ject, it will, I trust, appear, that it is the interest of all within a certain sphere, to sanction with their presence, and support by their contributions, your several Societies. Government, seeing the advantages arising from Friendly Societies, wisely determined to prevent both mismanagement, and misapplication, of their revenues -to preserve order and regularity in their meetingsto restrain violence and opposition from occasioning their dissolution--and to secure, to the purposes of the Society, the property, of which unprincipled officers had often, with impunity, deprived them. These, it must be allowed, are essential advantages: but it is to be observed that, since the passing of that *Act, the complexion of the times is so much changed, that unless pecuniary aid be afforded by the Legislature, or voluntary contributions, or subscriptions made by the proprietors of estates, and the occupiers of them, the tree, which gives shelter by its foliage, and nourishment by its fruit, will, before it has taken deep root, droop and wither, and "the place thereof "will know it no more." The design of the Legis lature was, evidently, to infuse into the several memhers composing Friendly Societies, an honest pride to support themselves at all seasons, without deriving assistance from their several parishes. The t address prefixed to the rules of each of your clubs, implies, that you feel an honest pride under the certainty, * Entitled an Act for the encouragement and relief of Friendly Societies. June 1793. • + Written by the Right Honorable George Rose, when Secretary to the Treasury, and may, therefore, be supposed to speak the sense of Government." that that neither sickness, or any other visitation of Providence with which you may be afflicted, can compel < you to sue to the parish for relief.' The Legislature, certainly, concluded, that Friendly Societies contained in them" such inestimable benefits," that they would be, annually, receiving an accession of members, who, generally, wanting no relief, would enable the funds to support those who were advancing in years. This must, obviously, have been the view of Government. For supposing that a Society had ceased to encrease its numbers and one of these now present verifies the supposition-many of its members, after a certain lapse of years become old, and the youngest of them arrive at the middle part of life. The funds may, and, unavoidably, must, under such circumstances, be exhausted and when they who are now in health, and need nothing, shall be overtaken with old age, and infirmity whence is their expected support to arise? Some of them, naturally prudent, and sober, and disposed to maintain their families becoming their situations in life, have bereaved themselves of many comforts, by applying money they could very inconveniently spare, to their ordinary, and extraordinary, payments and after having contributed, it may be for twenty, or thirty years, when they themselves may be in necessity, the springs will either be dried up, or the wells contain so little water, as to be insufficient to supply those who go to draw. Can you suppose a greater hardship than this to exist? Such a disappointe ment could never have occurred to their minds, when they first joined themselves to the Society; neither, it may be supposed, could it have occurred to the Legislature. - When When the Legislature interposed in the protection of Friendly Societies, the subsequent increase of the price of provisions, and of all the necessaries of life, could not, assuredly, have been foreseen; the consequences arising from it being not at all provided against. For how is the weekly sum, which each Society is empowered to allot to its members, to maintain a family, whose earnings are so much reduced by the sickness of its head? When these Societies were first instituted, that sum which now appears inconsiderable, was, probably, a sufficiency: it was, probably, equivalent to the wages which were received for weekly labor. It will be said, perhaps, that the Legislature meant to interfere no further; and that application for relief to the parish officers, and if necessary, to the magistrates, is still open. No doubt! But on this subject much dissatisfaction-and no wonder !-prevails; and not merely in this place, but in almost every other. I will only observe, that no person in want of, and applying for, relief, can be, legally, refused it: but as the law of relief now stands, the weekly payment, which he receives from his Society, may be considered, hard as it seems, a part of his subsistence. The consequence which, necessarily, arises, is, that, whenever any person belonging to a Friendly Society, si com. pelled through want to apply to his parish for additional assistance; the sum, whatever it be, allowed in each weekly payment by the Society, is gained by the Farish. If it were the design of the Legislature, that neither sickness, or any other visitation of Providence with which you may be afflicted, was to compel you to sue for parochial relief,' Government, unquestion ably, ably, reasoned upon wrong principles. The members of these Societies are, very generally, composed of two descriptions of people; the one, of men, who, in the time of sickness, need no parochial relief, but who became members for the purpose of supplying themselves with that support which the nature of their sickness might require; the other consists of men who go to their work and to their labor until the evening ;--their illness arises, often, from their scanty, and miserable, living-living do I call it? it is, God knows, to many, a mere existence. Now, when they are visited by the hand of God, what they receive from the Society ought to be expended on themselves-in supplying them with that nourishment which exhausted nature demands. But then, how shall their family be sustained? The only effectual way seems to be, by enabling the Society to encrease its weekly allowances. It is, therefore, greatly to be desired, that the proprietors of estates would take your case into consideration. As an advocate of these Institutions, convinced, as I am, of their great, and general, utility, I cannot but express an earnest wish that the opulent inhabitants were made fully acquainted with the many advantages they themselves reap from them. And shall such Institutions, in times of unexampled difficulty, when "the hungry can scarce get bread to eat"-shall they be left to themselves, unassisted by those who, far more than themselves, are benefited by their associations? Will those whose property is, by the Societies, raised in value-whose parochial assessments are reduced in number-will they look upon such laudable exertions, and, like the priest in the parable," pass by "on the other side," without encouraging you by the approbation approbation of their smiles, without assisting you by the munificence of their hands? Forbid it mercy! Forbid it justice! I trust that, like the good Samaritan, they will pour in oil and wine to heal the wounds occasioned by the joint, and irresistible, effects of sickness, and old age! You are cultivating a generous and manly principle-a principle, which it is the interest of all the inhabitants to support, and the object of your pride to preserve-independence. What is the secret gratification of your minds? What is your conscious boast to your children? That you have lived without assistance from your parish! But let us see what are the advantages more immediately arising to the proprietors of estates. Is landed property advertised for sale? Is a farm offered to be let? What is held out as an inducement to a person disposed to become a purchaser in the one case, or a tenant in the other? The very little hé will, comparatively, have to pay in poors' rates. And to what is this owing? To these Societies entirely; the respective members, with very few exceptions, in the seasons of sickness, supporting themselves. An application, therefore, to the Great and the Opulent, now when every article of life is so, exorbitantly, high, will not, I am persuaded, be unsuccessful. Were an estimate made of the number in the several Societies, who, during the ten last years, have, in sickness supported themselves, by the funds which they themselves created; and who, without such funds, must have been supported out of the parochial assessments, the representation of the many advantages arising from them, would carry conviction to every bosom. The landholders have every inducement to encourage, to strengthen, and establish |