SOME consiiIeeations 
 
 SCOTTISH POOR-LAW QUESTION: 
 
 A LETTER TO A ERIERD. ' 
 
 WILLIAM FORBES, ESQ., 
 
 WILLIAM BLACKWOOD & SONS, 
 EDINBUE&H AND LONDON, 
 
 MDCCCXI.V, 
 

CONSIDERATIONS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 SCOTTISH POOR LAW QUESTION. 
 
 My Dear Sir, 
 
 The increasing attention to the interests of the poor, 
 and the conviction vrhich now pervades the community, 
 that some eifective eifort must he made for their relief, 
 is one of the most cheering symptoms of a healthier 
 action in the public mind. The apathy which formerly 
 existed in Scotland on this subject is now at an'end, 
 and the intelligent classes are fuUy awakened to the 
 necessity and propriety of alleviating the condition of 
 the poor by legislative enactment. As every one knows, 
 the Grovernment issued a Commission of Inq[uiry, and 
 a bill, embodying the views of the Commissioners, is now 
 before Parliament, which will, it is to be hoped, remove 
 many of the evils which have pressed upon this class. 
 
 You and I have often concurred in thinking that Lord 
 Grey deserved great credit for grappling, so far as re¬ 
 gards England, with this qucestio vexata, which had 
 formed the subject of enijuiry before many a tedious 
 Parliamentary Committee, into which many an unhappy 
 country gentleman was constrained to enter, having a 
 pretty good guess all the time that his labours were not 
 likely to lead to any practical result, and that -whatever 
 he and his colleagues should recommend, was never in¬ 
 tended to be seriously considered by any influential 
 party in Parliament. Lord Grey’s bill became the law 
 
4 
 
 of the laud. The Whig party maintained that the mea¬ 
 sure was necessary, and that they would run the risk 
 of its unpopularity. Undoubtedly they did suffer from 
 this cause ; the heads of the opposite party honourably 
 supported the policy of government, but the majority 
 of the nation—even those most benefited by the change 
 —did not, for several years, forgive so severe an appli¬ 
 cation of the cautery. The good, however, remains. The 
 crying evils were abated. But, although imposture has 
 been checked by the erection of work-houses,—^though 
 wages are no longer paid out of the rates, nor the la¬ 
 bourers put up to auction among the farmers aud land¬ 
 holders,—^though what remains of the old English sys¬ 
 tem works well, and is adapted to the circumstances of 
 .England, yet we must not regard it as universally suited 
 to other places; but in considering the propriety of al¬ 
 tering our present system, we ought rather to act upon 
 the principles of our own law, than at once import the 
 practice of a foreign country of older and more ad¬ 
 vanced civilization. 
 
 It has now for some months been admitted that the 
 law must be changed among us, so as to adapt it to the 
 requirements of modern times. The question at issue 
 is, on what principles, and to what extent, should such 
 change be made ? I wish to address a few consider¬ 
 ations to you, not merely with reference to the bill now 
 before Parliament, but also as to the general state of 
 the poor in Scotland. 
 
 There are two classes of philosophers, without ad¬ 
 verting to minor distinctions, who have broached theo¬ 
 ries on the subject of providing for the poor. They may 
 severally be called the favourers of the English and 
 the Scotch systems. The former comprises those who 
 advocate a liberal scale of allowances, not merely to the 
 
5 
 
 sick aud disabled, but to tbe able-bodied thrown out 
 of work from temporary causes. These tlie Scotch 
 system entirely excludes from relief, and professes to 
 give aid to the sick and impotent only; aud this not 
 to the full extent, but only in supplement of the funds 
 furnished by their relations, who are legally burdened 
 with their support. Such is the theory of the two sys¬ 
 tems iu strict terms, but both are modified in practice. 
 
 The English system does, or rather did prior to the 
 amendment of their law, maintain an absolute aud inde¬ 
 feasible right on the part of the able-bodied pauper to 
 relief, on the ground that iu a Christian country no man 
 should be allowed to starve; but that in return for the 
 food afforded him and his family, he is bound to give his 
 labour to the parish, which is called upon to find him eni- 
 plojunent. This, however, is now modified by the work- 
 house system. The Scotch system, limiting its respon¬ 
 sibilities to the impotent to the absolute exclusion of the 
 able-bodied, professes to provide for the former alone; 
 but the practice is better than the theory, for it has 
 been the custom to relieve the able-bodied, during tem¬ 
 porary distress, from the Church collections and by 
 private subscriptions, but not by legal assessment, which 
 would involve a right to relief, which has been carefully 
 guarded against. 
 
 Mr Pusey and Dr Alison may be looked upon as the 
 champions of the English system, Mr Monypenny and 
 Dr Chalmers of the Scotch; and these have argued the 
 question ably aud temperately. Judging, too, from the 
 number of ephemeral publications on either side, we 
 may infer that great diversity of opinion exists upon 
 the subject. 
 
 It is singular that when the English Poor-Laws 
 were reported on iu Parliament, with a view to their 
 
6 
 
 amendment, the Scotch system was held out as the 
 model on which the improved practice in the sister 
 kingdom should he framed; and now, when our law is to 
 he reformed, the English practice is proposed as the 
 pattern for us. This paradox is, however, more appa¬ 
 rent than real; for, prior to the amendment in England, 
 any change would have been an improvement upon their 
 system, which was gradually hut surely destroying the 
 character of the labouring classes, and sapping the re¬ 
 sources of the country; and since the defects in the 
 working of the English law were of a character directly 
 opposed to the practical tendencies of ours, each might he 
 corrected by comparison with the other. In its altered 
 form, it is, on the whole, excellent, and is well worthy 
 of examination, when our practice is to be tested with a 
 view to its reformation. 
 
 It cannot, I think, he doubted, that the inductive 
 cause of the establishment of Poor-Laws in both coun¬ 
 tries was the distress and real misery produced by the 
 Keformation, which was in effect a mighty revolution, 
 producing marked changes in the structure of society. 
 Nowhere was that great movement carried through with 
 more violence, injustice, and rapacity, than in Scotland. 
 It was a complete democratic convulsion, originated by 
 the reformed preachers acting upon an excitable people, 
 aided by the nobility, who seized the church-lands and 
 tithes, and by some of the dignified clergy, who obtained, 
 in fee and property, grants of lands to themselves and 
 their heirs, which had been devised to their pious pre¬ 
 decessors for religious and charitable uses:—in short, 
 it was a robbery of the donors, by those who acted as 
 trustees of their gifts. 
 
 It must be acknowledged, that the religious abuses 
 were flagrant, and the lives of many of the clergy lax; 
 
but it should uot be foi’gotteu, that mauy of this corpo¬ 
 ration were effectually reforming their conduct, so that, 
 if the crisis could have been postponed for a few years, 
 they might haply have directed the movement, and re¬ 
 formed the Church without laying it with its cathe¬ 
 drals in the dust.* To many a wearied soul, the mon¬ 
 asteries had afforded a tranquil asylum, but, in spite 
 of their claims to popular veneration, these sanctuaries 
 of religion and learning, being defenceless, were the 
 first to fall. By none scarcely was the loss of these 
 foundations so severely felt, as by the poor and desti- 
 
 * A curious proof of this assertion is the remonstrance addressed to 
 William Gordon, the last bishop of Aberdeen before the Reformation, by 
 his clergy. He was, according to the testimony of Spottiswoode and 
 Keith, a person very unworthy of his exalted station. The following is 
 an extract:— 
 
 " At Aherdeine, 5th January 1553-9. The Counsall gevin be the'Deyne 
 and Cheptour of Aherdeine, to my Lord Bischope of Aherdeine, the 
 Ordinal, at his Lordschipis des}Te, for Reformation to be maid and 
 stancheing of Hereseis pullelant within the Diocie of Aherdeine, and the 
 ordour prescrivit to be ohservit to the samyn effect, * * * 
 
 “ And that the premisses, he the help of God may talc the bettir effect, 
 the Deyne and Cheptour forsaidis humlie and hartlie prayis and exhortis 
 my Lord their Ordinar, for the honour of God, releif of his awin con¬ 
 science and weill of his Lordschipis Dyosie, eveting of greter sclander: 
 And hecaus all thai that ar contrarius to the Religiouu Cristiane promit- 
 tis faytlifuU obedience to the Prelatis, swa that thai will mend thair 
 awin lyvis and thair inferiouris, conforme to the Law of God and haly 
 Kirk; in respect herof, that his Lordschip wald be sa gude as to schew 
 gude and edificative example in speciall, in removing and dischajgeing 
 himself of cumpany of the gentilwoman be quhom he is greflie selan- 
 derit; without the quhilk be done, dyvers that ar pertinax saps, thay can 
 nocht accept counsall and correctioun of him quhilk will nocht correct 
 Iiimself. And in lyk maner nocht to be orvr familiar with tliame that ar 
 suspect contrarius to the Kirk, and of the new Law ; and that his Lord¬ 
 schip evaid the samyn, that quhen his Lordschip plesis to vesey the 
 feyldis to repois himself, cheis sic company as efferis till his Lordschipis 
 awin estate; and cans his Lordschipis servandis to reforme thair selfis, 
 hecaus nixt himself it seims him.to begyn at his awin houshald. Quhilkis 
 premissis being done, the saidis Deyne and Cheptour belevis in God that 
 
8 
 
 tute, for in them were their temporal wants reliered, 
 and their spiritual crarings satiated, by the unbought 
 ministrations of the monks who inhabited them. It 
 was not only by the charities bestowed with a liberal 
 hand by the abbots and the regular clergy, that the 
 poor were supported; many smaller foundations were 
 established by the beneyolent for like purposes. The 
 Catholic Church, practising the principles of her Divine 
 Founder, has ever regarded the poor as her peculiar 
 property, and has established as a dogma, that their 
 relief is a good work pleasing to the Almighty, tend¬ 
 ing, with other religious safeguards, to expiate guilt. 
 By urging the necessity of works of piety and mercy 
 as proofs of lively faith, and without which the sins 
 which had been,committed could not be forgiven, she 
 encouraged in Scotland the foundation of alms-houses, 
 moi-tifications, and benefactions, which were number¬ 
 less when the tempest swept them away. Thus at every 
 bridge there was an Hospitium, where the wayfaring 
 pilgrim could take his rest; at every Church there was 
 a distribution of loaves, eorn, or fish; nor were Alms¬ 
 houses awanting where impotent old age might enjoy a 
 sure refuge from the miseries of the world. The char- 
 
 all sail cum Tveill, to the honour of God, and generall reformatioun of the 
 balll Dyocie of Aberdeine: and thai prpmes to his Lordschip thair hartlie 
 concurrence and assistence, with honour, service, and obedience at thair 
 
 “ Rob. Ershine, Decanus Aberdonen. 
 
 Patricius Myrton, Thesaurarius Abd. 
 
 . .Jo. Strachauchan a Balhelvy. 
 
 Joannes Leslie de Murthlak, SSR. 
 
 Joannes Watson de Clat, SSR. 
 
 Arthurus Taillefere de Crechmond. 
 
 Jacobus Gordoun de Lonmay. 
 
 Willelmus Cambell de Tullynessill. 
 
 Alexr. Bryd, Subcentor. 
 
 Alejcr. Anderson, Subprincipalis Cacus Abd.” 
 
9 
 
 tularies of the religious houses are filled with proofs 
 of this assertion, and the following instances, taken at 
 random from that of Aberdeen, may suffice as a speci¬ 
 men of such endowments :— 
 
 “ 7 Kal. April 1451.—Pope Nicholas issued a bull 
 granting permission to the people of the town and dio¬ 
 cese of Aberdeen, to prosecute the salmon and herring- 
 fishings for five months in the year, on Sundays and 
 other feast days (‘ diebus dominicis et aliis festiuis in 
 quinque duntaxat mensibus’). It was customary to give 
 a share of the fish caught on such days to the surround- 
 iug churches and the Christian poor. ‘ Post factam 
 capturam ecclesiis circnmpositis et Christianis pauperi- 
 bus congruam faciant portionem.’ ”— Ahercl. i. p. 257. 
 
 “ 23 Feb. 1531.—Gavin Dunbar, Bp. of Aberdeen, 
 founded an hospital in Aberdeen for twelve panpers. 
 Each of them received 10 marks yearly for the pur¬ 
 chasing of food and raiment.”— Gh. Abercl. A. fol. 173. 
 
