A Historical Survey of the Customs, Habits, & Present State of the Gypsies Part 17

It does not appear that the Pariars, or Suders, from whom it is believed these swarthy itinerants of our age are descended, were farther advanced in the knowledge of moral obligations, than were the Spartan people; who, however celebrated for some of their Inst.i.tutions, accounted the successful perpetration of thefts to be honourable.

The Gypsies at Kirk Yetholm, as stated by Baillie Smith, in this part of their conduct, are an exact counterpart of the Spartans. To a people of Greece, the foremost of their time in legislative arrangements, who had cultivated so little sense of the turpitude of injustice, surely a much more criminal neglect may be imputed, than to the ignorant, untutored race we have been surveying!

Malcolm, in his Anecdotes of the manners and customs of London, p. 350, says of the English Gypsies: "Despised, and neglected, they naturally became plunderers and thieves to obtain a subsistence." But when he afterward states, that "They increased rapidly, and at length were found in all parts of the country," we may be disposed to think that British fastidiousness was not less ingenious than that of the Spaniards, who considered themselves _contaminated_ by a touch of the Gypsies, unless it were to have their fortunes told. Venality and deception meeting with so much encouragement, those propensities of the human heart would be generated and fostered, which at length produced flagrant impositions, and the greatest enormities.

The dominion of superst.i.tion was at its zenith, in what are termed the middle ages: so absolute and uncontrolled was its influence, that because of reputed skill in exorcism and witchcraft, the deluded Germans reposed implicit confidence in persons so ignorant as the Gypsies.

What an impeachment of British sagacity, is the following observation of Sir Frederick Morton Eden, in his first volume on the State of the Poor, p. 146: "It is mortifying to reflect, that whilst so many wise measures were adopted by the great Council of the Nation, neither a c.o.ke, nor a Bacon, should oppose the law suggested by royal superst.i.tion, for making it felony to _consult_, _covenant with_, _entertain_, _employ_, _feed_, _or reward_, _any evil_, _or wicked spirit_, 2d James, 12th.-It is still more mortifying to reflect, that the enlightened Sir M. Hale left a man for execution, who was convicted on this Act, at Bury, March 10th, 1664; and that even in the present (the 18th) century, a British Jury should be persuaded that the crime of witchcraft could exist."

If the annual filling of prisons in England may be attributed, in any degree, to the neglect of educating the lower orders of the people, it will appear extraordinary, that instances of Gypsies being convicted of capital crimes, are not more frequent, rather than that they sometimes occur.

The Committee of the British and Foreign School Society, in their Report for 1815, express their conviction of the advantages of education, in correcting evils, which at once disgrace society, and deprive it of many, who might be its most useful and active members; and then, they exclaim: "Surely we may hope the day is not far distant, when Statesmen and Legislators of all countries, will open their eyes to the awfully important truth; and beholding in a sound and moral education, the grand secret of national strength, will co-operate for the _prevention_, rather than the _punishment_ of crimes!"

It was not until near the conclusion of the last year, and after the author had inspected some of the Gypsey families who winter in London, that he was apprized of the correspondence in the Christian Observer, which forms part of the preceding Section. The position with which it commences, is worthy of all acceptation, as applied to beings formed for immortality: "The Divine Spirit of Christianity deems no object, however unworthy and insignificant, beneath her notice. Gypsies lying at our doors, seem to have a peculiar claim on our compa.s.sion. In the midst of a highly refined state of society, they are but little removed from savage life."

The letters extracted from the Christian Observer, are distinguished by a Christian zeal and liberality, which must be cheering to every one, who has felt an interest in improving the condition of these greatly neglected partners of his kind. On their behalf, appeals to the public have been subsequently made, as we have seen in Section IX, through the medium of the Northampton Mercury of 1814, by two correspondents; one under the designation of "A Friend to Religion;" the other, that of "Junius."

Communications from a county which has long been a noted rendezvous of Gypsies, may be considered the result of observations actually made on their state. The first of these appeals is introduced in the following manner: "Various are the religious and moral Inst.i.tutions in this country; humanity and benevolence have risen to an unprecedented height.

Not only for our country, are the exertions of the good and great employed, but at this time the greatest efforts are making on behalf of the distressed Germans. The hand of charity is open not only to the alleviation of _present_ misery, but such an Inst.i.tution as the Bible Society, is calculated to excite thousands to seek for _future_ happiness. Yet amidst all, one set of people seems to be entirely excluded from partic.i.p.ating in any of those blessings; I mean Gypsies, who are accounted rogues and vagabonds. When we consider that they, equally with ourselves, are bought with a price, much remains to be done for them. These people, however wretched and depraved, certainly demand attention; their being overlooked with indifference, is really much to be regretted.

