[14]“With us no one has a right to relief.”[15]Quetelet, Recherches sur la Population, &c., p. 38.[16]Des Modifications, &c. de la Loi sur les Enfans Trouvés, p. 13.
[14]“With us no one has a right to relief.”
[14]“With us no one has a right to relief.”
[15]Quetelet, Recherches sur la Population, &c., p. 38.
[15]Quetelet, Recherches sur la Population, &c., p. 38.
[16]Des Modifications, &c. de la Loi sur les Enfans Trouvés, p. 13.
[16]Des Modifications, &c. de la Loi sur les Enfans Trouvés, p. 13.
Population, 11,328.
Indigent travellers, foreigners, or denizens, who pass through Antwerp, are received there at an establishment called St. Julien’s Hospital, where they are lodged and boarded for three nights at the expense of the establishment, which provides their wants for the moment.
The foundation of this hospital, which yearly receives about 1000 individuals, dates from the beginning of the 14th century. It subsists by itself, under the direction of a private charitable administration, by means of some fixed revenues, and also by the liberal donations of philanthropic persons.
The same poor travellers, when Belgians, receive at Antwerp an indemnity of 15 centimes, or 1½d.sterling, per league per head for travelling expenses to the first town in the neighbourhood, where this relief is continued to them. These travelling expenses are at the charge of the town, and paid out of the municipal funds, in virtue of a Royal Act of the 10th May, 1815.
Necessitous individuals of the labouring and indigent class, who do not attempt to go a begging, and who, for want of work, are without means of providing for the necessaries of life, and also the members of their families, are provided for at their own dwellings, by the care of the bureau de bienfaisance, by the means or revenues of this establishment, and the subsidies which the town grants it yearly out of the municipal funds, in order to supply what may be necessary to continue its service. The amount of this grant varies annually, according to the real wants of the establishment, by reason of the circumstances that either augment or reduce its expenses.
The succours distributed by this establishment consist in money, bread, potatoes, fuel, and clothing, &c.
Besides, there exists at Antwerp, under the direction of the same bureau de bienfaisance, a workhouse, where carpets of cow-hair and other articles are made. This workhouse is established especially to procure work to the indigent and working class who are without employ. The population of this establishment variesaccording to the different seasons and other circumstances. It is most frequented during the winter, when the navigation is interrupted, and the stagnation of several branches of industry causes the number of indigent to augment. Those who come to work in this establishment remain there the whole day, and receive their meals, besides a salary in cash, proportioned to the work they are employed at.
If, through the effects of a hard winter, the wants of the labouring and indigent class are excessive, there are formed at Antwerp private societies for relief, which, by means of donations, collections, and voluntary subscriptions, efficaciously assist the unfortunate by distributions of money, food, fuel, &c.
The depôt of mendicity in the province of Antwerp is situated at Hoogstraeten, in an ancient manor bought for that purpose by the former department administration. It is a spacious establishment of agriculture, possessing a great number of acres of arable, pasture, and wood land, and a still greater number of heath (bruyère).
Those individuals who are destitute, and who desire to be admitted into this establishment, are received as free men; the vagrants are brought there by force. Both are employed there at sundry works of agriculture, of manufacture, or in the household establishment, according to their physical strength. The impotent and aged alone are kept without working in a separate place.
For several years the expense for the maintenance of individuals of the depôt at Hoogstraeten has not amounted to more than 32 centimes per individual, (or 3d.sterling.)
On the 1st January, 1834, the number of persons entertained at the provincial depôt, on account of the city of Antwerp, was 153. The population of this establishment generally amounts to 250 or 300 individuals, all belonging to the province.
The children of the working class or indigent are received, without any distinction, in the public schools established gratis. Those children abandoned to the public charity, or of whom the parents are entirely unable to bring them up, and who request to be relieved of them from inability to maintain them, are sent to an hospital established for that purpose, or else placed in the country under the direction of the civil hospital, or the bureau de bienfaisance.
There are at Antwerp 26 private hospitals, founded and established for many centuries by charitable persons in favour of a stated number of aged persons, of both sexes, and of decent and respectable families; but in preference for the members of the founders’ family, and which persons, without being entirely destitute, have, notwithstanding, no sufficient means to provide for their subsistence. Those persons inhabit a small house in the hospital, where they keep their own household separately, and subsist by what they can earn personally by any hand-work, and by the weekly succour which they receive from the revenue of the foundation. These men and women reside in separate hospitals.
