The duty of the state towards the pauper children of Ireland

Abstract

It is not without many misgivings that I approach the subject of pauperism, on which is dependent to so large an extent the social prosperity of the Irish people. The subject has been discussed in various aspects from the platform of the Statistical Society, since its foundation in 1847, memorable in the history of Ireland as the year when the misery which accompanied the Potato Famine was at its greatest height. Many legislative enactments have since been passed to grapple with the great social problem-of the relation of the community to the poor, and some of the beneficent changes which have been effected in Westminster, as to the mode of administering relief, were previously discussed and advocated here, in the calmer atmosphere of philosophical inquiry. Much still remains to be done towards the solution of the problem, and without attempting to approach the larger subject, I shall direct my remarks, more especially, to what I consider its most important branch, viz., the duty of the State towards the pauper children.