 “ 10 December 1541.—John Bargenacht, burgess of 
 luveroure, gave an annual rent of 24 shillings to the 
 vicars and chaplains of choir, with 10/ of which 120 
 penny loaves were to be purchased and distributed 
 among the poor who might happen to be present after 
 the saying of mass, on the anniversary of Mr James 
 Lyndsay, late rector of Forglen.”—E. f. 161. 
 
 “ Item XXX. pauperibus xxx. panes duorum denari- 
 orum panis frumenti cum duobus denariis mouete Scotie. 
 summa x. s. 
 
 “ Item XV. pauperibus scolaribus in siinili distribu- 
 tione in panibus et argent, v. s.” 
 
 In the remoter parts of the country, and particularly 
 in the Hebrides, where at present the poor are in such 
 a deplorable condition, ruins everywhere exist, attesting 
 the presence and softening influence of Christianity, 
 
10 
 
 and even in their decay, reproving the heartless system 
 which has succeeded. ' 
 
 Indeed, the (][uestion forces itself upon us, whether 
 our practice, since the era of the Eeforination, at all ap¬ 
 proaches to that of our Catholic forefathers ? Admitting 
 the many excellent qualities of oui* countrymen, their 
 honesty, industiy, shrewdness, independence, and kind¬ 
 liness of disposition, whence arises that cold philoso¬ 
 phical spirit which, to such a degree, tinges the national 
 character,—a spirit which has given too much counte¬ 
 nance to the shortsighted and erroneous views of those 
 economists who denounce alms-giving as a crime 
 against society, and imagine that they can, by any legis¬ 
 lation, reverse the doom that the poor shall never cease 
 out of the land? Are we to suppose that, since the 
 change in religion, the national character has deterior¬ 
 ated in the evangelical virtues of brotherly charity, as 
 much as it has improved in worldly prudence ? or how 
 are we to account for the fact which is stated upon 
 authority that, out of 15,000 householders in the city 
 of Edinburgh, not above 1100 contribute one farthing 
 to the public charities, which are principally supported 
 by but a moderate portion even of that munber ? One 
 cannot fail to perceive that the rights of the poor must 
 sulfer when their relief is not directly held out as a 
 matter of religious obligation. In the Scotch pulpits, 
 are the duties of practical Christianity and the moral law 
 sufficiently enforced ? or is not too much stress laid upon 
 abstract points of doctrine, touching the intellect ra¬ 
 ther than the heart ? Whatever the cause may be, cer¬ 
 tainly that spirit began to be developed about the 
 middle of the last century, which has more or less in¬ 
 fluenced the consideration of every public measure, 
 viz., whether any proposition was politically fitting and 
 
11 
 
 expedient, not -whether it -was intrinsically right. In 
 the very question here discussed, it was assumed as 
 an axiom, that the poor had no common-law right to 
 be kept from starvation in a Christian land,—that 
 their rights were merely created by statute,—and that 
 it was for their own advantage as well as that of so¬ 
 ciety, that the relief should be doled oirt with a nig¬ 
 gardly and sparing hand, and restricted to a class as 
 circumscribed as possible. The plea was, that, by 
 obtaining relief, the recipient would forfeit his self¬ 
 esteem, and be degraded among his fellows. This policy 
 seems directly opposed to those feelings of compassion 
 and mercy which the Creator has implanted in the 
 breasts of his creatures; and it certainly argues well for 
 the kind-heartedness and good feeling of our countrjuuen, 
 especially those of the humbler classes, that, in spite of 
 the maxims so sedulously inculcated by writers ou poli¬ 
 tical economy of high mark, they have never closed their 
 hands or shut their ears to the call of the destitute and 
 sick. 
 
 Happily, a better spirit has now supplanted the utili¬ 
 tarian sophisms which chilled the heart of the more 
 educated classes. And now that we are exempted from 
 the dread of having the old English system imposed 
 upon us with all its abuses, there prevail? an honest 
 wish to approach the consideration of an amendment 
 of this system upon an impartial and liberal basis. 
 
 Though there are many statutes regulating the poor, 
 the existing practice in Scotland is founded principally 
 on the Act 1579, and the proclamations of the Pri-vy 
 Council in the reign of William and Mary. I may 
 refer you to Mr Dunlop’s able treatise for a clear 
 statement of the law on this head. Suffice it to state, 
 in the meantime, that two objects were principally 
 
aimed at by the Legislature, viz. the relief of the poor 
 and impotent, and the repression of sorners and sturdy 
 masterful beggars, ■who, in these troublous times, 
 roamed over the country in large bands, fastening them¬ 
 selves on the isolated farms, and concussing the lieges 
 to give them gratuitous support, and of whom it is re¬ 
 corded, that whenever they fell in with a butt of fat 
 ale, or a bullock, they never forsook them while they 
 lasted. 
 
 There are many statutes now mostly in desuetude (and 
 our English friends ought to know that with ns laws 
 may become obsolete by disuse, without special repeal), 
 which relate to this latter class, and impose slavery, or 
 mutilation, or death, for aggravated offences of this de¬ 
 scription. The Civil Wars, and the consequent anar¬ 
 chy, dissolved the ties which bound society together; 
 and onr Parliament, with desperate energy, passed, from 
 time to time, the most ferocious statutes. But even 
 these were found quite incapable of supplying a re¬ 
 medy to the disorder. The cure lay deeper. It was de¬ 
 veloped with the greater security of property, the more 
 equal administration of law, and the advancing pros¬ 
 perity of the country. With this portion of the Poor- 
 Law Acts we have nothing to do at present. Tire in¬ 
 quiry is happily more curious than profitable. My de¬ 
 sire now is to examine how far the present state of the 
 law regarding persons entitled to relief meets the re¬ 
 quirements of the case, and whether the Bill before 
 Parliament is adequate to its proposed object. To re¬ 
 cur to the statutes. There was permission given by an 
 early Act, 1424, to persons below the age of 14, and 
 above 70, to beg for their livelihood; but all within 
 those ages were prohibited from doing so, unless they 
 be seen by the eouucillors of the towns or the lands. 
 
13 
 
 “that they may not get their living ntherwaise.” These 
 were allowed to carry a token or badge. Tlien by 1503, 
 chap. TO, the class is more clearly defined who are to 
 iiave the privilege of begging,, viz., those who, in con- 
 seqnence of physical incapacity or sickness, were in¬ 
 capable of supporting themselves. By it the sheriffs 
 are to allow none to beg but “ cruiked folk, seik folk, 
 impotent folk, and weak folk.” 
 
 Great as were the inconveniences arising from sor- 
 ners and beggars during the fifteenth and sixteenth 
 centuries, matters were greatly aggravated after the 
 Eeformation, during the reign of Mary and in the 
 minority of King James VI. Accordingly, almost co- 
 temporaneous with the Act of Elizabeth, the Act 1579, 
 chap. 74, was passed, which forms the basis of our pre¬ 
 sent practice. The circumstances of both countries 
 were then so nearly the same, that it is probable that 
 both Governments felt themselves called upon to pass 
 some strong measure of relief and repression. Indeed, 
 the terms and provisions of onr Act bear so striking a 
 resemblance to that of the sister country, that we may 
 reasonably infer that we have adopted the principles as 
 well as the import of the English Act. Without stop¬ 
 ping to advert to the coercive measures against the 
 strong vagabonds “ who were adjudged to be scourged 
 and burned throw the ear with ane hote iron,” except 
 some honest and responsible man should undertake to 
 keep the offender in his service for a whole year; and 
 then if he leave his service, and return to his vagabond 
 life, “ he shall suflfer death as a thief,” let us see what 
 the Act provides for those who are unable to work. 
 “ And seeing charitie wald that the pure aged and im¬ 
 potent persones suld be als necessairlie provided als 
 the vagaboundis and strang beggars repressed; and that 
 
14 
 
 the aged, impotent, and pure peopil suld have ludging 
 and abiding places throughout the realme to settle them¬ 
 selves intil.” It therefore directs the magistrates in 
 towns and the justices to be constitute by the king’s 
 commission in parishes to landward, “ betwixt and the 
 first day of Januai-y nixt to cum, to take inquisitioun 
 of all aged, pure, impotent, and decayed persons borne 
 within that parochin, or quilkes war dwelling, or had 
 ther maist commoun resorte in the said parochin the 
 last seven zeirs bypast, quilkes of necessitie mon live 
 bee almesand thereon to see what those may be 
 made “ content of their awin cmsentis to accept daylie 
 to live unbeggand, and to provide quhair their remaining 
 sail be, be themselves, or in house with others, with ad¬ 
 vice of the parochiners, quhair the saidis pure peopil 
 may be best ludged and abyde.” The Act then goes 
 on to establish an assessment for their support, in the 
 following terms:—“ And thereupon, according to the 
 number, to consider quhat their neideful sustentation 
 will extend to everie oulk (week ); and then, be the 
 gude discretion of the saidis provosts, bailies, and judges 
 in the parochinis to landwart, and sic as they sail call 
 to them to that elfect, to taxe and stent the haiU in¬ 
 habitants within the parochin, according to the estima¬ 
 tion of their substance, without exception of persons, to 
 sic ouMy (weekly) charge and contribution as sail be 
 thought expedient and sufficient to susteine the saidis 
 pure peopil.” This taxation is directed to be renewed 
 every year, “for the alteration that may be throw 
 death, or be incres or diminution of mends gudes and 
 substance;" and all persons are declared liable to im¬ 
 prisonment, who either refuse to contribute to the relief 
 of the poor, “ or discourage others from sa charitabil 
 ane deede.” 
 
15 
 
 The proclamations of William and Mary complete our 
 law regarding the impotent poor. They do not super¬ 
 sede the Act 1579, hut render it more effectiye. The 
 first directs an assessment, and makes other stipula¬ 
 tions, some of which have never been acted upon; as, 
 for instance, the building of houses of correction, which 
 still remains a desideratum. The second regulates the 
 assessment, and orders the kirk-sessions to give one- 
 half of the Church collections for support of the poor. 
 
 By this code of statute-law, the right of this portion 
 of the poor to a provision is recognised, provided they 
 have no relatives bound in law to assist them, and the 
 duty of managing the funds is left to those who are to 
 contribute; there being thus, on the one hand, a gua¬ 
 rantee that those who supply the funds will not squan¬ 
 der them; but, on the other, the risk that the provi¬ 
 sions may be scanty, and doled out grudgingly. 
 
 It is not, at first sight, easy to see the cause why, 
 diming the last century, and the early part of the pre¬ 
 sent one, the claims and rights of the poor were not 
 prominently brought before the courts of law. A pro¬ 
 bable reason was the universally received conviction 
 that the kirk-sessions were exclusively the tribunals 
 invested with power to adjudicate upon claims of relief, 
 and that from their decisions there was no appeal. 
 There was, also, a wide-spread opinion, that the relief of 
 the poor was not an obligation which could be enforced 
 legally against the heritor, but that it was a matter of 
 charity administered by the hands of the kirk-session; 
 and, to say the truth, in the agricultural lowlands, the 
 care taken by the kirk-sessions of those entrusted to 
 their supervision, was, on the whole, tolerably satisfac¬ 
 tory. 
 
