XXXVII. 47. these dis the new Act. tion of the new Poor-Law Act, and, through the suffering CHAP. with which it was attended, ultimately upon the party 1839. in Great Britain intrusted with power. That this Act corrected many abuses which, in the course of ages, had Effect of crept into the administration of the English poor-laws, asters on was certain; and a reduction of two millions, which took Poor Law place in the two years immediately succeeding the passing of the Act, inspired general hopes that a remedy had at last been discovered for the growing evils of pauperism.* But, though not apparent on the face of the Act, or openly avowed by its supporters, there is no doubt that the intention of its authors was to go a great deal farther, and to put an end altogether to parochial relief, unless in such cases of extreme destitution or incapacity for labour as induced the applicants for relief to go into the workhouse rather than forego it. The "workhouse test" was the great discovery of the economists which was to distinguish real distress from that which was assumed, and bring down the burden of poor-rates at length to the lowest point consistent with the prevention of actual death by famine. This purpose, carefully concealed from the public, was not disguised in the private instructions of the commissioners to the boards of guardians. With this view the regulation was made, that husband was to be separated from wife, parent from child; that the inmates of all workhouses should wear workhouse dresses; and the fare was to be regulated in such a manner as to be the most economical which was consistent with the support of * Lord Brougham, with more candour than discretion, avowed this secret feeling in the House of Lords in the debate on the bill; for he said, " If something is not done to stop relief being given, your lordships' estates will be swallowed up, and I myself, Lord Brougham, will become a Westmoreland pauper."-DOUBLEDAY's Life of Peel, ii. 239. + "We could not be understood as recommending the immediate abolition of the English poor-laws; we are simply desirous of stating the conclusions to which we have been led by the preceding evidence, that all poor-laws are in their essence impolitic and uncalled for, and that consequently their final abolition ought to be the ultimate object of any changes that may be made; an object, however, that cannot be attained without being preceded by several years' careful preparation for it. E. CARLTON TUFFNELL, P. F. JOHNSTON, Commissioners."- Poor-Law Commissioners' Reports, App. A., Part ii. 1839. CHAP. life. Relief was to be sternly denied to all persons who XXXVII. declined to enter these gloomy abodes; and to render them capable of containing the multitudes who might be expected to apply for admission, huge union workhouses were erected in most places, called by the people day, ii. 186. " bastiles," the very sight of which, it was trusted, would deter any one from seeking admission.1 1 Double 48. tion at the 66 Although the Poor-Law Commissioners appointed by Dissatisfac- Government were so deeply imbued with the principles Act, and its of the economists that a steady prosecution of the ulteentire abro- rior objects of the bill might be anticipated from them, the digress yet happily the immediate and local administration was gation by of 1839. intrusted to a different set of men, entitled "Guardians of the Poor," elected by the rate-payers, and still, for the most part, subject to the old influences. Hence there was a constant struggle going forward in every part of England between the Central Board and the local commissioners, and according as the former or the latter prevailed, the new act was administered with more or less rigour, and dissatisfaction and complaint were more or less general. During the cheap years, and under the influence of the plentiful harvests of 1834 and 1835, these complaints were not very general; for the prosperity without diminished the number of applicants for relief, and the cheapness of food rendered the guardians less niggardly in its distribution. But when the bad harvests of 1838 and 1839 came on, and starving crowds were at the gates of the workhouses clamouring for admission, while wheat, whereon they were to be fed, was at 80s., it became utterly impossible to carry out the instructions of the commissioners. At Nottingham the crowd of applicants was so great that no building could hold a fifth part of them, and outdoor relief or a serious riot was the only alternative. In Lancashire similar scenes occurred; and in all the manufacturing counties the pressure was so immense, that a general relaxation of the practice in regard to outdoor XXXVII. 1839. relief took place. In the succeeding year this relaxa- CHAP. tion became universal, insomuch that out of 1,721,351 paupers relieved, no less than 1,456,313 were outdoor ones; and the proportion has remained very nearly the same, though the numbers have been very much reduced. in subsequent years. A striking proof how vain are Porter, instructions of government commissioners when opposed 94, 3d edit.; to the stream of general feeling, and of the manner in ii. 233, 234. which, in a free community, dangerous laws introduced 1837, 130; by inexperienced men are quietly abrogated by the good 299. sense of those intrusted with their administration.1 Doubleday, Ann. Reg. 1839, 297 The administration of the poor-laws was a subject too 49. seriously affecting the great body of English labourers, Debate on not to rouse the anxious attention both of Parliament in the the