port of the abilities on all sides the House, which it shall be my object to obtain. The call, on the part of the country, on this House, to go into an inquiry on the poor laws, has been general: I trust therefore, however unequal to the task, that I shall meet with indulgence proportioned to its difficulties. With the aid of a committee composed of gentlemen most conversant with the subject, a bill may, I flatter myself, be formed, which may afford a remedy for the existing evils.
In this late period of the sessions, it is true, much progress cannot be expected to be made. Personal considerations would have led me to postpone the measure, in order to have employed the interval in seeking more information: desirous, however, of complying with the earnestly expressed wish of many respected individuals, and entertaining the hope, that the plan when made public may excite the attention of others, so as to aid the labours of the committee in the next sessions, I have determined now to propose it.
I shall first shortly advert to the plans of those who have preceded me. Mr. Gilbert and Mr. East had each bestowed much time and attention on the subject: on their suggestions some important alterations have been made. The merit of these I propose not to question:—the radical defects of the system were not to be cured by palliatives, however wisely imagined; and, in fact, the evils resulting from the poor laws have since rapidly augmented.
Mr. Pitt’s splendid talents will not be questioned by those most adverse to his political conduct. The magnitude of the evils just alluded to induced him to undertake the application of a remedy, but his bill did not, I believe, even travel into a committee, and he himself was convinced of its inadequacy. More recently, a gentleman eminently qualified from his knowledge of the subject, and whose great abilities and indefatigable attention pointed him out above all others as the fittest person for this undertaking, was not more successful. The able and eloquent speech of Mr. Whit-
