverance capable of
resisting and overcoming the obstacles thrown in the
way of every gentleman who interferes with parochial

concerns,

The opinion of such a writer, of the benefits which
would result to Ireland from the introduction of the
system of Poor Laws ,is entitled to mudi consideration.

'We strongly recommend a perusal of the whole of
this pamphlet .to those who wish to learn how to
inatian'e the poor fundtrof their parish, as well as to
those who endeavour, by gleaning from the writings of
all'who enter into this wide subject, to .come to some
jwst. conclusion upon a question so full of dill-leaks
as that 'of the Poor Laws.
!‘ I should have condemned mentlicity.as a mode of supporting
an indigent population as unceremoniously, and with as brief a no-
tice as I have despatched the first six moth's which I haVe enu-
merated, were it not the prevailing, and I believe, with very few
lival.eXceptions, the only resource Inc pauperism in a considerable
part of the lb•itish European dominions, Ireland. On comparing
the state of Ireland with that of England at this day, with a view
• to illustrate 'the effect of the English Poor LaWs, it is impossible
not to remark, that nearly three centuries ago, when there existed
a great similarity of national condition between the two countries,
the Irish and English Parliaintelts were legislating in the same
spirit, and adopting the:sante provisions for pauperism. In the
r sign of llen. VIII. both the Legislatures complain, in almost the,
same terms, of the general prevalence and mischievous effects of
.vsrancy said suendieity, and by statute make provision for li-
eensin the aged and impotent poor to beg, and flir punishing va
,• • r ,and mighty strong beggars. At this period the two Par-
•
'44 .4 -were acting under the same necessity, and With equal
,oavi Ater abating the nuisance.' Front this petite! the Irish Le-
gislature does not appear to.biwe interfered to'ereate.iiny final, or
.hi Corm:any regularinstitution for the maintenance of the indigent.
faer, the Ii tb and 12th Geo. 111., cap. 3t), was passed, by
wbitsli corporations were established for the purpose in every
comity, county,of a city, mot county of a town. The 211 and 24
rap, On, aural tin 46.Sipo. 111., cop. Ott, were. passed to
supply tl,e deticiences in 'the 11 and 1` Geo. 111., cap. 30. lum
not aware that these Acts, hive been put in force in any part of
/resod. Had the attempt been made, they would have been
found deficient; in practical regulations, and the pecuniary re-
they provided would have been inadequate to the' object.
In Ireland, then, the resource for indigence is begging. In 1601,
the English Legislature gave up the hopeless struggle for an mud-
tainable object, for an industrious a tranquil, and a starving Ito-

pulation, and passed the 43 Eliz., cap. 2, which provided ode
plate support for ell cases of real want, and power to compel the
, idle to Work, with practical regulations for cariying its objects
into effect. No.branch of whine! policy, in any country,. Ihe •
, Bowe, has met with more unequivocal censure, both at home and
abroad, than the English poor system ; in Ireland it is contem-
plated with undiagiiiaefl ahharrence. It is, true that the English
system has been !mewled with a large annual expenditure; but
can Ireland see nothing in the tranquillity, opulence, and comfort
of the general population of the country to compensate for the Ca-
critics? The humanity of the Irish people I believe to bedeserv-
ing of all the praise that 'has been or can he bestowed upon it,
and that all, from ,the highest to the lowest in rank, are always
disposed to relieve the vagrant poor. But general vagrancy is so
evil of no ordinary magnitude. When an Englishman pays his
ouote towards the maintenance of the aged or disabled poor of his.
district, the probability is, that he is contributing to the support of
thoie by whose previous exertions he has been directly or bull-
reetly:henefitted ; and, when he is Remind for the relhif of sick-
ness end infancy, he is only rendering temporary assistance to
those byWhose subeequent labour he may be requited; hut an
Lich cottager, in relieving a professional beggar, has neither to
recompeswe a service to himself or the community, nor any future
indemnity to expect from the object of hie-benevolence. • An in-
! diseriOnata distributional charity, where there arc no preventive
measures in force, 'mist also tend to encourage and multiply, with-
out limit, the race of beggars. As to utility to the State, the hi-
hooting and poor population of the two countries will still less
beer a comparnion. To what extant the turbulent dieporiition of
the lower class of people in heland is to be attributed to the O-
fferable condition in Which they exist, I have not sufficient know-
ledge of the country to form a guess, and it will probably be denied,
by those who object to the introduction of compulsory relief for
the poor, that it has ever heen, even . remotely or partially, the
cause of the insurrectionary disturbances which hare er, often. pre.
veiled there, though the history of the country in 182! would go
far to prove it ; but I am quite sure that the projectors of a
seheme for embarraseing or overthrowing a Government could not
wish for more suitable subjects to work upon than a brave, hardy,
athletic and enterprising people in a state of vagrancy and
wretchedness.

" A proposal for assisting the poor when in actual want in Ire-
land, by compulsory assessment, would probably be met by a
'statement of the difficulty of raising sufficient means for inch a
'purpose: But es there is in Ireland property, particularly landed
Property, 'productive to its owners, and that productiveness
,i4l:4,atteadtietrrwotraless.degree, by the atesistinwe of the labour-
istg tsertainly net insuperable; and their
right to partial r,cis.twattil.,7l.l.,oesn the poewssors of property, the an-
vnetovlallisoef tirb ,
labour, is ,t_eretely,nominal, without the inter.
,endit.tvaible the same principles as
those on which Ita:eefiers
w,,en cured to estAsblitili the right ,of
English labourers to
want, from the.general pro-
perty of the country.
An ll' sacs an Irish proprietor are
placed, on this point, on very notetial serf
Tess an estate, which, after Out 4,411,6, 14. 11 "eh should pus-
mof all national and l
imposts, except the poor rate, should annually I I fee 14 or::
the:English owner must consent to leavor the -
can touch any part of it, about tin eighth of the U,4,,,L"1' m 'ef"s
)1 he
find the whole available to I,ll°M.'
whilst the brush owner would
private purposes, and thus two estate* of equal valise would return
to their respective owners—the one 7,00f/L t and the. 4040:8,0001)
per annum. Ido not see that the Irish owner can torgute, un
equitable principles, his liability to a deduction from the proceede
of his estate fur the occasional relief of the labourers who are ern-
ployed upon it, except he' can show that the remuneration they re-
ceive is ailegitate to an their certain and accidental wants,
4‘ The general prevalence of pauperism, and the superabundance.
of population, have been urged at objections to a code of poor laws
for Ireland ; but these are evils which havegrown upon the coun-
try from the want of some well-adapted means for assisting una-
voidable indigence, and compelling the idlelo work ; and they
who have caused the mischief are not the only people who are to be
heard when the application of a remedy, is discussed. The
same iiiinge has been made against the Engin& aystem ; but it
will be observed that I am only advocating the spirit anti intent of
the English laws, which are wholly guiltless of such a copse-
quenee, and not their administcation, which I shall he among the
first to condemn. English ttutiiierop, whd is compelled by law
finpply:the differenee,,between the wants and the means of sup 7
porting life among the lean of the distritst in which his Wine is si-
tuated, has an interest in preventing the productiou of labittirers
beyond the demand, and he is constantly found opposing the niul-