parishes or places, destroy the cottages and habitations therein now occupied by the labourers and their families: And whereas also it may happen, that certain towns and villages, maintaining their own poor, may, by the residence therein of labourers employed and working in other parishes or townships lying near the said towns and villages, be charged with the burden of maintaining those who do not work, and before the passing of this Act were not settled therein; For remedy thereof, be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, that, in either of the above cases, it shall be lawful for the Justices, at any Quarter-sessions of the peace held for the county in which such places shall be, upon the complaint of the Overseers of the poor of any parish, town, or place, that by reason of either of the causes aforesaid, the Rates for the relief of the poor of such parish, town, or place, have been materially increased, whilst those of any other parish or place have been diminished, to hear and fully inquire into the matter of such complaint; and in case they shall be satisfied of the truth thereof, then to make an order upon the Overseers of the Poor of the parish or township, whose Rates have been diminished by the causes aforesaid, to pay to the complainants such sum or sums, from time to time, as the said Justices shall adjudge reasonable, not exceeding, in any case, together with the existing rates, the amount limited by this Act, as a contribution towards the relief of the poor of the parish, town, or place whose Rates have been increased by the causes aforesaid; which order shall continue in force until the same shall be discharged by some future order of sessions, upon the application of the Overseers paying the same, and proof that the occasion for it no longer exists: Provided always, that no such order shall be made without proof of notice in writing of such intended application, and of the grounds thereof, having been served upon the Overseers of the Poor of the parish or place, upon whom such order is prayed, fourteen days at least before the first day of the Quarter-sessions, nor unless the Justices making such order shall be satisfied that no money has been improperly or unnecessarily expended by the Overseers of the Poor praying for such order; and that a separate and distinct account has been kept by them of the additional burden which has been thrown upon their Rates by the causes alleged.'— Bill, pp. 4, 5.

Now this clause, we cannot help saying, appears to us to be a receipt for universal and interminable litigation all over England- a perfect law-hurricane-a conversion of all flesh into plaintiffs and defendants. The

parish A. has pulled down houses, and burthened the parish B.; B. has demolished to the misery of C.; which has again misbehaved itself in the same manner to the oppression of other letters of the alphabet. All run into parchment, and pant for revenge and exoneration. Though the fact may be certain enough, the causes which gave rise to it may be very uncertain; and assuredly will not be admitted to have been those against which the statute has denounced these penalties. It will be alleged, therefore, that the houses were not pulled down to get rid of the poor, but because they were not worth repair-because they obstructed the squire's view— because rent was not paid. All these motives must go before the sessions, the last resource of legislators,—the unhappy Quarter-sessions, pushed to the extremity of their wit by the plump contradictions of parish perjury.

Another of the many sources of litigation in this clause is as follows:-A certain number of workmen live in a parish M., not being settled in it, and not working in it before the passing of this act. After the passing of this act, they become chargeable to M., whose Poor-rates are increased. M. is to find out the parishes relieved from the burthen of these men, and to prosecute at the Quarter-sessions for relief. But But suppose the burthened parish to be in Yorkshire, and the relieved parish in Cornwall, are the Quarter-sessions in Yorkshire to make an order of annual payment upon a parish in Cornwall? and Cornwall, in turn, upon Yorkshire? How is the money to be transmitted? What is the easy and cheap remedy, if neglected to be paid? And if all this could be effected, what is it, after all, but the present system of removal rendered ten times more intricate, confused, and expensive? Perhaps Mr. Scarlett means, that the parishes where these men worked, and which may happen to be within the jurisdiction of the Justices, are to be taxed in aid of the parish M., in proportion to the benefit they have received from the labour of men whose distresses they do not relieve. We must have, then, a detailed account of how much a certain carpenter worked in one parish, how much in another;

and enter into a species of evidence absolutely interminable. We hope Mr. Scarlett will not be angry with us: we entertain for his abilities and character the highest possible respect; but great lawyers have not leisure for these trifling details. It is very fortunate that a clause so erroneous in its view should be so inaccurate in its construction. If it were easy to comprehend it, and possible to execute it, it would be necessary to repeal it.

The shortest way, however, of mending all this, will be entirely to omit this part of the bill. We earnestly, but with very little hope of success, exhort Mr. Scarlett not to endanger the really important part of his project, by the introduction of a measure which has little to do with it, and which any Quarter-Session country squire can do as well or better than himself. The real question introduced by his bill is, whether or not a limit shall be put to the Poor-laws; and not only this, but whether their amount shall be gradually diminished. To this better and higher part of the law, we shall now address ourselves.

