the English interest to have an employment conferred on him worth four
hundred pounds a year; and that he hath likewise an estate in land worth
four hundred pounds a year more; suppose him to sit in Parliament; then,
suppose a land-tax to be brought in of five shillings a pound for ten
years; I tell you how this gentleman will compute. He hath four hundred
pounds a year in land: the tax he must pay yearly is one hundred pounds;
by which, in ten years, he will pay only a thousand pounds. But if he
gives his vote against this tax, he will lose four thousand pounds by
being turned out of his employment, together with the power and
influence he hath, by virtue or colour of his employment; and thus the
balance will be against him three thousand pounds.
I desire, my fellow-citizens, you will please to call to mind how many
persons you can vouch for among your acquaintance, who have so much
virtue and self-denial as to lose four hundred pounds a year for life,
together with the smiles and favour of power, and the hopes of higher
advancement, merely out of a generous love of his country.
The contentions of parties in England are very different from those
among us. The battle there is fought for power and riches; and so it is
indeed among us: but whether a great employment be given to Tom or to
Peter, they were both born in England, the profits are to be spent
there. All employments (except a very few) are bestowed on the natives;
they do not send to Germany, Holland, Sweden, or Denmark, much less to
Ireland, for chancellors, bishops, judges, or other officers. Their
salaries, whether well or ill got, are employed at home: and whatever
their morals or politics be, the nation is not the poorer.
The House of Commons in England have frequently endeavoured to limit the
number of members, who should be allowed to have employments under the
Crown. Several acts have been made to that purpose, which many wise men
think are not yet effectual enough, and many of them are rendered
ineffectual by leaving the power of re-election. Our House of Commons
consists, I think, of about three hundred members; if one hundred of
these should happen to be made up of persons already provided for,
joined with expecters, compliers easy to be persuaded, such as will give
a vote for a friend who is in hopes to get something; if they be merry
companions, without suspicion, of a natural bashfulness, not apt or able
to look forwards; if good words, smiles, and caresses, have any power
over them, the larger part of a second hundred may be very easily
brought in at a most reasonable rate.
There is an Englishman[186] of no long standing among us, but in an
employment of great trust, power, and profit. This excellent person did
lately publish, at his own expense, a pamphlet printed in England by
authority, to justify the bill for a general excise or inland duty, in
order to introduce that blessed scheme among us. What a tender care must
such an English patriot for Ireland have of our interest, if he should
condescend to sit in our Parliament! I will bridle my indignation.
However, methinks I long to see that mortal, who would with pleasure
blow us all up at a blast: but he duly receives his thousand pounds a
year; makes his progresses like a king; is received in pomp at every
town and village where he travels,[187] and shines in the English
newspapers.
I will now apply what I have said to you, my brethren and
fellow-citizens. Count upon it, as a truth next to your creed, that no
one person in office, of which he is not master for life, whether born
here or in England, will ever hazard that office for the good of this
country. One of your candidates is of this kind, and I believe him to be
an honest gentleman, as the word honest is generally understood. But he
loves his employment better than he doth you, or his country, or all the
countries upon earth. Will you contribute and give him city security to
pay him the value of his employment, if it should be taken from him,
during his life, for voting on all occasions with the honest country
party in the House?--although I must question, whether he would do it
even upon that condition.
Wherefore, since there are but two candidates, I entreat you will fix on
the present Lord Mayor. He hath shewn more virtue, more activity, more
skill, in one year's government of the city, than a hundred years can
equal. He hath endeavoured, with great success, to banish frauds,
corruptions, and all other abuses from amongst you.
