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two-thirds in rich situations, and one-half in lesser places, should be appropriated to the relief of the poor *.

Rome, although its territorial influence had ceased, still reigned the moral mistress of the world, the soul and centre of civilization to the nations who professed the Christian religion. The great law of charity, of which we find but faint traces before the Christian æra, had now become interwoven with the institutions of its professors; and the spirit of that legislation was diffused to regions where the positive enactments of the imperial laws had no force. Institutions, similar in spirit, and generally in form, existed throughout Europe, combining the revenues of the state with the contributions of private charity. The fears and the hopes of the living, and still more of the dying, were excited during temporary pressures of famine or distress, to the relief of indigence; and I agree with Mr. Hallam †, in thinking "that the members of monastical institutions did not fall very short of their profession of charity."

* "Statutum est ut quidquid tempore imperii nostri a fidelibus ecclesiæ sponte conlatum fuerit; in ditioribus locis duas partes in usus pauperum, tertiam in stipendia cedere clericorum aut monachorum; in minoribus vere locis æque inter clerum et pauperes fore dividendum."-Baluz. lib. i. c. 80. Capitul. cited by Muratori, Dissert. 37.

+ Middle Ages, vol. 3. p. 350.

In England emancipation had proceeded with progressive steps, owing to increasing civilization, which, by multiplying the artificial wants of the great and rich, had driven population into towns, and its monastic institutions had satisfied or alleviated the claims of indigence; but at length the violent convulsion which broke them up, seized on their revenues, and dispersed their inhabitants, rendered it necessary for the state to throw this burthen upon its secular subjects. This gradation can be traced in a series of laws in our statute books; until the varying legislation, after first authorizing, (by 22 Henry VIII. c. 12.) and then violently punishing, mendicity, settled in the statute 27 Henry VIII. c. 25,-a great landmark in the science of English legislation on the subject, as leading to the establishment of the present system of compulsory assessment, not less remarkable than the imperial law above mentioned.

By this statute it was enacted, “that the municipal officers should succour all poor people within their several districts, by way of voluntary and charitable alms, to be collected by them every Sunday and holiday; so that the poor, impotent, lame, feeble, sick, and diseased people, being not able to work, might be provided for, holpen, and relieved; and preachers, in their sermons, and at the times of confession, and of making wills, were to exhort persons to be charitable towards

the relief of the poor and impotent, and for setting and keeping to work the able poor."

In Scotland, after the work of reformation had been fully completed, and the Presbyterian government more firmly established, a practice similar to that enforced by the above statute was begun and has been continued to the present day; and a description of it, taken from the statement of the ablest advocate of the system, will serve not only to show its similarity, but also with how much discretion and discrimination voluntary alms may be collected and administered.

"In those Scottish parishes the whole public relief which the poor obtain, passes to them through the organ of the Kirk Session, or Ecclesiastical Court, composed of elders, who in general are men of respectable character, though not always taken from the higher or even middling classes of society. The minister presides over this body, with the title of Moderator; and he and all such members of his court as have a practical share in the management and distribution of the charitable fund, do almost universally reside within the parish.

"The fund itself is mainly derived from weekly collections, made every Sunday, of the voluntary offerings of those who attend divine service. In addition to this source of revenue, the Kirk Sessions have a small capital either in money or in

land, bequeathed to them by charitable individuals, or gradually formed out of the accumulated savings of past years. But we are safe in saying generally, that the chief part of a sessions income arises from the free-will contributions at church of the inhabitants themselves, aided by certain fees, which are exacted at burials and proclamations for marriages, and sometimes by fines for such irregularities of conduct as are subject to ecclesiastical censure and discipline. From the amount of all these items, there must be deducted the expense of certain salaries to clerks and other office-bearers, in order to obtain the free income of each session for charitable purposes.

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"But there do occur cases of emergency, such as a year of scarcity, or some uncommon depression of manufacturing wages, which, even in our most remote and agricultural districts, has a sensible influence on the price of country labour, and more particularly on the means and comforts of female householders. To provide for such cases, there is sometimes an encroachment made by the Kirk Session on its capital, if it has any; or a special collection is made at the churchdoor; or an extraordinary subscription set on foot within the parish; or, lastly, a parish meeting of heritors, or land-proprietors, who in general agree to raise a specified sum, and part in the understanding that each of them will con

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tribute proportionably to his interest in the parish."-Edinburgh Review, vol. xxviii. page 9.

Upon the continent, until the Revolution, France resembled the state of England previous to the Reformation, and the more civilized part of Europe. The private beneficence of individuals, always increasing by gifts in life-time, or testamentary, was engrafted on various munificent institutions, aided and supported by the Government. And as to the other feature predominant in the history of indigence, namely, prædial servitude, although Louis X. (Hutin) abolished it in the regal domains, yet it existed in the great fiefs and seigneuries, and did not finally cease until the reign of Louis XVI.* and the period of the Revolution. Yet a state of society, which has hitherto prevented indigence from pressing on the public fund, has arisen from the Revolution itself. This has been owing to the sale of the national lands, which were bought by the lower orders of society, in small allotments,

* "Nous avons indique pour le prix de poesie de l'annee prochaine un sujet interessant, c'est La servitude abolie en France sous le règne de Louis XVI.'-Nous avons choise ce sujet apres la lecture d'un tres bel edit qui vient de paraitre, par lequel le roi renonce aux droits de main-morte dans tous ses domaines. L'on doit esperer que cet exemple sera suivi dans le reste du royaume, quoique le roi n'ait voulu contraendre en rien les possesseurs."-Correspondance Literaire de La Harpe, vol. ii. p. 416. Ann. 1779. See also "Necker's Compte rendu" on this subject.

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