Star.
London, England, 1817-08-08 00:00:00

Palf.ll NI.

L..LI:•

provide for the aged and infirm, and r; se u•,, 'Me to
maintain themselves, who were these!ore compelled
to subeist by begging; the Statutests,ving !or one of
their objects to, prevent itinerant mendicity.
Tile first law in which any imperative words are
used in respect to the relief of the poor, is the 27th
of Henry VIII. cap. 25, by which provision is or-
dered to be made by ,4 all Governors of Shires, Ci-
ties, Towne, Hii.tdreds, &e by way of ecluntary
and charita:.le alms, for tie finding and keeping cf
every ag,•ci. poor, and impotent person which was
bo:n or dwelt three years within the same limit." It
also contains provisions fur the prevention of begging
and fur putting to service in husbandry and other
crafts or Libetes. all children above five and under
fourteen yeas. of age, who live in idleness and ate
taken h.gg.ng.
The te.Btii of Henry VIII. cap. 3, contains some very
humane regulations tar the protection of apprentices
against the exaction of fees. to which they had been
subjected "by the Acts and Ordinances of divers
w.:r.b:sis and fellowships, contrary to Die meaning of
ait .Ict of the 19th of Hasty VII.; and also to pre.
vent their being restrained by oath or bond front
keeping er setting up any shop after the expiration of
their appr...ticesitip."
The 3d and 4th of Edward VI. relates to the pa-
hishment of :Nue: and vagabonds; revi,es the Sta•
lute of 22J Hvury VIII. cap. 12. for the relief of
impotent mad aged persons; and directs that maimed.
sure, aged. ani intl.-item persons shall be relieved
and cured, and habitations provided for them. by the
devotion of good people of that city, town, or eila
lege. where they were born, or had dwelt three years.
The fich and 6th of Edward VII. cap. 2.. and the
2J and :JO of Philip and Mary, cap. 5. relate to the
same object of lend; the latter providing a " re,
witete A p;:r4i, is hot able to relieve the poor
therein, and wlizie a town surchirgeJ with poor
statish.th in or near two counties."

Tile net.. Act whit n appears upon the Statute
Book, is the 3d of Eliztbeth, cap. 3, which providts,
that the poor and impotent persons of every parish
shall be relived of that which every person will of
their charity give weekly; and that the same relief
shall be gathered in every parish by collectors
signed. and weekly distributed to the poor; h r it( ne
01 them shall weedy gu or %it begging. And if any
pal ishioiter shall obstinately refute to pay reasonably
towards the relief ut the said poor. or shall Macon.
rage others, then the Justices of the Peace at the
Quattet Sessions may tax him to a reasonaole weekly
sum, which, it he refuse to pay, they may commit
him to pris en. And it any parish have :n it more
impotent poor pereuus than they are able to reticrt,
then the Justices oh tht• Peace of the county may 11.
cruse so many of their, ..s they shall think good, to
beg in One ur more hundreds of the Sallie County.
The object at ais zict was probably to encourage
pr;vate charity, by providing for its proper Jistrltt.
n, as well as to pivvent begpintr, ti!lor by itine-
rants, or persons plating theniselv,s by the way.ei,'e
to: that purpose.
It is also the iirq Statute that is absolutely crtn-
pulsoty in respect to an assettment for the mitt of
the poor.

"Ibe vtry Fist tit-itute of the same year, the Mt
Elizabrtli, c.ip. 4•, eutithd, " An Act coucaiuing
divers O. dos for Aititicets, Labourers, St.ivants of
Husbandry, and F ptchtices." relates to so great a
valitty upon this subject, that your
Committee wilt tacitly give an abstract of the pram.
to of the Act itself.

