The firft, for the relief, regulation, and employment of the poor, which we have been examining and difcuffing in the present pamphlet. A fecond (which feems a neceffary appendage to the firft), for raifing the cafual and contingent fund, mentioned in the Heads of a Bill, &c. This is to arife from a tax on dogs, and Sunday-tolls and, with his Majefty's permiffion, the forfeitures and penalties now levied before juftices of peace, with the fines, amercements, and recognizances taken and laid by juftices of peace, or in courts of affize, gaol-delivery, or quarter feffions: in each county. See the Heads of a Bill, &c. p. 15, 16, 28. A third, for collecting and digefting into one ftatute all fuch provifions in the prefent poor laws as are proper to be retained, and are not included in that first bill; fo that inftead of thirty acts of parliament, the whole fyftem of the regulation for the poor may be comprifed in the compafs of two acts. A fourth, is for regulating and reducing the number of alehoufes, and to fubftitute a proper fund to fupply the diminution the revenue may thereby fuffer. See the Heads of a Bill, &c. p. 20, 28, 29. A fifth, for the more eafy recovery of small debts, and for correcting and preventing abufes in inferior courts. See Heads of a Bill, &c. p. 21, 29, 30. c. 5.. A fixth, to revife and improve the vagrant a&t, 17 Geo. 2. If all thefe bills are paffed into laws; if the clubs and friendly focieties which abound in all parts of the kingdom, particularly in manufacturing and populous places, are promoted, and a proper encouragement given to their benevolent defigns; if a juft application be made of all public and permanent charities, under regulations to be established by Parliament, after the returns to the House of Commons have been completely inveftigated; an entire new face will be given to the concern of the poor. This would no doubt give fresh fpirit to that charity and benevolence, for which this kingdom has been always confpicuous. Perfons who have inclination and ability to bestow temporary and occafional relief, will feel encouragement to be frequent and liberal in their charities; when they know, from the regulations which will be produced by thefe acts, that no impoftors can prefent themfelves: they will then felect fuch objects for their charity as they fhall know, or fhall be recommended to them by friends in whom they confide, as perfons of fair cha racter, and reduced to diftrefs by misfortunes, old age, or infirmities. By the addition of fuch charities to the provisions before alluded to, the poor will be fo completely provided for, that there will be little or no occafion for a poor rate.' We fincerely with Mr. Gilbert all the gratification that must attend the fuccefs of his laudable and arduous endeavours: leaving the objections to which his plan of reform may be liable, and that may contribute to perfect our fyftem, to other well-informed pens,,-of which we have one at hand. N. Art. 26. Heads of a Bill for the better Relief and Employment of the Poor, and for the Improvement of the rolice of this Country: With With a Supplement. Submitted to the Confideration of the Members of both Houses of Parliament. By T. Gilbert, Efq. 8vo. 1s. Wilkie. 1787. It would not be eafy to give any abftract of an abftra&t; nor is it neceffary, as the whole will undergo a public difcuffion. This bill relates to the intended mode of uniting parishes into diftricts; to the forming committees to fuperintend the management of the poor; their refpective lines of duty; propofals for the augmentation of the funds for the maintenance of the poor, and for other objects; regulations for alehouses, &c.; fome of which articles, we apprehend, will scarcely meet with a cordial affent. N Art. 27. A Draught of a Bill for the Relief and Employment of the Poor. With introductory Remarks. With a fummary View of the Statutes now in being for the above Purpose. 8vo. IS. Robinfons. 1787. There is fo much good fenfe, upon a moft ferious fubject, in this anonymous production, that we should deem it an unpardonable failure of duty to pass it over lightly, without recommending it to the attention of all gentlemen engaged in a reform of our poor laws, particularly to the worthy framer of the preceding bill; who, we hope, is not fo devoted to a new fyftem, as to perfift in it, fhould it appear fatisfactorily, that our prefent fyftem requires only to be ren dered more efficient. This writer reduces the grievances we complain of to two caufes, the great mifapplication of parish money, in the relief of the poor; and the general neglect of the more important duty of employing the able poor. To remedy thefe evils, he obferves, it has been thought neceffary to take the poor out of the hands of the prefent managers, and to form plans for uniting great numbers of them under one jurifdiction, and even under the fame roof: but it is fcarcely poffible to wish that fuch ingenious theories fhould be reduced to practice; the defign