Cottage Economy Part 12

54. In the foregoing Numbers, I have shown, that men can never be so poor as to have no rights at all: and that, in England, they have a legal, as well as a natural, _right_ to be maintained, if they be dest.i.tute of other means, out of the lands, or other property, of the rich. But, it is an interesting question, HOW THERE CAME TO BE SO MUCH POVERTY AND MISERY IN ENGLAND. This is a very interesting question; for, though it is the doom of man, that he shall never be certain of any-thing, and that he shall never be beyond the reach of calamity; though there always has been, and always will be, poor people in every nation; though this circ.u.mstance of poverty is inseparable from the means which uphold communities of men; though, without poverty, there could be _no charity_, and none of those feelings, those offices, those acts, and those relationships, which are connected with charity, and which form a considerable portion of the cement of civil society: yet, notwithstanding these things, there are bounds beyond which the poverty of the people cannot go, without becoming a thing to complain of, and to trace to the Government as a fault. Those bounds have been pa.s.sed, in England, long and long ago. England was always famed for many things; but especially for its _good living_; that is to say, for the _plenty_ in which the whole of the people lived; for the abundance of good clothing and good food which they had. It was always, ever since it _bore the name of England_, the richest and most powerful and most admired country in Europe; but, its _good living_, its superiority in this particular respect, was proverbial amongst all who knew, or who had heard talk of, the English nation. Good G.o.d! How changed!

Now, the very worst fed and worst clad people upon the face of the earth, those of Ireland only excepted. _How, then, did this horrible, this disgraceful, this cruel poverty come upon this once happy nation?_ This, my good friends of Preston, is, to us all, a most important question; and, now let us endeavour to obtain a full and complete answer to it.

55. POVERTY is, after all, the great badge, the never-failing badge, of slavery. Bare bones and rags are the true marks of the real slave. What is the object of Government? To cause men to live _happily_. They cannot be happy without a sufficiency of _food_ and of _raiment_. Good government means a state of things in which the main body are well fed and well clothed. It is the chief business of a government to take care, that one part of the people do not cause the other part to lead miserable lives.

There can be no morality, no virtue, no sincerity, no honesty, amongst a people continually suffering from want; and, it is cruel, in the last degree, to punish such people for almost any sort of crime, which is, in fact, not crime of the heart, not crime of the perpetrator, but the crime of his all-controlling necessities.--To what degree the main body of the people, in England, _are now_ poor and miserable; how deplorably wretched they now are; this we know but too well; and now, we will see what was their state before this vaunted "REFORMATION." I shall be very particular to cite my _authorities_ here. I will _infer_ nothing; I will give no "_estimate_;" but refer to authorities, such as no man can call in question, such as no man can deny to be proofs _more_ complete than if founded on oaths of credible witnesses, taken before a judge and jury. I shall begin with the account which FORTESCUE gives of the state and manner of living of the English, in the reign of Henry VI.; that is, in the 15th century, when the Catholic Church was in the height of its glory.

