The year ending 8th July 1798, during which the new regulations were in force, gives eae thousand five hundred and forty-three sucking Infants, and two hundred and seven dry Children, making a total of one thousand seven hundred and fifty *, of this the county and city of Dublin supply six hundred and seventy-threet, and the remainder of the kingdom one thousand and seventy-seven. The half year ending 8th January 1799, gives five hundred and fifty-three sucking Infants and fifty-five dry Children, making a total of six hundred and eight, the county and city of Dublin supplying two hundred and fifty-seven, and the remainder of the kingdom three hundred and fifty-one.‡ This mass of admissions is made up of three principal descriptions of Infants. 1st Class. The offspring of the poor and necessitous, a great part never claimed by their parents, who from extreme distress, often accompanied with disease, are incapable to maintain them, and a small part to be claimed whenever a temporary pressure of misfortune has been removed. 2d Class. The offspring of the vicious and profligate, which may, for the sake of greater precision, be subdivided into two portions. First. The offspring of unmarried females, who send their Infants to the Hospital as speedily as possible after birth to conceal their shame. Second. The offspring of dissolute parents, who though capable of maintaining the Infant are not inclined to be at any expense, considering it as an incumbrance which they cannot too soon part with. 2d Class. Belonging to mothers who could easily rear their Infants, but knowing that they will be taken care of at the expense of the public, choose to send them into the Hospital, that they may procure a nursing, go to service, or follow their usual occupations. These classes comprehend the whole of the admissions into this Charity with an exactness sufficient for every purpose of general discussion, and if we could ascertain the proportion which they bear to each other, an important point would no doubt be gained;-all that we can now venture to advance with tolerable certainty is, that the first class is by much the most numerous, the second the next, and the third very small. From what has been said it appears, on an hasty view, that a plausible scheme of future reform would be to receive only the first class of Infants, and to reject a part of the second and the whole of the third; but a moment's reflection will suggest the insuperable difficulty of ascertaining, by any examination into facts, the boundaries of each class, and the utter impossibility of guarding against and detecting innumerable frauds, which would immediately spring up on every side to impede the execution of such a plan with any prospect of improvement. A remedy of a different sort has been thought of by many intelligent persons who have turned their enquiries to this subject, viz. the refusing of infant admissions altogether frour the country until the Child had arrived at one, or perhaps at two years of age, and substi tuting county Foundling Hospitals for infant reception and maintenance. The objections to such substitution are in our opinion many and weighty ;-we shall state four, which appear to be the most important. 1st. If parents were so inclined it would still be very possible for them, if they disliked the county institution, to send their infants up to Dublin and pass them at the Hospital as born in the city; nor could it be possible, if the doors of the Charity be kept open for town Infants, for the Medical Officers of the House to detect such fraud, if practised by a person solicitous to deceive. 2dly. The chief argument assigned for county substitution has been, that the carriage of infants to Dublin was a grievous and intolerable abuse which nothing short of such a plan would effectually redress; whereas late experience teaches, that certain simple and sensible rules, rigidly followed up, have in the course of the last year very much removed the cause of complaint. 3dly. Many of such county establishments, at a distance from frequent censorial scrutiny and controul, would in all human probability be mismanaged, so that in the endeavour to correct one evil, a multitude would be produced. 4thly. There are good grounds for conjecturing, that the augmentation of county receiving houses would create a proportionable increase in the total number of Infant Foundlings; it would bring this Charity within the reach of very many, who though even affectionate parents, would be tempted to avail themselves of it to dispose of their Infants, by having them nursed at the public expense, in a manner under their eyes, but who are deterred from parting with them, as matters now stand, by the great distance of the capital from their places of abode; and this last we conceive to be an objection of extensive consequence. We will now endeavour to estimate what would be the probable effects produced by an abolition of Infant admissions in town and country, and the declining in any case to receive them till they had reached their first, or perhaps their second year, and whether the general circumstances of this country would justify the measure. * See Table, No. II. + See Table No. I. Section 6. If We think it necessary to observe, in this place, that the admissions of the year ending 8th July 1798, are three hundred and fifty less than the average of the seven