Destitute persons, of both sexes, who are impotent through age, but have not claims to be admitted into the before-mentioned private hospital, are maintained by the administrations of the poor, the sick, incurable, and impotents, in the civil hospital, and the others in the country, where they are boarded with the farmers at the expenses of the public establishment of charity; that is to say, of the administration of the civil hospitals and bureau de bienfaisance. Besides, there is at Antwerp a special establishment as a refuge to the impotent through age, of decent and respectable families, who are without means of procuring a livelihood.
In Belgium every town has its civil hospital for the maintenance of destitute sick. That of Antwerp is open to all the unfortunate, without distinction, whenever their social position does not afford them the means of being attended by a physician at their dwellings, who are deemed proper objects for admission.
Are also admitted, in a private room in this hospital (upon payment of a small daily retribution), all individuals who, although not entirely destitute, prefer to be treated in the hospital rather than at their own houses; such as men and female servants, who are commonly sent there by the persons who have them in their employ.
Indigent persons, born at Antwerp, are treated at the hospital at the expense of the establishment. Those who are not of the town, but are of the country, are treated there at the expense of the commune where they have their domicile de secours.
These expenses are fixed at the rate of 62 cents., or 1 franc 31 centimes (1s.0½d.sterling) per diem, whatever may be the sickness.The expenses, for the treatment of those who have no domicile de secours, are repaid by government out of the treasury funds. The town provides for the insufficiency of the private revenue of this establishment, in the same manner as it does for the bureau de bienfaisance, by means of “subsidies in aid,” paid out of the municipal funds. This amount of “subsidies” varies annually according to the wants of the administration of the hospital.
Persons of the indigent and necessitous class, whose sickness or complaint is not severe enough to require their entering the hospital, receive medical and surgical relief at their own homes. To that effect, there are several physicians and surgeons appointed and attached to the bureau de bienfaisance, who give their assistance to the sick who require it, every one in the district or section for which he is appointed. These physicians and surgeons, who receive a fixed salary from the administration of the poor, also receive at their domicile, at fixed hours of the day, indigent persons who want to consult them on the state of their health; and it is on a ticket delivered by them, that such sick persons are received at the hospital. The bureau de bienfaisance has a special pharmacy, situated in the centre of the town, where medicine is given gratis to the indigent, on a prescription signed by a physician of the poor establishment.
The indigent persons relieved by the bureau de bienfaisance receive only the strict necessaries of life to feed and support their families, and no more, so that they have nothing to satisfy their private wants or fancies, nor can they procure themselves any luxuries or other comforts; and they always lead a life, that, although protected against the most pressing wants, is notwithstanding a very miserable one. It is thus the interest of those individuals that are able to work (and this they perfectly comprehend) to seek to maintain themselves. It is only those persons who are totally depraved, and who give themselves entirely up to drunkenness and every other excess, who feel assured that, after having wasted and spent the little they possess, and abandoned the work that maintained them, there always remains to them the resource of the distributions made by the administration of the poor.
In Antwerp, the situation of a workman, whatever may be the class he belongs to, and who maintains himself solely by his work, is by all means preferable and better than that of a person who onlysubsists by relief or public charity. The existence of those who reside in the depôts of mendicity, excepting only the loss of their liberty, is even in many respects preferable to the situation of the latter, who are maintained by general charity.
Population, 11,328.
The only legal mode of lodging the destitute able-bodied is to send them to the depôt of mendicity, where they are treated as paupers. There existed formerly agricultural colonies on the same principles as those in Holland, to which the parishes could send their able-bodied, destitute, and their families; it was found in vain to attempt making cultivators or proprietors of them.
The destitute able-bodied, but quite indigent, of the two Flanders, and the vagrants who have been tried as such, compose altogether a population of about 300 persons (the destitute able-bodied of Ghent excepted.) For each of these 300 poor, his parish pays a contribution of 32 centimes (3d.) per day (men and women equally.) The depôt for both the Flanders established at Bruges, by the mildness of its administration, has gradually overcome the dread which it inspired at its origin. The directors have banished all rigour, not even enforcing work on the destitute; but as they are paid according to their industry, that inducement to work is found sufficient. This establishment is remarkably prosperous, having already saved fr. 80,000 (3200l.), all expenses paid. It is not found necessary to have any armed force in the neighbourhood to keep this large number of destitute in order, this being attained by gentleness and good usage. On any of the poor leaving the establishment, improved in their moral conduct, they receive a part of their own earnings, which enables them to seek some employment.
Besides this depôt, there is at Ghent a workhouse where employment is given to the destitute, but without their being maintained. The number of labourers in this establishment, which was erected by voluntary subscription, has been as many as 1900 in time of great distress.
