Causes favourable to the working of the above institutions.

We have now given a very brief outline of the institutions of those portions of the Continent which appear, from the returns, to have adopted the English principle of acknowledging in every person a right to be supported by the public. It will be observed that in no country, except, perhaps, the Canton de Berne, has compulsory relief produced evils resembling, either in intensity or in extent, those which we have experienced; and that in the majority of the nations which have adopted it, the existing system appears to work well.

These opposite consequences from the adoption of the same principle, may be accounted for on several different grounds.

1. Villenage.

1. Among some of the nations in question villenage still exists. Now where slavery, in any of its forms, prevails, the right of the slave or villein to support is a necessary and a safe consequence. It is necessary, because a person who is not a free agent cannot provide for himself. It is safe, because one of the principal evils of pauperism, improvidence, can scarcely exist among slaves, and the power of the master enables him to prevent idleness and fraud. The poor laws of Russia, therefore, if they can be called poor laws, are merely parts of her system of slavery.

2. Recency of the system.

2. Among most of the other nations in question the compulsory system is in its infancy. Denmark has only lately got rid of slavery, and her poor laws date from 1798. Those of Sweden, in their present form, of Mecklenburg, Saxony, Wurtemberg and Bavaria, all bear the appearance of recency. In Wurtemberg assessments had been long obsolete, until they were re-introduced during the famine of 1817. The only country in which the compulsory system appears to have continued as long as it has in England, is that in which it has produced effects resembling those which have followed it with us, namely, the Canton de Berne.

3. Small number of persons wholly dependent on wages.

3. Another circumstance which renders compulsory relief less dangerous in the countries which we have been considering than in our own, is the economical situation of their labouring population. In England the great mass of the people are day-labourers, enjoying, where they have escaped the oppression of poor law abuses, high wages and steady employment, but possessed of little visible property, and seldom living under their masters’ roof. Such persons are not deterred from demanding relief by the fear of losing their property, since, where they have any, it is capable of concealment; and they need not always even fear degradation, since the fact of their receiving it may often be concealed. There are many instances in the Poor Law Evidence in which the masters, and even the companions of paupers, were not aware of their receiving allowance. But the class of persons without visible property, which constitutes the bulk of English society, forms the small minority of that of the north of Europe. The Norwegian return states, (698 and 699) that at the last census in 1825, out of a population of 1,051,318 persons, there were 59,464 freeholders. As by 59,464 freeholders must be meant 59,464 heads of families, or about 300,000 individuals, the freeholders must form more than a fourth of the whole population. Mr. Macgregor states (p. 300) that in Denmark (by which Zealand and the adjoining islands are probably meant), out of a population of 926,110, the number of landed proprietors and farmers is 415,110, or nearly one-half. In Sleswick Holstein, out of a population of 604,085, it is 196,017, or about one-third. The proportion of proprietors and farmers to the whole population is not given in Sweden; but the Stockholm return estimates the average quantity of land annexed to a labourer’s habitation at from one to five acres (p. 375); and though the Gottenburg return gives a lower estimate, it adds, that the peasants possess much of the land. (p. 387.) In Wurtemberg we are told that more than two-thirds of the labouring population are the proprietors of their own habitations, and that almost all own at least a garden of from three-quarters of an acre to an acre and a half. (p. 511.)

All the returns concur in stating the number of day-labourers to be very small.

The Norwegian report states, that “by law servants should never be hired for a shorter period than a twelvemonth. Employing labourers by the day, though often done in and about towns, is consequently illegal.” (p. 695.) Few day-labourers are to be met with. (p. 698.) The Gottenburgh, that “strictly speaking there are in Sweden few labourers on the same footing as in England.” (p. 387.) The Russian, that “the labourers are almost all slaves,” and that “the average quantity of land allowed by a proprietor to his slave is 15 acres.” (p. 334.) The Danish report, that “the day-labourers form in Zealand and the adjoining islands less than one-fifth, and in Sleswick Holstein less than one-third of the agricultural population.” (p. 300.) The Wurtemberg report states the labourers to amount to 41,913 (meaning of course heads of families, or about 210,000 individuals) out of a population of 1,518,147, being in fact less than 1-7th. (p. 514.) The Bavarian, that “in the country there are very few day-labourers, as almost every person has some ground of his own, and few are rich enough to hire labour.” (p. 556.)

It is probable therefore that the class of persons who in the north of Europe and Germany would be exposed to the temptation of applying for public relief if it were granted on the same terms as in England, would be a small minority instead of a large majority, and would be perhaps a seventh, fifth, or at most a third instead of three-fourths, or even a larger proportion of the whole community.

4. The situation of the pauper being made less eligible than that of the independent labourer.

4. But the conditions on which parochial assistance is afforded in the countries in question, form perhaps the principal difference between their systems and that which we have adopted. In England, where the scale and the allowance system prevail, no condition whatever can be said to be imposed on the pauper. What he receives is a mere gratuitous addition to his income. Even where work is required, the hours are in general fewer, and the labour less severe than those of the independent labourer. And the workhouse, the most powerful of our instruments of repression, affords, in general, food, lodging, clothing and warmth, better than can be found in the cottage, and may be quitted at a day’s notice.

But in all the countries which we have been considering, except the Canton de Berne and perhaps Denmark, the great object of pauper legislation, that of rendering the situation of the pauper less agreeable than that of the independent labourer, has been effectually attained.

On recurring to the statements which we have extracted, it will be seen that he loses all right to property; that he becomes incapable of contracting marriage while receiving relief, and in many countries, if he have once received relief, cannot marry until he has reimbursed the parish, or has procured security that his future family shall not become chargeable, or till three years have elapsed since he last received relief. If married, he loses control over his children, he cannot choose his residence or his occupation, and if he once becomes the inmate of a workhouse he incurs the risk of imprisonment for life. When such are the terms offered by the public, it is easy to understand that none but the really destitute will accept them.

5. Restraints imposed on the labouring classes.

5. The prevalence of habits productive of pauperism is repressed by subjecting the whole labouring population to superintendence and restrictions, which we should consider vexatious. As they are in a great measure interwoven with the laws for the relief of the unemployed, and have been in general already stated, it is not necessary to repeat them.

6. Prevention of improvident marriage.

6. In almost all the countries which have been mentioned, endeavours are made to prevent the existence of a redundant population, by throwing obstacles in the way of improvident marriage. Marriage on the part of persons in the actual receipt of relief, appears to be everywhere prohibited, and the marriage of those who are not likely to possess the means of independent support, is allowed by very few.

Thus we are told that in Norway no one can marry without “showing, to the satisfaction of the clergyman, that he is permanently settled in such a manner as to offer a fair prospect that he can maintain a family.” (p. 697.)

In Mecklenburg, that “marriages are delayed by conscription in the 22d year, and military service for six years; besides, the parties must have a dwelling, without which a clergyman is not permitted to marry them. The men marry at from 25 to 30, the women not much earlier, as both must first gain by service enough to establish themselves.” (p. 423.)

In Saxony, “that a man may not marry before he is 21 years old, if liable to serve in the army.” In Dresden, “professionists, (by which word artizans are probably meant,) may not marry until they become masters in their trade.” (p. 482.)

In Wurtemberg, “that no man is allowed to marry till his 25th year, on account of his military duties, unless permission be especially obtained or purchased: at that age he must also obtain permission, which is granted on proving that he and his wife would have together sufficient to maintain a family, or to establish themselves; in large towns, say from 800 to 1000 florins, (from 66l. 13s. 4d. to 84l. 3s. 4d.;) in smaller, from 400 to 500 florins; in villages, 200 florins, (16l. 13s. 4d.) They must not be persons of disorderly or dissolute lives, drunkards, or under suspicion of crime, and they must not have received any assistance from their parish within the last three years.” (p. 511.)

And we have seen that a similar law prevails and is strictly enforced in Bavaria.

7. Provision for the education of the labouring classes.

7. Another means by which the extension of pauperism is opposed in the countries which we have described, is the care taken by the government to provide for the education of the labouring classes. We are told (pp. 695 and 698) that in Norway their children have free access to the parish schools, and that the poor pay for the education of their children, and for religious teachers, nothing or nearly so. The general report from Russia states (p. 332) that every parish in every town has a school which is open to children of all classes, under the direction of the clergyman; and this is borne out by the consular return from Archangel. (p. 337.) The Gottenburg report states (p. 385) that in Sweden gratuitous education is provided for children of the indigent, and that it is asserted that there is not one person out of 1000 who cannot at least read. The Danish reports state (pp. 264, 293) that the children of all poor persons are educated gratuitously: that the parish is taxed for the payment of the schoolmaster, the repairs of the schoolhouse, books, papers, pens, ink, &c.; and that parents are bound under a penalty to send their children regularly to school until they have passed the age of 14, and been confirmed. Gratuitous education is also afforded in Mecklenburg (p. 491) and in Prussia. Mr. Gibsone states, as the general law of the country, that “all children capable of going to school are obliged to attend it. Those whose parents are unable to pay the expense, must be sent thither at the cost of the community to which they belong” (p. 460); “the expense of school-money and religious instruction is about 1s. 6d. yearly for each child.” (p. 466.) In the detailed regulation for the relief of the poor in Berlin, (p. 455,) it is laid down that “the period of children being sent to school regularly commences at the beginning of the child’s seventh year, and terminates when the child, according to the testimony of the minister, has acquired the knowledge necessary for his station in life, which generally occurs on his attaining his 14th year. If parents allow their children to grow up without instruction, the commissioners for the relief of the poor are to remonstrate with them, and should this be of no avail, the commissary of police is to interfere.” In Saxony, “the local poor commission supports free schools.” (p. 480.)

