III. 1660-1846 (part 1 of 2)

III. 1660-1846 (part 1 of 2)

SECTION I

INDUSTRIAL ORGANISATION AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS

1. Defoe's Account of the West Riding Cloth Industry, 1724--2. Defoe's Account of the Woollen Trade, temp. George II.--3. Defoe's Account of the Corn Trade, temp. George II.--4. Defoe's Account of the Coal Trade, temp. George II.--5. A Description of Middlemen in the Woollen Industry, 1739.--6. Report on the Condition of Children in Lancashire Cotton Factories, 1796--7. The Newcastle Coal Vend, 1771-1830--8. The old Apprenticeship System in the Woollen Industry, 1806--9. A Petition of Cotton Weavers, 1807--10. Depression of Wages and its Causes in the Cotton Industry, 1812--11. Evidence of the Condition of Children in Factories, 1816--12. Change in the Cotton Industry and the Introduction of Power-loom Weaving, 1785-1807--13. Evidence by Factory Workers of the Condition of Children, 1832--14. Women's and Children's Labour in Mines, 1842--15. Description of the Condition of Manchester by John Robertson, Surgeon, 1840.

The documents in this section are intended to illustrate changes in industry and their effects on social conditions between 1660 and 1846. Eight extracts illustrate the condition of industries in the period, their structure, organisation and methods (Nos. 1 to 5, 7, 8 and 12). The first five refer to the early part of the eighteenth century and have a double interest. They record the old conditions in the woollen industry and the wool, corn and coal trades, and enable us to estimate the completeness of the change which was coming (Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). They show also how far advanced already was the organisation of markets and middlemen, and vertical control. A description of the conditions of the old apprenticeship system in the woollen industry is added (No. 8). Evidence before Committees on the Coal Trade gives an account of the important monopoly agreements and limitations of output which the peculiar conditions of the industry produced (No. 7). An example of the mechanical inventions which revolutionised industry at the close of the period is taken from an autobiographical pamphlet by a pioneer in power-loom cotton weaving (No. 12).

The pressure of industrial change on human life had been felt for some time before the application of new motive-power to machinery took full effect. The fluctuations of the cotton weaving industry and the depression of wages, aggravated by the French wars and trade restrictions, are illustrated by a petition of weavers (No. 9) and by evidence before a committee on the Orders in Council (No. 10). The rest of the extracts refer chiefly to the employment of children under the new industrial conditions. The report of Dr. Perceval in 1796 (No. 6) helped to produce the original Factory Act (See Pt. III, Section III, No. 9). The evidence of Peel and Owen before the committee of 1816 is given as the testimony of exceptional employers (No. 11). It supplements the picture painted by children, parents and overseers before Sadler's committee (No. 13). The Commission of 1842 (No. 14) supplies evidence of the conditions under which women and children worked in the coal mines. A brief description by a surgeon of the condition of Manchester in 1840 is added as giving some indication of the part played by housing conditions in the Industrial Revolution (No. 15).

AUTHORITIES

On Industrial Organisation the principal modern writers are Unwin, Industrial Organisation in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries; Cunningham, English Industry and Commerce, Modern Times; Mantoux, La Révolution Industrielle; Toynbee, The Industrial Revolution; Marx, Capital, Vol. II; Hobson, The Evolution of Modern Capitalism, Social England (edited Traill); H. Levy, Monopoly and Competition. Consult also Smiles, Lives of the Engineers, Lives of Boulton and Watt, Industrial Biography; Meteyard, Life of Wedgwood; Chapman, The Cotton Industry; Galloway, Annals of Coalmining; Boyd, History of the Coal Trade; Lloyd, The Cutlery Trades; Leone Levi, History of British Commerce; Porter, The Progress of the Nation, and The Victoria County History, passim (articles on social and economic history and on industries). For social conditions and changes consult Mantoux, Cunningham, Marx, and other writers above-mentioned, and Hutchins, The Public Health Agitation; Cooke Taylor, The Factory System and Introduction to the Factory System; Webb, History of Trade Unionism.

Bibliographies are given by Cunningham, op. cit., Part II; Unwin, op. cit.; Mantoux, op. cit.; Social England; Hutchins and Harrison, History of Factory Legislation; Webb, op. cit.; Cambridge Modern History, Vol. X.

Contemporary.--(1) The chief printed documentary evidence is to be found in the numerous reports of Committees and Commissions. For children's employment see the following Reports: on the State of Children in Manufactories, 1816 (III); on the Bill to regulate the labour of Children, 1832; on Children in Factories, 1833 (XX and XXI); on Children in Mines and Manufactories, 1842 (XV, XVI, XVII); on Children's Employment, 1843 (XII-XV). On conditions of wages and employment see Reports on Petitions; of Framework Knitters, 1778-1779; of Woolcombers, 1794; of Calico Printers, 1804 (V) and 1806 (III); of Hand-loom Weavers: 1834 (X) and 1835 (XIII), 1839 (XIII) and 1840 (XXII and XXIV); also Reports on the Apprenticeship Laws, 1813 (IV); on the Woollen Manufacture, 1806 (III); on Silk and Ribbon Weavers, 1818 (X). The organisation of the Coal Industry is described in Reports on the Coal Trade. See also the Letter Books of Holroyd and Hill (ed. Heaton, Halifax Bankfield Museum Notes, Series II, No. 3).

(2) Contemporary literary evidence for the earlier part of the period is to be found in Defoe, A Tour through the Whole Island of Great Britain, and The Complete English Tradesman; Smith, Memoirs of Wool (a collection); Young, Tour through the North of England, gives a brief survey of the Country in 1770. The changes in industrial methods are described in W. Radcliffe, Origin of the New System of Manufacture, commonly called Power-loom Weaving, Memoir of Edmund Cartwright, and Histories of the Cotton Manufactures by Ure and Baines. Life under the new conditions is described by Gaskell, The Manufacturing Population, and Artizans and Machinery, and Owen, Observations on the Manufacturing System. See also G. Dyer, The Complaints of the Poor People of England; C. Hall, The Effects of Civilisation; J. Brown, Memoir of Robert Blincoe (a child factory-worker); and, for public health, Kay, Moral and Physical Condition of the Working Classes; Richardson, The Health of Nations (Chadwick's writings); Reports 1800 (X) and 1830 (VII); Sanitary Conditions in large towns are described in Reports on Health of Towns, 1840 (XI) and 1845 (XVIII), and on Sanitary Conditions, 1844 (XVII).

1. DEFOE'S ACCOUNT OF THE WEST RIDING CLOTH INDUSTRY [D. Defoe, A Tour Through Great Britain, Vol. III, pp. 144-146, Ed. 1769], 1724.

From Blackstone Edge to Halifax is eight miles; and all the way, except from Sowerby to Halifax, is thus up hill and down; so that, I suppose, we mounted up to the clouds, and descended to the water-level, about eight times in that little part of the journey.

But now I must observe to you, that after we passed the second hill, and were come down into the valley again; and so still the nearer we came to Halifax, we found the houses thicker, and the villages greater in every bottom; and not only so, but the sides of the hills, which were very steep every way were spread with houses; for the land being divided into small inclosures, from two acres to six or seven each, seldom more, every three or four pieces of land had an house belonging to them.

In short, after we had mounted the third hill we found the country one continued village, though every way mountainous, hardly an house standing out of a speaking distance from another; and as the day cleared up, we could see at every house a tenter, and on almost every tenter a piece of cloth, kersie, or shalloon; which are the three articles of this country's labour.

In the course of our road among the houses, we found at every one of them a little rill or gutter of running water; if the house was above the road, it came from it, and crossed the way to run to another; if the house was below us, it crossed us from some other distant house above it; and at every considerable house was a manufactory; which not being able to be carried on without water, these little streams were so parted and guided by gutters or pipes, that not one of the houses wanted its necessary appendage of a rivulet.

Again, as the dyeing-houses, scouring-shops, and places where they use this water, emit it tinged with the drugs of the dyeing vat, and with the oil, the soap, the tallow, and other ingredients used by the clothiers in dressing and scouring, etc., the lands through which it passes, which otherwise would be exceeding barren, are enriched by it to a degree beyond imagination.

Then, as every clothier must necessarily keep one horse, at least, to fetch home his wool and his provisions from the market, to carry his yarn to the spinners, his manufacture to the fulling-mill, and when finished, to the market to be sold, and the like; so every one generally keeps a cow or two for his family. By this means, the small pieces of inclosed land about each house are occupied; and, by being thus fed, are still farther improved from the dung of the cattle. As for corn, they scarce sow enough to feed their poultry.

Such, it seems, has been the bounty of nature to this county, that two things essential to life, and more particularly to the business followed here, are found in it, and in such a situation as is not to be met with in any part of England, if in the world beside; I mean coals, and running water on the tops of the highest hills. I doubt not but there are both springs and coals lower in these hills; but were they to fetch them thence, it is probable the pits would be too full of water: it is easy, however, to fetch them from the upper parts, the horses going light up, and coming down loaden. This place, then, seems to have been designed by providence for the very purposes to which it is now allotted, for carrying on a manufacture, which can nowhere be so easily supplied with the conveniences necessary for it. Nor is the industry of the people wanting to second these advantages. Though we met few people without doors, yet within we saw the houses full of lusty fellows, some at the dye-vat, some at the loom, others dressing the cloths; the women and children carding, or spinning; all employed from the youngest to the oldest; scarce any thing above four years old, but its hands were sufficient for its own support. Nor a beggar to be seen, nor an idle person, except here and there in an alms-house, built for those that are ancient, and past working. The people in general live long; they enjoy a good air; and under such circumstances hard labour is naturally attended with the blessing of health, if not riches.

From this account, you will easily imagine, that some of these remote parts of the North are the most populous places of Great Britain, London and its neighbourhood excepted.

2. DEFOE'S ACCOUNT OF THE WOOL TRADE AND WOOLLEN INDUSTRIES [D. Defoe, The Complete English Tradesman, Ed. 1841, Vol. II, pp. 188-93], temp. George II.

First, the wool itself, being taken from the sheep's back, either by the shearer, the farmer, or by the fellmonger from the skin, becomes a subject of trade; and is either sold to the stapler, or wool merchant, and by him to the manufacturer, or is carried by the farmer and fellmonger, as is sometimes the case, to the particular counties where it is consumed.

These staplers and wool dealers are scattered all over the kingdom, and are a very important and considerable sort of tradesmen, being the first tradesmen into whose hands the said wool comes for sale: the principal towns in England where they are found to be in any numbers together, are in London, or Southwark rather, being principally in Barnaby Street, and the town of Blandford in Dorsetshire; there are also some in Norwich and in Lincolnshire, and in Leicestershire a great many.

Stourbridge fair is famous for the great quantity of wool sold there, and which goes beyond any other fairs or markets in all the north or east parts of England.

But wherever the wool is carried, and by whomsoever it is sold, this of course brings it to the first part of its manufacturing; and this consists of two operations:

1. Combing. 2. Carding.

The combers are a particular set of people, and the combing a trade by itself; the carding, on the other hand, is chiefly done by workmen hired by the clothiers themselves; the combers buy the wool in the fleece or in the pack, and when it is combed, put it on to the next operation on their own account. The carding is generally done by hired servants, as above; these operations hand on the wool to the next, which is common to both, viz., the spinning.

But before it comes this length, it requires a prodigious number of people, horses, carts or wagons, to carry it from place to place; for the people of those countries where the wool is grown, or taken as above, are not the people who spin it into yarn.

On the contrary, some whole counties and parts of counties are employed in spinning, who see nothing of any manufacture among them, the mere spinning only excepted.

Thus the weavers of Norwich and of the parts adjacent, and the weavers of Spitalfields in London, send exceeding great quantities of wool into remote counties to be spun, besides what they spin in both those populous counties of Norfolk and Suffolk; particularly they employ almost the whole counties of Cambridge, Bedford, and Hertford; and besides that, as if all this part of England was not sufficient for them, they send a very great quantity of wool one hundred and fifty miles by land carriage to the north, as far as Westmoreland, to be spun; and the yarn is brought back in the same manner to London and to Norwich.

This vast consumption of wool in Norfolk and Suffolk is supplied chiefly out of Lincolnshire, a county famous for the large sheep bred up for the supply of the London markets, as the western manufacturers are supplied from Leicestershire; of which in its place.

Nor is all this sufficient still; but as if all England was not able to spin sufficient to the manufacture, a very great quantity of yarn, ready spun, is brought from Ireland, landed at Bristol, and brought from thence by land carriage to London, and then to Norwich also.

The county of Essex, a large and exceedingly populous county, is chiefly taken up with the great manufacture of bays and perpets; the consumption of wool for this manufacture is chiefly bought of the staplers in London; the sorting, oiling, combing, or otherwise preparing the wool, is the work of the master manufacturer or bay maker; and the yarn is generally spun in the same county, the extent of it being not less than between fifty and sixty miles' square, and full of great and populous towns, such as Colchester, Braintree, Coggeshall, Chelmsford, Billericay, Bishop Stortford, Saffron Walden, Waltham, Romford, and innumerable smaller but very populous villages, and, in a word, the whole county full of people.

The western part of England, superior both in manufactures and in numbers of people also, are not to be supplied either with wool or with spinning, among themselves, notwithstanding two such articles in both, as no other part of England can come up to by a great deal, viz.:

1. Notwithstanding the prodigious numbers of sheep fed upon those almost boundless downs and plains in the counties of Dorset, Wilts, Gloucester, Somerset, and Hampshire, where the multitudes, not of sheep only, but even of flocks of sheep, are not to be reckoned up; insomuch that the people of Dorchester say there are six hundred thousand sheep always feeding within six miles round that one town.

2. Notwithstanding the large and most populous counties of Wilts, Somerset, Gloucester, and Devon, in which the manufacture being so exceeding great, all the women inhabitants may be supposed to be thoroughly employed in spinning the yarn for them, and in which counties are, besides, the populous cities of Exeter, Salisbury, Wells, Bath, Bristol, and Gloucester; I say besides these, the greatest towns, and the greatest number of them that any other part of the whole kingdom of Great Britain can show, some of which exceed even the great towns of Leeds, Wakefield, Sheffield, etc., in the North; such as Taunton, Devizes, Tiverton, Crediton, Bradford, Trowbridge, Westbury, Froome, Stroud, Biddeford, Barnstaple, Dartmouth, Bridgewater, Mynhead, Poole, Weymouth, Dorchester, Blandford, Wimbourn, Sherbourne, Cirencester, Honiton, Warminster, Tewksbury, Tedbury, Malmsbury, and abundance of others, too many to set down; all which I mention, because those who pretend to have calculated the numbers of people employed in these four counties assure me that there are not so few as a million of people constantly employed there in spinning and weaving for the woollen manufacture only; that besides the great cities, towns, and seaports, mentioned above, there are not less than one hundred and twenty market towns, six large cities, and fifteen hundred parishes, some of which are exceeding full of people.

And yet, notwithstanding all this, such is the greatness of this prodigious manufacture, that they are said to take yearly thirty thousand packs of wool, and twenty-five thousand packs of yarn ready spun from Ireland.

From hence, take a short view of the middle part of England: Leicester, Northampton, and Warwick shires have a prodigious number of large sheep, which, as is said of Lincolnshire, are bred for the London markets; the wool, consequently, is of an exceeding long staple, and the fineness is known also to be extraordinary.

This wool is brought every week, Tuesday and Friday, to the market at Cirencester, on the edge of Gloucester and Wilts; the quantity is supposed to be at least five hundred packs of wool per week.

Here it is bought by the woolcombers and carders of Tedbury, Malmsbury, and the towns on all that side of Wilts and Gloucester, besides what the clothiers themselves buy; these carry it out far and near among the poor people of all the adjacent countries, for the spinning; and having made the yarn, they supply that manufacture as far as Froome, Warminster, and Taunton; and thus the west country is furnished.

The north requires another inspection; the rest of the Leicestershire wool merchants, who do not bring their wool southward, carry it forward to the north, to Wakefield, Leeds, and Halifax; here they mix it with, and use it among the northern wool, which is not esteemed so fine.

Not forgetting, notwithstanding, that they have a great deal of very fine wool, and of a good staple, from the wolds or downs in the East Hiding of Yorkshire, and from the bishoprick of Durham, more especially the banks of the Tees, where, for a long way, the grounds are rich, and the sheep thought to be the largest in England.

Hither all the finest wool of those countries is brought; and the coarser sort, and the Scots' wool, which comes into Halifax, Rochdale, Bury, and the manufacturing towns of Lancashire, Westmoreland, and Cumberland, are employed in the coarser manufactures of those countries, such as kerseys, half-thicks, yarn stockings, duffields, rugs, Turkey work, chairs, and many other useful things, which those countries abound in.

3. DEFOE'S ACCOUNT OF THE CORN TRADE [D. Defoe, The Complete English Tradesman, Ed. 1841, Vol. II, pp. 177-182], temp. George II.

As the corn trade is of such consequence to us, for the shipping off the overplus, so it is a very considerable business in itself; the principal people concerned in it, as a trade, are, though very numerous, yet but of four denominations;--

1. Cornfactors; 2. Mealmen; 3. Maltsters; 4. Carriers.

1. Cornfactors; these, as corn is now become a considerable article of trade, as well foreign as inland, are now exceeding numerous; and though we had them at first only in London, yet now they are also in all the great corn markets and ports where corn is exported through the whole island of Britain; and in all those ports they generally correspond with the corn factors in England.

Those in the country ride about among the farmers, and buy the corn even in the barn before it is threshed; nay, sometimes they buy it in the field standing, not only before it is reaped, but before it is ripe. This subtle business is very profitable; for, by this means, cunningly taking advantage of the farmers, by letting them have money before-hand, which they, poor men, often want, they buy cheap when there is a prospect of corn being dear; yet sometimes they are mistaken too, and are caught in their own snare; but indeed, that is but seldom; and were they famed for their honesty, as much as they generally are for their understanding in business, they might boast of having a very shining character.

2. Mealmen; these generally live either in London or within thirty miles of it, that employment chiefly relating to the markets of London; they formerly were the general buyers of corn, that is to say, wheat and rye, in all the great markets about London, or within thirty or forty miles of London, which corn they used to bring to the nearest mills they could find to the market, and there have it ground, and then sell the meal to the shopkeepers, called mealmen, in London.

But a few years past have given a new turn to this trade, for now the bakers in London, and the parts adjacent, go to the markets themselves, and have cut out the shopkeeping mealmen; so the bakers are the mealmen, and sell the fine flour to private families, as the mealmen used to do. And as the bakers have cut out the meal shops in London, so the millers have cut out the mealmen in the country; and whereas they formerly only ground the corn for the mealmen, they now scorn that trade, buy the corn, and grind it for themselves; so the baker goes to the miller for his meal, and the miller goes to the market for the corn.

It is true, this is an anticipation in trade, and is against a stated wholesome rule of commerce, that trade ought to pass through as many hands as it can; and that the circulation of trade, like that of the blood, is the life of the commerce. But I am not directing to what should be, but telling what is; it is certain the mealmen are, in a manner, cut out of the trade, both in London and in the country, except it be those country mealmen who send meal to London by barges, from all the countries bordering on the Thames, or on any navigable river running into the Thames west; and some about Chichester, Arundel, and the coast of Sussex and Hampshire, who send meal by sea; and these are a kind of meal merchants, and have factors at London to sell it for them--either at Queenhithe, the great meal-market of England, or at other smaller markets.

By this change of the trade, the millers, especially in that part of England which is near the Thames, who in former times were esteemed people of a very mean employment, are now become men of vast business; and it is not an uncommon thing to have mills upon some of the large rivers near the town, which are let for three or four hundred pounds a year rent.

3. Maltsters; these are now no longer farmers, and, as might be said, working labouring people, as was formerly the case, when the public expense of beer and ale, and the number of alehouses, was not so great, but generally the most considerable farmers malted their own barley, especially in the towns and counties, from whence they supplied London, and almost every farmhouse of note.

As the demand for malt increased, those farmers found it for their purpose to make more and larger quantities of malt, than the barley they themselves sowed would supply; and so bought the barley at the smaller farms about them; till at length the market for malt still increasing, and the profits likewise encouraging, they sought far and near for barley; and at this time the malting trade at Ware, Hertford, Royston, Hitchin, and other towns on that side of Hertfordshire, fetch their barley twenty, thirty, or forty miles; and all the barley they can get out of the counties of Essex, Cambridge, Bedford, Huntingdon, and even as far as Suffolk, is little enough to supply them; and the like it is at all the malt-making towns upon the river of Thames, where the malt trade is carried on for supply of London, such as Kingston, Chertsey, Windsor, High Wycombe, Reading, Wallingford, Abingdon, Thame, Oxford, and all the towns adjacent; and at Abingdon in particular, they have a barley market, where you see every market-day four or five hundred carts and wagons of barley to be sold at a time, standing in rows in the market-place, besides the vast quantity carried directly to the maltsters' houses.

The malt trade thus increasing, it soon came out of the hands of the farmers; for either the farmers found so much business, and to so much advantage, in the malting-trade, that they left off ploughing, and put off their farms, sticking wholly to the malt; or other men, encouraged by the apparent advantage of the malting-trade, set it up by itself, and bought their barley, as is said above, of the farmers, when their malt trade first increased; or both these together, which is most probable; and thus malting became a trade by itself.

Again, though the farmers then generally left off malting in the manner as above, yet they did not wholly throw themselves out of the profit of the trade, but hired the making of their own malt; that is, to put out their barley to the malthouses to be made on their account; and this occasioned many men to erect malthouses, chiefly to make malt only for other people, at so much per quarter, as they could agree; and at intervals, if they wanted full employ, then they made it for themselves; of these I shall say more presently.

Under the head of corn factors, I might have taken notice, that there are many of those factors who sell no other grain than malt; and are, as we may say, agents for the maltsters who stay in the country, and only send up their goods; and assistants to those maltsters who come up themselves.

The mentioning these factors again here, naturally brings me to observe a new way of buying and selling of corn, as well as malt, which is introduced by these factors; a practice greatly increased of late, though it is an unlawful way of dealing, and many ways prejudicial to the markets; and this is buying of corn by samples only. The case is thus:--

The farmer, who has perhaps twenty load of wheat in his barn, rubs out only a few handfuls of it with his hand, and puts it into a little money-bag; and with this sample, as it is called, in his pocket, away he goes to market.

When he comes thither, he stands with his little bag in his hand, at a particular place where such business is done, and thither the factors or buyers come also; the factor looks on the sample, asks his price, bids, and then buys; and that not a sack or a load, but the whole quantity; and away they go together to the next inn, to adjust the bargain, the manner of delivery, the payment, etc. Thus the whole barn, or stack, or mow of corn, is sold at once; and not only so, but it is odds but the factor deals with him ever after, by coming to his house; and so the farmer troubles the market no more.

This kind of trade is chiefly carried on in those market-towns which are at a small distance from London, or at least from the river Thames; such as Romford, Dartford, Grayes, Rochester, Maidstone, Chelmsford, Malden, Colchester, Ipswich, and so down on both sides the river to the North Foreland, and particularly at Margate and Whitstable, on one side; and to the coast of Suffolk, and along the coast both ways beyond, and likewise up the river. Also,

At these markets you may see, that, besides the market-house, where a small quantity of corn perhaps is seen, the place mentioned above, where the farmers and factors meet, is like a little exchange, where all the rest of the business is transacted, and where a hundred times the quantity of corn is bought and sold, as appears in sacks in the market-house; it is thus, in particular, at Grayes, and at Dartford: and though on a market-day there are very few wagons with corn to be seen in the market, yet the street or market-place, nay, the towns and inns, are thronged with farmers and samples on one hand, and with mealmen, London bakers, millers, and cornfactors, and other buyers, on the other. The rest of the week you see the wagons and carts continually coming all night and all day, laden with corn of all sorts, to be delivered on board the hoys, where the hoymen stand ready to receive it, and generally to pay for it also: and thus a prodigious corn trade is managed in the market, and little or nothing to be seen of it.

4. DEFOE'S ACCOUNT OF THE COAL TRADE [D. Defoe, The Complete English Tradesman, Ed. 1841, Vol. II, pp. 172-173], temp. George II.

The Newcastle coals, brought by sea to London, are bought at the pit, or at the steath or wharf, for under five shillings per chaldron; I suppose I speak with the most; but when they come to London, are not delivered to the consumers under from twenty-five to thirty shillings per chaldron; and when they are a third time loaded on board the lighters in the Thames, and carried through bridge, then loaded a fourth time into the great west country barges, and carried up the river, perhaps to Oxford or Abingdon, and thence loaded a fifth time in carts or wagons, and carried perhaps ten or fifteen, or twenty miles to the last consumer; by this time they are sometimes sold from forty-five to fifty shillings per chaldron; so that the five shillings first cost, including five shillings tax, is increased to five times the prime cost. And because I have mentioned the frequent loading and unloading the coals, it is necessary to explain it here once for all, because it may give a light into the nature of this river and coast commerce, not in this thing only, but in many others; these loadings are thus:--

1. They are dug in the pit a vast depth in the ground, sometimes fifty, sixty, to a hundred fathoms; and being loaded (for so the miners call it) into a great basket or tub, are drawn up by a wheel and horse, or horses, to the top of the shaft, or pit mouth, and there thrown out upon the great heap, to lie ready against the ships come into the port to demand them.

2. They are then loaded again into a great machine called a wagon; which by the means of an artificial road, called a wagon-way, goes with the help of but one horse, and carries two chaldron, or more, at a time, and this, sometimes, three or four miles to the nearest river or water carriage they come at; and there they are either thrown into, or from, a great storehouse, called a steath, made so artificially, with one part close to or hanging over the water, that the lighters or keels can come close to, or under it, and the coals be at once shot out of the wagon into the said lighters, which carry them to the ships, which I call the first loading upon the water.

5. A DESCRIPTION OF MIDDLEMEN IN THE WOOLLEN INDUSTRY [J. Smith, The Memoirs of Wool, Vol. II, pp. 310-313, 1747], 1739.

THE TYRANNY OF THE BLACKWEL-HALL FACTORS.

The sufferings of the poor employed in working up Spanish wool, are not owing to the unmercifulness of the clothiers, but the tyranny of Blackwel-Hall factors; who though originally but the servants of the makers, are now become their masters, and not only theirs, but the wool merchants and drapers too.

Perhaps, sir, you may ask how it is possible that these men, who style themselves but factors or agents, could find means to lord it as tyrants over their employers? Why thus: they have managed it so, that the merchant dare not sell his wool to the clothier, nor the clothier presume to buy it of the merchant. On this grand point their whole power is founded. To make this clear, sir, you are to understand, that in the year 1695, the clothiers finding themselves in much the same circumstances they are at present, by their credit given to the drapers on one hand, and their being obliged to purchase wool of the factors, on the other, applied in a body to parliament for relief, and an act was accordingly past for restoring to them Blackwel-Hall for a market, limiting the credit to be given for their goods, to six months; obliging the factor to demand notes of hand of the draper, payable in that term, for the use of the clothier, on penalty of forfeiting double the value of the debt; and in case the draper refused to give such notes, so demanded, fining him 20s.

For a little while, this act had its desired effect; these notes were immediately returned to the clothier, who carried them to market for wool, etc., and by that means, made them answer in trade almost as well as cash itself. The factors thus stripped of the most valuable part of their business, immediately concerted such measures as rendered the whole act ineffectual, and put it in their power to tyrannize over the clothiers as much as ever. This was done, by tampering with those of the trade, whose circumstances were most precarious, who induced by the promise of a speedy sale for their goods, prior to those of any other maker, were easily prevailed upon to forego the advantage of the notes granted them by Parliament. This fatal precedent being once set, the factors instantly exacted a like compliance from all the rest; and if any refused not one piece of their cloth was sold. By which means, being obliged to keep their workmen employed in the interval, their whole stock, though ever so large, was exhausted; and the more stock they had, the more it became their interest to truckle to their old oppressors, and again take off their wool on what terms they pleased.

This important point carried, like true politicians, they resolved to pursue their blow, and add some new acquisitions to what they possessed before. Accordingly, they again allowed the drapers such unreasonable credit, that it was impossible for the most substantial clothier to carry on the trade, while the returns were so slow and precarious. On an universal complaint therefore of this grievance, they graciously condescended to insure the debt to be paid, twelve months after it was contracted; but in return of so great a favour, insisted on two and a half per cent. as a reward; and if any was rash or stubborn enough to disrelish or oppose this new imposition, he had the mortification to wait six months longer for his money, that is to say, a year and a half in all; which, together with the three months the cloth is in making, and three that (one piece with another) it continues in the hall, before it is sold off, make two years in the whole. Now let any one judge how large a stock is absolutely necessary to carry on a trade, under all these disadvantages, particularly when 'tis recollected, that the clothier is obliged to pay his workmen ready money all this while, whether his goods are vended or no; and that the modest factor always insists on his being paid for his wool, with the first money he receives for the cloth.

Neither is even this all. But if the clothier, hard drove by so vast and so continued a charge, should be compelled, as too many are, to draw upon the factor for money before 'tis due, according to their calculation, one misfortune makes way for another; and he must pay an extravagant premium for the advance, probably, of his own money. Nor are you to wonder, sir, that these worthy gentlemen are so solicitous to monopolise the whole market of Spanish wool; since, on a medium, they get four pounds on every pack. Now a considerable clothier may be supposed to work up 80 packs a year; which is in a manner a rent charge of 320l. to the factor annually; for it is more than probable that this very wool is purchased with the clothiers' cash; and while the factor grows rich without any risk, and with very little trouble the clothier is doubly excised, both for what he receives, and what is not only withheld, but employed so manifestly to his prejudice.

'Tis farther to be observed, that as by far the greatest part of a clothiers' stock must of necessity be lodged in the factors hands, if he (the clothier) happens to break, or die insolvent (as in spite of a whole life of toil and industry, many of them do) the factor immediately seizes on the whole; it being (says he) a pledge for money advanced, wool sold, etc., so that the rest of the creditors seldom receive a farthing, while he, to whom the poor man's calamity is principally owing, runs away with all.

Besides these capital grievances, there are several others, which though inferior in degree, are, when added together, no small increase of the load; such as the factors lumping the charges for warehouse-room in the hall, porterage, pressing, packing, etc., every article of which ought to be particular; as likewise sending out cloths to the drapers at the expense of the clothier, not for sale; but one would be almost tempted to think, to supply the shops with the paper and packthread they are secured with; since they are returned stripp'd of both, tumbled from end to end, exposed to all weather and accidents, and in such a condition as renders it absolutely necessary to have them cleaned, pressed, and packed anew. And all this, after they have been out of the hall six or eight weeks; though the above quoted act of Parliament provides that every cloth shall be reputed sold, after it hath been detained eight days.

One would think, sir, I had already mentioned grievances enough, not only to justify the clothier, but to excite the concern of the whole people in their favour, and the aid of the legislature in their redress. But there is yet another behind, which ought not to be omitted. It is this. These worthy factors, not content with all these various methods of oppression, to crown the whole, often set up people to act as master clothiers, on their stock, during any little glut of business; and as it is easy to imagine, give all the cloth so made, the preference of the market, though perhaps in all respects, least deserving of it. Hence, those that trade on their own bottoms, and employ the poor in good and bad times alike, are liable to all the disadvantages of the one, with little or no share in the benefits of the other. And hence, more people are admitted into trade, than the trade can possibly maintain; which opens a new door to the tumults and riots so lately felt.

6. REPORT ON THE CONDITION OF CHILDREN IN LANCASHIRE COTTON FACTORIES [Report of Committee on State of Children in Manufactories, 1816 (III), pp. 139-140], 1796.

Resolutions for the consideration of the Manchester Board of Health, by Dr. Perceval, January 25, 1796.

It has already been stated that the objects of the present institution are to prevent the generation of diseases; to obviate the spreading of them by contagion; and to shorten the duration of those which exist, by affording the necessary aids and comforts to the sick. In the prosecution of this interesting undertaking, the Board have had their attention particularly directed to the large cotton factories established in the town and neighbourhood of Manchester; and they feel it a duty incumbent on them to lay before the public the result of their inquiries:--

1. It appears that the children and others who work in the large factories, are peculiarly disposed to be affected by the contagion of fever, and that when such infection is received, it is rapidly propagated, not only amongst those who are crowded together in the same apartments, but in the families and neighbourhoods to which they belong.

2. The large factories are generally injurious to the constitution of those employed in them, even where no particular diseases prevail, from the close confinement which is enjoined, from the debilitating effects of hot or impure air, and from the want of the active exercises which nature points out as essential in childhood and youth, to invigorate the system, and to fit our species for the employments and for the duties of manhood.

3. The untimely labour of the night, and the protracted labour of the day, with respect to children, not only tends to diminish future expectations as to the general sum of life and industry, by impairing the strength and destroying the vital stamina of the rising generation, but it too often gives encouragement to idleness, extravagance and profligacy in the parents, who, contrary to the order of nature, subsist by the oppression of their offspring.

4. It appears that the children employed in factories are generally debarred from all opportunities of education, and from moral or religious instruction.

5. From the excellent regulations which subsist in several cotton factories, it appears that many of these evils may, in a considerable degree, be obviated; we are therefore warranted by experience, and are assured we shall have the support of the liberal proprietors of these factories, in proposing an application for Parliamentary aid (if other methods appear not likely to effect the purpose), to establish a general system of laws for the wise, humane, and equal government of all such works.

7. THE NEWCASTLE COAL VEND

[Reports from Committees on the Coal Trade, 1800 (X), p. 540, and 1830 (VIII), pp. 6 and 254-5], 1771-1830.

(a) 1800.

Evidence of Francis Thompson (formerly manager of Washington colliery).

Is there any regulation or limit as to price they[317] may give to the coal-owners?

In August, September, and October, 1771, I found great irregularities in the Coal Trade, particularly with respect to the measure. I communicated my sentiments to two of the most respectable agents of the owners ...; upon which it was agreed that a meeting should be had of the coal owners belonging to Sunderland, to be convened by me, and the coal owners at Newcastle, to be convened by a Mr. Gibson and Mr. Morrison, which was done; and we had three or four meetings, and I was appointed Secretary.... Since that time, according to the best enquiries I have been able to make, the coal owners have had frequent meetings for the purpose of stipulating the vends[318]; that is, that five of the collieries of the best coals, viz., Walls End, Walker, Wellington, Hebburn, and Heyton, are permitted to vend the greatest proportion, and at the best price; after that there is a second class, which sells one shilling per chaldron lower, being coals of an inferior quality, and also less in proportion as to quantity; there is likewise a third class, at a shilling less than the second, and who are allowed to sell a still less proportion as to quantity.

By what means do you understand those vends have been limited? By the meetings of the coal owners frequently for the purpose of ascertaining the vends.

Was there any positive agreement for that purpose? That cannot be well known, being contrary to Act of Parliament.

(b) 1830.[319]

The proprietors of the best coals are called upon to name the price at which they intend to sell their coals for the succeeding twelve months; according to this price, the remaining proprietors fix their prices; this being accomplished, each colliery is requested to send in a statement of the different sorts of coals they raise, and the powers of the colliery; that is, the quantity that each particular colliery could raise at full work; and upon these statements the committee, assuming an imaginary basis, fix the relative proportions, as to quantity, between all the collieries, which proportions are observed, whatever quantity the markets may demand. The committee then meet once a month, and according to the probable demand of the ensuing month, they issue so much per 1000 to the different collieries; that is, if they give me an imaginary basis of 30,000 and my neighbour 20,000, according to the quality of our coal and our power of raising them in the monthly quantity; if they issue 100 to 1000, I raise and sell 3,000 during the month, and my neighbour 2,000; but in fixing the relative quantities, if we take 800,000 chaldrons as the probable demand of the different markets for the year; if the markets should require more, an increased quantity would be given out monthly, so as to raise the annual quantity to meet that demand, were it double the original quantity.

Evidence of Robert William Brandling.[320]

What means have been resorted to in the north of England, with a view to keep the price of coal at such a rate as should compensate the owners of these collieries in which the expense of raising is the greatest?

We have entered into a regulation at different times, which regulation is in existence now, and which has for its object to secure us a fair uniform remunerating price, and enables us to sell our coals at the port of shipment under our immediate inspection, instead of being driven by a fighting trade, to become the carrier of our coals, and to sell them by third persons in the markets to which they are consigned; thereby trusting our interests to those over whom we have no direct control whatever.

So that practically the real quantity to be sold is fixed with reference to each colliery each month?

Yes. The basis originally fixed, is the proportion taken between all the collieries?

It is merely an imaginary quantity to fix the relative proportions.

Has the scale of prices now in operation been varied materially from that which was adopted when the regulation of the vend was last on?

I have already stated in my evidence that ours is a competition price, that we endeavour to get the best price we can, which is a little below what the consumer can get the same article for elsewhere. In the regulation in 1828 we found we had fixed our prices too high; the consequence was, it created an immediate influx of coals from Scotland, Wales and Yorkshire, and more especially from Stockton; so that when the coal-owners met together, to enter into another arrangement last year, we were obliged to fix our prices a little lower.

[Footnote 317: The fitters or agents between coal-owners and ship-owners.]

[Footnote 318: The name by which the agreements as to output were known.]

[Footnote 319: Report from Committee on the Coal Trade, 1830 (VIII), p. 6.]

[Footnote 320: Ibid. pp. 254-5.]

8. THE OLD APPRENTICESHIP SYSTEM IN THE WOOLLEN INDUSTRY [Report of Committee on the Woollen Industry, 1806 (III), p. 5], 1806.

Evidence of Mr. James Ellis,[321] 18 April, 1806.

Do you instruct this apprentice in the different branches of the trade?

As far as he has been capable I have done.

Will you enumerate the different branches of the trade which you yourself learnt, and in which you instruct your apprentice?

I learnt to be a spinner before I went apprentice; my apprentice was only eleven years old when I took him; when I went apprentice I was a strong boy, and I was put to weaving first; I never was employed in bobbin winding myself while I was apprentice; I had learned part of the business with my father-in-law before I went; I knew how to wind bobbins and to warp; after that I learned to weave; we had two apprentices, and after I had been there a little while we used to spin and weave our webs; while one was spinning the other was weaving.

Did you also learn to buy your own wool?

Yes; I had the prospect of being a master when I came out of my time, and therefore my master took care I should learn that.

Does that branch require great skill?

Yes, it does; I found myself very deficient when I was loose.

Different sorts of wool are applicable to different dyes and different manufactures?

Yes; I was frequently obliged to resort to my master for information as to the dyeing and buying wool.

Does it not require great skill to dye according to pattern, even when you have bought wool?

Yes.

Were you also instructed in that?

Yes; I kept an account all the time I was apprentice of the principal part of the colours we dyed, and practised the dyeing: I always assisted in dyeing; I was not kept constantly to weaving and spinning; my master fitted me rather for a master than a journeyman.

And you instruct your apprentice in the same line?

Yes; we think it a scandal when an apprentice is loose if he is not fit for his business; we take pride in their being fit for their business, and we teach them all they will take.

[Footnote 321: A clothier of Harmley, near Leeds, working with an apprentice, two hired journeymen and a boy, and giving some work out.]

9. A PETITION OF COTTON WEAVERS [_House of Commons Journals, 47 Geo. III, 1807, Feb. 26_], 1807.

A petition of the several Journeymen Cotton Weavers resident in the counties of Lancaster, Chester, York, and Derby, was presented and read; setting forth, That the petitioners suffer great hardships by the reduction of their wages, and that whenever the demand for goods becomes slack, many master manufacturers adopt the expedient of reducing wages, thereby compelling the petitioners, in order to obtain a livelihood, to manufacture greater quantities of goods at a time when they are absolutely not wanted, and that great quantities of goods so manufactured are sacrificed in the market at low prices, to the manifest injury of the fair dealer, and the great oppression of the petitioners, who are reduced one half of the wages they are justly entitled to, and in many cases, are not able to earn more than nine shillings per week: And therefore praying, That leave may be given to bring in a bill to regulate, from time to time, the wages of the petitioners.

10.--DEPRESSION OF WAGES AND ITS CAUSES IN THE COTTON INDUSTRY [Report of Committee on Orders in Council, 1812 (III),pp. 218 and 267-272], 1812.

Thursday, May 14, 1812.

Evidence of James Kay (cotton and woollen manufacturer, of Bury).

What used to be the price of cotton per piece in 1807?--I took out the manufacturing prices for three years before 1807, and four years since. Those are minutes from your own books?--Yes, in May, 1805, for the quality goods called Blackburn supers we gave six shillings; in May, 1806, we gave the same; in May, 1807, we gave the same; in November, 1807, we dropped them to 5s. 6d.; in December, 1807, to 5s.; in January 1808 to 4s. 6d.; in May 1808 they were at 4s.; it was at the time they were very much distressed, and rioting. In May, 1809, we gave 4s., in March, 1810, we, gave 7s.; in April, 6s.; and in May the same. In May, 1811, we again gave 4s.; and at the present time we give 4s. 6d.

Evidence of Jeremiah Bury (cotton manufacturer of Stockport).

Friday, May 15, 1812.

What might a man make at weaving, in the year 1810?--A man weaving plain work, in the year 1810, might make probably from 12s. to 15s. a week.

At plain work now what may a person earn?--The same man now would not make more than ten or twelve shillings.

What might a man in full employment, in 1810, make in spinning?-- ... I apprehend that a man might make from fifteen to twenty-five shillings a week in spinning.

What will the same man make now?--I think a man now might make from thirteen or fourteen to eighteen shillings.

Do you ever recollect so great distress as there is at present?--Never; I have known the trade these thirty years, but I never knew anything like it.

Your manufactures went to the Continent pretty extensively till the year 1807?--Yes, we sold to the merchants who sent to the Continent.

Can you tell what interrupted that trade?--We had no further trade when the Continent was shut up.

To what is the want of trade owing?--The want of market for our goods.

To what is the want of market owing?--It is impossible for me to say, but I believe if we had an opening in America, we should have sufficient market for our goods; when we lost the Continental trade we had America to depend upon, now we have lost America we have no regular markets to depend upon.

11.--EVIDENCE OF THE CONDITION OF CHILDREN IN FACTORIES [Report of Committee on Children in Manufactories, 1816 (III), pp. 89 and 132-133], 1816.

Mr. Robert Owen, again called in, and examined.

Have you anything to add to your evidence of yesterday?--Some questions were put to me yesterday respecting the early age at which children are employed at Stockport; I knew I had made a memorandum at the time, but I could not then put my hand upon it; I have since found it; and I can now reply to the questions regarding those cases. Mr. George Oughton, secretary to the Sunday school in Stockport, informed me about a fortnight ago, in the presence of an individual, who will probably be here in the course of the morning, that he knows a little girl of the name of Hannah Downham, who was employed in a mill at Stockport at the age of four. Mr. Turner, treasurer to the Sunday school, knows a boy that was employed in a mill at Stockport when he was only three years old. Mr. Turner and Mr. Oughton, if they were sent for would, I have no doubt, state these cases before the Committee.

They were mentioned to you as a rare instance?--They were mentioned to me in the midst of a very numerous assembly of very respectable people; I inquired of them whether they knew, as they were surrounded with, I believe, two or three thousand children at the time, what was the age at which children were generally admitted into cotton mills; their answer was, Some at five, many at six, and a greater number at seven. I have also received very important information from a very respectable individual at Manchester, relative to the age at which children are employed, the hours they are kept to work, and a variety of other particulars from very authentic sources.

Name those sources?--Mr. Nathaniel Gould and Mr. George Gould.

Does the information you propose to give come from the manufactory to which it relates?--No manufacturer would give information against himself.

State what you know relative to the number of hours which children and others are employed in their attendance on mills and manufactories?--About a fortnight ago I was in Leeds; and in conversation with Mr. Gott, whose name is well-known to many gentlemen in this room, he stated to me that it was a common practice, when the woollen trade was going on well, to work sixteen hours in the day: I was also informed by Mr. Marshall, who is another principal, and considered a highly respectable manufacturer in Leeds, that it was a common practice to work at flax-mills there sixteen hours a day whenever the trade went well: I was also informed by Mr. Gott, that when the Bill, generally known by the name of Sir Robert Peel's Bill, was brought in last session of Parliament, the night-work at Leeds was put an end to. In Stockport, on Sunday fortnight, I saw a number of small children going to the church; they appeared to me to be going from a Sunday school; the master was with them; I stopped the master, and asked him what he knew of the circumstances of the manufacturers in Stockport; he said he knew a great deal, because he himself had formerly, for many years, been a spinner in those mills; his name is Robert Mayor, of the National School in Stockport; he stated that he was willing to make oath that mills in Stockport, within the last twelve months, had been worked from three and four o'clock in the morning until nine at night, that he himself has frequently worked those hours.

Sir Robert Peel, Bart.

The house in which I have a concern gave employment at one time to near one thousand children of this description. Having other pursuits, it was not often in my power to visit the factories, but whenever such visits were made, I was struck with the uniform appearance of bad health, and, in many cases, stinted growth of the children; the hours of labour were regulated by the interest of the overseer, whose remuneration depending on the quantity of the work done, he was often induced to make the poor children work excessive hours, and to stop their complaints by trifling bribes. Finding our own factories under such management, and learning that the like practices prevailed in other parts of the kingdom where similar machinery was in use, the children being much over-worked, and often little or no regard paid to cleanliness and ventilation in the buildings; having the assistance of Dr. Percival and other eminent medical gentlemen of Manchester, together with some distinguished characters both in and out of Parliament, I brought in a Bill in the Forty-second year of the King, for the regulation of factories containing such parish apprentices. The hours of work allowed by that Bill being fewer in number than those formerly practised, a visible improvement in the health and general appearance of the children soon became evident, and since the complete operation of the Act contagious disorders have rarely occurred.

Diffident of my own abilities to originate legislative measures, I should have contented myself with the one alluded to, had I not perceived, that, owing to the present use of steam power in factories, the Forty-second of the King is likely to become a dead letter. Large buildings are now erected, not only as formerly on the banks of streams, but in the midst of populous towns, and instead of parish apprentices being sought after, the children of the surrounding poor are preferred, whose masters being free from the operation of the former Act of Parliament are subjected to no limitation of time in the prosecution of their business, though children are frequently admitted there to work thirteen to fourteen hours per day, at the tender age of seven years, and even in some cases still younger. I need not ask the Committee to give an opinion of the consequence of such a baneful practice upon the health and well-being of these little creatures, particularly after having heard the sentiments of those eminent medical men who have been examined before us; but I most anxiously press upon the Committee, that unless some parliamentary interference takes place, the benefits of the Apprentice Bill will soon be entirely lost, the practice of employing parish apprentices will cease, their places will be wholly supplied by other children, between whom and their masters no permanent contract is likely to exist, and for whose good treatment there will not be the slightest security. Such indiscriminate and unlimited employment of the poor, consisting of a great proportion of the inhabitants of trading districts, will be attended with effects to the rising generation so serious and alarming, that I cannot contemplate them without dismay, and thus that great effort of British ingenuity, whereby the machinery of our manufactures has been brought to such perfection, instead of being a blessing to the nation, will be converted into the bitterest curse.

Gentlemen, if parish apprentices were formerly deemed worthy of the care of Parliament, I trust you will not withhold from the unprotected children of the present day an equal measure of mercy, as they have no masters who are obliged to support them in sickness or during unfavourable periods of trade.

12.--CHANGE IN THE COTTON INDUSTRY AND THE INTRODUCTION OF POWER-LOOM WEAVING [William Radcliffe, The Origin of Power-Loom Weaving, 1828, pp. 9-10, etc.], c. 1785-1807.

The principal estates being gone from the family, my father resorted to the common but never-failing resource for subsistence at that period, viz., the loom for men, and the cards and hand-wheel for women and boys. He married a spinster (in my etymology of the word) and my mother taught me (while too young to weave) to earn my bread by carding and spinning cotton, winding linen or cotton weft for my father and elder brothers at the loom, until I became of sufficient age and strength for my father to put me into a loom. After the practical experience of a few years, any young man who was industrious and careful, might then, from his earnings as a weaver, lay by sufficient to set him up as a manufacturer, and though but few of the great body of weavers had the courage to embark in the attempt, I was one of the few. Availing myself of the improvements that came out while I was in my teens, by the time I was married (at the age of 24, in 1785), with my little savings, and a practical knowledge of every process from the cotton-bag to the piece of cloth, such as carding by hand or by the engine, spinning by the hand-wheel or jenny, winding, warping, sizing, looming the web, and weaving either by hand or fly-shuttle, I was ready to commence business for myself; and by the year 1789, I was well established, and employed many hands both in spinning and weaving, as a master manufacturer.

From 1789 to 1794, my chief business was the sale of muslin warps, sized and ready for the loom (being the first who sold cotton twist in that state, chiefly to Mr. Oldknow, the father of the muslin trade in our country). Some warps I sent to Glasgow and Paisley. I also manufactured a few muslins myself, and had a warehouse in Manchester for my general business.

* * * * *

At Midsummer, 1801, on taking[322] stock very accurately we[323] found we had upwards of £11,000 in our concern; I had also a landed estate in Mellor, in which was comprehended Podmore, where my father was born, with a rent roll, and good tenants of upwards of £350 per annum, charged with about £1,800 on mortgage. Mr. Ross's father was a merchant and magistrate in Montrose, and rich, and, my partner being an only son, could at any time lend us a few thousands, which he afterwards did to the amount of £6,000, including the £2,500 paid down on the formation of our partnership. With this real capital--an unlimited credit (£5,000 with our bankers amongst the rest), an excellent trade, and every prospect of its continuing so for a time, we came to the conclusion of purchasing the premises in the Hillgate, from Mr. Oldknow and Mr. Arkwright, then standing empty, which I never should have thought of for a moment, but from what had passed at the Castle Inn, for the sole purpose of filling them with looms, etc., on some new plan, and just so much spinning machinery as would supply the looms with weft. But beyond the common warping, sizing, weaving, etc., all was a chaos before me; yet so confident was I, that with such assistance as I could call in, we should succeed, that before I began I laid a trifling wager with my partner, that in two years from the time I commenced, I produced 500 pieces of 7-8ths and 9-8ths printing cambrics, all wove in the building in one week by some new process, which I won easily. And as the price for weaving alone when we began was 17s. per piece, and had never been below 16s. at any time, we thought we were justified in what we were doing, even if little improvement could be found. And if the goods made abroad from the annually increasing export of twist, and their prohibitions of our goods in consequence, had not gradually reduced this price of weaving from 17s. (with a profit of 10 to 20 per cent. to the master), to 4s. to the weaver (and no profit to the master!), we should have been handsomely rewarded by our trade. But to return from this digression, we concluded our contract about Michaelmas with Messrs. Oldknow and Arkwright, for the premises above mentioned; and I brought my family to Stockport in the latter end of December, 1801. I must here observe that we had at that time a large concern in Mellor, that with its various branches for putting out work, employing upwards of 1000 weavers, widely spread over the borders of three counties, in a vast variety of plain and fancy goods, all of which had been raised (like a gathering snowball) from a single spindle, or single loom by myself, and was then upon such a system as apparently might go on without my personal attention.

* * * * *

I shut myself up (as it were) in the mill on the 2nd January, 1802,[324] and with joiners, turners, filers, etc., etc., set to work; my first step was some looms in the common way in every respect, which I knew would produce the cloth so much wanted, and in some degree cover our weekly expenses.

Before the end of the month I began to divide the labour of the weavers, employing one room to dress the whole web, in a small frame for the purpose, ready for the looms in another room, so that the young weaver had nothing to learn but to weave; and we found this a great improvement, for besides the advantage of learning a young weaver in a few days, we found that by weaving the web as it were back again, the weft was driven up by the reed the way the brushes had laid the fibres down with the paste, so that we could make good cloth in the upper rooms with the dressed yarn quite dry, which could not be done in the old way of dressing, when the weft was drove up against the points of the fibres, which shewed us the reason why all weavers are obliged to work in damp cellars, and must weave up their dressing, about a yard long, before the yarn becomes dry, or it spoils.

This accomplished, I told my men I must have some motion attached to either traddles or the lathe, by machinery, that would take up the cloth as it was wove, so that the shed might always be of the same dimensions, and of course the blow of the lathe always moving the same distance, would make the cloth more even than could possibly be done in the old way, except by very skilful and careful weavers.

This motion to the loom being at length accomplished to our satisfaction, I set Johnson to plan for the warping and dressing, suggesting several ideas myself. His uncommon genius led him to propose many things to me, but I pointed out objections to them all, and set him to work again. His mind was so teased with difficulties, that he began to relieve it by drinking for several days together (to which he was too much addicted) but for this I never upbraided him, or deducted his wages for the time, knowing that we were approaching our object; at length we brought out the present plan, only that the undressed yarn was all on one side, and the brush to be applied was first by hand, then by a cylinder, and lastly the crank motion.

* * * * *

The partnership being thus dissolved,[325] I proceeded in my business with a double prospect of success; first, by the real business I was doing weekly, of 6 to 700 pieces per week, of printing cambrics, mostly woven in the factory, and the other part in weaving-families in the neighbourhood, on the small looms I had furnished to them, delivering them dressed warps on the beam, and pin-cops for the weft. This system had now become practicable, and was so greatly approved of by the weavers, that, had I weathered the calm, which soon after came upon my credit, I might, in a short time, have had all my looms in the dwellings of the operative weavers on the plan I had been driving at from the first, and from the superior advantage of machine dressing. The evenness produced by this mode of preparation, and the working in my loom, not only rendered these goods of ready sale, but gave me a weekly profit of 90l. to 100l., which, along with the second branch of income that formed my double prospect, viz., the premiums of licenses under patent rights beginning to pour in from the first houses in the trade, to the amount of 1,500l., in the eight months from the first of July, 1806, to March, 1807, when my vessel became quite becalmed.

* * * * *

In the year 1770,[326] the land in our township was occupied by between fifty to sixty farmers; rents, to the best of my recollection, did not exceed 10s. per statute acre, and out of these fifty or sixty farmers, there were only six or seven who raised their rents directly from the produce of their farms; all the rest got their rent partly in some branch of trade, such as spinning and weaving woollen, linen, or cotton. The cottagers were employed entirely in this manner, except for a few weeks in the harvest. Being one of those cottagers, and intimately acquainted with all the rest, as well as every farmer, I am the better able to relate particularly how the change from the old system of hand-labour to the new one of machinery operated in raising the price of land in the subdivision I am speaking of. Cottage rents at that time, with convenient loomshop and a small garden attached, were from one and a half to two guineas per annum. The father of a family would earn from eight shillings to half a guinea at his loom, and his sons, if he had one, two, or three alongside of him, six or eight shillings each per week; but the great sheet anchor of all cottages and small farms was the labour attached to the hand-wheel, and when it is considered that it required six to eight hands to prepare and spin yarn, of any of the three materials I have mentioned, sufficient for the consumption of one weaver,--this shews clearly the inexhaustible source there was for labour for every person from the age of seven to eighty years (who retained their sight and could move their hands) to earn their bread, say one to three shillings per week, without going to the parish.

