the great
war, it is hard to find any excuse for its neglect of social
legislation. Then, if ever, was a time when the work of Pitt's best days
should have been resumed, when real popular grievances should have been
redressed, and when the long arrears of progressive reform should have
been gradually redeemed. Yet very little was done to better the lot of
men, women, and children in Great Britain, and that little was chiefly
initiated by individuals. In 1816, on the motion of a private member, an
inquiry was commenced into the state of the metropolitan police, which
disclosed most scandalous abuses, such as the habitual association of
thieves and thief-takers, encouraged by the grants of blood-money which
had been continued since the days of Jonathan Wild. In 1817 a committee
sanctioned by the ministers recommended a measure for the gradual
abolition of sinecures, which then figured prominently in the domestic
charter of reform. Their recommendations were adopted, and a large
number of sinecure offices were swept away. But inasmuch as sinecures
had been largely given to persons who had held public offices of
business, it was thought necessary to institute pensions to an amount
not exceeding one-half of the reduction. In 1816 a private member, named
Curwen, brought forward a fanciful scheme of his own for the amendment
of the poor laws, which in effect anticipated modern projects of old
age pensions. He obtained the appointment of a select committee, which
reported in 1817, but their proposals were thoroughly inadequate, and no
sensible improvement came of them.

It was also in 1816 that the cause of national education, the importance
of which had been vainly urged by Whitbread, was taken up in earnest by
Brougham. His motion for the appointment of a select committee was
confined to the schools of the metropolis. It sat at intervals until
1818, when its powers were enlarged, and its labours somewhat diverted
into a searching exposure of mismanagement in endowed charities. The one
direct fruit of the committee was the creation of the charity
commission, but in the opinion of Brougham himself it was of the highest
value in opening the whole education question. The almost universal
prevalence of distress in 1817, and the excessive burden thrown upon
poor rates, induced parliament to authorise an expenditure of L750,000
in Great Britain and Ireland for the employment of the labouring poor on
public works. A far sounder and m