ART. 1. Breakfast shall take place during the summer six months
precisely at 8 in the morning, and during the six winter months
at 9, and last half an hour. Immediately after breakfast the
inmates are to return to work until precisely half-past 12
o’clock, the dinner hour at all seasons.
5. From half-past 12 till 2 is allowed for dinner and for
recreation, under the inspection, in each division, of a
servant. At 2 o’clock precisely the bell is to summon the
inmates to return to work, and the inspectors are to call the
roll in each workshop.
6. At 8 in the evening, in all seasons, the bell is to be rung
for supper; the inmates may remain in the refectory till nine.
7. The same regulations shall be observed in the dormitories
and refectories of each sex, except that as respects the aged,
sick, and infirm.
SECTION 4.--_Workshops._
ART. 1. The inspectors are to see that every workman is busily
employed, and loses no time.
2. The workshops are to be kept locked during the hours of
work, and the inmates not allowed to leave them.
3. Each able-bodied inmate is to have a task set him,
proportioned to his strength and skill. If he do not finish it,
he is to be paid only for what he has done, put on dry bread,
and kept to work during the hours of recreation.
4. Every workman, who for three consecutive days fails in
completing his task, is to be kept during the hours of meals
and of recreation, and during the night, confined in the
punishment-room upon bread and water, until he has accomplished
his task.
5. Every workman who wilfully or negligently spoils the
materials, tools, or furniture in his care, shall pay for
them out of the reserved third of his earnings, besides still
further punishment as the case may deserve.
6. Every workman doing more than his task is to be paid
two-thirds of the value of his extra labour.
7. With respect to every inmate who shall have been imprisoned,
5 centimes for each day of imprisonment shall be deducted
from the reserved third of his earnings. The amount of these
deductions, and of all fines and other casual sources of
profit, is to form a reserved fund for the purpose of rewards
for those inmates who may distinguish themselves among their
companions by good conduct and industry.
SECTION 7.--_Religious Instruction._
ART. 1. Religious and moral instruction is to be given in the
chapel twice a week--on Sundays and Thursdays, at 7 in the
evening.
All the able-bodied inmates are to be present, in silence
and attention, under the inspection of their respective
superintendents. On Sundays, and the holidays established by
the Concordat, all the inmates and the officers of the depôt
shall hear mass at half-past 8 in the morning, and vespers at
half-past 1 in the afternoon.
2. At periods determined by ecclesiastical authority, the
children who are to be confirmed are to be instructed for two
months.
7. When any of these regulations are broken, the inspectors
and other officers are to report to the Governor, and he is to
pronounce sentence on the inmates.
BRITANY.
Mr. Perrier’s report from Brest, and Mr. Newman’s from Nantes, give a
very interesting account of the state of Britany. We will begin by Mr.
Perrier’s, as the more general view. (pp. 728, 729.)
Finisterre 524,396
Côtes-du-Nord 598,872
Morbihan 433,522
Ille-et-Vilaine 547,052
Loire Inférieure 470,093
-------
2,573,935
It is extremely difficult to obtain any statistical information
in Britany, all inquiries being received with distrust, not
only by the authorities, but also by the inhabitants. This has
been the principal cause of my delay in replying to the series
of questions. The answers, imperfect as they may appear, are
the result of patient and persevering inquiry.
The state of society in Britany, and its institutions, differ
so widely from those of any other civilized country, that
few of the questions are applicable. In order, therefore, to
convey the information which they are intended to elicit, it is
necessary to enter into a description of the population, which
I shall endeavour to do as briefly as possible.
The population of Britany may be classed under the following
heads:
Old noblesse, possessing a portion of the land.
Proprietors, retired merchants, and others, who have vested
their money in landed property.
Peasants, owners of the ground they till.
Farmers.
Daily labourers and beggars.
The abolition of the right of primogeniture causes a daily
diminution of the two first classes. As property, at the demise
of the owner, must be divided equally amongst his children,
who can seldom agree about the territorial division, it is put
up for sale, purchased by speculators, and resold in small
lots to suit the peasantry. Farmers having amassed sufficient
to pay a part, generally one-half, of the purchase-money of a
lot, buy it, giving a mortgage at five or six per cent. for
the remainder. Thus petty proprietors increase, and large
proprietors and farmers decrease.
A man, industrious enough to work all the year, can easily get
a farm.
Farms are small. Their average size in Lower Britany does not
exceed 14 acres. Some are so small as two acres, and there are
many of from four to eight. The largest in the neighbourhood of
Brest is 36 acres. The average rate of rent is 1_l._ 5_s._ per
acre for good land, and 8_s._ for poor land (partly under broom
and furze).
The farmers are very poor, and live miserably: yet, their
wants being few and easily satisfied, they are comparatively
happy. Their food consists of barley bread, butter, buck wheat
(made into puddings, porridge, and cakes). Soup, composed of
cabbage-water, a little grease or butter and salt poured on
bread. Potatoes; meat twice a week (always salt pork).
A family of 12, including servants and children, consumes
annually about 700 lbs. of pork and 100 lbs. of cow beef; the
latter only on festivals.
The class of daily labourers can only be said to exist in
towns. In the country they are almost unknown.
The inmates of each farm, consisting of the farmer’s family,
and one, two, or three males, and as many female servants
(according to the size of the farm), paid annually, and who
live with the family, suffice for the general work. At harvest
some additional hands are employed. These are generally people
who work two or three months in the year, and beg during the
remainder. Daily labourers and beggars may, therefore, in the
country, be classed under the same head.
Farmers’ servants are orphans or children of unfortunate
farmers.
The conditions of the poorer farmers, daily labourers and
beggars, are so near akin, that the passage from one state to
another is very frequent.