 For more than a century after 1579, there were no 
 
16 
 
 assessments; voluntary contributions amply supplied 
 all the demands made upon tbe kirk-sessions; and even 
 till tbe middle of last century, assessments were few 
 and far between. The fact is, that, till within a few 
 years, the sick and impotent poor were not aware of 
 their rights under the Acts; they never demanded a 
 provision as dejure their omi, but were contented with 
 what the kirk-session gave them. So long, too, as assess¬ 
 ments were rare, and the poor were paid out of the stated 
 contributions of the people into the poor-box, there was 
 a marked reluctance to ask for aid from that source, 
 till absolute starvation compelled them to do so; but 
 assessments, either voluntary or legal, having shewn 
 them that the money came from the pockets of the 
 heritors, without passing through the poors’-box, they 
 now evince no reluctance to fasten themselves upon this 
 fund, and hence the number of paupers and the amount 
 of the rates have been increasing in an alarming de¬ 
 gree. The late disruption in the Established Church 
 will probably compel an assessment everywhere, as, from 
 the masses who have seceded, the poors’-box is com¬ 
 paratively emptied; and what is paid into the treasury 
 of the new Secession must necessarily be devoted to the 
 building of churches, and the support of their eccle¬ 
 siastical system. It has been stated, that 900,000 per¬ 
 sons have left the EstabHshment, which, taking it as 
 formerly embracing 1,800,000 out of 2,500,000 people, 
 would carry off about a half; but, upon careful in¬ 
 quiry, I think we may allow each Free Church mini¬ 
 ster 1000 or 1100 persons on an average as his flock, 
 so that the Free Church would comprise about 700,000 
 souls. StiU it is, on either supposition, destruction to 
 the Establishment as the exclusive guardian of the 
 .poor. In the large towns, which require more liberal 
 
17 
 
 contributions, and used to supply more funds for tbe re¬ 
 lief of tbe poor, it bas suffered in eyen a greater ratio, 
 for tbe obvious reason, that tbe most popular and attrac¬ 
 tive Tree Cburcb preachers have resorted to tbe tomis, 
 and have greatly thinned tbe cburcbes of tbe Establish¬ 
 ment ; and then tbe zeal and energy of tbe Presbyterian 
 system, vrbicb supported tbe missions and tbe schools, 
 bas greatly evaporated, being transferred to tbe rival 
 communion. Thus, in every vievr, the poor have suffered. 
 Tbe voluntary collections have shrunk to less than a 
 half, and, consepently, are inadec[uate to meet tbe de- 
 . sired object; and this is tbe more important with re¬ 
 ference to tbe able-bodied, as this class -was, in seasons 
 of scarcity, assisted out of Cbui-cb collections. If tbe 
 poor were formerly ignorant of tbeu- legal rights, they 
 know them now; and when an inadequate allowance is 
 made, they can appeal to tbe Court of Session, who will 
 give redress by sending back tbe case to tbe kirk-ses¬ 
 sion, with instructions to them to increase tbe allow¬ 
 ance. Tbe Court will not fix tbe allowance (that being 
 strictly and exclusively tbe province of the kirk-ses¬ 
 sion), but they* bold themselves, when not excluded by 
 Act of Parliament, to have a right to review tbe pro¬ 
 ceedings of all inferior courts, including kirk-sessions. 
 This is, undoubtedly,, a new view of tbe powers of tbe 
 Court, and may be supported by tbe analogy of its pro¬ 
 ceedings with reference to tbe inferior judicatories; 
 but it is an innovation upon an established precedent, 
 for it was tbe general opinion, and uniformly acted upon 
 
 * There have been some indications that the Court of Session are in¬ 
 clined to go farther in this direction than they were when the case of 
 Ceres was decided. See case of Halliday, decided 16th July 1845, not 
 yet reported. 
 
 B 
 
18 
 
 by rich and poor, that the kirk-session had exclusive 
 jurisdiction in estimating the quantum of relief to be 
 accorded to an applicant. The Court was always held 
 to have power to interfere to the extent, for instance, of 
 compelling a kirk-session to meet and take an appli¬ 
 cant’s case into consideration, if they refused to meet 
 and pronounce upon it; but the decision came upon the 
 public by surprisci The point was ruled, some time 
 ago, in the noted case of Pryde against the Kirk-Ses¬ 
 sion of Ceres. A few days after that decision was pro¬ 
 nounced, I ventui’ed to express my opinion, in conver¬ 
 sation Avith a very eminent lawyer, that I looked upon 
 it as the most important case ever decided in Scotland, 
 from the effect on the laiv which would flow from it. 
 While my learned friend thought it would lead kirk- 
 sessions to be more generous in their alloAvances, I fore¬ 
 saw the additional consequence, that a law would be 
 required to protect the possessors of property from the 
 exactions of the poor, and from the class of practitioners 
 who would spring into existence to take advantage of 
 the terrors of the heritors. 
 
 The folloAving case occurs:—Widow Thompson ap¬ 
 plies to the parish for relief. She is the mother of 
 three children, respectively nine, seven, and five years 
 of age. She conceals the fact, that, in the next county, 
 she has an older sou, a substantial farmer, who is bound 
 in law to support her, and she receives fis^e shillings 
 per week. She returns home contented Avith her allow¬ 
 ance, when she falls in with a friend Avhose occupation 
 is to inquire into the business of every one in the vil¬ 
 lage, and neglect his OAvn. That worthy has been 
 deeply pondering the case of Pryde v. Kirk-Session of 
 Ceres, and had come to the opinion that there was not 
 
19 
 
 a pauper in that or the neighbouring parishes who 
 could not make out a case for the Court of Session. 
 While he was not blind to the advantages which that 
 decision conferred upon the pauper, he was fully alive 
 to the circumstance, which might have escaped the cur¬ 
 sory notice of an inquirer into the prospective effect of 
 that decision, that the Court awarded expenses against 
 the heritors, and that they would not venture to fight 
 the question. A colloquy takes place, and the result 
 is, that Mrs Thompson’s gratitude for the allowance 
 given scarcely survives till she reaches her home. Her 
 poor neighbours are rendered equally dissatisfied. The 
 adviser’s offers of redress are thankfully accepted. 
 Cases are brought into the Court of Session; and after 
 Mrs Thompson’s case is remitted, with instructions to 
 increase the allowance, which is held to be inadequate 
 (though it is absolutely greater thau a working woman 
 can earn at the moment by her honest labour), the 
 other suits are compromised, by the heritors striking 
 their colours, and surrendering at discretion, thankful 
 to pay the expenses already incurred, for fear of the 
 large bills which they see in the distance. This case of 
 Pryde v. Kirk-Session of Ceres has indirectly brought 
 about the happy result that the poor will now receive 
 greatly increased allowances. 
 
 At the time when the destitution of Paisley was vivid¬ 
 ly brought before the public, the evils seemed so dread¬ 
 ful that the tendency of men’s minds was to disregard 
 the proximate cause of the suffering, and to apply them¬ 
 selves to a cure for it. They did not permit themselves 
 to reflect that that great misery was occasioned by one of 
 the stated revolutions in the career of commercial pros¬ 
 perity ; but, disregarding this consideration, they could 
 
20 
 
 see no remedy for tlie distress, but by directly taxing 
 the rich for the benefit of the poor. It tos apparently 
 owing to the pi’essure of this case that the late In¬ 
 quiry into the Poor-Laws was set on foot with a view 
 to their amendment, and it was to be feared that the 
 public mind might not be able to approach the subject 
 with a due degree of calmness and impartiality. Hap¬ 
 pily, however, now that the evidence has been collected, 
 and the inquiry concluded, the condition of the ma¬ 
 nufacturing interest is such, that one may naturally 
 hope for an unprejudiced examination of the question 
 in all its details; and, as all parties admit that legisla¬ 
 tion is necessary, it will be, according to all probability, 
 more temperate, and therefore more salutary, than if 
 proposed at a time when the average destitution of 
 the population was alarmingly aggravated by extrinsic 
 causes. 
 
 It is most satisfactory that no attempt has been made 
 to repudiate the old Scotch law, which has amply met 
 every demand upon it when properly administered, 
 as Dr, Alison, who justly deserves the name of the poor 
 man’s friend, admits to have been the case in the Synod 
 of Teviotdale, comprising the counties of Berwick and 
 Roxburgh. If, therefore, the poor in other parts of the 
 country were placed under the same circumstances as 
 in that district. Dr Alison would be satisfied, and would 
 not think a legislative enactment necessary. In con¬ 
 sequence of the Government having adopted these views, 
 we shall be enabled to modify what is objectionable 
 in our own system, without totally repudiating it. 
 Here it may not be out of place, once for all, to con¬ 
 demn, in the strongest terms that language can afford, 
 a state of things which we may hope we have taken 
 
21 
 
 leave of for ever,—I mean the miserable relief pro¬ 
 fessed to be given to the poor in the Highlands. The 
 idea of giving five or seven shillings a-year to a bed¬ 
 rid diseased pauper, is what is scarcely conceivable in 
 a Christian country j and we are indebted to the investi¬ 
 gations of the Commission for the promulgation of a fact 
 so humiliating to our country. It has been all along 
 the principle of om* law to provide for those unfitted for 
 work, but not to aid the able-bodied except ex pietate, 
 or by disbursements from the half of the Church collec¬ 
 tions, which by law and custom was allowed to be hand¬ 
 ed over to the heritors for that among other incidental 
 purposes. Even in administering to the necessities of 
 the sick and impotent, the relief, as we have already 
 said, was not meant to supersede that aid which the 
 relations are bound to afford. It was to be of a supple¬ 
 mentary nature, to make up what they could not con¬ 
 veniently aflbrd to give. Thus, if an aged pauper had 
 a son, a carpenter or farmer, with ample funds, such son 
 was bound to support his father, and relieve the parish 
 altogether. If the son was less able to discharge this 
 natui’al obligation, then the parish stepped in with as¬ 
 sistance. I see no reason for altering the law to this 
 extent. It seems to me that the kind commiseration 
 shewn to the destitute by those who are raised one de¬ 
 gree above them, is a feeling highly creditable to that 
 class, and that it should not be discouraged. Had it 
 not existed, I cannot imagine what would have been 
 the fate of the Highlanders in many districts. The 
 same assistance may be afforded by relatives, even if 
 largely increased allowances are made. Depend upon 
 it, the pauper will not have too much, when the pro¬ 
 portion between the numbers to be relieved and the re¬ 
 sources of those remoter districts is compared. 
 
22 
 
 It is a trite maxim in legislation, that laws which 
 hare gi-own with the growth of a people should not he 
 rashly annulled, unless they are harharous, demoraliz¬ 
 ing, or antichristian. Now, it is not alleged that the 
 Scotch Poor-Law, as now settled hy late decisions of 
 the Court, is justly open to such an accusation. It is 
 said to he inadequate to the end desired; and this 
 must he granted to a certain extent; The poor sick 
 and impotent, indeed, are most insufBciently prorided for, 
 particularly in the Highlands, and especially in those 
 parishes where, there being no assessment, the paupers 
 depend solely upon irregular supplies doled out hy the 
 reluctant hand of a factor or burdened proprietor. In 
 consequence of the concurrence of these yarious con¬ 
 siderations, Grovernment in 1843 issued a Commission 
 of Enquiry to Lords Melville, Belhayen, and others. 
 They collected an immense body of evidence, from wit¬ 
 nesses of all classes and opinions, and from every dis¬ 
 trict in the country, which has been published, along 
 with an elaborate report. I observe that Mr Twisle- 
 ton dissents from the report of the rest of the Commis¬ 
 sioners, and gives in his reasons of protest; but I do 
 not think that the country has been satisfied with the 
 manner in which he records his difference of opinion. 
 It is very easy to find fault, and to insinuate that the 
 poor will not be pi'operly cared for, without a direct 
 importation of the English system ; but he ought not 
 merely to have cavilled at the measures proposed by 
 his colleagues, hut to have stated, in plain terms, his 
 own scheme of relief, as applicable to the peculiar 
 circumstances of this country. He was required to 
 report to Parliament; but he does not do so. His 
 knowledge of the practical working of the English 
 system would have enabled him to have given most 
 
23 
 
 valuable evidence of the extent to which, in his opinion, 
 that system could be engrafted upon our practice. He, 
 however’, shrinks from the task; and it does seem to 
 me, that such men as Lord Melville and the other Com¬ 
 missioners, have reason to complain, that no grounds 
 are set forth to shew to the public why a brother Com¬ 
 missioner could not co-operate with them. 
 
 Mr Twisleton evidently doubts whether what the 
 Commissioners recommend will satisfy the country, and 
 whether the legislation consequent on the report may 
 not prove such a mere palliative of our evils, as to afford 
 faint hope that few years can elapse without a very 
 sweeping measure being called for. 
 
 From the favourable reception which the scheme of 
 the Government has met with, it is quite evident that 
 the country at large approves of the course pursued by 
 the ma;iority of the Commissioners, and adopts the prin¬ 
 ciple that gradual legislation is the only safe method 
 of dealing with so complicated a question. 
 
