Statement of the Provision for the Poor, and of the Condition of the Labouring Classes in a Considerable Portion of America and Europe / Being the preface to the foreign communications contained in the appendix to the Poor-Law Report

by Nassau William Senior

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.