the monarchy, and ordinances of convention and acts of aſſembly enacted ſince the eſtabliſhment of the republic. The following variations from the Britiſh model are perhaps worthy of being ſpecified.
Debtors unable to pay their debts, and making faithful delivery of their whole effects, are releaſed from confinement, and their perſons for ever diſcharged from reſtraint for ſuch previous debts: but any property they may afterwards acquire will be ſubject to their creditors.
The poor unable to ſupport themſelves, are
maintained by an aſſeſſment on the tytheable
perſons in their pariſh. This aſſeſſment is levied and
adminiſtered by twelve perſons in each pariſh, called
veſtrymen, originally choſen by the
houſekeepers of the pariſh, but afterwards filling vacancies
in their own body by their own choice. Theſe
are uſually the moſt diſcreet farmers, ſo diſtributed
through their pariſh, that every part of it may be
under the immediate eye of ſome one of them.
They are well acquainted with the details and
economy of private life, and they find ſufficient
inducements to execute their charge well, in their
philanthropy, in the approbation of their neighbors,
and the diſtinction which that gives them.
The poor who have neither property, friends, nor
ſtrength to labor, are boarded in the houſes of
good farmers, to whom a ſtipulated ſum is annually
paid. To thoſe who are able to help
themſelves a little, or have friends from whom they
derive ſome ſuccors, inadequate howewver to their
full maintenance, ſupplementary aids are given
which enable them to live comfortably in their own
houſes, or in the houſes of their friends.
Vagabonds without viſible property or vocation, are