Ai'illUtiß,ll theft remain and stand in force pro-
sently, a peat number of statutes concerning the re.
tainiug, depariing, was-s, and orders of apprentices,
servants, and hioutners, as well in husbandry, as in
Jivers other arts, mysteries, and occupations j yet
eartly fur the itnpertectien and contrariety that is
frond in sundry of the said laws, and for the variety
and number of them, arid chiefly fur that the wages
and allowances limited at.d rated in malty of the said
Statutes are in divers ploces too small, and nut an.
s.verable to this time, te-pecting the advantement of
prices of all things belonging to the said xer7ants and
labourers, the said laws cannot conveniently, witlioat
tile great grict and burthert of the poor labourer and
hired man, be put in good and due execution; and
as the said. several Acts aod Statutes were at the time
ot the making of them thought to be very good .m.l
beneficial for the Commormealth of this Realm (ts
divers of them are), so it the subitance of as many
of the said taws as are meet to be conchal: II shall :re
digested and reduced into r.ne sole Low and Satrite,
and in the same and nriqrrirr order presctibed
limited concerning the wagei and other orders ler
apprentices, servants, and Labourers, there is good
hope that it will come to pass that tire same law (be-
ing duly executed) shalt banish idleness, advance
husbandry, and yield unio the hired person, both in
the time of acarcity and in the time of plenty, a con-
venient proportion 01 w:oge."
The a...)te Act appe to to proceed upon the pre-
sumption that persons who timid find employment
would earn sufficient for their support ; and the 4Sd
of Elizabeth seas undoubtedly tor med upon the same
basis; the c.oisetenpice of which would necessarily be
that it was only such as cnrld nut find work them-
selves, that the parishes were obliged to-employ.
The 181 h of Elizabeth gives power to the Justices
in respect to the mothers and reputed fathers of bas-
tard children, who were to he charged with the weekly
payment of money, or assist in providing of other
susi.eination fur their relief and in detaalt thereof to
be committed to the common gaol.
It also contains prnvisiuns for the conveyance of
rooes from one parish to another; for providing a
stuck to set the poor on work in every city and town
corporate; fur establishing Hon-es or Correction in
every county ; and providing als:. that lands holden
in socage, may during twenty yea's, he given towards
the manic; 'lance of Boosts of C, tree:nun, and stock
to the pour.
The st of Flizobeth, cap. 7, though not
to the employment or relief the rot., is

referring
SQ

• I

Stennected wi h the sniaject, that it seems propel to
refer to it in th.s place. It provides. that for the
avoiding of greh inconvenieuces wbia are found by
expetience to grosi by the vrect.tig great numhers and
multitudes lit cottages, which Are daily mote and
more increased in many parts of the realm, no person
shall erect any manner of cottage for habitation or
dwelling. unless the same pers,ins do assign and lay
to the same cottale or buildings four acres of ground
at the least, to be occupied and manured therewith.
at. Ong as the same cottage shall. be inhabited. There
are ext e,uices for cottages in cities and market towns;
and the habitations of work.men in mines and
(platers ; and also for cottages within one mile of the
WA; for cottages nn forests, chases, warrens, and
pal k ; and for dwellings of herdsmen and shepherds.
The probable object cf this Ac% was to enable the
hblitr.f to maintains himself partly by the produce of
the land under his own management. and partly by
we., king fur otters ; thus rating a middle class of 14.
bolo s la ecn the f amber aad the mere day labourer.

The :39:h of Etiz ibeth „hitch who shah be over-
s-ets • f the poor. by whom and when they shall be
appitinted, their ullice and duty, their accounts, their
Writ ittaes,

The Committee did nct conceive they should have

p.i;ornied the duties of their charge, if they had not
en.kabettt,:d to bring under your Lordships' view a
&bort summary of the laws preserved on the SIAM!
130 k upon this subject, from the periods at which
the different p iris of the system appear to have been
first established. l'hat summary is now brought down
tn.the of Elizabeth; in which the different laws
and provisions that had previously existed for several
y ears, are united and consolidated. Fr)at lapse of
ti and a departure from the true spirit of the above
Act, ;arising irtquently from-the humane exercise of
its suppos:n possers, abuses hare undoubtedly been
idtruthiced into the gents al admin,stration of the
Laws of England; but the Committee are
•vertin less decidedly of opinion, that the general
system of those laws, interwoven as it is with the
habits of the people, ought. in the consideration of
any nit4sures to be adopted for their melioration and
improvement, to be essentially maintained. It is under
this Act that the fund for employing the poor who are
able to work. and for maintaining those who are tin.
able to do•so, is raised at this,day, with several midi.
fications and alterations linweVer, that have been en.

