republic of France--and although war is a calamity that ought always
to be regretted by friends of humanity, as thousands are undoubtedly
thereby involved in misery; yet, no event could have happened at that
time productive of so much benefit to me, as this--it was the means
of draining the country of those who had been once soldiers, and who,
thrown out of employ by the peace, demanded a sum so trifling for their
services, as to cause a reduction in the wages of the poor labouring
class of people, to a sum insufficient to procure the necessaries of
life for their families;--this evil was now removed--the old soldiers
preferred an employment more in character of themselves, to doing
the drudgery of the city--great inducements were held out to them to
enlist, and the army was not long retarded in its operations for the
want of recruits. My prospects in being enabled to earn something to
satisfy the calls of nature, became now more flattering;--the great
number that had been employed during the Peace in a business similar
to my own, were now reduced to one half, which enabled me to obtain
such an extra number of jobs at chair mending that I no longer found
it necessary to collect the scrapings of the streets as I had been
obliged to do for the many months past. I was now enabled to purchase
for my family two or three pounds of fresh meat each week, an article
to which (with one or two exceptions) we had been strangers for more
than a year--having subsisted principally on potatoes, oat meal bread,
and salt fish, and sometimes, but rarely however, were enabled to treat
ourselves to a little skim milk.
Had not other afflictions attended me, I should not have had much
cause to complain of very extraordinary hardships or privations from
this period, until the conclusion of the war in 1817;--my family had
increased, and to increase my cares there was scarcely a week passed
but that some one of them was seriously indisposed--of ten children
of which I was the father, I had the misfortune to bury seven under
five years of age, and two more after they had arrived to the age of
twenty--my last and only child now living, it pleased the Almighty
to spare to me, to administer help and comfort to his poor afflicted
parent, and without whose assistance I should (so far from having been
enabled once more to visit the land of my nativity) ’ere this have paid
the debt of nature in a foreign land, and that too by a death no less
horrible than that of starvation!
As my life was unattended with any very extraordinary circumstance
(except the one just mentioned) from the commencement of the war,
until the re-establishment of monarchy in France, and the cessation of
hostilities on the part of Great Britain, in 1817, I shall commence on
the narration of my unparalleled sufferings, from the latter period,
until that when by the kind interposition of Providence, I was enabled
finally to obtain a passage to my native country; and to bid an adieu,
and I hope and trust a final one, to that Island, where I had endured a
complication of miseries beyond the power of description.
The peace produced similar effects to that of 1783--thousands were
thrown out of employ and the streets of London thronged with soldiers
seeking means to earn a humble subsistence. The cry of “Old Chairs to
Mend,” (and that too at a very reduced price) was reiterated through
the streets of London by numbers who but the month before were at
Waterloo fighting the battles of their country--which, so seriously
effected my business in this line, that to obtain food (and that of
the most humble kind) for my family, I was obliged once more to have
recourse to the collecting of scraps of rags, paper, glass, and such
other articles of however trifling value that I could find in the
streets.
It was at this distressing period, that, in consequence of the
impossibility of so great a number who had been discharged from the
service procuring a livelihood by honest means, that instances of
thefts, and daring robberies, increased throughout Great Britain three
fold. Bands of highwaymen and robbers hovered about the vicinity of
London in numbers which almost defied suppression; many were taken and
executed or transported; but this seemed to render the rest only the
more desperately bold and cruel, while house-breaking and assassination
were daily perpetrated with new arts and outrages in the very capital.
Nor were the starving condition of the honest poor, who were to be
met with at all times of day and in every street, seeking something
to appease their hunger, less remarkable--unable to procure by any
means within their power sustenance sufficient to support nature, some
actually became the victims of absolute starvation, as the following
melancholly instance will show:--a poor man exhausted by want; dropped
down in the street--those who were passing unacquainted with the
frequency of such melancholly events, at first thought him intoxicated;
but after languishing half an hour, he expired. On the following day,
an inquest was held on the body, and the verdict of the jury not
giving satisfaction to the Coroner, they adjourned to the next day.--In
the interim, two respectable surgeons were engaged to open the body,
in which not a particle of nutriment was to be found except a little
yellow substance, supposed to be grass, or some crude vegetable; which
the poor man had swallowed to appease the cravings of nature!--this
lamentable proof confirmed the opinion of the jury, that he died for
want of the necessaries of life, and gave their verdict accordingly.
