The Sun.
London, England, 1844-05-24 00:00:00

THE VAGRANT POOR OF THE METROPOLIS.

The discussion upon the motion of Deputy Corney,
" That it be referred to the Parliamentary Committee
to consider the propriety of petitioning Parliament for
an Act to better the moral and physical condition of the
vagrant population of this metropolis, and report their
opinion forthwith to the Court," was resumed. The
following is an abstract of the whole discussion :
Deputy CORNEY said it was unnecessary for him to
tell the members of the Court, that the street beggars
formed a most intolerable nuisance in the streets of the
metropolis. In the City, the difficulty felt by the au-
thorities was, in what manner to relieve one locality
without burdening another. The existing law provided
no remedy nor mitigation of the evil, an the ward of
Broad-street, to which he belonged, unfortunately sup-
plied him with a very painful experience upon the sub-
ject, as it happened to be infested more than any other
quarter of the City by those who traded in mendacity.
The City Magistrates in adjudicating on the cases
brought before them, generally punished the offence
with fourteen days' imprisonment, or discharged the
offender upon promise not to ply in his vocation within
the City. Persons-brought up in habits of what might-
be called the industrious idleness of begging, were not to
be removed so easily from the extensive district in
which they had all their lives found a home and support.
Ile had traced families regularly trained up for thirty
years in the art, and most diligently bringing up their
children in the same occupation, by the most inde-
fatigable manoeuvring. Habits so inveterate,_ and recom-
mened by parental example, were not to be altered by
any process which the present poor-law provided or
sanctioned.—(Hear, hear.) He recollected that Sir
Matthew Wood had, in his anxious and commendable
desire to relieve his fellow-citizens, made an experiment,
but failed. It was to be hoped, that as a revision of the
Poor-law Bill was intended very soon to be made,
the Government would get a clause introduced to
meet the evil by which particular localities
were overwhelmed. Formerly the poor obtained relief
through the instrumentality of the monasteries which
had long since been absorbed by noble families, such as
the houses of Bedford, Cavendish, and Tavistock, with-
out producing any good, as a substitute for the charity
which was in days of old dispersed, except the getting
up of a few Liberal Members of Parliament.—(Laugh-
ter.) Now the poor crowded into the City, and exer-
cised in some instances importunities, in others threats,
to obtain that which they had never attempted to earn.
It was not his intention to presume to suggest any defi-
nite plan. He should leave that to the wisdom of Par-
liament, but he felt convinced that something could be
devised by which, as was expressed in the terms of his
motion, the moral and physical condition of the labour-
ing population would be improved. Mr. Corney con-
cluded.hAy reading his motion.
Mr. HEPPEL seconded the motion, but he wished that
the Deputy who introduced it had given some outline of
a plan for accomplishing the very desirable object be
wished to attain. He believed that in the new poor-law
there was not any provision made to throw upon the
unions generally the cases which were at present con-
fined to one.—(Hear, hear.) He believed, however,
that it was the intention of Sir James Graham to cause
the ex7enses of the maintenance of the poor to fall upon
the unions generally.
Mr. KING said it was quite evident that the objects of
the mover and seconder were quite different—that of
the one being to improve the moral and physical condi-
tion of the poor; while that of the other was to divide the
expense of maintaining them, without reference to their
moral or physical condition at all.—(Laughter). lie
considered it to be his duty to move the previous question,
for he regarded the proposition of the mover as a most
monstrous one. It was, in fact, nothing at all, or worse
than nothing, and the Corporation would certainly be
laughed at for going to Parliament for such a purpose.
>Er. RICHARD TAYLOR supported the motion. What,
he asi,:ad, would be more worthy of a reference to a
Committee than such a question? Was it not an
appeal made for charitable purposes, and cal-
culated to alleviate existing distress?—(Hear, hear.)
Lord Ranelagh had said that nine-tenths of the vagrants
of the metropolis did not belong to the metropolis, but
that they came from the rural districts.—(Hear, hear.)
