time, two Acts passed in the same year as the foregoing may be cited.
[Sidenote: 1634-5. 10 and 11 Charles I. cap. 15.] The first is, _The
10th and 11th Charles 1st, cap. 15_, entitled ‘An Act against ploughing
by the Tail and pulling the Wool off living Sheep.’ It declares that “in
many places of this kingdom there hath been a long time used a barbarous
custom of ploughing, harrowing, drawing and working with horses, mares,
geldings, garrans, and colts, by the tail, whereby (besides the cruelty
used to the beasts) the breed of horses is much impaired in this
kingdom, to the great prejudice thereof; and also, that divers have and
yet do use the like barbarous custom, of pulling off the wool yearly
from living sheep[14] instead of clipping or shearing of them”—Wherefore
all such barbarities are prohibited, and it is enacted that whomsoever
shall so act in either case in future, or procure the same to be done,
shall be subject to fine and imprisonment. [Sidenote: 1634-5. 10 and 11
Charles I. cap. 17.] The other Act is the _10th and 11th Charles 1st,
cap. 17_, entitled ‘An Act to prevent the unprofitable custom of burning
Corn in the Straw.’ It recites—“Whereas there is in the remote parts of
this kingdom of Ireland commonly a great dearth of cattle yearly, which
for the most part happeneth by reason of the ill husbandrie and
improvident care of the owners, that neither provide fodder nor stover
for them in winter, nor houses to put them in extremitie of stormy cold
weather, but a natural lazie disposition possessing them, will not build
barnes to house and thresh their corn in, nor houses to keep their
cattle from the violence of such weather; but the better to enable them
to be flitting from their lands, and to deceive his Majesty of such
debts as they may be owing, and their landlords of their rents, do for a
great part instead of threshing, burn their corn in the straw, thereby
consuming the straw which might relieve their cattle in winter, and
afford materials towards covering or thatching their houses, and
spoiling the corn, making it black, loathsome and filthy”—for prevention
of which unprofitable and uncivil customs it is ordained, that no person
shall “by himself, wife, children, servants, or tenants,” burn or cause
to be burned any corn or grain in the straw, on pain of being imprisoned
ten days for the first offence, for the second offence one month, and
for the third offence to pay a fine of forty shillings and be bound to
good behaviour.
-----
[14]
A parallel to the “pulling off the wool from living sheep,” may even
now be witnessed all over the west of Ireland, in the plucking off the
feathers from the living geese, a process that must be attended with
great pain, and under the cruel infliction of which many of the poor
geese perish.
-----
These Acts certainly indicate the existence of very rude and barbarous
practices in some parts of Ireland—so rude indeed, that one finds some
difficulty in giving credence to them; but that they did prevail, there
can be no reasonable doubt. To plough by the tail, to strip the wool off
sheep, and to burn corn in the straw, are doubtless all indications of a
lamentable state of backwardness and barbarism; but how far this
backwardness was owing to “a natural lazie disposition” in the Irish
tenantry, or whether it was the “better to enable them to be flitting
from their lands to deceive their landlords of their rents,” as asserted
above, or occasioned by the oppressive conduct of the landlords, as
described by Spenser,[15] it is impossible to say with certainty. Most
likely all these causes were in operation, together with a general
feeling of insecurity, a backward state of civilization, and a feeble
and uncertain administration of the law.
-----
[15]
See ante, p. 7.
-----
Another cause of backwardness and disorder is indicated [Sidenote:
1634-5. 10 and 11 Charles I. cap. 16.]by the ‘Act for the suppressing of
Cosherers and idle Wanderers.’ This Act (_the 10th and 11th Charles 1st,
cap. 16_) commences with the following recital—“Whereas there are many
young gentlemen of this kingdom that have little or nothing to live on
of their own, and will not apply themselves to labour or other honest
industrious courses to support themselves, but do live idly and
inordinately, coshering upon the country, and sessing themselves their
followers their horses and their greyhounds upon the poor inhabitants,
sometimes exacting money from them to spare them and their tenants, and
to go elsewhere to their eaught and edraugh, viz. supper and breakfast,
and sometimes craving helps from them; all which the poor people dare
not deny them, sometimes for shame, but most commonly for fear of
mischief to be done them so refusing, and therefore do bear it although
unwillingly, and many times when they are scarce able so to do, and yet
dare not complain for fear of the inconveniences aforesaid, and to that
end do make cuts levies and plotments upon themselves to pay them, and
give such entertainment and helps to the utter impoverishing and
disabling of the poor inhabitants to pay their duties to the king, and
their rents unto their landlords; and by that lawless kind of life of
these idle gentlemen and others, being commonly active young men, and
such as seek to have many followers and dependants upon them, many other
inconveniences are likely to arise, for they are apt upon the least
occasion of disturbance or insurrection, to rifle and make booty of his
Majesty’s loyal subjects, and to be heads and leaders of outlaws and
rebels, and in the mean time do and must sometimes support their
excessive and expenceful drinking and gaming by secret stealths, or
growing into debts often-times filch and stand upon their keeping, and
are not amenable to law”—wherefore for prevention of such inconveniences
it is enacted, that if any person or persons shall directly or
indirectly follow any of the above practices in future, the justices of
assize are to cause them to be apprehended and bound to good behaviour,
and imprisoned until good sureties for the same be given. These
“cosherers” are apparently the same class of persons described by
Spenser as infesting the country half a century before,[16] too proud to
beg, too idle to labour, and for the most part living by the plunder and
intimidation of the poor tenantry. There could hardly have been a
greater obstruction to improvement, or a more certain incentive to
violence and disorder, than the conduct of these “cosherers and idle
wanderers” as above described. They must have been in every way a curse
to the country, stirring up and perpetuating whatever was pernicious
oppressive and demoralizing, and subverting whatever had a contrary
tendency.
-----
[16]
Ante, p. 6.
-----
We have now approached the period of what is emphatically called “the
great Rebellion,” which was followed by the Commonwealth, the
Protectorate, and the Restoration; and then, after an interval, by the
Revolution of 1688, which led to the establishment of constitutional
monarchy. But in none of these periods, although all highly interesting
and important in an historical point of view, do we find anything in
Irish legislation so immediately bearing upon our present subject, as to
call for citation or remark.