A dozen such men in power would be able to reform a kingdom. He hath no
employment under the Crown; nor is likely to get or solicit for any: his
education having not turned him that way. I will assure for no man's
future conduct; but he who hath hitherto practised the rules of virtue
with so much difficulty in so great and busy a station, deserves your
thanks, and the best return you can make him; and you, my brethren, have
no other to give him, than that of representing you in Parliament. Tell
me not of your engagements and promises to another: your promises were
sins of inconsideration, at best; and you are bound to repent and annul
them. That gentleman, although with good reputation, is already engaged
on the other side. He hath four hundred pounds a year under the Crown,
which he is too wise to part with, by sacrificing so good an
establishment to the empty names of virtue, and love of his country. I
can assure you, the DRAPIER is in the interest of the present
Lord Mayor, whatever you may be told to the contrary. I have lately
heard him declare so in public company, and offer some of these very
reasons in defence of his opinion; although he hath a regard and esteem
for the other gentleman, but would not hazard the good of the city and
the kingdom for a compliment.
The Lord Mayor's severity to some unfair dealers, should not turn the
honest men among them against him. Whatever he did, was for the
advantage of those very traders, whose dishonest members he punished. He
hath hitherto been above temptation to act wrong; and therefore, as
mankind goes, he is the most likely to act right as a representative of
your city, as he constantly did in the government of it.
SOME
CONSIDERATIONS
HUMBLY OFFERED TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD MAYOR, THE COURT OF
ALDERMEN, AND COMMON-COUNCIL OF THE HONOURABLE CITY OF DUBLIN,
IN THE
CHOICE OF A RECORDER.
1733.
SOME CONSIDERATIONS IN THE CHOICE OF A RECORDER.
The office of Recorder to this city being vacant by the death of a very
worthy gentleman,[188] it is said, that five or six persons are
soliciting to succeed him in the employment. I am a stranger to all
their persons, and to most of their characters; which latter, I hope,
will at this time be canvassed with more decency than it sometimes
happeneth upon the like occasions. Therefore, as I am wholly impartial,
I can with more freedom deliver my thoughts how the several persons and
parties concerned ought to proceed in electing a Recorder for this great
and ancient city.
And first, as it is a very natural, so I can by no means think it an
unreasonable opinion, that the sons or near relations of Aldermen, and
other deserving citizens, should be duly regarded as proper competitors
for an employment in the city's disposal, provided they be equally
qualified with other candidates; and provided that such employments
require no more than common abilities, and common honesty. But in the
choice of a Recorder, the case is entirely different. He ought to be a
person of good abilities in his calling; of an unspotted character; an
able practitioner; one who hath occasionally merited of this city
before; he ought to be of some maturity in years; a member of
Parliament, and likely to continue so; regular in his life; firm in his
loyalty to the Hanover succession; indulgent to tender consciences; but,
at the same time, a firm adherer to the established church. If he be
such a one who hath already sat in Parliament, it ought to be inquired
of what weight he was there; whether he voted on all occasions for the
good of his country; and particularly for advancing the trade and
freedom of this city; whether he be engaged in any faction, either
national or religious; and, lastly, whether he be a man of courage, not
to be drawn from his duty by the frown or menaces of power, nor capable
to be corrupted by allurements or bribes.--These, and many other
particulars, are of infinitely more consequence, than that single
circumstance of being descended by a direct or collateral line from any
Alderman, or distinguished citizen, dead or alive.
There is not a dealer or shopkeeper in this city, of any substance,
whose thriving, less or more, may not depend upon the good or ill
conduct of a Recorder. He is to watch every motion in Parliament that
may the least affect the freedom, trade, or welfare of it.
In this approaching election, the commons, as they are a numerous body,
so they seem to be most concerned in point of interest; and their
interest ought to be most regarded, because it altogether dependeth upon
the true interest of the city. They have no private views; and giving
their votes, as I am informed, by balloting, they lie under no awe, or
fear of disobliging competitors. It is therefore hoped that they will
duly consider, which of the candidates is most likely to advance the
trade of themselves and their brother-citizens; to defend their
liberties, both in and out of Parliament, against all attempts of
encroachment or oppression. And so God direct them in the choice of a
Recorder, who may for many years supply that important office with
skill, diligence, courage, and fidelity. And let all the people say,
Amen.
