The National Register.
London, England, 1816-08-04 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER._

The Duke of Kent put the question ; observing, that
it WWI impossible the chair conld submit a proposition which
conveyed a compliment to itself.
The question was carried by a great show of hands.

The Resolutions (as carried) were :
I. That there do at this moment exist a stagnation of employment,
and it revulsion of trade, deeply affecting the situation of many parts of
the community, and producing many instances of great local distress.
2. That from the experieni -.I generosity of the British nation, it
may be confidently cxpetetl that those who are able to afford the means
of relief to their fellow-subjects will contribute their utmost endeavours
to retuedy, or alleviate, the suffaings of those who are particularly as-
' tressed.
3. That although it be obviously impossible for any association of
individuals to attempt the general relief of difficulties affecting, so large
a proportion of the public, yet that it leis been proved by the experi-
ence of this association, that most important and extensive benefits may
derived from the co-operation and correspondence of a society in the
metropolis, encouraging the efforts of those benevolent individuals who
may be disposal to assoziate themselves in different districts for the re-
lief of their several neighbourhoods.
_ .

4. That a subscription be immediately opened, and contributions
generally solicited, fur mrrying into effect the objects of this associa-
tion.
[The Mcctinz Ycas numerous and respectable; and we most
sincerely regret that any political topic was introduced on the
occasion ; as, however just it might be, it had a tendency to di-
vert from the immediate purpose of the Convocation. We have
no room further to observe at present, than that a subscription
inunediately opened ; at the head of which is our illustri-
ous Regent with a princely donation of 5001. followed by the
Queen, Dukes of York and Cambridge, 3001. each ; and in a
short time near 10,0001. were subscribed in aid of the laudable
purposes of the Meeting.]

Though the present distresses are too deeply rooted to be
remedied by mere temporary expedients, yet it is the duty of
all to alleviate, as far as they can, the sufferings they cannot
cure. One Correspondent states, that on the disuse of shoe-
buckles fir shoe-strings many hundreds of buckle-makers were
thrown out of employ ; and by the adoption of covered, instead
of metal buttons, many hundreds of button-makers were de-
prived of their daily bread: he observes, that if these two
branches of Birmingham manufacture were again introduced
by the Nobility and Gentry of the kingdom, much good might
result from it. From another source we learn, that a plan has
been adopted of employing double the number of labourers, by
a greater subdivisinn of labour. A plan of the kind has been
adopted by the market gardeners to the westward of the me-
tropolis, which is highly praise-worthy, and we mention it that
it may excite imitation. he late inclement weather prevented
them from employing in their grounds, or in carrying the pro-
duce to market, the great smothers of labouring poor, chiefly
females, who annually visit them from distant comities. Many
of these industrious creatures must have starved, or taken to
vicious courses, if their case had not been taken into considera-
tion. It was therefore agreed, that such employment as there
was in the grounds should be equally divided among them, and
that they should work only on alternate days. The private
families in the neighbourhood co-operated in this plan, by giv-
ing household work in the intermediate days to such as were
theu unemployed. The plan has succeeded perfee:ly; and now
that the season has become rather more favourable, the
indivi-
duals in question are no longer burtheusome to the neighbour-
hood, for they have resumed their usual employment in the
fields. Much might also be dour, according to another writer,
to give employment to the poor, and produce an abundance of
food during the cnsuiug winter, if landed proprietors, great
and small, from the possessor of thousands of acres, down
to the owner of a mere cabbage-garden, would sedulously
cultivate every patch of ground now waste or useless, and
plant cabbages, turnips, carrots, and potatoes, for the winter,
on such spots ; and if an inclement winter should succeed, an
ample fund for distributiou will thus be provided at a small ex-
pence.
Extract from Suggestions for producing Public Improve-
ments, and affording employment to the Labouring Poor, by
Mr. M. Phillips:—" Grateful as the country will Mel ter the
Subscriptions that will he raised for the assistance of the Poor,
it is hoped such measures will be recommended to the atten-
tion of the Legislature as may place the lower orders in a situa-
tion that will enable them to support themselves. The Landed
Proprietors have now an opportunity, as many new aerange-
ments must be made, of letting their lands in small farms, with
a covenant in the lease for a plot sufficient to keep a cow to be
allowed to the labouring cottager. No language can /suffici-
ently state the blessings to the community from small farms, or
the evils that are felt where they have been monopolized; farm
steer farm has been added together, so that England is now be-
come a nation of starving beggars, exhibiting at each vestry
the utmost pitiable and heart-broken objects. In many instances,
within an hour's walk of a parish church., there were fermerly
from 50 to 100 happy families—the little farmers—industri-
ously employed in producing not only the common articles of
sustenance, but abundance of the comforts of life. Every cot-
lager's child had its dish of milk, of which the hungry babes
are now robbed. What is become of those happy useful fami-
lies, that so regularly, neatly, and piously assembled every
Sunday ut their parish churches?—the good people who sup-
plied the markets, the tows's,. and the villages, with such im-
mense quantities of butter and cheese, pigs and poultry, and
made the land to overflow with milk and honey ? Alas! driven
from their little kingdom, these once happy people, the hus-
band, the wile, the antis, the daughters, are hurled into misery,
wretchedness, and want. The distresses of the poor are greatly
increased by enclosures of waste, or, in better words, common
lands, which afforded great assistance to the surrounding cot-
tages. The taking away these privileges was like taking from
them a table furnished wick provisions. To have kept them
away front parish support, crumbs at least should have been
thrown before them--a trifling piece of land should have been
3ilottcd to each cottage.-001 FISHERIES SHOULD RE ET-
TENUEM—If England had three times its number of inhabi-
tants, every city, town, and populous place might have an
abundant and cheap supply of anotherapecies of food, namely,
FISH, from an inexhaustible store; and thousands, stud tees of
thousands alum& belonging to and connacted with the Fish-
eries, would find employment. Every place in the country
3bould have an interest in promoting our Fisheries—
" Oh God ! thou &et peeper:,
Tit roiugh esealt, the rza, and air,
A bounteous Bill of f

