In 1597, as well as in 1586, the Privy Council endeavoured to supply the poor with corn at reasonable rates, but it will be more convenient to consider that attempt with the rest of the events of those years of scarcity from 1594 to 1597[194].
As a rule in the reign of Elizabeth the object of these scarcity measures was not so much to sell to the poor under price, as to arrange by organisation that the supply of corn should be equally distributed over the whole year, and that consequently the price of corn should be more even for everybody. It was rather to prevent monopoly than to organise doles. It was undertaken chiefly in the interests of the poor because a lack in the supply of corn affected them most; it did not only mean hardship, it meant starvation. It was undertaken by the Privy Council partly with the desire of repressing disorder, because insurrections and scarcity usually occurred together, and it was the object of the Government to keep the people in their "obedience[195]." But already the changed feeling of Parliament is found also in the Privy Council: measures of organised relief were seen to be the most effectual method of repression, and the closer study of the subject resulted in greater care for the poor.
These general measures for the repression of vagrants and the supply of corn are not only important to our subject because they directly concern the relief of the poor; they are even more important on account of their indirect connection therewith. In the first place these measures brought the authorities both of the nation and of the country into contact with the poor, and they were thus led to devise more extensive measures for bettering the condition of their needy neighbours; it became more and more a habit with them to regard matters concerning the poor as a department of Government.
In the second place, by means of these measures dealing with corn and vagrants the organisation was prepared which was afterwards used for the administration of the relief of the poor. The letters of the Privy Council to the justices, the allotment of the justices to their different divisions, the supervision of the judges, and the reports to the Privy Council were all utilised by the system established under Charles I.
If this later system had been administered by a body of officials untrained in the same kind of work, and unused to these methods of administration, it would have had little chance of being well administered. Such degree of success as was attained must have been at least partially due to the fact that the measures for the punishment of vagabonds and for the provision of grain preceded the more detailed orders for the relief of the poor. The new orders were thus executed by county and municipal officials trained to similar duties and used to like methods of administration, and it was in this way that the Elizabethan measures of scarcity have an important influence on the growth of the English administration of the Poor Law.
8. The influence of the Privy Council upon the Corporation of London.
But sometimes the measures of the Privy Council were not general: pressure was placed only on particular local officials. We will first examine a few cases of this kind concerning the City of London. We have already seen that in 1569 there were two sharp letters of the Privy Council to the Lord Mayor censuring him for his neglect in matters concerning the vagrants and poor[196]. In 1573 the Lord Mayor refers again to the displeasure of the Council and had apparently received a similar letter[197]. In this way therefore the Privy Council censured neglect and commanded local officials to remedy the abuses of their administration.
Sometimes we see the authorities of London asking the advice of the Council with regard to the measures that they have themselves prepared. Orders for the poor were drawn up in 1579 and again in 1594, and in both cases the Lords of the Privy Council were consulted[198]. The Lords of the Council also call attention to particular difficulties. In 1583 they recommend special measures to prevent the increase of Irish beggars[199], and they repeatedly write to order increased vigilance in enforcing the regulations against small houses and tenements which have been newly erected[200]. Special matters are sometimes arranged by them; in 1594 the City rulers are told to meet the justices of Middlesex in order that they may take joint action to repress vagrants[201]. Even details come under the notice of the members of the Privy Council, and in 1596 they directed the Lord Mayor to see that the corn in a particular ship was sold to the poor and not bought up by dealers[202].
The Council thus was apparently very well informed as to the condition of affairs and had power to interfere with effect even in matters of detail whenever the rulers of London were inclined to be slothful.
9. The pressure exercised by the Privy Council on other local authorities.