 Without descending to details, introduced into the- 
 Bill in order to aid its working powers, we may at once 
 proceed to the consideration of the ulterior measures to 
 be adopted; and this may be divided into four sections. 
 
 1. Are the allowances to the poor to be]^raised by 
 voluntary contributions, or by legal assessment ? 
 
 2. To what extent is relief to be given to those en¬ 
 titled to it? 
 
 3. Are the able-bodied to be relieved, or does the 
 Bill fall short of its professed object, by declining to 
 legislate for them ? 
 
 4. What indirect measures of a remedial character 
 can be proposed to raise the condition of all classes of 
 the poor ? 
 
 I. So long as moderate demands were made upon the 
 
24 
 
 heritors, they were content with allowing matters to re¬ 
 main as they were, the contributions into the poors’-hox 
 being found sufficient according to existing views; blind¬ 
 ing themselves with the delusion that the distress was 
 produced by temporary causes, and that they were not 
 bound to relieve it. Fortunately, truer notions now 
 prevail. While the poor have acquired more just ideas 
 of those provisions which the humanity of our ances¬ 
 tors established in their favour, these opinions have 
 been met, on the part of the landowners, in the south 
 of Scotland particularly, in a generous spirit; conse¬ 
 quently, an increased willingness has been evinced to 
 raise the humbler classes in the social scale; and I 
 know that there are many parishes where, within tlie 
 last three years, since the Commission was granted, 
 the allowances have been doubled and trebled, Avithout 
 public notice being taken of the fact; and, within this 
 week, a list of the poor and impotent has been made 
 out in the parish of Eosskeen, in Eoss-shire, and the 
 allowances raised from 7s. to L.4 annually. This must 
 be admitted to be a great improvement. 
 
 There is no better criterion of the advancing hu¬ 
 manity of the age than the increase of assessments. 
 While in 1740 not more than half a dozen parishes had 
 adopted this mode of raising funds, at this day fully 
 one-thii’d of the whole, amounting to 950, are assessed, 
 either legaUy or voluntarily; and the number is in¬ 
 creasing every day. The Eeport is certainly correct 
 in stating, that the objections to it are disappearing, 
 whether owing to the prevalence of more humane feel¬ 
 ings, or to a conviction of the hopelessness of resisting 
 the pressure of pauperism and the influence of example. 
 
 A general assessment all over Scotland is thus merely 
 a question of time. It will be accelerated by the new 
 Act; and will, in the natural course of OA^euts, soon 
 
25 
 
 be fixed upon tbe country, and regular rates be levied 
 by tbe ordinary means of legal compulsitor. 
 
 Tbe process of relief and assessment is generally tbe 
 following:—Tbe collections at tbe Cburcb-doors are 
 found to be insufficient; and in consequence of an epi¬ 
 demic, or bad harvest, tbe poor are reduced to star¬ 
 vation. A voluntary contribution, proportioned to tbe 
 valued rent, is laid on, and this serves tbe purpose; 
 but perhaps one or more heritors refuse to subscribe ; 
 and in order to reach these persons, it is legalised, and 
 all must pay in proportion to their means. 
 
 The BiU bolds it to be indifferent whether tbe money 
 is raised by voluntary or legal assessment, so that 
 tbe funds are provided; but it may be questioned 
 whether some compulsory system of taxation should 
 not be at once established. Without enlarging upon 
 the advantage of ha-\ang one uniform practice over the 
 country, which may at all times be appealed to by the 
 statist, and may afford the means of furnishing clear 
 returns of what is levied, aiid how levied, and from 
 whom levied, it is evident, from experience, that against 
 the assessed parish the non-assessed parish cannot con¬ 
 tend. Wherever an assessment is fixed down upon a 
 parish, thither the poor uniformly resort. They wish 
 to acquire a settlement, and with it the certainty that, 
 in old age, they will be adequately supported. There 
 is thus a constant tendency of the poor to migrate to 
 the assessed parishes; so that there is ground for the 
 complaint, that, after raising increased supplies for 
 their own poor, it is inequitable that they should be 
 liable to an invasion from their neighbours.* 
 
 * The like infliction is the fate of the ■whole country, with regard to 
 Irish vagrants who come over every year in thousands, and establish 
 
The remedy is simple: Let there be a general sys¬ 
 tem of assessment, according to the real rent of the 
 lands, and the means and substance of persons deriving 
 their incomes from money and the profits of professions, 
 and there is -a certainty that a uniform system of man¬ 
 agement will be pursued; and that each parish will 
 be called on to support no more than the poor belong¬ 
 ing to itself. 
 
 It is fortnnate that the principle of assessing all 
 personal propei’ty, and generally all property other 
 than land, has been ratified by statnte, and acted upon 
 in practice. We are thus likely to escape the heart¬ 
 burnings which too frequently might arise between the 
 landed and manufacturing interests. Where a manu¬ 
 facturer gathers round him, in a remote district, a large 
 population, a portion of which will, during old age or 
 permanent disability, become a burden to the parish, 
 most fair it is that he should contribute largely from the 
 profits of his business. N ay, it might be maintained that 
 he should pay the larger share of the assessment; be¬ 
 cause without the erection of his establishment, and the 
 consequent forcing of population, the demands upon the 
 parish would not exceed the ordinary average through¬ 
 out the agricultural districts. In complex systems of 
 social economy one must not deal with such cases in 
 the manner which might seem prima facie to be most 
 equitable; it is sufficient that a fair assessment should 
 
 themselves in Scotch parishes, and there acquire a settlement. An 
 adequate protection against the Irish migration is no longer given ; for 
 the Bill, as altered, legalises it. This is unfortunate, as it is consonant to 
 all principles of justice, that there should he no inducement for paupers 
 to change their industrial domicile for the purpose of fastening them¬ 
 selves on an assessed parish or district. In this case of the Irish there 
 is, and can be, no real reciprocity. 
 
27 
 
 be laid upon all property and income, for tie object of 
 reinoTing or mitigating a great moral evil. 
 
 Tie Bill alloivs of a union of parishes; but it is to be 
 apprehended that it -will be found to have been a grave 
 omission not to have rendered this, in certain cases, 
 compulsory, and that if it be not speedily remedied, 
 much misery to the poor, and great injustice to some of 
 the landed proprietors, will ensue; and, what is more, 
 caused by the instrumentality of the very ameliorations 
 recently introduced. It is well knoAvn that, in spite of 
 the clearings at the end of the last century, with a 
 view to the extension of sheep-farming, there are still 
 many districts in the Highlands greatly over-peopled. 
 The population, living in a state of extreme destitution 
 and wretchedness, can scarcely be said to do more than 
 barely exist ; but they are attached to their native glen 
 with that intense love which characterizes the inhabi¬ 
 tants of all mountain ranges. So long as the proprie¬ 
 tor was not called upon to provide for them in their old 
 age, by direct contributions, they have in many cases 
 been allowed to remain ; but if he be compelled to fur¬ 
 nish a competent support to them, it can scarcely be 
 expected that he should not rid his estates of all who 
 are not necessary to its cultivation. Besides the misery 
 entailed upon the poor themselves by these processes of 
 clearing, a positive injustice will be inflicted upon many 
 of the landholders; for what resource has this popula¬ 
 tion except to take refuge in the small fishing villages 
 on the coast ? And can it be hoped that they should 
 not bring with them the seeds of disease, engendered 
 by spare diet and other causes of wretchedness. In 
 this way a very large addition will be made to the rates 
 of the maritime parishes, which, it is fair, should be 
 borne, in part at least, by the inland proprietor, who. 
 
28 
 
 under the present law, is enabled to shift this burden 
 upon his neighbour’s shoulders. The only guard against 
 such a case seems to lie in an union by counties. 
 
 II. Much has been said upon the amount and kind 
 of allowance to be made. Now, it would be well that our 
 English friends should consider the habits of the people, 
 the amount of wages, and the nature of their food. 
 To give, as Mr Pusey proposes, to a Beubecula pauper 
 sherry and boiled mutton, because she is sick and in 
 poverty, would be simply ridiculous. Do the inhabitants 
 of these islands ever taste such fare ? Do the wages 
 which the indolent habits of the Highlanders enable 
 them to earn, admit of the use of luxuries ? The re¬ 
 verse is the fact. The food upon which they have lived 
 contentedly, is composed of fish and potatoes, and of 
 meal in its diiferent preparations of porridge, gruel, 
 and brose. Sherry and mutton would throw a pauper 
 into a fever, besides rendering the whole population dis¬ 
 contented. Give abundance of wholesome food, such as 
 the people have been accustomed to, and which pro¬ 
 duces a strong and hardy population, but do not intro¬ 
 duce the mode of living which exists among the labour¬ 
 ers of England, where society is in a far more advanced 
 stage, and where the circulation of money is more 
 rapid, and the demand for labour is infinitely greater. 
 In short, do not offer a premium for demanding what the 
 country cannot bear. The Highland districts will have 
 enough to do to support any assessment, however mo¬ 
 derate ; and they must be prepared for a very severe one, 
 to increase the shameful allowances hitherto granted: 
 but it would be imjust to levy more than is proper, as 
 the rent which accrues to the landlord is small, com¬ 
 pared with the swarms who -contribute to pay it. In 
 
29 
 
 all cases, make your relief, if possible, inferior in de- 
 o-ree to that on-wbicli an honest, hard-working man 
 supports himself and family. By doing so, you will 
 avoid cases of imposture, for which a direct premium 
 wiU be held out, if once you raise the relief of the 
 pauper above the general standard of the district. In 
 the south of Scotland, the poor man may have meat in 
 addition to his oatmeal, because there the labourers are 
 accustomed to it; but it by no means follows, that the 
 same food should be given to a Eoss-shire pauper, 
 where the cottar never tastes it. Even in Perthshire, 
 the ploughman abstains from animal food, though he 
 can afford to have it, in order to save perhaps L.IO 
 a-)"ear out of his wages for the education of his children. 
 
 III. Dr Alison is of opinion, that no Poor-Law will 
 be satisfactory, unless it embrace a provision for the 
 able-bodied. The theory is, that it may happen that a 
 man with a family may not find employment at all times, 
 and that, to prevent his descending into the status of 
 a beggar, he must have a right to demand work from 
 the parish. This is a very important consideration, 
 and would recjuire to be maturely weighed. Although 
 it is not irrelevant to inquire if the country could bear 
 so great a burden, yet assuredly the principal question 
 is, Whether it would be for the advantage of the labour¬ 
 ing classes themselves that such right should be confer¬ 
 red upon them ? 
 
 It is fortunate that, before being urged to a consider¬ 
 ation of this question, the sick, maimed, and impotent 
 poor should be adequately cared for. When this great 
 reformation shall have been permanently fixed and ap¬ 
 proved by the test of experience, then ulterior measures, 
 if necessary, may be considered. 
 
30 
 
 In the mean time, it must not he forgotten that, even 
 in England, there are many who doubt the wisdom of 
 this principle, and who, if they could, would gladly 
 banish it from their practice. It is conceded on all 
 hands, that the abuses prior to the Amendment Act 
 were flagrant, that the lower classes were becoming- 
 adepts in imposture, and that those feelings of in¬ 
 dependence which were the boast and glory of the la¬ 
 bourer, were rapidly wearing out; and consequently an 
 excessive portion of the annual produce of the couutry 
 was squandered in supporting no less than one-tenth of 
 the whole population. The establishment of work- 
 houses, as a test of poverty, was the fir,st eflfective check 
 to this wholesale system. Men will not easily forego 
 their liberty, or consign themselves to a living tomb, 
 separated from their wives and children, and all they 
 hold dear. The workhouse operated as a measure of 
 disfranchisement, and was meant to do so; and the re¬ 
 sult is, that only real objects of charity, or the utterly 
 lazy, enter it. 
 