Every church has its masters of the table of the poor, or distributors of assistance. Such funds proceed from collections made in the church, voluntary alms, and assignments from the “bureau de bienfaisance.” Weekly distributions of bread or fuel, sometimesmoney or clothing, are made; but this assistance is generally discontinued in the summer months, on account of the abundance of work during that season. In the towns the relief consists principally in money (about 32 centimes per man and per day, or 3d.sterling.) In the country the rule is not to give money, but assistance in kind.
Generally their children may be educated gratuitously; but they take little advantage of it, as they prefer employing them in gathering up firewood, &c.; and, generally, there is felt a want of coercive measures to force the parents to send their children to school, and to allow them to be put out as apprentices.
There are almshouses throughout the kingdom, where the impotent through age are maintained and taken care of. These institutions are so far profitable to the parishes, as that it would cost them more money to assist these persons separately. Some have been endowed by deeds of gift, others are supported by the inhabitants of the towns. The number of them is increasing in the country, and most towns are well provided in that respect.
The assistance afforded to those relieved at home is in clothing, bread, fuel twice a week, and 75 centimes in money (7d.) every Sunday.
There exists between the self-supporting labourers and the persons subsisting exclusively on alms or public charity, a very numerous intermediate class, consisting of those who live partly on relief and partly on labour, so that the two extremities only of the scale can be compared. An able-bodied but not labouring man receives only about the half what the last of those who do labour and are not assisted would earn; the legal relief being 32 centimes (3d.), and the lowest day’s work more than 64 centimes (6d.) As to liberty, nobody is forced to work, not even at the depôt of mendicity; they are only not allowed to go out at will. Food is almost equally distributed, and many destitute poor prefer the depôt to free labour, when they are not sure of being employed every day; but in no other instance.
The grievances which result from this system arise from the neglect, the ignorance or the corruption of the local authorities, and although numerous, they are not very striking.
2dly. Grievances arise from the want of proper conditions with which lands or houses are bequeathed to the bureaux de bienfaisance.Wherever a revenue is bequeathed it is shared equally by the poor, even when they may be beyond need; for instance, a beggar will receive 1 fr. 50 c. (1s.2d.) per day for her maintenance, which would not have cost more than the fifth part of that sum if paid by the depôt of mendicity. To obviate this abuse, and to increase the power of useful charity, the revenue of the bureau de bienfaisance of each parish should be added to the sum principal of the province when the revenue of the bureau exceeds the wants of its locality. 3dly. Grievances arise from the liberty of parents to neglect their children, and allowing them to beg alms for their own benefit. This last appears to be the root of the evil, and the great cause of the augmentation of pauperism in these towns.
But the most interesting portion of the Belgian details is Count Arrivabene’s account of Gaesbeck, a small village about nine miles from Brussels, containing about 857 acres, inhabited by 364 persons, forming 60 families, or separate menages, constituted of 13 comparatively large farmers, occupying each from 30 to 150 acres, 18 small proprietors or small farmers, 21 day-labourers, and 8 artizans. The commune possesses a property producing an annual revenue of 556 francs, or nearly 23l.sterling, managed by its bureau de bienfaisance, of which the curé is the acting member. It expended in the year 1832, on the relief of the poor, (including the salary of the schoolmaster and clothing for the poor children who were to be confirmed,) 625 francs, or about 25l.2s., being rather less than 1s.4½d.per head. How the extra 2l.2s.was obtained is not mentioned; but as the bureau is stated to have always nearly a year’s revenue in hand, it was probably taken from the receipts of a previous year. The heaviest item of expense is the support of one old man, at the annual expense of 72 francs, (ratherless than 3l.) Ten other individuals, or heads of families, appear to have received nearly regular relief, amounting in general to about 6d.a week; and four others to have been assisted at times irregularly; the largest sum being 1l., given to L. Maonens, “pour malheur.” There has been only one illegitimate birth during the last five years. The average age of marriage is 27 for men, and 26 for women; the average number of births to a marriage, 3½. As these averages are taken for a period of 23 years, ending in 1832, during which the population has not increased, they may be relied on. Of the whole 60 families, only 11 are without land; all the others either possess some, or hire some from the proprietor. The quantity generally occupied by a day-labourer is a bonnier, or about 2½ acres, for which he pays a rent of from 60 to 80 francs. With this land the labourers keep in general a cow, a pig, and poultry. To be without land is considered the extreme of poverty. The number of labourers is precisely equal to the demand for their services. Daily wages are 6d., with some advantages equal to about 1d.more; and, as might be expected under a natural system, with no preference of the married to the unmarried. Labourers are generally hired by the year, and remain long in the same service. Crime is exceedingly rare: for the last 12 years no one has been committed to prison. Offences against the game laws are unknown. There are three houses of entertainment in the village, but they are not frequented by the labourers. “Are the labourers discontented; do they look on the farmers withenvy?” asked the Count of his informant. “I do not believe,” was the answer, “that the labourers envy the farmers. I believe that the relation between the farmers and labourers is very friendly: that the labourers are perfectly contented in their situation, and feel regard and attachment for their employers.” (p. 14.)