Mendicity is not considered disgraceful in Britany. Farmers
allow their children to beg along the roads. On saints’ days,
especially the festivals of celebrated saints, whose shrines
attract numerous votaries (all of whom give something, be it
ever so little, to the poor), the aged, infirm, and children of
poor farmers and labourers, turn out. Some small hamlets are
even totally abandoned by their inhabitants for two or three
days. All attend the festival, to beg.
The Bretons are hospitable. Charity and hospitality are
considered religious duties. Food and shelter for a night are
never refused.
Several attempts to suppress mendicity have been unsuccessful.
District asylums were established. No sooner were they filled
than the vacancies in the beggar stands were immediately
replenished by fresh subjects from the country; it being a
general feeling that it is much easier and more comfortable to
live by alms than by labour.
In towns where the police is well regulated, the only
mendicants permitted to sojourn are paupers belonging to the
parish. They are known by a tin badge, for which they pay at
the police office.
No such thing is known as a legal claim for assistance from
public or private charities.
In towns, destitute workmen or other persons in distress must
be authorized by the municipality previous to soliciting
public or private assistance. To this effect, the pauper makes
known his case to the commissary of police of the quarter he
inhabits, who makes inquiry among the neighbours. Should the
destitute case of the applicant be established, the mayor
grants him a certificate of indigence, which authorizes him to
apply for relief to the public institutions, and to solicit
private charity. It also exempts him (or rather causes his
exemption) from the payment of taxes.
The principal cause of misery is inebriety; its frequency among
the lower orders keeps them in poverty. The “_cabaret_” (wine
and brandy shop) absorbs a great portion of their earnings.
This vice is not confined to men; the women partake of it. It
has decreased within the last five or six years, but is still
considerable.
We now proceed to give some extracts from the more detailed report of
Mr. Newman, who writes, it must be recollected, from Nantes. (pp. 171,
172, 173, 174, 178, 175, 176, 177.)
LOIRE INFERIEURE.
NANTES.
[Sidenote: Population of the Department, 470,093. Population of Nantes,
87,191.]
_Vagrants._
In the department Loire Inférieure there is no asylum for
mendicants; but Nantes has a species of workhouse, “St.
Joseph’s House,” supported entirely by private subscriptions.
To this house the tribunals often send vagabonds, in virtue of
the 274th article of the Penal Code, although the directors of
the establishment have contested, and still contest, the right
assumed by the judges to do so; and they never receive any
person so sent as a criminal to be detained a certain number of
days at labour as if in a prison, but merely give him a refuge
as an act of charity, and liberty to leave the place, if he
likes to go before the time expires. The number of vagrants
that formerly infested Nantes (strangers to the department as
well as to the city) have decreased to about a tenth part since
begging in the streets was prohibited, and the paupers sent to
this establishment.
The hospitals of Nantes receive all workmen, travellers, and
needy strangers, that fall sick in the city (if foreigners, at
the charge to their consuls of 1_s._ 3_d._ sterling per day for
men, and 10_d._ for women.) If a man, (and his family also,)
being destitute, wishes to return to his native place, and has
not rendered himself liable to be committed as a vagrant, the
préfet has the power to give a passport to him for that place;
on the production of which at the mairie of the commune from
which he sets out he receives from the public funds of the
department three halfpence per league for the distance from
thence to the next place he is to be relieved at, and so on to
the end of his journey, each place he has to stop at being set
down on his passport; if he deviates from the route designated,
he is arrested as a vagabond.
There is in France throughout the whole country a general
union for each of several trades, the carpenters, bakers,
masons, tailors, &c. In each city or town of consequence, each
society has a member who is called “the mother,” who receives
the weekly contributions of those who reside in that place,
affords relief to all of its members passing through it, and is
obliged to procure work for the applicant, or support him at a
fixed rate, established by their bye-laws, until a situation
be provided for him there or elsewhere. Those unions sometimes
assume a very dangerous power, by compelling masters to hire
all their members that are without work, before they engage one
man who does not belong to them.
_Destitute Able-bodied._
In times of political commotion, of unforeseen events, of
rigorous seasons, when the usual courses of labour are stopped,
the civil administrations create temporary workshops, furnish
tools, &c., to the labourers, and enter into contracts for
repairs to the streets, quays, bridges, roads, &c., from which
a large city, as well as the country parishes, can always
draw some advantages for the money so distributed, to employ
those persons who would otherwise be supported without work
by the same funds. The money required on those occasions is
furnished by the treasury of the city or commune, assisted
by private subscriptions from nearly all persons in easy
circumstances. The want of regular or parish workhouses for
labourers, unemployed, is in some measure supplied by private
charities, for a great number of wealthy families, and others
of the middling class, give employment to old men, women, and
children, in spinning, and in weaving of coarse linen, at
prices far beyond those that the articles can be purchased at
in the shops; but this plan is adopted to prevent a disposition
to idleness, although at a greater sacrifice, perhaps, than
would be made by most of the promoters of it, in a public
subscription.
The bureau de bienfaisance distributes annually about 80,000
fr.; the chief part, or very nearly the whole, to poor families
at their homes, in clothes, food, fuel, and sometimes money;
but of the latter as little as possible. Les dames de charité
(ladies of the first families, who are appointed annually
to visit and give relief to the poor, each having a fixed
district) distribute about three-fourths of that sum, which
would be insufficient for the indigent if it were not assisted
by distributions made by the priests of the different parishes
and other persons employed to do so by private families,
who give their alms in that manner, and not at their own
residences. It is generally supposed that, in the whole, not
less than 250,000 fr. are so distributed annually in the city
of Nantes. In making this distribution care is always taken to
prefer invalids to those in health.