The first enactment in the order of time which it is necessary to
notice,[Sidenote: 1703. 2 Anne, cap. 19. The Dublin workhouse.] is _The
2nd Anne, cap. 19_, entitled—‘An Act for erecting a Workhouse in the
city of Dublin, for employing and maintaining the poor thereof.’ The
preamble declares, that “the necessities number and continual increase
of the poor within the city of Dublin and liberties thereto adjoining,
are very great and exceeding burdensome for want of workhouses to set
them at work, and a sufficient authority to compel them thereto: and
whereas the lord mayor, sheriffs, commons and citizens of Dublin for the
encouragement of so charitable and necessary a work, are willing not
only to appropriate a piece of ground for a workhouse within the said
city, but also to endow the same with lands of inheritance of the value
of one hundred pounds per annum”—It is enacted, that from and
immediately after the 1st of May 1704, there shall be a corporation to
continue for ever within the county of the city of Dublin, to be
entitled the governors and guardians of the poor, and to consist of the
chief governor (or lord lieutenant) the lord mayor, the lord chancellor,
the archbishop of Dublin, the sheriffs, the justices of peace, the
members of the corporation, and a great many others specially named, who
are to have perpetual succession, with all the usual powers and
privileges of a corporation. They are to assemble on the first Thursday
in every month, “for relieving, regulating, and setting at work, all
vagabonds and beggars which shall come within the city or liberties,”
and are to provide such necessaries and material as are needful for the
same. They are likewise empowered to apprehend all idle or poor people
begging or seeking relief, or who receive parish alms within the city or
liberties; and also to detain and keep in the service of the said
corporation until the age of sixteen, any poor child or children found
or taken up within the said city or liberties above five years of age,
and to apprentice out such children to any honest persons, being
protestants, a male child until the age of twenty-four, and a female
child until the age of twenty-one. The governors and directors are
moreover empowered to inflict reasonable punishment or correction, from
time to time, on all persons within the workhouse who shall not conform
to the established regulations; and are to have the care of the poor of
the said city and liberties of what age or kind soever they be, infants
under the age of five years only excepted; and in order thereto, are
empowered “to examine, search, and see what poor persons are come into,
inhabiting, or residing within the said city and liberties, or any part
thereof, and to apprehend any idle vagrants and beggars, and to cause
them to be set and kept at work in the said workhouse, for any time not
exceeding seven years.”
For the encouragement of such as shall become benefactors to the
foregoing “good design,” it is enacted that a donor of fifty pounds and
upwards shall be eligible for the office of governor and guardian; and
power is also given for granting licences for the keeping of hackney
coaches not exceeding 150 in number, and for sedan-chairs not exceeding
80 in number, to ply for hire within the city and liberties, every
licence so granted being charged with the sum of 5_l._, to be paid to
the governors and guardians of the poor by way of fine, and forty
shillings annually afterwards, so long as the said licence shall be
continued. It is further enacted for the support of the poor in the said
workhouse, that a rate of 3_d._ in the pound be charged on every house
within the city and liberties, to be levied in the same way as
ministers’ money; but in case any surplus should remain after defraying
the necessary charges of the workhouse, and the poor maintained and
employed therein, a proportional abatement is to be made in this tax
upon houses.
The above is the substance of this important Act, important, that is, as
being the first in which a direct provision is made for the relief of
poverty in Ireland. The Act is local, it is true, its operation being
limited to the city and liberties of Dublin; but it recognises the
principle of taxing the public for the prevention of vagrancy and
begging, conjointly with the alternative of relieving the destitute—a
principle universal in itself, and susceptible of universal application.
The endeavour to effect these objects through the agency of workhouses,
was very generally resorted to in England about this time. They had been
recommended by Sir Matthew Hale, and also by Mr. Locke in his Report on
the state of the poor, and the Bristol, Worcester, and other workhouses
were established with a like intent,[17] although the employment of the
inmates with a view to profit, was no doubt at the same time regarded as
a collateral advantage. The direction that the poor children “found or
taken up” should be apprenticed to “honest persons being protestants,”
seems, as in the case of the free schools already noticed,[18] to
indicate a desire in the framers of the measure to make it subservient
to the spread of the reformed religion; but at that time the property,
and nearly all the industrious occupations of the country were in the
hands of protestants, so that with them alone was there likely to be an
eligible opportunity for apprenticing out the children. The direction to
do so was therefore superfluous, but it indicates the dominant feeling
of the time. The corporation was reconstituted and its powers extended
by _the 1st George 2nd, cap. 27_, in 1728, and ultimately the workhouse
became merged in the Dublin Foundling Hospital; but as it will hereafter
be necessary to revert to this point we need not dwell on it at present.
-----
[17]
See ‘History of the English Poor Law,’ vol. i. pp. 302, 372, 373 and
385.
[18]
Ante, p. 24.
-----
The Act passed in 1635, ‘for the suppression of cosherers and idle
wanderers,’ has already been noticed.[19] [Sidenote: 1707. 6 Anne, cap.
11.]In 1707 another was passed (_the 6th Anne, cap. 11_,) explaining and
amending the former, and entitled ‘An Act for the more effectual
suppressing tories robbers and rapparees, and for preventing persons
becoming tories or resorting to them.’ It directs—“that all loose idle
vagrants, and such as pretend to be Irish gentlemen, and will not work
nor betake themselves to any honest trade or livelihood, but wander
about demanding victuals and coshering from house to house among their
fosterers followers and others, and also loose persons of infamous lives
and characters, upon presentments of the grand juries at assizes and
general quarter sessions, and upon warrant of the justices, shall be
imprisoned until sent on board the fleet, or transported to some of her
Majesties plantations in America, whither the justices are empowered to
send them, unless sufficient security for their good behaviour be given.
Many persons are moreover said to make a trade of obtaining robbery
money from the country, pretending to have been robbed, “whereas they
never were robbed, or were not robbed of near the value they allege, and
so get money on that account which they never lost”—Wherefore it is
directed that all persons pretending to be robbed, shall not only give
notice thereof to some neighbouring justice, but likewise to the high
constable, who is forthwith to publish the same in all the market towns
of the barony.
-----
[19]
Ante, p. 34.
-----
There appears to have been another species of fraud in connexion with
this [Sidenote: “Robbery money.”] “robbery money,” for the principal
inhabitants, when applotments were made for reimbursing the persons that
had been robbed, do it is said, “usually lay the whole burthen on the
poorer sort, that are least able to bear it, or least able to resist or
pursue the tories, and thereby they pay little or nothing themselves,
who ought to be charged according to their abilities”—Wherefore the
parties aggrieved are authorised to appeal to the judges of assize, who
are empowered to examine into the case upon oath, and to determine the
same. We thus see how apt a law, however good in itself, is to be
perverted to a bad purpose. The making the county answerable for
reimbursing a person who had been plundered, would seem calculated to
array all the inhabitants on the side of honesty and good order; but
without preventing robbery, the law in this case appears to have given
rise to a fraudulent trafficking in “robbery money,” and to gross
injustice in other respects. There is no other Act of the Irish
parliament in Anne’s reign requiring to be noticed, but there is one in
that of her successor which must not be passed over.
[Sidenote: 1715.
