OBSERVATIONS.
General Observations.—Although the persons who have only worked in or for the charitable work-places, and are not lodged or fed in them, are probably already included amongst the number of those who have been relieved by the direction of the Poor-house; it was, however, thought proper not to exclude them from this Table, because the expenses of procuring work belong likewise to these persons.
[10] This being the first year in which the establishment at Veere was opened.
[11] This decrease is occasioned by the removal of able paupers to the Ommerschans.
[12] This establishment was done away with on the 20th June, and the able paupers were removed to the Ommerschans, and the invalid paupers to Hoorn.
[13] This establishment was done away with on the 15th October, all the paupers in it were removed to the Ommerschans.
It appears from this table that the number of persons relieved has steadily increased from 202,015, the number in 1822, to 279,730, the number in 1831; and that the proportion of paupers to independent members of society has also increased from 9²³⁰⁄₁₀₀₀ per cent., the proportion in 1822, or rather more than one-eleventh, to 11⁸⁹⁸⁄₁₀₀₀ per cent., or rather more than one-ninth, the proportion in 1831: a proportion exceeding even that of England.
And it is to be observed that the greater part of this great positive and relative increase of pauperism has taken place during a period of profound peace, internal and external; only one of these years being subsequent to the Belgian revolution. It is probable that if the years 1832 and 1833 had been given, the comparison with the earlier period would have been still more unfavourable.
We have omitted in the statement of the expenditure for the relief of the poor a sum of 200,000 guilders, or about 16,666l. sterling, annually employed on the gratuitous instruction of poor children: the number thus instructed in 1831 was 73,609. It does not appear, however, that any persons are compelled to attend to the education of their children, except by its being made (as is the general rule on the Continent of Europe) one of the conditions on which relief is granted: and the Consul states that the labourers in general think it beneath them to let their children go to school for nothing; and that some, when unable to pay, prefer keeping them at home.
It is remarkable that neither the official nor the consular report dwells on that portion of the Dutch poor institutions which has excited the greatest attention in Europe, namely, the Poor Colonies.
Poor Colonies.
The following statements are extracted from the narrative of Count Arrivabene, who visited them in 1829: (pp. 610, 611, 612, 613, 614.)
The dearths of 1816 and 1817, and the consequent distress, occasioned the establishment, in the northern provinces of the Low Countries, of a Philanthropic Society (Société de bienfaisance), to whose funds each subscriber was to pay one halfpenny a week. The subscribers soon amounted to 20,000. One of its projects was the foundation of poor colonies among the heaths, with which this country abounds. The Colonies were to be divided into Colonies for the Repression of Mendicity, Colonies for Indigent Persons and Veterans, Free Colonies, Colonies for Inspectors of Agricultural Works, Colonies for Orphans and Foundlings, and Colonies for Agricultural Instruction.
In the first year of its formation the Society established the Free Colony, called Frederiks-Oord, on the heaths between the provinces of Drenthe, Friesland, and Over-Yssel. It consisted of 52 small farms, part of which had been previously cultivated by the Society, of a store-house, of several workshops, a school, &c. It was peopled with families, indigent, but not dependent altogether on alms. The expense of its foundation amounted to 68,000 flor. (5666l. 13s. 4d.), and was defrayed out of the annual subscriptions and donations of the members of the Société de bienfaisance; and in order to give employment to the colonists during the dead season of the year, the Society engaged to purchase from them 26,000 ells of linen.
In 1819, the Society proposed to the directors of the Orphan Institutions throughout the kingdom, to take charge, at a fixed annual payment, of any number of orphans of the age of six years, leaving to those institutions the right of superintending their treatment. To meet this expense, the society borrowed 280,000 flor. (23,333l. 6s. 10d.). The orphans were for a time placed in separate dwellings, six orphans with two elderly persons, to act as their parents, in each. But afterwards almost all were collected into large buildings. In the same year the members of the society had increased to 22,500, and their subscriptions to 82,500 flor. or 6875l., and the society was enabled to establish two other free colonies, and to place in them 150 families.
In 1820, the society borrowed 100,000 flor. more, or 8333l. 6s. 8d., which, with donations to the amount of 78,000 flor. or 6500l., enabled it during that year to settle 150 more families.
In 1821, the society by means of loans and subscriptions had collected a sum of 421,000 flor. or 35,083l. 6s. 8d., of which 300,000 flor., or 25,000l. was borrowed, and 121,000 flor., or 10,983l. 6s. 8d. subscribed, and was possessed of seven free colonies, consisting of 500 small farms, with the public buildings to which we have alluded.
In 1822 the society founded the first colony for the repression of mendicity; and engaged with the Government to receive and settle on its colonies 4000 orphans, 2500 indigent persons, and 1500 mendicants, the Government engaging to pay for each orphan 45 florins, or 3l. 15s. a year, for 16 years, but nothing for the others. As yet the society has fulfilled only a part of its engagements. It has, however, established every kind of colony which we have enumerated.
Frederiks-Oord.
In August, 1829, we visited all the colonies of the society. Those of Frederiks-Oord are spread over a space of two leagues. The small farms, containing each about 9 English acres, extend along the sides of roads, bordered with trees, and of canals, which intersect the colonies in different directions. Each house is composed of one great room, round the walls of which are placed the large drawer-like beds, in which, according to the custom of the Dutch peasantry, the family sleep. A cow-house, a barn, and every building necessary for an agricultural family, is annexed to the farm. Near the house is the garden; beyond it the land to be cultivated.
Upon his admission into the colony, each colonist makes a declaration, by which he binds himself to obey its rules, as respects subordination to its officers, moral and religious conduct on the part of himself and his family, modes of working, wearing the colonial uniform, &c.