being fo complicated and extenfive, and the object to be effected fo fimple. : Before we attempt any new establishments, it would be worth while to confider whether parish officers, a veftry, and a magiftracy, do not form an adminiftration fully adequate to the importance of the bufinefs, provided they were to act under the direction of a law which fhall prevent abufes, and guard itfelf from neglect. To relieve the impotent, and employ the able, is the whole of their duty to discharge the first, requires only an obedience to the law; and the fecond lies within the capacity of every master of a workhouse. The virtues of charity and beneficence are the virtues of the public, and the wifdom of our laws has marked out who are to be the objects of them. Had it been intended to leave the distribution of the parochial levies to the difcretion of parish officers, thefe, and many other excellent qualities, would be neceflary to form the character of a good overfeer; but though the contrary is the fact, the kingdom has, for near two centuries, fuffered itself to be taxed at the pleafure of ignorant people, under pretence of charity; while the contributions have been fo managed, as to increase the miferies they were intended to remove. If, in the returns ordered to Parliament relative to the poorrates, one of the articles required had been an average of the dif bursements for the relief of impotent poor," it would have given a very decided proof how far the expenditure of two millions and a half exceeds the original intention-perhaps it may fairly be fet at three parts in four.' He obferves, with other writers on political economy, that the increase of the industrious poor is an increase of the riches of a kingdom; but he affirms, that an increase of the impotent poor, beyond a certain proportion, is an impoffibility, except in cafes of pestilential difeafe. The increase of the poor, therefore, of which we hear so much, is mere found, and fignifies nothing: the only objects of charity among the poor are those who would work, but are not able. As to county workhoufes,' he adds, they feem very exceptionable in many views; for, though the feveral gradations of power neceffary to their management may be formed with great harmony and precision, yet the whole edifice may be conftructed upon fand. But without calculating the probability of their failure by the complicated fcale of arrangement fuch establishments must require; without reprobating the idea of continuing the prefent poor-rates for a courfe of years, with the hope only that they may one day be diminished; without adverting to the little probability of the duration of that energy which first fets it a-going, or the impolicy of draining fo many parishes of their able poor to collect them on one fpot; it is fufficient to be acquainted with the nature of parish bufinefs, to be convinced of the pernicious confequences of fuch at plan. Let us fuppofe only a poor man out of work, with a wife and family, all able to do fomething, but (as is too much the cafe at prefent) trufting folely to his induftry for fupport :-either this man must have relief from the overfeer, for himfelf and all his family, or they must go to the county workhoufe. To relieve them, there must be a difcretionary power without doors, as well as within; which would be more likely to double our grievances than to leffen them. On the other hand, to remove them from their little habitation to the workhoufe, would be a feverity more deferving the name of correction than relief. Should it be urged, it is a correction they deserve; for without idleness or improvidence they might have guarded against the day of neceffity-But what if they have been unfortunate? At any rate this houfe of charity is converted into a house of correction; and must always be confidered as fuch, whenever it is reforted to in cafes of temporary diftrefs. By the fimple establishment of parish workshops fuch poor people might relieve themselves; and by repairing to it in the day-time, and receiving what they earned, they would be enabled to return to the comforts of their own fire-fide, and be at liberty to engage in any other occupation that might offer.' It should follow from this reafoning, that our alarms refpecting the poor have their fource only in mismanagement. Before then we unhinge the prefent fyftem, in favour of expenfive, and, notwithstanding partial trials of a few years, hazardous experiments, let us attend to a writer, who tells us, that a revisionary act Rev. April, 1787. Bb which which fhall make the spirit of the 43d Eliz. the main object of all its provifions, which fhall adopt only fuch of the other statutes as have a manifeft tendency to the fame principles, and with the affiftance of other regulations fhall digeft the whole into one uniform fyftem, will furmount every obftacle, and produce a reform at once fimple, certain, and immediately beneficial. But then fuch an act must leave nothing to the diligence, nothing to the difcretion, of those who are to execute it-IT MUST EXECUTE ITSELF.' The draught of the propofed act follows, drawn up according to the preceding ideas; in which the deviations from the prefent laws are diftinguished by being printed in a different character. This we do not mean to enter into, further than to obferve, that the overfeers in each parish are made one half of them overfeers of relief, and the other half overfeers of the working poor, to fimplify the objects of their attention. POLITICAL. N. Art. 28. The Speech of the Right Hon. William Pitt, on introducing the Plan for confolidating and fimplifying the Duties of the Cuftoms, before a Committee of the Houfe of Commons, February 26th, 1787. 