2 George I. cap. 17.]
_The 2nd George 1st, cap. 17_, may be called a multitudinous Act, as it
comprises a great variety of enactments, but such parts only will be
noticed as bear upon our subject. It is entitled ‘An Act to empower
justices to determine disputes about servants’ wages &c.’ and it
recites—“Whereas several persons do refuse or neglect to pay the wages
due to servants, artificers, and day labourers, and there being no
remedy whereby they can in a summary way, without much charge or delay
recover what is due for their service”—it is therefore enacted for the
more easy recovery of the same, that any neighbouring justice of the
peace or chief magistrate may receive the complaint of any such servant
upon oath, and may summon the master or mistress and determine the
demand, which if not paid within ten days as so determined, may be
levied by distress. “And forasmuch as several servants are drunkards,
idle or otherwise disorderly in their services, or waste and purloin
their master’s goods, or lend the same without their master’s or
mistress’s consent or knowledge, or depart their service within the time
for which they had obliged themselves to serve,” it is further enacted,
that on complaint upon oath of any master or mistress to such effect
before any justice of peace or chief magistrate, they are to hear and
determine the same, and if the offence be duly proved, may commit the
offender for six hours to the stocks, or to the house of correction with
hard labour for any time not exceeding ten days. It is also enacted,
that on the discharge or quitting service of any servant, the master or
mistress shall give a certificate in writing to that effect, “and shall
in the said discharge certify, if desired, or if the master or mistress
shall think fit, the behaviour of such servant;” and no servant is in
future to be hired without producing such discharge or certificate of
character. These enactments appear alike calculated to benefit the
master and the servant class, and if fairly administered could hardly
fail of so doing. They show moreover that social organization in Ireland
had attained a more stable and orderly form, that its gradations were
more distinctly marked and better understood, and that the duties of
each were more clearly defined. We no longer see any allusion to the
“Irishry” as a separate race. All are brought within the pale of the
law, or it may rather be said that the law and the pale have become
conterminous.
[Sidenote: 11th section. Apprenticing of helpless children.]
By the _11th section_ of the Act provision is made for apprenticing
helpless children. It commences with this preamble—“and whereas there
are in almost every part of this kingdom great numbers of helpless
children who are forced to beg their bread, and who will in all
likelihood, if some proper care be not taken of their education, become
hereafter not only unprofitable but dangerous to their country; and
whereas it is hoped that many of them may be entertained in comfortable
services, and others may be bound out to and bred up in useful callings,
if well-disposed persons could have any fair prospect of receiving
hereafter by the labour of such poor children, any return suitable to
the trouble and charges they must necessarily undergo in bringing them
through that state of childhood”—Wherefore it is enacted, that the
minister and churchwardens shall have power, with consent of a justice
of peace, to bind out any child they find begging within their parish,
or any other poor child with consent of the parents, to any honest and
substantial protestant housekeeper or tradesman that will entertain such
child, until the age of 21, if as a menial servant, or till the age of
24, if as an apprentice to a trade. And to prevent abuse of power in
masters and mistresses towards such servants and apprentices, it is
further enacted that justices of peace may, on complaint of ill usage or
cruel treatment examine into the case, and if the complaint appear
groundless, may order reasonable correction for the servant or
apprentice complaining without cause; but if immoderate severity or
cruel usage be fully proved against the master or mistress, the justice
is empowered to discharge the servant or apprentice from their service,
and to bind him or her to some other master or mistress for the
remainder of the time. We here see that the power of apprenticing out
poor children conferred upon the Dublin corporation of governors and
guardians of the poor,[20] is now extended to the minister and
churchwardens of every parish in Ireland, accompanied by a like
condition as to the master’s being a protestant. In this respect only is
there any material difference between the present enactment, and _The
39th Elizabeth, cap. 3_,[21] with regard to apprenticing poor children,
although better provision is now made for protecting them against
improper treatment subsequently.
-----
[20]
Ante, p. 35.
[21]
See ‘History of the English Poor Law,’ vol. i. p. 183.
-----
[Sidenote: 1735.
9 George II. cap. 25.]
In 1735 an Act was passed for establishing a workhouse at Cork, similar
in its main provisions to that which was passed for Dublin in 1703.[20]
The present Act (_The 9th George 2nd, cap. 25_) however makes provision
for rebuilding the cathedral church of St. Finbarry, as well as “for
erecting a workhouse in the city of Cork for employing and maintaining
the poor, punishing vagabonds, and providing for and educating foundling
children.” With respect to the former of these provisions, it is only
necessary to remark, that the money authorised to be raised by a
coal-tax, was directed to be applied during the first four years to the
purposes of the cathedral; and we may therefore abstain from further
noticing that point, and proceed at once to a consideration of the other
provisions of the Act.
[Sidenote: Strolling beggars and vagabonds to be seized.]
The _9th George 2nd, cap. 25_, has the same preamble as the Dublin Act.
It constitutes the bishop of Cork, and the mayor, recorder, aldermen,
sheriffs, common councilmen, the common speaker, together with
twenty-six other persons who are to be elected annually, a corporation
and body politic, entitled the “Governors of the Workhouse of the City
of Cork.” They are to have a common seal, with all the usual powers, and
may purchase and take for the uses of the corporation any lands or other
hereditaments not exceeding the annual value of 2000_l._ The ground for
the workhouse is given by the city corporation, and in order to defray
the expenses to be incurred in carrying the several provisions of the
Act into effect, a duty of one shilling per ton is imposed on all coal
and culm imported into Cork during the term of thirty-one years, to be
paid to the governors of the workhouse. Four general assemblies of the
governors are to be held in every year, and they may from among
themselves annually appoint fifteen to be assistants, any five of whom
are to have full power to carry the regulations established by the
governors into effect, and likewise to regulate the management of the
gaol or house of correction. The beadles and constables are authorised
to seize all beggars and other idle vagabonds, found strolling in or
frequenting any of the streets or houses within the city and suburbs,
and to carry them before one of the said assistants, who is empowered to
commit them to the workhouse and hard labour until the next meeting of
the governors, who may if they see cause confine such beggars or
vagabonds in the workhouse for any term not longer than four years, and
keep them to hard labour or otherwise as shall be thought fit. If
disorderly, they may be committed to the house of correction.
[Sidenote: Section 17. Foundling children.]
The workhouse at Cork, like that established in Dublin, is thus we see
primarily intended for the repression of mendicancy and vagabondism, and
like that too it is further designed for the reception and maintenance
of foundlings. The _17th section_ of the Act declares that “the exposed
or foundling children left yearly on the several parishes in the city
and suburbs of Cork are very numerous, and do frequently perish for want
of due care and provision for them”—Wherefore it is enacted, that as
soon as the workhouse shall be built, the governors shall receive from
the churchwardens of the respective parishes all the exposed or
foundling children that are then within the same, and likewise all such
as may thereafter be found exposed or left to be maintained by any of
the said parishes, “and shall take due care to have such children
nursed, clad, and taught to read and write, and thoroughly instructed in
the principles of the protestant religion.” The male children are to be
taught some trade or calling, and employed thereon within the workhouse
until the age of 21, when they are to be discharged, and furnished with
a certificate under the seal of the corporation, stating their having
been so brought up and taught such trade in the workhouse, which
certificate will entitle them to the freedom of the city of Cork, with
all the privileges other freemen enjoy.
