In the Midlands and South,where this needful stimulus was absent,the case was different;some increase in the labourer's means of subsistence was absolutely necessary here,in order that he might exist.It would have been dangerous to let things alone;and the true way to meet the difficulty would have been for the farmers to have raised wages -a course of action which they have at times adopted.But an absence alike of intelligence and generosity,and the vicious working of the Poor Laws in the midland and southern counties,prevented this.The farmers refused to recognise the claims alike of humanity and self-interest,so the justices and country gentlemen took the matter into their own hands,while the labourers threw themselves upon the Poor Law,and demanded that the parish should do what the farmers refused to do,and should supplement insufficient wages by an allowance.This was the principle which radically vitiated the old Poor Law.The farmers supported the system;they wished every man to have an allowance according to his family,and declared that 'high wages and free labour would overwhelm them.'A change had also come over the minds of the landowners as to their relation to the people.In addition to unthinking and ignorant benevolence,we can trace the growth of a sentiment which admitted an unconditional right on the part of the poor to an indefinite share in the national wealth;but the right was granted in such a way as to keep them in dependence and diminish their self-respect.Though it was increased by the panic of the French revolution,this idea of bribing the people into passiveness was not absolutely,new.It had prompted Gilbert's Act in 1782,which abolished the workhouse test,and provided work for those who were willing near their homes.It was this Tory Socialism,this principle of protection of the poor by the rich,which gave birth to the frequent use of the term 'labouring poor,'so common in the Statutes and in Adam Smith,an expression which Burke attacked as a detestable canting phrase.
The war with Napoleon gave a new impulse to this pauperising policy.Pitt and the country gentlemen wanted strong armies to fight the French,and reversed the old policy as regards checks upon population.Hitherto they had exercised control over the numbers of the labourers by refusing to build cottages;in 1771,'an open war against cottages'had been carried on,and landlords often pulled down cottages,says Arthur Young,'that they may never become the nests,as they are called,of beggar brats.'But now by giving extra allowance to large families,they put a premium on early marriages,and labourers were paid according to the number of their children.Further extension of the allowance system came from actual panic at home.Farmers and landowners were intimidated by the labourers:the landowners had themselves according to Malthus at once inflamed the minds of their labourers and preached to them submission.Rick-burning was frequent;at Swallowfield,in Wiltshire,the justices,'under the influence of the panic struck by the fires,so far yielded to the importunity of the farmers as to adopt the allowance-system during the winter months.'In 1795some Berkshire justices 'and other discreet persons'issued a proclamation,which came to be considered as a guide to all the magistrates of the South of England.They declared it to be their unanimous opinion that the state of the poor required further assistance than had been generally given them;and with this view they held it inexpedient to regulate wages according to the statutes of Elizabeth and James;they would earnestly recommend farmers and others to increase the pay of their labourers in proportion to the present price of provisions;but if the farmers refused,they would make an allowance to every poor family in proportion to its numbers.
They stated what they thought necessary for a man and his wife and children,which was to be produced 'either by his own and his family's labour on an allowance from the poor-rates.'These were the beginnings of the allowance system,which under its many forms ended in thoroughly demoralising the people;it had not been long in operation before we hear the labourers described as lazy,mutinous,and imperious to the overseers.When grants in aid of wages were deemed insufficient,the men would go to a magistrate to complain,the magistrate would appeal to the humanity of the overseer,the men would add threats,and the overseer would give in.In the parish of Bancliffe 'a man was employed to look after the paupers,but they threatened to drown him,and he was obliged to withdraw.'The whole character of the people was lowered by the admission that they had a right to relief independent of work.