_Impotent through Age._
In the city of Nantes there is a general hospital, called
the “Sanitat,” for the reception of the old and impotent;
at present it contains about 800; it answers to an English
workhouse; the inmates are lodged, fed, clothed, and are taken
care of in every way: they are employed about trifling work,
but the average gain by it does not exceed 20 fr. per annum
for each. The average cost appears to be about 11 to 12 sous
per day for each person. The establishment of St. Joseph’s,
already alluded to, is, in fact, a sort of assistant to the
Sanitat (although supported by private charity) for the 100
to 120 old people it contains. The Sanitat has a ward for
dangerous as well as ordinary lunatics; is under the same board
and direction as the Hôtel Dieu (the general hospital for the
sick); but each is supported by its own funds, arising from
bequests and donations from private persons, and from the city
funds; yet if either hospital should require any assistance,
the money wanted would be voted by the city treasury.
The general council for the department votes about 1200 to 1250
fr. annually to the Sanitat from the departmental funds.
_Sick._
Nantes has a general hospital (Hôtel Dieu) for the sick,
containing 600 beds, 300 of which are reserved for the indigent
of the city. The expense of this establishment is about a franc
to 25 sous per day to each person. The military are received
at 20 sous per man per day, which is paid by the government.
It is supported by its own funds, arising from bequests and
donations, and grants made from time to time by the city; is
under the same board and direction as the Sanitat. If a poor
person becomes sick in the country, he is either relieved
by the curé of the parish or by some of the more wealthy
neighbours, or he comes into Nantes and resides there for a
week or ten days before he makes an application to the mayor
to be admitted into the hospital; he is then sent there as an
inhabitant of the city. The authorities in the country have
not the right to send a patient to the Hôtel Dieu, yet a great
number arrive at the hospital, sent by country practitioners,
who have not the skill, or perhaps the leisure or inclination,
to attend to them; and _they are always received_, if it be
possible to take them in. The students at the hospital are
ever ready to admit any difficult cases or fractures from the
country, for their own improvement.
There are also hospitals for the sick at the following places
in the Loire Inférieure: Ancenis, for the town and commune;
Chateaubriand, Paimbœuf, Savenay, and Clisson, for the towns
only.
Besides the succour afforded to the poor at their homes by the
bureau de bienfaisance, there are three dispensaries supported
by that establishment, for administering relief to the sick,
who are attended at their homes, if necessary, by the nuns of
St. Vincent de Paule, 12 or 14 of whom are kept in the pay of,
and are wholly supported by the bureau. They carry to them
soup and other victuals, remedies, &c., and lend them linen
and clothes, if wanted. There are a number of young men, who
are either studying, or have just completed their study of
medicine, who are anxious to give their assistance gratis,
and who are in constant attendance on those who are receiving
relief from the dispensaries. It is impossible to state the
extent to which such relief is given. The nuns are paid by the
bureau de bienfaisance, which also pays for the medicines, &c.
they distribute; but the sum that is thus expended bears but
a small proportion to the amount that is distributed by the
hands of those sisters, who, from the accurate knowledge they
possess of the real situation and condition of each person they
visit, are employed by numerous wealthy persons to distribute
privately such charities as they feel disposed to give; and can
thus be well applied in providing those little comforts for the
invalids, which cannot be sent from the bureau to all those who
require them, although the funds are increased from time to
time by the proceeds of representations at the theatre, public
concerts, &c. given for that purpose.
Independent of the foregoing, there are several tradesmen’s
societies on the plan of benefit societies in England, the
members of which pay five or six sous per week, and receive, in
case of sickness, all necessary assistance in medicines, &c.,
besides an indemnity of a franc to a franc and a half per day
during the time they are unable to work.
_Orphans, Foundlings, or Deserted Children._
The law requires an establishment (a tour) in each department,
for the secret reception of children. Every arrival is
particularly noted and described in a register kept for that
purpose, that the infant may be recognised if it should be
claimed. The children, after having received all necessary
assistance and baptism, are confided to women in the country
(a regulation of this department only), to dry-nurse them (au
biberon); they are paid eight francs per month for the first
year, seven for the second and third, six until the ninth
year, and four francs per month from that time until the child
is 12 years old; when the nurse who has taken care of one
from its birth to that age receives a present of 50 fr. for
her attention. A basket of requisite linen is given with the
child, and a new suit of clothes annually for seven years.
These regulations are observed for orphans and foundlings. The
registers for the last 20 years give an average of 360 to 370
admissions annually; _more than one-half of them die under one
year old_; therefore, with the deaths at other ages, and the
claims that are made for some of them before they attain 12
years, the establishment has seldom at its charge more than
from 1200 to 1300, of all ages, from 0 to 12.
The parents being unknown when they place their infants in the
“tour,” cannot be traced afterwards, unless they acknowledge
themselves; they are, however, as has been observed before,
liable for the expenses of their offspring; and whenever
they are discovered, whether by claiming their children or
otherwise, the right to make them repay the costs they have
occasioned is always maintained, and they are compelled to pay
the whole, or as much as their finances will admit of.
Deserted children of the city, or the children of poor persons,
who cannot support them, are received and treated in a similar
manner, without being placed in the “tour;” they are admitted
according to the state of the finances appropriated to such
branch of the establishment, which in general permits from
80 to 100 to be on it. Certificates are required that the
parents are dead, the child abandoned, or that the mother is
totally unable to support it, or that she has a number of
young children. Independent of the 1400 children thus received
by the Hôtel Dieu, the bureau de bienfaisance supports 200
_legitimate_ children, and the société maternelle from 60 to
80, until they attain the age of 18 years.