"Instead of being subjects of commiseration, they are advertised as rogues and vagabonds; and a reward offered for their apprehension. But no asylum is offered them, nothing is held out to encourage a reformation in any that might be disposed to abandon their accustomed vices." The same writer, in a subsequent letter, dated September 8, respecting these houseless wanderers, remarks: "I was representing the deplorable state they are in, to a person of my acquaintance; and his reply was: They were a set of worthless and undeserving wretches; and he believed they would rather live as they do, than otherwise; with many other such like inconsiderate ideas; resulting, I believe, from a prejudiced mind, and from not properly considering their situation; and I fear these sentiments are too prevalent."

It will readily be admitted, that they are generally prevalent: and how should it be otherwise, so long as the great ma.s.s of the population of England continues to be uninformed of the motives inducing the strange conduct of Gypsies, who consider themselves under the strongest of all obligations, strictly to observe the Inst.i.tution of their ancestors. Had Britons been apprized of the origin of this people, and the peculiar circ.u.mstances of their case, the national character would not have been stained, by the abuse and mal-treatment which Gypsies have received.

It is very satisfactory to find by the before recited correspondence, an inhabitant of the county in which the Gypsies are so numerous, advocating their cause, by a public exposure of the mistaken ideas which have so long prevailed respecting them.

From the length of time they have continued to reside in Britain, they have ceased to become subjects of much curiosity or conversation. And as they endeavour to avoid populous districts, persons in large towns, who are occupied in trade, seem little aware that in the county they inhabit, there may be hordes of these wanderers, traversing the thinly inhabited parts of it, in various directions, as was the case in Yorks.h.i.+re during the last summer. (1815.)

When the amelioration of the condition of this people is mentioned to persons of the above description, so little informed are they on the subject, that it is many times treated as if the existence of Gypsies was questioned; at others, as if affording any help to them, was visionary, and even ludicrous.

Some places formerly frequented by Gypsey gangs, having been much deserted by them of late years, does not authorize any calculation upon a decrease of their numbers in the nation.

In the vicinity of the metropolis, Gypsies have been excluded by inclosures from various situations to which they had been accustomed to resort. But there is some reason to apprehend they have become more numerous, in several other parts of the Island. Baillie Smith of Kelso, is of opinion, they increase in Scotland, and it is by no means certain that they do not in England.

Any idea that routing them will lessen their numbers, may be as fallacious, and injudicious, as were banishments from the German States, which, without diminis.h.i.+ng Gypsey population, had the injurious effect of alienating them still more from civil a.s.sociations.

Junius, the other correspondent of the Northampton Mercury, in his Address of October 29, writes: "I trust the time is not distant, when much will be accomplished, as it respects the civilization of the people whose cause we plead. In the meantime, I would humbly hope all those harsh and degrading measures, of publicly in the papers, and upon placards by the sides of roads, ordering their apprehension and commitment to prison, will be suspended, until some asylum is offered; and should nothing be attempted by the Legislature, for reclaiming them from their present mode of life, surely much may be done by the exertions of individuals!"

Many of the observations in the Christian Observer, and in the Northampton Mercury, are striking and pertinent, as they relate to the present state of the Gypsies in England; and the philanthropy they inculcate is honourable to the national character. Had these benevolent individuals been acquainted with the history of the people, whose cause they plead, they would, doubtless, have suggested plans adapted to their peculiar case. For want of this knowledge, it is not surprising that occupations in husbandry should take the lead in propositions for employing them. The last mentioned writer, from a desire to render essential service to this people, suggests, that the Legislature should fix upon five or six stations in different parts of the kingdom, on which villages should be erected, in order that they might be employed in farming.

It will have been obvious in the survey which has been taken, and it has been already remarked, that of all occupations, agriculture is the least adapted to their genius and inclination.

It has appeared in Section IX, that Riley Smith, a chief of the Northamptons.h.i.+re Gypsies, after marrying the cook out of a gentleman's family, and obtaining a farm, quitted it, to resume musical performances.

Conformity to agricultural employments, could not be effected in Gypsies, by the most rigorous measures to which the Empress Theresa, and the Emperor Joseph II. resorted.-Much less could it be expected that persons, who, all their lives, have accustomed themselves to be in the open air, or others who have lived three parts of the year in this manner, should be induced, in open weather, to brook the restraint of houses.

Those who have houses at Kirk Yetholm, quit them in spring: men, women, and children, set out on their peregrinations over the country, and live in a state of vagrancy, until driven back to their habitations by the approach of winter; and it appears, in all countries to which the Gypsies have had access, that a similar course is pursued by them.

In a dialogue between a Curate and some Gypsies, as published in the Christian Guardian, of March, 1812, is the following question and answer:

_Curate_. "Could you not by degrees bring yourselves to a more settled mode of life?