* * * * *

From the year 1770 to 1788[327] a complete change had gradually been effected in the spinning of yarns. That of wool had disappeared altogether, and that of linen was also nearly gone; cotton, cotton, cotton, was become the almost universal material for employment. The hand-wheels, with the exception of one establishment, were all thrown into lumber-rooms, the yarn was all spun on common jennies, the carding for all numbers, up to 40 hanks in the pound, was done on carding engines; but the finer numbers of 60 to 80 were still carded by hand, it being a general opinion at that time that machine-carding would never answer for fine numbers. In weaving no great alteration had taken place during these eighteen years, save the introduction of the fly-shuttle, a change in the woollen looms to fustians and calico, and the linen nearly gone, except the few fabrics in which there was a mixture of cotton. To the best of my recollection there was no increase of looms during this period,--but rather a decrease.

I shall confine myself to the families in my own neighbourhood.[328] These families, up to the time I have been speaking of, whether as cottagers or small farmers, had supported themselves by the different occupations I have mentioned in spinning and manufacturing, as their progenitors from the earliest institutions of society had done before them. But the mule-twist now coming into vogue, for the warp, as well as weft, added to the water-twist and common jenny yarns, with an increasing demand for every fabric the loom could produce, put all hands in request of every age and description. The fabrics made from wool or linen vanished, while the old loomshops being insufficient, every lumber-room, even old barns, cart-houses, and outbuildings of any description were repaired, windows broke through the old blank walls, and all fitted up for loomshops. This source of making room being at length exhausted, new weavers' cottages with loomshops rose up in every direction; all immediately filled, and when in full work the weekly circulation of money, as the price of labour only, rose to five times the amount ever before experienced in this subdivision, every family bringing home weekly 40, 60, 80, 100, or even 120 shillings per week!!!

[Footnote 322: Ibid. pp. 15-16.]

[Footnote 323: Radcliffe and his partner Ross.]

[Footnote 324: Ibid. pp. 20-21.]

[Footnote 325: Ibid. p. 41.]

[Footnote 326: Ibid. pp. 59-60.]

[Footnote 327: Ibid. pp. 61-62.]

[Footnote 328: Ibid. p. 65.]

13. EVIDENCE BY FACTORY WORKERS OF THE CONDITION OF CHILDREN [Report of Committee on Factory Children's Labour, 1831-2 (XV), p. 192, etc.], 1832.

Evidence of Samuel Coulson.

5047. At what time in the morning, in the brisk time, did those girls go to the mills?

In the brisk time, for about six weeks, they have gone at 3 o'clock in the morning, and ended at 10, or nearly half past at night.

5049. What intervals were allowed for rest or refreshment during those nineteen hours of labour?

Breakfast a quarter of an hour, and dinner half an hour, and drinking a quarter of an hour.

5051. Was any of that time taken up in cleaning the machinery?

They generally had to do what they call dry down; sometimes this took the whole of the time at breakfast or drinking, and they were to get their dinner or breakfast as they could; if not, it was brought home.

5054. Had you not great difficulty in awakening your children to this excessive labour?

Yes, in the early time we had them to take up asleep and shake them, when we got them on the floor to dress them, before we could get them off to their work; but not so in the common hours.

5056. Supposing they had been a little too late, what would have been the consequence during the long hours?

They were quartered in the longest hours, the same as in the shortest time.

5057. What do you mean by quartering?

A quarter was taken off.

5058. If they had been how much too late?

Five minutes.

5059. What was the length of time they could be in bed during those long hours?

It was near 11 o'clock before we could get them into bed after getting a little victuals, and then at morning my mistress used to stop up all night, for fear that we could not get them ready for the time; sometimes we have gone to bed, and one of us generally awoke.

5060. What time did you get them up in the morning?

In general me or my mistress got up at 2 o'clock to dress them.

5061. So that they had not above four hours' sleep at this time?

No, they had not.

5062. For how long together was it?

About six weeks it held; it was only done when the throng was very much on; it was not often that.

5063. The common hours of labour were from 6 in the morning till half-past eight at night?

Yes.

5064. With the same intervals for food?

Yes, just the same.

5065. Were the children excessively fatigued by this labour?

Many times; we have cried often when we have given them the little victualling we had to give them; we had to shake them, and they have fallen to sleep with the victuals in their mouths many a time.

5066. Had any of them any accident in consequence of this labour?

Yes, my eldest daughter when she went first there; she had been about five weeks, and used to fettle the frames when they were running, and my eldest girl agreed with one of the others to fettle hers that time, that she would do her work; while she was learning more about the work, the overlooker came by and said, "Ann, what are you doing there?" she said, "I am doing it for my companion, in order that I may know more about it," he said, "Let go, drop it this minute," and the cog caught her forefinger nail, and screwed it off below the knuckle, and she was five weeks in Leeds Infirmary.

5067. Has she lost that finger?

It is cut off at the second joint.

5068. Were her wages paid during that time?

As soon as the accident happened the wages were totally stopped; indeed, I did not know which way to get her cured, and I do not know how it would have been cured but for the Infirmary.

5069. Were the wages stopped at the half-day?

She was stopped a quarter of a day; it was done about four o'clock.

5072. Did this excessive term of labour occasion much cruelty also?

Yes, with being so very much fatigued the strap was very frequently used.

5073. Have any of your children been strapped?

"Yes, every one; the eldest daughter; I was up in Lancashire a fortnight, and when I got home I saw her shoulders, and I said, "Ann, what is the matter?" she said, "The overlooker has strapped me; but," she said, "do not go to the overlooker, for if you do we shall lose our work"; I said I would not if she would tell me the truth as to what caused it. "Well," she said, "I will tell you, father." She says, "I was fettling the waste, and the girl I had learning had got so perfect she could keep the side up till I could fettle the waste; the overlooker came round," and said, "What are you doing?" I said, "I am fettling while the other girl keeps the upper end up"; he said, "Drop it this minute;" she said, "No, I must go on with this"; and because she did not do it, he took a strap, and beat her between the shoulders. My wife was out at the time, and when she came in she said her back was beat nearly to a jelly; and the rest of the girls encouraged her to go to Mrs. Varley, and she went to her, and she rubbed it with a part of a glass of rum, and gave her an old silk handkerchief to cover the place with till it got well."

5080. What was the wages in the short hours?

Three shillings a week each.

5081. When they wrought those very long hours what did they get?

Three shillings and sevenpence halfpenny.

5082. For all that additional labour they had only 7-1/2d. a week additional?

No more.

5083. Could you dispose of their wages, when they had received them, as you wished: did you understand that?

They never said anything to me; but the children have said, "If we do not bring some little from the shop I am afraid we shall lose our work." And sometimes they used to bring a bit of sugar or some little oddment, generally of their own head.

5084. That is, they were expected to lay out part of their wages under the truck system?

Yes.

5086. Had your children any opportunity of sitting during those long days of labour?

No; they were in general, whether there was work for them to do or not, to move backwards and forwards till something came to their hands.

5118. At the time they worked those long hours, would it have been in their power to work a shorter number of hours, taking the 3s.?

They must either go on at the long hours, or else be turned off.

Evidence of Gillett Sharpe.[329]

5484. Have you had any children, yourself, working at these mills?

Yes.

5488. What sort of mill did she go to?

To a worsted manufactory; but it so happened with her that her stepmother dying, I took her away to manage the affairs of my house; she was very young to be sure, but she did what I had to do, except what I hired out, and she is very healthy and strong; but with regard to my boy, Edwin, he was a proverb for being active and straight before he went; there is a portion of ground of considerable extent, opposite to a building in our neighbourhood, and that boy would run seven times round that piece of ground, and come in without being much fatigued; but when he had gone to the mill some time, perhaps about three years, he began to be weak in his knees; and it went on to that degree, that he could scarcely walk; I had three steps up into my house, and I have seen that boy get hold of the sides of the door to assist his getting up into the house; many a one advised me to take him away; they said he would be ruined, and made quite a cripple; but I was a poor man, and could not afford to take him away, having a large family, six children, under my care; they are not all mine, but I have to act as a father to them; he still continued to go, but during the last six or seven months the factory has been short of work; they spin for commission; and it has so happened that they have worked less hours since last November than they formerly did, not being able to obtain so much work; and he is very much improved in that time with regard to the strength of his knees, and it has been observed by the neighbours that he grows a little, but he is bent in one knee.

5492. Have you had any other children on whom this labour has had a similar effect?

Yes, I have a daughter Barbara; she went to the mill between 7 and 8 years of age; she was straight then, but, however, a few years back, about three years since, she fell weak and lame in one of her knees, and she was off her work in consequence; but, however, in a few weeks she got a little recovered and went to the mill again, and she has continued to go there ever since, and she has got very much bow-legged, the legs are bent outwards.

Evidence of Elizabeth Bentley.[330]

5127. What age are you?

Twenty-three.

5128. Where do you live?

At Leeds.

5129. What time did you begin to work at a factory?

When I was six years old.

5130. At whose factory did you work?

Mr. Busk's.

5131. What kind of mill is it?

Flax-mill.

5132. What was your business in that mill?

I was a little doffer.

5133. What were your hours of labour in that mill?

From 5 in the morning till 9 at night, when they were thronged.

5134. For how long a time together have you worked that excessive length of time?

For about half a year.

5214. You are considerably deformed in your person in consequence of this labour?

Yes, I am.

5215. At what time did it come on?

I was about 13 years old when it began coming, and it has got worse since; it is five years since my mother died, and my mother was never able to get me a pair of good stays to hold me up, and when my mother died I had to do for myself, and got me a pair.

5216. Were you perfectly straight and healthy before you worked at a mill?

Yes, I was as straight a little girl as ever went up and down town.

5217. Were you straight till you were 13?

Yes, I was.

5218. Have you been attended to by any medical gentleman at Leeds or the neighbourhood?

Yes, I have been under Mr. Hares.

5219. To what did he attribute it?

He said it was owing to hard labour, and working in the factories.

Evidence of Mr. Charles Stewart.[331]

8094. Does that length of standing and of exertion tend to deform the limbs of the children so employed?

Yes, that is my opinion; I took an examination of those that were employed under me in that flat.

8095. In which of Mr. Boyack's mills are you employed?

In a tow-mill.

8097. The New Ward Mill, is it?

Yes; there are fifty hands in the room altogether, old and young; and I found that out of that fifty there were nine who had entered the mill before they were nine years of age, who are now above thirteen years of age.

8098. Having been at that employment then, four years?

Yes; and out of those nine, there were six who were splayfooted, and three who were not; the three who were not splayfooted were worse upon their legs than those who were; and one was most remarkably bow-legged; she informed me she was perfectly straight before she entered the mills.

8099. What was that girl's name?

Margaret Webster.

8100. You say she was remarkably bow-legged, was it very observable?

Very observable; I can hardly describe the woman's deformity, from the way in which she walks; but I have passed by, and thought that I was far from her, and have got on her shins as I was going past her.

8103. Have you made any other examination?

I have examined those who had not entered the mills till after twelve years of age, and found that out of fifty there were fourteen of this class; two of them were splayfooted, and one with her ankle a little wrong; the others were all perfectly straight.

[Footnote 329: Ibid. p. 209, Numbers 5484, 5488, 5492.]

[Footnote 330: Ibid. p. 195, Numbers 5127-5219.]

[Footnote 331: Ibid. p. 353, Numbers 8094-8103.]

14.--WOMEN'S AND CHILDREN'S LABOUR IN MINES [Children's Employment Commission, Mines, 1842 (XV), p. 24, etc.], 1842.

Sex: Employment of Girls and Women in Coal Mines. Districts in which Girls and Women are Employed Underground.

119. In England, exclusive of Wales, it is only in some of the colliery districts of Yorkshire and Lancashire that female children of tender age and young and adult women are allowed to descend into the coal mines and regularly to perform the same kinds of underground work, and to work for the same numbers of hours, as boys and men; but in the East of Scotland their employment in the pits is general; and in South Wales it is not uncommon.

120. West Riding of Yorkshire: Southern Part.--In many of the collieries in this district, as far as relates to the underground employment, there is no distinction of sex, but the labour is distributed indifferently among both sexes, excepting that it is comparatively rare for the women to hew or get the coals, although there are numerous instances in which they regularly perform even this work. In great numbers of the coal-pits in this district the men work in a state of perfect nakedness, and are in this state assisted in their labour by females of all ages, from girls of six years old to women of twenty-one, these females being themselves quite naked down to the waist.

121. "Girls," says the Sub-Commissioner, "regularly perform all the various offices of trapping, hurrying, filling, riddling, tipping, and occasionally getting, just as they are performed by boys. One of the most disgusting sights I have ever seen was that of young females, dressed like boys in trousers, crawling on all fours, with belts round their waists and chains passing between their legs, at day pits at Hunshelf Bank, and in many small pits near Holmfrith and New Mills: it exists also in several other places. I visited the Hunshelf Colliery on the 18th of January: it is a day pit; that is there is no shaft or descent; the gate or entrance is at the side of a bank, and nearly horizontal. The gate was not more than a yard high, and in some places not above two feet. When I arrived at the board or workings of the pit I found at one of the side-boards down a narrow passage a girl of fourteen years of age, in boy's clothes, picking down the coal with the regular pick used by the men. She was half sitting, half lying, at her work, and said she found it tired her very much, and of course she didn't like it. The place where she was at work was not two feet high. Further on were men at work lying on their sides and getting. No less than six girls out of eighteen men and children are employed in this pit. Whilst I was in the pit the Rev. Mr. Bruce, of Wadsley, and the Rev. Mr. Nelson, of Rotherham, who accompanied me, and remained outside, saw another girl of ten years of age, also dressed in boy's clothes, who was employed in hurrying, and these gentlemen saw her at work. She was a nice-looking little child, but of course as black as a tinker, and with a little necklace round her throat."

Conclusions.[332]

From the whole of the evidence which has been collected, and of which we have thus endeavoured to give a digest, we find--

In regard to Coal Mines--

1. That instances occur in which children are taken into these mines to work as early as four years of age, sometimes at five, and between five and six, not unfrequently between six and seven, and often from seven to eight, while from eight to nine is the ordinary age at which employment in these mines commences.

2. That a very large proportion of the persons employed in carrying on the work of these mines is under thirteen years of age; and a still larger proportion between thirteen and eighteen.

3. That in several districts female children begin to work in these mines at the same early ages as the males.

7. That the nature of the employment which is assigned to the youngest children, generally that of "trapping," requires that they should be in the pit as soon as the work of the day commences, and, according to the present system, that they should not leave the pit before the work of the day is at an end.

8. That although this employment scarcely deserves the name of labour, yet, as the children engaged in it are commonly excluded from light and are always without companions, it would, were it not for the passing and re-passing of the coal carriages, amount to solitary confinement of the worst order.

9. That in those districts in which the seams of coal are so thick that horses go direct to the workings, or in which the side passages from the workings to the horseways are not of any great length, the lights in the main ways render the situation of these children comparatively less cheerless, dull, and stupefying; but that in some districts they remain in solitude and darkness during the whole time they are in the pit, and, according to their own account, many of them never see the light of day for weeks together during the greater part of the winter season, excepting on those days in the week when work is not going on, and on the Sundays.

10. That at different ages, from six years old and upwards, the hard work of pushing and dragging the carriages of coal from the workings to the main ways, or to the foot of the shaft, begins; a labour which all classes of witnesses concur in stating requires the unremitting exertion of all the physical power which the young workers possess.

11. That, in the districts in which females are taken down into the coal mines, both sexes are employed together in precisely the same kind of labour, and work for the same number of hours; that the girls and boys, and the young men and young women, and even married women and women with child, commonly work almost naked, and the men, in many mines, quite naked; and that all classes of witnesses bear testimony to the demoralizing influence of the employment of females underground.

13. That when the workpeople are in full employment, the regular hours of work for children and young persons are rarely less than eleven; more often they are twelve; in some districts they are thirteen; and in one district they are generally fourteen and upwards.

14. That in the great majority of these mines night-work is a part of the ordinary system of labour, more or less regularly carried on according to the demand for coals, and one which the whole body of evidence shows to act most injuriously both on the physical and moral condition of the workpeople, and more especially on that of the children and young persons.

15. DESCRIPTION OF THE CONDITION OF MANCHESTER BY JOHN ROBERTSON, SURGEON [Report of Committee on Health of Towns, 1840 (XI), pp. 221-222, App. II], 1840.

Until twelve years ago there was no paving and sewering Act in any of the townships; even in the township of Manchester, containing in the year 1831 upwards of 142,000 inhabitants, this was the case; and the disgraceful condition of the streets and sewers on the invasion of the cholera you have no doubt learned from Dr. Kay's able and valuable pamphlet.[333] At the present time the paving of the streets proceeds rapidly in every direction, and great attention is given to the drains. Upon the whole, it is gratifying to bear testimony to the zeal of the authorities in carrying on the salutary improvements, especially when it is known that no street can be paved and sewered without the consent of the owners of property, unless a certain large proportion of the land on either side is built upon. Owing to this cause several important streets remain to this hour disgraceful nuisances.

Manchester has no Building Act, and hence, with the exception of certain central streets, over which the Police Act gives the Commissioners power, each proprietor builds as he pleases. New cottages, with or without cellars, huddled together row behind row, may be seen springing up in many parts, but especially in the township of Manchester, where the land is higher in price than the land for cottage sites in other townships is. With such proceedings as these the authorities cannot interfere. A cottage row may be badly drained, the streets may be full of pits, brimful of stagnant water, the receptacle of dead cats and dogs, yet no one may find fault. The number of cellar residences, you have probably learned from the papers published by the Manchester Statistical Society, is very great in all quarters of the town; and even in Hulme, a large portion of which consists of cottages recently erected, the same practice is continued. That it is an evil must be obvious on the slightest consideration, for how can a hole underground of from 12 to 15 feet square admit of ventilation so as to fit it for a human habitation?

We have no authorised inspector of dwellings and streets. If an epidemic disease were to invade, as happened in 1832, the authorities would probably order inspection, as they did on that occasion, but it would be merely by general permission, not of right.

So long as this and other great manufacturing towns were multiplying and extending their branches of manufacture and were prosperous, every fresh addition of operatives found employment, good wages, and plenty of food; and so long as the families of working people are well fed, it is certain they maintain their health in a surprising manner, even in cellars and other close dwellings. Now, however, the case is different. Food is dear, labour scarce, and wages in many branches very low; consequently, as might be expected, disease and death are making unusual havoc. In the years 1833, 1834, 1835, and 1836 (years of prosperity), the number of fever cases admitted into the Manchester House of Recovery amounted only to 1,685, or 421 per annum; while in the two pinching years, 1838 and 1839, the number admitted was 2,414, or 1,207 per annum. It is in such a depressed state of the manufacturing districts as at present exists that unpaved and badly sewered streets, narrow alleys, close, unventilated courts and cellars, exhibit their malign influence in augmenting the sufferings which that greatest of all physical evils, want of sufficient food, inflicts on young and old in large towns, but especially on the young.

Manchester has no public park or other grounds where the population can walk and breathe the fresh air. New streets are rapidly extending in every direction, and so great already is the expanse of the town, that those who live in the more populous quarters can seldom hope to see the green face of nature.... In this respect Manchester is disgracefully defective; more so, perhaps, than any other town in the empire. Every advantage of this nature has been sacrificed to the getting of money in the shape of ground-rents.

[Footnote 332: Ibid. p. 255, etc.]

[Footnote 333: J.P. Kay. Moral and Physical Condition of the Working Classes in Manchester, 1832.]

SECTION II

AGRICULTURE AND ENCLOSURE

1. Enclosure Proceedings in the Court of Chancery, 1671--2. Advice to the Stewards of Estates, 1731--3. Procedure for Enclosure by Private Act, 1766--4. Farming in Norfolk, 1771--5. A Petition against Enclosure, 1797--6. Extracts on Enclosure from the Surveys of the Board of Agriculture, 1798-1809--7. Arthur Young's Criticism of Enclosure, 1801--8. Enclosure Consolidating Act, 1801--9. General Enclosure Act, 1845.

Progress in methods of agriculture (No. 4) and the movement towards enclosure and consolidation (Nos. 1-3 and 5-9) are the subjects illustrated in this section. Great advances were made in the science and practice of farming between the end of the Commonwealth and the repeal of the Corn Laws. But the controversial subject of enclosure overshadows everything else. And, as is shown by the extract from Arthur Young's account of the famous Norfolk farming, agricultural progress was closely connected with enclosure and consolidation (No. 4). Specimens are given of two stages of enclosure proceedings (No. 1 and No. 3), which suggest that voluntary agreements ratified in Chancery gradually merged in enclosure by Act, compulsory upon a dissatisfied minority. The Awards, on which the justice or injustice of the settlement would in some degree depend, are generally too long for quotation. But the General Act of 1801 (No. 8) was an attempt to codify the best existing practice, and gives a general view of the practice of the best Commissioners.

A mass of controversial literature on both sides deals with the reasons and effects of the enclosures. The advantages, from the point of view of a large landowner, are set out in a text book for land stewards (No. 2). The reverse side, as it appeared to the small holder, is given in a petition, which was fruitless, against the enclosure of a Northamptonshire village (No. 5). Arthur Young's criticism of the way in which the process was carried out is of great importance, because he had been the most strenuous advocate of enclosing and because he had had unrivalled opportunities of judging the change, both as an independent traveller and as secretary of the Board of Agriculture (No. 7). The best printed material for an independent judgment is to be found in the surveys made by this, a semi-official Society of Agriculture, whose agents, with easily recognisable degrees of impartiality, describe the objects, methods and results of the enclosing movement in different counties. Extracts are given from their reports (No. 6), together with the first real reform of procedure, made when the nineteenth century was far advanced, so as to safeguard the interests of the peasantry (No. 9).

AUTHORITIES

The most important modern books on the subject are:--Hammond, The Village Labourer; Gonner, Common Land and Inclosure; Prothero, English Farming Past and Present; Hasbach, The English Agricultural Labourer; Levy, Large and Small Holdings; Johnson, The Disappearance of the Small Landowner; Slater, The English Peasantry and the Enclosure of the Common Fields; Ashby, One Hundred Years of Poor Law Administration in a Warwickshire village in Oxford Studies in Social and Legal History, Vol. III; Leonard in Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 3rd Series, Vol. XIX.

Bibliographies in Hasbach, Hammond, Levy, and Cunningham, English Industry and Commerce, Modern Times, Part II.

Contemporary (1).--Records of late seventeenth century enclosures may be found in Chancery Enrolled Decrees, and Enclosures Awards in Proceedings in Chancery (Public Record Office, and some copies in Durham Court of Chancery). Eighteenth century material includes petitions in Journals of the House of Commons; proceedings in Parliament, ditto; Awards, in custody of Clerks of the Peace and of County Councils--a Return of Commons (Inclosure Awards) to the House of Commons, 1904, shows where they are to be found. There are reports of Committees on Cultivation of Waste, etc., 1795 (IX), ditto, 1797 (IX), ditto, 1800 (IX); on Inclosure, 1844 (V), on Allotments, 1843 (VII).

Contemporary (2) Literary Authorities.--The best descriptions of agriculture are to be found in Arthur Young's various Tours (1768-71) in The Annals of Agriculture (1784-1815), and in the Reports made to the Board of Agriculture; Reports on individual counties (partial list in Hasbach's bibliography), a General Report (1808), and Reviews of Reports for different sections of the country (by William Marshall, 1808-17). Cobbett's Rural Rides are more literary and political and less official (1830). For agricultural progress, see J. Tull, The New Horse-hoeing Husbandry (1731), and Young passim; for the legal aspect, The Law of Commons (1698); for contemporary opinion, D. Davies, The Case of Labourers in Husbandry (1795), Young, An Enquiry into the Propriety of Applying Wastes, etc. (1802), and a long list of pamphlets (bibliography in Hasbach).

1. ENCLOSURE PROCEEDINGS IN THE COURT OF CHANCERY [Entry Book on the Division of Commons, etc., in the Durham Court of Chancery, Book M, No. 482, 1671-1676 (Original in Public Record Office)], 1671.

Division of the Town Fields of Bishop Auckland, October, 1671

Forasmuch as heretofore by order and decree of this Court bearing date the fifteenth day of September last past, made between the parties above named, for the reasons then appearing to this Court it was then ordered and decreed by the consent of all the said parties ... that all the lands and grounds lying and being in the three common fields called the Hitherfield, Midlefield and Fairfield lying at Bishop Auckland, therein mentioned should ... be forthwith measured and divided according to the agreements and consents of the said parties, ... and also that every of the said parties should have his and their particular shares, parts, and proportions therein particularly allotted and set forth in severalty unto him and them, to be by them respectively hedged, fenced, enclosed and enjoyed in severalty for ever thenafter for the better husbandry and improvement thereof.... And now upon the motion of Mr. William Brabart ... alleging that since the making of the said decree several of the parties thereunto, perceiving that some of the defendants, formerly being the chief opposers of the said intended division, have obtained their shares in the premisses to be in such part thereof as themselves desired, their said parts being small and inconsiderable, they have therefore of late descended from their shares and parts of the premisses formerly by them desired or consented unto and do now endeavour to have their proportionate parts to lie in other parts and places of the premisses, to the great decay, hindrance, and obstruction of the said division, notwithstanding their former consents thereunto. It was therefore humbly prayed by the said Counsel that a Commission might be awarded out of this Court to indifferent Commissioners ... as well for the hearing of all the said objections ... as also to view and divide all the said premisses and to appoint and set forth to every of the said parties their proportionable parts therein.

[August, 1672, Decree of the Court.]

Forasmuch as ... every owner's share hath been duly set out ... and yet nevertheless one of the said defendants hath endeavoured to obstruct the said division ... it is therefore now thought fit and so ordered by the Right Honourable Sir Francis Goodriche Knight, Chancellor of the County of Durham and Sadberge, that the Award ... shall stand absolutely confirmed and decreed unless good cause be shown to the contrary at the next sitting at Durham.

2. ADVICE TO THE STEWARDS OF ESTATES [Edward Lawrence, The Duty and Office of a Land Steward, 3rd Ed., 1731, pp. 25, 26, and 39], 1731.

A Steward should not forget to make the best enquiry into the disposition of any of the freeholders within or near any of his Lord's manors to sell their lands, that he may use his best endeavours to purchase them at as reasonable a price, as may be for his Lord's advantage and convenience--especially in such manors, where improvements are to be made by inclosing commons and common-field; which (as every one, who is acquainted with the late improvement in agriculture, must know) is not a little advantageous to the nation in general, as well as highly profitable to the undertaker. If the freeholders cannot all be persuaded to sell, yet at least an agreement for inclosing should be pushed forward by the steward, and a scheme laid, wherein it may appear that an exact and proportional share will be allotted to every proprietor; persuading them first, if possible, to sign a form of agreement, and then to choose commissioners on both sides.

If the Steward be a man of good sense, he will find a necessity for making a use of it all, in rooting out superstition from amongst them, as what is so great a hindrance to all noble improvements? The substance of what is proper for the proprietors to sign before an inclosure is to be made, may be conceived in some such form as followeth.

"Whereas it is found, by long experience, that common or open fields, wherever they are suffered or continued, are great hindrances to a public good, and the honest improvement which every one might make of his own, by diligence and a seasonable charge: and, whereas the common objections hitherto raised against inclosures are founded on mistakes, as if inclosures contributed either to hurt or ruin the poor; whilst it is plain that (when an enclosure is once resolved on) the poor will be employed for many years, in planting and preserving the hedges, and afterwards will be set to work both in the tillage and pasture, wherein they may get an honest livelihood: And whereas all or most of the inconveniences and misfortunes which usually attend the open wastes and common fields have been fatally experienced at----, to the great discouragement of industry and good husbandry in the freeholders, viz., that the poor take their advantage to pilfer, and steal, and trespass; that the corn is subject to be spoiled by cattle, that stray out of the commons and highways adjacent; that the tenants or owners, if they would secure the fruits of their labours to themselves, are obliged either to keep exact time in sowing and reaping or else to be subject to the damage and inconvenience that must attend the lazy practices of those who sow unseasonably, suffering their corn to stand to the beginning of winter, thereby hindering the whole parish from eating the herbage of the common field till the frosts have spoiled the most of it," etc., etc.

* * * * *

To conclude this article upon commons,[334] I would advise all noblemen and gentlemen, whose tenants hold their lands by Copy of Court Roll for three lives, not to let them renew, except they will agree to deliver up their Copy, in order to alter the tenure by converting it to leasehold on lives. This method will put a stop to that unreasonable custom of the widow holding a life by her free-bench, which is a fourth life, not covenanted for in the Copy, but only pretended to by custom; which deprives the lord of an undoubted right of making the best, and doing what he will with his own.

[Footnote 334: p. 39.]

3. PROCEDURE FOR ENCLOSURE BY PRIVATE ACT, January &c., 1766 [Commons Journals, Vol. XXX, 1765-6, p. 459, etc.], 1766.

A Petition of Stephen Croft, the Younger, Esquire, Lord of the manor of Stillington, in the county of York, and owner of several estates, within the said manor and parish of Stillington, and also Improprietor of the Great Tithes there; of the Reverend James Worsley, Clerk, Prebandary of the Prebend of Stillington aforesaid, patron of the Vicarage of Stillington aforesaid, of the Reverend Lawrence Sterne, Clerk, Vicar of the said parish,[335] and of William Stainforth, Esquire, and of several other persons, whose names are thereunto subscribed, being also owners of copyhold messuages, cottages, estates, and other properties, within the said parish; was presented to the House and read; setting forth, that, within the said manor and parish, is a common, or waste, called Stillington Common, and also open fields and ings,[336] which, in their present situation, are incapable of improvement; and that it would be of great advantage to the several persons interested in the said common, fields and ings, if they were enclosed and divided into specific allotments, and all rights of common and average thereon, or upon any other commonable lands in the said parish, were extinguished, or if the said common was so inclosed, and a power given to the several proprietors and owners of estates in the said fields and ings, to flat and inclose the same, first making satisfaction to the improprietor upon the tithes thereof; and after the flatting and inclosing the same, all right of common, or average, was to cease; and therefore praying, that leave may be given to bring in a Bill for the purposes aforesaid, or any of them, in such manner, and under such regulations, as the House shall deem meet.

Ordered, That leave be given to bring in a Bill pursuant to the prayer of the said petition: and that Mr. Cholmley, Sir George Savile, and Sir Joseph Mawbey, do prepare and bring in the same.

[February 3.--Bill presented to the House and read a first time.]

February 10, 1766.[337] A Bill for inclosing and dividing the common waste grounds, open fields, open meadows, grounds, and ings, within the parish of Stillington, in the county of York, was read a second time.

Resolved, That the Bill be committed to Mr. Cholmley, Mr. Fonereau, Sir John Taines [etc., etc.]; and all the members who serve for the counties of York, Nottingham, Northumberland, and Durham: and they are to meet this afternoon, at five of the clock, in the Speaker's Chamber.

February 27.[338] Mr. Cholmley reported from the Committee, to whom the Bill for inclosing and dividing the common waste grounds [etc.] within the parish of Stillington, in the county of York, was committed. That the Committee had examined the allegations of the Bill; and found the same to be true; and that the parties concerned had given their consent to the Bill, to the satisfaction of the Committee, except the proprietors of sixty acres of land in the said fields and ings, who refused their consent to the inclosure, and the proprietors of twenty seven acres of land, who were not at home when application was made for their consents; and that the whole of the said fields and ings contain six hundred acres or thereabouts; and also, except the proprietors of eight common rights, who refused to consent, and the proprietors of seven common rights, who were from home when application was made for their consents; and that the whole number of common rights are eighty-nine; and that no person appeared before the Committee to oppose the Bill; and that the Committee had gone through the Bill, and made several amendments thereunto; which they had directed him to report to the House; and he read the report in his place; and afterwards delivered the Bill, with the amendments, in at the Clerk's Table; where the amendments were once read throughout; and then a second time, one by one; and, upon the Question severally put thereon, were agreed to by the House; and several amendments were made, by the House, to the Bill. Ordered, that the Bill, with the amendments be ingrossed.

[March 3. The Bill read a third time and passed. Sent to the House of Lords.

March 18. Reported that the Lords agreed to the Bill without amendment.

The King's Assent given to the Bill.]

[Footnote 335: Author of Tristram Shandy.]

[Footnote 336: i.e. Meadows.]

[Footnote 337: Ibid. p. 522.]

[Footnote 338: Ibid. p. 610.]

4. FARMING IN NORFOLK [A. Young, The Farmer's Tour, 1771, Vol. II, Letter XIV, pp. 150, 156, 161], 1771.

As I shall presently leave Norfolk it will not be improper to give a slight review of the husbandry which has rendered the name of this county so famous in the farming world. Pointing out the practices which have succeeded so nobly here, may perhaps be of some use to other countries possessed of the same advantages, but unknowing in the art to use them.

From forty to fifty years ago, all the northern and western, and a part of the eastern tracts of the county, were sheep walks, let so low as from 6d. to 1s. 6d. and 2s. an acre. Much of it was in this condition only thirty years ago. The great improvements have been made by means of the following circumstances.

First. By inclosing without the assistance of parliament.

Second. By a spirited use of marl and clay.

Third. By the introduction of an excellent course of crops.

Fourth. By the culture of turnips well hand-hoed.

Fifth. By the culture of clover and ray-grass.

Sixth. By landlords granting long leases.

Seventh. By the country being divided chiefly into large farms.

* * * * *

The Course of Crops.[339]

After the best managed inclosure, and the most spirited conduct in marling, still the whole success of the undertaking depends on this point: No fortune will be made in Norfolk by farming, unless a judicious course of crops be pursued. That which has been chiefly adopted by the Norfolk farmers is,

1. Turnips. 2. Barley. 3. Clover: or clover and ray-grass. 4. Wheat.

* * * * *

Large Farms.[340]

If the preceding articles are properly reviewed, it will at once be apparent that no small farmers could effect such great things as have been done in Norfolk. Inclosing, marling, and keeping a flock of sheep large enough for folding, belong absolutely and exclusively to great farmers.... Nor should it be forgotten that the best husbandry in Norfolk is that of the largest farmers.... Great farms have been the soul of the Norfolk culture: split them into tenures of an hundred pounds a year, you will find nothing but beggars and weeds in the whole county.

[Footnote 339: Ibid. p. 156.]

[Footnote 340: Ibid. p. 161.]

5. A PETITION AGAINST ENCLOSURE [Commons Journals[341] July 19, 1797], 1797.

A Petition of the hereunder-signed small Proprietors of Land and Persons entitled to Rights of Common [at Raunds, Northamptonshire].

That the petitioners beg leave to represent to the House that, under the pretence of improving lands in the same parish, the cottagers and other persons entitled to right of common on the lands intended to be enclosed, will be deprived of an inestimable privilege, which they now enjoy, of turning a certain number of their cows, calves, and sheep, on and over the said lands; a privilege that enables them not only to maintain themselves and their families in the depth of winter, when they cannot, even for their money, obtain from the occupiers of other lands the smallest portion of milk or whey for such necessary purpose, but in addition to this, they can now supply the grazier with young or lean stock at a reasonable price, to fatten and bring to market at a more moderate rate for general consumption, which they conceive to be the most rational and effectual way of establishing public plenty and cheapness of provision; and they further conceive, that a more ruinous effect of this enclosure will be the almost total depopulation of their town, now filled with bold and hardy husbandmen, from among whom, and the inhabitants of other open parishes, the nation has hitherto derived its greatest strength and glory, in the supply of its fleets and armies, and driving them, from necessity and want of employ, in vast crowds, into manufacturing towns, where the very nature of their employment, over the loom or the forge, soon may waste their strength, and consequently debilitate their posterity, and by imperceptible degrees obliterate that great principle of obedience to the Laws of God and their country, which forms the character of the simple and artless villagers, more equally distributed through the open counties, and on which so much depends the good order and government of the state. These are some of the injuries to themselves as individuals, and of the ill consequences to the public, which the petitioners conceive will follow from this, as they have already done from many enclosures, but which they did not think they were entitled to lay before the House (the constitutional patron and protector of the poor) until it unhappily came to their own lot to be exposed to them through the Bill now pending.

[Footnote 341: Quoted Hammond, The Village Labourer, pp. 39-40.]

6. EXTRACTS ON ENCLOSURE FROM THE SURVEYS OF THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, 1798-1809.

Somersetshire [J. Billingsley, Somerset, 1798, pp. 48-50 and 52].

Let us begin with taking a view of the objections which have been started to this species of improvement, and see if we cannot prove them to be for the most part either false or frivolous.

1st. Invasion of the rights and interest of the cottagers.

* * * * *

The foremost of these objections carries with it the appearance of a humane attention to the comfort of the poor; but a brief investigation will lessen its influence, if not totally refute it.

There are but two modes of enclosing commons. First, by unanimous consent of the parties claiming rights, who delegate power to commissioners, chosen by themselves, to ascertain their validity, and divide them accordingly, under covenants and agreements properly drawn and executed for the purpose. Or secondly, by act of parliament obtained by the petition of a certain proportion of the commoners, both in number and value, whereby a minority, sanctioned only by ignorance, prejudice, or selfishness, is precluded from defeating the ends of private advantage and public utility.

In point of economy, the first of these methods is most eligible, as it saves the expense of an act of parliament, with an equal security to the proprietors. But it is seldom practised unless in commons on a small scale, from the difficulty of procuring the consent of every individual claimant, without which it cannot be accomplished.

In either of these methods, it is manifest that the right of the cottager cannot be invaded; since with respect to legal or equitable construction, he stands precisely on the same ground with his more opulent neighbours; and as to his interest, I can truly declare that, in all cases which have fallen within my observation, inclosures have meliorated his condition, by exciting a spirit of activity and industry, whereby habits of sloth have been by degrees overcome, and supineness and inactivity have been exchanged for vigour and exertion.

* * * * *

Besides, moral effects of an injurious tendency accrue to the cottager from a reliance on the imaginary benefits of stocking a common. The possession of a cow or two, with a hog, and a few geese, naturally exalts the peasant, in his own conception, above his brothers in the same rank of society. It inspires some degree of confidence in a property, inadequate to his support. In sauntering after his cattle, he acquires a habit of indolence. Quarter, half, and occasionally whole days are imperceptibly lost. Day labour becomes disgusting; the aversion increases by indulgence; and at length the sale of a half-fed calf, or hog, furnishes the means of adding intemperance to idleness. The sale of the cow frequently succeeds, and its wretched and disappointed possessor, unwilling to resume the daily and regular course of labour, from whence he drew his former subsistence, by various modes of artifice and imposition, exacts from the poor's rate the relief to which he is in no degree entitled.

Lincolnshire [Arthur Young, Lincoln, 1799, pp. 85-6].

[Evidence of Elmhurst, a Commissioner under Enclosure Act.]

Another observation I at the first made, and ever after put in practice, was this, always to begin to line out and allot for the smallest proprietors first (whether rich or poor) in every parish, so as to make such allotment as proper and convenient for the occupation of such, or their tenant (as that might be) to occupy; and so on, from the smallest to the greatest: for it is for the advantage of the greatest and most opulent proprietors that a bill is presented and act passed; and at their requests, and not the small ones; and, as the little ones would have no weight by opposition, they must submit, was it ever so disadvantageous to them; as it very often happens; and, therefore, there can be no partiality in defending those who cannot help or defend themselves; and a little man may as well have nothing allotted to him, as to have it so far off, or so inconvenient for him, that it is not worth his having, as it would prevent his going to his daily labour; and, therefore, he must sell his property to his rich and opulent adjoining neighbours; and that, in some measure, decreases population.

Norfolk [Young, Norfolk, 1804, pp. 82, 86, 94, 135, 156]. Bintrey and Twiford.[342] Enclosed 1795.

Poor. There were 20, acres allotted for fuel, let by the parish. There were 46 commonable rights; the whole divided according to value; very few little proprietors; but small occupiers suffered.

Brancaster.[343] Enclosed 1755.

Poor. Very well off; Barrow-hills, a common of 65 acres, allotted to them; and each dwelling-house has a right to keep the two cows or heifers; or a mare and foal; or two horses; and also to cut furze.

Cranworth, Remieston, Southborough.[344] Enclosed 1796.

Poor. They kept geese on the common, of which they are deprived. But in fuel they are benefited; an allotment not to exceed 1/20 let, and the rent applied in coals for all not occupying above 5l. a year: this is to the advantage of those at Southborough, having enough allowed for their consumption; at Cranworth the poor are more numerous, and the coals of little use.

Ludham.[345]

The commons were enclosed in 1801: all cottagers that claimed had allotments; and one for fuel to the whole; but the cottages did not belong to the poor; the allotments in general went to the larger proprietors, and the poor consequently were left, in this respect, destitute; many cows were kept before, few now. All the poor very much against the measure.

Sayham and Ovington.[346] Enclosed 1800.

Poor.--An allotment of not less than 50l. a year, for distributing to the poor in coals, was ordered by the act; it let for 98l. There were 100 commonable right houses. They used to sell a cottage of 3l. a year, with a right, for 80l. For each, four acres were allotted: and the cottage with this allotment would now sell for 160l. And what is very remarkable, every man who proved to the Commissioners that they had been in the habit of keeping stock on the common, was considered as possessing a common-right and had an allotment in lieu of it. Nor was it an unpopular measure, for there were only two men against it from the first to the last.

Gloucestershire [Thomas Rudge, Gloucester, 1807, pp. 92-93].

In all Acts of Inclosure, it might perhaps be proper, as it would certainly be equitable, to relieve the pressure which weighs on small proprietors, in a degree not proportioned to the advantages they derive from them: for it should be remembered, that the expence of fencing a small allotment is considerable greater than that of a larger one, according to the quantity; that is, a square piece of land containing ten acres will cost half as much as forty, though only of one-fourth value. This disproportion occasions much reluctance in the class of proprietors before-mentioned; and though it is frequently overcome by the superior influence of the great landholders, yet the injustice of it cannot but strike the considerate mind with conviction.[347]

Leicestershire [William Pitt, Leicester, 1809, pp. 15,16 and 166].

The enclosure of this vale[348] has not at all, I believe, hitherto lessened the number of its inhabitants, as the farms are small, and few changes of tenantry have taken place. The farmer and his family take a hand in the business, yet few can do without a male and female servant, and labourer, who may have a family: these with the necessary mechanics, blacksmith, wheelwright, tailor, weaver, etc., form a considerable population in each village, I should suppose about 10 or 12 to every 100 acres.... As the tendency of the country is to pasture and feeding, the rejected occupier and his family must emigrate into towns, or elsewhere, for employ.

The management of the Duke of Rutland's property has always been conducted in the most liberal and benevolent manner; yet I think the enclosure of a rich district, and converting it to grass, has a natural tendency to decrease the population of that district; less corn is certainly now raised in Belvoir than in its open state.

Mr. Ainsworth complains that labourers have not in general sufficient gardens, nor even cottages, for want of which they are driven into towns; and that in many cases by enclosures the cottages have been suffered to go to decay, as the land would let for as much rent without them to the larger farmers, and by turning it to grass, fewer labourers' cottages are wanting.

Northamptonshire [William Pitt, Northampton, 1809, p. 70].

From the observations I have made in this county, I have no doubt but, if the average produce of common fields be three quarters per acre, the same land will, after a little rest as grass, and the improvements to be effected by enclosure, produce, on an average, four quarters per acre; and I believe that the produce of every common field may be increased in a like proportion by enclosure and an improved cultivation.

[Footnote 342: p. 82.]

[Footnote 343: p. 86.]

[Footnote 344: p. 94.]

[Footnote 345: p. 135.]

[Footnote 346: p. 156.]

[Footnote 347: The expenses of enclosure of an average amount were calculated by the Board of Agriculture at 497l. for the Act, 259l. for the Survey, 344l. for the Commissioners, 550l. 7s. 6d. for fencing, etc. General Report on Enclosures, 1808.]

[Footnote 348: Belvoir.]

7. ARTHUR YOUNG'S CRITICISM OF ENCLOSURE [Young, An Inquiry into the Propriety of Applying Wastes, etc., 1801, pp. 13 and 42], 1801.

Go to an alehouse kitchen of an old enclosed country, and there you will see the origin of poverty and poor rates. For whom are they to be sober? For whom are they to save? (Such are their questions.) For the parish? If I am diligent, shall I have leave to build a cottage? If I am sober, shall I have land for a cow? If I am frugal, shall I have half an acre of potatoes? You offer no motives; you have nothing but a parish officer and a workhouse! Bring me another pot.

* * * * *

Objection VIII. Wastes are as much property as my house.

Will a farmer give up his right of commonage?

I will not dispute their meaning[349]; but the poor look to facts, not meanings: and the fact is, that by nineteen enclosure bills in twenty they are injured, in some grossly injured. It may be said that commissioners are sworn to do justice. What is that to the people who suffer? It must be generally known that they suffer in their own opinions, and yet enclosures go on by commissioners, who dissipate the poor people's cows wherever they come, as well those kept legally as those which are not. What is it to the poor man to be told that the Houses of Parliament are extremely tender of property, while the father of the family is forced to sell his cow and his land because the one is not competent to the other; and being deprived of the only motive to industry, squanders the money, contracts bad habits, enlists for a soldier, and leaves the wife and children to the parish? If enclosures were beneficial to the poor, rates would not rise as in other parishes after an act to enclose. The poor in these parishes may say, and with truth, Parliament may be tender of property; all I know is, I had a cow, and act of Parliament has taken it from me. And thousands may make this speech with truth.

8. ENCLOSURE CONSOLIDATING ACT [Statutes, Geo. III, 109], 1801.

An Act for consolidating in one act certain provisions usually inserted in acts of inclosure; and for facilitating the mode of proving the several facts usually required on the passing of such acts.

II. No commissioner shall be capable of being a purchaser of any part or parts of the lands, tenements, or hereditaments within any parish in which the lands and grounds intended to be inclosed are situate, either in his own name, or in the name or names of any person or persons, until five years after the date and execution of the award to be made by any such commissioner or commissioners.

IV. And be it further enacted, that a true, exact, and particular survey, admeasurement, plan, and valuation, of all the lands and grounds to be divided, allotted, and inclosed by any such act, and also of all the messuages, cottages, orchards, gardens, homesteads, ancient inclosed lands and grounds, within any such parish or manor, shall be made and reduced in writing, by such commissioner or commissioners, or by such other person or persons as he or they shall nominate and appoint, as soon as conveniently may be, for the purposes of such act.

VI. And be it further enacted, that all persons, and bodies corporate or politic, who shall have or claim any common or other right to or in any such lands so to be inclosed, shall deliver or cause to be delivered to such commissioner or commissioners, or one of them, at some one of such meetings as the said commissioner or commissioners shall appoint for the purpose (or within such further time, if any, as the said commissioner or commissioners shall for some special reason think proper to allow for that purpose) an account or schedule in writing, signed by them, or their respective husbands, guardians, trustees, committees, or agents, of such their respective rights or claims, and therein describe the lands and grounds, and the respective messuages, lands, tenements, and hereditaments, in respect whereof they shall respectively claim to be entitled to any and which of such rights in and upon the same or any part thereof, with the name or names of the person or persons then in the actual possession thereof, and the particular computed quantities of the same respectively, and of what nature and extent such right is, and also in what rights, and for what estates and interests, they claim the same respectively, distinguishing the freehold from the copyhold or leasehold; or on non-compliance therewith, every of them making default therein shall, as far only as respects any claim so neglected to be delivered, be totally barred and excluded of and from all right and title in or upon such lands so to be divided respectively, and of and from all benefit and advantage in or to any share or allotment thereof.

[All objections must be delivered in writing to the commissioners before the meeting appointed to consider objections.]

VII. Provided also, and be it further enacted, that nothing herein contained shall authorise such commissioner or commissioners to hear and determine any difference or dispute which may arise, touching the right or title to any lands, tenements, or hereditaments, but such commissioner or commissioners shall assign and set out the several allotments directed to be made unto the person or persons, who, at the time of the division and inclosure, shall have the actual seisin or possession of the lands, tenements, or hereditaments, in lieu or in right whereof such allotment shall be respectively made.

[VIII. Commissioners, before making any allotments, to appoint public carriage roads, and prepare a map thereof to be deposited with their clerk, and give notice thereof, and appoint a meeting, at which, if any person shall object, the commissioners, with a justice of the division, shall determine the matter.]

XII. And be it further enacted, that such commissioner or commissioners in making the several allotments directed by any such act, shall have due regard as well to the situation of the respective houses or homesteads of the proprietors, as to the quantity and quality of the lands and grounds to be allotted to them respectively, so far as may be consistent with the general convenience of the said proprietors; and that such commissioner or commissioners in making the said allotments shall have particular regard to the convenience of the owners or proprietors of the smallest estates in the lands and grounds directed to be allotted and exchanged.

XIV. And be it further enacted, that the several shares of and in any lands or grounds shall, when so allotted, be and be taken to be in full bar of and satisfaction and compensation for their several and respective lands, grounds, rights of common, and all other rights; and that from and immediately after the making the said division and allotments, and the execution of the award, all rights whatsoever, by such act intended to be extinguished, belonging to or claimed by any person or persons whomsoever, bodies politic or corporate, in, over, or upon such lands or grounds, shall cease, determine, and be for ever extinguished.

[XXIV and XXIX. If allotments are not enclosed and fenced within an appointed time the commissioners may have the work done and charge the expense to the proprietor or let the allotment and apply the rents till the expenses are paid. If it has been provided by an act that the expenses of obtaining and executing it are to be shared among the proprietors of allotments the commissioners may levy them by distress and sale of the goods of those who fail to pay at the appointed times.]

XXXII. And be it further enacted, that in case it shall be provided by any such act, that the expenses attending the same shall be paid by sale of any part of the land so to be inclosed, the said commissioner or commissioners shall mark and set out such part or parts of the said waste or commonable lands, as in his or their opinion will by sale thereof raise a sum of money sufficient to pay and discharge all such charges and expenses as may by any such act be directed to be paid and discharged out of the same; and the said commissioner or commissioners shall sell such part or parts of the said lands to any person or persons for the best price or prices that can be gotten for the same.

XXXV. And be it further enacted, that as soon as conveniently may be after the division and allotment of the said lands and grounds shall be finished, pursuant to the purport and directions of this or any such act, the said commissioner or commissioners shall form and draw up, or cause to be formed and drawn up, an award in writing, which shall express the quantity of acres, roods, and perches, in statute measure, contained in the said lands and grounds, and the quantity of each and every part and parcel thereof which shall be so allotted, assigned, or exchanged, and the situations and descriptions of the same respectively, and shall also contain a description of the roads, ways, footpaths, watercourses, watering places, quarries, bridges, fences, and land marks, set out and appointed by the said commissioner or commissioners respectively as aforesaid, and all such other rules, orders, agreements, regulations, directions, and determinations, as the said commissioner or commissioners shall think necessary, proper, or beneficial to the parties; which said award shall be fairly ingrossed or written on parchment, and shall be read and executed by the commissioner or commissioners, in the presence of the proprietors who may attend at a special general meeting called for that purpose, of which ten days' notice at least shall be given in some paper to be named in such act and circulating in the county, which execution of such award shall be proclaimed the next Sunday in the church of the parish in which such lands shall be, from the time of which proclamation only, and not before, such award shall be considered as complete.

XL. And be it further enacted and declared that nothing in such act contained shall lessen, prejudice, or defeat the right, title, or interest of any lord or lady of any manor or lordship, or reputed manor or lordship, within the jurisdiction or limits whereof the lands and grounds thereby directed to be divided and allotted are situate, lying, and being of, in, or to the seigniories, rights, and royalties incident or belonging to such manor or lordship, or reputed manor or lordship, or to the lord or lady thereof, or to any person or persons claiming under him or her, but the same (other than and except the interest and other property as is or are meant or intended to be barred by such act) shall remain, in as full, ample, and beneficial manner, to all intents and purposes, as he or she might or ought to have held or enjoyed such rights before the passing of such act, or in case the same had never been made.

[Footnote 349: Ibid. p. 42.]

9. GENERAL ENCLOSURE ACT [Statutes, 8 and 9 Victoria, 118], 1845.

An act to facilitate the inclosure and improvement of commons and lands held in common, the exchange of lands, and the division of intermixed lands; to provide remedies for defective or incomplete executions, and for the non-execution of the powers of general and local inclosure acts; and to provide for the revival of such powers in certain cases.

... Be it therefore enacted ... that it shall be lawful for one of her Majesty's principal secretaries of State to appoint any two fit persons to be commissioners under this act ... and the commissioners shall, with the first commissioner of her Majesty's woods, forests, land reserves, works and buildings for the time being, be the commissioners for carrying this act into execution.

[Assistant commissioners may be appointed to whom powers may be delegated.

Village greens may not be enclosed. Land near towns and land subject to unlimited rights of pasture, etc., may not be enclosed without special direction of parliament.]

XXX. And be it enacted, that in the provisional order of the commissioners concerning the enclosures under the provisions of this act of any waste land of any manor on which the tenants of such manor have rights of common, or of any other land subject to rights of common which may be exercised all times of the year, and which shall not be limited by number or stints, it shall be lawful for the commissioners to require ... the appropriation of an allotment for the purpose of exercise and recreation for the inhabitants of the neighbourhood [10 acres for a population of 10,000; 8 for 5,000 to 10,000, etc.]

XXXI. [In similar cases the commissioners may order the appropriation of such an allotment for the labouring poor as the commissioners shall think necessary.]

L. All encroachments and enclosures, other than enclosures duly authorised by the custom of the manor of which such land shall be parcel ... within twenty years next before the first meeting for the examination of claims ... shall be deemed parcel of the land subject to be enclosed; provided always that in case ... it shall appear to the commissioners just or reasonable that rights or interests in the lands to be enclosed should be allowed to the persons in possession of such encroachments, it shall be lawful for the commissioners ... to direct what rights shall be allowed.

[Encroachments of twenty years standing to be deemed old enclosures.]

