slavery. Bare bones and rags are the true marks of the real slave. What is
the object of Government? To cause men to live _happily_. They cannot be
happy without a sufficiency of _food_ and of _raiment_. Good government
means a state of things in which the main body are well fed and well
clothed. It is the chief business of a government to take care, that one
part of the people do not cause the other part to lead miserable lives.
There can be no morality, no virtue, no sincerity, no honesty, amongst a
people continually suffering from want; and, it is cruel, in the last
degree, to punish such people for almost any sort of crime, which is, in
fact, not crime of the heart, not crime of the perpetrator, but the crime
of his all-controlling necessities.--To what degree the main body of the
people, in England, _are now_ poor and miserable; how deplorably wretched
they now are; this we know but too well; and now, we will see what was
their state before this vaunted "REFORMATION." I shall be very particular
to cite my _authorities_ here. I will _infer_ nothing; I will give no
"_estimate_;" but refer to authorities, such as no man can call in
question, such as no man can deny to be proofs _more_ complete than if
founded on oaths of credible witnesses, taken before a judge and jury. I
shall begin with the account which FORTESCUE gives of the state and manner
of living of the English, in the reign of Henry VI.; that is, in the 15th
century, when the Catholic Church was in the height of its glory.
FORTESCUE was Lord Chief Justice of England for nearly twenty years; he
was appointed Lord High Chancellor by Henry VI. Being in exile, in France,
in consequence of the wars between the Houses of York and Lancaster, and
the King's son, Prince Edward, being also in exile with him, the
Chancellor wrote a series of Letters, addressed to the Prince, to explain
to him the nature and effects of the Laws of England, and to induce him to
study them and uphold them. This work, which was written in Latin, is
called _De Laudibus Legum Angliae_; or, PRAISE OF THE LAWS OF ENGLAND. This
book was, many years ago, translated into English, and it is a book of
Law-Authority, quoted frequently in our courts of this day. No man can
doubt the truth of _facts_ related in such a work. It was a work written
by a famous lawyer for a prince; it was intended to be read by other
contemporary lawyers, and also by all lawyers in future. The passage that
I am about to quote, relating to the state of the English, was _purely
incidental_; it was not intended to answer any temporary purpose. It _must
have been a true account_.--The Chancellor, after speaking generally of
the nature of the laws of England, and of the difference between them and
the laws of France, proceeds to show the difference in their effects, by a
description of the state of the French people, and then by a description
of the state of the English. His words, words that, as I transcribe them,
make my cheeks burn with shame, are as follows: "Besides all this, the
inhabitants of France give every year to their King the _fourth part_ of
all their _wines_, the growth of that year, every vintner gives the fourth
penny of what he makes of his wine by sale. And all the towns and boroughs
pay to the King yearly great sums of money, which are assessed upon them,
for the expenses of his men at arms. So that the King's troops, which are
always considerable, are substituted and paid yearly by those common
people, who live in the villages, boroughs, and cities. Another grievance
is, every village constantly finds and maintains two _cross-bow-men_, at
the least; some find more, well arrayed in all their accoutrements, to
serve the King in his wars, as often as he pleaseth to call them out,
which is frequently done. Without any consideration had of these things,
other very heavy taxes are assessed yearly upon every village within the
kingdom, for the King's service; _neither is there ever any intermission
or abatement of taxes_. Exposed to these and other calamities, the
peasants live in great hardship and misery. Their _constant drink is
water_, neither do they taste, throughout the year, any other liquor,
unless upon some extraordinary times, or festival days. Their clothing
consists of _frocks_, or little short _jerkins_, made of canvass, no
better than common _sackcloth_; they _do not wear any woollens_, except of
the _coarsest sort_; and that only in the garment under their frocks; nor
do they wear any trowse, but from the knees upwards; their legs being
exposed and naked. The women go barefoot, except on holidays. They do _not
eat flesh_, except it be the fat of bacon, and _that in very small
quantities_, with which they make _a soup_. Of other sorts, either boiled
or roasted, _they do not so much as taste_, unless it be of the inwards
and offals of sheep and bullocks, and the like which are killed, for the
use of the better sort of people, _and the merchants_; for whom also
quails, _partridges_, _hares_, and the like, _are reserved, upon pain of
the gallies_; as for their poultry, _the soldiers consume them_, so that