FORTESCUE was Lord Chief Justice of England for nearly twenty years; he was appointed Lord High Chancellor by Henry VI. Being in exile, in France, in consequence of the wars between the Houses of York and Lancaster, and the King's son, Prince Edward, being also in exile with him, the Chancellor wrote a series of Letters, addressed to the Prince, to explain to him the nature and effects of the Laws of England, and to induce him to study them and uphold them. This work, which was written in Latin, is called _De Laudibus Legum Angliae_; or, PRAISE OF THE LAWS OF ENGLAND. This book was, many years ago, translated into English, and it is a book of Law-Authority, quoted frequently in our courts of this day. No man can doubt the truth of _facts_ related in such a work. It was a work written by a famous lawyer for a prince; it was intended to be read by other contemporary lawyers, and also by all lawyers in future. The pa.s.sage that I am about to quote, relating to the state of the English, was _purely incidental_; it was not intended to answer any temporary purpose. It _must have been a true account_.--The Chancellor, after speaking generally of the nature of the laws of England, and of the difference between them and the laws of France, proceeds to show the difference in their effects, by a description of the state of the French people, and then by a description of the state of the English. His words, words that, as I transcribe them, make my cheeks burn with shame, are as follows: "Besides all this, the inhabitants of France give every year to their King the _fourth part_ of all their _wines_, the growth of that year, every vintner gives the fourth penny of what he makes of his wine by sale. And all the towns and boroughs pay to the King yearly great sums of money, which are a.s.sessed upon them, for the expenses of his men at arms. So that the King's troops, which are always considerable, are subst.i.tuted and paid yearly by those common people, who live in the villages, boroughs, and cities. Another grievance is, every village constantly finds and maintains two _cross-bow-men_, at the least; some find more, well arrayed in all their accoutrements, to serve the King in his wars, as often as he pleaseth to call them out, which is frequently done. Without any consideration had of these things, other very heavy taxes are a.s.sessed yearly upon every village within the kingdom, for the King's service; _neither is there ever any intermission or abatement of taxes_. Exposed to these and other calamities, the peasants live in great hardship and misery. Their _constant drink is water_, neither do they taste, throughout the year, any other liquor, unless upon some extraordinary times, or festival days. Their clothing consists of _frocks_, or little short _jerkins_, made of canva.s.s, no better than common _sackcloth_; they _do not wear any woollens_, except of the _coa.r.s.est sort_; and that only in the garment under their frocks; nor do they wear any trowse, but from the knees upwards; their legs being exposed and naked. The women go barefoot, except on holidays. They do _not eat flesh_, except it be the fat of bacon, and _that in very small quant.i.ties_, with which they make _a soup_. Of other sorts, either boiled or roasted, _they do not so much as taste_, unless it be of the inwards and offals of sheep and bullocks, and the like which are killed, for the use of the better sort of people, _and the merchants_; for whom also quails, _partridges_, _hares_, and the like, _are reserved, upon pain of the gallies_; as for their poultry, _the soldiers consume them_, so that scarce the eggs, slight as they are, are indulged them, by way of a dainty. And if it happen that a man is observed to thrive in the world, and become rich, he is _presently a.s.sessed to the King's tax_, proportionably more than his poorer neighbours, _whereby he is soon reduced to a level with the rest_." Then comes his description of the ENGLISH, at the same time; those "priest-ridden" English, whom CHALMERS and HUME, and the rest of that tribe, would fain have us believe, were a mere band of wretched beggars.--"The King of England cannot alter the laws, or make new ones, without the express consent of _the whole kingdom in Parliament a.s.sembled_. Every inhabitant is at his liberty fully to use and enjoy whatever his farm produceth, the fruits of the earth, the increase of his flock, and the like: all the improvements he makes, whether by his own proper industry, or of those he retains in his service, are his own, to use and enjoy, without the let, interruption, or denial of any. If he be in anywise injured or oppressed, he shall have his amends and satisfactions against the party offending. Hence it is that the inhabitants are _rich in gold, silver_, and in all the necessaries and conveniences of life. _They drink no water_, unless at certain times, upon _a religious score_, and by way of doing penance. They _are fed, in great abundance_, with _all sorts of flesh_ and _fish_, of which _they have plenty every-where_; they are _clothed throughout in good woollens_; their bedding and other furniture in their houses _are of wool_, and that _in great store_. They are also well provided with all other sorts of household goods and necessary implements for husbandry. Every one, according to his rank, hath _all things which conduce to make life easy and happy_."--Go, and read this to the poor souls, who are now eating sea-weed in Ireland; who are detected in robbing the pig-troughs in Yorkshire; who are eating horse-flesh and grains (draff) in Lancashire and Cheshire; who are harnessed like horses, and drawing gravel in Hampshire and Suss.e.x; who have 3_d._ a day allowed them by the magistrates in Norfolk; who are, all over England, worse fed than the _felons_ in the jails. Go, and tell them, when they raise their hands from the pig-trough, or from the grains-tub, and, with their dirty tongues, cry "_No Popery_;"

go, read to the degraded and deluded wretches, this account of the state of their _Catholic_ forefathers, who lived under what is impudently called "_Popish superst.i.tion and tyranny_," and in those times which we have the audacity to call "_the dark ages_."--Look at the _then_ picture of the French; and, Protestant Englishmen, if you have the capacity of blushing left, blush at the thought of how precisely that picture fits the English _now_! Look at _all the parts_ of the picture; the _food_, the _raiment_, the _game_! Good G.o.d! If any one had told the old Chancellor, that the day would come, when this picture, and even a picture more degrading to human nature, would fit his own boasted country, what would he have said? What would he have said, if he had been told, that the time was to come, when the soldier, in England, would have more than twice, nay, more than thrice, the sum allowed to the day-labouring man; when potatoes would be carried to the field as the only food of the ploughman; when soup-shops would be open to feed the English; and when the Judges, sitting on that very Bench on which he himself had sitten for twenty years, would (as in the case of last year of the complaints against Magistrates at NORTHALLERTON) declare that BREAD AND WATER were the general food of working people in England? What would he have said? Why, if he had been told, that there was to be a "REFORMATION," accompanied by a total devastation of Church and Poor property, upheld by wars, creating an enormous Debt and enormous taxes, and requiring a constantly standing army; if he had been told this, he would have foreseen our present state, and would have wept for his country; but, if he had, in addition, been told, that, even in the midst of all this suffering, we should still have the ingrat.i.tude and the baseness to cry "_No Popery_," and the injustice and the cruelty to persecute those Englishmen and Irishmen, who adhered to the faith of their pious, moral, brave, free and happy fathers, he would have said, "G.o.d's will be done: let them suffer."--But, it may be said, that it was not, then, the _Catholic Church_, but the _Laws_, that made the English so happy; for, the French had that Church as well as the English. Aye! But, in England, the Church was the very _basis of the laws_. The very first clause of MAGNA CHARTA provided for the stability of its property and rights. _A provision for the indigent_, an effectual provision, was made _by the laws_ that related to the Church and its property; and this was not the case in France; and never was the case in any country but this: so that the English people lost more by a "Reformation" than any other people could have lost.--Fortescue's authority would, of itself, be enough; but, I am not to stop with it.

