# An Enquiry into the Causes of the late Increase of Robbers/Section 4

SECT. IV.
Of the Laws that relate to the Provision for the Poor.
Having now run through the several immediate Consequences of a general Luxury among the lower People, all which, as they tend to promote their Distresses, may be reasonably supposed to put many of them of the bolder Kind upon unlawful and violent Means of relieving the Mischief which such Vices have brought upon them; I come now to a second Cause of the Evil, in the improper Regulation of what is called the Poor in this Kingdom, arising, I think, partly from the Abuse of some Laws, and partly from the total Neglect of others; and (if I may presume to say it) somewhat perhaps from a Defect in the Laws themselves.
It must be a Matter of Astonishment to any Man to reflect, that in a Country where the Poor are, beyond all Comparison, more liberally provided for than in any other Part of the habitable Globe, there should be found more Beggars, more distrest and miserable Objects than are to be seen throughout all the States of Europe.
And yet undoubted as this Fact is, I am far from agreeing with Mr. Shaw, who says, 'There are few, if any Nations or Countries where the Poor are more neglected, or are in a more scandalous nasty Condition than in England. Whether (says he) this is owing to that natural inbred Cruelty for which Englishmen are so much noted among Foreigners, or to that Medley of Religions which are so plentifully sown, and so carefully cherished among us; who think it enough to take Care of themselves, and take a secret Pride and Pleasure in the Poverty and Distresses of those of another Persuasion, &c.'
That the Poor are in a very nasty and scandalous Condition is, perhaps, too true; but sure the general Charge against the People of England, as well as the invidious Aspersion on particular Bodies of them, is highly unjust and groundless. Nor do I know that any Nation hath ventured to fix this Character of Cruelty on us. Indeed our Inhospitality to Foreigners hath been sometimes remarked; but that we are cruel to one another is not, I believe, the common, I am sure it is not the true Opinion. Can a general Neglect of the Poor be justly charged on a Nation in which the Poor are provided for by a Tax frequently equal to what is called the Land-Tax, and where there are such numerous Instances of private Donations, such Numbers of Hospitals, Alms-houses, and charitable Provisions of all Kinds?
Nor can any such Neglect be charged on the Legislature; under whose Inspection this Branch of Polity hath been almost continually from the Days of Queen Elizabeth to the present Time. Insomuch that Mr. Shaw himself enumerates no less than thirteen Acts of Parliament relating to the indigent and helpless Poor.
If therefore there be still any Deficiency in this Respect, it must, I think, arise from one of the three Causes abovementioned; that is, from some Defect in the Laws themselves, or from the Perversion of these Laws; or, lastly, from the Neglect in their Execution.
I will consider all these with some Attention.
The 43d of Eliz. enacts:
First, That the Churchwardens of every Parish, and two substantial Householders at least, shall be yearly appointed to be Overseers of the Poor.
Secondly, That these Overseers shall, with the Consent of two Justices of the Peace, put out Apprentices the Children of poor People. And all married or unmarried Persons, who have no Means or Trade to maintain themselves, shall be put to Work.
Thirdly, That they shall raise, by a Parochial Tax, a convenient Stock of Flax, Hemp, Wool, Thread, Iron, and other Ware and Stuff, to set the Poor to Work.
Fourthly, That they shall, from the same Tax, provide towards the necessary Relief of the Lame, Impotent, Old, Blind, and others, being Poor, and not able to work.
Fifthly, That they shall, out of the same Tax, put the Children of poor Persons Apprentices.
That these Provisions may all be executed, that Act vested the Overseers with the following Powers; and enforced the executing them by the following Penalties.
I. The Overseers are appointed to meet once at least every Month in the Church after Divine Service; there, says the Act, to consider of some good Course to be taken, and some meet Order to be set down in the Premises. And to do this they are enjoined by a Penalty: For every one absenting himself from such Meeting, without a just Excuse, to be allowed by two Justices of the Peace, or being negligent in his Office, or in the Execution of the Orders aforesaid, forfeits 20s.
And after the End of their Year, and after other Overseers nominated, they are, within four Days, to make and yield up to two Justices of the Peace a true and perfect Account of all Sums of Money by them received or assessed, and of such Stores as shall be in their Hands, or in the Hands of the Poor to work, and of all other Things concerning their Office, &c. And if the Churchwardens and Overseers refuse to account, they are to be committed by two Justices till they shall have made a true Account.
II. The Overseers and Churchwardens, both present and subsequent, are empowered, by Warrant from two Justices, to levy all the Monies assessed, and all Arrearages of those who refuse to pay, by Distress and Sale of the Refusers Goods; and the subsequent Overseers may, in the same manner, levy the Money and Stock in the Hands of the Precedent: And for Want of Distress, the Party is to be committed by two Justices, without Bail, till the same be paid.
III. They have a Power to compel the Poor to work; and such as refuse or neglect, the Justice may commit to the House of Correction or common Gaol.
IV. The Overseers may compel Children to be Apprentices, and may bind them where they shall see convenient; till the Man-child shall attain the Age of 24, or the Woman-child the Age of 21, or till the Time of her Marriage; the Indenture to be as effectual to all Purposes as the Covenant of one of full Age.
V. They have a Power to contract with the Lord of the Manor, and on any Parcel of Ground on the Waste, to erect, at the general Charge of the Parish, convenient Houses of Dwelling for the impotent Poor; and to place several Inmates in the same Cottage, notwithstanding the Statute of Cottages.
VI. They can compel the Father and Grandfather, Mother and Grandmother, and Children of every poor, old, blind, and impotent Person, or of any other Person not being able to work (provided such Father, &c. be of sufficient Ability) at their own Charges to relieve and maintain such poor Person in such Manner and after such Rate, as shall be assessed by the Sessions, under the Penalty of 20s. for every Month's Omission.
VII. If no Overseers be named, every Justice within the Division forfeits 5l.
So far this Statute of Elizabeth, by which the Legislature may seem very fully to have provided, first, For the absolute Relief of such Poor as are, by Age or Infirmity, rendered unable to work; and, secondly, For the Employment of such as are able.
The former of these, says Lord Hale, in his Discourse on this Subject, 'seems to be a Charity of more immediate Exigence; but the latter (viz. the Employment of the Poor) is a Charity of greater Extent, and of very great and important Consequence to the public Wealth and Peace of the Kingdom, as also to the Benefit and Advantage of the Poor.' And this, as Mr. Shaw observes, 'would prevent the Children of our Poor being brought up in Laziness and Beggary, whereby Beggary is entailed from Generation to Generation: This is certainly the greatest Charity; for though he who gives to any in Want, does well, yet he who employs and educates the Poor, so as to render them useful to the Public does better; for that would be many hundred thousand Pounds per Ann. Benefit to this Kingdom.'
Now the former of these Provisions hath, perhaps, though in a very slovenly and inadequate Manner, been partly carried into Execution; but the latter, I am afraid I may too boldly assert, hath been utterly neglected and disregarded. Surely this is a most scandalous Perversion of the Design of the Legislature, which through the whole Statute seems to have had the Employment of the able Poor chiefly under their Consideration. For to this purpose only almost every power in it is established, and every Clause very manifestly directed. To say the Truth, as this Law hath been perverted in the Execution, it were, perhaps, to be wished it had never been made. Not because it is not our Duty to relieve real Objects of Distress; but because it is so much the Duty of every Man, and I may add, so much the Inclination of most Englishmen, that it might have been safely left to private Charity; or a public Provision might surely have been made for it in a much cheaper and more effectual Manner.