A PROPOSAL
FOR GIVING
BADGES TO THE BEGGARS IN ALL THE PARISHES OF DUBLIN.
NOTE.
The "badging" of beggars was a favourite scheme of Swift's for the
better regulation of the many who infested the city of Dublin as
tramps and idlers. While many of these were really deserving
persons, there were a great many also who made the business of
begging a profession. Eleven years before this tract was printed
Swift wrote to Archbishop King on the same subject, as will be seen
from the letter quoted in the note on pages 326-327.
* * * * *
The present text is based on the original edition of 1737 collated
with that given by Sir Walter Scott.
[T. S.]
A
PROPOSAL
FOR GIVING
BADGES
TO THE
BEGGARS
IN ALL THE
PARISHES of _DUBLIN_.
BY THE
DEAN of St. _PATRICK's_
* * * * *
_LONDON_,
Printed for T. COOPER at the _Globe_ in _Pater Noster Row_.
MDCCXXXVII.
Price Six Pence.
It hath been a general complaint, that the poor-house, especially since
the new Constitution by Act of Parliament, hath been of no benefit to
this city, for the ease of which it was wholly intended. I had the
honour to be a member of it many years before it was new modelled by the
legislature, not from any personal regard, but merely as one of the two
deans, who are of course put into most commissions that relate to the
city; and I have likewise the honour to have been left out of several
commissions upon the score of party, in which my predecessors, time out
of mind, have always been members.
The first commission was made up of about fifty persons, which were the
Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Sheriffs, and some few other citizens; the
Judges, the two Archbishops, the two Deans of the city, and one or two
more gentlemen. And I must confess my opinion, that the dissolving the
old commission, and establishing a new one of nearly three times the
number, have been the great cause of rendering so good a design not only
useless, but a grievance instead of a benefit to the city. In the
present commission all the city clergy are included, besides a great
number of 'squires, not only those who reside in Dublin, and the
neighbourhood, but several who live at a great distance, and cannot
possibly have the least concern for the advantage of the city.
At the few general meetings that I have attended since the new
Establishment, I observed very little was done, except one or two Acts
of extreme justice, which I then thought might as well have been
spared: and I have found the Court of Assistants usually taken up in
little brangles about coachmen, or adjusting accounts of meal and small
beer; which, however necessary, might sometimes have given place to
matters of much greater moment, I mean some schemes recommended to the
General Board, for answering the chief ends in erecting and establishing
such a poor-house, and endowing it with so considerable a revenue: and
the principal end I take to have been that of maintaining the poor and
orphans of the city, where the parishes are not able to do it; and
clearing the streets from all strollers, foreigners, and sturdy beggars,
with which, to the universal complaint and admiration, Dublin is more
infested since the Establishment of the poor-house, than it was ever
known to be since its first erection.
As the whole fund for supporting this hospital is raised only from the
inhabitants of the city, so there can be hardly any thing more absurd,
than to see it mis-employed in maintaining foreign beggars and bastards,
or orphans, whose country landlords never contributed one shilling
towards their support. I would engage, that half this revenue, if
employed with common care, and no very great degree of common honesty,
would maintain all the real objects of charity in this city, except a
small number of original poor in every parish, who might, without being
burthensome to the parishioners, find a tolerable support.
I have for some years past applied myself to several Lord Mayors, and to
the late Archbishop of Dublin[189], for a remedy to this evil of foreign
beggars; and they all appeared ready to receive a very plain proposal, I
mean, that of badging the original poor of every parish, who begged in
the streets;[190] that the said beggars should be confined to their own
parishes; that, they should wear their badges well sewn upon one of
their shoulders, always visible, on pain of being whipped and turned out
of town; or whatever legal punishment may be thought proper and
effectual. But, by the wrong way of thinking in some clergymen, and the
indifference of others, this method was perpetually defeated, to their
own continual disquiet, which they do not ill deserve; and if the
grievance affected only them, it would be of less consequence, because
the remedy is in their own power. But all street-walkers, and
shopkeepers bear an equal share in this hourly vexation.