SECTION III

GOVERNMENT REGULATION OF WAGES, CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT, AND PUBLIC HEALTH

1. An Act against Truck, 1701--2. A Wages Assessment at a Warwickshire Quarter Sessions, 1738--3. Spitalfields Weavers Act, 1773--4. A Middlesex Wages Assessment under the Spitalfields Act, 1773--5. Agricultural Labourers' Proposals for a Sliding Scale of Wages, 1795--6. Debates on Whitbread's Minimum Wage Bill, 1795-6--7. Arbitration Act for the Cotton Industry, 1800--8. Amendment of the Arbitration Act, 1804--9. The First Factory Act, 1802--9A. Minutes of Committee on Children in Factories--10. Calico Printers' Petition for Regulation, 1804--11. Report on Calico Printers' Petition, 1806--12. Cotton Weavers' Petition against the Repeal of 5 Elizabeth c. 4, 1813--13. Debates on the Regulation of Apprentices, 1813-1814--14. Resolutions of the Watchmakers on Apprenticeship, 1817--15. Report of Committee on the Ribbon Weavers, 1818--16. The Cotton Factory Act of 1819--17. Oastler's First Letter on Yorkshire Slavery, 1830--18. Factory Act, 1833--19. Proposals for a Wages Board for Hand-loom Weavers, 1834--20. Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1842--21. Debate on Factory Legislation, 1844--22. Factory Act, 1844--23. Recommendations of the Commission on the Health of Towns, 1845.

The eighteenth century was nearly a blank period in the history of direct regulation of industrial conditions by the State. There was no systematic intervention on the scale of Tudor or Victorian times; and political opinion hardened against the principle and destroyed the machinery which had been inherited from the sixteenth century. Such machinery, for the regulation of wages, was still occasionally used in the early part of the eighteenth century, as is shown by occasional examples of wages assessments at Quarter Sessions (No. 2). Acts were passed for individual trades forbidding the practice of paying wages in truck (No. 1). Local pressure even obtained a special Act providing for the regulation of London silk-weavers' wages (No. 3, No. 4). This Spitalfields Act was used as a precedent for the proposals to extend the policy of regulation, which began to fill the Journals of the House of Commons during the period when the new machinery and methods and the French wars dislocated employment and wages. Examples are given of petitions asking that wages should be regulated and that the limitation of apprentices should be enforced under the statute 5 Elizabeth c. 4, to which attention had been called (Nos. 10, 11, 12 and 14). Independent attempts were made to set up a minimum wage, directly and through wages-boards (Nos. 5, 6 and 19). All these applications ended in complete failure. Parliament provided a system of arbitration for the cotton industry (Nos. 7 and 8), but repealed both the wages and apprenticeship clauses of the Elizabethan Act. Contemporary opinion in Parliament relied on the working of free bargaining and economic forces (Debates on Whitbread's Bill and on Apprenticeship, Nos. 6 and 13).

The history of Factory legislation (Nos. 9, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22) shows how the policy of non-interference was abandoned in another field. The employment of children in the new factories was one result of the eighteenth century system of Poor relief. It produced horrors which the first Factory Act was designed to remedy (No. 9). But the use of steam-power and the growth of big industrial districts led to the wholesale employment of children not under the Poor Law. Public opinion was at last aroused by the campaigns of Oastler and others, who pointed to the contrast between the Anti-Slavery agitation and the conditions of the English mills (No. 17). The successive Acts of 1819, 1833, 1842 and 1844 (Nos. 16, 18, 20, 22) show how legislators were forced to extend the principle of regulation from children to young persons and women, and from cotton mills to other textile factories and to mines. In the debate on the Act of 1844 the respective points of view of the Tory philanthropist, the political economist, and the manufacturer, were dramatically contrasted (No. 21). The last extract is from one of a series of reports on the condition of great industrial towns (No. 23), by which Chadwick, a disciple of Bentham and a champion of the new Poor-law, forced Parliament to interfere in the economic control of town life.

AUTHORITIES

For modern writers on general conditions, see Authorities for Section I. The history of agitation for Factory legislation is to be found in Hutchins and Harrison, History of Factory Legislation; Von Plener Die Englische Fabrikgesetzgebung; Alfred (S. Kydd), The Factory Movement; Cooke Taylor, The Factory System and the Factory Acts; Keeling, Child Labour in the United Kingdom, Part I. Details of the agitation are given in Hodder, Life of Shaftesbury; Podmore, Life of Owen; Hutchins, The Public Health Agitation; Greenwood, Richard Oastler. A general view is given in Dicey, Law and Opinion in England; Kirkman Gray, Philanthropy and the State; Held, Zwei Bücher zur Sozialen Geschichte Englands.

Bibliographies are in Hutchins and Harrison, op. cit.; Cunningham, op. cit.; and Cambridge Modern History, Vol. XII.

Contemporary.--See Authorities for Section I. In addition, for Wages Assessments under the Spitalfields Act in 1784 and 1795, see collection in British Museum, 1029, p. 4. The Reports of Factory Inspectors are valuable sources after 1833. See also Hansard Parliamentary Debates on Wages, and Factory Legislation, 1795, 1813-14, 1816, 1832-3, 1844, 1846.

The chief contemporary literary sources for general conditions are given under Section I. The Factory legislation movement is described by some of the actors: Owen, Observations on the Manufacturing System; Oastler, Yorkshire Slavery, Life and Opinions, Letters from the Fleet, etc.; Memoir of the Life and Writings of Michael Sadler; Nassau Senior, Letters on the Factory Act; L. Horner, On the Employment of Children in Factories.

1. AN ACT AGAINST TRUCK [Statutes, 1 Anne 2, 18], 1701.

An act for the more effectual preventing the abuses and frauds of persons imployed in the working up the woollen, linen, fustian, cotton, and iron manufactures of this kingdom.

* * * * *

III. And to prevent the oppression of the labourers and workmen imployed in the woollen, linen, fustian, cotton and iron manufacture, be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all payments and satisfactions hereafter to be made to any of the same labourers and workmen, for any work by them done in the same manufacture, shall be by the lawful coin of this realm, and not by any cloth, victuals, or commodities, in lieu thereof: and all wool delivered out to be wrought up, shall be so delivered, with declaration of the true weight thereof, on pain that every offender, in either of the said cases, shall forfeit and pay to such labourer or worker, double the value of what shall be due for such work by him, her, or them done; and if any such labourer or worker shall be guilty of any such fraud or default in the work by him, her, or them done, then such labourer or worker shall allow and answer to the owner of such work double the damages thereby sustained.

[Cf. 12 Geo. I. c. 34, sec. iii.--"every clothier, sergemaker or woollen or worsted stuffmaker, or person concerned in making any woollen cloths, serges or stuffs, or any wise concerned in employing woolcombers weavers or other labourers in the woollen manufactory, shall ... pay unto all persons by them employed ... the full wages or other price agreed on in good and lawful money of this kingdom; and shall not pay the said wages ... or any part thereof, in goods or by way of truck."]

2. A WAGES ASSESSMENT AT WARWICKSHIRE QUARTER SESSIONS [Ashby, The Poor Law in a Warwickshire Village (Oxford Studies in Social and Legal History, Vol. III, p. 175)], 1738.

The particular rate of wages of all manner of artificers, labourers, and servants, as well by the day with meat and drink as without, as also by the whole year in gross or by task, made and provided, having a special regard and consideration to the prices of provisions and all other circumstances necessary to be considered at this time. April, 1738.

£ s. d. Every servant in husbandry by the year 5 10 0 Second servant 4 0 0 Servant boy from 14 to 18 years of age 2 10 0 Servant boy from 11 to 14 1 0 0 Every head servant maid by the year 3 0 0 Second maid servant 2 10 0 Labourers from Martinmas to March 25 by the day 0 0 8 From March 25 to harvest and after harvest to Martinmas 0 0 9 Every mower of grass by the day, with drink 0 1 0 " without drink 0 1 2 Every woman in haymaking, with drink 0 0 5 " without drink 0 0 6 Every woman in corn harvest, with drink 0 0 6 " without drink 0 0 7 Every carpenter by the day, March 25 to St Michael's, with drink 0 1 0 " without drink 0 1 2 From Michaelmas to Lady Day, with drink 0 0 10 " without drink 0 1 0 Every mason by the day in summer, with drink 0 0 10 " without drink 0 1 0 Every mason by the day in winter, with drink 0 0 10 " without drink 0 1 0 Thatcher by day, summer and winter 0 1 0 Weeders of corn by the day 0 0 4

[This was still in force in 1773.]

3. SPITALFIELDS WEAVERS ACT [Statutes, 13 Geo. III, 68], 1773.

An Act to impower the magistrates therein mentioned to settle and regulate the wages of persons employed in the Silk Manufacture within their respective jurisdictions.

Whereas it would be for the benefit of persons employed in the Silk Manufacture, if the magistrates were impowered to settle, between the master weavers and their journeymen, the price of labour in the several branches of the said manufacture; be it therefore enacted by the King's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament, assembled and by the authority of the same, that from and after the first day of July, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-three, the wages and prices for work of the journeymen weavers within the city of London shall be settled, regulated, and declared, by the Lord Mayor, Recorder and Aldermen, of the said city; and in all places in the county of Middlesex, by the Justices of the Peace for the said county; and in all places within the city and liberty of Westminster, at the General Quarter Sessions of the peace holden in and for the said city and liberty; and in all places within the liberty of the Tower of London, at the General Quarter Sessions of the Peace holden in and for the said liberty, at their General Quarter Sessions of the Peace respectively; and the Lord Mayor, Recorder and Aldermen of the city of London, and the said Justices of the Peace, are hereby respectively authorised and impowered, from time to time, upon application being made to them for that purpose, to settle, regulate, order, and declare the wages and prices of work of the journeymen weavers working within their respective jurisdictions as aforesaid; and shall and may, within the space of fourteen days next after the making every such order, cause the same to be printed and published, at the reasonable expense of the person or persons applying for the same, three times, in any two daily newspapers published in London or Westminster; which publication shall be deemed and allowed to be sufficient notice and publication thereof; and from and after publication thereof, all weavers, and their journeymen, are hereby strictly required to observe the same.

And be it further enacted, that if after the said first day of July, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-three, any master weaver, within either of the aforesaid districts, shall give more or less wages, or pay larger or less prices, to any of the journeymen weavers aforesaid, for their work, than shall be settled or allowed as aforesaid, and shall be convicted of the said offences before any two of His Majesty's Justices of the Peace, within either of the districts or jurisdictions aforesaid where the said offence shall be committed, on the oath or oaths of one or more credible witness or witnesses, he shall forfeit the sum of fifty pounds; to be levied by distress and sale of the offender's goods; and the said penalty, when recovered, shall be paid into the hands of the Master of the Weavers' Company, first deducting the expense of such prosecution, to be distributed by him, in conjunction with the Wardens of the said company, to any distressed journeymen weavers or their families, who shall have been last employed in either of the aforesaid jurisdictions, at their discretion.

And be it further enacted, that if any journeyman weaver or weavers within the districts aforesaid, shall ask, receive, or take more or less wages, or larger or less prices for their work than shall be settled by the respective quarter-sessions, as aforesaid; or shall enter into any combination to raise the wages or prices of the said work, or for this purpose shall decoy, solicit, or intimidate, any journeyman or journeymen weavers within the districts aforesaid, so that he or they quit their masters, for whom they shall then be employed; or shall assemble themselves in any numbers exceeding the number of ten, in order to frame or deliver petitions or other representations, touching their wages or prices of work, except to the said Justices of the Peace, or to the Lord Mayor, Recorder, and Aldermen of the city of London, at their respective Quarter Sessions, and shall be convicted of any of the said offences, on the oath or oaths of one or more credible witness or witnesses, before any two or more of His Majesty's Justices of the Peace, within either of the districts or jurisdictions aforesaid where the offence shall be committed, [he or they] shall forfeit a sum not exceeding forty shillings: And if the said forfeiture be not immediately paid, it shall and may be lawful for the said Justices to commit the said offender to the House of Correction, to hard labour, for any time not exceeding three months; the said forfeiture, when recovered, to be applied in the same manner as the forfeiture of fifty pounds afore-mentioned.

And be it further enacted, that it shall and may be lawful for any two Justices of the Peace, within the limits and jurisdictions aforesaid, on information upon oath made before them by any person or persons whatsoever, that there is reason to suspect that any master or journeyman weaver, within the districts or jurisdictions aforesaid, hath been guilty of any of the offences aforesaid, at request of such informant, to issue their summons, in writing, signed by any such two Justices, requiring any clerk, foreman, apprentice, servant, or other person or persons employed or retained by such person so suspected to have offended, or any other person or persons whatsoever, whose attendance shall appear necessary for the purpose of giving evidence in the premises, to attend and testify concerning the premises: And if any person so summoned shall not attend, and proof shall be made of the service of such summons either personally or by leaving the same at the last or usual place of abode of such person, it shall be lawful for such two Justices, or any other two Justices of the Peace acting for such county or place, and they are hereby required (unless a reasonable excuse be made for such non-attendance to the satisfaction of such justices) to issue their warrant, under their hands and seals, for the apprehending and bringing him or her before them, or some other two or more Justices of the Peace acting for such county or place, to be examined touching the premises; and if any such person so attending or being brought before such Justices, shall refuse to be examined or give their testimony touching the premises, such person shall by the said justices be committed to the House of Correction for one month, there to remain, unless he or she shall sooner submit to be examined and give testimony as the law requires.

And be it further enacted, that if any master weaver residing within the limits aforesaid, shall, directly or indirectly, in any manner whatsoever, retain or employ any journeyman weaver out of or beyond the limits aforesaid, with intent or design to elude or evade this act, or shall give, allow, or pay, or cause to be given, allowed, or paid, to such journeyman, any more or less wages than shall be settled, as aforesaid, every such person shall, for every such offence, forfeit fifty pounds; to be sued for by action of debt, in any of His Majesty's Courts of Record at Westminster, wherein no essoin, protection, or wager of law, or more than one imparlance, shall be allowed, and wherein the ordinary costs of the suit shall be paid; one moiety of which said forfeiture, when recovered, shall belong and be paid to His Majesty and His successors, and the other moiety to the person who shall sue for the same.

Provided always, and be it further enacted, that nothing in this act contained shall extend, or be construed to extend, to fix, control, or regulate, the wages or allowances to be paid to servants in the said business of a weaver, bona fide retained and employed as foreman.

And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that from and after the passing of this act, no person or persons, being silk weavers, residing within the districts aforesaid, shall have in his or their service at any one time more than two apprentices, upon pain of forfeiting for every offence the sum of twenty pounds; to be levied by distress and sale of the offender's goods and chattels, upon conviction, on the oath or oaths of one or more credible witness or witnesses, before two Justices of the Peace within either of the jurisdictions aforesaid where the said offence shall be committed, and the said penalty, when recovered, shall be paid into the hands of the Master of the Weavers' Company, to be applied by him, as aforesaid, and the said Justices are hereby authorised and required to discharge every such apprentice or apprentices exceeding the number of two.

4. A MIDDLESEX WAGES ASSESSMENT UNDER THE SPITALFIELDS ACT [Public Record Office, H.O. 86, 26], 1773.

Sir John Fielding presents his respects to the Earl of Suffolk and acquaints him that he had the pleasure yesterday of assisting at the general Quarter Sessions for the county of Middlesex to carry into execution the late Act of Parliament for the regulating of the wages of journeymen weavers in Spitalfields, etc., and the wages were then settled by a numerous and unanimous bench to the entire satisfaction of those masters and journeymen weavers who appeared there in behalf of their respective bodies, and I sincerely hope that this step will prove a radical cure for all tumultuous assemblies from that quarter so disrespectful to the King and so disagreeable to Government, as it will amply reward your Lordship's judicious attention to a matter so conducive to peace and good order, for by this statute your Lordship has conveyed contentment to the minds of thousands of his Majesty's subjects. The Act for the appointment of clergymen with proper salaries agreeable to my proposals was also carried into execution to attend the gaols, and this preventive step will, I am persuaded, be attended with very salutary effects; and as the important business of the sessions is over, I hope your Lordship will take the advantage of my Lord North's leisure to settle the affair regarding my general prevention plan which now lies before him for his Majesty's approbation.

I am, with unfeigned truth, my Lord, Your Lordship's respectful and the public's faithful Servant.

Sir John Fielding, 9th July, 1773.

5. AGRICULTURAL LABOURERS' PROPOSALS FOR A SLIDING SCALE OF WAGES [Annals of Agriculture, Vol. XXV, p. 503[350]], 1795.

At a numerous meeting of the day labourers of the little parishes of Heacham, Snettisham, and Sedgford, this day, 5th November, in the parish church of Heacham, in the county of Norfolk, in order to take into consideration the best and most peaceable mode of obtaining a redress of all the severe and peculiar hardships under which they have for many years so patiently suffered, the following resolutions were unanimously agreed to:--1st, That the labourer is worthy of his hire, and that the mode of lessening his distresses, as hath been lately the fashion, by selling him flour under the market price, and thereby rendering him an object of a parish rate, is not only an indecent insult on his lowly and humble situation (in itself sufficiently mortifying from his degrading dependence on the caprice of his employer) but a fallacious mode of relief, and every way inadequate to a radical redress of the manifold distresses of his calamitous state. 2nd, That the price of labour should, at all times, be proportioned to the price of wheat, which should invariably be regulated by the average price of that necessary article of life; and that the price of labour, as specified in the annexed plan, is not only well calculated to make the labourer happy without being injurious to the farmer, but it appears to us the only rational means of securing the permanent happiness of this valuable and useful class of men, and, if adopted in its full extent, will have an immediate and powerful effect in reducing, if it does not entirely annihilate, that disgraceful and enormous tax on the public--the Poor Rate.

Plan of the Prices of Labour Proportionate to the Price of Wheat.

per last. per day When wheat shall be 14l. the price of labour shall be 1s. 2d. " " " 16 " " " 1s. 4d. " " " 18 " " " 1s. 6d. " " " 20 " " " 1s. 8d. " " " 22 " " " 1s. 10d. " " " 24 " " " 2s. 0d. " " " 26 " " " 2s. 2d. When wheat shall be 28l. the price of labour shall be 2s. 4d. " " " 30 " " " 2s. 6d. " " " 32 " " " 2s. 8d. " " " 34 " " " 2s. 10d. " " " 36 " " " 3s. 0d.

And so on, according to this proportion.

3rd. That a petition to parliament to regulate the price of labour, conformable to the above plan, be immediately adopted; and that the day labourers throughout the county be invited to associate and co-operate in this necessary application to parliament, as a peaceable, legal, and probable mode of obtaining relief; and, in doing this, no time should be lost, as the petition must be presented before the 29th January, 1796.

4th. That one shilling shall be paid into the hands of the treasurer by every labourer, in order to defray the expenses of advertising, attending on meetings, and paying counsel to support their petition in parliament.

5th. That as soon as the sense of the day labourers of this county, or a majority of them, shall be made known to the clerk of the meeting, a general meeting shall be appointed, in some central town, in order to agree upon the best and easiest mode of getting the petition signed: when it will be requested that one labourer, properly instructed, may be deputed to represent two or three contiguous parishes, and to attend the above intended meeting with a list of all the labourers in the parishes he shall represent, and pay their respective subscriptions; and that the labourer, so deputed, shall be allowed two shillings and sixpence a day for his time, and two shillings and sixpence a day for his expenses.

6th. That Adam Moore, clerk of the meeting, be directed to have the above resolutions, with the names of the farmers and labourers who have subscribed to and approved them, advertised in one Norwich and one London paper; when it is hoped that the above plan of a petition to parliament will not only be approved and immediately adopted by the day labourer of this county, but by the labourers of every county in the kingdom.

7th. That all letters, post paid, addressed to Adam Moore, labourer, at Heacham, near Lynn, Norfolk, will be duly noticed.

[Footnote 350: Quoted Hammond, The Village Labourer, pp. 137-9.]

6. DEBATES ON WHITBREAD'S MINIMUM WAGE BILL [_Parliamentary History, Vol. XXXIII, cols. 700-15_], 1795-6.

Debate in the Commons on Mr. Whitbread's Bill to regulate the wages of Labourers in Husbandry. December 9. Mr. Whitbread presented to the House a bill "to explain and amend so much of the act of the 5th of Elizabeth, intituled: 'An act containing divers orders for artificers, labourers, servants of husbandry and apprentices,'" as empowers justices of the peace, at, or within six weeks after, every general quarter sessions held at Easter, to regulate the wages of labourers in husbandry. The bill was read a first time. On the motion for the second reading, Mr. Whitbread said, that he had brought forward this bill under the idea that it was possible, by adopting its regulations, to give great relief to a very numerous and useful class of the community. The act of Elizabeth empowered justices of the peace to fix the maximum of labour. This bill went only to empower them to fix the minimum. However the House might decide with respect to his bill, he trusted at least that the act of Elizabeth would be repealed.

Mr. Fox said, that the bill was undoubtedly a bill of great delicacy and importance, and with respect to which, he admitted that, to a considerable extent, there might exist a rational difference of opinion. The act of Elizabeth, as his hon. friend had truly stated, empowered the justices to fix the highest price of labour, but it gave them no power to fix the lowest. It secured the master from a risk that could but seldom occur, of being charged exorbitantly for the quantity of service; but it did not authorise the magistrate to protect the poor from the injustice of a griping and avaricious employer, who might be disposed to take advantage of their necessities, and undervalue the rate of their service. If the price of labour was adequate to the support of the poor at ordinary times, though not equal to the accidental high price of provisions at the present moment, it might be contended that there was less necessity for any new legislative regulation. But, taking the average price of labour for some years past, including that period during which the scarcity had operated, no man could deny that the price of labour was greatly disproportionate to the rate of provisions. That the general price of labour should be adequate to the support of the general mass of the community was indisputably a right principle. They all knew that a very extensive tax was exacted from the country, under the denomination of poor-rates, and that such a tax must be continued. It was understood that to this fund none could apply, but those few to whom, from particular circumstances, their labour might not be sufficiently productive to secure an adequate support. But he feared that the reverse was the case; that the exception was with respect to the few who derived sufficient means of subsistence from their labour, and that the great mass of the labouring part of the community were under the necessity of applying to this fund for relief. If the House, as was proposed, were to form an association, in order to pledge themselves to use only a particular sort of bread, with a view to diminish the pressure of the scarcity, ought they not at the same time to form an association in order to raise the price of labour to a rate proportionate to the price of articles of subsistence? With this view, he called upon the House to consider the principle of the bill, and its provisions. He would call upon them also to attend to the subject, in a constitutional view, though he could not hope, from the complexion of recent transactions, that this was a view of the subject which would have great weight. It was not fitting in a free country that the great body of the people should depend upon the charity of the rich. In the election of members of Parliament, all those were strictly excluded from exercising any franchise, with a very few exceptions, who had at any time received relief from the parish. Was it becoming in a country like this, that the general mass of the labouring part of the community, excepting those who derived relief from the bounty and generosity of individuals, should be excluded from the exercise of their most important privilege as freemen! He admitted many of the rich to be humane and charitable; but he could not allow that those who were the most useful and industrious members of society should depend upon a fund so precarious and degrading, as the occasional supplies derived from their bounty. If the price of provisions had for two years been such as to put every poor man under the necessity of applying for the aid of parochial charity, and if that circumstance constituted a positive disqualification with respect to the exercise of a constitutional right, what, he asked, was the state of a country which first compelled every poor man to dependence, and then reduced him to servitude? If they were to go into associations, pledging themselves to use a particular sort of bread, with a view to alleviate the scarcity, it was surely of more importance that they should associate in order to redress the more material grievance, and strike at the fundamental source of the evil. With this view he should be glad to see an association in order to put the price of labour upon a footing adequate to the rate of provisions. If the regulations of the present bill should not be adopted, he should be happy that any other legislative enactments should be brought forward in order to afford relief and protection to the poor.

The bill was ordered to be read a second time on the 3rd of February, and to be printed.

February 12th, 1796. The order of the day being read for the second reading of the bill,

Mr. Whitbread said, that ample time had been given for members to consider maturely its object and regulations, and to collect from their constituents such information as they might require. For his own part, every inquiry he had instigated, convinced him of the necessity of remedying the grievances of the industrious poor by some legislative provisions. Whether those which he had suggested were the most proper to be adopted, was a question for the decision of the House? Having bestowed considerable pains in drawing up the bill, he might have left it for their consideration upon its merits alone, did not the novelty of the measure demand a few words in explanation. He felt as much as any man how greatly it was to be desired that there should be no legislative interference in matters of this nature, and that the price of labour, like every other commodity, should be left to find its own level. From reasonings upon the subject, the result was, that it always would find its level. But the deductions of reason were confuted by experience; for he appealed to the sense of the House, whether the situation of the labouring poor in this country was such as any feeling or liberal mind would wish? He did not mean that the wages of the labourer were inadequate for his subsistence and comfort in times of temporary scarcity, and unusual hardship; but even at the period preceding such distress, the evil had prevailed. In most parts of the country, the labourer had long been struggling with increasing misery, till the pressure had become almost too grievous to be endured, while the patience of the sufferers under their accumulated distresses had been conspicuous and exemplary. And did not such distress, supported with so much fortitude, merit relief from the legislature? Were it necessary to refer to any authority, he would quote the writings of Dr. Price, in which he showed that in the course of two centuries, the price of labour had not increased more than three or at most fourfold; whereas the price of meat had increased in the proportion of six or seven; and that of clothing, no less than fourteen or fifteen-fold in the same period. The poor-rates, too, had increased since the beginning of the century from £600,000, at which they were then estimated, to upwards of three millions. Nor was this prodigious increase in the poor rates to be ascribed to the advance of population; for it was doubtful whether any such increase had taken place. At the present period the contrary seemed to be the case. By the pressure of the times, marriage was discouraged; and among the laborious classes of the community, the birth of a child, instead of being hailed as a blessing, was considered as a curse. For this serious evil a remedy was required, and to this the bill was directed. It was his wish to rescue the labouring poor from a state of slavish dependence; to enable the husbandman, who dedicated his days to incessant toil, to feed, to clothe, and to lodge his family with some degree of comfort; to exempt the youth of the country from the necessity of entering the army or the navy, and from flocking to great towns for subsistence; and to put it in the power of him who ploughed and sowed and threshed the corn, to taste of the fruits of his industry, by giving him a right to a part of the produce of his labour. Such were the grounds upon which the bill in question was built. To those who dreaded everything that wore the aspect of innovation, and reprobated every measure that was new, he would say that here there was no departure from established precedents, no introduction of unknown principles. The statute of the 5th of Elizabeth was enacted expressly for the purpose of regulating the price of labour. This statute was acted upon for forty years, when it was afterwards amended by a subsequent one in the reign of James the 1st, bearing a similar title. He would not be understood as commending the principle of these statutes: on the contrary, he was of opinion that they operated as a clog to industry, by permitting justices to fix the maximum of labour. But so late as the 8th of his majesty, justices were empowered to regulate the wages of tailors, and even now the lord mayor and council of London control those of the silk weavers. To those who were afraid of entrusting justices with power, he should only say, that he left the power where he found it. At present they were possessed of the power to oppress the labourer; and this bill only invested them with the additional power to redress his grievances. By fixing the minimum of the wages of labour, a comfortable subsistence was secured to industry, and at the same time greater exertions were prompted by the hope of greater reward. To some, perhaps, the time of bringing this subject forward might appear exceptional. There were those who would say, if the labourers were not distressed, why agitate a question for which no necessity calls, and awaken desires which are not felt? Others would maintain, that it was unseasonable to direct the public attention to such a subject, while the pressure of distress might excite discontents, or raise improper expectations. To these he could only answer, that he was not one who could see wise and salutary measures sacrificed to the pretended inconvenience of the times; and that he was of opinion that what was proper to be done could scarcely be done out of season. He then moved, "that the bill be now read a second time."

Mr. Pitt said, that in the interval which had taken place since the first reading of the bill, he had paid considerable attention to the subject, and endeavoured to collect information from the best sources to which he had access. The evil was certainly of such a nature as to render it of importance to find out a proper remedy, but the nature of the remedy involved discussions of such a delicate and intricate nature, that none should be adopted without being maturely weighed. The present situation of the labouring poor in this country was certainly not such as could be wished, upon any principle, either of humanity, or policy. That class had of late been exposed to hardships which they all concurred in lamenting, and were equally actuated by a desire to remove. He would not argue how far the comparison of the state of the labourer, relieved as it had been by a display of beneficence never surpassed at any period, with the state of this class of the community in former times, was just, though he was convinced that the representations were exaggerated. At any rate, the comparisons were not accurate, because they did not embrace a comprehensive view of the relative situations. He gave the hon. gentleman ample credit for his good intentions in bringing the present bill into parliament, though he was afraid that its provisions were such as it would be impolitic, upon the whole, to adopt; and such as, if adopted, would be found to be inadequate to the purposes proposed. The authority of Dr. Price had been adduced to show the great advance that had taken place on every article of subsistence, compared with the slow increase of the wages of labour. But the statement of Dr. Price was erroneous, as he compared the earnings of the labourer at the period when the comparison is instituted, with the price of provisions, and the earnings of the labourer at the present day, with the price of the same articles, without adverting to the change of circumstances, and to the difference of provisions. Corn, which was then almost the only food of the labourer, was now supplied by cheaper substitutions, and it was unfair to conclude that the wages of labour were so far from keeping pace with the price of provisions, because they could no longer purchase the same quantity of an article for which the labourer had no longer the same demand. The simple question now to be considered was, whether the remedy for the evil, which was admitted to a certain extent to exist, was to be obtained by giving to the justices the power to regulate the price of labour, and by endeavouring to establish by authority, what would be much better accomplished by the unassisted operation of principles? It was unnecessary to argue the general expediency of any legislative interference, as the principles had been perfectly recognised by the hon. gentleman himself. The most celebrated writers upon political economy, and the experience of those states where arts had flourished the most, bore ample testimony of their truth. They had only to enquire, therefore, whether the present case was strong enough for the exception, and whether the means proposed were suited to the object intended? The hon. gentleman imagined that he had on his side of the question the support of experience in this country, and appealed to certain laws upon the statute-book, in confirmation of his proposition. He did not find himself called upon to defend the principle of these statutes, but they were certainly introduced for purposes widely different from the object of the present bill. They were enacted to guard the industry of the country from being checked by a general combination among labourers; and the bill now under consideration was introduced solely for the purpose of remedying the inconveniences which labourers sustain from the disproportion existing between the price of labour and the price of living. He had the satisfaction to hear the hon. gentleman acknowledge, that if the price of labour could be made to find its own level, it would be much more desirable than to assess it by arbitrary statute, which in the execution was liable to abuse on the one hand, and inefficacy on the other. If the remedy succeeded according to the most sanguine expectations, it only established what would have been better effected by principle; and if it failed, on the one hand it might produce the severest oppression, and on the other hand encourage the most profligate idleness and extravagance. Was it not better for the House, then, to consider the operation of general principles, and rely upon the effects of their unconfined exercise? Was it not wiser to reflect what remedy might be adopted, at once more general in its principles, and more comprehensive in its object, less exceptional in its example, and less dangerous in its application? They should look to the instances where interference had shackled industry, and where the best intentions have often produced the most pernicious effects. It was indeed the most absurd bigotry, in asserting the general principle, to exclude the exception; but trade, industry and barter would always find their own level, and be impeded by regulations which violated their natural operation, and deranged their proper effect. This being granted, he appealed to the judgment of the House, whether it was better to refer the matter entirely to the discretion of a magistrate, or to endeavour to find out the causes of the evil, and by removing the causes, to apply a remedy more justifiable in its principle, more easy in the execution, more effectual in its operations, in fine, more consonant to every sound and rational policy. The evil, in his opinion, originated in a great measure in the abuses which had crept into the poor-laws of this country, and the complicated mode of executing them. The poor-laws of this country, however wise in their original institution, had contributed to fetter the circulation of labour, and to substitute a system of abuses, in room of the evils which they humanely meant to redress, and by engrafting upon a defective plan defective remedies produced nothing but confusion and disorder. The laws of settlements prevented the workman from going to that market where he could dispose of his industry to the greatest advantage, and the capitalist from employing the person who was qualified to procure him the best returns for his advances. These laws had at once increased the burthens of the poor, and taken from the collective resources of the state to supply wants which their operation had occasioned, and to alleviate a poverty which they tended to perpetuate. Such were the institutions which misguided benevolence had introduced, and, with such warnings to deter, it would be wise to distrust a similar mode of conduct, and to endeavour to discover remedies of a different nature. The country had not yet experienced the full benefit of the laws that had already been passed to correct the errors which he had explained. From the attention he had bestowed upon the subject, and from the enquiries he had been able to make of others, he was disposed to think we had not yet gone far enough, and to entertain an opinion that many advantages might be derived, and much of the evil now complained of removed, by an extension of those reformations in the poor-laws which had been begun. The encouragement of friendly societies would contribute to alleviate that immense charge with which the public was loaded in the support of the poor, and provide by savings of industry for the comfort of distress. Now the parish officer could not remove the workman, merely because he apprehended he might be burthensome, but it was necessary that he should be actually chargeable. But from the pressure of a temporary distress might the industrious mechanic be transported from the place where his exertions could be useful to himself and his family, to a quarter where he would become a burthen without the capacity of even being able to provide for himself. To remedy such a great striking grievance, the laws of settlement ought to undergo a radical amendment. He conceived, that to promote the free circulation of labour, to remove the obstacles by which industry is prohibited from availing itself of its resources, would go far to remedy the evils, and diminish the necessity of applying for relief to the poor-rates. In the course of a few years, this freedom from the vexatious restraint which the laws imposed would supersede the object of their institutions. The advantages would be widely diffused, the wealth of the nation would be increased, the poor man rendered not only more comfortable, but more virtuous, and the weight of poor-rates, with which the landed interest is loaded, greatly diminished. He should wish, therefore, that an opportunity were given of restoring the original purity of the poor laws, and of removing those corruptions by which they had been obscured. He was convinced, that the evils which they had occasioned did not arise out of their original constitution, but coincided with the opinion of Blackstone, that, in proportion as the wise regulations that were established in the long and glorious reign of Queen Elizabeth, have been superseded by subsequent enactments, the utility of the institution has been impaired, and the benevolence of the plan rendered fruitless. While he thus had expressed those sentiments which the discussion naturally prompted, it might not, perhaps, be improper, on such an occasion, to lay before the House the ideas floating in his mind, though not digested with sufficient accuracy, nor arranged with a proper degree of clearness. Neither what the hon. gentleman proposed, nor what he himself had suggested, were remedies adequate to the evil it was intended to remove. Supposing, however, the two modes of remedying the evil were on a par in effect, the preference in principle was clearly due to that which was least arbitrary in its nature; but it was not difficult to perceive that the remedy proposed by the hon. gentleman would either be completely ineffectual, or such as far to over-reach its mark. As there was a difference in the numbers which compose the families of the labouring poor, it must necessarily require less to support a small family. Now by the regulations proposed, either the man with a small family would have too much wages, or the man with a large family, who had done most service to his country, would have too little. So that were the minimum fixed upon the standard of a large family, it might operate as encouragement to idleness on one part of the community; and if it were fixed on the standard of a small family, those would not enjoy the benefit of it for whose relief it was intended. What measure then could be found to supply the defect? Let us, said he, make relief in cases where there are a number of children, a matter of right and an honour, instead of a ground for opprobrium and contempt. This will make a large family a blessing, and not a curse; and this will draw a proper line of distinction between those who are able to provide for themselves by their labour, and those who, after having enriched their country with a number of children, have a claim upon its assistance for their support. All this, however, he would confess, was not enough, if they did not engraft upon it resolutions to discourage relief where it was not wanted. If such means could be practised as that of supplying the necessities of those who required assistance by giving it in labour or affording employment, which is the principle of the act of Elizabeth, the most important advantages would be gained. They would thus benefit those to whom they afforded relief, not only by the assistance bestowed, but by giving habits of industry and frugality, and, in furnishing a temporary bounty, enable them to make permanent provision for themselves. By giving effect to the operation of friendly societies, individuals would be rescued from becoming a burthen upon the public, and, if necessary, be enabled to subsist upon a fund which their own industry contributed to raise. These great points of granting relief according to the number of children, preventing removals at the caprice of the parish officer, and making them subscribe to friendly societies, would tend, in a very great degree, to remove every complaint to which the present partial remedy could be applied. Experience had already shown how much could be done by the industry of children and the advantages of early employing them in such branches of manufacture as they are capable to execute. The extension of schools of industry was also an object of material importance. If any one would take the trouble to compute the amount of all the earnings of the children who are already educated in this manner, he would be surprised, when he came to consider the weight which their support by their own labours took off the country, and the addition which, by the fruits of their toil, and the habits to which they were formed, was made to its internal opulence. The suggestion of these schools was originally drawn from Lord Hale and Mr. Locke, and upon such authority he had no difficulty in recommending the plan to the encouragement of the legislature. Much might be effected by a plan of this nature susceptible of constant improvement. Such a plan would convert the relief granted to the poor into an encouragement to industry, instead of being, as it is by the present poor laws, a premium to idleness and a school for sloth. There were also a number of subordinate circumstances to which it was necessary to attend. The law which prohibits giving relief where any visible property remains should be abolished. That degrading condition should be withdrawn. No temporary occasion should force a British subject to part with the last shilling of his little capital, and compel him to descend to a state of wretchedness from which he could never recover, merely that he might be entitled to a casual supply. Another mode also of materially assisting the industrious poor was, the advancing of small capitals, which might be repaid in two or three years, while the person who repaid it would probably have made an addition to his income. This might put him who received them in the way of acquiring what might place him in a situation to make permanent provision for himself. These were the general ideas which had occurred to him upon the subject; if they should be approved of by any gentleman in the House, they might perhaps appear at a future time in a more accurate shape than he could pretend to give them. He could not, however, let this opportunity slip without throwing them out. He was aware that they would require to be very maturely considered. He was aware also of a fundamental difficulty, that of insuring the diligent execution of any law that should be enacted. This could only be done by presenting to those who should be entrusted with the execution motives to emulation, and by a frequent inspection of their conduct as to diligence and fidelity. Were he to suggest an outline, it would be this. To provide some new mode of inspection by parishes, or by hundreds--to report to the magistrates at the petty sessions, with a liberty of appeal from them to the general quarter sessions, where the justice should be empowered to take cognizance of the conduct of the different commissioners, and to remedy whatever defects should be found to exist. That an annual report should be made to parliament, and that parliament should impose upon itself the duty of tracing the effect of its system from year to year, till it should be fully matured. That there should be a standing order of the House for this purpose, and in a word, that there should be an annual budget opened, containing the details of the whole system of poor-laws, by which the legislature would show that they had a constant and a watchful eye upon the interests of the poorest and most neglected part of the community. He was not vain enough to imagine that these ideas were the result of his own investigations, but he was happy to say that they arose from a careful examination of the subject, and an extensive survey of the opinions of others. He would only add that it was a subject of the utmost importance, and that he would do everything in his power to bring forward or promote such measures as would conduce to the interest of the country. He gave the hon. gentleman every possible credit for his humane and laudable motives, yet seeing the subject in the light in which he did, he was compelled to give his negative to the motion.

Mr. Lechmere said, that the bill was not only founded in humanity, but policy also. The late alarming scarcity ought to induce every man who wished to encourage the industrious poor, to promote every plan of relief for them at such a crisis. No agricultural labourer could at present support himself and his family with comfort; for a barley loaf was at the enormous price of 12-1/2d., while the whole of the labourer's daily wages amounted to no more than one shilling. Haud ignara mali, miseris succurrere disco, was a noble sentiment; but he would rather have the labourer enjoy the honest fruits of his industry, than be obliged to receive his due as an eleemosynary gift. It appeared to him that the minimum of agricultural labour should be fixed.

Mr. Buxton said, that the bill did not appear likely to be of much service, for if the price of labour were to be fixed by the justices of peace, he feared many industrious people would be thrown out of employ, and become a burthen to their respective parishes. The people he alluded to were those who by sickness or old age were rendered incapable of doing so much as a common labourer, and who consequently would be rejected for persons of more strength and activity. He had consulted with various well informed farmers and gentlemen in Norfolk who unanimously concurred in opinions that the bill would be injurious.

Mr. Vansittart commended the hon. gentleman who introduced the bill, for his humane intentions, but he had no hesitation in voting against it, because he thought any arbitrary regulations of the justices of the peace, in the price of labour, would be a greater evil than that already complained of. The bill appeared to him unnecessary, as the law since the reign of James I, enabled the magistrate to fix the price of labour.

Mr. Burdon did not think that the industrious poor were in that wretched situation stated by some gentlemen. The industrious labourer, in many instances, was able to support his family, and lay up something for his old age. From the average price of labour for some years, the House must perceive that the wages of the labourer were considerably increased. The friendly societies, if they continued to extend, would be productive of infinite good. As to the bill, he was convinced of its inadequacy to correct the abuses of which it complained. He recommended rather to repeal the act of Elizabeth than set it up as a precedent to act upon.

Mr. Fox said that no man was more against the idea of compulsion as to the price of labour than he was. The question now was, not on the general principle, but on that particular state of the law, which rendered some measure necessary to be adopted for the relief of the labouring poor, while the law, as it stood, was saddled with so many restrictions. He approved of the bill proposed by his hon. friend, as calculated to correct that which was bad in its present operation, and to secure at least to the labourer the means of partial relief. But if the House objected to the measure as improper, if they were of the opinion that it was not the most judicious or desirable that might be applied, he hoped they would go to the root of the evil, and provide some remedy adequate to the extent of the grievance. If, therefore, they should give a negative to the second reading of the bill, he should consider that by so doing they pledged themselves to take the subject into their early and most serious consideration. If what his hon. friend had brought forward should induce the House to go into a full examination of the subject, and to provide a remedy commensurate to the evil, he would not only have accomplished his own benevolent intentions, but would have done a much greater service to the country, than even if the bill which he had now brought forward were adopted.

Mr. Whitbread said:--"I cannot but congratulate the House on the able and eloquent speech of the chancellor of the exchequer. At the same time I must remark that if the poor laws were actually such, as the right hon. gentleman has stated they ought to be, it would not have been necessary for me to have brought forward any proposition; but I am afraid that facts and experience will be found undeniably to confirm my assertion, that the poor in this country are in a state scarcely consistent with the character of a civilised country. As to what the right hon. gentleman has stated about the price of labour finding its own level, he does not recollect that, till the level be found, the industrious poor labour under the pressure of immediate suffering. If the expedients he has proposed should succeed, they are matters of future regulation, and not calculated to afford relief which the exigencies of the times so imperiously demand. If it should be possible to a considerable degree to promote industry among the children of the poor, and to destroy the oppressive restrictions with respect to settlements, still it will be a considerable time before the price of labour will have found its level. Even if more effectual regulations should afterwards be adopted, still this bill is eligible as a temporary relief. It does not compel the magistrates to act: it only empowers them to take measures according to the exigency of the times. It has been stated as an objection to the bill, that it goes to fix the price of labour, but gentlemen do not attend to the circumstances, that it does not go to determine what should be the general price of labour, but only what should be the least price of labour under particular circumstances. As to the particular case of labourers, who have to provide for a number of children, the wisest thing for government, instead of putting the relief afforded to such on the footing of a charity, supplied, perhaps, from a precarious fund, and dealt with a reluctant hand, would be at once to institute a liberal premium for the encouragement of large families. There is just one circumstance to which I shall advert, before I conclude, namely, the wretched manner in which the poor are lodged. It is such as ought not to be suffered in a country like this, proud of its freedom, and boasting of the equal rights of all its subjects. The landlord, who lets the ground upon lease to the farmer, does not consider himself as bound to repair the cottages. The farmer, who has only a temporary interest in the property, feels no anxiety on the subject. The cottage, dismantled and mouldering to decay, affords neither warmth nor shelter to the poor inhabitant, who is left exposed to the fury of the elements and the inclemency of every season. If a negative should be put upon the second reading of the bill, I shall then move for leave to bring in a bill to repeal the statute of Elizabeth, and afterwards for a committee to take into consideration the state of the poor laws."

The motion was negatived. After which, the bill was ordered to be read a second time on that day three months.

7. ARBITRATION ACT FOR THE COTTON INDUSTRY [Statutes, 39 and 40 Geo. III, 90], 1800.

An act for settling disputes that may arise between masters and workmen engaged in the cotton manufacture in that part of Great Britain called England.

That, from and after the first day of August in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred, in all cases that shall or may arise within that part of Great Britain called England, where the masters and workmen cannot agree respecting the price or prices to be paid for work done, or to be done, in the said manufacture, whether such dispute shall happen or arise between them respecting the reduction or advance of wages or any injury or damage done, or alleged to have been done, by the workmen to the work, or respecting any delay, or supposed delay, on the part of the workmen in finishing the work or the not finishing such work in a good and workmanlike manner; and also in all cases where the workmen are to be employed to work any new pattern which shall require them to purchase any new implements of manufacture for the working thereof, and the masters and workmen cannot agree upon the compensation to be made to such workmen for or in respect thereof, and also respecting the length of all pieces of cotton goods, or the wages or compensation to be paid for all pieces of cotton goods that are made of any great or extraordinary length, and respecting the manufacture of cravats, shawls, polycat, romall, and other handkerchiefs, and the number to be contained in one piece of such handkerchiefs, and the wages to be paid in respect thereof, and in all cases of dispute or difference arising or happening by and between the masters and workmen employed in such manufacture, out of, for, or touching such trade or manufacture, which cannot be otherwise mutually adjusted and settled by and between them; it shall and may be lawful, and it is hereby declared to be lawful, for such masters and workmen, between whom such dispute or difference shall arise as aforesaid, or either of them, to demand and have an arbitration or reference of such matter or matters in dispute, and each of them is hereby authorised and empowered forthwith to nominate and appoint an arbitrator for and on his respective part and behalf, to arbitrate and determine such matter or matters in dispute as aforesaid, and such arbitrators so appointed as aforesaid, after they shall have accepted and taken upon them the business of the said arbitration, are hereby authorised and required to summon before them, and examine upon oath the parties and their witnesses (which oath the said arbitrators are hereby authorised and required to administer according to the form set forth in the schedule to this act), and forthwith to proceed to hear and determine the complaints of the parties and the matter or matters in dispute between them, and the award to be made by such arbitrators shall in all cases be final and conclusive between the parties; but in case such arbitrators so appointed cannot agree to decide such matter or matters in dispute so to be referred to them as aforesaid, and do not make and sign their award within the space of three days after the signing of the said submission, that then they shall forthwith, and without delay, go before and attend upon one of his Majesty's justices of the peace acting in and for the county, riding, city, liberty, division, township, or place, and residing nearest to the place where such dispute shall happen and be referred, and state to such justice the points in difference between them the said arbitrators, which points in difference the said justice shall and he is hereby authorised and required to hear and determine, which determination of such justice shall be made and signed within the space of three days after the expiration of the time hereby allowed the arbitrators to make and sign their award, and shall be final and conclusive between the parties so differing as aforesaid.

[In cases of dispute the points of difference shall be stated to a justice whose award shall be final. Justices who are cotton manufacturers cannot act.]

8. AMENDMENT OF THE ARBITRATION ACT [Statutes, 44 Geo. III, 87], 1804.

An act to amend an act, passed in the thirty-ninth and fortieth years of his present Majesty, intituled, An act for settling disputes that may arise between masters and workmen engaged in the cotton manufacture in that part of Great Britain called England.

II. And be it further enacted, that, in all cases where an arbitration may be demanded by the said recited act, where the party complaining and the party complained of shall come before or agree, by any writing under their hands, to abide by the determination of any justice of the peace or magistrate of any county, city, town, or place, within which the parties reside, it shall and may be lawful for such justice of the peace or magistrate to hear and finally determine in a summary manner the matter in dispute between such parties; but if such parties shall not come before, or so agree to abide by the determination of such justice of the peace or magistrate, then it shall be lawful for any such justice or magistrate, and such justice of the peace or magistrate is hereby required, on complaint made before him, and proof by the examination of the party, making such complaint, that application has been made to the person or persons against whom such cause of complaint has arisen, or his, her, or their agent or agents, if such dispute has arisen with such agent or agents, to settle such dispute, and that the same has not been settled upon such complaint being made, or where the dispute relates to a bad warp, such cause of complaint shall not be done away within forty-eight hours after such application, to summon before him such person or persons, or agent or agents, on some day not exceeding three days, exclusive of Sunday, before the making such complaint, giving notice to the person making such complaint of the time and place appointed in such summons for the attendance of such person or persons, agent or agents, as aforesaid; and if at such time and place the person or persons so summoned shall not appear by himself, or send some person on his, her, or their behalf, to settle such dispute, or appearing shall not do away such cause of complaint, then and in such case it shall be lawful for such justice, and he is hereby required, at the request of either of such parties, to nominate arbitrators or referees for settling the matters in dispute; and such justice shall then and there at such meeting propose not less than four nor more than six persons, one-half of whom shall be master-manufacturers or agents or foremen of some master-manufacturer, and the other half of whom shall be weavers in such manufacture (such respective persons residing in or near to the place where such dispute shall have arisen) out of which master-manufacturers, agents, or foremen, the master engaged in such dispute, or his agent, shall choose one, and out of which weavers so proposed, the weaver or his agent, shall choose another, who shall have full power to hear and finally determine such dispute; and the said justice shall thereupon appoint a place of meeting according to the directions of this act, and also a day for the meeting, notice of which nomination, and of the day of meeting, shall thereupon be given to the persons so nominated arbitrators or referees, and to any party to any such dispute, who may not have attended the meeting before such justice as aforesaid.

[For criticism of the act see Petition of Cotton Weavers, 1813, Pt. III, Section III, No. 12, page 576.]

9. THE FIRST FACTORY ACT [Statutes, 42 Geo. III, 87], 1802.

An act for the preservation of the health and morals of apprentices and others, employed in cotton and other mills, and cotton and other factories.

... All such mills and factories within Great Britain and Ireland, wherein three or more apprentices, or twenty or more other persons, shall at any time be employed, shall be subject to the several rules and regulations contained in this act; ...

II. And be it enacted, that all and every the rooms and apartments in or belonging to any such mill or factory shall, twice at least in every year, be well and sufficiently washed with quick lime and water over every part of the walls and ceiling thereof; and that due care and attention shall be paid by the master or mistress of such mills or factories to provide a sufficient number of windows and openings in such rooms or apartments, to insure a proper supply of fresh air in and through the same.

III. And be it further enacted, that every such master or mistress shall constantly supply every apprentice during the term of his or her apprenticeship with two whole and complete suits of clothing....

IV. And be it further enacted, that no apprentice that now is or hereafter shall be bound to any such master or mistress shall be employed or compelled to work for more than twelve hours in any one day (reckoning from six of the clock in the morning to nine of the clock at night), exclusive of the time that may be occupied by such apprentice in eating the necessary meals: Provided always, that, from and after the first day of June one thousand eight hundred and three, no apprentice shall be employed or compelled to work upon any occasion whatever between the hours of nine of the clock at night and six of the clock in the morning.

VI. And be it further enacted, that every such apprentice shall be instructed, in some part of every working day, for the first four years at least of his or her apprenticeship....

VII. And be it further enacted, that the room or apartment in which any male apprentice shall sleep shall be entirely separate and distinct from the room or apartment in which any female apprentice shall sleep, and that not more than two apprentices shall in any case sleep in the same bed.

VIII. And be it further enacted, that every apprentice, or (in case the apprentices shall attend in classes) every such class, shall for the space of one hour at least every Sunday be instructed and examined in the principles of the Christian religion ... and such master or mistress shall send all his or her apprentices under the care of some proper person, once in a month at least, to attend during divine service in the church of the parish ... or in some licensed place of divine worship; and in case the apprentices cannot conveniently attend such church or chapel ... the master or mistress ... shall cause divine service to be performed in some convenient room or place in or adjoining to the mill or factory....

IX. And be it further enacted, that the justices of the peace for every county ... shall ... appoint two persons, not interested in, or in any way connected with, any such mills or factories, to be visitors ...; one of whom shall be a justice of peace ... and the other shall be a clergyman of the Established Church....

9A. MINUTES OF COMMITTEE ON CHILDREN IN FACTORIES, 1816 (III), p. 277.

Examination of Richard Arkwright, June 7, 1816.

Q. What is your opinion of the Act known under the name of Sir Robert Peel's Bill? I could wish to confine myself to facts as much as possible.

What have you known of that Act? That Act has not been followed up, with respect to the visiting of magistrates, for these thirteen years. I think they visited my mills at Cromford twice.

p. 278.

Are you of opinion that Sir Robert Peel's Bill, which passed in the year 1802, has accomplished much benefit for the children, for whose protection it was intended?

I certainly thought that the discussions upon that Bill, and the Bill itself, did a great deal of good, but that can be only matter of opinion.

10. CALICO PRINTERS' PETITION FOR REGULATION [Commons Journals, Vol. LIX, Feb. 22, 1804], 1804.

A petition of several journeymen calico printers, and others working in that trade, in the counties of Lancaster, Derby, Chester, and Stafford, in England, and in the counties of Lanark, Renfrew, Dumbarton, Stirling, and Perth in Scotland, was presented to the House, and read; setting forth that great numbers of the petitioners and other journeymen calico printers have, for a series of years past, been greatly distressed for want of work in their trade, and that this distress has chiefly arisen from a very general, if not universal, practice of the master calico printers in the counties above enumerated, who systematically carry on the said trade by employing in it, in many instances, a greater number of out-door apprentices than of journeymen, and, upon an average, nearly two of such apprentices to three journeymen, a practice of great injury to the petitioners, their families, and, ultimately, even to the apprentices themselves; and that one of the injurious effects, to the petitioners by this system is, that, in many instances boys are taken as apprentices to the said trade or business on verbal agreement, whereby they are at liberty to absent themselves from the service and control of their masters on any trifling disagreement, and are generally replaced by others, thereby creating an overstock of hands in the said trade: And therefore praying, That leave may be given to bring in a bill to regulate the trade or business of calico printers.

Ordered, that the said petition be referred to the consideration of a committee.

11. REPORT ON CALICO PRINTERS' PETITION [Commons Journals, Vol. LXI, July 17, 1806], 1806.

Your committee have naturally endeavoured to ascertain the cause of those discontents, and, as far as they have been able to collect from the minutes of evidence referred to them, they find it has arisen principally from the multiplication of apprentices. That this has gone to an extent, and that the disproportion of apprentices to journeymen exists to a degree, far beyond that understood to prevail in any other mechanical profession whatever, appears to your committee in several instances. In one instance, that of the shop of Berry and Co. of Lancashire, they find that 55 apprentices were employed, and only two journeymen; in another, that of the shop of Tod and Co. of Dumbarton, there were 60 apprentices, and only two journeymen. Such a disproportion, your committee conceive, must strike as extraordinary any one in the least degree acquainted with the custom of trade.

