46 This mournful truth is everywhere confess'd, Dr. SAMUEL JOHNSON. Poverty persuades a man to do and suffer everything that he may escape from it."-LUCIAN. THE POOR AND POOR LAWS. "Poor folk hae neither ony kindred nor ony friends." "Poor folk seek meat for their stomachs, and rich folk stomachs for their meat." SCOTCH PROVERBS. Mr. Thomas Costley, on Thursday evening, January 16th, 1896, delivered the fifth of a series of lectures in the Pendleton Town Hall, the subject being "The Poor and Poor Laws." SPEECH BY MR. J. J. GREGSON SLATER, AND OBSERVATIONS UPON THE LECTURE. Mr. J. J. GREGSON SLATER, the chairman, said he did not think, if they looked through the syllabus of lectures, that they could accuse Mr. Costley of being devoid of a taste for variety. Mr. Costley was undoubtedly of the "busy bee" order, for he had sucked the honey out of many subjects. Not only did he gather knowledge, but he disseminated it, sometimes in the shape of a poetical effusion, and at other times, when he was helping a good cause-as he thought Mr. Costley was doing that night-in the form of a lecture. That night they were to hear Mr. Costley discourse on those very important statutory enactments known as "The Poor Laws." By way of opening and leading up to Mr. Costley's lecture, he (the chairman) should endeavour to show them, shortly, the condition of the poorer classes of this country from the time when William the Conqueror gained possession of it by the sword, to the time when it was absolutely necessary that there should be some legislation in the interests of the poorer classes. While he was doing this he should attempt to show what circumstances were at work to create a large surplus population of unemployed, and also what events happened to cause a decrease at different times, and, as it were, to delay the necessity of legislation to assist the poor, by means of famine and war, and, to a certain extent, of charity. When William the Conqueror took this country he found the Anglo-Saxon population, roughly speaking, composed of thanes, churls, and serfs. They would consider, for the purpose of the introduction (1), the agricultural body of this population; then (2) they would look for a little time at the townspeople, and see what they were doing. During the three centuries which followed the Norman conquest the forms of public wealth were very different to those with which B we were acquainted at the present time. There was then no capital in the shape of wages, except, perhaps, in a few of the trade towns, to be expended in wages and in materials for work. Agriculture was the principal industry. In the country the poorer classes lived around the manor houses of their lords; the common field system of employment then maintained, under which each serf or villen had a share in the common fields of the village, but he was obliged to work on the manor farm. During the same period, in many trading towns, money payments had come into operation, and the townspeople were forming themselves into guilds, and practically purchasing their freedom. We had all purchased our freedom. One of those guilds was what was known as "The Thrift Guild," the members of which were mutually responsible one for another. They appeared to have met periodically at feasts, and to have supported each others' poor. He would now briefly explain the circumstances that brought into existence the large amount of surplus labour. Previous to the reign of Henry II.-about the year 1154, 88 years after the Conquest-the lords of the manors, who were large landowners, were obliged to provide so many men for the wars. The value of the villen for that purpose was very clear. It happened, however, in Henry's time, that a system of escuage, or scutage, came into operation, by which, by paying a certain sum of money, a lord could dispense with the providing of fighting men. Some important landowner, or landowners, used to contract to find men to fight, and many of the serfs used to keep in the fighting ranks. When the battle was over they used to return to the country, and swelled the population of the unemployed. They did not care to return to serfdom, so they were badly provided for. As time went on numerous bondsmen flocked into the towns, and became free after a year and a day's residence in a town. In the year 1381-the year of Wat Tyler's rebellion-numbers of this class of unemployed clouded the horizon, and things were beginning to look very black indeed, and an Act was passed to prevent them wandering up and down the country. This, practically, was the old Anglo-Saxon class which marched among the ranks of the rebels under Wat Tyler. The rebels got to London, and committed all sorts of depredations upon the Normans. This was not class against class, but was a fight of the old blood against the new blood. Not very long after Wat Tyler's rebellion two-thirds of the population were taken off by a very terrible plague known as the "black death." There was not very much labour going about the country then; it was easy to get employment, and there was a sort of strike, of those days, but a statute on labour was then enacted, and practically those poor people were unable to make anything out of it. Any. one who employed them, and gave them more than they received before the "Black Death," was heavily fined. It was very hard. This class was, owing to sheepfarming, gradually growing, but, fortunately, large numbers of it obtained employment under powerful lords who then had commenced a practice known as livery and maintenance. Large numbers, again, were killed in the "Wars of the Roses." When Henry VII. became king, he abolished the system of "livery and maintenance." It was probable that some legislation about this time would have had to have taken place in the interest of the poor, but for the existence of the monastic houses, which were very kind and charitable to poor people. As they all knew, when Henry VIII. came to the throne he grew tired of the system that prevailed, and wanted to get rid of these houses, and, we understand, get hold of the revenues too; at any rate he did away with those houses. Then up came this population again, and the question of the time was what was to be done with them. Perhaps the lecturer would tell them, as he (the chairman) had told them all he knew, and had much pleasure now in calling upon Mr. Costley to deliver his lecture. Mr. COSTLEY said: The chairman has almost said what I intend to say; but our chairman has simply confined himself to England with regard to the Poor Laws. I will carry you about one thousand years earlier than he has done. It is a fact that the Greeks and Romans foreshadowed the Poor Laws that we have in England to-day. They were foreshadowed in Greece at the time of Solon-one of the greatest law-givers that ever lived. Several of the noteworthy Greeks, in their writings and speeches, also urged their ideas of laws to assist the poor. The first time an enactment of this kind was made, was after a number of men-fathers-had been slain in battle. War first brought the Poor Laws forward. The Grecians passed a law that the children. of the men who had been killed should be kept at school until they were eighteen years of age. That was a very noble thing to do. I think if we want to find things of noble character we have to turn to ancient as well as modern times. The Greeks not only looked after the children, but they provided for the mothers very liberally if they were not able to support themselves. But a proviso in the rules was to the effect that when the people assisted got into employment, and into a comfortable position, they were to repay what had been expended on them. |