266 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1817. 



of the assessment have gradually 

 and progressively increased from 

 their commencement ; and that it 

 does appear to be a matter of 

 very serious interest to the com- 

 munity at large, to prevent as far 

 as possible this practice from be- 

 ing generally adopted — to limit 

 the assessments as much as they 

 can be limited, where the circum- 

 stances of particular paiishes len- 

 der them unavoidable, and when- 

 ever it is practicable to abandon 

 tliem." 



Under this impression, respect- 

 ing the effect of a system, v/hich 

 having been in operation upwards 

 of two centuries, has beco ne in- 

 terwoven with the habits and very 

 existence of a large class of the 

 community, your Committee have 

 anxiously endeavoured to devise 

 such means as may be calculated, 

 by their gradual operation, to 

 revive, with habits of industry 

 and frugality, those moral feel- 

 ings in the people which are inti- 

 mately connected wit'i their self- 

 sujiport and independence ; and 

 fuithtr, to correct any such de- 

 fects in the mode in Avhich the 

 law has been executed, as may 

 have teaded to create or aggravate 

 the evils to which they have refer- 

 red. With these views, tliey have 

 felt it tlieir duty to consider ma- 

 turely every plan which has either 

 suiiiicsted itself to your Commit- 

 tee, or which has at various times 

 been proposed by the most euii- 

 nent persons, who have devoted 

 their attenti(m and efforts to t!ie 

 amelioration of tl.is ])art of our 

 law ; and such suggestions as may 

 seem worthy, either of the adop- 

 tion or consideration of the 

 House, your Committee will no- 

 tice as thov arise, on the consi- 



deration of the subject in detail, 

 as it relates to the assessment and 

 the purposes for which it is le- 

 vied. 



Before your Committee proceed 

 to these considerations, they must 

 lament that it has yet been fomid 

 impossible to reduce the returns 

 made under the 5,5th of the King 

 to the shape in which they should 

 be presented to Parliament ; even 

 the abstract of the expenditure 

 could only very recently be com- 

 pleted, from the tardiness with 

 which the statute has been exe- 

 cuted in no less than 854 pa- 

 rishes. From the want of the de- 

 tails of these returns, they have 

 been deprived of a large mass of 

 the most valuable, and for some 

 purposes indispensable informa- 

 tion ; they have been compelled 

 to make new and otherwise unne- 

 cessary inquiries, and they are still 

 without the lueans of presenting 

 to the House any view of the com- 

 parative increase or diminution of 

 this cxpenditiue in different parts 

 of tlie kingdom. 



What nught have been the 

 amount of the assessments for the' 

 poor during the 17th or ISth cen- 

 turies, the Committee have no 

 means of ascertaining ; for al- 

 though the preamble of 13th and 

 ]4tirCh. H. states " the neces- 

 tity, number, and continual in- 

 crease of tlie poor, to be very 

 great and exceeding burtl'.en- 

 some;" and in the year 1699, 

 King Vv'illiam thus expressed him- 

 self in a speech from the throne, 

 " the increase of the poor is be- 

 come a burthen to the kingdom ; 

 and their loose and idle life does 

 in some measure contribute to 

 that depravation of manners wliich 

 is comjjiained of, I fear with too 



nu'.ch 



