The Sun.
London, England, 1838-02-21 00:00:00

t'.e present moment to answer the question, but would take an
cast), opportunity of doing; so.
caCape.PEC HELL said the other night he asked a question
in reference to her Majesty's cruisers or. the coast of Africa.
nee that time he had head that the question was to be
echAcd in another pace, where it would most probably be
answered. Ile would therefore merely say, that he would
take an early opportunity of asking for papers relative to the
conduct of her Majesty's cruizers on the coast of Africa.
Petitions against the Poor-law Amendment Act were pre-
sented by Mr. Fielden, Mr. D. W. Harvey, and Mr. P.
Barth wick.
General JOHNSON presented petitions from Wakefield,
for the abolition of the Poor-law Bill. In doing so he thought
it was right to state that the petitioners remonstrated agaiest
the Bill, and signed themselves your " flemonstrancers."
Several Members objected to the reception of the petition,
and requested the lion. Member to withdraw it, as there
was s sine ing disrespectful in its wording. The lion. and Gal-
lant Member stated, that the petitioaers would not alter one
word in the petition whether it was received or not. The
House divided upon the reception of the petition, when there
appeared—
For its reception
Againit it lO
Majority against the reception of the petition-2COIOO
REPEAL OF THE NEW POOR LAW ACT.
Mr. JOHN FIELD EN rose to address the House on the
subject of the motion of which he had given notice—namely,
for learn to brine- in a Bill to repeal the Poor Law Amend-
ment Act passed in the Session of 1834. The question at
issue was, whether the poor of this country were to be pro-
tected. And if the present measnru continued in operatiol,
the question would arise, whether life and property would re-
main safe. If this Act were persisted in, there would be, he
declared, no security whatever for life or property in !Lis
country. And now, he would ask, what were the abuses of
the old system ? Payment of wages out of rate?, and increase
of rates then by. But what caused this? Taxation ? In 1795,
it ens proved by Mr. Davis, rector of Beikharn, Berks, that
a reduction of no less that 50 per cent. had taken place in the
wages of agricultural labourers ; that in the 14th and. 13th
centuries a day labourer could earn a quarter of wheat for
twenty-one days' labour. At the average price of labour,
and the average price of the quarter for the last twenty
years. a man could not earn a quarter of wheat under forty
days' labour. What means had we provided to remedy
The new Peer-law workhouses as " a test" ef destitution,
and a complicated machinery to effect a uniform system of
administration, and correct evils and abuses dissimilar, and
requiring different remedies in different parishes. This uni-
form system was impracticable, which the departure shows,
for there has been a departure from the original " test." He
contended that the new law was unnecessary, the people were
of that opinion, the payers of rates as well as the receivers of
relief. There were few petitions for it, and many against it.
But it had been admitted that the operation of the old law
was good in some places. What he (Mr. Fielden) contended
was, that it might be just as good everywhere ; and that if
abuses had crept in, they ought not to be attributed to the
poor, but to those who mismanaged their affairs. Now, he
begged the attention of Hon. Members to the results of inqui-
ries which he had made into the returns of the Poor-law Com-
missioners themselves, to show how far there had, after all,
been any advantage in the new system over the old :
" From Returns published by the Poor-law Commissioners,
the Poor-rates were the highest in 1818, being then 7,870,8011.
year ending 25th March, 1832, 7,036,9681. ; that ending
25th March, 1835, 5,326,416/. ; that ending nth March, 1837,
4,044,7411.; showing a decrease between 1818 and 14335, of 30
per cent.; between 1832 and 1835 (when the rates were every
year decreasing,), of 21 per cent.; and between 1835 and 1837,
of 20 per cent. When payments that used to be made out of
rates before the new Poor-law, and, since then, have been
paid out of other funds, are taken into account, it is question-
able whether the new law has effected any reduction of rates
at all. And in this opinion 1 11T11 confirmed by the reduction of rates
in Lancashire, and in the west riding of the county of York,
where agitation prevails. In Lancaster (county), the de-
crease of rates between 1835 and 1837, is 17. E per cent.; in
the West Riding of Yorkshire, 21 per cent. In a return
made to the House of Lords, and ordered to be printed on
the 22d of May last, the expenditure is given for in-door
maintenance and establishment charges for one year, ending
Dec. 25, 1836, in 123 unions, comprising 9,310 parishes, and
a population of 1,166,150, all that return embraces. And I
find by this return, that the maintenance, of the in-door paupers
averages Si. Ils. Id. per head for the year; that is 93.11 d. per
week for each person in these union work houses. And I find
the establishment charges average 9/. 15s. Bd. per head for the
year, or 3s. 9d. per week for each person in those work houses.
So that the cost of maintenance and establishment charges for
each person in your union workhouses is 15/. 6s. 9d. per an-
num, or ss. 10Id. per head per week. By the same return
I find that the establishment charges in these 125 unions amount
to 2s. 21d. per head on the whole population of the unions.
And by a return in the last report of the Poor-law Commis-
sioners, the rate per head of expenditure for the relief of the
poor on the whole population of Lancashire, for the year end-
ing ;larch 25, 1a37, is but 2s. Pd. per head : that is only 60.
per head more than the establishment charges alone in these
unions; and in the township of Oldham, which I have the
honour to represent, the rate of expenditure for the relief of
the poor for the same period is only Is. 21(1. per head on the
population of that township ; that is Is. Old per head less
than the establishment charges alone amount to on the whole
population of those 125 unions, Why, then, should this
law be forced on my constituents by bullets and bayonets ?
