Review of the Subject, and Suggestions for ameliorating the condition of the Gypsies in the British Empire.

Since the commencement of the present year, 1816, a friend [221] of the author has informed him, that about three weeks before, he was in company with an English and a Persian gentleman, who had lately come from Persia, through Russia; the latter well understood the languages of both countries, and spoke them fluently. He had travelled with the Persian Ambassador; and said that he had met with many hordes of Gypsies in Persia; had many times conversed with them; and was surprised to find their language was the true Hindostanie. He did not then know of Grellmann’s work. He further stated, that the Gypsies in Russia were, in language and manners, the same, and exactly corresponded with the Gypsies of this country. Their name in Persia signified Black Eyes.

From whatever part of the world we derive intelligence of this people, it tends to corroborate the opinion, that they have all had one peculiar origin. How little has it occupied the contemplation of Britons, that there existed among them, subjects of such great curiosity as the poor and despised Gypsies!

The statute of Henry VIII. imposing a fine of forty pounds upon the importation of a Gypsey, induces the belief they were much in request in England at that period. The attention which their low performances attracted in those times, will not perhaps excite surprise, when we see the encouragement given in our day, to their idly disposed countrymen, termed, Indian Jugglers. It is remarkable, that the earliest account of Gypsies in Great Britain, is in a work published to expose and detect the “Art of Juggling,” &c.

The first of this people who came into Europe, must have been persons of discernment and discrimination, to have adapted their deceptions so exactly to the genius and habits of the different people they visited, as to ensure success in all countries.

The stratagem to which they had recourse on entering France, evinces consummate artifice of plan, and not a little adroitness and dexterity in the execution. The specious appearance of submission to papal authority, in the penance of wandering seven years without lying in a bed, combined three distinct objects. They could not have devised an expedient more likely to recommend them to the favor of Ecclesiastics; or better concerted for taking advantage of the superstitious credulity of the people, and, at the same time, for securing to themselves the gratification of their own nomadic propensities. So complete was the deception they practised, that we find they wandered up and down in France, under the eye of magistracy, not for seven only, but for more than a hundred years, without molestation.

In 1561, the edict of the States of Orleans directed their expulsion by fire and sword; yet in 1612, they had increased to such a degree, that there was another order for their total extermination. Notwithstanding this severity, in 1671 they were again spread over the kingdom, as appears in the letters of the Marchioness de SÉvignÉ to her friends, and the Countess Grignan, in nine volumes, translated from the last Paris edition: “Bohemians travel up and down the Provinces of France, and get their living by dancing, showing postures, and telling fortunes; but chiefly by pilfering, &c.”

It is remarkable, that in all countries, they professed to be Egyptians; but the representation is not only refuted by Bellonius, but by later writers, who assert, that the “few who are to be found in Egypt, wander about as strangers there, and form a distinct people.”

As historians admit that the greatest numbers of them are to be found in Turkey, and south of Constantinople, there is reason to apprehend they had a passage through that country. If many of them did not visit Egypt previously to their arrival in Europe, they probably wished to avail themselves of the reputation the Egyptians had acquired in occult sciences, that they might practise with greater success, the arts to which they had been previously accustomed, and the practice of which is common in various parts of Asia. In other respects the habits of Egypt were very dissimilar to theirs.

We find by the reports on the first question put by the Circular, mentioned in Section IX. that “all Gypsies in this country suppose the first of them came from Egypt;” and this idea is confirmed by many circumstances that have been brought into view in the course of this work. In addition it may be observed, that before the discovery of the passage to India, by the Cape of Good Hope, all the productions of the east, that were distributed in Europe, came to Egyptian ports. Hence we have many concurring testimonies, which render it highly probable, if not evidently clear, that the first Gypsey tribes who came into England, and other parts of Europe, migrated from hordes of that people who had previously found their way into Egypt.

The evidence appears equally strong, that they were not natives of Egypt; but as the Egyptians were in great repute for the practice of the occult sciences, common to them and to the Suder caste; we cannot be surprized to find these crafty itinerants, should avail themselves of such an opportunity, as coming out of that country, to profess themselves Egyptians.

Continental writers exhibit a strange assemblage of crude, and incongruous ideas on the subject of Gypsey extraction. So numerous are the opinions diffusely stated, that Grellmann must have exercised much patient investigation, to deduce from them the rational and satisfactory conclusions which his Dissertation presents.