scarce the eggs, slight as they are, are indulged them, by way of a
dainty. And if it happen that a man is observed to thrive in the world,
and become rich, he is _presently assessed to the King's tax_,
proportionably more than his poorer neighbours, _whereby he is soon
reduced to a level with the rest_." Then comes his description of the
ENGLISH, at the same time; those "priest-ridden" English, whom CHALMERS
and HUME, and the rest of that tribe, would fain have us believe, were a
mere band of wretched beggars.--"The King of England cannot alter the
laws, or make new ones, without the express consent of _the whole kingdom
in Parliament assembled_. Every inhabitant is at his liberty fully to use
and enjoy whatever his farm produceth, the fruits of the earth, the
increase of his flock, and the like: all the improvements he makes,
whether by his own proper industry, or of those he retains in his service,
are his own, to use and enjoy, without the let, interruption, or denial of
any. If he be in anywise injured or oppressed, he shall have his amends
and satisfactions against the party offending. Hence it is that the
inhabitants are _rich in gold, silver_, and in all the necessaries and
conveniences of life. _They drink no water_, unless at certain times, upon
_a religious score_, and by way of doing penance. They _are fed, in great
abundance_, with _all sorts of flesh_ and _fish_, of which _they have
plenty every-where_; they are _clothed throughout in good woollens_; their
bedding and other furniture in their houses _are of wool_, and that _in
great store_. They are also well provided with all other sorts of
household goods and necessary implements for husbandry. Every one,
according to his rank, hath _all things which conduce to make life easy
and happy_."--Go, and read this to the poor souls, who are now eating
sea-weed in Ireland; who are detected in robbing the pig-troughs in
Yorkshire; who are eating horse-flesh and grains (draff) in Lancashire
and Cheshire; who are harnessed like horses, and drawing gravel in
Hampshire and Sussex; who have 3_d._ a day allowed them by the magistrates
in Norfolk; who are, all over England, worse fed than the _felons_ in the
jails. Go, and tell them, when they raise their hands from the pig-trough,
or from the grains-tub, and, with their dirty tongues, cry "_No Popery_;"
go, read to the degraded and deluded wretches, this account of the state
of their _Catholic_ forefathers, who lived under what is impudently called
"_Popish superstition and tyranny_," and in those times which we have the
audacity to call "_the dark ages_."--Look at the _then_ picture of the
French; and, Protestant Englishmen, if you have the capacity of blushing
left, blush at the thought of how precisely that picture fits the English
_now_! Look at _all the parts_ of the picture; the _food_, the _raiment_,
the _game_! Good God! If any one had told the old Chancellor, that the day
would come, when this picture, and even a picture more degrading to human
nature, would fit his own boasted country, what would he have said? What
would he have said, if he had been told, that the time was to come, when
the soldier, in England, would have more than twice, nay, more than
thrice, the sum allowed to the day-labouring man; when potatoes would be
carried to the field as the only food of the ploughman; when soup-shops
would be open to feed the English; and when the Judges, sitting on that
very Bench on which he himself had sitten for twenty years, would (as in
the case of last year of the complaints against Magistrates at
NORTHALLERTON) declare that BREAD AND WATER were the general food of
working people in England? What would he have said? Why, if he had been
told, that there was to be a "REFORMATION," accompanied by a total
devastation of Church and Poor property, upheld by wars, creating an
enormous Debt and enormous taxes, and requiring a constantly standing
army; if he had been told this, he would have foreseen our present state,
and would have wept for his country; but, if he had, in addition, been
told, that, even in the midst of all this suffering, we should still have
the ingratitude and the baseness to cry "_No Popery_," and the injustice
and the cruelty to persecute those Englishmen and Irishmen, who adhered to
the faith of their pious, moral, brave, free and happy fathers, he would
have said, "God's will be done: let them suffer."--But, it may be said,
that it was not, then, the _Catholic Church_, but the _Laws_, that made
the English so happy; for, the French had that Church as well as the
English. Aye! But, in England, the Church was the very _basis of the
laws_. The very first clause of MAGNA CHARTA provided for the stability of
its property and rights. _A provision for the indigent_, an effectual
provision, was made _by the laws_ that related to the Church and its
property; and this was not the case in France; and never was the case in
any country but this: so that the English people lost more by a
"Reformation" than any other people could have lost.--Fortescue's
authority would, of itself, be enough; but, I am not to stop with it.