Miserable as was the fate of this man and that of many others, mine was
but little better, and would ultimately have been the same, had it not
been for the assistance afforded me by my only remaining child, a lad
but seven years of age. I had now arrived to an advanced age of life,
and although possessing an extraordinary constitution for one of my
years, yet by my incessant labours to obtain subsistence for my family,
I brought on myself a severe fit of sickness, which confined me three
weeks to my chamber; in which time my only sustenance was the produce
of a few half pennies, which my poor wife and little son had been able
to earn each day by, disposing of matches of their own make, and in
collecting and disposing of the articles of small value, of which I
have before made mention, which were to be found thinly scattered in
the streets. In three weeks it was the will of providence so far to
restore to me my strength, as to enable me once more to move abroad in
search of something to support nature.
The tenement which I at this time rented and which was occupied by my
family, was a small and wretched apartment of a garret, and for which
I had obligated myself to pay sixpence per day, which was to be paid
at the close of every week; and in case of failure (agreeable to the
laws or customs of the land) my furniture was liable to be seized. In
consequence of my illness, and other misfortunes, I fell six weeks in
arrears for rent; and having returned one evening with my wife and son,
from the performance of our daily task, my kind readers may judge what
my feelings must have been to find our room stripped of every article
(of however trifling value) that it contained!--alas, oh heavens! to
what a state of wretchedness were we now reduced! if there was any
thing wanting to complete our misery, this additional drop to the cup
of our afflictions, more than sufficed. Although the real value of
all that they had taken from me, or rather robbed me of, would not
if publicly disposed of, have produced a sum probably exceeding five
dollars; yet it was our all, except the few tattered garments that we
had on our backs, and were serviceable and all important to us in our
impoverished situation. Not an article of bedding of any kind was left
us on which to repose at night, or a chair or stool on which we could
rest our wearied limbs! but, as destitute as we were, and naked as
they had left our dreary apartment, we had no other abiding place.
With a few half penny’s which were jointly our hard earnings of that
day, I purchased a peck of coal and a few pounds of potatoes; which
while the former furnished us with a little fire, the latter served
for the moment to appease our hunger--by a poor family in an adjoining
room I was obliged with the loan of a wooden bench, which served as a
seat and a table, from which we partook of our homely fare. In this
woeful situation, hovering over a few half consumed coals, we spent a
sleepless night. The day’s dawn brought additional afflictions--my poor
wife who had until this period borne her troubles without a sigh or a
murmur, and had passed through hardships and sorrows, which nothing but
the Supreme Giver of patience and fortitude, and her perfect confidence
in him, could have enabled her to sustain; yet so severe and unexpected
a stroke as the last, she could not withstand--I found her in the
morning gloomy and dejected, and so extremely feeble as to be hardly
able to descend the stairs.
We left our miserable habitation in the morning, with hopes that the
wretched spectacle that we presented, weak and emaciated as we were,
would move some to pity and induce them to impart that relief which
our situations so much required--it would however be almost endless
to recount the many rebuffs we met with in our attempts to crave
assistance. Some few indeed were more merciful, and whatever their
opinion might be of the cause of our misery, the distress they saw
us in excited their charity, and for their own sakes were induced
to contribute a trifle to our wants. We alternately happened among
savages and christians, but even the latter, too much influenced by
appearances, were very sparing of their bounty.
With the small trifle that had been charitably bestowed on us, we
returned at night to our wretched dwelling, which, stripped as it
had been, could promise us but little more than a shelter, and where
we spent the night very much as the preceding one.--Such was the
debilitated state of my poor wife the ensuing morning, produced by
excessive hunger and fatigue, as to render it certain, that sinking
under the weight of misery, the hand of death in mercy to her, was
about to release her from her long and unparalleled sufferings. I
should be afraid of exciting too painful sensations in the minds of my
readers, were I to attempt to describe my feelings at this moment, and
to paint in all their horror, the miseries which afterward attended
me; although so numerous had been my afflictions, that it seemed
impossible for any new calamity to be capable of augmenting them;--men
accustomed to vicissitudes are not soon dejected, but there are trials
which human nature alone cannot surmount--indeed to such a state of
wretchedness was I now reduced, that had it not been for my suffering
family, life would have been no longer desirable. The attendance that
the helpless situation of my poor wife now demanded, it was not within
my power to afford her, as early the next day I was reluctantly driven
by hunger abroad in search of something that might serve to contribute
to our relief. I left my unfortunate companion, attended by no other
person but our little son, destitute of fuel and food, and stretched
on an armful of straw, which I had been so fortunate as to provide
myself with the day preceding;--the whole produce of my labours this
day (which I may safely say was the most melancholly one of my life)
amounted to no more than one shilling! which I laid out to the best
advantage possible, in the purchase of a few of the necessaries, which
the situation of my sick companion most required.