The practice of introducing such an increased number of apprentices, which commenced about the year 1790, does not appear from the minutes of evidence to have proceeded from any scarcity of hands to supply the demands of the masters, or make up the work required; on the contrary, it appears that in the course of the period when this excessive multiplication of apprentices went on, a number of journeymen were seeking in vain for employment.

With regard to the multiplication of apprentices, while your committee declare that they are not friendly to the idea of imposing any restrictions upon trade, they are ready to state that the inclination of their minds is this, that either all restrictions ought to be abolished, and the masters and journeymen left to settle matters between themselves, or an additional restriction ought to be introduced to counteract the evils obviously resulting from the restrictions which already exist. This restriction your committee mean of course to apply to apprentices; and if a precedent were wanted to justify such a measure, they would refer to the case of the silk weavers, and that of other trades, which are to be found on the Statute Book. In the instance of the silk weavers, no more than two apprentices can be legally taken by any master, whatever may be the number of his journeymen; and yet, since the enactment of this law, no scarcity of hands has ever been complained of in that flourishing branch of trade. Indeed, throughout all the mechanical professions, it is, as far as has come to the knowledge of any of the members of your committee, the general rule, that no master shall have more than two or three apprentices at the most. This general rule is conceived to be established through an understanding between the masters and the journeymen.

The salutary effects of leaving the masters and journeymen to settle their affairs between themselves, is particularly exemplified in the calico printing business: for, although in Lancashire and Derbyshire, etc., where there is nearly a proportion of one apprentice to one journeyman, and between masters and journeymen a consequent jealousy, productive of perpetual variance and confusion; there is in the neighbourhood of London, where a different feeling prevails, and where matters are amicably adjusted between the parties, a very different proportion of apprentices and journeymen. In 14 shops examined by one of the witnesses, in 1803, the number of journeymen were 216, the apprentices only 37.

But to return to the subject of restrictions: your committee are persuaded that as the Legislature has thought proper to interpose its authority, to prevent the journeymen from concerting measures among themselves to settle their affairs with the masters, it would be ready to remove any complaints which might arise from advantage taken by the masters of the existence of such restriction. The wisdom and humanity of Parliament would shrink from sanctioning the Combination Law, if it appeared to them, at the time of its enactment, likely to operate only in favour of the strong, and against the weak; if it had any apparent tendency to secure impunity to oppressors, and to give an undue advantage to the masters, who can combine with little danger of detection, and who can carry their projects into execution with little fear of opposition. The Legislature could never mean to injure the man, whose only desire is to derive a subsistence from his labour, and that indeed is all a journeyman calico printer can look to; for, from the particular nature of his trade, differing much from others, he cannot, from the capital required, ever calculate upon becoming a master.

12. COTTON WEAVERS' PETITION AGAINST THE REPEAL OF 5 ELIZABETH C. 4 [Commons Journals, Vol. LXVIII, Feb. 25, 1813], 1813.

A petition of several cotton weavers resident in the division of Bolton Le Moors, in the county of Lancaster, was presented and read; setting forth, that the petitioners are much concerned to learn that a bill has been brought into the House to repeal so much of the Statute 5 Elizabeth, as empowers and requires the magistrates, in their respective jurisdictions, to rate and settle the prices to be paid to labourers, handicrafts, spinners, weavers, etc.; and that the petitioners have endured almost constant reductions in the prices of their labour for many years, with sometimes a trifling advance, but during the last thirty months they have continued, with very little alteration, so low, that the average wages of cotton weavers do not exceed 5s. per week, though other trades in general earn from 20s. to 30s. per week; and that the extravagant prices of provisions of all kinds render it impossible for the petitioners to procure food for themselves and families, and the parishes are so burthened that an adequate supply cannot be had from that quarter; and that, in the 40th year of His present Majesty a law was made to settle disputes between masters and workmen[351]; which law having been found capable of evasion, and evaded, became unavailing: after which, in 1802, 1803, and 1804, applications being made to amend that of the 40th, another law was made, varying in some points from the former; but this also is found unavailing, inasmuch as no one conviction before a magistrate under this law has ever been confirmed at any Quarter Sessions of the Peace; and that several applications have since been made to the House to enact such laws as they would judge suitable to afford relief to the trade, in which masters and workmen joined, but hitherto without any effect; and that, about twelve months since, it was found that the Statute of 5 Eliz. (if acted upon) was competent to afford the desired relief, and it was resorted to in certain cases, but the want of generality prevented its obtaining at that time, especially as it can be acted on only at the Easter Quarter Sessions, or six weeks thereafter; and that, as petitions to the magistrates were almost general at the last Quarter Sessions, and all graciously received at each different jurisdiction, much hope was entertained that at the next Easter sessions the magistrates would settle the wages of the petitioners, and they obtain food by their industry; and that the present bill to repeal the aforesaid law has sunk the spirits of the petitioners beyond description, having no hope left: the former laws made for their security being unavailing, there is no protection for their sole property, which is their labour; and that, although the said law of 5 Eliz. was wisely designed to protect all trades and workmen, yet none will essentially suffer by its repeal save the cotton weavers: the silk weavers have law to secure their prices, as have other artizans; tradesmen generally receive their contracted wages, but cotton weavers, when their work is done, know not what they shall receive, as that depends on the goodness of the employer's heart: And that the petitioners, therefore, most humbly, and earnestly pray, that the House, for the aforesaid reasons, will not repeal the said Statute of 5 Eliz., it being the only law by which they can hope any relief from their present misery; and the existing laws being evaded, this would afford, when acted upon, prices somewhat suitable to the prices of provisions in adverse times; but should the House see it proper to repeal the said law, the petitioners pray, that in that case it will enact a law to secure and grant such wages to the petitioners as will enable them to live by their industry, equally beneficial to masters and workmen.

Ordered, That the said Petition do lie upon the Table.

[The wages clauses of 5 Eliz. 4 were repealed by 53 Geo. III, 40, 1813.]

[Footnote 351: See above. Pt. III, Section III, Nos. 7 and 8. p. 568 and p. 570.]

13. DEBATES ON THE REGULATION OF APPRENTICES [_Parl. Debates, Series I, Vol. XXV, Cols. 1120-1131; XXVII, 423-425, 563-574, 879-884_], 1813-1814.

APPRENTICES.--Mr. Rose adverted to the petition[352] he presented the other day, which was signed by above 800 masters and 13,000 journeymen in London; and by 1,154 masters and 17,517 journeymen in the country; making above 32,000 in all. The policy of the system began in Edward the 3rd. Some had doubted the effects of the law, and deemed all restrictions injurious to commerce: others considered the want of restrictions more dangerous, and contended that the present system had encouraged habits of industry. The courts had, in general, narrowed the spirit and application of the restrictions. He thought that if the existing law was not to be enforced, it ought to be amended or repealed. A petition signed by such a number of tradesmen was deserving the most attentive consideration. He should therefore move that the petition be referred to a committee.

Mr. Serjeant Onslow allowed that the number of signatures to the petition entitled it to a respectful consideration. As to the allegations of the petition, he thought it very extraordinary that the petitioners should really expect that parliament would allow them to bring actions upon this statute, against whom they pleased, well-founded or ill-founded, without being subject to costs in case of failure. From his experience in a certain judicial situation, he could say, and he believed he might appeal to all his professional friends about him for the confirmation of his statement, that he never knew any indictment brought under this statute except against a person of great skill and acquirements. The preamble of the Act stated its object to be "to prevent the introduction of unskilful workmen": and yet no indictments were ever brought against unskilful workmen, but only against very skilful and ingenious men. This shewed pretty clearly the spirit in which such prosecutions were brought.

Mr. D. Giddy said, that he should not vote for the committee, if he did not think it likely that the resolution they would come to would be directly opposite to that which was expected by the petitioners. He certainly did entertain great doubts, whether in the present state of the commercial world there was any use in those apprenticeships, although they might have been necessary in the infancy of commerce. It frequently happened, that a young man had not a talent for that particular business to which he had been bound an apprentice, and was yet possessed of other talents, by the exercise of which he might obtain a most respectable subsistence. It appealed to him a cruel hardship to fetter the minds and limbs of men, so as to prevent their obtaining a subsistence by the fair exercise of their talents and of their limbs. As to what was said of corporate rights, obtained by apprenticeship, he thought that made it the less necessary to add penalties. If those corporate rights, however, were to be considered of real value, he thought it a great hardship that they could not be obtained in any other way than by serving an apprenticeship.

Mr. Butterworth also felt inclined to disapprove of the Act as highly injurious to trade in general, and to rising talent. In illustration of the hardships of the Act, and of the manner in which it was generally enforced, he mentioned a case which had come within his own immediate observation. In an office of which he had the command, there was a young man of great skill, and consequently of great value to his employers; he, however, had not served the regular apprenticeship, and his fellow-workmen therefore combined against him, demanding his discharge. He (Mr. B.) interfered on behalf of the young man, but in vain; for the conspiracy amongst the workmen attained that height that their request was obliged to be complied with. The young man was discharged, and though skilful in that particular trade, he had been compelled to sell the furniture, the produce of his industry, to support a wife and family, who were dependent on him for support. He did not oppose the committee, because he was convinced that the determination would be in favour of the repeal of the 5th of Elizabeth.

The petition was then referred to a committee.

Wednesday, April 6, 1814.[353]

APPRENTICE LAWS.--Mr. H. Davis presented a petition from certain master manufacturers of the city of Bristol, praying that so much of the Act of the 5th of Elizabeth, cap. 4, as inflicted penalties on persons exercising trades to which they had not served regular apprenticeships, should be repealed. Ordered to lie on the table.

Mr. P. Moore presented a petition from the manufacturers of Coventry, praying that that part of the 5th of Elizabeth, cap. 4, which inflicted penalties on persons exercising trades to which they had not served regular apprenticeships, should be rendered efficient. He should merely move "that the petition do lie on the table"; but, before he sat down, he wished to enquire of the learned gentleman (Mr. Serjeant Onslow) who had given notice of his intention to introduce a Bill on the subject, whether he meant, in his proposed measure, to confine himself merely to the repeal of that part of the 5th of Elizabeth which sanctioned those penalties, or to do away with the Act altogether? He also wished to know whether the learned gentleman intended to push his Bill through the different stages in the present session; or, having introduced it, to let it lie over till the next? In his opinion a committee ought to be appointed, in the first instance, to examine the whole of the petitions that had been presented relative to the 5th of Elizabeth, and also to look into the provisions of that Act.

Mr. Serjeant Onslow said, most unquestionably he did not mean to go beyond the terms of his notice, in the measure he should introduce. He had stated explicitly the part of the Act that he wished to have repealed, and he had not since altered his determination. With respect to the second point of the hon. gentleman's interrogatory, "Whether he intended to hurry the Bill through the House?" he would answer that he certainly did not. But the hon. gentleman seemed to forget that the present period was virtually almost the commencement of the session, and that very important business was yet to come on. He (Serjeant Onslow) certainly did wish to have the sense of the House taken on the Bill, before the session terminated. And this, he thought, could be done without any imputation of hurry. In the last session the Treasurer of the Navy (Mr. Rose) had presented a petition from a great number of persons who were desirous that the penalties should be continued; and moved for a committee to investigate the allegations of the petitioners. A committee was granted--it sat from day to day--and the evidence adduced before it was printed. He (Serjeant Onslow) enquired of that right hon. gentleman whether he intended to found any motion on this evidence? And, understanding that he did not, he stated, at the close of the last session, that he would himself submit a motion on the subject. Soon after parliament met he gave notice of a motion for the 30th of November; but, in consequence of a number of gentlemen who represented large manufacturing districts (particularly the hon. member for Yorkshire) not being then in town, he postponed it till the 22nd of February, and had finally put it off till the 27th of the present month--knowing that a call of the House would take place before that period, which would ensure a full attendance when the proposed measure came to be discussed. That the country was not unprepared for it, was evident from the numerous petitions which had been presented in favour of it. Petitions of that nature had been received from Leeds, Birmingham, Huddersfield, Bristol, and many other populous neighbourhoods. Several petitions had been presented against it. How they were procured he did not know; but the language in all of them appeared nearly the same. With respect to the principal trade carried on by the constituents of the hon. gentleman, it would not be at all affected by the new Bill, because it was already guarded by a variety of enactments totally independent of the 5th of Elizabeth.

Mr. P. Moore said it was very true that his constituents (the freemen of Coventry) were obliged by Act of Parliament to serve a regular apprenticeship, before they could carry on the business alluded to by the learned gentleman. Now they were alarmed lest by the proposed Bill they should be deprived of a right which they had long enjoyed. They therefore were anxious that the Bill should not be hurried through the House.

The petition was ordered to lie on the table.

Wednesday, April 27, 1814.[354]

APPRENTICESHIP LAWS.--Mr. Serjeant Onslow rose to move for leave to bring in a Bill to repeal part of an Act, passed in the 5th year of Elizabeth, entitled "An Act containing divers orders for artificers, labourers, servants of husbandry, and apprentices." ... The reign of Queen Elizabeth, though glorious, was not one in which sound principles of commerce were known; and a perusal of the other clauses of the Act, as well as the one creating the penalties for exercising trades contrary to its provisions, would fully confirm that assertion; indeed it did not seem to be the object of that statute to favour manufactures; it rather seemed to be intended to make them subservient to a most mistaken notion of favour to the landed interest. So little was political economy then understood that the idea never seemed to have occurred, that agriculture was best promoted by the prosperity of commerce and manufactures; and that restraints on them defeated the end they aimed at, and discouraged that very employment which they ought to promote.... Apprenticeships had been looked upon as favourable to the morals of youth, and he was very far from wishing to discourage them; but he did not wish them to be an indispensable qualification for legally carrying on trades.... Apprenticeships were as common in trades not within the statute as in those that were within what had been called the protection, but what he thought the curse, of the statute....

Mr. Philips.--The persons most competent to form regulations with respect to trade were the master manufacturers, whose interest it was to have goods of the best fabric; and no legislative enactment could ever effect so much in producing that result, as the merely leaving things to their own course and operation. The proof of this was to be found in the fact that the manufactures for which the country was most famous, were precisely those to which this Act did not apply. If this narrow principle had been carried into every branch of art, the machinery of Sir Richard Arkwright would have been lost to the country--and the genius of Mr. Watt, whose inventions had added more to the productive powers of the empire, than if the population had been increased one half, would have been still unknown. The hon. gentleman then proceeded to point out the evil effects which arose from the system of combination among tradesmen [workmen].

Leave was given to bring in the Bill.

Friday, May 13, 1814.[355]

APPRENTICE LAWS.--Mr. Serjeant Onslow moved the second reading of the Bill, which was warmly opposed by Sir Fred. Flood, who, though a friend to liberty, disliked licentiousness. The Bill went to abrogate that most salutary law of the 5th of Elizabeth, and to revive the practice which had previously existed from Edward the Third's time. It would be destructive of the interests of persons who served their apprenticeships, and paid for education in their respective trades, and ruinous to the morals of youth. It would be hurtful to commerce, to mechanics, to manufacture and to the Stamp Act. The present law had lasted 220 years. He proposed to postpone the second reading to that day six months.

Mr. Protheroe seconded the motion, as the Bill proceeded on no general comprehensive system, but simply on a repeal without any efficient substitute for what was to be repealed. He objected to the measure in a moral point of view; in which respect he was upheld by the opinions of Lord Coke and Sir Wm. Blackstone. He had heard much of vexatious prosecutions under the Act of Elizabeth; but, on enquiry, he found that at Bristol for the last 20 years, there had not been one such prosecution. If apprenticeships were more encouraged, he was satisfied that combinations among journeymen would almost entirely be put an end to. If the House were to lower its attention down to the humble cottage, they would there see the advantages of this system, in beholding careful masters provided for the youths, who, in addition, were provided with food and clothing, while their morals were protected. He should be happy that the present Bill were withdrawn, and some measure unaccompanied by its disadvantages were introduced.

Mr. Hart Davis could not disguise from himself that the present measure was attended with many difficulties. It would undoubtedly be of great advantage to our manufacturers that the present law should be repealed, and that every restraint should be removed from the rising generation. Supposing a person brought up to a trade for which from his constitution he was not fit, was he to be excluded from pursuing any other pursuit, or occupation whatever? Suppose the trade of button-makers, which was a trade that speedily passed away; or of gun-makers, of whom probably 40,000 might be in a few months thrown out of employment, was it to be held that they could follow no other occupation, but must remain a burden upon the community? The more he considered the present measure, the more he was satisfied of its utility.

Mr. Protheroe explained that he could wish a general review of the whole system.

Mr. Giddy thought if any one measure more than another could be said to involve the general rights of mankind, the present was that measure. What was this but the general right of the inhabitants of this country to employ the energies of their mind and body in the way they themselves pleased? And if a system were to be continued by which men were deprived of this general and undoubted right, it seemed to be incumbent on those who contended for the continuance of such a restriction to shew on what principle it was founded. If gentlemen attended to the time in which the law in question was passed, they would find it was a period in which many ill-advised monopolies had been granted, and one in which remonstrances on that subject had been made by the House of Commons on the impolicy of such a system, which had not been much attended to. Nothing, he was convinced, had contributed so much as the law in question to check the progress in our arts and manufactures.

Sir C. Mordaunt, on the part of his constituents, the manufacturers of Birmingham, was strongly in favour of the present repeal. If the law, as it now stood, were put in force, it would have the effect of imposing the strongest possible fetters upon ingenuity and industry.

Mr. Thompson liked liberty; and doing so, he wished to see every man have the liberty of employing his hands and his genius in the best way he could to his own advantage, and for the benefit of the country. This no man was at liberty to do, so long as the present law remained in force. He wished the law totally repealed, though the Bill did not go so far. The present law was necessarily broken every day. It was clear that the judges always wished to evade it, when they could do so. He knew a case of two men who were prosecuted under the Act for sawing a piece of wood; another, of a good and bad baker in the same town; where the bad one, finding that the good one had not served a regular apprenticeship, had him turned out, and got liberty to poison all his neighbours with his bad bread. Some years ago the printers struck, and there was a difficulty in getting even the parliamentary papers printed. Let those who chose it bind their children as apprentices; but let not others be compelled to do the same. Instances of the absurdity of the law would be innumerable. It was none the better for the age of it, which the worthy baronet had stated. It was, in fact, superannuated; and it was much the kindest way to let it die quietly, and so confer an advantage both on the country and Ireland. Lord Ellenborough once got the coach-makers out of a scrape ingeniously enough. They were attacked as wheelmakers; but his lordship said that coaches could not have been known in Elizabeth's days, as that queen went to parliament on horseback. He perfectly agreed in the opinion which Lord Mansfield had given, in speaking of the Act of Elizabeth, that "it was against the natural rights of man, and contrary to the common law rights of the land."

Mr. Rose considered this as a subject of extraordinary difficulty. After all that had been said, he could not help thinking that if the Bill were passed into law, it would put an end to apprenticeships altogether; for no person would subject himself to a seven years' servitude when he knew that having fulfilled his indenture, he would only be on a level with a man who perhaps had not been one year at the business. He was willing to examine and improve the 5th of Elizabeth, but would not agree to this unqualified repeal.

Sir J. Newport was surprised that the hon. baronet (Sir F. Flood) should be so anxious to perpetuate a statute which never was law in Ireland; and yet in that country, where no such penalties as those inflicted by the 5th of Elizabeth existed, the system of apprenticeships was freely and voluntarily adopted. He thought, on every principle of justice, that the subject was entitled to make use of his abilities and industry in those pursuits most beneficial to his interests.

Sir S. Romilly had been applied to on the subject of the present Bill, by the constituents of two hon. gentlemen who had already delivered their sentiments on the measure this night (Messrs. Protheroe and Davis). He felt the highest respect for the gentlemen who had so applied to him on the subject of the present Bill; but his opinion of the measure being decidedly opposite to theirs, he thought he should not be acting a manly part were he either to abstain from voting on the Bill, or were he to content himself with a silent vote on this occasion. He was satisfied that there were reasons sufficiently strong to support the system of apprenticeships in those trades in which a number of years were requisite to the acquiring a knowledge of them, without the assistance of the law as it now stood. This law, which went to prohibit a man from the exercise of that trade for which he was fit, he therefore thought ought to be repealed. For what was it but to take from a poor man the only property he possessed--his genius and industry--and to drive him into a workhouse; or to force him to abandon his country, and to forsake his wife and family. These were the moral consequences which the House was to look for from a perseverance in the law as it now stood.

Alderman Atkins hoped that some clause might be introduced into the Bill when it was in the committee, that would give sufficient encouragement to the apprentice system; while, at the same time, the abuses of it might be remedied.

Sir F. Flood, seeing the sense of the House against him, withdrew his amendment.

Mr. Canning wished the Bill to go into the committee. He was aware that the subject was attended with considerable difficulties. The difficulty would be to find the means of doing away the abuses complained of, without doing away the system altogether, which he was convinced was useful to the perfection of our manufactures, and still more useful as affecting the morality of the lower orders.

Mr. Serjeant Best said that if no other member introduced a clause to that effect, he himself should feel it his duty to propose one. He thought the penal clauses of the Act of Elizabeth should certainly be repealed, but that at the same time it was much better that young people should not be left without some control. He thought that at present the masters had much more advantages from the services of the apprentices, than the apprentices had from the instruction of the master, as most of those trades might be learned in a very short time. He therefore wished that part of the earnings might go to the parents, as an encouragement to the system.

Mr. P. Moore opposed the Bill, because he thought that its enactment would operate seriously to the prejudice of our manufactures both in skill and reputation. Indeed, such had been found the effect of the partial repeal of the statute of Elizabeth with respect to the woollen manufacture.[356] For although the Yorkshire tag had formerly been a sufficient recommendation upon the continent, yet since the repeal alluded to, our pieces of woollen manufactures were examined yard by yard before they were purchased.

Mr. Lockhart expressed his opinion, that this Bill, if enacted, should only operate prospectively; that is, that it should not become effective until a certain period; so that those mechanics who had served apprenticeships upon the faith of the existing law, should not be injured by its operation, by being thrown out of employment at a period of life when they could not devote themselves to any other profession than that to which they had been reared.

Mr. B. Shaw deprecated the idea that morality was likely to be endangered, or our manufactures injured, by the enactment of the Bill under consideration; for Scotland, to which the Act of Elizabeth never extended, was never found in any degree inferior in morality or skill in manufacture.

Mr. W. Smith observed, that he never heard of any proposition of reform which was not likely to be inconvenient to some persons; and therefore he was not surprised at the assertion, that the adoption of the Bill before the House would operate to injure the interests of particular persons. The apprehension of such injury was, however, in his judgment, unfounded. But still, those who expressed the apprehension were entitled to attention; and the objections which certain petitioners urged against this Bill, would, he had no doubt, meet all due consideration in the committee. The fact was, as to the statute of Elizabeth, that its existence served to create monopolies; and the effect of those monopolies was, that when the demand for an article was large, the price was enhanced to the public; while, when the demand became small, many workmen were thrown out of employment. Therefore, the repeal of that statute would tend to serve both the public and the workmen. As to the argument advanced in support of the statute of Elizabeth, merely in consequence of its antiquity, he could not admit that it had any force. He declared that his ears were quite tired of the phrase "the wisdom of our ancestors," which phrase was, in fact, calculated only to impose upon the superficial. For, after all, what did this phrase mean? The world was younger in the time of our ancestors, although they were older than us. Time, Lord Bacon said, was the greatest innovator; and if, at this advanced time of the world, after all our experience, we could not improve upon the system of our ancestors, our intellects must be what would hardly be asserted, not only quite unequal to theirs, but infinitely inferior. How, then, could it be pretended, that the same legislative arrangements applied in the reign of Elizabeth, when the trade of the whole British Empire was not equal to that of the port of London at this day, was strictly applicable at present, and suited to our improved situation?

Mr. Serjeant Onslow replied, and, observing upon the petitions on the table against the Bill, expressed his conviction that they were not the unsolicited acts of the petitioners; as indeed appeared from several placards about town, inviting signatures to such petitions; and those petitioners, he meant especially the journeymen mechanics, would find the repeal of the Act of Elizabeth rather materially serviceable, than in any degree injurious to their interests.

The Bill was read a second time, and ordered to be committed on Tuesday.

[The apprenticeship regulations of the 5 Eliz. c. 4 were abolished by 54 Geo. III. 96, 1814.]

[Footnote 352: For enforcing the Statute of Apprentices.]

[Footnote 353: Parliamentary Debates, Series I, Cols. 423-25, Vol. XXVII.]

[Footnote 354: Parliamentary Debates, Series I, Vol. XXVII, Cols. 563-74.]

[Footnote 355: Parliamentary Debates, Series I, Vol. XXVII, Cols. 879-884.]

[Footnote 356: The apprenticeship regulations in the woollen industries had been set aside by Acts of Parliament, 1803 and 1809.]

14. RESOLUTIONS OF THE WATCHMAKERS ON APPRENTICESHIP [Report of Committee on Petitions of the Watchmakers, 1817 (VI)], 1817.

1. That the obvious intention of our ancestors, in enacting the statute of the 5 Elizabeth, cap. 4, was to produce and maintain a competent number and perpetual succession of masters and journeymen, of practical experience, to promote, secure, and render permanent the prosperity of the national arts and manufactures, honestly wrought by their ability and talents, inculcated by a mechanical education, called a seven years' apprenticeship; whereby according to the memorable words of the statute itself "it will come to pass, that the same law (being duly executed) should banish idleness, advance husbandry, and yield unto the hired person, both in time of scarcity and in time of plenty, a convenient proportion of wages."

2. That it is by apprenticeships, that the practitioners in the arts and manufactures attain the high degree of perfection, whereby British productions have arrived at the great estimation in which they were heretofore held in foreign markets.

8. That the apprenticed artisans have, collectively and individually, an unquestionable right to expect the most extended protection from the Legislature, in the quiet and exclusive use and enjoyment of their several and respective arts and trades, which the law has already conferred upon them as a property, as much as it has secured the property of the stockholder in the public funds; and it is clearly unjust to take the whole of the ancient established property and rights of any one class of the community, unless, at the same time, the rights and property of the whole commonwealth should be dissolved, and parcelled out anew for the public good.

10. That in consequence of too minute a division of labour, injudiciously allowed in several manufactures, the workmen employed are not enabled to make throughout any one article however simple, or even to maintain themselves by their industry.

11. That the unlimited or promiscuous introduction of various descriptions of persons without apprenticeship into the manufactures occasions a surplus of manufacturing poor, and an unnecessary competition, ruinous to the commercial capital and industry of the nation; because the overflow of goods causes all the productions of the manufacturies to fall in price, and be sold to foreigners for less money than they cost in making; which deficiencies are necessarily made up by the ruin of the master manufacturers, bankruptcies, and dividends to creditors; and are the cause of increased parochial and other rates, thus necessarily created, for the support of the poor workmen, who are deprived of the fair price of their honest labour.

17. That the system of apprenticeships, whether considered in a religious, political or moral point of view, is highly beneficial to the State, and from the neglect thereof is to be attributed the great defalcation of public morals, the numerous frauds committed in trade, the increased numbers of juvenile criminals, public trials and executions.

18. That the pretensions to the allowance of universal uncontrolled freedom of action to every individual founded upon the same delusive theoretical principles which fostered the French Revolution, are wholly inapplicable to the insular situation of this Kingdom, and if allowed to prevail, will hasten the destruction of the social system so happily arranged in the existing form and substance of the British constitution, established by law.

19. That the meeting highly approves the proceedings of the 62,875 masters and journeymen, who have already presented petitions, to the House of Commons, praying for leave to bring a Bill into Parliament to amend, extend and make more effectual the statute of apprenticeship, 5 Elizabeth, chap. 4.

21. That the most effectual preventive against and check upon combinations of journeymen, as also of masters in any trade, is for the persons engaged in such trades to take apprentices as required by law.

15. REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON THE RIBBON WEAVERS [Report of Committee on the Ribbon Weavers, 1818 (IX)], 1818.

Your Committee also report, That it appears by the examination that the silk, and ribbon weavers in particular, are and have been for some time past suffering great privations and distress, arising out of inadequate wages; that such distress has had the effect of reducing thousands of them to seek parochial aid, and have, in consequence, increased the poor-rate, especially in the parishes of Coventry and in the County of Warwick, where the ribbon trade is the staple manufacture, to an extent too burdensome to be much longer borne.

That the low rate of wages complained of by the Petitioners is not in consequence of the want of trade, it having been proved to your committee that there are as many silk goods, particularly ribbons, now making, as at any former time.

That a system of half-pay apprenticeship has been resorted to, which has been attended with ruinous consequences to the morals of such apprentices, and exceedingly injurious to the trade.

That the evils complained of do not exist in London, Westminster, and Middlesex; which your committee believe to be owing to the provisions of the act called the Spitalfields Act, which extend to those places, the effects of which are fully detailed in the evidence.

That the whole of the masters and weavers in the Ribbon Trade concur in the propriety of an extension of the Spitalfields Act.

Your Committee are, therefore, of opinion, that it is absolutely necessary, for the protection of the weavers in the silk trade, and the ribbon trade in particular, and to enable them to support themselves and families, and also for protecting the parishes in which these trades are carried on, that some legislative interference should take place; and your committee think that a remedy could be found in the extension of the provisions of the Spitalfields and Dublin Acts, or at least a trial of that extension for a period of a few years, by way of experiment.

Your committee cannot but remark, that whilst the Statute of 5th Elizabeth, c. 4, was in force, that the distressing circumstances now complained of, never occurred.

3 June, 1818.

16. THE COTTON FACTORY ACT OF 1819 [Statutes, 59 Geo. III, 66], 1819.

An Act to make further Provisions for the Regulation of Cotton Mills and Factories, and for the better Preservation of the Health of young Persons employed therein.

I. No child shall be employed in any description of work, for the spinning of cotton wool into yarn, or in any previous preparation of such wool, until he or she shall have attained the full age of nine years.

II. And be it further enacted, that no person, being under the age of sixteen years, shall be employed in any description of work whatsoever, in spinning cotton wool into yarn, or in the previous preparation of such wool, or in the cleaning or repairing of any mill, manufactory or building, or any millwork or machinery therein, for more than twelve hours in any one day, exclusive of the necessary time for meals; such twelve hours to be between the hours of five o'clock in the morning and nine o'clock in the evening.

III. And be it further enacted, that there shall be allowed to every such person, in the course of every day, not less than half an hour to breakfast, and not less than one full hour for dinner; such hour for dinner to be between the hours of eleven o'clock in forenoon and two o'clock in the afternoon.

IV. Provided nevertheless, and be it further enacted, that if at any time, in any such mill, manufactory or buildings as are situated upon streams of water, time shall be lost in consequence of the want of a due supply, or of an excess of water, then and in every such case, and so often as the same shall happen, it shall be lawful for the proprietors of any such mill, manufactory or building, to extend the before mentioned time of daily labour, after the rate of one additional hour per day, until such lost time shall have been made good, but no longer.

V. And be it further enacted, that the ceilings and interior walls of every such mill, manufactory, or building shall be washed with quick lime and water twice in every year.

17. OASTLER'S FIRST LETTER ON YORKSHIRE SLAVERY [The Leeds Mercury, Saturday, October 16, 1830], 1830.

Slavery in Yorkshire.

To the editors of the Leeds Mercury.

"It is the pride of Britain that a Slave cannot exist on her soil; and if I read the genius of her constitution aright, I find that Slavery is most abhorrent to it--that the air which Britons breathe is free--the ground on which they tread is sacred to liberty."

Rev. R.W. Hamilton's Speech at the Meeting held in the Cloth-Hall Yard, Sept. 22nd, 1830.[357]

Gentlemen,--No heart responded with truer accents to the sounds of liberty which were heard in the Leeds Cloth-hall yard, on the 22nd instant, than did mine, and from none could more sincere and earnest prayers arise to the throne of Heaven, that hereafter Slavery might only be known to Britain in the pages of her history. One shade alone obscured my pleasure, arising not from any difference in principle, but from the want of application of the general principle to the whole Empire. The pious and able champions of Negro liberty and Colonial rights should, if I mistake not, have gone farther than they did; or perhaps, to speak more correctly, before they had travelled so far as the West Indies, should, at least for a few moments, have sojourned in our immediate neighbourhood, and have directed the attention of the meeting to scenes of misery, acts of oppression and victims of Slavery, even on the threshold of our homes!

Let the truth speak out, appalling as the statements may appear. The fact is true. Thousands of our fellow-creatures and fellow-subjects, both male and female, the inhabitants of a Yorkshire-town, (Yorkshire now represented in Parliament by the giant of anti-slavery principles,[358]) are at this very moment existing in a state of slavery more horrid than are the victims of that hellish system--"Colonial Slavery." These innocent creatures drawl out unpitied their short but miserable existence, in a place famed for its profession of religious zeal, whose inhabitants are ever foremost in professing "Temperance" and "Reformation," and are striving to outrun their neighbours in Missionary exertions, and would fain send the Bible to the farthest corner of the Globe--aye in the very place where the anti-slavery fever rages most furiously, her apparent charity is not more admired on earth, than her real cruelty is abhorred in heaven. The very streets which receive the droppings of an "Anti-Slavery Society" are every morning wet with the tears of innocent victims at the accursed shrine of avarice, who are compelled (not by the cart-whip of the negro slave-driver) but by the dread of the equally appalling thong or strap of the overlooker, to hasten half-dressed, but not half-fed, to those magazines of British Infantile Slavery--the Worsted Mills in the town and neighbourhood of Bradford!!!

* * * * *

Thousands of little children, both male and female, but principally female, from SEVEN to fourteen years, are daily compelled to labour from six o'clock in the morning to seven in the evening with only--Britons, blush whilst you read it!--with only thirty minutes allowed for eating and recreation.

* * * * *

The Blacks may be fairly compared to beasts of burden kept for their master's use. The whites to those which others keep and let for hire\! If I have succeeded in calling the attention of your readers to the horrid and abominable system on which the worsted mills in and near Bradford are conducted, I have done some good. Why should not children working in them be protected by legislative enactments, as well as those who work in cotton mills. Christians should feel and act for those whom Christ so eminently loved and declared that "of such is the kingdom of heaven."

Your insertion of the above in the Leeds Mercury, at your earliest convenience, will oblige, Gentlemen,

Your most obedient servant, Richard Oastler.

Fixby Hall, near Huddersfield, Sept. 29th, 1830.

[Footnote 357: September 22, 1830, an anti-Slavery meeting at the Coloured Cloth Hall, Leeds, addressed by Lord Morpeth, Henry Brougham, etc., in favour of the abolition of Slavery in the British colonies.]

[Footnote 358: Brougham.]

18. FACTORY ACT [Statutes, 3 and 4 Wm. IV, 103], 1833.

An Act to regulate the Labour of Children and young Persons in the Mills and Factories of the United Kingdom.

... no person under eighteen years of age shall be allowed to work in the night, that is to say between the hours of half-past eight o'clock in the evening and half-past five o'clock in the morning, except as hereinafter provided, in or about any cotton, woollen, worsted, hemp, flax, tow, linen, or silk mill or factory....

II. And be it further enacted, that no person under the age of eighteen years shall be employed in any such mill or factory in such description of work as aforesaid more than twelve hours in any one day, nor more than sixty-nine hours in any one week, except as hereinafter provided.

VI. And be it further enacted, that there shall be allowed in the course of every day not less than one and a half hours for meals to every such person restricted as hereinbefore provided to the performance of twelve hours work daily.

VII. And be it enacted, that from and after the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and thirty-four it shall not be lawful for any person whatsoever to employ in any factory or mill as aforesaid, except in mills for the manufacture of silk, any child who shall not have completed his or her ninth year of age.

VIII. And be it further enacted, that from and after the expiration of six months after the passing of this act, it shall not be lawful for any person whatsoever to employ, keep, or allow to remain in any factory or mill as aforesaid for a longer time than forty-eight hours in any one week, nor for a longer time than nine hours in any one day, except as herein provided, any child who shall not have completed his or her eleventh year of age, or after the expiration of eighteen months from the passing of this act any child who shall not have completed his or her twelfth year of age, or after the expiration of thirty months from the passing of this act any child who shall not have completed his or her thirteenth year of age: Provided nevertheless, that in mills for the manufacture of silk children under the age of thirteen years shall be allowed to work ten hours in any one day.

[XI. No child under thirteen to be employed without a certificate that the child is of normal strength and appearance.]

XVII.... it shall be lawful for His Majesty by Warrant under his Sign Manual to appoint during His Majesty's pleasure four persons to be Inspectors of factories and places where the labour of children and young persons under eighteen years of age is employed, ... and such Inspectors or any of them are hereby empowered to enter any factory or mill, and any school attached or belonging thereto, at all times and seasons by day or by night, when such mills or factories are at work....

XVIII. And be it further enacted, that the said Inspectors or any of them shall have power and are hereby required to make all such rules, regulations, and orders as may be necessary for the due execution of this act, which rules, regulations, and orders shall be binding on all persons subject to the provisions of this act; and such inspectors are also hereby authorised and required to enforce the attendance at school of children employed in factories according to the provisions of this act....

XX. And be it further enacted, that from and after the expiration of six months from the passing of this act, every child hereinbefore restricted to the performance of forty-eight hours of labour in any one week shall, so long as such child shall be within the said restricted age, attend some school....

19. PROPOSALS FOR A WAGES BOARD FOR HAND-LOOM WEAVERS [First Report from Committee on Hand-loom Weavers' Petitions, 1834 (X), pp. 48-9], 1834.

Evidence of Hugh Mackenzie, June 28, 1834.

Have the goodness to explain to the Committee ... what are the boards of trade for which you have sent up petitions to the House?

We have endeavoured upon many occasions to make this system of a board of trade, which we pray for, as well understood as possible.... Now the old Spitalfields Act every one that is not friendly to the present proposed plans of boards of trade never fails to bring forward as an objection, as a thing which has been practically tried and failed. There is, however, nothing more different. The Spitalfields Act carried its own ruin in its constitution; it was framed upon the principle of being local, and confined to one place only. It was impossible that such an act could stand long, for whilst competition went on in the country, other manufacturers who were only at ten miles distance, or anywhere where the act did not extend, were at liberty to set up the same kind of work, and pay for it, without any transgression of the law, at a great reduction. This being the case, the trade of Spitalfields then began to spread to different parts of the country where the act did not extend; the consequence was, that Spitalfields was soon undersold by cheaper goods than it could make itself, and this led to the ruin of the Spitalfields Act. But had the thing been made general, and extended over the whole nation, the towns in the neighbourhood could not have underwrought Spitalfields; they would have been on the same footing. Had that act been made general, it would have been very good for the country at large; not the fixed price that the Spitalfields Act contained, but the minimum, the lowest price; it might rise and fall according to the circumstances of the trade. Now our views of it are exactly and principally founded upon that; a board of trade that shall extend over the whole nation, and that it shall be under one superintending head. We suppose that that superintending head could be nothing short of His Majesty's Board of Trade in London, and that boards of trade in local places in the country, who are only branches, locally established, not to do as themselves pleased, but they are to be all subordinate to one general board: that these boards shall be at all times guided by the circumstances of the times; and that this data, or lowest minimum of price, shall be taken from what the manufacturer or manufacturers of respectability are able and willing to pay, provided that others were obliged to pay the same prices with him, and that he could not be undersold in the market: that the foreign trade shall by no means be excluded from the consideration of the board; they are to be taken into consideration whether it is expedient that the prices shall be brought down a little, or up a little, just as the nature of trade might require....

Have you any parties introduced in these boards of trade consisting of masters and workmen, who would belong to neither party, who would act in conjunction with them in arbitrating where there was a difference of opinion whether the master paid too little or too much wages? Yes, we had conceived that the self-interest of both parties might induce them to differ, supposing an equal number of manufacturers and weavers composed this board; and one party under such circumstances must of course be in the wrong. Now the only arbiter that could be brought forth under such circumstances must be a neutral, that was pretty well versed in the nature of trade, and that arbitrator could be none other than His Majesty's Board of Trade in London.

In Glasgow or anywhere in Scotland, have you a board of trade in operation upon the principles you approve of, that you think would answer all purposes? It is going on just now; it is working at Paisley very finely, and at Glasgow.

* * * * *

Just explain those principles as far as you can? The working of the Paisley board at the present time, and the working of the Glasgow board, are exactly upon the same principles. The principle is this, that for all the species of work made at Paisley, the manufacturers made out a table of prices, and the weavers made out another; they were reciprocally handed to each other for correction, and the result was, they came to a mutual agreement; they entered into a 12 months' agreement, that they would issue no more work out to their workmen below the minimum price fixed, say it was 1s. for a certain fabric.[359]

[Footnote 359: Cf. Fielden's proposals, as reported by the Committee's Second Report, 1835 (XIII), p. 14.

"The principal feature of Mr. Fielden's Bill is, that returns shall be made every three or six months of the prices of weaving paid by the smallest number of manufacturers, who collectively made one-half of the goods of any description in the parish or township whence the returns are sent, and the average of the highest prices paid by a majority of such manufacturers, shall be the lowest price to be paid in such parish or township during the succeeding three or six months. The effects of the measure would be to withdraw from the worst-paying masters the power which they now possess of regulating wages, and to confer it upon those whose object it is to raise the condition and character of the workpeople."]

20. COAL MINES REGULATION ACT [Statutes 5 and 6, Victoria 99], 1842.

An Act to prohibit the employment of women and girls in mines and collieries, to regulate the employment of boys, and to make other provisions relating to persons working therein.

... That from and after the passing of this act it shall not be lawful for any owner of any mine or colliery whatsoever to employ any female person within any mine or colliery, or permit any female person to work or be therein, for the purpose of working therein, other than such as were at or before the passing of this act employed within such mine or colliery; and that from and after three calendar months from the passing of this act it shall not be lawful for any owner of any mine or colliery to employ any female person who at the passing of this act shall be under the age of eighteen years within any mine or colliery....

II.... That from and after the first day of March, one thousand eight hundred and forty-three, it shall not be lawful for any owner of any mine or colliery to employ any male person under the age of ten years ... other than such as at the passing of this act shall have attained the age of nine years, and were at or before the passing of this act employed within such mine or colliery.

III.... That it shall be lawful for one of Her Majesty's principal Secretaries of State, if and when he shall think fit, to appoint any proper person or persons to visit and inspect any mine or colliery; and it shall be lawful for every person so authorised to enter and examine such mine or colliery ... at all times and seasons, by day or by night, and to make inquiry touching any matter within the provisions of this act; ...

[VII. No provision of the Act to affect employment on the surface.]

X. And whereas the practice of paying wages to workmen at public houses is found to be highly injurious to the best interests of the working classes; be it therefore enacted, that from and after the expiration of three months from the passing of this act no proprietor or worker of any mine or colliery, or other person, shall pay or cause to be paid any wages ... at or within any tavern, public house, beer shop, or other house of entertainment.

[XI. Wages so paid can be recovered as if no payment made.]

21. DEBATE ON FACTORY LEGISLATION [Parliamentary Debates, 3rd Series, Vol. 73, Cols. 1073-1151], 1844.

Hours of Labour in Factories. House of Commons in Committee on the Factories Bill. March 15, 1844.

Lord Ashley rose to propose the amendment of which he had given notice--

"That, the word 'night' shall be taken to mean from six o'clock in the evening to six o'clock in the following morning; and the word 'mealtime' shall be taken to mean an interval of cessation from work for the purpose of rest and refreshment, at the rate of two hours a day, with a view to effect a limitation of the hours of labour to ten in the day."

The form of my amendment (said the noble Lord) requires some preliminary explanation. I move it in its present shape at the suggestion of my right hon. friend and the Government, though I fear that in adopting that course I subject myself to some disadvantage. The House will allow me at the outset to explain my amendment. I propose that the word "night," in this clause shall be taken to mean from six o'clock in the evening till six on the following morning, that will leave twelve clear hours during which work shall cease, and I propose further, that out of the twelve hours of day, there shall be two hours during which there shall be a cessation of labour; but that no person shall be affected by this amendment, except those who, under clause ten, are guaranteed against night-work, children, and young persons under thirteen years of age. If I succeed in this amendment it will be necessary to make some corresponding alteration in the eighth clause. The tenth clause I propose to leave, as that will afford an opportunity of giving some relaxation through the summer months. During the winter months, that is from the 15th of October to the 15th of March, hours of labour are not to exceed ten, two being for meals; but during the summer months, that is from the 15th of March to the 15th of October, the hours to be twelve and two for meals, making fourteen in the whole. Now, I would say with a view to conciliate opposition, that though I shall be ready to propose, as I intend to do, to limit the labour of all young persons and children to ten hours in each day, I am yet willing to obtain that object in parts and by degrees; that is, I propose to limit the hours of labour for such persons to eleven hours a day from the 1st of October in the present year, and ten hours a day from the 1st of October, 1845. Nearly eleven years have now elapsed since I first made the proposition to the House which I shall renew this night. Never, at any time, have I felt greater apprehension or even anxiety; not through any fear of personal defeat, for disappointment is "the badge of all our tribe;" but because I know well the hostility that I have aroused, and the certain issues of indiscretion on my part affecting the welfare of those who have so long confided their hopes and interests to my charge.

And here let me anticipate the constant, but unjust, accusation that I am animated by a peculiar hostility against factory masters, and I have always selected them as exclusive objects of attack. I must assert that the charge, though specious, is altogether untrue. I began, I admit, this public movement by an effort to improve the condition of the factories; but this I did, not because I ascribed to that department of industry a monopoly of all that was pernicious and cruel, but because it was then before the public eye, comprised the wealthiest and most responsible proprietors, and presented the greatest facilities for legislation.

As soon as I had the power, I showed my impartiality by moving the House for the Children's Employment Commission. The curious in human suffering may decide on the respective merits of the several reports; but factory labour has no longer an unquestionable pre-eminence of ill fame; and we are called upon to give relief, not because it is the worst system, but because it is oppressive, and yet capable of alleviation. Sir, I confess that ten years of experience have taught me that avarice and cruelty are not the peculiar and inherent qualities of any one class or occupation--they will ever be found where the means of profit are combined with great and, virtually, irresponsible power--they will be found wherever interest and selfishness have a purpose to serve, and a favourable opportunity.

* * * * *

This will conclude the statement that I have to make to the House--and now, sir, who will assert that these things should be permitted to exist? Who will hesitate to apply the axe to the root of the tree, or, at least, endeavour to lop off some of its deadliest branches? What arguments from general principles will they adduce against my proposition? What, drawn from peculiar circumstances? They cannot urge that particular causes in England give rise to particular results; the same cause prevails in various countries; and wherever it is found, it produces the same effects. I have already stated its operation in France, in Russia, in Switzerland, in Austria, and in Prussia; I may add also in America; for I perceive by the papers of the 1st of February, that a Bill has been proposed in the Legislature of Pennsylvania, to place all persons under the age of sixteen within the protection of the "ten hours" limit. I never thought that we should have learned justice from the City of Philadelphia. In October last I visited an immense establishment in Austria, which gives employment to several hundred hands; I went over the whole, and conversed with the managers, who detailed to me the same evils and the same fruits as those I have narrated to the House--prolonged labour of sixteen, and seventeen hours, intense fatigue, enfeebled frame, frequent consumptive disorders, and early deaths--yet the locality had every advantage; well-built and airy houses in a fine open country, and a rural district; nevertheless, so injurious are the effects, that the manager added, stating at the same time the testimony of many others who resided in districts where mills are more abundant, that, in ten years from the time at which he spoke, "there would hardly be a man in the whole of those neighbourhoods fit to carry a musket."

Let me remind, too, the House of the mighty change which has taken place among the opponents to this question. When I first brought it forward in 1833, I could scarcely number a dozen masters on my side, I now count them by hundreds. We have had, from the West Riding of Yorkshire, a petition signed by 300 mill-owners, praying for a limitation of labour to ten hours in the day. Some of the best names in Lancashire openly support me. I have letters from others who secretly wish me well, but hesitate to proclaim their adherence; and even among the members of the Anti-Corn-Law League, I may boast of many firm and efficient friends. Sir, under all the aspects in which it can be viewed, this system of things must be abrogated or restrained--it affects the internal tranquillity of those vast provinces, and all relations between employer and employed--it forms a perpetual grievance and ever comes uppermost among their complaints in all times of difficulty and discontent. It disturbs the order of nature, and the rights of the labouring men, by ejecting the males from the workshop, and filling their places by females, who are thus withdrawn from all their domestic duties and exposed to insufferable toil at half the wages that would be assigned to males, for the support of their families. It affects--nay, more, it absolutely annihilates, all the arrangements and provisions of domestic economy--thrift and management are altogether impossible; had they twice the amount of their present wages, they would be but slightly benefited--everything runs to waste; the house and children are deserted; the wife can do nothing for her husband and family; she can neither cook, wash, repair clothes, nor take charge of the infants; all must be paid for out of her scanty earnings, and, after all, most imperfectly done. Dirt, discomfort, ignorance, recklessness, are the portion of such households; the wife has no time for learning in her youth, and none for practice in her riper age; the females are most unequal to the duties of the men in the factories; and all things go to rack and ruin, because the men can discharge at home no one of the especial duties that Providence has assigned to the females. Why need I detain the House by a specification of these injurious results? They will find them stated at painful length in the Second Report of the Children's Employment Commission. Consider it, too, under its physical aspect! Will the House turn a deaf ear to the complaints of suffering that resound from all quarters? Will it be indifferent to the physical consequences on the rising generation? You have the authority of the Government Commissioner, Dr. Hawkins, a gentleman well skilled in medical statistics--

"I have never been (he tells you) in any town in Great Britain or in Europe, in which degeneracy of form and colour from the national standard has been so obvious as in Manchester."

I have, moreover, the authority of one of the most ardent antagonists, himself a mighty mill-owner, that, if the present system of labour be persevered in, the "county of Lancaster will speedily become a province of pigmies." The toil of the females has hitherto been considered the characteristic of savage life; but we, in the height of our refinement, impose on the wives and daughters of England a burthen from which, at least during pregnancy, they would be exempted even in slave-holding states, and among the Indians of America. But every consideration sinks to nothing compared with that which springs from the contemplation of the moral mischiefs this system engenders and sustains. You are poisoning the very sources of order and happiness and virtue; you are tearing up, root and branch, all the relations of families to each other; you are annulling, as it were, the institution of domestic life, decreed by Providence Himself, the wisest and kindest of earthly ordinances, the mainstay of social peace and virtue, and therein of national security.

Right Hon. Sir J.R.G. Graham[360]:

Sir, I never rose to discharge any duty in this House which I considered at the same time more painful and more imperative. The pain, I must admit, is considerably increased by the eloquence of the address which my noble friend has just concluded, and especially of the passage which marked the close of his speech. The noble lord has asked whether any man will be found in this House to resist the proposal which he has thought it his duty to make, and he has appealed to considerations of justice and mercy, intimating, if not directly, at least by implication, that resistance to his motion is inconsistent both with justice and mercy. I, on the other hand, having due regard to those sacred principles which my noble friend has invoked, am bound, on my own part, and on the part of the Government, to offer to the proposal of the noble Lord my decided opposition.

The noble lord said, the time is come when, in his opinion, it is necessary to lay the axe to the root of the tree. Before we do this let me entreat the Committee carefully to consider what is that tree which we are to lay prostrate. If it be, as I suppose, the tree of the commercial greatness of this country, I am satisfied that although some of its fruits may be bitter, yet upon the whole it has produced that greatness, that wealth, that prosperity, which make these small islands most remarkable in the history of the civilised world, which, upon the whole, diffuse happiness amidst this great community, and render this nation one of the most civilised, if not the most civilised, and powerful on the face of the globe.

* * * * *

My noble friend stated that he would not enter into the commercial part of the question; but if I can show that the inevitable result of the abridgement of time will be the diminution of wages to the employed, then I say, with reference to the interests of the working classes themselves, there never was a more doubtful question before Parliament than this. The House will remember that the branches of manufacture affected by this Bill are dependent upon machinery. Such is the rapidity with which improvements are made, that no machinery can last more than twelve or thirteen years without alterations; and master manufacturers have been obliged to pull down machinery that was perfectly sound and good to make the necessary alterations which competition forces upon them. Well, then, it is necessary to replace machinery in the course of twelve or thirteen years. You are now discussing whether you shall abridge by one-sixth the period of time in which capital is to be replaced, all interest upon it paid, and the original outlay restored. Such an abridgement would render it impossible that capital with interest should be restored. Then in the close race of competition which our manufacturers are now running with foreign competitors, it must be considered what effect this reduction of one-sixth of the hours of labour would have upon them. The question in its bearing upon competition must be carefully considered; and I have been informed that in that respect such a step would be fatal to many of our manufacturers--a feather would turn the scale: an extra pound weight would lose the race. But that would not be the first effect. The first effect would fall upon the operative. It is notorious that a great part of the power of the mill-owners, a power which alone justifies such legislation as this, arises from the redundant supply of labour. It follows that when a master is pressed upon by your legislation, he will compensate himself by forcing upon those in his employ a decrease of wages. I believe the large majority of intelligent operatives comprehend that proposition thoroughly. I have seen many, and conversed with them, and they have admitted that the proposal involves a necessary decrease of wages. In the report presented in 1841 by my excellent friend Mr. Horner, who has discharged with the most honourable fidelity the duty of inspector of factories, there is information upon this point, and with the permission of the House I will read a passage--a single passage only--but one which goes to the root of the whole subject. Mr. Horner said:

"I have made an estimate of the loss a mill would sustain from working eleven hours a day only instead of twelve, and I find it would amount to £850 per annum. If it were reduced to ten hours, it would be about £1,530 per annum. Unless, therefore, the mill-owner can obtain a proportionately higher price for the commodity, he must reduce wages or abandon his trade. I have made some calculations as to the probable reduction of wages, and of the whole loss that would be thrown on the operatives. I make the amount in the case of eleven hours a day to be 13 per cent., and in the case of ten hours a day 25 per cent. at the present average rate of wages."

Now, I believe this to be perfectly accurate. The question then arises, whether you shall create in the manufacturing districts one sudden general fall of wages to the amount of 25 per cent? I believe that the adoption of the motion of my noble friend would produce that effect. Though I am most anxious to take every precaution with regard to infant labour--though I am as firmly resolved as my noble friend to urge upon the House to put a limit upon female labour, still, upon the whole, I cannot recommend the House to adopt an enactment which limits the labour of young persons to a shorter period than twelve hours.