What a contrast is exhibited by this picture of moral, contented, and (if the term is permissible) prosperous poverty, supported by the frugality and providence of the labourers themselves, and that of the population of a pauperized English village, better fed indeed, better paid, better clothed, and better lodged, and, above all, receiving 10, or perhaps 20 times the amount of parochial alms, but depraved by profligacy, soured by discontent, their numbers swelled by head-money and preference of the married to double the demand for their labour, their frugality and providence punished by the refusal of employment, and their industry ruined by the scale; looking with envy and dislike on their masters, and with hatred on the dispensers of relief!
And it is to be observed that the independence of the Belgian peasantry does not arise from any unwillingness to accept of relief. Out of the 60 families forming the population of the village, 19 appear to have received it in 1832; and a fact is related by Count Arrivabene, which shows that indiscriminate alms are as much coveted there as with us. In 1830 (the year of the revolution) many persons applied for charity at the gate of the castle of Gaesbeck, the residence of Marquis Arconati, and something was given to each. The nextyear the applications were renewed: the sum given to each applicant was fixed at 1d., and a single day in the week was fixed for its distribution. On the first of these days there were 50 applicants; the second, 60. The sum given was reduced to ½d.to a man, and a farthing to a child; but towards the end of the season the weekly assemblage had risen to 300 and 400 persons; they came from 10 and 12 miles distance, and it became necessary to abolish the allowance, trifling as the amount appears.
The last portion of the Belgian institutions requiring notice are the poor colonies. We have already stated, that in 1823 the Belgian Société de Bienfaisance was established on the model and for the purposes of that already existing in Holland. In the beginning of that year the society purchased 522 bonniers (rather less than 1,300 statute acres), at Wortel, for the establishment of two colonies, called free, and divided them into 125 farms, of 3½ bonniers (about 9 statute acres) each; 70 in the colony No. 1, and 55 in the colony No. 2. In 1823 they purchased 516 bonniers (about 1,280 acres), at Mexplus and Ryckevoorsel, for the establishment of a mendicity colony. The first estate cost 623l., the second 554l., or less than 10s.an acre, from which the quality of the land may be inferred.
Families placed in the free colonies were provided each with a house, barn, and stable, a couple of cows, sometimes sheep, furniture, clothes, and other stock, of the estimated value, including the land, of 1,600 florins (133l.6s.8d.sterling), which was charged against them as a debt to the society.They were bound to work at wages fixed by the society, to wear the uniform, and conform to the rules of the colony, and not to quit its precincts without leave. A portion of their wages was retained to repay the original advance made by the society; a further portion to pay for the necessaries furnished to them from time to time, and the food for their cattle; and a portion paid to them in a base money of the colony, to be expended in shops established by the society within its limits.
At first each family of colonists worked on its own farm, and managed its own cattle, but it was found that the land was uncultivated, and the cattle died for want of attention or food; and in 1828 the society took back the cattle, and employed all the colonists indiscriminately in the general cultivation of the land of the colony. “From this time,” says M. Ducpétiaux (p. 624), “the situation of the colonist who is called free, but is in fact bound to the society by restrictions which take from him almost the whole of his liberty for the present, and deprive him of all hope of future enfranchisement, has resembled that of the serfs of the middle ages or of Russia. It is worse than that of the Irish cottiers, who, if they are fed like him on potatoes and coarse bread, have at least freedom of action and the power of changing their residence.”
Those colonists who had obtained a gold or silver medal, as a testimony that they could support themselves out of the produce of their own farms, were excepted from this arrangement, and allowed to retain the management of their farms, paying a rent to the society; but at the date of M. Ducpétiaux’scommunication (10th December, 1832), the greater part even of them had been forced to renounce this advantage, and to fall back into the situation of ordinary colonists. Four families were all that then remained in this state of comparative emancipation.
The inhabitants of the mendicity colony were from the first subjected to the regulations ultimately imposed on the free colonists, with the additional restriction of being required to live in common on rations afforded by the society; the only respect in which, according to M. Ducpétiaux, they now differ from the free colonists.
Count Arrivabene visited these colonies in 1829, and then predicted their failure. The three years which elapsed between his visit and the report of M. Ducpétiaux were sufficient to prove the accuracy of this prophecy.