Our countryman Swinborne, in describing the Gypsies in Calabria, is the first to remark that their peculiar language bears great affinity to the oriental tongues; and that many of their customs resemble those of the heathens. But European ignorance of the habits and speech of Asiatics may be accounted for, whilst the rich productions of India continued to be brought to Egyptian ports, and to be conveyed thence by the Lombard merchants, to be distributed over Europe

The Cingari, Zigeuners, or Gypsies, had been in Germany nearly a century, before the Portuguese discovered the passage to India by the Cape of Good Hope. The stimulus which this discovery gave to improvements in the art of navigation, soon opened immediate intercourse with the eastern world. Vast are the establishments, which have been subsequently effected, in that quarter of the globe by naval powers, and extraordinary have been, of late years, the exertions for the acquisition of oriental languages; yet so numerous are they in those widely extended regions, that European knowledge of Asiatic etymology, is yet but in a state of infancy.

The case of the Gypsies is singular; for it may fairly be questioned, whether it has a parallel in the history of the world. Dispersed over the face of the earth, without any organization of their different hordes; and all concert between them entirely precluded by separations of hundreds of miles from each other, in different parts of the globe, and by their incapacity for literary communication; they have, however, whilst speaking the languages of the respective countries they inhabit, preserved in all places one peculiar to themselves, and have transmitted it through a lapse of centuries to their descendants, almost unimpaired.

Increased acquaintance with oriental customs and tongues, has, at length, discovered the near coincidence they have with the language of the Gypsies, and has developed an origin of this people, of which those of the present age were, till now, entirely ignorant. It will appear extraordinary, that these people should have been able, by oral means alone, and under all disadvantages, to retain their language, and yet not to have handed down with it, any tradition that might lead to a discovery of who they were, or whence they came. But the knowledge recently acquired, of their very abject condition in the country from which they emigrated, offers a reason why the first comers might be anxious to conceal their pedigree, the meanness of which would have but ill accorded with the titles of rank assumed by some of their leaders.

The regulations proposed by the Empress Theresa, and the Emperor Joseph II. could they have been carried into effect, would doubtless have improved the state of the Gypsies. But an order for children to be torn away from their parents, was so far from being dictated by the study of human nature, that it did violence to the tenderest sensibilities, and set at nought the kindest emotions. Its tendency was to produce in the minds of Gypsies, disaffection to the state, and to indispose others from aiding in the execution of the edict. The advantages to be derived by Governments from a liberal toleration, being not then so well understood as in succeeding times, they were not duly regarded.

Those potentates considering Zigeuners of Egyptian origin, might reasonably conceive agriculture well adapted to their genius and inclination; but it was a pursuit, which, more than any other, they disapproved.

All other Governments appear to have been misled, in like manner, by the deception which the first Gypsies practised; for had they been apprized of this people’s descent, and of the almost unalterable pertinacity of an Indian caste, they would have been sensible that an attempt to change their habits by force, was a measure the least likely to be attended with success.

The Circular introduced in the ninth Section of this work, notices Gypsies being hunted like beasts of prey, from township to township in England; and it has been ascertained, that in some places they are routed, as it is termed, by order of magistrates, whenever they appear, and sent to prison on the vagrant act, without so much as a charge of depredation upon property. “This is to make their persons, an object of persecution, instead of the protection of our laws.”

For the credit of our country it may be hoped, that instances of this sort, respecting Gypsies, are not very numerous; seeing all writers concur in stating, every attempt by coercive means to alter the peculiar habits of this people, have had a tendency to alienate them still more from civil associations, and directly to defeat the end proposed. It is time therefore that a better and a more enlightened policy should be adopted in Europe, towards a race of human beings, under so many hereditary disadvantages as are the helpless, the rude, the uninstructed Gypsies.

In the decision on the vagrant case, in Crabbe’s “Hall of Justice,” [231a] and in the treatment of Gypsies on Knoland-Green, [231b] a temper is displayed so truly Christian, and so different from what is just alluded to, that in consulting the best feelings of human nature, it adds dignity to magistracy.

Sir Frederick Morton Eden, in his first volume on the State of the Poor, p. 306, refers to an Act passed in 1741, respecting that class of the poor, who are considered by the Legislature as the outcasts of society, namely rogues, vagabonds, &c.; and he remarks: “From perusing the catalogue of actions which denominate a man, a disorderly person, a vagabond, or incorrigible rogue, the reader may perhaps incline to think that many of the offences specified in this Act, and in subsequent statutes, on the same subject, are of a very dubious nature, and that it must require nice legal acumen, to distinguish whether a person incurs any, and what, penalty, under the vagrant laws.”