The number of deaths in 1832 was 11,999; the number under one
year old, 1970, or one in 6¹²⁄₁₉₇. Chateauneuf states, _for all
France_, 33 deaths, under one year old, out of every hundred
births, which is nearly double the number of deaths of that
description for this department; but the mortality is much
greater amongst the orphans, foundlings, and deserted children
of this city received at the hospital. An account, made up to
the year 1828, gave an average of 52 deaths, under one year
old, of every hundred children received there; and since that
date it has increased considerably.
There are women in the city who make it their business to place
infants in the “tour,” and who afterwards attend the delivery
of them to the country nurses, and thus, knowing where certain
children are placed, give notice to the parents, who can visit
them without being discovered. Children thus recognised are
frequently demanded by their parents for servants, in the
ordinary way; and by this plan they screen themselves from the
payment of the child’s support.
[Sidenote: Effects of these institutions.]
There can be no doubt that the prospect of an asylum for the
indigent creates amongst the working class a disposition to
idleness and debauchery, whilst at the same time there are
those who look down with disgust on their miserable brothers
who are compelled to accept a public charitable support; and
the shame which they consider attaches to a man who does it
stimulates them to avoid the doors of an hospital by industry
and sobriety. The number of these, however, is very small,
whilst the applications for admittance to the Sanitat and
to St. Joseph’s are so very numerous, so far beyond the
accommodation that can be granted, that after the name of an
applicant is registered he has (frequently) to wait 18 to 24
months for his turn. For the sick, however, at the Hôtel Dieu
it is not so; for arrangements are made that no delay takes
place with any case requiring immediate relief or treatment.
The shades between the healthy labourers of the lowest class
that support themselves, and those who obtain relief from
charitable institutions, are so slight, that it is almost
impossible to state the difference in their conditions. _No
man_ has a _legal claim_ upon any of the charities; in the
distribution of which, however, there is but one fixed rule
that governs the distributors, and that is, to compel the
applicants for relief to work to their utmost power, and to
give such relief only in each individual case as they suppose
to be necessary with the wages he can or ought to earn,
according to the demand for labourers at the time.
According to the price of lodgings, victuals and clothing in
Nantes, a steady labourer at the highest rate of wages, 1_s._
3_d._ per day, supposing he had 300 days’ employment in the
year, is considered to be able to support a wife and three
young children; if he has a larger family, is out of employ,
or is at a lower rate of wages, without his wife and children
being able to gain a little, he is regarded as indigent, and
in need of succour. A labourer, his wife, and three children
consume in the day from 8 to 10 lbs. of bread, which is their
chief food, and will cost him 240 fr.; his cabbages and other
vegetables, butter or fat for his soup, 90 fr.; his room, 50
fr.; leaving 70 fr. or 2_l._ 18_s._ 4_d._ for clothes, fuel,
&c.; which make up the sum of his wages for 300 days at 1½ fr.,
or 1_s._ 3_d._ per day. The wife in general adds a little to
the husband’s earnings by spinning, and sometimes weaving; but
it is not much when the family is young.
To prevent the increase and lessen the present state of
disorder into which the greater part of the labouring class and
mechanics of Nantes has fallen, a number of master tradesmen
and proprietors of factories will not employ those men who do
not agree to allow a certain sum weekly to be retained from
their wages for the use of the wife and family. The example
spreads, and will no doubt become more general; but this
circumstance shows forth, in strong colours, the immoral state
of the working class in France.
There are no cottages for labourers, as are seen in England:
the chief part of the work on farms in this part of France is
done by servants in the house of the farmer, or by married
labourers, to whom an acre or two, sometimes as high as 10,
according to the quality, is fenced off from the estate for
the use of the man and his family; for which he has to give a
certain number of days’ work. If such patch of land requires
to be ploughed, the farmer does it for him, for an additional
number of days’ work. Besides those, there are an immense
number of little proprietors, having from an acre and a half to
10 or 15 acres; and they give their labour also to the farmers
of larger estates, receiving in return either assistance with
oxen, carts, ploughs, &c., or an equivalent in some produce
which they do not raise on their own land. Very little money,
if any, passes between them. These little properties have
sprung up from labourers and others fencing in small patches
of commons or waste lands. Nearly all the vineyards in the
Loire Inférieure are cultivated by labourers, who have a small
spot of ground partitioned off from the main estate: it is for
married men only that ground is so divided; the single men live
with their families in the villages, or in public-houses, but
generally in the latter. In regard to these questions, it must
be observed that almost every farmer who hires an estate takes
such a one as will just sustain his family, without the aid, or
with the assistance only of a man or a man and woman servants,
and that therefore very few daily labourers find employment.
Few estates run to 200 acres, and if so large, a daily labourer
is only hired during harvest, so wretchedly is the husbandry of
the country managed.
The cottages or houses in villages for labourers are in
general the property of the owners of the large estates in the
neighbourhood, as well as those that are built on the patches
of land for the use of those who are married; some of the
latter, however, are built at the joint expense of the farmer
and labourer. A cottage or cottages in a detached place from a
village, or a house in such a situation, with a little plot of
ground for a garden for each apartment, lets for about 20 to 30
francs a year per room, whether the building consists of one
or of four rooms. In the villages the rent is a little higher,
from 30 to 50, and sometimes as high as 80, if the garden be
large to a cottage with only one room. These buildings are so
seldom on sale, that the price cannot be stated with accuracy.
We now proceed to the
GIRONDE.
BOURDEAUX. (pp. 229, 230, 231, 232, 233, 235.)
[Sidenote: Population of the Department, 554,225. Population of
Bourdeaux, 109,467.]
There are no houses of industry in this department for the
destitute able-bodied, except that known as the _Depôt de
Mendicité_.
