During the long reign of the Plantagenets in England, there do not seem
many laws in the code then existing for the regulation of the poor:
distress was obliged to wander for a temporary and uncertain
relief:--idleness usually mixed with it.
The nobility then kept plain and hospitable houses, where want
frequently procured a supply; but, as these were thinly scattered, they
were inadequate to the purpose.
As the abbey was much more frequent, and as a great part of the riches
of the kingdom passed through the hands of the monk, and charity being
consonant to the profession of that order, the weight of the poor
chiefly lay upon the religious houses; this was the general mark for the
indigent, the idle, and the impostor, who carried meanness in their
aspect, and the words _Christ Jesus_ in their mouth. Hence arise the
epithets of stroller, vagrant, and sturdy beggar, with which modern law
is intimately acquainted.
It was too frequently observed, that there was but a slender barrier
between begging and stealing, that necessity seldom marks the limits of
honesty, and that a country abounding with beggars, abounds also with
plunderers. A remnant of this urgent race, so justly complained of,
which disgrace society, and lay the country under contribution, are
still suffered, by the supineness of the magistrate.
When the religious houses, and all their property, in 1536, fell a
sacrifice to the vindictive wrath of Henry the Eighth, the poor lost
their dependence, and as want knows no law, robbery became frequent;
justice called loudly for punishment, and the hungry for bread; which
gave rise, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, to that most excellent
institution, of erecting every parish into a distinct fraternity, and
obliging them to support their own members; therefore, it is difficult
to assign a reason, why the blind should go abroad to _see_ fresh
countries, or the man _without feet to travel_.
Though the poor were nursed by parochial law, yet workhouses did not
become general 'till 1730: that of Birmingham was erected in 1733, at
the expence of 1173_l_. 3s. 5d. and which, the stranger would rather
suppose, was the residence of a gentleman, than that of four hundred
paupers. The left wing, called the infirmary, was added in 1766, at the
charge of 400_l_. and the right, a place for labour, in 1779, at the
expence of 700_l_. more.
Let us a second time, consider the 50,000 people who occupy this _grand
toy shop of Europe_[6] as one great family, where, though the property
of individuals is ascertained and secured, yet a close and beneficial
compact subsists. We behold the members of this vast family marked with
every style of character. Forlorn infancy, accidental calamity, casual
sickness, old age, and even inadvertent distress, all find support from
that charitable fund erected by industry. No part of the family is
neglected: he that cannot find bread for himself, finds a ready supply;
he that can, ought to do so. By cultivating the young suckers of
infancy, we prudently establish the ensuing generation, which will, in
the commercial walk, abundantly repay the expence: temporary affliction
of every kind also merits pity; even those distresses which arise from
folly ought not to be neglected: the parish hath done well to many a
man, who would not do well to himself; if imprudence cannot be banished
out of the world, companion ought not: he that cannot direct himself,
must be under the direction of another.--If the parish supported none
but the prudent, she would have but few to support. The last stage of
human life demands, as well as the first, the help of the family. The
care of infancy arises from an expectation of a return; that of old age
from benefits already received. Though a man may have passed through
life without growing rich, he may, by his labour, have contributed to
make others so; though he could not pursue the road to affluence
himself, he may have been the means of directing others to find it.
[Footnote 6: Burke.]
The number of persons depending upon this weekly charity in Birmingham
were, April 14, 1781, about 5240.
Whether the mode of distributing the bounty of the community, is
agreeable to the intentions of legislature, or the ideas of humanity, is
a doubt. For in some parishes the unfortunate paupers have the
additional misery of being sold to a mercenary wretch to starve upon
twelve pence a head. It is matter of surprise that the magistrate should
wink at this cruelty; but it is matter of pleasure, that no accusation
comes within the verge of my historical remarks, for the wretched of
Birmingham are not made more so by ill treatment, but meet with a
kindness acceptable to distress. One would think _that_ situation could
not be despicable, which is often _wished for_, and often _sought_, that
of becoming one of the poor of Birmingham.
We cannot be conversant in parochial business, without observing a
littleness predominant in most parishes, by using every finesse to
relieve themselves of paupers, and throwing them upon others. Thus the
oppressed, like the child between two fathers, is supported by neither.
