504 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF THE LATE REV. DR CHALMERS. 
of Scotland. However ample and effective had been the supply of these elements 
of human improvement in the agricultural parishes and districts, the commercial 
and manufacturing population had quite outgrown them, and the work required to 
be recommenced, and taken in hand in good earnest. He was, therefore, a strenu- 
ous and constant advocate for carrying out the system of TERRITORIAL SUBDIVISION. 
There was a vitally important principle in the accomplishing this great end, and 
one which Dr Cuatmers established with great ability: it was the principle of 
providing for the work being efectually done, in the particular portions or dis- 
tricts chosen—not only the taking in hand the worst localities, but in every one 
of these laying a sufficient foundation or substratum of good, so far as you go. 
I think this principle was first taken up by Dr Cuatmers. It is of immense im- 
portance, and I know was adopted from Dr Cuatmers by the Bisnor of Lonpon, 
in consequence of consultation with him regarding the plans for providing churches, 
schools, and parsonages, for the recently-formed masses of the destitute popula- 
tion of the great metropolis. The experiment was tried in Bethnal Green, where 
ten new parishes were formed, dividing the population into sections manageable 
by a pastor, and curate, and school. For want of attending to this principle, a 
grant of a million of money for church-building in England had been rendered 
comparatively ineffective. Churches and schools were set down here and there ; 
lost in the mass of surrounding poverty and destitution, their influence was little 
felt,—in some cases almost unnoticed.* 
I have now to notice, in connection with the political economy of Dr CHALMERs, 
an important incident of his life. And I must allude to an achievement which 
exercised the greatest influence upon his own views of the parochial system and 
management of the poor, and which excited astonishment, admiration, and scep- 
ticism amongst his contemporaries. I refer to the remarkable effects produced by 
management of the poor in St John’s Parish, Glasgow, under his direction and su- 
perintendence. I will endeavour to make a plain and distinct statement of the 
FACTS, as established by the evidence of the parties concerned in the operation. 
It is well known how exceedingly Dr CHALMERs was opposed to the support of 
the poor by a compulsory assessment ; that is to say, the ordinary wants and the 
ordinary support of the poor. He approved of assessments for disease and casu- 
alties, for supporting infirmaries, dispensaries, and lunatic asylums, also for ex- 
traordinary emergencies of famine, pestilence, or catastrophe; but general poor- 
* This principle of territorial subdivision, for which Dr Cuaumers, as a Christian philanthropist, 
so long contended, is at last acknowledged as the essential preparation for bringing spiritual instruction 
to bear upon the worst portions of our crowded and demoralised population. Lord Asutery, the en- 
lightened friend of the poor, has, with the full approbation of the Premier, moved for a commission 
to inquire into the best method of dividing all parishes in England which contain a population of 
10,000 or upwards. 