This institution was first established in the year 1827, with
a view to suppress the great number of professed beggars
who infested the streets and public walks, taking advantage
of any defect of conformation, &c. to attract the notice of
passengers. By law all persons found begging in the streets
are liable to be taken up, and imprisoned; but instead of
imprisonment, those arrested are conveyed to the _Depôt de
Mendicité_, where, if able, they are made to work. The good
effects of this institution are visible; for instead of the
number of professed beggars amounting to 800, which it did
before the institution of the establishment, it does not now
amount to above 150 or 200.
This institution is supported by private contribution. The King
and the town contribute a certain portion to make up what may
be wanting. The average number of the population of the depôt
amounts to 350 souls.
Generally speaking, owing to the want of population, employment
is to be found in commerce, trade or agriculture. The high
price of wages in the towns and in the country proves that work
is always to be found.
When any unforeseen circumstances have arisen to interrupt the
common order of things, the local authorities have come to the
assistance of the population, by giving work to those out of
employment. Public subscriptions are also resorted to on these
occasions.
All indigent families, and in which there are those capable of
working, but who are not able to obtain it, or whose numbers
are so great that all cannot be subsisted, are relieved by the
_Bureaux de Charité_.
The same relief is given to those who, having a habitation,
are unable of themselves, through age or infirmity, to support
themselves.
The mode of obtaining this relief is by petition, signed by
some credible person, and attested by the priest or protestant
clergyman. It is proportioned to the number of the family, and
to the number of those able to work, and whose wages go to
the maintenance of the family. The relief consists in bread,
soup, wood for fuel, and sometimes, though rarely, blankets and
woollen clothing; medicines for the sick, and broth.
Generally speaking, these distributions of food would be
insufficient; but most indigent families are assisted by
private persons, so that, on the whole, they have wherewithal
to sustain life.
The annual _distribution à domicile_ (domiciliary relief)
amounts to the sum of 100,000 francs (4,000_l._).
3,520 families are relieved. The number of impotent in these
families, father and mother included, though able to work,
amounts to 9,634, or less than a franc per head per month.
It is in proportion to these numbers that the relief is given,
but it is greater in winter than the other parts of the year.
As to the medicines and broth, whenever there are sick in these
families a sufficiency is given. Physicians are attached to
each auxiliary bureau of every district, who visit the sick,
prescribe the remedies, &c., all of which are distributed
by the _Sœurs de Charité_ (Sisters of Charity, an order of
nuns who devote themselves to the care of the poor and sick,
and who undertake, gratuitously, the elementary education of
their children). It is a most respectable and praiseworthy
institution.
The same Sisters receive in their houses the little girls of
these families who are old enough to read. Books are supplied
by the instructors.
In extraordinary cases, recourse is had to subscriptions and
collections, which increase the means of the _Bureaux de
Charité_; so that during long and hard winters, more clothing,
&c. is distributed. It seldom happens that money is given.
There are, however, no positive regulations on these
points. The whole is in the hands of the directors of this
establishment. A responsible receiver is attached to it, whose
accounts are submitted to the examination of the _Cours des
Comptes_ (audit office). Thus, though the distributions are
left to the judgment of the directors, they are subjected to
control.
The above details relate to the city of Bourdeaux. There are,
however, proportionate institutions in most of the larger
towns of the department, but in the poorer parishes and rural
districts the _Bureaux de Charité_ are merely nominal. These
parishes being without a revenue, are unable to assist their
poor, who subsist on the alms they may receive at the different
dwelling-houses, and who when ill, if possible, come to the
nearest hospital, generally to that of Bourdeaux.
In this department there are no schools in which indigent
children are received to be fed and clothed gratuitously, but
there are those in which they receive a certain degree of
instruction.
For Boys.--The institution of _Freres des Ecoles Chrétiennes_
(Brothers of the Christian Schools), and two Lancasterian
schools, which have been lately instituted.
For Girls.--A Lancasterian school, a few boarding schools,
in which a certain number of indigent girls are taught
gratuitously; and also the Sisters of Charity attached to the
administration of the _Bureaux de Charité_.
The _Ecoles Chrétiennes_ are at the charge of the town. The sum
appropriated to those establishments amounts annually to about
14,000 francs (560_l._). Admissions are granted by the town.
The number of children instructed in reading, writing, and a
little arithmetic, amounts to about 1,800 for the town. At
the Lancasterian school, the instruction is on a more extended
scale. Grammar, drawing and surveying are taught, in addition
to what is taught at the _Ecoles Chrétiennes_.
There are at present in these latter schools 300 boys and 150
girls in all.
The department pays the expenses of these schools.
The girls received in the private boarding schools, where they
learn to read, to write, and to sew, amount to the number of
about 600. This is entirely a private act of charity.
The number of girls received by the Sisters of Charity amounts
to about 900.
There has also been established within the last year a model
infant school, founded by private subscriptions, for the
children of labourers and journeymen artisans. At present,
however, it is so little known, that it is of very little
importance.
_Impotent through Age._
Bourdeaux is the only town of the department which possesses
any establishments of this kind, viz., the Hospital of
Incurables (_Hospice des Incurables_), and that of the old
people (_Hospice des Vieillards_).
These two establishments support 300 old people. This number
falls very short of that which the population requires. The
requisite qualifications for admission are, to have passed the
age of 60, and to prove that the candidate has no means of
subsistence.
It may be added, that at Bourdeaux the number of old people who
are candidates for admittance to these hospitals amounts to
300, and that on an average a vacancy occurs for each at the
end of four years at the _Hospital des Incurables_, and two
years at _Hospice des Vieillards_, and that all these claimants
find either in their families, the _Secours à Domicile_, or
private charity, means of subsistence.
