( 561* ) 



THE POOR LAW AMENDMENT BILL. 



WE hold it to be an undoubted doctrine that there is a cause for 

 every effect a beginning to every end, and an end to every beginning 

 that no great evil can be found to exist without some original cause, 

 of folly, or wrong to attribute it to. Under this conviction we come 

 to the consideration of Lord Althorp's Poor Law Amendment Bill, 

 which is just now making such a bustle in the world. This has been 

 his lordship's favourite hobby from the time he took office ; and as 

 there is a beginning to every end, so there is a starting post to every 

 hobby-race and, e converse, as there is an end to every beginning, so 

 must there be a stop to every hobby-race. Let us inquire how Lord 

 Althorp's hobby-race began, and how it will end. It began in the 

 grandest possible style, by the appointment of nine commissioners to 

 inquire into the condition of the poor, and the regulations affecting 

 them in different parishes ; and it will end by the passing of an act 

 more novel in its principles, more unconstitutional in its powers, and 

 withal more indefinite in its provisions than any which has yet dis- 

 graced the statute-book, to the perpetuation of litigation and the con- 

 fusion of all subsequent legislation. 



Let us look into the history of this affair. These commissioners, 

 nine in number, together with a considerable body of assistant com- 

 missioners, have been hard at work ever since, and to judge only by 

 the quantity of their researches, their services have been invaluable. 

 Sundry huge reports, and abstracts of evidence, have from time to 

 time made their appearance, enough to fill a waggon, and occupy a 

 good twelvemonth in the most cursory perusal. Let it not be sup- 

 posed that we would wish to underrate the importance or difficulty 

 of the subject of their researches, nor to hold in light esteem the 

 useful body of information which they have been the means of bring- 

 ing together. Far from it, for we really believe that the body of 

 facts comprised in their various reports will be found to embrace 

 every possible detail connected with the subject. We do not find 

 fault with the matter but the manner of their proceedings ; and here, 

 by their own showing, they certainly fall far short of the mark and 

 the object with which they were appointed. That object was to 

 " make a diligent and full inquiry into the practical operation of the 

 laws for the relief of the poor in England and Wales," for the instruc- 

 tion and guide of those to whose duty it would, in due course, fall to 

 legislate upon the subject. It had been confessedly admitted by the 

 members of the parliament that they stood grievously in want of ma- 

 terials whereon to legislate and the commissioners were appointed to 

 collect those materials, and to present them in such a way as to be most 

 readily made available. Here was a double process appointed first 

 the facts were to be collected, and then they were to be made use of 

 and digested by those who were to be guided by them. If the facts 

 took time and trouble to collect, they might reasonably be expected 

 to demand some time to be thoroughly understood ; and on a moderate 



M.M. No. 102. *4 C 