The care which has been bestowed on this subject in Wurtemberg is remarkable. The government report, after stating the recent introduction and success of infant schools, adds that—

For older children, from the age of 6 to 14, there has long existed in Wurtemberg in every, even the smallest community, supported chiefly at the expense of the local church estate and community fund, and of the parents, with the co-operation, however, of the public treasury, a German or elementary school, which all children of that age, both boys and girls, must attend, and in which, with the exception of short holidays during the time of haymaking, harvest and vintage, they receive throughout the year every day, with the exception of Sundays and holidays, in winter for five and in summer for at least two hours, instruction in religion, morality, singing, the German language, reading, writing, arithmetic, and the elements of natural philosophy, natural history, geography and history. In summer, in consideration of the work in the fields, the instruction is given as much as possible in the morning; and at the season when the labours of the field are the most urgent, and in cases of great poverty, an exception is made in favour of those children, where it is required, who, on application, are excused two or three times a week from coming to school. With this exception, every illegal neglect of school is punished by a fine of two or three kreutzers, and if the neglect of attending is continued, from four to six kreutzers; and no child, even if it has completed the 14th year, is suffered to leave the elementary school till it has acquired sufficient knowledge of what is taught there. (p. 528.)

As, however, many poor children endeavour notwithstanding to avoid attending the elementary schools, and in all cases the instruction in these elementary schools occupies only the smaller portion of the day, so that those poor children who are not properly attended and employed by their parents have still plenty of time for idleness and beggary; attempts have latterly been made in some places to put such children under special superintendence, as, for instance, by appointing a guardian for each poor child in the person of an overseer or other public officer of the community, or of a neighbour, who has to observe it every where, at home, at work, at play; or by periodical general summons to the several parents; or by periodical visitations in the houses of poor families, especially of those who are suspected of not paying proper attention to the education of their children; or by the periodical exhibition of the work done at home; or by the public performance of some work as a specimen; or by gratuitously providing the poor children with tools and materials; by the distribution of rewards among the most diligent and skilful of the children; and by exhorting, summoning, and punishing negligent parents; by these means to acquire the certainty that such children are kept to the constant attendance of the church and school, and to doing their tasks; that they are sufficiently employed in a suitable manner; that they are not ill-treated, either by being overworked or by unmerited corporal chastisement; that they are not neglected with respect to clothing and cleanliness; and that they are not abandoned to idleness, beggary and other vices, &c. (p. 529.)

Partly to retain, by practice, what they have learnt in the elementary schools, and partly to promote the further improvement of the grown-up youth, a Sunday School is kept in every community in Wurtemberg, in the common school-room, where every youth and girl above 14 years of age, in the Protestant places to their 18th, and in Catholic places to their 21st year, must go every Sunday, or where there is only one school-room the youths and girls every Sunday alternately, and attend the lessons for at least an hour and a half, on pain of paying four kreutzers, and if the neglect is of long continuance, six kreutzers, for every time that they remain away. It may be added, that, according to the existing laws, more care has lately been taken that young persons of this age, unless they are wanted to assist their parents in their domestic and field-work, particularly those who are educated at the public expense, and the poor girls and youths discharged from the penal establishments, do not remain at home with their families, or, out of love to a more unrestrained way of life, endeavour to gain a livelihood as Eigenbrödler[9], as they are called, merely by sewing, knitting, &c., but that they try either to engage as servants or learn a trade. (p. 534.)

The Bavarian poor law enacts, that all the children of the poor shall, without favour and without regard to the usual pretexts, be kept to the practice of the public school and religious instructions, as also of frequenting the work and industry schools, and of learning a trade. The school money is to be paid from the poor institutions. (p. 559.)

Among all the Continental communities which recognize in the poor the right to relief, the only one which does not appear to provide the means of education, and to enforce their being made use of, is that in which pauperism has become absolutely intolerable, namely, the Canton de Berne; and even there any aubain (or person not entitled to bourgeoisie in the parish in which he resides) may be summarily ejected (unless possessed of landed property in it), if it can be proved that he does not either send his children to school or provide otherwise for their education. (p. 199.)

8. Central superintendence.

8. Lastly, in most of the countries which have been considered, the local administration of the laws for the relief of the poor is controlled by a central superintending authority.

The only countries, the reports from which state that this is not the case, are Sweden, Denmark, and Berne; and we have seen both that these are the three countries in which the poor laws are the worst administered, and that in all of them the mal-administration which the reporters deplore is mainly attributed by them to the absence of a central control.

We now proceed to give a short outline of the institutions for the relief of the poor in those countries which do not appear, from the reports in this Appendix, to acknowledge a legal right in the applicant.

HANSEATIC TOWNS.

Hamburgh.

1. Hamburgh.—The situation of Hamburgh, a large commercial town, with a small territory and few manufactures, exposes it to a considerable influx of foreign poor; and the number of charitable establishments appears to have fostered and still to encourage pauperism to an extent exceeding the average of the north of Europe. It appears from the Consul-general’s return, that besides many endowed schools, hospitals, and almshouses, the city possesses a general institution for the poor, supported by the interest of its own capital and by some voluntary contributions, and considerable advances from the treasury of the State. A report has been furnished of the proceedings of that institution during the year 1832.

It appears by that report (pp. 397, 398) that in 1832, 141,858 current dollars, or about 25,000l. sterling, was distributed in money, by way of weekly relief among registered or regular poor, amounting at an average to 2,900 individuals, or heads of families; the smallest weekly relief being 8 schillings or 7d. sterling; the largest for an individual, 2 dollars or 7s. sterling; and for family, 3 dollars or 10s. 6d. Half of the adult paupers appear to have been foreigners. Besides the amount of money relief, considerable sums were expended in the distribution of soup, clothing, beds and bed clothing, and fuel, and in the education and maintenance of poor children, and in medical relief to the sick. Both the Consul’s report and that of the institution, lament the absence of a workhouse. “Of those who are capable, but will not work,” says the latter, “a great number to be sure will be found: the only help against this would perhaps be an institution, under a strict superintendence of the police, for compelling them to work; the want of which, from the undeniably increasing degeneration of our lowest class of people, is sensibly felt from year to year.” (p. 402.) This statement is borne out by the progressive increase of the registered paupers, from 2,332 in May 1826 to 2,969 in May 1832, and by the large amount of the regular out-door relief in money, amounting, on a population of 130,000, to very nearly 4s. a head. Further evidence of the extent of pauperism is afforded by the number of persons buried in 1832 at the expense of the institution, which was 459, or nearly one-tenth of the average number of deaths.

No means exist of forcing parents to educate their children; a defect deplored by the institution. (p. 403.)

Bremen.

2. Bremen.—The poor institutions of Bremen seem to resemble those of Hamburgh; but the general enforcement of education, the use of a workhouse, and perhaps other circumstances not mentioned in the report, appear to have rendered their results more beneficial. The following answers to questions 3, 4, 5, 7, and 8 of the Commissioners’ questions, give a short outline of the existing system:—

3. To what extent and under what regulations are there district houses of industry for receiving the destitute able-bodied, or any part of their families, and supplying them with food, clothes, &c., and in which they are set to work?—There exists but one poor-house in Bremen, in which the destitute able-bodied are received, to the number of 220, lodged, fed, and clothed, for which they are bound to work, for the benefit of the institution, as far as they are able.

4. To what extent and under what regulations do any religious institutions give assistance to the destitute, by receiving them as inmates, or by giving them alms?—Independently of three houses for the lodging and partly providing for poor widows, free of expense, there are other buildings set apart for the reception of poor superannuated or helpless women; but chiefly a number of private institutions for the relief of poor deserving persons by testamentary bequests. Such are the Rheden, the Tiedemann, the Nonnen, the Von Bühren, &c., so called.

5. To what extent and under what regulations is work provided at their own dwellings for those who have trades, but do not procure work for themselves?—This is done, but in a very limited degree, at the public expense, as those who have trades come under the care and superintendence of their respective guilds, whose duty and credit it is to prevent any of their fraternity coming upon the parish, and who can easily afford the means of providing them with work. Females, on application to the poor-house, may receive hemp and flax for spinning, and are remunerated accordingly.

7. To what extent and under what regulations are fuel, clothing, or money distributed to such persons or their families; at all times of the year, or during any particular seasons?—Those who are registered in the poor-house list, and thus come under the superintendence and control of the parish officers, receive, as long as they may require assistance,—1. A small monthly allowance in money. 2. Clothing for themselves and their families. 3. If necessary, bedding. 4. In the winter, during severe frost, fuel.

8. To what extent and under what regulations are they relieved by their children being taken into schools, and fed, clothed, and educated or apprenticed?—Means are not only afforded to the poor for sending their children to school and for giving them religious instruction, but they are here compelled to do so, on pain of forfeiting all claim to parochial relief, or by other modes of punishment. That every child in the State, of whatever descent, shalt be subjected to school discipline and tuition, is founded upon the principle, that no means so effectually obviates that general poverty, among the lower classes in particular, as an attention to the development of their minds, by which they acquire that self-confidence that stimulates exertion, and that proper spirit of independence that keeps them above want, whilst by religious instruction they are impressed with a sense of the duties and advantages of good moral conduct through life. It has ever been the prevailing opinion in this Republic, that the principal duty of the State towards bettering the condition of its poorer classes, rests upon a due regard to this school discipline, and that it tends in its practice to prevent the frequent recurrence of application for relief in the same family; the descendants of which, without such control, would habitually and irrecoverably become, in their turn, dependents upon public charity. When such children have arrived at the age of 14 or 15 years, after having been taught reading, writing, arithmetic, and any other acquirement consistent with their situation, books, and other materials being furnished them by the poor-house, gratis; they are, after confirmation, generally put out to service, and thus prevented from returning to the idle habits of their parents. Girls are, in like manner, often provided for. They are taught reading, writing, knitting, and needle-work. (pp. 410, 411.)