_Sick._
The department possesses, for the reception of the sick, a
small hospital at Bazas; one at St. Macaire, and one at La
Réole; a more extensive one at Blaye and Libourne, and the
great hospital at Bourdeaux.
The great hospital of Bourdeaux contains always from 600 to 650
sick. The daily admittances average 30; the discharges, 28, and
the deaths two.
No distinction is made as to country, &c. either in admittance,
treatment, or discharge.
The inmates of this hospital are generally composed of
inhabitants of the town, who are too poor to be treated at
home, or who prefer the care that is taken of them there to
that which they would experience at home; of workmen, &c. from
the neighbouring departments employed in the town, and who have
nowhere else to go; of peasants, even in easy circumstances,
who, from illness or accidents, have not the same resources at
home.
Bourdeaux possesses a _Hospice de la Maternité_, or Lying-in
Hospital, and a society, founded by private benefactions, for
the same purpose.
The Lying-in Hospital is an asylum in which any woman who
presents herself in the ninth month of her pregnancy, whatever
may be her state, her country or condition, is admitted without
difficulty, without question or inquiry, under the name she
pleases, and in such a manner, that the fear of being known or
discovered may not prevent those who wish to remain unknown
from benefiting by the institution.
Women admitted at the ninth month remain in the establishment
till they have completely recovered their lying-in. (p. 231.)
The number of those women, either lying-in or subsisted in the
hospital, varies from 35 to 60, and their stay is about 30
days. The births amount annually from 400 to 450; upon this
number, 30 or 40 at most are kept and suckled by their mothers;
the rest are abandoned and sent to the Foundling Hospital.
Among these inmates, about one-fifth is composed of married
women, who have no means of being confined at home; two-fifths
of young girls of the town, chiefly servants; the rest of
peasants, who leave their homes in order not to be discovered.
Illegitimate children deserted by their parents, and which are
deposited at the Foundling Hospital, are clothed and nourished
by women in the institution, till a nurse out of it can be
procured.
These children, after being suckled, remain with their nurses
till the age of 12 years. At this age, if the individuals who
have brought them up do not wish to keep them gratuitously
till their majority and give them a trade, they return to
the hospital, and they then cease to be at the charge of the
special funds. The establishment itself provides for their
expenses; and until they can be placed as apprentices, they
receive, in the Bourdeaux hospital, the rudiments of reading
and writing, and they are taught some trade.
Once placed as apprentices, they remain with the master till
the age of 21, when they are to shift for themselves.
Those that cannot be placed, or are infirm, remain in the
hospital, and form a sort of permanent population there.
Children whose parents are known, and who are living, but
have either disappeared or are confined, are received in the
same way as foundlings, the mode of admission differing only.
This must be granted by the prefect after an inquest. For the
remainder, they enjoy the same advantages as the foundlings.
As to orphans, they are also admitted into the Foundling
Hospital, upon the order of the administrative commission,
after information as to the state of the family. At Bourdeaux
the orphans of the town alone are received. Those of the rest
of the department remain at the charge of their parishes, and
generally live by alms. The orphans received into the hospital
enjoy the same privileges as the foundlings and deserted
children.
The annual exposal of children amounts at Bourdeaux to 900,
comprising all those abandoned at the Lying-in Hospital, those
of the town, and those sent from the various parts of the
department, as well as from the neighbouring departments.
From 10 to 15 deserted children, and the same number of
orphans, are annually admitted.
The population of the hospital amounts generally to 40 new-born
infants, waiting to be sent to nurse; 150 children beginning
their apprenticeships, and waiting to be placed; about 150
infirm of all ages forming the permanent part of the population.
The number of children from the age of one month to that of
12 years, amounts to 3,600; and that of children above 12 and
below 21 apprenticed out, amounts to above 1,500.
The expenditure of the hospital, comprising the clothing for
the children brought up out of the establishment, amounts to
110,000 francs per annum (4,400_l._) That for the nurses or
board in the country, to 240.000 francs (9,600_l._), of which
104,000 fr. (4,160_l._) is given by the government upon the
common departmental fund.
27,000 fr. (1,080_l._) taken from the revenue of the town of
Bourdeaux.
60,000 fr. (2,400_l._) voted by the general council on the
_Centimes Facultatifs_.
49,000 fr. (1,960_l._) on the revenue of the other parishes of
the department.
Owing to the extreme carelessness and entire absence of frugality
on the part of the peasantry and other classes of labourers, it is
impossible to give an accurate account of their expenditure. They
live entirely from hand to mouth; and nine-tenths are in debt for the
common necessaries of life. The men are addicted to gambling, and the
women spend the greater part of what they earn in useless articles of
dress. As to the expenditure for schooling and religious teaching, no
provision is thought of.
BASSES PYRENÉES.
BAYONNE.
[Sidenote: Population of the Department, 428,401. Population of
Bayonne, 14,773.]
On recurring to the statistical statements respecting this department,
it will be seen that it supports its population with a smaller number
of deaths, births, and marriages, than any other extensive district in
Europe. Compared with the countries which have been lately considered,
its provisions for public charity are trifling, as will appear by the
following extracts from Mr. Harvey’s report. (pp. 260, 261, 262.)
_Vagrants._
Mendicity, under the head of vagrancy, is not prevalent in the
department of the Lower Pyrenees; the relief afforded to French
subjects passing through the department, seeking work (which
seldom occurs), or returning to their native places, is at the
rate of three sols per league, or ½_d._ per mile; but this
relief is more frequently granted to foreigners in distress,
and is paid by the several mayors at certain stations or towns
on their route. There is no public relief granted to vagrants
living by begging.