It appears from the statement of M. Ducpétiaux (p. 621), that on the 1st of July, 1832, the debts due from the society amounted to 776,021 florins (about 64,661l.sterling); the whole value of its property to 536,250 florins (about 44,698l.sterling); leaving a deficit of 239,771 florins, or nearly 20,000l.sterling. And this deficit was likely to increase every year; the expenses, as they had done from the beginning, greatly exceeding the receipts, a fact which is shown by the following table:—
[17]During the four last months.[18]These sums do not include many of the expenses of administration. They consist simply of the sums remitted to the director for current expenses.[19]These sums include not only every species of net profit, but in fact the value of the gross produce.
[17]During the four last months.
[17]During the four last months.
[18]These sums do not include many of the expenses of administration. They consist simply of the sums remitted to the director for current expenses.
[18]These sums do not include many of the expenses of administration. They consist simply of the sums remitted to the director for current expenses.
[19]These sums include not only every species of net profit, but in fact the value of the gross produce.
[19]These sums include not only every species of net profit, but in fact the value of the gross produce.
M. Ducpétiaux’s statement may be compared with that of Captain Brandreth, who visited the colonies at about the same period. (pp. 19, 20.)
Among the colonists there were a few whose previous habits and natural dispositions disposed them to avail themselves, to the best of their ability, of the benevolent provisions thus offered for their relief, and who had worked industriously, and conducted themselves well during their residence in the colony. Their land was cultivated to the extent of their means; and their dwelling-houses had assumed an appearance of greater comfort, order, and civilization than the rest. But these were too few in number, and the result too trifling to offer the stimulus of emulation to others.Those farms that I examined, with the above exceptions, were not encouraging examples: there were few evidences of thrift and providence, the interior of the dwellings being, in point of comfort, little, if at all removed from the humblest cottage of the most straitened condition of labourers in this country.A clause in the regulations allows certain of the colonists, whose good conduct and industry have obtained them the privilege, to barter with the neighbouring towns for any article they may want.The nearest towns to the establishment, of any note, are Hoogstraten and Tournhout; but on inquiry I could not find that any intercourse was maintained with them; and the countryround offered no evidences of the existence of a thriving community in its centre, exercising an influence on its traffic or occupations. In the winter I should think the roads to the colonies scarcely practicable for any description of carriages.From what I saw of the social condition of the colonists, I am disposed to insist much on the inexpediency of assembling, in an isolated position especially, a large community of paupers for this experiment.Admitting the physical difficulties to have been much less than they are, and the prospect of pecuniary advantage much greater and more certain, the moral objections to the system would outweigh them. Without the example of the better conditions of society, there can be no hope of such a community gradually acquiring those qualities that would fit the members of it for a better condition. One or two families established in the neighbourhood of an orderly and industrious community would find the stimulus of shame, as well as emulation, acting on their moral qualities and exertions; but in the present case, where all are in a condition of equal debasement, both of those powerful stimuli are wanting. The reports of the progress of the Dutch free colonies up to the year 1828 are certainly encouraging; and as the same system has been adopted in the free colonies of Belgium as in Holland, and the experiment in both cases tried on similar soils, they might lead to the inference that some peculiar cause has operated in favour of the Dutch colonies, and against those of Belgium. Not having had an opportunity of visiting the Dutch colonies, I cannot offer an opinion on the subject; but reasoning from what I personally witnessed, I should be disposed to think, that either some greater encouragement has been granted in Holland, or some improvement of the system adopted; or that the habits, dispositions, and character of the Dutch fit them better for this experiment.The same authorities that I have quoted in the case of these colonies, speak favourably also of the Belgian colonies up to the same period; and on the part of the latter experiment it may be asserted, that the unsettled state of the country since that period ought very much to qualify any condemnation of its principle. But notwithstanding this disadvantage (which is much less, I fear, than has been insisted on), there would still have remained evidences of the probable success of the experiment. Those evidences were not satisfactory to my mind; and I may further observe,that while the people in general recommended the colonies to foreigners as especially worthy of their notice, I do not remember meeting with one individual who could point out any specific results, and few who would distinctly assert that there was any increasing and permanent benefit to the community from them.It is probable that unless some great change is made in the present system, the colonies will be ultimately abandoned, or merge into the establishments for compulsory labour: in other words, the society will become the farmers, and the present colonists merely agricultural labourers, differing only from the ordinary labourer, inasmuch as they will work under the penalty of being treated as vagabonds in case of contumacy.The observations I have hitherto made apply only to the free colonies. In the mendicity or compulsory colonies, the poor are assembled in large establishments, and cultivate the ground, either by task or day labour, and attend the cattle, &c., under the direction of certain officers; it is, in fact, a species of agricultural workhouse.The following is a Return of the compulsory establishment at Merxplas. (p. 20.)1826.1827.1828.1829.1830.1831.Present on the 1st January604919816722658519Admitted during the year422247172147975Brought back from desertion62512232718Born53331..1,0371,1941,003895783542Enlarged71591351168218Deserted144235376566Died91166104378123Entered the military service as volunteers....23928..Entered the militia494843Brought before justice22138..118378281240268110Total, 31st Dec.919816722655515432
Among the colonists there were a few whose previous habits and natural dispositions disposed them to avail themselves, to the best of their ability, of the benevolent provisions thus offered for their relief, and who had worked industriously, and conducted themselves well during their residence in the colony. Their land was cultivated to the extent of their means; and their dwelling-houses had assumed an appearance of greater comfort, order, and civilization than the rest. But these were too few in number, and the result too trifling to offer the stimulus of emulation to others.