I never heard more than one objection against this expedient of badging
the poor, and confining their walks to their several parishes. The
objection was this: What shall we do with the foreign beggars? Must they
be left to starve? I answered, No; but they must be driven or whipped
out of town; and let the next country parish do as they please; or
rather after the practice in England, send them from one parish to
another, until they reach their own homes. By the old laws of England
still in force, and I presume by those of Ireland, every parish is bound
to maintain its own poor; and the matter is of no such consequence in
this point as some would make it, whether a country parish be rich or
poor. In the remoter and poorer parishes of the kingdom, all necessaries
for life proper for poor people are comparatively cheaper; I mean
butter-milk, oatmeal, potatoes, and other vegetables; and every farmer
or cottager, who is not himself a beggar, can sometimes spare a sup or a
morsel, not worth the fourth part of a farthing, to an indigent
neighbour of his own parish, who is disabled from work. A beggar native
of the parish is known to the 'squire, to the church minister, to the
popish priest, or the conventicle teachers, as well as to every farmer:
he hath generally some relations able to live, and contribute something
to his maintenance. None of which advantages can be reasonably expected
on a removal to places where he is altogether unknown. If he be not
quite maimed, he and his trull, and litter of brats (if he hath any) may
get half their support by doing some kind of work in their power, and
thereby be less burthensome to the people. In short, all necessaries of
life grow in the country, and not in cities, and are cheaper where they
grow; nor is it equal, that beggars should put us to the charge of
giving them victuals, and the carriage too.
But, when the spirit of wandering takes him, attended by his female, and
their equipage of children, he becomes a nuisance to the whole country:
he and his female are thieves, and teach the trade of stealing to their
brood at four years old; and if his infirmities be counterfeit, it is
dangerous for a single person unarmed to meet him on the road. He
wanders from one county to another, but still with a view to this town,
whither he arrives at last, and enjoys all the privileges of a Dublin
beggar.
I do not wonder that the country 'squires should be very willing to send
up their colonies; but why the city should be content to receive them,
is beyond my imagination.
If the city were obliged by their charter to maintain a thousand
beggars, they could do it cheaper by eighty _per cent._ a hundred miles
off, than in this town, or any of its suburbs.
There is no village in Connaught, that in proportion shares so deeply in
the daily increasing miseries of Ireland, as its capital city; to which
miseries there hardly remained any addition, except the perpetual swarms
of foreign beggars, who might be banished in a month without expense,
and with very little trouble.
As I am personally acquainted with a great number of street beggars, I
find some weak attempts to have been made in one or two parishes to
promote the wearing of badges; and my first question to those who ask an
alms, is, _Where is your badge?_ I have in several years met with about
a dozen who were ready to produce them, some out of their pockets,
others from under their coat, and two or three on their shoulders, only
covered with a sort of capes which they could lift up or let down upon
occasion. They are too lazy to work, they are not afraid to steal, nor
ashamed to beg; and yet are too proud to be seen with a badge, as many
of them have confessed to me, and not a few in very injurious terms,
particularly the females. They all look upon such an obligation as a
high indignity done to their office. I appeal to all indifferent people,
whether such wretches deserve to be relieved. As to myself, I must
confess, this absurd insolence hath so affected me, that for several
years past, I have not disposed of one single farthing to a street
beggar, nor intend to do so, until I see a better regulation; and I have
endeavoured to persuade all my brother-walkers to follow my example,
which most of them assure me they do. For, if beggary be not able to
beat out pride, it cannot deserve charity. However, as to persons in
coaches and chairs, they bear but little of the persecution we suffer,
and are willing to leave it entirely upon us.