To prove the Abuse of this Law, my Lord Hale appeals to all the populous Parishes in England, (he might, I believe, have included some which are not over populous) 'Indeed, says he, there are Rates made for the Relief of the impotent Poor; and it may be the same Relief is also given in a narrow Measure unto some others that have great Families, and upon this they live miserably, and at best from hand to mouth; and if they cannot get Work to make out their Livelihood, they and their Children set up a Trade of Begging at best; but it is rare to see any Provision of a Stock in any Parish for the Relief of the Poor; and the Reasons are principally there: 1. The Generality of People that are able, are yet unwilling, to exceed the present necessary Charge; they do choose to live for an Hour, rather than project for the future; and although possibly trebling their Exhibition in one gross Sum at the Beginning of the Year, to raise a Stock, might in all probability render their future yearly Payments, for seven Years together, less by Half, or Two thirds, than what must be without it, yet they had rather continue on their yearly Payments, Year after Year, tho' it exhaust them in time, and make the Poor nothing the better at the Year's end. 2. Because those Places, where there are most Poor, consist for the most Part of Tradesmen whose Estates lie principally in their Stocks, which they will not endure to be searched into to make them contributary to raise any considerable Stock for the Poor, nor indeed so much as to the ordinary Contributions: But they lay all the Rates to the Poor upon the Rents of Lands and Houses, which alone, without the Help of the Stocks, are not able to raise a Stock for the Poor, although it is very plain that Stocks are as well by Law rateable as Lands, both to the Relief and raising a Stock for the Poor. 3. Because the Churchwardens and Overseers, to whom this Power is given, are Inhabitants of the same Parish, and are either unwilling to charge themselves or to displease their Neighbours in charging more than they needs must towards the Poor: And although it were to be wished and hoped that the Justices of the Peace would be forward to enforce them if they might, though it may concern them also in point of present Profit; yet if they would do any thing herein, they are not empowered to compel the Churchwardens and Overseers to do it, who most certainly will never go about it to burden, as they think, themselves, and displease their Neighbours, unless some compulsory Power were not only lodged by Law, but also executed by some that may have a Power over them to enforce it; or to do it, if they do it either partially or too sparingly. 4. Because People do not consider the Inconvenience that will in Time grow to themselves by this Neglect, and the Benefit that would in a little Time accrue to them by putting it in Practice, if they would have but a little Patience.'
To these I will add a fifth Reason: Because the Churchwardens and Overseers are too apt to consider their Office as a Matter of private Emolument; to waste Part of the Money raised for the Use of the Poor in Feasting and Riot; and too often to pervert the Power given them by the Statute to foreign, and sometimes to the very worst of Purposes.
The above Considerations bring my Lord Hale to complain of some Defects in the Law itself; 'in which,' says he, 'there is no Power from the Justices of the Peace, nor any superintendent Power, to compel the raising of a Stock where the Churchwardens and Overseers neglect it.
'The Act chargeth every Parish apart, where it may be they are liable to do little towards it; neither would it be so effectual as if three, four, five, or more contiguous Parishes did contribute towards the raising of a Stock proportionably to their Poor respectively.
'There is no Power for hiring or erecting a common House, or Place, for their common Workhouse; which may be, in some Respects, and upon some Occasions, useful and necessary.'
As to the first of these, I do not find any Alteration hath been made, nor if there was, might it possibly produce any desired Effect. The Consequence, as it appears, would be only making Churchwardens of the Justices of the Peace, which many of them are already, not highly to the Satisfaction of their Parishes; too much Power vested in one Man being too apt perhaps to beget Envy.
The second and third do pretty near amount to one and the same Defect; And this, I think, is iat present totally removed. Indeed, in my Lord Hale's own Time, though probably after he had written this Treatise, a Workhouse was erected in London under the Powers given by the Statute made in the 13 and 14 of Charles II. and I believe with very good Success.
Since that Time other Corporations have followed the Example, as the City of Bristot in the Reign of King William, and that of Worcester in the Reign of Quen Anne, and in other Places.
And now by a late Statute, made in the Reign of King George I. the Power of erecting Workhouses is made general over the Kingdom.
Now either this Method, proposed by Lord Hale, is inadequate to the Purpose; or this Act of Parliament hath been grosly perverted: For certain it is that the Evil is not removed, if indeed it be lessened, by the Erection of Workhouses. Perhaps, indeed, one Objection which my Lord Hale makes to the Statute of Eliz. may here recur, seeing that there is nothing compulsory, but all left to the Will and Direction of the Inhabitants.
But in Truth the Method itself will never produce the desired Effect, as the excellent Sir Josiah Child well observes,—'It may be objected, says he, that this Work (the Provision for the Poor) may as well be done in distinct Parishes, if all Parishes were obliged to build Workhouses, and employ their Poor therein, as Dorchester and some others have done with good Success. I answer, that such Attempts have been made in many Places to my Knowledge, with very good Intents and strenuous Endeavours, but all that I ever heard of proved vain and ineffectual.' For the Truth of which, I believe, we may appeal to common Experience.
And, perhaps, no less ineffectual would be the Scheme, proposed by this worthy Gentleman, tho' it seems to promise fairer than that of the learned Chief Justice; yet neither of them seem to strike at the Root of the Evil. Before I deliver any Sentiments of my own, I shall briefly take a View of the many subsequent Provisions with which the Legislature have from Time to Time enforced and strengthened the foregoing Statute of Elizabeth.
The Power of putting out Children Apprentices is enforced by the 3d of Charles I. which enacts, 'that all Persons to whom the Overseers shall bind Children by Virtue of the Statute of Eliz. may receive and keep them as Apprentices.' But there yet wanted, as Lord Hale says, a sufficient Compulsory for Persons to take them; wherefore it is enacted, by 8 and 9 Will. III. 'That all Persons to whom Apprentices are appointed to be bound by the Overseers with the Consent of the Justices, shall receive them, and execute the other Part of the Indenture, under the Penalty of 10l. for refusing, to be recovered before two Justices, on the Oath of one of the Churchwardens or Overseers.'
The Power of setting the Poor to Work is enlarged by 3 Charles I. This Act gives the Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor a Power, with the Consent of two Justices, or of one, if no more Justices shall be within their Limits, to set up and occupy any Trade for the setting the Poor to work.
The Power of relieving the impotent Poor (i.e. of distributing the public Money) the only one which hath much exercised the Minds of the Parish Officers, the Legislature seems to think rather wanted restraining than enlarging; accordingly, in the Reign of King William they made an Act to limit the Power of the Officers in this Respect. As the Act contains the Sense of Parliament of the horrid Abuse of the Statute of Elizabeth, I will transcribe Part of a Paragraph from it verbatim.
