“The voluntary contributions of Scotland have been recommended as an example to be followed, rather than the compulsory assessments of England; and the Dublin Mendicity Association has been referred to, and its working described as at once effective for the suppression of mendicancy, and for the relief of the indigent within the sphere of its operations, without injury to the sensibilities of individual benevolence. But the feelings of charity and gratitude, which it is delightful to contemplate as the motive and the fruit of benevolent actions, can only exist between individuals. It matters not whether the fund to be distributed has been raised by voluntary contribution, or by legal assessment, or whether it has been devised for purposes of general charity. The application of the fund becomes, in each case, _a trust_; it is distributed as a trust, and it is received as a right, not as a gift. It may moreover be remarked, that the Dublin Mendicity Association has with difficulty been kept in existence by great exertions on the part of the committee, and by threats of parading the mendicants through the streets. If difficulty is thus found in supporting such an institution in Dublin, how impracticable must it be to provide permanent support for similar institutions in other parts of the country. Some persons contend that relief for the indigent classes in Ireland should be provided in ‘houses of industry,’ similar to those now existing in Dublin and a few other places. These institutions are in general not badly managed, and some classification is enforced in them, and the sexes are invariably separated. But they are certainly not entitled to the designation of ‘houses of industry.’ They are in fact places for the maintenance of a number of poor persons, mostly aged or infirm, and idiots, and lunatics; but as a general means of supplying necessary relief, and of testing the necessity, they are totally inefficient.