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from the extremely defective sewerage, filth of every kind constantly accumulates. In these horrid dens the most abandoned characters of the city are collected, and from thence they nightly issue to disseminate disease, and to pour upon the town every species of vice and abomination."

Let us now look at the report of Mr. J. C. Symons, respecting the Wynds of Glasgow, (as the lanes and closes are called,) while conducting the inquiry into the condition of the hand-loom weavers, as assistant commissioner for the Glasgow district. "The Wynds of Glasgow comprise a fluctuating population of from 15,000 to 20,000 persons. This quarter consists of a labyrinth of lanes, out of which numberless entrances lead into small courts, each with a dunghill reeking in the centre. Revolting as was the outside appearance of these places, I was little prepared for the filth and destitution within. In some of these lodging-rooms (visited at night) we found a whole lair of human beings littered along the floor, sometimes fifteen and twenty, some clothed and some naked, men, women, and children, huddled promiscuously together. Their bed consisted of a lair of musty straw intermixed with rags. There was generally no furniture in these places. The sole article of comfort was a fire. Thieving and prostitution constituted the main source of the revenue of this population. No pains seem to be taken to purge this Augean pandemonium, this nucleus of crime, filth, and pestilence, existing in the centre of the second city of the empire. These Wynds constitute the St. Giles' of Glasgow, but I owe an apology to the metropolitan pandemonium for the comparison. A very extensive inspection of the lowest districts of other places, both here and on the Continent, never presented anything one half so bad, either in intensity of pestilence, physical and moral, or in extent proportioned to the population."

To this statement, which, from personal inspection we can aver to be very far below the truth, the defenders of Glasgow insinuate sundry objections, which we shall consider seriatim. In the first place they say that Mr. Symons has waived all delicacy. It seems that some grave statisticians have the same notions of delicacy which Sam Slick found among the factory-girls in Lowell; the name, not the object, offends their fastidiousness. But, in truth, so far is Mr. Symons from waiving delicacy that he has gone into the contrary extreme, and passed over without notice the nameless abominations which render these lanes and closes utterly impassable save to those who possess the thickest of shoes and the strongest of stomachs.

It is next denied that the Wynds are a fair specimen of the habitations of the poor in Glasgow. Let us ask the superintendent of police, Captain Millar, if the Vennels, and the miserable closes off the Saltmarket are one whit better? Dr. Cowan has constructed a fever-map of Glasgow, and a most valuable guide it is for those who have both the philanthropic desire, and the constitutional strength to investigate the condition of the poor. We have followed the tracks to which it pointed so far as our powers of endurance would permit, and we can aver that in accumulations of filth, in outrages on decency, in all the physical abominations that necessitate vice, misery, and disease, the Wynds are not an unfair specimen of the lanes and closes of Glasgow. During the recent meeting of the British Association, it was deemed expedient to conceal the febrile 2 Q

VOL. VIII.

condition of the Vennels, which are in the immediate vicinity of the College, lest the sections should be deterred from meeting in so pestilential a neighbourhood.

It is next asserted that the Wynds are inhabited by "squatters," who live there rent-free. But we have personally interrogated the denizens of those horrible abodes; we have inquired from those who have had the best opportunity of being acquainted with their conditions, and the result of our investigations is that the unfortunate beings, in proportion to the accommodations they obtain, pay heavier rents than the shopkeepers of Regent Street, or the aristocracy of Belgrave Square!

Dr. Cowan has very ably shown that contagious fever, though not always generated by dirt and destitution, is, when it extends rapidly, an indication and test of privation and suffering. He also presented returns from the Fever Hospital, by which it appeared that the number of Irish admitted as patients bore a less proportion to the total amount of admissions than the estimated number of Irish in Glasgow to the whole amount of the population.

In a return printed by the Secretary of the Glasgow Statistical Society, respecting the state of the poorest class of operatives in Glasgow during the year 1837, we find that, out of every thousand supplied with food at the soup-kitchens, 712 were Scotch and 266 Irish, that is, the Irish were little more than a fourth. Out of 3,072 applicants for work to the Relief Committee 1,920 were Scotchmen, and 1,103 Irishmen; that is, the Irish were rather more than onethird. And, combining these facts, it appears that the destitute Irish showed one-twelfth more willingness to work than the destitute Scotch. The author of the return adds "this statement will go far to disabuse the minds of many of the community of an idea too prevalent, that at least a majority (it has been repeatedly stated, two-thirds) of the persons relieved by charity in Glasgow are Irish."