'And whereas many Inconveniences do daily arise in Cities, Towns Corporate, and Parishes, where the Inhabitants are very numerous by Reason of the unlimited Power of the Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor, who do frequently upon frivolous Pretences (but chiefly for their own private Ends) give Relief to what Persons and Number they think fit, and such Persons being entered into the Collection Bill, do become after that a great Charge to the Parish, nowithstanding the Occasion or Pretence of their Collection oftentimes ceases, by which Means the Rates for the Poor are daily increased, contrary to the true Intent of a Statute made in the 43d Year of the Reign of her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, intitled, An Act for the Relief of the Poor; for remedying of which, the Statute enacts that for the future, a Book shall be provided and kept in every Parish (at the Charge of the same Parish) wherein the Names of all Persons receiving Collection, &c. shall be registered, with the Day and Year of their first receiving it. This Book to be yearly, or oftener, viewed by the Parishioners, and the Names of the Persons who receive Collection shall be called over, and the Reason of the receiving it examined, and a new Lift made; and no other Person is allowed to receive Collection but by Order of a Justice of the Peace, &c. except in case of pestilential Diseases or Small Pox.'
The 8th and 9th of the same King, reciting the Fear of the Legislature, that the Money raised only for the Relief of such as are as well impotent as poor, should be misapplied and consumed by the idle, sturdy, and disorderly Beggars, 'enacts that every Person, his Wife, Children, &c. who shall receive Relief from the Parish shall wear a Badge marked with the Letter P, &c. in Default of which, a Justice of Peace may order the Relief of such Persons to be abridged, suspended, or withdrawn, or may commit them for 21 Days to the House of Correction, there to be kept to hard Labour. And every Churchwarden or Overseer who relieves any one without such a Badge, being convicted before one Justice, forfeits 20s.'
Whether the Justices made an ill Use of the Power given them by the Statute of the 3d and 4th of King William, I will not determine; but the Parliament thought proper afterwards to abridge it; for by the 9th of George I. the Justices are forbidden 'to make any Order for the Relief of a poor Person, 'till Oath is first made of a reasonable Cause; and that Application hath been made to the Parishioners at the Vestry, or to two Officers, and that Relief hath been refused. Nor can the Justice then give his Order, till he hath summoned the Overseers to shew cause why Relief should not be given.'
By the same Statute, 'Those Persons to whom the Justices order Relief, are to be registered in the Parish Books, as long only as the Cause of the Relief continues. Nor shall any Parish Officer be allowed any Money given to the unregistered Poor, unless on the most emergent Occasion. The Penalty for charging such Money to the Parish Account is 5l. The Conviction is to be before two Justices.'
Lastly, That the Parish may in all possible Cases be relieved from the Burden of the Poor, whereas the Statute of Elizabeth obliges the Father, Mother, &c. and Children, if able, to relieve their poor Children and Parents; so, by the 5th of George I. it is provided, 'That where any Wife or Child shall be left by the Husband or Parents a Charge to any Parish, the Churchwardens or Overseers may, by the Order of two Justices, seize so much of the Goods and Chattels, and receive so much of the annual Rents and Profits of the Lands and Tenements of such Husband or Parent, as the Justices shall order, towards the Discharge of the Parish; and the Sessions may empower the Churchwardens and Overseers, to dispose thereof, for the providing for the Wife and bringing up the Children, &c.'
Such is the Law that relates immediately to the Maintenance of the impotent Poor; a Law so very ample in its Provision, so strongly fortified with enforcing Powers, and so cautiously limited with all proper Restraints, that, at first Sight, it appears sufficiently adequate to every purpose for which it was intended, but Experience hath convinced us of the contrary.
And here I am well aware of the delicate Dilemma to which I may seem reduced; since how shall I presume to suppose any Defects in a Law, which the Legislature seems to have laboured with such incessant Diligence? But I am not absolutely driven to this disagreeable Necessity, as the Fault may so fairly be imputed to the Non-execution of the Law; and indeed to the ill Execution of the Statute of Elizabeth, my Lord Chief Justice Hale chiefly imputes the imperfect Provision for the Poor in his Time.
Sir Josiah Child, it is true, speaks more boldly, and charges the Defects on the Laws themselves: One general Position, however, which he lays down, That there never was a good Law made, that was not well executed, is surely very questionable. So therefore must be his Opinion, if founded on that Maxim; and this Opinion, perhaps, he would have changed, had he lived to see the later Constitutions on this Head.
But whatever Defects there may be in the Laws, or in the Execution of them, I much doubt whether either of these great Men hath found the Means of curing them. And this I am the more forward to say, as the Legislature, by a total Neglect of both their Schemes, seem to give sufficient Countenance to my Assertion.
In a Matter then of so much Difficulty, as well as so great Importance, how shall I venture to deliver my own Opinion? Such, indeed, is the Difficulty and Importance of this Question, that Sir Josiah Child thinks, if a whole Session of Parliament were employed on this single Concern, it would be Time spent as much to the Glory of God, and Good of this Nation, as in any thing that noble and worthy Patriots of their Country can be engaged in.
However, under the Protection of the candid, and with Deference to the learned Reader, I will enter on this Subject, in which, I think, I may with Modesty say, I have had some Experience; and in which I can with Truth declare, I have employed no little Time. If any Gentleman, who hath had more Experience, hath more duly considered the Matter, or whose superior Abilities enable him to form a better Judgment, shall think proper to improve my Endeavours, he hath my ready Consent. Provided the End be effected, I shall be contented with the Honour of my Share (however inconsiderable) in the Means. Nay, should my Labours be attended only with Neglect and Contempt, I think I have learned (for I am a pretty good Historian) to bear such Misfortunes without much Repining.
By The Poor, then, I understand such Persons as have no Estate of their own to support them, without Industry; nor any Profession or Trade, by which, with Industry, they may be capable of gaining a comfortable Subsistence.
This Class of the People may be considered under these three Divisions:
First, Such Poor as are unable to work.
2dly, Such as are able and willing to work.
3dly, Such as are able to work, but not willing.
As to the First of these, they are but few. An utter Incapacity to work must arise from some Defect, occasioned either by Nature or Accident. Natural Incapacities are greatly the most (perhaps the only) considerable ones; for as to accidental Maims, how very rarely do they happen, and, I must add, how very nobly are they provided for, when they do happen! Again, as to natural Incapacities, they are but few, unless those two general Circumstances, one of which must, and the other may befal all Men; I mean, the Extremes of Youth and Age: for, besides these, the Number of Persons who really labour under an utter Incapacity of Work, will, on a just Inspection, be found so trifling, that two of the London Hospitals might contain them all. The Reader will be pleased to observe, I say of those who really labour, &c. for he is much deceived, who computes the Number of Objects in the Nation, from the great Number which he daily sees in the Streets of London. Among whom I myself have discovered some notorious Cheats, and my good Friend Mr. Welch, the worthy High Constable of Holborn Division, many more. Nothing, as I have been well informed, is more common among these Wretches, than for the Lame, when provoked, to use their Crutches as Weapons instead of Supporters; and for the Blind, they should hear the Beadle at their Heels, to outrun the Dogs which guided them before. As to Diseases to which Human Nature is universally liable, they sometimes (though very rarely; for Health is the happy Portion of Poverty) befal the Poor; and at all such Times they are certainly Objects of Charity, and entitled by the Law of God to Relief from the Rich.