 Still there is a constant tendency, in this class, to 
 cling to public relief, and to evade work; and it is 
 thought that some means must be adopted .still farther 
 to restrict the class whose support has been so heavy 
 a drain upon the couutry. I lately visited the Union- 
 House at Epping, which seems to be well conducted, 
 and found therein eighteen able-bodied men out of 
 twenty-six who had occupied it during the winter. 
 They were walking about the airing-yard doing nothing, 
 —not that they are always idle, for what between 
 picking oakum and pulling coir, something is done, and 
 the master encourages them to laboiu- as much as any 
 man can. But there they were, strong healthy fellows, 
 who could easily have procured employment in the 
 
31 
 
 parish or its neighbourhood, had they but succeeded in 
 impressing the farmers urith a good opinion of their 
 steadiness and good conduct. I was assured that, al¬ 
 though they were separated from their families, they 
 were better pleased than if they had been fully employ¬ 
 ed, and had a cottage and garden of their own. They 
 knew that their wires and children were supported, and 
 that when the bell rung at stated hours, they enjoyed 
 a far better meal than any independent labourer in the 
 district. It was strongly impressed upon me, that the 
 regularity of the time when breakfast, dinner, and .sup¬ 
 per were served, was in itself a powerful inducement to 
 prefer such a life. Moreover, the dietary Avas admitted 
 to be too liberal,—meat tAvice a-Aveek, plenty of the best 
 wheaten bread, good beer, gruel, broth, dumplings, rice 
 puddings, and cheese;—such food, in short, as the 
 generality of labourers rarely gave their families. This, 
 surely, is a mistake. It is notorious that prisoners con¬ 
 demned for thefts and other grave crimes, are far better 
 fed and lodged than honest, hard-working men earning 
 their bread by the SAveat of their broAv; and I am assured 
 by the Sheriff of Eeufrewshire, that the prison allow¬ 
 ances were, during the stagnation in Paisley, a positive 
 inducement to violate the law, and that he kneAv various 
 instances where crimes were perpetrated from no malice 
 prepense, but purely for the sake of sustenance without 
 labour. 
 
 I may, like our countryman, the honourable and 
 learned Member for Sutherland,shire, set too much store 
 on the virtues of oatmeal, as the foundation of our na¬ 
 tional diet; but questionless, the careful pampering in 
 some English unions is a bribe for laziness. Wonld it 
 not be well, then, to let the system be maturely tested 
 in England, before seriously discussing the expediency 
 
32 
 
 of introducing it into Scotland. In a national point of 
 view, the subject is a veiy grave one; for, while the num¬ 
 ber of those entitled to relief under the present law 
 amounted, as far back as 1837, to 79,429, and the dis¬ 
 bursements to them to the sum of L.155,121, it caniiot 
 be estipiated, that, under the better system now to be en¬ 
 forced, the amount of rates should not exceed L.300,000. 
 Are we then prepared, in addition, to relieve a number 
 which, allowing a like proportion with England, would 
 reach 270,000 persons. But this is but a small por¬ 
 tion of the difficulty; for a failure of the herring fishery, 
 or potato crop, would throw almost the whole popula¬ 
 tion in the Highlands upon the rates; and where is the 
 money to be raised which would even alleviate the dis¬ 
 tress which recently scourged Paisley ? 
 
 IV. Before I conclude, it seems to me, with great de¬ 
 ference, that the duty of the Grovernment does not end 
 with the passing of the new Bill, but that ulterior mea¬ 
 sures, bearing dii’ectly upon the wellbeing of the poor, 
 should be adopted. 
 
 To improve the condition of the sick and impotent, 
 even though their own imprudence is the cause of their 
 distress, is very proper; but is it beneath a Govern¬ 
 ment’s care to remove those direct incentives to impro¬ 
 vident habits, which, when acquired, lead the poor man 
 to inevitable ruin? Formerly, when taxes were voted, 
 little was thought of but the amount they would 
 bring into the Exchequer; but now, thanks to juster 
 views, the first object is to consider what influence the 
 imposition or repeal of a tax will have on the morality 
 and wellbeing of the working-classes. We have had the 
 duties on coffee, sugar, corn, and other necessaries 
 
33 
 
 of life reduced, principally to enable tbe labouring man 
 to procure more comforts and luxuries; and tliediscoyery 
 has at last been made, that the more moderate the im¬ 
 posts the greater the consumpt, and therefore the sen¬ 
 sitive mind of a Chancellor of the Exchequer is led to 
 consider the reduction of a duty, uot in the light of des¬ 
 pair, but of hope; for if an increased amount be im¬ 
 ported, the revenue will uot materially suifer. May we 
 not expect that the article of tea will be made more ac¬ 
 cessible to the humbler classes, hoping that it will su¬ 
 persede other potations ? 
 
 There are, however, on the other hand, commodities 
 from which a large revenue is realised, but which are 
 highly deleterious. Would it uot be better to raise 
 money by laying on such a tax on these as will dis¬ 
 courage their excessive use? However contrary it may 
 be to modern ideas to check the consumption of excise- 
 able articles by heavy duties, still knowing from expe¬ 
 rience the deterioration of morals, caused by the abuse 
 of spirituous liquors. Government might, perhaps, con¬ 
 sider whether it should not reimpose the duties on 
 them. What is desii’ed is uot a total prohibition, but 
 a limitation of the consumpt. As matters now exist, 
 every encouragement is held out to the operative to in¬ 
 dulge in intoxicating drinks, instead of those whole¬ 
 some beverages which are used in England and other! 
 countries. The duty on malt is kept up,—^the duty 
 on whisky is greatly reduced. While the Englishman 
 drinks beer and ale, the Scotsman is poisoned with 
 whisky. 
 
 It is but too apparent that a large mass of our popu¬ 
 lation is congregating in the cities, and increasing with 
 transatlantic rapidity. These persons are crowded into 
 narrow, dark, airless, waterless, unwholesome courts 
 0 
 
34 
 
 aud alleys; too many are tlie victims of vice and intem¬ 
 perance, living witliont God in tlie world, being placed 
 beyond the reach of the ministrations of any clergy¬ 
 man, and severed from the civilizing influences of edu¬ 
 cation. If the parents are profligate, the children are 
 worse; instead of being sent to school, they are turned out 
 at an early age into the streets, to pick up a livelihood 
 as they best may; They soon fall into the hands of those 
 who use them as assistants in their schemes of robbery, 
 are taught by them all the mysteries of their iniquitous 
 craft, and after being sent to prison, where their edu¬ 
 cation in vice is completed, and whence they emerge 
 with every virtuous feeling obliterated, they are at last 
 removed from the country, to make way for a fresh crop 
 of weeds equally noxious to society. Meantime, a life 
 of intemperance and vice, aggravated by habits of 
 uncleanliness, induces the attacks of epidemic fever, 
 which not merely decimates the population exposed to 
 its ravages, but too commonly cuts oft' the heads of 
 families, leaving widows and children upon the wide 
 world, without a human being to care for them. The 
 inquiries made in Edinburgh by Dr Alison and other 
 benevolent individuals, have shewn an extraordinary 
 number of what are called “ lone” widows, living in a 
 state of great penury, generally borne with exemplary 
 resignation. I had often heard that the manufactur¬ 
 ing population of Glasgow was reckless, immoral, and 
 drunken, so that it was stated that on pay-day, about 
 30,000 of the operatives indulged in ardent spirits to a 
 dreadful extent ; but this, I thought, must be an exag¬ 
 gerated statement. However, no one can doubt the 
 evidence of his own senses; and I recollect well, some 
 ten years ago, while waiting for a coach upon a Satur¬ 
 day evening, seeing about 7 o’clock the streets crowded 
 
with men and women, fully half of whom were under 
 the excitement of spirituous liq^uors. What ribaldry, 
 what drunken mirth, what indecencies, what oaths, 
 were heard on all sides ! Men and women staggering 
 along in a state of inebriety, inviting the attacks of that 
 fever which was then daily cutting off hundreds of them. 
 
 To what is our manufacturing system to lead us ? 
 Our desire to become the offidna gentium? If oim 
 towns double in population, what is to become of us, 
 when the periodical pressure ou trade arrives, which 
 seems to recur every nine or ten years ? How is so¬ 
 ciety to stand the cries of millions craving for bread ? 
 Are we to be exposed to a Jacquerie ? Or are the vital 
 energies of the country and its resources to melt away 
 in the attempt to feed such multitudes ? If this in¬ 
 crease of numbers is beyond the power of the State to 
 control, is it to do nothing to improve their morale? Is the 
 operative population to be seduced by fiscal regulations, 
 to expend their gains in whisky ? Or are these laws to 
 be remodelled, and the means of religious instruction, 
 and consequent improvement of conduct, to be more 
 freely imparted ? These are subjects worthy of the con¬ 
 sideration of statesmen; and in spite of all efforts to 
 shut our eyes to the coming evil, they are questions 
 fraught with such awful consequences, that they must 
 arrest attention. 
 
 Assuming, then, that it is the duty of Grovernment 
 to remove the direct encouragements to pauperism, as 
 far as lies in its power, next to adding to the amount 
 of duty, some check should be imposed upon the un¬ 
 limited licensing of whisky shops. Tew instances occur 
 in the towns, of licences being withdrawn from miscon¬ 
 duct, or, if such a case should happen, another tenant is 
 placed in the premises, the rent of which is enhanced 
 
36 
 
 by the licence ; and although the Court of Justiciary 
 has from time to time launched its anathemas* against 
 the licensing of toll-houses, yet the practice is increas¬ 
 ing, for 40 per cent, more rent is paid by the lessee for 
 the benefit of the licence, or mayhap, the toll cannot be 
 let at all without it. Nor is there much probability of 
 this nuisance being abated, so long as the trustees who 
 have constructed the road are not merely bound to the 
 creditors of the trust in the toll-duties, but have pledged 
 their personal responsibility by bond. The interest of 
 the bond must be paid, and if the tolls fall, it comes out of 
 the pockets of private individuals, who often, from patri¬ 
 otic motives, have for very slight personal advantages 
 guaranteed these debts. This is a piece of generosity 
 quite miknown in England, and likely to lead to very 
 unpleasant consequences to the parties, from the de- 
 • struction of traffic by proposed lines of railway. The li¬ 
 censed public-houses are far too numerous. One house 
 in ten in Glasgow is the proportion; surely the number 
 might be advantageously reduced. I should recommend 
 that the duty of granting licences should be taken out of 
 the hands of the Justices of the Peace, and entrusted 
 to the Sheriff of the county, as conservator of the morals 
 of the district, for Justices are constantly pressed to 
 give licences, and are often constrained to do so against 
 
 * I well remember a most ludicrous scene at a trial for culpable homi¬ 
 cide, caused by a cart running over a child and lilling it. The eccen¬ 
 tric Lord Hermand was the presiding Judge; and as it came out in 
 evidence that the carter had, at the time of the accident, left his cart and 
 horse and gone into a toll to drink, his Lordship began to fume against 
 the Justices who had granted the licence, and threatened to have them 
 brought before the High Court. Tlie amusement of Judges, counsel, and 
 audience, was extreme, when, on examining the toll-keeper, it appeared 
 that the licence had been granted by the learned Judge himself in the 
 capacity of a country magistrate. 
 
37 
 
 their better judgment, from the dread of being thought 
 hard and ungracious if they decline. The Sheriff, on 
 the other hand, is not exposed to local influences. 
 
 If any person peruse au ancient Scottish charter, he 
 will find a clause in the grant, “ cum brueriis et brasi- 
 nis,” which meau breweries, and means and appliances 
 for malting and making ale. The gentry formerly drank 
 ale and claret (which, by the way, never paid duty), the 
 commonalty ale and beer. Spirituous liquors were uu- 
 known. They are the creatures of modern legislation; 
 and the great consumpt may be attributed to the heavy 
 duties laid upon malt in the course of the French Ee- 
 volutionary War. The taste for spirits was greatly in¬ 
 creased by the reduction of duties in 1826, the passing 
 of which measure produced instantaneously a deplorable 
 change in the morals of the people in Scotland. It is 
 true that a good deal of smuggling existed along the 
 Highland border, and conflicts with the excise officers 
 gave rise to many scenes of a highly romantic charac¬ 
 ter but surely it was doubtful policy to improve the 
 morals of 250,000 Highlanders, at the cost of the de¬ 
 moralization of 2,000,000 Lowlanders. You have crush¬ 
 ed smuggling (except on the English border, where an 
 anomalous differential duty exists), but every eyewit¬ 
 ness must acknowledge that excess has increased in a 
 lamentable degree, irrefragable evidence of which may 
 be seen in the prosaic language of Parliamentary re¬ 
 turns. The quantity of spirits which paid duty iu Ire¬ 
 land in 1823 was 3,982,000 gallons, in 1837 it had in- 
 
 * A learned Judge used to say, that he delighted in the smuggling 
 cases at Inverness. The skirmish often lasted for a whole day, and ex¬ 
 tended over perhaps sixty miles of country, and he described them as 
 being epitomes of Caesar’s campaigns against the Gallic tribes, so stirring 
 were the incidents which frequently occurred. 
 
