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The act against papal fupremacy having put the magiftrate above the church; what was formerly called herefy, was now to be called treafon. Thefe victims were hypocritically faid by the church to fuffer for treafon. No deftruction of a hoftile priesthood fo extenfive ever took place in any Catholic country. It has been rivalled in our own times by the atheiftic perfecution of the French Convention. The names of the priefis executed by the Church of England, between 1570 and 1602, may be read in detail in Caulfield's Hiftory of the Gunpowder-plot. Thus Elizabeth realized her will for No Popery.

James overlooked with magnanimity the inferior ramifications of the powderplot: with fuch a pretext for intolerance, there was virtue in his forbearance. He left to the vulgar the cry of No Popery.

The vulgar took it up; and under Charles I. ufed the cry of No Popery, to bring a king into difrepute, who felt liberally toward the Catholics. All the feditious efforts of the Puritans, which produced fo long a civil war, and fo confpicuous a judicial regicide, were covered by that Proteftant fhield which Elizabeth had infcribed with the deadly words No Popery.

After the Restoration, the religion of Bucer, and the double intolerance of the magiftrate, returned. Popith plots were invented or detected. An act of uniformity plundered the diffenting clergy of an oppofite defcription.

James II. was expelled by the cry of No Popery all the civil wars of the Revolution had for their moft fpecious pretext the preservation of No Popery.

William III. and the two firft Georges, not having been brought up in the religion of Bucer, acquired the tolerant Ipirit of foreign Proteftanifin. Under them, the temper of the English people was much foftened and liberalized.

In this prefent reign, the American

war feems firft to have revived from their

long flumber thofe hierarchic divifions, which had agitated and difgraced our ancestors, and defolated our common country. The cry of No Popery was ftill underfood by the multitude to be an expreffion of abhorrence against that high-church party, which had protected Charles I. and oppofed the Revolution. Hence, during the riots of 1780, which were in fact the work of a whig mob, and were infpired more by hatred of the miniftry than of the Catholics, No Popery was the popular watch-word: and it was

again, as of old, an animation to injuftice, to plunder and to violence. About 1790, the Irish Catholics began their applications to the legiflature for a repeal of the laws to their prejudice.The refufal of this emancipation, again accompanied with the outcry of No Popery, has occafioned, before our own eyes, a long and bloody civil war in Ireland, diftinguished for inhumanities more atrocious than even the crufade against the Albigenfes. Irish Catholics have been half-hanged, half-flogged to death, pufhed with the pike-itaff indifcriminately from the bridge into the river; thut up in barns and burned alive in bands; and ftill the whoop of favage triumph was No Popery.

If there be men, who glory in fuch deeds, who would again aroufe fimilar paffions, and make Ireland once more the flaughter-field of religious maffacre, let them pronounce aloud, and write upon our walls, thefe words of death; but let focietybeware of fuch-If they fhould be found too numerous and too ftrong to be ruled by the civil power, and chastized by the courts of juftice; the friends of humanity and tolerance muft again refort to fuch a focial interdict, as Saint Ambrofe of Milan carried into execution againft Theodofius, and the barbaric ruffians who obeyed him. The finile of greeting muft be withheld in the fireet, and the cup of hofpitality denied at home to the partizans of a murderous intolerance. Thofe churches and conventicles must be fhunned with public folemn indignation, where the preacher is heard to juftify any partial oppreffion of the common children of Chritt. It is in the power of public opinion, would it pronounce itfelf with energy, if not to atone for its long injustice, at least to prepare a more equitable futurity.

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that you rather invited difcufion BSERVING, by your laft Magazine,

on Mr. Whitebread's new Parochial Bill, I cannot help mentioning a few particulars, that, in reflecting on the heads of the intended bill given by that Gentleman, have ftruck me; and though I would not be thought to have a worfe opinion of the lower claffes than they deferve, nor would I favour that fyftem of oppreffion and inhumanity fo often employed in houfes of industry, yet as labour ought to be enforced among the poor, and this

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being

being impoffible in large parishes where they are difperfed over feveral miles of country, furely it is defirable that there fhould be fome spot, where employment may be had for them, and where their united labours may produce fomething towards their own fupport, which can feldom be done unless they are collected; and therefore I think that a law preventing any new houfes of that fort from being established, which I fear is a part of Mr. W.'s plan, will be wrong. No doubt fuch inftitutions have been established where there was no need of them, and many of them are badly managed, but no man of understanding will urge this as an argument against their general utility: undoubtedly parishes ought well to confider the necelity, propriety, and probability of fuccefs of fuch an inftitution, before they proceed to petition the Houte for leave to incorporate, and erect. Such is the itate of the poor in fome parthes where no fuch houfes are, that un efs their employers will give them their price for fuch labour as they choose to engage in, the anfwer has been, "No, we will not work at that price, we will fooner go to the parith." This was an anfwer made in this borough by a woman to an offer of 1s. per day to plant beans; now, where houfes of industry have been established, the poor are glad to be employed, and receive their wages with thankfulness.