_Gypsey_. I would not tell you a story, Sir; I really think I could not, having been brought up to it from a child."

Upon this conversation, the Curate makes the following remark: "In order to do good among the Gypsies, we must conciliate their esteem, and gain their confidence."

The plain and simple reply to the Curate, will put out of question the erection of villages, or the making of establishments for adults among them. In mechanical operations, to which the Gypsies are most inclined, British artisans might be as averse to unite with them, as they were with the Jews. The Spaniards, it has appeared, are unwilling to be a.s.sociated with Gypsies in any kind of occupation. Moreover, the compet.i.tion of manufacturers in England, during the last fifty years, has effected by artificial means, so much saving of manual labour, and so much improvement in the division of it, that the rude operations of Gypsies, would be a subject of ridicule and contempt.

J. P., in a letter from Cambridge to the Christian Observer, very feelingly states the case of a Gypsey family, the father of which, being a travelling tinker and fiddler, intimated, he would be glad to have all his children brought up to some other mode of life, and even to embrace some other himself; but he finds a difficulty in it. Not having been brought up in husbandry, he could not go through the labour of it; and few, if any persons, would be willing to employ {248} his children, on account of the bad character which his race bears, and from the censure and ridicule which would attach to the taking of them."

There appears so little probability of any useful change being effected in the nomadic habits of adult Gypsies, that it seems better to bear with that propensity for some time longer, than by directly counteracting it, so disturb the minds of parents, as to indispose them to consent to the education of their children. There are thousands of other people in the nation, who, more than half their time, live out of doors in like manner.

Were they all obliged to take out licences, this measure might operate in some degree as a check upon them; at least it would be a tacit acknowledgment of a controlling power, and might admit of some regulation of their conduct. At present, numbers of them resemble a lawless banditti, and may not inaptly be termed, _Imperium in imperio_.

It appears by J. P.'s letter from Cambridge, that six years ago, he had engaged a Gypsey boy to be sent to a school on the Belleian and Lancasterian plan. At that time, the system had been but little appropriated in the country to the instruction of girls; and the application of it to boys only, would have been doing the work by halves.

But the time seems now to have arrived, when the minds of Gypsies have generally received an impression in favor of the education, both of their sons and daughters, as has been manifest in various parts of this Survey; and that some of those who lodge in London, have been themselves at the expense of sending their children to school. But if all of them could be thus taught, three months in a year, would not their running wild the other nine, under the influence of dissolute and unrestrained example, be likely to defeat every purpose of instruction.

Were they to be educated during the whole of the year, it is obvious that some establishment would be necessary for their maintenance and clothing.

The author of this Survey is not aware of any Inst.i.tutions so much adapted to their case, as the charity schools for boys and girls, which are common to every part of the kingdom. It is not probable that Gypsey population would furnish more than two boys, and two girls, for each of these schools. Their being placed among a much greater number of children, and those of settled, and in some degree of civilized habits, would greatly facilitate the training of Gypsies to salutary discipline and subordination; and the a.s.sociations it provided for them out of school hours, being under the superintendence of a regular family, would, in an especial manner, be favorable to their domestication.

Charity schools, by admitting children so early as at six years of age, and continuing them to fourteen, seem particularly suited to the case of Gypsies, in supplying all that is requisite until the boys are at an age to go out apprentices, and the girls to service in families.

Gypsies being the children of a whole county, if not of the nation at large, perhaps the expense of their maintenance might, without inconsistency, be defrayed out of county rates, which would prevent its being burdensome to any particular district. By a process so simple and easy, expensive establishments on the account of Gypsies, might be entirely avoided. And many parents among them, express a willingness to part with their children, for education, provided they were cared for in other respects.

After several centuries, a degree of solicitude being at length apparent in the Gypsies, for the improvement of their children, the time has arrived when some effectual benefit may be communicated to them.

The distribution proposed, would admit of these itinerants seeing their children once in the year. But to extirpate Gypsey habits, education alone would not be sufficient. Yet as there is no reason to think this people are less susceptible than others, of gainful considerations, a fund might be provided, out of which, twenty pounds should be paid with each boy, on his apprentices.h.i.+p to some handicraft business, in lieu of finding him with clothes during the term. And in consideration of its being faithfully served, five pounds might be allowed to find the young man with tools for his trade, or otherwise setting him forward in the world. This would excite an interest in civil a.s.sociations and order, which are necessary for the successful prosecution of trade; and probably, an encouragement like this, would have a greater effect in giving a new direction to Gypsey pursuits, than any coercive or restrictive measures which could be devised. And who would not wish to contribute to the means of rescuing from ignorance and vice, such a portion of the population of their country! Who would not be desirous of emulating in some degree, that best kind of patriotism, by which the correspondent H. of the Christian Observer, is so remarkably distinguished!

