THE NOMADIC BEGGARS AND PAUPER BANDITTI OF ENGLAND.
Under various names, such as Proletariat in France, Lazzaroni in Italy,
Leperos in Mexico, and Gypsies throughout all Europe, free society is
disturbed and rendered insecure, by the class, a description of which we
shall draw from the British writers. We do not hesitate to assign to the
Gypsies the same origin with the rest. They are all the outgrowth of
runaway and emancipated serfs. The time of the appearance of the Gypsies
is coeval with the universal liberation and escape of the villeins.
If this _diluvies_ of society is by nature vicious, nomadic and
incapable of any self-control, it is obvious they should be enslaved. If
emancipation of their ancestors and the throwing them upon the world
without property or other means of support, made them and their
posterity, from necessity, beggars, Pariahs and Ishmaelites, they should
be restored to slavery, unless some better disposition of them can be
discovered.
North British Review, "Literature and Labor Question," February No.
1851. The passage we quote is from a work of Mr. Mayhew:
"That we, like the Hottentots, Kaffirs, and Fins, are surrounded
by wandering hordes, the 'sonquas' and 'fingons' of this country,
paupers, beggars and outcasts, possessing nothing but what they
acquire by depredation from the industrious, provident and
civilized portion of the community; that the heads of these nomads
are remarkable for a greater development of the jaws and cheek
bones, than of the skull, and that they have a secret language of
their own--an English 'cuzecat,' or 'slang,' as it is called, for
the concealment of their designs; these are points of coincidence
so striking, that, when placed before the mind, they make us
marvel why the analogy has been so long unobserved. The
resemblance once discovered, however, becomes of great service in
enabling us to use the moral characteristics of the nomadic races
of other countries, as a means of comprehending more readily those
of the vagabonds and outcasts of our own. * * * The nomad there is
distinguished from the civilized man by his repugnance to regular
and continuous labor--by his want of providence in laying up a
store for the future; by his inability to perceive consequences
ever so slightly removed from immediate apprehension; by his
passion for stultifying herbs and roots, and when possible, for
intoxicating fermented liquors; for his extraordinary powers of
enduring privation; by his comparative insensibility to pain; by
an immoderate love of gaming; frequently risking his own personal
liberty on a single cast; by his love of libidinous dances; by
the pleasure which he experiences in witnessing the sufferings of
sentient creatures; by his delight in warfare and all perilous
sports; by his desire for vengeance; by the looseness of his
notions as to property; by the absence of chastity among his
women, and his disregard of female honor; and lastly by his vague
sense of religion, his rude idea of a Creator, and utter absence
of all appreciation of the mercy of the Divine Spirit.
"The nomadic races of England are of many distinct kinds--from the
habitual vagrant, half beggar, half thief, sleeping in barns,
tents, and casual wards, to the mechanic on the tramp, obtaining
his bed and supper from the trade societies in the different towns
on his way to seek work. Between these two extremes, there are
several mediate varieties, consisting of pedlars, show-men,
harvest men, and all that large class who live by either selling,
showing, or doing something through the country. There are, so to
speak, the rural nomads--not confining their wanderings to any one
particular locality, but ranging often from one end of the land to
the other. Besides these, there are urban and suburban travellers,
or those who follow some itinerant occupation in and about the
large towns. Such are in the metropolis, more particularly the
pickpockets, the beggars, the prostitutes, the street sellers, the
street performers, the cab-men, the coachmen, the watermen, the
sailors, and such like. In each of these classes, according as
they partake more or less of the family vagabond, doing nothing
whatever for their living, but moving from place to place, preying
upon the earnings of the more industrious part of the
community--so will the attributes of the nomad tribe be found to
be more or less marked."