Mr. T. Milner Gibson[361]:

As the right hon. baronet had alluded to the argument of not destroying the profits upon manufactures, he (Mr. Gibson) would read some remarks upon that point by Mr. Senior, a gentleman whose name would be of great weight with hon. members. In 1836 or 1837, Mr. Senior, with some other gentlemen, went into the manufacturing districts with the view of ascertaining the effect of factory legislation, and making observations upon the factory population. Mr. Senior wrote a letter dated the 28th March, 1837, to Mr. Poulett Thomson to the following effect:--

"Under the present law, no mill in which persons under eighteen years of age are employed (and, therefore, scarcely any mill at all), can be worked more than eleven and a half hours a day, that is twelve hours for five days in a week, and nine on Saturday. The following analysis will show that in a mill so worked the whole net profit is derived from the last hour. I will suppose a manufacturer of 100,000l.--80,000l. in his mill and machinery, and 20,000l. in raw material and wages. The annual return of that mill, supposing the capital to be turned once a year, and gross profits to be 15 per cent., ought to be goods worth 115,000l. produced by the constant conversion and reconversion of the 20,000l. circulating capital, from money into goods and from goods into money, in periods of rather more than two months. Of this 115,000l., each of the 23 half hours of work produces 5-115ths, or 1-23rd. Of these 23-23rds (constituting the whole 115,000l.) 20, that is to say, 100,000l. out of the 115,000l., simply replace the capital; 1-23rd (or 5,000l. out of the 115,000l.) makes up for the deterioration of the mill and machinery. The remaining 2-23rds, the last two of the twenty-three half hours of every day, produce the net profit of 10 per cent. If, therefore (prices remaining the same), the factory could be kept at work thirteen hours instead of eleven and a half, by an addition of about 2,600l. to the circulating capital, the net profit would be more than doubled. On the other hand, if the hours of working were reduced by one hour per day (prices remaining the same), net profit would be destroyed; if they were reduced by an hour and a half, even gross profit would be destroyed. The circulating capital would be replaced, but there would be no fund to compensate the progressive deterioration of the fixed capital."

It was clear that this principle of Mr. Senior's was sound, and if hon. gentlemen would consider it carefully they would find it indisputable. The House would consider whether they would not, as the right hon. baronet had expressed it, be affecting the safety and stability of the great staple manufactures, under the impression that they were legislating humanely for the working classes, while, in point of fact, the result would be that by the depreciation of manufactures, the greatest possible injury would be inflicted upon the operatives.

Mr. J. Bright[362] said, It is with unfeigned reluctance that I rise to speak, having so recently addressed the House at some length, but being intimately connected with the branch of industry which is affected by the proposition now under consideration, and having lived all my life among the population most interested in this Bill, and having listened most attentively for more than two hours to the speech of the noble lord, the member for Dorsetshire, I think I am entitled to be heard on the question now under discussion. I have listened to that speech without much surprise, because I have heard or read the same speech, or one very like it, on former occasions, and I did not suppose that any material change had taken place in the opinions of the noble lord. It appears to me, however, that he has taken a one-sided view, a most unjust and unfair view of the question; it may not be intentionally, but still a view which cannot be borne out by facts; a view, moreover, which factory inspectors and their reports will not corroborate, and one which, if it influence the decision of this House, will be most prejudicial to that very class which the noble lord intends to serve. The right hon. baronet, the Secretary for the Home Department, who is, I presume, the promoter of this Bill, should have given the House some reason for the introduction of a new Factory Bill. No such reason has yet been given, and I am at a loss to discover any grounds on which it can with fairness be asserted that the Bill now in operation has failed in its effect. I know the inspectors affirm that it cannot be fully carried out. Every body who knows anything of the manufactories of the North, knew when it was passed that it could not be fully carried out; and the proposition now made, is to render this impracticable Act more stringent. In a trade so extensive, employing so many people, carried on under circumstances ever varying, no Act of Parliament interfering with the minute details of its management, can ever be fully carried out. I am not one who will venture to say that the manufacturing districts of this country are a paradise; I believe there are in those districts evils great and serious; but whatever evils do there exist are referable to other causes than to the existence of factories and long chimneys. Most of the statements which the noble lord has read, would be just as applicable to Birmingham, or to this metropolis, as to the northern districts; and as he read them over, with respect to the ignorance and intemperance of the people, the disobedience of children to their parents, the sufferings of mothers, and the privations which the children endure, I felt that there was scarcely a complaint which has been made against the manufacturing districts of the north of England, which might not be urged with at least as much force against the poorest portion of the population of every large city in Great Britain and Ireland. But among the population of Lancashire and Yorkshire, where towns are so numerous as almost to touch each other, these evils are more observable than in a population less densely crowded together. I can prove, however, and I do not wish to be as one-sided as the noble lord, I can prove from authorities, which are at least as worthy of attention as his, the very reverse in many respects of what he has stated as the true state of those districts. Now the Committee will bear in mind that a large portion of the documents which the noble lord has quoted, have neither dates nor names. I can give dates and names, and I feel confident that the authorities I shall cite are worthy of the deepest attention. I must go over the grounds of complaint which the noble lord has urged, and although I may run the risk of being a little tedious, yet considering that for two hours or more I have listened to the charges which he has made, I do think that, connected as I am most intimately with the population and the district to which the noble lord has alluded, I have a right to an audience for the counter-statement which I have to make. Now, with respect to the health of the persons employed, and I will speak more particularly of the cotton trade, with which I am more immediately connected, Mr. Harrison, the inspecting surgeon for Preston, says:--

"I have made very particular inquiries respecting the health of every child whom I have examined, and I find that the average annual sickness of each child is not more than four days; at least not more than four days are lost by each child in a year in consequence of sickness. This includes disorders of every kind, for the most part induced by causes wholly unconnected with factory labour. I have been not a little surprised to find so little sickness which can fairly be attributed to mill work. I have met with very few children who have suffered from injuries occasioned by machinery; and the protection, especially in new factories, is now so complete, that accidents will, I doubt not, speedily become rare. I have not met with a single instance, out of 1,656 children whom I examined, of deformity that is referable to factory labour. It must be admitted that factory children do not present the same blooming, robust appearance, as is witnessed among children who labour in the open air; but I question if they are not more exempt from acute disease, and do not, on the whole, suffer less sickness than those who are regarded as having more healthy employments."

This was the statement of a man who had for a long time been inspecting-surgeon in a district where there are a large number of mills, and it may be taken as a fair criterion of the rest. In the analysis of the Factory Report, page 16, I find the following statement:--

"In conclusion, then, it is proved, by a preponderance of seventy-two witnesses against seventeen, that the health of those employed in cotton mills is nowise inferior to that in other occupations; and, secondly, it is proved by tables drawn up by the secretary of a sick club, and by the more extensive tables of a London actuary, that the health of the factory children is decidedly superior to that of the labouring poor otherwise employed."

From the Factory Inspector's Reports in 1834 I have extracted the following testimony, and no doubt this evidence is quite as good as if it had been given this year; for from that time to this there has been a progressive improvement in everything relating to the management of the factories of the north of England.

"The general tenor of all the medical reports in my possession confirms Mr. Harrison's view of factory labour on the health of the younger branches of working hands. It is decidedly not injurious to health or longevity, compared with other employments." Then, in page 51, Mr. Saunders says, "It appears in evidence, that of all employments to which children are subjected, those carried on in factories are among the least laborious, and of all departments of in-door labour, amongst the least unwholesome." Mr. Horner says, "It is gratifying to be able to state, that I have not had a single complaint laid before me either on the part of the masters against their servants, or of the servants against their masters; nor have I seen or heard of any instance of ill-treatment of children, or of injury to their health by their employment." And on the 21st of July, 1834, speaking on the employment of children, he says: "And as their occupation in the mills is so light as to cause no bodily fatigue, they would pass their eight hours there as beneficially as at home; indeed, in most cases, far more so."

* * * * *

I think I have now said enough with regard to this part of the subject--apparently too much for hon. gentlemen opposite, who appear only anxious to hear and applaud one side, and many of whom have not even heard that. But notwithstanding all these facts I admit there are evils, serious evils, and much distress in the manufacturing districts; many are still out of employment, and in many branches of trade wages are low. We have violent fluctuations in trade, and periods when multitudes endure great suffering and it becomes this House to inquire why do these fluctuations occur, and what is the great cause of their suffering. I attribute much of this to the mistaken and unjust policy pursued by this House, with respect to the trade and industry of the country. Hitherto manufacturers have had no fair chance: you have interfered with their natural progress, you have crippled them by your restrictions, you have at times almost destroyed them by monopolies, you have made them the sources of your public revenue, and the upholders of your rents, but at your hands they have never to this moment received justice and fair dealing. I do not charge the noble lord with dishonesty, but I am confident if he had looked at this question with as anxious a desire to discover truth, as he has to find materials for his case, he would have found many subjects of congratulation to counterbalance every one which he would have had reason to deplore. The noble lord and hon. gentlemen opposite, when they view from their distant eminence the state of the manufacturing districts, look through the right end of the telescope; what they see is thus brought near to them, and is greatly magnified; but when they are asked to look at the rural districts, they reverse the telescope and then everything is thrown to the greatest possible distance and is diminished as much as possible.

* * * * *

The noble lord, the Member for Liverpool, says, he is most anxious to improve the condition of the working classes; he points to more education, a higher state of morals, better food and better clothing, as the result of the adoption of the proposition now before the House. But there is one thing that the noble lord has failed to prove; he has failed to show how working only ten hours will give the people more sugar. The noble lord is the representative of the sugar monopolists of Liverpool, and, after voting to deprive the people of sugar, he is perfectly consistent in denying them the liberty even to work. The people ask for freedom for their industry, for the removal of the shackles on their trade; you deny it to them, and then forbid them to labour, as if working less would give them more food, whilst your monopoly laws make food scarce and dear. Give them liberty to work, give them the market of the world for their produce, give them the power to live comfortably, and increasing means and increasing intelligence will speedily render them independent enough and wise enough to bring the duration of labour to that point at which life shall be passed with less of irksome toil of every kind, and more of recreation and enjoyment. It is because I am convinced this project is now impracticable, and that under our present oppressive legislation, it would make all past injustice only more intolerable, that I shall vote against the proposition which the noble lord, the member for Dorset, has submitted to the House.

[Footnote 360: Ibid. Cols. 1101-2 and 1108-9.]

[Footnote 361: Ibid. Cols. 1111-2.]

[Footnote 362: Ibid. Cols. 1132-5, 1148 and 1150-1.]

22. Factory Act [Statutes 7 ana 8, Victoria 15], 1844.

An Act to amend the Laws relating to Labour in Factories.

XX. And be it enacted, that no child or young person shall be allowed to clean any part of the mill-gearing in a factory while the same is in motion for the purpose of propelling any part of the manufacturing machinery; and no child or young person shall be allowed to work between the fixed and traversing part of any self-acting machine while the latter is in motion by the action of the steam engine, water-wheel, or other mechanical power.

XXI. And be it enacted, that every fly-wheel directly connected with the steam engine or water-wheel or other mechanical power, whether in the engine house or not, and every part of a steam engine and water-wheel, and every hoist or teagle, near to which children or young persons are liable to pass or be employed, and all parts of the mill-gearing in a factory, shall be securely fenced; and every wheel-race not otherwise secured shall be fenced close to the edge of the wheel-race; and the said protection to each part shall not be removed while the parts required to be fenced are in motion by the action of the steam engine, water-wheel, or other mechanical power for any manufacturing process.

XXIV. And be it enacted, that one of Her Majesty's principal Secretaries of State, on the report and recommendation of an inspector, may empower such inspector to direct one or more actions to be brought in the name and on behalf of any person who shall be reported by such inspector to have received any bodily injury from the machinery of any factory, for the recovery of damages for and on behalf of such person.

XXIX. And be it enacted, that every child who shall have completed his eighth year, and shall have obtained the surgical certificate required by this act of having completed his eighth year, may be employed in a factory in the same manner and under the same regulations as children who have completed their ninth year; but no child under eight years of age shall be employed in any factory.

XXX. And be it enacted, that no child shall be employed in any factory more than six hours and thirty minutes in any one day, save as hereinafter excepted, unless the dinner time of the young persons in such factory shall begin at one of the clock, in which case children beginning to work in the morning may work for seven hours in one day; and no child who shall have been employed in a factory before noon of any day shall be employed in the same or any other factory, either for the purpose of recovering lost time or otherwise, after one of the clock in the afternoon of the same day, save in the cases when children may work on alternate days, or in silk factories more than seven hours in any one day, as hereinafter provided.

XXXI. And be it enacted, that in any factory in which the labour of young persons is restricted to ten hours in any one day it shall be lawful to employ any child ten hours in any one day on three alternate days of every week, provided that such child shall not be employed in any manner in the same or in any other factory on two successive days, nor after half past four of the clock in the afternoon of any Saturday: Provided always, that the parent or person having direct benefit from the wages of any child so employed shall cause such child to attend some school for at least five hours between the hours of eight of the clock in the morning and six of the clock in the afternoon of the same day on each week day preceding each day of employment in the factory, unless such preceding day shall be a Saturday, when no school attendance of such child shall be required: Provided also, that on Monday in every week after that in which such child began to work in the factory, or any other day appointed for that purpose by the inspector of the District, the occupier of the factory shall obtain a certificate from a schoolmaster, according to the form and directions given in the schedule (A) to this act annexed, that such child has attended school as required by this act; but it shall not be lawful to employ any child in a factory more than seven hours in any one day, until the owner of the factory shall have sent a notice in writing to the inspector of the district of his intention to restrict the hours of labour of young persons in the factory to ten hours a day, and to employ children ten hours a day; and if such occupier of a factory shall at any time cease so to employ children ten hours a day he shall not again employ any child in his factory more than seven hours in any one day until he shall have sent a further notice to the inspector in the manner hereinbefore provided.

XXXII. And be it enacted, that no female above the age of eighteen years shall be employed in any factory save for the same time and in the same manner as young persons may be employed in factories; and that any person who shall be convicted of employing a female above the age of eighteen years for any longer time or in any other manner shall for every such offence be adjudged to pay the same penalty as is provided in the like case for employing a young person contrary to law: provided always, that nothing herein or in the Factory Act contained as to certificates of age shall be taken to apply to females above the age of eighteen years.

23. RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE COMMISSION ON THE HEALTH OF TOWNS [Second Report of Commissioners on State of Large Towns and Populous Districts (XVIII), 1845, pp. 13-68], 1845.

That in all cases the local administrative body appointed for the purpose have the special charge and direction of all the works required for sanitary purposes, but that the Crown possess a general power of supervision.

That before the adoption of any general measure for drainage a plan and survey upon a proper scale, including all necessary details, be obtained, and submitted for approval to a competent authority.

That the Crown be empowered to define and to enlarge from time to time the area for drainage included within the jurisdiction of the local administrative body.

That, upon representation being made by the municipal or other authority, or by a certain number of the inhabitants of any town or district, or part thereof, setting forth defects in the condition of such place, as to drainage, sewerage, paving, cleansing, or other sanitary matters, the Crown appoint a competent person to inspect and report upon the state of the defects, and, if satisfied of the necessity, have power to enforce upon the local administrative body the due execution of the law.

That the management of the drainage of the entire area, as defined for each district, be placed under one jurisdiction.

That the construction of sewers, branch sewers, and house drains, be entrusted to the local administrative body.

That the duty of providing the funds necessary to be imposed upon the local administrative body, and that the cost of making the main and branch sewers be equitably distributed among the owners of the properties benefited; and that the expense of making the house-drains be charged upon the owners of the house, to which the drains are attached, etc.

That some restriction be placed on the proportionate rates in the pound to be levied in one year, but if the local administrative body finds that there is need for larger funds, for the immediate execution of works for sanitary measures, than can be provided by such rates, it be empowered to raise, by loan on security of the rates, subject to the approval of the Crown, such sums as may be requisite for effecting the objects in view.

That provision always be made for the gradual liquidation of such debts, within a given number of years.

That the whole of the paving, and the construction of the surface of all streets, courts and alleys be placed under the management of the same authority as the drainage.

That the provisions in local Acts, vesting the right to all the dust, ashes, and street refuse in the local administrative body, be made general; and that the cleansing of all privies and cess-pools at proper times, and on due notice, be exclusively entrusted to it.

That it be rendered imperative on the local administrative body, charged with the management of the sewerage and drainage, to procure a supply of water in sufficient quantities not only for the domestic needs of the inhabitants, but also for cleansing the streets, scouring the sewers and drains, and the extinction of fire....

That measures be adopted for promoting a proper system of ventilation in all edifices for public assemblage and resort, especially those for the education of youth.

That, on complaint of the parish medical or other authorised officer, that any house or premises are in such a filthy and unwholesome state as to endanger the health of the public, and an infectious disorder exists therein, the local administrative body have power to require the landlord to cleanse it properly, without delay; and in case of his neglect or inability, to do so by its own officers, and recover the expense from the landlord.

That the local administrative body have power to appoint, subject to the approval of the Crown, a medical officer properly qualified to inspect and report periodically upon the sanitary condition of the town or district, to ascertain the true causes of disease and death, more especially of epidemics increasing the rates of mortality, and the circumstances which originate and maintain such diseases, and injuriously affect the public health of such town or populous district.

[Provisions for abating factory exhalations and nuisances; for regulating the width of new courts, the accommodation of cellar-dwellings and the sanitation of new houses; for power to buy out new water companies at the end of a term of years; for controlling lodging-houses; for providing public spaces and walks.][363]

[Footnote 363: The first general Public Health Act (1848) was based on this report and that of the Select Committee on the Health of Towns, 1840 (XI)]

SECTION IV

COMBINATIONS OF WORKMEN

1. A Strike of the Journeymen Feltmakers, 1696-99--2. A Petition of Master Tailors against Combination among the Journeymen, 1721--3. A Dispute in the Northumberland and Durham Coal Industry, 1765--4. Sickness and Unemployment Benefit Clubs among the Woolcombers, 1794--5. Combination Act, 1799--6. Combination Act, 1800--7. The Scottish Weavers' Strike, 1812--8. The Repeal of the Combination Acts, 1824--9. A Prosecution of Strikers under the Common Law of Conspiracy, 1810--10. An Act Revising the Law affecting Combinations, 1825--11. The Conviction of the Dorchester Labourers, 1834--12. An Address of the Working Men's Association to Queen Victoria, 1837--13. A Chartist Manifesto on the Sacred Month, 1839--14. The Rochdale Pioneers, 1844.

The history of modern Trade Unions is separated from that of earlier combinations by the industrial changes of the eighteenth century and by the alterations in the law affecting them. Illustrations of combinations are given from the seventeenth century (No. 1), the early middle and later eighteenth century (Nos. 2, 3 and 4) and the early nineteenth century (Nos. 7 and 11). The most important changes in the law were made towards the close of the period (Nos. 5, 6, 8, 10).

The strike of the Journeymen Feltmakers (No. 1) shows a well-organised body of London craftsmen at the end of the seventeenth century fighting the chartered Company on a wages question in a time of rising prices. The struggle was long, and ended, in 1699, in arbitration by Members of Parliament. The Journeymen Tailors' combination against which the Master Tailors appealed to Parliament in 1721 (No. 2) was also a London organisation, and claimed to control the hours of labour as well as wages. The woolcombers (No. 4) were early famous for combined action, and their system was remarkable for the way in which it combined a fighting trade policy with Friendly Benefit. The declaration of the miners in the northern coalfield (No. 3) refers to one of the recurring struggles over the yearly Bindings. The result of the strike is unknown.

The Master Tailors and the employers in some other trades were successful in procuring special Acts of Parliament forbidding combinations (No. 2, note). At the end of the eighteenth century the two general Combination Acts made most kinds of trade union action specifically illegal (No. 5 and No. 6). Combination still survived, but their leaders were always open to attack in emergencies like that of the Scotch weavers' strike (No. 7). Their special liability under the Act of 1800 was removed in 1824, and, though an outburst of strikes led to a revision of the law, the skilled assistance of Francis Place and Hume saved the Trade Unions from being thrust back into their former position (Nos. 8 and 10). But organised striking could also be brought within the common law of conspiracy. Strikers had been proceeded against in this way before (No. 9); and this liability remained after 1825, as well as liability under an Act against oaths of secrecy (No. 11). The case of the Dorchester agricultural labourers (No. 11) also serves to illustrate the great, though short-lived enthusiasm of the Trade Union movement in the 'thirties. Its failure was followed by the rise of Chartism. The immediate objects of the Chartists were political, but their real grievances and ideals were economic, as their early manifestos plainly show (No. 12); and their leaders wavered between political methods and the direct action of the general strike (No. 13). The Rochdale Pioneers co-operative society (No. 14) was founded in the middle of this period of Trade Union and Chartist agitation, and illustrates a third parallel development of working-men's combinations under the stress of the Industrial Revolution.

AUTHORITIES

Modern books: The standard history is S. and B. Webb, History of Trade Unionism: for the legal position, Dicey, Law and Opinion in England; Schloesser and Clark, Legal Position of Trade Unions; for the seventeenth century, Unwin, Industrial Organization. Miners' combinations are described in Fynes, The Miners of Northumberland and Durham, Tailors' Combinations in Galton, The Tailoring Trade (Select Documents, Introduction). Wallas' Life of Francis Place gives an account of the repeal of the Combination Acts, Podmore, Life of Owen, describes the forward movement among trade unions. For early co-operative history see Holyoake, The Rochdale Pioneers. The most complete accounts of the Chartists are in Dolléans' Chartisme, and Beer, Geschichte des Socialismus in England, Part II, of which an English translation is to appear shortly.

Bibliographies in S. and B. Webb, op. cit. and Industrial Democracy; Unwin, op. cit., Galton, op. cit., Cunningham op. cit., and Fay, Co-operation at Home and Abroad.

Contemporary.--1. Documentary authorities: Records of a seventeenth century strike are printed in Unwin, Industrial Organisation, App. A. Petitions by weavers, feltmakers, etc., are to be found in the House of Commons Journals, Vols. 27, 36 and passim. Galton, op. cit., covers the eighteenth century. For collections of price lists, e.g., tailors, printers, brushmakers, bookbinders, basketmakers, see Webb., op. cit. bibliography; also for early rules and minutes of the Unions of keelmen, cotton spinners, miners, etc. Official material for the history of the Combination Acts and their repeal is in the Report from Committee on Artizans and Machinery, 1824 (V), and on Combination Acts, 1825 (IV). There was a Report on Friendly Societies in 1825 (X).

2. Literary authorities.--Descriptions by those who were actors in the events of the early nineteenth century are given in the Life of Robert Owen (by himself), in The life and Struggles of William Lovett (by himself), and The life of Thomas Cooper (by himself). Early Trade and Chartist Journals are important sources:--The United Trades Co-operative Journal, 1830, The Poor Man's Guardian, 1831-5, The Crisis 1832-4, The Ten Hours' Advocate, 1846-7, The Stone Masons' Circular, 1834. Other material for the early history of combinations is to be found in rare pamphlets, such as A Voice from the Coal Mines, 1825 (see Webb Bibliographies, op. cit.).

1. A STRIKE OF THE JOURNEYMEN FELTMAKERS[364] [Feltmakers' Court Book],1696-99.

November 16th, 1696. It is agreed and ordered by this Court that from and after the 21st day of this present month of November until the month of September next coming, the wages to be given by the master workmen of the Mistery living within the city of London and four miles compass of the same to the journeymen of the trade making of hats shall be as followeth (that is to say):--

s. d. A Beaver 3 0 with diet. A hat of any price from 18s. to a Beaver 2 6 " " " " 16s. price 2 4 " " " " 14s. " 2 2 " " " " 12s. " 1 10 " " " " 10s. " 1 6 " " " " 8s. or any other price up to 10s. 1 2 " " " " 7s. or 6s. 1 0 " " " " 5s. 0 9 " "

And also that if the journeymen free of this Company do not accept of the wages before set down and expressed of, and from any workmaster living within the limits aforesaid, then and in such case it shall and may be lawful for all and every workmaster living without the freedom of the city to employ and set to work as a journeyman any person or persons of the Mistery being natives of this kingdom, so as such person or persons in that case to be employed make proof before a Court of Assistants of this Company that he or they have served his or their apprenticeship of seven years in the said Mistery. Upon which proof so made and on payment of the sum of twenty shillings fine to the use of the Company, besides the Clerk and Beadle fees according to ancient custom, such person or persons may be admitted a foreign journeyman or journeymen of this Company, any bye-law or bye-laws, ordinance or ordinances of this Company to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding. And it is further ordered that none of the masters or journeymen of the Mistery do give or take more than the rates above mentioned upon pain that the party offending shall forfeit for every time he shall be found to act contrary to the true meaning of the above order such sum of money, not exceeding the sum of 5l., as the Court of Assistants of this Company shall think fit to impose on him or them.

* * * * *

Nov. 30th, 1696. Geo. Burkeridge and others to the number of 12 journeymen of the Mistery to this Court on behalf of themselves and all the journeymen of the trade within the limits of the Corporation, that they are come to a resolution among themselves not to accept of any less wages for making of hats than what they formerly received and desire that the late Order for lessening their wages may be set aside.

* * * * *

June 20th,1698. George Burkeridge, Thomas Newby and one other journeyman came to this Court on behalf of themselves and the other journeymen for the accommodation of the matters in difference between them and the Company, and offered that in order thereto all matters relating to the trade might stand on the same foot as in 1682 and suits touching the singeing boys to be forborne. After long debate thereupon had, the Court acquainted them, that if they would give an ingenuous account and full discovery of their combinations and collections of money against the Company by Wednesday next, they might expect some favour, which the journeymen promised to comply with.

August 5th, 1698. The Master reported to this Court that the committee appointed last Court to meet several journeymen of the trade with Mr. Cox and Mr. Cholmley in order to accommodate the matters in difference between the masters and journeymen, who had then declared their sorrow for their unlawful combinations to raise their wages and promised to subscribe an Instrument declaring the same, and that they would for the future be obedient to the bye-laws of the Company and discover all such evil practices. And a draft of such Instrument or submission being read, it is ordered that the same be engrossed with such alteration as the Clerk shall think fit and be signed by the persons indicted and fifteen more of such of the journeymen as the Master and Wardens shall direct. And thereupon the prosecutions shall be stayed. [The Instrument.]

We whose hands are hereunto subscribed and set, being journeymen Feltmakers in and about the city of London and borough of Southwark, do hereby acknowledge:--that we with other journeymen of the said trade have held several meetings wherein we have conspired and combined together to enhance the prices for making of hats, for which several of us now stand indicted, and being now greatly sensible and fully convinced of the unlawfulness of such conspiracies do hereby declare our hearty and unfeigned sorrow for the same, and we and every one of us do hereby promise and agree to and with the Master, Wardens and Commonalty of the Company of Feltmakers, London, that neither we nor any of us (nor any other journeyman of the trade with our or any of our privity or consent) shall or will at any time hereafter do any act or thing whatsoever that may in any wise tend to the promoting or encouraging of such conspiracies or combinations. But that we and every of us shall and will do all that in us lieth to discourage and prevent such conspiracies and combinations for the future, and also will endeavour to raise and collect money among the journeymen Feltmakers what they shall freely contribute and pay towards prosecuting the French or any other unlawful workers in the said Trade. And for that purpose shall and will truly pay such money that shall be raised by such contributions into the hands of the Master of the said Company for the time being. And we do further promise that we will for the time to come behave and demean ourselves tractable and conformable to the government and bye-laws of the said Company.

July 3rd,1699. The Masters reported to this Court that on Tuesday last he attended, with others of the Company, on the Parliament Members for the County of Surrey, according to a Rule of the Court made by the Lord Chief Justice Holt at the last Assizes at Kingston. And after hearing them and the defendants and other journeymen of the trade, they made an award and therein made no other alteration of the rates than 2d. allowance on a Beaver, a penny on a 14s. hat, and a penny allowance on an 8s., and so on to a 10s. hat, and they directed the indictment to be discharged and bill in Chancery to be dismissed.

[Footnote 364: Quoted in Unwin, _Industrial Organization in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries_, App. A. pp. 248-52.]

2. A PETITION OF MASTER TAILORS AGAINST COMBINATION AMONG THE JOURNEYMEN[365] [British Museum, f. 816 m., 14 (II)],1721.

The case of the Master Tailors residing within the Cities of London and Westminster, in relation to the great Abuses committed by their Journeymen. Humbly offered to the consideration of Parliament.

The Journeymen Tailors in and about the cities of London and Westminster, to the number of seven thousand and upwards, have lately entered into a combination to raise their wages, and leave off working an hour sooner than they used to do; and for the better carrying on their design, have subscribed their respective names in books prepared for that purpose, at the several houses of call or resort (being public houses in and about London and Westminster) where they use; and collect several considerable sums of money to defend any prosecutions against them.

At this time there are but few of them come to work at all, and most of those that do, insist upon, and have, twelve shillings and ninepence per week (instead of ten shillings and ninepence per week, the usual wages), and leave off work at eight of the clock at night (instead of nine, their usual hour, time out of mind), and very great numbers of them go loitering about the town, and seduce and corrupt all they can meet: to the great hindrance and prejudice of trade.

Upon complaint made to some of His Majesty's Justices of the Peace, they have issued out their warrants against these offenders as loiterers; by virtue whereof some of them have been bound over to the Sessions, and others have been taken up, and bound over to appear in His Majesty's Court of King's Bench at Westminster, and the subscription books seized by virtue of the Secretary of State's warrant: Yet they still continue obstinate, and persist not only in putting the abovesaid difficulties upon their masters, to the great prejudice of trade in general; but also in collecting great sums of money to support their unlawful combinations and confederacies.

This combination of the Journeymen Tailors is and may be attended with many evil consequences: inasmuch as the public is deprived of the benefit of the labour of a considerable number of the subjects of this kingdom, and the families of several of these journeymen thereby impoverished, and likely to become a charge and burden to the public: And the very persons themselves who are under this unlawful combination, choosing rather to live in idleness, than to work at their usual rates and hours, will not only become useless and burdensome, but also very dangerous to the public; and are of very ill example to journeymen in all other trades; as is sufficiently seen in the Journeymen Curriers, Smiths, Farriers, Sail-makers, Coach-makers, and artificers of divers other arts and misteries, who have actually entered into confederacies of the like nature; and the Journeymen Carpenters, Bricklayers and Joiners have taken some steps for that purpose, and only wait to see the event of others.

These Journeymen Tailors, when there is a hurry of business against the King's Birth-day, or for making of mourning or wedding garments (as often happens) or other holidays, and always the summer seasons, are not content with the unreasonable rates they at present insist upon; but have demanded, and have had three or four shillings a day, and sometimes more; otherwise they will not work; and at such times some will not work at all; which is a great disappointment to gentlemen, and an imposition to the masters; and, if suffered to go on, must increase the charge of making clothes considerably.

As to the said houses of call, or public-houses, there are a great number of them in London and the suburbs, where these journeymen tailors frequently meet and use, and spend all or the greatest part of the moneys they receive for their wages; and the masters of these houses of call, support, encourage and abet these journeymen in their unlawful combinations for raising their wages, and lessening their hours.

The laws now in being for regulating of artificers, labourers, and servants, were made in the fifth of Queen Elizabeth, and might well be adapted for these times; but not altogether so proper for the trade of London and Westminster, &c., as it is now carried on.

Therefore, the masters humbly hope this honourable house will take such measures, by passing of a law for redress of the public grievances aforesaid, or grant such other relief, as in their great wisdom shall seem meet.[366]

[Footnote 365: Quoted in F.W. Galton, The Tailoring Trade, pp. 1-4.]

[Footnote 366: A Committee of the House of Commons reported on this petition "that the petitioners have fully proved the allegations," February 16, 1721. The Journeymen petitioned in reply. Stat. 7 Geo. I, 1 c. 3 (1721) declared combinations among the journeymen tailors unlawful in London, Westminster, and the Bills of Mortality, and fixed the hours of labour, thirteen, and the maximum wages, two shillings a day, from the end of March to the end of June, and one and eightpence for the rest of the year. Justices were given power to alter the rates at Quarter Sessions.]

3. A DISPUTE IN THE NORTHHUMBERLAND AND DURHAM COAL INDUSTRY [Newcastle Chronicle, September 21, 1765], 1765.

Whereas several scandalous and false reports have been and still continue to be spread abroad in the country concerning the Pitmen in the Counties of Durham and Northumberland absenting from their respective employments before the expiration of their Bonds: This is therefore to inform the Public that most of the Pitmen in the aforesaid Counties of Durham and Northumberland were bound the latter end of August, and the remainder of them were bound the beginning of September, 1764, and they served till the 24th or 25th of August, 1765, which they expect is the due time of their servitude; but the honourable Gentlemen in the Coal Trade will not let them be free till the 11th of November, 1765, which, instead of 11 months and 15 days, the respective time of their Bonds, is upwards of 14 months. So they leave the most censorious to judge whether they be right or wrong. For they are of opinion that they are free from any Bond wherein they were bound.--And an advertisement appearing in the newspapers last week commanding all persons not to employ any Pitmen whatever for the support of themselves and families, it is confidently believed that they who were the authors of the said advertisement are designed to reduce the industrious poor of the aforesaid counties to the greatest misery: as all the necessaries of Life are at such exorbitant prices, that it is impossible for them to support their families without using some other lawful means, which they will and are determined to do, as the said advertisement has caused the people whom they were employed under to discharge them from their service:--Likewise the said honourable Gentlemen have agreed and signed an Article, not to employ any Pitmen that has served in any other colliery the year before; which will reduce them to still greater hardships, as they will be obliged to serve in the same colliery for life; which they conjecture will take away the ancient character of this Kingdom as being a free nation.--So the Pitmen are not designed to work for or serve any of the said Gentlemen, in any of their collieries, till they be fully satisfied that the said Article is dissolved, and new Bonds and Agreements made and entered into for the year ensuing.

4. SICKNESS AND UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFIT CLUBS AMONG THE WOOLCOMBERS [House of Commons Journals, Vol. XLIX, pp. 323-4], 1794.

March 13, 1794. Report on Woolcombers' Petitions, 323.

William Gates being asked whether it was usual to go from place to place to seek employment, he said it was, and that their clubs or societies subsist them till they get work.... And being asked, whether there are any number of woolcombers who do not belong to the societies, he said, "There are some, but not one in one hundred that does not belong to some society."

Jonathan Sowton ... was asked, of what nature the clubs were. He said, "It is a contribution upon every woolcomber (who is willing to be a member of a club) according to the exigencies of their affairs: the one end of it is to enable the woolcombers to travel from place to place to seek for employment, when work is scarce where he resides; and the other end of it is to have relief when he is sick wherever he may be; and if he should die to be buried by the club; and it is necessary for him, to entitle himself to be relieved by these clubs, to have a certificate from the club to which he belongs, that he has behaved well in and to the woolcombing trade, and that he is an honest man; but if he defrauds anybody, he loses his claim to that certificate, and to the advantages belonging to it."[367]

[Footnote 367: Cf. A Proclamation against combinations in the Woolcombing industry (in Notes and Queries, Series III, Vol. 12, September 21, 1867, pp. 224-5) in February, 1718, reciting that their Societies interfered in questions of prices and apprentices and, if a member was thrown out of work on account of such interference, "they fed them with money till they could again get employment, in order to oblige their masters to employ them for want of other hands."]

5. COMBINATION ACT [Statutes,39 Geo. III, 86], 1799.

... All contracts, covenants, and agreements whatsoever, in writing or not in writing, at any time or times heretofore made or entered into by any journeymen manufacturers or other workmen, or other persons within this kingdom, for obtaining an advance of wages of them or any of them, or any other journeymen manufacturers or other workmen, or other persons in manufacture, trade, or business, or for lessening or altering their or any of their usual hours or time of working or for decreasing the quantity of work, or for preventing or hindering any person or persons from employing whomsoever he, she, or they shall think proper to employ in his, her, or their manufacture, trade, or business, in the conduct or management thereof, shall be and the same are hereby declared to be illegal, null, and void, to all intents and purposes whatsoever.

[Workmen making such agreements or combinations, or endeavouring to prevent others from hiring themselves or to induce them to quit work, or attending a meeting or persuading others to attend a meeting for such purposes, are made liable to three months imprisonment in common gaol or two months in the house of correction.]

6. COMBINATION ACT [Statutes, 39 _and_40 Geo. III, c. 106], 1800.

An Act to repeal an Act, passed in the last session of Parliament, intituled, An Act to prevent unlawful combinations of workmen; and to substitute other provisions in lieu thereof.

[All contracts heretofore entered into for obtaining an advance of wages, altering the usual time of working, decreasing the quantity of work, &c. (except contracts between masters and men) shall be void.]

II. And be it further enacted, that no journeyman, workman, or other person shall at any time after the passing of this act make or enter into, or be concerned in the making of or entering into any such contract, covenant, or agreement, in writing or not in writing, as is hereinbefore declared to be an illegal covenant, contract, or agreement; and every journeyman and workman or other person who, after the passing of this act, shall be guilty of any of the said offences, being thereof lawfully convicted, within three calendar months next after the offence shall have been committed, shall, by order of such justices, be committed to and confined in the common gaol, within his or their jurisdiction, for any time not exceeding three calendar months, or at the discretion of such justices shall be committed to some house of correction within the same jurisdiction, there to remain and to be kept to hard labour for any time not exceeding two calendar months.

III. And be it further enacted, that every journeyman or workman, or other person, who shall at any time after the passing of this act enter into any combination to obtain an advance of wages, or to lessen or alter the hours or duration of the time of working, or to decrease the quantity of work, or for any other purpose contrary to this act, or who shall, by giving money, or by persuasion, solicitation, or intimidation, or any other means, wilfully and maliciously endeavour to prevent any unhired or unemployed journeyman or workman, or other person, in any manufacture, trade, or business, or any other person wanting employment in such manufacture, trade, or business, from hiring himself to any manufacturer or tradesman, or person conducting any manufacture, trade, or business, or who shall, for the purpose of obtaining an advance of wages, or for any other purpose contrary to the provisions of this act, wilfully and maliciously decoy, persuade, solicit, intimidate, influence, or prevail, or attempt or endeavour to prevail, on any journeyman or workman, or other person hired or employed, or to be hired or employed in any such manufacture, trade, or business, to quit or leave his work, service, or employment, or who shall wilfully and maliciously hinder or prevent any manufacturer or tradesman, or other person, from employing in his or her manufacture, trade, or business, such journeymen, workmen, and other persons as he or she shall think proper, or who, being hired or employed, shall, without any just or reasonable cause, refuse to work with any other journeyman or workman employed or hired to work therein, and who shall be lawfully convicted of any of the said offences, shall, by order of such justices, be committed to and be confined in the common gaol, within his or their jurisdiction, for any time not exceeding three calendar months; or otherwise be committed to some house of correction within the same jurisdiction, there to remain and to be kept to hard labour for any time not exceeding two calendar months.

IV. And for the more effectual suppression of all combinations amongst journeymen, workmen, and other persons employed in any manufacture, trade or business, be it further enacted, that all and every persons and person whomsoever, (whether employed in any such manufacture, trade, or business, or not), who shall attend any meeting had or held for the purpose of making or entering into any contract, covenant, or agreement, by this act declared to be illegal, or of entering into, supporting, maintaining, continuing, or carrying on any combination for any purpose by this act declared to be illegal, or who shall summons, give notice to, call upon, persuade, entice, solicit, or by intimidation, or any other means, endeavour to induce any journeyman, workman, or other person employed in any manufacture, trade, or business, to attend any such meeting, or who shall collect, demand, ask, or receive any sum of money from any such journeyman, workman, or other person, for any of the purposes aforesaid, or who shall persuade, entice, solicit, or by intimidation, or any other means, endeavour to induce any such journeyman, workman, or other person to enter into or be concerned in any such combination, or who shall pay any sum of money, or make or enter into any subscription or contribution, for or towards the support or encouragement of any such illegal meeting or combination, and who shall be lawfully convicted of any of the said offences, within three calendar months next after the offence shall have been committed, shall, by order of such justices, be committed to and confined in the common gaol within his or their jurisdiction, for any time not exceeding three calendar months, or otherwise be committed to some house of correction within the same jurisdiction, there to remain and be kept to hard labour for any time not exceeding two calendar months.

VI. And be it further enacted, that all sums of money which at any time heretofore have been paid or given as a subscription or contribution for or towards any of the purposes prohibited by this act, and shall, for the space of three calendar months next after the passing of this act, remain undivided in the hands of any treasurer, collector, receiver, trustee, agent, or other person, or placed out at interest, and all sums of money which shall at any time after the passing of this act, be paid or given as a subscription or contribution for or towards any of the purposes prohibited by this act, shall be forfeited, one moiety thereof to his Majesty, and the other moiety to such person as will sue for the same in any of his Majesty's courts of record at Westminster; and any treasurer, collector, receiver, trustee, agent, or other person in whose hands or in whose name any such sum of money shall be, or shall be placed out, or unto whom the same shall have been paid or given, shall and may be sued for the same as forfeited as aforesaid.

[All contracts between masters or other persons for reducing the wages of workmen or for altering the hours of work or for increasing the quantity of work, are to be void. Masters convicted of such agreements, shall be fined 20l.: half to go to the Crown, half to the informer and the poor of the parish.]

XVIII. And whereas it will be a great convenience and advantage to masters and workmen engaged in manufactures, that a cheap and summary mode be established for settling all disputes that may arise between them respecting wages and work; be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that, from and after the first day of August in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred, in all cases that shall or may arise within that part of Great Britain called England, where the masters and workmen cannot agree respecting the price or prices to be paid for work actually done in any manufacture, or any injury or damage done or alleged to have been done by the workmen to the work, or respecting any delay or supposed delay on the part of the workmen in finishing the work, or the not finishing such work in a good and workmanlike manner, or according to any contract; and in all cases of dispute or difference, touching any contract or agreement for work or wages between masters and workmen in any trade or manufacture, which cannot be otherwise mutually adjusted and settled by and between them, it shall and may be, and it is hereby declared to be lawful for such masters and workmen between whom such dispute or difference shall arise as aforesaid, or either of them, to demand and have an arbitration or reference of such matter or matters in dispute; and each of them is hereby authorized and empowered forthwith to nominate and appoint an arbitrator for and on his respective part and behalf, to arbitrate and determine such matter or matters in dispute as aforesaid by writing, subscribed by him in the presence of and attested by one witness, in the form expressed in the second schedule to this Act; and to deliver the same personally to the other party, or to leave the same for him at his usual place of abode, and to require the other party to name an arbitrator in like manner within two days after such reference to arbitrators shall have been so demanded; and such arbitrators so appointed as aforesaid, after they shall have accepted and taken upon them the business of the said arbitration, are hereby authorised and required to summon before them, and examine upon oath the parties and their witnesses, (which oath the said arbitrators are hereby authorised and required to administer according to the form set forth in the second schedule to this act), and forthwith to proceed to hear and determine the complaints of the parties, and the matter or matters in dispute between them; and the award to be made by such arbitrators within the time being after limited, shall in all cases be final and conclusive between the parties; but in case such arbitrators so appointed shall not agree to decide such matter or matters in dispute, so to be referred to them as aforesaid, and shall not make and sign their award within the space of three days after the signing of the submission to their award by both parties, that then it shall be lawful for the parties or either of them to require such arbitrators forthwith and without delay to go before and attend upon one of his Majesty's justices of the peace acting in and for the county, riding, city, liberty, division, or place where such dispute shall happen and be referred, and state to such justice the points in difference between them the said arbitrators, which points in difference the said justice shall and is hereby authorised and required to hear and determine and for that purpose to examine the parties and their witnesses upon oath, if he shall think fit.[368]

[Footnote 368: Compare Pt. III. Section III, Nos. 7 and 8 Arbitration Acts, pp. 568 & 570.]

7. THE SCOTTISH WEAVERS' STRIKE [Report from Committee on Artizans and Machinery, 1824 (V), pp. 60-63], 1812.

Evidence of Mr. Alex. Richmond. 23 February, 1824.

Were you one of the delegates appointed by the workmen in Glasgow?

Yes; on the failure of the last application to Parliament the association turned its attention to some Acts of Parliament that were discovered, empowering the justices of the peace to affix rates of wages, with a view to raising the wages; the fact was, fluctuation was a greater evil perhaps, than the lowness of the rate; previous to that period, fluctuations, to the extent of thirty per cent., took place in the course of a month, in the price of labour; an attempt was made to get an extra-judicial arrangement with the masters; the masters were divided in opinion upon the point, some of them were for a regulation, others opposed it; after several ineffectual attempts to come to an arrangement with that part of the masters who opposed it, part of the masters being in the interest of the operatives, at last a process was entered before the quarter sessions.

Will you state how the process proceeded?

The justices of the peace found the rate demanded reasonable; it was amended in some instances, and the masters immediately refused to pay the rate. Our counsel in the process had consented, for the purpose of obviating the difficulties and getting over the objections that might be made against the expediency, to withdraw the imperative part of the prayer; the prayer of the petition originally founded upon, prayed, that they might be compelled to pay the price, but it was only a declaratory decision, as the imperative part was withdrawn, for the purpose of preventing the difficulty; we then, as the masters refused to pay, tried every method of getting an extra-judicial decision. The present Lord Justice Clerk had been a member of the Committee of the House of Commons in 1809, and appeared decidedly opposed to the principle of interference; and we conceived from the sentiments of the court, that though they had decided the law, if we went on the expediency of the case, we might very likely lose, and we determined therefore to try the experiment of striking work.

What was the result of this strike?

About three weeks after the effort commenced, there was a direct interference, on the part of government, to suppress it, by the apprehension of all the parties concerned.

What do you mean by the apprehension of all the parties concerned?

There was a committee of five, who had conducted the process during the whole period, and we were all apprehended and committed to gaol.

You were one of the five?

I was.

Under what law were you apprehended?

There was no specific law. There was a case I might have mentioned, but as it applies to the combination, I will introduce it here. In 1811, a combination had taken place amongst the cotton spinners; and in a case that was aggravated by assault, that was tried at the Glasgow circuit, the present Lord President Hope, who then presided, stated it as an aggravation of the crime of combination, that there was a clear remedy in law, as the magistrates had full power and authority to affix rates of wages, or settle disputes: that was the ground on which we entered the action in 1812. In the face of this, after having acted upon it on this principle, the mere act of striking work in a body was construed as an infringement of the Combination Law; and after having acted upon the authority of Lord President Hope, we were convicted, on what law I am yet at a loss to know.

Have there been any combinations, or any individuals prosecuted for combinations, since that period?

The only other branch of the cotton trade that ever had an association or combination efficient in Scotland, was the calico printers, and they were the next that were followed by the suppression of the cotton weavers' branch in 1815.

In what manner were they broken up?

By the interference of government; immediately after this case, the Lord Advocate proceeded against them, as public prosecutor in Scotland.

Were they paid higher than other mechanics?

Yes: their wages frequently averaged from forty to fifty shillings a week, previous to that; now they are down from twelve to fifteen shillings.

8. THE REPEAL OF THE COMBINATION ACTS [Statutes, 5 Geo. IV, 95], 1824.

An Act to repeal the Laws relative to the Combination of Workman; and for other purposes.

[A large number of statutes, wholly or partly repealed, including 39 & 40 Geo. III., 106, except the arbitration clauses.]

II. And be it further enacted, that journeymen, workmen or other persons who shall enter into any combination to obtain an advance, or to fix the rate of wages, or to lessen or alter the hours or duration of the time of working, or to decrease the quantity of work, or to induce another to depart from his service before the end of the time or term for which he is hired, or to quit or return his work before the same shall be finished, or, not being hired, to refuse to enter into work or employment, or to regulate the mode of carrying on any manufacture, trade or business, or the management thereof, shall not therefore be subject or liable to any indictment or prosecution for conspiracy, or to any other criminal information or punishment whatever, under the common or the statute law.

III. And be it further enacted, that masters, employers or other persons, who shall enter into any combination to lower or to fix the rate of wages, or to increase or alter the hours or duration of the time of working, or to increase the quantity of work, or to regulate the mode of carrying on any manufacture trade or business, or the management thereof, shall not therefore be subject or liable to any indictment or prosecution, or for conspiracy, or to any other criminal information or punishment whatever, under the common or the statute law.

V. And be it further enacted, that if any person, by violence to the person or property, by threats or by intimidation, shall wilfully or maliciously force another to depart from his hiring or work before the end of the time or term for which he is hired, or return his work before the same shall be finished, or damnify, spoil or destroy any machinery, tools, goods, wares or work, or prevent any person not being hired from accepting any work or employment; or if any person shall wilfully or maliciously use or employ violence to the person or property, threats or intimidation towards another on account of his not complying with or conforming to any rules, orders, resolutions or regulations made to obtain an advance of wages, or to lessen or alter the hours of working, or to decrease the quantity of work, or to regulate the mode of carrying on any manufacture, trade or business, or the management thereof; or if any person, by violence to the person or property, by threats or by intimidation, shall wilfully or maliciously force any master or mistress manufacturer, his or her foreman or agent, to make any alteration in their mode of regulating, managing, conducting or carrying on their manufacture, trade or business; every person so offending, or causing, procuring, aiding, abetting or assisting in such offence, being convicted thereof in manner hereafter mentioned, shall be imprisoned only, or imprisoned and kept to hard labour, for any time not exceeding two calendar months.

VI. And be it further enacted, that if any persons shall combine, and by violence to the person or property or by threats or intimidation, wilfully and maliciously force another to depart from his service before the end of the time or term for which he or she is hired, or return his or her work before the same shall be finished, or damnify, spoil or destroy any machinery, tools, goods, wares or work, or prevent any person not being hired from accepting any work or employment; or if any persons so combined shall wilfully or maliciously use or employ violence to the person or property, or threats or intimidation towards another, on account of his or her not complying with or conforming to any rules, orders, resolutions or regulations made to obtain an advance of wages, or to lessen or alter the hours of working, or to decrease the quantity of work, or to regulate the mode of carrying on any manufacture, trade or business, or the management thereof; or if any persons shall combine, and by violence to the person or property, or by threats or intimidation, wilfully or maliciously force any master or mistress manufacturer, his or her foreman or agent, to make any alteration in their mode of regulating, managing, conducting or carrying on their manufacture, trade or business; each and every person so offending, or causing, procuring, aiding, abetting or assisting in such offence, being convicted thereof in manner hereinafter mentioned, shall be imprisoned only, or imprisoned and kept to hard labour, for any time not exceeding two calendar months.

9. A PROSECUTION OF STRIKERS UNDER THE COMMON LAW OF CONSPIRACY [The Times, June 4, 1824], 1810.

To the Editor of the Times.

SIR,--

That the Committee have proceeded, I will not say rashly, but, upon misinformation, will be evident from a slight attention to the evidence of Mr. Richard Taylor, printer.

In reply to some introductory questions, he states that he has been a printer some 20 years--that he has turned his attention to the combination laws--and that his opinion is, that they are of no service. He afterwards states as follows:--

"There were some men imprisoned for combining a great many years ago, and that created a great deal of misunderstanding; for they were some of the most respectable of the workmen--those who had been intrusted by their fellow-workmen at large to negotiate an advance of prices with the masters; and of course the inflicting of imprisonment on men who are generally respected was a thing which created a great deal of ill-blood: a deal of mischief was the consequence of it."

Mr. Richard Taylor, then, here states that a great deal of mischief was effected by that prosecution. But what will the Committee say, if, when that evidence is put right, it shall be found to reflect not upon the Combination Laws now attempted to be repealed, but upon the old common law, which it is intended to leave in force? Mr. Taylor makes a slight mistake as to the fact; which mistake being corrected, the whole tide of his argument is turned away from the Combination Laws, and made to bear upon the common law for conspiracy....

... How Mr. Taylor, knowing that some of the offenders in that case were sentenced to two years' imprisonment, and knowing, at the same time, that the Combination Laws do not admit of an imprisonment for more than three months, should yet say that those men were tried upon the Combination Laws, is most inconceivable.

I am, Sir, etc., J.W.[369]

[Footnote 369: John Walter, proprietor of The Times.]

10. AN ACT REVISING THE LAW AFFECTING COMBINATIONS [Statutes, 6 Geo. IV, 109], 1825.

An Act to repeal the Laws relating to the combination of Workmen, and to make other Provisions in lieu thereof.

III. And be it further enacted, that from and after the passing of this act, if any person shall by violence to the person or property or by threats or intimidation, or by molesting or in any way obstructing another, force or endeavour to force any journeyman, manufacturer, workman, or other person hired or employed in any manufacture, trade, or business to depart from his hiring, employment, or work, or to return his work before the same shall be finished, or prevent or endeavour to prevent any journeyman, manufacturer, workman, or other person not being hired or employed from hiring himself to or from accepting work or employment from any person or persons; or if any person shall use or employ violence to the person or property of another, or threats or intimidation, or shall molest or in any way obstruct another for the purpose of forcing or inducing such person to belong to any club or association, or to contribute to any common fund, or to pay any fine or penalty, or on account of his not belonging to any particular club or association, or not having contributed or having refused to contribute to any common fund, or to pay any fine or penalty, or on account of his not having complied or of his refusing to comply with any rules, orders, resolutions, or regulations made to obtain an advance or to reduce the rate of wages, or to lessen or alter the hours of working, or to decrease or alter the quantity of work, or to regulate the mode or carrying on any manufacture, trade, or business, or the management thereof; or if any person shall by violence to the person or property of another, or by threats or intimidation, or by molesting or in any way obstructing another, force or endeavour to force any manufacturer or person carrying on any trade or business to make an alteration in his mode of regulating, managing, conducting, or carrying on such manufacture, trade or business, or to limit the number of his apprentices, or the number or description of his journeymen, workmen or servants; every person so offending, or aiding, abetting, or assisting therein, being convicted thereof in manner hereinafter mentioned, shall be imprisoned only, or shall and may be imprisoned and kept to hard labour, for any time not exceeding three calendar months.

IV. Provided always, and be it enacted, that this act shall not extend to subject any persons to punishment who shall meet together for the sole purpose of consulting upon and determining the rate of wages or prices which the persons present at such meeting, or any of them, shall require or demand for his or their work, or the hours or time for which he or they shall work, in any manufacture, trade or business, or who shall enter into any agreement, verbal or written, among themselves, for the purpose of fixing the rate of wages or prices which the parties entering into such agreement, or any of them, shall require or demand for his or their work, or the hours of time for which he or they will work, in any manufacture, trade, or business; and that persons so meeting for the purposes aforesaid, or entering into any such agreement as aforesaid, shall not be liable to any prosecution or penalty for so doing; any law or statute to the contrary notwithstanding.