Lubeck.

3. Lubeck.—If the statistical returns respecting Lubeck, which however do not appear to rest on enumeration, can be depended on, the proportion of deaths, births, and marriages to the whole population is less than in any other part of Europe. The deaths being stated to be 1 in 56; the births 1 in 53½; and the marriages 1 in 177. And, what is perhaps the strongest indication of the general welfare of a community, the deaths under the age of one year are stated to be only 1 in 7. The following answers to questions 3, 4, 5, 7, and 8, may be compared with the corresponding answers from Bremen:

3. To what extent and under what regulations are there district houses of industry for receiving the destitute able-bodied, or any part of their families, and supplying them with food, clothes, &c., and in which they are set to work?—No other institution of this kind exists here but the work and poor-house, called the Cloister, into which, however, none are admitted but persons totally incapable of contributing to their own support, whether from drunkenness or other incapacitating causes.

4. To what extent and under what regulations do any religious institutions give assistance to the destitute, by receiving them as inmates, or by giving them alms?—We have none such, but a collection is made in all our churches every Sunday for the poor; this, however, being a regular matter-of-course thing, yields comparatively small sums, which are privately distributed to poor persons by the churchwardens and deacons.

5. To what extent and under what regulations is work provided at their own dwellings for those who have trades, but do procure work for themselves?—or for such persons in agriculture or on public works? Every able-bodied man is supposed capable of providing for himself, and no such work or relief is afforded him. In winter, many poor women are supplied with a little work by the overseers of the workhouse, who give them flax to spin. The average annual quantity thus spun is about 6000 to 6500 pounds, the pay for which, amounting to about 130l. annually, relieves about 300 poor women. The linen yarn thus spun is disposed of by lottery among the wealthier classes. No work is supplied at the public expense or by public institutions to able-bodied men, merely because they are destitute; they must seek and find it themselves, and are of course accepted and employed on public works, as far as there is a demand for them. Having no relief to expect elsewhere, they are of course spurred on to exertion, and if sober and of good character, it may be generally assumed that they find work, at least sufficient for their bare existence, since, if a man can earn but a few pence daily, it will suffice to support him in this country.

7. To what extent and under what regulations are fuel, clothing, or money, distributed to such persons or their families; at all times of the year, or during any particular seasons?—As above stated, no relief of this kind is afforded to able-bodied men; their families, if considered destitute, may perhaps obtain the relief afforded by the poor-board to the poor generally, by means of portions of cheap food daily during the five winter months, and four times a week during the other part of the year. About 230,000 such portions are distributed annually, and bread to the value of about 60l. Fuel is distributed during the severer part of the winter, but money is rarely given, and only in extreme cases, never exceeding one mark, or about 14d. sterling a week, to the same party. Clothing forms no part of the relief afforded. In Lubeck these various kinds of relief are partaken of by about 850 persons annually.

8. To what extent, and under what regulations, are they relieved by their children being taken into schools, and fed, clothed, and educated, or apprenticed?—Not only are all the children of the poor admitted into the poor-schools for instruction gratis, but when relief is afforded by the poor-board, it is on the positive condition that they shall send their children to such schools. Neither food, clothing, nor any further provision is afforded them, in these schools, excepting in a very few extreme cases, in which the maintenance of very young children is undertaken by the poor-board. The number of children in our poor-schools averages about 300. (p. 415, 416.)

The allowance in our poor and workhouse for every individual, is—

Daily:—1½lb.of coarse rye bread.

2½—vegetables or porridge, such as potatoes, yellow peas, green peas, dried white beans, carrots, peeled barley, cabbage, &c., according to the season, and sometimes rice.

1bottleof weak beer.

Monthly:—1½lb.of meat, and

½lb.of butter, lard, or fat, to cook the food with. (p. 420.)

Marriages among the poor are delayed by the necessity a man is under, first, of previously proving that he is in a regular employ, work, or profession, that will enable him to maintain a wife; and secondly, of becoming a burgher, and equipping himself in the uniform of the burgher guard, which, together, may cost him nearly 4l. (p. 419.)

The condition of the labouring classes living on their own earnings is considered by themselves to be far superior to that of the paupers maintained in our poor-house. The partial assistance afforded by the poor-board is chiefly directed towards aiding those who are not devoid of honest pride, and have some feelings of independence left, who consequently earn their own maintenance as far as they can, and are thus assisted in their endeavours to support themselves, and keep out of the workhouse. The aid they receive is proportioned to their age and families, and is mostly granted to females; it is gratefully received, and no idea exists of ever thinking it a right. As a rule, no persons fully able to work can receive assistance; they are therefore forced to seek out employment, and may be generally presumed to succeed. If they get but a moderate portion of work, very trifling earnings place them in a situation much more eligible than that of the pauper maintained in the poor-house. (p. 418.)

FRANKFORT ON THE MAIN.

The institutions for the relief of the poor in Frankfort do not appear to require much notice.

The most striking circumstance mentioned in the report is, that the orphans and deserted children brought up in the public establishments are so carefully and successfully educated, that on an average they turn out better than those merely kept to school and living at home. (p. 567.) Permission to marry is not granted to a person who cannot prove his ability to support a family.

HOLLAND.

As the Canton de Berne appears to be the portion of continental Europe in which the burthen of legal relief is most oppressive, Holland appears to be that in which pauperism, unaided by a legal claim, is the most rapidly advancing. The Appendix contains an official communication from the Dutch government, and answers from His Majesty’s Consul in Amsterdam, to the Commissioners’ questions.

The clearest general view of the mode in which relief is administered, is contained in the following extract from the Consul’s report: (p. 581.)

General view of the Dutch system.

The main support of the poor is derived from religious communities and charitable institutions. Every denomination of Christians, as well as the Jews, relieve their own members; and for this purpose have, for the most part, orphan and poor-houses, and schools connected with them, which are supported by property belonging to them, and by voluntary contributions at the church-doors, and collections at the houses of the members: the Jews being permitted occasionally to make a general collection throughout the city for their own purposes. These establishments, among the Protestants (the most numerous community), are called Deaconries; and they provide not only for the support of their indigent members, but also for their relief in sickness. The deacons, who have the immediate superintendence of the poor, limit the assistance given according to the exigency of the case, which they investigate very narrowly; and by becoming particularly acquainted with the situation of the applicants, are enabled to detect any imposition. The pecuniary relief afforded is very small, and can only be considered as in aid of the exertions of the poor to earn their own support, being limited to a few pence in the week; a weekly donation of 2 florins (or 40d.) being looked upon as one of the largest. In winter, provisions, fuel, and clothing, are given in preference to money. The aged and infirm are admitted into the poor-houses, where, and at the schools, the children are educated, and afterwards put out to different trades, till they are able to provide for themselves. The deacons act gratuitously; and being of the most respectable class of citizens, elected by the churches to that office, the conscientious discharge of it is ensured, and in consequence, malversations seldom take place. The general poor (being inhabitants), including persons who are and are not members of religious communities (Jews excepted), are relieved at their own houses from the revenue of property, long since appropriated to that use, administered by commissioners appointed by the magistrates, and acting without emolument (as is the case with most similar offices in this country), and in aid of which public charitable collections at private houses are permitted, while any eventful deficiency is supplied from the funds of the city; but the relief afforded by these means is very small, and is confined chiefly to bread, with the addition of fuel in winter. Without other resources, therefore, or the assistance of private charity, the claimants could hardly subsist upon what they obtain in this way. By a decree passed in the year 1818, it was enacted, that the domicile of a male pauper is the place of his birth, superseded by the place where he has resided four years and paid taxes; and that of a child, the residence of his father, or of his mother, if a widow. That the domicile of a stranger is the place where he has resided six years; of married women and widows, the place of their husband’s residence; of legitimate minors, that of their fathers’, and of illegitimate, that of their mothers’. This decree, fixing the domicile of paupers for the purpose of obtaining relief, and a subsequent one, by which gratuitous legal advice is allowed them, if they apply for it, implies that they have a claim to support, which can be enforced at law; but as the funds from which this support must be obtained are uncertain, the amount of the relief that can be given depends upon their extent, and it is in fact left at the discretion of the overseers, who have the faculty of withholding it on the proof of bad conduct of the recipients, or when their children do not properly attend the school, or have been neglected to be vaccinated. Those not members of churches are, moreover, admonished to join some religious community, and must promise to do so the first opportunity. The decree above alluded to also regulates the proceedings of one town against another, and of religious and charitable institutions at the same place, in respect to paupers. There are at Amsterdam, besides, a variety of private establishments for the poor of different religious denominations, endowed by charitable persons, in which the poor are relieved in different ways, according to prescribed regulations. In general, the funds of all the public charitable institutions have greatly diminished, while the number of claimants has much increased, which causes frequent and urgent appeals to the public benevolence. In the country, the same system prevails, and the deacons or office-bearers of the churches are often called upon during the winter to assist in the support of indigent labourers with families, till the return of spring enables them to find work; but there are few permanent poor there, except the old and infirm, who are generally boarded in poor-houses in the adjoining town. (p. 582.)