To the same effect, read the following from July No. 1852, of Edinburgh
Review, in article on "Mendicity; its causes and statistics:"
There live, then, in the midst and about all the English population, a
distinct population, fearful in numbers, constantly and rapidly
increasing, having a language, manners, and customs of its own--living,
in nine cases out of ten, in a course of life the most immoral and
profligate; and yet so living, and so increasing, in spite of the laws,
in spite of the municipal arrangements of the last few years, so
favorable to their detection and punishment; in spite of the new
poor-law arrangements; and in spite of the general feeling that the
poor-rates and the union ought to provide for all real cases of
destitution and misery. This population has its signs, free-masonry, its
terms of art, its correspondence, its halting-houses, its barns still
kept open, and even well-strawed by farmers and country gentlemen; its
public-houses, its well-known and even recognized lodging houses; and
its manifold plans to extract or extort, to win or to scold, out of its
reluctant but deceived victims, sums amounting, we are inclined to
believe, to not less than L1,375,000; being one-third of the total
amount of poor-rates! This sum may at first appear utterly extravagant;
but it will not be found to be so when it is remembered, that on an
average each begging family extorts L55 per annum from the public. The
annual poor law expenditure for the year ending in March, 1840, in
England, was, in round numbers, L4,300,000. In England, including the
three ridings of Yorkshire, there are forty-two counties. The population
of those counties is nearly fifteen millions. If we take at this moment
a rough and general, though a tolerably correct estimate of that
population, with its dense misery in towns and cities, and its diffused
but not less individually intense misery in the agricultural districts,
we may fairly calculate that one out of every one hundred is a beggar or
lives in a state of practical vagrancy--looking in one form or other, to
alms for support. The one-hundredth part of the population is 150,000;
and if each begging family, raising L55 per annum from the public by
alms, be estimated as consisting of six, we shall have 25,000 English
begging families, raising L55 per annum each, or the total sum of
L1,375,000. But we believe that we have underrated, instead of
overstated the facts of the case in these calculations. In London alone
and its vicinity, in spite of all the efforts of the police, a very
large part of that sum is extorted; and we have not taken into
consideration the wholesale mendicity which is now deplorably manifest
in the larger English manufacturing towns. We have also omitted all
Irish mendicants; and yet they are nearly in the proportion of one to
three in the English agricultural districts. Naturally anxious as we are
to avoid even the appearance of exaggeration, we are still bound to
state, that the estimate we have made is greatly deficient, and that we
have understated the real statistics.
The begging population of England, existing and increasing in spite of
municipal police, and notwithstanding the penalties of the vagrant act,
is divided into several classes; and we now propose to draw upon a
little pamphlet, mentioned at the head of this article, which has been
recently published at Birmingham, and which contains very accurate
details of the mendicant population--written by one who long frequented
the haunts of the vagrant community. The portion of the community to
which his details extend, belong principally to the hereditary and
professional class of beggars.
The writer of this family thus proceeds with his descriptive details:
'In order fully to explain each individual character, I shall
begin with those vagrants who generally obtain the most, and are
considered of the _first class_, and are by some termed 'Silver
Beggars,' but by travelers LURKERS.
'LURKERS are persons who go about with briefs, containing false
statements of losses by fire, shipwrecks, accidents, &c. The seals
and signatures of two or more magistrates are affixed to those
briefs, and they are so well written, that thousands of persons
are daily imposed upon by them. As there are so many different
ways used by these persons, it will be necessary to explain each
of them separately.'
The writer then enters into details as to '_the Fire-Lurkers_,' or
those, 'who go about begging for loss by fire.' They have false briefs,
pretended to be signed by two magistrates and the clergyman of the place
where the fire is alleged to have taken place. The documents are
accompanied by a sham subscription-book, and the brief is called, in the
mendicant's parlance, 'a sham,' whilst the subscription-book they name
'a delicate.' With this 'sham and delicate' the 'lurkers,' or beggars,
proceed all over the country; and the author states that one man, with
whom he was acquainted, 'had been a fire-lurker for fourteen years, and
had travelled through every county in England, and the greater part of
Wales.'
