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 5s. 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.