In support of this opinion, and of the indefinite and unjustifiable latitude of those statutes, a late decision at Maidstone, in the action of Robins, v. Boyce, affords a striking demonstration.

If the statutes do not admit of any construction in favor of Gypsies, but enjoin rigorous treatment of them, merely for wandering, it may become a question whether the peculiar circumstances of their case, might not constitute an exception to the general rule.

However wholesome and salutary vagrant Acts may be, to deter persons from quitting their parishes in order to levy contributions, by practising impositions in places where they are not known, it is obvious that Gypsies, having no parochial settlements, cannot come under that description. Excepting a temporary residence of some of them in winter, their home is a whole county, and the majority of them are too independent to apply to any parish for assistance.

Here is a trait in their character, which, were it grafted on the stock of half the paupers in the kingdom, would be a national advantage.

It ought to procure some indulgence for the Gypsies, that their wandering mode of life does not originate in any contumacious opposition to judicial order; but in a scrupulous regard to the Institutions of their ancestors. For the advantages we possess, shall we return injury to our fellow-men! If after being fully introduced into a situation to taste the comforts of social order, and to acquire a knowledge of mechanical professions, which would render them useful and respectable, any of them, despising these privileges, should indulge wandering dispositions, they might then deserve all the punishment which under the vagrant Acts, can be indicted.

It is worthy of remark, that in the evidence respecting mendicity in London, adduced last year before the Committee of the House of Commons, there is only a single instance in the parish called St. Giles, that noted rendezvous of Gypsies, of one of their tribe, a girl, begging in the streets.

Is it not high time the people of England were undeceived, respecting the motives to Gypsey perseverance in their singular line of conduct. Their invincible attachment to the traditions they have received, is almost proof, in itself, of Grellmann’s assertion, that they are the descendants of an Indian caste; in whose estimation inviolable adherence to the customs of their order, constitutes the highest perfection of character.

When any remark is made to them on their strange mode of conduct, they are ready to reply: “The inhabitants of cieled houses follow the customs of their predecessors; What more do we? Are they creatures of habit? So are we.”

After this account, is it surprising that the violent means pursued against them in all countries, have been ineffectual to abolish their peculiarities?

Their humane and intelligent biographer, Grellmann, styles them a “singular phenomenon in Europe;” and it may justly be observed of such of them as inhabit countries accounted the most enlightened, that the contrast which their destitute state presents to the numerous advantages of civilized life, and to the refinements of polished society, is truly astonishing. If there possibly can be a single Briton who is a skeptic to the benefits of education, let him only take a view of the intellectual degradation and disgusting condition of the Gypsies. But if Britons have made greater advancement in civilization than some other nations, the Gypsies here are left at a greater distance, and furnish the more occasion for their condition being improved.

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 Institutions, 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 superstition 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 Coke, nor a Bacon, should oppose the law suggested by royal superstition, 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 compassion. 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 Institutions 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 Institution 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 participating 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 mass 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 Institution of their ancestors. Had Britons been apprized of the origin of this people, and the peculiar circumstances 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 Yorkshire 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 diminishing Gypsey population, had the injurious effect of alienating them still more from civil associations.

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 Northamptonshire 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 associated with Gypsies in any kind of occupation. Moreover, the competition 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 Institutions 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 associations 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 apprenticeship 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 associations 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 destitute race.

According to the enumeration of Gypsey lodgers, given in Section X, their families average 5½ 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 apprenticeship, 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 assistance 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 instituted,—the good of the people,—encourages the hope, that the most neglected and destitute 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 Assistant Judge in the twenty-four Pergunnahs, Bengal Establishment, in his highly important work, entitled, “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 circumstances 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 class, 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 assembled 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.

“Did the friends of universal education require a fresh illustration, they would find it in the scene we are now contemplating; and they would confidently invite those who still entertain a doubt on the subject, to a more close and rigid examination of that scene, satisfied with the effect upon every candid and unprejudiced mind. For, assuredly, “men do not gather grapes of thorns, nor figs of thistles:” and when morality, decency, and order, are gradually occupying the abodes of licentiousness, misery, and guilt, the change must be attributed to some operating cause, and that cause must be derived from the Source of all Good.

