Statement of the Provision for the Poor, and of the Condition of the Labouring Classes in a Considerable Portion of America and Europe / Being the preface to the foreign communications contained in the appendix to the Poor-Law Report

by Nassau William Senior

RUSSIA.

A general outline of the provision for the poor in Russia, is contained in the following extracts from Mr. Bligh’s report, (pp. 328, 329, 330).

As far as regards those parts of the empire which may most properly be called Russia, it will not be necessary for me to detain your Lordship long, since in them (where in fact by far the greatest portion of the population is to be found), the peasantry, being in a state of slavery, the lords of the soil are induced more by their own interest, than compelled by law, to take care that its cultivators, upon whom their means of deriving advantage from their estates depend, are not entirely without the means of subsistence.

Consequently, in cases of scarcity, the landed proprietors frequently feel themselves under the necessity (in order to prevent their estates from being depopulated) of expending large sums, for the purpose of supplying their serfs with provisions from more favoured districts. There is no doubt, however, (of which they must be well aware) that in case of their forgetting so far the dictates of humanity and of self-interest, as to refuse this assistance to the suffering peasantry, the strong hand of a despotic government would compel them to afford it.

The only cases, therefore, of real misery, which are likely to arise, are, when soldiers, who having outlived their 25 years’ service, and all the hardships of a Russian military life, fail in getting employment from the government as watchmen in the towns, or in other subordinate situations, and returning to their villages, find themselves unsuited by long disuse to agricultural pursuits, disowned by the landed proprietors, from whom their military service has emancipated them, and by their relations and former acquaintances, who have forgotten them.

I am led to understand, that in all well-regulated properties, in order to provide for the contingencies of bad seasons, the peasants are obliged to bring, to a magazine established by the proprietor, a certain portion of their crops, to which they may have recourse in case of need.

In the estates belonging to the government, which are already enormous, and which are every day increasing, in consequence of the constant foreclosing of the mortgages by which so many of the nobility held their estates under the crown, more special enactments are in vigour; inasmuch as in them, all serfs incapable of work are supported by their relations, and those whose relations are too poor to afford them assistance, are taken into what may be termed poor-houses, which are huts, one for males, the other for females, built in the neighbourhood of the church, at the expense of the section or parish, which is also bound to furnish the inmates with fuel, food, and clothing.

The parish must, moreover, establish hospitals for the sick, for the support of which, besides boxes for receiving alms, at the church and in the hospitals themselves, all fines levied in the parish are to be applied.

The clergy are compelled to provide for the poor of their class, according to an ordonnance, regulating the revenues set apart for this object, and enacting rules for the distribution of private bequests and charities.

In Courland, Esthonia, and Livonia, the parish (or community) are bound to provide for the destitute to the utmost of their means, which means are to be derived from the common funds; from bequests, or from any charitable or poor fund which may exist; and in Esthonia, from the reserve magazines of corn, which, more regularly than in Russia, are kept full by contributions from every peasant.

When those are inadequate, a levy is made on the community, which is fixed by the elders and confirmed by the district authorities; and when this rate is levied, the landowners or farmers contribute in proportion to the cultivation and works they carry on, or to the amount of rent they pay; and the labourers according to the wages they receive.

The overseers consist of the elder of the village, (who is annually elected by the peasantry) and two assistants, one of whom is chosen from the class of landholders or farmers, and the other from the labourers, and who are confirmed by the district police. One of these assistants has to give quarterly detailed accounts to the district authorities, and the elder, on quitting office, renders a full account to the community.

Those who will not work voluntarily may be delivered over to any individual, and compelled to work for their own support, at the discretion of the elder and his assistants.

Those poor who are found absent from home, are placed in the hands of the police, and transferred to their own parishes.

All public begging is forbid by very strict regulations.

In the external districts of the Siberian Kirghese, which are for the most part peopled by wandering tribes, the authorities are bound to prevent, by every means in their power, any individual of the people committed to their charge from suffering want, or remaining without superintendence or assistance, in case of their being in distress.

All the charitable offerings of the Kirghese are received by the district authorities, and as they consist for the most part of cattle, they are employed, as far as necessary, for the service of the charitable institutions; the surplus is sold, and the proceeds, together with any donations in money, go towards the support of those establishments; when voluntary contributions are not sufficient for that purpose, the district authorities give in an estimate of the quantity of cattle of all sorts required to make up the deficiency, and according to their estimate, when confirmed by the general government, the number of cattle required in each place is sent from the general annual levy made for the service of the government.

In the Polish Provinces incorporated with the empire, as the state of the population is similar to that of Russia Proper, the proprietors in like manner, in cases of need, supply their peasantry with the means of existence; under ordinary circumstances, however, the portions of land allotted to them for cultivation, which afford them not only subsistence, but the means of paying a fixed annual sum to their lords, and the permission which is granted to them of cutting wood in the forests for building and fuel, obviate the necessity of their receiving this aid.

The same system existed in the Duchy of Warsaw prior to 1806, and every beggar and vagabond was then sent to the place of his birth, where, as there was not a sufficiency of hands for the cultivation of the soil, he was sure to find employment, or to be taken care of by his master, whilst there were enough public establishments for charity to support the poor in the towns belonging to the government, and those, who by age, sickness, or natural deformities, were unable to work.

But when the establishment of a regular code proclaimed all the inhabitants of that part of Poland equal in the eye of the law, the relations of the proprietor and the peasant were entirely changed; and the former having no power of detaining the latter upon his lands, except for debt legally recognised, was no longer obliged to support them.

So great and sudden a change in the social state of the country soon caused great embarrassment to the government, who being apprehensive of again altering a system which involved the interests of the landed proprietors, the only influential class in the country, for a long time eluded the consideration of the question, by augmenting the charitable institutions; but at length the progressive expense of this system compelled the Minister of Finance to refuse all further aid to uphold it, and by an arbitrary enactment, recourse was had to the former plan of passing the poor to the places of their birth. As this arrangement is only considered as provisional, and as the population has not hitherto more than sufficed for the purpose of agriculture, and the manufactories which were established prior to the late insurrection, it has not been much complained of, though the necessity for some more precise and positive regulations respecting the poor is generally acknowledged.

In Finland, there are no laws in force for the support of the indigent, nor any charitable establishments, except in some of the towns. In the country districts it is expected that reserve magazines of corn should be kept in every parish, but I cannot ascertain that the adoption of this precautionary measure is imperative upon the landed proprietors and peasantry.

On comparing, however, Mr. Bligh’s statement as to the law in Courland with that made by M. Kienitz His Majesty’s Consul, it does not seem that the provision afforded by law is often enforced, excepting as to the support of infirmaries. It appears from his report that the government provides expeditiously for vagrants by enrolling them as soldiers or setting them on the public works; and that the proportion of the population to the means of subsistence is so small, and the demand for labour so great, that scarcely any other able-bodied paupers are to be found.

---