When a family of 8 persons (the number usually adopted by the society) has been settled in a farm, the society opens an account with them, in which they are debited in the sum of 1700 florins, or 141l. 13s. 4d., which is considered as having been advanced for their use under the following heads:—
| flor. | £ | s. | d. | ||
| Purchase-money of 9 acres of land | 100 | or | 8 | 6 | 8 |
| Labour previously expended on it | 400 | ” | 83 | 6 | 8 |
| Two cows and some sheep | 150 | ” | 12 | 10 | 0 |
| The house | 500 | ” | 41 | 13 | 4 |
| Incidental expenses | 50 | ” | 4 | 3 | 4 |
| Furniture and clothing | 250 | ” | 20 | 6 | 8 |
| Reserved fund for extraordinary occasions | 250 | ” | 20 | 16 | 8 |
| 1700 | 141 | 13 | 4 |
The sum advanced for furniture and clothing is stopped out of the wages of the colonist; and as soon as the farm has been completely brought under cultivation, the head of the family is annually debited 60 florins, or 5l., as the interest of the remainder of the capital, and the rent of the farm.
During three years at the least, the colonists cultivate the land in common, and receive wages, but are allowed to make use of no part of the produce of the farm; though that of the garden and the cows is their own. The farm produce (and it appeared to us to be very trifling), consisting principally of rye, potatoes, and buck-wheat, is taken to the storehouses of the society to be preserved for subsequent distribution, either as prepared food or otherwise, among the colonists, in payment or on account of their wages.
As long as a family cannot provide its own subsistence, it receives food daily from the society; but when it can provide for itself (as it can when it earns 4 flor., or 6s. 8d. a week), it is allowed to prepare its food at home.
The society distributes medals of copper, of silver, and of gold. The first are the rewards of those who distinguish themselves by regular labour and good conduct, and confer the right to leave the colony on Sundays and holydays without asking permission. The second are bestowed on those whose industry supplies their whole subsistence; they confer the right to leave the colony without permission, not only on Sundays and holydays, but on every day of the week, at the hours not devoted to labour. The golden medals are distributed to those who have already obtained silver ones, when their farms produce the annual value of 250 flor. (20l. 16s. 8d.), and upon obtaining them the colonist is no longer subjected to the strict colonial regimen, though some restrictions still distinguish him from an ordinary farmer. The medals which have been obtained by good conduct may be lost or suspended, with their privileges, by misbehaviour. They are solemnly distributed, and withdrawn every fifteen days.
After a residence of three years in the colony, the colonists are distributed into three classes:—1st, That of industrious men who have received the silver medal: they may continue to cultivate their farms in common, as before, or, after having discharged their original debt to the society, may manage them on their own account, at a rent payable to the society. 2nd. That of colonists who have received the copper medal: they may manage their own farms, and dispose of a part of the produce; the other part must be sent to the magazines of the society, to be applied in payment of the rent of the farm, in discharge of the original advances, and in creating a common fund. A portion of it, however, is returned to them in bread. But if in any year a colonist does not raise a given quantity of potatoes, or if he requires from the society extraordinary assistance, he is forced to restore his medal, and to return to the third class. 3. This last class, which is composed of those who have obtained no medal, must, in addition to what is required from the others, render to the magazines of the society a greater amount of produce, and have therefore less for their own use.
A certain extent of ground is cultivated in common by the colonists, each head of a family being required to work on it three days in the year, at wages paid in a colonial paper money. The produce of this common land is employed in supplying the deficiencies of the harvests of the separate farms, and meeting the expenses of the school, the hospital, and the general Administration. The colonists are also allowed in summer to pasture their cattle in the common pastures of the colony. There are several shops for the sale, at prices fixed by the Administration, of whatever the colonists are likely to want, except spirituous liquors, the use of which is prohibited.
Whatever may have been the length of time during which the colonist has resided in the colony he can never become the proprietor of his farm. He may, however, acquire the ownership of his furniture, and sell it or remove it when he quits the colony.
No colonist is allowed to marry unless he be a widower, or the son of a widower, and in possession of a farm. When his children have attained 16 or 18 years of age, they choose a trade (etat) with the consent of their parents and the colonial authorities, and may follow it either in the colony or elsewhere.
To every 25 farms there is a superintendent, who visits them daily, and directs and distributes among the colonists the labours of the day; and to every 100 farms a sub-director, who gives instructions to the superintendent, keeps the registers, and manages the manufactures.
In selecting the occupiers of each subdivision of 25 farms, care is taken that persons of different trades shall be included. The superintendence to which a family is subjected diminishes day by day with its good conduct, and ceases almost entirely as soon as the colonist has repaid the value of the advances which have been made to him. Those who are idle or disorderly are taken before a council of superintendence, of which some colonists are members, and may be sent on to a council of discipline, which has the power to transfer them to Ommerschans, a colony for the repression of mendicity; of which we shall speak hereafter. They are detained there for a fixed period, in a place set apart for them, and kept to more than usually hard labour. The industrious and well-disposed colonists are appointed superintendents of the works in the colonies for the repression of mendicity, and in those for the reception of orphans and indigent persons.
Most of the inhabitants of Frederiks-Oord are Protestants; there are, however, several Catholic and two Jewish families.
Wateren.
In the morning of the 3d day we went to Wateren, which is two leagues from Frederiks-Oord. Wateren is the colony of Agricultural Instruction, to which are sent the orphans who most distinguish themselves in their colonies. They amount to 60, and acquire agricultural knowledge from a master, and from the practice of working at a farm of 42 bonniers (nearly 103 acres) in arable, nursery grounds, and pasture. They are instructed by the same master in the Bible, the history of Holland, land surveying, natural-history, botany, mathematics, chemistry, and gymnastics. They are better dressed than the others, and wear a hat with a riband, on which is written the name of the privileged colony to which they belong. Their destination is to become superintendents in the free colonies. The society derives from this colony an annual profit of about 900 flor. or 75l.
Veenhuisen.