Upon the whole, this first Class of the Poor is so truly inconsiderable in Number, and to provide for them in the most ample and liberal Manner would be so very easy to the Public; to support and cherish them, and to relieve their Wants, is a Duty so positively commanded by our Saviour, and is withal so agreeable and delightful in itself, affording the most desirable Object to the strong Passion of Pity; nay, and in the Opinion of some, to Pride and Vanity also; that I am firmly persuaded it might be safely left to voluntary Charity, unenforced by any compulsive Law. And if any Man will profess so little Knowledge of Human Nature, and so mean and unjust an Opinion of the Christianity, I might say the Humanity, of his Country, as to affect a contrary Opinion, notwithstanding all I have said, let him answer the following Instance, which may be called an Argument à posteriori, for the Truth of my Assertion. Such, I think, is the present Bounty to Beggars; for, at a Time when every Man knows the vast Tax which is raised for the Support of the Poor, and when all Men of Property must feel their Contributions to this Tax, Mankind are so forward to relieve the Appearance of Distress in their Fellow-creatures, that every Beggar, who can but moderately well personate Misery, is sure to find Relief and Encouragement; and this, though the Giver must have great Reason to doubt the Reality of the Distress, and when he can scarce be ignorant that his Bounty is illegal, and that he is encouraging a Nuisance. What then must be the Case, when there should be no such Tax, nor any such Contribution; and when, by relieving a known and certain Object of Charity, every good Man must be assured, that he is not only doing an Act which the Law allows, but which Christianity and Humanity too exact of him?
However, if there be any Person who is yet unwilling to trust the Poor to voluntary Charity, or if it should be objected, that there is no Reason to lay the whole Burden on the worthier Part of Mankind, and to excuse the covetous Rich; and that a Tax is therefore necessary to force open the Purses of these latter; let there be a Tax then, and a very inconsiderable one would effectually supply the Purpose.
I come now to consider the second Class. These are in Reason, tho' not in Fact, equally Objects of the Regard of the compassionate Man, and much more worthy the Care of the Politician; and yet, without his Care, they will be in a much worse Condition than the others: for they have none of those Incitements of Pity which fill the Pockets of the artful Beggar, and procure Relief for the Blind, the Lame, and other visible Objects of Compassion: Such therefore, without a Law, and without an honest and sensible Execution of that Law, must languish under, and often perish with Want. A melancholy and dreadful Reflection! and the more so, as they are capable of being made not only happy in themselves, but highly useful to the Service of the Community.
To provide for these, seems, as I have said, to have been the chief Design of the Statute of Elizabeth, as well as of several Laws enacted since; and that this Design hath hitherto failed, may possibly have arisen from one single Mistake, but a Mistake which must be fatal, as it is an Error in the first Concoction. The Mistake I point at is, that the Legislature have left the whole Work to the Overseers. They have rather told them what they are to do (viz. to employ the industrious Poor) than how they shall do it. It is true, the original Act directs them, by a parochial Tax, to raise a convenient Stock of Flax, Hemp, Wool, Thread, Iron, and other Ware and Stuff, to set the Poor to Work. A Direction so general and imperfect, that it can be no Wonder, considering what sort of Men the Overseers of the Poor have been, that it should never have been carried into Execution.
To say the Truth, this Affair of finding an universal Employment for the industrious Poor, is of great Difficulty, and requires Talents not very bountifully scattered by Nature among the whole human Species. And yet difficult as it is, it is not I hope impracticable, seeing that it is of such infinite Concern to the Good of the Community. Hands for the Work are already supposed, and surely Trade and Manufacture are not come to so low an Ebb, that we should not be able to find Work for the Hands. The Method of adapting only seems to be wanting. And though this may not be easy to discover, it is a Task surely not above the Reach of the British Parliament, when they shall think proper to apply themselves to it. Nor will it, I hope, be construed Presumption in me to say, that I have myself thought of a Plan for this Purpose, which I am ready to produce, when I shall have any Reason to see the least Glimpse of Hope, that my Labour in drawing it out at Length would not be absolutely and certainly thrown away.
The last, and much the most numerous Class of Poor, are those who are able to work, and not willing. This likewise hath fallen under the Eye of the Legislature, and Provisions have been made concerning it; which, if in themselves efficacious, have at least failed of producing any good Effect, from a total Neglect in the Execution.
By the 43d Eliz. the Churchwardens and Overseers, or greater Part of them, with the Consent of two Justices, shall take Order for the setting to Work the Children of all such Parents as they shall think not able to maintain them; as also, all such married, or unmarried Persons, as shall have no Means to maintain themselves, nor any ordinary Trade or Calling whereby to get their Living.
Besides this Power of compelling the Poor to work, the Legislature hath likewise compelled them to become, 1. Apprentices, and, 2d. Servants. We have already seen the Power of the Overseers, with the Assistance of the Justices, to put poor Children Apprentices; and likewise to oblige their Masters to receive them. And long before, a Compulsion was enacted on poor Persons to become Apprentices; so that any Housholder, having and using half a Ploughland in Tillage, may compel any poor Person under twenty-one and unmarried, to serve as an Apprentice in Husbandry, or in any other Kind of Art, Mystery, or Science (before expressed in the Act:) and if such Person, being so required, refuse to become an Apprentice, one Justice of Peace may compel him, or commit him to Prison, there to remain till he will be bound.
2dly, The Poor are obliged to become Servants.
By the 5th of Eliz. it is enacted, 'That every Person being unmarried, and every other Person under the Age of 30, who hath been brought up in any of the Sciences, &c. of Clothiers, Woollen Cloth Weavers, Tuckers, Fullers, Clothworkers, Shearmen, Dyers, Hosiers, Taylors, Shoemakers, Tanners, Pewterers, Bakers, Brewers, Glovers, Cutlers, Smiths, Farriers, Curriers, Sadlers, Spurriers, Turners, Tappers, Hatmakers or Feltmakers, Butchers, Cooks, or Millers, or who hath exercised any of these Trades by the Space of three Years or more; and not having in Lands, Rents, &c. an Estate of 40s. clear yearly Value, Freehold, nor being worth in Goods 10l. and so allowed by two Justices of the County, where he hath most commonly inhabited, or by the Mayor, &c. nor being retained with any Person in Husbandry, nor retained in any of the above Sciences, or in any other Art or Science; nor lawfully retained in Houshold, or in any Office, with any Nobleman, Gentleman, or others; nor having a convenient Farm, or other Holding, in Tillage, whereupon he may lawfully employ his Labour, during the Time that he shall continue unmarried, or under the Age of Thirty, upon Request made by any Person using the Art of Mystery, wherein the Person so required hath been exercised as aforesaid, shall be retained.
'And every Person between the Age of Twelve and Sixty, not being lawfully retained in the several Services mentioned in the Statute, nor being a Gentleman born, or a Scholar in either University or in any School, nor having an Estate of Freehold, of 40s. per Annum Value, nor being worth in Goods 10l. nor being Heir to 10l. per Annum, or 40l. in Goods; nor being a necessary or convenient Servant lawfully retained; nor having a convenient Farm or Holding, nor otherwise lawfully retained, shall be compelled to be retained to serve in Husbandry, by the Year, with any Person using Husbandry within the same Shire.