The profperous ftate of the manufactories in fome of thofe houfes, and the improved morals of the poor in others, might fairly be urged in the behalf of fuch inftitutions; but I think that there exifts a stronger plea for them than thofe, namely, neceffity; for till by education, or fome other mode, that fpirit of independence heretofore exifting in the breafts of the lower claffes can be again infufed into them, houses of industry will be found abfolutely neceffary, efpecially in large towns where there is no eftablifhed manufactory; even if they were only erected in terrorem, or by way ftimulant to exertion; and to aid in preventing that fyftem of fraud and peculation, fo fuccefsfully carried on by the more crafty among the poor; in which the parish officer is the dupe of their too often feigned tales of mifery and diftrefs: for in many parishes it is utterly impoffible for the overfeer,during the thort period of his office, to get acquainted with half the poor he has to fuperintend; or to understand their real situation, unlefs he entirely neglects his own bufinefs:

of

and this knowledge, fo neceffary to a due execution of the office, is rendered more difficult by the prevailing mode in moft large parishes of electing to the office of overfeer, every new comer into the town; who is doubly unqualified for it, both on account of his utter ignorance of the fituation of the poor, and the plans of his predeceffors if they had any add to this, that he must be butily occupied in arranging and improving his new fituation, and confequently can afford little time for his parochial labours; fo that a permanent directory, fuch as is established in many parifhes where there is a house of industry, in which nine or twelve directors are chofen, three of whom go out of office annually, and three more are chofen, would be infinitely preferable.

Another fubject intimately connected with the parochial fyftem, is the great abufe of the charities which have been left from time to time, to various defcriptions of poor. Let a foreigner go into our churches and read the tablets which record the various benefactions and donations left for the poor, and he will be aftonifhed that any complaint fhould arife of the heavy burden of the poors' rates: but let him attempt to trace those charities from their fource, and he will find them make a very devious course, and, inftead of reaching at laft the neceflitous cottage, and adminiftering relief to its inhabitants, he will find them pampering the rich.

Whether a revifion of the Charities fhould, or can with propriety form a part of Mr. W.'s bill, I leave to that gentleman; but certainly it is a matter that needs revifion, and regulation, as much as any part of the parochial fyftem whatever. Your's &c.

Eve/ham,
March 5, 1807.

J. COLLETT. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.'

SIR,

MR

R. Whitbread's bill will naturally excite the attention of humane people, of which number, no doubt many of your readers are; indeed it feems, by its being printed and circulated, that it was intended fo to do. No people, Mr. Editor, fee more of the condition and fufferings of the poor than medical men, of which profeffion I am; and if they have had the regular education they ought to have, there are few people who are better qualified to inveftigate the caufe of them than they are. There is a propriety too in treating the fubject of

Mr.

Mr. Whitbread's bill in the manner phyficians ufually treat difeafes. His fubject matter is the difcafe of the conftitu. tion of the ftate, as theirs is the difcafe or defect of the conftitution of the individuals of it.

The general method of writing among phyficians, is firit to afcertain the caufe of the difeafe, and then to direct methods, fuitable to that cause. Now what is the cause of the wretched fituation of the poor, which Mr. Whitbread is fo meritorioufly employed in endeavouring to alleviate? It is confeffed to be a fcarcity of the neceffaries and common comforts of life; that is, an infufficiency of animal and vegetable food, of warm and clean clothing, bedding, houses, &c. Mr. Malthus, who is not altogether an unfufpected friend of that order, afferts that this fcarcity produces want, mifery, and mortality, in fo great a degree, as to deftroy fome hundred thoufands annually, even in England. Many more, no doubt, who have efcaped with their lives, fuffer in the struggle, and have their conHere then is the ftitutions impaired. caufe of the difeafe, or rather the difease itself, which we are to letlen er remove. But this fcarcity muft have fome caufe; we mult, therefore, enquire what it is that occafions this fcarcity of the neceffaries of life. We know that the neceffaries of life are the joint produce of the land, and the labour beflowed on it, and the latter is as neceflary as the former to the production of them: the fpontaneous produce of the earth would fuftain few inhabitants. In all cafes of fcarcity where the land is in fufficient quantity, the requifite quantity of labour must be wanting, and be the caufe of the deficiency. It is allowed, that there is land more than fufficient to fuftain its inhabitants in great Britain; the labour only therefore that is employed on it, muit be deficient there. The caufe then of this deficiency muft in the next place be fought for.

