Chapter XIII: Section 7: Religious Instruction (2)

Much charity is also given through the hands of the clergy.
This is, without any doubt, the best distributed, and the most
effectual; much of it is devoted to the aged and impotent.

_The Sick._

In all the towns, and in many of the large villages, there
are hospitals in which any individual suffering under acute
sickness, or casualty, may be nursed until his perfect
recovery. The principal acute complaint is fever. But there
are few hospitals for chronic or incurable cases, and few such
patients can obtain access to them: they are, therefore, in
general left to private charity.

The hospitals have in general property in land, in the public
funds, or lent on mortgage, and when these revenues are
insufficient, they are assisted from the local assessments
of the parishes and provinces, and by charitable persons.
The management of the different hospitals is not uniform; it
is in general much under the influence of the government. In
some towns, the ecclesiastical authorities and the chapters
interfere, and it is in such cases in general that there is
most of disorder and abuse. In most parishes the indigent sick
receive gratuitous treatment from the physicians and surgeons,
who are paid an annual salary by the municipal authorities,
or the charitable associations. In Turin, and in some other
places, there are dispensaries, distributing gratis, to those
who have a certificate of poverty from their clergyman, the
most usual and necessary remedies, whenever medically ordered.
In general, the sick who cannot procure admission to the
hospitals are in a pitiable state of poverty and distress.

CHILDREN.

_Illegitimate._

If an unmarried woman has a child by an unmarried man, she has
recourse to the ecclesiastical tribunal, that is to say, to
the episcopal court of the diocese to compel him to marry her.
If she succeeds in proving her previous good conduct, and that
promises, or other means of seduction were employed against
her, the tribunal orders the marriage. The defendant may
refuse; but in that case the cause is carried before the civil
judges, who admitting the seduction as already proved, award to
her damages, regulated by the circumstances of the case.

The child is by law entitled to an allowance for its
maintenance, which may be demanded from either parent.

It is to be observed that, in consequence of the constant
inclination of the ecclesiastical tribunal, in favour of the
female plaintiff, in order that the harm done may be repaired
by marriage, and the ease with which children are disposed
of in the Foundling Hospitals, few illegitimate children are
brought up at home, even in the lowest classes of society.

If the seducer is a member of the family, and under the
authority of his father, the girl in general has recourse to
his parents for the damages awarded to her. The illegitimate
child may claim its allowance from its paternal or maternal
grandfather; and if its father and mother have died without
leaving it any provision, may claim one from those who have
succeeded to their property.

FOUNDLINGS, ORPHANS, AND DESERTED CHILDREN.

Many towns have hospitals for foundlings. Their parents may
remain perfectly unknown; they have only to deposit the child
at night in a wheel which in all these hospitals communicates
with the street and with the interior of the house, ring a bell
to warn the person on the watch, and go away. The wheel turns,
the child is received into the hospital, and numbered, and no
further trace remains of the transaction.

Genoa possesses a splendid orphan establishment; and there
is one in Turin for girls only. But they are far from being
sufficient for this numerous and interesting class. There is no
further public assistance for orphans and deserted children;
they are thrown on private charity.

CRIPPLES, DEAF AND DUMB, AND BLIND.

There is no establishment for persons maimed or deformed. Even
in the surgical hospitals, as soon as a patient no longer
requires the assistance of art, he is dismissed, even if he
should have lost the use of his limbs.

In Genoa there is an establishment for the deaf and dumb, which
enjoys a well-founded celebrity. On certain conditions poor
children are gratuitously admitted. There is no institution for
the blind, or any further public relief for any of the classes
in question: they are left to private charity.

_Idiots and Insane._

There are two large establishments for the insane, one at
Turin, the other at Genoa. In each a small payment is made, in
respect of the lunatic, either out of his own property, or,
if he has none, by his parish or province. In some rare cases
insane persons are received gratuitously.

Some mountain districts, and particularly in the valley of
Aoste, contain many of the idiots, commonly called Cretins.
They are in general gentle and inoffensive, and the objects of
the pity and zealous assistance of all around them, so much so
that it is never necessary to place them in an hospital. The
interesting popular belief that a special protection of heaven
is attached to the house inhabited by a Cretin is well known.

_Effects of these Institutions._

It is not to the encouragement given by public charity that the
great number of premature and improvident marriages contracted
in this country is to be imputed. With the exception of those
between professional beggars, we owe the greater part of them,
first, to the natural disposition of ignorant and rude persons
to follow, without reflection, the passions of the moment,
and, secondly, to the blind zeal with which the clergy and
bigotted people encourage all kinds of marriages, with the
erroneous idea of thus preventing the immorality and scandal
of illegitimate connexions. Nor are family ties affected by
the charitable institutions. Whatever those may be, the poor
man ever considers his relations as his sole support against
adversity. Besides, as the Roman law with respect to paternal
authority has been preserved among us unimpaired, family union
is more easy and common than anywhere else.

Though some individuals, skilled in working on the public
compassion, may gain more than the average wages of labour,
we cannot compare the results of the honest and independent
labourer’s industry with the mendicant’s profits: so immense is
the difference between the honourable existence of the one, and
the humiliation, debasement, and moral degradation of the other.

GENOA.