years prior to the above period, and the admissions of the half year ending 8th January 1799 fall greatly under either of the two preceding half years; and this we believe has principally been produced by the disturbed state of the kingdom, wh suspended the safe and uninterrupted communication which heretofore subsisted between t the provinces. No. 10. If we are right in the outline of the preceding classification, an abolition of Infant ad- Appendix, missions may be supposed to produce very different effects on different parts of the community; of the first class, the offspring of the poor and necessitous, many would be exposed, and some might be kept by their parents, for a certain time after birth, although if the Infants lived, which seems to be very doubtful, they probably would as streetbeggars, or in some other manner be thrown for maintenance and education upon the bounty of the public or the charity of individuals. Of the vicious and profligate class some Infants would undoubtedly perish, very many be exposed, and, we fear, that the feelings of virtue and humanity would frequently be grievously shocked by atrocities, which it would be here painful to touch upon, and unnecessary to particularize. The third and smallest class would unquestionably be reared by their parents. These are conjectures only, but they are probable conjectures of the effects of refusing the admission of Infants, and nothing short of giving the experiment a trial can ascertain with precision the quantum of vice and misery which would be created and entailed on the Nation thereby. Should the wisdom of the Legislature devise effectual measures for instructing the ignorance, reforming the morals, enforcing the industry, and correcting the dissipation of the lower orders, the want of all which fills our Hospitals, the principle of this Charity may then undergo revision, but until permanent incans for these purposes shall be established, the Foundling Hospital of Dublin is highly necessary and ought to be preserved, it being the bounden duty of the public to save the Infant that is ready to perish, to instruct, to employ, and to provide for the poor and him that hath no helper;--and this leads us to observe upon the new rules. After what has been said, it is not necessary to enumerate the various regulations lately made in the infant department of this Charity, or to dwell on the spirit which has pervaded their formation and execution;-It is much more important to consider the probable durability of the present system, which, as a combined effort called forth by unusual public sensations, is to be estimated as far exceeding the medium of a barely strict discharge of duty applicable to permanent establishment.-Keeping the force of this remark in view, still we trust, that so many difficulties have been surmounted on the outset, and such salutary regulations brought into established practice, as will tend very much to preclude future mismanagement. Placed on ground which we feel to be singularly delicate, all that we shall at present venture to assert with confidence, is this, that whilst this Institution shall be patronized and superintended by those ladies of rank and virtue, whose conduct, when contrasted with the frivolous and irrational dissipation of the day, shines forth with peculiar lustre, so long will it continue to be a most useful Charity; nor can we close this part of our subject without expressing our obligations to the Right Hon. Mr. Pelham, to whose zealous exertions in the improvement and reform of this Establishment the public is primarily indebted. Grown Children from 10 to 15 Years of Age. As the preceding observations have been extended to some length, we shall endeavour to compress within narrow bounds, what we have to offer respecting the Grown Children. No. IV. A Table of ADMISSIONS and CASUALTIES of Grown Children received into the Foundling Hospital, commencing with the new Regulations 9th July 1797, and comprehending one Year's Admissions to 8th July 1798. Ns. Vatement of me as a Csics Les fr Gown Children in the We shall subjoin a few Remarks on Education, Manufactures, and some improvements which have been adopted in other depart.nents besides the medical. On the subject of Education we have to state, that the Boys and Girls are instructed in reading, writing, and arithmetic, and from the representation of our Chapan who superintends the Schools, we have reason to believe the Ch. dren are making process, although we are aware that many important regulations may stii be introduced into this part of the Charity,which, we trust, time and observation will suggest. The chief endeavour of every charitable institution which relates to You ought certainly to consist in laying a solid foundation of morals, and establishing eary habits of industry adapted to each sex, and as nearly as possible suited to that condition of ie they are destined to fill; to go beyond this would we fear neitner conduce to their happiness nor usefulness in the world, and to stop short of it would be illiberal and unjust; guided in our measures by this view of the subject, we consider the profit that may arise from any trade or manufacture in which the Children could be instructed, to be a secondary consideration only, although that employment is certainly to be preferred which unites gain to the public with permanent benefit to the