General Conditions. 
511 
large agglomerations of poor and ignorant persons in manufac¬ 
turing towns furnished the prey for dishonest production and 
pettifogging trade. Lack of shrewdness and ready money kept 
the laborer a victim of the tradesman. Physical ailments, un¬ 
pleasant homes, and ignorance gave the liquor traffic a disas¬ 
trous hold upon those who were least able to squander their 
earnings. For an English laborer, the years of life, beyond 
those of self-supporting activity, were almost certain to be spent 
in an almshouse. The end was a pauper’s grave. The condi¬ 
tions of the agricultural districts were not so bad though the 
scenes presented in Chas. Kingsley’s Alton Locke and Yeast are 
anything but pleasing. “ There was not so much to complain 
at in the laws, ” wrote one farmer to a people’s paper, “ except 
perhaps the poor laws, but at certain customs which had out¬ 
lived their time and which bore down with crushing weight 
upon the laborers. ” 
Before the close of the war with France, bread was at famine 
rates and wages at their lowest. The working classes were 
forced down into a position of destitution from which it later 
took the most determined efforts to raise them. The landed 
aristocracy were strongly intrenched in the government and 
were grasping enough to desire to continue war prices, for agri¬ 
cultural products, after the war was over. For a time the corn 
laws were manipulated to produce this effect. 
In addition to what has been mentioned there were other dis¬ 
couraging features in the situation of England at the opening 
of the century. The evil possibilities of unwise laws were fully 
exhibited in the workings of the English poor law. The statute 
upon which this rested, the 43d Elizabeth of 1601, has achieved 
a really historic notoriety. The intention of this law was a 
commendable one, namely, to furnish work for the poor. But 
in the early part of this century the administration of the law, 
in the hands of ignorant and selfish local officials, was utterly 
incompetent. Work was not provided as the act originally con¬ 
templated, but money was given to the poor and that without 
due investigation. Too large an allowance was given to parents 
to support children, and more was given to support illegitimate 
than legitimate children. Thus poverty became an engine to 