38 
 
 creased to 12,248,000; iu Euglaiul, Irom 1,970,000 to 
 7,875,000 gallons.* In Scotland, every man drinks four 
 times as inucli spirits as an Engliskniau does. In 1823, 
 the number of gallons which paid duty was 2,300,000; 
 in 1836, it was 6,620,000; even supposing onc-third of 
 this quantity exported, this leaves 9 bottles as the 
 share of every human being in the country, includ¬ 
 ing men, women, and children. The number of com¬ 
 mittals for crime has increased in an even larger pro¬ 
 portion, and almost every case may, as practitioners 
 know, be attributed directly to the agency of whisky. 
 Mr Alisouf observes, that he met, in the course of his 
 judicial duties, with a collier and his himily, who, iu 
 three years, contracted debt with one spirit-dealer to 
 the amount of L.78 : 3 : 8. 
 
 The obvious remedy is for Government to take a re¬ 
 trograde step iu legislation; to increase the duties on 
 spirits, and, if possible, reduce the malt tax, and those 
 on tea, coffee, and other succedauea. This is a matter 
 far more important than a mere question of revenue. 
 The morality of the poorer classes is at .stake, and if 
 the enormous sums expended on whisky (in Glasgow 
 alone amounting, it is said, to L.1,300,000) could be 
 saved, the benefit to the country would be almost in¬ 
 calculable. 
 
 Y. Pawubrokiug institutions regulated by the Act 
 39th and 40th Geo. III., c. 99, are established in every 
 large town, and are fairly enough conducted, to the 
 great relief of deserving families temporarily deprived 
 of work. It would perhaps be well to introduce insti¬ 
 tutions analogous in character to the Monte di Pieta of 
 Milan, and other Italian cities. As it cannot be an oh- 
 
 , .Sec Alison on Population, vol. ii., p. 119. I' Ib. p. 120. 
 
39 
 
 ject for Goveriimeut to derive profit, sucli an estab- 
 lishmeut, advancing small sums of money on tbe de¬ 
 posit of goods, redeemable at a long date, might be so 
 conducted as to be of great advantage. But as oiu’ 
 institutions do not encourage any such interference with 
 private adventure, we must deal with the machinery 
 which we have, and regulate it as best we can. In this 
 view, Avhat an advantage it is that by the Act the rates 
 of profit are fixed, under all circumstances; that these 
 rates must be made patent to the lieges; and all trans¬ 
 actions entered in a minute-book, which may be de¬ 
 manded at pleasure by a Justice of the Peace; that the 
 pawnee is bound to seize goods obtained under suspi¬ 
 cious circumstances, and to give information to the legal 
 authorities; and that he cannot, under heavy pains and 
 penalties, take unfinished goods in the course of manu¬ 
 facture, or any deposits whatever from a child below 
 twelve years of age. The legislature has probably 
 done what it can to put these establishments on a sound 
 footing. But it is not generally known, that numerous 
 impostors have established themselves in the manufac¬ 
 turing towns, whose proceedings re(][uire much correc¬ 
 tion. 
 
 Brokers, for the purchase and sale of all kinds of 
 goods, such as household furniture and wearing ap¬ 
 parel, have risen up, and have proved the source of 
 misery to the poorer classes. The property is pledged 
 and repledged ten times over, and perhaps 10 per cent, 
 on its value charged weekly. The deposit must bo 
 taken out of pawn at stated times—say at the end of a 
 week or month—and all claims upon it discharged, 
 otherwise it is confiscated, and, without any further 
 process, sold by the pawnee, no reversion whatever 
 being paid to or demandable by the pawmer. The 
 
40 
 
 transaction takes place on tlie footing of a sale^ so as 
 to relieve the broker from the penalties of the statute; 
 and, in the numerous trials before the Court of Jus¬ 
 ticiary for theft or reset of stolen goods, the brokers 
 always swear that the goods were sold, not pawned, to 
 them. The pawners, on the other hand, know that this 
 is not the true footing on which the transaction takes 
 place, but that it is quite open to them to reclaim the 
 goods at the end of a reasonable time, upon paying up 
 the deposit-money, and what by the brokers is called 
 “ interest”—being, perhaps, 6d. on every 2s. 6d., at the 
 end of each month. The necessities of the poor compel 
 them to have recourse to these harpies, and when once 
 within their clutches, there is little hope of escape. 
 It happens, sometimes, that a beggar who has pledged 
 his mattress is allowed the use of it at night, but re¬ 
 turns it every morning with a payment of 3d., to the 
 immense profit of the broker. That this system has 
 cut up the legitimate gains of the regular pawn¬ 
 brokers, is most true; and for their protection, as well 
 as that of the poor themselves, the Coui-t of Exchequer 
 instituted a series of actions, in aU of which convic¬ 
 tions were obtained. These suits excited great interest 
 among the brokers, who subscribed for the costs of the 
 defence; but the practical result has been, that, though 
 temporarily defeated, the “ wee pawns” have obtained 
 the victory—^having risen, like Antteus from the ground, 
 with renewed strength. Thus no good result has fol¬ 
 lowed these prosecutions, which have been discontinued 
 by the Board of Stamps and Taxes in despair; and since 
 these brokers continue to draw as much as 1000 or 1200 
 per cent, per annum upon a multiplicity of small trans¬ 
 actions, it would require much more stringent legisla¬ 
 tion to abate this evil. 
 
41 
 
 VI. Had the question of providing for relief of the 
 able-bodied by an assessment been fully entered npon, 
 something might have been said on the snbject of mak¬ 
 ing provision for that class, by stated emigration; bnt, on 
 any view, it is a matter of importance. In the Lowlands 
 the supply of laboiu- does not exceed the demand ; and 
 when the conntry enjoys an average degree of pro¬ 
 sperity, there is no call for removing any portion of the 
 popnlation, on the ground of excess of numbers. Doubt¬ 
 less, in every country like ours, greatly depending upon 
 its manufacturing prosperity, and where every check is 
 fraught with danger to the whole framework of society, 
 it is proper for a Government, by the foundation of co¬ 
 lonial establishments, to provide a market for our goods, 
 which may he expected to exist for an indefinite period. 
 This can be looked for only in young countries, where 
 agricultm-e must he the staple of their industry. We 
 should not, therefore, merely foster the colonies we 
 possess, hut found others which may supply the place 
 of those which will assm’edly claim their independence, 
 and he ambitions to manufacture for themselves. We 
 are gradually losing the continental markets. Eussia 
 and France have long been closed to us, and the Zoll- 
 verein is following their example. It is true, that the 
 products of their industry are dearer than ours, and 
 that the consumers are supplied with inferior articles; 
 stiU the difierence of quality and price is not so great 
 as to make the loss equivalent to the gain of employing 
 the native population, and confining the profit of the 
 manufacture to those who support the burdens of the 
 Government.* The United States have been hitherto 
 our most profitable customers, and, in spite of restric- 
 
 * In Germany, it is well known tliat, prior to tlie introduction of 
 manufactures, on a large scale, at Elberfeld, Silesia, and Saxony, the 
 
42 
 
 tive laws, are likely to remain so for a considerable 
 time; but tbe fact is certain, that New England is now 
 becoming densely peopled, and is establisbing manufac¬ 
 tories at Lowell, which, with a moderate protecting 
 duty, are superseding us in the Union. Our own Ame¬ 
 rican colonies, though not possessing above one-fifteenth 
 of the population of the States, take from us about one- 
 third as much as we export to iudependeut America; 
 which is of itself sufficient to prove the fiillacy of the 
 common belief, that, as an outlet for our manufactures, 
 we derive more benefit from that people in its inde¬ 
 pendent condition, than if the connection between it and 
 the mother country had been yet unsevered. 
 
 Tlie foundation of new colonies ought therefore to be 
 one of the systematic operations of our Giovernmeut, for 
 this, if for no other reason, that instead of being a bur¬ 
 den upon the community at home, each individual, when 
 ill the colony, requires annually about L.4 worth of uia- 
 nufactures for his own u.se, as has been .shewn by the 
 amount exported for behoof of the Australians. He thus, 
 instead of remaining a burden, not merely raises the 
 condition of those he has left behind him, by his absence, 
 but he actually sets a constant inaiiiifacturing power 
 in operation for his especial use. 
 
 Some political economists arc of opinion that Go¬ 
 vernment ought to remain passive, and should throw no 
 obstacles in the way of emigration, but should not afford 
 funds for this purpose. They think tjiat the desire of 
 
 people did little or nothing during the winter months, agricultural opera¬ 
 tions being at a stand still, in consequence of the length of the frost. Pro¬ 
 visions being extremely cheap, they lived in a sort of patriarchal manner, 
 under the same roof with the farmer. Their sole occupation consisted 
 in making coarse cloths for the use of the household. In the remoter 
 parts of the country this branch of industry has still been able to make 
 head against the operations of the power-loom. 
 
improving our state, whicli forms an iulierent element 
 in tlie Anglo-Saxon character, ■will induce a uumher to 
 expatriate themselves, amply sufficient for the founda¬ 
 tion of ultramarine colonies. This is a point upon 
 which parties may fairly he allowed to differ. 
 
 Considering, however, the importance of the question, 
 it is certain, that, in the planting of colonies, too little 
 method has characterised our practice. Every man has 
 been permitted to do without hindrance what his unre¬ 
 gulated passions dictated to him, so that the moral as¬ 
 pect of these countries (not excluding the United States 
 of America) is deplorable in every point of view. If, 
 instead of contenting itself -nith casting masses of its 
 people pile mele upon a barren shore, leaving them to 
 their own shifts, and allowing them to subside anyhow 
 into a semi-civilized community. Government had col¬ 
 lected portions of all classes,—operatives, farmers, gen¬ 
 tlemen, clergy, and nobles,—and sent them out associ¬ 
 ated together, a reflex of the social condition of our omi 
 happy laud, avc might have hoped to found on distant 
 strands many a little England, with all the agreeable 
 associations of that term. By neglecting to send out 
 clergjuneii and schoolmasters, and by discouraging the 
 engrafting of aristocratic institutions, we have allowed 
 nations to start into existence in a state of prac¬ 
 tical heathenism, which the labours of centuries may 
 not be able to overcome. But this is a subject which 
 would require a treatise for itself to discuss it tho¬ 
 roughly. 
 