V. Provided also, and be it further enacted, that this act shall not extend to subject any persons to punishment who shall meet together for the sole purpose of consulting upon and determining the rate of wages or prices which the persons present at such meeting, or any of them, shall pay to his or their journeymen, workmen, or servants for their work, or the hours, or time of working, in any manufacture, trade, or business; or who shall enter into any agreement, verbal or written, among themselves, for the purpose of fixing the rate of wages or prices which the parties entering into such agreement, or any of them, shall pay to his or their journeymen, workmen, or servants for their work, or the hours or time of working, in any manufacture, trade or business; and that persons so meeting for the purposes aforesaid, or entering into any such agreement as aforesaid, shall not be liable to any prosecution or penalty for so doing, any law or statute to the contrary notwithstanding.

11. THE CONVICTION OF THE DORCHESTER LABOURERS [The Times, March 20, 1834], 1834.

Spring Assizes, Western Circuit, Dorchester. Monday, March 17. Crown Court (before Baron Williams). Administering unlawful oaths.

James Lovelace, George Lovelace, Thomas Stanfield, John Stanfield, James Hammet, and James Brine were indicted for administering ... a certain unlawful oath and engagement, purporting to bind the person taking the same not to inform or give evidence against any associate, and not to reveal or discover any such unlawful combination.[370] ...

John Lock.--I live at Half Puddle. I went to Toll Puddle a fortnight before Christmas. I know the prisoner James Brine. I saw him that evening at John Woolley's. He called me out and I went with him. He took me to Thomas Stanfield's, and asked me if I would go in with him. I refused and went away. I saw him in about a fortnight afterwards in a barn. He asked me if I would go to Toll Puddle with him. I agreed to do so. James Hammet was then with him. Edward Legg, Richard Peary, Henry Courtney, and Elias Riggs were with us. They joined us as we were going along. One of them asked if there would not be something to pay, and one said there would be 1s. to pay on entering, and 1d. a week after. We all went into Thomas Stanfield's house into a room upstairs. John Stanfield came to the door of the room. I saw James Lovelace and George Lovelace go along the passage. One of the men asked if we were ready. We said, yes. One of them said, "Then bind your eyes," and we took out handkerchiefs and bound over our eyes. They then led us into another room on the same floor. Someone then read a paper, but I don't know what the meaning of it was. After that we were asked to kneel down, which we did. Then there was some more reading; I don't know what it was about. It seemed to be out of some part of the Bible. Then we got up and took off the bandages from our eyes. I had then seen James Lovelace and John Stanfield in the room. Some one read again, but I don't know what it was, and then we were told to kiss the book, when our eyes were unblinded, and I saw the book, which looked like a little Bible. I then saw all the prisoners there. James Lovelace had on a white dress, it was not a smock-frock. They told us the rules, that we should have to pay 1s. then, and a 1d. a week afterwards, to support the men when they were standing out from their work. They said we were as brothers; that when we were to stop for wages we should not tell our masters ourselves, but that the masters would have a note or a letter sent to them.

* * * * *

Mrs. Francis Wetham.--I am the wife of a painter in the town. In October, last year, James Lovelace and another person came to our shop; he said he wanted something painted from a design he had brought; he had two papers with him, on one was a representation of a skull, and on the other a skeleton arm extended with a scythe; he said it was to be painted on canvas, a complete skeleton on a dark ground, six feet high; over the head, "Remember thine end." I asked him what it was for, whether a flag or a sign; he told me it was a secret for a society, and he would tell me no more; if I wanted further information I was to send to him, "J. Lovelace, Toll Puddle."

* * * * *

The following letter was then put in and read:--

Bere Heath, Feb. 1, 1834.

Brother,

We met this evening for the purpose of forming our committee. There was 16 present, of whom 10 was chosen--namely, a president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer, warden, conductor, three outside guardians and one inside guardian. All seemed united in heart, and expressed his approval of the meeting. Father and Hallett wished very much to join us, but wish it not to be known. I advised them to come Tuesday evening at 6 o'clock, and I would send for you to come at that time, if possible, and enter them, that they may be gone before the company come. I received a note this morning which gave me great encouragement, and I am led to acknowledge the force of union.

(Signed by the secretary.)

The following rules were then put in and read:--

General Rules.

1. That this Society be called the Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers.

* * * * *

20. That if any master attempts to reduce the wages of his workmen, if they are members of this order, they shall instantly communicate the same to the corresponding secretary, in order that they may receive the support of the grand lodge; and in the meantime they shall use their utmost endeavours to finish the work they may have in hand, if any, and shall assist each other, so that they may all leave the place together, and with as much promptitude as possible.

21. That if any member of this society ... solely on account of his taking an active part in the affairs of this order ... shall be discharged from his employment ... then the whole body of men at that place shall instantly leave that place, and no member of this society shall be allowed to take work at such place until such member be reinstated in his situation.

[22. If a member divulge any secret of the society, members throughout the country shall refuse to work with him.]

23. That the object of this society can never be promoted by any act or acts of violence, but, on the contrary, all such proceedings must tend to injure the cause and destroy the society itself. This order therefore will not countenance any violation of the laws.[371]

[Footnote 370: The indictment was framed on 37 Geo. III, 123, against seditious and illegal confederacies.]

[Footnote 371: The prisoners were found Guilty. On March 19 they were sentenced to seven years' transportation. April 16, Lord Howick, in answer to a question in Parliament, said that he believed their ship had already sailed. The remainder of their sentence was remitted in 1836.]

12. AN ADDRESS OF THE WORKING MEN'S ASSOCIATION TO QUEEN VICTORIA [The Life and Struggles of William Lovett, pp. 124-8], 1837.

Madam,

While we approach your Majesty in the spirit of plain men seeking their political and social rights, apart from mere names, forms, or useless ceremonies, we yield to none in the just fulfilment of our duties, or in the ardent wish that our country may be made to advance to the highest point of prosperity and happiness....

The country over which your Majesty has been called on to preside, has by the powers and industry of its inhabitants been made to teem with abundance, and were all its resources wisely developed and justly distributed, would impart ample means of happiness to all its inhabitants.

But, by many monstrous anomalies springing out of the constitution of society, the corruptions of government, and the defective education of mankind, we find the bulk of the nation toiling slaves from birth till death--thousands wanting food, or subsisting on the scantiest pittance, having neither time nor means to obtain instruction, much less of cultivating the higher faculties and brightest affections, but forced by their situation to engender enmity, jealousy, and contention, and too often to become the victims of intemperance and crime.

* * * * *

The exclusive few have ever been intent in keeping the people ignorant and deluded, and have sedulously administered to their vices and fomented their prejudices. Hence the use of their privileges and distinctions to allure the wealthy and corrupt the innocent; hence their desire to retain within their own circle all the powers of the Legislative and Executive, all the riches of Church and State....

To this baneful source of exclusive political power may be traced the persecutions of fanaticism, the feuds of superstition, and most of the wars and carnage which disgrace our history. To this pernicious origin may justly be attributed the unremitted toil and wretchedness of your Majesty's industrious people, together with most of the vices and crimes springing from poverty and ignorance, which, in a country blessed by nature, enriched by art, and boasting of her progress and knowledge, mock her humanity and degrade her character.

* * * * *

We entreat your Majesty that, whoever may be in your ministry, you will instruct them, as a first and essential measure of reform, to prepare a bill for extending the Right of Suffrage to all the adult population of the kingdom; excepting such as may be justly incapacitated by crime or defection of the light of reason; together with such other essential details as shall enable all men to exercise their political rights unmolested.

13. A CHARTIST MANIFESTO ON THE SACRED MONTH [William Lovett, Life and Struggles, p. 214], 1839.

We respectfully submit the following propositions for your serious consideration[372]:--

That at all the simultaneous public meetings to be held for the purpose of petitioning the Queen to call good men to her councils, as well as at all subsequent meetings of your unions or associations up to the 1st of July, you submit the following questions to the people there assembled:--

1. Whether they will be prepared, at the request of the Convention, to withdraw all sums of money they may individually or collectively have placed in savings banks, private banks, or in the hands of any person hostile to their just rights?

2. Whether, at the same request, they will be prepared immediately to convert all their paper money into gold and silver?

3. Whether, if the Convention shall determine that a sacred month will be necessary to prepare the millions to secure the charter of their political salvation, they will firmly resolve to abstain from their labours during that period, as well as from the use of all intoxicating drinks?

4. Whether, according to their old constitutional right--a right which modern legislators would fain annihilate--they have prepared themselves with the arms of freemen to defend the laws and constitutional privileges their ancestors bequeathed to them?

[Footnote 372: Addressed to the Chartist Convention.]

14. THE ROCHDALE PIONEERS [Industrial Co-operation, Ed. Catherine Webb, pp. 68-9], 1844.

The objects of this Society are to form arrangements for the pecuniary benefit and improvement of the social and domestic condition of its members, by raising a sufficient amount of capital, in shares of one pound each, to bring into operation the following plans and arrangements:--

The establishment of a Store for the sale of provisions, clothing, etc.

The building, purchasing, or erecting a number of houses, in which those members desiring to assist each other in improving their domestic and social condition may reside. To commence the manufacture of such articles as the Society may determine upon, for the employment of such members as may be without employment, or who may be suffering in consequence of repeated reductions in their wages.

As a further benefit and security to the members of this Society, the Society shall purchase or rent an estate or estates of land, which shall be cultivated by the members who may be out of employment or whose labour may be badly remunerated.

That, as soon as practicable, this Society shall proceed to arrange the powers of production, distribution, education and government: or, in other words, to establish a self-supporting home colony of united interests, or assist other societies in establishing such colonies.

That, for the promotion of sobriety, a Temperance Hotel be opened in one of the Society's houses as soon as convenient.

SECTION V

THE RELIEF OF THE POOR

1. Settlement Law, 1662--2. Defoe's pamphlet "Giving Alms no Charity," 1704--3. The Workhouse Test Act, 1722--4. Gilbert's Act, 1782--5. Speenhamland "Act of Parliament," 1795--6. The Workhouse System, 1797--7. Two Varieties of the Roundsman System of Relief, 1797--8. Another Example of the Roundsman System, 1808--9. Report of the Poor Law Commission, 1834--10. The Poor Law Amendment Act, 1834--11. Outdoor Relief Prohibitory Order, 1844.

The national organisation of poor-relief was permanently affected by the constitutional troubles of the seventeenth century. Supervision and pressure from a central authority were removed and were not again strongly felt till near the close of this period. This change shows itself in the documentary evidence; national regulation is rare and comes only as the result of a special emergency or panic (Nos. 1, 3, 4, 10). The Settlement Act of 1662 (No. 1), with its successors, was an attempt to meet the special local difficulties which sprang from the want of central control and uniformity. The Act of 1722 provided the machinery for the more drastic treatment of the poor advocated in Defoe's pamphlet (No. 2), by means of a workhouse and a system of tests for relief; for this purpose unions of parishes could be formed (No. 3). Gilbert's Act (No. 4) in the last quarter of the century was a reversion to milder policy; it was intended to distinguish more clearly the different classes of poor relieved, to provide suitable treatment for the old infirm and children in institutions, and to find employment for the able-bodied. It illustrates the growing pressure of industrial changes on the working classes, as well as the current of humanitarian feeling which ran a broken course from this time to the end of the period. It was an adoptive, not a compulsory, Act, and no more legislative changes of the first importance were made till 1834. Meanwhile vast transformations were being made in town and, especially, in country life, and the destitution line was crossed by a whole section of the nation. The Settlement laws were relaxed, but, after Pitt's abortive proposals in 1795, Parliament stood aside. The initiative was thus left to the local authority. The so-called Speenhamland Act of Parliament (No. 5) is the classic instance of the methods of supplementary allowances adopted by the Justices in various counties. Its aim was humane; its effect, to check the pressure for higher wages, was not intended (see No. 5, note).

The eighteenth century system produced great local variety, some examples of which are given from the survey published by Eden in 1797 (Nos. 6 and 7). The official workhouse, the farming of the poor to a contractor, the employment of the poor within the workhouse, and the relief of the rates by the Roundsman system of servile labour are described (Nos. 6 and 7. See also No. 8).

The Poor Law Commission of 1834 (No. 9) was the culminating point of a reaction against the results of the previous half century. Its intention was to make a clean sweep of tradition and to reassert the principle of uniformity. Its authors, in the spirit of their age, hoped to make their reform negatively, by cutting away influences which corrupted human nature. The extracts (No. 9) show their leading principles and recommendations. The Act of 1834 (No. 10) embodied their conclusions, leaving a large discretion to a new central authority. The Regulations and Orders (No. 11) of these Commissioners and their successors, the Poor Law and Local Government Boards, were, henceforward, the chief directing force of Poor Relief policy.

AUTHORITIES

Nicholls' History of the English Poor Law, Mackay, ditto (a continuation), and Fowle, The Poor Law, are general modern descriptions. Webb, English Poor Law Policy, is an historical criticism of the system from 1834; see also Kirkman Gray, Philanthropy and the State. The eighteenth century is described in Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce, Modern Times; Webb, English Local Government, The Parish and the County; Redlich and Hirst, Local Government in England, Vol. I; Hammond, The Village Labourer, c. 7; Hasbach, The English Agricultural Labourer, c. 3 and c. 4, and Mantoux, La Révolution Industrielle. Ashby, The Poor Law in a Warwickshire Village (in Oxford Studies in Social and Legal History, Vol. III), provides illustrations.

Bibliographies in Hasbach and Cunningham, op. cit.

Contemporary (1) Documentary Sources.--The best collection of contemporary statistics, of paupers, diet, cost, etc., in the eighteenth century is given in Eden, The State of the Poor. The Report of the 1834 Commission (XXVII and XXVIII) describes conditions and the new policy. See also Report of Committees on the Poor Law, 1817 (VI) and 1819 (III), and Report of Committee on Labourers' Wages, 1824 (VI).

(2) Literary authorities.--Illustrations of contemporary opinion can be found for different periods in Defoe, Giving Alms no Charity, Reports of the Society for Bettering the Condition of the Poor (1795-1808), Rose, Observations on the Poor Law. A municipal system is described in Cary, The Proceedings of the Corporation of Bristol. A general survey was made in the middle of the eighteenth century by Burn, History of the Poor Laws, and at the end by Eden, The State of the Poor.

1. SETTLEMENT LAW [Statutes, 14 Charles II, c. 12], 1662.

An Act for the better relief of the poor of this kingdom.

Whereas the necessity, number and continual increase of the poor, not only within the Cities of London and Westminster with the liberties of each of them, but also through the whole kingdom of England and Dominion of Wales, is very great and exceeding burdensome, being occasioned by reason of some defects in the law concerning the settling of the poor and for want of a due provision of the regulations of relief and employment in such parishes or places where they are legally settled, which doth enforce many to turn incorrigible rogues and others to perish for want, together with the neglect of the faithful execution of such laws and statutes as have formerly been made for the apprehending of rogues and vagabonds and for the good of the poor. For remedy whereof and for the preventing the perishing of any of the poor, whether old or young, for want of such supplies as are necessary, may it please your most Excellent Majesty that it may be enacted ... that whereas by reason of some defects in the law poor people are not restrained from going from one parish to another and therefore do endeavour to settle themselves in those parishes where there is the best stock, the largest commons or wastes to build cottages, and the most woods for them to burn and destroy and when they have consumed it then to another parish, and at last become rogues and vagabonds to the great discouragement of parishes to provide stocks where it is liable to be devoured by strangers ... it shall and may be lawful upon complaint made by the churchwardens or overseers of the poor of any parish to any Justice of Peace, within forty days after any such person or persons coming so to settle, as aforesaid in any tenement under the yearly value of ten pounds for any two justices of the peace whereof one to be of the Quorum of the division where any person or persons that are likely to be chargeable to the parish shall come to inhabit, by their warrant to remove and convey such person or persons to such parish where he or they were last legally settled either as a native householder sojourner apprentice or servant for the space of forty days at the least unless he or they give sufficient security for the discharge of the said parish to be allowed by the said Justices.

[II. Appeal to Quarter Sessions.

III. Persons allowed to go for the Harvest into another parish if they have a certificate of settlement in their original parish.

IV. Provision for setting up workhouses in London and within the Bills of Mortality.]

[VI. and XXIII. The President and Governors of such workhouses may set rogues and vagrants to work in the workhouse with the consent of the Privy Council. Justices of the Peace may sentence disorderly persons and "sturdy beggars" to transportation not exceeding seven years.

Persons allowed to go for the harvest into another parish if they have a certificate of settlement in their original parish.

Provision made for setting up workhouses in London and within the Bills of Mortality. The President and Governors of such workhouses may set rogues and vagrants to work in the workhouse. Justices of the Peace may, with the leave of the Privy Council, sentence disorderly persons and "sturdy beggars" to transportation not exceeding seven years.][373]

[Footnote 373: Amended by 8 and 9 Wm. and Mary, 30. Persons with certificates from churchwardens of their parishes, acknowledging them to be inhabitants, not to be removed from any other parish till chargeable and then to be chargeable in the parish where the certificates were given. Any one receiving relief to wear a badge. Also by 35 Geo. III, 101. "No poor person shall be removed ... to the place of his or her last legal settlement, until such person shall have become actually chargeable to the parish."]

2. DEFOE'S PAMPHLET, "GIVING ALMS NO CHARITY" [D. Defoe, Giving Alms no Charity, etc.], 1704.

I humbly crave leave to lay these heads down as fundamental maxims, which I am ready at any time to defend and make out.

1. There is in England more labour than hands to perform it, and consequently a want of people, not of employment.

2. No man in England, of sound limbs and senses, can be poor merely for want of work.

3. All our workhouses, corporations and charities for employing the poor, and setting them to work, as now they are employed, or any Acts of Parliament, to empower overseers of parishes, or parishes themselves, to employ the poor, except as shall be hereafter excepted, are, and will be public nuisances, mischiefs to the nation which serve to the ruin of families and the increase of the poor.

4. That it is a regulation of the poor that is wanted in England, not a setting them to work.

* * * * *

The poverty and exigence of the poor in England is plainly derived from one of these two particular causes,

Casualty or Crime.

By Casualty, I mean sickness of families, loss of limbs or sight, and any, either natural or accidental, impotence as to labour.

The crimes of our people, and from whence their poverty derives, as the visible and direct fountains are:

1. Luxury. 2. Sloth. 3. Pride.

This is so apparent in every place, that I think it needs no explication; that English labouring people eat and drink, but especially the latter, three times as much in value as any sort of foreigners of the same dimensions in the world.

* * * * *

There is a general taint of slothfulness upon our poor, there is nothing more frequent, than for an Englishman to work till he has got his pocket full of money, and then go and be idle, or perhaps drunk, till it is all gone, and perhaps he himself in debt; and ask him in his cups what he intends, he will tell you honestly, he will drink as long as it lasts, and then go to work for more.

3. THE WORKHOUSE TEST ACT [Statutes, 9 Geo. I c. 7], 1722.

An Act for amending the laws relating to the settlement, employment and relief of the poor.

IV. And for the greater ease of parishes in the relief of the poor, be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that it shall and may be lawful for the churchwardens and overseers of the poor in any parish, town, township or place, with the consent of the major part of the parishioners or inhabitants of the same parish, town, township or place, in vestry, or other parish or public meeting for that purpose assembled, or of so many of them as shall be so assembled, upon usual notice thereof first given, to purchase or hire any house or houses in the same parish, township or place, and to contract with any person or persons for the lodging, keeping, maintaining and employing any or all such poor in their respective parishes, townships or places, as shall desire to receive relief or collection from the same parish, and there to keep, maintain and employ all such poor persons, and take the benefit of the work, labour and service of any such poor person or persons, who shall be kept or maintained in any such house or houses, for the better maintenance and relief of such poor person or persons, who shall be there kept or maintained; and in case any poor person or persons of any parish, town, township or place, where such house or houses shall be so purchased or hired, shall refuse to be lodged, kept or maintained in such house or houses, such poor person or persons so refusing shall be put out of the book or books where the names of the persons who ought to receive collection in the said parish, town, township or place, are to be registered, and shall not be entitled to ask or receive collection or relief from the churchwardens and overseers of the poor of the same parish, town or township; and where any parish, town or township shall be too small to purchase or hire such house or houses for the poor of their own parish only, it shall and may be lawful for two or more such parishes, towns or townships or places, with the consent of the major part of the parishioners or inhabitants, and with the approbation of any justice of peace dwelling in or near any such parish, town or place, signified under his hand and seal, to unite in purchasing, hiring, or taking such house, for the lodging, keeping and maintaining of the poor of the several parishes, townships or places so uniting, and there to keep, maintain and employ the poor of the parishes so uniting, and to take and have the benefit of the work, labour or service of any poor there kept and maintained, for the better maintenance and relief of the poor there kept, maintained and employed; and that if any poor person or persons in the respective parishes, townships or places so uniting, shall refuse to be lodged, kept and maintained in the house, hired or taken for such uniting parishes, townships or places, he, she or they so refusing, shall be put out of the collection-book, where his, her or their names were registered, and shall not be entitled to ask or demand relief or collection from the churchwardens and overseers of the poor in their respective parishes, townships or places; and that it shall and may be lawful for the churchwardens and overseers of the poor, with the consent of the major part of the parishioners or inhabitants, to contract with the churchwardens and overseers of the poor of any other parish, township or place, for the lodging, maintaining or employing, of any poor person or persons of such other parish, township or place, as to them shall seem meet; and in case any poor person or persons of such other parish, township or place, shall refuse to be lodged, maintained and employed in such house or houses, he, she or they so refusing, shall be put out of the collection-book of such other parish, township or place, where his, her or their names were registered, and shall not be entitled to ask, demand or receive any relief or collection from the churchwardens and overseers of the poor of his, her or their respective parish, township or place: provided always, that no poor person or persons, his, her or their apprentice, child or children, shall acquire a settlement in the parish, town or place, to which he, she or they are removed by virtue of this act. No person or persons shall be deemed, adjudged or taken, to acquire or gain any settlement in any parish or place, for or by virtue of any purchase of any estate or interest in such parish or place, whereof the consideration for such purchase doth not amount to the sum of thirty pounds, bona fide paid, for any longer or further time than such person or persons shall inhabit in such estate, and shall then be liable to be removed to such parish or place, where such person or persons were last legally settled, before the said purchase and inhabitancy therein.

VI. No person or persons whatsoever, who shall be taxed, rated or assessed to the scavenger or repairs of the highway, and shall duly pay the same, shall be deemed or taken to have any legal settlement in any city, parish, town or hamlet, for or by reason of his, her or their paying to such scavenger's rate or repairs of the highway as aforesaid; any law to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding.

4. GILBERT'S ACT [Statutes, 22 George III, c. 83], 1782.

An act for the better relief and employment of the poor.

Whereas notwithstanding the many laws now in being for the relief and employment of the poor, and the great sums of money raised for those purposes, their sufferings and distresses are nevertheless very grievous; and, by the incapacity, negligence, or misconduct of overseers, the money raised for the relief of the poor is frequently misapplied, and sometimes expended in defraying the charges of litigations about settlements indiscreetly and unadvisedly carried on....

VII. And be it further enacted, that it shall and may be lawful for two justices of the peace of the limit where such poor house shall be, or be so agreed to be situated, and they are hereby required, as soon as conveniently may be after such agreement shall have been made as aforesaid, upon application to them by two or more of the persons who shall have signed such agreement, and upon producing the same to them, to appoint one of the persons so recommended to be guardian of the poor for each of such parishes, townships, and places, in the form contained in the said schedule, No. VII, or to that or the like effect; and every such guardian shall attend the monthly meetings hereby directed to be holden, and execute the several powers and authorities given to guardians by this act, and shall have, and is hereby invested with, all the powers and authorities given to overseers of the poor by any other act or acts of parliament.

XVII. The guardians of the poor of the several parishes, townships and places which shall adopt the provisions of this act, shall provide a suitable and convenient house or houses, with proper buildings and accommodations thereto, when wanted.

And, to render the provisions of this act more practicable and beneficial, be it further enacted, that no person shall be sent to such poor house or houses, except such as are become indigent by old age, sickness, or infirmities, and are unable to acquire a maintenance by their labour; and except such orphan children as shall be sent thither by order of the guardian or guardians of the poor, with the approbation of the visitor; and except such children as shall necessarily go with their mothers thither for sustenance.

XXX. And, be it further enacted, that all infant children of tender years, and who, from accident or misfortune, shall become chargeable to the parish or place to which they belong, may either be sent to such poor house as aforesaid, or be placed by the guardian or guardians of the poor, with the approbation of the visitor, with some reputable person or persons in or near the parish, township, or place, to which they belong, at such weekly allowance as shall be agreed upon between the parish officers and such person or persons with the approbation of the visitor, until such child or children shall be of sufficient age to be put into service, or bound apprentice to husbandry, or some trade or occupation; and a list of the names of every child so placed out, and by whom and where kept, shall be given to the visitor; who shall see that they are properly treated, or cause them to be removed, and placed under the care of some other person or persons, if he finds just cause so to do; and when every such child shall attain such age, he or she shall be so placed out, at the expense of the parish, township, or place, to which he or she shall belong, according to the laws in being: provided nevertheless, that if the parents or relations of any poor child sent to such house, or so placed out as aforesaid, or any other responsible person, shall desire to receive and provide for any such poor child or children, and signify the same to the guardians at their monthly meeting, the guardians shall, and are hereby required to dismiss, or cause to be dismissed, such child or children from the poor-house, or from the care of such person or persons as aforesaid, and deliver him, her, or them, to the parent, relation, or other person so applying as aforesaid: provided also, that nothing herein contained shall give any power to separate any child or children, under the age of seven years, from his, her, or their parent or parents, without the consent of such parent or parents.

XXXI. And be it further enacted, that all idle or disorderly persons who are able, but unwilling, to work or maintain themselves and their families, shall be prosecuted by the guardians of the poor of the several parishes, townships, and places, wherein they reside, and punished in such manner as idle and disorderly persons are directed to be by the statute made in the seventeenth year of the reign of his late majesty King George the Second; and if any guardian shall neglect to make complaint thereof, against every such person or persons, to some neighbouring justice of the peace, within ten days after it shall come to his knowledge, he shall, for every such neglect, forfeit a sum not exceeding five pounds, nor less than twenty shillings, one moiety whereof, when recovered, shall be paid to the informer, and the other moiety to be disposed of as the other forfeitures are hereinafter directed to be applied.

XXXII. And be it further enacted, that where there shall be, in any parish, township, or place, any poor person or persons who shall be able and willing to work, but who cannot get employment, it shall and may be lawful for the guardian of the poor of such parish, township or place, and he is hereby required, on application made to him by or on behalf of such poor person, to agree for the labour of such poor person or persons, at any work or employment suited to his or her strength and capacity, in any parish, township or place, near the place of his or her residence, and to maintain, or cause such person or persons to be properly maintained, lodged, and provided for, until such employment shall be procured, and during the time of such work, and to receive the money to be earned by such work or labour, and apply it in such maintenance, as far as the same will go, and make up the deficiency, if any; and if the same shall happen to exceed the money expended in such maintenance, to account for the surplus, which shall afterwards, within one calendar month, be given to such poor person or persons who shall have earned such money, if no further expenses shall be then incurred on his or her account to exhaust the same. And in case such poor person or persons shall refuse to work, or run away from such work or employment, complaint shall be made thereof by the guardian to some justice or justices of the peace in or near the said parish, township, or place; who shall enquire into the same upon oath, and on conviction punish such offender or offenders, by committing him, her, or them, to the house of correction, there to be kept to hard labour for any time not exceeding three calendar months, nor less than one calendar month.

XLI. And whereas it frequently happens that poor children, pregnant women, or poor persons afflicted with sickness, or some bodily infirmity, are enticed, taken, or conveyed by parish officers, or other persons, from one parish or place to another, without any legal order of removal, in order to ease the one parish or place, and to burden the other with such poor person: for remedy thereof, be it further enacted, that, when any guardian, or other person or persons, shall so entice, take, convey, or remove, or cause or procure to be so enticed, taken, conveyed, or removed, any such poor person or persons from one parish or place to another, which shall adopt the provisions of this act, without an order of removal from two justices of the peace for that purpose, every person or persons so offending shall, for every such offence, forfeit a sum not exceeding twenty pounds, nor less than five pounds.

5. SPEENHAMLAND "ACT OF PARLIAMENT" [The Reading Mercury, May 11, 1795], 1795.

Berkshire, to wit.

At a General Meeting of the Justices of this County, together with several discreet persons assembled by public advertisement,[374] on Wednesday the 6th day of May, 1795, at the Pelican Inn in Speenhamland (in pursuance of an order of the last Court of General Quarter Sessions) for the purpose of rating Husbandry Wages, by the day or week, if then approved of, [names of those present]....

Resolved unanimously,

That the present state of the Poor does require further assistance than has been generally given them.

Resolved,

That it is not expedient for the Magistrates to grant that assistance by regulating the Wages of Day Labourers, according to the directions of the Statutes of the 5th Elizabeth and 1st James: But the Magistrates very earnestly recommend to the Farmers and others throughout the county, to increase the pay of their Labourers in proportion to the present price of provisions; and agreeable thereto, the Magistrates now present, have unanimously resolved that they will, in their several divisions, make the following calculations and allowances for relief of all poor and industrious men and their families, who to the satisfaction of the Justices of their Parish, shall endeavour (as far as they can) for their own support and maintenance.

That is to say,

When the Gallon Loaf of Second Flour, weighing 8lb. 11ozs. shall cost 1s.

Then every poor and industrious man shall have for his own support 3s. weekly, either produced by his own or his family's labour, or an allowance from the poor rates, and for the support of his wife and every other of his family, 1s. 6d.

When the Gallon Loaf shall cost 1s. 4d.

Then every poor and industrious man shall have 4s. weekly for his own, and 1s. and 10d. for the support of every other of his family.

And so in proportion, as the price of bread rise or falls (that is to say) 3d. to the man, and 1d. to every other of the family, on every 1d. which the loaf rise above 1s.

By order of the Meeting,

W. BUDD, Deputy Clerk of the Peace.[375]

[Footnote 374: Reading Mercury, May 4, contained an advertisement of a general meeting of justices "to limit, direct, and appoint the wages of day labourers."]

[Footnote 375: Simultaneously the Magistrates published a recommendation to overseers to grow potatoes, setting poor people to work and offering them one-third or one-fourth of the crop, and to sell at 1s. a bushel; also to get in a stock of peat, faggots, furze, etc., in the summer and to sell at a loss in the winter.]

6. THE WORKHOUSE SYSTEM [Eden, The State of the Poor, 1797, Vol. II, pp. 168-9], 1797.

Stanhope (Durham).

The poor have been farmed for many years: about fifteen years ago they were farmed for 250l.; but the expense has gradually increased since that period: the year before last, the expense was 495l., and last year 494l.; and the Contractor says that he shall lose 100l. by his last bargain, and will not take the poor this year under 700l. Twenty-two poor people are at present in the house, and 100 families receive weekly relief out of it: these out-poor, the Contractor says, will cost him 450l. for the year ending at May-day next. The Poor-house was built about fifteen years ago; it is, like most others in the hands of contractors, in a dirty state.

Preston (Lancashire)[376].

The number of poor in the workhouse a few weeks ago, was as follows:--

Men 26 Women 39 Boys 47 Girls 40 --- Total 152 ---

At present there are 158 or 159 in the house. The number of out-poor at present is 70; they cost about 10l. a week.

The workhouse is built on a tolerable plan, but wants apartments for the sick. There are 4 or 5 beds in a room: the bedsteads are made of iron, and the beds are stuffed with chaff: white-washing and other means of keeping the house clean, seem rather neglected. It is said that about 15 die in a year in the house. About 20 acres of land were inclosed from the common, for the use of the house, for keeping cows horses, and pigs; raising potatoes, etc.: this plot of ground is much improved by cultivation. Nothing is manufactured for the use of the house. The boys and girls are employed in weaving calicoes, till they are able to earn their living elsewhere. Old women wind cotton; a few, who can work, are employed in husbandry, gardening, and other occupations: no account of their earnings could be obtained.

St. Martin-in-the-Fields (London)[377].

The poor of this parish are partly relieved at home, and partly maintained in the workhouse in Castle-street, Leicester Fields. There are, at present, about 240 weekly out-pensioners, besides a considerable number of poor on the casual list. Of 573, the number of poor at present in the workhouse, 473 are adults and 100 children; of which 54 are boys, 21 girls, able to work, and 25 infants. Their principal employment is spinning flax, picking hair, carding wool, etc.; their annual earnings, on an average of a few years past, amount to about £150. It was once attempted to establish a manufacture in the house; but the badness of the situation for business, the want of room for workshops, and the difficulty of compelling the able poor to pay proper attention to work, rendered the project unsuccessful. Between 70 and 80 children belonging to this parish are, generally, out at nurse in the country: a weekly allowance of 3s. (lately advanced to 3s. 6d.) is paid with each child.

At 7 or 8 years of age, the children are taken into the house, and taught a little reading, etc., for three or four years, and then put out apprentices.

Bulcamp (Suffolk)[378].

The poor of 46 incorporated parishes in the hundred of Blything, are maintained in a house of industry, which is situated on an eminence in the parish of Bulcamp. The expense of erection was 12,000l.; the house was opened for the reception of the poor in October, 1766. The whole annual sum, to be paid by the parishes (which was fixed at the average of seven years' expenditure, previous to their incorporation), was 3,084l. 12s. 8d.; in 1780 half the debt was paid off, and the rates reduced one-eighth, or to 2,699l. 1s. 1d.; in June, 1791, the whole debt was discharged. The rates have been continued at the reduced sum of 2,699l. 1s. 1d. In 1793, the corporation found it necessary to apply to Parliament for farther powers, relative to the binding out poor children apprentices, which cost 350l. 15s.

The work done in this house is chiefly spinning for the Norwich manufacture: clothes and bedding, etc., for the house, are also made at home. The following were the last week's earnings: an account of the annual earnings could not be procured; but it appears that they have been about 8l. a week, or 400l. a year, for several weeks past.

Worsted spinners 4l. 3s. 1-3/4d. Tow spinners 1l. 12s. 1d. Sempstresses 0l. 7s. 3d. Tailors 0l. 9s. 0d. Knitters 0l. 8s. 0d. Weavers 0l. 7s. 0d. Shoemakers 0l. 16s. 0d. ----------------- Total earnings for one week 8l. 2s. 5-3/4d. -----------------

Number of paupers in the house in June, in each of the following years (the average number in the year must, probably, be more), and Table of Mortality:--

Years. No. of Persons. Deaths.

1782 297 87 1783 298 69 1784 265 76 1785 295 82 1786 143 70 1787 256 67 1788 290 52 1789 207 37 1790 192 18 1791 235 34 1792 243 9 1793 260 23 1794 270 37 -------- Average of 13 years 50-11/13 --------

The number at present in the house is 40 men, 60 women, and 255 children: total 355.

The house is very roomy and convenient. The beds are chiefly of feathers: the dormitories and other rooms are kept very clean. More work is done now than formerly; but owing to lowness of wages, the receipts have decreased.

The number of deaths is very great, and, I presume, rather arises from the number of old persons admitted into the house than from any inattention towards the sick.

[Footnote 376: Ibid., p. 368.]

[Footnote 377: Ibid., p. 440]

[Footnote 378: Ibid., p. 678.]

7. TWO VARIETIES OF THE ROUNDSMAN SYSTEM OF RELIEF [Eden, The State of the Poor, 1797, Vol. II, p. 29 and p. 384], 1797.

(a) Winslow (Buckinghamshire)

There seems to be a great want of employment: most of the labourers are (as it is termed), on the Rounds; that is, they go to work from one house to another round the parish. In winter sometimes 40 persons are on the rounds. They are wholly paid by the parish, unless the householders choose to employ them; and from these circumstances, labourers often become very lazy, and imperious. Children, above ten years old, are put on the rounds, and receive from the parish from 1s. 6d. to 3s. a week.

(b) Kibworth Beauchamp (Leicestershire)[379].

In the winter, and at other times, when a man is out of work, he applies to the overseer, who sends him from house to house, to get employ: the housekeeper, who employs him, is obliged to give him victuals, and 6d. a day; and the parish adds 4d. (total, 10d. a day) for the support of his family; persons working in this manner are called rounds-men, from their going round the village or township for employ.

[Footnote 379: Eden, The State of the Poor, Vol. II, p. 384.]

8. ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF THE ROUNDSMAN SYSTEM [Thomas Batchelor, The Agriculture of Bedfordshire (Agricultural Surveys), 1808, pp. 608-9], 1808.

Bedfordshire.

The increase of population has caused a deficiency of employment, which is so remarkable in some seasons, that a great proportion of the labourers "go the rounds." This practice is not modern; but as it is not supposed to be sanctioned by law, it may be proper to describe the nature of it, and its general consequences. When a labourer can obtain no employment he applies to the acting overseer, from whom he passes on to the different farmers all round the parish, being employed by each of them after the rate of one day for every 20l. rent. The allowance to a labourer on the rounds, is commonly 2d. per day below the pay of other labourers, which is found to be a necessary check upon those who love liberty better than labour. Boys receive from 4d. to 6d. per day on the rounds, the whole of which is often repaid to the farmers by the overseers. About half the pay of the men is returned in the same manner, and the farmers often receive in this way the amount of from 2d. to 4d. in the pound rent, which consequently causes the apparent expense of the poor to exceed the truth. The practice in question has a very bad effect on the industry of the poor: they are often employed in trivial business; the boys in particular are of little use in the winter season. The men are careful not to earn more than they receive, and seem to think it the safer extreme to perform too little rather than too much.

9. REPORT OF THE POOR LAW COMMISSION [_Report from Commission on the Poor Laws, 1834 (XXVII), pp. 297, 228, 47, 261-262, 306-307_], 1834.

We recommend, therefore, the appointment of a Central Board to control the administration of the Poor Laws; with such assistant Commissioners as may be found requisite; and that the Commissioners be empowered and directed to frame and enforce regulations for the government of workhouses, and as to the nature and amount of the relief to be given and the labour to be exacted in them, and that such regulations shall, as far as may be practicable, be uniform throughout the country.

* * * * *

It may be assumed that in the administration of relief, the public is warranted in imposing such conditions on the individual relieved, as are conducive to the benefit either of the individual himself, or of the country at large, at whose expense he is to be relieved.[380]

The first and most essential of all conditions, a principle which we find universally admitted, even by those whose practice is at variance with it, is that his situation on the whole shall not be made really or apparently so eligible as the situation of the independent labourer of the lowest class. Throughout the evidence it is shown, that in proportion as the condition of any pauper is elevated above the condition of independent labourers, the condition of the independent class is depressed; their industry is impaired, their employment becomes unsteady, and its remuneration in wages is diminished. Such persons, therefore, are under the strongest inducements to quit the less eligible class of labourers and enter the more eligible class of paupers. The converse is the effect when the pauper class is placed in its proper position, below the condition of the independent labourer. Every penny bestowed, that tends to render the condition of the paupers more eligible than that of the independent labourer, is a bounty on indolence and vice. We have found, that as the poor's rates are at present administered, they operate as bounties of this description to the amount of several millions annually.

* * * * *

Another evil connected with out-door relief, and arising from its undefined character, is the natural tendency to award to the deserving more than is necessary, or where more than necessary relief is afforded to all, to distinguish the deserving by extra allowances.[381] ... The whole evidence shows the danger of such an attempt. It appears that such endeavours to constitute the distributors of relief into a tribunal for the reward of merit, out of the property of others, have not only failed in effecting the benevolent intentions of their promoters, but have become sources of fraud on the part of the distributors, and of discontent and violence on the part of the claimants.

* * * * *

The chief specific measures which we recommend are:[382]--

First, that except as to medical attendance, and subject to the exception respecting apprenticeship hereinafter stated, all relief whatever to able-bodied persons or to their families, otherwise than in well-regulated workhouses (i.e., places where they may be set to work according to the spirit and intention of the 43rd of Elizabeth), shall be declared unlawful, and shall cease, in manner and at periods hereafter specified; and that all relief afforded in respect of children under the age of 16, shall be considered as afforded to their parents.

At least four classes are necessary:[383]--(1) The aged and really impotent; (2) The children; (3) The able-bodied females; (4) The able-bodied males. Of whom we trust that the two latter will be the least numerous classes. It appears to us that both the requisite classification and the requisite superintendence may be better obtained in separate buildings than under a single roof.... Each class might thus receive an appropriate treatment; the old might enjoy their indulgences without torment from the boisterous; the children be educated, and the able-bodied subjected to such courses of labour and discipline as will repel the indolent and vicious.

[Footnote 380: Ibid., p. 228.]

[Footnote 381: Ibid., p. 47.]

[Footnote 382: Ibid., pp. 261-2.]

[Footnote 383: p. 306-7.]

10. THE POOR LAW AMENDMENT ACT [Statutes, 4 and 5 Wm. IV, 76], 1834.

An Act for the Amendment and better Administration of the Laws relating to the Poor in England and Wales.

Whereas it is expedient to alter and amend the Laws relating to the Relief of poor Persons in England and Wales: Be it therefore enacted ... that it shall be lawful for His Majesty, His Heirs and Successors, by Warrant under the Royal Sign Manual, to appoint three fit persons to be Commissioners to carry this Act into execution....

XV. And be it further enacted, ... for executing the powers given to them by this Act the said Commissioners shall and are hereby authorized and required, from time to time as they shall see occasion, to make and issue all such rules, orders, and regulations for the management of the poor, for the government of workhouses and the education of the children therein, and for the management of parish poor children under the provisions of an Act made and passed in the seventh year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third, intituled An Act for the better Regulation of Parish poor Children of the several Parishes therein mentioned within the Bills of Mortality, and the superintending, inspecting, and regulating of the Houses wherein such poor children are kept and maintained, and for the apprenticing the children of poor persons, and for the guidance and control of all Guardians, Vestries, and Parish officers, so far as relates to the management or relief of the poor, and the keeping, examining, auditing, and allowing of accounts, and making and entering into contracts in all matters relating to such management or relief, or to any expenditure for the relief of the poor, and for carrying this Act into execution in all other respects, as they shall think proper; and the said Commissioners may, at their discretion, from time to time suspend, alter, or rescind such rules, orders, and regulations, or any of them: provided always that nothing in this Act contained shall be construed as enabling the said commissioners or any of them to interfere in any individual case for the purpose of ordering relief.

XXVI. And be it further enacted, that it shall be lawful for the said commissioners, by order under their hands and seal, to declare so many parishes as they may think fit to be united for the administration of the laws for the relief of the poor, and such parishes shall thereupon be deemed a Union for such purpose, ... but, notwithstanding ... each of the said parishes shall be separately chargeable with and liable to defray the expense of its own poor, whether relieved in or out of any such workhouse.

XXXVIII. And be it further enacted, that where any parishes shall be united by order or with concurrence of the said commissioners for the administration of the laws for the relief of the poor, a Board of Guardians of the poor for such Union shall be constituted and chosen, and the workhouse or workhouses of such Union shall be governed, and the relief of the poor in such Union shall be administered, by such Board of Guardians; and the said Guardians shall be elected by the ratepayers, and by such owners of property in the parishes forming such Union as shall in manner hereinafter mentioned require to have their names entered as entitled to vote as owners in the books of such parishes respectively.

11. OUTDOOR RELIEF PROHIBITORY ORDER [_11th Annual Report of the Poor Law Commissioners, pp. 29-33_], 1844.

Amended General Orders.--Regulating the Belief of Able-Bodied Poor Persons.

1. Every able-bodied person, male or female, requiring relief from any parish within any of the said Unions, shall be relieved wholly in the workhouse of the Union, together with such of the family of every such able-bodied person as may be resident with him or her, and they not be in employment, and together with the wife of every such able-bodied male person, if he be a married man, and if she be resident with him; save and except in the following cases:--

1st. Where such person shall require relief on account of sudden and urgent necessity.

2nd. Where such person shall require relief on account of any sickness, accident, or bodily or mental infirmity affecting such person, or any of his or her family.

* * * * *

4th. Where such person, being a widow, shall be in the first six months of her widowhood.

5th. Where such person shall be a widow, and have a legitimate child or legitimate children dependent upon her, and incapable of earning his, her, or their livelihood, and have no illegitimate child born after the commencement of her widowhood.

* * * * *

7th. Where such person shall be the wife, or child, of any able-bodied man who shall be in the service of Her Majesty as soldier, sailor, or marine.

* * * * *

Given under our hands and Seal of Office, this 21st day of December, in the year of our Lord 1 thousand 8 hundred and 44.

(Signed) GEO. NICHOLLS. G.C. LEWIS. EDWARD W. HEAD.

SECTION VI

FINANCE AND FOREIGN TRADE

1. Act abolishing Tenure by Knight Service, etc., 1660--2. Navigation Act, 1660--3. Proposals for Free Export of Gold and Silver, 1660--4. An Attack on the Navigation Acts, c. 1663--5. Free Coinage at the Mint Proclaimed, 1666--6. The East India Company and the Interlopers, 1684--7. Foundation of the Bank of England, 1694--8. The Need for the Recoinage of 1696--9. Speech by Sir Robert Walpole on the Salt Duties, 1732--10. Pitt's Sinking Fund Act, 1786--11. The Suspension of Cash Payments, 1797--12. Pitt's Speech on the Income Tax, 1798--13. Foreign Trade in the early Nineteenth Century, 1812--14. Debate on the Corn Law, 1815--15. The Corn Law of 1815--16. Free Trade Petition, 1820--17. The Foundation of the Anti-Corn-Law League, 1839--18. The Bank Charter Act, 1844--19. Debate on the Corn Laws, 1846.

This section illustrates various departments of Government policy: taxation and revenue (Nos. 1, 9 and 12), public debts (Nos. 7 and 10), fiscal and trade policy (Nos. 1, 2, 4, 6, 13-17, 19), the coinage (Nos. 3, 5 and 8), and the national Bank (Nos. 7, 11, and 18). The specimens of revenue policy begin with the Act by which Charles II abandoned feudal dues in exchange for a general and hereditary excise (No. 1). The principle involved in this transaction may be compared with Sir Robert Walpole's remarks on the question of justice in taxation (No. 9) and with Pitt's speech on introducing the Income Tax in 1798, which also gives a survey of the whole financial position and a defence of the policy of paying for wars out of hand (No. 12). The opposite policy, of war-loans, had been adopted earlier, and the French wars of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries established the funding system. An outline is given of the Sinking Fund by which it was supposed that this national liability could be reduced while it was being created (No. 10). The foundation of the Bank of England (No. 7) was an important step in the policy of national loans as well as an encouragement to the growth of capital and capitalist industry. The French wars at the end of the eighteenth century produced a crisis in the management of the Bank's reserve; an official report explains the causes of the panic which led to the suspension of cash payments and also shows the deliberate policy by which the suspension was continued till 1819 (No. 11). This was the first controversy of great importance on the subject of currency since the seventeenth century, when the government of Charles II had adopted the policy of allowing free export and free coinage of Gold and Silver (Nos. 3 and 5). The gradual deterioration of the coinage which led to the recoinage of 1696 is illustrated by a contemporary description (No. 8). The Bank Charter Act (No. 18) shows the financial aspect of rapid national expansion in the nineteenth century and the method adopted to give stability to credit by limiting the issue of unsupported paper currency, in the period before the triumph of the cheque system.

The Navigation Act of Charles the second's reign (No. 2) formed part of a system by which the State set itself to encourage particular industries and took a part in the struggle for commercial leadership. (See also Nos. 4 and 6.) The complications of this policy with considerations of revenue and particular interests rapidly increased, while the manufacturing export trade became more important (No. 13). A reaction led by the Economists had begun in the latter part of the eighteenth century. In the nineteenth century the battle raged over the special protection successfully claimed by the Agricultural Interest in the depression at the end of the Napoleonic wars (No. 15). The debates and petitions (No. 14, No. 16, No. 19) bristle with the new Political Economy. They also give an indication of the new social class created by the Industrial Revolution and of the struggle of the landowners with the North of England manufacturers who founded and financed the Anti-Corn-Law League, the most successful of all political associations for an economic object (No. 17).

AUTHORITIES

The most important modern authorities on taxation and finance are: Dowell, History of Taxation and Taxes; Seligman, The Income Tax; Kennedy, English Taxation,1640-1799: on currency and banking, Shaw, History of the Currency; Andréadés, History of the Bank of England; Thorold Rogers, The First Nine Years of the Bank of England; Bagehot, Lombard Street: on commercial and fiscal policy; Day, History of Commerce; Levi, History of British Commerce; Hewins, English Trade and Finance; Beer, The Old Colonial System and British Colonial Policy; Hertz, The Old Colonial System; Ashley, Surveys; Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce, Modern Times, and Rise and Decline of the Free Trade Movement; Bruce, Annals of the East India Company; Holland, The Fall of Protection; Morley, Life of Cobden; Trevelyan, Life of Bright; Nicholson, The English Corn Laws. Smart, Economic Annals of the Nineteenth Century, analyses economic debates, legislation and conditions in the early nineteenth century.

Bibliographies in Cunningham, op. cit., Day op. cit., Cambridge Modern History, Vols. VI and X, and Grant Robertson, England Under the Hanoverians.

Contemporary.--Parliamentary Paper, XXXV, 1869, gives a summary of public revenue and expenditure, 1688-1869. Important documents for financial history are contained in the seventeenth century Treasury Papers (ed. Shaw). The Advice of the Council of Trade on the Exportation of Gold and Silver, 1660, is in McCulloch's Collection of Tracts on Money. The official history of the suspension of cash payments is in the Reports of Committees on the Restriction in Payments, 1797 (XI), on the High Price of Gold, 1810 (III), and on Cash Payments, 1819 (III).

A collection of literary authorities on monetary questions was made by McCulloch, "A Select Collection of Scarce and Valuable Tracts on Money"; it includes Petty's Quantulumcunque, Isaac Newton's Representations, etc. For contemporary opinion on taxation and finance, see Petty, Taxes and Taxation Price; Observations on Reversionary Payments, and The State of the Public Debts; Smith, The Wealth of Nations, and the Speeches of Pitt (Everyman Series), and of Cobden (edited Bright and Rogers). For foreign commerce consult The Diary and Consultation Book of Fort St. George (ed. Pringle), and Reports of Commons Committee on Orders in Council, 1812, together with the pamphlet literature on Colonial policy (see Cunningham op. cit. and McCulloch's Select Collection of Tracts on Commerce).

1. ACT ABOLISHING TENURE BY KNIGHT SERVICE, ETC. [Statutes, 12 Charles II, 24], 1660.

It is hereby enacted that the Court of Wards and Liveries and all Wardships, Liveries, Primer-Seizins, and Ouster-le-mains, values, and forfeitures of marriages by reason of any tenure of the King's majesty or of any other knight's service, and all mean rates and all other gifts, grants, charges incident or arising for or by reason of wardships [etc.], be taken away and discharged. And that all fines for alienation, seizures, and pardons for alienations, tenure by homage [etc.], also Aide pur file marrier et pur farer fitz chivalier, and all other charges incident thereunto, be likewise taken away and discharged, as from February 24, 1645. And that all tenures by knight's service of the King, or of any other person and by knight service in capite, and by socage in capite of the King, and the fruits and consequents thereof--be taken away and discharged.

And all tenures of any Honours, manors, lands, tenements, or hereditaments of any estate of inheritance at the common law, held either of the King or of any other person or persons, bodies politic or corporate are hereby enacted to be turned into free and common socage to all intents and purposes.

[Purveyance and Pre-emption abolished.]

XIV. And now to the intent and purpose that his Majesty, his heirs and successors, may receive a full and ample recompence--there shall be paid unto the King's majesty his heirs and successors forever hereafter in recompence as aforesaid the several rates [etc.] following:--

[1s. 3d. a barrel of beer sold above 6s. a barrel. 3d. a barrel of beer sold at 6s. or below 6s. a barrel. 2d. a gallon of spirits imported. 3s. a barrel of beer imported. 1d. a gallon of aqua-vitae, etc.]

2. NAVIGATION ACT [Statutes, 12 Chas. II, 18], 1660.

An Act for the encouraging and increasing of shipping and navigation.

For the increase of shipping and encouragement of the navigation of this nation wherein, under the good providence and protection of God, the wealth, safety and strength of this kingdom is so much concerned; be it enacted by the King's most excellent majesty, and by the lords and commons in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority thereof, that from and after the first day of December one thousand six hundred and sixty, and from thenceforward, no goods or commodities whatsoever shall be imported into or exported out of any lands, islands, plantations or territories to his Majesty belonging or in his possession, or which may hereafter belong unto or be in the possession of his Majesty, his heirs and successors, in Asia, Africa or America, in any other ship or ships, vessel or vessels whatsoever, but in such ships or vessels as do truly and without fraud belong only to the people of England or Ireland, dominion of Wales or town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, or are of the built of and belonging to any the said lands, islands, plantations or territories, as the proprietors and right owners thereof, and whereof the master and three-fourths of the mariners at least are English.

And it is further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that no goods or commodities that are of foreign growth, production or manufacture, and which are brought into England, Ireland, Wales, the islands of Guernsey and Jersey, or town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in English-built shipping, or other shipping belonging to some of the aforesaid places, and navigated by English mariners, as aforesaid, shall be shipped or brought from any other place or places, country or countries, but only from those of the said growth, production or manufacture, or from those ports where the said goods and commodities can only, or are, or usually have been, first shipped for transportation, and from none other places or countries.

3. PROPOSALS FOR FREE EXPORTATION OF GOLD AND SILVER [McCulloch, Tracts on Money,1856, pp. 145], 1660.

Advice of his Majesty's Council of Trade, concerning the Exportation of Gold and Silver in Foreign Coins and Bullion.

[Concluded Dec. 11, 1660.]

... Supposing that it were of absolute necessity to restrain all money and bullion, once imported, to be kept within this kingdom. It then came under consideration whether either the laws hitherto made in that behalf are, or that it be possible to make a law, adequate to prevent the exportation thereof.

And here we were convinced, by experience, that the laws of this kingdom (hitherto made) have been of no effect to the end thereby designed; and looking abroad, as there are nowhere more strict and severe laws against the exportation of coin and bullion than in Spain and France, we found all to be to as little purpose.

We then, thirdly, enquired what loadstone attracted this metal by force of nature to itself, against all human providence or prevention; and soon found that it was alone the present course of trade and traffic throughout the world....

And therefore, in the fourth place, we discovered that, as it is impossible by any laws to restrain money and bullion against the use that traffic finds for the same; so also the adhering to this principle of restraining thereof discourageth, as well all natives as foreigners, to import any money or bullion--where the exportation thereof is forbidden them.

From whence, fifthly, the many advantages (thereby given away clearly to the stranger from the English) present themselves; for the stranger, knowing we must be furnished in one of these places for our occasions, make us pay dearly for our accommodation.

