The Reports of the Society for Bettering the Condition and Increasing the Comforts of the Poor-Vol 1/Preliminary Address to the Public

by Thomas Bernard

PRELIMINARY ADDRESS
TO THE PUBLIC.

 

THE interests of the poorer classes of society are so interwoven with those of every part of the community, that there is no subject more deserving of general attention, nor any knowledge more entitled to the exalted name of science, than that in which their well-being is concerned;—than that, the tendency of which is to carry domestic comfort into the recesses of every cottage, and to add to the virtue and morality of a nation, by increasing its happiness. The noblest and most elevated employments of the human mind lose their importance, when placed in competition with researches, on which the welfare and good conduct of millions may depend; and the result whereof may add as much to national prosperity as to individual benefit.

Let us therefore make the inquiry into all that concerns the poor, and the promotion of their happiness, a science; let us investigate practically, and upon system, the nature and consequences, and let us unite in the extension and improvement of those things which experience hath ascertained to be beneficial to the poor. Let the labours of the industrious, the talents of the wise, the influence of the powerful, and the leisure of the many, be directed to this important subject; and let us be assured, that united and patient industry will not fail of success.

 

The principle of all modern improvements in the sciences—in the arts—in every thing in which the industry of man has extended the narrow limits of human knowledge—that principle, without which all is conjecture and hazard, has never yet been properly applied to the concerns of the poor. A search after what has really augmented their happiness and virtue—after what use and experience have given their sanction to, into facts and existing circumstances—this has never yet been fairly and fully made. For a period of more than two centuries, the attention of the nation has been engaged by a succession of projects, for the management of the poor;—almost all of them originating in benevolence; and every one of them received in a manner, and with an interest, that distinctly marked the public anxiety upon the subject. The good effects however, as to the poor, have been limited and uncertain:—the project having originated not in them, but in the projector;—not in fact, but in speculation.

 

We all feel how far we can be led by encouragement—by kindness^[1]—by management, and while we retain the idea of choice and freewill. We all know, in our own instances, how little is to be effected by compulsion;—that, where force begins inclination ceases.—Give then its full effect to the master-spring of action, on which equally depends the prosperity of individuals and of empires———the desire implanted in the human breast of bettering its condition.^[2] Be it our endeavour that this principle obtain a potent influence on the lower classes of society. our duty to the poor is a personal service, injoined by the highest authority, and cannot be commuted: it is a work in which no man has a right to be idle—"Where is it that in such a world as this, health and leisure and affluence may not find some ignorance to instruct, some wrong to redress, some want to supply, some misery to alleviate? Shall ambition and avarice never sleep? shall they never want objects on which to fasten? shall they be so observant to discover, so acute to discern, so eager, so patient to pursue, and shall the benevolence of Christians want employment?^[3]

I am aware, that there is not, in general, much credit given to the good dispositions of the poor; and that we may be told that we are endeavouring to serve those, who will not be served.—I know it is said, among other things, that they are jealous of every thing that can be done for them, and averse to profit by information.—In truth, it is not entirely without cause, that the poor are jealous of the variety of measures, however well intended, that are brought forward with regard to them: they understand as little of the motives, as the theorist does of the consequences of his experiment—As to unwillingness to profit by information, it may indeed be sometimes imputable to the lower, as well as to the higher classes of life.—But the poor have never yet had a fair trial.—Let useful and practical information be offered to them; give them time to understand, and the choice of adopting it; and I am mistaken, if they do not shew as much good sense on the subject, as any other class of men in the kingdom.

There is a common theme of declamation, particularly among those who are very little employed themselves, and that is, the idleness of the poor.—How far this is exclusively imputable to the labourer, let those judge who have seen him working by the piece, and not by the day.—I do not mean, by the distinction, to admit any culpable degree of idleness, in those who work by the day; but in task-work, where the earnings are proportioned to the degree of labour and energy employed, I have often wished it were possible to restrain the poor man from injuring himself by excess of exertion;—the fatal effect of which I have too frequently seen.

 

Another imputation on the poor is drunkenness—an odious and pernicious vice, not confined, I fear, to any particular class of men.—Upon this subject, it must be a very great satisfaction to every friend of his country, that the fatal and poisonous custom of dram-drinking is not now so noxiously prevalent among the lower ranks of life as it has been;—the present consumption of British spirits (notwithstanding all our increase of population and manufactures), being much less than it was half a century ago. Of ale and beer, a wholesome and nourishing beverage for the labouring poor, there may be an increased consumption, though, I believe, no excess upon the whole; however it might be wished that the quantity, which they have, were more wisely husbanded and applied by them, to the purposes of their own domestic comfort and enjoyment.

 

Before we give judgment, however, upon the crimes of the poor, it will be prudence, at least, to examine how far we have, in any degree, been accessories.—If habitual drunkenness be frequently the consequence of weakness of body, or of despondency of mind; and, among the poor at least most prevalent where the constitution has been impaired by comfortless habits of life, or by want of nutritive and regular food,—and if, of every species of idleness, that of hopeless inndegence be the most inveterate-was it not our duty—were we not bound by every tie, moral and religious—to have assisted and encouraged them in the use of a ^[4]better system of diet—to have increased the internal comfort of their habitations—and to have converted listless indolence, which is without energy when it is without hope, into cheerful, active, and prosperous industry?