On the same day, after a journey of three leagues, we arrived at Veenhuisen, which contains one colony for the repression of mendicity, two for orphans, one for indigent persons and veterans, and one for inspectors of agricultural works. They are intersected by high ways, bordered by trees and by canals communicating with Amsterdam. Two great square buildings, at the distance of a half mile from each other, contain, in the part which looks into the interior quadrangle, the one mendicants, the other orphans, and each contains, in the rooms on the exterior, indigent persons and veterans. Another similar edifice, at two miles distance, contains all these three classes of individuals. In the midst of the three edifices are situated two churches, one Catholic, the other Protestant; twenty-four houses forming a colony of inspectors of agricultural works, and an equal number of houses inhabited by the officers of the colonies.
The children and grown-up persons have been placed thus near one another for convenience, with respect both to their agricultural and manufacturing employments.
The interior of each of the three great edifices is divided into two sides, one for the males, the other for the females, separated by the kitchen. On the ground-floor are large rooms, containing each forty or fifty individuals. The upper floors are mere lofts, and used as store-rooms.
The persons placed in the colonies for the repression of mendicity receive a new and uniform dress, and for some time are maintained without reference to the value of their work. Their out-doors employment consists of agricultural labor, brick-making, or turf-cutting: in-doors they work as artizans, generally by piece work. The society fixes the amount of their wages.
The lands of these colonies are divided into farms of thirty-two bonniers, or about eighty acres each, half arable, half pasture. To each of these farms are attached forty or fifty colonists, who work under the orders of a superintendent, who himself follows the instructions of a sub-director. The annual expenditure on each of these farms is fixed at 1680 flor., or 140l.
The accounts between the society and the colonists are kept in the military form. Each colonist carries a book, in which is entered the work which he has performed each day, the supplies and paper money which he has received, and his share of the general expenditure. If his earnings exceed what has been laid out on him, which is said to be commonly the case, a third of the excess is given to him in paper money, another third is placed in a savings’ bank, to be given him on his leaving the colony, and the remaining third is retained by the society to meet contingent expenses.
Horse-patrols round the colonies, rewards to such as bring back colonists who have attempted to escape, and a uniform dress are the means employed to prevent desertion. The colonists are detained for 6 years, unless they have previously saved 12½ flor. (1l. 10d.), which entitles them to immediate discharge.
Orphans are admitted in the orphan colonies at the age of six. They work, either in-doors or in the fields, for a part of the day, another part is employed in elementary instruction, drawing, and singing. They leave the colonies at the age of 18, generally for the sea or land service.
The colonies for indigent persons and veterans serve as preparatory residences for those who are to be placed in the free colonies. These colonists dwell with their families in the outer apartments of the great buildings, the interior quadrangles of which are inhabited by the mendicants and orphans. Like the mendicants, they are considered day labourers, and paid according to their work.
In every colony the supplies and wages vary according to the difference of age, strength, or sex. The men are divided into 5 classes, the women into 7. The first class of men is supposed to earn 1 flor. 70 cents, or 2s. 10d. per week; the second, 1 flor. 35 cents, or 2s. 3d.; the third, 1 flor. 6 cents, or 1s. 11d.; the fourth, composed of children from 8 to 16 years, 1 flor. 1 cent, or 1s. 8½d.; the fifth, composed of children under that age, 67½ cents, or 1s. 1½d. The first class of females is supposed to earn per week 1 flor. 51 cents, or 2s. 6¼d.; the second, 1 flor. 26 cents, or 2s. 1d.; the third, 98 cents, or 1s. 7½d.; the fourth and fifth, composed of children, 95 cents, or 1s. 7d., and 75 cents, or 1s. 3d. respectively; the sixth and seventh, composed also of children, but still younger, 63 cents, or 1s. 0½d., and 55 cents, or 11d., respectively.
Ommerschans.
On the morning of the fourth day we went to Ommerschans, which is seven leagues from Veenhuisen.
At Ommerschans there is a colony for the repression of mendicity, and one for indigent persons and veterans. The first is composed of men and children; and has a separate division for the free colonists who have been sent thither as a punishment. The building can contain 1000 persons, and resembles in several respects those in Veenhuisen, except that its moat, and the iron-bars to its windows give it more the appearance of a prison; and that it has a story above the ground floor. Nor does it differ as to its interior arrangement, or the employment or treatment of its inmates. In the middle of the quadrangle there are shops for locksmiths, joiners, and other trades; and for the manufacture of thread and linen. On the outside stands the church, which serves for both Catholic and Protestant worship, and as a school; the house of the sub-director, the hospital, and other public edifices; and 20 houses scattered about the lands, form a colony of inspectors of agricultural works. Nearly 150 persons are annually discharged from this colony for the repression of mendicity.
On recurring to the official statement of the total number of persons relieved during the ten years ending 1831, it will be seen that in 1831 the population of the poor colonies consisted of 7853, being an increase of 402 from the time of Count Arrivabene’s visit, arising solely from an increased number placed in the repressive or most severe of the penal colonies; and that this population was thus distributed: 2297 in the colony assigned to orphans and abandoned children; 456 in the preparatory colony; 2694 in the colonies called free; and 2406 in the repressive or mendicity colonies.
The nature of these institutions appears to have been imperfectly understood in England. They are in fact large agricultural workhouses; and superior to the previous workhouses only so far as they may be less expensive, or, without being oppressive, objects of greater aversion.
It is scarcely possible that they can be less expensive.
The employing persons taken indiscriminately from other occupations and trades, almost all of them the victims of idleness and misconduct, and little urged by the stimulus of individual interest in farming the worst land in the country, (land so worthless that the fee-simple of it is worth only 24s. an acre,) at an expense for outfit, exclusively of the value of the land, of more than 130l. per family, and under the management of a joint-stock company of more than 20,000 members, cannot but be a ruinous speculation.
