REMEDIES. §> ecoi\i0l Edition vRevisf ed. Seeley Jiuyjjsiele eajd Seeley, fleef %eej JL^dop. MDCCCXllY. CONTENTS. STATE OF THE COUNTRY. I.—PRELIMINARY. REFERENCE TO “THE PERILS OF THE NA¬ TION,” AND THE REVIVED DEMAND FOR MANUFACTURES, (1) GREAT WEALTn AND CAPABILITY OF THE COUNTRY, (4) YET GREAT BULK OF POPULATION IMMERSED IN MISERY AND WRETCHEDNESS AND DIS¬ AFFECTION, (8). II.—THE ROOT OF THE EVIL - - - NEGLECT OF TnE BIBLE AS A GUIDE TO NATIONAL AND INDIVIDUAL WELFARE, (44) WRITINGS OF “ POLITICAL ECONOMISTS ” SET UP INSTEAD, (47) CONSEQUENT WANT OF FAITH IN GOD’S WORD, SHEWN IN EXTRACT FROM bosanquet’s principia, (52). III.-GERMINATION AND GROWTH OF THE EVIL ------ THE IDOLIZING OF WEALTn, (61) AGRICUL¬ TURE DESPISED AS NOT MAKING RICHES FAST ENOUGH (68) THE DEMORALIZING EF- INSTANCES GIVEN, (79). CONTENTS. IV.—THE EVIL IN ITS FRUIT - - 85 SELFISHNESS REIGNS—OPPRESSION FOLLOWS, (85) SHEWED IN STATE OF WORKING CLASSES IN AGRICULTURAL DISTRICTS, (86) FACTORY DISTRICTS, (92) TRADING TOWNS, (96). REMEDIES SUGGESTED. V.-RETURN TO SCRIPTURAL PRINCI¬ PLES .106 god’s WORD SHOULD BE OF PARAMOUNT AUTHORITY, (106) PREVALENT PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES CONTRASTED WITH ITS PLAIN PRECEPTS, (114). VI—ORGANIZATION—CHURCH EXTEN¬ SION-EDUCATION - - - - 129 EXTENT AND POPULATION OF PARISHES— TOO LARGE—TOO SMALL, (192) CHURCn EX¬ TENSION, (132) NATIONAL EDUCATION, (135) VII—THE LIGHTENING OF THE LABOUR- MARKET .169 LEGISLATIVE INTERFERENCE WITH WAGES IMPRACTICABLE, (169) RESTRAINT UPON MARRIAGE A FALLACIOUS AND DANGEROUS REMEDY, (171) ADVOCATED BY MACCULLOCH, MARTINEAU, &C. (172) REFUTED BY SAD¬ LER, &C. (179) THE REAL EVIL, EMPLOY¬ MENT OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN MEN’S WORK, (188) THE TRUE REMEDY, THEIR WITHDRAWAL, AND A LIMIT OF HOURS OF LABOUR, (191). CONTENTS. ° VIII—THE COTTAGE-ALLOTMENT SYSTEM 195 CAPABILITY OF LAND TO RAISE MORE FOOD AND EMPLOY MORE LABOUR, (195) COM¬ PARISON WITH SWITZERLAND AND NETHER¬ LANDS, (209) EVIDENCE ON ADVANTAGES OF COTTAGE ALLOTMENT SYSTEM,—GAPT. SCO- BELL, R.N., (213) W. MILES, ESQ. M.P., (218) E. B. WILMOT, Esq. (222) PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE, (224)poor LA W commission(228) IX.—RESTORATION OF COTTAGE-FARMS 233 OBJECTIONS STATED, (233) REASONS FOR GRADATION OF HOLDINGS, (235) INSTANCES OF SUCCESS IN THE SMALL FARM SYSTEM, (237) CASE OF CHOLESBURY, (243) LETTER OF MR. LYSONS, (247) OPINION OF DR. GREENUP, (261) X.—IMPROVEMENT OF THE DWELL¬ INGS OF THE POOR - - - - 263 SANITARY REPORT (263) DESCRIPTIONS BY DR. GILLY AND MR. OSBORNE, (274) DEMO¬ RALIZATION CONSEQUENT, (275) EXORBITANT RENTS PAID BY THE POOR, (288) XI—AMELIORATION OF THE NEW POOR LAW ------ 296 EVIDENCE OF PUBLIC OPINION, (29G) THE MEASURE WAS FRAMED IN A BAD SPIRIT AND ON ONE GRAND MISTAKE, (298) FOR WRONGS DONE TO THE POOR IT WAS NO REMEDY, (300) INSTANCES IN WHICH NEW RATIONS REQUIRED. (304) b 5 CONTENTS. XII.—IMPROVEMENT OF MORALS - -*328 DIFFICULTIES IN REGARD TO REDRESS FOR BREACHES OF THE MARRIAGE VOW, AND EVIL CONSEQUENCES, (330) STATE OF THE POOR IN REGARD TO CHASTITY, AND THE MINGLING OF THE SEXES IN THEIR DOR¬ MITORIES, (339) THE BEER-SHOP NUISANCE, (343) THE gin-siiops, (348) observance OF THE SABBATH, AND POST-OFFICE AR¬ RANGEMENTS, (352) rail-road viola¬ tions, (358). XIII. —A SUGGESTION ----- 3<;g PLAN TO REDUCE PAUPERISM TO A NUL¬ LITY, AND MAKE THE LABOURERS COMFORT¬ ABLE IN AN AGRICULTURAL DISTRICT, AD- TOH, (375). XIV. —RECAPITULATION AND CONCLUSION 381 APPENDIX ------ 481 Various interruptions have detained this volume in the press for so lengthened a period, that the writer may naturally entertain con¬ siderable apprehensions lest all unity of design should have been lost, and lest many repe¬ titions should, from this cause, have crept into it. Hence he would ask, at the outset, for all such blemishes, the reader’s kind indulgence. On the general subject of the volume, two remarks have seemed to he requisite, which, from their general character, will perhaps find their place more suitably at the commence¬ ment, than if attached to any one of the va¬ rious topics discussed in the work. The first must he an expression of wonder, and of utter disgust, at the extensive, and it almost seems increasing, use of the most illegitimate of all arguments, in defence of X every existing abuse to which a remedy is en¬ deavoured to be applied. We mean, the ex¬ tenuation of the particular evil practice which may happen to be assailed, by a comparison with some other grievance, the removal of which had not, at that same moment, been proposed. Thus, a dozen years back, when the aboli¬ tion of Negro-slavery in the West Indies was proposed, the exclamation was immediately heard, “ Look at your own white slaves in the factories. What hypocrisy, to be concerning yourselves about a parcel of blacks in Jamaica, while you have a much more grievous slavery at your own doors ! ” Again, last year, when an endeavour was made, to persuade our rulers to give up the Opium-trade in China,—even the prime min¬ ister himself was not ashamed to endeavour to evade the question, by adducing our own gin-shops and their attendant enormities, as a ground for not being very particular as to the vices of the Chinese. And, at the present moment, when a mea¬ sure of practical relief is urged upon the atten¬ tion of Parliament, with reference to the la- xi bourers in our factories, the same expedient is resorted to, by all classes who are desirous of defeating the proposed reform. “ Look at your agricultural labourers,”—one oppo¬ nent exclaims, “ and see if they have not grievances enough which require redressing, before you, a county member, travel into Lancashire to find objects of compassion.” Another, who cannot conveniently adopt this argument, refers to the workshops in Stafford¬ shire, or the milliner’s assistants in London, and requires to know, why these are to be passed over, and only the factory girls relieved. The exceedingly foolish, or else exceedingly dishonest, character of this plea, would make it incredible that it should be adopted by men of character and intellect, were we not obliged to witness the fact, on too many occasions. For what ’is the evident operation of such an argument ? No imaginable reform can pos¬ sibly be proposed, to which the objection may not instantly be raised, “ Here is another grievance equally intolerable;—why attempt to redress the one without at the same time remov¬ ing the other?” Thus, if it were attempted to regulate beer-shops, somebody would imme- diately mention gin-shops as a still greater nuisance. If both are combined in one bill, then another objector asks, why public-house con¬ certs and penny theatres are to be forgotten ? Advance another stage and include these, and then fairs and wakes are suggested ! In most cases, however, the objection assumes a still less practical form, and does not even profess to be anything else than a plea against all pro¬ gress of any kind. Thus, in the case of the re¬ cent Factory Bill, when it is proposed to limit the labour of girls in factories to ten hours per diem, we are reminded of the London milliners, who are often forced to labour eighteen hours out of the twenty-four. To remedy both evils by one enactment, is obviously impossible ; but the objector means nothing of the sort. He cares nothing for either of the two classes of sufferers ; but merely names the second, to abate our zeal in behalf of the first. We la¬ ment this latter case ; we may desire to find some legislative remedy for it ; but even if this appeared to be absolutely impossible, could that be any reason why the factory-girls should continue to be overworked ? It is time that this positively dishonest course of objection were resolutely put down, by the decided condemnation of all honest and honourable men. If the plea be allowed to be a valid one, and if it be held reasonable, that no grievance should be redressed so long as any member is able to point out another grievance remaining unredressed,—then those who desire to improve the condition of their fellow-creatures may make up their minds at once to abandon their undertaking. Until some superhuman intellect shall be found, to combine in one single Bill, all existing wrongs and grievances, this objection, to each sepa¬ rate Remedy, when distinctly proposed, will remain in force ; and the general rule will preclude all such attempts,—by declaring that until everything can be done, nothing shall be attempted! The second observation which we feel it needful to make, concerns the singular want of courage which appears to be a distin¬ guishing feature with nearly all the states¬ men of the present day. It is rarely, indeed, that we are refreshed by the sight of a public man, who exhibits anything like reliance on the principles which he professes to call his own. The general tone seems to be that of a cautious dealing with the circum¬ stances of the day, without doing anything “ to commit oneself ” to any positive course for to-morrow. Men seem to say by their actions, “ I think that I am right, at the present moment ;—but how I may view the question a month, or a year hence, is more than I can be sure of.” And with such a want of reliance on their own principles, such an uncertainty as to what is truth, it is natu¬ ral, nay, inevitable, that expediency should be¬ come a ruling and governing motive ;—should become, in short, the principle of action. The last dozen years have presented too many proofs of this sad deficiency. On the one side of the House of Commons, we have heard the question boldly put, “ What is truth ? ” as if the speaker really believed that there was no standard in existence, by which men might judge of truth or falsehood ! On the other, although we have not been pained by any such open profession of atheism,—we have constantly been disappointed at perceiv¬ ing the studied avoidance of any frank de¬ claration of sentiment and opinion ; and the constant recurrence to motives of expediency, and mere financial and commercial considera¬ tions. If the Church is to be aided, the aid is to be so contrived, as to avoid the neces¬ sity of any open discussion of the great prin¬ ciples of a Church establishment, or any “committal” of the Government to those principles. If a flagitious trade in a poisonous drug is to be maintained in India, again the question of right or wrong is evaded, and the gain to the revenue of £1,200,000 a year made the turning-point of the question. For a fresh enormity in India, the “ political ne¬ cessity” of Scinde to the English empire is made the apology; and for continuing to over-work the poor girls in the factories, the possible “ danger of interference” with “ a leading branch of our manufactures” is held to furnish a sufficient plea ! It is impossible to contemplate this con¬ tinual preference of the expedient to the right, without some impatience. It is impossible to prevent the question from arising in the mind ; —For what do statesmen, in these days of Christian profession, live; and what is the object which they propose to themselves ? Not, assuredly, the emoluments of office; for, in fact, to the persons to whom we refer, office brings no emolument; nor could pecuniary gain offer any motive to their minds. Not the acquirement of rank; for they already possess, or have within their reach, every imaginable distinction. For what then, with what conceivable motive, do English states¬ men of the nineteenth century, live, and de¬ vote themselves to public cares and obligations, if it be not for the advancement of what they believe to be truth; if it be not with the hope of conferring some benefits on their fellow men ? Can it be, that men who have nothing to seek, nothing to desire, in the way of emolument or advancement, or any sort of personal gain or advantage, can consent to take upon themselves the heavy burden of an empire’s cares, with no higher object than merely to have the credit, and the pleasure, of guiding the machine of state along the road for some few short years, and then to leave their names, enrolled among those who “have been ministers?” Hardly is it pos¬ sible to realize the idea of so low, so minute, so unworthy an object of ambition ! xvii It is with pain and depression of heart that we offer to such, if such there be, a lesson from the pen of one who is far below them¬ selves in Christian profession. ' Dr. Channing, writing to his own coun¬ trymen, on what constitutes, most flagrantly, the great sin and peril of that nation,—the slavery which they still cherish among them, gives utterance to some truths which concern public men of all lands and all ages. “When will statesmen learn, that there are higher powers than political motives, in¬ terests, and intrigues ? When will they learn THE MIGHT WHICH DWELLS IN TRUTH ? When will they learn that the great moral and religious ideas, which have now seized on and are working in men’s souls, are the most effi¬ cient durable forces which are acting in the world ? When will they learn that the past and present are not the future ? but that the changes already wrought in society are only forerunners, signs, and springs of mightier revolutions? Politicians, absorbed in near objects, are prophets only on a small scale. They may foretel the issues of the next election,—though even there they are often baffled ; but the breaking out of a deep moral conviction in the mass of men, is a mys¬ tery which they have little skill to interpret. The future of this country is to take its shape, not from the growing of cotton at the south, not from the struggles of parties or leaders for power or station, but from the great principles which are unfolding themselves silently in men’s breasts. There is here and through the civilized world, a steady current of thought and feel¬ ing in one direction. The old notion of the subjection of the many, for the comfort, ease, pleasure, and pride of the few, is fast wear¬ ing away. A far higher and more rational conception of freedom than entered into the loftiest speculations of ancient times, is spread¬ ing itself, and is changing the face of society. Equality before the law has become the watch¬ word of all civilized states. The absolute worth of a human being is better understood, —that is, his worth as an individual, or on his own account, and not merely as a useful tool to others. Christianity is more and more seen to attach a.- sacredness and unspeakable dignity to every man, because each man is immortal. Such is the current of human thought. Principles of a higher order are beginning to operate on society, and the dawn of these primal everlasting lights, is a sure omen of a brighter day. This is the true sign of the coming age. Politicians, seizing on the narrow, selfish principles of human nature, expect these to last for ever. They hope, by their own machinery, to determine the movements of the world. But if his¬ tory teaches any lesson, it is the impotence of statesmen ; and happily this impotence is increasing every day, with the spread of light and moral force among the people. Would politicans study history with more care, they might learn, even from the dark times which are past, that interest is not, after all, the mightiest agent in human affairs; that the course of human events has been more deter¬ mined, on the whole, by great principles, by great emotions, by feeling, by enthusiasm, than by selfish calculations, or by selfish men. In the great conflict between the oriental and western world, which was decided at Ther¬ mopylae and Marathon; in the last great conflict between Polytheism and Theism, be¬ gun by Christ and carried on by his fol- XX lowers; in the Reformation of Luther; in the American revolution, in these grandest epochs of history, what was it which won the victory ? What were the mighty all-pre¬ vailing powers ? Not political management, not self-interest, not the lower principles of human nature ; but the principles of freedom and religion, moral power, moral enthusiasm, the divine aspiration of the human soul. Great thoughts and great emotions have a place in human history, which no historian has hitherto given them, and the future is to he more determined by these, than the past. The anti-slavery spirit is not then to die under the breath of the orator. As easily might that breath blow out the sun.” CHAPTER I. PRELIMINARY—THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. In the rapid glance at “The Perils of the Nation,” recently given to the public, the writer regretted, in closing the lamentable retrospect, the necessity,—from the obvious expediency of confining the volume within customary limits,—of leaving unsaid more than half of that which pressed for utterance. And a de¬ sire has been frequently expressed, by the readers of that work, that besides the personal appeals to different classes of the community, therein contained, some distinct plans might be placed before the country and the legislature, of a remedial description; from which it might at least be hoped, that with a continuance of the long-suffering and goodness of God, the PRELIMINARY. •2 nation might be recovered out of its condi¬ tion of unquestionable peril. It is the object of the present volume to endeavour to meet this desire. A considerable and very remarkable change has taken place in some of the circumstances of the country, since the work alluded to was written. In several important respects it seems as if the mercy of God, meeting, and far more than meeting,* the few and feeble attempts made, of late years, to retrace our steps, to do justice, and to love mercy,—had resolved to give a large and liberal opportu¬ nity and place for repentance, by removing, for a time, several of the most embarrassing and alarming symptoms and causes of disorder. The last six months have been marked by a rapid improvement in our immediate prospects. The great cotton and woollen manufactures have recovered from their de¬ pression, and activity has spread through more than twenty great towns, where last year, all seemed tending to bankruptcy and starvation. The iron trade also, in its seve¬ ral branches, has experienced a similar revi- * Luke xv. 20, PRELIMINARY. val: and, to aid and foster the whole industry of the country, a most extraordinary harvest¬ time filled our barns with plenty, and made our vallies to laugh and sing. Doubtless the natural indolence of some, and the dislike to topics of alarm, felt by others, will induce a very general feeling, that all idea of “ peril” may now be put far away ; and that, at least for a good space of time, “ things may be left to find their level.” No reflecting man, however, will adopt lan¬ guage so utterly irrational: no one who has seriously considered the state of the country, in all its bearings, will for a moment imagine that the mere briskness or dulness of trade can govern the whole question of the happi¬ ness or misery of the population. A most important ingredient, indeed, it ever must be, in their actual state of physical comfort or en¬ joyment at any given moment;—but the merest glance at the long list of Perils which have already been delineated, will serve to sa¬ tisfy any thoughtful reader, that in scarcely one of the whole list, does the rise of a new demand for manufactured goods, effect any permanent or important alteration. 4 PRELIMINARY. However, to place the whole subject fairly before our readers, let us attempt a rapid re¬ capitulation of the chief points in the coun¬ try’s present predicament. And we naturally commence with a review of those favourable circumstances, which ought, if properly em¬ ployed, to put far from the nation all idea of peril. And, first of all, let us acknowledge with thankfulness that it is a “ good land and a large,” in which God has placed us,—a land to which we may apply the description of that ter¬ ritory into which Moses conducted the chosen people of God,—“a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fruit-trees and pomegranates; a land wherein they shall eat bread without scarce¬ ness ; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.” Our ad¬ vantages in this respect may be tested by the various complaints which are continually heard from our colonies in all parts of the globe; where men, uneasy at home, either through the misconduct of others, or their own, have fled to find some fancied elysium. From one we hear THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 5 of the “ long-continued drought, and the ex¬ cessive heat: ” From another, of the land so encumbered with the old roots of trees, as to require the labour of a life to bring it into any order: From a third, that they cannot ‘ ‘ dweli safely,” by reason of the hostile natives in their vicinity : From a fourth, that all is at a stand for want of labourers to till the ground. Now from all these evil circumstances the people of Fmgland are free. They have peace and quietness, so far as any hostile neighbour is concerned. They have a regular succession of seasons, so little variable, that what is held, with them, a bad harvest, would be regarded in other lands as a favourable one. In short, they have “ a good land and a large,” and they have “ abundance of people,”—a blessing always spoken of in scripture as equally desi¬ rable. We have, in these islands, at this mo¬ ment, more than forty-six millions of acres in cultivation ; besides fifteen millions more, ca¬ pable of yielding food, but not yet subjected to the plough.* Now even as ploughed land merely, every acre will yield more than sufficient food for two persons,—so that here ought, to be * Porter’s Progress of the Nation, vol. i. p. 177. 6 THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. sustenance for ninety millions of people;— but on taking a closer view, we find that by the use of the spade, and allowing for the growth of luxuries, “ on the most moderate calculation, Great Britain and Ireland are ca¬ pable of maintaining, in ease and affluence, 120,000,000 of inhabitants.” * Said we not truly, then, that the land which God has given us, is “a good land and a large,” and may we not be thankful, (rather than alarmed) that since 1801 our population has advanced from seventeen millions to more than twenty- six millions ?—While, that the growth of food has advanced even still more rapidly, is made clear by the fact, that less and less of foreign corn is able to find a market in our ports: for it appears, that in the five years from * Alison on Population, vol. i. p. 61, Doubtless these are statements which will appear startling to some, who have received the current fictions of “ our excessive popu¬ lation,” and of “ the impossibility of raising food for our increasing numbers:” But the writers we have quoted (G. R. Porter, Esq., and Arch. Alison, Esq.) are of the highest authority; and their statements have been before the public for the last three or four years, and no one has ventured to question a single figure. In fact, the truth of these statements is open to every reader; and no one need find any difficulty in thoroughly ascertaining their correctness. THE STATE OF THE COUNTHY. 7 1801 to 1805 there passed our custom-house 3,432,809 quarters of wheat, or nearly 700,000 quarters per annum ; while in the five years from 183J to 1835, the duty was paid on no more than 1,992,548, or not quite 400,000 quarters per annum. * In manufactures our progress has been even still more rapid. It is estimated that the wool manufactured in these islands in 1800, was 102,986,0081b,—in 1835,179,221,7761b. The cotton wool taken into consumption in 1801 was 54,203,4331b, in 1835 it was 333,043,4641b. The iron ex¬ ported in 1801 was 4,584 tons,—in 1835, it had increased to 106,467 tons.f And what a remarkable circumstance meets our view, in the centre of our metropolis, at this moment. A heap of gold, amounting to no less than sixteen millions sterling, lies piled up in the Bank of England, and has remained there for many months past. The directors of that establishment are continually offering to make loans to the public at the low interest of three per cent. But scarcelv * In some of the following years the import of corn was greater; but this was caused by the partial failure of oin- own harvest in those years. t Porter’s Progress of the Nation, vol. i. p. 200, 205, 290. 8 THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. a single person can be found to borrow of them ! For, in truth, much more than another sixteen millions is waiting, in the hands of the various money-dealers of the city, for any safe employment that can be found, at two and a half, or even at two per cent! In all important particulars, then,—in a wide and fertile land, in a rapidly-increasing population, in a vast extension of production in all conceivable branches, and in wealth, heaped up until the owners know not how to dispose of it,—may it not be said of England, as of Israel of old, “ What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it ? Wherefore, then, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes ? ” For, while, on the one hand, we thus be¬ hold, on every side, the most clear and indubitable tokens of advancing wealth, it is equally certain, on the other, that the masses,—the great bulk of our population, are immersed in constant misery and wretch¬ edness; and that the condition, instead of improving with the improvement of the higher and middle classes, is becoming daily THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. more deplorable and hopeless. We are not, on this point, mooting any peculiar fancies of our own. We quote once more the often- cited declaration of a member of the present Cabinet, who in his place in the House of Commons, recently admitted, that “It was one of the most melancholy features in the social state of the country,—that while there was a decrease in the consuming powers of the people, and an increase in the privations and distress of the labouring and operative classes; there was at the same time a con¬ stant accumulation of wealth in the upper classes, and a constant increase of capital: ”* Which is confirmed by an equally distinguished person, on the opposition benches;—“ We see extreme destitution throughout the industrious classes, and at the same time, incontestible evidences of vast wealth rapidly augmenting.”f And from this increasing separation be¬ tween the classes, the natural result of in¬ creasing alienation immediately follows. It would be a miracle were it otherwise. Accord¬ ingly, we find Mr. Slaney thus describing,— “ Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, Feb. 14, 1843. t Mr. C. Buller, April. 7, 1843. 10 THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. “The discontent which has prevailed, more or less, among the great body of our fellow- countrymen for a considerable number of years past. In 1812 great dissatisfaction prevailed in four of the midland counties of England. Persons calling themselves Luddities were spread over Lancashire, the West Riding of Yorkshire, Cheshire, and Nottinghamshire. —In 1815 there were strikes of the working- classes on the banks of the Tyne and the Wear, accompanied by the most serious dis¬ turbances.’’ “In 1817 there was a general ferment among the working-population,” and in 1819 an “ unfortunate occurrence at Man¬ chester led to a deplorable sacrifice of human life.” “In 1820 a rising took place in Derbyshire.” “In 1826,strikes, accompanied with great violence, took place, with extremely injurious effects, in Gloucestershire, and in Bolton and other northern towns.” “ In 1830 agitations took place which eventually assumed a political turn, and terminated in the Reform Bill.” “In 1836 the agitation was commenced for what is called the people’s charter.” “ In 1838 riots took place at Shef¬ field, North Wales,” &c—“ and I think that THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 11 upon this statement of circumstances, I may venture to assert, that for a long period past,, a spirit of dissatisfaction has prevailed among the working-classes.” “ And what is the practical lesson we should draw from these symptoms, shewing themselves from year to year ? Surely it is, that there is something wrong in the social state of these persons.”* To complete this picture, by one feature which Mr. Slaney almost entirely omitted,— we must remember that in the year 1830, not one or two manufacturing districts merely, were in disorder and tumult from a want of employment; but over the ivhole face of the country, and for many weeks and months to¬ gether, incendiary fires reddened the face of heaven, and filled every thoughtful mind with horror. Fom Kent to Cumberland one reckless, desperate paroxysm of rage seemed to fill the breasts of the rural labourers ; and immense was the loss, even in human food, which was inflicted on their employers. And can any one ascribe to them, universally, so fiendish a propensity, as would be implied in the destruction of all this property ivithout * Mr. Sidney's Speech, House of Commons, Feb. 4, 1840. 12 THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. provocation! Or did any one venture to gainsay the warnings which Mr. Charles Buller pressed upon the House of Commons, even so recently as in the spring of the pre¬ sent year ? “ How was it that they heard the cry of general distress in the midst of evidences of wealth ? How was it that this country pre¬ sented the unnatural contrast, of the greatest luxury and the greatest suffering, side by side? How was it, that if contemplated from different points of view, England appeared at once the richest and the neediest nation in Europe ? The present was a state of things which the people of England would not bear as they used to bear it. If they wished to keep the framework of society to¬ gether, they must devise some remedy to prevent the recurrence of these periods of distress, which had been of late returning with greater frequency, and been attended with greater danger to the existing state of society. He wondered when he considered how long they had stood on this volcanic soil. They would not do so for ever with impunity.”* * Speech of Mr. C. Buller, April 6, 1843. THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 13 Nor must these warnings be taken as re¬ lating to dangers which are past, and the return of which is only to be feared at some indefinite period. What has been the history of the last twelve months? What is the position of affairs even now ? Even so recently as in the autumn of 1842, eight of the largest counties in England, and a great part of Scotland, were in open in¬ surrection. All Yorkshire, Lancashire, Che¬ shire, Cumberland, Staffordshire, Warwick¬ shire, Leicestershire, and North Wales, were in arms. Houses were attacked, battles were fought, and vollies of musketry, and files of prisoners, and carts loaded with the wounded and the dead, shocked the eyes and ears of the peaceful inhabitants of our towns and villages. , By vigorous military operations,— parks of artillery and regiments of footguards transported by railroad,—the danger was sup¬ pressed for the moment. But what have we now ? For many weeks past a fresh kind of peasant-war has broken out, and after tear¬ ing down turn-pike gates, and burning toll¬ houses, it has proceeded, at last, to attack dwelling-houses, destroy corn-ricks, and even 14 * THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. to murder any, whether men or women, who oppose the least resistance. This is dreadful; but it is no more than Mr. Buller, and Lord Ashley, and Sir John Hanmer, and manyothers, have prognosticated, in open debate, during the last session of Parliament. “ The people will not bear their sufferings as they have done in time past,” said Mr. Buller. And if we take up any of the London Journals, at this moment, even of those which most steadily maintain Con¬ servative views, we shall find them one and all admitting that the Welsh insurgents have had great provocation,—serious causes of complaint; and that it is no matter of won¬ der that they have overpassed the bounds of patience and loyal endurance. But take a specimen or two of the state of the popular mind, at the instant of our pre¬ sent writing, and say whether the temper they betray is not very fearful ? We have alluded to a recent case of murder in Car¬ marthenshire,—in which the insurgents, being resisted, fired, and killed a poor old woman who kept a turnpike-gate. Now, ten times more alarming than the mere homicide, is THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 15 the fact, that when a dozen housekeepers, farmers or tradesmen, met the next day as a coroner’s jury, they would find no other ver¬ dict than this,—“ That the deceased died from effusion of blood into the chest, which occasioned suffocation ; but from what cause is to this jury unknown ! ” The real purport of this verdict is obvious, and it is pregnant with the deepest cause for alarm. It declares the sympathy of the middle classes with the insurgents, and their disposition to shield them from punishment, even when blood is shed in their violent pro¬ ceedings. It declares, in fact, that trial by jury is practically extinct, for that the bind¬ ing power of an oath is gone ; and that the mere brute force of martial law is all that remains, to continue any vestige of protection to life or property ! Such is the state of Wales,—not of any manufacturing or mining district, filled with a lawless multitude rapidly brought together, and inflamed by a sudden deprivation of em¬ ployment ;—but of a rural, and heretofore an orderly population. But Wales is far from being the only seat of discontent or violence. 16 THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. Fires, caused by discontent, are again seen blazing in various parts of England, and even within sight of the luxurious metropolis. Take an instance, which recently occurred within fifty miles of London, and which we give in the journalist’s own words, and with his own reflections. “ Wilful fire-raising at Abingdon. Two nights this week have the inhabitants of Abingdon been startled by the cry of “ Fire ! ” On Tuesday night the alarm was occasioned through the supposed spontaneous combus¬ tion of a haystack, in the farm-yard of Mr. W. Graham. On Wednesday night the cry was, that Mr. Graham’s wheat-ricks were on fire ; these ricks being in a large field, distant from any dwelling, and from the fire of the preced¬ ing night. “ There is no doubt that this last case is one of wilful fire-raising, respecting which, and the feelings of the population, some very painful facts have reached us. The writer of “ an Address to the labouring population of the town and neighbourhood of Abingdon” commences his plain and earnest remon¬ strance with the following sentence :—■ THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 17 “ 'Neighbours and Fellow-townsmen,—A truly disgraceful action has been committed very near our homes. Yesterday morning three ricks of wheat were consumed by fire ; and there is every reason to suppose that it was kindled by design rather than by accident. On this occasion I mingled with the crowd. I saw many of you there in your working dress—men who earned their bread by the sweat of then- brow. I saw some whose tattered garments, and haggard and sad countenances, told of hunger and suffering, as well as of hard work. Not because I wished to do so, but because I could not well help it, I overheard many of your remarks respecting what you thought of the fire, the loss sustained by it, the man to whom the corn belonged, the use of trying to put out the fire, and other matters of a similar kind. There was not much, however, said about the terrible fact, that the destruction of property was occasioned by the wickedness and malice of man. I am afraid that this was not much thought of. It is, if possible, to make you think of it for awhile, now, that I write these sentences for you to read.’ 18 THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. “We quote this paragraph because indicat¬ ing the state of feeling to which we have refer¬ red above; we cannot follow the benevolent writer, nor can we here enter into details : we are impelled to another duty. “ We solemnly and earnestly call upon the members for Berkshire and Oxfordshire— for boroughs as well as counties—to take serious note of these painful facts. The destruction of property—of the newly-gather¬ ed harvest—is a painful fact; the glowing and blackened masses of grain, sending forth jets of yellow and sulphurous smoke from their centres—the flashing of flames in a harvest-field, presented an affecting and omi¬ nous spectacle: but the tattered, and more than indifferent crowd, present a far more impressive and awful subject for contempla¬ tion. “ It is useless, and worse than useless, to rake up the worst epithets in the language, and cast them at the wretched incendiary, and those who gave a kind of sanction to the act. Social diseases, a revolutionary disorganization of society, are not to be cured or corrected by pouring oil of vitriol upon them. The THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 19 duty, the solemn duty of the public writer, and of public men, is to examine the fact,—to account for the phenomenon. “ ‘ Tattered garments, hunger, and suffer¬ ing, and hard labour,’ will not, cannot long co-exist with correct moral feeling and respect for property; and this fire wrote upon the darkness of the midnight sky truths, facts which the ruling class must learn, or not learn¬ ing, England will become as Ireland, or worse. There will be, there can he, no security for property, when a large portion of the popula¬ tion is ill-fed and ill-clothed, with no property but their labour, and no object upon which that labour can be bestowed with certainty and profit. With regard to labourers in Berks, we have been assured that labouring men, of good character and industrious habits, have gone forth in the spring with diminished powers, through the want of sufficient suste¬ nance in the winter ; and it is also a fact, that within a few miles of Abingdon there are a much smaller number of persons having a be¬ neficial interest in the soil now than there were 30 years ago. This, despite the dogmas of political economists, is one of the chief causes 20 THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. of the suffering and demoralization of the labourer in husbandry. “ The poor must have a beneficial interest in the soil; they must have access, as renters, to small portions of the land of their birth, or terrible consequences must ensue. Let a man have something of his own, let him feel himself united to the commonwealth, and he will have a sacred regard for property, and a patriotic feeling for his native land. “ We hardly need say, that we have no spe¬ cial reference to the gentlemen whose property has been destroyed : there are few proprietors or occupiers who have afforded a larger pro¬ portion of labour ; but it is a matter to be re¬ gretted that ‘ allotments,’ let to the poor, were discontinued when land so appropriated by Mr. Duflield, M.P., passed by purchase into the hands of Mr. Graham; and this was openly referred to by spectators at the fire. 11 were an injustice to the public not to mention this fact.” Such is the state of things existing in what used to be called “ merry England,” and which is now far more opulent than she was when so called. But let us get still closer to the sub- THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 21 ject, and individualize one of these men of “haggard and sad countenance, whose aspect told of hunger and suffering,” and who could look on during the destruction of corn-ricks, with indifference, or even with gratification. We will not indulge in any stretch of the ima¬ gination. We will carefully draw our des¬ criptions from the published reports of men of sense and discretion, selected and employed by the Government to ascertain the facts. The clerk to the Ampthill Poor Law Union thus describes his own vicinity :— “ A large proportion of the cottages in the union are very miserable places, small and in¬ convenient, in which it is impossible to keep up even the common decencies of life. I will refer to one instance, with which I am well acquainted. A man, his wife, and family, consisting in all of 11 individuals, resided in a cottage containing only two rooms. The man, his wife, and 4 children, sometimes 5, slept in one of the rooms, and in one bed; some at the foot, others at the top, one a girl about 14, another a boy above 12, the rest younger. The other part of the family slept in one bed in the keeping- room, that is, the 22 THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. room in which their cooking, washing, and eating, were performed. How could it be otherwise, with this family, than that they should be sunk into a most deplorable state of degradation and depravity ? This, it may be said, is an extreme case; hut there are many similar, and a very great number, that make near approaches to it. To pursue a further account of this family. The man is reported to be a good labourer, the cottage he held ivas recently pulled down , and, being unable to procure another, he was forced to come into the workhouse. After being in a short time, they left to try again to get a home, but again failed. The man then absconded, and the family returned to the workhouse. The eldest, a female, has had a bastard child, and another younger, also a female, but grown up, has re¬ cently been sentenced to transportation for stealing in a dwelling-house. The family, when they came in, were observed to be of grossly filthy habits and of disgusting beha¬ viour ; I am glad to say, however, that their general conduct and appearance is very much improved since they have become inmates of the workhouse. I without scruple express THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 23 iny opinion that their degraded moral state is mainly attributable to the wretched way in which they have lived and herded together, as previously described. I have been thus parti¬ cular in my account of this family, knowing it to be a type of many others, and intending it to apply to that part of your letter inquiring respecting the comparative character of the female immates and children of the two de¬ scriptions of cottages in question.”