We should form a very low estimate either of the head or the heart of that man, who, when called upon to remove a mass of physical and moral evil, unparalleled within the seas of Britain, should content himself with casting a glance of scorn at the sufferers and saying, "Oh! they are only Irish!" So far as our experience goes there are no such narrow-minded persons among the citizens of Glasgow; those whom we have met are equal to the best of the same class throughout England in enlightened sentiment, in large and liberal philanthropy, and in detestation of that better spirit which can only find indulgence in pointing the finger of scorn at some proscribed caste, creed, colour, or country.

Let it be thoroughly understood that the destitution of Glasgow is Glasgow's own, and that, if all the Irish in the city were swept down the Clyde into St. George's Channel, the mass of physical and moral evil in the city would not be sensibly abated. Let us now see some of the consequences of the fearful state of things which we have very tenderly described. "Glasgow," says Dr. Cowan," exhibits a frightful rate of mortality, unequalled, probably, in any city of Britain." Since 1830 the average mortality there has been one in 30,-in 1832 it was one in 21·67, and in 1837 it was one in 24-63; the average annual mortality in London being probably below one in 35, and certainly over England below one in 45. "In the last three years," says Dr. Alison, "the whole number

of fever-cases in Glasgow is computed at nearly 40,000; and the deaths from it are stated in the mortality bills to have been 3835, of which 2180 were in the year 1837 alone, constituting more than one-fifth of the whole mortality, and exceeding by about one-fourth the deaths by "decline in that year, which were 1562." Now, in the year 1837, there was a greater extension of fever in England than had been known for many previous years, and yet the deaths from that cause were only one-sixteenth of the whole mortality, and not one-third of the mortality from "decline," or consumption. In Liverpool, where fever is higher than in any part of England, deaths from that cause formed only one-tenth of the entire mortality, and hardly more than one-half of the deaths from consumption. Dr. Cowan stated also that fever in Glasgow runs in a cycle; recently it had fallen to its minimum, but he believed that it was now again on the increase, and he shuddered to contemplate the amount of, misery it would inflict ere it reached its maximum. He concluded his terrific statement by declaring that destitution in Glasgow "had increased, was increasing, and ought to be diminished."

It has become the fashion with some modern moralists to throw the blame of the increase of pauperism on the towns, and on the manufacturing system. It is possible that the commercial and industrial enterprize of Glasgow might be blamed by such reasoners for the dreadful state of things which we have attempted to describe; and it is therefore necessary to say a few words to show that neither manufactures nor commerce can be justly held responsible for the abominations of the Wynds and Vennels. In the first place these dens are situated in the oldest part of the city; some of the dung-heaps may, probably, vie in antiquity with the cathedral; the crowds in them may be new, but the buildings, their deficiencies in drainage, sewerage, and the ordinary conveniencies for cleanliness and decency, belong to a period when the Clyde was only navigable by small boats, and when spinning-jennies were unknown. Secondly, the houses in the immediate vicinity of factories, and erected in consequence of the employment there given, though not all that we could wish, are palaces compared with the nests of the filthy rookery established for centuries in the heart of the city. Finally, we have seen reason to believe, from our own inquiries, and from the investigations of the most eminent statisticians, that the destitution of Glasgow is chiefly alimented from the Highlands, and the rural districts adjoining them.

"The description," says Dr. Alison, "given by Messrs. Fullarton and Baird of the Highland cottier turned houseless and homeless into the wilderness, is applicable to what I have myself seen of many families from all parts of Scotland. Ten to one but, after having been long driven from place to place, the poor man is finally compelled to take refuge in some manufacturing town, where he sinks into the condition of a common labourer, or something worse, his family becomes corrupted and vicious, and the scene not unfrequently closes by his dying in prison of a broken heart."

This immigration from the country into the city is rendered inevitable by the miserable reward for labour in the agricultural districts, and the atrocious mockery of the pittance granted for the relief of the destitute poor. In no other part of the world would a pauper be mocked by such an allowance for his support as one

penny or twopence per week. But in Scotland a less appreciable sum is granted for his maintenance. In the parish of Kilmuir we find, from the report of Messrs. Fullarton and Baird, that sixty paupers on the roll have three pounds annually between them; that is to say, a penny per month each; and in Lochmaree, each pauper has two shillings and sixpence annually, or twopence-halfpenny per month, to provide food, lodging, and clothing. Finally, from the report made to the General Assembly, it appears that the average allowance to each pauper on the permanent roll is nine shillings and fourpence annually, being rather less than twopence farthing per week! We must not, however, here discuss the question of pauperism in relation to the large towns of Scotland; the subject is sufficiently important for a separate paper; but we have said enough to show that a source has been pointed out sufficiently prolific to account for the continued immigration of misery and destitution into Glasgow.