So that, to wind up all that has been said, the result of the several reasons and arguments herein summed up seemed to be this: that time and experience instruct, and the present state of traffic throughout the world require, that, for the increase of the stock of money in these your Majesty's kingdoms, some way of liberty for the exportation, at least of foreign coin and bullion, should be found out, and put in execution; which hath produced the humble advice offered in the preceding paper.

4. AN ATTACK ON THE NAVIGATION ACT[384] [P.R.O. Colonial Papers, Vol. XXXVI, No. 88], c. 1663.

To the King's Most Excellent Majesty.

The Humble Remonstrance of John Bland, of London, Merchant, on the behalf of the Inhabitants and Planters of Virginia and Maryland.

Most humbly representing unto your Majesty the inevitable destruction of these colonies, if so be that the late Act for increase of trade and shipping be not as to them dispensed with; for it will not only ruinate the inhabitants and planters, but make desolate the largest, fertilist, and most glorious plantations under Your Majesty's Dominion; the which, if otherwise suspended, will produce the greatest advantage to this nation's commerce and considerablest income to Your Majesty's revenue, that any part of the world doth to which we trade. [Rejoinder to argument that the Dutch prohibit English trade with their Indian Dominions. The American colonies are in need of customers. Why should the Dutch be prevented from dealing with them?]

Virginia and Maryland are colonies, which though capable of better commodities, yet for the present afford only these, tobacco chiefly, then in the next place corn and cattle, commodities almost in every country whatever to be had; withal they are such commodities, that except purchased in these plantations so cheap as not elsewhere so to be had, none would ever go thither to fetch them, no, not we ourselves. Which being so, then certainly it cannot stand with wisdom to hinder the Hollanders from going thither.

Then again, if you keep thence the Hollanders, can it be believed that from England more ships will be sent than are able to bring thence what tobacco England will spend? If they do bring more, must they not lose both stock and block, principal and charges?...

A further prejudice doth evidently attend the commerce by this Act, not only in debarring Hollanders from trading to these colonies, but thereby we do likewise debar ourselves; for, by the Act, no English ships can load any goods in Virginia and Maryland to transport to any country but our own territories.... I demand then, if it would not be better to let our English ships, loading in those colonies, to go whither they please, and pay in the places where they do trade (if it will not be dispensed with otherwise), the same customs to your Majesty as they should have done in England, or give bills from thence to pay it in England? Certainly this would be more beneficial to the commerce, and security both for the ships and goods, and advantageous to your Majesty; for whilst they are coming to England they might be at the end of their intended voyages and obtain a market, which haply in England could not be had....

If that notwithstanding what is by the foregoing particulars declared, it may seem reasonable that the Act shall stand in force.... Then let me on behalf of the said colonies of Virginia and Maryland make these following proposals which I hope will appear but equitable; and I dare undertake for them, that they will be very well satisfied, that those few tobacconists that have engrossed that trade into their hands, shall still continue in it without moving further against them therein.

First, that the traders to Virginia and Maryland from England shall furnish and supply the planters and inhabitants of these colonies with all sorts of commodities and necessaries which they may want or desire, at as cheap rates and prices as the Hollanders used to have when the Hollander was admitted to trade hither.

Secondly, that the said traders out of England to these colonies shall not only buy of the planters such tobacco in the colonies as is fit for England, but take off all that shall be yearly made by them, at as good rates and prices as the Hollanders used to give....

By way of accommodation this I propose. Let all Hollanders and other nations whatsoever freely trade into Virginia and Maryland, and bring thither and carry thence whatever they please, and to counterpoise the cheapness of their sailing, with dearness of our ships, to pay a set duty and imposition that may countervail the same; and when what they paid formerly will not do it, let it be doubled and trebled, as shall be thought meet, yet still with this caution, that it may not make it as bad as if they were totally prohibited.

In the next place, that all English ships that do go thither to trade, and carry goods to any other country besides England, may be freed of any custom there, more than some certain duty to the use of the colonies....

[Footnote 384: Quoted in The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. I, pp. 142-145.]

5. FREE COINAGE OF BULLION AT THE MINT PROCLAIMED [Statutes, 18 Chas. II, 5], 1666.

Whereas it is most obvious that the plenty of current coins of gold and silver of this kingdom is of great advantage to trade and commerce ... be it enacted ... that whatsoever person or persons, native or foreigner, alien or stranger, shall from and after the twentieth day of December one thousand six hundred sixty and six, bring in any foreign coin, plate or bullion of gold or silver, in mass, molten or alloyed, or any sort of manufacture of gold or silver, into his Majesty's mint or mints within the kingdom of England, to be there melted down and coined into the current coins of this kingdom, shall have the same there assayed, melted down and coined with all convenient speed, without any defalcation, diminution or charge for the assaying, coinage or waste in coinage: so as that for every pound troy of crown or standard gold that shall be brought in and delivered by him or them ... there shall be delivered ... a pound troy of the current coins of this kingdom, of crown or standard gold.

6. THE EAST INDIA COMPANY AND THE INTERLOPERS [Diary and Consultation Book of Fort St. George, Ed. Pringle Series I, Vol. III, p. 49], 1684.

To Sir John Wetwangs, Commander of ship Royal James.

His Majesty the King of England our Sovereign Lord having granted the Honourable East India Company full power and authority to enter into any ship or vessel, and to make seizure of the same, that shall be found in these parts of the East Indies, contrary to his royal will and pleasure,[385] ... we therefore, the Agent and Council of Fort St. George, for the said Honourable East India Company, do ... (there being now an Interlopers' ship, the Constantinople, merchant, John Smith, master, at Covelon), require you immediately to repair aboard your ship, weigh anchor, and set sail for that port of Covelon, and there seize upon the said Interlopers' ship and bring her into this Road of Madras.... Dated in Fort St. George the sixth day of June, 1684.

WILLIAM GYFFORD. JOHN BIGRIG. ELIHU YALE. JOHN NICKS. JOHN LITTLETON. JOHN GRAY.

[Footnote 385: New Charter granted Aug. 9, 1683.]

7. FOUNDATION OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND [_Statutes, 5 & 6, Wm. & Mary, 20_], 1694.

An Act for granting to their Majesties several rates and duties upon tunnage of ships and vessels, and upon beer, ale, and other liquors, for securing certain recompences and advantages in the said act mentioned, to such persons as shall voluntarily advance the sum of fifteen hundred thousand pounds, towards the carrying on the war against France.

XIX. And be it farther enacted by the authority aforesaid, that it shall and may be lawful to and for their Majesties, by commission under the great seal of England, to authorize and appoint any number of persons to take and receive all such voluntary subscriptions as shall be made on or before the first day of August, which shall be in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred ninety four, by any person or persons, natives or foreigners, bodies politic or corporate.

XX. And be it further enacted, that it shall and may be lawful to and for their Majesties, by letters patents under the great seal of England, to limit, direct, and appoint, how and in what manner and proportions, and under what rules and directions, the said sum of twelve hundred thousand pounds, part of the said sum of fifteen hundred thousand pounds, and the said yearly sum of one hundred thousand pounds, part of the said yearly sum of one hundred and forty thousand pounds, and every or any part or proportion thereof, may be assignable or transferable, assigned or transferred, to such person or persons only as shall freely and voluntarily accept of the same, and not otherwise; and to incorporate all and every such subscribers and contributors, their heirs, successors, or assigns, to be one body corporate and politic, by the name of the governor and company of the bank of England, and, by the same name of the governor and company of the bank of England, to have perpetual succession, and a common seal.

XXVIII. Provided, that nothing herein contained shall any ways be construed to hinder the said corporation from dealing in bills of exchange, or in buying or selling bullion, gold, or silver, or in selling any goods, wares, or merchandize whatsoever, which shall really and bona fide be left or deposited with the said corporation for money lent and advanced thereon, and which shall not be redeemed at the time agreed on, or within three months after, or from selling such goods as shall or may be the produce of lands purchased by the said corporation.

8. THE NEED FOR THE RECOINAGE OF 1696 [_H. Haynes, Brief Memoirs Relating to the Silver and Gold Coins of England (in Lansdowne MSS, 801, British Museum_), fs. 33-48].

The silver money of England as well as the coins of all other countries are liable to abuse by these three following methods:

1st, by alteration of the standard appointed by public authority.

2nd, by melting them down and converting the metal to other uses.

3rd, by exporting them into foreign countries, to carry on a trade.

And by all those methods was the whole stock of the cash of this kingdom excessively impaired before the late grand coinage.

For 1st. the standard of our silver moneys appointed by the Government was notoriously violated. By standard is here meant that particular weight and fineness in the silver moneys which was settled by Queen Elizabeth and continued all her time, and after it, through the reigns of all her several successors down to her present Majesty, and was lately confirmed by Act of Parliament....

These were the just weights, and the legal fineness of our silver moneys coined with the hammer, of which sort the far greater part of the cash of the whole kingdom did consist; but they were very liable to be clipped and diminished in their weight, because very few of these pieces were of a just assize when they first came out of the Mint. So many pieces, I suppose, were by the Moneyers cut out of a bar of standard silver, as did pretty exactly answer the pound weight Troy; and the tale of the pieces required in that weight, by the Indenture of the Mint: but though all the pieces together might come near the pound weight or be within remedy; yet divers of them compared one with the other were very disproportionable, as was too well known to many persons, who picked out the heavy pieces, and threw them into the melting pot, to fit them for exportation, or to supply the silver smiths.

[Pieces of hammered money, "though never clipped, did many of them in their weight and value want or exceed the legal standard." Crowns varied from 5s. 3d. to 4s. 9d., half-crowns from 3s. to 2s. 4d., etc.]

According to the best observation of Goldsmiths[386] and others the clipping of our coins began to be discoverable in great receipts a little after the Dutch war in 1672, but it made no great progress at first for some years: and the silver moneys of Queen Elizabeth were very little diminished.... But the yearly loss by clipping made terrible advances every year from 1686.... In the later end of 1695[387] the public loss upon all the clipped money then actually current (if one may judge of the whole by the foregoing table) was at least 45 per cent. by mere clipping and light counterfeit pieces, which upon the whole running silver cash of the kingdom amounts to 2,250,000l.[388] ...

The whole kingdom was in a general distraction by the badness of the silver coin and the rise of guineas, for no one knew what to trust to; the landlord knew not in what to receive his rents, nor the tenant in what to pay them. Neither of them could foretell the value of his moneys to-morrow. The merchant could not foresee the worth of his wares at two or three days distance, and was at a loss to set a price upon his goods. Everybody was afraid to engage in any new contracts, and as shy in performing old ones, the King subsisted his forces in foreign parts at the disadvantage of seven or eight per cent. interest and five per cent. premio for money borrowed here, besides the loss by the Exchange abroad: and how to provide for the next year's expense, was a mystery.

[Footnote 386: Ibid. folio 38.]

[Footnote 387: Ibid. folio 40.]

[Footnote 388: Ibid. folio 48.]

9. SPEECH BY SIR ROBERT WALPOLE ON THE SALT DUTIES [Parliamentary History (Cobbett), Vol. VIII, Col. 943], 1732.

_House of Commons. Debate on Sir Robert Walpole's motion for Salt Duties. February 9, 1732._

Sir Robert Walpole stood up and spoke as follows:--

Mr. Speaker,

As there is nothing his Majesty has more at heart than the giving all possible ease to his subjects; so, whenever he is necessarily obliged to desire assistance from them for the immediate support of the government, he desires that they would choose those ways and means for raising the annual supplies, which are least burthensome to the people, and which makes the load fall equally upon the subjects in general. When money is to be raised for the public good, for the security of all, he thinks that every one ought to contribute his share, in proportion to the benefit that he is thereby to receive.

As to the manner, sir, of raising taxes upon the people, it is a certain maxim that that tax which is the most equal and the most general, is the most just, and the least burthensome. Where every man contributes a small share, a great sum may be raised for the public service, without any man's being sensible of what he pays; whereas a small sum, raised upon a few, lies heavy upon each particular man, and is the more grievous, in that it is unjust; for where the benefit is mutual, the expense ought to be in common. Of all the taxes I ever could think of, there is not one more general nor one less felt, than that of the duty upon salt. The duty upon salt is a tax that every man in the nation contributes to according to his circumstances and condition in life; every subject contributes something; if he be a poor man, he contributes so small a trifle, it will hardly bear a name; if he be rich, he lives more luxuriously, and consequently contributes more; and if he be a man of a great estate, he keeps a great number of servants, and must therefore contribute a great deal. Upon the other hand, there is no tax that ever was laid upon the people of this nation, that is more unjust and unequal than the Land Tax. The landholders bear but a small proportion to the people of this nation, or of any nation; yet no man contributes any the least share to this tax, but he that is possessed of a land estate; and yet this tax has been continued without intermission for above these 40 years.

10. PITT'S SINKING FUND ACT [Statutes, 26 Geo. III, 31], 1786.

An Act for vesting certain sums in commissioners, at the end of every quarter of a year, to be by them applied to the reduction of the national debt.

[£250,000 is to be set apart quarterly out of the sinking fund.]

IV. Provided always, and be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, that if at any time it should happen, that at the end of the year ending the fifth day of January, one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven, or at the end of any future year, computed as aforesaid, after provision shall have been made for all payments for which monies are previously to be set apart or issued according to the directions of this act, the said surpluses, excesses, and overplus monies, composing the sinking fund, shall not be sufficient to make good as well all such deficiencies as shall have arisen during such year, as the payment of the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand pounds then due, in every such case, the amount of such deficiency or deficiencies, whether the same shall have arisen in any preceding quarter or quarters within such year, or in the quarter ending on the fifth day of January on which such year shall end, shall not be carried forward as a charge on the said sinking fund at the end of the next succeeding quarter, but shall be made good out of any aids or supplies which shall be or shall have been granted by parliament for the service of the then current year; and the amount of such deficiency or deficiencies so to be made good, shall be issued to the governor and company of the bank of England, in the manner hereinafter directed, within ten days after monies sufficient to answer the same shall have been paid into his Majesty's receipt of exchequer, on account of any such aids or supplies.

V. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the monies so set apart, at the end of any quarter of a year ending as aforesaid, or of any year computed as aforesaid either for the payment of the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand pounds due at the end of such quarter, or of any part thereof, or for making good such deficiency or deficiencies as aforesaid, shall forthwith be issued and paid to the governor and company of the bank of England, and shall by them be placed to an account to be raised in their books, and to be intituled, The account of the commissioners appointed by act of parliament for applying certain sums of money annually to the reduction at the national debt: and that as well all such monies, as any other monies which shall be paid to the governor and company of the bank of England by virtue of this act, to be placed to the said account, shall be applied by the commissioners hereinafter appointed towards the reduction of the national debt, in the manner hereinafter directed, and to no other intent or purpose, and in no other manner whatever.

X. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that all monies whatever, which shall be placed from time to time to the account of the said commissioners by virtue of this act, shall be applied by them either in payments for the redemption of such redeemable public annuities as shall be at or above par, in such manner and at such periods as shall be directed by any future act or acts of parliament, or to the purchase of any public annuities below par in the manner hereinafter directed.

11. THE SUSPENSION OF CASH PAYMENTS [Reports of Committees on Bank of England, 1797 and 1826, in Reports 1826 (III), pp. 142 and 255-256], 1797.

The alarm of Invasion [in 1796-1797] which, when an immediate attack was first apprehended in Ireland, had occasioned some extraordinary demand for cash on the Bank of England, in the months of December and January last, began in February to produce similar results in the north of England. Your Committee find, that in consequence of this apprehension, the farmers suddenly brought the produce of their lands to sale, and carried the notes of the County Banks, which they had collected by those and other means, into those banks for payment; that this unusual and sudden demand for cash reduced the several banks at Newcastle to the necessity of suspending their payments in specie, and of availing themselves of all the means in their power of procuring a speedy supply of cash from the metropolis; that the effects of this demand on the Newcastle banks and their suspension of payments in cash, soon spread over various parts of the country, from whence similar applications were consequently made to the metropolis for cash; that the alarm thus diffused not only occasioned an increased demand for cash in the country, but probably a disposition in many to hoard what was thus obtained; that this call on the metropolis, through whatever channels, directly affected the Bank of England, as the great repository of cash, and was in the course of still further operation upon it, when stopped by the Minute of Council of the 26th of February.[389]

* * * * *

Your Committee find, that the Court of Directors of the Bank did, on the 26th October 1797, come to a Resolution, a copy of which is subjoined to this Report.

Your Committee, having further examined the Governor and Deputy Governor, as to what may be meant by the political circumstances mentioned in that resolution, find, that they understand by them, the state of hostility in which the nation is still involved, and particularly such apprehensions as may be entertained of invasion, either in Ireland or in this country, together with the possibility there may be of advances being to be made from this country to Ireland; and that from these circumstances so explained, and from the nature of the war, and the avowed purpose of the enemy to attack this country by means of its public credit, and to distress it in its financial operations, they are led to think that it will be expedient to continue the restriction now subsisting, with the reserve for partial issues of cash, at the discretion of the Bank, of the nature of that contained in the present Acts; and that it may be so continued, without injury to the credit of the Bank, and to the advantage of the nation.

"Resolved, that it is the opinion of this Court,[390] that the Governor and Company of the Bank of England are enabled to issue Specie, in any manner that may be deemed necessary for the accommodation of the public; and the Court have no hesitation to declare that the affairs of the Bank are in such a state, that it can with safety resume its accustomed functions, if the political circumstances of the country do not render it inexpedient: but the Directors deeming it foreign to their province to judge of these points, wish to submit to the wisdom of Parliament, whether, as it has been once judged proper to lay a restriction on the payment of the bank in cash, it may, or may not, be prudent to continue the same?"[391]

[Footnote 389: The Minute of February 26, 1797, suspended the obligation of the Bank of England to pay coin for its notes.]

[Footnote 390: Copy of a Resolution of the Court of Directors of the Bank of England at a meeting on Thursday, October 26, 1797.]

[Footnote 391: The Bank of England resumed cash payments, 1819.]

12. PITT'S SPEECH ON THE INCOME TAX [Speeches of William Pitt, edited W.S. Hathaway, 1806, Vol. III, pp. 282-333], 1798.

I shall begin by stating what has been voted as the amount of the supply under the head of the services for the navy, with the exception of what is necessary for the transport services. All these accounts have this day been laid before us; and it appears that the total sum for the ordinaries and extra-ordinaries of the navy and transport services amounts to 13,642,000l., being the same sum, within a very small amount, as was granted in the course of last session, and which I have the satisfaction of assuring the committee is likely to prove sufficient for the whole expenses of the navy, without leaving any necessity for augmentation. The next head of expense is the army, in which the estimates amount to 8,840,000l. ... Under the head of ordnance services, including the expenses which have not been provided for, there has been voted the sum of 1,570,000l. The next article is that of the miscellaneous services. The plantation estimates have already been voted, but there are other minuter parts of these services which have not yet undergone a discussion in this house. The amount will be rather less than it was last session. I state it [at] 600,000l. To this is to be added the usual sum voted towards the redemption of the national debt, above the annual million, which is 200,000l. There are other sums, which are generally voted under the head of deficiency of grants. Among these is a sum due for interest on treasury and exchequer bills paid off, amounting to 565,000l.; the discount on prompt payments upon the loan, amounting to 210,000l.; the interest on exchequer bills circulated within the year, and charged upon the succeeding year, 300,000l.; in addition to this, there is the deficiency of the land and malt in the act passed two years ago, amounting to 300,000l. These sums swell the total of the supply to 29,272,000l. This total, sir, does not differ in any material degree from the amount of the supply of last session.

[He then estimates prospective sources of revenue:

Land and malt taxes 2,750,000l. Lottery 200,000l. Produce of the consolidated fund 1,500,000l. Import and Export taxes 1,700,000l. ------------- 6,150,000l.]

The remainder of the sum is that which must be raised either by a tax within the year, in the same manner as the assessed tax bill of last year, or by a loan. It will be to be considered, how the committee will divide that remaining sum between them. The sum to be provided for is upwards of twenty-three millions. Gentlemen will recollect that, in the debates upon the subject of the assessed taxes last session, two fundamental principles were established as the rule by which we should be guided in providing for the supplies for the service of the year. These were, first, to reduce the total amount to be at present raised by a loan; and next, as far as it was not reducible, to reduce it to such a limit, that no more loan should be raised than a temporary tax should defray within a limited time. In the first place, the tax acceded to by the House last session[392] was for the purpose of providing for the supplies of the year; and in the next place, for the purpose of extinguishing the loan raised in that year. From the modifications, however, which that measure underwent after its being first proposed, the produce of it was diminished to a considerable extent. Other means indeed were adopted to remedy the deficiency which was thus occasioned. The voluntary and cheerful efforts which, so honourably to individuals and to the country, came in aid of the assessed taxes, and the superior produce of the exports and imports beyond the estimate, brought the amount of the sums raised to that at which they had been calculated. The different articles were estimated at seven millions and a half, and this sum was fully covered by the actual receipts under the distinct heads. It gives me, indeed, the most heartfelt satisfaction to state, that notwithstanding the difficulties which the measure encountered from the shameful evasion, or rather the scandalous frauds by which its effects were counteracted, the total amount which was expected has yet been realized. The meanness which shrunk from fair and equal contribution has been compensated to the public by the voluntary exertions of patriotism. The produce of the assessed taxes, under all the modifications, and all the evasions, is four millions. I had taken it at four and a half after the modifications. The deficiency is supplied by the excess on head of voluntary contributions....

Satisfactory as it must be to review the circumstances to which we owe those advantages, and the benefits which the mode of raising the supplies to a considerable extent adopted last session has produced, it is unnecessary for me to state that, however the principle may deserve our approbation, it is still much to be desired that its effects should be more extensive, and its application more efficient.... Every circumstance in our situation, every event in the retrospect of our affairs, every thing which strikes our view as we look around us, demonstrates the advantages of the system of raising a considerable part of the supplies within the year, and ought to induce us to enforce it more effectually to prevent those frauds, which an imperfect criterion and a loose facility of modification have introduced; to repress those evasions so disgraceful to the country, so injurious to those who honourably discharge their equal contribution, and, above all, so detrimental to the great object of national advantage which it is intended to promote. In these sentiments, our leading principle should be to guard against all evasion, to endeavour by a fair and strict application to realize that full tenth, which it was the original purpose of the measure of the assessed taxes to obtain, and to extend this as far as possible in every direction, till it may be necessary clearly to mark the modification, or to renounce, in certain instances, the application of it altogether. If then, the committee assent to this principle, they must feel the necessity of following it up by a more comprehensive scale and by more efficient provisions. They will perceive the necessity of obtaining a more specific statement of income, than the loose scale of modification, which, under the former measure, permitted such fraud and evasion. If such a provision be requisite to correct the abuses of a collection, to obviate the artifices of dishonesty, to extend the utility of the whole system, it will be found that many of the regulations of the old measure will be adapted to a more comprehensive and efficient application of the principle. If regulations can be devised to prevent an undue abatement, and to proportion the burden to the real ability, means must be employed to reach those resources which, primâ facie, it is impossible under the present system of the assessed taxes to touch. While inaccuracy, fraud, inequality, be grievances which it is desirable to remedy, it will be an additional satisfaction, that when compelled to adopt means to prevent the defects of which we complain, we shall be enabled likewise to improve and to extend the benefits we have obtained. The experience which we have had upon the subject, proves that we must correct and remedy, in order to secure the advantages which the measure is calculated to afford. It is in our power to make them our own. I think I can show that whatever benefit the principle upon which we have begun to act, is fitted to bestow, may by a liberal, fair and efficient application, be carried to an extent far greater than has yet been obtained, an extent equal to every object of great and magnanimous effort, to every purpose of national safety and glory, to every advantage of permanent credit and of increased prosperity.

Impressed then with the importance of the subject, convinced that we ought, as far as possible, to prevent all evasion and fraud, it remains for us to consider, by what means these defects may be redressed, by what means a more equal scale of contributions can be applied, and a more extensive effect obtained. For this purpose it is my intention to propose, that the presumption founded upon the assessed taxes shall be laid aside, and that a general tax shall be imposed upon all the leading branches of income. No scale of income indeed which can be devised will be perfectly free from the objection of inequality, or entirely cut off the possibility of evasion. All that can be attempted is, to approach as near as circumstances will permit to a fair and equal contribution.... The details of a measure which attempts an end so great and important, must necessarily require serious and mature deliberation. At present all that I can pretend to do is, to lay before the committee an outline of the plan which endeavours to combine every thing at which such a measure ought to aim. This outline I shall now proceed to develop to the committee as clearly and distinctly as I am able.

* * * * *

The next point for consideration then, is the mode of contribution which shall be adopted. On this head it is my intention to propose that no income under 60l. a year shall be called upon to contribute, and that the scale of modification up to 200l. a year, as in assessed taxes, shall be introduced with restriction. The quota which will then be called for ought to amount to a full tenth of the contributor's income. The mode proposed of obtaining this contribution differs from that pursued in the assessed taxes, as instead of trebling their amount, the statement of income is to proceed from the party himself.

[A detailed estimate of income from different sources follows. One-fifth is deducted to allow for the remission of taxation on incomes under 60l. and graduation under 200l. from 1/120 to 1/10.]

For the sake of greater clearness I will recapitulate the heads in the same order that I have followed:--

The land rental, then, after deducting one-fifth, I estimate at 20,000,000l.

The tenant's rental of land, deducting two-thirds of rack rent, I take at 6,000,000l.

The amount of tythes, deducting one-fifth 4,000,000l.

The produce of mines, canal navigation, etc., deducting one-fifth 3,000,000l.

The rental of houses, deducting one-fifth 5,000,000l.

The profits of professions 2,000,000l.

The rental of Scotland, taking it at one-eighth of that of England 5,000,000l.

The income of persons resident in Great Britain drawn from possessions beyond seas 5,000,000l.

The amount of annuities, from the public funds, after deducting one-fifth for exemptions and modifications 12,000,000l.

The profits on the capital employed in our foreign commerce 12,000,000l.

The profits on the capital employed in domestic trade, and the profits of skill and industry 28,000,000l. ------------ In all 102,000,000l. ------------

Upon this sum a tax of 10 per cent. is likely to produce 10,000,000l. a year, and this is the sum which is likely to result from the measure, and at which I shall assume it.

* * * * *

I trust that it will not be necessary for me to go into any detail of argument to convince the committee of the advantages of the beneficial mode adopted last session, of raising a considerable part of the supplies within the year.... It will be manifest to every gentleman on the slightest consideration of the subject, that, in the end, the measure of raising the supplies within the year is the cheapest and the most salutary course that a wise people can pursue; and when it is considered that there is a saving of at least one-twelfth upon all that is raised, gentlemen will not suffer a superstitious fear, and jealousy of the danger of exposing the secrecy of income, to combat with a measure that is so pregnant with benefits to the nation. If gentlemen will take into their consideration the probable duration of peace and war, calculated from the experience of past times, they will be convinced of the immeasurable importance of striving to raise the supplies within the year, rather than accumulating a permanent debt. The experience of the last hundred, fifty, or forty years, will show how little confidence we can have in the duration of peace, and it ought to convince us how important it is to establish a system that will prepare us for every emergency, give stability to strength, and perpetual renovations to resource. I think I could make it apparent to gentlemen that in any war, of the duration of six years, the plan of funding all the expenses to be incurred in carrying it on, would leave at the end of it a greater burden permanently upon the nation than would be sustained, than they would have to incur for the six years only of its continuance, and one year beyond it, provided that they made the sacrifice of a tenth of their income. In the old, unwise, and destructive way of raising the supplies by a permanent fund, without any provision for its redemption, a war so carried on entails the burden upon the age and upon their posterity for ever. This has, to be sure, in a great measure, been done away and corrected, by the salutary and valuable system which has been adopted of the redemption fund. But that fund cannot accomplish the end in a shorter period than forty years, and during all that time the expenses of a war so funded must weigh down and press upon the people. If, on the contrary, it had at an earlier period of our history been resolved to adopt the present mode of raising the supplies within the year; if, for instance, after the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, the scheme of redemption had been adopted and persevered in to this time, we should not now, for the seventh year of the war, have had more to raise from the pockets of the people than what we have now to pay of permanent taxes, together with about a fourth of what it would be necessary to lay on in addition for this year. Fortunately, we have at last established the redemption fund: the benefits of it are already felt; they will every year be more and more acknowledged; and in addition to this it is only necessary, that instead of consulting a present advantage, and throwing the burden, as heretofore, upon posterity, we shall fairly meet it ourselves, and lay the foundation of a system that shall make us independent of all the future events of the world.[393]

[Footnote 392: The Triple Assessment, based on the individual's previous payment to the various taxes on expenditure which Pitt had grouped together as the Assessed Taxes.]

[Footnote 393: The income tax was recast in 1803, when Schedules of different sources of income, instead of a general return, were introduced. It was again revised in 1806. In 1816 it was repealed. Peel reintroduced it in 1842 for three years, and it then became permanent.]

13. FOREIGN TRADE IN THE EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY [Committee on Orders in Council, Reports 1812 (III), pp. 38, 40, 41, 132-133, 522-523], c. 1812.

[Evidence of Joseph Shaw, Chairman of Birmingham Chamber of Foreign Commerce and exporter of hardwares.]

Have you had occasion to make any estimate, founded upon your own inquiries, of the number of workmen employed in the Birmingham manufactory[394]--and the neighbouring towns? I never particularly estimated for the whole of them, but in the year 1808 I took an estimate of the people employed in the American trade.... Those that could be ascertained to be (as nearly as could be) exclusively employed in the American trade were 50,000, exclusive of the nail trade, which employed from twenty to thirty thousand [of whom two-thirds were engaged in the American trade].

* * * * *

Can you state to the Committee, from your observation, what proportion the foreign trade generally bears to the trade for home consumption?... I should think it was considerably more than one half, including the United States.

Do you think it would amount to two-thirds? I should think not far from it.... Do you think the foreign trade is equal to two-thirds of the whole manufacture?--When the foreign trade is the same as in the year 1810, not in its present state; it is now very different....

* * * * *

To what cause do you ascribe the diminution of your trade to the Continent?--The risk of sending goods into many ports of the Continent is too great....

* * * * *

Then it is the French, Berlin, and other decrees that have produced this diminution of your trade to the Continent?--To my own particular trade. I cannot say how it is as to others.

[Evidence of John Bailey, exporter and home factor of Sheffield goods.]

What are the principal articles manufactured at Sheffield?--They are very numerous, I can present a list of them to the House; the principal articles are cutlery, files, edged tools, saws, and a great variety of other heavy articles.

* * * * *

Can you speak to the population of Sheffield, and such parts of the neighbouring parishes as are concerned in the Sheffield manufacture?--The population of the parish of Sheffield, as returned by the overseers in the year 1811, was 53,000 odd; but including those parts of parishes in which Sheffield goods are manufactured, the population amounts to 60,000 at least.

Can you tell what proportion of hands are employed in manufacturing for the American market?--For the American market, about 4,000 male adults, and 2,000 women and children, making a total of 6,000.

* * * * *

How many do you estimate are employed in manufacturing for the home trade?--Six thousand male adults, and one thousand women and children.

How many do you calculate are employed in the remaining parts of the Sheffield trade, namely, manufactures for the foreign market, exclusive of the American?--Two thousand male adults, and one thousand women and children.

This last market includes Spain and Portugal?--Spain, Portugal, the West Indies, South America, and Canada, with some few other parts.

What proportion does the American market bear to the home market, as far as regards the Sheffield goods?--The American exports amount, as nearly as I have been able to ascertain, to one-third of the whole manufactures of Sheffield; the home trade to, I think, three-sixths.

[He adds that the American trade had been affected by the Orders in Council and the Non-importation Act of the United States. The home trade with towns in the American trade had been injured also. Goods to the value of £400,000 were waiting in Sheffield and Liverpool warehouses.]

* * * * *

[Evidence of Robert MacKerrell, London merchant, dealing in cottons and muslins, and manufacturer of Paisley.]

Can you inform the Committee what the state of the trade was in the years 1808, 1809, 1810, and 1811?--In 1807 we felt the whole effect of the Berlin decree, we were entirely excluded from the Continent; I speak with regard to my own transactions and those of a vast number of my friends. We had in 1807, and previous to that, trades to the South of Europe, particularly in Portugal, which were uninterrupted, but which were likewise put an end to by the French invasion in November of that year. In 1808 the trade revived considerably; a great quantity of our goods, and of English merchandise, was introduced into the Continent through Heligoland; considerable exports were made to the Baltic; the trade in the Mediterranean increased very considerably; a very great trade was opened to this country in consequence of the Royal Family of Portugal removing to the Brazils, which likewise made an opening to Spanish South America. In 1809 the trade through Heligoland was most extensive; Bonaparte had his hands full with the Emperor of Germany and with the Spaniards, and had no time to attend to the coast; the trade during that year I may say was uninterrupted. The trade to the Mediterranean increased very much; the quantity of goods taken out that year greatly exceeded any previous year, for reasons that at that time we could not account for. The trade to the Brazils was equally extensive with the year before, vast exportations took place to South America, and in general, trade in the line in which I am engaged was reckoned a fair trade; the markets were never heavy.

[The Orders in Council increased the English export trade to the South of Europe, and Africa and the Levant were supplied with English substitutes for Continental cottons and linens.]

What has been the state of your trade for the last eighteen months, and, as far as you have been informed, of the country in general?--The state of the trade during the last eighteen months has been depressed; for the last twelve months it has been recovering, but for the six months previous it was very much depressed indeed.

To what do you attribute that depression?--We attribute the depression of trade which took place to the effect of the Berlin and Milan decrees. [Northern Europe, the Baltic, etc., were shut against English trade, and English ships were sequestered even in Swedish ports.]

[Footnote 394: Brassfounding, hardware, plated ware, jewellery, etc.]

14. DEBATE ON THE CORN LAW [Parliamentary History, 1st Series, Vol. XXIX, Cols. 798-818], 1815.

House of Commons. February 17, 1815.

The State of the Corn Laws.

The Hon. Frederick Robinson immediately rose.... He had never disguised from himself, and he was not ashamed to confess it, the extreme difficulty, as well as the extreme importance, of this question. He could not, however, but feel that the prejudices on this subject had, from further inquiry, been very much removed. But, above all, he was happy to see that the misrepresentations, for so he thought they were, with respect to the motives of those who supported this measure, and with reference to the effects which it was likely to produce, were done away with. There did not now exist in the public mind the feeling by which it was before influenced. It was not now supposed that the object sought to be accomplished by the alteration of the corn law was the mean and base and paltry one of getting, for a particular class of society, a certain profit at the expense of the rest. "For my part," said Mr. Robinson, "I declare to God, if I thought this was the motive which actuated any individual who supported the alteration; and, above all, if I conceived that such would be the effect of the measure, no consideration on earth could tempt me to bring it forward." ...

* * * * *

... The general result of his reasoning was, in the first place, that it was quite impossible for us safely to rely on a foreign import. If they so did, a necessary result would be a diminution of our own produce, which would become more and more extensive every year, and consequently call for a greater annual supply from foreign countries--a supply which must progressively increase as the agriculture of the kingdom became less encouraged; and that, when the fatal moment arrived, the system of foreign supply would prove completely illusory.

The next point to be considered was the extent to which protection should be given. That was a point on which, undoubtedly, a difference of opinion was most likely to prevail. Some gentlemen would be for going considerably higher than others. Many thought the prohibition ought to be carried to a price considerably above that, without he obtained which it was conceived the agriculturalist could not cultivate. Others would wish that it should be placed much lower; and contend that because a particular species and degree of burden was likely to be removed, the protecting price ought to be much reduced. Now he would be inclined to agree to the first of these propositions, if the necessary effect of it would not be to bring up the price of corn to the highest possible rate, within the limits of the sum at which importation should commence. This certainly might be the case at the first moment, but he believed the ultimate result would not be so. He thought the final effect of the system would be to give such a powerful support to our own agriculture as would greatly increase the general produce of the country. It would excite a strong competition between the different parts of England, and between England and Ireland; so that the growth of corn, if Providence blessed us with favourable seasons, would be sufficiently large to afford an ample supply for the people of this country, and would enable them to be fed at a much cheaper rate, in the long run, than could be effected by the adoption of any other system.

* * * * *

Mr. Philips professed himself equally inclined either to proceed with, or defer the discussion, as might be most agreeable to the wishes of the House. Several members calling out "Go on," he began by stating his entire concurrence in the opinion of the right hon. gentleman who had moved the resolutions, that this was not a question on which the interests of the commercial and agricultural classes were at variance, but one in which those interests, when fairly and liberally considered, would be found to accord; for no resolution upon it calculated to promote the general prosperity of the country could be adopted without materially benefiting both classes. But if this were not the case, if the question were one in which the interests of two or more descriptions of our fellow-subjects were opposed, he should say that it was the duty of parliament not to legislate for the advantage of one class in contradistinction to, or at the expense of another, but to legislate for the benefit of the whole community. Looking at the question under the influence of this principle, he could not help feeling and expressing some surprise at the occasion of their present deliberations. What was the object of their deliberations? To provide a remedy for the low price of corn. That which all ages and countries had considered as a great national benefit was now discovered to be a great evil, against which we were imperiously called to legislate in self-defence. The real object of the resolutions, however disguised and disavowed, was to raise the price of corn. [Here Mr. Robinson expressed his dissent.] Mr. Philips proceeded to say that this not only was their object, but if that object were not attained, the advocates of the resolutions would regard them as nugatory. The right hon. gentleman must at least allow that their object was to raise the present price of grain; but he contended that moderation and uniformity of price would be their ultimate effect. It did seem somewhat inconsistent, on the part of the hon. gentleman, to tell the House that the effectual way to lower price was to acquiesce in a measure expressly intended to raise it. But how are this moderation and uniformity of price to be produced? By contracting the market of supply. Thus, while in all other instances moderation and uniformity of price are found to be in proportion to the extent of the market of supply, in the instance of corn they are to be in proportion to the limitation of it: and in a commodity peculiarly liable to be affected by the variation of seasons, moderation and uniformity of price, and abundance, are to be attained by preventing importations from foreign countries correcting the effect of varieties of climate, and of a scanty harvest in our own. To him it appeared that no measure could be better calculated to produce directly opposite consequences.

* * * * *

In considering the relation between the price of provisions and of labour, Mr. Philips observed that it was necessary to distinguish the countries and the trades from which examples were taken. In a new country where the value of land is extremely low, and agriculture rapidly progressive, in a new and thriving manufacture, the price of labour may be so high in proportion to that of the necessaries of life as to be little affected by their fluctuations.... But this state of things cannot exist in old manufactures, such as those generally established in this country, where competition has reduced profits, and that reduction of profit has brought the wages of the labourer to a level with his subsistence in tolerable comfort. In such manufactures if you raise the price of provisions without proportionately raising that of labour, to what privations and evils must you necessarily expose the labourer! He was ready to admit with the noble lord[395] that, ceteris paribus, the immediate effect of a high advance of provisions might probably be a reduction of the price of labour; because labourers being desirous of obtaining the same comforts that they had been used to, might be stimulated to more diligence. They might work sixteen hours a day instead of ten, and thus the competition for employment being increased among the same number of workmen, without any increase of demand, the price of labour might fall. But will any person contend that this state of affairs can long continue? The labourer must go to the parish, or turn to some more profitable employment, if by chance any can be found, or he must emigrate, or work himself out by overstrained exertion. The proportion being then altered between the demand for labour and the supply, its price will rise. This effect sooner or later must happen, but till it has actually taken place how dreadful must be the situation of the labourer!

* * * * *

Having thus shown both by reasoning and by reference to facts, that the price of provisions must ultimately and on the average regulate that of labour, he proceeded to show the effect that an advance of provisions must have on our manufacturing interests. And here Mr. Philips said that he wished on such topics, to reduce his reasoning as much as possible to numerical calculation. He would suppose, for the sake of argument, without at all entering into the enquiry, that three-fifths, or 60 per cent. of the labourer's wages were spent in provisions, and that provisions were 80 per cent. dearer here than they were in France, or any manufacturing country on the continent. By multiplying 60 by 80, and dividing by 100, the committee would see that the excess of the price of labour here above that of France would, from these datas, and according to his reasoning, be 48 per cent. He wished the committee to consider what must be the effect of such an excessive price of labour employed in our manufactures, when compared with the low price of labour employed in the manufactures of France, and what an advantage it must give to the French manufacturers in their attempts to rival us on the continent.

* * * * *

[After quoting Malthus] he observed that there were two ways of equalising subsistence and population, one by increasing food, the other by limiting population, and warned the committee against being led into measures whose tendency might be to produce that effect in the latter way. Why (said Mr. Philips) should a commercial and manufacturing country like this have such a jealousy and dread of the importation of corn? An importation of corn cannot take place without a corresponding export of commodities on which British industry has been employed. The export will increase your wealth, that wealth will increase your population, and that increased population will produce an increased demand for your agricultural produce.... Mr. Philips observed that no country in the world was so interested as this in establishing the principle of free trade, because no other country could profit equally by the general recognition of that principle. Foreign nations, mistaking, like the advocates of the regulation before the committee, the circumstances which have operated against our wealth for the causes of it, are now following our example. They are prohibiting or imposing restraints on the import of our fabrics, in order to encourage their own manufactures, from which they will receive inferior fabrics at a higher price. Let us convince them, by an example, of their mistake. Let us convince them that by leaving industry and enterprise unfettered, and by allowing capital to take its natural and voluntary direction, we are persuaded that the true interests of this country and of every other will be most effectually promoted.

Mr. Philips proceeded to say that Great Britain was geographically a commercial country, that commerce had stimulated her agriculture rather than agriculture had stimulated her commerce. It had given wealth to her people, and diffused fertility over her soil. Take care, said he, that in attempting to change the natural character of your country, you do not stop the progress of national prosperity....

[Footnote 395: Lord Lauderdale in evidence before a committee of the House of Lords.]

15. THE CORN LAW OF 1815 [Statutes, 55 Geo. III, 26]

An Act to amend the laws now in force regulating the Importation of Corn.

[Corn may at all times be imported and warehoused free of duty.]

III. And be it further enacted, that such foreign corn, meal or flour, shall and may be permitted to be imported into the said United Kingdom, for home consumption, under and subject to the provisions and regulations now in force, without payment of any duty whatever, whenever the average prices of the several sorts of British corn, made up and published in the manner now by law required, shall be at or above the prices hereafter mentioned; that is to say, whenever wheat shall be at or above the price of eighty shillings per quarter; whenever rye, pease and beans shall be at or above the price of fifty-three shillings per quarter; whenever barley, beer or bigg shall be at or above the price of forty shillings per quarter; and whenever oats shall be at or above the price of twenty-seven shillings per quarter.

IV. And be it further enacted, that whenever the average prices of British corn so made up and published shall respectively be below the prices hereinbefore stated, no foreign corn, or meal, or flour made from any of the respective sorts of foreign corn hereinbefore enumerated, shall be allowed to be imported into the United Kingdom for the purpose of home consumption, or taken out of warehouse for that purpose.

V. And be it further enacted, that the average price of the several sorts of British corn, by which the importation of foreign corn, meal or flour, into the United Kingdom shall be regulated and governed, shall continue to be made up and published in any manner now required by law; but that if it shall hereafter at any time after the importation of foreign corn, meal or flour shall be permitted, under the provisions of this Act, appear that the average prices of the different sorts of British corn respectively in the six weeks immediately succeeding the fifteenth day of February, the fifteenth day of May, the fifteenth day of August and the fifteenth day of November in each year, shall have fallen below the prices at which foreign corn, meal or flour may be, under the provisions of this Act, allowed to be imported for home consumption, no such foreign corn, meal or flour shall be allowed to be imported into the United Kingdom for home consumption from any place between the rivers Eyder and Bidassoa, both inclusive, until a new average shall be made up and published in the London Gazette for regulating the importation into the United Kingdom for the succeeding quarter.

16. FREE TRADE PETITION[396] [Commons Journals, Vol. LXXV.], 1820.

The Petition, etc., Humbly sheweth

That foreign commerce is eminently conducive to the wealth and prosperity of a country, by enabling it to import the commodities for the production of which the soil, climate, capital, and industry of other countries are best calculated, and to export in payment those articles for which its own situation is better adapted.

That freedom from restraint is calculated to give the utmost extension to foreign trade, and the best direction to the capital and industry of the country.

That the maxim of buying in the cheapest market and selling in the dearest, which regulates every merchant in his individual dealings, is strictly applicable as the best rule for the trade of the whole nation.

That a policy founded on these principles would render the commerce of the world an interchange of mutual advantages, and diffuse an increase of wealth and enjoyments among the inhabitants of each State.

That, unfortunately, a policy the very reverse of this has been, and is, more or less, adopted and acted upon by the Government of this and of every other country....

That the prevailing prejudices in favour of the protective or restrictive system may be traced to the erroneous supposition that every importation of foreign commodities occasions a diminution or discouragement of our own productions to the same extent, whereas it may be clearly shown that although the particular description of production which could not stand against unrestrained foreign competition would be discouraged, yet, as no importation could be continued for any length of time without a corresponding exportation, direct or indirect, there would be an encouragement, for the purpose of that exportation, of some other production to which our situation might be better suited, thus affording at least an equal, and probably a greater, and certainly a more beneficial employment to our own capital and labour.

* * * * *

That, among the other evils of the restrictive or protective system, not the least is, that the artificial protection of one branch of industry, or source of production, against foreign competition, is set up as a ground of claim by other branches for similar protection, so that if the reasoning upon which these restrictive or prohibitory regulations are founded were followed out consistently, it would not stop short of excluding us from all foreign commerce whatsoever. And the same train of argument, which, with corresponding prohibitions and protective duties, should exclude us from foreign trade, might be brought forward to justify the re-enactment of restrictions upon the interchange of productions (unconnected with public revenue) among the kingdoms composing the union, or among the counties of the same kingdom.

That an investigation of the effects of the restrictive system at this time is peculiarly called for, as it may, in the opinions of your petitioners, lead to a strong presumption that the distress which now so generally prevails is considerably aggravated by that system, and that some relief may be obtained by the earliest practicable removal of such of the restraints as may be shown to be most injurious to the capital and industry of the community, and to be attended with no compensating benefit to the public revenue.

That a declaration against the anti-commercial principles of our restrictive system is of the more importance at the present juncture inasmuch as, in several instances of recent occurrence, the merchants and manufacturers in foreign States have assailed their respective Governments with applications for further protective or prohibitory duties and regulations, urging the example and authority of this country, against which they are almost exclusively directed, as a sanction for the policy of such measures. And certainly, if the reasoning upon which our restrictions have been defended is worth anything, it will apply in behalf of the regulations of foreign States against us. They insist upon our superiority in capital and machinery, as we do upon their comparative exemption from taxation, and with equal foundation.

That nothing would more tend to counteract the commercial hostility of foreign States than the adoption of a more enlightened and more conciliatory policy on the part of this country.

That, although, as a matter of mere diplomacy, it may sometimes answer to hold out the removal of particular prohibitions, or high duties, as depending upon corresponding concessions by other States in our favour, it does not follow that we should maintain our restrictions in cases where the desired concessions on their part cannot be obtained. Our restrictions would not be the less prejudicial to our capital and industry because other Governments persisted in preserving impolitic regulations.

* * * * *

That in thus declaring, as your petitioners do, their conviction of the impolicy and injustice of the restrictive system, and in desiring every practicable relaxation of it, they have in view only such parts of it as are not connected, or are only subordinately so, with the public revenue. As long as the necessity for the present amount of revenue subsists, your petitioners cannot expect so important a branch of it as the Customs to be given up, nor to be materially diminished, unless some substitute, less objectionable, be suggested. But it is against every restrictive regulation of trade not essential to the revenue--against all duties merely protective from foreign competition--and against the excess of such duties as are partly for the purpose of revenue and partly for that of protection, that the prayer of the present petition is respectfully submitted to the wisdom of Parliament.

[Footnote 396: Quoted in Hirst, Free Trade and the Manchester School, pp. 118-121.]

17. THE FOUNDATION OF THE ANTI-CORN-LAW LEAGUE [History of the Anti-Corn-Law League by Archibald Prentice, I, pp. 101-2, 1853], 1839.

Resolutions of meeting of delegates at Manchester, January 23, 1839.

Resolved--1. That this meeting of representatives from all the great sections of our manufacturing and commercial population, solemnly declare it to be their conviction that the prosperity of the great staples upon which their capital and industry are employed, is in imminent danger from the operation of the laws which interdict or interfere with the exchange of their productions for the corn and other produce of foreign nations, and thus check our trade, and artificially enhance the price of food in this country; and believing that the facts upon which this judgment is formed are little known, and of such national importance as to call for their disclosure before the people's representatives, they earnestly recommend that petitions be immediately forwarded from all parts of the Kingdom, praying to be heard by counsel and evidence at the bar of the House of Commons in the approaching session of Parliament.

2. That in order to secure unity and efficiency of action this meeting recommends that delegates be appointed by the several Anti-Corn-Law Associations of the kingdom. Those manufacturing and commercial towns not already possessing such societies are earnestly recommended to form Anti-Corn-Law Associations; and in case they require information or advice, they are invited to put themselves immediately in correspondence with the Manchester Association, whose fundamental rule, prohibiting the discussion of any party or political topics, is especially recommended for the adoption of all similar bodies elsewhere.

3. That the agricultural proprietor, capitalist, and labourer are benefited equally with the trader, by the creation and circulation of the wealth of the country; and this meeting appeals to all those classes to co-operate for the removal of a monopoly which, by restricting the foreign commerce of the country, retards the increase of the population, and restrains the growth of towns; thus depriving them of the manifold resources to be derived from the augmenting numbers and wealth of the country.

4. That this meeting cannot separate without expressing its deep sympathy with the present privations of that great and valuable class of their countrymen who earn their daily bread by the sweat of their brow; many of whom are now suffering from hunger in the midst of boundless fields of employment, rendered unproductive solely by those unjust laws which prevent the exchange of the products of their industry for the food of other countries. So long as a plentiful supply of the first necessaries of life is denied by acts of the British legislation to the great body of the nation, so long will the government and the country be justly exposed to all the evils resulting from the discontent of the people. With a view to avert so great a danger by an act of universal justice, this meeting pledges itself to a united, energetic, and persevering effort for the total and immediate repeal of all laws affecting the free importation of grain.[397]

[Footnote 397: The Anti-Corn-Law League was created on the recommendation of a delegate meeting, March 20 following.]

18. THE BANK CHARTER ACT [Statutes 7 and 8 Victoria 32], 1844.

An Act to regulate the Issue of Bank Notes, and for giving to the Governor and Company of the Bank of England certain Privileges for a limited Period.

Be it enacted that from and after the thirty-first day of August, one thousand eight hundred and forty-four, the issue of Promissory Notes of the Governor and Company of the Bank of England, payable on demand, shall be separated and thenceforth kept wholly distinct from the general Banking business of the said Governor and Company; and the business of and relating to such issue shall be thenceforth conducted and carried on by the said Governor and Company in a separate department, to be called "The Issue Department of the Bank of England," subject to the rules and regulations hereinafter contained; and it shall be lawful for the Court of Directors of the said Governor and Company, if they shall think fit, to appoint a committee or committees of directors for the conduct and management of such Issue Department of the Bank of England, and from time to time remove the members, and define, alter, and regulate the constitution and powers of such committee, as they shall think fit, subject to any bye-laws, rules or regulations which may be made for that purpose: provided nevertheless, that the said Issue Department shall always be kept separate and distinct from the Banking Department of the said Governor and Company.

II. And be it enacted, that upon the thirty-first day of August, one thousand eight hundred and forty-four, there shall be transferred, appropriated, and set apart by the said Governor and Company to the Issue Department of the Bank of England securities to the value of fourteen million pounds, whereof the debt due by the public to the said Governor and Company shall be and be deemed a part; and there shall also at the same time be transferred, appropriated, and set apart by the said Governor and Company to the said Issue Department so much of the gold coin and gold and silver bullion then held by the Bank of England as shall not be required by the Banking Department thereof; and thereupon there shall be delivered out of the said Issue Department into the said Banking Department of the Bank of England such an amount of Bank of England notes as, together with the Bank of England notes then in circulation, shall be equal to the aggregate amount of the securities, coin and bullion so transferred to the said Issue Department of the Bank of England; and the whole amount of Bank of England notes then in circulation, including those delivered to the Banking Department of the Bank of England as aforesaid, shall be deemed to be issued on the credit of such securities, coin, and bullion so appropriated and set apart to the said Issue Department; and from thenceforth it shall not be lawful for the said Governor and Company to increase the amount of securities for the time being in the said Issue Department, save as hereinafter is mentioned, but it shall be lawful for the said Governor and Company to diminish the amount of such securities, and again to increase the same to any sum not exceeding in the whole the sum of fourteen million pounds, and so from time to time as they shall see occasion; and from and after such transfer and appropriation to the said Issue Department as aforesaid it shall not be lawful for the said Governor and Company to issue Bank of England notes, either into the Banking Department of the Bank of England, or to any persons or person whatsoever, save in exchange for other Bank of England notes, or for gold coin or for gold or silver bullion received or purchased for the said Issue Department under the provisions of this Act, or in exchange for securities acquired and taken in the said Issue Department under the provisions herein contained: provided always, that it shall be lawful for the said Governor and Company in their Banking Department to issue all such Bank of England notes as they shall at any time receive from the said Issue Department or otherwise, in the same manner in all respects as such issue would be lawful to any other person or persons.

IV. And be it enacted, that from and after the thirty-first day of August, one thousand eight hundred and forty-four, all persons shall be entitled to demand from the Issue Department of the Bank of England, Bank of England notes in exchange for gold bullion, at the rate of three pounds, seventeen shillings and ninepence per ounce of standard gold. Provided always, that the said Governor and Company shall in all cases be entitled to require such gold bullion to be melted and assayed by persons approved by the said Governor and Company at the expense of the parties tendering such gold bullion.

V. Provided always, and be it enacted, that if any banker who on the sixth day of May one thousand eight hundred and forty-four was issuing his own bank notes, shall cease to issue his own bank notes, it shall be lawful for Her Majesty in Council at any time after the cessation of such issue, upon the application of the said Governor and Company, to authorize and empower the said Governor and Company to increase the amount of securities in the said Issue Department beyond the total sum or value of fourteen million pounds, and thereupon to issue additional Bank of England notes to an amount not exceeding such increased amount of securities specified in such Order in Council, and so from time to time: provided always that such increased amount of securities specified in such Order in Council shall in no case exceed the proportion of two thirds the amount of bank notes which the banker so ceasing to issue may have been authorized to issue under the provisions of this Act; and every such order in Council shall be published in the next succeeding London Gazette.

