Chapter 25

My attempts to improve the breed of horned cattle, though infinitely more confined, have been proportionally much more successful. Upon forming the public garden at Munich, as the extent of the grounds is very considerable, the garden being above six English miles in circumference, and the soil being remarkably good, I had an opportunity of making, within the garden, a very fine and a very valuable farm; and this farm being stocked with about thirty of the finest cows that could be procured from Switzerland, Flanders, Tyrol, and other places upon the Continent famous for a good breed of horned cattle; and this flock being refreshed annually with new importations of cows as well as bulls, all the cows which are produced, are distributed in the country, being sold to any person of the country who applies for them, AND WITH PROMISE TO REAR THEM, at the same low prices at which the most ordinary calves of the common breed of the country are sold to the butchers.

Though this establishment has existed only about six years, it is quite surprising what a change it has produced in the country. As there is a great resort to Munich from all parts of the country, it being the capital, and the residence of the Sovereign, the new English garden (as it is called), which begins upon the ramparts of the town, and extends near two English miles in length, and is always kept open, is much frequented, and there are few who go into the garden without paying a visit to the cows, which are always at home. Their stables, which are concealed in a thick wood behind a public coffee-house or tavern in the middle of the garden, are elegantly fitted up and kept with great care; and the cows, which are not only large, and remarkably beautiful, but are always kept perfectly clean, and in the highest condition, are an object of public curiosity. Those who are not particularly interested in the improvement of cattle, go to see them as beautiful and extraordinary animals; but farmers and connoisseurs go to EXAMINE them,--to compare them with each other,--and with the common breed of the country, and to get information with respect to the manner of feeding them, and the profits derived from them; and so rapidly has the flame of improvement spread throughout every part of Bavaria from this small spark, that I have no doubt but in a very few years the breed of horned cattle will be quite changed.

Not satisfied with the scanty supply furnished from the farm in the English garden, several of the nobility, and some of the most wealthy and enterprising of the farmers, are sending to Switzerland, and other distant countries famous for fine cattle, for cows and bulls; and the good effects of these exertions are already visible in many parts of the country.

How very easy would it be by similar means to introduce a spirit of improvement in any country! and where sovereigns do not make public gardens to bring together a concourse of people, individuals might do it by private subscription, or at least they might unite together and rent a large farm in the neighbourhood of the capital, for the purpose of making useful experiments. If such a farm were well managed, the produce of it would be more than sufficient to pay all the expenses attending it; and if the grounds and fields were laid out with taste--if good roads for carriages and for those who ride on horseback were made round it, and between all the fields--if the stables were elegantly fitted up--filled with beautiful cattle, kept perfectly clean and neat; and if a handsome inn were erected near the buildings of the farm, where those who visited it might be furnished with refreshment, it would soon become a place of public resort and improvements in agriculture would become A FASHIONABLE AMUSEMENT; the ladies even would take pleasure in viewing from their carriages the busy and most interesting scenes of rural industry, and it would no longer be thought vulgar to understand the mysteries of Ceres.

Why should not Parliament purchase, or rent such a farm in the neighbourhood of London, and put it under the direction of the Board of Agriculture? The expence would be but a mere trifle, if any thing, and the institution would not only be useful, but extremely interesting; and it would be an inexhaustible source of rational and innocent amusement, as well as of improvement to vast numbers of the most respectable inhabitants of this great metropolis.

In former times, statesmen considered the amusement of the public as an object of considerable importance, and pains were taken to render the public amusements useful in forming the national character.

An Account of the Measures adopted for putting an End to USURY at MUNICH.

Another measure, more limited in its operations than those before mentioned, but which notwithstanding was productive of much good, was adopted, in which a part of the treasure which was lying dead in the military chest was usefully employed for the relief of a considerable number of individuals, employed in subordinate stations under the government, who stood in great need of assistance.

A practice productive of much harm to the public service, as well as to individuals, had prevailed for many years in Bavaria in almost all the public departments of the state, that of appointing a great number of supernumerary clerks, secretaries, counsellors, etc. who, serving without pay, or with only small allowances, were obliged, in order to subsist till such time as they should come into the receipt of the regulated salaries annexed to their offices, to contract debts to a considerable amount; and as many of them had no other security to give for the sums borrowed, than their promise to repay them when it should be in their power, no money-lender who contented himself with legal interest for his money would trust them; and of course they were obliged to have recourse to Jews and other usurers, who did not afford them the temporary assistance they required, but upon the most exorbitant and ruinous conditions; so that these unfortunate people, instead of finding themselves at their ease upon coming into possession of the emoluments of their offices, were frequently so embarrassed in their circumstances as to be obliged to mortgage their salaries for many months to come, to raise money to satisfy their clamorous creditors; and from this circumstance, and from the general prevalence of luxury and dissipation among all ranks of society, the anticipation of salaries had become so prevalent, and the conditions upon which money was advanced upon such security was so exorbitant, that this alarming evil called for the most serious attention of the government.