If the number of male foundlings should become so great, that the fund
appropriated to the maintenance of the workhouse proves insufficient for
continuing them therein until they severally attain the age of 21 years,
the governors or assistants are empowered to place out so many of the
male children to such art trade or calling, or to the sea service, or to
be household servants, for any term not exceeding seven years, as they
shall judge necessary and expedient. The female children are to be
instructed in such proper trades and employments, and disposed of at
such ages and in such manner, as the governors may deem advisable; and
in order to prevent the improper interference of the parents of such
deserted children, many of whom being Roman catholics are said to strive
to hinder their children from being brought up protestants, the
governors of the workhouses of Dublin and Cork are empowered to exchange
the children maintained therein, whenever such interchange shall be
agreed upon by the respective governors. This appears the only material
addition suggested by the experience obtained in the thirty years
between the passing of the two Acts, and it strikingly illustrates the
difficulty of dealing with matters connected in any way with differences
in religion. Here are parents so wanting in natural affection as to
desert their own progeny, and leave them to be cared for by their
protestant fellow-subjects, and who yet make it a point of conscience to
hinder their children’s being brought up in the religion of their
protectors. It would seem impossible to carry unreasoning inconsistency
further.
Foundling hospitals have, from a remote period, existed on the continent
of Europe, especially in Italy and France. It appears to have been
thought that by providing a place where mothers might deposit their
illegitimate offspring in safety, the frequent recurrence of
child-murder would be prevented. But it may be doubted whether the
exemption from the consequences of illicit intercourse, does not tend to
relax moral restraints, and to increase the number of illegitimate
children.
[Sidenote: 1771-2.
11 and 12 George III. cap 11. Dublin Foundling Hospital.]
The double functions assigned to the Dublin workhouse, of dealing both
with vagrants and foundling children, were deemed to be inconsistent,
and _The 11th and 12th George 3rd, cap. 11_, was passed to remedy this
defect, and in fact to reconstitute the entire establishment. All former
Acts affecting it were accordingly repealed, and a new corporation
appointed, comprising a long list of persons official and non-official,
from the lord-lieutenant downwards, who are to be called “the Governors
of the Foundling Hospital and Workhouse of the city of Dublin.” The
corporation is invested with large powers, and may for its own use and
benefit purchase and hold any lands, tenements or hereditaments, not
exceeding the annual value of 2,000_l._, or any personal estate
whatsoever; and may make such rules by-laws and other regulations, as
the governors shall judge necessary and expedient for the good
government of the institution. There are to be four quarterly meetings
of the governors in the year, and as in the case of Cork the governors
may appoint annually from among themselves fifteen or more “to be called
the Court of Assistants,” who are to assemble as often as they think
proper for putting in execution the orders and regulations ordained by
the governors, and are invested with authority to inspect and regulate
the management of the institution, “and the children received therein or
sent out to nurse therefrom.”
[Sidenote: Vagabonds and strolling beggars not to be admitted.]
And as “the reception of vagabonds and strolling beggars into the same
house, or within the same walls with children, will be manifestly
injurious by the setting a bad example,”—it is enacted that no vagabond
or strolling beggar shall be sent into the same house, or kept within
the same walls with the children; but when apprehended shall be sent to
bridewell, or to such other place as the governors shall appoint,
separate and apart from the said children, and be there maintained and
set to work at the expense of the corporation, under such management and
regulation as the governors shall prescribe, the produce of their labour
to be applied in aid of the revenues of the institution. The governors
and the court of assistants are empowered to inflict reasonable
punishment or correction from time to time, on any vagabond beggar or
poor person within the said bridewell, or other place of confinement;
and each of the governors, and every justice of peace, may apprehend any
poor persons begging or seeking relief, and all vagabonds and strolling
beggars, within the city and liberties. The beadles, constables, and
inhabitants generally, are moreover required to seize and take all such
persons before one of the said governors, or one of the said justices,
in order to their being committed to bridewell or other appointed place,
until the next quarterly court of governors, who may confine the beggars
and idle vagabonds so committed for any term not exceeding three years,
“there to be kept to hard labour, or otherwise usefully employed, as
they shall see cause and shall order and direct.”
[Sidenote: Section 16.
Foundling children.]
The entire separation of the vagrant classes from the foundling children
being thus provided for, it is then by the _16th section_ enacted—“that
all and every poor child and children under the age of six years, who
shall be found or taken up within the said city and liberties, or sent
to the foundling hospital, shall be received and kept therein, or sent
to nurse therefrom; and that all children presented for reception who
appear to be six years old, and not exceeding eight, shall be received
if there be room, and the children appear to be sound in mind and body.”
The children are to be instructed in the principles of the protestant
religion, and taught to read write and cast accounts, together with such
other useful matters as “may tend to increase the fund for the support
of the said house.” The governors may, from time to time, place out as
apprentices by proper indentures any of the said children to persons
being protestants and following any trade or calling, or to seafaring
men, or to gentlemen or housekeepers for servants, for any term not
exceeding seven years.[22] The maintenance and education afforded to
these poor children, and their being thus placed out as servants, or
apprenticed to a trade, naturally made the institution attractive; and
it is declared to be necessary “that some further funds should be
provided, as it is found by experience that the numbers of children are
of late years greatly increased, and the children are brought to the
hospital from all parts of the kingdom, and from his Majesty’s
neighbouring dominions.”
-----
[22]
This limitation was afterwards removed by the _25th George 3rd, cap.
48_, which allowed of children being apprenticed for any term,
provided it did not exceed the age of 21 for a male and 18 for a
female.
-----
Accordingly, the governors are empowered for “the better support of the
said Foundling Hospital and workhouse, and for the maintenance and
education of the children and other purposes of the Act,” to grant
licences to persons keeping hackney coaches, stages, or other vehicles
plying for hire, and to porters or messengers within the city or suburbs
or seven miles thereof,—on conditions and at rates of charge prescribed
in the Act; and also to charge and receive 6_d._ in the pound on the
yearly rent of all houses within the city and liberties, or within two
Irish miles of Dublin Castle, as the same is returned for the minister’s
money, or if not so returned, on the rents payable by tenants in
possession. And whenever the number of children causes the expense to
exceed the revenue provided by the Act, the governors are to cause
notice thereof to be inserted in the Dublin Gazette, after which no
child is to be again received until notice to that effect be in like
manner given.