'Every such Person refusing to serve upon Request, or covenanting to serve, and not serving; or departing from this Service before the End of his Term, unless for some reasonable Cause to be allowed before a Justice of the Peace, Mayor, &c. or departing at the End of his Term without a Quarter's Warning given before two Witnesses, may be committed by two Justices of the Peace to Prison, there to remain without Bail or Mainprize, till he shall become bound to his Master, &c. to serve, &c..
'Nor shall any Master in any of the Arts and Sciences aforesaid, retain a Servant for less than a Year; nor shall any Master put away a Servant retained by this Act within his Term, nor at the End of the Term without a Quarter's Warning, under the Penalty of 40s.
'Artificers, &c. are compellable by a Justice of the Peace, or the Constable or other Head Officer of a Township, to serve in the Time of Hay or Corn Harvest. The Penalty of Disobedience is Imprisonment in the Stocks by the Space of two Days and one Night.
'Women between the Age of 12 and 40, may be obliged, by two Justices, to enter into Service by the Year, Week, or Day; or may be committed quousque.'
The Legislature having thus appointed what Persons shall serve, have gone farther, and have directed a Method of ascertaining how they shall serve: for which Use principally is that excellent Constitution of 5 Elizabeth, 'That the Justices of the Peace, with the Sheriff of the County, if he conveniently may, the Mayor, &c. in Towns Corporate, shall yearly within six Weeks of Easter, assemble together, and, with the Assistance of such discreet Persons as they shall think proper to call to them, and respecting the Plenty or Scarcity of the Time, and other Circumstances, shall, within the Limits of their Commission, rate and appoint the Wages of Artificers, Labourers, &c. by the Year, Month, Week, or Day, with or without Meat and Drink.' Then the Statute enumerates several Particulars, in the most explicite Manner, and concludes with these general Words: 'and for any other kind of reasonable Labour and Service.'
'These Rates are appointed to be engrossed in Parchment, and certified into Chancery, before the 12th Day of July; and before the first Day of September, several printed Proclamations, containing the Rates, and a Command to all Persons to observe them, are to be sent to the Sheriff and Justices, and to the Mayor, &c. These Proclamations are to be entered of Record with the Clerk of the Peace, to be fixed up in the Market-Towns, and to be publickly proclaimed in all the Markets till Michaelmas.
'And if any Person, after the said Proclamation shall be so sent down and published, shall, by any secret Ways or Means, directly or indirectly retain or keep any Servant, Workman, or Labourer, or shall give any greater Wages, or other Commodity, contrary to the true Intent of the Statute, or contrary to the Rates assessed, he shall forfeit 5l. and be imprisoned by the Space of ten Days.
'And every Person who is retained, or takes any Wages contrary to the Statute, shall be imprisoned 21 Days: And every such Retainer, Promise, Gift and Payment, or Writing and Bond for that Purpose, are made absolutely void.
'Every Justice of Peace, or Chief Officer, who shall be absent at the Rating of Wages, unless the Justices shall allow the reasonable Cause of his Absence, forfeits 10l.'
That this Statute may from time to time be carefully and diligently put in Execution, 'The Justices are appointed to meet twice a Year, to make a special and diligent Enquiry of the Branches and Articles of this Statute, and of the good Execution of the same, and severely to correct and punish any Defaults: for which Service they are allowed 5s. per Day.' No inconsiderable Allowance at that Time!
But all this Care of the Legislature proved, it seems, ineffectual; for 40 Years after the making this Statute, we find the Parliament complaining, 'That the said Act had not, according to the true Meaning thereof, been duly put in Execution; and that the Rates of Wages for poor Artificers, Labourers, and other Persons, had not been rated and proportioned according to the politic Intention of the said Act.' A Neglect which seems to have been occasioned by some Doubts raised in Westminsterhall, concerning the Persons who were the Subjects of this Law. For the clearing therefore and such Doubt, this subsequent Statute gives the Justices an express Power 'to rate the Wages of any Labourers, Weavers, Spinsters, and Workmen or Workwomen whatsoever, either working by the Day, Week, Month, Year, or taking any Work at any Person's Hands whatsoever, to be done by the Great, or otherwise.'
And to render the Execution of this Law the more easy, the Statute of James I. enacts, 1. 'That in all Counties where General Sessions are kept in several Divisions, the Rating Wages at such respective General Sessions, shall be as effectual within the Division, as if they had been rated at the Grand General Session.'
2. The Method of certifying the Rates in Chancery appearing, I apprehend, too troublesome and tedious, 'such Certificate is made no longer necessary, but the Rates being assessed and engrossed in Parchment, under the Hands and Seals of the Justices, the Sheriff, or Chief Officer of Towns Corporate, may immediately proclaim the same.'
And whereas Wool is the great Staple Commodity of this Kingdom, and the Woollen Trade its principal Manufacture, the Parliament have given particular Attention to the Wages of Artificers in this Trade.
For, 1. By the Statute of James I. 'No Clothier, being a Justice of Peace in any Precinct or Liberty, shall be a Rater of Wages for any Artizan depending upon the making of Cloth.'
2. 'Clothiers not paying so much Wages to their Workmen or Workwomen, as are rated by the Justices, forfeit 10s. for every Offence.
3. By a late Statute, 'All Persons any wise concerned in employing any Labourers in the Woollen Manufactory, are required to pay the full Wages or Price agreed on, in Money, and not in Goods, Truck, or otherwise; nor shall they make any Deductions from such Wages or Price, on account of any Goods sold or delivered previous to such Agreement. And all such Wages are to be levied, on Conviction, before two Justices, by Distress; and for Want of Distress, the Party is to be committed for six Months, or until full Satisfaction is made to the Party complaining. Besides which the Clothier forfeits the Sum of 100l.'
By the same Statute, 'All Contracts, By-Laws, &c. made in unlawful Clubs, by Persons brought up in, or exercising the Art of a Wooll-comber or Weaver, for regulating the said Trade, settling the Prices of Goods, advancing Wages, or lessening the Hours of Work, are declared to be illegal and void; and any Person concerned in the Woollen Manufactures, who shall knowingly be concerned in such Contract, By-law, &c. or shall attempt to put it in Execution, shall, upon Conviction before two Justices, suffer three Months Imprisonment.'
But long before this Act, a general Law was made to punish all Conspiracies for raising Wages, limiting Hours of Work, &c. among Artificers, Workmen, and Labourers; and if such Conspiracy was to extend to a general Advance of Wages all over the Kingdom, any Insurrection of a Number of Persons, in Consequence of it, would be an overt Act o High Treason.
From this cursory View it appears, I think, that no Blame lies at the Door of the Legislature, which hath not only given the Magistrate, but even private Persons, with his Assistance, a Power of compelling the Poor to work; and, 2dly, hath allotted the fullest Powers, and prescribed the most effectual Means for ascertaining and limiting the Price of their Labour.
But so very faulty and remiss hath been the Execution of these Laws, that an incredulous Reader may almost doubt whether there are really any such existing. Particularly as to that which relates to the rating the Wages of Labourers; a Law which at first, it seems, was too carelessly executed, and which hath since grown into utter Neglect and Disuse.