WHITE, the late Rector of SELBOURNE, in Hampshire, gives, in his History
of that once-famous village, an extract from a record, stating that for
disorderly conduct, men were _punished_ by being "compelled to _fast_ a
fortnight on _bread and beer_!" This was about the year 1380, in the reign
of RICHARD II. Oh! miserable "_dark ages_!" This fact _must be true_.
WHITE had no purpose to answer. His mention of the fact, or rather his
transcript from the record, is purely _incidental_; and trifling as the
fact is, it is conclusive as to the general mode of living in those happy
days. Go, tell the harnessed gravel-drawers, in Hampshire, to cry "_No
Popery_;" for, that, if the Pope be not put down, he may, in time, compel
them to _fast_ on _bread and beer_, instead of suffering them to continue
to regale themselves on nice potatoes and pure water.--But, let us come to
_Acts of Parliament_, and, first, to the Act above mentioned of KING
EDWARD III. That Act fixes the _price of meat_. After naming the four
sorts of meat, _beef_, _pork_, _mutton_, and _veal_, the preamble has
these words: "These being THE FOOD OF THE POORER SORT." This is
conclusive. It is an _incidental_ mention of a fact. It is an Act of
Parliament. It _must have been true_; and, it is a fact that we know well,
that even the Judges have declared from the Bench, that _bread alone_ is
_now the food of the poorer sort_. What do we want more than this to
convince us, that the main body of the people have been _impoverished_ by
the "Reformation?"--But I will _prove_, by other Acts of Parliament, this
Act of Parliament to have spoken truth. These Acts declare what the
_wages_ of workmen shall be. There are several such Acts, but one or two
may suffice. The Act of 23d of EDW. III. fixes the wages, without food, as
follows. There are many other things mentioned, but the following will be
enough for our purpose.
_s._ _d._
A woman hay-making, or weeding corn, for the day 0 1
A man filling dung-cart 0 3-1/2
A reaper 0 4
Mowing an acre of grass 0 6
Thrashing a quarter of Wheat 0 4
The price of _shoes_, _cloth_, and of _provisions_, throughout the time
that this law continued in force, was as follows:--
_L._ _s._ _d._
A pair of shoes 0 0 4
Russet broad-cloth the yard 0 1 1
A stall-fed ox 1 4 0
A grass-fed ox 0 16 0
A fat sheep unshorn 0 1 8
A fat sheep shorn 0 1 2
A fat hog 2 years old 0 3 4
A fat goose 0 0 2-1/2
Ale, the gallon, by proclamation 0 0 1
Wheat the quarter 0 3 4
White wine the gallon 0 0 6
Red wine 0 0 4
These prices are taken from the PRECIOSUM of BISHOP FLEETWOOD, who took
them from the accounts kept by the bursers of convents. All the world
knows, that FLEETWOOD'S book is of undoubted authority.--We may then
easily believe, that "beef, pork, mutton, and veal," were "the food of the
_poorer sort_," when a _dung-cart filler_ had more than the price of _a
fat goose and a half for a day's work_, and when a woman was allowed, for
_a day's weeding_, the price of a _quart of red wine_! Two yards of the
cloth made a coat for the _shepherd_; and, as it cost 2_s._ 2_d._, the
reaper would earn it _in 6-1/2 days_; and, the dung-cart man would earn
very nearly a _pair of shoes every day_! this dung-cart filler would earn
a _fat shorn sheep_ in four days; he would earn a _fat hog_, two years
old, in twelve days; he would earn a _grass-fed ox_ in twenty days; so
that we may easily believe, that "beef, pork, and mutton," were "the food
of the _poorer sort_." And, mind, this was "a _priest-ridden people_;" a
people "buried in _Popish superstition_!" In our days of "_Protestant
light_" and of "_mental enjoyment_," the "poorer sort" are allowed by the
Magistrates of Norfolk, 3_d._ a day for a _single man_ able to work. That
is to say, a half-penny _less_ than the Catholic dung-cart man had; and
that 3_d._ will get the "_No Popery_" gentleman about _six ounces_ of old
ewe-mutton, while the Popish dung-cart man got, for his day, rather more
than _the quarter of a fat sheep_.--But, the popish people might work
_harder_ than "_enlightened_ Protestants." They might do _more work in a
day_. This is contrary to all the assertions of the _feelosophers_; for
they insist, that the Catholic religion made people _idle_. But, to set
this matter at rest, let us look at the price of the _job-labour_; at the
_mowing_ by _the acre_, and at the _thrashing_ of wheat by _the quarter_;
and let us see how these _wages are now_, compared with the price of food.