The interest commonly paid for money, advanced upon receipts for salaries, was 5 PER CENT. PER MONTH, or three creutzers, for the florin; and there were instances of even much larger interest being given.

The severest laws had been made to prevent these abuses, but means were constantly found to evade them; and, instead of putting an end to the evil, they frequently served rather to increase it.

It occurred to me, that as any tradesman may be ruined by another who can afford to undersell him, so it might be possible to ruin the usurers, by setting up the business in opposition to them, and furnishing money to borrowers upon more reasonable terms. In order to make this experiment, a caise of advance (Vorschuss Cassa), containing 30,000 florins, was established at the military pay-office, where any person in the actual receipt of a salary or pension under government, in any department of the state, civil or military, might receive in advance, upon his personal application, his salary or pension for one or for two months upon a deduction of interest at the rate of 5 PER CENT. PER ANNUM, or one twelfth part of the interest commonly extorted by the Jews and other usurers upon those occasions.

The great number of persons who have availed themselves of the advantages held out to them by this establishment, and who still continue to avail themselves of them, shows how effectually the establishment has been to remedy the evil it was designed to eradicate.

The number of persons who apply to this chest for assistance each month, is at a medium from 300 to 400, and the sums actually in advance, amount in general to above 20,000 florins.

As no money is advanced from this chest but upon government securities that is to say, upon receipts for salaries, and pensions, there is no risque attending the operation; and as the interest arising from the money advanced, is more than sufficient to defray the expence of carrying on the business, there is no loss whatever attending it.

An Account of a SCHEME for employing the SOLDIERY in BAVARIA in repairing the Highways and Public Roads.

I had formed a plan, which, if it had been executed, would have rendered the military posts or patroles of cavalry established in all parts of the Elector's dominions much more interesting, and more useful[2]. I wished to have employed the soldiery exclusively in the repairs of all the highways in the country, and to have united this undertaking with the establishment of permanent military stations, on all the high roads, for the preservation of order and public tranquillity.

It is a great hardship upon the inhabitants in any country to be obliged to leave their own domestic affairs, and turn out with their cattle and servants, when called upon, to work upon the public roads; but this was peculiarly grievous in Bavaria, where labourers are so scarce that the farmers are frequently obliged to leave a great part of their grounds uncultivated for want of hands.

My plan was to measure all the public roads from the capital cities in the Elector's dominions to the frontiers, and all cross country roads; placing mile-stones regularly numbered upon each road, at regular distances of one hour, or half a German mile from each other;--to divide each road into as many stations as it contained mile-stones; each station extending from one mile-stone to another; and to erect in the middle of each station, by the road-side, a small house, with stabling for three or four horses, and with a small garden adjoining to it;--to place in each of these houses, a small detachment of cavalry of three or four men, --a soldier on furlough, employed to take care of the road and keep it in repair within the limits of the station;--an invalid soldier to take care of the house, and to receive orders and messages in the absence of the others,--to take care of the garden, to provide provisions, and cook for the family.

If any of the soldiers should happen to be married, his wife might have been allowed to lodge in the house, upon condition of her assisting the invalid soldier in this service; or a pensioned soldier's widow might have been employed for the same purpose.

To preserve order and discipline in these establishments, it was proposed to employ active and intelligent non-commissioned officers as overseers of the highways, and to place these under the orders of superior officers appointed to preside over more extensive districts.

It was proposed likewise to plant rows of useful trees by the road-side from one station to another throughout the whole country, and it was calculated that after a certain number of years the produce of those trees would have been nearly sufficient to defray all the expences of repairing the roads.

Such an arrangement, with the striking appearance of order and regularity that would accompany it, could not have failed to interest every person of feeling who saw it; and I am persuaded that such a scheme might be carried into execution with great advantage in most countries where standing armies are kept up in time of peace. The reasons why this plan was not executed in Bavaria at the time it was proposed are too long, and too foreign to my present purpose to be here related. Perhaps a time may come when they will cease to exist.

APPENDIX. No I.

ADDRESS and PETITION to all the Inhabitants and Citizens of MUNICH, in the Name of the real Poor and Distressed.

(Translated from the German).

