not amount to what might easily be performed by a single labourer working at taskwork.

“A surplus population is encouraged,-men who receive but a small pittance know that they have only to marry, and that pittance will be increased proportionally to the number of their children. Hence the supply of labour is by no means regulated by the demand; and parishes are burdened with thirty, forty, and fifty labourers, for whom they can find no employment, and who serve to depress the situation of all their follow-labourers in the same parish. An intel ligent witness, who is much in the habit of employing labourers, states, that when complaining of their allowance they frequently say to him, We will marry, and then you must maintain us. "This system secures subsistence to all; to the idle as well as to the industrious; to the profligate as well as the sober; and as far as human interests are concerned, all inducements to obtain a good character are taken away. The effects have corresponded with the cause;able-bodied men are found slovenly at their work, and dissolute in their hours of relaxation; a father is negligent of his children; the children do not think it necessary to contribute to the sup port of their parents; the employers and the employed are engaged in perpetual quarrels: and the pauper, always relieved, is always discontented: crime advances with increasing boldness; and the parts of the country where this system prevails are, in spite of our gaols and our laws, filled with poachers and thieves."—pp. 3, 4.

The wages of labour in the southern counties, where this system is in full operation, are not only extremely different in different parishes, but are universally very much below their level in the northern counties, to which, fortunately, this pestilence has not yet extended. Thus it is stated in the Report to which we have now referred, that in many parishes of Kent, Suffolk, Bedford, Essex, Norfolk, etc., wages were, in 1824, as low as 6d. a-day, or 3s. a-week; that in others they amounted to 48. and 58.; in others again to 68.; and in some they rose as high as 98., which was the maximum; while in Northumberland, Cumberland, Lancashire, and other northern counties still free from this contamination, wages fluctuated from 128. to 158. a-week.

In his evidence before the Emigration Committee, Mr. Hodges, Chairman of the West Kent Quarter Sessions, says, "Formerly working people usually staid in service till they were twenty-five, thirty, or thirty-five years of age, before they married; whereas they now marry frequently under age. Formerly these persons had saved 407. or 507. before they married, and they were never burdensome to the parish." And in another place he says, that now, they have not saved a shilling before their marriage, and become immediately burdensome!"

66

There is one circumstance connected with the allowance system, which has rendered the farmers less anxious to get rid of it than might at first he supposed. Had the burden of the rates fallen wholly on them, whatever they might have gained by a reduction of wages below the tabular allowance would have been lost by a corresponding rise of the rates but although there can be no doubt that, owing to the stimulus it has given to population, and the premium it holds out to idleness, the sum that is now paid by the farmers in rates and wages taken together is very decidedly greater than they would have had to pay for labour had the allowance system never been in operation, it has, notwithstanding, led many of them to suppose that it was advantageous to them, by obliging others to pay a part of the wages of their labourers. By combining together, as they almost uniformly do, the farmers in agricultural parishes can reduce the rate of wages to any lim they please. They are enabled to do this, because the parish, by granting such a supplementary allowance to the labourer as will support him a his family, prevents him from emigrating to another district, as he would most certainly do, were his employers to attempt artificially to depress his

wages in a country unfettered by this system. And as the supplementary allowance paid the labourers by the parish is derived from a tax laid indiscriminately on all fixed property, its effect is to force the occupiers of villas, as well as shopkeepers, tradesmen, etc., or those who do not employ labourers, to pay a portion of the wages of those who do; and thus to place every farmer who might be disposed to act on a more liberal system, in a relatively disadvantageous situation! The farmers are, in this way, led to encourage a system which fraudulently imposes a heavy burden upon others; and which, by degrading the labourers, and multiplying their number beyond the real demand for them, must, if allowed to run its full course, ultimately overspread the whole country with the most abject poverty and wretchedness.†

*

*

It must be obvious to every one, that if we would avert the plague of universal poverty from the land, a vigorous effort must be made to counteract this system. It is said, that the most effectual method for the accomplishment of this desirable object would be, to enact that no able-bodied labourer should in future be entitled to parish relief. It may be doubted, however, whether such a plan could, in the existing circumstances of the country, be carried into effect; and there can be no doubt that the evil may be checked by less violent means. All, in fact, that is indispensable is, to revert to the system established previously to 1795; to abolish every vestige of the allowance system; and to enact that no able-bodied labourer shall henceforth be entitled to relief unless he choose to accept it in workhouses conducted in the mode already explained. Such a system would shut the flood-gates of pauperism, and would tend to improve the habits of the poor, to lessen their numbers, and to raise them in the scale of society.

