way he can acquire that knowledge so well, as by frequent visitation; besides, the very frequency of his visits gives him a stronger interest in their well-doing, not to mention the reciprocal feeling it creates towards himself, while he is furnished with a store of useful information for every emergency.

"I have not been able to persevere in visiting regularly, but it is not from the fear that my presence would increase the applications for parish aid. I think, were we required to give our pastor monthly a written report, it might be of great benefit to ourselves. It ought to be a deacon's aim to behave with as much kindness as possible, to listen patiently to every application, do his utmost to procure work when it was wanted, and, what is perhaps more difficult, to resist, with sturdy firmness, every improper claim, in spite of abuse, or popular clamour."

I have here to express my acknowledgments for the information that I have received from such monthly reports of their districts, as the gentlemen connected with them were pleased to furnish, and, more particularly, to the author of the last communication. The truth is, that this practice languished, but from what cause?-purely from the want of materials. The people when conducted to a natural state, at length, offer nothing to call forth the observation of those, whose ostensible office it is to manage the affairs of their pauperism. They sheathe the sword for lack of argument.' Their attentions are finally superseded—a circumstance which might, at length, attach an insipidity, and even an unimportance to their office, but which, in itself, affords the strongest verification of the truth of our principles.-Statement in regard to the Pauperism of Glasgow, from the Experience of the last eight years.

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XV. SECTION IV. § 18.-Rationale of the Success attending the St. John's Experiment.

I should like on this subject to repeat an illustration that I have often employed in argument, which, though rather homely, is, I think, an effective one. I have sometimes imagined a diseased excrescence upon a man's face connected with his habit of drinking port wine, and that he had been under a council of physicians for years, who had managed in a variety of ways, but that the disease only got worse: suppose another physician discovers the real connexion between the excrescence and its cause, he has, perhaps, infinite trouble and pains in the work of breaking up the old council of physicians, and at length gets alongside of his patient, after which he has nothing to do but to lay a firm interdict on the further use of port wine, after

which the excrescence subsides, not by any further care or strenuousness on his part, but in virtue of the vis medicatrix in the body natural. Now, that was precisely my experience in the parish of St. John's; it was under a very complex management, and the whole of my difficulties were of an artificial and political sort. The difficulty was not to make our system succeed, but to get the system established at all, after which it stood as a barrier between the disease and that which I hold to be the aliment of the disease, the compulsory fund, when by the pure vis medicatrix of the body politic, the pauperism subsided of itself. We were complimented for our strenuousness and skill; but we all along felt it to be quite undeserved, assured as we were, that under the same system the same effects would follow all the world over.-Evidence before the Commons' Committee.

XVI. SECTION IV. § 21.-Laudable efforts of the Common People, when their self-respect is not unduly tampered with.

If the people have sunk in moral or religious worth, under a treatment the necessary effect of which was to degrade them, let us not utter one sentence of disrespect, till we first try the effect of a treatment, the natural effect of which is to raise and to transform them. We could not, without this preliminary remark, have adverted to the outset of one of these Saltmarket schools, or looked back on the first raw exhibition of the children, or revealed thus publicly what they once were, if we had not been enabled further to relate what, under the energetic superintendence of one of the teachers, they have actually become. Certain it is, that we never witnessed so rapid a cultivation; and when, on visiting the school a few months after its establishment, we beheld the dress and decency of their exterior, and marked the general propriety of their manners, and observed the feeling that was evident in the replies of some, and the talent and promptitude that shone forth in the replies of many-when, along with all this, we were made to rejoice in the greetings of the assembled parentage, and shared their triumph and satisfaction in the proficiency of their own offspring, whom, poor as they were, they, out of their own unaided resources, had so respectably arrayed-when we further reflected, that the living scene before us, was not made up of the scantlings of a whole city, but was formed by the compact population of one small but thoroughly explored vicinage,- With our eyes open to what had thus been done by the moral force of

care and kindness on the part of one individual, we could not miss the inference, that, with a right distribution, it was in the power of a number of individuals, to throw another aspect over the habit and character of another generation.-Christian and Economic Polity of a Nation.

XVII. SECTION IV. § 26.-Testimony of Dr.' M'Farlan

April 20th, 1830. My dear Sir,-You cannot be more fully satisfied of the excellence of the St. John's system of pauperism than I am, nor can I imagine how any man who approves of our country parish system can object to it, for it has always appeared to me to be neither more nor less than the Scottish country parish system applied by means of a peculiar agency or machinery to cur city parishes. I hope to be able, at no distant period, to show, that if there is in our large towns a greater number of poor, there is also a much greater amount of wealth to supply the wants of the poor, and no want of a disposition to apply it to that purpose. The St. John's system appears to me to create the link which connects the rich and the beneficent with the poor, it being the office of the deacons not only to prevent imposture by their rigid examination of all the cases which come before them, but also to bring the real and deserving poor under the eye of those who may have it in their power to provide work for their children, or to contribute otherwise to their relief. As the friend of the poor, I am an advocate for the system; I am convinced that if it universally prevailed in our large towns, it would greatly alleviate much of the misery which now exists, and, by creating and strengthening habits of industry and economy, would promote materially the moral improvement, and consequently the happiness of the poor.

