Remarks on the report of Her Majesty's Commissioners on the Poor-Laws of Scotland, presented to Parliament in 1844, and on the dissent of Mr. Twisleton from that report / by William Pulteney Alison.

  • Alison, William Pulteney, 1790-1859.
Date:
1844
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Remarks on the report of Her Majesty's Commissioners on the Poor-Laws of Scotland, presented to Parliament in 1844, and on the dissent of Mr. Twisleton from that report / by William Pulteney Alison. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    In this position of the question, and in the interval between the publication of the Report and the deci- sion of Her Majesty's Government, upon any remedial measures, I have thought it may be of some use, with a view to the practical benefits for which the inquiry was instituted, to lay before the public, in a more com- pendious and accessible form than the official papers, what seem to me the most important facts that have been ascertained; and, at the same time, the reasons which convince me, that the measures proposed by the majority of the Commissioners will not meet the exist- ing evils; and that those proposed by Mr Twisleton are alone adequate to the occasion. I lay no claim, either to superior knowledge of this department of political economy, or to superior philan- thropy ; but having considered the subject for many years, with all the attention which other avocations would permit, and perhaps with less prepossession in favour of the existing system in Scotland, than may have existed in the minds of others who have lately studied it, and finding that my views have met the ap- probation of many men of the highest talent and cha- racter, and particularly that they are, at least generally, approved by one who has studied it, practically as well as theoretically, so attentively as Mr Twisleton, I trust I shall be acquitted of presumption in taking this step. beg farther to say, that I am fully sensible of the