In every civilized nation, the people of it may be divided into three claffes; the first class contains thofe that labour on the land in producing the neceflaries of life; the fecond thofe who work on the manufactures; the third, those who do nothing. The manufacturers may he fubdivided into thofe who work on the manufactures which are fubfervient to agriculture, and the other coarfe ones, fuch as the poor themselves make ufe of and as to thofe who work on the refined manufactures ufed only by the rich. Now

it is evident, that the husbandmen pro- " duce the neceffaries of life for themfelves and the other two claffes; and in proportion as their number is fufficient or not, fo are the whole people well or ill provided. It is natural to fuppofe that the people, if no caufe preventing them interfered, would in the first place apply labour fufficient to produce the neceffaries of life, a want of which occations much greater fufferings to them, than the deficiency of the other productions of their induftry. We must therefore, enquire into the cause of this unnatural diverfion of the industry of mankind from the production of those the most indifpenfable of all human things.

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For this purpose it is to be observed, that in the hands of fome perfons in the laft clafs in the above division of the people, all the lands of the nation are vetted; in others, the cattle and corn raised on them; in others, the raw materials, tools, machinery, &c; in others, the goods now manufactured, and ftored for fale; and fo on. In the hands of thofe, or of fome other clafs of the rich, all those things are collected, and by the laws there firmly fecured, which the poor man ftands in need of, and are necessary to the fupport of his exiflence perfons in poffeffion of thofe things, hold them out to the poor labourer, faying, If you will labour for me in fuch and fuch a way, I will give you out of thofe things fuch as you fland in need of: but unless you will do those things which I require of you, you shall have none of them. Hence there is an abfolute neceflity, under the penalty, the heaviest of all penalties, namely, the privation of fuch things as are neceffary to his and his family's exiftence, for his fubmitting to do the things thus imposed on him to do.

"And as the quantity of the neceffaries of life that are or can be confumed by the rich are limited, and in the purchafing of which a finall part only of their wealth can be expended; the furplus they are naturally inclined to lay out in procuring the conveniencies, the elegancies, and the luxuries of life. These are the produce of the more refined manufactures of different kinds; and for thofe they are inclined to give a greater price, confidering their wealth would be of little ufe to them, if it procured only the neceffaries: hence a much greater proportion of their incomes is expended on thofe refined articles; of course a

greater

greater proportion of the labouring hands are forced to apply their industry in the various fine manufactures in which only they can get employ. By thefe means, hands are drawn off power fully from agriculture, and fuch coarfe manufactures as produce the things which they themselves make use of."*

We have at length arrived at the whole caufe of the evil, namely the diverting of the people from working on the land and the coarse manufactures; by which only can be produced the neceffaries of life, and other things, the want of which, even according to Mr. Malthus, who is fo much applauded by Mr. Whitbread, caufes all the mifery and mortality we fee; and it need not be observed that, if this truly be the real, fole, immediate and ethcient cause of the evil, nothing fhort of the removal of it can produce any confiderable amendment in the condition of the poor. Other methods, if attempted, may amufe and quiet the people for a time, but they cannot be propofed by a man, who acts with fincerity and uprightnefs, as radical, or in any degree material remedies for the evils of the poor. The means proposed by Mr. Whitbread have no direct tendency to remove them; their operation is circuitous, weak, and of inconfiderable effect; and, what is worfe, they feem to give us to underftand, that they are the only remedies that the cafe admits of; and that no more effectual ones are within the reach of human power: the real caufe and obvious remedy of the evils not being brought forward.

The wants of the poor being fo great as they are allowed to be, nothing fhort of phyfical obftacles to the removal of the caufe of them; or the want of phyical means for fupplying them; ought to prevent immediate and effectual endeavours for their relief. We have fertile land in fufficient quantity; and there are no phyfical obftacles to the employment of a fufficient quantity of labour on it. That thefe phyfical remedies for the fufferings and mortality of the people are prefent and in our power, is a folid and rational ground of confolation, and thould be a motive of gratitude to their author; but that it should be rendered ineffectual by man, is a ground for grief and complaint to thofe who are the fufferers by

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In medical practice we can fomeEffects of Civilization on the People in the European States. 8vo. Oftell.

times palliate the fufferings of individual patients, when caufe of them; but in the cafe of the we cannot affect the difeafes of fociety, we can act only through the medium of the caufe What but the neceffaries of life can fupply the want of the ncceffaries of life? I know of nothing that can give a temporary relief even to the craving of hunger, or the faint and uncomfortable feelings in the stomach, occafioned by a meagre and watery diet, but fnuff, tobacco, aud fpirituous liquors; and whether thefe fhould be prefcribed, may be left to the judgment of other people as well as to phyticians.