I have no _parliamentary_ authority since the year 1821, when a report was
printed by order of the House of Commons, containing the evidence of Mr.
ELLMAN, of Sussex, as to wages, and of Mr. GEORGE, of Norfolk, as to price
of wheat. The report was dated 18th June, 1821. The accounts are for 20
years, on an average, from 1800 inclusive. We will now proceed to see how
the "popish, priest-ridden" Englishman stands in comparison with the "_No
Popery_" Englishman.
POPISH MAN. NO POPERY MAN.
_s._ _d._ _s._ _d._
Mowing an acre of grass 0 6 3 7-3/4
Thrashing a quarter of Wheat 0 4 4 0
Here are "_waust_ improvements, Mau'm!" But, now let us look at the
relative _price of the wheat_, which the labourer had to purchase with his
wages. We have seen, that the "popish _superstition slave_" had to give
_fivepence_ a bushel for his wheat, and the evidence of Mr. GEORGE states,
that the "_enlightened_ Protestant" had to give 10 _shillings_ a bushel
for his wheat; that is 24 _times_ as much as the "popish _fool_," who
suffered himself to be "priest-ridden." So that the "_enlightened_" man,
in order to make him as well off as the "_dark_-ages" man was, ought to
receive _twelve shillings_, instead of 3_s._ 7-3/4_d._ for mowing an acre
of grass; and he, in like manner, ought to receive, for thrashing a
quarter of wheat, _eight shillings_, instead of the _four shillings_ which
he does receive. If we had the _records_, we should doubtless find, that
IRELAND was in the same state.
56. There! That settles the matter as to _ancient_ good living. Now, as to
the progress of poverty and misery, amongst the working people, during the
last half century, take these facts; in the year 1771, that is, 55 years
ago, ARTHUR YOUNG, who was afterwards Secretary to the Board of
Agriculture, published a work on the state of the agriculture of the
country, in which he gave the allowance for the keeping of _a
farm-labourer, his wife and three children_, which allowance, reckoning
according to the present money-price of the articles which he allows
amounted to 13_s._ 1_d._ He put the sum, at what he deemed the _lowest
possible sum_, on which the people could _exist_. Alas! we shall find,
that they can be made to exist upon little more than _one-half_ of this
sum!
57. This allowance of Mr. ARTHUR YOUNG was made, observe, in 1771, which
was before the Old American War took place. That war made some famous
fortunes for admirals and commodores and contractors and pursers and
generals and commissaries; but, it was not the Americans, the French, nor
the Dutch, that gave the money to make these fortunes. They came out of
_English taxes_; and the heaviest part of those taxes fell upon the
_working people_, who, when they were boasting of "_victories_," and
rejoicing that the "JACK TARS" had got "prize-money," little dreamed that
these victories were purchased by them, and that they paid fifty pounds
for every crown that sailors got in prize-money! In short, this American
war caused a great mass of new taxes to be laid on, and the people of
England became _a great deal poorer than they ever had been before_.
