The Sun.
London, England, 1847-05-18 00:00:00

events, could prove it had failed in conferring any such
advantages, and that it was a complete failure,
urcl iltiU crumbled into s, people of this
c,:untr) I(z,d i o acenstowed to boast, that they
were Lieber callecl upon to obey any law which
was not passed by both branches of the Legislature,
but notwithstanding, they had been obliged, now for
thirteen years, to obey the orders of the Peor-law Com-
missioners, as the law of the land. A Committee of that
House had been appointed to inquire into the operation
of that law, and after having sat for four months, they
came to the decision that the Poor-law Commissioners
had acted in a most arbitrary manner towards the As-
sistant Poor-law Commissioners. He thought it was
not sufficient that the Poor law Commissioners should
be dismissed, but that the law should be repealed. When
the law was first broached It was supported by men
whose object was to do away with poor-laws altogether,
and to punish poverty as a crime. The person who
first brought it forward was Lord Brougham, who, be-
fore he introduced it obtained a pledge from both the
political parties that they would not repeal what-
ever might be the extent of the opposition raised
against it. He would ask, who had been selected
to guide the Bill ? No other than Mr. Malthus, a
man whose opinions on the subject was odious
to the country.—(An Hon. Member said he was dead.)
Well, then, he left his legacy behind him. He was Lord
Brougham's guide in this measure. He who had de-
clared that he who was not provided with necessaries by
his parents, had no right to food ; that no place had
been provided for him at Nature's feast, and that he
had no right to be there. Lord Brougham defended
this gentleman, and stated that he had been
greatly misrepresented, and that he was a most humane
and amiable man. A Commission was then appointed
to inquire into the old poor-law, and evidence taken
by Assistant Poor-law Commissioners, who knew what
was required of them, and did what they were
ordered, as obedient servants. Then came forth the re-
port, that " dark document," which was so bad and
wicked, that the Duke of Wellington denied its existence.
It was opposed by a friend of his, now on a bed of sick-
ness (Mr. Walter), whose services would last for cen-
turies, when the ,Hogg Baronetcy would be buried in
oblivion.—(Partial murmurs.) That document had been
signed by two of the bishops of their church, the Bishops
of London and Chester. Lord Althorp introduced the
Bill into that House, which gave power to the Poor.
law Commissioners to limit the amount of food,
but not to increase it, and also to lower wages. In the
correspondence of Messrs. Ashworth and Gregg, it
appeared that the guardians, in a case of a strike for
wages, were authorised to refuse relief if they knew the
parties could earn wages upon which they Gould earn
a subsistence. As soon as the New Poor-law Bill
passed, the Poor-law Commissioners employed persons
as Assistant-Commissioners, whom they sent to the
agricultural districts to induce the people to
leave their homes, assuring them that if they
did so, they should have abundant employment
in the manufacturing districts. They placarded
places with tables of wages, which they never
did, and it was never intended that they should
receive. One of the blackest things they did
was to send Dr. Kay down to Suffolk and Norfolk to
induce the labourers to go to Manchester, where they
sent them ticketed and labelled, like beasts to the slaugh-
ter. But, as his Right Hon. and Learned Friend (the
Attorney-General) seemed to smile, he thought it his
duty to reiterate what he had said : the labourers sent
to Manchester were actually ticketed, packed in boats,
and without any places to go to, turned adrift in the
streets of Manchester in the middle of the night. But
they should now hear Dr. Kay's own description of this
town three years before. In describing it, he said that
the inhabitants had ceased to have a pride in the ap-
pearance of their houses. They spent their lives in
squalid wretchedness—their domestic economy was
neglected—their houses were ill furnished and ill
ventilated their food meagre, and not nutri-
tious, and they frequently, fell victims to drink.
Such was the description of Manchester, when the inha-
bitants of the southern districts of England were to be
absorbed into the workshops of the manufacturers. He
would detail to the House the cruelties inflicted upon
those agricultural labourers. Not content with calling
in the military, the Government sent down the Metro-
politan Police, and there, with drawn cutlasses they
sought to enforce those tyrannical laws. They
sold up thousands of the poor people. Immense
buildings were erected in the county as modern
bastiles, where they were immured in cells, not
allowed to go a place of worship, their diet
tables were worse than those of felons, they were com-
pelled to wear a felon's dress, and they branded their
clothes with the name of " the union workhouse" upon it,
heir furniture was sold, husbands were separated from
their wives, and children stolen from their parents at the
point of the bayonet. The union workhouses were
cleared, and its inmates sold to the manufacture's.
He held in his hand au application of one of the manu-
facturers for these poor people to the guardians of the
poor of the Llangollen Union, dated only twelve
months since, in which the applicant stated that he
had employment in his mills for twenty or thirty
females, and also a number of boys, and stating that it
there were any in the union fit for such employment,
one of the firm would come over to the union and bring
those unfortunate creatures to the factory districts. And
who were the parties who were chosen to look over those
unfortunate creatures? Why, it was a well-known fact
that if the Government could offer the office, a non-com-
missioned officer of the cavalry, whose previous occupa-
tion might be supposed to have inured him to wretched-
ness or made his heart callous, was the person whose
services they were most glad to obtain. These unions
were formed so large that the poor had to travel to the
board of guardians ten, twenty, and even thirty miles, in
order to obtain their paltry pittance. Such was the
distance they had to travel that it often occupied three
whole days in going and returning from the union. He
held in his hand a letter from a clergyman. in which he
stated that he knew a poor man who had to travel 24
miles every week in order to obtain even a sixpence.
