Star.
London, England, 1817-02-22 00:00:00

r.tiistrasting the state of the lower orders of society id
that country, and greatly to the prejudice of the
lower order of people in this. True it was, the ne-
, eessaries of life for them appeared few ; but, although
their subsistence were potatoes, and their greatest
luxury a bit of salt fish and a drlp of butter-milk,
still the cheering and einkari,q; comforts of life were
there to be found. Ti,e laudet4le spirit of indepen..•
dence promoted them to seek their homely tare by
their sturdy labour, and by individual est.:al:in.
Doling a tour ss hich consisted of nearly a thousand
mires in that country, he had visited every where the
cottage of the lab. wring poor, and although ot.ett lie
found tits cottage itself without a window, tto• stn: ke
escaping by the d..or, the furniture compo,ed of

the COH! ant MATTI Alb the result of his investi-
gation wa:i tlee same—still the vigorous and Lit-if
tenants :ipproac!,, d him with a mingled ail- of mile-
pendenc-e and h which reminded him of
tht.e.trlierhistoryo• hit own country. (Hear, h:or.
LooleEn,..r. to this contrasted state of things, it was in
one part a day of sunshine to a Jay ofgloom-; iw tazT,
no Lingo ige could ptitez the difference of. the rens.-
tions excited by the r,llections arising from such a
contrast. At home he found earolled for eke...mooy-
nary support, nearly two millions of pup- ro, and
much of this arose from improvident maitiages—a
species of misery which, strange as it might appears
the. Legislature could not inteimeddle with, from its
delicacy.; yet 6nm:thing should be done to teach Oran
unhappy sensualists that the offspting t.:,ey were ;laces-

.
S4rily about to bring into the world wouli .be only
heirs to the consequeoceq of their pirtnts' fly and
improvidence. Be should propose, in the first place,
that the funds which it should be his object to point
out or create should be applied by the parishes them-
selves optionally ; for he was persuaded much of the
evils originated in the compulsory enactments for
specific relief to almost all who applied for it. This
was the great evil. It would be only just to let those
distribute-the relief who had themselves ccntributed,

and might perchance become themselves objects o 6
relief in their turn. How different would be the mode
and the effect of such a distribution of the common,
stock of charity from that of an overseer at present I
The object to be attained, was simply to restore the
Act of the 43J of Elizabeth to its otiginal purpose
and destination. Thus the tax would be.:.me much

lighter front the re:uctance wLich would be created
to resort to those funds when under such super ittie:l4
dance ; funds, too, created Irmo the general stock of
the common labour in e.ich 1 ttle community. The
criaii had arrived, so much dreaded by the country

.t.td by Ministers, when the sources ut prtv.:te con.
nibutiun were neatly dried up, and ta,thing 'amber
in that way ci;uld be done, let the co.,sequences tur
ever so theadful alit! appall•ng. He instanced the
town of Sheffield As overwhelmed v id& the cuntritni-

Man actu :11y requisite for the relid of the pin,r ;
it was expected that to meet these demands, the ter
on property is houses and lands wool.' licit he less tilts
year than rIL:t10 per cent. even tire thick occasioned
by the late esti ai)refinary contribution would, it was
said, be exhausted in live or six w.eks, when they
nu longer would know what to do.—(Hear, hear).-
-In Shropshire, Nottinghamshire, and Lincokshire,
most of the assessments were as high as 18s. in the
pound, and same exceeded 2./3. Takiirg the !tight
Hon. Member's (Mr. G. Ruse's) statement in IS:S,
as granted, his opinion of the income of the c .ustt
in 1803, amounted to 35 mdtious, while in t'ie year
1815 it had been chimaera at 57 mitilinns, W.A.( t!.n
present income might be fairly estimated at tai tome
than that of 1803, viz. 55 millions ; yet the count: y
was now obliged 'to give eight millions and a half
upon the score of the poor's rates, which amounted
to not less than £26 per cent. or ss. 3d. in the pound
sterling. Ail tanks, therefore, of persons must now
be called upon to bear their share in supportii.g their
distressed fellow countrymen until some laixatr

might be procured for them in the ordinary way tf
industry. 'l'he landliolJer bore at present alm,sst t'ie
whole burden ; the stockholder, and persons in trade
and professions, must also 'bear their part. It was
nut just to expect that the burden should be taone
thus unequally. From the sources of the stock ot tue
East India Company, that of the South S a, the.
profits of the Batik of Eigland,° and money lent
Hisao securities at ii.terest, lie conjectured n.. 1•:ss
might be 1 a way, •
sum than 54,800,000 i i
without readying the pionts of trade coatiibutory
thereto mote th in in the pr 'portion f4# per cent.
The stair of 61cm:tray was too alarming t.. be tiel.
stered up by the issue of Parr
.Money, Coin Bills,
and such expedients. Tne 'evil roust be struck at the
rout—temove the burden of tazatioa. Tnis might be
June by an equalization date impotts upusi particular -
branches of the couiltsy, when it was con.i.tered that
the collective income of labour amounted to not lest
than 1441 millions. He misted fur a Committee t..)
examine into the state of the Poor Laws.