1. Public mendicity not being at present forbidden, it is
difficult to ascertain the number of professed mendicants.
Those on the town of Genoa may however be estimated at, at
least, 200. If we add to these their families, or at least
those members of their families who exist on the profit of
their begging, the whole mendicant population may amount to
from 600 to 700[20].

2. The unemployed poor, not being mendicants, are relieved at
their own homes by the “magistrat de misèricorde,” the “dames
de misèricorde,” and by other governors of charities, out of
the revenue of many pious bequests, with the administration of
which they are charged.

3. The children of the poor, to whatever class they may belong,
are gratuitously instructed in the primary public schools,
under the direction of the municipal authorities. Six of these
schools are for boys, and two for girls.

4. There is a mont de piété in Genoa, from which the poor can
borrow on pledge; at 8 per cent. interest.

5. The poor of all ages, from the earliest childhood, who
are natives of the town of Genoa, are gratuitously received,
lodged, and fed, in the poor hospital, as far as the means of
that establishment will go. The poor of the other parts of the
duchy are also received there on payment of a small allowance.

6. There are two large hospitals in Genoa, one for the
treatment of acute disorders, the other for the incurables and
insane. Another lunatic asylum has been just begun, and there
is a small establishment in the suburbs for leprosy and other
diseases of the skin.

7. The “Conservatoire des Sœurs de St. Joseph,” and a
charitable institution, called “Notre Dame de la Providence,”
furnish in pursuance of their rules, medical and surgical
advice, and remedies to the poor who do not publicly solicit
relief [pauvres honteux].

8. Poor lying-in women, born in the town, or domiciled
there for the three previous years, are received and nursed
gratuitously in the great hospital, called “de Pammatone.”

9. The same hospital receives illegitimate and deserted
children, if secretly placed on the turning box. The hospital
takes the charge of the boys until 12 years old, and of the
girls until their marriage or death. Ten poor lunatics and
idiots, natives of Genoa, are gratuitously received in the
hospital for the incurables and insane. Those of the other
parts of the duchy, and those who are not poor, are also
received there, on paying a sum proportionate to the sort of
food given to them.

[20] The population of Genoa exceeds 80,000.

SAVOY.

1. Mendicity is very common in the environs of Chambery and
the Haute Tarentaise. In the other provinces it is not more
extensive than in Florence, and much less so than in Italy.
In 1789, the total number of mendicants was 3688. Under the
French dominion it rose to 4360. Since that time it has much
diminished, partly from the diminution of the public taxes, and
partly from the discontinuance of the sales of property which
were enforced by the French treasury against the relations of
refractory conscripts, and by Genoese creditors against their
debtors. It cannot now be estimated at more than 2500.

2. Vagrant mendicity being prohibited by law, beggars have
no right to relief. The town of Chambery contains a depôt de
mendicité, in which 100 paupers are endeavoured to be kept to
work.

3. The duchy possesses nearly 250 charitable establishments,
possessing funds distinct to the relief of the poor of the
place in which they are situated. Their resources are very
far from being sufficient for that purpose, especially in
years of bad harvests. But poor families are assisted by their
neighbours, their relations, the clergy, and other charitable
persons in their parishes. This relief is distributed in the
town of Chambery, according to a simple and excellent system.
The poor are divided into 24 districts, each confided to a
committee consisting of three ladies of charity (dames de
charité), belonging in general to the highest class of society.
Each committee seeks out, registers, and superintends the poor
of its district, gives secret assistance to those families

who would be disgraced by the publicity of their situation, and withdraws relief from the unworthy. The resources of the dames de charité consist only of one tenth of the price of the theatrical tickets, of the great public collections (quêtes) made at Easter and Christmas, and of some secret gifts from individuals. If this establishment were rich enough to provide employment for indigent families at their own homes, it would be far superior to all other charitable institutions.

We have as yet spoken of the relief given to those who have no plea beyond that of mere poverty. For those who have some other claim there are several institutions. The Hospice de Charité of Chambery receives 171 persons, consisting of orphans, infirm persons, and old men. The “Asyle de St. Benoit” in the same town is destined to the old of both sexes who once were in easy circumstances; and the Orphan House educates young girls without fortune belonging to the middling classes, in such a manner as to enable them to earn an independent subsistence.

4. The Duchy of Savoy now possesses a great number of gratuitous religious schools, receiving, among others, the children of the poor. At Chambery the two schools de la Doctrine and de St. Joseph provide education for more than 700 children of both sexes, four-fifths of whom could not pay for it.

5. There is no Mont-de-Piété in Savoy.

6. Chambery contains a hospital with 80 beds, all constantly occupied. There are also institutions for the relief of those suffering under incurable or contagious disease, and for sick travellers. There are also hospitals for the sick at Annecy, Thonon, St. Jean-de-Maurienne, Montmelian, Moûtiers, Yenne, la Roche, la Motte-Servolex, and Thônes.

7. Many establishments of sisters of charity have been founded, either by parishes, or by opulent individuals, for the relief of the sick at their own homes. But with respect to the poorest classes it has been necessary to abandon this kind of relief, as they either neglected to use the remedies supplied to them, or used them with fatal imprudence. It can safely be bestowed on those only whose situation is raised above actual poverty.

