The arguments for and against establishing a system of relief in Ireland founded upon voluntary contributions, are here deliberately stated by the advocates of such a procedure on one side, and by its opponents on the other. The question is vitally important with regard to the relief of the Irish poor, and deserves the most careful consideration. If the voluntary system be susceptible of the organisation and the certainty its advocates assume, it might doubtless be made to a considerable extent available, although still open to the objection that it would operate unequally upon the absentee and the resident proprietor, upon the liberal man and the niggard. The majority of the commissioners, we see, attach much weight to the example of Scotland, where they believe the voluntary system to have “been eminently successful.” How little ground there was for such belief, is shown in the recent working of that system;[69] and as regards the combining public aid with voluntary contributions which is recommended, it may be remarked, that such a combination has always led to the whole charge being eventually borne by the public.
See ‘History of the Scotch Poor Law.’ The number of parishes assessed to the relief of the poor in Scotland in 1855, was 700, and the number unassessed, in which the relief is raised by voluntary contributions, was 183. The latter are continually diminishing, and will probably ere long cease altogether.
[Sidenote: Mr Bicheno’s remarks on the evidence.]
In addition to the two schedules of ‘Reasons’ already noticed, another document was appended to the Report, entitled ‘Remarks on the Evidence &c., by one of the Commissioners.’ This was prepared by Mr. Bicheno, as an exposition of his own peculiar views, and fills upwards of forty closely printed folio pages. It contains a good deal of information upon the state of the country, and the condition and habits of the people, selected from the evidence furnished by the assistant-commissioners; but is too long for insertion. The concluding paragraph however indicates the spirit in which the ‘Remarks’ were written, and may therefore have a place; it is as follows—“After all the assistance that can be extended to Ireland by good laws, and every encouragement afforded to the poor by temporary employment of a public nature, and every assistance that emigration and other modes of relief can yield, her _real_ improvement must spring from herself, her own inhabitants, and her own indigenous institutions, irrespective of legislation, and English interference. It must be of a moral nature; the improvement of the high and the low, the rich and the poor. Without this, her tenantry will be still wretched, and her landlords will command no respect; with it, a new face will be given to the whole people.”