Nor does the institution appear to have repressed pauperism by the disagreeableness of the terms on which it offers relief: we have seen, on the contrary, that it has not prevented its steady increase. It will be shown subsequently that a similar establishment has signally failed in Belgium, and we cannot anticipate a different result in Holland.
BELGIUM AND FRANCE.
M. Lebau, the Belgian Minister of Justice, has furnished a detailed report on the poor laws of Belgium, together with a considerable number of printed documents. Of the latter, we have printed only the regulations of the schools for the poor in Louvain, and of the out-door relief in Tournay; the laws of August, 1833, respecting the Dépôts de Mendicité; and some statistical papers respecting the relief afforded in different manners in 1833, and in some of the preceding years. The others were too voluminous for this publication; and though we have consulted them (particularly the Code Administratif des Etablissemens de Bienfaisance, M. Quetelet’s statistical works on the Netherlands and Belgium, and M. Ducpétiaux’s on Indigence,) with great advantage, we have been forced to omit them. Baron de Hochepied Larpent and Mr. Fauche, His Majesty’s Consuls in Antwerp and Ostend, have given valuable replies to the Commissioners’ questions; and Count Arrivabene a detailed account of the state of Gaesbeck, a village a few miles from Brussels. And we have inserted three reports as to the state of the Belgian poor colonies; one from Count Arrivabene, who visited them in 1829, and one from M. Ducpétiaux, and another from Captain Brandreth, both dated in 1832.
The union and subsequent separation of Belgium and France, and afterwards of Belgium and Holland, occasion the Belgian laws on this as on every other subject to be divisible into three heads:
First, those which she received when incorporated with France; secondly, those which were made during the union with Holland; and thirdly, those which have been passed since the revolution of 1830.
By far the largest portion of the Belgian poor laws is derived from the first of these sources.
French Poor Laws.
The government of the Directory, by three laws passed in the autumn of 1796, established the system under which the principal portion of the relief afforded by the public is now regulated in most of the countries which constituted the French empire.
Hospices and Bureaux de Bienfaisance.
By the first of these, that of the 16 Vendémiaire, An v. (7th October, 1796), the property belonging to the hospices (or almshouses) was restored to them, and their management was entrusted to a commission appointed by the municipal authorities.
By the second, that of the 23 Brumaire, An v. (13th November, 1706), it was enacted, that all the revenues of the different hospices in one commune should be employed as one fund for their common support.
And by the third, that of the 7 Frimaire, An v. (25th November, 1796), that in every commune there should be appointed one or more bureaux de bienfaisance, each bureau consisting of five members, to administer out-door relief; and that the funds at the disposition of the bureau de bienfaisance should consist of one-tenth of the receipts from all public exhibitions within its district, and of whatever voluntary contributions it could obtain. By the same law all able-bodied beggars were required, under pain of three months’ imprisonment, to return to their place of birth, or of domicile, if they had subsequently acquired a domicile.
By the law of the 3 Frimaire, An vii. (23d November, 1798), the additional sums necessary to provide for the hospices, and the secours à domicile (or out-door relief), of each commune, are directed to be raised by the local authorities in the same manner as the sums necessary for the other local expenses.
By that of the 4 Ventose, An ix. (23d February, 1801), all rents belonging to the State, of which the payment had been interrupted, and all national property usurped by individuals, were declared the property of the nearest hospitals. By that of the 5 Prairial, An xi., the commissaires des hospices and bureaux de bienfaisance were authorized to make public collections in churches, and to establish poor-boxes in public places; and by a train of subsequent legislation they were enabled to acquire property by testamentary dispositions.
It is to be observed that under these laws the members of the commissions des hospices, and of the bureaux de bienfaisance, are frequently, but not necessarily, the same persons. The maire (or principal civil officer) of each commune is a necessary member of every charitable board. The other members go out by lot, one every year, but are re-eligible.
By the law of the 16 Messidor, An vii., the inmates of the hospices were to be set to work, and two-thirds of the produce of their work was to belong to the hospice, the other third to be given to them either periodically or when they quitted the hospice. We mention this enactment, because it has afforded a precedent for many similar regulations.
And partly for the purpose of increasing the funds for charitable purposes, and partly with a view to reduce the rate of interest in the mode of borrowing usually adopted by the poor, by two arrêtés of the 16 Pluviose and 24 Messidor, An xii. (6th February and 13th July, 1804), all pawn-broking by individuals was prohibited, and public establishments for that purpose, under the name of Monts-de-Piété, were directed to be established and conducted for the benefit of the poor.
Foundlings and deserted children.
The French legislation respecting foundlings and deserted children is of a very different kind, and appears to us to be the portion of their poor laws deserving least approbation.
A law of the 27 Frimaire, An v. (17 Dec., 1796), enacted, that all recently-born deserted children should be received gratuitously in all the hospices of the Republic, at the expense of the State so far as those hospices had not a sufficient revenue specially destined to that purpose; and an arrêté of the Directory, of the 30 Ventose, An v., (20th March, 1791), founded on the previous law, directed that as soon as possible after children had been received in any hospice they should be sent out to be nursed, and brought up in the country until the age of 12; and then either left to those who had brought them up, if they chose to take charge of them, or apprenticed to farmers, artists, or manufacturers, or, if the children wished it, to the sea service.
The law on this subject received nearly its present form from an Imperial decree of the 19th Jan., 1811.
By that decree, the children for whom the public became responsible were divided into three classes: 1. Enfans trouvés; 2. Enfans abandonnés; 3. Orphelins pauvres. The first class comprises children of unknown parents, found exposed, or placed in foundling hospitals. The second, children whose parents are known, but have abandoned them, and cannot be forced to support them. The third, children without father or mother, or means of subsistence. For the first class a hospice was directed to be appointed in every arrondissement, with a tour (or revolving slide) for their reception, without the detection of the person bringing them. All the three classes of children were to be put out to nurse until six years old, and then placed with landholders (cultivateurs) or artizans until 12, subject to any mode in which the Ministre de la Marine might dispose of them. If not wanted by him, they were at 12 to be apprenticed for periods not exceeding their attaining the age of 25.