8. Lying-in women, married or unmarried, are received at Chambery in the Hospice de Maternité.

9. In Chambery, and in Thonon, the greater part of the illegitimate children, whatever be the circumstances of their parents, are taken, the first night after their birth, to the foundling hospitals, which receive them, though clandestinely deposited. Those born in the distant provinces are generally brought up by their mothers, and partake their fortune, or their poverty.

10. At some distance from Chambery a hospital has been established, intended for the gratuitous reception of 60 lunatics. But as yet it has had room for only 20. The others are at the charge of their parishes.

The class of day labourers, such as it exists in England, is not at all numerous in Savoy, almost all the population consisting of proprietors. Out of 102,000 families in the Duchy, 85,000 heads of families are owners of some portion of land; 80,000 of them subsist by agriculture. There is therefore little employment for day labourers. According to the enumerations of 1789 and 1801 the number of persons, including both sexes, and artisans, as well as agriculturists, employed in day labour in that part of Savoy, which formed after 1789 the departement de Mont Blanc, did not exceed from 9000 to 10,000 individuals, which would make for the whole Duchy more than from 14,000 to 15,000 such individuals. The day labourers in general hire, from a small proprietor, part of a cottage, and half an acre, or an acre of land, at the rent of from 60 to 100 francs, which they work out. Saving is a thing almost unknown in Savoy. With the rich people and with the poor, from the gentleman to the peasant, it is unusual and even strange to put a revenue to any other use than that of spending it. A few men of business, and usurers, are the only persons who think of augmenting their patrimonies. Sometimes indeed a merchant or a manufacturer will economise something from his profits, but with no other object than that of procuring a country-house, which from that time swallows up all that he can spare.

The poor never apply for relief to the authorities, but always to private charity; and it is inexhaustible, for (except during the famine of the year 1817) no one has ever perished from want. Vagrants are forced to return to their parishes, or, if foreigners, driven out of the country.

VENICE.

[Sidenote: Population about 112,000.]

Mr. Money’s Report from Venice is so concise that we insert the whole (pp. 663, 634). We cannot perfectly reconcile the statement at the beginning, that there is no compulsory legal provision for the poor; and that at the end, that every commune is bound to support the poor and indigent within its limits. Perhaps Mr. Money uses the word “bound” in a moral, not a legal sense.

1. Is there any compulsory legal provision for the poor in
Venice?--None.

2. In what manner are the funds arising from voluntary
donations collected in Venice?--There is a commission of
public charity, composed of the laity of the first rank and
consideration in Venice, at the head of which is the patriarch.

All sums destined for the relief of the poor and the indigent,
from whatever source, are placed at the disposal of this
commission.

These funds arise from bequests, which are numerous, from
voluntary contributions, from collections made by lay
associations in each of the 30 parishes, which hold their
meetings either at the church or at the house of the priest;
sometimes from the produce of a lottery; and by a singular
contrivance of the late patriarch, to render an old custom of
complimentary visits on New Year’s-day contributory to the
purposes of charity, he had it announced, that all who would
subscribe to the funds of the commission of public charity
should have their names published, and be exempted from the
costly ceremony above adverted to.

3. By what authority are they distributed?--By that of the same
commission, which receives the reports of the state of the poor
in the several parishes, and particularly inquires into the
circumstances of every case.

4. What constitutes a claim to relief, and how is that claim
investigated?--Among the lower classes, extreme poverty without
the means of obtaining subsistence, or incapability from age
or sickness to labour for it. This is certified by the parish
priest to the association mentioned in answer to query No. 2,
which makes itself acquainted with every case of distress. But
there is great distress to be relieved among those who once
constituted the higher classes of society, but whose families,
since the fall of the Republic, have, from various causes,
fallen into decay; these make their application direct to the
commission, and are relieved according to their necessities
and the state of their funds. 5. What is the amount of relief
usually given in each case, and for what length of time is
it usually continued?--The amount of relief given, according
to the class and circumstances of the distressed, is from 10
cents. to 65 cents. per head per day (or from 3_s._ 4_d._ to
5_s._ 4_d._ sterling.)--[_Sic in orig._]

These alms are continued as long as the parish priest certifies
the need of those of the lower classes, or the commission,
through its inquiries, are satisfied of the necessities of the
others.

6. Is relief given by taking the poor into almshouses or
houses of industry, or by giving them relief at home; and
in the latter case, is it given in money or in food and
clothing?--There are no almshouses in Venice, but there are
houses of industry, where work of various descriptions is
provided for those who are able to work. Relief is given to
many at home, but to most upon their personal appearance before
some of the members of the commission.

In winter, relief is afforded by the commission, both in food
and clothing.

7. What is the number of persons in Venice usually receiving
relief, and what is the least and greatest number known during
the last 10 years?--The number usually receiving relief, and
which is the least number during the last 10 years, is about
47,000; the greatest number in the last 10 years was about
50,000. The last year 42,705[21] received relief, either at
home or by personal application to the commission, and the
number in houses of industry and hospitals was 4667.

8. Is there much difficulty in procuring sufficient funds for
the support of the poor in times of distress, or is the supply
so large as at all to diminish the industry and providence of
the working classes?--It has been found impossible to procure
sufficient funds for the support of the poor at Venice, and
there never was so large a supply as at all to diminish the
industry and providence of the working classes. When the
funds prove insufficient, the commune contribute, and after
their contributions, whatever is deficient is supplied by the
Government.

