[ 482 ] [May, 



remarks on friendly soc1etie8. 



The erroneous principles on which the statesmen of former days 

 acted, are now, in many instances, fully admitted ; and while we feel the 

 corrosive effects, wonder at the ignorance "of the sages of their day. 



When one portion of the labour entailed on a generation, is to remove 

 or mitigate the evils caused by the race which preceded it ; we have a 

 humiliating proof of the imperfection of human reason, which should 

 curb all inclination to positiveness of opinion, and excite sentiments of 

 cautious liberality on declarations of error, and propositions for the 

 removal of evil. 



No kingdom ever has been so well governed as England : the regulated 

 action of its laws and institutions ensures security and freedom. Among 

 these laws and institutions, are many to which the circumstances of 

 former days gave rise, but, which the circumstances of this age 

 require to be altered or repealed. Much has been done by our present 

 enlightened legislators, on the duties levied on commerce. The appli- 

 cation of revenue is improved, and some laws enacted, and others 

 expunged. The act of Mr. Peel, relating to the statutes of the king- 

 dom, immortalises his name, and has procured for him the praise and 

 esteem of all good men. 



There is one law in England which cannot now be repealed, but 

 which is a cancer eating into the very vitals of the constitution, and 

 "which, even now, requires consummate skill and indefatigable perseve- 

 rance to check its insinuating progress and demoralising effects. This 

 law is, in common parlance. The Poor- Rate. When, in the sixteenth 

 century, it was first enacted, our rulers did not foresee the extent of the 

 evils their charitable intentions would produce. Were they now to rise 

 from their graves, they might wonder how so much evil could be 

 derived from such a virtuous source. The universal laws which operate 

 with unvarying effect on all things, have only had their due influence on 

 this one. To enumerate all the causes which have combined to produce 

 the present condition of that festering gangrene, Avould require a 

 volume. Among them are a great increase of the numbers of labourers 

 in every art ; the sudden depression of some branches of trade, which 

 deprives bodies of improvident people of the means of support, and who 

 have consequently availed themselves of the law which permits them 

 to demand assistance from the parish. These examples becoming 

 numerous, weakened the sense of shame which prevented the poor from 

 eating the bread of humiliation; with it waned the spirit of independence^ 

 (a frightfid and demoralizing evil) and now pay from the parish, instead 

 of being looked on as a disgrace, is contemplated as a right. What are 

 the evils produced by this state of feeling among the lower classes ? In 

 addition to that dreadful one, a weak and waning spirit of independence, 

 is improvideyice during the days of youth and prosperity, and its 

 attendant intemperance, with its many injurious consequences : the 

 declining sentiments of esteem and respect §3r those above them, and in 

 constant intercourse with them, which weakens the chain by which a 

 free people should be united, and which is a surer defenc* than mere 

 military legions. It has also the power of diminishing acts of individual 

 charity among the middle orders of the people, who often refuse their 

 aid, under an impression that they pay a considerable annual stipend as 

 a poor-rate. These effects the philosopher and statesman know how to 