WHITE, the late Rector of SELBOURNE, in Hampshire, gives, in his History of that once-famous village, an extract from a record, stating that for disorderly conduct, men were _punished_ by being "compelled to _fast_ a fortnight on _bread and beer_!" This was about the year 1380, in the reign of RICHARD II. Oh! miserable "_dark ages_!" This fact _must be true_.

WHITE had no purpose to answer. His mention of the fact, or rather his transcript from the record, is purely _incidental_; and trifling as the fact is, it is conclusive as to the general mode of living in those happy days. Go, tell the harnessed gravel-drawers, in Hampshire, to cry "_No Popery_;" for, that, if the Pope be not put down, he may, in time, compel them to _fast_ on _bread and beer_, instead of suffering them to continue to regale themselves on nice potatoes and pure water.--But, let us come to _Acts of Parliament_, and, first, to the Act above mentioned of KING EDWARD III. That Act fixes the _price of meat_. After naming the four sorts of meat, _beef_, _pork_, _mutton_, and _veal_, the preamble has these words: "These being THE FOOD OF THE POORER SORT." This is conclusive. It is an _incidental_ mention of a fact. It is an Act of Parliament. It _must have been true_; and, it is a fact that we know well, that even the Judges have declared from the Bench, that _bread alone_ is _now the food of the poorer sort_. What do we want more than this to convince us, that the main body of the people have been _impoverished_ by the "Reformation?"--But I will _prove_, by other Acts of Parliament, this Act of Parliament to have spoken truth. These Acts declare what the _wages_ of workmen shall be. There are several such Acts, but one or two may suffice. The Act of 23d of EDW. III. fixes the wages, without food, as follows. There are many other things mentioned, but the following will be enough for our purpose.

_s._ _d._

A woman hay-making, or weeding corn, for the day 0 1 A man filling dung-cart 0 3-1/2 A reaper 0 4 Mowing an acre of gra.s.s 0 6 Thrashing a quarter of Wheat 0 4

The price of _shoes_, _cloth_, and of _provisions_, throughout the time that this law continued in force, was as follows:--

_L._ _s._ _d._

A pair of shoes 0 0 4 Russet broad-cloth the yard 0 1 1 A stall-fed ox 1 4 0 A gra.s.s-fed ox 0 16 0 A fat sheep unshorn 0 1 8 A fat sheep shorn 0 1 2 A fat hog 2 years old 0 3 4 A fat goose 0 0 2-1/2 Ale, the gallon, by proclamation 0 0 1 Wheat the quarter 0 3 4 White wine the gallon 0 0 6 Red wine 0 0 4

These prices are taken from the PRECIOSUM of BISHOP FLEETWOOD, who took them from the accounts kept by the bursers of convents. All the world knows, that FLEETWOOD'S book is of undoubted authority.--We may then easily believe, that "beef, pork, mutton, and veal," were "the food of the _poorer sort_," when a _dung-cart filler_ had more than the price of _a fat goose and a half for a day's work_, and when a woman was allowed, for _a day's weeding_, the price of a _quart of red wine_! Two yards of the cloth made a coat for the _shepherd_; and, as it cost 2_s._ 2_d._, the reaper would earn it _in 6-1/2 days_; and, the dung-cart man would earn very nearly a _pair of shoes every day_! this dung-cart filler would earn a _fat shorn sheep_ in four days; he would earn a _fat hog_, two years old, in twelve days; he would earn a _gra.s.s-fed ox_ in twenty days; so that we may easily believe, that "beef, pork, and mutton," were "the food of the _poorer sort_." And, mind, this was "a _priest-ridden people_;" a people "buried in _Popish superst.i.tion_!" In our days of "_Protestant light_" and of "_mental enjoyment_," the "poorer sort" are allowed by the Magistrates of Norfolk, 3_d._ a day for a _single man_ able to work. That is to say, a half-penny _less_ than the Catholic dung-cart man had; and that 3_d._ will get the "_No Popery_" gentleman about _six ounces_ of old ewe-mutton, while the Popish dung-cart man got, for his day, rather more than _the quarter of a fat sheep_.--But, the popish people might work _harder_ than "_enlightened_ Protestants." They might do _more work in a day_. This is contrary to all the a.s.sertions of the _feelosophers_; for they insist, that the Catholic religion made people _idle_. But, to set this matter at rest, let us look at the price of the _job-labour_; at the _mowing_ by _the acre_, and at the _thrashing_ of wheat by _the quarter_; and let us see how these _wages are now_, compared with the price of food.