But there are several other highly important measures that ought to be adopted, in order the more effectually to arrest the progress of pauperism. There was nothing, as we have already seen, that formerly contributed so much to prevent the too rapid increase of population, as the efforts made by the landlords and farmers to prevent the erection of cottages. But since 1795 a very great change has taken place in this respect. In the counties of Suffolk, Sussex, Kent, and generally, indeed, through all the south of England, the parish officers are in the custom of undertaking to pay the rent of the cottages occupied by the poor; and, in consequence, persons who possess small pieces of ground are tempted to cover them with cottages, the sum which they have to pay to the rates being a mere trifle, compared with the profits which they make from letting the cottages on advantageous terms to the parish. Mr. Hodges, chairman of the West Kent Quarter Sessions, Mr. Curteis, member for Sussex, Mr. Burrel, member for Suffolk, Mr. Cosway, etc., gentlemen who have had the best possible opportunities for forming a correct opinion on this point, stated, in their evidence before the Emigration Committee, that there had been a very great increase of cottages of late years, and that this increase had contributed, in no ordinary degree, to increase the number of the poor. Mr. Hodges gave it as his clear opinion, that unless a stop were put to the increase of cottages, all other regulations with respect to the poor would be absolutely nugatory.

In support of these statements, the Reviewer quotes a Memorial of the Magistrates of Suffolk to the Committee of the House of Commons on the Poor Laws, in 1817, in which the mischiefs arising from the fraudulent operation of the allowance system are placed in a striking point of view.

VOL. VI.

13

I cannot forbear," said this very intelligent gentleman, "urging again, that any measure having for its object the relief of parishes from their overpopulation, must of necessity become perfectly useless, unless the Act of Parliament contain some regulations with respect to the erecting and maintaining of cottages. I am quite satisfied that the erection of collages has been a most serious evil throughout the country. The getting of a cottage tempts young people of seventeen and eighteen years of age, and even younger, to marry. It is notorious that almost numberless cottages have been built by persons speculating on the parish rates for their rents."*

Can any one doubt for a moment that the legislature is bound to put an end to this practice? The parish officers should be interdicted from contributing any thing whatever to the payment of the rent of a cottage occupied by an able-bodied labourer. But this, of itself, would not be enough. We concur entirely in opinion with Mr. Hodges, Mr. Curteis, and Mr. Cosway, that the trade of building "beggars' nests" is not one that deserves to be encouraged; and we also agree with them in thinking, that, in order to check it, cottages ought either to be universally subjected to a pretty heavy tax, to be, in all cases, levied from the proprietor and made payable to government, or that parishes should be authorized to impose such an assessment as they think proper on the proprietors of cottages, in aid of the rates. It is not to be endured, that the owner of a few acres should be permitted to enrich himself by founding a colony of beggars, which must be maintained at the expense of the landlords and occupiers of the parish. Such an abuse calls for immediate and effectual redress.

It is also deserving of consideration, whether the power now possessed by the magistrates, of revising the proceedings of parishes, and of the overseers appointed by them, and ordering the poor relief in cases in which it is refused by the latter, ought to be continued. And it seems also highly expedient that the existing law of bastardy should be reviewed; and that the premium that is now given to those who commit a faux pas should be considerably diminished.

But, supposing all the measures we have now proposed were adopted, still they would not be enough to arrest the progress of pauperism. The poor of England have suffered much and deeply from the change made in the administration of the Poor Laws in 1795; but of late years they have suffered still more from the influx of Irish paupers. Great Britain has been overrun by half-famished hordes, that have, by their competition, lessened the wages of labour, and, by their example, degraded the habits and lowered the opinions of the people with respect to subsistence. But great as the mischief is that has already been occasioned by this barbarian emigration, it is trifling indeed to what we may confidently predict will be produced by it, if no efforts be made to put a stop to it. The facilities of conveyance afforded by steam navigation are such, that the merest beggar, provided he can command a sixpence, may get himself carried from Ireland to England. And when such is the fact,-when what may, almost without a metaphor, be termed floating-bridges, have been established between Belfast and Glasgow, and Dublin and Liverpool,-does any one suppose, that if no artificial obstacles be thrown in the way of emigration, or if no efforts be made to provide an outlet in some other quarter for the pauper population of Ireland, we shall escape being overrun by it? It is not con

*First Report, Appendix, pp. 136, 185.

ceivable that, with the existing means of intercourse, wages should continue to be, at an average, 20d. a-day in England, and only 4d. or 5d. in Ireland. So long as the Irish paupers find that they can improve their condition by coming to England, thither they will come. At this very moment,

five or six millions of beggars are all of them turning their eyes, and many of them directing their steps, to this land of promise! The locusts that "will eat up every blade of grass, and every green thing," are already on the wing. The danger is great and imminent; and can only be averted by the prompt adoption of the most decisive measures.