Those farms that I examined, with the above exceptions, were not encouraging examples: there were few evidences of thrift and providence, the interior of the dwellings being, in point of comfort, little, if at all removed from the humblest cottage of the most straitened condition of labourers in this country.
A clause in the regulations allows certain of the colonists, whose good conduct and industry have obtained them the privilege, to barter with the neighbouring towns for any article they may want.
The nearest towns to the establishment, of any note, are Hoogstraten and Tournhout; but on inquiry I could not find that any intercourse was maintained with them; and the countryround offered no evidences of the existence of a thriving community in its centre, exercising an influence on its traffic or occupations. In the winter I should think the roads to the colonies scarcely practicable for any description of carriages.
From what I saw of the social condition of the colonists, I am disposed to insist much on the inexpediency of assembling, in an isolated position especially, a large community of paupers for this experiment.
Admitting the physical difficulties to have been much less than they are, and the prospect of pecuniary advantage much greater and more certain, the moral objections to the system would outweigh them. Without the example of the better conditions of society, there can be no hope of such a community gradually acquiring those qualities that would fit the members of it for a better condition. One or two families established in the neighbourhood of an orderly and industrious community would find the stimulus of shame, as well as emulation, acting on their moral qualities and exertions; but in the present case, where all are in a condition of equal debasement, both of those powerful stimuli are wanting. The reports of the progress of the Dutch free colonies up to the year 1828 are certainly encouraging; and as the same system has been adopted in the free colonies of Belgium as in Holland, and the experiment in both cases tried on similar soils, they might lead to the inference that some peculiar cause has operated in favour of the Dutch colonies, and against those of Belgium. Not having had an opportunity of visiting the Dutch colonies, I cannot offer an opinion on the subject; but reasoning from what I personally witnessed, I should be disposed to think, that either some greater encouragement has been granted in Holland, or some improvement of the system adopted; or that the habits, dispositions, and character of the Dutch fit them better for this experiment.
The same authorities that I have quoted in the case of these colonies, speak favourably also of the Belgian colonies up to the same period; and on the part of the latter experiment it may be asserted, that the unsettled state of the country since that period ought very much to qualify any condemnation of its principle. But notwithstanding this disadvantage (which is much less, I fear, than has been insisted on), there would still have remained evidences of the probable success of the experiment. Those evidences were not satisfactory to my mind; and I may further observe,that while the people in general recommended the colonies to foreigners as especially worthy of their notice, I do not remember meeting with one individual who could point out any specific results, and few who would distinctly assert that there was any increasing and permanent benefit to the community from them.
It is probable that unless some great change is made in the present system, the colonies will be ultimately abandoned, or merge into the establishments for compulsory labour: in other words, the society will become the farmers, and the present colonists merely agricultural labourers, differing only from the ordinary labourer, inasmuch as they will work under the penalty of being treated as vagabonds in case of contumacy.
The observations I have hitherto made apply only to the free colonies. In the mendicity or compulsory colonies, the poor are assembled in large establishments, and cultivate the ground, either by task or day labour, and attend the cattle, &c., under the direction of certain officers; it is, in fact, a species of agricultural workhouse.
The following is a Return of the compulsory establishment at Merxplas. (p. 20.)
The number of deaths is very striking. It amounts to 502 in six years, or 83⅔ per year, the average population during that time having consisted of 708 persons; so that the average annual mortality was nearly 12 per cent. The proportion of desertions appears also to have progressively increased,until in the last year 66 deserted out of 542.
On the whole the Belgian poor colonies appear to be valuable only as a warning.
