On this head, however, the information afforded by Mr Martin is the most important. It appeared by the Inquiry, of which he was the principal organ, into the State of Mendicity in the Metropolis, that about one half of the beggars in the metropolis in reality belonged to the parishes in the metropolis, and were there entitled to relief: This is most as suredly, in the account of English mendicity, a very extraordinary fact. It is worth while to give the proportions, as they exhibited themselves upon this Inquiry : Mr Martin observes, " It may appear extraordi nary, that the parochial poor should be found to fur nish above one half of the general mass of beggars in the metropolis. There are, however, two causes particularly affecting the parochial poor, which have doubtless contributed to reduce many of them to a state of beggary ; viz.
" 1. The practice, generally prevailing in the me tropolis, of refusing relief to paupers out of the work-house ; and, " 2. The want of a provision by law, to direct, in particular cases, adequate relief to parochial poor, not resident within the limits of their legal settle ments." It was observed to him, " If it be real distress and not imposture, it should appear that the proper place to apply for relief would be the place of their own settlement ?—h is astonishing how ignorant the poor people are. A great many live in a contiguous pa rish to that to which they are chargeable,, then they are afraid of the law which directs they should be either imprisoned or whipped, or removed home, in case they apply for relief ; and some, who have been in better conditions in life, are very delicate in making their distresses known at all.
" Have you ascertained that ?—Yes ; even when I have written, I have frequently found the testimony in some degree corroborated I have received be fore ; there may have been a variation in a few cir. cumstances, but the general statement has been of ten true in those cases with which the committee would be most surprised. A woman mentioned a great deal of property abroad (I think in one of the West India Islands) some time ago ; I found there was ground for a great part of what she said, but not the whole.
" You think those persons did not know where to apply, till you informed them ?—In many instances they did not know how to apply, or they have been so Intimidated by the letter of the law they were afraid.
" Do you think a large proportion of those who ap plied, became beggars and applied for relief to you, because they did not choose to go to their parish ? —I think there were some, but their motives for that were very various ; in many cases it was entirely ti midity.
" You have mentioned in your printed letter of 1811, as one of the causes for beggary, the want of a provision by law to direct, in particular cases, ade quate relief to parochial poor not resident within the hmits of their legal settlement; what do you mean by that ?—I mean, that supposing there is a man be longing to Liverpool who is a coaclunaker's smith for instance, or in some employ in London, and that he falls into temporary distress by sickness ; the distress of that family is enhanced, and often goes to the excess of making the wife pawn even the working tools of her husband : if they could imme diately go to any magistrate, and claim the necessa ry relief, to be afterwards refunded by their parish, that distress would be prevented." .
To Mr Colquhoun, the magistrate, it was observed, —" You have given it as your opinion, in your Trea tise on Indigence, that among the causes of vagrancy is the hardship and of removals ?-1 look upon the removal as one of the greatest evils at taching to the pauper system ; if that could be done away by legislative regulation, so as to let the burthen fall equally upon the country at large, that would do more to reduce the rates than any thing else: it is a lamentable thing. I know in the year 1800, that in Braintree and in Essex, al though the average of the whole country was not above 5s. 6d. in the pound, they paid actually 40s. in the pound for poor rates, which amounted nearly to a disinherison of property, in the hands, perhaps, since William the Conqueror, of some of' the pro prietors ; and I know of property which would let for L. 200 a year in any other part of the country, letting for L. 20 : And I remember another in stance, of a person who bad established a nursery ; he was rated for that nursery L. 70 a year ; it had cost him L. 800 ; and the question with him was, whether it would not be better to abandon it than sustain the burthen. Wherever you see in England the finest surface of .country, such as Hertfordshire, and all the southern counties, there you have the greatest portion of poverty: In Sussex, by the last returns, it was 25 in the hundred, that was, a fourth part of the population ; In Cumberland, five ; in where we should expect more poor than any other, from the fluctuation of labour, 17.