I ought to have mentioned, that previous to this melancholy period,
when most severely afflicted, I had been two or three times driven to
the necessity of making application to the Overseers of the poor, of
the parish in which I resided, for admittance into the Almshouse, or
for some assistance, but never with any success; having always been put
off by them with some evasive answer or frivolous pretence--sometimes
charged by them with being an imposter, and that laziness more than
debility and real want, had induced me to make the application--at
other times I was told that being an American born, I had no lawful
claim on the government of that country for support; that I ought to
have made application to the American Consul for assistance, whose
business it was to assist such of his countrymen whose situations
required it.
But such now was my distress, in consequence of the extreme illness of
my wife, that I must receive that aid so indispensably necessary at
this important crisis, or subject myself to witness a scene no less
distressing, than that of my poor wretched wife, actually perishing
for the want of that care and nourishment which it was not in my power
to afford her! Thus situated I was induced to renew my application
to the Overseer for assistance, representing to him the deplorable
situation of my family, who were actually starving for the want of
that sustenance which it was not in my power to procure for them; and
what I thought would most probably effect his feelings, described
to him the peculiar and distressing situation of my wife, the hour
of whose dissolution was apparently fast approaching--but, I soon
found that I was addressing one who possessed a heart callous to the
feelings of humanity--one, whose feelings were not to be touched by a
representation of the greatest misery with which human nature could
be afflicted. The same cruel observations were made as before, that
I was a vile impostor who was seeking by imposition to obtain that
support in England, which my own country had withheld from me--that the
American Yankees had fought for and obtained their Independence, and
yet were not independent enough to support their own poor!--that Great
Britain would find enough to do, was she to afford relief to every
d--d yankee vagabond that should apply for it!--fortunately for this
abusive British scoundrel, I possessed not now that bodily strength and
activity, which I could once boast of, or the villain (whether within
his Majesty’s dominions or not) should have received on the spot a
proof of “Yankee Independence” for his insolence.
Failing in my attempts to obtain the assistance which the lamentable
situation of my wife required, I had recourse to other means--I waited
on two or three gentlemen in my neighbourhood, who had been represented
to me as persons of humanity, and entreated them to visit my wretched
dwelling, and to satisfy themselves by occular demonstration, of the
state of my wretchedness, especially that of my dying companion--they
complied with my request, and were introduced by me to a scene, which
for misery and distress, they declared surpassed every thing that they
had ever before witnessed!--they accompanied me immediately to one in
whom was invested the principal government of the poor of the parish,
and represented to him, the scene of human misery which they had been
an eye witness to--whereupon an order was issued to have my wife
conveyed to the Hospital, which was immediately done and where she was
comfortably provided for--but, alas, the relief which her situation
had so much required, had been too long deferred--her deprivation and
sufferings had been too great to admit of her being now restored to
her former state of health, or relieved by any thing that could be
administered--after her removal to the Hospital, she lingered a few
days in a state of perfect insensibility, and then closed her eyes
forever on a world, where for many years, she had been the unhappy
subject of almost constant affliction.
I felt very sensibly the irreparable loss of one who had been my
companion in adversity, as well as in prosperity; and when blessed
with health, had afforded me by her industry that assistance, without
which, the sufferings of our poor children would have been greater if
possible than what they were. My situation was now truly a lonely one,
bereaved of my wife, and all my children except one; who, although but
little more than seven years of age, was a child of that sprightliness
and activity, as to possess himself with a perfect knowledge of the
chair-bottoming business, and by which he earned not only enough (when
work could be obtained) to furnish himself with food, but contributed
much to the relief of his surviving parent, when confined by illness
and infirmity.
We continued to improve the apartment from which my wife had been
removed, until I was so fortunate as to be able to rent a ready
furnished apartment (as it was termed) at four shillings and sixpence
per week. Apartments of this kind are not uncommon in London, and are
intended to accommodate poor families, situated as we were, who had
been so unfortunate as to be stripped of every thing but the cloathes
on their backs by their unfeeling landlords. These “ready furnished
rooms” were nothing but miserable apartments in garrets, and contain
but few more conveniences than what many of our common prisons in
America afford--a bunk of straw, with two or three old blankets, a
couple of chairs, and a rough table about three feet square, with
an article or two of iron ware in which to cook our victuals (if we
should be so fortunate as to obtain any) was the contents of the “ready
furnished apartment” that we were now about to occupy--but even with
these few conveniences, it was comparatively a palace to the one we had
for several weeks past improved.