But the influx from the Highland districts is not only an immigration of misery, but of ignorance. We are aware that this will appear a strange assertion to those who are accustomed to hear of Bible-reading and educated Scotland; but we turn to the report of Messrs. Fullarton and Baird (p. 62), where we find that, out of a population of 126,685, in the year 1837, there were 53,649 unable to read, -that is to say, above forty per cent of this vast mass of human beings were totally ignorant of the slightest and most ordinary means of intellectual or moral improvement. In a paper read by Professor Ramsay, at the late meeting of the British Association, it was stated, "the poor in the Highlands have been grossly neglected by the parochial clergy; the pastors neglected their flocks, and were so far from doing their duty in examining the qualifications of teachers, as they were bound to do by law, that for many years, and in many places, they neglected to have teachers appointed at all."

In a general glance at Glasgow, the two circumstances which are most likely to strike an English visitor are the number of persons, otherwise well dressed, without shoes or stockings; and the very disproportionate amount of juvenile vagrants. The former, being a matter of taste, requires no observation; but the latter is one of the most dreadful and growing scourges in the city. Some notion of the evils generated by juvenile vagrancy may be formed from a return made by Captain Millar, the Superintendent of Police, at the request of Dr. Cleland, and published by the latter gentleman.

"At the time of opening the House of Refuge for males," says the Captain, "it was particularly noticed that many vagrant boys and girls were prowling about the streets. I have known girls of from ten to twelve years of age certified by the office surgeon as diseased. I account for the fact of such girls going astray at so early an age, by their being put out by profligate parents to beg, and who, if not successful in begging, had to steal, or do worse, as they durst not return to their worthless parents without something. Boys have been found diseased at twelve years of age. They become vitiated in this way at so early an age, by their mixing daily with vagrant girls of their own age, sleeping on stairs, and congregating in the low lodging-houses of the city. Twenty or thirty of such young persons have been seen on an evening, in the immediate vicinity of the office, and putting themselves in the way of the police, to be taken in for protection."

This evil is increasing. The character of the Glasgow weavers, which once stood deservedly high, has been sadly deteriorated. "From personal experience," says the Secretary to the Glasgow Statistical Society, 66 as well as from the information of others intimately acquainted with the subject, the writer is able to state, that the religious, moral, and intellectual condition of the weavers was long of a very high grade; and even yet the writer is of opinion that the elder portion of them ranks higher in these respects than any other class of tradesmen. But as poverty prevents many of them from attending public worship, and still more from educating their children, there can be little doubt that their character is fast deteriorating, and that their children will be in a still more deplorable condition."

Nothing is more fallacious than an attempt to estimate the amount of crime in a given community or locality from the number of committals. Such a return is more frequently a test of the strictness or vigilance of the police, than of the real number of offences committed. There is no case to which the old rhyme is more applicable, "What is hit is history,

But what is miss'd is mystery."

This is admirably illustrated by a paper presented by Captain Millar to the Statistical Section of the British Association, in which London, Liverpool, Dublin, and Glasgow are compared, in the proportion of number of offenders to the population, and in the proportion of number of inhabitants to each police-office.

In London, the number of offenders is one out of twenty-four and one-fourth of the population, and there is one police-officer for every 355 inhabitants.

In Liverpool, the proportion of offenders is one in sixteen, and there is one police-officer to 442 inhabitants.

In Dublin, offenders, one in seven, and one police-officer to 256 inhabitants.

In Glasgow, offenders, one in twenty-two and three-fourths, and one police-officer to 784 inhabitants.

Were we to adopt Mr. Guerry's logic, we should at once infer from the example of Dublin, that the increase of a police force increases crime; but it would be a waste of words to show that it only increases facility of detection. In Dublin, moreover, the rules respecting what may be called minor police offences are very rigorous, and very strictly enforced, particularly those relating to nuisances, to intoxication, to brawling, and rioting, &c. Were these eliminated, the Irish metropolis would stand above Liverpool, and closely approach London. Nuisances are utterly disregarded by the Glasgow police, save in the leading streets; cases of intoxication are not noticed, save when they have a tendency to breach of the peace; and, in the case of street brawls, the Glasgow police exhibit a forbearance and moderation, which their brethren in Ireland might beneficially imitate. But there are other deductions to be made, of still greater importance. Each suburb of Glasgow has an independent police jurisdiction of its own. Calton, the Gorbals, and Anderston are under separate commissions; and we find it stated by a most intelligent magistrate, Mr. Rutherglen, that "the commissioners, from absurd and stupid qualifications, are too frequently selected from among parties who have sometimes an interest in making the

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