“The principles of decorum, of propriety, and of virtue, are instilled into the youthful mind; and by a powerful reaction, they reach the heart of the parent; the moral atmosphere extends—its benefits are felt and appreciated—the Bible takes its proper place in the habitations of poverty; and thus in its simple, natural, and certain course, the germ of instruction yields the happy fruit of moral reformation.”

If as Grellmann computes, there are not fewer than 700,000 of these people in Europe, who do not either plough, or sow, or the greater part of them contribute in any manner to the improvement of the country, or the support of the State, what a subject is this, for the contemplation of Governments!

In reference to England, it is a beautiful exclamation of the Christian Observer: “Surely when our charity is flowing in so wide a channel, conveying the blessings of the gospel to the most distant quarters of the globe, we shall not hesitate to water this one barren and neglected field, in our own land.” Uniting cordially in this appeal, it is a great satisfaction to be able to state, there are traits of character in this people, which encourage attention to Gypsey soil. Let it but be cleared of weeds, and sown with good seed, and the judicious cultivator may calculate upon a crop to compensate his toil.

Greater proof of confidence, as to money transactions, not being misplaced in Gypsies need not be given, than in the testimony of the landlord at Kirk Yetholm, to William Smith, that his master knew he was as sure of their money, as if he had it in his pocket.

In Dr. Clarke’s Travels, published in the present year, Part the 2nd of Section 3rd, page 592, are the following observations respecting the Gypsies of Hungary: “The Wallachian Gypsies are not an idle race. They might rather be described as a laborious people; and the greater part of them honestly endeavour to earn a livelihood. It is this part of them who work as gold-washers.”

In page 637, the Doctor remarks: “The Wallachians of the Bannat, bear a very bad character, and perhaps many of the offences attributed to Gypsies, may be due to this people, who are the least civilized, and the most ferocious of all the inhabitants of Hungary.” [262]

Could grateful sensibility of favors received, and of personal attachment, be more strikingly evinced than in the promptitude of Will Faa, who when he was eighty years of age, on hearing of his landlord being unwell, undertook, at the hazard of his life, a journey of a hundred miles, to see him before he died?

The attention of Gypsies to the aged and infirm of their fraternity, is not less exhibited in the case of Ann Day, whose age is inserted in a work on human longevity, published at Salisbury in 1799. She was aged 108, and had not slept in a bed during seventy years. She was well known in the counties of Bedford and Herts, and having been a long time blind, she always rode upon an ass, attended by two or three of the tribe. A friend of the author, a farmer near Baldock, who had frequently given food and straw for the old woman, says of the attendants she had, her comfort and support seemed to be their chief concern. He considers her longevity a proof of the kindness she received. Her interment, which was at Arsley, near Henlow, was attended by her son and daughter, the one 82, the other 85 years of age, each having great grand-children.

It must have been a satisfaction to every one interested in the improvement of human nature, to observe the number of advocates who have come forward, within the last ten years, in this country, to plead the cause of this despised and abused people.

In bringing their case before the public, the author has aimed at discharging what he thought incumbent upon him to undertake on their behalf. He trusts that persons much more competent than himself, will be induced to give effect to whatever measures may be thought best adapted to promote the temporal, as well as spiritual benefit of this people; and that as H, the correspondent of the Christian Observer, remarks: “amidst the great light that prevails, the reproach may be wiped away from our country, of so many of its children walking in darkness, and in the shadow of death.”

Can a nation, whose diffusive philanthropy extends to the civilization of a quarter of the globe, and to the evangelization of the whole world, be regardless of any of the children of her own bosom, or suffer the pious, truly patriotic solicitude of her King, for the instruction of the meanest of his subjects to remain unaccomplished.

Many persons appear zealous to send Missionaries to convert heathens in the most distant parts of the world; when, as a late writer [264] observes, “the greatest, perhaps of all heathens, are at home, entirely neglected.”

Peace and tranquillity are favorable to the improvement of the internal condition of a country; and can Britain more unequivocally testify her gratitude for the signal favors conferred upon her, than in promoting that object for which rational beings were formed—the glory of God, and the happiness of his creatures.

In relation to the uncultivated race we have been surveying, may a guarded and religious education prove to them, as the voice crying in the wilderness: “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert an highway for our God.” The subsequent declaration, without doubt, is descriptive of what should be effected under the gospel dispensation: “The crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”—Isaiah, Chap. xl. v. 3, 4, 6.

finis.

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