There is also an enormity, which, though agreeable to law, can never be
justified by the rules of equity--That a man should spend the principal
part of his life in a parish, add wealth to it by his labour, form
connexions in it, bring up a family which shall all belong to it, but
having never gained a settlement himself, shall, in old age be removed
by an order, to perish among strangers. In 1768, a small property fell
into my hands, situated in a neighbouring village; I found the tenant
had entered upon the premises at the age of twenty-two; that he had
resided upon them, with poverty and a fair character, during the long
space of forty six years--I told him he was welcome to spend the residue
of his life upon the spot gratis. He continued there ten years after,
when finding an inability to procure support from labour, and meeting
with no assistance from the parish in which he had been resident for an
age, he resigned the place with tears, in 1778, after an occupation of
fifty six years, and was obliged to recoil upon his own parish, about
twelve miles distant; to be farmed with the rest of the poor; and
where, he afterwards assured me, "They were murdering him by inches." --
But no complaint of this ungrateful kind lies against that people whose
character I draw.
Perhaps it may be a wise measure, in a place like Birmingham, where the
manufactures flourish in continual sunshine, not to be over strict with
regard to removals. Though it may be burdensome to support the poor of
another parish, yet perhaps it is the least of two evils: to remove old
age which hath spent a life among us, is ungenerous; to remove temporary
sickness, is injurious to trade; and to remove infancy is impolitic,
being upon the verge of accommodating the town with a life of labour. It
may be more prudent to remove a rascal than a pauper. Forty pounds hath
been spent in removing a family, which would not otherwise have cost
forty shillings, and whose future industry might have added many times
that sum to the common capital. The highest pitch of charity, is that of
directing inability to support itself. Idleness suits no part of a
people, neither does it find a place here; every individual ought to
contribute to the general benefit, by his head or his hands: if he is
arrived at the western verge of life, when the powers of usefulness
decline, let him repose upon his fortune; if no such thing exists, let
him rest upon his friends, and if this prop fail, let the public nurse
him, with a tenderness becoming humanity.
We may observe, that the manufactures, the laborious part of mankind,
the poor's rates, and the number of paupers, will everlastingly go hand
in hand; they will increase and decrease together; we cannot annihilate
one, but the others will follow, and odd as the expression may sound, we
become rich by payment and poverty. If we discharge the poor, who shall
act the laborious part? Stop the going out of one shilling, and it will
prevent the coming in of two.
At the introduction of the poor's laws, under Elizabeth, two pence
halfpenny in the pound rent was collected every fortnight, for future
support: time has made an alteration in the system, which is now
six-pence in the pound, and collected as often as found necessary. The
present levy amounts to above 10,000_l_. per ann. but is not wholly
collected.
As the overseers are generally people of property, payment in advance is
not scrupulously observed.
It was customary, at the beginning of this admirable system of
jurisprudence, to constitute two overseers in each parish; but the
magnitude of Birmingham pleaded for four, which continued 'till the year
1720, when a fifth was established: in 1729 they were augmented to half
a dozen; the wishes of some, who are frighted at office, rise to the
word _dozen_, a number very familiar in the Birmingham art of reckoning:
but let it be remembered, that a vestry filled with overseers is not
calculated for the meridian of business; that the larger the body, the
slower the motion; and that the time and the necessities of the poor
demand dispatch.
From the annual disbursements in assisting the poor, which I shall here
exhibit from undoubted evidence, the curious will draw some useful
lessons respecting the increase of manufactures, of population, and
of property.
No memoirs are found prior to 1676.
Year. Disbursed. Year. Disbursed.
l. s. d. l. s. d.