I have no _parliamentary_ authority since the year 1821, when a report was printed by order of the House of Commons, containing the evidence of Mr.

ELLMAN, of Suss.e.x, as to wages, and of Mr. GEORGE, of Norfolk, as to price of wheat. The report was dated 18th June, 1821. The accounts are for 20 years, on an average, from 1800 inclusive. We will now proceed to see how the "popish, priest-ridden" Englishman stands in comparison with the "_No Popery_" Englishman.

POPISH MAN. NO POPERY MAN.

_s._ _d._ _s._ _d._

Mowing an acre of gra.s.s 0 6 3 7-3/4 Thrashing a quarter of Wheat 0 4 4 0

Here are "_waust_ improvements, Mau'm!" But, now let us look at the relative _price of the wheat_, which the labourer had to purchase with his wages. We have seen, that the "popish _superst.i.tion slave_" had to give _fivepence_ a bushel for his wheat, and the evidence of Mr. GEORGE states, that the "_enlightened_ Protestant" had to give 10 _shillings_ a bushel for his wheat; that is 24 _times_ as much as the "popish _fool_," who suffered himself to be "priest-ridden." So that the "_enlightened_" man, in order to make him as well off as the "_dark_-ages" man was, ought to receive _twelve shillings_, instead of 3_s._ 7-3/4_d._ for mowing an acre of gra.s.s; and he, in like manner, ought to receive, for thrashing a quarter of wheat, _eight shillings_, instead of the _four shillings_ which he does receive. If we had the _records_, we should doubtless find, that IRELAND was in the same state.

56. There! That settles the matter as to _ancient_ good living. Now, as to the progress of poverty and misery, amongst the working people, during the last half century, take these facts; in the year 1771, that is, 55 years ago, ARTHUR YOUNG, who was afterwards Secretary to the Board of Agriculture, published a work on the state of the agriculture of the country, in which he gave the allowance for the keeping of _a farm-labourer, his wife and three children_, which allowance, reckoning according to the present money-price of the articles which he allows amounted to 13_s._ 1_d._ He put the sum, at what he deemed the _lowest possible sum_, on which the people could _exist_. Alas! we shall find, that they can be made to exist upon little more than _one-half_ of this sum!

57. This allowance of Mr. ARTHUR YOUNG was made, observe, in 1771, which was before the Old American War took place. That war made some famous fortunes for admirals and commodores and contractors and pursers and generals and commissaries; but, it was not the Americans, the French, nor the Dutch, that gave the money to make these fortunes. They came out of _English taxes_; and the heaviest part of those taxes fell upon the _working people_, who, when they were boasting of "_victories_," and rejoicing that the "JACK TARS" had got "prize-money," little dreamed that these victories were purchased by them, and that they paid fifty pounds for every crown that sailors got in prize-money! In short, this American war caused a great ma.s.s of new taxes to be laid on, and the people of England became _a great deal poorer than they ever had been before_.

During that war, they BEGAN TO EAT POTATOES, as something to "_save bread_." The poorest of the people, the very poorest of them, refused, for a long while, to use them in this way; and even when I was ten years old, which was just about _fifty years ago_; the poor people would not eat potatoes, except _with meat_, as they would cabbages, or carrots, or any other moist vegetable. But, by the end of the American war, their stomachs had come to! By slow degrees they had been reduced to swallow this pig-meat, (and bad pig-meat too,) not, indeed, without grumbling; but to swallow it; to be reduced, thus, many degrees in the scale of animals.

58. At the end of _twenty-four years_ from the date of ARTHUR YOUNG'S allowance, the poverty and degradation of the English people had made great strides. We were now in the year 1795, and a new war, and a new series of "_victories_ and _prizes_" had begun. But who it was that _suffered_ for these, out of whose blood and flesh and bones they came, the allowance now (in 1795) made to the poor labourers and their families will tell. There was, in that year, a TABLE, or SCALE, of allowance, framed by the Magistrates of Berkshire. This is, by no means, a _hard_ county; and therefore it is reasonable to suppose, that the _scale_ was as good a one for the poor as any in England. According to this scale, which was printed and published, and also acted upon for years, the weekly allowance, for _a man, his wife and three children_, was, according to present money-prices, 11_s._ 4_d._ Thus it had, in the s.p.a.ce of twenty-four years, fell from 13_s._ 1_d._ to 11_s._ 4_d._ Thus were the people brought to the _pig-meat_! Food, fit for men, they could not have with 11_s._ 4_d._ a week for five persons.