The annual sum of four millions (160,000l.) in the whole was to be contributed by the State towards these expenses. The remainder to be supplied by the hospices out of their own revenues or out of those of the communes.
Relatives claiming a foundling were to repay all that it had cost, as far as they had the means.
The last clause of this decree directs that those who make a custom of taking infants to hospitals shall be punished according to law. It is not easy to reconcile this clause with the rest of the decree. If taking an infant to a foundling hospital were an offence, it seems strange that the law should itself prescribe a contrivance (a tour), the object of which is to prevent the detection of the person committing the offence. In fact, however, no such punishment “according to law” seems to exist. If a nurse or other person entrusted with a child take it, in breach of duty, to a foundling hospital, the offence is punishable by the code pénal; but no punishment is denounced against a parent for doing so, however often the act may be repeated. Nor does the “making a custom of taking children to a hospital” appear as an offence in the detailed “Compte général de l’administration de la justice criminelle en France.”
Mendicity and Vagrancy.
The following is an outline of the French regulations, as far as they affected Belgium, for the repression of mendicity and vagrancy. A decree of the Convention, 27 Vendémiaire, An ii. (15th Oct., 1798), fixed the settlement, or domicile de secours, of every person, 1st, in the place of his birth; 2dly, of his residence for six months in any commune in which he should have married, or for one year in any in which he should have been registered as an inhabitant, or for two years in any in which he should have been hired by one or more masters. Every person found begging was to be sent to his place of domicile; if he could not prove any domicile he was to be imprisoned for a year in the maison de repression of the department, and at the end of his imprisonment, if his domicile were not then ascertained, to be transported to the colonies for not less than eight years. A person found again begging after having been removed to his domicile, was also to be imprisoned for a year: on a repetition of the offence the punishment was to be doubled. In the maison de repression he was to be set to work, and receive monthly one-sixth of the produce of his labour, and at the end of his imprisonment another sixth, the remaining two-thirds belonging to the establishment. On the third offence he also was to be transported. A transport was to work in the colonies for the benefit of the nation, at one-sixth of the average wages of the colony: one-half of that sixth to be paid to him weekly, and the other half on the expiration of his sentence. No person was to be transported except between the ages of 18 and 60. Those under 18 were to be detained until they arrived at that age, and then transported; those above 60, to be imprisoned for life.
The local authorities were authorized to employ their able-bodied poor on public works, at three-fourths of the average wages of the canton. Every person convicted of having given to a beggar any species of relief whatever was to forfeit the value of two days’ wages; to be doubled on the repetition of the offence.
The provisions of this law were, as might have been anticipated, far too severe for execution. After having remained, though inoperative, on the statute book for nearly 15 years, it was replaced by the Imperial decree of the 5th July, 1808.
By that decree a depôt de mendicité was directed to be established in each department, at the expense partly of the nation and partly of the department. Within 15 days after its establishment, the Prefect of the department was to give public notice of its being opened, and all persons without means of subsistence were bound to proceed to it, and all persons found begging were to be arrested and taken to it.
By a subsequent arrêté of the 27th October, 1808, it was ordered that all beggars should on their arrest be placed in the first instance in the maison d’arrêt of the district; and transferred from thence, if guilty of vagrancy, to the maison de detention, or prison; if not vagrants, to the depôt de mendicité. In the depôt they were to be clothed in the house dress, confined to regular and very early hours, the sexes separated, subject to severe punishments (rising to six months’ solitary imprisonment (cachot) on bread and water) for disobedience or other misconduct, or attempts to escape; deprived of all intercourse, except by open letters with their relations or friends, and kept to work at wages to be regulated by the Prefect, two-thirds of which were to belong to the establishment, and the remaining third was to be paid to them on their quitting the depôt.
The conditions on which a person might obtain his release from a depôt de mendicité are not stated.
The provisions of the code pénal appear to leave that question to the discretion of the Executive.
Section 274 of that code enacts that every person found begging in a place containing a public establishment for the prevention of mendicity, shall be imprisoned for from three to six months, and then removed to the depôt de mendicité. Under section 275, if there be no such establishment in the place where he is found begging, his imprisonment is to last only from one to three months; if, however, he has begged out of the canton in which he is domiciled, it is to last from six months to two years.
After having suffered his punishment, he is to remain (apparently in the depôt de mendicité) at the disposition of Government.
BELGIUM.
Monts-de-Piété.
Such was the state of the law respecting purely charitable, and what may be called penal, relief at the time of the establishment of the kingdom of the Netherlands. We have stated these provisions at some length, because they form, with little material alteration, the existing law on the subject in France. No change of any importance appears to have been made by the late Government of the Netherlands, or by the present Belgian Government, with respect to the hospices or the bureaux de bienfaisance; but with respect to foundlings, an arrêté of the 2nd June, 1825, declared that the expense of their maintenance ought to be supplied by the hospices, and so far as these were unable to meet it, from the local revenues of the commune or the province in which they had been abandoned—a provision which has been the subject of much complaint, as imposing a heavy and peculiar burthen on the few towns which possess foundling hospitals. And with respect to monts-de-piété, an arrêté of the 31st October, 1826, directed the local authorities of towns and communes to prepare regulations for the management of their respective monts-de-piété, their support, and the employment of the profits, subject to certain general rules; among which are,—
1. That the administration shall be gratuitous.
2. That the interest shall not exceed 5l. per cent. per annum, and that no farther charge shall be made on any pretext whatever.
3. That they shall be open every day.
4. That the pledges may be redeemed at any time before their actual sale.
5. That they shall not be sold until the expiration of 14 months from the time of the loan.
Mendicity.