It will be observed that the Consul considers the law which fixes the domicile of a pauper, and entitles him to legal advice, as implying in him a legal right to relief. We understand, however, that no such right is in practice acknowledged. And as a large proportion of the fund for the relief of the poor arises from endowments, the law may fix the legal settlement of every person, that is, his right to participate in the endowments of a particular parish, and allow him legal assistance in establishing it, without giving to him that indefinite claim which exists in those countries in which every person has a right to receive from the public subsistence for himself and his family.

The official report contains the following details respecting the funds from which public relief is afforded: (pp. 573, 574, 575.)

The principle which invariably has been acted on is, that the charge of relieving the poor should in the first place rest on the overseers of the poor of the religious sects in each parish; but when the means of the administration of the poor are not sufficient, they can indiscriminately (without reference to the sect to which such poor belong) apply to the local administration for relief, which, after due investigation, generally grants it, according to the means of the municipal administration, which is regulated by its direction.

Paupers, however, who are not members of any congregation, or any religious sect, in the place where they live and receive relief, or where no ecclesiastical charity for the poor exists, are supported by the municipal administration of the place where they live and obtain their support; for which purpose, in several cities and parishes, a separate administration for the poor is established responsible to the municipal administration; whereas in the remaining cities and parishes such relief is granted either by the burgomaster, or by an overseer of the poor nominated by him.

The hospitals, which in many cities exist, are for the greater part government establishments, which are administered on account of the local magistracy, by a number of directors appointed thereto, in which hospitals all inmates, without any distinction as to religion, are taken in; some of these hospitals are however separate foundations, which exist wholly, or in part, on their own revenues.

Amongst the orphan houses and charities for children and old people, there are several establishments which exist wholly or in part on their own revenues; whereas the remainder are generally the property of particular church administrations of the poor, which in great cities is almost generally the case in orphan houses, or charities for children.

Foundlings and abandoned children, at the charge of the place in which they are abandoned, are provided for in the establishment for children of the society for charitable purposes; by which institution the beggars are also provided for in the establishments appropriated for that purpose, and acknowledged by the government, at the charge of the place where they have a claim for relief.

There exist three local workhouses, one at Amsterdam, one at Middleburgh, and one in the commonalty Nieuwe Pekel A., in the province of Groningen, in which paupers, generally those who apply of their own accord, are taken in, upon condition that they contribute to their support as much as possible by labour: further, there are in several places twenty-one charitable houses of industry, which procure work for paupers who are in immediate want of work, either in the houses of industry, or at their own dwellings.

Besides the before-mentioned institutions, there are also various places, unions, and societies, the intentions of which are to grant relief in some way or other; namely, some for the relief of very indigent poor; others for granting relief to poor lying-in-women; and the commissions or societies which during the winter distribute provisions and fuel.

For the twelve years from 1820 to 1831, the receipts of the administration for the established charity houses, and those of the hospitals, taken on an average for each year, amount together;

Guilders.

1. The revenues of properties and acknowledged rights2,461,88326

2. Proceeds of collections1,320,55148

3. Subsidies granted by

a. The parishes1,779,71967

b. The provinces of the State38,64278

1,818,36245

MakingGuilders5,600,79719

By which all the disbursements of these institutions are covered.

And if to the above-mentioned sum are added, for the same period of twelve years, the following, viz.:

1. For the local workhouses and charitable houses of industry:

a. Revenues of properties7,45850

b. Collections7,97163

c. Subsidies of the parishes99,08387

2. For the new erected beggars’ workhouses:

a. Daily wages paid by the parish for the beggars placed therein41,09040

b. Provincial subsidies87149

3. For the society for charitable purposes:

a. Contributions and voluntary donations by individuals48,89355

b. Monies for stipulated contracts208,65169

Consequently, the whole sum isGuilders6,014,81832

It appears from this statement that rather more than 6,000,000 guilders (equal, at 20d. the guilder, to 500,000l. sterling) has, on an average of the last 12 years, been annually expended on the relief of the poor, being an expense per head, on an average population of 2,292,350, of about 4s. 4¼d.—an expenditure small compared with our own, but very large when compared with the average expenditure of Europe.

The official report does not state the progressive increase of the annual expenditure; but it contains a table of the progressive increase of the number of persons receiving relief, from which we extract the particulars of the 10 years ending with 1831. (p. 580.)

HOLLAND.—Statement of the Number of Persons who have received Relief, or to whom Work has been given, by the Civil or Ecclesiastical Charitable Institutions in North Netherland, during 10 years, from 1822 to 1831 inclusive.

Population of North Netherland on the 31st Dec. Institutions for Relief. INSTITUTIONS FOR GIVING OR PROCURING WORK. General Total Persons who have received Relief, or to whom Work has been given. Statement for the Population of North Netherland of 100 Persons.

Number of Persons relieved by the direction of the Poor-House. Population of the Hospitals. Number of Persons. Number of Persons who have worked in and for the local Workhouses and Charitable Workplaces. Population of Paupers’ Workhouses. Population of the Colonies, and Establishments of the Society for Charitable Purposes. Number of Persons. Of the Total Number of Persons relieved or maintained by the Institution for granting Support. Of the Total of Persons by the Institution for providing Work. Of the general Total of Persons who have participated in the Relief, or to whom Work has been given.

Fed and lodged in the Institutions. Those only who have worked in the same, or at their own Houses. Together. At Hoorn. At Veere. Together, or in the whole. Poor Families making the number of Persons. Orphans, Foundlings, or abandoned Children. Beggars. Persons, Veterans’ families, making together. Together, or in the whole.

1822 2,190,171 174,802 20,501 195,303 id. id. 3,227 750 .. 750 1,979 456 300 .. 2,735 6,712 202,015 8,914 0,306 9,220

1823 2,219,982 193,633 17,430 211,063 id. id. 4,358 750 273[10] 1,023 2,295 475 1,053 .. 3,823 9,202 220,265 9,507 0,415 9,922

1824 2,253,794 196,786 19,955 216,741 id. id. 4,271 700 200 900 2,614 1,214 1,061 .. 4,889 10,060 226,801 9,617 0,446 10,063

1825 2,281,789 240,400 17,943 222,343 862 2,982 3,844 323 136 459[11] 3,227 2,174 1,377 .. 6,778 11,081 233,424 9,744 0,486 10,230

1826 2,296,169 227,501 18,731 246,232 920 3,199 4,119 380 82[12] 462 2,724 2,233 1,581 231 6,769 11,350 257,582 10,724 0,494 11,218

1827 2,307,661 232,426 19,775 252,201 670 4,001 4,671 378[13] .. 378 2,560 2,059 1,763 401 6,783 11,832 264,033 10,929 0,513 11,442

1828 2,329,934 217,343 17,928 235,271 607 4,017 4,624 .. .. .. 2,510 2,358 1,826 562 7,256 11,880 247,151 10,098 0,510 10,608

1829 2,427,206 235,771 17,884 253,655 672 4,077 4,749 .. .. .. 2,626 2,340 1,942 543 7,451 12,200 265,855 10,450 0,503 10,953

1830 2,444,550 244,503 17,870 262,373 733 4,263 4,996 .. .. .. 2,619 2,288 2,111 473 7,491 12,487 274,860 10,733 0,511 11,244

1831 2,454,176 248,380 17,887 266,267 973 4,637 5,610 .. .. .. 2,694 2,297 2,406 456 7,853 13,463 279,730 10,849 0,549 11,398

OBSERVATIONS.

General Observations.—Although the persons who have only worked in or for the charitable work-places, and are not lodged or fed in them, are probably already included amongst the number of those who have been relieved by the direction of the Poor-house; it was, however, thought proper not to exclude them from this Table, because the expenses of procuring work belong likewise to these persons.

It appears from this table that the number of persons relieved has steadily increased from 202,015, the number in 1822, to 279,730, the number in 1831; and that the proportion of paupers to independent members of society has also increased from 9²³⁰⁄₁₀₀₀ per cent., the proportion in 1822, or rather more than one-eleventh, to 11⁸⁹⁸⁄₁₀₀₀ per cent., or rather more than one-ninth, the proportion in 1831: a proportion exceeding even that of England.

And it is to be observed that the greater part of this great positive and relative increase of pauperism has taken place during a period of profound peace, internal and external; only one of these years being subsequent to the Belgian revolution. It is probable that if the years 1832 and 1833 had been given, the comparison with the earlier period would have been still more unfavourable.

We have omitted in the statement of the expenditure for the relief of the poor a sum of 200,000 guilders, or about 16,666l. sterling, annually employed on the gratuitous instruction of poor children: the number thus instructed in 1831 was 73,609. It does not appear, however, that any persons are compelled to attend to the education of their children, except by its being made (as is the general rule on the Continent of Europe) one of the conditions on which relief is granted: and the Consul states that the labourers in general think it beneath them to let their children go to school for nothing; and that some, when unable to pay, prefer keeping them at home.

It is remarkable that neither the official nor the consular report dwells on that portion of the Dutch poor institutions which has excited the greatest attention in Europe, namely, the Poor Colonies.

Poor Colonies.

The following statements are extracted from the narrative of Count Arrivabene, who visited them in 1829: (pp. 610, 611, 612, 613, 614.)

