The Sun.
London, England, 1828-12-16 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE LONDON JOURNALS.

We alluded yesterday to an article in the
Constitutionnel, on the extent of mendicity in
France, which, it appears, has attained an into-
lerable height. In the Capital the inconveni-
ence of the evil has compelled the Authorities
to grapple with it ; but, as the Constitutionizel
observes, the evil is equally felt throughout. all
France. " There is not a spot which is exempt
from this scourge, not a commune, however
small, where beneficence is not turned front•ip
legitimate course by the solicitations of passen-
gers, always impostors, and sometimes insolent;
‘icvt oe,oit,
sa_ki
observes,aerfik et,tsor rural meeting; which
is not surrounded as it were, and its approaches
nown as the
obstructs-d, by bands of these vagabonds. • The
evil has
elementary instruction suffi'.e‘lirFetiihtsel
no-
thing mysterious about it. The causes are as
y appropriated
to the habits and wants of the working popula-
the want
tion ; the want of a good direction for labour;
of an
diffictilties of the relations and communica-
tions which should secure the progressive circula-
tion of ideas." That men who are well edu-
cated, and have employment within their reach,
will not be disposed to beg, may he readily ad-
mitted ; but when people are very poor and very
ignorant, it is not so easy to instruct and find
occupation for them, The truth is; that with
the exception of the five provinces of the
north—the only provinces which Englishmen
in general visit,, and from which they are led
to form the :moSt erroneotis conclusions re-
specting the country in general—France is
one of the most miserable countries in Europe,
hardly better than. Ireland. One of the best
French writers on agriculture, wellacquainted with
the neighbouring countries, affirms that France,
us a whole, occupies only the fifth rank as an
agricultural kingdom ; that it is
.tiperior to
Spain, but greatly inferior to England, Flanders,
Holland,'aiitl Germany. " Throughout almost
all France, excepting. the north, and a few places
in the centre or sonft, the French cultivator has
DO idea of a rotation ofsrops, . All his,iinhistry
is confined •to, lahoitriug one year,.,attleaving
his land in disolutejidlo* the .next. The use
of artificial meadows;:and..ol.‘ leguminous plants
being- unknown to the crops which- in
England follow grain' are - totally wanting in
France ; and that linid "Which in England would
be covered with plants of a value equal, and
ofteti superior to grain; i left naked. A lease
nominally. for six years, ieltiingfonly three har-
vests, is really only \North three.., tears. l his
method • is, •howetor, that of - more than two-
thirds
.of 'France. Take tflo cbmory thirteen
leagues from Paris„ proceeding,. soutltwurdsi-arid
you will find thifr,dttre.stablinziriiepituresprevail-
nig, with a few -kteeptions, rtll 'ttie',way into-
Languedoc. There isi'lftit, faet,'-an'actiosbf
artificial gra,,,ses from eft#l4.lllthirfereYiletnes
from Paris, to "{ion); in A iptprirtiiwhOle.
of this immense spiteelimfer'ffie"fallow
fine
system ; almost everys„on y
rye ono year, and lies abiolntelAtik.Okrollovin.g:
The Letnagne of Auvergne,_the Promise,f Land
of France, constitutes the only ,exceptioil.to this
practice, which, however, is in.. full ::vigour in
the mountainous parts which- surround this
beautiful valley; it recommences where the valley
.ends, and goes on to LangnedOe. -Upper Au-
vergne, .the Gevaudan; Upper %merge, the Li-
mousin, Ia Marche, Perigord, l'Angoumois, the
mountains of 'Dauphine, 'Provence, and the
Cevennes, know po, other cropping.; the Mar-
van, the Gatenais, Upper Burgundy,. .a part of
Lorraine, Champagne, the Nevernais, the Bour
bonais, almost all Poitou, Brittany, the Lipper
Maine, Upper Anjou, le Perche, and Upper
Touraine are, like the provinces above mentioned,
under the disastrous law of absolute fallows and
rye crops, the habittial'hari,est of all these coun-
tries. One half of France remains uncultivated
each year, and the half which is cultivated is.
generally wretchedly cultivated for want of out--
lay and manuring. . . There is no com-
parison between England and France in this
respect, and still less with respect to another
branch 'of the utmost eonequence—cattle.
There are more animals on one acre.in Engliind
than on four in France, while the EngliSh cattle
'are greatly superior in quality." The same in.
telligent writer observed, that before the Repo.
'talon the gentlemen who resided in the'cOUntry
only attended to their gardens, and when they re-
tained a farm in their own hands, left the care

of it to one of their farmers' sons; So that the
Revolution had not deprived France of intelli-
gent cultivators, while it
iis4iJiiiiltaifilid:igreatly.
,i,n cp, ri el aeselos.::.
the number of resident proprietors. -But the
wars of the Revolution led to much
lioLtiihee'r.mios-f
nicilliia(iireerfmtllieifisactwatiiilosicni:mi crtochigne
up.
thought they perceived, says this writer, ‘, an
tnhgeinsi:arin•of
tions caused.to be contracted in
absoluteb want of means used to ctentle6mBsne'tshwerth,Qt7
celibacy for their whole lives. Such i.: in the
voaviouss"exi2
eeslo
possessing only their handS, hardly ever married.
—The Conscription Laws
day-labourers and ser-
vants,
changed their
to farms and villages, which,
of a posterity.
habits and driven them into marriage. To
escape these laws, and avoid being conscripts,
nothing from their parents but their
thiliielyeribteiielgame husbands and fathers
wretchedness. This explains the atrocious fiict
used to be complained of by Ministers.
whichlo
For instance, the number of exposed children
had risen in the short space from 179 if to 1799,
from 23,000 to 62,000." The progress of po-
draolicae:id tlltelye•
•pulation-in France encouraged by the habits en-
gendered by the.war, and a wretched system of
cultivation, under which the acquisition of ca-
pital is exceedingly slow, sufficiently account,
sfooruptsh;e
tghreoywtuhmlotit;zaestidioctiltryliti.iishF
illiaela,esaillitorydeasrierepofoorr,inlsivtie.wwlqi.eoptile,llitp:diillitykt
says there are
twenty departments in the very heart of' France
atotis)triern,:eunitatealtlheonvie. berxealanll/8:;elds
r EuropeM.e a very genejal pr's-
in this low condition. There i
iere seems, dowever,
increase of tt
IsitanCe',. sfroonn: hiiee
curious l.li'necleisa
detailss e
foro ie
ti.alilsi Pe
tl ooP;S:jonwpgil ettzibLE id, \i'‘hi'‘;;
the third volume of the New Transactions of-the
Swiss Society for Education, Industry,: Pew.
Pensm, &c. published at Zurich in 18'27.
The Canton of Appenzell, long' distingui.died
for its manulacturiiig industry as well as agi i-
culture, has geed obliged to increase the rigour
of its Poor Laws, to an extent of which we call
hardly form a conception. Every parish is
bound to maintain its own poor ; but the Over-
seers of parishes are bound to refuse the right of
marriage to all 'who-have ever received parish aid
and not repaid it. Should any heritage devolve
to the poor, or any acquisition he made, they
must indemnify the parish. All beggary is pto-
hibited.\ The relations of a child to the eighth
degree are bound to support it. No man dare
marry out of his own parish rlithout depositing