8vo. 6d. Lowndes. The advantage of fimplifying any intricate fabject is fo obvious, that the bare propofal is inviting; and the plan for fimplifying the cuftoms was fo well explained by the minifter, that, ftrange to add, all oppofition was difarmed, and even his propofal was unanimously accepted. The publisher of this Speech propofes, fpeedily, to give to the public the New Book of Rates. N. Art. 29. The true Policy of Great Britain confidered. By Sir Francis Blake, Baronet. 8vo. JS. Debrett. 1787. Sir Francis Blake's propofal for the liquidation of the national debt, like an act of parliament, requires fubfequent proposals for explanation and amendment. He now tells us, that A thought occurs, whether it would not be more advantageous, as well as fatisfactory, to fimplify the plan throughout: it goes already to the utter abolition of taxes, let it go to customs in like manner; let us make of this island a free port, and let the whole revenue be collected by a pound rate, which will then raife as much at five, as is now produced at fifteen fhillings. That is to fay, it will raife a revenue of fifteen millions, fuppofing that part of the income of individuals which is here fpoken cf, to be no more than fixty millions per annum. And, therefore, fetting afide for the public expenditure, the round fum of 14,500,000l. there will remain a clear annual overplus of half a million. How this fhould be employed has been faid already; but of that faying fo fweet is the found, and fo much in tune with British ears, I cannot help repeating,-"That of all poffible applications of a furplus revenue, the best and wifeft is the naval fervice." To throw back the remnant into our pockets, what would it do for us? It would add to the annual weight of our purse-What? Two-pence in the pound! O! well indeed might Britain fay, degenerate fons, if fuch a circumftance could weigh * See Rev. vol. Ixxiv. p. 461. vol. lxxv. p. 142. upon upon our minds, if fuch a fum were better faved in our conceit, tha freely spent to gain us in return the loft dominion of the feas. As to all other lofs, I look upon it as nothing, compared with the lofs of our naval fuperiority, for that involves our certain and speedy downfal.' He is a determined enemy to any commercial intercourfe with our ancient deadly foes,' who are fortifying Cherburgh, and will be our foes for evermore. To take them for friends he confiders as taking poifon, which puts us pait the power of caution. But, may not fome future thoughts occur to temper the harshness of these? Let us wait a little. In the interim, it is impoffible to avoid hinting how much his language is expofed to objection, though it is fcarcely worth the trouble of defcending to inftances of his careleffnefs. Towards the clofe, indeed, he becomes inflated by a contemplation of his propofal, and declaims like an improvifatore poet, in a kind of measured profe, that a ight be cut out for theatrical ufe. One fpecimen verbatim may fuffice. Now this, my countrymen, is our look out; The general good and fafety of the whole, The good which comes, the evil which befals, Nor can we have a wish of any public kind, Confiftently diftinct from one another, So intimately close are we conjoined, So firmly knit and riveted together. These points premifed, we cannot fail to fee What grofs abfurdity, &c.' N. Art. 30. The Letters of a Friend to the Rockingham Party, and of an Englishman. 8vo. 25. Stockdale. 1787. A mere fcolding-bout between two correfpondents in the Public Advertiser, collected and printed by one of the parties to fhame the other; and for the emolument of the printer. N. Art. 31. An Abstract of the Bill for manning the Royal Navy with Volunteers. With a full Defence of its Principles and Operations, &c. By John Steven fon. 8vo. 1s. Nicoll. 1787. Mr. Stevenson has here advanced fuch arguments as tend to prove the utility of the scheme which the bill propofes. The Pamphlet, befide containing an abstract of the bill, is the fubftance of fix letters addreffed to William Pulteney, Efq; and ten to the Chancellor of the Exchequer ; in which, Mr. Stevenfon has anfwered feveral objections that have been started against the bill, and fhewn many advantages that may arise from adopting the plan here recommended. A -m |