300 
which I shall mention. . It seems impossible 
to get rid of so extensive a system of support, 
consistently with humanity, without apply- 
ing ourselves directly to its vital-principle, 
and endeavouring to counteract that deeply- 
seated cause, which occasions the rapid 
growth of all such establishments, and inya- 
riably renders them inadequate to their ob- 
ject. 
*« To this end, I should propase a regu- 
Jation to be made, declaring, that no child 
born from any marriage, taking pve after 
the expiration of a year from thé date of the 
law ; and no illegitimate child bor two years 
from the same date, should ever be entitled 
to parish assistance. And to give a mote 
general knowledge of this law, and toenforce 
It more strongly on the minds of the lower 
classes of people, the clergyman of each pa- 
rish should, previously to the solemnization 
of a marriage, read a short address to the 
parties, stating the strong obligation on every 
man to support his own children; the imn- 
Prepriety» and even immorality, of marrying 
without a fair prospect of being able to do 
this ; the evils which had resulted to the 
oor themselves, from the attempt which 
ad been made to assist, by public institu- 
tions, in aduty which ought to be exclusively 
appropriated to. parents; and the absolute 
necessity which had at length appeared, of 
abandoning all such institutions, on accoudit 
of their producing effects totally opposite 
to those which were intended.” 
«« After the publie notice which I have 
proposed had been given, and the system of 
poor laws had ceased with regard to the 
rising generation, if any man chose to mar- 
ry, without a prospect of being able to sup- 
port a family, he should have the most per- 
fect liberty so todo. Though to marry, in 
this case, is in my opinion clearly an immoral 
act, yet it is not one, which society can justly 
take upon itself to prevent or punish ; because 
the punishment provided for it by the laws 
of nature, falls directly and most severely 
upon the individual who commits the act, 
and, through him, only more remotely and 
feebly, on the society. When nature will 
govern and punish for us, it is a very misera- 
ble ambition, to wish to snatch the rod from 
her hands, and draw upon ourselves the 
odium of executioner. ‘To the punishment, 
therefore, of nature he should be left, the 
punishment of severe want. He has erred 
1m the face of a most clear and precise warn- 
ing, and can haye no just reason to complain 
of any person but himself, when he feels the 
consequences of his error. All parish assist- 
ance should be most rigidly denied him: and 
if the hand of private charity be stretched 
forth in his relief, the interests of humanity 
imperiously require that it should be admini- 
stered very sparingly. He shoukl be taught 
to know that the laws of nature, which are 
the laws of God, had doomed him and his fa- 
mily to starve for disobeying their repeated ad- 
monitions ; that he had no claim of right 
HISTORY, POLITICS, AND STATISTICS. 
on society for the smallest portion of food, 
beyond that which his labour would fairly 
purchase ; and that, if he and his family were 
saved from suffering the utmost extremities of 
hunger, he would owe it to the pity of some 
kind benefactor, to whom, therefore, he 
ought to be bound by the strongest ties of 
gratitude. 
«* If this system were pursued, we need 
be under no apprehensions whatever, that 
the number of persons in extreme want 
would be beyond the power and the will of 
the benevolent to supply. The sphere for 
the exercise of private charity would, I am 
confident, be less than it is at present; and 
the only difficulty would be, to restrain the 
hand of benevolence from assisting those in 
distress in so liberal a manner as toencourage 
indolence and want of foresight in others. * 
** With regard to illegitimate children, 
after the proper notice had been given, they 
should on no account whatever be allowed . 
to have any claim to parish assistance. If 
the parents desert their child, they ought to 
be made answerable for the crime. . The in- 
fant is, comparatively speaking, of no value 
to the society, as others will immediately 
supply its place. Its principal value is on 
account of its being the object of one of the 
most delightful passions in human nature— 
parental affection. But if this value be dis- 
regarded, by those who are alone ina capa~ 
city to feel it, the society cannot be called 
upon to put itself in their place ; and has no 
further business in its protection, than in the 
case of its murder or intentional ill-treatment 
to follow the general rules in punishing such 
crimes; which rules, for the interests of 
morality, it is bound to pursue, whether the 
object, in the particular instance, be of vas 
lue to the state or not,” 
The remedy then which this profound 
politician proposes for the existing evils 
of society in England, is simply to abo- 
lish the poor rates, and starve the poor 
into celibacy. That moral restraint, 
that chastity which, according to his 
own argument, is all that is wanting 
to render possible and permanent the 
system of equality, he expects and de- 
mands now from the poor. The exer- 
cise of that virtue, which, as he had rea- 
soned, could only exist in men highly 
enlightened and highly virtuous, he 
expects and demands frompthe’ ignorant, 
degraded, brutalized, miserable, poor 
people of England! If you beget chil- 
dren, he says to them, they must perish 
for want. No public relief is to be given 
to the starving infant, society is not to 
interfere, except that it is to hang the _ 
mother, if she shorten the sufferings of 
‘her babe by destroying it! This reforms 
er calls for no sacrifice from the rich; 