The information contained in this Appendix respecting the poor-laws of France, and their administration, consists of a paper by M. Frederic de Chateauvieux, on the comparative state of the poor in France and England (p. 21); a report by Mr. Majendie, from Normandy (p. 34); and reports by his Majesty’s Consuls from Havre (p. 179), Brest (p. 724), Nantes (p. 171), Bourdeaux (p. 229), Bayonne (p. 260), and Marseilles (p. 185).
We have already stated (pp. 117-125) the general outline of the French establishments for the relief of the poor, consisting of hospices for the impotent, hospitals for the sick, depôts de mendicité for vagrants and beggars (constituting the in-doors relief), and bureaux de bienfaisance for the secours à domicile, or out-doors relief. But this comprehensive and discriminative system of public relief appears to have been carried into effect in France with a far less approach to completeness than in Belgium. The number of hospices and hospitals is indeed large in the towns, and not inconsiderable in the country: but of the depôts de mendicité, of which the decree of 1808 ordered the establishment, very few were in fact organized, and of those the greater part have since been suppressed; and the bureaux de bienfaisance are almost confined to the towns. As more than three-fourths of thepopulation of France is agricultural, only a small portion of that population therefore is capable of participating in public or organized relief. M. de Chateauvieux estimates that portion, or, in other words, the population of the towns possessing institutions for the relief of the poor, at 3,500,000 persons, and the value of the public relief annually afforded at 1,800,000l.sterling. (p 25.) If this approximation can be relied on, the expenditure per head in that portion of the French population nearly equals the expenditure per head in England.
The following are the most material portions of the consular reports:—
Seine Inferieure.Population of the Department, 693,683. Population of Havre, 23,816.
The provisions for the relief of the poor in Havre may be collected from the following statement of the principal regulations of the hospitals, the bureau de bienfaisance, and the depôt de mendicité for the department, which is situated in Rouen. (pp. 182, 183, 184, 185, 186.)
Hospital Regulations at Havre.Hospital.Aged persons of 60, without distinction of sex, are admitted into the hospital upon a certificate of indigence delivered by the mayor of their district, and a ticket of admission signed by one of the directors of the establishment.The sick are admitted if they can produce a certificate of indigence from the mayor or curate of their parish, and every care is taken of them at the expense of the establishment.Orphans, foundlings, or deserted children are admitted, provided they are under 12 years; they are then engaged as servants or apprentices; but should they get out of employment from no fault of their own, they are at liberty to return until the age of 21 years.Regulations of the Establishment of the Bureau de Bienfaisance, of Havre.Bureau de Bienfaisance.1. None are admitted but those whose poverty is well known, and who have lived 12 months in the town. The number of persons to be relieved is fixed by the bureau, whose names must be entered in a register, stating their age, date of application, place of residence, number and age of their children.2. There is a second register for such poor who, having resided one year in Havre, shall apply after the closing of the register mentioned in the above article. This inscription is made in order of their dates, and the paupers carried upon it will only be entitled to relief in turn, and as vacancies occur in the first list, by departures, deaths, or discharge.3. No poor of either sex can receive relief if more than 15 years old, and under 50. This exclusion is not applicable to widows with young children, or with four children under 15 years. In all cases they must produce a certificate that their children attend the free school, and are diligent.4. The inscription in the register mentioned in No. 2, can only take place after inquiry has been made respecting the claimant, and it has been authorized by the bureau, which meets for this purpose once a month.5. No children can be admitted to the assistance of the bureau, nor into the classes of instruction and work, above the age of 15, or without having been vaccinated.6. If the number of children attending the classes and work shall be too many, either on account of the size of the building or the attention of the instructors, preference will be given to the children whose parents are already on their lists, and who are known to require assistance for the education of their children.7. Every year, at the period of the first communion, a certain number of children shall be clothed. But to be admitted to this assistance they must produce a certificate from the clergyman appointed to give religious instruction, or from the nuns of the convent, that they have been attentive and are deserving. The boys are clothed in brown cloth; the girls in coloured calico.8. Every year the sum of 653 fr. (26l.) shall be given to the clergymen of the town, in tickets of 1 fr. (9d.), 50 c. (4½d.), to be distributed where they think proper, of which only those who are past 60 or under 15 can participate.9. Each person shall receive 3 lbs. of bread, two in the samefamily 6 lbs. of ditto, three to five persons in the same family, whose children are under 15, 12 lbs. of ditto, for 15 days. The number admitted to this relief to be regulated each year, so that the distribution shall not exceed 3,000 lbs. a month. These distributions will take place to the most needy each Monday and Friday, from 9 to 12 o’clock, after which no more will be given.10. In the distribution of clothing, which will be made once a year, each individual will only be clothed once in two years.11. When the establishment is enabled to give woollen clothing, it will only be to such as are above 60 years, or to children under seven years, and those the most destitute; this relief once in two years.12. If any one who receives bread and clothing from the bureau sells or pawns the same, he shall be struck off.13. All clothes given by the establishment shall be marked, so that they may be known.14. Assistance to lying-in women, new-born children, and sick, will be rendered at their houses; those who are not on the lists cannot be assisted until their case is examined; money will not be given to women in labour but when absolutely necessary; soup is distributed on Mondays and Wednesdays, from two to three o’clock.15. There is attached to the establishment a doctor, at 400 fr. (16l.), and two assistants, at 500 fr. (20l.) each per year, who attend such as are named by the bureau; and also women in extraordinary cases of labour.16. A midwife is attached, at 200 fr. (8l.) a year, who attends all women designated by the bureau.17. In hard weather, if it should be thought expedient to make a subscription, the poor who are upon the second list (article 2) will be relieved from it.