Too long have the public honour and safety, morality and religion, called aloud for the extirpation of an evil, which, though habit has rendered it familiar to us, always appears in all its horrid and disgusting shapes; and whose dangerous effects show themselves every where, and are increasing every day.

Too long already have the virtuous citizens of this metropolis seen with concern the growing numbers of the Beggars, their impudence, and their open and shameless debaucheries; yet idleness and mendicity (those pests of society) have been so feebly counteracted, that, instead of being checked and suppressed, they have triumphed over those weak attempts to restrain them and acquiring fresh vigour and activity from success, have spread their baleful influence far and wide.

What well-affected citizen can be indifferent to the shame that devolves upon himself and upon his country, when whole swarms of dissolute rabble, covered with filthy rags, parade the streets, and by tales of real or of fictitious distress--by clamorous importunity, insolence, and rudeness, extort involuntary contributions from every traveller? When no retreat is to be found, no retirement where poverty, misery, and impudent hypocrisy, in all their disgusting and hideous forms, do not continually intrude; when no one is permitted to enjoy a peaceful moment, free from their importunity, either in the churches or in public places, at the tombs of the dead, or at the places of amusement? What avail the marks of affluence and prosperity which appear in the dress and equipage of individuals, in the elegance of their dwellings, and in the magnificence and splendid ornaments of our churches, while the voice of woe is heard in every corner, proceeding from the lips of hoary age worn out with labour; from strong and healthy men capable of labour; from young infants and their shameless and abandoned parents? What reputable citizen would not blush, if among the inmates of his house should be found a miserable wretch, who by tales of real or fictitious distress should attempt to extort charitable donations from his friends and visitors? What opinion would he expect would be formed of his understanding--of his heart--of his circumstances? What then must the foreigner and traveller think, who, after having seen no vestige of Beggary in the neighbouring countries, should, upon his arrival at Munich, find himself suddenly surrounded by a swarm of groaning winching wretches, besieging and following his carriage?

THE PUBLIC HONOUR calls aloud to have a stop put to this disgraceful evil.

THE PUBLIC SAFETY also demands it. The dreadful consequences are obvious, which must ensue when great numbers of healthy individuals, and whole families, live in idleness, without any settled abode, concluding every day with schemes for defrauding the public of their subsistence for the next: where the children belonging to this numerous society are made use of to impose on the credulity of the benevolent, and where they are regularly trained, from their earliest infancy, in all those infamous practices, which are carried on systematically, and to such an alarming extent among us.

Great numbers of these children grow up to die under the hands of the executioner. The only instruction they receive from their parents is how to cheat and deceive; and daily practice in lying and stealing from their very infancy, renders them uncommonly expert in their infamous trade. The records of the courts of justice show in innumerable instances, that early habits of Idleness and Beggary are a preparation for the gallows; and among the numerous thefts that are daily committed in this capital, there are very few that are not committed by persons who get into the houses under the pretext of asking for charity.

What person is ignorant of these facts? and who can demand further proofs of the necessity of a solid and durable institution, for the relief and support of the Poor?

The reader would be seized with horror, were we to unveil all the secret abominations of these abandoned wretches. They laugh alike at the laws of God and of man. No crime is too horrible and shocking for them, nothing in heaven or on the earth too holy not to be profaned by them without scruple, and employed with consummate hyprocrisy to their wicked purposes[3].

Whence is it that this evil proceeds? not from the inability of this great capital to provide for its Poor; for no city in the world, of equal extent and population, has so many hospitals for the sick and infirm, and other institutions of public charity. Neither is it owing to the hard-heartedness of the inhabitants; for a more feeling and charitable people cannot be found. Even the uncommonly great and increasing numbers of the Beggars show the kindness and liberality of the inhabitants; for these vagabonds naturally collect together in the greatest numbers, where their trade can be carried on to the greatest advantage.

THE INJUDICIOUS DISPENSATION OF ALMS is the real and only source of this evil.

In every community there are certainly to be found a greater or less number of poor and distressed persons, who have just claims on the public charity. This is also the case at Munich; and nature dictates to us the duty of administering relief to suffering humanity, and more especially to our poor and distressed fellow-citizens; and our Holy Religion promises eternal rewards to him who supports and relieves the poor and needy, and threatens everlasting damnation to him who sends them away without relief.

The Holy Fathers teach, that when there are no other means left for the relief and support of the Poor, the superfluous ornaments of the churches may be disposed of, and even the sacred vessels melted down and sold for that purpose.

