^^ ^ .. 0:i the Poor Laws of Scotland. • Feb, 



villages. Iliey consume the provision tlint ought to be ap- 

 plied to the parochial poor , ^vho, if it were not for them, 

 ■could be far more liberally supplied, and the burden of sup- 

 porting them would never be felt. Tiiey spread .ind encou- 

 rage vice and idleness, and, by the frequency of their repeti- 

 tions, they chill the rery feding of charity itself. E j.t what 

 •chiefly is connected with your department, tltcsc gentry ought 

 to be considered as so many idlers ^ who prey upon the labours 

 f)f the industrious, and by wliich they become doubly perni- 

 ^'Iou3, botli from their being uon-productives, and also from 

 their withdi"swing their services from the labour of the iield, 

 a?L a time wiien labourers are in to much request. 



There is no part of police, or of political regulation, that 

 calls more loudly for immediate redress than this. It is an 

 evil that is eyery day encrea:5ing, and will continue to increase, 

 ir£ proportion as the wealth, the population, and the manufac- 

 tures of the country increase in the cities and great towns. 

 The greatest service that can be done to the state, and to the 

 vagrant poor them^elves^ is to confine them strictly within the 

 bounds of the parishes to which tKey severally belong. And 

 it is a most hi^ppy circumstance, that this can be done in the 

 most speedy, effectual, and easy manner possible. The re- 

 medy needs only to be mentioned, in order to be administered. 



We haye seen, from tlie foregoing statement of the statute- 

 Jsw of Ibco^lan.d, that all Magistrates and Justices of the Peace 

 are empowered and enjoined "to see that the poor shall be 

 rigidly confined to the parislies to which they belong ; and 

 when they "find them transgressing, they are charged to com- 

 mit then; to hard iabour, in the house of correction ; and all 

 who are found giving them alms, are to be fined in the sum 

 cf 2os. for the use of the poor of thei;: own parish. 



Let Justices then, at their Quarter Sessions, appoint, in 

 tfie first place, a considerable number of constables in every 

 |)^rish. Let it not only be an important part of their instruc- 

 tions, to af)prehend vagrants, but let them regularly call the 

 coTistables before them, at their quarter or annual meetings, 

 and enquire strictly into the faithful discharge- of this part of 

 tfieir duty, and fine or punish them severely, when they find 

 tj-iern negligent. Let the constables also be obliged to give an 

 uccomit (upon oath, if they be desired), if they know of any 

 «5ne- -u'ho has given alms to any vagrant poor, and let the fines 

 (u|)on all transgressors) be exacted in its fullest extent. If 

 gentlemen would only take the trouble to do this (and they 

 ought positively and serlouily to do it), vagrant beggars 

 ■would instantly disappear in this country, as if they never 

 had had existence. 



Your 