59. One would have thought, that to make a human being _live_ upon 4_d._ _a day_, and find _fuel_, _clothing_, _rent_, _washing_, and _bedding_, out of the 4_d._, besides eating and drinking, was impossible; and one would have thought it impossible for any-thing not of h.e.l.lish birth and breeding, to entertain a wish to make poor creatures, and our _neighbours_ too, exist in such a state of horrible misery and degradation as the labourers of England were condemned to by this scale of 1795. Alas! this was happiness and honour; this was famous living; this 11_s._ 4_d._ a week was _luxury_ and _feasting_, compared to what we NOW BEHOLD! For now the allowance, according to present money-prices, is 8_s._ a week for the man, his wife, and three children; that is to say 2-5/7 _d._ In words, TWO PENCE AND FIVE SEVENTHS OF ANOTHER PENNY, FOR A DAY! There, that is England now! That is what the base wretches, who are fattening upon the people's labour, call "the _envy_ of surrounding nations and the _admiration_ of the world." This is what SIR FRANCIS BURDETT applauds; and he applauds the mean and cruel and dastardly ruffians, whom he calls, "the _country gentlemen_ of England," and whose _generosity_ he cries up; while he well knows, _that it is they_ (and he amongst the rest) who are the real and only cause of this devil-like barbarity, which (and he well knows that too) could not possibly be practised without the constant existence and occasional employment of that species of force, which is so abhorrent to the laws of England, and of which this Burdett's son forms a part. The poor creatures, _if they complain_; if their hunger make them _cry out_, are either punished by even harder measures, or are _slapped into prison_.

Alas! the jail is really become a place of _relief_, a scene of comparative _good living_: hence the invention of the _tread-mill_! What shall we see next? _Workhouses, badges, hundred-houses, select-vestries, tread-mills, gravel-carts, and harness!_ What shall we see next! And what should we see at last, if this infernal THING could continue for only a few years longer?

60. In order to form a judgment of the cruelty of making our working neighbours live upon 2-5/7_d._ a day; that is to say 2_d._ and rather more than a halfpenny, let us see what the surgeons allow in the hospitals, to patients with _broken limbs_, who, of course, have no _work_ to do, and who cannot even take any _exercise_. In GUY'S HOSPITAL, London, the _daily_ allowance to patients, having _simple fractures_, is this: 6 ounces of meat; 12 ounces of bread; 1 pint of broth; 2 quarts of good beer. This is the _daily_ allowance. Then, in addition to this, the same patient has 12 ounces of b.u.t.ter _a week_. These articles, for a week, amount to not less at present retail prices (and those are the poor man's prices,) than 6_s._ 9_d._ a week; while the working man is allowed 1_s._ 7_d._ a week! For, he cannot and he will not see his wife and children actually drop down dead with hunger before his face; and this is what he must see, if he take to himself more than a _fifth_ of the allowance for the family.

61. Now, pray, observe, that _surgeons_, and particularly those eminent surgeons who frame rules and regulations for great establishments like that of Guy's Hospital, _are competent judges_ of what nature requires in the way of food and of drink. They are, indeed, not only competent judges, but they are the best of judges: they know precisely what is necessary; and having the power to order the proper allowance, they order it. If, then, they make an allowance like that, which we have seen, to a person who is under a regimen for a broken limb; to a person who does _no work_, and who is, nine times out of ten, unable to take any exercise at all, even that of walking about, at least in the open air; if the eminent surgeons of London deem _six shillings and ninepence worth_ of victuals and drink, a week, necessary to such a patient; if they think that _nature calls_ for so much in such a case; what must that man be made of, who can allow to a _working man_, a man fourteen hours every day in the open air, _one shilling and seven pence worth_ of victuals and drink for the week!

Let me not however ask what "that _man_" can be made of; for it is a monster and not a man: it is a murderer of men: not a murderer with the knife or the pistol, but with the more cruel instrument of starvation. And yet, such monsters go to _church_ and to _meeting_; aye, and _subscribe_, the base hypocrites, to circulate that Bible which commands _to do as they would be done by_, and which, from the first chapter to the last, menaces them with punishment, if they be hard to the poor, the fatherless, the widow, or the stranger!

62. But, not only is the patient, in a hospital, thus so much more amply fed than the working man; the _prisoners in the jails_; aye, even the _convicted felons_, are fed better, and much better, than the working men now are! Here is a fine "_Old England_;" that country of "roast beef and plumb pudding:" that, as the tax-eaters say it is, "envy of surrounding nations and admiration of the world." Aye; the country WAS all these; but, it is now precisely the reverse of them all. We have just seen that the _honest labouring man_ is allowed 2-5/7_d._ a day; and that will buy him _a pound and a half of good bread a day_, and no more, not a single crumb more. This is all he has. Well enough might the Hampshire Baronet, SIR JOHN POLLEN, lately, at a meeting at Andover, call the labourers "_poor devils_," and say, that they had "_scarcely a rag to cover them_!" A pound and a half of bread a day, and nothing more, and that, too, _to work upon_! Now, then, how fare the prisoners in the jails? Why, if they be CONVICTED FELONS, they are, say the Berkshire jail-regulations, "to have ONLY BREAD and water, _with vegetables_ occasionally from the garden."