The following are the most material alterations made in the laws respecting mendicity. By a law of the 28th November, 1818, the period of residence necessary for acquiring a settlement, or domicile de secours, was extended to four years: and by a law of the 12th October, 1819, the expense of supporting a person confined in a depôt de mendicité was thrown on the commune in which he had his domicile de secours.
In 1823 the Belgian Société de Bienfaisance was established, on the model of that which existed in Holland, and contracted with the Government to receive in its colonies de repression 1000 paupers, at the annual sum of 35 florins (2l. 18s. 4d.) per head. In consequence of this arrangement, all the regulations which required a beggar to be removed to a depôt de mendicité were varied by the introduction of the words “or to a mendicity colony;” and by an arrêté of the 12th October, 1825, the governors of the different provinces were directed to give notice that all persons in want of employment and subsistence would obtain them in the depôts de mendicité, or the mendicity colonies, and had only to apply to the local authorities in order to be directed to the one or the other; and that consequently no begging at any period of the year, or under any pretext whatever, could in future be tolerated. Persons arrested for begging were allowed on their own request, if their begging were not accompanied by aggravating circumstances, to be conducted to one or the other of these establishments without suffering the previous imprisonment inflicted by the penal code.
By another arrêté of the same date, the local authorities were directed to prepare new codes for the regulation of the different depôts de mendicité, based on principles of which the following are the most material:
1. That the depôts should be confined to the reception of those who, from age or infirmity, should be unfit for agricultural labour.
2. That all above the age of six, and under that of 70, and capable of working, should be kept to work, at average wages; that each person should be charged per day 17 cents (about 3½d.) for his maintenance, being its average cost, and retain the remainder of his earnings; and be allowed nothing beyond strict necessaries (mere bread is specified for food), if his earnings were under that sum.
That a portion of each person’s surplus earnings should be reserved and paid over to him on leaving the house, and the other portion paid to him from time to time in a local paper money.
3. That cantines should be established in the house, to enable the inmates to spend their surplus earnings.
4. That those who had voluntarily offered themselves for reception should be at liberty to quit the house, after having repaid the expenses of their maintenance there.
5. That those arrested and sent thither as beggars should not be set free until, 1st., they had repaid all expenses; and 2ndly, had fitted themselves to earn an independent livelihood, or been demanded by their commune or relatives, and security given for their future conduct.
6. That in each house there should be an ecclesiastic to perform divine service, and give moral and religious instruction, frequently in private, and twice a week in public; and that, where the inmates should consist of Protestants and Catholics, there should be both a Catholic and a Protestant ecclesiastic.
7. That in each house there should be a daily school for the young, and a school for the adult, open for four hours on Sundays, and for an hour two evenings of the week. The attendance on these schools to be compulsory.
8. That so far as the confined paupers did not earn their own subsistence, each commune should pay for the support of those having in it their domicile de secours, at the above-mentioned rate of 17 cents. (3½d.) per day, but be allowed a discount of 2 cents. per day (reducing the daily payment to 3d.) on prompt payment.
A decree of the 9th April, 1831, by the Regent, abolished that discount, the sum of 3d. a day having been found insufficient, except in the depôt of Bruges, in which the decree states that it covers every expense.
The existing Government has passed two very important laws, dated the 13th & 29th of August, 1833.
The first of these enacts, that until the laws on mendicity shall have been revised, the daily charge for the subsistence of each detenu in the depôt de mendicité, instead of being fixed at 17 cents., shall be determined annually by the Government. The commune bound to repay the expense is to be assisted, if incapable of meeting it, by the province, the King deciding if the matter is disputed. If payment is not made, a personal remedy is given against the receiver of the commune.
By the second, a conseil d’inspection des depôts de mendicité is to be elected in each province. Each conseil is to propose a scheme,—
1. For dividing the inmates of the depôts into three classes, comprising, 1st, the infirm; 2d, the able-bodied who have voluntarily entered them; 3d, those sentenced to them as beggars or vagrants.
2. For obviating the abuses which might follow from the power given to the indigent of voluntarily entering the depôts.
And as a general rule, a pauper who requests admission without any authority from his commune, may be received; but in that case his commune is to be immediately informed of what has occurred. If it offers to support him at home, he is to be sent back to it: if it refuses, he is to remain in the depôt at the expense of the commune: and the communes are to be informed that it depends on themselves to diminish the expense of supporting their poor in the depôts, by the judicious distribution of out-door relief, by the organization of committees for the purpose of watching over the indigent, and inquiring into the causes of their distress; by the erection of asylums for lunatics, the deaf and dumb, the blind and the incurable; and by the establishment of houses of employment (d’ateliers libres de travail) in winter, and infant schools. For all which purposes they are recommended to assess themselves. M. Lebeau says in his report, “Enfin chez, nous nul ne peut exiger de secours en vertu d’un droit.”[14] (p. 594.) But it must be admitted that these provisions, if not constituting a right in the pauper to relief, give at least a right to the managers of the depôts to force the parishes to relieve, either at home or in the depôt, any pauper who presents himself: and M. Lebeau himself felt the danger to which the parishes are exposed. In his circular of the 13th September, 1833, addressed to the provinces in which depôts are established, he urges the importance of adopting regulations respecting the reception and dismission of the poor voluntarily presenting themselves, which may preserve parishes from “the indefinite burden which would follow the too easy admission of applicants.” “These establishments,” he adds, “must not be considered by the poor as places of gratuitous entertainment, (des hôtelleries gratuites.) One of the best methods of preventing this will be the strict execution of the law which prescribes work to all those who are not physically incapable of it; and for those who are incapable, the ordinary hospices and hospitals are the proper receptacles. It is true that in some depôts work has been discontinued, because the results did not repay the expenditure; but this consideration ought not to prevail over the moral advantages which follow its exaction. Labour is the essential condition which must be imposed on the pauper; and if it require the sacrifice of some expenditure, that sacrifice must be made.”