* Such is their external condition :—now let another Commissioner describe their mode of subsistence :— “ I have frequently heard it remarked, that it is quite inexplicable how the poor can live on their usual wages, since, in workhouses where strict economy is studied, and where, we are constantly told, that we give the inmates too little to eat, it is well known that a man, his wife, and five children, cannot usually be kept under 1 1. a-week; and this is reckoning nothing for house-rent; and all the articles required, being purchased in large contracts, are obtained 201. per cent under the shop Sanitary Enquiry, England, p. 127. 24 THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. prices. Taking into account the two latter considerations, it appears that such a family could not be maintained in a state of indepen¬ dence, out of the workhouse, with the same comforts they have in it, at a less cost than 25s. per week, and this is more than double the general agricultural weekly wages in Eng¬ land. Now though this simple arithmetical calculation at once proves to demonstration that the newspaper-outcry respecting the poor being starved in the workhouses cannot possi¬ bly be true ; there would be no slight difficulty in answering the charge if the workhouse dietaries were reduced to one-half of what they are : and yet, if we contrast the expense of their maintenance in the workhouse with their wages out of it, it would appear that an independent labourer actually does live on one half or even less than one-half of what an inmate of a workhouse receives.”* Such is the candid confession of a Poor- Law Commissioner. Somehow or other,—he cannot tell how,—the poor labourer, who struggles not to become a pauper, must con- * Sanitary Enquiry, England, p. 37, 38. THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 25 trive to live, and does contrive to live, on rather less than one-half of what is considered a meagre diet for a workhouse ! But here is the evidence of the wife of such a labourer, who explains how it is that they thus subsist. The man, whose name is Wil- shire, is a farm-labourer at Cherill, near Caine, in Wiltshire. His circumstances are some¬ what better than many others ! for he has constant employment at 8 s. per week, besides two dinners per week for some extra house¬ work ; and he is also permitted to hold about 65 perches of land, at the rent of only £2. 7s. per year. The wife says, “We never see such a thing as butcher’s meat. Our food is principally potatoes, with bread. We eat about six gallons of bread a week. Sometimes, when it is cheap we buy a lb. of butter a week, but most frequently fat, which we use with the potatoes to give them a flavour. Our neighbour, the Rev. Mr. Guth¬ rie, gives us a little milk. We lay out about 246 . a week in tea, chiefly to let my husband have a comfortable breakfast on the Sunday, the only day he breakfasts at home, and as it is the only thing I indulge in. c 26 THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. “ Our common drink is burnt crust in tea. We also buy about 1 lb. sugar a week. We never know what it is to get enough to eat; at the end of the meal the children would always eat more. Of bread there is never enough ; the children are always asking for more at every meal ; I then say, ‘ You don’t want your father to go to prison, do you ? ’ The eldest child some time ago, had a swelling in his throat; I don’t know what the doctors called it, but they said he must live better, and the guardians allowed 2s. a week for meat for several weeks, and after that a smaller sum for bread, and the child got well. The 'youngest child (eighteen months old,) is not yet weaned; the other children were nearly as old, though not quite, when they were weaned. Two or three years ago, my husband was employed by a farmer, who was a liberal man, and had 1 Os. a week ; the extra 2s. did a great service, it paid rent and firing. We generally get a pig in the spring, and keep it till late in the autumn, and feed it with potatoes off our piece of ground ; but it is always parted with to pay the shoemaker, THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. and other tradesmen. We have never killed a pig for ourselves.”* To complete this picture, of a family of poor creatures housed with less attention to comfort than is bestowed on the farmer's horses or cows, and fed in such proportion as “ never to get enough to eat,”—we have only to add, as the crowning feature—the utter absence of all hope. We quote again Mr. Twisleton’s testimony :— “ It is difficult, regarding the paucity of small farms from another point of view, not to give way to a feeling of regret. The Eng¬ lish agricultural labourer, even if he has trans¬ cendent abilities, has scarcely any prospect of rising in the world and of becoming a small farmer. He commences his career as a weekly labourer; and the probability is, whatever may be his talents and industry, that as a weekly labourer he will end his days. If he cherishes the ambition of becoming a small farmer, his wisest course is to emigrate to Canada or New South Wales: or some other of the colonies, where alone he can put forth all his energies * Report on the employment of Women and Children in Agriculture, 1843, pp. 68, 69. 28 THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. for the attainment of that object with a rea¬ sonable prospect of success.” * Under this treatment,—experiencing far less attention than is given to our cattle or our dogs;—fed with less than half of a workhouse allowance ;—and precluded, in every direc¬ tion, from the smallest prospect of ever rising above his present misery,—where is the won¬ der, if the peasant beholds the blazing ricks of one whom he regards as his oppressor, and turns away with indifference, or smiles in scorn? But what shall we say to the state of that com¬ munity, in which such an alienation between employers and labourers can exist, or in which such verdicts as that of Pontadulais can be recorded ? Most lucidly, and with a feeling which does him the greatest honour, does the Rector of Bryanston in Dorsetshire thus describe the whole question “ Whilst I trace the immorality of the labouring classes to defective education, the want of means to preserve decency in their families, and the temptations to intemperance Sanitary Enquiry, England, p. 142. THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 29 which are to be found in the manner in which the beer-shop keepers, unchecked by legal in¬ terference, offer at every hour of the day, and almost every hour of the night, all the induce¬ ments likely to draw the labourer from home, and to fix him in a love of drink and bad company, I trace much of the crime he com¬ mits to absolute want. I am satisfied that the law should, under any and every circumstance, be enforced against offenders when detected, and that every means should be used for their detection ; but is it not the bounden duty of the higher and middling classes of society to endeavour at any cost to place the labourer, as far as possible, in such a condition as shall afford him the option of acquiring for himself and children right principles of action towards his fellow-men, and the means of obtaining by his own industry all that is necessary for his own and his children’s support ? The law must be held in respect; but who shall justify us in placing any of our fellow-creatures in a position in which, whilst they have little en¬ couragement to do right, they have every temptation to do wrong ? “ With regard to the general condition of 30 THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. the agricultural labourer, I believe the public to be less informed, or worse informed, than about that of any other class of society. His most common vices are, it is true, pretty well known, for they have been exposed with no hesitating pens, have been officially proclaimed throughout the length and breadth of the land; but the hardships of his life at best, its tempt¬ ations, the hindrances to its improvement, the scanty remuneration afforded for his hardest labour, the ingenious methods used to hold him in thraldom, permitting him neither to work where he likes, at the wages he could obtain, or to spend those he does obtain where he chooses ; the manner in which he often sees the welfare of the beast he drives, more valued than his own, and his own welfare often sacrificed to some caprice of his em¬ ployer—threatened with the “ Union House” if he refuses them ; his wages settled by the combined interest or opinion of the employers around him; forced to pay an exorbitant rent for a dwelling in which he cannot decently rear his family: if he is single, he is to receive less for the sweat of his brow than if he was married ; if he does marry, every ingenuity is THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 31 used to make him feel that he is regavded as one about to increase the burdens of the parish, to say nothing of the ingenuity used to shift him into some other parish,—these are parts of his condition on which the public are not so well informed, or at least of which they seem to act in perfect ignorance. Let the charitable do what they will to increase the comforts and elevate the character of the poor of a parish: alas! but too often because parish A is thus more favoured than parish B, it is made the pretext for raising the rent of the labourer’s dwelling, and diminishing the amount of his wages. “ I do, Sir, sincerely hope that this your present commission may he but the forerunner of one that shall thoroughly investigate the condition of the labourer—his moral, social, and physical condition. “ Let the public have bond fide evidence of the labourer’s condition, and I feel confident the wonder will be,—not that this class of the community have from time to time shown a disaffected spirit,—not that evidence of their immorality, dishonesty, and extravagance has abounded,—not that they are daily becoming 32 THE STATE OF, THE COUNTRY. more and more burdensome upon the poor- rates ; but that they have borne so long the hardships of their condition, have not been urged to greater crimes—that any of them can at all, at the prices they have to pay for rent, fuel, and food, honestly support their families out of the wages they receive. I can¬ not say that their wives and children are sub¬ ject to any physical injury from the nature of the employments in agriculture in which they engage; but I do assert, of the agricultural labourers as a class, that they have found fewer friends of any weight to contend for their rights in high places, and more enemies to their moral and physical improvement at their own. doors, than any other class of society. Attachment to their superiors, respect for their employers, loyalty to their rulers, is fast passing away ; they have found them¬ selves made the subjects of experiments, the smart of which they have felt, but the inten¬ tion of which they could not understand. Their education has occupied the mind of the public chiefly as a scene for party strife; their relief in age or sickness has been discussed in THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 33 a philosophical tone, of which the most for¬ bidding features were the only ones they could appreciate. Pamphlets on cottage husbandry, plans for cottage buildings, tracts on morality, treatises on economy, have been sent forth with no sparing hand; but in nine villages out of ten the cottage is still nothing but a slightly-improved hovel; morality is borne down by the pressure of temptation on minds unfortified by education in good principles ; and the wages of the stoutest and most indus¬ trious scarce find the coarsest food, the small¬ est sufficiency of fuel. In my opinion, unless those above them soon determine to give up some of their own luxuries, that they may give to the labourer such wages as shall enable him to rear his family in comfort in a dwell¬ ing in which decency can be preserved, and within reach of a school, and a church in which he and his may be taught the learning fitted for their station here, and tending to place them in the way to heaven hereafter— unless some great effort is made to obtain these objects, our peasantry will become not the support they should be to the country, but c 5 34 THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. a pregnant source of all that can tend to sub¬ vert its best institutions .” * Such is the view given by a most unex¬ ceptionable witness, of the state of our rural population. It need scarcely be added, that the labourers in our factory-towns suffer equal and often peculiar hardships. The difference, indeed, between our agricultural and manufac¬ turing districts, is chiefly this ; that in the former, hardship and poverty is the ordinary and unchanging lot; while in the latter, there is a frequent alternation of excessive labour and good wages for one year ; with a glut, stagna¬ tion, and utter starvation, in the next. It is in¬ deed probably true, that at the present moment, by a rapid revival of demand, nearly every loom in Great Britain has been set again in motion, and that there is now full employ¬ ment, at Manchester, and Leeds, and Bol¬ ton and Stockport, and Bradford, for all the men, women and children that are will¬ ing to work. Still, taking want of employ¬ ment, and want of bread, out of our catalogue of existing perils, are there not * liepovl on the employment of Women in Agriculture. Evidence of Hon. and Rev. S. 6. Oaborne, 1843, p. 77. THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 35 most fearful mischiefs still remaining, and such as will often be exasperated by this very improvement ? The universal pressure upon the poor, continues throughout every department ; and- improving trade will often lead to an increase of this pressure. As the markets improve, and goods become more and more in demand, the mills and factories will increase their hours of labour, from fourteen, the ordinary limit, to sixteen, eighteen, and even, and not in rare instances, to constant day-and-night work. Leisure for thinking of education there will be none : these long hours of labour, very frequently extending from five in the morning to ten at night, for one set of hands, include all above thirteen years of age ; and many who are but twelve, or twelve and a half, hut whose unfeeling parents offer them in these shambles with certificates of age which no one credits, hut which serve the turn ! Think of the immuring a girl of the age of twelve and a half or thirteen, day by day, for sixteen hours, in the same fetid, unwholesome, monotonous cotton-mill ! If the stronger in frame escape consumption, distorted limbs, or other bodily suffering, 36 THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. how many, even of these, can escape that pollution of morals which is universal ? “ Indecent language,” said a witness who had been an overseer in a factory, " mostly begins towards night, when they begin to be drowsy ; it is a kind of stimulus the children use to keep themselves awake ; they say some pert thing or other to keep themselves from drowsiness, and it generally happens to be some obscene language.” * Nor is it in our mills and factories only that we must look for disorder and demora¬ lization. The great bulk of our working- classes have been so long regarded as mere machines for creating wealth for those above them, that now in a vast majority of cases they are scarcely human. “ Compare,” says Mr. Alison, “ a Manchester weaver, a Glas¬ gow operative, or an iron-worker of Birming¬ ham, with an American savage : and the dreadful influence of civilization upon the character of the bulk of the lower orders will be too often apparent. Without going so far as a benevolent and intelligent divine of the * Evidence before Hume of Commons, on Fuclories. Ans 2600. THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 37 Church of England, who affirmed that there were, in 1822, 760,000 unconverted pagans in the city of London, it may safely be affirmed, that the degradation of character, the grossness of habit, the licentiousness of life, which prevail in a majority of the inhabitants of all the great European cities, are not exceeded in any part of the habitable globe.” # Or let us isolate a single town, and see what a government inspector of acknowledged talent and discrimination reports :— “ The wynds of Glasgow comprise a fluc¬ tuating population of from 15 to 30,000 persons. This quarter consists of a labyrinth of lanes, out of which numberless entrances lead into small square courts, each with a dunghill reeking in the centre. Revolting as was the outward appearance of these places, I was little prepared for the filth and destitu¬ tion within. In some of these lodging-rooms (visited at night) we found a whole lair of human beings littered along the floor, some¬ times fifteen and twenty, some clothed and some naked ; men, women, and children * Alison on Population. Vol. II. p. 105. 38 THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. huddled promiscuously together. Their bed consisted of a layer of musty straw intermixed with rags. There was generally little or no furniture in these places: the sole article of comfort was a fire. Thieving and prostitution constitute the main sources of the revenue of this population. No pains seem to be taken to purge this Augean pandemonium, this nucleus of crime, filth, and pestilence, existing in the centre of the second city of the empire. These wynds constitute the St. Giles’s of Glasgow ; but I owe an apology to the metropolitan pandemonium for the comparison. A very extensive inspection of the lowest districts of other places, both here and on the continent, never presented any¬ thing one half so bad, either in intensity of pestilence, physical and moral, or in extent, proportioned to the population.” * Must we go further ? Must we even apply to ourselves the terrible language, “ The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel ? ” Hear Mr. Bosanquet, a man of great practical experience in the matter. He tells us,— * .J. C. Symons on Artisans at Home and Abroad, p. llG. THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 39 “ The very system of relief which mer¬ cenary wisdom has devised and worked out aggravates these sores and the virulence of the distemper. The English system of poor relief, as it is at present carried into operation, is the conception of a purely mercantile age and spirit, the ultimatum of mechanical and arithmetical science, and selfish obtuseness ; and is no more fitted to the habits and me¬ chanism of human life, than a foot-rule to morals and philosophy. It binds up the wounds of human life with iron bands ; and aggravates its torments. While liberty is extolled and worshipped in all mouths, and slaves are bought up and emancipated, this system revives and forges with ingenious cruelty all and more than all the fetters and degradations of punishment and slavery, and inflicts them by law and legislative enactment. Nature rebels against the philosophic torture, and unnatural experiment; and throws off the gangrene and the application together, with raging inflammation. At the same time the mortification spreads, and extends itself over the whole system. ‘ ‘ The mechanical obtuseness of the instru- 40 THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. ment by which we probe this aggravated wound, shows us to be as devoid of under¬ standing as the mechanism which we delight in, and our hearts to be as hard as the material of which it is constructed. Our exclusive study and estimation of machinery has blunted our minds and understandings, and unfitted them for the study of human nature; and made all our works partake of the inferiority and uniformity which charac¬ terize the products of unintelligent machines. At the same time, love of money stifles the sympathies, which alone might somewhat correct this bluntness and ignorance with regard to the feelings and dispositions of the poor. “ Machines may work up wool and cotton and flax ; but even in these a distinction is made in respect of coarse and fine goods ; and of all, the texture is torn and fretted and deteriorated hy the machinery. The texture of the mind and feelings is more delicate and intricate than that of the softest wool ; the heartstrings are finer than the finest flax or cotton—even in the pauper. Know ye this, ye town-made commissioners ? Know ye THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 41 this, ye steam-engine legislators ? Know ye this,—that there is no uniformity between the vicious and the virtuous ; there is no possible uniformity of system for the wicked and the good ; for the hardened and the sensitive ? That which is wholesome and healthful to the one, is death to the other. There is no degree of severity and disgrace which commissioners will dare to inflict as a test, to which vice and idle¬ ness will not become, inured and submit, rather than to honest industry. But grant that the limit may he attained of swinish in¬ ertia and endurance :—That which is a suffici¬ ent test of want to the hardened and the brutalized, must he a torture worse than death to the undegraded and the sensitive. “ Look at the fruits of the present system. It is a light thing that natural death should be increased by suffering ; that children should be crippled for life, and drained of their strength, by infantine services to senseless machines ; and that mortality should contin¬ ually increase among the poor, while it de¬ creases among the rich ;—life has grown more cruel even than death itself, and his natural stroke must be anticipated. 42 THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. “ October 9th, 1840.—A man attempted suicide, not bearing to see his children starve. “ July 2nd, 1841.—A poor man hanged himself in Orange Street, rather than go to the union workhouse. “August, 1840.—A man named Garrat poisoned four of his children, not enduring to see them die from want. “ Oh, horrible ! Miss Martineau records it as a real fact, that two women having been brought to bed, they quarrelled for the dead child. The order of nature is so reversed, the feelings of human nature are grown so unnatural, in this highly civilized country ! “ Money is such a god,—and bread at the same time is so hard to procure,—that a mail put to death three of his own children by poisoning, for the sake of getting the money allowed by his club for burial-money. “ One example was sufficient in Samaria, to fulfil the prophecied curse, that women should eat their own children. Surely the examples and proofs of the enormity of our distresses are multiplied tenfold. We want no outward enemy to do this. We are worse to our own souls than any foreign enemy. THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 43 We lay siege to ourselves. And, for the very disease of appetite, in the midst of plenty, we devour our own flesh.”* These are appalling representations. But their truth cannot be denied. Instead of flinching from the censure, it rather behoves us to search out the cause of all this wretch¬ edness and crime. Let us do this with faithful sincerity, not seeking for a party triumph, or thinking for an instant of what the cant of the day terms “ class-interests but honestly desiring to find out the actual seat and spring-head of the mischief; as the only probable way of disco¬ vering a remedy. - Bosanquet’s Principia , pp, 389—392. CHAPTER II. THE ROOT OF THE EVIL. We find a nation, then, of enormous wealth, and unparalleled power,—a nation which can cause its will to be respected, and its rights to be regarded, in every part of the habitable globe,—still disturbed, and its very existence placed in jeopardy, by intestine evils, of which oppression itself is the main cause. Now to deal with the local symptoms, merely, or temporary manifestations of this deep-seated evil, could do little good. If we are to seek for a remedy at all, let us search out the main cause,—the ruling principle,—to which all this disorder is to be traced ; and let this be placed in a prominent light, before the eyes of the British legislature and the British people. THE ROOT OF THE EVIL. 45 But we cannot do this without incurring at once the stigma of “ methodism,” “ fana¬ ticism,” and the like, from those who are ever seeking to trace up all social evils to the mere ascendancy of their political rivals, or to the neglect of their own pet system of “ political economy.” We cannot humor them in these fancies ; w r e cannot believe that either the Whigs or the Tories are the authors of all this evil; or that the preference of Ricardo to Adam Smith, or of Macculloch to Malthus, is of any more importance than the fashions of the tailor’s shops, or the prospects of the opera-season. Men may dispute very zealously about the fancies or theories of other men ; and find, after all, when experience brings forth a practical result, that there was truth on both sides, and also error on both. No merely human standard can he aught but erroneous; though one may be nearer to the truth than another. There is but one perfect rule, but one safe guide; and that is, in national as well as individual concerns,—the revealed will of God. This fact,—one of the very few facts which is wholly beyond dispute,—seems to be 46 THE ROOT OF THE EVIL. almost universally forgotten. Even professing Christians seem in too many instances to have overlooked or imperfectly apprehended it. It appears never to occur to people, that in those two tables which are placed pro¬ minently before their eyes every time they enter their parish church, there is comprised a system or rule of life, which, if generally followed, would render earth actually the vestibule of heaven. These laws have become so trite by constant unreflecting repetition, and have been so clouded and obscured by the verbose expositions of commentators, that men seem scarcely ever to view them in their true light, as God’s best and most gracious gift to man, next to the “ unspeak¬ able gift ” of His Son, and the mission of the Holy Ghost. And just in like manner have many other wise and merciful admoni¬ tions of His word been contravened or dis¬ regarded. Selfishness,—the love of this present world,—the love of money,—has pervaded the whole church, as well as the great body of mankind. Who would ever think, now, of its being possible to carry on the affairs of life under such rules, for instance, THE ROOT OF THE EVIL. 47 as that of Lev. xxv. 37.—“ Thou shalt not give thy brother thy money upon usury, nor lend him thy victuals for increase ? ” Or who would suppose it even possible to imitate the jubilee-return of every ori¬ ginal possessor to his own estate, (even in a new colony) without the hazard of general confusion ? But the evil is, that not only have we lost sight of all these gracious provisions ; but that we do not even appreciate or desire them. Man thinks himself wiser than God. Good men, great men, eminent Christians even, gravely look upon a large part of the positive injunc¬ tions of the word of God as erroneous in principle, and “ contrary to a sound political economy.” How many valued preachers, for instance, would be sorely perplexed, if they were called upon to preach an honest and faithful sermon on the text, “ Wo unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth.” For, in truth, selfishness has given a retaining-fee to science, and to that which passes by the name; and so, while the words of infinite 48 THE ROOT OF THE EVIL. wisdom are lightly regarded, men “ lay house to house and field to field,” and “ oppress the hireling in his wages,” and then plead the authority of a Whately or a Malthus, as something infinitely higher than the lessons of the word of God. And this is one reason why the pulpit does not impose a salutary check, and aim at an effective counteraction, of these evils. Sad we are to confess, that to a great extent, and in a variety of ways, the pulpit, in the present day, is either careless of, or even favourably disposed towards, this growing mischief. The usual proportion, perhaps, of Christian writers and preachers, are timid, and if they approach the subject at all, deal only in vague generalities ; while some there are, who, in¬ veigled into the net of a “ science falsely so called,” are actually helping forward divers of the crying evils of the day. The test of their system, and the proof of their guilt, is found in their systematic banishment of the word of God from their whole system of communital economy. As an instance of this erroneous and im¬ perfect way of viewing things, we may quote THE EOOT OF THE EVIL. 49 a few lines from the Patriot ,—the chief dis¬ senting weekly journal,—which in noticing “ The Perils of the Nation,” says, “ The stric¬ tures upon political economy and political economists must, however, beexcepted against: they show only that the writer, in venturing upon these subjects, soon gets out of his depth. Political economy is not more at war with religion, than any other branch of phy¬ sical science; and for the fallacies which have been put forth as doctrines and principles, the only remedy is sounder investigation. In other words, the appeal is not from Malthus, Martineau, and Chalmers, to the Bible, but to sounder principles of economical philosophy.” “The appeal is, not to the Bible, but to sounder principles of economical philosophy ” ! Aye ! but who is to decide which are the “ sounder principles ? ” When a standard of infallible truth and accuracy is put into our hands, is it consistent with common sense to throw it aside, and to “ appeal,” from Smith to Malthus, or from Macculloch to Ricardo ; and so on, ad infinitum ? But was the Bible ever meant to be thus applied to the government of our conduct in i) 50 THE ROOT OF THE EVIL. matters of common life ? If we do not go to the Bible for instruction in geology, or chemistry, or astronomy, why should we imagine that it was intended to teach us the true doctrine in matters of political economy ? In answer to this question we offer two observations:— 1. Let the word of God answer for itself. Is it not obvious to the eyes of even a hoy of twelve years of age, that the Bible does not offer instruction in matters of geology, or chemistry, or astronomy ; and that it does offer instruction in matters of national eco¬ nomy ? If it is obliged to speak, in passing, of visible objects, external to man, such as the sun, the moon, the winds, the bowels of the earth,—it merely names them in the current language of mankind. It does not attempt to teach, on any of these subjects. But in everything which relates to man him¬ self, it is full, accurate, instructive, and com¬ manding. And let our theorists beware how they attempt to shut up, what God has laid open to be read of all men. Continually have we to remark this tendency, even in theolo¬ gians and religious teachers. Continually THE ROOT OF THE EVIL. 51 have we to lament and to blame, the efforts of men to deprive their fellows of a large portion of that “ light to their feet and lamp to their path” which God has given. 2. We aver, that in God’s word, and that throughout its pages,—not in a few places, but in many,—not dubiously, but with the greatest clearness,—there are given doctrines, and reproofs, and instructions in righteousness, for legislators, for statesmen, and for men of wealth and influence ; and that the general tenor of these is directly opposed to what a set of philosophers, “ falsely so called,” of our own times, have conspired to dignify with the name of “Political Economy.” And, ac¬ cordingly, and very naturally, as the Bible and they are at variance, they agree to lay the Bible on the shelf, and to assert, that however neces¬ sary and supreme in its own department,—the concerns of God and the soul,—yet in mere sublunary matters, the management of nations, &c., it is either wholly silent, or speaks with¬ out any Divine authority, or any claim to our respect. And thus it is that the Patriot tells us, that if one school of political economists displeases us, we may go to another, “ but P 2 52 THE BOOT OF THE EVIL. not to the Bible.” And thus it is that one of the best men and ablest divines in all Scot¬ land, can write a treatise on Political Economy, in which scarcely a single reference is found, from the first line to the last,—to the only infal¬ lible source of instruction—the word of God! But if, by really great divines, and eminent teachers of religion, the Bible is thus thrust out of sight, who shall wonder that the con¬ sequences to the nation are of the fearful kind described by Mr. Bosanquet ? In his valua¬ ble work he entitles a chapter. “ There is no faith:” and thus does he prove his assertion:— “ Want of faith is the very characteristic of this generation. Concurrent and consistent with this is a want of charity:—the charity which believeth all thiugs. We have no cha¬ rity, or kindness, or confidence in our recep¬ tion of other people’s assertions and evidence ; but our study is to guard ourselves against deception—to receive as little as we can ; and as much only as is forced upon us by impera¬ tive proof and irresistible conviction. Not that we receive and act upon no more than this :—this is not the fact; since it is impos¬ sible. But that we endeavour after this, and THE ROOT OF THE EVIL. 53 profess it to ourselves, and believe that we act upon it. It is a system of war and defence that we maintain ; and, as in the case of war, our interchange of goods and useful produce is greatly impeded, and to our infinite loss fettered by it and restricted; but nevertheless there is much traffic in contraband goods, which are both smuggled and adulterated. “ But the want of faith is more open and direct than this ; and it is the most obvious and pointed upon religious subjects. The Bible is boldly and practically denied in every particular. No class or body of men believe and obey it. And strange as it may seem, it is by no nation, or people, or churches, or sects of men less implicitly believed and fol¬ lowed, than by those very people and sections of the Church who talk so much about it. There are no persons less obedient to the plain sense and mandates of the written word of God, than those who most speak of and uphold it as the sole authority and standard, and reject all assistance from the history of the Church, and what is spoken against as tradition. Every class of persons reject some portion or other of the sacred Scriptures. If 54 THE ROOT OF THE EVIL. you talk to some of temporal honour and rewards, and the observance of a day of rest, and the patriarchs, they will say, Oh ! that is the Old Testament, and is abrogated. If you speak to others of good works. Oh! they will say, that is only in the Gospels ; and the Epistles carry us much beyond that, and are superior to it. Unitarians, again, receive a bible of their own, that is, just so many pas¬ sages are excluded as ill-suit their own belief and purpose. Others, of numerous sects, dwell each upon some half-dozen chapters, or passages, or phrases, or words of Scripture, of the Epistles especially; and dwell upon them idolatrously and devotedly, to the exclusion of all the rest, so far as the authority of Scrip¬ ture is concerned, from belief and practice. “This is even in the religious world—the thinking and the reasoning world. Let us now turn our observation to the world itself; to the working and practical. “The Bible is denied in every particular. Men do not believe that we are really to be Christians; that we are to imitate our Lord. They do not believe that the world could pos¬ sibly go. on, if all men were to act upon pure THE ROOT OF THE EVIL. 55 Christian motives, and up to a perfect Chris¬ tian ruleif they were to forgive and forget injuries ; if they were not to resent an affront; if they were to give to people because they asked them; if they were to lend money without looking for interest; if we were all to give up luxuries, and style, and costly fur¬ niture and equipage; if we, our cattle and servants, were strictly to observe the day of rest. How many are they among us who believe, that the ‘ tree of knowledge ’ is not an absolute good ? or, that we ought to re¬ ceive the Gospel with the simplicity of little children ? Who believes that we ought to honour our father and mother, and our sove¬ reign?* Who is there that acts up to the pre¬ cept, that we ought not to judge others in their character? How many are there who appear to believe that it is not right to be anxious about the future ; that riches are not a good thing; that the entrance into heaven is easier to the poor man; that slavery is not unfavourable to the knowledge and dis- * Mr. B. must be understood to mean, ‘Who (in the world at large) honours his parents and sovereign as the Bible directs them to be honouredV 56 THE ROOT OF THE EVIL. positions becoming a Christian ; that we ought to return a tenth to God : that it would bring a blessing, to give freely and largely to the poor; that children are a blessing and a gift from the Lord, and that the man is happy who has his quiver full of them ? It is evi¬ dent that in all these points the Bible is dis¬ believed, and is practically denied ; and does not control or guide us in our habits and principles of life and society. “ Still less do we believe that the public measures, the laws and government of the state, and the intercourse with other nations, ought to be, or can be, carried on and con¬ ducted upon Christian principles. What num¬ ber or classes of persons believe that righte¬ ousness exalteth a nation ? that we are pun¬ ished according to the national sins of the people, and for the sins of the rulers ? and that if wicked and irreligious men preside over our councils, we shall as a nation suffer the penalties of it ? for that the conscience of the government is the consci¬ ence of the people, and that our rulers are bound to take the first care for the pure reli¬ gion and morals of the country, and that if THE ROOT OF THE EVIL. 57 they so do, their righteousness will bring down a blessing upon the nation. “ To come again to more direct practice, and to our own habits of life. Who is there who thinks first of what is right, and according to the pattern of Christ, and after the will of God, in what he is about to do ; and not what is wise and expedient? Who seeks first the kingdom of God, and God’s rule of righte¬ ousness, and trusts that all temporal good consequences will follow upon it ? Who is there who thinks and abides only by the rule of what is right and commanded ? We may almost answer in the words of Scripture, ‘ There is none righteous, no, not one.’ Who believes in and trusts to the assistance and suggestions of the Spirit in his designs and undertakings, and believes, and acts and writes and thinks as believing, that the most useful and important and influential sugges¬ tions of our thoughts and invention, come to our mind by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, more than by our own cleverness and exertion and memory; and prays for Divine help upon commencing every task, or writing, or undertaking, accordingly ? Who forbears d 5 58 THE ROOT -OF THE EVIL. strictly, and endeavours to expel at once all thought, and every suggestion of the mind in worldly matters on a Sunday, with confidence and faith that the same and more useful thoughts will be supplied on the succeeding week-days ; and that the unqualified dedica¬ tion and sanctification of the Lord’s day will make the labour of the six days more effectual and fruitful than would be that of the seven ? Who would believe now that a Sabbatical year would not necessarily be impracticable and ruinous ; or thatapopulous country could exist under such a rule ; or that it would not pro¬ duce a debasing and demoralizing idleness ? “To mention a few more subjects, though further examples seem to be almost unneces¬ sary. We no longer believe and obey the precept, to use the rod to the child; for that we shall save his soul by so doing. Now we have discovered and believe that such correc¬ tion is against the dignity of human nature, and is injurious and degrading to the charac¬ ter. The commandment, ‘ Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed,’ is not now respected. We find various reasons and excuses which render it not imperative; THE ROOT OF THE EVIL. 59 and in wholesale political murders in general it is now, as of course, acknowledged that capital punishment ought not to follow, for that enough blood has already been shed. Again, who can bear to believe now, that St. Paul was mean-looking and not eloquent ? Who believes that Solomon was really the wisest man that ever lived, and respects and studies his writings accordingly, more than those of other teachers of prudence and wis¬ dom ? Who believes practically or theoreti¬ cally, that riches, honour, and life, come by the fear of the Lord, and humility ? * That these statements, however needing reservation in some particulars, are substan¬ tially true, must be generally allowed. That the fault committed, in the disregard of God’s own counsel and instruction, is as deplorably foolish, as it is fearfully profane, is equally unquestionable. There is but one sure and unerring standard of truth in the world,—but one code of morals which is unpolluted by immoralityand that is, the book which God has given us for our guide. To cast that *Principia, by S. R. Bosanquet, Esq. pp. 55—00. 