A history of the Irish poor law, in connexion with the condition of the people

by Sir George Nicholls

Report on the state of disease, and the condition of the labouring poor in Ireland.

In 1819 a select committee of the commons of which Sir John Newport was the chairman, was appointed to inquire into the state of disease, and also into the condition of the labouring poor in Ireland; and a Report on each of these subjects was presented to the house in course of the session, of which Reports the following is an abstract.

On the prevalence of fever.

With regard to the first point, although it is said not to be “the most essential or most difficult object of their investigation,” the committee consider the prevalence of contagious fever in Ireland a calamitous indication of general distress; and in order “to prevent the migration through the country of numerous bodies of mendicant poor, who pressed by want and seeking for relief, have fatally contributed to the general diffusion of disease,” they recommend that magistrates, churchwardens, or other appointed officers “be empowered to remove out of their respective parishes any persons found begging or wandering as vagabonds therein, or to confine such persons to hard labour for twenty-four hours in any bridewell or other public place of confinement, or to adopt both measures as the case may require; and also to cause the persons and clothes of such vagabond beggars to be washed and cleansed during the period of such confinement.” The committee consider that the Act of last session (58th George 3rd, cap. 47)[^[36]] “enacted under circumstances of severe and calamitous visitation,” has on the whole been productive of good, and they think it of infinite moment that there should be a systematic local control established in all cities and great towns for the removal of nuisances which generate and increase disease; for which purpose they recommend that officers of health should be annually elected by the householders in places containing above 1,000 inhabitants, with power to direct the cleansing of streets &c., the removal of nuisances, the ventilation of houses, and the doing of all things necessary for the health and preservation of the inhabitants; and also that such country parishes as think proper may do the same, and that the expenses incurred in performance of these duties should be levied as a parish rate, and the expenditure accounted for as in the case of other parochial assessments.

The committee then express their intention of proceeding, “in further execution of their duty,” to inquire into the practicability of ameliorating the condition of the labouring poor, “by facilitating the application of the funds of private individuals and associations for their employment in useful and productive labour,” by which alone the entire and permanent removal of the malady can be expected, although it is, they say, much mitigated in its severity, and more circumscribed in its extent than heretofore. The disease still however, it is observed, continues to press heavily on the community, and by “the united testimonies of every competent inquirer is attributed to the want of employment of the labouring classes, as a primary and powerfully efficient cause.”

1819.
On the condition of the labouring poor.

On the second head of inquiry, the condition, or in other words, the employment of the labouring poor, the committee “find themselves in a great measure controlled by the unquestionable principle that legislative interference in the operations of human industry is as much as possible to be avoided.” There are however, they say, certain exceptions to such a rule, either when injurious impediments are to be removed, or where any branch of industry cannot at its commencement be carried on by individual exertion, on which occasions, it is considered, parliament may with advantage interpose its aid. The existence of general distress and the deficiency of employment were so notorious, that the committee deemed it unnecessary to encumber their Report with evidence on the subject. Their inquiries were particularly directed to agriculture and the fisheries, as being the two most important departments of labour, and as “those likewise to which the greatest extension may be given without hazarding reaction.” They refer to the Report of the Commissioners on the Bogs of Ireland, which they consider “prove the immense amount of land easily reclaimable, and convertible to the production of grain almost without limit for exportation”—whilst, “the small extent to which the commissioners’ recommendations have been acted upon, demonstrates lamentably that want of capital which in Ireland unnerves all effort for improvement.” The institution of commissioners of sewers, as in England, is then recommended, as is also the draining of the great bogs and marshes, and the making a legal provision for repayment of the necessary outlay. The formation of roads in the mountainous districts is likewise recommended, those districts not having, it is said, “their due share of the benefits of the grand-jury system.”

The want of capital the committee consider is attributable to a variety of causes. Capital, they justly remark, “can accumulate only out of the savings of individuals; and in Ireland there are few persons who conduct their operations on such a scale, as to admit of much surplus for accumulation.” The manufacture which flourishes most is the linen-trade, and this is said to be “spread abroad amongst a population which at the same time cultivates the soil for their sustenance,” a state of things incompatible with large savings. Whilst in agriculture, the tendency to the subdivision of farms, and the practice of throwing the expense of buildings and repairs on the tenants, prevent the accumulation of profit in the hands of the farmers, and its application to agricultural improvements. There are, it is said, two millions of acres of bog in Ireland, capable when reclaimed of growing corn; and the mountain districts comprise a million and half of acres at present nearly unproductive, but about one-half of which is suitable for agriculture, and the remainder for pasturage and planting. The reclamation and improvement of these bogs and mountain districts would, the committee observe, afford profitable employment to the people, and greatly increase the productive powers of the country; but for this capital is necessary, and in Ireland the capital is not to be found.

With regard to the fisheries, it is declared that “in whatever view they can be considered, whether as a source of national wealth, as a means of employing an overflowing population, or as a nursery of the best seamen,” they are of the utmost importance; and the revision and simplification of the fishery laws, and the direct application of encouragement to the fishermen of the coast, whose actual condition is said to be miserable, the committee consider essential to any successful fishery in Ireland. The northern, western, and southern coasts, are said to afford every advantage for a bay or coast fishery, and to be admirably suited for a deep-sea cod-fishery of great importance; and after noticing what had been done in Scotland, where an improved system of fishery laws, and parliamentary encouragement wisely applied, had been eminently successful, the committee earnestly recommend “on every ground of policy as well as justice,” that the precedent of Scotland should be applied to Ireland. The circumstances of the two countries are declared to be remarkably similar, “both being mountainous and uncultivated, and abounding with an unemployed population.”

On this last point, the committee remark—“It is almost impossible in theory to estimate the mischiefs attendant on a redundant, a growing and unemployed population, converting that which ought to be the strength into the peril of the state.” It is obvious, they say, that the tendency of such a population to general misery, and the boundless multiplication of human beings satisfied with the lowest condition of existence, must be rapid in proportion to the facility of procuring human sustenance; and it is declared—“that such a population, excessive in proportion to the market for labour, exists and is growing in Ireland, a fact that demands the most serious attention of the legislature, and makes it not merely a matter of humanity, but of state policy, to give every reasonable encouragement to industry in that quarter of the empire.” The non-residence of a great portion of the proprietors, and their spending their incomes in England, is then adverted to, as being a circumstance which “enhances the claim of Ireland on the generous consideration of parliament.”