experience gained at that time, however, did not prevent the formation of the "ateliers nationaux" in 1848. And we in England are passing through a similar crisis. At the end of the great Revolution, the only remaining public forms of "assistance par travail" were the "filature des indigents" for women and the Maison de Scipion for the making of bread—both upon a very small scale and of doubtful efficiency.
The Convention proclaimed the abolition of private charity and individual almsgiving, but having done so they had nothing to give in its place. "Solidarité humaine" proved a sorry substitute. The Government itself was almost bankrupt owing to the destruction of public confidence.
Meanwhile "the benevolent were robbed of the dream of their life," that, namely, of helping their fellow-creatures. "The poor lost their resource in time of trouble, and men of sensibility the means of satisfying their moral consciousness."
The creation of the Central Commission of "Bienfaisance" was the one work of these early administrators destined to last, and was the foundation of the present system of outdoor relief in Paris. The struggle between the theory of State v. voluntary charity reappears in the word "bienfaisance," which was substituted for the older "charité," a word odious to the disciples of Rousseau. The swing of the pendulum came in 18 16 when the " bureaux de bienfaisance" became once more "bureaux de charité" for a brief period. In 1 801 the Conseil-Géneral des Hospices was founded at the instance of the then Préfet of the Seine; its first members were men of great distinction, and the reorganisation of the various institutions was for the first time placed upon a firm basis.
M. Duquesnoy, a member of the Conseil,