Hospital.
Aged persons of 60, without distinction of sex, are admitted into the hospital upon a certificate of indigence delivered by the mayor of their district, and a ticket of admission signed by one of the directors of the establishment.
The sick are admitted if they can produce a certificate of indigence from the mayor or curate of their parish, and every care is taken of them at the expense of the establishment.
Orphans, foundlings, or deserted children are admitted, provided they are under 12 years; they are then engaged as servants or apprentices; but should they get out of employment from no fault of their own, they are at liberty to return until the age of 21 years.
Bureau de Bienfaisance.
1. None are admitted but those whose poverty is well known, and who have lived 12 months in the town. The number of persons to be relieved is fixed by the bureau, whose names must be entered in a register, stating their age, date of application, place of residence, number and age of their children.
2. There is a second register for such poor who, having resided one year in Havre, shall apply after the closing of the register mentioned in the above article. This inscription is made in order of their dates, and the paupers carried upon it will only be entitled to relief in turn, and as vacancies occur in the first list, by departures, deaths, or discharge.
3. No poor of either sex can receive relief if more than 15 years old, and under 50. This exclusion is not applicable to widows with young children, or with four children under 15 years. In all cases they must produce a certificate that their children attend the free school, and are diligent.
4. The inscription in the register mentioned in No. 2, can only take place after inquiry has been made respecting the claimant, and it has been authorized by the bureau, which meets for this purpose once a month.
5. No children can be admitted to the assistance of the bureau, nor into the classes of instruction and work, above the age of 15, or without having been vaccinated.
6. If the number of children attending the classes and work shall be too many, either on account of the size of the building or the attention of the instructors, preference will be given to the children whose parents are already on their lists, and who are known to require assistance for the education of their children.
7. Every year, at the period of the first communion, a certain number of children shall be clothed. But to be admitted to this assistance they must produce a certificate from the clergyman appointed to give religious instruction, or from the nuns of the convent, that they have been attentive and are deserving. The boys are clothed in brown cloth; the girls in coloured calico.
8. Every year the sum of 653 fr. (26l.) shall be given to the clergymen of the town, in tickets of 1 fr. (9d.), 50 c. (4½d.), to be distributed where they think proper, of which only those who are past 60 or under 15 can participate.
9. Each person shall receive 3 lbs. of bread, two in the samefamily 6 lbs. of ditto, three to five persons in the same family, whose children are under 15, 12 lbs. of ditto, for 15 days. The number admitted to this relief to be regulated each year, so that the distribution shall not exceed 3,000 lbs. a month. These distributions will take place to the most needy each Monday and Friday, from 9 to 12 o’clock, after which no more will be given.
10. In the distribution of clothing, which will be made once a year, each individual will only be clothed once in two years.
11. When the establishment is enabled to give woollen clothing, it will only be to such as are above 60 years, or to children under seven years, and those the most destitute; this relief once in two years.
12. If any one who receives bread and clothing from the bureau sells or pawns the same, he shall be struck off.
13. All clothes given by the establishment shall be marked, so that they may be known.
14. Assistance to lying-in women, new-born children, and sick, will be rendered at their houses; those who are not on the lists cannot be assisted until their case is examined; money will not be given to women in labour but when absolutely necessary; soup is distributed on Mondays and Wednesdays, from two to three o’clock.
15. There is attached to the establishment a doctor, at 400 fr. (16l.), and two assistants, at 500 fr. (20l.) each per year, who attend such as are named by the bureau; and also women in extraordinary cases of labour.
16. A midwife is attached, at 200 fr. (8l.) a year, who attends all women designated by the bureau.
17. In hard weather, if it should be thought expedient to make a subscription, the poor who are upon the second list (article 2) will be relieved from it.