67. As to the poor, the parishes continue to be in two; so that I am to be considered as speaking of the parish of Uphusband only. You are aware, that, amongst the last of the acts of the famous Jubilee-Reign, was an act to enable parishes to establish SELECT VESTRIES; and one of these vestries now exists in this parish. And now, let me explain to you the nature and tendency of this Jubilee-Act. Before this Act was passed, overseers of the poor had full authority to grant relief at their discretion. Pray mark that. Then again, before this Act was passed, any one justice of the peace might, on complaint of any poor person, order relief. Mark that. A select vestry is to consist of the most considerable rate-payers. Mark that. Then, mark these things: this Jubilee-Act forbids the overseer to grant any relief other than such as shall be ordered by the select vestry: it forbids ONE justice to order relief, in any case, except in a case of emergency: it forbids MORE THAN ONE to order relief, except on oath that the complainant has applied to the select vestry (where there is one,) and has been refused relief by it; and that, in no case, the justice’s order shall be for more than a month; and, moreover, that when a poor person shall appeal to justices from a select vestry, the justices, in ordering relief, or refusing, shall have “regard to the conduct and CHARACTER of the applicant!”
68. From this Act, one would imagine, that overseers and justices were looked upon as being too soft and yielding a nature; too good, too charitable, too liberal to the poor! In order that the select vestry may have an agent suited to the purposes that the Act manifestly has in view, the Act authorizes the select vestry to appoint what is called an “assistant overseer,” and to give him a salary out of the poor-rates. Such is this Jubilee-Act, one of the last Acts of the Jubilee-reign, that reign, which gave birth to the American war, to Pitt, to Perceval, Ellenborough, Sidmouth, and Castlereagh, to a thousand millions of taxes and another thousand millions of debt: such is the Select Vestry Act; and this now little trifling village of Uphusband has a Select-Vestry! Aye, and an “Assistant Overseer,” too, with a salary of FIFTY POUNDS A YEAR, being, as you will presently see, about a SEVENTH PART OF THE WHOLE OF THE EXPENDITURE ON THE POOR!
69. The Overseers make out and cause to be printed and published, at the end of every four weeks, an account of the disbursements. I have one of these accounts now before me; and I insert it here, word for word, as follows:—
70. “The disbursements of Mr. T. Child and Mr. C. Church, bread at 1s. 2d. per gallon. Sept. 25th, 1826.
71. Under the head of “Widows” are, generally, old women wholly unable to work; and that of “Old Men” are men past all labour: in some of the instances lodging places, in very poor and wretched houses, are found these old people, and, in other instances, they have the bare money; and, observe, that money is FOR FOUR WEEKS! Gracious God! Have we had no mothers ourselves! Were we not born of woman! Shall we not feel then for the poor widow who, in her old age, is doomed to exist on two shillings a week, or threepence halfpenny a day, and to find herself clothes and washing and fuel and bedding out of that! And, the poor old men, the very happiest of whom gets, you see, less than 7d. a day, at the end of 70 or 80 years of a life, all but six of which have been years of labour! I have thought it right to put blanks instead of the names, under the second head. Men of less rigid morality, and less free from all illicit intercourse, than the members of the Select Vestry of Uphusband, would, instead of the word “bastard,” have used the more amiable one of “love-child;” and, it may not be wholly improper to ask these rigid moralists, whether they be aware, that they are guilty of LIBEL, aye, of real criminal libel, in causing these poor girls’ names to be printed and published in this way. Let them remember, that the greater the truth the greater the libel; and, let them remember, that the mothers and the children too, may have memories! But, it is under the head of “FAMILIES” that we see that which is most worthy of our attention. Observe, that eight shillings a week is the wages for a day labourer in the village. And, you see, it is only when there are more than four children that the family is allowed anything at all. “Levi Cook,” for instance, has five children, and he receives allowance for one child. “Joseph White” has eight children, and he receives allowance for four. There are three widows under this head; but, it is where there is a man, the father of the family, that we ought to look with attention; and here we find, that nothing at all is allowed to a family of a man, a wife, and four children, beyond the bare eight shillings a week of wages; and this is even worse than the allowance which I contrasted with that of the hospital patients and convicted felons; for there I supposed the family to consist of a man, his wife and three children. If I am told, that the farmers, that the occupiers of houses and land, are so poor that they cannot do more for their wretched work-people and neighbours; then I answer and say, What a selfish, what a dastardly wretch is he, who is not ready to do all he can to change this disgraceful, this horrible state of things!
72. But, at any rate, is the salary of the “Assistant Overseer” necessary? Cannot that be dispensed with? Must he have as much as all the widows, or all the old men? And his salary, together with the charge for printing and other his various expenses, will come to a great deal more than go to all the widows and old men too! Why not, then, do without him, and double the allowance to these poor old women, or poor old men, who have spent their strength in raising crops in the parish? I went to see with my own eyes some of the “parish houses,” as they are called; that is to say, the places where the select vestry put the poor people into to live. Never did my eyes before alight on such scenes of wretchedness! There was one place, about 18 feet long and 10 wide, in which I found the wife of Isaac Holden, which, when all were at home, had to contain nineteen persons; and into which, I solemnly declare, I would not put 19 pigs, even if well-bedded with straw. Another place was shown me by Job Waldron’s daughter; another by Thomas Carey’s wife. The bare ground, and that in holes too, was the floor in both these places. The windows broken, and the holes stuffed with rags, or covered with rotten bits of board. Great openings in the walls, parts of which were fallen down, and the places stopped with hurdles and straw. The thatch rotten, the chimneys leaning, the doors but bits of doors, the sleeping holes shocking both to sight and smell; and, indeed, every-thing seeming to say: “These are the abodes of wretchedness, which, to be believed possible, must be seen and felt: these are the abodes of the descendants of those amongst whom beef, pork, mutton and veal were the food of the poorer sort; to this are come, at last, the descendants of those common people of England, who, Fortescue tells us, were clothed throughout in good woollens, whose bedding, and other furniture in their houses, were of wool, and that in great store, and who were well provided with all sorts of household goods, every one having all things that conduce to make life easy and happy!”
73. I have now, my friends of Preston, amply proved, that what I have stated relative to the present state of, and allowances to, the labourers is TRUE. And now we are to do all we can to remove the evil; for, removed the evil must be, or England must be sunk for ages; and, never will the evil be removed, until its causes, remote as well as near, be all clearly ascertained. With my best wishes for the health and happiness of you all,
I remain,
Your faithful friend, and most obedient servant,
Wm. Cobbett.