When my health would permit, I seldom failed to visit daily the most
public streets of the city, and from morning to night cry for old
chairs to mend--accompanied by my son Thomas, with a bundle of flags,
as represented in the Plate annexed to this volume. If we were so
fortunate as to obtain a job of work more than we could complete in
the day, with the permission of the owner, I would convey the chairs
on my back to my humble dwelling, and with the assistance of my little
son, improve the evening to complete the work, which would produce us
a few half pennies to purchase something for our breakfast the next
morning--but it was very seldom that instances of this kind occurred,
as it was more frequently the case that after crying for old chairs to
mend, the whole day, we were obliged to return, hungry and weary, and
without a single half penny in our pockets, to our humble dwelling,
where we were obliged to fast until the succeeding day; and indeed
there were some instances in which we were compelled to fast two or
three days successively, without being able to procure a single job
of work.--The rent I had obligated myself to pay every night, and
frequently when our hunger was such as hardly to be endured, I was
obliged to reserve the few pennies that I was possessed of to apply to
this purpose.
In our most starving condition when every other plan failed, my little
son would adopt the expedient of sweeping the public cause-ways
(leading from one walk to the other) where he would labour the whole
day, with the expectation of receiving no other reward than what the
generosity of gentlemen, who had occasion to cross, would induce
them to bestow in charity, and which seldom amounted to more than a
few pennies--sometime the poor boy would toil in this way the whole
day, without being so fortunate as to receive a single half penny--it
was then he would return home sorrowful and dejected, and while he
attempted to conceal his own hunger, with tears in his eyes, would
lament his hard fortune in not being able to obtain something to
appease mine.--While he was thus employed I remained at home, but not
idle, being as busily engaged in making matches, with which (when he
returned home empty handed) we were obliged as fatigued as we were,
to visit the markets to expose for sale, and where we were obliged
sometimes to tarry until eleven o’clock at night, before we could meet
with a single purchaser.
Having one stormy night of a Saturday, visited the market with my
son for this purpose, and after exposing ourselves to the chilling
rain until past 10 o’clock, without being able either of us to sell a
single match, I advised the youth (being thinly clad) to return home
feeling disposed to tarry myself a while longer, in hopes that better
success might attend me, as having already fasted one day and night,
it was indispensably necessary that I should obtain something to
appease our hunger the succeeding day (Sunday) or what seemed almost
impossible, to endure longer its torments! I remained until the clock
struck eleven, the hour at which the market closed, and yet had met
with no better success! It is impossible to describe the sensation of
despondency which overwhelmed me at this moment! I now considered it
as certain that I must return home with nothing wherewith to satisfy
our craving appetites--and with my mind filled with the most heart
rending reflections, I was about to return, when, Heaven seemed pleased
to interpose in my behalf, and to send relief when I little expected
it;--passing a beef stall I attracted the notice of the butcher, who
viewing me, probably as I was, a miserable object of pity, emaciated
by long fastings, and clad in tattered garments, from which the water
was fast dripping, and judging no doubt by my appearance that on no
one could charity be more properly bestowed, he threw into my basket a
beeve’s heart, with the request that I would depart with it immediately
for my home, if any I had!--I will not attempt to describe the joy
that I felt on this occasion, in so unexpectedly meeting with that
relief, which my situation so much required. I hastened home with a
much lighter heart than what I had anticipated; and when I arrived, the
sensations of joy exhibited by my little son on viewing the prize that
I bore, produced effects as various as extraordinary; he wept, then
laughed and danced with transport.
The reader must suppose that while I found it so extremely difficult to
earn enough to preserve us from starvation, I had little to spare for
cloathing and other necessaries; and that this was really my situation,
I think no one will doubt, when I positively declare that to such
extremities was I driven, that being unable to pay a barber for shaving
me, I was obliged to adopt the expedient for more than two years, of
clipping my beard as close as possible with a pair of scissors which
I kept expressly for that purpose!--as strange and laughable as the
circumstance may appear to some, I assure the reader that I state
facts, and exaggerate nothing. As regarded our cloathes, I can say
no more than that they were the best that we could procure, and were
such as persons in our situations were obliged to wear--they served
to conceal our nakedness, but would have proved insufficient to have
protected our bodies, from the inclemency of the weather of a colder
climate. Such indeed was sometimes our miserable appearance, clad in
tattered garments, that while engaged in our employment in crying for
old chairs to mend, we not only attracted the notice of many, but there
were instances in which a few half pennies unsolicited were bestowed
on us in charity--an instance of this kind happened one day as I was
passing through threadneedle street; a gentleman perceiving by the
appearance of the shoes that I wore, that they were about to quit me,
put a half crown in my hand, and bid me go and cry “old shoes to mend!”