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opposed them to every thing like speculation or enterprise, it found the English nation better prepared to appreciate such an accession to its proper force than ever before; and an impetus was thereby given to the popular movement, that, notwithstanding the increased strength which the crown had apparently acquired by the destruction of the church, and by the quiet acquiescence of the nation in the despotism of Henry the Eighth, notwithstanding the masculine vigor with which Elizabeth held the sceptre, - yet, under her successor, men began to hear the distant mutterings of that tempest which, in the days of Charles the First, prostrated the ancient institutions, and buried the monarch under the ruins of the monarchy.

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Under the long parliament, the democratic principle achieved its final triumph; the right of all classes in the nation to a voice in the government was fully recognized, and from this admission the operative body may date its political emancipation, that is, so far as it ever can be emancipated, under the social order which now prevails in England. The previous period was marked as has been said, by the rise of the middling class of gentry, and small landholders, which operated as a countervailing power against oppression, either aristocratic, or regal; and thereby so much was gained for the cause of liberty: but as to the operative classes, it may well be doubted whether notwithstanding their political advancement, they had not on the whole, rather receded in the scale of comfort.

It is certain that although the rate of wages had more than doubled during the sixteenth century, the necessaries of life had advanced in more than the same. proportion; the laborer therefore, could not purchase so liberally as before; and this disproportion between

the rates of labor and the comforts which labor ought to secure, has in the opinion of many writers, gone on increasing from that day to this.

The contest which raged between Charles the First and his people did not arise from any national distress; on the contrary, the condition of the laboring classes was no worse than usual, and the trading community, together with the middle classes generally, were decidedly more prosperous than ever before; this contest, therefore, was one of principle, growing out of the collision of two antagonist ideas, namely, the divine right of kings against the divine right of the people — a contest for which the events of centuries had been silently preparing the way, and which no human prudence, or foresight, could have prevented from finally taking place.

During the whole course of the war, however, the due execution of the laws was for the most part maintained, and the general trade of the country carried on; so that there was but little distress, except, of course, at the actual points where the war was raging; and the national industry therefore, sprung forward with elastic force, the moment the contest terminated.

The revocation of the edict of Nantz, in 1685, gave England, at the expense of France, a large accession of productive labor; thousands of artisans were, by this ill-judged act, compelled to take refuge in the former country, bringing with them many new branches of industry, particularly the silk manufacture, where their ingenuity, skill, and taste, were at once seen in the superior fabrics which the looms of England immediately sent forth. The manufacture of fine paper, also, for which England had always been tributary to the Continent, was introduced at this time, and probably by the same means.

In following out our plan of illustrating the condition of the operative by notices of the manners and modes of thinking in various periods, we are struck with the fact that up to the seventeenth century, however his legal, or political position may have improved, his social one remained much the same as in former ages; even some of the clergy, in the times of the Stuarts, spoke of the people on a certain occasion under the epithets of "rude rascal commons, rascal rioters, rascal rabble, that underfoot of people," and the like, "forgetting," Rays the history, "that they had souls to be saved, much more that they were formed in the image of their Maker as well as their betters." The aristocracy still looked down upon all traffickers and operatives as inferior beings, and treated them accordingly. "Even the fashionable comedy of the day was always spiced with scurrilous abuse of the operative classes;" and "one of its most racy incidents was generally the introduction of some vulgar flat-capped citizen to be robbed of his wealth, and outraged in the honor of his family, by some profligate adventurer of the court."

The London shops of this period, traders' as well as mechanics', were scarce better than cellars, or little booths, for the most part without doors or windows; and the master walked before them rehearsing a list of his merchandise, and plying for customers.

The apprentices formed a distinct and peculiar class, and seem to have been considered the "chief civic nuisances of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. These youths," says the history, "although scattered over the whole metropolis, were formidable not only from their numbers, but their union, and were always ready to head the minor insurrections of the period. In these cases, it was in vain for the city guard to op

pose them; their clubs, bills, and partisans were swept before the fury of a prentice onset, and it was often necessary to call out the military against them. One aggrieved member of the fraternity was enough to throw the whole ward into an uproar; he had only to shout the war-cry of 'Prentices! clubs!' when every shop, warehouse, and street repeated the warning, and every prentice snatched up his cap and club and rushed to the rescue. These turbulent lads had also their feuds against certain other bodies, among which the law students of the Temple were particularly distinguished; but all foreigners they especially hated with even more than an English hatred."

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Defoe gives rather an unfavorable picture of the improvidence and dissipation of the working classes in his day. “Good husbandry," says he, "is no English virtue; it may have been brought over; and in some places where it has been planted it has thriven well enough; but it is a foreign species; it neither loves nor is beloved by an Englishman. The English get estates, and the Dutch save them; and this observation I have made between foreigners and Englishmen that where an Englishman earns twenty shillings a week and but just lives, as we call it, a Dutchman grows rich and leaves his children in very good condition. Where an English laboring man, with his nine shillings per week, lives wretchedly and poor, a Dutchman with that wages will live tolerably well, keep the wolf from the door, and have every thing handsome about him. In short, he will be rich with the same gain that makes the Englishman poor; he'll thrive where the other goes in rags, and he'll live where the other starves or goes a begging. We are the most lazy diligent nation in the world; there is nothing more fre

quent than for an Englishman to work till he has got his pocket full of money, and then go and be idle, or perhaps drunk, till it is all gone, and perhaps himself in debt; and ask him in his cups what he intends, he 'll tell you honestly he 'll drink as long as it lasts, and then go to work for more." What an amount of misery and wasted means have we the history of in these few lines! and how much cause for thankfulness have we, my friends, that, through the exertions of a few noble spirits, we may reasonably hope to be spared from the further realization of the picture in our own country. But to return to our subject.

"It is amusing," continues the history, "to observe the jealous distinctions that still prevailed among the different classes: only a great magnifico, or royal merchant, was worthy to prefix Master or Mr. to his name; and if he was addressed as the worshipful Master so and so, it was when a soothing compliment was necessary; but the additions of Gentleman or Esquire would have thrown the whole court into a ferment. Even in such a trifling matter as a light in the dark streets at night, the same distinctions were observed; the courtiers were lighted with torches, merchants and lawyers with links, or large candles, and mechanics with lanterns."

Notwithstanding these follies, and although the condition of the operatives, or immediate laborers, remained without improvement, the national industry of Great Britain had begun in the beginning of the eighteenth century to show the dim outlines of its present gigantic form: yet the manufactures of that period were, from the absence of machinery, carried on under disadvantages of which we at present can form no idea. The steam engine had indeed been in use partially, since

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