On comparing this with the original Act of 1703, and with the Cork Act
of 1735, it will be seen that the chief difference is the entire
separation of the vagabond or culpable class from the foundling children
which is now directed, and the reason for which is distinctly stated.
This was doubtless an advantage, and it led to so many other
improvements in the care and management of the children, that the
numbers deserted and pressed upon the institution went on continually
increasing, and soon became excessive. It is indeed complained of in the
present Act, before the separation it directs was carried into full
effect, and the influence we are told even extended beyond the limits of
Ireland. To provide for the additional charges thus arising, the area of
the house-tax was extended, and its rate increased from 3_d._ to 6_d._
in the pound. No change is made in the charge for licensing carriages,
but the number to be licensed was increased, hackney coaches from 150 to
300, and sedan-chairs from 80 to 400, which may be taken as proof of the
increasing wealth and population of Dublin, if not of the country
generally. This Act was repeatedly amended; and even in the following
year, on the ground that “the number of children of the age of six years
and under, have of late years increased so far beyond the expectation of
the governors,” it is directed by the _13th and 14th George 3rd, cap.
17_, that children of three years old and upwards are not to be
received, and that the house-tax be raised from 6_d._ to 10_d._ in the
pound for two years, on houses of 10_l._ rental and upwards.
[Sidenote: 1772-74.
11 and 12 George III. cap. 15.
13 and 14 George III. cap. 24.]
Nothing further need at present be said with respect to the above
statute. But two other Acts were subsequently passed, one in the same
year, and the other in the year following which require to be
noticed.—The first is _The 11th and 12th George 3rd, cap. 15_, ‘for the
relief of poor infants who are or shall be deserted by their
parents’—the other is _The 13th and 14th George 3rd, cap. 24_, for
amending the same. The first-named Act commences with this
recital—“Whereas poor infants are frequently deserted by their parents,
and left exposed to the inclemency of the weather in the streets and
other places in cities; and whereas the inhabitants of several parishes
in which children are so exposed refuse to raise money for the support
of such children, by which many of them perish”—it is therefore enacted,
that in every parish of every city (excepting Dublin and Cork) a vestry
shall be held in the first week of June annually, at which three
overseers are to be chosen, who shall take up and provide for the
maintenance and education of all such children as shall be so deserted
and exposed within their respective parishes. The sum of 5_l._ is
allowed for the bringing up of each child, and the entire expense is to
be equally borne by the inhabitants of the cities respectively. The
overseers are to collect the sums assessed upon each inhabitant, and
apply the money so collected to the maintenance and education of such
deserted children within their respective parishes. This provision is,
we see, limited to cities; but the other Act (_13th and 14th George 3rd,
cap. 24_) makes the provision general throughout the country. After
citing the former Act, it directs—“that in every parish in this kingdom
(except in the cities of Dublin and Cork for which particular provision
is made) a vestry shall be held annually, at such time and with such
powers as the former Act prescribes;” and the overseers in such parishes
are to “take up and provide for the maintenance and education of all
such children as shall be deserted and exposed within their respective
parishes at the age of twelve months or under;” and such sums of money
as shall be necessary for the purpose, are to be “raised upon the
respective parishes in the same manner and with such remedies as other
parish cesses.” If any parish refuses or neglects to raise the amount
necessary, the next going judge of assize, upon complaint of the
minister or curate thereof, may order such sum to be raised as he shall
think fit, “so as the same do not exceed the sum of 5_l._ for each
child;” and the money so directed to be raised is to be assessed and
levied in the manner and with the like remedies as the presentments of
grand juries, and is to be paid to the minister or curate of such
parish, and by him applied to the purposes of the Act.
These Acts, taken together, make provision for the support of exposed
and deserted children of tender age in every parish in Ireland, by means
of a compulsory assessment upon the inhabitants. This amounts in fact to
a limited relief of the poor, or a restricted kind of poor-law, the
children being in almost every instance the offspring of parents too
poor to rear and maintain them, whence (as was the case in England) the
parish of necessity becomes responsible for the performance of these
duties, and stands _in loco parentis_. After thus legislating for one
class of the destitute, and recognising the principle of compulsory
assessment, it seems remarkable that nothing further should be done in
the way of establishing a regular system of relief for the destitute of
every class, especially as vestries were now being organised, and
overseers appointed in all the parishes of Ireland. Perhaps an Act
passed about the same time, and to which we will now turn, may serve to
explain this omission, as it attempts to effect the object circuitously
and by indirect means, instead of openly charging property for the
relief of destitution.
[Sidenote: 1771-2.
11 and 12 George III. cap. 30.]
_The 11th and 12th George 3rd, cap. 30_, is entitled ‘An Act for Badging
such Poor as shall be found unable to support themselves by labour, and
otherwise providing for them, and for restraining such as shall be found
able to support themselves by labour or industry from begging.’ It
commences as follows—“Whereas strolling beggars are very numerous in
this kingdom, and whereas it is equally necessary to give countenance
and assistance to those poor who shall be found disabled by old age or
infirmities to earn their living, as to restrain and punish those who
may be able to support themselves by labour or industry, and yet may
choose to live in idleness by begging; and it is just to call upon the
humane and affluent to contribute to the support of real objects of
charity; and whereas those purposes may be better effected by one law,
than by many laws tending to the same purpose”—it is enacted that the
_33rd Henry 8th, cap. 15_,[23] and the _10th and 11th Charles 1st, cap.
4_,[23] be repealed.
-----
[23]
Ante, pp. 22 and 28.
-----
The Act then proceeds—“And whereas the good purposes intended by this
Act are most likely to be promoted by creating corporations in every
county at large, and in every county of a city or town in this kingdom,
[Sidenote: Corporations to be established in every county.]who may
execute the powers and trusts hereinafter expressed”—it is enacted that
such corporations be established accordingly, consisting in counties of
the archbishop or bishop, the county members, and the justices of peace;
and in counties of a city or town, of the chief magistrate, sheriffs,
recorder, members of parliament and justices of peace. Every such
corporation is to be called “The President and Assistants instituted for
the relief of the Poor, and for punishing Vagabonds and Sturdy Beggars,”
of the county, city, or town, as the case may be; and is to have a
common seal, and to hold meetings at which the bishop when present is to
preside, and to make by-laws and appoint standing committees, and is
likewise empowered to elect such other persons as shall be thought fit,
including those who contribute any sum not less than 20_l._, or
subscribe annually not less than 3_l._, to the charitable purposes of
the corporation, to be members thereof respectively. The corporations
are authorised to accept donations, and to take or purchase lands and
tenements not exceeding 500_l._ annual value, and to hold leases for
terms not exceeding 21 years, and may also take by grant or devise any
quantity of land in a city or town not exceeding two roods, and in the
open country not exceeding twenty acres, “for the sites of houses to be
built for the reception of the helpless poor, and for keeping in
restraint sturdy beggars and vagabonds.”