Then there is,
'_The Shipwrecked Sailor's Lurk._--Persons who go on this lurk,
generally represent themselves as captains or masters of merchant
ships, which have been wrecked, and they have, of course, lost all
their property; and their pretended loss always amounts to many
hundred pounds, sometimes even to thousands. This class of
impostors are very respectably dressed, having moustaches, gold
chains, &c.; they have either a well-written brief, or one partly
printed and filled up with writing and the seals and signatures of
two or three magistrates are placed at the bottom. I have seen
briefs of this description from almost every part of the kingdom.'
He goes on to say, that one named Captain Johnstone had 'followed the
lurk of a shipwrecked captain for many years, had been over every county
in England and Wales many times, and obtained not only hundreds, but
thousands of pounds.' He relates various anecdotes of the most
successful 'Lurkers' in this department.
'_The Foreigner's Lurk._--Considerable numbers proceed on this
lurk, representing themselves as foreigners in distress.... Of
late years, by far the greatest number have represented themselves
as _Polish_ noblemen or gentlemen, who had been driven by the
tyranny of Russia from their native country to seek a refuge....
Their briefs have the names and seals of two magistrates attached,
and are always well written. Whenever they present their briefs,
they affect not to be able to speak a word of English, and the few
words they utter are spoken in broken accent.... One of these
lurkers, known among mendicants by the nickname of 'Lord Dundas,'
had often got several pounds in a day.... There are also many
females who go on the foreigner's lurk.... I knew a female who
went on the foreigner's lurk, who dressed very well; she had a boy
with her, and often succeeded in getting two or three pounds in a
day. When she called on any one, she _pattered_ (spoke) in French,
and affected not to be able to converse in the English language.'
4. '_The Accident Lurk._--Lurkers of this description have a sham
and delicate, (brief and book,) and the sham states, that by some
dreadful accident the bearer has lost all, or at least the greater
part of his property, sometimes by storm, and at other times by a
flood, or in some other way: but, in whatever way the accident has
happened, the bearer has always suffered a very considerable loss,
and is deprived of the means of supporting himself and family. The
sums raised vary from five shillings to a pound per day.'
5. '_The Sick Lurk._--This is worked in so many different ways,
that it will be necessary to say a little on each. It would seem,
1st, That a common method of imposing upon the public is, by
applying blistering ointment to the arms, causing them to have the
appearance of having been badly scalded. 2d, That others go about
with hands and arms tied up, said to be injured by lightning, or
by some other deplorable accident. 3d, Others affect fits. 4th,
Others affect pregnancy and destitution. 5th, Others obtain alms
by the husband remaining at home and affecting indisposition, in
case any one should visit his lodgings to examine into the merits
of the case, whilst the wife goes out begging for wine, rags,
clothes, &c., for the sham invalid. 6th, Others pretend to have
bad wounds, and beg for linen rags and small bottles to contain
medicine necessary for their cure. I saw a man who got, in one
day, by this means, thirteen pounds' weight of white rags, and
more than five dozen of phial bottles. Rags and bottles sell well.
7th, Others affect to have children confined with scarlet fever,
&c. &c, and beg for _them_. They state that they have obtained a
note to take their children to an infirmary or to an hospital, and
want a few clothes and a little money.'
6. '_The Deaf and Dumb Lurk._--I have known many persons of both
sexes, who have acted as if deaf and dumb, and by this means
succeeded very well in obtaining money, food, &c. Many of them
pretend to tell fortunes, and frequently get something
considerable by such practices. They carry a slate and pencil with
them, to write questions and answers.'
It would appear from the pamphlet before us, that sometimes these deaf
and dumb lurkers affect even in the lodging-houses to be thus afflicted;
but in such cases they are generally found out by their fellow vagrants.
7. '_The Servants' Lurk._--There are considerable numbers who go
on the servants' lurk, or as servants out of place; and both males
and females frequently succeed well in imposing on servants and
others by false statements and tales of distress.... The greater
part of those who go on this lurk are neatly dressed, and have
exactly the appearance of servants in gentlemen's families....
