Subject of Poor Laws, continued. joy themselves while they can, appears to be evident, from the number of families that upon the failure of any great manufactory immediately fall upon the parish; when perhaps the wages earned in this manufactory while it flourished were sufficiently above the price of common country labor, to have allowed them to save enough for their support, till they could find some other channel for their industry. A man who might not be deterred from going to the alehouse from the consideration, that on his death or sickness he should leave his wife and family upon the parish, might yet hesitate in thus dissipating his earnings, if he were assured that in either of these cases his family must starve, or be left to the support of casual bounty. The mass of happiness among the common people cannot but be diminished, when one of the strongest checks to idleness and dissipation is thus removed; and positive institutions which render dependent poverty so general weaken that disgrace, which for the best and most humane reasons ought to be attached to it. The poor laws of England were undoubtedly instituted for the most benevolent purpose; but it is evident they have failed in attaining it. They Subject of Poor Laws, continued. certainly mitigate some cases of severe distress which might otherwise occur, though the state of the poor who are supported by parishes, considered in all its circumstances is very miserable. But one of the principal objections to the system is, that for the assistance which some of the poor receive, in itself almost a doubtful blessing, the whole class of common people of England is subjected to a set of grating, inconvenient, and tyrannical laws, totally inconsistent with the genuine spirit of the constitution. The whole business of settlements, even in its present-amended state, is contradictory to all ideas of freedom. The parish persecution of men whose families are likely to become chargeable, and of poor women who are near lying in, is a most disgraceful and disgusting tyranny. And the obstructions continually occasioned in the market of labor by these laws have a constant tendency, to add to the difficulties of those who are struggling to support themselves without assistance. These evils attendant on the poor laws seem to be irremediable. If assistance be to be distributed to a certain class of people, a power must be lodged somewhere of discriminating the proper objects, and of managing the concerns of the insti Subject of Poor Laws, continued. tutions that are necessary; but any great interference with the affairs of other people is a species of tyranny, and in the common course of things, the exercise of this power may be expected to become grating to those who are driven to ask for support. The tyranny of justices, churchwardens, and overseers, is a common complaint among the poor; but the fault does not lie so much in these persons, who probably before they were in power were not worse than other people, but in the nature of all such institutions. I feel persuaded, that if the poor laws had never existed in this country, though there might have been a few more instances of very severe distress, the aggregate mass of happiness among the common people would have been much greater than it is at present. The radical defect of all systems of the kind is that of tending to increase population without increasing the means for its support, and by thus depressing the condition of those that are not relieved by parishes to create more poor. If, indeed, we examine some of our statutes strictly with reference to the principle of population, we shall find that they attempt an absolute impossibility; and Subject of Poor Laws, continued. we cannot be surprised therefore, that they should constantly fail in the attainment of their object. The famous 43d of Elizabeth, which has been so often referred to and admired, enacts, that the overseers of the poor, "shall take order from time to time, by and with the consent of two or more "justices, for setting to work the children of all "such whose parents shall not by the said per"sons be thought able to keep and maintain their "children; and also such persons married or un 66. 46 married, as having no means to maintain them, use no ordinary and daily trade of life to get their living by. And also to raise, weekly or otherwise, by taxation of every inhabitant, and every occupier of lands in the said parish, (in such "competent sums as they shall think fit) a conve"nient stock of flax, hemp, wool, thread, iron, " and other necessary ware and stuff, to set the poor to work." What is this but saying that the funds for the maintenance of labor in this country, may be increased at will, and without limit, by a fiat of government, or an assessment of the overseers. Strictly speaking, this clause is as arrogant and as absurd as if it had enacted that two ears of wheat vol. ii. a a Subject of Poor Laws, continued. should in future grow where one only had grown before. Canute, when he commanded the waves not to wet his princely foot, did not in reality assume a greater power over the laws of nature. No directions are given to the overseers how to increase the funds for the maintenance of labor; the necessity of industry, economy, and enlightened exertion, in the management of agricultural and commercial capital is not insisted on for this purpose; but it is expected that a miraculous increase of these funds should immediately follow an edict of the government used at the discretion of some ignorant parish officers. If this clause were really and bona fide put in execution, and the shame attending the receiving of parish assistance worn off, every laboring man might marry as early as he pleased, under the certain prospect of having all his children properly provided for; and as according to the supposition, there would be no check to population from the consequences of poverty after marriage, the increase of people would be rapid beyond example in old states. After what has been said in the former parts of this work it is submitted to the reader, whether the utmost exertions of the most |