subject and the public press. Accordingly, so soon as the House of general distress began in 1837, the matter was brought before Parliament by Mr Walter, in a very powerful speech, which acquired additional currency from the advocacy of the Times, of which journal he was a leading proprietor, and the support of Mr Fielden, who seconded the motion, and brought to the aid of the cause unflinching courage, warm philanthropy, and unwearied industry. In the course of the debate, it appeared that the new act had been adopted in 12,132 out of 13,433 parishes or townships of which England consisted, and that, especially in several of the southern parts of the island, a great reduction of rates had taken place; the rates in 4082 parishes, including 2,722,349 souls, having decreased from £2,189,000 to £1,187,000. On the other hand, it was proved, and indeed not denied, that very great oppression in individual cases had been committed, chiefly in refusing outdoor relief, and the wholesale removal of the poor from the parish, when their application had been made to that on which they were legally chargeable. In one instance, 217 of these unfortunate persons were seen packed in a single waggon! Ministers made the utmost opposition to any inquiry; Commons. XXXVII. 1839. CHAP. but the public feeling was so strong, owing to the growing experience of evil with the advent of calamitous times, that they were compelled to yield, and a committee was appointed to inquire into the working of the Poor-Law Amendment Act in every part of England, which shortly commenced its herculean labours. The Report of the Commissioners was lodged before the end of the year, and bore in substance that the operation of the new poor-law had been on the whole satisfactory, though many cases of individual or local hardship had occurred. The point was very anxiously debated at the time; but the subject has now lost much of its importance, in consequence of the compulsory practical repeal of the most obnoxious parts of the Act which took place during the severe distress of 1838 and 1839, and the consequent restoration of the 1837, 128, system of outdoor relief, which it had been the great 142; Parl. object of the Act to abolish. Since that time the paupers 898, 1280. in England have been generally from 800,000 to 900,000, of whom five-sixths were supported by outdoor relief.1 1 Ann. Reg. Deb. xxxvi. 50. Unions and Chartism ism. It would have been well for the country if all the Trades- other social evils which arose out of the long-continued Strikes; distress which pervaded the working classes from 1837 and Ribbon- to 1842, had been as susceptible of practical abolition as those connected with the working of the new Poor-Law Act. But this was very far indeed from being the case; and out of the sufferings of that calamitous period arose three sets of evils, as widespread in their operation as they were ruinous in their effects, and under some of which the empire has ever since that period, with few intermissions, continually laboured. These were TradesUnions, Strikes, and Chartism in Great Britain, and Ribbonism in Ireland; maladies to the last degree in themselves calamitous, but still more serious as indicating a diseased and suffering state of the social body in which they arise. Combinations are the natural resource of the weak against the strong, of the poor against the rich, the XXXVII. 1839. trades oppressed against the oppressors. As such they have CHAP. been known in all countries and in all ages, and have often rendered important, sometimes beneficial, services to 51. society. Their natural tendency, however, and in fact the Origin of condition of their existence, is the bringing the great body unions. of the combined persons under the guidance, which soon becomes the imperious disposition, of a few ambitious leaders, who are generally as eminent from their talent as they are unscrupulous in their measures. Combinations among workmen, to prevent a reduction or effect a rise of their wages, had been known from a very early period in Great Britain, and many penal laws had been passed both in England and Scotland for their suppression; but it was not till the Act of 1819 had induced a general fall of prices, and consequently of wages, that they assumed a general and alarming character. In 1822 and 1823, however, in consequence of the rapid fall of wages, they became general in both parts of the island, and were organised in an occult and skilful manner on the model of the "secret societies," then so prevalent in France and Italy; and by the instigation of their leaders a great number of frightful crimes were committed, chiefly against workmen who ventured to work at lower wages than the chiefs of the combination had fixed on,—such as assassination, fire-raising, throwing vitriol on the face, or the like, which filled society with consternation, and of which the better classes of the workmen themselves came, in their better moments, to be ashamed.* 52. strikes from It was at first hoped that the repeal of the Combination Laws, by legalising strikes to raise or prevent the fall of Increase of wages, would put an end to these atrocious crimes at 1834 to which humanity shudders; and there is reason to hope, from the experience of the last which have occurred in Great Britain, that these expectations will be realised. * Between 1822 and 1825, great numbers of combination crimes, such as murder, fire-raising, throwing vitriol in the face or eyes, and the like, formed the subject of trial, and in many cases of conviction, in Glasgow. 1837. |