During that war, they BEGAN TO EAT POTATOES, as something to "_save
bread_." The poorest of the people, the very poorest of them, refused, for
a long while, to use them in this way; and even when I was ten years old,
which was just about _fifty years ago_; the poor people would not eat
potatoes, except _with meat_, as they would cabbages, or carrots, or any
other moist vegetable. But, by the end of the American war, their stomachs
had come to! By slow degrees they had been reduced to swallow this
pig-meat, (and bad pig-meat too,) not, indeed, without grumbling; but to
swallow it; to be reduced, thus, many degrees in the scale of animals.
58. At the end of _twenty-four years_ from the date of ARTHUR YOUNG'S
allowance, the poverty and degradation of the English people had made
great strides. We were now in the year 1795, and a new war, and a new
series of "_victories_ and _prizes_" had begun. But who it was that
_suffered_ for these, out of whose blood and flesh and bones they came,
the allowance now (in 1795) made to the poor labourers and their families
will tell. There was, in that year, a TABLE, or SCALE, of allowance,
framed by the Magistrates of Berkshire. This is, by no means, a _hard_
county; and therefore it is reasonable to suppose, that the _scale_ was as
good a one for the poor as any in England. According to this scale, which
was printed and published, and also acted upon for years, the weekly
allowance, for _a man, his wife and three children_, was, according to
present money-prices, 11_s._ 4_d._ Thus it had, in the space of
twenty-four years, fell from 13_s._ 1_d._ to 11_s._ 4_d._ Thus were the
people brought to the _pig-meat_! Food, fit for men, they could not have
with 11_s._ 4_d._ a week for five persons.
59. One would have thought, that to make a human being _live_ upon 4_d._
_a day_, and find _fuel_, _clothing_, _rent_, _washing_, and _bedding_,
out of the 4_d._, besides eating and drinking, was impossible; and one
would have thought it impossible for any-thing not of hellish birth and
breeding, to entertain a wish to make poor creatures, and our _neighbours_
too, exist in such a state of horrible misery and degradation as the
labourers of England were condemned to by this scale of 1795. Alas! this
was happiness and honour; this was famous living; this 11_s._ 4_d._ a week
was _luxury_ and _feasting_, compared to what we NOW BEHOLD! For now the
allowance, according to present money-prices, is 8_s._ a week for the man,
his wife, and three children; that is to say 2-5/7 _d._ In words, TWO
PENCE AND FIVE SEVENTHS OF ANOTHER PENNY, FOR A DAY! There, that is
England now! That is what the base wretches, who are fattening upon the
people's labour, call "the _envy_ of surrounding nations and the
_admiration_ of the world." This is what SIR FRANCIS BURDETT applauds; and
he applauds the mean and cruel and dastardly ruffians, whom he calls, "the
_country gentlemen_ of England," and whose _generosity_ he cries up; while
he well knows, _that it is they_ (and he amongst the rest) who are the
real and only cause of this devil-like barbarity, which (and he well knows
that too) could not possibly be practised without the constant existence
and occasional employment of that species of force, which is so abhorrent
to the laws of England, and of which this Burdett's son forms a part. The
poor creatures, _if they complain_; if their hunger make them _cry out_,
are either punished by even harder measures, or are _slapped into prison_.
Alas! the jail is really become a place of _relief_, a scene of
comparative _good living_: hence the invention of the _tread-mill_! What
shall we see next? _Workhouses, badges, hundred-houses, select-vestries,
tread-mills, gravel-carts, and harness!_ What shall we see next! And what
should we see at last, if this infernal THING could continue for only a
few years longer?