[Sidenote: The poor to be badged and licensed to beg.]
The corporations, constituted as above, are empowered to grant badges
to such of the helpless poor as have resided one year in their
respective counties cities or towns, with a licence to beg within such
limits for such time as may be thought fit; and are also empowered to
appoint certain of the justices to grant badges and licences
likewise—“specifying the names and places of birth and the character
of the persons so licensed, and the causes as nearly as may be
collected of their poverty, and whether reduced to that state by
sickness or misfortune.”
[Sidenote: Houses of industry or workhouses to be provided.]
The said corporation are moreover required as soon as they possess
sufficient funds, to build hospitals to be called workhouses or houses
of industry for the relief of the poor in their respective counties, “as
plain, as durable, and at as moderate expense as may be;” which
hospitals are to be divided into four parts, one for such poor helpless
men, and one other for such poor helpless women as shall be judged
worthy of admission, a third for the reception of men able to labour and
committed as vagabonds or sturdy beggars, and the fourth for idle
strolling and disorderly women committed to the hospital and found fit
for labour.
[Sidenote: Persons begging without a licence to be apprehended.]
Every man above the age of fifteen found begging without a licence, and
not wearing a badge, is to be committed to the stocks for any time not
exceeding three hours for the first offence, and six hours for every
subsequent offence; and old persevering offenders may be indicted at the
sessions, and if convicted are to suffer imprisonment not exceeding two
months; after which if they again offend they may be publicly whipped,
and be again imprisoned for four months, and so on continually for every
subsequent offence. Every female found begging without a licence and
badge, may be confined in any place appointed for that purpose, not
exceeding three hours for the first offence, and for every subsequent
offence not exceeding six hours; and every old and persevering offender
is, as in the case of the men, to be proceeded against at the sessions;
and in order that these directions may be carried into effect, the
corporations are empowered to appoint “such and so many persons as they
shall think fit, at reasonable salaries, to seize and arrest all such
persons whom they shall find begging without such licence and badge, and
carry them before the next justice, who may commit the party to the
stocks or otherwise as aforesaid.” Justices are moreover empowered on
their own view, to cause such persons to be seized and dealt with as is
above directed for every first and subsequent offence.
[Sidenote: Poor children to be provided for.]
Whenever a poor person deemed worthy of having a licence to beg, has one
or more children under the age of ten years not apprenticed or otherwise
provided for, the age and number of such children are to be inserted in
the licence by the person applied to in such case, or he may “at his or
their election take such and so many of them as he or they shall think
fit from the parent, and convey such child or children to the committee
of that county, city or town, and insert the names of the rest in the
parents’ licence.” If any fatherless or deserted poor children under
eight years of age are found strolling and begging, they are to be
conveyed to the committee of the particular county city or town, to be
placed in such charter school nursery as will receive them when under
eight, and the rest are to be apprenticed. The committees are required
to keep up a correspondence with the Protestant Charter Schools
Society,[24] that they may be informed from time to time when there is
accommodation for poor children, in order “that all poor children may as
much as possible be prevented from strolling, and may be put to trades
or to industry.”
-----
[24]
Ante, p. 25.
-----
[Sidenote: Strolling vagabonds to be seized and committed.]
As soon as the houses of industry are provided and furnished for the
purpose, the corporations are to place therein so many vagrants sturdy
beggars and vagabonds, and so many helpless poor as their funds admit
of; “and they are authorised and required to seize every strolling
vagrant capable of labour who hath no place of abode, and who doth not
live by his or her labour or industry, and every person above the age of
fifteen who shall beg publicly without a licence or badge, and every
strolling prostitute capable of labour, and to commit the said persons
to the divisions allotted for them respectively in the said houses, and
there to keep them to hard labour, and compel them to work, maintaining
them properly,” and inflicting reasonable punishment when necessary, for
the periods named in the Act, varying from two months to four years.
[Sidenote: Money to be provided by grand-jury presentments.]
“In order to furnish some revenues for the said corporations at the
outset,” the grand juries are required to present annually at every
spring assizes in every county of a city or town, to be raised off the
lands and houses equally and rateably, any sum not less than 100_l._ nor
more than 200_l._, and in every county at large any sum not less than
200_l._ nor more than 400_l._, to be assessed and collected as other
county taxes are, and paid to the corporations respectively, without fee
or deduction whatever, for the charitable purposes of the Act. All
rectors vicars and incumbents of parishes are likewise required to
permit such clergymen as the respective corporations may appoint, to
preach sermons in their churches annually, and to permit collections to
be made for the objects contemplated by the Act.
[Sidenote: Recapitulation.]
We here see that provision has been made, partly by compulsory
assessment, partly by voluntary contributions, and through the
instrumentality of corporations specially appointed—for the badging and
licensing of the poor to beg—for providing hospitals workhouses or
houses of industry in every county at large and county of a city or
town—for separately confining therein able-bodied vagabonds and
disorderly women who are to be kept to hard labour—and for the
maintenance therein of poor helpless men and women. Authority is
likewise given to seize any one found begging without a badge or
licence, and to send such as are above fifteen to the house of industry
for punishment, whilst the children are to be placed at school or put
out to trade or service. And finally, persons are appointed at
reasonable salaries to carry these enactments against unlicensed begging
into effect.
In this Act therefore we have stringent provisions against mendicancy,
coupled with a conditional permission for practising it. The deserving
poor are permitted to beg, or if helpless are maintained; the
undeserving poor if they beg are punished: but the distinction between
the two is not defined, neither is it perhaps possible so to define it
as to guard against continual deception and fraud. The punishment of
vagrancy in every shape prescribed by this Act, accords with what we
find in all the earlier Scottish and English statutes, and if due
provision were at the same time made for relieving the destitute poor,
this would be open to little objection; but the relief of poverty is
here proposed to be effected chiefly by means of an organised system of
begging, the helpless poor for whom provision is made in the houses of
industry, being evidently those only who are too infirm to travel about
for that purpose. By thus combining two objects of an opposite nature,
it is evident neither will be accomplished—vagrancy will not be put
down, and poverty will not be relieved. The providing for the
establishment of corporations in every county, with powers to erect
hospitals, houses of industry, or workhouses, and to tax the property of
the country for such purpose, was no doubt an important advance in the
legislation with regard to the poor; but like many other Irish
enactments the present does not appear to have been carried into effect,
except in a very few instances; and as a general measure the Act may be
said to have been inoperative. It possessed however so much of a general
character, and seemed to hold out such a promise of efficiency by
consolidating the provisions of former Acts, that it was for a time
relied upon, and upwards of half a century elapsed before anything
further was attempted for the relief of the poor in Ireland.
The foregoing is the last of the Acts of the Irish parliament which we
shall have occasion to notice, and when the Union took place in 1800,
the Imperial legislation superseded that which had been local.