The dearths of 1816 and 1817, and the consequent distress, occasioned the establishment, in the northern provinces of the Low Countries, of a Philanthropic Society (Société de bienfaisance), to whose funds each subscriber was to pay one halfpenny a week. The subscribers soon amounted to 20,000. One of its projects was the foundation of poor colonies among the heaths, with which this country abounds. The Colonies were to be divided into Colonies for the Repression of Mendicity, Colonies for Indigent Persons and Veterans, Free Colonies, Colonies for Inspectors of Agricultural Works, Colonies for Orphans and Foundlings, and Colonies for Agricultural Instruction.

In the first year of its formation the Society established the Free Colony, called Frederiks-Oord, on the heaths between the provinces of Drenthe, Friesland, and Over-Yssel. It consisted of 52 small farms, part of which had been previously cultivated by the Society, of a store-house, of several workshops, a school, &c. It was peopled with families, indigent, but not dependent altogether on alms. The expense of its foundation amounted to 68,000 flor. (5666l. 13s. 4d.), and was defrayed out of the annual subscriptions and donations of the members of the Société de bienfaisance; and in order to give employment to the colonists during the dead season of the year, the Society engaged to purchase from them 26,000 ells of linen.

In 1819, the Society proposed to the directors of the Orphan Institutions throughout the kingdom, to take charge, at a fixed annual payment, of any number of orphans of the age of six years, leaving to those institutions the right of superintending their treatment. To meet this expense, the society borrowed 280,000 flor. (23,333l. 6s. 10d.). The orphans were for a time placed in separate dwellings, six orphans with two elderly persons, to act as their parents, in each. But afterwards almost all were collected into large buildings. In the same year the members of the society had increased to 22,500, and their subscriptions to 82,500 flor. or 6875l., and the society was enabled to establish two other free colonies, and to place in them 150 families.

In 1820, the society borrowed 100,000 flor. more, or 8333l. 6s. 8d., which, with donations to the amount of 78,000 flor. or 6500l., enabled it during that year to settle 150 more families.

In 1821, the society by means of loans and subscriptions had collected a sum of 421,000 flor. or 35,083l. 6s. 8d., of which 300,000 flor., or 25,000l. was borrowed, and 121,000 flor., or 10,983l. 6s. 8d. subscribed, and was possessed of seven free colonies, consisting of 500 small farms, with the public buildings to which we have alluded.

In 1822 the society founded the first colony for the repression of mendicity; and engaged with the Government to receive and settle on its colonies 4000 orphans, 2500 indigent persons, and 1500 mendicants, the Government engaging to pay for each orphan 45 florins, or 3l. 15s. a year, for 16 years, but nothing for the others. As yet the society has fulfilled only a part of its engagements. It has, however, established every kind of colony which we have enumerated.

Frederiks-Oord.

In August, 1829, we visited all the colonies of the society. Those of Frederiks-Oord are spread over a space of two leagues. The small farms, containing each about 9 English acres, extend along the sides of roads, bordered with trees, and of canals, which intersect the colonies in different directions. Each house is composed of one great room, round the walls of which are placed the large drawer-like beds, in which, according to the custom of the Dutch peasantry, the family sleep. A cow-house, a barn, and every building necessary for an agricultural family, is annexed to the farm. Near the house is the garden; beyond it the land to be cultivated.

Upon his admission into the colony, each colonist makes a declaration, by which he binds himself to obey its rules, as respects subordination to its officers, moral and religious conduct on the part of himself and his family, modes of working, wearing the colonial uniform, &c.

When a family of 8 persons (the number usually adopted by the society) has been settled in a farm, the society opens an account with them, in which they are debited in the sum of 1700 florins, or 141l. 13s. 4d., which is considered as having been advanced for their use under the following heads:—

flor.£s.d.

Purchase-money of 9 acres of land100or868

Labour previously expended on it400”8368

Two cows and some sheep150”12100

The house500”41134

Incidental expenses50”434

Furniture and clothing250”2068

Reserved fund for extraordinary occasions250”20168

1700141134

The sum advanced for furniture and clothing is stopped out of the wages of the colonist; and as soon as the farm has been completely brought under cultivation, the head of the family is annually debited 60 florins, or 5l., as the interest of the remainder of the capital, and the rent of the farm.

During three years at the least, the colonists cultivate the land in common, and receive wages, but are allowed to make use of no part of the produce of the farm; though that of the garden and the cows is their own. The farm produce (and it appeared to us to be very trifling), consisting principally of rye, potatoes, and buck-wheat, is taken to the storehouses of the society to be preserved for subsequent distribution, either as prepared food or otherwise, among the colonists, in payment or on account of their wages.

As long as a family cannot provide its own subsistence, it receives food daily from the society; but when it can provide for itself (as it can when it earns 4 flor., or 6s. 8d. a week), it is allowed to prepare its food at home.

The society distributes medals of copper, of silver, and of gold. The first are the rewards of those who distinguish themselves by regular labour and good conduct, and confer the right to leave the colony on Sundays and holydays without asking permission. The second are bestowed on those whose industry supplies their whole subsistence; they confer the right to leave the colony without permission, not only on Sundays and holydays, but on every day of the week, at the hours not devoted to labour. The golden medals are distributed to those who have already obtained silver ones, when their farms produce the annual value of 250 flor. (20l. 16s. 8d.), and upon obtaining them the colonist is no longer subjected to the strict colonial regimen, though some restrictions still distinguish him from an ordinary farmer. The medals which have been obtained by good conduct may be lost or suspended, with their privileges, by misbehaviour. They are solemnly distributed, and withdrawn every fifteen days.

After a residence of three years in the colony, the colonists are distributed into three classes:—1st, That of industrious men who have received the silver medal: they may continue to cultivate their farms in common, as before, or, after having discharged their original debt to the society, may manage them on their own account, at a rent payable to the society. 2nd. That of colonists who have received the copper medal: they may manage their own farms, and dispose of a part of the produce; the other part must be sent to the magazines of the society, to be applied in payment of the rent of the farm, in discharge of the original advances, and in creating a common fund. A portion of it, however, is returned to them in bread. But if in any year a colonist does not raise a given quantity of potatoes, or if he requires from the society extraordinary assistance, he is forced to restore his medal, and to return to the third class. 3. This last class, which is composed of those who have obtained no medal, must, in addition to what is required from the others, render to the magazines of the society a greater amount of produce, and have therefore less for their own use.

A certain extent of ground is cultivated in common by the colonists, each head of a family being required to work on it three days in the year, at wages paid in a colonial paper money. The produce of this common land is employed in supplying the deficiencies of the harvests of the separate farms, and meeting the expenses of the school, the hospital, and the general Administration. The colonists are also allowed in summer to pasture their cattle in the common pastures of the colony. There are several shops for the sale, at prices fixed by the Administration, of whatever the colonists are likely to want, except spirituous liquors, the use of which is prohibited.

Whatever may have been the length of time during which the colonist has resided in the colony he can never become the proprietor of his farm. He may, however, acquire the ownership of his furniture, and sell it or remove it when he quits the colony.

No colonist is allowed to marry unless he be a widower, or the son of a widower, and in possession of a farm. When his children have attained 16 or 18 years of age, they choose a trade (etat) with the consent of their parents and the colonial authorities, and may follow it either in the colony or elsewhere.

To every 25 farms there is a superintendent, who visits them daily, and directs and distributes among the colonists the labours of the day; and to every 100 farms a sub-director, who gives instructions to the superintendent, keeps the registers, and manages the manufactures.

In selecting the occupiers of each subdivision of 25 farms, care is taken that persons of different trades shall be included. The superintendence to which a family is subjected diminishes day by day with its good conduct, and ceases almost entirely as soon as the colonist has repaid the value of the advances which have been made to him. Those who are idle or disorderly are taken before a council of superintendence, of which some colonists are members, and may be sent on to a council of discipline, which has the power to transfer them to Ommerschans, a colony for the repression of mendicity; of which we shall speak hereafter. They are detained there for a fixed period, in a place set apart for them, and kept to more than usually hard labour. The industrious and well-disposed colonists are appointed superintendents of the works in the colonies for the repression of mendicity, and in those for the reception of orphans and indigent persons.

Most of the inhabitants of Frederiks-Oord are Protestants; there are, however, several Catholic and two Jewish families.

Wateren.

In the morning of the 3d day we went to Wateren, which is two leagues from Frederiks-Oord. Wateren is the colony of Agricultural Instruction, to which are sent the orphans who most distinguish themselves in their colonies. They amount to 60, and acquire agricultural knowledge from a master, and from the practice of working at a farm of 42 bonniers (nearly 103 acres) in arable, nursery grounds, and pasture. They are instructed by the same master in the Bible, the history of Holland, land surveying, natural-history, botany, mathematics, chemistry, and gymnastics. They are better dressed than the others, and wear a hat with a riband, on which is written the name of the privileged colony to which they belong. Their destination is to become superintendents in the free colonies. The society derives from this colony an annual profit of about 900 flor. or 75l.

Veenhuisen.

On the same day, after a journey of three leagues, we arrived at Veenhuisen, which contains one colony for the repression of mendicity, two for orphans, one for indigent persons and veterans, and one for inspectors of agricultural works. They are intersected by high ways, bordered by trees and by canals communicating with Amsterdam. Two great square buildings, at the distance of a half mile from each other, contain, in the part which looks into the interior quadrangle, the one mendicants, the other orphans, and each contains, in the rooms on the exterior, indigent persons and veterans. Another similar edifice, at two miles distance, contains all these three classes of individuals. In the midst of the three edifices are situated two churches, one Catholic, the other Protestant; twenty-four houses forming a colony of inspectors of agricultural works, and an equal number of houses inhabited by the officers of the colonies.

