connexions to enable other helpless creatures in circumstances like his own, to meet the struggles which he himself had undergone. In the history of this Country, public or domestic, I know of no feature more touching than this, unless, perhaps, it may be the yet more affecting sight of those who every day before our eyes are seen devoting their fortunes, their time, their labour, their health to offices of Benevolence and Mercy. How many persons do I myself know, to whom it is only necessary to say, there are men without employment,- children uneducated,— sufferers in prison,-victims of disease, wretches pining in want,—and straightway they will abandon all other pursuits, as if they themselves had not large families to provide for, and toil for days and for nights, stolen from their own most necessary avocations, to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and shed upon the children of the Poor that inestimable blessing of Education, which alone gave themselves the wish and the power to re

lieve their fellow-men!—I survey this picture with inexpressible pleasure, and the rather, because it is a Glory peculiar to England. She has the more cause to be proud of it, that it is the legitimate fruit of her free Constitution. Where Tyrants bear sway, Palaces may arise to lodge the Poor, and Hospitals may be the most magnificent ornaments of the seat of Power. But, though fair to the eye, and useful to some classes, their foundations are laid in the Sufferings of others. They are supported, not by private Beneficence, which renders a pleasure to the giver as well as a comfort to him who receives,— but by the hard-won earnings of the Poor, wrung from their Wants, and frequently by the preposterous imposts levied upon their Vices. While the Rulers of any people withhold from them the enjoyment of their most sacred rights,—a voice in the management of their own affairs,-they must continue strangers to those Noble sentiments,—that honest elevation of purpose, which distinguishes Freemen, teaches

them to look beyond the sphere of personal interest, makes their hearts beat high, and stretches out their arms for the glory and the advantage of their Country. There is no more degrading effect of Despotism than that it blunts the charitable feelings of our nature, rendering men suspicious and selfish, and forgetful that they have a Country. Happily for ENGLAND, she has still a People capable of higher things: :-but I have been led away from my purpose, which was only to express my admiration of those humane individuals, whose conduct I have so long witnessed,of whom if I have spoken very warmly,it is because I feel much more for them than I can describe,-and whose deserts are indeed far, far above any praise that language can bestow."9

The consideration to which this important subject now gave rise in Parliament, issued in the introduction of a Bill, the object of which was somewhat altered from the original intention of Mr.

9

• The Parliamentary Debates, vol. xxxviii. p. 610. ``,

G

BROUGHAM,-in as much as it was deemed expedient, that the charge of the intended inquiry should not devolve upon a Parliamentary Commission, but upon one to be appointed by The Crown.

The Act, after various Amendments, received the Royal Assent on the 10th of June, 1818, and is intituled, "An Act for appointing Commissioners to inquire concerning Charities in ENGLAND for the Education of the Poor,"-58° Geo. III. cap. 91.,—And the Preamble recites, that whereas it is highly expedient that an Inquiry should be made by Commissioners to be specially appointed, into the amount, nature, and application of the produce of any estates or funds, which have from time to time been devised or otherwise appropriated by pious and well disposed persons to the purpose of the Education of the Poor,-and whether any breaches of trust, irregularities, or abuses have been practised or happened in the management and employment thereof, and whether, by change of circumstances or other causes,

the same cannot be beneficially applied for the purposes originally intended.

It was therefore enacted, that it should be lawful for His Majesty to issue a Commission under the Great Seal to any number of persons not exceeding Fourteen, who should be constituted Commissioners for the purposes intended by this Act, and that the said Commissioners or any three of them should and they were thereby empowered and required to examine into and investigate the amount, nature, and application of all estates and funds, of what nature or kind soever, and the produce thereof, destined or intended to be applied to the purpose of educating the Poor in England and Wales, in so far as such produce should appear to be destined or applied for the purpose of educating the Poor, and to examine into and investigate all breaches of trust, irregularities, frauds, abuses, or supposed abuses or misconduct, in relation to and in the management or appropriation or non-appropriation or misappropriation, of such