XII. And be it enacted, that if any banker in any part of the United Kingdom who after the passing of this act shall be entitled to issue bank notes shall become bankrupt, or shall cease to carry on the business of a banker, or shall discontinue the issue of bank notes, either by agreement with the Governor and Company of the Bank of England or otherwise, it shall not be lawful for such Banker at any time thereafter to issue any such notes.

XIV. Provided always, and be it enacted, That if it shall be made to appear to the Commissioners of stamps and taxes that any two or more banks have, by written contract or agreement (which contract or agreement shall be produced to the said Commissioners), become united within the twelve weeks next preceding such twenty-seventh day of April as aforesaid, it shall be lawful for the said Commissioners to ascertain the average amount of the notes of each such bank in the manner hereinbefore directed, and to certify the average amount of the notes of the two or more banks so united as the amount which the united Bank shall thereafter be authorized to issue, subject to the regulations of this Act.

19. DEBATE ON THE CORN LAWS [_Parliamentary Debates, 3rd Series, Vol. 73, Cols. 68, 69-71, 849-850, 1345-1347_], 1846.

Address in Answer to Her Majesty's Speech, January 22nd, 1846.

House of Commons. Sir Robert Peel.

Sir, the immediate cause which led to the dissolution of the Government in the early part of last December, was that great and mysterious calamity which caused a lamentable failure in an article of food on which great numbers of the people in this part of the United Kingdom, and still larger numbers in the sister kingdom, depended mainly for their subsistence. That was the immediate and proximate cause, which led to the dissolution of the Government. But it would be unfair and uncandid on my part, if I attached undue importance to that particular cause. It certainly appeared to me to preclude further delay, and to require immediate decision--decision not only upon the measures which it was necessary at the time to adopt, but also as to the course to be ultimately taken with regard to the laws which govern the importation of grain. I will not assign to that cause too much weight. I will not withhold the homage which is due to the progress of reason and to truth, by denying that my opinions on the subject of protection have undergone a change.

* * * * *

Sir, those who contend for the removal of impediments upon the import of a great article of subsistence, such as corn, start with an immense advantage in the argument. The natural presumption is in favour of free and unrestricted importation. It may, indeed, be possible to combat that presumption; it may be possible to meet its advocates in the field of argument, by showing that there are other and greater advantages arising out of the system of prohibition than out of the system of unrestricted intercourse; but even those who so contend will, I think, admit that the natural feelings of mankind are strongly in favour of the absence of all restriction, and that the presumption is so strong, that we must combat it by an avowal of some great public danger to be avoided, or some great public benefit to be obtained by restriction on the importation of food. We all admit that the argument in favour of high protection or prohibition on the ground that it is for the benefit of a particular class, is untenable. The most strenuous advocates for protection have abandoned that argument; they rest, and wisely rest, the defence of protective duties upon higher principles. They have alleged, as I have myself alleged, that there were public reasons for retaining this protection. Sir, circumstances made it absolutely necessary for me, occupying the public station I do, and seeing the duty that must unavoidably devolve on me--it became absolutely necessary for me maturely to consider whether the grounds on which an alteration of the Corn Laws can be resisted are tenable. The arguments in favour of protection must be based either on the principle that protection to domestic industry is in itself sound policy, and that, therefore, agriculture, being a branch of domestic industry, is entitled to share in that protection; or, that in a country like ours, encumbered with an enormous load of debt, and subject to great taxation, it is necessary that domestic industry should be protected from competition with foreigners; or, again--the interests of the great body of the community, the laborious classes, being committed in this question--that the rate of wages varies with the price of provisions, that high prices imply high wages, and that low wages are the concomitants of low prices. Further, it may be said, that the land is entitled to protection on account of some peculiar burdens which it bears. But that is a question of justice rather than of policy; I have always felt and maintained that the land is subject to peculiar burdens; but you have the power of weakening the force of that argument by the removal of the burden, or making compensation. The first three objections to the removal of protection are objections founded on considerations of public policy. The last is a question of justice, which may be determined by giving some counterbalancing advantage. Now, I want not to deprive those who, arguing a priori, without the benefit of experience, have come to the conclusion that protection is objectionable in principle--I want not to deprive them of any of the credit which is fairly their due. Reason, unaided by experience, brought conviction to their minds. My opinions have been modified by the experience of the last three years. I have had the means and opportunity of comparing the results of periods of abundance and low prices with periods of scarcity and high prices. I have carefully watched the effects of the one system, and of the other--first, of the policy we have been steadily pursuing for some years, viz., the removal of protection from domestic industry; and next, of the policy which the friends of protection recommend. I have also had an opportunity of marking from day to day the effect upon great social interests of freedom of trade and comparative abundance. I have not failed to note the results of preceding years, and to contrast them with the results of the last three years; and I am led to the conclusion that the main grounds of public policy on which protection has been defended are not tenable; at least, I cannot maintain them. I do not believe, after the experience of the last three years, that the rate of wages varies with the price of food. I do not believe that with high prices, wages will necessarily rise in the same ratio. I do not believe that a low price of food necessarily implies a low rate of wages. Neither can I maintain that protection to domestic industry is necessarily good.

Adjourned Debate. February 13, 1846.

House of Commons.

SIR DOUGLAS HOWARD said:[398]

I have often imagined--and it was for this that I moved for, and obtained the order of this House for, the extensive returns which are now preparing, namely, the various colonial tariffs and commercial relations at present subsisting between all the Colonies of the Empire and the mother country, and between the Colonies themselves--that it might really be possible to treat Colonies like counties of the country, not only in direct trade with the United Kingdom, but in commercial intercourse with each other, by free trade among ourselves, under a reasonable moderate degree of protection from without, and so resolve the United Kingdom, and all her Colonies and possessions, into a commercial union such as might defy all rivalry, and defeat all combinations. Then might colonization proceed on a gigantic scale--then might British capital animate British labour, on British soil, for British objects, throughout the extended dominions of the British Empire. Such an union is the United States of America--a confederation of sovereign States, leagued together for commercial and political purposes, with the most perfect free trade within, and a stringent protection from without; and signally, surely, has that commercial league succeeded and flourished. Such an union, too, is the German Customs League; and it has succeeded to an extent that really is, in so short a time, miraculous. But free trade--the extinction of the protective principle--the repeal of the differential duties--would at once convert all our Colonies, in a commercial sense, into as many independent States. The colonial consumer of British productions would then be released from his part of the compact--that of dealing, in preference, with the British producer; and the British consumer of such articles as the Colonies produce, absolved from his; each party would be free to buy in the cheapest, and sell in the dearest market. I defy any hon. member opposite to say that this would not be a virtual dissolution of the colonial system.

Adjourned Debate. February 20, 1846.

MR. B. DISRAELI:[399]

I have now nearly concluded the observations which I shall address to the House. I have omitted a great deal which I wished to urge upon the House; and I sincerely wish that what I have said had been urged with more ability; but I have endeavoured not to make a mere Corn Law speech; I have only taken corn as an illustration; but I don't like my friends here to enter upon that Corn Law debate which I suppose is impending, under a mistaken notion of the position in which they stand. I never did rest my defence of the Corn Laws on the burdens to which the land is subject. I believe that there are burdens, heavy burdens, on the land; but the land has great honours, and he who has great honours must have great burdens. But I wish them to bear in mind that their cause must be sustained by great principles. I venture feebly and slightly to indicate those principles, principles of high policy, on which their system ought to be sustained. First, without reference to England, looking at all countries, I say that it is the first duty of the Minister, and the first interest of the State, to maintain a balance between the two great branches of national industry; that is a principle which has been recognised by all great Ministers for the last two hundred years; and the reasons upon which it rests are so obvious, that it can hardly be necessary to mention them. Why we should maintain that balance between the two great branches of national industry, involves political considerations--social considerations, affecting the happiness, prosperity, and morality of the people, as well as the stability of the State. But I go further; I say that in England we are bound to do more--I repeat what I have repeated before, that in this country there are special reasons why we should not only maintain the balance between the two branches of our national industry, but why we should give a preponderance--I do not say a predominance, which was the word ascribed by the hon. member for Manchester to the noble lord the member for London, but which he never used--why we should give a preponderance, for that is the proper and constitutional word, to the agricultural branch; and the reason is, because in England we have a territorial Constitution. We have thrown upon the land the revenues of the Church, the administration of justice, and the estate of the poor; and this has been done, not to gratify the pride, or pamper the luxury of the proprietors of the land, but because, in a territorial Constitution, you, and those whom you have succeeded, have found the only security for self-government--the only barrier against that centralising system which has taken root in other countries. I have always maintained these opinions; my constituents are not landlords; they are not aristocrats; they are not great capitalists; they are the children of industry and toil; and they believe, first, that their material interests are involved in a system which favours native industry, by insuring at the same time real competition; but they believe also that their social and political interests are involved in a system by which their rights and liberties have been guaranteed; and I agree with them--I have these old-fashioned notions. I know that we have been told, and by one who on this subject should be the highest authority, that we shall derive from this great struggle, not merely the repeal of the Corn Laws, but the transfer of power from one class to another--to one distinguished for its intelligence and wealth, the manufacturers of England. My conscience assures me that I have not been slow in doing justice to the intelligence of that class; certain I am, that I am not one of those who envy them their wide and deserved prosperity; but I must confess my deep mortification, that in an age of political regeneration, when all social evils are ascribed to the operation of class interests, it should be suggested that we are to be rescued from the alleged power of one class only to sink under the avowed dominion of another. I, for one, if this is to be the end of all our struggles--if this is to be the great result of this enlightened age--I, for one, protest against the ignominious catastrophe. I believe that the monarchy of England, its sovereignty mitigated by the acknowledged authority of the estates of the realm, has its root in the hearts of the people, and is capable of securing the happiness of the nation and the power of the State. But, Sir, if this be a worn-out dream; if, indeed, there is to be a change, I, for one, anxious as I am to maintain the present polity of this country, ready to make as many sacrifices as any man for that object--if there is to be this great change, I, for one, hope that the foundations of it may be deep, the scheme comprehensive, and that instead of falling under such a thraldom, under the thraldom of Capital--under the thraldom of those who, while they boast of their intelligence, are more proud of their wealth--if we must find a new force to maintain the ancient throne and immemorial monarchy of England, I, for one, hope that we may find that novel power in the invigorating energies of an educated and enfranchised people.

[Footnote 398: Ibid. cols. 849-50.]

[Footnote 399: Ibid., cols. 1345-1347.]

INDEX

Acts of Parliament (see Statutes)

Administration, central (see Chancery, Commissions, Councils, Crown, Exchequer, House of Commons, Parliament, Statutes); local (see Boroughs, County Courts, Hundreds, Justices, Parishes, Sheriffs)

Agrarian changes, in Middle Ages, 53, 54, 83, 85-87; in Tudor and Stuart periods, 227, 228, 234-277; in 18th and 19th centuries, 523, 524, 525-542, 552

Agriculture, advantages of large scale, 530, 531; capitalist, 228; depression of, in 16th century, 407-412; effect of Corn Laws on, 692-698 (see also Corn Laws); encouragement of, by Tudor and Stuart monarchy, 229, 260-277, 428-430; improvements in, effected in 18th century, 523, 526, 530, 531, 532-536; manorial, 3-9, 16, 17, 53-110, 227-277; do., developments in, 53, 54, 83, 85-87; provision for harvest labour, 78, 173, 328, 329, 347, 648; reaction of commerce and industry on, 582, 697; state of, in 18th and 19th centuries, 523-542 (see also Arable, Commons, Common Fields, Depopulation, Enclosures, Land, Manor, Pasture, Smallholders)

Agriculture, Board of, surveys of, 524, 532-536

Agricultural houses and buildings, decay and restoration of, 267, 268, 272, 275, 276, 324, 392, 536, 567

Agricultural labourers, 7, 8, 62-64, 78, 164, 165, 170, 171-174,176-178, 324, 353, 355, 408; apprenticeship of, 324, 325, 330, 388; combinations of, 55, 105-110, 552, 553, 638-640; condition of, in 19th century, 695, 696; hiring of, 164-168, 170-174, 176-178; housing of, 567; regulation of conditions of service of, 171-178, 325-333, 352, 360, 361; regulation of hours of, 327; regulation of wages of, 173, 177, 328, 329, 342, 343, 346, 347, 351, 353, 360, 361, 405, 546, 547, 552-554; restrictions of, as to apprenticeship to crafts, 174, 361

Alehouses, taverns, 378, 473, 536; increase of, in 18th century, 489; meeting of journeymen associations in, 624; patent for licensing of, 442; payment of wages in, prohibited, 599

Aliens, burgesses of English towns, 27, 28_n_; jealousy of, 153, 186, 199, 200

Alien craftsmen, imported into Ireland, 471; in London, 195-197, 199

Alien merchants, 127, 180, 181, 182, 183, 184, 189, 192-195, 197-199, 420; admitted to a London company, 309; arrest of goods of, 189, 190; customs granted by, 208-216; freedom of trade granted to, 127, 152, 209, 212; of Almain, 194; of Flanders, 193, 194; of France, 192, 193; of Italy, 43, 127, 199, 420-424

Almshouses, 483

Anti-Corn-Law League, foundation of, 701.

Anti-Slavery Society, 593

Apprentices, 113, 136, 138, 141, 142, 143, 147, 231, 282, 283, 295, 296, 300, 305, 307, 324-326, 330-334, 341, 344, 345, 348, 353, 356, 361, 437, 444, 455, 499, 500; disciplinary rules touching, 113, 147, 345; in factories, 571, 572; fees exacted from, 284-286; limitation of numbers of, in textile industry, 322; oaths exacted from by masters, 285, 286; pauper, 381, 505; proportion of, to journeymen, regulations as to, 332, 550, 551, 573, 574; runaway, 148; unindentured, 353

Apprenticeship, 138, 174, 314, 479, 499, 500, 588, 589; custom of London as to, 330; debates in House of Commons on, 577-588; effect of compulsory, on marriage, 322, 323_n_, 344; enactment as to age of ending, 323, 344; enforcement of statute as to, 386; evasion of, by a company, 310; fees on entering and leaving, 280; half-pay, 590; indentures of, 113, 147, 295; municipal regulation of, 295, 305-307; of agricultural labourers, 325, 330, 388; to crafts, restricted, 174, 361; of pauper children, 381, 388, 504, 652; to woollen industry, 499, 500

Approvers, criminal, 39

Arable land, conversion of, to pasture, 55, 260-277, 392, 407, 408, 409; enclosure of (see Enclosure); on a 14th century manor, 56

Artificers, Statute of (see Statutes)

Assarts, 89

Assizes, 88, 89, 93, 97; grand, 95; of bread and ale, 37, 80, 117, 118, 133, 152, 155, 156, 388; of cloth, 152, 154, 155, 319; suspension of, 319, 320; of mort d'ancestor, 94; of novel disseisin, 88, 89, 93, 94, 96, 97_n_; of weights and measures, 152, 154, 377, 388; of wine, 152

Ball, John, and the Peasants' Revolt, 109

Bankers and Banking, 398, 420

Bankrupts, 474

Banks, 506; country, 681

Bank of England, 667; foundation of, 668, 676; suspension of cash payments by, 681

Bee-keeping, 7

Beer, patent for export of, 442

Beggars, 166, 174, 175, 176, 324, 388, 483; licensing of, 363, 364, 366 (see also Poor, Vagrants)

Berlin Decrees, effect of, on commerce, 690, 692

Black Death, the, 54, 55, 65_n_, 102, 103, 104, 105, 164

Blackwell Hall, the London cloth market, 440, 460, 492-495

Bondage land (see Villeinage)

Bondmen (see Villeins)

Bordiers, 16, 17; in boroughs, 12, 13

Boroughs and towns, 10-25, 279-312; in Domesday Book, 4; affiliation of, 112, 124; assessment of wages by, 315; bakehouses in, 13; bondmen received in, 121, 125; charters to (see Charters); charters to, confiscated 257; courts in, 12, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 125, 129, 131, 132; crimes in, fines and forfeitures for, 14, 15; customs in, 10-14; bequest of burgages, 117; cannemol, 133; gyeresyeve, 120; scotale, 120; decay of, alleged, 180, 425; election of officers in, 118, 120, 121, 257; exclusiveness of, 118; farmers of, 131; farms of, 10-14, 37, 119, 123, 292; fines, gersums, in, 12; gildhalls in, 4, 10, 129, 137, 141, 142, 144; hansing-silver exacted in, 128; hosting in, 160; hosting of aliens in, 197-199, 209, 212, 213; housecarles in, 14; hue and cry in, 160; Jewries in, 43, 45, 46, 47, 48, 50; the king's, tallage assessed on, 35; king's demesne in, 13; lords of, 32; lords of, disputes with and complaints against, 123, 128, 131; mayors and bailiffs of, 32, 48, 118, 121, 122, 130, 132, 136-145, 147, 157, 160, 165, 166, 172-175, 181, 189, 192, 195, 200-202, 206, 214, 216, 231, 282-284, 294-297, 299, 303, 309, 327-329, 332, 333, 340, 366, 367, 370-372; origin of, 111; reeves of, 10, 32, 155; rents in, 10, 13, 14, 15; rents in, enhancement of, 521; sanitary conditions in, in nineteenth century, 519, 520; do, recommendations for improvement of, 614-616; stewards of, 117, 118; supervision of strangers in, 160; watch and ward in, 160, 389 (see also Market Towns)

Borough tolls, 10, 112, 119-123, 125-127, 131-135, 212, 282; disputes touching, 121, 126; exemption from, 119, 120, 121, 124, 126, 127; exemption of Jews from, 45; intermunicipal agreement on, 126 (see also Lastage, Murage, Passage, Pavage, Pesage, Pontage, Stallage)

Bracton, quotations from, 75_n._, 97_n._, 126

Bracton's Note Book, 88-90, 92, 93, 95-97

Brewers, Stuart patent for licensing, 473

Bridewells, 370, 371 (see also Houses of Correction, Workhouses)

Brokerage, 422, 423

Bullion, export of, 203, 216-223, 398, 416, 419, 420, 668, 671, 672; free coinage of, at the Mint, 674 (see also Currency, Mint).

Burgage tenure, 117

Cabots, the, 400-402

Calico-printers, journeymen, grievances of, 573-576

Capital, discussion on employment of, in factories, 606, 607

Capitalism, Disraeli's protest against domination of, 710, 711; growth of, 668; in textile industries, 314, 315, 317, 320-322; in agriculture, 228

Capitalists, 561; mercantile, 280

Cartbote, 242

Cecil, Lord, industrial programme of, 323-324

Chancery, court of, 106, 146, 150, 236; appeals to, by an alleged villein, 100; by copyholders, 85, 234, 241; by a craftsman, 148, 199; by a woolmerchant, 186; touching usury, 201; certifications into, 328; equitable jurisdiction of, 87, 148_n._, 228; original writs of, 48; patents to make writs and file bills in, 441, 442; protection of customary tenure in, 87_n._, 228, 235, 241

Chantries, 286-293

Charters, 152, 153; of Henry II., 45, 124, 308; of Richard I., 125; of John, 44, 121, 122, 124, 126, 158; of Henry III., 119, 124, 126, 127, 192; of Edward I., 158, 164, 208, 211; of Edward III., 119_n._, 211; of Gilbert de Clare, 116; to alien towns and merchants, 152, 192, 194, 199, 208, 211; to boroughs, 116, 119, 121, 122, 124, 125, 126, 127; to craft-gilds and companies, 144, 303, 308, 399, 427, 454, 461.

Chartists, 618; manifestoes of, 618, 641, 642.

Chevage, 72, 73, 74, 75

Child-labour, 436; half-timers, 613; Oastler's campaign against, 544, 592-594; in coalmines, 516-9, 598, 599; in factories, 480, 495, 496, 502-505, 510-516, 544, 571-573, 591-595, 600, 609, 610, 612-614; in woollen industry, 483

Children's Employment Commission, 600, 603.

Churches, free fees of, exempted from taxation, 33

Churchwardens, administrative duties of, touching labour and poor relief, 324, 648

Civil War, the, 310, 399, 475

Cloth, assize of, 152, 154, 155, 319; suspension of, 319, 320; aulnage of, 163, 164; customs on (see Customs); industry (see Woollen Cloth); retailing of, 131 (see also Woollen Cloth)

Coal Industry, commission on employment in, 480, 516-519; condition of, in 18th century, 479, 491-492; act regulating, 598; dispute between employers and workmen in, 625; hours of labour in, 517-519; inspectors of, 598; production, transport and distribution in, 491, 492; regulation of prices and limitation of output in, 497-499; woman and child labour in, 516-519, 598, 599

Coin, clipping of, 678

Colonial preference, 708

Colonies, advantages of, 434-438; effect of Navigation Act on, 672-674; wages in, 315, 360

Combinations, of masters, 590, 634; of journeymen, 138-141, 196, 549, 560, 583, 590, 617-643; of agricultural labourers, 105-110, 552, 553, 618, 638-641; of bricklayers, 624; of carpenters, 624; of coach-makers, curriers, farriers, smiths and sailmakers, 623; of coalminers, 625; of feltmakers, 617, 619-622; of joiners, 624; of tailors, 617, 618, 622-624; of woolcombers, 617, 626

Combination Acts, 575, 618, 626, 627-631, 633, 636-638; repeal of, 633

Commissions, Royal, on depopulation, 276, 277_n_; on enclosure, 229, 262, 262_n._; on child labour, 600, 603; on health in towns, 614-616; on industrial conditions, in textile industry, 316; in coal mines, 480, 516-519; on Poor Law, 661; petitions for, 260

Common fields, 54; disadvantages of, 527; distribution of strips in, 22, 55, 73, 76; enclosure of, 73, 525, 526, 527, 528, 529, 540, 541; regulation of, 76-79; system, 54

Common Law, and copyholders, 86, 87, 88, 228, 241, 255; and enclosure, 88, 89, 271; and villeinage, 89-97; and restraint of trade, 305-307, 315, 361, 362; and engrossing of corn, 393; and monopolies, 466; and combinations, 618, 634-636

Common pasture, 57, 58, 77, 88, 89, 259, 531; enclosure of, 88, 89, 257; in boroughs, 119; rights of, stinted by agreement, 256

Commons or Wastes, 54, 249; enclosure of, 54, 55, 63, 64, 87, 88, 244, 256, 257, 526-529, 532, 534, 540, 541; encroachments on, 54, 63, 64, 542; objection to lords commoning on, 248; rights on, 54, 529, 531, 534, 535, 538, 541

Companies, Industrial, 280 (see also Craft-gilds, Mining); Stuart patents of incorporation of, revoked, 474

Companies, Mercantile, monopoly of, discussed, 443-453; Staplers, 153, 178-186, 484, 485; Merchant Adventurers, 302, 398, 399, 402-404, 446, 447, 449, 450, 452, 453, 454; new company of, incorporation of, 454-460; East India Company, interlopers and, 675; Eastland Company, 399; Muscovy Company, 399, 449, 450, 452, 453; Turkey Company, 431, 450

Co-operative Societies, 618, 643

Copyhold, 228, 234-240, 248-250, 254-259, 326, 527, 528, 538; conversion of, to leasehold, 538; eviction from, 85-87 (see also Customary holdings, Villeinage)

Copyholders, 228, 244; of inheritance, 258 (see also Customary tenants, Villeins)

Corn-badgers, 365, 375-377, 385, 386; -carriers, 326, 375, 376, 385, 487, 488; -factors, 487-491; engrossing and engrossers of, 376, 386, 389, 391-396; export and import of, 398, 407-411, 424, 428-430, 487; do., discussed, 274, 407-412; Laws, of 1815, 697; do., debates on, 692, 705; do., repeal of, 523; price of, fluctuations in, 368; do., means of enhancing, 407-412; production of, fluctuations in, 273-275; regulation of price and distribution of, 367, 368, 374-378, 385, 386, 389, 391-396; trade, condition of, in 18th century, 479, 487-491 (see also Customs)

Coroners, 27, 38, 39

Cost of living, in 19th century, 521

Costermongers, excluded from operation of Statute of Artificers, 356

Cotters, cotmen, 5, 9, 61, 63, 65, 242

Cotton industry, in the 18th and 19th centuries, 545, 546, 571, 572, 576, 577; arbitration on disputes in, 544, 568-571; depression of wages in, 500, 501; fluctuations in, 480; introduction of power loom weaving in, 505-510; petition of journeymen in, to House of Commons, 480, 500 (see also Factories)

Council, the King's, 48; Privy, 328, 455, 473, 474; intervention of, 229; for the protection of tenants, 266; for the regulation of wages, 316; for the regulation of prices, 365, 368; for the relief of the poor, 363, 364, 379, 382-384, 390, 649; of the North, 429, 430; of Wales, 429, 430

Council, Orders in, effect of, on industry and commerce, 480, 691

County courts, 34, 94

Courts, Royal (see Chancery, Requests, Star Chamber, Wards and Liveries)

Craft-gilds, 111, 131, 133, 279, 315; adulterine, 114-116; censured, 296; charters to, protected in the Statute of Monopolies, 467; common box of, 136, 137; control of trade and industry by, 136-147, 284, 297-299, 300, 303, 307-311, 345; dependence of industrial on mercantile, 302-305; election of officers of, 137, 138, 142, 145, 309, 310, 311; exclusiveness of, 142, 143, 145, 280, 282, 299, 307, 361; incorporation of, 113, 144, 305, 308, 474; litigation of, 311; the livery of, 310; monopoly of, 280, 306, 311; municipal control of, 137-144, 147; ordinances of, 136-144, 195-197, 297; state supervision of, 113, 279, 284, 285, 286, 306, 307; religious aspect of, 136, 137, 139, 140, 144, 145, 280, 289, 290; restraint of trading by, 469; (see also Apprentices, Journeymen, Yeomanry)

Craft-gilds and Companies of London, Clothworkers, 300-302; Feltmakers, 302; incorporation of, 303; Haberdashers, 302-304; incorporation of, 144-146; Weavers, alien, ordinances of, 195-197; Whitetawyers, ordinances of, 136-138

Craftsmen, alien, ordinances of, 195; classification of, in Tudor period, 414; desire of, for cheap corn, 409; for protection, 426; excessive prices charged by, 165, 166, 168, 169; excluded from operation of Statute of Artificers, 356; licensed to exercise more than one craft, 70; limited to one craft, 70, 294, 295, 306, 321 (see also Apprentices, Industry, Journeymen, Labour, Labourers, Prices, Wages)

Credit, trading on, 305, 416-418, 420-424, 493-495

Crown, indebtedness of the, 153, 416-418

Currency, condition of, in fourteenth century, 217-223; in seventeenth century, 668, 677, 678; debasement of, 398, 405, 406, 416-418; discussions on, 220, 405; provisions for, 180, 181; recoinage of Queen Elizabeth, 419, 677; recoinage of 1696, 668, 677, 678 (see also Bullion, Mint)

Customary holdings, 228; alienation of, 243, 258; bequest of, 233, 234; cotlands, 63; custom touching inheritance of, 233, 234; dayworks, 64; division of, among heirs, 232; eviction from, 254, 255, 263; fines for entry on, 66, 67, 68, 69, 86, 229, 233, 235, 238, 239, 240, 249, 251, 259; do., enhancement of, 229, 249, 251, 253, 255, 265; forelands, 62; forfeited, 242, 243; lease of, 55, 76, 80, 83, 84, 85, 86, 91, 235, 238, 241, 242, 254, 255, 258, 259; oxgangs, 258; sale and purchase of, 233, 234; yardlands, 242 (see also Copyhold, Landmeasures, Leasehold, Manor)

Customary tenants, 5-9, 23, 24, 54, 80-86, 228, 232-246, 251-255; eviction of, 364; grant of manor to, 81; lease of manor to, 81 (see also Bordiers, Copyholders, Cotters, Manor, Serfs, Villeins)

Customary tenure, 54, 55

Customs, the, in Middle Ages, 203, 207-216; in London and the outports, contrasted, 445; in American colonies, suggested, 673; on imports, 211-216, 401; exemption of the Cabots from, 401; on cloth, 403, 412, 417, 440, 459, 469, 471; on coal, 472; on exported corn, 398, 407, 430; on wine, 208, 214; on wool, 207, 215, 407, 413

Debt, the National, 676, 677; measures for reduction of, 679-681

Debts, recovery of, in Middle Ages, 161-163, 192

Defoe, Daniel, his accounts of eighteenth century industrial and trade conditions, 482-492; his criticism of Poor Laws, 649

Demesne, ancient, 36, 89; tenants of, 36, 55, 90, 91

Demesne lands, in boroughs, 132; in manors, 6, 9, 16, 17, 32, 33, 54, 56, 57, 64, 228, 237, 238, 240, 245, 246, 254, 258, 259; farmers of, 228; lease of, 259; lying in scattered strips, 76

Demesnes, the king's, 21, 36, 161; tallage assessed on, 35, 65

Depopulation, caused by the Black Death, 65-68, 102, 164; in rural districts, 267, 269, 395, 531, 536; acts against, 229, 260, 270_n._, 315

Dialogus de Scaccario, 4_n._

Diminishing Returns, Law of, 272

Discovery, voyages of, 400-402

Disraeli, Benjamin, protest of, against capitalist domination, 710, 711

Domesday Book, 3, 4, 20, 40_n_, 54; extracts from, 9-17

Domestic System, 355, 483, 508

Dorchester Agricultural Labourers Union, 618, 638-641; rules of, 640, 641

Dyeing, English and foreign, 155, 432, 433

Dyers of Bristol, ordinances of, 141-144

Eastland Merchants, 399

Economic theory and opinion, in eighteenth century, 488, 559, 590, 668; of state regulation, 365 (see also Mercantile Theory)

Education, of working classes, 611, 711 (see also Schools, industrial)

Edward I, charters of, 158, 164; enquiry of, touching royal rights and feudal liberties, 36-40

Enclosures of land, in Middle Ages, 54, 229; in sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, 229, 247, 248_n._, 389; in eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, 482, 483, 523-542; advocated, 526, 527; effect of, on cottagers, 532; expense of fencing, 535, 539; petition against, 531; speeches in House of Commons on, 270-275; statutes against, 247; by Act of Parliament, 523, 528, 532-542; do., expense of, 532, 535_n._; by agreement ratified in Chancery, 523, 525, 526, 530; of arable, 260-277, 408; of common fields, 73, 525, 526, 527, 528, 529, 540, 541; of common pasture, 88, 89, 257; of waste, 54, 55, 87, 88, 244, 526-529, 532, 534, 540, 541; Consolidating Act, 537; General Act, 541

Encroachments (see Purprestures)

Escheat (see Feudal Incidents)

Escheators, 20, 23-26, 30, 31, 40, 107-110, 249, 250; offences of, 40; office of, 20, 21

Exchange, letters of, 421-424

Exchanges, foreign, fluctuations and manipulation of, 398, 416-424; tax on, 398, 420-424; certifications into, 35, 47; fines paid in, 34

Excise, 399, 475-6, 667; imposition of, in lieu of feudal dues, 670; Walpole's proposal for, on salt, 678-9

Factories, growth of, checked in Tudor Period, 320, 321, 344; cotton, 495, 496, 591 (see also Cotton Industry); child labour in, 480, 495, 496, 502-505, 510-516, 544, 571-573, 591-595, 600, 609, 610, 612-614; effect of, on health of operatives 495, 496, 503-505, 511, 514-516, 609, 610; hours of labour in, 503, 510-516, 591-593, 594, 595, 599-614; inspection of, by magistrates and parsons, 572, 573; do., by state inspectors, 595, 609, 610, 612; wages in, 512, 513; woman labour in, 614

Factory Acts, 480, 503, 504, 544, 545, 571-573, 591, 594-596, 612-614; alleged failure of, 608; debate on, in House of Commons, 599-612

Factory system, 320_n._

Fairs, 121, 152, 155, 157, 158, 159, 162, 163, 164, 188, 193, 209, 210, 213, 340, 421, 484; courts of, proceedings in, 159, 162, 163, 188, 193; granted to the lord of a manor, 157, 158; tolls at, 119

Fealty, 70

Felony, concealment of, 38

Feltmakers, journeymen, strike of, 617, 619-622

Feodary, 21, 249

Feudal, army, 4; commendation, 11, 16; commutation of services for rent, 21; courts or sokes, 12, 15, 16; customs and services, 5, 37; do., castleguard, 29; do., foreign, 29; do., commutations of, 27; franchises and liberties, 4, 39, 152 (see also Gallows, Frankpledge, Infangenethef, Sac and soc); do., enquiry touching, 36-40; incidents, escheat, 33, 36, 81, 82, 83; do., relief, 25, 65, 70, 116, 242; do., wardship and marriage, 26, 27, 29-31, 34, 40, 65, 68, 69, 237, 250, 670; knight's fees, 21, 33, 34, 36, 38; do., the king's, alienation of, 36; subinfeudation, 21, 28, 29; tenants, thegns, 14, 15; tenures, frankalmoin, 12, 22, 32, 90; do., knight service, 13, 15, 21, 23, 27, 32, 34, 69, 123, 670; do., payment of fines in lieu of, 34; do., serjeanty, 21, 27, 33, 34; do., grand, 24; do., petty, 25; socage, free, 26, 670

Feudal System, the, 19-22; documents illustrating, 22-41

Firebote, 242

Fiscal policy, documents illustrating, 207-216, 416, 424, 440-476, 667, 670, 671, 672-674, 689-702, 705-711

Fishing, fishmongers and fishermen, 133, 166, 326, 435

Forelanders, 62

Forestallers, 168, 388

Frankpledge, view of, 65, 80, 82, 84, 156

Free trade, 468_n._; arguments for, 696, 698-701; Sir Edwin Sandys' Bill for, 399, 443-453

Freehold, 48, 88, 89, 90, 93, 97 250, 324, 326, 332

Freeholders, 23, 65, 87, 91, 228, 248, 255, 256, 257, 526

Freemen, 7, 9, 16, 17, 32, 96, 101; marriage of, to bondwomen, 72

French Revolution, 590

French wars, in 18th and 19th centuries, effect of, on industry and commerce, 480, 501, 544, 689, 690

Friendly Societies, 561, 566, 640

Gallows, feudal liberty of, 37, 156

Gatebote, 242

Gebur, 6

Geneat, 5

Gerefa, 3

Gigmills, 442

Gild, at Dover, 4, 10

Gilds, craft (see Craft-gilds)

Gilds, lands of, confiscation of, 280, 286-294; do., exceptions to, 291-294; do., distribution of, by agreement, 267

Gilds, merchant, 111, 112, 114, 115, 119, 120, 121, 123, 124, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131; characteristic features of, defined, 130; disputes of, with lords, 123, 128; privileges of, 123; restraint of trade by, 123

Gilds, social, 148-150

Half-time Child Labour, 613

Health, Public, effect of factory conditions on, 496, 503-505, 511, 514-516, 609, 610; in towns, 519, 520; recommendations of commission on, 614-616; provision for, in factories (see Factory Acts)

Hedgebote, 242

Henry II., charters of, 45, 124, 308

Henry III., charters of, 119, 124, 126, 127

Heriots, 65, 84, 116, 242

Highways, enlarged for safety of merchants and travellers, 160, 161

Homage, 59, 70, 123

House of Commons, Bills in, on labourers and wages (1388), 176; on minimum rates in textile industry (1593), 336; on free trade (1604), 443; on minimum wages (1795), 554; on factories (1844), 599; debates in, on enclosures (1597, 1601), 270-275; on the confiscation of gild lands (1548), 292; on salt duties (1732), 678; on Whitbread's minimum wage bill (1795), 554; on the income tax (1798), 683; on apprenticeship (1813-14), 577; on the Corn Laws (1815, 1846), 692, 705; on factory legislation (1844), 599; petitions of journeymen to, 307-312, 573, 624

Housebote, 242

Houses of Correction, 364, 378, 381, 389, 627 (see also Bridewells, Workhouses)

Hundred aid, 80

Hundred, the, as a geographical unit, 12, 17; as an administrative unit, 9, 32, 36-38, 47, 111, 172, 174, 324, 327, 374, 379, 384; as a feudal liberty, 15, 37, 117; bailiffs of, 32; farms of, 36-37; do., enhancement of, 38

Hurdle, punishment of the, 157

Income Tax, 667; objections to, 688; Pitt's speech on, 683

Industrial Revolution, 480, 509, 617, 618, 668

Industrial riots, 495

Industries (see Calico printers, Coal, Cotton, Craft-gilds, Feltmakers, Iron, Linen, Woollen Cloth)

Industry, changes in organisation of, in 18th century, 479, 480, 617; encouragement of, by patents, 467; migration of, to suburbs and country districts, 304, 314, 321; municipal regulation of, 195-197, 280, 282-284, 294-299 (see also Craft-gilds, Markets, Prices, Wages); protection of small masters by Stuarts, 280; state encouragement of, 399; state regulation of, 313-362; do., delegated to private speculators, 336_n._; in country districts, 14; in manors, 70, 111 (see also Combinations, Craft-gilds, Craftsmen, Labour, Prices, Wages)

Infangenethef, 125, 156, 156_n._

Inquisitions, royal, 38

Interlopers, and the East India Company, 675

Irish Potato Famine, 705, 706

Iron industry, in 18th century, 545

Iron-works, 55; accounts of, 103-105; Elizabethan patent as to, 442

Jews, the, charter of liberties to, 44; conversion of, 46; chirographs and chests of, 46, 49, 50; debts to, 44-51; exemption of, from tolls, 45; expulsion of, 51; function of, 43; grant of, 47; justices of, 46, 47, 48, 50; litigation between Christians and, 44, 47, 48; ordinances touching, 45, 48, 51; pledging of land to, 48, 49; prohibited from acquiring freehold, 48, 49; restrictions on worship of, 45; royal protection of, 43, 44; tallage assessed on, 46; transferred from town to town, 43, 50

John, King, charters of, 44, 126, 158

Joint Stock Companies, 399; incorporation of, 427

Journeymen, yeomen, servants 113, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 280, 285, 286, 297-299, 305, 310, 311, 325-332, 334-336, 341, 344, 345, 349, 350, 499_n._, 547-551, 588, 589; associations of, 138-141, 280, 297-299, 307-312; do., common fund of, 298, 299, 301; combinations of (see Combinations); disciplinary rules as to, 113, 137, 140, 141, 345; disputes between masters and, 137, 138-141, 196 (see also Labour disputes); petitions of, to House of Commons, 500; proportion of, to apprentices, fixed, 332, 550, 551, 573, 574; wages of, effect of fall in value of money on, 405; do., regulation of (see Wages); (see also Agricultural Labourers, Calico Printers, Feltmakers, Tailors, Weavers, Woolcombers)

Justice, administration of royal and feudal, 19, 20, 36_n._, 39 (see also King's Bench)

Justices, 105, 106, 109, 110, 128, 155, 170, 183, 229

Justices of assize, 26, 55, 90, 93-96, 285, 297, 340, 343, 391, 429, 430, 622

Justices of the Bench, 75, 176, 285

Justices of the Jews, 46, 47, 48, 50

Justices of the Peace, administration of Statutes of Labourers and Artificers by, 172, 173, 176, 178, 231, 326, 329, 333, 352, 353, 356, 577; attacked in the Peasants' Revolt, 106, 107; inspection of factories by, 572, 573; intervention in industrial disputes by, 569, 570, 576, 623, 631; regulation of apprenticeship by, 332, 333, 344, 352; regulation of cloth industry by, 318, 340, 343, 358, 359; regulation of export of corn by, 429, 430; regulation of markets and prices by, 368, 373-380, 385, 386, 388, 389, 391-396; regulation of poor relief by, 364, 372, 380, 564, 646; regulation and assessment of wages by, 314, 315, 316, 324, 328, 329, 341-343, 345, 351, 352, 353, 356, 359, 361, 546-551, 554, 558, 565, 566, 577, 624_n._, 631, 632; returns to Privy Council made by, on enclosure, 275; do., on the cloth industry, 318; do., on scarcity of corn, 373-374 (see also Quarter Sessions)

Justiciar, 36

Ket's Rebellion, 247

King's Bench, 623

Knight service (see Feudal)

Knighthood, respite from, 39

Knights, 87

Knight's Fees (see Feudal)

Labour, cheap, deprecated, 589; Child and Woman (see Child labour, Women); disputes, arbitration in, 544, 568-571, 617, 630 (see also Combinations, Craft-gilds, Journeymen); hours of, 630, 637; do., in agriculture 327; do., in factories, 503, 510-516, 591-593, 594, 595, 599-614; do., in mines, 516-519

Labour, movement of, 164-166, 172-177, 314; effect of Poor Laws on, 561; effect of enclosure on, 532

Labourers, Ordinance of (1349), 164; Statutes of (see Statutes)

Land, alienation of, without licence, 30; do., fines for, 670; disseisins of, 38, 88, 89, 93, 96, 97; extents of, 40; limitation of purchase of, by merchants, husbandmen and artificers, 324; low rents of, in eighteenth century, 509; measures of:-- acres, passim; bovates, 66, 67, 68, 69, 92; carucates, 16, 32, 33; fardels, 24; hides, 9, 15, 16, 17, 28, 29, 32, 54; league, 16, 17; ploughlands, 32; roods, passim; selions, 61; virgates, 13, 23, 27, 28, 29, 54, 59, 60, 61, 62, 84, 95, 246, 247; ownership of, as qualification for apprenticeship, 330; pledged to Jews, 48, 49; speculation in, 229, 251, 259; waste committed in, by escheators, 40; (see also Agriculture, Enclosures, Feudal, Manor)

Landowners, competition of manufacturing interest with, 600, 668, 694, 710

Lastage, 24, 119, 122, 124, 127

Laud, agrarian policy of, 276, 277

Law Merchant, 130, 210, 213, 214

Leasehold, 55, 87, 228, 530, 539; (see also Copyhold, Customary holdings, Manor)

Leyrwite, 71, 84

Linen manufacture, in Ireland, establishment of, 471

Local Government Board, 646

London, craft-gilds and companies of (see Craft-gilds); mercantile interest concentrated in, 443; merchant gild of, 127; regulation of entry into companies in, 309; regulation of usury in, 200

Lords, mesne, 36

Machinery, accidents to children, in cleaning, 512, 609; Arkwright's and Watt's inventions, 582; discouraged by Tudors, 321, 442, 544; effect of, on industry, 480; introduction and development of, 505-510; regulations for cleaning, 612

Magna Carta, 20, 22, 31_n._, 36_n._, 152

Manor, the Saxon, 3, 4, 5-9; in Domesday Book, 9, 16, 17; documents illustrating, 3-9, 16, 17, 53-102, 155, 158, 232-255, 258; the king's, alienation of, 36; common fields in (see Common Fields); courts, 20, 22, 36_n._, 54, 89; do., proceedings before, 65-75, 95, 232; do., pleas and perquisites of, 65, 80, 81; court rolls, 54, 55, 85, 234-236, 238-240, 259, 527; do., extracts from, 65-75; custom and customs of, 54, 66-75, 228, 229, 232-235, 238-244, 254-259 (see also Cartbote, Firebote, Gatebote, Hedgebote, Housebote, Pannage, Ploughbote); do., breach of, by lords, 241, 248, 249, 251, 252, 254, 258, 259; do., repudiated by tenants, 108; do., touching inheritance, 243; do., touching widows, 234; do., grass-swine, 5 (see also Pannage); do., leph, 58; customaries, 56, 232, 314; customary services in, 24, 54, 57-61, 64, 80-82, 84, 85, 90-93, 96, 241, 246; do., commutation of, for rent, 21, 27, 28, 55, 60-62, 85; do., boon-works, 6, 7, 85, 92; do., castle-guard, 248; do., heriots (see Heriots); do., of being crier in the lord's court, 244; do., of serving with horses against the Scots, 254; do., reliefs (see Reliefs); do., suit of court, 70, 242; demesne lands of (see Demesne); extent of, 56; fines, gersoms, and forfeitures in, 17, 232; do., for entry, 80, 242, 247; do., enhancement of, 254; do., for offences, 66-75; do., for marriage, 80, 90, 92, 93, 96, 241, 243 (see also Merchet); do., for waste committed, 242, 243; grant of, to customary tenants, at fee farm, 81; leases of, to farmers, 55, 85, 91, 245, 246; do., to tenants, 55, 79, 91; lords of, 5-9, 21, 37, 66-76, 90-100, 161, 228, 232, 235-246, 248-255, 259, 541; do., grant of liberties to, 156; officers of, 3, 5-8; bailiffs, 36, 57, 58, 65, 72, 80, 81, 82, 95, 233, 250; hayward, 8, 79; radman, 17; reeves, 5, 9, 17, 32, 80; do., complaints against, 84; serjeant, 81; stewards, 32, 37, 70, 74, 172, 173, 232, 233, 243, 259, 340, 526; woodward, 8; rents, 5-9, 23, 56, 57, 59, 60, 62, 63, 64, 79, 86, 92; do., decay of, 83; do., enhanced, 252, 253; rents of assize, 60, 63; social and economic development of, 53, 54, 227-230; stock, 6-8, 16, 17, 57, 58, 61, 77-81; strips, 8, 9, 22; tenants, 3, 21, 54, 55, 57 (see also Bordiers, Copyholders, Cotters, Customary tenants, Forelanders, Freeholders, Freemen, Gebur, Geneat, Serfs, Sokemen, Villeins); do., marriage of, 65; sub-tenants, 64; waste (see Commons)

Markets, 14, 58, 69, 111, 257, 340; customs in, 129; for corn, 488-491; for woollen goods, 484, 485, 493; granted to the lord of a manor, 157, 158; organisation of, in eighteenth century, 479, 487-491; regulation of, by justices of the peace, 364, 365, 367, 374-378, 385, 386, 388, 389, 391-396; do., by towns, 280, 283, 296; sale and purchase by samples in, 490, 491

Market towns, 34, 166, 209, 210, 213, 260, 321, 322, 331 (see also Boroughs)

Marque and Reprisals, letters of, 190

Mercantile System, 397, 398, 399

Mercantile Companies (see Companies)

Mercantile Theory, 220-222, 420; expounded, 407-416

Merchants (see Aliens, Companies, Corn, Gilds, Middlemen, Staple, Wool)

Merchet, 71, 93 (see also Manor, fines for marriage)

Middlemen, 479; corn badgers, 365, 375-7, 385, 386; corn factors, 487-491; mealmen, 487, 488, 491; wool-merchants, 354, 355 (see also Staple); in woollen industry, 492-495; yarn-jobbers 336, 340, 341

Milan Decrees, 692

Mills, 9, 11, 16, 79; fulling, 483; tucking, 321 (see also Factories, Gigmills)

Miners, 326, 389 (see also Coal Industry)

Mining Company, incorporation of, 427

Mint, 220, 417; coinage of money at, before 1696, 677, 678; free coinage of bullion at, 674; profits of, 221, 222, 406 (see also Moneyers)

Monasteries, effect of dissolution of, 229, 251

Money, fall in value of, 314, 398, 405, 406; regulation of export and import of, 216-223

Moneyers, 12, 13, 119

Monopoly and monopolies, 480, 497, 584, 587, 611 (see also Patents); of craft and merchant gilds, 112; of mercantile companies, 443-453

Murage, 126, 127, 212, 282

Muscovy or Russia Merchants, 399, 449, 450, 452, 453

Navigation Act (1660), 670; attack on, 672-674

Newcastle Coal Vend, 497

Norman Conquest, the, 3, 4, 53, 54, 55, 90; effects of, on boroughs, 10-14; do., on rural population, 54, 55

North-West Passage, 436

Oastler, Richard, campaign of, against child labour, 544, 592-594

Orders in Council, effect of, on British industry and trade, 480, 501, 691

Outdoor relief, condemned by Poor Law Commission (1834), 662; prohibitory order as to, 665

Pannage, 58, 61, 243, 259

Parish, as a unit for poor relief, 372, 379, 380, 647; overseers (see Poor)

Parliament, 20, 103, 180, 206, 217, 229, 261, 537; and minimum wages, 316; petitions to, 553; regulation of trade and industry by, 153, 160-163, 171-178 (_see also_ House of Commons)

Passage, 122, 124

Pasture, reconversion of, to arable, 271-273, 275, 276 (see also Arable, Common, Enclosures)

Patents and Monopolies, 399, 443-453, 461, 465-468, 472-474; list of, 440-443; revoked, 472-475

Paupers (see Poor)

Pavage, 126, 127, 133-135, 212; collectors of, 135

Peasants' revolt, the, 55, 105-110; burning of muniments in, 108

Perceval, Dr., report of, on child labour, in factories, 480, 495

Pesage, 122

Picketing, 549, 627, 637

Pilgrimage of Grace, agrarian programme of, 247

Pillory, punishment of the, 156, 157, 393, 394

Piracy, 188-192

Place, Francis, 618

Pleas, of quo warranto, 40_n._; of replevin, 37

Ploughbote, 242

Pontage, 119, 122, 124, 126, 127, 212

Poor, analysis of classes of, in 19th century, 663; children, apprenticing of, 381, 388, 504, 652; do., boarding out of, 653, 654; do., education of, 663; farmed to contractors, 646, 657; fines for enhancing price of corn, reserved to, 392, 393; guardians of, 652, 653, 654, 655, 663, 664; impotent, 174, 175, 364, 378, 388; impotent and idle, distinguished, 174, 175, 364; licensed to beg, 174, 175; overseers of, 372, 380, 381, 384, 648, 660, 661; do., misconduct of, 652; proportionate taxation of, 35; provision made by gilds for, 136, 150; provision made by enclosure acts for, 534, 535; provision of food for, 377; provision of work for, 364, 367, 369-371, 373, 378, 380, 383, 384, 389, 391, 648 (see also Houses of Correction, Workhouses); rates, 468, 533, 536, 537, 552, 555, 561, 562, 651,662; do., made compulsory, 364, 372, 380; do., increase of, in 18th century, 557; relief of, in Middle Ages, 113, 150, 174, 175; do., in 16th and 17th centuries, 272, 287_n._, 363-391, 647; do., in 18th and 19th centuries, 544, 649-665; do., by craft and other gilds, 113, 150, 311, 345; do., by parishes, 270; do., by towns, 363, 366, 369, 649; do., by journeymen associations, 299; do., by private charity, 364, 366; do., Pitt's suggested changes in, 563-565, 647; do., unions of parishes for, 651, 664, 665; settlement of, 364, 372, 381, 382, 386, 387, 561, 647, 651, 655

Poor Laws, 275, 366, 372, 373, 380, 567, 646, 648, 652; administration of, by justices of the peace (see Justices of the Peace); 18th century abuses in, 560-562; inspectors advocated for, 564; Amendment Act (1834), 545, 646, 663; Settlement Act (1662), 645, 647; Workhouse Test Act (1722), 650; Gilbert's Act (1782), 645, 652; Speenhamland "Act of Parliament" (1795), 646, 655; Board, 646; Commission (1834), 646; do., recommendations of, 661-663

Poverty, alleged causes of, in 18th century, 649

Precipe, writs of, 21, 36, 36_n._

Prerogative, the royal, 153

Prerogative Courts, 229, 230 (see also Requests and Star Chamber, Courts of)

Prices, enhancement of, 265, 368, 391-396, 404, 405, 407-411; regulation of, by Privy Council and Justices of the Peace, 341, 364; rise in, after the Black Death, 166, 168, 169; do., in Tudor period, 314; do., in 18th and 19th centuries, 555-559, 565-567, 576, 692-696, 707; of coal, regulation of, 497-499; of grain, 283; and wages, lack of correspondence between, 553, 555-559, 565-567, 576, 695, 696

Price of wines, 45, 206, 209, 214

Privy Council (see Council, Privy)

Profit, a just, views on, 294, 295, 296, 367, 368

Protection, for native manufactures, 425

Protective tariffs, arguments for and against, 696, 698-701, 706-711; for revenue, 700

Purprestures or Encroachments, 38, 54, 63, 64, 542

Quarter Sessions, 173, 176, 316, 324, 343, 345, 351, 352, 356, 392, 429, 543, 546, 548, 549, 551, 576, 577, 623, 648, 656 (see also Justices of the Peace)

Rackrenting, 251_n._, 252, 253, 265

Regrators, 156, 336, 386, 388

Reliefs, 25, 65, 70, 116, 242

Revenue, the national, 153, 667; effect of debasement of coin on, 405, 406 (see also Customs, Excise, Taxation)

Report of Committee on Ribbon weavers, 590, 591

Richard I., charter of, 125

Riots, agrarian (see Ket, Peasants' Revolt, Pilgrimage of Grace); industrial, 495

Rochdale Pioneers, 618

Roundsmen, 646, 660, 661

Sac and Soc, 10, 11, 125

Saltpans mentioned in Domesday Book, 17

Schools, 249, 287; fine for attending, 84; industrial, in 18th century, 563; provision for, in 16th century, 287, 290

Scotch weavers, strike of, 618, 631-633

Scutage, 21, 29, 33, 34_n._, 80

Seisin, 122; feudal conception of, 63_n._

Serfs, 7, 9, 16, 17, 75_n._, 323

Sheep, restriction of numbers of, to be owned by individuals, 264-266

Sheep-graziers and sheep-grazing, 250, 264-266, 269, 274, 407, 408, 530, 531; in 18th century, 484-487

Sheriffs, 6, 9, 13, 15, 17, 19, 20, 27, 32, 34, 35, 40, 46-48, 50, 90, 94, 109, 114, 115, 120, 121, 136, 155-157, 160, 161, 164, 165, 174, 175, 189, 192, 200-202, 214, 250, 264, 324, 329, 372, 374, 379, 429, 473; offences of, 38, 39

Sheriff's aid, 80

Sheriffs' tourns, 38, 340

Shipping and Ships, 10, 188, 190, 191, 192, 197, 206, 210, 401, 402, 431, 675; encouragement and protection of, 153, 190, 206, 428, 437, 670, 671 (see also Navigation Act)

Silkweavers (see Spitalfields)

Sinking Fund, 667, 689; Act, 679

Small holders, enclosure disadvantageous to, 531, 532, 534, 535, 537

Small holdings, consolidation of, 523, 530, 541

Soap manufacture, 461-465

Social Contract, theory of, 281, 308

Sokemen, socmen, 9; bond, 36; free, 36

Somerset, Lord, Protector, 292, 293; agrarian policy of, 266

Speenhamland "Act of Parliament," 646

Spitalfields, silk weavers of, 484

Spitalfields Act, authorising the regulation of wages of London silk-weavers, 544, 547-551, 558, 575, 577, 591, 596

Stallage, 119, 122, 124

Staple, the, 153, 178-185, 407; custom of partition in, 185; mayor, council and merchants of, 179, 180, 182, 183, 184, 185

Staplers, 484, 485. (See also Wool merchants)

Star Chamber, Court of, 302, 365, 460; case in, 391

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