In a subsequent circular, dated the 4th July, 1834, and addressed to the governors of the different provinces, M. Lebeau states, that one of the causes assigned for the prevalence of mendicity, is the facility with which persons obtain release from the depôts. “I invite you, M. le Gouverneur,” says the Minister, “when a pauper requests his release, to consider his previous history, to ascertain whether he has the means of subsistence, or the local authorities have engaged to provide for him; and to treat with great suspicion the solicitations of parishes, as they are always interested in obtaining the release of the paupers for whose maintenance they pay.”
With respect to the general working of these institutions we have not much information. It appears from the report of M. Lebeau that there are in Belgium six depôts de mendicité; one at Hoogstraeten for the province of Antwerp, at Cambre for Brabant, at Bruges for the two Flanders, at Mons for Hainault, at Namur for Namur and Luxembourg, and at Reckheim for Limbourg and Liege; that the hospices for the old and impotent, and the hospitals for the sick, are very numerous, and that nearly every commune possesses its bureau de bienfaisance for the distribution of out-door relief. In 1832 the annual income of the different bureaux de bienfaisance was estimated at 5,308,114 francs (equal to about 212,325l. sterling), and that of the hospices at 4,145,876 francs (equal to about 165,835l. sterling), altogether about 378,160l. But the report contains no data from which the whole expenditure in public relief, or the whole number of persons relieved, or the general progress or diminution of pauperism, can be collected.
An important paper, however, is contained in the supplement to M. Lebeau’s report, stating the number of foundlings, deserted children and orphans, in the nine provinces constituting the kingdom of Belgium, in the years 1832 and 1833; of which we subjoin a copy, having added to it the population of the different provinces, as given in the official statement of 1830.
YEAR 1832.
| Population. | PROVINCES. | Average number of | TOTAL NUMBER. | TOTAL EXPENSES. | Subdivision of those Expenses among | OBSERVATIONS. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Foundlings. | Deserted Children and Orphans. |
The Hospitals, Charitable Institutions or Foundations. |
Towns or Communes. | Provinces. | |||||
| 354,974 | Anvers | 886 | 566 | 1,452 | 71,300 | .. | 31,300 | 40,000 | a |
| 556,146 | Brabant | 2,244 | 286 | 2,530 | 197,550 | .. | 147,050 | 50,500 | b |
| 601,678 | Flandre Occidentale | 35 | 461 | 496 | 34,123 | 15,600 | 18,523 | .. | c |
| 733,938 | Flandre Orientale | 688 | 219 | 907 | 64,479 | .. | .. | 64,479 | d |
| 604,957 | Hainault | 1,870 | 333 | 2,203 | 172,792 | .. | 25,072 | 147,720 | e |
| 369,937 | Liége | 41 | 153 | 194 | 15,550 | 9,665 | 4,694 | 1,191 | } f |
| 337,703 | Limbourg | 11 | 123 | 134 | 12,056 | 10,658 | 1,398 | .. | |
| 292,151 | Luxembourg | 13 | 12 | 25 | 1,841 | 232 | 1,609 | .. | |
| 212,725 | Namur | 653 | 9 | 662 | 44,533 | .. | 25,533 | 19,000 | g |
| 4,064,209 | TOTAL | 6,441 | 2,162 | 8,603 | 614,224 | 36,155 | 255,179 | 322,890 | |
(a) There is a tour at Antwerp, and also at Mechlin.
(b) A tour in Brussels and one in Louvain.
(c) No tour.
(d) A tour at Ghent.
(e) A tour in Mons, and one in Tournay.
(f) No tour.
(g) A hospital, but no tour.
N.B. There are tours at Antwerp, Mechlin, Brussels, Louvain, Ghent, Mons, and Tournay; seven in all.
N.B. A tour is a horizontal wheel, with a box for the reception of the infant, which, when empty, is open to the street, and when full is turned into the interior of the house.
YEAR 1833.
| PROVINCES. | Number of | Total. | Expenses of | TOTAL EXPENSES. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Foundlings. | Deserted Children. | Foundlings. | Deserted Children. | ||||||
| Anvers | 886 | 578 | 1,464 | 37,107 | 65 | 26,927 | 61 | 64,035 | 26 |
| Brabant | 2,648 | 318 | 2,966 | 182,321 | 69 | 23,081 | 84 | 205,403 | 53 |
| Fl. Occidentale | 39 | 460 | 499 | 3,258 | 67 | 31,841 | 89 | 35,100 | 56 |
| Fl. Orientale | 752 | 242 | 994 | 49,874 | 81 | 14,902 | 67 | 64,717 | 48 |
| Hainault | 1,969 | 382 | 2,351 | 123,368 | 71 | 23,533 | 18 | 146,901 | 89 |
| Liége | 38 | 162 | 200 | 2,899 | 0 | 12,857 | 04 | 15,756 | 04 |
| Limbourg | 14 | 157 | 171 | 913 | 96 | 11,054 | 44 | 12,968 | 40 |
| Luxembourg | 7 | 31 | 38 | 880 | 94 | 3,212 | 80 | 4,093 | 74 |
| Namur | 615 | 7 | 622 | 41,082 | 0 | 467 | 60 | 41,549 | 60 |
| 6,968 | 2,337 | 9,305 | 442,647 | 43 | 147,879 | 07 | 590,526 | 60 | |
Foundlings.