Hath this total Disuse arisen, in common with the Neglect of other wholesome Provisions, from Want of due Attention to the Public Good? or is the Execution of this Law attended with any extraordinary Difficulty? or, lastly, are we really grown, as Sir Josiah Child says, wiser than our Forefathers, and have discovered any Fault in the Constitution itself; and that to retrench the Price of Labour by a Law is an Error in Policy?
This last seems to me, I own, to be very strange Doctrine, and somewhat of a Paradox in Politics; however, as it is the Sentiment of a truly wise and great Man, it deserves a fair Discussion. Such I will endeavour to give it; since no Man is more inclined to respect the Opinions of such Persons, and as the Revival of the Law, which he opposes, is, I think, absolutely necessary to the Purpose I am contending for.
I will give the Passage from Sir Josiah at length. It is in Answer to this Position, That the Dearness of Wages spoils the English Trade. 'Here, says he, the Author propounds the making a Law to retrench the Hire of poor Mens Labour, (an honest charitable Project, and well becoming an Usurer!) The Answer to this is easy. First, I affirm, and can prove, he is mistaken in Fact; for the Dutch, with whom we principally contend in Trade, give generally more Wages to all their Manufacturers, by at least Twopence in the Shilling, than the English. Secondly, Wherever Wages are high, universally throughout the whole World, 'tis an infallible Evidence of the Riches of that Country; and wherever Wages for Labour run low, it is a Proof of the Poverty of that Place. Thirdly, It is the Multitudes of People, and good Laws, such as cause an Encrease of People, which principally enrich any Country; and if we retrench by Law the Labour of our People, we drive them from us to other Countries that give better Rates; and so the Dutch have drained us of our Seamen and Woollen Manufacturers, and we the French of their Artificers and Silk-manufacturers; and many more we should, if our Laws otherwise gave them fitting Encouragement; of which more in due Place. Fourthly, If any particular Trades exact more here than in Holland, they are only such as do it by virtue of Incorporations, Privileges, and Charters, of which the Cure is easy, by an Act of Naturalization, and without compulsory Laws. It is true, our Great Grandfathers did exercise such Policy, of endeavouring to retrench the Price of Labour by a Law (altho' they could never effect it;) but that was before Trade was introduced into this Kingdom; we are since, with the rest of the Trading World, grown wiser in this Matter, and I hope shall so continue.'
To this I reply, 1. That the making such a Law is not only an honest, but a charitable Project; as it proposes, by retrenching the Price of poor Mens Labour, to provide Labour, and consequently Hire for all the Poor who are capable of Labour. In all Manufactures whatever, the lower the Price of Labour is, the cheaper will be the Price to the Consumer; and the cheaper this Price is, the greater will be the Consumption, and consequently the more Hands employed. This is likewise a very charitable law to the poor Farmer, and never more necessary than at this Day, when the Rents of Lands are rated to the highest Degree. The great Hopes which the Farmer hath, (indeed his common Relief from Ruin) is of an Exportation of Corn. This Exportation cannot be by Law, unless when the Corn is under such a particular Price. How necessary then is it to him, that the Price of Labour should be confined within moderate Bounds, that the Exportation of Corn, which is of such general Advantage to the Kingdom, should turn, in any considerable manner, to his private Profit? And what Reason is there to imagine, that this Power of limiting Wages should be executed in any dishonest or uncharitable Manner? Is it not a Power entrusted to all the Justices of the County, or Division, and to the Sheriff, with the Assistance of grave, sober, and substantial persons, who must be sufficient Judges of the Matter, and who are directed to have Regard to the Plenty and Scarcity of the Times? Is it to be suspected, that many Persons of this Kind should unite in a cruel and flagitious Act, by which they would be liable to the Condemnation of their own Consciences, to the Curses of the Poor, and to be reproached by the Example of all their neighbouring Counties? Are not much grosser Exorbitancies to be feared on the other Side, when the lowest Artificers, Husbandmen, and Labourers, are made Judges in their own Cause; and when it is left to their own Discretion, to exact what Price they please for their Labour, of the poor Farmer or Clothier; of whom if they cannot exact an extravagant Price, they will fly to that Alternative which Idleness often prefers, of Begging or Stealing? Lastly, Such a Restraint is very wholesome to the poor Labourers themselves; of whom Sir Josiah observes, 'that they live better in the dearest Countries for Provisions, than in the cheapest, and better in a dear Year than in a cheap, especially in relation to the public Good; for, in a cheap Year, they will not work above two Days in a Week; their Humour being such that they will not provide for a hard Time, but just work so much, and no more, as may maintain them in that mean Condition to which they have been accustomed.' Is it not therefore, upon this Concession, demonstrable, that the poor Man himself will live much better (his Family certainly will) by these Means? Again, many of the Poor, and those the more honest and industrious, will probably gain by such a Law: for, at the same time that the impudent and idle, if left to themselves, will certainly exact on their Masters; the modest, the humble, and truly laborious, may often (and so I doubt not but the Case is) be oppressed by them, and forced to accept a lower Price for their Labour, than the Liberality of Gentlemen would allow them.
2dly, The two Assertions contained in the next Paragraph both seem to me suspicious. First, That the Dutch and other Nations have done all that in them lies, to draw from us our Seamen, and some of our Manufacturers, is certainly true; and this they would do at any Price: but that the Dutch do in general give more Wages to their Manufacturers than the English, is, I believe, not he Fact. Of the Manufactures of Holland, the only considerable Article which we ourselves take of them, except Linen, are Toys; and to this we are induced, not because the Dutch are superior to our Workmen in Genius and Dexterity, (Points in which they are not greatly celebrated) but because they work much cheaper. Nor is, 2dly, The immediate Transition from Trade to Manufacture altogether so fair. The Dutch, it is true, are principally our Rivals in Trade in general, and chiefly as Carries; but not so in Manufacture, particularly in the Woollen Manufacture. Here our chief Rivals are the French, amongst whom the Price of Labour is known to be considerably lower than with us. To this, among other Causes, (for I know there are others, and some very scandalous ones) they owe their Success over us in the Levant. It is indeed a Truth which needs no Comment nor Proof, that where Goods are of equal Value, the Man who fells cheapest will have the most Custom; and it is as certainly true, that the who makes up his Goods in the cheapest Manner, can sell them so.
3dly, Sir Josiah asserts, 'That wherever Wages are high universally throughout the World, 'tis an infallible Evidence of the Riches of that Country; and wherever Wages for Labour run low, it is a Proof of the Poverty of that Place.'—If this be true, the Concession will do him no Service; for it will not prove, that to give high Wages is the Way to grow rich; since it is much more probable, that Riches should cause the Advance of Wages, than that high Wages should produce Riches. This latter, I am sure, would appear a high Solecism in private Life, and I believe it is no less so in public.
4thly, His next Assertion, That to retrench by Law the Labour of our People, is to drive them from us, hath partly received an Answer already. To give this Argument any Force, our Wages must be reduced at least below the Standard of other Countries; which is, I think very little to be apprehended; but, on the contrary, if the Labourer should carry his Demands ever so little higher, as may be reasonably expected, the Consumption of many Manufactures will not only be confined to our own People, but to a very few of those People.