Here, then, they are already better fed than the honest labouring man.

Aye, and this is not all; for, this is only the _week-day_ fare; for, they are to have, "on Sundays, SOME MEAT _and broth_!" Good G.o.d! And the honest working man can never, never smell the smell of meat! This is "envy of surrounding nations" with the devil to it! This is a state of things for Burdett to applaud.

63. But we are not even yet come to a sight of the depth of our degradation. These Berkshire jail-regulations make provision for setting the convicted prisoners, in certain cases, TO WORK, and, they say, "if the surgeon think it necessary, the WORKING PRISONERS may be allowed MEAT AND BROTH ON WEEK-DAYS;" and on Sundays, of course! There it is! There is the "envy and admiration!" There is the state to which Mr. Prosperity and Mr.

Canning's best Parliament has brought us. There is the result of "_victories_" and prize-money and battles of Waterloo and of English ladies kissing, "Old Blucher." There is the fruit, the natural fruit, of anti-jacobinism and battles on the Serpentine River and jubilees and heaven-born ministers and sinking-funds and "public credit" and army and navy contracts. There is the fruit, the natural, the nearly (but _not quite_) ripe fruit of it all: the CONVICTED FELON is, if he do not work at all, allowed, on week-days, some vegetables in addition to his bread, and, on Sundays, both _meat and broth_; and, if the CONVICTED FELON work, if he be a WORKING convicted felon, he is allowed _meat and broth all the week round_; while, hear it Burdett, thou Berkshire magistrate! hear it, all ye base miscreants who have persecuted men because they sought a reform! The WORKING CONVICTED FELON is allowed _meat and broth every day in the year_, while the WORKING HONEST MAN is allowed _nothing but dry bread_, and of that not half a belly-full! And yet you see the people that seem _surprised_ that _crimes_ increase! Very strange, to be sure; that men should like to _work_ upon meat and broth better than they like to work upon dry bread! No wonder that _new jails_ arise. No wonder that there are now two or three or four or five jails to one county, and that as much is now written upon "_prison discipline_" as upon almost any subject that is going. But, why so good, so generous, to FELONS? The truth is, that they are _not fed too well_; for, to be _starved_ is no part of their sentence; and, here are SURGEONS who have something to say! They know very well that a man may be _murdered_ by keeping necessary food from him. Felons are not apt to lie down and _die quietly_ for want of food. The jails are in _large towns_, where the news of any cruelty soon gets about. So that the felons have many circ.u.mstances in their favour. It is in the villages, the recluse villages, where the greatest cruelties are committed.

64. Here, then, in this contrast between the treatment of the WORKING FELON and that of the WORKING HONEST MAN, we have a complete picture of the present state of England; that horrible state, to which, by slow degrees, this once happy country has been brought; and, I should now proceed to show, as I proposed in the first paragraph of this present Number, HOW THERE CAME TO BE SO MUCH POVERTY AND MISERY IN ENGLAND; for, this is the main thing, it being clear, that, if we do not see the real causes of our misery, we shall be very unlikely to adopt any effectual remedy. But, before I enter on this part of my subject, let me _prove_, beyond all possibility of doubt, that what I say relatively to the situation of, and the allowances to, the labourers and their families, IS TRUE. The _cause_ of such situation and allowances I shall show hereafter; but let me first show, by a reference to indubitable facts, that the situation and allowances are such as, or worse than, I have described them. To do this, no way seems to me to be so fair, so likely to be free from error, so likely to produce a suitable impression on the minds of my readers, and so likely to lead to some useful practical result; no way seems to me so well calculated to answer these purposes, as that of taking _the very village, in which, I, at this moment, happen to be_, and to describe, with names and dates, the actual state of its labouring people, as far as that state is connected with steps taken under the poor-laws.

65. This village was in former times a very considerable place, as is manifest from the size of the church as well as from various other circ.u.mstances. It is now, as a _church living_, united with an adjoining parish, called VERNON DEAN, which also has its church, at a distance of about three miles from the church of this parish. Both parishes put together now contain only _eleven hundred_, and a few odd, inhabitants, men, women, children, and all; and yet, the _great t.i.thes_ are supposed to be worth _two or three thousand pounds a year_, and the _small t.i.thes_ about _six hundred pounds a year_. Formerly, before the event which is called "THE REFORMATION," there were _two Roman Catholic priests_ living at the parsonage houses in these two parishes. They could not marry, and could, therefore have no wives and families to keep out of the t.i.thes; and, WITH PART OF THOSE t.i.tHES, THEY, AS THE LAW PROVIDED, MAINTAINED THE POOR OF THESE TWO PARISHES; and, the canons of the church commanded them to distribute the portion to the poor and the stranger, "_with their own hands_, in _humility_ and _mercy_."