Snore thnn•nrnis of worismen moy h. employer! for .1 time in the
.%, .s, itad iipuu %vui ks in the

tillUtoUl4."

AUGUST 4.

DISTRESSES in the COUNTRY.

The most melancholy end distressing accounts are reeel vet,
of the situation of the labouring classes in StatiOrdshire, thr own
out of employ by the decline of the coal anti iron trades ; 717
families in the tot% nship of llilston alone are without fried. ex-
cepting what is given by the Mind of charity. In eye pat is hits
15,000 ore out of employment! though reduced to starvation,
they are yet patient and limiest in the tablet of their sufferings.
Eeteeet of a later from Ceseley, near itilidon, duly 'Al:—
"My heart bleeds for the t°° helpless children, pale as &lA,
crawang about like walking skeletons—to rceite eufletiees of indi•
'Minds would fill a volume. A few days ago, a woman was foiled
about 60 yards from my brother's bowie; she had a young child is
her arms; exhausted by hunger, and unable to proceed, she was Mum!
on the ground, with ate child usher breast, in a senselees, and, to
every appearance, in n dying condemn; she however revived, and we
administered such food as we considered most suitable for her. When
she could speak, she told us her husband had got no work; that slis
had several children at home, to wham she hed given all Ahe could
leer the two preceding days; that she had had nothing during that
time, and had famished herself sooner than they shoald die foe wine;
she had walked to where she was round, and being unable to proceed
farther, had reitigiral herself to her tats, and would have perished for
want within a little more than a mile from her home, bad we not hap—
polka to have found her."

'4 Casely, near Dihton, Staffordshire, July ,24, 1516.

" When some of our principal iron-works first failed, the
whole extent of the consequent distress was not immediately
apparent. The pour manufacturers had many of them made a
little money ; this, with the greatest frugality, did not last long:
when expended, they ran in debt wherever they cowl gain
credit ; and when they could nut be trusted any longer, they
pawned or sold their furniture, article after article., till they
had mote to sell. When their goods were gone', th-y were
obliged to have recourse to their parishes and to begging rho
parishes were overwhelmed by the numbers upolying fey
their aid, and could afford butt little comparative amiport. The
coi 11111 l wits. in general (for commercial districts are usually
generous). made great efforts to relieve their necessities. Fur
my own part, I deter ' d that I would tre harder, and that
my children and household should do so likewise, is order to
administer to their wants ; and it was my desire that none wen.-
. thy of relief' should go away unrelieved. It is true, the see-
, cour was but small; they asked fur nothing but a piece of
bread, and bread for some time great numbers of them received :
but I soon fimnd that my very limited income, arising chiefly
from uncertain sources, would not even tarnish this scanty sup-
ply ; and I was reduced to the necessity—to me a most painful
oite—of confining my charity within much smaller imuntiaries.
Companies of .1, or 8, or l poor manufacturers, able and will-
Mg to work, have been many times in the course of a day at
my dour, soliciting bread; and, what has often cut me to the
heart, necessarily soliciting in vain.
" Multitudes went through the country, offering to work at
any thing merely for a little food, not even expecting wages,
sod thus gained a little temporary employment and subsistence ;
but still their wives and children were at home iu the greatest
possible distress.
" Within a small distance of my home is a large iron-work ;
the machinery extend for nearly half a stile ; it was a noble
manufactory ; I passed by it one morning after its operations
were suspended, and was exceedingly affected with the sight :
a little before, it was all animation and industry, affording the
honourable means of iivelihood to many thousands of my fellow-
creatures ; the silence that now pervaded it spoke more elo-
quently and impressively to my heart than any language could
possibly do--it was the silence of umbingled desolation. I vi-
sited a row of houses occupied by the workmen : the doors
were used to be open, inviting the eye of the stranger to glance
as he went along at their neatness, cleanliness, anti felicity ; lit-
tle grottpes of healthful children were accustomed to appear
about the cottages, full of merriment and joy ; and the inhabi-
tants, strong And healthy, salut. d you as you went by. But the
scene was lamentably changed ; it produced a melancholy ou
my spirits that I did not lose fir a considerable period : the
cottages were closed—the inhabitants could not bear to have
it known that they si ere stripped of their little ornaments—no
children played around the doors—the very plants trained up
indheir windows had pined and died—one man only appeared,
emaciated and ghastly, a living spectre, as if the peaceful se-
puleht e had sent forth its inhabitants to fill with terror the
abodes of the living.
" When I have told these poor creatures that the parish must
find them food or labour, they have replied, 'Sir, they cannot
do either and some who have fared the best when our manu-
factories were flourishing around its, have said,' We would ra-
ther die, Sir, than be &pendent on the parish.'
" It is an unanswerable proof of the excellent disposition of
these poor nsanufacturers, that although there are many thou-
sands of fluent in the most distressed condition imaginable, there
is very little depredation in the country.
" It it will aid you in your benevolent designs, I will go through
any part of our neighbourhood, from house to house, and give
you a particular statement of the circumstances of each ;
the labour will he to me a delightful remuneration ; doing good
I have long Wand to be its own reward. I would devote any
portion of my time to procure on information.
"Some, I believe, have really died of starvation ; and in many
cases, if not immediate it was the primary cause. Am insuffi-
ciency of wholesome nourishment where they had been accus-
tomed to great abundance, produced diseases which terminated
indissoinnon.

