In order to obtain a correct and enlarged view of the state of the poor in England, the two houses of parliament named their respective committees of inquiry, whose re ports were submitted in 1818. It then appeared, that though the principle of the laws of that kingdom is good, founded principally on the consolidating act of the 43d of Elizabeth. and whose two main objects were to provide funds to support the real poor, and the means of employ ment for others, destitute of work, and yet able to la bour; the administration by church wardens and over seers, under the eye of the local magistracy, had become so little discriminative, and so very extravagant, as to have raised the average numbers of the paupers for the years 1813, 1814, and 1815, to 940,626, being above nine in the hundred of the population. For these it appeared that no less than L. 6,122,719 were annually expended in maintenance; besides as much more for con nected rates and expenses, as to swell the total fund up to above eight millions sterling; entaiiing a burthen yearly of above 16 shillings per head on the whole population of England and Wales.
These reports were also connected with, and one of them embraced a view of the state of the poor in Scotland. The Earl of Hardwieke, chairman of the committee of the house of lords, and Mr. Sturges Bourne, chairman of the committee of the house of commons, on the subject of the poor, had severally addressed letters of inquiry to the mo derator of the general assembly of the church of Scotland, which were delivered at one of their sessions in 1817; and notwithstanding the doubt expressed by a right hon. elder, how far it became the dignity of the assembly, as the su preme ecclesiastical court in Scotland, to take any steps in answer to these letters,—a committee was named with instructions to inquire and report. That committee select ed a few of their number, to whom this business was de legated, and who met every evening, at the house of sir Henry Moncrieff Wellwood, the convener; and, under his able direction, with the use of reports on the subject in the hands of the lion. T. F. Kennedy, of Dunure, M. P. and the personal assistance of Dr. Singer, a report was made up in the columnar form, containing most of the particu lars wanted, along with the population in 1811, and em bracing about one hundred parishes, out of the various districts of Scotland, which report was delivered in, within about a week after its commencement. This first attempt was highly approved of; and the assembly reappointed their committee, the very reverend principal Baird to he convener, with instructions to extend their inquiries throughout Scotland. Queries were framed for this pur
pose, and returns obtained in 1818, from above seven hun dred parishes, the result of which was embodied in the re port made up and submitted by the convener, in 1818. and soon after published. A vast mass of useful and valuable information 'a as thus obtained, which occupied principal Baird's willing and patient attention for several months in digesting; but owing to the multiplicity of the reports, and the great extent ofother matter embraced in them, with other circumstances, a very considerable •number of errors ap peared in the first edition in 1818, and it became necessary for the subsequent assembly to recall the committee's atten tion to the whole report, that it might appear io a more correct state. Alter all, this report, though it may be ca pable of further improvement, will be an interesting work as it now stands, to future ages. Some very interesting facts were established from these reports, compared with other sources of information. The regular poor in Scot land arc only about one in the hundred of the population ; the persons incidentally assisted are nearly two in the hun dred, including extra provision after unpropitious years; and the sums applied in aid of the whole, (in number about 30,000,) somewhat exceed one hundred thousand pounds, of which above two-tenths are collected at the church doors, about five-tenths consist of accumulated funds and voluntary grants by heritors and others; and not quite three-tenths arc assessed, though this mode of provision is now adopted in above 150 parishes. The proportional sup plies for each of the regular poor in the assessed parishes towards the borders, (now in the course of reduction,) can not be stated at present above 51. in the central districts 31. and in the remote northern and highland districts not much above 11. at an average, not including incidental supplies or emergencies only, nor the stims collected by common beggars. In the cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, the regular poor are not very far from one in the hundred; but the incidental lists rise to three or four in the hundred, according to circumstances, and the rate of expense for each of the regular poor may be stated somewhere about 8/. and each of the others about 31. Most of the Scot tish poor do somewhat for their own support ; and those on the lists of incidental supplies are merely assisted with small occasional grants, in aid of their own efforts.