60. In order to form a judgment of the cruelty of making our working
neighbours live upon 2-5/7_d._ a day; that is to say 2_d._ and rather more
than a halfpenny, let us see what the surgeons allow in the hospitals, to
patients with _broken limbs_, who, of course, have no _work_ to do, and
who cannot even take any _exercise_. In GUY'S HOSPITAL, London, the
_daily_ allowance to patients, having _simple fractures_, is this: 6
ounces of meat; 12 ounces of bread; 1 pint of broth; 2 quarts of good
beer. This is the _daily_ allowance. Then, in addition to this, the same
patient has 12 ounces of butter _a week_. These articles, for a week,
amount to not less at present retail prices (and those are the poor man's
prices,) than 6_s._ 9_d._ a week; while the working man is allowed 1_s._
7_d._ a week! For, he cannot and he will not see his wife and children
actually drop down dead with hunger before his face; and this is what he
must see, if he take to himself more than a _fifth_ of the allowance for
the family.
61. Now, pray, observe, that _surgeons_, and particularly those eminent
surgeons who frame rules and regulations for great establishments like
that of Guy's Hospital, _are competent judges_ of what nature requires in
the way of food and of drink. They are, indeed, not only competent judges,
but they are the best of judges: they know precisely what is necessary;
and having the power to order the proper allowance, they order it. If,
then, they make an allowance like that, which we have seen, to a person
who is under a regimen for a broken limb; to a person who does _no work_,
and who is, nine times out of ten, unable to take any exercise at all,
even that of walking about, at least in the open air; if the eminent
surgeons of London deem _six shillings and ninepence worth_ of victuals
and drink, a week, necessary to such a patient; if they think that _nature
calls_ for so much in such a case; what must that man be made of, who can
allow to a _working man_, a man fourteen hours every day in the open air,
_one shilling and seven pence worth_ of victuals and drink for the week!
Let me not however ask what "that _man_" can be made of; for it is a
monster and not a man: it is a murderer of men: not a murderer with the
knife or the pistol, but with the more cruel instrument of starvation. And
yet, such monsters go to _church_ and to _meeting_; aye, and _subscribe_,
the base hypocrites, to circulate that Bible which commands _to do as they
would be done by_, and which, from the first chapter to the last, menaces
them with punishment, if they be hard to the poor, the fatherless, the
widow, or the stranger!
62. But, not only is the patient, in a hospital, thus so much more amply
fed than the working man; the _prisoners in the jails_; aye, even the
_convicted felons_, are fed better, and much better, than the working men
now are! Here is a fine "_Old England_;" that country of "roast beef and
plumb pudding:" that, as the tax-eaters say it is, "envy of surrounding
nations and admiration of the world." Aye; the country WAS all these; but,
it is now precisely the reverse of them all. We have just seen that the
_honest labouring man_ is allowed 2-5/7_d._ a day; and that will buy him
_a pound and a half of good bread a day_, and no more, not a single crumb
more. This is all he has. Well enough might the Hampshire Baronet, SIR
JOHN POLLEN, lately, at a meeting at Andover, call the labourers "_poor
devils_," and say, that they had "_scarcely a rag to cover them_!" A pound
and a half of bread a day, and nothing more, and that, too, _to work
upon_! Now, then, how fare the prisoners in the jails? Why, if they be
CONVICTED FELONS, they are, say the Berkshire jail-regulations, "to have
ONLY BREAD and water, _with vegetables_ occasionally from the garden."
Here, then, they are already better fed than the honest labouring man.
Aye, and this is not all; for, this is only the _week-day_ fare; for, they
are to have, "on Sundays, SOME MEAT _and broth_!" Good God! And the honest
working man can never, never smell the smell of meat! This is "envy of
surrounding nations" with the devil to it! This is a state of things for
Burdett to applaud.
63. But we are not even yet come to a sight of the depth of our
degradation. These Berkshire jail-regulations make provision for setting
the convicted prisoners, in certain cases, TO WORK, and, they say, "if the
surgeon think it necessary, the WORKING PRISONERS may be allowed MEAT AND
BROTH ON WEEK-DAYS;" and on Sundays, of course! There it is! There is the
"envy and admiration!" There is the state to which Mr. Prosperity and Mr.
