10 ^ On ihe Poor Laws ef Scotland. Fet, 



TO THE CONDUCrOR OF THE FARMER'3 MAGAZINE. 



I CQNCEiX-^K if is not inetMisistent with the purpose of 

 vour usefal publication, to enquire into the legal provision 

 made in this country for maintaining the poor ; the mode of 

 its management and application ; the effect of both upon the 

 national character^ and the consequences thereof to proprietors 

 and possessors of land. 



That the poor, the aged, the infirm and destitute, oitght to- 

 ■^ relieved and supported by the community to which they 

 belong, is a principal inculcated by the laws of nature and 

 revelation, and generally enjoined by the statute-law of 

 every well regulated society. The great object to be attended 

 to, in the exercise of this virtuoits principle, is, to draw the 

 proper line of distinction betwixt callousness of heart and in- 

 difference about the concerns of the poor (on the one hand)^ 

 and the making such liberal provisions for their support (on 

 the other), as to hold out a temptation to want of frugality 

 and economy, by encouraging sloth and idleness, which seldon* 

 fail to produce profligacy of manners ; and these in tl>eir turn, 

 by creating want, are certain of resolving into abJKi;et mean- 

 ness of spirit, and dependence upon others j which, of all 

 things, tend most to degrade the character, and lead to the 

 very evil which the public provisions for the poor was meant 

 to correct. 



These positions cannot be better illustrated, than hy the op- 

 posite effects produced by the operation of the poor-laws, and 

 their management, in the two divisions of this island. 



There is no country where greater liberality is displayed by 

 all ranks of people than in Scotland ; where the poor are pro- 

 vided for at less expence ; and where greater sobriety and de- 

 cency prevails among that description of peopk, and more of 

 that modesty and humility, becoming their situation. Where- 

 as in England, tlie provision for the poor is most exorbitant. 

 The burden is becoming every day more intolerable, and will 

 undoubtedly, at no distant period, rouze the attention, and 

 call forth the vigorous interference of the legislature, to reme- 

 dy a growing evil, which threatens to overwhelm the coun- 

 try. Besides the immensity of the sums allotted for the 

 poor, to the amount (it is believed) of several millions a year, 

 it is scarce to be supposed that they will, in every instance, 

 be managed with the most perfect economy. But what, in a 

 national view, is the worst of all ; this liberal provision, whiel* 



was 