This would be an example worthy of a great nation; and is it not probable, that the prospect of so much preferment, would induce Gypsey parents, to promote to the utmost of their power, a disposition in their children to obtain it? Cooper, a Gypsey at Chingford Green, said, "It is a pity they should be as ignorant as their fathers." This may be considered as the language of "_help us_," accompanied with this acknowledgment, "_for we are unable to help ourselves_;" and certainly there is but too much reason to conclude it is strictly true, respecting the instruction of this forlorn and dest.i.tute race.

According to the enumeration of Gypsey lodgers, given in Section X, their families average 5 in number. This exceeds by one half, what is reported to be the average of England in general. If we take Gypsey population at 18,000, their children will be 12,000. Supposing two-thirds of these to be under twelve years of age, there would be 8,000 to educate. Reckoning half that number to be girls, 4,000 boys would be to be apprenticed after leaving school. And if these, after their apprentices.h.i.+p, married Gypsey girls, who had been brought up to service in families, twenty thousand useful subjects might be calculated upon as gained to the State in the first generation.

Should the efforts of individuals, require a.s.sistance from the State, to render their plans effectual; surely they may depend on the co-operation of a British legislature, to promote the cause in which they would embark! On this point may be adduced the judicious observation of Grellmann: "If the Gypsey knows not how to make use of the faculties with which nature has intrusted him, let the State teach him, and keep him in leading strings till the end is attained. Care being taken to improve their understandings, and to amend their hearts, they might become useful citizens; for observe them at whatever employment you may, there always appear sparks of genius."

Every well-wisher to his country must be gratified in observing, that as soon as the conflicting tumult of nations is calmed, and the precipitations attendant on military supplies have subsided, the attention of the Legislature is turned to the investigation of some of the causes of human misery at home; and to the means of increasing the social comforts of a considerable portion of British population in the metropolis of the kingdom. This recommencement of operations, directed to the important object for which Governments have been inst.i.tuted,-the good of the people,-encourages the hope, that the most neglected and dest.i.tute of all persons in this country, whose cause we have been pleading, will not be suffered to remain much longer unnoticed and disregarded.

When at length the veil that has obscured them is once drawn aside, can British benevolence withhold its exertions, to elevate the moral tone of this degraded eastern race, and to call forth the dignity of the human character, in exchange for the strange torpor and vileness in which this people are involved. Here an occasion presents for the display of a temper truly Christian, and for the erection of a standard to surrounding kingdoms, in which also these outcasts of society are dispersed, of that philanthropy and sound policy which are worthy of a great nation.

Such an experiment, though on a limited scale, may furnish various data for judging what may be effected for their countrymen, the countless myriads of British subjects, inhabiting the vast regions of Hindostan.

Alexander Fraser Tytler, late a.s.sistant Judge in the twenty-four Pergunnahs, Bengal Establishment, in his highly important work, ent.i.tled, "Considerations on the present Political State of India," after pointing out the depravity which prevails to an extraordinary degree among the population of India, states in the 313th page of the first volume, that "Poverty, or according to the definition of writers on Police, _Indigence_ may be said to be the nurse of almost all crimes. To find out the causes of poverty, and to attempt their removal, must therefore be the chief object of a good police."

It has been remarked, that this author drew his conclusions, not only from what he understood of human nature in general, but from what he daily saw before him, in the circ.u.mstances and actions of the people whose crimes he was called upon to punish. And he reasons upon the subject in the following manner: "Great poverty among the lower orders in every country, has an immediate effect in multiplying the number of petty thieves; and where the bounds of the moral principle have been once over-stepped, however trivial the first offence, the step is easy from petty theft to the greater crimes of burglary and robbery."

May Britons in their conduct towards the Gypsies, be actuated by a policy so liberal, as to induce the rising generation among this neglected cla.s.s, to attach themselves to civil society, and to enter into situations designed to inculcate habits of industry, and prepare them to become useful members of the community.

The successful experiments lately made by the British and Foreign School Society, upon persons addicted to every species of depravity, leave no doubt of the practicability of ameliorating the condition of Gypsies. It is with pleasure that on this subject the following statement of facts is introduced, respecting two schools established in the neighbourhood of the metropolis. One of them at Kingsland, a situation which has been termed, "A focus where the most abandoned characters constantly a.s.sembled for every species of brutal and licentious disorder." The other is at Bowyer-lane, near Camberwell, a district inhabited by persons of the worst description; among whom the police officers have been accustomed to look for the various kinds of offenders, who have infested the Borough of Southwark.

We are informed by the Committee of that School, that "in the district embraced by their Society, the consequences of ignorance were evident to the most superficial observer. Parents and children, appeared alike regardless of morality and virtue; the former indulging in profligacy, and the latter exhibiting its lamentable effects.