They wish to know why. From the same returns of
the Commissioners, I find that in 18 counties, the rate of
expenditure per head with reference to the population in
the year ending 25th March, 1834, was less by 28
per cent. than the expenditure was in 18 other counties, un-
der the operation of the new Poor-law, in the year ending 25th
March, 1837, and in which latter IS counties a reduction in
the rates of expenditure of 42 per cent. is said to have been
effected since the new law was passed. In the former 18
counties, too, the highest rate in any one of them is less than
the lowest rate in any other one of the latter counties in which
the saving of 42 per cent. has been effected. This shoes
that the Poor Law Amendment Act was unnecessary. Then
what is the principle of this Act, and what effects on the able
bodied did its framers contemplate ? The principle was that
the principal of the paupers shall, in no case, be so eligible 'a
that of the lowest class who live on their labour.—( Hear,
hear.) Had there been a return to content ? Had crime
been lessoned by the new law ? That was the question that
called loudly for an answer. Upon the point of crime, what
was said by Mr. Arley in his second report? In the second
report of Poor Law Commissioners (1836) Mr. Addy quotes
Mr. Sniehe, of the Biggleswade Union, who says the Act is
working exceedingly well for all parties, and, in confirmation,
sap I challenge inquiry among the poor themselves,
where, indeed, the inquiry ought to be made." He then
quotes from written testimonials of several of the principal
occupiers of the union, and of thee', one says—" I think they
frequent the beer shops as much or more than ever." Anl. other :—"I ant sorry to say that sheep-stealing and other de-
predations have been more prevalent since the system corn-
nu need, than ever was known before." Another :—" They fre-
quent the ale house quite as much as ever. Poaching and other
depredations have increased double to any former," Ano-
ther :—" I do not feel able to answer as to their frequenting the
ale-house, or as regards poaching, &c., as to any alteration."
Another :—"The ale-houses arc,l think, more frequented than
ever. lam not of opinion that poaching and other depreda-
tions have at all diminished, but that the greater crime of
sheep-stealing has increased ten-fold." Another I think
poaching and other depredations have been quite as numerous,
and sheep-stealing is spreading more every year," The
Noble Lord (Lord John Russell) had been I leased to chal-
lenge him (Mr. Fielden). He had challenged hint by refer-
ring with exultation to the Unions of Biggleswade and Amp-
thin- The Noble Lord had referred to these as furnishine
proofs of the extraordinary good working of the system, fie
( Mr. Fielden) had expected that this working would turn
out to ho not very good: but he was bound to
confess; that working had turned out to be even much worse
than
ence from he (Mr. Fielden) had expected. lie had proposed to get
evjci 21 Unions in which it had been alleged that
the saving had been the greatest; that wish, however, did
not meet with the approval of the Committee. He (Mr.
Fielden) was permitted to take the three first unions on the
list ; those happened so be Ampthill, Woburn, and Bedford.
He had sent two intelligent persons into these unions in search
of information. What was the result of their inquiries? It
was this—that derths in Ampthill workhouse had been quite
frightful ; that in these ;miens widows, orphans, and the aged
have had their allowances cruelly reduced; that wages had
not risen, but on the contrary, that they also were reduced,
while the head money, as it is celled, hart been taken away;
that hundreds of labourers were out of emplev, and that there
were not more employed than there were- previous to the new
law; that bastardy had in ; that the poor were suffering
distress to an extent never before known amongst them ; that
they cannot get a sufhieney of food of the poorest sort ; that
their furniture is Tsang; that their bedding is going; and that
they are reduced. to the last shift of sang their clothes to
buy bread, This i 3 very horrible. All this, however, he
(Mr. Folden) expec'ed to hear. But there was someng
inrill;!tely more horrible than this—something so horrible that
hr. hardly knew how to allude to it, though his duty to the
country forced him to do so. There had been abominations
ILd. practised in the workhouse of Ampthill, of the most horrible
eseription, lie had been told that the porter of that work-
Wouse :aid made it a place for the corrupting of the male
nuth of the country. Several youths had been spoken of
ha the objects of this man's wicked attempts. It appeared that
one youth had been committed to gaol, perhaps to be tried for
his life, on the charge of having inflicted severe wounds on the
person of this porter ; but if report spoke true, it would appear
also that the conduct of this porter towards the same youth
had been such as to make tho porter liable to be tried
for a
capital offence. The youth being in jail to be tried, the
porter had left the neighbourhood, and, as was alleged, has
altogether dizappcared, although he, as the prosecutor, should,
as a matter of necessity, be expected to he foremost at the
trial. [Here the Hon. Member referred to several cases to
Maintain his argument that the unions were an inconvenient
machinery ; that the central board was despotic and tyranni-
cal ; and that the workhouses were dens of torture and mur-
der. 1 He contended that the management and discipline of
the workhouses were most illegal and unnatural. He really
wondered how Hon. Members could with patience endure the
thought of the savage separatings cf the people, and of the
details of the almost worse than starvation which they were
obliged to undergo.—( Hear, hear, hear.) lie (Mr. Fielden)
implored the House to consider well what he had been saying
to them ; he had hoped to impress upon them that of which
he himself had felt quite certain—that this atrocious
law would never be tolerated by the people of England.
The Honourable Member, after thanking the House for the
patience with which they had listened to his lengthened de-
tails, concluded by moving for leave to bring in a Bill to re-
peal the Poor-law Amendment Act., The principle of the