The experience of the sixteen months during which I was minister of St. John's confirmed the favourable opinion which I previously entertained of the system; it worked well in all respects; with an income from collections not much exceeding £300 we kept down the pauperism of a parish containing a population of 10,000, and I know from actual observation that the poor were in better condition, and excepting the worthless and profligate who applied, and were refused assistance, were more contented and happy than the poor in the other parishes of Glasgow ; I was also agreeably disappointed at finding that Dr. Chalmers was not the only person having sufficient influence to obtain the aid of the respectable members of his congregation in administering the affairs of the poor. I had not the smallest

difficulty in procuring a sufficient number of deacons for that purpose.

You are aware, that in the month of November, 1825, I was appointed to another parish in this city, at that time under the old system; and although that system was better administered in St. Enoch's parish than it was perhaps in any other in similar circumstances, I could not fail to perceive its defects; and, therefore, with the concurrence of the kirk-session, a system in all essential points similar to that of St. John's has been established. It has now been in operation for eight or nine months, and has hitherto succeeded to my utmost wishes. The assessment is the only thing that stands in my way; it chills both public and private charity; many of the wealthy members of my congregation do not hesitate to assign it as an apology for contributing sparingly to our church-door collections; and I fear that it has a pernicious influence on their habits of private charity; notwithstanding, we are confident of success. Wishing all success to those who would ward of from the poor of Ireland the dreadful influence of poor rates,

I am, My dear Sir, yours always sincerely,
PATRICK M'FARLANE.

XVIII. SECTION IV. § 27.-Discouragements under which the St. John's System laboured, and in virtue of which its discontinuance was anticipated as far back as 1830.

I have to state that we are under very peculiar disadvantages in these parishes, St. Enoch's and St. John's; because it has a paralyzing influence on the liberalities of the wealthy to our poor, that those wealthy are also brought in to support the expenditure of the general system in Glasgow, and it is extremely discouraging, that though we have cleared away the burden of a compulsory provision from the parish of St. John's, yet the householders and the proprietors in that parish are just as much subject as before to assessment for the general expenses of the poor in the city.

I think it right to say, in regard to the present state of St. John's, as justifying a reliance upon the result of our experiment, that there is in one respect a very great precariousness; for let two or three only of the agents relax their management by a very little, such is the inherent power of increase in all systems of public charity which are carelessly conducted, that it would be in the power even of these few to overset the experiment. The true doctrinal inference which may be drawn out

of the past history of St. John's ought not to be affected by any thing future in the history of that parish, particularly when one adverts to the very great discouragements by which the parish is surrounded, as well as the great mischief which it is in the power even of a small fraction of the agency to bring upon the parish, by letting down the strictness of their administration. The discouragements are great indeed: the establishment of a new system always makes slow progress amongst practical men, insomuch that I have found it far easier practically to do the thing, than to convince men that the thing is practicable. There is a considerable feeling of hostility to this gratuitous method of relieving the poor.—Evidence before the Commons' Committee.

XIX. SECTION IV. § 28.-Extracts from Mr. Tuffnel's Report.

This system has been attended with the most triumphant success for thirteen years; it is now in perfect operation, and not a doubt is expressed by its managers of its continuing to remain so. The poor which St. John's had in the hospital have diminished by deaths to four, and even the expense of maintaining these is paid for by the parish out of its collections, consequently it has to undergo the hardship of being assessed for the support of the poor, without receiving a farthing's benefit from the money so raised, as not a single pauper belonging to it is maintained by the assessment.

The chief virtue of the new system seems to consist in the closer investigation which each new case of pauperism receives, by which means the parish is prevented from being imposed on; and as it is well known by the poor that this severe scrutiny is never omitted, attempts at imposition are less frequently practised. The laxity of the old management and utility of this investigation may be exemplified by what occurred when it was first put in practice. As all the St. John's sessional poor were closely examined, it was thought unfair not to bring their out-door Hospital poor, which the old system had left, to the same scrutiny; when it was discovered that many persons were receiving relief who had no claim to it, and who were consequently instantly struck off the roll; one man was found in the receipt of a weekly allowance who had eight workmen under him. It may safely be averred, that under the present management such an instance could not possibly occur. It is right, however, to mention, that in the other Glasgow parishes a much closer attention is bestowed on each case of pauperism than formerly.