 

Upon our proposed subjects of inquiry, it would be hardly fair to expect: much in the very infancy of an establishment.—Something, however, has been already done.——Friendly societies are the objects of the first paper; which presents an interesting detail respecting one at Castle-Eden, upon a scale capable of general adoption; it contains an important illustration of the true principle of action with regard to the poor; and proves how much they may, in a short time, learn to do for themselves, and to what a degree of kindness and affection they may be habituated to extend their interest in the welfare of each other. The manner in which the poor and industrious member of that society has been assisted in the purchase of his cow, and its beneficial consequences both to the individual and to the property with which he is connected, by increasing and improving the stock upon it, is deserving of attention and imitation.

 

The second is an account of a village shop:—a subject, the importance of which will be felt by all, who interest themselves in the domestic concerns of the poor, when it is known, that a saving of above 20 per cent. may be thereby made to the labourer, in the purchase of the necessaries of life;—that it is the most effectual means to prevent his running in debt;—that the expence and trouble, to the charitable founder of the shop, is inconsiderable; and that it is liable to no objection, but what may be easily obviated.

The next communication is upon workhouses of united hundreds; an inquiry of no small importance at the present moment.——The mode of their management, and the objections^[5] and inconveniences that attend them, even under the best regulations and management, are stated with clearness and perspicuity.——The rules of a spinning school, established with success at Oakham, upon the principles of Count Rumford, are the next in order;—a school, where the poor attend with pleasure and regularity, and thankfully receive the benefit of a cheaper and more nourishing diet, supplied to them at a very small price;—and for these reasons simply—because they are allowed to continue free agents, and to retain an option on the subject; and because they have the whole of their earnings inviolably at their own disposal.——May the example be speedily followed in other parts of England!

The fifth is an account of the jail and house of correction at Dorchester.—When we consider the important consequences of what has been effected there, in annually saving, to the public and to themselves, many persons otherwise abandoned to destruction, we cannot help lamenting that so very few similar instances are to be found in the whole kingdom.——The principle of this reform will apply, with still greater force, to every measure that regards the local and domestic concerns of mankind; in all of which it will invariably be found, that in proportion as coercion is given up, and the interest of the party is made the spring of action, temptations to vice will be excluded, and habits of labour and honesty will be gradually acquired.

 

In the next paper, upon fuel, the reader will find a very gratifying proof, that the poor may be easily reconciled to inclosures, or to any other measure of public benefit, where their own feelings and interests are only properly consulted.——The last communication is on parochial relief, and the mode and principle upon which it has been administered by the magistrates of the hundred of Stoke.

 

I cannot close, without suggesting to the reader some of the very beneficial effects, which may be produced by union and perseverance in a proper system of conduct with regard to the poor; our present parochial expences being at the same time diminished, and a very gentle and gradual variation being made in our code of poor laws.——Let it be imagined that the landowner may be awakened to his real^[6] interest, and the industrious labourer supplied with a sufficient portion of garden ground, and, in many instances, with the means of keeping his cow:—that neat and comfortable cottages supply the place of those wretched hovels which disgrace many parts of the kingdom;—that the fire-places of cottagers be improved, and their supply of fuel increased; so as to give more comfort to their habitations, and to remove an inducement to petty thefts, too frequently the source of criminal habits:—that parish mills, village shops, and all other means of affording the poor a plentiful and cheap supply of the necessaries of life, be gradually introduced wherever they may be useful and proper;—that the cases of beggars be inquired into;—that the idle and criminal be compelled to work, and the friendless and distressed either relieved at home, or received into a clean and comfortable asylum—that the condition of poor children, consigned in lots as apprentices to manufactories, and there left unprotected and forgotten, be placed under a system of inspection.——Let us suppose friendly societies the subjects of individual and voluntary aid and encouragement in every part of the kingdom:—parish workhouses amended and regulated, and tenanted by the only persons who should be resident in them—those whose forlorn and insulated condition precludes their doing better out of them:— and lastly, that parish relief be systematically directed to the encouragement of industry and economy, and to making the poor man happy in his own cottage, instead of its being the instrument of driving him and his family into a workhouse.———Suppose even a part of this effected, and then let the reader himself judge, what must be its operation on the poor—on the rich—on every class and rank of society? what must be the addition to individual morality and happiness? what to national security and prosperity?

Thomas Bernard.

27th April, 1797.

1. See Count Rumford's Essays: passim.
2. Smith's Wealth of Nations.
3. Mr. Wilberforce's Practical View.
4. See Sir Fred. Eden's valuable work on the poor. I. 491-590.
5. See Sir William Young's Observations, published in 1788; and his Considerations on the subject of Poorhouses and Workhouses, 1796.
6. See the Earl of Winchilsea's letter on the advantage of cottagers renting land, 1796.