The children and grown-up persons have been placed thus near one another for convenience, with respect both to their agricultural and manufacturing employments.

The interior of each of the three great edifices is divided into two sides, one for the males, the other for the females, separated by the kitchen. On the ground-floor are large rooms, containing each forty or fifty individuals. The upper floors are mere lofts, and used as store-rooms.

The persons placed in the colonies for the repression of mendicity receive a new and uniform dress, and for some time are maintained without reference to the value of their work. Their out-doors employment consists of agricultural labor, brick-making, or turf-cutting: in-doors they work as artizans, generally by piece work. The society fixes the amount of their wages.

The lands of these colonies are divided into farms of thirty-two bonniers, or about eighty acres each, half arable, half pasture. To each of these farms are attached forty or fifty colonists, who work under the orders of a superintendent, who himself follows the instructions of a sub-director. The annual expenditure on each of these farms is fixed at 1680 flor., or 140l.

The accounts between the society and the colonists are kept in the military form. Each colonist carries a book, in which is entered the work which he has performed each day, the supplies and paper money which he has received, and his share of the general expenditure. If his earnings exceed what has been laid out on him, which is said to be commonly the case, a third of the excess is given to him in paper money, another third is placed in a savings’ bank, to be given him on his leaving the colony, and the remaining third is retained by the society to meet contingent expenses.

Horse-patrols round the colonies, rewards to such as bring back colonists who have attempted to escape, and a uniform dress are the means employed to prevent desertion. The colonists are detained for 6 years, unless they have previously saved 12½ flor. (1l. 10d.), which entitles them to immediate discharge.

Orphans are admitted in the orphan colonies at the age of six. They work, either in-doors or in the fields, for a part of the day, another part is employed in elementary instruction, drawing, and singing. They leave the colonies at the age of 18, generally for the sea or land service.

The colonies for indigent persons and veterans serve as preparatory residences for those who are to be placed in the free colonies. These colonists dwell with their families in the outer apartments of the great buildings, the interior quadrangles of which are inhabited by the mendicants and orphans. Like the mendicants, they are considered day labourers, and paid according to their work.

In every colony the supplies and wages vary according to the difference of age, strength, or sex. The men are divided into 5 classes, the women into 7. The first class of men is supposed to earn 1 flor. 70 cents, or 2s. 10d. per week; the second, 1 flor. 35 cents, or 2s. 3d.; the third, 1 flor. 6 cents, or 1s. 11d.; the fourth, composed of children from 8 to 16 years, 1 flor. 1 cent, or 1s. 8½d.; the fifth, composed of children under that age, 67½ cents, or 1s. 1½d. The first class of females is supposed to earn per week 1 flor. 51 cents, or 2s. 6¼d.; the second, 1 flor. 26 cents, or 2s. 1d.; the third, 98 cents, or 1s. 7½d.; the fourth and fifth, composed of children, 95 cents, or 1s. 7d., and 75 cents, or 1s. 3d. respectively; the sixth and seventh, composed also of children, but still younger, 63 cents, or 1s. 0½d., and 55 cents, or 11d., respectively.

Ommerschans.

On the morning of the fourth day we went to Ommerschans, which is seven leagues from Veenhuisen.

At Ommerschans there is a colony for the repression of mendicity, and one for indigent persons and veterans. The first is composed of men and children; and has a separate division for the free colonists who have been sent thither as a punishment. The building can contain 1000 persons, and resembles in several respects those in Veenhuisen, except that its moat, and the iron-bars to its windows give it more the appearance of a prison; and that it has a story above the ground floor. Nor does it differ as to its interior arrangement, or the employment or treatment of its inmates. In the middle of the quadrangle there are shops for locksmiths, joiners, and other trades; and for the manufacture of thread and linen. On the outside stands the church, which serves for both Catholic and Protestant worship, and as a school; the house of the sub-director, the hospital, and other public edifices; and 20 houses scattered about the lands, form a colony of inspectors of agricultural works. Nearly 150 persons are annually discharged from this colony for the repression of mendicity.

On recurring to the official statement of the total number of persons relieved during the ten years ending 1831, it will be seen that in 1831 the population of the poor colonies consisted of 7853, being an increase of 402 from the time of Count Arrivabene’s visit, arising solely from an increased number placed in the repressive or most severe of the penal colonies; and that this population was thus distributed: 2297 in the colony assigned to orphans and abandoned children; 456 in the preparatory colony; 2694 in the colonies called free; and 2406 in the repressive or mendicity colonies.

The nature of these institutions appears to have been imperfectly understood in England. They are in fact large agricultural workhouses; and superior to the previous workhouses only so far as they may be less expensive, or, without being oppressive, objects of greater aversion.

It is scarcely possible that they can be less expensive.

The employing persons taken indiscriminately from other occupations and trades, almost all of them the victims of idleness and misconduct, and little urged by the stimulus of individual interest in farming the worst land in the country, (land so worthless that the fee-simple of it is worth only 24s. an acre,) at an expense for outfit, exclusively of the value of the land, of more than 130l. per family, and under the management of a joint-stock company of more than 20,000 members, cannot but be a ruinous speculation.

Nor does the institution appear to have repressed pauperism by the disagreeableness of the terms on which it offers relief: we have seen, on the contrary, that it has not prevented its steady increase. It will be shown subsequently that a similar establishment has signally failed in Belgium, and we cannot anticipate a different result in Holland.

BELGIUM AND FRANCE.

M. Lebau, the Belgian Minister of Justice, has furnished a detailed report on the poor laws of Belgium, together with a considerable number of printed documents. Of the latter, we have printed only the regulations of the schools for the poor in Louvain, and of the out-door relief in Tournay; the laws of August, 1833, respecting the Dépôts de Mendicité; and some statistical papers respecting the relief afforded in different manners in 1833, and in some of the preceding years. The others were too voluminous for this publication; and though we have consulted them (particularly the Code Administratif des Etablissemens de Bienfaisance, M. Quetelet’s statistical works on the Netherlands and Belgium, and M. Ducpétiaux’s on Indigence,) with great advantage, we have been forced to omit them. Baron de Hochepied Larpent and Mr. Fauche, His Majesty’s Consuls in Antwerp and Ostend, have given valuable replies to the Commissioners’ questions; and Count Arrivabene a detailed account of the state of Gaesbeck, a village a few miles from Brussels. And we have inserted three reports as to the state of the Belgian poor colonies; one from Count Arrivabene, who visited them in 1829, and one from M. Ducpétiaux, and another from Captain Brandreth, both dated in 1832.

The union and subsequent separation of Belgium and France, and afterwards of Belgium and Holland, occasion the Belgian laws on this as on every other subject to be divisible into three heads:

First, those which she received when incorporated with France; secondly, those which were made during the union with Holland; and thirdly, those which have been passed since the revolution of 1830.

By far the largest portion of the Belgian poor laws is derived from the first of these sources.

French Poor Laws.

The government of the Directory, by three laws passed in the autumn of 1796, established the system under which the principal portion of the relief afforded by the public is now regulated in most of the countries which constituted the French empire.

Hospices and Bureaux de Bienfaisance.

By the first of these, that of the 16 Vendémiaire, An v. (7th October, 1796), the property belonging to the hospices (or almshouses) was restored to them, and their management was entrusted to a commission appointed by the municipal authorities.

By the second, that of the 23 Brumaire, An v. (13th November, 1706), it was enacted, that all the revenues of the different hospices in one commune should be employed as one fund for their common support.

And by the third, that of the 7 Frimaire, An v. (25th November, 1796), that in every commune there should be appointed one or more bureaux de bienfaisance, each bureau consisting of five members, to administer out-door relief; and that the funds at the disposition of the bureau de bienfaisance should consist of one-tenth of the receipts from all public exhibitions within its district, and of whatever voluntary contributions it could obtain. By the same law all able-bodied beggars were required, under pain of three months’ imprisonment, to return to their place of birth, or of domicile, if they had subsequently acquired a domicile.

By the law of the 3 Frimaire, An vii. (23d November, 1798), the additional sums necessary to provide for the hospices, and the secours à domicile (or out-door relief), of each commune, are directed to be raised by the local authorities in the same manner as the sums necessary for the other local expenses.

By that of the 4 Ventose, An ix. (23d February, 1801), all rents belonging to the State, of which the payment had been interrupted, and all national property usurped by individuals, were declared the property of the nearest hospitals. By that of the 5 Prairial, An xi., the commissaires des hospices and bureaux de bienfaisance were authorized to make public collections in churches, and to establish poor-boxes in public places; and by a train of subsequent legislation they were enabled to acquire property by testamentary dispositions.

It is to be observed that under these laws the members of the commissions des hospices, and of the bureaux de bienfaisance, are frequently, but not necessarily, the same persons. The maire (or principal civil officer) of each commune is a necessary member of every charitable board. The other members go out by lot, one every year, but are re-eligible.

By the law of the 16 Messidor, An vii., the inmates of the hospices were to be set to work, and two-thirds of the produce of their work was to belong to the hospice, the other third to be given to them either periodically or when they quitted the hospice. We mention this enactment, because it has afforded a precedent for many similar regulations.