acted by subsequent Statutes.
• • It must be obvious to any one who considers the
general scope and probable view of many of the Sta-
totes which have been enumerated, that at the period
of their enactment the state of the country was ex-
treinely different from that in which it is now pieced,
is many important instances ; and that consequently,
though in the opinion of the Committee the system
of the Poor Laws ought to be maintained, yet it must
be admitted that some of their provisions are less
applicable, and perhaps more difficult in the execu-
tion under present circumstances, than at the time of
their original establishment. At that period, the po-
pulation of the country was chi. fly agricultural; and
from the tenor of some of the eerly laws to which re-
ference has been made, it appears that appreheesions
occasionally xisted of a deficiency even in that popu-
lation, for the necessary occupations of hustandry.
The pmgressive inctease which has since taken place
in the general population of the kingdom, and the
_ swat proportion of that population which during a
foil set les of years lies found a constant and advan-
tageous employment in the occupations of trade,
hendicrett, and mantefacture, and in attendance upon
the mute opulent members of the community (whose''
numbers have also increased in a great proportion),
have produced impoitenechanges in the operation of
the' Poor Laws; for upon the sudden failure of de-
mand for some of those mattufactures.which had so
long afforded the greatest encouragement and the
most ample means of subs:se-nee to the population
of entire districts, the most serious distress has ensued.
T(ie consequence has been, that those classes of per-
sons upon whom the assessnienks are made for the
necessary maintenance and relief of the manufaituret
and tisan, when suddenly :deptitied'bf their acciti-
Wined means of support, haire, in shine instanas',l
been exposed to a degree of preislireind embarrasie
meta which has probably never been experienced to
so great an extent at any former period. At the
same time. hoevever, that the attention of the Com-
mittee has been drawn to the distress which has
existed in some of the manufacturing districts, they
think it material to observe, that considerable dis-
tress likewise appears to have prevailed in many parts
of the country which are exclusively agricultural.
In the prosecution of this important and extensive
inquiry the Committee have examined a variety of
witws%es, several of whom have attended voluntarily,
without summons, for the purpose of offering such
information at they possessed respecting particular
distorts. From the general result of the evidence, it
has appeared t' the Committee, that though in some
of the districts, and in some of the country parishes
not containing any large or populouir towns, the in-
mate in the rates has not been of any great anstiunt,
and in some less than might have been expected un-
der all the circumstances of the present time (refer-
ring more particiderly to the effects of the nnlavnur-
able harvest of last year throughout Europe, and
also to the want of employment which has been Se-.
verely frit in many parts of the country) ; yet in
other districts which are almost etclusively agricul-
turist, the Committee have reason to believe that very
greet distress has prevailed, and that the rates hive
been considerab:y augmented. In the manufacturing
districts, as has been aheady observed, where the po-
ptilakion has of late greatly exceeded the demand tot
labour, the buitiien of the rates has been particularly
severe, notwithstanding the large subscriptions which
have. been raised by pi ivate and (as will
.appear from evidence annexed) a vii y generedeind
nwritorsous attention to the admint,tiation of • the. '
funds, on the part of the oeeiseer*,and other persons
appointed to supetintend U.e management of the poor
in 'snow of thegreat manufacturing towns.
In the course of the evidence litany details are
enumerated of the actual amount and comparative
increase of the rates in different places and at dif-
-ferent periods; and information has been who col-
lected-of the manner in which relief is given, and of
the description of persons who partake of it in dd.
fererit parts of the kingdom. In many parishes a
system has been adopted, in consequence of the de-
cirreee in the demand for work, of employing la-
Witten in rotation amongst the farmers; and in some

places this practice has been earned nth an ex-
tent. that fewer regular labourers have been employed
than the necessary works in husbandry would have
required upon each farm : those works having been
performed by (what arc called) mund,men, at less
than the mutt rate of wages. lVherever superfluous
labourers have :teen employed in works, not of abso-
lute necessity, but which have been undertaken anti
executed by individuals for the sake of affording re-
lief and furnishing employment to those who could
not otherwise have obtained it, this practice must
have afforded an important though temporary relief;
but in the case referred to, as stated in the evidence,
the effect of the system of roundsmen has been to
throw upon the general rates of parishes in %%filch the
system has prevailed, in the most direct and obvious
manner, a very considerable proportiou of the wages
of that labour, the charge of which ought to have,
been defrayed by the individuals for whom it was
performed.
The Committee have also observed, in the course
of their inquiry, that a practice which appears to have
commenced at the period of scarcity in the year 1795,
and which was continued in the years 1800 and 1801.
of making sip to labourers with families the insufli-
ciency of their usual wages by aid from the poor
rates, has teen regularly continued in many pacts of
the kingdom ; a practice which, though it may have
prevented for some time the raising of the direct
price of labour, has been to a certain degree attended
with the injurious .effect of taxing those who have no
interest in it with a proportion of the expense.
Independently of this indirect addition to the poor-
rates, the general amount o: it receives a still further
increase by other charges of a public nature, in no
way applicable to the maintenance or relict of the
poor. Of this description are the various charges
connected with the Militia, and whatever sums are
expended in. the building and repairing of gaols, of
county bridges, of shire halls, the expense of criminal
prosecutions, of indictments for roads, and •fines in
consequence of such indictments ; as well as other
charges which are of a public nature, and defrayed
out of theconnty rate.
The Committee have therefore felt it an important
part of their duty to inquire into the mode of assess-
ing property to the poor-rate : and into the construc-
tion that has at any time been put upon those words in
the Statute of the 43d of Elizabeth, which, in de.
set ibing the persons on whom the rate is to be levied,
appear to raise a distinction between the inhabitants
of a parish and the occupiers of land and houses.
It appears that in differe:a instances personal pro-
perty has been assessed to the poor-rates, though in
sonic cases appeals have been made against such a
mode of rating. From the decisions of the Courts,
the principle tat rating other property than land and
11011StIS appears to have been generally admitted to be
consistent with law; but the difficulty has consisted
in describing the Sort of property which is liable to
assessment; as it has been deemed essential that it
should be some local and visible property within the
parish for which the assessment is made.