Thus, I hope, I have given a full Answer to this great Man, whom I cannot dismiss, without observing a manifest Mistake of the Question, which runs thro' all his Arguments; all that he advances concluding indeed only to the Quantum of Wages which shall be given for Labour. He seems rather to argue against giving too little, than against regulating what is to be given; so that his Arguments are more proper for the Consideration of the Justices at their Meeting for settling the Rates of Wages, than for the Consideration of the Legislature, in a Debate concerning the Expediency of the above Law. To evince the Expediency of which, I appeal to the concurrent Sense of Parliament in so many different Ages; for this is not only testified expressly in the above Statutes of Elizabeth and James, but may be fairly implied from those of Edward VI. and George I. above recited.
I have moreover, I think, demonstrated, 1. The Equity of this Law; and that it is as much for the Service of the Labourer as of his Master. 2. The Utility of it to Trade: I shall only add, the Necessity of it, in order to execute the Intention of the Legislature, in compelling the Idle to work; for is it not the same Thing to have the Liberty of working or not at your own Pleasure, and to have the absolute Nomination of the Price at which you will work? The Idleness of the common People in this Town is, indeed, greatly to be attributed to this Liberty; most of these, if they cannot exact an exorbitant Price for their Labour, will remain idle. The Habit of exacting on their Superiors is grown universal, and the very Porters expect to receive more for their Work than the Salaries of above Half the Officers of the Army amount to.
I conclude then, that this Law is necessary to be revived, (perhaps with some Enlargements) and that still upon one Account more; which is, to enable the Magistrate clearly to distinguish the Corrigible from the Incorrigible in Idleness: for when the Price of Labour is once established, all those Poor who shall refuse to labour at that Price, even at the Command of a Magistrate, may properly be deemed incorrigibly idle.
For these the Legislature have, by several Acts of Parliament, provided a Punishment, by Commitment to Bridewell either for more or less Time: And a very severe Punishment this is, if being confirmed in Habits of Idleness, and in every other vicious Habit, may be esteemed so.
These Houses are commonly called Houses of Correction, and the Legislature intended them certainly for Places of Correction of Idleness at least: for in many Acts, where Persons are ordered to be committed to Bridewell, it is added, There to be kept to hard Labour; nay, in the Statute of Jac. I. these Houses of Correction are directed 'to be built with a convenient Backside adjoining, together with Mills, Turns, Cards, and such like necessary Implements, to set Rogues and other idle People on Work.' Again, in the same Statute, Authority is given to the Master or Governor, 'to set to Work such Rogues, Vagabonds, idle and disorderly Persons, as shall be brought or sent unto the said House, (being able) while they shall continue in the said House; and to punish them, by putting Fetters on them and by Whipping; nor are the said Rogues, &c. to have any other Provision than what they shall earn by their Labour.'
The Erection of these Houses, as is usual with new Institutions, did at first greatly answer the good Purposes for which they were designed, insomuch that my Lord Coke observes, 'that upon the making of the Statute 39 Eliz. for the Erection of Houses of Correction, and a good Space after, whilst Justices of Peace and other Officers were diligent and industrious, there was not a Rogue to be seen in any Part of England.' And again he prophecies, that 'from the Erection of these Houses we shall have neither Beggar nor idle Person in the Commonwealth.'
But this great Man was a much better Lawyer than he was a Prophet; for whatever these Houses were designed to be, or whatever they at first were, the Fact is, that they are at present in general, no other than Schools of Vice, Seminaries of Idleness, and Common-shores of Nastiness and Disease. As to the Power of Whipping, which the Act of James I. vests in the Governor, that, I believe, is very seldom used, and perhaps when it is, not properly applied. And the Justice in very few Instances (in none of Idleness) hath any Power of ordering such Punishment.
And with Regard to Work, the Intention of the Law is, I apprehend, as totally frustrated. Insomuch that they must be very lazy Persons indeed who can esteem the Labour imposed in any of these Houses as a Punishment. In some, I am told, there is not any Provision made for Work. In that of Middlesex in particular, the Governor hat confessed to me that he hath had no Work to employ his Prisoners, and hath urged as a Reason, that having generally great Numbers of most desperate Felons under his Charge, who, notwithstanding his utmost Care, will sometimes get access to his other Prisoners, he dares not trust those who are committed to hard Labour with any heavy or sharp Instruments of Work, lest they should be converted into Weapons by the Felons.
What good Consequence then can arise from sending idle and disorderly Persons to a Place where they are neither to be corrected nor employed; and where with the Conversation of many as bad, and sometimes worse than themselves, they are sure to be improved in the Knowledge, and confirmed in the Practice of Iniquity? Can it be conceived that such Persons will not come out of these Houses much more idle and disorderly than they went in? The Truth of this I have often experienced in the Behaviour of the Wretches brought before me; the most impudent and flagitious of whom, have always been such as have been before acquainted with the Discipline of Bridewell: A Commitment to which Place, tho' it often causes great Horror and Lamentation in the Novice, is usually treated with Ridicule and Contempt by those who have already been there.
For this Reason, I believe, many of the worthiest Magistrates have, to the utmost of their Power, declined a rigorous Execution of the Laws for the Punishment of Idleness, thinking that a severe Reprimand might more probably work the Conversion of such Persons than the committing them to Bridewell. This I am sure may with great Certainty be concluded, that the milder Method is less liable to render what is bad worse, and to complete the Destruction of the Offender.
But this is a Way of acting, however worthy be the Motive, which is sometimes more justifiable to a Man's own Conscience, than it would be in the Court of King's Bench, which requires the Magistrate to execute the Laws entrusted to his Care, and in the Manner which those Laws prescribe. And besides the Indecency of shewing a Disregard to the Laws in being, nothing surely can be more improper than to suffer the Idleness of the Poor, the Cause of so much Evil to the Society, to go entirely unpunished.
And yet should the Magistrate do his Duty as he is required, will the Intent and Purpose of the Legislature be answered? The Parliament was, indeed, too wise to punish Idleness barely by Confinement. Labour is the true and proper Punishment of Idleness, for the same Reason which the excellent Dr. Swift gives why Death is the proper Punishment of Cowardice. Where then is the Remedy? Is it to enforce the Execution of the Law as it now stands, and to reform the present Conduct of the several Bridewells? This would I believe be as difficult a Work as the cleansing the Augean Stables of old; and would require as extraordinary a Degree of Political, as that did of Natural Strength, to accomplish it. In Truth, the Case here is the same as with the Overseers before, the Trust is too great for the Persons on whom it devolves: And tho' these Houses are, in some Measure, under the Inspection of the Justices of Peace, yet this in the Statute is recommended in too general a Manner to their Care, to expect any good Fruits from it. As 'to the true and faithful Account which they are to yield to the Justices, at the Sessions, of the Persons in their Custody,' this is at present little more than Matter of Form; nor can it be expected to be any other in the Hurry of a public Sessions, and when the Stench arising from the Prisoners is so intolerable, that it is difficult to get any Gentlemen to attend the Court at that Time. In the last Vagrant Act indeed two Justices are appointed twice, or oftener, every Year to examine into the State and Nature of Houses of Correction, &c. yet as it gives them no Power but of reporting to the Sessions, I believe it hath not produced any good Effect: For the Business of the Sessions is so complicated and various, that it happens, as in all Cases where Men have too much to do, that they do little or nothing effectually. Perhaps, indeed if two or more Justices of the Peace were appointed to meet once every Month at some convenient Place, as near as possible to the Bridewell, there to summon the Governor before them, to examine the Accounts of his Stock and Implements for Work, and to make such Orders (under what Restrictions the Parliament shall think proper) as to such Justices shall seem requisite; this might afford a Palliative at least. In short, the great Cure for Idleness is Labour; and this is its only proper Punishment; nor should it ever be in the Power of the idle Person to commute this Punishment for any other.