" Even t howdy, Sir, has left some of our districts. She has
given all she had to give ; the stream of her benevolence is dried
up, and nothing remains but the grateful recollection of the
channel through which it flowed, or emotions of despair lest it
should never again be replenished.
" I could send you many individual cases that come under my
own personal knowledge. Not far from my house, a respect-
able individual, possessed of extensive information in the iron
trade, who had been a confidential foreman in a large t concern,
and lived in much credit, has been for sonic time, with a wife
and eight children destitute of a sufficiency of bread. Many
poor families distinguished for their sobriety and industry, with
5, 6,7, or 8 children, are in the same disastrous circumstances:
I have repeatedly saved a mall, his wife and six children, from
absolute star anon, who were reduced to eat the cabbage-stalls,
and 1.10 refuse of their little cottage-garden, as the only food
•hey yodel obtain.
" Had I the pleasure, Sir, of being present at the meeting of
•,oar I lon..nrable Society, I think I.could plead the cate.e of
these poor 111411Ufacillreis till my s:rength would tail sue, and
I coul,l pit t• 1141 longer, their gr.•at dist. esses hose taken deep
nt my heart. MIMI the injured Arrivals readily find a
multitude of the must able and eloquent of oar nation, to de-
fend his raose, add se.•ur hie ris,hts; and shall there be none
to commismate our perishing fettoivrointryawn, whose inge-
nuity and industry have ,e mead the Jury uf Britain througlmut
die m old- Ls hit. glon, shod vo friendly bond be extelided
to et ipe away their ty.rs, and to west at thew lium riultug tuft

AUGUST 4.

ewer meter the insupportable pressure of accumulated Woes?
roi bid it houourp decency, humanity, religiou!"

" Tibbington-honse, near Birmingham, July 43, 1816.
I have not lost a moment in distributing your donation of
amongst some of the most distressing cases is my neigh-
bourhood ; and although the suntruot to each family was small,
after dividing it amongst upwards of 30, yet it was so very ac-
eqtable, that streams of gratitude flowed from the e)es of
those who partook of it. Woris cannot picture the distress
that prevails in this neighbourhood ; and what is still worse, it
Is likely to increase rapidly. Many of the irou-works, iron
stone-works, and collieries that have been hitherto kept at
'work, are on the eve of being stopped. Indeed hundreds of
',men have bad notice within the last fortnight to seek ft csli em-
ployment; and there are already some thousands who have
been out of work many months' living upon chanty and the
Isonsehold furniture which their late prosperity enabled theta
fo provide. But in numberless instances these comforts have
"rad tiall y been disposed of to prevent starvation. The liberal
stud humane persons, who have hitherto been a great support
to such set etehed objects, find the cases so numerous, that that
funds of charity are then by completely exhausted; and the
only resort the poor creatures have left, is to go to the fields,
an.l from Bunny procure the best food they can for themselves
and children. The taste of bread is almost forgotten to many
of them. I hope you will excuse my going Into any further
detail on the subject of such distress ; for I assure you, the
-nntiering of my mind to terrace what I hose before witnessed,
without the ability to relieve, iv too much for my feelings."