60 THE ROOT OF THE EVIL. aside, and either to reject or disregard it, is not more irreligious and atheistic, than it is senseless and irrational. It is most truly and accurately described, in the inspired word itself, as “forsaking the fountain of living waters, to hew out cisterns, broken cisterns, which can hold no water.” This is no mere figure of speech ; it is the plainest and most exact declaration of a fact. And in that de¬ claration we read, most clearly, the remedy as well as the evil. The “ fountain of living waters ” is still accessible : and the course which reason would point out, if the corrupt bias of our own hearts, and the evil inspira¬ tion of the father of lies, would permit us to listen to reason,—would be, to forsake the mere broken vessels of human devising, and to return to that fountain where truth alone, and all truth, is to be discovered and enjoyed. CHAPTER III. GERMINATION AND GROWTH OF THE EVIL. Leaving the only sure guide, the word of God, and resolving to follow their own de¬ vices, it is as infallibly certain that men will go astray, as that a heavy stone, set in mo¬ tion, will roll down a steep descent. It is not a matter of speculation merely, or a sea in which the rudderless vessel may drift either into harbour, or on the rocks. The positive tendency of man’s heart is to wander far from God; and he has also, constantly by his side, an unseen tempter, of vast skill and sagacity, whose sole object is to lead him as far as possible from the one Fountain of Happiness. In these circumstances, the only means of safety being deliberately cast aside, a continual 62 GERMINATION AND GROWTH progress in error and in peril becomes, hu¬ manly speaking, inevitable. If we look steadily into the heart and soul of the modern system, —if we carefully scrutinize the habit of mind and course of thought adopted by the bulk of those among whom we live, and then com¬ pare it with the system inculcated in God’s word, we shall find an opposition between the two, which is fundamental and entire. To labour, for the acquirement of the means of existence, is the lot of man; but the character of the labour described in Scripture, its con¬ templated results, and all its attendant cir¬ cumstances, differ as entirely from the labour preferred in our own day, its results and cir¬ cumstances, as Eden does from Tophet. Man was commanded, on his expulsion from Paradise, “ to till the ground from whence he was taken.” Labour was to be his lot; but it was to be labour which brought him perpetually into contact with his Creator, who was still, notwithstanding his sin,—his con¬ stant Benefactor. Plenty might be his lot, even to great abundance; but it was plenty and abundance which came from God. “ The Lord blessed Abraham greatly, and gave him OF THE EVIL. 63 flocks, and herds, and silver and gold, and men-servants, and maid-servants, and cattle, and asses.” (Gen. xxiv. 35). “ And the Lord blessed Isaac, and the man waxed great; for he had possession of flocks and possession of herds, and great store of servants.” (Gen. xxvi. 14.) And Isaac’s paternal benediction to his son, was, “ God give thee of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine.” (Gen. xxvii. 28.) Of Job it is asked, “ Hast thou not made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side ? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.” (Job i. 10.) Temporal blessing, then, was held to con¬ sist, in those days, of abundance of corn and wine and oil, of flocks and herds, and of all those things which were the visible bounties of God’s hand, and which were, in themselves, the means of diffusing plenty among the people. In modern times, however, all this is changed. In its place that very idolatry which the patriarch disclaimed with horror, of “ making gold his hope, and the fine gold his confidence,” has become almost universal. 64 GERMINATION AND GROWTH “ Gold is the only power which receives universal homage. It is worshipped in all lands without a single temple, and by all classes without a single hypocrite ; and often has it been able to boast of having armies for its priesthood, and hecatombs of human victims for its sacrifices. Where war has slain its thousands, gain has slaughtered its millions; for while the former operates only with the local and fitful terrors of an earthquake, the destructive influence of the latter is universal and unceasing. Indeed, war itself—what has it often been but the art of gain practised on the largest scale? the covetousness of a nation resolved on gain, impatient of delay, and leading on its subjects to deeds of rapine and blood ? Its history is the history of slavery and oppres¬ sion in all ages. For centuries, Africa—one quarter of the globe—has been set apart to supply the monster with victims—thousands at a meal. And at this moment, what a populous and gigantic empire can it boast! The mine, with its unnatural drudgery; the manufactory, with its swarms of squalid misery; the plantation, with its imbrued OF THE EVIL. 65 gangs; and the market and the exchange, with their furrowed and careworn counte¬ nances,—these are only specimens of its more menial offices and subjects. Titles and honours are among its rewards, and thrones at its disposal. Among its counsellors are kings ; and many of the great and mighty of the earth are enrolled among its subjects. Where are the waters not ploughed by its navies ? What imperial element is not yoked to its car ? Philosophy itself is become a mercenary in its pay ; and science, a votary at its shrine, brings all its noblest discoveries as offerings to its feet. What part of the globe’s surface is not rapidly yielding up its last stores of hidden treasure to the spirit of gain? or retains more than a few miles of the unex¬ plored and unvanquished territory? Scorn¬ ing the childish dream of the philosopher’s stone, it aspires to ton the globe itself into gold.”* To quote another, and a most impartial witness,—Mr. Martineau, of Liverpool;— “ The spirit of gain is ascendant over every other passion or pursuit, by which men can be • Mammon, p. 78. 66 GERMINATION AND GROWTH occupied. Neither pleasure, nor art, nor glory, can beguile our people from their profits. War was their madness once; hut the temple of Moloch is deserted, and, morning and even¬ ing, the gates of Mammon are thronged now. “ The excess to which the master-passion is carried, perverts our just and natural esti¬ mate of happiness. It cannot he otherwise when that which is but a means, is elevated into the greatest of ends ; when that which gives command over some physical comforts, becomes the object of intenser desire than all blessings intellectual and moral, and we live to get rich, instead of getting rich that we may live. The mere lapse of years is not life: to eat, and drink, and sleep ; to he ex¬ posed to the darkness and the light; to pace round in the mill of habit, and turn the wheel of wealth; to make reason our book¬ keeper, and turn thought into an implement of trade,—this is not life. “ With a large and, I fear, a predominant class among us, it is scarcely an exaggeration to say, that money ‘measureth all things,’ and is more an object of ambition than any . of the ends to which it affects to be subser- OF THE EVIL. 67 vient. It is the one standard of value, which gives estimation to the vilest things that have it, and leaves in contempt the best that are without it. It is set up as the measure of knowledge —it is the rule by which, almost exclusively, parents compute the worth of their children’s education, and determine its character and extent. Research and specula¬ tion which do not visibly tend to the produc¬ tion of wealth, are regarded as the dignified frivolities of whimsical men. Still worse, money with us is the measure of morality; for those parts and attributes of virtue are in primary esteem which are conducive to worldly aggrandizement; and it is easy to perceive that no others are objects of earnest and hearty ambition. The current ideas of human nature and character are graduated by the same rule, and err on the side, not of generosity, but of prudence. The experienced are habitually anxious to give the young such an estimate of mankind as may prove, not the most true, but the most profitable,—an estimate so depressed into caution as to be altogether below justice. “ With us, money is the measure of all 68 GERMINATION AND GROWTH utility; it is this which constitutes the real though disguised distinction between the Eng¬ lish notions of theory and practice. By an unnatural abuse of terms, ‘ practical men’ do not mean, with us, those who study the bearing of things on human life in its widest comprehension, but those who value anything by its effects on the purse. “ In obedience to the same dominant pas¬ sion, vast numbers spend their term of mortal service in restless and uneasy competition; in childish struggles for a higher place in the roll of opulence or fashion; in jealousies that gnaw into the very heart of luxury; in ambition that spoils the present splendour by the shadow of some new want.” But this worship of wealth is not a mere abstract principle; it manifests itself in most false and corrupting preferences for unfit and unworthy objects and pursuits. We have observed that the cultivation of the soil was not only the original destiny of man, but it was the nearest occupation of which he was capable, to his original employ¬ ment in Paradise itself. His duty there was, . to dress and keep the garden; and when ex- OF THE EVIL. 69 pelled for his offence, he was still permitted to follow the same employment; but the earth was blighted by his sin, and the pleasant oc¬ cupation of his hours of innocence was now changed into a heavy task. Yet still it was an occupation which constantly called him, and often forced him, to look up to God for that which He alone could bestow; and thus there was a blessing in it. Now-a-days, however, not only are men led to prefer other employ¬ ments, but the cultivation of the earth is posi¬ tively decried and contemned, and that by men who profess to be teachers of Christianity ! At a meeting convened by the Anti-Corn- law League, in August last, in the Athenaeum at Portsea, a Rev. Mr. Morris thus spoke:— ‘ Let us aid the benevolent efforts of the League to give developement to our manufac¬ tures and commerce. We have too many proofs that agriculture is a beggarly trade; and we cannot forget that Tyre and Sidon, the greatest and wealthiest cities of antiquity, never raised a bushel of grain, but made poorer nations produce it in exchange for their manufactures.’* * Morning Advertiser, Aug. 2G, 1843. 70 GERMINATION AND GROWTH On what ground does this reverend gentle¬ man propose to us as an example, cities which are only described to us in God’s word as marts of wickedness :—as “harlots,”—as “ committing fornication with all the nations of the earth,” and as calling down special judgments from heaven by their enormous wickedness ? We know that Tyre was rich, indeed ; but who ever told us that Tyre was happy ? If an example of true prosperity were needed, that example should have been found in God’s own commonwealth; when Judah and Israel, without manufactures, or colonies, or com¬ merce, “ were many, as the sand which is by the seain multitude; eating and drinking, and mak¬ ing merry: dwelling safely, every man under his vine and under his fig-tree : ” (1 Kings iv. 20, 25.) knowing nothing of factories, or steam- engines, or of “ premium,” or “ discount.” The pure and simple employment provided and prescribed by God, then, is to be con¬ temned and scorned; and men are to be taught, even by preachers of the Gospel, to look to power-looms and loan-contractors as :he great benefactors of mankind. That which OF THE EVIL. 71 would, if rightly used, give full and ample employment to the whole human race ; and whose very excess, (if it were possible,) could only produce excessive plenty ,—is to be ex¬ changed for the “ self-acting mule” and “ the billy-roller,” and a whole nation is to resolve, no longer to pursue the “ beggarly trade” of growing their own food, but to “ make poorer nations produce it for them ! Supposing it were possible to inoculate the whole population with these ideas, what would be the aspect of society; what the state of the popular mind ? Would it not resemble, but probably overpass, that which has shocked so many English travellers in the cities of our transatlantic sister ; where, we are told, it is impossible to hear two men converse for three minutes in the open street, without the word “ dollar” being introduced ? And the lowering and demoralizing effect of this “haste to be rich,”—this perpetual trafficking, is seen in the regard in which the various virtues and qualities of man are respec¬ tively held,—a talent of acquiring money being, by common consent, placed at the head of all. The following is the view of this state of 72 GERMINATION AND GROWTH public feeling in America, given by the most recent of our travellers :— “ Another prominent feature is the love of ‘ smart’ dealing, which gilds over many a swindle and gross breach of trust; many a defalcation, public and private; and enables many a knave to hold his head up with the best, who well deserves a halter—though it has not been without its retributive operation, for this smartness has done more in a few years to impair the public credit, and to crip¬ ple the public resources, than dull honesty, however rash, could have effected in a century. The merits of a broken speculation, or a bank¬ ruptcy, or of a successful scoundrel, are not guaged by its or his observance of the golden rule, ‘ Do as you would be done by, 5 but are considered with reference to their smart¬ ness. I recollect, on both occasions of our passing that ill-fated Cairo on the Mississippi, remarking on the bad effects such gross de¬ ceits must have when they exploded, in gene¬ rating a want of confidence abroad, and dis¬ couraging foreign investment: but I was given to understand that this was a very smart scheme, by which a deal of money had been OF THE EVIL. 73 made: and that its smartest feature was, that they forgot these things abroad, in a very short time, and speculated again, as freely as ever. The following dialogue I have held a hundred times:—‘ Is it not a very disgrace¬ ful circumstance that such a man as- should be acquiring a large property by the most infamous and odious means, and notwithstanding all the crimes of which he has been guilty, should be tolerated and abetted by your citizens ? He is a public nuisance, is he not ? ’ ‘ Yes, sir.’ ‘ A convicted liar ? ’ ‘ Yes, sir.’ ‘ He has been kicked, and cuffed, and caned ? ’ ‘ Yes, sir.’ ‘ And he is utterly dis¬ honourable, debased, and profligate ? ’ ‘ Yes, sir.’ ‘ In the name of wonder, then, what is his merit ? ’ ‘ Well, sir, he is a smart man.’ ” * But the danger of this eager pursuit of gain, by means of traffic, is not now for the first time perceived. In all ages men of elevated minds have observed, and warned men against this same evil. Thus Aristotle:— “ To get money is the business of the mer¬ chant; with him wealth and money are Dickens’ American Notes, Vol. II. p. 290—292. 74 GERMINATION AND GROWTH synonymous; and to heap up money is in his mind to acquire all worldly advantages. By several economical writers, this opinion of the merchant is treated with contempt, and con¬ sidered as mere dotage. They deride, and rightly, the notion of that being the most sub¬ stantial or only wealth which, to him who should accumulate it in the greatest quantity, would only realize the fable of Midas, and thereby expose him to the danger of perishing with hunger. “ Of such factitious riches, the desire, as Solon said, must necessarily be boundless. ‘ ‘ The merchant, if faithful to his principles, i always employs his money reluctantly for any other purpose than that of augmenting itself. Yet political writers, deceived by an agreement in accidental pursuit and occasional applica¬ tion, confound the endless drudgery of com¬ merce with the salutary duties of economy, and regard the accumulation of wealth as the main business of both. At the name of money, they recal all those deceitful enjoyments of pride and voluptuousness which money is fitted to procure, and in which wishing for ever immoderately to indulge, they cannot fail OF THE EVIL. 75 inordinately to desire that which promises to gratify their inordinate passions. If money is not to be obtained by (honest) traffic, the purpose for which it was first instituted, men thus minded will have recourse, for obtaining it, to other arts and other contrivances ; pros¬ tituting even skill and courage, in this mean and mercenary service. “ But of all modes of accumulation, the worst and most unnatural is usury. This is the utmost corruption of artificial degeneracy, standing in the same relation to commerce, that commerce does to economy. By com¬ merce, money is perverted from the purpose of exchange to that of gain ; still, however, this gain is obtained by the mutual transfer of different objects; hut usury, by transferring merely the same object from one hand to another, generates money from money ; and the interest thus generated, is called ‘ off¬ spring,’ (™«5), as being precisely of the same nature, and of the same specific substance, with that from which it proceeds.” * And thus Cicero, speaking of a certain Aristot. Polit. lib. i. 0, 7. GERMINATION AND GROWTH class of speculators, now unhappily established in all commercial countries, says— “Those who buy up goods from the mer¬ chant that they may immediately sell them again, are base and despicable men ; for they can only make a profit by practising some de¬ ception.”* And, in the middle ages, it is said of the Waldenses, in the thirteenth century, that “ they avoided commerce, that they might be free from falsehood and deceit.”f And of the adherents of Wickliff, that “ they followed no traffic, because it was atttended with so much lying, swearing and cheating.’’^ Not, indeed, that either the ancient philo¬ sopher, or the follower of Christ in the thir¬ teenth century, could imagine, that the mere act of buying or selling had any thing unlaw¬ ful or dangerous in it. What they dreaded, was, the growth of a trafficking spirit; of a sordid, money-making, profit-loving habit of mind, which they saw extensively prevailing on every side, and which they felt to be utterly opposed to the whole spirit of the gospel. * De Offic. lib. i. t Milner Chm-cli Hist. cent. xiii. c, 3. X Ibid. yoI. iv. p. 202, OF THE EVIL. 77 There is something which should furnish matter for serious reflection, in the apparent connection, in our Lord’s mind, between traffic and dishonesty. We have, in two of the evangelists, a narrative of His expulsion of the money-changers and dealers from the temple. He reproaches them, according to one evangelist, with making his Father’s house “ a house of merchandise” : In the other account, the appellation used is, —“ a den of thieves! ” But men love facts now-a-days,—let us, therefore, appeal to facts. There are divers occupations recognized in scripture, as lawful and necessary ones. Of these, the tilling of the earth is the first and chiefest; and in this kind of life were God’s most favoured servants usually placed. The occupation has the manifest advantages of being a healthy one ; —one leading to con¬ templation ;—and one tending to draw the soul upward to God, upon whose gracious providence, success, at every step, so mani¬ festly and absolutely depends. But there are other lawful callings. We hear of “ Luke, the beloved physician: ” of Paul, the tentmaker; of “ Zenas, the lawyer; ” 78 GERMINATION AND GROWTH and of divers other. Men must have clothing, and houses, and medicine, and various other commodities, over and above the bread they eat. And the duty of all men who are not born to an estate, is, “ to work with their own hands ; that they may walk honestly towards those that are without, and that they may have lack of nothing.” (1 Thess. iv. 11, 12.) We will not even say, that those who pro¬ duce nothing by the tillage of the earth, and fabricate nothing by the labour of their hands,—hut devote themselves to traffic,—to buying and selling alone, as a means of live¬ lihood ;—we will not say that there is even the slightest tincture of unlawfulness in their chosen avocation. But we will say, that they have selected the more dangerous class of occupations; and that they will need to seek for special grace to he kept from a trafficking, money-making, money-loving spirit. Look around on every side, and observe the rapid growth of this cancerous spirit. What multitudes are there, whose whole time and thoughts are occupied in bargaining, in a competition of wits, and a skilfulness in dealing with their fellow-men. OF THE EVIL. 79 In one corner we behold a whole body of men eagerly engaged in “ operations,” as they are called, in Spanish, or Brazilian, or Peruvian stock. They are not “ working with their hands.” They are not producing anything, either out of the ground, or by any s kill in handiwork. Nor are they even lend¬ ing the means of employment to others. All they are doing is, to shuffle about certain bits of paper, of various forms and sizes, by which shuffling, as in a game of cards, some will be found, at the end of the month, to have lost, and others to have gained, several thousands of pounds. A leading member of the greatest religious society of the day, returned one afternoon from the city, ate his dinner with unusual relish, and said to a relative, afterwards, “ We will have an extra glass of wine to-day ; —I have made twelve hundred pounds this morning.” Where had he “made” it?— On the Stock Exchange. Two other equally eminent men in ‘ ‘ the religious world ” were commonly reputed to have “ made ” eighty thousand pounds in a single spring, by a joint “operation” in 80 GERMINATION AND GROWTH — stock. There was nothing hut what is usually considered regular, and honourable, in their conduct. They merely succeeded in getting a large quantity of the said-stock at a low price, and in afterwards selling it at a high one. But it is not the less true, that while they thus swelled their already enormous hoards, the poor people who bought the stock of them at this high price, became losers of nearly all the purchase-money. No dividends on the said stock have been paid for years, and many a widow and orphan has pined in hope¬ less poverty ever since. Another professor of religion was known, during a critical period of the stock-market, to be pacing his room at all hours of the night, and constantly availing himself of the candle burning in his bed-room, to put down on scraps of paper certain abstruse calcula¬ tions as to the effect of his “ operations.” A fifth, also an eminent professor, lost his reason under these circumstances, and died in a lunatic asylum. The names of all these five gentlemen could be given with ease, and they would be found to be names well known throughout the religious world. OF THE EVIL. 81 But this is only a single and a limited department. The wider field of general mercantile operations would afford similar cases fay thousands. Take a single instance. A. and B. were two merchants at Liverpool. The one was willing to sell 500 chests of tea which he had in his warehouse ; and the other, B., was willing to buy them. But they could not agree about the price. So A. returned home, a short way out of Liver¬ pool, intending to think no more of tea that day. B. dwelt near him, but remained in town till the evening. Meanwhile the news comes in, of a rupture with China, and of the value of tea having been thereby enhanced £1. per chest. B. thereupon proceeds homewards, and calls in his way at A.’s private residence, sees him, and says, “ I have made up my mind to give your price, and will take the 500 chests.” “ Very well,” says A. “ they are yours.” So B. goes home very com¬ placently, rejoicing in having pocketed £500 by that hour’s work ! This is one instance, out of tens of thousands, of what is con¬ stantly going on. It illustrates the trafficking system,—a system which is rapidly growing E 5 GERMINATION AND GROWTH and extending itself. It consists mainly in a buying and selling, not for legitimate wants, but in the mere effort to get gain by shuffling commodities about, like cards on the gaming¬ table. And a leading danger and vice of the age, is, that this mode of life, this way of getting a livelihood, is now more and more preferred to sober, quiet, honest industry, which performs its proper work, and asks only its proper wages. Turn, in the next place, to the immense field of manufacturing industry. Here, a prodigious amount of lawful and necessary occupation, both for the industry of the work¬ people, and for the skill of their employers, is too often turned into a means of only aug¬ menting the misery of both. A master (we speak of positive facts) will be already possessed of noble factories, an extensive business, great wealth already ac¬ quired, and the fair prospect of a large increase of that wealth. Yet not even this will content him. He goes round his amazing premises, and calculates as he goes, how to save a shilling here, and sixpence there, per day or per hour. “ You have here twelve OF THE EVIL. 83 girls,” he says to his overseer, “ minding ten spindles each : offer ten of them three-pence a week more, to undertake twelve spindles, and we can then get rid of the other two.” Thus by perpetually augmenting the labour of the workpeople, upon a calculation that ten at 4s. 3d. will cost less than twelve at 4s., this adroit manager will arrive at a capability of offering his goods at a farthing a yard lower than all his neighbours; and this farthing a yard, he knows, will give him the command of the market, he being always the cheapest seller. Thus, instead of being content with an ample competency, he grasps at all. Soon a retaliation is attempted, and the constant result is, that whoever gains, the poor labourer is sure to lose, the pressure always settling down upon him; constantly exacting from him more and more labour, and offering him less and less wages. Such, then, is the growing and advancing system of the day. It not only, now, creeps insidiously along, stealing its way into men’s secret chambers, and shrinking from the light of day :—but it often avows itself, and glories in its deeds. It finds even ministers of the Gospel GROWTH OF THE EVIL. ready to come forward, and recommend “ the development of our manufactures and com¬ merce,” and the abandonment of agriculture, as “ a beggarly trade. ” Nay, it has higher advocates than such men as Mr. Morris: “ Men who would formerly have devoted their lives to metaphysical and moral research, are now given up to a more material study;— to the theory of rents, and the philosophy of the market. Morality itself is allowed to em¬ ploy no standard but that of utility; to en¬ force her requirements by no plea but that of expediency: a consideration of profit and loss. Not only does covetousness exist among us, it is honoured, worshipped, deified. It has, without a figure, its priests, its appropriate temples, earthly “ hells; ” its ceremonial; its ever-burning fires ; fed with precious things, which ought to be offered as incense to God ; and, for its sacrifices, “ immortal souls.” * * Mammon , p. 80. CHAPTER IV. THE EVIL IN ITS FRUIT. The law of God, then, which is, in fact, the only guide to well-being and happiness, is cast aside, and regarded, equally by the worldly-minded and the professedly-religious, as something quite irrelevant to the question, when the economy of nations is under dis¬ cussion. .To human authority, and to that alone, we are bidden to confine ourselves. The result is, what might have been antici¬ pated : an all-devouring selfishness seizes the helm, and with a shortsightedness which is thoroughly human, soon throws every thing into disorder. Look where we will, at the present instant, some painful prospect strikes the eye ; and THE EVIL the cause is ever the same,— oppression. To begin with agriculture, the first, the greatest, and which ought to be the happiest of all the main sources of employment for the people. We cannot, in a page or two, bring before the reader the average condition of our whole agricultural population, hut we may offer, as a specimen, the testimony of a country-gentle¬ man, which falls under our notice at the very instant of penning these lines. At a recent meeting of the West Dorset Agricultural Association, the Chairman, Mr. Sheridan, thus described the state of the labouring-classes in his own vicinity. " I do not speak from hearsay, but from my own observation ; I do not say the state of things complained of, exists on the hill but in the valley, and I will not shrink from making it known. I examined into the case mentioned; I went over the parishes I am about to refer to myself, and made the inqui¬ ries, writing down the particulars at the time; I pledge my honour to the correctness of the statements, as I received them ; or I am ready to make oath that I received the accounts from the persons named, and made the notes IN ITS FRUIT. 87 at the time. Mr. Sheridan then read as fol¬ lows, making some few incidental comments as he vrent on :— ‘“Thos. and Anne Everett, Batcombe Parish. —5s. per week (earnings) reduced for a time to 4s. 10s. a year house-rent to pay, no fuel or potatoe-ground allowed; worked during hay-making and harvest-time from 4 a.m. till after 8 o’clock, and never received anything extra. The house belongs to the parish, and is disgracefully out of repair. The woman is 69 years of age, and has had eleven children ; lived in the house more than twenty years, and has never had a penny from the parish. “The water when it rains runs in under the walls of the house, and we are obliged to dig holes in our floor to receive it: when it is very bad I am obliged to sit up at night to bucket out the water, and in the day I have been obliged to litter the floor with straw, to enable eight, nine, or ten children to walk about, the place was in such a “ pucksy.” The clergyman of the parish has seen it, and said it was not jit for his dog to live in. I have asked the parish often to repair the house, the reply has always been, “ If you do not like it you must go to the THE EVIL Union." If I had not had a very hard consti¬ tution I should have been crippled by the damp and wet.’ “ ‘ In the next house I saw a woman of the name of Mathews looking very sick, with a child in her lap ill, and under the care of a medical man, who told me that the poor little thing’s illness proceeded from insufficiency of food. There were three children, the eldest, a fine lad of eighteen, was in the Union, but had leave for the day to see his mother; be¬ fore he went into the Union he had been five weeks out of work; he had been offered 6d. per day, which was not sufficient. “ ‘ The husband had 6s. per week; out of this to pay 3d. per week for house-rent; they had no fuel or potatoe-ground allowed them. “ c The cottage much in the same dilapidated state as Everett’s. “ 1 They had not tasted meat for weeks, the last time they had tasted animal food had been the charity of the medical attendant. “ ‘ Between Batcombe and Hillfield, I en¬ tered a cottage rented by a poor widow woman; she was obliged to pay 1 1. 10s. per annum; she had three children, one a young man IN ITS FRUIT. 89 twenty-one years of age, the two ' girls, one of them just eighteen, remarkably healthy and prepossessing in appearance; melancholy to say, there was only one small bed-room, and in it one small bed, in which mother, son, and two daughters slept. The daughter was sew¬ ing gloves for some young person at Yeovil, at 1 6d. per dozen; she could only complete a dozen in a week. “ ‘Parish of Hillfield.—Thomas and Grace Edwards. —In a wretched room on the ground floor an old woman was lying in bed, she was eighty years of age and had been bed-ridden for years; she had suckled twelve children, and had always paid the house-rent until the last year; nothing could equal her resignation and religious state of mind; she smiled and thanked the surgeon (who was present) for his kindness ; she prayed fervently during the time I was there, and said ‘ His will be done, I am prepared to die, and have nothing on my mind.’ “ ‘ The cottage is in the most disgracefully dilapidated state; the floor is not paved, but of mud in deep holes, and loose stones placed in the holes to fill them up, and make the 90 THE EVIL ground level; the rain comes in through the roof, sides, and under the walls of the house ■ the windows are brolcen, and the walls with holes through in different parts; when the parish has been asked to repair it, the answer has been, ‘ It is not worth it! ’ The old man is eighty-two. He is allowed for himself and his dying wife 5s. per week; i. e. 3s. in money, and three loaves: they had four loaves, but in consequence of the medical man having ordered a little mutton broth for the poor woman, who required it, and was unable to take any thing else, the parish had immediately taken away one loaf. They had no firewood, and no potatoe-ground allowed. “ ‘ An only daughter who had a child, at¬ tended upon the poor old bedridden woman; she supported herself by teaching little chil¬ dren, whose parents pay 2d. for each child. Every thing was done in this one wretched room below ; the old man and his bedridden wife slept there ; the children were taught to read at the foot of the bed, their meals were dressed and eaten there ; the washing of the house was done in this room, while the fumes and steam of the soap and hot water enveloped IN ITS FRUIT. 91 the bed of the old woman paralyzed and un¬ able to move. The daughter slept up stairs with her child; the room was not four feet high, without light except from a hole in the roof, which ivas filled with straw to keep the wind and rain out; the thatch almost touched the bed : no one could possibly stand upright in this wretched place. “ ‘ The daughter had rented this year, 1843, a gourd of land for potatoes, (about fifteen feet square,) for 12s., which is at the rate of 8 1. per acre; if the rent is not paid, the potatoes are kept, and the poor people are deprived of their principal food during the winter.’ “ I will lay before you one case more, which I am sure you will consider as demanding at¬ tention. It is from the evidence of that highly respectable gentleman, Thomas Fox, Esq. soli¬ citor, of Beaminster, which I am about to read from the printed Report I have before named. It runs thus :— “ ‘ Is the want of commodious dwellings one of such circumstances which tend to the demoralization of the labouring population ?— “ ‘ It certainly is. I regret that I cannot take you to the parish of Hook (near here). 92 THE EVIL the whole parish belonging to the Duke of -, occupied by a tenant of the name of Rawlings, where the residences of the labourers are as bad as it is possible you can conceive — many of them ivithout chambers—earth floors— not ceiled or plastered,—and the consequence— is, that the inhabitants are the poorest and worst off in the county by far. ‘ 1 ‘ Are you of opinion that such a want of proper accommodation for sleeping must tend very much to demoralize the families of the labouring population ?—There can be no doubt of it; and the worst of consequences have arisen from it; even betiveen brothers and sisters.’ ” Such, then, is the state of the people in many districts, in what ought to be the hap¬ piest department of industry. If we turn to another kind of occupation, that of Factory- labour, we immediately find a different, hut equally appalling class of evils. Thousands of children, toiling in close and heated rooms, for thirteen, fourteen, or even a greater num¬ ber of hours per diem ;—losing their health, debarred from any useful education, brutalized by the incessant toil, hardened and demora- IN ITS FRUIT. 93 lized by the corrupting associations, and generally becoming victims, either to an early decay, or to systematic profligacy. In all its main features the system remains the same as when twenty-nine clergymen of Aberdeen, in 1832, gave their united testimony in condem¬ nation of it, as “ a system by which children are subjected to labour beyond their strength, in a polluted atmosphere, and for a longer daily period than the adult felon or the West Indian slave : a system which is prejudicial to their morals, inasmuch as religious instruc¬ tion cannot be adequately obtained; to their mental culture, inasmuch as no regular system of education can be pursued ; to their health, inasmuch as constitutional debility and disease are entailed.” * Such is still the general cha¬ racter of a system which prevails among hun¬ dreds of thousands of our British labourers ; and especially among the children of the working-classes. Nor,—though of late a revival of trade has relieved the manufacturing districts from the positive famine which appeared to be impend- * Petition of the Clergy of Aberdeen, May 25, 1832. 94 THE EVIL ing over them a twelvemonth since,—can we venture to imagine that even now there is anything approaching to comfort or happiness in these districts. Here is a brief sketch of the condition of the stocking-manufacturers of Leicestershire, which we find detailed by an eye-witness, in the Morning Chronicle of Dec. 1, 1843. “ Since last November, their wages, (mis¬ erable before) have been reduced thirty-five per cent. They are now earning weekly, ac¬ cording to their masters’ books, (and this ac¬ count is derived from the three principal manufacturers at Hinckley) 6s. 5d. at first hand. Out of this is to he deducted Is. for the rent of the loom, 7d. for sewing the stockings, 4d. for needles and soap for wash¬ ing, 8d. for coals and candles, and Is. 8d. house rent, leaving 2s. 2d. for food, clothing, education, and pleasure—3d. and a fraction per day. In Sept. 1842, I was called from home. I left them working in the stone- yard, the lanes, &c. In Sept. 1843, I visited them again. I found them all at work at their looms, labouring from sixteen to eighteen hours per day, and earning the pittance named IN ITS FRUIT. 95 above. I shall never forget my feelings at my returning, when I first saw my father and bro¬ ther ; they were so altered, haggard, and ragged. Instead of smiling upon them with joy, I could have wept in bitterness of spirit over their faded and emaciated forms. When I entered the houses of former friends, I looked around on the naked and dingy walls, and asked what had become of their furniture. ‘ Oh! ’ said they, ‘ it is gone.’ ‘ We are worse off up stairs than down; we have no beds nor bed-clothes.’ ‘ I do not know how we shall manage this winter; we shall be starved to death.’ ‘ We have nothing but what we stand in, and we have never had a new pair of shoes in our house this four years.’ ‘ What ever we are to do I don’t know.’ In one house I found one child dying of consumption, another covered with abscesses, and the father very ill, yet labouring at his loom. As the woman pointed to the three sufferers, she said, with a sigh, ‘ This has been brought on by want of sufficient food.’ And let it be borne in mind that this misery was not paraded. I should have known nothing of it had I not entered their dwelling.” THE EVIL In a third direction the view is equally dis¬ tressing. A vast number of the labouring classes are employed, neither in the fields, nor in factories, but in the fabrication of various articles at their own homes. Here, however, they are no safer than their brethren in other branches, from the universal pressure now bearing upon the working-classes. Day by day the miseries inflicted on these home- labourers seem to increase. Our newspapers teem with the suicides, robberies, and hor¬ rors of all kinds, which are going on among these poor people; and all chiefly from the same cause,—a pressure downwards, reducing wages, and augmenting labour, and which mainly proceeds from the reckless cupidity of their employers. Take an instance or two of these miseries, as they happened to be brought to light, in our police-offices, in the course of the last few days:— On the 26th of October, there was brought to Lambeth-street police office, “ a wretched- looking woman, named Biddell, with a half- starved infant at her breast, charged with unlawfully pawning several articles of wearing IN ITS FRUIT. 