1718. 5 George I. and receive so much of the annual rents, of such husband, father, or mother, as such justices shall order, towards the discharge of the parish for bringing up and providing for such wife, child, or children. And the justices in quarter-sessions are further empowered to make an order, enabling the churchwardens and overseers to dispose of such goods and chattels by sale or otherwise, or so much of them as shall be deemed necessary for the aforesaid purposes; and the churchwardens and overseers are directed to account to the quarter-sessions for all money so received by them. This Act brings to light a new incident in poor-law administration. The obligation imposed upon parishes, of providing needful relief for all persons belonging to or settled in them, has, we here see, led to the desertion of families, sometimes even, it would seem, by persons possessed of sufficient means for their support. To guard against this gross abuse of the law, and this abandonment of natural duty, it is now provided that the property of such persons may be seized by the parish officers, and applied to supporting the individuals so abandoned. A man may have deserted his family, and gone away to another county or place, or to another kingdom, but if he has left property of any kind behind him, it will now be made available for the support of the wife or the children whom he has forsaken. This Act is highly instructive, as showing the abuse to which every compulsory system of relief is more or less liable, even to the extent of blunting natural sympathies, and neutralising parental affection. It moreover shows the necessity for keeping a watchful eye upon the administration of all such relief, and for a jealous supervision of the laws by which it is prescribed. The 5 George I. cap. 28, is entitled "An Act for cap. 28. the further Punishment of Persons who shall unlawfully destroy Deer," etc. It recites, that "disorderly destroying 1719. 6 George I. cap. 16. preserva woods. and riotous persons, in defiance of the laws, have of Against late in great numbers, with armed force, entered parks deer, etc." and other closed grounds where deer are kept, whereby bloodshed and murder hath frequently happened, and great mischief may ensue "-for prevention of which it is enacted, that any person who shall, without consent of the owner, enter a park or any park or any enclosed ground where deer are kept, and wilfully wound or kill the same, or be aiding or assisting therein, shall, on conviction, be transported to one of the plantations in America for seven years. In the following year another Act was passed which, like the present, indicates the existence of a spirit of violence and disorder in the rural population at that time. The object of this last Act (6 George I. cap. 16) is declared to be for the better preservation of woods, etc.; and it recites, that "divers lewd, lawless, turbulent, and disorderly For better persons, sometimes in an open riotous and tumultuous Prey manner, and at other times in a clandestine malicious and private manner, do enter the woods, plantations, parks, etc., of lords of manors and others, and make great havoc and destruction by cutting down, spoiling, plucking up, and carrying away wood, poles, fruit-trees, etc., there growing; and also by breaking open, throwing down, levelling, or destroying the hedges, gates, and fences, etc., to the great injury of such lords of manors and other owners." Doubts are then said to have arisen whether these offences are punishable by 1 George I., passed in 1715, for encouraging the planting of timber, fruit, and other trees, and for better preserving the same; and it is therefore enacted that the lords. and other owners shall have remedy and satisfaction from the inhabitants of the parish, town, hamlet, or place adjoining such woods, etc., for the damage done, in the same manner and form as is directed by the Statute of Westminster (13 Edward I. sec. 46), “for dykes and hedges overthrown by persons in the night, or at any other season when they supposed they were not espied." And the offenders are, on conviction, to be committed to the house of correction, with hard labour, for three months. The above Acts are noticed chiefly on account of the information they afford as to the state of the country at that time. The people were, we see, overprone to rebel against the restraints of the law, and to disregard the rights of property—a state of things unfavourable to social improvement, and to the progress of honest industry. This, moreover, was not confined to the land; for two years afterwards it was found necessary to pass "An Act for the more effectual Sup1721. pressing of Piracy at Sea." This Act (8 George I. cap. cap. 24. 24) declares, that the number of piracies, felonies, and 8 George I. Against robberies upon the seas, is of late very much increased, piracy, etc. and that many idle and profligate persons have turned pirates, "whereby the trade into remote parts will In what degree these disorders were attributable to the partisans of the House of Stuart, it is impossible to say, there may have been, and probably were other causes, but the political disquiet following upon the change of dynasty was assuredly one, if it were not indeed the chief. 1720. 7 George I. cap. 7. сар. aging silk factures. The 7 George I. cap. 7, is entitled "An Act to preserve and encourage the Woollen and Silk Manufactures," and it affords another instance, in addition For encourto the many already cited, of a disposition in the legis- and woollen lature to force trade and manufactures into other manuchannels than those in which they would naturally flow. The recital declares it to be "most evident that the wearing and using of printed, painted, stained, and dyed calicoes in apparel, household stuff, furniture, and otherwise, does manifestly tend to the great detriment of the woollen and silk manufactures, and to the excessive increase of the poor, and if not prevented may be the utter ruin and destruction of the said manufactures, and of many thousands whose livelihoods do entirely depend thereupon." The wearing or use of printed or dyed calico is then prohibited under a penalty of five pounds, and the selling of the same, unless it be for exportation, is likewise prohibited under a penalty of twenty pounds. These prohibitions of the use of calico appear extraordinary to us at the present day, when our ordinary clothing and the furniture of our houses so largely consist of this material, and when, moreover, such vast numbers of our people "whose livelihoods do entirely depend thereupon," are employed in the manufacture of cotton. But this only the more clearly proves the short-sighted policy of such restrictive legislation. Every attempt to force into use articles which are less eligible or less liked, and to prohibit the use of articles which are more liked and deemed more eligible, is sure in the long run to fail, and be the occasion of needless expense and privation to the people for whose benefit it is, as in this instance, professed to be intended. The extent to which our cotton manufactures have since 1720. 7 George I. cap. 12. lating buttons holes. grown, the amount of employment they afford, and their immense importance to the country, place the above prohibitions in a point of view more markedly objectionable, and even absurd, than would be the case in most other instances; but all such interferences are essentially of the same character, and must be judged by the same standard. The above observations apply with equal force to 7 George I. cap. 12, by which it was attempted to For regu encourage the manufacture of a particular kind of button and button-hole. It commences by reciting and button- two statutes, one passed in the late, the other in the present reign (8 Anne, cap. 11, and 4 George I. cap. 7), in which it was enacted, "that no buttons or buttonholes made of cloth, serge, drugget, frize, camblet, or any other stuffs, should be made, set, or bound on any clothes or wearing-garments whatsoever, by any tailor or other person," under a penalty of five pounds for every dozen of buttons and button-holes so set on and made. The present Act declares that these prohibitions have not been effectual, and that buttons and buttonholes made of cloth and other stuffs are still usually made, set, and bound on clothes, etc., to the great impoverishment of the manufacturers of buttons and button-holes made of silk, mohair, and thread. Wherefore, in the present Act, the prohibition is repeated, but the penalty is reduced from five pounds to forty shillings for every dozen of such buttons and buttonholes so illegally set on or made, the magnitude of the higher penalty probably rendering it ineffective. 1720. cap. 13. For regu The above Act for regulating buttons and button7 George I. holes is immediately followed by 7 George I. cap. 13, "For regulating Journeymen Tailors." This Act declares that "great numbers of journeymen tailors in and about the cities of London and Westminster, and others who have served apprenticeships, or been brought up in the art and mystery of a tailor, have lately lating journey men tailors. |