66. This, as to church and poor, was the state of these villages, in the "_dark ages_" of "_Romish superst.i.tion_." What! No poor-laws? No poor-rates? What horribly _unenlightened_ times! No _select vestries_?

Dark ages indeed! But, how stands these matters now? Why, the two parishes are moulded into _one church living_. Then the GREAT t.i.tHES (amounting to two or three thousand a year) belong to some part of the _Chapter_ (as they call it) of Salisbury. The Chapter leases them out, as they would a house or a farm, and they are now rented by JOHN KING, who is one of this happy nation's greatest and oldest _pensioners_. So that, _away go_ the great t.i.thes, not leaving a single wheat-ear to be spent in the parish.

The SMALL t.i.tHES belong to a VICAR, who is one FISHER, a _nephew of the late bishop of Salisbury_, who has not resided here for a long while; and who has a curate, named JOHN GALE, who being the son of a little farmer and shop-keeper at BURBAGE in Wiltshire, was, by a parson of the name of BAILEY (very _well known and remembered_ in these parts), put to school; and, in the fulness of time, became a _curate_. So that, _away go_ also the small t.i.thes (amounting to about 500_l._ or 600_l._ a year); and, out of the large church revenues; or, rather, large church-_and-poor_ revenues, of these two parishes; out of the whole of them, there remains only the amount of the curate, Mr. JOHN GALE'S, salary, which does not, perhaps, exceed seventy or a hundred pounds, and a part of which, at any rate, I dare say, he does not expend in these parishes: _away goes_, I say, all the rest of the small t.i.thes, leaving not so much as a mess of milk or a dozen of eggs, much less a t.i.the-pig, to be consumed in the parish.

67. As to _the poor_, the parishes continue to be _in two_; so that I am to be considered as speaking of the parish of UPHUSBAND only. You are aware, that, amongst the last of the acts of the famous JUBILEE-REIGN, was an act to enable parishes to establish SELECT VESTRIES; and one of these vestries now exists in this parish. And now, let me explain to you the nature and tendency of this Jubilee-Act. Before this Act was pa.s.sed, _overseers of the poor had full authority to grant relief at their discretion_. Pray mark that. Then again, before this Act was pa.s.sed, _any one justice of the peace might, on complaint of any poor person, order relief_. Mark that. A select vestry is _to consist of the most considerable rate-payers_. Mark that. Then, mark these things: this Jubilee-Act _forbids the overseer to grant any relief other than such as shall be ordered by the select vestry_: it forbids ONE _justice_ to order relief, in any case, except in a case of _emergency:_ it forbids MORE THAN ONE to order relief, except _on oath_ that the complainant has _applied to the select vestry_ (where there is one,) and has been refused relief by it; and that, in no case, the justice's order _shall be for more than a month_; and, moreover, that when a poor person shall appeal to justices from a select vestry, the justices, in ordering relief, or refusing, shall have "_regard to the conduct and_ CHARACTER _of the applicant_!"

68. From this Act, one would imagine, that _overseers_ and _justices_ were looked upon as being too _soft_ and _yielding_ a nature; _too good, too charitable, too liberal_ to the poor! In order that the select vestry may have an agent suited to the purposes that the Act _manifestly has in view_, the Act authorizes the select vestry to appoint what is called an "_a.s.sistant overseer_," and to _give him a salary out of the poor-rates_.

Such is this Jubilee-Act, one of the last Acts of the Jubilee-reign, that reign, which gave birth to the American war, to Pitt, to Perceval, Ellenborough, Sidmouth, and Castlereagh, to a thousand millions of taxes and another thousand millions of debt: such is the Select Vestry Act; and this now little trifling village of UPHUSBAND _has a Select-Vestry_! Aye, and an "a.s.sISTANT OVERSEER," too, with a _salary_ of FIFTY POUNDS A YEAR, being, as you will presently see, about a SEVENTH PART OF THE WHOLE OF THE EXPENDITURE ON THE POOR!

69. The Overseers make out and cause to be _printed_ and _published_, at the end of every _four weeks_, an account of the disburs.e.m.e.nts. I have one of these accounts now before me; and I insert it here, word for word, as follows:--

70. "The disburs.e.m.e.nts of Mr. T. Child and Mr. C. Church, bread at 1_s._ 2_d._ per gallon. Sept. 25th, 1826.

WIDOWS.

. s. d. . s. d.

Blake, Ann 0 8 0 Bray, Mary 0 8 0 Cook, Ann 0 7 6 Clark, Mary 0 10 0 Gilbert, Hannah 0 8 0 Marshall, Sarah 0 10 0 Smith, Mary 0 8 0 Westrip, Jane 0 8 0 Withers, Ann 0 8 0 Dance, Susan 0 8 0 --------- 4 3 6

b.a.s.t.a.r.dS.