( l'o be continued.)

SOUTH AMERICA.

PROCLAMATION OF DON JOaPil CMITES DE NIADARIAGA,

TO HIS FELLOW-CITIZENS OF THE MAIN.

VENYZLELIANS—Tbe artifices of the Spanish
Government and your own candour, in 1812, pre-
pared for you a period of unfortunate events. At
that time our enemies, availing themselves of a tre-
mendous earthquake with which, on the 2fith March,
DIVINE Peovtovece visited us, caused the effects of
that same fanaticism to prevail which they had pre-
viously employed without success; and in conse-
quence of the general state of terror and alarm with
which the people were then cost down, they suc-
ceeied in obtaining a Trezty that left the country
subject to the controul of the Spanish Cortes, under
the new Constitution they had themselves formed.
This Treaty was solemnly signed and exchanged on'
2Gth April by the Spanish Chief Monteverde, who
immediately after violated it in all its parts, and in a
monster the most outrageous. Horrible excarcera-
lions, which a considerable part of the inhabitants ex-
perienced ; confiscations, banishments, murders, as
' well as every species of cruelty, were the return you
met with for your too great confidence and good faith.
Hence arose those very mistoitunes we have now to
deplore, but they are such, however, as posterity will
justly appreciate, whenever a faithful history of our
emancipation is exhibited to tke world.
" Several of the determined Patriots who succeed-
ed in escaping from the vigilance of our oppressor,
Monteverde, and among them our present Chief,
General Bolivar, at that time proceeded on to the
Congress of New Granada, in order to solicit resources
to free our afflicted brethren. Having obtained them,
in the following year, ISIS, they entered into the ter-
ritory of Venezuela, every where triumphing over
our enemies, and, aided by your valour no less titan
by the alum of our distinguished General Marino,
who, with the tweet assembled in Guiria and Maturin,
had completely routed Montevei de in Camana, they
succeeded iu the Jr•establishment of our Republic.
and tlie enemy was shut tip in the only point he held
of Puerto Covello.

" U.:teflon:ately, however, in the following years,
1814 and 18151 we were again destined to experience'
new diA.,attrs, through the rare and unexpected events
of the peace; and the return of Ferdnand to the
Tin one of Spain. The captious Proclamations of
his Monarch,' together with his fake promises con-
tamed in the respective Decrees of Valencia and 11
Madrid, through the means of cunning and wicked
etu.4.4t ies, soon inundated our country, when the
royalist tioops prevailed over the areas of the Repub•
lie, wl.ieii was a second time destroyed. and the ern.
pare of despotism again re-estabiishel in Venezuela.
•• In this melancholy situation it was nut long be-
it LiviNe Paovinxsce furnished the Independents
wish flesh means so recover their lust liberty. The
Island of Margarita was the spot Irons which this
gluii4'ius.enterprize was to issue. There, at the close
of 1813, the general*ery against oppression suddenly
but st forth. The while of its inhabitants, with the
invincible Ariamendi at their head, though previously
disarmed, rise up again's:, defeat the enemy, and at
last compel him to shut himself up in the fortress of
Panipatar, whence eventually he is obliged to embark
with the small remnant of his forces.

