Take all proper methods of rendering universal and preserving alive that exquisite moral sensibility, which is possessed by so great a portion of your po pulation, and makes them willing to die of hunger rather than beg.
Provide a proper asylum for rearing to virtue the children of beggars ; and let no person who begs be allowed, on any terms, to retain power over a single child ; that, at any rate, you may prevent any portion of the young from being reared to beg gary. This is an easy, obvious, and most important part of a good plan for lessening or extinguishing the evil of beggary.
Reform your criminal code; and cease to deal with offences in such a fashion, as to make the indigence of your people greater, and the virtues less, than they would otherwise be. ' Under the head of improvement in thecriminal law, it may be fittest to speak of that indispensable in strument for the cure of beggary,—a system of Re formatories, or houses in which bad habits may be eradicated and good acquired. On this point, some of the witnesses, whose testimony is entitled to the greatest respect, used a language unusually strong. The chaplain to Bridewell Hospital said, " I have long thought, seeing so mach misery as I have done, that, as to remedy, very little could be done, unless you deprive the beggars of the pretext of begging ; that that could be only by a large penitentiary system.
"Has it occurred to your mind, that there could be a Penitentiary large enough to include all those persons ?—I have not proposed one fin the whole town, but four or five at different parts of the town.
" Did you propose this for persons having settle ments in the country, and others ?—Yes ; that every person knocking at the door might have admission, and that no person should have a pretext for beg ging in the streets. If a committee was sitting at either of those Penitentiaries, and work was going on at them, that would relieve from part of the ex pence ; the great advantage that appears to my mind is, the investigation of each case. I do not know any place in town where that can be done. I have frequently thought, that unless there could be such a system as that to which I have alluded, the clearing of the town is hopeless: The great mass of misery which floats in this metropolis, I am fearful can never be removed, unless there is such a penitentiary system as that to which I have allud ed : the two societies established for the reception of such persons are far too confined.
" If one, two, or three large ships could be fitted up with good accommodation, do you think such places could be substituted fbr penitentiary houses, till the parties were disposed of ?—I never but once saw any thing of the kind, and that was at Sheerness some years ago, when I think the sailors' wives lived in two large hulks drawn up on shore ; but there appeared to be so much misery and wretch edness, and they were so close and confined, that I did not forma favourable opinion of it.
" The question supposes the ships to be fitted np in an airy manner, with convenient apartments, that would receive nearly as many, at little or no expence to the public, as the Penitentiary House now building at a very great expence ?—The peniten tiary houses, as proposed by me, would include work shops and rope-walks, and so on." Mr Colquhoun was asked,—" Do you think there could be any law devised by which there could be a possibility of furnishing relief to that class of per sons who may be properly called beggars, by which they could be removed out of the streets ?—I think it is perfectly possible to lessen the evil in a very considerable degree, but it must be by legislative regulation, and at pretty considerable expence. The situation of this town, to which so many wander up, is such that there must be an asylum for beggars, with a species of work-house, or what I would call a Village of Industry, that would apply to all. That struck me so strongly in the year 1792, that I wrote a paper on the subject; and I believe if the war had not broken out, it would have taken place.. About ' 5000 are vomited out of the jails, without charac ter ; those people coming on society, it would have been a most desirable thing to have had an Asylum for them; but it was so gigantic a thing, that that prevented its being carried into effect. If such an Asylum could be established, I think in a very short - time it would relieve the town of a great many of the beggars ; but the magistrates must necessarily have some place to send them to.