I fhall not go to any length in my obfervations on the particular means Mr. Whitbread has propofed. Some of them feem to be calculated rather for the eafing the contributors to the poor-rates, than for the benefit of thofe who ftand in need of their contributions. The rewards propofed to be given to the poor people who bring up a family without the afliftance of the parish, ought, in my opinion, to have no influence on the poor parents. The poor man fhould endeavour to get what he can by his labour for his family; and befides that, thould get what he can from the parish; both being by far too little to bring up his children in health and vigor, and to preferve them in any great proportion from premature death. from applying for parish affiftance, out of If he abftains pride, or with a view to the reward offered, he greatly injures his offspring. To fave can only be done properly, where there is a fuperfluity. If the poor fave, they fave for the rich, to the prejudice of themfelves and their children. If there are no favings, there will be no occafion for banks; to that proposal therefore I fay nothing.

I have no from the education of poor children, very great expectations which Mr. Whitbread recommends. The learning to read when young, is of very little advantage, if, in after life, they have not leifure to read futficiently to improve their understandings.

CHARLES HALL.

Taviflock, March 14, 1807.

For the Monthly Magazine. CARCELY any fubject involving the general interefts of mankind has and been attended with fo little fuccefs, occupied fo large a portion of attention, as that of making provifiou for the poor

and

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and aged. The only advance hitherto made is, that all perfons agree in the fimple and abftract conclufion, that fomething must be done. Ages have rolled over ages, and every expedient has fo completely mifcarried, that the difficulties are greatly encreased by the labour that is now required to repair the mifchiefs, and to restore things to the ftate they were in when the task was first entered upon. In England, at least as far as pecuniary exertions could be neceffary, they have been cheerfully given, and both the legislature and people have patiently watched the operations of this kind of aid. Difcuffions of the moft critical and judicious ability have rivetted the mind to the fubject during the long interval, and the refult of the whole in quiry feems to be, that a great proportion of all claffes are now determined to agitate the practical and important question. What it is that ought to be, and can be done?

A fubject of greater magnitude cannot be fuggefted, and even the mode of managing the inquiry is of material confequence. To determine without a recapitulation of all the afcertained facts, will be to flight the advantages of experience, and to poftpone the decifion, until the mind becomes confused amidít a variety of confiderations, will perhaps be to follow an error already too prevalent, and to adhere to a systematic course of evils which can hardly be aggravated by any fort of mistake.

It muit afford general fatisfaction to fee the matter taken up by perious whofe talents and refpectability will give weight to their recommendations; but it is one of thofe cafes which call for the energies of the whole population, and fhould be aided by the most diligent and extenfive refearch. A few auxiliary queftions may also be agitated with very confiderable advantage-as, Whether the wealth and happiness of fociety be encreased by the poverty and wretchedness of its members? Whether the principle of juftice may not be too much relaxed, and the principle of charity too extenfively adopted? and, Whether in the foundation of previous inftitutions, fufficient care has been taken to diftinguish between natural and focial poverty? Upon a careful inveftigation of those points, the fuccefs of any new fyftem will in a great degree depend; for it is impoffible that in the prefent improved ftate of fociety any eftablishment can be of long duration, unless it be formed upon

an equitable basis; and if it be fo formed, it can hardly fail to promote the general good, unless there be fome radical defect in the order and conftitution of things, which renders human diligence and ingenuity unavailing.

The nature of the theories hitherto acted upon may be examined in detail by tracing the effects of the numerous inftitutions that they have given birth to. Whatever fpecial facts it may be neceffary to afcertain relative to each individually, it would be neceffary with regard to them all, to inquire into their objects, their means, their management, and their progrefs; whence it would be easy to determine the exact value of the comfort difpenfed, and the proportion it bears to the fums expended in procuring it. Such a fubject is fuited to the community at large. Whether influenced by the calculating fpirit of commerce, the fpeculative spirit of philofophy, or the frank and generous fpirit of man—all must confider themfelves fomehow or other interested in the fund of national comfort, and be defirous of knowing whether the fums employed in its purchafe have been fo applied, as to have procured as much as if they had been directed any other way.

With a defign to place the fubject in as clear a point of view as pollible, every degree of information fhould be laid before the public that can be obtained relative to the different benevolent establishments, and the moft impartial publicity given to every fact calculated to folve the difficult problem-How can the general welfare be increafed, without the comfort of individuals being facrificed?

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

I

SIR,

AM fully aware that the odds are greatly against me, in contending in your Magazine with your correfpondent, "Common Senfe;" but there are fome pofitions in his letter on Mr. Whitbread's plan, (fee Monthly Magazine for April, 1807, page 219,) which, I think, are fraught with fo much mifchief, that, notwithstanding the popularity of his opi nions, and the esteem in which he is held by the greater number of your readers, I mutt beg your permiflion to ftate a few objections to him.

The introductory obfervation of your correfpondent I pafs over as irrelevant to the fubject; for whatever light he may have derived from Mr. Whitbread's fpeech, he certainly has not reflected a fingle ray of it, by his letter to you;

I

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