_Destitute Able-bodied._
There are no public or private establishments or relief
afforded to the destitute able-bodied or their families; but
this description of pauper is seldom or ever to be met with in
this department.
_Impotent through Age._
There are no public or religious institutions or regulations
for the relief of the poor in general; they subsist by begging;
and when no longer able to do so, they receive a trifling
relief from “The Ladies of Charity” (Dames de la Charité), who
make quarterly collections from the respectable inhabitants,
which these ladies distribute in food, fuel, or money, to the
_pauvres honteux_, or infirm, as the case may be; but this
private voluntary subscription is very inadequate.
The inhabitants of Bayonne (and it is hoped and expected that
the example will be followed in other places) are now occupied
in forming, by voluntary annual subscriptions, an establishment
for the relief of the poor; a commission of gentlemen has been
appointed, and there is every prospect that this charitable
undertaking will be crowned with success.
_Sick._
In the towns there are public hospitals for the sick and
wounded; but when convalescent, they are obliged immediately to
quit the hospital, destitute or not.
CHILDREN.
_Illegitimate._
Illegitimate children (infants only) are received into the
hospitals established by the famous St. Vincent de Paul, but
where the parents have no communication with or control over
them; these children are placed out to nurse in the country
at about 5_s._ a month, and are afterward provided for by the
hospital, if in the course of seven years they are not claimed
by the parents.
When not deposited in the hospitals, the mothers have
invariably been found to bestow upon their infants the most
scrupulous care and attention, the natural consequence of
having had the firmness and humanity not to abandon their
offspring, notwithstanding the facility of concealment held out
to them by the hospital.
_Orphans or Deserted Children._
There are no public or private institutions or regulations for
orphans.
_Deserted Children._--There are no public or private
regulations or institutions under this head; but I have not
heard of a case in question in this department.
_Cripples, Deaf and Dumb, and Blind._
_Cripples._--Obliged to beg if destitute, there being no public
or private institutions or regulations for cripples.
The deaf and dumb, if poor and destitute, are obliged to beg;
there are excellent establishments in the large towns for their
instruction, for those who have the means.
_Blind._--Obliged to beg, there are no public or private
institutions for them.
_Idiots and Lunatics._
There are no public or private institutions for idiots.
There is an institution (Maison de Force) for the admission of
lunatics at the Chef Lieu of the department only (at Pau).
The questions relative to hired country labourers are not
altogether applicable to this department, which is invariably
divided into small farms, not exceeding from 20 to 30 English
acres each, the families on each farm sufficing for the
cultivation thereof, the proprietors or the farmers being
themselves the labourers of the soil, the neighbours assisting
each other in time of harvest; consequently it seldom occurs
that a hired labourer is called in; but when employed they are
paid at the rate of about 1_s._ per diem, without food. The
women, and the children from the age of 10 years, constantly
work on the land. The children generally receive a primary
education at the village day schools, where there is always a
schoolmaster or mistress appointed by the authorities; price
of education, 2 francs (about 1_s._ 7_d._) per month. At these
schools the children are prepared for their first communion;
they learn reading, writing, and calculation. The food of the
proprietor or farmer labourer chiefly consists in vegetable
soups, potatoes, salt fish, pork, bacon, &c., and seldom
or ever butcher’s meat, and invariably Indian corn bread,
homebaked. These persons (who are generally the owners of the
soil) procure for themselves a comfortable subsistence, but
they are seldom able to lay by anything. The equal division of
the land prevents in a great measure mendicity. The families
on each farm in the whole department consist on an average of
about five persons.
It is calculated that persons attain a more advanced age in
this department than in any other in France.
BOUCHES DU RHONE.
MARSEILLES.
[Sidenote: Population of the Department, 359,473. Population of
Marseilles, 145,115.]
_Vagrants._
It has been calculated that the average number of beggars in
this department (the Mouths of the Rhone) is 1060, whereof 900
are natives and 105 strangers, besides 240 who traverse the
department. The calculation having been made some years ago,
the numbers may have increased with the population, which was
then 313,000, and is now 359,000.
The only relief granted to the poor travelling is by giving
them a “passport d’indigent,” furnished by the local
authorities, in which their exact route is designated, and not
to be deviated from; they receive, as they pass through each
commune, three sous for every league of distance, equal to a
halfpenny per mile, and lodging for the night: beggars have no
relief but private charity.
_Destitute Able-bodied._
The principal establishment at Marseilles for their relief is
the bureau de bienfaisance, whose revenues, arising partly from
the remnant property of some charitable institutions existing
before the revolution, partly from an annual allowance granted
by the budget of the commune, partly by a tax on theatrical
admissions, and from private subscriptions, amount altogether
to about 140,000 francs, or 5600_l._, of which the major
part is distributed in money to the “pauvres honteux” (those
who have seen better days), and in providing necessaries and
medical assistance for the poor in general, by five directors,
and at their sole discretion. Similar establishments exist in
the other arrondissements of this department, but, with the
exception of Aix, with very small means, principally dependent
on the commune budgets, which, in many cases, furnish nothing.
I am informed that in this commune, with a population of
140,000 inhabitants, the bureau relieves, more or less, 800
families of “pauvres honteux” and 4000 families of indigent
poor. There is also at Marseilles a société de bienfaisance,
supported principally by private charity, whose chief object
is the establishment of soup kitchens and dispensaries for
the relief of the poor, and a school for the education of
their children from four to nine years of age. No relief is
ever given in money. Their annual revenue is about 40,000
francs, or 1600_l._; and in times of great distress the local
administration increases its funds, and supplies the poor with
soup through its means.