And partly for the purpose of increasing the funds for charitable purposes, and partly with a view to reduce the rate of interest in the mode of borrowing usually adopted by the poor, by two arrêtés of the 16 Pluviose and 24 Messidor, An xii. (6th February and 13th July, 1804), all pawn-broking by individuals was prohibited, and public establishments for that purpose, under the name of Monts-de-Piété, were directed to be established and conducted for the benefit of the poor.

Foundlings and deserted children.

The French legislation respecting foundlings and deserted children is of a very different kind, and appears to us to be the portion of their poor laws deserving least approbation.

A law of the 27 Frimaire, An v. (17 Dec., 1796), enacted, that all recently-born deserted children should be received gratuitously in all the hospices of the Republic, at the expense of the State so far as those hospices had not a sufficient revenue specially destined to that purpose; and an arrêté of the Directory, of the 30 Ventose, An v., (20th March, 1791), founded on the previous law, directed that as soon as possible after children had been received in any hospice they should be sent out to be nursed, and brought up in the country until the age of 12; and then either left to those who had brought them up, if they chose to take charge of them, or apprenticed to farmers, artists, or manufacturers, or, if the children wished it, to the sea service.

The law on this subject received nearly its present form from an Imperial decree of the 19th Jan., 1811.

By that decree, the children for whom the public became responsible were divided into three classes: 1. Enfans trouvés; 2. Enfans abandonnés; 3. Orphelins pauvres. The first class comprises children of unknown parents, found exposed, or placed in foundling hospitals. The second, children whose parents are known, but have abandoned them, and cannot be forced to support them. The third, children without father or mother, or means of subsistence. For the first class a hospice was directed to be appointed in every arrondissement, with a tour (or revolving slide) for their reception, without the detection of the person bringing them. All the three classes of children were to be put out to nurse until six years old, and then placed with landholders (cultivateurs) or artizans until 12, subject to any mode in which the Ministre de la Marine might dispose of them. If not wanted by him, they were at 12 to be apprenticed for periods not exceeding their attaining the age of 25.

The annual sum of four millions (160,000l.) in the whole was to be contributed by the State towards these expenses. The remainder to be supplied by the hospices out of their own revenues or out of those of the communes.

Relatives claiming a foundling were to repay all that it had cost, as far as they had the means.

The last clause of this decree directs that those who make a custom of taking infants to hospitals shall be punished according to law. It is not easy to reconcile this clause with the rest of the decree. If taking an infant to a foundling hospital were an offence, it seems strange that the law should itself prescribe a contrivance (a tour), the object of which is to prevent the detection of the person committing the offence. In fact, however, no such punishment “according to law” seems to exist. If a nurse or other person entrusted with a child take it, in breach of duty, to a foundling hospital, the offence is punishable by the code pénal; but no punishment is denounced against a parent for doing so, however often the act may be repeated. Nor does the “making a custom of taking children to a hospital” appear as an offence in the detailed “Compte général de l’administration de la justice criminelle en France.”

Mendicity and Vagrancy.

The following is an outline of the French regulations, as far as they affected Belgium, for the repression of mendicity and vagrancy. A decree of the Convention, 27 Vendémiaire, An ii. (15th Oct., 1798), fixed the settlement, or domicile de secours, of every person, 1st, in the place of his birth; 2dly, of his residence for six months in any commune in which he should have married, or for one year in any in which he should have been registered as an inhabitant, or for two years in any in which he should have been hired by one or more masters. Every person found begging was to be sent to his place of domicile; if he could not prove any domicile he was to be imprisoned for a year in the maison de repression of the department, and at the end of his imprisonment, if his domicile were not then ascertained, to be transported to the colonies for not less than eight years. A person found again begging after having been removed to his domicile, was also to be imprisoned for a year: on a repetition of the offence the punishment was to be doubled. In the maison de repression he was to be set to work, and receive monthly one-sixth of the produce of his labour, and at the end of his imprisonment another sixth, the remaining two-thirds belonging to the establishment. On the third offence he also was to be transported. A transport was to work in the colonies for the benefit of the nation, at one-sixth of the average wages of the colony: one-half of that sixth to be paid to him weekly, and the other half on the expiration of his sentence. No person was to be transported except between the ages of 18 and 60. Those under 18 were to be detained until they arrived at that age, and then transported; those above 60, to be imprisoned for life.

The local authorities were authorized to employ their able-bodied poor on public works, at three-fourths of the average wages of the canton. Every person convicted of having given to a beggar any species of relief whatever was to forfeit the value of two days’ wages; to be doubled on the repetition of the offence.

The provisions of this law were, as might have been anticipated, far too severe for execution. After having remained, though inoperative, on the statute book for nearly 15 years, it was replaced by the Imperial decree of the 5th July, 1808.

By that decree a depôt de mendicité was directed to be established in each department, at the expense partly of the nation and partly of the department. Within 15 days after its establishment, the Prefect of the department was to give public notice of its being opened, and all persons without means of subsistence were bound to proceed to it, and all persons found begging were to be arrested and taken to it.

By a subsequent arrêté of the 27th October, 1808, it was ordered that all beggars should on their arrest be placed in the first instance in the maison d’arrêt of the district; and transferred from thence, if guilty of vagrancy, to the maison de detention, or prison; if not vagrants, to the depôt de mendicité. In the depôt they were to be clothed in the house dress, confined to regular and very early hours, the sexes separated, subject to severe punishments (rising to six months’ solitary imprisonment (cachot) on bread and water) for disobedience or other misconduct, or attempts to escape; deprived of all intercourse, except by open letters with their relations or friends, and kept to work at wages to be regulated by the Prefect, two-thirds of which were to belong to the establishment, and the remaining third was to be paid to them on their quitting the depôt.

The conditions on which a person might obtain his release from a depôt de mendicité are not stated.

The provisions of the code pénal appear to leave that question to the discretion of the Executive.

Section 274 of that code enacts that every person found begging in a place containing a public establishment for the prevention of mendicity, shall be imprisoned for from three to six months, and then removed to the depôt de mendicité. Under section 275, if there be no such establishment in the place where he is found begging, his imprisonment is to last only from one to three months; if, however, he has begged out of the canton in which he is domiciled, it is to last from six months to two years.

After having suffered his punishment, he is to remain (apparently in the depôt de mendicité) at the disposition of Government.

BELGIUM.

Monts-de-Piété.

Such was the state of the law respecting purely charitable, and what may be called penal, relief at the time of the establishment of the kingdom of the Netherlands. We have stated these provisions at some length, because they form, with little material alteration, the existing law on the subject in France. No change of any importance appears to have been made by the late Government of the Netherlands, or by the present Belgian Government, with respect to the hospices or the bureaux de bienfaisance; but with respect to foundlings, an arrêté of the 2nd June, 1825, declared that the expense of their maintenance ought to be supplied by the hospices, and so far as these were unable to meet it, from the local revenues of the commune or the province in which they had been abandoned—a provision which has been the subject of much complaint, as imposing a heavy and peculiar burthen on the few towns which possess foundling hospitals. And with respect to monts-de-piété, an arrêté of the 31st October, 1826, directed the local authorities of towns and communes to prepare regulations for the management of their respective monts-de-piété, their support, and the employment of the profits, subject to certain general rules; among which are,—

1. That the administration shall be gratuitous.

2. That the interest shall not exceed 5l. per cent. per annum, and that no farther charge shall be made on any pretext whatever.

3. That they shall be open every day.

4. That the pledges may be redeemed at any time before their actual sale.

5. That they shall not be sold until the expiration of 14 months from the time of the loan.

Mendicity.

The following are the most material alterations made in the laws respecting mendicity. By a law of the 28th November, 1818, the period of residence necessary for acquiring a settlement, or domicile de secours, was extended to four years: and by a law of the 12th October, 1819, the expense of supporting a person confined in a depôt de mendicité was thrown on the commune in which he had his domicile de secours.

In 1823 the Belgian Société de Bienfaisance was established, on the model of that which existed in Holland, and contracted with the Government to receive in its colonies de repression 1000 paupers, at the annual sum of 35 florins (2l. 18s. 4d.) per head. In consequence of this arrangement, all the regulations which required a beggar to be removed to a depôt de mendicité were varied by the introduction of the words “or to a mendicity colony;” and by an arrêté of the 12th October, 1825, the governors of the different provinces were directed to give notice that all persons in want of employment and subsistence would obtain them in the depôts de mendicité, or the mendicity colonies, and had only to apply to the local authorities in order to be directed to the one or the other; and that consequently no begging at any period of the year, or under any pretext whatever, could in future be tolerated. Persons arrested for begging were allowed on their own request, if their begging were not accompanied by aggravating circumstances, to be conducted to one or the other of these establishments without suffering the previous imprisonment inflicted by the penal code.

By another arrêté of the same date, the local authorities were directed to prepare new codes for the regulation of the different depôts de mendicité, based on principles of which the following are the most material:

1. That the depôts should be confined to the reception of those who, from age or infirmity, should be unfit for agricultural labour.

2. That all above the age of six, and under that of 70, and capable of working, should be kept to work, at average wages; that each person should be charged per day 17 cents (about 3½d.) for his maintenance, being its average cost, and retain the remainder of his earnings; and be allowed nothing beyond strict necessaries (mere bread is specified for food), if his earnings were under that sum.

That a portion of each person’s surplus earnings should be reserved and paid over to him on leaving the house, and the other portion paid to him from time to time in a local paper money.

