LETTER XII.

THE SUBJECT OF THE FOREGOING LETTER CONTINUED,

DEAR SIR,

Ir is objected to the introduction of poor's laws in Ireland, first, that they will operate as a heavy tax on all proprietors and occupants of lands and houses. Secondly, that they would tend to encourage indolence, and to check industry, or individual exertion. Thirdly, that the population, already superabundant, would be still further increased by them.

Before the difficulties thus proposed be admitted as insuperable, or rejected as undeserving

consideration, it is necessary to lay down at least the outline of a system for the support of the poor, that it may be seen how far these difficulties bear upon it, or whether it might not be so devised as to obviate altogether, or gradually remove, the obstacles now opposed to it.

I do not well understand either the theory or the operation of the English poor's laws; they are complex, and partake, I think, too much of the nature and spirit of general municipal laws; they seem to me to be too far removed from that domestic and family character which should be imprinted on them. On this account I leave them out of view. The Scotch poor's laws are of a better kind, and could, in my opinion, with some accidental alterations, be easily fitted to Ireland. If in this country, as in Scotland, the ministers of religion in each parish, with such laymen, to be elected annually, as might be deemed by the legislature most suited and best entitled to co-operate with the Clergy, were empowered by law to ascertain the character and wants of the resident poor, to verify their claims to parochial assistance, and

to dispense to them from the parish fund what would be necessary for their relief or support; the first effect that would follow from the labours of such a committee, would be the exclusion of all imposters or vicious characters, and the application of the public charity to the real objects of compassion. A second effect would be to deprive the indolent and vicious, or undeserving, of the hope of subsisting on the public bounty, and thereby compelling them to draw upon the resources of their own labour and industry. This labour and industry of theirs would also be thus added to the stock of public wealth, whilst the number of persons claiming to be relieved would be considerably diminished; the spectres of human misery, now so appalling, would no longer be found in the streets, or on the highways; and the din of distress, the murmur of wretchedness, the heart-rending scenes of misery, which we now witness, would not continue to afflict the hearts of the humane, and to disgrace the Government and the nation.

A committee of such persons as I have mention

ed, knowing the means of the parishioners, acquainted with the characters and habits of the truly deserving poor, their connexions, and the efforts, if any, by which they could assist themselves, would neither permit the extreme of want to reach them, nor would they pamper them with better food and raiment than the circumstances of their benefactors could afford.

These men would know the poor persons who were fed or clothed by some humane benefactor, and could thus make the private charities of individuals available to the public good; they would act as mediators between the distressed and the charitable, providing for the wants of the former, and securing from abuse or misapplication the donations of the latter.

Then as to the funds which would furnish to such a committee the means of effecting so much good.

The first source from which these funds should be drawn (and this in Ireland would be

large and almost inexhaustible) should be the voluntary offerings of the faithful, on all Sundays, at their respective places of worship, like as in Scotland; which collections, to be permanently productive, should be made by the clergy or overseers themselves. I am satisfied that if the concerns of the poor were regulated, the extent and nature of their distress clearly ascertained in each parish, and their support enjoined by a municipal law, that these collections alone would be so considerable as to meet the ordinary claims upon them. This expectation would not appear unreasonable when we take into account the small pittance upon which an Irish pauper can subsist; the reduction which would take place in their number by the exclusion of those who would be deemed undeserving; the consideration weighing upon the mind of the community, that what they bestow will be frugally dispensed, and that if they do not support the poor through charity, they will be obliged to do so through necessity; but above all, when we consider the natural tenderness, the innate piety, the expanded charities, of the Irish heart.

Z