The number of children received in the school above-mentioned
is about 200: they receive two meals a day and sleep at home;
they are taught various trades, and apprenticed at the expense
of the commune; there are also several gratuitous day-schools
for children of the age of seven years and upwards, and who
bring their own food.
_Impotent through Age._
The only public establishment for the reception of this class
is that called “La Charité,” in which those are admitted who
have attained the age of seventy, and none before; the number
of those individuals at present is about 350; they are there
boarded, clothed, and fed.
_Sick._
There are no district institutions for the reception of the
sick, except the general hospitals. The average number of sick
in the hospital of Marseilles may be about 450.
_Children._
One large branch of the administration of hospitals of
Marseilles is “La Charité,” which receives, as before
mentioned, old men, and also all children under twelve years of
age, whether illegitimate, orphans, foundlings, or deserted;
they are there received, and, when infants, principally nursed
in the country. At this time there are 2240 infants in this
situation, and on their return they are boarded, lodged, and
educated.
SARDINIAN STATES.
The information respecting the Sardinian States consists of answers
from Piedmont, Genoa, and Savoy, obtained by Sir Augustus Foster from
the Minister of the Interior, from M. de Vignet, a Senator of Chambery,
from Marquis Brignole Sale, Syndic of Genoa, and from the Marquis
Cavour, Syndic of Turin, and his son, Count Camille Cavour.
The following extracts comprise their most material contents. (Pages
653, 654, 655, 656, 657, 659, 660, 661, 662.)
The general system appears to resemble that of France, except that in
Piedmont mendicity is not an offence.
PIEDMONT.
_Mendicants._
Mendicity is not forbidden by law; every person who is
considered unable to obtain by his own industry subsistence for
himself and his family may station himself in the streets, and
ask charity of the passers by. The government and the local
authorities have often, but in vain, endeavoured to repress the
innumerable abuses which have followed. But the regulations
which have been made for this purpose have been ineffectual
and even nugatory. The law, however, which forbids the poor to
beg out of their parishes, is frequently put in force. When
a great number of strangers are found begging in a town, the
municipal authorities drive them out _en masse_, leaving it to
the gendarmerie to oblige them to return to their country, or
to the places considered to be their homes. But as the law in
question is not enforced by any punishment, if they find any
difficulty in living at home, they soon return to violate it
afresh.
There are no means of ascertaining, even by approximation,
the total number of mendicants. It depends, too, in part on
many causes continually varying; such as good or bad harvests,
hard or mild winters, and the changes of employment in those
trades which afford subsistence to many hands. It is spread,
however, over the whole country, but in different degrees. In
the valleys of the Alps it scarcely exists; in those of the
Apennines it is considerable, as is generally the case where
chestnuts are the ordinary food of the lower orders.
If a labouring man, not domiciled in the place of his
residence, finds himself, from accident or illness, unable
either to earn his living, or to reach his home, the
authorities, both of his temporary residence, and of the places
that lie in his route homewards, are required to supply to him
the means of travelling. In Turin, a small pecuniary assistance
is given to all workpeople who wish to return to their own
homes, but this is not a general practice.
_Destitute Able-bodied._
_Are there any establishments for the reception of the
destitute able-bodied and their families, in which they are set
to work, and furnished with food and clothes?_
There are none. The only attempt of the sort was one made
some years ago at Raconis, and it failed almost immediately,
among difficulties and bad consequences of every description.
An establishment called Ergastolo exists near Turin, in which
young vagrants are confined and kept to constant work; but
although a person may be committed to it without trial on a
simple order from the police, it is considered rather as a
house of correction than a workhouse.
There are still convents at whose doors soup, bread, and other
kinds of food are distributed. But this deplorable practice is
not now sufficiently prevalent to produce a sensible effect
except in some parts of the Genoese coast, where the mendicant
orders are the most numerous, and the poverty the greatest.
Many charitable institutions have ecclesiastical forms and
names, but their attention is almost confined to the sick and
the impotent. When a bad harvest or a hard winter occasions
much distress, the municipal authorities, either spontaneously
or on the suggestion and with the aid of the government,
undertake public works in order to give employment to the
able-bodied. This is more frequent in the large towns, such as
Turin and Genoa.
_To what extent do they obtain relief in kind and in money?_
They never receive either from the government or from the
municipal authorities; what they get is from private charity.
But on some great occasions, such as the anniversary of the
Restoration of the Monarchy, or the celebration of the King’s
Birth-day, food and clothes are distributed among some of the
most needy families.
Many of the towns have _Monts-de-piété_, which lend on pledges
at 6 per cent., but under very rigorous rules. If the unhappy
borrower cannot redeem the pledge before the fixed time, it is
sold, whatever may be its value, for the amount of the debt.
In spite of this, the number of people who have recourse to
them is immense. I do not think I exaggerate in saying that
there are very few poor housekeepers some of whose furniture or
clothes is not thus in pawn.
_Impotent through Age._
1. _Are there hospitals for the reception of those who through
age are incapable of earning their subsistence?_
There are none avowedly for this purpose, but there are several
intended for incurables, into which those whose only infirmity
is old age, manage to get received.
2. _Do they receive relief in kind and in money at their own
homes?_ They receive none from the government or the municipal
authorities, but such relief is afforded by many charitable
institutions. In Turin, for example, the congregation of St.
Paul has large revenues; and by law, there ought in every
parish to be a charitable association. But, in fact, none
are to be found excepting in some villages and towns; almost
all the rural parishes are without them. The resources of
those which exist arise from endowments, from donations, and
from periodical collections made in churches, or from house
to house. _These associations certainly do much good, but
being subjected to no general rules or central control, their
proceedings are neither uniform nor regular; a source of
enormous abuse, which, in the present state of things, it is
impossible to correct or even to verify._
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.