10. Summary.
We have thus seen that in 1631 the improvement in the administration of poor relief concerned especially the relief of the able-bodied poor, and we have noted many instances in which taxes were raised for this purpose at that time. We have also examined a detailed report from a particular district in the county of Nottingham in which in forty-five out of sixty parishes some provision seems to have been made for finding employment for the poor. Moreover, we find that the plan of providing work for the unemployed was reported from some district of every county south of the Humber except Cornwall, Northampton, Devon, and Wilts; and in Devon and Wilts also the same plan was tried, although no report of the justices has been preserved. This form of poor relief thus seems to have been frequently in use in the towns of both east and west, and in the country districts of the eastern counties also. It was not quite so general in the country districts of the west, but still was not infrequent even there.
We may, therefore, say that from 1631 to 1640 we had more poor relief in England than we ever had before or since. We shall try to estimate later how far this system was successful. But we will now see what happened to the organisation of English poor relief during the Civil War. We will also trace the history of poor relief in France and Scotland during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in order that we may see that the history of poor relief in England is unique.
CHAPTER XIII.
POOR RELIEF IN FRANCE, SCOTLAND, AND ENGLAND DURING THE CIVIL WAR AND COMMONWEALTH.
- § 1. Lax administration of poor relief in England during the years of Civil War.
- a. Decline of charitable institutions.
- b. Neglect in execution of ordinary law.
- c. Instances of corrupt practices.
- § 2. Attempts to regain a good organisation of poor relief under the Commonwealth.
- § 3. Reasons why disorganisation especially affected the provision of work for the unemployed.
- § 4. State of poor relief after the Restoration.
- § 5. Reasons for failure under the Commonwealth to restore the old state of things.
- § 6. History of legislation on poor relief in Scotland,
- a. Before 1597.
- b. Between 1597—1680.
- § 7. Failure of administration of poor relief in Scotland during the seventeenth century.
- a. Responses of the Scotch justices to the orders of Council in 1623 show that they were unable or unwilling to enforce the poor law themselves and left it to the kirk sessions.
- b. Inadequate poor relief granted by the kirk sessions of Banff.
- c. Relief of the poor in Aberdeen shows that the relief considered sufficient by the municipal rulers was double that which could be granted from the funds at the disposal of the kirk sessions.
- d. Infrequency of assessment in Scotland before 1818.
- e. Insufficiency of relief during the years 1692-1699.
- f. Prevalence of begging in Scotland.
- g. Reasons for the failure of Scotch administration.
- § 8. The history of poor relief in France.
- § 9. Comparison between the history of poor relief in England and that in France and Scotland.
The histories of poor relief in England after the Civil War, and in France and in Scotland throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, both compare and contrast with the history of English poor relief in the period from 1529 to 1644. While in each of these cases like circumstances produced similar attempts to afford relief, in none did both an energetic Privy Council and a vigorous system of local officials coexist, and consequently in each case poor laws were in existence but were badly administered. The course of events in all these instances will therefore confirm the view that the survival of the English system of poor relief is owing to the organisation which was enforced by the English justices and was created by the Book of Orders of 1631.
In England the justices' reports concerning the administration of the poor cease after the year 1639. After that date either no more reports were sent or no care was taken to preserve them. The cessation of these documents probably marks the time when the system created by the Book of Orders began to disappear. Other and more pressing matters engaged the attention of the Privy Council, and were subjects for the special inquiries of the judges of assize. The justices devoted their zeal and attention to raising troops or to meeting the great demands in money made by both King and Parliament, while constables and overseers were used as collectors, not only of funds for the relief of the poor, but also of the revenues needed by the armies[644]. Under these circumstances the system created by the Book of Orders fell to pieces, and the whole administration of poor relief became lax. Still the effect of the execution of the Book of Orders remained. For nine years the overseers had been drilled by the justices, and the parishioners had been compelled to pay rates. The inhabitants had become accustomed to the organisation, and that part of it continued which was most easily enforced by the overseers, and which seemed to them most urgently necessary. The impotent were still relieved, and children were still apprenticed, though less efficiently than before, but the able-bodied poor were no longer found with work, except in a few isolated cases.