To say the truth, there is not a more undeserving vicious race of human
kind than the bulk of those who are reduced to beggary, even in this
beggarly country. For, as a great part of our publick miseries is
originally owing to our own faults (but, what those faults are I am
grown by experience too wary to mention) so I am confident, that among
the meaner people, nineteen in twenty of those who are reduced to a
starving condition, did not become so by what lawyers call the work of
GOD, either upon their bodies or goods; but merely from their
own idleness, attended with all manner of vices, particularly
drunkenness, thievery, and cheating.
Whoever enquires, as I have frequently done, from those who have asked
me an alms; what was their former course of life, will find them to have
been servants in good families, broken tradesmen, labourers, cottagers,
and what they call decayed house-keepers; but (to use their own cant)
reduced by losses and crosses, by which nothing can be understood but
idleness and vice.
As this is the only Christian country where people contrary to the old
maxim, are the poverty and not the riches of the nation, so, the
blessing of increase and multiply is by us converted into a curse; and,
as marriage hath been ever countenanced in all free countries, so we
should be less miserable if it were discouraged in ours, as far as can
be consistent with Christianity. It is seldom known in England, that the
labourer, the lower mechanick, the servant, or the cottager thinks of
marrying until he hath saved up a stock of money sufficient to carry on
his business; nor takes a wife without a suitable portion; and as seldom
fails of making a yearly addition to that stock, with a view of
providing for his children. But, in this kingdom, the case is directly
contrary, where many thousand couples are yearly married, whose whole
united fortunes, bating the rags on their backs, would not be sufficient
to purchase a pint of butter-milk for their wedding supper, nor have any
prospect of supporting their _honourable state_, but by service, or
labour, or thievery. Nay, their _happiness_ is often deferred until they
find credit to borrow, or cunning to steal a shilling to pay their
Popish priest, or infamous couple-beggar. Surely no miraculous portion
of wisdom would be required to find some kind of remedy against this
destructive evil, or at least, not to draw the consequences of it upon
our decaying city; the greatest part whereof must of course in a few
years become desolate, or in ruins.
In all other nations, that are not absolutely barbarous, parents think
themselves bound by the law of nature and reason to make some provision
for their children; but the reasons offered by the inhabitants of
Ireland for marrying is, that they may have children to maintain them
when they grow old and unable to work.
I am informed that we have been for some time past extremely obliged to
England for one very beneficial branch of commerce: for, it seems they
are grown so gracious as to transmit us continually colonies of beggars,
in return of a million of money they receive yearly from hence. That I
may give no offence, I profess to mean real English beggars in the
literal meaning of the word, as it is usually understood by protestants.
It seems, the Justices of the Peace and parish officers in the western
coasts of England, have a good while followed the trade of exporting
hither their supernumerary beggars, in order to advance the English
Protestant interest among us; and, these they are so kind to send over
_gratis_, and duty free. I have had the honour more than once to attend
large cargoes of them from Chester to Dublin: and I was then so ignorant
as to give my opinion, that our city should receive them into
_bridewell_, and after a month's residence, having been well whipped
twice a day, fed with bran and water, and put to hard labour, they
should be returned honestly back with thanks as cheap as they came: or,
if that were not approved of, I proposed, that whereas one English man
is allowed to be of equal intrinsic value with twelve born in Ireland,
we should in justice return them a dozen for one, to dispose of as they
pleased. But to return.
As to the native poor of this city, there would be little or no damage
in confining them to their several parishes. For instance; a beggar of
the parish of St. Warborough's,[191] or any other parish here, if he be
an object of compassion, hath an equal chance to receive his proportion
of alms from every charitable hand; because the inhabitants, one or
other, walk through every street in town, and give their alms, without
considering the place, wherever they think it may be well disposed of:
and these helps, added to what they get in eatables by going from house
to house among the gentry and citizens, will, without being very
burthensome, be sufficient to keep them alive.
It is true, the poor of the suburb parishes will not have altogether the
same advantage, because they are not equally in the road of business and
passengers: but here it is to be considered, that the beggars there have
not so good a title to publick charity, because most of them are
strollers from the country, and compose a principal part of that great
nuisance, which we ought to remove.