97 apparel which she had been employed to make up for Mr. Moses, a slopseller on Tower Hill. “The prisoner, who wept bitterly, said she had been compelled to pledge part of her work to enable her to go on with the remainder, by providing bread for herself and her two chil¬ dren. In January last her husband had been killed in the docks by a fall, leaving her with a child of two years old, and pregnant of that she now held in her arms. She had since then striven to support herself and her chil¬ dren by needle-work, but the remuneration she received was so wretched, that she had been obliged to pledge some of the things to procure dry bread for herself and her children. For making a pair of trowsers she was paid sevenpence, and out of that sevenpence she had to find the needles and thread to make them. “ A person in court stated, that the poor woman’s lodging was the very picture of wretchedness. It was almost without a ves¬ tige of furniture of any kind, and was quite unfit for the residence of human beings. “This case was scarcely disposed of, when an application was made by a sort of con¬ tractor or middle-woman to a slopseller, for a 98 THE EVIL warrant against a poor woman whom she sus¬ pected of pledging some shirts. The shirts had been given out to be made at five farthings each, and one of the persons employed, had, she believed, pawned some of them.”* These cases concerned what is called “ slop¬ work,” which is notoriously of the lowest and cheapest description. Yet if even as many as six shirts of this description could be made in a day, the whole work of the week would only produce three shillings and ninepence, which must supply, first, the thread, candles, &c., and afterwards lodging, food and clothing; and that, whether the worker were alone, or had children to support! But the next case (for these scenes are now constantly occurring,) was of a poor girl, em¬ ployed to make some “ fine shirts,” for a shop in St. Paul’s Church-yard, and guilty, as in the former cases, of pawning the mate¬ rials to get a little dry bread. This poor girl was to have had sixpence for making each of these “ fine shirts,” the fabrication of which is usually the work of a day. Times, Oct. 26 , 1843 . IN ITS FRUIT. 99 These cases probably come more frequently before the public than others, because the materials are intrusted to the workwoman, and hunger forces them to the pawnbrokers. But we may reasonably surmise, by these instances, what is going on in other trades. If a woman could earn 6s. or 7s. by one kind of work, she would not take up another which only produced 3s. or 4s. We cannot see um¬ brellas ticketed in various shops at half-a- crown each, tooth-brushes at twopence-half- penny, —envelopes at one shilling the thousand, and gloves at ninepence, or even sevenpence the pair, without being morally certain that the poor creatures employed to prepare these things must of necessity live a life of half¬ starvation. But of whom are we speaking ? Not of a few solitary beings, one here and another there; but of tens of thousands of women, many of them the fallen daughters of afflu¬ ence, swarming in all the crowded hives of pauperism, inthe back lanes andpoorer suburbs of this rich and luxurious metropolis ! The incumbent of one of the new churches in Bethnal Green, thus describes the state of F 2 100 THE EVIL the poor by whom he is surrounded, in the Times newspaper of Dec. 2, 1843. “ The district of St. Philip’s, Bethnal Green, contains 1400 houses, inhabited by 2925 families, comprising altogether a population of about 12,000. Now, the space in which this large amount of people are living is less than 400 yards square, and it is no uncom¬ mon thing for a man and his wife, with four or five children, and sometimes the grand¬ father or grandmother, to be found living in a room from 10 to 12 feet square, and which serves them for eating, working, and sleep¬ ing in.” “ If we really desire to find out the most destitute and most deserving, we must visit the poor at their dwellings—we must lift the latch of their doors, and find them at their scanty meal; we must see them when suffer¬ ing from sickness and want of work ; and if we do this from day to day in such a neigh¬ bourhood as Bethnal Green, we shall become acquainted with a mass of wretchedness and misery such as a nation like our own ought to be ashamed to permit. I never witnessed such a thorough prostration of the poor as I have seen since I have been in Bethnal Green, IN ITS FRUIT. 101 I will venture to say there is not one father of a family in ten throughout my entire district that possesses any other clothes than his work¬ ing-dress, and that too commonly of the most tattered description; and with many this wretched clothing forms their only covering at night, with nothing better than a bag of straw or shavings to lie upon. I dare say I shall be told that this misery and dis¬ tress have been brought about by the mis¬ conduct of the poor themselves, and that they are a drunken and improvident race. That there is much to be lamented in the habits of the poor, I cannot but admit; but that drun¬ kenness prevails amongst them I do most con¬ fidently deny ; or at any rate it is kept effectu¬ ally out of sight, for I believe I have not seen half-a-dozen drunken men since I have been in Bethnal Green—a period now of eighteen months. But this I can affirm that I have seen—namely, some who have been reduced to the depths of poverty and distress, hearing their privations with resignation and even cheerfulness, and though having nothing, yet contented as though possessing all things.” Whether we turn, therefore, to agriculture, 102 THE EVIL to manufactures, or to trade, we find the prospect equally saddening. Nor is there any thought of a remedy, except indeed, the panacea of “ cheap bread,”—as if the reduc¬ tion of the four pound loaf from 7d. (its present price) to 6d., would make any mate¬ rial difference to the poor wretch who scarcely earns 6d. a-day by her sewing, and who stands in need of a fire to warm her, a blanket to cover her, and clothes to keep her from perishing with cold. The natural and inevitable results of this state of things are fraught with innumerable dangers to the whole realm. In the first place, it creates an amount of reasonable and well-founded discontent which cannot easily be estimated. This feeling may find few opportunities of expressing itself, and thus many persons may be left in the most entire ignorance of its existence. But all who have taken any trouble to become acquainted with the feelings of the working- classes, are well aware, that at the present moment, England is one mass of smouldering disloyalty. Omitting a few sections, to which the pressure has not yet reached,—the clerks, IN ITS FRUIT. 103 and good mechanics, and servants in many different capacities, whose salaries and wages have suffered but little diminution,—omitting these, there is, among the remaining sections, little else than an undissembled sentiment of hatred to all above them. The sovereign, the aristocracy, the church,—in fact, all possess¬ ing, or appearing to possess, wealth, help to furnish fuel for the flame; which, if some con¬ venient occasion, and a fit leader, were to ap - pear, would consume, it may be feared, almost the whole of the established system of society. This, in itself, is a fearful evil, but it has an attendant mischief which is even more deplorable: namely, that this state of mind closes, almost hermetically, the heart against all religious impressions. There can scarcely be imagined a more successful device for keep¬ ing the people in Satan’s power, than this general feeling of hatred, bitterness, and rebellious wrath. But, lastly, there is yet one further considera¬ tion, of a more awful character still. Namely, that the displeasure of God most undoubtedly rests upon any nation, wherein the poor are systematically trodden down and oppressed. 104 THE EVIL Of the most emphatic assertions of this truth, the Scriptures are full. “ Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.” James v. 4. “ The cry of the poor cometh unto Him, and He heareth the cry of the afflicted.” (Job xxxiv, 28.) “ The poor committeth himself unto Thee : Thou art the helper of the father¬ less.” (Psalm x. 14.) “ For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord.” (Psalm xii. 5.) “ The Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and the right of the poor.” (Psalm cxl. 12.) But the word of God is full of similar declarations, and he must be most wilfully and criminally blind, who does not see, that there is in holy scripture, a spirit as far apart from that of modern political economy, in these matters, as the command “ Be fruitful, and multiply,” is, from “ the preventive check.” Hence, any legislator or statesman who believes that “thereis a God that judgeth IN ITS FRUIT. 105 the earth,” and that the Bible is the declara¬ tion of His will, must live, in the view of the facts which we have cited, in the constant and well-grounded apprehension, that if our sins are not speedily “ broken off by righteousness, and our iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor," it must be the most blameable temerity to indulge the hope, that we can much longer escape the righteous judgment of Him who is “ THE AVENGER OF THE OPPRESSED.” CHAPTER V. REMEDIES : I.—RETURN TO SCRIPTURAL PRINCIPLES. It probably will be admitted, that in the rapid glance we have been able to take, of the evils which surround us on every side, we have discovered quite enough to make the enquiry deeply interesting,—What are the remedies which appear applicable to so alarming a con¬ dition of society ? To this enquiry, therefore, we purpose to devote the remainder of the present volume, and may God in his mercy grant, to both writer and reader, “ to have a right judgment in all things,” to be “under¬ standing what the will of the Lord is ; ” and also to be single-minded, and firm in the re¬ solution, when that will is ascertained, to hetukn to scriptural principles. 107 follow it at all hazard, and whithersoever it may lead. Our first remedy, then,—or rather, the very root and parent-stock of all effectual remedies, must be the exaltation of God’s word to its rightful place of authority in all human affairs. From this it has been too long cast down. The most opposite and conflicting parties have agreed in this one practical falsehood. In the high places of the realm, in the houses of legisla¬ tion, even a man of Mr. Wilberforce’s peculiar personal influence, could scarcely venture an allusion to God’s own word without danger of personal insult. On all sides, “ they snuffed at it; ” and the customary feeling of the house was, “Who is the Lord, that we should obey him ? ” Still worse, however, was it, to find a similar spirit, though less indecorous in its manifesta¬ tion, becoming apparent in the church itself. Learned men, men of talent, ordained ministers of the churches of England and Scotland, (Mal- thus, Chalmers, and others) wrote large hooks on the state of the country, the wants of the people, and the duties of the legislature, in which the whole of the lessons of God’s word 108 REMEDIES : on these subjects were quietly cast aside. In fact, instead of basing everything upon those lessons, they scarcely condescended so much as to allude to them. If we had to compare the open contempt of the mere politicians, and the placid disregard of the self-satisfied philo¬ sophers, we should certainly consider the first to be the least criminal of the two. A third exhibition, however, and if possi¬ ble, a still more shocking one, of this forget¬ fulness of God, must still be adverted to. We mean, that of a great number of high professors of gospel-principles ; but who, like the worldly politician, or the political economist, could see nothing in the Bible but a system of theology,—a solution of the question of “ How shall man be justified before God?” Imbibing, (theoretically at least) sound views on this question, and rejecting the false doc¬ trine of salvation by works, too many stopped short here; and either refused to search the Bi¬ ble for anything further, or asserted that they could find nothing else there. Too many such have infested the visible Church of late; earnest maintainers of orthodoxy of doctrine, but in the factory or the counting-house, return to scriptural principles. 109 scarcely distinguishable from the avowed adhe¬ rents to worldly maxims and worldly practices. By three very different classes of characters, then,—the politician, the philosopher, and the worldly-minded religious professor, the Bible has been thrust out of sight, as a manual for the government of families, societies, and kingdoms, and regarded as merely a guide to heaven, and as having very little bearing upon the things of this sublunary earth. Hence our first step, if any solid improvement is to be effected,—must be, to exalt It to its rightful pre-eminence, as the manifestation of the highest beneficence, and the most perfect wis¬ dom, on every subject on which it had been permitted to speak. When a member of either house of Parlia¬ ment rises to announce that he has a message to communicate from the sovereign, there is a general hush, and call for attention. Hats are taken off, seats are instantly resumed, and a general still of expectation and manifestation of respect takes place. It might be too much to ask, that whenever any individual member thought it right to appeal to the word of God, a similar outward exhibition of res- 110 REMEDIES : pect should be given : Yet, on the other hand there is something quite irrational, and very revolting also, in this profound respect paid to a communication from an earthly mon¬ arch, when contrasted with the indifference or scarcely concealed dislike with which the injunctions of the King of Kings are often received. In the second class of cases, our appeal must be to the whole reading public. Of them we ask merely the same reasonable and just decision which was manifested by a distinguished naval officer, when he had waded through a volume on Political Eco¬ nomy by a celebrated author, in which the chief part of all the woes of the country were traced to one cause,—“surplus population.” “ This cannot be true 1 ’’—was his indignant reply to the friend who had lent him the volume, “ for does not the Bible declare that ‘in the multitude of people is the king’s honour ; but in the want of people is the de¬ struction of the prince ? ’ ” A very foolish reply, doubtless, in the esti¬ mation of the “ economist,” but “ the foolish¬ ness of God is wiser than men.” There can return to scriptural principles. Ill be no hope of a solid amendment among us, until we learn this first step to knowledge; namely, always to believe, -without doubting, whatever God has explicitly declared. The third class are the least hopeful of the three ; yet, wherever the truths which are pro¬ fessedly embraced, are really felt and valued, all that is needful is a faithful call to the Christian to study and to believe the whole word of God. And this call should often be heard from the pulpit. We do not desiderate a larger pro¬ portion of practical preaching than is now customary; but we should be glad if that practical preaching were deeper and fuller in its character than it often now is. Exhorta¬ tions against light and trifling conversation ; against sensual gratifications; against vanity and dissipation, are important and valuable, but these form but a part of this branch of truth. “ These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.” “ Is not this thefast thatl have chosen ? saith the Lord;—To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke ? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor 112 REMEDIES: that are cast out to thy house ? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh.” Isaiah lviii. 6, 7. We claim then, and we advance the claim, as at the root of all solid remedies for the country’s wants and miseries,—we claim entire and absolute au¬ thority for the whole of God’s word, ; and that, not merely in affairs between the individual man and his future Judge; but in the govern¬ ment of families and states ; in short, in the regulation of every matter which bears upon the condition of man. Hence we maintain, and that in the most un¬ qualified manner, and as the first step to any amendment, that where a plain and distinct principle is enunciated in that one only book which we know to have been written by in¬ spiration of God,—there all speculation and reasoning should at once be laid aside, and the dictate of infallible truth be admitted without hesitation, as a principle established and placed beyond appeal. We grapple at once with the objection,— “ What! are we to lay aside the Copernican system, because the Bible tells us that “ the RETURN TO SCRIPTURAL PRINCIPLES. 113 sun ariseth, goeth down, &c; ”—while we know, all the while, that it is the earth, and not the sun, that moves ? ” The answer is obvious. The Bible describes things of sense, and of ordinary occurrence, in the common language of mankind. We have learned, it is true, for several centuries past, that the sun does not go round the earth, but the earth round the sun. Yet, with all this knowledge, what do we always write and print, in our almanacks, calendars, and even books of geography and astronomy ? Is not our language ever this ;—“ Sun rises at, &c.” “ Sun sets, &c ? ” And if any pedant chose to be more accurate, and to make a calendar which should speak with pre¬ cision, and say, “ Earth turns this part of her surface to the sun at, &c.” would he not be universally ridiculed as a coxcomb? The argument, then, that the Scriptures, on some points of philosophy, do not always speak with strict accuracy ; and therefore are not to be regarded in matters of political economy, is worth nothing. We hold up to view a plain scripture like this,—“ Woe unto them that lay house to house, and field to field, till 114 REMEDIES : there be no place,”—or this, “ The strength of the king is in the multitude of his people; ” and we tell the economists that they preach the figments of “ the expediency of large farms,” and “ the miseries of a surplus popu¬ lation,” at their own heavy responsibility, and most serious peril! We shall not, then, escape from our present predicament of alarm and danger, till sound— that is, till scriptural, —principles, begin to be generally acknowledged. To give a few in¬ stances :— ’ There is now generally prevalent, a wish to force the poor back upon their own resources, —to make them independent,—to raise them above pauperism, &c., all which may be very desirable and necessary,—but the obvious mo¬ tive for which is, in general, in order thereby to escape their importunities. Such is the gene¬ ral tenor of Miss Martineau’s and Mrs. Mar- cet’s writings; in which those writers, evidently putting a force upon their own natural feelings, even go the length of denouncing Dispensa¬ ries, Lying-in Hospitals, Almshouses for the aged, and the distribution of coals and blankets RETURN to scriptural principles. 115 in winter! * and the former puts into the mouth of a benevolent manufacturer, the sentiment, that all that the higher classes can do for the lower, is, to increase the capital on which they, the lower, are to subsist!—i. e., to increase their own wealth, in the belief that in so doing, they are doing “ all they can do,” effectually, for the poor! -j~ But how different is the tone and general tenor of the wisest national code ever pro¬ pounded? Never was there a system so effective, in the outset, for the exclusion of pauperism, as that prescribed by God himself by the mouth of Moses. The whole land shared among the people ;—a provision made for the return of each family to their own original allotment each fiftieth year ;—a prohibition of taking interest for loans made in the meantime ; all was contrived to keep, as much as might be, everything like pauperism at the greatest possible distance. But, after all this has been done, what is the temper of mind with which poverty is viewed ? Is it that of impatience, and discontent? Nay, * Cousin Marshall , by H. Martineau, pp. 35, 37,42, 117. t Manchester Strike, by H. Martineau, p. 101. 116 REMEDIES : but as far as possible from any such feeling! “ The poor,” the Israelites are told, “shall never cease out of the land,” —and the duty grounded on this assurance is, “ Therefore, I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open time hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor and thy needy in thy land.” “ Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not he grieved when thou givest him ; because that for this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto.” Has this been the kind of spirit which has been manifested towards the poor, in British legislation, of late years ? Is there anything in the general working of the New Poor Law at all resembling the spirit which dictated these warm and kindhearted injunctions of Moses ? Again,—we must get rid of the notion, so abhorrent to the whole tenor of God’s word, —that what is called “ a superabundant po¬ pulation,” is an evil. This is a mere dream or chimera, but it is one of the most mischievous description. The word of God entirely agrees with the whole series of known facts, in ascribing strength return to scriptural principles. 117 and prosperity,—not the reverse,—to great populousness. The period of the greatest prosperity ever enjoyed by any nation, was that of the reign of Solomon, when the land of Israel evidently swarmed with people, being probably five times as populous as England at this moment, and all “ eating and drinking and making merry.” Butso has it ever been, in inferior degrees, but still in proportion, with other nations, in other times. The most populous have been ever the most happy. Another scriptural principle which sadly needs recalling to mind, is one which must be pressed more upon individuals, than on the whole community. He who “ spake as never man spake,” declared that “ a man’s life con¬ sisted! not in the abundance of the things which he possessed!.” But the great mass of mankind, and even many professing Christians, declare mostplainly, by the whole tenor of their lives, that they are certain that tf a man’s life does consist in the abundance of the things that he possesses.” Again and again, in the plainest and strongest language, often placing salva¬ tion itself on the issue, did our Lord warn his disciples against covetousness, or the de- 118 REMEDIES : sire of accumulation. Again and again did he describe the possession of riches as bring¬ ing the soul into great and fearful danger. Yet what multitudes are there at this moment, who sedulously attend God’s house on the Sabbath, and even take a prominent rank in religious affairs throughout the week,—whose lives and conversation declare too plainly to admit of any mistake, that they prefer wealth, even with the peril of eternal perdition, to a mere sufficiency without wealth’s peculiar temptations. The most happy and the most useful, doubtless, must be those who can look up with sincerity and say, “ Give me neither poverty nor riches: feed me with food con¬ venient for me.” It is chiefly among these that we find agents for every good work. And how lamentable the change, when Satan singles out one of these, perhaps previously leading a life of calm content and usefulness, and holds up to him the prospect of wealth, and splendour, and rank, and renown. How eager grows the man who previously was pacing his way with even step ! How feverish his pulse, how intent his gaze! He is caught RETURN to scriptural principles. 119 in the snare ; and nothing but Divine power can rescue him from the fearful danger. But we are at present considering national, rather than individual, perils. And we have a right to name this as one of those perils. For were the possessors of wealth throughout the land to do their duty, the subject of the present discussion would wholly vanish. And we are inclined to believe, that the deficiency in right motives and in right practice, in regard to the poor, is perceptible less among those who are wealthy by descent, than among those who are eagerly pursuing the acquisition. The love of money is stronger, and the eager pursuit after it more absorbing, in those who are only rising to its possession, than in those who have always been wealthy, and who scarcely seek or contemplate any addition to their possessions. The absurd and slavish worship of wealth, and of the individuals possessing it, is another vice of the day which needs a powerful check. But it more especially belongs to our sub¬ ject, to speak of the false view taken of poverty and wealth in the Legislature. This is manifested both in the general tenor 120 REMEDIES : of the matters which obtain the regard and attention of Parliament; and in the spirit and temper exhibited whenever the respective claims of the rich and the poor come under discussion. If we turn to the general tenor of the enact¬ ments of Moses, (Levit. xxv. Deut. xv.) we find their main object to be, the protection of the poor; and that, not against violence, but against the exactions and oppressions of the rich. This ought, in fact, to be ever a chief business with all Christian legislators. The poor are weak, because they are poor,—the rich are strong, because they are rich. Wealth will buy flatterers, to blind their eyes to their own faults and deficiencies. It will buy ‘ po¬ litical economists,’ to talk learnedly of the duty of accumulation, and to insist upon it that f all that the rich can do for the poor, is, to do their best to increase their own capital.’ It will buy friends,—men in power, who will ascend the magisterial bench, and decide that twenty shillings is a sufficient penalty for working hundreds of poor children to a cruel extent, in absolute defiance of the provisions of the law. It is because wealth is thus return to scriptural principles. 121 armed at all points, and is ever encroaching on the rights of the poor, that a principal business of all legislation ought to be, to watch such encroachments, and to be ever ready to place fresh barriers in the way of the trespassers. But what has generally been the course of legislation among us ? Take up the account of the bills passed in a session, and what is their ordinary tenor ? Is it not, to indulge wealth with a hundred new ways of augment¬ ing itself? Is it not, to render legal all manner of new schemes, in each of which profit is the chief or the sole object? Remark which appears to be the chief affair of the session. Upon which bill did the committees of the two houses sit, perhaps for forty, or for sixty days, each ? Oh ! it was a railroad bill, concerning which two bodies of schemers were contending; the object being to get the earliest possession of ‘ a good line.’ In this scuffle a large proportion of the members might without difficulty be induced to take a part. But, when the infinitely more important bill for diminishing the horrors of the coal-pits had passed the Lower House, its noble promoter was kept in anxious suspense for days and 122 REMEDIES : almost for weeks, before even a single member of the Upper House could be prevailed upon to give himself the least trouble about the matter! Now one would naturally expect the very opposite of this to be the case. One would be ready to suppose, that a body of noblemen, or of gentlemen, assembled, professedly not to seek their own interests, but the general wel¬ fare of the country, would estimate each matter as it came before them, chiefly by its bearing upon the great mass of the community. Hence, when a proposition involving a whole class, such as all the factory-labourers, or all the agri¬ cultural labourers, or all the miners, was sub¬ mitted to Parliament, we might expect to find the benches crowded; while, on the other hand, we might feel little wonder, on another occasion, to meet the members thronging out of the House, exclaiming, “Oh! it’s only a railroad-bill! ” But what is the lamentable fact ? Exactly the reverse of this reasonable; anticipation. On that railroad-bill, which you so despise, between three and four hun¬ dred members have been gathered together to vote; while, when, three hours after, a ques¬ tion concerning the happiness of three hun- return to scriptural principles. 123 dred thousand labourers with their wives and children, is brought forward, it is with the greatest difficulty that forty members can be kept together ! * But not in inertness or indifference, merely, does this preference for the interests of wealth over the interests of poverty, shew itself. Occasionally the two will come into collision, and the result need hardly be predicated. Nearly a dozen years have now passed away, since an urgent case was laid before Parliament, requiring immediate interference in the pro¬ tection of the children in our factories. But, while tens of thousands of little sufferers prayed for relief, a few scores of wealthy men exerted their influence to prevent the government and the parliament from inter¬ fering with their unhallowed gains. Each one of these possessed more power in White¬ hall and St. Stephen’s, than a whole myriad of the oppressed infants. And thus, whether the government was Whig or Tory, they * It is a well-known fact, that one of Lord Ashley’s most important motions was brought forward by sufferance; there not being, at any one period of the discussion, so many as thirty members in the house. 124 REMEDIES: carried their point, and succeeded in at least putting off, from year to year, all effectual legislation. The like course would have been equally successful in defeating justice in the case of the Mines and Collieries’ bill, had not the hurst of popular indignation which fol¬ lowed the exhibition of the atrocities of the coal-pits, carried the measure forward with such rapidity and effect, that to stop it became at last an impossible thing. But in restoring the word of God to its rightful supremacy, it is one main point to place it in its true light, as the beneficent and gracious guide and rule of life vouchsafed to us ;—not as a system of arbitrary laws, to be obeyed from constraint and from fear. Kind¬ ness and benevolence breathe throughout the whole. The law of the Sabbath—what is it but the most wise and merciful provision? Men perversely fight against it, and treat it as a hard and severe requirement: And, in fol¬ lowing their own devices, the Romillys and Castlereaghs overtax their own mental powers, and end by finally dethroning reason, and so sacrificing all. Meanwhile, the millions, in equal disbelief that a day of rest (not of plea- return to scriptural principles. 125 sure-hunting) is a blessing, waste strength, and health, and money, in Sunday gambols, and so embitter and impoverish the whole week that follows. And the same might be shewn in fifty other cases. “Vain man would be wise,” and often fancies that he can fabricate a more convenient system than that which God has given. But in every instance the change is immeasurably for the worse. The Romanists profane the Sabbath; occupying it with grand mass in the morning, and the opera in the evening; but they supplement it by a long list of “ saints’ days.” Thus the Lord’s day is turned into a day for Satan;—and of the six days which God hath commanded to be de¬ voted to labour, a large number are rendered days of idleness. In both instances the alter¬ ation is as contrary to reason and utility, as it is to sound piety and a faithful obedience. Where, too, but in God’s word could such a beautiful picture be found, of a rich man rightly fulfilling his functions, as we have in the portrait of Job ? But, although all will admit the lustre of the character, when do we meet with one who even aims at emulating it ?— 1 126 REMEDIES : “ When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave wit¬ ness to me : Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him. The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me; and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy. I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame, I was a father to the poor; and the cause which I knew not I searched out. And I brake the jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth.”* “If I despised the cause of my man-ser¬ vant, or of my maid-servant, when they con¬ tended with me ; what then shall I do when God riseth up ? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him ? Did not he that made me in the womb make him ? and did not one fashion us in the womb ? If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail; or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless have not eaten thereof; ”—“ if I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without cover- * Job xxix. 11—13, 15-17. RETURN TO SCRIPTURAL PRINCIPLES. 127 ing; if his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep ; if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate ; then let mine arm fall from my shoul¬ der-blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone. For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure. If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence ; if I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much” ;—“ this also were an iniquity, for I should have denied the God that is above.”* But if this should appear to some “an eastern hyperbole,” we have a later, and even a plainer, and a more universal rule, in one of St. Paul’s espistles. “ Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus; who, being in the form of God, and, in fact, equal with God, yet made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of * Job xxxi. 13—17, 19—25, 29. 128 REMEDIES. a servant, and was made in the likeness of men : and finally humbled himself to death, even the death of the cross.” For those who had nothing wherewith to recompense Him,— for those who were far off, and alien to God, and to all goodness, He thus condescended; and, then adds the Apostle, “Let this same mind he in you.” If it were, even in those few, out of the whole community, who openly profess to aim at following His footsteps,— how different a place would this world soon become! CHAPTER VI. REMEDIES : II.—ORGANIZATION—CHURCH-EXTENSION—EDUCATION. The descent, from lofty principle to low de¬ tails, will often appear extreme. Yet we feel that it is at this point of the argument that we are compelled to speak of a matter which is entirely one of detail. We allude to the lamentable want of an adjusted Organization of the people. It is wonderful, how entirely official duties and party contentions can ba¬ nish from the minds of legislators and states¬ men, all perception of a need, which when made matter of consideration, strikes one with surprise that it should have been so long neglected. In every department except that of popular self-government, its necessity is 130 REMEDIES: instantly admitted. When the business of the courts of law or equity becomes overwhelm¬ ing, new courts are at once established, and subdivisions and allotments of the labour take place. In the army and navy all is systema¬ tic. A regiment is not allowed to enlist three or four thousand men, while only officered for one thousand ; an army must have its just proportions, of infantry, cavalry, and artil¬ lery. It is only in the far more important matters of social government, that things are listlessly allowed to run into confusion; and mobs in one place, and nests of jobbers in another, usurp the functions which ought to be exercised by properly-constituted societies of responsible men. This is a matter which may seem of minor import, but it is mistakenly so regarded. It is impossible to bring right prin¬ ciples into play, until the machinery fitted to their development, is prepared and set in order. What an anomaly, for instance—what a distortion of the character of a parish priest, is it, to place a single clergyman, and often stinted to an income of £100 or £150 per annum, over what is called a parish, but which contains 20,000 people ! ORGANIZATION. 131 Again, it is distressing to behold, in an¬ other case, all the affairs of a large district controlled by a mob. If anything requires to be done, a public meeting is called, which from the great number of persons entitled to attend it, must be held in the body of the church. Here all kinds of ribaldry pass current, all manner of uproar goes on ; and the deci¬ sions obtained are, for the most part, as might reasonably be expected, at the very antipodes of common sense. Meanwhile, other districts are left, under some depopulating causes, till perhaps only a remnant of the inhabitants remain. And here, for want of a “ public voice,” all is tyranny, or peculation, or private jobbing. And what necessity is there for all this ? Is the remedy so difficult to discover, or so hard to apply ? Might not a Board, properly empow¬ ered, (whether a new one, or one of those already in existence,) easily subdivide large parishes, or unite small ones, without any serious hin¬ drance from minor difficulties. Until this is done we must expect to have masses of the people untouched by their pastors, and sinking daily lower in discontent and vice. Nor will 132 REMEDIES : the mere permission or power to subdivide parishes in certain cases, be sufficient. The necessity is greater. We want the evil removed at once, and that effectually. At this instant we behold the control of the two most wealthy and populous parishes in the whole metropolis, —Marylebone and Pancras,—left absolutely in the hands of Radicals and enemies of the Church. And this arises solely from their immense size. Divide each of them into thirty parishes, as they ought to be divided, and in the greater portion sound and wholesome principles would prevail. But, at the present moment, we find the managers of both these parishes constantly at war with their pastors ! While in one of them it has recently been shown, that the poor women in the workhouse are forced to make shirts for the slopsellers, re¬ ceiving as their payment, (whatever the parish authorities may receive,) nothing more than one farthing per shirt! Parochial subdivision, then, or rather, a reorganization of the people, we place first in order, because only through that do we arrive at efficient means of Church Extension and National Education. The minister of a parish CHURCH EXTENSION. 133 of 2000 or 3000 souls may know something of his people, individually; but what person can profess, or even hope for, the least personal knowledge of the population of such parishes as Shoreditch or Spitalfields ? All this, however, relates only to the means, and the end remains to be considered. We must make and keep clear the necessary chan¬ nels first, when our object is to irrigate the meadow. The water may he the main essen¬ tial in a canal; but before we can make use of water, the bed of the canal must be excavated and prepared, and the necessary locks estab¬ lished in their places. We may, indeed, establish a school for a thousand children in Spitalfields or in South¬ wark; but if it be not a parish school,—if it he merely a great place open to all comers, no one knowing whence the children come, or whither they go,—we have but a vast spelling- factory after all, and little more than the name of “ education” can belong to such a place. Divide the whole kingdom into parishes of proper size—none exceeding 2000 or 3000 in population, and the first step is really and rightly taken. Church Extension then 134 REMEDIES : comes in, in its just and proper place, and with its lawful and unanswerable demand. “ Here are so many hundred or thousand new pa¬ rishes, in each of which there is no church, and no school.” We should know at a glance the real state of the case, and the whole cost of supplying the deficiency. The minister who would thus grapple with the question, even if he went no further than to ascertain and exhibit the want, would deserve the gratitude of his country. The allotting the fitting share of population to the churches already existing, and the form¬ ing the destitute districts into new parishes, unfurnished with either church or school, would, of course, soon lead to some effort to supply the want thus brought to light. Whe¬ ther the means now developing, within the Church itself, for furnishing the requisite funds for all this Church Extension, can reach to the full extent of the need, it might be premature to assert. We only say, there¬ fore, that whatever deficiency shall continue to exist, after the dormant funds of the church shall have been realized, and applied to this purpose, ought to be immediately EDUCATION. 135 supplied out of the public purse. The objec¬ tions of dissenters, and men of no creed, to this demand, have been so often refuted, that we cannot bring ourselves, at this moment, to waste any further time upon them. We shall merely quote a passage from a recent dissenting review of “ The Perils of the Na¬ tion,” which places the matter in a clear light: “ Nothing is plainer than that the advocates of ‘ Church extension’ are the consistent men. If government should become the religious instructor of the nation, it should become the religious instructor of all the nation: if it should find religious accommoda¬ tion for the people, it should find enough of it : if there should be any establishment of Christianity, there should be one co-extensive with the wants of the entire community.”* Education opens a .wider field for discus¬ sion. We must say something, both as to its quantity and its quality. There is, at present, a deficiency in both of these particulars. And first, of the extent of the Public Schools provided for the children of the poor. That Congregational Magazine, Jail. 1844, p. 56. 