Canning's best Parliament has brought us. There is the result of
"_victories_" and prize-money and battles of Waterloo and of English
ladies kissing, "Old Blucher." There is the fruit, the natural fruit, of
anti-jacobinism and battles on the Serpentine River and jubilees and
heaven-born ministers and sinking-funds and "public credit" and army and
navy contracts. There is the fruit, the natural, the nearly (but _not
quite_) ripe fruit of it all: the CONVICTED FELON is, if he do not work at
all, allowed, on week-days, some vegetables in addition to his bread, and,
on Sundays, both _meat and broth_; and, if the CONVICTED FELON work, if he
be a WORKING convicted felon, he is allowed _meat and broth all the week
round_; while, hear it Burdett, thou Berkshire magistrate! hear it, all ye
base miscreants who have persecuted men because they sought a reform! The
WORKING CONVICTED FELON is allowed _meat and broth every day in the year_,
while the WORKING HONEST MAN is allowed _nothing but dry bread_, and of
that not half a belly-full! And yet you see the people that seem
_surprised_ that _crimes_ increase! Very strange, to be sure; that men
should like to _work_ upon meat and broth better than they like to work
upon dry bread! No wonder that _new jails_ arise. No wonder that there are
now two or three or four or five jails to one county, and that as much is
now written upon "_prison discipline_" as upon almost any subject that is
going. But, why so good, so generous, to FELONS? The truth is, that they
are _not fed too well_; for, to be _starved_ is no part of their sentence;
and, here are SURGEONS who have something to say! They know very well that
a man may be _murdered_ by keeping necessary food from him. Felons are not
apt to lie down and _die quietly_ for want of food. The jails are in
_large towns_, where the news of any cruelty soon gets about. So that the
felons have many circumstances in their favour. It is in the villages, the
recluse villages, where the greatest cruelties are committed.
64. Here, then, in this contrast between the treatment of the WORKING
FELON and that of the WORKING HONEST MAN, we have a complete picture of
the present state of England; that horrible state, to which, by slow
degrees, this once happy country has been brought; and, I should now
proceed to show, as I proposed in the first paragraph of this present
Number, HOW THERE CAME TO BE SO MUCH POVERTY AND MISERY IN ENGLAND; for,
this is the main thing, it being clear, that, if we do not see the real
causes of our misery, we shall be very unlikely to adopt any effectual
remedy. But, before I enter on this part of my subject, let me _prove_,
beyond all possibility of doubt, that what I say relatively to the
situation of, and the allowances to, the labourers and their families, IS
TRUE. The _cause_ of such situation and allowances I shall show hereafter;
but let me first show, by a reference to indubitable facts, that the
situation and allowances are such as, or worse than, I have described
them. To do this, no way seems to me to be so fair, so likely to be free
from error, so likely to produce a suitable impression on the minds of my
readers, and so likely to lead to some useful practical result; no way
seems to me so well calculated to answer these purposes, as that of taking
_the very village, in which, I, at this moment, happen to be_, and to
describe, with names and dates, the actual state of its labouring people,
as far as that state is connected with steps taken under the poor-laws.
65. This village was in former times a very considerable place, as is
manifest from the size of the church as well as from various other
circumstances. It is now, as a _church living_, united with an adjoining
parish, called VERNON DEAN, which also has its church, at a distance of
about three miles from the church of this parish. Both parishes put
together now contain only _eleven hundred_, and a few odd, inhabitants,
men, women, children, and all; and yet, the _great tithes_ are supposed to
be worth _two or three thousand pounds a year_, and the _small tithes_
about _six hundred pounds a year_. Formerly, before the event which is
called "THE REFORMATION," there were _two Roman Catholic priests_ living
at the parsonage houses in these two parishes. They could not marry, and
could, therefore have no wives and families to keep out of the tithes;
and, WITH PART OF THOSE TITHES, THEY, AS THE LAW PROVIDED, MAINTAINED THE
POOR OF THESE TWO PARISHES; and, the canons of the church commanded them
to distribute the portion to the poor and the stranger, "_with their own
hands_, in _humility_ and _mercy_."
66. This, as to church and poor, was the state of these villages, in the
"_dark ages_" of "_Romish superstition_." What! No poor-laws? No
poor-rates? What horribly _unenlightened_ times! No _select vestries_?