9. Do cases of death by starvation ever occur?--Do the poorer
classes afford much assistance to one another in time of
sickness or want of employment?--Cases of death by starvation
never occur. Even during the great distress caused by the
blockade in 1813, and the famine in 1817, no occurrence of
this kind was known. In fact, the more urgent the circumstances
are, the more abundant are the subscriptions and donations.

The poorer classes are remarkable for their kindness to each
other in times of sickness and need. Many instances of this
have fallen under my own observation.

10. Is there a foundling hospital at Venice, and if so, what is
the number of infants annually admitted into it?--There is a
foundling hospital in Venice, which was instituted in 1346, and
the number received into it annually is between 400 and 500. I
have known seven found in the receptacle in one morning.

Each child is immediately given to a wet nurse; at the end of
seven or eight days it is vaccinated, and sent to nurse in the
country.

11. Do members of the same family, among the poorer classes
in general, show much disposition to assist one another in
distress, sickness, or old age?--There is much family affection
in all classes of the Venetians, and in sickness, distress, and
old age, among the poorer classes, they show every disposition
to assist and relieve each other.

The clergy, who have great influence over the lower classes,
exert themselves much to cultivate the good feeling which
subsists among them towards one another.

12. Have you any other observations to make on the relief
afforded to the poor at Venice?--Besides the voluntary
contributions and the assistance of the commune and the
Government, the several charitable institutions (of which
there are no less than 10) in this city, have annual incomes
derivable from various bequests in land and other property,
amounting to 483,000 Austrian livres (or 16,000_l._ sterling).
Last year the commune contributed 359,000 Austrian livres
(or 11,970_l._ sterling) and the Government 460,000 Austrian
livres (or 15,330_l._ sterling). The Government contributes
annually for the foundlings and the insane of the eight
Venetian provinces, 1,000,000 of Austrian livres (33,000_l._
sterling). I should remark, that among other resources which
the commission of public charity have at their command, is a
tax upon the theatres and other places of public amusement.

The total expenditure of the commission of public charity may
be taken approximately at 3,000,000 of Austrian livres, or
100,000_l._ sterling annually, for the city of Venice alone,
which is now declared to contain a population of 112,000.

Mendicity is not permitted in the streets of Venice, and
although distress does force mendicants to appear when they can
escape the vigilance of the police, yet I do not believe that
20 beggars are to be met with in this large and populous city.

The poor in every parish in Venice have the benefit of a
physician, a surgeon and medicines gratis; the expense of these
is paid by the commune.

Every commune in the Venetian provinces is bound to support
the poor and the indigent within its limits, whether they be
natives of the commune or not. No commune or parish can remove
from it a pauper, because he may have been born in another. Ten
years’ residence entitles a man to a settlement in a different
parish from that of his birth. When a commune to which a pauper
does not belong affords him relief, it is always reimbursed by
his own parish.

Every commune derives funds from local taxes; the communes
of towns from taxes on certain articles of consumption; the
communes in the country, where articles of consumption are not
taxed, from an addition to the capitation tax, which is levied
by the State, but all communes have, more or less, sources of
revenue from land, houses, and charitable bequests, which are
very frequent in these states.

The number of foundlings at present in the country under
the age of 12 years is 2300. After that age the child is
transferred from the family who have the charge of it, and
apprenticed to learn some craft or trade, or servitude; but so
kind-hearted are the people in the Venetian provinces, that in
numerous instances, from attachment to the child which they
have reared, they have begged, when the time arrived for its
removal, to be allowed to keep it as their own.

Venice, March 24, 1834.

[21] This amounts to nearly one-half of the supposed
population.

PORTUGAL AND ITS DEPENDENCIES.

The information from Portugal and its dependencies consists of answers from Oporto, the Azores and the Canary Islands, to the Commissioners’ questions. The following extracts show the general state of these countries. (pp. 642, 643, 644, 645, 647, 686, 687.)

PORTUGAL.

Although poverty prevails to a great extent in Portugal, still
the frugal habits and very limited wants and desires of the
lower classes of the population in the northern provinces
prevent mendicity from showing itself in those offensive and
distressing forms which it assumes in many other countries.
The very limited provision which has been made for the poor by
the Government, or by public regulation, throws them on their
own resources, and makes them careful and provident. Although,
during the late siege of Oporto, we issued at one period
gratuitously, from a soup society, upwards of 6,000 rations
of soup each day, the number of absolute mendicants who were
relieved fell greatly short of 1,000. The remainder of the
applicants were principally families reduced to distress by
the circumstances of the times, who withdrew their claims as
soon as the termination of the blockade opened to them other
resources and means of support.

Persons destitute of resources, who may be travelling in
search of work or otherwise, can claim no pecuniary relief;
but the different religious establishments are in the habit of
affording a temporary asylum and succour to strangers. There
are also houses of refuge for the poor, called “Misericordias,”
at various places, which are supported by royal gifts, bequests
by will, and private donations.