Many of them have the _Court Guide_, which, as it contains a list
of the nobility and gentry, enables them to do the thing
completely.'
8. '_Collier's Lurk._--This is followed by thousands who were
never in a coal-pit, and numbers of such are daily imposing upon
the public as colliers out of employ. They generally say they have
been thrown out of work by some accident, such as the flooding of
the works or the falling in of the pit.... They often go in
parties from two to seven or eight.... Others have printed papers,
which are left at each house, and called for again in a few
hours.... Others have written statements of the pretended masters
of the accidents, and the supposed signatures of the works are
affixed to them.... Some of those obtain as much as fourteen or
fifteen shillings per diem.'
9. '_The Weaver's Lurk._--There are at the present time great
numbers who go on this lurk, many of them having printed papers or
small handbills, and leave one at each house, and then call again
for them, and to receive what persons are disposed to give.... I
have seen men who represented themselves as weavers of every kind,
and from all the manufacturing parts of the kingdom--men who I
well knew had never been near a loom, but had been born and bred
vagrants.'
10. '_The Cotton Spinner's Lurk._--There are many going on this
lurk with printed papers or small handbills also.... Some who go
on this lurk carry sewing cotton for sale, alleged to be their own
spinning.... One man I know, who travels on this lurk, has been
doing so for twelve years. He sometimes obtains as much as from
twelve to fifteen shillings in one day.'
11. '_The Calenderer's Lurk._--Those who go on this lurk represent
themselves as calenderer's out of employ, through the depression
of trade and improvement in machinery. They, like sham weavers and
colliers, have false papers, which are printed, some in poetry.'
The sums raised by these descriptions of 'lurks' must be immense,
especially where the individuals have a good address, and can explain
and enforce the written and printed appeals they take with them.
'HIGH-FLIERS,' or begging letter writers, are, it would seem, the
next in order of importance, after the Lurkers. 'These begging
letter-writers scribble false statements of their having been
unfortunate in business, or suffered great losses, which have
reduced them to a state of extreme distress. In London, but
especially in the watering and sea-bathing places, these letters
procure as much as from five to one pound per day.'
'SHALLOW COVES' are 'impostors begging through the country as
shipwrecked sailors. They generally choose winter, and always go
nearly naked. Their object in doing so is to obtain left-off
clothes.... They have a long, pitiful got-up tale of pretended
distress, which they shout through the streets, of having been
shipwrecked, &c.... Shallow Coves generally go in _companies_,
(or, technically speaking, in _school_) of from two to ten. There
is generally one selected to be the spokesman.... As Shallow Coves
only call at respectable houses, they often obtain a great deal of
money.'
'_Shallow Motts_' are females who, like the Shallow Coves, go
nearly naked. They also adopt that mode of begging in order to
obtain wearing apparel.... They plead long and severe sickness,
but only ask for _clothes_. The clothes are disposed of as soon as
possible, none being ever kept for their own use.... I knew one of
these who in ten days obtained at Kingston-upon-Thames between
seven and eight pounds' worth of clothes.
'CADGERS' are those who make begging their trade, and depend upon
it for their support. _Cadgers on the downright_ are those who beg
from door to door, and _Cadgers on the fly_ are those who beg as
they pass along the tober, (road.) Cadging on the fly is a
profitable occupation in the vicinity of bathing-places and large
towns. A person of this description generally gets many shillings
in the course of the clay. Cadging on the downright (from door to
door) is like all other trades, getting worse; but still thousands
do very well at it, and frequently get more food than they can
consume.... I have often seen food, which many working people
would gladly have eaten, shamefully and wantonly wasted.
'CADGERS CHILDREN' (kiddies) 'are so well instructed in the arts
of imposition by their parents, that they frequently obtain more
in money and food than grown-up cadgers.'
