The Statesman.
London, England, 1818-05-01 00:00:00

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111 r. I.YITELTON expressed his satisfaction at
110 intentions announced h, the Honourable Gentle.
Than, who had thereby anticipated a recommendation
lb hick he was about to make. in his opinion the affi.
davit in question was a :grievance to the whole ser-
vice, and he was utterly at a loss to conceits on what
principle it way maintained.
Mv. BENSON contended, that the claim of the
Offievra art the ltoyal Artillery Drivers was a claim
pi' justice. Althoo4h it was net nasally stated in
their Commissions that they morel° be allowed to re.
tire on foil pay, such was the distinct understanding
. as the seljPri, in support oT Which assertion the lion..
Gent. reed a. letter from the late Doke of Ricbmoad,
who had established the corps.
• •Mr. CALCRAFT vdmitted, that the Others in
qtrearlen bad nothing to complain of, sod that in his
oploion his Hon. Friend's propovition could not be
tesintaioed.
Mr. BENNEI'T made s short reply, is which hal
utealn dwelt inn the merits of the Gentlemen who trint-1
thltNalbje. AN of his motios, and contended that they
witretritethled.to the advantages be wished to procure
tor them.
The motion was thee negatived without a division.
ALIEN ACT.
• Lord CASTLEREAGH, is consequence of the
'thinness of the House, postponed, until Tuesday, his
mottos ter ;leise ip bring is a Bill to roue, the Alien
Act. -
Sir C. MONCK °Noised limo to brie; in a Bill ,
to olttv the epplicatiou of such Loss, penalties, and
forfeitures es were incurred by %ropers Of the High.
trays and Inhabitants of Parishes for say neglect of
ado', in regard to the Repoirs daub Highways/42c,
SETTLEMENT OF POOR.
Mr. S. BOURNE said, that in rising to move for
leave to bring in a Bill to amend the Lira of Settle•
silent of the Poor, he bad not, in so doing, acted en
r" Ms own opinion, but solely eider lb. authority of
the Report of the Committee on the Poor Lays,
made in the last Session. He geed not remind the
Nouse, that the first law respectini the Settlement of
the Poor'was passed in the time of Qom Elizabeth
—the first law that conferred a power of removing
certain descriptions of peepers to the place of their
birth, or last settlement. That law. Otilleined on.
altered for near a century, till the 13th and. 14th
Charles 11. From reading the Reports of the time,
and the opinions of the Judges, it seems to Unbent
it-matter of doubt, what time was motility, tinder
the former Statute, to gain a settlement. • The letter
Statute was the basis of the present Liw of Settle.
'dent. It confined labouring persons to their
• awn parishes—than which nothing could lie a greater
encroachment on liberty, or more oppressive. It de-
clared a legal settlement to be gained by birth or re-
sidence, service or apprenticeship for forty days;
but empowering the Overseers to remove all intrud.
ing within that time, if likely to become chargeable,
Widest they settled in a tenement of the yearly value
of 101. The Statute of 1 James 11. obliged the per.
son settling to give notice in writing to the Parish
Officer, before a settlement could be acquired ; but
that law had not been acted on. Bat the evils and
hardships of the Statute of .Charles 11. were so
great, that it was deemed proper to introduce the
Bth and 9th William lii. to alleviate them, and by
it poor persons were permitted to psis into any
pariah, on producing a certificate to the Overseer
of that parish, of settlement in another ; and wert
not romoveable till they were actually chargeable.—
The law remained in this state till the year 1795,
when Bdward brought in a Bill which
was passed into a law, and a law of more bent-
consequences to the lower orders than any
emceed for a very long period. It alerted alit
Ms person shookd be removed till he became actually
cherueahle. it delivered the poor man from the
demi/don of Parish Officers. Bot notwithstanding
the improvemeat, the Law of Settlement was still in
save points extremely defective. The moment
a labourer became entitled to relief, he could not
properly receive it, if he was not in his own parish.
The moment a man became infirm or diseased, he
was to be removed to his own parish, In perhaps
distant part of the kingdom, when least able to bear
a removal; that was one of the evils of the ezisting
law. Brides, it was en infinite source of litigation—
s!! the questions arising on it were questions both of
law and fact. It had been said that slowly cases
on the Poor Laws had been decided, that any new
undecided point of law could not arise. The fact,
however, was not so • new points were constantl•
being referred to the Court of King's Bench. The
questions of fact were innumerable. Last year there
were no less than 4700 appeals from Quarter Ses-
sions to the Court of King's Bench. The holdieg
a tenement worth 101. a•year constituting a right ,
settlement, was also a fertile source of disputed eases
-..as were also service and apprenticeship. What
be said was taken from lb* Report of last Sessloo..,
But litigation was not the predominant evil—the
great paramount one was, that a person might be re-
moved, the instant he became chargeable, to a part-
ici a remote part of the kingdom, where, when be ,
covered his health, be might be quite amebic to earn
subsistence, merely because he bappeoed to have
gained a settlement in the latter in early life. The
country was now generally sensible of the inconvc
niences of the law, and earnestly desired an alters.
• tion in it ; but to take away the Law of Settlemeni
altogether, would be to mistake the mode of applj
ing a remedy. It could not be required, that one
parish should be obliged to support all the poor that
might flock to it, and it would introduce a system
vagrancy. A pelletal fund had been recommended
by persons who bad bestowed considerable 'Wootton
to the subject, end might be supposed qualified
form a correct judgment on it. He could not agi
with them in thinking such a plan practicable.
would encourage the practice of freed, through
titi-
tires of heasaaity-a4 national food was impessil' e
be so applied. The Veer must be ultimately Washed,
to the psr.isliss whirs they wars sallied-to relief.—
If this title were to be established by birth, '
valid, le a few years, pat as end to nearly all
gatiest—bet them, it wesid be most prepaid in
evil already complained of--and this **l
against it was completely &Aim 711.
claim they coned cease to, was
dente. The first Act, making etaidenia's IWO
settlement, required it to sem* to thou.'''.
it was worth ths,coosidsralion of the
to attain the object in view this was not tv