 Suffice it to remark, that for that portion of oui- po¬ 
 pulation which is plunged in destitution, it is impossible 
 for relief to be afforded from this source, without a 
 liberal aid from Government. The affecting condition 
 of the poor Highlanders, which has so justly excited the 
 
44 
 
 commiseration of the public, is quite beyond the efforts 
 of private individuals. Where a population of thou¬ 
 sands is close upon the starvation point, it would be 
 absurd to look for resources to pay the passage to 
 Quebec. Although the expense of conveying an adult 
 thither does not amount to above L.2; still, such a sum 
 is beyond their means. The lando-wners should defray 
 this charge in part, for, by doing so, they relieve their 
 estate of the pauper and his family, and, fro tanto^ ele¬ 
 vate the condition of those who remain. But there are 
 several considerations which place even this beyond the 
 power of some proprietors j for their rents have, by the 
 fiscal policy of the Government, been greatly reduced. 
 Dm-ing the war, the price of kelp rose to L.24 per 
 ton, and the greatest encouragement was held out to its 
 manufacture. When the ports of Spain were closed, 
 barilla could not be imported, and even if it could, the 
 system of protection then in vogue might justly lead 
 the Highland proprietors to believe that the revenue 
 derived from kelp was as much to be depended on as 
 that from any other source. The Highland Society, 
 and patriotic individuals, offered premiums for its im- 
 provemient in quality; and the result was, that a very 
 large population, along the coasts extending from Bute 
 to Shetland, was statedly employed in creating a product 
 necessary to the prosperity of important branches of 
 trade, it being then exclusively employed in the manu¬ 
 facture of glass and soap. At one fell swoop the duties 
 on barilla were removed, and the price of kelp fell 
 from L.20 to about L.6. The profit derived from it, as 
 well as the amount made, has immensely decreased; 
 the rents have fallen 60 per cent, in many places, and 
 an enormous population has been left which there is 
 absolutely no mode of employing. What can the 
 
proprietors do with fixed burdens in the shape of an¬ 
 nuities, family provisions, and mortgages, created when 
 a sum greatly exceeding the real rent from the land 
 was ac(iuired from kelp 1 Many have been reduced to 
 great straits, and not a few have been obliged to part 
 with old family estates. Were this total prostration of a 
 people’s industry to happen in a manufacturing town in 
 England, or the south of Scotland, it might he said that 
 they might turn to some other branch of industry; hut 
 even in such places, we know how difficult it is to change 
 the habits of the operative class, and when they are 
 starving, to desire them to direct their energies to some 
 new channel, which, on inquiry, cannot he indicated. 
 The Highland proprietors, while they have been most 
 remiss in supporting the impotent, have done a little 
 to relieve the misery produced on the able-bodied by 
 fiscal regulations ; they have A'ery generally given the 
 people pieces of land, which they cultivate, and on 
 which they build their tof hovels ; but they have no 
 funds for helping emigration. Government has, how¬ 
 ever, itself acknowledged that it must render assist¬ 
 ance. In former years, but principally in 1836, under 
 the auspices of Dr Boyter, several thousand emi¬ 
 grants were conveyed to Canada at the public expense. 
 Nothing, however, has been done systematically, and 
 much more remains to be accomplished. By removing 
 the miserable race which exists in the Long Island, and 
 planting them in Lower Canada, or along the American 
 frontier, you will raise up a militia which is perfectly to 
 be relied on, either to curb the restless spirit of the 
 United States, or to swamp the sullen disaffection of 
 the Canadian Frenchmen. Although, from their listless 
 and indolent habits, the Highlanders do not form the 
 
4G 
 
 best settlers, still tliey make tlieiiiselves perfectly com¬ 
 fortable. Indeed, the prosperity of tbe Glengarry settle¬ 
 ment affords a practical refutation of tbe assertion, 
 that a country inhabited exclnsively by onr Celtic 
 friends, advances but slowly in physical wellbeing. 
 
 Let Government, then, convey say 2000 families every 
 year, and we should then see the marked benefit which 
 such a policy would entail both on the emigrants, and 
 on the empire. 
 
 While the philanthropist rejoices at any improvement 
 of the humbler classes, more especially when they have 
 been, by dire necessity, constrained to leave their native 
 land, let him not have to grieve that the same process 
 should deprive them of the means of education and sound 
 religious instruction. The Bishop of Australia, a good 
 many years since, gave great offence by publicly stating, 
 that, for a very trifling offence, a person was often de¬ 
 prived of all the ordinances of religion, and ceased to 
 be even a nominal Christian. The charge, however, 
 was quite true, and it was its truth that gave offence. 
 For many years, no provision whatever was made for 
 the religions instruction of the colonists, nor even of 
 the convicts; and there was, consequently, a total aban¬ 
 donment of the Christian verities, and the reception 
 either of Atheism, or of the most dangerous and absurd 
 fanaticism. 
 
 To a certain extent this evil has been rectified, par¬ 
 ticularly by Lord Stanley, in Van Diemen’s Land. 
 May we not hope that a Government, which is strong 
 enough to propose and carry measures for endowing 
 Eomanism, which would make our forefathers shake 
 in their shrouds, will always act on the principle of not 
 tran.sferring to a transatlantic home any of our poor 
 
47 
 
 brethren, Avitliout pi’oviding them with churches and 
 schools ? 
 
 VII. It is highly proper that, under the auspices of 
 the relieving-officer who is to he appointed hy the Bill, 
 the assessment shoirld coyer expenses for medicine and 
 medical attendance. Where sickness or chronic com¬ 
 plaints throw the sufferer upon the parish, medicine is, 
 to the full, as necessary as food, and such burden should 
 not be imposed, as is too commonly the case, upon the 
 nnre([uited commiseration of the medical practitioner, 
 who seldom shuts his ear to the voice of distress. The 
 Bill hapjnly provides for this defect in the law. In 
 large towns, the want of a power to throw this burden 
 upon the rates has given rise to the establishment of 
 dispensaries, which are supported by voluntary sub¬ 
 scription, and, generally, by the liberality of a very cir¬ 
 cumscribed number of individuals. During the pre¬ 
 valence of fever and other epidemics, which appear to 
 increase in malignity diu’ing commercial depression, 
 this burden will be so heavy, that temporary relief will 
 be but a palliative of the evil. The wound must be 
 probed deeper. It seems necessary that some general 
 measure should be passed with a view to ameliorate 
 the sanatory condition of the people. The filthy con¬ 
 dition of many of the' courts, closes, and hovels, which 
 the operatives inhabit in Glasgow, and other large 
 towns, is scarcely conceivable.* 
 
 Now, why should not some powers be conferred upon 
 the Magistrates of a town, or the Dean of Guild, to re¬ 
 vise the plans of all new streets and houses which are 
 to be inhabited by this class ? Why should not cids de 
 sac, containing no thoroughfare, and no proper sewerage. 
 
 * Vide Appendix. 
 
48 
 
 be absolutely prohibited ? Why should not some bouuds 
 be set to the cupidity of owners of building ground, 
 whose interest it is to exact an excessive rent from the 
 miserable congregation of families, who are to be 
 crammed into these dark and cheerless abodes ? A 
 Bill to regulate these matters in England has been in¬ 
 troduced into Parliament; if necessary in England, 
 why not extend it to Scotland? We have prevented 
 the use of climbing boys, as a needless piece of cruelty. 
 Has not, in short, the State a right to interfere, to pro¬ 
 tect the health of the community endangered by the 
 pestilential diseases fostered by the crowding to¬ 
 gether of multitudes in a state of poverty and dis¬ 
 tress ? If these questions be answered affirmatively, 
 has it not an equally paramount duty to discharge 
 in protecting from the moral contagion of vice those 
 whose accommodation is far inferior to that of beasts 
 of burden, and who are exposed to every tempta¬ 
 tion which unrestricted opportunity can offer ? Uni¬ 
 versal experience has demonstrated, that where families 
 are deprived of that domestic privacy which is essen¬ 
 tial to the purity of humble life, they sink daily into 
 a deeper state of degradation. The parents take to 
 habits of drinking,—'their means of subsistence become 
 more scanty, and they are at last cut "off by fever, 
 and the children reduced to that moral condition, that 
 their will, as well as their poverty, would consent to 
 the perpetration of any crime, however flagrant. 
 
 The First Eeport of the Sanatory Commission gives 
 a most fearful picture of the state of the poor in the 
 large towns in England. It is well worthy of perusal. 
 Particular reference may be made to the evidence of 
 Dr Southwood Smith, physician of the London Hos¬ 
 pital. 
 
But matters are even worse in Scotland; for a few 
 particulars of wliich I may refer to the Appendix. 
 Filth, and squalor, and intoxication, bestow upon our 
 countrymen an unhappy pre-eminence; nor is their 
 condition bettered by the importation of the wretched 
 Irish labourers, who, with a view of obtaining a settle¬ 
 ment, have migrated from their own country. Before 
 we educate the poor man, we ought first to feed him, 
 remove him to a better and cleaner dwelling, separate 
 him from whisky, and put him in the road to independ¬ 
 ence, by giving him regular employment. By doing this, 
 you open an easy way for the instructions of the school¬ 
 master and clergyman. When he sees his chUdreu 
 starving around him, his ear is closed to instruction, 
 his heart is seared, his natural afiections are frozen; 
 but as in human nature there is a great deal of good 
 implanted by the hand of the Creator, so, by en¬ 
 couragement and judicious kindness, much maybe done 
 to elevate the poor man in the social scale. 
 
 Whether it be owing to the formidable evil which 
 the mass of pauperism presents to the mind of the re¬ 
 flecting observer j to the danger to society from the 
 amount of festering misery covered only by a film from 
 public view; or whether it be that a kindlier feeling 
 towards oui’ poor is now pervading the mind of the pos¬ 
 sessors of property, and that they are appreciating its 
 duties as well as its privileges, certain it is, that there 
 is an increased desire to give liberally. But this is not 
 enough. Unless the rich mingle with the poor, make 
 themselves acquainted with their wants, and, after af¬ 
 fording them relief, encourage them, by sympathy and 
 kindness, to labour and occupy themselves in honest 
 
50 
 
 industry, all tlie statutes and regulations of Goveru- 
 inent and of the Boards which it may appoint, will come 
 far short of what is required. 
 
 The subject is surrounded with difficulties; bvit as¬ 
 suredly they are far from being insurmountable. It 
 becomes a legislator to consider the whole question in 
 a complex riew; he must contemplate it as a man of 
 business, a philosopher, and a Christian. Are these 
 characters inconsistent with each other ? 
 
 It may be observed, in closing these remarks, that, 
 while the provisions for working the Poor-Law are 
 much facilitated by the Bill, the most important change 
 is the establishment of the Board of Supervision. Many 
 persons advocated an appeal from the Kirk-Session to 
 the Sheriff, whose judgment was to be final, but a Board 
 seems to me to be a preferable tribunal. There is no 
 certainty that Sheriffs, acting individually, would not 
 be influenced by preconceived theories. If a county 
 were blessed with a sheriff Avhose idiosyncrasy naturally 
 led him to make an unusual assault on the heritors’ 
 pockets, there would be an immediate rush into it of 
 the destitute from neighbouring counties; and, not¬ 
 withstanding every effort of Minister and Kirk-Session, 
 cajolery might carry the day; and thus we should find 
 that, by a sort of elective attraction, this kindhearted 
 sheriff would seduce the paupers from the domains of 
 his Chalmeriau brother. But a Board of Supervision 
 has no personal identity; it sits in mysterious dignity, 
 is swayed by no love of popularity, and warped by no 
 preconceived opinions. We may, therefore, safely con¬ 
 clude, that it will discharge its functions honestly and 
 fearlessly, disregarding alike the grumbling of the rate- 
 
51 
 
 payer and tlie moody discontent of tlie panper. Besides, 
 being invested witli autbority, its snggestions would 
 naturally meet with every consideration from Govern¬ 
 ment, whenever an extraordinary crisis should arise, or 
 circumstances should demand a change in the law. 
 
 I remain yours truly, 
 
 W. FOKBES, . 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 Every account proves that the accommodation of the poor in 
 Glasgow is inferior in every respect to that of the correspond¬ 
 ing class in England. Thus, Mi’ Baird in lus Keport on the 
 General and Sanatory Condition of the Working Classes and the 
 Poor says: “Intemperance, according to many, is the chief cause. 
 Mr Thomson, the Inspector of sessional poor, and whose opinion 
 is assuredly entitled to much weight, states so most decidedly. In 
 his report, of date 12th August 1839, he wrote: ‘ Intemperance 
 is, indeed, the most powerful and the most fruitful of all the causes 
 operating towards an increase of pauperism, even notunfrequently 
 when the victim is not individually addicted to that most degrad¬ 
 ing and destructive vice. Drunken husbands and di’unken fathers 
 inflict incalculable misery on innocent wives and families; and 
 drunken childi’en, wallowing in vicious indulgences have nothing 
 to spare for, and cease to regard, their helpless aged parents; 
 while the drunkenness again of the pai-ents serves as too good 
 an apology for their being abandoned by theii’ sober children, who 
 feel themselves involved in their pai’ents’ degradation. The pau¬ 
 per drunkard, whatever place he may once have occupied in so¬ 
 ciety, after neglecting religious duties, loses self-respect, and is 
 soon subjected to all the miseries of nakedness, hunger and dis¬ 
 ease, which follow in the train of the monster Intemperance.’ 
 