1676 328 17 7 1684 451 0 5-1/2
1677 347 9 10-1/2 1685 324 2 8
1678 398 8 0-1/2 1686 338 12 11
1679 omitted 1687 343 15 6
1680 342 11 2-1/2 1688 308 17 9-1/2
1681 363 15 7 1689 395 14 11
1682 337 2 8-1/2 1690 396 15 2-1/2
1683 410 12 1 1691 354 1 5-1/2
1691 360 0 4-1/2 1720 950 14 0
1693 376 12 3-1/2 1721 1024 6 6-1/2
1694 423 12 1-1/2 1722 939 18 0-1/2
1695 454 2 1-1/2 1739 678 8 5
1696 385 8 11-1/2 1740 938 0 6
1697 446 11 5 1742 888 1 1-1/2
1698 505 0 2-1/2 1743 799 6 1
1699 592 11 2 1744 851 12 5-1/2
1700 661 7 4-1/2 1745 746 2 7
1701 487 13 0 1746 1003 14 9-1/2
1702 413 14 0-1/2 1747 1071 7 3
1703 476 13 10 1748 1175 8 7-1/2
1704 555 11 11-1/2 1749 1132 11 7-1/2
1705 510 0 10 1750 1167 16 6
1706 519 3 6 1751 1352 0 8-1/2
1707 609 0 4-1/2 1752 1355 6 4
1708 649 15 9 1756 3255 18 3-1/4
1709 744 17 0-1/2 1757 3402 7 2-1/2
1710 960 8 8-1/2 1758 3306 12 5
1711 1055 2 10 1759 2708 9 5-3/4
1712 734 0 11 1760 3221 18 7
1713 674 7 6 1761 2935 4 1-1/2
1714 722 15 6-1/2 1762 3078 18 2-1/2
1715 718 2 1 1763 3330 13 11-1/2
1716 788 3 2-1/2 1764 3963 11 0-1/2
1717 764 0 6-1/2 1765 3884 18 9
1718 751 2 4 1766 4716 2 10-1/2
1719 1094 10 7 1767 4940 2 2
1768 4798 2 5 1775 6509 10 10
1769 5082 0 9 1776 5203 4 9-1/2
1770 5125 13 2-1/4 1777 6012 5 5
1771 6132 5 10 1778 6866 10 8-1/2
1772 6139 6 5-1/2 1779 8081 19 7-1/2
1773 5584 18 8-1/2 1780 9910 4 11-3/4
1774 6115 17 11
We cannot pass through this spacious edifice without being pleased with
its internal oeconomy; order influences the whole, nor can the
cleanliness be exceeded: but I am extremely concerned, that I cannot
pass through without complaint.
There are evils in common life which admit of no remedy; but there are
very few which may not be lessened by prudence.
The modes of nursing infancy in this little dominion of poverty, are
truly defective. It is to be feared the method intended to train up
inhabitants for the earth, annually furnishes the regions of the grave.
Why is so little attention paid to the generation who are to tread the
stage after us? as if we suffered them to be cut off that we might keep
possession for ever. The unfortunate orphan that none will own, none
will regard: distress, in whatever form it appears, excites compassion,
but particularly in the helpless. Whoever puts an infant into the arms
of decrepit old age, passes upon it a sentence of death, and happy is
that infant who finds a reprieve. The tender sprig is not likely to
prosper under the influence of the tree which attracts its nurture;
applies that nurture to itself, where the calls occasioned by decay are
the most powerful--An old woman and a sprightly nurse, are characters as
opposite as the antipodes.
If we could but exercise a proper care during the first two years, the
child would afterwards nurse itself; there is not a more active animal
in the creation, no part of its time, while awake, is unemployed: why
then do we invert nature, and confine an animal to still life, in what
is called a school, who is designed for action?
We cannot with indifference behold infants crouded into a room by the
hundred, commanded perhaps by some disbanded soldier, termed a
school-master, who having changed the sword for the rod, continues much
inclined to draw blood with his arms; where every individual not only re
breathes his own air, but that of another: the whole assembly is
composed of the feeble, the afflicted, the maimed, and the orphan; the
result of whose confinement, is a fallow aspect, and a sickly frame: but
the paltry grains of knowledge gleaned up by the child in this barren
field of learning, will never profit him two-pence in future; whereas,
if we could introduce a robust habit, he would one day be a treasure to
the community, and a greater to himself. Till he is initiated into
labour, a good foundation for health may be laid in air and exercise.
Whenever I see half a dozen of these forlorn innocents quartered upon a
farm house, a group of them taking the air under the conduct of a
senior, or marshalled in rank and file to attend public worship, I
consider the overseer who directed it, as possessed of tender feelings:
their orderly attire, and simplicity of manners, convey a degree of
pleasure to the mind; and I behold in them, the future support of that
commercial interest; upon which they now lie as a burden.
If I have dwelt long upon the little part of our species, let it plead
my excuse to say, I cannot view a human being, however diminutive in
stature, or depressed in fortune, without considering, _I view
an equal_.