moving from one place or parish to another, or to his settling himself where he pleases in any honest business. The burden of the whole poor would then be borne equally by the whole people, and the expense paid out of the public treasury; which expense would be replaced and the treasury again replenished when necessary, by a general tax and contribution levied upon all classes of persons, down almost to the very lowest; since none ought to be relieved altogether from the duty and obligation of charity, and almost none can be so poor as to be incapable of contributing their mite.*

Still, however, the clergymen and church-officers of the different parishes might be constituted guardians and overseers of the poor, and the parish-clerk treasurer, within their bounds, nearly as at present; and the whole system should still likewise remain, as before, under the control and protection of the ordinary law-courts; and I would further propose, that upon any emergency, such as might happen in the case of any considerable number of applications being made by labourers in want of employment, or in any other case of more than common urgency, it should be the duty of the Sheriff of the district to inquire into the circumstances of his locality, (the whole county,) and, with such advice

* As, however, there would still be ample room for voluntary charity after all that could be accomplished by the most comprehensive and best-contrived system of poor-laws, such a tax, or poor-rate, as is proposed, might be graduated and diminished on the smaller incomes and properties, so as to leave the contributions of those who are more closely in contact with, and have consequently the better opportunities of discovering the truly-deserving and necessitous,—to be chiefly at their own disposal. Such regulation will appear the more peculiarly proper and expedient, when it is considered how much charity, or assistance in difficult circumstances, is given by the poorer sort of labourers to one another.

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and assistance as he should choose to call for, devise such employment for them as might be useful to the public during the time they should receive the public money.

Then I will suppose that all the aged and infirm might be allowed four shillings a-week each to a man, and three shillings to a woman; whilst the able-bodied labourer wanting employment might be allowed three shillings per week to a man, and one shilling and sixpence to a woman, and to either man or woman who had children, during such want of employment, one shilling additional for each child.*

And thus the proper object of a poor-law would be fully accomplished, a certain provision would be made for all who might happen to be in want,-public begging might be wholly suppressed, and no person could afterwards have any just reason to arraign the institution of property as injuring him, or find himself placed in a worse condition in consequence of its existence than he would otherwise have experienced.

But, perhaps, it will be said, that to try such a measure would be a great work and a great experiment; and no doubt it would; but is not the object to be accomplished of great importance also ?-The reasons for preferring a legal and certain provision for the poor (supposing it practicable, which has, I trust, been fully demonstrated) to a precarious and uncertain one, as any voluntary provision must be, are neither few nor small, and are indeed so plain and obvious

I have set down these sums, or pittances, not by any means as unalterable, or as the result of any very nice calculation of circumstances, but as the lowest that could be named with any sort of regard to the calls of humanity or of justice, the present value of money of course being taken into account. So far from being unalterable, I think that if the experiment of a well-regulated legal provision for the poor were fairly tried, it would soon be discovered that much more liberal allowances than those stated might be made with safety, or without entailing any considerable burden upon the community.

as scarcely to stand in need of being stated. In concluding the present section, however, I shall recapitulate shortly the three following:

I. In the first place, to make a legal and compulsory provision for the poor is the only effectual way to put a stop to public begging, which is unseemly in itself and mischievous in its consequences to all who are compelled to witness it, even while they are able to relieve every applicant, but which becomes tenfold more pernicious when it arrives to that height (which it has frequently done in this country of late years) that you are not only unable to relieve, but scarcely even to hearken to the complaints of the numerous unfortunate objects presented to your view. For when men are obliged to look daily upon nakedness, and hunger, and disease, or upon all three combined, and to tell the miserable sufferer that they can administer nothing to his relief or comfort, but, on the contrary, must drive him from their doors and from their sight, every compassionate feeling must be violated and blunted; and the frequent repetition of such sights and scenes must harden the heart and eradicate all sentiments of humanity out of the world.

II. Secondly, the legal and compulsory provision has this great advantage over the precarious and voluntary one, that it equalizes the burden that actually is and must be borne in supporting the poor, by obliging the uncharitable and hard-hearted to contribute exactly and fairly with the charitable and humane in proportion to their means.

III. Thirdly, the feelings and happiness or unhappiness of the poor themselves are surely not to be wholly overlooked in this question. Now, under a voluntary and uncertain provision, they are condemned to a continual despondence, to live under continual dread of the most distressful calamity which can happen to them-the dread of star

vation ;-whereas, under a legal and compulsory provision, all this waste of anxiety and despondency is spared and prevented, and their condition converted into one of comparative comfort; and all this, it is believed, at no greater cost, or sacrifice, even in a merely pecuniary view, than is required to be made under the voluntary system.

But, perhaps, it may be thought and urged still farther, that such a certain refuge and provision for all who might be in want as has been here proposed, would make labourers and servants regardless and insolent to their employers, as not caring about being turned out of their places; but - let the same law which bestows upon them the boon recommended correct this evil by being more strict and impartial than it is found to be at present* in compelling them to perform articles and agreements.

SECTION III.

RIGHT OF THE POOR TO SUPPORT.

WHAT has now been advanced may be sufficient perhaps to show the possibility and expediency of providing a maintenance for the poor by a legal and compulsory assessment; but before concluding the present chapter, I must revert again to the question of right, which was but slightly touched

In the justice of peace courts here in Scotland, where the greater part of the disputes between " masters and servants" are settled, it is too much the practice of the judges to make a merit of favouring the poorer sort, particularly against manufacturers and all other "masters," themselves and the farmers, perhaps, excepted. Even the Sheriffs are not entirely free from this fault.

upon in the beginning of it; and I will contend, that, in a civilized country, where the land is all appropriated, and the division of labour established, and where the liberty to engross and accumulate land and every other species of wealth to any extent is allowed, all who may be in want have a right to support;-the aged and infirm unconditionally, and the able-bodied labourer to either gratuitous aid, or to wages and employment.

When, in the midst of a civilized society where the land is all appropriated, the division of labour established, and where no legal provision has been made for the poor, it happens to the labourer that he is unable to procure employment, and has nothing to eat, he is in effect commanded to starve without resistance, and without any effort to save himself. But what sanction has the society of which he is a member to offer, which should induce him to comply with so inhuman and so unreasonable a command ?— Death is the highest punishment that the society can inflict; but death stares the person so circumstanced already in the face, and he is certain that he must immediately perish if he yields obedience to this mandate.*

In the state of nature the land would still have remained open to him, and he would have been at full liberty to use all his exertions to procure subsistence; and whatever difficulty he might at times have found in acquiring his daily food, he never could have wanted employment. But in the advanced state of society before described the case is totally changed; to the unemployed labourer in that state the

As to any religious sanction, or any authority from Scripture, for such a command, it cannot be pretended for a moment; for all religions inculcate charity, and Christianity especially inculcates it, even to the extent, upon some occasions, of enjoining the rich man to sell all that he hath, and give to the poor."