None but the military can be billeted on private houses; and
even this right is now contested by the camara (municipality)
of Oporto, as contrary to the constitutional charter. Nor
are there any houses of industry for receiving destitute
able-bodied, or their families, except at Lisbon, where I
understand there are royal manufactories in which the poor
are employed, as well as at a rope-walk called the Cordoario.
The different religious establishments are, as I have already
observed, in the habit of affording pecuniary relief, as well
as of giving food and medical aid to the destitute of every
description; but the political changes, by suppressing some and
diminishing the resources of all these establishments, must
have greatly reduced this description of charity.

In most towns and large villages there are schools to which
the poor may send their children free of expense; but they
receive neither food nor clothing, and the instruction is
extremely limited. The masters are allowed a small stipend by
the Government.

Relatives are forced to aid each other, in the degrees of
father, mother, child, brother and sister, in cases of want:
for persons impotent through age, there are houses of charity,
called “Recolhimentos,” in most cities and considerable
towns, where a limited number of aged or infirm poor of both
sexes are lodged, clothed, and fed. These establishments are
supported in part by royal gifts, and in part by the different
municipalities; but no provision is made for the attendance of
the sick poor at their own dwellings, nor are they in any case
boarded with individuals, or billeted on private houses; but if
they have relatives in the degrees above-mentioned, these are
bound to assist them, if able to do so.

There are public hospitals in most cities and towns, where
the sick poor are received and treated gratis. There are also
lying-in hospitals, which receive pregnant women (without
inquiring as to their being married or not) without any charge;
but I am not aware of the existence of any regulation which
obliges the medical officers of these establishments to deliver
women at their own dwellings, although this is frequently done
voluntarily.

_Children._

A law or decree, issued in 1772, imposes equally on both
parents the duty of maintaining their children, whether
legitimate or illegitimate, where they have the means of doing
so; and the parentage in the latter case, if the father can
be ascertained or is acknowledged. Brothers and sisters are
equally bound to assist each other.

But in cases where the parents either have not the means or
want inclination to support their illegitimate child, a ready
resource is offered by the “Casas dos Expostos” which exist in
most towns. These establishments for foundlings are provided
with rodas, or revolving boxes, into which the infant is
placed, and is received without inquiry. The practice of thus
abandoning infants to be reared by public charity, prevails, I
am assured, to a painful extent in Portugal.

_Cripples, Deaf and Dumb, and Blind._

At Lisbon there is, I understand, an establishment for the
reception of the deaf and dumb.

_Idiots and Lunatics._

At Lisbon there is an establishment for lunatics, called the
Hospital of St. Joseph, where lunatics and idiots are received
and supported gratuitously, if without means. Better treatment
and greater comforts may be obtained for patients ably to pay
for the same. This institution is partly supported by the
Government, and partly by voluntary contributions, in the same
manner as the misericordias in provincial towns.

It may be observed generally, that in Catholic countries, the
care of administering to the wants, both physical and moral,
of the poor, being left in a great degree to the clergy and
religious establishments, the action of the civil government,
as well as of private benevolence in their favour, is much less
visible, and far more confined than in Protestant states.

Oporto, April 24, 1834.

THE AZORES.

_Vagrants._

In the Azores mendicity is limited to the aged and infirm poor,
and to the crippled and blind, for whom there is no legal
provision; they are therefore dependent on the charity of the
wealthy, to whom they make a weekly application and receive
alms. There are no houses for their reception, or asylum of any
description, but they obtain a distribution of victuals from
the convents, of whatever surplus food remains after the friars
and nuns have dined.

Vagrants are not allowed; such people are liable to be
imprisoned, and on conviction may be shipped off to India,
Angola, &c., or employed on public works, by decrees of the
16th May, 1641, 19th May, 1684, 4th March, 1688, 7th March,
1691, and 4th November, 1755. Those decrees, though severe,
have had a good effect in exterminating vagrancy in the Azores.
No relief is given to persons seeking work.

_Destitute Able-bodied._

There are no laws for granting relief to the poor of any
description, excepting the sick. Able-bodied men in want of
work can always find employment on seeking it.

Public schools for teaching reading and writing are established
in each municipal district, where the children of the poor
are taught gratis. A small tribute on the wine produce of the
country is levied for payment of these schools, called the
Literary Subsidy, and public professors are paid out of it
also, who teach Latin, grammar, rhetoric and philosophy to all
who choose to attend.

The laws of Portugal oblige the proprietors of entailed
property to give alimentary allowances to their children and
brothers and sisters, in proportion to their own means and the
wants of the applicants. Children coming into possession of
property are obliged to assist their parents and brothers, if
in necessity. The poor, however, are left to themselves, and to
the stimulus of natural affection; and cases are very rare in
which appeals are made in vain; but lawsuits are very common to
oblige the rich heir of entailed property to give aliments to a
brother or sister, as the elder brother takes the whole estate,
and the younger branches are entirely dependent on him, if the
father has not left money or unentailed property to distribute
amongst his other children.

_Sick._

In every municipal district there is a public hospital called
the Misericordia, _i.e._ house of mercy, for the reception of
the sick poor, supported by endowments of land and bequests
of money from pious people long since deceased, and voluntary
contributions of living persons, where the sick are well
treated, and when cured are sent to their families, and if in
great distress a small sum of money is given to assist them.
These hospitals contain generally from 200 to 300 sick, and
are, generally speaking, well conducted by the governors,
stewards, medical attendants, and nurses. Foreign seamen are
also admitted on the respective consuls paying 1_s._ 6_d._ per
diem for diet and attendance.

