Star.
London, England, 1828-04-18 00:00:00

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dvnamls for labour; those artisans sometimes bei .g id
comfort one day, and without employ the foltoeftig
week. That subject ought to be most antibody inquired
into, I ,r a,e purpose of ascertaining whether some re
ni,di out,' not he provided for such evil. However,
that was a part of the subj-ct which he should not our-
s farther at present. Tree point to which be princi•
-Cr desired to direct the attention of the House, was
the Sitoition of the agricultural labourer, part of whose
• was too frequently paid out of the rate. That
vs evil, and that was an evil which he de-
:orrect. The Poor Rates had advanced mu-
- the last few years. In 1782 they were
0001. in 1815, they amounted to nearly
now they were 6,440,0001. The amount
su rapidly advanced, it had now become a
ing burden on the land and the country.—
!mark here, that the great abuse which had
in the Poor Laws was chiefly in the southern
Hear.) Such abuse had led to the depres-
agricultural poor ; but the abuse dt the
particular counties was remarkable.—(Hear). '
to ask how it happened that the increase in
rte in the county of Westmoreland amounted
per cent. in the last year ? In Lancaster,
• manufacturing county, and the scene of
,s, the increase had been 47 per cent. Many
It suppose that as a diminution in the gross
Poor rate had taken place in the last three
/ears, that therefore distress had decreased—but that' '
was not the fact; the cause of the decrease was, that,
corn had decreased in price much More. In the period
in which corn had fallen one half in price, the diniinu-1 I
tion in the gross amount of poor rate whsitichniiiitrable.
-.notwithstanding that £,680 special vestries had been
appointed ender the &lett teary Act, which: was an
Act full of wisdom, Vold well calculated to diminish the
amount of the pour rates. It appeared by a coMparisod;
of the poor rate returns since 177 b, that the cost of then
poor doabiedovery 20 yeses, and the cost of the la*
eapesses doubled every 112 Tetra. It appeared also that'
the lend paid fist-sevenths of the Whole rate. He had
mules calculation of the number of paupers, and fbund.
that in the year MI the number was 1,040,006, in
r • rid and Wales. The population then wa59,000,000.
s NI the number was la:340,000; the population
then being ten millions. In 1821 the number of paupers
was 1,600,04`0; in 1826, 1.7e0,0b0 ; and in 1827 it
increased to 1,80000. No one could wonder,.
with such an increase of Misery there bas a pro-
,• ionate increase of crime. He would merely say.
Scotland, that in the year 1818, it had but one
payer to twenty.one persons. If he was to select,
a country in which the poor laws were best adnii-'
nistered, it would be Scotland. Of seven hundred
parishes, only 400 had compulsory rates, and the Whole
amount was less than one-sikth of some English coon.
ties; yet the peasantry of Scotland were in a state sti-
perior to the English, owing, no doubt, in a great degree,
to their superior education. It was a great mistake to
suppose that manufactures increased poor rates. In
Lancashire the rate had been at foot shillings a head.
on the whole population, While in 'Sussex it was twenty,
shillings a head. The fluctuations in the currency had
some effect in increasing purr rate; but the fluctuations
in the price of corn much more. By returns, calculated
by Sir Edward West, in a work on the price of corn
and wages, it appeared that few a quarter of a century
previous to the period of the Beach itesdidtioh, torn
fluctuated but little, the highe.t price being 601. ireld
the lowe.t Ws. but since 1795, the fluctuations had beet
so great as to make the price more than double at one,
period what it aas at another ; being in some yean at
enortnoes pike of lilts. the quarter, at others under
He implored the House to consider what the
act of such flocteatimst in the pike of breed mint
are on the labourer. He was confident the misery they
ptsiltited was alessialste, and *at it *ls most ittju-
rioos to the interest of the landed proprietors, as, though
high prices caused high rent*, an evil was generated that
threatened to take away all tent—{Hear). These du e-
tditiens he hoped would be remedied by the Corn Bill
Wake the House. Another cause of the irttrease of,
Misery and poor rates was the state of Ireland.—
Thiscountry was ostrilnwed by Irish labooreri, who
uadersold the English labourer, and it might be laid,
toot from him his wages, and with the **sea so takenl
fits him paid the rent of the Irish landlord; this was
an nil that must be remedied. The state of the labourer
in Scotland was also depressed, and loudly called for
the itaerfereace Of the Mdse. The state of the lave of
relief of able-bodied poor required amendment. Their
client to relief rested on a single clause of the statute of
Elisabeth, which directed the overseers to set to work
those who use no ordinary and daily trade of life to get
their living by. This clause he was confident was now
misinterpreted, and certainly meant those who in former
statutes were celled sturdy beggars. He would refer
to the different Repasts on the Poor Laws, in which the
Committees decide against the right of able-bodied la-
bourers to relief from the Poor Rate. Any Gentleman,
Cho wished to benefit the condition of the poor, and by
that means of the country, would do well to consult
thole Reports. It was no wonder that much miscon-
auction of the statute of Elizabeth should take place,
as a hundred Acts had been since passed to amend it; and
ace were upwards of 10,000 expounders—he meant
Magistrates—spread over the country. The abuses pre-
vailed Most in the twenty southern counties. The law
!as abused by paying wages out of the poor-rates ; and
by making an allowance for children. The Report of
1817 gates, that a practice had prevailed of paying,
!hat should be wages for labour, out of the poor-rates.
The lteport of 1824 states, that roundsmen—men sent
mend by the parish to the farmers to be employed for
"certain number of days by each, part of the wages to
be paid out of the poor rate—were calculated to de-
reciate the condition of the labourer. The evidence
before the Emigration Committee showed to what a
dreadful state the labourers of the country were re-
titled. In Sussex, the able-bodied poor relieved
ameonied to nearly a third of the whole population ; and
"Hertford the proportion was above a third. It was la-
ntatable to see the labouring population in such a state.
e found by letters he received from various plates
to the southern counties, it was quite common to gibe
leaf for every member of the family, which took away
all dread of marriage from the poor ; and a letter from a
Clergyman of Northampton stated, that a young paa•
orphan at eighteen fell in love—the overseers refused
to cement to his marriage—the lover and lady were
butt impatient, and sent to London for the opinion of a
civilian, which was that the overseer could not
.ir marriage. The consequence was, they,
,c 1 the parish must provide for them
offspring. In siateen parishes in Eent,:out
inhabitants, 8000 are paupers, and cottages
the sole speculation of the rent being paid
parish rates. When the parish found the
cottage, they at once held oat an inducement
a& this practice was fast spreading even
In the sixteen southern counties of those
eluded to, white the atones preiaiied, the
tense daily wh bs stria 6d. and its 20 northern
chits the saws abuses of the poor laws did :Kt

'rages WI "I
was • serious
shed to entre
'flglf within
bout 4000.
,000,00; n
f rite had tl
ost Blatant)
e rei
en plate ii
noes.--(H
on of the
pie in parti
lie wished tc
the poor rate
0 fifteen pe
which was a
peat distres4
persons migli
mount of Si

i
statheiteiZi
promiseeio tooth Prevent tbei
NM as faf starnei, am
bin's!) the and their off
:. on the of 21,000 in
em moil are built on I
his object out of the p
Labourer. Paper a cot
tilted 08 to flAtciage
new snek ~,.'" Scotland.
t *skied, :utterly ail
in peril' lourist avers
on in the cftsties whg