But what shall we think, when we see those very persons, who profess to live after the rules and precepts laid down in the word of God, act diametrically contrary to them?

Such, doubtless, is the fatal conduct of those who are induced by mistaken compassion to lavish their alms upon Beggars, and obstruct the relief of the really indigent.--Alms that frustrate a good and useful institution cannot be meritorious, or acceptable to God: and no maxim is less founded in truth, than that the merit of the giver is undiminished by the unworthiness of the object.-- The truly distressed are too bashful to mix with the herd of common Beggars; necessity, it is true, will sometimes conquer their timidity, and compel them publicity to solicit charity; but their modest appeal is unheard or unnoticed, whilst a dissolute vagabond, who exhibits an hypocritical picture of distress,--a drunken wretch, who pretends to have a numerous family and to be persecuted by misfortune,--or an impudent unfeeling women, who excites pity by the tears and cries of a poor child whom she has hired perhaps for the purpose, and tortured into suffering, steps daringly forward to intercept the alms of the charitable; and the well-intentioned gift which should relieve the indigent is the prize of impudence and imposition, and the support of vice and idleness.--What then is left for the modest object of real distress, but to retire dispirited and hide himself in the obscurity of his cottage, there to languish in misery, whilst the bolder Beggar consumes the ill-bestowed gift in mirth and riot? And, yet, the charitable donor flatters himself that he has performed an exemplary duty!

We earnestly entreat every citizen and inhabitant of this capital, each in his respective station, no longer to countenance mendicity by such a misapplication of their well-meant charity; contributing thus to augment the fatal consequences of the evil itself, as well as to impede the relief of the real necessitous.

We are firmly persuaded, that by pointing out to our fellow-citizens a method by which they may exercise their benevolence towards the indigent and distressed in a meritorious manner, we shall gratify their pious zeal and humanity, and at the same time essentially promote the honour and safety of the state, and the interests of sound morality and religion.

And this is the sole object of the Military Workhouse, which has been instituted by the command of his Electoral Highness, where, from this time forward, all who are able to work may find employment and wages, and will be cloathed and fed.--THERE will be the really indigent find a secure asylum, and those unfortunate persons who are a prey to sickness and infirmity, or are worn out with age, will be effectually relieved.--

We beg you not to listen to the false representations which may, perhaps, be made to calumniate this institution, by putting it on a level with former imperfect establishments.--Why should not an institution prosper at Munich, which has already been successful in other places, particularly at Manheim, where above 800 persons are daily employed in the Military Workhouse, and heap benedictions on its benevolent founder?--Have the inhabitants of this town less good sense, less humanity, or less zeal for the good of mankind? No--it would be an insult on the patriotism of our fellow-citizens, were we to doubt of their readiness to concur in our undertaking.

The only efficacious way of promoting an institution so intimately connected with the safety, honor, and welfare of the state, and with the interests of religion and morality, is a general resolution of the inhabitants to establish a voluntary monthly contribution, and strictly prohibit the abominable and degrading practice of street-begging; the unlimited exercise of which, notwithstanding its fatal and disgraceful consequences, is perhaps more glaringly indulged in Munich than in any other city in Germany.

In vain will the institution be opposed by the prejudices, or the meanness and malice of persons who are themselves used to mendicity, or to exercise an insolent dominion over Beggars.

It will subsist in spite of all their efforts; and we have the fullest confidence that the generous and well-disposed inhabitants of this city will be sensible how injurious the habits of encouraging public mendicity are, when an opportunity is offered them of contributing to an institution where the really indigent are sure to find assistance, and where the benevolent Christian is certain that his neighbours and fellow-citizens are benefited by his charitable donations.

The simplest and most effectual way of ascertaining the extent of such contribution is to form a list of all the citizens and inhabitants of the town, with the name of the street, and number of the house they inhabit. This register may be called an Alms Book. It will be presented to each inhabitant, that he may put down the sum which he means voluntarily to subscribe every month towards the support of the Poor. The smallest donation will be gratefully received, and the objects who are relieved by them will pray for them to the Almighty Rewarder of all good actions.

As this charitable contribution is to be absolutely voluntary, every one, whatever be his rank or property, will subscribe as he pleases, a greater or a less sum, or none at all. The names of the benefactors and their donations will be printed and published quarterly, that every one may know and acknowledge the zealous friends of humanity, by whose assistance an evil of such magnitude, so long and so universally complained of, will be finally rooted out.

We request that the public will not oppose so sure and effectual a mode of granting relief to the Poor, but rather give their generous support to an undertaking, which cannot but be productive of much good, and acceptable in the sight of Heaven.