---- ---- 0 7 0 ---- ---- 0 6 0 ---- ---- 0 7 0 ---- ---- 0 6 0 ---- ---- 2 children 0 12 0 ---- ---- 2 children 0 12 0 ---- ---- - 10 0 ---- ---- - 8 0 ---- ---- - 6 0 ---- ---- - 8 0 ---- ---- - 8 0 ---- ---- - 6 0 ---- ---- - 6 0 ---- ---- - 6 0 ---------- 5 8 0

OLD MEN.

Blake, John 0 16 0 Cannon, John 0 14 0 c.u.mmins, Peter 0 16 0 Hopgood, John 0 16 0 Holden, William 0 6 0 Marshall, Charles 0 16 0 Nutley, George 0 7 0 --------- 4 11 0

FAMILIES.

Bowley, Mary 0 4 0 Baverstock, Elizabeth, 2 children 0 9 4 Cook, Levi 5 children 0 5 4 Kingston, John 6 ditto 0 10 0 Knight, John 6 ditto 0 10 0 Newman, David 5 ditto 0 5 4 Pain, Robert 5 ditto 0 5 4 Synea, William 6 ditto 0 10 0 Smith, Sarah (Moses) 1 ditto 0 4 8 Studman, Sarah 2 ditto 0 9 4 White, Joseph 8 ditto 0 19 4 Wise, William 6 ditto 0 10 0 Waldren, Job 5 ditto 0 5 4 Noyce, M. Batt, 7do. 6 weeks' pay 1 2 0 --------- 6 10 0

EXTRA IN THIS MONTH.

Thomas Farmer, ill 3 days 0 4 0 Levi Cook, ill 4 weeks and 1 day 1 13 4 Joseph White's child, 6 weeks 0 7 0 Jane Westrip's rent 0 2 0 William Fisher, 1 month ill 1 12 0 Paid boy, 2 days ill 0 0 8 James Orchard, ill 1 0 2 James Orchard's daughter, ill 0 8 0 Adders and Sparrows 0 2 3-1/2 Wicks for Carriage 0 1 0 Paid Mary Hinton 0 4 0 Joseph Farmer, ill 3 days 0 2 9 Thomas c.u.mmins 0 6 0 Samuel Day, and son, ill 0 8 2 --------- 6 11 4

Total amount for the 4 weeks 27 3 10-1/2

71. Under the head of "WIDOWS" are, generally, old women wholly unable to work; and that of "OLD MEN" are men past all labour: in some of the instances _lodging places_, in very poor and wretched houses, are found these old people, and, in other instances, they have the bare money; and, observe, that money is FOR FOUR WEEKS! Gracious G.o.d! Have we had no mothers ourselves! Were we not born of woman! Shall we not feel then for the poor widow who, in her old age, is doomed to exist on two shillings a week, or threepence halfpenny a day, and to find herself _clothes_ and washing and fuel and bedding out of that! And, the poor old men, the very happiest of whom gets, you see, less than 7_d._ a day, at the end of 70 or 80 years of a life, all but six of which have been years of labour! I have thought it right to put _blanks_ instead of the names, under the _second head_. Men of less rigid morality, and less free from all illicit intercourse, than the members of the Select Vestry of Uphusband, would, instead of the word "_b.a.s.t.a.r.d_," have used the more amiable one of "_love-child_;" and, it may not be wholly improper to ask these rigid moralists, whether they be aware, that they are guilty of LIBEL, aye, of real criminal libel, in causing these poor girls' names to be _printed_ and _published_ in this way. Let them remember, that the greater the truth the greater the libel; and, let them remember, that the mothers and the children too, may have _memories_! But, it is under the head of "FAMILIES"

that we see that which is most worthy of our attention. Observe, that _eight shillings a week_ is _the wages_ for a day labourer in the village.

And, you see, it is only when there are _more than four children_ that the family is allowed anything at all. "LEVI COOK," for instance, has _five children_, and he receives allowance for _one_ child. "JOSEPH WHITE" has _eight children_, and he receives allowance for _four_. There are three widows under this head; but, it is where there is _a man_, the father of the family, that we ought to look with attention; and here we find, that nothing at all is allowed to a family of a man, a wife, and _four children_, beyond the bare eight shillings a week of wages; and this is even worse than the allowance which I contrasted with that of the hospital patients and convicted felons; for there I supposed the family to consist of a man, his wife and _three children_. If I am told, that the farmers, that the occupiers of houses and land, are _so poor_ that they cannot do more for their wretched work-people and neighbours; then I answer and say, What a selfish, what a dastardly wretch is he, who is not ready to do all he can to change this disgraceful, this horrible state of things!