470 THE BRITISH ISLES. 



authorities, and these arc almost exclusively iindor the influence of the Church 

 and the landed proprietors. 



The growing wealth of England as a whole has not by any means enriched 

 the landed proprietors and merchants only, for the middle and even the lower 

 liasses have largely shared in it. There can he no doubt that the number of 

 paupers has greatly diminished. Since 1849, notwithstanding the very considerable 

 increase of the population and the fluctuations unavoidable in a country mainly 

 dependent upon commerce and manufactures, the number of paupers exhibits a 

 very satisfactory decrease,* and this decrease becomes still more striking if we 

 take into account only the able-bodied adults.f It will thus be seen that at least 

 a portion of the wealth which annually flows into the British Islands, instead of 

 swelling the fortunes of great merchant princes, finds its way into the pockets of 

 the needy ; indeed, we need only enter the houses of the working classes in order 

 to obtain an idea of the general ease enjoyed by the mass of the people. The 

 furniture is substantial, the floor carpeted, and the chimney mantelpiece not 

 devoid of " ornaments." The English artisan in the enjoyment of regular wages 

 in, in fact, much better lodged than the majority of French peasants and small 

 tradesmen. The savings of the English working classes are enormous. They 

 do not all find their way into the savings banks,+ but are largely invested in 

 the funds of friendly and other co-operative associations of every description. 

 Friendly Societies, or, as they are called in an Act of Parliament passed in 

 1793 for their regulation, " Societies of Good Fellowship," have existed in the 

 British Islands from very remote times. The most powerful amongst these 

 associations, whose principal object it is to provide against sickness and death, are 

 the Manchester Unity of Odd Fellows and the Ancient Order of Foresters, 

 whose " lodges," or " courts," are to be found in every town and in many villages 

 of the United Kingdom. They muster about a million members, and have saved 

 up a capital of nearly seven millions sterling. Of Co-operative, Industrial, 

 and Provident Societies there are about 1,500, with 300,000 members, and 

 annual sales to the extent of £15,000,000 sterling. The foremost place 

 amongst this class of societies is due to the Equitable Pioneers of Rochdale, 



* Number of paupers relieved from the rates on January 1 st in England and Ireland, and on May 1 4th 

 in Scotland: — 



t Able-hodied adults relieved on January 1st of each year in England and Wales : — 1849, 201,644 

 1863, 253,499 ; 1877, only 92,806 ; 1880, in consequence of a succession of years of depression, 126,228. 



% Savings bants at the close of 1879 : — 