Dark ages indeed! But, how stands these matters now? Why, the two parishes
are moulded into _one church living_. Then the GREAT TITHES (amounting to
two or three thousand a year) belong to some part of the _Chapter_ (as
they call it) of Salisbury. The Chapter leases them out, as they would a
house or a farm, and they are now rented by JOHN KING, who is one of this
happy nation's greatest and oldest _pensioners_. So that, _away go_ the
great tithes, not leaving a single wheat-ear to be spent in the parish.
The SMALL TITHES belong to a VICAR, who is one FISHER, a _nephew of the
late bishop of Salisbury_, who has not resided here for a long while; and
who has a curate, named JOHN GALE, who being the son of a little farmer
and shop-keeper at BURBAGE in Wiltshire, was, by a parson of the name of
BAILEY (very _well known and remembered_ in these parts), put to school;
and, in the fulness of time, became a _curate_. So that, _away go_ also
the small tithes (amounting to about 500_l._ or 600_l._ a year); and, out
of the large church revenues; or, rather, large church-_and-poor_
revenues, of these two parishes; out of the whole of them, there remains
only the amount of the curate, Mr. JOHN GALE'S, salary, which does not,
perhaps, exceed seventy or a hundred pounds, and a part of which, at any
rate, I dare say, he does not expend in these parishes: _away goes_, I
say, all the rest of the small tithes, leaving not so much as a mess of
milk or a dozen of eggs, much less a tithe-pig, to be consumed in the
parish.
67. As to _the poor_, the parishes continue to be _in two_; so that I am
to be considered as speaking of the parish of UPHUSBAND only. You are
aware, that, amongst the last of the acts of the famous JUBILEE-REIGN, was
an act to enable parishes to establish SELECT VESTRIES; and one of these
vestries now exists in this parish. And now, let me explain to you the
nature and tendency of this Jubilee-Act. Before this Act was passed,
_overseers of the poor had full authority to grant relief at their
discretion_. Pray mark that. Then again, before this Act was passed, _any
one justice of the peace might, on complaint of any poor person, order
relief_. Mark that. A select vestry is _to consist of the most
considerable rate-payers_. Mark that. Then, mark these things: this
Jubilee-Act _forbids the overseer to grant any relief other than such as
shall be ordered by the select vestry_: it forbids ONE _justice_ to order
relief, in any case, except in a case of _emergency:_ it forbids MORE
THAN ONE to order relief, except _on oath_ that the complainant has
_applied to the select vestry_ (where there is one,) and has been refused
relief by it; and that, in no case, the justice's order _shall be for more
than a month_; and, moreover, that when a poor person shall appeal to
justices from a select vestry, the justices, in ordering relief, or
refusing, shall have "_regard to the conduct and_ CHARACTER _of the
applicant_!"
68. From this Act, one would imagine, that _overseers_ and _justices_ were
looked upon as being too _soft_ and _yielding_ a nature; _too good, too
charitable, too liberal_ to the poor! In order that the select vestry may
have an agent suited to the purposes that the Act _manifestly has in
view_, the Act authorizes the select vestry to appoint what is called an
"_assistant overseer_," and to _give him a salary out of the poor-rates_.
Such is this Jubilee-Act, one of the last Acts of the Jubilee-reign, that
reign, which gave birth to the American war, to Pitt, to Perceval,
Ellenborough, Sidmouth, and Castlereagh, to a thousand millions of taxes
and another thousand millions of debt: such is the Select Vestry Act; and
this now little trifling village of UPHUSBAND _has a Select-Vestry_! Aye,
and an "ASSISTANT OVERSEER," too, with a _salary_ of FIFTY POUNDS A YEAR,
being, as you will presently see, about a SEVENTH PART OF THE WHOLE OF THE
EXPENDITURE ON THE POOR!
69. The Overseers make out and cause to be _printed_ and _published_, at
the end of every _four weeks_, an account of the disbursements. I have one
of these accounts now before me; and I insert it here, word for word, as
follows:--