'_Cadgers' Screeving_.--There are many cadgers who write short
sentences with chalk on the flags, and some of them can do it
remarkably well; these are called _screevers_. I have seen the
following sentences frequently written by them in places where
there were numbers passing by, and where they thought it would be
likely to get plenty of half-pence, (browns,) and now and then a
_tanner_ or a _bob_, (sixpence or a shilling,)
"Hunger is a sharp thorn, and biteth keen."
"I cannot get work, and to beg I am ashamed."
I have known them by this means obtain seven shillings a day.
'_Cadgers' Sitting Pad._--Whenever cadgers _stand_ or _sit_,
either in towns or by the road side, to beg, they call it
_sitting_ or _standing pad_; and this often proves a very
profitable method. Some of them affect blindness; whilst others
represent themselves as unable to follow any employment, in
consequence of being subject to fits. Some cadgers save very
considerable sums of money; but these are very few, compared with
the great number who live by this trade of beggary.
'_Match-sellers_' never entirely depend upon selling matches, for
they cadge as well; in fact, they only carry matches as a cloak
for begging, and never offer them at any house where they expect
to get more without them.... Match-sellers, as well as all other
cadgers, often get what they call '_a back-door cant_;' that is,
anything they can carry off where they beg, or offer their matches
for sale.'
'CROSS COVES,' though they beg their bread, can tell a long story
about being out of employ through the badness of trade, &c., yet
get what they call _on the cross_, (by theft.).... One of their
chief modes of getting things _on the cross_ is by shoplifting,
(called grabbing,).... Another method is to _star the glaze_, (i.
e. break or cut the window.)
'_Prigs_ (or pickpockets) are another class of vagrants, and they
frequent races, fairs, and prize-fights.... Like cross coves, they
are generally young men who have been trained to vagrancy, and
have been taught the arts of their profession in their childhood.'
'_Palmers_ are another description of beggars, who visit shops
under pretence of collecting _harp_ half-pence; and to induce
shopkeepers to search for them, they offer thirteen-pence for a
shilling's worth, when many persons are silly enough to empty a
large quantity of copper on their counters to search for the
half-pence wanted. The _palmer_ is sure to have his hand amongst
it; and while he pretends to search for the harps, he contrives to
conceal as many as possible in the palm of his hand, and whenever
he removes his hand from the coppers on the counter, always holds
his fingers out straight, so that the shopkeeper has not the least
suspicion that he is being robbed. Sums varying from five to
fifteen shillings per diem are frequently got in this way, by
characters of that description.'
Extract from Edinburgh Review, Jan. No. 1844:
IRISH PEASANTRY.
It is obvious that the insecurity of a community in which the bulk of
the population form a conspiracy against the law, must prevent the
importation of capital; must occasion much of what is accumulated there
to be exported; and must diminish the motives and the means of
accumulation. Who will send his property to a place where he cannot rely
on its being protected? Who will voluntarily establish himself in a
country which to-morrow may be in a state of disturbance? A state in
which, to use the words of Chief Justice Bushe, 'houses, and barns, and
granaries are leveled, crops are laid waste, pasture lands are ploughed,
plantations are torn up, meadows are thrown open to cattle, cattle are
maimed, tortured, killed; persons are visited by parties of banditti,
who inflict cruel torture, mutilate their limbs, or beat them almost to
death; men who have in any way become obnoxious to the insurgents, or
opposed their system, or refused to participate in their outrages, are
deliberately assassinated in the open day; and sometimes the unoffending
members of a family are indiscriminately murdered by burning the
habitation." A state in which even those best able to protect
themselves, the gentry, are forced to build up all their lower windows
with stone and mortar; to admit light only into one sitting-room, and
not into all the windows of that room, to fortify every other inlet by
bullet proof barricadoes; to station sentinels around during all the
night, and the greater part of the day; and to keep fire-arms in all the
bedrooms, and even on the side-table at breakfast and dinner time. Well
might even Bishop Doyle exclaim--"I do not blame the absentees; I would
be an absentee myself if I could."