individual. At present the Girls are taught to spin coarse and fine wool, to make their own clothes, and to knit stockings, and some of the Boys are instructed as Gardeners, Taylors, Carpenters, and Shoemakers, and we have it in contemplation to introduce the weaving of coarse woollen goods, which we trust, when effected, will enable us to clothe the whole of the Establishment at a much cheaper rate than formerly. And as the Grown Children amount nearly to four hundred Girls and two hundred Boys, many of whom are fit to be apprenticed, we hope the public will see how much they have it in their power, by applying for them, to relieve us from the responsibility necessarily connected with so great a charge. We have only further to observe, That in the Purveyor's Office such checks have been framed on the receipt and issue of stores and provisions, as have produced a correct and economical expenditure of the Funds of the Hospital. Nor can we in justice conclude, without stating it to be our opinion, that much salutary reform has been lately brought about in the Charity, by, the unremitting exertions, of all the Officers concerned in its management. APPENDIX. Notice to Country Wet - Nurses.. THE Governors of the Foundling Hospital in Dublin, request that the salaries and who have an interest in this matter, will be convinced from the subjoined Statements, that the new regulations are much more beneficial to the country wet-nurses than the old. Old Regulations. Payments made to country wet nurses by the Governors of the Foundling Hospital prior Appendix, to July 1797: 1st. Each country wet nurse received three pounds for the first year's wages, with a premium of one pound when she produced the Child at the Hospital in good health at the end of twelve months. 2d. Subsequent to this period, the country nurses received forty Shillings yearly for the maintenance of each Child. 3d. The above wages and premium when due could only be obtained by bringing the Child up every year to Dublin, and one year's wages have always been in arrear to the country wet nurses. 4th. When a Child died, the nurse was obliged to bring the corpse to the Hospital or lose the wages that were due to her for nursing, unless she produced a Certificate from the Clergyman who buried the Child, that it died of so infectious a disorder that it could not safely be carried to Dublin, and this regulation prevented many honest but humane nurses from ever claiming what they had justly earned. New Regulations. Payments made to country wet nurses by the Governors of the Foundling Hospital subsequent to July 1797: 1st. Each country wet nurse now receives three pounds for the first year's wages, with a premium of two pounds provided she produces the Child at the Hospital in good health at the end of twelve months. 2d. Subsequent to this period, the country nurse will receive three pounds yearly for the maintenance of each Child. 3d. The wages will in future be paid quarterly in the country, and punctually when they become due, by applying to the County Inspector who recommended the nurse, who upon seeing the Child in good health will give a printed draft on the Treasurer in Dublin payable to bearer for fifteen shillings. 4th. The premium of two pounds (making in all five pounds for the first year's wages), will be paid in Dublin only, by producing the Child at the Hospital at the end of twelve months in good health. 5th. A printed Certificate filled up in an authentic manner and signed by one of the County Inspectors, stating that the Child had died, and had been properly taken care of whilst living, will entitle the nurse to the wages due to her. 6th. No Infants will ever be given out from the Hospital to country wet nurses, but such as are perfectly sound and healthy, and have been carefully examined by a skilful and experienced Surgeon. 7th. Two sets of new clothing will be delivered to the nurse with each Infant, and five shillings and fivepence will be advanced from her wages to defray her travelling expenses from Dublin to her home. 8th. Country wet nurses applying for Infants must bring to the Hospital a printed Certificate signed by one of the County Inspectors, stating their places of abode, and that they are persons who may be safely entrusted with such a charge. The advantages of the new over the old regulations are so great, that they must immediately convince the most illiterate understanding; instead of three pounds wages and one pound premium for the first year's nursing and forty shillings for every subsequent year paid in Dublin, after it had been perhaps upwards of a year due, five pounds will in future be paid for the first year's wages, and three pounds for each subsequent year. The only return which the Governors expect and demand for so great a liberality, is a strict attention from the nurse to the Infant entrusted to her care, and that no forgery of papers or imposition of any kind shall be attempted on the funds of the Charity: whilst the unprincipled of every description may expect to meet with the most severe punishment, honest and humane nurses will receive all possible encouragement and reward for their labour and diligence. P. S. The names and residence of the County Inspectors most contiguous to the Parish of will be written at the bottom of this paper, and are to be applied to as above directed by the country wet nurses. No. 10. Hhh |