In cases where the hospitals are full, and cannot accommodate
any more patients, medicines are given to applicants,
and surgical and medical advice gratis from the hospital
practitioners.

CHILDREN.

_Illegitimate._

The mother must support it in case she chooses to suckle
the child herself; if, on the contrary, the sense of shame
overcomes her maternal feelings, and she takes it to the
misericordia, where there is a private place to receive the
infant, it is immediately taken care of, and put out to nurse
at the expense of the municipality until seven years of age,
when it is apprenticed (if a male) to some trade or handicraft,
or to a farmer; if a female to domestic service in some family,
where it is fed and clothed until of an age to earn wages. In
nine cases out of ten, the practice is to take the child to the
misericordia, as pregnancy is more easily concealed here than
in other countries, by the peculiar dress of the common class
of women. The municipality are at the expense of maintenance
of the children, and if their funds are scanty, the State pays
the deficiency.

_Orphans, Foundlings, and Deserted Children._

_Orphans._--Various laws have been promulgated in favour
of orphans, for whom the respective local magistrates were
appointed judges and protectors, which duty now devolves on the
justices of the peace. If any property belongs to them, proper
guardians are appointed to take care of it, and to educate the
children; if none, they are under the municipal protection
until of age to be put to some trade or calling, service, &c.,
in cases where their relatives are unable to take charge of
them.

_Foundlings._--Foundlings are taken charge of and treated as
orphans; there are several funds set apart for their support
by express decrees of former sovereigns of Portugal; they are
received into the misericordias, and supported by the chamber
of municipality.

_Deserted Children whose Parents are known._--Deserted children
are also reputed as foundlings or orphans, and have similar
care taken of them by the municipal authorities; the instances
are extremely rare of children being deserted by their parents,
which is justly held in abhorrence by all classes of persons.

_Cripples, Deaf and Dumb, Blind, Idiots and Lunatics._

There are no establishments whatsoever of any kind; they live
on the alms bestowed weekly by the benevolent.

In general there prevails much love and affection between
parents and children, and from the children much obedience and
respect towards their parents, to which they are exhorted by
the clergy, who inculcate great subjection to their parents on
all occasions.

The poorest able-bodied labourer abhors begging; his utmost
exertions are therefore employed to support himself and family;
and it is only in cases of sickness, or other corporeal
impediment, that he ever has recourse to alms.

In the Island of St. Mary’s wheat and barley are chiefly
cultivated, but little Indian corn; much waste land is to be
seen, arising from the absence of the great proprietors, who
live in St. Michael’s or at Lisbon.

At Terceira more wheat than Indian corn is to be seen under
cultivation; much land lying waste from the want of capital or
enterprise in the proprietors.

At St. George’s, being a volcanic soil, there are more
vineyards and pasture land than arable.

Gracioza being flat in surface, and having a strong clay soil,
much barley and wheat is grown, but little Indian corn; the
poor subsist chiefly on barley-bread, pulse, &c.; it also
produces much brandy from the low-priced wines.

Pico being very mountainous and volcanic, the whole island is
one continued vineyard; little soil for corn; the inhabitants
depend upon the other islands for the supplies of bread.

Fayal, partly vineyard, the rest corn land and pasture: all the
principal proprietors of Pico living at Fayal, the poor of Pico
are chiefly supplied from thence by their landlords.

Corvo produces grain, &c., for its consumption only.

Flores: some wheat and Indian corn is exported from thence,
also bacon and hams, as large quantities of hogs are bred in
that island.

A great deal of land is still uncultivated throughout the
Azores, so that no able-bodied labourer can want employment,
and for two centuries to come there will be employment for
the increasing population. The temperature of the climate,
ranging from 55° to 76° of Fahrenheit, reducing the physical
wants of man as to clothing, fuel, &c.; and the abundance of
vegetables, fruits, &c., renders the poor man’s lot easier
than in colder climates. In the hospitals there is no limit of
rations to the sick patients; they have bread, meat, poultry,
milk, &c., in abundance. The state of criminals in the prisons
is however dreadful; they are not fed by government, and must
die if not succoured by relatives, and the casual supply of
bread sent them from the misericordia in cases of extreme need:
this however is not obligatory on the part of the hospital.
Criminals, after sentence to the galleys, are allowed a loaf of
bread per day, but nothing more.

St. Michael’s, April 20, 1834.

CANARY ISLANDS.

_Mendicity, Vagrants, Destitute Able-bodied, Impotent through
Age._

Mendicity does prevail to a great extent in the Canary Islands.
There is no legal provision whatever for the relief or support
of the poor included in the denominations stated above; casual
charity is the only resource; but as the natives for the most
part remain in the places where they were born, there are
very few who have not some relations and acquaintance, from
whom they receive occasional assistance. From the nature of
the climate, the wants of the poor, when not suffering from
sickness, are very limited; having food sufficient to satisfy
their hunger, they are scarcely affected by the privations
so sensibly felt by the poor in northern climates. “Goffro,”
(which is maize, barley or wheat, roasted, and ground by the
hand between two stones,) mixed with water or milk, potatoes
and other vegetables, with sometimes a small piece of salt
fish, constitute the general food of the peasantry throughout
the islands. In the towns the artisans live better, obtaining
bread, potatoes, salt fish, and sometimes butcher’s meat.