136 REMEDIES : these are fearfully deficient in number and capa¬ city is unhappily too fully proved. Speaking in general language, and describing only the broad outline, it may be said, that we are constantly leaving one million of the children of our poor to grow up in total ignorance. To what extent the efforts now making, both by the Church and the dissenters, will dimi¬ nish this alarming deficiency, cannot be accu¬ rately estimated beforehand. The mere raising and expending £200,000 or £300,000 on the erection of new schools, will go but a small way towards meeting and removing the evil. The subscriptions now raising are chiefly for the establishment of schools. But it is far more easy to establish a school, than to maintain it. No parish of a proper size— i. e. from 2000 to 3000 inhabitants, can be considered to be appropriately provided, until it possesses a schoolmaster for boys, a schoolmistress for girls, and a third teacher, (master or mistress) for infants. These three instructors, with books, &c., will need an annual outlay of £200 a year. How many parishes of 2000 or 3000 people are there, in which it is easy to raise, by voluntary subscriptions, &c., this EDUCATION. 137 £200 a year ? How many are there, wherein even £100 per annum could be regularly obtained ? And this difficulty makes us recur to the examples of the very different countries of Prussia and the United States of America. One of these is under a despotic government; the other, under a democratic. But both agree,—as well as almost all countries except England ,—that to have the children of the poor properly educated, is a national affair; and not to be left to the hap-hazard of a voluntary effort. Prussia, therefore, esta¬ blishes schools, and calls upon all children to attend them. America, less absolute, merely empowers her parishes or counties to assess themselves, and by such assessment to esta¬ blish and maintain public schools. Both agree that the thing must he done, and both go about it in the way most congenial to their institutions, and their prejudices. In England, however, we take neither course ; but, as far as the legislature or the government is con¬ cerned, we leave the matter wholly neglected; and if the poor are educated at all, it is by the benevolence of the higher and middle classes. 138 REMEDIES I The last session of Parliament showed one danger arising out of this long neglect namely, that now people have been so long accustomed to this state of sin and danger, that they see less peril in its continuance, than in the violation of any one of their favourite notions. Ask a Dissenter to consent that all the children of the poor shall be brought to school, and taught to repeat the Church Catechism ;—and he instantly fires up at the mention of the Church, and is ready to declare rather, that these one million of poor children shall continue in ignorance for ever, than that they shall he taught the lessons which the Prayer-Book furnishes ? Ask the Churchman, then, to agree to establish schools on such a basis as that all Christian people might send their children to them ; and he is equally resolved, on his part, that if the children may not be taught the Church Cate¬ chism, they may go without education, as far as he is concerned. And the Government, perplexed and mortified at this lamentable contention, not unnaturally throws up the question, and resolves to content itself for the future with aiding, where it can, without at- EDUCATION. 139 tempting again to originate, any general plan of Education. But, however natural this conclusion may be, it is not the less deplorable. For, as we have already said, although £200,000 or £300,000 may be raised without difficulty, and four or five hundred new schools erected in the most destitute spots, still this will neither meet the exigencies of the case, nor will it ensure the efficient maintenance of these schools, when built, in the absence of any endowment. The great question still remains unsettled,—the lamentable deficiency unsup¬ plied. Men quarrel about the means, and in their quarrel, the end is overlooked and lost. Perhaps, after the recent excitement, it may be too soon to propose any new or middle course. Otherwise we should be inclined to ask, why power should not be given to any and all of our parishes, in which a decided majority of the people are ready to establish schools by parochial assessment,—to do so, if it shall be made to appear, that at least three- fourths in number and in value are desirous of taking such a course ? Would the remain- 140 REMEDIES ! ing parishes, split and divided by internal dis¬ sensions between Church and Dissent, come forward to oppose such a plan, and unblush- ingly say, “ No ! as we cannot agree among ourselves as to plans of education, you , who can, shall be prevented from doing as you wish, on account of our differences. We will neither come to any agreement ourselves, nor permit any others to do so ” ? We must next pass on to another, and a most important branch of the question. Not the quantity, merely, but the quality, also, of our National Education, is lamentably deficient. Of this fact, however unwelcome, no doubt can exist on the mind of those who have paid any close and practical attention to it. And this is not a local failure, but one almost uni¬ versally prevalent. Of one of our chief ma¬ nufacturing towns, an eminent Government Inspector (the Hon. and Rev. B. W. Noel) re¬ ports, that in the first classes of the schools he visited, he received such answers as these:— “ Q. Who was the eldest son of Adam ?— A. Abraham. “ Q. What is a Levite?—A. Gethsemane. “ Q. Who wrote the Bible ?—A. Moses. EDUCATION. 141 “ Q. Who were the Pharisees.—A. Publi¬ cans. “ Q. What was the chief city of the Ro¬ mans?—A. Jerusalem. “ Q. What is Liverpool ?—A. An island. “ Q. What city did Jesus live in?—A. Egypt. “ Q. What country was Nazareth in ?—A. Bethlehem. “ Q. Of what religion was Paul before he was a Christian ?—A. A Roman Catholic. “ Q. What other countries are there in Eu¬ rope besides England ?—A. America, Asia.” While, of the state of instruction in a totally different district, not twenty miles from the metropolis, and within sight of the royal palace of Windsor, the following ac¬ count is given by an excellent clergyman who resides in the district:— “ During the last winter, I collected to¬ gether some of the lads of my district, em¬ ployed in various farming occupations, for the purpose of giving them some evening instruc¬ tion. I succeeded in prevailing upon between twenty and thirty of these youths to come to me two evenings in each week. Of the whole f EDUCATION. 143 sort of instruction usually afforded in our pa¬ rochial schools, I must confess I was not fully prepared for the amount of ignorance, both as it regards mind and manners, which these poor fellows displayed ; nor can any one -who has not made some such an experiment, be fully alive to all the difficulties with which it is at¬ tended. My object being to give them such instruction as, while calculated to interest and amuse them, would have some relation to their avocations and circumstances ; and also, by directing their attention to surrounding objects, to awaken and enlarge their perceptive faculties—I adopted, as most suitable, Cham¬ bers’ excellent little work, ‘ The Rudiments of Knowledge,’ for my most advanced pupils ; and the c Second Book of Reading,’ in his ‘ Educational course,’ for the remainder ; questioning each boy as we proceeded with the lesson, upon the subject and meaning of the different words or passages. Never having been taught, however, to connect the mechan¬ ical process of reading, with the intellectual process of comprehending what is read, they seemed utterly incapable—even after re¬ peatedly going over the same ground—of 144 REMEDIES : catching so much of the author’s meaning as to be able to give any correct account of it. Thus, after having several times read the in¬ troductory chapter, in which the difference in the nature and properties of the various objects by which we are surrounded are very simply and intelligibly explained, I could not draw from my pupils any answers to satisfy me that they had formed in their own minds any definite notion of what the difference con¬ sisted in. Animate and inanimate—vegetable and mineral—biped and quadruped, &c. &c. being so confounded together in their undis¬ ciplined powers of recollection, that it was more the result of a lucky guess than any thing else, when a question relating to the one class did not receive a reply which related to the other. Such being the case, even in the upper class, it may easily be supposed that in the inferior one matters were of a corresponding character. As each pupil spelt any word, I generally asked its meaning, and ludicrous enough were the replies I obtained. On one or two occasions some degree of shrewdness was exhibited ; as for instance-—upon one of the hoys spelling the word free, I asked him EDUCATION. 145 what the word meant ; when, after many un¬ successful attempts through the class, one lad gravely answered, ( When a man aint mar¬ ried, sir.’ Again, on the word/rei occurring, and the meaning having been asked, another lad replied, ‘ When a cow loses her calf she frets a’ter it.’ Our labours, however, were not frequently brightened with such gleams of intelligence. The far greater proportion of the answers received, whether on secular or sacred topics, were obviously indicative of that perplexed jumbling together of sounds and things, which must ever be the case when memory alone has been exercised in elemen¬ tary instruction. As for example. Q. What is it to renounce a thing ? A. To speak out: (the word confounded with pronounce.) Q. How many sacraments are there ? A. Ten (confounded with commandments;) while in questioning upon the sacraments themselves, according to our Church Catechism, the same confusion was apparent from the answers re¬ ceived : e-g. How many sacraments are there ? A. Two, the outward and visible sign, and the inward and spiritual grace. Q. How many parts are there in a sacrament ? A. Two 146 REMEDIES : only, as generally necessary to salvation, &c. or, The body and blood of Christ; the num¬ ber only being recollected, just as the ques¬ tion, ‘ Who were the two men who came to Lot ? ’ was said to be answered—at an exam¬ ination of the Central School—‘ Sodom and Gomorrah.’ “ I have introduced these details with the hope of convincing those well-meaning, but, as I think, mistaken individuals, who would limit the education of the poor to reading the Bible and repeating the Catechism—of the utter impracticability of rendering them, by a process so meagre and uninteresting, qualified to comprehend their responsibilities, or dis¬ charge their duties, as Christians or as church¬ men. Inspired truths may thereby be leant verbally, but not understood mentally: a power to read the Bible may be thereby ac¬ quired—but certainly not a power to search into its sacred contents, so as to gather from them just, and influential views of their moral and religious obligations, their true interests for Time and Eternity. To cram them me- moriter with texts, however impressive, and forms, however excellent, without any syste- EDUCATION. 147 matic endeavours so to train and develope their mental powers—to induce such habits of observation and inquiry, discrimination and comparison, as may dispose and qualify them to weigh and to comprehend, in their exalted nature and eternal import, the matters and truths embodied in those texts or forms, and thus turn them into materials for reflection, motives of action, safeguards against error, and landmarks of truth and righteousness— is surely like surrounding a blind man with objects of sight, which he is not capable of appreciating; it is as unwise as to supply an uninformed person with a quantity of drugs, and think him qualified for medical practice ; and it is just because in the vast majority of even our Church schools this skeleton-educa¬ tion has almost exclusively been pursued, that they have accomplished so little as yet—com¬ paratively speaking—in diminishing the pre¬ valence of ignorance in knowledge and sectarianism in religion. “ The question is not, whether any other books are needed by the poor than the Bible and the Prayer-book: for even if this point were conceded, the question still remains, how 148 REMEDIES : are they to be brought to comprehend, to appreciate, and to profit by these ? And to this question, it appears to me, there can be hut one reasonable answer; we must cany out the analogy between natural and scholastic husbandry; and as in the former case, any prudent husbandman will first acquaint him¬ self with the nature of the soil upon which he has to operate—so in the intellectual and moral cultivation of the rising generation, all our plans and processes should be framed and carried on with constant reference not only to desired results, but to the constitution and circumstances of the minds from which those results are looked for. We must, in the latter case as well as the former, bestow our chief pains and anxiety, not in overloading the ground with seeds, for the purpose of a forced and immediate produce, but in increasing its qualities of productiveness. In other words, we must endeavour to develope and improve the faculties of the mind, and not content our¬ selves with scattering the seeds of instruction upon them, as they may chance to develope themselves. A more intellectual education is, therefore, necessary, even to make a religious EDUCATION. 149 education effectual. That some measure of acquaintance with the grammar and etymology of the English language, which will enable a child to read with interest any English book; —and without which, even supposing he has a taste for reading, he can seldom do more than catch the drift of the author’s meaning, and more often perhaps quite mistakes it—is surely indispensable, in order to a due com¬ prehension even of the words and sentences by which the mind and will of God are re¬ vealed to man in the Bible, or the wants and supplications of man are expressed to God in the Prayer-book. “ It is true, that when the principles of vital godliness are effectually infused into the minds of the young, they will generally have the effect of elevating them intellectually— they have indeed this effect upon the most illiterate and uneducated ; but when this end is not gained, as alas, it too seldom is, the ten¬ dency of the exclusive system, upon which our National Schools have been hitherto conducted, is to contract rather than to expand the in¬ tellect. The very medium by which know¬ ledge is to be acquired, becomes in that case, 150 REMEDIES : identified with subjects for which the natural distaste has in all probability been strength¬ ened ; and when the irksome process is over, and the school is finally quitted for the various occupations of humble life, it is, I fear, in a large majority of instances, without having the tone and character of the mind—the intellects —so improved as to be able to turn to any practical use the facts and lessons in which they have been drilled; but rather with a con¬ firmed hardness of the understanding, (like soil impoverished by a repetition of the same crops,) which is actually prejudicial to any subsequent intellectual progress. “ In such views I was much confirmed by the experiment in my own district, of which I have already given an account. I am aware that many persons may think that the experi¬ ment was made under some extraordinary circumstances—that the extent of the igno¬ rance thereby detected was owing to some causes of a personal or local, rather than a general kind—that either my pupils were unusually deficient in mental faculties, or else that the schools in which they had been in¬ structed were much below the average state of EDUCATION. 151 efficiency. I may safely say that neither was the case : our schools, however defective, are not more so than the common run of such institutions; indeed one of them was re¬ turned by the inspector, to the diocesan board, as among the best schools in Surrey, and the master of it has confessed to me his con¬ viction of the defectiveness of the system, to which he is in great measure confined. It is my firm belief that there are few agricultural parishes in the kingdom where the same expe¬ riment would not he followed by similar results. We must not, however, omit to state, that with the same readiness which the Govern¬ ment showed, last year, to endeavour to meet the case established by Lord Ashley, and to supply the deficiency in quantity ,—they have also taken various steps, within the last year or two, to improve the quality also, of our National education for the children of the poor. While, however, we give them credit for good intentions and laudable endeavours, yet here, * Rev. T. Page’s Letter to Lord Ashley, pp. 46—52. 152 REMEDIES : also, as in the former case, they appear to have formed inadequate conceptions, and not properly to understand the real state of the case. The measures taken are good in them¬ selves, but very far indeed below the real necessities of the case. Classes are formed, at Exeter Hall, to teach the London artisans music and drawing; and the masters of our national schools are carried further in history, geography, and astronomy, than a few years hack would have been thought necessary. All this is unobjectionable, and may in divers cases lead on a clever scholar some steps in the path to future eminence. But these smat¬ terings of science will do little for the myriads whose pathway lies through the valley of life, and whose daily labour must find them daily bread. A higher and larger view of the real drift and object of education must be gained, or we do but train up instruments for the tempter and the destroyer. “ ‘ Education,’ says M. Cousin, ‘ if not based on religious tuition, is worse than use¬ less ; ’ and every day’s experience is adding additional confirmation to the eternal truth. The Almighty has decreed that man shall not, EDUCATION. 153 with impunity, forget his Maker, and that no amount of intellectual cultivation—no degree of skill in the mechanical arts—not all the splendours of riches or the triumphs of civi¬ lization, shall compensate for the want or neglect of this fundamental condition of hu¬ man happiness. The proofs of this great truth are overwhelming, universal ; they crowd in from all quarters, and the only difficulty is to select from the mass of impor¬ tant evidence that which bears most materially upon the question at issue.” “There can be no mistake so great as to imagine that, if a human being is taught to read, and then turned into the world with every book, good, bad, or indifferent, equally within his reach, he will naturally betake himself to the good works and shun the bad.” * “ Every person who has observed the con¬ dition of the middling and working classes of society of late years, must have noticed in them, and more particularly in the most intel¬ ligent and intellectual of their number, a dis- Alison on Population, Vol, II. p. 292. 306. 154 REMEDIES : satisfaction with their situation—a feverish restlessness, and desire for change—an anxiety to get out of the sphere of physical and into that of intellectual labour—and an incessant craving after immediate enjoyment, either of the fancy or the senses. This is the natural consequence of the extension of the means of reading to the mass of the people, without any attention to their moral discipline or reli¬ gious improvement. They are accustomed, by the books they read, to alluring, and very often* exaggerated, descriptions of the enjoy¬ ments arising from wealth, rank, and power. They become, in consequence, discontented with their own situation, and desirous, by any means, to elevate themselves into that magic circle of which they have heard so much. In the sober paths of honest industry they see no prospect of speedily obtaining the object of their desires. They are prompted, therefore to change their line of life, in hopes of ame¬ liorating their condition, and more rapidly elevating themselves to the ranks of their superiors. Disappointment awaits them equally in the new line as the old ; they become bank¬ rupt and desperate, and terminate their career EDUCATION. 155 by penal transportation, voluntary exile, or swelling the ranks of the seditious and dis¬ affected.”* “ Scotland is the great example to which the advocates of secular education constantly point, as illustrating the effect of intellectual cultivation upon the character of mankind; and boundless have been the eulogiums pro¬ nounced upon the moral virtues, steady cha¬ racter, and provident habits of that once held the most intellectual portion of the European population. Doubtless, as long as Scotland was an agricultural or pastoral country, and education was based upon religion—when the school-house stood beside the church, and both trained up the same population, who afterwards were to repose in the neighbouring church¬ yard, Scotland teas a virtuous country, audits population deservedly stood high in the scale of European morality. But since manufac¬ tures have overspread its great towns, and a population has grown up in certain places— educated, indeed, but without the means of religious instruction, and almost totally desti- Alison on Population, Vol. II. p. 309, 310. 156 REMEDIES : tute of religious principle—the character of the nation, in this respect, has entirely changed; and it is a melancholy fact, that the progress of crime has been more rapid in that part of the British dominions, during the last thirty years, than in any other state in Europe. It appears from the evidence laid before the Combination Committee, last session of par¬ liament, that the progress of felonies and serious crimes in Glasgow, during the last sixteen years, has been, beyond all precedent, alarming, the population having, during that period, advanced about seventy per cent., while serious crime has increased five hun¬ dred per cent. Crime over the whole coun¬ try is advancing at a very rapid rate, and far beyond the increase of the population. In England, the committals which, in 1813, were 7164, had risen in 1837 to 23,612—that is to say, they had tripled in twenty-four years. This advance will probably be considered by most persons as sufficiently alarming in the neighbouring kingdom, but it is small, com¬ pared to the progress made by Scotland during the same period, where serious crimes have advanced from 89 in 1805, to 3418 in 1838; EDUCATION. 157 being an increase in four-and-thirty years, of more than thirty-fold.* “ Scotland is the country to which the supporters of Intellectual Education uniformly refer in confirmation of their favourite tenets in regard to the influence of education on public virtue. It affords, however, to those who really know it, not the slightest counte¬ nance to their principles, but the strongest confirmation of those which have now been advanced. Scotland as she was, and still is, in her rural and pastoral districts—and Scot¬ land as she is, in her great towns and manu¬ facturing counties, are as opposite as light and darkness. Would you behold Scotland as she was—enter the country cottage of the as yet untainted rural labourer; you will see a frugal, industrious, and contented family, with few luxuries, but fewer wants—bound together by the strongest bonds of social affection, fearing God, and scrupulous in the discharge of every moral and religious duty ; you will see the young at the village school, under the shadow of the neighbouring church, Alison on Population, Vol. II. p. 316, 317. 158 REMEDIES : inhaling with their first breath the principles of devotion, and preparing to follow the sim¬ ple innocent life, of their forefathers, who repose in the neighbouring churchyard ; you will see the middle-aged toiling with ceaseless industry, to enable them to fulfil the engage¬ ment contracted by the broken sixpence, or maintain the family with which Providence has blest their union ; you will see the grey- haired seated in the arm-chair of old age, surrounded by their children and their grand¬ children, reading the Bible every evening to their assembled descendants, and every Sunday night joining with them in the song of praise. Such was, and, in many places, still is, Scot¬ land under the Church, the Schoolmaster, and the Bible. “ Would you behold Scotland as she now is in the manufacturing districts, under the modern system, which is to supersede those antiquated prejudices ? Enter the dark and dirty change-houses, where twelve or fourteen mechanics, with pale visages and wan cheeks, are assembled on Saturday evening, to read the journals, discuss the prospects of their trades’ unions, and enliven a joyless existence, EDUCATION. 159 by singing, intoxication, and sensuality ;— Listen to the projects sometimes formed for throwing vitriol into the eyes of one ob¬ noxious operative, or intimidating by threats other peaceable and industrious citizens;— hearken to the gross and licentious conversa¬ tion—the coarse and revolting projects which are canvassed-—the licentious songs which are sung, the depraved tales told, the obscene books often read in these dens of iniquity— follow them on, as they wander all night from change-house to change-house, associat¬ ing with all the abandoned females they meet on the streets at these untimely hours, drink¬ ing a half-mutchkin here, a bottle of porter there, two gills at a third station, and indulg¬ ing, without scruple, in presence of each other, in all the desires consequent on such stimulants and such society. Observe them continuing this scence of debauchery through all Sunday and Sunday night, and returning to their work, pale, dirty, unwashed, and discontented, on Mon¬ day or Tuesday morning, having been two nights out of bed, absent from their families, and spending almost all their earnings in profligacy, happy if they have not been worked 160 REMEDIES : up at the close of this long train of de¬ bauchery, to engage in some highway-robbery or housebreaking, which consigns many of them to exile or the scaffold. Such is Scotland under the schoolmaster, the jour¬ nalist, and the distiller; and, grievous as the picture is, those practically acquainted with the habits of many of our manufacturers will not deem it overcharged.”* Such is the appalling but quite unanswera¬ ble evidence given by one of the first men in Scotland. An English writer of great ex¬ perience arrives at the same results. “ The national schoolsf have taught their scholars immorality; hence the demoralization of the rising generation. The very calling together so many low-born children daily, without some plan being first laid down for a moral guardianship over them, justifies the assertion, that they are taught immorality, and I will add (for I know it) crime, at these establishments. There is nothing of a mental nature performed in them : a hundred boys at * Alison on Population, Vol. II. p. 321—323. t Under this term he evidently includes all the public schools for the children of the poor. EDUCATION. one time are taught to bawl out L-o-n—Ion —d-o-n—don, London, with a fewmore words, which leads them in the end to learn just enough of reading to enable them to peruse a twopenny life of Turpin, or Jonathan Wild ; proceeding to the lives of the bandits in regular course : when, with this, and they have taught each other such matter as they all gather from their honest and virtuous parents, their edu¬ cation is completed, they being fully qualified to figure on the pave as pick-pockets. It needed not inspiration, nor prophetic powers, to see that the Lancasterian schools must necessarily become participes criminis in dis¬ organizing the relations of society : the very locale of the plan does it.” Again—“ From the national schools, I never yet met with a lad who had the least notion of any self-ex¬ ercise of the mind. A good and rigid system of moral education is the more needed for the children of the poor, as the habits of their parents are generally opposed to good exam¬ ple. At an early age they are carried to a public-house, filled with low company; swear¬ ing and drunkenness is always before them; no habits of frugality are taught them ; and 162 REMEDIES I when money is obtained, luxuries and drink swallow up all in one day, reckless of to¬ morrow. Often without any home but the tap-room, or, if a home, no fire or parent to share it with them till the middle of the night, who, returning in a state of intoxication, only increases their misery, and further vitiates their morals. Such is the condition of nine- tenths of the national school-boys. Poverty compels the labourer to perform that duty which is essential to the well-being of the whole nation. Poverty, therefore, is not the evil, but indigence and debasement which leads to crime. In the Lancasterian schools, not the slightest effort is made to excite or ex¬ ercise the mind; not one moral axiom is in¬ culcated ; no precepts of principle are instilled into the mind ; all is mere rote and mechanism ; their scholars offer to the world the most ex¬ traordinary collection of tyros in crime ever seen or heard of in the history of it.”* The progress of crime in these kingdoms during the last twenty years, has been ap¬ palling. The committals in England in 1820, Old Bailey Experience, p. 47. EDUCATION. 163 were 13,710, in 1842 they were 31,309. In Scotland they were, in 1820, 1486 ; in 1842, 3884. And during all these years the greatest efforts were making to increase the means of education, and of intellectual improvement for the working-classes. Besides the National Schools, of whose imperfections we have already spoken, divers efforts have been made by the advocates of what is called “ useful knowledge,” to give to the poor a “ non-sec¬ tarian education.” But “ experience has now proved that the mere education of the poorer classes, without any care of their religious principles, has had no sensible effect in coun¬ teracting the influence of these demoralizing circumstances, or preventing, by the exten¬ sion of knowledge and mental resources, the growth of human depravity. This is demon¬ strated as clearly as that two and two make four: happy if it could be safely said that the influence of such merely scientific education has only been negative, and that it has not posi¬ tively added to the sum-total of general wickedness. “ It is not surprising that such has been 164 REMEDIES I the result. The whole system has been built upon a wrong foundation. “ The chief object of the advocates of phi¬ losophic education has been, to extend the intellectual powers and scientific knowledge of the labouring classes. It is for this reason that they have made such extraordinary efforts to increase the means of acquiring such infor¬ mation. Everywhere Labourers’ Institutes, Mechanics’ Reading-rooms, Penny Magazines, Penny Cyclopaedias, Education Societies, Lec¬ tures on Natural Philosophy, Astronomy made Easy, Treatises on Political Economy, and every sort of institution and composition have been established with benevolent ardour, to give full development to the intellectual powers and reasoning faculties of the lower orders, and enable them all to understand Bacon, Newton, and Adam Smith. That these efforts were philanthropic is true ; that they were natural to men of studious and learned habits, who judged of others by themselves, may be conceded ; but that they were founded upon a total misconception of human nature, must be evident to every one practically or theoretically acquainted with EDUCATION. 165 the human mind, and that they have totally failed, is now placed beyond dispute hy the result.” * Mere instruction in grammar, then, or in geography, or in science generally, is not education. The whole scheme of the “ Use¬ ful Knowledge ” Society has proved an utter failure, so far as it has been relied on as a grand idea for the regeneration of the people. Nor must we imagine, on the other hand, that all is placed on a right footing, and the main object attained, so soon as we have gained the victory over the dissenters, and ruled, that there shall be no national schools in which the Church Catechism is not taught. Neither the most careful inculcation of “ use¬ ful knowledge,” nor the most perfect drilling in the Church Catechism, will effect any ma¬ terial improvement in the character of the children; or save them, if their “ education ” stops here, from becoming merely the more ready adepts in vice, and the more useful in¬ struments in the hands of the tempter. We are aware, as we have already said, that * Alison on Population , Yol. II. p. 329, 338. 166 REMEDIES : this subject is receiving, daily, more and more attention at the hands of those in authority, But nothing even approaching to an adequate plan has yet been drawn out. The new in¬ structions at Exeter Hall, in music, drawing &c., will do little. The improvements of the National Society, in church music, scripture history, and kindred matters, still fall short of the grand object,— the gaining access to the hearts of the children, and so forming their characters. To attain this great point, would be an object worthy of any cost, any pains, any hazard, to either the Government, or the Church. As one step, externally, to such a scheme, we must again claim to have our parishes so divided, that neither the boys,’ the girls ’ or the infants’ school, which are re¬ quisite in each, shall contain more than one hundred scholars. Then, and only then, may we hope to have each child known, and fol¬ lowed, and recognized, and cared for; and their hearts engaged, and some of their souls saved, and most of their characters perma¬ nently ameliorated. The general results, then, which may be deduced from the foregoing rapid and ne- EDUCATION. 167 cessarily imperfect consideration of this branch of the subject, are these: That, for the safety and well-being of the whole community, it is absolutely necessary that its Parochial Organization be frequently reviewed ; and placed from time to time, in a correct and efficient condition : That if, by such re-organization, districts are brought to light which are destitute of the means of Instruction, Mental, Moral, or Religious,—it is the duty of the Legislature and Executive to take immediate measures for the supply of such deficiency : That a mere learning to read is not Educa¬ tion ; but is only conferring a power more likely to be used for evil purposes than for good: That a bare passage through certain Scrip¬ ture Lessons, or through the Church Cate¬ chism, is not a religious Education ; nor can such teaching be expected to exert any benefi¬ cial influence on the bulk of the children sub¬ mitted to it: That it should be the endeavour of the Government, by calling in the counsel of the best teachers of youth that the kingdom can 168 REMEDIES. furnish, to devise some system, thoroughly Christian, by which the children of the poor may he efficiently educated, in the true sense of the word ; and thus fitted to become useful members of society: And, lastly, that such a system, when de¬ vised, should he made, as soon and as exten¬ sively as possible, an Institution of the State; in such sort, as that all parishes, willing to avail themselves of it, might do so, by a vote of public vestry, with all the efficiency derived from an authorized local assessment. CHAPTER VII. REMEDIES: III.—TIIE LIGHTENING OF. THE LABOUR-MARKET. Many well-meaning persons, incensed at the process which they perceive to be everywhere going on,—of depressing the wages of labour, first, by over-production, creating large stocks; then, by lowering prices, and also lowering wages ;—and at last by opposing the power of capital, which can afford to lie unemployed for a period, to the strike of the workmen, which is soon terminated by the want of bread,—many well-disposed persons, we say, exasperated at what they perceive to be every where going on, are ready to call out for a legislative interference in the regulation of 170 REMEDIES : A very brief consideration, however, given to the subject, must satisfy, we apprehend, any reflecting mind, that in the present arti¬ ficial state of society in this country, any such scheme must prove utterly impracticable. To bind the employers and employed in a small village, where one or two hundred workmen of a single class would be the only parties to be protected, might indeed, for a time, at least, be possible. But, in all the endless ramifications and subdivisions of trade and manufactures, which now exist, the attempt would utterly fail, even ab initio ; for never would it be possible, even to frame a wages tariff, by which to regulate the price of labour. But a very different, and far simpler mode of operation is sufficiently obvious ; and one which would be as certainly efficacious, as it would be easy of application. The political economists assure us, and with truth, that the price of labour is regulated, like that of all other saleable commodities, by the state of the market; for that, if more hands press to be hired, than there are looms and spades requiring them, it will inevitably fol- lightening of the LABOUR-MARKET. 171 low that the employer will be able to fix his own price, and that a low one ;—whereas, if there be fewer hands in the market than are wanted, those hands will be able, in all pro¬ bability, to obtain an advance of wages. That there is an apparent surplus of labour in England at the present moment, is quite undeniable. Indeed, the excess of unemployed hands appears at some periods to be very great. A most important question, therefore, immediately presents itself,—From what cause does this surplus accrue ? The favorite, but most fallacious, answer of the economists, is ,—“ from a too rapid growth of population.” The constant cry of the Maccullochs and Martineaus is, that the poor have married too improvidently, and increased in numbers too fast; and, in con¬ sistency with this averment, they allege as the main and almost only remedy, what they strangely call “Moral restraint; ” by which they mean, an abstinence from marriage, on the part of all those among the poor who do not see a competent provision for a family clearly before them ;—i. e., in short, on the part of the bulk of our labouring population! 172 REMEDIES : To prove that we are not libelling these writers, we will adduce a few passages from some of the most eminent among them, whose main effort seems to have been, to throw the whole blame of a “ surplus population ” on the poor themselves; and thus to represent them as the authors of their own miseries. We begin with Mr. John Ramsay M'Cul- loch, who in his remarkable evidence before a Parliamentary Committee in the year 1825, advised, “ The introduction into parish-schools, of books teaching the plan and elementary principles about population and wages: ” so as to teach the children “ that their condition de¬ pended upon the wages they could earn ; and that those wages depended upon the propor¬ tion which their numbers bore to the numbers that were in demand, to be employed.” And thus, by “ explaining to the children of the poor the principles which determine the extent to which they shall be able to command the comforts and necessaries of life,” to ‘‘remove habits of improvidence with respect to early marriages.” Next, we open the work of another ora- lightening of the labour-market. 173 cle of the same party, Mrs. Marcet, who puts this sort of reasoning into her village Solon’s mouth: “ John then went on to show that if the labourers took care to have small families, (!) they would gain another and a still greater ad¬ vantage: not only would they have fewer children to clothe and feed, and therefore their money would go farther, but also their wages would necessarily be higher. The rich, instead of having too many workmen, would have too few. His wife thought that this would not mend matters, for that the fewer the labourers, the more work would each have to do. But John replied very properly, ' Nay, nay, we are not slaves, and cannot be forced to work more than we are willing. Now,’ continued he, ‘ if we were fewer in number, the rich would be looking out for workmen, instead of workmen looking out for employers, as is the case now. And if there was a want of hands instead of a want of work, those who wanted work to be done would be ready enough to pay higher wages. We might say to our employers, ‘ If you do not choose to give us a better price for our labour, we 174 REMEDIES : will go elsewhere to others who will.’ But if any of us were to say that now, when there are so many all wanting employment, we should starve in idleness, for others would consent to work at the low prices which we had refused.” Again, on a supposition of a reduction of labourers, and consequent advance of wages: “ ‘ Then,’ said his wife, returning to her favourite subject, ‘ when the labouring people were so well off, they might marry young, for they could afford to provide for a large family if they chanced to have one.’ John readily agreed to this, observing at the same time, ‘ that people must take care, however, not to overshoot the mark; for that, if they in¬ creased and multiplied so much, that in the end the market w r ere again overstocked with labourers, wages would naturally lower again, and then the poor would be in no better plight than they were before. And ‘ that is the plight we are in now,’ continued John.”* Once more; “ Many years ago a cotton- manufacture was set up in the neighbourhood, which afforded ample employment for the “ John Hopkin’s Notions,” p. 65. lightening of the LABOUR-MARKET. 175 poor; and even the children who were before idle, could now earn something towards their maintenance. This, during some years, had an admirable effect in raising the condition of the labouring classes.’ # * '* ‘ But this prosperous state was not of long duration ; in the course of time the village became over¬ stocked with labourers, and it is now sunk into a state of poverty and distress worse than that from which it had emerged. Thus this manufacture, which at first proved a blessing to the village, and might always have continued such, was, by the improvidence of the labourers, converted into an evil. If the population had not increased beyond the de¬ mand for labour, the manufacture might still have afforded them the advantage it at first produced.” Again, we turn to a third teacher of the same school, the equally-famed MissMartineau, who thus counsels,— “ What, then, must be done, to lessen the number of the indigent now so frightfully increasing ? * * * “ The number of consumers must be pro¬ portioned to the subsistence-fund. To this 176 REMEDIES : end, all encouragements to the increase of population should he withdrawn, and every sanction given to the preventive check.” And, in another place, addressing the work¬ people, she asks:— ‘' Could so dreadful a reduction (of wages) have ever taken place, if you had not under¬ sold one another ? And how are the masters to help you, if you go on increasing your num¬ bers and underselling one another, as if your employers could find occupation for any number of millions of you, or could coin the stones under your feet into wages ; or knead the dust of the earth into bread ? They do what they can for you, in increasing the capital on which you are to subsist; and you must do the rest, by proportioning your num¬ bers to the means of subsistence.” * And, last, but not least, we will cite the Political Economy of Dr. Chalmers, in which he tells us, that “ Our peasantry have, in this way, their comfort and independence in their own hands. They are on high vantage-ground, if they but knew it; and it is the fondest wish of every * “Manchester Strike by H. Martineau, p. 101. lightening of the labour-market. 177 enlightened philanthropist, that they should avail themselves to the uttermost of the po¬ sition which they occupy. It is at the bidding of their collective will, what the remuneration of labour shall be ; for they have entire and absolute command over the supply of labour. If they will, by their rash and blindfold mar¬ riages, overpeople the land, all the devices of human benevolence and wisdom cannot ward off from them the miseries of an oppressed and straitened condition. There is no possible help for them ; if they will not help themselves. ” * One scarcely knows how to deal with asser¬ tions such as these, coming from so eminent and excellent a person, and yet fraught with such .cruel injustice to the working-classes. Our peasantry are declared to have “ then- comfort and independence in their own hands.” They have “entire and absolute command over the supply of labour.” What statements are these! to be made in the face of facts like the following: “ Mr. Horner, inspector of factories, re¬ ports, that an owner removed from a mill " Chalmers’ Polit. Economy, 12mo. Vol. I.p. 40. I 5 178 REMEDIES t where he had seven pairs of mules, with 5548 spindles, worked by seven spinners and twenty- jive piecers, to another, newly-erected, having three pairs of mules, with 7104 spindles, worked by three spinners and eighteen piecers, (i. e. one-fourth more work done, by two- thirds of the former number of hands.) A young man who had been a spinner in the old mill, at 20s. per week, was working as a piecer in the new mill, at 10s.” And, in other departments, and beside this continual improvement of machinery, do we find the employers constantly drawing in fresh supplies of labour; by encouraging immigration from Ireland, clearing the work-houses of pauper-children, &c. And yet the Doctor assures the poor man, that “ his comfort and independence are in his own hands.” But, even without this constant operation of the employers against the labourers, what would be the practical value of the Doctor’s counsel ? He tells the working-classes that “ they have the entire and absolute command over the supply of labour.” And in his next sentence he explains his meaning to be, that they need not marry,—need not have children! lightening of the labour-market. 179 Well, but if they all availed themselves of his advice, what would they themselves be the better ? The next generation, indeed, might have fewer labourers, and so those labourers might command higher wages. But does the Doctor seriously advise the present race of labourers to encounter all the evils and pri¬ vations of celibacy, merely to improve the possible condition of the next generation ? Does he seriously expect to prevail on a whole class of men to sacrifice themselves for the advantage of those who shall come after them ? How much more really “philosophical” is this remonstrance of the author of the true theory of population :— “ Let the advocates for imposing this yoke upon the poor, behold the consequences with which their attempt is justly chargeable. To a labouring man of whatever pursuit, the wife is at once his solace; his assistant; his com¬ panion ; his nurse; nay even his servant. Imagine the projected change to have taken place, and then trace one of your poor victims of‘ the preventive check’ through life, and which of its stages is not cheerless and wretched in the highest degree? See him 180 REMEDIES : retiring from his daily toil, to a dismal hut, where all must be confusion and uncleanliness; where, weary as he is, he must renew his ex¬ ertions, in order to prepare his meal, which he must take in comfortless solitude. But I will pass over the misery of a state like this, without a companion or an assistant, in order to advert to another. See this man smitten with disease, and writhing under personal suffering; a state to which his labours render him peculiarly liable, and what then is his condition ? without any ‘ to make all his bed in his sickness,’ to soothe his sufferings and administer to his pressing necessities, ! to preserve him, and to keep him alive, 5 or if it so please Providence, to console his dying hour with the tear of sorrowful affection, and the certainty of a fond and faithful remem¬ brance ; instead of this, I say, he must suffer unassisted and unpitied; like a stricken beast, which, deserted by its kind, retires to his lair and expires in solitude and destitution.”* But surely there is one other consideration which ought to have checked the pen of Dr. * Sadler’s Law of Population. Vol. I. p. 395. lightening of the labour-market. 181 Chalmers, when he was about to charge upon “their rash and blindfold marriages,” all “ the miseries of an oppressed and straitened condition.” He knows, as well as any man, that not one-fourth, or even one-tenth, of our labouring population, can be supposed to live under the constraining influence of Christian principle. Of the great bulk of the working- classes, then, whom he would thus advise to eschew, or at least greatly to postpone marriage,—what kind of an anticipation can he form, as to the state of morals that must ensue? The “ Preventive Check,” as pre¬ scribed by Malthus, would absolutely exclude from marriage, the bulk of our working- classes. And what, then,—(have these theorists ever asked themselves the question ?) would be the state of a country, in which the bulk of the young men and young women of the working- classes, were taught, as a first principle, that they were not to marry ? Should we not quickly have awful proofs, that the “ forbidding to marry” was indeed a “ doctrine of devils ? ” These assertions and propositions, too, if we could for a moment credit them, must drive ns to inevitable despair. For what can be 182 REMEDIES : plainer, than that they postpone all hope of a relief from our present perils and sufferings, for nearly a whole generation. Even could we believe that the poor had overstocked the labour-market by their improvident marriages, and could we, by force or persuasion, stop all such marriages for the future, that prevention would not take one single hand out of the labour-market, noio; nor would it affect the new supplies for many years to come. Miser¬ able, then, would be our prospect, were this indeed the true remedy;—inasmuch as all our existing evils would remain in full force, while all we could hope for would be, a reduction of the surplus supply, some ten or twenty years hence; purchased, meanwhile, by all the horri¬ ble demoralization which is necessarily con¬ nected with a prohibition of marriage. But the whole hypothesis of the economists, from Chalmers down to Perronet Thompson, is a fallacy: a dream so clearly at variance with all known facts, that it is wonderful how men of penetration and intelligence could ever have been led into the belief of it. We copy the following exposure of this folly from a recent work :— lightening of the labour-market. 183 “Let us examine the matter in the most practical way. We will take the case, for example, of a Leicestershire or Nottingham¬ shire town ; in which hosiery of various kinds is the staple manufacture. Let us assume that one thousand work-people of different classes have been for years employed in this town, at fair wages ; and that this appears to be about the number of hands that the stock¬ ing-trade of that town can conveniently and profitably maintain. “Now, say the M'Cullochs, Martineaus, andMarcets,—if, in the place where these 1000 hands, and no more, are required,— there offer themselves in the labour-market some 1200 or 1300,—it is certain that the competition for employment will materially reduce wages; and thus a great step towards poverty and distress will be taken. This position no one will think of denying. But then these kind-hearted persons insist on going further, and assuming at one that the work-people have, by improvident marriages, thus brought 1300 hands into the market in which only 1000 were needed ; and have thus, by their own folly, caused, and brought 184 ■REMEDIES I upon themselves, all the misery which now exists ! “Thefirst and most obvious objection to this bold assumption, is, that it not only takes for granted some very strange and important things, which ought not and cannot be cre¬ dited without the clearest proof;—but that it entirely contradicts all that established series of facts which usually forms the basis of such calculations. “ We are now speaking of the increase of a manufacturing population ,—not byimmigra- tion , be it observed, but by “ improvident marriages.” It is to these that Messrs. M'Culloch and Co. attribute the overflow of the labour-market; and it is of this fault only that we have to speak. “ Now there is perhaps scarcely any one fact more thoroughly established than this,— that a manufacturing population,—the labour¬ ers in a factory-town,—so far from increasing too fast by “ improvident marriages,” would, if not fed by constant immigration from without, fail of keeping up its own members. Most assuredly, the most that any person can possibly assume of such a population, is,— lightening of the labour-market. 185 putting immigration out of the question,— that it might grow correlatively with the whole population of the realm ;—so that if the kingdom advanced ten per cent, in seven years, it would advance as much. We doubt if there be a manufacturing town of any size, of which, excluding immigration, even so much as this could safely be asserted. “ But what can be more clear than this,— that a population only augmenting itself at an equal rate with the whole population at the realm, cannot be chargeable with “ over¬ loading the labour-market?” If the 1000 stocking-weavers had grown into 1100 in seven years,—the legs of the nation, to clothe which they laboured, would also have grown, in the same time, from 10,000,000 pairs, to 11,000,000. And thus all would remain cor¬ relatively the same as before. ‘ c The charge against the poor work-people, then, of causing their own distress by their own improvidence, is unfounded; and being unfounded, it is most unfeeling, cruel, and oppressive. Our present object, however, is to shew, that it ought to be alleged, not against the workmen, but against the masters ; 186 REMEDIES : and that in a way which strongly bears upon the question of the “ Ten-Hour Bill.” “ The work-people are represented by all the writers we have just quoted, as “ over¬ stocking the market of labour” by their ex¬ cessive numbers, caused by improvident mar¬ riages. Yet nothing can be more obvious than this,—that no 1000 labourers that ever yet lived, could, by their “ improvident marriages,” overstock the market of their town with competitors for labour, in less than a period extending over some ten or twenty years. “On the other hand it is quite undeniable that the masters of the supposed town can, if they please, produce the very same result in the course of a few months. And this, irrespective of immigration; by simply mi- creasing the hours of laboar. “In the town we have supposed, 1000 work-people have been comfortably supported; proceeding (we are of course looking back a few years ) on the old-fashioned notion, that “a day’s work” included twelve hours; out of which two were allowed for meals; leaving a net labour of ten hours. Now we have lightening of the labour-market. 187 already conceded, that the appearance of 200 or 300 more labourers in the market, without any answerable increase in the demand for goods, must “ burden the market of labour ” and greatly depress wages. But is it not quite obvious that exactly the same conse¬ quences must follow from a determination, on the part of the masters, to work their hands twelve or thirteen hours per diem, exclusive of meals; instead of ten, as heretofore ? “ If the masters should thus, employing the same number of hands, make 1200 or 1300 pairs of stockings where they previously made only 1000; without, however, having any increased demand; they would quickly glut the market with goods ; depress prices ; and thus compel the lowering of wages. But if they only aimed at making as many goods as heretofore, this they would be able to do with 800 hands instead of 1000 ; and thus 200 hands would be thrown out of work ; would press upon the labour-market; and would thus, in another way, bring about a lowering of wages. “ What can be more obvious, then, than that it is far more in the power of the masters 188 REMEDIES : to “ overstock the labour-market,” than of the workmen ; that they are also more likely to do it, than the latter; and that, in fact, the pressure on the market which has re¬ cently taken place, and under which wages are at present so lamentably depressed, is their work, and ought not to be laid to “ the improvidence and early marriages of the workmen,”* Does not this furnish us with a key to the whole matter? Is there any difficulty in seeing, even on a very brief examination, that it is not the poor that have made themselves surplus by their increase; but the rich who have made them surplus by deranging the whole social system. In the days of our forefathers, the phrase “ work-children ” was unknown. They ima¬ gined that a child, up to the age of fourteen, ought to be permitted to enjoy freedom, and to be subjected to no other tasks than those of education. But we seize these little ones at six, or eight, or ten years of age, and im¬ prison them in mines, or factories, caring * Life of 31. T. Sadler, 31.P., pp. 597—£ lightening of the labour-market, 189 nothing for their health, nothing for their instruction ; and we thus bring into the labour- market a supply which ought not to be there. In the days of our forefathers, a mother’s place was held to be at home. Her duty was to take care of her children, and her house ; leaving the chief burden of the support of the family upon the husband. But we now call the woman forth from her home, and tell her to go and make hobnails at the forge, while her husband nurses the children, or idles about the streets ! Thus, in every family, we create two factory-workers where there ought to be but one ; again bringing into the labour-market a supply which ought not to be there. In' the days of our forefathers, a day’s work was universally held to be twelve hours, from 6 to 6, out of which two hours were allowed for meals. But now steam, and not conscience, or reason, or custom, regulates the length of the day’s work, often making it fourteen or fifteen hours, and demanding of the workers that extent of labour. The necessary evils of an entire absence of all opportunity for family converse, or moral 190 REMEDIES : and intellectual improvement, are obvious; but what we are particularly pointing out, is this;—that again, a supply of labour is brought into the market which ought not to be there. In the days of our forefathers, the farmer kept the major part of his workmen under his own roof, finding them a comfortable home and abundant food, for the whole year. But now the farm-labourers are banished with one consent to miserable hovels, and employed irregularly, and merely when it suits the farmer. Hordes of Irish undertake the harvest-work, and thrashing-machines execute that great branch of labour. Again, there¬ fore, we observe, that it is not the labourer that has made himself surplus ; but it is by bringing foreign supplies of labour into competition with him, that the pressure is occasioned. Imagine, then, that we could at once rectify all these evils. Clear the mills and the mines of all young children : Send the women home to their families, and let the husband be the labourer and pro¬ vider for the whole : lightening of the labour-market. 19 ] Limit the hours of labour to a full and fair day’s work,—viz. of twelve hours inclu¬ sive of meal-times, or ten hours of actual work: Let the hirings of the agricultural labourer be as much as possible by the year ; and let each farmer thus maintain as many hands as his land will find employment for; without relying upon hands of wandering strangers to reap his fields. Were it possible to effectall these alterations, would the labour-market be overstocked? On the contrary, would it not immediately appear, that the country had not a man too many ; and would not the wages of labour speedily find their natural and rightful level ;—a level'giving to every one a decent subsistence ? Of course we might expect an outcry from the present evil-doers, who are gathering wealth by grinding the faces of the poor. They would instantly exclaim, “ Monstrous interference between employer and workman ! Absurd endeavour to regulate contracts be¬ tween master and servant! ” But the question cannot be decided by the outcries of those who are arrested in their course of wrong- 192 remedies : doing. Grant, if you will, that there would be something startling in the idea of pro¬ hibiting the running of steam-engines more than twelve hours per diem ;—of banishing all children under fourteen from the factories; of limiting and fettering the employment of women in lieu of men and of requiring the farmer to maintain the proper number of labourers on his farm, by annual hiring concede, if you please, that these enactments, in “ free-trade ” days, would seem altogether monstrous to the political economists,—still, is it not a fair question, whether, if at the price of these restrictions, happiness could he restored to the working-classes, it is not worth paying that price ? Balance the two things against each other. At present you have what you call “ freedom of trade” in these respects ;—i.e. every capi¬ talist has almost unlimited scope for his “ arrangements,” so as to screw out of his workmen the largest possible amount of labour for the smallestpossible remuneration. But then, what have you along with it ? A population becoming more and more wretched, more and more vicious, more and more discontented; lightening of the labour-market. 193 and who only need, at any moment, an able leader, to be prepared to revolutionize the empire. We repeat, that so extensively, so generally, are the working-classes dissatisfied with their lot, and embittered against those above them, that any man of talent and pro¬ perty, uniting them in any feasible plan for the overthrow of the established institutions of the country, would have little difficulty in involving the nation in a fearful conflict. But, if this view of one part of the danger be discredited, and men refuse to believe what they have neglected to search into,—thus much at least will be admitted, that wide and almost universal complainings are heard from the labouring-classes; and that the incendiar¬ ism which is spreading in the rural districts, and the recent efforts of the Bishop of London and others in the metropolis, to alleviate the suffer¬ ings of the poor, all shew the existence of a state of things far indeed removed from comfort or public safety. In truth, a pressure upon the labour-market, an excessive amount of unem¬ ployed labour, is at all times a cause of danger, and when it continues for any length of time, ought to claim the most serious attention. 194 REMEDIES. Our conviction then, is,—not that acts of parliament ought to he passed next month for the effecting of all these changes,—but that it would be a wise policy on the part of the government and the legislature, to contemplate some such changes, and to seek to effect all of them, as soon, and by such steps, as might appear expedient. We mean,— The reduction of the day’s labour in mills and factories, within twelve hours; which however, could only effectually be done, by forbidding the use of the steam-power for any longer period: The exclusion of children from all regular mining or factory-labour, up to the age of fourteen: The exclusion of women, or, at least, of mothers of families, from factory-labour : The closer connection of the agricultural labourer with the land, by requiring, or at least encouraging, annual hirings. There is, however, one further point, natu¬ rally growing out of this last topic, which is so important, and so extensive in its bearings, as to demand a separate consideration. CHAPTER VIII. REMEDIES. IT.—T1IE COTTAGE-ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. After we have described the horrors of the Factory-system, and dwelt upon the hardships suffered by the rustic villager, when seduced from his native glen, and immersed in the fogs and smoke of Manchester or Oldham; we are often compelled to bear a perplexing retort from the advocates of the manufacturing system, in the question, “If things he so, how is it that the labourers are constantly swarming out of the villages, into the manu¬ facturing towns ? ” “ Can you explain how it is, that the tide of internal emigration has always been, from the rural districts into the dens of these destroyers ? ”* " Speech of W. Rand, Esq. at Bradford, Dec. 19,1843. 196 REMEDIES : Thus demands Mr. Laing, in his Notes of a Traveller :—“What is the cause of this artificial pressure on manufacturing labour? What is it in agricultural labour that makes all who can fly from it, press into the labour- market of the manufacturing class ? And this opens to us another perplexing question,—perplexing, at least, if we were to he guided by the opposing declarations of high authorities. Here is a statement put forth by the Edinburgh Review, at the very moment of our present writing :— “ The melancholy truth is forced upon us from every side, that all occupations are overstocked; that the labour-market is not sufficiently extensive for the number of la¬ bourers who crowd into it; that the indus¬ trial departments of this active and ingenious country, vast and various as they are,—are yet inadequate for the comfortable main¬ tenance of all who wish to be employed, anti who must live by their employment. On the other hand, in the Morning Chron- " Laimjs Notes of a Traveller, p. 292. t Edinburgh Revieio, Jan. 1844, p. 152. COTTAGE-ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. 197 icle of Sept. 20, 1842, we read a letter written by Mr. Robert Hyde Greg, a manu¬ facturer and a member of the Anti-Corn-Laiv League , in which that gentleman says, “ The general conviction which remains upon my mind is, that with a system equal to that of the Lothians, established through¬ out England, landlords might receive double rents, farmers be rich and prosperous, and the country be rendered, for two generations, independent of all foreign supplies. I am confident that the agricultural produce of England, Wales, and the west of Scotland, might be doubled, and that of Lancashire and Cheshire tripled .” What a strange, what a perplexing picture do these opposing statements present! First, a positive declaration, from high authority, that all departments of industry are overstocked, and that colonization,—in other words, flight from the country,—is the chief if not the only remedy. Then, an equally positive declaration, and from the lips of a free-trader, that after a most careful investigation of the subject, he is ‘confident that the agricultural produce of 198 REMEDIES : the kingdom might he doubled, and in some parts tripled.” And, lastly, in the midst of all this, to meet the taunts, which are not ill-founded, that the labourers are ever pouring out of the agricultural districts, where they might be thus beneficially employed, into the manufac¬ turing towns, where their numbers do but depress wages, and produce, about every third year, a glut of manufactured goods, and a period of great misery. Amidst all this frightful derangement, are we not driven back upon the land, and the landed proprietors, and compelled to confess that any permanent improvement of the state of the country must begin with them ? It was with great regret that we read the recent speech of Mr. Rand of Bradford on joining the Anti-corn-law League. Regret, because we could not see how his premises could lead him to any such lamentable con¬ clusions. At the same time the reasons he adduced are worthy of consideration, though we may be unable to see how they lead to such a result as a free admission of foreign corn. COTTAGE ALLOTMENT-SYSTEM. 199 “I once considered a protecting duty on corn necessary to secure the proper cultivation of our own soil. I thought it would secure it. I knew that our large population justly demanded such a cultivation ; I thought that England would become a perfect garden under its influence; and that such would he the abundance of our food, that, let our numbers increase as they might, we should all havebread enough and to spare. But, gentlemen, pass¬ ing events have dispelled these bright illusions from my mind; passing events have taught me a different opinion. I have learned ano¬ ther lesson. I know not when I got my first lesson, but I received the most impressive one in an agricultural school—the very university of agriculture—at a meeting of the British Agricultural Society. My head-master was a noble Lord who attended that meeting—one of my own political party—a man of talent, rank, and station—an advocate of protection— a cabinet-minister. At that meeting, about two years ago, Lord Stanley declared, in the pre¬ sence of 3000 of the most eminent and ex¬ tensive agriculturists in the country, that the state of drainage, as regards the lands of this 200 REMEDIES : country already under cultivation, was a na¬ tional disgrace, and not one gentleman present ventured to contradict him. And his lordship further added, that the capital expended on this object alone would be attended with a larger profit than working all the minerals of the kingdom. Gentlemen, that declaration, coming from such a quarter, absolutely aston¬ ished me, and gave me a greater insight into the merits of this question than any other circumstance which ever came under my ob¬ servation ; and I felt a conviction then, which has grown upon me ever since, and which every subsequent investigation into the subject has only tended to confirm, that improvement is not to be effected by a system of protec¬ tion, but by open, honourable, and unres¬ tricted competition. I asked myself, Can such a state of things be right ? I was led to think upon this subject with far more interest than ever I had felt before. I knew that, in consequence of this protecting duty, the price of food was much higher in this country than elsewhere; and I was surprised to find that this had not acted as a great stimulus to im¬ provement. I asked in many quarters, why COTTAGE-ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. 201 do not the occupiers of the soil expend capital in draining ? And I learned that they gene¬ rally held their lands only from year to year, and, consequently, could not be expected to invest capital in any such permanent improve¬ ments. My next inquiry was, why have not the proprietors, then, expended capital in im¬ provements, seeing such an ample profit as Lord Stanley had described would be the result ? I was informed that many of them were not in a position to do it, and that others were unwilling to apply those funds which they were saving for the younger branches of their families, in improvements which only tended to enrich the eldest child. My next inquiry was, why then do they not enable their tenants to effect those improvements by granting them leases ? And I was informed that it could only be accounted for on the ground that leases would tend to abridge the political influence of the landlords over their tenants. Now 7 , abstractedly speaking, I freely admit that we have no right to inquire how, and in what way, the landlords of the coun¬ try let their lands, nor under what system they are cultivated; but when a law exists in 202 REMEDIES : any country limiting, or tending to limit, the supply of food to what the country itself pro¬ duces, then I say it is not only the right, but the duty, of the country to inquire into these matters, for in that case the people are as much concerned in the proper cultivation of the soil as the proprietor himself. Such a law exists in this country ; and it undoubtedly im¬ poses upon the landed proprietors the recipro¬ cal obligation of providing as much food for its inhabitants as the best mode of cultiva¬ tion will enable them to produce ; and I would willingly rest the issue of the whole question upon this position. If the landed proprietors of this country will not improve their estates so as to produce an ample abundance of food for every one of its inhabitants ; and refuse to adopt a system which would enable their ten¬ antry so to improve them, they have not the slightest right to impose any obstacles to other countries supplying us. It is impossible to deny that a system of cultivating the land under occupation from year to year, in this country, where the population is so much on the increase, is quite incompatible with its just and necessary requirements: its effect is COTTAGE-ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. 203 to incapacitate the tenantry from embarking in those undertakings, and laying out that capital, which would give additional employ¬ ment to the labourers, and increase the pro¬ duce of the soil. It tends, then, to make labour cheap, and food comparatively dear. No one can shut his eyes to the fact, that the agricultural population are, by this very sys¬ tem, compelled to seek employment and exist¬ ence in our manufacturing-districts, or to emi¬ grate to distant countries, carrying along with them their arts and habits of industry, which might have enriched their own. Such is the policy pursued in the agricultural districts. And yet, passing strange, the proprietors build few additional dwellings; and that por¬ tion of the press which is more particularly in their interest, deprecates the enlargement of our manufacturing towns. That portion of the press charges us with over-production. We are guilty of employing too many people. So that, in point of fact, refusing on their part to build dwellings for their increasing numbers, they condemn us for building them ; and while pursuing on their part a system of cultivation which prevents the employment of 204 REMEDIES : the people in their own districts, they con¬ demn us for giving them employment in ours ; and yet, passing strange, they call themselves the “ protectors of native industry.” They have yet to learn the lesson that there is no pro¬ tection for industry apart from employing it.” Does not the tone, and the general admix¬ ture of unanswerable truth, which runs through this speech, tell us, that the agricul¬ tural interest cannot hope to retain their present protection, except they properly fill their place, and discharge their duty, in the great common family ? A vast responsibility, then, rests at this moment on the country gentlemen of England. In many of the counties of England, the fires are again blazing. Doubtless the beer- shops ought to be held answerable for much of this; hut why cannot the gentry of Eng¬ land agree to say, “ This beer-shop nuisance must be put down ” ? But other causes besides these schools of disorder, are at work to produce the present peril. Discontented men brood over plans of mischief in these places; but how come COTTAGE-ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. 205 they to be discontented? Why, evidence presses upon us, from county after county, that the wages of an able-bodied labourer are seldom higher than from 7s. to 9s. per week. With a wife and family, the man must have a cottage, and for this, without a garden, he is charged £3— £4 —or even £5 —per annum. He is then summoned before the bench to say why he has not paid 3s. 4d—the last quarter’s poor-rate. He answers, that he has no money, —that his children have no shoes to their feet, nor covering for their bed, nor potatoes enough to eat. He is told, that this is no answer, for that he must pay the rate. And while this is the sort of life the poor are leading, is it any wonder that they are discontented ? Except in the one main point,—the keeping up their rental,—which they could hardly be expected to forget,—the gentry of England have been too remiss in the management of their estates. They have left their affairs too unreservedly in the hands of their solicitors and stewards; and the ease and comfort of these parties is very much consulted by throwing many small farms into one large one, and by getting rid of all cottages. We 206 REMEDIES : heard, a few days since, of one of the most amiable noblemen in the kingdom, who had been thus induced to allow one tenant to go on grasping all the land he could get, until he was tenant of 3000 contiguous acres. Now even in the lowest point of view this was not wise ; for the man had not capital to work such a farm, and it fell, in consequence, sadly into disorder. But what a series of miseries flowed from this monopoly of land, of which the landlord knew nothing, being probably scarcely within sight of the farm once in three years ! Here were at least eight or ten good farm-houses dismantled, and eight or ten families sent adrift. And how many scores of cottages must have been de¬ molished, in this “ laying field to field.” The operation of this has been already shewn in detail, by the Vicar of Alford, who gives us the history of fifteen parishes in his own neighbourhood, wherein, .between 1770 and 1830, there were 175 cottages demolished, and only twelve new ones built.* And, as a general result, we may take the fact stated by The Causes of Pauperism. By the Rev. E. Dawson, Vicar of Alford. COTTAGE-ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. 207 Mr. Sadler in his speech on the case of the Agricultural Labourers,—that in 1690, there were in Suffolk, 47,537 houses; but in 1821, the population having been almost doubled, there were only 42,773 ! At the very moment that we were sending these pages to the press, a letter is put before us, from which we copy the following lines : “ Ten shillings per week cannot be called high wages, yet few can earn so much. Wet days break the week, and it is seldom that a man realizes ten, even when this is called the weekly rate. Then a large portion of this goes for rent;—probably to a man of large possessions, who cannot condescend to inspect the wretched dog-holes the poor inhabit; but trusts entirely to his bailiff or agent, who conceals the real facts from him. Yet these rich and sometimes pious men will attend large public meetings, giving and collecting considerable sums for foreign objects, while the poor on their own estates are starving. I have just spent three days at-, and with a friend inspected the cottages belonging to a nobleman of high rank, and held in great esteem for his piety and benevolence .-—and I 208 REMEDIES: saw such misery as I had no idea could have been found in any part of England ; many of the poor wretches only earned six shillings a week; and most of them with large families, without bedding or any comfort about them ; and to make matters infinitely worse, two or three families (to enable them to pay their rent) occupying the same sitting and bed-rooms. At R-, W-, H-, and throughout the whole district round, there is the same misery in all the habitations of the labourers. Can we wonder that our jails should be full, and that the labourer should care so little for the classes above them ? ” In this miserable course of selfish and short¬ sighted cruelty, then, have we been long pro¬ ceeding ; but it will hardly be possible to con¬ tinue in that course much longer. The people are becoming brutalized, and at the same time exasperated. The public attention is more and more turned to these points, and if a great and extensive change of sentiment and feel¬ ing does not soon manifest itself in these res¬ pects, “reform” will come, either from within or from without, in a manner which will be far from salutary or desirable. COTTAGE-ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. 209 But there is no mystery in the matter, nor any great discovery to be made. The way in which a country may be rendered prosperous and happy, has been already exemplified in a variety of cases. “ A vast population is to be found in Switz¬ erland, existing along with the utmost well¬ being of the peasantry. ‘The environs of Zurich,’ says Mr. Coxe, ‘ for the mild beau¬ ties of nature and the well-being of the pea¬ santry, is not surpassed by any spot on the habitable globe.’ Yet the density of the population in this district is unequalled in any part of Europe. The inhabitants are exceed¬ ingly industrious. There are, in the whole canton, 217,000 acres in grain, 42,000 in vineyards, and 101,000 in forests; and it contains 175,000 souls, which is about an individual to every 21 acres—a degree of density exceeding that of Ireland, where, for 26,000,000 arable acres, there are 8,000,000 inhabitants. You will look in vain, however, for the misery of Ireland on the banks of the lake of Zurich. Indigence is nowhere to be found. Wherever you turn your eyes, smiling cottages with green windows and white walls are alone 210 REMEDIES : to be seen, half concealed by the luxuriant fruit-trees that surround them, or glittering in the sunny margin of the lake. Considering how large a proportion of the canton is rock or forest, this population is enormous. In five parishes on the borders of the lake there are 8498 souls, and they contain only 6,050 acres of arable land, 3407 of pasture, and 698 of vines, or scarcely an acre and a quarter to each individual—a degree of density surpass¬ ing that of any other part of Europe. Yet there is nowhere to be seen such an extraordinary degree of comfort among the peasantry.” Again : “In every part of Flanders the rural scene presents the most agreeable objects: fields covered by fruitful crops, meadows feeding numerous herds, neat and commodious farm¬ houses, set singly or in groups, villages em¬ bowered with trees, and divided from each other by small intervals. The bounty of nature is diffused in decent competence through the multitude that inhabit it, and the wholesome fare and neat dwellings of the labourer attest that he receives his share of the riches with which nature crowns his fields. A vast population is diffused through COTTAGE-ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. 211 the country, each of whom finds in the pro¬ duce of his little farm, or in the manual labour which the husbandry of his neighbour requires, the means of abundant livelihood. The distinguishing features of the country are, the industry and riches of the inhabitants, the number, the magnitude, and population of the cities, and the unrivalled perfection to which the cultivation of the soil has been carried. Commerce and manufactures have shared in the vicissitudes of political affairs, and the industry of the cities is in most places on the decline ; but agriculture is un¬ decayed, and in its different branches the numerous inhabitants find the means of a com¬ fortable maintenance. “The examples of Switzerland and the Netherlands are peculiarly valuable, because they afford specimens of public felicity com¬ bined with the greatest degree of density in the population. The population of Flanders amounts to 507 the square mile, and that of Holland to 284 : the Pays de Vaud contains 658, and the arable territory of Zurich 692 : whereas France contains 214, and Great Britain 270. The progress of population, •212 REMEDIES : therefore, affords no reason to anticipate an increase in the misery of the people, when it is accompanied by the political advantages which develope the limitations to its advance. Humanity would have no cause to regret an increase of the numbers of the species, which should cover the plains of the world with the husbandry of Flanders, or its mountains with the peasantry of Switzerland.”