In this, however, as well as in the former part of his bill, Mr. Scarlett becomes frightened at his own enactments, and repeals himself. Parishes are first to relieve every person actually resident within them. This is no sooner enacted, than a provision is introduced to relieve them from this expense, tenfold more burthensome and expensive than the present system of removal. In the same manner, a maximum is very wisely and bravely enacted; and, in the following clause, is immediately repealed.

Provided also, and be it further enacted, that, if, by reason of any unusual scarcity of provisions, epidemic disease, or any other cause of a temporary or local nature, it shall be deemed expedient by the Overseers of the Poor, or other persons having, by virtue of any local Act of Parliament, the authority of Overseers of the Poor of any parish, township or place, to make any addition to the sum assessed for the relief of the Poor, beyond the amount limited by this Act, it shall be lawful for the said Overseers, or such other persons, to give public notice in the

several churches, and other places of worship, within the same parish, township, or place, and if there be no church or chapel within such place, then in the parish church or chapel next adjoining the same, of the place and time of a general meeting to be held by the inhabitants paying to the relief of the Poor within such parish, township, or place, for the purpose of considering the occasion and the amount of the proposed addition; and if it shall appear to the majority of the persons assembled at such meeting, that such addition shall be necessary, then it shall be lawful to the Overseers, or other persons having power to make assessments, to increase the assessment by the additional sum proposed and allowed at such meeting, and for the Justices by whom such rate is to be allowed, upon due proof upon oath to be made before them, of the resolution of such meeting, and that the same was held after sufficient public notice, to allow such rate with the proposed addition, specifying the exact amount thereof, with the reasons for allowing the same, upon the face of the rate.'-Bill, p. 3.

It would really seem, from these and other qualifying provisions, as if Mr. Scarlett had never reflected upon the consequences of his leading enactments till he had penned them; and that he then set about finding how he could prevent himself from doing what he meant to do. To what purpose enact a maximum, if that maximum may at any time be repealed by the majority of the parishioners? How will the compassion and charity which the Poor-Laws have set to sleep be awakened, when such a remedy is at hand as the repeal of the maximum by a vote of the parish? Will ardent and amiable men form themselves into voluntary associations to meet any sudden exigency of famine and epidemic disease, when this sleepy and sluggish method of overcoming the evil can be had recourse to? As soon as it becomes really impossible to increase the poor fund by law - when there is but little, and there can be no more, that little will be administered with the utmost caution; claims will be minutely inspected; idle manhood will not receive the scraps and crumbs which belong to failing old age; distress will make the poor provident and cautious; and all the good expected from the abolition of the Poor-Laws will begin to appear. But these

expectations will be entirely frustrated, and every advantage of Mr. Scarlett's bill destroyed, by this fatal facility of eluding and repealing it.

If

The danger of insurrection is a circumstance worthy of the most serious consideration in discussing the propriety of a maximum. Mr. Scarlett's bill is an infallible receipt for tumult and agitation, whenever corn is a little dearer than common. Repeal the maximum,' will be the clamour in every village; and woe be to those members of the village vestry who should oppose the measure. Whether it was really a year of scarcity, and whether it was a proper season for expanding the bounty of the law, would be a question constantly and fiercely agitated between the farmers and the poor. the maximum is to be quietly submitted to, its repeal must be rendered impossible but to the Legislature. Burn your ships, Mr. Scarlett. You are doing a wise and a necessary thing; don't be afraid of yourself. Respect your own nest. Don't let clause A repeal clause B. Be stout. Take care that the Rat Lawyers on the Treasury Bench do not take the oysters out of your Bill, and leave you the shell. Do not yield one particle of the wisdom and philosophy of your measure to the country gentlemen of the earth.'

We object to a maximum which is not rendered a decreasing maximum. If definite sums were fixed for each village, which they could not exceed, that sum would, in a very few years become a minimum, and an established claim. If 80s. were the sum allotted for a particular hamlet, the poor would very soon come to imagine that they were entitled to that precise sum, and the farmers that they were compelled to give it. Any maximum established should be a decreasing, but a very slowly decreasing, maximum,-perhaps it should not decrease at a greater rate than 10s. per cent. per

annum.

It may be doubtful, also, whether the first bill should aim at repealing more than 20 per cent. of the present amount of the Poor-rates. This would be effected in forty years. Long before that time, the good or bad