To one half of the empire only do the poor laws extend. Great as is the scale of misery that unfortunately prevails in Ireland, constant and unceasing as are the claims for relief, the appeal is never without effect. To the honor of that country its charity is unbounded. The stream of benevolence flows unceasingly, the indigent themselves view it as an indispensable duty not to refuse their mite. This affords a proof that when there is no other provision than that of charity all are disposed to exercise it.
In Scotland the number of parochial poor is about one in sixty. The whole poor of that country are calculated from thirty to thirty-six thousand. The expenditure for their support supposed to be about 3l. each, and the total expence not exceeding one hundred and eighty thousand pounds. Nothing can afford a stronger proof of the influence of moral and philosophical principles on the conduct and character of a nation, than this view of the laboring classes presents. Voluntary charity is in most instances adequate to all the claims of the unfortunate. The scale of crime is as narrowed as that of necessity. Education and attention to the duties of religion produces the happiest effects on the condition of the lower orders in that country, and encourages us in looking to the same effects from recurrence to the same means. Had our system of poor laws extended to that country, its inhabitants would have been equal sharers in the misery which has resulted from them in this country. A corroborating proof of this arises in a parish in Dumfriesshire, where they have funds for the maintenance of the poor, amounting to between two and three thousand pounds per annum. The number of inhabitants in this parish is supposed to be nearly eight hundred, the greatest part of whom are in a state of pauperism, depending on charity for their support. An adjoining parish has a population of 2,500 souls, and there are in it but