* From these instances, which might he multiplied if necessary, it is abundantly clear, that it is not the growth of the numbers of the people;—but the ivithholding the land from them, that is the real cause of the most part of the misery of our agricultural districts. Returning to our own country, which do we find to be the happiest and most prosperous spot? Just that which, without manufactures, is the most densely-peopled dis¬ trict in the empire;—Jersey, which with 47,546 inhabitants, possesses but 40,000 acres of soil; but which divides those few acres into a multitude of small gardens, wherein the soil is brought to its fullest use. Throw Jersey into large farms, and the * Alison on Population, vol. i. pp. 418, 423, 428. COTTAGE-ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. 213 people must fly the land by thousands, or perish upon it by starvation ! The discussion of the Cottage-Allotment, or Field-Garden system, opens so wide a field as to be quite perplexing. It seems difficult to know where to begin, or how to divide the subject. Perhaps we may in the first place adduce some clear and full and weighty testi¬ mony in favor of the system generally. And the most recent and most authoritative evi¬ dence of this kind is found in the Report of the Committee of the House of Commons, appointed in 1843 to investigate this very sub¬ ject. Most of the evidence collected by that Committee was given by parties of the highest character for judgment as well as for benevo¬ lence, 1 as will be seen by the following extracts. Captain G. T. Scobell, R. N., had had twelve or thirteen years experience of the sys¬ tem, in High Littleton, in Midsomer Norton, and in North Bruham, three parishes in Somerset, in which he possessed property. Here is a portion of his examination :— “ Q. You consider that the labour em¬ ployed by a man at convenient seasons upon his own land is no loss to him ? 214 REMEDIES : “A. I consider it a gain ; it keeps him from idleness, or worse than idleness: in the summer evenings I have seen three generations at work together within a stone’s throw. “ Q. You would say that his labour is profit to him, as well as the produce ? :t A. Certainly ; it absorbs that time which would be worse than loss to him, particularly the children’s work; the man is employed only in the digging and heavy hoeing, and when he has no other work to do. “ Q. Do you consider the employment beneficial to the children as to their educa¬ tion ? “ A. Exceedingly, as to their employment in gardening, and their looking up to the in¬ dividuals on whom their father is dependent for the land, and inculcating a good moral feeling and a kindly regard to those around them ; I would add, that it is scarcely to be calculated the good it does in its operation on the minds of the whole family, and that good I find increases instead of diminishes as the years pass on. “ Q. You consider that the allotments pro¬ duce an improved good feeling between the COTTAGE-ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. 215 labourers and the classes with whom they are brought into contact ? “ A. Especially towards the landholder who lets the land. “ Q. Can you state any instances of the display of that feeling ? “ A. I can state numerous expressions of over-thankfulness, over-value, grateful expres¬ sions, when they pay the rent; looking at the occupation as a novelty, in comparison to times past, it is any thing but worn out; the good feeling is durable,, and appears to in¬ crease ; the value of it is more and more felt; one rule is, that they shall retain the land, except in case of crime; and I took in all labourers, good, had, and indifferent. “ Q. Have you received testimonials of the thankfulness of the poor ? “ A. Very strong ; presents of vegetables, and expressions that they ought to thank God it was put into the gentleman’s heart, and pre¬ sents so numerous and so constant, and going on from time to time, and at the rent-days the manner in which observations are made, which I attend personally, in order to get hold of their minds, taking the opportunity of ad¬ dressing them. 216 REMEDIES: “ Q. Will you explain what you consider the moral effect on the general character of those labourers produced by this allotment- system ? “A. I consider that the moral effect is, that if any body were going to injure the pro¬ perty of their landlord particularly (but I be¬ lieve it extends to those who have nothing to do with them,) they would protect it: it gives them a general feeling of kindness towards the class above them, and improves that feeling if they had it before ; and I consider that they would he very much inclined, in case of any disturbance or riot, to protect the property of those above them, instead of joining in any mischief; that it is a tie, a permanent tie, upon their minds, the positive proofs of which are to be seen, and which never deserts them, for they are always ready to express their thankfulness on all proper occasions : chara- ter is invariably improved, and the worst often reclaimed. “ Q. Is it within your knowledge that in¬ stances have occurred of those who had allot¬ ments combining to suppress outrages ? “ A. The neighbourhood I live in has been in a state of agitation, but not disturbance; COTTAGE-ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. 217 but I felt myself personal confidence ; I am a magistrate, and had occasion to be among bodies of people ; and I have reason to believe that the class who had these gardens might be depended upon. I omitted to say, as a tes¬ timony of their thankfulness, that unknown to me, about five years ago, they subscribed a few pounds among themselves, and presented me with a silver cup, to my astonishment, and with an engraving on it; and to show how wholly it was done without the knowledge of any one who could lead them, my Christian name was mis-spelt. “ Q. Do you perceive any marked improve¬ ment in the internal economy and management of their cottages ? “ A. Yes, I consider their comforts in¬ creased ; I have known children of ten and eleven years old announce that they have tasted vegetables since they have had these grounds which they never saw on their father’s table be¬ fore ; they go almost daily to fetch something for their dinner, even throughout the winter, for winter crops are very much cultivated. “ Q. Do you think a beneficial effect is pro¬ duced on the character of those persons by 218 REMEDIES : their having those increased comforts which arise from their limited allotments, the value of which depends upon their industry, and which they may lose by bad conduct ? “A. Yes ; as a proof of that, I have made great observation from the first beginning until now, and in the two parishes of Mid- somer Norton and High Littleton, and I have had assurance of the samefrom North Bruham, at a distance. Out of 250 tenants, not all my own, but about half of them my own, in these parishes, not one of them has been convicted of a crime in the whole twelve or thirteen years.” William Miles, Esq., M. P. for Somerset, makes the following statement: “ I allotted in three parishes, land to about 100 persons altogether; and I can state, that invariably in all those places in which those allotments have been so given, the benefits pro¬ duced to the poor have been something perfectly extraordinary: you have only to go into one of those gardens, and take the chance of any person who may be working there, however late or early, and you will be exceedingly in¬ terested, first of all in his manner of address- COTTAGE-ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. 219 ing you, and at the same time with the bene¬ fits which invariably, he says, have resulted from those allotments of ground to himself and to his family. As I understood it was the wish of the Committee, when last I ap¬ peared here, that I should state what was the result of the benefits to the poor man as nearly as I could, I went to the garden of one of the first men I saw; I inquired what bene¬ fits had accrued to him as to the sale of vege¬ tables, and at the same time, as to supplying his family with food from his allotment; he stated to me, that he occupied a rood of land, that for that rood he paid £]. a-year; that he had sold onions last year to the value of 24s.; carrots to the value of 8s. ; and that his wife had sold gooseberries and currants to the value of 2s. 6d.; that he had a wife and five children, and that he had provided them from the allotment with every description of culinary vegetable, with all their potatoes ; and had only purchased for the year, one sack of potatoes for the whole consumption of the family. At the same time I should mention, that I never go into those gardens but thanks are given to me for what has been done: the L 2 220 REMEDIES : rent is even more than was paid by the former tenant, because I should always recommend in these cases, that the rates and all outgoings should be added to the rent, and that there should be only one payment in the year made, and that payment into the hands, not of in¬ termediate individuals, but of the landlord himself, or of the individual who has the con¬ trol of the allotments.” “ I think, first of all, in any system of this kind, the well-disposed and industrious should he taken ; then that the possession of this land should be,—I should recommend, if there be not enough for all,—held out as a bonus to the provident and industrious, and for good behaviour; no one can conceive the advantage I find in this ; I know of drunkards reclaimed ; I know of the impious becoming constant church-goers, and as a clergyman assured me, entirely owing to this little hit of ground. I was perfectly astonished when I heard it, but he said, 1 preaching and visiting were of no use till these people got the allot¬ ments ; but when I was appealed to for their Benefit, I found I had a hold upon them; they came to me for advice, I visited their COTTAGE-ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. 221 cottages, and they thanked me for what I was doing for them; ’ and those who had been vicious became greatly changed in their gene¬ ral behaviour; the disposition of the people is as much improved in eight years as any population I ever saw in my life. “The interest for life in a portion of land you consider sufficient to change the character of the individual ?—Yes ; he begins to have a better idea of the rights of property, the first effect is the greatest wish to protect that property; and so determined are they that some of the younger children shall not go into their gates, that they immediately put up locks, and presented both the clergyman and myself with keys at their own expense. “Do you imagine that the prospect of possessing those allotments would have an effect upon the character even of those who were not provided ?—I do ; and, concurring in my views, the clergyman, if we have an allotment to spare, and a man with a bad cha¬ racter applies to have it, does not reject him on account of his previous bad character ; and it has been found that he has very soon after¬ wards been perfectly reclaimed. 222 REMEDIES : “ But you would, supposing two people presented themselves, select the one of good character in preference to the man with a bad one ?—Certainly ; I should hold it out as a bonus to industry and good behaviour as much as possible. “Though you would not reject a man, however bad his character ?—Certainly not. “ Have you known labouring men who were discontented with their condition, become contented by the possession of a little land?— Certainly, I have.” E. Woollett Wilmot, Esq., thus writes to the Chairman of the Committee : “ During the last four years I have, under the direction and according to the express wish of his Grace the Duke of Newcastle, set out a great number of gardens in the county of Not¬ tingham, nearly 2000, and have found them answer most completely. The tenantry con¬ sist of labourers, colliers, and mechanics ; the rents are regularly paid ; the land much better cultivated, and the men much more contented and much happier than they were.Num¬ bers who before they had gardens were habitual drunkards, and reckless of every right feeling, have by degrees come round to a more steady COTTAGE-ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. 223 course, and now spend their money in buying seeds, manure, &c., instead of resorting to the beer-shop. At Basford, near Nottingham, during the last winter, when trade was in a most deplorable state, many mechanics, who have gardens under his Grace, told me, that if they had not had a garden, and been able through its produce to keep a pig, they must have starved or gone to the workhouse. A garden to the mechanic or labourer acts as a savings’ bank, when nothing would persuade him to save his money for long together; if he has a garden, he must have seeds, and gen¬ erally a pig ; for these last he will save; and if it be not the best way of saving, it is the only sure one ; and I have always found that as soon as you can persuade a man to endea¬ vour to better his condition by his own exer¬ tions, and assist him by encouragement and advice, although he may at times relapse, yet his tone of moral feeling is much raised, and if he be judiciously assisted he will never fall back into his former state. “ The most sceptical persons, if they would carefully examine the garden-ground and the adjoining lands, would find the produce nearly 224 REMEDIES : five times in favour of the garden-cultivation, this difference is more clearly seen in the strong clay soil than in any other.” “ The allotment of gardens, under every inclosure, more especially near towns, cannot fail to be most useful, and will be truly appre¬ ciated by the lower orders, and will have a great tendency to improve the moral feeling throughout the country. In a large town, in the summer, a man leaves off work at six in the evening. What can he do ? How can he pass his time ? The extent of his habitation being, perhaps, a room 12 feet by 14 feet, in a close court, and with three, four, or five chil¬ dren, he cannot remain there until bed-time; if he goes out, he has no resort but the beer- shop ; give that man a garden, he has always employment, amusement, and a source of gain; and in nine cases out of twelve the reprobate is reclaimed.” Very naturally, then, did the Committee arrive at the following conclusions : — “ Under these arrangements, the system of garden-allotments has proved an unmixed good. It has increased the produce, and en¬ larged the general stock of labour to be ex- COTTAGE-ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. 225 pended on the soil. It has enabled the labouring man to turn his leisure moments to profitable account, in raising wholesome food for his family; a rood of land frequently pro¬ ducing vegetables enough for six months consumption. It has also supplied sound industrial training for the children under their parent’s eye. “Many striking instances have been stated to your Committee, where the possession of an allotment has been the means of reclaiming the criminal, reforming the dissolute, and of changing the whole moral character and con¬ duct. It appears that the holding of land directly from the landlord raises the position of the working man in his own estimation, and gives him a feeling of independence and self-respect. It gives him a stake in the coun¬ try, and places him in the class which has some¬ thing to lose. It partly supplies that defi¬ ciency of innocent amusement and rational recreation which weighs so peculiarly upon the lower classes of this country, and which must be counted among the causes that lead to the prevalence of crime. The field garden has attractions for the working man strong enough 226 REMEDIES : to relieve the monotony of a life of hired toil, and to dispel the listlessness and discontent which are often its accompaniments. It with¬ draws him from a dependence for amusement on the society of the alehouse. It gives him something which he may call his own ; and as its value depends upon his own exertions, it prompts him to the exercise of self-control, and leads him to look on from the present to¬ wards the future. It furnishes him with an interest in life, to stimulate his faculties, to occupy his mind, and to inspire him with hope ; and it becomes a powerful inducement to. abstain from any of those offences which would lead to the forfeiture of this valued pos¬ session. Mr. Martin states, that e of 3000 , heads of families holding allotments in Kent, not one was committed for any offence dur¬ ing the years 1841 and 1842. In the parish of Hadlow there were 35 commitments in 1835. The allotment system was introduced in 1836, and in the following year 1837, the commitments were reduced to one.’ ‘ Since that, we have had, among the tenants of the society, about 15 of those who were in prison in 1835. and there has been no cause of com- COTTAGE-ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. 227 plaint against them since we have had them. Since the year 1837, there has been but one commitment from among the holders of allot¬ ments.’ “ It does not appear to your Committee that these important benefits are purchased at the expense of any other interest. All the witnesses were unanimous as to the punctu¬ ality with which the rents of those allotments which are under proper management are paid, and no more trouble seems to have been in¬ volved in collecting these than any other rents ; frequently indeed there is less. Numerous in¬ stances have been mentioned where the pro¬ duce of the allotment has been effectual in keeping men from applying for parochial relief; and it may be safely assumed that a practice which diminishes the poverty of the labouring class, and promotes their good conduct, can¬ not but he beneficial to the community at large. It has likewise had a peculiarly good effect upon the relations between the land- owner and his cottage-tenants ; increasing his acquaintance and interest in their circum¬ stances, and exciting in them more thankful¬ ness and respect.” REMEDIES : Such are the conclusions arrived at by the Committee of the House of Commons ap¬ pointed in 1843, especially to investigate this subject. Perhaps, however, it may be said, or thought, in some quarters, that these Parlia¬ mentary Committees are apt to “ get up a case ” on one side of a question. Let us cite, then, a very different, and heretofore, a hostile authority. The constructors and managers of the New Poor Law have been, from the be¬ ginning, too much of the Adam Smith school, to have any fondness for cottages or cottage- gardens. Yet, after much repugnance, re¬ peatedly exhibited, they have been forced to admit, in one of their latest volumes, a vast array of evidence, from all parts of England, in favour of the Allotment System. To quote even a fourth part of it would be tedious. We will give the abstracts of two counties only; which are merely samples of all the rest. Norfolk. “ Shotes/iti7n (Mr.Bateman).‘ I advocate it very strongly, and so does Mr. Fellowes. There is a difference observable in the conduct and condition of those families who have allotments, and those who have not; they are better olij and conduct themselves better.’ COTTAGE-ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. 229 “ Norwich (Mr. Forster). £ Had let seventy-eiglit allot¬ ments about three-quarters of a mile from the town, to some of the poor town’s people: thought it an unmixed good; hut as they had only had it a year and a half, there had not been sufficient time to test it well.’ “Langley (Mr. Burton). ‘Approved of the system ; the condition and conduct of the poor much improved by it.’ “ Gunloii (Mr. Smith). ‘ I am a strong advocate for it. It has made the tenants much more thrifty. It has worked very well here in all ways. It enables the cottager to live in comparative comfort, I think I can show, perhaps, the largest cottage rental (in numbers) of any in Norfolk, and the smallest amount of arrear.’ “Elmliam ( Mr. Money Fisher). ‘ It’s the principal thing for the poor. I don’t know what they would do without it. I am a strong advocate for it.’ (Mr. Knatchbull.) ‘There are, perhaps, one hundred allotments here; the women and children invariably work on them. The good effects, in every respect, are beyond calculation. This system promotes happiness, content¬ ment, industry, regularity of habits, and is duly appreci¬ ated by the poor themselves.’ “ Litc/tam (Mr. E. B. Francis). ‘Excellent—a great good —it prevails here generally; the poor like it very much. We have, I suppose, fifty or sixty tenants, and always many candidates.’ “Necton (Colonel Mason). The system prevails only partially here ; where it does, the greatest good is derived from it.’ “ Smrehill (Mr. Partridge). ‘ It influences their conduct in withdrawing them from the temptation of the public- house, by finding them occupation on wet days, after it has cleared and they have not gone to work. It adds to their comfort in the supply of wheat, potatoes, or turnips for those who keep a cow or a pig: women and children assist ’ 230 REMEDIES : “ Heydon (Mr. Richardson). ‘ I highly approve of the allotment-system, under certain regulations. * * * By giving labourers land enough to grow potatoes sufficient for their own use, and a comb of wheat, the benefits are so great, that they are more careful of their own conduct, better behaved, have a little stake in the county; and if owners or agents attend to them, and see that they manage them properly, this system gives them the real comforts of life.’ “ Derehani (Mr. Paddon). ‘ Women and children arc engaged here in this beneficial occupation, and the soil is almost always well cultivated.’ “Slradsct (Mr. Bagge). ‘The system is very good : both women and children are employed.’ “ Cranworth (Mr. Gordon.) ‘ There are now in this and the two adjoining parishes about sixty allotment tenants ; and I know of no plan that could have so mater¬ ially increased the welfare and respectability of the parish- (Mr. Howman). ‘I believe it to be a most valuable means of bettering the condition of the poor: every in¬ stance of its adoption which has come within my observa¬ tion, with one single exception, has been in every way productive of good. The holders of allotments, I have observed, are always better conditioned, arising, no doubt, from their having employment and amusement for their leisure hours, which, leading their minds to better things, keeps them from the ale-house. The possession of a little property of their own makes them more careful of that of others. Indeed, I don’t recollect an instance of a holder of an allotment having been brought to trial for any crime; and I know strong cases of reformation arising from the possession of them, coupled with the encouragement given by different societies for the promotion of industry.’ COTTAGE-ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. 231 “ Lincolnshire. “Holbeach (Mr. Morton). It’s called here “rood” land ; it’s a great blessing to the poor.’ “ Sleaford (Mr. Moore,—Tomlinson). ‘ Nearly univer¬ sal in this county, and productive of a very great deal of (H. Handley, Esq.) ‘ The most beneficial system that can possibly be devised: it leads to a savings’ hank, and then there’s no saying what good mayn’t follow from it.’ (Mr. Toynbee.) ‘ It does the tenants a great deal of good.’ (C. Allix, Esq.) ‘The system is general, and a very great advantage to the labourer.’ “Boston (all the witnesses given before). ‘Very useful system—no doubt of it; it’s a very excellent thing for the labourer; we hope it will become general all over.’ “ Spilshj (Mr. Hoff). ‘ Almost in every village—benefit to the industrious labourers almost beyond description. You find a fat pig in the house of every labouring man.’ “ Grantham (Mr. Johnston). ‘Effects decidedly bene¬ ficial.’ “ Spalding (Dr. Moore). ‘ The good effects are unques¬ tionable, both on the condition and habits of the poor.’ “ Gainsborough (Mr. Crook). ‘ The allotments are anxi¬ ously sought after; and no doubt tend to improve the con¬ dition of the labourer very materially.’” * We are entitled to consider the question of Cottage Allotments, then, in the usual sense of a garden, of a rood, or half an acre, as a decided question. There is scarcely, we be- Reports of Poor Law Commissiotiers on the employ¬ ment of Women and Children in Agriculture, pp. 2G0,261 232 lieve, a dissentient voice upon the subject. From the followers of Mr. Sadler, who in¬ sisted upon the utility and necessity of cottage- gardens, more than twenty years since, down even to the admirers and administrators of the New Poor Law, who represent the Adam Smith and Malthus party, all is, at last, en¬ tire concurrence, so far as a mere garden is concerned. When, however, we endeavour to advance one degree further, and to restore the secondstep in the ladder, the “ Cottage-Farm,” we are met by a firm and resolute opposition. And this subject is of such importance, as to deserve a distinct consideration. CHAPTER IX. REMEDIES : V.—RESTORATION 01' COTTAGE-FARMS. At the Lichfield Agricultural Meeting of September last, Sir Robert Peel said :— “ The impression on my mind is in favour of allotting to the respectable labourer on a farm, such a small portion of land as would afford occupation to the vacant hours of him¬ self and his family, and give him an interest in the soil.” And in the same tone, Mr. Miles (M. P. for Somerset), who gives such valuable testimony in favour of small allotments, is desirous to limit their size. He says- - 234 REMEDIES : “ None exceeding a rood; I think nothing could be so wrong as giving too much land; because such persons become invariably a de¬ scription of small farmers, market-hucksters, and so on.” Thus even benevolent men, who can discern the evil of crushing the labourer down into the mere pauper, living on less than work- house fare, and deprived of all hope of ever rising out of this condition,—even well-inten¬ tioned men, who see the necessity of restoring one round of the ladder, and permitting the labourer to have a garden, still hesitate to re¬ place the next round, and to permit his gradual rise, by industry and good conduct, into the class immediately above him. But nothing less will cure the disorders of our social system, than the re-establishment of all the old and natural gradations of society. It has been by the breaking down of these, and getting rid, as far as possible, of every class and degree between the thousand-acre farmer and the day-labourer, with his wife and children starving upon 7s. or 8s. per week it is by adopting this system of Adam Smith and Malthus, that we have got the country COTTAGE-FARMS. 235 into its present frightful condition ; and it is only by an entire and complete reversal, that we shall ever succeed in recovering it. It is from the lips of a Poor-Law Commis¬ sioner, Mr. Twisleton, that we have thislamenta- bleview ofthepresent state of our peasantry:— “It is difficult, regarding the paucity of small farms from another point of view, not to give way to a feeling of regret. The English agricultural labourer, even if he has transcen¬ dent abilities, has scarcely any prospect of rising in the world, and of becoming a small farmer. He commences his career as a weekly labourer, and the probability is, whatever his talents and industry, that as a weekly labourer he will end his days. If he cherishes the ambition of becoming a small farmer, his wisest course is to emigrate to Canada or New South Wales, or some other of the colonies, where alone he can put forth all his energies for the attainment of that object with a reasonable prospect of success.”* It is to delude ourselves, to imagine that a million or two of people can be kept in hard '* Sanitary Enquiry : Local Reports, p. 142. 236 REMEDIES : labour, bad living, and destitute of all hope of improvement, without hazarding the peace and tranquillity of the country ; to say nothing of the misery and demoralization which must be their own lot. But ivhy should they not be permitted to rise from the little half-acre allotment, to the ten- antcy of so much land as may support their families ? Reasons the most convincing may be adduced why they should. The simple fact, abundantly established, that by the mere possession of a few acres of land, an industrious man becomes elevated from the rank of a day-labourer, earning 7s. or 8s. per week, and liable to lose even this miserable employment by every ca¬ price of his employer,—to that of an indepen¬ dent cultivator, able, on his own little farm, to realize from 12s. to 18s. per week, without subjection to any man’s fancies,—this bare fact of itself seems to render the change most desirable. The case of Samuel Bridge, of Stock Green near Feckenham, has already been adduced.* From four acres of “ very inferior stiff clay- * See Preface to “ The Perils of the Nation.” COTTAGE-FAKMS. 237 land, this man has obtained, on an average of years, produce of the value of £98 ; from which his deductions have been £23 15s. 4d.; leaving £74 4s. 8d., for rent, rates, and his own profit.” But the Report of the House of Commons’ Committee of last session, furnishes us with several other instances of the same character. To wit :— Jesse Piper, a tenant under Mrs. Davies Gilbert, near Eastbourne, holds four acres, for which, with a cottage, hepays£ll a-year. The produce he raised in 1842, was as fol¬ lows :— 42 bushels of wheat, sold for .... £15 15 0 250 bushels potatoes, do.16 12 4 Food' for two cows, producing butter sold for . 20 0 0 Food for three pigs, 20 stone each, worth 10 10 0 £62 17 4 shewing a profit of £51 17s. 4d., after paying his rent,—to meet rates, wear and tear, some hired labour, and the maintenance of his family; and leaving him much of his own time for other employments. 238 REMEDIES : John Dumbrell, in the same neighbourhood, held only 3i acres, for which he paid the large rent of £12 12s. including rates and tithes. But from these 3} acres he raised, in 1841, produce of the value of £55 16s. 3d. leaving him a balance of £42 4s. 3d. George Cruttenden, of Willingdon in Sussex, writes to the Committee as follows :— “ I rent my five acres of land and my house at £25 per annum, including tithes and taxes. I have a wife and four children, whom I main¬ tain entirely by the produce of my land. The produce, last year, was £65.” A multitude of other cases might be cited hut it is needless. For it may be regarded as a point sufficiently established, that a plot of three, four, or five acres, held at a fair rent, will enable a man to maintain and bring up a family in far greater comfort and abun¬ dance than he can obtain by the ordinary wages of day-labour. What, then, are the objections to such an occupation of land by the labourer? On what ground do such men as Sir Robert Peel and Mr. Miles deprecate, as positively wrong, COTTAGE-FARMS. 239 the giving him more than ‘ a small portion,’ “ not exceeding a rood or so ? ” Let us hear Mr. Miles, who states his own reasons with frankness and force : “ What portions of land were occupied by each family ? “ A. That depended upon the number of children ableto work; but about twenty perches; to people with families one rood. “ Q. None exceeding a rood ? “ A. None exceeding a rood; I think nothing could be so wrong as giving too much land, because such persons become invariably a description of small farmers, market huck¬ sters, and so on, and generally are very apt, instead of attending to their labour, either to spend more time than they ought in the gar¬ dens, or to be led away to the next market- town, to sell the different products of their gardens, which I think is more to their detri¬ ment than to their benefit. “ Q. In what way do you consider it may be injurious to them ? “A. I think a labouring man should not have so large a ground as to induce him to endeavour to shirk the hours which 240 REMEDIES: should be devoted to the labour of his mas¬ ter ; and it is very probable that if he had more than an acre, he would be apt to go into the market-town, and in all probability get into scrapes. I have known that to be the case when persons have had a larger piece than an acre of ground, when, having made a very good sale of their vegetables, they have gone to the pot-house, and have dissipated in drink the receipts arising from the sale of the vegetables they had raised. 5 ’ Here it is sufficiently evident that Mr. Miles has been prepossessed by some farmer, who complains that if the men have a good piece of ground of their own to look after, they neg¬ lect other labour. Certainly, if a man has land enough to occupy half his time, he is not in a situation to be a permanent and daily labourer in an¬ other’s employ. He will neither take such a situation, nor will it be offered to him. But he may be well able to do a day’s work when wanted, and his elevation in the scale of society is more likely to encourage him in honesty, than to tempt him to fraud. But in this way some hands, and those pro- COTTAGE FARMS. bably the best, would be withdrawn from the labour-market; and the farmer likes to have plenty of labourers ready at his call, however slow he may be to employ them, except when exactly convenient to himself. But what is it that the country most requires, at this mo¬ ment, but this very thing,—namely, the with¬ drawal of some hands from the labour-market, so as to give a better chance of constant employ¬ ment, and good wages, to those u'ho remain ? After repeating this common farmer’s ob¬ jection to allotments of all kinds,—that such allotments draw them away from their mas¬ ter’s work,—Mr. Miles proceeds to the still weaker plea, that some occupiers of four or five acres, prospering in their labour, and being elated with their prosperity, have “gone to the pot-house, and dissipated their profits in .drink.” Doubtless such things have happened; but against what class or description, either of farmer or labourer, may not such a charge be brought ? “ Going to the pot-house” is, un¬ happily, too common a failing, in all classes, to be deliberately advanced as a reason against the existence of cottage farms. M 242 REMEDIES : But Mr. Miles, in his next answer, very can¬ didly admits all that is needed, to establish every¬ thing that we wish to maintain ; for he says “Yes, I have known men with three or four acres of land do perfectly well in the cultivation of that land, and become not only better labourers, but who have during their lives even acquired small properties.” This admission surely decides the whole question. No one will deny that a five-acre tenant may become elated, and may require a check, or even degradation. Nor is there any difficulty, that we are aware of, in pro¬ viding such a check. It is not proposed, we apprehend, that all the labourers of the coun¬ try, or even the fourth part of them, should be immediately made small farmers. All we plead for, is, the admission of the deserving and industrious labourer, who has shown his skill and attention in the cultivation of an half-acre allotment, to the tenantcy of a larger plot of ground. The same check as before might be held over his conduct. We deduce the expediency of holding out this pre¬ mium to good behaviour from the final result, which Mr. Miles here states in the COTTAGE FARMS. 243 most satisfactory manner; telling ns, that he has seen, in his own experience, “ men with three or four acres of land do perfectly well, and even acquire small properties from its cultivation.” This, then, is the condition to which we wish to elevate the deserving la¬ bourer. Of course, the ill-conducted tenant, in that, as in every other situation in life, must bear the consequences of his own faults. Evidence, however, on this point, abounds on every side. Within the last few weeks, the most valuable testimony has been given in the public journals, by two clergymen, residing in different parts of England, and who have beheld the operation, both of allot¬ ments, and of cottage-farms, in their own parishes. The first of these gentlemen is the Incumbent of Cholesbury, in Buckingham¬ shire, whose letter is as follows:— Choleshury Parsonage, Tring, Feb. 23, 1844. Dear Sir, I have kept you a shameful length of time for the information you desire of me: similar applications to your own, and the duties of two parishes, have pre¬ vented me from furnishing you with it before; and for the same reasons my statement must he a brief and hurried one. 244 REMEDIES : Cholesbury is a very small parish, containing no acres of cultivated, and 44 of unenclosed common land. The population is under 150. My acquaintance with it began in 1830, at which time it was almost exclusively a parish of paupers. The poor-rates for the ten years preceding had averaged 170?., andin 1831 they exceeded 200?. The rates (for all purposes) exceeded 30s, in the pound. In consequence of the excessive burden on the laud, the whole of it, except eight acres, was in 1832 forced out of cultivation, and was abandoned by landlord and tenant; the gates of the several farms were taken down, and the fences suffered to remain unrepaired, in order that the owners of the property might avoid being rated. There being no longer any beneficial occupation, the over¬ seers threw up their books, and the poor were main¬ tained for more than half a year by rates levied on other parishes in the hundred. For many years my predeces¬ sor had made no attempt to collect his tithes, the rates upon them far exceeding their value. The glebe- land at length became valueless. I was all but starved out of the parish; 1 had in fact made preparations for leaving it, both on account of my family, as well as to escape the sight of wretchedness which it was in inv power no longer to relieve. Just at this time the Agricultural Employment Insti¬ tution, hearing of the destitute state of the parish, pur¬ chased in it about fifty acres of arable and wood land— the former (thirty-six acres) they allotted to eight or ten married men with families, in quantities varying from two to four acres, and an acre each to four or five lads. The thirty-six acres are now all occupied by married men; the rent is 23s. per acre, and is paid punctually. COTTAGE FARMS. 245 The tenants also contribute their quota of all parochial taxation. The good effected by this system lias exceeded my expectations, though from the first I anticipated great things from it. In 1831, the money expended on the poor exceeded, as I have already stated, 200/. In 1842 it did not amount to 20/. In 1831 the total number of poor in receipt of paro¬ chial relief, and that during the whole of the winter months, was as follows:— Married men with families - S The wives and children of the above 28 Single men and boys.12 Aged and impotent.15 Total - - 63 In 1842 there received relief— Able-bodied poor.- 0 Aged and impotent ------ .3 Total - - - 3 A lunatic in the Peckham Asylum is costing the pa¬ rish a two-shilling rate (2 61.) in the year. Were it not for this charge our poor would not cost us 20/. a year; in fact, we have not, and have not had for ten years, one able-bodied pauper belonging to the parish. The allot¬ ment system has cured that evil. The poor-rates have averaged, these last three years, 4s. in the pound. The allotment-men work for the farmers in the sur¬ rounding parishes whenever they can get a job, but it is very seldom their luck to meet with one. Two or three of them are owners of a horse and cart each, and during 246 REMEDIES : the winter months they in part maintain themselves In- carting flints and firewood from our hills to the neigh¬ bouring towns. All the men have pigs, and in summer three or four of them keep also a cow. The conduct of the men since they have had allot¬ ments has been such as to afford me very great satisfac¬ tion. Not one of them has been summoned before a magistrate for any offence these ten years: they arc punctual in their attendance at church; they and their wives, and every child old enough to attend the Sunday School, are members of a Clothing Club, and deposit iir my hands during the year as much as from 30/. to 40/., which is expended at Christmas in clothing ; the conse¬ quence is, there is not a ragged or ill-dressed person in the parish. It is not only the agricultural poor that have been be- nefitted by the allotment system, as carried out in this parish. The owners of property have also equally reaped the advantage of it. The thirty-six acres now occupied by the allotment-men at 26s. per acre, were let in 1831 for 23/. (something under 13s. an acre); and a tenant could then be found bold enough to take it only by the landlord guaranteeing to pay all rates above a certain amount. The result of this agreement was a curious one ; when the rent-day came it was ascertained that the rates had so far exceeded the rent, that the landlord found himself in debt to his tenant, and the latter returned from the audit with more cash in his pocket than he brought to it. The other property in the parish has also recovered its just value. You state that you feel much interested in the allot¬ ment system, and that you are about to try it in your own parish. If the land allotted be near the dwellings COTTAGE FARMS. 