They came by fifties and hundreds from the neighbour-
hoods of the estates of the Duke of Buckingham and
the Duke of Richmond, and other noblemen, who derived
benefit from the destruction of the monasteries to which
Deputy Corney had alluded.—(Laughter.) They
poured in upon the City from the country, and the laws
were rendered futile by the operation of the measures
which were so strongly deprecated by the people. What
destroyed the efficacy of the poor-law ? The corn-law.
—(Loud cries of "Hear, hear," and "No, no.") The
exclusion of foreign corn deprived the people of food,
and thronged the streets of the metropolis with rural
beggars. He had read with horror the observations of
of a Chairman at a quarter sessions, as to the incen-
diary fires which, going an from night to night, showed
the miserable condition of the population, who, hay-
ire? no other means of manifesting their condition,
adopted that dreadful course. That appeared on
the charge to the grand jury. The Mites spoke of great
facts. lie called the prevalence of incendiary fires a
great fac°. It was horrible to think that the people
should- resort to such secret and dreadful means to show
what their real condition was, but so it was—(Elear,
hear, and murmurs)—while these things were known of
the agricultural population, and while it was known that
the employment given by the farmer to the labourer was
So precarious that the latter was discharged when the
weather proved inauspicious, what was to be expected ?
What was the Parliament doing at the present moment?
Why, endeavouring to plunder than of all the common
lands-by an Inc!osuro Bill. It was pretended that com-
pensation was to be given for the loss, but compensation
given to the present poor who had only a life interest in
the benefit would leave the succeeding generation strip-
ped of all advantages.—(Hear, hear.) As well might
the members of that Court take off the money from the
Chamberlain's-office. No greater robbery could, in
fact, be committed, and it was going on ever since his
birth. (Cries of " Hear, hear, and murmurs.")
They had seen the people getting worse and
worse, as they got rid of their commons.
The poor could, formerly, do a day's work
in procuring fuel, but now every bit of ground
was taken away, and the poor man's cow or
horse, if caught grazing on the road-side, was shut up
in pound. To expect a system of morals from such a
plan was monstrous. There was much talk about
education, but the more education the poor received, the
more palpable would the injustice with which they were
treated appear to them. The Christian religion never
taught the people to put up with starvation.—(Hear.)
Mr. W. LAWRENCE supported the amendment. He
could not understand what the mover of the resolution
meant by the moral condition of the poor; and as for
their physical condition' which was, indeed, bad enough,
the worthy Deputy had not suggested anything like a
remedy. The guardians of the poor
terParliament,
the persons
who would most properly
now that the
for they
;were armed with facts; and
might
lAct was about
to undergo some change, they
iarl'llh)e' withala advan-
ickge, but that Court could do nothing
Mr. JUPP said the allusion to. the Inclosureteßrill re-
winded him of what a lady said about a robbery which
took place in the country. "Oh dear !" said she,
i‘ what brutes they must have been to steal away the
geesefrom the common!" Now all she had to (10 to ex-
press his sentiments on the subject waq,de art
what brutes must they be who want to steal away the.
common from the geese.
Mr. ANDERTON said it was quite obvious to him that
if corn was ever so plentiful there would be abundance
3f paupers. If the beggars were taken out of the streets
to-day they would be in the streets to-morrow. If
Deputy Corney proposed the consideration of some
sanatory regulations for the City of London, founded
upon the admirable report of Mr. Chadwick—the atten-
tion of the members of the Court to which, he most
earnestly recommended—he would most assuredly join in
carrying out so beneficial an object.
Mr, L. JONES said the proper authority to enter
upou.such a topic was Parliament itself. He was anxious
to see an amalgamation of the expenses of all the City
tariehea, so that all would be equally benefited. It was
-lotorious that the poor put forth all their strength and
rich parishes, and retarned exhausted to
loolglnltheir extremity for support In parishes abounding
wills P.o6AtluetTaaitsiniliT
declared
as themselves.—(Hear.)
Mreon such as had te_ertcil.outhr if ho thought a propos!.
poor,gt forward were likely, in
any Tanner, to benefit theNvould support it with
the greatest promptttude hadbuhee always found that
notices of Ole kind uniformly ended
in. imposing some