In the Reign of Edward VI. a most severe Law, indeed, was made for the Punishment of Idleness.—'If any Person (says the Statute) shall bring to two Justices of Peace any runagate Servant, or any other, which liveth idly and loiteringly by the Space of three Days, the said Justices shall cause the said idle and loitering Servant or Vagabond to be marked with an hot Iron on the Breast with the Letter V, and adjudge him to be Slave to the same Person that brought and presented him, to have to him, his Executors and Assigns for two Years, who shall take the said Slave and give him Bread, Water, or small Drink, and refuse Meat, and cause him to work by beating, chaining, or otherwise, in such Work and Labour as he shall put him, be it never so vile. And if such Slave absent himself from his Master within the Term, by the Space of fourteen Days, he shall be adjudged by two Justices of the Peace to be marked on the Forehead or the Ball of the Cheek, with a hot Iron, with the Sign of an S, and shall be adjudged to be Slave to his said Master for ever; and if the said Slave shall run away a second Time he shall be adjudged a Felon.'
This Statute lived no longer than two Years, indeed it deserved no longer a Date; for it was cruel, unconstitutional, and rather resembling the cruel Temper of a Draco, than the mild Spirit of the English Law. But, est Modus; there is a Difference between making Men Slaves, and Felons, and compelling them to be Subjects; in short, between throwing the Reins on the Neck of Idleness, and riding it with Spurs of Iron.
Thus have I endeavoured to give the Reader a general Idea of the Laws which relate to this single Point of employing the Poor; and, as well as I am able to discern of their Defects, and the Reasons of those Defects. I have likewise given some Hints for the Cure, and have presumed to offer a Plan, which, in my humble Opinion, would effectually answer every Purpose desired.
But 'till this Plan shall be produced; or (which is more to be expected) 'till some Man of greater Abilities, as well as of greater Authority, shall offer some new Regulation for this Purpose; something, at least, ought to be done to strengthen the Laws already made, and to enforce their Execution. The Matter is of the highest Concern; and imports us not only as we are good Men and good Christians; but as we are good Englishmen. Since not only preserving the Poor from the highest Degrees of Wretchedness, but the making them useful Subjects, is the Thing proposed; a Work, says Sir Josiah Child, which would redound some hundreds of thousands per Ann. to the public Advantage. Lastly, it is of the utmost Importance to that Point which is the Subject Matter of this Treatise, for which Reason I have thought myself obliged to give it a full Consideration. 'The Want of a due Provision, says Lord Hale, for Education and Relief of the Poor in a Way of Industry, is that which fills the Goals with Malefactors, and fills the Kingdom with idle and unprofitable Persons that consume the Stock of the Kingdom without improving it, and that will daily increase, even to a Desolation in Time. And this Error in the first Concoction is never remediable but by Gibbets and whipping.'
In serious Truth, if proper Care should be taken to provide for the present Poor, and to prevent their Encrease by laying some effectual Restraints on the Extravagance of the lower Sort of People, the remaining part of this Treatise would be rendered of little Consequence; since few Persons, I believe, have not made their Exit at Tyburn, who have not owed their Fate to some of the Causes before mentioned. But as I am not too sanguine in my Expectations on this Head, I shall now proceed to consider of some Methods to obviate the Frequency of Robberies, which if less efficacious, are perhaps much easier than those already proposed. And if we will not remove the Temptation, at least we ought to take away all Encouragement to Robbery.

### Notes

* ↑ Vol. II. p. 1.
* ↑ Chap. iii.
* ↑ This must be done by Consent and Order of Sessions.
* ↑ These Cottages are never after to be applied to any other Use.
* ↑ Chap. xii.
* ↑ 8 & 9 W. III. c. xxx.
* ↑ 2 Annæ, c. viii.
* ↑ 9 George I. chap. i.
* ↑ Essay on Trade, c. ii.
* ↑ See 7 Jac. I. c. iii. which directs the Manner of putting out Apprentices, in Pursuance of any Gifts made to Corporations, &c. for that Purpose.
* ↑ Chap. iv. sect. 22. p. 8. the same Clause is in 21 Jac. c. xxviii. par. 33.
* ↑ Chap. xxx. sect. 6.
* ↑ Chap. iv. sect. 22. ubi supra.
* ↑ 3 and 4 W. and M. c. xi. sect. 11.
* ↑ The same Statute in another Part charges the Overseers, &c. with applying the Poors Money to their own Use.
* ↑ Chap. 30. sect. 2.
* ↑ Chap. 8.
* ↑ This was forbidden by many Statutes, and by the Act of 27 Henry VIII. every Person giving any Money in Alms, but to the common Boxes and common Gatherings in every Parish, forfeits twelve Times as much as he gives.
* ↑ The Reader is desired to consider the Author here as speaking only of the impotent Poor, and as hoping that some effectual Means may be found out of procuring Work, and consequently Maintenance for the able and industrious.
* ↑ 5 Eliz. c. 4.
* ↑ Viz. Every Trade then used.
* ↑ Chap. 4. § 4.
* ↑ Ibid. § 7.
* ↑ Ib. sect. 5, 6, 9.
* ↑ Ib. sect. 3.
* ↑ Ib. sect. 5, 6, 8.
* ↑ Ib. sect. 28
* ↑ Ib. sect. 24.
* ↑ Ib. sect. 15.
* ↑ Ib. sect 16.
* ↑ Ib. sect. 18.
* ↑ Ib. sect. 19, 20.
* ↑ Ib. sect. 17.
* ↑ Ib. sect. 37, 38.
* ↑ Preamble to 1 Jac. c. 6.
* ↑ Ib. sect. 3.
* ↑ Ib. sect. 5.
* ↑ Ib. sect. 6.
* ↑ Ib. sect. 7.
* ↑ Ib. sect. 7.
* ↑ 12 Geo. I. c. 34. sect. 3.
* ↑ Ib. sect. 4.
* ↑ Ib. sect. 1.
* ↑ 2 & 3 E. VI. c. 15.
* ↑ Preface to his Discourse on Trade.
* ↑ Discourse on Trade, p. 17.
* ↑ Chap. 4. These Houses were first begun to be erected Ann. 13 Eliz. the Prison for Idleness being, before that Time the Stocks. In the 11th Year of Henry VII. Vagabonds, Beggars, &c. are ordered to be set three Days and three Nights in the Stocks.
* ↑ 2 Inst. 729.
* ↑ By the last Vagabond Act, which repeals all the former, Rogues and Vagabonds are to be whipt, OR sent to the House of Correction.
* ↑ 1 Ed. VI. 13 Rep.
* ↑ Page 88.
* ↑ At the End of his Discourse touching the Relief of the Poor.