247 of the occupiers, and the letting not clogged with many rules or restrictions, I have no doubt of your success. You will soon find yourself surrounded by a grateful and affectionate tenantry. H. P. Jeston. J. Pardon, Esq. The second witness is, if possible, of a still stronger description, inasmuch as he speaks not only of his own parishioners, but also of his own estates. Scarcely an individual in all England is better qualified to speak upon this subject, than Mr Lysons, whose letter here follows :— Hempsted Court, near Gloucester, March 1, 1S44. Sin, The attention of my late father and myself was drawn to the subject of the allotment system at the period of the agricultural riots in 1830-1. Notwithstanding the general low rate of labourers’ wages in our neighbour¬ hood, our own parishioners were not engaged in any of the disturbances connected with machine-breaking, &’c. consequent partly upon agricultural distress, and partly from the seeds of discontent sown in the minds of the ignorant, by interested parties: my father was there¬ fore induced to investigate the condition of the labour¬ ing population; and it struck him that their means of living might be materially improved, by permitting each 248 REMEDIES : of his cottage-tenants to rent a small quantity of land, upon the produce of which they might rear a pig. He commissioned me to carry out his plans, and having persuaded the tenant of the rectory-farm to give up three and-a-lialf acres of land contiguous to the parish-road, I allotted it out in half-acres, and it was let to our own cottage-tenants at 3 d. per lug, or perch, or 2 1. per acre. After nine years’ experience of the improved cultiva¬ tion of this land, and the increased comforts and im¬ proved moral character of the tenantry, the health of my family called me to pass a winter in Jersey, and having little else to do in the island, I amused myself with observing the farming operations of that country. I observed that the farms were all very small, rarely exceeding fourteen or fifteen acres, which were ex¬ tremely well cultivated, and very productive, and the farmers not only thriving, but often comparatively rich. This circumstance led me to form an opinion that the farms in my own country would be rendered more pro¬ ductive if they were reduced within a smaller compass. A circumstance soon occurred to enable me to carry out my theory, and as a tenant of mine was quitting his farm, I took the opportunity of trying the small- farm system, and of increasing the number of my al¬ lotments, by offering land to any of the parishioners who chose to take it, having reference only to charac¬ ter. Tenants were soon found ready enough to enter into my views, and I immediately let a field of twenty- four acres to the village blacksmith, a most respectable, honest, and industrious man, and I have never had reason to repent the step ; the land is clean and well- cultivated, and he has had the extreme kindness to apportion an acre of it to his brother’s widow, which COTTAGE FARMS. 249 he cultivates for her use, dividing it regularly into four parts, one of which is always under wheat, one under barley, and the other two under some kind of green crop. He has now, after four years’ trial, had thirteen more acres of land added to his farm. Another small farm I let to the village-butcher, also a very respectable man, with a hard-working family, and he has brought some of the worst land to a staple, equal to the best upon the estate, previous to the division. He now raises twenty bushels of wheat per acre, upon land the average of which was barely twelve. But my small-allotment trial was upon a field of 36a. 2k., which I laid out in portions of half an acre each, and they were all let within a week, the tenants taking their lots by ballot, to prevent unfair selection. The majority of the tenants occupy a single half-acre lot, though a few of ‘ the better to do in the world ’ have taken two, and, in one case, four acres. The land is a light stone-brash, easily cultivated, and the tools used are principally the breast-plough (paring spade) and the hoe. The wives and children of the tenantry, from the extreme ease of cultivation, do the greater part of the w'ork, the labourer seldom leaving the farmer’s employ, and scarcely ever working upon his own allotment, unless out of a job; he then has something of his own upon which he can employ his leisure hours, instead of resorting to the alehouse. I have a very strict set of rules drawn up, which is signed by the tenant, of wdiich he has one copy, and I keep another. The rents are paid half-yearly, and most punctually. At the spring rent-day every year, I give a dinner to my tenants, at wiiich I preside, when prizes are distributed to the most deserving tenants. A calf 250 REMEDIES : ov a pig, a wheel-barrow, paring tools, half-a-dozcn spades, half-a-dozen three-grained forks, and hooks, constitute the prizes, of which about eight or ten are distributed annually. Four years have now elapsed, and I have only been obliged to dismiss two out of forty tenants, who were discharged for gross mismanagement of the land. I have this year increased the number of my allotments, by giving another field of thirty-three acres to a new tenantry. My allotment-field presents a pleasing spectacle of the industry of the labourers; in autumn it is richly studded with corn-stacks, and in winter it is equally full of heaps of manure, ready for the next year’s crops. Far from the land suffering from the allotment system, as some have imagined, there has been more manure put upon the land since it was let in lots, than had been put on it for the previous twen¬ ty years, and the produce has increased from an ■average of fifteen to thirty bushels of wheat per acre. I will venture to assert that the field is worth ^300 more in fee-simple than in its former state. I enclose you an account of the profits of the allotment of a very steady industrious young man, by which it appears that, by means of his half-acre of land, he has been able to realize a return of £12, although he has spent only one day away from his master’s service, (with leave,) to house his corn, all the rest of the labour having been done at leisure times, or by his wife. The weekly wages of this young man are 9s.: supposing, then, that lie had cultivated an acre instead of half an acre, accord¬ ing to the proportion of his present profits, he would have rather more than doubled his weekly wages. I may record, as an instance of the perseverance and industry of this young man’s wife, that she has gleaned, during COTTAGE FARMS. 251 the last autumn, (sinele-handed,) besides barley, nine bushels of wheat, which, at 6s. 6 d. a bushel, is £1. 18s. 6cl sufficient to maintain her husband and herself in bread during the winter months, and to leave a sur¬ plus of seed for their allotment. My opinion is, that the labourers are extremely well contented and happy under the system, and it certainly promotes honesty, sobriety, and industry. We have not an alehouse in my parish, nor do I think that one could maintain it¬ self; and, as a proof of its hemg parochially beneficial, I should state that the poor-rates, were it not for the tax of the country police, would be merely nominal. On my property at Hempsted, I have adopted this plan for about two years, with success. I have now twelve acres so allotted; and such is the popularity of the plan, that I have repeated applications for land, and I have it in contemplation to increase the number of mv allotments considerably. The immediate vicinity of this property to the populous town of Gloucester, where few of the lower orders have any garden, leads me to hope for the greatest success, as little has been at¬ tempted as yet in the promotion of the system in this neighbourhood. The farmers have occasionally let land for potato-ground, ploughing and manuring it for their under-tenants, and letting it at the rate of =£8. or £10. per acre; but they have no permanent interest in the land, which is the great object in its success. I have recently purchased a farm near Cheltenham, which I have subdivided into smaller farms. My plan there partakes rather more of the home colonization than the allotment system. I have not tried it long enough to speak so decidedly upon its merits, hut I perceive that such tenants as have been accustomed to agriculture, 252 REMEDIES : and are really industrious, with a little capital, appear likely to get on well, while those who attempt it without sufficient knowledge, capital, or industry, will naturally fail; but, as far as I can judge, I think I can produce eight tenants, who, for knowledge of their business, and industry, may compete with eight of their own class from any county in England. I have it in contempla¬ tion to purchase a cow or two, and lend them to mv tenants, as soon as I have induced them to grow some luceru and other green and root-crops for their keep. Having thus far given an account of my own allotment proceedings, perhaps I may be excused if I offer a feu- general remarks upon the diffusion of the system in England. I am convinced that the food of this coiuitry may be doubled by these means, and that we might be rendered independent of foreign supplies, while the national character of our labouring population will as¬ sume ahigher position in point of morality and integrity. With regard to the small farms, I am well aware that there is generally m England an objection to them, and that opinion rather runs in favour of the enlargement of farms, as leading to the employment of larger capital, and the promotion of improvement in implements and machinery. It is foreign to my subject to inquire whether these machines do not tend to diminish labour, but I cannot understand why a man should not have the means of employing a' small capital in agriculture upon a small scale, provided it be pro¬ portionate: 'or why there should not be gradations among farmers, as there are in every other branch of COTTAGE FARMS. 253 commercial industry in England! I am convinced that there is, in the hands of the honest labouring commu¬ nity of this country, a very large amount of unemployed capital in small sums, hoarded in the cupboards and corners of their cottages, which the establishment of savings’-hanks has not yet induced them to invest. Great benefit may accrue, both individually and nation¬ ally, if these sums can be drawn into circulation, and the honest and provident labourers be given apermanent stake and interest in the landed property of this country. I am far from being an enemy to large farms, and am fully alive to the benefits which hare resulted to the country from the improvements introduced by scientific agricultural capitalists ; but I think that the minor holder of capital ought not to he debarred from the means of investing it. I am quite certain, upon the point of the comparative productiveness, that it is much in the favour of the small farm—that the rotation of crops may be brought round in quicker succession, and that a larger proportionate rent can be afforded, suffici¬ ent to repay a landlord for an increased outlay upon build¬ ings. For example: where a large farmer is boimd by covenants to cultivate his land according to the six-field system, or the five-field system, he gets his wheat-crop only once in six or once in five years, while spade-lius- bandry, pig-keeping, and stall-feeding, enable the smaller farmer to realize his wheat-crop once in three years; and, on superior soils, every alternate year. The small tenant, again, has many advantages, which the larger farmer has not; for instance, a less expensive establish¬ ment, and the fluctuations of the markets less affect the man who consumes, in his own family, the produce of his farm, than the one who has to contend with the 254 REMEDIES : variations too frequently caused by speculations in com. Again: the capital which he requires is less than that of the large farmer, being mostly supplied by the labour of his own hands; and much of it, perhaps, rescued from idleness, the ale-house, or the skittle-ground. The amount of rent which ought to be paid by allot¬ ment tenants, is a subject which appears to have been frequently discussed in the numbers of your Magazine, but never satisfactorily settled, many of your correspon¬ dents urging that the same rent should be paid by the allotment tenants that is paid by the neighbouring far¬ mers, although I observe, from your different reports, that they vary in different places from £1. to £1. per acre. Of course, much must depend upon the nature and quality of the soil, and much also must depend upon the locality ; land which is near a large town, and of a good description, commanding a higher rent than that of a remote village. I think that the allotment system would be more extended if it were less insisted upon by your correspondents that the rents should he the same as those of the neighbouring farmers. Land¬ lords will hardly be induced to incur an increase of trouble, expense, and anxiety, which it avowedly must be, by such an increase in the number of their tenantry, if no more than a farmer’s rent is to be paid after all: however occasional philanthropic persons may be induced to let their lands upon these conditions, the practice will not become as general as it could be wished for the public good. The advantages should be mutual between the landlord and tenant, and the rent should be pro¬ portioned to the produce. If the tenant can double the ordinary produce of the land, can secure a quicker rota¬ tion of the crops, and at a less expense, he can afford COTTAGE FARMS. 255 to pay a proportionable larger rent, and while bis own circumstances are materially improved, be furnishes his landlord with the means ol circulating: an improved for¬ tune among bis tenantry and dependants, and of still further encouraging them and improving their condition. The proper size of allotments, also, is a subject of discussion; and here much should depend upon the quality of the soil: for instance, the nature of the soil upon my Rodmarton estate is such, that two acres may be cultivated with as much ease as a quarter of an acre of my Hempsted land. On the former, the Labour is principally performed by the wives and children of the cottagers, while the latter requires all the strength of an able-bodied man; two horses will plough the one, while five are none too many for the latter. I always wish my tenants to cultivate sufficient land to raise some straw for their pig, the foundation of the best of manures. It has been suggested that the subdivision of farms would introduce all the wretchedness and misery which has overwhelmed Ireland; but my plan and the Irish system are by no means parallel. I have no middle-man who pays a small rent to the landlord, and lets out the land at an enormous profit to himself, while the poor cotter can barely subsist upon the remaining produce. The rents which I advocate are based upon the known capabilities of the soil, and all transactions are carried on directly between the tenant and a landlord who is not an absentee, but one who shall live among his tenantry, and spread his influence, and spend his income among them. Neither is there any morbid feeling arising from a difference of religion between the landlord and tenant^ or the spiritual advisers with whom they come in con¬ tact. The small farmers of Jersey present none of the 256 REMEDIES : features of -Irish misery, but are generally a thriving, industrious, and independent people, and afford a valid answer to the objection to small farms; and I really be¬ lieve that the Irish landlords would materially improve their incomes, while the tenantry would become more prosperous and happy, if the middle-man were entirely superseded, and all transactions were carried on between landlord and tenant direct; the rents might range some¬ where half-way between those paid to the landlord by the middle-man, and those paid to the middle-man by the cotter, and affluence might be restored to Ireland, and justice done to her. I fear I have spun this sub¬ ject to too great a length, I will therefore conclude by sending you copies of my allotment regulations. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, Samuel Lysons. Purchase of breeding sow 1 19 0 Bariev meal - -113 0 lj bush, of peas (seed) 0 0 3 13 sack of potatoes (seed) 0 8 9 11 bush, peas for fat- oS^todo.? 5 0 seat leisure times, and oy the wife, when out of employ). PROFITS. £ s. I 11 bush, of peas, at 4s. Gd. 2 9 G 20 sacks' of potatoes, at 5s. 5 0 0 Sow* sold for - - 2 0 0 Four pigs, sold young 2 4 0 Two pigs, fatted, 12 score each,' at 7s. Gd. - 9 0 0 21 4 0 Deduct expenses - 9 3 2l Profit - - 12 0 9; £9 3 23 | * The sow was worth more, but the young man sold it t< COTTAGE FARMS. 25 “ While we observe then, on the one hand, lamentable proofs of the discontent prevailing among the labouring classes,—while we read, in a single local journal,* the details of ten incendiary fires, taking place within a few days, in two adjoining counties,—we gladly perceive, on the other, the most unequivocal and solid proofs of the reality and full effi¬ ciency of this simple and easily-available remedy. The fact appears to be placed beyond all doubt, that the mere grant, to the labourer, of a small piece of ground, at its full value, changes at once his position, his prospects, and his feelings. Kept, as is too frequently the case, in a position of constant misery, with insufficient food and clothing, and but miser¬ able shelter,—not merely for himself, but for his wife and children also ; and debarred the relief of even the smallest ray of hope, it is little wonder that the grief and rage of his heart should sometimes break forth, even in the destruction of the property of those who use his labour, but appear to care nothing for his sufferings. But a single glimpse of hope, The Bury and Norwich Post, Feb. 7, 1844. 258 REMEDIES t even the poor permission to cultivate a rood of land, at its full rent ,—a boon costing no¬ thing to his superiors, at once clears away the cloud of wrath, and changes him into a human and a reasonable being. Yet such is selfishness, and such the love of absolute power, that it would be foolish to expect that the mere proof of the excellence and desirableness of this system should at once secure its adoption. In too many instances the farmer will object that “ it makes the men sarcy ; ”—i. e., that it elevates them above the rank of paupers, and makes them no longer so entirely his slaves as they have been. In others, a jealous fear will suggest, that the men may rob him of manure, or may steal an odd half-hour of time for their own gardens; and upon surmises like these, the adoption of the system, in hundreds of instances, will be resolutely resisted. Among stewards and agents, also, a dislike will naturally be felt, of the increased trouble created by a crowd of petty tenants ; and a preference will be given to the substantial farmer, who punctually dis¬ charges his rent by a cheque on the nearest bank. With all these opposing influences, COTTAGE FARMS. 259 we dare not imagine that the mere excellence of the plan will carry it forward. Some power from without is needed, to press its adoption upon thousands of listless or unwilling parishes. For this reason we should have rejoiced at the adoption of Mr. Sadler’s measure ; which proposed to appoint, in every parish, one or more guardians or protectors of the poor; the clergyman being one; for the express purpose of providing the labourer with a proper dwelling, and with a piece of garden- ground. The said functionaries were to have been empowered to take, on lease or other¬ wise, a suitable piece of land for cottage- allotments ; and to make rules for the govern¬ ance of the same. Also, to build, or cause to'be built, any new cottages that might be needed; obtaining the requisite funds, if in no other way attainable, by application to the Exchequer-bill Commissioners. We need feel no wonder that a plan thus complete and effectual, startled by its novelty and extent, the majority of public men, and stood no change of being speedily carried. Yet we entirely believe that its immediate adoption, even now, would be, not only the 260 REMEDIES : most desirable on the whole, hut also the most prudent and cautious mode of operation that could be adopted. In the absence, however, of any such legis¬ lative provision, the next best course that presents itself, seems to he, the establishment of a board or committee, supplied, by public benevolence, with a few thousands of pounds, for the purpose of working out the allotment- system, first in the neighbourhood of London, and then in other public spots, where its operation may be brought under the closest inspection of the whole nation. It might then be hoped, that the attention directed to the subject, and the proved advantages of such a provision, might so impress landlords with the desirableness of its universal adop¬ tion, as to lead to an extension of the system over the length and breadth of the land. Let not, however, the view taken of the matter be a narrow one. We ask merely that the Cottage-Farm, as well as the Cottage- garden, should be admitted to be feasible, and in certain cases, desirable. The testimony of Mr. Jeston andMr.Lysons, is surely sufficient to establish this. But we may add the judg- COTTAGE FARMS. 261 ment of one otherand most competent witness, in the evidence of Dr. Greenup of Caine, given to Poor Law Commissioners, in their Enquiry on the Employment of women in Agriculture. Dr. G. says :— !< There are many things which might be done to raise the condition of the labourer ; but it must be more known than it is, before the absolute necessity of doing something will be allowed. Many people are exceedingly kind in relieving individual instances of dis¬ tress, who have no idea how widely spread the suffering is, and are, of course, content with relieving the cases they see; and, from the majority, nothing more can be expected than such charity. But the landowners have the power, in many instances, of raising the con¬ dition of the poor, by employments which would be very profitable to all parties. In riding about the country, I see much land ill- drained and half-cultivated, which, I am told by practical men, would return a profit of 12 to 15 per cent, on money properly laid out in improvements, and would employ all the labourers in the neighbourhood many years. This would give time for emigration to take 262 REMEDIES. effect, and for other means of profitable em¬ ployment to be acted upon, amongst which I am persuaded that properly managed cottage- farms would be very useful. A hundred acres in this neighbourhood, as now farmed, give employment to two, or at most three labourers; but if divided into cottage-farms of five acres each, and let under proper superintendence to steady labourers, would give employment to twenty men, or, taking the average of families, to one hundred persons. This is much more than would be required in most parishes, few having so many surplus labourers. And it would be the beginning of a gradation of holdings, a change much wanted. The allot* ment-systern does some good, bringing land profitably under the spade ; but its tendency is, I fear, not to raise wages. The cottage- farms might be made very useful if the tenants were carefully selected from the best labourers; and the evils of the Irish cottier system might be avoided by proper management. Thus the applicants for regular employment would be diminished, and the farmer, paying less poor- rates, would be more able to pay full wages to the remaining labourers.” CHAPTER X. REMEDIES : VI.—IMPROVEMENT OF THE DWELLINGS OP TUB POOR. This is a topic of great extent and importance; but it has already been so far discussed in the Perils of the Nation , as to render it unne¬ cessary and inadvisable for us to retrace the same ground. In general it may be stated, that for want of a due attention to this sub¬ ject, the labouring classes suffer the deepest injury in their Health, their Comfort, and their Morals. 1. The loss of Health is exhibited in the fol¬ lowing results, detailed in the Sanitary Report of the Poor Law Commissioners, 1842. “Of the deaths caused during one year in England and Wales by epidemic, endemic, and 264 REMEDIES t contagious diseases, including fever, typhus, and scarlatina, amounting to 56,461, the great proportion of which are proved to be preventible, it may he said that the effect is as if the whole county of Westmoreland, now containing 56,469 souls, or the whole county of Huntingdonshire, or any other equivalent district, were entirely depopulated annually, and were only occupied again by the growth of a new and feeble population living under the fears of a similar visitation. The annual slaughter in England and Wales from pre¬ ventible causes of typhus, which attacks persons in the vigour of life, appears to be double the amount of what was suffered by the Allied armies in the battle of Waterloo. The evidence appears to establish the fol¬ lowing conclusions: “ That the various forms of epidemic, en¬ demic, and other diseases, caused, or aggravated, or propagated chiefly amongst the labouring classes by atmospheric impurities produced by decomposing animal and vegetable substances, by damp and filth, and close and overcrowded * Sanitary Report of the Poor Law Commissioners, 8vo. pp. 3, 4. DWELLINGS OF THE POOR. 265 dwellings, prevail amongst the population in every part of the kingdom, whether dwelling in separate houses, in rural villages, in small towns, or in the larger towns—as they have been found to prevail in the lowest districts of the metropolis. “That such disease, wherever its attacks are frequent, is always found in connexion with the physical circumstances above speci¬ fied, and that where those circumstances are removed by drainage, proper cleansing, better ventilation, and other means of diminishing atmospheric impurity, the frequency and in¬ tensity of such disease is abated; and where the removal of the noxious agencies appears to be complete, such disease almost entirely disappears. “ That high prosperity in respect to em¬ ployment and wages, and various and abun¬ dant food, have afforded to the labouring classes no exemptions from attacks of epi¬ demic disease, which have been as frequent and as fatal in periods of commercial and manufacturing prosperity as in any others. “ That the formation of habits of cleanliness is obstructed by defective supplies of water. 266 REMEDIES : “ That the annual loss of life from filth and bad ventilation is greater than the loss from death or wounds in any wars in which the country has been engaged in modern times. “That of the 43,000 cases of widowhood, and 112,000 cases of destitute orphanage, re¬ lieved from the poor’s rate in England and Wales alone, it appears that the greatest pro¬ portion of deaths of the heads of families occurred from the above-specified and other removable causes; that their ages were under forty-five years; that is to say, thirteen years below the natural probabilities of life, as shown by the experience of the whole population of Sweden. “ That the public loss from the premature deaths of the heads of families is greater than can be represented by any enumeration of the pecuniary burdens consequent upon their sick¬ ness and death.”* Now if we admit these facts and conclu¬ sions,—and it seems impossible to question them,—then is the importance and the ur¬ gency of the case so great, as to create a feel- Sanitary Reports, p. 369. dwellings of the poor. 267 ing of wonder, that Parliament should meet, indulge in long political controversies ending in nothing, pass railway-bills, and separate, having sat for months, without paying the least attention to this fearful state of things! 2. The destruction of the Comfort of the la¬ bouring classes may appear of smaller impor¬ tance ; but it is one of the main causes of the next evil,—that of demoralization. If the home of the husband and the son be rendered thoroughly comfortless and dreary, what can be more inevitable than that they should prefer the jovial hearth of the beer-shop ? And if this can only be enjoyed by participat¬ ing in the guilt and hazard of poaching or smuggling, how strong is the temptation thus placed in the poor man’s path ! It is observed by one of the Assistant Poor Law Commissioners, that “ Nothing, perhaps, exercises a more important influence on the character of the labouring classes than the . comfort of their homes. I am satisfied that it is always better for a poor man to pay a somewhat higher rent for a substantial good cottage, than to submit to the degrading and filthy habits which are sure to arise from a N 2 268 REMEDIES : crowded and dilapidated tenement. A neat and tidy home is the most powerful counter- attraction to the beer-shop, and by its moral action on his character, as well as by money actually saved from the public-house, such a cottage far more than repays the larger proportion of his earnings which its rent consumes.”* The chairman of the Bedford union, C.L. Higgins, Esq., writes :— “ A man who comes home to a poor, com¬ fortless hovel after his day’s labour, and sees all miserable around him, has his spirits more often depressed than excited by it. He feels that, do his best, he shall be miserable still, and is too apt to fly for a temporary refuge to the ale-house or beer-shop. But give him the means of making himself comfortable by his own industry, and I am convinced by ex¬ perience that in many cases he will avail himself of it.”f The clerk to the Stafford union still more graphically describes the same case : “If we follow the agricultural labourer into * Sanitary Inquiry, p. 116. t Ibid. p. 128. DWELLINGS OF THE POOR. 269 his miserable dwelling, we shall find it consist¬ ing of two rooms only; the day-room, in addition to the family, contains the cooking utensils, the washing apparatus, agricultural implements, and dirty clothes, the windows broken and stuffed full of rags. In the sleep¬ ing apartment the parents and their children, boys and girls, are indiscriminately mixed, and frequently a lodger sleeping in the same and the only room; generally no window, the openings in the half-thatched roof admit light, and expose the family to every vicissitude of the weather—the liability of the children so situated to contagious maladies frequently plunges the family into the greatest misery. The husband, enjoying but little comfort under his own roof, resorts to the beer-shop, neg¬ lects the cultivation of his garden, and im¬ poverishes his family. The children are brought up without any regard to decency of behaviour, to habits of foresight, or self- restraint ; they make indifferent servants; the girls become the mothers of bastards, and return home a burden to their parents or to the.parish, and fill the workhouse. The boys spend the Christmas week’s holiday and their 270 wages in the beer-shop, and enter upon their new situation in rags : soon tired of the re¬ straint imposed upon them under the roof of their master, they leave his service before the termination of the year’s engagement, seek employment as day-labourers, not with a view of improving their condition, but with a desire to receive and spend their earnings weekly in the beer-shop ; associating with the worst of characters, they become tbe worst of labourers, resort to poaching, commit petty thefts, and add to the county rates by commitments and prosecutions.” # Now of the circumstances of discomfort too often met with in the cottage, let the fol¬ lowing instances serve as an example: The medical officer of the Romsey union, Mr. L. O. Fox, says, “In the parish of Mot- tisfont I have known 14 individuals of one family together in a small room, the mother being in labour at the time, and in the adjoin¬ ing room seven other persons sleeping; making 21 persons, in a space which should be occu¬ pied by six persons only at most. Here are Sanitary Inquiry, p. 130. DWELLINGS OF THE POOR. 271 the young woman and young man of 18 or 20 years of age lying alongside of the father and mother, and the latter actually in labour! It will be asked what is the condition of the inmates ?—Just such as might be expected.” * In the Leighton Buzzard report it is said, “ James W-occupies a house which has but one bedroom, and that a very small one, occupying which are himself and wife and six children, four girls and two boys, the eldest 26 years, the youngest five years; the two eldest girls have each had a bastard child, and one of them is near her confinement with the second. Fortunately no epidemic has yet ap¬ peared amongst those miserable places at Edlesborough ; should such a visitation occur, the consequences cannot be imagined.” Here is a description of an individual case, exhibiting the gradual degradation of cot¬ tagers formerly accustomed to better habits: “ ‘ Her attention to personal neatness,’ says a lady who is my informant, ‘ was very great; her face seemed always as if it were just washed, and with her bright hair neatlv * Sanitary Report, pp. 123, 124. f Sanitary Inquiry, p. 132. 272 REMEDIES : combed underneath her snow-white cap, a smooth white apron, and her gown and hand¬ kerchief carefully put on, she used to look very comely. After a year or two, she mar¬ ried the serving-man, who, as he was retained in his situation, was obliged to take a house as near his place as possible. The cottages in the neighbourhood were of the most wretched kind, mere hovels built of rough stones and covered with ragged thatch ; there were few even of these, so there was no choice, and they were obliged to be content with the first that was vacant, which was in the most retired situation. After they had been mar¬ ried about two years, I happened to be walking past one of these miserable cottages, and as the door was open, I had the curiosity to enter. I found it was the home of the ser¬ vant I have been describing. But what a change had come over her: Her face was dirty, and her tangled hair hung over her eyes. Her cap, though of good materials, was ill washed and slovenly put on. Her whole dress, though apparently good and service¬ able, was very untidy, and looked dirty and slatternly; every thing indeed about her DWELLINGS OF THE POOR. 2/3 seemed wretched and neglected, (except her little child), and she appeared very discon¬ tented. She seemed aware of the change there must be in her appearance since I had last seen her, for she immediately began to complain of her house. The wet came in at the door of the only room, and, when it rained, through every part of the roof also, except just over the hearth-stone; large drops fell upon her as she lay in bed, or as she was working at the window; in short, she had found it impossible to keep things in order, so had gradually ceased to make any exertions. Her condition had been borne down by the condition of the house. Then her husband was dissatisfied with his home and with her ; his visits became less frequent, and if he had been a day-labourer, and there had been a beer-shop or a public-house, the preference of that to his home would have been inevitable, and in the one instance would have presented an example of a multitude of cases.” ’ * Dr. Gilly thus describes a Northumberland cottage. Sanitary Report, p. 128. 274 REMEDIES : “ When the hind comes to take possession, he finds it no better than a shed. The wet, if it happens to rain, is making a puddle on the earth floor. Window-frame there is none. There is neither oven, nor copper, nor grate, nor shelf, nor fixture of any kind; all these things he has to bring with him, besides his ordinary articles of furniture. Imagine the trouble, the inconvenience, and the expense which the poor fellow and his wife have to encounter before they can put this shell of a hut into anything like a habitable form. This year I saw a family of eight—husband, wife, . two sons, and four daughters—who were in utter discomfort, and in despair of putting themselves in a decent condition, three or four weeks after they had come into one of these hovels. In vain did they try to stop up the crannies, and to fill up the holes in the floor, and to arrange their furniture in tolerably decent order, and to keep out the weather. Alas ! what will they not suffer in the winter! There will be no fireside enjoyment for them. They may huddle together for warmth, and heap coals on the fire; but they will have chilly beds and a damp hearth-stone; and the DWELLINGS OF THE POOR. •275 cold wind will sweep through the roof and window, and crazy door-place, in spite of all their endeavours to exclude it.” * The Rev. Sidney G. Osborne writes :— “Within this last year I saw, in a room about thirteen feet square, three beds: on the first lay the mother, a widow, dying of con¬ sumption ; on the second, two unmarried daughters, one eighteen years of age, the other twelve ; on the third, a young married couple, whom I myself had married two days before. A married woman, of thoroughly good character, told me, a few weeks ago, that on her confinement, so crowded with children is her one room, they are obliged to put her on the floor in the middle of the room, that they may pay her the requisite attention. She spoke of this as, to her, the most painful part of that her hour of trial. I do not choose to put on paper the disgusting scenes that I have known to occur from this promiscuous crowding of the sexes together.” '|' 3. But this brings us to the last point, —the' destruction of Moral Principles and feelings * Sanitary Report, p. 22. t Report of Employment in Agriculture, p. 73. 276 REMEDIES : which inevitably follow from such a mode of life. Of this the evidence is superabundant, and from all parts of the kingdom. Mr. Hart of Reigate, in Surrey, says:— “ The great difficulty is to say at what age brothers and sister do not sleep together in the same apartment, but generally until they leave home, be that at ever so late a period ; many cottages have but one room, and the whole family sleep in one bed. I have often when taking the examination of a sick man with a magistrate, an occasion which has more often taken me into a cottage than any other, observed upon this, and I consider its effects most demoralizing.” * Mr. Fisher, of Blandford, states :— “ I think generally the habits of the peo¬ ple are worse, and the manners of the women especially, where the accommodation of the cottages is bad. Milton Abbas, I think, is a place where the character of the population is decidedly inferior. On the average, at the late census, there were thirty-six persons in each separate house. The houses there are * Rejiorl of Employment in Agriculture, pp. 148, 149. DWELLINGS OF THE POOR. 277 all built on one plan, each containing two dwellings with four rooms. In most of these dwellings there are two families, that is to say, on the average a family of nine to every two rooms. Stourpaine is another vil¬ lage where the population is very thick, the cottages comparatively few, and in a miserable state, and the people crowded together. In that village there are more bastard children than in any other village of the same size in the union of Winterborne. Kingston is an¬ other village where there is similar want of accommodation, and where you may see open stagnant drains, pools, and filth of all descrip¬ tions, and the character of the people is simi lar to these external appearances. “ Throughout the whole union there appears to me to be a great want of cottages ; very few have been built for many years, whilst the population has gone on increasing. The villages are overflowing, which produces great demoralization.” * Dr. Gilly says— “ How they lie down to rest, how they sleep, how they can preserve common de- * Report of r 11 j t in Agriculture, p. 87. 278 REMEDIES : cency, how unutterable horrors are avoided, is beyond all conception. The case is aggra¬ vated when there is a young woman to be lodged in this confined space who is not a member of the family, but is hired to do the field-work, for which every hind is bound to provide a female. It shocks every feeling of propriety to think that in a room, and within such a space as I have been describing, civi¬ lized beings should be herding together with¬ out a decent separation of age and sex. So long as the agricultural system in this district requires the hind to find room for a fellow- servant of the other sex in his cabin, the least that morality and decency can demand is that he should have a second apartment where the unmarried female and those of a tender age should sleep apart from him and his wife. Last Whitsuntide, when the annual lettings were taking place, a hind, who had lived one year in the hovel he was about to quit, called to say farewell, and to thank me for some trifling kindness 1 had been able to show him. He was a fine tall man of about 45, a fair spe¬ cimen of the frank, sensible, well-spoken, well-informed Northumbrian peasantry—of DWELLINGS OF THE POOR. 279 that peasantry of which a militia regiment was composed, which so amazed the Lon¬ doners (when it was garrisoned in the capital many years ago) by the size* the noble de¬ portment, the soldier-like bearing, and the good conduct of the men. I thought this a good opportunity of asking some questions. Where was he going ? and how would he dis¬ pose of his large family (eleven in number) ? He told me they were to inhabit one of these hind’s cottages, whose narrow dimensions were less than 24 feet by 15, and that the eleven would have only three beds to sleep on ; that he himself, his wife, a daughter of 6, and a boy of 4 years old, would sleep in one bed ; that a daughter of 18, a son of twelve, a son of 10, and a daughter of 8, would have a second bed; and a third would receive his three sons of the age of 20, 16, and 14. ‘ Pray,’ said I, ‘ do you not think that this is a very improper way of disposing of your family ? ’ ‘ Yes, certainly,’ was the answer ; ‘ it is very improper in a Christian point of view; but what can we do until they build us better houses ?”* * Sanitary R