 “ The state of the districts which the working and poorer 
 classes inhabit, and their unwholesome, damp, and ill-ventilated 
 dwellings, is another powerful cause of the disease and mortality 
 among them, and, consequently, of their poverty and destitution. 
 Hero, again, I will take the liberty of quoting Mr Thomson’s re- 
 
port (the more readily that it is little known), in which he states, 
 ‘ That regular manufactories of pauperism exist in the damp and 
 unyentilated cellars and the ground-floors in the lanes and closes 
 of the city, is a fact of easy demonstration. In almost every 
 helpless and hopeless case of rheumati.sin (and they were not a 
 few) I could trace its origin to the person having lived on some 
 damp ground-flour in a close or lane, or in the sunk flat of some 
 house in a more reputable locality; and it has often happened 
 that no sooner has one diseased tenant been driven out than an¬ 
 other healthy person succeeds, to undergo the same disqualifying 
 process, merely tempted by a few shillings of lower rent, or that 
 he may he able to sell coals, or some commodity, in the densely 
 peopled vicinity. In some cases the occupation has been found 
 to he tendered gi'atuitously, or, for the discharge of some petty 
 servile duty to the owner of the premises. And, in a subse¬ 
 quent part of the report, the writer proceeds, ‘ I was induced 
 to inquire and notice where the disease had been most deadly; 
 and, again and again have I observed that it was in closes or 
 houses where no thorough ventilation existed, or could be made 
 to operate, that this had happened; where a close was shut up 
 on three sides, perhaps on four, with the exception of the passage 
 of entry, which acted as a mere conducting force to carry the 
 malaria or contagion to the inhabitants of the upper floors or 
 houses. And I observed that pai’ticular houses where the dis¬ 
 ease had been destructive, were situated close by the receptacles 
 of impurity common to the neighbourhood, where fluid abomina¬ 
 tions were continually exhaling their noisome vapours.’ And Dr 
 Cowan reports on the lodging-houses, that ‘ they are the media 
 through which the newly arrived imniigi-ants find their way 
 to the fever hospital; and it is remarkable how many of the in¬ 
 mates of that hospital coming from lodging-houses, have not been 
 six months in the city.’ He might have added, these lodging- 
 houses ai’e the gi’eat foci of poverty, vice, and crime, as well as 
 of disease. These houses are generally of a very wretched de¬ 
 scription, in low unwholesome situations, exceedingly dirty, and 
 
55 
 
 ill-ventiliited, and are frequently crowded to excess; it tieing no 
 nncdmmon thing to find eight, ten, and twelve persons in one 
 small apartment, as nine feet by eight, or eleven hy eight. Some 
 of them also have no beds whatever in them, the inmates lying 
 on the hare floor, or with a few shavings below them, with their 
 clothes on.” 
 
 In other localities the report is in like terras. Tims, the 
 llcv.Gr. Lewis, Minister of St David’s, Dundee,* says, “The plan, 
 almost universal in our Scottish towns, of building the houses of 
 the working classes to the height of thi’ee or four, and even five 
 stories, with a common stair, and close, is fatal to this useful 
 emulation. Many of our streets, also, have been constructed 
 without any plan. Instead of parallel streets, with spaces be¬ 
 tween, corresponding to the height of the houses, aftbrding a 
 thoroughfare for air, the front gi'ound is first built on, leaving 
 admission only by closes, pens, or narrow lanes, to a confused 
 mass of houses behind, built without any other design than to 
 make the utmost of the area within. The front steadings thus 
 form a line of defence against the air and light of heaven. The 
 closes or courts, by which they are approached, it is nobody’s 
 business to keep clean. The common stairs, and common lobbies, 
 like other commons, lie neglected and desolate, having too many, 
 and therefore none, to care for them. These are the parish and 
 city nurseries of fever and small-pox. One family attacked, the 
 the disease passes from house to house, until it exhaust its viru¬ 
 lence, by having exhausted its prepared victims. Here, too, fe¬ 
 ver lingers, after abandoning all healthier localities, and is ready 
 to break forth anew, on every retmm of this periodical scourge 
 of Dundee. Apart altogether fi-om the loss of human life an¬ 
 nually incurred, and the indescribable sorrow, suffering, .and 
 destitution, which aiise to the working classes from these pe¬ 
 riodical visitations; and viewed only as a mere matter of pro¬ 
 fit and loss to the mercantile and monied resources of Dundee 
 
 •- The State of St David’s Parisli, with Kemarks on the Moral and 
 Physical Statistics of Dundee. By the Rev. G. Lewis. Dundee, 1841. 
 
56 
 
 —it were tlie truest economy to spend many thousand pounds 
 annually in clearing away those pestilential masses of huilding 
 which lie concealed from riew behind the front lines of some of 
 oui' principal streets.” 
 
 Dr Zilgonr, in his Eeport on the Sanatory Condition of Aber¬ 
 deen, says, “ The houses in Aberdeen, occupied by the poor 
 and labouring classes, are, on an average, three stories high; 
 and few of these have cellars which are inhabited. The glass 
 in the windows of the common staircase is often broken, and 
 ventilation thereby so far promoted; but, in general, the houses 
 are not well ventilated; the windows are often small, and sel¬ 
 dom drawn up, and the poor for the most part, even when fever 
 exists in the house, cannot be got to keep the windows partially 
 open. An increase of intelligence amongst the lower orders, 
 and the example of cleanliness and purity in others, and especi¬ 
 ally in the streets and lanes around them, can only eventually 
 lead them to improvement in this respect. 
 
 “ Very few of the houses of the description now noticed ai’e 
 provided with pipes for carrying off the dirty water from the 
 apai’tments up stairs into the kennel or drain; and hence it is 
 allowed to stand often until it has become putrid. The water 
 and filth, when cai-ried down stairs, are often in part spilt, and 
 the common stair is, from these and other causes, in a state of 
 extreme dirtiness. 
 
 “ Whitewashing the walls, and especially the walls of common 
 stairs, is almost never attended to in the lowest class of houses, 
 and very seldom in those of the labouring classes, excepting 
 where a removal has taken place, when the apai-tment is white¬ 
 washed by the incoming tenant. Frequent removals, therefore, 
 —a practice very prevalent amongst the labom-ing population 
 here,—^however injurious to them in an economical point of 
 ^ view, are of use in ventilating and cleaning houses. 
 
 “ Hitherto rents were paid twice a-year, and were generally 
 paid with great regularity; but of late, in consequence of the 
 frequency of an’ears, a practice is creeping in of collecting them 
 
57 
 
 ill small sums weekly.; and a Class of landlords, in this way, 
 contrive to obtain even a much higher rent than their premises 
 ai'e worth, whilst their risk being leSs, they are entirely careless 
 as to the character of the individuals they admit as tenants; and 
 being sure of their property being let to some persons or others, 
 refuse all repairs, whitewashing, and painting.” And this evi¬ 
 dence is freely supported by that of the following medical men;— 
 
 Dr Keith says, the “ crowding is fearful. I have seen six or 
 eight sleeping in one apartment, with every crevice stopped; 
 and have more than once been nearly suftocated by cnteriim the 
 apartment after several of them were up and out.” 
 
 Mr Wood says, “ Over-crowded dwelling apartments are very 
 general; and there are several houses in this district occupied 
 as inferior lodging-houses, which arc crowded with mendicants 
 or vagrants ; and here contagious diseases arc always found, if 
 found anjTvliere in the neighhourliood.” 
 
 Mr Fraser also brings to notice the existence in his district 
 of “ lodging-houses, where beds are procured by vagi-ants at a 
 low rate, are kept very dirty; and when a patient is removed, 
 or dies, the first new comer is put into the bed previously so 
 occupied, without any measures being taken to prevent con¬ 
 tagion.” 
 
 Dr Galen says:—“ The most importaut'circiimstaiice which I 
 have observed, as regulating the propagation of febrile diseases, 
 is continuity to the sick, arising from the over-crowded state of 
 the apartments.” 
 
 Dr Dyce says:—“ In my opinion contagion has had more in¬ 
 fluence in the production and propagation of fever than any. of 
 the causes specified.” He regards deficient cleanliness and 
 ventilation, and too crowded apartments, more as predisposing 
 than exciting causes; and he states that, “ Wlien fever has once 
 appeared in a poor family, it seldom ceases until all its members 
 have been attacked, as few or no means are taken to check the 
 disease beyond the removal of those attacked to the Infirmary.” 
 
58 
 
 Dr Dyce refers to those entered as mill-workers (by far the 
 most numerous class), as proring the extension of fever hy con¬ 
 tagion among persons occupying the same.house or room. 
 
 Dr Kilgour reckons deficient cleanliness and over-crowded 
 dwelling apai-tments as causes of fever ; hut states, that of all 
 causes, contagion is most operative in extending the disease. 
 He says, of 482 cases, of which a record has been kept, 284 
 came from infected houses. 
 
 Mr Templeton says:—“ An over-ciwded state of the dwell¬ 
 ing apartments is the chief cause of the propagation of fever.” 
 
 Dr Alison is, however, of opinion, that all these causes com¬ 
 bined do not aficct the sanatory condition of the poor so much 
 as being unemployed, and that a provision for the able-bodied 
 would do more to extirpate epidemic fever than any reformation 
 of the before mentioned evils. 
 
 Nor is this unfavourable picture confined to the large towns; 
 for even in the country villages the prospect is far from bright. 
 Thus, in Tranent, the following is the state of matters:— 
 
 “ Many of the heads of collier families, male and female, are 
 most abandoned drunkards, suffering in themselves degradation 
 and many forms of disease, and plunging their miserable off¬ 
 spring into abject and hopeless destitution. Many of them get 
 drunk daily, and remain in that condition for days together. 
 This continuous intoxication takes place at all times throughout 
 the year, and stops only when the funds or credit are brought 
 to a close. Saturday night usually begins the orgies, which 
 continue uninterrupted throughout Sunday and Monday, and 
 often for the next two days. But the ordinai-y drunkenness is 
 greatly increased at the beginning of the year. Work is in 
 general dropped for a fortnight, and the whole time is spent in 
 riot and debauchery. Many people, who are not in the habit 
 of getting often intoxicated, indulge in a constant practice of 
 ‘ tippling,’ or di'inking whisky in quantities sufficient to excite. 
 
59 
 
 but uot to intoxicate, whicb di-ains the pocket of the working' 
 man, and undermines his health. 
 
 “ Boys and girls acqume a taste for tliis deleterious agent -n'lien 
 very young, and I have known boys about the age of 10 or 12 
 years in the habit of getting intoxicated occasionally. On e.x-- 
 traordinary occasions, such as the ‘ new-year,’—‘ fair-day,’ it 
 is common for boys still younger to get intoxicated. The prac¬ 
 tice begun early, is not unobserved in old age. Old women, 
 scarcely able to walk, drink whisky till they cannot speak; and 
 it is a melancholy fact, that several old women have fallen into 
 the fire in a state of intoxication, and have been very severely 
 injured, and have presented sights of the most appalling nature. 
 I have seen old women whom I have sent for whisky to be used 
 medicinally m their families, return in a state of intoxication, hav¬ 
 ing themselves consumed the liquor. Young women also, in a 
 state of intoxication, meet with such accidents; one young wo¬ 
 man, about 20 years of age, was burnt to death in Tranent. 
 
 “ I have seen an infant in convulsions from the exhibition of 
 whisky by its mother. I have seen a man so convulsed after the 
 excessive use of whisky, that he could not be secured from in¬ 
 jury by violence by several men besides myself; I have seen 
 apoplexy so produced. I was lately called to a lodging-house 
 in Tranent, to see a man that was dead. He had jumped into 
 a cart when intoxicated, and when the cart reached Tranent, it 
 was found that he was dead. Dm'ing the time I lived there, 
 several children lost their lives by being overlaid by their 
 parents when in a state of gross intoxication. A gi’eat deal of 
 acute disease is produced by wliisky in Tranent. Inflammation 
 of stomach and liver, spasms of stomach, and a variety of or¬ 
 ganic diseases are produced by this dreadful practice; life is 
 shortened in many instances, and families ai-e left without a pro¬ 
 tector. By this course of dissipation, all the evils of bad ex¬ 
 ample are communicated to the young; that training of the off¬ 
 spring which is so essential to its welfare, and which it is the 
 
CO 
 
 duty of pai’Ciits to bestow, is, in a vast number of families, to¬ 
 tally neglected, and the conseqxicnces, as might be expected, arc 
 dirty, irregular habits of the children,, which no after treatment 
 can ever obviate or remove. With ago they become confirmed, 
 and the same example is continued from generation to genera¬ 
 tion.”