' from the horrors of Venezuela and Carthagena. leads
them again towards our coasts at the close of M .rch,
1816. under cover of a well-eqiiinped fl !et, comman-
ded by Brion, Admiral of the Naval Forces of the
! Rept.hiic. An unforesen accid. nt frustrated part of
the great project of General Bolivar, when, about the
bt.g,rittris of July, lie landed at Octimare ; but this
did not stop the march of the main division of the
army, commanded by Sir Gregor Nl.Greyor. Tats
intrepid General, aided by thevaliant Colonels Su.
blot and Pinango, constantly irks opherl, pentirated
from Choroni to the very heart of Venezuela, and
overcoming insurmountable obstacles, triumphed
over the enemy commanded by Quero and Morales ;
dislodged the Spaniards from the plains of Barce-
lona, and obtained a victory in the battle of the lOth
September, which was followed by the bloody one of
the 27th, when our arms were completely victorious.
From that period Republican valour has unit
formly displayed itself in every part of the confede-
ration, and HEAVEN was propitious to our cause.—
Hence have our divisions, headed by the brave l'aez,
Urdaneta, and Santander, obtained signal victories
in the •allies of Casanare, Cucuta, and Sogamosa,
over the execrable Spanish Chief,. Calzada and Mo-
rino, authors of the unheard of cruelties and horrors
committed in Carthagena, Santa Fe, Popayar, So.
corro, and San Gil. Subsequently the invincible Bo-
livar and Freites covered themselves with glory at
Barcelona, in the celebrated action of the Bth of Fe-
bruary, when they also gaiued a memorable victory.
The provinces of GUayana and Cumana, with the ex-
ception only of their respective capitals, are already
freed front the Spanish yoke. Latterly the provinces I
of Varinas, Merida, and Truxillo, have joined our
Republic, nor have they any thing to fear from the
enemies parties, whose entire attention is taken up in
guarding the points of Carthagena, Santa Martha, and
Rio de la Hacha.

" Venezuelians f—l have just exhibited to your
view a short compendium of our misfortunes and our
glories, from the year 181'2 up to the present time.
In consequence of the advantageous position in which
we are now placed, and freed also from the former
prejliflices which unfortunately held too much sway
among us, we mist be sensible that, after the many
and great sacrifices, this snare independence we have
sworn to sustain, has cost, and still costs to us, no-
thing is wanting to secure it for ever but union and
constancy. With these, shortly shall we put an end
to this terrible struggle between slavery and freedom.
Let us never, therefore, think of throwing clown our
arms till the day is completely our own. At the
same time let us have peace, friendship, and trade,
with all the rest of mankind. Let there also exist in
every part of Venezuela, perfect civil and religious
freedom ; let this be established in favour of huma-
nity, and our common happiness.
" My own fate of a prisoner, now changed into
that of a free man, through the interposition of the
British Government,enables me to co-operate actively,
as I formerly did, in support of our glorious cause.
To it and to your principles I have been faithful in
adversity. You already possess too many proofs of
the purity of my sentiments and views, for you to
doubt of either of them. Liberty and independence
have been, and still are, the general wish of the great
Columbian family, to which all of • s belong by a
natural right. Let us therefore unceasingly make
the greatest efforts to obtain arid enjoy with security,
such inestimable benefits. For my own part, I consi-
, der myself bound to omit no sacrifice that may pio-
mote this important and desirable end.
" From the West India Islands, I now again come
among you, in order, with the greatest pleasure, to
continue my services in favour of our just emancipa-
tion, preserving at the same time profoundly engraved
on my heart, the most sincere and respectful acknow-
ledgments to his Royal Highness the Prince Regent
of Great Britain, his wise Parliament, as well as his
generous Admirals, for the inestimable benefits they
have bestowed upon me, by enabling me again to re-
turn to my country, in order that I may entirely dedi.
cate myself to the happiness and glory of the Re-
public.
.. _ _ _

•6 Let us always be vigilant in avoiding every thing
that may oppose the smallest obstacles to the happy
issue of our enterprize. Let jealousies, private pique,
and animosities no longer exist among us. Let us
all act with the greatest union, activity, and con-
stancy, in order that our illustrious wartiors, who
have done so many and such great deeds, may soon
effect the complete expulsion of our enemies, and
secure for ever the establishment of our Republic.
(Signed) is JOSEPH CORTES DE NADARIACA.
" Pampatar, io the Wand of Margarita, May 23, 1817,
and 7th of our Intitpendeuee

LONDON.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 8, 1817.
PRICE OF STOCKS THIS DAY A 1' TWELVE O'CLOCK 3
Reduced mil—Consols Rai f —Consols for Ace. 801 81
4 per Cert. Rs; f —5 prr Cent. Navy, i 05f I
India Bonds Ha pr.—Exchequer Bills Sts. BSs. pr.
Bank Long Annuities,

The Paris Papers of Tuesday arrived this morn-
ing, but are wholly barren of intelligence.
The Funds are still on the rise, being on Monday
as high as Orr. 90c.