required, and rarely more than 37. or 4l. In fact it does not often happen in Scotland, that total maintenance is supplied to any pauper, unless he be a lunatic, or blind, or has been all his life absolutely impotent, and is without relations able to render him any support. The parish funds are not destined to supplant, but to aid individual means and charity; and the allowance, even when largest, is always regulated by the low standard specified above.

The grand difference between the poor laws of Scotland and Eng. land consists in the different parties to whom the administration of the affairs of the poor is intrusted.

The execution of the act of 1579, in country parishes, was committed to those who should be constituted justices of the peace, there not being any such functionaries at that time in Scotland. In consequence, it became necessary to provide other instruments for carrying its provisions into effect; which was done by the acts of 1592, cap. 149.; 1600, cap. 19.; and 1663, cap. 16. By these acts, the management of all matters relating to the poor of country parishes — such as the imposing of assessments, the admitting of claimants to the roll, the distribution of collections, &c. - is committed jointly to the heritors and kirk-sessions in country parishes, and to the magistrates in royal burghs. Some doubts that had occured as to the limits and legal extent of the control that may be exercised by the landlords over the proceedings of the kirk-sessions, were finally put to rest by a decision of the Court of Session in 1751, in the case of the parish of Humbie. The court decided (we quote the words of the judgment)" that the heritors have a joint right and power with the kirksession, in the administration, management, and distribution of all and every of the funds belonging to the poor of the parish, as well collections, as sums mortified (placed in mortmain), for the use of the poor, and lent out upon interest; and have a right to be present and join with the session in their administration, distribution, and employment of such sums; without prejudice to the kirk-session to proceed in the ordinary acts of administration, and application of these collections to the ordinary and incidental charities, though the heritors be not present, nor attend." The judgment farther declared, "that when any acts of extraordinary administration, such as uplifting money that hath been lent out, or lending or re-employing the same, shall occur, the minister ought to intimate from the pulpit a meeting for taking such matters into consideration, at least ten days before holding of the meeting, that the heritors may have opportunity to be present and assist, if they think fit." And, in a case tried in the next year (1752), it was ruled, that any single heritor has right to call the kirk-session to account for their administration of the poors' money. In consequence of these acts and decisions, every thing respecting the administration of the poors' funds in Scotland has been intrusted to those best acquainted with the real wants and situations of the claimants for relief, and who have, at the same time, the strongest motives for confining the charge, on their account, within the narrowest limits. A kirk-session is a sort of ecclesiastical tribunal, established in every parish. Its members are invariably selected from the most respectable classes, and in country parishes are, for the most part, either

proprietors or farmers; and as Scotch farmers generally hold under leases for nineteen years, and are obliged by law to pay half the assessment on account of the poor, should one be imposed on their farms, they have precisely the same interest as the landlords in the economical administration of the affairs of the poor, and in obviating the necessity for an assessment.

So much, indeed, are the interests and the feelings of the heritors and kirk-sessions identified, that except on extraordinary occasions, the former rarely interfere in the management of the affairs of the poor, but leave it to the latter to enrol the regular paupers — to fix the weekly, monthly, or quarterly allowances to be paid to each — to administer assistance to the occasional poor, &c. The members of the kirk-sessions act gratuitously, without receiving any fee or reward; and there is no one acquainted with the subject who will not be forward to admit, that they have discharged the important and difficult duties imposed on them with an integrity, zeal, and considerate regard for the interests of all parties, that has never been surpassed, and very seldom equalled, by any set of functionaries.

Owing to the peculiar constitution of the kirk-sessions, appeals from their decisions to the justices and sheriffs have always been rare, and have never met with any encouragement from the Supreme Court. On the contrary, in 1772, this court set aside the judgment of a sheriff, fixing the provision which an applicant for relief was entitled to receive, on the ground" that he had arrogated to himself powers which belonged exclusively to the minister, elders, and heritors of the parish." A decision to the same effect was given in 1779; and, at length, in 1819, it was finally decided, that there is no appeal to any inferior court from the decision of the kirk-session and heritors, either as to the admissibility of a pauper to the roll, or as to the amount of the allowance to be given him.