On here closing the last volume of Irish statutes, it may be convenient
to give a short statement of the nature and extent of the previous
legislation connected with our subject. Houses of industry and foundling
hospitals, supported partly by public rates, and partly by voluntary
contributions, were we have seen established at Dublin and Cork, for the
reception and bringing up of exposed and deserted children, and the
confinement of vagrants—free schools were directed to be maintained in
every diocese, for educating the children of the poor—parishes were
required to support the children exposed and deserted within their
limits, and vestries were organised and overseers appointed to attend to
this duty—hospitals, houses of industry or workhouses, were to be
provided in every county, and county of a city or town—severe
punishments were enacted against idle vagabonds and vagrants; whilst the
deserving poor were to be badged and licensed to beg, or if infirm and
helpless were to be maintained in the hospitals or houses of industry,
for the building and upholding of which however, reliance was chiefly
placed on the charitable aid of the humane and affluent, assessments for
the purpose being limited to 400_l._ in counties at large, and to
200_l._ in counties of cities or towns.
It is evident that each of these measures partakes more or less of the
nature of a poor-law, but there is one material deficiency pervading
them all, that is, the want of a certain and sufficient provision for
carrying them into effect. In no instance is such a provision made
compulsory upon the public. A portion only of what is necessary for the
purpose is so imposed, and the remainder is sought to be obtained by
voluntary contributions, a combination always attended with uncertainty,
and in most cases leading to an insufficiency of the necessary means.
Even if the various provisions were fully carried into effect and
generally acted upon, this would go far towards rendering them
practically inefficient; but at that time in Ireland, it by no means
followed because an Act was passed that its provisions would be
enforced, and there is reason to believe that in very few instances only
were the provisions contained in these Acts carried into operation. The
existence of such provisions however, defective and for the most part
inoperative as they were, would nevertheless serve as an answer to any
person who might be desirous of seeing an efficient system established
for the relief of the destitute; and thus the semblance of such a system
may have prevented the establishing of one that would have been real,
which it only could be when founded upon a general rate, as in the Act
of Elizabeth. No such foundation was however, we see, here provided.
Neither parochial nor parental liability as recognised and enforced in
England, was established by these Acts. Even in the case of fatherless
and deserted children, the entire chargeability of the parish for any
such child was limited to 5_l._, an amount surely insufficient for its
rearing and maintenance until it attained an age to support itself; so
that here also reliance must have been placed on the co-operation of
private charity, or else upon the child’s being received into one of the
foundling hospitals, and the parish being thus relieved from further
expense. In short, the training up and educating poor children as
protestants, and the repression of vagabondism, appear to be the objects
chiefly sought to be attained in all these Acts of the Irish parliament;
and to these objects the relief of the infirm and destitute poor, seems
to be regarded as a matter altogether secondary and subordinate.
A short account of the state of Ireland at this time will be a fitting
conclusion of the present chapter, as well as a useful preparative for
what is to follow. The best authority we can refer to for furnishing
such an account I believe to be Arthur Young,[25] who devoted three
years from 1776 to 1778 inclusive, to a personal examination of the
country, its agriculture, commerce, and the social condition of the
people. I have had considerable opportunities of testing the accuracy of
Arthur Young’s statements, and making due allowance for the changes
which must be presumed to have taken place during a period of some sixty
years, they have appeared to me to exhibit the circumstances of the
country about the time they were written with remarkable accuracy and
perspicuity. Of these statements, the following is such a condensed
summary as will, it is hoped, show the reader what were Arthur Young’s
views of the then condition of Ireland, more especially with regard to
matters bearing upon our present subject.
-----
[25]
See Arthur Young’s Tour in Ireland in the years 1776-77-78 and brought
down to 1779. 2 vols. 8vo. Published in 1780.
-----
[Sidenote: Arthur Young’s account of the state of Ireland.]
In natural fertility, acre for acre, Ireland is said to be superior to
England. It has no such tracts of uncultivated mountain as are seen in
the English northern counties, and its lighter shallower and more rocky
soil (chiefly of limestone) is nourished by and flourishes under a fall
of rain, which if it took place in England, would render the stiff clay
lands almost useless. There is no chalk, and little sand or clay in
Ireland. The fertility of England may be said to be in great measure
owing to the application of skill industry and capital, that of Ireland
chiefly to the soil and climate; whilst the bogs, which else would be
waste, afford abundance of fuel. Notwithstanding the naturally superior
fertility of Ireland however, the rent of land there as compared with
England is in the proportion of two to five, or in other words, the land
which lets in Ireland for two shillings, would in England let for five.
It is considered that 5_l._ per acre expended over all Ireland (which
would amount to about eighty-eight millions) “would not more than build,
fence, plant, drain and improve that country to be upon a par in those
respects with England;” and that it would take above twenty millions
more to put the farmers in the two countries upon an equal footing.
Profit in all undertakings depends upon capital, and the deficiency of
capital thus accounts for the inferiority of the Irish rents. Tillage is
little understood, and the produce is very inferior; “and were it not
for potatoes, which necessarily prepare for corn, there would not be
half of what we see at present.” The practice of harrowing by the tail,
and burning corn in the straw, was still seen at Castlebar and other
places in the west, notwithstanding its being prohibited by statute.[26]
The moisture of the climate is favourable to pasturage and the keeping
of cattle was much followed, as it well suited the indolent habits of
the people.
-----
[26]
See _10th and 11th Charles 1st, caps. 15 and 17_, ante page 32.
-----
Considerable pains are taken to show that the system of middlemen which
then prevailed, or persons holding tracts of land intermediately between
the head landlord and the smaller occupiers, was injurious to both, and
a bar to improvement. It was defended on the ground of its affording
greater security for the rent. But Arthur Young says that the smaller
tenantry were found to be the most punctual rent-payers; and he further
observes, “that at the last extremity it is the occupier’s stock which
is the real security of the landlord,—it is that he distrains, and finds
abundantly more valuable than the laced hat hounds and pistols of the
gentleman jobber, from whom he is more likely in such a case to receive
a ‘_message_’ than a remittance.” These “profit-renters” are said to
waste their time and their means in horseracing and hunting, and to be
the hardest drinkers and most dissolute class of men in Ireland, as well
as the greatest oppressors of the poor tenantry, whose condition is
described as little better than the cottars they employ.
Arthur Young declares, that—to be ignorant of the condition of the
labouring classes and the poor generally, is to be wanting in the first
rudiments of political knowledge, and he states that he made every
endeavour to obtain the best information on the subject, from persons in
every class of life. According to some, the poor were all starving.
According to others, they were in a very tolerable state of
comfort.—Whilst a third party, who looked with a jaundiced eye on
British administration, pointed at their poverty and rags as proofs of
the cruel treatment of their country. When truth is thus liable to be
warped, an inquirer should, he remarks, be slow to believe and assiduous
to examine, and he intimates that such had universally been his
practice.