_Sick._

In Santa Cruz there is one hospital for the poor, but the
accommodation is very limited (24 beds), in no degree
proportional to the wants of the population.

In the town of Laguna is one also, larger than Santa Cruz, and
tolerably maintained.

At Las Palmas, the capital of the island of Canary, is the
largest and best hospital in the islands; near that town also,
is the hospital of St. Lazarus, exclusively for lepers, of
which there are considerable numbers. This hospital is well
kept up, and the building in a good state of repair, with a
garden walled round. The unfortunate inmates are said to be
comfortably provided for.

_Children, Illegitimate; Orphans, Foundlings, Deserted
Children._

There are no legal regulations as to illegitimate children;
their support therefore falls on the mother. There is a
foundling hospital at Laguna in Teneriffe, and another at Las
Palmas in Canary; in each a turning-box, and a great number
of children are by this means disposed of. In the hospital
of Santa Cruz is also a turning-box; the infants left are
understood to be sent to Laguna. Children placed in the box
have usually some mark by which they may be recognised, and
they are given up to parents when claimed. There is no other
provision for children.

_Cripples, Deaf, Dumb, and Blind._

Live with their parents or relations, or subsist by casual
charity. No provision.

_Idiots and Lunatics._

No particular establishment; live with their relations. When
violent, they are placed in the hospitals or gaols.

Almost all the land in the Canary Islands is cultivated by
agreement between the owners of the land and a class of persons
called “medianeros” (middlemen), intelligent husbandmen; the
conditions are simple: that the medianero shall cultivate the
land, and find half the seed, he retaining half the produce;
the other half is delivered to the landlord in kind.

The peasantry are a robust and hardy race, laborious and
frugal. There is a great deal of family affection among them.
Considerable numbers emigrate to the Havannah and Puerto Rico
ostensibly, but it is believed that they are taken to Caraccas
and other American countries, once dependencies of the Spanish
crown.

GREECE.

There are two sets of answers from Greece to the Commissioners’ questions. One a general one, by the Secretary of State for the Interior, the other from Patras, by Mr. Crowe, His Majesty’s Consul. It will be seen from the following extracts from the Government report, (pp. 665, 666, 667,) that there are scarcely any charitable institutions.

_Vagrants._

Before the Revolution, two classes of vagrants existed in
Greece; of these, one class consisted of those individuals
who, having no property of their own, and being averse to
labour, lived by robbery; the other class consisted of those
persons who were indeed destitute, but refusing to labour, did
not at the same time resort to robbery: the latter existed
by the charity of their relations, and of other benevolent
individuals, the former were constantly pursued by the Turkish
police.

In two provinces only of the new Greek State, viz. Thravari in
Acarnania, and Cloutzinas of Kalavryta, does systematic beggary
exist; in these places, many persons mutilated their new-born
children for the express purpose of exciting the compassion
of the public; but neither before the Revolution, during the
Revolution, nor even now, is there any public establishment for
the relief of either of the above two classes of vagrants; and
notwithstanding that during the Revolution the number of these
vagrants increased it is now certain that their numbers have
sensibly diminished and it is to be hoped that as soon as the
municipalities are regularly established, all these individuals
will be obliged to labour for their subsistence.

There exists no public institution or decree organizing the
relief to be granted to the poor in Greece; neither did
anything of the kind exist before the Revolution, although the
country was formed into municipalities. It was feared that
the Ottoman authorities would appropriate to themselves any
resources which might be set apart for the poor. Charitable
subscriptions were therefore the only means by which the poor,
sick, &c. obtained relief.

_Impotent through Age, and Sick._

No regulations ever existed on these heads. The aged who
were destitute received, and still receive, assistance from
the charitably disposed, and from the monasteries; but this
assistance is voluntary, not obligatory.

With regard to hospitals, there are only two, one at Nauplia
and one at Syra; the first is at present given up to the
military service, and the second, belonging to the municipality
of Syra, is maintained by a small duty levied on merchandize;
the one at Nauplia was formerly supported in the same manner.

_Children._

The support of bastards falls upon their fathers. With regard
to foundlings, who are generally left clandestinely at the
church doors, the local authorities take charge of them, and
intrust them to nurses, whose expenses are defrayed by the
government; benevolent individuals likewise frequently take
charge of them, and bring them up at their own expense. The
number of foundlings supported by the government barely exceeds
forty throughout the whole State, by which it appears that
depravity of morals in Greece is not great.

For the support of destitute orphans, an establishment (the
Orphanotropheion) exists at Ægina, where many are brought up
at the expense of the government, and are taught to read and
write, and various trades. However, the nearest relations of
the orphans generally consider it to be a religious duty to
take care of them; so that, in consequence of this praiseworthy
feeling, they are seldom left entirely destitute, unless they
have no relations, or unless the latter have no means of
assistance at their disposal. Moreover, there are numerous
benevolent persons who are in the habit of taking orphans into
their houses, and bringing them up at their own expense.