In consequence of the skilful and economical management of the kirk-sessions, and of their repugnance to admit improper persons on the roll, or to administer any relief not required by the exigences of the case, to the able-bodied poor, the sums collected by voluntary contributions, at the church doors and otherwise, have, in most instances, sufficed for the support of the poor; so that assessments have not been introduced into more than about a third part of the parishes of Scotland. It is worthy, also, of remark, that assessments have, in various instances, after being imposed for a time, been abandoned, and the poor again provided for by voluntary contributions. In Scotland, indeed, it has always been held and acknowledged to be law, that assessments are only to be adopted as a dernier resort; and that they ought not to be introduced into any parish in which the poor may be otherwise supported. An assessment is not intended to supersede, but to add to the voluntary contributions of the parishioners; and, unless these be insufficient to meet the urgency of the case, it is not to be resorted to.

Dr. Cleland of Glasgow, founding on the statements in a report by a committee of the General Assembly, shows that, in 1820, there were in Scotland 44,119 regular paupers; which, taking the population at 2,093,456 (as ascertained by the census of 1821), gives one

pauper for every 473 individuals. The total sum received in 1820 for the relief of the Scotch poor, including collections at church doors, assessments, voluntary contributions, &c., was 114,1957. 17s. 91d.; which being divided by the number of paupers, we have 27. 11s. 84d. as the average cost of each. The proportion of paupers to the popu lation, and the expense of their maintenance, are generally greater in parishes where there are assessments than where there are none. But this is not by any means always the case. In St. John's parish, Glasgow, for example, where assessments have been relinquished, each pauper cost, in 1830, 37. 8s. 101d.; whereas in the Barony parish, in the same city, one of the most populous in Scotland, and having assessments, the cost of paupers was only 31. 6s. 11d.

In 1830, the population of the city and suburbs of Glasgow was 202,426, while the total number of paupers was 5,006, being at the rate of one in every 40-43 persons: the total sum expended upon the poor in the same year was 17,281l. 18s. Od.; so that each cost, at an average, 37. 9s. Old. Hence, also, it appears that the total expense on account of the poor, to the independent population of the city and suburbs, did not exceed 1s. 9d. each!-(Cleland's Statistics of Glasgow, p. 34-261.)

The other particulars with respect to the Scotch poor laws are of inferior importance. Assessments in country parishes are imposed, half on the landlords, according either to the real or the valued rent of their estates, and half on the other inhabitants; that is, in nine out of ten cases, on the tenants. And hence, as already observed, the latter, owing to the universal habit of holding farms under pretty long leases, are quite as much interested as the landlords in preventing the increase of pauperism.

There has been, at different periods, a good deal of difference of opinion as to whether the parish an individual was connected with by birth or residence should be bound to support him in the event of his becoming a pauper. But it is now finally adjudged, that if an individual reside for three years in a parish, and support himself during that period by his own industry or resources, he acquires a settlement in it, and, consequently, a legal title to support, if he become infirm and destitute. It is worthy of mention, that how much soever opinions may have varied in Scotland, as to what ought to constitute a settlement, no individual in that part of the empire ever so much as dreamed of making the support of the poor a national instead of a parochial burden. Any such change would, indeed, be wholly subversive of all the principles of the Scotch system, and would set wide the flood-gates of pauperism. Mr. Monypenny truly states, that "the erecting each parish into a separate body, or one great family, as it were, independent, in so far as relates to the poor, of any other parish, was an act of the wisest policy and most unquestioned expediency."

SECT. III. Provision for the Poor of Ireland.

The charitable institutions of Ireland have been established either by legislative enactments, or by the exertions of societies or indivi