The recompense for labour is the means of living. In England the
recompense is given in money, in Ireland for the most part in land or
commodities. Generally speaking the labouring poor in Ireland are said
to have a fair bellyfull of potatoes, and the greater part of the year
they also have milk. If there are cabins on a farm, the labourers reside
in them. If there are none, the farmer marks out the potato-gardens, and
the labourers raise their own cabins, the farmer often assisting them
with the roof and other matters. A verbal contract is then made for the
rent of the potato-garden, and the keep of one or two cows, as the case
may be; after this the cottar works with the farmer at the rate of the
neighbourhood, “usually sixpence halfpenny a day, a tally being kept,
half by each party, and a notch cut for every day’s labour.” At the end
of six or twelve months they reckon, and the balance is paid. Such it is
said is the Irish cottar system, and it does not differ materially from
that which prevailed in Scotland at a period somewhat anterior. Many
cabins are however seen by the road-side or built in the ditch, the
inhabitants of which have no potato-gardens—“a wandering family will fix
themselves under a dry bank, and with a few sticks, furze, fern &c.,
make up a hovel no better than a pigsty, support themselves how they can
by work begging and pilfering, and if the neighbourhood wants hands or
takes no notice of them the hovel grows into a cabin”—these people are
not cottars, but are paid in money for whatever work they perform, and
consequently have no potato-ground.
The food of the smaller tenantry the cottars and labouring poor
generally, was potatoes and milk, of which for the most part they are
said to have a sufficiency. The English labourer’s solitary and sparing
meal of bread and cheese, is contrasted with “the Irishman’s potato-bowl
placed on the floor, the whole family upon their hams around it,
devouring quantities almost incredible, the beggar seating himself to it
with a hearty welcome, and the pig taking his share.” It must be
admitted that the contrast is sufficiently striking, and scenes such as
here described were no doubt then often witnessed in Ireland, and with
some little modification may even occasionally be met with at the
present day. This luxurious abundance was however by no means universal,
as is evident by statements in other parts of the work, where many of
the people are described as living very poorly, “sometimes having for
three months together only potatoes and salt and water.” There is said
to be a marked difference between the habits of the people in the north,
and those inhabiting the southern and western districts. In the latter,
land is alone looked to for affording the means of subsistence. The
former are manufacturers as well as farmers, each man holding from 5 to
10 acres of land, and sometimes more, on which he raises the usual crops
of corn and potatoes, together with a certain quantity of flax, which is
prepared and spun, and sometimes also wove by himself and his family.
This double occupation is however not favourable to excellence or
improvement in either. The farming was bad, and the people generally
very poor. The practice of subdividing the land, until it is brought
down to the smallest modicum that can support a family, prevailed in the
north as in the other parts of Ireland at that time, and has not
entirely disappeared at the present day.
The people are said to be everywhere very indifferently clothed. Shoes
and stockings were rarely seen on the feet of women or children, and the
men were very commonly without them. They appeared more solicitous to
feed than to clothe their children, the reverse of which is the case in
England, where, as has often been remarked, it is common to pinch the
belly in order to clothe the back. Education as far as reading and
writing goes was pretty general. “Hedge schools,” as they are called,
were everywhere met with, and it is remarked that they might as well be
called _ditch_ schools, many a ditch being seen full of scholars. This
shows the people to have been desirous of instruction, another proof of
which is, the fact of there being schools for men. “Dancing is so
universal among them that there are everywhere itinerant
dancing-masters, to whom the cottars pay sixpence a quarter for teaching
their families.” The people are said to be more cheerful and lively than
the English, but lazy to an excess at work, although active at play; and
their love of society is as remarkable as is their curiosity, which is
declared to be insatiable. Their truthfulness is however not to be
relied upon, and petty thefts and pilferings are very common. They are
“hard drinkers and quarrelsome, yet civil submissive and obedient.” Such
is the summary of the Irish character at that time, as drawn by Arthur
Young, and there is no reason to doubt its general accuracy.
With regard to other matters, an Irish cabin is described as being the
most miserable-looking hovel that can well be imagined. It is generally
built of mud, and consists of only one room. There is neither chimney
nor window. The door lets in the light, and should let out the smoke,
but that for the sake of the heat it is mostly preferred to keep it in,
which injures the complexion of the women. The roof, consisting of turf
straw potato-stalks or heath, has often a hole in it, and weeds
sprouting from every part, giving it all the appearance of a weedy
dunghill, upon which a pig or a goat is sometimes seen grazing. The
furniture accorded with the cabin, often consisting only of a pot for
boiling the potatoes, and one or two stools probably broken. A bed is
not always seen, the family often lying upon straw, equally partaken of
by the cow and the pig. Sometimes however the cabin and furniture were
seen of a better description, but on inquiry it generally appeared that
the improvement had taken place within the last ten years.
The readiness with which habitations are procured in Ireland, and the
facility of obtaining food for a family by means of the potato, are
considered to be one cause of the rapid increase of population which is
shown to have taken place towards the end of the 18th century.[27]
Marriage was, and indeed still is, more early and more universal in
Ireland than in England. An unmarried farmer or cottar is there rarely
seen, and even the house-servants, men as well as women, are commonly
married. Yet notwithstanding the rapid increase of population, there was
a continual emigration from the ports of Derry and Belfast, several
ships being regularly engaged in this passenger trade as it was called,
conveying emigrants to the American colonies. These emigrants were
however chiefly from the northern counties, partly farmers partly
weavers. When the linen trade, the great staple of Ireland flourished,
the passenger trade was low, and when the former was low the latter
flourished. The emigrants are said to have been chiefly protestants, the
Roman catholics at that time rarely quitting the country.
-----
[27]
See table at pages 11 and 12 ante.
-----
The towns were said to have very much increased during the last twenty
years. “It may in truth be said that Ireland has been newly built over
within that period, and in a manner far superior to what was the case
before.” Towns are the markets for the general produce of the country,
which they help to enrich, and at the same time also to improve. The
rise of rents is a natural consequence of the increase of towns; and on
an average throughout Ireland, the rents are said to have doubled in the
last twenty-five years. The entire rental of Ireland at that time is set
down at 5,293,312_l._, but Arthur Young considered it to be not less
than six millions. The cost of living was on the whole found to be
nearly one-half less than in England. All the articles of use and
consumption were cheaper in Ireland, and the taxes trifling in
comparison. There was no land-tax, no poor’s-rate, no window-tax, no
candle or soap tax, only half a wheel tax, no servants’ tax; and a
variety of other things heavily burthened in England, were free or not
so heavily burthened in Ireland. The expenses of a family in Dublin and
in London, are considered to be in the proportion of five to eight; but
the Irish do however, it is added, nevertheless contrive to spend their
incomes.