3. That cantines should be established in the house, to enable the inmates to spend their surplus earnings.

4. That those who had voluntarily offered themselves for reception should be at liberty to quit the house, after having repaid the expenses of their maintenance there.

5. That those arrested and sent thither as beggars should not be set free until, 1st., they had repaid all expenses; and 2ndly, had fitted themselves to earn an independent livelihood, or been demanded by their commune or relatives, and security given for their future conduct.

6. That in each house there should be an ecclesiastic to perform divine service, and give moral and religious instruction, frequently in private, and twice a week in public; and that, where the inmates should consist of Protestants and Catholics, there should be both a Catholic and a Protestant ecclesiastic.

7. That in each house there should be a daily school for the young, and a school for the adult, open for four hours on Sundays, and for an hour two evenings of the week. The attendance on these schools to be compulsory.

8. That so far as the confined paupers did not earn their own subsistence, each commune should pay for the support of those having in it their domicile de secours, at the above-mentioned rate of 17 cents. (3½d.) per day, but be allowed a discount of 2 cents. per day (reducing the daily payment to 3d.) on prompt payment.

A decree of the 9th April, 1831, by the Regent, abolished that discount, the sum of 3d. a day having been found insufficient, except in the depôt of Bruges, in which the decree states that it covers every expense.

The existing Government has passed two very important laws, dated the 13th & 29th of August, 1833.

The first of these enacts, that until the laws on mendicity shall have been revised, the daily charge for the subsistence of each detenu in the depôt de mendicité, instead of being fixed at 17 cents., shall be determined annually by the Government. The commune bound to repay the expense is to be assisted, if incapable of meeting it, by the province, the King deciding if the matter is disputed. If payment is not made, a personal remedy is given against the receiver of the commune.

By the second, a conseil d’inspection des depôts de mendicité is to be elected in each province. Each conseil is to propose a scheme,—

1. For dividing the inmates of the depôts into three classes, comprising, 1st, the infirm; 2d, the able-bodied who have voluntarily entered them; 3d, those sentenced to them as beggars or vagrants.

2. For obviating the abuses which might follow from the power given to the indigent of voluntarily entering the depôts.

And as a general rule, a pauper who requests admission without any authority from his commune, may be received; but in that case his commune is to be immediately informed of what has occurred. If it offers to support him at home, he is to be sent back to it: if it refuses, he is to remain in the depôt at the expense of the commune: and the communes are to be informed that it depends on themselves to diminish the expense of supporting their poor in the depôts, by the judicious distribution of out-door relief, by the organization of committees for the purpose of watching over the indigent, and inquiring into the causes of their distress; by the erection of asylums for lunatics, the deaf and dumb, the blind and the incurable; and by the establishment of houses of employment (d’ateliers libres de travail) in winter, and infant schools. For all which purposes they are recommended to assess themselves. M. Lebeau says in his report, “Enfin chez, nous nul ne peut exiger de secours en vertu d’un droit.”[14] (p. 594.) But it must be admitted that these provisions, if not constituting a right in the pauper to relief, give at least a right to the managers of the depôts to force the parishes to relieve, either at home or in the depôt, any pauper who presents himself: and M. Lebeau himself felt the danger to which the parishes are exposed. In his circular of the 13th September, 1833, addressed to the provinces in which depôts are established, he urges the importance of adopting regulations respecting the reception and dismission of the poor voluntarily presenting themselves, which may preserve parishes from “the indefinite burden which would follow the too easy admission of applicants.” “These establishments,” he adds, “must not be considered by the poor as places of gratuitous entertainment, (des hôtelleries gratuites.) One of the best methods of preventing this will be the strict execution of the law which prescribes work to all those who are not physically incapable of it; and for those who are incapable, the ordinary hospices and hospitals are the proper receptacles. It is true that in some depôts work has been discontinued, because the results did not repay the expenditure; but this consideration ought not to prevail over the moral advantages which follow its exaction. Labour is the essential condition which must be imposed on the pauper; and if it require the sacrifice of some expenditure, that sacrifice must be made.”

In a subsequent circular, dated the 4th July, 1834, and addressed to the governors of the different provinces, M. Lebeau states, that one of the causes assigned for the prevalence of mendicity, is the facility with which persons obtain release from the depôts. “I invite you, M. le Gouverneur,” says the Minister, “when a pauper requests his release, to consider his previous history, to ascertain whether he has the means of subsistence, or the local authorities have engaged to provide for him; and to treat with great suspicion the solicitations of parishes, as they are always interested in obtaining the release of the paupers for whose maintenance they pay.”

With respect to the general working of these institutions we have not much information. It appears from the report of M. Lebeau that there are in Belgium six depôts de mendicité; one at Hoogstraeten for the province of Antwerp, at Cambre for Brabant, at Bruges for the two Flanders, at Mons for Hainault, at Namur for Namur and Luxembourg, and at Reckheim for Limbourg and Liege; that the hospices for the old and impotent, and the hospitals for the sick, are very numerous, and that nearly every commune possesses its bureau de bienfaisance for the distribution of out-door relief. In 1832 the annual income of the different bureaux de bienfaisance was estimated at 5,308,114 francs (equal to about 212,325l. sterling), and that of the hospices at 4,145,876 francs (equal to about 165,835l. sterling), altogether about 378,160l. But the report contains no data from which the whole expenditure in public relief, or the whole number of persons relieved, or the general progress or diminution of pauperism, can be collected.

An important paper, however, is contained in the supplement to M. Lebeau’s report, stating the number of foundlings, deserted children and orphans, in the nine provinces constituting the kingdom of Belgium, in the years 1832 and 1833; of which we subjoin a copy, having added to it the population of the different provinces, as given in the official statement of 1830.

YEAR 1832.

Population. PROVINCES. Average number of TOTAL NUMBER. TOTAL EXPENSES. Subdivision of those Expenses among OBSERVATIONS.

Foundlings. Deserted Children and Orphans. The Hospitals, Charitable Institutions or Foundations. Towns or Communes. Provinces.

354,974 Anvers 886 566 1,452 71,300 .. 31,300 40,000 a

556,146 Brabant 2,244 286 2,530 197,550 .. 147,050 50,500 b

601,678 Flandre Occidentale 35 461 496 34,123 15,600 18,523 .. c

733,938 Flandre Orientale 688 219 907 64,479 .. .. 64,479 d

604,957 Hainault 1,870 333 2,203 172,792 .. 25,072 147,720 e

369,937 Liége 41 153 194 15,550 9,665 4,694 1,191 } f

337,703 Limbourg 11 123 134 12,056 10,658 1,398 ..

292,151 Luxembourg 13 12 25 1,841 232 1,609 ..

212,725 Namur 653 9 662 44,533 .. 25,533 19,000 g

4,064,209 TOTAL 6,441 2,162 8,603 614,224 36,155 255,179 322,890

(a) There is a tour at Antwerp, and also at Mechlin.

(b) A tour in Brussels and one in Louvain.

(c) No tour.

(d) A tour at Ghent.

(e) A tour in Mons, and one in Tournay.

(f) No tour.

(g) A hospital, but no tour.

N.B. There are tours at Antwerp, Mechlin, Brussels, Louvain, Ghent, Mons, and Tournay; seven in all.

N.B. A tour is a horizontal wheel, with a box for the reception of the infant, which, when empty, is open to the street, and when full is turned into the interior of the house.

YEAR 1833.

PROVINCES. Number of Total. Expenses of TOTAL EXPENSES.

Foundlings. Deserted Children. Foundlings. Deserted Children.

Anvers 886 578 1,464 37,107 65 26,927 61 64,035 26

Brabant 2,648 318 2,966 182,321 69 23,081 84 205,403 53

Fl. Occidentale 39 460 499 3,258 67 31,841 89 35,100 56

Fl. Orientale 752 242 994 49,874 81 14,902 67 64,717 48

Hainault 1,969 382 2,351 123,368 71 23,533 18 146,901 89

Liége 38 162 200 2,899 0 12,857 04 15,756 04

Limbourg 14 157 171 913 96 11,054 44 12,968 40

Luxembourg 7 31 38 880 94 3,212 80 4,093 74

Namur 615 7 622 41,082 0 467 60 41,549 60

6,968 2,337 9,305 442,647 43 147,879 07 590,526 60

Foundlings.

It appears from this statement that in the provinces of Antwerp, Brabant, and Hainault, containing a population of 1,514,072 persons, and possessing each two public receptacles for foundlings, the number of foundlings in 1833 was 5,404, or 1 in 278: that in Flandre Orientale and Namur, containing a population of 946,663, and possessing each a single public receptacle, the number of foundlings was 1367, or 1 in 699; and that in Flandre Occidentale, Liége, Limbourg and Luxembourg, containing a population of 1,601,469, but having no such establishment, the number of foundlings was 98, or less than 1 in 16,000. Nor does this difference arise from an increased number of deserted children in those provinces in which foundling hospitals do not exist: on the contrary, the numbers in the second column, comprising both orphans and deserted children, in the four provinces in which no foundling hospitals exist, amount to 910, out of a population of 1,601,469, being 1 in 1649, whereas those in Antwerp, Brabant and Hainault amount to 1356, out of a population of 1,514,077, or 1 in 116; and when it is recollected that the proportion of orphans can scarcely differ in the different provinces, and that in the second column they are mixed with the deserted children, the superiority of the four former provinces over the three latter will be found to be really much greater than it appears.