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CHAPTER II.

THE FRENCH POOR LAWS.

THE great public office that is now charged with the care of the sick and indigent inhabitants of Paris, is the modification and consolidation of institutions of ancient date. When the first French revolution burst over France, the sick and poor of Paris were not uncared for. The ancient Hôtel-Dieu had existed since the reign of Louis le Débonnaire ; and had gathered to it, in the course of centuries, most valuable gifts, rights, and immunities. Popes and bishops besought the faithful to support the Hôtel-Dieu, and threatened with excommunication all who should attempt to mar the privileges of the house sacred to the sick and unfortunate. Puissant signiors, rich merchants, warriors and courtiers, bequeathed money, or obtained privileges, for the venerable and venerated institution. Later, the Great Bureau of the Poor and the Hôpital Général were established, and were protected by all classes

of the citizens. But the privileges of the HôtelDieu are as curious as they are conclusive as to the gentle spirit in which, even centuries ago, the lofty and the powerful approached the unfortunate. The brothers and sisters of the ancient hospital were invested with the right (1308) to take a basketful of fish from every cart-load, and a proportionate quantity from other loads of eatables, for their poor. Their sheep grazed gratuitously in the royal forests. The confiscations suffered by duellists and gamblers were handed to the poor and afflicted. Every pipe of wine paid toll to the Hôtel-Dieu. Yet, in the middle of the seventeenth century, so great had been the demands on the directors of the ancient charity, that it was in debt, and an appeal was made to the charitable public. The hospital was rescued from danger. New privileges were given to it, and to the Hôpital Général. The administrators of these charities achieved the right of taking oneninth of the price of every ticket of admission to the public theatres. Under Louis XIV. and Louis XVI. the original charitable institution of the French capital found its fortunes revive. In 1791 its income was a little more than £56,000, and the balance in hand, after paying all expenses, more than £5,000.

The second institution, of old date, and now comprehended in the organization known as the Assistance Publique, was the Great Bureau of the

Poor! With this bureau I will class the Hôpital Général. The bureau was established so far back as 1535, and shared the patronage of the HôtelDieu. The Hôpital Général, founded in 1656, was based on general subscriptions, and was intended to relieve the bureau from the pressure of beggars and vagabonds, who flocked to it from all parts. The bureau enjoyed many peculiar privileges and useful exemptions. Ample means were necessary. In the year of its foundation the beggars were so many in Paris, and so refractory, that the Parliament enforced the poor-tax, which had been commanded by Francis I. The clergy especially resisted this poor-law, and so violently that, in 1547, the Parliament ordered the authorities to seize the goods of all who refused. The Bureau of the Poor remained high in public esteem, and was so well supported that in 1789 its income was nearly £16,000.*

The Hôpital Général soon became, however, the most important charitable institution in France. Seven years after its establishment its accounts showed an income of more than £31,000! and the money was wanted, for the year 1662 was a year of unprecedented famine, and the poor and starving were in crowds. The managers of the Hospital of

*The Duke of Mazarin gave £4,000, and others were equally generous.

the Hôtel-Dieu were at their wits' end.

The starving poor flocked from the country, because in Paris they were certain not to perish of hunger. This experience led to the establishment of general hospitals in all the towns of the kingdom. Under Louis XV. and Louis XVI. new privileges were given to the Hôpital Général, and among them the right to lend money to the poor on the mont de piété system. When the revolution broke out this institution enjoyed an income of more than £169,000. La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt reported to the National Assembly, in 1791, that he estimated the income of Paris hospitals and asylums at £320,000; but M. Husson holds that this income must have amounted to £400,000.

This was a tempting sum to fall within the power of men exalted with the splendour of new political dreams, and daring enough to touch the money of the sick and poor. The new principles which the revolution represented were opposed to many of the monopolies and immunities which the hospitals and asylums enjoyed; and we are not surprised to find that they were abolished. But the friends of humanity—the reorganizers of the world-were not content with annulling old rights; they laid hands on the property of the charities of Paris. Murmurs of opposition arose. Even the men who voted for the spoliation confessed their shame; and two years afterwards the hospitals were once more

in possession of the heritage of the poor, or part of it. By the action of the Revolutionary Government the charitable institutions of Paris suffered an annual loss of £137,500, and the income of the poor throughout France was diminished threefifths. The Directory "for the good of the poor" wished to seize all the properties belonging to the hospitals in order to "stimulate individual benevolence"; a crafty desire that was promptly checked. At last the charities of the country came under the control of the Consulate, and under this régime they were secured in their rights, and obtained a large capital for the losses they had suffered.

Count Trochot was charged with the responsibility of drawing up a project for the complete government of the hospitals and refuges of Paris. His report is an eloquent and masterly document, and is the basis of the present administration of the metropolitan charities. The hospitals and charities of Paris were placed under one administration in April 1801. The average number of inmates of the nineteen institutions thus brought under one government was 16,000; and the income of these institutions was £280,000, making the cost per head £17 10s.

There is no lack of charity in England; but there is lack of skill and economy in the administration of it. In the treatment of moneyless