Another article, which Mr. Chadwick published in the London Review, in 1829, on “Preventive Police,” was read by Jeremy Bentham, then in his eighty-second year, who so much admired it, that he craved an introduction to the writer.  The consequence was the formation of a friendship that lasted without interruption until the death of the philosopher in 1832.  Mr. Bentham wished to engage the whole of his young friend’s time in assisting him with the preparation of his Administrative Code, and he offered to place him in independent circumstances if he would devote himself exclusively to the advancement of his views.  The offer was, however, declined.

Mr. Chadwick completed his law studies, and was called to the bar in November, 1830.  He was preparing to enter upon the practice of common law, occasionally contributing articles to the Westminster, when he was, in 1832, appointed a commissioner, in conjunction with Dr. Southwood Smith and Mr. Tooke, to investigate the question of Factory Labour, which Lord Ashley and Mr. Sadler were at that time strongly pressing upon public attention.  The sanitary idea again found opportunity for expression in the report of the commission, which referred to “defective drainage, ventilation, water supply, and the like, as causes of disease,—­acting, concurrently with excessive toil, to depress the health and shorten the lives of the factory population.”

In the same year (1832) an important Commission of Inquiry was appointed by Lord Grey’s Government, in reference to the operation of the Poor Laws in England and Wales.  Mr. Chadwick was appointed one of the assistant commissioners, for the purpose of taking evidence on the subject; and the districts of London and Berkshire were allotted to him.  His report, published in the following year, was a model of what a report should be.  It was full of information, admirably classified and arranged, and was so racy,—­by virtue of the facts brought to light, and the care taken to preserve the very words of the witnesses as they were spoken,—­that the report may be read with interest by the most inveterate enemy of blue-books.

Mr. Chadwick showed himself so thoroughly a master of the subject,—­his suggestions were so full of practical value,—­that he was, shortly after the publication of the report, advanced from the post of assistant commissioner to that of chief commissioner:  and he largely shared, with Mr. Senior, in the labours and honours of the commissioners’ report submitted to the House of Commons in 1834, and also in the famous Poor-Law Amendment Act passed in the same year, in which the recommendations of the commissioners were substantially adopted and formalized.