It is the bounden duty of government to organise measures calculated to raise the people of Ireland from the abyss of poverty and destitution into which they have sunk. But these measures, how judiciously soever they may be devised, must necessarily be slow in their operation. No very immediate change, either in the habits or circumstances of the Irish people, can be expected to result from them. Years must elapse before their influence can be very sensibly felt. It is idle, therefore, to trust to them for protection from a pressing and immediate calamity. We must resort to a less circuitous system. Seeing that we cannot raise the people of Ireland to the same level as those of Britain, we are bound to take effectual precautions to prevent them from bringing the latter down to their own. The salus populi imperiously requires that an end should be put to the farther influx of Irish paupers. It is in vain to palter with so great an evil. The present state of things is destructive of the happiness and comfort of the people of Britain, without being, of the least advantage to Ireland. A law should, therefore, be enacted, to prevent any individual coming from Ireland to Britain without a passport; and the custom-house officers ought to be instructed to refuse passports to all who cannot establish, by satisfactory evidence, that they belong to some other class than that of labourers, or that they have some other object in view in visiting Britain, than that of employing themselves as labourers. The same thing might, perhaps, be more easily effected by imposing a pretty heavy tax on all passengers, and making the owners of vessels responsible for its payment. But, however the object may be attained, we hold that it is indispensable that a slop should be put to the farther emigration of paupers. When the people of Ireland have been raised to something like the same level as those of England, the freest intercourse may be allowed between the two countries. Till then, however, we must stand on the defensive. Justice to ourselves requires that we should erect a bulwark, capable of throwing back the tide. of poverty that is now setting so strongly against us.

At present we have neither time nor space to enter upon any discussion of the means that ought to be adopted for improving the condition of Ireland. But the more we consider the subject, the more firmly are we convinced of the propriety of encouraging emigration, on a very large scale, to our trans-atlantic possessions; and of defraying the cost of that emigration, partly by a tax on the rent of land, and partly and chiefly by a heavy tax on cottages, to be in every instance paid by the proprietor. The thanks of the country are justly due to Mr. Wilmot Horton, for the great zeal, talent, and perseverance which he has displayed in bringing the question of emigration fully and fairly before the public. We hope he will not be disconcerted by the little interest the subject seems to have excited in the House of Commons. He may be assured that it will, at no distant period, force itself upon the consideration even of the most callous and indifferent.

The clamour that has of late been raised against the proceedings of the landlords of Ireland, under the subletting act, appears to us to be utterly without foundation. The circumstances of the country are unfortunately such as to prevent the provisions of that wise aud excellent statute from being rapidly carried into effect. It is, in most cases, impossible to act upon it; and we are much afraid that many landlords will not think it for their advantage to enforce it, even though they had the power. For this reason Government ought to interfere, by assisting and stimulating the landlords to remove the surplus population that is at present hutted upon their estates; and, when this is done, such measures ought to be adopted as will render it for the interest of the landlords to exert themselves to the utmost to prevent the recurrence of the evil. If Government do not interfere, there is but too much reason to fear that the subletting act will become a mere dead letter. And if so, there will no longer be any means of setting bounds to that endless division and subdivision of the land, which has been and is the curse of Ireland. The numbers and the misery of the population will go on increasing, until the whole country, from the Giant's Causeway to Cape Clear, be overspread with potato beds, and hordes of half-naked and halfstarved savages.*

CAUSES AND CURE OF DISTURBANCES AND PAUPERISM. †

THE outrages that have broken out during the last few months among the peasantry of the southern counties of England-their tumultuary assemblages the terms they have dictated to their employers-their attacks upon machinery-the repeated instances that have occurred of incendiarism

(with which there is but too much reason to suppose that some of the labourers have been connected)-and the proceedings under the late Special Commission, afford topics of deep and painful interest. But much as these outrages are to be regretted, evincing, as they do, the existence of great irritation, distress, and ignorance, it is some satisfaction to know that the sphere to which they have extended is but of limited extent. The northern, and most of the midland counties, have been perfectly tranquil : and though, in such a complicated system as ours, it is impossible, perhaps. to fix on any period in which some important business is not depressed. and those dependent upon it involved in distress, which is always the most prolific source of disorder, we are bold to affirm, that at no former period has industry been in a healthier condition. Most sorts of farm produce bring good prices. Our manufactures are all in a state of activity, and most classes of workmen receive high wages. To whatever causes, there

fore, the distress of the peasantry in some districts of the South, and the outrages that have been perpetrated, may be ascribed, they must be of a local and partial character. Had it been otherwise, Northumberland and

Here follows a Table, containing an Account of Money raised by Poor's Rates, &c., withi the Years 1813, 1814, and 1815. See page 330.

Three Lectures on the Rate of Wages, with a Preface on the Causes of the present Distur bances. By N. W. Senior, Esq. 2. State of the Nation at the Close of 1830. By T. Potte Macqueen, Esq. 3. Bill to facilitate Emigration to his Majesty's Possessions abroad, ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 22d February, 1831. 4. Bill to amend the Laws in Englar relative to Game, ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 15th February, 1831.-Vol. Li p. 43. March, 1831.