It appears from this statement that in the provinces of Antwerp, Brabant, and Hainault, containing a population of 1,514,072 persons, and possessing each two public receptacles for foundlings, the number of foundlings in 1833 was 5,404, or 1 in 278: that in Flandre Orientale and Namur, containing a population of 946,663, and possessing each a single public receptacle, the number of foundlings was 1367, or 1 in 699; and that in Flandre Occidentale, Liége, Limbourg and Luxembourg, containing a population of 1,601,469, but having no such establishment, the number of foundlings was 98, or less than 1 in 16,000. Nor does this difference arise from an increased number of deserted children in those provinces in which foundling hospitals do not exist: on the contrary, the numbers in the second column, comprising both orphans and deserted children, in the four provinces in which no foundling hospitals exist, amount to 910, out of a population of 1,601,469, being 1 in 1649, whereas those in Antwerp, Brabant and Hainault amount to 1356, out of a population of 1,514,077, or 1 in 116; and when it is recollected that the proportion of orphans can scarcely differ in the different provinces, and that in the second column they are mixed with the deserted children, the superiority of the four former provinces over the three latter will be found to be really much greater than it appears.
Nor does the difference arise from the prevalence of infanticide.
It appears from the statistique des tribunaux de la Belgique, that in the years 1826, 1827, 1828, and 1829, there were in the provinces of Antwerp, Brabant, Flandre Orientale, Hainault, and Namur, containing 2,450,740 inhabitants, and possessing foundling establishments, 13 convictions for infanticide; and in Flandre Occidentale, Liege, Limbourg, and Luxembourg, containing 1,601,469 inhabitants, and no such establishments, only nine convictions, being a proportion slightly inferior. So far, therefore, from foundling hospitals having had a tendency to prevent desertion of children, or infanticide, it appears that their tendency is decidedly to promote the former, without preventing in any degree the latter. The real infanticides, strange as it may sound, are the founders and supporters of foundling hospitals. The average mortality in Europe of children during the first year does not exceed one in five, or 20 per cent. In England and Holland it is less: in Belgium it is 22⁴⁹⁄₁₀₀, per cent. But in the foundling hospitals of Belgium (and their mortality is below the average of such establishments), it is 45 per cent.[15]
In the foundling hospital in Brussels it is now 66 per cent., having been from 1812 to 1817, 79 per cent.
Nor is the fate of those who escape from these receptacles much preferable to that of those who perish there. M. Ducpétiaux, the inspector of prisons, states that, small as is their number relative to the rest of the population, they form a considerable proportion of the inmates of gaols and prisons, and a still larger proportion of the prostitutes.[16]
Such having been the legislation, and such being its results, an attempt towards its improvement was made by a law, dated the 30th July, 1834. That laws enacts, that from the 1st of January, 1835, the maintenance of foundlings and of deserted children whose place of settlement is not known, shall be supplied one half by the communes in which they shall have been exposed or deserted, with the assistance of their bureaux de bienfaisance, and the other half by the province of which those communes form a part, and that an annual grant shall be made by the State in aid of this expenditure; and that the expense of maintaining deserted children whose place of settlement is known, shall be supported by the hospices and bureaux de bienfaisance of their place of settlement, with the assistance of the commune.
The object of this law is stated in a circular from the Minister of Justice, dated the 23d January, 1834.
He directs, in the first place, the local authorities to provide for the subsistence of the foundlings with whom they may be charged, without reference to the proposed annual grant, since neither the amount of that grant, nor the mode of its distribution, is laid down by the law; and urges them to prevent the increase of their own burthens by endeavouring to prevent the abandonment of children born within their jurisdictions, and the exposure within their jurisdictions of children born elsewhere; and for that purpose to procure the punishment by law of those convicted of having exposed infants, or made a custom of taking them to hospitals. He admits, however, that the necessary investigations are matters of great delicacy; and he might have added that the punishment by law to which he refers does not exist, unless punishment by law means the arbitrary interference of the police, so much tolerated in continental Europe.
“These,” he adds, “are the wishes of the Government and of the Chambers; and this declaration will enable you to understand the motives of the silent repeal of the law, directing the establishment of tours for the reception of foundlings. The Legislature could not at the same time prescribe measures intended to diminish the exposure of children, and an institution by which it is favoured and facilitated. It did not venture to pronounce the suppression of the existing tours; but the silence of the law on this subject is the expression of its earnest desire that this institution should be discontinued; the mode of discontinuing it is left to the local authorities. The Government will require from you an annual report on these subjects, before it decides on the distribution of the annual grant; and the favour shown to each district may depend on its endeavours to comply with these instructions.”
This circular is a curious instance of an attempt to undermine an institution which the Government and the Legislature disapprove, but which they do not venture directly to grapple with. All that the Legislature ventures directly to do is to express its earnest desire (désir formel), by the silence of the law. The Government however goes further, and holds out hints, though it does not venture to hint very clearly, that the fewer the foundlings in any district, the larger will be the share of that district in the government grant. Under the influence of these double motives we may expect the tours soon to be closed.
We have also inserted (p. 607) a paper respecting the operation of the monts-de-piété, of which the following is the result:—
| Average of Nine Years, from 1822 to 1830 inclusive. |
1831. | 1832. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pledges. | Amount. | Pledges. | Amount. | Pledges. | Amount. |
| Francs. | Francs. | Francs. | |||
| 1,271,122 | 3,778,286 | 1,185,834 | 3,268,104 | 1,129,373 | 3,939,219 |
| or | or | or | |||
| £151,131 | £130,124 | £157,548 | |||
The number of pledges redeemed is stated only for 1832, in which year 1,124,115 pledges, on which 3,162,399 francs, or 126,495l. sterling, had been lent, were redeemed. It is to be observed that the pledges are for small sums, amounting, on an average, to about three francs, or less than half-a-crown per pledge; and that the amount of the redemption in 1832 nearly corresponds with the amount lent in 1831. On the whole, considering the low rate of interest exacted by the Belgian monts-de-piété, as compared with that taken by our pawnbrokers, the small aggregate amount of deposits, being about 150,000l. for four millions of people, is a strong indication of the generally provident habits of the labouring population.
As further illustrations of the general working of the Belgian system, we extract the following particulars from the reports from Antwerp and Ostend. (pp. 627, 628, 629, 630, 634, 636, 637, and 639.)