duals, and are supported in the former case, wholly, or in part, by grants of public money; and in the latter, by voluntary contribu tions. But, previously to proceeding to the particulars of each of these classes, a summary statement of the laws against vagrancy may be useful. So early as the year 1447, 25th of Henry VI., an act was passed, directing, "That the sons of husbandmen should not be idle men, but should labour according to their state; or, in default, should be subject to a year's imprisonment and a fine." An act of Henry VIII. prohibits gleaners of corn from working out of their own parishes. By a subsequent act of the same reign, vagrancy is punished by whipping, imprisonment, and confinement in the stocks. That these enactments were found inadequate to prevent the practice, appears from the increased severity of punishment imposed on the offence by an act of Anne, confirmed and amended by another of George II., which directs, that all loose, idle vagrants, or pretended Irish gentlemen, who will not work, but wander about demanding victuals, and other loose persons of infamous lives, shall, on the presentment of a grand jury, be transported for seven years, unless they give security for their good behaviour. In the year 1772, an act was passed to establish houses of industry for the double purpose of the punishment of vagrancy, and the relief of distress: the governors of which were vested with powers to imprison vagrants for periods of four years or under, and to inflict corporal punishment. In pur suance of these acts, a house of industry, on a very extensive scale, was maintained in Dublin by parliamentary grants, and several others in the provinces of Leinster and Munster by grand jury presentments. The compulsory part of the system has been for some time abandoned in the Dublin house of industry, which is now an asylum for aged, sick, and impotent poor. The punishment of vagrancy by transportation is still the law of the land; but is very seldom carried into operation, and then only against persons, who, though acquitted of crime by a petty jury, are of such suspicious character as to prevent their being suffered to go at large without security for their future good behaviour.

The charitable institutions resting on legislative enactments are, -county infirmaries, fever hospitals, dispensaries, lunatic asylums, houses of industry, receptacles for orphans and destitute and deserted children, and asylums for the aged.

County infirmaries were established under an act passed in 1765, by which the primate, the lord chancellor, the bishop of the diocese, and the rector or vicar of the parish in which an infirmary is thought requisite, are made a perpetual corporation for its erection and sup port. The qualification for governors, by subscription, is fixed at twenty guineas for life, or three guineas a year: and grand juries are empowered to present to the amount of 100%., which sum was afterwards increased to 500l., for the support of the institution. Under authority of this and other subsequent acts, infirmaries have been opened in every county except Waterford, where their establishment has been impeded by a local act, fixing the site of the building in a very inconvenient position.

The first parliamentary grant for the support of a public hospital

for the exclusive treatment of fever was made in 1802. The misery occasioned by the occasional failure of the potato crop has rendered the peasantry peculiarly liable to this dreadful disease. Even the capital has suffered so severely from its infliction, that in one year upwards of 60,000 persons passed through the fever hospitals of that city, out of a population of not more than 240,000. In 1817, a contagious fever spread through most parts of the island, which led to the formation of a general board of health, with a view to check its progress, and prevent its recurrence. It appears from the reports of this board that, on a moderate calculation, a million and a half of persons, out of a population of eight millions, had suffered from fever; of which number at least 65,000 died. Many clergymen of both religious persuasions perished, in consequence of their communication with the sick. In the county of Kerry alone, ten Roman Catholic clergymen fell victims to the disease. An act, passed in 1818, gave additional facilities for establishing fever hospitals: grand juries being authorised to present sums for their support not exceeding double the amount of private subscriptions; and advances for the erection of the buildings, repayable by instalments, were allowed to be made by government. In the following year, powers were granted by the legislature for the annual appointment throughout Ireland of officers of health, to act without salary, and to enforce the cleansing of streets and alleys; to abate nuisances; to fumigate the houses, clothing, and bedding of the inhabitants; and to prevent the spread of contagion by removing strolling beggars. Under these statutes, fever hospitals have been built in various parts of Ireland. There are three in Dublin; besides which, several general hospitals of the city have wards appropriated for the treatment of fever. In the extensive county of Cork there are four fever hospitals; in Tipperary eight; and one in each of the other counties.

Notwithstanding the good effects resulting from county infirmaries and fever hospitals, it was found that the wants of the sick poor called for still more extended measures for their relief. The distance of many parts of every county from these institutions, and the necessary limitation of numbers in them, disabled many from availing themselves of the advantages proposed to be afforded by their establishment. To remedy this defect, an act, passed in 1805, provided that, on the receipt of private contributions for a dispensary to afford medical and surgical aid to the poor, grand juries should be empowered to present a sum equal to the amount of the private subscriptions paid in, to be applied in aid of the maintenance of such dispensary, and to be accounted for on oath. Under this statute, upwards of 400 dispensaries have been established, affording relief to more than half a million of sufferers.

The first asylum for lunatic poor was founded in Dublin in 1745 by the celebrated Dean Swift, who bequeathed 11,000l. for its maintenance. It supports 148 patients, a portion of whom pay for their maintenance and medical treatment. With the exception of a few private institutions on a very limited scale, nothing further was done for a long period. An hospital attached to the house of industry in Dublin, a large and well-conducted asylum in Cork, and cells con