Labour hitherto has not much increased in Greece; the labourers
are industrious, frugal, and attached to their relations.

I may add, that in consequence of the vast extent of land in
Greece in comparison with the number of its inhabitants, the
latter apply themselves mostly to agriculture and the care of
flocks, by which means they procure ample means of subsistence;
and the few manufactures which exist in Greece being all made
by hand, sufficient employment is to be procured by every
individual. These are the reasons why the number of the poor
is so limited, notwithstanding that late events were so much
opposed to the progress of arts and industry.

EUROPEAN TURKEY.

The only remaining portion of Europe which has furnished answers to the Commissioners’ questions is European Turkey; with respect to which it may be enough to say, that the only charitable institutions mentioned in the return are religious establishments and khans, in which vagrants are allowed to remain a few days, and receive food; and schools attached to the mosques, in which children of every description receive gratuitous instruction in reading and writing.

ABSENCE OF SURPLUS POPULATION.

[Sidenote: General absence, in the countries not subject to compulsory relief, of a surplus population.]

One of the most striking circumstances connected with the countries which we have last considered is the accuracy with which the population seems to be regulated with reference to the demand for labour. In the ill-administered parts of England there is in general no approach to any such regulation. That sort of population which, from our familiarity with it, has acquired the technical name of a surplus population, not only continues stagnant in places where its services are no longer required, but often springs up and increases without any increase of the means of profitable employment. The parochial returns, forming part B. of this Appendix, are full of complaints of a want of labourers in one parish, and of an over-supply in another; without any tendency of the redundancy to supply the deficiency. In time, of course, the deficient parish is filled up by natural increase; but in the mean time the population of the redundant parish does not seem to diminish. In general, indeed, it goes on increasing with unchecked rapidity, until, in the worst administered portions of the kingdom, a state of things has arisen, of which the cure is so difficult, that nothing but the certainty of absolute and almost immediate ruin from its increase, or even from its continuance, would have induced the proprietors to encounter the dangers of the remedy. Nothing like this, indeed, exists in any of the countries affording compulsory relief, except Berne, which have given us returns. But they provide against its occurrence, as we have already observed, by subjecting the labouring classes, indeed all classes except the opulent, to strict regulation and control, by restraining their marriages, forcing them to take service, and prohibiting their change of abode unless they have the consent of the commune in which they wish to settle. By a vigilant exertion of these means, the population of the north of Europe and Germany seems in general to be proportioned to the means of employment and subsistence; but in the countries which have not adopted the compulsory system the same results are produced without interference or restriction. Complaints are often made in the different returns of the idleness, the drunkenness, and the improvidence of the labouring classes, but never of their disproportionate number.

Condition of the labouring classes.

Another and a very interesting portion of the information which the intelligence and industry of His Majesty’s foreign Ministers and Consuls have enabled us to submit to the public, consists of the answers to the questions respecting labourers. In order to facilitate a comparison between the state of the English and foreign populations, the questions proposed were in general the same as had been already answered in England, either by the population returns, or by the returns to the questions circulated in England by the Poor Law Commissioners.

The following questions, being 1, 3, 7, and 8, correspond to the English questions 8, 10, 13, and 14, of the rural queries:--

1. (8 of English questions.) What is the general amount of the wages of an able-bodied male labourer, by the day, the week, the month, or the year, with and without provisions, in summer and in winter?

3. (10 of English questions.) What in the whole might an average labourer, obtaining an average amount of employment, both in day-work and in piece-work, expect to earn in a year, including harvest work, and the whole of all his advantages and means of living?

7. (13 of English questions.) What in the whole might a labourer’s wife and four children, aged 14, 11, 8, and 5 years respectively, (the eldest a boy), expect to earn in a year, obtaining, as in the former case, an average amount of employment?

8. (14 of English questions.) Could such a family subsist on the aggregate earnings of the father, mother, and children; and if so, on what food?

The following is a digest of the answers from all the agricultural parishes in England which have given returns to the corresponding questions circulated by the Poor Law Commissioners:--

Agricultural wages in England.

Q. 8. Weekly wages, with or without beer or cider, in summer and winter?

254 parishes give an average in summer, with beer or cider, of per week, 10_s._ 4¾_d._

522 parishes give an average in summer, without beer or cider, of per week, 10_s._ 5½_d._

200 parishes give an average in winter, with beer or cider, of per week, 9_s._ 2¼_d._

544 parishes give an average in winter, without beer or cider, of per week, 9_s._ 11¾_d._

Q. 10. What in the whole might an average labourer, obtaining an average amount of employment, both in day-work and piece-work, expect to earn in the year, including harvest work, and the value of all his other advantages and means of living, except parish relief?

Q. 13. What in the whole might a labourer’s wife and four children, aged 14, 11, 8, and 5 years respectively, (the eldest a boy,) expect to earn in the year, obtaining, as in the former case, an average amount of employment?

856 parishes give for the man, an average of £27 17 10
668 parishes give for the wife and children an average of 13 19 10
---------
Average annual income of the family £41 17 8
---------

Subsistence of agricultural labourers in England.

Q. 14. Could such a family subsist on the aggregate earnings of the father, mother, and children; and if so, on what food?