Then, in addition to this, the poor have died in numbers
from want and improper medical treatment.—(Hear,
hear.) Aye, numbers have died from those sources
under the sanction of the Poor-law Commissioners and the
Government. Such were some of the horrible effects of
this blood-stained law—for such it was. Yes, blood had
been shed, and that too at the point of the bayonet, in
the endeavours of the Government to enforce the cruelties
of that law. He would read to the House the solemn
pledges made by Lord Brougham when he pleaded in
the House of Lords for the second reading of this ini-
quitous Bill. (The Hon. Member then proceeded to
read an extract from the speech of the Noble Lord, in
which he stated that that measure would elevate the
character of the people of this country, give a new im-
pulse to property, and destroy idleness and vice.) How
had. (continued the Hon. Member) these pledges and
promises been realised ? The people had been robbed
and plundered under the operation of that law for
upwards of thirteen years. Was it to be supposed
now that the curtain wag allowed to descend quietly over
those scenes of horror, of blood, and of cruelty ? If
the Government was prepared to take upon itself the
responsibility of all these accumulated cruelties, They
certainly possessed more courage and bravery than he
had ever given them credit for possessing. Before the
passing of this law the people were promised good
wages ; neat, good, and comfortable houses. But what
was the result, as appeared by the statements of thi
lion. Member for Manchester some time since? He sap
that the people of Manchester were some of theta
living upon Id. per day ; that they were iu thi
habit of eating dead horses, and so poverty-
striken were great masses of the people, that the)
were in the habit of pawning their day clothes in the
evening in order to obtain their bed clothes from th,
pawnbroker's to cover them at night. He had thought
it his duty to move some time since for a return of th
mode in which the poor had been disposed of; and
although that return had been ordered, still not thi.
slightest notice had been taken of that order, and th-
reason given for it was that no possible account could
be obtained, and no return had been made from that day
to this. In the year 1843 the poor-law had been ie
operation nine years. Now, what was the effect
of this law upon the morals, the condition, and
the habits of the people ? That law, which had been
pledged to produce such beneficial results ? He begged to
read to the House a statement, made by one of the pre
sent Cabinet Ministers. Lord Howick, when a Memb,r
of this House, stated that in Sunderland the poor-rat..s
bad risen to 18s. in the pound. (The Hon. Member then
proceeded to read at considerable length an extract from
a speech of Lord Howick.) What a contrast (con-
tinued the Hon. Member) did that statement present tk
the fair pledges and promises made by Lord Brougham
and others, when the measure was introduced. 11l
would, therefore, convict the Government of havi4
been false prophets out of the mouth of one of thi
members of their own Cabinet. He would also read ti
the House a statement made by Lord Brougham in the
year 1843, nine years after the passing of the Act,
in order to show to the House in what manner
the operation of the law had borne out
the pledges and promises of its supporters.
The Hon. Gentleman then read an extract from the
Times of 1843, stating that a great number of the pi (or
of Stourbridge were subsisting upon turnips alone, ane
that the farmers in the neighoourhood had bad five or
six tons a week stolen; but they were in such a deplor
able state that the persons could not find it in their
hearts to prosecute them. He held in his hand an
account of proceedings which took place in the same year
at the Brentford Sessions, before the magistrates of the
county of Middlesex. A poor man was brought up
before them in the prison dress, and branded in the way
he had mentioned. The magistrates, and five or six
were present, all spoke with indigestion of the manner
in which the poor were treated under the sanction of the
Peor-law Commissioners, and one of them, Mr. Armstrong,
stated that the country was coming back to the times
of feudal slavery, and he was glad to find that the
members of the Bench were unanimous in deprecating
the conduct which the Commissioners pursued
towards the poor. He also had a number of extracts
which he had culled from country newspapers during the
years 1842 and 1843, which gave an account of the
manner in which large numbers of persons were sent t,
prison for merely disobeying the orders of the Poor-
law Commissioners, but he would not take up the time
of the House by reading thsnsem,sebeyon
beyond
London,
and stating that they
Khaedn
tespecial
y, reference
nn d
Hampshire, Essex,
respect Unions. The
Andover, Redbridge, and Levehhoaalksos Uw
the working classes in that vicinity ment of the poor in the Tne ttor etahte-
their way Union so exasperated
to the union (which was protected by police)
vicinity that they were on
with pickaxes in their hands, when they were met by a,
clergyman, who said address
:‘ Honest !" He replied, theinlagwowneo,u:: Halolnoews tusmtaonb!.
honest ; when we come poor we are treated like felons."
He, however, dissuaded them from their purpose. This
occurred as far back as in 1842. And her Majesty '
Government said, after all that had occurred, that the
law worked well, and they screened the
poor-law COM
missioners against public inquiry and publie indignation,
and aided and assisted them in oppressing the poor ; for